Current Events – Scotts 2 Cents

AI Is Like Your Dreams. Sometimes It Makes Sense, and Sometimes Your Brain Took All the Drugs.

Scott — Sat, 24 Oct 2026 19:12:57 +0000

Some nights your dreams are lovely. You’re at the beach, everybody you like is there, and the whole thing makes perfect sense until you wake up and wish you could go back. Other nights your brain apparently raided a pharmacy. You’re at work in your underwear while your third-grade teacher, who is now a giraffe, ...

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Hurricane Season Runs Through November. I Built a One-Glance Emoji Map So You Don’t Need a Meteorology Degree

Scott — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 19:49:03 +0000

Full disclosure up front: I run this one. Two weeks ago Hurricane Isaias came ashore near Destin as a Category 2 with 105 mph winds, and a lot of people on the Gulf Coast spent that week squinting at cone graphics that looked like a plate of spaghetti someone dropped on a map. That’s the ...

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The FTC Says Your Corner Liquor Store Paid More Than Total Wine for the Same Bottle. The Distributor Says It Did Nothing Wrong.

Inspired by Scott — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 19:13:00 +0000

Picture two stores a few blocks apart buying the exact same bottle from the exact same distributor in the same month, and the little one pays more. According to the FTC, that was happening in the booze business. On October 2 the agency announced a settlement with Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, the biggest wine ...

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Social Security’s Raise Lands Wednesday. Medicare Already Has a Hand in Your Check.

Inspired by Scott — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 19:12:28 +0000

On Wednesday morning the government will announce what it thinks your groceries cost, and then decide how big a raise retirees get for it. Estimates for the 2027 Social Security cost-of-living adjustment are sitting around 3.5 percent, up from 2.8 percent this year. The official number lands October 14 alongside the September inflation report, and ...

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New York Just Made Cancelling a Subscription as Easy as Signing Up. Why Did It Take a City?

Inspired by Scott — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 19:11:55 +0000

If you can sign up for something with one tap, you should be able to quit it with one tap. New York City just made that the law, and it took a city to do what Washington couldn’t. As of October 1, businesses in the city that sell subscriptions and auto-renewals have to let you ...

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California Drivers Say Gas Stations Let an Algorithm Make Sure Nobody Undercuts Anybody

Inspired by Scott — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 19:12:37 +0000

Gas stations used to compete by guessing what the guy across the street would charge. Now, according to a lawsuit filed in California, they let a computer do the guessing for all of them at once. Three California drivers sued in late June, claiming BP, Circle K, Marathon, Walmart and Albertsons, which together run more ...

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A $17 Billion Microsoft Deal Ran 62 Unpermitted Generators. The Fine Was $1.07 Million.

Inspired by Scott — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 19:10:42 +0000

It took a farmer with a camera, not a regulator, to catch a $17 billion Microsoft deal running dozens of gas generators without an air permit. Here’s the story. A company called DataOne is building a giant AI data center in Vineland, New Jersey, for the Dutch firm Nebius, which supplies computing power to Microsoft ...

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The Fed Raised Rates Two Weeks Ago. Then Hiring Fell to 29,000 Jobs.

Inspired by Scott — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 19:11:14 +0000

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on September 16. Sixteen days later, the government told us employers added 29,000 jobs last month, when economists were expecting something closer to 85,000 or 90,000. That’s the timeline. Make of it what you will, but I’d make of it this: somebody pulled the brakes right before the car ...

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