Saturday, October 4
Headlines
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At A Glance
Bookkeeping
> $336K to $403K: How much an original print of David Bowie’s "Aladdin Sane" cover is expected to go for at auction, breaking the record for most expensive album art.
> 310 dB: The volume of an 1883 eruption on the volcanic island of Krakatoa; ruptured eardrums 40 miles away and remains the loudest sound ever recorded.
Browse
> Golden retriever gives koala piggyback ride. (w/photos)
> Twenty-one rules for throwing a good party.
> How your income is distributed across tax brackets. (w/interactive)
> Why we click with certain people, according to a neuroscientist.
Listen
> Computer science students were handed an empty promise.
> Can humans talk to whales?
Watch
> Is it really bad to eat raw cookie dough?
> Inside the parlor that covers hateful tattoos for free.
> Potential loophole to survive the end of the universe.
Long Read
> Will classic snacks look the same without artificial dyes?
> Enduring intrigue of Amelia Earhart's disappearance.
> What it's like to retire after 75.
> Life and death of the American foodie.
Most Clicked This Week: What was going on the day you were born?
Historybook: Rembrandt dies (1669); Orient Express makes first run from Paris to Romania (1883); Hollywood legend Charlton Heston born (1923); Sputnik 1 is first artificial satellite to orbit Earth (1957); Rocker Janis Joplin dies (1970).
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Sean "Diddy" Combs to be sentenced today in New York for his July conviction on prostitution-related charges; prosecutors are seeking an 11-year prison sentence (More)
> Department of Homeland Security plans to send ICE agents to patrol Super Bowl LX following announcement that Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny was selected to perform at the halftime show (More)
> The 2025 WNBA Finals begin tonight (8:30 pm ET, ESPN) with the Las Vegas Aces taking on the Phoenix Mercury in a best-of-seven series (More)
Science & Technology
> Perplexity AI launches artificial intelligence-powered web browser, Comet, for free worldwide; startup initially offered browser to select users for $200 monthly (More)
> Paleontologists revise evolutionary timeline for freshwater fish after analysis of 67-million-year-old ear bone fossil suggests they inherited their powerful hearing from marine ancestors (More)
> Researchers determine costly, deadly wildfires have increased more than fourfold from 1980 to 2023; 43% of the most damaging fires occurred between 2013 and 2023, including 43 wildfires that each caused over $1B in damage (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up (S&P 500 +0.1%, Dow +0.2%, Nasdaq +0.4%) (More) | OpenAI raises valuation to record $500B after completing $6.6B secondary share sale, surpassing SpaceX as the world's most valuable startup (More)
> Tesla reports record 497,099 deliveries in Q3, a 7.4% rise from a year ago; sales data comes as a $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles expired (More)
> Berkshire Hathaway to pay $9.7B for Occidental Petroleum's chemical unit; deal is Berkshire's largest since 2022 when it paid $11.6B for insurer Alleghany (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> White House asks nine colleges to agree to "compact" banning race and gender in admissions, freezing tuition, and capping international enrollment in exchange for federal funds (More) | President Donald Trump says the US is in "armed conflict" with drug cartels (More)
> Eiffel Tower closes as thousands of people strike across France to demand higher taxes on the rich and denounce budget cuts and a hike in the retirement age (More)
> Israel to deport hundreds of activists, including Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela's grandson, who were detained after Israeli navy intercepted 40 vessels attempting to deliver aid to Gaza (More)
Perils of Marriage
Living together is not easy whether a couple is married or not. It seems to be, my opinion, if you're married, because at best you split your assets 50/50 (providing there are no children), or you are in your 60s-70s-80s and it is not that easy living solo, especially if there are medical issues.
Therefore, couples stay together simply for the finances and companionship and the care that might needed to be given.
For instance, I am 78, my wife is 73, we are both in poor physical health... I might be slightly worse because I am fighting two kinds of cancers... and, we do not get along at all... which I find strange because our commonalities is what brought us together in the first place.
It would appear that we lied about what we had in common because we could not be more opposite.
We don't trust each other; we don't respect each other; we don't love each other, although being together for over thirty years creates some kind of mutual caring... We have just enough money (collectively) to take care of us until we're both 95 (assuming we live that long) and divorce would be financially disastrous for both of us.
SO... we remain together... we are married but it would not make any difference if we were not... We lived together for five years before we agreed to marry a second time.
YET...
there are married couples with and without children who will divorce each year at the first sign of incompatibility.
WHY...
Is living with another person because of an initial love SO FRIGGING DIFFICULT???
A 50,000-Year-Old Fossil Reveals Neanderthals Had a Far Richer Diet Than Scientists Once Believed
New evidence from fossilized dental plaque, coastal excavation sites and ancient feces is upending long-held assumptions about Neanderthal diets. Far from being brutish carnivores who hunted woolly mammoths and gnawed on raw meat, Neanderthals appear to have been remarkably adaptable eaters — with menus that included cooked crabs, medicinal plants, and even legumes.
Findings from multiple peer-reviewed studies, including a seminal paper published in Nature, reveal significant regional variation in Neanderthal diets across Europe. In northern sites like Spy Cave in Belgium, stable isotope analysis confirms a meat-heavy intake — primarily woolly rhinoceros and wild sheep. But in Spain’s El Sidrón cave, researchers found almost no trace of meat. Instead, genetic sequencing of calcified dental plaque uncovered remnants of mushrooms, pine nuts, moss, and tree bark.








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