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Category: Flash Points

  • HOW BAD CAN IT GET

    Most of what we read and hear is news about lies and false news. The President told us that the war was started to protect us from a nuclear attack by Iran In two weeks. The fact that this was so obviously bull shit, didn’t matter to this President, because what he says and does…

  • A TIME OF AWAKENING

    There will be a morning when you will wake up to realize that the President that you voted for is a two faced charlatan with possibly no redeeming values. Many of us already know this and some have known it for a long time. But you will say how can that be. He sounds like…

  • AYN RAND ON STEROIDS

    There have always been those individuals who would put making money and/or attaining power above all else. Even going so far as to sell their souls. The difference between then and now, is that now it is considered the right thing to do. “Greed is good”, the underlying philosophy expounded by Gorden Gekko in the…

  • AI RISKS AND SAFEGUARDS

    Experts warn that artificial intelligence (AI) poses significant risks, including uncontrollable behavior, bias, job displacement, and ethical concerns, necessitating careful management and regulation. Key Concerns About AI:Uncontrollable AI: Prominent AI scientists, including Yoshua Bengio and Max Tegmark, have expressed concerns about the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) that could operate independently. They warn that…

  • Read an Anthropic AI safety lead’s exit letter: ‘The world is in peril’

    Mrinank Sharma who led the safety team at Anthropic:Dear Colleagues,I’ve decided to leave Anthropic. My last day will be February 9th.Thank you. There is so much here that inspires and has inspired me. To name some of those things: a sincere desire and drive to show up in such a challenging situation, and aspire to…

  • SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT VENEZUELA

    By the time the second or third boat was bombed to smithereens, certain questions became very obvious. Why have these alleged smugglers not put covers on the boats. The boats all look the same. All have between two and five men on them. We assume they have not seen any news regarding the fates of…

  • A DISCARDED PAST OR A MORE NOBLE FUTURE

    Excerpt from the Secret Of Secrets By Dan Brown As the ferry churned closer, Katherine began to see details in the statue’s verdigris copper-the broken chains of bondage around her sandaled feet, the delicate folds in her robes of justice, the tablet in her left hand bearing the nation’s birth date, the steadfast gaze and…

  • IN A TIME OF PEACE OR WAR

    When coming to that fork in the road, when nations have the opportunity to prepare for peace, or prepare for war, they have almost always chosen the latter. Throughout history, man has learned to distrust his neighbors. It is said that the best way to achieve peace is to be prepared for war. But eventually,…

  • SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE FINALLY “SEEN” DARK MATTER FOR THE FIRST TIME

    Scientists may have “seen” dark matter for the first time, thanks to NASA’s Fermi gamma-ray space telescope. If so, this would mark the first direct detection of the universe’s most mysterious substance. Dark matter was theorized in 1933 by astronomer Fritz Zwicky, who found that the visible galaxies of the Coma Cluster lacked the necessary gravitational influence…

  • THE GREAT TRUMP DEFLECTION

    Trump’s latest series of deflections came at a time when he badly needed to control the narrative in the news cycle. Epstein, food prices, alienation of friends around the world, an unpopular deportation policy, tariffs, retribution, Democratic victories in recent elections, a self aggrandizing ballroom, were all you heard about at a time when Trump’s…

  • HALL OF FAME BLUES

  • THE SAVANT SYNDROME: AN EXTRAORDINARY CONDITION

    Some of the amazing skills Savants have displayed include :Kim Peeks memory abilities were astounding. During his life, he memorized over 12,000 books including the Bible, and was an expert on 15 subject areas including geography, music, literature, history, and sports. Amazingly, Kim could actually read two pages at once, his left eye read the…

  • BORREGO STARDANCE

  • BIG PAY AWAITS SOME COMPUTER TALENTED COLLEGE GRADUATES

    The $1.8 trillion tech giant, Meta, is looking for software engineers, only requiring a bachelor’s degree and minimal working experience. They’re welcome job postings as many tech companies cut back on hiring entry level Gen Z staffers.© Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images New graduates are leaving college and heading into a tough labor market—entry-level roles are dwindling,…

  • TRUMP PREPARING FOR HIS OWN TIANANMEN SQUARE

    Trump has encouraged a base of fringe elements, including white supremacists, racists, and other militia type groups, that he could call upon for violence, as he did on January 6, if that serves his goal. Trump would have no compunction to shoot protesters, as he already asked General Milley and Defense Secretary Esper in 2020…

  • High-power microwave ‘force field’ knocks drone swarms from sky

    In the mix of counter-UAS systems under development today like kinetics, lasers, and jamming, only one technology, high-power microwave (HPM), is specifically designed to take out swarms of drones all at once. Attacking swarms have become a common feature in Russia’s war on Ukraine. Defensive systems, however, can only shoot down one threat at a…

  • Transcript: Here’s what Bruce Springsteen had to say about Trump in Manchester, UK

    I’ll have more to say about this after it sinks in. But I will say that no one does righteous indignation like Bruce Springsteen. And he is certainly indignant about what he feels like the Trump administration is doing to the country he loves. Judging from the fact that his people have already edited together…

  • INSIGHT INTO TARIFFS

    David R. Kotok DT 2.0 used a formula to calculate tariffs based primarily on the trade deficit between the US and each country as a trading partner. The formula converts the trade deficit into a percentage. That is how it gets to tariff rates with a floor of 10% and no ceiling. Essentially, the larger…

  • A RARE KIND OF INSANITY RULES THE DAY

    "Insanity in individuals is something rare but in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule."—Friedrich Nietzsche

  • STOCK MARKET INSIGHT

    "If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs … If you can wait and not be tired by waiting … If you can think — and not make thoughts your aim … If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you … Yours is the Earth and everything that's…

  • VAL KILMER, ONE OF A KIND

    Always brought something fresh to a role. Always memorable. Proud that he grew up living next to Roy Rogers. Excelled even when next to Pacino and De Niro.

  • EVERY DAY ANNOYANCES

                             There are some things that annoy most of us. Some of them are listed below: Expiration dates that can’t be read or are too small to read. Don’t take it if you’re allergic to it. Streaming football.  The internet is full of rankings.…

  • MEANS TESTING

    Means Testing was always a good idea to cut Social Security costs. Those very wealthy individuals who are collecting, in many cases around $5000 a month,  are legally entitled to receive their payouts, but most muti millionaires and all billionaires, do not need the monthly payouts. If the law was established to allow Means Testing, …

  • Elon’s Grok Chatbot Calculates Probability That Trump Is a Russian Asset

    Elon Musk's supposedly "anti-woke" chatbot, Grok, keeps spewing outputs that are hilariously opposed to the billionaire's views — including that newly-minted President Donald Trump is likely a Russian asset. Responding to a prompt from Arizona Republic columnist EJ Montini, Musk's "maximally truth-seeking" AI, which is built into X, said after an analysis that the probability of the president being in the pocket…

  • HISTORICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PARTIES

    The Democrats tax and spend. The Republicans borrow and spend. The American people love Republican's levels of taxation and Democrat's levels of spending. Fareed Zacharia The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt too. Oscar Levant in the 1950s   Some Thoughts on Politics,…

  • A LIFE WITH A GREAT SPARK

    Rascal Ethel Kennedy’s Cavalier King Charles Spaniel The human rights activist Ethel Kennedy was truly a child of nature. At Hickory Hill, the grand 19th-century Virginia estate that she shared with her husband, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, animals would often roam wild — dogs and chickens and gerbils, but also more unorthodox pets like Komodo…

  • GOOGLE’S QUANTUM STEP FORWARD

    Google captivated the tech world Monday with Willow, a new quantum chip that outperformed even the world’s best supercomputer on an advanced test, and experts say this week’s revelations are just the start of a new phase of cutting-edge computing. The new chip, which even wow'd Tesla CEO Elon Musk, can complete a complex computation in five…

  • SOME ROBERT KENNEDY QUOTES

    ON HOPE:“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest…

  • The Past As Prologue Of The Future

    In 1831 Thomas Macaulay addressed the House Of Commons:              "All history is full of revolution, produced by causes similar to those which are now operating in England. A portion of the community which had been of no account expands and becomes strong. It demands a place in the system,…

  • LEMMINGS, LEECHES AND MISANTHROPES

      Hanging on the coattails of a man who would rather lie than tell the truth is a slippery slope. For all of the Trumpified followers who think his style will catapult them to higher ground — caveat emptor. These are the politicians, election workers and followers that get more involved with the campaign than…

  • DANGEROUS AND DELUSIONAL

      Trump’s long list of failed businesses began with the Taj Mahal Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was the first of many bankruptcies declared by his companies. In 1987, Trump was accumulating stock in the unfinished hotel and told New Jersey State Regulators that he could finance the $1 billion of…

  •  THE GREAT WITCH HUNT HOAX

        The Attraction of a Dangerously Damaged Individual                     From Socialite To Comic Book Villain I really don’t want to spend any more time, emotional capital or energy writing about D. J. Trump.  I wrote extensively about him from 2015 through 2020, when I felt…

  • GENESIS OF AI

    Before chatbots exploded in popularity, a group of researchers, tech executives and venture capitalists had worked for more than a decade to fuel A.I.   From left, Larry Page, Demis Hassabis and Elon Musk have all made significant contributions to the development of modern artificial intelligence.Credit…Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News; pool photo by Toby Melville; and Amir…

  • The Israeli Calculation

    As Israel debates what to do next in Gaza, I hope Israel’s political-military leadership will reflect on the adage often attributed to Confucius: “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves” — one for your enemy and one for yourself. Wise man, Confucius. The reason I was so wary about Israel invading Gaza with…

  • AI and the Financial System

    A financial regulator issues a warning on A.I. Gary Gensler, the chairman of the S.E.C., has been studying the potential consequences of artificial intelligence for years. The recent proliferation of generative A.I. tools like ChatGPT has demonstrated that the technology is set to transform business and society. Mr. Gensler outlined some of his biggest concerns…

  • A POEM AND TWO QUOTES

    “Hay mas tiempo que vida.          “Life is short. Seize the moment.” “It’s easy to do anything in victory. It’s in defeat that a man reveals himself.” –Floyd Patterson                                          Sometimes when I’m…

  • RIP PEE WEE

     Paul Reubens, He was a shot of fun in a world that could use all the fun it could get.

  • WHAT JUST HAPPENED

    All is not what it seems with this Prigozhin led Wagner revolt.  Why did Prigozhin lead his mercenary convoy north to Moscow?  What did he intend on accomplishing? Surely he knew that Russian war planes could destroy an exposed convoy with relative ease. What was it that stopped this convoy dead in it's tracks?  Why…

  • Crypto is dead: long live crypto!

    By Felix Martin June 16, 20237:41 AM EDTUpdated a day ago LONDON, June 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Already reeling from the “Razzlekhan” scandal, punch-drunk from the collapse of TerraUSD, and floored by the implosion of FTX, cryptocurrencies were finally dealt a knockout blow last week by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The watchdog brought separate charges against…

  • AI Can Crack Most Common Passwords In Less Than A Minute

    If you think you have a strong password, it's time to think again. A new study from Home Security Heroes(opens in new tab), a cybersecurity firm, shows how quickly and easily artificial intelligence (AI) can crack your password. Statistics show that 51% of common passwords can be cracked in less than a minute. The security…