"Mass climate migration is coming" <- absolute fantasy. Mass climate migration (spurred by climate related conflict over water etc.) has been underway for decades wired.com/story/migratio…

In the Windy City - The making of Mexican Chicago <- fascinating bit of urban/social history thenation.com/article/societ…

What do electric motorbikes in Kenya tell us about the future of e-mobility? <- it's a) electric, and b) batteries will be hot-swappable whyisthisinteresting.substack.com/p/the-electric…

Rentokil pilots facial recognition system as way to exterminate rats <- AI, machine learning, all the buzzwords... theguardian.com/business/2023/…

YouTube is bringing viral fame to one of Delhi’s oldest markets <- interesting story about advertising restofworld.org/2023/youtube-e…

$18 a dozen: how did America’s eggs get absurdly expensive? <- “I sell cheeseburgers for a living, and I have to think like an economist now when I buy my fucking eggs” <- monopoly pricing...?? theguardian.com/us-news/2023/j…

Reimagining cities in a few simple questions <- we need to change how we think about cities - and what we want future cities to look like - and this is a great set of prompts to start with seths.blog/2023/02/reimag…

Tesco buys the Paperchase brand - but not shops <- so Paperchase will become an own-brand label and a 'pop-up' shop in larger Tesco stores theguardian.com/business/2023/…

The End of the McLuhan Centre for Culture & Technology at the University of Toronto (1968 – 2023) <- seems a bit strange that UoT is disinterested in building on the name of the most famous thinker on the intersection of society and technology...? mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/the…

Wired: "Cities need to realize the value of emotional design"... i.e. "Cities need to be better places". Why is it so difficult for people to talk about the importance of place? (Urbanists have been saying this for 70+ years with little to no impact) wired.com/story/cities-a…

"The serious side of ‘mansplaining’ has been lost. That’s where the harm begins" Q: Does AI (ChatGPT etc.) actually *embed* mainsplaining? Gut reaction says probably... Rebecca Solnit theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

"ChatGPT Is Just an Automated Mansplaining Machine" <- fortunately I wasn't the first person to wonder if this was the case <- unfortunately futurism.com/artificial-int…

Costa cappuccinos deliver nearly five times as much caffeine as Starbucks ones <- Cafe Nero comes second last in the survey of UK high street coffee sellers <- that suprised me theguardian.com/food/2023/feb/…

Can We Trust Search Engines with Generative AI? A Closer Look at Bing’s Accuracy for News Queries <- Q: can we trust search engines, given their tendency to give lousy, inaccurate results? <- Q: are we expecting more from AI than 'normal' search? medium.com/@ndiakopoulos/…

New York hires a "public spaces czar" to help de-clutter city streets <- if you want streets to work for people, then you've got to work at making them fit for people <- if you're interested in the *quality* of public space then this is important bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

‘They get the big picture’: the Swedish tech startup helping cities go green <- integrated city models are under-valued and under-used <- the lack of a cohesive urban model is why so many urban policies/interventions actually work against each other theguardian.com/technology/202…

Panorama - Visualizing Sweden’s climate transition <- the online dashboard/options model is fantastic and is a fantastic explanation of options and impacts app.climateview.global/public/board/4…

"Once you’ve formed a belief, adding exceptions and justifications becomes easier than updating (what you believe in)"... <- interesting blog post on belief, and what has to happen to change what we believe <- TL/DR: often a heck of a lot needs to change fs.blog/the-human-mind…

Against everything - Adam Curry on the backlash against the 15 minute city, and why the 15 minute city has become the focal point for a lot of (un-related) complaints about how society works (or doesn't) justtwothings.substack.com/p/20-february-…

UK’s new science superpower plan makes no mention of joining Horizon Europe <- £5 says that's because the UK can no longer afford to join Horizon Europe ... sciencebusiness.net/news/Horizon-E…