The head of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres warned governments, calling out for “immediate, rapid and large-scale” cuts to greenhouse gas emissions in order to curb impacts already negatively affecting the climate.
As reported by PBS News, U.N. Chief said that global warming and climate change is happening on a much faster pace than predicted. The long-lasting effects from already released emissions into the atmosphere are inevitable.
“These changes are just the beginning of worse to come,” Guterres said, with hopes the dire message will appeal to governments to meet the goals that were originally created at the Paris Climate Accord back in 2015.
A bill headed to the governor’s desk aims to curb injuries in warehouse distribution centers run by a broad spectrum of employers and outlaw punishment for bathroom breaks
Yesenia Barrera was just finishing up her 10-hour shift at an Amazon fulfillment center in Rialto, Calif., she recalled, when a manager approached her. She said he was concerned that throughout the day she’d racked up about 60 minutes of “time off task,” Amazon parlance for when someone is not directly working on the assignment at hand or taking too long to complete it. He told her he was writing her up and asked what happened, she said.
“I used the restroom today,” Barrera said she told him.
“How many times did you use it?” she remembered he asked.
“Three times,” she said she responded, thinking about how it took five minutes to walk each way across the warehouse floor to get to the bathroom.
When Barrera returned to Amazon for her next scheduled shift two days later, her badge wouldn’t let her into the building. She later learned she’d been terminated. Barrera has since become an organizer with the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of warehouse workers.
The California Senate passed legislation last week that, if signed by the governor, would prohibit a spectrum of employers, including Amazon, from firing warehouse workers like Barrera for policies such as “time off task.” The bill, AB 701, would be the first law in the country to address productivity quotas and strict algometric metrics used to manage warehouse employees. (Governor Newsom’s office did not reply to a request for comment.)
Under AB 701, employers wouldn’t be able to punish workers for failing to meet quotas when health and safety issues come into play, such as a worker’s need to take bathroom and water breaks. And it would prohibit retaliation against workers who complain. The law would also require companies that run warehouses to report to the government—and their own employees—the quotas and speed metrics they mandate for workers.
“Right now, it’s very secretive,” said Christian Castro, communications director for the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which sponsored the bill. “E-commerce has been growing exponentially, it’s gotten even more popular during the pandemic…. Workers are telling us about an increase in quotas, not even knowing their quotas.”
Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lighty declined to comment on AB 701 and Barrera’s allegations but said in an email, “The health and safety of our employees is our number one priority—and has been since day one,” adding, “We’re committed to giving our employees the resources they need to be successful, creating time for regular breaks and a comfortable pace.”
In opposition to AB 701 is a coalition of about two dozen business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, California Farm Bureau, and California Retailers Association. They say the law could raise costs for companies that run warehouses and effectively drive employers from the state.
AB 701 is “burdensome and needlessly overbroad,” Steve McCarthy, vice president of public policy for the California Retailers Association, wrote in an Aug. 30 letter to all state senators. He said the bill could lead to increased litigation “by establishing potentially open-ended employee access to bathroom facilities which will make employers’ ability to enforce production standards even more complex.”
AB 701 would cover all warehouse distribution centers, such as those run by Walmart, Target, and UPS, but the bill’s supporters say Amazon is the main target. The company, they say, is leading the charge to automate workforces, increase the speed of work, and use surveillance technologies to monitor worker productivity.
Advocates who support the bill say they hope it will cause a ripple effect to other states. They say California’s labor laws have often served as a model for policymakers and worker organizations nationwide.
“Chart Topping” Injury Rates
Amazon is the largest private employer in California, with more than 150,000 employees in the state, and the second largest employer in the U.S. Over the years, several Californian cities have welcomed the influx of warehouses, which they say have brought in thousands of well-paying jobs to regions historically plagued by unemployment.
But it’s been well documented that warehouse work can be dangerous. Several studies point to injury rates that exceed those of other industries.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics cites data that shows warehouse workers are injured nearly twice as often as other workers in the private sector. And when employers, like Amazon, add in productivity quotas, those injuries tend to increase, other studies show. A December 2019 report by the Athena coalition looked at data and internal documents that Amazon provided to OSHA and found the injury rate at the company’s warehouses was nearly three times the combined rate of all other private employers that submitted data to OSHA.
“Primed for Pain,” a report by a coalition of four labor unions called the Strategic Organizing Center, found that not only are injury rates higher at Amazon warehouses, but the injuries also tend to be more severe—with a “serious injury rate” nearly 80 percent higher than that of all other employers in the warehousing industry.
“The rate of injuries at Amazon is astronomical…. It’s chart topping by all measures,” said Irene Tung, senior researcher at the workers’ rights group National Employment Law Project, who co-wrote a report about injury and churn rate at Amazon’s California warehouses. “I don’t think people understand just how different Amazon is as an employer and how they’re ushering in this new paradigm.”
When asked about injury rates at Amazon’s warehouses, spokesperson Lighty said the company has more than 6,200 “safety professionals” throughout its facilities. “We also invest billions of dollars in new operations safety measures, technologies and other innovative solutions that protect our employees, work closely with health and safety experts and scientists, conduct thousands of safety inspections each day in our buildings, and have made hundreds of changes as a result of employee feedback on how we can improve their well-being at work,” she said.
Lighty added that the data on musculoskeletal injuries, such as sprains, strained muscles, and torn ligaments, at Amazon’s warehouses “is skewed.” She said that’s because the company’s workforce has many people in the 18 to 24 age range, which she said is more likely than other age groups to claim work-related musculoskeletal injuries.
In April, Amazon’s executive chairman and former CEO Jeff Bezos called the company “Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work.”
Along with injuries, Amazon has also been accused of not allowing workers enough time for bathroom breaks. In a 2020 letter to Bezos, a group of 15 U.S. senators wrote, “Pressure to meet their quotas is so great that workers report urinating in plastic bottles on the warehouse floor.” Amazon responded, saying workers are “allowed and encouraged to take breaks as needed.”
Last December, Amazon settled a class-action lawsuit in California brought by 27 warehouse workers who said the company violated the state’s labor codes by denying them adequate bathroom and rest breaks. Amazon’s “production clock does not stop when employees need to use the restroom facilities,” the lawsuit said, which meant workers “have been forced to forego bathroom breaks completely, simply out of fear of termination.”
Lighty declined to comment on the lawsuit or settlement.
While California law mandates that employers must allow breaks, warehouses with production quotas can make it difficult for workers to use the bathroom while still being able to meet their tasks. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, AB 701’s author, said the bill aims to strengthen state law by creating standards around these quota systems.
“To make next-day delivery possible, corporations like Amazon have forced warehouse employees to work faster, service more customers with more orders in record amounts of time, and risk their own bodies in the process,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “No worker should be forced to sacrifice their basic human needs, or accept such undignified conditions for a paycheck.”
When Barrera was working at Amazon’s Rialto warehouse, one of her jobs was scanning boxes on a conveyor belt.
“The conveyor doesn’t stop,” she said. “Time is against you.”
She remembers at one point, she fell behind and boxes started piling up. She set down her scan gun to move some boxes aside, and it got buried in the pile. She said when she tried to pry it free, she pulled too hard, and it bounced back and smacked her in the eye. She said she went to the onsite clinic, where she was given ibuprofen and told to hold a wet paper towel on her eye. Barrera said she asked to sit down, and after about five minutes, both her manager and the clinic medic said she should be good to go back to work.
“You’re being tracked the moment you clock in,” Barrera said. “Unrealistic quotas are why workers are getting injured.”
Amazon’s Lighty did not respond when asked about the incident.
Protecting Workers vs. Increasing Bureaucracy
AB 701 has two major components: creating more transparency around work quotas and banning policies that negatively affect worker health and safety, including “time off task” policies.
For the transparency piece, employers that run warehouse distribution centers would be compelled to tell government agencies the quotas and speed metrics they require of employees and also disclose that information to workers.
“This policy provides the tools that are needed to keep workers safe in a growing industry plagued with widespread injuries and labor violations,” said Ron Herrera, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 396, both of which are sponsors of AB 701.
“This kind of speed-up on workers is breaking their bodies and churning them out,” Shadix said. “It undermines the argument that these are good stable jobs.”
While AB 701 would require transparency from companies around quotas, it would not create specific rules on worker surveillance and metrics.
Several Republican lawmakers in California have opposed AB 701, saying it would lead to more lawsuits, higher prices for consumer goods, and that the bill is part of an organized labor strategy to unionize warehouses.
“This bill is sponsored by union leaders as part of a campaign to tip the scales to coerce employees to unionize,” Sen. Brian Jones said in an email, adding that he doesn’t have confidence in Democratic legislators to run the state efficiently. “So now we’re supposed to trust them to micro-manage private warehouses throughout the state? No thanks.”
Jones is one of 11 senators who voted no on AB 701 (26 voted yes, and three had no vote recorded).
At least four senators, including Jones, received campaign donations of $2,500 from Amazon, according to public records from the California secretary of state. Amazon also made payments of $2,500 and $4,900 to various state assembly members, including to nearly half of those who voted no on the bill in May. The company additionally made several donations to senators and assembly members who voted yes (though not to any authors or co-authors of the bill).
When asked about the donations, Jones’s chief of staff, Craig Wilson, said, “Campaign contributions are irrelevant when it comes to how Senator Jones votes on legislation.”
Amazon has hired at least four lobbying firms in California during this year’s legislative session, according to the public records. For comparison, in 2019 and 2020, it hired just two firms per year. And the company spent more than $425,000 on lobbying in the state from January to June. More recent lobbying expenditures aren’t yet publicly available. Amazon’s Lighty didn’t respond to questions about the company’s lobbying activity.
While Amazon hasn’t publicly commented on AB 701, the coalition of business organizations and its members, including the California Retailers Association and California Chamber of Commerce, have spoken out against the bill.
Initially, the California Chamber of Commerce listed AB 701 on its “job killer” list—a label that often leads to dead bills—but then removed it in July after certain provisions around litigation and regulations were amended. The chamber still opposes the bill, however. When asked for comment, spokesperson Denise Davis referred The Markup to the letter McCarthy sent to state senators on behalf of the business coalition.
This bill “establishes anti-retaliation provisions that will make it more costly and difficult to take job actions against underperforming employees,” McCarthy wrote in the letter. He added that AB 701 could “have a chilling effect on production at distribution centers that will ripple through the rest of the supply chain.”
Amazon is on the California Retailers Association’s board of directors. McCarthy didn’t respond to a request for comment.
If AB 701 is signed by California governor Gavin Newsom, it would be slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. Newsom faces a recall election on Tuesday, but regardless of the outcome, he will determine the bill’s fate. Should Newsom lose Tuesday’s recall election, he would have 38 days to sign or veto all pending legislation before leaving office, according to California law.
Above: Inspiration4 Crew Members / Photo / Netflix
What do a billionaire, cancer survivor, geoscientists and a data engineer have in common?
For the first time on the streaming platform, Netflix will offer a 5 part docuseries covering the SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Mission in near real-time.
The series will cover SpaceX’s first all civilian mission (no astronauts!) as they prepare and train for the mission, the live launch coverage from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as footage from inside the Crew Dragon spacecraft as the 4 passenger crew orbit the Earth on the 3 day mission.
Unlike recent flights from Virgin (Richard Branson) and Blue Orbit (Jeff Bezos) that led suborbital flights, Inspiration4 will reach higher altitudes than that of the International Space Station and make history as first all-civilian mission to orbit.
Multiple firsts and groundbreaking accomplishments that go beyond, way beyond…
Breakdown for Netflix’s “ Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space”
Monday, September 6: Meet the four civilians heading to space
Monday, September 13: Watch them prepare
Wednesday, September 15: Watch the live launch
Thursday, September 30: Spend time with the crew in space
The Inspiration4 Mission which was brokered as a private deal by 38 year old Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments with SpaceX.
Isaacman will lead the mission along with his 3 other crew members: 29 year old Hayley Arceneaux who will act as chief medical officer , 51 year old Dr. Sian Proctor (mission pilot), who will become the fourth Black female American in space and 41 year old Christopher Sembroski, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who will be the mission’s specialist.
The mission also serves as a $200 million fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
A day before the launch day, Netflix will also launch “A StoryBots Space Adventure” on Sept.14 which is a live-action/animation special where Inspration4 crew members will participate by answering some of kids’ most pressing space related questions.
“It’s important to address the fact that billionaire heirs may never pay tax on billions in stock gains.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, warned Tuesday that House Democrats’ newly released tax plan would let U.S. billionaires off the hook by omitting key reforms that progressive lawmakers, advocacy organizations, and President Joe Biden have embraced.
“It would be a monumental mistake for Congress to pass a bill that really exempts billionaires,” Wyden (D-Ore.) told the New York Times in response to the House Ways and Means Committee’s proposal, which was spearheaded by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.).
While the House plan (pdf) would hike taxes on large corporations and the top 1% of earners in the U.S., analysts and Democratic lawmakers have voiced concerns that it doesn’t go nearly as far as it should to raise revenue for policy priorities and tackle the nation’s runaway income inequality, which the coronavirus crisis has made even worse. According to one recent analysis, the collective wealth of U.S. billionaires has risen by $1.8 trillion—62%—during the pandemic.
Wyden’s committee is in the process of crafting a tax plan of its own as Democrats race to compile their sprawling budget reconciliation package, which is expected to include major investments in green energy, healthcare, housing, and other key areas.
Specifically, Wyden and progressive organizations criticized the House Ways and Means Committee for failing to tackle a loophole that allows the ultra-wealthy to pass on massive fortunes to their heirs tax-free. Earlier this year, Biden released a tax plan that would close the loophole.
“It’s important to address the fact that billionaire heirs may never pay tax on billions in stock gains,” Wyden toldHuffPost on Monday. “The nurses, firefighters, and teachers who pay their taxes with every paycheck know the system is broken when billionaire heirs never pay tax on billions in stock gains.”
Steve Wamhoff, director of federal tax policy at the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), echoed Wyden’s concern, noting in an interview with the Washington Post that “if the Ways and Means plan was enacted as is, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk would still pay an effective rate of $0 on most of their income if they pass their assets on to their heirs.”
“It’s obviously a big improvement over the tax code we have now,” Wamhoff said of the House plan, “but there are a lot of things Biden suggested that would go a lot further.”
I agree with Chairman @RonWyden: we need to pass a bill that ensures that billionaires and corporations are finally paying their fair share. A wealth tax and my Real Corporate Profits Tax are two ways to get that done. https://t.co/xTtTQ8PGx2
On Tuesday, the progressive advocacy group Patriotic Millionaires made the House plan’s shortcomings the focus of a new mobile billboard campaign that features an image of Bezos—the richest man in the world—accompanied by the caption, “Oops! Missed me! (Thanks, Richie Neal!)”
“Richard Neal and the House Ways and Means Committee failed the president, failed the country, and failed history. It’s that simple,” Morris Pearl, chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, said in a statement. “This is not what the American people voted for when they elected Joe Biden as president.”
To remedy the proposal, the Patriotic Millionaires urged the House Democratic leadership to make several changes, including:
End the preferential tax rate for capital gains income over $1 million as President Biden requested. There is no intellectual or economic justification for working people in America to pay a higher tax rate than investors.
Eliminate the “stepped up basis” that allows the heirs of billionaires to avoid capital gains taxes on inherited assets (provide a reasonable exemption for family farms and small businesses). The committee’s failure to address this problem at all is particularly troubling.
End the Carried Interest Loophole which allows fund managers to mischaracterize their “ordinary” income as capital gain income for tax purposes. The Ways and Means proposal extends the hold time for investments to five years. Given that most private equity firms hold investments for six years, this change will have essentially zero effect. The loophole should be eliminated entirely.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), whose “Tax the Rich” dress at the lavish 2021 Met Gala made waves on social media, said Tuesday that “members of both parties have tried to halt taxing the wealthiest in our society” even after billionaires made enormous wealth gains during the pandemic.
“It’s unacceptable,” the New York Democrat added. “We must tax the rich.”
According to a June survey released by Americans for Tax Fairness, 72% of U.S. voters support closing “loopholes that let the wealthy avoid paying taxes on the profits from assets they transfer to heirs.” The poll also found that 62% of voters support raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.
The House Ways and Means Committee proposal would only raise the corporate rate to 26.5%.
As Chuck Collins and Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies argued in a blog post on Monday, “The public has a tremendous appetite to do much more to address the grotesque concentrations of democracy-distorting wealth and power—and to shut down the ways that billionaires and a few hundred global corporations manipulate our tax system.”
“House Democratic tax writers do not go far enough to raise revenue or reduce extreme wealth inequality,” Collins and Anderson wrote. “The tax reforms would generate an estimated $2.2 trillion—just barely more than the revenue lost due to the 2017 Republican tax cuts.”
Ask almost any billionaire how they got so obscenely rich and , invariably, you will get the response: “I just did what the law allows” or some convoluted version of that idea. Tax laws, property and financial regulations and structures, corporate stock options, Roth IRA tricks, all the tried and true methods outlined in a slate of recent articles from ProPublica and others are rightfully given credit for the insanely massive windfalls.
Not that these arrogant, self-centered sociopaths don’t jump at the chance to take credit for their “miraculous” good fortune, or even write books and “let” others write books about all the “genius” ideas and methods they used to conquer the universe.
Jeff Bezos is the most ridiculous example of this, literally dozens of books exist only to extol the virtues and genius of this a-hole that basically used one simple trick: selling dollar bills for .75 cents and using the stock market to “monetize” a trillion in intentional losses and turn them into “wealth”, to amass his absurd mountain of “worth”, yet if you read these books the central concept of his fraud doesn’t even get a mention.
Of course, 25 years later, the FTC and Lina Khan are finally beginning to wake up to the simple fact that, not only is the entire scam something that “ought-a-be-illegal”, but literally is illegal and always was, yet this comes across, so far, as a somewhat pathetic attempt to put a band-aid on the world after a nuclear holocaust has already devastated the planet.
When we say “tax the rich,” we mean nesting-doll yacht rich. For-profit prison rich. Betsy DeVos, student-loan-shark rich.
AOC used her beauty and a cheeky dress to highlight the issue of income inequality
Above: Photo / Wikipedia
AOC at the Met Gala styled herself in a “Tax the Rich” gown. The look on her was beautiful. The subject matter being broached couldn’t be uglier. Tax the rich a not a bad idea, but the system is so screwed up, and so far from any semblance of “fair”, that a few little pin pricks on trillions in undeserved holdings is basically meaningless.
How can it be said that the system is that far gone? It’s in the numbers and the proportions of “wealth”. The extremes of unequal wealth distribution have risen to levels so incredible, that it’s as if they are turning into an economic ouroboros dragon that will expand and swallow itself until it has devoured all life.
The increases, during the pandemic, for example, in the “net-worth” (which is in itself an obscene concept for measuring humans) of the worlds richest animals was like the replication of the virus the rest of us were fighting to avoid, most with too few resources to have any hope of being rescued by medical intervention, if we got infected.
This idea and proof of a system vastly out of balance can be seen everywhere you look…
In a recent, excellent, NYT article on Afghanistan multiple examples were cited illustrating who really “won” that endless war, and points out that it wasn’t the just Taliban. It was locals entrepreneurs and politicians who, early on, saw the opportunity for what it really was, a way to build personal fortunes supplying the US military with support and comfort during the endless, directionless morass.
Several examples were of people who began the war as local american sympathizers and ended up with fortunes hundreds of millions of USD and more, virtually none of which trickled into the local populations which, ostensibly, the war was meant to give a chance for “democratic freedom”. And capitalism.
Here’s a couple of paragraphs from the NYT article in full :
”Consider the case of Hikmatullah Shadman, who was just a teenager when American Special Forces rolled into Kandahar on the heels of Sept. 11. They hired him as an interpreter, paying him up to $1,500 a month — 20 times the salary of a local police officer, according to a profile of him in The New Yorker. By his late 20s, he owned a trucking company that supplied U.S. military bases, earning him more than $160 million.”
“If a small fry like Shadman could get so rich off the war on terror, imagine how much Gul Agha Sherzai, a big-time warlord-turned-governor, has raked in since he helped the C.I.A. run the Taliban out of town. His large extended family supplied everything from gravel to furniture to the military base in Kandahar. His brother controlled the airport. Nobody knows how much he is worth, but it is clearly hundreds of millions — enough for him to talk about a $40,000 shopping spree in Germany as if he were spending pocket change”
New York Times
Redistribution will likely only happen after the entire system collapses of its own stupidity
Hubris and pride before the fall is the reason that, when you read this, you’ll think perhaps this writer has lost his marbles. But the system is unsustainable in its current unequal, and increasingly unjust, form.
Sources: March 18, 2020 data: Forbes, “Forbes Publishes 34th Annual List Of Global Billionaires,” accessed March 18, 2020. August 17, 2021 data: Forbes, “The World’s Real-Time Billionaires, Today’s Winners and Losers,” accessed August 17, 2021.
Just one more ballooning of the one tenth of one percent and the system will be so out of balance, that only a total and complete realignment of reality will allow any kind of improvement in the distribution of resources.
In fact, the opposite outcome is far more likely, where to increase in the imbalance will continue ‘till there are no options, but for the current system to be drowned in its own orgy of self-congratulations.
The solutions that are out there, many even championed ironically and paradoxically by the very billionaires that sit on top of this mountain of inequality, could work. But a “penny tax” or some kind of gratuitous show of “generosity” by those that have wealth that, if the system were designed with any form of equal distribution, they would not, and could not, have, is less than nothing.
Similar to the climate conundrum, things will have to get worse, it appears, to engage and enrage people, and wake enough people up, to set a fire under enough people, to build to a tipping point toward real change. Fortunately, if you accept that inverted and convoluted logic, that day is very near.
The new Os’s are free and will be adopted fast if recent past is a guide
Apple has had a fairly predictable cycle for new iPhone releases and the yearly, free, software upgrades. If you use your apple devices for business or WFH like many, this ritual can be excruciating since you already know you will have to get your hands on the best new gadgets.
Nevertheless, with sky high prices for the best devices not going away, choosing when exactly to upgrade which devices can be a tricky process requiring skill, cunning and some serious bucks.
A lot of us see the iphone top-of-the-line product as a must upgrade either every cycle or every-other year if budgets are tight (and some years do seem like “off” years).
For iPads, various mac machines, Apple Watch, Apple TV and so on, there is more leeway and potential confusion. And for mac, there are times (like now!) when we all know the next iteration of various models (macbook Pro, mac mini, mac pro, iMac 27” +) are on the way but there is the unknown factor of what to pick and when-the-heck it can be ordered and shipped.
We all know there is a chip shortage, and with the Apple Silicon M1 potentially being upgraded for a slew of machines to the M1X, M2 or M2X as various rumors have discussed, the timeline is very uncertain.
The best things in life are free, software edition
All this leads us to the good, even very good, if obvious, news. iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey have been in public beta for some time now and, if history is a guide in this case, should be released publicly soon after the Apple Fall Event announcements on September 14th, regardless of what hardware is coming down the pike, or in what particular order.
Generally the hard date for the new OS systems to be public available is the date that any new hardware, always optimized for the new OS, hits the street and becomes deliverable.
Sometimes certain iPhone models, such as the very high end Pro Max, etc., are delayed, but whichever model ships first that device should also be shipped with the Golden Master of the new operating system, iOS 15 in this case.
This is not 100% guaranteed, as nothing in like and Apple releases is 100%, but this looks extremely likely. Therefore we could and should see the new iOS and macOS going live publicly soon, possibly this week.
What to watch our for and expect, besides great new features and work-flows
Often in the past, a “Golden Master” release has been followed within a day or two with an update patching issues that arise once a mass “test” has revealed flaws and weaknesses in the initial public version.
This is nothing to worry about, as per past experiences, but if you are someone that gets easily annoyed by constantly updating, you could wait a week or so to bypass these intermediate “patch fix” versions.
Also, since with Apple, as opposed to Android, the adoption rate for people to upgrade quickly to the newest versions of the OS is extremely high there will be a sea change in the air. That means that within a few weeks up to a billion devices, or more, could be running the newest OS systems across all the various devices in the wild.
This is great news, because some of the best features in all the new software upgrades function best with various devices within an iCloud account or family group and, in some cases, between two devices anywhere interacting, as long as they both have the newest systems.
The best new features are only going to get better after the launch, more so even than usual; here’s why
During our tests of the various systems, first in the developer-only phase and then in the more recent public beta, one thing was a small annoyance that, after the full launch, will instead become a huge plus.
When operating within a company, for example, and in some cases with multiple devices on the same iCloud account, there have been a lot of glitches related to how the Big Sur devices interact with the macOS Monterey devices, or an iPhone with iOS 14 and one with iOS 15 function in tandem.
This is because, more so than in any previous upgrade cycle, this system focuses on virtually every built in app that is bundled with the OS, like photos, mail, messages, notes, FaceTime, reminders, calendar, contacts, voice memos, etc, etc, etc.
There are so many, with so many upgrades it is hard to make a list, as above, of what they are all called and what they do. In the best Apple fashion, they “just work” and we tend to take them for granted.
In case you ever wanted to know the complete list (for iOS 15) we have added it at the bottom of this post.
These apps are pretty much all getting big upgrades in iOS 15, along with a similar situation happening for iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey, TVOS, WatchOS etc. The difference this time is that they are being actively designed to become more and more interoperable and interactive between devices and system software types.
The big picture is extreme big, much wild, and will be quite a ride…
This is a huge push that will go on for years. We call it the Apple System Singularity. And it is a big deal!
It will, ultimately, create a kind of seamless clarity of function between your devices, particularly the mobile or semi-mobil variety, such as iPhones and iPads, and the slightly less mobile (laptops, desktops) of the macOS variety.
Meaning that the ultimate transition that is being made possible through the switch to Apple Silicon and that a whole new concept philosophy and structure of the device hardware and software. And it’s all being created via the interaction and potential synergies coming available and these are being maximized during the process.
All of this is not to mention machine learning, neural networks, A.I. and all the interactive hardware and software upgrades that are now nearly continuous and happening without a user to intervene.
An example of this is in the photos app where various library functions, a.i. object and facial recognition, search cataloguing, etc. are continuous while you sleep. Another example is how iCloud manages data and storage across your devices regardless of geography or proximity 24/7/365.
Welcome to the first phase of this with the first devices incorporating Apple Silicon across all product lines being harmonized more and more via, guess what, the free system upgrades.
These upgrades will yield maximum fruit in the short term after the world wide population of devices adopts the new systems, and longer term, as more and more devices out of the total are already using and maximizing performance and features by having Apple Silicon and other associated hardware & software upgrades under the hood.
Rest assured, while this sounds complicated, and there will be glitches, the transition starting this fall, and over the life of iOS15, iPadOS15 and macOS Monterey (around a year as usual!) will be one of continuous change, improvement and discovery, unlike any you have seen in the history of Apple.
This time, however, could be especially telling, as the top-secret memoir is coming from ex-Trump and Melania aide, Stephanie Grisham. According to Axios, who was first to report of the upcoming text, cited from a publishing source that the book would reveal “surprising new scandals”.
From candid comments it appears that is a gross understatement. One close associate of Grisham’s told Axios:
“When I heard this, all I could think about was Stephanie surrounded by a lake of gasoline, striking a match with a grin on her face.”
former West Wing colleague, quoted in Axios
Grisham has served as aide to former First Lady Melania Trump, as Chief of Staff, and as an aide to Trump as his White House Press Secretary and Communications Director.
Her job in the White House as a press person was to make sure she was in the know of what was happening and therefore got to see the personal side of the Trumps’ that rarely any staffers get to see.
Again, a former West Wing colleague, quoted in Axios: “There isn’t enough water on earth to contain the fire she could set to all of Trump world, including parts like the first lady’s orbit, which not many people are in a position to illuminate.”
Based on sources given to CNN, Grisham’s book will most likely include some of the bigger Trump headlines like the allegations of sexual misconduct and effects of the Stormy Daniels case.
Latest trailer shows the rise and bloody road of greatest crime family
The revival of the “The Sopranos”, the hit HBO series, that most recently seen on our screens 14 years ago, in 2014, is about the reemerge. The prequel “ The Many Saints of Newark” is scheduled for dual release in theaters and simultaneously streaming on HBO Max (for 31 days) starting on October 1st.
The movie will focus on young Anthony (Tony) Soprano coming to age in Newark during a tumultuous era in history, as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the notorious and all powerful DiMeo crime family.
Fans will see how Tony’s relationship with his uncle Dicki Moltisanti, and his influence, ultimately helps to create the bad-ass mob boss he will later become.
In the new new trailer, fans get to see young Soprano played by James Gandolfini’s real-life (!) son Michael who will step into the shoes of his father’s very iconic role.
It is unclear is this will hit big with Soprano’s lovers, of which there are still many, and become a satisfying extension of the series. The origins of such an iconic and fleshed out character is a challenge, yet the amazing possibility to cast the (deceased) Gandolfini’s son lends an air of authentic to the production that could hardly be accomplished in any other way.
Imagine, one day a weeks long binge of the entire prequel, followed by the full six seasons of the original series. Can’t wait…
Other cast include: Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Bernthal, Corey Stoll, Billy Magnussen, Michela De Rossi, Vera Farmiga, Ray Liotta and John Magaro.
The return of the Matrix, and in particular Neo and Trinity, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, respectively, is looking like more than a resurrection, and that’s already a lot. The teaser for the upcoming full trailer (tomorrow at 6am PDT if you want to set your alarm) is clearly in the full spirit and classic vision of the original hit. Lana Wachowski at the helm, solo this time, appears to have brought the 4th edition of the franchise into total sync with the debut, by far the best of the series.
Photo credit: Warner Bros. / screengrab
And both Neo, looking, just like Keanu a lifetime removed and yet the same, and Trinity appear to be aiding the cause by bringing a kind of effortless perfection to the cast – No need to mention John Wick or any intervening saga, this is a continuation, or more aptly, a resurrection of what was so amazing in the time, place spirit of that original film.
Photo credit: Warner Bros. / screengrab
And, if you are old enough to have seen ‘The Matrix” in a theater in 1999, perhaps in Hollywood, CA, you would be involuntarily reflecting on how much more like the Matrix the world has become in the intervening 22 years. Today we have Elon Musk musing openly about the likelihood that the universe is a simulation of AI (sound like the Matrix to you?)
And the Metaverse is being hailed as just around the corner, and if that’s the case can our own Matrix be far behind? Perhaps we are already there?
“The strongest argument for us being in a simulation, probably being in a simulation, is the following: 40 years ago, we had Pong, two rectangles and a dot…That is what games were. Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, augmented reality. If you assume any rate of improvement at all, the games will become indistinguishable from reality.” –Elon Musk
Photo credit: Warner Bros. / screengrab
And then there’s “Dead Internet Theory” which posits that the internet “died” in around 2017 and what’s left are the skeletal remains of what was and nothing of what could have been. Sounds like a cause to fight against and escape from a la Neo and Trinity? And what is more romantic than the idea of a reunion, thanks to resurrections, of that duo back in the mix, fighting what appears to be a similar and yet further evolved battle of fake real vs real dystopia and lost innocence? Familiar?
If the teaser campaign to promote the trailer which is itself to promote the film says anything it says, with effortless simplicity that there is a fidelity to the original and a progression in time, clear from the protagonists physical instruments, that is fully absorbed into the update.
A thread like an unbroken through line, connecting the 1999 moment anew, yet absorbing the intervening changes to the fictional worlds of artifice within the films and to a third, that we, the audience, have grown with bringing us to December 22, 2021.
The BLUE PILL:
The blue pill leads to a very different series of flashed images, depicting, presumable, the journey of Neo in the Matrix simulation world it self, as in the original. While the story is known and some of this, like the Dojo scenes below, are very beautiful, classic recreations of the original training sequences with Lawrence Fishburne, the similarity only serves to pique our curiosity all the more regarding the resurrection story and how it differs this time around.
Once more the set, while perhaps not 100% identical, and, of course, likely to befit from advances in digital filmmaking, evokes so perfectly the spirit of the original that the experience, best case in a live movie theater (!) of vicariously “being there” is already a tantalizing proposition.
And Neo / Keanu, appears to have everything he displayed as a man 22 years younger in his physical presence and that alone tells a story within the story.
Naturally, some images produce more curiosity and questions than they answer, even when a still frame is isolated and studied. There is a particularly interesting interaction with the rooftop crowd in this case (above) and the image begs the question: will Neo lead uprisings both within the Matrix and the revolutions in the “real” world?
What kinds of mental challenges and trickery will a more mature Neo encounter while in the Matrix? This shot also produces mystery and begs for speculation regarding the script and how the various logical and illogical pathways will be traversed.
Multiple flash frames do confirm that a romantic adventure and escape will extend the story of Neo & Trinity, and that, while perfectly fitting, also appears to be something that could add more interest on a level above the intervening sequels (2 & 3). For all these reasons and many more, it does look like the buzz and building anticipation will start here and just keep growing until we all have a chance to experience the film in its entirety. On December 22, 2021 either in the Theater (best!) or on HBO Max for subscribers.
Another example of the fantastic potential of re-uniting the Director / Writer with much of the cast and perhaps even crew and locations. This still (above) looks interestingly like the rooftop where the famous bullet-time sequence was made. Perhaps the same location or just digitally re-created, still the spirit of the original already can be seen shining through even in the set design and location management.
If anything, it feels like there is a depth and poignancy to the characters, the images and the implied story that extends and deepens the original, as a great sequel should do. For once it’s as if the maturity of the main stars in the cast is not an obstacle to manage or navigate but a built in feature.
The images will be extended no doubt, with tomorrow’s full trailer and, perhaps take the already building anticipation to the next level.
Thank you to Warner Bros. for the still frames and for not minding that we penned this love letter to the series, it’s cast, crew, director and producers.
The Teaser of the teaser has your brain in the Matrix x 180,000
Photo credit: Warner Bros. / screengrab
The return of the Matrix, and in particular Neo and Trinity, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, respectively, is looking like more than a resurrection, and that’s already a lot. The teaser for the upcoming full trailer (tomorrow at 6am PDT if you want to set your alarm) is clearly in the full spirit and classic vision of the original hit. Lana Wachowski at the helm, solo this time, appears to have brought the 4th edition of the franchise into total sync with the debut, by far the best of the series.
Photo credit: Warner Bros. / screengrab
And both Neo, looking, just like Keanu a lifetime removed and yet the same, and Trinity appear to be aiding the cause by bringing a kind of effortless perfection to the cast – No need to mention John Wick or any intervening saga, this is a continuation, or more aptly, a resurrection of what was so amazing in the time, place spirit of that original film.
Photo credit: Warner Bros. / screengrab
And, if you are old enough to have seen ‘The Matrix” in a theater in 1999, perhaps in Hollywood, CA, you would be involuntarily reflecting on how much more like the Matrix the world has become in the intervening 22 years. Today we have Elon Musk musing openly about the likelihood that the universe is a simulation of AI (sound like the Matrix to you?)
And the Metaverse is being hailed as just around the corner, and if that’s the case can our own Matrix be far behind? Perhaps we are already there?
“The strongest argument for us being in a simulation, probably being in a simulation, is the following: 40 years ago, we had Pong, two rectangles and a dot…That is what games were. Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it’s getting better every year. And soon we’ll have virtual reality, augmented reality. If you assume any rate of improvement at all, the games will become indistinguishable from reality.” –Elon Musk
Photo credit: Warner Bros. / screengrab
And then there’s “Dead Internet Theory” which posits that the internet “died” in around 2017 and what’s left are the skeletal remains of what was and nothing of what could have been. Sounds like a cause to fight against and escape from a la Neo and Trinity? And what is more romantic than the idea of a reunion, thanks to resurrections, of that duo back in the mix, fighting what appears to be a similar and yet further evolved battle of fake real vs real dystopia and lost innocence? Familiar?
If the teaser campaign to promote the trailer which is itself to promote the film says anything it says, with effortless simplicity that there is a fidelity to the original and a progression in time, clear from the protagonists physical instruments, that is fully absorbed into the update.
A thread like an unbroken through line, connecting the 1999 moment anew, yet absorbing the intervening changes to the fictional worlds of artifice within the films and to a third, that we, the audience, have grown with bringing us to December 22, 2021.
The BLUE PILL:
The blue pill leads to a very different series of flashed images, depicting, presumable, the journey of Neo in the Matrix simulation world it self, as in the original. While the story is known and some of this, like the Dojo scenes below, are very beautiful, classic recreations of the original training sequences with Lawrence Fishburne, the similarity only serves to pique our curiosity all the more regarding the resurrection story and how it differs this time around.
Once more the set, while perhaps not 100% identical, and, of course, likely to befit from advances in digital filmmaking, evokes so perfectly the spirit of the original that the experience, best case in a live movie theater (!) of vicariously “being there” is already a tantalizing proposition.
And Neo / Keanu, appears to have everything he displayed as a man 22 years younger in his physical presence and that alone tells a story within the story.
Naturally, some images produce more curiosity and questions than they answer, even when a still frame is isolated and studied. There is a particularly interesting interaction with the rooftop crowd in this case (above) and the image begs the question: will Neo lead uprisings both within the Matrix and the revolutions in the “real” world?
What kinds of mental challenges and trickery will a more mature Neo encounter while in the Matrix? This shot also produces mystery and begs for speculation regarding the script and how the various logical and illogical pathways will be traversed.
Multiple flash frames do confirm that a romantic adventure and escape will extend the story of Neo & Trinity, and that, while perfectly fitting, also appears to be something that could add more interest on a level above the intervening sequels (2 & 3). For all these reasons and many more, it does look like the buzz and building anticipation will start here and just keep growing until we all have a chance to experience the film in its entirety. On December 22, 2021 either in the Theater (best!) or on HBO Max for subscribers.
Another example of the fantastic potential of re-uniting the Director / Writer with much of the cast and perhaps even crew and locations. This still (above) looks interestingly like the rooftop where the famous bullet-time sequence was made. Perhaps the same location or just digitally re-created, still the spirit of the original already can be seen shining through even in the set design and location management.
If anything, it feels like there is a depth and poignancy to the characters, the images and the implied story that extends and deepens the original, as a great sequel should do. For once it’s as if the maturity of the main stars in the cast is not an obstacle to manage or navigate but a built in feature.
The images will be extended no doubt, with tomorrow’s full trailer and, perhaps take the already building anticipation to the next level.
Thank you to Warner Bros. for the still frames and for not minding that we penned this love letter to the series, it’s cast, crew, director and producers.
A post on the celebrity’s instagram stories back in June is now getting some unwelcome attention from the head of U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority Charles Randell.
Randall called out Kim Kardashian West, in particular, in a speech to the Cambridge International Symposium on Economics Crime as he discussed risks in crypto and the needs for token regulation.
Here’s an excerpt from his speech: “Which brings me on to Kim Kardashian West. When she was recently paid to ask her 250 million Instagram followers to speculate on crypto tokens by ’joining the Ethereum Max Community‘, it may have been the financial promotion with the single biggest audience reach in history.”
The concern is that her ad could have easily been confused with Ethereum.”Ethereum Max” is a newer token created by unknown developers. More importantly the price peak, to date, for the not-ethereum coin coincided with Kim’s Instagram ad going live. She is rumored to receive up to $1 million or more per Instagram post.
Despite the name and the similar look of the logo, its is not affiliated with any of the developers behind the already well established Ethereum digital currency known as “Ether” or ETH.
Not only that, but her massive payday for boosting the coin coincided with a price crash for the token immediately thereafter. A classic pump-and-dump scenario.
It is unknown if the E-Max founders and her client, or even she herself “double-dipped” and sold on the bump she and her ad orchestrated, but that, along with the potential victims that bought at the high and subsequently were left holding the bag, are exactly what the questions are all about.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) cautioned against “hype” in the marketing of cryptocurrencies, particularly new tokens backed by celebrities that may end up being fake, as reported in The Guardian.
This is where is the big issue arises since this problem is a fairly common one, generally because crypto names are sometimes not copyrighted, and therefore there can be many look-a-likes, and these can often be riddled with higher risks, etc.
The speculative token hasn’t officially been deemed a scam, however it is quite common for social media influencers to get paid large sums of money by the developers of scam products and services, with little regard to those being “scammed” (that is to say, the general public targeted with the ads) or the total amounts of money lost in “pump-and-dump” schemes.
Apple teased the announcement with a cool AR demo “Easter egg”
Apple announced that on September 14 at 10am Pacific Time., it would hold the long speculated, much anticipated, highly awaited annual September product reveal event. Invites were sent out for its annual launch, which many believe is going to be the day the company will unveil new products, such as the iPhone 13.
If the next iPhone is revealed, it is also likely Apple will share the release or release date for iOS 15, there is already the Public Beta 8 version available.
Although there has been no confirmation on exactly what will be announced at the event, some have speculated, based on the invite, there could be upgrades to photography, especially night mode. Other projects in progress could make an appearance, including, the next generation Apple Watch Series 7 or its newest version of AirPods.
Apple’s SVP Marketing head, Greg Joswiak tweeted a video showing the AR Easter egg announcing the event to be streamed on Apple’s website. Since the start of the pandemic, the company has held virtual-only events. A cool little Easter egg, if you view the event website , using an iPhone or iPad, you can tap on the Apple logo to open up the AR viewers and see the 3D logo move around in the world to whatever is in the background of your camera.
In this new release, Sally Rooney harnesses Friendship and Coming of Age
Her new novel follows young Alice, Felix, Eileen and Simon. Alice is a young novelist who meets a warehouse worker Felix and on a whim invites him to travel to Rome alongside her.
Alice’s best friend Eileen is reeling over a recent break-up, while also flirting with Simon, whom she has known since childhood.
The four young adults are going through the motions but life is catching up with them, the book is largely based on email correspondence between the friends as they talk about life and all things relationships: love, sex, breakups, betrayals, ect.
The author that brought readers Normal People and Conversation with Friends, “Beautiful World, Where Are You” are sure to bring the drama that easily comes along with growing up.
Rooney’s book is out starting September 7, 2021 and is available at Bookshop or Amazon.
Above: Photo by Michael Krahn on Unsplash with elements added by Lynxotic
Coming after a frenzied run-up the hand wringing is no surprise
On the big El Salvador day for Bitcoin to go live, for the first time as legal tender, naturally there were glitches. And the predictions for crypto in general and Bitcoin in particular to surge on the news were, backwards.
The longstanding stock market adage “buy on rumor, sell on news” once more proved itself as what is now being called a “crypto flash crash” knocked around $400 billion off the market cap of the previous 24 hour period, or almost 12%, as per CoinMarketCap at the time of this writing.
The president of El Salvador announced that his government used the dip to buy an additional 150 Bitcoin, above the 400 he had announced on the previous day, bringing the total to 550.
From CoinMarketCap:The global crypto market cap is $2.07T, a 11.91% decrease over the last day
The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $227.12B, which makes a 66.15%increase.
The total volume in DeFi is currently $30.41B, 13.39% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.
The volume of all stable coins is now $179.83B, which is 79.18% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.
Bitcoin’s price is currently $46,893.62.
Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 42.55%, an increase of 1.17% over the day.
By 3:30 PM ET on Tuesday Bitcoin bounced back, the “discount” ended, for now, and recovered to around $47,000 after dipping to $42,870. The recent highroad been $52,732, with the all time high from April still intact above $63,000.
I many ways it seems as if Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies appeared suddenly in 2021 out of the head of Zeus. Protean and fully formed, with billions and trillions in market caps, and all your sisters, brothers, cousins and even the Uber driver climbing aboard.
And the FOMO blog posts, where every hour an innocent reader is assaulted by a story, perhaps true, perhaps exaggerated and certainly foolhardy in retrospect, of an innocent putting their life savings into Dogecoin and suddenly having, theoretically, huge gains at their disposal.
Meanwhile, craggy faced, ancient stock market mavens would interject famous last words that now appear to be wise. However, all that notwithstanding, this week’s crash is nothing new or unexpected.
In reality, as can be seen from the graphic below, provided by Visual Capitalist, there have been so may crashes / corrections and doomsday prognostications since 2012 in Bitcoin that it seems like a miracle the there’s any thing such as Crypto at all.
There’s a reason it’s not dead and it’s in the DNA
The resiliency, far from a shock to those that have been around more than a fortnight, is kinda the point. When Satoshi Nakamoto built the system architecture of Bitcoin and since then inspired the over 8000 new crypto entities that have been developed, it was, just like the internet itself that was build to survive WWIII, supposed to be as indestructible as possible.
Like physical gold, which is considered have been adopted as a store of value partly due to its indestructibility and immutability (alchemy notwithstanding) the volatility and sometimes violent-seeming life story of Bitcoin is a necessary adjust to its role in finance, commerce and even individual monetary survival.
Not for the faint of heart, perhaps
While the mainstream and those forces opposed to the adoption or survival of Bitcoin and Crypto are out in force pointing to the “unsuitability” of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for any “legitimate” use as a trade or savings vehicle, the progress so far, in spite of the obvious fact that volatility has always been baked in to the situation, is an obvious refutation of that viewpoint.
Will the current drop in dollar values relative to Bitcoin end it’s popularity and strip it of the respect it has thusfrar earned among many? In a word, no. In essence what is happening is, as many have foretold, what happens often and repeatedly, the excess attention and dollars that were pumped into crypto by you brother, sister, cousin and Uber driver are now getting blown out, since those were more speculation and psychosis than any kind of vote for viability or permanency.
And, why not? Where was to concern, shock and hesitation by the masses when the prices seemed to only rise for weeks and even months across so many products and coins it was impossible to keep count? Why was to feeding frenzy and the mania-like piling on not ignored as an anomaly?
The herd does as the herd will do. Diamond hands and Paper hands will ebb and flow as long as the rivers flow to the sea and humans herd like buffalo. And, in all likelihood, dollars and euros and yen will be long forgotten when the last bitcoin is transferred to the final wallet in the sky.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Lynxotic does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
El Salvador has officially legalized bitcoin as legal tender (alongside the U.S. dollar which is the country’s current national currency) starting today; September 7, 2021.
The day before the big day, President Nayib Bukele announced El Salvador had purchased 200 Bitcoins and later in the day confirmed that “we now hold 400 bitcoins”. Given the current market prices, the country’s recent bitcoin purchases amount to roughly $20.8 million.
In June this year, El Salvador’s Congress voted 62 out of 84 votes to establish the crypto coin as legal tender. This will make the small country is Central America the first in the world to recognize bitcoin as an official form of currency.
In a subsequent tweet Bukele’s translated tweet said
Like all innovation, the process of #Bitcoin in El Salvador it has a learning curve. Every road to the future is like this and not everything will be achieved in a day, or in a month.
But we must break the paradigms of the past. El Salvador has the right to advance towards the first world.
-President of El Salvador – Nayib Bukele
Bitcoin climbed nearly 2% to more than $52,680 as of Sept 6, and according to a market analyst with Reuters the cryptocurrency is on track to reach $56,000.
Salvadorians will now have the ability to use the digital coin in exchange for goods and services, and as an accepted form of tax payments by the government. Bitcoin is actually the second legal tender in El Salvador, with the US Dollar also having that status since 2001.
Upon its adoption, users who register with the country’s government supported Bitcoin wallet called Chivo will be awarded with $30 worth of currency pre-loaded (must have a Salvadorian national ID number).
The overall impetus for legalizing bitcoin officially is, according to experts, that savings that will be possible for citizens to receive remittances – transfers, until now in US dollars, without intermediaries and the large fees they charge for international transfers.
Remittances account for more than 20% of GDP for El Salvador – mainly in the form of dollars sent by the approximately 1.5 million ex-patriots living abroad and wiring payments to families in El Salvador.
Western Union, for example, handles these transactions and charges a hefty fee. And those fees would represent a percentage (for small remittances up to 10%) of $5.9 Billion per year that flows into the small country from abroad, mostly from the United Stated, according to World Bank data.
Although there has been a lot of political rhetoric and expressions of opinion against the move, such an obvious adversary as the international wire transfer interests, like Western Union, and the large income from fees that may begin to dry up starting today, could easily explain at least a portion of the well represented opposition opinion.
That being said, the now famous price swings of Bitcoin do represent a real risk for people hoping to transfer directly into the country. Another risk is losing the coin due to lack of experience handling a digital currency, by people who are more likely to know the feel of paper dollars than digital screens, cryptocurrency exchanges and virtual wallets.
For observers, both crypto adherents and detractors, this is a very important opportunity to see what kinds of practical obstacles will arise and what benefits are realized by the El Salvadoran people.
It is also a kind of warning to those in governments, including in the U.S., that hope to stop Bitcoin’s seemingly inexorable rise, and to prevent what they perceive as threats to the public, and perhaps, to the U.S. dollar’s previously unchallenged hegemony.
The news that 400 Bitcoins were purchased by El Salvador was, naturally seen as a positive by the Bitcoin trading community, and there has been speculation of further pricing strength likely continuing going forward.
On the utopian dream side, various experiments have recently been announced related to Bitcoin and crypto. For example, in El Salvador there are emerging plans to make Bitcoin mining a state run operation with power being supplied by geothermal energy drawn from the country’s volcanos. How’s that for cheap, renewable resources?
A town in the U.S., fittingly called Cool Valley, MO has a mayor who recently announced that the city government is considering making payments to all residents of 1000 in Bitcoin. In this case, the idea behind the plan is to give citizens a crypto nest-egg, and the holders would be barred from selling, with the hope that, in the event the currency continues its exponential climb, the residents would benefit from holding it as an appreciating capital asset.
Which leads to the observation that, over the last few years, a fog of confusion appears to hang above the media regarding coverage of cryptocurrencies.
Price speculation is off the charts and there’s a kind of mania afoot. But the biggest confusion seems to come from one simple truth, that the U.S. dollar has gone only in one direction for more than 100 years, since the Federal Reserve was established in December 1913, down.
Against any measure of buying power for goods and services the dollar is continuously worth less, far less, on a yearly basis.
Although many headlines scream “Crypto and Bitcoin are Worthless” the same could be said of the U.S. dollar, in relative terms, against a basket of goods and services which is the traditional measure of “inflation” and against other assets, for example, now that Bitcoin provides a second measuring tool, dollars are worth less over time against bitcoin.
With prominent people and companies around the world and in the U.S. already supporting the idea of Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies with their dollars and by choosing to hold crypto, it will be very interesting to see what transpires as these “currency wars” mutate and expand around the globe.
Colton Whitehead’s Complex and Charismatic characters tiptoeing on the fringes of Crime
The novel is set in 1960s Harlem and follows Ray Carney, a man that leads a double life. He is a family man, a furniture salesman living in a tiny apartment with his wife Elizabeth and are expecting their second child.
Not many people are aware that Ray comes from a line of uptown crooks. He occasions gets drop-ins from his cousin Freddie who will occasionally drop off a hot ring or necklace to Ray to see for him to appraise.
As he struggles to make ends meet and the bills continuing to build up, he finds himself stumbling fast into the crime world, navigating gangsters, heists and shakedowns.
“Harlem Shuffle” is from Pulitzer Prize Award winning author Colson Whitehead that brought readers “The Nickel Boys” and “The Underground Railroad”.
Equal parts thriller yet hilarious, it’s a “family saga masquerading as a crime novel”, speaking also to the social makeup of race and power, and ultimately a love letter to New York City and especially Harlem.
The book is available for pre-order now and will be published September 14, 2021. Available at Bookshop and Amazon.
What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow
The new episodes will be based on the best-seller fantasy series of the same name (15 books in total) by author Robert Jordan. His first book came out back in 1990 and longtime fans of series have been excited to finally see the screen-adaptation come to life.
Within the trailer you can hear the opening words that are found in Book # 1 of the series “ The Eye of the World”, which emphasizes the cyclical nature of the world (events circle again and again on the wheel of time with important characters reincarnated/reborn through out different times).
“The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again…”
Amazon Prime Video released its official teaser trailer and now there is finally action related to this beloved theme!
In the short video clip, fans are swept into the dangers that await the characters, and we see magic, particularly lots of women (a group named the Aes Sedai) using magic, which is called the ‘One Power’ that helps to keep the world in place.
The Aes Sedai, let by the powerful sorcerer played by Rosamund Pike arrive in a town called Two Rivers where they embark with small group to find the Dragon Reborn, whom is prophesied to be the one who will either save or destroy humanity.
Showrunner Rafe Judkin describes the upcoming series as a the “connective tissue between Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones”. I think even “Shadow and Bone” kind of vibes as well as I watched.
Also there are rumors circling that Amazon Prime will not likely be the only place where fans will get a taste of “The Wheel of Time” , there are also reports that a movie, or rather set of movies (trilogy) is also in the works called “Age of Legends” and will complement the series as a sort of prequel to the novel saga.
Amazon Prime Video plan is currently for a scheduled release of “The Wheel of Time” on November 19.
New features in the pipeline along with the new iteration of the hit timepiece
The next version of the Apple Watch (Series 7) is expected to be released in the coming weeks, and the WSJ reported that the company is currently working on additional health-related features and improvements for the smartwatch. While it is not certain that these to be included in Series 7, there is no doubt that they are coming, either as a software or hardware update.
Apple is already known for many of its current health conscious features, including the well known Exercise rings and Fitness App, as well as the ability to check your heart rate for irregularity with its electrocardiogram and check your Blood Oxygen levels with a Series 6.
One of the new capabilities that may be coming to your Apple Watch will include measuring blood-pressure which would prompt a user when their BP levels are too high (or increasing in rate). This can influence behavior, diet or give you a warning to seek medical attention is the reading is extreme, for example.
When Apple does roll out this feature, it could be a game changer (or rather a life-saver), as hundreds of millions of Americans suffer from high blood pressure and / or hypertension. The condition leads to almost half a million deaths a year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another feature said to be in the works is targeted towards females, a thermometer to help with fertility planning. Bloomberg also reported earlier of Apple’s additional health goals to add blood-sugar sensors to help those with diabetes monitor glucose levels.
A useful, even sometimes addictive health aid, which is a good thing
Those who have an Apple Watch can likely attest to its effectiveness in promoting health and well being, particularly around exercise and weight control. The recent addition of of medical features, that in some cases have directly contributed to lives being saved, appear to be a high priority at the giant tech company.
Although it is tantalizing to speculate on the incredible features yet to be added to the device, it will take time for the technological innovations and solutions to be developed in order to make these possible.
Apple has some very ambitious improvements they want to add to its Watch, however there is no official timeline that has been announced and most likely will not be expected before 2022.
Her next book continues to share her expertise on the ways of courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy
In her upcoming new book “Atlas of the Heart”, Dr. Brené maps out both an actionable framework and the necessary skills to make meaningful connections.
By using her 20 year experience in the field, Brown is able to artfully explain to readers the journey of our emotions and experiences and how jointly the two help define what it means to be a human being.
The connection with others, being brave and sharing vulnerable moments she believes in the true language of the human experience.
Finding our way back to ourselves and each other, especially in the midst of uncertainty, anxiety and fear – building confidence, courage to walk along side people
Her book is coming out at the very important time, still in the midst of the pandemic when many of us have been very disconnected.
Brown shares, “I want this book to be an atlas for all of us, because I believe that, with an adventurous heart and the right maps, we can travel anywhere and never fear losing ourselves.”
I can’t link to a particular article explaining it because most of what’s out there is misleading. The truth is that nobody knows. The term comes from various science fiction sources, the most recent and least accurate is from “Ready Player One”.
The general idea of that book & film example is a future scenario where many, particularly the young, spend endless hours logged into a shared virtual reality game-like scenario where they can create a unique identity, via 3D avatars, and can interact in a realistic, yet magical, virtual reality environment.
There are many individuals and companies, such as Facebook that are advocating a link from the current online “world” to this type of “enhanced” 3D interactive “metaverse”. They even use the term and try to define its meaning based on their “vision” for the future of social media and the internet.
Zuckerberg monopolizing the Metaverse before it even exists?
The problem is, they are almost certainly wrong in this future prediction. The metaverse is already here, albeit in a very primitive form, where it will lead and what it will eventually turn into is completely open and up to all who inhabit it now and going forward.
The problem is, they are almost certainly wrong in this future prediction. The metaverse is already here, albeit in a very primitive form; where it will lead and what it will eventually become is completely open, and up to all who inhabit it now and going forward.
Elon Musk once said “We are all already Cyborgs” referring to the way cell phones (and for Tesla owners the onboard computer in their cars) extend our senses in a nearly continuous manner. We really can’t live the digital life most of us currently lead without our technological enhancements via hand-held (for now) computing.
Since this progression from the primitive early internet and web to the current, still primitive, phase of work-from-home and zoom business and education the is a continuous extension of our “world” into an artificial computer-aided meta-universe that is slowly becoming more responsive to our unspoken needs and wants.
“our electric global networks now begin to simulate the condition of our central nervous system. But a con-scious computer would still be one that was an extension of our consciousness, as a telescope is an extension of our eyes, or as a ventriloquist’s dummy is an extension of the ventriloquist.
Marshall Mcluhan, from “Understanding Media, pg. 388
What are “Dark Patterns”
Another recently coined term, dark patterns, has come to mean the ways that software designers use user interfaces to influence behavior and elicit a desired outcome, such as clicking a “buy button”.
Another way to imagine it is the digital equivalent to the grocery store designs that put necessities and staples like milk & eggs as far away as possible from the entrance, to try and entice impulse buying, while filling the check-out aisles with candy and other low cost / high margin goodies.
“We drive into the future using only our rearview mirror”
Marshall Mcluhan
The disconnect in this analogy is that people intuitively believe that the digital dark patters are less powerful and have less impact since they operate in cyberspace, while in fact is that the ability to manipulate behavior is much, much more powerful in the digital realm.
The “Dead Internet Conspiracy Theory” is just reality bumping into the truth
A recent article in the Atlantic noted the existence of the theory, and concluded that, though it had a ring of truth, ultimately the fact that this theory, on an obscure web page was possible to find, meant that the internet is not dead, and therefore the theory is invalid.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The rise of Dark Patterns, even as the devices we use and the sites we surf to and exist inside of (like Facebook) are evolving, and the endless self-inflating systems and algorithms that surround us are literally killing the internet and destroying our digital lives.
Infanticide would be a more accurate term, perhaps, since we are all baby cyborgs of the pre-metaverse and have barely had a chance to live, while these powers expand endlessly into a death-machine for our extended consciousness.
Infanticide would be a more accurate term, perhaps, since we are all baby cyborgs of the pre-metaverse and have barely had a chance to live, while these powers expand endlessly into a death-machine for our extended consciousness.
The internet is currently on life-support, because the one thing that it is innately predisposed toward, the enhancement and amplification of human interconnected communication, is at odds with the corporate goals of the gatekeepers, mainly Amazon, Facebook and Google.
Free and open communication, coupled with ever evolving and improving upgrades to the software of our lives, is nearly extinct, before it has even begun, due to this infinite conflict of interest.
Algorithms define our lives, the Metaverse is already our home and Dark Patterns follow us everywhere
The above, a dramatically described and yet painfully obvious truth, is what has even the US government, in the form of the FTC and its chair, Lina Khan, looking at antitrust remedies for the economic devastation that has been caused by the dead internet paradox.
And it has inspired legions of blockchain and coding resistance fighters to start the long process of finding a way to launch WW3, and other independent ways to connect humans using computers that are in are pockets, in our living rooms, and perhaps soon, implanted in our bodies.
Another example is Pi, a new and upcoming cryptocurrency, based on a future where a billion people will be mining and sharing the proceeds equitably using cell phones, and since they will all be connected via the mining software, the realization of this goal would automatically create, for a billion people worldwide, an alternative network, one without gatekeepers to block people from freely interacting with each other.
Oddly, it is the dim realization that the internet is, in fact, already dead in its current form, that will lead to the changes that will ultimately bring about a digital communication revolution, one that will make WWW1 look like a mistake from a primitive and misguided time.
Oddly, it is the dim realization that the internet is, in fact, already dead in its current form, that will lead to the changes that will bring about a digital communication revolution, one that will make WWW1 look like a mistake from a primitive and misguided time.
Anything, and anyone, that can wake us up to what we lack, and what we are missing, in our digital worlds and our lives – in the pre-metaverse – is a hero of the future and must be praised as such. Starting now.
Receives Lots of commentary: Support, Suggestions, NFT Requests and Memes
Actress, producer, entrepreneur – and now a recently, new owner and proponent of the Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency. Aside from her characteristically ebullient tweet announcing her purchase there has, as of yet been little verbiage to to expand on her reasoning or perspective on the space.
Also not clear how she arrived at the choice of ETH rather than the obvious #1 crypto BitCoin.
While some twitter reactions were slanted toward the negative, implying that her entry into the space implies some sort of over commercialization that is a sign of impending decline or decay.
This could well be a possibility but there appears to be more going on here beneath the surface.
Though most of the attention toward Cryptocurrencies revolves around speculation on a given coins price vs. the US $, there is much more to the phenom than that very recent trend. Even after the mania and the get-rich-quick schemes are long gone the use and existence of Bitcoin and Blockchain is likely to go on.
A new cryptocurrency called “Pi” (π) allows anyone to “mine” the currency from a cell phone. With over 23 million “Pioneers” mining the goal of 100 million is in sight and when reached the coin will launch. Until then there is no price for the coin and it can only be earned by mining with your phone.
The egalitarian and decentralized concept behind the coin is new and could take cryptocurrency to a whole new level, all without price speculation being the main driver. Learn more about Pi here.
Witherspoon launched Hello Sunshine back in 2016 to provide a digital space to showcase women storytelling.
The company recently sold, earlier this year, for a whopping $900 million. And it sounds like she’s using some of that payout to test the crypto waters.
The “Legally Blonde” actress took to her social media account to trumpet the news, “Just bought my first ETH! Let’s do this #cryptotwitter”. As of this writing the current price of 1 ETH is $3,942.21 (although prices can fluctuate quickly in either direction).
This is not far off the all time high of over $4100 that was breached in May of this year.
Her tweet was liked instantly by 60k and her followers quickly sky rocketed, now at 2.9 million.
Many took the opportunity to comment on her account giving the actress a taste of Crypto Twitter (which as you read the comments, you can see are quite intense).
Vocal Youtuber, social media star, brother to Jake and “boxer” Logan Paul didn’t waste any time by responding to Reese’s tweet offering her a NFT of the World of Women collection (a project aimed to foster diversity within the NFT space).
This is not likely without a self-promoting aspect as Paul launched his new native ZOO” crypto token for his NFT game called CryptoZoo.
welcome to the club Reese 👊🏼 DM me your Eth address, I’d love to gift you this @WorldOfWomenNFT because y’all could be related. And it’d be badass for your first NFT project pic.twitter.com/epA0EZQdXG
Another high profile blonde added to the Crypto Twitterati conversation with her preferred takes in digital coin.
It’s just more evidence that the crypto future is not going to disappear anytime soon – there are just too many strata of society that are taking a stake in the continued existence and growth of blockchain and crypto.
Other crypto coin users were compelled to let Witherspoon know how they feel, flooding her account with tweets explaining the benefits of competing crypto coins, sending unsolicited pitches for a varie f the obvious choices including Bitcoin and Dogecoin.
DogeCoin is likely best known as the crypto alt-coin that Elon Musk has often championed from his twitter account, along with Mark Cuban and others.
During his stint hosting Saturday Night Live the billionaire (Musk) also broadcast his involvement with the Doge, and has received the moniker “DogeFather” as a result.
Hey @ReeseW in case you didn’t know when the founders started eth they kept 70% for themselves. Think of it like a tech company. #bitcoin however, the founders kept nothing and it’s actual fair sound money empowering humanity and way more important than any tech company.
High quality streaming fare is rising in focus with theatrical releases uncertain…
A 4 minute standing ovation was the result of the first screening of “Power of the Dog” at the 78th edition of the Venice Film Festival on September 1st, 2021. Thunderous applause and cheers erupted at the end of the debut screening for the romantic drama that features Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst.
Based on the novel by Thomas Savage set in Montana in the 1920s, the performance, partly perhaps the ability of Cumberbatch to overcome his “Sherlock / Dr. Strange” image via the power of acting along with top flight writing and directing, appears to be the impetus for the Oscar buzz that’s already building.
It’s not uncommon for that to happen with a strong showing at the Venice Film Festival and, though this is a streaming / Netflix production, awards for quality films financed by streamers is also no longer unusual.
Previously, Cumberbatch got the nod from the Academy in 2014 for his work in The Imitation Game, and, although the award ultimately went to Edward Redmayne for ‘The Theory of Everything’, the nomination itself put a big spotlight on his career.
‘Culturally, it’s really important for streaming services to help nourish the cinema experience,’
Benedict Cumberbatch commenting on “Power of the Dog”
Naturally, it’s always great when an actual actor becomes a movie star. Benedict Cumberbatch has been in a myriad of productions recently such as “Doctor Strange“, “The Mauritanian”, “The Courier”, “Avengers” and on and on, with nearly 100 actor credits and that doesn’t even touch on his work as an executive producer.
Running the gamut from the Multiverse to spy thrillers and serious suspense his ability to portray depth and intelligence has stood him in good steed.
Going all the way back to “Tinker Tailor Solider Spy” and “The Imitation Game” (not to mention his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes) a solid body of work is has been established which hopefully will not turn into a house of cards as a result of inevitable over-exposure.
Cumberbatch’s newest role is as a rancher from Montana named Phil Burbank. “The Power of the Dog” is based on a novel by the same name. Set in 1925, Phil “inspires fear and awe in those around him”. When his brother (Jesse Plemons) brings home a new wife (Kirsten Dunst), Phil torments them until he finds himself exposed to… the possibility of love.
Netflix gave viewers a little taste with the official teaser trailer for the film. The movie will be released initially in theaters on November 17 and will debut on the streaming platform the 1st of December.
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