Iran in excruciating detail; ChatGPT's bad medical advice; measles are expensive and most doctors have never seen a case
It's National Banana Cream Pie Day!
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—Kevin G. Barkes
(Most) everything you need to know for today:
March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 304 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 1,054 days remain in Trump’s term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
Iran:
Trump goes to war despite professed aversion to foreign entanglements, particularly in the Mideast. (AP)
US on high alert for homeland attacks by Iran. “Iran has developed this capability to carry out attacks abroad over many years,” including in the United States, former FBI and Treasury Department counterterrorism official Matthew Levitt said. “If there was ever a time the regime would want to act on it, it would be now.” (USA Today)
US used Anthropic AI, B-2 bombers and suicide drones in Iran strikes. (Reuters)
The Pentagon’s Claude use in Iran is a reminder that Anthropic never objected to military use. The company objected to hypothetical future use cases, not anything the military is currently doing. (Gizmodo)
‘It’s not true’: Trump’s reasons for Iran attacks questioned. The assertion that Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon “is not true,” said Matthew Bunn, an arms control expert at Harvard’s Kennedy School. (USA Today)
‘The Worst-case outcome is complete chaos.’ Killing the supreme leader was one thing. Ousting the regime will be another. (The Atlantic gift article)
A poll from Reuters/Ipsos published on Sunday found that one in four Americans support the U.S. strikes on Iran, which killed Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Reuters)
An unwise and unconstitutional attack on Iran. More war isn’t the answer. If it were, the past 70 years would have produced a better outcome than what we see today. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Oil prices surge, stock futures slide after U.S. strikes Iran. Retail gas prices move about 2.5 cents for every $1 move in the price of crude oil, so already a 20 cent-per-gallon increase could be on the horizon. Price hikes at the gas pump could start as soon as Monday, GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan said. (NBC News)
Four Guys near White House bragging hours before strike ... It was coming. “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran.” (TMZ)
ChatGPT Health is staggeringly bad at recognizing life-threatening medical emergencies. After comparing the AI chatbot’s responses to the assessments of independent doctors, the results were alarming: in over half of the cases in which a patient needed to go to the hospital immediately, ChatGPT Health told them to stay home or book a medical appointment. (futurism dot com)
A new threat to power grids: Data centers in Virginia unexpectedly dropped off the power grid in two incidents, creating a new risk for grid stability. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Measles outbreaks are costing the U.S. millions of dollars. The true losses can’t be counted. As vaccination rates decline, the economic consequences will increase, research suggests. (NBC News)
Hospitals fighting measles confront a challenge: Few doctors have seen it before. As U.S. hospitals face an increasing risk of encountering measles, and pressure to immediately spot it, health care workers face an unusual barrier: Many don’t know what it looks like. (CNN)
Late Night:
Saturday Night Live:
President Trump (James Austin Johnson) and Sec. Hegseth (Colin Jost) speak after the United States launched a series of military strikes against Iran. (Video)
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like Hillary Clinton's Jeffery Epstein testimony. (Video)
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like American Girl Doll collectors complaining about alleged changes to the dolls. (Video)
Keep scrolling… lots of interesting stuff in Quote of the Day, Holidays, On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll learn something new.
History highlight:
1983 – Compact discs and players were released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
Quote of the day:
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.
--Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) (Wikipedia link)
(More Dr. Seuss quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
Fun Facts About Names Day, International Rescue Cat Day, National Banana Cream Pie Day, Old Stuff Day, Read Across America Day, Texas Independence Day, U.S. Citizenship Day in Puerto Rico, World Teen Mental Wellness Day, and World Tennis Day.
On This Day:
2014 – The Oscar Selfie, the most retweeted image on Twitter/X, was taken at the 86th Academy Awards.
2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda began, (ending on March 19 after killing 500 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, with 11 Western troop fatalities).
1995 – Researchers at Fermilab announced the discovery of the top quark.
1991 – Battle at Rumaila oil field brought an end to the 1991 Gulf War.
1983 – Compact discs and players were released for the first time in the United States and other markets. They had previously been available only in Japan.
1978 – The late iconic actor Charlie Chaplin‘s coffin was stolen from his grave in Switzerland.
1972 – Jay Leno made his first appearance on The Tonight Show. (Video)
1972 – The Pioneer 10 space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.
1969 – In Toulouse, France, the first test flight of the Anglo-French Concorde is conducted.
1966 – Ford celebrated selling its one millionth Mustang.
1966 – The film “The Sound of Music” was released in the U.S. (Video)
1962 – Wilt Chamberlain set the single-game scoring record in the National Basketball Association by scoring 100 points.
1962 – Considered one of the best episodes of the series, the Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man” was broadcast on CBS. (Video)
1955 – Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus, nine months before Rosa Parks's famous act of civil disobedience.
1949 – Captain James Gallagher landed his B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II in Fort Worth, Texas, after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight in 94 hours and one minute.
1943 – World War II: During the Battle of the Bismarck Sea Allied aircraft defeated a Japanese attempt to ship troops to New Guinea.
1933 – The film King Kong premiered in New York City. (Video)
1917 – The enactment of the Jones–Shafroth Act granted Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
1901 – United States Steel Corporation was founded as a result of a merger between Carnegie Steel Company and Federal Steel Company which became the first corporation in the world with a market capital over $1 billion.
1877 – Just two days before inauguration, the U.S. Congress declared Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the 1876 U.S. presidential election even though Samuel J. Tilden had won the popular vote.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico was adopted.
1807 – The U.S. Congress passed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, disallowing the importation of new slaves into the country.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1990 – Luke Combs, American singer-songwriter
1989 – Nathalie Emmanuel, English actress
1981 – Bryce Dallas Howard, American actress
1980 – Rebel Wilson, Australian actress and screenwriter
1977 – Chris Martin, English singer-songwriter (Coldplay)
1968 – Daniel Craig, English actor and producer
1962 – Jon Bon Jovi, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (Video)
1956 – John Cowsill, American musician, songwriter, and producer (Video)
1955 – Jay Osmond, American singer, drummer, actor, and TV/film producer
1953 – Russ Feingold, American lawyer and politician
1952 – Laraine Newman, American actress and comedian (Video)
1950 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (died 1983) (Video)
1942 – Lou Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (died 2013)
1942 – John Irving, American novelist and screenwriter
1938 – Lawrence Payton, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 1997)
1931 – Mikhail Gorbachev, Russian lawyer and politician, the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2022)
1930 – Tom Wolfe, American journalist and author (died 2018)
1930 – John Cullum, American actor and singer (Video)
1919 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (died 2009) (Video)
1917 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-American actor, singer, and producer (died 1986)
1914 – Martin Ritt, American actor and film director (died 1990)
1904 – Dr. Seuss, American children’s book writer, poet, and illustrator (died 1991)
1900 – Kurt Weill, German-American pianist and composer (died 1950)
1886 – Willis H. O’Brien, American animator (“King Kong”) and director (died 1962)
1859 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (died 1916)
1793 – Sam Houston, American soldier and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Texas (died 1863)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2004 – Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (born 1916)
2003 – Hank Ballard, American singer-songwriter (born 1927)
1999 – Dusty Springfield, English singer (born 1939) (Video)
1992 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (born 1937) (Video)
1987 – Randolph Scott, American actor and director (born 1898)
1982 – Philip K. Dick, American philosopher and author (born 1928)
1930 – D. H. Lawrence, English novelist, poet, playwright, and critic (born 1885)
1791 – John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (born 1703)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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