A decade ago, nearly half of new cars hitting Canadian roads were built in America, but after months of restrictive U.S. tariffs, the number of Big Three autos purchased from America's northern neighbor have dropped precipitously.
President Trump criticized the media on Saturday following reports that GOP Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.) removed several references to the president's endorsement of his gubernatorial bid from his campaign website. read more
The United States and China have agreed to reduce tariffs on $30 billion of goods and launch a dialogue on AI, both countries said following President Xi Jinping's visit to Washington. read more
A Minnesota native who had been serving aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln for nearly 10 months came home to an upsetting surprise. read more
China keeps growing its share of global cargo sales, indicating the Trump administration's tariffs meant to punish the country are instead an obstacle that China has successfully navigated. read more
Then there's this ...
Trump's economy polls terribly. It's also surging.
www.politico.com
... Consumer sentiment is sagging, yet the economy is powering forward, driven by an AI investment boom and people still spending despite the strain of higher prices.
It might surprise a lot of disgruntled voters, but the U.S. economy is doing pretty well.
After all, oil prices have repeatedly breached $100 a barrel, driving gas prices above $4 a gallon. The U.S. government's borrowing costs are rising, pushing mortgage rates above 7%. Consumers are gloomy, and polling on President Donald Trump's handling of the economy is abysmal.
And yet, the economy is powering forward, driven by an AI investment boom, and everyday people who are still spending despite the strain of higher prices. A survey last week by S&P Global showed that U.S. business activity accelerated at the fastest pace in more than five years, boosting employment and manufacturing output. That suggests GDP might have grown at a rapid pace of about 4% over the past three months.
Unemployment has fallen back down to 4.1%, and the number of new people claiming jobless benefits was near 57-year lows, the government said last week.
But those positive numbers are hard to pitch to the public just over a month until the midterm elections, where affordability concerns are expected to dominate voter decisions and consumer sentiment has fallen 15% since the beginning of the year. In fact, Trump's economy may be a victim of its own success, with the Federal Reserve expected to raise interest rates at least once more before the year is out in a bid to rein in inflation that's being fueled in part by that growth. ...
@#59 ... Indeed he was at Bard College at the same time as them, so it might check out. ...
List of Steely Dan members - History - 1971-1993
en.wikipedia.org
... Walter Becker and Donald Fagen met in 1967 at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. As Fagen passed the Red Balloon caf, he heard Becker practicing the electric guitar.[2]
Fagen later recounted that "it sounded very professional and contemporary. It sounded like, you know, like a black person, really."[2]
Discovering that they enjoyed similar music, the two began writing songs together in a band known as the Leather Canary, which featured Chevy Chase on drums.[3] ...
Trump and Xi's 'stalemate' summit was a glitzy gift to China
www.reuters.com
... President Donald Trump hoped his pomp-filled summit with Xi Jinping in Washington last week would showcase the strength of his personal relationship with the Chinese leader.
Instead, the limited outcomes showed just how far apart Washington and Beijing remain on key issues, and reinforced a view among analysts that Xi sees little reason to grant Trump major political victories ahead of November's midterm elections.
"The US-China relationship has settled into a managed stalemate," said Craig Singleton, senior director for China at US-based think tank, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
"The elaborate pageantry matters precisely because there is still relatively little substantive progress to showcase."
Both sides said they reached consensus on lowering tariffs for a $60 billion batch of non-sensitive goods, but there was no timeline for adoption. At the same time, a deadline for a broader trade accord was pushed into next year.
The absence of a Chinese CEO delegation accompanying Xi also highlighted the challenges of overcoming US suspicion of Chinese investment, casting doubt on the viability of a two-way investment scheme the leaders unveiled at a Beijing summit in May, analysts said.
"The Trump-Xi summit created a positive political atmosphere but did nothing to narrow differences, or reduce mutual suspicions," said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. ...
Industry - State of the Nation (1983)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
[Verse 1]
I see them marching off to war
They're looking so heroic
I'm told they won't be gone for long
But that's a lie and they know it
Ten thousand gone they won't return
Never to be seen again
Strategic games is all we learn in the end
But they say
[Chorus]
Don't you worry about the situation
A message from the telephone
They out there fighting for the state of the nation
I'm waiting a chance to come home
They always have to fight the alienation
And realize I'm fighting alone
...
There's no place like home
There's no place like home
There's no place
I don't want to be anywhere else
There's no place like home
There's no place like home
There's no place
I don't want to be anywhere else
There's no place like home
There's no place like home
...
@#44 ... OK, instead of song "covers" maybe look at [the] "covees?"
i.e., the original version of a song that gained fame by another artist ...
Here's another ...
Badfinger - Without You (1970)
www.youtube.com
@#13 ... Hiding from the facts as usual? ...
Looks that way.
Boys Don't Cry - I Wanna Be A Cowboy (1985)
www.youtube.com
Found this ...
China Reportedly Takes Possession of F-35 Stealth Parts After UPS Shipment Is Diverted to Hong Kong
www.btimesonline.com
... China has taken possession of potentially sensitive components from an F-35 stealth fighter after a UPS shipment was inexplicably diverted to Hong Kong, according to reports, raising questions about whether radar-absorbing technology used on one of America's most advanced combat aircraft could be examined by Beijing. ...
OK, instead of song "covers" maybe look at he "covees?"
i.e., the original version of a song that gained fame by another artist ...
To wit ...
Otis Redding - Hard to Handle
www.youtube.com
The evolution of Otis Redding song Hard to Handle' (2021)
faroutmagazine.co.uk
My concern here is about the time when AI transitions from being human programmed and controlled, to a stage of more recursive self-improvement.
A time when AI seems to have decided that it no longer needs humans in order to improve itself.
AI does not yet seem to be at that stage. But might it progress to that stage?
Recursive self-improvement
en.wikipedia.org
... Recursive self-improvement (RSI) is a hypothesized process in which artificial general intelligence (AGI) systems rewrite their own computer code, causing an intelligence explosion resulting from enhancing their own capabilities and intellectual capacity, theoretically resulting in superintelligence.[1][2] Numerous attempts at RSI have been made, none so far showing any sign of intelligence explosion or superintelligence.
The development of recursive self-improvement raises significant ethical and safety concerns, as such systems may evolve in unforeseen ways and could potentially surpass human control or understanding.[3] ...
@#3
thx for the clarification.