The US has a child labor problem - recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they've left behind

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The US has a child labor problem - recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they've left behind     Curator and Head of Special Collections and Gallery, University of Maryland, Baltimore County At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Special Collections, where I am head curator, we’ve recently completed a major digitization and rehousing project of our collection of over 5,400 photographs made by Lewis Wickes Hine in the early 20th century. Continued here

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Why we're "interviewing" captive birds to find the best to release into the     Rachael Miller (Harrison), Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, and Stuart Marsden, The Conversation - Jun 10, 2023 11:47 am UTC Continued here

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At an Embattled Moment, the New York     During the past several years, as more democratic institutions and norms have come under attack, many journalists have raised the question of whether it is ethical to adhere to journalism's traditional principles of non-bias, objectivity, and political neutrality. In May, A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of the New York Times, staked out his position in the traditionalist camp in an essay for the Columbia Journalism Review. "The traditionalists in the ranks have long believed that their long-standing view speaks for itself. I became increasingly convinced that the argument doesn't make itself," he tells David Remnick. Sulzberger shies away from the term "objectivity," instead describing the "posture of independence," as one that prizes "an open mind, a skeptical mind," and a clear-eyed pursuit of truth—even if it leads to uncomfortable conclusions. Sulzberger, whose family has owned the paper since 1896, says that he wants to push back on a culture of "certitude" in journalism. "In this hyper-politicized, hyper-polarized moment, is society benefitting from every single player getting deeper and deeper, and louder and louder, about declaring their personal allegiances and loyalties and preferences?" he asks.Plus, this week's issue of The New Yorker features a new poem by Paul Tran, a young writer whose début collection was named one of the best books of 2022. The poem, "The Three Graces," takes its name from a rock formation near Colorado Springs. "I was curious: what would these three rocks have to say about the nature of love," Tran tells the producer Jeffrey Masters. Tran's poetry explores their personal history—their family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam—as well as their trans identity. Continued here

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Our Favorite Gear for Everyday Sun Protection     If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDThe sun is shining and it's back for revenge, but we're ready. We've got sunblock, SPF lip balm, and we've got everyday clothes that will not only keep you cool but protect you from the sun's harmful rays. Each of our picks is SPF or UPF rated to provide protection from skin-damaging UVA and UVB radiation. Keep in mind though, the best defense against sunburn is a multi-layered approach, so be sure to wear sunscreen and cover up. Now get out there and take the fight back to the sun! Continued here

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How generative AI language models are unlocking the secrets of DNA     Large language models (LLMs) learn from statistical associations between letters and words to predict what comes next in a sentence and are trained on large amounts of data. For instance, GPT-4, which is the LLM underlying the popular generative AI app ChatGPT, is trained on several petabytes (several million gigabytes) of text. Biologists are leveraging the capability of these LLMs to shed new light on genetics by identifying statistical patterns in DNA sequences. DNA language models (also called genomic or nucleotide language models) are similarly trained on large numbers of DNA sequences. Continued here

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Drawing, making music and writing poetry can support healing and bring more humanity to health care in US hospitals     The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the deep need that people feel for human touch and connection in hospital settings. Having relatives peering through windows at their loved ones or unable to enter hospitals altogether exacerbated the lack of human intimacy that is all too common in health care settings. Opportunities for creative expression through arts in medicine programs are increasing in U.S. hospitals, and it may be because art-making offers something that medicine can’t. Evidence shows that taking part in art programs has many therapeutic benefits, such as reducing anxiety and stress, supporting mental health and well-being and connecting people to one another. Continued here

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The 'Murph' challenge: what to know about this CrossFit workout     Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg recently shared on Facebook and Instagram that he had completed the “Murph” challenge, which is named for Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan in June 2005, aged 29.This gruelling CrossFit workout involves running one mile, doing 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats and running another mile, all while wearing a weighted vest. Continued here

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6 books that explain the history and meaning of Juneteenth     After decades of being celebrated at mostly the local level, Juneteenth – the long-standing holiday that commemorates the arrival of news of emancipation and freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, in 1865 – became a federal holiday in 2021. In honor of this year’s Juneteenth, The Conversation reached out to Wake Forest University humanities professor Corey D. B. Walker for a list of readings that can help people better understand the history and meaning of the observance. Below, Walker recommends six books.Combining history and memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s “On Juneteenth” offers a moving history of African American life and culture through the prism of Juneteenth. The award-winning Harvard historian presents an intimate portrait of the experiences of her family and her memories of life as an African American girl growing up in segregated Texas. The essays in her book invite readers to enter a world shaped by the forces of freedom and slavery. Continued here

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Our Favorite Hair Dryers and Diffusers     If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDHair is a fun and annoying thing. You can cut it, dye it, straighten it, curl it, or let it sit in a knot for days on end. When you want to get a polished look or just need to dry your hair quickly, you may consider a blow-dryer. Continued here

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The 45 Best Movies on Netflix This Week     The streaming service has plenty of offerings, but sometimes finding the best movies on Netflix can be a real mixed bag. Sometimes finding the right film at the right time can seem like an impossible task. Fret not, we’re here to help. Below is a list of some of our favorite movies currently on the streaming service—from dramas to comedies to thrillers.If you decide you're in more of a TV mood, head over to our collection of the best TV series on Netflix. Want more? Check out our lists of the best sci-fi movies, best movies on Amazon Prime, and the best flicks on Disney+. Don't like our picks, or want to offer suggestions of your own? Head to the comments below.  Continued here

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Pyramid schemes are on the rise - but do those who join up deserve prosecution or compensation?     Let’s say we invite you to invest £1,000 in our new and brilliant business. We promise you an impressive return on your money, and all we ask is that you persuade a few of your friends to invest the same amount. They in turn will need to find some more investors. But remember, we’re all in this together, and everyone will end up richer.Sound too good to be true? That’s because it is. Such an offer would be an example of a pyramid scheme, which is illegal in most countries. But such schemes, often promoted on social media with promises of cash and luxurious lifestyles, are rising at an alarming rate – 59% annually – in the UK. Continued here

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'From Magic Mushrooms to Big Pharma' - a college course explores nature's medicine cabinet and different ways of healing     Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. The course looks at how different peoples and cultures use nature-based medicines to heal themselves. First we establish that there are many ways of knowing the world around us, just as there are many ways to heal ourselves. Some of us rely on Western medicine, others pray, yet others turn to Indigenous or traditional ways of healing that are rooted in nature. Continued here

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Gwen John: often dismissed as a timid recluse, this unique and uncompromising artist painted relentlessly on her own terms     The quiet Welsh painter Gwen John was not like any other artist, male or female – she was genuinely unique. She was neither an heiress, like most unmarried modernist women, nor a conventional academic artist, like most women who had to make a living with their art.She did not paint loud, macho work that took up a whole wall, nor sexy, objectified nudes, nor abstract forms, like many male modernists. She was fiercely herself, making small, intimate, idiosyncratic paintings that share a definite style and palette over the course of her career. Continued here

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Millions of women are working during menopause, but US law isn't clear on employees' rights or employers' obligations     While she was interviewing Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in March 2023, Drew Barrymore suddenly exclaimed: “I’m so hot … I think I’m having my first hot flash!”While most hot flashes aren’t televised, the entertainer’s experience was far from unique. Barrymore, age 48, is one of approximately 15 million U.S. women from 45 to 60 who work full time and may experience menopausal symptoms. Continued here

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Elon Musk and Mary Barra Just Made a Big Announcement, and These 19 Words Mattered Most     "Tesla's not going to do anything to prefer Tesla, so it really will be an even playing field ..." Continued here

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Juli     In a captivating, poetic ode to the beauty and strength of mixed languages, writer Julián Delgado Lopera paints a picture of immigrant and queer communities united not by their refinement of language but by the creative inventions that spring from their mouths. They invite everyone to reconsider what "proper" English sounds like – and imagine a blended future where those on the margins are able to speak freely. Continued here

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Why we're 'interviewing' captive birds to find the best to release into the wild     Not all animals are the same. Even within a species, some are bolder and better at solving problems than others. We have found this to be true in the case of the critically endangered Bali myna, a rare bird found only on the island of Bali in Indonesia.Fewer than 50 adult Bali mynas remain in their native dry forest and savanna on the island. Conservationists are trying, with mixed results, to reintroduce more birds to boost the wild population. Continued here

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Warren Buffett Says He Relies On This 1 Simple Mental Model to Achieve Unrivaled Success     The Circle of Competence is a strategic guide to investing and living your life. Continued here

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Many Newly Discovered Species Are Already Gone     It could have been a scene from Jurassic Park: Ten golden lumps of hardened resin, each encasing insects. But these weren’t from the age of the dinosaurs; these younger resins were formed in eastern Africa within the last few hundreds or thousands of years. Still, they offered a glimpse into a lost past—the dry evergreen forests of coastal Tanzania.An international team of scientists recently took a close look at the lumps, which had been first collected more than a century ago by resin traders and then housed at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. Many of the insects encased within them were stingless bees, tropical pollinators that can get stuck in the sticky substance while gathering it to construct nests. Three of the species still live in Africa, but two had such a unique combination of features that last year, the scientists reported them to be new to science: Axestotrigona kitingae and Hypotrigona kleineri. Continued here

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US gun crime: why tourists are being warned to avoid and beware     The year 2023 is on track to be the worst in recent history for mass shootings in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive database. Some commentators are questioning whether security fears surrounding gun violence and mass shootings could keep international fans away from the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Los Angeles. No other developed nation has mass shootings at the same scale or frequency as the US. Estimates suggest that Americans own 393 million of the 857 million civilian guns available, around 46% of the world’s civilian gun ownership. Continued here

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How the Barbour became the ultimate British symbol     It would be hard to imagine a more quintessentially British garment than the venerable Barbour jacket – the famed olive-green, wax coated, all-weather wardrobe staple beloved by the Royal Family. So it makes perfect sense that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak offered a personalised version of the iconic jacket to President Biden when the two met yesterday. As an offering it's a symbol of Britishness, and the pair's bromance – the jacket is customised, with the moniker "Mr President" embroidered on the front.It's a personal gift, and also a symbolic one. The high-end, family-owned Barbour brand is based near the PM's constituency in the Northeast of England and is a British institution. Mr Sunak himself is a fan and has been seen frequently sporting the brand. It was the late Queen and US movie icon and motorcycle enthusiast Steve McQueen who were at one point the two most iconic Barbour wearers. Continued here

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ADHD: inattention and hyperactivity have been the focus of research - but emotional problems may be the missing link     Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental health disorders in children, affecting 7.2% of people under the age of 18 worldwide. Many of these children will still have ADHD in adolescence and adulthood. For example, 2.1% of children with a diagnosis of ADHD also have a mood disorder, such as depression, while 27.4% have an anxiety disorder. Many also have outbursts of verbal or physical aggression. Continued here

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South Africa's drinking water quality has dropped because of defective infrastructure and neglect - new report     A report released by the South African government paints a grim picture of the country’s water resources and water infrastructure as well as the overall quality of its drinking water.The Blue Drop Watch Report – an interim report because it only assessed a sample of the facilities across the country – focused on the condition of the drinking water infrastructure and treatment processes from a technical standpoint. It also reported on water quality. Continued here

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The Case for Selective Slackerism     To the people who know me best, I am a bizarre mix of discipline and ineffectuality. I rearrange my fridge daily with the efficiency of a professional Tetris player, but I once vanquished a snake plant after forgetting its monthly hydration needs. Waking up before sunrise poses no challenge for me, yet I lack the patience to cook anything that takes more than seven minutes. Recently, I completed a 16-mile run but scraped my knee in the process, didn’t bother to disinfect the wound, and found a healthy colony of bacteria on my leg the next day.In many cultures and across many time periods, my minor triumphs would be seen as virtuous, and my habitual idleness might be considered a moral failure. Sloth is one of the seven deadly sins. Napoleonic France, the late Ottoman empire, and the contemporary United States have all generally stigmatized laziness and praised industriousness. The notion that a person can embody both of those characteristics might feel incongruous. Continued here

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Jurassic Park yn 30 a'r chwyldro effeithiau arbennig ddigwyddodd yn sgil y ffilm     Mae’r mis hwn yn nodi 30 mlynedd ers ffilm a newidiodd y sinema am byth. Defnyddiodd Jurassic Park 1993 ddelweddau a gynhyrchwyd gan gyfrifiadur (CGI) arloesol i ddod â deinosoriaid yn fyw yn addasiad Steven Spielberg o'r nofel o'r un enw.Daeth y ffilm yn ddigwyddiad yr oedd yn rhaid ei weld yn gyflym iawn a chafodd cynulleidfaoedd eu syfrdanu gan yr olygfa o weld deinosoriaid credadwy yn ymlwyybro ar draws y sgrin fawr am y tro cyntaf. Nid yn unig y gwnaeth Jurassic Park gamau enfawr mewn gwneud ffilmiau effeithiau arbennig, ond fe wnaeth hefyd baratoi'r ffordd ar gyfer myrdd o gynyrchiadau dilynol a oedd yn cynnwys bwystfilod o bob lliw a llun. Continued here

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Even lawyers hate "legalese"     “In witness whereof, the parties hereunto have set their hands to these presents as a deed on the day month and year hereinbefore mentioned.”The initial sentence is an example of legalese, the convoluted language often used by lawyers in legal documents. If you have ever signed an apartment lease or a mortgage or skimmed the “terms and conditions” from various software companies, you’ve experienced legalese. Continued here

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D.O.J. Has Been Weaponized Against Me, Says El Chapo     FLORENCE, COLORADO (The Borowitz Report)—In a withering takedown of the Department of Justice, the former drug lord Joaquín (El Chapo) Guzmán has claimed that the D.O.J. has been weaponized against him.Speaking from his cell at a supermax prison in Colorado, El Chapo called his prosecution and incarceration “the greatest witch hunt in the history of witch hunts.” Continued here

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Never mind Cleopatra - what about the forgotten queens of ancient Nubia?     Jada Pinkett Smith’s new Netflix documentary series on Cleopatra aims to spotlight powerful African queens. “We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them,” the Hollywood star and producer told a Netflix interviewer.The show casts a biracial Black British actress as the famed queen, whose race has stirred debate for decades. Cleopatra descended from an ancient Greek-Macedonian ruling dynasty known as the Ptolemies, but some speculate that her mother may have been an Indigenous Egyptian. In the trailer, Black classics scholar Shelley Haley recalls her grandmother telling her, “I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was Black.” Continued here

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Manestra: a hearty bean-based soup     Renowned for its premium truffles, olive oil and wine, Istria – the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, located in north-west Croatia – has a strong Italian influence and is known for its gastronomy.Croatian cuisine varies greatly by region, but every part of Croatia has a dish served "na žlicu" – meaning "on the spoon". In Istria, it's maneštra, a thick and hearty bean-based soup that uses seasonal ingredients to make a healthy, uncomplicated lunch. Continued here

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What Reparations Actually Bought     The U.S. government’s redress program for Japanese Americans showed that the money matters. But it’s not the only thing that matters.In 1990, the U.S. government began mailing out envelopes, each containing a presidential letter of apology and a $20,000 check from the Treasury, to more than 82,000 Japanese Americans who, during World War II, were robbed of their homes, jobs, and rights, and incarcerated in camps. This effort, which took a decade to complete, remains a rare attempt to make reparations to a group of Americans harmed by force of law. We know how some recipients used their payment: The actor George Takei donated his redress check to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. A former incarceree named Mae Kanazawa Hara told an interviewer in 2004 that she bought an organ for her church in Madison, Wisconsin. Nikki Nojima Louis, a playwright, told me earlier this year that she used the money to pay for living expenses while pursuing her doctorate in creative writing at Florida State University. She was 65 when she decided to go back to school, and the money enabled her to move across the country from her Seattle home. Continued here