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Selflessness with Selfies, Weekend Whats, Feel Good Friday

It's 2024 and divisions are everywhere from campuses to the Capitol, so it seems like a good time to be reminded of our common humanity and that people are willing to help each other out. Which brings us to "an overcast morning in April, Bianca Giaever was anxiously loitering outside the Union Square subway station. She scanned the New Yorkers rushing along on their weekday commutes and tried to psych herself up to go talk to them. She was dressed rather noticeably, and perhaps slightly humiliatingly, in a red jumpsuit and a white sandwich board she had assembled the night before, writing the words 'FREE HELP' in red marker." NYT (Gift Article): She Wanted to Help Strangers. Would They Take Her Up on It? It's 2024, so this selfless project also featured an ongoing selfie. "It began to dawn on Ms. Giaever that some people might question whether her desire to help was more self-serving than it was genuine, particularly with her film crew in tow." Oh well, it's 2024. Some things can't be helped.

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Passing the Pipe

"Government agencies distribute pipes to some districts in the city, but in Contreras’ neighborhood, that’s not the case. For those who can afford it, the best solution is to pay for private delivery of water. But for the poorest residents, it’s not uncommon to walk several miles to refill their buckets." Like most water crises around the world, the dire state in Mexico City is due to human caused climate change and human run bureaucracies. Only the two forces working together can lead to the "paradox of a sinking, thirsty city that was once surrounded by lakes." Once the epicenter of hydraulic engineering, Mexico City is now running out of water.

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Target Practice

The culture wars are such an exhausting nightmare, usually driven by one side punching down at another group out of some bizarre, misguided, often hateful fear. Why do they keep popping up everywhere? Because insomuch as they get people riled up and draw focus away from more pressing political issues, they often work. Consider that Bud Light sales are still falling. "We've lost a whole generation of hardcore Bud Light shoppers. It's going to take us at least 10 years to try and recapture what we lost in one year." Meanwhile, Target is dialing back on Pride merchandise after right-wing backlash.

+ Some culture war topics are new. Some have been around for 163 years, and show little sign of letting up. Virginia school board votes to restore names of Confederate leaders to schools.

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Weekend Whats

What to LA: John Mulaney's live talkshow on Netflix called Everyone's in LA, is very strange. But mostly in a good way. And it's definitely unique. There will only be one week of episodes. Give it a try. The mapped description of LA in the first installment is excellent. The show features many of Mulaney's famous friends, some of whom were present at his intervention a few years ago. He had a really bad drug problem which led to recovery and to one of the best stand up specials in a long time. Don't miss Baby J.

+ What to Watch: Beforeigners is a sci-fi crime drama where time traveling refugees from three past eras - The Stone Age, The Viking era, and the late 19th century - have settled in Oslo, Norway. It's also pretty weird, but also good. It was on HBO, but now you'll have to find it on Apple or Amazon for purchase.

+ What to Watch/Listen: I'm a sucker for musical tribute shows where people sing the songs of the honorees while the honorees sit there and listen. This one features performances by Brandi Carlile and Garth Brooks singing the works of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Check out the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. And as a bonus, perhaps the best of these tribute moments of them all: Heart playing Stairway to Heaven at the Kennedy Center Honors.

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Extra, Extra

Rafah Debate: "At the heart of the dispute between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu over invading Rafah is a larger disagreement about what Israel can reasonably hope to accomplish against Hamas." NYT (Gift Article): The Debate Over Rafah. Meanwhile, Israeli war cabinet votes to expand Rafah operation area, amid growing U.S. concerns.

+ Quid Pro Dough:"The contrast between the two candidates on climate policy could not be more stark. Biden has called global warming an 'existential threat,' and over the last three years, his administration has finalized more than 100 new environmental regulations aimed at cutting air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, restricting toxic chemicals, and conserving public lands and waters. In comparison, Trump has called climate change a 'hoax,' and his administration weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies over four years." WaPo (Gift Article): What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign.

+ Resident Reservations: "The organization tracked a larger decrease in interest in residencies in states with abortion restrictions not only among those in specialties most likely to treat pregnant patients, like OB-GYNs and emergency room doctors, but also among aspiring doctors in other specialties." Medical residents increasingly avoiding states with abortion restrictions. I covered this more broadly in yesterday's lead item. Going Off Their Meds.

+ True Colors: "Johnston and his wife, Grace, who lived on the Isle of Colonsay after their 2015 marriage, found fame when the mother of the bride wore a dress that caused a global debate over its true colors – black and blue, or white and gold." The dress nearly broke the internet. But behind the scenes, things were less playful. Man linked to viral dress pleads guilty to endangering wife’s life.

+ Signs of Life: "Contractors curious about an extension cord on the roof of a Michigan grocery store made a startling discovery: a 34-year-old woman was living inside the business sign, with enough space for a computer, printer and coffee maker." (On real estate sites, this unit is described as a top floor charmer, very private.)

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Feel Good Friday

"The ensuing scramble saved the life of the Marine Corps commandant, a father of two who had stepped into his new role on the Joint Chiefs of Staff just three months earlier. Smith, who turns 59 in June, suffered cardiac arrest at the tail end of his run, just a block from his home at Marine Barracks Washington — a crisis in which the speed and quality of medical intervention proved vital." WaPo (Gift Article): On a D.C. sidewalk, a race to save a Marine general’s life.

+ "Opal Sandy was treated shortly before her first birthday - and six months on, can hear sounds as soft as a whisper and is starting to talk." Pioneering gene therapy restores UK girl's hearing.

+ "As the school year ends, many students will be only too happy to see math classes in their rearview mirrors. It may seem to some of us non-mathematicians that geometry and trigonometry were created by the Greeks as a form of torture, so imagine our amazement when we heard two high school seniors had proved a mathematical puzzle that was thought to be impossible for 2,000 years." Teens come up with trigonometry proof for Pythagorean Theorem.

+ Drive-thru food pantry in Southern California food desert provides consistent source of groceries for thousands: "It's a labor of love."

+ Connecticut rescue workers rappel into rock quarry to rescue missing dog. (So far, the dog has been unwilling to name the cat that pushed him.)