Some 2025 takeaways in LLMs: reasoning as a signature feature, coding agents were useful, subscriptions hit $200/month, and Chinese open-weight models impressed (Simon Willison/Simon Willison's Weblog)
https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/31/the-year-in-llms/

2025: The year in LLMs
This is the third in my annual series reviewing everything that happened in the LLM space over the past 12 months. For previous years see Stuff we figured out about …

Media stuff

Rewatched all of Buffy

Broken wrist meant I had to sit on the sofa for a month doing nothing really. I re-watched all 200 or so episodes of Buffy for the first time this decade.
What an achievement in TV production. Amazing show.
I'll watch it again next decade maybe.
Not that I read a huge amount. Hopefully more next year.
"Outland" by Dennis E Taylor, and actually also his "Not Till We Are Lost"
"Broken Money" by Lyn Alden.
Think "Severance" was the most remarkable show I watched this year, with "Trek, Strange New Worlds" also being great again.
"Pantheon" was a pretty great cartoon, haven't seen the second season yet.

The ideal way to start the new year: Getting the mail server blocked by Microsoft. But there was an upside: I've now added a check to our mail sending script that inspects the bounces and won't send mails to domains that have a relevant number of bounces in the last $interval. #Perl #DevLife

#TrumpVotersDidThis
200,000 children to die this year because of foreign aid cuts | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/child-deaths-trump-aid-cuts-gates-foundation-b2877107.html

In 1952 POLKA got replaced with PAPA in the NATO “Phonetic” alphabet: “ALFA, BRAVO, CHARLIE…” 🎙️
The same year the #accordion reached its peak in imports into the United States at 200,000 instruments a year
It was all downhill from there, with 🪗 imports sliding into the tens of thousands or lower by the 1970s 📉
And the polka craze of the 1930s–1950s slowly giving way to newer popular music as well
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UAT-eOzeY4M&t=990s

Sparky has been working as part of Antares canine search-and-rescue unit since 2013.
She also helped develop a training program for search dogs.
Over the years of service, Sparky has participated in hundreds of search operations,
saved people's lives
&helped find the bodies of more than 200 people

"Study shows the Paris Agreement is working, but not well enough to offset economic growth"
#ParisAgreement
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-paris-agre…

Study shows the Paris Agreement is working, but not well enough to offset economic growth
Ten years ago, close to 200 nations signed the Paris Agreement, an international treaty designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and curtail global warming. Under the treaty, most nations made a 15-year promise to reduce emissions.

In 1952 POLKA got replaced with PAPA in the NATO “Phonetic” alphabet: “ALFA, BRAVO, CHARLIE…” 🎙️
The same year the #accordion reached its peak in imports into the United States at 200,000 instruments a year
It was all downhill from there, with 🪗 imports sliding into the tens of thousands or lower by the 1970s 📉
And the polka craze of the 1930s–1950s slowly giving way to newe…

Thought I'd briefly do a list of my favorite EPs of 2025, maybe 10 or 20. How tough could that be to narrow down? (Famous last words). During the year, I keep a list of all the EPs, demos and singles I listen to and like. Over 300 total of those this year, wow. Okay, I cut out the demos and singles. That left around 200 EPs. So I was like, okay, I'll focus on JUST the ones I mentioned here on Mastodon. 90 of those. FUCK! 🤣

State of Local News Report: 40% of local US papers have vanished since 2005, 213 counties have no local outlets, and 200 papers changed owners in the past year (Zach Metzger/Local News Initiative)
https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/s…

The State of Local News

Some 22 million Americans are set to lose health insurance subsidies by the end of the year.

These subsidies, known as enhanced premium tax credits, lower costs for people who buy their health insurance through Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces ("Obamacare").
They are at the heart of
the government shutdown that has shuttered the federal government since October 1.
About 80 percent of the people who benefit from them live in states that Donald Trump …

Who will lose out when ACA health insurance subsidies expire?
Here’s a look at who could be affected by the end of the Affordable Care Act credits and how much prices could change.

Continued issues at $200 million position will be big offseason need https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2025/12/23/poor-showing-bumps-cornerback-dallas-cowboys-offseason-needs/8788…

https://calgaryherald.com/feature/toys-r-us-canada-closes-at-least-38-stores-this-year-puts-another-12-up-for-sale

📈 Study shows the Paris Agreement is working, but not well enough to offset economic growth
https://phys.org/news/2025-10-paris-agreement-offset-economic-growth.html

Study shows the Paris Agreement is working, but not well enough to offset economic growth
Ten years ago, close to 200 nations signed the Paris Agreement, an international treaty designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and curtail global warming. Under the treaty, most nations made a 15-year promise to reduce emissions.

Wanted to make a list of my favorite EPs from 2025- narrowed it down to a top 10, from over 200 I'd liked and documented this year. The list contains multiple genres & I've written a brief blurb about each. Most of these I've talked about here this year. Might be something here for everyone!
Mood Bored - Too Much? (shoegaze/alt rock from the Netherlands with great female vocals - Breeders, Pixies, that dog, Throwing Muses vibes)

The 17-year-old son watched as ICE ripped his father from him.
“It all felt like a lot to bear,” David told the Youth Media Project.
“He’s my role model, my biggest supporter. I rely on him a lot.”
The officer took all of Hector’s belongings, including $200 in cash he was carrying.
They did, however, forget to confiscate his phone, which Hector kept on him during his detainment.
David watched his dad step into the backseat of the blacked-out SUV.
As it sped …

ICE Stranded a 17-Year-Old on I-20 After Arresting His Father. The Mississippi Dad Now Faces Deportation.
A 17-year-old watched as ICE arrested his immigrant father, Hector, on I-20 in June. The family faces mounting legal fees and the risk of deportation.

Over 200,000 federal jobs have been lost in Trump's first year in office - The Mirror US
https://www.themirror.com/news/politics/200000-federal-jobs-lost-trump-1582834

Once again I will say, Fuck AI!
"Driven by explosive AI demand, memory prices are climbing at a pace the industry hasn’t seen in years. Compared with earlier this year, price increases now range from 120% to 200%."
#noAI

OpenEvidence, which makes an ad-supported AI chatbot for medical practitioners, raised $200M at a $6B valuation, up from $3.5B after raising $210M in July (Michael J. de la Merced/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/business/…

OpenEvidence Raises $200 Million for a ChatGPT for Medicine
The three-year-old artificial intelligence start-up has drawn investor attention, and money, as its use among doctors, nurses and others skyrockets.

The Trump administration has reportedly set a goal of yanking citizenship away from over a thousand naturalized Americans in fiscal year 2026,
in yet another escalation in the administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
New guidance issued on Tuesday directs the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices
to “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month” next year, according to The New York Times.
Denatu…

Trump Administration Sets Goal to Denaturalize Thousands of US Citizens in 2026
Immigration officials have reportedly issued guidance setting a quota of 100 to 200 denaturalization cases a month.

Pedro the #Math cat 🐈 is very temporarily a FOIL-wrapped Purrito. 🌯
#cats #CatsOfMastodon #Halloween