"Rock star" reptile breeder murdered; Coroner: "Not a random act"
Ben Renick was found laying in a pool of blood inside his Missouri snake breeding facility — shot eight times in the back, once at close range.
1m
cbsnews.com
Trio of shoplifters with nearly 300 combined arrests evade justice through NYC’s revolving door of crime: ‘Are we surprised?’
A trio of shoplifters have nearly 300 arrests between them, yet they keep getting sprung to steal again, fed up cops told The Post this week.
11 m
nypost.com
Defensive lineman Khary Wilder next in line to star at Gardena Serra
Football coach Scott Altenberg has seen plenty of talent come through Gardena Serra High, and defensive lineman Khary Wilder fits profile of a future star.
13 m
latimes.com
VP Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter Ella Emhoff pushes ketamine, ‘shorter work days’ in ‘pain management’ rant
Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter revealed this week that she grew up a spinal condition that caused a “hunchback” – and suggested using the controversial drug ketamine as one way to deal with the pain.
13 m
nypost.com
Letters to Sports: Breaking news! Was that really in the Paris Olympics
Readers of the Los Angeles Times Sports section weigh in on the Paris Olympics, Dodgers, Lakers and USC.
13 m
latimes.com
‘Buying Beverly Hills’ Canceled By Netflix After Two Seasons
Season 2 premiered back in March.
13 m
nypost.com
Ousted NY Rep. Jamaal Bowman now begging for cash to pay off campaign debts
Disgraced Rep. Jamaal Bowman is begging for cash and painting himself as the victim in the wake of his bruising -- and losing June primary fight against Westchester County Executive George Latimer.
17 m
nypost.com
Beloved NYC 9/11 mural desecrated by pigeon poop despite roughly $400K of taxpayer money spent on failed deterrents
Hundreds of well-fed pigeons roost on the beams below the Belt Parkway’s 84th Street overpass in Howard Beach -- bombarding the mural with so much poop that volunteers are forced to power wash it nearly every day.
20 m
nypost.com
I went on a date with the world’s most eligible bachelor — here’s how it went
Artist Marcin Glod has been posting fliers around the Big Apple -- and cities like Ibiza, Zurich and Vienna – that say he is "looking for the perfect woman."
23 m
nypost.com
Hurricane Ernesto makes landfall on Bermuda as a category 1 storm with 85 mph winds
Hurricane Ernesto made landfall on the tiny British Atlantic territory of Bermuda early Saturday as residents hunkered down.
30 m
nypost.com
Matthew Perry and the People Who Prey on Addicts
Sometimes the most dangerous people are the ones who tell themselves they’re actually helping.
43 m
nytimes.com
Half Dome isn't safe because nature isn't safe. Hike accordingly
Readers reject an idea for altering Half Dome to prevent falls, plus more from the week in Opinion.
43 m
latimes.com
Masculinity Is on the Ballot
Has liberalism perfected a model of modern masculinity while conservative culture slouches somewhere far behind?
43 m
nytimes.com
After Biden Bloodletting, Dems Just Want to Have Fun!
Democrats parade to the post-coup convention.
43 m
nytimes.com
The New York Suburb Where Democrats Hope to Claw Back Victory
Long Island is an increasingly Republican stronghold, but Democrats believe they have a chance to win key House races there this year.
43 m
nytimes.com
Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
A list of key dates through the November election, including mail-in ballot deadlines, debates, and early voting.
43 m
time.com
How AI’s booms and busts are a distraction
A photo illustration of GPT-4o is seen on May 14, 2024. | CG/VCG via Getty Images What does it mean for AI safety if this whole AI thing is a bit of a bust? “Is this all hype and no substance?” is a question more people have been asking lately about generative AI, pointing out that there have been delays in model releases, that commercial applications have been slow to emerge, that the success of open source models makes it harder to make money off proprietary ones, and that this whole thing costs a whole lot of money. I think many of the people calling “AI bust” don’t have a strong grip on the full picture. Some of them are people who have been insisting all along that there’s nothing to generative AI as a technology, a view that’s badly out of step with AI’s many very real users and uses. And I think some people have a frankly silly view of how fast commercialization should happen. Even for an incredibly valuable and promising technology that will ultimately be transformative, it takes time between when it’s invented and when someone first delivers an extremely popular consumer product based on it. (Electricity, for example, took decades between invention and truly widespread adoption.) “The killer app for generative AI hasn’t been invented yet” seems true, but that’s not a good reason to assure everyone that it won’t be invented any time soon, either. But I think there’s a sober “case for a bust” that doesn’t rely on misunderstanding or underestimating the technology. It seems plausible that the next round of ultra-expensive models will still fall short of solving the difficult problems that would make them worth their billion-dollar training runs — and if that happens, we’re likely to settle in for a period of less excitement. More iterating and improving on existing products, fewer bombshell new releases, and less obsessive coverage. If that happens, it’ll also likely have a huge effect on attitudes toward AI safety, even though in principle the case for AI safety doesn’t depend on the AI hype of the last few years. The fundamental case for AI safety is one I’ve been writing about since long before ChatGPT and the recent AI frenzy. The simple case is that there’s no reason to think that AI models which can reason as well as humans — and much faster — aren’t possible, and we know they would be enormously commercially valuable if developed. And we know it would be very dangerous to develop and release powerful systems which can act independently in the world without oversight and supervision that we don’t actually know how to provide. Many of the technologists working on large language models believe that systems powerful enough that these safety concerns go from theory to real-world are right around the corner. They might be right, but they also might be wrong. The take I sympathize with the most is engineer Alex Irpan’s: “There’s a low chance the current paradigm [just building bigger language models] gets all the way there. The chance is still higher than I’m comfortable with.” It’s probably true that the next generation of large language models won’t be powerful enough to be dangerous. But many of the people working on it believe it will be, and given the enormous consequences of uncontrolled power AI, the chance isn’t so small it can be trivially dismissed, making some oversight warranted. How AI safety and AI hype ended up intertwined In practice, if the next generation of large language models aren’t much better than what we currently have, I expect that AI will still transform our world — just more slowly. A lot of ill-conceived AI startups will go out of business and a lot of investors will lose money — but people will continue to improve our models at a fairly rapid pace, making them cheaper and ironing out their most annoying deficiencies. Even generative AI’s most vociferous skeptics, like Gary Marcus, tend to tell me that superintelligence is possible; they just expect it to require a new technological paradigm, some way of combining the power of large language models with some other approach that counters their deficiencies. While Marcus identifies as an AI skeptic, it’s often hard to find significant differences between his views and those of someone like Ajeya Cotra, who thinks that powerful intelligent systems may be language-model powered in a sense that is analogous to how a car is engine-powered, but will have lots of additional processes and systems to transform their outputs into something reliable and usable. The people I know who worry about AI safety often hope that this is the route things will go. It would mean a little bit more time to better understand the systems we’re creating, time to see the consequences of using them before they become incomprehensibly powerful. AI safety is a suite of hard problems, but not unsolvable ones. Given some time, maybe we’ll solve them all. But my sense of the public conversation around AI is that many people believe “AI safety” is a specific worldview, one that is inextricable from the AI fever of the last few years. “AI safety,” as they understand it, is the claim that superintelligent systems are going to be here in the next few years — the view espoused in Leopold Aschenbrenner’s “Situational Awareness” and reasonably common among AI researchers at top companies. If we don’t get superintelligence in the next few years, then, I expect to hear a lot of “it turns out we didn’t need AI safety.” Keep your eyes on the big picture If you’re an investor in today’s AI startups, it deeply matters whether GPT-5 is going to be delayed six months or whether OpenAI is going to next raise money at a diminished valuation. If you’re a policymaker or a concerned citizen, though, I think you ought to keep a bit more distance than that, and separate the question of whether current investors’ bets will pay off from the question of where we’re headed as a society. Whether or not GPT-5 is a powerful intelligent system, a powerful intelligent system would be commercially valuable and there are thousands of people working from many different angles to build one. We should think about how we’ll approach such systems and ensure they’re developed safely. If one company loudly declares they’re going to build a powerful dangerous system and fails, the takeaway shouldn’t be “I guess we don’t have anything to worry about.” It should be “I’m glad we have a bit more time to figure out the best policy response.” As long as people are trying to build extremely powerful systems, safety will matter — and the world can’t afford to either get blinded by the hype or be reactively dismissive as a result of it.
43 m
vox.com
Giants’ offensive line remains a huge uncertainty despite investments
The Giants need this plan to work.
43 m
nypost.com
Almost 6,000 of the IRS goons who make you pay your taxes cheat on theirs
About 6,000 of the same people cracking down on every mom-and-pop business because of home-office deductions (while pretending to be valiant warriors against delinquent billionaires) are cheating on their own taxes, big time.
43 m
nypost.com
Former D.C. Employee Convicted of Manslaughter in Fatal Shooting of 13-Year-Old
A former Washington, D.C., city employee was found guilty of manslaughter Friday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed 13-year-old boy.
48 m
time.com
Daniel Jones’ return highlights Giants’ storylines for second preseason game
Here’s what to look for in the Giants’ next preseason game against the Houston Texans on Saturday.
1 h
nypost.com
Australian MMA fighter Craig Jones slammed over kiss on unsuspecting rival: ‘You crossed the line’
Australian grappler Craig Jones has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
1 h
nypost.com
The Movies of 1999
Twenty-five years ago was a landmark time for cinema, with films that captured our collective hope and paranoia about the coming millennium.
1 h
nytimes.com
California thieves strike 3 7-Eleven stores in under 20 minutes hours after Newsom signed ‘landmark’ package to curb smash-and-grab crime
A California bike mob ransacked three separate 7-Eleven stores in under 20 minutes just hours after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a “landmark” package to crack down on retail thefts. Approximately 20 bicycling riding thieves targeted the Hollywood area convenience stores two miles apart on Friday night, according to NBC Los Angeles, citing the LAPD....
2 h
nypost.com
As Chicago braces for Democratic National Convention, concerns over safety mount
As Chicago braces for Democratic National Convention, concerns over safety mount, officials said.
2 h
abcnews.go.com
Nonprofit and supervisor's daughter 'brazenly plundered' tax dollars, Orange County says in lawsuit
Orange County is suing a nonprofit group and the daughter of one of its own supervisors, accusing them of taking millions of dollars in county contracts and "brazenly plunder[ing] these funds for their own personal gain."
2 h
latimes.com
Letters to the Editor: Rep. Maxine Waters on why she wants to cut federal funding for Inglewood's people mover
Inglewood has a housing crisis. Rep. Maxine Waters say federal money should address that instead of go toward a people mover that will serve wealthy visitors.
2 h
latimes.com
Walz's handling of unrest after George Floyd's death coming under renewed scrutiny
In a call a week after Floyd's death, Donald Trump reportedly told Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other governors and officials that "what they did in Minneapolis was incredible."
2 h
latimes.com
Los Angeles County voters are lukewarm on tax hike for homeless services, poll says
A measure on the November ballot that would double the county’s quarter-cent homeless sales tax is leading in an early poll of L.A. County voters but not with enough support yet to pass.
2 h
latimes.com
Harris races to define her image before Republicans can
At next week’s Democratic convention, Vice President Kamala Harris must define herself in contrast to President Biden.
2 h
latimes.com
LA officials direct traffic officers to enforce parking laws, tow RVs that people live in
Two measures were approved Friday by the Los Angeles City Council to enforce existing parking laws for RVs and other vehicles that homeless people use for shelter
2 h
latimes.com
Fire destroys Sierra foothills motorsports business; woman accused of arson
A woman is accused of sparking a fire that destroyed Sierra Motor Sports, a longtime business in Grass Valley in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
2 h
latimes.com
Fast, wet and furious: How the North American monsoon floods the California desert
The North American monsoon plays an important role in the climate of the Four Corners states, bringing crucial moisture to areas that would otherwise be dry.
2 h
latimes.com
Letters to the Editor: Infrastructure isn't built overnight. Hydrogen car drivers need to be patient
Gasoline was hard to get at the beginning of the 20th century. EV drivers still have a hard time finding public chargers. Hydrogen car owners must be patient.
2 h
latimes.com
Over 400,000 students in L.A. have enrolled in Metro's unlimited free ride program
More than 400,000 students across Los Angeles have enrolled in Metro's GoPass Program, which offers unlimited free bus and train rides, the agency announced.
2 h
latimes.com
California auto insurance rates are on the rise. Here's how drivers can save money
Auto insurance rates are increasing throughout California for a number of reasons. But there are ways to cut costs on your premiums, experts say.
2 h
latimes.com
Controversial bill to abolish California fire hazard rankings dies in Legislature
Senate Bill 610 sought to eliminate a decades-old system of classifying state and local lands into "moderate," "high" or "very high" fire hazard zones.
2 h
latimes.com
Letters to the Editor: Trump is a train wreck. Don't even try comparing him to Kamala Harris
Is the press once again holding Trump to a much lower standard than his Democratic opponent? Some readers say yes.
2 h
latimes.com
Poems of brilliance and beauty, written in the heat of the moment
In their fourth collection of poems, 'Bluff,' Danez Smith's writing pulses and pops, exploring ruptures we all recognize
2 h
latimes.com
Marooned on the space station — a dream or a nightmare?
U.S. astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are stuck on the International Space Station for the moment. How do you manage when your eight-day visit to space turns into months?
2 h
latimes.com
LA’s cracked, ruptured sidewalks are a scandal. Where is City Hall?
An audit of L.A.'s scandalous response to broken sidewalks put the service call backlog at 50,000, but there is no long-range plan in place to make those fixes
2 h
latimes.com
NY Instagram model Maecee Marie Lathers blames party drugs and time travel for crash that killed 2 in Miami
A Mercedes-driving Instagram model from New York blamed party drugs and time travel for the reason she allegedly caused a three-car wreck and killed two people in downtown Miami last week.
2 h
nypost.com
Florida GOP lawmaker wants to ban smoking on streets, but supports legalizing marijuana
Smoking and vaping in public in Florida may soon be a thing of the past if a bill by Florida GOP sate Sen.Joe Gruters becomes law. The bill would be introduced if weed in the state is legalized.
2 h
foxnews.com
Florida daycare worker allegedly angrily hit child, threw her to floor during timeout
A Florida daycare teacher is facing child abuse charges for allegedly angrily striking a child and tossing her to the floor during an apparent timeout.
2 h
foxnews.com
This DNC Will Be a Show We Haven’t Seen Before
What will a Kamala-led Democratic Party look like? We’re about to find out.
2 h
slate.com
Hurricane Ernesto makes landfall on Bermuda as a category 1 storm
Hurricane Ernesto made landfall on the tiny British Atlantic territory of Bermuda early Saturday as residents hunkered down.
2 h
npr.org
Ukraine Destroys Key Russian Bridge as It Presses On With Offensive
The bridge’s destruction is a setback for Russian supply lines as Ukraine seeks to consolidate its territorial gains in the Kursk region of western Russia.
2 h
nytimes.com
