Camels Originated in North America, Probably Roamed Hollywood (6 minute read)
A 15-million-year-old camel fossil was unearthed during a road construction project in San Diego, California, revealing that the animals roamed North America well before they spread to South America and the rest of the world. The North American camels lived alongside mammoths, mastodons, ground sloths, the short-faced bear, and sabertooth cats until around 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, when the first indigenous people arrived in the area. There are now three living species of camel, with most camel populations being domesticated except for some feral populations in Australia, India, and Kazakhstan. Other camel facts, including their history of use in war, different products made from them, and more, are available in the article.
Rite Aid deployed facial recognition systems in hundreds of U.S. stores (18 minute read)
Rite Aid Corp quietly added facial recognition systems to 200 of its stores in the US over the last eight years. In some cities, the technology was deployed in largely lower-income, non-white neighborhoods. The technology used was from a company with links to China and its government. Rite Aid claims that it has stopped using the software and that all its cameras have been turned off due to industry efforts to scale back facial recognition technology. It said that it deployed the cameras based on stores' theft histories, local and national crime data, and site infrastructure. The program resulted in less violence and organized crime in the company's stores.