Good morning. We made it through another week. Actually, this one sped by, almost like watching it in warp speed.
I know we’ve talked about the whole four-day workweek thing before, and apparently it’s an idea that’s gaining steam around the globe. Personally, I just don’t think it would work for me. No matter how many hours I put in during a day, there always seems to be more piling up on the proverbial “to-do” list.
I would not, of course, get in the way of what works for other people. I have similar feelings about video games.
They’re not really my jam. I mean, I really liked Tetris – yes I’m THAT old! – and also wasted an embarrassing amount of hours trying to best Super Mario Brothers back in the day. But I never really got hardcore into gaming like a lot of people I know.
To be clear, in case you’re one of those people who thinks otherwise, video games are NOT just for kids, though my step-kid seems to spend half his life playing them, and the video game industry is VERY big business.
Maybe we should start from the beginning for the luddites among us…
What we are speaking of here is an electronic game that can be played on a computing device (ie: personal computer, gaming console and/or mobile phone). The first video games emerged in earnest the 1970s, though the VERY first one dates back to the 1950s. It was a simple tennis game, similar to Pong, and was created by a NEW YORKER!! Who knew?
Pong, BTW, was manufactured by Atari and released in 1972. It featured two-dimensional graphics and was pretty rudimentary. Today’s video games, of course, are light-years from that, offering photorealistic graphics and simulating reality to a degree that is really astonishing – and in the case of some of the more violent shooting games, downright disturbing.
Video games are a billion-dollar business, and this has been the case for years. There are now about 5 million games in existence. In 2020 alone, for example, the revenue from the worldwide PC gaming market was estimated at close to $37 billion. The mobile gaming market, meanwhile, generated an estimated $77 billion.
The video game market expanded even further – to the tune of 26 percent – during the pandemic, which is logical, since people were stuck inside with not a whole heck of a lot to do. The launch of next-generation consoles by Microsoft and Sony at the time also helped goose things along.
However, the industry is about to post its first annual decline in sales in years. It is forecast to contract 1.2% year-on-year to $188 billion in 2022, according to research from market data firm Ampere Analysis. Apparently, the industry, while still wildly popular, is not recession-proof, and is experiencing the same supply chain issues that pretty much everyone is these days.
Oh, FWIW, this is all a big wind-up to let you know that today is National Video Game Day (singular), which is not to be confused with National Video GAMES (plural) Day on Sept. 12.
Why do we need two? Well, gaming is a very popular pastime, I guess.
To be clear, today is really not a great day for sitting around inside and gaming. It’s going to be hot (in the mid-80s) and partly cloudy. The weekend is looking pretty good, too, with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the low 80s.
In the headlines…
Former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe is in critical condition after being shot at a campaign event, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
The police said they had arrested a suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, on a charge of attempted murder. The suspect had used “gunlike equipment,” which was retrieved at the scene, a police spokesman said.
Local fire department official Makoto Morimoto said Abe was in cardio and pulmonary arrest after being shot. His heart stopped while he was being airlifted to a hospital, Morimoto said.
President Joe Biden will take executive action today to protect access to abortion, as he faces mounting pressure from Democrats to be more forceful on the subject after the Supreme Court ended a constitutional right to the procedure two weeks ago.
Amid criticism from some Democrats that he isn’t acting urgently enough, Biden will speak “on protecting access to reproductive health care services,” though the actions he’s expected to take will be limited in scope.
Biden planned to nominate an anti-abortion Republican to a lifetime appointment as a federal district judge in Kentucky on the day the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
House Republicans are weighing what kind of national-level abortion ban legislation to pursue if they win the House majority next year, with a 15-week ban or further on the table.
In a statement following the resignation of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Biden stressed “the special relationship” between the U.S. and U.K. “remains strong and enduring.”
Johnson said he would step down as British prime minister after a wide-scale rebellion in his party, capping an astonishing fall from grace for a politician who once looked poised to dominate U.K. politics for years.
Biden did not mention Johnson by name in his statement, but said the U.S. and the U.K. would maintain a “strong and united approach to supporting the people of Ukraine” in that nation’s war to repel a Russian invasion.
Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 people. A review of federal and state campaign finance data shows that most of the recipients have also made financial contributions to Democrats — some to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.
Among the recipients were gymnast Simone Biles, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and Sandra Lindsay, a New York critical care nurse who was the first American vaccinated against the coronavirus outside a clinical trial.
The Biden administration has quietly given the green light to completing a border barrier separating Southern California from Mexico – a project that was initially planned by the Trump White House.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard and the state police to begin apprehending migrants who illegally cross the Mexico border and taking them back to ports of entry, which could put the state into direct conflict with the feds over immigration.
Senate Democrats will push to raise taxes on some high-earning Americans and steer the money to improving the solvency of Medicare, as they cobble together a modest version of Biden’s stalled tax and spending package.
Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in court outside Moscow, hoping to secure a more lenient sentence, her lawyers said, in what has become a thorny geopolitical fight between the U.S. and Russia.
The suspected Highland Park shooter’s father doesn’t believe he’s culpable in the attack that killed seven people and wounded dozens more.
Bobby Crimo Jr. told ABC News that there was “not an inkling, warning” before his son, Robert Crimo III, allegedly opened fire with a rifle from a rooftop at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago on Monday.
The number of jobless claims in the U.S. reached the highest figure in several months, however several states are recovering from unemployment better than others.
According to new data released by the U.S. Department of Labor, as of July 2, initial unemployment filings reached 235,000. It was the fifth consecutive week that claims topped the 230,000 mark and the most in almost six months.
First-time applications generally track with the number of layoffs. Until early June, claims hadn’t eclipsed 220,000 since January and have often been below 200,000 this year.
A dearth of child care and elder care choices is causing many women to reorganize their working lives and prompting some to forgo jobs altogether, hurting the economy as companies are desperate to hire, and forcing trade-offs that could impair careers.
China’s first large-scale attempt to require Covid vaccinations appears to have ended before it began.
The most transmissible variant yet of the coronavirus is threatening a fresh wave of infections in the United States, even among those who have recovered from the virus fairly recently.
As the pandemic entered its third year, the American public had lost much of its trust both in public health experts and in government leaders, and was less worried than before about Covid-19, according to a survey released by the Pew Research Center.
More than two years into the pandemic, exasperation is growing among business, city and community leaders across the U.S. who have seen offices left behind while life returns to normal elsewhere. The problem is most pronounced in the biggest cities like NYC.
A new Columbia University study published in the “Nature” journal says the BA.5/BA.4 subvariants are more than four times as vaccine-resistant as omicron’s initial descendant, BA.2; breakthrough cases are rising.
Approximately 300,000 children under the age of 5 in the US – about 2% of that age group – have received at least one shot of the Covid-19 vaccine since it was recommended by the CDC, which aligns with expectations, though is lower than other age groups.
Researchers in Massachusetts have discovered a potential biomarker that could help inform the diagnosis and treatment of long COVID.
The Mets’ starting pitcher Chris Bassitt is set to return from the COVID IL against the Marlins after missing a week due to a positive test result. But Bassitt, who missed a total of one start, is not happy with how things played out.
The Columbia County Health Department announced that three COVID-19 patients there died between July 1 and July 5 — the first time the county has seen deaths linked to the virus in about a month.
Mayor Eric Adams vowed to replace his administration’s color-coded coronavirus alert system with a set of “new weapons” in the face of yet another wave of COVID cases descending upon New York City.
Some suggested that the mayor’s mandate to learn to live with COVID-19 will be difficult without clear communication about the current risk level and the protective measures that should be taken according to that risk.
The Working Families Party is backing Gov. Kathy Hochul in the Nov. 8 election against Republican nominee Rep. Lee Zeldin despite past criticism of the relatively moderate governor.
The election for New York’s governor will have only two candidates on the ballot this fall for the first time in at least 80 years after seven candidates failed to qualify on third-party lines.
Hochul is getting roasted on Twitter for ruining a meme featuring pop star Usher as it went viral earlier this week.
Hochul has announced $255 million in new grants for statewide water infrastructure projects.
An array of business organizations this week urged Hochul in a letter to veto a proposed expansion of New York’s wrongful death statute after lawmakers approved legislation that would cover emotional anguish under the law.
Good government groups are calling on Hochul to sign a pair of bills that would bring more transparency and checks to massive state projects like the controversial Penn Station redevelopment deal.
Groups vying to influence New York’s government reported spending nearly $293 million on lobbying in 2021, returning the tally to pre-pandemic levels after a significant drop in 2020, according to the final annual report of JCOPE.
The outgoing JCOPE acted as disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s patsies by approving his controversial $5 million pandemic book deal without even a basic review of its terms, a blistering investigative report found.
Carlos Moncayo, 22, died seven years ago at a Manhattan construction site. A bill on Hochul’s desk aims to make conditions safer for workers like him.
Carl Paladino, a Republican candidate in NY-23, announced he has retained counsel and will personally fund a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s new concealed carry measures on behalf of the people of New York.
The chairmen of New York’s Republican and Conservative parties also pledged to file a lawsuit challenging the new sweeping new gun laws that were rushed through the Legislature and signed into law by Hochul last week.
New York ethics regulators voted to release a report that details the circumstances of how its staff approved a book deal for ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Adams confirmed that he has privately urged Staten Island’s district attorney to go easy on a supermarket worker charged with assault for patting Rudy Giuliani on the back during a tense altercation last month.
Adams confirmed suspicions that City Hall is in negotiations with Hochul regarding a costly class-size reduction bill passed by the state Legislature.
Adams said New York is not a dangerous city, despite overall crime rising nearly 40 percent this year.
The mayor maintained that America’s political extremes were holding the nation “hostage” to crime.
Crime in the Big Apple skyrocketed by more than 30% in June compared to the same month last year with NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell pointing the finger, in part, at repeat offenders.
A litany of religious leaders spoke out against inhumane Rikers Island conditions while Adams traveled to the correctional facility to meet with inmates and help bridge the gap between correction officers and detainees.
Adams, fighting for control of Rikers Island with a possible federal takeover looming, argued that the “energy” in the New York City jail complex is improving after making his second visit in two weeks.
Adams stood up for the “hard-working” Manhattan bodega clerk languishing on Rikers Island on $250,000 bail after he fatally stabbed a violent ex-con while trying to fend off an attack.
“What I saw on the video was a New Yorker doing his job,” Adams said. “That disruption of the job happened because someone was aggressive.”
A record number of 100,000 young people will be kicking off a New York City-run summer jobs program this week, Adams announced.
In response to arrival of hurricane season, Adams unveiled the Rainfall Ready NYC Action Plan.
While the plan includes potential infrastructure upgrades, it also urges Big Apple residents to prepare by looking at flood maps to see if their block is at high risk of being inundated by heavy rainfall and to take other actions like clearing litter from catch basins.
Thousands of New Yorkers spent hours refreshing a city government webpage this week, desperately seeking a monkeypox vaccine that, for now, is mostly going to the web-savvy and connected.
The original Papaya King on the Upper East Side created the city’s signature combo of franks and tropical fruit juices. But a demolition plan could finish its decades-long reign.
Suffolk County police are now offering a $5,000 reward for information on a potential hate crime arson at a mosque in Ronkonkoma.
A robust ground game and strong climate message were critical to victory of Sarahana Shrestha, the climate organizer who ousted incumbent Assemblyman Kevin Cahill in the 103rd Assembly District Democratic primary last week.
A small number of monkeypox vaccine doses are coming to Saratoga County, the only location in the Capital Region getting the vaccine right away.
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is poised for a major expansion of its campus with the acquisition of a life sciences building at 150 New Scotland Avenue.
A California jury has convicted Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani on 12 counts of fraud for his involvement in the unreliable blood testing service run by CEO Elizabeth Holmes.
Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis cop convicted of George Floyd’s murder, was sentenced on a federal charge that won’t add more time to his incarceration — and could get him a swankier cell.
Disneyland Resort’s Instagram account was taken over by a self-proclaimed “super hacker” who made a series of profane and racist posts that have since been taken down.
Twitter said it laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team, as the company deals with increasing business pressures and a potential takeover from Elon Musk.
James Caan, whose Oscar-nominated performance as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather” produced some of the most memorable moments in movie history, died at age 82. A cause of death for the Bronx-born actor was not released.
