404,609 views Aug 10, 2023
Crews are still fighting fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui. At least 36 people are known dead and more than 270 buildings damaged or destroyed across a blackened landscape. It’s the nation’s deadliest fire disaster in five years.
Amna Nawaz discussed the fires with KITV meteorologist Malika Dudley.
By Susie Dumond Aug 8, 2023
On Thursday, short of a surprising announcement, the Writers Guild of America’s strike will reach its 100th day. That’s over three months that screenwriters have spent picketing the major studios for fair pay, improved working conditions, regulations on use of artificial intelligence (AI), and more.
The writer’s strike, combined with the SAG-AFTRA actors strike, has brought the vast majority of TV and film projects to a halt. “Who cares?” I hear some of you curmudgeonly readers saying. “I don’t need TV and movies. I’ve got books.” Actually, there’s more at stake in this strike than when fall TV shows will return. Below is a guide to the strike for book lovers, including why it might impact publishing and authors, and information on how to support the striking writers.
After weeks of unfruitful negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on the Minimum Basic Agreement for writers, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) declared a strike on May 2, 2023. WGA members and non-members are instructed to cease any and all writing projects with member studios of the AMPTP, including powerhouse producers like Sony, Universal, Paramount, Disney, and Warner Bros., as well as any other studios that participate in the Minimum Basic Agreement.
As the strike approaches the 100-day mark, no clear progress has been made on finding agreeable terms. Representatives of the WGA negotiating committee met with AMPTP president Carol Lombardini on Friday, August 4, in a confidential sidebar to discuss resuming negotiations. Before the meeting even occurred, however, the WGA sent a message to its members about the AMPTP’s “calculated misinformation” about the meeting.
Source: https://bookriot.com/why-readers-should-care-about-the-writers-strike/
By Katie Hafner, The Lost Women of Science Initiative on August 3, 2023
Listen to the podcast: https://beta.prx.org/stories/484826
Nic Lewis: She was walking past where Oppenheimer was living. And he had walked outta his house just a little before her and he paused and waited for her to catch up. he asked all about how she was doing, what was happening in the punch card operation, what kind of results they were getting. Did she need anything?
She was astounded.
Katie Hafner: During World War II, thousands of scientists took part in the three year race led by J. Robert Oppenheimer to build an atomic bomb that would end the war. Hundreds of those scientists were women. They were physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians … and computation experts, whose calculations helped determine if the theoretical ideas behind the bomb would work.
This is Lost Women of the Manhattan Project, a special series of Lost Women of Science focusing on a few of those women.
George Plosker Career Tips, Client Services, Corporate Culture, Dialog – History, George Plosker – Blog, Library Marketing, Marketing and media, Mentors, Personal narrative August 1, 2023 4 Minutes
Editor’s note: George worked with me at DIALOG.
Source: https://gplosker.com/2023/08/01/dialog-and-roger-summit-career-bedrock/
By David Remnick, August 1, 2023
To read the stark criminal indictment, returned by a federal grand jury on Tuesday, charging Donald Trump with conspiring to steal the 2020 Presidential election is to realize more deeply than before that the country is headed for a great reckoning—in the courts and at the ballot box.
It suggests a question that cannot be escaped: Will the American electorate show itself capable of overlooking a conspiracy to undermine democratic rule and return the chief conspirator to power?
The third and latest indictment against Trump sets out four charges and makes the case against him in the plainest terms. “Despite having lost, the defendant was determined to remain in power,” the introduction to the forty-five-page document reads—and where have you seen a more succinct summary of criminal intent?
Editor’s note: Featured image is mine, free to re-use.
Source: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-new-trump-indictment-and-the-reckoning-ahead
By Nicole A. Cooke, 24 Jul 2023
