Bookmarks 2025-12-25T03:50:34.745Z
by Owen Kibel
26 min read
Bookmarks for 2025-12-25T03:50:34.745Z
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One of the World's Most Advanced Telescopes Just Went Dark After Snow Hit a Place Where It Barely Ever Rains
Added: Dec 24, 2025One of the World's Most Advanced Telescopes Just Went Dark After Snow Hit a Place Where It Barely Ever Rains
Site: The Daily Galaxy - Great Discoveries Channel
A rare weather event just disrupted one of the driest places on Earth, forcing a world-leading space observatory into emergency shutdown. Stunning satellite images revealed the transformation, but what triggered this sudden anomaly is raising deeper concerns among scientists.
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First storm pulse knocks out power for thousands in Santa Cruz County ā Santa Cruz Sentinel
Added: Dec 24, 2025First storm pulse knocks out power for thousands in Santa Cruz County
Site: Santa Cruz Sentinel
Thousands of Santa Cruz County residents woke up without power on Christmas Eve after the first in a pair of powerful atmospheric river storms barreled through overnight.
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xAI Paints 'MACROHARD' on Colossus 2 Datacenter Roof / X Added: Dec 24, 2025
Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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What Gemini features you get with Google AI Pro [Dec 2025]
Added: Dec 24, 2025What Gemini features you get with Google AI Pro and AI Ultra [December 2025]
Site: 9to5Google
At I/O 2025, Google One AI Premium (and Gemini Advanced) became Google AI Pro, while a more expensive tier was introduced with AI Ultra.
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Scientists accidentally discover that gold is a 'reactive metal' - Earth.com Added: Dec 24, 2025
Scientists uncover unexpected reactivity in gold by creating gold hydride
Site: Earth.com
Researchers accidentally formed gold hydride under extreme pressure, challenging goldās long-held inert reputation and shedding light on hydrogen chemistry in planetary conditions.
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Google AI CEO Demis Hassabis calls Meta AI chief scientist Yann LeCun 'plain incorrect', read his long post on why he thinks Yann is 'wrong' - The Times of India Added: Dec 24, 2025
Google AI CEO Demis Hassabis calls Meta AI chief scientist Yann LeCun 'plain incorrect', read his long post on why he thinks Yann is 'wrong' - The Times of India
Site: The Times of India
The Times of India brings the Latest & Top Breaking News on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Cricket, Sports, Business, Bollywood News and Entertainment, Science, Technology, Health & Fitness news & opinions from leading columnists.
A fresh debate over the future of artificial intelligence (AI) broke out recently among some of the worldās most influential AI leaders. Former Meta AI scientist Yann LeCun in his recent appearance on a podcast said that there is no such thing as general intelligence, arguing that human intelligence itself is not truly general. According to him, human intelligence is highly specialised for the physical world, adding what people perceive as general intelligence is largely an illusion. āWe only seem general because we canāt imagine the problems weāre blind to,ā LeCun said. āThis concept of general intelligenceā he saidA clip from the podcast was shared on microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) that caught the attention of Google DeepMind CEO and Nobel Laureate Demis Hassabis who publicly disagreed with LeCunās views. Calling Yannās opinion āplain incorrectā, Demis said that heās confusing general intelligence with universal intelligence.āWhat Demis Hassabis wrote ācorrectingā MetaAI Chief ScientistQuoting an online post with LeCunās clip, Demis Hassabis wrote:āYann is just plain incorrect here, heās confusing general intelligence with universal intelligence.Brains are the most exquisite and complex phenomena we know of in the universe (so far), and they are in fact extremely general.Obviously one canāt circumvent the no free lunch theorem so in a practical and finite system there always has to be some degree of specialisation around the target distribution that is being learnt.But the point about generality is that in theory, in the Turing Machine sense, the architecture of such a general system is capable of learning anything computable given enough time and memory (and data), and the human brain (and AI foundation models) are approximate Turing Machines.Finally, with regards to Yann's comments about chess players, itās amazing that humans could have invented chess in the first place (and all the other aspects of modern civilization from science to 747s!) let alone get as brilliant at it as someone like Magnus. He may not be strictly optimal (after all he has finite memory and limited time to make a decision) but itās incredible what he and we can do with our brains given they were evolved for hunter gathering.ā
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Robert Plant on the mystique of Wales and the magic of J.R.R. Tolkien
Site: Louder
"It's remarkable that you can have a culture that's shunted into the west side of England that has nothing to do with the English at all"
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Robert Plant's Led Zeppelin Bandmates Had No Idea He Was Referencing Tolkien In The Band's Lyrics - YouTube Added: Dec 24, 2025
Robert Plant's Led Zeppelin Bandmates Had No Idea He Was Referencing Tolkien In The Band's Lyrics
Site: YouTube
Rock legend Robert Plant takes Stephen on a journey through the landscapes of his childhood, in the same Welsh countryside where J.R.R. Tolkien lived as a yo...
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Nvidia and Groq strike AI inference licensing deal as $20 billion acquisition report swirls
Added: Dec 24, 2025Nvidia and Groq strike AI inference licensing deal as $20 billion acquisition report swirls
Site: TechStockĀ²
Nvidia and Groq strike AI inference licensing deal as $20 billion acquisition report swirls - TechStockĀ²
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3I/ATLAS 'heartbeat' aligns with a 144-second timing system used by ancient Indians, researcher claims
Added: Dec 24, 20253I/ATLAS 'heartbeat' aligns with a 144-second timing system used by ancient Indians, researcher claims
Site: Wion
3I/ATLAS is pulsing after every 15.48 hours, which a science writer claims aligns perfectly with the ancient Chinese clock system and the Indian meditation practices. He says the āheartbeatā is too precise to be a coincidence.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Andrew Collins - author - news Added: Dec 24, 2025
Andrew Collins - author - news
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Cometās Pulse Syncs With Ancient Indian Rhythm | WION Podcast
Site: YouTube
A fascinating new claim connects the heartbeat of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS with an ancient Indian timekeeping cycle of 144 seconds. Researchers sugges...
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LIVE: US President Donald Trump Hosts Christmas Eve Dinner | Merry Christmas 2025 | WION
Site: YouTube
US President Donald Trump hosted a dinner on Christmas Eve in the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach.#christmas #donaldtrump #palmbeach #wion Abou...
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Is Showering Really More Hygienic Than Bathing? | IFLScience
Added: Dec 24, 2025Is Showering More Hygienic Than Bathing ā What Does The Science Say?
Site: IFLScience
As one Redditor recently put it: "Is showering more hygienic than bathing because you aren't sitting in a bunch of butthole and foot soup?"
Recently on Reddit, one user asked the question "is showering more hygienic than bathing because you aren't sitting in a bunch of butthole and foot soup?" While we could debate until your fingers turn to prunes about whether the water in your bath constitutes a foot/bum soup, let's focus on the cleanliness aspect and overall health. You may not be hugely surprised to learn there isn't a huge amount of science conducted on the topic. But there is a little research, focusing on cleanliness as well as other areas of health. First off, showers are generally considered to be more hygienic than baths. Though baths generally have enough water in them for it not to be considered a bum soup, there is an obvious advantage to having the water you have just washed your body with flow quickly down the drain, rather than hanging around in your tub. There isn't a huge amount of research into this topic, though it is of interest to some medical researchers, for instance in preventing or controlling infection. One such paper, which looked at seven previous studies involving bathing, bed bathing (i.e. washing bedbound patients in their beds), and showering found only small differences between methods. "No statistically significant impact in terms of reduced skin colonization was described irrespective of bathing product, type or frequency," the study explains, "except for a reduced burden of C. difficile on the skin of infected patients after showering compared to bathing." "In terms of efficacy against C. difficile, there was variable efficacy of routine bathing practices in removal of C. difficile spores on the skin of infected patients (e.g. significant decrease of spores on hands, arm and chest skin but not on other skin sites)," the study added, though it should be noted this was a study of hospital patients, and focusing on one bacteria. "Overall, showers were significantly more effective than baths to remove spores." Generally, surveys have found that showers make people feel cleaner than baths, though this is of course subjective. However, it isn't clear-cut whether getting cleaner is actually that great for you. There is a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes on your skin forming your microbiome. It is an ongoing area of research as to whether cleaning too often can disrupt your skin's microbiome, potentially with detriment to your skin health. On top of this, there is a little research on other aspects of health which suggest that baths could be better for you in some regards. One randomized controlled trial, for example, had participants showering for two weeks, and bathing for two weeks, while health and mental health indicators were measured. This trial assessed the effects of a total of four weeks of intervention consisting of two weeks of immersion bathing and two weeks of showering without immersion, in order to compare the physical and mental effects between the two interventions. They found significant differences between the two methods of getting the dirt off your bodies. "Visual analog scale scores were significantly better for fatigue, stress, pain, and smile and tended to be better for self-reported heath and skin condition after bathing intervention than after showering intervention," the team explained in their paper. "The SF-8 Health Survey showed significantly better general health, mental health, role emotional, and social functioning scores. Profile of Mood State scores were lower for stress, tension-anxiety, anger-hostility, and depression-dejection." Though the study did not control for factors like temperature, and was conducted on people in Japan whom they note enjoy bathing in general, bathing appeared beneficial to the participants involved. "Immersion bathing, but not shower bathing, exerts hyperthermic action that induces increased blood flow and metabolic waste elimination, which may afford physical refreshment," they added. "Immersion bathing should improve both physical and emotional aspects of quality of life." In short, there isn't that much difference in terms of hygiene between bathing and showering, unless you are trying to get rid of a very specific diarrhea-causing bacteria, and bathing could be a little better for your overall health, though more study on that topic is needed. In shorter; don't worry too much, and have a scrub however you enjoy it. The content of this article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
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Maury Povich disagrees with wife Connie Chung on CBS leadership changes | Fox News Added: Dec 24, 2025
Maury Povich disagrees with wife Connie Chung on CBS leadership changes | Fox News
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I run my favorite Windows apps on Linux, and this free tool makes it effortless
Added: Dec 24, 2025I run my favorite Windows apps on Linux, and this free tool makes it effortless
Site: MUO
Windows apps can feel native on Linux.
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New Poll Says AOC Will DEFEAT JD Vance In 2028 Election, Debate Erupts
Site: YouTube
MyPillow.com/Tim OR mypillow.com Promocode Tim for up to 80% OFF And FREE SHIPPINGSUPPORT THE SHOW BUY CAST BREW COFFEE NOW - https://castbrew.com/Join - htt...
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Trump's Secret Plan To Make Charlie Kirk VP, America Fest IN CIVIL WAR | Timcast IRL
Site: YouTube
Join CrowdHealth to get started today for $99 for your first three months using code TIM at http://joincrowdhealth.com - CrowdHealth is not insurance. Opt ou...
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Did a Hellfire Missile Hit a Samad Drone Launched by the Houthis on October 30, 2024? | by Avi Loeb | Medium Added: Dec 25, 2025
Did a Hellfire Missile Hit a Samad Drone Launched by the Houthis on October 30, 2024?
Site: Medium
During the Congressional hearing on September 9, 2025, chaired by the brilliant and courageous Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a previouslyā¦
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The Galileo Project | The Galileo Project Added: Dec 25, 2025
The Galileo Project | The Galileo Project
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Did a Rogue Planet Bring Order to Our Solar System?
Added: Dec 25, 2025Did a Rogue Planet Bring Order to Our Solar System?
Site: Nautilus
Did a Rogue Planet Bring Order to Our Solar System? New models suggest a celestial bypasser left us with the current orbital lineup
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Ben Shapiro's desperate stand against right-wing antisemitism is receiving major pushback | The Times of Israel
Added: Dec 25, 2025Ben Shapiro's desperate stand against right-wing antisemitism is receiving major pushback | The Times of Israel
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AI Wrapped: The 14 AI terms you couldnāt avoid in 2025 Added: Dec 25, 2025
AI Wrapped: The 14 AI terms you couldnāt avoid in 2025
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AI supercharges scientific output while quality slips | ScienceDaily Added: Dec 25, 2025
AI supercharges scientific output while quality slips
Site: ScienceDaily
AI writing tools are supercharging scientific productivity, with researchers posting up to 50% more papers after adopting them. The biggest beneficiaries are scientists who donāt speak English as a first language, potentially shifting global centers of research power. But thereās a downside: many AI-polished papers fail to deliver real scientific value. This growing gap between slick writing and meaningful results is complicating peer review, funding decisions, and research oversight.
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The Vibe Coding Startup Taking Aim At Lovable (And Everyone) Added: Dec 25, 2025
The New Vibe Coding Startup Taking Aim At Lovable (And Everyone Else)
Kilo Code, cofounded by GitLabās former CEO, has launched an App Builder in just 6 weeks, Upstarts exclusively reports.
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Scientists say evolution works differently than we thought | ScienceDaily Added: Dec 25, 2025
Scientists say evolution works differently than we thought
Site: ScienceDaily
A major evolutionary theory says most genetic changes donāt really matter, but new evidence suggests thatās not true. Researchers found that helpful mutations happen surprisingly often. The twist is that changing environments prevent these mutations from spreading widely before they become useless or harmful. Evolution, it turns out, is less about reaching perfection and more about endlessly chasing a moving target.
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Scientists claim 'Lucy' may not be our direct ancestor after all, stoking fierce debate | Live Science Added: Dec 25, 2025
Scientists claim 'Lucy' may not be our direct ancestor after all, stoking fierce debate
Site: Live Science
Recent fossil finds could mean that "Lucy" wasn't our direct ancestor, some scientists say. Others strongly disagree.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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2025 Memorable Moments: McConaughey, Charlie Kirk, Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Schulz, Portnoy, Tim Dillon
Site: YouTube
Relive some of the most memorable interview moments of 2025 with Megyn Kelly, featuring Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Kirk, Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Schulz, Dave...
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Largest ape in history lived for 2 million years before vanishing, leaving behind a big mystery
Site: Earth.com
Researchers are looking for answers behind the mystery of Gigantopithecus blacki, the largest known primate that ever lived.
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Grimes Says She Has AI Psychosis
Added: Dec 25, 2025Grimes Says She Has AI Psychosis, Recommends You Should Get it Too
Site: Futurism
Musician Claire "Grimes" Boucher called AI psychosis "fun," and then admitted that she suffers from it, too.
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NASA's Biggest Mars Find Yet: Perseverance Rover Spots Something Mysterious from Outer Space!
Added: Dec 25, 2025
NASA's Biggest Mars Find Yet: Perseverance Rover Spots Something Mysterious from Outer Space!
Site: The Daily Galaxy - Great Discoveries Channel
Perseverance has just uncovered something that doesnāt belong to Mars, and possibly not even the solar system.
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NASA Mars WeatherCam Spots Largest Fresh Crater Ever Documented
Added: Dec 25, 2025
NASA Mars WeatherCam Spots Largest Fresh Crater Ever Documented
Site: The Daily Galaxy - Great Discoveries Channel
The camera, originally designed to monitor Mars's weather, spotted something extraordinary, an unexpected crater.
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Trump Enforcer James Blair Is a Little-Known White House Aide With Enormous Influence - WSJ Added: Dec 25, 2025
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Trump Christmas message touts economy, bashes 'radical left scum' | Fox News
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How should you use AI? Here are tips and tricks on how not to use it Added: Dec 25, 2025
Using AI? Here's how NOT to use it
Site: Axios
Machines were not built for labors of love.
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āSouth Parkā writer Toby Morton owns TrumpāKennedy Center websites Added: Dec 25, 2025
āSouth Parkā writer Toby Morton owns TrumpāKennedy Center websites
Site: The Hill
Morton said once news broke he bought the domain names, heās received āoverwhelmingly positiveā responses.
(NewsNation) ā A āSouth Parkā writer anticipated President Donald Trump would rename the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts after himself, so he bought domain names connected to the Trump-Kennedy Center. Writer Toby Morton told The Washington Post that in August, he bought the ātrumpkennedycenter.org" and "trumpkennedycenter.com" domains. āAs soon as Trump began gutting the Kennedy Center board earlier this year, I thought, āYep, that nameās going on the building,āā Morton told the Post. The writer, whose credits also include āMadTV,ā buys political domains and turns them into satirical websites as a form of activism, The Post reported. Morton said he was paying attention to news that the president would take over the performing arts center after removing existing board members, installing close Trump allies and hosting the Kennedy Center Honors as a satirical protest to raise awareness. āThe rest followed on schedule,ā he told The Washington Post. Morton told USA Today on Sunday that "both domains are currently parked through GoDaddy.ā The writer said once news broke that he bought the domain names, he received responses that were "overwhelmingly positive." āIāve received a large number of messages from creatives, writers, designers, and performers offering to contribute and help elevate what comes next,ā he told USA Today. He added, āThat enthusiasm is shaping the direction of the upcoming site, which will focus squarely on Trumpās narcissism, branding impulses, and the broader cultural implications of attaching his name to institutions that were meant to be civic, not personal.ā White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Dec. 18 that the Kennedy Center board voted unanimously to rename the building the Trump-Kennedy Center. āI have just been informed that the highly respected Board of the Kennedy Center, some of the most successful people from all parts of the world, have just voted unanimously to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, because of the unbelievable work President Trump has done over the last year in saving the building,ā she said on X. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to remove President Trumpās name from the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, according to The Hill. Beatty, an ex officio board member for the center, said adding the presidentās name to the venue is a āflagrant violationā of the Constitution. āCongress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party. Unless and until this Court intervenes, Defendants will continue to defy Congress and thwart the law for improper ends,ā according to the lawsuit.
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minimax-m2.1
Added: Dec 25, 2025minimax-m2.1
Exceptional multilingual capabilities to elevate code engineering
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The inside story of DeepMind - Big Think
Added: Dec 25, 2025The inside story of DeepMind
Site: Big Think
Welcome to The Nightcrawler ā a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Reindeer Eyes Do Something Incredible When Winter Comes : ScienceAlert
Added: Dec 25, 2025Reindeer Eyes Do Something Incredible When Winter Comes
Site: ScienceAlert
Reindeer may not have noses that glow red in the night, but they do have a marvelous body part that changes color in winter darkness.
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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3I/ATLAS Sheds Particles that Are Much Bigger Than Common Sunlight-Scattering Dust
Site: Medium
Recent images of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS show a tightly collimated anti-tail jet that extends out to at least 400,000 kilometersā¦
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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Hunter Biden blames 'distasteful' Obama team for his foreign influence peddling | New York Post Added: Dec 25, 2025
Hunter Biden blames ādistastefulā Obama team for his foreign influence peddling ā including āviperās denā of Ukraine
Site: New York Post
Hunter, now 55, blamed Obamaās staff for forcing him to start back at āsquare oneā because they were concerned about conflicts of interest in his domestic lobbying work, using a new 5 Ā½-hour podcasā¦
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Site: X (formerly Twitter)
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The Larian Generative AI Blow Up
Site: YouTube
It's probably overblown. But the "probably" part shows how Larian has mishandled this.Last regular video of 2025!Please subscribe and consider becoming a sup...
