GwinnettForum | Number 22.47 | June 30, 2023
RENOVATIONS ARE UNDERWAY at the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce building at 6500 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth. The new imagery details features like technology-enabled seating areas for small group meetings, huddle rooms, and open spaces for pre-event networking. This outdoor venue in the back will house various amenities such as a shaded arbor, a firepit surrounded by lounge chairs, a raised deck with bar-top stools, and versatile outdoor seating arrangements shaded by umbrellas, all surrounded by enhanced landscaping. Temporary operations for finance, administration, and membership are now housed on the second floor, with remaining staff working remotely. Anticipated completion date is January of 2024.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Artificial Intelligence is not a passing fad
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Anyone know of a local, independent Internet service?
SPOTLIGHT: Mingledorff’s
FEEDBACK: David Simmons’ recollection was something like magic
UPCOMING: How much cash should you keep in reserve?
NOTABLE: Helping Ukraine accelerates effort with medical supplies
RECOMMENDED: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Supreme Court strikes Georgia death penalty law
MYSTERY PHOTO: No one recognized the mystery of a Brand Bank painting
LAGNIAPPE: County breaks ground on One Stop Center Expansion in Centerville
CALENDAR: Meet Author Lisa See on July 8 in Norcross
Artificial Intelligence is not a passing fad
(Editor’s note: Ben Backus is a retired military aviator and corporate educator. Jack Bernard is a retired corporate SVP and sits on numerous local, state and national boards.)–eeb
By Jack Bernard with Dr. Ben Backus
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. | Watch out Americans! Artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots are not passing fads. As you read this column, AI and ChatGPT are changing the way you live — and most of you haven’t even noticed.
Both are arguably more important than the appearance of the Internet. The Internet was born about 50 years ago, but did not become common until the mid 1990s. Many of us thought it was a short-term phenomenon. However, we all cannot imagine a world without the Internet now.
Further, we should all be worried, very worried. There are significant dangers as machine learning expands. The downside potential is exacerbated by worldwide greed. That’s the same greed that caused the infamous Sackler family to push opiates when they must have known that innocent people would rapidly get addicted.
The alarm has been sounded. Developers are openly saying stronger controls are needed, immediately to curtail these new elements in our society. However, firms hesitate to restrain themselves in any significant way.
Due to the profit motive underlying their efforts, developers have a “you go first” attitude. Companies believe that they cannot afford to stop developing because their corporate competitors might gain an advantage. So, unless outside regulatory efforts change the working environment, development will continue at an exponential rate. That is, unless multi-national governmental agreements are reached, and strictly enforced, to control capability expansion.
While remarkable productivity improvements will be realized with advanced AI, many white-collar and administrative jobs will then disappear. That said, new jobs will be created. However, these displaced people must be willing to retrain themselves and obtain new knowledge and skills. That will be more difficult for older workers, as was true in the industrial revolution.
The chatbots will still be able to do mundane and repetitive tasks, as well as much more complex activities, such as writing, translating, coding, and creating images/videos. We envision a time when chatbots will covertly take LSATs and bar exams. They may even be composing briefs to go before the Supreme Court.
If your job involves physically doing something, such as building/repairing things, caring for children/adults, and similar activities, then you might be okay, at least for a while. However, if your position requires critical thinking and/or human interaction, in the very near future the AI might do a better job at a much lower cost. For a real-life example, it’s estimated that IBM will replace around 26,000 employees over the next five years with AI.
Customer service chatbots, such as GetJenny and LivePerson, already provide 24/7 support and do not require vacations, childcare, or medical insurance. Beware copy writers, commuter coders, software designers, bookkeepers, accountants, tax preparers, human resources, and other white-collar workers. The next generation of chatbots will be even more effective at displacing you.
What should we do to prepare the younger generations? Tell your children and grandchildren (if they will listen, an age-old problem) to learn about AI, including ChatGPT, GPT-4, and similar subsets. The field is still wide open, the current pay amazing- and will only increase.
Will we see machines taking over for humans in our lifetime? We hope not, but care must still be taken. Further, the USA alone cannot control the expansion of Artificial intelligence. We have a clear choice – act internationally utilizing a comprehensive strategic plan, or ignore AI and ChatGPT at our peril.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Anyone know of a local, independent Internet service?
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
JUNE 30, 2023 | Help! I’m hurting! I need some help!
We need some help in tele-communications services, and possibly some reader will come to our rescue.
You probably know it, but it is most frustrating dealing with communications companies. My telephone, internet and television services are with American Telephone and Telegraph, which seems to go to great lengths to make it difficult to talk to them.
And once you make a connection to talk (after going through several people), you hope that you can understand the person to which you are connected. Often your contact may be with someone in another country, who may speak English, but often with a thick accent that makes understanding difficult.
Most recently, there has been a new annoyance. Almost on cue, if you can believe it, AT&T is going to improve my service with a faster speed that some guy with a heavy accent has told me so many times recently. I keep telling him that the speed of service I am getting is OK, but he insists that AT&T is going to provide me with a faster service, and I should sign up for a special promotion.
Of course, this faster service (which I don’t need) will be at an increased cost and I can save money by locking in the service for one year at a lower rate, which still translates into a higher cost for the service. That will make it even higher after one year.
So what to do? In frustration, I began to try and find another service that won’t cost so much. Here’s where the thought that we no longer have monopolies comes home to frighten you. While there are other services (Comcast, Verizon, Xfinity and others), they either cost you about the same, or don’t provide services to all areas, or that particular service to all Zip codes.
It’s as if the companies have almost colluded to carve out niches for themselves.
Then someone mentioned that in some parts of the county there are local internet providers, not well-known, but sometimes with almost-as-good services that are managed independently. So we started searching the Internet for these services. They may exist, and some of you may be customers of these services. If you are, let me know. I would like to at least talk to them.
However, spending a morning searching for these independent firms, I was again frustrated. Though perhaps a dozen places on the Internet listed that they provided such service, I could not get the first one to answer when I called. Several asked for me to leave a message. So far, no return calls.
What I suspect is that some entrepreneur decided to go into the local internet business, and found in the long run that they just could not compete with the big boys. They may have closed their business, but failed to pull their listing off the internet. That may be the reason that when I dialed these numbers, many times I was told: “This number is no longer in service.”
So, dear reader, if you know of a local internet provider, let me know. I’m about convinced that I might not pay less, but I might be less frustrated from getting repeated calls, several every day, from an AT&T sub-contractor.
UPDATE: Three minutes after I finished writing this, guess what happened? Yep, it was a call from AT&T offering me (again) a new faster service! Can you imagine?
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Mingledorff’s
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today’s featured sponsor is Mingledorff’s, an air conditioning distributor of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company. Mingledorff’s corporate office is located at 6675 Jones Mill Court in Norcross, Ga. and is proud to be a sponsor of the GwinnettForum. With 40 locations in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina, Mingledorff’s is the convenient local source with a complete line for the quality heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration parts and supplies you need to service and install HVAC/R equipment. Product lines include Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Totaline and Bard. For all of your HVAC needs, and information on the products Mingledorff’s sells, visit www.mingledorffs.com and www.carrier.com.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Simmons’ recollection was something like magic
Editor, the Forum:
I absolutely loved the description of magic David Simmons wrote about in a recent GwinnettForum. These rare and joyous moments of personal magic that occasionally occur to us are so sudden, so rare and so delightful that I find them difficult to explain, much less describe.
So the fact that Simmons, after all these years, could set the scene at Kurt’s Restaurant and draw us into his beautiful moment and could share it so vividly and in such detail that I felt I had witnessed it myself is simply a stroke of – well – magic. Truly an unexpected and unique story! Bravo!
– Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill
Enjoyed your work in several recent editions
Editor, the Forum:
Your recent edition regarding the Lawrenceville Campground was a good one. The location is fun to drive by and it’s good to see it’s still being used.
Any reasonable action to reduce gun violence is acceptable; I favor stiff penalties and mandatory time served whenever firearms are used while committing a crime.
Even if venues have to stop serving earlier, most law-abiding citizens (even those who carry a firearm) wouldn’t be out drinking anyway Close ‘em earlier!
Also enjoyed your comments regarding Pete Rose. Keep up the good work.
– John Moore, Duluth
Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words, and include your hometown. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
How much cash should you keep in reserve?
With economic uncertainty and layoffs in a number of sectors, many people want to know how much personal cash they should have on hand. While a general rule of thumb is to have enough cash to cover expenses for about six months, accounting and finance expert Dr. S. Cathy McCrary says a number of factors can impact the amount of cash that one should have available.
McCrary
McCrary, an accounting professor at Georgia Gwinnett College, says an emergency fund of three- to six- months’ worth of expenses might work well in a two-income household where the wage earners work in diversified industries.
“For example, if one is employed in the tech industry, while the other works in healthcare, then there may be less of a chance for both wage earners to be out of work at the same time,” McCrary explains. “However, if both work in tech, layoffs at one tech company might signal imminent layoffs for other tech firms.”
For single wage earners, McCrary recommends an emergency cushion of eight months’ worth of expenses. Those who work in commission-based jobs may want to plan on an emergency fund that covers eight to 12 months’ worth of expenses.
Along with single-wage earners, McCrary says it makes sense to bolster your emergency fund in the following situations:
- an expected birth or adoption;
- a chronically or terminally ill family member ;
- a moderate to high level of debt (from title loans, payday loans, credit cards, auto loans, personal loans, student loans, mortgages, home equity lines of credit, etc.); and
- an impending economic recession, uncertain job outlook, high interest rates, etc.
For workers nearing retirement, McCrary says the percentage of cash in their retirement nest eggs should gradually increase to protect it from market volatility.
“Once workers transition to full retirement when a regular paycheck is no longer coming in, their retirement savings balance must be protected by increasing the percentage that is held in cash, instead of securities, she says “Thus, it might be helpful to keep their emergency fund separate from overall cash savings.”
Dr. S. Cathy McCrary is a certified public accountant with experience in the private and public sectors. McCrary joined Georgia Gwinnett College in 2017 as an assistant professor of accounting. McCrary is currently completing her term as president of the Georgia Association of Accounting Educators
Gwinnett Tech students win National SkillsUSA awards
Gwinnett Tech students had an impressive showing at the National SkillsUSA, Post-Secondary State Leadership and Skills Conference recently in Atlanta, of 17 of 20 Gwinnett Tech students placing, with 13 earning gold medals.
The Gwinnett Tech 2023 national Skill Point award winners were:
Gold Medalists:
- Elcie Julmis, Medical Terminology;
- Raquel Kangalee, Prepared Speech;
- Letisha Smith, Health Occupations Professional Portfolio;
- Deborah Paulaukaitis, Keturah Polius-Hazell, Nishi Sotkovsky and Moneice Watson, Health Knowledge Bowl; and
- Olugbenga Bakare, Lily Lieng, Jeff Miles, Samuel Price, Adriana Teodoro won in Quiz Bowl.
Silver Medalists:
- Eric Nims and Elizabeth Sheba, Web Design and Development.
Bronze Medalists:
- Shagufta Khan, Job Interview; and
- Anh Do, Technical Computer Applications.
Helping Ukraine accelerates effort with medical supplies
Since the founding of HelpingUkraine.us in June, 2022, the organization has accelerated its activity supplying medical supplies. It has also amassed huge grassroots efforts to supply citizens in small villages along the war front with life’s necessities, just to keep going.
The team based in the Odesa People’s Church serves 50 villages and has been prepared to move in as the Ukrainian Army takes back areas along the war front. Possibly this will happen quickly if the instability in Russia continues.
Helping, as the name implies, individuals living in these small villages devastated by the war means efforts to raise funds and awareness have never been more important. The relationships with the Ukrainian community here in Atlanta make the work one of passion and friendship.
When Emory Morsberger left for Ukraine on June 6, 2022, he was carrying delicate surgical tools funded by Rotary Clubs in the Atlanta area.
Through Rotary in Atlanta and throughout Ukraine, efforts have resulted in the donation of more than $4 million in medical supplies. This includes ProgenaCare Global based in Atlanta, who delivered $3 million of wound care along with Phase One in March of this year.
The HelpingUkraine.us community has grown to more than 350 individuals who have made contributions over the last year. The program now reaches out once again in this historic moment as increased hope for victory shifts in Ukraine and they execute a more aggressive counter offensive.
- Much-needed donations can be made by going to the website HelpingUkraine.us.
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
From Karen J. Harris, Stone Mountain: Ruth Jefferson is a 20 year neonatal nurse in a Connecticut hospital. She is assigned to look after a new born baby, and perform all of the tests prior to the baby being released to the parents. Her supervisor says that the parents, who are white supremacists, do not want her to touch their baby because she is black. She is shocked and upset but complies. When the baby exhibits distressed breathing and Ruth is the only nurse available, she has a choice. Should she step in and try and help the baby or follow her supervisor’s orders? The decision she makes sets off a chain of events that result in her being charged with a serious crime. A white public defender is assigned her case. This painfully timely story of racial angst is also a hopeful story of how evolution can occur with even entrenched attitudes and beliefs.
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Supreme Court strikes Georgia death penalty law
Before 1972 Georgia and other states that provided for capital punishment used systems that gave juries broad discretion in deciding whether to impose the death penalty on persons convicted of death-eligible offenses. In Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down this feature of Georgia’s capital sentencing scheme and in effect invalidated the death penalty, as then administered, throughout the United States.
The Court, in a five-to-four decision, reasoned that capital sentencing based on the unguided discretion of juries offends the “cruel and unusual punishment” clause of the Eighth Amendment, because it permits juries to impose the distinctively profound sentence of death on some convicted defendants while other juries impose the far different sentence of life imprisonment on large numbers of similarly situated defendants convicted of exactly the same crime.
There was no majority opinion written for Furman, but Justice Potter Stewart captured the thought of a critical group of justices when he wrote, “These death sentences are cruel and unusual in the same way that being struck by lightning is cruel and unusual.” The Eighth Amendment, he explained, “cannot tolerate the infliction of a sentence of death under legal systems that permit this unique penalty to be so wantonly and so freakishly imposed.”
In a dissenting opinion joined by four members of the Court, Chief Justice Warren Burger argued that, while “the Eighth Amendment forbids the imposition of punishments that are so cruel and inhumane as to violate society’s standards of civilized conduct,” the amendment “most assuredly does not speak to the power of legislatures to confer sentencing discretion on juries.” In his view a long history of acceptance, the legal system’s “basic trust in lay jurors,” and “the primacy of the legislative role” in fixing criminal punishments rendered the death penalty constitutional, even when imposed pursuant to unguided-discretion sentencing schemes.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
No one recognized the mystery of a Brand Bank painting
Today’s Mystery Photo may give you clues as to what goes on in this building, but we also want to know where this photo was made. Try your hand at identifying today’s mystery by sending your thoughts to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
The last Mystery Photo stumped all readers. No one recognized a painting by Artist Steve Penley of the pre-1950 Brand Banking Company, on the Gwinnett Courthouse Square. The original painting is hanging in the office of President Bartow Morgan at the Georgia Banking Company headquarters at 1776 Peachtree Street in Atlanta. Morgan’s father ran Brand Bank from there. It is now a two-story building.
The original version of Penley’s painting.
Both Lou Camerio of Lilburn and Mike Tennant of Duluth recognized the Gwinnett County Courthouse tower in the background, but both thought the building in the foreground was on another corner of the Square.
The Mystery Photo had the name blurred. And note two other elements from this older photo: this was before the Brand Bank was bricked and before it had an additional story. And note also that this was before West Crogan Street was made a one-way street, as seen in the cars parked at an angle with the street traffic going west.
SHARE A MYSTERY PHOTO: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: elliott@brack.net and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
County breaks ground on expansion in Centerville
Gwinnett officials on Wednesday broke ground on the expansion of OneStop Centerville. The community resource center in southern Gwinnett will enhance access to services and resources for residents in the area.The development combines the Centerville Senior Center and Centerville Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library and offers a variety of community spaces for events, workshops, classes and other activities. Once completed, the multilevel building will span 33,000 square feet. In addition to its existing services, partner organizations including GNR Health, View Point Health and Ninth District Head Start will be housed there. The county is using a $25 million allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for the expansion, along with its initial operations.
Meet author Lisa See on July 8 in Norcross
Meet author Lisa See on Saturday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Norcross Cultural and Arts Center. Enjoy an evening with this best selling author. Here’s the link to get the Lisa See tickets.
Meet Children’s Authors Kahran and Regis Bethencourt on Saturday, July 15, at 11 a.m. at the Duluth Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. They are the founders of CreativeSoul Photography. They will be talking about their new book Crowned, which encourages the imagination of young children. Books will be available for sale and signing.
Writers’ Workshop with the Atlanta Writers Club will be held Saturday, July 15, at 12:45 p.m. at the Duluth Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. Learn more about writing, network with other writers, and listen to accomplished authors. Atlanta Writers Club officers Kim Conrey and Patrick Scullin will present “Marketing for Writers.”
Volunteer Wanted: to be the theater critic for GwinnettForum. Experience preferable but not necessary. Enjoy contemporary theater in the Atlanta area with this assignment. All volunteer work with no pay, but it will extend your thought process, and give you many good outings. Send your resume to elliott@brack.net, include a picture and examples of your writings.
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