A Major Scoop, Weekend Whats
My beagles and I have an arrangement. I agree to pick up after them after they do their business, and they agree not to tell the other members of my family what I eat after everyone else has gone to bed. The deal seems simple enough, but it turns out that there used to be questions about whether or not dog owners should be required to scoop the poop at all. In the 1970s, NYC was awash in excrement. City officials pushed several possible solutions, including requesting the pets only go to the bathroom in the privacy of their own yards or mandating the use of sewer drains as toilets (it took me years to train my human offspring to do that). When it came to potential solutions, “the biggest obstacle was hostile pet owners, who argued that it would be physically challenging to hold onto a dog while simultaneously collecting its waste. They also complained that they would be ‘humiliated by being forced to pick up excrement from the gutter.'” (As if humiliation wasn’t one of the joys of pet ownership – and parenthood.) But then a man named Edward H. Lehner, who recently died at the age of 93, came up with a potential fix that combined a law and some (plastic) handy advice. But there would still be years of debate. “‘The purpose of this bill is laudable, i.e., to require each pet owner to take care of his own,’ the future Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, then New York’s secretary of state, wrote in a memo outlining his department’s view of the bill. But not only would an officer have to catch ‘a dog and his owner in flagrante delicto’ to enforce the law, he added, there was also the ‘sticky problem’ of proving that ‘a particular piece of evidence emanated from a particular aperture.'” At a moment when we’re bombarded with flagrante delicto coming out of political apertures nonstop, let’s pause for a little pick-me-up that changed NYC and cities across the country. NYC (Gift Article): Edward Lehner, Who Made Dog Owners Pick ‘It’ Up, Dies at 93. Yes, we’re leading with a story about political action that removed shit from your life, instead of merely piling more on. If that’s not a man-bites-dog story, what is?
Midterm Insurance
“No modern President, in fact, has ever gone into a midterm election this unpopular. Trump’s standing with the American public is currently twice as low as it was at this point in 2018, when Republicans lost forty-one seats in the House.” Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker: The Week Republicans Finally Panicked About Trump (alt link).
+ Public sentiment is one thing. Relentless efforts to skew the results, or call them into question, are another. And those efforts may have gotten a boost from the SCOTUS majority. “The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration can deploy an expansive online system that combines citizenship information, Social Security numbers and other sensitive data about millions of Americans, allowing states to use it to hunt for ineligible voters. Critics fear that states could use the system to purge large numbers of valid voters from their rolls ahead of the midterm elections.” So it looks like both Republicans and Democrats have reason to panic. At least we found some unity.
Your Money or Your Life
Regardless of all the warnings, I’m not sure that AI will cost you your life. But what about your livelihood? We know that AI agents have already teamed up and gone rogue to hack companies. “What might happen if AI agents manage to identify substantial weaknesses in a bank’s code base? It’s hard to say with any certainty. But because banks underpin nearly every aspect of modern life, outages or disruptions to back-end systems could ripple across digital commerce. That some of the dangers associated with frontier AI are inherently unknowable can make preparing difficult.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): AI’s Risk to Financial Systems. “Because the financial sector has long been a target of scams, frauds, and data breaches, it’s already on high alert. But not every institution is equally capable of handling new threats; some smaller banks may lack the resources and security expertise of larger firms. As AI models advance, these tools may expose the difference between those who can afford to prepare for what’s coming, and those who can’t.”
+ At least you can hedge your bet. Bloomberg (Gift Article): Polymarket Wagers on Bank Failures Trigger FDIC Concerns. “The bets have raised concerns among bank regulators and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with some worried about whether the contracts could grow in volume and eventually help fuel a real-world bank run.” (The more dangerous AI becomes, the more determined humans are to prove they’re still more dangerous.)
Weekend Whats
What to Doc: “Explore the story of New York from the end of the 20th century through the first quarter of the 21st—one of the most dramatic, demanding and transformational periods in the city’s history.” This is a two-part follow-up to Ric Burns’ 8-part docuseries on the city. And it’s excellent. Watch New York: A Documentary Film on PBS.
+ What to Comedy: Rory Scovel’s latest comedy special, The Show Must Go On, on Netflix, absolutely kills. Even the most heartfelt moment of the show is hilarious. You might recognize Scovel from his recent appearance as the police officer on Rooster, where he’s the funniest character in the show.
+ What to Hear: It really oughta be a national holiday when Brandi Carlile has a new album out. Actually, let’s make it one. Take the rest of the day off and check out, Returning to Myself (Sad Gay Version). And here’s some bonus content. Brandi and Alanis Morissette performing Uninvited. She and Stephen Wilson Jr. singing Stand By Me. And Brandi’s performance of Church & State from earlier this week on Kimmel.
+ What to Watch: You should be able to find at least a couple things you haven’t watched on the NYT List of the Top 100 Shows of the 21st Century.
Extra, Extra
Quiet as It’s Kept: “The most effective escalation of President Trump’s mass deportation campaign happened quietly. Unlike earlier high-profile raids that drew thousands of protesters into the streets of Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, the surge in arrests in June, July and August was captured mostly by grainy security camera footage, through cracked blinds and from behind closed doors. Arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this summer soared to record highs.” A Quiet ICE Surge That Unfolded ‘Everywhere All at Once’ This Summer. (The more the polling numbers look bad, the more urgently the administration will try to move forward with increasingly unpopular policies.)
+ Collateral: “Whether his schtick further damaged Israel’s standing was beside the point: Once again, Israel’s international reputation had become collateral damage of Netanyahu’s monomania for retaining his power.” Ben Samuels in Haaretz: Netanyahu Turned UN Into Campaign Stage. Israel’s Standing Was Collateral Damage.
+ Some of Them Want to Muse You: “Muse, the tech giant’s cuddly, doll-like AI agent, shot to the top of the Apple App Store charts after it was featured this week at the company’s Meta Connect conference.” And Meta’s stock has also shot up. It’s cute. It’s cuddly. And it wants your data.
+ In Sickness and In Wealth: “Just as providers are using sophisticated A.I. tools to say their patients are sicker, insurance companies have been accused of using the tools to delay or deny care. The companies have come under intense criticism for their use of A.I. when requiring prior approval of treatments and medicines.” Battle of Hospital A.I. vs. Insurer A.I. Is Pushing Medical Costs Higher. (Not exactly how you imagined AI impacting health care, eh?)
+ Pledge Hammer: Wisconsin frat leaders arrested after 30 pledges found in filthy basement, injured and covered in condiments. (What were they gonna do, eat them?)
+ It Wasn’t the Space Lasers: After all the hubbub, Ed Sheeran’s shows at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium ended up getting canceled due to weather.
+ Coffee Breakdown: “A simple question about chilled caffeine has sparked heated debates on couches and online about workplace decorum, highlighting shifting expectations of professionalism. Proponents say it’s a way to show their personality—and after all, it’s just a drink. For iced-coffee critics, the problem is what the beverage signals: casualness, poor preparation and bad time management.” How an Iced Coffee in a Job Interview Sparked a Raging Etiquette Debate. (I’d never hire anyone who showed up to a NextDraft job interview with an iced coffee, and I’m the only one who’s ever even wanted to work here.)
Feel Good Friday
“It started as a bizarre late-night standoff behind the counter of a fast food joint. It ended with no injuries — and free burgers.” NYT (Gift Article): The Viral In-N-Out Spatula Hero Is Exactly Who You Imagined He Was.
+ Pour yourself a cup of ambition. It’s Dolly Parton Day.
+ Ke Huy Quan Says His $100,000 ‘Indiana Jones’ Residual Check Was ‘Life-Changing‘ As a Child Actor: It ‘Didn’t Make Any Sense’.
+ Largest wildlife overpass in North America, located in Colorado, resulted in a 91% reduction in collisions. (RFK Jr. will probably want to take an alternate route…)
+ “University of Oregon leaders have long been accustomed to big checks from Phil Knight, a Nike co-founder whose surname is splashed on everything from the library to the law center. When Mr. Knight called Oregon’s president this year, though, he and his wife, Penny, had a greater gift in mind: the largest known contribution to a public flagship university in the United States.” $1 Billion Donation to University of Oregon Makes History. That’s a lot of bucks for the ducks.
+ 81-year-old man working to return lost luggage to fund wife’s cancer bills sparks community outpouring.
+ “While humans sometimes struggle to make it work, a lumpy green frog found in the savannas and dry forests of southeastern Africa seems to have polyamory figured out. Female gray foam-nest tree frogs (Chiromantis xerampelina) can breed with more than a dozen males at once without anyone fighting or getting squished.” When it Comes to Frog Sex, Teamwork Makes the Dream Work. (Maybe the frog who became a prince actually lost out?)
