Tootfinder

Following California implementing a law raising its minimum wage to $20 for more than 500,000 fast-food workers in the state in 2024,
Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of research firm Beacon Economics, offered a warning about the state raising its minimum wage.
“California’s well-intended push to reduce income inequality via wage floors is beginning to have a significant negative impact on some of our most vulnerable workers
—our youth, particularly those from lower-i…

Economists warned California not to raise the minimum wage to $20. They were wrong in almost every way so far, another economist says
“The results are nowhere as dire as predicted,” Berkeley’s Michael Reich told Fortune.

"I can't help but wonder if the US economy backs itself so hard into a corner funding these research labs, and if these research labs receive a bailout, what does that mean for China? Why is China releasing these models for free?" https://ghuntley.com/warfare/

AI as economic warfare
People often ask me how I feel about open-source models, and to be clear, I'm very supportive of them. But I can't help pondering about the following... Open source always was and always will be a financial weapon by design. You see, one of the primary goals of open source

"The vast majority, about 90%, of the more than 260,000 DHS employees are continuing to work without pay throughout the funding lapse, which began Feb. 14. Employees earlier this month received partial paychecks, compensated only for work hours they completed prior to the start of the shutdown."

Many DHS employees miss first full paychecks as shutdown continues
As the DHS shutdown drags on, federal employees who are continuing to work across the department, without pay, are feeling the financial strain firsthand.

Anthropic says its run-rate revenue hit $14B, growing over 10x annually in the past three years, and Claude Code's run-rate revenue hit $2.5B (Ashley Capoot/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/12/anthropic-closes-30-billion-funding-r…

Anthropic closes $30 billion funding round as cash keeps flowing into top AI startups
After OpenAI raised the largest private tech financing round on record last year at over $40 billion, Anthropic is now second, with its $30 billion raise.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told White House budget director Russel Vought that
lawmakers “are not getting any answers”
as to why hundreds of millions of dollars isn’t flowing to states
for anti-poverty programs.
Senators from both parties chided the Trump administration Thursday for continuing to withhold funding Congress has approved, -- more than a year after the White House first froze billions of dollars for temporary “review.”
During White House budget di…

This looks like an interesting take on the whole “AI" (IMHO its not AI and its not leading directly to AGI).
I've only watched this preview but it looks like it covers things from many points of view. The creator of the film
The AI Documentary: Or How I Becamean APOCALOPTIMIST.
#AIHype

Sources: Tencent mulls rejoining Paramount's WBD deal as a passive investor with several hundred million; filing: Tencent withdrew a $1B commitment in December (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

A study of ~1,500 US workers finds AI use can reduce burnout but also cause "AI brain fry", a mental fatigue from using AI tools beyond one's cognitive capacity (Harvard Business Review)
https://hbr.org/2026/03/when-using-ai-leads-to-brain-fry

When Using AI Leads to “Brain Fry”
As firms increasingly incentivize employees to build and oversee complex teams of agents—for example, by measuring and rewarding token consumption as a proxy for performance—people are finding themselves pushed to their cognitive limits. Participants in a recent study described a “buzzing” feeling or a mental fog with difficulty focusing, slower decision-making, and headaches. The authors call this phenomenon “AI brain fry,” defined as mental fatigue from excessive use or oversight…

New court filings allege that federal and state officials withheld evidence of the Trump administration’s involvement in the Everglades detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” a revelation that could revive a court-ordered shutdown. The Jan. 7 filings come as the Miccosukee Tribe presses ahead with its legal challenge amid President Donald Trump’s recent veto of legislation expanding the tribe’s control over Everglades lands.
The filings, submitted by Friends of the Everglades…

New ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ records suggest federal funding and involvement in Florida detention camp
Court filings appear to undermine DHS claims that “Alligator Alcatraz” was a state project, potentially reviving a court-ordered shutdown

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVwyC2sEXhq/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

CBS News on Instagram: "The latest lava fountaining episode of an erupting Hawaii volcano reached 1,000 feet high Tuesday, prompting temporary closures at a national park and part of an important highway because of falling glassy volcanic fragments, including ash. Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been dazzling residents and visitors for more than year with an on-and-off eruption that periodically sends fountains of lava soaring into the sky. The fountaining that began Tuesday morning marked the eruption’s 43rd episode since it began in December 2024."
99K likes, 1,454 comments - cbsnews on March 11, 2026: "The latest lava fountaining episode of an erupting Hawaii volcano reached 1,000 feet high Tuesday, prompting temporary closures at a national park and part of an important highway because of falling glassy volcanic fragments, including ash. Kilauea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been dazzling residents and visitors for more than year with an on-and-off eruption that periodically sends fountains of lava soaring into the sky. The fountaini…