The New York Times: Kenyans Did College Students’ Homework for Years. Then A.I. Arrived. Thousands of Kenyans once made a living writing college essays for cheating overseas students, but the industry has all but collapsed since ChatGPT launched in 2022. Teresios Bundi wrote more than 2,500 essays over 12 years and built a business employing dozens of writers, […]
links: 03.09.2026
Ir.lv: From one microphone to Europe: LNSO’s 100-year story The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra is marking its centenary. Its predecessor, the Riga Radiophone Orchestra, began daily broadcasts on September 5, 1926 with just 14 musicians, exactly as many as its single microphone could pick up. The piece also traces the station’s own origins: parliament allocated 140,000 lats for […]
links: 04.08.2026
SBS News: ‘Unfounded and premature’: Why experts say parents shouldn’t panic about screen time A new international study following more than 3,000 children since 2009 found no link between screen-time duration and developmental difficulties at age five or ten. Australian experts note that worries about an “iPad baby” generation may be both unfounded and premature — the study […]
links: 01.08.2026
Wired: China’s EV Market Is Booming. There’s Just One Problem Wired reports that China’s EV boom is now followed by its first big wave of retired batteries. 400,000 tonnes of battery waste piled up last year and 22 million tonnes are expected by 2040, yet certified recyclers get only about a quarter of it, as unlicensed buyers pay […]
links: 14.06.2026
LSM: President Čakste’s daughter who feigned insanity in Siberia for her children’s sake. The story of Maiga Šīrone’s self-sacrifice Pianist Maiga Šīrone, a daughter of Latvia’s first president Jānis Čakste, was deported to Siberia with her two children in 1941. Realising that her children could only be sent home if she herself were declared legally incapacitated, she deliberately […]