Big ugly bill; rogue AI; swimming pool dangers; "swamp crotch"
It's International Chicken Wing Day!
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Knee Deep in the Hoopla
A big, bad, very ugly bill. It would cost more than Trump’s COVID-rescue bill, Joe Biden’s COVID-rescue bill, Trump’s first-term tax cut, George W. Bush’s tax cut, or Barack Obama’s stimulus package; it would dwarf the Affordable Care Act in its budget impact.
It’s too painful for me to watch, but live US Congress updates are here.
“OpenAI pulls emergency brake”: this terrifying AI showed signs it could design real-world biological weapons from scratch.
Why can’t Americans sleep? Is this a trick question? Didn’t you read the AI story above? Insomnia has become a public-health emergency.
Passenger flagged by TSA after ‘swamp crotch’ sets off alarm. It’s a bodily function that can wrongfully trigger red flags.
Parasites and Staphylococcus: How hygienic are public swimming pools really? (You don’t want to know.)
400 million Windows PCs vanished in 3 years. Where did they all go?
Quote of the Day:
I studied criminology, sociology, deviant psychology, abnormal psychology, and went into show business.
--Dan Aykroyd (Wikipedia link)
(More Dan Aykroyd quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
American Zoo Day, blink-182 Day, Canada Day, Devotion to Duty Day, Early Bird Day, International Chicken Wing Day, International Joke Day, International Reggae Day, National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day, National Financial Freedom Day, National Gingersnap Day, National U.S. Postage Stamp Day, National Postal Worker Day., National Television Heritage Day, Second Half of the Year Day, and Zip Code Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
On This Day:
2020 – The United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement replaces NAFTA.
1991 - “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” premiered at Century City. (Video)
1984 - The PG-13 rating was introduced by the MPAA in response to the gore and violence in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. (Video)
1979 - Sony introduced the Walkman. By 2010, when production stopped, Sony had built about 200 million cassette-based Walkmans. (Video)
1963 - ZIP codes were introduced for United States mail.
1957 - The International Geophysical Year began. (Video)
1956 - Elvis Presley, wearing a tuxedo, sings to a basset hound on The Steve Allen Show (Video)
1931 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty became the first people to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engined monoplane aircraft.
1931 - United Airlines began service (as Boeing Air Transport).
1908 - SOS was adopted as the international distress signal. (Video)
1903 - Start of first Tour de France bicycle race.
1881 - The world's first international telephone call was made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States.
1870 - The United States Department of Justice formally came into existence.
1867 - The British North America Act took effect as the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia joined into confederation to create the modern nation of Canada.
1863 - The Battle of Gettysburg began.
1836 - Congress accepted the estate from an heir of British scientist James Smithson that was eventually used to create the Smithsonian Institution.
1846 - Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1967 - Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American model and actress
1961 - Diana, Princess of Wales (b. Diana Frances Spencer) (d. 1997)
1960 - Evelyn "Champagne" King, American soul/disco singer (Video)
1952 - Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor, producer and screenwriter (Video)
1945 - Debbie Harry (b. Angela Trimble), American singer-songwriter and actress (Video)
1942 - Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress
1941 - Twyla Tharp, American dancer and choreographer
1939 - Karen Black, American actress (d. 2013) (Video)
1935 - David Prowse, English actor (Darth Vader) (d. 2020)
1934 - Sydney Pollack, American actor, director and producer (d. 2008)
1934 - Jamie Farr, American actor (M*A*S*H) (Video)
1931 - Leslie Caron, French actress and dancer
1920 - Harold Sakata, Japanese-American wrestler and actor (Goldfinger) (d. 1982) (Video)
1916 - Olivia de Havilland, British-American actress (d. 2020) (Video)
1906 - Estée Lauder (née Josephine Esther Mentzer), American businesswoman, co-founded the Estée Lauder Companies (d. 2004)
1902 - William Wyler, French-American film director (Wuthering Heights, Jezebel, Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Ben-Hur) , producer and screenwriter (d. 1981) (Video)
1899 - Charles Laughton, English-American actor and director (d. 1962) (Video)
1892 - James M. Cain, American author (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Serenade, Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity) and journalist (d. 1977)
1869 - William Strunk Jr., American author and educator (The Elements of Style) (d. 1946)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
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