Artificial Intelligence

May 26, 2025

Good morning! Happy Feast of Remembering — and Reflection… we don’t do enough of either. And, could we please work on peace? According to the ChatGPTs, approximately 90% of workers in the U.S. will get a paid holy day today… including a majority of retail and hospitality workers. My hunch/ guess/ hypothesis assumed far fewer workers enjoying the perquisite.  >Each is exactly equal to the other, but……at a perfectly poignant moment each morning there comes a time when the Siren call of a steaming hot, freshly roasted and ground cup of coffee wins out over the cuddly, snuggly warmth and comfort of crisp sheets stretched across a welcoming mattress.

You know that moment — or, if you don’t, you’re missing out on life.

• Hard to believe it’s been 40 years!
  • That’s right, 40 years since we sat amused, transfixed — and maybe transformed — watching, Follow that Big Bird, made possible by renting a Blockbuster tape.  (Chase)
  • And now, Big Bird is on the move again…
  • From their safe, comfortable home in Brooklyn — and then more recently and sadly, nomadic — Grover and his pals are moving to NetFlix, of all places.
  • This has us worried.
• Airbnb has been booted out of Spain; not sure about VRBO.
  • Do not despair, there are still good hotels, unparalleled museums (Guernica) — and luscious Jamon Iberico!
  • (Sorry, Spaniards, this Google machine doesn’t have accents or languages other than English… as far as I know.)
• Looking for an awesome home?
  • The estate of the late genius, Quincy Jones, is for sale in Greater Los Angeles for a cool $60 million — which includes a recording studio.
  • Spectacular views to the ocean, the mountains, and to downtown — on smog-free days.
• Interesting:  Only for finance and audit (arguably a subpart of finance) do most Boards have ultimate approval authority.  (McKinsey, 2024)
  • Among companies surveyed, Boards have the least collective average final authority in the areas of contracting, procurement, structure, and people (HR).
  • Neither good nor bad; right nor wrong… just reporting.
  • But, it is being suggested by some experts that the role, responsibility — and accountability — of Boards will increase in the years ahead.
• Among the better magazines being published and distributed nowadays is Ranger Rick, National Wildlife Federation.
  • You don’t need children or grandchildren to enjoy this outstanding journalism.
  • In the most recent edition you will learn more than you ever needed to know about the Great Gray Owl of northern climates.
  • Fabulous photographs!  I would give lots to witness these creatures in their natural Alaskan habitat.
  • And, speaking of magazines, you know about my love for The Smithsonian.
    • The most recent edition:
    • In a remote, north central Wyoming cave in the middle of nowhere, archaeologists are unearthing ancient Mammoths, Lions, Cheetahs, and prehistoric horses.
• “Businesses that win with Artificial Intelligence will do so at a tremendous scale and speed.”  (Chambers)
• Late last week my son sent me a short video clip of a hectare of lawn being mowed up nort in DooLoof.
  • I guessed it was a robot driving the high speed mower — and I was right.  Point!
• What can we learn from the Nerds?
  • It was in St. Louis, MO in 1983 — Angelos Fraggos in charge.
  • Fraggos’s team wasn’t just flying by the seat of its pants — nor by its pocket protectors — it was actually doing research, a science experiment.
  • Fraggos went to schools and interviewed kids about candy… boys would eat from the carton, girls would put it into their hands first.
  • Sour was better and more exciting than sweet… Fraggos learned the kids’ slang and tested it on packaging prototypes.
  • The gravelly, colorful, sour niblets were a big hit.
  • By 1985 Nerds won the coveted, Candy-of-the-Year Award and took the world by storm.  BTW, they were almost called, Dweebs.
    • Today and for you:
      • Take notice of what people love.
      • Ask WHY something works.
      • Pay attention to the FEEL, not just the features.
  • Nerds (Dweebs) didn’t win by guessing… it won by listening, testing, and being just weird enough to do something different.  (Murray)
  • (In 2024 Nerds generated $500,000,000 in revenue.)

• Ever wonder why we don’t see more Chinese vehicles on the roads here in the United States?
  • China produces approximately 31 million vehicles annually while the U.S. produces about 11 million.
  • Three times more motor vehicles… those numbers alone would have you wondering why…
  • … but then you start to compare and contrast the populations of the two countries:  China = 1.425 billion, U.S. = ~342 million
  • (BTW, just days ago, literally, India’s population surpassed that of China’s; China is no longer #1 and isn’t expected to be anytime soon… watch out for Nigeria!)
  • A digression…  back to the musing:  China has approximately four times the population of the U.S. and so apparently needs all of its cars to stay right at home.
• “Success is the ability to go from one failure to the next with enthusiasm.”  (Churchill)
• Is the United States in danger of achieving junk bond status?
  • Some estimates have the latest proposed federal tax legislation plunging the U.S. into an additional $5 trillion of debt.
  • Pretty soon you run out of zeros… and other stuff.
• It might be a bigger drag on the economy than tariffs…
  • Got a guess?  Obesity.  (Ungerman, Etc., et al.)
  • Estimated to be upwards of (net negative) $3 trillion by 2050.
• “‘I don’t think my leadership team would tell you I’m friends with them’, the CEO of an infrastructure company says,
  • ‘but, it’s very important to me to know not just who they are and how they lead, but what motivates them.'”  (Ratani, Etc., et al.)