Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Dec 4, 2018

Getting gifts for the holidays? BILL GATES has put together a list of the five best books he read last year... you might want to gift one to that office suck-up or upwardly-mobile friend so they can brag about reading it later. They are:
--YUVAL NOAH HARARI's "21 Lessons for the 21st Century," about some of the challenges we face these days.
--TARA WESTOVER's "Educated," a memoir about growing up in a Mormon survivalist home and going on to get her Ph.D. at Cambridge.
--PAUL SCHARRE's "Army of None," about artificial intelligence being used in modern warfare.
--JOHN CARREYROU's "Bad Blood," about the Theranos scandal.
--Finally, ANDY PUDDICOMBE's "The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness," about the author's journey to becoming a Buddhist monk.

And speaking of holiday gift-giving, if you're looking for that gun-related gift or hunting gear for that friend, you probably ought to check out the selection at Dick's Sporting Goods, since their CEO, ED STACK, now says they've removed all hunting gear from 10 of their stores as a test --and could be taking it out of the rest.

Got an older iPhone that won't hold its charge? Apple has been offering to replace that battery for just $29 --but that'll all be ending with the end of this year. Then, it's back to the $79 cost for a replacement. It's good for all phones from the iPhone SE up thru the iPhone X.

Or maybe you don't wanna do anything because of those rumors about the new, 5G smartphones which are supposed to show up in stores beginning next year. Samsung and Verizon have already announced plans for their new phones, which will be out in the middle of 2019.