Who’s educating our robots?

Today's Tids Issue 4,191

For nothing:

I’m not moving an inch,

Not even to flinch

Or to twitch,

or to scratch an itch.

It’s much too hot

To leave one spot.

I’m no fool.

Lethargy keeps me cool.

I’m looking for a good recipe. Most of the really great ones were written years ago, mainly to maximize the flavor of the basic meal unit, be it swordfish, beef, pork or lobster. Now too often what you order is hidden by competing flavors as chef try to out create each other. As an extreme illustration, why would somebody crumple Cheetos on a lobster roll when the crustacean from the deep blue sea is perfect in its natural state. See, there are times when one great flavor treat does not enhance another flavor treat.

The big headline out of the Ohio special election: Liberals bare fangs at Green Party. Say what? The left is dissing the left for snaking votes away from the Dem candidate. Sounds to me like there’s a Repub strategy in there somewhere – run and support Green Party candidates in blue states.

I’m hoping that the new anti-Helmet rule in the NFL doesn’t slow down the game too much with penalties. The natural reaction of runners and O-Lineman is to stick your head in a defender’s gut. How does the NFL control natural reactions?

The Question:

Amazon has strong footholds in 8 of 10 One Trillion-dollar global market categories – Apparel, B2BeCommerce, “Consumer internet of things”, Grocery, Pharmacy, Professional Services, Restaurants and Stores. Which two markets are they missing? Bonus: Name Five songs form the movie, “The Graduate”.

The Headlines:

--Ohio Repub Balderson Leads Dem O’Conner In Too Close To Call Race; Kansas GOP Gov Race Also Too Close To Call.  

--All Exchanges Open Lower; China Hits $16 Bil Of US Goods With Tariffs.

--Chinese Exports Accelerating Ahead Of US Tariffs.

--Battle Erupts Over Twitter Banning of Ultra Conservative Alex Jones.

--Musk Shocks Wall Street (What’s New) With Surprise Announcement To Go Private In $70 Bil Deal; Tweet Could Have Violated Securities Regs.

--Canada/Saudi Feud Escalates; US Caught In Bind Between Two Allies.

--China Successfully Tests New Hypersonic Aircraft With Capability Of Avoiding All Missiles.

--NK Foreign Minister Visits Iran

Within minutes of the first inning of Sundays’ Red Sox/Ya-Ya-Ya game I had a headache. The announcers were so distracting that I turned of the sound and watched the rest of the game in delightful silence. I read yesterday that a sports commentator considered the broadcast A-Rod’s (One of the announcers) worst performance ever in Fenway Park, including some doozies he had as a player.

In case you didn’t know like I didn’t know, “The Internet of Things” simply defined is basically connecting any device with an on/off switch to the Internet – cellphones, coffee makers, washing machines, wearables… you name it. It looks like the future to me.

There may be some reasonable long-term strategy with this tariff madness, but right now it is making everybody nervous. I don’t like people handling my money to get nervous.

Since much of the research being developed to train robots and educate AI systems is being done at Cal Berkley and Stanford, does that mean that all robots will be liberal?

People often feel trapped in an Apple store because there are no windows.

I don’t know about your state, but around here many of the requests for added funding are often based on mismanagement and/or misappropriation of state income. The legislative and executive branches promote expensive activities beyond their ability to fund them, or put task specific tax receipts into the dreaded “General Fund”. What it boils down to is one simple fact:  Politicians are much too emotionally affected to manage anything.

NYC is set to vote on a license cap for Uber and Lyft. In addition to trying to create work for taxi drivers, there is a growing problem in NYC of too many cars on streets creating a new wave of traffic jams. A lot of tech companies make giant profits early on as they cleverly avoid regulations, certain taxes and other barriers to profit that burden most older companies. If NYC does it, expect many of the other American cities to follow.

On similar note, the Musk desire to go private is a basically to avoid having to report progress to Wall Street investors. Quarterly profit reports have been a burden on may companies who sometime have to step back to move forward WWS doesn’t like step-backs. But, I think Musk has bigger problems. His ventures are in the high cost of entry arena, and he may have trouble making some of his businesses work in the real world.

Kathleen Turner who at 64 is still remembered most for her first big role in ”Body Heat” has apparently dissed one super star for not being adventurous as an actress. but didn’t mention who it was. She accused, “(Unsaid star ) of only giving people what they expect.” “She even looks pretty much the same,” Turner added. Her only clue is, “She is a very famous actress.” H-Wood gossip wags jumped on this as a new controversy in glitter land, and have started the guessing game naming five women – Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock. I’m picking Sandra. How wild and crazy is this. Who is your choice?

The Answer:

Frankly, I thought one of them would have been finance and banking. But the two are two already strong with superstore giant Costco – Gas Stations and Travel. So, I wouldn’t be surprised to see offers showing up in those arenas for Prime members. Bonus: Of course, “Mrs. Robinson” is dominant, but “Sounds of Silence” is used three times in the film. “Scarborough Fair/Canticle shows up twice. Others are “The Folks”, “April Come She Will”, “Singleton Party Foxtrot”, “Sunporch Cha, Cha, Cha”, “On the Strip”, “The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine”, “Whew” and “A Great Effect”.