The major PC OEM’s (Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, MSi, etc) are now making preorders available (BestBuy has various brands and models available) for these systems that will go on sale beginning on October 16th. The costs will range from $2,600 all the way to $7,000 for systems that have higher amounts of memory and storage (as a result of the component price increases due to the constraint on supplies caused by AI). Most of these are laptops, but some companies will be offering desktop PC’s that will ship in November. Nvidia’s RTX Spark is an ARM-based system on chip (SoC) and computing platform developed by Nvidia for Windows laptops and compact/small form factor (SFF) desktop computers. This will probably represent a huge shift in the PC market given that Intel (one of the main suppliers of the processor used) has not been performance competitive with Apple Silicon (which also uses an ARM-based design). These RTX Spark based systems take a page out of Apple’s playbook when it comes to performance per watt efficiency while also leveraging Nvidia’s strength in GPU performance with an integrated design based on their own Blackwell RTX GPU technology. Paper benchmarks have this performing at around RTX 5070 levels. These systems will likely match or even exceed the performance of Apple’s own latest Apple Silicon systems (especially with GPU accelerated tasks). Expect to see more of the old style PC versus Mac performance comparisons. This may also be the death knell for the Intel x64 processor because the uptake with ARM-based systems will cause this shift from Windows x64 to Windows running on ARM (along with the host of Linux based operating systems). Backwards (x64) application compatibility will end up utilizing a similar type of dynamic recompilation translation layer that Apple has used when they transitioned processors in the past (68k to PowerPC, PowerPC to Intel, Intel to Apple Silicon; Apple branded that as Rosetta). I will probably pickup a system (probably from MSi like the following) later for testing after “in the wild” usage has taken place (especially with Linux versions).

Once again, the leaking of Discord personal user information has taken place. This one is related to a Discord bot called Double Counter which provides server security protection. The company that develops this bot has been accused of selling user data in the past (publishing the data on a pay for access site known as Doogle) The data breach happened on October 4th and was attributed to a vulnerability in the Metabase analytics tool. Around 1 million user email addresses are affected along with databases of Discord IDs, usernames, IP addresses, and location data for **up to 28 million users** that was copied by the hackers. Double Counter mentioned that attackers had gained access to a subset of its data which contained 275,000 unique email addresses and Discord usernames that ended up being publicly published. A small number of this data was for paying subscribers (via Stripe) and included their names, countries, and postal codes. While Double Counter provided a detailed rundown of the incident, none of this provides any resolution for the users whose information was publicly leaked. This is why I wrote before that when push comes to shove, when the issue happens with a 3rd party vendor/service like this, good luck with seeing any level of accountability to the end users actually affected. Once I learned about this latest breach, I immediately began taking steps again to deactivate my account (as I’ve written prior, I have been off/on about remaining on the platform especially with their push for age verification; I had last decided to significantly reduce the time spent on it). Sure, while this wasn’t a leak by Discord itself, the point still stands that a 3rd party (service or vendor) can be breached and leak out significant amounts of personal information where both parties should be held accountable whenever such incidents of this magnitude takes place. Discord has acknowledged the breach, has disabled any new installs of the bot, and is working with Double Counter to further learn about the extent of the leak. As a result, it is too early to see if Discord will take action against Double Counter. Until there is more information about this whole incident, I will be off the platform.

After an initial failed rolled out earlier in the year due to user backlash, Discord rolled out out a revised system using language softening PR by calling this “age assurance” and once again saying this is for “strengthening teen safety and supporting age-appropriate experiences”. Discord’s CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy once again has also put out a blog posting to put the corporate PR spin on trying to assure users that the majority will likely never encounter the need to verify (and if by chance they do, there will be various options that do not require the need for submitting a government ID). Users will be able to check this from their user settings under account standing (that age group update is being rolled out so not everyone will see this additional information at this time). I’m not going to go into detail about most of his posting since it should be self-explanatory to anyone who takes the time to read it. Vishnevskiy provides a laymen’s overview of the entire system (the FAQ at the bottom summarizes most of the key points) but links to a more technical overview of how the age estimation model works. The part that I don’t trust is the vendor transparency because you can have all of the agreements in place and have it not really matter. We’ve seen it over and over again where the breaches and security issues occur in these 3rd party relationships. At most, the vendor ends up being dropped while the actual legal recourse ends up favoring the lawyers in the resulting class action lawsuits (where users get maybe an years worth of identity and credit monitoring services). Real accountability would be severe fines, executives losing their jobs, and actual criminal penalties (but the protection racket corporate executives has put into place unfortunately prevents much this from occurring). In basic terms, Discord is simply relying on these vendors to abide by this agreement because all Discord wants back is the age group should someone need to verify with on one or more of those vendor partners. None of these vendor partners has earned anyones trust as far as I am concerned. The only viable options are the 3 methods that do not involve an age assurance vendor; Google Wallet, Apple App Store, and Google Play Store. I’m also not going to repeat what has been written before about this whole “age verification” thing except to repeat that “child/teen safety” is NOT the highest priority in all of this (if that were true, the Epstein files which implicates a lot of global elites, would be pursued to the highest extent of the law where none of these people would have safe harbor on the planet; we unfortunately live in a timeline where rampant lawlessness is being openly embraced by these business, government, and political elites). Let’s just say the trust is now gone. And what is that saying again? Oh yes, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”. This isn’t solely regarding Discord either; it’s about how the mask is off with how companies (and their executives) are examples in hypocrisy with the “rules for thee, but not for me” where many have abused what trust they did manage to earn over the years. Once that trust has been breached, regaining it back is no easy task. As for any potential user backlash, no one will know for several quarters. As I wrote previously, I cancelled my Nitro subscription: > No one outside the company will really know how severe the backlash was in terms of things like Nitro cancellations (I cancelled mine – the main reason I had Nitro was to server boost an ArcheAge emulation development Discord where I learned after the fact that I could obtain access to a non-public version of the server emulator). While that Nitro sub was paid in advance and expires in September, cancellations nonetheless will still show up as a data point since it removes the recurring subscription component. That just happened to expire the day this age verification system was rolled out. The week leading up to that was automated e-mails sent by Discord reminding me that I’d lose all of the benefits of Nitro. To be honest, I didn’t make use of much of that except the longer post one (lot of the profile enhancing stuff wasn’t a big deal to me). Sure, I lost access to the AAEmu booster section but by timely nature, a huge breakthrough had been made a few months prior with getting one of the later clients (10.0) to work (which is spurring on server side emulator work at the public level). I also made a donation to keep that development effort going because in this day and age where the big companies (like Microsoft and Sony) are basically just farming your wallet for games you no longer really own, projects like this are something I’d prefer to support. Additionally, I began working on my own community site because the small Discord community I did have, voted in favor of moving off the platform. There are times when actions speak louder than words (this was one of them; voting with the wallet with the cancellation of Nitro and making the decision to move off the platform). I had originally planned to deactivate my account but instead, plan to start off by reducing my time using it for the other communities I am still part of (this has been true since their initial botched rollout). Should there be any further “drama”, I won’t hesitate to leave completely. Time will determine if this implementation and more importantly, how many users do end up needing to verify (and how some of these age assurance vendors handle that data) will end having any real effect on any sort of exodus from the platform (in all honesty, I doubt it because as mentioned before, users stick to Facebook and Instagram despite the practices of the company).

The treasure secretary and POTUS both said a deal with Iran is imminent (yet again) while the Iranian regime says that is “fake news” since they are only in talks with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz. So what do the markets do on this yet again? Like suckers, they play the role of Charlie Brown and believe what these liars in the US regime (playing the role of Lucy holding the football) are saying (crude oil prices dropping and stock market rallying in various sectors) where it plays out like the following over and over again. Yes, there are people (with advance/inside information) making money on this while you also have these talking head “anal”ysts in complete denial that no one (at least those with enough critical thinking skills) really trusts the United States anymore. I guess we will just need to wait until all of the dominoes actually start falling (global economy taking a hit and US stock market crashing) to get the ones in complete denial, to make the surprised/shocked Pikachu face while the rest of us say we knew this was coming months ago.

Cutting straight to the chase. When the global economic goes completely in the tank, the blame for all of this will be Israel and the United States for starting this conflict, lying, and for the U.S. part, negotiating in bad faith (using unserious and unqualified people). This was completely avoidable. Except these two psychopathically led governments taht are violating international law, underestimated a country that has existed for over 2600 years (and has a broader history in that region dating back to over 100,000 years). Make no mistake, there is little to like about the theocratic regime that controls Iran with its oppression of its citizens. But they are the ones who have been displaying far more constraint and being far more reasonable by comparison when both Israel and the United States have been acting like the terrorists. The broadening of this conflict and the inability of one mans fragile ego (the sitting POTUS whom I refuse to recognize by prefixing his surname with that title), is something that he and his band of criminal sycophants cannot walk away from without making it look like they are the winners, while any sane and rational person knows the truth and reality that the United States LOST this war several months ago. Play Pause Backward 10s Play Pause Forward 10s Unmute Mute / Settings Playback Accessibility Announcements Keyboard Animations Enter PiP Exit PiP Enter Fullscreen Exit Fullscreen As an American, I am disgusted by this criminal enterprise that calls itself the “government” of the United States (it’s an incompetent fascist regime). I am disgusted by this John Roberts led Supreme Court with its 6 to 3 “conservative” majority that have been openly corrupt with many of their decisions in favor of this criminal enterprise. I am disgusted by this Congress that has people in both parties that are owned by corporate and Israeli government interests, where the Republican majority has allowed all of this to occur, where that entire legislative body has given up its responsibility to be a check and balance against a rogue executive branch. I am disgusted by the military “leadership” for ordering these attacks to be carried out on civilian infrastructure and targets. In the past, I didn’t understand why military personnel that returned from Vietnam, were spat on and treated with contempt. It was no fault of these soldiers who were carrying out the orders by the leadership. But I now understand why because of the amount of innocent civilians that were targeted and victimized in the process. This stigma is going to be attached to the military leadership for this conflict. AFAIC, this chain of command has committed war crimes and should not be given safe harbor in the rest of the free world. They should not be allowed to hide behind their military service when they committed war crimes by ordering these sort of strikes to take place. Every one of these people who have refused to uphold their oath, are traitors to this country. The people in the executive branch running this racket and the “30%” that continue supporting these criminals, are quick to label those of us exercising our first amendment right as the un-American ones for writing/speaking the truth when it is in fact they who are the un-American ones that are responsible for the decline of the United States as a trustworthy partner in this global community.

Back during the dot.com bubble, I was still working at Sun Microsystems; the company’s slogan heading into the peak of the bubble was “we’re the dot in .com”. The company was a huge player in that early commercial internet because their self-designed UltraSPARC powered systems which ranged from desktop workstations to enterprise servers (all running Solaris), was the backbone infrastructure behind most of the largest sites on the early web; especially that then new area of e-commerce with all of its mission critical requirements. Myself, I loved the industrial design of how well made the earlier hardware was (my opinion changed around the time of the SPARCstation 5 when they tried to compete with Pentium based PC workstations). I still have a SPARCstation IPX that runs the earlier BSD based Unix (SunOS 4.1.4 aka Solaris 1.1.2) History of course detailed how that changed once the bubble burst and how demand for those systems fell over time to the point where the company ended up being acquired by Oracle. Marketing across that early internet era was “spend what you can” levels because the euphoria of what became these growing unrealistic expectations took hold of most rational peoples line of thinking. Simply put, human nature for many takes over where one of the things that ends up occurring is HUBRIS. The following are some of the commercials Sun ran on broadcast television (a movie trailer parody and short music video). I had already left the company by this point but recall the ones from a few years earlier being more reasonable. Remember, there was nothing hip that would resonate with non-tech people when it came to UltraSPARC systems and this System V Unix operating system (Solaris 2.x); marketing tried to create this sort of messaging. Before that bubble popped, I had decided to leave Sun to take a chance at Apple with their then new Rhapsody operating system strategy from the NeXT acquisition (I have a very short version of that story as part of my “investing adventures of a dumbass” series). Many at the time couldn’t understand why I’d leave a highly successful company that was powering the majority of the internet for a company that was on the verge of going out of business. Me being me, I just saw all of that as this growing bubble that if not kept in check, would become unsustainable. Then there was that other part of me (still young at the time) which wanted a challenge and this whole NeXT acquisition with OPENSTEP (Unix based) being made the new foundation of the Mac operating system, was more than intriguing enough to take a chance on that opportunity. I had also made my own personal bet by investing in the company before taking a position with Apple. Basically, part of me has this tendency to go against the grain/conventional wisdom (and that has worked out for me more often than not — the exception of course was taking a side stab at day trading during the dot.com bubble where yes, the unrealized gains were in the millions of USD, but ended up disappearing when leveraged assets got taken down when that bubble popped — again, some of this is written in the above series — I knew about tradning on margin, but gave it a shot anyway — the moral is cashing out quickly while ahead in short term trading). The main key takeaway is that even though I knew about most all of the suggest best practices and so called “financial wisdom” for personal longterm investing, I also went and took my own path when it came to things like portfolio diversification, not following the market signals on buying/selling, and owning physical assets not necessarily being bought and timed with various market signals. Personal investing/finance is just that, PERSONAL. And on that side of the equation, I took a longer term buy and hold philosophy. The key is utilizing that knowledge and wisdom, and tailoring it for yourself because everyones personal tolerance for risk and their short/long term objectives are unique. Handling all of this obviously requires a degree of critical thinking skills along with the ability to make sense of a lot of information. In short, it isn’t for everyone which is why there are managed funds, financial/personal wealth advisors/managers, and business “infotainment” sites/networks that do not always provide the best advice (I’m not a fan of cable networks like Bloomberg, CNBC, etc). While I do post a lot of article links from Yahoo! Finance, that is also meant to illustrate the wide disparity of aggregated information which is often times contradictory with each other depending on the source and/or contributor. I’ve seen articles on there that sound just like a pump and dump, others that try to gloss over the reality of the current day events that will have a domino impact on the global economy, and those that are in fact, based on reality; it’s wading through all of the noise to find those actual useful pieces of information. Remember that during the days of currency being backed by actual gold, governments and their central banks wanted to circumvent that inconvenience of that paper currency having to be backed by physical gold (aka, they want to be able to manipulate the money supply via monetary policy without the logistics of that physical gold asset). Going off the gold standard, fiat currency is just a mirage if you really think about it. It’s simply an instrument used to create barriers which the wealthy require in order to maintain control over the much larger number of people that don’t have as much digits in their bank accounts. This one regarding gold (extending losses after the consumer price index noted the highest inflation since 2023) highlights the problem I have with the financial media. The spot price of gold isn’t just determined by the sentiment and surrounding economic climate. There is actual physical gold and also those paper issues (gold exchange traded funds) that were created due to the challenge of handling physical gold. These gold ETF’s are supposed to be backed by physical gold bullion. The important caveat to note is that this does not guarantee actual physical ownership of that gold. Given how this world has revealed the falsehoods of institutional norms when corrupt people are in charge, I’ve long been cynical about this arrangement because these ETF’s are just a trading mechanism to eliminate the hassle involved in the actual movement of that physical gold. Nonetheless, the market dynamics do have an impact on the spot price of that gold depending on external factors. And that is where you can see these disconnects of the reported impacts of gold spot pricing relative to inflation, interest rates, the money supply, etc. Physical gold as an asset is a vehicle for hedging against inflation. A gold ETF is simply a instrument that is traded (buy low, sell high on the long side while doing the opposite if shorting). Should the governments banking arm choose to raise interest rates (which raises the cost of borrowing), this also has an impact on gold as a hedge against that inflation (as the fiat currency goes through this devaluation). The problem is that todays market has long stopped operating on the basis of reality (lot of the Iran War isn’t priced in as some have claimed; the fact that oil reserves are going to be hitting that “tank bottom” scenario soon due to this self-inflicted conflict that both Israel and the US regimes are unwilling to compromise on, is what is setting the stage for what will likely be a long lasting and damaging impact to the global economy. The U.S. governments consumer price index (CPI) is also not telling the whole story because it has conveniently cherry picked a limited basket of goods that might not be reflective of the spending habits in current day society. Due to the wealth inequality gap that continues growing, a much larger percentage of the burden on the rising cost of living is beared by those who wages have not kept page with inflation while the ultra wealthy have been able to continue spending on higher priced goods and services. Today’s May CPI report came in at the highest it has been since 2023 at 4.2%, but is likely understated by more than 5% (because it doesn’t include that spending on high ticket items by the wealthy). I’m also personally cynical of any number coming out from this government since the appointees heading these agencies are loyalists that have been proven to lie more often than tell the truth. That of course is a big problem when the actual facts no longer matter (we’re seeing this manifest itself in this disconnect with the SpaceX IPO, the AI bubble which even the major financial firms are trying to play off because they need clueless suckers to purchase those shares they want to unload onto the greater fool, in order to make their profit. Even the global energy crisis and the domino effect it will have is being shrugged off. Myself, the icing on the cake will be that scenario where the SpaceX IPO does go through the roof in this unsustainable way (because all that will do is make the crash that much larger). Yes, I am at the point where people who don’t believe the shitshow that usually comes around after a bubble bursts, need to experience everything blowing up around them. Some of us have experienced that twice and have prepared as best as possible to deal with that fallout. This is why I’ve been moving cash into gold and not just any type of gold. The proceeds from the smaller sell of some AAPL in May went into buying certified NGC and PCGS gold coinage. Since I’ve long been a coin collector, this also goes beyond simple hedging because besides the melt value (based on the spot price), there is that numismatic value with the historical part of that coinage. In the past, there were various gold coins that I could only dream of purchasing; I’ve included some of those long desired coinage as part of this process (though I am mostly sticking to acquiring gold eagles or Japan Mint issues that are of mint state quality and within certain percentage of the average spot price of 1 troy ounce of gold. Following is some of that certified slabbed collection (I also have uncertified gold coinage that I have in regular holders that I need to certify): Private: Gold Coins/Specimens 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1914 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1914 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 2019 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 2019 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 1837-1858 1 Ryo Koban Rever... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 2009 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 2009 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 1736-1818 (Genbun) 1 Ryo Ko... View Photo 1736-1818 (Genbun) 1 Ryo Ko... View Photo 2015 Doves Earthquake Recon... View Photo 2015 Doves Earthquake Recon... View Photo 1894 Liberty Eagle Reverse View Photo 1894 Liberty Eagle Obverse View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 1910 Indian Eagle Reverse MS62 View Photo 1910 Indian Eagle Obverse MS62 View Photo 1911 Indian Eagle Reverse MS62 View Photo 1911 Indian Eagle Obverse MS62 View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1856 Indian Princess Head T... View Photo 1856 Indian Princess Head T... View Photo 1834 Classic Head Plain 4 H... View Photo 1834 Classic Head Plain 4 H... View Photo 1895 Liberty Eagle Reverse ... View Photo 1895 Liberty Eagle Obverse ... View Photo Draped Bust Gold Half Eagle... View Photo Draped Bust Gold Half Eagle... View Photo 1806 Draped Bust Gold Half ... View Photo 1806 Draped Bust Gold Half ... View Photo 1799 Draped Bust Gold Eagle... View Photo 1799 Draped Bust Gold Eagle... View Photo If the spot price continues taking a dump, this will just make some of this coinage more cheaper to purchase. I’m not playing this based on yields or waiting for what the Fed will do with interest rates. My concern here isn’t that physical gold doesn’t yield returns. My investments in select equities since the late 90’s have done that with the Apple shares that I am beginning to divest from in larger quantities, leading the way by covering any miniscule by comparison, interest rate changes. This is how I deal with these unrealistic markets (unconventional as always). As always with posts like this, the disclaimer applies.

Hilarious INCOMPETENCE at Meta. This is what happens when you have a terrible CEO like Mark Zuckerberg pushing for AI to replace actual people (as shown by all of job cuts instituted over the past few years). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMTKpq5r1CQ I know, I know… this blog is already filled with unflattering thoughts about Cuckerberg. I just added more over here in order to “bless/dedicate” the site. Yes, I know he isn’t the one doing the actual coding (which is missing the point). Where he is culpable is making those poor executive decisions which leads to these sort of end results at the company. There is that highly sarcastic part of me that wants to build this tiny little computer where a minimal LLM can be put on it, and used for certain circumstances; like say one of the techbro’s pushing AI were sinking on a ship where I could pull out the device and ask the AI agent, “what should I do?” (knowing it would take several minutes to inference that input and process the query to provide an initial lousy response because the LLM would be missing a lot of info). I have no empathy left for these tech executive pushing this crap at the speed which they are doing it at. I keep warning those I know to make a decision about remaining on any of the company platforms. But if that engagement is more important than your personal information/being constantly farmed to train the company AI models, then have at it and don’t complain later whenever that info gets compromised.

Another year goes by and another developers conference takes place beginning on June 10th starting with the keynote (pre-recorded) at 10AM Pacific and runs until June 12th. As it has been since the COVID pandemic shutdowns (for the past 6 years), this year’s conference sessions will also be online only (with the exception of a few developers who have been invited to Apple Park for the awards ceremony). As noted before, I’ve kept tabs on the conference every year (even after my involvement with Apple ended a long time ago) just to get an overview of what software related developments are planned. Throughout the years, I’ve remained unsticky in terms of the ecosystem (iCloud Photos remains disabled as one example). Additionally, my most compute intensive tasks that I now do is done on my gaming tower (it’s now old RTX4070Ti Super is still competitive for those niche ML tasks). As for WWDC, I still do miss the old in-person format where those keynotes thrived on the dynamic of the attendees in the auditorium, and the actual conference provided actual face-to-face contact with many Apple hardware and software engineers. But this format again is the new reality post-COVID where many companies have found this much more budget friendly. Until recently, I had no Apple Silicon based systems again besides an iPad Pro M5 (I had given away an M3 Pro MacBook Pro and an M4 Pro mini) and have been doing most of my non-compute intensive tasks on my 2019 Mac Pro. Last month though, I decided to pickup a MacBook Pro M5 Max (64GB RAM, 2TB SSD, 8-core CPU, 40-core GPU, and 16-core Neural Engine) because of the ongoing supply constraints + component price increases in the supply chain (which Apple had enough in their supply chain to weather for these current products); it took nearly a month for that build to order configuration to be manufactured (this one in Vietnam). I had been waiting out for a Studio M5 Ultra but Apple’s recent quarterly conference call highlighted how these their Mac desktop line would be supply constrained for a while. Many are also wondering if they will just save a lot of those memory and storage components for an M6 variant (they’ve removed many of the higher end memory and storage configurations for the Mini and Studio). This M5 Max (with the 40-core GPU) while fast for most regular workflows, it is only barely able to keep up (using both the CPU and GPU) with my now outdated RTX 4070Ti Super (on my gaming tower) on AI/machine learning (local model) tasks for audio, video (enhancing. restoration, and upscaling), and graphics processing at the start of that process (but normally ends up around 10-15% slower through a batch job since there are occasions where performance is throttled even when on the performance setting while on power since I opted for the 14″ where the laws of thermodynamics kick in with regards to thermal management). This is where case form factor (on the desktop side) plays a huge role (a tower with proper airflow simply allows efficient cooling and removal of heat). For this laptop, I decided against the 16″ (where this throttling isn’t an issue) because the tradeoff is that size (16″ one isn’t something I want to carry around). While this performance per watt is impressive in a laptop form factor (albeit with the fans ramped up), it still highlights that whatever next generation chip goes into the Studio form factor, there will also be this limiting thermal factor preventing a desktop configuration from pushing these Apple Silicon chips to much higher levels of performance (from that desktop computing POV). The Studio form factor is not a thermal dead end design yet but all it takes is Intel getting back on track with a processor design that isn’t anemic like their current ones are (remains to be seen) once paired with a capable discrete GPU (even a middle of the road RTX 5070Ti would chew through these ML workflows for video processing). I guess I’ll also need to see an 80-core M5 Ultra GPU in action to see how it compares to an RTX 5090 in that niche area (which is my personal use case). Apple rarely announces hardware at WWDC but we’ll see if they provide more clarity/visibility into this with the Studio since the expected M5 upgrade has not materialized.

Note: testing EmbedPress for crossposting from the “community” portal.

My kneejerk reaction to this was “wut… you can’t be serious?” This is according to their chief economist Jan Hatzius. This is willful complicity or insane incompetence, and possibly a combination of both. It’s based on faulty assumptions including this AI bubble economy and an April jobs report number that was effectively low balled with the jobs gains (that is if you believe the numbers the labor department under this criminal regime is putting out). I’ve always held a healthy dose of skepticism with these job labor and farm payroll numbers. When factoring in the criminals running the U.S. Federal Government agencies now, I trust nothing that comes out from these officials. Yet, the media (in the U.S.), politicians (globally), and corporate execs have treated this like business as usual (especially regarding the continual lies about negotiations with ending the Iran War by the U.S. president when they are occurring every week like clockwork in order to create these inside trading opportunities). I could put out as good or even better erroneous bad take reads on the global economy for much less money (aka for FREE-NINETY-FREE) than this economist. When you listen to experts in the energy markets stating frankly that things are not going to recover quickly even if the war were to end today, the machinations of this “research note” is equivalent to sticking ones head in the sand. Of course, I do realize these folks are looking at this selectively (it’s why there is this constant disconnect between the financial markets and the regular working class); like how only certain sectors are bending , how some industries are doing great, how the traders that are making well timed market trades are raking it in, and how a much narrower segment of equities are going up (pushing the indices to these highs). I have written about how this market has long been rigged (and invested in it since 1997 with this piece of knowledge). Now put yourself in the shoes of the average working class, many who unfortunately do not participate in the stock market because of so many factors (priced out, not educated enough about it, listening to the advice of so called experts that often times are not in the best interest of the average investor, etc). Parts of the working class are just trying to survive paycheck to paycheck and are abused by this system of extreme capitalism (which treats employees as disposable assets). The situation in the Middle East was self-inflicted by Israel and the United States. They own this but are trying to use well worn out propaganda that Iran is the terrorist nation while the reality has been the complete opposite (with the two countries that have nukes acting like the terrorists in the region). The outcome of that has been a drastic interruption in the global supply of oil, aviation jet fuel, fertilizer, helium, etc, etc.; all of which will have this domino effect on every part of the global supply chain (latent effects to boot). Short example: Trucking relies heavily on diesel. It’s topping $7.50/gallon in California. Farm equipment relies on diesel. Farms are also being impacted by the dwindling supply of fertilizer. The result will be global crop and feed shortages. Food supply gets impacted versus demand imbalances = rising prices. Tack on all of the energy cost increases throughout the supply chain = price increases for the customer. This is weeks down the road just for the supply and cost of food. Everything else is going to be going up as well. Even if everything were to magically go back to the day before Israel and the U.S. started this war, the experts who know the Middle East and those who understand the logistics for shipping in that region, realistically know it will take several months for that shipping to even begin to return to some normalcy where the supply/demand imbalance will begin to level back out again. Plus destroyed oil facilities do not magically get fixed overnight (some of that will take years to repair). Then there is this stark warning from the Saudi Aramco’s CEO who mentioned that the oil market may not see recovery until 2027 due to the disruption (and if it continues until mid-June). I guess one could take that with a grain of salt as well since Saudi Aramco isn’t always honest (we live in this world of the rich/powerful being lying assholes ok). The basic take away is how this disruption is going to have these latent impacts on economies all over the world (and none of that will get automatically fixed in a short time).

This isn’t meant for those who area already wise to this AI bubble (and Wall Streets complicity in this rigged game that is going on). Unsurprisingly, there’s a huge number of channels on YouTube now that are taking AI generated summaries, fronting it with an AI generated person (or in other cases, simply audio with AI generated visuals), and just farming subs, views, and engagement metrics. Here are just a few channels as examples (which I am not directly linking to): Doctor Laura (which at least has a disclaimer on the profile disclaimer and on the videos), Hardware Alert, Hardware Details, and HD Knows (you will see this same AI avatar of this asian guy on other channels talking about lifehack or health topics). Note there are many more (some labeled as AI, many others not — having a healthy dose of skepticism does help navigate this stuff). Recommendation: always perform your own due diligence. We are reaching the “trust nothing” phase with everything. There is another channel called Project Nightwatch where the actual channel owner (to his credit) made a video to explain why he created the channel (admitted many of them use AI generated visuals though none of which were labeled as such). This included a few that blew up after the M7.7 quake off of the Sanriku coast because that particular video was 1h47m of looping information which had the hallmarks of being generated by AI prompts (he says he researches all of this stuff because he has an interest in this subject matter). Note: I used my other account BTW so as to not pollute my main one; I pulled that one video to watch it for myself to see why it had over 540K views and could understand why it could draw people in during the day the quake occurred and the subsequent week after. But it’s 1.25 hours too long where it becomes obvious after a certain point that it’s farming for engagement metrics (on the total watch hours). That becomes more evident when most of the other videos on that channel are similarly 1.5-2 hours long. Reading the comments, some people eventually did catch on caught on to what was going where the views on recent videos have dropped off. I have a hard time believing it’s not AI generated given the sheer amount of info that’s required to fill 1.5 hours (even a short posting like this which is at best just a few minutes of reading time, takes a while to draft up and I use no AI for help with formulating a post). With regards to content that is both fronted by an AI generated avatar and spitting out info from an AI prompt, YouTube really should place the “AI” notice up top (that is if the channel owner even bothered to mark their content as being AI generated or modified) versus buried in the description. Users of these platforms also need to take up a more defensive posture as these tools get better. BTW, this is what this AI bubble is being partially fueled by; not just the slop of videos of cats cooking/doing people things, of dogs wearing masks and scaring other pets, of people falling into these holes in the ground, etc., but of informational content being presented by a pleasant person that is simply AI generated. These YouTube channels have a vested interest in getting into the algorithm in order to get those subscribers and views in order to generate revenue to justify the money they are spending for AI to help create their content. But that is all burning through a lot of energy and those costs are going to be increasing for these companies given this energy crisis that has yet to fully slap the global economy in the face. IMHO, we are at the Webvan and Pets.com point of the dot com bubble in terms of where the AI bubble is at. I experienced that bubble because I was living and working in Silicon Valley at the time and was also heavily invested in many internet companies where I made out on some and was decimated in others (and all I can say is this current bubble is far worse).

Canvas is a platform developed by Instructure which is utilized by MANY educational institutions (from K-12 to major universities). The learning management system (LMS) has (once again) been hacked putting MILLION’s of students personal information at risk since the group responsible for the breach, is threatening to release it all should their ransomware demands not be met. This web-based LMS is used by thousands of schools and millions (30 million according to Instructure) of students and educators for coursework, assignments, messaging and classroom communication. The hacking group responsible (ShinyHunters) stated over 9,000 schools worldwide are affected. The note left by the group: > “ShinyHunters has breached Instructure (again). Instead of contacting us to resolve it they ignored us and did some “security patches”.” Back in September 2025, Instructure noted a security breach (a third party provider) but without much details (this is probably what ShinyHunters was referring to). **Tangent:** My take on this (having seen this from the inside when I used to be involved fulltime with tech), is that IT security has always been this nebulous area of grandiose speak that when you dig down deep enough, is something that is “full of holes” (especially in “modern” systems). There are reasons why some old institutions have kept to using these “archaic” architectures (the COBOL programming language running on IBM mainframes still dominates banking). I know people who work in that unglamorous area because they learned this old stuff in management info systems in the 80’s and 90’s. The stuff just works for what it needs to handle. Financial transaction processing is one of the most critical processes where most every tech since the 90’s that has tried to replace it, failed with meeting all of the stringent requirements. Similarly, banking ATM’s for the longest time relied heavily on OS/2 (which changed hands in the past and is now known as ArcaOS) which was developed by IBM in the late 80’s and 90’s to offer a similar robust operating system for personal computers (pre-Intel 80486) at the time (Microsoft however overtook it with Windows NT). The fact is those older operating systems and vertical applications when designed for “mission critical” environments, tended to be audited and hardened with a different programmer mindset (compared to what ended up proliferating post-Y2K). And once the commercial internet became ubiquitous, a lot of that old school mindset went out the window (not helped once hardware began offer much more headroom in terms of RAM). **End Tangent**. The breach caused chaos for students on Thursday when the LMS was taken offline at many of these schools in order to investigate. While Canvas was reported to be back online today after Instructure said the issue has been contained and remediated, several universities are taking a more cautious approach to restoring access; the University of California system mentioned access will not be restored “until we are confident the system is secure.” Myself, I feel like a dinosaur reading this stuff because my entire education from K-12 to college, was handled the old school way. And even once I became involved with tech, I was never enamored with the encroachment of these computer based learning systems where you can bet that things like the security of personal information was never at the high end of the priority scale. The corporate PR speak regarding security and privacy has always been something I’ve taken with a grain of salt (seeing for myself how sloppy a lot of this stuff was handled behind the scenes). The terms of use/service and privacy policies many of these companies put out aren’t worth the “paper they are printed on” (did you see what I did? — it’s all text on a screen which companies that rely on harvesting your personal data, lie about (and if caught, the fines they end up paying is a pittance to the revenues they generated from it). Sure, there are exceptions to this (and I commend those companies and the personnel who take this privacy/security details seriously versus the usual word salad PR that many hide behind and continue to hide behind whenever they ended up with a major security breach).

Hotel bookings in many host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are likely to fall short of expectations as demand for accommodations is not as strong as anticipated. Earlier in the week, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) released its hotel outlook for the 2026 FIFA World Cup which is taking place across several major cities in the United States. The associated represents major hotel chains, independent hotels, management companies, bed and breakfasts and more across the United States. The World Cup takes place from June 11 – July 19, 2026. The AHLA surveyed hoteliers in the host cities (Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle) and found that anticipated demand has not resulted in strong hotel bookings due to a number of factors; where 80% of the replies mentioned that bookings were well below initial forecasts despite five million tickets being sold. Unsurprisingly, 65-70% noted that geopolitical issues and visa related considerations were factors constraining travel to the U.S., while some host cities also noted that demand was also below their normal June-July summer period. Only 25-30% noted any meaningful increase. My usual useless $2 (obligatory joke: 2 cents when accounting for inflationary pressures) which is an unapologetic repeat of what I’ve written in the past, is that this fascist kakistocratic regime in the U.S. (comprised of unqualified individuals including a convicted felon as the president) being outright hostile in their immigration policies, in their attacking of citizens and visitors, in their treatment of various demographics of travelers going through borders/customs at airports, in their detaining of innocent people without due process, in their global foreign policy and being a co-instigator in the war in Iran (and the chaos in the Persian Gulf which is affecting the global economy), are just additional reasons that international travelers are staying away. The above is ALL before the exorbitant prices of tickets that FIFA has long extorted football fans around the world for these games. Who wants to pay hundreds to thousands of dollars only to have to deal with potential entry issues (or being denied entry completely) or being targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (many of whom are unqualified in their roles) while traveling? This regime has made travel to the U.S. less than desirable and an unwelcoming destination (something I don’t see changing for a long time). 77 million in the U.S. voted for this; get 10% of them to pickup the slack domestically (it’s the least they can do for their “dear orange leader”).

Given the ongoing situation in the Middle East, the initial assumption if one were to ask why many shop owners in Japan have been putting up notices regarding the price of tofu increasing, a likely response is that it probably has something to do with the supply of soybeans and the costs associated with the logistical supply chain in getting them from point A to point B. As it turns out though, it’s not (yet) the soybean supply chain that is having this initial impact. Instead, it’s the cost of the plastic containers and the plastic film that seals in the tofu and water. These plastic containers are petroleum base (as are many other types of plastic containers which a large variety of products are packaged in), and highlights how the entire global supply chain for goods will be impacted (where those cumulative costs will be passed on to the consumer). https://youtu.be/Z7iaeG3x6EA Tofu has been stored in either these plastic containers or plastic bags (the former being more resilient). Additionally in the past, vendors used to go around town and people could buy a block of tofu where they would use their own storage container. Like so many past practices, those types of businesses have mostly gone away. While there are plant based containers (ones made from bamboo and unbleached plant fiber which became heavily promoted during the pandemic), the economies of scale with costs have prevented the food industry from going all in. I still recall some of the initial product (like utensils) were a bit on the flimsy side, but much of those issues has been dealt with (I’m not sure if the plant based straws have improved; the initial ones were pretty terrible). Similarly, food containers are able to handle things like liquid, heat (microwave reheating), and freezing well now along with their long term solubility (given how tofu is stored in water) not being an issue. I know there are some hybrid products (plant based and a lower percentage of plastic) on the market that have been produced to lower the costs, but those will be impacted on the plastic manufacturing side. The larger point is that Japan will need to again rethink some of their packaging practices where multiple pieces of packaging are used. You see this in wagashi sweets where each piece is enclosed in its own packaging, and then packaged in additional outer packaging. This similarly exists with cookies, senbei crackers, and other food products where part of that has been associated with presentation. Food products (especially Japanese sweets) tend to be individually wrapped primarily for hygiene and to preserve freshness. This is part of Japan’s cultural emphasis on cleanliness and food safety. It’s also a “tradition” that has been stuck to even in light of concerns about the excessive garbage it creates. As prices are affected across the board (due to the wide ranging impacts on these supply chain costs), there might be this need to compromise on solutions. With something like tofu, it might be time for many shops to begin at least transitioning to plant based containers or maybe allowing customers to bring their own, in what would be a throwback to the past.

In light of the recent Supreme Court of the United States decision (Louisiana v. Callais) which weakens Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, this old overview of gerrymandering needs to be reviewed again as a refresher as to what will be likely taking in place in areas across the U.S. The following is one of the classic maps made by a social media user named “datastuffplus” (and contextualized in more blunt terms): Infographic explanation: > This infographic shows three visual representations of gerrymandering using a grid, with the first panel displaying 50 precincts arranged in a 10×5 grid where 30 squares are colored blue and 20 squares are colored red, representing a population that is 60% blue and 40% red, followed by a middle panel showing the same colored grid divided into 5 horizontal districts with thick black lines where each district contains a blue majority resulting in 5 blue wins and 0 red wins, and a final panel showing the identical colored grid but with districts drawn using irregular thick black boundary lines that create oddly shaped districts; this “carving out” results in 3 red district wins and 2 blue district wins despite the blue majority population. > > This simple graphical example demonstrates how the manipulation of these district boundaries can impact electoral outcomes even when the underlying voter preferences remains constant across all three scenarios. Because this impacts both state and Congressional representation, this can also influence the results of which party receives the majority of seats in the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress (and/or that states legislature). > > In the United States, the two main political parties are represented by these colors: Blue for Democrats and Red for Republicans Example of redistricting in the state of Missouri The following is a video that explains it for those who prefer audio/visual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwBslntC3xg Such redistricting is not unique to the U.S., but it has been something that has been weaponized often enough to advantage one political party over the other where the resulting representation at both the state and federal levels are affected. A perfect example of this is the governor of Louisiana suspending the states congressional primary election for the U.S. House after this ruling came down. It is expected that other Republican led states will try to enact similar changes to their maps that will carve out those Democratic leaning districts that are likely also predominantly people of color (POC). As it stands right now, this could turn into a “free-for-all” of redistricting attempts across the country ahead of the 2026 midterm elections as a means for the Republican’s to maintain the majority of seats even though the economy is likely to end up being in a worse state given the Iran War and its impact on the global economy. Some larger states run by Democrats including New York, are also looking to redraw several districts after this ruling. The GOP has long depended on the Democratic party being beholden to protocol and/or giving the illusion of “taking the high road” (example being when SCOTUS ruled in favor of wide sweeping “presidential immunity” for official acts performed while a president is in office, knowingly expecting that Biden would not execute such authoritarian power heading into the 2024 election cycle). Because of what is often times this asymmetrical political warfare, the GOP has been able to push those boundaries to where most of the institutional guardrails at the federal level no longer exist while the remaining ones (especially replacing the lower courts with more loyalist judges) require a few more election cycles to continue to weaken the remaining foundation. From my simpleton view (as someone who is apolitically independent), it should be eliminating the electoral college system for electing the president (one person, one vote, majority of the votes win) and checks and balances for redistricting. I know, too idealistic and something requiring a larger overhaul of the entire political system in the U.S. which has proven itself to be one that easy to dismantle once corrupt people were able to control all the levers of power.

I saw this syndicated piece of news on my local newspaper site with the actual headline being _“U.S. Mint buys drug cartel gold and sells it as ‘American’”_ and noticed the original source was the New York Times (since it eventually gets paywalled on my local newspaper site, this is the Seattle Times resyndication of that NYT article as a backup); the original NYT article is paywalled. Why is this a big deal? Because the U.S. Mint has long claimed to be a symbol of the founding principles of the United States along with guaranteeing that all of its gold product is 100% American (in the U.S.A. sense and not the continents of North and South America). Like so many things, it’s another lie because the Mint’s gold program represented the amalgamation of several illicit sources by serving as the final laundering point for foreign powers and cartels (before the precious metal is clean and ready for sale on the international market). For buyers of U.S. Mint gold bullions, this represents straight up false advertising where that bullion was purchased under false pretenses (for at least the past two decades) by collectors and investors. That premise (of this gold being sourced cleanly) allowed the Mint to charge a higher premium over the spot price (compared to some of its other peer nations) because of this guarantee. The Mint sustains the ability to create precious metal pieces like this via that premium. The Mint deserves to suffer some consumer backlash for this deceitful practice. And what recourse will buyers have (for acquiring these gold products that was based on lies)? Probably nothing (I doubt the Federal Trade Commission will sue another Federal government body for fraud). It’s actually become easier to see why the rich/powerful have a relatively easy time fleecing this country (much of it takes advantage of good old American propaganda to pull off the heist). But let’s be clear, this isn’t exactly new news. Where were these folks at the NYT back in 2024 when Kitco (the Canadian company that buys and sells physical precious metals) reported on how the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), finally having released a report (PDF) in May 2024 that highlighted issues with the U.S. Mint’s procurement practices for gold, dating back at least two decades where they had been acquiring non-American gold from sources that were found to have illicit ties to money laundering and trafficking. I wrote about that briefly back in August 2024 as well after seeing that detailed Kitco article myself. Even prior to that article, I had se personally stopped purchasing gold bullion from most countries mints (the sole exception being the Japan Mint), though I had pretty much stopped purchasing gold over the last decade except for a few rare instances (again, mainly Japan Mint commemorative issues). After learning about this finding in 2024, any consideration I might have had for purchasing gold bullion from the U.S. Mint, went straight down the drain because their reputation went into the gutter with their straight up deception (this highlights how little our own government gives a damn about the truth regardless of which party is in power). I guess the NYT might have gone through actually tracing the route (which they detailed). Anyway, now is a better time than any for those who didn’t know earlier, to do their research on this (and to seriously consider boycott buying ANY product from the U.S. Mint). What gold eagle bullions I had at the time (the exception being the 2009 Ultra High Relief Double Eagle) that were purchased in the late 90’s (when the spot price of gold was under $300 an ounce), I ended up liquidating and bought certified slabs of pre-1933 U.S. gold coins that were minted as actual currency). The spot price of 1 ounce of gold in 2024 was around $2,300 (it’s now around $4,600-$4,700 ounce). And now that I’ve resumed purchasing gold again (primarily as a hedge against the potential devaluing and decoupling of the USD), it’s been mainly that same pre-1933 U.S. gold coin in certified slabs, but I’ll eventually add gold bullion bars (with assay) from places like the Perth Mint just to have some exposure to inventory that has certified higher purity (as early minted gold coins aren’t up to modern technical standards when it come to purity and weight). Following is some of that certified slabbed collection (I also have uncertified gold coinage that I have in regular holders that I need to certify): Private: Gold Coins/Specimens 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1914 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1914 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 2019 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 2019 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 1837-1858 1 Ryo Koban Rever... View Photo 1837-1858 (Tenpo) 1 Ryo Kob... View Photo 2009 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 2009 Emperor Akihito Enthro... View Photo 1736-1818 (Genbun) 1 Ryo Ko... View Photo 1736-1818 (Genbun) 1 Ryo Ko... View Photo 2015 Doves Earthquake Recon... View Photo 2015 Doves Earthquake Recon... View Photo 1894 Liberty Eagle Reverse View Photo 1894 Liberty Eagle Obverse View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 2019 Naruhito Enthronement ... View Photo 1910 Indian Eagle Reverse MS62 View Photo 1910 Indian Eagle Obverse MS62 View Photo 1911 Indian Eagle Reverse MS62 View Photo 1911 Indian Eagle Obverse MS62 View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo 1908 Saint Gaudens Double E... View Photo Backing up a bit, the U.S. Congress prohibited the Mint from making bullion out of foreign gold in 1985. This was done to insulate the process from human rights abuses (related to apartheid in South Africa at the time) but has also been in addition to sources that may be engaged in money laundering, human trafficking, and the drug trade. The above mentioned OIG report detailed all of this where warnings were ignored through multiple administrations and regardless of the parties in Congress. Because the guardrails have all but collapsed, criminal organizations are keen to take advantage of the lack of safeguards because with the spot price of gold trading at these current levels of $4,500-$5,000 an ounce, that provides an incentive structure for criminal enterprises to mine gold ore in wasteful, destructive and risky ways. _As always for postings like this, the disclaimer applies._