I am not going to argue politics, especially on this list. However, I do ask that you dismiss all the pundits on both sides, go out and do your own research. Just an honest opinion on my part, I don’t think you are going to like what you see.
-Eric From the Central Offices of the Technomage Guild, Political Sciences Dept. > On Aug 17, 2022, at 3:25 AM, David Schwartz via PLUG-discuss > <[email protected]> wrote: > > I don’t know what you’re referring to exactly about the economy crashing, > other than the typical doom-and-gloom nonsense that the right-wing propaganda > machinery floods the airwaves with whenever Democrats are in charge of > things. The truth is, things are always shifting, slowly but surely. > > As for technology, I’d make this simple observation: > > At some point, the world leader in CPU chips — Intel — was following along > the same path they had been taking for years and was working on a 5 GHz CPU > when they realized that as they kept trying to speed-up CPUs, the amount of > effort needed to extract the heat from the chips would make the hardware far > too expensive and cumbersome to remain viable. So they decided that multiple > CPUs on the chip where the CPU speed was around 2-3 GHz would be better in > the long-run. > > I’m guessing that the folks at a world leader in computer engineering — Apple > Computer — also figured this out. Intel sells chips; Apple sells computer > systems. Dell buys Intel chips and integrates video cards from another vendor > that use Intel’s GPUs. Apple doesn’t really care who makes what; they just > want to maximize their profits. > > Coincidentally, video cards have been hard to come by because the GPUs have > been getting hijacked for use by crytocurrency miners. A large portion of > these have Intel GPUs on them. > > Apple decided it might make more sense to simply put a bunch of CPUs and GPUs > on one substrate and then tune their software to run on this sort of > architecture, alleviating the dependency on separate CPU and GPU chips and > cards. There’s a side-effect in that nobody is going to be hijacking their > GPUs for other purposes. > > Intel apparently didn’t want to lose the revenues they’ve been earning from > their GPU chip sales to crypto miners and, well, Apple is no longer using > either Intel’s CPUs or GPUs. > > So while some say the economy is “crashing”, the 10 largest corporations in > the world are all reporting record profits and growth. The stuff politicians > are doing to continue long-term policies that enable corporations to siphon > off more and more money from consumers is appalling, and may well lead to a > lot more discomfort and pain for consumers, but certainly not from corporate > shareholders and execs. If you want to profit from that shift, then buy > stocks in these large and growing companies. Warren Buffet has large holdings > in them, as well as Apple. He also owns a large utility company in Nevada. > > Speaking of utility companies, one thing that is surely going to help “crash” > the economy (for consumers) over the coming decade is the increasing growth > of EVs and their need to get their fuel from the power grid. The same power > grid that’s going to be used to power computers and crypto miners. Some with > politically-motivated arguments might see it as convenient that states like > Arizona have passed laws that give utility companies the power to punish > consumers who want to install their own renewable energy sources and > batteries to become independent of the power grid. Yes, we’re talking about > those folks who’d like to unhook from the inevitable increases we’re going to > see in the cost of electricity, especially since the cost of fuel to power > generators is also skyrocketing — and the profits from those price increases > is nearly all flowing into the bank accounts of the monarchy of Saudi Arabia > (with the help of elected officials in Congress, both past and present, > members of both political parties). > > The tea leaves are pretty clear to many readers: there’s a big shift towards > more and more things in our life that require electricity to run, and it’s > inevitable that the cost of said power is going to go up. But the price of > gas is also going up, which is contributing to the increase in power costs. > Buying a bunch of old computers that consume 3x the power of the newest > computers does not seem like a smart way to avoid increases in the cost of > electricity. > > Make your home more thermally efficient so you don’t need to run your A/C as > much. Replace electronic equipment with newer lower-power stuff. Reduce your > overall carbon footprint by 10%. Grow your own fruits and veggies. Set up a > wind turbine or solar panels to charge batteries that power your electronic > equipment at home, but do not connect them to the grid. Buy an inexpensive EV > to get around town, because in the long-run it’ll be far cheaper than a > gas-powered vehicle. (I recommend a Bolt or a Leaf as they’re the cheapest > EVs on the market today and will remain so for 2-3 years due to factors like > the global chip shortage. I got a 2019 Leaf SL Plus, and I *LOVE* it! It only > costs me 4¢/mile in electricity to drive.) > > While you’re at it, figure out how to generate $100-$200 per day online to > supplement your income. > > -David Schwartz > > > > >> On Aug 15, 2022, at 9:31 AM, Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss >> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> >> wrote: >> >> Hi, >> About 24 years ago I worked for a guy who used to say "There is opportunity >> in chaos.". >> >> Given the chip shortage and other things taking place in the global space, >> present and future, I am wondering what do you see as opportunity in this >> present/coming chaos? >> >> FWIW I am an old guy who has started to realize that being forward thinking >> is VERY important. >> >> To keep things relevant I see that hardware is finally powerful enough that >> 10 year old hardware can run Linux rather well. If the economy really is >> going to crash it might be worth acquiring some old iron, SSD drives, and >> RAM for future projects. >> >> Your thoughts? >> >> Thanks!! >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> <https://u2206659.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=SJEG7TF39YLaAIMD0HhsfC6E-2FcJXOs2D1VhGcvn2YkObFLMBOC3gmante55BOqf2F-2ByuZjZxeWAcK3DSlXP4Xtp4dQImX1G2Oq-2BQoN6woQ4-3DGQCz_o-2BjQxMsWfboH-2B-2BcY2qb3IYCoqvthnvff9ftZz0pNEJ2tF1jbVlVBtrlaPYq4av3GbSfa5IB-2BgC7AIuStRqkxSmG9LCziM-2BAFzPbP3QcGSaV544d1zAheLSAo-2FqkoVY6RO6zfNrayVpiJqk4guM9vumbD9pN3ql3atS1EsAHOglhHOjwctqEPNiEq3svPaDh1-2Fm5cNBrYCCD3qzHxCYjGmuV0-2BuiDkt-2BqhSFfowi9R5Q-3D> > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
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