Tootfinder

There are some changes for the 2026 tax filing season that people who are 65 years of age and older should be aware of.
The most recent being the enhanced deduction for seniors
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/2026-filing-season-updates-and-resources-for-…

The IRS erroneously shared the taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security, as part of the agencies’ controversial agreement to share information on immigrants for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the US.
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Taxpayer data wrongly shared with DHS, court filing says
The IRS has erroneously shared the taxpayer information of thousands of people with the Department of Homeland Security, according to a new court filing. It was part of the agencies’ controversial agreement to share information on immigrants for the purpose of identifying and deporting people illegally in the U.S. A declaration filed Wednesday by IRS Chief Risk and Control Officer Dottie Romo stated that the IRS was only able to verify roughly 47,000 of the 1.28 million names requested by U.S…

Here's another short story that reflects on our extollation of technology...
The Flying Machine – Ray Bradbury
https://xpressenglish.com/our-stories/flying-machine/

Fleet of ‘Flying Ferries’ Will Provide Zero-Emission, Silent EV Boats for Commuters and Tourists Along Norway’s Coast https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fleet-of-flying-ferries-will-provide-zero-emissio…

Fleet of ‘Flying Ferries’ Will Provide Zero-Emission, Silent EV Boats for Commuters and Tourists Along Norway’s Coast
Tourists and commuters along Norway’s coast will soon travel aboard “flying” electric ferries—quietly whizzing above the water from Candela.

X updates Grok to prevent the "editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis" and geoblocks it for all users "where it's illegal" (Karissa Bell/Engadget)
https://www.engadget.com/ai/x-says-grok-wi

X says Grok will no longer edit images of real people into bikinis
X says it is changing its policies around Grok’s image-editing abilities following a multi-week outcry over the chatbot repeatedly being accused of...

sp_high_school_new: High school dynamic contacts (2011-2012)
These datasets contain the temporal network of contacts between students in a high school in Marseilles, France. The first dataset gives the contacts of the students of three classes during 4 days in Dec. 2011, and the second corresponds to the contacts of the students of 5 classes during 7 days (from a Monday to the Tuesday of the following week) in Nov. 2012.
This network has 180 nodes and 45047 edges.
Tags: Soc…

"Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind"
#Trees #Environment
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Tree planting can combat urban heat, but some neighborhoods are falling behind
Sydney communities may be missing out on crucial tree planting projects intended to combat urban heat, leaving western and eastern parts of Greater Sydney with less protection from extreme heat, a University of Sydney-led study has revealed. In a surprising finding, the researchers found that while Greater Sydney's total tree canopy increased by 4.2% from 1.514 billion square meters to 1.578 billion square meters between 2016 and 2022, this growth was not evenly distributed.

⚠️ AI can generate a feeling of intimacy that exceeds human connections
I discovered 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 for myself in my ill-fated research project of 2021!
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-ai-generate-intimacy-exceeds-human.html

AI can generate a feeling of intimacy that exceeds human connections
People can develop emotional closeness to artificial intelligence (AI)—under certain conditions, even more so than to other people. This is shown by a new study conducted by a research team led by Prof. Dr. Markus Heinrichs and Dr. Tobias Kleinert from the Department of Psychology at the University of Freiburg and Prof. Dr. Bastian Schiller from Heidelberg University's Institute of Psychology. Participants felt a sense of closeness especially when they did not know that they were communicatin…

Just finished "Far Sector" written by N. K. Jemisin and illustrated by Jamal Campbell. I don't normally go for Marvel/DC comics stuff and this was a good reminder why. Jemisin's authorship was the draw for me here, as well as some curiosity about what I might be missing out on by avoiding the classic comics lineage. I won't go into too much detail about particulars, but suffice to say it ends up feeling to me line a very neoliberal story dressed up in a veneer of radicalism, which is not what I'd expected of Jemisin. Particularly in light of current events, the "good cops" aspects of the storyline ring truly hollow. There's still a lot of neat parts, but I guess I also wound up disappointed by the sci-fi aspects in a lot off ways. I truly think Jemisin is capable of better than this, based on her other (excellent) work.
#AmReading #ReadingNow

The scale of Orbšn’s defeat has left Moscow with little choice but to acknowledge the loss of a key partner in Europe.
“Hungary made its choice. We respect that choice,” Russian Foreign Minister Peskov said on Monday.
“We were never friends with Orbšn,” said Peskov,
adding that Moscow remained open to dialogue and to building good, mutually beneficial relations with Budapest.
Moscow appears to be playing down the loss of a key ally in Europe,
striking a tone rem…