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Bengals’ Dexter Lawrence trade even has rival GMs praising Cincy
How good was the Dexter Lawrence trade for the Bengals? Even rival GMs have praise for the move.
Vampire Survivors’ new spinoff switches genres but keeps the good vibes
Vampire Crawlers is a whole new style of game, and it works really well.
A Majority of Americans, 54-26% View It as Good For Sports for Coaches And Athletes To Speak Out On Perceived Social Injustices
Majorities Remain Opposed to Transgender Athletes Competing with Those Who Share Their Gender Identity – But 20% Say They ‘Don’t Know’ If Prompted 62% Have Used a Streaming Service to…
Galaxy S24 and Fold 7 get Galaxy S26 AI features with latest One UI 8.5 beta
Samsung is making good on its promise to bring new Galaxy AI features from the Galaxy S26 lineup to existing devices. It has released new One UI 8.5 beta updates today that include these features for several devices, including the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Galaxy S24 series. The Galaxy S25 series has also […]
He always cracked up his clients, and now he's a local comedy club star
Hugh Howser has gotten so good at telling jokes on stage that he made Nashville Lifestyles' 2026 'Inspiring People' list
Scoggins: Transferring runs against what we love about high school sports
A student transferring can be a good thing. Often, though, it’s a jab at the story lines we love.
For allergy help, baked goods try these new NJ businesses
Soulmate Bakery & Cafe is in Ringwood. ENT & Allergy Associates is in Morristown. Rosto serves rotisserie chicken in Tenafly.
Nebraska Sandhill ranching wrecked by Morrill Fire
The Nebraska Sandhills are made for cattle grazing, and that is, in large part, what keeps the area thriving and supports the small communities throughout western Nebraska. In Arthur County, most operations are cow-calf producers with a few operators who run yearlings on grass during the summer. On a good year, the grass is dense […]
As upfront negotiations near, buyers chart path through complex sports market
The DOJ's NFL probe highlights how sports rights complexity can be ‘good for pricing, but hard on strategy’ for brands and buyers.
Let’s go Flyers: Braves 4, Phillies 2
At least the hockey team had a good weekend, because the baseball team certainly did not
‘Sport as a Public Good’ talk spotlights gaps in youth sports education, access
There’s little that people enjoy more than play. Unfortunately, when it comes to our youth, we often fail in nurturing that love, former President of the U.S. Tennis Association and Chief Medical Officer of the NCAA Brian Hainline said. On Wednesday, April 15, Hainline spoke at the University of New Mexico Physics and Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science Building and said sports should be a public good to an audience including local sport leaders and athletes. He highlighted what he called an inadequate systemic support for sports in the U.S. Hainline’s lecture was hosted jointly by the UNM School of Medicine and Alumni Association.
Snake Bytes 4/19
Team News Corbin in the clutch! Carroll belts 4th career slam to lift D-backs to series win Since April 4, the bullpen has allowed 12 earned runs in 46 innings, that’s a 2.35 ERA. “They’ve been really good,” Carroll said. “It seems like whoever comes out of that gate is ready to go from pitch […]
Tapper to Stefanik: ‘Is calling for wiping out an entire civilization bad or good?’
NBA playoff simulation: Thunder favored, but will they win it all?
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder are good bets to repeat, but we ran 100 different simulations to find out what other teams could pull the upset.
Curing U.S. Health Care, Part I
In 2008, much to their own surprise, leading Democrats unified around a program of major health care reform. Policy wonks had spent years developing the concepts behind what eventually became Obamacare; big Democratic victories in the 2006 midterms and the prospect of controlling both Congress and the presidency made it possible to imagine turning those ideas into reality. During the Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama advocated similar plans, based on those ideas, for expanding insurance coverage. And it happened! The Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010. When it was fully implemented in 2014, millions of Americans got health insurance: Impressive as the raw numbers are, they don’t tell the whole story. Before the ACA, even upper-middle-class Americans often found it impossible to get health insurance if they had pre-existing medical conditions. Many Americans were trapped in jobs they wanted to leave but couldn’t for fear of losing their employment-based coverage. Meanwhile, dire predictions from the usual suspects about runaway costs proved wrong. In fact, overall U.S. medical spending has grown much more slowly since the ACA was enacted than before. But the U.S., alone among advanced nations, still falls far short of providing universal health care. As you can see from the chart above, 8 percent of the population was still uninsured in 2024, a number that is set to rise over the next two years as a result of Republican policies. True, many of the uninsured in 2024 were undocumented immigrants, who we don’t try to cover. But there are still a lot of uninsured. Moreover, a significant number of Americans who have health insurance are in fact underinsured. As a result, they are at risk of incurring devastating healthcare costs and are sometimes forced to forgo needed care. This number is set to rise sharply in the next two years as a result of Republican policies adopted under Donald Trump. And not only is the U.S. unique among advanced countries in its under-provision of health care coverage, it also incurs by far the world’s highest healthcare costs per capita. So now may well be a good time to get behind a new push for major health reform — an effort, if you like, to finish the job begun under Obama. Today’s primer is devoted to the economics of health reform. During his failed effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Donald Trump famously complained, “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.” Actually, we did know — and it’s not that complicated. Health economists understand the principles very well. And because health policy varies greatly among advanced nations, we know a lot about what works and what doesn’t. This will be the first in a series about health reform. Beyond the paywall I’ll address the following: 1. Why markets can’t be trusted to deliver healthcare 2. Routes to universal healthcare 3. What works? In a follow-up post I’ll discuss the pros and cons of different approaches, and possible paths forward for the United States.
Yankees news: Warren, bats key blowout win
Will Warren pitches his best outing; Yankees explode against left-handed Cameron; Cole feeling “good” after rehab start, still behind Rodón; a home game delay.
NHL playoffs winners and losers: Stars falter in Game 1 again
The Dallas Stars don't have a good recent record in opening games of playoff series. It happened again with a 6-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild.
Ubisoft’s New Action RPG Is Devil May Cry Meets Cyberpunk
Despite a string of recent controversies, a huge overhaul of its business model, and a restructuring of its most important IP, Ubisoft is seemingly continuing to produce good games. Sure, Assassin’s Creed Shadows was a fairly enjoyable revamp of a very familiar formula, and Star Wars Outlaws, as lambasted as it was at launch, impressed […]
Ranking American sports league & championship logos from worst to best
Logos play a big role in how fans view a sports league. They are more than just designs. They represent history, emotion, and identity. A good logo can last for years and become part of the sport itself. A bad…
Is watermelon good for you? Experts explain calories, sugar content
Watermelon is a summer staple known for its refreshing taste and high water content, but many people wonder how healthy it really is.
“Yeah… it’s not so good,” as Microsoft confirms major Rewards changes in May and what it means for anyone who relies on daily point earning
Microsoft Rewards is getting an update with new tiers, monthly bonuses, and expanded rollout, but early feedback suggests not everyone is convinced by the changes.
Jade Market launches incubator for Asian retailers amid vision to build cultural, business hub in KC
A small group of Asian entrepreneurs leading product-based businesses are getting an opportunity to brush up on their retail readiness in Hella Good Deeds’ inaugural Jade Market Cohort.
Why tahini is surprisingly good for you
Here’s what tahini is and why moderation still matters.
Good news for Gasperini: Pisilli recovers for Atalanta
Eight days ago, Roma took to the field to face Pisa, and chaos broke out in the pre-match press conference. An irreparable rift has developed between Gian Piero Gasperini and Claudio Ranieri, which th...
Joe Starkey: Thankfully, Pittsburgh sports in much better shape as NFL Draft spotlight falls upon city
We’re not quite the City of Champions again, but we’re not the City of Chumps, either. Not anymore, and thankfully not this coming week, as the eyes of the sports world descend upon Pittsburgh for the NFL Draft. It’s easier to be a good host when you’re not wearing a
NICK STROBEL: Artemis II crew shows a greater good
Tickets for the last show of the spring season at the William M. Thomas Planetarium, “Supervolcanoes” this Thursday, April 23, are still available through the Vallitix site.
USWNT beats Japan 3-0, displaying dominance after Tuesday’s loss
On a cool night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo., the U.S. women’s national team didn’t just beat Japan, it looked like itself again. And at the very center of their 3-0 score was defender Kennedy Wesley. After a scoreless first half, Wesley set up Naomi Girma in the 47th minute, who calmly finished at the back post. Less than 10 minutes after the first goal, Wesley intercepted a pass and found Lindsey Heaps in midfield. Heaps slipped it to Rodman, who dribbled her defender
Good Sports: Fresno City College's beach volleyball team aiming for title
The beach volleyball program at Fresno City is less than a decade old, but the team is already chasing history.
Trump’s Dispute With Pope Leo Deepens Divisions on the Right
Sean Hannity criticized the pope. Tucker Carlson attacked Mr. Hannity. And President Trump suggested ranking MAGA figures: “good, bad, and somewhere in the middle.”
Coronado local levels the playing field in media coverage for women's sports
Coronado resident Lisa Lamb is a big sports fan — all sports, across the board. She loves to read about sports, but she had a really hard time finding good […]
Mike Johnson Isn’t So Good at This Whole Speaker of the House Thing
He failed to deliver on a surveillance measure. Now he’s on the president’s naughty list.
More good days start here: Mental Health Month at Boise State
Boise State recognizes Mental Health Month during the month of May. This year, the university...
Government of Canada strengthens business growth in Delta and Richmond
In today's rapidly changing global economy, businesses across Canada are facing increasing costs and supply chain disruptions. B.C.'s innovative businesses play a vital role in creating good jobs and supporting vibrant communities. To remain competitive and resilient, they must continue to adapt and seize new opportunities for growth.
‘A good sign for all of us": GOP Congressman reacts to Trump’s declarations on the Strait of Hormuz
Does your kid go nuts when you take away their screens? What to do next
Cutting your kids’ technology use sounds good — until the arguments begin. Dr. Michaeleen Doucleff walks parents through how they can achieve this “impossible” feat.
Does your kid go nuts when you take away their screens? What to do next
Cutting your kids’ technology use sounds good — until the arguments begin. Dr. Michaeleen Doucleff walks parents through how they can achieve this “impossible” feat.
⚾️ Y! Sports AM: The umps are alright
Turns out the boys in blue are remarkably good at their job
Wild 4 months of transformation continue for Iowa State athletics
It has been an absolute flurry of activity — lots of good, some trying and plenty to be determined — over four months in Ames.
Delhi aim to extend good run vs Chennaiyin; Mohammedan Sporting look for first points in ISL double header day: Indian Sports LIVE, April 17
Here are all the updates from Indian sports on April 17, 2026.
Philly's biggest sports year gets supercharged
Flyers, Sixers, UFC. Let the good times roll.
Orbán’s defeat threatens to halt Hungarian support of populist right
Individuals such as Matt Goodwin and Lord Frost benefited from largesse of self-styled ‘illiberal democracy’
Chargé Arnold Speech - Implementation Plan of Five-Year Health MOU - U.S. Embassy in Madagascar
Chargée d’Affaires Stephanie Arnold's Speech Discussion on the implementation plan for the five-year health Memorandum of Understanding (…) Colleagues, and honored guests, Good morning, and welcome to the United States Embassy. It is a pleasure to host you today for the second day of this important workshop to discuss the implementation of our bilateral health Memorandum of Understanding on U.S. Government health activities in Madagascar, made possible through the Trump Administration’s America First Global Health Strategy. Today’s focus— discussing a shared vision and developing a preliminary draft for the health MOU Implementation Plan and the terms of reference for the two committees that will steer its implementation—is a decisive step in moving from commitments on paper to concrete action over the next five years. On December 22, 2025, the Governments of Madagascar and the United States signed a five-year bilateral health MOU, with a financial intention of approximately 554 billion Ariary from the United States and This jointly decided MOU intends to strengthen Madagascar’s health system, support lifesaving services, and improve disease prevention and response that matter to both our countries’ health security. For the United States, this means detecting and containing infectious disease outbreaks including malaria, polio, and emerging health threats before they can reach American shores through international travel and trade, protecting American families while reducing the need for costly domestic emergency responses Yesterday, technical experts from the Ministry of Public Health and the U.S. Government worked in thematic groups to draft a preliminary Implementation Plan. Today, your task is to review the shared vision and preliminary draft MOU implementation plan, and the proposed terms of reference for the Joint Steering Committee and the Operational Committee that will guide its implementation. These committees are not just administrative structures. They are the mechanisms that will ensure clear roles and responsibilities, regular dialogue between our two governments, consistent monitoring of progress, and real accountability for the results that will directly benefit the lives of Malagasy citizens. They will also track performance against the benchmarks we have jointly established, which will guide the continuation of U.S. support over the five-year period . Continued U.S. support will be contingent on meeting these performance benchmarks. This ensures accountability to both American and Malagasy taxpayers and guarantees that our partnership delivers measurable results. America First Foreign Assistance means that U.S. support must be strategic, results-driven, and accountable to our taxpayers. It also means we aim to support greater self-reliance and reduced long-term dependence on foreign assistance, with systems that are increasingly financed and led by Madagascar itself. This approach benefits both our nations: Madagascar gains sustainable health capacity, while the United States advances our health security interests and creates opportunities for American health innovations and companies to support Madagascar’s development. In that spirit, I want to recognize the presence of the Ministry’s leadership and the technical directors and program heads responsible for surveillance, basic health services, family health, immunization, countering malaria, laboratories, medicines, and health information systems. Your leadership and technical expertise are essential if this bilateral health MOU is to translate into real and lasting improvements for people in need across the country. Let me emphasize how important collaboration is to the United States in this effort. We can bring American resources, technical expertise, and tools. But this bilateral health MOU can only succeed if it reflects Madagascar’s priorities and if Malagasy institutions lead and maintain its implementation. We see this not as a U.S. project, but as a joint framework under Malagasy leadership, with U.S. support. That is why we are genuinely pleased to host this event here at the Embassy. Opening our doors to you today symbolizes our commitment to work side by side and to remain transparent about how we use U.S. resources in support of Madagascar’s health system. In closing, thank you for your time and your partnership. We are very happy to welcome you here and proud to accompany Madagascar in this next step of implementation planning for our bilateral health MOU. I wish you a productive and focused session. The work you do today will shape how our two governments cooperate on health in the years ahead; it will influence the quality and reliability of health services that Malagasy communities receive; and, most importantly, it will help protect both our nations from infectious disease threats while building Madagascar’s capacity for long-term health system sustainability. Thank you.
SRP councilman had donated $200K to Turning Point before elections
The financial relationship between Turning Point and candidate Nick Vanderwey had not been previously disclosed. "I think they do good work," he said.
This Stock Has No Business Being This Good and It Just Keeps Going
This highly cyclical company has increased its dividend annually for 53 years, which is an incredible feat.
Russia spent extra $130 billion for goods while sanctioned: Latvia
The Latvian analysts said intelligence showed Russia's own forecasts warn it may lose another $136 billion just in trade by 2030 due to the sanctions.
How Dangerous Is Anthropic’s New AI Model? Its Chief Science Officer Explains.
Just how fast is the future coming at us, and how worried should we be? Last week, Anthropic announced Claude Mythos, the latest in what has become the leading family of AI models. In a very short time, AI models from Anthropic and other companies have become shockingly powerful at coding. But Mythos stands out because it is not just able to write code that can hack into critical systems, like those that run financial companies, but also to analyze systems and find and string together vulnerabilities in them, allowing Mythos to evade even sophisticated defenses. Anthropic chose to release Mythos to only about 40 leading corporations, so they could analyze the model’s capabilities and prepare countermeasures, in an effort it calls Project Glasswing. The release of Mythos—and the prospect of similarly powerful AIs to follow—has caused tremors at the top levels of Washington and corporate America. Jared Kaplan, co-founder and chief science officer at Anthropic, is at the center of this breakthrough. We sat down with Kaplan so he could walk us through just how powerful Mythos is, what the implications are for issues like our personal privacy, and what comes next. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Sean Fischer: For the layman, how is Claude Mythos different—more powerful, more dangerous—from previous models released by Anthropic? Jared Kaplan: I think most people have experienced the fact that our computers get faster and faster over time and over many decades. There’s this very smooth trend where every 18 months, maybe, computer processing power doubles. I think AI is on a trend in which it’s improving maybe 10 times faster than that. A lot of the earliest work that I did in AI was around identifying this scaling trend in AI. Claude Mythos is the latest model from Anthropic, but it’s not different because it’s qualitatively different. It’s really just kind of the culmination of the trend of AI models getting smarter and smarter at all kinds of general capabilities, from reasoning to software engineering to scientific research to knowledge work. For us, it was the first model to demonstrate very elite-level cybersecurity capabilities. It wasn’t because we trained Claude Mythos to focus on cybersecurity, but it was because, as a byproduct of its general intelligence and its general ability with software, it’s particularly good at identifying vulnerabilities in software and how to exploit them.
Good News! Another State Agreed to Change the Way We Decide National Elections.
I don’t know what to make of Governor Abigail Spanberger, but so far, she’s moving Virginia in the right direction.
Greenbush Brewery announces closure after more than a decade in business
Greenbush Brewery has closed its doors for good.The restaurant and brewery in Sawyer, Michigan was a favorite for many in the community who are now shocked to h
Traws Pharma Reports Full Year 2025 Results and Provides Business Highlights
Tivoxavir marboxil advancing towards a human influenza challenge trial as a once-monthly prophylactic agent, building on broad preclinical antiviral activity, Ratutrelvir topline Phase 2a data show a differentiated profile versus PAXLOVID® in COVID patients, with good overall safety; final study analysis underway Private financing of up to $60M (with $10M of such amount upfront) offering of common stock and milestone-based and three-year warrants completed on April 15, 2026 supporting operations
Outpatient & Specialty Care Stocks Q4 Recap: Benchmarking agilon health (NYSE:AGL)
The end of the earnings season is always a good time to take a step back and see who shined (and who not so much). Let’s take a look at how outpatient & specialty care stocks fared in Q4, starting with agilon health (NYSE:AGL).
Health of US democracy in decline, based on multiple evaluations
Most Americans say democracy in the United States used to be a good example for other countries to follow but has not been in recent years.
A PvP Guide to Sustainability Week 2026
New event means new grinding opportunities for PvP! We got an all-new Pokemon to hunt down and a couple oldies-but-goodies to grind for as well. How do they look? Let’s see! A GOOD CURSE? ☠️ It doesn’t feel that long ago, but it’s been a year and half since GALARIAN CORSOLA arrived in Pokémon GO, and while the meta has changed […]
Dundee can take nothing for granted in bottom-six battle
For all I have been praising Dundee in recent times, the stark truth is they find themselves in their current predicament because their points return has not been good enough having won just two of their past 12 Premiership games. Head coach Steven Pressley praised the "character", "personality" and "resilience" his side showed as they twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Killie last Saturday. In the 15 league games the Dark Blues have played against the other teams in the bottom half this season – Dundee United, Aberdeen, St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Livingston - Pressley's side have won five, drawn six and lost four.
Fator brings his feel-good show to Bally's Twin River Friday
LINCOLN – I spoke with Terry Fator at 9:30 in the morning. “It’s just 6:30 where you are,” I said, knowing he was in Las Vegas.
Inside Saks Fifth Avenue’s last days of business in New Orleans: ‘Sad to see it go’
After decades as an anchor tenant and supplier of luxury goods at Canal Place, here’s what it was like inside the store during its final days in business.
What’s the allergy forecast? Cloudy, with a good chance of pollen
Over the next few weeks, New Hampshire residents can expect to see yellowish dust coat sidewalks, cars and the insides of windowsills. Peak tree pollen season begins in April, followed
‘Star Trek: Resurgence’ To Be Removed From Digital Storefronts, So Buy It While You Can
A great game is saying goodbye.
Trump again rejects Colorado amid accusations of playing politics with disaster aid
President Donald Trump has again denied a request from Colorado’s governor to help people affected by wildfires and flooding.
Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone says Trump’s tariffs hit its advertising business
Ads for the automotive industry and consumer packaged goods were the worst hit, he told Semafor World Economy.
Impeachment of Lexington judge ‘not about politics,’ former lawmaker says
Killian Timoney filed the impeachment petition against Judge Julie Muth Goodman in January.
Anta Sports: Sporting Goods in China Remains a Challenge
A delay in the recovery of confidence among the Chinese mass-market base fuels the challenges in the sporting goods category, impacting Anta and Nike.
Emma Grede, co-founder of Skims, Good American, on how to win in business and at work
Self-made millionaire Emma Grede, who co-founded Skims with the Kardashians, has been both an entrepreneur and corporate worker. She has some tough-love advice on how to succeed in both business contexts.
Joey Fatone lost power to his house on Christmas because he couldn't pay the bill: 'I was asking people for money' (exclusive sneak peek)
Joey Fatone reveals in an exclusive 'Boy Band Confidential' sneak peek that the power company shut off his lights on Christmas when he was near bankruptcy. 'I had family over at my house. Good thing I had the water, but the power just went pew,' he tells EW.
How a Florida State University student entrepreneur is building a bakery business for good
A Florida State University student in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship is turning a lifelong health challenge into a purpose-driven business that
Downtown Las Vegas music venue faces lawsuit over ‘excessive noise’
The landlord’s attorney Evan Thalgott said the lawsuit comes after “numerous good-faith efforts to resolve the issue without court intervention proved unsuccessful.”
10 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 18 Pro
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max.
A sports blitz starts tonight, plus a WNBA Draft surprise
Good morning! I hope your TV is in working order. Coming up: 📆 A busy stretch begins 1️⃣ Dallas’ surprise at No. 1 🏆 Rory’s family win Up First: The NBA leads off a brilliant spring One of the busiest stretches of important pro sporting events begins tonight, and I mean that in quite a positive way. The NBA playoffs tip off in a few hours, with two Play-In games. This weekend, the NHL playoffs will join. Both sports will crown winners by the third week of June … which is when the World Cup will
A sports blitz starts tonight, plus a WNBA Draft surprise
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! I hope your TV is in working order. Coming up: 📆 A busy stretch begins 1️⃣ Dallas’ surprise at No. 1 🏆 Rory’s family win One of the busiest stretches of important pro sporting events begins tonight, and I mean that in quite a positive way. The NBA playoffs tip off in a few hours, with two Play-In games. This weekend, the NHL playoffs will join. Both sports will crown winners by the third week of June … which is when the...
30 Under 30 Europe Sports & Games 2026: How Ellie Kildunne, Eberechi Eze And More Turn Competition Into Commercial Success
Ellie Kildunne, Antoine Dupont and Eberechi Eze are taking their winnings off the field. How these young leaders and more are changing sports, games and business for good.
How downtown San Antonio businesses prepare for Fiesta
A few businesses downtown have front row seats to road and river parades, which bring good business for some and less customers for others.
Cleveland Clinic Launches ‘Good Science’ Video Series
The series of short videos is aimed at helping people better understand research and health information.
New ultra-premium foldable released internationally with big launch discounts
Motorola has now started selling its first book-style foldable. Available internationally, the Razr Fold undercuts the Galaxy Z Fold7 and the Pixel 10 Pro Fold with a massive launch discount and several wearable accessories thrown in for good measure.
Conagra CEO Connolly is out after 60% stock slide
The Chicago-based company said today that CEO Sean Connolly will step down at the end of next month and be replaced by consumer goods veteran John Brase, on June 1.
Light-hitting Mariners taking advantage of Astros' shaky pitching
Every year, generally come playoff time, the question is asked: Does good pitching beat good hitting?
Dick’s House of Sport coming to Sarasota. See what it’ll look like
House of Sport, an immersive sports retail concept from Dick’s Sporting Goods, is coming to Sarasota. See photos from recent openings.
Trump lambasts Pope Leo XIV, extending feud over Iran war with first American pontiff
President Donald Trump is sharply criticizing Pope Leo XIV, saying the U_S_-born pope is “not doing a very good job” and is “a very liberal person.”
I rode in the Goodyear blimp over Coachella
The Times’ Mikael Wood got an invite to float over Coachella. Hey, why not?
Business leaders urge Stormont to delay workers' rights reforms
The Good Jobs Bill would give workers a range of enhanced rights including an effective ban on zero hour contracts.
Stormont urged to delay workers' rights reforms by business leaders
The Good Jobs Bill would give workers a range of enhanced rights including an effective ban on zero hour contracts.
Inside Vance’s Iran negotiations: No deal, but ‘friendly’ talks
Vice President JD Vance’s negotiations in Pakistan with Iran failed to end the war, but progress was reported on building goodwill.
Chelsea 0-3 Man City: What Rosenior said
If you go down against teams as good as this, what you have to do for the next five minutes is to stay in the game. It ended up being a really, really difficult second half." On building resilience in the team: "I am accountable.
Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics
Florida got some good news on hurricane season, while long shot gubernatorial candidates are continuing to look out of their element.
After being an iPhone user for 13 years, here's why I'm finally switching to Android for good
After 13 years with an iPhone, I finally made the switch to Android — and it all came down to one simple feature.
Reconnecting with friends is more important than politics
The original text on the group thread read "Good morning fellas." The originator aspired to gather a number of us who were, and remain, good friends from high school for a ski trip. We'd be based out of his cabin on an alpine lake in Colorado.
Deion Sanders says he's in good health during Colorado's spring game
A year after being diagnosed with bladder cancer, Deion Sanders insists he's in good health.
Deion Sanders back on the field at Colorado's spring game
After a season that saw Colorado go 3-9, Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders, 58, was hands-on as he watched his team scrimmage on Saturday at the spring game, telling reporters that "I'm good, I'm good," after being diagnosed with bladder cancer last year.
ON THE JOB: “What is the Best Business Advice You’ve Ever Received?
Interviews by Deborah Jeanne Sergeant Sound advice can contribute to your success. We recently asked area business leaders, what was their best advice they’d ever received. Here’s what they said: “The best advice I ever received was from my then –boss, Gerry Church, Fulton plant manager at Miller Brewing Co. He told me that whenever I wanted to discuss a business problem or issue with him, I should also be prepared to offer possible solutions. It’s the difference between being proactive or reactive. It’s also the difference between being a leader or follower. That has served me well in any business relationship I have had since then.” — Stephen Chirello, Owner, Steve Chirello Advertising, Fulton “Someone will always do it for less; they will also take the most effort to service or satisfy and leave you for the next lower price.” — John M. Henry, Owner, Speedway Press, Mitchell Printing, Phoenix Press, Oswego “I’m going to answer this question by turning it around and giving my own advice that is, ‘Always treat every customer as if they were your only customer!’ We are celebrating our 50th anniversary in business this year. We started our business on March 25, 1976. My advice works.”” — Nick Chervinsky, President, Brewerton Pharmacy, Brewerton “’You need to toot your own horn, my grandfather, Howard D. Dice, told me.” — Beth Ann Dice, Women’s active aging and cancer recovery coach, Mission Movement Wellness Studio & Breast Cancer Recovery Studio, Fulton “In the micro enterprise class, they taught, ‘Get a good lawyer, accountant and bank.’ That was over 30 years ago and I still have those three today. I chose good people I could grow with.” — Tony Pauldine, Owner, Anthony M. Pauldine General Contractors Inc., Oswego “From my grandfather; ‘Listen to everyone! You never know where you will get the solution you need.’” — Kevin Dean, Executive director, Oswego County Opportunities, Fulton “‘Preparation is the mother of success.’ My dad always drilled that into my head growing up, and it has helped me avoid a lot of snags in both my personal and professional life. Thanks, Dad!” — Bekkah Frisch, Owner and president, iHeart Holdings, Inc., Fulton “If you don’t take a risk and try, you will never know.” — Justin Taber, Owner, Torbitt’s Service Center, Oswego “Be ready to take a loss.” — Cody Seymour, Manager, Damiano’s Eatery, Mexico “I’ve received so much good business advice over the years. When people are giving you advice, always be curious rather than judgmental. Follow your gut. Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing.” — Dana Decker, Principal owner/broker, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Oswego ’Do it and figure it out later.’ It hasn’t failed me yet. Too many people take time to think about doing this and this and this and then the opportunity is over with. If it’s somewhat reasonable — if it’s not something outrageous — do it and figure it out later.” — Jeremy Allen, Licensed real estate salesperson, Acropolis Realty Group, Syracuse “’Try to meet the needs of the customer. Treat them like you’d like to be treated.’ It’s like the Golden Rule says.” — Douglas Dickson, Physician and associate at CNY Foot Surgery and Podiatry Care, East Syracuse “The best piece of business advice I’ve ever received applies to life in general: always be honest. Never overstate your capabilities and always be willing to ask questions. The more specific you can be in any given topic will always lead to a better outcome.” — Tom Fernandez, President, Woodbine Hospitality, Syracuse “As a business owner, the advice would be ‘Don’t overextend yourself. Especially in agriculture, expect issues to come up.’ If something is going right, it’s not true agriculture. This last season, we scaled very hard to field another crew. We got more drones, crew and generators based on projections. This last season hit the ag community hard with a very wet spring. We did 15,000 to 20,000 acres for fungicide and the same for cover crop seeding in 2024. We scaled to 25,000 to 30,000 for 2025. We ended up doing 2,000 for fungicide and 3,000 for cover crop seeding. That’s why that advice was good.” — Rick Jordan, Operations manager, CNY Drove Services, Clinton “’Keep your head down, mind your own business and do the best for your clients that you can do.’ It has a lot to do with my success in working for Galloway Century 21.” — Ed Fayette, New York state licensed real estate agent, Century 21 Galloway, Oswego “’Expand in all ways, always.’ It just keeps you going and keeps you growing.” — Stephen Baier, Licensed real estate person, The Real Estate Agency & Bouck Commercial, Auburn “The best advice is, ‘Your biggest asset you won’t see on the books because it comes from your employees.’” — David Flickinger, Owner, Edible Arrangements, Syracuse “Don’t take things personally when you’re working with the public.” — Leeann Desimone, Manager, Annie’s Hallmark Shop, Auburn “‘Follow up.’ The customer knows that you care about what you are doing and that their opinion counts. Sometimes they might be on the fence about whether they want to use your company. If they’re asking your opinion on things, they feel you are concerned about what you’re doing. They like to be kept in the loop if they’re spending money with you.” — Dorothy Casper, Saslesperson, SweetWoods Memorials, Phoenix “The best business advice I received is ‘Never be the smartest person in the room. Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you.’ That’s how you learn.” — Debbie Bilello, Owner, Virtual Office Solutions, Central Square “’You need to grow your business but you can’t grow too big too fast.’ That’s what we’ve done at Pinnacle Maintenance. We’ve tried to grow but not too fast. Along those same lines, there’s another good piece of advice, ‘Don’t take on more than you can handle because it only leads to a bad name for your business and a bad experience for your customers.’ It goes along the same lines as growing your business slowly and carefully.” — David Wines, Owner, Pinnacle Maintenance, Central Square “Always be on time and do what you say you are going to do.’ I’ve done very well following that advice. Most of my work is referral and I don’t really do any advertising so I have a pretty good customer base. It’s mostly word-of-mouth from satisfied customers.” — Robert J. Fleming, Owner, Bob Fleming Windows & Doors, Brewerton “’Concentrate on your finances, always pay your taxes, and form a team you can depend on. Try to help the community you’re in as much as you can.’ We do all of these all the time here. We give and give and give to the community and the community gives back to us always.” — Susan Bonnet, Co-owner, Bonnet Sales and Service, Central Square “Keep smiling. It brings a positive attitude to the workplace.” — Karin Lindsley, Vice president, DTS Truck Service, Syracuse “‘Customer service above all.’ Following this advice has served us very well.’ — Guy Fox, Owner, Fox’s Discount Parts, West Monroe “The best thing to do is to make sure you’re taking in more money than you’re spending. I wish I could say I’m a good businessman but I have been in business since 1981. I’m not a bean counter but work well with my hands and its’s served me well all these years and I am still in business.” — Matt McGill, Owner, Matt McGill Collision, Brewerton
Seniors: Dennis Ouellette, 80
Ontario Orchards owner not slowing down as he grows his farm market By Stefan Yablonski The seeds for Dennis Ouellette’s career path were sown when he was 6 years old — and he isn’t slowing down. “Since age 6, I grew up an agriculturalist. That is 72 years. Started out with a 37-acre farm when I bought it from my parents and built it up to almost 300 acres. Brought it back down to around 200 acres now,” he said. The location of his business was just a barn, a horse barn, he said. “In 1967, it officially became Ontario Orchards Farm Market. My wife [June] and I graduated [high school] in 1964 and three years later we became Ontario Orchards. We have been here more than 60 years,” he explained. “It is the same location. We have expanded over the years as the customers mentioned different things; we have expanded to bring in different products. “What keeps me going is I totally enjoy what I am doing. I enjoy the people that I work with. The customers are wonderful. Mostly, more important than anything, is my family — my wife, my daughters, grandchildren, son-in-law — we are still very much a family business I’m not going to retire just yet.” He also enjoys the changing seasons. “Ontario Orchards is a four-season business. There is always something new; more energy, more interest. Not only for the business but for my staff, the people that work here. Things keep changing, changing. We are always looking forward to something new and exciting,” he said. They work with quite a number of local farmers within the area and throughout the state, throughout the country and from around the world.” “We do have things from different countries around the world. But specifically, we are very excited about the local. We have an over 200-acre farm. We sell just about everything we raise on that farm right here at the farm market. For example, we press cider year-round. We make baked goods every day, year-round. We sell our apples 12 months a year.” “Today, there are so many products in Ontario Orchards that we never would have thought of in 1967,” he continued. “I attribute a lot of that to my daughters. I like the young blood and new energy. That is very crucial to a business, it keeps it vibrant.” What’s his favorite part of the job? “I don’t have a favorite part. I enjoy it all. I have a lot of intertest in other things,” he said. “I have staff that knows so much. I can go to the staff and say, ‘I don’t know what this is, you tell me what this is.’ They are so knowledgeable. It is impossible for one person to know everything in this place. In the summer, staff is about 60; in the winter about 20, 25.” He added that he plans on being around for several more years.
If You Visit JoJo’s Diner, Bring Your Appetite
By Stefan Yablonski Q: When did you open? A: We opened Oct. 1. Q: Did you have a previous business? A: This is my first business ever. Q: So why did you start this? A: I was cooking for people my entire life and I decided I’m just going to try it on my own. And here we are! Q: How’s business been? A: It’s been good. Kind of slow over the winter, but starting to pick up now that the weather is getting better. We have high hopes for spring. We were really hopping over the weekend when it was much nicer out. Q: What’s your best dish? A: Our junkyard plates are our huge specialty. It’s a huge messy plate of goodness. We also have breakfast sandwiches, waffles, smashburgers and more. Q: Do you own this building? A: We lease from Chuck Burger. He’s our landlord. He has been super helpful. He provided all the equipment. I didn’t have to. Q: You’re a breakfast spot? A: We do breakfast and lunch all day. It’s kind of our thing. We are open 7-3 every day except Tuesdays. Q: How big is your staff? A: Currently it’s one other person. It’s just been me on the front end and someone in the kitchen or vice versa. Q: It’s all to go? A: Everything comes out ‘to go’ — served in to-go containers. You can eat inside or you can take it with you. We don’t have to provide extra staff for waitresses and dishwashers and all that. Q: Do you have any business background? A: I did the small business program at the college. But that’s about it. We’re new, but we’re still building. We hope to grow and stay here for a long time.
Youth wheelchair racing clinic helps athletes prepare for Boston Marathon
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“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
How a moon mission and a phone call could help relieve trade tensions
The mission inspired goodwill by phone from the president at a time when Michigan and its largest trading partner have been stuck in a war of words.
In praise of popular science
As a kid, I was enthusiastically and unreservedly in favor of a manned space program. Our destiny lay in the stars, I figured. Get people out there. We need Star Trek here and now. As I got older, I became rather disenchanted with the idea. Humans are expensive, fragile, and inefficient as space cargo. We could flood the solar system with 100 robotic probes for the price of any single manned mission and get back just as useful data. Besides, it turns out space travel is dangerous. Tusk is a reader-supported publication. To support this work, please become a paid subscriber. Subscribe When it came to the recent Artemis II mission, my cynical side didn’t really see the point. Flying around the Moon and back is literally something we did before I was born, and I once owned a Members Only jacket. Apollo 8 circled the Moon ten times and returned to Earth safely the same month that “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was released. What was the point of repeating a feat that far braver people once did with tin foil and slide rules? Yet I’ve surprised myself with how moving I’ve found the Artemis II mission to be. The photos have been stunning. The crew has been professional and engaging. There have been modest but important milestones — the farthest humans have travelled from Earth; the first woman, person of color, and non-American to leave low-Earth orbit; innovations in communication, and more. One thing that really stood out is that this is really NASA at its finest. Not that this is the most important mission they ever pulled off, but they did this in a competent way that celebrated the achievements and kept the crew and the science at the forefront of the project. This wasn’t some billionaire throwing celebrities or cars into orbit as a vanity project — this was a collective effort to send experts in to do a job and come home safely. We don’t see that sort of thing much these days. I’m guessing few people would describe many government agencies as inspiring, but this one counts for me. We’re living through a profoundly anti-science era, in which pathbreaking, lifesaving discoveries like mRNA vaccines are routinely downplayed or even vilified. As I’ve noted previously, this era is something like that of the Red Scare in the 1940s and 50s, in which “egghead” professors were portrayed as out of touch or even hostile to regular Americans. One of the things that helped break that spell was Sputnik — the Soviet communications satellite that demonstrated that the United States was falling behind in crucial scientific research and applications. Its launch triggered a new appreciation for American science and goaded the federal government into supporting research universities and labs. I’m not saying that Artemis is the equivalent of Sputnik, but it potentially reminds people that there’s some value to scientific endeavors and the human faces attached to them. Despite my love for the show “For All Mankind,” I’m far from convinced that there’s any real value to putting colonies on the Moon or Mars that would justify the capital investment and the massive health risks to the astronauts. But sending scientific good will ambassadors on a trip into space once in a while? Bring it. Share
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