LyrArc Article Gist
On over 50,000 square feet of space this MIT Museum on scientific endeavours in different fields of inquiry brings together scientific projects and artifacts from MIT's past. It poses many fascinating questions to the visitor says WSJ. It is moved to a new 3 storey space within MIT's campus. Here we come across the realization that accidental situations can lead to new discoveries, that it is all about asking questions as education is about exploration. Four major galleries include Essential MIT, Gene Cultures, AI: Mind the Gap and MIT Collects.

LyrArc Article Gist
A Chinese diplomatic envoy goes to France, Germany and Russia to discuss ways to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. The US also looks for ways to bring a settlement to the war. Avril Haines, US Intelligence head, tells Congress she does not see Russia making concessions as it sees an advantage in a war of attrition in Ukraine. Ukraine gets continued support to use a counteroffensive to make some gains in the Kherson and other regions that could give it and Russia a chance to come to the negotiating table.

LyrArc Article Gist
How ChatGPT and Microsoft are seen as upending the search business at Google. ChatGPT's ability to explain complex concepts and come up with new thoughts are seen as creating anew way of doing Search. Microsoft is investing billions of dollars in ChatGPT. Much of Google's efforts in the last five years have gone into preserving its monopoly of the search business without adding much through innovation and new ideas. The monopolistic behaviours have attracted the attention of regulators. Microsoft once a monopolistic behaviour company is now playing the role of a challenger with new ideas and concepts.

LyrArc Article Gist
The FDA approves Governor De Santis proposal for importing drugs from Canada. Colorado is one of the other states that have applied. The drugmakers continue their opposition even if this means lower prices for the American people of excessively higher priced American drugs compared to other countries. Both Republicans and Democrats agree prices have to come down and support importing of drugs into the US, then why is it taking so long for the FDA  to approve state proposals? The Biden administration has issued an executive order for the FDA to work with states on this.

LyrArc Article Gist
The wisdom of trying hard but not too hard. Productivity declines when trying too hard. It helps for the mind to get rest and come back to the task refreshed, which means push yourself but only so much and continue to work at it steadily. There is no such thing as achieving 100%, it could mean the goals set were not ambitious enough or that the goals were too hard acting as a demotivating influence. Also minutae or stuff that is not that important can creep into that extra 15% to get to 100%. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Biden says "Today, the world stands at an inflection point where the choices we make - including in the crises in Europe and the Middle East - will determine the direction of our future for generations to come. What will our world look like on the other side of these conflicts." Biden says the United States is "the essential nation.... the world looks to us to solve the problems of our time." His solution is for Palestinians and Israelis to have their own states and integrate this into the Middle East region. 

 

LyrArc Article Gist
The day and routine of a stocker at Kroger grocery supermarket. He has added 20 hours to a 40 hour workweek. He starts at 4 am, three hours earlier than the typical time. Paper products, bottled water, canned food are moving fast. Customers appear stressed, but some come in more than one per cart as a way to get out. He spends a third of the day stocking online orders.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Biden administration and Taiwan are accelerating the development of supply chain in India to tackle a chip shortage worldwide. Taiwan seeks to come up with an early agreement with India on tariff reductions for semiconductor components. The $7.5 billion plant investment would provide 5G electronics chips as well as automobile chips. India is studying various plant locations and 50% financial support after 2023 is planned with tax breaks and financial incentives.

LyrArc Article Gist
Prime minister Netanyahu of Israel says he will call snap elections if secular and religious parties in his centre right alliance do not come together to form a new government. Likud lacks the 61 seats for a majority in parliament resulting in negotiations with other religious and secular parties that back Netanyahu. Mr. Lieberman one of the secular party leaders says the ultra orthodox must serve in the military with other Israelis.

LyrArc Article Gist
Locals trying to do what they can using sugarcane buoys and barriers to soak up some of the 1500 tons of oil still on the leaking oil tanker. A French ship from Reunion island is the only help on the way. Mitsui OSK Lines owns the ship in Japan. It has recovered only 1500 tons of oil so far. No one knows why oil tankers can come so close to inhabited islands.

LyrArc Article Gist
One year after the tax cut analysis shows the effects were muted and most of the increase in business investment comes from the drop in energy prices. The U.S. economy grew 3% in 2018. The tax cut lowered the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% and cut rates for closely held businesses. Analysis shows investment growth picking up from trends in 2016 and 2017.

LyrArc Article Gist
Most of the media has failed to cover this aspect, yet the Collective agreement is a big, a huge plus on June 17 2026 at the G-7 Summit (G-9 expanded with India and Brazil). There was discussion and effort to convey different points of view which was an healthy aspect of this G-9 meeting in Les Bain, France, near Geneva. German chancellor Merz described the atmosphere as very constructive with lots of open thoughtful discussion- "This is the ​first ‌time since [US] President [Donald] Trump took office that we ‌have issued a joint ‌declaration ​at a G7 summit and found common language on the major ​foreign and security policy issues of our time. ⁠I ​consider that ​a real success."  "This ⁠sets a new tone, including ⁠regarding ​trans-Atlantic unity and resolve." Merz says all issues on the summit agenda were talked about "very openly" and "very constructively." Merz  says he will support a peace deal in the Middle East, including a possible military mission if there is "a lasting ceasefire."  A series of "preconditions that are not yet fulfilled, so there is no immediate hurry." What this means, as most of the media has failed to cover this aspect including NYT, WSJ and Washington Post, is that the US and the EU, India and China, Brazil, the poorer countries  Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, are now in a lot better positions, coming at it from different angles,  and are all aligned for their own interests, to push hard to support the US effort to get to the Memorandum of Agreement with Iran, and future settlement in Ukraine. The onus is for Iran and the entire Middle East to collectively come to an agreement to live with harmony among the neighbors for the mutual interest- including a nuclear free Middle East that is in their mutual interest- so that the rest of the world's people, a massive 5 billion compared to 500 million in the Middle East can industrialize, modernize, and make economic progress that benefits all the people of the world. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Deutsche Bank Co-CEO Jurgen Fitschen's call to Volker Bouffier, governor of the state of Hesse where Deutsche Bank is located, to complain about a police raid on the bank's headquarters in Frankfurt, has come under heavy criticism. The prosecutor's office comes under the state government and the governor said he could not intervene. The raid took place on Dec. 19, 2012, and the call was placed on Dec. 20th. Michael Meister, a senior official in the coalition government of Chancellor Merkel said that Deutsche Bank has created an impression that it feels it is "above the law." He added "the prosecutor's investigation must be supported. Deutsche Bank must send a clear signal." The Handelsblatt newspaper cited Green party co-chief Jurgen Trittin's strongly critical remarks: "A fish rots from the head down. That also applies to Deutsche Bank's boardroom." The tax fraud probe started in 2010 and little was known about its progress until the raid. Investigators went up to Mr. Fitschen's office and told him he was one of 25 employees being investigated under suspicion of tax evasion, moneylaundering and attempted obstruction of justice....

LyrArc Article Gist
Pete Domenici of the Domenici-Rivlin deficit reduction commission and Sam Nunn are part of the initiative- Strengthening America- Our Children's Future. Other members of this initiative are Warren Rudman and Evan Bayh. Here they provide ideas on how to address the fiscal cliff of automatic cuts in spending that are approaching at year end under an agreement between Republicans and Democrats in Congress. The agreement was designed to offer the worst outcome for Republicans (huge cuts in defense spending) and worst outcome for Democrats (cuts in entitlemnt spending) as a last ditch effort to force the two parties to come to an agreement on deficit reduction. It comes after president Obama failed to accept the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission proposals as a basis for working out a plan and as Republicans in Congress were dead set on avoiding any tax increases. In a recent WSJ editorial praising the CEO statement of 80 U.S. CEO's- organized by the Fix the Debt initiative inspired by Simpson and Bowles- the Journal called the CEO's support for tax increases encouraging and was critical of Republican "deadenders" who flatly opposed any tax increases. Domenici and Rivlin say kicking the can down the road again as Congress has a tendency to do is not the answer and a vigorous effort by responsible members of Congress is needed to come up with deficit reduction using the proposals of Simpson-Bowles commission and Domenici-Rivlin commission. This will end the uncertainty plaguing business confidence that is leading to decline in business investment- decline of 1.3% in the 3rd quarter of 2012- and a weakening of economic recovery. To this end Domenici and Nunn have brought together 35 members of Congress to push forward and held four public forums with experts including hearing from John Taylor, Martin Feldstein and Larry Summers....

LyrArc Article Gist
The US economy declined by 0.2% in the second quarter of 2022 or 0.9% on an annualized basis. What does this mean? NYT provides a look with a breakdown of where this comes from. Business and residential construction went down by 11-12% as they are interest rate sensitive sectors and the Fed has raised interest rates by 0.75 of a percentage point twice in 12 months. Yet consumer spending was holding up and increased by 1% in the second quarter. 

Fed chairman Powell told a conference yesterday that he still sees a pickup in spending in the second half of 2022 as buyer balance sheets are good, the labor market is strong, and wages are increasing.

LyrArc Article Gist
The defamation lawsuit of Dominion Voting Systems company against Fox News Network is at one level about what is and is not reported on the presidential election and the credibility of the reporting. It is also in a larger sense about the democratic process and the transition between one government to the next in the nation that comes next only to Britain in setting up democratic framework of government in 1787. Without distortions in reporting that may lead people in a direction opposite to what is chosen through the democratic process. 

The case now goes to a jury. Judge Davis says- "The evidence does not support that FNN television network conducted good faith, disinterested reporting."

LyrArc Article Gist
Shabana Mahmood, Labour MP, is Keir Starmer's campaign chief for the Labour party. She describes how she struggled over the years to bring the party to where it is now- having a new level of support from the British people. She is Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood. Her first experience with Labour comes from being with her father who was chairman of the Labour party in the area she represents in parliament. Her father was an engineer who came from Kashmir, had been to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and had a great deal of reverence for the British system of parliamentary government. Mahmood met Sunak at Lincoln's College, Oxford, in her junior year. 

LyrArc Article Gist
During the Ukraine war this special feature on the European Council website shows what it is doing to mitigate the impact of the war when it comes to the food supply for the world. 48 million tons of agricultural products were exported by the land routes opened by the EU when sea routes were blocked. $1 billion is allocated by the EU finance for this purpose. Ukraine makes up 50% of the world's food exports- it is a breadbasket to the world. Getting food supplies out is essential to keep down the cost of food. Half a billion euros go to keeping EU food production strong. Nine billion euros support the effort to keep food supplies flowing to poor countries.

LyrArc Article Gist
In the closing days of the Harris vs Trump election campaign in October 2024, Trump attends a rally in Madison Square Garden in New York city. Harris visits a Baptist church in Philadelphia, and talks to young black men at a barber shop, visits a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philly. The visit to the Puerto Rican restaurant comes as a comedian at the Trump Madison Square Garden rally makes racist remarks about Latinos, Blacks and Jews, and calls Puerto Rico an "island of garbage." About 579,000 Latinos and Puerto Ricans make up the voting public in Pennsylvania. Latino stars put up video clips of the comments on Latinos on social media expressing their disapproval.

LyrArc Article Gist
DJT White House Cabinet Meetings: Susie Wiles in tight cursive, Bessent writes "parallel prosperity" and "blue collar boom," on notepad, Lutnick says "why not copper tariff," DJT talks about why he is not fond of windmills. All the time a picture of Abraham Lincoln in a small four person meeting around a round table watches everyone. You have to have some humor in cabinet meetings. DJT brings humor to the White House, lightening up the mood, while he says new letters will go out to Japan, South Korea and EU, recalcitrant nations when it comes to negotiations for agreements, and Putin is voicing meaningless platitudes on his desire for peace.

LyrArc Article Gist
Worsenign outbreaks of coronavirus in the midwest U.S. comes with resumption of sports games on Oct. 23. Campuses at Michigan State, Minnesota and Nebraska see infection rates in the general population of over 5%. Rates are also high at the University of Michigan  in Ann Arbor. Community viral spread factor is missing in the effort to restart sports games, and has drawn criticism from local governments.

LyrArc Article Gist
Two women, one from a town near Barcelona and another from Hof, Bavaria, are providing the plants in boxes to city dwellers who can watch them grow from seeds into plants on their window sills. It is one more way for young people to reduce cabin fever. No chemicals are used in the pots or the bags, or the fertilizer. It comes with a printed starter guide.

LyrArc Article Gist
This article in Zeit Online tries to provide the facts behind Merkel's decision made in a period of 24-48 hours to let refugees marching towards Austria from Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015, to enter Germany. Other reports pointed out that too little time was given to make the decision and that it was purely done on humanitarian terms. And made during that short window of time, in which a decision had to be made to turn away the refugees going on foot for hundreds of miles or to turn them away. Given Germany's earlier history the choice was a difficult one but erred on the side of being humanitarian. Though Merkel's selfie with a refugee at a hostel on Sept 10, would seem to suggest otherwise, Merkel has said her decision was made with so little time and little opportunity to understand all the ramifications of this. It was not an open invitation to refugees to come to Germany.