The #Cambridge Longfellow Bridge next to #MIT (temporarily honored as the "Shortfellow Bridge") has been measured with "side-scan sonar" with a new measurement unit, the Klein:

https://news.mit.edu/2026/new-unit-of-measurement-honors-influential-mit-alumnus-0512

1 klein = .85820896 smoots

So people are totally now using AI models for regular stuff that you can do via shell scripts and cron, because why do something for free when you can burn tokens and at the same time actively forget how to use the normal tools at your disposal?

🤦 🙏 🤦

I've been running Follow the Crypto since 2024. Today I'm relaunching it as Tech Influence Watch, expanded to cover AI political spending alongside crypto. They’ve spent more than $400 million this election cycle, and now you can follow it in close to real time.

https://influence.citationneeded.news/

Here’s the full story behind the Tech Influence Watch launch, including what I found while building it and why it matters now: https://www.citationneeded.news/tech-influence-watch/

#crypto #cryptocurrency #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #USpol #USpolitics #CitationNeededNewsletter

Dragon Dads (https://dragondads.org/) is a group of dads and other caregivers who are affirming and supportive of LGTBQIA+ kids. One of their big activities is going to #pride events and giving out free dad hugs. Many of them have been doing this for 10 years or more. This was my first time.

Let me tell you, I saw, and felt, absolutely everything.

There was someone who squealed when they saw the booth and did a ten yard sprint to catch me in a flying hug. There were people who walked by several times before they timidly came up and asked for a hug.

There were people who wanted long hugs, side hugs, pats on the back, fist bumps. (We have a menu.) People who don't like hugs, but were nonetheless thrilled that we were doing it.

People told me that their dads had passed away, refused to have anything to do with them, or that they had had to cut their own dads off. One told me "I miss my dad", and when I said I was so sorry, they said "he's in Arizona".

There was an elderly person in a wheelchair who told us how their alcoholic father used to beat them, then told us all the things they had accomplished in life in spite of him, just to show him.

There were people who trembled. People who sobbed. People who melted.

A giant dude in one of those neoprene dog masks (with my permission) grabbed me in a great big hug and lifted me off the ground.

I leaned down to hug people in wheelchairs, and stretched up to hug a woman who I swear was seven feet tall.

Some people stayed to chat, or to cool off in our misting fan in the blistering heat. Others got a hug and left quickly, tears in their eyes and a "thank you" on their lips.

Absolutely everyone who wanted a hug got one.

I've signed up for more events.