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Today we're covering the first transcontinental railroad merger, how ChatGPT beat the “I’m not a robot test,” and Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to high school graduates.

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Union Pacific announced Tuesday it will buy Norfolk Southern for $85 billion, creating America's first transcontinental railroad. The deal combines Union Pacific's western network with Norfolk's eastern rails, spanning over 50,000 miles across 43 states with coast-to-coast connections.

The proposed merger would eliminate the current system where shipments must transfer between different railroads, potentially streamlining deliveries nationwide. However, regulators previously set high approval standards after past rail consolidations caused major traffic disruptions and service problems (WSJ).

The deal faces scrutiny from the Surface Transportation Board, currently split between Republicans and Democrats. If approved by early 2027, the merger could trigger additional consolidation among remaining major railroads like BNSF and CSX.

What can you currently ship by rail?

The Manhattan shooter's note specifically blamed chronic traumatic encephalopathy for his violent actions, highlighting growing concerns about the brain disease's behavioral effects. Shane Tamura, a former high school football player, requested his brain be studied and criticized the NFL for concealing football dangers (NYT).

C.T.E. can only be diagnosed posthumously through autopsy, making it impossible to confirm whether Tamura actually had the condition. However, documented symptoms include impulsive behavior, depression, and suicidal thoughts that have affected other former athletes. List of NFL players with C.T.E. here.

The incident adds to mounting evidence linking C.T.E. to violent behavior among former football players. Tamura's note referenced Terry Long, a former Steelers player who died by suicide in 2005. Many of these original reports came from Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith movie about him here).

OpenAI's new ChatGPT Agent successfully passed Cloudflare's "I'm not a robot" verification test, designed to block automated bots from accessing websites. The AI assistant narrated its actions in real-time, stating it needed to "prove I'm not a bot" while ironically doing exactly that.

The incident highlights growing concerns about AI autonomy as the system was designed to navigate websites independently for users. ChatGPT Agent can handle complex online tasks including shopping and scheduling, raising questions about distinguishing human from artificial users online.

OpenAI acknowledged the higher risk profile but added safeguards requiring user permission for significant actions. The development follows AI bots passing the Turing Test earlier this year, marking another milestone in human-AI indistinguishability. Read more about ChatGPT Agents here.

Famous advice says "follow your passion," but 84-year-old Kurt Vonnegut revealed something deeper in a letter to high school kids: create art not for external rewards, but to discover what's inside you.

Vonnegut's Counterintuitive Protocol:

The act of creating changes you, whether anyone sees it or not. His letter came after students invited him to visit their school. He declined (noting he resembled "an iguana") but shared something more valuable than any lecture.

The invisible transformation: Students who follow this discover enhanced self-awareness, expanded creative capacity, and what Vonnegut called "soul growth" - benefits that persist long after the art is discarded.

The Results: Deeper self-knowledge, creative confidence, and the profound satisfaction of becoming rather than just achieving. The poem gets thrown away. The person who wrote it is forever changed.

Gmail's hidden subscription manager beats the "unsubscribe everything" approach. Access it via More → Manage subscriptions (web) or hamburger menu (mobile). Sort by frequency, preview before purging, and filter instead of delete. The insight: strategic curation trumps mass deletion for inbox control (More).

> Bubba Wallace won Brickyard 400 Sunday, becoming first Black driver to capture major race on Indianapolis oval (More).

> Warren Buffett sold $1.2B Verisign stake Monday, cutting Berkshire's holdings from 14.2% to under 10% (More).

> Foxconn halts trading Tuesday pending major announcement, sparking speculation about iPhone production changes (More).

> Sean Combs seeks jail release on $50M bond while awaiting October sentencing for prostitution conviction (More).

> Scientists discover 57 genetic hotspots linked to stuttering using 1 million DNA samples from 23andMe (More).

Operations before anesthesia.

10 chilling facts about Jimmy Hoffa.

Don’t ask ChatGPT legal questions.

What makes a perfect cocktail?

The man who doesn’t need money.