Extra, Extra
Close Only Counts in Horseshoes and AI: “A recent analysis of AI Overviews found that they were accurate approximately nine out of 10 times. But with Google processing more than five trillion searches a year, this means that it provides tens of millions of erroneous answers every hour (or hundreds of thousands of inaccuracies every minute) … Whether a response rate that is almost — but not quite — accurate should be celebrated is part of a widespread debate in Silicon Valley.” (It’s just not as heated as the debate over who will make the most money from AI…) NYT: How Accurate Are Google’s A.I. Overviews?
+ Some Assembly Required: Michigan held off UConn to win the March Madness crown. It was the second win for Michigan, but the first of its kind. Dusty May “deployed a starting five this season made up entirely of transfers. It was the first time in NCAA basketball history that a team with an all-transfer starting five won the championship.” For anyone old enough to remember the old Gabe Kaplan movie Fast Break, the NIL era has basically turned it into a documentary.
+ Hook, Lines, and Linker: “‘It’s not like he was just holed up in his room 24-7,’ Freudenberg says. ‘He ran track. He played soccer. He was a great student.’ Until he dropped out of college at age 19. That’s when his mom found out that he had been gambling for nearly half his life.” More teens are getting hooked on gambling. Parents say it often goes undetected.
+ Lithium Valley: “In Imperial County, Calif., half of the roads are unpaved and the unemployment rate is sky-high. The shimmering water at a once-thriving lakeshore is toxic. Perhaps nowhere in California needs a lifeline more than this arid borderlands region in the southeastern corner of the state. And a mile underground, there might just be one.” NYT (Gift Article): The California Lake Billed as the Saudi Arabia of Lithium. (Not everyone is so sure the locals would benefit…)
+ Ye Nods: “Kanye West was barred Tuesday from entering the U.K., where he was scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in July, after a backlash over [his] history of antisemitic remarks.” Sadly, the reaction of the public to his return isn’t quite the same. He was just joined by a bunch of famous guests during a couple sold out shows at SOFI in LA.
+ An International Terminal Case: “New Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin wants to punish ‘sanctuary cities’ for refusing to cooperate with Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda by stripping them of customs and immigration services.” New DHS Secretary Threatens to Sabotage America’s Biggest Airports.
+ To Recede or Reseed:“Ansell, the dermatologist, said she has had parents come in asking about finasteride for their teenage sons, looking to make sure they get ‘all the best they can have in order to succeed in life.’ Young men are also coming in on their own for help keeping their hair. ‘More of them are really anxious about it,’ Ansell said. ‘There’s no new epidemic of hair loss, but there is an epidemic of men freaking out about it.'” NYT (Gift Article): The Hair-Loss Drug Rewriting the Rules of Masculinity. (What about tradition? I made fun of my dad for being bald. And now I’m going bald. This is the way.)
