[WA Ballot Measure to Decriminalize Drugs Has Early Poll Lead](https://filtermag.org/washington-drug-decriminalization-polls/) > According to a survey from March of this year, 46 percent of respondents would “definitely” or “probably” vote for the initiative based on its ballot summary, while 37 percent would “definitely” or “probably” vote against it. Another 17 percent answered that they were undecided, with 6 percent leaning yes, 2 percent leaning no, and 9 percent entirely undecided. > > Taking into account the leanings, the campaign described the i...

Pfizer pulls FDA request for Covid vaccine for kids under 5

U.S. regulators put the brakes on their push to speed Pfizer's COVID-19 to children under 5. FDA reversed course and said it had become clear it needed to wait for data on how well that third shot works for this age group. Pfizer said in a statement that it expected the data by early April.

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Love me a logistic curve

(yeah yeah i know there's hardly any data but it's better than nothing)

edit: supposed to be 10%, 44% was an initial placeholder I had before looking at the data closer

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@kqr 1-(7/20) is 65%. Where is 83 coming from?

San Francisco decriminalizes psychedelics, entheogens

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion to decriminalize plant-based psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca. The measure, resolution #220896, concerns entheogenic plants, or plants that can induce changes in perception and mood. It calls for San Francisco police to give investigation and arrests related to use of such substances the lowest priority

@(Trunton) more public-facing stuff now: [OpenAI opens waitlist for ‘experimental’ paid version of ChatGPT with faster answers](https://ground.news/article/openai-opens-waitlist-for-experimental-paid-version-of-chatgpt-with-faster-answers) > Chatbot creator OpenAI is experimenting with ways to monetize ChatGPT. The company is reportedly paying millions of dollars a month to keep the chatbot free to use. OpenAI already offers paid access to some of its software, like image generator DALL-E. Microsoft is reportedly trying to use the software to improve Bi...

[Will physics prevent SpinLaunch from succeeding?](https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/will-physics-prevent-spinlaunch-from-succeeding-bc0fd8365c0e) > SpinLaunch will cleverly attempt to reach space with minimal rocket fuel. But will physics prevent a full-scale version from succeeding? From the post: > Problem #1: Can the payload survive spin-up? > Problem #2: Traditional liquid-based rocket fuel cannot be used. > Problem #3: Piercing the mylar sheet preserving SpinLaunch’s vacuum could destroy the payload. > Problem #4: The atmospheric drag force...

The Colorado bill has become law according to the official Colorado general assembly site. I believe that is enough for positive resolution and if there's agreement I'll tag admins.

Election betting odds is tracking this race

Election Betting Odds now has a governor's map prediction page. They currently give O'Rourke 11.4%

@1ethanhansen Update: new projection comes in at 826k

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To be clear, this doesn't resolve "yes" if someone tells AutoGPT "your goal is hack the pentagon and steal classified documents" but does resolve yes if someone says "find previously unreleased classified documents and leak them to the internet" (in both cases, hacking the pentagon occurs, to be clear).

Is my understanding correct here?

Quarter of Londoners living in poverty, charity says

1 in 6 working-age Londoners living in a working household classed as living in poverty. Joseph Rowntree Foundation used government data from 2018 to 2021. London has the second-highest rate of poverty in England, behind the north east. Authors say situation is likely to have deteriorated since data was collected

Rundown on external predictions:

• 538: 79%
• Economist: 84%
• Election Betting Odds: 85.5%
• Race to the WH: 82.5%
• Decision Desk HQ: 91.2%

@Neniu 787 to 830 with midpoint still around 808

@benmanns update as of 5-sep: 17:24 or .71

[China says US ship ‘illegally intruded’ in waters near Spratlys](https://ground.news/article/us-cruisers-illegally-invade-waters-near-the-south-china-hainan-shisha-islands-chinese-military_6b9c10) > China’s military has said it drove away a United States naval ship that “illegally intruded” into waters near the Spratly Islands in the disputed South China Sea. Probably doesn't move the needle much - the US does this from time to time and China makes a big fuss about it. I could see something like this being the spark that pushes into war, especially if ...

@mdickens I think the most likely of those is Musk is forced to buy twitter and doesn't want to be CEO, he'd rather focus on his other investments

I plotted the highest grossing movies from each year since 1915 and put that plot on desmos with a couple models running through the data

A third of Brits are giving up gym memberships due to cost of living worries

Even though now is a time most typically associated with gym membership, people are actually quitting, according to new data.