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NOAA issues El Niño watch: What this could mean for California

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

Move aside La Niña – it's almost time for El Niño to take over.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center issued an "El Niño watch" Thursday morning, saying the climate pattern is expected to form sooner than previously anticipated. After La Niña ended last month, we entered "ENSO-neutral" conditions, which means neither La Niña nor El Niño is present. Those neutral conditions were expected to end at some point in the summer or early fall. But as of Thursday, it looks as though the timeline has moved up. Forecasters said there is a 62% chance El Niño will take over between May and July. The probability that El Niño will form by fall is even higher, between 80% and 90%. What would that mean for our weather? We usually feel the strongest effects of El Niño as we get closer to winter. An El Niño fall and winter would be the inverse of what we’ve seen the last three years. It would likely mean a cold, wet winter for the Southern U.S. A strong El Niño, in...

It’s Not Easy Going Green — So Lots of Folks Just Pretend to Be Environmentally Conscious

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

We all want a greener earth. And almost everyone knows how to achieve it — by being environmentally conscious with our everyday decisions! Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Turns out, however, not so much!Some People Apparently Fake Being Environmentally ConsciousSustainable living is quite a difficult life to sustain. In a poll that Avocado Green Mattress initiated, 53% of the folks that they surveyed said they “exaggerated” their environmentally conscious efforts in order for others to be impressed by their lifestyle — which doesn’t sound too harmful. After all, helping Mother Earth is indeed impressive. However, 54% of the respondents said that had nobody been around, they probably won’t make that much of an effort to go green.Many choose to be more eco-friendly for sincere reasons and utmost concern for the environment. However, it doesn’t seem to be the case for everyone. 20% of those who were asked in the poll said that their main reason for going green was because of the pressure from...

Move Over, Partner: Your SO Prefers to Shop for Dogs and Cats Over You!

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

A date at the park or a cafe sure sounds romantic — until you’re told by your SO that it’s at the dog park or a cat cafe! And it’s with Fido and Whiskers, not you. It can sound disappointing — but many are the type to do these things that the older generations will be confused by. Not only are the younger people more likely to treat their pets as their kids, but many would also rather shop for dogs and cats — and the things they need — instead of going on dates.Younger Folks Would Rather Shop for Dogs and Cats’ Items Than Go on DatesBased on a survey that Synchrony commissioned, most pet owners said that they’re willing to give up a plethora of their luxuries for their furry companions. This, of course, isn’t too surprising. After all, we have to make a few sacrifices for our cats and dogs. But what makes the survey wholesome is that 45% of the participants said they’re willing to give up eating out for one whole year if it’s in exchange for free pet expenses for a year straight as ...

What Was Once Underground: Vintage Weed Ads from the Heyday

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

Here in California, a flourishing legal cannabis industry has for better and worse thoroughly mainstreamed what was once underground. But remember it was not always that way, even here—and there are plenty of parts of the country, not to mention the world, where getting caught with weed still spells trouble. In the heyday of counterculture that was the 1960’s, a casual consortium of intrepid culture publications resisted the oppressive squareness, regularly featuring the beauty and joy of cannabis in the magazines’ stories, art, and illustrated annotations. The New Book Heads Together: Weed and the Underground Press Syndicate, 1965–73 (Edition Patrick Frey), which just so happens to drop on April 20, gathers and honors their prescient efforts on behalf of marijuana as emblematic of broader social justice issues.Heads Together: Weed and the Underground Press Syndicate: 1965-1973 (Edition Patrick Frey)Edited and with text by David Jacob Kramer—founder of the rather legendary Family Bo...

Larry Magid: I asked ChatGPT to help me write an AI safety guide

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

In my capacity as CEO of ConnectSafely, I’m working on a parents guide to generative AI, and, naturally, I turned to ChatGPT for some help. It gave me some good advice, which I’ll get to later, but first some general background on “generative artificial intelligence” (GAI).Related ArticlesBusiness | Magid: Google doubles down on sleep sensing Business | Magid: Is the internet responsible for increased anxiety? Business | Magid: Is artificial intelligence the next search engine? Business | Magid: Scammers get trickier in pursuit of your money AI has been around for a long time, but generative AI, which can create new content, including text, images, music and even computer code, is relatively new. Just in the past few months we’ve seen the emergence of some impressive early models including ChatGPT from OpenAI, Google Bard and the new Microsoft Bing. Each of these relies on what is called a “large...

Preview: ‘Firewall Ultra’ finds a way to balance VR immersion with fun

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

One of the most memorable parts about virtual reality is how everything is so intuitive and surreally granular all at once. Instead of pressing a button to bring up the iron sights, a player has to lift the gun to his face and look down the scope. If she wants to crouch, a button would suffice but actually ducking down would also work.That’s one of the things players have to get used to when playing “Firewall Ultra,” a tactical shooter coming for the PlayStation VR2. Developed by First Contact Entertainment, it’s the sequel to the PSVR game that launched in 2018 and it’s a game that takes advantage of the leap in technology on the PlayStation 5 and its new headset.A VR ‘COUNTER-STRIKE’The game is essentially “Counter-Strike” except in VR. Players group together in teams of four and take down an opposing squad. One team defends a laptop and another team goes after it. That’s a simple concept, but players will come across a m...

Arrest made in Cash App founder Bob Lee's stabbing death: Reports

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- An arrest has been made in tech mogul Bob Lee's stabbing death, according to multiple reports. Mission Local first reported the arrest saying police were dispatched with an arrest warrant Thursday morning for a man in Emeryville who Lee apparently knew.San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin also confirmed the arrest, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. ‘Death of Downtown’ study: San Francisco ranks last in post-COVID recovery San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey appeared to have confirmed the reports in a Tweet Thursday saying, "I’m grateful to @SFPD’s Homicide Detail and all the officers from @SFPDSouthern and elsewhere for their tireless work to bring Bob Lee’s killer to justice and for their arrest of a suspect this morning." The stabbing happened in Dorsey's district.The Cash App founder Lee was stabbed while walking in the Rincon Hill area near the Bay Bridge early around 2:30 a.m. on April 4. Video shows Lee stumbling down the street holding his ...

Behind Keith Ellison’s Tough-on-Crime Turn

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

Progressives rejoiced last year when Democrat Keith Ellison won a tight reelection race for Minnesota attorney general against a police-backed opponent who attacked him as being “soft on crime.”In the same election cycle, Ellison’s ally Mary Moriarty won election as Hennepin County attorney, installing a reform-minded prosecutor in Minneapolis about three years after the city’s police murdered George Floyd. Moriarty, previously the chief public defender for Hennepin County, took office in January and implemented reforms with a focus on correcting failures in the juvenile justice system.Now, three months into their terms, Ellison and Moriarty are no longer on the same side of the reform platform they once shared.Late last month, Moriarty’s office issued new guidance on prosecuting children, which was designed to keep as many kids as possible out of the adult criminal system. Before issuing the guidance, Moriarty’s office chose not to charge two teenage brothers accused of murder as a...

Sky Not Falling: U.S. Government Again Exaggerates Damage From Leaks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

Only death and taxes are certain in life, Ben Franklin wrote in 1789, though he could have done us a favor by also noting that we can count on our government to make exaggerated claims about the unauthorized publication of classified documents.Like clockwork, after a set of secret national security documents burst into public view last week, the Washington Post reported a “high level of panic” at the upper echelons of the Department of Defense, with officials “stunned” and “infuriated.” According to Politico, one Pentagon aide even said he was “sick to [his] stomach” over the alleged betrayal. The Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation, while John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson, warned, “This is information that has no business in the public domain. It is not intended for public consumption, and it should not be out there.”The intelligence documents appear to have entered the public domain in an unusual way — someone began sharing them, starting lat...

Germany approves Poland’s request to send jets to Ukraine

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:05:06 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has approved Poland’s request to transfer five Soviet-designed fighter jets to Ukraine, the German Defense Ministry said Thursday.The permission was needed because Germany used to own the Soviet-designed MiG 29 planes, which were part of communist East Germany’s military fleet.“I welcome the fact that we in the federal government have reached this decision together,” Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement. “This shows you can rely on Germany!”Poland was an early advocate of sending fighter jets to Ukraine. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Warsaw a week ago, Polish President Andrzej Duda said his country already had provided four MiG-29 jets to Ukraine, with four more in the process of getting handed over and another six being prepared.During a visit to Mali, Pistorius had confirmed German media reports saying that Germany had received Poland’s request and would reply by the end of the day. Source