https://support.google.com/a/answer/15400543?visit_id=638725492563981009-404877346&p=gemini_update_business&rd=1#zippy=%2Chow-does-this-transition-affect-nonprofit-organizations

At some point it might make sense for a family to pay for Google Workspace. I think my legacy Google Apps won’t get Gemini Advanced sadly.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/why-greenland

I’m not sure Trumpian logic exists but this is a decent exercise. Trump is, at heart, a property and land guy and he understands very well how to distract the media. He likely has some whacko we’ve never heard of babbling to him about Canada and Greenland as refuges once the world melts.

https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2025/01/whats-an-h-1b-visa/

It has all happened before. He predicts the program will grow again.

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/supermassive-black-hole-caught-turning-on/

We get to watch as, a few hundred million years ago, a black hole ate something big and sent out a jet of materials. (A thousand civilizations died of course).

https://openai.com/global-affairs/openais-economic-blueprint/

I asked Claude to summarize the 15 page document and I summarize Claude:

1. If you don’t back us China gets the money.
2. We will put our hubs in Trump states.
3. Federal money for AI infrastructure

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/14/smith-special-counsel-report-vol-1

Most of us didn’t think America was as broken as it was. We thought the GOP would turn from Trump. America is far more broken than we realized.

https://thenewstack.io/the-configuration-crisis-and-developer-dependency-on-ai/

Resolving complexity is expensive and often unprofitable. Easier to leave it the AI, but then the AI becomes essential.

https://www.startribune.com/centurylink-landline-outages-twin-cities-under-fire-copper-theft/601204175?kwp_0=2443396&kwp_4=6813103&kwp_1=2897572

Another day in the Age of Chaos. The copper theft here is dystopian, but CenturyLink is also happy to dump the regulatory burden of money-losing copper wires. We lost service weeks ago and are moving legacy landline to voip.ms.

“About a third of Minnesota households still have landline service, though as of 2020 only about 5% relied on it exclusively”

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/this-is-the-contrarian

“Not Owned by Anybody”

“His insane pronouncements … cannot be ignored or treated as hyperbole”

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/a-contrarian-take-on-volume-one-of

The greatest failure of American governance since the internment of Japanese-Americans.

“It’s important to bear the Supreme Court’s culpability in mind as we prepare to defend our democracy”

And the GOP.

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/on-meeting-the-autocratic-moment

At this time RSS is full feed and free

https://contrarian.substack.com/p/i-have-resigned-from-the-washington

The best of WaPo and others that have fallen to the oligarchs. RSS works.

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-13-2025

We need micropayments but this may be where to send your WaPo subscription money. HCR post has details of how GOP plans to force their agenda.

https://gizmodo.com/longevity-obsessed-tech-millionaire-discontinues-de-aging-drug-out-of-concerns-that-it-aged-him-2000549377

Taking multiple random experimental meds at once is sure to go well.

https://www.twincities.com/2025/01/12/real-world-economics-steeling-ourselves-for-a-changing-industry/

First of a two part explainer. RSS ducks paywall.

https://gizmodo.com/technology-is-supposed-to-decrease-teacher-burnout-it-can-sometimes-make-it-worse-2000548989

About as good research as we will get. Typically old requirements persist so it is a new set of hassles.

https://gizmodo.com/the-best-obesity-drugs-arent-even-here-yet-2000547636

Semaglutide cost will fall quickly. Longer term outcome data is of interest.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/12/magazine/chronic-pain.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ok4.R36E.qUv9z1Er0wUf&smid=url-share

I think helpful. Mentions CB-1 cannabinoid. Mixes idiopathic (her disorder) and secondary (OA, spine).

Most chronic pain is thought to be in the head, specifically in the brain where all pain lives. A kind of cortical malfunction.

https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/breakthrough-in-osteoarthritis-research-nav17-sodium-channels-unveiled-as-potential-game-changer/

Mouse study: “drugs that block Nav1.7 channels, including carbamazepine … provides substantial protection from joint damage and associated pain in the two models”

Very interesting but many mouse things don’t work in humans. Main appeal is we already use this drug – but it has many side-effects.

https://restofworld.org/2025/starlink-cheaper-internet-africa/

Not including $180-$380 kit.

https://gizmodo.com/yellowstones-legendary-queen-of-the-wolves-killed-by-rival-pack-2000546876

Damn. I didn’t realize wolves were so shortlived.

https://gizmodo.com/google-researchers-can-create-an-ai-that-thinks-a-lot-like-you-after-just-a-two-hour-interview-2000547704

Based on Google research project. Iain Banks “Culture” series explored this topic in several books that wear the guise of mere entertainment.

https://orbitbymozilla.com/

I want this for Safari. I’ve done the copy/paste-to-Claude and I have been happy with the results.

Useful for long articles, often with human-interest threads, that I would otherwise skip. If the digest is promising I will scan the article.

https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/new-antiviral-target-host-side

Years away unless need becomes desperate.

https://oecdecoscope.blog/2021/12/13/finlands-zero-homeless-strategy-lessons-from-a-success-story/

“building new flats by a government agency” Government built and managed apartments -> public housing is the only thing shown to work.

“Social services provide housing before other interventions that are targeted to beneficiaries’ needs”

health care?

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-real-threat-of-fake-numbers

Trump will fire civil servants until they give him the numbers he wants.

https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/prophecies-of-the-flood

I had hoped for more of a pause

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/09/airpods-pro-beeps-and-bops

We all throw up our hands at Apple’s reluctance to document anything.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/health/fluoride-children-iq.html

This type of study is hard to interpret but they claim a dose-response curve. I’d want to see animal study data.

“For every one part per million increase in fluoride in urinary samples, which reflect total exposures from water and other sources, I.Q. points in children decreased by 1.63”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/greenland-panama-canada-none-of-that-is-going-to-happen

Or by the time it happens all resistors are in camps. We will get lots of warnings beforehand.

“This ain’t our first rodeo. We’ve been here before and we should know that.”

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2025/01/08/rss-cache-control/

Via Tsai. Damn. I hope they fix this.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-economics-that-define-social-media

“Providing everyone with bandwidth and software keeps expense growth arithmetic. But if you try to exert any control over how it’s used then expenses become exponential too”

I had not thought of that. AI might change the cost equation?

https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/08/bing-google-masquerade

“It’s an exquisite dirty trick, and I’ll bet it actually works remarkably well”

This is nostalgic for those who remember 90s Microsoft. By modern culture standards it is kind of sweet.

https://eclecticlight.co/2025/01/09/why-use-apfs/

Synology TM uses sparse image, often HFS+. I think mitigates fragmentation problem. But eventually need to wipe and redo. Backup fails.

https://thenewstack.io/why-every-python-dev-needs-virtual-environments-now/

Even if you use an IDE with env support this helps understanding.

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/01/08/on-the-depressing-doings-of-trillion-dollar-companies-january-2025-edition/

Corruption disables nations.

https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/h5n1-update-january-7

Happily COVID left us with a much improved public health system. (Oh, wait, that’s on Earth-2)

“H5N1 is something to watch, but don’t let it take up too much headspace yet”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/health/hmpv-virus-china.html

The article doesn’t say why the virus is spreading more now. Often we don’t know. Probably common here but we don’t test for it. Nobody trusts China however.

https://hechingerreport.org/the-impact-of-this-is-economic-decline/

College tuition falling, many closing, international students down, fewer seek college.

“The proportion of high school graduates who are Hispanic, nationwide, is expected to rise from 26 percent to 36 percent by 2041”

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/477085/contacts-app-misbehaving-in-sequoia-on-m1-imac

I have the same problem except I can’t change any Contact List relationships. I’m going to try the latest macOS (secret) update and if that doesn’t work it sounds like we need to rebuild the Contacts database from iCloud. (May be related to my migration from Monterey)

Pinboard (jgordon) https://jabberwocking.com/yeah-america-can-still-build-stuff/

I am sure he is wrong about government software. Still, it is a good counterpoint to Noah et al.

Jan 6 is the day the music died.

from Pinboard (jgordon) https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/my-extremely-brief-take-on-january
via IFTTT

This is so familiar to anyone who has worked on pedestrian safety, bicycle paths and the like. It is, sadly, very true about climate change mitigation.

A loved one with a cognitive disability reacts to any new thing with NO. (It can take him 1-2 days to process, when left alone he may quietly change his mind.) I have learned that many of his traits are far more common that I once thought.

from Pinboard (jgordon) https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/lessons-from-new-yorks-congestion
via IFTTT

AI energy use is not a good hill to die on.

from Pinboard (jgordon) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54271-x#ref-CR21
via IFTTT