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.
Twitter to Pay $150M to Settle With US for Privacy, Security Violations (Maria)
The authors write, “Twitter Inc. has agreed to pay $150 million to settle allegations it misused private information, like phone numbers, to target advertising after telling users the information would be used for security reasons, according to court documents. … Twitter’s settlement covers allegations that it misrepresented the ‘security and privacy’ of user data between May 2013 and September 2019, according to the court documents. The company will pay $150 million as part of the settlement announced by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In addition to the monetary settlement, the agreement requires Twitter to improve its compliance practices.”
Former Gun Industry Exec Speaks Out Against NRA’s Role in Mass Shootings (Reader Jim)
From NPR: “NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Ryan Busse about how he went from being a high-level gun industry executive to an outspoken critic of the National Rifle Association.”
Doctors in Alabama Already Turn Away Miscarrying Patients. This Will Be Our New Normal Across the Country. (Dana)
The author writes, “I did not begin to understand how dire health care access was in Alabama until I was able to practice medicine in March 2021. I was astounded by how often patients were turned away from emergency rooms and their doctor’s offices in the middle of their miscarriages. No wonder Alabama has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, I initially thought. People are denied urgent medical attention outright, which left me wondering at first if health care providers were simply negligent and not keeping up with their medical education. Or was this lack of care a reflection of discrimination? Eventually, I landed on discrimination as the cause. But I was wrong. The reality is much worse. Instead, these medical professionals seem to know what they are supposed to do, but choose not to.”
How Rapid Reinfection Has Changed the COVID Fight (Sean)
From The New Republic: “Almost since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, epidemiologists, policymakers, science journalists, and many more have held onto two general assumptions that give them hope: that eventually enough people might develop immunity to COVID-19 to slow down transmission and that even if COVID doesn’t fade away, it might become a more seasonal illness, like respiratory viruses such as the flu, RSV, and other bugs — even other coronaviruses. But now, as cases rise steeply and summer approaches, COVID is again taking us by surprise.
CEO Pay Rose 17 Percent in 2021 as Profits Soared; Workers Trailed (Reader Steve)
The author writes, “The typical compensation package for chief executives who run S&P 500 companies soared 17.1 percent last year, to a median $14.5 million, according to data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar. The gain towers over the 4.4 percent increase in wages and benefits netted by private-sector workers through 2021, which was the fastest on record going back to 2001. The raises for many rank-and-file workers also failed to keep up with inflation, which reached 7 percent at the end of last year.”
Putin’s Puppets Can’t Stop Bitching About the Grueling Cost of His War (Sean)
From The Daily Beast: “Russia state media has descended into a seemingly endless moan-fest about the unprecedented Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine, all while dishing out distractions and schadenfreude to convince everyday Russians that Americans are even worse off.”
There’s a Really Weird Effect When Honeybees Fly Over a Mirror (Mili)
The author writes, “In 1963, an Austrian entomologist named Herbert Heran and the German behavioral scientist, Martin Lindauer, noticed something peculiar in the way honeybees zoom through the air. When a selection of bees was trained to fly over a lake, they could only make it to the other side if there were waves and ripples on the surface of the water. If the lake was mirror-smooth, on the other hand, the insects would suddenly lose altitude until they crashed headlong into the liquid-looking glass. At the time, the findings supported the idea that honeybees use visual cues to navigate during flight, and a follow-up study has now added a fascinating insight into the flying strategies of these talented little aeronauts.”
