Smoke and Mirrors

Where There's Fire, There's Smoke

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. The opposite is also true. That’s particularly bad news for frontline firefighters who can spend hundreds if not thousands of hours sucking in poisonous particles, which adds a potentially deadly long term risk to the short term risk they’re taking in the line of fire. And believe it or not, until recently, many of these firefighters weren’t even allowed to wear face masks. In the NYT (Gift Article) Hannah Dreier and Eli Murray cut through the smokescreen to investigate something the Forest Service hasn’t, by measuring just how hazardous the air near fires can get. The answer won’t surprise anyone in the La Grande Hotshots firefighting crew. “One longtime member died last year after being diagnosed at 40 with brain cancer. A former crew leader is being treated for both leukemia and lymphoma diagnosed in his 40s. Another colleague was recently told that he has the lungs of a lifelong chain-smoker.” Inside the Poisonous Smoke Killing Wildfire Fighters at Young Ages.

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For All In Tents

“To glimpse the future of homelessness policy in the age of President Trump, consider 16 acres of scrubby pasture on the outskirts of Salt Lake City where the state plans to place as many as 1,300 homeless people in what supporters call a services campus and critics deem a detention camp ... While the Utah effort began before Mr. Trump’s return to office, it mirrors his pledge to move the homeless from urban cores to ‘tent cities’ with services.” NYT (Gift Article): In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape.

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Center Stage

“The building, a large warehouse, was surrounded by a thick fence and dotted at regular intervals with security cameras. I went through a turnstile, where I was greeted by a security guard wearing a bulletproof vest and a holstered Taser. After surrendering my phone, I took two lime-green earplugs from a dispenser and entered the facility.” The New Yorker’s Stephen Witt enters one of the buildings that is driving a massive part of the American economy. Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid. “A data center, which can use as much electricity as Philadelphia, is the new American factory, creating the future and propping up the economy. How long can this last?” (And will this form of computing, like many before it, shrink in size. Will you eventually be able to fit a data center in your pocket? Or are you just happy to see me...)

+ You’ve gotta give Witt some credit for actually getting inside a couple data centers. Most people only see them from the outside, and often can’t even find out who’s running them. How NDAs keep AI data center details hidden from Americans. (Big tech demands you share everything about yourself but shares very little in return.)

+ How big is this business? Nvidia becomes first $5 trillion company in history.

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Need a Lift?

WSJ (Gift Article): Why Tech Bros Are Getting Face-Lifts Now. “Factors at play: Ozempic, the pandemic and the pressure to remain youthful-looking in a competitive job market.” (One other factor: Working remotely, we all got a good look at ourselves on Zoom. That’s when I confirmed that I have a face for newsletters.)

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Extra, Extra

Islands in the Stream: “Melissa made landfall Tuesday in Jamaica as a catastrophic Category 5 storm with top winds of 185 mph, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record, before moving onto Cuba. But even countries outside the direct path of the massive storm, like Haiti and the Dominican Republic, felt its devastating impact.” The strongest storm ever to hit Jamaica is moving onto to other places, with deadly results. Here’s the latest from AP, BBC, and NBC. And here are some photos from Jamaica.

+ Volunteer Jerker: Considering all the science-related cuts and the government shutdown, how is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeping tabs on Melissa? Answer: Volunteers. Volunteers Step In to Help Understaffed NOAA Track Hurricane Melissa. Meanwhile, the government shutdown could cost U.S. economy up to $14 billion.

+ Arc de Triumph the Comic Insult Dog: Trump fires federal arts board in charge of reviewing White House ballroom and ‘Arc de Trump.’ (The arc of history is bends toward just plain ugly.)

+ This Might Be of Interest: “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its second straight interest rate cut, a widely expected move that came despite little recent visibility on the economy due to the government shutdown.”

+ Grok of Shit: “Grokipedia is the brainchild of Elon Musk and his startup xAI, and the billionaire is promoting it as a supposedly less woke and less biased version of Wikipedia. Musk’s goal? ‘The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.’” Grokipedia is racist, transphobic, and loves Elon Musk.

+ Virtual and Valor: “A new kind of star is being created in South Korea, the cradle of global K-pop sensations such as BTS and Blackpink. Virtual idols — once niche subcultures of chronically online teenagers and twentysomethings steeped in anime and video games — are surging into the mainstream.” The metaverse is rewriting the rules of who can be a K-pop star. (Or put another way: I’ve been doing pilates three times a week for nothing.)

+ We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Backend: “’I cannot be flawless and perfect like an AI model that is created to be [that way],’ says performer Victoria Peaks.” OpenAI’s embrace of ‘erotica’ is causing ripples in the p-rn world. (And you think we need a lot of data centers now?)

+ In Other News... Sometimes headlines that would have shocked us in other eras just seem ho hum in 2025. Examples: Japan to Send Troops to Help Stop Bear Attacks. And... Monkeys escape from overturned truck on Mississippi highway.

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Bottom of the News

“There was a disconnect, I noticed, between the speculative musings about what might be possible in a technologically enhanced future and the banal exigencies of living in a semi-communal environment. Who could arrange for a grocery store run? What were the social activities planned for the evening? Where was the trash room, and could people please remember to clean the shared kitchen? Even this futuristic city could not avoid the realities of humans cohabitating, and I started to feel that I was bunking in a college dormitory. One evening, someone got stung by a scorpion, and medical care had to be sought outside Próspera, which didn’t have a doctor who could treat it.” The Island Where People Go to Cheat Death.

+ “Skijoring is a high-adrenaline, low-temperature sport that involves a horse and its rider pulling a skier through a snow-packed obstacle course at full speed.” (I hadn’t heard of this until five minutes ago and I already know it’s my worst sport.)