Sam Learner

have migrated over here more, so making a quick thread of some visual stories/projects I’ve done over the past few years starting with this river runner project from a couple years ago, which visualizes the path of a raindrop from anywhere on earth: river-runner-global.samlearner.com

We were investigating Wedgewood for faking their data and emailed them for comment this morning, ahead of publishing the findings tomorrow. They are now trying to cover up their fraud with the "we were doing a social experiment" excuse. Full story here: blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftypluso...

NEW: AI agents are rewriting the economics of computing AI agents can plan and execute complex work with limited human oversight. But this autonomy also makes AI costs harder to predict. Our new visual story explains what tokens are, and why agentic AI is driving an explosion in their use.

The classic Racial Dot Map inspired me and a whole generation of mapmakers. Today, I'm publishing a modern take on this map, built with the geospatial tools I've been developing over the past decade. Interact with the map here: walker-data.com/maps/census-...

just now learning that Nova Scotia is shaped like sanded-down New Zealand

Britain’s state-owned electricity system operator has awarded Palantir a £21mn contract without inviting rival bids, arguing critical processes are too reliant on its tech to run a competitive procurement process Latest for @financialtimes.com: as.ft.com/r/7fe6c0b7-2...

AI slop isn't dead! https://hackerone.com/reports/3938185

if I had $2.5mn sitting around, I would buy this place in a heartbeat. I learned so much over the years just looking at old things in here. seems pretty unlikely that the business survives the sale, but really hope it does

Israel’s campaign to make southern Lebanon ‘unliveable’ ft.trib.al/O7a4C0Q

grab an FT Weekend this weekend, for it is full of games, and stories about games: www.ft.com/content/e90d...

you can blow a European person's mind by telling them that North Carolina has more people than Sweden. they really look down on the directional states

CEPR Fellows Miklós Koren & @gaborbekes.bsky.social explore their CEPR Discussion Paper "Vibe Coding Kills Open Source" for the FT Magazine. The paper was also featured on the Practical AI podcast practicalai.show/351 and in The Register earlier this year: www.theregister.com/software/202....

so happy for Miguel man

The current top story on the FT Magazine is pay-walled but features some mentions of #curl and yours truly... (the picture shows the start of it) https://www.ft.com/content/cec8df9e-b43b-4cd1-8feb-c07e804e8d33

this is a great piece, and i'm not just saying that because i'm quoted in it

The FT Mag's America at 250 edition is out today, featuring the thoughts of Stephen Breyer, Nicole Krauss, Yiyun Li @frankfukuyama.bsky.social Simon Schama, @okr.bsky.social Harlan Bozeman @jayrayner1.bsky.social @nigella.bsky.social Jancis Robinson & more www.ft.com/content/3265... @ftweekend.com

need to learn more about how/why we spent 40 years canning things before we invented the can opener

sorry, but I absolutely will not let the NY media convince me that Wemby is a villain

DJ Khaled spending the whole game courtside on his phone is really testing my resolve on "not telling other people how to live their lives"

has any man ever been more vindicated? x.com/stuartbuck1/...

Family, activists allege Newark immigration center guards beat and used gas on detainees gothamist.com/news/family-...

so interesting that I feel like I can identify vibe-coded websites at a glance now. dark mode toggle in the corner, smallcap straplines everywhere, etc. not inherently a bad thing and I'm glad it makes it easy for people to build frontends, just interesting what the models consider a "slick UI"

A US satellite in blue tracks two Chinese satellites. Prudent monitoring — or rehearsal for combat? A high-stakes arms race is taking place in orbit; the winner will "control Earth by controlling space”. But things can go very wrong, very quickly. Today's Big Read is on #FTEdit 👉 ft.trib.al/iwgFTZe

Gen Z is so interesting...

machines making machines in morningside heights: as.ft.com/r/51413355-0...

Trudeau is only ten years away from legally being a senior citizen btw

it's so interesting that the phrase "de hoy en ocho" in Spanish means "this time next week" because in most of the English-speaking world (I think?) that would be considered 7 days, not 8. I wonder how that divide came about

NEW: Just weeks ago, the shadow fleet was on the run amid a crackdown on the illicit oil trade. But the Iran conflict has given these ghost vessels a lifeline. Our latest visual story takes a deep dive into their clandestine operations. 👉 as.ft.com/r/40748722-c...

if you're just in it to make money, then I think you probably don't want to be huddled around a shared "weather predictions" screen displayed on a column? feels like the part they're ignoring is that people like to watch sports at bars because the games are fun to watch

NEW: Since October 2023, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit has released dozens of 3D animations illustrating alleged Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iranian sites The style is now unmistakable: satellite zoom-ins, black & white wireframes, and red-textured houses - a new visual language of war

Almost exactly ten years ago @henrymance.ft.com had lunch with Nigel Farage www.ft.com/content/864c.... It remains legend. Quite a lot has happened over the subsequent decade so we sent him back in. as.ft.com/r/edeac2c6-0...