theverge--2020-06-25--Fire and plague prepared these teens for the world

Paradise High School valedictorian Katie-Lynn Chandler delivered her graduation speech to empty bleachers and a row of cars parked along the school ’ s running track .
A crown of white flowers was wrapped around her white graduation cap .
She was flanked by a row of school staff standing at least six feet apart on the football field .
She ’ d taken off her surgical mask to speak at the podium — she was the only person on the field not wearing one .
“ Many people say that today ’ s the day that we start our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ Our journey began a long time ago .
Today just happens to be the day that the path we ’ ve been traveling on splits.
” For the second year in a row , graduation at Paradise High School became a tribute to triumph over disaster .
The tight-knit small town — where many seniors have taken classes together since kindergarten — was almost entirely razed by the Camp Fire in 2018 .
It was the deadliest and most destructive blaze in California ’ s history .
Then , COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once again graduated into a world that looked very different than it did when the year began .
For the class of 2020 , even the near future is a question mark .
The pandemic has already taken over 100,000 lives in the US and no one can predict when it — or the economic collapse in its wake — will end .
Temperatures are soaring to record highs , an ominous sign for the coming fire season .
Persevering through compounded crises is the new rite of passage for graduates across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California just happened to have an early baptism by fire .
The town of Paradise , California just happened to have an early baptism by fire Paradise graduates are already wary of what might come next .
“ First it was the Camp Fire and then now with this pandemic I ’ m wondering what next year ’ s disaster will be , ” Chandler tells The Verge .
“ We ’ re like the most resilient group of people I know.
” In some ways , Paradise is a glimpse into what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of us : a cycle of upheaval , followed by adrenaline-fueled hope , exhaustion , and , ultimately , adaptation .
Chandler and her mom had moved to Paradise less than five months before the November 2018 Camp Fire broke out .
Like the town , she ’ d been through her share of difficult transitions , moving from Hawaii to the Philippines and Virginia throughout her school career .
Chandler ’ s dad fell ill and died in 2016 , sparking some of the family ’ s moves .
Paradise was another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ job nearby caring for people with developmental disabilities in an adult care home .
Chandler enrolled at Paradise High School .
She worried about fitting in and making friends , but that turned out not to be a problem for the upbeat teen .
Much of Chandler ’ s hopeful message on graduation day could have been part of any other senior ’ s speech .
She remembered cheering her loudest at football games , dressing up for spirit days , and made a shout-out to her friends , family , and teachers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Paradise ’ s class of 2020 .
They made it through the Camp Fire , she said .
And then there was the pandemic .
But it ’ s clear that ’ s not what defines them .
And how could it , when there were so many challenges still ahead ?
“ After all of the accomplishments we ’ ve made in the face of adversity , I believe there is nothing that can stop us , ” she said .
Eighty-five people died in the Camp Fire , sparked by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 18,804 homes and buildings burned .
Roughly nine of every ten Paradise High students lost their homes ; Chandler was among those whose homes burned .
The care facility where her mother worked was also destroyed .
She and her mother rent a room in a house from the person who owned the place where Chandler ’ s mother had worked .
The high school is one of the few structures in town that wasn ’ t reduced to ash .
“ When you ’ re at school walking through halls , you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the time , ” says its principal , Michael Ervin , who also lost his family ’ s home to the blaze .
“ It ’ s when you leave school and you drive through town you are.
” Senior Eric Helton , who became one of Chandler ’ s closest friends , lost more than his home after the fire tore through Paradise .
Helton moved in with his grandparents after the fire damaged his home beyond repair , but more tragedy followed .
His grandfather was living with amyotrophic lateral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disease , which attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord , progressively weakening muscles over time .
His grandfather ’ s health deteriorated as he struggled with the soot in the air from the fires , Helton says , and he died soon after .
By the time the 2019-2020 school year rolled around , the students of Paradise High School thought the worst was behind them .
“ We all had this kind of shared loss , so we were all able to come together in ways that we hadn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Helton says .
August 15th was the students ’ first day back on campus since the fire , which had pushed their classes online the previous December .
In the months after , they moved into an empty office space in a mall , and then into a warehouse .
“ We all had this kind of shared loss.
” “ It was kind of like a relief , trying to get back to a sense of normalcy after everything that we ’ ve been through , ” Chandler tells The Verge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 15th , Chandler poses in front of posters reading , “ Welcome home cats , ” “ better together , ” and “ Make your mark , 2020 has the spark !
” She ’ s decked out in her school colors : a thick bundle of green and yellow Mardi Gras beads is wrapped around her neck and handprints in green and yellow paint cover her legs below her green skirt .
She ’ s smiling , kicking her right foot behind her as she reaches out with both arms — a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ felt as a new kid the year before were gone .
“ It just really felt nice to be back home on campus , ” she says .
But even though the school was intact , things weren ’ t exactly normal .
A gaggle of reporters pressed students for interviews and photos .
The district had lost about half its students , and Helton noticed that some teachers had gone with them .
“ No one was in the classrooms that they used to be in .
So that was pretty weird @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was back , too .
To prevent their power lines from sparking another hellfire , PG & E preemptively shut off power for many of its customers in September — including Paradise High School , which was shuttered for several days .
But as intermittent blackouts dragged on for weeks , students came back to learn by lantern light .
“ The fire seasons are always a worry up here , but especially now , ” says Helton .
That ’ s because the blackouts left health care facilities and people reliant on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It ’ s just a challenging kind of lesser of two evils situation , ” he says .
“ It ’ s just a challenging kind of lesser of two evils situation.
” By March , fire season and the blackouts were over , and a new crisis was looming .
The novel coronavirus was already making its way through cities like Seattle and San Francisco .
But that still felt far away , and the virus was , at first , little more than fodder for casual jokes on campus .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ would hit us here , ” Chandler says .
On Friday , March 13th , she and her friends picked up burritos off campus to bring back for lunch that day .
“ We sat in the school parking lot , kind of tailgating and kicking it back and just having some fun , ” she says .
That day , Chandler made posters reminding students to wear bright colors for the upcoming “ Kindness Week ” her leadership class had planned .
“ Kindness comes in all colors , ” was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the following Monday , when students would be encouraged to wear blue to “ cure the Monday blues.
” While the students decorated posters and had picnics in the parking lots , the teachers fretted .
Stacie Martin , the teacher for the leadership class and high school yearbook class , figured the school year wouldn ’ t finish as planned .
She sped up deadlines , worried that each opportunity to gather could be their last .
“ We had just the day before finished our last sports pictures and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this was coming , ” Martin , who has taught at Paradise for 27 years , says .
The yearbook theme for 2020 is “ Coming Home.
” Students found out over the weekend that they wouldn ’ t be coming back on Monday , the 16th .
“ That last Friday , I didn ’ t even realize that would have been my last normal Friday of school , ” Chandler says .
Paradise , in some ways , was better prepared for the pandemic than most schools , since this wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it down .
Even though the campus was spared by the Camp Fire , the surrounding damage posed too many hazards to bring students back right away .
Scorched trees could have fallen at any moment , and officials weren ’ t sure if running water at the school was safe to drink .
Teachers took their classes online and other school districts donated Chromebooks to Paradise students that they continued to use through the following school year .
Even with the practice of running online classes , the switch was still difficult @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rural , and not all of the students had reliable internet access .
Though the Paradise Unified School District handed out internet hotspots , there are few cellular towers — so the signal on the hotspots was spotty .
Helton says he lives in an internet “ dead zone , ” so the Wi-Fi cuts out frequently .
“ All the service companies call us a black hole or something like that , ” Helton says .
What really weighed on the minds of Martin and other parents and faculty The Verge spoke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids were holding up emotionally .
“ You ’ re so busy balancing [ the ] emotions of the kids , ” says Amy Sperske , the mother of a senior at Paradise .
“ Even as an adult , it [ takes ] everything in our power to be motivated every day to keep going , when just another thing is thrown at you.
” Martin kept a group text going with her leadership class , which plans school events .
They held virtual spirit weeks in an attempt to stay connected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wearing pajamas to school , students posted selfies to social media .
“ I really found a way to be of service last time , because I found a way to bring kids together .
And this has been a lot more challenging.
” Still , isolation during the pandemic split up the community in ways the Camp Fire didn ’ t .
After the blaze pushed students from their homes and classrooms last school year , they still went to game nights , a bowling night , and a skating night Martin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order to shelter in place during the pandemic , they couldn ’ t even hang out with each other .
“ I really found a way to be of service last time , because I found a way to bring kids together .
And this has been a lot more challenging for me and my class , ” Martin says .
Chandler is anxiously waiting to take her driver ’ s license test , which was supposed to be in April but was postponed .
A local church group started a fundraiser to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Chandler calls Helton , “ My ride , my Uber … one of my biggest supporters and best friends.
” “ I really didn ’ t ever see myself really abandoning Paradise High School for another high school , ” Helton says .
That ’ s why Helton and other seniors held out hope for an in-person graduation .
The school initially planned for commencement ceremonies by appointment , with ten students graduating at a time while they and their families distanced themselves from each other to limit the spread of COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 120 students , almost half of what it was last year , would make that easier to do .
That was the plan , until a church nearby broke the shelter-in-place mandate to hold Mother ’ s Day service on May 10th .
One of the people who attended tested positive for COVID-19 soon after , scaring health officials across the county .
After an excruciating waiting period , the state health department informed the school that all commencement ceremonies across the state needed to be held virtually or in cars .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a little more than a week before graduation .
“ I just feel for the kids , because it ’ s not what it ’ s supposed to be for them .
And they ’ ve put in 13 years ’ worth of school to get to this senior moment , ” says Ervin , whose son graduated this year , too .
The next school year will begin during fire season , which is getting longer and more severe because of climate change .
When it comes to living with disaster day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s had to learn to “ go with the flow.
” She even seems to have a mantra .
Over the course of a phone call , she says something along the lines of , “ There ’ s only so much that is in our control ” three times .
The Camp Fire meant the pandemic ’ s anxiety wasn ’ t new to Paradise residents .
“ That ’ s kind of how we ’ ve been living the whole time : on edge , stressed , trying to figure out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting a piece , ” says Sperske .
“ You get tired , honestly .
It ’ s really hard to keep building everybody up all the time , just because we ’ ve already been doing it.
” Graduation day was a moment for the class of 2020 to pause and celebrate .
On June 1st and 2nd , Principal Michael Ervin presided over 12 back-to-back drive-thru graduation ceremonies .
Each ceremony lasted an hour and celebrated 10 students .
Cars parked on the school ’ s running track , labeled “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s mascot , and surrounded a small stage set up on the center field .
Ervin was already sunburned and exhausted .
He ’ d attended promotion ceremonies for Paradise ’ s eighth graders — managed in much the same way : limited groups , cars , multiple celebrations — on May 21st and 22nd .
He elicited cheers anyway with his unyielding enthusiasm ( “ Way to go , Bobcats !
” ) well into his fourth full day presiding over ceremonies in the sunshine .
Helton and Chandler walked across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ covers on June 1st .
Horns blared ; one family of onlookers stood to cheer them on from the flatbed of a parked pickup truck .
The track was spotted with confetti that graduates and their families fired from small cannons .
“ I ’ m proud of all my graduating classes , but this one holds a special place in my heart , ” Principal Ervin , who has been a principal in Paradise schools for over two decades , said to the seniors .
“ It ’ s been two years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You have been through more than any other class that I ’ ve ever been with , and you have impressed me more with each day.
” In the fall , Chandler will be a freshman at nearby California State University , Chico .
Helton will be off to the University of California , Davis , and he hopes to go on to medical school after that .
Sperske ’ s daughter will attend the University of California , Irvine in the fall .
They don ’ t know yet if they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still attending classes from their bedrooms .
Despite the uncertainty about the future , Chandler struck a defiant note in her speech .
“ We are unstoppable , ” she said .
“ We ’ ve accomplished incredible things , and we ’ ll continue to do so .
As we all continue in our lives , let us take each problem on with confidence.
” Then she stepped away from the podium smiling and threw both hands up in the air as the crowd cheered .
Back home , she snapped another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up and out with one leg kicking back .
But this time she raised her hands overhead and stretched out her fingertips to reach even higher .

Paradise High School valedictorian Katie-Lynn Chandler delivered her graduation speech to empty bleachers and a row of cars parked along the school’s running track. A crown of white flowers was wrapped around her white graduation cap. She was flanked by a row of school staff standing at least six feet apart on the football field. She’d taken off her surgical mask to speak at the podium — she was the only person on the field not wearing one.
“Many people say that today’s the day that we start our journey. I disagree,” Chandler said. “Our journey began a long time ago. Today just happens to be the day that the path we’ve been traveling on splits.”
For the second year in a row, graduation at Paradise High School became a tribute to triumph over disaster. The tight-knit small town — where many seniors have taken classes together since kindergarten — was almost entirely razed by the Camp Fire in 2018. It was the deadliest and most destructive blaze in California’s history. Then, COVID-19 upended the school year, and seniors once again graduated into a world that looked very different than it did when the year began.
For the class of 2020, even the near future is a question mark. The pandemic has already taken over 100,000 lives in the US and no one can predict when it — or the economic collapse in its wake — will end. Temperatures are soaring to record highs, an ominous sign for the coming fire season. Persevering through compounded crises is the new rite of passage for graduates across the US. The town of Paradise, California just happened to have an early baptism by fire.
The town of Paradise, California just happened to have an early baptism by fire
Paradise graduates are already wary of what might come next. “First it was the Camp Fire and then now with this pandemic I’m wondering what next year’s disaster will be,” Chandler tells The Verge. “We’re like the most resilient group of people I know.” In some ways, Paradise is a glimpse into what might be a new normal for many of us: a cycle of upheaval, followed by adrenaline-fueled hope, exhaustion, and, ultimately, adaptation.
Chandler and her mom had moved to Paradise less than five months before the November 2018 Camp Fire broke out. Like the town, she’d been through her share of difficult transitions, moving from Hawaii to the Philippines and Virginia throughout her school career. Chandler’s dad fell ill and died in 2016, sparking some of the family’s moves.
Paradise was another fresh start. Her mom took a job nearby caring for people with developmental disabilities in an adult care home. Chandler enrolled at Paradise High School. She worried about fitting in and making friends, but that turned out not to be a problem for the upbeat teen.
Much of Chandler’s hopeful message on graduation day could have been part of any other senior’s speech. She remembered cheering her loudest at football games, dressing up for spirit days, and made a shout-out to her friends, family, and teachers. Other memories could only be shared by Paradise’s class of 2020. They made it through the Camp Fire, she said. And then there was the pandemic. But it’s clear that’s not what defines them. And how could it, when there were so many challenges still ahead? “After all of the accomplishments we’ve made in the face of adversity, I believe there is nothing that can stop us,” she said.
The Camp Fire burns in the hills on November 10, 2018 near Ororville, California. Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Eighty-five people died in the Camp Fire, sparked by deteriorating PG&E power lines; 18,804 homes and buildings burned. Roughly nine of every ten Paradise High students lost their homes; Chandler was among those whose homes burned. The care facility where her mother worked was also destroyed. She and her mother rent a room in a house from the person who owned the place where Chandler’s mother had worked.
The high school is one of the few structures in town that wasn’t reduced to ash. “When you’re at school walking through halls, you’re not reminded of the fire all the time,” says its principal, Michael Ervin, who also lost his family’s home to the blaze. “It’s when you leave school and you drive through town you are.”
Senior Eric Helton, who became one of Chandler’s closest friends, lost more than his home after the fire tore through Paradise. Helton moved in with his grandparents after the fire damaged his home beyond repair, but more tragedy followed. His grandfather was living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which attacks nerves in the brain and spinal cord, progressively weakening muscles over time. His grandfather’s health deteriorated as he struggled with the soot in the air from the fires, Helton says, and he died soon after.
By the time the 2019-2020 school year rolled around, the students of Paradise High School thought the worst was behind them. “We all had this kind of shared loss, so we were all able to come together in ways that we hadn’t quite been able to before,” Helton says. August 15th was the students’ first day back on campus since the fire, which had pushed their classes online the previous December. In the months after, they moved into an empty office space in a mall, and then into a warehouse.
“We all had this kind of shared loss.”
“It was kind of like a relief, trying to get back to a sense of normalcy after everything that we’ve been through,” Chandler tells The Verge. In a photo taken on August 15th, Chandler poses in front of posters reading, “Welcome home cats,” “better together,” and “Make your mark, 2020 has the spark!” She’s decked out in her school colors: a thick bundle of green and yellow Mardi Gras beads is wrapped around her neck and handprints in green and yellow paint cover her legs below her green skirt. She’s smiling, kicking her right foot behind her as she reaches out with both arms — a pose of excitement. The nerves she felt as a new kid the year before were gone. “It just really felt nice to be back home on campus,” she says.
But even though the school was intact, things weren’t exactly normal. A gaggle of reporters pressed students for interviews and photos. The district had lost about half its students, and Helton noticed that some teachers had gone with them. “No one was in the classrooms that they used to be in. So that was pretty weird,” he says.
Fire season was back, too. To prevent their power lines from sparking another hellfire, PG&E preemptively shut off power for many of its customers in September — including Paradise High School, which was shuttered for several days. But as intermittent blackouts dragged on for weeks, students came back to learn by lantern light.
“The fire seasons are always a worry up here, but especially now,” says Helton. That’s because the blackouts left health care facilities and people reliant on powered medical equipment in the lurch. “It’s just a challenging kind of lesser of two evils situation,” he says.
“It’s just a challenging kind of lesser of two evils situation.”
By March, fire season and the blackouts were over, and a new crisis was looming. The novel coronavirus was already making its way through cities like Seattle and San Francisco. But that still felt far away, and the virus was, at first, little more than fodder for casual jokes on campus.
“We didn’t think it would hit us here,” Chandler says. On Friday, March 13th, she and her friends picked up burritos off campus to bring back for lunch that day. “We sat in the school parking lot, kind of tailgating and kicking it back and just having some fun,” she says.
That day, Chandler made posters reminding students to wear bright colors for the upcoming “Kindness Week” her leadership class had planned. “Kindness comes in all colors,” was the slogan. The first day was scheduled for the following Monday, when students would be encouraged to wear blue to “cure the Monday blues.”
While the students decorated posters and had picnics in the parking lots, the teachers fretted. Stacie Martin, the teacher for the leadership class and high school yearbook class, figured the school year wouldn’t finish as planned. She sped up deadlines, worried that each opportunity to gather could be their last. “We had just the day before finished our last sports pictures and I pushed it because I was afraid that this was coming,” Martin, who has taught at Paradise for 27 years, says.
The yearbook theme for 2020 is “Coming Home.” Students found out over the weekend that they wouldn’t be coming back on Monday, the 16th. “That last Friday, I didn’t even realize that would have been my last normal Friday of school,” Chandler says.
A press release from Butte County Office of Education stating their decision to extend the closure of schools. Butte County Office of Education
Paradise, in some ways, was better prepared for the pandemic than most schools, since this wasn’t the first catastrophe to shut it down. Even though the campus was spared by the Camp Fire, the surrounding damage posed too many hazards to bring students back right away. Scorched trees could have fallen at any moment, and officials weren’t sure if running water at the school was safe to drink. Teachers took their classes online and other school districts donated Chromebooks to Paradise students that they continued to use through the following school year.
Even with the practice of running online classes, the switch was still difficult. Large parts of the county are rural, and not all of the students had reliable internet access. Though the Paradise Unified School District handed out internet hotspots, there are few cellular towers — so the signal on the hotspots was spotty. Helton says he lives in an internet “dead zone,” so the Wi-Fi cuts out frequently. “All the service companies call us a black hole or something like that,” Helton says.
What really weighed on the minds of Martin and other parents and faculty The Verge spoke to, though, was how the kids were holding up emotionally. “You’re so busy balancing [the] emotions of the kids,” says Amy Sperske, the mother of a senior at Paradise. “Even as an adult, it [takes] everything in our power to be motivated every day to keep going, when just another thing is thrown at you.”
Martin kept a group text going with her leadership class, which plans school events. They held virtual spirit weeks in an attempt to stay connected and have some fun. Instead of wearing pajamas to school, students posted selfies to social media.
“I really found a way to be of service last time, because I found a way to bring kids together. And this has been a lot more challenging.”
Still, isolation during the pandemic split up the community in ways the Camp Fire didn’t. After the blaze pushed students from their homes and classrooms last school year, they still went to game nights, a bowling night, and a skating night Martin coordinated. Under the governor’s order to shelter in place during the pandemic, they couldn’t even hang out with each other. “I really found a way to be of service last time, because I found a way to bring kids together. And this has been a lot more challenging for me and my class,” Martin says.
Chandler is anxiously waiting to take her driver’s license test, which was supposed to be in April but was postponed. A local church group started a fundraiser to help her get a car. Meanwhile, Chandler calls Helton, “My ride, my Uber … one of my biggest supporters and best friends.”
“I really didn’t ever see myself really abandoning Paradise High School for another high school,” Helton says. That’s why Helton and other seniors held out hope for an in-person graduation. The school initially planned for commencement ceremonies by appointment, with ten students graduating at a time while they and their families distanced themselves from each other to limit the spread of COVID-19. A smaller class size of roughly 120 students, almost half of what it was last year, would make that easier to do.
That was the plan, until a church nearby broke the shelter-in-place mandate to hold Mother’s Day service on May 10th. One of the people who attended tested positive for COVID-19 soon after, scaring health officials across the county. After an excruciating waiting period, the state health department informed the school that all commencement ceremonies across the state needed to be held virtually or in cars. The plans were finalized on May 22nd — a little more than a week before graduation.
“I just feel for the kids, because it’s not what it’s supposed to be for them. And they’ve put in 13 years’ worth of school to get to this senior moment,” says Ervin, whose son graduated this year, too.
The next school year will begin during fire season, which is getting longer and more severe because of climate change. When it comes to living with disaster day to day, Chandler says she’s had to learn to “go with the flow.” She even seems to have a mantra. Over the course of a phone call, she says something along the lines of, “There’s only so much that is in our control” three times.
The Camp Fire meant the pandemic’s anxiety wasn’t new to Paradise residents. “That’s kind of how we’ve been living the whole time: on edge, stressed, trying to figure out life. And now everybody else is getting a piece,” says Sperske. “You get tired, honestly. It’s really hard to keep building everybody up all the time, just because we’ve already been doing it.”
Graduation day was a moment for the class of 2020 to pause and celebrate. On June 1st and 2nd, Principal Michael Ervin presided over 12 back-to-back drive-thru graduation ceremonies. Each ceremony lasted an hour and celebrated 10 students. Cars parked on the school’s running track, labeled “Bobcat territory” for the school’s mascot, and surrounded a small stage set up on the center field.
Ervin was already sunburned and exhausted. He’d attended promotion ceremonies for Paradise’s eighth graders — managed in much the same way: limited groups, cars, multiple celebrations — on May 21st and 22nd. He elicited cheers anyway with his unyielding enthusiasm (“Way to go, Bobcats!”) well into his fourth full day presiding over ceremonies in the sunshine.
Helton and Chandler walked across the football field to receive their green diploma covers on June 1st. Horns blared; one family of onlookers stood to cheer them on from the flatbed of a parked pickup truck. The track was spotted with confetti that graduates and their families fired from small cannons.
Katie-Lynn Chandler and Eric Helton graduated from Paradise High School on June 1st, 2020. Chandler will attend California State University, Chico in the fall. Helton will attend the University of California, Davis.
“I’m proud of all my graduating classes, but this one holds a special place in my heart,” Principal Ervin, who has been a principal in Paradise schools for over two decades, said to the seniors. “It’s been two years of awkwardness and disaster and ugh … You have been through more than any other class that I’ve ever been with, and you have impressed me more with each day.”
In the fall, Chandler will be a freshman at nearby California State University, Chico. Helton will be off to the University of California, Davis, and he hopes to go on to medical school after that. Sperske’s daughter will attend the University of California, Irvine in the fall. They don’t know yet if they’ll be on their college campuses or still attending classes from their bedrooms.


theverge--2020-06-25--Apple’s AI plan: a thousand small conveniences

AI has become an integral part of every tech company ’ s pitch to consumers .
Fail to hype up machine learning or neural networks when unveiling a new product , and you might as well be hawking hand-cranked calculators .
This can lead to overpromising .
But judging by its recent WWDC performance , Apple has adopted a smarter and quieter approach .
Why blind them with science when you can charm them with convenience ?
Sprinkled throughout Apple ’ s announcements about iOS , iPadOS , and macOS were a number of features and updates that have machine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t announced onstage , and some features that almost certainly use AI weren ’ t identified as such , but here ’ s a quick recap of the more prominent mentions that we spotted : • Facial recognition for HomeKit .
HomeKit-enabled smart cameras will use photos you ’ ve tagged on your phone to identify who ’ s at your door and even announce them by name .
• Native sleep tracking for the Apple Watch .
This uses machine learning to classify your movements and detect when you ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Apple Watch to track new activities like dancing and ... • Handwashing .
The Apple Watch not only detects the motion but also the sound of handwashing , starting a countdown timer to make sure you ’ re washing for as long as needed .
• App Library suggestions .
A folder in the new App Library layout will use “ on-device intelligence ” to show apps you ’ re “ likely to need next.
” It ’ s small but potentially useful .
• Translate app .
This works completely offline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It detects the languages being spoken and can even do live translations of conversations .
• Sound alerts in iOS 14 .
This accessibility feature wasn ’ t mentioned onstage , but it will let your iPhone listen for things like doorbells , sirens , dogs barking , or babies crying .
• Handwriting recognition for iPad .
This wasn ’ t specifically identified as an AI-powered feature , but we ’ d bet dollars to donuts it is .
AI is fantastic at image recognition tasks , and identifying both Chinese and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There are absences in this list — most notably Siri , Apple ’ s perennially disappointing digital assistant .
Although Siri is AI-heavy , it mostly got cosmetic updates this year ( oh , and “ 20 times more facts , ” whatever that means ) .
A new interface is a welcome change for sure , but it ’ s small fry when you compare Siri ’ s overall performance with other AI assistants .
What these updates do show , though , is Apple ’ s interest in using machine learning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grand , unifying “ AI ” project , as some tech companies have promised with their own digital assistants , claiming to seamlessly improve your life by scheduling your calendar , preempting your commute , and so on .
This latter project was always going to be a failure as AI , for all its prowess , is basically just extremely good pattern-matching software .
This has myriad uses — and some are incredibly unexpected — but it doesn ’ t mean computers can parse the very human complexities of something as ordinary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that relies on numerous unspoken rules about your priorities , routine , likes and dislikes , and more .
The best example of Apple ’ s approach is the new handwashing feature on the Apple Watch , which uses AI to identify when you ’ re scrubbing your mitts and starts a timer .
It ’ s a small and silly feature , but one that asks little of the user while delivering a useful function .
This is a strong tactic for Apple that plays to the company ’ s long-held reputation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ software that “ just works.
” It also avoids the sort of iterative , tech-for-tech ’ s-sake update that can fall flat with the average consumer , like Samsung ’ s Bixby .
However , there ’ s a risk to this approach , too .
Focus too much on convenience , and you can end up overlooking customers ’ need for privacy , a mistake that Amazon seems to frequently make , like when it began delivering packages inside your house .
This could be a danger for Apple ’ s machine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company ’ s continued focus on privacy .
Adding facial recognition to HomeKit cameras , for example , is definitely convenient .
The software even connects to the HomePod to announce guests by name like a digital butler .
But how will users feel about data from their photos being used to identify people through third-party cameras ?
Videos will be encrypted via Apple ’ s “ Secure Video ” framework , but some might still feel queasy about the arrangement .
Apple will need to manage this closely , never taking too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ users , if it wants to continue walking the line between convenience and meddling .
If it can do that , though , its AI features have a greater chance of slipping unobtrusively into people ’ s lives .
This , for the moment , is the sweet spot for machine learning .
AI is too dumb to manage your schedule , but it ’ s smart enough to remind you to wash your hands .

AI has become an integral part of every tech company’s pitch to consumers. Fail to hype up machine learning or neural networks when unveiling a new product, and you might as well be hawking hand-cranked calculators. This can lead to overpromising. But judging by its recent WWDC performance, Apple has adopted a smarter and quieter approach.
Why blind them with science when you can charm them with convenience?
Sprinkled throughout Apple’s announcements about iOS, iPadOS, and macOS were a number of features and updates that have machine learning at their heart. Some weren’t announced onstage, and some features that almost certainly use AI weren’t identified as such, but here’s a quick recap of the more prominent mentions that we spotted:
Facial recognition for HomeKit. HomeKit-enabled smart cameras will use photos you’ve tagged on your phone to identify who’s at your door and even announce them by name.
HomeKit-enabled smart cameras will use photos you’ve tagged on your phone to identify who’s at your door and even announce them by name. Native sleep tracking for the Apple Watch. This uses machine learning to classify your movements and detect when you’re sleeping. The same mechanism also allows the Apple Watch to track new activities like dancing and...
This uses machine learning to classify your movements and detect when you’re sleeping. The same mechanism also allows the Apple Watch to track new activities like dancing and... Handwashing. The Apple Watch not only detects the motion but also the sound of handwashing, starting a countdown timer to make sure you’re washing for as long as needed.
The Apple Watch not only detects the motion but also the sound of handwashing, starting a countdown timer to make sure you’re washing for as long as needed. App Library suggestions. A folder in the new App Library layout will use “on-device intelligence” to show apps you’re “likely to need next.” It’s small but potentially useful.
A folder in the new App Library layout will use “on-device intelligence” to show apps you’re “likely to need next.” It’s small but potentially useful. Translate app. This works completely offline, thanks to on-device machine learning. It detects the languages being spoken and can even do live translations of conversations.
This works completely offline, thanks to on-device machine learning. It detects the languages being spoken and can even do live translations of conversations. Sound alerts in iOS 14. This accessibility feature wasn’t mentioned onstage, but it will let your iPhone listen for things like doorbells, sirens, dogs barking, or babies crying.
This accessibility feature wasn’t mentioned onstage, but it will let your iPhone listen for things like doorbells, sirens, dogs barking, or babies crying. Handwriting recognition for iPad. This wasn’t specifically identified as an AI-powered feature, but we’d bet dollars to donuts it is. AI is fantastic at image recognition tasks, and identifying both Chinese and English characters is a fitting challenge.
There are absences in this list — most notably Siri, Apple’s perennially disappointing digital assistant. Although Siri is AI-heavy, it mostly got cosmetic updates this year (oh, and “20 times more facts,” whatever that means). A new interface is a welcome change for sure, but it’s small fry when you compare Siri’s overall performance with other AI assistants.
What these updates do show, though, is Apple’s interest in using machine learning to deliver small conveniences rather than some grand, unifying “AI” project, as some tech companies have promised with their own digital assistants, claiming to seamlessly improve your life by scheduling your calendar, preempting your commute, and so on.
This latter project was always going to be a failure as AI, for all its prowess, is basically just extremely good pattern-matching software. This has myriad uses — and some are incredibly unexpected — but it doesn’t mean computers can parse the very human complexities of something as ordinary as your calendar appointments, a task that relies on numerous unspoken rules about your priorities, routine, likes and dislikes, and more.
The best example of Apple’s approach is the new handwashing feature on the Apple Watch, which uses AI to identify when you’re scrubbing your mitts and starts a timer. It’s a small and silly feature, but one that asks little of the user while delivering a useful function.
This is a strong tactic for Apple that plays to the company’s long-held reputation — deserved or not — for delivering software that “just works.” It also avoids the sort of iterative, tech-for-tech’s-sake update that can fall flat with the average consumer, like Samsung’s Bixby.
Facial recognition on HomeKit cameras is one of the riskier AI features Apple announced. Image: Apple
However, there’s a risk to this approach, too. Focus too much on convenience, and you can end up overlooking customers’ need for privacy, a mistake that Amazon seems to frequently make, like when it began delivering packages inside your house. This could be a danger for Apple’s machine learning work as well, despite the company’s continued focus on privacy.
Adding facial recognition to HomeKit cameras, for example, is definitely convenient. The software even connects to the HomePod to announce guests by name like a digital butler. But how will users feel about data from their photos being used to identify people through third-party cameras? Videos will be encrypted via Apple’s “Secure Video” framework, but some might still feel queasy about the arrangement. Apple will need to manage this closely, never taking too much control out the hands of its users, if it wants to continue walking the line between convenience and meddling.


theverge--2020-06-25--Tesla ranks last on influential JD Power quality survey

JD Power scored Tesla vehicles the worst among 32 major brands in its annual quality study .
It ’ s the first time that Tesla ’ s cars have been ranked by the influential customer survey now in its 34th year .
According to the JD Power Initial Quality Study , which measures vehicle quality in the first 90 days of ownership , Tesla cars suffered 250 problems per 100 vehicles as reported by customers , compared to an industry average of 166 problems .
Land Rover was the second-worst-performing brand with 228 problems per 100 vehicles .
Dodge and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with just 136 issues per 100 vehicles .
The new study is based on responses from 87,282 purchasers and lessees of new 2020 model-year vehicles .
It was fielded from February through March 2020 .
The results follow news of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA ) investigation into early Model S touchscreen failures , and a separate report claiming early Model S cars shipped with a dangerous battery pack flaw .
Concerns that Musk prioritizes quantity over quality are a recurring theme for Tesla Tesla receives a special callout in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t cover all 50 states .
However , increased sales of the Model 3 allowed JD Power to collect enough data to measure quality for the first time .
“ Unlike other manufacturers , Tesla doesn ’ t grant us permission to survey its owners in 15 states where it is required , ” said JD Power ’ s Doug Betts .
“ However , we were able to collect a large enough sample of surveys from owners in the other 35 states and , from that base , we calculated Tesla ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emerged that Tesla was cutting corners on Model 3 production to meet aggressive goals .
The company had to build a temporary tent to meet Musk ’ s ambitious target of producing 6,000 Model 3 ’ s per week .
Concerns that Musk has prioritized quantity over quality are a recurring theme for Tesla , that have recently been extended to the Model Y .
The data collected by JD Power bears this out .
“ What we call the blocking and tackling of building the car , that ’ s what Tesla @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data , ” said Betts in an interview with The Wall Street Journal .
Tesla customers surveyed complained of body panel accuracy , rattles , wind noise , and paint jobs , according to Betts .
Here ’ s the full ranking , showing the problems per 100 vehicles as reported by owners in JD Power ’ s 2020 IQS :

JD Power scored Tesla vehicles the worst among 32 major brands in its annual quality study. It’s the first time that Tesla’s cars have been ranked by the influential customer survey now in its 34th year.
According to the JD Power Initial Quality Study, which measures vehicle quality in the first 90 days of ownership, Tesla cars suffered 250 problems per 100 vehicles as reported by customers, compared to an industry average of 166 problems. Land Rover was the second-worst-performing brand with 228 problems per 100 vehicles. Dodge and Kia were tied for the top-rated brand with just 136 issues per 100 vehicles.
The new study is based on responses from 87,282 purchasers and lessees of new 2020 model-year vehicles. It was fielded from February through March 2020. The results follow news of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation into early Model S touchscreen failures, and a separate report claiming early Model S cars shipped with a dangerous battery pack flaw.
Concerns that Musk prioritizes quantity over quality are a recurring theme for Tesla
Tesla receives a special callout in the list because the survey doesn’t cover all 50 states. However, increased sales of the Model 3 allowed JD Power to collect enough data to measure quality for the first time. “Unlike other manufacturers, Tesla doesn’t grant us permission to survey its owners in 15 states where it is required,” said JD Power’s Doug Betts. “However, we were able to collect a large enough sample of surveys from owners in the other 35 states and, from that base, we calculated Tesla’s score.”
Last summer, reports emerged that Tesla was cutting corners on Model 3 production to meet aggressive goals. The company had to build a temporary tent to meet Musk’s ambitious target of producing 6,000 Model 3’s per week. Concerns that Musk has prioritized quantity over quality are a recurring theme for Tesla, that have recently been extended to the Model Y. The data collected by JD Power bears this out.
“What we call the blocking and tackling of building the car, that’s what Tesla is not good at according to this data,” said Betts in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Tesla customers surveyed complained of body panel accuracy, rattles, wind noise, and paint jobs, according to Betts.
Here’s the full ranking, showing the problems per 100 vehicles as reported by owners in JD Power’s 2020 IQS:


theverge--2020-06-25--Apple is getting serious about iPad gaming with better gamepad and keyboard support

Apple is greatly improving its gaming support in iOS 14 , iPadOS 14 , and tvOS .
The biggest additions are support for controller button remapping , haptics , rumble , motion , and even the ability to properly use a keyboard and mouse for iPad gaming .
Game developers and players have long been asking for zone-based rumble and haptics support , and it ’ s finally coming later this year .
Developers will be able to program feedback into their games , so players can feel specific things like the recoil from guns or explosions .
Apple is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ motion inputs , like Sony ’ s DualShock 4 controller .
This includes support for the Lightbar , allowing Apple developers to change the color of the light on the controller when a health bar decreases for example .
The touchpad surface on the DualShock 4 will also be available to game developers , with two-finger tracking as well as support for the touchpad ’ s button .
Apple is finally adding support for the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 in its upcoming iOS 14 , iPadOS 14 , and tvOS updates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four paddle buttons , and even button remapping .
Apple ’ s new button remapping is available globally for all controllers , and you ’ ll even be able to adjust buttons on a per app or game basis .
All of these additions are solid improvements for gamepad use across Apple ’ s devices , but the company is also providing the ability to play games on an iPad with a keyboard and mouse instead of just a gamepad or the touchscreen .
Currently , you can try and use a keyboard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t press multiple keys at once so the support is really lackluster .
Mouse support for current iPad games also often requires additional clicks and feels unnatural , so Apple is allowing game developers to improve this , too .
This is great news for fans of first-person shooters , or games that require more precision for input .
Apple will even allow game developers to disable pointer system gestures like the Dock or Control Center so games can take full advantage of fullscreen gameplay .
Alongside all of these input improvements , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ user interface .
The refreshed design includes a new dashboard with a transparent layer on top of games that supports both landscape and portrait orientations .
Apple has also redesigned its achievements section of Game Center , and made the entire look and feel of the app more consistent across iOS , iPadOS , tvOS , and macOS .
All of these additions show that Apple has invested a lot of time into improving gaming across the iPhone , iPad , and Apple TV .
Given the vast operating system improvements , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t launched its own controller just yet that seamlessly switches between iPhones , iPads , Apple TVs , and Macs like the company ’ s AirPods .
It could be the hardware boost that gaming on the iPad and Apple TV needs .

Apple is greatly improving its gaming support in iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS. The biggest additions are support for controller button remapping, haptics, rumble, motion, and even the ability to properly use a keyboard and mouse for iPad gaming.
Game developers and players have long been asking for zone-based rumble and haptics support, and it’s finally coming later this year. Developers will be able to program feedback into their games, so players can feel specific things like the recoil from guns or explosions.
Apple is also planning to support some controllers with motion inputs, like Sony’s DualShock 4 controller. This includes support for the Lightbar, allowing Apple developers to change the color of the light on the controller when a health bar decreases for example. The touchpad surface on the DualShock 4 will also be available to game developers, with two-finger tracking as well as support for the touchpad’s button.
Gamepad button remapping.
Apple is finally adding support for the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 in its upcoming iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS updates. This will include support for the four paddle buttons, and even button remapping. Apple’s new button remapping is available globally for all controllers, and you’ll even be able to adjust buttons on a per app or game basis.
All of these additions are solid improvements for gamepad use across Apple’s devices, but the company is also providing the ability to play games on an iPad with a keyboard and mouse instead of just a gamepad or the touchscreen.
Currently, you can try and use a keyboard for iPad games but you can’t press multiple keys at once so the support is really lackluster. Mouse support for current iPad games also often requires additional clicks and feels unnatural, so Apple is allowing game developers to improve this, too.
This is great news for fans of first-person shooters, or games that require more precision for input. Apple will even allow game developers to disable pointer system gestures like the Dock or Control Center so games can take full advantage of fullscreen gameplay.
Apple’s new Game Center.
Alongside all of these input improvements, Apple is also overhauling its Game Center user interface. The refreshed design includes a new dashboard with a transparent layer on top of games that supports both landscape and portrait orientations. Apple has also redesigned its achievements section of Game Center, and made the entire look and feel of the app more consistent across iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS.


theverge--2020-06-25--The Boogaloo movement has successfully hijacked social networks to spread

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Lately a question I have been asking myself is : how worried do we need to be about the Boogaloo groups ?
The Boogaloo movement , if you ’ ve been sitting this one out so far , refers to a loosely knit group of right-wing extremists , some of whom advocate for second civil war .
( The name derives from the camp classic breakdancing movie Breakin ’ 2 : Electric Boogaloo .
In the delightfully dry phrasing of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Boogaloo became a verbal template appended to a topic as a signal of pejorative parody.
” ) While the use of the term in this way dates to at least 2012 , it has gained new prominence after a series of violent incidents linked to its adherents .
An Air Force staff sergeant was charged with the murder of a Federal Protective Service officer and a Santa Cruz sheriff ’ s sergeant earlier this month , and authorities have said they found paraphernalia connected with the movement in the suspect ’ s van @ @ @ @ @ @ @ men were indicted “ for allegedly conspiring to destroy government and private property during protests in that city on May 30 , and for allegedly possessing Molotov cocktails , ” the Wall Street Journal reported .
Also of note is where Boogaloo adherents are organizing themselves : social networks , most notably Facebook .
Earlier this month , Facebook removed Boogaloo groups from its recommendations .
If you join a group discussing a Boogaloo-adjacent subject , including militias and Second Amendment rights , you should not see recommendations to join more explicitly Boogaloo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Wednesday , Tonya Riley found that Boogaloo recommendations are still plentiful .
The fear is that , in an already volatile moment when Americans are confronting a newly resurgent pandemic , record unemployment , and a negligent federal government , extremist sentiments that take root on social networks could boil over into more widespread violence .
The question is what steps those networks are prepared to take to stop that from happening .
Why are there so many Boogaloo groups on Facebook and elsewhere ?
( The movement has also found to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Reddit , among other social sites . )
One reason is that what qualifies as Boogaloo is unusually ambiguous .
Craig Timberg , Elizabeth Dwoskin and Souad Mekhennet attempted a definition earlier this month in the Post : If Boogaloo was a single , defined group with a designated leader and a stated commitment to violently overthrowing the American state , dealing with it would be pretty straightforward : you ban its social accounts and all the posts praising it .
Instead , though , Boogaloo is an unruly collection of ideas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and opposition to shelter-in-place orders , are within mainstream American political discourse .
Others , such as militant white supremacy and violence against the state , are not .
Still other elements , like some adherents ’ support for Black Lives Matter , have confounded researchers over whether they are legitimate or simply meant to distract from the movement ’ s true aims .
At least two other issues have complicated the act of removing violent Boogaloo posts .
One is that many of the posts are deeply ironic in the favored right-wing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to determine which posts are credible threats and which are simply “ a joke.
” The other is that the terminology around Boogaloo has rapidly transformed to include more than 50 terms , with posts connected to the movement using similar-sounding terms such as “ big igloo ” and “ big luau.
” ( The latter is why some adherents are believed to wear Hawaiian shirts when participating in public demonstrations . )
That ’ s not unique to Boogaloo , of course — street drug names transform in similar ways — but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difficult .
Still , Facebook has been gradually ratcheting up enforcement .
If you claim allegiance to Boogaloo and attempt to commit violence , Facebook will boot you off the platform , and the company will remove any posts that praise you .
And since May , if you post about Boogaloo with statements and images depicting armed violence , Facebook will remove those .
For the Boogaloo adherents arrested in connection with the Santa Cruz and Las Vegas incidents , their Facebook accounts have been terminated , and so have the groups @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all good steps — and yet , as the Post notes , Boogaloo content calling for armed violence can still be found readily on Facebook .
Partly this is an internet problem : bringing the world online makes it easier for bad people to find each other and make common cause .
And partly it ’ s a platform problem : recommendation algorithms recruit followers for the bad guys , sometimes even after those algorithms have been tuned to prevent those introductions from being made .
Facebook told me that it is taking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Boogaloo and that those policies would likely evolve to include additional enforcement .
By now it ’ s clear to me that the company is worried about the escalation of the group ’ s violent ideology on and off its platforms .
And that ’ s enough for me to be worried , too .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms .
Trending up : A new report from the European Commission shows Facebook assessed 95.7 percent of hate speech notifications in less than 24 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ YouTube and 76.6 percent for Twitter .
( Facebook ) Trending down : Facebook has reportedly created a fact-checking loophole for climate science deniers .
Now , staffers can overrule climate science moderators and make any climate disinformation ineligible for fact-checking by deeming it “ opinion.
” ( Popular Information ) ⭐ A new bipartisan Senate bill is taking aim at the liability protections enjoyed by platforms like Facebook and YouTube .
The Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency ( PACT ) Act would require online platforms to reveal their content moderation practices through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bill would also create a new avenue for holding these companies responsible for hosting illegal content by making changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act .
Here ’ s Makena Kelly at The Verge : Politicians on both sides of the aisle seem to hate Section 230 .
But they have vastly different reasons for why they think the law must change .
( Adi Robertson / The Verge ) Joe Biden ’ s presidential campaign is calling on Facebook and Twitter to remove posts from President Donald Trump about voter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s campaign said the President ’ s tweets “ creates the misimpression that the tens of millions of Americans who will vote by mail may have their votes drowned out by fraud.
” ( Sarah Mucha and Donie O ’ Sullivan / CNN ) Trump ’ s campaign is considering pushing supporters toward smaller social networks that are less likely to regulate the president ’ s speech than the big social networks .
Since few other platforms have the reach of Facebook and Twitter , it ’ s unclear what this strategy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael C. Bender / The Wall Street Journal ) President Donald Trump ’ s crackdown on Twitter may have the unintended consequence of hampering his administration ’ s efforts to market some of its signature efforts , from army recruiting to anti-vaping .
Trump pushed to curb government advertising on Facebook , Twitter and Google last month as part of an executive order that also targeted Section 230 protections .
( Nancy Scola / Politico ) Twitter permanently suspended the pro-Trump meme-maker “ CarpeDonktum ” for copyright violations .
The move comes after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warning to one of his videos that Trump shared last week .
( Will Sommer / Daily Beast ) Twitter also suspended the account of an activist group called Distributed Denial of Secrets for violating its policy about the distribution of hacked data .
Last week , @ DDoSecrets published a data dumb with links to documents stolen from US law enforcement agencies .
( Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet India ’ s antitrust watchdog approved Facebook ’ s $ 5.7 billion deal with Reliance Jio .
The announcement comes a week after the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for potential misuses of user data .
( Manish Singh / TechCrunch ) Inside the deal between Facebook and Reliance Jio , the company that brought the internet to millions of people in India through low prices .
( Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa / The Information ) More companies are joining the ad boycott against Facebook to protest the platform ’ s handling of misinformation and hate speech .
The list now includes Eddie Bauer , Magnolia Pictures , Ben & Jerry ’ s , Patagonia , the North Face , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company ’ s 7 million other advertisers .
( Tiffany Hsu / The New York Times ) Opponents of shelter-in-place rules are organizing protests on Facebook targeting public health officials .
Some of the protests are taking place in-person , outside the homes of public health experts .
( Jeff Horwitz / The Wall Street Journal ) Brazil ’ s Central Bank and antitrust regulator suspended WhatsApp ’ s payment features in the country , citing antitrust concerns .
It ’ s a setback for Facebook , which introduced WhatsApp ’ s payments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Mario Sergio Lima and Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg ) The Boston City Council voted unanimously to ban the city government , including police , from using facial recognition technology .
The law makes it illegal for Boston officials to “ obtain , retain , possess , access , or use ” facial recognition technology .
It ’ s also now illegal for the city government to enter into contracts that permit the use of facial recognition technology .
( Caroline Haskins and Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed ) A man in Michigan was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facial recognition match .
It ’ s the first known case of its kind and points to the terrifying implications of algorithmic bias .
( Kashmir Hill / The New York Times ) The Open Technology Fund , a small US organization devoted to protecting digital speech , has helped support many prominent encryption projects , including Signal and Tor .
But after a Trump appointee abruptly fired the fund ’ s entire leadership team , current recipients say their funding is at risk .
( Russell Brandom / The Verge ) ⭐ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ pipeline problem ” to explain away the lack of Black hiring and promotion .
But the industry ’ s reliance on personal relationships to grant access and opportunity might be more to blame .
This piece takes a deep look at why black and Latino workers are kept out of the tech industry .
Here are Sam Dean and Johana Bhuiyan from the Los Angeles Times : ⭐ Google will now automatically delete location and search history by default for new users .
The changes to the default data settings are a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ privacy policies .
Here ’ s Russell Brandom at The Verge : Black and brown tech workers are sharing their experiences of racism on the job .
The stories come as part of a survey of 68 tech workers from the Los Angeles Times .
( Johana Bhuiyan , Sam Dean and Suhauna Hussain / Los Angeles Times ) Black Amazon employees are urging Jeff Bezos to match his statements about racial justice with actions to address the “ systemic pattern of racial bias ” that permeate the company .
( Karen Weise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black Lives Matter movement finally pushed Instagram into politics .
The shift was intentional , helped in part by civil rights groups that are using the platform to mobilize followers .
It has completely taken over my own Instagram experience , in the best way — have been waiting for someone to write this story .
( Emily Stewart and Shirin Ghaffary / Recode ) Facebook is testing a new project called Forecast , an app for making predictions about world events like COVID-19 .
Users can ask questions and then use in-app @ @ @ @ @ @ @ happen in the future .
( Sarah Perez / TechCrunch ) Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer spoke with Protocol about the company ’ s commitment to creating more diverse teams , and how it ’ s been trying to moderate content with employees working remote .
( Issie Lapowsky / Protocol ) Digital advertising on platforms like Facebook and Google is set to overtake spending on traditional media for the first time this year .
It ’ s a historic shift in market share , accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic .
( Alex Barker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its TikTok competitor known as “ Reels ” to new markets , following its launch in Brazil .
The new app is rolling out more broadly in France and Germany .
( Sarah Perez / TechCrunch ) Inside The DayLife Army , a social media cult that convinces young people to relinquish their personal property and leave their lives behind in order to build a supposedly alternate society .
( Emilie Friedlander and Joy Crane / OneZero ) Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine .
Watch Twitch Prime ’ s new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , comedy , and tournaments , but mostly I just wanted you all to laugh at the organizational hierarchy described here : “ Twitch is owned by Amazon , and Amazon ’ s Prime subscription service has a section called Twitch Prime that offers benefits for Twitch viewers .
The Crown Channel comes out of that group ’ s Live team , which is specifically focused on making live content with an eye toward Prime users.
” And you thought Google ’ s messaging strategy was complicated .
Send us tips , comments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

Lately a question I have been asking myself is: how worried do we need to be about the Boogaloo groups?
The Boogaloo movement, if you’ve been sitting this one out so far, refers to a loosely knit group of right-wing extremists, some of whom advocate for second civil war. (The name derives from the camp classic breakdancing movie Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. In the delightfully dry phrasing of Wikipedia authors, “2: Electric Boogaloo became a verbal template appended to a topic as a signal of pejorative parody.”)
While the use of the term in this way dates to at least 2012, it has gained new prominence after a series of violent incidents linked to its adherents. An Air Force staff sergeant was charged with the murder of a Federal Protective Service officer and a Santa Cruz sheriff’s sergeant earlier this month, and authorities have said they found paraphernalia connected with the movement in the suspect’s van. And in Las Vegas, three men were indicted “for allegedly conspiring to destroy government and private property during protests in that city on May 30, and for allegedly possessing Molotov cocktails,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Also of note is where Boogaloo adherents are organizing themselves: social networks, most notably Facebook.
Earlier this month, Facebook removed Boogaloo groups from its recommendations. If you join a group discussing a Boogaloo-adjacent subject, including militias and Second Amendment rights, you should not see recommendations to join more explicitly Boogaloo groups. But in the Washington Post on Wednesday, Tonya Riley found that Boogaloo recommendations are still plentiful.
Researchers at the global nonprofit group Avaaz found nearly two dozen Facebook pages affiliated with the “boogaloo” movement, a generally anti-government and anti-law enforcement ideology. Despite the amorphous nature of the online movement, members have become a notable physical presence at both rallies against pandemic shutdowns and more recently Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality. Posts on pages flagged by Avaaz between May 28 and June 18 included explicit calls for armed violence as well as more borderline content such as anti-government memes employing euphemisms for violence. Some pages also shared misinformation about the protests, such as memes claiming police were placing bricks to cause riots and conspiracy theories about Bill Gates and George Soros. The majority of the pages were created within the past six months and had a collective following of tens of thousands of users.
The fear is that, in an already volatile moment when Americans are confronting a newly resurgent pandemic, record unemployment, and a negligent federal government, extremist sentiments that take root on social networks could boil over into more widespread violence. The question is what steps those networks are prepared to take to stop that from happening.
Why are there so many Boogaloo groups on Facebook and elsewhere? (The movement has also found to be active on Twitter, Discord, and Reddit, among other social sites.) One reason is that what qualifies as Boogaloo is unusually ambiguous. Craig Timberg, Elizabeth Dwoskin and Souad Mekhennet attempted a definition earlier this month in the Post:
These groups have displayed a flexible ideology, espousing gun rights in Richmond in January, opposition to government public health restrictions in several state capitals in March and April and, over the past week, resistance to police brutality against African Americans, though the goal in some cases may be mainly to distract attention from those causes, according to recent research. Some far-right groups have purposefully sown confusion by impersonating left-wing activists, adding chaos to already turbulent days of protests in which local officials have blamed unnamed outsiders and left-wing groups for the mayhem.
If Boogaloo was a single, defined group with a designated leader and a stated commitment to violently overthrowing the American state, dealing with it would be pretty straightforward: you ban its social accounts and all the posts praising it.
Instead, though, Boogaloo is an unruly collection of ideas. Some, like Second Amendment rights and opposition to shelter-in-place orders, are within mainstream American political discourse. Others, such as militant white supremacy and violence against the state, are not. Still other elements, like some adherents’ support for Black Lives Matter, have confounded researchers over whether they are legitimate or simply meant to distract from the movement’s true aims.
At least two other issues have complicated the act of removing violent Boogaloo posts. One is that many of the posts are deeply ironic in the favored right-wing mode, making it difficult for moderators to determine which posts are credible threats and which are simply “a joke.” The other is that the terminology around Boogaloo has rapidly transformed to include more than 50 terms, with posts connected to the movement using similar-sounding terms such as “big igloo” and “big luau.” (The latter is why some adherents are believed to wear Hawaiian shirts when participating in public demonstrations.) That’s not unique to Boogaloo, of course — street drug names transform in similar ways — but it has made the cat-and-mouse game more difficult.
Still, Facebook has been gradually ratcheting up enforcement. If you claim allegiance to Boogaloo and attempt to commit violence, Facebook will boot you off the platform, and the company will remove any posts that praise you. And since May, if you post about Boogaloo with statements and images depicting armed violence, Facebook will remove those.
For the Boogaloo adherents arrested in connection with the Santa Cruz and Las Vegas incidents, their Facebook accounts have been terminated, and so have the groups that they belonged to.
These are all good steps — and yet, as the Post notes, Boogaloo content calling for armed violence can still be found readily on Facebook. Partly this is an internet problem: bringing the world online makes it easier for bad people to find each other and make common cause. And partly it’s a platform problem: recommendation algorithms recruit followers for the bad guys, sometimes even after those algorithms have been tuned to prevent those introductions from being made.
Facebook told me that it is taking a fresh look at its policies related to Boogaloo and that those policies would likely evolve to include additional enforcement. By now it’s clear to me that the company is worried about the escalation of the group’s violent ideology on and off its platforms. And that’s enough for me to be worried, too.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔽 Trending down: Facebook has reportedly created a fact-checking loophole for climate science deniers. Now, staffers can overrule climate science moderators and make any climate disinformation ineligible for fact-checking by deeming it “opinion.” (Popular Information)
Governing
⭐ A new bipartisan Senate bill is taking aim at the liability protections enjoyed by platforms like Facebook and YouTube. The Platform Accountability and Consumer Transparency (PACT) Act would require online platforms to reveal their content moderation practices through a range of mandatory disclosures. The bill would also create a new avenue for holding these companies responsible for hosting illegal content by making changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Here’s Makena Kelly at The Verge:
If approved, the bill would force large tech platforms to explain how they moderate content in a way that is easily accessible to users and release quarterly reports including disaggregated statistics on what content has been removed, demonetized, or had its reach algorithmically limited. Platforms would then be required to roll out a formal complaint system for users that processes reports and explains their moderation decisions within 14 days. Users would then be allowed to appeal those moderation decisions within a company’s internal reporting systems, something that already exists on platforms like Facebook.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle seem to hate Section 230. But they have vastly different reasons for why they think the law must change. (Adi Robertson / The Verge)
Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is calling on Facebook and Twitter to remove posts from President Donald Trump about voter fraud and a rigged election. Biden’s campaign said the President’s tweets “creates the misimpression that the tens of millions of Americans who will vote by mail may have their votes drowned out by fraud.” (Sarah Mucha and Donie O’Sullivan / CNN)
Trump’s campaign is considering pushing supporters toward smaller social networks that are less likely to regulate the president’s speech than the big social networks. Since few other platforms have the reach of Facebook and Twitter, it’s unclear what this strategy would accomplish. (Emily Glazer and Michael C. Bender / The Wall Street Journal)
President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Twitter may have the unintended consequence of hampering his administration’s efforts to market some of its signature efforts, from army recruiting to anti-vaping. Trump pushed to curb government advertising on Facebook, Twitter and Google last month as part of an executive order that also targeted Section 230 protections. (Nancy Scola / Politico)
Twitter permanently suspended the pro-Trump meme-maker “CarpeDonktum” for copyright violations. The move comes after Twitter added a “manipulated media” warning to one of his videos that Trump shared last week. (Will Sommer / Daily Beast)
Twitter also suspended the account of an activist group called Distributed Denial of Secrets for violating its policy about the distribution of hacked data. Last week, @DDoSecrets published a data dump with links to documents stolen from US law enforcement agencies. (Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet
India’s antitrust watchdog approved Facebook’s $5.7 billion deal with Reliance Jio. The announcement comes a week after the watchdog said it was reviewing the deal for potential misuses of user data. (Manish Singh / TechCrunch)
Inside the deal between Facebook and Reliance Jio, the company that brought the internet to millions of people in India through low prices. (Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa / The Information)
More companies are joining the ad boycott against Facebook to protest the platform’s handling of misinformation and hate speech. The list now includes Eddie Bauer, Magnolia Pictures, Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia, the North Face, and REI. No word yet from the company’s 7 million other advertisers. (Tiffany Hsu / The New York Times)
Opponents of shelter-in-place rules are organizing protests on Facebook targeting public health officials. Some of the protests are taking place in-person, outside the homes of public health experts. (Jeff Horwitz / The Wall Street Journal)
Brazil’s Central Bank and antitrust regulator suspended WhatsApp’s payment features in the country, citing antitrust concerns. It’s a setback for Facebook, which introduced WhatsApp’s payments system in Brazil earlier this month. (Mario Sergio Lima and Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg)
The Boston City Council voted unanimously to ban the city government, including police, from using facial recognition technology. The law makes it illegal for Boston officials to “obtain, retain, possess, access, or use” facial recognition technology. It’s also now illegal for the city government to enter into contracts that permit the use of facial recognition technology. (Caroline Haskins and Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed)
A man in Michigan was wrongfully arrested due to a flawed algorithmic facial recognition match. It’s the first known case of its kind and points to the terrifying implications of algorithmic bias. (Kashmir Hill / The New York Times)
The Open Technology Fund, a small US organization devoted to protecting digital speech, has helped support many prominent encryption projects, including Signal and Tor. But after a Trump appointee abruptly fired the fund’s entire leadership team, current recipients say their funding is at risk. (Russell Brandom / The Verge)
Industry
⭐ Tech leaders have often pointed to a “pipeline problem” to explain away the lack of Black hiring and promotion. But the industry’s reliance on personal relationships to grant access and opportunity might be more to blame. This piece takes a deep look at why black and Latino workers are kept out of the tech industry. Here are Sam Dean and Johana Bhuiyan from the Los Angeles Times:
The problem is not a lack of qualified candidates, but the companies’ unwillingness to open the door, said Bari Williams, the head of legal at Human Interest, a financial services startup. Companies are reluctant to broaden the schools they recruit from to include historically Black colleges and universities, said Williams, who advocates for diversity in Silicon Valley. “It always comes down to some semblance of seeing it as lowering the bar,” she said. Williams, who used to work at StubHub and Facebook, said she’s seen candidates get passed over because they attended an HBCU. Many tech companies also rely heavily on referrals from current employees, a system that is not unusual in business but which can reinforce the network effects. “Who do you typically refer? People that look and act and dress and speak and do the same things that you do,” Williams said.
⭐ Google will now automatically delete location and search history by default for new users. The changes to the default data settings are a significant expansion of the company’s privacy policies. Here’s Russell Brandom at The Verge:
Google’s auto-delete feature applies to search history (on web or in-app), location history, and voice commands collected through the Google Assistant or devices like Google Home. Google logs that data in its My Activity page, where users can see what data points have been collected and manually delete specific items. Historically, Google has retained that information indefinitely, but in 2019, the company rolled out a way to automatically delete data points after three months or 18 months, depending on the chosen setting. Starting today, those settings will be on by default for new users.
Black and brown tech workers are sharing their experiences of racism on the job. The stories come as part of a survey of 68 tech workers from the Los Angeles Times. (Johana Bhuiyan, Sam Dean and Suhauna Hussain / Los Angeles Times)
Black Amazon employees are urging Jeff Bezos to match his statements about racial justice with actions to address the “systemic pattern of racial bias” that permeate the company. (Karen Weise / The New York Times)
The Black Lives Matter movement finally pushed Instagram into politics. The shift was intentional, helped in part by civil rights groups that are using the platform to mobilize followers. It has completely taken over my own Instagram experience, in the best way — have been waiting for someone to write this story. (Emily Stewart and Shirin Ghaffary / Recode)
Facebook is testing a new project called Forecast, an app for making predictions about world events like COVID-19. Users can ask questions and then use in-app points to make predictions about what might happen in the future. (Sarah Perez / TechCrunch)
Digital advertising on platforms like Facebook and Google is set to overtake spending on traditional media for the first time this year. It’s a historic shift in market share, accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. (Alex Barker / Financial Times)
Instagram is expanding its TikTok competitor known as “Reels” to new markets, following its launch in Brazil. The new app is rolling out more broadly in France and Germany. (Sarah Perez / TechCrunch)
Inside The DayLife Army, a social media cult that convinces young people to relinquish their personal property and leave their lives behind in order to build a supposedly alternate society. (Emilie Friedlander and Joy Crane / OneZero)
Things to do
Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine.
Watch Twitch Prime’s new Crown Channel. It has reality shows, comedy, and tournaments, but mostly I just wanted you all to laugh at the organizational hierarchy described here: “Twitch is owned by Amazon, and Amazon’s Prime subscription service has a section called Twitch Prime that offers benefits for Twitch viewers. The Crown Channel comes out of that group’s Live team, which is specifically focused on making live content with an eye toward Prime users.” And you thought Google’s messaging strategy was complicated.
Those good tweets
Talk to us


theverge--2020-06-25--Google will start paying some publishers for news articles

Google will pay for news content from select publishers as part of a new licensing program announced today .
It says the content will form part of a “ new news experience ” coming later this year , launching first on its Google News and Discover services .
In some cases , Google says it could offer free access to paywalled articles by paying content owners on the user ’ s behalf .
Google says it ’ s starting the program with publishers in Germany , Australia , and Brazil , but says that it ’ s got “ more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Der Spiegel in Germany , and Schwartz Media in Australia , according to the Financial Times .
Google says a “ new news experience ” is launching later this year Google ’ s announcement comes after multiple countries have stepped up efforts to have the search giant compensate publishers for the news content it links to .
Australia recently unveiled plans to force tech platforms to help pay for the free content they profit from .
In April , France ’ s competition authority ordered Google to pay for content from French publishers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Facebook has just launched a new news tab in the US in which it pays some participating publishers for their work .
Stories are curated by a team of human editors , and publishing partners include BuzzFeed , the New York Times , and the Wall Street Journal .
Facebook is reportedly looking to expand this news tab to Europe .
However , the FT notes that such schemes have been criticized for only including some publishers and for not paying enough .
Some would reportedly prefer legal backing to such initiatives , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large tech firms .
In comments published by Google , Spiegel Group managing director Stefan Ottlitz said its partnership with Google “ will allow us to curate an experience that will bring our award-winning editorial voice into play , broaden our outreach and provide trusted news in a compelling way across Google products.
” The FT notes that Google ’ s announcement did not disclose the financial terms of its deals .

Google will pay for news content from select publishers as part of a new licensing program announced today. It says the content will form part of a “new news experience” coming later this year, launching first on its Google News and Discover services. In some cases, Google says it could offer free access to paywalled articles by paying content owners on the user’s behalf.
Google says it’s starting the program with publishers in Germany, Australia, and Brazil, but says that it’s got “more to come soon.” Publishing partners include Der Spiegel in Germany, and Schwartz Media in Australia, according to the Financial Times.
Google says a “new news experience” is launching later this year
Google’s announcement comes after multiple countries have stepped up efforts to have the search giant compensate publishers for the news content it links to. Australia recently unveiled plans to force tech platforms to help pay for the free content they profit from. In April, France’s competition authority ordered Google to pay for content from French publishers.
Google’s announcement comes as Facebook has just launched a new news tab in the US in which it pays some participating publishers for their work. Stories are curated by a team of human editors, and publishing partners include BuzzFeed, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Facebook is reportedly looking to expand this news tab to Europe.
However, the FT notes that such schemes have been criticized for only including some publishers and for not paying enough. Some would reportedly prefer legal backing to such initiatives, rather than relying on the goodwill of large tech firms.


theverge--2020-06-25--NASA names headquarters after Mary Jackson, the agency’s first Black female engineer

NASA has announced it will name its headquarters in Washington DC after the agency ’ s first Black female engineer , Mary Jackson .
Jackson started work at NASA ’ s predecessor , the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ( NACA ) , in 1951 at the then-segregated West Area Computing Unit .
She took night classes in mathematic and physics to qualify as an engineer in 1958 , before rising to achieve the most senior title within the engineering department in 1979 .
Her work at the agency , along with that of fellow Black female engineers and mathematicians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was told in the 2016 film Hidden Figures .
“ Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space , ” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a press statement .
“ Mary never accepted the status quo , she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology.
” Jackson ’ s daughter , Carolyn Lewis , said she felt honored that NASA continued to celebrate her mother ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , humanitarian , wife , mother , and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed , not only at NASA , but throughout this nation , ” said Lewis in a press statement .
The decision to name the headquarters comes during an ongoing reckoning with the physical legacies of racial injustice in the US and around the world .
NASA has been implicated in this movement , as one of its main campuses , the Stennis Space Center , is named after senator John C. Stennis , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1950s and 1960s — the same laws that made Mary Jackson ’ s life and work so difficult .
In response to a campaign to rename the Stennis building launched this week , NASA said it was “ aware of conversations about renaming facilities ” and is having “ ongoing discussions with the NASA workforce on the topic.
” Jackson ’ s work at the agency included studying aerodynamics in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel , a 4-foot by 4-foot wind tunnel that generated gusts of wind almost twice the speed of sound .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be an engineer , Jackson had to petition the local government to study alongside her white peers at the then-segregated Hampton High School .
She then became an aerospace engineer specializing in aerodynamics in 1958 , co-authoring her first report that same year : “ Effects of Nose Angle and Mach Number on Transition on Cones at Supersonic Speeds.
” After attaining the highest engineering title at NASA by 1979 , Jackson took a demotion to become Langley ’ s Federal Women ’ s Program Manager .
In that role she was able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ generation of NASA ’ s female mathematicians , engineers , and scientists .
She retired from the agency in 1985 and died in 2005 at the age of 83 .
The story of Jackson and the other groundbreaking Black female mathematicians working at NASA in the 1960s , during the height of both the Space Race and the civil rights movement , was told in the 2016 film Hidden Figures , based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly .
Jackson was played in the film by Janelle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announce the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building , ” said NASA ” s Bridenstine in a statement .
“ It appropriately sits on ‘ Hidden Figures Way , ’ a reminder that Mary is one of many incredible and talented professionals in NASA ’ s history who contributed to this agency ’ s success .
”

NASA has announced it will name its headquarters in Washington DC after the agency’s first Black female engineer, Mary Jackson.
Jackson started work at NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), in 1951 at the then-segregated West Area Computing Unit. She took night classes in mathematic and physics to qualify as an engineer in 1958, before rising to achieve the most senior title within the engineering department in 1979. Her work at the agency, along with that of fellow Black female engineers and mathematicians, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan, was told in the 2016 film Hidden Figures.
“She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother, and trailblazer”
“Mary W. Jackson was part of a group of very important women who helped NASA succeed in getting American astronauts into space,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a press statement. “Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology.”
Jackson’s daughter, Carolyn Lewis, said she felt honored that NASA continued to celebrate her mother’s legacy. “She was a scientist, humanitarian, wife, mother, and trailblazer who paved the way for thousands of others to succeed, not only at NASA, but throughout this nation,” said Lewis in a press statement.
The decision to name the headquarters comes during an ongoing reckoning with the physical legacies of racial injustice in the US and around the world. NASA has been implicated in this movement, as one of its main campuses, the Stennis Space Center, is named after senator John C. Stennis, a vocal advocate for racial segregation in the 1950s and 1960s — the same laws that made Mary Jackson’s life and work so difficult.
In response to a campaign to rename the Stennis building launched this week, NASA said it was “aware of conversations about renaming facilities” and is having “ongoing discussions with the NASA workforce on the topic.”
Jackson’s work at the agency included analyzing experiments conducted in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. Image: NASA
Jackson’s work at the agency included studying aerodynamics in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel, a 4-foot by 4-foot wind tunnel that generated gusts of wind almost twice the speed of sound. In order to undertake her training to be an engineer, Jackson had to petition the local government to study alongside her white peers at the then-segregated Hampton High School. She then became an aerospace engineer specializing in aerodynamics in 1958, co-authoring her first report that same year: “Effects of Nose Angle and Mach Number on Transition on Cones at Supersonic Speeds.”
After attaining the highest engineering title at NASA by 1979, Jackson took a demotion to become Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Manager. In that role she was able to help guide and encourage the next generation of NASA’s female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. She retired from the agency in 1985 and died in 2005 at the age of 83.
The story of Jackson and the other groundbreaking Black female mathematicians working at NASA in the 1960s, during the height of both the Space Race and the civil rights movement, was told in the 2016 film Hidden Figures, based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly. Jackson was played in the film by Janelle Monáe.


theverge--2020-06-25--Sounds like Google’s Pixel 4A is nearly ready — and won’t have radar

“ Where is Google ’ s Pixel 4A ?
” That ’ s the question we asked two weeks ago , bringing you up to speed on how Google had seemingly missed the typical window to release its thoroughly-leaked followup to the company ’ s impressive but short-battery-lived Pixel 4 flagship .
But a new FCC filing today , spotted by XDA-Developers , suggests the more affordable Pixel 4A is nigh .
Technically , it ’ s not a given that the Google phone newly authorized by the Federal Communications Commission actually is the Pixel 4A , nor that Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soon , if ever .
All we know for sure is that the Google “ G025J ” can now be sold in the United States , and that we typically see the FCC authorize such phones shortly before they ’ re official .
Google doesn ’ t make a lot of phones , and it seems likely that since “ G020 ” meant Pixel 4 , a “ G025 ” would be some sort of half-step successor .
Oh , but I lied : we can glean one other thing from the FCC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have Google ’ s tiny Soli radar sensor chip for “ Motion Sense ” gesture controls and quicker face unlocks .
Why do I say that ?
That radar tech uses millimeter wave radio frequencies , which would have to be disclosed in these FCC filings ... and they ’ re not .
They showed up in the Pixel 4 FCC ’ s filings as appearing between 58 and 63.5GHz .
But it ’ s not like previous leaks suggested the Pixel 4A would have Soli , and it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lived : leaked images suggest the new phone won ’ t have the Pixel 4 ’ s same sensor-filled bezel to begin with .
Here ’ s everything else we think we know about the Pixel 4a so far , including its rumored 5.81-inch display , processor , battery , camera , and the return of the headphone jack and fingerprint reader .

“Where is Google’s Pixel 4A?” That’s the question we asked two weeks ago, bringing you up to speed on how Google had seemingly missed the typical window to release its thoroughly-leaked followup to the company’s impressive but short-battery-lived Pixel 4 flagship.
But a new FCC filing today, spotted by XDA-Developers, suggests the more affordable Pixel 4A is nigh.
Technically, it’s not a given that the Google phone newly authorized by the Federal Communications Commission actually is the Pixel 4A, nor that Google is actually going to announce it anytime soon, if ever.
All we know for sure is that the Google “G025J” can now be sold in the United States, and that we typically see the FCC authorize such phones shortly before they’re official. Google doesn’t make a lot of phones, and it seems likely that since “G020” meant Pixel 4, a “G025” would be some sort of half-step successor.
So long, Soli?
Oh, but I lied, we can glean one other thing from the FCC filings: this phone almost certainly won’t have Google’s tiny Soli radar sensor chip for “Motion Sense” gesture controls and quicker face unlocks.
Why do I say that? That radar tech uses millimeter wave radio frequencies, which would have to be disclosed in these FCC docs... and they’re not. They showed up in the Pixel 4 FCC’s filings as appearing between 58 and 63.5GHz. But it’s not like previous leaks suggested the Pixel 4A would have Soli, and it’s not clear where the sensor would have even lived: leaked images suggest the new phone won’t have the Pixel 4’s same sensor-filled bezel to begin with.
Here’s everything else we think we know about the Pixel 4a so far, including its rumored 5.81-inch display, processor, battery, camera, and the return of the headphone jack and fingerprint reader.