Agentic AI and My "News History" File

I couldn’t believe that I had never shared this story with you.

It all started shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, around early March 2020. I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t seen it coming - what was I thinking before the national lockdown???  So, I decided to start logging the top daily news in an Excel file.

Thanks to a dear friend of mine, who diligently recorded the top three national news stories and the top three international news stories in the file every day. It was a HUGE undertaking at the time, and I was SO thankful for her help.

The file grew quite large. We organized it by year, and over time, it became an incredibly valuable archive of history. Then, in July 2024, we lost our news source, and the entire project came to an abrupt halt.

Thanks to Agentic AI, my news project has officially relaunched today!!

Now, my AI agent 小聪聪 (the Little Smarty) will populate the top three daily news stories into an Excel file and send the cumulative file to me every Sunday night.

To me, this isn’t really about knowing what happened yesterday or today. It’s about building a history of the headlines - watching how the world evolves, especially during such a pivotal time in history. Twenty years from now, my News History file could become tremendously valuable - not just as a record of what happened, but of HOW it happened, one headline at a time. Or... how the headlines completely missed the boat!!!

Words of Wisdom

Warren Buffet’s final words of wisdom from his very last annual letter (September 18, 2026)

"One perhaps self-serving observation. I’m happy to say I feel better about the second half of my life than the first. My advice: Don’t beat yourself up over past mistakes – learn at least a little from them and move on. It is never too late to improve. Get the right heroes and copy them. You can start with Tom Murphy; he was the best. 

Remember Alfred Nobel, later of Nobel Prize fame, who – reportedly – read his own obituary that was mistakenly printed when his brother died and a newspaper got mixed up. He was horrified at what he read and realized he should change his behavior. 

Don’t count on a newsroom mix-up: Decide what you would like your obituary to say and live the life to deserve it. 

Greatness does not come about through accumulating great amounts of money, great amounts of publicity or great power in government. When you help someone in any of thousands of ways, you help the world. Kindness is costless but also priceless. Whether you are religious or not, it’s hard to beat The Golden Rule as a guide to behavior. 

I write this as one who has been thoughtless countless times and made many mistakes but also became very lucky in learning from some wonderful friends how to behave better (still a long way from perfect, however). Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman."

What is Wealth?

"True wealth is not having the biggest house or the most expensive car. It is having enough money to live comfortably while being free to choose how you spend your time, who you work with, and the life you want to live. In the end, time and freedom are the greatest forms of wealth.”