• HERE COMES “NEXT-GEN GESTURE INTERFACE,” for those struggling with tiny screens & controls on technology like smart watches and wearables. The FCC has just give Google permission to further develop “radar-based sensors that let people control gadgets without touching them – e.g. turning up music by rotating a wrist or separating two fingers – which sounds like interfaces from the film Minority Report.” [FUTURISM.COM- 1/2/19]

• NEW CALIFORNIA LAWS TO REGULATE PRIVATE EMPLOYERS: Nearly 600 Bills were introduced to the Legislature last year, over 75% of which mentioned “sexual harassment” and many of which passed, effective now! Beyond tightening existing law, those with relevant impact to most employers include:
o ‘Service Providers’ – lawyers, doctors, therapists, accountants, real estate agents, bankers, landlords, teachers – are now expressly prohibited from harassment and subject to all regulations and liabilities;
o A harassment suit needn’t allege whether productivity was impacted, only that it “altered working conditions as to make it more difficult to do the job”;
o A single incident is sufficient to create a triable issue regarding existence of a hostile workplace, and “any discriminating remark – even if not made directly in the context of an employment decision or uttered by a non-decision maker – may be relevant circumstantial evidence”;
o Employers can also now be responsible for acts of non-employees for harassment based on race/religion/color/national origin/ancestry;
o Contracts or settlement agreements can no longer include non-disclosure or confidentiality provisions;
o Alleged past complaint/claim investigation communications can now be provided to a prospective employer.

AND NEW YORK CITY LAW NOW ALLOWS DESIGNATION OF “X” AS SEXUAL IDENTITY for parents of newborn babies or anyone else just choosing not to identify as male or female, which Mayor DeBlasio supports since it “allows citizens the freedom to tell the government who they are and not the other way around… and making our City fairer.”

• AMERICANS’ ADAPTATION TO DRIVERLESS VEHICLES IS WELL ON THE WAY. A recent 21,000-person poll by iAccenture/ Harris Interactive found that Baby Boomers over age 55 are the least excited so far, only 37% “willing to be passengers in a so-called self-driving vehicle.” However, well over half of Millennials and Gen Xers are ready, and over 70% of Gen Z (aka the Apps Generation now aged 14 – 18) are looking forward to autonomous chauffeurs. [IMPACT LAB – 12/30/18]

• CALIFORNIA HAS BOTH THE LARGEST NUMBER AND PERCENTAGE OF ‘POOR PEOPLE’ IN THE COUNTRY – some 7.4 million, around 20% – most living in L.A. and Orange counties. While many are derelict or druggies who choose not to work, the majority do work. The problem is that their wages (impacted by millions of undocumented immigrants and absence of skills for higher-paying jobs) stagnate at an unmanageable level, with monthly federal poverty defined for a single person at $1,000 ($1,800 for a family of three), but a single room in Skid Row (a seedier part of downtown LA) starts at more than double the stipend for even a disabled person. It’s projected that 1.4 million people in LA County have zero money for food. [THE ECONOMIST – 10/27/18]

• HEMP-EXTRACTED CANNABANOID (“CBD”) IS BEING CONSIDERED THE LATEST ‘MEDICAL MIRACLE’ DRUG now legal and available in America. The non-intoxicating marijuana extract (since it doesn’t contain the psychoactive ingredient THC) is credited with helping treat a range of medical problems including anxiety, inflammation, sleeplessness and seizures, in both humans and pets. For a thorough and easy-to-read analysis of therapeutic benefits, see https://www.amazon.com/dp/1792068506 and example of the varying treatments: https://seralabshealth.com/

• THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: The honest reality of the Illegal Immigration politics: https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wx1Kb51kOBQ

“A perfect end to bizarre-world 2018: the “hyper-sensitive offended millennials contrived witch-hunt for political incorrectness, which is literally ruining comedy.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NntwIRgUYLg

Yet I think to myself, what a wonderful world! https://www.youtube.com/embed/auSo1MyWf8g?rel=0