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☆ I got inked by the world’s oldest tattoo artist
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-10 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Buscalan, Philippines CNN —The first sound I heard upon reaching Buscalan was that of heaving and panting. At 107 years old, Whang-Od is the world’s oldest tattoo artist. She was dressed in a loose, colorful tie-die shirt and bold patterned pants, her own tribal tattoos on full display. Photos, identification cards and other mementos left by visitors on the thatched roof of the hut where Whang-Od's grandnieces (and apprentices) tattoo. “(My friends who gave tattoos) have all passed away,” Whang-Od told CNN in an interview in 2017.

Persons: Philippines CNN —, didn’t, She’s, “, she’s, Girlie, Od, overworking, Kathleen Magramo, Emmett, —, ”, Kent Donguines, Emmett Sparling, Lars Krutak, Hunter, Michelle Dee, Whang, batok, Krutak, ” Krutak, ” Whang, that’s, I’m, Grace Palicas Organizations: Philippines CNN, CNN, American Catholic, Rice, Warner Bros, Vogue Philippines, Miss Universe Philippines, Wigan Locations: Philippines, Buscalan, Kalinga, Canadian, Manila

☆ In States That Won’t Pay for Obesity Drugs, ‘They May as Well Have Never Been Created’
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Oliver Whang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Joanna Bailey, a family physician and obesity specialist, doesn’t want to tell her patients that they can’t take Wegovy, but she has gotten used to it. Around a quarter of the people she sees in her small clinic in Wyoming County would benefit from the weight-loss medications known as GLP-1s, which also include Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro, she says. The drugs have helped some of them lose 15 to 20 percent of their weight. But most people in the area she serves don’t have insurance that covers the cost, and virtually no one can afford sticker prices of $1,000 to $1,400 a month. “Even my richest patients can’t afford it,” Dr. Bailey said.

Persons: Joanna Bailey, ” Dr, Bailey Organizations: West Virginia —, West Virginia’s Public Employees Insurance Agency Locations: Wyoming, West Virginia

☆ 102-year-old Holocaust survivor is Vogue Germany’s cover star
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Lianne Kolirin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A 102-year-old Holocaust survivor whose family was murdered at Auschwitz is the cover star for the July/August edition of Vogue Germany. In her interview with Vogue Germany, Friedländer said: “I am grateful. To many she is known as a Holocaust survivor. Friedländer told Vogue Germany that she was “appalled” by the growth of right-wing populism and the rise of antisemitic attacks. That this never comes to happen again.”Although more than 100 years old, Friedländer is not Vogue’s oldest cover model.

Persons: Margot Friedländer, née Bendheim, Friedländer, Ralph, ” Friedländer, ”, “, they’d, Kerstin Weng, Mark Peckmezian, Weng, ’ Friedländer, Adolf, Apo, Maria Oggay Organizations: CNN, Vogue Germany, Berlin’s Jewish, Gestapo, Nazi, Vogue, Federal Locations: Auschwitz, Berlin, Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, Nazi Germany, “, New York, Vogue Philippines

☆ South Korean nuclear power plants are both safe and economically viable: KHNP
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSouth Korean nuclear power plants are both safe and economically viable: KHNPJooho Whang, president and CEO of state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, explains why nuclear power has to be the country's "backbone."

Persons: Whang Organizations: Korea Hydro & Nuclear

☆ ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Downton Abbey’ star Maggie Smith, 88, is the face of Loewe’s new campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Dame Maggie Smith, the British actress acclaimed for her appearances both on stage and in cinema, has taken on a new role — and this time it’s in the world of luxury fashion. Loewe has cast the 88-year-old, known for roles such as Professor McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” film franchise, in its spring/summer 2024 pre-collection campaign. The pointed hat and cape of Hogwarts are a distant memory as Smith sports three cosy and stylish looks for the campaign. In another, Smith is adorned in a floor-length faux fur coat and holds Loewe’s signature Puzzle bag. The actress is one of several older women who have fronted fashion lines and magazine covers in recent years.

Persons: Maggie Smith, Loewe, McGonagall, Harry Potter, Smith, Juergen Teller, Dakota Fanning, Greta Lee, Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, Taeyong, Rachel Jones, Fei Fei Sun, Heartstopper, Sebastian Croft, Jonathan Anderson, “, Juergen Teller Smith —, Countess Violet Crawley, —, Oscar, Miss Jean Brodie, ”, Apo, Od, Dame Judi Dench Organizations: CNN, Loewe Creative, Broadway, Vogue Philippines, British Vogue Locations: British, Hogwarts, American, South Korean, ”, California

☆ How to Tell if Your A.I. Is Conscious
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Oliver Whang | More About Oliver Whang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The report argues that any one of these features could, potentially, be an essential part of what it means to be conscious. And, if we’re able to discern these traits in a machine, then we might be able to consider the machine conscious. And the authors of the recent report are quick to note that theirs is not a definitive list of what makes one conscious. In principle, according to this view, a pinball machine could be conscious, if it were made much more complex. (That might mean it’s not a pinball machine anymore; let’s cross that bridge if we come to it.)

Persons: neuroscientists

At 106, Apo Whang-od is the oldest known person practicing batok, a traditional tattooing technique that dates back 1,000 years in the Philippines. These tattoos were once badges of honor to warriors who protected the land. But centuries of colonization from the West made this art nearly obsolete. For more information on Spiritual Journey Tattoo, visit its website.

Locations: Philippines

☆ Do Supermodels Age, or Just Get Airbrushed?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Vanessa Friedman | More About Vanessa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Look, how she defies age! And it is possible that the magazine is simply depicting the women as they want to be shown. According to a Vogue spokeswoman, though, “Vogue retains final editorial control of the creative, fashion and video shoots that appear on any of its platforms.”Certainly, images of models at every age are retouched (sometimes ridiculously so). And there is no question that the former supes look extraordinary for their age. When looking at photos of teenagers and 20-somethings, it is possible to delude yourself into accepting the impossibly flawless nature of what you see.

Persons: Carmen Dell’Orefice, Apo, Naomi Campbell Organizations: Vogue Czechoslovakia, Vogue Philippines, Vogue

☆ I gave up my $2,100 apartment in Los Angeles and have been living as a digital nomad for 4 months. There are 4 major lessons I've learned along the way.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Daniel Ferrer traded in the life of a desk worker for life on the road as a digital nomad. I didn't start out intending to be a digital nomad. Throughout my travels, I'm been working full-time as a customer success manager at a software company based in Los Angeles. Here are four life lessons I've learned from my time as a digital nomad. Being a digital nomad made me realize that I'm better off experiencing life than wearing myself down making as much money as I can.

Persons: Daniel Ferrer, Daniel, I'm, I've, Instagram Daniel Ferrer, Pamplona Bull, Daniel Ferrer The, Daniel Ferrer The Pamplona Bull, Oslo Pride Daniel Ferrer, we're, you'll, Ferrero Rocher, Apo, it's, who's Organizations: Service, Social, Oslo Pride, Vogue Locations: Wall, Silicon, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Southeast Asia, Europe, Central, South America, Pamplona, Daniel Ferrer The Pamplona, Kuala Lumpur, Instagram, Norway, Buscalan, Philippines

Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a renowned neuroscientist, announced on Wednesday that he would step down from his position as president of Stanford University, after the release of an external review of his scientific work found fault with several high-profile journal articles published under his purview. A committee drafted the review in response to allegations that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne was involved in scientific misconduct. In its report, which focused on 12 academic papers, the committee said there was no evidence that Dr. Tessier-Lavigne had knowingly falsified data or withheld such information from the public. In response, Dr. Tessier-Lavigne vowed to retract three of the five articles, request major corrections for two and step down from his position as president. “I am gratified that the panel concluded I did not engage in any fraud or falsification of scientific data,” Dr. Tessier-Lavigne said in a statement, adding: “Although I was unaware of these issues, I want to be clear that I take responsibility for the work of my lab members.”

Persons: Marc Tessier, Lavigne, Tessier, Randy Schekman, Shirley Tilghman, Dr . Tessier, . Tessier, “, Dr, ” Organizations: Stanford University, Physiology, Princeton University

☆ The Race to Make A.I. Smaller (and Smarter)
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Oliver Whang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Large language models like ChatGPT and Bard, which generate conversational, original text, improve as they are fed more data. Also, bigger language models are harder to understand. In January, a group of young academics working in natural language processing — the branch of A.I. The group called for teams to create functional language models ‌using data sets that are less than one-ten-thousandth the size of those used by the most advanced large language models. A successful mini-model would be nearly as capable as the high-end models but much smaller, more accessible and ‌more compatible with humans.

☆ Why Do We Listen to Sad Songs?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Oliver Whang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Maybe sad songs have a similarly dual nature, thought Dr. Knobe and his former student, Tara Venkatesan, a cognitive scientist and operatic soprano. Certainly, research has found that our emotional response to music is multidimensional; you’re not just happy when you listen to a beautiful song, nor simply made sad by a sad one. In 2016, a survey of 363 listeners found that emotional responses to sad songs fell roughly into three categories: grief, including powerful negative feelings like anger, terror and despair; melancholia, a gentle sadness, longing or self-pity; and sweet sorrow, a pleasant pang of consolation or appreciation. (The researchers called their study “Fifty Shades of Blue.”)Given the layers of emotion and the imprecision of language, it’s perhaps no wonder that sad music lands as a paradox. “All our lives we’ve learned to map the relationships between our emotions and what we sound like,” said Tuomas Eerola, a musicologist at Durham University in England and a researcher on the “Fifty Shades” study.

☆ Can Artistry Be Built Into a Machine?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Oliver Whang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

One day recently, on a table in Jean Oh’s lab in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, a robot arm was busy at a canvas. Her doctoral student, Peter Schaldenbrand, stood alongside. In recent years, Mr. Schaldenbrand has led an effort to bridge the sim-to-real gap between sophisticated image-generation programs like Stable Diffusion and physical works of art like drawings and paintings. This has mainly been manifest in the project known as FRIDA, the latest iteration of which was rhythmically whirring away in a corner of the lab. The process of moving from language prompts to pixelated images to brushstrokes can be complicated, as the robot must account for “the noise of the real world,” Dr. Oh said.

☆ A.I. Is Getting Better at Mind-Reading
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Oliver Whang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Monday, scientists from the University of Texas, Austin, made another step in that direction. In a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the researchers described an A.I. But the new language decoder is one of the first to not rely on implants. “This isn’t just a language stimulus,” said Alexander Huth, a neuroscientist at the university who helped lead the research. “We’re getting at meaning, something about the idea of what’s happening.

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