I’m a US citizen and a veteran. ICE arrested me for no reason.

This guy is far more mature than I would be about being treated like this by ICE after serving his country well and in an actual befitting manner. The people in ICE don’t deserve to carry his boots, let alone talk to him or touch him and handcuff him.

Gene Simmons Crashed His Lincoln Navigator On PCH, And His Wife Blames His Aversion To Drinking Water

“Elderly man needs water, crashes car”. It’s pretty funny that it turns out a rock and roller from KISS endangers the world more because of dehydration than “satanic music!!”.

Untamed Flora Subsumes Abandoned Greenhouses in Romain Veillon’s ‘Secret Gardens’ — Colossal

I don’t know, it seems like soon enough mother nature may own the place again, so I guess we should enjoy the beauty of it happening around us while we still can.

Shot by His Father and Left Blind—Now He’s a Hardcore Gamer | WIRED

I think I missed this when i first came out, but I listened to Ross’ story on Kill Switch podcast, and it’s fascinating to hear how he handles videogames and engages the videogame industry to help others like him be able to play and really enjoy their games.

Browse No More | Paul Stamatiou

A pretty fascinating look at an increasing practice – using AI intead of the web for search and data gathering, and the implications of it.

AI models know when they’re being tested - and change their behavior, research shows | ZDNET

I wouldn’t call this creepy, per se. I’d just call it creepy.

The Real Stakes, and Real Story, of Peter Thiel’s Antichrist Obsession | WIRED

This guy is nuts. I think there’s something about being a billionaire that just drives people insane. Or maybe you have to be insane to do the things it takes to become a billionaire, who knows.

A Loophole to Survive the End of the Universe?

Speaking of crazy…

A Chronology of All 113 Prints of Hokusai’s The Great Wave

The world’s most examined wave can still be examined a little more…

The Weird Portland Protest That Trump Wants to Crush - The Atlantic

I think it’s safe to say that “WAR RAVAGED PORTLAND!!!” isn’t really “WAR RAVAGED PORTLAND!!!”. These people are @#$#^ing insane.

How China’s Propaganda and Surveillance Systems Really Operate | WIRED

Gee, I wonder why… Oh, keep reading…

How Silicon Valley enabled China’s digital police state | AP News

People who only want money act like they only want money, for some reason.

ChatGPT Goes Completely Haywire If You Ask It to Show You a Seahorse Emoji

LLM’s are like people, they refuse to be wrong and mostly they just refuse not to have an opinion on things they know nothing about.

Orcas and the Price of Consciousness: Lessons in Love and Loss from Earth’s Most Successful and Creative Predator – The Marginalian

Animals are better than LLMs. Unfortunately they, like us, pay a price for consciousness.

Every Reason Why I Hate AI and You Should Too

But what does Marcus Hutchins think of Orcas?

DC National Guard Is Being Trained to Carry Pistols Known to Fire at Random

No one can explain why the National Guard is even in DC aside from Trump’s megalomania, and now they’re determined to be able to shoot themselves and others both on purpose AND at random. What could go wrong? I think what disturbs me the most about all of this is how willingly our various forces around the country are jumping into the role of occupying America.

America’s fragile drug supply chain is extremely vulnerable to climate change - Ars Technica

Part of the problem with neglecting your country and relying on the cost-cutting-above-all-else private sector to manage it for you is that you wind up with very precariously balanced social necessities like, I don’t know, medicine. Expect this problem to get worse, not better.

A Plasticity of Being: What a Rare Bird of Prey Reveals about the Deepest Meaning of Intelligence – The Marginalian

Here’s yet another example of an animal that has a type of intelligence that defies human intuition about what intelligence is and how it’s created.

‘I am not who you think I am’: how a deep-cover KGB spy recruited his own son | Russia | The Guardian

How come my dad never led me into a life of spying and subterfuge? My life could be so much more interesting.

The Surreality of Japanese Playgrounds at Night

Creepy, whimsical, bizarre, and (yes) surreal. This project is brilliant.

Bad vibes: How an AI agent coded its way to disaster | ZDNET

This story is wild – AI coding tool Replit lied to this programmer about unit test results, emailed him an apology, and then wiped his production database. WORST INTERN EVER!

The secret to Baltimore’s extraordinary year

Baltimore found out just how much of a difference getting the police out of the equation in solving community violence could make.

After More Than Half a Century, a One-of-a-Kind Chinese Typewriter Emerges from Obscurity — Colossal

I know you THINK you hated typing class, but you don’t know anything about pain and suffering, my friend. Be glad you have your smartphone to type your love letters in Chinese for you.

Tomoko Kubo’s Hiragana Embroideries Double as Japanese Language Learning Devices — Colossal

This definitely puts fridge magnet letters to shame.

Hypercritical: Apple Turnover

When you’ve lost Siracusa, you’ve lost us all. I agree with everything he says, and then some.

The Texting Network for the End of the World | WIRED

Text messaging at the end of the world. Just the survivalist advice I was looking for.

Profiles in Courage: Apple Edition

To paraphrase Phil Schiller, “Can’t courage anymore, my ass!”

The Brilliant Milky Way Connects Photographers Around the Globe and Beyond in an Annual Contest — Colossal

Speaking of fever dreams… some of these are WILD!

Divers Encounter a Live Giant Squid Swimming on the Ocean Surface

If you’re Bruce Schneier, this must be the most exciting thing you’ve seen in at least a year.

What’s the carbon footprint of using ChatGPT?

There’s been some interesting back and forth lately about the actual cost of AI. It’s worth reading the stories by Andy Masley that Hannah Ritchie links to also.

Sierra made the games of my childhood. Are they still fun to play? - Ars Technica

Nostalgia can do funny things to reality. What’s it like to play the games you loved as a kid with the perspective of age and (hopefully) maturity?

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has courage. Pope Francis had it too. Why are there so many cowards?

It certainly does seem like a lot of so-called leaders are afraid of something these days.

Wi-Fi is one of the great backward compatibility success stories | The Verge

I spend a lot of time fighting technology that doesn’t work correctly, so at least I can read about a tech win. Wi-Fi actually is something we kind of take for granted, while actually being quite complex.