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Good morning, it's Monday, Aug. 17. Scrutiny continues over the US aircraft carrier at sea for nine months. First time reading? Join over 4.7 million insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.
Also in today's Digest: the death of a Cambridge University professor (Need To Know), ... and MLB pitcher Tommy John (Sports, Ent., & Cult.), stolen Renaissance paintings (Pol. & World Affairs), detectives in space (Etc.), and much more.
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Need To Know
USS Abraham Lincoln
Centcom Commander Adm. Brad Cooper visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday in light of allegations of poor conditions on the ship. Cooper praised US service members for their role in the war and claimed the Lincoln had among the lowest numbers of mental health cases among US aircraft carriers.
The ship is beginning to return home after a record 250 consecutive days without making land. In recent days, reports have emerged of rotten food, plumbing backups, and moldy showers. There have also been reports of mental health crises. Senate Democrats have begun investigating the physical and mental state of crew members as a US official confirmed one service member went overboard the ship weeks ago but was rescued.
The Lincoln’s 5,000 sailors and Marines had expected to end their Middle East deployment in May but were extended due to the war in Iran. The carrier is responsible for more than 10,000 attacks and will be replaced by the USS George Washington.
Record Indiana Flooding
Severe storms and flooding across Indiana Saturday have caused at least seven deaths as of this writing. President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration to provide resources and aid relief.
Portions of southeast Indiana are underwater due to the White River rising to record-breaking levels (see drone footage of flooding). The river crested at nearly 25 feet Saturday, surpassing the previous record set in 1913 by over a foot. Rainfall exceeding 11 inches drenched parts of Indiana east of Indianapolis over two days last week, sending water rushing into the White River and its tributaries. About 300,000 people across the state experienced power outages. Warnings remain in effect, but floodwaters are expected to recede in some areas.
Separately, a tropical storm that began as Hurricane Lala brought strong winds and rain to multiple Hawaiian islands Saturday. Roughly 70% of the Big Island lost electricity, and at least one person died in a storm-related car accident.
🫶 Humankind: Musician releases debut album with the help of a horse who strums guitar and harp strings.
Cambridge Professor Dies
Former University of Cambridge sociology professor Jason Arday was found dead Friday, marking a tragic end to one of the UK’s highest-profile academic scandals in recent years. His death follows mounting questions about accusations that he copied others' work and exaggerated his personal accomplishments.
Named the youngest Black professor in Cambridge history in 2023 at age 37, Arday described having been nonverbal until age 11 and unable to fully read or write until age 18. A rising star, he attracted increased attention led to questions about his academic work, including allegations that he had plagiarized parts of his PhD and subsequent research. He also faced questions about claims ranging from completing 30 marathons in 35 days to having suffered “locked-in” syndrome during a monthslong coma (see fuller account). He resigned Aug. 5 without fully denying or admitting wrongdoing, citing the intense media scrutiny.
Some observers argued that both the intensity of media coverage and Cambridge’s failure to do due diligence were in part racially motivated.
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In The Know
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Former MLB pitcher Tommy John, a four-time All-Star nicknamed "the Bionic Man," dies at age 83; he is the namesake of a then-revolutionary elbow surgery (More) | S****t. Louis Cardinals outfielder Joshua Báez becomes first MLB player to hit three home runs in each of his first three at-bats (More, w/video)
> American swimmer Kate Douglass breaks the world record in the 50-meter freestyle twice in one day at the Pan Pacific Championships (More) | Watch the record-setting swim (More)
> "Avengers: Doomsday" trailer teases Robert Downey Jr.’s return to Marvel Cinematic Universe ahead of film’s Dec. 18 release (More, w/trailer) | See all upcoming Disney projects announced at D23 fan event (More)
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Science & Technology
> Anthropic reveals details of proposed AI watermark; says it will help determine likelihood of Claude being used for text generation and be indistinguishable to human readers (More) | What are AI tokens? (More)
> US health officials inspect Taylor Farms central processing plant in Mexico as part of cyclosporiasis investigation; outbreak, linked to iceberg lettuce, linked to nearly 9,500 cases and two deaths (More)
> Blocking an enzyme involved in lung inflammation cuts the risk of developing tumors in mice; lung cancer kills more than 100,000 Americans per year (More) | Read last week's 1440 Health & Medicine newsletter on cancer (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close down Friday (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.2%, Nasdaq -0.3%); slip comes a day after the S&P 500 crossed 7,800 for the first time (More)
> Ice cream maker Rebel Creamery files for bankruptcy after losing $24M lawsuit against rival Van Leeuwen for imitating its product packaging (More) | Ice cream can be traced back to the 7th century (More, w/video)
> Jane Street, a prominent quantitative trading firm, loses $15B in July following the meltdown at AI hedge fund Situational Awareness (More) | Inside the implosion of the $45B fund, led by 24-year-old Leopold Aschenbrenner (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Four 15th-century paintings attributed to Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina are stolen from a museum in Sicily during the country's Ferragosto national holiday (More, w/photo) | Ferragosto, explained (More)
> Police arrest a 19-year-old man for a shooting at Virginia State University that left five people wounded; the attacker was not a student at the university, no motive was publicly identified as of this writing (More)
> Ukraine launches one of its largest aerial attacks yet against Russia, with hundreds of drones reportedly killing at least six people (More) | What it's like inside the "kill zone" of Ukraine (More, w/graphics)
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Etcetera
What color matches your reading taste? Take a quiz.
Take a look at Pokémon-themed doughnuts. (w/photo)
Step inside Lithuania's corgi races, where pups dress to impress.
… and check out photos from the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest.
A stolen Picasso turned up in a vacant Milwaukee apartment.
Cruise ships process 50 gallons of water per person per day. (w/video)
“Zombie filler” is the latest plastic surgery trend.
See Civil War scenes depicted by over 10,000 tiny clay cats.
Gen Z’s pickle obsession is taking over the snack aisle.
Clickbait: Meet the detectives preparing to solve murders in space.
Historybook: Actress Mae West born (1893); Robert De Niro born (1943); George Orwell's "Animal Farm" published (1945); President Bill Clinton admits to improper relationship with Monica Lewinsky (1998); Michael Phelps becomes first person to win eight gold medals in single Olympics (2008).
"If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."
- George Orwell
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