Tues Blogcast: DeepSeek causes tremors; Weeks when decades happen

An excellent concept, even if misattributed

Sure does seem to apply to January, 2025

Lenin Said, 'There Are Decades Where Nothing Happens' and 'Weeks Where Decades Happen'? | Snopes.com

Just One Thing: Trump effectively bans transgender people from serving in the military

In his first term, President Trump barred transgender people from joining the military but did not expel current members of our armed forces who are transgender. The new executive order appears to take that step without exactly saying it. There is no other way to achieve the stated goals of the order. I struggle with this because the military is not a place for social experimentation. The focus must always be on the mission. And there must be situations where the presence of a transgender person among a bunch of, let's be honest here, not very well educated 18-to-22-year-old young men, will be distracting to say the least. Combat or other conditions which require soldiers or Marines to sleep in very close proximity, submarine duty or even on other ships, etc. I would not have transgender folks in those situations. But what about an office worker or mechanic or drone operator who lives in an apartment? Should those people, patriotic Americans who want to serve their country, be expelled from the military? That's a MUCH tougher call. It's clear, between this and some of the more aggressive anti-abortion stuff Trump has done this term, that Trump is happy to give his hardcore social-conservative base much of what they want. I don't like it but elections have consequences and this is some of the downside of Trump that goes along with the upside in other areas.

Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness – The White House

Today's Guest

Amit Rege is a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, specializing in theoretical machine learning. Their research focuses on the interpretability of modern generative models."

The combined value of just the top 7-10 tech stocks lost a TRILLION dollars yesterday on the DeepSeek news that we're discussing with Amit: Tech Stock Crash: $1 Trillion+ Market Cap Erase Amid Panic Over DeepSeek, AI - Markets Insider Nvidia itself lost $589 million in market cap, a truly stunning number and, I believe, more than double the previous biggest single-day loss in market-cap (though I haven't adjusted for inflation.)

DeepSeek explained: How Chinese AI startup upends industry | Technology | sfexaminer.com

DeepSeek gets Silicon Valley talking | TechCrunch

DDOS attack yesterday? DeepSeek Service Status

Managed retreat | Semafor

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek overtakes ChatGPT on Apple App Store | Reuters

To get in the weeds: The DeepSeek AI Freakout - WSJ

Other Stuff

The actual minimum wage is zero. When you lose your job or your favorite restaurant because government makes it too expensive for them to stay in business, STOP voting for the same politicians: Colorado's restaurant industry in crisis - Axios Denver

We had the attorney for these men on the show recently. I'm glad to hear this news: Men Found Not Guilty But Sentenced to Life Are Finally Freed

Uber challenging a law that would require a display in the vehicle that says how much of the total cost of a ride goes to the driver: Uber urges block of Colorado law requiring disclosure of driver pay next to rider charges | Courthouse News Service

A listener who is an Uber driver sent me this yesterday when I asked if he's for it or against it: "For it. I think riders would be shocked at what a measly portion of their fare actually gets to the driver. Allegedly we make 70% of the “net” rider fare after taxes and fees. I know that Uber has to keep its margins up and its shareholders happy, but without drivers they don’t exist."

Uber's argument is that the way the law is written appears not to allow Uber to show more detail, such as how much of the total cost goes to taxes and various fees/costs that don't accrue to Uber's bottom line.

This is brilliant: Christopher Caldwell: The Biggest Policy Change of the Century

Trump is taking care of his base: Trump signs anti-abortion policies after speaking to March for Life - POLITICO

(My take on that one is that the federal government shouldn't be doing any of that funding. I'm pro-choice and so are millions of others, especially lots of rich liberals (I'm not either of those things) and they should fund these non-profits if it's important to them.)

So the base is going easy on pro-abortion RFK Jr: ‘A sign of a sickness’: abortion opponents grapple with RFK Jr. nomination - POLITICO

Wow: Surprise move: Trump freezes federal payments (Axios.com)

Federal grant pause memo: B0c025ff-full.pdf

Interesting comment by the Denver DA. Will he file lesser charges against illegal alien criminals to help protect them against deportation? Denver under investigation by House committee over sanctuary policies - Axios Denver

It's working: Only 582 crossed into the U.S. six days after Trump was inaugurated: sources | Fox News

A-Rod liked this movie when he didn't expect to. I haven't seen it. A-Rod made me want to see it. Not sure if this article makes me not want to see it: ‘Emilia Pérez’ and the Curse of Oscar Bait - by River Page

Is this just one data point or is it the result of several years of anti-business law, regulation, and taxation in Colorado? Colorado's rising unemployment rate may be sign of weakness