At A Glance

Bookkeeping
> $16.6B: The amount online scammers stole in 2024—a 33% annual increase.
> $400: What one man paid to buy a World War I shipwreck on Facebook.
> 3,667,758: The number of babies born in the US last year, up 1% from 2023.

Browse
> The world's best new restaurants in 2025.
> The best large US cities to start a business.
> Mapping the countries where people don't exercise enough.
> Help the National Archives turn scanned history documents into text.
> McDonald's debuts McCrispy Strips.

Listen
> The economics of fortune cookies.

Watch
> Why Pantone colors are so expensive.
> The jumping spiders that train to become master hunters.

Long Read
>Three factories, $355K, and the quest to make a clear beverage can.
> How hot and stinky plants woo pollinators.
> The history of why girls traditionally wore pink and boys wore blue.

Most Clicked This Week: The 77-year-old as fit as a 25-year-old.

Good Morning

 

MEAL PREP | 10 healthy meals in 1 HOUR (+ PDF guide)

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Tennessee Titans take former Miami star QB Cam Ward with the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft; Jacksonville Jaguars trade up to select two-way star Travis Hunter (WR/CB, Colorado), see full picks (More) | Rounds two and three begin tonight (7 pm ET, ABC/ESPN); see complete pick tracker (More)

> The 83rd Golden Globes set for Jan. 11 with Nikki Glaser tapped to host again (More) | Shannon Sharpe to temporarily step aside from ESPN commentating duties amid rape allegations (More)

> NBA playoffs first round action continues this weekend; see latest scores and updates (More) | ... and NHL Stanley Cup playoffs are also underway; see latest playoff bracket (More) | Hockey 101 (More)


Science & Technology
> Volkswagen and Uber unveil plan to roll out out robotaxi service using the car company's electric microbuses; Los Angeles to be first market, starting late 2026 (More) | How self-driving cars work (More)

> Artificial leaf uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into carbon-carbon molecules, the building blocks of useful chemicals, including liquid fuel and plastics (More)

> Seafloor study suggests massive icebergs drifted across the North Sea about 90 miles from the UK coast, roughly 18,000 to 20,000 years ago; researchers discovered miles-wide grooves along the ocean bed (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +2.0%, Dow +1.2%, Nasdaq +2.7%) for third straight day, fueled by tech gains as investors weigh tariff talks (More)

> Alphabet reports stronger-than-expected Q1 revenue and earnings, with overall revenue growing 12% year-over-year (More) | Intel shares fall more than 5% in after-hours trading after posting weaker-than-expected Q2 revenue forecast (More)

> US existing home sales fell 5.9% month-over-month in March, marking the slowest March sales pace since 2009; median home price of $403,700 is up 2.7% from a year ago and the highest median home price for any March (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> Gunman who killed seven people and wounded nearly 50 others in a mass shooting during 2022 Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, receives seven life sentences in prison without parole (More)

> Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump administration's ability to withhold funding from public universities and K-12 schools with diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (More) | Judge halts parts of administration's overhaul of US elections, including proof-of-citizenship requirement (More)

> India and Pakistan cancel visas for each other's nationals, Pakistan closes airspace for Indian airlines; reciprocal measures come after India blamed Pakistan for attacks in Indian-controlled region of Kashmir, which killed 26 people (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Who Are You?

 An interesting question...  and reminds me of a song by the WHO, entitled Who Are You?, an excerpt is below...

I woke up in a Soho doorway

A policeman knew my name

He said, "You can go sleep at home tonight

If you can get up and walk away"

I staggered back to the underground

And the breeze blew back my hair

I remember throwin' punches around

And preachin' from my chair

Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

I really wanna know (who are you? Who, who, who, who?)

The song was also used in the popular TV Series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation where the whole point was to find out who the dead body belonged to.

Now...  I cannot really answer that question about YOU, but I can answer that question about ME.  Although, to answer it completely would take a very long time for both of us as, there is never a quick and dirty answer, outside of:

• Male
• Retired
• Married
• Divorced
• Married
• Veteran
• Teacher 
• Consultant
• Outspoken
• Writer

That list does not even begin to scratch the surface of who I really am or who you might be as much of who I am can be found in the articles that I write and publish and/or the poems that I write and publish on a sister blog.

Suffice it to say that ALL OF US, are multi-faceted people with a plethora of interests, wants, loves, desires, fantasies, needs, beliefs, fears, likes, and dislikes...  We have all made mistakes, continue to make mistakes and continue to learn from those mistakes...

We are flesh and blood beings who bleed and die.

Somewhat Political

 

Planet Found Orbiting Two Stars at a Perfect 90-Degree Angle

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have discovered a truly bizarre planet — one that orbits two stars at a perfect 90-degree angle.


This “polar planet” circles a rare eclipsing pair of brown dwarfs, making it the first confirmed world with this kind of alignment. It was a surprising and accidental find, defying expectations and proving that planet formation in extreme orbital setups is not only possible — it’s real.

Hints of Polar Planets Come to Life
In recent years, scientists have found several planets orbiting two stars at once — similar to the fictional planet Tatooine from Star Wars. Typically, these planets orbit in the same plane as the stars themselves. While researchers have long suspected that planets could also form in perpendicular, or polar, orbits around binary stars — and have even observed planet-forming discs tilted this way — there had been no direct evidence of a planet on such an orbit until now.

READ MORE...

Guns and Roses - Sweet Child of Mine

Good Evening

 

VINCE

 

Lara Trump

 

The Big THINK

Inside a neuroscientist’s quest to cure coma

Robert Reich

My last class
Coming to you




Friends,

I’ve done a lot of things over my lifetime, but I’ve always come back to teaching. Teaching is my love, my calling, my joy. And even though I’ve officially retired from it, I continue to teach. (Today, for example, I’m giving a talk at UC Berkeley on “The Roots of Trumpism.”)

As many of you know, I taught at UC Berkeley for almost 20 years and witnessed its power as one of the most successful engines of upward mobility in America.

When I decided to retire from teaching two years ago, I wanted to do it quietly. I preferred to make it about the students, not me. My lectures in the Wealth and Poverty course I taught each year to more than 800 students were mainly to students in their last undergraduate year — to seniors. (Some of you have even “taken” the course since a video version of it has been available here on this Substack.)

READ MORE...

At A Glance

New evidence suggests gladiators fought lions.

Google's AI overview reduces clicks by almost 35%.

The deep roots of cheese in America. (via YouTube)

How Americans are grappling with tipping pressure.

A guide to forest bathing.

1440 Topics: Everything you need to know about time travel.

Over 50 Shakespearean insults that still land.

Tips for practicing gratitude.

A guide to charcuterie nachos.

Clickbait: A bone-collecting caterpillar.

Good Morning

 

Doctors React to the Viral ‘Easiest Diet’ – Is It Healthy or Hype?

Quick Clips

 

In The NEWS

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Harvey Weinstein's retrial on rape and sexual assault charges begins in New York with opening statements; Weinstein's previous conviction was overturned last year by a court of appeals (More)

> American Music Awards (May 26) nominations announced with rapper Kendrick Lamar leading all artists with 10 nods (More)

> Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions tapped to kick off 2025 NFL season at the Pro Football Hall of Fame game (July 31) (More) | Three-time Olympic gold medalist Faith Kipyegon will attempt to become first woman to run a sub-four-minute mile June 26 in Paris (More)


Science & Technology
> An estimated 84% of the world's ocean reefs affected by ongoing global coral bleaching event; phenomenon occurs when external stress, including warming water temperatures, causes coral to expel algae living in their tissue (More)

> Engineers develop ultrathin electronic skins roughly 10 nanometers, fractions of the width of a human hair; advance has applications in a wide range of wearable and medical applications (More)

> Genetic analysis reveals the ancient Phoenician culture spread primarily through cultural transmission, versus mass migration; findings shed light on the development of early Mediterranean society (More)


Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +1.7%, Dow +1.1%, Nasdaq +2.5%) on hopes of easing trade tensions between the US and China as well as between President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell (More)

> Apple and Meta fined roughly $570M and $200M, respectively, by the European Union for allegedly breaching the bloc's Digital Markets Act, which seeks to prevent tech giants from monopolizing digital markets (More)

> Chipotle misses Q1 revenue forecasts after its same-store sales declined for the first time since 2020; earnings report comes a few days after the burrito chain said it was expanding into Mexico (More)


Politics & World Affairs
> India closes main border crossing with Pakistan, revokes key water treaty, and orders Pakistani nationals to leave; comes a day after suspected militants killed at least 26 tourists in the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir (More) | The role of Kashmir in the Pakistan-India conflict (More)

> US Sen. Dick Durbin—the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat—won’t seek reelection to a sixth term in 2026, will retire after 44 years in Congress (More)

> Remains of mom, child found near Gilgo Beach identified, though deaths may be unrelated to serial killings; Rex Heuermann was previously charged in deaths of at least seven other women whose remains were found in or near Gilgo Beach (More)

SOURCE:  1440 NEWS

Living in the South

 All of my life (so far), I have lived in the south, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, with a majority of that life in Tennessee, specifically East Tennessee.

It is said by the experts and professionals, who know more than me, that students get a better high school education in northern schools or private schools rather than schools in the south.

While those school might have the financial resources to hire more qualified teachers so that those teachers can help the mediocre students...  whereas those students who are not mediocre will do fine or even better than fine with less qualified teachers.

That aside, the south is simply a much better place to live because of the following:

• cheaper cost of living
• less crowded - less traffic
• Less pollution
• Less crime
• better annual climate
• friendlier people
• slower life style

The only other issue that might be of concern and that is healthcare/medical facilities.  For instance, in North Carolina there is Duke Medical, in Tennessee there is Vanderbilt and those other healthcare facilities have access to the latest trends and discoveries.

My healthcare, University of TN Medical Center, followed the advice of MD Anderson Healthcare, a leading cancer hospital, on treating my Melanoma with radiation and immunotherapy simultaneously and it worked.

I will stay in the south until I am no longer alive and have no desire to even visit a northern state.

Somewhat Political

 

Mars Kept a Secret for 3.5 Billion Years – NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finally Dug It Up

Scientists using NASA’s Curiosity rover have discovered siderite—an iron carbonate—in the sulfate-rich rocks of Gale Crater, solving a long-standing mystery about Mars’ missing carbonates.

This find provides powerful new clues about the planet’s ancient atmosphere and supports theories that it once harbored conditions suitable for liquid water. The discovery challenges previous satellite data and suggests that more carbon may be hidden below the Martian surface or lost to space.

Rethinking Mars’ Ancient Atmosphere
Scientists have long believed that Mars once had a thick, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere and flowing liquid water on its surface. According to that theory, the CO2 and water should have reacted with the planet’s rocks to form carbonate minerals. But until recently, surface analyses by rovers and orbital instruments using near-infrared spectroscopy hadn’t detected the expected levels of carbonate.

Now, new findings reported in Science reveal otherwise. Data from three drill sites examined by NASA’s Curiosity rover show the presence of siderite—an iron-based carbonate mineral—within sulfate-rich rock layers on Mount Sharp, located in Gale Crater.

READ MORE...

Roy Orbison - Oh, Pretty Woman (from Black & White Night)

Good Evening

 

Lara Trump

 

Brookings Brief

 

Strengthening cooperation for a changing world: The evolving role of the G20 in global economic governance

Robert Reich

Ineptitude, incompetence, stupidity, and chaos
Trump is fundamentally incapable of governing. 




Friends,

Some Democrats fear they’re playing into Trump’s hands by fighting his mass deportations rather than focusing on his failures on bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living.

But it’s not either-or. The theme that unites Trump’s inept handling of deportations, his trampling on human and civil rights, his rejection of the rule of law, his dictatorial centralization of power, and his utterly inept handling of the economy is the ineptness itself.

In his first term, not only did his advisers and Cabinet officials put guardrails around his crazier tendencies, but they also provided his first administration a degree of stability and focus. Now, it’s mayhem.

A sampling from recent weeks:

1. The Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth disaster. Hegseth didn’t just mistakenly share the military’s plans with the editor of The Atlantic; we now know he shared them with a second Signal group, including his wife, brother, and personal lawyer.

READ MORE...

At A Glance

See the shortlist of the year's best food photography.

Meet Japan's 97-year-old cherry blossom guardian.

... and Japanese robots from the 17th century.

A map of this year's cicada hot spots.

Little League is undergoing a fashion revolution.

How bad data created the myth of the "blue zones."

All the NFL Draft No. 1 picks since 1983.

Letter reveals Shakespeare did not, in fact, abandon his wife.

Clickbait: Google AI attempts to define imaginary idioms.

Good Morning

 

25 Unique Healthy Habits I Wish I Knew at 25