2/ So we did a podcast about exactly that: How artificial intelligence can be used every day in water.
One thing that's astonishing: How well AI can predict water demand. Within 1% or 2% of actual use, 24 hours a day. Amazing to look at curves of 'prediction' and 'actual use.'
3/ This is Episode #6 of 'Water Sessions,' the podcast series from @TheWaterCouncil.
Episode's #5 and #6 are about how to use artificial intelligence and machine learning in water.
The digital revolution has transformed everything from how we buy books, to how we fight crime, to how we find romantic partners.
It hasn't revolutionized the world of water.
5/ A talented water system operator who went to sleep in 1986 & woke up this morning could likely work the overnight shift today at most municipal water utilities. Because very little has changed.
In the trade 'deal' with China, the US got nothing.
We're mostly back to where we were before the global trade war started—before Donald Trump started the global trade war.
The Chinese conceded nothing.
Indeed, from the outside, China won this round.
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2/ An economist from Hong Kong explains:
'From China’s perspective, the outcome of this meeting is a success, as China took a tough stance on the US threat of high tariffs & eventually managed to get the tariffs down significantly without making concessions.'
The chaos…
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3/ …The chaos for American business these last 5 weeks has been incredibly costly—financially, psychologically, in terms of planning, morale, a sense of predictability about the future.
You know how sometimes, you follow the weather & you know the blizzard is coming tomorrow morning, but today it's 39º & crystalline sunshine, & you can't quite believe the blizzard's coming?
But you can look at the radar and, yup, it's coming.
That's where we are now.
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2/ We know that in the next month, almost nothing is coming by ship to US from China & Chinese factories.
Ships full of merchandise, not coming.
The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach has said cargo for the next couple weeks is down 36%.
Fascinating element of Harvard's refusal to buckle to the Trump Administration today.
Who are Harvard's lawyers in this matter?
#1 is Robert K. Hur.
Sound familiar? Trump named him US Attorney for Maryland.
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2/ Then Robert Hur was the special counsel who investigated Pres. Biden's mishandling of classified documents. Hur as the one who said Biden was 'an elderly man with a poor memory.' And declined to charge Biden.
That's Harvard lawyer #1.
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3/ Harvard lawyer #2 is William A. Burck.
Currently a member of the Board of Directors of Fox Corp., the owner of FoxNews.
Burck served as special counsel to the Republican House task force that investigated the attempted assassination of Pres. Trump.
Could Trump's tariffs spark a US factory & manufacturing renaissance?
Let's say they do.
Here's the problem, even if we double the number of factories the US has now. Even if we—somehow—start making microwave ovens and pleated-front chinos and pillow cases in the US again.
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2/ There won't be many jobs.
Factory automation for routine, repetitive manufacturing is very far along.
It's so widespread that there's a phrase in the manufacturing world:
'Lights-out factories.'
…Factories with so few people, they keep the lights off.
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3/ Machines don't need lights. So many big companies—including consumer products companies like Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Foxconn—run factories with just a scattering of staff who monitor the machines.
Like in a quiet office, the lights only come on when a person walks in.