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The Winter Solstice — Northern Hemisphere’s Darkest Day — Is Almost Here (Maria)
The author writes, “The winter solstice is Saturday, bringing the shortest day and longest night of the year to the Northern Hemisphere — ideal conditions for holiday lights and warm blankets. For those who would rather have more sunlight, you can try to make your way to the Southern Hemisphere, where it is summer. Or be patient: Starting Sunday, days will get a little bit longer in the Northern Hemisphere every single day until late June. … Here’s what to know about how the Earth’s march around the sun splits up the year.”
Pelosi Won. The Democratic Party Lost. (Dana)
From The New Republic: “Fresh off hip replacement surgery, Nancy Pelosi, 84, secured another victory. House Democrats on Tuesday afternoon decided that 74-year-old Gerry Connolly — who announced his throat cancer diagnosis in November — will serve as ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, besting 35-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a closed-door caucus vote. ‘Gerry’s a young 74, cancer notwithstanding,’ said Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, a Connolly ally. Pelosi had opposed the 35-year-old’s run for the role.”
Australia To Force Tech Titans To Pay for News (DonkeyHotey)
The author writes, “Australia will force Meta and Google to pay for news shared on their platforms under a new scheme unveiled Thursday, threatening to tax them if they refuse to strike deals with local media. Traditional media companies the world over are in a battle for survival as precious advertising dollars are hoovered up online. Australia wants big tech companies to compensate local publishers for sharing articles that drive traffic on their platforms.”
Journalists Anticipate a Renewed Hostility Toward Their Work Under the Incoming Trump Administration (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “For the press heading into a second Trump administration, there’s a balancing act between being prepared and being fearful. The return to power of Donald Trump, who has called journalists enemies and talked about retribution against those he feels have wronged him, has news executives nervous. Perceived threats are numerous: lawsuits of every sort, efforts to unmask anonymous sources, physical danger and intimidation, attacks on public media and libel protections, day-to-day demonization. In a closely-watched case settled over the weekend, ABC chose to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by the president-elect over an inaccurate statement made by George Stephanopoulos by agreeing to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library.”
Oregon Prison Limits Solitary to 90 Days. This BLM Protester Has Been in the Hole for 250. (Laura)
From The Intercept: “The man who received the harshest federal sentence in connection with 2020 protests against police brutality has been in solitary confinement for more than 250 days. Last Friday, Malik Muhammad ended a nine-day hunger strike undertaken in protest of his solitary confinement at Oregon State Penitentiary. … His solitary confinement followed an incident where [his attorney] said Muhammad asked to speak to a supervisor, and instead guards tased and beat him, then threw him in the hole. The officers moved Muhammad to another housing unit known as the ‘torture tier,’ [his attorney] said. ‘This is the tier where they put the screamers and the shit smearers.’”
How the Ancient Amazonian ‘Dark Earth’ Could Save Earth’s Future (Gerry)
From BBC Science Focus: “The Amazonian rainforest is one of the most lush, biodiverse places on the planet. But what helps it flourish so vividly might not be a gift of nature alone. Since the 1880s, Western explorers surveying the forest have stumbled upon mysterious patches of black, nutrient-rich soil that’s different from everything else around it. These blotches in the ground, dubbed ‘dark earth’ because of their gloomy color, are several times better than normal soil at both nourishing the forest’s plants and trapping polluting carbon deep into the planet’s floor. The issue is we cannot figure out how this dirt got there. … As our carbon emissions skyrocket, and our soils degrade beyond repair, scientists today are racing to unearth this thousand-year-old mystery in the hope of saving the planet.”
Researcher Startled When AI Seemingly Realizes It’s Being Tested (Sean)
The author writes, “Anthropic’s new AI chatbot Claude 3 Opus has already made headlines for its bizarre behavior, like claiming to fear death. Now, Ars Technica reports, a prompt engineer at the Google-backed company claims that they’ve seen evidence that Claude 3 is self-aware, as it seemingly detected that it was being subjected to a test. Many experts are skeptical, however, further underscoring the controversy of ascribing humanlike characteristics to AI models. ‘It did something I have never seen before from an LLM,’ the prompt engineer, Alex Albert, posted.”
