#Benefits of a Market Research Report:

[electronalytics]

Electronic Timers Market Emerging Trends and Forecast by 2017-2032

The global electronic timers market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period, 2018-2028.

The competitive analysis of the Electronic Timers Market offers a comprehensive examination of key market players. It encompasses detailed company profiles, insights into revenue distribution, innovations within their product portfolios, regional market presence, strategic development plans, pricing strategies, identified target markets, and immediate future initiatives of industry leaders. This section serves as a valuable resource for readers to understand the driving forces behind competition and what strategies can set them apart in capturing new target markets.

Market projections and forecasts are underpinned by extensive primary research, further validated through precise secondary research specific to the Electronic Timers Market. Our research analysts have dedicated substantial time and effort to curate essential industry insights from key industry participants, including Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), top-tier suppliers, distributors, and relevant government entities.

Benefits of a Market Research Report:

Informed Decision-Making: Market research reports provide critical data and insights that enable businesses to make informed decisions. This can include decisions related to product development, market entry, expansion, and investment.

Competitive Advantage: By staying up-to-date with market trends and competitor strategies, companies can gain a competitive advantage. Market research helps identify gaps and opportunities in the market.

Risk Mitigation: Understanding market dynamics and potential challenges allows companies to proactively address risks and uncertainties, reducing the likelihood of costly setbacks.

Targeted Marketing: Market research helps in identifying and understanding the target audience, enabling companies to tailor their marketing efforts for maximum effectiveness and customer engagement.

Product Development and Improvement: Research reports provide insights into consumer preferences and needs, aiding in the development and improvement of products or services that meet market demands.

Key Trends in Market Research Reports:

Digital Transformation: Market research is increasingly leveraging digital technologies, including AI and big data analytics, to gather, process, and analyze data more efficiently.

Globalization: With the globalization of markets, companies are relying on market research to assess opportunities in international markets and navigate cross-border complexities.

Sustainability and ESG: There's a growing focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, and market research is often used to understand and align with sustainability trends and consumer preferences.

Data Privacy and Security: As data privacy regulations evolve, market research reports are adapting to address concerns related to data collection, handling, and protection.

Predictive Analytics: The use of predictive analytics in market research is on the rise, allowing businesses to anticipate market shifts and consumer behavior more accurately. This trend is particularly prominent in forecasting future market conditions.

Receive the FREE Sample Report of Electronic Timers Market Research Insights https://stringentdatalytics.com/sample-request/electronic-timers-market/3309/

Market Segmentations:

Global Electronic Timers Market: By Company • Honeywell • Legrand • OMRON • Leviton • Intermatic • Schneider Electric • Panasonic • Theben Group • Kubler Group • Eaton • Hager • Enerlites • Crouzet • Autonics Corporation • Ascon Tecnologic • Marsh Bellofram • Trumeter • SELEC Controls Pvt. Ltd. • Tempatron • Sisel Engineering Inc. • ANLY Electronics Co.,Ltd • Kübler Group • Dwyer Instruments • Pujing • Any Electronics Co.,Ltd

(This is a tentative list, the report on delivery will have additional companies profiled with potential/new entrants within the major shareholder market: Please subscribe to the latest sample report to know more)

Global Electronic Timers Market: By Type • Analogue Timers • Digital Timers Global Electronic Timers Market: By Application • Industrial Device • Lighting System • Others

Regional Analysis of Global Electronic Timers Market

All the regional segmentation has been studied based on recent and future trends, and the market is forecasted throughout the prediction period. The countries covered in the regional analysis of the Global Electronic Timers market report are U.S., Canada, and Mexico in North America, Germany, France, U.K., Russia, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, and Rest of Europe in Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Rest of Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the Asia-Pacific (APAC), Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Rest of Middle East and Africa (MEA) as a part of Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Argentina, Brazil, and Rest of South America as part of South America.

Click to Purchase Electronic Timers Market Research Report @ https://stringentdatalytics.com/purchase/electronic-timers-market/3309/

Here are some key highlights you might find in a market research report:

Executive Summary: A brief summary of the report, including its purpose, methodology, key findings, and recommendations.

Market Overview: An introduction to the market, its size, and its growth potential.

Market Size and Growth: Information about the current market size and anticipated growth trends, including historical data and forecasts.

Market Segmentation: Details about how the market is divided into segments based on factors like product type, application, region, and more.

Competitive Landscape: Analysis of key players in the market, their market share, strategies, and competitive positioning.

Market Trends: Identification of current and emerging trends that are shaping the market, including technological advancements and shifts in consumer behavior.

Market Drivers: Factors that are fueling market growth, such as changing consumer preferences, regulatory changes, or technological innovation.

Market Challenges: Obstacles or issues that the market faces, such as regulatory hurdles, economic downturns, or supply chain disruptions.

Opportunities: Areas of growth and potential that can be harnessed by businesses and investors.

Consumer Behavior: Insights into consumer preferences, buying patterns, and the factors influencing purchasing decisions.

Regional Analysis: Information about the market's performance in different geographical regions, including factors specific to those regions.

Industry Best Practices: Recommendations and insights into best practices for businesses operating in the market.

Customization of the Report:

This report can be customized to meet the client’s requirements. Please connect with our sales team (sales@stringentdatalytics.com ), who will ensure that you get a report that suits your needs. You can also get in touch with our executives on +1 346 666 6655 to share your research requirements.

Enquiry Before Buying https://stringentdatalytics.com/inquiry/electronic-timers-market/3309/

About Stringent Datalytics

Stringent Datalytics offers both custom and syndicated market research reports. Custom market research reports are tailored to a specific client's needs and requirements. These reports provide unique insights into a particular industry or market segment and can help businesses make informed decisions about their strategies and operations.

Syndicated market research reports, on the other hand, are pre-existing reports that are available for purchase by multiple clients. These reports are often produced on a regular basis, such as annually or quarterly, and cover a broad range of industries and market segments. Syndicated reports provide clients with insights into industry trends, market sizes, and competitive landscapes. By offering both custom and syndicated reports, Stringent Datalytics can provide clients with a range of market research solutions that can be customized to their specific needs.

Reach US

Stringent Datalytics

sales@stringentdatalytics.com

+1 346 666 6655

Social Channels:

Linkedin | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube  

[chloedecker0]

Optimizing Connectivity: The Role of Edge Colocation in Today’s Digital Landscape

Edge Colocation is a rising trend in the data centre industry, representing a shift towards decentralized infrastructure to meet the demands of emerging technologies. As the market evolves, companies are increasingly adopting edge colocation solutions to enhance their IT capabilities and address the challenges posed by latency-sensitive applications.

Edge colocation refers to the deployment of data centre facilities at the edge of the network, closer to end-users and devices. This approach aims to reduce latency, enhance performance, and accommodate the growing volume of data generated by IoT devices, 5G networks, and other edge computing applications.

The emergence of edge colocation is driven by the need for faster data processing and reduced latency, critical factors in industries like gaming, healthcare, and autonomous vehicles. Traditional centralized data centres face limitations in delivering real-time responses for these applications, making edge colocation an attractive solution.

Why Companies are Adopting Edge Colocation

Reduced Latency

Edge colocation minimizes data travel distances, leading to lower latency and improved application performance. This is crucial for applications requiring real-time interactions, such as online gaming and autonomous vehicles.

Scalability

Edge colocation allows companies to scale their IT infrastructure more efficiently by distributing resources across multiple edge locations. This flexibility is beneficial for businesses experiencing unpredictable growth or seasonal spikes in demand.

Enhanced Reliability

By decentralizing data centres, companies can enhance the reliability of their services. Redundant edge locations provide backup support, reducing the risk of downtime in the event of a localized failure.

Compliance and Data Sovereignty

Edge colocation helps address regulatory and compliance requirements by allowing companies to store and process data within specific geographic regions. This is particularly important in industries with strict data sovereignty regulations.

Download the sample report of Market Share: Edge Colocation

Market Intelligence Reports

Quadrant Knowledge Solutions provides valuable insights into the edge colocation market through two key reports:

Market Share: Edge Colocation, 2022, Worldwide

This report outlines the market landscape, identifying key players and their respective market shares. Understanding the competitive landscape is crucial for businesses looking to make informed decisions about their edge colocation providers.

Market Forecast: Edge Colocation, 2022–2027, Worldwide

The forecast report provides insights into the future trends and growth opportunities in the edge colocation market. This information is invaluable for companies planning their long-term IT strategies and investments in edge infrastructure.

The Significance of Market Research Reports for Edge Colocation

In the rapidly evolving landscape of edge computing, companies are increasingly turning to market research reports to navigate the complexities of edge colocation. Here’s why these reports are crucial:

Industry Insight and Trends

- Market research reports provide in-depth insights into the current state of the edge colocation market, offering a comprehensive overview of emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities.

- Understanding industry dynamics allows companies to make informed decisions about their edge computing strategies, ensuring they align with market trends.

Competitive Landscape

- Reports delve into the competitive landscape, identifying key players, their market share, and strategic initiatives.

- Companies can use this information to benchmark themselves against competitors, assess market saturation, and identify potential collaboration or differentiation opportunities.

Market Size and Forecast

- Accurate market sizing and forecasting enable businesses to gauge the growth potential of edge colocation services.

- These insights assist in strategic planning, resource allocation, and market positioning, ensuring companies are well-prepared for the future trajectory of the edge computing industry.

Risk Mitigation

- Market research reports highlight potential risks and challenges associated with edge colocation, allowing companies to proactively address issues and build resilient strategies.

- Understanding market risks helps organizations develop contingency plans, ensuring they can navigate uncertainties effectively.

Customer Insights

- Reports often include customer preferences, requirements, and satisfaction levels, providing valuable insights into the demands of end-users.

- This customer-centric data aids companies in tailoring their edge colocation services to meet the specific needs and expectations of their target audience.

Download the sample report of Market Forecast: Edge Colocation

Why Choose Quadrant Knowledge Solutions

Quadrant Knowledge Solutions stands out as a reliable source for market intelligence, and here’s why companies should turn to them for insights into edge colocation:

Expertise and Credibility

- Quadrant Knowledge Solutions is known for its industry expertise and credibility. Their reports are crafted by seasoned analysts who thoroughly understand the nuances of the market.

- The firm’s reputation for delivering accurate and insightful analyses enhances the reliability of the information presented in their reports.

Comprehensive Coverage

- Quadrant’s reports provide comprehensive coverage, offering a detailed examination of various aspects of the edge colocation market, including market share, growth drivers, challenges, and future forecasts.

- This comprehensive approach ensures that companies receive a holistic view of the market, enabling well-informed decision-making.

Timely and Relevant Information

- In the fast-paced tech industry, timeliness is crucial. Quadrant Knowledge Solutions delivers reports that are timely, ensuring that businesses receive the most up-to-date information to inform their strategies.

Customized Solutions

- Quadrant understands that one size doesn’t fit all. Their reports often include insights and recommendations tailored to different business sizes, industries, and geographies, providing companies with actionable intelligence aligned with their unique requirements.

Talk To Analyst: https://quadrant-solutions.com/talk-to-analyst

In conclusion, the rise of edge colocation signifies a paradigm shift in data centre strategies, driven by the need for low-latency, scalable, and reliable infrastructure. As companies increasingly recognize the benefits of edge computing, market intelligence reports play a pivotal role in guiding businesses toward optimal edge colocation solutions. Market research reports, particularly those offered by Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, serve as indispensable tools for companies venturing into the edge colocation space. By leveraging these reports, businesses can gain a competitive edge, mitigate risks, and strategically position themselves in the dynamic landscape of edge computing.

[wishtree123]

Market Research and Its Benefits

Market research is the process of gathering and analyzing information about a particular market or industry. It provides valuable insights into consumer behavior, market trends, and competition, which businesses can use to make informed decisions about their products and services. Re are some benefits of market research and how it can help businesses gain a competitive advantage.

Identifying customer needs and preferences: Market research helps businesses understand what customers want and need from their products or services. It can provide insight into customer preferences, pain points, and buying habits, which can be used to tailor products and services to better meet the needs of the target market. For example, a clothing retailer may use market research to determine which styles and colors are most popular among their target demographic, and adjust their inventory accordingly.

Analyzing the competition: Market research can help businesses gain a better understanding of their competitors, including their strengths and weaknesses. This can be used to identify areas where the business can differentiate itself and gain a competitive advantage. For example, a business may use market research to determine that their competitor's product lacks a particular feature, and use this knowledge to develop a similar product that includes that feature.

Assessing market potential: Market research can provide businesses with insights into the potential size and growth of a market. This information can be used to assess whether it is worth investing in a particular market and to develop strategies for capturing a share of that market. For example, a software company may use market research to determine that there is a growing demand for project management software in the healthcare industry, and use this knowledge to develop a new product specifically for that market.

Developing effective marketing strategies: Market research can help businesses develop effective marketing strategies that resonate with their target audience. By understanding what motivates customers to buy, businesses can develop messaging and branding that speaks directly to those motivations. For example, a coffee shop may use market research to determine that their target demographic values locally sourced, organic ingredients, and use this knowledge to develop a marketing campaign that emphasizes those values.

Improving customer satisfaction: Market research can help businesses improve customer satisfaction by identifying areas where customers may be dissatisfied or frustrated. By addressing these issues, businesses can improve their products and services, and increase customer loyalty. For example, a restaurant may use market research to determine that customers are unhappy with long wait times, and use this knowledge to implement a reservation system that reduces wait times and improves the overall dining experience.

Minimizing risk: Market research can help businesses minimize the risk of launching a new product or entering a new market. By gathering information about consumer demand, competition, and market trends, businesses can make informed decisions about whether to proceed with a particular initiative. For example, a technology company may use market research to determine that there is little demand for a new product they were planning to launch and use this knowledge to avoid wasting resources on a product that is unlikely to succeed.

In conclusion, market research is a critical tool for businesses that want to gain a competitive advantage in their industry. It provides valuable insights into customer needs and preferences, competition, market potential, marketing strategies, customer satisfaction, and risk. By leveraging these insights, businesses can make informed decisions that lead to greater success and growth.

[kcinpa]

TL;DR Project 2025

Project 2025 has crossed my dash several times, so maybe tumblr is already informed about the hellish 900-page takeover plan if Trump wins office again. But even the articles covering Project 2025 can be a LOT of reading. So I'm trying to get it down to simple bulleted lists…

Navigator Research (a progressive polling outfit) found that 7 in 10 Americans are unfamiliar with Project 2025. But the more they learn about it, the more they don't like or want it. When asked about a series of policy plans taken directly from Project 2025, the bipartisan survey group responded most negatively to the following:

Allowing employers to stop paying hourly workers overtime

Allowing the government to monitor people’s pregnancies to potentially prosecute them if they miscarry

Removing health care protections for people with pre-existing conditions

Eliminating the National Weather Service, which is currently responsible for preparing for extreme weather events like heat waves, floods, and wildfires

Eliminating the Head Start program, ending preschool education for the children of low-income families

Putting a new tax on health insurance for millions of people who get insurance through their employer

Banning Medicare from negotiating for lower prescription drug costs and eliminating the $35 monthly cap on the price of insulin for seniors

Cutting Social Security benefits by raising the retirement age

Allowing employers to deny workers access to birth control

Laurie Garrett looked at the roughly 50 pages within Project 2025 that deal with Health and Human Services (HHS) and other health agencies, and summarized them on Twitter/X in a series of replies. I've shortened even more here:

HHS must "respect for the sacred rights of conscience" for Federal workers & healthcare providers and workers broadly who object to abortions, contraception, gender reassignment & other issues - ie. allow them to deny services based on religious beliefs

HHS should promote "stable and flourishing married families."

Require all welfare programs to "promote father involvement" – or terminate their funding for mothers and children.

Prioritize adoptions via faith-based organizations.

Redefine sex, eliminating all forms of gender "confusion" regarding identity and orientation.

Eliminate the Head Start program for children, entirely

Ban all funding of Planned Parenthood

Ban birth control services that are "egregious attacks on many Americans' religious & moral beliefs"

Deny pregnancy termination pills, "mail-order abortions."

Eliminate Office of Refugee Resettlement; move all refugee matters to the Department of Homeland Security

Healthcare should be "market-based"

Ban all mask and vaccine requirements.

Closely regulate the NIH w/citizen ethics panels, ensuring that no research involves fetal tissue, leads to development of new forms of Abortions or brings profits to the researchers.

Redirect the Office of Global Affairs to promoting "moral conscience" & full compliance w/the Mexico City policy

The CDC should have no role in medical policies.

"Because liberal states have now become sanctuaries for abortion tourism," HHS should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence & by what method.

I'm still looking for a good short summary of the environmental horrors that Project 2025 would bring if it comes to fruition…

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Case Study

Case Study - a highly detailed analysis of a particular subject, usually involving multiple sets of quantitative data observed over a period of time that allow researchers to draw conclusions in the context of the real world.

Throughout the years, the results of case study research have given us a greater and more holistic understanding in fields such as medicine, political and social sciences, and economics.

Researchers have used case studies to explore relationships between variables and a central subject, whether that subject be a human's reaction to medication, a country’s reaction to an economic crisis, or the effect of pesticides on crops over a period of time.

This methodology relies heavily on data collection and qualitative research to answer hypotheses in multiple fields.

Types of Case Studies

There are several different kinds of case studies. Here are a few:

Illustrative case study: Researchers use observations on every angle of a specific case, generally resulting in a thorough and deep data analysis.

Exploratory case study: Primarily used to identify research questions and qualitative methods to explore in subsequent studies, this type of case study is frequently in use in the field of political science.

Cumulative case study: This type relies on the analysis of qualitative data gathered over a range of timelines, which can draw new conclusions from old research methodology or studies.

Critical instance case study: Used to answer questions about the cause and effects of a particular event, critical instance case studies are helpful in cases that pose unique perspectives on otherwise established truths.

Marketing case study: This type of case study evaluates the quantifiable results of a marketing strategy, new product, or other business decision.

Examples of Case Studies

Here are a three examples of case studies in different fields:

Content marketing: In the marketing context, case studies typically explain how the business responded to the needs of a certain client, and whether or not the response was effective. Since these types of case studies are a tool to attract new customers rather than to merely share information, they should contain clear headings, attractive fonts, and infographic data that is easy to interpret.

Neuroscience: The tragic case of Phineas Gage allowed researchers to observe the changes in behavior and personality he experienced after surviving a horrific railroad accident that damaged parts of his brain. This led to a better understanding of the relationship between our frontal lobe and emotional functioning. This type of research is an example of a case study that would be impossible to ethically replicate in a laboratory, but nonetheless was a breakthrough in neuroscience and health care.

Psychoanalysis: Modern talk therapy owes much to the individual case of Anna O, otherwise known as Bertha Pappenheim. While living in Vienna in 1880, she began experiencing severe hallucinations and mood swings. Joseph Bruer, a pioneer in psychoanalysis, took Bertha under his care, and after multiple sessions where she discussed her inner emotional state and fears with Bruer, her symptoms waned. This case study is often seen as the first successful example of psychoanalysis.

Benefits of a Case Study

A case study can allow you to:

Collect wide-reaching data: Using a case study is an excellent way to gather large amounts of data on your subject, generally resulting in research that is more grounded in reality. For example, a case study approach focused on business research could have dozens of different data sources such as expense reports, profit and loss statements, and information on customer retention. This collected data provides different angles you can use to draw conclusions in a real-life context.

Conduct studies in an accessible way: You do not need to work in a lab to conduct a case study. In a number of cases, researchers use case study methodology to study things that cannot be replicated in a laboratory setting, such as observing the spending habits of a group of people over a period of months.

Reduce bias: Since case studies can capture a variety of perspectives, researchers’ own preconceptions on a subjects have less of an influence.

See connections more clearly: Through case studies, you can track paths of positive or negative development, which makes specific results repeatable, verifiable, and explainable.

Source ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[probablyasocialecologist]

This is it. Generative AI, as a commercial tech phenomenon, has reached its apex. The hype is evaporating. The tech is too unreliable, too often. The vibes are terrible. The air is escaping from the bubble. To me, the question is more about whether the air will rush out all at once, sending the tech sector careening downward like a balloon that someone blew up, failed to tie off properly, and let go—or more slowly, shrinking down to size in gradual sputters, while emitting embarrassing fart sounds, like a balloon being deliberately pinched around the opening by a smirking teenager. But come on. The jig is up. The technology that was at this time last year being somberly touted as so powerful that it posed an existential threat to humanity is now worrying investors because it is apparently incapable of generating passable marketing emails reliably enough. We’ve had at least a year of companies shelling out for business-grade generative AI, and the results—painted as shinily as possible from a banking and investment sector that would love nothing more than a new technology that can automate office work and creative labor—are one big “meh.” As a Bloomberg story put it last week, “Big Tech Fails to Convince Wall Street That AI Is Paying Off.” From the piece: Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. had one job heading into this earnings season: show that the billions of dollars they’ve each sunk into the infrastructure propelling the artificial intelligence boom is translating into real sales. In the eyes of Wall Street, they disappointed. Shares in Google owner Alphabet have fallen 7.4% since it reported last week. Microsoft’s stock price has declined in the three days since the company’s own results. Shares of Amazon — the latest to drop its earnings on Thursday — plunged by the most since October 2022 on Friday. Silicon Valley hailed 2024 as the year that companies would begin to deploy generative AI, the type of technology that can create text, images and videos from simple prompts. This mass adoption is meant to finally bring about meaningful profits from the likes of Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot. The fact that those returns have yet to meaningfully materialize is stoking broader concerns about how worthwhile AI will really prove to be. Meanwhile, Nvidia, the AI chipmaker that soared to an absurd $3 trillion valuation, is losing that value with every passing day—26% over the last month or so, and some analysts believe that’s just the beginning. These declines are the result of less-than-stellar early results from corporations who’ve embraced enterprise-tier generative AI, the distinct lack of killer commercial products 18 months into the AI boom, and scathing financial analyses from Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, and Elliot Management, each of whom concluded that there was “too much spend, too little benefit” from generative AI, in the words of Goldman, and that it was “overhyped” and a “bubble” per Elliot. As CNN put it in its report on growing fears of an AI bubble, Some investors had even anticipated that this would be the quarter that tech giants would start to signal that they were backing off their AI infrastructure investments since “AI is not delivering the returns that they were expecting,” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria told CNN. The opposite happened — Google, Microsoft and Meta all signaled that they plan to spend even more as they lay the groundwork for what they hope is an AI future. This can, perhaps, explain some of the investor revolt. The tech giants have responded to mounting concerns by doubling, even tripling down, and planning on spending tens of billions of dollars on researching, developing, and deploying generative AI for the foreseeable future. All this as high profile clients are canceling their contracts. As surveys show that overwhelming majorities of workers say generative AI makes them less productive. As MIT economist and automation scholar Daron Acemoglu warns, “Don’t believe the AI hype.”

6 August 2024

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Sign of the Day - Boston again… another great overpass banner sign there….

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 4, 2025

Heather Cox Richardson

Jun 04, 2025

Just hours after President Donald J. Trump posted on social media yesterday that “[b]ecause of Tariffs, our Economy is BOOMING!” a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the opposite. Founded in 1961, the OECD is a forum in which 38 market-based democracies cooperate to promote sustainable economic growth.

The OECD’s economic outlook reports that economic growth around the globe is slowing because of Trump’s trade war. It projects global growth slowing from 3.3% in 2024 to 2.9% in 2025 and 2026. That economic slowdown is concentrated primarily in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China.

The OECD predicts that growth in the United States will decline from 2.8% in 2024 to 1.6% in 2025 and 1.5% in 2026.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released two analyses today of Trump’s policies that add more detail to that report. The CBO’s estimate for the effect of Trump’s current tariffs—which are unlikely to stay as they are—is that they will raise inflation and slow economic growth as consumers bear their costs. The CBO says it is hard to anticipate how the tariffs will change purchasing behavior, but it estimates that the tariffs will reduce the deficit by $2.8 trillion over ten years.

Also today, the CBO’s analysis of the Republicans’ “One Big, Beautiful Bill” is that it will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade because the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts in the measure do not fully offset the $3.7 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Republicans have met this CBO score with attacks on the CBO, but its estimate is in keeping with those of a wide range of economists and think tanks.

Taken together, these studies illustrate how Trump’s economic policies are designed to transfer wealth from consumers to the wealthy and corporations. From 1981 to 2021, American policies moved $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of Americans to the top 1%. After Biden stopped that upward transfer, the Trump administration is restarting it again, on steroids.

Just how these policies are affecting Americans is no longer clear, though. Matt Grossman of the Wall Street Journal reported today that economists no longer trust the accuracy of the government’s inflation data. Officials from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles a huge monthly survey of employment and costs, told economists that staffing shortages and a hiring freeze have forced them to cut back on their research and use less precise methods for figuring out price changes. Grossman reports that the bureau has also cut back on the number of places where it collects data and that the administration has gotten rid of committees of external experts that worked to improve government statistics.

There is more than money at stake in the administration’s policies. The administration's gutting of the government seeks to decimate the modern government that regulates business, provides a basic social safety net, promotes infrastructure, and protects civil rights and to replace it with a government that permits a few wealthy men to rule.

The CBO score for the Republicans’ omnibus bill projects that if it is enacted, 16 million people will lose access to healthcare insurance over the next decade in what is essentially an assault on the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The bill also dramatically cuts Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan (SNAP) benefits, clean energy credits, aid for student borrowers, benefits for federal workers, and consumer protection services, while requiring the sale of public natural resources.

These cuts continue those the administration has made since Trump took office, many of which fell under the hand of the “Department of Government Efficiency.” But, while billionaire Elon Musk was the figurehead for that group, it appears his main interest was in collecting data. His understudy, Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought, appears to have determined the direction of the cuts, which did not save money so much as decimate the parts of the government that the authors of Project 2025 wanted to destroy.

Vought was a key author of Project 2025, whose aim is to disrupt and destroy the United States government in order to center a Christian, heteronormative, male-dominated family as the primary element of society. To do so, the plan calls for destroying the administrative state, withdrawing the United States from global affairs, and ending environmental and business regulations.

Yesterday the White House asked Congress to cancel $9.4 billion in already-appropriated spending that the Department of Government Efficiency identified as wasteful, a procedure known as “rescission.” Trump aides say the money funds programs that promote what they consider inappropriate ideologies, including public media networks PBS and NPR; the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides food and basic medical care globally; and PEPFAR, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that was established under President George W. Bush to combat HIV/AIDS in more than 50 countries and is currently credited with saving about 26 million lives.

Vought appeared today before the House Appropriations Committee, where members scolded him for neglecting to provide a budget for the year, which they need to do their jobs. But Vought had plenty to say about the things he is doing. According to ProPublica’s Andy Kroll, he claimed that under Biden “every agency became a tool of the Left.” He said the White House will continue to ask for rescissions, but also noted that, as Project 2025 laid out, he does not believe that the 1974 Impoundment Control Act, which requires the executive branch to spend the money that Congress has appropriated, is constitutional, despite court decisions saying it is.

Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) told Vought: “Be honest, this is never about government efficiency. In fact, an efficient government, a government that capably serves the American people and proves good government is achievable is what you fear the most. You want a government so broken, so dysfunctional, so starved of resources, so full of incompetent political lackeys and bereft of experts and professionals that its departments and agencies cannot feasibly achieve the goals and the missions to which they are lawfully directed. Your goal is privatization, for the biggest companies to have unchecked power, for an economy that does not work for the middle class, for working and vulnerable families. You want the American people to have no one to turn to, but to the billionaires and the corporations this administration has put in charge. Waste, fraud, and abuse are not the targets of this administration. They are your primary objectives.”

The use of the government to impose evangelical beliefs on the country, even at the expense of lives, also appears to be an administration goal. Yesterday, the administration announced it is ending the Biden administration’s 2022 guidance to hospital emergency rooms that accept Medicare—which is virtually all of them—requiring that under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act they must perform an abortion in an emergency if the procedure is necessary to prevent a patient’s organ failure or severe hemorrhaging. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requires emergency rooms to stabilize patients.

The Trump administration will no longer enforce that policy. Last year, an investigation by the Associated Press found that even when the Biden administration policy was being enforced, dozens of pregnant women, some of whom needed emergency abortions, were turned away from emergency rooms with advice to “let nature take its course.”

Finally tonight, in what seems likely to be an attempt to distract attention from the omnibus bill and all the controversy surrounding it, Trump banned Harvard from hosting foreign students. He also banned nationals from a dozen countries—Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—from entering the United States, an echo of the travel ban of his first term that threw the country into chaos.

Trump justified his travel ban by citing the attack Sunday in Boulder, Colorado, on peaceful demonstrators marching to support Israeli hostages in Gaza. An Egyptian national who had overstayed a tourist visa hurled Molotov cocktails at the marchers, injuring 15 people.

Egypt is not on the list of countries whose nationals Trump has banned from the United States.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[techramonic]

The Game of Common Interests: The Symbiotic Relationship of Terrorism and The Media

Mass media and terrorism have developed an interdependent relationship. The media is the terrorist’s breath of fresh air, and it is the lifeblood and sustenance of terrorism, where the media often capitalizes on the public's confusion, intrigue, and paranoia following terrorist attacks by producing sensationalized news that captures widespread attention. This dynamic, however, plays into the hands of terrorists, who exploit the extensive coverage to spread the agency of their extremist agendas and beliefs, particularly targeting and influencing vulnerable audiences, such as the youth. Professor Taha Najem of Naif Arab University had described this relationship as “symbiotic”.

In Najem's own words:

"As for the extremists, they precisely calculate the scope, location, and timing of their attacks to generate ample media attention,—or in other words, to generate advertisements for their messages on a global scale. The broader and more prolonged the media coverage of terrorism turns out to be, the greater the terrorists' feelings of accomplishment, influence, and power." (Najem, 2017).

Bruce Hoffman, the Director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University said:

"Only by spreading the terror and outrage to a much larger audience can the terrorists gain the maximum leverage potential."

Najem argues that the relationship between the two can be understood through the media's tendency to capitalize on horrific tragedies. It often uses these as newsworthy scoops that not only provide information but also serve as marketing opportunities and profitable publicity. In some instances, the media may unintentionally promote terrorist operations by offering excessive coverage, which is driven by their own incessant need for fame, power, money, and influence. This aligns with the perpetrator's likeness, where some stage attacks often with the sole purpose of gaining publicity and creating propaganda rather than resolving political demands.

Researchers have established that media coverage is pivotal to the success of terrorist attacks, with the scope and intensity of coverage often being more important to terrorist groups than the quality of the reporting. However, this perspective can also be overly simplistic, as it overlooks the complex relationship between media coverage and public reaction. It also fails to consider that not all terrorists prioritize publicity over their other tactical or political aims. Additionally, the complex interplay between the media and terrorism cannot be fully understood without considering the role of the state. 

Not only does this occur in mass media, but also creating trends within specific online communities. From this, we can see how there is a benefit in both parties: terrorists gain the publicity they desire, while the media profits from the heightened public interest, increasing the influx of coverage because of the heightened value. Furthermore, many individuals drawn into terrorism have been influenced by channels, websites, magazines, and other forms of media that promote bombings and suicide missions, highlighting the powerful role media can play in the recruitment and radicalization process. With this, here are some ways in which the media benefits terrorism, and vice-versa. Allowing media prevalence through marketability and terrorism through radicalization. 

World Trade Center Bombing, 2001.

On September 11, 19 terrorists from al-Qaeda hijacked and attacked the World Trade center, following four coordinated bombing-suicide attacks against the U.S. There were 2,996 deaths and approximately 6,000 injured. Over the past two decades after the attack, mainstream media audiences have witnessed a significant shift in how news was presented: the rise of dramatic and emotional storytelling, or what can be termed as "public drama."

This approach has increasingly dominated the media landscape, being a central focus on various platforms: lead stories on news programs, main broadcast discussions, and bold headlines on newspapers. This had become a prominent framework for delivering news, particularly in television, due to its entertainment-like qualities. By simplifying complex stories into easily-digestible and compelling narratives with vivid images, the audience is more engaged. News organizations and media professionals favor this dramatic approach because of the direct and cost-effective production. 

The 9/11 attack is a prime example of this trend. When news broke of a plane crashing into the World Trade Center, broadcasters were initially unprepared for the unfolding catastrophe and the dramatic and chaotic nature of the events presented challenges in conveying the news. With initial coverage featuring footage of billowing flames and smoke from the collapsed towers, the explosion of the Pentagon, and the emergency response—all were easily committed into the viewer's memories. These images captured the raw scale of the disaster and its immediate aftermath. The people were confused, afraid, and intrigued—then they became invested. Thus, the sensationalization of news was adapted.

Oklahoma City Bombing, 1995.

On April 19th, just the second anniversary of the end of the Waco siege, domestic terrorists Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh detonated a nitrate-fuel oil bomb in the Alfred P. Murrah Building, claiming 168 lives and injuring  680 others.

Timothy McVeigh was one of America’s most notorious domestic terrorists, and with his involvement with the crime, he was then sentenced to death by lethal injection. In June 2001, the Federal Bureau of Prisons was responsible for the execution of McVeigh.  Linda Smith and John Roberts, in their journal article, delve into one significant instance where media demands placed a heavy burden on the Federal Agency. During this time of McVeigh's execution, the Bureau faced a difficult dilemma: balancing the need to facilitate media coverage of the execution while ensuring the safety and security of the maximum-security penitentiary where it was conducted.

This situation highlights a broader paradox faced by many federal agencies. They are tasked with providing information to the media while simultaneously navigating ethical, budgetary, and legal constraints that limit their engagement in traditional public relations activities, such as advertising and lobbying, common in the private sector. Public affairs officers are legally obligated to release non-sensitive information, yet they must carefully avoid disclosing material exempt under the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act, as individual officers can be held criminally liable for such breaches. This tension between transparency and security underscores the complex challenges these agencies must navigate in their public communications.

Boston Marathon Bombing, 2013 and INSPIRE MAGAZINE.

On April 15th, exactly on America's Patriot's Day, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar (Jahar) Tsarnaev detonated two pressure cooker bombs at 2:49 p.m., just a few of hours after the winner completed the Boston Marathon, totaling to 6 deaths and 281 injuries.

Jahar had a fascination with fireworks and explosives, while Tamerlan exhibited early signs of radicalization.  Although there were no proper links of the two to terrorist groups, Jahar had revealed that the two obtained plans from Inspire, specifically its first issue revealing a step-by-step recipe on creating pressure cooker bombs or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).

Inspire is an English online magazine published by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), infamously known as the group that perpetrated the 9/11 and PAL 434 attacks. The magazine is one of the many ways AQAP spreads its online agenda. Both international and domestic extremists have been motivated by radical interpretations of Islam and, in some cases, used its bomb-making instructions in their attempts to carry out attacks. 

The insurgence of the 'Jihadi John Slideshow Trend'

During the period of 2014, youtube videos uploaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) started surfacing on the internet. This was characterized by a series of masked militants criticizing the American or British government and then tying in the statements by the gruesome beheadings of hostages, ransoms, and soldiers.

Terrorists had often used their media presence as a driving force to influence the youth into affiliating themselves with terrorist ties. One of these was Jihadi John, unveiled as British militant and Kuwaiti-born Mohamed Emwazi. In these videos, Emwazi is often seen looming over the camera holding a knife and standing next to a kneeled hostage. He ends every video by beheading his victims. One of his most famous videos was the beheading of American Journalist James Foley.

Around June 2010, Emwazi was detained and in the middle of 2020, the insurgence of the “Jihadi John Slideshow” trend had reached tiktok. While the origins of this trend still remains obscure, this has left a lasting impact on the youth. Often, the demographic consisted of teens, specifically young males, who romanticized and glorified the acts of violence portrayed by Emwazi and the aesthetic of militaristic weaponry. Many had credited this behavior to “edgy” standards and humor, however, this idealism was proven to be more unironic than it seemed. Eventually, in the proceeding years, the trend had died out, however, it had came back a few times during period intervals of 2022 to 2023.

This trend had also harmfully villainized harmless ideologies, distorting these ideas to the point where it is repulsing for the public’s perception. An example of this is the concept of Jihad, where it is essentially the Islamic philosophy of struggling to defend the religion and attaining peace within the community  and outside of it. It promotes the unity and solidarity of individuals where militaristic action is only done as a last resort of intervention. Often, Jihadi groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS have spread distorted and extremist versions of this ideology, creating a brand new concept of utilizing violent militaristic resistance to protect Islam. With this dangerous approach, muslim communities are stigmatized, discriminated against, and stereotyped. This is especially harmful because it is a large problem that affects the community in various ways, especially when terrorists rebrand concepts initially striving to attain peace as acts of hatred and war, tainting a beautiful religion with images of violence.

Conclusion

Circling back to Prof. Najem’s analysis, without the media’s attention and focus, terrorists are unable to achieve any of the following four objectives: (1) recognition of the group name or ideology, (2) ability to communicate with supporters, (3) communicate with members of the local government, (4) and depict itself as a legitimate political alternative to the current governments. To conclude this essay, the relationship between mass media and terrorism is a complex and interdependent one, where the intricacies of both entities should be carefully observed and analyzed to unravel the deeper connections between the two.

While some researchers argue that media coverage is essential for the success of terrorist attacks, this view is sometimes overly simplistic and does not fully capture the intricate relationship between media portrayal and public reaction. Additionally, not all terrorist groups prioritize publicity over their other objectives. The symbiotic relationship between the media and terrorism is further complicated by the role of the state, which must balance transparency with security.

Several case studies, including the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and the rise of figures like Jihadi John, highlight the ways in which media coverage can both shape and be shaped by terrorist actions. These examples demonstrate how terrorist groups leverage media to spread their message and recruit new members, while the media, in turn, benefits from the increased attention and revenue generated by such coverage.

Ultimately, this relationship underscores the powerful role that the media plays in both perpetuating and combating terrorism. The challenge lies in finding a balance between reporting news and preventing the unintentional promotion of extremist ideologies.

[therobotmonster]

There's a nuance to the Amazon AI checkout story that gets missed.

Because AI-assisted checkouts on its own isn't a bad thing:

This was a big story in 2022, about a bread-checkout system in Japan that turned out to be applicable in checking for cancer cells in sample slides.

But that bonus anti-cancer discovery isn't the subject here, the actual bread-checkout system is. That checkout system worked, because it wasn't designed with the intent of making the checkout cashier obsolete, rather, it was there to solve a real problem: it's hard to tell pastry apart at a glance, and the customers didn't like their bread with a plastic-wrapping and they didn't like the cashiers handling the bread to count loaves.

So they trained the system intentionally, under controlled circumstances, before testing and launching the tech. The robot does what it's good at, and it doesn't need to be omniscient because it's a tool, not a replacement worker.

Amazon, however, wanted to offload its training not just on an underpaid overseas staff, but on the customers themselves. And they wanted it out NOW so they could brag to shareholders about this new tech before the tech even worked. And they wanted it to replace a person, but not just the cashier. There were dreams of a world where you can't shoplift because you'd get billed anyway dancing in the investor's heads.

Only, it's one thing to make a robot that helps cooperative humans count bread, and it's another to try and make one that can thwart the ingenuity of hungry people.

The foreign workers performing the checkouts are actually supposed to be training the models. A lot of reports gloss over this in an effort to present the efforts as an outsourcing Mechanical Turk but that's really a side-effect. These models all work on datasets, and the only place you get a dataset of "this visual/sensor input=this purchase" is if someone is cataloging a dataset correlating the two...

Which Amazon could have done by simply putting the sensor system in place and correlating the purchase data from the cashiers with the sensor tracking of the customer. Just do that for as long as you need to build the dataset and test it by having it predict and compare in the background until you reach your preferred ratio. If it fails, you have a ton of market research data as a consolation prize.

But that could take months or years and you don't get to pump your stock until it works, and you don't get to outsource your cashiers while pretending you've made Westworld work.

This way, even though Amazon takes a little bit of a PR bloody nose, they still have the benefit of any stock increase this already produced, the shareholders got their dividends.

Which I suppose is a lot of words to say:

[kimlerde]

Booking test

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on BookieComplain.com, your go-to resource for navigating the world of online betting with confidence. In an industry where trust and transparency are paramount, we understand the importance of informed choices. Our platform tackles the most pressing issues by aggregating user feedback and complaints about various bookmakers, including 1xBit, Paripesa, Stake, and Bet365. Whether you seek to understand common grievances or wish to compare the reputation of different betting sites, Bookie Complain serves as your trusted companion.

1xbit Complaints

As with any betting platform, it's crucial for users to weigh the benefits against the difficulties reported by others. With ongoing discussions regarding paripesa complaints, Stake complaints, and bet365 complaints, potential customers must conduct thorough research to ensure a positive betting experience.

Paripesa Complaints

Paripesa complaints, like many other betting platforms, has received a variety of complaints from users regarding different aspects of its services. Understanding these complaints is crucial for those who are considering using Paripesa for their betting needs.

Common User Complaints

Withdrawal Issues: Users frequently report difficulties with withdrawing their funds, citing delayed processing times or complications with verification processes.

Customer Service Experiences: Many complaints revolve around the responsiveness and effectiveness of customer support. Users have expressed frustration over long wait times for assistance or unhelpful responses to their queries.

Banned Accounts: There are instances where users have claimed that their accounts were unjustly suspended or closed without sufficient explanation, which can leave them feeling cheated.

Bonus Restrictions: Some customers feel misled by the conditions attached to bonuses and promotions, alleging that the requirements were not communicated clearly.

Factors Influencing Complaints

The reasons behind these complaints can vary widely. Some users may not fully understand the terms and conditions associated with the platform, while others may have had isolated incidents that do not represent the overall user experience. It's essential to approach these complaints with a balanced perspective, considering both the negative feedback and positive reviews that may exist.

Using User Reviews to Inform Decisions

While Stake has its strengths, addressing these stake complaints is crucial for maintaining a positive user experience. Potential users should consider these issues before engaging with the platform, making informed decisions based on feedback from current and previous users.

Bet365 Complaints

When it comes to online betting platforms, bet365 is a prominent name in the industry. However, like many other betting sites, it has received its share of complaints from users. Understanding these complaints can help you make an informed decision when considering using their services.

Common Issues Reported

Some of the most frequently reported bet365 complaints include:

Account Verification Delays: Users have reported prolonged delays in the account verification process, which can impact their ability to place bets promptly.

Withdrawal Issues: There are various complaints about delays in processing withdrawals, with some users experiencing significant waiting periods for funds to arrive in their accounts.

Responsive Support: Many bettors have noted that the customer service response times can be slow, particularly during peak betting times or major sporting events.

Marketing Practices: Some users have raised concerns about misleading promotional offers, feeling that the terms and conditions are not clearly outlined.

Feedback from Users

While bet365 provides a wide range of betting options and generally positive experiences for many users, it is important to consider both the pros and cons. User feedback often highlights a mix of satisfaction with the platform's features but also frustration with specific issues.

Understanding the nature of 1xbit complaints, paripesa complaints, Stake complaints, and now bet365 complaints can help users navigate their betting experiences more effectively. Always research and weigh the positive and negative feedback from users to make a wise decision.

[elwenyere]

I saw a post the other day calling criticism of generative AI a moral panic, and while I do think many proprietary AI technologies are being used in deeply unethical ways, I think there is a substantial body of reporting and research on the real-world impacts of the AI boom that would trouble the comparison to a moral panic: while there *are* older cultural fears tied to negative reactions to the perceived newness of AI, many of those warnings are Luddite with a capital L - that is, they're part of a tradition of materialist critique focused on the way the technology is being deployed in the political economy. So (1) starting with the acknowledgement that a variety of machine-learning technologies were being used by researchers before the current "AI" hype cycle, and that there's evidence for the benefit of targeted use of AI techs in settings where they can be used by trained readers - say, spotting patterns in radiology scans - and (2) setting aside the fact that current proprietary LLMs in particular are largely bullshit machines, in that they confidently generate errors, incorrect citations, and falsehoods in ways humans may be less likely to detect than conventional disinformation, and (3) setting aside as well the potential impact of frequent offloading on human cognition and of widespread AI slop on our understanding of human creativity...

What are some of the material effects of the "AI" boom?

Guzzling water and electricity

The data centers needed to support AI technologies require large quantities of water to cool the processors. A to-be-released paper from the University of California Riverside and the University of Texas Arlington finds, for example, that "ChatGPT needs to 'drink' [the equivalent of] a 500 ml bottle of water for a simple conversation of roughly 20-50 questions and answers." Many of these data centers pull water from already water-stressed areas, and the processing needs of big tech companies are expanding rapidly. Microsoft alone increased its water consumption from 4,196,461 cubic meters in 2020 to 7,843,744 cubic meters in 2023. AI applications are also 100 to 1,000 times more computationally intensive than regular search functions, and as a result the electricity needs of data centers are overwhelming local power grids, and many tech giants are abandoning or delaying their plans to become carbon neutral. Google’s greenhouse gas emissions alone have increased at least 48% since 2019. And a recent analysis from The Guardian suggests the actual AI-related increase in resource use by big tech companies may be up to 662%, or 7.62 times, higher than they've officially reported.

Exploiting labor to create its datasets

Like so many other forms of "automation," generative AI technologies actually require loads of human labor to do things like tag millions of images to train computer vision for ImageNet and to filter the texts used to train LLMs to make them less racist, sexist, and homophobic. This work is deeply casualized, underpaid, and often psychologically harmful. It profits from and re-entrenches a stratified global labor market: many of the data workers used to maintain training sets are from the Global South, and one of the platforms used to buy their work is literally called the Mechanical Turk, owned by Amazon.

From an open letter written by content moderators and AI workers in Kenya to Biden: "US Big Tech companies are systemically abusing and exploiting African workers. In Kenya, these US companies are undermining the local labor laws, the country’s justice system and violating international labor standards. Our working conditions amount to modern day slavery."

Deskilling labor and demoralizing workers

The companies, hospitals, production studios, and academic institutions that have signed contracts with providers of proprietary AI have used those technologies to erode labor protections and worsen working conditions for their employees. Even when AI is not used directly to replace human workers, it is deployed as a tool for disciplining labor by deskilling the work humans perform: in other words, employers use AI tech to reduce the value of human labor (labor like grading student papers, providing customer service, consulting with patients, etc.) in order to enable the automation of previously skilled tasks. Deskilling makes it easier for companies and institutions to casualize and gigify what were previously more secure positions. It reduces pay and bargaining power for workers, forcing them into new gigs as adjuncts for its own technologies.

I can't say anything better than Tressie McMillan Cottom, so let me quote her recent piece at length: "A.I. may be a mid technology with limited use cases to justify its financial and environmental costs. But it is a stellar tool for demoralizing workers who can, in the blink of a digital eye, be categorized as waste. Whatever A.I. has the potential to become, in this political environment it is most powerful when it is aimed at demoralizing workers. This sort of mid tech would, in a perfect world, go the way of classroom TVs and MOOCs. It would find its niche, mildly reshape the way white-collar workers work and Americans would mostly forget about its promise to transform our lives. But we now live in a world where political might makes right. DOGE’s monthslong infomercial for A.I. reveals the difference that power can make to a mid technology. It does not have to be transformative to change how we live and work. In the wrong hands, mid tech is an antilabor hammer."

Enclosing knowledge production and destroying open access

OpenAI started as a non-profit, but it has now become one of the most aggressive for-profit companies in Silicon Valley. Alongside the new proprietary AIs developed by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, X, etc., OpenAI is extracting personal data and scraping copyrighted works to amass the data it needs to train their bots - even offering one-time payouts to authors to buy the rights to frack their work for AI grist - and then (or so they tell investors) they plan to sell the products back at a profit. As many critics have pointed out, proprietary AI thus works on a model of political economy similar to the 15th-19th-century capitalist project of enclosing what was formerly "the commons," or public land, to turn it into private property for the bourgeois class, who then owned the means of agricultural and industrial production. "Open"AI is built on and requires access to collective knowledge and public archives to run, but its promise to investors (the one they use to attract capital) is that it will enclose the profits generated from that knowledge for private gain.

AI companies hungry for good data to train their Large Language Models (LLMs) have also unleashed a new wave of bots that are stretching the digital infrastructure of open-access sites like Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, and Internet Archive past capacity. As Eric Hellman writes in a recent blog post, these bots "use as many connections as you have room for. If you add capacity, they just ramp up their requests." In the process of scraping the intellectual commons, they're also trampling and trashing its benefits for truly public use.

Enriching tech oligarchs and fueling military imperialism

The names of many of the people and groups who get richer by generating speculative buzz for generative AI - Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Larry Ellison - are familiar to the public because those people are currently using their wealth to purchase political influence and to win access to public resources. And it's looking increasingly likely that this political interference is motivated by the probability that the AI hype is a bubble - that the tech can never be made profitable or useful - and that tech oligarchs are hoping to keep it afloat as a speculation scheme through an infusion of public money - a.k.a. an AIG-style bailout.

In the meantime, these companies have found a growing interest from military buyers for their tech, as AI becomes a new front for "national security" imperialist growth wars. From an email written by Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, who interrupted Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman at a live event to call him a war profiteer: "When I moved to AI Platform, I was excited to contribute to cutting-edge AI technology and its applications for the good of humanity: accessibility products, translation services, and tools to 'empower every human and organization to achieve more.' I was not informed that Microsoft would sell my work to the Israeli military and government, with the purpose of spying on and murdering journalists, doctors, aid workers, and entire civilian families. If I knew my work on transcription scenarios would help spy on and transcribe phone calls to better target Palestinians, I would not have joined this organization and contributed to genocide. I did not sign up to write code that violates human rights."

So there's a brief, non-exhaustive digest of some vectors for a critique of proprietary AI's role in the political economy. tl;dr: the first questions of material analysis are "who labors?" and "who profits/to whom does the value of that labor accrue?"

For further (and longer) reading, check out Justin Joque's Revolutionary Mathematics: Artificial Intelligence, Statistics and the Logic of Capitalism and Karen Hao's forthcoming Empire of AI.

[strangebiology]

Paleontology Job Opening!

If anyone is looking for a paleontology job, this one in the Green River Formation in Wyoming is hiring! It's a lot of 52-MYA fish. TONS of fish. Very occasionally, there's other stuff like bats, birds, and very early horse ancestors.

$19/hour

Full time with federal benefits

App due November 25, 2024 or when they receive 80 applications (whichever comes first, so hurry!) Requirements:

One year of experience required (paid or unpaid, professional or volunteer) in "the fields of paleontology, geophysics, or geology; assisting fossil preparation, field work in paleontology, paleontology research, paleontology database management, paleontology monitoring, paleo art, or specimen management of fossils; assisting with natural resources research projects; compiling and analyzing scientific data into reports; operating complex sampling, monitoring, and laboratory equipment; or using computer programs such as databases to compile, store, retrieve, analyze and report resource management data. Experience as a laboratory mechanic or in a trade or craft may be credited as specialized experience when the work was performed in close association with physical scientists or other technical personnel and provided intensive knowledge of appropriate scientific principles, methods, techniques, and precedents."

Successful completion of at least a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree (a) with major study in an appropriate field of physical science, such as paleontology, geology, earth science, earth history or (b) that included at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as physical science, engineering, or any branch of mathematics except for financial and commercial mathematics. 

I don't know if paleontologists usually have to have higher levels of education, but I think this job is called "physical technician (paleontology)" to evade that.

If you're interested, go ahead and send in an application sooner rather than later. You can always withdraw later.

This is very close to me, so if you have questions about life here (that aren't easily Googlable) I'm happy to help! It's quite rural. If you're wondering what the rental market looks like, here's a Facebook group where people post rentals. I'm mostly JTM (just the messenger) but I may have a little more insight.

[darkmaga-returns]

by Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

The McCullough Foundation study, authored by epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, and Dr. Peter McCullough, titled, Review of Calls for Market Removal of COVID-19 Vaccines Intensify: Risks Far Outweigh Theoretical Benefits, was just published in the journal Science, Public Health Policy and the Law:

Abstract: COVID-19 vaccination campaigns around the globe have failed to meet fundamental standards of safety and efficacy, leading to mounting evidence of significant harm. More than 81,000 physicians, scientists, researchers, and concerned citizens, 240 elected government officials, 17 professional public health and physician organizations, 2 State Republican Parties, 17 Republican Party County Committees, and 6 scientific studies from across the world have called for the market withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccines. As of September 6, 2024, the CDC has documented 19,028 deaths in the United States reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) by healthcare professionals or pharmaceutical companies who believe the product is related to the death. The total number of COVID-19 vaccine deaths reported to VAERS (37,544 among all participating countries) have far exceeded the recall limits of past vaccine withdrawals by up to 375,340%. The criteria for an FDA Class I recall, which applies to products with a reasonable probability of causing serious adverse health consequences or death, have been far exceeded. Excess mortality, negative efficacy, widespread DNA contamination, and a lack of demonstrated reduction in transmission, hospitalization, or mortality have undermined the rationale for continued administration. These unified requests for regulatory action underscore substantial shortcomings in data safety monitoring and risk mitigation. Immediate removal of COVID-19 vaccines from the market is essential to prevent further loss of life and ensure next steps are taken for accountability of the harm incurred.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Dusty Skies in California Farm Country

California’s Central Valley is a behemoth of U.S. agriculture. Its farmers grow one-third of the nation’s vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts, including 400 different commodity crops that represent tens of billions of dollars in value.

However, the amount of land in production fluctuates significantly year to year, with growers leaving some land idle, or fallow, depending on weather, market, and groundwater conditions. In the Central Valley, the amount of fallow land varies by thousands of acres per year, often based on the availability of water for irrigation. Such shifts have implications not just for farmers but for everybody living in the region, new research shows.

In Communications Earth & Environment, scientists detailed a link between fallow farmland and dust storms, showing that idled farmland was the dominant source of human-caused dust storms in California’s Central Valley region between 2008 and 2022.

Dust storms contribute to the accumulation of PM2.5 and PM10—classes of particulate air pollution that are associated with a variety of respiratory and cardiovascular health risks. The particles may also help spread pathogens, including viruses and fungal diseases. Severe dust storms can also lead to near blackout conditions that reduce visibility and make traffic accidents more likely.

“Our findings represent real-world health effects for people in the region, many of whom are farmworkers and spend large amounts of time outside,” said Adeyemi Adebiyi, an assistant professor at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced).

The researchers reported that 88 percent of major human-caused dust events were associated with fallow land. They also found significant increases in both fallow land and dust storms over the study period, which coincided with drought and new limits on how much groundwater can be drawn from ailing aquifers.

On October 11, 2021, the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured an image of one of the many dust storms that have affected the region. Dust streamed southeast across the Central Valley, passing through the Tulare Lake Basin, a dried lake home to increasing numbers of fallow fields in recent years. The flood-prone basin has gray clay soils and large numbers of tomato, nut, cotton, and dairy farms.

The OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 captured an image below showing examples of fallow fields in the basin. Fallow fields appear gray or brown compared to irrigated green fields nearb

Previous research has documented increases in dustiness in California, but the reasons for the change were not clear. Atmospheric scientists have also studied the relationship between fallow land and dust storms at individual farms or communities, Adebiyi noted. “But our study is the first we know of where a research team has looked at California as a whole and identified a connection between dust storms and fallow land,” Adebiyi said.

The research is based on data from several satellite and ground-based observation networks of dust, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cropland Data Layer. The dust observations were primarily captured by the MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite.

Joshua Viers, a UC Merced agriculture water use expert who was not involved in the study, says there are options for farmers who want to limit dust emissions from fallow fields and find alternatives to crops that require large amounts of water. “There’s been a push toward ‘multi-benefit land repurposing’ as farmers look for ways to achieve sustainable groundwater use,” he said.

Some farmers are having success growing drought-tolerant crops such as agave and guayule, which are grown to produce biomaterial for industrial products and latex, he said. Others have started to incorporate agrivoltaics—the co-location of solar panels with drought-tolerant crops—into their business plans.

“Platforms like MODIS and ECOSTRESS, in particular, will allow researchers and farmers to effectively monitor reductions in crop evapotranspiration as farmers transition to drought-tolerant varieties and crops,” Viers said.

Looking forward, Adebiyi plans to use similar techniques to study other parts of the United States with abundant farmland, including the Great Plains and Central Plains, to see if fallow farmland is related to dust storms in other regions, too.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview, and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Adam Voiland.

[rjzimmerman]

New study finds that people listen to—and follow—expert climate advice. (Anthropocene Magazine)

Excerpt from this story from Anthropocene Magazine:

Members of the public are surprisingly willing to listen to and follow expert advice on which climate actions are most effective, according to a new study. The findings bode well for communication around voluntary abatement, or individual actions to reduce carbon emissions.

Voluntary abatement is an important complement to national governments’ emissions pledges, which so far at least aren’t sufficient to reach global climate targets set out in the Paris Agreement. But how do individuals figure out what to do? It’s hard for people who aren’t steeped in the intricacies of climate policy to get a handle on the tradeoffs involved and determine what will truly be effective.

Experts can help by providing advice, but people might tune out once things get complicated, or get turned off if they feel like they’re being lectured. “It is not straightforward how extensive expert advice would need to be to trigger behavioral change in individuals,” researchers write in the journal Scientific Reports. “If it is too short, it may not be convincing, whereas lengthy explanations might generate backlash.”

To figure out how to strike the right informational balance, the researchers offered 4,139 Germans participating in a larger public survey the opportunity to cancel carbon emissions permits known as European Union Alllowances (EUAs). Under the EU’s cap-and-trade carbon market, individuals can purchase emissions allowances and then cancel them, permanently reducing the total carbon budget.

But how to do this most effectively is complicated. Because of some regulatory mumbo-jumbo, cancelling an EUA immediately is less effective than delaying cancellation by a year or more. But this is not widely known, complicated to explain, and likely to be counterintuitive. Plus, there’s a lot of confusing information out there about EUA cancellations.

The researchers randomly sorted their participants into five groups and gave them varying choices in order to determine the minimum amount of information required to get people to reliably make effective emissions-reducing moves.

One group was simply asked to choose between cancelling an EUA or receiving an Amazon voucher worth 5 Euros. In this group, 386 of 491 people chose to cancel an EUA, setting the baseline of peoples’ “willingness to contribute.”

The second group was given the same choice but told they could choose to cancel the EUA immediately or in one year; the third group was given the same choices as the second but was told that delaying cancellation is more effective; the fourth group was given a detailed explanation of the benefits of delayed cancellation; and the final group was given this same detailed explanation but given the choice to delay cancellation for an unspecified period longer than a year (actually the most effective option, but the uncertainty can be difficult to wrap one’s mind around).

None of these other conditions had much effect on people’s willingness to choose the cancellation over the nominal Amazon voucher – a welcome bit of evidence that even complex and counterintuitive explanations don’t necessarily turn people off from climate action.

Not surprisingly, people are more likely to choose the delayed cancellation if they are told that this is more effective. In fact, this minimal advice yields the biggest bump in effectiveness of climate action. But, providing more advice did not produce a backlash: more extensive explanations produced even greater likelihood that people would make the most effective emissions-reduction choice, the researchers found.

[thesimblrofficedirectory]

Welcome to The Simblr Office Directory

This blog is an archive of the submissions for the office-centric OC prompt posted by the light of Simblr, @kashisun.

Here you can browse all the amazing creations submitted by your fellow simblrs. Feel free to scroll to your delight or click one of the links under the cut to see who's on roster under (or over) a particular bureau or delegation.

Want to be added to the directory or confirm that you've been queued? Just include a link to your post in an ask off anon and it will be queued within 48 hours. Until we get through the backlog and can queue at a more leisurely pace, all ask submissions will receive a confirmation. You can always mention us, but we won't be able to provided confirmation for that method.

Leaving the company? If you'd like your post removed, just include a link to the post in an ask off anon and it will be removed. Sideblogs may require additional verification. Please allow, at most, 48 hours for the request to be honored. Removal requests will not be confirmed, only acted upon.

Every company's hierarchy is a little different. Designations for this directory are based on some of the companies I've worked for, but especially on the multi-media marketing company I work for now.

Bureaus and Their Delegations

Delegations with an * currently have low or no headcount (posted and queued). Excludes leadership.

Bureau of Client Engagement

Leadership

Billing*

Escalations*

Product Support*

Quality Assurance*

Sales*

Bureau of Compliance (Bureau-specific Internal Affairs and Auditing)

Leadership

Client Engagement*

Facilities*

Finance*

Human Resources*

Information and Technology*

Legal (General)

Legal (Leadership)

Marketing*

Bureau of Facilities

Leadership

Catering*

Environmental (Janitorial, HVAC, and Plumbing)*

Mechanical (Electrical, Elevators, Equipment Maintenance)*

Premise* (Grounds Maintenance and Real Estate)

Purchasing* (From pushpins to pallet jacks)

Security

Warehousing* (Shipping, Receiving, Mail room, and Inventory)

Bureau of Finance

Leadership

Accounting

Asset Management*

Investments*

Travel and Accommodations*

Vendor Relations*

Bureau of Human Resources

Leadership

Career Development (Internships and Internal Role Transitions)

Dependent Care*

Employee Activities Committee (Members are volunteers)

Employee Benefits*

Floating Delegates (Administration) (For profiles that list a nondescript secretary/admin/receptionist/assistant role)

Floating Delegates (General) (For profiles that do not list a position)

Floating Delegates (Leadership) (For profiles that list a nondescript managerial role)

Health Services*

Payroll*

Recruiting*

Training*

Union Relations*

Bureau of Information & Technology

Leadership

Data Security*

Infrastructure*

Public Relations

Research and Development*

Systems and Devices*

Telecommunications*

Bureau of Marketing

Leadership

Copy

Design

Planning and Implementation*

Board of Directors

Chief Officers

CEO - Chief Executive Officer/President

COO - Chief Operations Officer/Vice President

CCO - Chief Compliance Officer/Vice President

CFO - Chief Finance Officer/Vice President

CITO - Chief Information and Technology Officer/Vice President

CMO - Chief Marketing Officer/Vice President

Executive Administration* (Admins that report to chief officers)