The Hunt

(This essay is from one year ago.)

This week, the New Yorker published “What Hunter-Gatherers Can Teach Us About the Frustrations of Modern Work,” by Cal Newport.

One main intent of the article is to explore the extent to which we can understand and perhaps improve our working conditions by considering the life styles of the remote societies that still practice hunting and gathering.

Anthropological research seems to indicate that contrary to common wisdom, these “primitive” societies do not work longer or harder than we do, nor are their lives more difficult or frustrating than ours.

But what resonated for me was just how apt the hunting/gathering style of work applies to certain fields, namely journalism — the craft I spent more than 50 years perfecting. (And I’m still working on the perfecting part.)

Journalists hunt for stories by gathering facts. Some are out there for the picking while other require a long sustained effort overcoming obstacles or specialized skills plus a certain type of fearlessness.

But perhaps unlike some types of office work, journalism can provide the satisfaction on a pretty regular basis of getting a juicy story and publishing it — for the entire community to then consume.

Journalists can feel that they’ve done their job once they’ve brought home the goods.

Another aspect of the anthropological research I found relevant to journalists is hunting and gathering is a type of work that require a long apprenticeship. Most of the best journalists will tell you they benefited from mentors as they were developing their skills at getting the story.

This all may seem somewhat abstract to some people but in the wake of the recent pandemic, battles are raging inside many companies (the New Yorker article focuses on Apple) over the amount of remote work that is allowed given demands for high rates of productivity.

It would be fair to say, I think, that reporters are expected to get out of the newsroom — to go out and hunt down their prey — on a regular basis. Maybe that is another reason this type of article resonates with those of us who are essentially modern hunter-gatherers.

HEADLINES:

• Hezbollah’s Leader Stops Short of Calling to Expand Gaza War (NYT)

• Hezbollah says wider Mideast war possible if Gaza assault continues (Reuters)

• Israel says it hit an ambulance used by Hamas. Gazan officials say it was carrying the wounded. (NBC)

• Israeli Troops Encircle Gaza City as Global Criticism of Strikes Mounts (NYT)

• Israel says Hamas stages hit-and-run attacks from tunnels (BBC)

• Blinken in Israel to urge humanitarian pause; IDF reports ‘face-to-face’ combat (WP)

• Blinken is meeting Israeli leaders to push for humanitarian pauses in the Gaza war as Israeli troops surround the Palestinian enclave's biggest city, the focus of its drive to wipe out Hamas. (Reuters)

• Israel resists US pressure to pause the war to allow more aid to Gaza, wants hostages back first (AP)

• Netanyahu may not last, Biden and aides increasingly believe (Politico)

• Russia steps up its aerial barrage of Ukraine as Kyiv brace for attacks (ABC)

• Zelenskiy ‘weighing up presidential elections in spring’ (Guardian)

• Ukraine’s Top Commander Says War Has Hit a ‘Stalemate’ (NYT)

• People in New Delhi woke up to a thick layer of toxic haze, and some schools were ordered to be shut for two days as the air quality index entered the 'severe' category in several parts of the Indian capital. (Reuters)

• Eric Trump Just 'Lost the Entire Case'—Mary Trump (Newsweek)

• Trump appointee who assaulted Capitol officers on Jan. 6 sentenced to nearly 6 years (NBC)

• FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried convicted of defrauding cryptocurrency customers (AP)

• WeWork’s Perfect Storm (Atlantic)

• Tiny plastic particles are showing up in clouds. Microplastics were found in clouds above Mount Fuji in Japan, a study said. (WP)

• Smart rats show human-like powers of imagination in neural research (Financial Times)

• Elon Musk says his new startup xAI will debut its artificial intelligence Saturday (CNBC)

• It looks like Elon’s AI company is getting somewhere. (The Verge)

• Palantir Is Quietly Emerging as a Leader in Artificial Intelligence (Motley Fool)

• Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law (St George News)

• Woman Amazed She Found Perfect Partner Just When She Was Getting Desperate Enough To Accept Anything (The Onion)

 

Signgate

Sports Illustrated has taken a close look at the sad state of reporting on the sign-stealing allegations against the Michigan football team, and the results are sobering.

First, in the spirit of transparency, two disclosures. I am a former Sports Editor at the Michigan Daily (1968-9), the student-controlled daily newspaper on Michigan’s campus. During my time there, our sports staff investigated reports of misbehavior in the football program that led to the first-ever censure of the university’s athletic department.

Second, I am a fan and I root for Michigan. So I guess you could call those off-setting disclosures, which should at least theoretically render me neutral on this matter.

But I’m not neutral; I have a strong opinion. These allegations are ridiculous. Sign-stealing per se is not even a crime under NCAA regulations, but it is the way a low-level Michigan official allegedly did it that is in question.

As best as I can follow this twisted tale, this guy bought tickets to opponents’ games where he sat in the stands and observed the signs flashed by opposing coaches and presumably passed them on to higher-ups on the Michigan staff, thereby securing a supposed competitive advantage.

Mind you, these games are all broadcast on TV, and the coaches at Michigan and every other school have those game tapes in house to study before every upcoming game.

The tapes include shots of those signs, which are conveyed in a frankly comical manner by coaches on the sideline to their players on the field during each game.

Having watched thousands of such interactions, I can attest they are hardly subtle. Coaches wave their arms, kick up their legs, hold up fingers and tap their caps in an amusing display more reminiscent of a family game of “charades” than the high-tech communication and surveillance that would constitute an actual scandal.

Meanwhile, a far more likely explanation for the sudden explosion in orchestrated outrage over what was at worst a minor indiscretion is the propensity of Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh to speak out on behalf of college athletes, arguing that they should share in a much greater portion of the massive revenues, including TV contracts, collected by others for their “amateur” efforts on the field.

What I am saying, and Sports Illustrated confirms, is this is a whole lot of noise about very little, or about at least something very different than sign-stealing..Call it capitalism. Call it Harbaugh crossing the powers that be.

So let’s move on to my second, much more significant disclosure of partisanship. I’m sill going to root for my team, which very likely is among the very best in the land, sign-stealing or not.

Go Blue! And Hail to the Victors!

HEADLINES:

• NCAA Investigation Into Michigan Football Program Has Highlighted Recklessness Of Media (SI)

• Putin signs bill revoking nuclear test ban treaty (The Hill)

• Colorado judge weighs if Trump incited an insurrection, can run again (WP)

• Eric Trump begins witness testimony in New York civil fraud trial (NPR)

• Aileen Cannon, the federal judge presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents trial, indicated she is prepared to side with the former president’s request to get the proceeding postponed. The trial is currently scheduled for May. [AP]

• Rep. George Santos survives vote to expel him from Congress (NBC)

• Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) announced he won't run for reelection partly, saying he was “disappointed” over his party’s decision to continue pushing lies about the 2020 presidential election. [HuffPost]

• Senate Republicans erupt in anger over Tuberville’s military freeze (WP)

• A Billion-Dollar Bet on Local News (Atlantic)

• Second Israeli airstrike in two days pummels Gaza refugee camp, deepening a growing outcry (CNN)

• Biden has called for a "pause" in the Israel-Hamas conflict. (BBC)

• Limited Flight From Gaza Strip Begins, as Israelis Close In on Main City (NYT)

• Opposition mounts in Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel (AP)

• More civilians permitted to cross into Egypt from Gaza, including 400 Americans (The Hill)

• Inside the painstaking negotiations to agree on a deal allowing foreigners to leave Gaza (CNN)

• Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, already at a more than 15-year high this year, surged further after Israel hurtled into a new war in the separate enclave of Gaza. (Reuters)

• A new generation of companies is moving on up in San Francisco (TC)

• Elon Musk’s Unrecognizable App — X has become a tool for its owner to do whatever he wants. (Atlantic)

• An “Existential Threat” – Humans Are Disrupting the Natural Salt Cycle on a Global Scale (SciTechDaily)

• The New Meaning of Tattoos (Atlantic)

• How producers used AI to finish The Beatles' 'last' song, 'Now And Then' (NPR)

• Race to AI: the origins of artificial intelligence, from Turing to ChatGPT (Guardian)

• Everything We Know About Humane’s Bewildering New AI Pin (Gizmodo)

• AI could pose risk to humanity on scale of nuclear war, Sunak warns (Guardian)

• Man Flips Between Quarterback Being Best Ever, Worst Ever 386 Times In Single Play (The Onion)

 

Thursday Links

 HEADLINES:

Americans among first foreigners to leave Gaza through Rafah border crossing into Egypt (CBS)

Another wave of Israeli strikes hit Gaza refugee camp as crossing opens for foreigners and wounded (Politico)

A Deadly Airstrike, and Gazans at the Breaking Point (NYT)

Crisis in Gaza as Israel warns of long war with Hamas (CNN)

People gather near Gaza border crossing to enter Egypt (WP)

Young progressive Democrats are splitting from the party on Israel (NPR)

Jenna Ellis’ Lawyer Reveals Why She Copped a Plea (Daily Beast)

Why doctors in America earn so much (Economist)

Trump Jr. testifies in $250 million fraud case against family business (WP)

Auto workers’ grand slam in Detroit is a home run for the US workforce (The Hill)

Freedom under fire: When guns outnumber people, which American liberties prevail? (AP)

The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh has set his sights on banning gender-affirming care for trans youth in Tennessee — and an attack on Vanderbilt University's transgender health clinic shows he's succeeding, HuffPost's Lil Kalish reports. [HuffPost]

A 'tropical disease' carried by sand flies is confirmed in a new country: the U.S. (NPR)

Matthew Perry and the Loneliness of Addiction (NYT)

The Department of Education is floating a new plan to forgive student debt, which would provide relief for several more categories of borrowers in an effort to chip away at the nation’s enormous student debt problem after the Supreme Court squashed the president's broad plan to do so this summer. [HuffPost]

We built a ‘brain’ from tiny silver wires. It learns in real time, more efficiently than computer-based AI (The Conversation)

See inside the stereotyping machines pushing American bias across the internet (WP)

Everything you're hearing right now about AI wiping out humans is a big con (Insider)

OMB tells agencies to focus on AI talent and transparency in new guidelines (Politico)

Voice-Based AI Interactions Bring Sci-Fi Fantasies to Everyday Reality (PYMNTS)

AI Can Supercharge Your Imagination (Atlantic)

Vice President Harris to unveil AI safety plans in U.K. speech (WP)

Amazon Fires Employee Who Tested Positive For Having Food In Their System (The Onion)

Trading

 Early Tuesday evening, a little before sundown, our living quarters were transformed by the arrival of some 20 young girls dressed as cats, witches, rock stars, cows (cows?) and various characters from movies I’ve not seen into a place of restrained joy and anticipation.

(There also was a lone little guy named Jonathan, dressed as a skeleton. He was decidedly not scary).

A dozen or so parents gathered in an adjacent room, huddling around snacks and a steaming pot of spiced cider.

All of a sudden, as if by some secret code, they all vanished into the night, leaving the front door open and me all alone. Come to think of it, that was probably their cue — sunset.

After an indeterminate period of utter silence, they all returned, bearing huge caches of wrapped candies (all the usual suspects).

This time, the kids clustered in the living room, dumped their bonanzas out in front of them and the bartering began.

It was a scene right out of the trader’s floor on Wall Street, only this time it was a black cat with face painted whiskers and a pink nose trading a Sour Patch Kid for a Twizzler from a very pretty cow.

As the sole adult witness to this cinematic-worthy wonder (the parents had retreated to the back yard and more cider), I marveled at the order and chaos and the general sense of good will involved.

Even stalwart Jonathan, who’s roughly half the size of the taller girls, got involved in what was definitely a wealth-sharing and wealth-redistribution scheme.

Some kids got up and navigated the crowded space, somehow avoiding stepping on each other or the candy to hand deliver or pick up prized exchanges, ignoring me sitting in the chair by the front window.

It was like watching the crowd at any Tokyo subway station, i.e., everyone in motion but nobody bumping into each other. Or perhaps backstage at a Taylor Swift concert with screaming fans jumping up and down and Jonathan as the hapless doorman.

At some point I exited this remarkable gathering and joined the other adults outside. Most of them are in their 40s, in the dynamic middle of their lives, pursuing careers, raising kids, redecorating bathrooms, buying EVs, and so on. A bunch of the guys I recognize as fellow managers in our local fantasy basketball league.

We compared Halloweens from our childhoods (theirs in the 1980s, mine in the 1950s) with today’s version and we all agreed that this system of gathering together afterward and trading candy is a new feature — one we do not recall from our day as Trick or Treaters.

So afterward I searched the topic and discovered a partial explanation from an Atlantic article in 2019: How Many Tootsie Rolls Is a Snickers Worth? Kids Know.

Thus eschewing the news, which is all terrible anyway, I’ve selected this as today’s top story.

Oh and BTW at the end of the evening, as he left to go home with his mom, Jonathan flashed me a knowing smile and said, “Happy Halloween!”

HEADLINES:

• Israeli air strike kills dozens at Gaza refugee camp, hospital chief tells Al Jazeera (Reuters)

• ‘Children were carrying other injured children’: Witness describes aftermath of Israeli strike on Gaza refugee camp (CNN)

• More Israeli tanks roll into Gaza as Netanyahu says ceasefire 'will not happen' (PBS)

• First foreigners leave Gaza through Rafah border crossing into Egypt (CBS)

• Israel Hits Hamas Tunnels as Ground Offensive Intensifies (WSJ)

• Israeli forces move farther into Gaza as the push against Hamas enters a 5th day (NPR)

• UN agency in Gaza says urgent cease-fire is a matter of life and death for millions of Palestinians (AP)

• Settler Violence Against Palestinians in the West Bank Is Rising (NYT)

• Hamas attack will inspire greatest US terror threat since ISIS, FBI director says (Reuters)

• As violence by Israeli settlers surges, West Bank Palestinians fear new displacement (WP)

• Anti-war protestors repeatedly interrupt Senate hearing on Israel (The Hill)

• Afghans return to Taliban rule as Pakistan moves to expel 1.7 million (Reuters)

• Top Trump allies facing charges lose lawyers after failing to pay legal bills. (Guardian)

• Home schooling’s rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education (WP)

• Matthew Perry’s Radical Honesty About His Addiction Battle Helped Us All (Rolling Stone)

• Kelvingrove organist pays Friends theme tribute to Matthew Perry (BBC)

• Judge pares down artists' AI copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, Stability AI (Reuters)

• Google AI Chief Says There’s a 50% Chance We’ll Hit AGI in Just 5 Years (Futurism)

• We need to focus on the AI harms that already exist (MIT)

• World leaders are gathering at the U.K.’s AI Summit. Doom is on the agenda. (WP)

• Stressed-Out Woman Treats Herself To Additional $400 Of Credit Card Debt (The Onion)

Funny Guys

 

Last night I rewatched the goofy romantic comedy, “Fools Rush In,” with great Elvis songs and starring Matthew Perry as a boy from New York and Salma Hayek as a girl from Mexico who meet in Las Vegas.

Whether you’ve seen it or not you know the plot.

It was my way of mourning Perry who died over the weekend at age 54.

We have an odd relationship with actors like him, most of whom we’ve never met or known in real life, but who we think we know well from their characters on TV or in the movies.

For millions of people, Perry was one of those actors. Best known as Chandler in “Friends,” he was the funniest guy in the room, on the set, and reportedly, in real life.

He also was severely addicted to alcohol and a variety of drugs from the age of 14. In and out of rehab, he went public with his struggles and tried in numerous ways to help others struggling with addiction, including a memoir published just last year.

His death was reported as a drowning in a hot tub, pending an autopsy. So we don’t know whether drugs or alcohol played a role in his death — yet.

But we do know that addicts struggle to overcome their addictions, and that there are almost always slips and setbacks along the way. Often it goes like that pretty much all the way to closing time.

Near the end of his life, Perry was asked how he wanted to be remembered. “As someone who tried to help other people,” he replied.

Well I suspect he helped more people than he ever knew by making them laugh. And one thing we need more than ever right now is laughter. 

HEADLINES

• Matthew Perry obituary: ‘Friends’ brought fame but couldn't quell personal demons (BBC)

• Matthew Perry, the one who mastered sarcasm with humor and pain (WP)

• Israel expands ground assault into Gaza as fears rise over airstrikes near crowded hospitals (AP)

• U.S. negotiated internet restoration and more aid to Gaza, officials say (WP)

• Gazans searched for loved ones and heard news of family members killed as communications gradually returned to the enclave after a near total blackout as Israel's troops and armor pushed into the Hamas-ruled enclave. (Reuters)

• Thousands of Gaza workers go ‘missing’ in Israel amid wartime mass arrests (Al Jazeera)

• How Years of Israeli Failures on Hamas Led to a Devastating Attack (NYT)

• US says Netanyahu has to rein in ‘extremist’ settlers in West Bank (The Hill)

• Israel says its war can both destroy Hamas and rescue hostages. Their families are less certain (AP)

• Trump maintains commanding lead in Iowa poll (NBC)

• Judge reimposes restrictions on Trump’s speech in Jan. 6 case (WP)

• Trump Is ‘Confused’ by Allies’ Guilty Pleas, Spokesperson Says (Rolling Stone)

• Bill Barr warns of 'retribution,' 'chaos' in second Trump presidency (MSNBC)

• Court arguments begin in effort to bar Trump from the presidential ballot under ‘insurrection’ clause (AP)

• How Trump critics hope to use the 14th Amendment to kick him off ballots (WP)

• Mike Johnson embraces powerful McCarthy-aligned super PAC (Politico)

• Apple Looks to Capitalize on Computer Sales Comeback With New Macs (Bloomberg)

• GM deal with UAW brings last of Big Three into fold (Politico)

• Detroit Is Paying Up to End the UAW Strike. Now Carmakers Will Live With the Costs. (WSJ)

• Chinese and Russian military chiefs targeted the US for criticism at a security forum in Beijing, even as China's second-most-senior military commander vowed to boost defense ties with Washington. (Reuters)

• Scientists discovered two “pristine” coral reefs deep in the ocean. The cold-water reefs are probably thousands of years old, and can help scientists understand the ocean’s hidden diversity and deepest habitats. (WP)

• More than 70,000 undocumented Afghans have returned home in recent weeks to meet a Wednesday deadline ordered by the Pakistani government. (NYT)

• Google Brain cofounder says Big Tech companies are lying about the risks of AI wiping out humanity because they want to dominate the market (Insider)

• 4 Ways AI Is Changing Marketing (Forbes)

• Biden to sign sweeping artificial intelligence executive order (WP)

• Humans could become 'part AI' to keep up with superintelligent machines, OpenAI's chief scientist says (Insider)

• AI founders head west to SF — find a city awash in connections, ideas and funding (Mission Local)

• 2-Year-Old Unaware He’s Basis For 6 Couples’ Decisions Not To Have Kids (The Onion)

Soundless

 Sitting in the morning sun, sipping coffee, with nowhere to go and no one to meet. From an extremely busy schedule peppered with meetings to the long, slow silence of aloneness. All the little daily pleasantries of working in an office have vanished. You make your own coffee and there’s one to talk to at the water cooler.

Come to think of it, you don’t even have a water cooler. Or a copy machine, a Fax, long-distance telephone service or snacks. There is no Odwalla machine, no fresh bagels this Thursday morning. One irritation is you handled all your appointments via the company’s shared e-calendar system, the kind that allows others to see when you are free to meet and when you are booked.

Since leaving a company in this era means losing all access privileges, you’ve lost access to your own personal calendar! You cannot remember what is happening when or where. Was that board meeting for your non-profit this week or next? Was that lunch with a friend tomorrow or next month?

Disoriented, you go about your new daily rituals: Waking up long before dawn and fretting. Sending out mass emails, letting contacts know you are newly “available.” Moving the car that you used to commute in from one side of the street to the other in order to avoid getting a parking ticket.

You’ve been “redistributed.” Remaindered, de-activated, decommissioned, rendered redundant and eliminated. You’re back to being just a guy without a business card.

It’s funny how close you grow with the people you work with in offices. In the days following a layoff or a company shutdown, your first impulse is to try and continue to connect with the people who were such a vital part of your daily life for so long.

But just like after any breakup, you’ve got to realize they are gone now. They’re all gone.

It’s the first warm day since this latest change in status. I think I’ll go to the beach and search for seaglass.

(This from 2007, just after being laid off from a job. That company soon went out of business. Similar things happened frequently during my 50-year career.)

HEADLINES:

• Israel is beginning to cross the Rubicon in the Gaza Strip (The Hill)

• Anti-Israel mob storms through Russian airport as flight from Tel Aviv lands (CNN)

• Gaza deaths top 8,000 as tanks and infantry push in during widening ground offensive (AP)

• ‘You Think of Dying at Any Time’ (NYT)

• Lebanon’s Hezbollah weighs dueling appeals: ease attacks or escalate (WP)

• Gazans break into aid centres, taking flour and supplies, UN says (Reuters)

• Christie says Meadows immunity deal makes Trump Jan. 6 case ‘much tougher’ (The Hill)

• For Mike Johnson, Religion Is at the Forefront of Politics and Policy (NYT)

• Spiders Might Be Quietly Disappearing (Atlantic)

• Hurricane Otis death toll rises to 39 as searchers comb through debris in Acapulco (NPR)

• For New Zealand’s Maori communities, climate change is already hurting (WP)

• Mass shooting in Tampa, Florida: 2 killed, 18 others hurt when gunfire erupts during crowded Halloween street party (CBS)

• Sam Altman Warns That AI Is Learning "Superhuman Persuasion" (Futurism)

• AI doomsday warnings a distraction from the danger it already poses, warns expert (Guardian)

• Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking (Wired)

• Child Entertained For 5 Minutes By Plastic Toy That Will Take 1,000 Years To Biodegrade (The Onion)

Latest Art by JJ

 

The Immigrant

 

The walking route to the nearest Bart station, which is a mile southwest of here, cuts through a wooded park. It is primarily downhill, so the 20-minute walk is substantially easier going there than coming back up.

They are opposites.

I followed the route down late Friday afternoon on my way to catching a train into the city. When I reached the station, I learned the next direct train was due in about 30 minutes.

It’s about a 45-minute commute across (actually underneath) the bay — if there are no delays — to the station where I would get off, which is at 24th Street and Mission. From there, it was another 15-20 minute walk through the neighborhood to the tapas restaurant where we were meeting.

So it was just under two hours door-to-door for me to make it to my youngest daughter’s 25th birthday party.

There were seven of us and we had a great time. There is nothing quite like a birthday party in one of San Francisco’s neighborhood restaurants. A couple hours later, one of my sons drove me back to Bart, but when I got down into the station, I found that the next train home wasn’t due for over half an hour and then there would be a transfer involved after that.

And then after that there would still be the long hike uphill through the woods in the dark. Probably not the best idea for a 76-year-old who decidedly does not qualify as a fitness freak. (The garage in our house has been converted into an exercise facility and I do go into it once a month but only to do my laundry.)

So I clambered my way back out of the station, walked a block to the front of an open market, and ordered a Lyft. A driver pulled up minutes later and called to me through his open window.

"David? ¿Hablas español? No hablo inglés." 

 "Si, más o menos," I replied. 

So he spoke Spanish and I tried to keep up on our trip back across the bay home. He told me he's been in the Bay Area two months but he's found English just too difficult to learn any so far. He hadn't tried an official class yet but he's looked at YouTube videos.

 I asked why he doesn't practice with his customers -- that might be a good way to learn. "No sé ninguna palabra para practicar," he explained.

 I thought about it for a moment and decided to start by teaching him a few. We could start with some pairs of opposites. 

 "Hot and cold," I said carefully. "Eso significa caliente y fría. Son opuestos." 

 "Hot and Cold," he repeated. "Opuestos." 

 We continued like that for the rest of our time together. Big and small. Left and right. New and old; Old and young. Hello and good bye. 

 As he dropped me off, I turned back and said "Gracias amigo y adios. Buena suerte con el ingles." 

 He smiled broadly. And spoke. "Adios, amigo. Hot and cold!"

HEADLINES:

• Pence suspends campaign for president (CNN)

• 'FRIENDS' Star Matthew Perry Dead AT 54 ...After Apparent Drowning (TMZ)

• Bill Barr hits back at Donald Trump: 'His verbal skills are limited' (USA Today)

• Hearings begin as Trump critics attempt to kick him off ballots (WP)

• How did the Republican party become isolationist? (Economist)

• Saudi Arabia Warns U.S.: Israeli Invasion of Gaza Could Be Catastrophic (NYT)

• Netanyahu says the Gaza war has entered a new stage and will be ‘long and difficult’ (AP)

• When war is good for business (Reuters)

• The double standards of free speech on Palestine amid Israel’s war on Gaza (Al Jazeera)

• Israel continues expanded ground offensive; internet blackout worries aid groups (WP)

• Hundreds of thousands rally in global cities to support Palestinians (Reuters)

• U.A.W. Reaches Tentative Deal With Stellantis, Following Ford (NYT)

• Alien language: If we met extraterrestrials, could we talk to them? (BBC)

• A life less Earthly (Economist)

• Google Bets $2 Billion on AI Startup Anthropic, Inks Cloud Deal (Bloomberg)

• Google Maps is rolling out AI-powered features for planning trips on iPhone (Apple Insider)

• One AI Device to Rule Them All (Information)

• Artists may make AI firms pay a high price for their software’s ‘creativity’ (Guardian)

• New Report Confirms You Are Most Interesting, Most Important Individual On Earth (The Onion)