Taking a look at what’s happening I see some things I would have never believed, but there they are. A company named Arconic is proposing the construction of a sky scrapper. You might say well that is nothing new we have thousands of them. If you said that you would be wrong for at least three reasons. The first reason is the skyscraper being proposed is three miles high, making it far taller than anything ever put on the earth. The second reason is the proposal calls for it to be created by a 3D printer and if this wasn’t enough, the third reason is it will be self-cleaning. I would think this might hit a roadblock which would be it is so high it might interfere with aviation. While this sounds like a fantasy project, the company is confident it could become a reality in the future. It wasn’t mentioned, but as solar technology advances a building like this could become an incredible generator of electricity if it were equipped with those new windows which replace solar cells. Three miles of solar windows might produce a lot of excess electricity which could be used for other tasks.

We have all heard about the work being done to extend the time we have on earth. Many scientists believe they can extend our lives, but not all of them. Some scientists point to the fact the life span seems to have leveled off and is pretty near the same where ever you go in the world with a few exceptions. Some scientists claim even though we have made a lot of improvements to curing disease and such, our life styles are killing us. They cite the fact of a huge increase in obesity which is so devastating, because it causes heart disease, stroke, raises blood pressure, creates cholesterol and causes diabetes. They didn’t mention the fact we all get a lot less exercise, but I am sure this also has to be considered.

Water rates in the United States are going sky high in some places and it has been calculated if they keep rising at the same rate, in five years the amount of people in the United States who cannot afford water will triple. Water rates have risen 41% since 2010. According to a Michigan State University researcher and by 2021 36% of all U.S. households might not be able to afford to pay their water rates. The government has made a recommendation that a household’s water should not cost more than 4.5 % of their income and yet 11.9% of all households pay more. When asked why this is happening it was said one of the main reasons is because our water infrastructure is so old. As with many of our roads it needs to be updated and this costs money. Climate change is not helping either.

A new type of solid material has been created by engineers from Tufts University. It is made from a silk protein and can be pre-programed. The material can be programmed with biological, chemical or optical functions. Some of the things the material will be able to do is deliver drugs, change color and respond to light. One of the things they created was a surgical pin which had the very handy ability to change color when it neared the limits of its mechanical ability. In other words it would change color when it was going to fail. This is very handy for doctors as they would know when it should be replaced before such failure. The material is said to have the ability to protect what is embedded into it.

By now most of us know jobs are being replaced by automation at an ever increasing rate, but according to some financial experts something else is also happening and it could lead to the end of capitalism. A recent study by a global investment firm predicts a new type of industrial revolution which could replace as many as 80% of jobs in the IT industry alone. Specialization is said to be falling by the wayside since automation will render it obsolete and any country with advanced automation will be able to basically create the same products. Business will have to operate on different principles or so many think. Stephen Hawking has come out with another dire prediction and it is automation and technology will devastate the middle class. I have to say however Hawking is famous for his gloom and doom prophecies. Having said that he states the obvious, when middle class jobs disappear it does destroy the middle class, but a doctorate is not needed to figure this out.

The UN passed a ruling stating Julian Assange has to be freed. One would think this should be the end of his imprisonment, but nothing could be further from the truth as the U.K. and Sweden will not abide by this directive. Assange could be forced to stay in the Ecuadorian embassy forever unless something changes. Perhaps some world leader will force the issue.

When we use credit cards we are using a digital cash substitute. Why not just do away with cash? There have been various schemes to use digital currency, but even though they didn’t take hold, digital currency is coming. Some major countries are thinking about switching over. Sweden may become the first major country to switch. They said they were considering the move, because of a dramatic drop in the use of cash. Even the U.K. government has said there could be certain advantages in using digital currency and is conducting a study. The Ukraine is considering a move to digital currency and some think it will happen very soon. As far as the U.S. is concerned, the post office is considering issuing their own digital currency, which might be called the postcoin. If we could break the Federal Reserve’s hold on printing money we could save a fortune since they charge us for every bill printed. They charge by domination. In 2016 here is the cost according to federalreserve.gov

It is hard to believe how much we are being ripped off by the Federal Reserve Bank which is NOT a government agency.

Scientists are saying there is a new sheriff in town. It is an artificial intelligence program which supposedly can tell by looking at someone if they are a criminal. It will be interesting to see how many false positives come out of this. Maybe we could scan congress with it?