Tootfinder

The AfricaConnect3 Impact Report is here!
As we look ahead to the next chapter of the project, this report reflects on an incredible 5 years of progress—and the powerful role that NRENs have played in transforming digital access for Africa’s R&E communities.
Co-funded by the EU, AC3 has enabled over 3,000 institutions and more than 9 million users to benefit from high-speed, affordable, and secure connectivity.
📥 Read the full report: africaconnect3.net/resources (in …

"AI bots that scrape the internet for training data are hammering the servers of libraries, archives, museums, and galleries, and are in some cases knocking their collections offline"
#AI is ruining our digital world
(Original title: AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums)

AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums
"This is a moment where that community feels collectively under threat and isn't sure what the process is for solving the problem.”

Known as “white” asbestos,
chrysotile asbestos is banned in more than 50 countries
for its link to lung cancer and mesothelioma,
a cancer that forms in the lining of internal organs.
White asbestos, however, has been imported for use in the United States for roofing materials, textiles and cement as well as gaskets, clutches, brake pads and other automotive parts.
It is also used in chlorine manufacturing.
Last year the Environmental Protection Agency, u…

E.P.A. Plans to Reconsider a Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos
The Trump administration’s move sets back a decades-long effort to end the use of the material, which is widely banned in other countries.

Baltimore city council to consider eliminating minimum parking rquirements. https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/transportation/baltimore-parking-mandate-housin…

Baltimore eyes eliminating requirement for developers to build parking
A new bill before the Baltimore City Council would eliminate the requirement to provide a minimum amount of off-street parking for new development.

Sur trois prises de position éthiques de Bibliosuisse
La récente prise de position de la commission Éthique professionnelle1 de Bibliosuisse concernant la neutralité des bibliothèques m'a rappelé l'existence de précédents documents du même type, et j'ai eu l'envie de les commenter en tant que professionnel et citoyen. Avant de commencer, je précise que la commission fait globalement du très bon travail, mais que certains détails suscitent chez moi des questions…

Sur trois prises de position éthiques de Bibliosuisse
La récente prise de position de la commission Éthique professionnelle1 de Bibliosuisse concernant la neutralité des bibliothèques m’a rappelé l’existence de précédents documents du même…

Understanding the Effect of Knowledge Graph Extraction Error on Downstream Graph Analyses: A Case Study on Affiliation Graphs
Erica Cai, Brendan O'Connor
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12367

Understanding the Effect of Knowledge Graph Extraction Error on Downstream Graph Analyses: A Case Study on Affiliation Graphs
Knowledge graphs (KGs) are useful for analyzing social structures, community dynamics, institutional memberships, and other complex relationships across domains from sociology to public health. While recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have improved the scalability and accessibility of automated KG extraction from large text corpora, the impacts of extraction errors on downstream analyses are poorly understood, especially for applied scientists who depend on accurate KGs for real-wo…

The Ethics of Generative AI in Anonymous Spaces: A Case Study of 4chan's /pol/ Board
Parth Gaba, Emiliano De Cristofaro
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14191

The Ethics of Generative AI in Anonymous Spaces: A Case Study of 4chan's /pol/ Board
This paper presents a characterization of AI-generated images shared on 4chan, examining how this anonymous online community is (mis-)using generative image technologies. Through a methodical data collection process, we gathered 900 images from 4chan's /pol/ (Politically Incorrect) board, which included the label "/mwg/" (memetic warfare general), between April and July 2024, identifying 66 unique AI-generated images. The analysis reveals concerning patterns in the use of this technology, with …

This is a comment I left on this video: #retrocomputing

Concepts for designing modern C interfaces for MPI
C. Nicole Avans, Alfredo A. Correa, Sayan Ghosh, Matthias Schimek, Joseph Schuchart, Anthony Skjellum, Evan D. Suggs, Tim Niklas Uhl
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.14610

Concepts for designing modern C++ interfaces for MPI
Since the C++ bindings were deleted in 2008, the Message Passing Interface (MPI) community has revived efforts in building high-level modern C++ interfaces. Such interfaces are either built to serve specific scientific application needs (with limited coverage to the underlying MPI functionalities), or as an exercise in general-purpose programming model building, with the hope that bespoke interfaces can be broadly adopted to construct a variety of distributed-memory scientific applications. How…

The Rapid Response Network of Kern is a collaborative of local organizations, community leaders, and immigrant rights advocates supporting our immigrant communities.
The Rapid Response Network of Kern was established in February of 2018 to respond to the needs and challenges of our immigrant communities who are targeted by increased immigration enforcement activities.
Call our hotline to receive rapid help against ICE, including in person support, legal help, grocery delivery, …