Monday, July 28
Headlines
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Multiple countries airdropped food into Gaza this weekend. Israel parachuted some aid into Gaza on Saturday, followed by Jordan and the UAE on Sunday, as international reports of malnutrition and starvation in the territory drew condemnation globally. The Israel Defense Forces said it would implement “tactical pauses” daily in three areas with large populations to “increase the scale of humanitarian aid,” beginning yesterday and continuing until further notice. The pause also allowed additional aid trucks to deliver supplies, but the UN warned more must be done to “stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis.” The World Health Organization reported that of the 74 malnutrition-related deaths recorded in Gaza this year, 63 occurred this month.
Citigroup unveils Strata Elite credit card with $595 annual fee. And no, it doesn’t seem to be named for how expensive it is. Instead, it’s a premium card designed to rival the high-end offerings of JPMorgan, like its Sapphire Reserve card, and American Express. Citigroup says that the annual fee can provide cardholders with $1,500 in value if they take advantage of all offers, including the bank’s best points returns on travel and dining at peak times. It also comes with American Airlines perks, like lounge passes. The rewards credit card market was worth an estimated $1.2 trillion last year, according to Verified Market Reports.
Fantastic Four breaks $100 million at box office, and a Marvel curse. The Fantastic Four: First Steps brought in $118 million in North America and another $100 million internationally, good for Marvel’s biggest opening weekend since last summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Earlier this year, the studio released Captain America: Brave New World, which got an underwhelming reception, and Thunderbolts, which was just whelming. What do audiences love about The Fantastic Four? Maybe it’s Pedro Pascal, who stars as Mister Fantastic, or maybe it’s because it’s a “no-homework-required movie,” as Marvel Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige called it at a publicity event. He elaborated, “It literally is not connected to anything we’ve made before.”—HVL
Robert Reich
A Memoir of My America. Out next week, August 5.
Friends,
As you may know, I’m very short. I’ve always been very short. I never got taller than 4 feet 11 inches. (And for the last few years I’ve been shrinking.)
I came up short. As, in many ways, has America. If you needed proof, look no further than Trump.
I’ve written a memoir of my life and times entitled Coming Up Short. It will be out next Tuesday, August 5.
The reason I wrote this book is to share what I’ve learned about stopping bullies, at a time in American history when we’re dealing with an authoritarian bully who has encouraged bullying throughout the nation and the world.
In the book I wrestle with being bullied as a kid.
At A Glance
Ranking the US' fittest cities.
... and see 31 of the US' most beautiful towns.
Researchers work to resurrect 2,000-year-old earthquake sensor.
See 85-year-old woman's cover of "Landslide."
Woman tries to sneak turtles through airport security.
See national flags made from countries' iconic cuisines.
The first AI model to appear in Vogue magazine.
Men team up to pop 10 balloons in 7.5 seconds.
Clickbait: Astronomer ad is in on the joke.
In The NEWS
What is memory?
Memory is how the brain takes information captured by our senses and turns it into experiences that can be stored and remembered in the future.
Instead of a perfect recording system, the brain selects a subset of sensory data for processing in short-term memory before storing it in long-term memory for future recall. This means remembering creates incomplete reconstructions of knowledge.
Remembering a long-term memory requires a retrieval cue—a stimulus for a neuron within the memory's engram. Once triggered, neurons in the network activate, and the stored sensory details reconstruct the experience in short-term memory.
... Read our full explainer on memory here.
Also, check out ...
>The doorway effect is when people forget their task in a new space. (More)
> Core memories are a popularized version of autobiographical memories. (More)
> Photographic memory isn’t real, but other rare memory types do exist. (More)
The origins of pro wrestling
Professional wrestling is a story-driven form of wrestling that entertains audiences through precise techniques, demanding athleticism, and theatrical melodrama.
Professional wrestling matches are scripted, or, to use the industry’s term, “worked.” Despite that fact, performers are expected to maintain the illusion of the fictional narrative—or “kayfabe”—by remaining in character. (View a guide to the language of professional wrestling here.)
It’s common knowledge that professional wrestling is scripted, yet wrestling fans keep watching. Similar to people who attend the opera, they suspend their disbelief to enjoy the performances.
... Read our full overview on pro wrestling here.
Also, check out...
> An oral history of the inaugural WrestleMania. (More)
> Why one French philosopher loved pro wrestling. (More)
> How meta-narratives drive pro wrestling. (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Who's in Charge
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My wife worked in banking, so she writes all the checks, pays all the bills, manages the flow of money in and out of the bank, and balances the check book. She volunteered to do this.
When we go to buy a house or a car or take a vacation, she volunteers to do all the research however, she demands that I review her research and that we make all those decisions together.
She takes care of inside the house, I take care of outside the house, and whenever we go somewhere together, I drive the car. I the trip is over four hours; she drives for an hour to give me a break.
When we retired, she said she was no longer cooking meals for us, that we would both cook meals for ourselves which we have done for the last ten years, except for Thanksgiving Dinner.
She buys all my clothes because she says that my color matches are all wrong. I try on no clothes in the store. We or she brings everything home and if it does not fit or look right, she returns it and gets a larger size or finds something else.
We do all grocery shopping together except in rare situations, when one of us is out and we need something and send out a text.
Some call this a FEMALE LED MARRIAGE, some may think that my wife is in charge, and I am the submissive in the relationship, but I do not feel like that, and she does not feel like she is in charge. Our arrangement works for us and that is all that matters.
Scientists Discovered a New Human Species That Defies Conventional Wisdom
Although only one species of hominin (a tribe of the subfamily Homininae) exists on the planet today—good ole Homo sapiens—the human family, throughout more geologically-recent Earth history, was comprised of a complex tableaux of members. And over the years, scientists have tried to get a clearer picture of that prehistoric story by excavating ancient human sites around the world.
Now, anthropologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Hawai’i are illustrating a previously unknown—or, rather, uncategorized—chapter of that story with the introduction of a new human species, H. juluensis. The researchers published the details of this new species in the journals Nature Communications and PaleoAnthropology.
Sunday, July 27
Robert Reich
The more Trump’s tyranny is exposed, the stronger the resistance.
Friends,
Trump has entered a new and wilder stage of authoritarian neofascism. No holds barred. Nothing out of bounds. Rapacious, racist, nativist, vindictive, corrupt.
In his desperate attempt to deflect attention from his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, he’s even accusing Barack Obama of treason.
If you’re also horrified by all this, know that most other Americans are, too (if polls are to be believed).
Resistance is more important than ever.
We are deeply indebted to all the judges who are trying to stop this. Most have shown themselves principled, steadfast, and courageous.
Morning Brew
Who’s responsible for driverless vehicle crashes?
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Assessing responsibility in a car crash where all parties are humans can be difficult, but determining who—or what—is at fault when a self-driving vehicle is involved presents a new complication for the legal system.
But clarity is coming—a federal trial began in Miami last Monday over whether Tesla should be blamed for the 2019 death of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides after she was struck and killed by a Model S on Autopilot with a human driver present.
In this case: George Brian McGee, 48, was behind the wheel, dropped his phone, and reached down to grab it with his foot on the gas. The vehicle blew through a stop sign, striking and killing Benavides and severely injuring her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, while they were parked legally.
The arguments in Tesla’s first federal jury trial—the company had previously settled at least four suits over fatal crashes—are pitting human vs. machine:The plaintiffs contend that Tesla is at least partly responsible, since its technology failed to warn the driver of an imminent crash and didn’t recognize a stop sign, plus the automatic brakes didn’t activate.
Tesla’s defense is that McGee had been speeding at 90 miles per hour earlier that evening and was “aggressive” and “distracted” while behind the wheel.
The legal standard could make proving Tesla’s liability difficult: As The Verge reported, it’s likely an uphill climb for the plaintiffs, since the court is using Florida’s standard, which is “whether the car manufacturer exhibited a reckless disregard for human life equivalent to manslaughter by designing and marketing the vehicle.”
As for other states…few have language on the books to determine who is liable in the case of an autonomous vehicle accident. In Alabama, the human in the car is liable for any accident. But many states still do not specify who would be at fault in an accident.
Bottom line: Should Tesla lose this case, it could hurt the company’s reputation and further damage its already flagging sales, as the company has staked its future on growing its robotaxi fleet.—DL
At A Glance
Explaining why our ears pop.
A visual map of the 1 million texts most assigned in college courses.
What surgery was like before anesthesia.
The wall of trees planted in the central US to combat the Dust Bowl.
Why firetrucks cost $2M.
Behind the scenes at Pamplona's iconic running of the bulls.
Dancing for the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.
Why all dams are temporary.
The reinvention of He Jiankui, the scientist who gene-edited babies.
How the extinction of dinosaurs gave rise to fruit on Earth.
Tracking how close we are to achieving "Star Trek" technologies.
Users of iMessage found they could not send the phrase "Dave & Buster's."
The 17th-century cup made of toxic metal used to induce vomiting.
Are we addicted to chaos?
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