#archeology "The moment the earliest known human-made fire was uncovered A stunning discovery at an archaeological dig in the UK is rewriting the timeline of when humans first made fire. Researchers have discovered the earliest known instance of human-created fire, which took place in the east of England 400,000 years ago. The new discovery, in the village of Barnham, pushes the origin of human fire-making back by more than 350,000 years, far earlier than previously thought. The ability to create fire was the moment that changed everything for humans. It provided warmth at will and enabled our ancestors to cook and eat meat, which made our brains grow. It meant we were no longer a group of animals struggling to survive – it gave us time to think and invent and become the advanced species we are today. The team say they found baked earth together with the earliest Stone Age lighter – consisting of a flint that was bashed against a rock called pyrite, also known as fool's gold, to create a spark."
News
The moment the earliest known human-made fire was uncovered - BBC News
Archaeologists in the UK have discovered the world's oldest evidence of humans lighting fires
#PBS #Arkansas "Arkansas becoming 1st state to sever ties with PBS, effective July 1 LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (AP) — The commission that oversees public television in Arkansas voted Thursday to sever ties with PBS, making it the first state to end its contract with the broadcast giant that provides popular television programs such as 'Sesame Street,' 'Nova' and 'Antiques Roadshow.' The eight-member Arkansas Educational Television Commission, made up entirely of appointees of the governor, announced in a news release Thursday that it planned to disaffiliate from PBS effective July 1, citing annual membership dues of about $2.5 million it described as 'not feasible.' The release also cited the unexpected loss of about that same amount of federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was targeted for closure earlier this year and defunded by Congress. PBS Arkansas is rebranding itself as Arkansas TV and will provide more local content, the agency’s Executive Director and CEO Carlton Wing said in a statement. Wing, a former Republican state representative, took the helm of the agency in September."
AP News
Arkansas becoming 1st state to sever ties with PBS, effective July 1
The commission that oversees public television in Arkansas has voted to sever ties with PBS, making it the first state to end its contract with the...
#Netflix #fraud #neurodivergence "Netflix's in-house scammer found guilty of fraud The director of the never-finished sci-fi series White Horse was found guilty of defrauding the streamer of $11 million. In an ironic twist for the media giant known for documentaries about scammers, fraudsters, and crooks, Netflix’s own in-house scammer director, Carl Rinsch, was found guilty of defrauding the world’s most dominant streamer. Per Variety, through wire fraud, money laundering, and illegal activity, Rinsch swindled $11 million from Netflix during the production of the unfinished sci-fi series White Horse, later renamed Conquest. Facing up to 90 years in prison, Rinsch will face sentencing on April 17. (. . .) Rinsch reportedly spent the show’s budget betting on crypto, investing in a pharma company he thought could cure COVID, and luxurious horsehair mattresses he turned out to be allergic to. He would blame his actions on neurodivergence."
AV Club
Netflix's in-house scammer found guilty of fraud
Netflix's in-house scammer found guilty of fraud
#recession #Christmas "'Tis the season to be jolly. That is, unless you're a worker who was banking on getting a seasonal job and haven't been able to find one this season. Every year, American retailers hire extra help as the holiday shopping season approaches. In recent years, these jobs have numbered roughly around half a million per season. These seasonal jobs run the gamut. Think temporary cashiers, gift wrappers, sales associates, greeters, merchandisers, warehouse unloaders, delivery drivers. But the quintessential — and most iconic — seasonal worker has got to be… Santa Claus. In addition to sliding down chimneys to deliver presents on Christmas, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas takes gigs at places like malls, department stores, corporate events, and private parties in the weeks leading up to Dec. 25. However, this year, Santa may be making fewer trips from the North Pole than in years past. As we report in this week's Planet Money newsletter, demand for professional Santas seems to have cooled. It's one small part of a broader decline in the demand for seasonal workers this holiday season. It got us wondering how the market for Santas fluctuates with the business cycle, which sectors of the Santa market are recession-proof, and whether a decline in Santa demand this season could be a sign that the U.S. economy is going down the chimney." https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2025/12/09/g-s1-101130/are-we-in-a-recession-maybe-professional-santas-can-tell-us
#podcasts "Conservative Podcasters Got Shut Out of Controversial New Golden Globe Category After making the short list, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Tucker Carlson Show, and The Ben Shapiro Show didn’t make the final cut—an interesting twist in an inaugural category that’s already seen its fair share of drama. For the first time ever, the 2026 Golden Globes will honor excellence in an audio medium, nominating six shows for the awards’ new best-podcast category. (. . .) Notably, none of the right-wing podcasts that made the initial short list—like *The Ben Shapiro Show*, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, *The Tucker Carlson Show*, and *The Joe Rogan Experience*—ended up making the final cut."
Vanity Fair
Conservative Podcasters Got Shut Out of Controversial New Golden Globe Category
After making the short list, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience,’ ‘The Tucker Carlson Show,’ and ‘The Ben Shapiro Show’ didn’t make the final ...
#OccupiedPalestine #Eurovisiom "2024 Eurovision Champ Nemo Returns Prize In Protest of Israel’s 2026 Inclusion: ‘I No Longer Feel This Trophy Belongs on My Shelf’ The song contest's first openly nonbinary singer's move comes after five countries have said they will boycott next year's event over decision to allow Israel to compete. Last year’s Eurovision Song Contest winner, Swiss singer Nemo, announced on Thursday (Dec. 11) that they will return the winner’s trophy in protest of Israel being allowed to compete in the 2026 event. In an Instagram post announcing their decision, the global singing competition’s first openly non-binary champ — who won the contest in May 2024 with their operatic pop anthem 'The Code' — wrote that they will always be grateful for the experience, but that they must send their trophy back in protest."
2024 Eurovision Champ Nemo Returns Prize To Protest Israel Inclusion
2024 Eurovision champ Nemo returns their trophy in protest of Israel's inclusion in next year's contest, joining 5 nations sitting out th...
#drugs #France "Panic in France as children fall victim to lethal violence of Marseille drug gangs (. . .) During the summer, several French cities imposed night-time curfews on teenagers after a spate of violence linked to drug trafficking. President Emmanuel Macron was holding talks on Thursday in an attempt to respond to the crisis. 'There's so much competition in the drugs trade that... people are ready to do anything,' said community organiser Mohamed Benmeddour. 'So, we have kids aged 13 or 14 who come in as lookouts or dealers. The young see dead bodies, they hear about it, every day. And they're no longer afraid of killing, or being killed.' The trigger for Marseille's current psychose was the murder, last month, of Mehdi Kessaci, a 20-year-old trainee policeman with no links to the drug trade. It is widely believed his death was intended as a warning to his brother, a prominent 22-year-old anti-gang activist and aspiring politician named Amine Kessaci."
Panic in France as children fall victim to lethal violence of Marseille drug gangs
The number of teenagers involved in the drugs trade has quadrupled in eight years, the government says.
Quote of the day. "It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information." -- Oscar Wilde
#Hegseth #fascists "A misspelling in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s name placard got the internet buzzing on Tuesday as people debated whether it was more than just a typo. During a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, reporters noticed that Hegseth’s job title was written out on a placard as 'SSecretary of War' — in line with President Donald Trump’srebranding of the Defense Department, but not in line with the English language."
Social Media Wonders If Hegseth’s Misspelled Placard Is Intentional Nazi Nod
The internet had theories about what happened with the defense secretary's name placard.
#TrumpRegime #doxxing #EnemiesList "From Doxxing to Dot.Gov: the White House Has Set Up a Taxpayer Funded Enemies List Doxing, swatting, bogus FBI calls, stalkers live-streaming outside their homes — it used to be marginal maniacs who saw journalists as targets to be neutralized. Now it’s the President. A government that pardons violent insurrectionists, guts research on far‑right terror, and redirects agents from tracking neo‑Nazis to hunting immigrants is turning its full weight on the people who dare to report any of it. The anti-hate beat has never been for the faint of heart. Amanda Moore, who embedded with the far Right in 2020, has faced backlash for her reporting for The Nation, Politico, and The Intercept ever since. She’s seen her address, phone, gym schedule, and family details splashed across extremist sites for half a decade — leading to her sister getting swatted at 4 a.m. over a fake suicide call. Likewise, in North Carolina, Raw Story reporter Jordan Green saw a young neo-Nazi soldier, whom his reporting had tied to the group Patriot Front, show up at his door during a fake pizza delivery. The soldier snapped Green’s photo, then returned weeks later to film a flash rally of extremists right outside the home where Green lives with his wife and children. Steven Monacelli in Dallas knows this story too. His work tracking extremism, disinformation, and the influence of dark money in politics has won awards — but it’s also cost him. Last year, someone impersonating the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center sent cops to his door with a bogus wife-beating tip on Thanksgiving. The work of journalists like these was never easy, but as Moore puts it, the people she met praising 'a friendlier Nazi Germany' at those conferences years back, are now embedded in the administration: 'The people who are backlashing against me have changed. It’s no longer a live streamer like Nick Fuentes ranting about me for five minutes straight. It’s the former campaign manager for Trump 2024 calling me and threatening me with a lawsuit.' And that was before the president launched his own doxxing and swatting operation."
CounterPunch.org
From Doxxing to Dot.Gov: the White House Has Set Up a Taxpayer Funded Enemies List
Doxing, swatting, bogus FBI calls, stalkers live-streaming outside their homes — it used to be marginal maniacs who saw journalists as targets to...