Steven Philips on Guess what the Middlebury professor blames for our falling birthrates - 'Fred: Thanks! Data always helps reaching a valid conclusion.'
on Guess what the Middlebury professor blames for our falling birthrates - 'I checked the data from 1950. The data does not support the conclusion. Not even close. The data does show birth rates declining since 1950 with several ups and downs. KEY point “several”. (Source Macrotrends dot net) There was a sharp drop in birth rates starting in 1960, when the birth control pill got FDA approval. There was modest uptick in 2011 and 2012, just as smart phones really got going. There was another uptick in 2024 and 2025 following steeper than usual declines during Covid. Those correlations seem like legit causations.'
on Guess what the Middlebury professor blames for our falling birthrates - 'I have a hard time believing that texting replaced sex as our national pastime. I’d think it’s more likely that the bank meltdown of 2008 led to greater use of the pill, in the face of total economic collapse of the world economy. Who wanted to start ( or expand) a family in that environment? Throw in a couple of mid-east wars, Al Qaeda running around blowing things up, the collapse of Enron, and our bungled war with Panama’s Noriega and the invasion of Granada, in short the chaos that was the late ‘90s through the first 20 years of the 21st Century, who wouldn’t be fearful of the future? I reject that it was a single event that caused birth rates to decline, it was the loss of our belief in American exceptionalism (precipitated by the failings of the Vietnam war) that caused the decline. Trump is continuing that sense of loss as our institutions have failed to curb his anti-constitutional conduct. After all that, not having children just became habit.'
on Guess what the Middlebury professor blames for our falling birthrates - 'Forget the Great Recession, in 2007 it was BlackBerry.'
on Counterpoint's M5 Pro teardown finds a chip built for accelerated computing - 'I exclusively use local models on my M4 Max 64GB for a variety of tasks and learning how to use models on device. I don’t and won’t pay for foundational model access. I have been an IT professional for 45 years and am quite impressed what the latest batch of local models can do. Everything from coding iPhone apps, generating detailed design documents after feeding it a detailed prompt, helping design 3D printer housings and code templates for an ESP32 based laser “goose deterrent”, and other tinkering projects to see what local models can do. I adjunct teach Comp Science classes and I am trying to make sure the students use AI as a tool and not a crutch. I see critical thinking skills going out the window if we don’t change the way we deliver the curriculum. A lot of traditional professors stay in academia mode and don’t convey practical skills and real world knowledge to students. That combined with easy AI access has the potential to limit creativity and problem solving skills. I asked my Spring Computer Architecture class of 35 students if they pay for OpenAI or Claude, and all 35 raised their hands. I say probably once a week, use AI as a tool, not a crutch.'
on Counterpoint's M5 Pro teardown finds a chip built for accelerated computing - 'No analysis, no citations. This is just bald assertions, and it’s one of the things I find so objectionable about using a LLM chat engine for ‘research’. “Trust me, I’m an AI!”'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'I’ll be curious to see if the subsequent IPO’s for Open AI and Anthropic generate anything near the buzz created by the SpaceX IPO. I think that SpaceX sucked all of the IPO oxygen out of the room for the rest of 2026.'
on Counterpoint's M5 Pro teardown finds a chip built for accelerated computing - 'It’s too bad these are so small. Most people just see the device and enjoy how well it works. These SOCs are truly modern wonders. The pyramids in Egypt have nothing on these. It boggles the mind to think of all the engineers, chemists, physicists, finance people, organizers and managers who had to collaborate to make these a reality.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Those paying attention will remember RPL was pro SPG (Simon) about 5 years ago when it was under $120. I listened and have averaged about 6% dividend yield since then. (Owner) management seem very experienced and focussed. Dividend increases a little bit every 2 or 3 quarters. Great steady stock to have and hold, but perhaps fully valued at these prices. Thanks Robert.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Volume was 38 M vs the (higher now) average of 47 M. My guess on why no “lift” today: Max Pain was probably closer to $290 than $295 (recall that it’s measured in units of $5). Anyway, if you look at a one month chart, you’ll see that it’s been trending back up again since it dropped to ~$290. When it comes to AAPL, patience is definitely a virtue!'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'I think the SpaceX IPO had a significant effect on the Tech stocks this week. It closed with a market cap of $2.1 trillion. Tesla, by comparison, is $1.5 trillion. Besides making Elon Musk, the richest sociopath on the planet, it also sucked up an enormous amount of liquidity out of the market. This may have contributed to why the other tech stocks went down this week. Thursday on Mad Money, Cramer had a chartist on – and one of the big takeaways was there’s very little liquidity in the market right now. So there’s very little cash on the sidelines. MY TAKE: Next week could see profit taking out of SpaceX… and guess where that money could go? The problem with AAPL now, is the “news” is already out – so to get the stock price to go back up significantly could take a while, until there’s some kind of new Apple news. Worst case scenario, we have to wait until the next ER when Apple reports terrific numbers again – and the stock goes up to a new all-time high again. Personally, I placed an order to sell PUTs that expire end of the year – because I believe Apple is now at the lower end of its new trading range and it’s a good time to buy the dip. Just sayin’.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Robert, Apple stock is marching to its own drummer today. Could be a lot of selling pressure from Space X rebalancing among funds and investors. I haven’t seen the negative news which would point to the stock to continue its decline. I will say Apple stock often trades about 10% below its highs when there is a break between real news events that drive the stock.'
on Premarket: Apple is green - 'Into the final hour of trading and Apple is now off $4.73 at $290.91. This is in contrast to a market moving mostly higher today. The major indexes remain in the green. Over 75% of S&P 500 components are higher on the day. Seagate, Intel and Western Digital are all on the index’s leaderboard today. Albermarle is the top performer on the index today and is up 9.17% at $173.21. Goldman Sachs, the lead financial firm on the SpaceX IPO, is now up 2.95% at $1,066.16. As for SpaceX, the shares are flying high today and are up $32 at $167 from the this morning’s opening price of $135.'
on Apple's iPhone revenue share was its highest ever for the March quarter - 'Stop talking about money: https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/11/craig-federighi-and-greg-joswiak-talk-siri-ai-and-more-in-new-interview-video/ Is this the new Apple vibe?'
on Apple's iPhone revenue share was its highest ever for the March quarter - 'I wonder if the markets are distracted by the SpaceX IPO. Apple’s numbers for the upcoming quarter would appear to be solid. Apple’s AI beta release seems to be well received. But, as Joe said above, Apple’s valuation is still pretty healthy. But, unless something comes up that is unexpected, the downside risks seem somewhat limited.'
