Thursday Afternoon -- October 3, 2024

Locator: 48476AI.

Llama, Gemini, and OpenAI (ChatGPT): how do they differ? Llama, Gemini.

• ChatGPT (OpenAI):
• Llama (META): link here. LLM.
• Gemini (GOOG): link here. Chatbot. LLM. Former: Bard
• Silicon (Apple Intelligence): link here.

Wow: link here.  

One person hoping beyond hope that Trump wins the presidency. A most effective ad, I would think, would be to post the names of those folks likely to be released from prison if Donald Trump is elected president. The list would be quite long. Probably longer the list of illegal immigrants who have been convicted of some serious crime. Release would occur almost "immediately."

Stockpile these: port strike. Link here. Truly amazing. Rao spagetti sauce. LOL.

Paper products: toilet paper, Bounty paper towels. No shortage at warehouses. 

Shortages with be regional and more specifically individual stores due to local panic, stockpiling, runs on stores, but there will be no actual shortage. Unlike Covid which was a worldwide phenomenon, this is a US-specific problem, and having said that, a problem for the US east of the Mississippi, and even more specifically, a problem for New York city area. This will end November 6, 2024, at the very latest. 

Seasonal hiring: Amazon to hire 250,000 seasonal workers; same as last year.

EVgo (EVGO): not to be confused with Canoo (GOEV): EVgo  (EVGO) ticker spikes 64% today on news that company received $1-billion loan guarantee from Biden administration. Company's market cap prior to announcement: $2 billion. Wiki. Tentacles everywhere. This is a most interesting story. I think one can opine why this company was given this guaranteed loan from the Biden administration. This story will be followed here. From the blog:

June 12, 2023: one step closer to the "holy grail." Ford and GM partner wtih Tesla for access to Tesla's superchargers. If Stellantis follows suit, game over. 

Crashed and burned: Blink Charging, EVgo, and ChargePoint;

• Motley Fool notes Tesla partnership with F, GM; says Stellantis could be next;
• closer and closer to the "holy grail": a universal supercharger.
• see this post.

Student loans: Federal judge says Biden's plan can go forward. For the archives. I have no dog in this fight and no longer care.

Well, that didn't last long: one day later, another Federal judge ruled against Biden. I can't make this stuff up.

D-Day, H-Hour (local time):

• Saturday, October 5, 2024
• 2200 hours
• current time (local):
• CDT: 3:11 p.m. (lags GMT by five hours)
  
• IDT: 11:11 p.m. (overtakes GMT by three hours), October 3, 2024
  
• GMT: 8:11 p.m.
• at 2:00 p.m. CDT today, it was exactly 48 hours to H-Hour, D-Day.