Fake views
As the midterms approach, new polling shows two-thirds of US adults are worried politicians will “[pressure] election officials to change election outcomes.” / Gallup
See also: “Elon Musk is firing up the vote-buying machine again.” / Gizmodo
The Trump administration’s cuts to Medicare Part D, which subsidizes prescriptions for seniors, are a strange choice ahead of the midterms. / MS NOW
At the state level, anti-vaccine legislation that would have died in committee a couple years ago is now becoming law, with more bills on the way. / The New York Times [$]
The US is already short of gas turbines, but data centers’ on/off cycles are cutting their expected lifetimes from up to 10 years to just one. / Investor’s Business Daily
Google Earth now includes AI image generation so you can see what your town absolutely didn’t look like hundreds of years ago. / Engadget, ZDNET
Unrelated: At a meeting this week, the US State Dept. showed a mislabeled map of African countries with hallucinated borders. / The Guardian
The latest parenting challenge is what to do when the grandparents share personal details about your child to generate a book of AI slop. / WIRED
“Everyone living in the United States for long risks becoming stupid without a supreme effort to refuse it.” Style is not just resisting AI, but seeing the world honestly. / The Key
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Inside Ghost Town, the security firm relocating Los Angeles homeless encampments, who are either a much-needed community service or gangsters, depending on who you ask. / LA Material
On Mars, the Curiosity rover has discovered a field of honeycomb-like structures, a “sea of polygons.” / NASA
“I spend so much time within a prison of my own preferences that it has become a relief to be offered things I would never want.” Experiencing QVC in the age of algorithms. / Longreads
Winamp is coming back in the form of an interface that streams through Deezer, and if they know what they’re doing they’ll bring back the skins. / TechCrunch, Winamp Skin Museum
See also: Those Nintendo clones from ModRetro are a product of the military-industrial complex. / Aftermath
Epic poetry discourse: “The eating in The Odyssey sounds like vomiting in reverse” and “Translator of original Minions epic poem slams ‘sexless, bloodless’ film adaptation.” / Ravenous, The Onion
Classic literature journeys, mapped. / FlowingData