I wrote an app that implements Inbound RSS for WordPress sites. Three months ago, a few little glitches but remarkably reliable. Open source. That's how I have scripting.com output hooked up to daveverse.org input. It stopped working this morning, not sure why. This is actually a test to see if this works. (Postscript: It did work. But I have two earlier posts today that did not get through.) #

Automattic shipped a WordPress plugin that adds a source:markdown element to a WordPress feed. This is very cool. We've added this to the feed for daveverse site. #

We need a short name for ChatGPT-like product. If I want to make a general statement about products in the category, there is, as far as I know, no word to use. Same with Twitter and tweet, so I call them twitter-like products and use tweet for posts to any twitter-like product. The whole idea of a different name (like toot, skeet) for each service is linguistic travesty. Anyway, ChatGPT-like is also an unacceptable term. If it had a fun name like OurMind -- then OurMind-like would work. If only William Safire were here. #

Interesting post on Twitter by an OpenAI co-founder, Andrej Karpathy, about the value of RSS. I've seen it said elsewhere, that RSS and ChatGPT are particularly well-suited for each other. I don't understand the connection, other than RSS is always useful, as a way of formalizing the output of an app so other apps can use it as input. Another thing AI apps have in common with work we've done in the past is the ability to script apps, which was one of the big features of Frontier esp on the Mac starting in the early 90s. This started out just for desktop apps but worked just as well for web apps, once that opportunity became available. I felt strongly that the Mac with it's very functional GUI could benefit from a powerful system-level scripting language with the UI objects being scriptable, and the data of the apps accessible via script. That kind of duality is still a common theme in computer work, I'm doing the same kind of thing with WordPress, as the OS for the web, and making it possible to create different UIs in ways that earlier social web apps can't. I think that functionality as with the others will pair very nicely with ChatGPT and its cousins. #

Screen shot of system.verbs.apps as it appeared in my frontier.root frozen sometime in the early 00s. I wrote a quick Mastodon post about this. So many stories to tell about each of these projects. Looking at the list and realize we got all those people to work together. They don't talk about that when the write the history, but that is the real accomplishment. There is so much really good tech that ends up lost to history because people wouldn't open their eyes and see that they weren't alone. That might be the biggest flaw in the design of our species, that it's so rare that we get together on the way things should work. Other examples -- MP3, QuickDraw, HTML. And so much time wasted replacing things that already worked fine. (Think of all the programming languages invented in the last 20 years. What a waste of resources. No doubt the AI's have already created a meta-language to compile all that code into. If they could think, what would they think of us for not paying attention to each other.) #

1996: Nerd's Guide to Frontier. #

for developers who don't use ai -- here's the kind of question i ask chatgpt. "i have a div that contains icons that are either svg's or font-awesome i's. if it were text, i'd use font-size to control the size of the icons, which won't work here. what's the right way to do it?" #

SEATTLE - Just a week removed from a Super Bowl victory for the hometown Seattle Seahawks, the energy inside Lumen Field for a Valentine's Day visit to the Emerald City featured a heightened sense of energy and excitement for Round 6 of the 2026 Monster Energy SMX World Championship. The incredible atmosphere encapsulated the most action-packed night yet in the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship, where the always challenging Seattle track conditions became a central player in the battle for victory. After a grueling 20 Minutes + 1 Lap Main Event, it was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Eli Tomac who prevailed with his third victory of the season, wrestling the lead away from Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Cooper Webb before soldiering home to a bounce-back win following an adversity plagued outing last weekend.

 

• 450SMX Class Results - Seattle
• Western Divisional 250SMX Class Results - Seattle

 

Eli Tomac Prevails for Third Monster Energy Supercross Victory of the Season Following Grueling Battle in Seattle

 

The 450SMX Class Main Event got underway with Webb leading the way for the holeshot as Tomac and his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Aaron Plessinger gave chase ahead of season race winners Chase Sexton (fifth) and Ken Roczen (sixth), as well as championship leader Hunter Lawrence (seventh). Webb was able to assert his hold of the lead while Tomac eventually settled into second and Roczen into third aboard his Progressive Insurance Cycle Gear Suzuki. It wasn't long before the lead trio settled in on the soft, rutted, technical conditions and established a significant lead over the rest of the field. Tomac chipped away at the deficit and applied pressure for the lead as the race passed halfway. He made a quick and decisive move around Webb to seize control of the race and opened a multi-second lead. Lapped riders allowed Webb to close back within a second, but Tomac extended the lead once again to effectively end the threat. Behind them, Roczen's hold of third came under fire from Lawrence, who overcame an early miscue to climb from seventh to fourth aboard his Honda HRC Progressive machine. Lawrence was the faster rider and was in position to take third until he went too aggressive in the track's sand section, collided with last week's winner, and took both riders to the ground. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Justin Cooper rode by to assume third as Lawrence remounted in fourth and Roczen continued well back in ninth.

 
Tomac navigated the deteriorating conditions to perfection and took his 56th career win by 9.2 seconds over Webb, who grabbed a third straight podium in second. Cooper landed on the podium for the first time this season in third. Lawrence recovered to finish fourth, while Sexton rounded out the top five aboard his Monster Energy Kawasaki. Roczen got the worst of the exchange with Lawrence and finished a season-low 10th, a net-loss of seven positions.
 

Lawrence's finish proved significant in the championship standings as he maintained control of the lead by a single point over Tomac. Roczen and Webb now sit tied for third, 11 points behind Lawrence.

 

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Eli Tomac battled through the most demanding track conditions of the season to capture his third win of the championship campaign. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Eli Tomac - 1st Place - 450SMX Class:

"Seattle was the usual. It's a tough track to really get a hold of and get comfortable on. I saved the best for last of course. I had my best start and my best ride there [in the Main Event]. I cleaned up some lines, did some different jump combinations. Just typical Seattle. One of the toughest we have all year. Glad to conquer it."

 

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Cooper Webb (1) led half of the Main Event and ultimately settled for a third straight podium finish. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Cooper Webb - 2nd Place - 450SMX Class:

"Overall, it was fun, with a side of sketch. The track was really gnarly. It's always gnarly here, but this [track] with still having to hit the rhythms [sections], they're pretty big. It was brutal. Obviously, Eli [Tomac] picked up on a good line and kept doing it and got past me. I tightened up for sure with a little arm pump, but it is what it is. At the end of the day, I can't be hitting whoops like that and expect to win. We'll get back to work."

 

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Justin Cooper kept digging and was rewarded with his first podium result of the season. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Justin Cooper - 3rd Place - 450SMX Class:

"It's just Seattle. This track was absolutely gnarly. With 20 [minutes] plus 1 [lap] out there with these 450s, it gets really demanding. I just put together solid laps and got a little gift from [Lawrence and Roczen]. Sometimes you've got to stay in it and that's what we did tonight. Really pumped to get back on the box."

 

450SMX Class Podium (left to right): Cooper Webb, Eli Tomac, and Justin Cooper. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Honda HRC Progressive's Hunter Lawrence bounced back from a crash during a battle for third to finish fourth and keep hold of the red plate. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Hunter Lawrence - 4th Place - 450SMX Class:

"[My race] started with wheel spin off the start. I just didn't get myself good track position. I was coming through and had good pace. I feel like an idiot. I jumped on the inside [and] was already going down and got Kenny involved. That just sucked, honestly. Not how I would have wanted the night to go, but we're fourth and still have the red plate. We'll head on to Dallas."

 

• 450SMX Class Point Standings

 

 

 

Haiden Deegan Outduels Levi Kitchen for Captivating 250SMX Class Win

 

The sixth race of the Western Divisional 250SMX Class also served as the midseason send off before the Eastern Divisional Championship begins next weekend. That presented an opportunity to enter the break with momentum, and the added motivation produced an instant classic between Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Haiden Deegan, the dominant championship leader, and Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Levi Kitchen, the hometown favorite. Off the start it was another Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider out front, with Max Anstie securing the holeshot, but it didn't take long for Deegan to storm into the lead just a few minutes into the 15 Minute + 1 Lap race. Kitchen, meanwhile, was on a torrid charge to the front as he clawed his way from fifth to second prior to the halfway point. The tense rivalry between Deegan and Kitchen entered its next chapter during an incredible head-to-head showdown that produced four exchanges for the lead. As he navigated lapped riders Deegan appeared to let Kitchen assume the lead with a little more than seven minutes to go. Kitchen then established a multi-second advantage for several laps, but the degrading track and increased lapped traffic forced both riders to take alternate lines and caused minor miscues. Deegan showed patience and closed back in, then made multiple inside pass attempts before he took advantage of a missed rhythm by Kitchen to reclaim the position with a little more than two minutes to go. With the support of the crowd, Kitchen fought back and retook the lead, but Deegan made one final pass back with about a minute remaining.

 
Deegan stormed to his fifth consecutive win by 1.5 seconds over Kitchen, who became the first fellow competitor to give Deegan a significant challenge during his run of dominance. The near-miss in front of the hometown crowd continued a recent surge for Kitchen, who now has three straight runner-up finishes. Anstie rode to a quiet and comfortable third-place finish, his first podium since winning the opening race of the season.
 

Deegan now owns a dozen career victories and has moved out to a healthy 35-point lead over Anstie heading into the break. Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Michael Mosiman, who finished sixth, and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing's Ryder DiFrancesco, who finished fourth, are tied for third, 36 points behind Deegan. After a slow start to the season, Kitchen has fought his way up to fifth, 42 points behind Deegan and just seven points behind Anstie for second.

 

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Haiden Deegan (1) came out on top of a thrilling head-to-head battle with Levi Kitchen for his fifth straight victory. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Haiden Deegan - 1st Place - Western Divisional 250SMX Class:

"That was gnarly. I went through after [the finish] and told [Kitchen] that was the gnarliest battle I have ever had racing. We were going back and forth. I don't know what to say, that was the best I've had. I know it's in his hometown so the [fans] may not like it, but I hope they enjoyed that one."

 

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Levi Kitchen (47) battled it out with Deegan and finished a close second in from of the hometown crowd. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Levi Kitchen - 2nd Place - Western Divisional 250SMX Class:

"I think that's the race everyone has been waiting for. I'm bummed I couldn't get it done for the hometown, but I rode my heart out and [Deegan] did too. That had to be the coolest race of my life. We were going at it the whole time. Thanks to everyone here in Seattle, they were amazing. That was fun."

 

Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing's Max Anstie made his return to the podium for the first time since he won the season opening race. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Max Anstie - 3rd Place - Western Divisional 250SMX Class:

"That was really tough. That was a tough track, and those boys [Deegan and Kitchen] were obviously riding awesome. It was amazing to hear the fans cheering for Levi. I've been struggling since Anaheim 1. I don't know what it is, but my throat and my chest have been burning. Last week was bad too. I need to get it checked out because I don't feel sick, but I can't breathe right. My chest just burns."

 

The battle for victory between Deegan and Kitchen became an instant classic as they traded for the lead on four separate occasions. Photo courtesy SMX

 

Western Divisional 250SMX Class Podium (left to right): Levi Kitchen, Haiden Deegan, and Max Anstie. Photo courtesy SMX

 

• Western Divisional 250SMX Point Standings

 

 

 

The annual visit to Seattle was highlighted by the inclusion of bowhunting icon and ultramarathon runner Cameron Hanes, who served as Grand Marshal. The hugely popular outdoorsman has become captivated by the sport of SMX and its athletes. Photo courtesy SMX

 

The Monster Energy SMX World Championship and Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship will continue next Saturday, February 21, for the seventh race of the season from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The race will open the Eastern Divisional 250SMX Class Championship. Live broadcast coverage on Peacock will begin at 1 p.m. ET with Race Day Live, while a special pre-race show will air at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by the Gate Drop at 7 p.m. ET. Additionally, a domestic Spanish language broadcast is available on Pea cock while international viewers can choose from dedicated English, French, and Spanish broadcasts via SMX Video Pass (www.SMXVideoPass.com).
 

All 17 rounds of the 2026 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship and 11 rounds of the Pro Motocross Championship are on sale. Tickets for the SMX World Championship Playoff Rounds and Final are now on sale at Supermotocross.com. Saturday FanFest will take place at all postseason races, Friday FanFest and camping will be available in Columbus and Ridgedale, additional details to follow.

 

 

 

For information about the Monster Energy SMX World Championship, please visit www.SuperMotocross.com and be sure to follow all of the new SMX social media channels for exclusive content and additional information on the latest news:

• Instagram: @supermotocross
• Facebook: @supermotocross
• X: @supermotocross
• YouTube: @supermotocross
• TikTok: @supermotocross

The post Supercross: Results From Seattle, Washington appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Valentino Rossi kicked off his 2026 racing season with a podium at the Bathurst 12 Hours

What is the automotive equivalent of Word, and where does Copilot fit?

In the Venn diagram of car owners whose vehicles have a certain amount of "character" and individuals who use Microsoft's applications, there is an intersection of people who accept a quirk or two but not an unexpected explosion.…

December saw plugin EVs take 68.6% share in Sweden, up from 62.8% year-on-year. BEV share grew marginally YoY, while PHEV share increased. Full year 2025 saw EVs at 63.2% share, up from 58.4% YoY, with two thirds of the gain coming from PHEVs. Overall December auto volume was 23,877 units, ... [continued]

The post Sweden's EVs At 63.2% Share In 2025 — Volvo EX40 Best-Seller appeared first on CleanTechnica.

December's auto market saw plugin EVs at 34.4% share in France, up from 23.5% year on year. Full year 2025 saw EVs at 26.7% share, up slightly from 25.4% YoY, and let down by shrinking PHEV share. Overall December auto volume was 172,927 units, down some 6% YoY. Full year ... [continued]

The post France 2025 EVs at 26.7% Share — Renault 5 Best Seller appeared first on CleanTechnica.

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The fight for Hope Moor is set to be repeated across the UK as the government aims to hit its renewable energy targets

Instead of a slingshot, the Davids are brandishing a sculpture and a coffee table book. Their Goliaths are a Norwegian energy company and a UK energy secretary with renewable targets to meet.

A fierce battle has begun over one of England's tallest windfarms, proposed for deep peat moorland overlooking the Yorkshire Dales national park, in what residents say will mark the irrevocable industrialisation of their rural landscape.

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Toprak Razgatlioglu says Nicolo Bulega's long-corner style may have suited Sepang better than his Superbike 'V' approach.

Here's some good news that might have passed you by. UK productivity - how much the economy produces per hour worked - grew more in the past year than in the previous seven years combined. I know. It doesn't feel like that. GDP per person has barely moved since before the pandemic - up just 0.8% in six years. We've slipped level with Italy, having been 8% ahead. The vibes are terrible.

The UK has lost ground relative to their peer group. But productivity is genuinely picking up, and the reason why tells us something important about what's happening in the economy and what the Bank of England might do next.

First, a measurement issue

The official productivity numbers come from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), and they show a modest 1.1% growth in the year to Q3 2025. That's good - faster than most years since pre-2007 Good Old Days - but not exciting. But the problem is LFS response rates have collapsed since the pandemic, and as a result it erroneously thinks that the 16+ employment rate has been reasonably flat over the past year.

If we use payroll data instead - to count employees receiving a payslip - the picture transforms. The employment rate is now *dropping* fast on this measure. With output rising slowly, but the number of hours worked to produce it dropping fast, productivity in fact grew by 3.1% over those four quarters. That's not a rounding difference. It's the gap between "solid" and the best non-pandemic year since before the financial crisis.

Productivity growth has accelerated sharply when measured correctly Creative destruction

One driver of productivity growth is something the economist Joseph Schumpeter called "creative destruction." The idea is simple: unproductive firms die, their workers move to better firms and the economy gets more productive. It's how market economies are supposed to work - but the UK hasn't been getting enough of it.

Since the financial crisis, and outside of the pandemic, creative destruction has been sluggish. Think of it this way. Interest rates were basically zero for over a decade. Energy was cheap. The minimum wage was low. If you were running a not-very-productive business, you could get by - maybe not thrive, but survive. Too many firms were limping along, tying up workers and capital that could have been used more productively elsewhere. That lack of churn is one of the prime suspects behind the UK's productivity malaise.

Now the environment has changed. Interest rates are higher, energy costs more, and the minimum wage has risen sharply. And sure enough, we're seeing more firms go under. Job losses from exiting firms in 2024 were the highest since 2011. Corporate insolvencies are running well above pre-pandemic levels. Redundancies are up too.

Insolvencies and redundancies are picking up

*If* this really was creative destruction at work, it could be exactly what the UK economy needs. More churn, more reallocation, more productive firms replacing less productive ones. That's a good story. But it's a pretty big "if."

Destruction yes, creation not so much

Here's the catch. Creative destruction has two parts, and so far we've mainly got the latter.

The destruction is clearly happening - firms going bust, workers being laid off. But the creation? Not so much. We're not seeing a wave of new firms starting up to absorb those workers. Hiring at expanding firms isn't (yet) big enough to pick up the slack.

The result is that unemployment has risen to its highest level in a decade outside the pandemic (5.1%). The productivity gains are real, but they're coming partly from fewer people working, not just from more output being produced.

What kind of unemployment?

This is where it gets tricky. Not all unemployment is the same, and what the Bank of England does next depends on what kind we've got.

If higher unemployment simply reflects spare capacity - not enough demand in the economy to keep everyone in work - then the Bank should act. Cut rates, stimulate spending, bring unemployment back down. That's textbook stuff.

If it's frictional - more people between jobs at any given moment because the economy is churning faster - that's different. It's not painless for the people involved, but it is temporary for them, and it's an inevitable side effect of the dynamism the UK economy badly needs more of. A more dynamic economy just has a higher background rate of job switching. The Bank doesn't need to step in.

The really worrying scenario is mismatch or unrealistic expectations. Maybe workers displaced from dying firms don't have the right skills for the jobs being created. A barista laid off when a coffee chain goes bust can't necessarily walk into a role at an AI startup. Or maybe wage expectations haven't adjusted - if workers are hankering after unrealistic wages to make up for past or expected inflation, the labour market will generate inflation. In that world, unemployment stays high, the Bank can't fix it by cutting rates, and we don't get the benefits of higher dynamism either. We would just have to live with it until skills catch up or expectations adjust.

Right now, we honestly don't know which of these stories is right. Probably a bit of all three. But the answer matters enormously - not just for economists, but for anyone with a mortgage or looking for a job.

Watch this space

The productivity pickup is genuinely good news. The UK economy badly needed it. But we're stuck in an uncomfortable middle phase: the old firms are dying and the new ones haven't fully arrived yet. Whether this turns into a story about a healthier, more dynamic economy - or a story about a downturn that the Bank must respond to - is probably the most important question in UK macro right now.

This article is republished from the Resolution Foundation's substack. It draws on Chapter 2 of the Foundation's recent report Mountain Climbing.

---

More from East Anglia Bylines Economics Is Britain at the peak of a great financial wave? byProf Richard Murphy 2 December 2025 Economics Decline, what decline? The myth of dying Europe byGabriel Zucman 2 January 2026 Business What do we really know about working from home? byJane Parry 7 January 2026 Economics Where did the money go - we offer some answers byAndrew Curry 11 January 2026 Economics Surprising growth in UK productivity byDr Gregory Thwaites 15 February 2026 Bylines Network Gazette is back!

With a thematic issue on a vital topic - the rise child poverty, ending on a hopeful note. You will find sharp analyses on the effect of poverty on children's lives, with a spotlight on the communities that are on the front line of deprivation, with personal stories and shared solutions. Click on the image to gain access to it, or find us on Substack.

Journalism by the people, for the people.

The post Surprising growth in UK productivity first appeared on East Anglia Bylines.

Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we revisit the ultra slick, deliciously clever record where the UK band deconstructed pop music only to build it back up even better.

55 years ago, on Decimal Day, we went from this...



...to this...



Here's how.

1961: Government sets up the Committee of the Inquiry on Decimal Currency. Farthing withdrawn.
1962: Bank of England urges the committee to retain the pound as the main unit in any decimal system.
1963: Committee reports. They propose 100 new pennies to the pound, with coins to be ½ 1 2 5 10 20.
1966: Government proposes to adopt the changes. Decimal Currency Board established. Five-year changeover period begins. Public competition to design the new coins.
1967: Parliament approves the Decimal Currency Act 1967. Coins will be ½ 1 2 5 10 50 (not 20). Nearly 9,000 million coins will be needed. The minor unit will be the new penny (symbol p). Production of pre-decimal coins ceases.

1968: 5p and 10p coins introduced (identical in size to the existing shilling and florin). Souvenir sets of ½p, 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p coins issued in advance of wider circulation.
1969: Old halfpenny withdrawn. 50p coin introduced, the world's first seven-sided coin. "Use it just like a 10/- note".
1970: Half crown withdrawn. Ten-shilling note withdrawn. Massive public information campaign underway (posters, films, songs, TV adverts, booklets, conversion tables, TV programmes)

15th February 1971: Decimal Day, or D-Day. 2p, 1p and ½p coins become legal tender. Banks switch immediately. British Rail and London Transport switch a day early. Most shops show prices in old and new money. Shops continue to accept payment in old coins but always issue change in new coins. Twelve low-value definitive stamps released.
1971: Old penny and thruppeny bit (3d) withdrawn six months later.

1973: First commemorative coin - the European Economic Community accession 50p (with nine clasped hands).

1980: Sixpence (2½p) withdrawn, nine years later than originally anticipated. [1551-1980]
1981: Announcement that a £1 coin will be introduced.
1982: Seven-sided 20p coin introduced. Intention is to reduce the weight of the coins in your pocket. The word "NEW" dropped from newly-minted coins (e.g. the 10p inscription changes from "NEW PENCE" to "TEN PENCE").
1983: £1 coin introduced.
1984: ½p coin ceases to be legal tender [1971-1984, the first decimal withdrawal]
1988: £1 note withdrawn. [1797-1988]

1990: Smaller 5p coin introduced. Original 5p coin (and shilling) demonetised. [1548-1990]
1992: Smaller 10p coin introduced. 1p and 2p coins now made of plated steel rather than bronze.
1993: Original 10p coin (and florin) demonetised. [1849-1993]
1994: Coinage review proposes introduction of bimetallic £2 coin.
1997: Smaller 50p coin introduced.
1998: £2 coin introduced.
1998: Original 50p demonetised. [1969-1998]

2005: Coinage redesign commissioned by the Royal Mint.
2007: New set of coins introduced based on heraldic designs. No numerical values shown.

2011: 5p coins now nickel-plated steel rather than cupro-nickel.
2011: 10p coins now nickel-plated steel rather than cupro-nickel.
2017: 12-sided £1 coin introduced to reduce counterfeiting. Original £1 coin withdrawn six months later. [1983-2017]



2023: New set of coins with animal designs to mark King Charles' reign. Salmon 50p and bee £1 coins enter circulation.
2024: No new coins ordered by the Treasury from The Royal Mint this year.
2025: Oak-leaf 5p coin enters circulation.
2026: Dormouse 1p, red squirrel 2p, capercaillie 10p, puffin 20p and floral £2 coins not yet in general circulation.

   Value    Diameter Thickness  Weight  Introduced £228.4mm2.50mm12.0g1998 £123.4mm2.80mm8.75g2017 50p27.3mm1.78mm8.00g1997 20p21.4mm1.70mm5.00g1982 10p24.5mm1.85mm6.50g1992 5p18.0mm1.70mm3.25g1990 2p25.9mm2.03mm7.12g1971 1p20.3mm1.65mm3.56g1971
2027 onwards: tbc. No current plans to withdraw any existing coins, or cash in general.

Wild gardening is about shedding obsessions with tidiness, embracing a looser aesthetic and providing a home for 'the most important creatures on the planet'

On a wintry January day in Manchester, I crossed University Green, navigating a paved path behind our hotel through lush patches of lawn. It was the start of the inaugural "Wilding Gardens" conference. For two days, scientists and practitioners were gathering to discuss new ways to think about gardens and nature, about what nature needs to thrive, and the untapped potential of gardens - if we step back and allow ecological processes to unfold - to help counter climate change and biodiversity loss.

Clumps of snowdrop flowers poked through the unmown grass and a grey squirrel streaked across it, from one bare-branched tree to another. Probably common alders, going by the University of Manchester Tree Trail. The world's first industrial city seemed an apt venue for a talkfest on the urgency of rewilding suburban gardens to help save the planet from precisely what drew Marx and Engels there to study, 180 years ago: the impacts of industrialisation.

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Tackling the tension between promoting conservation, keeping animals in captivity and its heavy history, the zoo has been reshaped around environmental awareness

On the other side of wire mesh, two large lions pace, shaking their shaggy manes and occasionally letting out a low rumbling, not quite a roar. They think - or perhaps hope - it is feeding day but their keepers have other plans.

"We sort of mimic what happens in the wild," Meryl says. "They got fed on Monday." It's Wednesday, so Meryl is walking around the temporarily empty enclosure with a bucket and a shovel, looking for the outcome of that feed: lion poo.

Continue reading...

Recent reports out of Mexico indicate that Nissan and Mercedes are selling their joint venture factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and the top bidders have been narrowed down to BYD and Geely. Overall, this represents a dramatic shift for legacy automakers in Mexico. While Chinese vehicles have rapidly risen to take ... [continued]

The post Geely & BYD Are Top Bidders For Nissan/Mercedes Aguascalientes Plant, Potentially Expanding Mexican EV Production appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The new U.S. Maritime Action Plan, available from the White House Maritime Insights page, is serious policy work. It acknowledges that American commercial shipbuilding has withered to less than 1% of global output and that only a handful of domestic yards can build large oceangoing vessels. It recognizes workforce shortages, ... [continued]

The post America's New Maritime Plan Is Competing for the Wrong Century appeared first on CleanTechnica.

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Cabaret producer and stripper, Lara Clifton, interviewed Maedb Joy, a poet and former sex worker of extraordinary moral courage who has created Sexquisite, a cabaret of performers with lived experience of sex work.

Portrait of Maedb Joy by Sarah Ainslie

 

Maedb Joy is a woman in her twenties who is on a mission to resist the simultaneous silencing of sex workers and appropriation of their culture. At Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, as part of the campaign against the threat of closure, I attended what was potentially one of the last events, Sexquisite, a sex-worker-run cabaret. It was the best audience I had stood amongst for a long time. The crowd was mixed in age, class, bodies and genders, giddy with the pleasure of being in a sex-positive, shame-free, celebratory space.

Fifteen years ago, I was interviewed by Spitalfields Life about my work as a stripper. At that time, there were few public spaces where sex workers could speak with nuance, pride and political clarity. What strikes me most is not how much has changed but how much organising, creativity and solidarity it still takes to claim space.

So when The Gentle Author invited me to interview Maedb, founder of Sexquisite, I was chuffed and this is her story, in her own words.

"I worked in the sex industry from when I was fourteen. I was very isolated and working in secret. The only other sex worker I knew I met on Tumblr. I didn't tell my friends.

When I was sixteen, I was arrested for working underage and was on bail for two years. It was a formative experience and really awful - I was forced to come out to my family. My dad was in police meetings with me, seeing everything. It destroyed our relationship.

That same year I had a road accident where I almost lost my right foot. But it ended up being a blessing because I started writing while I was in hospital. At first, I rewrote poems I found online, pretending they were my own. I was desperate for approval. Then I started writing about what had happened to me.

My mum, who is a feminist and an ex-music-journalist, started arranging gigs for me. They were punk gigs. I'd be the only teenager on a line-up with feminist punk bands, performing angry poetry about sex work.

After the accident, I went back to college and studied performing arts because I'd left school without GCSEs. We had to create a play and there wasn't room for another main character, so I wrote a monologue about a girl in a hostel who'd been groomed. That was the first time I told a couple of hundred people about what had happened to me, but I was playing a character. That's how I started performing, to talk about experiences without naming myself.

I got into Guildhall School of Music & Drama. In the second year, we had to put on an event. The event I put on was Sexquisite. That was the beginning of 2019.

At that point, I had no sex worker friends. People told me not to say anything about my past, that this was a fresh start. I was really scared. I was making art about my life but no one knew it was my own story. I didn't even know what cabaret was. I put out a call asking for multidisciplinary artists who were sex workers - poetry, comedy, burlesque, theatre. Through Sexquisite I started meeting people like me.

Being a sex worker is very marginalising. People don't understand what it's like, having family angry at you, friends who won't speak to you, partners who call you a whore. Performance was how I could show the complexity of it. Through a monologue you can explain what it actually feels like.

People think stigma is disappearing but I don't think it is. In sex-positive scenes - such as at the Bethnal Green Working Men's Social Club - it feels easier, but outside that bubble it's still dangerous. I know sex workers who have had their children taken away. People can't rent homes. They can't explain gaps in their CVs. Even legal work like web-camming is treated as immoral earnings.

Sex worker is the only marginalised identity people believe you choose. That alone says a lot. You're never allowed to say you had a bad day at work, people tell you you shouldn't be doing it at all. Even within families it becomes a source of shame. This is why the law matters. The Online Safety Act has been coming into force this year and it's had huge consequences. Platforms are deleting adult content, closing accounts, wiping out years of work overnight. Websites face massive fines if they don't comply, so many are just cutting off adult material entirely.

It's sold as protection but it's collecting people's data, pushing sex workers off safer platforms and into more dangerous situations. It's also erased support spaces such as forums, harm-reduction networks and community archives. That's not accidental. There are also ongoing attempts to expand criminalisation through policing and crime bills and to push versions of the Nordic Model, which claims to protect workers but actually makes screening clients harder and working conditions less safe. These laws don't remove sex work, they remove safety for sex workers.

Meanwhile there's a weird contradiction happening culturally. Sex worker aesthetics are everywhere. Some people dress like strippers, use the language and take the imagery, but they don't work shifts or deal with the consequences, or support the sex worker community. At the same time, actual sex workers are being de-platformed and legislated against. That contradiction is exhausting but it's also why my work has to keep going.

I want to start a UK Sex Worker Pride, in the same way we have Trans Pride and Black Pride. It'll take maybe a team of a hundred people. I would love to do a big march and a big party. This year I'm doing a programme of events but next year it would be cool to make it bigger."

Maedb performing one of her poems at Bethnal Green Working Men's Social Club

Photographs copyright © Sarah Ainslie

ByteDance's video generator wins the prize for being the splashiest new AI model of the past few weeks.

Towers

I love to look at them, know what they're for, and (many decades ago) climb them. Places where I write about towers and post photos of them:

• Trunk Line, my blog about infrastructure
• Nfrastructure, my Flickr collection of infrastructure photos (most of which are about broadcasting and transmitters)
• This subset on my main Flickr collection
• All these (121 of them), posted on this very blog

Consider all of them a long love letter to the now-gone golden age of broadcasting. I want future historians and archivists to remember what broadcasting was and how it worked before digital tech absorbed and obsolesced it. Long may it wave.

Stories

I Love Girl, by Simon Rich, in The New Yorker. It's worth getting a subscription just for that one story.

Boom!

What Happens When You Put AI in the Hands of a 73-Year-Old Grandmother, by Frances Flynn Thorsen, @blogmother on her Substack blog. Hats off to the real estate conversation led by Bill Wendel of RealEstateCafe and happening here.

Get Coffee for this one. Climate wonk nirvana. Last week at an event at the University of Texas, 3 leading climate deniers faced off against a single scientist.The Deniers were authors of the Department of Energy's Climate Working Group - a "Red Team" re-hash of settled climate science, designed to re-reinforce doubts and denial among … Continue reading "The Weekend Wonk: Hilarious Slap Down of DOE Climate "Red Team""

Since the severe winter storm Fern swept across the heartland of North America in January, the Department of Energy has been on full blast messaging mode with the idea that it is only "baseload" fossil fuel power plants that allow for stability during times of grid stress. Data is somewhat different. Gas power plants are … Continue reading "Natural Gaslighting: "Baseload" Plants Vulnerable to Cold"

ICE Barbie Kristi Noem ignited a political firestorm on Friday by suggesting her Department of Homeland Security has a role in ensuring "the right people" are voting in upcoming elections. Her comments raise concerns about DHS's limited role in policing elections. — Read the rest

The post Noem's "Right people voting" comment sparks concern over DHS role in elections appeared first on Boing Boing.

A friend sent me this music video. I don't know the song it parodies, but it is sheer lunacy.

Nothing like metal Muppets to get your day going. Much more fun than Elmo.

Previously:
• Muppets from Space's 'Brick House'
• Long-time voice of Kermit calls the current Muppets a tribute band
• The Muppets' version of Bohemian Rhapsody remains one of the best covers of all time

The post Metal, Muppets, Madness appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Department of Homeland Security has been increasing pressure on tech companies to identify the owners of accounts that criticize ICE.

Elon Musk is "actively" working to make xAI's Grok chatbot "more unhinged, according to a former employee.

Repealing the endangerment finding may tick of a lot of boxes for right wing extremists, but the result could be not what they expect.

The post Whether The Endangerment Finding Stays Or Goes Will Be Up To The Supreme Court appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Airbnb plans to double down on artificial intelligence to improve its user experience for both guests and hosts. During a fourth-quarter earnings call, Airbnb's CEO, Brian Chesky, said the company is building an "AI-native experience" aimed at helping guests book trips, assisting hosts with their listings, and running the company more efficiently. According to Chesky, there's an AI search tool to help guests book trips that's live for a small percentage of users right now.

In a shareholder letter posted on Airbnb's website, the company said it's conducting early testing with an AI-powered search that is "focused on giving guests a more natural way to describe what they're looking for, and ask questions about the listing and location." The letter added that the AI search tool will become "a more comprehensive and intuitive search experience that extends through the trip," but the company didn't offer a definitive date on when it would be available to the public.

While it may feel like Airbnb is late to incorporating AI into its ecosystem, it introduced an AI chatbot that handles customer service requests last year. While the AI agent is only available to users in North America currently, Airbnb said that it already handles a third of customer requests without the need for human intervention, as reported by TechCrunch. Chesky also said during the earnings call that the AI chatbot would tackle "significantly more" customer tickets a year from now and that it would roll out to the rest of the world.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/airbnb-is-testing-out-ai-search-with-a-small-percentage-of-users-203054011.html?src=rss

Five Years Ago

As you probably know, we marked the 30th anniversary of Section 230 this week, so it's not surprising that this same week in 2021 we were celebrating its 25th anniversary with a special online event where we were joined by Chris Cox and Ron Wyden. We also wrote about the many reasons to celebrate the law and explained how it lets tech companies fix content moderation issues, and how to think about 230 in the context of online advertising. Plus, we celebrated the matching anniversary of the Declaration Of The Independence Of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow. Of course, none of that stopped the GOP from rolling out a dumb new talking point saying 230 should be killed if net neutrality happens, nor did it stop Orrin Hatch from telling flat out lies about what 230 does.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2016 we were, of course, celebrating the 20th anniversary of Section 230 and doing the same for the aforementioned Declaration. We also looked at the impact of Title II regulation a year after the many doomsayer predictions about it. Meanwhile, Warner/Chappell had to pay up in the lawsuit over the Happy Birthday copyright while the plaintiffs began seeking to declare the song in the public domain, Honda got hit with the Streisand Effect in its attempt to get Jalopnik to dox a commenter, a judge changed their mind and allowed James Woods to unmask a Twitter user who made fun of him, and Techdirt received (and rebuffed) yet another bogus legal threat from Australia.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2011, while Righthaven was going after a new target that had a strong fair use case, we wondered what the shutdowns of ACS:Law and MediaCAT meant for the future of the US Copyright Group, just as the latter was teaming up with the producers of The Expendables to shake down thousands of people. Meanwhile, a report from IP Czar Victoria Espinel was little more than a list of lobbyist talking points, the MPAA filed a surprisingly weak billion dollar lawsuit against Hotfile, the US Chamber of Commerce was calling for more censorship and more IP protectionism, and a bizarre opinion piece in NME claimed the recent takeover of EMI by Citigroup was proof that file sharing had "murdered the music business".

Canada has just shifted its electric vehicle policy architecture. Instead of relying on an explicit EV sales mandate, the federal government has moved toward tightening fleet average emissions standards combined with credit trading and trade policy adjustments. On the surface, this looks like a procedural change. In practice, it changes ... [continued]

The post Canada, California, & Europe: Three Ways to Force EV Adoption appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The greedy, grasping, living cartoon of a Scrooge who currently occupies the White House is leveraging coal power to support his plans for killing as many Americans as possible. Hopefully he will leave office again — peacefully, this time — before doing much further damage. In the meantime, energy storage ... [continued]

The post New Energy Storage Solutions Are Killing Trump's Coal Power Fantasy appeared first on CleanTechnica.

If you've been nostalgic for some Cartoon Network classics like 'Kids Next Door' and 'Foster's,' Tubi's got you covered starting in March.

As much of Silicon Valley chases mega-rounds and buzzy AI deals, Stacy Brown-Philpot is running Cherryrock Capital like a throwback to venture capital's earlier days