And another week where a bunch of stuff happened but I’ve been too busy to pay too much attention to (yet I still found a few things) comes to a close:
“We’re living in through a moral panic about what kids read and who reads to them entirely invented by guys who want to send your kids to work in a slaughterhouse.” — LOL GOP
DA leading Trump case says rhetoric won’t intimidate office. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is standing firm against Donald Trump’s increasingly hostile rhetoric, telling his staff that the office won’t be intimidated or deterred as it nears a decision on charging the former president.
The GOP Is Flirting With This Hungarian Autocrat’s Generous—And Exclusionary—Family Benefits. If Orbán’s policies sound similar to the Build-the-Wall, Don’t-Say-Gay brand of American conservatism, his penchant for bolstering the birth rate and rewarding large families appear to be yet another Hungarian-inspired social policy blueprint some Republicans are pining to adopt. The Hungarian government covers the cost of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments, provides up to three years of paid maternity benefits, doles out discount coupons for minivans, and grants forgivable interest-free loans to young couples who plan to procreate…But the closer you look at his country’s eligibility requirements for family benefits, the more clearly you see the kind of babies Orbán wants to populate his boom: not just Hungarian nationals, but children from married, heterosexual, middle-income and up Hungarian nationals with stay-at-home moms…“The imperative in the US that I’ve gathered from the standpoint of some MAGA Republicans would be how to get family benefits to white people when Black people can’t qualify.”
Texas announces takeover of Houston's school district, sparking concerns from educators. Some experts are calling the move a major "blow" to Texas' largest public school district, marking a turning point in education policy that follows years of controversial decisions in the state, including legislation on race, parental rights and gender-affirming care.
English professor in Florida says university terminated his contract after a complaint over his racial justice unit. A former English professor at Florida’s Palm Beach Atlantic University says the school terminated his contract early after a complaint that he was “indoctrinating” students by teaching about racial justice.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs bill to create 'monument to the unborn' on Arkansas Capitol grounds. State Senate Bill 307, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Kim Hammer and Rep. Mary Bentley, allows for private funds "of gifts, grants, and donations from individuals and organizations" to pay for a monument to "unborn children aborted during the era of Roe v. Wade."
Silicon Valley Finally Figured Out People Don’t Like It. The country’s response to a Big Tech bank collapse reveals a harsh verdict. The region that once produced microprocessors, personal computers, internet search, and web browsers, kind of doesn’t really do that stuff as much as it used to, and people are noticing.
OpenAI releases GPT-4, claims its chatbot significantly smarter than previous versions. GPT-4, the latest model, can understand images as input, meaning it can look at a photo and give the user general information about the image…GPT-4 can now read, analyze or generate up to 25,000 words of text and is seemingly much smarter than its previous model. GPT-4 scored in the 90th percentile on the Uniform Bar Exam. Its previous model scored in the 10th, according to OpenAI.
How you (yes, you!) can actually use AI to make your work better. A third paper, from Princeton’s Edward Felten, Penn’s Manav Raj, and NYU’s Robert Seamans, tried to systematically estimate which jobs will be most exposed to, or affected by, the rise of large language models. They found that the single most affected occupation class is telemarketers — perhaps unsurprising, given that their entire job revolves around language. Every single other job in the top 10 is some form of college professor, from English to foreign languages to history. Lest the social scientists get too smug about their struggling humanities peers, sociology, psychology, and political science aren’t far behind. Once upon a time, people like academics, journalists, and computer programmers could take some satisfaction in our status as “knowledge workers,” or parts of the “creative class.” Our jobs might be threatened by low ad revenue or state budget cuts, and the compensation was somewhat lacking, but those jobs were literally high-minded. We weren’t doing stuff robots could do; we weren’t twisting bolts with wrenches like Charlie Chaplin on an assembly line…AI, I’m now persuaded, has the potential to pull off a labor market transition of similar magnitude. The Mollicks have convinced me that I am — we all are — sleeping on top of a volcano. I do not know when exactly it will erupt. But it will erupt, and I don’t feel remotely prepared for what’s coming.
Microsoft Stuffs AI Into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and More. Microsoft is enabling an AI ‘copilot’ in all 365 apps, though it's reminding users they should really check the AI’s work.
‘Ted Lasso’ Cast Sets White House Visit to Discuss the ‘Importance of Mental Health and Wellbeing’ With President Joe Biden. “‘Ted Lasso’ has inspired the world through its universal themes around optimism, kindness, and determination and the Lasso philosophy to ‘believe,'” reads Apple’s announcement of the meeting of the minds.
A Common Dry-Cleaning Chemical Might Be Causing Parkinson's, Scientists Say. In a paper out this week, scientists argue that a common industrial chemical is contributing to Parkinson’s disease. The chemical is called trichloroethylene, or TCE. And while some states have recently banned its use, TCE remains widely present throughout the U.S. TCE is a colorless organic solvent that’s been in use for a century in various industries. It’s most often deployed as a degreasing agent in commercial or manufacturing facilities, but it’s also used as an ingredient in common household cleaning products, refrigerants, and dry-cleaning, and was even an anesthetic up through the 1970s. People working in these industries are most at risk for exposure to TCE, as are people in surrounding communities, since the chemical can contaminate soil and groundwater.
People urged to take gonorrhoea tests as cases rise. Gonorrhoea cases in England have resurged since the easing of Covid restrictions, health officials are warning people who are sexually active. Condoms can stop the spread of this and other sexually transmitted infections.
Ticketmaster to refund some fees after The Cure’s Robert Smith says he was 'sickened' by prices. The Cure’s Robert Smith said Ticketmaster will refund some money to fans after the rocker ripped into the company for charging what he believed were excessively high fees.
How to explore a praise kink. Getting praise is obviously a pretty universally enjoyed experience. But for some, a compliment can result in a turn-on.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
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