Martin Ruskov @mapto@qoto.org

Thank you to all the Virginia Indivisibles who visited DC to demand their senators get ICE Out For Good.

Wow! Once the Rhine, the Thames and the Seine were all tributaries of the same big river that flowed out where the English Channel is now!

It's called the Channel River:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_River

This river system began forming after catastrophic megafloods breached some ridges and formed the Dover Strait between roughly 450,000 and 180,000 years ago

During any glacial period since then, the sea level drops, Britain becomes connected to Europe, and the Channel River forms. Its most recent appearance was during the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago, when sea levels were about 130 meters lower than today.

Those megafloods were pretty wild, but that's a story for another day!

(hat-tip to @julesh)

“WA Senate passes bill barring masked law enforcement” https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-senate-passes-bill-barring-masked-law-enforcement/

The feds will sue if/when state enforces a law like this against them. But every state should pass such a law. The American Civil War II demands legislation like this from every state committed to fighting Republican Fascism.

When it comes to assigning texts for students, it’s hard to find the perfect balance

The post Reading’s Thin Line Between Difficult and Boring appeared first on Education Next.

@balkanika It’s understandable to feel frustrated with political leaders of the past having manoeuvred Europe into this conundrum, or with those of today remaining in the “comfort zone of cowardice and inaction”, as Nathalie Tocci wrote. But we should also ask what role we have to play in this – the kind of people on the liberal left who enjoy thoughtful European arthouse cinema, or indeed those who make it

Did you know that data protection should be part of your communication activities?

It might not be the flashiest part of your work, but it’s super important!

Use our practical checklist to ensure your work complies with EU data protection rules: https://link.europa.eu/dNq4jv

Using too much salt on sidewalks and driveways can harm local streams and drinking water.

An environmental scientist shares 3 easy tips to de-ice responsibly this winter:
https://theconversation.com/oversalting-your-sidewalk-or-driveway-harms-local-streams-and-potentially-even-your-drinking-water-3-tips-to-deice-responsibly-274353

Moms who resist can change history.

In Argentina, state terror inspired mothers to “became a potent force in resisting authoritarianism and ultimately restoring democracy,” according to a political scientist who lived through the dictatorship in her native country.

https://theconversation.com/how-government-killings-and-kidnappings-in-argentina-drove-mothers-to-resist-and-revolt-and-eventually-win-273440

A phrase for why so much AI art looks the same: cultural stagnation.

Creativity gets flattened into polished sameness when machines optimize for what’s familiar.
https://theconversation.com/ai-induced-cultural-stagnation-is-no-longer-speculation-its-already-happening-272488

HRANA – At least 150 women detained in connection with the nationwide protests, most of whom are female students, have been transferred to the political ward of Adelabad Prison in Shiraz, a ward that lacks the capacity and facilities to accommodate this number of prisoners. Based on information received by HRANA, the majority of these […]

Reza Pahlavi, son of the last shah of Iran, has had his profile been elevated during the recent anti-government protests. https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-reza-pahlavi-iranian-opposition-leader-or-opportunist-273423

We publish articles written by experts because of the web of knowledge “knotted together by visible signals of trust, such as degrees, publications, affiliations and accreditations.”

But public trust in science is fracturing along party lines: https://buff.ly/LmPVZGr

@TheConversationUS well, with BigTech aligned with Trump and providing the infrastructure to practically any big organisation worldwide, attacks do not have to use exploits at all. Think about what happened to the International Criminal Court.

"The bottom line is that like generative AI itself, agentic AI is both impossible and inevitable at the same time. There may not be a specific annum that will be looked back upon as “the year of the agent.” But hallucinations or not, every year from now on is going to be “the year of more agents,” as the delta between guardrails and hallucinations narrows. The industry has too much at stake not to make this happen. The tasks that agents perform will always require some degree of verification—and of course people will get sloppy and we’ll suffer small and large disasters—but eventually agents will match or surpass the reliability of human beings, while being faster and cheaper.

At that point, some bigger questions arise. One person I contacted to discuss the hallucination paper was computer pioneer Alan Kay, who is friendly with Sikka. His view is that “their argument was posed well enough to get comments from real computational theorists.” (A statement reminiscent of his 1984 take on the Macintosh as “the first personal computer good enough to be criticized.”) But ultimately, he says, the mathematical question is beside the point. Instead, he suggests people consider the issue in light of Marshall McLuhan’s famous “Medium is the message” dictum. “Don’t ask whether something is good or bad, right or wrong,” he paraphrases. “Find out what is going on.”

Here’s what’s going on: We may well be on the cusp of a massive automation of human cognitive activity. It’s an open question whether this will improve the quality of our work and our lives. I suspect that the ultimate assessment of that will not be mathematically verifiable."

https://www.wired.com/story/ai-agents-math-doesnt-add-up/

#AI #GenerativeAI #AIAgents #AgenticAI #Hallucinations

Gamers, rise up 🎮 Looking to attend #GDC2026? You can get a 10% discount with EFF's code! https://www.eff.org/event/eff-gdc-festival-gaming

HRANA – A special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was held on January 23, 2026  at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva. The session was specifically dedicated to examining the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the widespread suppression of the nationwide January protests. During the meeting, a […]

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