To help address the food shortage crisis in Japan after World War II, inventor and businessman Momofuku Ando develops Chicken Ramen, the first-ever instant noodles, on August 25, 1958. The shelf-stable noodles are readily available, take two minutes to cook and fill hungry bellies. Today, instant noodles are a ubiquitous global fast food—and not just in college dorms. More than 100 billion servings of the just-add-water meals are consumed annually, the World Instant Noodles Association reports.

While ramen is considered quintessentially Japanese, it actually originated in China. In 1858, when Japan ended its nearly 200 years of self-imposed isolation, cultural exchange and trade began to flourish. An influx of Chinese migrants brought their culinary skills to Japan, introducing the wheat-based noodles to Japanese tastebuds. After decades of adaptation, the restaurant-quality ramen we know today—a savory broth typically combined with shredded meat, vegetables and fresh aromatics—was developed in 1926 by a chef named Wang Wen-chai at a Chinese restaurant in Sapporo, Hokkaido. His challenge: to make noodles that appealed to the palates of both Chinese and Japanese students studying locally.

In the years after World War II, widespread food shortages in Japan led to the introduction of black-market food vendors selling ramen. According the Nissin, the company Momofuku Ando founded, Ando noticed long lines forming at the black-market ramen stalls. It was then he set his goal: to create noodles that can be “quickly prepared and eaten at home with only hot water.”

Source: history.com

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson claims the women’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon and becomes the first African American to win a championship at London’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina, and raised in the Harlem section of New York City. She began playing tennis as a teenager and went on to win the national Black women’s championship twice. At a time when tennis was largely segregated, four-time U.S. Nationals winner Alice Marble advocated on Gibson’s behalf and the 5’11” player was invited to make her United States National Championships (now known as the U.S. Open) debut in 1950. In 1956, Gibson’s tennis career took off and she won the singles title at the French Championships (now known as the French Open)—the first African American to do so—as well as the doubles’ title there. In July 1957, Gibson won Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard, 6-3, 6-2. (In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first African American man to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, when he defeated Jimmy Connors.) In September 1957, she won the U.S. Open, and the Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958. During the 1950s, Gibson won 56 singles and doubles titles, including 11 major titles.

Source:

history.com

On August 25, 1979, the storm that will become Hurricane David forms near Cape Verde off the African coast in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It would go on to devastate the island of Dominica, and then the Dominican Republic, killing 1,500 people. On August 27, two days after …read more

On August 25, 1950, in anticipation of a crippling strike by railroad workers, President Harry S. Truman issues an executive order putting America’s railroads under the control of the U.S. Army, as of August 27, at 4:00 pm.

Truman had already intervened in another railway dispute when union employees of the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee Railway Company threatened to strike in 1948. This time, however, Truman’s intervention was critical, as he had just ordered American troops into a war against North Korean communist forces in June. Since much of America’s economic and defense infrastructure was dependent upon the smooth functioning of the railroads, the 1950 strike proposed by two enormous labor organizations, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Order of Railway Conductors, posed an even greater threat. In July, Truman ordered the formation of an emergency board to negotiate a settlement between the railroad unions and owners. The unions ultimately rejected the board’s recommendations and, by August 25, seemed determined to carry out the strike.

For the complete article – history.com

imo, Unions matter

To: Federal Elections Committee (FEC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

We need to talk about deepfakes.

Deepfakes are photos or videos of a person whose face or body has been digitally altered so that they appear to be someone else, typically used maliciously or to spread false information. And now, prominent and influential people are sharing deepfakes of presidential candidates ahead of the 2024 elections. Enough is enough. We need to fully regulate deepfakes and AI on social media platforms overall, but especially when it comes to candidates. 

This isn’t impossible. The Federal Elections Committee (FEC) has already started the process to regulate artificial intelligence and deepfakes in campaign advertising, but there’s been no new updates. We need more comprehensive regulations around deepfakes and AI on social media and in advertising NOW. 

Why is this important?

Deepfakes pose a significant threat to democracy as we know it. It’s the FEC’s job to make sure our democracy and elections remain untainted from exactly these kinds of threats and the FCC’s job to ensure that the way people are engaged with is clear and accurate on digital and radio platforms. 

There are massive elections year this year, House races, Senate races and the Presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. A deceptive, AI-generated deepfake could swing these pivotal races in 2024. Or an onslaught of deepfakes could leave voters completely at a loss as to what’s real and what’s not. For the public to continue to trust and believe in institutions, this cannot happen. 

The integrity of our elections is at stake. It’s clear that we cannot assume people will try to speak to the American people authentically and honestly, because we’ve already been at the mercy of Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans who refuse to accept election results that are not in their favor. The FEC needs to take substantial action and ban deepfakes on social media to counteract bad actors before our nation’s consequential elections in 2024.

Source: MoveOn.org