Samara Ebinger

Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses

In an internal memo in May, Meta laid out its plans to release facial recognition in its smart glasses, to the blind first, & then to the general public.

“Civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...

📣 NEW! I’ve just released the BIGGEST and perhaps most creative project I’ve ever worked on!

“Searching for Birds” searchingforbirds.visualcinnamon.com 🐤

A project, an article, an exploration that dives into the data that connects humans with birds, by looking at how we search for birds.

A pillow for sale in the shape of a globe with some accuracy issues.

I have a few questions.

Four Indicted in Death of Trooper Enrique Delgado-Garcia Four Massachusetts State Police Academy training staff face indictments for involuntary manslaughter in the 2024 death of Trooper Enrique Delgado-Garcia.

Four Massachusetts State Police Academy training staff face indictments for involuntary manslaughter in the 2024 death of Trooper Enrique Delgado-Garcia.

🚨 Epstein survivors release this powerful PSA in advance of the Super Bowl demanding answers from the Justice Department. This is the Super Bowl ad every American should see. Spread it everywhere.

I just typed “does anyone think” into Google and the auto-complete was “the Patriots will win?” That was actually what I was going to ask. #superbowl

This is just insane. It’s only a matter of time before DHS kills another innocent person here.

(clip via MPR and @davidjbier.bsky.social on X)

Kristi Noem needs to go. President Trump needs to end these ICE operations. And Congress needs to hold them accountable.

Timeline: How the Shooting of Alex Jeffrey Pretti Unfolded A moment-by-moment analysis of video from the scene shows that Mr. Pretti was already restrained when fatal shots were fired, which appears to contradict the federal government’s account of the event.

Alex Pretti was already restrained when federal agents shot and killed him in Minneapolis, a New York Times analysis of video shows. The footage contradicts the Department of Homeland Security’s account of the shooting.

People in winter clothes at a vigil for Alex Pretti. One person in a medical mask and gloves holds a poster that says JUSTICE FOR ALEX PRETTI. A headline reads: "Alex Pretti, the Man Killed by Agents, Was a Nurse and U.S. Citizen" Photo by David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents on Saturday, was a registered nurse who worked in the ICU at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis. “He wanted to be helpful, to help humanity and have a career that was a force of good in the world,” a colleague said. trib.al/0Yb3jXF

Based on analysis of multiple videos, Pretti was disarmed BEFORE he was shot and killed by ICE agents.

Videos Show Moments in Which Agents Killed a Man in Minneapolis Federal authorities said the slain man, Alex Pretti, had approached agents with a gun. But videos show Mr. Pretti was holding his phone, not a weapon, when they pulled him to the ground.

Videos verified by The New York Times show Alex Jeffrey Pretti, the man federal agents shot and killed in Minneapolis on Saturday, was holding a phone, not a gun, when the agents took him to the ground and shot him. In total, at least 10 shots appear to have been fired within five seconds.

Glad to see our tax paying dollars being used to produce such top notch work.

Most definitely. Also the penguin “holding “ the flag.

Chart showing positivity ratings for various words and phrases on a scale from 0 to 10. Words range from "Very bad" (2.22) to "Perfect" (8.75), with color-coded distributions from red (negative) to green (positive). The title references "Make America 8.08 out of 10 again," with "Great" scoring 8.08.

Very bad? Terrible? Or perfect? American superlatives graded. Making American 8.8 again?
today.yougov.com/society/arti...

Zines! What a fun idea!

I’m seeing lots of wrong stuff in this image.

in case you're curious about how angry Minnesota is about ICE, it was -20 today

What Will New York’s New Map Show Us? Voters voted for it, even if they weren’t sure what it was. But maps are the ideal metaphor for our models of what the world might be.

“Even the current redistricting battle reveals the constant paradox: we draw firm lines around a fluctuating reality,” Adam Gopnik writes. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

A screen capture of the Worcester Find My Councilor app that shows portions of a map of the City and different council districts.

Lots of changes on Worcester’s City Council this year. You can easily look up who your district councilor is and find links to more details about the City Council using the City’s Find My Councilor map.

worcesterma.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant...

It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month.

It’s about oil and regime change.

And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from his sinking under Epstein and skyrocketing healthcare costs.

🎁 A New Year’s gift to the geospatial community: a brand-new QGIS plugin that unlocks access to 80+ petabytes of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with zero coding required.

Image 1

Meet the owl man who helps keep Boston's Logan airfield safe for travelers.

Since 1981, Norman Smith has devoted his life to protecting both snowy owls and planes

How he does it: https://www.wcvb.com/article/snowy-owls-logan-airport-safety/69859478 

Spring bird migration in Concord now a week earlier than in Thoreau's time, study finds While scientists said it’s good news that birds appear to be adjusting to warming temperatures, they cautioned the shift might not be happening fast enough to keep up with how quickly the birds’ food ...

While scientists said it’s good news that birds appear to be adjusting to warming temperatures, they cautioned the shift might not be happening fast enough to keep up with how quickly the birds’ food sources — like plants and insects — are responding.

This series of wintery panoramic views draws us into the personal connections between geographers and the places they love.

Map: Panorama from the Pinnacle, Lyme, N.H. (1966). See our Digital Collections portal: buff.ly/1uN3XmY

#bpl #LMEC #maps #bostonmaps #localhistory #bostonhistory

The Sinister Plan to Demolish a Brutalist Icon in Dallas Behind the spectacle of City Hall’s potential demolition is the transfer of funding away from the public and into a few extraordinarily wealthy hands.

Dallas City Council members approved exploratory measures for privatizing City Hall as they seek to sell the community site, demolishing its I.M. Pei-designed Brutalist building and a public plaza with sculptures to make way for a new casino funded by Trump donor Miriam Adelson.

PETA complaint alleges mistreatment of lab animals at UMass Chan Medical School

PETA complaint alleges mistreatment of lab animals at UMass Medical School

archive.ph/5GywK

#30DayMapChallenge | Day 6 Dimensions |
I colored my #lasercut #Wisconsin 3D #topographic map. Though the natural HDF wood tone limited the choice of colors, the dark edges did enhance the 3D effect. Watercolor was used to fill up the valleys. (The digital file was shared to local blind school.)

Digital elevation model of a river plain with many colours. A braided river makes the colours look like flames. Yellow-purple-orange and so on in repetition.

While cleaning up I came across a large set of TIFF files. Zooming turned out to be worthwhile. Had to look up where it is. Here we go: a small part of the amazing Haast River, West Coast Region, New Zealand.

"Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World" with William Rankin | American Ancestors Join us for this Yale historian’s presentation about how maps shape our world and a of his stunning new work including over 150 full-color maps.

For those who missed the live event last night I highly recommend checking out this talk from Yale history professor Bill Rankin on the concept (and his book) of radical cartography. www.americanancestors.org/video-librar...