Cowboy Who?

The court said that the challengers, a group called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, had no right to be in court at all since neither the organization nor its members could show they had suffered any concrete injury.

He's facing a third degree felony charge of online impersonation and a misdemeanor charge of misrepresentation of identity.

Cesar Humberto Lopez-Larios was charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, finance terrorism and commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.

A judge is expected to tell Jones to sell off assets. But the families are likely to get only a tiny fraction of the nearly $1.5 billion in damages Jones owes for lies about the 2012 school shooting.

Harris County’s pilot guaranteed income program was designed to provide $500 monthly payments for 18 months to roughly 1,900 low-income families. The Texas Attorney General’s Office argued that violates the state’s constitution.

The nonprofit bike-sharing network had planned to keep operating until METRO, the region's transit provider, could launch a system of its own. It is unclear whether the latter will happen.

There are many anecdotal complaints about Google search not being what it used to be. A German computer scientist and his colleagues put this theory to the test recently focusing on product reviews. Today on the show, we bring their findings to Google's chief search scientist.

Related episodes:
How Fortnite brought Google to its knees (Apple / Spotify)
Microsoft vs. Google: Whose AI Is better? (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

There's a behind the scenes industry that helps big brands decide questions like: How big should a bag of chips be? What's the right size for a bottle of shampoo? And yes, also: When should a company do a little shrinkflation?

From Cookie Monster to President Biden, everybody is complaining about shrinkflation these days. But when we asked the packaging and pricing experts, they told us that shrinkflation is just one move in a much larger, much weirder 4-D chess game.

The name of that game is "price pack architecture." This is the idea that you shouldn't just sell your product in one or two sizes. You should sell your product in a whole range of different sizes, at a whole range of different price points. Over the past 15 years, price pack architecture has completely changed how products are marketed and sold in the United States.

Today, we are going on a shopping cart ride-along with one of those price pack architects. She's going to pull back the curtain and show us why some products are getting larger while others are getting smaller, and tell us about the adorable little soda can that started it all.

By the end of the episode, you'll never look at a grocery store the same way again.

Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

City says state of emergency allows for more co-ordination of action, and is an indicator of the seriousness of the situation.

In Paris, tens of thousands of people gathered in the Place de la République and marched through eastern Paris.

(Image credit: Laure Boyer)

Former President Donald Trump cemented the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. If Trump wins again, Biden said "one of the scariest parts" would be his power to fill upcoming vacancies.

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

OTTAWA – The House of Commons has voted unanimously for a bill that will crack down on the ability of foreign states to influence federal politicians who rightfully owe their allegiance to Canadian businesses and billionaires. “If the allegations are true, Canadian parliamentarians collaborating with foreign governments is unacceptable,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “Elected […]

The post House of Commons takes action to ensure foreign state interference stops getting in way of domestic corporate interference appeared first on The Beaverton.

EDMONTON – Edmontonian Jason Porter, who’s spent another evening shouting outraged profanities at his TV amid a growing pile of Alberta Genuine Draft empties, was excited to discover an Oilers game on screen, according to local reporters.  “Holy shit, the Oilers are in the Cup Final? That’s wild,” said Porter. “I should dig out the […]

The post Drunk Edmontonian screaming at television pleasantly surprised to learn Oilers game is on  appeared first on The Beaverton.

In brief: We’re continuing to follow the possibility of heavy rainfall next week in the greater Houston area, especially for coastal areas. We’re still far from having all of the details, but we know enough to take the threat seriously.

Weekend outlook

Happy Saturday, everyone. If sunshine and heat are your jam, you’re in luck this weekend. Today, especially, will bring brilliant blue skies and temperatures in the mid-90s. There may be a few clouds tomorrow, but I still expect mostly sunny skies on Sunday, with high temperatures in the low- to mid-90s. It’s possible we’ll see a few isolated showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours on Sunday, but most of us will simply be sunny and warm.

And then it won’t be.

Next week

The overall pattern appears unsettled for most of next week, with a very healthy chance of showers each day, and the middle of the week especially concerning. A low pressure system over the southern Gulf of Mexico will help push a large plume of tropical moisture into Texas and Louisiana. This threat of heavy rainfall next week will materialize whether the low in the southern Gulf becomes a tropical depression or storm. In fact, it doesn’t really matter. The table is set, regardless.

Over the last 24 hours some of our guidance has been showing excessive amounts of rainfall along the Gulf coast, but whether these bullseyes occur over Matagorda Bay, Galveston Bay, Port Arthur, or Southern Louisiana is something we cannot say. In terms of timing, the greatest threat of heavy rainfall likely will come during a period from Tuesday evening through Thursday morning.

So what does this all mean? If you live inland of Interstate 10, the overall risk is lower. Most of these areas are likely to pick up 2 to 4 inches between Monday and Friday. However, areas along and south of Interstate 10 are likely to see 4 to 6 inches of rainfall next week. Our concern is that some localized areas may see 10 inches or more of rainfall next week given the tropical nature of this rainfall. The expected level of moisture in the atmosphere—a value known as precipitable water—is very high, and such levels are capable of producing high rainfall rates that can quickly flood streets. We don’t know for sure whether this kind of pattern will establish itself over the Houston area, but it is a distinct possibility.

I’m writing all of this on a Saturday morning not to scare you, but rather to prepare you for the possibility of heavy rainfall next week. We will continue to watch this closely, and update this weekend as warranted.

Officials continue to warn residents that Calgary could run out of water if the effort to conserve water isn't their first priority. But what could running out of water actually look like in Alberta's largest city?

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

The Downtown Penetrator was Calgary's pre-disco-era plan for a giant highway to bring motorists into the core from the booming populations in the city's northeast and eastern suburbs.

The city could be forced to bring in mandatory indoor water restrictions if water usage in Calgary continues at its current rate, the mayor said Friday, calling the situation  "urgent and catastrophic."

EL PASO, TX—Recalling the difficulty she once had standing up straight as she carried her textbooks and supplies from class to class, local 11-year-old Mia Bridgemeyer told reporters Friday that her pregnant belly was really helping her balance the weight of her 20-pound backpack. “Before, I was always hunched over…

Read more...

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager and I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past.

There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day.

Remember the letter-writer whose male coworkers all took an annual camping trip together and women weren’t allowed? Here’s the update.

Last September I posted about the all-male faculty and staff camping trip at my school (all-boys Catholic school).

Bad update: Well, the camping trip is coming up — Monday to Thursday of next week, in fact. Still an all-male trip. Still no women invited or allowed.

Good update: The school agreed to create a committee to discuss women’s issues and experiences at the school, and I was the chair this past year. Administrators gave me TWO professional development days to present information (data and interviews and women’s personal experiences of exclusion) on campus. I got to be in front of the entire school for somewhere around eight total hours, educating everyone on the inherent inequalities of being a woman at an all-boys high school. We did a school-wide survey about exclusion, sexual harassment, and gender inequality on campus. Some of the men were shocked to learn about how the women feel.

The camping trip was discussed! As predicted, there are a lot of people (men) wanting to push back on the idea of women being invited. Some of them sought me out for my opinion, privately, and asked me questions about it in what I’d consider to be a good-faith attempt at understanding my perspective. I used talking points straight from Alison’s answers to guide our discussion. I spoke one-on-one with maybe eight men out of the 60 or so who attend this trip. Maybe I’ve turned a couple hearts? (By the way there are at least five men who are emphatically on my side — very exciting!)

The conversation is ongoing around the trip specifically. Not surprisingly, there’s a lot of other cultural issues to address. This year I got pregnant (a great piece of news for me and my husband) and I was devastated to learn there is no paid maternity leave (well, devastated, but perhaps not surprised). Catholic schools managed to lobby for an exemption to my state’s paid family leave policies. (Really pro-family, right?) I joined the faculty contract negotiations team this summer, and I am always working to leverage positive social change where I work.

To everyone who rightfully asked why I am still working there: I think you’re right, and it’s time to leave. I owe them a couple more years contractually for paying for my master’s degree (nice job perk, to be fair) but after that I am not sure I see myself staying. In the meantime it’s imperative that I work to create change, no matter how strongly the cultural tide pushes against it.

Thank you to Alison and the commentariat, who persuaded me I’m not upset over nothing.

SAN FRANCISCO – After X, formerly Twitter, announced yesterday that “likes” would now be privatized and hidden, owner Elon Musk assured users that the move had nothing to do with all the freaky porn stuff he likes, and was strictly for election interference only. The tech mogul announced the decision on X yesterday, posting: “Important […]

The post Elon Musk assures users that hiding “likes” on X has nothing to do with the weird porn he likes, only election interference appeared first on The Beaverton.

WASHINGTON—Marking the first time in history that humans have successfully smoothed away all the unsightly craters of a celestial body, NASA announced Thursday that it had polished the moon using an orbital rock tumbler. “Thanks to the tireless efforts of our scientists, technicians, and engineers, we have tumbled the…

Read more...

THE HEAVENS—Begging the deliverymen to stay while He figured something out, the Lord God Almighty cursed loudly Thursday after He reportedly realized the gates of heaven were not wide enough for His new couch to fit through. “Are you fucking kidding Me? Wayfair must have listed the dimensions wrong,” said God, the…

Read more...

DAYTON, OH—A wave of nostalgia and dirty toilet water rushing over them, old classmates attending a reunion at Belhaven High School easily picked up right in the swirly where they had left off, sources reported Wednesday. “Wow, it’s wild how we can come together after all these years and immediately get back into…

Read more...

K-pop idol Jin of the group BTS has promised to embrace 1,000 fans in a three-hour-long hugging marathon upon his return from service in the South Korean army, which requires all able-bodied men to serve. What do you think?

Read more...

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Better than sociologists who propose by questioning the role of the engagement ring in nuptial rituals.

Today's News:

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So you’ve decided to jump into a black hole. Good news: as long as the black hole is big enough you can sail through the event horizon without harm and get to experience the interior of the black hole before you’re annihilated by the central singularity. Or so we once thought. These days, quite a few physicists believe that the only way to avoid horrible contradictions in fundamental physics generated by black holes is for all them to be surrounded by screens of extreme energy that prevent anything from ever entering the event horizon. Sounds outlandish? Welcome to black holes. So let’s find out why many of our most brilliant physicists take these black hole firewalls deadly seriously.

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