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Don't Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything

WIRED

Don't Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything Americans increasingly fantasize about a divorce between red and blue states--but they dread the thought of civil war. You can't have one without the other. It's become almost like a histamine response: After a shocking national event like the assassination of Charlie Kirk, or Donald Trump's deployment of the military to Los Angeles last June, mentions of the term " civil war " and calls for secession surge online. This kind of talk flared again in January, when two citizens were shot and killed by immigration agents on the streets of Minneapolis, and governor Tim Walz mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to be ready to support local law enforcement. "I mean, is this a Fort Sumter?" Walz said in an interview with The Atlantic, invoking the battle that sparked the Civil War.


I Believe in one God, and It's Not a Computer

Mother Jones

How the data center boom plunged one small Pennsylvania town into chaos. Valley View Estates is set to be surrounded by data centers. Get your news from a source that's not owned and controlled by oligarchs. "I don't like to see anyone upset," said Nick Farris of Provident Real Estate Advisors. He was sitting in the front of a crowd of roughly 150 inside Valley View High School's auditorium in Archbald, a town of about 7,500, huddled between two mountain ranges in Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley. Farris was there to represent the developer for Project Scott, one of many data center campuses coming to town. "I think that this is the best data center site in this area of the country, by far." The audience had been fairly quiet, bundled in thick coats against the late January cold. But as Farris spoke about data centers as a boon for communities, they began to laugh, drawing a rebuke from town officials. "What about the children?" someone shouted from the crowd. The children were watching from the walls; long banners of Valley View Performing Arts students hanging around the auditorium like championship pennants. Project Scott and four other data facilities will sit just a few thousand feet from the middle and high schools. He was referring to Lockheed Martin's 350,000-square-foot Missiles and Fire Control facility directly next to the high school, parts of which are highly contaminated . "That sucks too!" another attendee yelled back.


'Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat' Almost Makes Corporate Culture Seem Fun

WIRED

The Amazon Prime prank series amplifies the hijinks of workplace dynamics, while showing how people find purpose--and community--in their jobs despite impossible situations. Anthony Norman is your typical Gen Z worker: 25, a little wayward, and struggling to find a full time job. Unemployment rates are high . AI is creating a crisis for young people trying to enter the workforce. And several companies--including Amazon, Block, and Meta --have embraced tech's latest era of layoffmaxxing, with some cutting their staff by 20 percent.


Game devs say Nvidia's DLSS 5 reveal blindsided them

PCWorld

PCWorld reports that Nvidia's DLSS 5 announcement caught major game developers from Ubisoft and Capcom off-guard, who were unaware their games would be featured in demonstrations. The generative AI technology faces significant backlash from gamers who criticize it as an "AI filter" that potentially devalues game aesthetics and may require two high-end GPUs. Despite being planned for fall 2026 release, DLSS 5 already raises concerns about artistic control and whether developers want this AI-enhanced visual processing in their games. Nvidia DLSS 5 is coming later this year, adding generative "AI" features to the performance-enhancing tech . Gamers are calling the tool an "Instagram yaas filter" and "AI slop," among other, less kind terms. The way that it adds detail to faces and seems to hijack -- or replace?


The 10 most popular US National Parks in 2025

Popular Science

Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon all make the list, but aren't number one. Yosemite National Park came in at number five on the National Parks Service list. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. In 2025, the parks received 323 million recreation visits, according to new data release by the National Parks Service. The data includes visitors to National Parks, National Historic Sites, National Memorials, National Seashores, National Parkways, and other designated public lands.


DoorDash Reservations Scored America's Most Exclusive Restaurants

WIRED

After the rise (and fall) of reservation scalping, DoorDash and a host of apps are fighting to book you a seat at the country's most exclusive restaurants. At The Eighty-Six in Manhattan, exclusivity is the point. The luxe, 11-table steakhouse is the sort of place that lavishes caviar and aged mimolette cheese on its potatoes, and crows that your market-price duck was raised by one Dr. Taylor Swift has reportedly dined there in a Miu Miu skirt. Reservations are a scarce commodity that the restaurant, and New York law forbids you from selling one. "Access is the main asset," wrote food writer Helen Rosner in a recent New Yorker review of The Eighty-Six. "The product is the door, and what a door!


NASA wants your hail photos

Popular Science

After grapefruit-sized hail hit Missouri, more images may help improve severe storm forecasting. A CoCoRaHS volunteer submitted this photo that displays a hand holding three large and uniquely shaped hailstones from June 14, 2023. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Tuesday March 10th was a particularly punishing day of bad weather for the residents of Kansas City, Missouri. That evening, hailstones as large as grapefruits bombarded homes, businesses, and vehicles in the area, causing widespread damage to the community.


A meteor exploded over Ohio and Pennsylvania

Popular Science

A very loud bang accompanied the disintegrating space rock. Although loud, little of the meteor is expected to have survived the atmospheric entry. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Residents across northeastern Ohio received a rude--or at least extremely unexpected--wake-up call this morning. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the loud boom experienced across the region around 9 a.m. EDT on March 17 was most likely the result of a meteor disintegrating as it sped through Earth's atmosphere.