Learning with a dog’s smart collar (video)

 

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$19 million for a lunch with Warren Buffett

 

(CNN)  An anonymous bidder paid a record-breaking $19 million for a private steak lunch with legendary investor Warren Buffett. 

The sale was part of the 21st annual auction for a lunch with Buffett, produced in collaboration with eBay and the GLIDE Foundation, a San Francisco-based non-profit working on combating poverty, hunger, and homelessness.   Each year GLIDE helps 10,000 individuals and families across the Bay Area to make long-lasting and sustainable changes in their lives

The bidding started with $25,000 on June 12 and ended with $19,000,100 from an anonymous bidder on Friday.

This year's huge sum is more than four times the winning bid of $4,567,888 in 2019 — the last auction before a hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 2019's winner was cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.

The mystery winner will enjoy a private lunch with Buffett and up to seven guests at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse in New York City at a mutually beneficial date and time in the coming months. Gourmet Magazine defines the restaurant as "the quintessential New York steakhouse" and The New York Times, as "the steakhouse to end all arguments”.

This is the last year of the "power lunch" with Buffett. 

The auction was first started by the late Susie Buffett in 2000.

eBay started managing the auction in 2003.

"On behalf of GLIDE and those we serve, I thank Warren Buffett for his generosity, partnership and dedication, and for his incredible contribution to our mission," said the organization's president and CEO Karen Hanrahan in the news release.

"We are incredibly proud that Warren Buffett's final Power Lunch broke all-time record of funds raised, with all $53 million proceeds supporting GLIDE's efforts to create pathways out of crisis and transform lives," said eBay CEO Jamie Iannone.

From CNN (edited)

Smaller containers and rising prices

 

In the United States, India, Britain and Japan, people are starting to see smaller containers and higher prices for food.

The cost increases are affecting snack food, cheese, drinks, soaps and more.

Economic experts say the changes in package sizes are a result of inflation. They call it “shrinkflation.”

In the U.S., a popular kind of facial paper once had 65 sheets in each box, now it has 60. A container of yogurt that once had 150 grams now has about 125 grams. In Britain, a kind of coffee once had 100 grams in each package. It now has 90 grams. In India, a kind of soap is smaller by 20 grams.

In some cases, people who buy these products are getting less for the same price. Some are seeing higher prices for smaller packages. Experts say the move by food companies is not new, but it is common in times of inflation.

Around the world, people paid on average seven percent more for goods in May than they did the year before. A company that researches prices, S&P Global, said people should expect the inflation rate to stay the same at least until September.

Edgar Dworsky is a former lawyer for the American state of Massachusetts. He runs a website called Consumer World. Dworsky said he started seeing smaller food containers last fall. He notes coffee containers have less coffee and bathroom paper has fewer sheets.

Many companies that make these goods create smaller packages but also change the words on them to make them seem new or better, Dworsky said.

One kind of corn snack made by PepsiCo is called Fritos. They recently had a “party size” bag that contained about 510 grams. New packages are still called “party size,” but now they only have 439 grams. PepsiCo did not answer questions about the new size when asked by the Associated Press. But the company did say the bottles for a drink called Gatorade were made smaller so people could hold them more easily, not because of inflation.

People around the world have been noticing “shrinkflation.” They have taken photos and shown examples of it on social media.

From  VOA (edited) where you can also listen to a longer version of the article above

Photo Credit:   AP Photo/Matt Rourke  -  Gene J. Puskar - Dee-Ann Durbin 

REUTERS/Akira Tomoshige

Ford EV production push (captions)

 

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A volcano's song (audio)

 

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Gun Detectors in NY Subway

 

Mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and in Uvalde, Texas, intensified the debate over how to deal with gun violence.

Six weeks ago, a gunman fired more than 30 shots on a New York City underground train, wounding 10 people.

Ten days ago, another gunman in the subway killed a passenger in what officials said appeared to be a random attack.

Following the attacks, New York City’s mayor suggested a high-tech idea: install security equipment at subway entrances to detect the presence of guns. You can find these machines  at large sports centers, airports and many other places where crowds gather.

But security experts say that the use of such technology in New York’s huge subway system will be difficult. The machines, called scanners, only provide information. Human security agents will have to act based on the information.

Evolv, a Boston-area company, is a large provider of the technology. It has systems in place at several large sites in Atlanta, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee. Evolv recently set up the machines at Lincoln Center in New York City.  Its machines can screen 3,600 people in an hour. However, the technology also makes mistakes, sometimes identifying non-threatening objects as weapons.

James Dooley is a retired New York Police Department captain who served in the department’s transit division. “We have hundreds of stations, and putting someone at every entrance to every station is logistically impossible,” he said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is a former police captain. He said he understands the difficulties of such a plan. Anyway, he will try the scanners.

Mayor Adams has not publicly discussed how much the machines will cost New York City. But the price will be very high.

Article from Associated Press (edited) 

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Paddington Bear and the Queen have tea at Buckingham Palace

The Queen and Paddington Bear surprised viewers watching the Platinum Party at the Palace concert by sitting down together for tea in a pre-recorded video. The clip was shown on big screens to the tens of thousands watching outside Buckingham Palace

 

The Queen having tea with Paddington - incredible that at 96 and after 70 years on the throne she still has the power to surprise #platinumpartyatthepalace pic.twitter.com/88NP1ScpXx

— Michael Cowan (@mrmikecowan) June 4, 2022