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Markets: It was a generally positive Wednesday on Wall Street, with big gains in the AI sector propelling the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite past 20,000 for the first time. The broader market reacted positively to the latest inflation numbers, which seem to suggest that further interest rate cuts are likely within the next few days. And the crypto market also registered some wins, including Bitcoin’s surge past the six-figure mark once again.

McDaniel’s dilemma: It’s a precarious point in the career of Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. He started with two straight seasons that made it to the playoffs, but now the team is underwater with a 6-7 record and two games away from playoff contention. Unless things turn around, some insiders are speculating that his days in the position could be numbered. But he did just sign a contract extension, so simply cutting him loose might be easier said than done. Either way, McDaniel is probably going to want to end this season on a hot streak.

Missing millions: Macy’s might be a retail giant, but all it took was one employee to essentially hide $151 million in corporate expenses. But authorities don’t think it was a devious act, rather a desperate and increasingly convoluted response to an otherwise innocent accounting error. The worker reportedly began falsifying records after noticing the mistake in 2021 and the behavior continued until recently. News of the incident led to a delay in Macy’s release of quarterly revenue numbers and the company vowed to enact stronger accounting policies.

Scorched earth: Malibu, California, and surrounding communities remain under threat of the Franklin Fire, which has spread to about 4,000 acres and was just 7% contained as of the latest updates available. Much of the area has been ordered to evacuate, including a number of celebrities like Cher and Dick Van Dyke who have homes in Malibu. More than 45,000 people remain without power and students at Pepperdine University were ordered to shelter in place. Fortunately, no fatalities have been reported, but at least seven homes were destroyed.

Drone drama: Residents across areas of New Jersey have reported some strange sights in the night sky lately. Flying vehicles, consistently described as larger than typical consumer drones, have appeared without explanation. The incidents have attracted the attention of the FBI, which is currently following leads in the case. Nearly two dozen mayors have called for transparency and state Sen. Jon Bramnick wants to declare a state of emergency during which flying drones would be prohibited. There’s no indication where the drones came from.

By now, we’ve all seen how artificial intelligence has crept into virtually every digital platform imaginable. And while Apple was a bit more strategic than many of its Big Tech rivals when it came to hosting such functions, it’s clear from the latest update that the company has now entered its AI era.

Siri’s cheat sheet

As far as digital assistants go, Siri is among the most popular and most capable on the market. But Apple understands that there are limitations to Siri’s ability to answer certain questions, so the new update allows OpenAI’s ChatGPT to interject a more appropriate or complete response.

In hopes of addressing any initial concerns about the new capabilities, Apple emphasized a few points:

• Users must grant permission for Siri to access ChatGPT
• OpenAI promises it will not keep a record of user queries
• Accessing ChatGPT is free and doesn’t require an account

According to Apple, this is just one more step toward improving and evolving Siri to make the most of AI advancements — and it builds on the emerging “Apple Intelligence” platform.

Win-win situation

From its perspective, Apple’s relationship with ChatGPT gives it some credibility in the highly competitive AI realm. By integrating new AI features not only on the iPhone, but also the Mac and iPad, this could be the boost Apple needs to reassert itself as the king of consumer tech.

And for the much younger OpenAI, even though ChatGPT has become a global phenomenon in recent years, the opportunity to reach millions of Apple users in the palm of their hands could be huge for its name recognition and credibility.

Consumers could make it a win-win-win if they agree that features like notification summaries and text proofreading are valuable additions to their existing Apple experience.

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It’s been happening throughout recorded history: Wealthy, influential people give away massive amounts of money to ensure that their name is prominently recorded for posterity.

But one relatively recent example has led to a host of people rethinking the entire concept of supposedly charitable giving.

Finding the purpose

Ideally, a person’s decision to give money to a particular cause would be motivated by nothing more than a desire to assist in its mission. But humans are driven by a number of different factors … including pride, which some say is hard to resist when it comes to doling out huge sums of cash.

That brings us to the case of David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center. It had been named in honor of Avery Fisher following the businessman’s donation of $10 million — or about $70 million when adjusted for inflation — more than 50 years ago. The agreement at the time seemed to suggest that the name Avery Fisher Hall would be used “in perpetuity.”

But music mogul David Geffen handed the Lincoln Center a $100 million gift in 2015 and soon had his name on the building.

Managing the backlash

For Geffen and Lincoln Center, there was blowback on multiple levels. For starters, Fisher’s heirs were obviously perturbed by the news but Lincoln Center agreed to pay them a combined $15 million to avoid a lawsuit.

But that only led to additional criticism from the general public, including the argument that all of this money being spent to name and rename buildings could have been put to better use.

And through this ongoing discourse, many people are learning about the concept of “effective altruism,” which prioritizes charities that are the most cost-effective and can offer the best evidence of their impact.

Few murders in recent memory have sparked such intense public reaction as the shooting that killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan earlier this month. And the suspect, Luigi Mangione, is only adding to the intrigue as we learn more about him.

Villain vs. vigilante

Let’s be clear: Any decent human should agree that gunning down a business executive in broad daylight is not an appropriate way to handle even the most severe grievances. Unfortunately, there have been too many social media posts glorifying this deadly act.

On the other hand, the broader coverage has included some important context. Deficiencies within the insurance industry have been problematic for years, but Thompson’s apparent targeted assassination put those concerns in the spotlight and some activists hope it will lead to much-needed reforms.

And as the story continues to unfold, the internet continues to provide a seemingly endless stream of satire and social commentary in the form of memes.

A range of responses

After Mangione, 26, was arrested in Pennsylvania on charges of second-degree murder, his mugshot and online history began to spread far and wide. This, of course, fueled the creativity of countless social media creators and/or trolls who couldn’t wait to weigh in on the trending news.

The resulting flood of content generally fell into one (or more) of the following categories:

• Dark humor: As with many high-profile deaths, some people chose to search for the morbidly funny.
• Nintendo memes: A certain Italian plumber who shares Mangione’s’ first name received some extra attention this week.
• Flirty posts: Whether commenting on his looks or offering an alibi, there were some strangely frisky reactions.
• Memecoins: Unsurprisingly, the unregulated crypto market saw an opportunity to capitalize on the story.

But an underlying theme seems to be that America’s healthcare system needs help.

I want to be a millionaire just like my father.

Yeah, dad wants to be a millionaire too.