• LAX IS THE 4TH BUSIEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD, annually serving over 87 million passengers with half departing on planes every 50 seconds, after having been “cross-profiled with algorithms and matched against ‘watch-lists’ some twenty different ways,” then screened (along with 100,000 others daily) by many of 2,700 TSA agents who confiscate guns/knives/gels/ aerosols & other potentially hazardous items requiring disposal at special waste sites. Beyond responding to some 500 explosive alarms monthly, agents also confiscate contraband from incoming passengers including drugs/plants/caviar/exotic animals and their (presumed aphrodisiac) parts – e.g. a live cobra in a can of Pringles, a mummified human hand, songbirds stuffed into toilet paper tubes, and a tiger penis. [BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK – 11/25/19]
  •  VIRTUAL REALITY IS NOW UTILIZED BROADLY, in social media gaming, sales training, pain management, interior design and other arenas, but has not resolved the problem of ‘Cyber-sickness’ – dizziness, nausea, eyestrain, headaches, and/or disorientation which up to 40% of users experience. Sensory conflict stems from “time lags and poor graphics which result in visual input often failing to meet the brain’s expectations… i.e. a mismatch between what users see and what their senses & real-world knowledge tell them they should be Another cause can be inability to control their bodies to maintain proper posture when moving around in virtual environments, which appears four times as susceptible to women as for men.” [ECONOMIST – 11/23/19]
  • ROBOCALL STATUS REMAINS PATHETIC. Over 180 million per day represent roughly half of all U.S. calls. 70% go unanswered, but most do because of ‘neighborhood spoofing’ which disguises calls to appear on caller ID with a local area code, and FCC estimates a “cost of $3 billion yearly on top of untold billions lost from businesses that depend on real phone calls.” The ‘Do Not Call Registry’ put in place a decade ago is unenforceable and useless; Congress has a new law close to January 2020 implementation, which would require phone companies to “verify incoming calls and block robocalls, with a $10K penalties for each call that intentionally defies telemarketing rules.” But, since 90% of scam calls come from abroad, good luck enforcing that. Best advice is just don’t answer. [THE WEEK – 12/13/19]
  • THE TIMING AND LETHALITY OF TERRORIST ATTACKS CAN NOW BE FORECASTED WITH A BUSINESS MODEL based on “what capitalists have been doing for decades with Silicon Valley start-ups.” With over sixty new terrorist organizations and worldwide attacks now documented in a Global Terrorism Database, Northwestern University ‘Complex System’ professors utilized the same methodology as they do evaluating companies. Since a terrorist group’s method of attack (e.g. large highly lethal bombs versus knives) don’t tend to change, “resources like cash flow & staffing levels can predict the stability of organizational capabilities, like expertise and technological skills, to best help countries target their limited counterterrorism resources more effectively.” [KELLOGG INSIGHT – 11/4/19]
  •  OVER 500,000 AMERICANS ARE NOW HOMELESS, sleeping on sidewalks, parks, abandoned buildings or cars, and nearly half live in California, most in Los Angeles and San Francisco. SF is also now a city with over 25,000 ‘defecation waste’ complaints thru ten months of 2019 – an “out of control shituation.” [LBN EXAMINER – 12/1/19]   And check out how the state legislature is responding – too busy with some 2,600 more important laws… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxkJM7nQwQU
  •  LAPTOP BATTERY LIFE CAN BE OPTIMIZED by: (1) Keeping the laptop cool, on table top surface versus bed or sofa, covered with a towel in sunlight, etc.; (2) Unplugging when fully charged; (3) Not letting battery fully discharge, and recharging at around 40% when not planning to use for a while.
  •  THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK: “Clarity is the antidote to Anxiety – a core role of effective leadership.”

          A Harris Poll just reported the average allowance for children under age 25 living at home is $120 weekly, for which they are expected to do five hours of chores, and that nearly half use the allowance for “outings with friends.”

         For an outstanding discussion of how we or do not control the decisions we make in life, see https://youtu.be/bRtBHF-WPpM