Jon Udell

The missing map: part of the Dordogne valley at 1:25000

I updated the post: we found a 1972 Institut Géographique National map in a drawer. It doesn't show the A20 but who cares, it is a glorious representation of this region.

Note to self: always bring a real map.

https://blog.jonudell.net/2025/10/04/maps-old-and-new/

#maps #navigation

I highly recommend the audiobook if you want to hear it directly from the author with her delightful Scottish accent.

Our World in Data Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems

I have long admired ourworldindata.org for its comprehensive data and analysis, much of which is the work of Hannah Ritchie. Her new book, Not The End of the World, synthesizes what she has learned over the past decade and delivers a credible, much-needed message of hope.

Voline (@Voline@kolektiva.social) Attached: 1 video A message from Portland City Councilor and US Army veteran Mitch Green, urging Oregon Guardsmen to remember their oaths to the Constitution and refuse deployment to Portland. #PDX #ICE #Antifa

To those who heed this message: thank you for your service. https://kolektiva.social/@Voline/115285852310095053

"One reason techno-utopians don't worry about the loss of human meaning is that they're not particularly attached to humans."

- Bill McKibben

Brad Lander (@bradlander.bsky.social) I was back at 26 Federal Plaza today, where an ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital. (🎥: Elias Eliahu)

https://bsky.app/profile/bradlander.bsky.social/post/3lzojyaq63k22

What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism Militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.

[2]"

Memory-holed by the government, preserved in WayBack.

https://web.archive.org/web/20250911012550/https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/what-nij-research-tells-us-about-domestic-terrorism

"The number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.

One dive bombed into the surf and never reappeared. Unless they can swim longer and farther underwater than I think, it looks like that did not end well.

wars, including the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War, the War on Drugs and the War on Terror."

How weak you must be to fear these people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/11/peace-vigil-congressman-letter/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/11/peace-vigil-congressman-letter/

"The demonstration is widely considered to be the longest continuous act of political protest in U.S. history. It has survived seven presidents, countless global conflicts, hurricanes and blizzards, heat waves and floods. It has outlasted several U.S.

All I hear about is the Target boycott, which is important, but now it's time to organize a large-scale boycott of CBS/Paramount (Colbert) and ABC (Kimmel).

I cannot be the first person to entertain this thought. Who is working on this and how can we help?

#CBS #Paramount #ABC #Boycott

How To Upgrade Your MCP Server With Context Engineering Context engineering anchors AI agents to ground truth. So here's how to upgrade an MCP server to help agents find legit and sourced patterns.

It does.

This is what I mean by testable documentation ( https://thenewstack.io/how-to-upgrade-your-mcp-server-with-context-engineering/ ).

The agent is anchored to ground truth: a working example in a live playground.

#XMLUI #MCP

Here's how to make an XMLUI table responsive: https://docs.xmlui.org/howto/make-a-table-responsive

I just added the example to the Howto section in the docs. Now when I ask an agent how to do this, the XMLUI MCP server should guide the agent to the working example and cite the URL.

I tested.

David Roberts (@volts.wtf) After years of hype, Chinese investors are convinced that solid-state batteries are here, ready to revolutionize the market. Another huge, world-changing technology that China is kicking our ass on. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-15/china-s-battery-makers-get-boost-on-hopes-for-solid-state-tech?cmpid=BBD091525_hyperdrive

Bright engineering students in China used to flock to American universities. That flow will now reverse. And we'll need to train our students in spycraft. https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl/post/3lyve2jrvts25

The clean energy sector grew at a rate three times that of China’s economy overall, according to the report."

That could have been, should have been, and won't be America's story.

#CleanEnergy #China #FootGun

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/climate/china-clean-energy-fossil-fuel-research.html

The Fresh Air interview with Billy Strings is deeply moving. Hearing he is from Ionia, Michigan added a layer for me. Two of my college roommates were from there. It wasn't an artsy town when I visited in the 70s, nor was it during his troubled childhood.

How To Upgrade Your MCP Server With Context Engineering Context engineering anchors AI agents to ground truth. So here's how to upgrade an MCP server to help agents find legit and sourced patterns.

What does privilege the LLM, though, is an MCP server that makes documentation available to agents in ways they are best equipped to process."

https://thenewstack.io/how-to-upgrade-your-mcp-server-with-context-engineering/

#Documentation #ContextEngineering #MCP

https://judell.github.io/dei-tracker/

#boycott

I last updated this DEI tracker in April. A scan of recent headlines suggests little change since. Boycott is arguably the only effective lever for #resistance between now and the midterms.

The infinitely wise @r0ml once spoke of the moment when he understood pasta to be a sauce delivery platform.

I hereby extend the category to include spaghetti squash.

Where and when?

Journos please avoid the phrase "vaccine skeptic".

Try writing "gravity skeptic" and you'll start to see why.

I suggest "vaccine denier". Again, how does "gravity denier" sound?

#vaccines

As discussed on the show that is a tragic marketing failure that urgently needs to be addressed.

#HereComesTheSun https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:twjze4qqf6fgxz33ct52wlnl/post/3lxd3ol6cw22w

https://elk.zone/mastodon.social/@augieray/115078761572872823

"They were lovely, kind people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away."

I heard the same story from two Auschwitz survivors I knew as a child. I never thought it would happen in America, but never assumed it couldn't.

Powerful story indeed. I wish he didn't use Substack to tell it. I guess for them it isn't about income it's about reach. That's a tough call.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/life-in-the-shadow-of-the-american

The word crackdown is common in headlines. Writers: Please reframe. It connotes legitimate authority and necessary enforcement. Don't be stenographers. Consider alternatives:

harassment

repression

intimidation

persecution

Pickett fire

The #PickettFire near Calistoga from Taylor Mountain in Santa Rosa.