Most robots today simply do what they are programmed to do. That gives them very little versatility. Now though, roboticists, including those at Facebook are working to help robots begin learning for themselves. AT FIRST GLANCE, Facebook’s nascent robotic platform looks a bit … chaotic. In a new lab in its palatial Silicon Valley HQ, a red and black Sawyer robot arm (from the recently defunct company Rethink Robotics) is waving all over the place with a mechanical whine. It’s supposed to casually move its hand to a spot in space to its right, but it goes up, up, up and way off course, … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2019
A Refreshing Look from a Fed Official
Kansas City Fed President Esther George has finally stated the truth that its seems other members of the FOMC have been avoiding all along. Low rates can fuel asset prices, and low or no inflation may not be so bad. Bloomberg's Steve Matthews reports: Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said she’s opposed to cutting interest rates in order to raise inflation to the central bank’s 2% target, warning that could lead to asset-price bubbles and ultimately an economic downturn. “Lower interest rates might fuel asset price bubbles, create financial imbalances, and … [Read more...]
Social Security Scams
I want to share this article in the NY Times the “Latest Rash of Scam Calls Come from ‘Social Security,’” written by Ann Carrns. In general, if you get an unsolicited phone call asking for detailed financial or personal information, be suspicious and don’t share any information. “The S.S.A. will not contact you out of the blue,” the F.T.C. said. Don’t automatically trust the phone number on your caller ID screen. Criminals may use “spoofing” technology to make the call appear to be from a government number. “We cannot trust the caller ID any longer,” said Ms. Daffan of the … [Read more...]
No Second-Guessing, No Deviation from Focus
Here’s what I told you, all the way back in February of 2015: stay fully invested. I wrote: Stay Fully Invested As I’ve written ad nauseam, I do not get in and out of the markets. I maintain my fixed income/equities balance, adjusting as time passes (fast) for my age. For an investor who is crafting a dividends/interest-oriented portfolio to pass along to heirs, I can live with a 75/25% equities/ fixed income mix. But where income and safety in retirement is the target, the reverse ratio is optimal—no second-guessing, no deviation from focus, and no market timing to be … [Read more...]
Yay, Yay Claude Monet, Part II
Did you make it to Sotheby’s or Christie’s for the auctions? No? Well, in case you haven’t noticed, it was a big week in the art world. Claude Monet’s “Haystacks” sold for $110 million—a record for his work and for any impressionist—and Jeff Koons’ sculpture “Rabbit” went for $91 million—a record for a living artist. In 1986 when “Rabbit” was created by Koons, Monet’s “Haystacks” was sold for $2.5 million or two percent of what it sold for this week. But what’s changed? Instead of reading about greed, ambition, class and politics in Bonfire of the Vanities we stream Billions. Your … [Read more...]
How Hard will Tariffs Hit Walmart?
Comparable sales were strong for Walmart in the first quarter, up 3.4%. Can that momentum be sustained with higher tariffs on China? Bloomberg's Matthew Boyle reports: Walmart Inc. advanced after meeting sales estimates and indicating that shoppers will absorb some of the costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports. Comparable sales for Walmart stores in the U.S. climbed 3.4% in the first quarter, its best for the period in nine years. Sales of groceries -- Walmart’s biggest business -- fueled the increase, and a later-than-usual U.S. flu season boosted health and … [Read more...]
Yay, Yay Claude Monet
Yesterday Claude Monet’s famed 1890 painting, “Haystacks”, sold for $110 million—a record for the impressionist— “to an unidentified woman who had to raise her paddle aloft to be spotted from the second-to-last row of Sotheby’s in New York,” writes Kelly Crow in The WSJ. To Your Survival Guy’s trained eye (ha!), I like the yellow and pink, and not to be rude, but the whole thing’s a little blurry. Just saying. As I was walking the grounds of his beautiful home and gardens in Giverny, France, it’s easy to feel as if one could find the inspiration to paint something as exquisite. But $110 … [Read more...]
Will Trump’s China Tariffs Hurt Ordinary Americans?
Without a doubt say the free-trade zealots, but free trade with China has always been an oxymoron. Free trade is a net benefit only if all participants are playing by the same rules. China has long used a different rule-book. Subsidizing industries, manipulating its currency, and pirating foreign technology are but a few of the many misdeeds that make the idea that we ever had free trade with China a farce. The free-trade at all-cost proponents would have you believe that tariffs are always a direct tax on consumers. That may be what the textbooks say, but it isn’t always the case. In … [Read more...]
China’s Relentless Auto Sales Slowdown
For ten straight months auto sales have fallen in China. April saw another sharp decline of 14.6% compared to the year before. Trefor Moss reports at MarketWatch: Vehicle sales were down 14.6% year over year at 1.98 million, the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on Monday, as concerns over the Chinese economy's growth prospects sapped consumer confidence. Sales had declined 11.3% in the first quarter of 2019, having fallen 12% and 9.6% in the two previous quarters, respectively. Passenger-car sales were down 17.7% in April, while sales of commercial … [Read more...]
New Secret Weapon is Like Dropping Anvils on Terrorists Heads
This is a variant of the Hellfire missile called the R9X. The secret missile has no warhead and is used by the U.S. to reduce civilian casualties by using kinetic energy. A regular Hellfire missile with a warhead has a kill radius of 50 feet. The R9X has a kill radius of about 10 to 15-feet thanks to blades that flip outward just before impact. The footprint covers the interior of a vehicle, or in this case, Al-Qaeda deputy leader Abu al-Khayr al-Masri’s KIA Optima as seen in the picture. You can see the blade marks from the R9X highlighted in red. It’s like dropping an anvil from the sky … [Read more...]