Category: Economics

The Reason American Executive Sam Altman Carries a Blue Backpack Wherever He Goes

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Sam Altman, the Chief Executive Officer of OpenAI which is the organization that created ChatGPT and GPT4, carries a small light blue backpack virtually everywhere he goes. This backpack serves a single function, to act as a remote detonator if ChatGPT and/or GPT4 suddenly becomes rogue and starts causing immense damage to human beings and society as a whole (e.g. causing self-driving vehicles to purposefully crash etc.). Because artificial intelligence has yet to be developed to the level that OpenAI has achieved, it is unknown as to the full potential benefits as well as risks and harms artificial intelligence may develop as more data sets are fed into it in an attempt to increase and expand upon what has already been accomplished. Despite this glaring risk, many teams around the world are working to create and improve different variations of artificial intelligence

The Difference between QR Codes and Bar Codes

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The primary difference between QR code’s and barcodes is that a barcode must be read horizontally, has a maximum storage capacity of 12 – 43 characters (e.g. universal product code etc.), and can store data in one dimension, whilst a QR code is capable of being read horizontally and vertically, has a maximum storage capacity of 4000 – 7089 characters, and can store data in two dimensions as a matrix bar code. Additionally, a QR code can be 10x smaller than a bar code and still be legible and a QR code can be read if damaged or parts missing. The term “QR code” is an abbreviation for “quick response code”

The Reason it is Impossible to Store, Purchase, and/or Sell Live Tuna

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It is virtually impossible to store, purchase, and/or sell tuna fish live as tuna die shortly after capture. This is due to the fact that tuna breathe using ram-gill ventilation, which means that they must constantly stay in motion to have water pass over their gills and feed their body with oxygen. Motion is required continuously, exerted during both hours spent awake and time spent asleep. As the tuna is in motion, water flows into its mouth and over its gills and gill filaments, diffusing oxygen into the tunas bloodstream while simultaneously releasing carbon dioxide. This function is performed equally well at both slow and high rates of speed as long as consistent motion is achieved

How Ocean Wind Turbines Produce Electrical Energy

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Wind turbines run upon a simple engineering principle which is that of wind causing the blades to turn which rotates a shift within the turbine, with this shaft producing energy for the electrical generator. This electrical energy is pumped downward, 300’ below the water surface, and into cables buried below the seabed which connect to offshore substations which then connect to onshore power stations and finally residential homes and industrial and commercial buildings. Ocean wind turbines are typically 600’ high in altitude, with spinning fiberglass blades which are approximately 240’ long, with each blade weighing up to 30 tonnes. Because of this immense size, measurements (e.g. angle of blades etc.) are crucial during the construction phase to maximize efficiency and energy output. A single revolution of a wind turbine can generate enough electricity to power an entire family home for 24 hours

The Fallacy of Transgender Female Athletes Competing at the Same Biological Level as Cisgender Female Athletes

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It is a common misconception that transgender athletes who transition from male to female have the same sexual dimorphisms and therefore the same athletic capabilities and baseline statistics as cisgendered women when competing within athletic competition. Cisgender males on average have 40% more upper body muscle/strength than cisgendered women and 30% more lower body muscle/strength than cisgendered women, although these are mere approximations which span the entire world population which is why this is not always the case. Female hormones can reduce these advantages by 5% – 10% within the human body of elite athletes, but it is at the current time, as of 2023, impossible to completely reverse the advantage of biological male puberty for transgender male to female athletes. Surprisingly, hormone therapy rapidly reduces hemoglobin levels to that of cisgender women however all other baseline statistics remain relatively the same post transition when using hormone replacement therapy. Even after 36 months of treatment, virtually all other baseline levels are higher than the average cisgender female. These discoveries suggest that physical strength may be preserved in transgender women during the first 3 years of hormone replacement therapy. It should be noted, if the athlete does not go through male puberty, these male hormone induced advantages do not apply. This is because these traits are largely associated with testosterone but not entirely

The Minimum Salary Within the U.S. National Basketball Association

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As of 2023, the minimum salary of a U.S. National Basketball Association professional player is $953,000 per year, which equates to $220.00 – $330.00 per hour as players work 60 – 90 hour work weeks (e.g. basketball game of 2 – 3 hours, post game interview of 1 – 2 hours, training of 3 – 4 hours etc.)

The Legality of Retail Stores Demanding to See a Purchase Receipt

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It is illegal for a private company (e.g. Walmart etc.) to demand to see a customers receipt at the point of leaving the premises (e.g. Walmart greeter demanding to see customer receipt as they leave the store) however the private corporation does have the legal authority to detain a customer due to “shopkeeper’s/merchant’s privilege” as long as reasonable suspicion has been met (e.g. customer refusing to show a receipt while leaving with product in hand etc.). Reasonable suspicion deems that the retailer must have a reasonable belief, based upon specific facts, evidence, and circumstances, that the customer has committed theft. For this reason, randomly selecting customers (e.g. customer with no product in hand leaving the store etc.) to show a receipt without any suspicion is problematic. Membership retail establishments (e.g. Costco or Sam’s Club etc.) can demand to see proof of membership as well as proof of receipt because when members sign up they agree to specific terms and conditions. Refusal to comply with store policy may result in consequences, up to and including being denied future entry and/or membership termination

U.S. Presidents Who Participated Within the Practice of Slavery

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10 of the first 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves, with the only exclusions being the 2nd president John Adams and the 6th president John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams. George Washington owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, Thomas Jefferson owned an estimated 200 – 600+ slaves, and Zachary Taylor owned an estimated 300 slaves. The U.S. president with the least number of slaves, not including presidents who did not own slaves, is a tie between the 8th president, Martin Van Buren and the 18th US president, Ulysses S. Grant, each owning one slave. It should be noted, 12 U.S. presidents owned slaves at some point in their lives, however of these 12, 8 owned slaves while in office. The last U.S. president to participate within slavery whilst still in office was Zachary Taylor, and the last U.S. president to own an enslaved person at any time was Ulysses S. Grant. The last person enslaved by a U.S. president was William Andrew Johnson, who was enslaved by the 17th U.S. president, Andrew Johnson. It is believed that Johnson paid $500.00 for William Andrew Johnson’s mother, which equates to $19,348.46 as of 2023 when accounting for inflation using the base year of 1850, 10 years after Johnson’s first slave purchase and 15 years before he became president of the U.S.

The Parasol and the Advent and Evolution of the Umbrella

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Parasols, the precursor to the umbrella, were initially comprised of tree leaves, specifically eucalyptus and palm branches. The original intent of the parasol was to stop ultraviolet radiation from the sun, from penetrating the skin and causing it to become tan. The term “parasol” is derived from the French term “para” which means “to shield from”, from the root Latin term “parare” (pronounced “pah-rah-ray”), and the French term “sol”, which means “sun”. Parasols and umbrellas can be separated by their appearance as parasols are typically colorful and lively whilst umbrellas are generally solid, muted colors (e.g. black, grey, white etc.). It was not until the 1750’s when English philanthropist Jonas Hanway began carrying an umbrella in public with the intent to avoid rain that the idea caught on as a social trend and a new technology. Umbrellas up until the 19th century were heavy, weighing approximately 10 lbs. as they were comprised of whale bone with wooden rods setup to support the canvas. In the 1920’s, Hans Haupt helped usher the next generation of umbrellas in by inventing the foldable umbrella, the same kind of umbrella used during the modern day

The Universal Income Tax Bracket of U.S. Hedge Fund Managers

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The highest paid hedge fund managers and public equity managers are taxed at 15% which is much lower than virtually all other public income tax rates, because of the U.S.’ income tax code, specifically the “carried interest” provision which states that the income of a hedge fund and/or public equity manager is subject to the tax rate of capital gains, even though unlike normal capital gains, hedge fund managers and public equity managers are not required to risk their own financial capital, as they use the capital of their clients. This law is within U.S. income tax legislation because of the incredible lobbying effort of the private sector financial industry. Since 2006, every democratic president, including Barrack Obama, has strived to close the carried interest legislative loophole. The bill designed to strike down this provision passed the House twice, but consistently falls short of being passed as a bill into law due to pressure from the financial industry, a powerful collective who help raise record amounts of financial capital for the campaigns of members of U.S. politicians