Annual List by Tom Whitwell – 52 things I learned in 2025

52 things I learned in 2025 –  – [a small selection from the list] In 2023, Nigeria had a million more births than the whole of Europe – Our World in Data, via Charles Onyango-Obbo] Childhood peanut allergies are falling dramatically, perhaps because advice to avoid peanuts was reversed. [Simar Bajaj] The serial killer epidemic …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Education, Environmental Law, Food and Nutrition, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

6 ways to repurpose an old iPhone

How to Geek: “If you have an older iPhone lying around your house collecting dust, you may be sitting on a (digital) gold mine. Even if you moved on to the latest iPhone model, a spare phone can come in handy in unexpected ways.Any old, functioning device can be used in many different ways, so …

Subjects: Internet

Best case: we’re in a bubble. Worst case: the people profiting most know exactly what they’re doing.

Christopher Butler – “After three years of immersion in AI, I have come to a relatively simple conclusion: it’s a useful technology that is very likely overhyped to the point of catastrophe. The best case scenario is that AI is just not as valuable as those who invest in it, make it, and sell it …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Education, Financial System, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

During the Trump era, political violence has become an increasingly urgent problem

The New Yorker: Elected officials from both parties are struggling to respond. In the Line of Fire [no paywall] “America is a violent country. Nowhere else that is remotely as rich tolerates so many murders or so many weapons. But, sometime during the tumultuous decade of the Trump era, it began to seem that simply …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Economy, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research, Social Media

The 2024-25 Presidential Transition: Lessons Learned and Recommendations

Center for Presidential Transition Report: “Every presidential transition in modern history has been unique and 2024 was no exception. Although the transition of power from the outgoing Biden administration to the incoming Trump administration was peaceful, it was characterized by significant departures from established norms and set a precedent for future transitions to stray from …

Subjects: Congress, E-Government, E-Records, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research

‘Slop Evader’ Lets You Surf the Web Like It’s 2022

404 Media: “It’s hard to believe it’s only been a few years since generative AI tools started flooding the internet with low quality content-slop. Just over a year ago, you’d have to peruse certain corners of Facebook or spend time wading through the cultural cesspool of Elon Musk’s X to find people posting bizarre and …

Subjects: AI, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

Zillow Removes Climate Risk Scores From Home Listings

The New York Times Gift Article: “Zillow, the country’s largest real estate listings site, has quietly removed a feature that showed the risks from extreme weather for more than one million home sale listings on its site. The website began publishing climate risk ratings last year using data from the risk-modeling company First Street. The …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Housing, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Official White House Site Adds Purported Media Bias Tracker

Washington Post [and The Hill] – “A new White House webpage presents a “Hall of Shame” for news reports the president disagrees with, coming after the president has voiced personal attacks on female reporters at ABC, CBS, the New York Times and Bloomberg. The White House launched a page on its website Friday devoted to …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Government, Free Speech, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

The ChatGPT effect: How AI changed the way people search for things

Fast Company – Traditional search engines are still the backbone of the online information ecosystem, but searching has shifted in measurable ways with ChatGPT: “Three years ago, if someone needed to fix a leaky faucet or understand inflation, they usually did one of three things: typed the question into Google, searched YouTube for a how-to …

Subjects: Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Libraries