What’s old is new again

Saturday morning music: Darlingside’s Extralife and The Best of Bread.

An uncanny valley for… benches?

Inflation prognosticator Larry Summers recalls the early 1970’s when demand outstripped supply and then, unexpectedly, OPEC tightened oil markets. As he noted in an interview with Ezra Klein, “in many ways, that’s the right analogy for now.” It does certainly does have a familiar unwelcome ring to it.

Bitcoin is so 2020. It’s over. Ethereum is what the cool kids are into.

Maybe it’s just from the perspective of a guy getting up there, but this cellular rejuvenation thing seems like kind of a big deal.

And meanwhile, in Russia

Ready, fire, aim

Wednesday, the apex of the week. It’s the anniversary of Son of Sam’s first murder.

There’s lots of hype around GPT-3. Here’s how it works.

Rhetoric met reality yesterday in a Boston City Council hearing on police overtime; the reality being that most police overtime is non-discretionary. It might have been better if councillors understood that before publicly pledging significant cuts. Cutting can still be done, of course. There’s always room in the margins for reductions. But it won’t be anything close to the $20 million they had hoped for without cutting back on coverage for 911 response.

So, here’s a cheery headline: “Theoretical Physicists Say 90% Chance of Societal Collapse Within Several Decades.” But, no, theoretical physicists in general do not say this. Only two. And the cause is deforestation over the next several hundred years not a black hole swallowing the earth. In any case, I think we have other more pressing real-world problems to worry about in the short term.

Intel is way behind on their roadmap for new chips. The company’s 7-nanometer process has been pushed back again. All these delays have prompted Apple to announce that they’re moving away from ‘Intel Inside’ and putting ARM chips in their Mac computers. As a result, now the chief engineer at Intel is out of a job.

And if you absolutely feel the need to leave the earth, at least you can do it in style in Virgin Galactic’s new spacecraft on your way to Mars. No middle seats!