Good Morning. Your garbage truck might be doing more than hauling trash. Plus, Silicon Valley's robots with guns, Bryan Johnson's anti-aging Olympics, best new movie trailers, and heart-linked coffee limit(forwarded this email? Join 523k readers).
Missed yesterday? Our most clicked link: How Matt Damon got ripped at 54
TOP STORY TODAY
Trash Truck Surveillance
Cape Coral, Florida, announced July 13 it will not equip garbage trucks with AI-powered cameras designed to photograph properties and flag code violations like overgrown lawns, peeling paint, and illegal dumping, citing cost and insufficient benefits.
The tech is already live elsewhere. Stockton, California, used vendor City Detect to analyze nearly 40,000 parcels and capture almost 200,000 images, while Cathedral City deployed it and Dallas approved funding for a similar program.
It joins a broader surveillance buildout: license plate reader firm Flock Safety operates tens of thousands of cameras nationwide, and the FTC recently barred GM from sharing certain connected vehicle data for five years. Privacy concerns.
Killer Robot Debate
Silicon Valley is pitching weaponized humanoid robots to the Pentagon, and Washington is listening. In May, startup Foundation released footage of its Phantom robot loading a mortar, a first for a major U.S. robotics company.
The push tests a long-standing industry norm against arming autonomous machines. The Defense Department is updating its policies on AI-powered weapons under a presidential order, while the Senate weighs a national security bill encouraging autonomous systems with guardrails attached.
The fight has split the AI industry. Anthropic sought Pentagon guarantees its models would not power fully autonomous weapons, OpenAI agreed to keep working with the military, and the UN secretary general called for an outright international ban this month.
The Anti-Aging Games
The Rejuvenation Olympics, a global anti-aging competition founded by biohacker Bryan Johnson, now counts 14,747 entrants across 40 countries. Johnson tops the leaderboard with an aging pace of 0.503, meaning his body deteriorates roughly six months per year.
Entry requires three DNA-based tests from Johnson's company TruDiagnostic, each measuring up to 180 biomarkers across 11 organs at $475 to $800 per test. Competitors spend anywhere from $125 monthly to Johnson's reported $1.9 million per year (more details on cost).
One longevity scientist argues the regimens lack scientific rigor, warning that stacking 100-plus supplements creates interactions that may shorten lifespans. He points instead to 10 to 20 existing off-patent drugs showing anti-aging promise in mice.
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Trailer: Marvel’s Doomsday is Here
Robert Downey Jr. is back in the MCU, but not as Iron Man. The new Avengers: Doomsday trailer (out December 18) reveals him as Doctor Doom, the villain.
We’re also excited for these upcoming movies:
The “Pursuit of Happiness” Does the Opposite
Research shows that when we monitor our happiness during joyful events — asking 'Am I happy yet?' — we actually destroy the very experience we're trying to create. The pursuit of happiness backfires most when we evaluate our emotions in real-time rather than simply experiencing them. Wait until after positive events end to reflect on how they made you feel.
TRENDING
5 Stories
▲ Coffee limit confirmed as American Heart Association deems 5 daily cups safe, linking coffee to lower stroke risk
▲ School closures spike 35 percent over four years as districts shutter 1,000-plus campuses in 2025-26
▲ Taylor Farms lettuce remains FDA outbreak focus despite false positive, tied to one of largest cyclospora outbreaks in years
▲ AMC stock pops 27 percent on record quarterly earnings as Q2 revenue hits $1.6 billion | Paramount deal paused
▲ Andy Burnham becomes UK's seventh prime minister in a decade, pledging 10-year plan for "new economy"
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Fun Links
Does inflammation cause heart disease? [Podcast]
Start using Grok for free in Excel [Gear]
20 best sword-and-sandal films [List]
Pigeons with tiny backpacks [Blog]
Celebrating 35 years of this action movie [Swayze]
The switched-at-birth lawsuit [Blog]
Hemingway’s forgotten 1920s cocktail [Recipe]
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