Sean Dreilinger
@sdreilinger.bsky.social
j.mp/sed_li ▪ j.mp/sed_fb ▪ j.mp/sed_strava
"...the idea that every company should be growing, predictably and boundlessly and forever... those expectations...are not sustainable when placed on the shoulders of the humble Instant Pot...but private-equity interests tried to moneyball it anyway, as they are wont to do."
The Instant Pot Failed Because It Was a Good Product
A one-hit wonder is never enough.
buff.ly
January 16, 2026 at 8:23 PM
"...the idea that every company should be growing, predictably and boundlessly and forever... those expectations...are not sustainable when placed on the shoulders of the humble Instant Pot...but private-equity interests tried to moneyball it anyway, as they are wont to do."
"Rather than teach a different course, Peterson elected to revise his syllabus, replacing the Plato readings with an article in The New York Times about the university’s censorship of the original material."
Professor Forbidden to Teach Plato Assigns Article About University Censorship Instead
Texas A&M philosophy professor Martin Peterson is using the censorship of Plato from his course syllabus to teach his students about freedom of speech
buff.ly
January 13, 2026 at 8:23 PM
"Rather than teach a different course, Peterson elected to revise his syllabus, replacing the Plato readings with an article in The New York Times about the university’s censorship of the original material."
"Minor audiovisual glitches during video calls negatively affect judgments in hiring decisions, and reduce trust in a telehealth provider. And in...parole hearings...glitches were associated with a 12-percentage-point lower likelihood of someone being granted criminal parole."
Video-call glitches can have serious consequences | Cornell Chronicle
Glitches during face-to-face video calls – even when the glitch does not affect the transmission of information – can shatter the illusion of being across the table from the other person, evoking…
buff.ly
December 28, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"Minor audiovisual glitches during video calls negatively affect judgments in hiring decisions, and reduce trust in a telehealth provider. And in...parole hearings...glitches were associated with a 12-percentage-point lower likelihood of someone being granted criminal parole."
"The researchers warned of “devastating health consequences” including “hidden hunger, where people have sufficient food calorically but insufficient nutrients”"
Food becoming more calorific but less nutritious due to rising carbon dioxide
Researchers noticed ‘dramatic’ changes in nutrients in crops, including drop in zinc and rise in lead
buff.ly
December 21, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"The researchers warned of “devastating health consequences” including “hidden hunger, where people have sufficient food calorically but insufficient nutrients”"
"Altman and company have adopted an incredibly risky strategy...more than $1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure deals...those agreements can only be described as circular...In the first half of 2025, investment in data centers accounted for nearly all of US GDP growth."
OpenAI's house of cards seems primed to collapse
OpenAI is in a far less commanding position than it was following the public release of ChatGPT a few short years ago.
buff.ly
December 12, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"Altman and company have adopted an incredibly risky strategy...more than $1.4 trillion worth of infrastructure deals...those agreements can only be described as circular...In the first half of 2025, investment in data centers accounted for nearly all of US GDP growth."
"...this year, President Trump closed a loophole that had allowed goods worth $800 or less to enter the United States tariff free...the de minimis exemption, ended...Shoppers must now pay duties for the first time, often in amounts far higher than they expected." buff.ly/OJCN9jU
December 3, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"...this year, President Trump closed a loophole that had allowed goods worth $800 or less to enter the United States tariff free...the de minimis exemption, ended...Shoppers must now pay duties for the first time, often in amounts far higher than they expected." buff.ly/OJCN9jU
"...although DOGE is gone, its malign legacy endures. Arguably DOGE’s biggest “achievement” was shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development. And the dismantling of USAID has left a legacy of death...."
DOGE Was a Harbinger of Trump’s Assault on Decency and Privacy
Democrats will have to repair the damage
buff.ly
November 26, 2025 at 3:30 AM
"...although DOGE is gone, its malign legacy endures. Arguably DOGE’s biggest “achievement” was shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development. And the dismantling of USAID has left a legacy of death...."
"...the ideal scenario for deployment would be something like the international collaboration between nations and industry that saved the ozone layer from human pollutants through a 1987 U.N. deal — and he noted that this too was a pact forged amid geopolitical tensions..."
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
buff.ly
November 23, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"...the ideal scenario for deployment would be something like the international collaboration between nations and industry that saved the ozone layer from human pollutants through a 1987 U.N. deal — and he noted that this too was a pact forged amid geopolitical tensions..."
"Christian Jimenez, 17, a U.S. citizen...an officer proceeded to break the car’s driver’s side window and detain him...the boy can be heard telling an officer that he is a citizen, to which the officer replies, “Get out of the car” and “I don’t care.”"
High school senior, a U.S. citizen, detained by ICE in Oregon
The 17-year-old was held more than five hours Friday in an ICE facility, his brother said.
buff.ly
November 23, 2025 at 1:24 AM
"Christian Jimenez, 17, a U.S. citizen...an officer proceeded to break the car’s driver’s side window and detain him...the boy can be heard telling an officer that he is a citizen, to which the officer replies, “Get out of the car” and “I don’t care.”"
"Current and former IHS clinicians told ProPublica the changes threaten vaccine uptake in Navajo communities and have left medical practitioners who serve this population feeling censored."
The Indian Health Service Is Flagging Vaccine-Related Speech. Doctors Say They’re Being Censored.
Officials have deemed terms like “immunizations” and “vaccines” risky “buzzwords” that require approval to be used in social media posts, pamphlets and presentations.
t.co
November 22, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"Current and former IHS clinicians told ProPublica the changes threaten vaccine uptake in Navajo communities and have left medical practitioners who serve this population feeling censored."
“Libraries are always targeted...” The Trump administration implemented a massive overhaul of government websites that included taking down countless pages...It was the archive...which enabled journalists to understand what had been altered."
Inside the old church where one trillion webpages are stored | CNN Business
The Internet Archive is preserving the web one page at a time, a job that’s more critical than ever as the internet evolves in the age of AI.
buff.ly
November 16, 2025 at 8:23 PM
“Libraries are always targeted...” The Trump administration implemented a massive overhaul of government websites that included taking down countless pages...It was the archive...which enabled journalists to understand what had been altered."
“Drax has come into British Columbia claiming to solve some of the problems that our forestry industry has, but they have not. It’s very disheartening, and offensive, to hear Drax claiming to be solving these problems..."
Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say
Exclusive: report by Stand.earth says subsidiary of power plant received truckloads of whole logs at biomass pellet sites
t.co
November 11, 2025 at 1:24 AM
“Drax has come into British Columbia claiming to solve some of the problems that our forestry industry has, but they have not. It’s very disheartening, and offensive, to hear Drax claiming to be solving these problems..."
"If the prospect of people going hungry doesn’t move you, consider some of the other beneficiaries of SNAP. Like Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s and other titans of Corporate America whose profits rely on workers who are paid low wages..."
SNAP isn’t just a moral imperative. It’s good for business, too | CNN Business
To the lawmakers in Congress who seem to be stuck on Reagan-era myths about the people who rely on food stamps, here’s an idea: Let’s reframe the idea of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance…
buff.ly
November 9, 2025 at 1:24 AM
"If the prospect of people going hungry doesn’t move you, consider some of the other beneficiaries of SNAP. Like Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s and other titans of Corporate America whose profits rely on workers who are paid low wages..."
"Perkins says at 1 a.m. Friday, his full monthly SNAP benefit of $298 showed up on his card...he pulled his clothes on and drove to Winco, the value grocery store that’s open 24/7. In the middle of the night, he filled his cart..."
Oregon SNAP recipients will receive November benefits today, Gov. Kotek says
The Oregon Department of Human Services announced that people who receive SNAP food assistance would receive 100% of their November benefits on Friday.
buff.ly
November 8, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"Perkins says at 1 a.m. Friday, his full monthly SNAP benefit of $298 showed up on his card...he pulled his clothes on and drove to Winco, the value grocery store that’s open 24/7. In the middle of the night, he filled his cart..."
"Environmental DNA detection is an exciting and relatively new approach that allows scientists to recognize and amplify the genetic material that all creatures, living and dead, shed into their environments, and it already has gotten results in some fields of research."
How DNA from the ocean floor might transform the somber search for troops lost at sea | CNN
A team of scientists is employing a technique used to detect invasive species to search for troops lost at sea.
buff.ly
November 7, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"Environmental DNA detection is an exciting and relatively new approach that allows scientists to recognize and amplify the genetic material that all creatures, living and dead, shed into their environments, and it already has gotten results in some fields of research."
"Previous research found that early exposure to green space was linked to a healthy immune system, but it was unclear if this was causation or correlation. The Finland study suggests it could be causal."
How a radical experiment to bring a forest into a preschool transformed children’s health
In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeing
buff.ly
November 1, 2025 at 7:23 PM
"Previous research found that early exposure to green space was linked to a healthy immune system, but it was unclear if this was causation or correlation. The Finland study suggests it could be causal."
"Thompson wondered if it took so long to recognize its potential because he’d been specifically told not to work on operating systems...But now Unix had its first user community — future legends...“All the user IDs were one digit. That definitely put a limit on it.”"
Ken Thompson Recalls Unix's Rowdy, Lock-Picking Origins
Ken Thompson's vivid recollection of the rowdy roomful of geeks at Bell Labs who built the digital world in a spirit of open play.
buff.ly
October 28, 2025 at 12:24 AM
"Thompson wondered if it took so long to recognize its potential because he’d been specifically told not to work on operating systems...But now Unix had its first user community — future legends...“All the user IDs were one digit. That definitely put a limit on it.”"
"...part of a larger trend of unverified AI content being sold on Amazon. Last year, amateur mushroom pickers were warned to avoid foraging books sold on the platform...written by chatbots & containing questionable advice on how to discern a lethal fungus from an edible one."
Detection firm finds 82% of herbal remedy books on Amazon ‘likely written’ by AI
Originality.ai scans 558 titles in herbal remedies section between January and September
buff.ly
October 23, 2025 at 7:23 PM
"...part of a larger trend of unverified AI content being sold on Amazon. Last year, amateur mushroom pickers were warned to avoid foraging books sold on the platform...written by chatbots & containing questionable advice on how to discern a lethal fungus from an edible one."
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could be the Dr. Ian Malcolm of ‘Jurassic Park’?” “We scientists … think about whether we should, not whether we could.”
Meet the scientists sounding the alarm about the doomsday risks of mirror life | CNN
Kate Adamala started work on a cell in which the natural molecular structure is reversed. Then a possible doomsday scenario became clear.
buff.ly
October 18, 2025 at 7:23 PM
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could be the Dr. Ian Malcolm of ‘Jurassic Park’?” “We scientists … think about whether we should, not whether we could.”
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could be the Dr. Ian Malcolm of ‘Jurassic Park’?...We scientists … think about whether we should, not whether we could.”
Meet the scientists sounding the alarm about the doomsday risks of mirror life | CNN
Kate Adamala started work on a cell in which the natural molecular structure is reversed. Then a possible doomsday scenario became clear.
buff.ly
October 18, 2025 at 12:24 AM
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could be the Dr. Ian Malcolm of ‘Jurassic Park’?...We scientists … think about whether we should, not whether we could.”
“The declining strength of the US passport over the past decade...signals a fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics. Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are surging ahead, while those resting on past privilege are being left behind.”
US Passport Power Falls to Historic Low
For the first time since the Henley Passport Index was created 20 years ago, the United States is no longer ranked amongst the world’s Top 10 most powerful passports.
buff.ly
October 17, 2025 at 7:23 PM
“The declining strength of the US passport over the past decade...signals a fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics. Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are surging ahead, while those resting on past privilege are being left behind.”
"Rather than acknowledging that the US is in danger of being permanently overtaken by China’s technological and economic prowess, the Trump administration...is actively opposing progress in critical sectors while giving grifters like the crypto industry everything that they want."
China Has Overtaken America
And Trump’s policies guarantee that we will never catch up
buff.ly
October 17, 2025 at 12:24 AM
"Rather than acknowledging that the US is in danger of being permanently overtaken by China’s technological and economic prowess, the Trump administration...is actively opposing progress in critical sectors while giving grifters like the crypto industry everything that they want."
"Rachel gave her date the benefit of the doubt...she’d been “Chatfished” before, so when the gap between his real and digital selves failed to close on their second date, she called it off. “I’d already been ChatGPT-ed into bed at least once. I didn’t want it to happen again.”"
‘I realised I’d been ChatGPT-ed into bed’: how ‘Chatfishing’ made finding love on dating apps even weirder
Where once people were duped by soft-focus photos and borrowed chat-up lines, now they have to watch out for computer-generated charm. But it’s one thing to use a witty phrase – another thing…
ift.tt
October 15, 2025 at 7:23 PM
"Rachel gave her date the benefit of the doubt...she’d been “Chatfished” before, so when the gap between his real and digital selves failed to close on their second date, she called it off. “I’d already been ChatGPT-ed into bed at least once. I didn’t want it to happen again.”"