USA Posts

What do earmuffs, swim fins and Popsicles have in common? They were invented by curious, creative kids - some as young as you. Inventor and Founding Father Ben Franklin was just age 11 or 12 when he designed paddles to help him swim faster. He used oval pieces of wood and cut holes for his thumbs. His 300-year-old invention is why Kid Inventors' Day is celebrated each year on January 17, his birthday. Kids are creative thinkers with their own ideas for tackling problems. Going through the invention process - identifying a challenge, designing a solution and testing to see if it works - is empowering, said Tim Pula, an invention/innovation specialist at the Smithsonian Institution. By leaping from what is to what if builds your "creative- and critical-thinking muscles," said Jayme Cellitioci, a strategist with the National Inventors Hall of Fame. "Invention is more of a process than one 'Aha!' moment," she said. You learn about different ways of thinking, that good ideas can … [Read more...] about Inventive New Jersey siblings prove that good ideas can come at any age

MOSCOW (AP) — Kazakhstan's influential former leader released a short video on Tuesday in which he talked about the violent unrest that engulfed the ex-Soviet nation earlier this month and rejected reports alleging that he fled the country amid tensions with the current president. It was the first time that Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ran Kazakhstan for 29 years after it gained independence and kept an influential post after stepping down as president in 2019, spoke publicly about the protests and the bloodshed they descended into. Nazarbayev also denied that there were tensions between him and his hand-picked successor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Some speculated that a rift between the two could have played a role in exacerbating the unrest. Protests in Kazakhstan, an oil and gas-rich nation of 19 million in Central Asia, began on Jan. 2 in a small western town over the near-doubling of fuel prices. But they quickly spread across the vast country, growing into a general … [Read more...] about Kazakhstan’s ex-leader rejects reports that he fled abroad

6 LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday denied misleading Parliament about lockdown-breaching parties, as senior government ministers said he would have to resign if he was proven to have lied. Former Johnson aide Dominic Cummings has said he is willing to swear under oath that the prime minister was warned in advance that a May 2020 garden party for Downing Street staff would break coronavirus restrictions. Johnson denies he was warned. He told Parliament last week that he had attended the party, but considered it a work gathering that fell within the rules. “Nobody told me that what we were doing was … against the rules,” Johnson told broadcasters on Tuesday. “When I went out into that garden I thought that I was attending a work event.” The garden party is one of a string of alleged rule-flouting government parties being investigated by senior civil servant Sue Gray. Gray is due to report by the … [Read more...] about Under-fire Boris Johnson denies lying over lockdown parties

5 LOS ANGELES (AP) — “This Is Us,” “black-ish” and “Better Call Saul” are among the shows to be saluted at the Paley Center for Media’s annual TV festival, returning to live events after two years of pandemic-caused virtual editions. The trio of shows, all set to end this year, will be among 13 others whose casts and creators will be showcased at the 39th annual PaleyFest LA, running from April 2-10 in Los Angeles. A total of 10 events are planned. “We are so excited to be returning in person to the Dolby Theatre," said Maureen J. Reidy, president and CEO of the Paley Center. She said there's been an outpouring of interest and enthusiasm from networks, studios and fans eager to welcome the event back in its familiar format. Among the stars set to participate: Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore and Sterling K. Brown of “This Is Us”; Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross and Jenifer Lewis, “black-ish”; Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, and Giancarlo … [Read more...] about ‘This Is Us,’ ‘black-ish’ salutes set for Paley TV festival

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill last week. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images With the midterms looming, it was time for Democrats to make one last desperate effort to pass voting-rights legislation they consider vital to not just their political prospects in 2022, but the future of American democracy. So last Tuesday, Joe Biden went to Georgia to give a major speech on the subject, and the Senate was set to hold a rare weekend meeting, potentially lining up a debate and vote on a bill on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The symbolism would not be lost: Democrats planned on prompting a confrontation over the filibuster being used, as before, to thwart progress on voting rights. Then on Thursday, as Biden prepared to make a rare visit to the Capitol to lobby personally for the bill, Kyrsten Sinema took the Senate floor. Speaking in a Senate chamber with nearly a dozen members present, mostly Republicans, the senator from Arizona, … [Read more...] about What Democrats Hope to Win by Losing

Agnieszka Pilat with her robot dog and muse, Spot. Photo: Mark Sommerfeld When I meet Agnieszka Pilat , a pixie-ish Polish émigré who has become the court painter of the potentates of Silicon Valley , she has just returned from Necker Island, the private Caribbean domain of Richard Branson . “I’m always the poorest person in the room” at places like that, she says with a laugh, curling her paint-flecked Yves Saint Laurent sneakers beneath her on the couch as she absentmindedly twists and untwists her hair. We’ve met up in her Chelsea studio, in which paintings of robotic limbs in repose dot the concrete walls. She has another studio in San Francisco. In each, she kennels a duplicate Spot , her 70-pound emergency-yellow cybernetic dog, muse, studio assistant (it paints, too), and, in some sense, protector, both on loan to her from Boston Dynamics, where she was once artist in residence. Despite her Chelsea digs near the blue-chip Gagosians and Zwirners, Pilat … [Read more...] about See Spot Paint