Chris Zubak-Skees
@zubakskees.bsky.social
Data journalist and software engineer https://zubak-skees.dev
Small indicator: I now append short instructions to the AI to my Google searches.
My Nieman Lab prediction for 2026: The AI bubble may pop but people’s use of AI for information won’t and it's better if we start taking this seriously.
December 6, 2025 at 2:41 AM
Small indicator: I now append short instructions to the AI to my Google searches.
Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder whose drone you are.
December 2, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder whose drone you are.
"this poem is not a place of honor"
this is quite the detail
December 1, 2025 at 5:29 AM
"this poem is not a place of honor"
What Was Code
He’s right! You don’t have to use it—but it’s going to sweep through codeworld like a purifying fire. You may not care! But it’s not like when it draws you a bad picture of a large-breasted elf. It’s more like it shreds the foundation of what makes tech “valuable.”
At the risk of starting the flame war to end all flame wars...
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
December 1, 2025 at 5:07 AM
What Was Code
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
November 29, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The Boston Globe identified the companies in Massachusetts that employ the most SNAP recipients. A key stat: "In Massachusetts, 74% of working-age recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are employed, half of them full-time."
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Full article: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/28/m...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
Boats already stopped in the water. People about to die. Clues to drone and manned aircraft fighting systems.
—Findings of our freeze-frame study of the Trump administration’s promotional videos of its bombing campaign on suspected drug smuggling boats.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
—Findings of our freeze-frame study of the Trump administration’s promotional videos of its bombing campaign on suspected drug smuggling boats.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
What the Pentagon’s Attack Videos Reveal About the Boat Strikes at Sea
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Boats already stopped in the water. People about to die. Clues to drone and manned aircraft fighting systems.
—Findings of our freeze-frame study of the Trump administration’s promotional videos of its bombing campaign on suspected drug smuggling boats.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
—Findings of our freeze-frame study of the Trump administration’s promotional videos of its bombing campaign on suspected drug smuggling boats.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
"The Times [found] more than 120 instances in the past decade in which guards... punched, kicked or stomped on prisoners, smashed their fingers..., ...struck their genitals with batons, and even waterboarded them — all while the prisoners were ... restrained." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/n...
Restrained, Beaten, Asphyxiated: New York Prison Guards’ Brutality Grows
www.nytimes.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:38 PM
"The Times [found] more than 120 instances in the past decade in which guards... punched, kicked or stomped on prisoners, smashed their fingers..., ...struck their genitals with batons, and even waterboarded them — all while the prisoners were ... restrained." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/n...
I mean, the spam filters and autosuggest/complete are machine learning, probably trained on some Gmails. I'd suspect the autocomplete looks a lot like a text completion LLM now or in the future. They're not training Gemini, is the line they're drawing.
Turns out this was all much ado about nothing and Google isn’t using your Gmail to train AI and if wanna turn all that stuff back on you can get your spam filters back
Looks like the article has been updated to suggest maybe they misread the policy.
I see people complaining that this also disabled their spam filters, though I still see new messages showing up in spam so it's still working fine for me after disabling things.
I see people complaining that this also disabled their spam filters, though I still see new messages showing up in spam so it's still working fine for me after disabling things.
November 23, 2025 at 2:58 AM
I mean, the spam filters and autosuggest/complete are machine learning, probably trained on some Gmails. I'd suspect the autocomplete looks a lot like a text completion LLM now or in the future. They're not training Gemini, is the line they're drawing.
Sunlight Foundation first used this format in 2011 with Palin's emails (when I was a fellow there), seem to recall some have done it with other dumps in the years since. It's a good format sunlightfoundation.com/2011/06/15/a...
omg they made Jeffrey Epstein Inbox Simulator '25 jmail.world
Jmail, logged in as [email protected]
You are logged into [email protected], Jeffrey Epstein's email. Sourced from the November 2025 House Oversight Committee data release.
jmail.world
November 22, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Sunlight Foundation first used this format in 2011 with Palin's emails (when I was a fellow there), seem to recall some have done it with other dumps in the years since. It's a good format sunlightfoundation.com/2011/06/15/a...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
NEW AP INVESTIGATION: With license plate readers and local law enforcement partnerships, Border Patrol is monitoring American drivers and detaining those exhibiting ‘suspicious’ travel patterns in the U.S. interior. w/
@garanceburke.bsky.social. apnews.com/article/immi...
@garanceburke.bsky.social. apnews.com/article/immi...
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
apnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:48 PM
NEW AP INVESTIGATION: With license plate readers and local law enforcement partnerships, Border Patrol is monitoring American drivers and detaining those exhibiting ‘suspicious’ travel patterns in the U.S. interior. w/
@garanceburke.bsky.social. apnews.com/article/immi...
@garanceburke.bsky.social. apnews.com/article/immi...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
Big, yearlong investigation from @NBCNews.com landed today:
"Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors."
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
"Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors."
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
'Why won't you help me?' Pregnant women and their babies are dying in jail
Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors.
www.nbcnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Big, yearlong investigation from @NBCNews.com landed today:
"Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors."
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
"Dozens of pregnant women locked up in county jails described excruciating pain, saying their cries for help were ignored as they miscarried or gave birth into cell toilets or on filthy jail floors."
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
Tracking the spread of bird flu using genetic markers, satellite imagery, property records, and more reminds me of John Snow’s Cholera investigation/map. Howe’s Hens is the modern day Broad Street Pump. Amazing work from @natlash.bsky.social & @chrisalcantara.com. www.propublica.org/article/meth...
November 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Tracking the spread of bird flu using genetic markers, satellite imagery, property records, and more reminds me of John Snow’s Cholera investigation/map. Howe’s Hens is the modern day Broad Street Pump. Amazing work from @natlash.bsky.social & @chrisalcantara.com. www.propublica.org/article/meth...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
NEW: New Jersey’s township data is (mostly) in, so
@shanegoldmacher.bsky.social & I crunched the numbers on NJ’s blue shift/pendulum swing
The same majority-Hispanic cities & towns that swung to Trump in 24 shifted back D, to Mikie Sherrill, in the governor’s race
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
@shanegoldmacher.bsky.social & I crunched the numbers on NJ’s blue shift/pendulum swing
The same majority-Hispanic cities & towns that swung to Trump in 24 shifted back D, to Mikie Sherrill, in the governor’s race
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
Maps Show How Latinos Who Shifted Right in 2024 Snapped Back Left in 2025
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:15 PM
NEW: New Jersey’s township data is (mostly) in, so
@shanegoldmacher.bsky.social & I crunched the numbers on NJ’s blue shift/pendulum swing
The same majority-Hispanic cities & towns that swung to Trump in 24 shifted back D, to Mikie Sherrill, in the governor’s race
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
@shanegoldmacher.bsky.social & I crunched the numbers on NJ’s blue shift/pendulum swing
The same majority-Hispanic cities & towns that swung to Trump in 24 shifted back D, to Mikie Sherrill, in the governor’s race
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
"Fourth-year Sophia Bangura, one of the student journalists who worked on the project, was terminated from the organization three days later for “insubordination” for asking followup questions during the interview and declining to apologize to the interim president’s office."
Student journalist terminated following interview with UVA interim President Paul Mahoney - C-VILLE Weekly
Getting an interview with, let alone answers from, upper leadership at the University of Virginia is an uphill battle for any news organization. The groups with the most access to UVA’s administration...
c-ville.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:55 PM
"Fourth-year Sophia Bangura, one of the student journalists who worked on the project, was terminated from the organization three days later for “insubordination” for asking followup questions during the interview and declining to apologize to the interim president’s office."
@thewheatgerm.bsky.social There's one Wikipedia editor who has been single-handedly keeping Jet Lag out of Charleville-Mezieres's history of culture and sport.
November 12, 2025 at 11:40 PM
@thewheatgerm.bsky.social There's one Wikipedia editor who has been single-handedly keeping Jet Lag out of Charleville-Mezieres's history of culture and sport.
Oh so that's why he flew to San Angelo.
New WSJ: After flying an FBI jet to see his girlfriend sing at a wrestling match, FBI director Kash Patel took the jet to a private Texas hunting resort called the Boondoggle Ranch. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Kash Patel’s ‘Effin Wild’ Ride as FBI Director
In just one week in October, he ticked off his bosses with premature comments about a terror investigation squeezed in a trip to the ‘Boondoggle Ranch’ on the bureau jet.
www.wsj.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Oh so that's why he flew to San Angelo.
Uh, Michael Wolff what are you doing? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
November 12, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Uh, Michael Wolff what are you doing? www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
Palantir update via www.wired.com/story/alex-k...
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Palantir update via www.wired.com/story/alex-k...
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
Members of the community argue with federal officers during an immigration enforcement action in the Little Village neighborhood Saturday in Chicago.
November 8, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Members of the community argue with federal officers during an immigration enforcement action in the Little Village neighborhood Saturday in Chicago.
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
New on The New York Times : “Almost Half of U.S. Imports Now Have Steep Tariffs”
Almost Half of U.S. Imports Now Have Steep Tariffs
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:19 AM
New on The New York Times : “Almost Half of U.S. Imports Now Have Steep Tariffs”
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
And Public Citizen has a report on the enforcement actions the donors have been facing.
www.citizen.org/news/corpora...
www.citizen.org/news/corpora...
November 4, 2025 at 5:57 PM
And Public Citizen has a report on the enforcement actions the donors have been facing.
www.citizen.org/news/corpora...
www.citizen.org/news/corpora...
"ah 我要 (wo yao) is the yo quiero of Chinese" <- my brain on Duolingo
October 26, 2025 at 2:13 PM
"ah 我要 (wo yao) is the yo quiero of Chinese" <- my brain on Duolingo
Reposted by Chris Zubak-Skees
Reuters tracked one of the tankers in a "dark fleet" smuggling diesel into Mexico, following a paper trail that led through U.S. businesses and one of the world's deadliest drug cartels.
This is a heck of a story.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
This is a heck of a story.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
October 23, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Reuters tracked one of the tankers in a "dark fleet" smuggling diesel into Mexico, following a paper trail that led through U.S. businesses and one of the world's deadliest drug cartels.
This is a heck of a story.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
This is a heck of a story.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...