• EMPLOYEE RECRUITING CAUTION: ONLINE JOB INTERVIEWS USING DEEPFLAKE TECHNOLOGY which allows superimposed videos/ images/ audio recordings is increasing. Last month, recruiters found North Korean scammers posing as American job candidates for crypto and Web3 startups, and FBI reports that known complaints most involve real-time video “tied to remote tech roles that would have then granted successful candidates access to sensitive data, including financial, corporate databases, proprietary info, and customer identifiable information.” Anti-Deepflake technologies are far from foolproof, so watch for “telltale signs including abnormal blinking, soft focus around skin or hair, unusual lighting, unaligned lip movement with voices or actions (like coughing or sneezing).” [BUSINESS INSIDER – 6/29/22]
  • FEDERAL CYBERSECURITY INSURANCE is now being considered, along the lines of FDIC insured bank deposits and the Nat’l Flood Insurance Program, based on: (1) Newest GAO assessments of risks from hacking groups linked to Russia/ China/ Iran/ North Korea/ Organized Cybercriminal Gangs; (2) Over 26,000 incidents last year, costing over $2.5 billion; (3) “Insurance companies materially increasing premiums and lowering maximum coverage for most, and pulling back entirely from  infrastructure sector coverage, leaving American businesses facing catastrophic financial losses.” [THE VERGE- 6/23/22]
  • THE CLOSER PEOPLE ‘SMELL’ TO ONE ANOTHER, the more they report “liking, understanding, and feeling chemistry in first meetings.” Latest studies by Israeli researchers suggest that “just as non-human terrestrial mammals constantly sniff themselves to determine Friend or Foe, humans do the same to subconsciously estimate body odor and judge others’ compatibility… Extensive testing of odor signatures for same-sex non-romantic friends (measured both by an ‘electric nose’ and human perceptions), finding up to 77% correlation between those who ‘clicked at first sight,’ suggesting that people seek friends who are similar to themselves determined by chemical odors.” [PHYS.ORG – 6/24/22]
  • LATEST INITIATIVE TO “COMBAT THE SCOURGE OF ROBOCALLS,” and notwithstanding the utter failure of prior commitments by Federal Communications Commission and varying phone service providers, is from Nat’l Association of Attorneys General, involving over 40 state AGs (including California), now in process for “mutual commitment to working towards addressing complex issues collaboratively, to enter information sharing agreements with the FCC.” Unlikely impact should be expected any time soon. [MANATT – 6/30/22]
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

Don’t hold your breath waiting for a 2021 federal tax refund. While IRS was allocated $1.5 billion over 15 months ago for additional employees, outmoded systems still include manual input of every line from paper-filed returns, transcribed in only three offices across the country. The backlog of unprocessed tax filings has increased to over 21 million returns, up to half of which involve overpayments. [POLITICO]

The degree of involvement & effort in “helping others feel better, by influencing their emotions (aka Extrinsic Emotion Regulation) depends on one’s feeling of ‘closeness’ to the person, determining their level of receptive listening, social sharing, and empathy.” Interesting article on when and why we try to influence emotions around us: [PSYCHOLOGY TODAY – 6/27/22]

“Turns out that being a “senior” is mostly just googling how to do stuff… Watching this generation try and rewrite our history, we can be pretty sure of one thing: It will be misspelled and have no punctuation… What if all politicians could/should serve only two terms — one in office and one in prison…” 

Magnificent music from a 27-string guitar:   https://biggeekdad.com/2012/03/27-string-guitar/

 Does this trick make the word ‘magic’ sound more plausible?  https://biggeekdad.com/2021/06/amazing-card-trick-agt/