Author archives
How actual ‘fake news’ caused a market whiplash
CNN: “An errant post on X may have just shaken the stock market, showing how influential — and unreliable — the social media platform can be. Unsourced “headlines” about a potential “90-day pause in tariffs” sent markets into a state of turbulence Monday morning as investors sought any indication of a reprieve from the Trump …
6 Favorite AI Tools For Web Research
MakeUseOf: “Gone are the days when online research was a time-consuming (and, frankly, boring) process. Artificial intelligence (AI) finds insights from across the web, whether you want basic tips or need to research for your college thesis—and these are the best AI research tools you can use to do it. Perplexity is one of the …
Digital hygiene
karpathy – “Every now and then I get reminded about the vast fraud apparatus of the internet, re-invigorating my pursuit of basic digital hygiene around privacy/security of day to day computing. The sketchiness starts with major tech companies who are incentivized to build comprehensive profiles of you, to monetize it directly for advertising, or sell …
Heavier Rainfall Rates in U.S. Cities
Climate Central: KEY CONCEPTS Climate change is supercharging the water cycle, bringing heavier rainfall extremes and related flood risks across the U.S. Some 126 U.S. cities (88% of 144 analyzed) have experienced an increase in hourly rainfall intensity since 1970. Across these 126 locations, hourly rainfall rates are now 15% higher on average than in …
Social Security website keeps crashing as DOGE demands cuts to IT staff
Washington Post via MSN: “Retirees and disabled people are facing chronic website outages and other access problems as they attempt to log in to their online Social Security accounts, even as they are being directed to do more of their business with the agency online. The website has crashed repeatedly in recent weeks, with outages …
Musk’s DOGE using AI to surveil US federal workers
Reuters – “Trump administration officials have told some U.S. government employees that Elon Musk’s DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency’s communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda, said two people with knowledge of the matter. While much of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency …
Troubled Waters – The multiple devastating impact of floods across Europe
Via the European Data Journalism Network: “Floods are the most common natural disaster. Their frequency has more than doubled since 2004 due to an accelerating hydrological cycle driven by human-induced climate change. Over the past 30 years, floods in Europe have affected 5,5 million people, caused nearly 3,000 deaths, and led to economic losses exceeding …
Google’s AI Mode now lets users ask complex questions about images
TechCrunch: “Google is bringing multimodal search to AI Mode, its Google Search experiment that lets users ask complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups to dig deeper on a topic. Users who have access to AI Mode can now tap the feature to ask questions about photos they’ve uploaded or taken with their camera. The new image-analyzing …
The A.P. Saunders Peonies
Hamilton College: “These stunning peonies bloom each spring in Hamilton’s Grant Garden thanks to the hybridization talents of Arthur Percy Saunders, dean and professor of chemistry in the decades prior to World War II. According to Ernest Williams, the William R. Kenan Professor of Biology Emeritus (who provided the following photographs), Saunders initially crossed the …
Scientists present new Machine Learning tool for improved fire prediction
ECMWF: “Our scientists have developed a new tool for improved wildfire prediction using machine learning (ML), as set out in a paper published on 1 April 2025 in Nature Communications. The paper describes how the collection and integration of higher-quality data can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of wildfire predictions. It evaluates how our …
CNN Fear & Greed Index
What is the CNN Business Fear & Greed Index? The Fear & Greed Index is a way to gauge stock market movements and whether stocks are fairly priced. The theory is based on the logic that excessive fear tends to drive down share prices, and too much greed tends to have the opposite effect. How …
