vox--2020-03-31--NYC is investigating Amazon for firing a worker who protested coronavirus working conditions

New York City ’ s Commission on Human Rights will launch an investigation into Amazon for firing a worker who organized a protest this week over fears of a coronavirus outbreak at the Staten Island warehouse where he worked .
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the investigation on Tuesday .
The former employee in question , Chris Smalls , recently organized a walkout of about 50 people at a fulfillment center in Staten Island to protest the company ’ s decision to keep the facility open despite allegations that several associates have been infected with Covid-19 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ shut down the facility for a minimum of two weeks and provide workers with better health protections from the coronavirus .
Amazon said it fired Smalls for showing up to work after being in contact with a colleague who was diagnosed with Covid-19 and being asked to stay at home .
But Smalls alleged to Recode that Amazon fired him because of his activism .
“ The allegation is , because he spoke up for the safety of his fellow workers , he was fired .
I have ordered the city ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immediately to determine if that ’ s true , ” said de Blasio at a press conference on Tuesday .
“ If so , that would be a violation of our city human rights law .
We would act on it immediately.
” Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment .
The mayor ’ s announcement comes as grocery , delivery , and shipping workers at companies like Amazon , Instacart , and Whole Foods ( which is owned by Amazon ) , have been protesting their working conditions during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is an urgent need for companies to better protect employees from getting sick by providing benefits like more paid time off , sanitation equipment , and hazard wages .
Their fears are especially acute in New York , which has become the US epicenter of the outbreak , and where the Staten Island facility — one of Amazon ’ s busiest fulfillment centers in the US — is located .
On Monday night , New York State Attorney General Letitia James called Amazon ’ s firing of Smalls “ disgraceful ” and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigate the company .
While Amazon has denied any retaliation in its firing of Smalls , the new investigation is drawing further attention to the concerns of blue-collar workers who are keeping US supply chains running and providing essential goods and services during the pandemic .
Amazon told ABC News that it terminated Smalls after he ignored multiple warnings to stay at home under quarantine after being in contact with a colleague who had tested positive for Covid-19 .
Smalls denied this , telling Recode that his manager told him to self-quarantine on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been inside the Staten Island facility since — only outside the building in the parking lot to protest on Monday , where he says he tried to stay 6 feet away from other people .
“ I didn ’ t violate any safety protocols , and I have nothing to hide , ” Smalls told Recode .
“ If I should be quarantined , the whole entire department of at least 400 people should be quarantined .
This was a direct target to silence me.
” He told Recode that he plans to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what he believes is wrongful termination .
It will be up to New York City government officials to determine what really happened here , but the mayor ’ s announcement is a sign that the labor practices of companies like Amazon are going to face mounting scrutiny as their employees keep showing up to work during the pandemic .

New York City’s Commission on Human Rights will launch an investigation into Amazon for firing a worker who organized a protest this week over fears of a coronavirus outbreak at the Staten Island warehouse where he worked. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the investigation on Tuesday.
The former employee in question, Chris Smalls, recently organized a walkout of about 50 people at a fulfillment center in Staten Island to protest the company’s decision to keep the facility open despite allegations that several associates have been infected with Covid-19. Smalls and other employees demanded that Amazon shut down the facility for a minimum of two weeks and provide workers with better health protections from the coronavirus.
Amazon said it fired Smalls for showing up to work after being in contact with a colleague who was diagnosed with Covid-19 and being asked to stay at home. But Smalls alleged to Recode that Amazon fired him because of his activism.
“The allegation is, because he spoke up for the safety of his fellow workers, he was fired. I have ordered the city’s Commission on Human Rights to investigate Amazon immediately to determine if that’s true,” said de Blasio at a press conference on Tuesday. “If so, that would be a violation of our city human rights law. We would act on it immediately.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The mayor’s announcement comes as grocery, delivery, and shipping workers at companies like Amazon, Instacart, and Whole Foods (which is owned by Amazon), have been protesting their working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic. These workers say there is an urgent need for companies to better protect employees from getting sick by providing benefits like more paid time off, sanitation equipment, and hazard wages.
Their fears are especially acute in New York, which has become the US epicenter of the outbreak, and where the Staten Island facility — one of Amazon’s busiest fulfillment centers in the US — is located. On Monday night, New York State Attorney General Letitia James called Amazon’s firing of Smalls “disgraceful” and urged the National Labor Relations Board to investigate the company. While Amazon has denied any retaliation in its firing of Smalls, the new investigation is drawing further attention to the concerns of blue-collar workers who are keeping US supply chains running and providing essential goods and services during the pandemic.
Amazon told ABC News that it terminated Smalls after he ignored multiple warnings to stay at home under quarantine after being in contact with a colleague who had tested positive for Covid-19.
Smalls denied this, telling Recode that his manager told him to self-quarantine on Saturday and that he hasn’t been inside the Staten Island facility since — only outside the building in the parking lot to protest on Monday, where he says he tried to stay 6 feet away from other people.
“I didn’t violate any safety protocols, and I have nothing to hide,” Smalls told Recode. “If I should be quarantined, the whole entire department of at least 400 people should be quarantined. This was a direct target to silence me.”
He told Recode that he plans to take legal action against the company for what he believes is wrongful termination.
It will be up to New York City government officials to determine what really happened here, but the mayor’s announcement is a sign that the labor practices of companies like Amazon are going to face mounting scrutiny as their employees keep showing up to work during the pandemic.


vox--2020-03-31--The White House projects 100,000 to 200,000 Covid-19 deaths

On Tuesday , the White House ’ s coronavirus task force presented grim statistics : Under the best-case scenario for mitigation of the Covid-19 pandemic , there may be between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths in the United States , with the number of deaths peaking in the next two weeks .
The White House ’ s numbers , presented in a sobering press conference , are based on statistical models drawing on the best available data that attempt to predict the number of cases and deaths .
“ When you see 100,000 people — that ’ s a minimum number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ press conference .
That ’ s notable coming from Trump , who , in the early days of the outbreak , downplayed the threat and repeatedly compared it to the flu .
By Tuesday , it seemed the abundant evidence that Covid-19 is much worse than the flu had finally sunk in .
“ It ’ s not the flu ; it ’ s vicious , ” Trump said .
Dr. Anthony Fauci , the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , also emphasized that the outbreak and its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they get better .
“ As sobering a number as [ 100,000 deaths ] is , ” he said , “ we should be prepared for it .
Is it going to be that much ?
I hope not ... We need to prepare ourselves — it is a possibility that that ’ s what we ’ ll see.
” Fauci said that the models that predict how the death toll will rise are based on data on how the outbreak is unfolding in New York and abroad .
The estimates could change @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to look different .
But the truth is that there are currently more than 180,000 cases of Covid-19 in the United States , and there have been more than 3,000 deaths .
And its spread has clearly not yet peaked .
Dr. Deborah Birx , the White House coronavirus response coordinator , citing projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington , said deaths are expected to peak in the next two weeks .
“ This is going to be a very painful , very very painful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Epidemiological modeling is useful in helping the public think through what ’ s possible with the disease .
It also can help hospitals understand how much staffing and equipment they ’ ll need ( and where they are likely to fall short ) .
Independent experts say the models the task force is using are sound .
“ [ 100,000-200,000 deaths ] certainly seem to be within the reasonable framework , ” said Bill Hanage , associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H .
Chan School of Public Health , in a call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would not be particularly surprised by them , I wouldn ’ t be surprised if they were higher , I wouldn ’ t be actually surprised if they were lower .
One of the things that ’ s difficult for those of us who ’ ve been involved with modeling this is communicating the amounts of uncertainty that we have.
” Modeling is not an ironclad prediction of the future .
“ Unlike the weather , which we ’ re all accustomed to and incorporating forecasts into decision making , with pandemics we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rivers , a professor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security , told Vox .
Collective actions — continuing to social distance , self-isolating if you ’ re sick , supporting health care workers around the country , raising the capacity of the health care system — over the next few weeks will affect whether the models are updated for better or for worse .
“ I think it ’ s key not to get fixated on the exact numbers , ” Dominique Heinke , an epidemiologist who works with the Massachusetts Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speaking on the behalf of the department ) , recently told Vox .
“ You can look at a range of models and say , we can expect it to be at least this bad.
” And the baseline numbers from the White House today are sobering : 100,000-200,000 deaths is awful , especially because many could have been prevented with better screening and testing in February .
Also , you don ’ t need models to see that the Covid-19 pandemic is a crisis : Thousands have died in the US .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ s wake is crippling , too .
The stark numbers are also a reminder that we need to keep our interventions going .
The outright lockdowns of movement in some cities , as well as the less severe policies in place across the country , can slow the spread of the pandemic .
The impacts of social distancing lag in case-count data and may take a few weeks to show up .
Right now , there are infections out there , in the public , that were seeded long before these orders came @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days or more between when a person is infected and when they show symptoms — during which they can spread the virus to others .
“ In the next several days to a week , we will continue to see things go up , ” Fauci said Tuesday .
“ We can not be discouraged by that — the mitigation is working and it will work .
”

On Tuesday, the White House’s coronavirus task force presented grim statistics: Under the best-case scenario for mitigation of the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths in the United States, with the number of deaths peaking in the next two weeks. The White House’s numbers, presented in a sobering press conference, are based on statistical models drawing on the best available data that attempt to predict the number of cases and deaths.
“When you see 100,000 people — that’s a minimum number,” President Trump said during the press conference. That’s notable coming from Trump, who, in the early days of the outbreak, downplayed the threat and repeatedly compared it to the flu.
By Tuesday, it seemed the abundant evidence that Covid-19 is much worse than the flu had finally sunk in. “It’s not the flu; it’s vicious,” Trump said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also emphasized that the outbreak and its toll are going to get worse before they get better. “As sobering a number as [100,000 deaths] is,” he said, “we should be prepared for it. Is it going to be that much? I hope not ... We need to prepare ourselves — it is a possibility that that’s what we’ll see.”
Related Governors plead with other states for more health care workers to fight coronavirus
Fauci said the models that predict how the death toll will rise are based on data on how the outbreak is unfolding in New York and abroad. The estimates could change if the situation on the ground begins to look different. But the truth is that there are currently more than 180,000 cases of Covid-19 in the United States, and there have been more than 3,000 deaths. And its spread has clearly not yet peaked.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, citing projections from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said deaths are expected to peak in the next two weeks. “This is going to be a very painful, very very painful two weeks,” Trump said.
Epidemiological modeling is useful in helping the public think through what’s possible with the disease. It also can help hospitals understand how much staffing and equipment they’ll need (and where they are likely to fall short).
Independent experts say the models the task force is using are sound. 100,000 to 200,000 deaths “certainly seem to be within the reasonable framework,” said Bill Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in a call with reporters Tuesday morning. “I would not be particularly surprised by them, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were higher, I wouldn’t be actually surprised if they were lower. One of the things that’s difficult for those of us who’ve been involved with modeling this is communicating the amounts of uncertainty that we have.”
Modeling is not an ironclad prediction of the future. “Unlike the weather, which we’re all accustomed to and incorporating forecasts into decision making, with pandemics we actually influence the outcome,” Caitlin Rivers, a professor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Vox. Collective actions — continuing to social distance, self-isolating if you’re sick, supporting health care workers around the country, raising the capacity of the health care system — over the next few weeks will affect whether the models are updated for better or for worse.
“I think it’s key not to get fixated on the exact numbers,” Dominique Heinke, an epidemiologist in Massachusetts, recently told Vox. “You can look at a range of models and say, we can expect it to be at least this bad.”
And the baseline numbers from the White House are sobering: 100,000 to 200,000 deaths is awful, especially because many could have been prevented with better screening and testing in February. Also, you don’t need models to see that the Covid-19 pandemic is a crisis: Thousands have died in the US. The economic crisis in the pandemic’s wake is crippling, too.
The stark numbers are also a reminder that we need to keep our interventions going. The outright lockdowns of movement in some cities, as well as the less severe policies in place across the country, can slow the spread of the pandemic.
The impacts of social distancing lag in case-count data and may take a few weeks to show up. Right now, there are infections out there, in the public, that were seeded long before these orders came into effect. It can take 10 days or more between when a person is infected and when they show symptoms — during which they can spread the virus to others.
“In the next several days to a week, we will continue to see things go up,” Fauci said Tuesday. “We cannot be discouraged by that — the mitigation is working and it will work.”


vox--2020-03-31--Sonic the Hedgehog’s live-action movie seemed doomed to fail. It escaped unscathed.

Film adaptations of video games never arrive quietly .
Gaming is a billion-dollar industry ; fans are notably , even infamously , hardcore .
And when it comes to transitioning particularly cartoonish gaming heroes from their fantastically illogical worlds to a conventional , human-filled , real-life Earth , filmmakers face an even more daunting task of suspending our disbelief .
And for protective fans of classic video gaming mascots like Pikachu , Mario , or Sonic the Hedgehog , it would be especially impossible to forgive any crew who turned a beloved character into an unrecognizable figure .
It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ land of the Minions , to not reduce beloved , familiar faces into sentient , insufferably quippy Happy Meal toys .
When various studios announced live-action films based on all three of the above characters in the mid-2010s , fans grimaced .
Sonic the Hedgehog , Paramount Pictures ’ stab at the electric-blue Sega mainstay , is the second to make it to theaters .
But as early marketing efforts were rolled out last year , concerns that Sonic would be manipulated by the Hollywood machine into a catchphrase-spouting terror mounted .
Perhaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ live-action feature films were needlessly alarmist , especially following Detective Pikachu .
2019 ’ s live-action Pokémon adaptation had its own prerelease concerns , since Pokémon is a multimedia franchise full of hundreds of characters and lore much more beloved and expansive than Sonic ’ s .
But that movie succeeded in honoring the world upon which it was based , even if the story itself was a little flat and kiddy .
Know-nothings might have sometimes struggled to follow along .
But for Pokémon lovers , it was a wonderful realization of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a character without a preexisting personality , however ; Pokémon ’ s internal logic is what most compels its fans .
Sonic ’ s video games , conversely , are light on story .
It ’ s Sonic himself who has been their main attraction since the 1990s , when he was Sega ’ s high-speed challenger to Nintendo ’ s slow and stubby Super Mario .
Where Mario was a mustachioed man who could jump and jog and little else , Sonic was the Blue Blur , radiating the “ rad ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sensibility was best typified by a disdain for authority ( think Bart Simpson ) , an obsession with rock stardom , eyerolls , and sarcasm .
But there ’ s a lot about the ’ 90s that does not hold up , including Sonic ’ s personality .
People who loved Sonic and his games in his heyday continue to defend him , to respect him , to wish the best for him .
It ’ s still fun to watch him zip through loop-de-loop levels , dashing into robots and other creatures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The classic games ’ different bits of theme music remain unforgettable ; the franchise has spawned years ’ worth of memes and in-jokes , a true testament to longevity .
Sonic ’ s supporting cast is similarly beloved in its own right , even as it has continued to expand at a sometimes infuriating rate .
For a Sonic movie to be successful , it had to acknowledge the truly cool parts of classic Sonic , not just the “ sick , dude ” ones .
Movie Sonic started with a major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he bounced back beautifully .
Pleasing nostalgic video game fans is rarely easy .
What provided Sonic the Hedgehog its biggest barrier was a design gaffe appalling to everyone , not just hedge-heads .
The movie ’ s first marketing materials , released in December 2018 ( a poster ) and April 2019 ( a trailer ) , revealed an ... interesting ... reimagining of Sonic , with muscley calves and a full set of human-like teeth .
He had bare hands instead of his trademark gloves ; his eyes were small and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oversized eyes he ’ d always had in games .
The unveiling of the design did not go well , inspiring such vaunted “ accolades ” as “ nightmare , ” “ ugly [ and ] toothy , ” and “ frightfully realistic.
” So hated was Sonic ’ s original design that its director apologized and recalled it , announcing that the character would be entirely reworked for the final film .
That ’ s a whole lot of CGI to redo on a main character , so the news elicited concerns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movie ’ s fall release date .
Sonic the Hedgehog was eventually pushed back three months , from November 2019 to February 2020 , to accommodate the redesign work .
But the debacle cast a pall over a production whose video game-fan audience was already skeptical .
I ’ d count myself strongly among those initial skeptics , whose affection for Sonic is both defensive and begrudging .
Even when Sonic talks too much in his video games , or the games fall apart — as in the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman on the lips — there ’ s a joyous charm to someone still so stuck in the ’ 90s .
He ’ s a nostalgic object we ’ d oft-prefer to leave encased in amber .
In making the character work for a broader audience , the team behind Sonic the Hedgehog didn ’ t sacrifice the at-times embarrassing , at-times lovable parts of Sonic .
In fact , it ’ s self-aware of how tiresome Sonic can be , while still reminding fans of why we remain attached to him .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a unique origin story , reimagining Sonic for an unfamiliar audience while winking heavily to his history .
The film paints the character ( voiced by the always charming Ben Schwartz ) as an excitable teen whose enthusiasm belies his loneliness .
Blessed with the hypnotic power of super speed , he ’ s been hiding for most of his life , evading bad actors who would harness his speed to wreak havoc across the universe .
He lives in the tiny town of Green Hills , Montana ( the name is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and he passes his time running around the area just quickly enough to go unseen by the folks who would freak out if they found him .
Those include Sheriff Tom Wachowski ( James Marsden ) , a cop from Green Hills who wants to make a name for himself by joining the San Francisco Police Department .
Tom ’ s life in Montana is mundane , he says ; what is his purpose ?
Sonic poses that same question to himself , as he struggles to make peace with his solitude .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Sonic reveals that he ’ s been watching Tom and his wife from afar and imagining a life with them , it ’ s … a little creepy .
But mostly it ’ s the universe bringing together two guys who want fulfillment , so they can pair up to go out and find it .
Sonic is a buddy comedy in this way , focused heavily on the relationship between a grown man and his teenage , talking-hedgehog pseudo-son .
It ’ s funny and sweet , if a little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( for the kids ! )
.
But delving into a side of the Sonic backstory that ’ s hardly been broached by the video games works well enough , as it ’ s hard for fans to get too annoyed with it , and it plops kids right into Sonic ’ s world without confusing them too much .
There ’ s no Tom in the video games , but he ’ s a decent straight man to Sonic ’ s exuberant big kid , one who can help calm down what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Sonic the Hedgehog is a road trip movie and an action-comedy , too .
Sonic and Tom end up on the run ( heh ) from Jim Carrey as the evil genius Dr. Robotnik , who ’ s trying to harness Sonic ’ s power for his own use , under the guise of helping the FBI protect the country from an unidentified speeding blue hedgehog .
Tom ’ s involvement in helping Sonic flee is a contrivance designed to give Jim Carrey another human to play against , which is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face is the human embodiment of Play-doh , which helps make an otherwise flat villain from the video games into a more entertaining , cartoon-y one , which feels fitting for this movie .
Sonic is a video game character first and foremost , and the movie never forgets that .
Its equivalent of fight scenes , when Sonic ’ s speed is really put to the test , are easily its most delightful — we watch the world from his hyperdrive perspective , as everything halts around him and he begins to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sonic was as much a mileage-per-hour as he was a hedgehog , to the point where if anyone dared seem faster than him , it was a major offense .
The loyalty to this aspect of the character , even if “ being fast ” does become a one-note gimmick after 90 minutes , is welcome .
There are Easter eggs , too , that suggest that this team really does care about Sonic as more than just a marketing tool for a younger generation .
If the name “ Sanic ” means @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be pleased .
Familiar sound effects play on occasion .
One of the games ’ most famous musical motifs shows up at the end , and it took me by tearful surprise .
And the tiny post-credits scene ( yep , there ’ s one of those ) introduced a friendly face who made me want a sequel , like , yesterday .
Most importantly , the movie ’ s final rendering of Sonic , although not perfect , is so much more pleasant to look at than its first attempt .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ love .
Sonic the Hedgehog was released in theaters on February 14 and is available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes , Amazon , YouTube , Vudu , and Google Play .

Film adaptations of video games never arrive quietly. Gaming is a billion-dollar industry; fans are notably, even infamously, hardcore. And when it comes to transitioning particularly cartoonish gaming heroes from their fantastically illogical worlds to a conventional, human-filled, real-life Earth, filmmakers face an even more daunting task of suspending our disbelief.
And for protective fans of classic video gaming mascots like Pikachu, Mario, or Sonic the Hedgehog, it would be especially impossible to forgive any crew who turned a beloved character into an unrecognizable figure. It’s hard to trust Hollywood, the land of the Minions, to not reduce beloved, familiar faces into sentient, insufferably quippy Happy Meal toys.
When various studios announced live-action films based on all three of the above characters in the mid-2010s, fans grimaced. Sonic the Hedgehog, Paramount Pictures’ stab at the electric-blue Sega mainstay, is the second to make it to theaters. But as early marketing efforts were rolled out last year, concerns that Sonic would be manipulated by the Hollywood machine into a catchphrase-spouting terror mounted.
Perhaps fears of Sonic’s move to live-action feature films were needlessly alarmist, especially following Detective Pikachu. 2019’s live-action Pokémon adaptation had its own prerelease concerns, since Pokémon is a multimedia franchise full of hundreds of characters and lore much more beloved and expansive than Sonic’s. But that movie succeeded in honoring the world upon which it was based, even if the story itself was a little flat and kiddy. Know-nothings might have sometimes struggled to follow along. But for Pokémon lovers, it was a wonderful realization of the games’ world.
Pikachu is a character without a preexisting personality, however; Pokémon’s internal logic is what most compels its fans. Sonic’s video games, conversely, are light on story. It’s Sonic himself who has been their main attraction since the 1990s, when he was Sega’s high-speed challenger to Nintendo’s slow and stubby Super Mario.
Where Mario was a mustachioed man who could jump and jog and little else, Sonic was the Blue Blur, radiating the “rad” ethos of the ’90s. That sensibility was best typified by a disdain for authority (think Bart Simpson), an obsession with rock stardom, eyerolls, and sarcasm. But there’s a lot about the ’90s that does not hold up, including Sonic’s personality.
People who loved Sonic and his games in his heyday continue to defend him, to respect him, to wish the best for him. It’s still fun to watch him zip through loop-de-loop levels, dashing into robots and other creatures in his path without taking a breath. The classic games’ different bits of theme music remain unforgettable; the franchise has spawned years’ worth of memes and in-jokes, a true testament to longevity. Sonic’s supporting cast is similarly beloved in its own right, even as it has continued to expand at a sometimes infuriating rate. For a Sonic movie to be successful, it had to acknowledge the truly cool parts of classic Sonic, not just the “sick, dude” ones.
Movie Sonic started with a major disadvantage: a terrible design. But he bounced back beautifully.
Pleasing nostalgic video game fans is rarely easy. What provided Sonic the Hedgehog its biggest barrier was a design gaffe appalling to everyone, not just hedge-heads. The movie’s first marketing materials, released in December 2018 (a poster) and April 2019 (a trailer), revealed an ... interesting ... reimagining of Sonic, with muscley calves and a full set of human-like teeth. He had bare hands instead of his trademark gloves; his eyes were small and wide set, not the shiny, oversized eyes he’d always had in games.
The unveiling of the design did not go well, inspiring such vaunted “accolades” as “nightmare,” “ugly [and] toothy,” and “frightfully realistic.” So hated was Sonic’s original design that its director apologized and recalled it, announcing that the character would be entirely reworked for the final film. That’s a whole lot of CGI to redo on a main character, so the news elicited concerns about animators working overtime to make the movie’s fall release date. Sonic the Hedgehog was eventually pushed back three months, from November 2019 to February 2020, to accommodate the redesign work. But the debacle cast a pall over a production whose video game-fan audience was already skeptical.
I’d count myself strongly among those initial skeptics, whose affection for Sonic is both defensive and begrudging. Even when Sonic talks too much in his video games, or the games fall apart — as in the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog, in which he kisses a human woman on the lips — there’s a joyous charm to someone still so stuck in the ’90s. He’s a nostalgic object we’d oft-prefer to leave encased in amber.
In making the character work for a broader audience, the team behind Sonic the Hedgehog didn’t sacrifice the at-times embarrassing, at-times lovable parts of Sonic. In fact, it’s self-aware of how tiresome Sonic can be, while still reminding fans of why we remain attached to him.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark vox-mark
Sonic the Hedgehog manages this by telling a unique origin story, reimagining Sonic for an unfamiliar audience while winking heavily to his history. The film paints the character (voiced by the always charming Ben Schwartz) as an excitable teen whose enthusiasm belies his loneliness. Blessed with the hypnotic power of super speed, he’s been hiding for most of his life, evading bad actors who would harness his speed to wreak havoc across the universe. He lives in the tiny town of Green Hills, Montana (the name is a reference to the video games), and he passes his time running around the area just quickly enough to go unseen by the folks who would freak out if they found him.
Those include Sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), a cop from Green Hills who wants to make a name for himself by joining the San Francisco Police Department. Tom’s life in Montana is mundane, he says; what is his purpose? Sonic poses that same question to himself, as he struggles to make peace with his solitude. So when Sonic and Tom cross paths, and Sonic reveals that he’s been watching Tom and his wife from afar and imagining a life with them, it’s … a little creepy. But mostly it’s the universe bringing together two guys who want fulfillment, so they can pair up to go out and find it.
Sonic is a buddy comedy in this way, focused heavily on the relationship between a grown man and his teenage, talking-hedgehog pseudo-son. It’s funny and sweet, if a little plodding and bogged down by bathroom humor (for the kids!). But delving into a side of the Sonic backstory that’s hardly been broached by the video games works well enough, as it’s hard for fans to get too annoyed with it, and it plops kids right into Sonic’s world without confusing them too much. There’s no Tom in the video games, but he’s a decent straight man to Sonic’s exuberant big kid, one who can help calm down what could have easily become a hyperactive movie.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a road trip movie and an action-comedy, too. Sonic and Tom end up on the run (heh) from Jim Carrey as the evil genius Dr. Robotnik, who’s trying to harness Sonic’s power for his own use, under the guise of helping the FBI protect the country from an unidentified speeding blue hedgehog. Tom’s involvement in helping Sonic flee is a contrivance designed to give Jim Carrey another human to play against, which is a little tiresome. But Carrey’s face is the human embodiment of Play-doh, which helps make an otherwise flat villain from the video games into a more entertaining, cartoon-y one, which feels fitting for this movie.
Sonic is a video game character first and foremost, and the movie never forgets that. Its equivalent of fight scenes, when Sonic’s speed is really put to the test, are easily its most delightful — we watch the world from his hyperdrive perspective, as everything halts around him and he begins to move enemies ever-so-slightly out of position. Sonic was as much a mileage-per-hour as he was a hedgehog, to the point where if anyone dared seem faster than him, it was a major offense. The loyalty to this aspect of the character, even if “being fast” does become a one-note gimmick after 90 minutes, is welcome.
There are Easter eggs, too, that suggest that this team really does care about Sonic as more than just a marketing tool for a younger generation. If the name “Sanic” means anything to you, you’ll be pleased. Familiar sound effects play on occasion. One of the games’ most famous musical motifs shows up at the end, and it took me by tearful surprise. And the tiny post-credits scene (yep, there’s one of those) introduced a friendly face who made me want a sequel, like, yesterday. Most importantly, the movie’s final rendering of Sonic, although not perfect, is so much more pleasant to look at than its first attempt. This is a Sonic we can learn to love.
Sonic the Hedgehog was released in theaters on February 14 and is available to digitally rent or purchase on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, Vudu, and Google Play.


vox--2020-03-31--A coronavirus recession will mean more robots and fewer jobs

The novel coronavirus pandemic is certainly not good for the labor market .
Recent weeks have seen unemployment claims surge to record levels as businesses and entire industries shutter in order to stop the spread of the Covid-19 .
As a result , the economy has plummeted , with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S & P 500 down more than 20 percent from their February highs .
While social distancing measures may be temporary , this economic downturn ’ s effect on the labor market will have long-lasting effects .
In a joint post with his colleagues , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy director at the Brookings Institution ’ s Metropolitan Policy Program , recently wrote , “ any coronavirus-related recession is likely to bring about a spike in labor-replacing automation.
” Economic downturns , he argues , bring about increased levels of automation , which is already an existential threat to many jobs .
And a coronavirus recession , due to its breadth and scale , could cause even more automation .
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity .
It feels counterintuitive to me that automation would spike in an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , at least in the short term .
Why do you expect the rate of automation to increase ?
It might seem that in hard times , in a downturn , human labor would be cheaper and therefore automation would go down .
But in fact , it ’ s the opposite .
What happens is that , because of the crisis of the bottom line and a crash in revenue , humans become relatively more expensive compared to automation .
So a firm that might have been thinking about automating is under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , especially in the first two years of a new downturn .
And that ’ s what a lot of research over the last few recessions has shown .
People are relatively more expensive , including with their benefits .
Meanwhile , you can restructure your business using new technology that increases productivity .
So the typical move is to replace less-skilled workers with a fewer number of more-skilled workers or retain higher-skilled workers but then to bring in new technology .
The other thing is that new technology , meaning automation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ longer nearly as expensive as it was a decade ago , say around the financial crisis .
The cost curve has been declining .
We think there ’ s a lot of new high-quality technology on the shelves waiting for deployment , including a more “ turnkey ” standard offering , often from the big tech companies .
So I think a lot has happened to sharpen what was already a highly visible dynamic in the last turndown , the financial crisis .
“ What can be automated , likely will be ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or stay home when there ’ s a pandemic .
Right .
Viruses may be transferred from one to another , but it ’ s not the same kind of virus .
So what exactly has the research shown ?
Nir Jaimovich and Henry Siu found that , in three recessions over the last 30 years , 88 percent of job loss took place in routine highly automatable occupations .
And that was essentially all of the jobs lost in the crises .
So , these crises have historically inordinately been visited on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Another finding by Brad Hershbein and Lisa Kahn of the University of Rochester looked at something like 100 million online job postings and found that firms in the hardest-hit metros were steadily replacing workers who performed automatable routine tasks with this mix of tech , yes , but also more skilled workers .
So there ’ s a kind of sorting that occurs : you get more automation but also upskilling , both of which will be tough for already jittery workers .
What makes this economic downturn different from the last recession @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time is that all that I ’ ve said about already less-educated , lower-skilled workers is beginning to apply more to middle-skill and even higher-skill professional and white-collar work , which may become more susceptible given the improvement of things like AI .
Our recent research has shown that AI is disproportionally utilized in white collar , middle management , or upper management areas .
It ’ s also used by line workers and in administrative functions .
So it could be that all of this use of telecommuting technologies and communication gear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more wholesale reorganization of offices that may well put more pressure on not just workers in more routine , traditionally automatable occupations , but more professional ones , I think , are very real possibility .
I think the big takeaway here is that downturns drive more , not less , dislocation through automation .
And all bets are off about how that will work through this cycle , where the event is huge and there may be more ready to go automation , AI , or remote work platforms .
What jobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The initial event had a lot to do with finance , but it was tied up with a substantial crisis in the auto and manufacturing sector .
Those were kind of the poster children of the financial crisis , and I think we do have a different picture of the most affected sectors this time .
So what will be most affected this time ?
Food service and accommodations have already been under a lot of pressure , including through the kind of kiosk ordering .
But also the middle-skill administrative positions and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pressure .
And then , of course , manufacturing has been at the forefront for 30 years .
For those who think that manufacturing is as automated as it can be , we still see very high exposures there , and I think the kind of suite of AI susceptible middle management occupations — whether it ’ s bookkeeping , financial analysis , even things like software development — may see pressure .
“ We ’ re not just losing a job-rich decade , we ’ re likely diving back into a period @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spell out what it means to be susceptible to automation or AI ?
Given existing technologies , a total of about 36 million jobs in multiple categories and industries and occupations could be replaced by machines .
Now , that doesn ’ t mean they will .
But that gives us a sense of the size of the exposed jobs .
It ’ s not a huge share of the whole economy , but it ’ s a substantial number of people obviously .
That means their work is relatively predictable — or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therefore susceptible to replacement , either by robotics or office software , for instance .
Health , education , government — those will be under relatively less pressure in some ways , at least of immediate layoffs .
But we may also see moves to remote learning , for instance , in education changing the mix of workers or government under fiscal pressure , needing to bring in new technology .
I think this episode seems broader .
It will likely touch all kinds of occupations , but there ’ s no doubt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for instance , will probably be pretty safe .
But there will be the need to reduce some of them , so I think that becomes difficult too .
Your research has also found that automation will increase existing inequality in the United States .
How so ?
Because the exposure to automation is shaped heavily by the industries in which particular occupations are situated , we have all kinds of variation across the board .
Because the gender or ethnic mix of a particular occupation or industry varies , we see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vulnerability of younger workers who may be more concentrated in food service or accommodations — jobs that have always been a driver of exposure to automation and that , clearly , is in the forefront under social distancing .
Men are a bit more exposed because of their involvement in the fulfillment and trucking sector , which is showing hiring now because of the huge shift to ecommerce .
But it ’ s also a highly automatable area .
So we look for a lot of flux in that area .
Then Latinos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exposed industries and occupations , whether it ’ s again food service or mid-level office work .
So this plays out across all of these occupational mixes .
The pandemic pressure then will have its own patterns , but these exposure levels are pretty well known .
This doesn ’ t mean that the jobs will necessarily go away , but it ’ s a mapping of the shape of exposure and where the pressure may be .
The fact that this is a global event means it could have an even broader @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that right ?
The scale of the event is largely going to multiply or compound the overall tendency for automation to surge during downturns .
We know the cyclical pattern is a historical fact .
The sheer scale of this event is going to exacerbate that .
You have to think that what can be automated , likely will be now , given that we ’ ve had a lot of inertia through the good times .
The good times aren ’ t the time when the pressure is applied .
Now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizations .
And with more technology having arrived and being on its way , I think we will see more pressure , not just in the standard kinds of automation that we ’ ve seen in the past , whether robotics and factories or kiosk-ordering in restaurants .
Retail with cashierless checkouts , such as the Amazon Go stores , may spread .
Then I do think we will see more and greater use of AI in the middle class and professional workplace in offices .
I think that we ’ re going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have even in recent downturns .
What will the work landscape look like after this ?
The potential scale of this event isn ’ t just going to bring an end to the plentiful supply of jobs we ’ ve had .
It ’ s also going to bring , because of this automation link , a new round of much more structural change again , in both what the demand for skills is and what the labor market looks like .
So we ’ re not just losing a job-rich decade , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a period of tech-driven structural change .
That ’ s going add complications for workers , and it ’ s going to really , really ratchet up the anxiety that I think people feel .
Because it ’ s not like there ’ s going to be a return to the same normal .
There ’ s likely going to be the insertion of new technological platforms that will change and really alter what normal is .

The novel coronavirus pandemic is certainly not good for the labor market. Recent weeks have seen unemployment claims surge to record levels as businesses and entire industries shutter in order to stop the spread of the Covid-19. As a result, the economy has plummeted, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 down more than 20 percent from their February highs.
While social distancing measures may be temporary, this economic downturn’s effect on the labor market will have long-lasting effects. In a joint post with his colleagues, Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program, recently wrote, “any coronavirus-related recession is likely to bring about a spike in labor-replacing automation.”
Economic downturns, he argues, bring about increased levels of automation, which is already an existential threat to many jobs. And a coronavirus recession, due to its breadth and scale, could cause even more automation.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Rani Molla
It feels counterintuitive to me that automation would spike in an economic downturn, because automation is expensive, at least in the short term. Why do you expect the rate of automation to increase?
Mark Muro
It might seem that in hard times, in a downturn, human labor would be cheaper and therefore automation would go down. But in fact, it’s the opposite. What happens is that, because of the crisis of the bottom line and a crash in revenue, humans become relatively more expensive compared to automation.
So a firm that might have been thinking about automating is under a whole lot of pressure to do that, especially in the first two years of a new downturn. And that’s what a lot of research over the last few recessions has shown. People are relatively more expensive, including with their benefits. Meanwhile, you can restructure your business using new technology that increases productivity. So the typical move is to replace less-skilled workers with a fewer number of more-skilled workers or retain higher-skilled workers but then to bring in new technology.
The other thing is that new technology, meaning automation but also enterprise software, is no longer nearly as expensive as it was a decade ago, say around the financial crisis. The cost curve has been declining. We think there’s a lot of new high-quality technology on the shelves waiting for deployment, including a more “turnkey” standard offering, often from the big tech companies. So I think a lot has happened to sharpen what was already a highly visible dynamic in the last turndown, the financial crisis.
“What can be automated, likely will be”
Rani Molla
And machines don’t get sick or stay home when there’s a pandemic.
Mark Muro
Right. Viruses may be transferred from one to another, but it’s not the same kind of virus.
Rani Molla
So what exactly has the research shown?
Mark Muro
Nir Jaimovich and Henry Siu found that, in three recessions over the last 30 years, 88 percent of job loss took place in routine highly automatable occupations. And that was essentially all of the jobs lost in the crises. So, these crises have historically inordinately been visited on workers whose work actually was automatable.
Another finding by Brad Hershbein and Lisa Kahn of the University of Rochester looked at something like 100 million online job postings and found that firms in the hardest-hit metros were steadily replacing workers who performed automatable routine tasks with this mix of tech, yes, but also more skilled workers. So there’s a kind of sorting that occurs: you get more automation but also upskilling, both of which will be tough for already jittery workers.
Rani Molla
What makes this economic downturn different from the last recession?
Mark Muro
The thing that is different this time is that all that I’ve said about already less-educated, lower-skilled workers is beginning to apply more to middle-skill and even higher-skill professional and white-collar work, which may become more susceptible given the improvement of things like AI. Our recent research has shown that AI is disproportionally utilized in white collar, middle management, or upper management areas. It’s also used by line workers and in administrative functions.
So it could be that all of this use of telecommuting technologies and communication gear may be pointing to the readiness for more wholesale reorganization of offices that may well put more pressure on not just workers in more routine, traditionally automatable occupations, but more professional ones, I think, are very real possibility. I think the big takeaway here is that downturns drive more, not less, dislocation through automation. And all bets are off about how that will work through this cycle, where the event is huge and there may be more ready to go automation, AI, or remote work platforms.
Rani Molla
What jobs were automated after the last recession?
Mark Muro
The initial event had a lot to do with finance, but it was tied up with a substantial crisis in the auto and manufacturing sector. Those were kind of the poster children of the financial crisis, and I think we do have a different picture of the most affected sectors this time.
Rani Molla
So what will be most affected this time?
Mark Muro
Food service and accommodations have already been under a lot of pressure, including through the kind of kiosk ordering. But also the middle-skill administrative positions and offices have been under a lot of pressure. And then, of course, manufacturing has been at the forefront for 30 years. For those who think that manufacturing is as automated as it can be, we still see very high exposures there, and I think the kind of suite of AI susceptible middle management occupations — whether it’s bookkeeping, financial analysis, even things like software development — may see pressure.
“We’re not just losing a job-rich decade, we’re likely diving back into a period of tech-driven structural change”
Rani Molla
Can you spell out what it means to be susceptible to automation or AI?
Mark Muro
Given existing technologies, a total of about 36 million jobs in multiple categories and industries and occupations could be replaced by machines. Now, that doesn’t mean they will. But that gives us a sense of the size of the exposed jobs. It’s not a huge share of the whole economy, but it’s a substantial number of people obviously. That means their work is relatively predictable — or what’s called routine — and therefore susceptible to replacement, either by robotics or office software, for instance.
Rani Molla
Which jobs are safe?
Mark Muro
Health, education, government — those will be under relatively less pressure in some ways, at least of immediate layoffs. But we may also see moves to remote learning, for instance, in education changing the mix of workers or government under fiscal pressure, needing to bring in new technology.
I think this episode seems broader. It will likely touch all kinds of occupations, but there’s no doubt that direct face-to-face interactions for personal health, for instance, will probably be pretty safe. But there will be the need to reduce some of them, so I think that becomes difficult too.
Rani Molla
Your research has also found that automation will increase existing inequality in the United States. How so?
Mark Muro
Because the exposure to automation is shaped heavily by the industries in which particular occupations are situated, we have all kinds of variation across the board. Because the gender or ethnic mix of a particular occupation or industry varies, we see extreme variation there. You have clear vulnerability of younger workers who may be more concentrated in food service or accommodations — jobs that have always been a driver of exposure to automation and that, clearly, is in the forefront under social distancing.
Men are a bit more exposed because of their involvement in the fulfillment and trucking sector, which is showing hiring now because of the huge shift to ecommerce. But it’s also a highly automatable area. So we look for a lot of flux in that area. Then Latinos and black Americans are also in heavily exposed industries and occupations, whether it’s again food service or mid-level office work. So this plays out across all of these occupational mixes. The pandemic pressure then will have its own patterns, but these exposure levels are pretty well known. This doesn’t mean that the jobs will necessarily go away, but it’s a mapping of the shape of exposure and where the pressure may be.
Rani Molla
The fact that this is a global event means it could have an even broader impact than a typical recession. Is that right?
Mark Muro
The scale of the event is largely going to multiply or compound the overall tendency for automation to surge during downturns. We know the cyclical pattern is a historical fact. The sheer scale of this event is going to exacerbate that. You have to think that what can be automated, likely will be now, given that we’ve had a lot of inertia through the good times. The good times aren’t the time when the pressure is applied.
Now, the pressure will be felt by business organizations. And with more technology having arrived and being on its way, I think we will see more pressure, not just in the standard kinds of automation that we’ve seen in the past, whether robotics and factories or kiosk-ordering in restaurants. Retail with cashierless checkouts, such as the Amazon Go stores, may spread. Then I do think we will see more and greater use of AI in the middle class and professional workplace in offices. I think that we’re going to see much more automation than we have even in recent downturns.
Rani Molla
What will the work landscape look like after this?
Mark Muro
The potential scale of this event isn’t just going to bring an end to the plentiful supply of jobs we’ve had. It’s also going to bring, because of this automation link, a new round of much more structural change again, in both what the demand for skills is and what the labor market looks like.
So we’re not just losing a job-rich decade, we’re likely diving back into a period of tech-driven structural change. That’s going add complications for workers, and it’s going to really, really ratchet up the anxiety that I think people feel. Because it’s not like there’s going to be a return to the same normal. There’s likely going to be the insertion of new technological platforms that will change and really alter what normal is.