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Shumita Basu, Narrating: Grief is one of the most universal of human experiences, and yet, we don't talk about it very much. Instead, we're often left feeling alone with our sadness. That's why "CNN's" Anderson Cooper is choosing to talk about grief, be direct with it, in his new podcast. He talks with people about those they've lost, the things they've left behind, and how we can coexist with loss. With love and with laughter. Listen to "All There Is" with Anderson Cooper on Apple Podcasts.
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Good morning! It's Tuesday, December 6th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today". On today's show, a temporary solution to the problem of Venice going underwater. Why Taylor Swift fans are taking Ticketmaster to court. And does Duolingo's game-based approach to language-learning actually work?
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But first.. It's election day in Georgia once again. This time, a runoff for the last outstanding 2022 midterms race. A month ago, when Georgia voters were last asked to choose between Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker, control of the Senate was still up for grabs. Today, that's no longer the case. But Greg Bluestein, a political reporter for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," says this one seat will make a difference for each party's strategy moving forward.
Greg Bluestein: Democrats, if they win, they get a clear majority in the Chamber. They don't have to rely on Vice President Kamala Harris's tiebreaking vote. That also means they have more influence over committees.
As for Republicans...
Bluestein: A victory puts them at 50-50, makes the balance of power in the Senate that much more precarious, and puts them very close, really on the cusp of flipping the Chamber, and gives them a better standing in 2024, when the Senate battleground map looks much more favorable to Republicans.
Bluestein says Republicans are feeling nervous about Walker.
Bluestein: This was a runoff where Herschel Walker could afford to make few mistakes, and he's made them.
Walker has faced multiple controversies. There have been reports of him falsifying personal and professional achievements, and allegations by multiple women that he pressured them into having abortions. He has denied those allegations. Georgia voters have turned out in high numbers already for early voting in the state. More than 1.8 million votes were cast as of Friday. Beyond this race, there's a question of what kind of state Georgia is now. Is it red? Purple? Blue? Or something else entirely?
Bluestein: Even if Republicans end up winning this US Senate seat and have that clean sweep I just mentioned, it doesn't mean that Georgia is suddenly some safe Republican haven. And with Democrats, if Senator Warnock ends up winning, it doesn't mean that that his path to victory can be easily replicated by Democrats. I think Georgia's gonna continue to be a fiercely competitive state where candidates matter. And in this race, you really have seen that.
You can follow results from Georgia, and more coverage from "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," in the Apple News app.
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Venice is in danger of going underwater. We've known this for years. The city itself is sinking, and sea levels are rising. Back in 2019, a massive tide led to one of the worst floods that Venice has ever seen. Boats floated through the streets. Images of people trudging through water that was well above their knees circulated in the news and on social media.
Chico Harlan: About 80% to 90% of the city was inundated. It cost billions of dollars in damages and it really wreaked havoc. When I was there three years ago, the feeling I got from talking to people was absolute fear about the future of the city, the sense that Venice was becoming unlivable.
That's Chico Harlan, the Rome bureau chief for "The Washington Post." Just last month, a high tide similar to the one from 2019 tested the city again. But this time...
Harlan: Venice stayed dry, aside from a little bit of rain. And what changed between 2019 and now was this system called the MOSE.
The MOSE system is made up of dozens of metal barriers that rise up from the sea floor to guard the city from rising tides.
Harlan: During periods of extreme events, engineers are able to raise them up, pump air inside of these rectangles, they basically become like steel balloons, and out they come from the depths, emerging just high enough to block the waves.
It cost $6 billion, took 30 years of planning and 20 years of construction. All to keep Venice above water.
Harlan: It's a testament to kind of human vision and creation. If you see the great paintings from the 1600s, from the early Renaissance, from the 1800s, Venice basically looks the same. It's been a magical place for centuries.
But, as Harlan's reporting reminds us, these kinds of engineering solutions are addressing a symptom, not the root cause of the climate change problem. The MOSE system is not just expensive; it's time-limited. It'll only work up until a certain point of sea level rise, which we're expected to hit sometime around mid-century. The bottom line is, countries need to undertake the serious work of cutting down emissions to keep cities like Venice from going under.
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Revenge is a theme that comes up pretty often in Taylor Swift's music, including her newest album, "Midnights".
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And revenge has been top of mind recently for some of her fans, following the chaotic rollout of tickets for her upcoming tour, her first since 2018. Last month, millions of people lined up online to buy presale tickets. And demand was so high that Ticketmaster struggled to keep up.
Emma Roth: When they tried to purchase the tickets, they found that the site had crashed or they had to wait hours to even get a chance to purchase them.
That's Emma Roth from "The Verge."
Roth: And to make matters worse, Ticketmaster ended up canceling the public sale of the tickets. So, those who weren't able to get access to the presale no longer had a chance to even try to get tickets through the general sale.
Now, a group of fans are suing Ticketmaster's parent company, LiveNation. They say the website allowed scalpers to scoop up tons of Taylor Swift tickets, which reduced supply for fans and drove prices higher.
Roth: They accused Ticketmaster of giving out too many presale codes when it actually didn't have enough seats to go around.
Ticketmaster has since apologized to Taylor Swift and her fans. This is not the first time Ticketmaster has been accused of being anticompetitive. When it merged with LiveNation over a decade ago, it created a giant monopoly in the live entertainment business. A few weeks ago, the Department of Justice said it's opened an antitrust investigation into LiveNation, an investigation that was already in motion before the Taylor Swift tickets fiasco. It'll focus on whether the company has abused its power in the industry. Still, some Swifties are feeling the sting and vowing to keep the heat on Ticketmaster, saying, "You messed with the wrong fan base."
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There is a recognizable sound that has taken over my free time. It's with me while I brush my teeth, while I wait for my tea to steep. I even hear it on the train sometimes, coming from other people's phones.
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That is the oddly satisfying pinging of the language-learning app Duolingo. Now, I know I'm not the only person who, especially during the pandemic, thought, "Hey, I should try learning a language!" But I was a little surprised to hear just how many people out there are Duolingo learners, from this piece in "Bloomberg Businessweek." It's one of "Bloomberg's" typical story-behind-the-company articles, and it talks about the fascinating founder of the app. First though, some scale and numbers. Duolingo has almost 15 million daily active users. That's up 51% from a year ago. Most of them use the free version of the app. Some pay for the premium version with no ads. But in the crowded space of language learning tools, Duolingo has distinguished itself by gameifying the experience. You earn tokens for correct answers, you move up a ranking system, unlock stories. And along the way, you're sorta badgered by this passive-aggressive owl, the app's mascot, called Duo.
<v So the real question is, does this game-based approach to language learning work? Some linguistics experts kinda scoff at it, saying the lessons are too brief and don't fully explain the grammar. But the numbers speak for themselves>the addictive nature of the app makes it easy for people to stick with their lessons. I am proud to report that today is my official 100-day streak learning Italian, and I can confidently say... [SPEAKING ITALIAN] That means, "I have a snake in my boot!" [LAUGHS] There's a lot more to this "Bloomberg" article. Like I said, the founder has an interesting backstory. He's also the creator of Captcha technology. You know, the thing on so many websites that asks you to confirm that you're not a robot.
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You can find that article on the Apple News app. We've also got it as a narrated article, which we've queued up to play for you next. Head to the app for all the other stories we talked about today, too. I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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