Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Marathon and the Metaverse
This week, we discuss unfortunately checking Twitter for news, the closure of the metaverse, and being vulnerable in Marathon.
The Abstract
A Breakthrough Prehistoric Discovery May Rewrite Early Human History
More than 100 artifacts on Turkey’s Aegean coast hints that humans and Neanderthals may have crossed a vanished bridge now submerged beneath the sea.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: Debriefing on Two Trips
This week, we discuss San Diego and Costa Rica reporting trips.
News
Contractor Used Classified CIA Systems as ‘His Own Personal Google’
Dale Britt Bendler “earned approximately $360,000 in private client fees while also working as a full-time CIA contractor with daily access to highly classified material that he searched like it was his own personal Google,” according to a court record.
News
Union Warns Professors About Posting In the ‘Current Climate’
Academic workers are re-thinking how they live and work online after some have been fired for criticizing Charlie Kirk following his death.
News
Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books
It’s a trippy time to have a library card.
News
Russian State TV Launches AI-Generated News Satire Show
An AI-generated show on Russian TV includes Trump singing obnoxious songs and talking about golden toilets.
Podcast
Podcast: The (Hacked) Spy In Your Car
A massive hack of a popular dashcam company; the sentencing of someone Sam has covered for years; and the mass firings around Charlie Kirk's assassination.
News
DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing
Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the Trump administration’s promise to go after the “radical left” a study showing most domestic terrorism is far-right was disappeared.
porn
Michigan Lawmakers Are Attempting to Ban Porn Entirely
The "Anticorruption of Public Morals Act" proposes a total ban on porn in the state, and also targets the existence of trans people online, content like erotic ASMR, and selling VPNs in the state.
News
ChatGPT Will Guess Your Age and Might Require ID for Age Verification
OpenAI introduces new age prediction and verification methods after wave of teen suicide stories involving chatbots.
Tariffs
$2,000 Shipping: International Sellers Charge Absurd Prices to Avoid Dealing With American Tariffs
Some sellers on eBay and Etsy have jacked up their shipping costs so American buyers won't buy their products.
News
AI-Powered Animal Crossing Villagers Begin Organizing Against Tom Nook
An LLM breathed new life into 'Animal Crossing' and made the villagers rise up against their landlord.