Google won't eliminate third-party cookies in the Chrome browser. Doesn't affect me since I don't use Chrome. But OpenAI has expressed interest in purchasing Chrome from Google, should they have to sell it. So this issue may not be settled. OAI is not the buyer I would have imagined or preferred. It won't be an inexpensive purchase either.
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A battery that lasts 5,700 years without recharging has been created in the UK. But it depends on C-14, so it's not clear to me how powerful it will be.
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Yachts for Science. Now that's a cool organization. It's like Angel Flight, but for researchers instead of cancer patients.
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CAR-T cell and mRNA technology. This uses CAR-T cells to deliver the payload, which may make it more precise, and avoid some of the problems that we've seen with liposomally-delivered mRNA products. And maybe the plasmid contamination problem won't be an issue. And let's start by thoroughly testing this technology before giving it to the public, this time.
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Intel plans to lay off 20,000 people. Some of those could come from Oregon, which means a smaller tax base, more on the unemployment roll, and less support for neighboring businesses. The Doom Loop continues.
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Portland faces a $1 billion infrastructure gap. The shortfall numbers Portland is facing seem to get bigger and bigger. And they want to build a ballpark? Seems like Portland wants to spend like a rich city. Take care of real issues before you spend money on frivolous things we don't really need.
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Newspapers push $122M Google tax to fund themselves. This is more Khanh Pham craziness. Oregon state thinks it has the right to charge Google for selling ads which Oregon business buy, making money doing so. Journalists still haven't figured out a way to be profitable. Few want to pay money for Oregon newspapers anymore.
Google should respond by just refusing to index anything from Oregon. No Oregon news sites on Google. Go back to the old days before Internet search. See what happens. Maybe other search engines will follow suit. All the newspapers would cry out from the great reduction in readership. People would get angry as they can't search for things anymore. Let's see who needs who.
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Seattle's Shanghai Garden calls it quits after decades in Chinatown. Same reasons as usual. A real shame.
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Someone needs to Make Canada Great again. I can't believe they are prepping their citizens for a hard life ahead.
Social mobility lies at the heart of the Canadian project. Many people in Canada assume that ‘following the rules’ and ‘doing the right things’ will lead to a better life. Anyone can get an education, work hard, buy property, and climb the social and economic ladder. This is an informal but powerful promise.
However, things are changing. Wealth inequality is rising. Children are already less upwardly mobile than their parents. Policy Horizons has explored some of these changes in Future Lives (2022) and Basic needs at risk (2023). More recently, the Disruptions on the Horizons: 2024 report, suggests that downward social mobility might become the norm in the future. The scenario below paints a picture of Canada in 2040 in which most Canadians find themselves stuck in the socioeconomic conditions of their birth and many face the very real possibility of downward social mobility.
While this is neither the desired nor the preferred future, Policy Horizons’ strategic foresight suggests it is plausible.
3.4 People might find alternative ways to meet their basic needsLike the saying goes: "Good times breed soft men. Soft men breed hard times."
Housing, food, childcare, and healthcare co-operatives may become more common. This could ease burdens on social services but also challenge market-based businesses.
Forms of person-to-person exchange of goods and services could become even more popular, reducing tax revenues and consumer safety.
People may start to hunt, fish, and forage on public lands and waterways without reference to regulations. Small-scale agriculture could increase.
Governments may come to seem irrelevant if they cannot enforce basic regulations or if people increasingly rely on grass-roots solutions to meeting basic needs.