SolderIron
Addicted Member
Was thinking UK left/exit the Union.
Random Thoughts or Whatever
- Thread starter whoaru99
- Start date
Mystic
We're all born mad
It did, thus is included on list of states, all non-EU, where EU states ship their refuse,
Mystic
We're all born mad
The advent of large-scale music streaming in the early 2010s was seen as a godsend for an industry struggling with illegal downloads and problems adapting successful digital media solutions. While labels and platforms like Spotify, Amazon Prime Music or Apple Music profit to this day, medium-sized artists rarely see the returns of the streaming boom.
With live music, it's different, with many acts and bands reportedly primarily making their money touring and selling merchandise. According to the most recent edition of PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook, global live revenues almost rubberbanded back to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, surpassing $20 billion and estimated to grow to $25 billion by 2027. Pollstar data suggests that last year's tours by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen alone were responsible for ten percent of these revenues.
Apart from tours dedicated to one specific artist or band, music festivals also play a significant role in the industry's revenue mix. As Pollstar's year-end wrapup shows, the top 8 festivals worldwide in terms of gross revenue generated $192 million in 2023. Topping the charts are the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, one of the biggest independently-owned music festivals in the U.S. taking place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park since 2008, and the Hard Summer Music Festival, which takes place in Hollywood Park in Los Angeles and is mostly focused on electronic music. The third entry is an outlier not only in terms of tickets sold, but also in terms of artists present. Phish: Riviera Maya is dedicated solely to the eponymous jam band and was held in February 2023 in Cancun.
Another notable facet of Pollstar's roundup: Seven out of eight best-selling festivals are located in the Americas, with Mexico and the United States taking up six of eight slots. The sole European entrant is Germany's Hurricane Festival, which grossed $20.1 million in 2023 across 233,000 tickets sold. The first festival on the top 20 list not being held in the Americas or Germany is Austria's FM4 Festival, which grossed $10.7 million.
nailer
audionerd
"Life is but a dream, within a dream." The Bard
SolderIron
Addicted Member
This feeling comes with age.....
Some days ya eat the bear, and, well, , , , some days the bear picks you up, wipes with you, and THEN realizes your not the rabbit from some other joke.......
Mystic
We're all born mad
Following a months-long investigation, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released its findings regarding the CCP’s role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis. While it has long been established that China is by far the largest source of fentanyl precursors, the investigation set out to answer the question of whether the Chinese government, known for its highly sophisticated surveillance system, is simply turning a blind eye or whether it is actively encouraging the production and illicit trade of the drug that has wreaked havoc in the United States over the past decade.
The report, published ahead of a hearing on Tuesday morning, finds that the latter is the case, alleging that the Chinese government directly subsidizes and encourages manufacturing and export of fentanyl materials through tax rebates, monetary grants and award to companies involved in trafficking fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, while failing to prosecute the manufacturing and export of such illicit materials, which stands in stark contrast to its tight control on domestic drug sales.
"The Committee's work has uncovered persuasive evidence that the PRC and the CCP are not just bystanders; they are prime movers. They are knee-deep in actively sponsoring, encouraging and facilitating the production of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors for distribution in the United States,” former Attorney General William P. Barr said in his testimony on Tuesday. Barr likened the mass distribution of fentanyl to randomly shooting into a crowd, given its deadliness and the fact that its often distributed in a disguised manner in counterfeit prescription drugs such as Xanax or Adderall.
As our chart shows, the United States has seen a dramatic surge in drug overdose deaths over the past 10 years, an increase almost entirely fueled by the rise of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl. According to preliminary data published by the CDC, drug overdose deaths exceeded 110,000 in 2022 with synthetic opioids involved in 76,000 of those deaths. To put this in perspective, the U.S. lost 58,220 people during the Vietnam War, meaning that fentanyl and similar drugs are now taking more American lives each year than that war did in more than a decade.
Fentanyl is up to 50 times more potent than heroin and, due to its low price, it is often used to lace other drugs, which makes it especially dangerous. According to the CDC’s latest data, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl were involved in two out of three overdose deaths last year.
usedto
Lunatic Member
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
nailer
audionerd
"War is hell." William Tecumseh Sherman
US citizens pursuing happiness to escape misery.
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Mystic
We're all born mad
Perhaps just in the nick of time.
spicer
Lunatic Member
The politics of Fentanyl. Seen this before with Heroin. 'The Politics of Herion' by Alfred W. McCoy. Could be an overlay, complete with denials. Mr. McCoy is not political, wrote all 464 pages of it while seeking a PhD in Southeast Asian history at Yale, 1972. Its academia, carefully researched and presented.
Mystic
We're all born mad
So-called artificial intelligence is a contentious topic for various reasons, including handling of copyright, power usage, privacy concerns and chatbots like ChatGPT sometimes returning incorrect answers to queries. However, there's one thing that critics and evangelists can agree on: AI increasingly permeates many layers of digital life, from culture to business to politics. As is common with new technologies, an increase of illicit usage of AI in the form of deepfakes is deeply connected to its rise in popularity and, more importantly, accessibility. Deepfakes are AI-generated videos or audio formats that impersonate, for example, celebrities or politicians to spread mis- or disinformation or defraud consumers. Businesses around the world can already feel the impact of this type of artificial content.
A survey by identity verification provider Regula conducted among more than 1,000 experts in fraud detection or prevention from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany shows that a sizable chunk of their companies were targeted by one of three methods of advanced identity fraud. 46 percent of respondents experienced cases of synthetic identity fraud, where a combination of real and fake identity components, like a fake social security number and a real name, address and birth date, was used.
37 percent reported seeing voice deepfakes being used, a recent high-profile example of which from the realm of politics was an artificial President Biden robocalling prospective voters in January to dissuade them from voting in the primaries. Video deepfakes are, as of now, less common, with only 29 percent of respondents having already experienced such fraud attempts. With generative AI companies now focusing on moving pictures, with tools like Sora in OpenAI, this problem could become more pronounced in the coming months and years.
This worry is also reflected in the share of experts surveyed who think these three fraud methods will become a genuine threat, with between 80 and 90 percent agreeing with this assessment. "AI-generated fake identities can be difficult for humans to detect, unless they are specially trained to do so", says Ihar Kliashchou, Chief Technology Officer at Regula. "While neural networks may be useful in detecting deepfakes, they should be used in conjunction with other anti-fraud measures that focus on physical and dynamic parameters."
I think there's a deeper reason there.
Most people object to just giving people money. The old "Give a man a fish" parable.
However- using money to improve the conditions of poor people- making their environment better, by providing economic opportunities, improving education, and such- are pretty much universally supported. (i.e. the "Teach a man to fish" part of the same parable)...
Regards,
Gordon.
DeadRock
Ideas Guy
Agreed...and further...I think the word and concept of "welfare" is a trigger for many people who see it as synonymous with a certain historical political social philosophy...but here endeth that lesson.
Quadman2
Lunatic Member
And if you get a chance...take in Alan Parson Project's rendition of Poe's short story: "A Dream Within A Dream".
The band does a great job of interpretation of Edgar's Tale with music!Q
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DeadRock
Ideas Guy
From my favorite Parsons Lp (Tales Of Mystery and Imagination - by Edgar Allan Poe) ...the whole of side 1 is epically good!And if you get a chance...take in Alan Parson Experiment's rendition of Poe's short story: "A Dream Within A Dream".
Q
