Monthly Archives: April 2022

It sounds like Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg isnt exactly loved by the people working for him.

During a recent interview with YouTuber Tim Ferriss, Zuckerberg revealed that he has a brand new nickname at the company.

Some of the the folks who I work with at the company they say this lovingly, but I think that they sometimes refer to my attention as the Eye of Sauron.

Those folks are, of course, referring to the Dark Lords form in the Lord of the Rings books and movies.

But rather than focusing too much on, you know, the association with the books literal embodiment of evil, Zuckerberg honed in on a conveniently different interpretation. He claims his new moniker refers to his unending amount of energy to go work on something.

In short, Zuckerberg is the kind of boss who likes to preside over his underlings with the same kind of intensity that could cast an eternal shadow on Mordor if he so chooses.

Its perhaps representative of a greater work culture coming out of Silicon Valley that has often prioritized productivity and long working hours over a healthy work-life balance.

At least Zuckerberg seems to be aware of the potential harm his Eye of Sauron could do, telling Ferriss that he tries to diffuse his energy and manage my schedule so I can actually focus on the things that Im naturally thinking about.

The admission comes as Meta has shifted much of its focus to developing the Metaverse, an unpopular virtual reality playground that just hasnt really caught on in any meaningful way yet, at least.

And Zuckerberg is hellbent on pushing that agenda, even if its not the most popular option.

At this point, I kind of feel like if people fully feel like they understand what we are as a company and what were doing, then Im not pushing it hard enough, he told Ferriss.

In other words, Zuckerberg has made up his mind about his companys future, even if investors are far from enthusiastic about his vision.

But given the fact that he holds the majority of the companys voting shares, theyll either have to agree or fall victim to his Eye of Sauron.

READ MORE: Mark Zuckerberg says his employees refer to his intense attention as the Eye of Sauron after the menacing, flaming eye in The Lord of the Rings

More on Zuckerberg: Facebook Busted Paying Consulting Firm to Turn Users Against TikTok

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Mark Zuckerberg Says That When Employees Call Him the Eye of Sauron, It's Actually a Compliment - Futurism

Image by KREMLIN PRESS SERVICE / HANDOUT/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Remember all those sexy, shirtless photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin back in the 2000s? Let us jog your memory.

Back in the day, Putin wanted Russian citizens to think of him as a rugged, athletic outdoorsmen, and was often photographed swimming and horseback riding, among other activities.

The now-69-year old Putin was 47 when he took office, first as prime minister in 1999, and then in 2012 as president. But his health has failed in the years since, and a new report published by investigative Russian outlet Proektearlier todayfound that the leader keeps multiple doctors on hand at all times, even keeping cancer specialists on call permanently.

Because of Putins athleticism, we pretty much already knew his back and spineare wrecked. Proektreports Putin sustained several sports injuries from falling off horses, and that during the early 2000s fell so badly he was temporarily stunned and couldnt get to his feet. In 2012, he was limping so noticeably during a TV appearance that the Kremlim instructed media outlets to use only still photos and cut all video footage of the president walking, and he has since been bowled over by a veteran ice hockey player during an exhibition.

That doesnt mean Putin doesnt receive treatment, though some of it is pretty woo-woo, including antler blood baths he supposedly takes. Other are more practical, and suggest that Putin may actually be struggling with thyroid cancer, since he regularly travels with a cadre of doctors and keeps a list of others on call at all times.

In 2019 Putin went skiing with Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko. According to Proekts reporting, two intensive care specialists, a neurologist, a dermatovenerologist, two ENTs, and an oncology surgeon stayed at the exact same resort at the same time.

Oncologist-surgeon Evgeny Selivanov has spent 166 days with the president in four years of service,according to the report,and has been near Putin any time the president has disappeared from public view. Otolaryngologists Igor Esakov and Alexey Shcheglov are the only two doctors who fly to Putin more often than Selivanov.

Thats significant, because diseases like thyroid cancer are usually diagnosed by an otolaryngologist. Then an oncologist and a surgeon help treat the patient.

It goes without saying that theres no shame in physical injuries or disabilities of any kind, and that chronic pain or illness shouldnt exclude anyone from leadership. But Putin and his counsel see admission of sickness as a sign of weakness, so the cadre of specialists is striking.

Its pretty sad that in 2022, a 69-year-old cant let the people he serves know he might be struggling with a serious illness. For both disability rights and visibility, it seems not much has changed since FDRs tenure.

And for someone with Putins immense power, of course never mind his involvement in the ongoing war in Ukraine the idea that he might be struggling with serious health concerns is a matter of keen geopolitical interest.

More on political medical news: Police Find Find Fetuses in Home of Anti-Abortion Activist

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Putin Almost Always Accompanied by Cancer Specialist, Investigation Finds - Futurism

"We found a field of very large icy volcanoes that look nothing like anything else we have seen in the solar system."Ice Volcanoes

While scouring images taken by NASAs New Horizons spacecraft of Plutos surface, a team of astronomers made a tantalizing discovery.

We found a field of very large icy volcanoes that look nothing like anything else we have seen in the solar system, Kelsi Singer, senior research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and author of a new study published in the journal Nature Communications, told CNN.

The finding goes to show the tiny planet still has plenty of surprises in store for us and could be more habitable for life previously believed, the researchers say.

The area covers 621 miles across an ancient impact basin. Two of its largest volcanic domes are roughly the size of Earth-based volcanos, including Mauna Loa in Hawaii, our worlds biggest volcano by volume.

Since the area itself doesnt have any new impact craters, the researchers suggest the massive ice volcanoes arent actually that old and were formed as a result of residual heat emanating from the tiny planets interior.

This means Pluto has more internal heat than we thought it would, which means we dont fully understand how planetary bodies work, Singer told CNN.

Rather than spectacularly erupting in an explosion of magma, these ice volcanoes vent a slurry of ice and water kind like toothpaste, she explained.

Its an intriguing discovery that adds to existing theories about what scientists believe to be Plutos sizeable subsurface ocean. The volcanoes could be evidence that liquid water is closer to the surface than previously thought.

That could also influence the planets ability to harbor life but its still a bit of a stretch.

There are still a lot of challenges for any organisms trying to survive there, Singer told CNN. They would still need some source of continual nutrients, and if the volcanism is episodic and thus the heat and water availability is variable, that is sometimes tough for organisms as well.

The team is now excited to send a spacecraft outfitted with a radar to examine what the volcanic plumbing looks like, as Singer put it.

READ MORE: Pluto has giant ice volcanoes that could hint at the possibility of life [CNN]

More on Pluto: Nitwits Claim Wrongly to Have Disproved the Existence of Jupiter

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Tantalizing Discovery Hints at Possibility of Life on Pluto - Futurism

But what does that actually mean?Hard Cap

Bitcoin was designed to have a hard cap of 21 million Bitcoins, a limited coin supply that in some ways mimics the theoretically finite supply of other valuable goods like gold.

Well over a decade after the first Bitcoin was mined, the mainstream cryptocurrency is nearing its next threshold: 19 million mined Bitcoins, as Axios notes, a notable milestone.

Which leaves the obvious question: what happens as the world bears down on that final supply?The answer, it turns out, is anything but clear.

Roughly every four years, the number of Bitcoins minted for each block in Bitcoins blockchain gets halved, slowing down the mining process significantly.

Once the very last Bitcoin is mined, miners will no longer get any reward. Given the currently established rate, though, the final21 millionth Bitcoin wont be mined for over 100 years.

One complexifier is that were not even sure if there even are 19 million Bitcoins currently circulating. In 2020, for instance, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis found that around 3.7 million coins hadnt been touched for at least five years. Other firms suggest around three million will never be retrieved.

In short, nobody really seems to know the significance of hitting the 19 million mark.Still, that means that more than 90 percent of the Bitcoins that will ever exist are already out there a striking figure.

At the time of writing, a single Bitcoin is still valued at over $45,000, so the news hasnt exactly had much of an effect.

But will Bitcoin always be worth that much? Mining the token, a process referred to as proof-of-work, is an energy intensive and environmentally harmful process, meaning that once its value falls enough, miners may no longer be incentivized to continue.Needless to say, as the supply of coins becomes shorter, much will come to hinge on the future value of the currency.

Institutionally, governments and the banking industry have increasingly started embracing Bitcoin as a legitimate currency. Miners worldwide also made record revenue from mining Bitcoin in 2021.

Proof-of-work mining has proved to be far less popular, with governments around the globe banning the practice, including China, once home to the largest Bitcoin mines, citing its massive carbon footprint and connections to shady practices.

Where does that leave the future of Bitcoin? Thats the billion dollar question on the minds of crypto investors and the answer is as hazy as ever.

READ MORE: Bitcoin nears full supply with 19 million coin milestone [Axios]

More on Bitcoin: Exxon Mobil Is Starting to Burn Excess Gas to Mine Bitcoin

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They've Now Mined Almost All the Bitcoin That Will Ever Exist - Futurism

Die Hard actor Bruce Willis been diagnosed with a cognitive disorder thats affecting his ability to speak and work and its likely more common than youd expect.

In a sad Instagram post, the actors daughter Rumer Willis wrote that her father has been diagnosed with aphasia, a neurological condition in which people have difficulty with language and particularly with remembering words.

As a result of the diagnosis, the 67-year-old actor is, per his daughters post, stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.

The Mayo Clinic describes aphasia as a condition that robs you of the ability to communicate which can affect ones ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written.

According to the National Institutes of Health, people most often develop aphasia suddenly after a stroke or head injury, though neither has been reported in Willis case.It can also be caused by a brain tumor or a degenerative condition, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Although most aphasia sufferers are middleaged, its a common disorder that can affect anyone including small children, the NIH notes. The National Aphasia Association estimates that there are at least two million people in the US with aphasia, and roughly 180,000 more are diagnosed with it every year.

While cognitive exercises are the most often prescribed treatments for aphasia patients, which can include everything from joining book clubs to speech therapy, advances in non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) technology are carving new avenues of research and experimental treatment for people who develop aphasia,particularly after having strokes.

Trials are currently underway to study NIBS effectiveness for a host of disorders including aphasia, and with any luck, they will be able to help people who suffer from this disorder thats affected one of Americas most beloved actors.

As Bruce always says, Live it up,' the actors daughter wrote, and together we plan to do just that.

More on aphasia research:New research seeks breakthroughs in aphasia recovery [University of Queensland Australia]

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Bruce Willis Is Halting His Movie Career Due to Aphasia. Here's What That Means - Futurism

A study looking at the effects of a widely prescribed diabetes drug has linked the medication to an increased risk of birth defects.

The Danish study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that men who took metformin, a common drug used to treat Type 2 Diabetes, within three months before conceiving a child were 40percent more likely to have kids with birth defects.

Curiously, the study which analyzed more than a million births via national registries in Denmark between the years 1997-2016 does not get into the specifics about what kind of defects occur, only that they are genital and that these defects were found most often in male infants.

While the frequency of genital birth defects, which were the only type researchers identified as statistically significant, in children born to fathers with Type 2 Diabetes was 3.1 percent overall, the frequency increased to 4.6percent for babies whose fathers took metformin during the three months prior to conception.

The study, which focused on more than a millionbabies born to women under the age of 35 who did not have diabetes and men under the age of 40, was undertaken because, as the researchers wrote, diabetes reduces semen quality and increasingly occurs during reproductive years.

Along with looking at men who take metformin for their diabetes, researchers also focused on men who took insulin for diabetes as well and found it wasnt correlated with genital birth defects in the same way as metformin.

The researchers also found that men who took metformin prior to the three month period prior to conception werent more likely to end up with kids with birth defects.

Studies like this one are meant more to establish a correlation with the intention of future studies, and the authors acknowledged that information on underlying disease status was limited and that further research should replicate these findings and clarify the causation.

Whether the finding should affect the medication that anybody is taking at this time is an open question that experts say patients should leave up to their doctors.

In general, metformin is effective, cheap and safe to the person who is taking it. Those are important factors to consider, Maarten Wensink, an epidemiologist at the University of Southern Denmark who coauthored the research, told Live Science. Whether or not to take metformin is a decision that every patient should [discuss] with their treating physician.

But for now, these troubling findings should, if nothing else, highlight how important neonatal care is for men as well as women..

READ MORE:Preconception Antidiabetic Drugs in Men and Birth Defects in Offspring [Annals of Internal Medicine]

More on scary birth defects:Weed-Killing Chemical Used in Deadly Agent Orange Toxin Found in 1 in 3 Americans

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Commonly Prescribed Drug Linked to Birth Defects - Futurism

"Get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat."Low Blow

Looks like Facebook is still super jealous of TikTok, despite re-branding itself as Meta, promoting its metaverse, and losing previous campaigns to take down the newer, short-form video app.

Now, it turns out that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerbergs behemoth company was so jealous of TikToks success with younger audiences that it started paying one of the United States largest consulting firms to wage a media war on the competition, according to a new report published this morning in the Washington Post.

Get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat especially as a foreign owned app that is #1 in sharing data that young teens are using, a director at the firm, called Targeted Victory, said in email obtained by WaPo.

One of the main tactics Targeted Victory employed was coordinating letters to the editor across the country that complained about TikToks threat to teens and the influence of its owner, a Chinese company called ByteDance. According to WaPo, staffers at the firm also tried to convince reporters to cover TikTok with a negative angle while sticking to the shadows, remaining hands offfrom the campaign.

Another staffer said it would be a bonus point to distract readers from legislation trying to reform and regulate big tech and social media companies,another of the firms staffers wrote in an email.

Earlier this year, Forbes reported that Facebook knows its losing against the competition. Its wannabe-solution Reels, it released on Instagram as an answer to TikTok, almost certainly wont bring back the millions of users whove made the switch.

The press campaigns were sometimes so bold as to defy comprehension. Remember the Slap a Teacher TikTok challenge that was so widely reported a few months ago? There was no trend, because it was a part of Targeted Victorys plan. The news spread only on Facebook, and VICE revealed that the trend was a hoax back in October of 2021.

A Meta spokesperson toldWaPo that We believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success.

In the chaotic world of tech, trends come and go. And Facebook cant seem to keep up.

More on metaverse plans: Startup Says Its Tech Can Inflict Actual Pain in the Metaverse

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Facebook Busted Paying Consulting Firm to Turn Users Against TikTok - Futurism