Wednesday, November 5
Helion gives behind-the-scenes tour
EVERETT, Wash. — In an industrial stretch of Everett is a boxy, windowless building called Ursa. Inside that building is a vault built from concrete blocks up to 5 feet thick with an additional layer of radiation-absorbing plastic. Within that vault is Polaris, a machine that could change the world.
Helion Energy is trying to replicate the physics that fuel the sun and the stars — hence the celestial naming theme — to provide nearly limitless power on earth through fusion reactions.
The company recently invited a small group of journalists to visit its headquarters and see Polaris, which is the seventh iteration of its fusion generator and the prototype for a commercial facility called Orion that broke ground this summer in Malaga in Central Washington.
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Tuesday, November 4
Headlines
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Trump administration says it will partially fund SNAP benefits this month. With the federal government shutdown on track to become the longest ever tonight, the Trump administration told the Rhode Island federal judge who ordered the continuation of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that it would use all of the $4.65 billion from a contingency fund “to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments.” It was not immediately clear when the 42 million Americans who use the food assistance program will receive their monthly benefits. Before the judge’s ruling, the USDA had said last month that SNAP benefits would not be paid at all in November, which has not happened during previous shutdowns.
OpenAI and Amazon made a $38 billion cloud deal. The seven-year deal marks the first partnership between the two tech giants. OpenAI bought $38 billion worth of capacity from Amazon Web Services, allowing it to access hundreds of thousands of Nvidia’s graphics processing units at Amazon’s data centers. The companies inked the deal less than a week after OpenAI revised its agreement with Microsoft to let OpenAI get more computing resources without first offering the business to Microsoft. It’s much smaller than OpenAI’s $250 billion cloud deal with Microsoft and its $300 billion deal with Oracle, but it still represents a significant new relationship.
Coke doubles down on AI-generated holiday advertising. Coca-Cola, the company whose marketing department cemented the modern image of Santa, released a new AI-generated ad yesterday, even though last year’s attempt evoked more jeers than holiday cheer. In 2024, the company’s AI-made holiday spot prompted backlash, both for its uncanny valley dwelling AI-produced humans, and for the tech’s potential to take jobs away from the creative professionals who would otherwise be creating ad imagery. But it garnered billions of impressions, and the company said this year’s offering—which features animals, not humans—is better.—AR
At A Glance
New data on DINK—dual income, no kids—couples.
How delivery cannibalized American restaurants.
What does life expectancy really mean? (via Instagram)
Timothée Chalamet look-alikes unite.
How to die young at a very old age.
What microwaves do to your food.
... and how much healthy eating costs around the world.
Forget the man cave, these spouses want Lego rooms.
Clickbait: Rats are snatching bats out of the sky. (w/video)
Historybook: Journalist Walter Cronkite born (1916); Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes first woman elected governor in the US (1924); Former first lady Laura Bush born (1946); Iran hostage crisis begins (1979); Barack Obama becomes first African American elected US president (2008).
The World We Live In
AND finally;
Don't leave anything for later.
Later, the coffee gets cold.
Later, the day turns into night.
Later, life goes by.
Later, you regret not doing something...
When you had the chance.
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> College basketball returns today, with women's reigning NCAA champion UConn Huskies favored to win again, Florida Gators aiming for a back-to-back men's title; see live updates (More) | See men's schedule (More) | See women's schedule (More)
> Kenya’s Hellen Obiri sets a new record for women in the New York City Marathon, winning in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 51 seconds; Kenyan Benson Kipruto wins men's competition with the closest-ever finish (More) | Marathon 101 (More)
> Xania Monet becomes the first AI-based artist to chart on the Billboard radio charts with "How Was I Supposed to Know?" reaching No. 30 on Adult R&B Airplay (More)
Science & Technology
> AI startup Perplexity launches tool to speed up patent research, letting users search databases using natural language queries instead of keywords (More)
> Researchers to launch personalized gene-editing clinical trial aimed at curing ultra-rare diseases; approach modeled after successful treatment of "Baby KJ," who suffered from a one-in-a-million disorder, revealed in May (More) | The best resources we've found on CRISPR (1440 Topics)
> NASA carries out first test flight of the X-59, designed to fly at speeds greater than the sound barrier while reducing the sound of a sonic boom (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close up Friday (S&P 500 +0.3%, Dow +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.6%); Amazon shares jump 9.6% after company reports 20% increase in quarterly cloud computing revenue (More)
> OPEC+ countries agree to raise oil production by 137,000 barrels a day in December, won't increase output through the first quarter of 2026 (More) | Everything we've learned about OPEC (1440 Topics)
> Berkshire Hathaway reports a record high in cash and equivalent holdings of nearly $382B; Warren Buffett-owned company has sold more stocks than purchased for 12 straight quarters (More) | Who is Warren Buffett? (1440 Topics)
Politics & World Affairs
> Tens of thousands of people feared killed by UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces over the past week in el-Fasher, capital city of Sudan's North Darfur state (More)
> Assailant wounds 11 people in a mass stabbing attack on a train in Cambridge, England; UK police rule out terrorism as a motive, with a suspect in custody (More)
> Two more suspects are charged in connection with last month's Louvre heist, in addition to two men already charged; see details about the suspects (More)
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
Honor - Integrity - Dignity
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I have witnessed, knowingly or otherwise, 28, 472 mornings and 28, 472 evenings, so far during my lifetime. For those of you who are not good at math that is 78 years plus two days. This does not include the 9 months inside my mother's womb.
Some might say that I must remove 2-3 years of data because I was not aware of what I was witnessing which is why I said KNOWINGLY OR OTHERWISE.
Can you imagine what kind of book I would have if I had been able to take photographs of both my mornings and my evenings during those 78 years or even 70 of those 78 years or quite possibly 60 of even 50 of those 78 years.
The photos would not have to be that great... the greatness would be demonstrated by the consecutive nature of the photographs.
If not photos, then I could have written a diary every day for 50-60-70 years describing what I saw or what I did.
It's fun but also tragic to look back at one's life and see what one has or has not accomplished.
- the wealth
- the assets
- the friends
- the knowledge
- the experience
- the children
- the grandchildren
- the animals as pets
Of course, there are those who do not look at accomplishments but how one lived, especially since one does not have to be wealthy to live with honor, integrity, and dignity, hurting no one and allowing no one to hurt you.
What comes to mind when I think like that are NATIVE AMERICANS, especially those living on a reservation and not trying to experience WHITE MAN'S SUCCESS.
Maybe the time of the BUFFALO needs to return.
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