Yesterday a doozy dropped when the legal team representing the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre revealed that Jones’ own lawyers accidentally sent them a digital copy of the Infowars host’s cellphone. That stunning display of legal incompetence meant that Jones was forced to come clean on his communications relating to the school shooting and on how his business profited from his claims that the tragedy was simply a hoax. At one point during the trial, Mark Bankston — the attorney for the Sandy Hook parents — asked a sputtering, red-faced Jones if he knew what the word “perjury” meant. Jones tried to play off the error by suggesting his team intended to send those two years’ worth of texts and emails that directly contradicted his testimony to their opposition but today, in another bizarre turn of events, the right-wing conspiracy theorist is now demanding a mistrial over the mistake.
According to reporting from Vice, Jones’ attorney, Federico Reynal filed an emergency motion this morning, pleading with Judge Maya Guerra Gamble to order Bankston to destroy the evidence he sent before it can be used against Jones in other legal proceedings. (This is his first of many defamation cases being launched by Sandy Hook survivors.)
“I hate to be put into this position by the conduct of plaintiff’s counsel, but it appears they want to have a mistrial,” Reynal told the judge.
Reynal tried to argue that, though he did send a link to access the data, he followed that up with another email saying “please disregard.” Bankston clapped back, saying Reynal’s “please disregard” note was “legally meaningless,” and reminding the attorney that he was given 10 days to cite which information was privileged before Bankston brought it to trial.
Reynal says this is grounds for a mistrial and requests one, again. Bankston responds that he notified Reynal right away, cited a specific rule that Reynal is now citing “so I know he knows how to read it.”
Bankston is saying by Reynal’s own description of events he made a willful failure of discovery and didn’t turn stuff over until after the case went to trial
Now the judge has already denied Reynal’s request since all of the information in question was supposed to have been turned over in the discovery phase a year prior to the trial but things have taken an even more grim turn for Jones because of this fiasco. The Jan. 6th committee, which has already deposed the Infowars host once over his involvement in the insurrection, is now requesting the data sent to Bankston be turned over for their investigation. Apparently, there might be some incriminating texts between Jones and Roger Stone that the committee could use in their case against Donald Trump.
Bankston just referred to Jones’ “intimate messages to Roger Stone,” which first, ew, and secondly, I think I hear the January 6 committee having a party from here
CKaytranada is making quite the comeback this year. In addition to releasing his own new single “Twin Flame” with Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada has also picked up production work for Joyce Wrice on “Ice Tea,” IDK on his new album Simple, and now, on the newly released Lou Phelps EP, Touché. Lou is, of course, Kaytranada’s actual brother and has an impressive list of production credits to his name as well. In fact, the two have performed together as a duo and Phelps has worked with Kay on most of his projects to date.
Speaking about the new EP, Phelps told Complex, “This EP is an introduction to a new chapter of music I’m exploring. I did something that sounds different to my ear but that still felt natural. These three songs display my confidence in the bars, the production is amazing, and flows fill the pocket perfectly. I think it’s a nice setup for whatever is coming next in my career and I look forward to sharing all the other joints I have tucked as well.”
Despite the fact that Paramount+ has 43 million subscribers and a hefty roster of content (which is mostly made up of South Park specials), it still isn’t quite as popular as fellow streamers Netflix and Hulu. Paramount knows this, which is why they have been channeling much energy into their theatrical releases, which have been dominating the box office this year.
In a second-quarter earnings call this week, president and CEO Bob Bakish says that the decision to halt releases during 2020 and 2021 made their theatrical releases much more successful. “Nowhere is our popularity more evident than at the box office,” Bakish explained. “Look no further than Top Gun: Maverick, which is already the biggest film [of] 2022 and our fifth No. 1 title this year. In fact, Top Gun: Maverick just cleared $1.3 billion at the global box office and became one of the top 10 domestic movies of all time.” The other No. 1 releases this year include Jackass Forever, Scream, The Lost City, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (surprisingly).
Bakish shared that the company was forced to make hard release decisions early on in the pandemic, as did Warner Bros and other studios who were sitting on expensive productions throughout 2020.
“In the early stages of the pandemic, we were very selective with our releases, holding certain films until market conditions improved,” Bakish added. “While we couldn’t release Top Gun: Maverick and The Lost City earlier, we held off because we knew these phenomenal stories would bring audiences back to theaters. That proved to be the right call.” It was indeed the right call, in terms of making money! The movie became one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
While delaying proved to be the right call for certain movies, there are other studio releases that were given the short end of the stick when released both online and in theaters, like Black Widow. Luckily, Tom Cruise seems very happy with the Top Gun reception, so maybe movies really are back!
August 4 is a big day for the Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James. It’s the day that James became eligible to sign an extension with the team — a max deal for the former league MVP comes out to $97.1 million over the next two seasons, and would mean James extends his stay with the Lakers through the 2024-25 campaign.
The issue, to whatever extent it is an issue, is that the two sides did not immediately agree to an extension. In an appearance on SportsCenter on Thursday, ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin indicated that this might not get resolved right away, even if both sides have a vested interest in keeping this from dragging into the regular season.
“I’m told nothing is imminent [in regards to a LeBron James extension with the Lakers.]… You can see LeBron’s camp wait to see how things play out with the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster leading up to training camp.”
“I’m told nothing is imminent,” McMenamin said. “As you mentioned, this extension window goes until June 30, and so you can see LeBron’s camp wait to see how things play out with the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster leading up to training camp. Now, I think both parties would like to put this to bed before the ’22-23 season begins, because if they don’t, it will be a year-long distraction — trying to figure out body language, trying to parse out the comments he makes after wins and losses to see if that can be a glimpse into his future.”
McMenamin then went on to lay out the things that are important to James right now, which include trying to win another title and his long-held hopes of taking the floor with his oldest son, Bronny, who is eligible to come to the NBA in 2024. Both of these things will be part of the conversations when the Lakers and James’ camp sit down to talk about an extension.
If the two sides cannot figure something out, James would be slated to hit unrestricted free agency at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season.
If you love whiskey, you know that experimentation is the name of the game. The combination of mash, yeasts, aging, and blending create literally infinite variations. This also means you’ve got new bottles dropping daily — some good, some bad, some downright ugly.
That’s where I come in. I’m your inside man who gets to try the new stuff early and report back on what’s actually good. And today I’m calling out 15 of the best new whiskeys across all categories. What’s wild is that even with 15 bottles on this list, it’s still only scratching the surface.
This list isn’t about price — this is about taste. These whiskeys are very good. So good, in fact, that I’m not ranking them. They’re all winners in my tasting notebook.
Also Read: The Top 5 UPROXX Bourbon Posts Of The Last Six Months
This “spirit distilled from grain” was made with George Dickel’s high-corn mash bill with about eight percent each of rye and malted barley as support. It was barreled in new oak and left to rest in Cascade Hollow’s single-story rickhouse. After 15 years, Head Distiller Nicole Austin decided to bottle these spirits at barrel proof (with no fussing) — even though they’d dipped below the legal ABV standard to be called “whiskey.”
Tasting Notes:
Soft orchard fruits and dry grains draw you in on the nose initially before turning toward a fresh cherry Necco Wafer with a cut of old leather, sour currant, and damp white moss. There’s a faint hint of pine resin buried deep in that nose too. The palate is supple with a silky vanilla base supporting hints of cinnamon apple sauce, a flourish of buttery honey, and whole wheat biscuits with a twinge of buckwheat and maybe some sweetgrass. The mid-palate hits a light marzipan note before fading toward more vanilla, a touch of nutmeg, and almond shells on the very soft finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a great whiskey that also blows up the idea that “barrel proof” = “high proof” in every whiskey. Those semantics aside, this is delicious, deeply hewn, and worth the hunt, if simply for its uniqueness. The best part is that you won’t need a rock to calm this barrel proof whiskey down — it’s already perfectly dialed.
This brand-new expression from Jim Beam is about highlighting the beautiful high-end barrels from Beam’s vast rickhouses. The juice in the bottle is classic low-rye Beam that rested for 16 years and a 15-year-old high-rye bourbon. Once batched, that whiskey goes into the bottle as-is.
Tasting Notes:
The nose draws you in with a rich spice mix of woody cinnamon, soft nutmeg, almost bitter cloves, and dusty allspice with a hint of black licorice leading to a buttery caramel sauce with a flake of salt, twinge of vanilla oil, and whisper of cherry tobacco in an old cedar humidor. The palate builds on that classic foundation with layers of old boot leather, hard sultanas, meaty dates, stewed plums, and rum-soaked Christmas cake with candied orange rinds and cherries. The end soaks the raisins and candied fruit in maple syrup with a hint of sour cherry laced with ancho chili peppers and woody spices.
Bottom Line:
This is f*cking delicious and classic — everything you could want from a classic bourbon that’s also fresh and modern. While this is a killer neat, add a little water or a rock to really let it bloom.
Brother’s Bond Straight Bourbon Whiskey Original Cask Strength
The newest release from Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley is an evolution of their brand. The whiskey in the bottle is a blend of three bourbons which create a four-grain bourbon. That blend was then bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a balance of old leather boots and freshly cracked black pepper next to a hint of walnut shell, vanilla pod, and orange zest. The palate leans into what feels like star fruit as orange marmalade, salted butter, and fresh honey drip over rye bread crusts. The end comes with a good dose of peppery spice and old leather as those walnuts and the orange zest combine with a handful of dried fruit and a dusting of winter spices on the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is a wonderful evolution from Brother’s Bond’s initial release — which was a perfectly fine small batch bourbon for cocktails primarily. This is a great neat sipper that’s light, fresh, and yet somehow nostalgic. It also makes a great Manhattan.
This new release from Nelson’s Green Brier is a significant evolution for the brand. This high-rye bourbon is aged for four years before it’s masterfully blended into this expression. It’s then bottled without any fussing or meddling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this is pretty classic with clear notes of vanilla and orange zest, winter spices, candied cherry, and apple pie filling with a light grainy edge. The palate holds onto that graininess as dark chocolate and dark cherry lead to a hint of zucchini bread with pecans and a whisper of lemon. The end has a warmth that leans into white pepper and green tea as soft, almost chocolate-roasted grains round out the finish.
Bottom Line:
This is one of those bottles that disappeared fast from my bar cart. It’s a crowd-pleaser that also offers some serious depth. It’s also a good workhorse — making a hell of an old fashioned while still being a very good neat or on the rocks pour.
F.E.W. Motor Oil Whiskey Finished in Rum and Vermouth Casks
This whiskey is a collab between Illinois’ F.E.W. Spirits and rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The juice in the bottle is a blend of F.E.W. Bourbon finished in rum barrels, F.E.W. Bourbon finished in vermouth barrels, and a mesquite-smoked wheat whiskey. Those barrels are vatted and proofed down to 101 proof before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a clear sense of chocolate malts next to dry reeds and rich spice with a slightly floral edge. Think sassafras by way of whole cinnamon and very subtle hibiscus. The palate starts off with a dry chocolate cookie before layering in vanilla husks, brown sugar, and a faint whisper of fat from a brisket smoker. The end lets the brown sugar and dry spices mingle with a thin line of that fatty smoke rounding things out.
Bottom Line:
This was a hit from the first sip. It’s well-rounded and nuanced but still hits hard with serious depth. That blend of chocolate malts and smoky fat hit just right in the middle of summer too.
This expression is made from last year’s instant-classic Stellum Bourbon barrels. The ripple here is that the blend of this bourbon was created from specific rare barrels used for Stelllum that were blended until the exact moment of the vernal equinox. That whiskey was then bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
Fresh chili peppers greet you with a sense of soft malted grains, old leather gloves, dried sweetgrass, and a flourish of creamy toffee underneath it all. The palate leans into leathery stone fruit with fresh and floral honey, sharp woody cinnamon, burnt orange rinds, and bright clove berries. The end created an orange creamed pudding with a hint of green tea, black dirt, chocolate-covered espresso beans, and old oak staves from a cellar.
Bottom Line:
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite whiskeys of the year overall. It’s just so freakin’ good from top to bottom. Just make sure to add a drop of water or a rock to really let this one shine in the glass.
The second Booker’s release of 2022 is a masterful blend of barrels from seven locations around Jim Beam’s rickhouses. Those barrels are mostly from the seventh floor of those rickhouses, with one coming from the ninth floor. All of them averaged out to this whiskey being seven years, one month, and seven days old before it was batched and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a rush of dry nutshells next to old cellar beams, soft old boot leather, salted caramel sauce, sweet black cherries, and dry tobacco leaves and cedar bark braided together. The palate has a creamy and lush vanilla underbelly that supports a hint of chocolate chip cookie next to fresh broom bristles, caramel apple from the state fair, and a whisper of freshly cracked black peppercorn with a dash of dried ancho underneath it all. The end is all about salted peanuts covered in dark yet creamy chocolate with beautiful lush vanilla tobacco chewiness wrapped in that old leather and cedar.
Bottom Line:
This is another whiskey that’s going to be hard to beat this year — and it’s been an amazing year for bourbon, ryes, and whiskeys in general. Overall, I like the heat of this one neat, but you might need a rock to calm it down a tad and help the deeper flavors express themselves.
The Bardstown Discovery Series has become one of the most beloved and sought-after blended whiskeys in the game. Their latest edition is a mix of 35 percent eight-year-old Georgia bourbon, 31 percent 12-year-old Kentucky bourbon, 19 percent 17-year-old Tennessee whiskey, and 15 percent 12-year-old corn whiskey from Ontario. Those barrels are shipped to Bardstown where they’re masterfully vatted and bottled as-is.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this is dense yet inviting with hints of sour apple next to waxy cacao nibs, old boot leather, bruised plums, wet cedar bark braids, soft winter spice, and a hint of wet forest mushroom underneath it all. The palate is ultra lush with creamy vanilla leading things off as layers of cinnamon cake, dry reeds, and a twinge of spicy orange tobacco leaf mingle. The end is pure silk thanks to that vanilla with an accent of chanterelles and stewed plums in a ginger/cinnamon/clove brown sugar syrup base.
Bottom Line:
This is my favorite Discovery to date. It’s so funky and fresh while still feeling like it’s comforting. It also takes your senses on a journey. When you add a little water, it gets super creamy as the fats move forward and you get this malted spicy orange chocolate vibe that’s just wonderful.
The first whiskey from Frank August is a sourced bourbon. The juice is made in Kentucky, where it’s also aged. The team at Frank August then takes roughly ten to 15 barrels per batch and builds this bourbon painstakingly to fit their desired flavor profile. The whiskey is then lightly proofed down to 100 proof before bottling.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is pure classic bourbon with hints of salted caramel with a twinge of soft grains next to spicy cherry syrup, a whisper of sour apple, and a touch of aged oak staves soaked in mulled wine. The palate moves on from the soft grains towards rum-soaked raisins with a warm winter spice matrix — cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice — before a brown sugar/rock candy sweetness takes over on the mid-palate. The finish is long and sweet with a nice dose of sharp cinnamon and soft nutmeg that leads to a supple vanilla cream with a thin line of dry cedar and tobacco spice just touched with dark cherry on the very end.
Bottom Line:
This is another winner all around. In fact, it just won a gold medal at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans — in case you needed more reason to track it down.
2022’s Ardbeg Day release is an outlier for the distillery. The juice is made with a mash of peated Islay barely mixed with a heavily roasted barley in the mix. That dark barley imbues a layer of dark chocolate to the juice that lasts through the aging process.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a hint of wet charcoal next to sour and almost waxy cacao nibs on the nose plus white pepper, grapefruit, and a hint of dried florals. The palate meanders through notes of cigarette ash, anise, savory scones with dark chocolate drops, and cardamon with a small line of Band-Aid and pear sneaking in late. The finish has a note of menthol/chocolate tobacco with a bit of dry asphalt.
Bottom Line:
A smoky chocolate bomb? Yes, please!
Overall, this is a classic Ardbeg with a fresh POV. If you’re down with (real) smokiness, then this is going to be your jam for the rest of the summer.
Hidden Barn Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Small Batch
Former Master Taster for Old Forester Jackie Zykan just left her post at Brown-Forman and her new whiskey is already out. Zykan’s first release at her own shingle is a sourced whiskey from Neeley Family Distillery in rural Kentucky. The bourbon is made from a sweet mash (a brand new mash with every cook instead of reusing mash for a sour mash) with a high-ish rye content over pot stills (a true rarity in bourbon these days). Those barrels aged for four to five years before Zykan picked a handful for this inaugural release at batch proof.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is full of digestive biscuits and whole wheat pancakes cut with vanilla and pecan next to hints of anise, caramel candy, and cinnamon-toast tobacco. The palate holds onto the massive graininess with a clear sense of rye bread crumb next to thick oatmeal cookies with more of those pecans and plenty of raisins and spice. Later, a hint of white pepper arrives and leads the finish to soft espresso cream with a dash of nutmeg and creamy toffee.
Bottom Line:
This is a great introduction to a brand-new whiskey. The juice feels unique to bourbon and like something truly new.
The Balvenie just added a new release to its core lineup last week. The juice here is a masterful blend from whisky legend David Stewart. After around 15 years of aging, the whisky is transferred to Pineau des Charentes casks (a French fortified wine) for a final maturation, which is The Balvenie’s first foray into French oak finishing. The whisky is then bottled with a touch of water but as-is otherwise.
Tasting Notes:
Red geraniums and fresh honeycomb greet you on the nose with supporting characters of green grass, pear skins, apple cores, a hint of a cinnamon roll with vanilla frosting, and a dash of nutmeg. The palate leans into a lemon curd with a hint of grapefruit pith before layering in floral honey, ginger beer, vanilla-heavy shortbread, oatmeal raisin cookies, and a good dose of orange zest with a pinch of dark chocolate powder mixed in. The end is light and airy with a hint of savory fig next to ginger-infused rock candy dipped in creamy dark chocolate that’s just kissed with cinnamon spice.
Bottom Line:
This is one of my favorite new Scotch single malts of the year (so far). It’s light and fun while still feeling like a deeply hewn unpeated single malt of the highest degree.
Redbreast Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey Kentucky Oak Edition
This new edition to the Redbreast family marries Kentucky and Ireland in the barrel. The juice starts off as classic Redbreast aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. Those barrels are vatted and then re-barreled into air-dried new American oak barrels made from trees from the Taylor family’s Elk Cave Farm in Kentucky (which is renowned for its oak orchards). After around seven months of finishing in that barrel, the whiskey is vatted, slightly proofed, and bottled without fussing.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is full of fresh, almost wet cedar bark next to moist marzipan cut with orange oils and covered in dark chocolate with sour and candied cherries in the background. The palate starts off buttery and sweet with a rich toffee leading to brandy-soaked sour cherries dipped in creamy dark chocolate next to rushes of woody cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and clove berries with a hint of anise and maybe some cherry root beer. The vanilla is rich and smooths the finish into a lush sip, leaning into Calvados-laced marzipan next to spiced dark chocolate tobacco leaves stuffed into a cedar box with a hint of old leather jackets and dried wicker lurking in the background.
Bottom Line:
This is just spectacularly good. It’s so soft and nuanced while still hitting on great Irish and Kentucky whiskey notes. It’s also one of the easiest drinking whiskeys on this list that offers the most rewards in the flavor department.
The evolution of the already beloved Dovetail from Barrell Craft Spirits is an instant classic. The juice is a blend of rare barrels from Indiana, Tennessee, and Canada with ages reaching above 20 years old. Those whiskeys are then finished in a combination of rum, port, and Dunn Vineyards cabernet barrels before batching and bottling in Louisville, Kentucky at cask strength and with zero tweaks.
Tasting Notes:
The nose on this is wild — in the best possible way — with hints of fresh leather next to bright habanero peppers, grape must, green apple skins, pear candy, tart red berries, woody Christmas spices, orange oils, vanilla oils, and salted peanut and caramel ice cream. The palate is bold with strawberry rhubarb pie in a lard crust leading to poppy seed cake with plenty of vanilla and lemon next to a hint of savory herbs (fennel and caraway come to mind) and savory melon. The end mixes almost burnt black tea with jasmine and very bright honey with a twinge of sweet black licorice and a whisper of miso and pipe tobacco smoke laced with dark orange chocolate.
Bottom Line:
This is a wild ride! It’s so deep and engaging. You just want to keep nosing and tasting and adding water and air to see what comes out of that flavor profile next. This is a phenom to its core.
Michter’s Single Barrel 10-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey
This year’s only Michter’s 10-Year release is an instant classic. The whiskey is made from a corn-rich rye whiskey mash bill with a good dose of barley in there. The absolute best barrels are chosen — with some up to 15 years old — for this release. Then each of those barrels is individually bottled as-is with a hint of proofing water.
Tasting Notes:
Rich and lush toffee combine with soft marzipan on the nose as a dash of freshly cracked black pepper leads to cinnamon-laced apple cider and cherry-soaked cedar bark. The palate is part Red Hot and part zesty orange marmalade with creamy vanilla pudding, sweet and spicy dried chili peppers with a hint of smoke and woodiness, and this fleeting whisper of celery salt. The end dries out the almond with a vanilla cream tobacco, soft and sweet cedar, and dark chocolate orange vibe all balanced to damn near perfection.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the best whiskeys of the year (all of these whiskeys on this list are, so far). Poured over a single rock, this is divine. That said, I’m looking forward to mixing this into a Manhattan very soon. This whiskey makes the best (I’ll die on this hill) Manhattan there is.
This is wholesome family content and brilliant marketing all rolled into one sweet story.
Emily Beaver and her wonderful crochet creations have been getting a lot of love online lately, not only for her evident prowess with a needle, but also for her delightful models—her parents.
Emily’s mom, Amy Beaver, started it all by wearing one of Emily’s designs, which caused a spike in views on her social media.
Pretty soon, videos of Jeff dancing, twirling and being an absolute goofball while wearing Emily’s bralettes went viral. Like, mega viral. One video of him wearing a full rainbow ensemble while the family performed a “drag race” inspired routine got nearly 19 million views. Influencer status: unlocked.
where she attributed the success of her LoveBeav crochet line to her parents’ ability to embrace the silliness.
“We could care less what other people think about how silly it might look,” she told GMA. “My dad has never been afraid to look silly, especially if he’s having fun doing it, so there was never any hesitation on his part.”
The strategy has definitely worked. Emily shared that since creating videos together with her family, her business has exponentially grown—going from “barely any sales at all, to usually selling out my entire restock each month.”
Sales have been so strong, in fact, that Emily now solely works as a full-time crochet artist.
She even got to partner with Michael’s Craft Store, one of her favorite places for finding crochet supplies.
One of her most popular items seems to be her “Third Eye” bralettes, which come in a variety of colors. Jeff really likes the green one, as you can see.
“Totally don’t have this relationship with my parents but I would do this for my kids. You all are awesome,” wrote one person.
“You three could truly lighten the world I believe! Always makes my heart happy!” wrote another.
For Emily, making videos together has been the ultimate highlight. She told GMA, “The most important thing for me and my parents is that we are spending quality time laughing and enjoying what we are doing.”
The Beaver family is clearly having a wildly good time, and their joy is contagious. Whatever they’re selling—be it crochet tops or silly dad dances or family videos—we’re buying.
It can be distressing to think about the state of the planet. The climate is changing at a rapid pace, species are being lost at an alarming rate and the world’s oceans are being filled with plastic.
But as legendary TV pitchman Billy Mays famously said, “Oh wait, there’s more!”
The planet’s rotation is speeding up, creating shorter days.
On June 29, 2022, the Earth had its shortest day since the 1960s when scientists began measuring the length of a day using high-precision atomic clocks, The Guardian reported. It was the shortest day in the lives of most people on the planet although nobody noticed it because it was only 1.59 milliseconds shorter than expected.
The change in the Earth’s rotation comes after years of slowing. The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) accounted for the slower spin by adding leap seconds as recently as December 31, 2016.
“Since 2016 the Earth started to accelerate,” Lomonosov Moscow State University scientist Leonid Zotov told CBS News. “This year it rotates quicker than in 2021 and 2020.”
If the Earth continues to move faster than our clocks, things will become out of sync.
As the number of shorter days has increased over the past few years, scientists are now considering removing a second off the atomic clock. “Since we can not change the clock arrows attached to the Earth rotation, we adjust the atomic clock scale,” Zotov said.
This sounds like a great idea in practice, but tech experts warn that it may lead to devastating consequences. “The impact of a negative leap second has never been tested on a large scale; it could have a devastating effect on the software relying on timers or schedulers,” Meta engineers Oleg Obleukhov and Ahmad Byagowi wrote on the company blog. “In any case, every leap second is a major source of pain for people who manage hardware infrastructures.”
Messing with the time on global technology seems like it could cause significant problems. But didn’t a lot of people predict that when the year changed from 1999 to 2000 it would create a global disaster known as Y2K, which never happened?
The big question is, why is the globe spinning so fast?
Forbes senior contributor Jamie Carter says there are multiple reasons why the Earth’s rotation is ramping up. He points to glacier melt that puts more pressure on the poles, motion in our planet’s inner molten core, seismic activity and the movement of the planet’s geographical poles across its surface.
Obleukhov and Byagowi believe the rotation change is a symptom of climate change. They speculate that it may be caused by the melting and refreezing of the ice caps on the world’s tallest mountains.
“This phenomenon can be simply visualized by thinking about a spinning figure skater, who manages angular velocity by controlling their arms and hands,” they told CBS News. “As they spread their arms the angular velocity decreases, preserving the skater’s momentum. As soon as the skater tucks their arms back in, the angular velocity increases. Same happens here at this moment because of rising temperatures on Earth. Ice caps melt and lead to angular velocity increase.”
The good news is that the Earth is spinning faster and no one seems to notice. However, for those of you who like to worry, Popular Science speculates that if Earth’s rotation sped up by one mile an hour, sea levels would rise and telecommunications satellites would stop functioning. It currently spins at about 1,000 miles per hour at the equator.
If Earth’s rotation sped up to 17,641 miles per hour you’d become weightless, according to NASA astronomer Sten Odenwald. That would be cool, but you probably would have drowned before that happened.
When the first images of space came back from the high-powered James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022, it felt like the whole world stopped for a moment to marvel. Never before have we seen such an intricate look at what’s out there, and the detail was stunning. Since then, we’ve seen a steady stream of visual wonders far beyond our solar system, delighting our eyes and tickling our imaginations.
But what about those who aren’t able to see them? Do people who are visually impaired simply miss out on the joy of “seeing” these gorgeous glimpses of our universe?
Nope. NASA has made sure that these images are accessible to all and has done a stellar job of it. The alt text descriptions of the Webb telescope images are truly wonderful, giving not only visual descriptions but additional details that all of us can benefit from.
For instance, here’s a recent alt text description from one of the Webb telescope images:
“A dramatic blade made of red gaseous wisps comes down top-to-bottom in the center of the image as smaller green wisps feather out in horizontal directions. A bright star shrouded in blue light is near the center of the bow-like blade. Blue dots in different sizes dot the background of the image, signifying neighboring stars.”
And here’s the image it’s describing:
u201cA powerful stellar explosion from a nearby star propelled Zeta Ophiuchi about 100,000 mph (160,934 km). Data from @ChandraXray shows a bubble of X-ray emission (blue) around the star is produced by gas that has been heated to tens of millions of degrees: https://t.co/bsJZAp6kKwu201d
Or check out this image of the Cartwheel Galaxy and the way the alt text describes it.
u201cWebb is on a roll! ud83eudd38nnThis new @NASAWebb near and mid-infrared composite image highlights the Cartwheel Galaxy, the result of a high-speed collision that occurred about 440 million years ago, along with two neighboring galaxies. Get the details: https://t.co/c8lEVBBlubu201d
“Image Description: A large galaxy on the right, with two much smaller companion galaxies to the left at 10 o’clock and 9 o’clock. The large galaxy resembles a speckled wheel, with an oval outer ring and a small, off-center inner ring. The outer ring contains pink plumes like wheel spokes, with dusty blue regions in between. The pink areas are silicate dust, while the blue areas are pockets of young stars and hydrocarbon dust. The inner ring is smoother, filled in with a more uniform pale pink. This smaller ring is interwoven with thin, orange-pink threads. On the galaxy’s right edge, a bright white star with 8 diffraction spikes shines. The two companion galaxies to the left, one above the other, are about the same size and both spiral galaxies. The galaxy above is a reverse S shape but similar in coloring and texture as the large ring galaxy. The galaxy below is smoother and largely white, with a blue tinge. The background is black and full of more distant, orange-red colored galaxies of various sizes.”
Alt text is often brief and concise, offering enough description to get a general idea of what an image is but not a ton of detail. Such brevity is helpful in certain contexts, but not when you’re describing awe-inspiring pictures of the deep universe.
According to an article by Theresa Vargas in The Washington Post, the descriptions come from a team of writers, designers, educators and scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
“It’s been really heartening to see how much this has touched people,” Tim Rhue II, principal informal education specialist at the institute, told the Post. “It’s something that’s deeply personal to so many people. On top of that, we do it because we want to make astronomy accessible to everyone. It’s astronomy and dinosaurs that are gateways to science for so many people.”
In an interview with NPR, Rhue described creating the alt text descriptions as “a labor of love.”
“Space is for everyone,” he said. “It shouldn’t matter who you are.”
NASA’s alt text descriptions not only make the images accessible to everyone, but they make the science of the images more accessible for everyone. Even those without visual impairments can appreciate reading the scientific detail of what makes certain colors or shapes in the images. The team at the Space Telescope Science Institute goes out of its way to include lots of detail, going beyond simple surface descriptions. It matters, and it’s being noticed by people of all abilities.
Thank you, NASA, for illustrating the fact that when we embrace greater accessibility, we all win.
The things human beings have figured out how to do boggles the mind sometimes, especially in the realm of medicine.
It wasn’t terribly long ago that people with a severe injury had to liquor up, bite a stick, have a body part sewn up or sawed off and hope for the best. (Sorry for the visual, but it’s true.) The discoveries of antibiotics and anesthesia alone have completely revolutionized human existence, but we’ve gone well beyond that with what our best surgeons can accomplish.
Surgeries can range from fairly simple to incredibly complex, but few surgeries are more complicated than separating conjoined twins with combined major organs. That’s why the recent surgical separation of conjoined twin boys with fused brains in Brazil is so incredible.
The twins, Bernardo and Arthur Lima, are almost 4 years old and have never seen one another’s face. They’ve spent their lives conjoined at the top of their heads, facing opposite directions. Born as craniopagus twins (joined at the cranium), their brains were also fused together, making their separation extremely complex. According to the BBC, they’ve been cared for at the Instituto Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer (Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute) in Rio de Janeiro for the past two and a half years.
Surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani is the founder of medical charity Gemini Untwined, which funded the surgery. He helped lead the team of nearly 100 medical workers who worked for months to prepare for the boys’ separation, which was one of the most complicated of its kind.
Jeelani told the BBC that it was the first time surgeons in separate countries practiced by operating in the same “virtual reality room” together, wearing VR headsets.
“It’s just wonderful,” he said. “It’s really great to see the anatomy and do the surgery before you actually put the children at any risk. You can’t imagine how reassuring this is for the surgeons. To do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff.”
Watch Jeelani explain how they prepared for the procedure:
Prior attempts to separate the twins had been unsuccessful, making the surgery even more challenging due to scar tissue. However, after multiple surgeries that took more than 33 hours collectively, the boys were successfully separated in June.
“It was without a doubt the most complex surgery of my career,” said neurosurgeon Gabriel Mufarrej of the Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute, according to EuroNews. “At the beginning, nobody thought they would survive. It is already historic that both of them could be saved.”
Jeelani told the BBC that the boys’ heart rates and blood pressure were “through the roof” for four days after the surgery—until they were reunited and touched hands.
According to Reuters, Bernardo and Arthur are the oldest twins with fused brains to be successfully separated. They will spend the next six months in rehabilitation.
Congratulations to the Lima family and to the global team that combined dedication, perseverance and the miracle of modern technology to create a brighter future for these young boys.
As Marvel continues to face increased criticism for the quality of its visual effects work and the working conditions of the teams struggling to keep up with the studio’s massive output, another veteran VFX artist has come forward with his experience working on Guardians of the Galaxy. According to Emmy award winner Joe Pavlo, the production “was a mess,” and that was before Marvel significantly upped its cinematic output and branched into mammoth streaming series, which has only exacerbated the situation.
While speaking to The Guardian, Pavlo explained that the VFX industry is “filled with terrific people with lots of goodwill,” that all goes away when you have a demanding client who has become accustomed to making wild changes on the fly.
“All the goodwill in the world just evaporates when everything gets changed and they decide they’re replacing that character with a different actor or changing the entire environment – they’re now in a pizza restaurant instead of a cornfield,” Pavlo said. “It can be that extreme at the very last minute.”
Those demands turn into a bullying problem, which quickly trickles downhill, Pavlo told The Guardian:
“The average artist doesn’t even have any contact with the clients. It’s really just the people at the producer and the supervisor level and then they pass it on to their crew. So you could say, oh, the supervisor’s a real bully, but actually it’s a knock-on effect and then the people who are the team leaders, once they can’t handle it, end up being bullies.
“Bullying is a huge problem in our industry because everybody’s so desperate sometimes. It seems like there’s such a high level of stress and pressure on these jobs to complete on time, to change everything at the drop of a hat.”
As the plight of VFX workers starts to become a more prominent issue, She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany recently came to the artists’ defense and didn’t deny that they’re working under extreme time crunches.
“I feel incredibly, like, deferential to how talented these artists are and how quickly they have to work, obviously, like much quicker than probably should be given to them, in terms of like churning these things out,” Maslany told Variety ahead of She-Hulk‘s premiere.
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