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☆ 505-Million-Year-Old Jellyfish Fossils May Be the Oldest Ever Found
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Jack Tamisiea | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jellyfish have been floating through Earth’s oceans seemingly forever. They rarely show up in the fossil record because jellyfish are 95 percent water and are prone to rapid decay. But Dr. Caron and other scientists recently described a cache of jellyfish fossils from the Cambrian period that found an improbable pathway to preservation. In a paper published on Wednesday in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists posit that these 505-million-year-old animals are among the oldest swimming jellyfish known to science. “These new fossils represent the most compelling evidence of Cambrian jellyfish to date,” said David Gold, a paleobiologist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the new study.

Persons: ”, Jean, Bernard Caron, Caron, David Gold, Davis Organizations: Royal Ontario Museum, Royal Society B, University of California Locations: Toronto

☆ Fact Check-Segment on protections of U.S. presidential airspace filmed in New Jersey, not Antarctica
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A news segment demonstrating the procedures in place to protect U.S. presidential air space is circulating with the false claim that it shows military protection against those who try to fly over Antarctica. On social media, conspiracy theories that the U.S. or other governments are hiding secrets in Antarctica have persisted. Reuters traced the video to an NBC News Today Show segment uploaded to YouTube in July 2017 on how the Air National Guard protects presidential airspace (bit.ly/3DCBTRr). The report demonstrated the procedures in place for when an unidentified aircraft enters temporarily restricted airspace during a presidential event or visit. The video shows a segment aired by NBC’s Today Show in 2017 and was filmed in New Jersey, not Antarctica.

Persons: Jeff Rossen, Bradford Everman, Read Organizations: National Guard, Antarctica, Reuters, NBC, YouTube, Air National Guard, U.S . Air Force, New Jersey Air National, 177th Fighter, NBC’s Locations: Antarctica, Ocean City, New Jersey, U.S

☆ Can a Poem Be Too Short? It Depends on the Poem, and the Reader.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Elisa Gabbert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

I have a friend who says her favorite way to read poetry is in quotation, as isolated lines in paragraphs of prose, such as in this column. You can’t have a personal, favorite part, the way I have a favorite part of “Prufrock” (which changes over time). Some of what’s in “Little Poems” does have a one-and-done feel. Short poems can be facile because they are short — they’re not wasting much of your time, so get over it. It’s unsatisfying in the way of all short unsatisfying poems; the end of any poem is a reward, but bad short poems satisfy too soon.

Persons: Michael Hennessy, Julian the, John Keats, ” Ben Lerner, “ Prufrock, Shel Silverstein, Lawrence, Lawrence — Locations: Sappho, “, D.H

☆ What happens when ChatGPT tries to create crochet patterns
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Aj Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

ChatGPT, a publicly available language-learning AI, was not designed to create things like crochet or knitting patterns. Before we begin …A few notes on my methodology:For every crochet pattern I generated, I used the prompt “Create a crochet pattern for (blank).”I followed the crochet pattern exactly. At first glance, ChatGPT’s crochet patterns look and read exactly like a crochet pattern. In a traditional crochet pattern, instructions for assembly would note specific places and methods to attach pieces, along with photos or notes on particularly tricky steps. Theoretically, it would be possible to create AI that generated amazing crochet patterns, but that would require very specific training and programming.

Persons: ”, AJ Willingham, ChatGPT, ’ AJ Willingham, You’ll, Yoda ’ AJ Willingham, Yoda, Casey Miller, ” Miller, It’s, Antarctica ’ AJ Willingham, “, Al Arab ’ AJ Willingham, CNN I’ll, Khalifa, you’ve, Eliot, don’t Organizations: CNN, Antarctica, Burj Al, Burj Locations: Kennesaw , Georgia, Antarctica, Al Arab, Al, Arab, Dubai, Burj, Arab’s

☆ Fact Check-2020 video of French police tossing handcuffs falsely linked to 2023 protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Footage from a June 2020 police demonstration in France in which officers threw their handcuffs to the ground has been miscaptioned in social media posts. It does not depict police surrendering amid the June and July 2023 riots in the country, contrary to social media claims. “07/04/2023 Cops in France surrender,” reads a superimposed text in the video that has amassed over 132,600 likes on TikTok (here). Reuters has previously addressed other miscaptioned footage from the same June 2020 police demonstrations (here), (here)VERDICTMiscaptioned. This video is from a June 2020 police demonstration in France.

Persons: ”, Clément Lanot, Lanot, Christophe Castaner, Read Organizations: Twitter, Reuters Locations: France, North, Parisian, Bobigny

☆ Fact Check-Video does not show Mexican army vehicles near U.S. border in June 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Footage of military vehicles parked in a street in Mexico City, which has been circulating since at least May 16, does not depict military activity near the U.S. southern border in June 2023, contrary to social media posts. Filmed, allegedly near the US border,” reads a tweet that has amassed at least 1,650 retweets since it was posted on June 18 (here). The video is not new nor was it recorded near the U.S.-Mexico border, however. The location seen in the video is near Zocalo Square in Mexico City's center. This video was filmed in Mexico City and has been online since at least May 16, 2023.

Persons: Read Organizations: Google, Independence, Mexican Defense Ministry, Reuters Locations: Mexico City, U.S, Mexico

☆ Fact Check-Galleria Umberto I in Naples built in 1890, not a thousand years prior
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Galleria Umberto I was built between 1887 and 1890 and dedicated to Umberto I, Italy’s king at the time, said Joshua Arthurs, associate professor of history in the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto-Scarborough (here). Galleria Umberto I stands between Via Santa Brigida, Via Giuseppe Verdi and Via San Carlo and can be seen on Google Maps (goo.gl/maps/bC1CLDxHmExVokzg7). ARCHITECTURAL FEATURESArchitectural elements seen in Galleria Umberto I could not have been possible a thousand years prior, Arthurs said, and the style is typical of the Renaissance revival in the late 19th century, called “Stile Umbertino,” referring to King Umberto I. MISSING ‘M’Historians interviewed by Reuters could not confirm whether the M was ever missing from the building façade at some point. Galleria Umberto I could not have been built 1,000 years before 1890.

☆ Why Do American Diners Have Such a Limited Palate for Textures?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ligaya Mishan | Esther Choi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

What of the worlds that lie between slime and velvet, collapse and refusal, succulence and desiccation? Not only does English lack a robust vocabulary for food textures but, whether as corollary or coincidence, English speakers also tend to value a narrower range of textures. In a survey by the American sensory scientist Jeannine F. Delwiche conducted at Ohio State University in 2002, respondents considered texture significantly less important than taste and scent in its impact on flavor. It is often defined as a confluence of taste, scent and memory, yet other senses intrude. Studies have shown that diners have difficulty identifying flavors when foods are dyed different colors, for example.

☆ Fact Check-Old, miscaptioned videos surface amid unrelated events in Chicago in April 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Some posts sharing miscaptioned clips refer to the closure of four out of the eight Walmart stores in Chicago, a move the retailer attributed to them not being profitable (here). “Just another Sunday night in a Chicago Walmart. VIDEO #2Another clip purports to show a Walmart store ransacked in Chicago this past weekend (here) (here). A tweet identifying the location to be a Walmart store in Chicago here (goo.gl/maps/Z9UyhoXYdimoBAfc9) is viewable (here). The clip may be related to large crowds that were seen near that gas station on April 2.

☆ Fact Check-Resurfaced clip shows farmer protests spraying police with hay in Brussels in 2015
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video showing protesters spraying hay on to a police line dates back to a 2015 demonstration in Belgium, but the footage has been recently miscaptioned in posts claiming it depicts a Dutch farmers protest in March 2023. Examples are viewable on Twitter (here) and Facebook (here ), with one popular tweet reading, “The Netherlands is seizing privately owned farm land. In protest, Dutch farmers are spraying government buildings and riot police with MANURE! Another video by outlet New Europe, seemingly depicting the same scene as the clip shared online (youtu.be/14vowMfvrIs?t=26 ), also shows the tractor throwing hay at police officers. This video showing protesters spraying hay on to a police line was filmed in Belgium in 2015.

☆ Fact Check-Video does not show meteor in Mission, Texas
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A video showing a luminous object shooting across the sky was filmed in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is unrelated to reports of a meteor crashing in Texas on Feb. 15, contrary to claims on social media. in a 10 mile radius.”Reuters identified the location of the recording in Daytona Beach. Two experts ruled out the object seen is a meteor. More information about the meteor near Mission, Texas, published by CBS Media, The Dallas Morning News and CNN can be seen (bit.ly/3Ibjgpf) (bit.ly/41i4t5d) (bit.ly/3lBdzcC).

☆ Fact Check-Image of Joe Biden eating ice cream in Ukraine is digitally altered
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A photograph of U.S. President Joe Biden eating an ice cream during a visit to Ohio in 2021 has been digitally altered to include a Ukrainian street food joint in the background. The images that compose this digital montage can be found on Reuters Pictures (here) and the Foursquare profile of the fast food joint in Kyiv (archive.ph/D7rR5). The photo of Biden shows him eating ice-cream during a visit to Ohio on May 27, 2021, per the Reuters caption. The food establishment Kyivska Perepichka, viewable on Google Maps (goo.gl/maps/6mVjmHvYHrnQxWS37), serves traditional street food item Perepichka, a sausage wrapped in deep fried dough, as explained by Taste Atlas (www.tasteatlas.com/perepichka). An image of U.S. President Biden was digitally altered to add a photo of a street food joint in Kyiv.

☆ Fact Check-Years-old video of tidal wave in South Africa wrongly linked to 2023 Turkey earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video showing waves lashing a beach in Durban, South Africa has been online since at least 2017. The clip has been miscaptioned online as if showing a tsunami in Turkey, following the devastating earthquake that struck the country on Feb. 6. Reuters geolocated the footage to South Beach, Durban, near a water park (goo.gl/maps/KQEspMDu21GyBLm68). Misinformation is often circulated online following catastrophic events. The video shows a heavy tidal wave on a beach in Durban, South Africa, and dates to 2017.

☆ Disney drops 'Simpsons' episode in Hong Kong in which character references 'forced labor camps' in China, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Disney dropped a "Simpsons" episode from its streaming service in Hong Kong, the FT first reported. Another Simpsons episode, referring to the Tiananmen Square massacre, was cut in Hong Kong in 2021. Beijing has sought to exert greater control over Hong Kong, a semiautonomous region of China, since pro-democracy protests erupted there in 2019. It's been accused among other things of conducting forced labor, surveillance, forced sterilization, and setting up re-education camps. Disney cut another episode of The Simpsons from its streaming service in Hong Kong in 2021.

☆ Trickery in the NFL May Be Wrong, but It Is Also Legendary
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Rich Cohen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lester Hayes of the Oakland Raiders covered with Stickum during the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 22, 1984In February, when the betting lines settle and the Super Bowl looms, my thoughts turn to Stickum, that viscus goo that once coated the hands, arms and jerseys of football players in search of an edge. Stickum—the color of butterscotch, the consistency of rubber cement—became commonplace in the woolly 1970s NFL, especially in Oakland, where the Raiders wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff raised its use to an art. Thus his one-handed and even no-handed catches. (I swear I once saw him snag a touchdown with his head.)

☆ Fact Check-Clip of tanks transported by railway was filmed in Kansas, not Poland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A video of tanks being carried by railway in a snowy landscape was recorded in central Kansas. Reuters could not independently confirm when the footage was recorded, but it does not depict tanks in Poland. The Jan. 26 post’s description states the clip was filmed on Jan. 24 in Kansas, “approximately one mile west of Gorham on Highway 40”. The user also shared another clip further showing a line of tanks in what appears to be the same road (here). This clip was filmed in Kansas, not Poland, and has been described in media reports as filmed on Jan. 24, 2023.

☆ Fact Check-Clip of 2021 military plane accident near Kubinka, Russia falsely attributed to Nepal crash in January 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A clip that featured in news reports of a military plane crash near Kubinka, Russia in August 2021 has been erroneously shared by users online saying it depicts an airplane crash in Nepal on Jan. 15. A reverse image search reveals that the clip featured in news reports of a military plane crash that occurred near the Kubinka airfield outside Moscow in August 2021 (here), (here), (here). Multiple geolocation factors confirm the clip was filmed near Kubinka. Given these angles, the video was likely filmed from an apartment block near Kubinka (55.602243, 36.694633), (archive.is/wip/gQ42t). The clip was featured in August 2021 news reports of a military plane crash near Kubinka airfield, Russia.

☆ Fact Check-Video of street shootout in Mexico between military and other vehicles predates Ovidio Guzman’s arrest in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The video has been online since at least Dec. 25, 2022 and appears to have been recorded in Tamaulipas, another Mexican state. “The Sinaloa Cartel Has launched wide scale retaliatory attacks against Mexican Security forces after the capture of Ovidio Guzmán. The video clip, however, predates his capture. Local media reports locating the video clip in Nuevo Laredo in the state of Tamaulipas are viewable (here), (here), (here), (here). The video clip does not show retaliatory attacks by the Sinaloa Cartel in January 2023.

LONDON/WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A Russian hacking team known as Cold River targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States this past summer, according to internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cyber security experts. Cold River has escalated its hacking campaign against Kyiv's allies since the invasion of Ukraine, according to cybersecurity researchers and western government officials. 'INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION'In May, Cold River broke into and leaked emails belonging to the former head of Britain's MI6 spy service. Reuters was unable independently to confirm why Cold River targeted the NGOs. "Google has tied this individual to the Russian hacking group Cold River and their early operations," he said.

☆ Fact Check-Footage of Tate brothers leaving Romanian anti-organized crime unit predates their December arrest
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Video showing Andrew and Tristan Tate walking out of the headquarters of Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) dates back to at least April 12, 2022. Pointing to a recent report by Romanian outlet Digi 24 about the brothers’ arrest on Dec. 29, which included undated b-roll footage, social media users falsely claimed that the ex-kickboxer and his brother were no longer detained. Examples of users misrepresenting the footage in the newscast are viewable on Twitter (here) and Facebook (here). “Andrew and Tristan Tate were NOT released tonight,” Constantin wrote via email on Dec. 30. Reuters previously addressed another months-old video being circulated as recent in relation to the Tate brothers’ arrest (here)VERDICTMissing context.

☆ The iconic Wednesday Addams dance gets a cultural twist from Asian TikTok creators
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

"Wednesday," a comedy horror show and the latest “Addams Family” spinoff, was released on the streaming service last week. It follows daughter Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega, as she navigates Nevermore Academy, her psychic abilities and a murder mystery. The dance scene, which shows Wednesday ghoulishly grooving at Nevermore Academy’s annual Rave’N dance, has mesmerized thousands on the app. She was also dressed in all black with a Polynesian dancing belt called a hip hei and her hair in a braided crown. The Addams Family consists of mother and father Gomez and Morticia; children Pugsley and Wednesday; butler Lurch; and extended family members Uncle Fester and Grandmama.

☆ Fact Check-Video does not show missile hitting Ukraine President Zelenskiy’s office
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A tweet dated Oct. 10 (here) that had 6,500 likes at the time of writing, shared the video with the claim: “ZELENSKY'S OFFICE WAS DESTROYED BY A MISSILE STRIKE: UKRAINIAN MEDIA”. Reuters found no evidence that the presidential office building in Kyiv was struck by a missile on this day. Kyiv City Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko released a statement on messaging app Telegram (here) listing the affected areas in Kyiv, which did not include the presidential office building. The area where the smoke is seen billowing from is likely close to Saksahanskoho St, behind a residential building (bit.ly/3SQOyWE), about two kilometers from the presidential office building on Bankova Street (bit.ly/3SQVdQT) (goo.gl/maps/ihUygBudbTguqi4z5). The video shows a missile strike in central Kyiv.

☆ Fact Check-Video shows a supermarket on fire in Birmingham, not a Hindu temple
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

According to users who shared the footage on Oct. 5, it shows a “temple burnt by muslim [sic]” during the Hindu festival of Navrati. West Midlands Police said the claims about the video were false. Reuters geolocated the footage to Zeenat Supermarket on Alum Rock Road, Birmingham (goo.gl/maps/E5hcsEzYjVB4iVRR9 ), which was indeed affected by a fire on Sept. 19, according to BBC News (here ). The section of the video showing people fighting outside Zeenat Supermarket is also nothing to do with religious tension, according to West Midlands Police. The video shows an accidental fire at a supermarket on Sept. 19, and a fight believed to be over parking cars.

☆ Australia's Scarborough project: Race and power collide in a fight over sacred rock art in remote Australia
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Hannah Ritchie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +21 min

More than a million drawings are etched onto rocks on Murujuga peninsula on the Western Australia coast. Resources extracted from the region have powered Australia’s economy and helped create some of the world’s largest mining and energy multinationals. Today, the fight for Murujuga’s rock art reflects long-standing and unresolved issues of race and power. Woodside Petroleum's Pluto development on Murujuga, Western Australia, June 2008. Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Peter Jeffries.

☆ 'Revealing' teen costumes, on-set massages, and a gender-discrimination complaint: Inside Dan Schneider's 'disgusting' Nickelodeon empire
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-30 | by ( Kate Taylor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

For many Nickelodeon actors, life at the network was surreal, the "Amanda Show" actor Raquel Lee told Insider. Schneider set up a meeting to discuss the situation. On the one hand, the success of Schneider's shows provided rare stability in a chaotic industry. None of Schneider's shows credited more than two female writers in the entirety of their runs; "Zoey 101" and "Drake & Josh" had zero. The writer wrote that Schneider once pressured her into simulating "being sodomized" while she was telling a story about high school, to her embarrassment.

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