• “TEAMWORK IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST WAY OF WORKING.  While collaboration offers benefits in specific contexts, and ‘collective intelligence is often seen as greater than the sum of its parts, tradeoffs between time, accuracy & efficiency for coordination of team members can outweigh benefits… Researchers at Oxford found that even having ‘experts’ in a group did not improve the group’s efficiency, mostly attributable to: (1) social bias – with collective decisions being disproportionately influenced by members less competent yet more confidant; (2) social loafing – when a member’s impression that others would do the job without needing their contribution; and/or (3) social learning – impacts of individual training (e.g. internet-based vs face-to-face), especially when dealing with simpler tasks that don’t require extensive creative problem solving… Coordination comes at a cost.”  [THE CONVERSATION – 8/18/23]
  • GENERATIVE A.I. IS ALREADY TRANSFORMING THE MUSIC WORLD and threatening to several sectors: (1) Newly-generated tracks have a high likelihood of pulling from another ‘culture’ and/or closely mimicking another artist, which will be increasingly testing existing contradictory copyright laws; (2) Many programs can generate music with a simple prompt, incentivizing Streaming Services (who pay artist royalties up to 70% of revenues from music they distribute) to develop their own algorithms; (3) Mixing and Mastering recordings are technical drudgery necessary to balance instruments & audio, which A.I. certainly streamlines and will be killing many engineering jobs; (4) ‘Tone Transfer’ algorithms can realistically reproduce the sound of any instrument or voice, eliminating the need for many singers & musicians. An entire industry is up for grabs.
  • DESPITE CONTINUING CLAIMS BY WHITE HOUSE & BORDER EXECS TO THE CONTRARY, plus after admitting another 50K migrants monthly through approved ‘app’ registration, apprehensions of illegal aliens spiked by over some 153K during July and first half of August. The consistent increases are attributable to federal encouragement of asylum seekers, combined with intentional expiration of Title 42 provisions, implemented during Covid to halt spread of infectious diseases, with no end in sight. [TOWNHALL– 8/20/23]
  • IMPOSTER SCAMS ARE INCREASING DRAMATICALLY. Latest memo from Schwab advises to be aware that fraudsters are now: (1) contacting not only by phone/ email/ text but also by online advertisements and social posts; (2) claiming to be security/tech support for banks, financial institutions, Microsoft and other reputable companies; (3) instructing download of software and/or requesting remote access to your computer; (4) emailing or texting with a link or attachment necessary to approve/deny a transaction or set up new credentials.   Also beware of robocalls from ‘out of area’, ‘wireless call’, or non-recognized area code prefixes which are more likely to be robocalls and, once answered, share your number with other robocall computers.
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

When it comes to gas stoves, plastic straws, vaping, fireworks, and so forth, “the scaremongers on the Left have zero tolerance for small risks, but have a surprisingly high pain threshold when it comes to people dying or suffering critical injuries from electric car and e-bike battery fires.”  In New York City alone, NYFD reports that lithium-ion fires (over 100 so far this year) exceed those started by both cooking & smoking combined as the most common causes and most dangerous, since those fires can reach temps twice as hot, emit toxic gases, and also require a special dry-powder extinguishing agent versus quick availability of water. [RED STATE]

A must listen for anyone with common sense, who believes in a society which live by reality-based Rules and Integrity, regardless of political position. Brilliant analysis of the desperation of today’s leaders, and unequivocal direction our country is headed.    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/epochtv/victor-davis-hanson-the-irony-of-charging-trump-with-election-interference-atlnow-5470604?utm_source=News&src_src=News&utm_campaign=breaking-2023-08-17-2&src_cmp=breaking-2023-08-17-2&utm_medium=email&est=OxIyZ1QUNhwXwZ%2BUk6sl4KT55I3vTqNqUYT7tN0%2F3TiIN7JDQ0E4Bz50R2MQX0QhjA%3D%3D

California again leads the nation!!!  Newest state bill (SB50) would “prohibit a peace officer from stopping or detaining the operator of a motor vehicle or bicycle solely for ‘low level infraction’ – something like speeding, failure to yield, cell phone usage, etc.”  And West Hollywood has already implemented a Safety Ambassador Program which replaced five Sheriff’s Deputies with unarmed city employees who just watch for a crime and then report it.