Congress asked the National Science Foundation to look into the effects of social media on teenage mental health, and they just issued a major report that finds little evidence of harm and some of benefit. (Kevin Drum, Report)
In this 30-minute video, an American geologist goes over the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland as of Tuesday morning. Short video of the eruption at its peak here. The eruption is over for now but apparently the magma chamber that fed it is already filling again.
The bizarre notes from this local architectural review board meeting have become an intenet classic. Skip down to 116 Tower Hill Road. We should make "Mr. Lynch" a famous meme character like Leroy Jenkins.
The case of the Avar belt buckles.
Very important major study showing that genetically engineered immune system cells, hitherto used to fight cancer, can also be effective against lupus and other immune system diseases.
Spitalfields Life's Winter Walks in London.
The guerilla arts collective that smuggled subversive messages into the 90s soap opera Melrose Place.
A nineteenth-century Christmas song: "May you get drunk at night, and eat goose and pudding all day."
The annual Microsoft Excel World Championship was won by Andrew "the Annihilator" Ngai of Sydney, Australia. This event, which features contestants competing to solve problems in data analysis and financial modeling, started out low-key but the latest version was held in Las Vegas, eSports style, with a live audience. Can you, I mean – never mind.
On October 31, a ransomware gang stole the entire digital footprint of the British Library. What did they take? And what does it mean for the library?
Remember the white and gold/blue and black dress? Cognitive scientists are only beginning to study the many very different ways people perceive and understand the world.
Mesopotamian bricks and the Levantine Iron Age Geomagnetic Anomaly. The authors tout their new technique as a possible dating method but I suspect local magnetic field variation is too great for that to work.
Negative take on generative AI, which this author finds mostly stupid.
Tyler Cowen calls our attention to a new translation of Pedro Páramo by Mexican novelist Juan Rulfo (1955), which many Latin American writers think is their greatest work but which has never had a good English translation until now. I think I will check it out.
Ukraine Links
Estonian defense ministry report on Ukraine here; good summary on X here. Lots of emphasis on the long-term industrial potential of both sides. Incidentally Putin and his close associates have lately made several very clear statements to the effect that they will not negotiate any end to the war that doesn't "achieve their aims," which include annexing half of Ukraine and disarming the other half.
Putin held his traditional annual press conference this year, after skipping last year's. His message was that Russia is winning the war.
Ukraine reports that it is producing 50,000 drones per month for its military.
1 comment:
I wonder what is the significance of the fact that Chairman Lynch and Mr. Lynch share the same family name? I can imagine a Black Mirror episode in which each turns out to be an AI distillate of the other. Or--perhaps in an homage to Better Call Saul--they may be brothers, and they've been doing this all their lives, and Chairman Lynch has gotten very, very good at it.
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