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☆ The Sea Captain Who Ran From Abraham Lincoln
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Dorothy Wickenden | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

SHIPWRECKED: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade, by Jonathan W. WhiteWho was Appleton Oaksmith? One contemporary described him as a “good seaman, & a bold & daring officer.” His enemies, President Abraham Lincoln among them, judged him a scoundrel and a traitor. As a young seafaring adventurer in the 1850s, Oaksmith armed mercenaries in Nicaragua and joined the liberation movement in Cuba. After Lincoln took office, in 1861, Oaksmith became a shipping agent, outfitting old whaling ships. Whaling was in decline, so, it was assumed, the people who bought and fitted whalers were likely slavers.

Persons: Jonathan W, White, Appleton, ”, Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln, Oaksmith Organizations: Slave, Tammany Hall Democrat, Whaling Locations: Jailbreaks, Nicaragua, Cuba, North

July 21 (Reuters) - Alabama executed a man early on Friday for beating an elderly woman to death two decades ago, the state's first execution since Governor Kay Ivey lifted a suspension on capital punishment in February following a review. Barber argued to the United States Court of Appeals that his execution should be halted because he is at substantial risk of serious harm and "torture" under current protocols. Legal and ethical questions have swirled around capital punishment in the United States after several lethal injections have been botched in recent years. The number of executions in the United States has drastically fallen since 1999, when a record 98 executions were carried out. Capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976.

Persons: Kay Ivey, James Barber, William Holman, Barber, Dorothy Epps, Ivey, Brendan O'Brien, Daniel Trotta, Gursimran Kaur, Bharat Govind Gautam, Sandra Maler, Andrew Heavens Organizations: William, William Holman Correctional, U.S, Supreme, Republican, Department of Corrections, United States, of Appeals, Thomson Locations: Alabama, . U.S, Atmore , Alabama, Harvest , Alabama, United States, Chicago

☆ Alabama to put inmate to death, state's first execution since suspension
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Brendan O'Brien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Barber argued to the United States Court of Appeals that his execution should be halted because he is at substantial risk of serious harm and "torture" under current protocols. Legal and ethical questions have swirled around capital punishment in the United States after several lethal injections have been botched in recent years. The number of executions in the United States has drastically fallen since 1999, when a record 98 executions were carried out. Capital punishment was reinstated in the United States in 1976. Over the last five years, a total of 78 death row inmates have been executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Persons: Kay Ivey, James Barber, William Holman, Dorothy Epps, Ivey, Barber, Brendan O'Brien, Sandra Maler Organizations: William, William Holman Correctional, Republican, Department of Corrections, United States, of Appeals, Thomson Locations: Alabama, Atmore , Alabama, Harvest , Alabama, United States, Chicago

☆ Bruce Lee's legacy squares up to modern life in Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Tyrone Siu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Filed: July 17, 2023, 11 p.m. GMTFifty years after the death of Bruce Lee, who galvanised the imaginations of generations of young people worldwide with feats of kung fu immortalised on screen, it sometimes seems as if his legacy of the martial art he practiced is fading in Hong Kong. Born in San Francisco but brought up in the Asian financial hub which would make him famous, Lee died of brain edema aged 32 on July 20, 1973, just six days before the release of “Enter the Dragon”, his most popular film. “He was exceptionally talented and it’s a shame he passed away at such a young age,” said 60-year-old Dorothy Tam, whose hair is now graying, as she punched a sandbag in a small martial arts school covered with bamboo scaffolding in western Kowloon.

Persons: Bruce Lee, Lee, ”, Dorothy Tam Locations: Hong Kong, San Francisco, Kowloon

☆ Factbox: List of Wimbledon women's singles champions
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - List of Wimbledon women's singles champions:2023 Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) beat Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) 6-4 6-42022 Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) beat Jabeur (Tunisia) 3-6 6-2 6-22021 Ash Barty (Australia) beat Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-7(4) 6-32020 Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic2019 Simona Halep (Romania) beat Serena Williams (U.S.) 6-2 6-22018 Angelique Kerber (Germany) beat Serena Williams (U.S.) 6-3 6-32017 Garbine Muguruza (Spain) beat Venus Williams (U.S.) 7-5 6-02016 Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Kerber (Germany) 7-5 6-32015 Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Muguruza (Spain) 6-4 6-42014 Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-3 6-02013 Marion Bartoli (France) beat Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-1 6-42012 Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6-1 5-7 6-22011 Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Maria Sharapova (Russia) 6-3 6-42010 Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 6-3 6-22009 Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Venus Williams (U.S.) 7-6(3) 6-22008 Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Serena Williams (U.S.) 7-5 6-42007 Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Bartoli (France) 6-4 6-12006 Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat Justine Henin (Belgium) 2-6 6-3 6-42005 Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) 4-6 7-6(4)9-72004 Sharapova (Russia) beat Serena Williams (U.S.) 6-1 6-42003 Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Venus Williams (U.S.) 4-6 6-4 6-22002 Serena Williams (U.S.) beat Venus Williams (U.S.) 7-6(4) 6-32001 Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Henin (Belgium) 6-1 3-6 6-02000 Venus Williams (U.S.) beat Davenport (U.S.) 6-3 7-6(3)1999 Davenport (U.S.) beat Steffi Graf (Germany) 6-4 7-51998 Jana Novotna (Czech Republic) beat Nathalie Tauziat (France) 6-4 7-6(2)1997 Martina Hingis (Switzerland) beat Novotna (Czech Republic) 2-6 6-3 6-31996 Graf (Germany) beat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spain) 6-3 7-51995 Graf (Germany) beat Sanchez Vicario (Spain) 4-6 6-1 7-51994 Conchita Martinez (Spain) beat Martina Navratilova (U.S.) 6-4 3-6 6-31993 Graf (Germany) beat Novotna (Czech Republic) 7-6(6) 1-6 6-41992 Graf (Germany) beat Monica Seles (Yugoslavia) 6-2 6-11991 Graf (Germany) beat Gabriela Sabatini (Argentina) 6-4 3-6 8-61990 Navratilova (U.S.) beat Zina Garrison (U.S.) 6-4 6-11989 Graf (Germany) beat Navratilova (U.S.) 6-2 6-7(1) 6-11988 Graf (Germany) beat Navratilova (U.S.) 5-7 6-2 6-11987 Navratilova (U.S.) beat Graf (Germany) 7-5 6-31986 Navratilova (U.S.) beat Hana Mandlikova (Czechoslovakia) 7-6(1) 6-31985 Navratilova (U.S.) beat Chris Evert Lloyd (U.S.) 4-6 6-3 6-21984 Navratilova (U.S.) beat Evert Lloyd (U.S.) 7-6(5) 6-21983 Navratilova (U.S.) beat Andrea Jaeger (U.S.) 6-0 6-31982 Navratilova (U.S.) beat Evert Lloyd (U.S.) 6-1 3-6 6-21981 Evert Lloyd (U.S.) beat Mandlikova (Czechoslovakia) 6-2 6-21980 Evonne Goolagong Cawley (Australia) beat Evert Lloyd (U.S.) 6-1 7-6(4)1979 Navratilova (Czechoslovakia) beat Evert Lloyd (U.S.) 6-4 6-41978 Navratilova (Czechoslovakia) beat Evert Lloyd (U.S.) 2-6 6-4 7-51977 Virginia Wade (Britain) beat Betty Stove (Netherlands) 4-6 6-3 6-11976 Evert Lloyd (U.S.) beat Cawley (Australia) 6-3 4-6 8-61975 Billie Jean King (Moffitt) (U.S.) beat Cawley (Australia) 6-0 6-11974 Evert (U.S.) beat Olga Morozova (Soviet Union) 6-0 6-41973 King (U.S.) beat Evert (U.S.) 6-0 7-51972 King (U.S.) beat Cawley (Australia) 6-3 6-31971 Cawley (Australia) beat Margaret Court (Smith) (Australia) 6-4 6-11970 Court (Australia) beat King (U.S.) 14-12 11-91969 Ann Jones (Britain) beat King (U.S.) 3-6 6-3 6-21968 King (U.S.) beat Judy Tegart (Australia) 9-7 7-5Pre-Open era:1967 King (U.S.) beat Jones (Britain) 6-3 6-41966 King (U.S.) beat Maria Bueno (Brazil) 6-3 3-6 6-11965 Smith (Court) (Australia) beat Bueno (Brazil) 6-4 7-51964 Bueno (Brazil) beat Smith (Australia) 6-4 7-9 6-31963 Smith (Australia) beat Moffitt (King) (U.S.) 6-3 6-41962 Karen Susman (U.S.) beat Vera Sukova (Czechoslovakia)6-4 6-41961 Angela Mortimer (Britain) beat Christine Truman (Britain) 4-6 6-4 7-51960 Bueno (Brazil) beat Sandra Reynolds (South Africa) 8-6 6-01959 Bueno (Brazil) beat Darlene Hard (U.S.) 6-4 6-31958 Althea Gibson (U.S.) beat Mortimer (Britain) 8-6 6-21957 Gibson (U.S.) beat Hard (U.S.) 6-3 6-21956 Shirley Fry (U.S.) beat Angela Buxton (Britain) 6-3 6-11955 Louise Brough (U.S.) beat Beverly Fleitz (U.S.) 7-5 8-61954 Maureen Connolly (U.S.) beat Brough (U.S.) 6-2 7-51953 Connolly (U.S.) beat Doris Hart (U.S.) 8-6 7-51952 Connolly (U.S.) beat Brough (U.S.) 7-5 6-31951 Hart (U.S.) beat Fry (U.S.) 6-1 6-01950 Brough (U.S.) beat Margaret du Pont (Osborne) (U.S.) 6-1 3-6 6-11949 Brough (U.S.) beat Du Pont (U.S.) 10-8 1-6 10-81948 Brough (U.S.) beat Hart (U.S.) 6-3 8-61947 Osborne (U.S.) beat Hart (U.S.) 6-2 6-41946 Pauline Betz (U.S.) beat Brough (U.S.) 6-2 6-41940-45 No competition1939 Alice Marble (U.S.) beat Kay Stammers (Britain) 6-2 6-01938 Helen Moody (Wills) (U.S.) beat Helen Jacobs (U.S.) 6-4 6-01937 Dorothy Round (Britain) beat Jadwiga Jedr

Persons: Vondrousova, Elena Rybakina, Ash Barty, Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep, Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber, Muguruza, Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova, Eugenie Bouchard, Marion Bartoli, Sabine Lisicki, Agnieszka Radwanska, Kvitova, Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva, Bartoli, Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport, Sharapova, Davenport, Steffi Graf, Jana Novotna, Nathalie Tauziat, Martina Hingis, Novotna, Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Sanchez Vicario, Conchita Martinez, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Gabriela Sabatini, Navratilova, Zina Garrison, Hana Mandlikova, Chris Evert Lloyd, Evert Lloyd, Andrea Jaeger, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Virginia Wade, Betty Stove, Cawley, Billie Jean King, Moffitt, Evert, Olga Morozova, King, Margaret Court, Smith, Ann Jones, Judy Tegart, Jones, Maria Bueno, Bueno, Karen Susman, Vera Sukova, Angela Mortimer, Christine Truman, Sandra Reynolds, Darlene Hard, Althea Gibson, Mortimer, Gibson, Shirley Fry, Angela Buxton, Louise Brough, Beverly Fleitz, Maureen Connolly, Connolly, Doris Hart, Hart, Fry, Brough, Margaret du Pont, Osborne, Du Pont, Pauline Betz, Alice Marble, Kay Stammers, Helen Moody, Wills, Helen Jacobs, Dorothy Round, Jadwiga Jedrzejowska, Jacobs, Hilde Sperling, Moody, Cilly Aussem, Hilde Krahwinkel, Elizabeth Ryan, Lili de Alvarez, De Alvarez, Kathleen Godfree, Suzanne Lenglen, Joan Fry, Kathleen McKane, Molla Mallory, Dorothea Chambers, Chambers, Ethel Larcombe, Winifred McNair, Charlotte Sterry, Dora Boothby, Boothby, Agnes Morton, Morton, Sutton, Dorothea Douglass, Douglass, Sterry, Thomson, Muriel Robb, Blanche Hillyard, Hillyard, Charlotte Cooper, Cooper, Louisa Martin 6, Alice Pickering, Helen Jackson, Edith Austin, Lottie Dod, Dod, Lena Rice, May, Bingley, Maud Watson, Watson, Lillian Watson, Aadi Nair, Ed Osmond Organizations: Wimbledon, Henin, Davenport, Graf, Evert, King, Brough, Wills, Rice, Bingley, Thomson Locations: Czech Republic, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Jabeur, Australia, Romania, Germany, Spain, Kerber, Muguruza, Canada, France, Poland, Russia, Belgium, U.S, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Mandlikova, Britain, Netherlands, Soviet Union, Brazil, South Africa, McKane, Bingley, Bengaluru

☆ Taliban compounds misery for women in Afghanistan with order to close all beauty salons
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The impending closure of beauty salons further diminishes the freedom of women and delivers a harsh economic blow to families who rely on them for income. An Afghan beautician attends to a customer at a beauty salon in Mazar-i-Sharif on June 27, 2023. My husband is jobless and this beauty salon is the only means to feed my family. “I don’t understand why beauty salons should be banned. According to their report, women are banned from working in most sectors outside the home, and are prohibited from attending public baths, parks, and gyms.

Persons: Mohammad Sidik Akif, Afghan beautician, Sharif, “, ”, Richard Bennett, Dorothy Estrada, Tanck, they’re, who’ve, Markus Potzel, Afghanistan’s “ Organizations: CNN, Ministry, United Nations, Getty, UN Locations: Afghanistan, United States, Afghan, Mazar, AFP, Kabul

☆ China is set to shatter its wind and solar target five years early, new report finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Caolán Magee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —China is on track to double its wind and solar energy capacity and hit its 2030 clean energy targets five years early, a new report has found. Solar capacity in China is now greater than the rest of the world combined. “China is rapidly and successfully scaling up its deployment of renewable power and has become the largest investor into renewables globally. This is both a cause and consequence of rapidly falling costs of renewable energy as compared to coal power,” he said. Tsang hopes that relative cheapness of renewable energy will persuade China to kick its coal habit.

Persons: Dorothy Mei, ” Martin Weil, Xi, Greg Baker, Byford Tsang, ”, Tsang Organizations: CNN, Global Energy Monitor, Center for Research, Energy, Clean Air, Getty, IEA Locations: China, Beijing, AFP, ERG

☆ Basketball star Gradey Dick dazzles in ‘Wizard of Oz’ themed suit at NBA draft
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Ben Church | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The former Kansas Jayhawks guard-forward was chosen as the No.13 pick by the Toronto Raptors but it was his choice of outfit that stole the headlines. In addition to the ruby suit, Dick also wore shoes with red soles and a silver chain. “I’m from Kansas,” Dick said ahead of the NBA draft ceremony. Dick was chosen as the 13th pick by the Toronto Raptors on Thursday. His popularity is only set to soar and he’s already been noticed by celebrity A-listers, with Canadian rapper and Toronto Raptors fan Drake following him on Instagram.

Persons: Gradey Dick didn’t, ‘, Oz, Dick, I’m, ” Dick, “ You’ve, Dorothy, Dorothy Gale, Judy Garland, Toto, Auntie, Uncle Henry, “ I’m, ”, Carmen, Sarah Stier, TikTok, Drake, “ Organizations: CNN, NBA, Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets, Kansas Jayhawks, Toronto Raptors, “, Iowa State, Jayhawks, University, Kansas, Raptors Locations: New York, Kansas, Wichita , Kansas

☆ Pink Floyd, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and More: The Week in Reporter Reads
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last October, when Roger Waters brought his “This Is Not a Drill” tour through Austin, Texas, he also took the time to record a nearly three-hour appearance on the podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.” During the episode, Rogan said he had to ask Waters — the former lead lyricist, bassist and co-lead vocalist for Pink Floyd — about the synchronicity that arises from watching “The Wizard of Oz” while listening to “The Dark Side of the Moon.”This phenomenon is sometimes called “The Dark Side of the Rainbow”: If you start the album at just the right time, the music and lyrics uncannily align with the movie’s visuals. Some coincidences are lyrical, as when Dorothy runs away from home at the line “No one told you when to run.” Some are tonal, as when the tornado sequence seems practically choreographed to Clare Torry’s wordless vocals in “The Great Gig in the Sky” — rising to a frenzy as the twister rolls in and then shifting to dreaminess just as Dorothy is knocked unconscious. Charlie Savage, who wrote the first article about the phenomenon as a summer intern at The Journal Gazette in his hometown, Fort Wayne, Ind., looks back at the discovery he made known when he was 19. ◆ ◆ ◆Written and narrated by Sheryl Gay Stolberg

Persons: Roger Waters, Joe Rogan, Rogan, Waters, Pink Floyd —, Oz, Dorothy, Clare Torry’s, “, Charlie Savage, ◆, Sheryl Gay Stolberg Organizations: The, Gazette Locations: Austin , Texas, Fort Wayne, Ind

☆ Pink Floyd, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and Me
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Charlie Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

Muted tk tkLike other band members have done consistently over the years, Waters denied that Pink Floyd intentionally structured its 1973 album to align with the 1939 film. Before my article, “The Dark Side of the Rainbow” was just a word-of-mouth thing on an early internet message board. I mostly listened to alternative rock in those days, but Pink Floyd’s Usenet group had a hold on me. I shared that page on the Usenet group and added it to a Pink Floyd “Web ring” — a system in which people with related pages linked to one another. The article page was logging hundreds, then thousands, and eventually tens of thousands of visitors.

Persons: Floyd, ‘, Oz ’, ”, Roger Waters, Joe Rogan, Waters, Noam Chomsky, Rogan, Pink Floyd —, Oz, Dorothy, Clare Torry’s, “, Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons, Willie Nelson, ” Waters, ” Rogan, “ I’ve, it’s, I’m, floyd, Kurt Cobain, Toto, Marvel, grooving, Dave Gilmour, Pink, Kurt Loder, Oz ”, “ Akira ” —, Dorothy tiptoeing, perversely Organizations: The, Gazette, New York Times, Hoosier, MGM, Miss, Journal Gazette, Columbia Records, Dave Gilmour & Co, MTV, New York Daily News, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, YouTube Locations: Austin , Texas, Louisiana, Fort Wayne, Ind, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Indiana, Boston, York

☆ Residents in for months-long displacement as Philippine volcano spews lava, gases
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Lava flows from Mount Mayon volcano, in Daraga, Philippines June 11, 2023, in this picture obtained from social media. Incandescent lava was seen flowing slowly from the mouth of the 2,462-metre (8,077-foot) Mayon volcano, which was placed on a high alert level last week following seismic tremors and hundreds of rockfall events. Authorities said people living further away from the volcano should also be ready for possible evacuation, with the police placing checkpoints to prevent residents from returning. Dorothy Colle, a provincial tourism official, said while the no-go zone was being enforced, people were still flocking to observation stations to witness lava flows, which appear particularly bright at night. Its most destructive eruption came in February 1841when lava flows buried a town and killed 1,200 people.

Persons: Nehemiah Manzanilla Sitiar, Bacolcol, Larry Llenaresas, Westrimundo Obinque, Mayon, Dorothy Colle, Neil Jerome Morales, Kanupriya Kapoor Organizations: REUTERS, Authorities, Thomson Locations: Mount Mayon, Daraga, Philippines, REUTERS MANILA, Albay

☆ Wicked movie: Cynthia Erivo says she 'fell to tears' after filming emotional musical number on set
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Cynthia Erivo shared a moving message about her experience so far filming the “Wicked” movie and the flood of emotions she felt after shooting a musical number. Posting a photo on her verified Instagram page of her long green nails and a movie script for the two-part film, Erivo, who plays the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, said her heart “broke open and tears fell” after she finished filming scenes for the song, “I’m Not That Girl.”“I thought of us, the ones who often feel like they’re on the outside. The ones who don’t know that their differences, oddities, quirks are what make them beautiful and special. Jon M. Chu directs, with Ariana Grande starring as Glinda alongside Erivo’s Elphaba. Jeff Goldblum, Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey and Bowen Yang round out the cast.

Persons: Cynthia Erivo, “, ”, ” Erivo, Oz, Elphaba, Jon M, Chu, Ariana Grande, Glinda, Erivo’s Elphaba, Jeff Goldblum, Oscar, Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Bowen Yang, you’ll, Jon, Ari Organizations: CNN, Broadway Locations: Oz

☆ Sologamy: Why these women married themselves
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Its adherents may be on to something, this expert saysThe concept of self-marriage, or sologamy, has been around for years. No data exists on how many people celebrate sologamy with ceremonies, but the practice has been explored in a handful of recent news articles. CNN talked to four women who’ve married themselves. Sologamy is not legally binding in the US and is not recognized by the laws of any country. Fideli’s message to younger women struggling with self-esteem issues: It’s never too late to love yourself.

☆ The ‘Doughnut Dollies’ of World War II
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Nell Freudenberger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Urrea has a weakness for melodramatic imagery: a volume of Shakespeare with a bullet lodged in its pages, a G.I. But we need to be absolutely enmeshed in a character’s consciousness to witness something on the order of Buchenwald through her eyes. During the Battle of the Bulge, in January 1945, Irene and Dorothy take a bottle of Champagne to gunners operating a howitzer cannon. Like many veterans of war, Irene and Dorothy keep their memories to themselves after they return to civilian life. Even as Urrea tells the Clubmobilers’ story, he recognizes that some parts of their experience remain impossible to share with those who weren’t there.

☆ How the technology behind ChatGPT could make mind-reading a reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Neuroscientists at the University of Texas in Austin have figured out a way to translate scans of brain activity into words using the very same artificial intelligence technology that powers the groundbreaking chatbot ChatGPT. Before entering the fMRI machine, CNN correspondent Donie O'Sullivan was given specialized earphones to listen to an audiobook during his brain scan. While the technology is still in its infancy and shows great promise, the limitations might be a source of relief to some. While the technology at the moment only works in very limited cases, that might not always be the case. “Technology can improve and that could change how well we can decode and change whether decoders require a person’s cooperation.”

Persons: ”, It’s, ” Alexander Huth, ” Huth, Huth, Dorothy, Donie O'Sullivan, CNN Huth, can’t, Jerry Tang, ” Tang, “, Sam Altman, Altman, Tang Organizations: CNN, University of Texas, UT Austin Locations: Austin , Texas, Austin, San Francisco, Texas

☆ The Good (Even Saintly) Ship Dorothy Day
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Dan Barry | Todd Heisler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

How she settled in a Staten Island cottage in 1924 and two years later gave birth to a daughter, Tamar. How her embrace of Catholicism helped to end her common-law marriage to a biologist who rejected religion. How she remained a steadfast pacifist, protested against nuclear armament and was repeatedly jailed, the last time after picketing with striking farm workers in California, when she was 75. How she struggled with her flaws, doubts and depression, but kept a charted course. “We have all known the long loneliness, and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes in community,” she once wrote.

☆ Shermane Billingsley, Guardian of the Stork Club’s Legacy, Dies at 78
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Sam Roberts | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Shermane Billingsley was barely 2 years old when the Broadway gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen revealed that Shermane was bedridden with a fever of 104. Less than a year later, Walter Winchell reported that Shermane had vamped to an inquiring columnist, “I will break your heart someday with my big blue eyes!”She was still a tot when Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer and movie Tarzan, was about to present her with a bunny on live television but froze; she filled the void by ad-libbing, “You know, my father once gave me two rabbits, and in a short time I had 200.”Shermane Billingsley, who died on April 16 in a Manhattan hospital, was the last living link to the storied Manhattan nightspot that made her such endearing fodder for the society pages, the Stork Club. She was the youngest daughter of its impresario, Sherman Billingsley, and after the club closed in 1965, she became the faithful guardian of its legacy for nearly six decades. Her son Austin Billingsley Drill said she died of cancer at 78. The family delayed the announcement of her death until this month, he said, to give them time to mourn.

☆ Minnesota man indicted over theft of Judy Garland’s ‘The Wizard of Oz’ slippers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Tina Burnside | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —US authorities have charged a man in connection with the theft of a pair of ruby red slippers worn by actress Judy Garland as Dorothy in the 1939 classic movie “The Wizard of Oz” nearly 20 years after they were stolen from a museum in Minnesota. Judy Garland is thought to have used at least seven different pairs of ruby slippers on the set of the 1939 classic. ShutterstockIn August 2005, authorities said a thief broke into the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota before smashing a glass display case and stealing the slippers. Regarded as among most recognizable items of memorabilia in American film history, the red slippers were, in the movie, gifted to Dorothy by Glinda the Good Witch. WCCOIt is not known how many pairs of ruby slippers Garland wore during filming, though the stolen shoes were among four remaining ones known to have survived.

☆ The Los Angeles Opera, Post-Plácido Domingo
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Adam Nagourney | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It survived the downturn without running a deficit, relying on salary reductions, a handful of layoffs, a $5 million five-year loan against the endowment, and federal aid. Domingo’s downfall stunned Los Angeles and its opera company, which had been so closely identified with the star tenor, who had been singing there since the 1960s and was instrumental in the creation of the company. It is difficult to say precisely whether attendance was affected by the departure of Domingo, given that the coronavirus shutdown followed so soon afterward. For many years his performances had drawn the biggest crowds, and his image was as integral to the company’s marketing as Gustavo Dudamel’s is for its neighbor, the Los Angeles Philharmonic. “It is unmistakably a loss because he’s such a titanic figure in the world,” Koelsch said.

☆ New York City choking death revives debate over subway crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Julia Harte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The overall subway crime rate spiked in April 2020, as COVID-19 gripped New York, but city statistics show the daily rate fell back to pre-pandemic levels by mid-2021. Robbery and grand larceny, the other most common types of major subway crime, dropped during the same period. But the data does not show how often the assailants or victims are homeless, according to Herrmann. "The problem is people are conflating homelessness with crime," said Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director at Riders Alliance, a grassroots organization that advocates for city subway reform. Republican Lee Zeldin highlighted grisly city subway crimes in last year's gubernatorial election, prompting Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul to also focus on anti-crime policies in her campaign.

Jeremy Selwyn/WPA Pool/Getty Images Camilla stands next to Queen Elizabeth II during a Diamond Jubilee pageant on the River Thames in June 2012. Chris Jackson/Getty Images From left, Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attend the state opening of Parliament in May 2013. From left are Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Duchess Catherine, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William. Frank Augstein/WPA Pool/Getty Images In pictures: Britain's Queen Camilla Prev NextShe reportedly met Prince Charles at a polo match in Windsor in 1970 and they became friends. From left are Camilla, Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis, Duchess Catherine, Princess Charlotte, Prince George and Prince William.

She pulled $30,000 from her retirement savings and was planning to give herself all of 2022 to expand the small catering business she had always dreamed about. Then, that month, she received the news that medics were pulling her father out of his car. The collision splintered the bone in his left thigh down to his knee; three days later, a metal rod held the broken pieces together. In hindsight, there were warning signs that her father’s health could upend Schofield’s life. The social-work scholar Dorothy A. Miller once described this as the “peculiar position” in the modern American nuclear family, between the care people give to their aging parents and to their children.

☆ Bears, Binoculars and Bucket-List Birds: A 15-Day Tour in Ecuador
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Dorothy Spears | Alexis Rockman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a 4:30 a.m. breakfast at the Sani Lodge, where our group was staying, my husband, Alexis, and I pulled on our rubber boots. Our birding guide, Jeison Gualinga, whistled for a canoe while flashing his light among the reeds by the main dock. Our birding trip in Ecuador arose like a bird call, by word of mouth. Our friend Olaf Soltau, a devout birder, was tipped off by a respected birder friend to enlist Pablo Barrera of Adventures Columbia to coordinate a tour. Our trip would culminate with five days in the Yasuní National Park, whose humid green jungles are a birding paradise.

☆ Opinion: Harry Belafonte lived in – and transformed – two worlds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Opinion Gene Seymour | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Gene Seymour Jeremy Freeman/CNNBut history, as it often does, had other ideas for Belafonte, who died April 25 at 96, having lived a long, full life as both entertainer and activist. The times he lived in paved a smoother way for him than the one faced by his mentor and hero Paul Robeson. On the other hand, there was, relatively speaking, only so much Belafonte could do on the entertainment side. Here, as elsewhere in Belafonte’s life, the activism and the entertainment sides of his public life worked in tandem to buttress, offset and enhance the other. Join us on Twitter and FacebookAnd in a gratifying sense, the push-pull of history’s demands worked in Belafonte’s favor as a screen actor.

☆ Factbox: Facts about actor-activist Harry Belafonte
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

* Belafonte received a Tony Award in 1954 for his role in Broadway's "Almanac" and became the first Black actor to win an Emmy for a 1959 television variety special. * Belafonte received three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. * Although Belafonte and co-star Dorothy Dandridge were accomplished singers, their vocals in the 1954 movie "Carmen Jones" were sung by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne. * Belafonte's movies often had racial themes. * Belafonte produced the 1984 movie "Beat Street," one of the first movies about break-dancing and hip-hop culture.

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