Senate rules nuked; customer support sludge; death of the semicolon?
It's World Pneumothorax Day!
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Knee Deep in the Hoopla
Intercepted call of Iranian officials downplays damage of U.S. attack. The officials were heard saying Trump’s strike on Iran proved less devastating than expected. The administration calls the intelligence insignificant.
The government cuts key data used in hurricane forecasting, and experts sound an alarm. Already, hurricane forecasts were anticipated to be less accurate this year because weather balloons launches have been curtailed because of the lack of staffing.
Democrats accuse GOP of nuking Senate rules to pass Trump megabill. Democrats say that Congress has never before used a current-policy baseline to score tax cuts in a budget reconciliation package as not adding to future deficits.
Three signs the economy is in worse shape than we thought. TLDR: Slow growth, lower consumer spending, trouble finding jobs.
Just what you thought: that dropped call with customer service was on purpose. It’s called sludge.
The semicolon was introduced in 1494 by Venetian printer and publisher Aldus Manutius. But now the semicolon is semi-dead. Maybe. ;-)
Scientists detect deep, rhythmic pulse coming from inside the Earth. Scientists have discovered a heartbeat-like pulse emanating from inside the Earth beneath the continent of Africa, which they believe will one day rip the continent into pieces.
Four things to avoid after 5 pm to reduce stroke risk. Cable news networks?
'City killer' asteroid 2024 YR4 could shower Earth with 'bullet-like' meteors if it hits the moon in 2032. (But the chance it will hit the moon is only 4.3%)
Quote of the Day:
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
--Lena Horne (Wikipedia link)
(More Lena Horne quotes from the KGB Quotations Database)
Today’s holidays:
International Asteroid Day, International Day of Parliamentarism, International Sailor Moon Day, National Meteor Day, National OOTD Day, National Organization for Women Day, Please Take My Children to Work Day, Social Media Day, and World Pneumothorax Day.
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA.
On This Day:
2004 – "Spider-Man 2" was released. (Video)
1990 – East and West Germany merged their economies.
1971 – The crew of the Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft were killed when their air supply escapes through a faulty valve. (Video)
1966 – The National Organization for Women, the United States' largest feminist organization, was founded.
1956 – A TWA Super Constellation and a United Airlines DC-7 collided above the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash, killing all 128 on board both airliners, making it the first commercial airline incident to exceed one hundred fatalities.
1953 – The first Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan. (Video)
1938 - Superman first appeared in DC Comics' Action Comics series issue #1.
1936 – “Gone With The Wind” was published.
1934 – The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler's violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, took place.
1908 – The Tunguska Event, the largest impact event on Earth in human recorded history, resulted in a massive explosion over Eastern Siberia. (Video)
1906 – The United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act.
1905 – Albert Einstein sent the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduced special relativity, for publication in Annalen der Physik.
1892 – Actions culminating in the Homestead Strike begin near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1859 – French acrobat Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
(For comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
1985 – Michael Phelps, American swimmer (Video)
1966 – Mike Tyson, American boxer and actor (Video)
1959 – Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor (Video)
1956 – David Alan Grier, American actor, singer, and comedian (Video)
1943 – Florence Ballard, American pop/soul singer (died 1976) (Video)
1942 – Robert Ballard, American lieutenant and oceanographer, discoverer (wrecks of the Titanic, Bismarck, and USS Yorktown) (Video)
1939 – Tony Hatch, English pianist, composer, and producer (Video)
1936 – Nancy Dussault, American actress and singer
1934 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (died 1997) (Video)
1930 - Thomas Sowell, American economist, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution (Video)
1917 – Lena Horne, American actress, singer, and activist (died 2010) (Video)
1917 – Susan Hayward, American actress (died 1975)
1901 - Willie Sutton, American bank robber (died 1980) (Video)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
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