link roundup (from late February)

A California^°hard word federal^°hard word court earlier this month ruled^°hard word in favor^°hard word of 74-year-old^°hard word Pamela^°hard word Morrison^°hard word, awarding^°hard word her $7.25 million^°hard word in damages after she says she suffered a crushed spine after slipping^°hard word getting off of a ride at the Wizarding^°hard word World^°hard word of Harry^°hard word Potter^°hard word at Universal^°hard word Studios Hollywood^°hard word.

According to court documents^°hard word, per^°hard word the LA^°hard word Times, during a September 2022 trip to the theme^°hard word park with her grandson, Morrison^°hard word had been asked to get off the Harry^°hard word Potter^°hard word and the Forbidden^°hard word Journey ride after her harness^°hard word failed^°hard word to buckle. She then^°hard word slipped^°hard word when attempting to step from the moving^°hard word walkway^°hard word and onto solid ground, resulting in her injuries, which included^°hard word a lower back fracture^°hard word and a significant tear in the muscles around her hip.

In said^°hard word documents^°hard word, Morrison^°hard word described^°hard word the fall as^°hard word thus, per^°hard word the report: “The belt was still moving^°hard word, and so my foot went on that belt and then^°hard word ... my other foot went on to the stationary^°hard word floor, and it knocked me off my feet^°hard word."

Per^°hard word a scheduling^°hard word report filed^°hard word in the suit and obtained^°hard word by Entertainment^°hard word Weekly, the plaintiff^°hard word sought^°hard word monetary^°hard word damages "for various^°hard word acts of negligence^°hard word (including^°hard word premise^°hard word liability^°hard word and negligent^°hard word hiring^°hard word and supervision^°hard word) resulting in multiple^°hard word and severe^°hard word injuries to plaintiff^°hard word while she visited the premises^°hard word at defendants^°hard word’ amusement park – Universal^°hard word Studios in Los^°hard word Angeles^°hard word, CA^°hard word."

Chegg^°hard word is sort of on its last dying^°hard word breath at this point, but it will go out fighting. The online education company, which started out renting^°hard word textbooks^°hard word and later expanded into online homework help, sued^°hard word Google^°hard word on Monday for anticompetitive^°hard word practices, saying it is unfairly^°hard word scraping^°hard word material from Chegg^°hard word for its AI-powered^°hard word search^°hard word results.

The lawsuit^°hard word is not^°hard word anything^°hard word groundbreaking^°hard word or novel^°hard word—Google^°hard word has been attacked over the years by the likes of Yelp^°hard word over claims^°hard word it uses its search^°hard word dominance^°hard word to copy products^°hard word and keep users^°hard word on its own website. Chegg^°hard word argues^°hard word that by scraping^°hard word websites and surfacing^°hard word snippets^°hard word directly in the search^°hard word results page, Google^°hard word is killing demand^°hard word for original^°hard word content^°hard word and eroding^°hard word the financial^°hard word incentives^°hard word for companies like Chegg^°hard word to actually invest^°hard word in producing^°hard word the material that powers AI^°hard word programs. It will be all AI^°hard word models of dubious^°hard word quality citing^°hard word other AI^°hard word generated^°hard word content^°hard word of dubious^°hard word quality.

While big tech^°hard word companies have lined^°hard word up in support of President^°hard word Trump^°hard word, some of the new administration^°hard word remains skeptical^°hard word of the industry, so it is not^°hard word a guarantee^°hard word that Google^°hard word will be able to dodge^°hard word the case. Though, it is notable^°hard word that Chegg^°hard word’s stock is down 30% the day after the lawsuit^°hard word was filed^°hard word.

I left private equity^°hard word to work on shrimp welfare^°hard word. When I tell anyone this, they usually think I've^°hard word lost my mind. I know the feeling — I’ve^°hard word been there. When I first read Charity^°hard word Entrepreneurship's^°hard word proposal^°hard word for a shrimp welfare^°hard word charity^°hard word, I thought: “Effective^°hard word altruists^°hard word have gone mad — who cares about shrimp?” ...

These numbers wouldn^°hard word’t matter if shrimp didn^°hard word’t have the internal^°hard word experience associated^°hard word with suffering, but a growing body of evidence suggests that they do. A comprehensive^°hard word review^°hard word commissioned^°hard word by the U.K. government found^°hard word strong evidence of sentience^°hard word in decapods^°hard word, which includes^°hard word shrimp, lobsters, prawns^°hard word, and crabs. Evidence was particularly strong in true crabs.8 Crabs can learn. They can make trade-offs^°hard word and act to protect^°hard word themselves^°hard word in flexible^°hard word, complex ways. Everything we know about the structure of their brains suggests that they feel pain. While shrimp have been studied less extensively^°hard word, the evidence suggests that they have similar capabilities^°hard word.

Musk^°hard word had Rogan^°hard word ask Grok^°hard word, the AI^°hard word chatbot^°hard word built^°hard word by Musk^°hard word’s company, xAI^°hard word, whether “all the gold was in Fort^°hard word Knox^°hard word.”

“Are you a f------ conspiracy^°hard word theorist^°hard word?” Grok^°hard word responded^°hard word, drawing laughs from Musk^°hard word and Rogan^°hard word.

Between 1993 and 2017, roughly 30,500 lane^°hard word miles of freeway^°hard word were added in the largest^°hard word 100 urbanized^°hard word areas of the U.S. — an increase of 42%. The expansion outpaced^°hard word the 32% population growth of those areas during that time, yet^°hard word traffic^°hard word delays^°hard word grew^°hard word by 144%.

In Houston^°hard word, where the population increased^°hard word 77% from 1993 – 2017, freeway^°hard word lane^°hard word miles were expanded by 28% and delays^°hard word increased^°hard word by 221%. An even more extreme^°hard word example is Brownsville^°hard word, which saw a 73% increase in population, a 287% increase in freeway^°hard word lane^°hard word miles and a 1230% increase in delays^°hard word.