Overview - L4s - kbin.life

TIL that when Robert de Niro was in the process of receiving Italian citizenship, he faced opposition from the Italian American group Sons of Italy, who claimed that De Niro had damaged the public ... (www.theguardian.com)

An influential Italian-American organisation has appealed to Silvio Berlusconi, asking the prime minister to cancel Italy’s plan to award De Niro honorary citizenship.

Pornhub blocks access in Mississippi and Virginia over age verification laws (www.theverge.com)

Pornhub has shut off access in Mississippi and Virginia to protest age verification laws that can involve checking government IDs. It previously blocked access in Utah.

TIL the real reason Steve left Blues' Clues was because he was suffering from depression (variety.com)

After years of death rumors and depression, original ‘Blue’s Clues’ host Steve Burns is opening up about his return to the franchise.

Far Cry source code has leaked online (www.eurogamer.net)

Source code for the original Far Cry, released back in 2004, has popped up online.Entitled “Far Cry 1.34 Complete”, the…

Google Says It'll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI (gizmodo.com)

An update to Google’s privacy policy suggests that the entire public internet is fair game for it’s AI projects.

TIL A disgruntled Chinese man, who was recently single, organized for every odd numbered seat to be bought for the premiere screening of a romance movie on Valentine's Day, forcing couples to sit o... (www.today.com)

Chinese couples looking for a relaxed Valentine’s Day evening at the movies will find their hopes thwarted at one cinema in Shanghai. A group of dateless singles pre-bought every odd-numbered seat for v-day premiere screenings of “Beijing Love Story” at a movie theater in the city’s popular Xintiandi shopping complex,...

TIL married people who undergo gastric bypass surgery and lose significant weight are twice as likely to get divorced. (www.upmc.com)

A new Pitt study shows that adults who get weight-loss surgery are more than twice as likely to get married or divorced in the next five years

TIL that because of the amount of time it saves, the washing machine has been called "the greatest invention of the industrial revolution.” Others have considered it a key driver of women’s liberat... (en.wikipedia.org)

Tesla owners are typically white men earning six figures (www.businessinsider.com)

Tesla owners are overwhelmingly men, and the most common occupations are engineer, software engineer, and manager of operations, one study found.

TIL that a TV show called “This Is Your Life” invited Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a Japanese minister and atomic bomb survivor from Hiroshima. The show also featured a surprise guest, Robert Lewis, copilot o... (electricliterature.com)

by Mike Meginnis A 1950s television show did the unthinkable: surprise a victim of the Hiroshima bombing by introducing him to one of the bombers on live TV. Running from 1952 to 1961, This is Your Life was an emotionally intense experiment in early reality TV. Subjects were lured to the studio under false pretenses, then host...

This AI model took only five hours to design a functional computer (qz.com)

Researchers claim that was 1,000 times faster than what it takes humans to design a CPU

Stephen Miller Threatens Schools After Affirmative Action Decision - The former Trump adviser told 200 law school deans to respect the court's decision or see him in court (www.huffpost.com)

The former Trump adviser told 200 law school deans to respect the court’s decision or see him in court.

TIL A man was awarded $7 million in damages after he developed a lung condition from eating two bags of popcorn every day and inhaling the steam from the bag (www.cbsnews.com)

Man had eaten two bags of microwave popcorn daily for 10 years

TIL that, unless it contains alcohol, kosher food is generally halal. However, halal food is not generally kosher; halal allows shellfish, camels, rabbits, and the mixing of meat and dairy, all of ... (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL Sam Kinison and Roseanne Barr were the inspiration for two leading roles on TV's "Married...With Children" and both turned it down (www.vulture.com)

While Married with Children hasn’t aged as well as some of the sitcoms that were its contemporaries, the show’s influence is vast. Married with Children changed the way American families were portrayed in TV sitcoms, taking a drastic departure […]

TIL that Japanese Sumo wrestlers life expectancy is between 60-65 years old or about 20 years less than the typical Japanese male. (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL That Canada had its own version of Jim Crow laws that required many black children to attend segregated schools, separated blood transfusions by race, and allowed private business owners to ref... (en.wikipedia.org)

Tesla thinks a grabbing stick is a good replacement for right-hand drive in the UK. (www.arenaev.com)

Order a Model S or Model X in the UK and you’ll receive a left-hand drive car and a bonus grabbing stick.

Gfycat.com shuts down on September 1 and all Gifs will be taken down (www.ghacks.net)

TIL how trash is disposed of in modern large submarines. Trash is deposited into a Trash Disposal Unit (TDU) which collects and compacts it into a galvanized steel can. A ball valve is opened allow... (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL that approximately 70% of the world’s vegetarians live in India. (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL that Jack Nicholson grew up believing his biological mother was his sister, and his biological grandmother was his mother. He found out the truth at 37 years old - when both of them had passed ... (www.instyle.com)

Jack Nicholson realized his mother June was actually his sister when a ‘Time’ magazine researcher contacted him during the fact-checking process ahead of a profile timed to the release of 1974’s ‘Chinatown.’ His sister, June, was actually his mother, and his mother, Ethel May, was actually his grandmother.

Elon Musk blames data scraping by AI startups for his new paywalls on reading tweets (www.theverge.com)

Elon Musk blamed AI companies for new “temporary” limitations on Twitter access. Verified accounts can read up to 6,000 posts per day, while unverified users are limited to seeing 600 posts per day.

Thousands of Twitter users report problems accessing site as Elon Musk says new limits have been installed (www.nbcnews.com)

As thousands of Twitter users reported problems attempting to access the social media site Saturday, Elon Musk tweeted he is limiting the daily number of tweets users can read.

Some Redditors say they're walking away after Apollo app shuts down (www.businessinsider.com)

Apollo founder Christian Selig said he’s “heartbroken” about pulling the plug on the third-party app following Reddit’s API pricing changes.

TIL that Prey is the first ever feature film available in a full Comanche dub (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL in 2024, the original design of Mickey Mouse loses its copyright protection. However, Disney can still take legal action if you draw it in color, because colored Mickey Mouse is still copyright... (globaltoynews.com)

2024 will specifically pull “Steamboat Willie, “The Barn Dance,” and that original design of Mickey Mouse into the public domain in terms of copyright law. “What Happens When Disney Doesn’t Own Mickey Mouse Anymore?,” Quincy Stanford, DFB 2024 will be a good news / bad news year for The Walt Disney Company and its...

The Reddit moderators who coordinate many celebrity AMAs will no longer do so (www.theverge.com)

The moderators of Reddit’s IAmA community are significantly reducing the amount of work they do to help solicit and coordinate AMAs with celebrities and high-profile individuals.

Biden offers new student debt relief plan, lashes out at GOP after Supreme Court ruling (apnews.com)

President Joe Biden vowed Friday to push ahead with a new plan providing student loan relief for millions of borrowers while blaming Republican “hypocrisy” for triggering the day’s Supreme Court decision that wiped out his original effort.

TIL of Kevin Budden, who caught a deadly taipan by hand and hitchhiked to town still holding the snake. He lost his grip and was bitten, but bagged the snake and made the driver promise to get it t... (en.wikipedia.org)

California man creates AI chatbot to waste the time of telemarketers (wpde.com)

One man designs AI-powered chatbot to mess with telemarketers and phone scammers.

TIL scientists in a restricted zone, closed off to the public, discovered a plant grown out of the solidified lava. It was a tomato plant. Further research concluded it was from a tomato seed grown... (www.cntraveler.com)

In this week’s Maphead, Ken Jennings explains how one of the Earth’s newest formations—a volcanic island in Iceland—was formed a mere 50 years ago.

TIL the UK’s oldest joke is a crude riddle that features in the Exeter Codex and dates back to the 10th Century AD - What hangs at a man’s thigh and wants to poke the hole that it’s often poked bef... (www.wlv.ac.uk)

University of Wolverhampton is a large UK university based in the West Midlands, offering undergraduate degrees and postgraduate courses across 4 faculties.

DeSantis Video Brags That His Policies “Literally Threaten Trans Existence” (plus.thebulwark.com)

Ron DeSantis’s flailing campaign team couldn’t let Pride month pass without stepping on their own dick.

Reddit says new accessibility tools for moderators are coming. Mods are skeptical (www.npr.org)

TIL that 80s child actress Judith Barsi made so much money by 4th grade, her family bought a house in West Hills. She died at age 10 when her father killed the entire family. Her final films, “The ... (en.wikipedia.org)

California man creates AI chatbot to waste the time of telemarketers (wpde.com)

One man designs AI-powered chatbot to mess with telemarketers and phone scammers.

TIL that in addition to being a drug cheat. Lance Armstrong is also been accused of being a technical cheat. It’s alleged he used a tiny motor on his bike. This is supported by video evidence of un... (www.cyclingweekly.com)

Verdy says he doesn’t think Armstrong’s performances were possible on just EPO alone

TIL that the founder of the notorious “Bumfights” video series was caught trying to ship stolen baby parts out of Thailand in 2018 (coconuts.co)

Two Americans accused of stealing baby body parts and other human remains from the Siriraj Medical Museum have resurfaced seven months after fleeing Thailand.

The Reddit app-pocalyse is here: Apollo, Sync, and BaconReader go dark | Many major third-party apps are finally shutting down. (www.theverge.com)

After a month of outrage, protests, and unrest from the community, Reddit has finally flipped the switch to shut down some third-party apps, including Apollo, Sync, and BaconReader.

TIL that Gatorade is similar in composition to a medical rehydration solution. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

These data indicate no difference in fluid retention between ORS or SDS when supplemented during exercise in the heat. This implies that fluid volume, and not drink contents, may be more important when ingested during exercise in a hot environment.

TIL about a man named Tricongius (meaning '3 gallon man') who was a celebrity in ancient Rome because of his ability to drink 3 gallons of wine in a single sitting. The Roman Emperor Tiberius is sa... (avirtualmuseum.org)

Reddit users are saying goodbye to their favorite apps with tributes and memes; ‘It’s been a great run. So long and thanks for everything.’ (www.theverge.com)

Many popular third-party Reddit apps will be shutting down on Friday, including Apollo, RIF, Sync, and Boost, and fans of the apps are sending them off with heartfelt posts and memes.

TIL recent evidence challenges the belief that hunting in prehistoric societies was primarily carried out by men. It is now thought that these societies developed tools, such as the spear thrower, ... (theconversation.com)

New research is challenging the hypothesis that men did the hunting in prehistoric societies.

TIL that upon Harry Houdini's death, his magic equipment was inherited by his brother Theodore on the condition that it be "burned and destroyed" upon Theodore's death. Instead, the equipment ended... (en.wikipedia.org)

Nearly Half of Americans Are Ready to Ditch Fully Gas-Powered Cars (uk.pcmag.com)

According to a new survey by Ernst & Young, 48% of new car buyers say they plan to get a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or full EV—but an unexpected adoption barrier has emerged.