A Guilty Verdict, A Volcano, & How To Tell Time On The Moon
May 31, 2024
Hello, readers – happy Friday! Today, we’ll be talking about Trump’s hush money case, OpenAI’s propaganda, America’s relationship with African countries, Iceland’s volcanic activity, the Supreme Court siding with the NRA, officials resigning, and getting clocks on the moon.
Here’s some good news to hold you over through the weekend. Negro Leagues records for more than 2,300 players were incorporated into MLB statistics this week, which meant Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a .372 batting average. Also this week, the White House announced plans to modernize America’s electric grid. This will hopefully increase electrical transmission capacity, a major barrier to the clean energy transition. Finally, Instagram is letting teens restrict their accounts to only be able to see comments, messages, story replies, tags, and mentions from their “Close Friends” group. The move is expected to help limit harassment on the platform.
“Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.” – Epictetus
The Charges, It Turns Out, Were Not Trumped-Up
On Thursday, former president, real estate mogul, TV personality, and (presumptive) GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump added another title to his name – at this point, his only rival in the honorifics competition is Daenerys Targaryen. Unfortunately, the latest notch in Trump’s belt is simply “convicted felon” after a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the hush money case involving adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump is the first president to be convicted of a felony, which is significantly less cool than riding a dragon. If you’re curious, convicted felons are legally allowed to run for president. Trump and Biden are currently neck-and-neck in the polls, meaning even a small swing of a couple thousand voters in key areas could make all the difference in November’s election.
“While it’s not a great thing to be convicted of a crime, what voters will be thinking about in November is inflation, the southern border, competition with China and Russia and the money that is being spent on Israel and Ukraine,” said one pollster. “MY CIVIL RIGHTS HAVE BEEN TOTALLY VIOLATED WITH THIS HIGHLY POLITICAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, AND ELECTION INTERFERING WITCH HUNT. OUR FAILING NATION IS BEING LAUGHED AT ALL OVER THE WORLD!,” said Trump on his Truth Social platform. Trump Media, which owns Truth Social, saw its shares tumble 9% following the guilty verdict, costing Trump over $500 million.
OpenAI Versus Opaque Operatives
According to ChatGPT maker OpenAI, propaganda groups from Russia, China, Iran, and Israel all used the company’s technology to write and translate posts for their influence campaigns. Ben Nimmo, the head of OpenAI’s intelligence and investigations team, said that the propaganda efforts didn’t actually gain much traction, but their early adoption of AI signals that similar groups might turn to the tech to boost their propaganda production.
“We’ve seen them generating text at a higher volume and with fewer errors than these operations have traditionally managed,” said Nimmo in an announcement. While OpenAI has terminated the accounts associated with the propaganda campaigns, he said it was possible that other groups might be using the company’s technology unmonitored. “This is not the time for complacency. History shows that influence operations that spent years failing to get anywhere can suddenly break out if nobody’s looking for them,” he added.
If These Walls Could Talk (They’d Say They Won’t Melt)
- On Wednesday, an Icelandic volcano erupted for the fifth time since last December. The eruption, which the Icelandic authorities said was triggered by “intense seismic activity” at the Sundhnúks volcanic crater, sent lava flowing towards the nearby town of Grindavík as well as a tourist destination named the Blue Lagoon. Luckily, Grindavík has built literal defensive walls to protect from the lava – “houses in the west and farthest part of the town would have gone under the lava if it weren’t for the defensive walls, but they are still standing and defending,” said one local authority.
- While the flows luckily didn’t cause much damage to local communities, researchers say that the increase in volcanic activity at the crater might spell a rocky (and also molten) period for the area. The last time that the Reykjanes Peninsula (where the eruption occurred) experienced a period of volcanic activity was about 800 years ago – during that time, eruptions occurred regularly for decades. With the peninsula’s recent spike in eruptions, experts predict that the region might be facing another extended period of volcanic activity that could last decades or even centuries.
Slipping Up In The Sub-Sahara
- America has an Africa problem. Countries across Africa have drifted towards Russia in recent years as U.S. counterterrorism forces in the area have failed to keep the peace for the continent’s current powerholders. In an interview this week, Gen. Michael Langley, the head of the U.S. military in Africa, defended the Pentagon’s strategy, blaming Russian disinformation for the continent’s turn away from Washington.
- The Sahel, a region just south of the Sahara Desert, saw over 11,000 deaths linked to militant Islamist violence last year alone. In response to the rising security threat, military officers of nearby countries began overthrowing their democratically-elected governments and replacing them with military juntas – many of which then turned to Moscow for aid and military support. In Niger, one of the Pentagon’s key allies in Africa, the military government has booted U.S. forces out of its territory while also requesting the presence of Russian military trainers to bolster its defense capabilities.
More Mixed Nuts
- North Korea fires missile barrage toward its eastern waters days after failed satellite launch (NBC)
- Modi heads for two days of island meditation as Indian election nears end (CNN)
- Massive international police operation takes down ransomware networks, arrests 4 (ABC)
- Ship attacked by Yemen’s Houthi rebels was full of grain bound for Iran, the group’s main benefactor (AP)
- Spain’s parliament gives final approval to amnesty law for Catalonia’s separatists (ABC)
Middle East Mixed Nuts
- U.S. bomb fragments found at site of Israeli strike on Rafah camp (WaPo, $)
- A nurse honored for compassion is fired after referring to Gaza ‘genocide’ in speech (AP)
- Israel says it’s taken control of key area of Gaza’s border with Egypt awash in smuggling tunnels (AP)
- Exclusive: Israel reopens Gaza food sales as Rafah raid chokes aid (Reuters)
- Netanyahu opponent and war Cabinet member’s party tries to force early Israel election (NBC)
A Series Of Unexpected Events
- Maria Vullo, the former superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services, urged insurance companies and banks to reconsider any relationships they had with gun rights-affiliated groups in the wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018. The National Rifle Association, with the help of the ACLU (yes, you read that correctly, the ACLU backed the NRA), argued that Vullo’s statements constituted unlawful coercion.
- Yesterday, the Supreme Court unanimously (yes, you read that correctly, the justices all agreed on something) determined that the NRA’s free speech rights under the First Amendment were violated by Vullo’s actions and that the group could move forward with its lawsuit. “Government officials cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors,” Justice Sotomayor wrote on behalf of the court.
Diplomats Dropping Like Flies
- Two more officials have resigned over the Biden administration’s policy on the war in Gaza. Alexander Smith, a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said he was given a choice between resignation and dismissal after preparing a presentation on the death of women and children in the enclave. Smith’s resignation letter pointed out the different approaches to other humanitarian crises.
- Meanwhile, an official from the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Stacy Gilbert, sent an email to colleagues to explain that her departure was sparked by the department’s official report that Israel was not deliberately obstructing the flow of food or other aid into Gaza. Smith and Gilbert bring the total number of Biden administration officials to have publicly resigned over the war in Gaza to nine, but some say that number is higher.
More Nuts In America
- Judge largely denies Scott Peterson DNA testing request in bid to prove innocence (ABC)
- At Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial, prosecutors highlight his wife’s desperate finances (NBC)
- Gangs mix another potent sedative into U.S. street drugs causing ‘mass overdoses’ (NPR)
- Yale University names Maurie McInnis as school’s first female president (NBC)
- New Louisiana law will criminalize approaching police under certain circumstances (AP)
What’s Made Of Cheese And Experiences Time Slightly Faster Than The Earth?
- According to scientists, we need to figure out how time works on the moon – and fast. What does that even mean? Well, while time always moves forward across the universe, how quickly seconds pass actually depends on location. For example, time ticks slightly faster at the top of a mountain compared to the bottom of a valley. On the moon, then, an Earth day passes about 56 milliseconds faster than it does down on our home planet. While that’s a microscopic amount of time compared to 24 whole hours, it adds up…well, over time. As countries across the globe race to colonize the moon, or at least mine its resources, scientists want to make sure that we’re able to handle that time differential in order to keep operations in sync.
- Cheryl Gramling, the lunar position, navigation, and timing and standards lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (does LinkedIn even allow a title that long?), says that researchers aren’t looking to create a new time zone for the moon. Instead, NASA and its partners are looking to create a new “time scale” that will help international groups synchronize their moon watches.
- Similar to how Earth’s Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) is set by taking the average time from hundreds of atomic clocks, NASA’s proposed moon time will be reached through a consensus of atomic clocks placed on the lunar surface. They will keep their own accurate time, and moon operations led from Earth will have to accurately track the tiny differences between UTC and moon time. The main problem? Space-worthy atomic clocks will likely cost millions of dollars each to develop – maybe we can get a private company to develop them for billions of dollars each?
More Loose Nuts
- These are the world’s 20 best cities for foodies, according to Time Out (CNN)
- Hollywood Nightmare? New Streaming Service Lets Viewers Create Their Own Shows Using AI (Hollywood Reporter)
- Gavin Newsom warns against perils of over-regulating AI (Politico)
- Video shows Michigan man with suspended license driving while joining Zoom court hearing (USA Today)
- This airport has never lost a bag. For one chief handler, it’s all about respect (NPR)
- Stuck at sea for years, a sailor’s plight highlights a surge in shipowner abandonment (AP)
