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Scientists Drill Nearly 2 Miles To Pull 1.2M-Year-Old Ice Core From Antarctic (Maria)
The author writes, “An international team of scientists announced Thursday they’ve successfully drilled one of the oldest ice cores yet, penetrating nearly 2 miles (2.8 kilometers) to Antarctic bedrock to reach ice they say is at least 1.2 million years old. Analysis of the ancient ice is expected to show how Earth’s atmosphere and climate have evolved. That should provide insight into how Ice Age cycles have changed, and may help in understanding how atmospheric carbon changed climate, they said. … The same team previously drilled a core [that was] about 800,000 years old.”
Trump Can Still Vote After Sentencing, but Can’t Own a Gun and Will Have To Turn Over DNA Sample (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t have to go to jail, pay a fine or perform community service as a result of his New York hush money conviction. A judge ended the case Friday with a sentence of an unconditional discharge, closing the case with no punishment. But unless the conviction for falsifying business records is someday overturned, Trump will have felonies on his criminal record, which will affect some of his rights. Here are some of the potential impacts and some things that won’t change.”
North Carolina Supreme Court Threatens to Steal an Election (Dana)
From Governing: “A state Supreme Court justice won a narrow victory in November. Her challenger argues tens of thousands of votes should be thrown out.”
California Governor Accuses Musk of ‘Encouraging Looting’ With Misleading LA Fires Claim (Reader Jim)
The author writes, “California governor Gavin Newsom has accused Elon Musk of ‘encouraging looting’ after the billionaire shared posts on his social media platform X that claimed the politician had ‘decriminalized’ it. ‘Stop encouraging looting by lying and telling people it’s decriminalized. It’s not,’ Mr Newsom wrote on X, replying to one of the billionaire’s retweets. ‘It’s illegal — as it always has been. Bad actors will be arrested and prosecuted.’”
Democrats Could Learn Something From the Rise of the Whigs (Al)
From The Dispatch: “When Andrew Jackson won the 1828 presidential election, his victory also set into motion a political shift that would result in a party built to oppose a demagogue: the Whigs. In the wake of Donald Trump’s return to power, today’s Democrats would do well to study the Whigs’ rise, with both their successes and stumbles.”
Robot Taxi Riders in San Francisco Targeted With a New Form of Harassment (Russ)
From The Washington Post: “As Waymo expands its service in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, some passengers … have found that traveling by robotaxi can make riders into sitting ducks for a new form of public harassment. The Washington Post spoke with four Waymo passengers, three of them women, who said they experienced harassment or what felt like threats to their safety from people who followed, obstructed or attempted to enter a driverless vehicle they were riding in.”
Hey, Maybe It’s Time to Delete Some Old Chat Histories (Sean)
From Wired: “If you’re worried about possible expansions of government surveillance and access to your information, or simply want to do some digital purging so you’re not saddled with old data, there are a bunch of concrete steps you can take to protect your digital privacy. Just as archeologists study carefully preserved tombs and ancient trash heaps to gain insight into historic communities, your long-forgotten digital footprint could be more revealing and sensitive than you realize. And while you can’t control everything — particularly information stolen in breaches or gathered by data brokers — you probably have a digital attic full of old data that you can delete or download and save offline. First stop? Old message histories.”
