Children ‘trying to zoom in on pages’ as survey finds third of new pupils unable to use books

Nearly a third of children cannot use books when they start school, with some even trying to swipe and zoom on the pages, a survey from Kindred Squared has shown 👇 #BookSky

Some U.S. parents are forming networks to opt out of school-issued devices and return to physical textbooks and handwriting — reflecting what the article describes as a growing backlash to digital technology in education.

2 students struck near Boston schools within a week, sparking calls for action Two students and a cyclist were struck by cars outside Boston schools within just the last week, according to principal emails sent to parents.

“It’s not a coincidence anymore, it’s a pattern and something needs to be done."

Traffic violence is a policy choice.

Also interesting to see anti-bike lane Ed Flynn quoted here.

We should be learning from other countries...

Build the Wolverine for Hourly Service YouTube video by High Speed Rail Alliance

Imagine how incredible it would be to be able to board a train every hour from Chicago to head to Detroit, New Buffalo, Ann Arbor or Kalamazoo.

It'd be a win for Chicagoans and Michiganders, increasing business and tourism, and reducing traffic!

What he says…

Trump’s Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate

Normal stuff here, very normal:

"As the president threatens to wipe out Iran and attacks the pope, even some former allies and advisers are questioning whether he has grown increasingly unbalanced, describing him as 'lunatic' and 'clearly insane'..."

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/13/u...

If you’re interested in why it’s so hard to achieve better cities, listen to (and share) this. It was a turning point for me…a culmination of years of increasing determination to call out lies and disinformation, and the beginning of a thought process that eventually lead to @urbantruth.bsky.social.

But the connection between the idea of transhumanism and the racist and eugenicist roots and backbone of "AI" has been made crystal clear in @timnitgebru.blacksky.app and @xriskology.bsky.social 's paper

firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...

>>

I'm on Team Human. You should be too!

I had the experience of being cited in a publication, and the paper credited to me was a hallucination. I told the author, they blamed their co-author and then ghosted me, and no response at all from the journal. Some people don't care as long as they get published...

“The private motor vehicle is the most health-harming mode of personal transportation, both individually and societally. It is also inequitable, particularly within our cities and towns..”

Truth Bombs via @sflkirk.bsky.social

h/t @urbantruth.bsky.social

I completely agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene is a sentence I never thought I would ever write.

See, Wyden can just *say* it

Brute force has taken on a new meaning in the current AI hype cycle

This is what gets me in my department. Some filmmaking students are being taught to use technology that will replace the jobs their classmates hope to get—not to mention their colleagues in other areas of the university that intersect with filmmaking. (1/3)

With the Artemis II Mission, the Lunar Land Grab Begins | The Walrus The moon once belonged to everyone. Soon it will belong to the rich

Thanks for these links. This line from the article below stuck with me: "in space, it seems, there are abundant opportunities to make the same mistakes again"

‘A fundamental realisation is that shared values and principles must guide us (e.g., scientific integrity, sustainability, diversity, digital sovereignty, and democracy).’

#GenAI #AIliteracy #speirgorm #spéirgorm #speirghorm

“A street car passenger requires an average of only six square feet of street space; an automobile passenger requires eight times as much.”

Also true of research in general, where serendipity is often the source of discovery

A Year After DOGE Cuts, GSA Now Plans to Hire Hundreds of Employees The General Services Administration is hiring “approximately 400 positions,” according to an internal email viewed by WIRED. Last year the agency lost thousands of workers as part of DOGE’s rampage.

NEW: A year after major DOGE cuts, GSA plans to rehire hundreds of employees.

Because nothing says full, determined dismantling of the federal government like admitting you were so very wrong.

NASA's Blue Marble picture of Earth, from 1972

It's only worth going back to the Moon if it makes us look properly again at Earth, and appreciate how beautiful, precious and fragile what we have here is. The most famous images from Apollo aren't about the Moon - they're pictures of Earth. We need to stop taking our home for granted.

Shorter Anthropic: IP protections for me, not for thee.

April Fools is everyday when you're using the AI-LLM.

I Asked ChatGPT What WIRED’s Reviewers Recommend. Its Answers Were All Wrong Want to know what our reviewers have actually tested and picked as the best TVs, headphones, and laptops? Ask ChatGPT, and it'll give you the wrong answers.

"One aspect of generative AI that has not changed over the past few years is just how confidently wrong a chatbot can be in its answers." @thiccreese.bsky.social
www.wired.com/story/i-aske...

Guardrails are a scam!

“We have also continued to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians.”

It's impossible cos that's full blown cognition: either the lie is the automation (instead indentured labour is used) or they're fully fibbing.

1/

Awesome. AI uses past data that reflects countless prejudices and racist practices. As Cathy O'Neil says, algorithms "automate the status quo." Sounds like such amazing progress to me. Sigh.

Everything in here is 100% right (except the description of Wurman as a "legal historian." He's no historian and he's barely a lawyer at this point)

It can be eliminated, though it's way easier if you just never went there in the first place, like me.

It's so much worse because schools are handing them their first cigarette and saying you need to use this.