Locator: 48746THEFED.
The buzz: JPow likely to be fired "soon." We are in uncharted territory.
Later: Trump denies story.
Tea leaves: Chair --> Board of Governors --> US Congress. Even the most partisan Republicans in the US House are telling the Speaker this is a "bridge too far."
Because of "ambiguity" of who would really be in charge of the process, the likelihood is that this could drag out for months. The one thing the market does not like, that we can all agree on, is uncertainty.
Meth: interesting, interesting article in The NYT. Finally someone describes in easy-to-understand the addictive powers of "meth" and and why it's literally impossible to control.
Meth causes the brain to release exorbitant amounts of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter.
On a ho-hum day, an individual’s dopamine levels could rise to, say, 50.
“If you have the best meal ever, the best sex ever, the best day of your life, you can get your levels up to 100.” [When Apple hits a new high, my dopamine levels triple.]
When someone uses crack, another stimulant, within seconds their levels rise to 300, she continues, “or three times the best day of your life.”
But on meth, dopamine levels skyrocket to 1,000 and can remain there for hours: “No medication can safely compete with that.”
Given the ferocity of meth addiction, it almost defies credulity that small rewards can quell drug hunger.
But treatment experts say that as negative screening results accrue and abstinence builds, the immediacy of a reward and the ability to purchase something satisfying can bathe the brain in cascades of frequent, modest dopamine jolts.
Appetite returns. So does sleep. And patients become more amenable to counseling.
Satellites, Amazon:
- Amazon's Kuiper internet satellites
- Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 can launch upwards of 36 of these satellites at a time
- 24 were launched today, Wednesday, July 16, 2025
- SpaceX's Starlink has 8,000 satellites in order
- Amazon is trying to catch up
- the article says Amazon has 83 launches scheduled including three "rides" with SpaceX
Amazon launched Project Kuiper in 2019 with a goal of providing broadband internet from a constellation of more than 3,000 satellites. The company is working under a tight deadline imposed by the Federal Communications Commission that requires it to have about 1,600 satellites in orbit by the end of July 2026.
- Back of the envelope:
- 1,600 - 78 = 1,522
- 1,522 / 36 = 42 launches
- 1,522 / 24 = 63 launches
- 533 days until December 31, 2026
- 533 days / 53 launches = ten days between each launch
- that seems like a lot of launches
