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When I woke up this morning, the last thing I wanted to do was cheat on my laptop. She accepts me, never complains that I bring her everywhere or that I still type with two fingers, and she never tells anyone where she hides my folder of inappropriate links. That’s what I wrote the morning that the first iPad came out, in a syndicated (and disturbingly honest) piece, I Kissed an iPad and I Liked It. This was back when the only question about new technology products was how much we’d love them. Times and technologies have changed. These days, people seem more likely to rage against the latest machine. We’re seeing that rage most clearly in the bipartisan resistance to data centers, but the contempt is a lot more widespread than that. Our opinions about tech have changed, even though some of the tech we’re maddest about has been around for a while. That includes data centers. The Verge (Gift Article) provides a detailed look at the changing landscape, and the changing opinions, in Loudoun County, Virginia, where the future of data centers arrived 20 years ago. Is This the Future of America? In terms of data center sprawl, tech company gall, and public appall, the answer might be yes.
+ We’ve also been seeing nonstop stories about the anger at Flock surveillance cameras. But like data centers, these cameras aren’t new. “Labeling the anger at Flock as a reaction to ever-present surveillance in contemporary society seems accurate, but this doesn’t explain why it’s happening right now.” David A. Graham in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Why the Flock Backlash Has Gotten So Intense. “The Flock backlash fits into a broader moment of anger—at corporations in general, and at tech companies and artificial intelligence in particular.”
+ “When New York City public schoolchildren return to the classroom next week, younger students will be barred from using artificial intelligence. No individual screens will be allowed until third grade. And teachers will not be able to ask A.I. to grade assignments.” And many parents in NYC are complaining because they think the restrictions don’t go far enough. NYT (Gift Article): A.I. Is to Be Banned in N.Y.C. Elementary and Middle Schools.
+ Today, the SF Gate has a story about an army of stylists helping San Francisco tech workers dress for dates. But it’s going to take a lot more than a new set of clothes to change the current perception of our tech emperors. Part of it is their size and power (which I covered earlier this week in Wiped Off the Map), part of it is their current set of leaders, part of it is the damage they’ve done to democracy and decency, and part of it is that an industry that once felt like it was on our side is consistently letting us down. I mean, do I need to draw you a map? OK, I will: Apple changes Lake Ontario name to ‘Lake America.’ Think this is disgusting for you? I once made out with this company...
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Boom Box
We never really know exactly how the El Niño weather pattern will affect us or where exactly its impact will be felt. But we know something is coming, somewhere. And it could be big. Like, really big. The Atlantic (Gift Article): This El Niño Will Be Unlike Any in the Past Eight Decades. “In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, along the equator, scientists have drawn a box. It’s a big box, two-thirds the size of China, yet hardly anyone lives inside it. This rectangular swath of open ocean is monitored by satellites and a network of moored buoys that measure minute changes in the temperature of the water, with an eye toward anomalies ... Right now, it’s hot in the box.”
+ Ars Technica: El Niño is now stronger than at any point in the last 1,000 years, study finds.
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Cease Desisted
The ceasefire in Iran has ceased once again. “Iran fired on U.S. allies in the Gulf early Wednesday following a night of American bombardment that Iranian officials say included a deadly strike on a wedding party.” The exchange was part of a renewed buildup of fighting over the past week. Here’s the latest from APand The Guardian.
+ “Day and night, 5,000 hulking trucks carrying oil from the Persian Gulf rumble across this stretch of barren desert as if in a caravan snaking its way toward the Mediterranean Sea.” Syria, eyeing role as Middle East hub, offers options to bypass Hormuz. It says something that driving oil on a crowded road through Syria is now considered the safest route. That said, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, more oil flowed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday than since before the Iran war.
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There Wasn’t a Dry Eye in the House
“When a ferocious torrent of water, mud and debris swept away everything in its path in Nepal last week, it created a whirlpool of destruction around the Pyakurel family home in Dhunge Bazaar. A video spread far and wide on social media, showing the family helplessly looking down from their third-floor balcony at the angry deluge slamming against their home, the waves trying to lap them up. But the house stood firm.” (Even if it had the worst view imaginable.) NYT (Gift Article): The ‘Miracle House’ That Survived Nepal’s Floods.
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Extra, Extra
Giving Them the Slip: “In cases on immigration, spending, mass firings and restructuring agencies, the administration has barreled ahead in the face of slow-moving legal challenges. If Mr. Trump loses when those lawsuits are finally resolved, it may be too late as a practical matter to undo what he has achieved.” (Achieved isn’t the word I’d have chosen.) Trump’s ‘Lightning Speed’ Outpaces the Courts.
+ Voices Carry: “The latest suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, opens up a new legal front against Suno, focusing not on copyright but on what the plaintiffs say is an unlawful imitation of the personal styles and voices of specific artists. According to the musicians’ complaint, Suno ‘encoded musicians’ identities into its A.I. model to create its commercial product without consent, and now exploits those identities by publicly using musicians’ names to Suno’s considerable commercial benefit.’” Musicians Sue A.I. Music Company for Imitating Their Voices.
+ Deadlocked Box: In a much-watched case, “jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial were sent back for a fifth day of deliberations on Wednesday after they issued a deadlock note to the judge on Tuesday.”
+ La... La... Land: “The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier arrived Wednesday at a port in eastern Thailand, where thousands of U.S. sailors and Marines are disembarking for the first time in more than 280 days after a record-setting deployment in the Middle East.”
+ Enemy Within: How is Pete Hegseth responding the concerns about all his firings? With more firings. “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or blocked the promotions of more than 80 generals and admirals, a purge that has hit about 10 percent of the military’s top officers and shows no signs of slowing.” If you missed it yesterday, here’s more on the Kaboom Bust