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Cowen: Would you let Elon Musk implant a device in your brain?

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

Elon Musk’s Neuralink received approval last month from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct human clinical trials, which one former FDA official called “really a big deal.” I do not disagree, but I am skeptical that this technology will “change everything.” Not every profound technological advance has broad social and economic implications.With Neuralink’s device, a robot surgically inserts a device into the brain that can then decode some brain activity and connect the brain signals to computers and other machines. A person paralyzed from the neck down, for example, could use the interface to manipulate her physical environment, as well as to write and communicate.This would indeed be a breakthrough — for people with paralysis or traumatic brain injuries. For others, I am not so sure.There are other ways of augmenting my intelligence with computers, most notably the recent AI innovations. It is true that I can think faster than I can speak or type, but — I’m just not in tha...

Solomon: Refusal to recall airbags puts consumers at risk

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

ARC Automotive, a Tennessee-based company, is refusing to recall 67 million air bag inflators, despite a request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to do so.After an eight-year investigation, the NHTSA concluded that ARC inflators have a safety defect that creates an unreasonable risk of death and injury.The agency demands that ARC recall the inflators because they could explode and hurl shrapnel. The company has argued that the recall demand exceeds the agency’s legal authority and that auto manufacturers, not equipment manufacturers like ARC, must do recalls.The company could be heading for a legal battle with auto safety regulators.If ARC rejects the recall, the NHTSA might arrange a public hearing and file a lawsuit to compel the company to issue a recall. Consequently, the company may face legal penalties and be obligated to provide compensation or pay fines to individuals affected by faulty airbag inflators.The penalties for violating federal safety regula...

Great summer music festivals just a tank of gas away

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

Save money. See the best music.You could take out a personal loan to travel to a megafest. But why not go to something better a single tank of gas away? Or maybe just a T ride away? And why not have that fest feature an A+ lineup of locals and international stars?Green River FestivalGreenfield; June 23-25Miles from Boston: 95I have said in the past that this is our Coachella, but that’s an insult, an insult to Green River. This is more like our Bonnaroo, Newport Folk and Newport Jazz all in one. The Franklin County Fairgrounds host St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Little Feat, the Wood Brothers, the Felice Brothers, GA-20, the Glen David Andrews Band, and many more. Greenriverfestival.comBoston GuitarFestCambridge; June 27-July 2Miles from Boston: Less than oneThe theme of the 18th fest is “transformation.” And these performances will show off plenty of artists who have transformed the guitar (and the renaissance lute!). Grammy-winner Sharon Isbin will open the master class series. ...

Dear Abby: Parents not on agenda when daughter visits ‘home’

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

Dear Abby: My adult daughter is single and lives alone. She lives five hours away but manages to visit every two months or so. The problem is, when she comes home, we hardly ever see her. She’s mostly at her cousin’s house. During her most recent visit, we saw her a total of one hour a day the five days she was here — just enough time for her to come over, change clothes and leave again. She even sleeps there most nights.I have asked her to spend more time with us, but we just end up arguing. She goes on vacation with them every year, but when I suggest we go on a family vacation, she always says, “I don’t have money for that.” I love her, but I’m beginning to feel used. Whenever she needs something, I’m the one she calls.We have always butted heads, but my husband and I are getting older, and he has some health issues. I wish she would spend more time with him. I realize she wants to be with her friends when she’s here, but no o...

California investigating whether DeSantis involved in flying asylum-seekers from Texas to Sacramento

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Officials were investigating Tuesday whether Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind a flight that picked up asylum-seekers on the Texas border and flew them — apparently without their knowledge — to California’s capital, even as faith-based groups scrambled to find housing and food for them. About 20 people ranging in age from 21 to 30 were flown by private jet to Sacramento on Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. It was the second such flight in four days.Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and faith-based groups who have been assisting the migrants scheduled a news conference Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom lashed out at DeSantis as a “small, pathetic man” and suggested the state could pursue kidnapping charges. DeSantis and other Florida state officials were mum, as they were initially last year when they flew 49 Venezuelan migrants to the upscale Massachusetts enclave of Martha’s Vineyard, luring them o...

Ukraine accuses Russia of destroying major dam near Kherson, warns of widespread flooding

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam in a part of southern Ukraine they control, alerting residents further along the Dnipro River to evacuate and warning of flooding downstream.The Ukrainian Interior Ministry called for residents of 10 villages on the river’s right bank and parts of the city of Kherson to gather essential documents and pets, turn off appliances and leave, while cautioning against possible disinformation.Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in a video posted to Telegram shortly before 7 a.m. that “the Russian army has committed yet another act of terror,” and warned that water will reach “critical levels” within five hours.The Associated Press

‘Jerry Maguire’ star Cuba Gooding Jr. faces start of civil trial in rape case

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. faces the start of a civil trial Tuesday on accusations that he raped a woman in a New York City hotel a decade ago, an encounter that he contends was consensual after the two met at a nearby restaurant.The trial was scheduled to begin with jury selection in Manhattan federal court as the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star confronts allegations that he met the woman in Manhattan, persuaded her to join him at a hotel, and convinced her to stop at his room so he could change clothing.The woman, who has proceeded anonymously but has been told she must reveal her name at trial, said in her lawsuit that Gooding raped her in his room. His lawyers, though, insist that it was consensual sex and that she bragged afterward to others that she had sex with a celebrity.The lawsuit seeks $6 million in damages. It was filed against a man who authorities say has been accused of committing sexual misconduct against more than 30 other women, including groping, u...

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie set to launch 2024 presidential bid at New Hampshire town hall

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is set to launch his bid for the Republican nomination for president at a town hall in New Hampshire on Tuesday evening.The campaign will be the second for Christie, who lost to Trump in 2016 and went on to become a close on-and-off adviser before breaking with the former president over his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election. He has cast himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on former President Donald Trump.Christie will enter a growing primary field that already includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Former Vice President Mike Pence will be formally launching his own campaign in Iowa on Wednesday.Christie, who during his time as New Jersey’s governor established a reputation as a fighter with a knack for creating viral moments of confrontation, faces an uphill battle to the nomination in a party that...

Takeaways of AP investigation into a missing boat of 180 Rohingya refugees

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

TEKNAF, Bangladesh (AP) — On Dec. 1, 2022, a boat carrying around 180 Rohingya refugees set out from Bangladesh, bound for Indonesia. On board were babies, pregnant women and children fleeing surging violence in Bangladesh’s refugee camps. One week later, the boat vanished.The Associated Press has reconstructed the passengers’ journey based on dozens of interviews, audio recordings of calls from the boat, photos and videos. The AP’s reporting reveals the boat sank during a storm a week into its journey.Human rights advocates say what happened to those on board is the latest example of political inaction and global apathy toward the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority from Myanmar. At least 348 Rohingya died or went missing while attempting to cross the Bay of Bengal or Andaman Sea last year — the highest death toll since 2014, according to the UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency. Yet the UNHCR says its repeated pleas to maritime authorities to rescue some of these distresse...

A boat carrying 180 Rohingya refugees vanished. A frantic phone call helped untangle the mystery.

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:46:42 GMT

TEKNAF, Bangladesh (AP) — The wind had whipped the waves to nearly three times the woman’s height when her panicked voice crackled over the phone. “Our boat has sunk!” Setera Begum shouted, as a storm threatened to spill her and around 180 others into the inky black sea south of Bangladesh. “Only half of it is still afloat!”On the other end of the line, hundreds of miles away in Malaysia, was her husband, Muhammed Rashid, who picked up the phone at 10:59 p.m. his time on Dec. 7, 2022. He had not seen his family in 11 years. And he had only learned days earlier that Setera and two of their daughters had fled surging violence in Bangladesh’s camps for ethnic Rohingya refugees.Now, Rashid feared, his family’s frantic bid to escape would cost them the very thing they were trying to save — their lives. For despite Setera’s pleas, no help would come, not for her or for the babies, the 3-year-old afraid of the sea or the pregnant women also on board.Rashid listened to his wife’s terr...