David Lidsky's Blog, page 332

How to spot ‘cheapfakes’ online, according to 2 misinformation experts

Recent headlines warn of sophisticated, AI-driven deepfakes, but it’s low-tech ‘cheapfakes’ that are fueling the latest round of disinformation.

Someone tracking the conflict raging in the Middle East could have seen the following two videos on social media. The first shows a little boy hovering over his father’s dead body, whimpering in Arabic, “Don’t leave me.” The second purports to show a pregnant woman with her abdomen slashed open and claims to document the testimony of a paramedic who handled victims’ bodies after Hamas’s attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.

When the best choice might not be between two things

“By whitewashing the lesser of two evils, we condition ourselves to indulge in the black-and-white thinking that discourages creativity.”

Type “biggest monopolies today” into your Google search bar and click. What can you expect to find near the top of the list? 

Chocolate has superpowers and 4 other surprising facts in the secret history of cacao fruit

“Five hundred years ago, when somebody made you a cup of chocolate, they were taking the energy of the rainforest and transforming it with their own labor into a liquid work of art.”

Rowan Jacobsen is a food writer and explorer. Over the past few years, he has been journeying to the Amazon and Central America, chasing chocolate back to its sacred cultural roots. He has written eight books, including the James Beard Award-winning A Geography of Oysters and Truffle Hound. He has written for the New York Times, Harper’s, Outside, Food & Wine, Forbes, Mother Jones, Scientific American, Smithsonian, Vice, and other publications. His work is frequently featured in Best American Science & Nature Writing and Best Food Writing.

The trick Harvard faculty uses to get more done

To-do list mistakes can sap your productivity. Try this instead, says author Rebecca Arnold, who coaches Harvard faculty.

The to-do list is often the foundation of a productivity system. From a paper checklist to an app that sends reminders, it’s a flexible workhorse. But it can also open the door to misuse or mistakes.

How to fight seasonal affective disorder this winter

Wintertime blues are common, but about 10 million Americans are affected every year by a longer-lasting depression called seasonal affective disorder.

The annual pattern of winter depression and melancholy—better known as seasonal affective disorder, or SAD—suggests a strong link between your mood and the amount of light you get during the day.

Meredith Whittaker: Signal’s job is ‘to preserve private communications’

The Signal president tackles digital surveillance and privacy on the latest episode of the ‘Rapid Response’ podcast.

Our digital activity, including our most private interactions and conversation, is constantly monitored and tracked. For Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, this is a break from human communication throughout history, and is not needed or wanted. Recorded live at the 2024 Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco, Whittaker tackles digital surveillance, trust, and privacy, and what a Bic pen has to do with it all.   

How to create a solid estate plan in 4 easy steps

No one intends to leave behind a financial, logistical, and emotional mess for their loved ones—but an estate plan is easy to screw up. Make sure you avoid the most common pitfalls.

Estate planning is the ultimate important but (seemingly) not urgent task. You’re not even going to be there when it becomes an urgent problem, so it’s very easy to put it off for another day, or month, or year, or decade.

Here’s why Philadelphia is the best city in America for fine-cheese emergencies

Perrystead Dairy offers 24-hour access to its award-winning cheeses via a nine-shelf vending machine.

It’s not a hometown brag to say that Philadelphia has a wildly diverse and innovative culinary community. Get a sudden craving for world-class cheese in the middle of the night and Yoav Perry, founder of Perrystead Dairy, has you covered. His 24-hour, automated cheese dispensary gives round-the-clock access to Perrystead’s four signature selections (three year-round and one seasonal), collectively representing 16 national and international awards received since 2022, including multiple Silver and Bronze at the 2023-2024 World Cheese Awards, and a 2024 trifecta from the American Cheese Society: Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

If Trump wins on Tuesday, firefighters fear their pay will get slashed

Even as wildfires worsen, federal firefighters are poorly compensated—and Biden-era raises are about to expire.

As fire season winds down, firefighters employed by the federal government are facing what they say is another potential disaster: significant pay cuts that could trigger a mass exodus of workers. A temporary raise implemented by the Biden administration is scheduled to run out at the end of this year, and legislation that would permanently increase wildland firefighter salaries has stalled in Republican-controlled committees in Congress. Some now say the stability of the nation’s federal firefighting force hinges on this year’s election.

Inside NASA’s branding for its biggest mission in years

From bold gradients to angular type, the branding for NASA’s Artemis mission to the moon is unlike anything the agency has created before.

The stakes are high for NASA’s Artemis missions. Starting next year, the agency will put the first woman and first person of color on a mission to orbit the moon. The following year, a NASA crew will actually land on the moon, exploring more of its surface than ever before—and work alongside others to build a presence there, which will deeply inform humanity’s quest to Mars.