Did I forget to post this PBS News Hour item from about a month ago? I think so.
Category: Politics, Religion & Money
Going Mobile
Donald’s never-ending product announcements. At best they fail. It’s just as likely they never appear, as I suspect will happen with the Trump Phone.
The Trump Mobile phone is nowhere to be found
A small-time family business like Trump’s, lacking any sort of technical proficiency, has zero ability to develop and deploy smartphones and mobile services. So, this is just another exercise in branding, with Trump’s name slapped on somebody else’s product. But Who?
Speaking of technology… I disabled WiFi on my phone, placing it on the LTE/5G network. When I opened the Verizon Home app, I shouldn’t have been able to log onto my router and see the devices on my home network. Except I can.
WAN Remote Administration is always enabled, at least when using Verizon Home. While I’m in the process of dealing with Verizon about this serious security vulnerability, I’m looking into options from replacing the router to installing a filtering bridge.
Interesting
Here we go again, with yet another negative outcome from interest rates being held too low for too long, since the financial crisis of 2008.
A negative outcome for Wall St. Week is the presumed departure of its regular contributor, Larry Summers.
Too Much and Not Enough
We are now in the Second Gilded Age, once again dominated by billionaires and scandals involving teenage girls.
True story, Word of Honor:
Joseph Heller, an important and funny writer now dead, and I were at a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island.
I said, “Joe, how does it make you feel to know that our host only yesterday may have made more money than your novel ‘Catch-22’ has earned in its entire history?”
And Joe said, “I’ve got something he can never have.”
And I said, “What on earth could that be, Joe?”
And Joe said, “The knowledge that I’ve got enough.”
Not bad! Rest in peace!”
— Kurt Vonnegut in The New Yorker, 2005
Frontline has updated their “Born Poor” series.
Not Fade Away
Lubbock Will Remove Buddy Holly-Themed Crosswalk After Federal Crackdown
Whatever they are, the streetbound specs are now verboten, a casualty of the Trump administration’s crackdown on artistic displays on the nation’s roadways.
Funny Money
More than almost anything else, I fear Trump taking over the Federal Reserve and declaring cryptocurrency to be legitimate coin of the realm. Because it’s anything but legitimate. Regular folks should go nowhere near crypto, but some see it as a get rich quick scheme opportunity, and the suckers will take the bait.
So far, 60 Minutes journalism does not appear to be compromised. As seen in this crypto-related story.