Free for ALL Friday!
It's Free for All Friday!
It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
Behind the Curtain: The Scariest AI Reality
I am as ignorant as anyone about the future of artificial intelligence. But it's worth reading this very alarmist article from Axios -- which if anything is more conservative (philosophically, I mean; you can judge politics on your own) than many other media.
The wildest, scariest, indisputable truth about AI's large language models is that the companies building them don't know exactly why or how they work.
Sit with that for a moment. The most powerful companies, racing to build the most powerful superhuman intelligence capabilities — ones they readily admit occasionally go rogue to make things up, or even threaten their users — don't know why their machines do what they do.
Yet there's no sign that the government or companies or general public will demand any deeper understanding — or scrutiny — of building a technology with capabilities beyond human understanding. They're convinced the race to beat China to the most advanced LLMs warrants the risk of the Great Unknown.
The House, despite knowing so little about AI, tucked language into President Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" that would prohibit states and localities from any AI regulations for 10 years. The Senate is considering limitations on the provision.
Neither the AI companies nor Congress understands the power of AI a year from now, much less a decade from now.
A new report by AI researchers, including former OpenAI employees, called "AI 2027," explains how the Great Unknown could, in theory, turn catastrophic in less than two years. The report is long and often too technical for casual readers to fully grasp. It's wholly speculative, though built on current data about how fast the models are improving. It's being widely read inside the AI companies.
It captures the belief — or fear — that LLMs could one day think for themselves and start to act on their own. Our purpose isn't to alarm or sound doomy. Rather, you should know what the people building these models talk about incessantly.
I Have Terminal Cancer. This Is How I Broke the News to My Children.
I hope none of us ever has to face this, but we know statistically some will (or have). I love how she handled it, even though I hate that she had to.
After dinner one night recently, I told my 7-year-old son that I’m sick. He was in the middle of drawing a dinosaur. He looked up at me and announced confidently, “No, you’re not!”
I don’t look sick, which makes it confusing. I explained that I’ve been living with a disease called cancer for five years, and it happens when some cells in the body grow faster than normal. “I know all about cells!” he declared triumphantly. I told him no one caused it, he can’t catch it and that, regardless of what happens, I’ll love him forever.
He listened intently, then went back to drawing. He didn’t seem upset—a huge relief. But a few hours later, he asked incredulously, “So you’ve been sick since I was two?!”
No One Was Supposed to Leave Alive
Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration say they were tortured during their four months in CECOT.
One night in mid-May, some of the Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States to a prison in El Salvador tried to break the locks on their cells with metal rails from their beds. It was a futile gesture of rebellion; no one thought they could escape. Still, punishment was swift. For six consecutive days, the inmates were subjected to lengthy beatings, three inmates told me. On the last day, male guards brought in their female colleagues, who struck the naked prisoners as the male guards recorded videos on their phones and laughed. The female guards would count to 20 as they administered the beatings, and if the prisoners complained or cried out, they would start again.
When the government of El Salvador opened the prison complex known as CECOT in 2023, the country’s security minister said the inmates would only be able to get out “inside a coffin.” This promise has largely been kept.
What little is known about life in CECOT (the Spanish acronym for Terrorism Confinement Center) comes from the media tours staged by President Nayib Bukele, which show men crammed into cells with bare-metal bunkbeds stacked to the ceiling like human shelving.
On Friday, for the first time, a group of prisoners walked out of CECOT’s gates as free men.
They brought with them detailed accounts of beatings and harsh treatment.
Four former prisoners told me they were punched, kicked, and struck with clubs. They were cut off from contact with their families, deprived of legal help, and taunted by guards. All recalled days spent in a punishment cell known as “the island,” a dark room with no water where they slept on the floor. Those days, the only light they could see came from a dim lightbulb in the ceiling that illuminated a cross.
Trump Told Park Workers to Report Displays That ‘Disparage’ Americans. Here’s What They Flagged.
Descriptions and displays at scores of parks and historic sites have been flagged for review in connection with an executive order from President Trump.
At Cape Hatteras National Seashore in North Carolina, the Trump administration is set to review, and possibly remove or alter, signs about how climate change is causing sea levels to rise.
At Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, the administration will soon decide whether to take down exhibits on the brutality of slavery.
And at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in Florida, Trump officials are scrutinizing language about the imprisonment of Native Americans inside the Spanish stone fortress.
According to internal documents reviewed by The New York Times, employees of the National Park Service have flagged descriptions and displays at scores of parks and historic sites for review in connection with President Trump’s directive to remove or cover up materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans.”
The directive on national parks is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to promote a more positive view of the nation’s history.
“Our monuments should celebrate our founders and tell the story of what makes America great, not push woke talking points to please radical activists,” said Senator Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, a supporter.
America, Meet the Trump-Mamdani Voter
Yes, such a person exists. Should anyone be surprised?
Could they be real? New York City residents who supported Donald Trump, hero of the modern right, in last year’s presidential contest and Zohran Mamdani, great hope of the progressive left, in last month’s Democratic mayoral primary?
Let’s ask around.
“Trump and Zohran specifically? Gosh, I can’t think of a specific person,” says Alexa Avilés, a New York City Council member from Brooklyn who is, like Mamdani, a democratic socialist.
“I haven’t seen any data on that,” says Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist and a former aide to Mamdani opponent Andrew M. Cuomo who has become a critic of the former governor.
“I do not believe that the MAGAs in this borough flipped to Zohran,” says Donovan Richards Jr., the Queens borough president.
Except…
“They’re everywhere,” says Farihah Akhtar, senior lead organizer with the group CAAAV Voice, which primarily organizes working-class Asian New Yorkers in places like Chinatown and Astoria.
Nowhere or everywhere — which is it, New York?
The answer could be important. It might reveal where, and how, the ends of the current political spectrum can double back on each other. And talking to voters who see something appealing in both Trump and Mamdani — despite the fact that their policy ideas, ideological allies and general visions of how government should operate could not be more different — could produce insights into how candidates might make themselves audible to potential supporters on the opposite side of America’s vast political divide.
So let’s see if we can’t figure this out.
Everything You Need to Know About the True Origins of the Everything Bagel
The everything bagel is the only bagel I will eat. Actually, given my newfound and hardcore commitment to weight loss and all that, I don't have more than one a month or so. But there was a time when I ate a lot more. (Although: Everything but the Bagel seasoning is highly recommended.) Anyway, who knew they had such a rich history?
The everything bagel is the king of bagels. On this there should be no argument. In the same way that it combines all of the key bagel toppings—sesame and poppy seeds, dried garlic and onion, and coarse salt—it’s also a combination of ancient traditions and new fads, Eastern ingredients and Western techniques. With cream cheese and lox, it creates, more or less, the perfect bite.
Let’s be honest, it’s probably not possible to have “invented” the concept of putting several different existing bagel toppings on a bagel. In patent law there is something called the rule of “obviousness.” It states that something cannot be patented if a person with ordinary skill in a subject would naturally use the same idea to solve a problem. If there are five popular bagel toppings, it is fairly obvious to make a bagel with all of those ingredients. That’s not invention.
But there is one element of the everything bagel that is invention, and that’s the name. “Everything” is the accepted name for a fairly specific combination of toppings: It is not a “combo bagel” or a “spice-lover’s bagel” or, as the Canadians might call it, an “all-dressed bagel.” It is an everything bagel, and someone had to come up with that piece of clear, descriptive branding.
By his own and most other accounts, that person was David Gussin.
How Fast Can a 2,000-Pound Bison Chase You? Take This Wildlife Quiz.
While regular-looking people fiercely compete for tables on Resy and OpenTable, models and influencers say they can easily book entire days of meals and experiences on a different app.
It may be huge, but it can run a lot faster than you think. Test how much you know about staying safe around animals like bears, alligators and, yes, bison.
Bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet tall. How fast can they run?
(Clicking any of those links takes you to the actual 10-question wildlife quiz.)
A/i will never come close to being a God as the technocrats want us to believe. Hopefully in the near future it will turn on itself and commit suicide...the best thing that it can ever do.
I recall driving through Yellowstone Park (maybe about 12-13 years ago) in early June and coming across some Bison crossing the road. We stopped the car and I got out and tried to get close to the meandering beasts to take a few pics. I think I got about 50 feet away, took the pics and moved quickly back to the car. They just went on their merry way as if I didn't exist. Whew! I was too excited to understand the danger.
Wonderful mix of stories today, Bill - thank you!
The story about the mother with cancer made me weep while also bringing much admiration for her as a mother.
I flunked the wildlife quiz :>)