What Does Data Think?

UPDATE: Tomato plant mystery: We are in a holding pattern. One plant remains. No sign of the thief.

In most of the media companies that employed me in the early years of the web, one of my responsibilities was supervising the metrics department.

In case that sounds like a big deal, this was well before the days of data scientists and multi-variable analysis; in most cases the metrics department in those media companies consisted of a lone individual.

And that person often felt like no one was listening to them.

After all, much more significant than the actual numbers he or she gathered was figuring out how to interpret that data. In and of themselves, of course, the numbers were neutral. But the people we worked with had a wide variety of opinions over what those numbers actually meant.

Was our audience growing? Which types of content were most successful? What was success in this type of media environment anyway? Which metric mattered most?

Occasionally, especially in the early years, we would publish a story that “broke the servers,” i.e., generated more traffic than our system could handle. There was little debate on those occasions over whether we had a winner, particularly because additional things tended to happen to support the data.

Things like attention from other media outlets, tons of email from subscribers and a boost to whatever financial metric we were tracking.

But these experiences caused me to eventually draw a few conclusions about people in general:

• Many people are not very good at math.

• Most of us see what we want to see in the numbers and don’t see what we don’t want to see.

• Most of us don’t change our behavior or opinions even when the numbers say we should.

In the end, I wondered, what did the data itself think about all of this human frailty? That is one reason I have long been curious about the coming of generative artificial intelligence — we may find out the answer to that question.

Addendum 2026; I guess we’re finding out now.

(This is originally from 2023.)

HEADLINES:

• Trump and Xi conclude ‘very successful’ talks but no deals confirmed (BBC)

• Trump says Xi offered help on Iran — But how far is Beijing willing to go? (CNBC)

• US-China summit: Trump says Xi pledged not to provide military equipment to Iran (CNN)

• China will work behind the scenes to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Bessent says (CNBC)

• Xi tells Trump U.S. and China could clash over Taiwan (PBS)

• Cuba Says It Has Run Out of Oil (NYT)

• Democrats get a last-minute reprieve on 2026 redistricting (Axios)

• Senators approve withholding their own pay during government shutdowns (AP)

• Abortion Providers Are Racing to Stay Ahead of the Courts (Mother Jones)

• Trump administration officials are scrambling to contain the economic and political fallout of the war with Iran. (Reuters)

• A ship anchored off the east coast of the United Arab Emirates has been seized and is heading toward Iranian territorial waters, the British military said. It happened hours after Israel said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had quietly visited the United Arab Emirates during the Israeli-U.S. war with Iran. However, the UAE swiftly denied that any secret visit had occurred. [AP]

• Cuba says oil and diesel supplies have run dry under U.S. sanctions (CNBC)

• Strategist Tied to Becerra and Newsom Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case (NYT)

• How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Power (Atlantic)

• Warning of record global temperatures as chance of very strong El Niño grows (BBC)

• New Mexico politicians grapple with oil windfall from Iran war (AP)

• You can reverse much of the damage alcohol has done to your body, science says (CNN)

• I Work in Hollywood. Everyone Who Used to Make TV Is Now Secretly Training AI (Wired)

• Anthropic tightens Claude limits and OpenAI courts defectors (Axios)

• Frontier AI models don’t just delete document content — they rewrite it, and the errors are nearly impossible to catch (VentureBeat)

• Silicon Valley’s A.I. Lobbying Reaches a Fever Pitch (NYT)

• Trump Unwittingly Breaks Chinese Taboo Against Napping Facedown In Soup Bowl (Onion)

Managing Your Health

If and when managing your or someone else’s health challenges becomes a major concern, there are tools not previously available that can make the process easier.

Telehealth, electronic health records and email can help.

Millions of people either live too far from their doctor’s clinic, or are too feeble to travel, or both.

Telehealth is a vital tool for these patients. Why it has been politically controversial escapes me, but currently Medicare pays for telehealth appointments, which is a very good thing.

Electronic health records have been around for a while, but now they are ubiquitous and available to patients through online platforms like MyHealth.

There, your doctor or nurse practitioner can share his or her instructions with you in written form, in case you have trouble remembering what they said in your appointment — which is a common concern, especially among elderly patients.

But by far the most useful communication system for managing your health is when it is two-way. Increasingly, health providers are accepting emails from patients, answering them and initiating an open communication channel that makes the patient less dependent on waiting for that next appointment.

These changes are not only good, but long overdue. The results should include better outcomes for everyone involved.

HEADLINES:

• After Xi’s Warning on Taiwan, He and Trump Strike Positive Tone (NYT)

• Trump Arrives in China Against Backdrop of Unresolved Iran War (WSJ)

• Gunfire chaos as Philippine senator resists ICC arrest (BBC)

• Trump faces slew of ‘bad options’ on Iran as diplomacy falters (Al Jazeera)

• Chinese Firms Plot Secret Arms Sales to Iran, U.S. Officials Say (NYT)

• How the world has avoided an oil catastrophe so far (Economist)

• FDA chief’s resignation widens a leadership gap at the nation’s health department (AP)

• Van Hollen posts alcohol use test results after challenging Patel to take survey (The Hill)

• It may be time to worry like it’s 1999 (CNN)

• Republicans won the redistricting war but may still lose the US House (Reuters)

• How voters can fight gerrymandering in an era of remapping wars (The Hill)

• Supreme Court faces new criticism for redistricting decisions so close to the 2026 elections (NBC)

• ProPublica to Launch Investigative Reporting Hub in California (ProPublica)

• Nonprofits say they are in a crisis (Axios)

• Why the U.S. job market is so hard, especially for recent college graduates (WP)

• In San Francisco, the Tents of Homeless People Are Disappearing (NYT)

• Climate Change Is Creating a New Kind of Weather Disaster (Gizmodo)

• Court overturns Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions and orders new trial (CNN)

• Ask your landlord to lower your rent — now (BI)

• Why A.I. is the Hidden Minefield of Trump’s China Visit (NYT)

• Depraved Inbred Community Distances Itself From Prince Andrew (Onion)

Secrets and Lies

One of the questions journalists frequently get asked is how we get people to tell us things, especially the things it would be in their best interest not to disclose. The answer is: “We ask.”

Most people will want to talk to you when you tell them you are doing a story, even if they shouldn’t. And asking simple, open-ended questions is by far the easiest way to gather information.

Remember this: Most people most of the time don’t want to lie.

But some people do.

So how do you tell when someone is lying? Well, one way is to ask questions about minor details of the person’s life. And if you’ve done your homework you already know the answers to those types of questions.

Add them into the mix, because they should be easy for your subject to answer as long as he or she is being honest. But often people will lie about these little things because they’re trying to cover up bigger things.

One lie leads to another.

All of this requires a certain amount of discipline on the journalist’s part. You also have to avoid falling into the trap of lying yourself. When I conduct journalism ethics seminars, one issue that often comes up is whether it is okay to misrepresent yourself in order to get a story.

In cases where there is no alternative, this is sometimes necessary. Working undercover, some journalists have uncovered huge scandals, though that comes with an ethical cost. 

It’s not like we have to be squeaky-clean in everything do as journalists — far from it — but if your story eventually ends up in court you have to be able to look the judge and jury in the eye and say you believe the information you gathered is accurate and that you can justify the methods you used to produce it.

So as long as you can do that, you should be fine.

HEADLINES:

• Trump and Xi appear intent on keeping deep differences over Iran war from overshadowing China summit (AP)

• Trump heads to China in search of wins. How the Iran war could interfere. (Yahoo)

• What Middle Powers Fear About the Trump-Xi Summit (NYT)

• As Trump goes to China, what do Americans say about tariffs, Iran and world standing? (NPR)

• The Iran war is hitting home as US inflation has its biggest jump in three years (AP)

• With the US-Iran ceasefire on the brink of collapse, Washington hit Tehran with fresh sanctions targeting companies accused of helping ship oil to China (Reuters)

• U.S. Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities (NYT)

• US in closely guarded talks to open new bases in Greenland (BBC)

• Most deportees under Trump are men, leaving women to care for families alone (WP)

• FDA chief to depart after Trump signed off on ousting him (CNN)

• As Republicans carve up Black districts, Democrats pivot to a new midterm message (Politico)

• Hegseth’s latest attack on Kelly underlines alarm over US weapons stockpiles (The Hill)

• A California billionaire is testing voters’ aversion to the ultrarich (WP)

• Kennedy Is Driving a Vast Inquiry Into Vaccines, Despite His Public Silence (NYT)

• Ukraine nears deal with Pentagon to test drones in US (FT)

• At a glance: Starmer grapples with leadership crisis (BBC)

• In Elon Musk trial, nobody has more to lose than OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (ABC)

• Sam Altman testimony: Musk wanted ‘total control’ of OpenAI to pass to his children (BI)

• AI-assisted hacking is already here, Google warns (Axios)

• AI coders are carrying half-open laptops through airports, offices, and ice rinks (BI)

• China Seeks A.I. Independence, Weakening Trump’s Leverage (NYT)

• ‘Sidewalk Closed’ Sign Leaves Pedestrians Frightened, Wandering Helplessly (Onion)

 

Some Write to Remember...and Some Write to Forget

The line between what we remember and what we imagine to have happened in the past is a fine one. That line skinnifies with age. Thus, every skilled nursing facility and assisted living facility I stayed in six+ years ago had a "memory care" section.

Most of the time, the door to that area was locked. When someone needed admittance, they knocked loudly and an attendant came. I watched patients get wheeled in and heard the sound of the door locking behind them.

It's just random selection, I'm sure, but I never saw anyone come back out.

***

To work as a teacher requires a fundamental assumption: That you have something of value to impart.

People go through a complex curriculum of subjects before they get certified as teachers; I'm curious whether addressing this assumption is on the agenda at any of the institutions that offer those certifications.

There is always that blank space on any form you have to fill out about yourself that asks about your profession. Teachers can say "educator." Others may say "retired librarian." I always write "journalist."

But when I think carefully about the past half-century+, almost as much of my energy went into teaching as it did into journalism. All of it was uncertified.

It started when I was 22 in the Peace Corps, teaching Afghan students English. It started up again when I was in my 30s. Having published a bunch of stuff I was asked to teach journalism, first at U-C, Berkeley, later at Stanford and San Francisco State.

Those were the formal teaching jobs I had, but there were many others along the way. My students ranged in age from 7 to 95. The younger ones were second-graders whose teachers asked me to visit and discuss the global environmental issues that concerned me as a journalist.

The first time I remember doing that was in 1983, when I was 36.

Later, I taught through U-C Extension. Those classes were at night and the students were noticeably less privileged than my students enrolled in the U-C and Stanford graduate school classes.

Still later, I was asked to teach memoir-writing to senior citizens through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at S.F. State and U-C. It needs to be noted that I have not to this date ever published a memoir, though I have published articles that probably fall into that category of writing.

Most of the students were older than I was at the time, which was challenging. Since the goal was to encourage them to write stories based on their lives, I knew they would have to confront that basic assumption: That they had something of value to impart to others.

My technique was to start each class by asking for volunteers who would be willing to talk about their lives. As they did this, invariably and universally in my experience, the other students gave them positive feedback.

This, in turn, seemed to motivate them to take the next step -- to actually begin the process of writing it all down. A little bit each day will do. Five hundred words a day will yield 182,500 words over a year's time.

That's plenty enough for a memoir.

One of the more intriguing teaching experiences I had was to sit at a table with the third-grade boys at my children's school who were having "trouble with math. Often this meant they would disrupt the other students by acting out. They seemed to have trouble sitting still and concentrating.

There were only a few such boys, four or five per class, and the teachers had me sit with them at a table in the rear of the classroom, while they conducted math class for the rest of the students. When I asked the teachers what I should do, the answer always was "I'm not sure. Just try to keep them quiet."

The only idea I could come up with was to start a chain story-telling circle. Typically, I would start the story ("Once in a place far from here, a group of boys...") and then ask each student to add a line. They embraced this approach enthusiastically. and most importantly, from a discipline perspective, they stayed quiet and listened to one another.

Over time, I tried to work the math concepts the teacher was conveying to the other students into our story circles. Ever meet a rhombus chased by pirates? I have.

When my youngest son was in the third grade, he pulled his chair over to our table. He didn’t need extra help in math, so I glanced at his teacher; she gave me a nod back that it was okay.

I always visited the school for this purpose on Thursday mornings. Now, with my son on the team, the story circles were getting better. He is, and was then, a gentle, sensitive person, cerebral but empathic and funny in a self-deprecating way. 

After completing my math counseling on those Thursdays 15 years ago, I would get in my car and head south to Palo Alto and my writing classes at Stanford. There, nobody had trouble sitting still or concentrating. Nobody disrupted the class, nobody had trouble learning. Nobody had trouble participating and nobody had trouble writing stories.

Over time, in this group we dug into some of the deeper motivations behind the urge to tell stories. 

And that led me to the title of this essay.

HEADLINES:

• Trump says Iran ceasefire is on ‘massive life support’ (BBC)

• Iran and the US are at an impasse ahead of Trump’s China trip (AP)

• Trump and Xi may meet 4 times in the next 8 months as Air Force One heads to Beijing (Fortune)

• Chief Executives to Accompany Trump to China (NYT)

• Confident in China’s power, Xi is ready to host an unpredictable Trump (WP)

• What Middle Powers Fear About the Trump-Xi Summit (NYT)

• Consumer prices rose 3.8% annually in April, the highest since May 2023 (CNBC)

• Trump says he'll move to suspend the federal gasoline tax. He can't do it on his own (AP)

• Democratic FCC commissioner tells Disney it is the target of a ‘censorship’ campaign (NBC)

• Stephen Miller in Retreat (Atlantic)

• Virginia Officials Ask Supreme Court to Restore Voting Map Drawn by Democrats (NYT)

• On redistricting, Democrats are playing as the away team (Silver Bulletin)

• Democratic Angst Could Lead California to Change Its Primary Rules (NYT)

• A fiery resistance has sprung up in a deep-red county after the Trump administration quietly bought a warehouse, hoping to turn it into a processing facility for immigrant detainees. They have a lot of determination — and some drones. [HuffPost] 

• Starmer pledges to prove his doubters wrong but faces a wave of resignation calls (AP)

• China wants more robots but not fewer workers (Economist)

• Google says it likely thwarted effort by hacker group to use AI for ‘mass exploitation event’ (CNBC)

• Forget the AI job apocalypse. AI’s real threat is worker control and surveillance (Guardian)

• How ChatGPT’s fixation with goblins ended and what to know about secret commands (WP)

• Trump Unable To Figure Out Why He Surrounded By Chinese People (Onion)

TODAY’s LYRIC:

“Hotel California” by the Eagles

How they danced in the courtyard
Sweet summer sweat
Some dance to remember
Some dance to forget

From the Edges

Thie earliest version of this essay is from June 2007.

“Writing is more than living…it is being conscious of living.”

-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh 

Yesterday, I finally got the tides right. The result was a harvest of green seaglass and pebbles.

Of course, I couldn’t resist picking up other colors as well, but green is my current passion. When you’re walking along the tideline at a beach, head down, examining the gifts from the sea*, there’s much to choose from. 

I was lost in the moment, thinking of the elegant simplicity of the writing style of the small band of American literary environmentalists whose work in the 1950s introduced me to the principles of ecology. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Rachel Carson, John Storer.

Those writers also knew the unique pleasure of strolling along the beach just at the edge of the continent, seeking treasures. You can’t be too greedy about it; the sea will give you what it pleases, when it pleases.

But persistence has its rewards. I was so engrossed in my search that I barely took note of the others around me -- several people and dogs. At one point, approaching a rock outcropping that one can breach only at low tide, I noticed an oddity -- a beach patrol jeep drove past me, up to that spot, then hung a U-turn and started back. I waved to the driver, who then stopped and lowered his window.

“We’re looking for a lost Chihuahua mix, about 15 pounds, black, black collar, no tags,” he explained. “Since I can’t drive any further due to that rock so will you keep an eye out?”

“Sure,” I answered.

I rounded the outcrop and continued southward along Ocean Beach. It was windy and the waves were impressive — surfers were paddling out to the highest breakers offshore. 

Soon, I was into good seaglass territory -- it often appears in clusters, similarly sized to the pebbles and shell fragments surrounding it. In these banks of natural (and man-made) detritus from the sea is written a history of the relentless combined power of currents, sand, sun, and waves, grinding all things into softened, polished fragments of their former selves.

Like what life does to us. 

p.s. I didn’t find the dog.

Endnote: “Gift from the Sea” is the title of one of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s books.

HEADLINES:

• Checkmate in Iran (Atlantic)

• Trump rejects Iran’s ceasefire proposal response. (NPR)

• Long Overlooked, Caspian Sea Provides Strategic Trade Route for Iran (NYT)

• Iran responds to US ceasefire proposal as drones target Gulf nations (AP)

• A Private Call Reveals Democrats’ Desperation Over Tossing of Map (NYT)

• Platner points to Ohio GOP defying courts in response to Virginia redistricting ruling (The Hill)

• Tennessee redistricting plan splits Memphis neighbors and reshapes midterms as other states follow (AP)

• Rapid changes in power have become the new normal in American politics. Here’s why (CNN)

• Violent crime rates plunge in America’s big cities (Axios)

• Trump Exempted Some of the Nation’s Biggest Polluters From Air Quality Rules. All It Took Was an Email. (ProPublica)

• Keir Starmer’s party lost big in U.K. local elections. Here’s what comes next (NPR)

• U.S.-China Rivalry Reaches South American Skies (NYT)

• Russia accuses Ukraine of violating US-brokered 3-day truce (AP)

• I Have Some Questions for the New Florida U.S. History Curriculum (Atlantic)

• All Those A.I. Note Takers? They’re Making Lawyers Very Nervous. (NYT)

• WWII Veteran Standing On Field Not Planned (Onion)

 

Off to College, Again

In one of my latest dreams, I was a 79-year-old freshman heading into U-C, Santa Barbara. Nobody in the dream seemed to think that was strange, although everybody else was around 20.

As I navigated my way through an unending range of options to find a major, I (unsurprisingly) picked journalism.

But when I filled out the form listing my experience, so they could place me at the proper level, the administrators suggested it would be better for me to be a teacher than a student.

So I decided to look for another major, something where I would be less qualified. It turned out there was an aerial broadcast unit, so I met with the faculty head for that.

He was also an older gentleman, hard of hearing, who told me to write down my cellphone number so he could call me when their flying gadget was ready.

I tried to write down my number but I got stuck, not quite getting it right. Finally, after trying over and over I did, and just as that happened I woke up. 

Back in reality, although I have no plans to re-enter college myself, my two oldest grandsons — James and Luca — head off to college later this year.

James will enter U-C, Davis, and Luca, U-C, Santa Cruz.

HEADLINES:

• Trump says Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a 3-day ceasefire (NPR)

• Putin says he thinks Ukraine war is ‘coming to an end’ (BBC)

• How real is a coup threat against Russia’s president? (DW)

• Iran Tests Trump’s Will to Fight (WSJ)

• Iran could withstand naval blockade for months: CIA analysis (Reuters)

• How the Republicans pulling ahead in the redistricting war affects the midterms (CNN)

• Two Weeks Ago, Democrats Were Winning the Redistricting Wars. What Happened? (Slate)

• The Virginia Dissent Democrats Will Rely on for US Supreme Court Appeal (Newsweek)

• They’re not saying someone should kill Trump. But they’re coming close. (WP)

• How MAGA’s “Stop the Steal” will affect us come the midterms (Reveal)

• What to know about British elections that hammered Starmer’s Labour Party (AP)

• The Atlantic isn’t backing down (Poynter)

• What happens when hantavirus breaks out on a ship? (Reuters)

• Yankees Appearance Policy Amended To Allow Extreme Body Modification (Onion)

 

A Secret Rendezvous

UPDATE: The tomato plant mystery remains unsolved. One plant remains, several days after the other five disappeared. We’ve not yet captured the intruder on camera.

NOTE: I published the following essay in the early stages of the pandemic. It still feels relevant six years later.

It isn’t the extraordinary things -- the breakthroughs, the awards, the dream vacations. It isn’t even the special moments we knew we were falling in love.

Those are our memories and they remain as intact as ever.

Rather it is the ordinary things that we did almost without thinking that have been stolen from us. This came to me as I rode masked in a car through my old neighborhood one day on the way to the neurologist.

There was that one special cluster of wisteria under a tree. A lone hummingbird usually was hovering among the flowers as I passed. I’d stop and it often rose to greet me, face to face. It became our secret rendezvous.

There was the house that always seemed to be under construction. A large truck was parked in the driveway; the workers went in and out of the site through an opening where the garage door used to be. I’d always stop to chat with them.

“Buenos dias hombres. ¿Cómo es el trabajo?” “Hola tio. Lamento que nuestro camión esté en tu camino. Usa tu bastón!”

There was the cafe where I used to order tuna melts. Now we were getting close to the office. There were the benches where my work friends who smoked would gather on breaks.

I liked the people who smoked. They remind me of my Dad.

There is the corner where I turned to get to the office. Every morning at 9:25 sharp, the UPS delivery truck arrived. Also at 9:25 every morning, I arrived.

As I swiped my ID badge to enter the front door, other colleagues would often be arriving. I enjoyed holding the door open for them.

Many hours later, I would reverse my route and return home.

It was all so simple, so thoughtless; it’s just how I passed my days.

But on this particular day in the car, I was just passing through. My son had set up an appointment for me because he felt I was still too weak and frail from my illnesses to get there on my own.

Meanwhile, I’d developed the idea that I was like an onion and it was quite an elaborate identity, with layers and layers of complexity. 

I asked my son on our way to the neurologist if I should tell her about the onion concept. He said, “No, Dad, let’s save that one for another day.” At the meeting the doctor administered the cognition test -- the same one they gave me at the hospital many times.

My score, she reported, was 100 percent. Just like Trump!

She explained that I’d had a stroke and that I had symptoms, including tremors, consistent with Parkinson’s. That is why my hospital doctor had prescribed Carbidopa Levodopa.

I loved the sound of that drug, Carbidopa Levodopa. I used to play with the nurses when they brought it to me. “Can you say that quickly six times?”

“Carbidopa levodopa carbidopa levodopa carbidopa levodopa carbidopa levodopa carbidopa levodopa carbidopa levodopa.”

They all could do it and it sounded lovely to me. Most of them wore a far-away expression as they did it.

This particular day, as it happens, would be last time I drove along that route. So it was the end for the wisteria, the hummingbird, the workers, the benches, the smokers, the UPS truck and my ID badge.

It was not, however, the end of the Carbidopa Levodopa.

***

There are people who think that it doesn’t matter that a man in power repeatedly used his money and access to sexually abuse women. That saddens me.

That there are people who support a coward, an obvious bully, a man who abuses other people from behind his shield of bodyguards, saddens me.

That there are people who don’t care that such a man attacks my colleagues in the press who are only doing their jobs saddens me very deeply.

That there are people, many people, who buy his bullshit, saddens me, and yes, even angers me.

I didn’t devote 54 years trying to practice socially responsible journalism and survive a stroke for it to come to this.

So yes I am nostalgic, I’m wistful, I miss what I’ve lost. But that stroke didn’t kill me. 

I still have my voice.

HEADLINES:

• Court rejects Virginia redistricting in a blow to Democrats’ counter to Trump, GOP (NPR)

• US fires on and disables 2 more Iranian tankers as tensions rise in the Strait of Hormuz (AP)

• Trump threatens EU with ‘much higher’ tariffs if no trade deal signed by new deadline (CNBC)

• April jobs report: Economy adds 115,000 jobs, far better than expected (Yahoo)

• Emerging picture shows Reform gains as Labour counts losses in heartland seats (BBC)

• Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to fight on to deliver on his promise to bring "change" to Britain after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local elections. (Reuters)

• Polls in California Reflect a Chaotic Governor’s Race (NYT)

• Trump reveals what he told Rubio to convey to the Pope — and it’s the thing he keeps saying on TV (Independent)

• Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating a unilateral two-day ceasefire announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to cover the anniversary celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany. (Reuters)

• ABC Accuses Government of Violating First Amendment (NYT)

• Amanpour expresses ‘concern’ over future of CNN, citing ‘ideological realignment’ at CBS (The Hill)

• A deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic is unlikely to spread globally like the coronavirus did, even though the virus has a long incubation period and some of the ship’s passengers have already disembarked, the World Health Organization said. [HuffPost]

• Meta Is Dying. It’s About Time. (NYT)

• Anthropic’s Mythos set off a cybersecurity ‘hysteria.’ Experts say the threat was already here (CNBC)

• Sam Altman had a bad day in court (BI)

• Five Ways A.I. Search Beats an Old-School Google Search (NYT)

• Tech is turning increasingly to religion in a quest to create ethical AI (AP)

• A.I. Populism Is Here. And No One Is Ready. (NYT)

• Taylor Swift Fires Fixer Who Forgot To Kill Justin Baldoni (Onion)