PICKS are stories from many sources, selected by our editors or recommended by our readers because they are important, surprising, troubling, enlightening, inspiring, or amusing. They appear on our site and in our daily newsletter. Please send suggested articles, videos, podcasts, etc. to picks@whowhatwhy.org.
Can Facial Analysis Technology Help Create a Child-Safe Internet? (Maria)
The author writes, “Suppose you pulled out your phone this morning to post a pic to your favorite social network and were asked for a selfie before you could log on. … The upside of this? The social network would be able to know that you were an adult user and provide you with an experience free of parental controls, while children who tried to sign up would be given a restricted version. This might sound like a long-overdue correction to the Wild West tech sector, but it’s far closer to reality than many realize.”
Documents Reveal Erik Prince’s $10 Billion Plan to Make Weapons and Create a Private Army in Ukraine (Mili)
From Time: “On the second night of his visit to Kyiv, Erik Prince had a dinner date on his agenda. A few of his Ukrainian associates had arranged to meet the American billionaire at the Vodka Grill that evening, Feb. 23, 2020. The choice of venue seemed unusual. The Vodka Grill, a since-defunct nightclub next to a KFC franchise in a rough part of town, rarely saw patrons as powerful as Prince. As the party got seated inside a private karaoke room on the second floor, Igor Novikov, who was then a top adviser to Ukraine’s President, remembers feeling a little nervous. … Coming face to face that night with the world’s most prominent soldier of fortune, Novikov remembers thinking: ‘What does this guy want from us?’”
The Supreme Court’s Inadequate Recusal Policy (DonkeyHotey)
From The American Prospect: “U.S. Supreme Court justices can use concurring opinions to clarify, amplify, or even distance themselves from the majority opinion of the Court. Sometimes, the simple fact of concurrence, without any explanation, can tell us a great deal — perhaps more than intended — about a justice’s outlook and approach to the law. That is what happened when Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined Chief Justice Roberts’s 6-3 majority opinion in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, a case in which she should have recused herself.”
Undermining Florida’s Condo Laws: Politics, Turf Wars and Human Nature (Dan)
The author writes, “Florida’s condominium laws will undergo a top-to-bottom review by a task force established by the Florida Bar Association after the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside. Members of the task force who confirmed its existence to The Washington Post on Tuesday said their goal is to review state laws and regulations that govern condo developments, board operations and maintenance rules, and recommend potential changes to the governor and the state legislature.”
Without Climate Change, Record Pacific Northwest Heat Wave Would Have Been Near Impossible, Researchers Say (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “A consortium of international scientists found that the recent Pacific Northwest heat wave was implausible if not for climate change, but also that temperatures soared so high that they exceeded what scientists thought were statistically likely today. ‘Although this was a rare event, it would have been virtually impossible in the past,’ said Sarah Kew, a researcher with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, during a news conference Wednesday, adding that the heat wave was estimated to be 150 times more likely because of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Kew added that heat waves are expected to become more common and more intense in the future.”
Craigslist Post Put Hit on Peacock Days Before It Turned Up Dead (Dana)
From Vice: “It seems like everyone in the Azalea Heights neighborhood of McKinleyville, California had a different name for the peacock that visited their homes almost every day. One local family called him ‘Peony.’ The residents of the Azalea Estates mobile home community called him ‘Mr. P.’ And Melissa and Mike Glass, who gave the bird his own enclosure on their property, called him Azul. ‘He literally showed up out of the blue one day,’ Melissa told the Los Angeles Times. ‘He’s just been part of our life ever since.’ Or he was part of their lives, because whatever he was called — Peony, Mr. P, or Azul — he’ll have to be referred to in the past tense. Last week, an elderly Azalea Estates resident found the peacock in her yard, dead from a gunshot wound to its brightly feathered chest.”
