The Quicker Picker Upper
The Guardian: From beef noodles to bots: Taiwanâs factcheckers on fighting Chinese disinformation and âunstoppableâ AI
Taiwan is the target of more disinformation from abroad than any other democracy, according to University of Gothenburg study.
Globe: Ottawa declines to release secret internal analysis of economic effects of carbon pricing
The Liberal government is declining to release its internal analysis of the economic impacts of carbon pricing and refusing to say why it is keeping the data secret, even as it criticizes the federal budget watchdog for an error in its analysis of the policy.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux disclosed to a House of Commons committee on Monday that the government has internal analysis of the economic impacts of its consumer and industrial carbon pricing programs that it is keeping under wraps. He said the federal governmentâs findings are largely in line with those of his office: that there is overall a net negative impact from the pricing regimes.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeaultâs office has repeatedly declined Globe and Mail requests to explain why it is keeping its internal analysis secret. It also did not respond to a request for the documents.
WashPo: He went viral for driving on a suspended license. The case is complicated.
Last week, Corey Harris became an internet meme after he attended a court hearing about his suspended license via Zoom while driving. The clip, featuring a befuddled judge and Harris sighing as he said, “Oh, my God,” quickly went viral.
But the case that made Harris famous online â which was covered by The Washington Post, the New York Times, CNN and Fox News, among others â is more complicated than it first appeared. As local ABC affiliate WXYZ first reported, the 44-year-old Michigander’s license suspension, which was tied to a child-support case, had already been lifted by a judge in 2022, court records show.
To get his license back though, Harris had to pay a fee, according to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office, which acts as the state’s motor vehicles regulator. Harris only paid the $125 fee required for license reinstatement on Monday, a spokesperson told The Post.
Well, that isn’t nearly as fun, is it?
TechCrunch: Boeingâs Starliner astronaut capsule is en route to the ISS
Boeingâs Starliner spacecraft is officially on its way to the International Space Station, marking a historic first for the long-delayed astronaut transportation program. Inside the spacecraft are two [still nervous] NASA astronauts â spaceflight veterans Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams â who are set to arrive to the station on Thursday.
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If all goes to plan, Boeing will become NASA’s second astronaut transportation provider, joining Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Both companies were awarded multi-billion-dollar NASA contracts to develop a crewed taxi service a decade ago, but Boeing’s program has been beset by technical delays that have run the company more than $1.5 billion over budget. Boeing did execute a successful uncrewed mission to the ISS in May 2022, but this is the first time the spacecraft has carried humans.
While Boeing has struggled, SpaceX has soared: Using its Crew Dragon capsule, SpaceX has been providing astronaut transportation to and from the ISS since 2020.
InsideEVs: Driving An EV In The U.S. Is Now One-Third Cleaner Than A Gasoline Car
Now, a new UCS study says the area where driving EVs produces fewer emissions than driving an efficient combustion car has expanded to include 93% of the entire US territory. They also changed the theoretical efficiency of the gas car they were comparing EVs against to 57 mpg, so the bar is even higher.
TorStar: UN chief warns of âhighway to climate hellâ as temps rack up
As the planet notched a new hot streak and scientists predicted another grim milestone on the horizon, the secretary-general of the UN warned Wednesday that the world needs âan exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.â
Europeâs climate agency announced that May marked the 12th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures, a fevered year that startled many scientists because of the dramatic margins by which old records were broken. At the same time, the World Meteorological Organization predicted that at least one of the next five years is likely to temporarily break the 1.5 C warming threshold.
AppleInsider: How to use Dexcom G7 CGM with Apple Watch
On Wednesday, medical device manufacturer Dexcom finally delivered its direct-to-Apple Watch functionality for the G7 CGM. Here’s how it works.
A constant glucose monitor (CGM) has historically worked by using your iPhone as a middleman. The sensor gets implanted under the skin, generally behind the arm contained in a white plastic enclosure. That enclosure then relays readings in near-real time to a companion iPhone.
NYT: Prosecutors Use Menendez Coupleâs Texts to Depict Them as Collaborators
In January 2019, Senator Robert Menendez placed a seven-minute call to New Jersey’s attorney general, Gurbir Grewal, in what prosecutors say was an effort to quash an insurance fraud case.
A New Jersey businessman, Jose Uribe, had been desperate to make the fraud charges disappear, prosecutors say. He had turned to Nadine Menendez â who married the senator the next year â for help.
In the hours and days before the senator’s call, there was a flurry of communication between Ms. Menendez, Mr. Uribe and a second businessman who is charged with the senator and his wife in an elaborate bribery scheme. Ms. Menendez would often contact the senator soon after texting with the men, sometimes using an alternate phone that the couple referred to as her “007” phone.
NYT: Hochul Halts Congestion Pricing in a Stunning 11th-Hour Shift
Weeks before New York was to charge motorists to enter Manhattanâs business district, Gov. Kathy Hochul postponed the program citing economic concerns.
NYT: Clash Over Phone Hacking Article Preceded Exit of Washington Post Editor
At a contentious staff meeting on Monday, Mr. Lewis defended his business strategy, telling the newsroom that The Post had lost $77 million the previous year, had seen a 50 percent audience decline since 2020 and needed to make radical changes to succeed.
Guardian: Biden: âevery reasonâ to believe Netanyahu is prolonging Gaza war for political gain
Joe Biden has said that there is âevery reasonâ to draw the conclusion that Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political self-preservation.
Biden made the remarks about the Israeli prime minister in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday morning, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli government, which accused the US president of straying from diplomatic norms.
Netanyahuâs popularity plummeted after the 7 October attack by Hamas, which exposed serious flaws in Israeli security. Most political observers say Netanyahu would lose elections if they were held now, and would be forced into opposition, facing court hearings on corruption charges. But elections have been put off until the war is over, or at least until major military operations are deemed to have been completed.
Guardian:Bowel disease breakthrough as researchers make âholy grailâ discovery
Researchers have discovered a major driver of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and several other immune disorders that affect the spine, liver and arteries, raising hopes for millions of people worldwide.
The breakthrough is particularly exciting because the newly found biological pathway can be targeted by drugs that are already used, with work under way to adapt them to patients with IBD and other conditions.
âWhat we have found is one of the very central pathways that goes wrong when people get inflammatory bowel disease and this has been something of a holy grail,â said Dr James Lee, the group leader of the genetic mechanisms of disease laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London.
Lee added: âEven for pure, fundamental immunology this is a really exciting discovery. But to show this is dysregulated in people who get disease not only gives us a better understanding of the disease, it tells us this is something we can treat.â
Last Updated: 05.Jun.2024 22:31 EDT
