Some say the world is on fire, others say storms are surging, the rest worry that “Winter is Coming".  

Globe /

The Arctic is melting, environmental disaster looms, and new waves of COVID-19 plague the News. ETFs and Corporate bonds are propped up by the Fed, big tech drags the markets up, but recession in Spain, Singapore and Peru raise concern the global economy will shrink more than 5.2%.

Beirut’s port explosion raises questions on who is responsible, and destroys local grain silos. One more dent in global food availability this winter. A proxy war between Armenia and Azerbaijan flares in Caucasus region. RIMPAC military exercises drilled the Pacific. Humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the encampments of Uighurs in China persist. The Pentagon admits to the study of ‘‘Off-world’ vehicles not made on this Earth’.

North America /

America is in election mode, while civil unrest between militia v. protestors clash on systemic racism and result in death, injury and the breakdown of civil discourse. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passes, while soldiers die at Fort Hood as serial killer appears loose. Trump’s tax records are released, while he pushes legislation for Healthcare Pricing Transparency. The Great American Outdoors Act devotes 900M to National Parks, while lapsing in coal pollution regulations protecting drinking water.

In controversy, Canada replaces Finance Minister with Freeland and considers future union with United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand (CANZUK). Mexican farmers protest water delivery from Chihuahua to Texas during drought, while investigations loom if sterilization programs were enforced to immigrants at U.S. ICE detention centers.

Europe /

Belarus re-elects Lukashenko resulting in mass protests. Russian presidential candidate Navalny falls victim to nerve agent en route to Germany. Switzerland votes to limit free movement from EU Countries. JP Morgan moves 230B from London to Frankfurt as Brexit deal sets in 2021. EU Countries will stop Daylight Saving Time changes in 2021.

Africa and Middle East /

Aoun takes over the Lebanese Presidency creating re-new ties with France, Wild Polio is eradicated in Africa, leaving it only in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Japanese oil spill in Mauritius has resulted in an environmental disaster. Abraham Accord between Bahrain, U.A.E. and Israel, and U.S. attempt a peace coalition.

Asia /

India set to lead the world in COVID-19 cases, and Pakistan grows it women’s rights movement. The Three Gorges Dam threatens heavy floods impact cities downstream of dam, the Chinese Communist Party signals further oversight of private industry, while  strain with U.S. result in Houston consulate closing due to espionage charges, and Vietnam reaps benefits as they broker Chinese goods to the West. Taiwan buys F-16’s from Lockheed Martin.

   Northern rumours flutter around Jong Un’s health, Southern conspiracies surround Won-soon’s death in Seoul. Japan Prime Minister Abe is in poor health and replaced by Suga.

South America /

Bolsonaro caught COVID-19, Peru’s President Vizcarra is being tried for impeachment, Colombia slowly pushes its peace process with FARC in midst of COVID shutdowns, whereas Venezuela in talks with European Union to support and ensure fair elections in December 2020.

Market Finances /

Is it a ‘V’ or a ‘K’?

The Fed unveils inflation will be calculated at 2% average, with intentions to keep interest rate low for some time.

A strong U.S. job report of 4.8M renewed jobs since June reflects an economic rebound, the debate between a ‘V’ Shaped versus a ‘K’ shaped recovery opens questions if it will further separate the haves from the have-nots.

Tesla stock splits in August, with growth still confusing traditional investors on value. U.S. bans Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok (ByteDance) due to concerns on data collection. Snowflake IPO, presents the next big thing in Cloud storage.

McDonald’s found an innovative way to repackage a Quarter Pounder Combo, by adding BBQ sauce and by renaming it the Travis Scott Meal. Kayne West shares his 114 Pages of his Record Contract with Roc-a-Fella and Island Def Jam to the annoyance of Record Exec’s everywhere.

Ø  Gold – Still has many investors, like Ray Dalio, intrigued in these unstable times.

Ø  Oil – will remain in limbo as industries and business continue to stall in 2020 due to pandemic.  

Ø  Bitcoin – strong projection surrounds this crpyto’s future, if it can shake of its illicit ties to crime.

With many folk recently furloughed or laid off due to economic shutdown from COVID-19, many are heavily reliant on government programs and likely leveraging debt to make ends meet.

Many will be led to extend their credit cards for relief, but this would not be the best mechanism to take at loan. Despite its ease of use, their high interest rates make them a tool to avoid when incurring debt.

General Credit Card Basics

Credit Cards are a fantastic payment tool, and as per Frank Abagnale Jr. it is the only way he pays in an exchange. He reasons that security and liability rests with the credit card company, and most importantly it builds a credit score. To ensure a good credit score, one needs to ensure they pay off their credit card bill before it is due.

Credit Score is integral in a capitalist society. The rating ranges between 300-900, with the higher score presenting you as low risk for institutions granting a loan, and even employers offering a job. Although Credit Bureaus do not actually share their formulas on how they calculate your score – there is some understanding it is tied to your debts, frequency you pay off your credit debt, and if you have ever defaulted or gone bankrupt.

Many consider cash or debit as financially responsible method to pay for services and products. However, if your treat your credit card with respect and a full payment each month, there is a lot to be gained. Secure transactions, rewards and points, and a healthy credit score. First things first, do not look at a credit card to bridge a loan or buy something just out of reach – this will trap you into further debt and work against your credit score.

If you can’t afford it, and need it, find a better method in getting a loan.

Politics and Religion /

A.I. takes a run at the 10 Commandments

GPT-3 is a 175 billion parameter language model with 98 layers, that is much larger than GPT-2.

On June 20th 2020, OpenAI (founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman) released its beta version of the open source AI platform for review and utilization. A commercial version is in the works, and the community consensus of the current program has resulted in something new, something big.

Throughout the summer the tool has revealed that it can create a Web Tool with common language input, it can write Spanish poetry, convert ingredient guidelines into a health rating, challenge itself to a debate, convert English into mathes, inversely convert plain text to legal language, and even take a stab at writing the Next Word’s Holy 10 Commandments

MIT Technology Review puts it: “OpenAI’s new language generator GPT-3 is shockingly good—and completely mindless”.

The importance is not in passing the Turing test, in a sense, it is more interesting to see what it will create in itself. It is mindless, and that is something to be respected.

Although Philosophers do not appear concerned with the level of intelligence programmed into a machine, there is a world wide application of this technology that will result in changing landscape in the tech industry.

The platform allows for users to apply common language, and result in coded output for website development, specialized industry output, mathematic formulas and influenced artistic creations.

This is a giant leap in computing technology which empowers its users, and should have us question the impact to future industries.  

Sports & Combat /

Boycott!!!

When the Games started up in June and July, a normalcy started to settled in as people could watch Baseball, Hockey and Basketball Playoffs brought back the spring to lead us through the summer. But this was not in a vacuum of course, and despite message of solidarity with social movements this was all they represented.

As athletes realized slogans on shirts would not change the actions on streets, when riots erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin tied to civil unrest. Players determined they should stop playing, and in late August during playoff seasons, they went on strike or boycotted.

The public reaction was mixed with some applauding their support, and others considering it pandering. As these highly paid professional athletes stood by the civil protestors on the streets, some questioned “How could the wealthy and entitled entertainers identify with the cause”, “this is just a stunt!”, and “Politics don’t have a place in sport”. So the discomfort did have an impact, if only for a short time and before the sports media and athletes returned to their roles.

Another support protest by 22 year old, Naomi Osaka took to enter each of her tennis games at the U.S. Open dawning a mask with a name of a victim of police violence. With 7 big wins leading to her taking the Grand Slam victory, she wore a new name per game. The theatrical protest did raise up a media storm, and did bring to light a topic that she wanted to stand up with.

Randomscape /

just play outside

“Randonauting” could be as lame as it sounds, or an insanely awesome way to break the ‘matrix’.

Probably the former.  Still, this new internet trend does inspire one to question the routes they take, the energy they put into their routines, and consider going where they never thought to go before.

In short, to be a Randonaut, is to go somewhere without question. What makes this different from the energy of Huck Finn, is how one determines where to go. Instead of stringing together some sticks with a rope to make a boat, a Randonaut can reference an app platform that will allow one to select attractors, voids or anomaly sites and a quantum random point (QRP) which will be generated and point the user in the right direction.

The digital equivalent to throwing a dart at a map, and includes some good advice to avoid private property, journey with a friend and travel through the day. With that, people have begun taking the challenge, manifesting a result, and creating stories that are hard to ignore.

 As defined by randonautica.com “Stemming from research of The Fatum Project, Randonautica was created to send a Randonaut outside of their day-to-day routine by using a quantum random number generator to derive a coordinate to journey to….We welcome all curious explorers!”

The app was created by Joshua Lengfelder, a former circus performer. His intent was to help people break out of the ‘stasis field’ that surrounds them. Created by your basic cognitive biases, lifestyle habits, cultural norms and routines have trapped you in a pattern that is hard to escape. When people step into the chaos, they are brought to places they would never have known were there – and in that people have accounted for traveling and finding…

• Scenic Views of Nature

• A Sign that said “You’re Not Lost, You’re Here”

• Bottles full of Pee a.k.a. ‘Piss Bottles’

• A Trampoline in the middle of a forest

• A Stray dog, that became a family pet

• A Coffin in a Field

• A Gaze of Raccoons

• Three Masked Men coming ashore on a Beach

• A Human Body stuffed in a Suitcase