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‘I, Robot’ Leap: Boston Dynamics Machines Are Teaching Themselves New Tricks
The author writes, “Marc Raibert, the founder and executive director of Boston Dynamics, gave the world a menagerie of two- and four-legged machines capable of jaw-dropping parkour, infectious dance routines, and industrious shelf stacking. Raibert is now looking to lead a revolution in robot intelligence as well as acrobatics. And he says that recent advances in machine learning at both Boston Dynamics and another institute he founded have accelerated his robots’ ability to learn how to perform difficult moves without human help.”
Government Workers Cannot Be Fired for Their Political Views (Dana)
From The Atlantic: “Just a few years ago, then-Senator JD Vance of Ohio said that if Donald Trump were reelected, he would advise the president to ‘fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state’ and ‘replace them with our people.’ Nearly four weeks into his new term, Trump appears to be executing that plan, attempting to fire or place on administrative leave thousands of federal employees perceived to be politically adverse to him, and reclassifying many more to make them fireable at will. Those hired in their stead will be vetted by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, thanks to a new executive order.”
A Texas Child Who Was Not Vaccinated Has Died of Measles, a First for the US in a Decade (DonkeyHotey)
The authors write, “A child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas, state officials said Wednesday, the first U.S. death from the highly contagious — but preventable — respiratory disease since 2015. The school-aged child had been hospitalized and died Tuesday night amid the widespread outbreak, Texas’ largest in nearly 30 years. Since it began last month, a rash of 124 cases has erupted across nine counties.”
The Troubled Energy Transition (Sean)
From Foreign Affairs: “In 2024 global production of wind and solar energy reached record levels — levels that would have seemed unthinkable not long before. Over the past 15 years, wind and solar have grown from virtually zero to 15 percent of the world’s electricity generation, and solar panel prices have fallen by as much as 90 percent. Such developments represent a notable advance in what is called the energy transition — the shift from the current hydrocarbon-dominated energy mix to a low-carbon one dominated by renewable sources. Yet 2024 was a record year in another regard, as well: the amount of energy derived from oil and coal also hit all-time highs. Over a longer period, the share of hydrocarbons in the global primary energy mix has hardly budged, from 85 percent in 1990 to about 80 percent today. In other words, what has been unfolding is not so much an ‘energy transition’ as an ‘energy addition.’”
A Somali Man’s Deportation Battle Cracks a Window Into How ICE Is Operating in Alaska (Reader Steve)
From Anchorage Daily News: “Federal immigration authorities are trying to deport a Somali asylum seeker living in Anchorage, as his attorneys argue he should not be held because his country is on a list of nations the U.S. has determined are too dangerous to return migrants to. Roble Ahmed Salad, 27, is one of five people detained in Alaska by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement so far this year, amid a nationwide immigration crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump. … On Feb. 7, Salad’s attorneys challenged his detention in federal court here, saying the government’s hold of him was illegal because he had complied with all legal requirements and, under the law, can’t be deported. Salad’s attorney, Margaret Stock, wrote in a court filing that in her 35 years of practicing immigration law, she had ‘never seen ICE detain a person in this circumstance.’”
I Was Jailed for Four Years for a Non-Violent Climate Protest — This Is My Prison Diary (Laura)
The author writes, “I was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful protest after blocking a motorway. Six months into my incarceration, this is what I have learned.”
