Intuit is laying off 1,800 employees as AI leads to a strategic shift
"1,050 are not meeting expectations based on a formal performance management process"

Formally announcing that 60% of these people were PIPed is not an ideal send-off.
https://archive.ph/FhP4f

“There’s still a long way to go to get buyers back on X…What also has to happen is more tangible updates to the products, and not just lip service of ‘come back.’”—An advertising executive about why Elon Musk’s “Cannes charm offensive” fell flat https://www.adweek.com/media/musks-cannes-charm-offensive-falls-flat-as-marketers-doubt-x-brand-safety-improvements/

This particular kind of jellyfish may not have a brain, but that doesn’t stop it from learning.
https://nautil.us/how-to-learn-without-a-brain-397877/

If I repeat it three times, I make you believe that it's important. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZBKX-6Gz6A&t=8s

Explore the world of ice cream truck music. (You're welcome.) https://thehustle.co/the-company-that-has-a-monopoly-on-ice-cream-truck-music

What if Ingmar Bergman Directed The Flash?
"I may be the fastest man alive, but even I can not outrun the icy hand of death."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kno3xDw27bY

perators that want to prevent AI bots from crawling their sites, after the discovery by Robb Knight that AI search engines like Perplexity are not respecting the robots.txt honor system. https://blog.cloudflare.com/declaring-your-aindependence-block-ai-bots-scrapers-and-crawlers-with-a-single-click

Netflix’s Horizon Zero Dawn Show Gets Sent to the Scrapyard

"Following the news of the show’s end, journalist Jeff Grubb mentioned that he’d heard the show’s scripts were considered “bad” by those footing the show’s bill."
https://gizmodo.com/horizon-zero-dawn-show-netflix-cancelled-2000376787

"Pastor Todd Holmes told WJHL that the AR-15 was just one of many giveaways at the church, and he thought it was appropriate since it was in honor of Independence Day." https://www.kcbd.com/2024/07/08/church-gives-away-ar-15-part-fourth-july-raffle

Who knew the Addams Family’s home was quite so colorful? https://www.boredpanda.com/the-addams-familys-living-room-was-actually-pink/

"For the first time, big data and artificial intelligence are being used to model hidden patterns in nature – not just for one bird species, but for entire ecological communities across continents. The models follow the full annual life cycle of each species, from breeding to fall migration to nonbreeding grounds, and back north again during spring migration." https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/10/ai-analyzes-bird-sightings-help-conserve-species

Then as now, the overlap between people suspicious of new foods and people suspicious that an adventurous neighbor might be a servant of the devil was pretty high. Try a tomato and risk turning into a werewolf, or being branded a witch? No thank you. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/when-tomatoes-were-blamed-for-witchcraft-and-werewolves

If you need a dose of Other People Stupid this morning, this should do it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnzIVnJypY0

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." -- Mark Twain

Birb is a programming language that consists of bird emojis 🐣. https://github.com/marvinborner/birb

"The agreement requires all California high school students to take a semester-long personal finance education course starting by the 2027-28 school year. The course will also be a graduation requirement starting with the Class of 2030-31."
https://abc7news.com/post/california-makes-financial-literacy-classes-graduation-requirement/15006074/

"Ask any Dungeons and Dragons player: dice rolls don’t always go your way. But what if you could use a complex algorithm to design dice to physically roll any way you wanted?" https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/math/a44786307/scientists-design-dice-roll-any-way-you-want/

There's a new Penric and Desdemona novella! And yes, it's as good as you expect and hope for. Maybe better.
https://amzn.to/4bBNtL4

TIL The first known abortion laws appear in the Code of Hammurabi, written in Assyria in 1772 B.C. Assyrian women were punished for aborting their fetuses, but fathers were allowed to kill newborn babies, indicating the law was designed to control the woman’s right to choose rather than to protect the fetus. https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/archaeology-personhood-abortion/

Giorno first conceptualized the phone service Dial-A-Poem in 1968, and an iteration of the hotline still works today. If you dial 641.793. 8122, you'll access recordings from an archive of poetry and political oration. (as of 2020) https://www.sfmoma.org/read/john-giornos-dial-a-poem-still-brings-poetry-to-the-masses/