Gene Shackman

@geneshackman@mstdn.social
19 Followers
31 Following
605 Posts
Applied sociologist, photographer
On July 7, Google’s Gemini assistant will be able to send a WhatsApp message, place a call, adjust your volume, or set a timer, even if you’ve told it not to track what you’re doing. And no, it’s not something you need to opt into, nor can you opt out of it; it’s the new norm.
https://www.laptopmag.com/ai/gemini-phone-access-update
Google Gemini is about to control your messages and calls, even if you say no

Google’s AI assistant is about to get full access to your calls, texts, and WhatsApp — even if you’ve disabled activity tracking.

Laptop Mag
Financial go bag.

The New Go Bag: What You Need in Your Emergency Escape

Masks and hand sanitizer, along with food, batteries and medications are essential to have on hand

By Jodi Helmer
Published September 18, 2020
Updated April 08, 2025

https://www.aarp.org/family-relationships/emergency-go-bag/

The New Go Bag: What You Need in Your Emergency Escape Kit

What to keep in a prepacked disaster kit so you're prepared for any extreme weather event

AARP

Your Food Packaging Is Shedding Microplastics Into Every Meal, Study Reveals
Michelle Starr
Wed, July 2, 2025 at 11:11 PM EDT

https://www.yahoo.com/news/food-packaging-shedding-microplastics-every-031147247.html

Your Food Packaging Is Shedding Microplastics Into Every Meal, Study Reveals

We don't know what this does to us.

Yahoo News
In our back yard.

I wanted to let folks know about our paper.

Health, Wealth and Happiness
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3895420

This shows the relationships between happiness, health and wealth. At the cross national level, happiness, wealth and health are all very highly correlated with each other. Wealth and health have the highest correlation, followed by wealth and happiness and then health and happiness. Freedom and social support also have fair correlation with happiness.

When I go to the Vera C Rubin website, I get a bunch of code on the top of the page. Anyone else get that?

https://rubinobservatory.org/

There are still 50 people being held hostage by hamas. 20 or so may still be alive. Don't forget them.

https://stories.bringthemhomenow.net/

Israel recovers bodies of three hostages – an IDF soldier and two civilians – from Gaza
By Tamar Michaelis and Sophie Tanno, CNN
Updated 9:09 AM EDT, Sun June 22, 2025
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/22/middleeast/gaza-hostages-intl