🧐 How Did This Many Deaths Become Normal?

Today’s pick

How Did This Many Deaths Become Normal?. The United States reported more deaths from COVID-19 last Friday than deaths from Hurricane Katrina, more on any two recent weekdays than deaths during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, more last month than deaths from flu in a bad season, and more in… (Ed Yong / The Atlantic)

Ed Yong @edyong209

🚨To mark 2 yrs of the pandemic, I wrote about the sheer scale of death, and how/why so much of the US has normalized to it. The official toll nears 1 million. The NYT called 100k deaths an “incalculable loss”. What is 10 times incalculable? 1/ theatlantic.com/health/archive…

theatlantic.comHow Did This Many Deaths Become Normal?The U.S. is nearing 1 million recorded COVID-19 deaths without the social reckoning that such a tragedy should provoke. Why?

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Meta's Sheryl Sandberg: 'No two countries run by women would ever go to war. If half the world were run by women, Sandberg believes the world would be 'safer' and 'much more prosperous.' (Ryan Browne / CNBC)

Hadley Gamble @_HadleyGamble

Sheryl Sandberg tells me “Women-led countries wouldn't go to war” at the Cartier International Women’s Day event ⁦@expo2020dubai⁩ ⁦@Cartier⁩ #facebook #meta #putin

cnbc.comMeta’s Sheryl Sandberg: ‘No two countries run by women would ever go to war’If half the world were run by women, Sandberg believes the world would be “safer” and “much more prosperous.”

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U.S. Probes Options Trade That Gained on Microsoft-Activision Deal. Federal prosecutors and securities regulators are investigating large bets that Barry Diller, Alexander von Furstenberg and David Geffen made on Activision Blizzard Inc. shares in January, days before the videogame maker agreed to be acquired by Microsoft. (Dave Michaels / Wall Street Journal)

Charles Forelle @charlesforelle

Barry Diller, Alexander von Furstenberg and David Geffen made a $100 million options bet days before the Microsoft-Activision deal was announced.

wsj.comWSJ News Exclusive | U.S. Probes Options Trade That Gained on Microsoft-Activision DealEntertainment-industry titans Barry Diller and David Geffen made purchases just days before the merger was announced.

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Twitter is launching a Tor service for more secure and private tweeting. Twitter is launching a version of its site as a Tor onion service, optimizing it for the privacy-protecting and censorship-evading network. Software engineer Alec Muffett announced the news today on Twitter, describing it as “possibly the… (Adi Robertson / The Verge)

Alec Muffett @AlecMuffett

This is possibly the most important and long-awaited tweet that I've ever composed. On behalf of @Twitter, I am delighted to announce their new @torproject onion service, at: …zg5vztmjuricljdp2c5kshju4avyoid.onion

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'I'm the Operator': The Aftermath of a Self-Driving Tragedy. Rafaela Vasquez liked to work nights, alone, buffered from a world she had her reasons to distrust. One Sunday night in March 2018, Uber assigned her the Scottsdale loop. She drove a gray Volvo SUV, rigged up with cameras and lidar sensors, through… (Lauren Smiley / WIRED)

WIRED @WIRED

At one point the self-driving revolution felt right around the corner. Companies boasted about rapid time-lines, & zeitgeist-chasing tech workers raced to be a part of the solution. The death of Elaine Herzberg punctured that promise & humbled an industry.

wired.trib.al‘I’m the Operator’: The Aftermath of a Self-Driving TragedyIn 2018, an Uber autonomous vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian. In a WIRED exclusive, the human behind the wheel finally speaks.

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A genius Twitter bot is calling out companies that post platitudes for International Women's Day. It's International Women's Day, and many corporations have launched effusive tributes to their female employees on social media. Women are powerful! Women are resilient! Women are amazing! But one genius Twitter bot is pointing out truth… (Anne Quito / Quartz)

miriam meckel @mmeckel

🤖☝🏼This is a genius way of using #technology for the sake of #transparency and fact-checking #internationalwomensday qz.com/work/2139235/t…

qz.comA genius Twitter bot is calling out companies that post platitudes for International Women’s DayThe bot’s tagline: “Stop posting platitudes. Start fixing the problem.”

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Everything Apple Announced: iPhone SE, Mac Studio, iPad Air. On Tuesday, Apple held its first product announcement event of 2022. The company unveiled an array of new devices, including a new iPhone SE with 5G, a new version of the iPad Air, and Mac Studio, a whole new desktop PC with a powerful new… (Gear Team / WIRED)

Julian Chokkattu @JulianChokkattu

I feel like I've lost all energy in live-tweeting events these days, which is why I point you to @WIRED's coverage that succinctly sums up the #AppleEvent in one post.

wired.comHere’s Everything Apple Announced TodayApple held a product release event on Tuesday. Here’s what the company announced.

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🇺🇦 Ukraine Crisis

• Saudi, Emirati Leaders Decline Calls With Biden During Ukraine Crisis. (Dion Nissenbaum / Wall Street Journal)

• The UK's shameful Ukrainian refugee policy. (Financial Times)

• U.S. expected to announce ban on Russian oil as soon as today, NBC News reports. (Kevin Breuninger / CNBC)

• Putin's Endgame Starts to Look Like Reducing Ukraine to Rubble. (Marc Champion / Bloomberg)

• I Was Wrong About Putin. (Sergei Dobrynin / The Atlantic)

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— Jose Montes de Oca

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