Monday, August 18
Archaeologists Discover Stone Tools Crafted by Unknown Species
Archaeologists determined that seven stone tools found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi date back to somewhere between 1.04–1.48 million years ago and belonged to an ancient human species yet to be identified by researchers. The bombshell discoveries were recently published in the journal Nature.
The seven tools were originally excavated between 2019 and 2022 in a cornfield in the city of Calio. They were crafted with hard-hammer percussion techniques in which large pebbles cultivated from riverbeds were struck to form sharp-edged flakes, which would assist with cutting and scraping.
Professor Adam Brumm, of Griffith University's Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, co-led the international research team and described the tools as "simple, sharp-edged flakes of stone that would have been useful as general-purpose cutting and scraping implements."
Sunday, August 17
Tourism
Halbergman/Getty Images
Fewer people are putting themselves at risk of losing their home playing roulette or misplacing the groom after a debaucherous bachelor party. Las Vegas is experiencing a tourism slump, which experts attribute to larger American trends of a slowing economy and a decline in foreign travelers:
- Visitor numbers overall were 11% lower in June compared to the year before, after declining for six months straight on a year-to-year basis, per the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
- There were also 11% fewer networkers expensing $18 cocktails convention-goers visiting the city, compared to June 2024.
What happens in Vegas…has roots outside of Vegas
The vacant slot machines at Caesars Palace could be indicative of how Americans feel about their wallets, since it takes financial chutzpah to gamble. Experts say that economic anxieties are making Americans more guarded in their leisure spending, as evidenced by how they scaled back on their vacation budgets this spring, according to a recent Deloitte survey.
Rising labor costs and fewer gambling enticements like bargain steak tips may have diminished the bang for the buck of the entertainment mecca, prompting some to consider destinations without daily $50 resort fees and more hiking instead.
Plus, foreigners foregoing stateside travel is hitting Las Vegas harder than other places as it is the fifth most popular destination for foreign visitors to the US:
The vacant slot machines at Caesars Palace could be indicative of how Americans feel about their wallets, since it takes financial chutzpah to gamble. Experts say that economic anxieties are making Americans more guarded in their leisure spending, as evidenced by how they scaled back on their vacation budgets this spring, according to a recent Deloitte survey.
Rising labor costs and fewer gambling enticements like bargain steak tips may have diminished the bang for the buck of the entertainment mecca, prompting some to consider destinations without daily $50 resort fees and more hiking instead.
Plus, foreigners foregoing stateside travel is hitting Las Vegas harder than other places as it is the fifth most popular destination for foreign visitors to the US:
- The number of international tourists visiting Sin City declined 13% in June from a year ago—part of a nationwide trend that industry experts attribute to tightening border control and frustration with American politics.
- Canadians, who make up the largest group of foreign visitors to Vegas, have cooled on trips south of the border after President Trump imposed steep tariffs on the nation and referred to it as the 51st US state. Some of the dropoff might also be due to cost of living challenges within Canada, University of Ottawa economist Isabelle Salle recently told the Guardian.
But…Vegas isn’t ready to fold. Some Americans might just be postponing their Vegas vacations in anticipation of major events soon to be hosted by the city, including the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and concerts by Paul McCartney and the Backstreet Boys, casino industry consultant Oliver Lovat told NPR.—SK
Robert Reich
Friends,
People ask me almost daily: “Can he really do this?”
My answer: He’ll do anything he can get away with.
He believes he can get away with anything as long as his Republican lapdogs remain in control of Congress, as long as congressional Democrats remain wimpy and disunited, as long as the Supreme Court immunizes him from prosecution, and as long as he feels he can disregard lower-court rulings with impunity.
This is why it’s so urgent that We the People are rising up — making a ruckus at Republican town halls, phoning our senators and representatives so often we’re jamming congressional switchboards, joining our local Indivisible resistance groups, demonstrating, forming sanctuary communities, and boycotting corporations (such as Tesla and Target) that are caving to Trump.
At A Glance
Why gas station pizza is the most popular pizza in the US.
How hotels are shrinking room size to grow profits.
What it's like to have ADHD.
How "Keep Calm and Carry On" was forgotten for 60 years.
See the difference location makes in Google results.
Virtually walk over 200 major cities from Paris to Shanghai.
The inside story of NASA's sprawling space shuttle program.
Charting runner Adrien Friggeri's daily runs over a decade.
What would happen if everyone turned the lights on at once?
A gallery of close-ups on snowflakes.
Why Hitchcock struggled to make films at his peak in the 1960s.
There's a name for the bouncy texture of noodles and gummy candy: Q.
One feather bed required 1,700 passenger pigeons to make.
Seven decades of late-night TV's biggest moments.
The story of the "Atomic Bowl" played in Nagasaki in January 1946.
In The NEWS
Justice Department removes newly named DC emergency police chief.
The move came after Washington, DC, sought an emergency restraining order against President Donald Trump's effort to federalize the city's police force (see previous write-up). The lawsuit followed Attorney General Pam Bondi's decision to name Drug Enforcement Administration head Terry Cole as Washington's emergency police commissioner. DC's police chief will remain in charge but will be expected to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
Trump and Putin meet at a US military base in Alaska.
President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and their top advisors met privately for over 2.5 hours Friday to discuss ending the war in Ukraine (see previous write-up). The leaders shook hands on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson before the meeting and later held a joint press conference, during which they signaled they had made progress but offered no details. Trump said he intended to have further conversations with Putin and NATO leaders. See takeaways here.
University of Michigan football fined for sign-stealing.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association hit the University of Michigan with fines potentially topping $30M for a sign-stealing operation during the 2023-24 season. The penalties include a $50K payment, plus 10% of the school's football budget, 10% of the cost of all football scholarships awarded this season, and all anticipated 2025 and 2026 postseason revenue. Head coach Sherrone Moore also faces a three-game suspension.
Strange rock on Mars may reveal ancient life.
A Martian rock named Sapphire Canyon and a powerful laser technique could aid scientists searching for life on Mars. Collected by NASA's Perseverance rover, the rock features white, leopard-like spots that point to organic origins. When Sapphire Canyon eventually arrives on Earth, NASA researchers plan to analyze it with a novel imaging method that efficiently identified the composition of a visually similar rock found in Arizona. Separately, Perseverance found a helmet-shaped rock this month.
Rapper Sean Kingston sentenced to prison for $1M fraud scheme.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Paul Anderson, will serve 3.5 years in federal prison for persuading sellers to give him luxury goods and forging payment records. The 35-year-old "Beautiful Girls" singer conspired with his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, who was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud earlier this year. Turner was sentenced last month to five years in prison.
UnitedHealth Group shares jump following Buffett's investment.
The healthcare company's shares jumped 12% Friday after a federal filing showed billionaire investor Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway bought 5 million shares, worth about $1.6B. UnitedHealth's shares had been down nearly 50% for 2025 before the news broke. The largest private health insurer faces a federal probe into its Medicare billing practices.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
It's Just Sunday
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Sundays have traditionally been a day for relaxation from six days of work, while others work only five days and have both Saturday and Sunday off. Sundays have also been the day where those who are religious attend a church of their choice, and still others who give the entire day to their religious beliefs and practices.
This was true for me while I was growing up with my parents but we attended Sunday School and the Church Service and put everything else religious behind us for the rest of the day. Two hours and that was it. Sundays always started off with waffles for breakfast and after church, we would drive down to the shopping center, one half mile away and have ice cream during the summer. One scoop cone for everyone.
What brother me with that routine was the fact that religious feelings and expressions were no longer required or sought from Monday through Saturday, even though at night, when we were very young, prayers before bedtime were required, and grace was also given only at dinner. What about the other two meals?
Other issues were the inconsistencies that I learned from Sunday School and Church Services that were never fully explained to my satisfaction like:
- where is heaven and hell?
- my kingdom is not of this world... so, where is it?
- why did Jesus have long hair?
- why is Jesus portrayed as Caucasian when he is not?
- giving birth without insemination.
- how could Jesus be God's son when Jesus is referred to as God incarnate or God as a human?
- Adam and Eve committed incest in order to create the human race.
- why does the Bible indicate the universe is only 6000 years old when science has proven that is not accurate.
- why hasn't God/Bible anticipated computers, cell phones, and the internet?
I have no problems with those who believe, my concern is that while I believe there is a creator, I don't much faith in the Bible and its contents, especially since a group of humans decided what books would be included in the Bible and what books would not.
IBM and Moderna have simulated the longest mRNA pattern without AI
Researchers at IBM and Moderna have successfully used a quantum simulation algorithm to predict the complex secondary protein structure of a 60-nucleotide-long mRNA sequence, the longest ever simulated on a quantum computer.
Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a molecule that carries genetic information from DNA to ribosomes. It directs protein synthesis in cells and is used to create effective vaccines capable of instigating specific immune responses.
It’s widely believed that all the information required for a protein to adopt the correct three-dimensional conformation is provided by its amino acid sequence or "folding."
Saturday, August 16
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