Highlights from a productive session
By Victoria Gu
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Thursday, June 18, 2026
Sen. Victoria Gu gives her review on the recently ended General Assembly session
‘AI gravity’ is pulling you toward dependency.
Here’s how to push back
By Beth Stackpole, MIT Sloan School of Management
As businesses pull out all the stops to integrate artificial intelligence tools into mainstream workflows and business practices, they may be overlooking the longer-term implications of widespread AI use on institutional knowledge and critical thinking.
Eric So, a professor of global economics and behavioral science at the MIT Sloan School of Management, believes that AI is changing the way people’s brains operate, creating a trap where users become overly dependent on the technology, with potentially serious ramifications for business.
“We are increasingly deferring tasks that our brains are
meant to handle to AI systems that think for us, write for us, and create on
our behalf,” said So, presenting recently as part of the MIT Sloan speaker
series, “AI + X: How AI Is Changing Management Practice.”
“Each time we engage in this sort of cognitive outsourcing,
we’re participating in dramatic societal change” — one that shouldn’t be taken
lightly, said So, who addresses those changes in depth in his forthcoming book,
“The Collision:
What AI Does to Us.”
“We need to do as much as we can to preserve our
capabilities, to recognize when these tools are wrong, to understand when they
are missing something, and to be able to take action when these systems fail,”
he said.
mRNA Cancer vaccine sustains 49% melanoma reduction after 5 years
Trump and Bobby Jr. are trying to kill this type of vaccine
edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan
How the melanoma trial worked
Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health and its Perlmutter
Cancer Center, the study tested the vaccine, called intismeran, in combination
with mainstay immunotherapy pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in 107 patients who had
been randomly chosen after melanoma surgery to determine whether the
combination therapy prevented their cancer from recurring.
Intismeran is a personalized immunotherapy strategy that is
developed with information from a patient's individual tumor. These results
were compared with those from a randomly selected group of 50 melanoma patients
who had only received pembrolizumab postoperatively, a current standard of
care.
Federal flood insurance carries 2 moral hazards – which you face depends largely on how wealthy you are
The high costs of climate risk
Anyone who has been through a flood or hurricane knows the scene: waterlogged furniture piled on curbs, gutted homes with mold creeping up the walls, families displaced for months. But the recovery isn’t the same for everyone.
While federal flood insurance subsidizes risky coastal and waterfront development for wealthier homeowners by lowering the cost of living in these areas, many low-income households in flood-prone areas remain stuck with risky properties and little help.
As a disaster recovery researcher, I’ve witnessed how perverse incentives create different cycles of vulnerability across income levels. The problem with federal disaster insurance today isn’t just about subsidizing wealthier coastal homeowners – it’s equally about leaving low-income households systematically underinsured without resources to either protect themselves or leave.
Federal flood insurance’s moral hazards
The National Flood Insurance Program was established by Congress in 1968 to provide affordable flood insurance to the public while encouraging floodplain management.
Communities that participate in the program are required to adopt regulations to reduce flood risk in their areas for their residents to qualify. The insurance policies, around 4.7 million today, are purchased either through the program or insurance companies but administered and underwritten by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the nation’s disaster response agency. When the policy cost is lower than the risk, the property is being subsidized by the federal program.
The National Flood Insurance Program did succeed in providing accessible insurance for many people, but it also produced a “moral hazard,” where people take on risk without bearing its full consequences. What’s less well understood is that this operates differently by income level.
FEMA is currently working to adjust flood insurance prices to more closely match each property’s actual risk. The program’s Risk Rating 2.0 changes, which began in 2021, aimed to transition policies to full-risk pricing for everyone. The annual premium increases are capped by law at 18% for primary residences, so full-risk pricing won’t be fully reached until around 2037, according to federal estimates.
But there’s another, less visible problem: Federal flood insurance already wasn’t affordable for many people.
In low-income neighborhoods, more than 90% of households are estimated to be underinsured, and their uninsured losses when they experience flooding often exceeds 20% of their annual income.
Many families are unable to afford federal flood insurance premiums – only 37% of all policyholders pay less than $1,000 per year, according to FEMA. Instead, homeowners may skip insurance, gambling that disasters won’t strike. When floods do occur, these households can face catastrophic uninsured losses.
Homeowners and renters may also choose federal flood insurance plans with lower premiums but that provide less coverage in a disaster, and even those plan costs can be high.
Because the federal flood insurance program doesn’t specifically help those who cannot afford premiums, this creates a structural trap: Wealthier homeowners receive government-subsidized insurance support for risky properties, while many lower-income households fall outside the system entirely.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Last year, Cathy and I received two homeowner insurance cancellations because of climate risk. A final carrier agreed to cover us on the condition we also buy federal flood insurance even though we are up on the tip of the moraine north of Route 1. That added an additional $1200 to the high premium charged by the new carrier. - Will Collette
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Charlestown Democrats - Don’t be fooled
There is only ONE Democrat running in the September 9 primary
By Will Collette
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| Boisclair sign in front of Jim Mageau's house. Photo by Will Collette |
Here in Charlestown, September 9 will decide who will represent Charlestown in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
It will
feature incumbent Rep. Tina Spears, running for a third term versus
self-described sex crime lawyer Leah Boisclair who is backed by
rich MAGA gun nut Dave Levesque.
Here is her "menu" of sex crimes she is willing to defend from her own website:
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| Rape, child rape, child pornography, sex trafficking, slavery are all crimes Boisclair will defend |
Boisclair is running as a Democrat even though she has no connection to the Democratic Party other than to say she’s a Democrat this year. Her signs are popping up along South County Trail, including in front of the house of Charlestown’s most vocal Trumper Jim Mageau.
Her record is that of running a law practice that takes
pride in representing child abusers, rapists, spouse beaters, bad drivers, crooks
and cheats. She uses her website
to advertise these specialties and to seek more such clients.
Sure, under the Constitution, everyone is entitled to the
presumption of innocence and to legal counsel. But LAWYERS choose who
they will represent.
Even public defenders have discretion under the Code
of Professional Responsibility to decline representation to a client if
they are unable to mount a rigorous defense. In fact, the Rhode Island version
of the Code expressly acknowledges “[A] lawyer is also guided by personal
conscience and the approbation of professional peers.”
Boisclair CHOOSES to represent scumbags. Don’t believe me? READ her own website, as well as the screenshots I have presented taken directly from that site. I was particularly impressed with her graphics in this section on her representation of men accused of crimes against women:
But wait, there's MORE! Here are the other types of crime she will defend:
How is Boisclair different from, for example, a mob lawyer? Or a Trump lawyer? Or a lawyer defending men in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of friends? Or any other pedo protector? I dunno…you tell me.
I would not want to spend a lot of time in her office's waiting room.
On this alone, I could never support Boisclair. Frankly, why would ANY Charlestown voter want Boisclair to represent then in the General Assembly? I’d rather
bring back Flip Filippi, even though he represented
the January 6 insurrectionists, the Oath Keepers. But as the saying goes,
“but wait, there’s more!”
See if you can find any connection to Charlestown in the Charlestown LORIB PAC:
Levesque uses these PACs to get around the state campaign finance law limiting PACs to $2000 in contributions to a single candidate. Since Levesque controls all the LORIB PACs, he simply cuts checks to endorsed candidates from several of his PACs.
Levesque owns the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop chain and is
a long-time anti-gun control activist. The gun lobby is also heavily backing
his candidates.
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| Support - LORIB Main PAC |
He set Boisclair up with six LORIB checks totaling $10,500
coming from six LORIB PACs. There’s the Charlestown LORIB PAC of course, plus
the LORIB PACs purporting to be from Westerly, South Kingstown, North
Kingstown, Newport and Block Island.
Levesque also opposes any attempt to tax the rich. He was a
big opponent to last year’s “Taylor Swift” tax that imposes a state levy on
multi-million properties owned by non-residents. He also unsuccessfully fought
this year’s “Millionaire Tax” that imposes a 1% income tax surcharge on
millionaires.
His candidates, including Leah Boisclair, toe that line. They
should have a generic LORIB bumper sticker reading “Don’t regulate guns. Don’t tax the
rich.”
Levesque
has targeted nearly every Democratic woman legislator in South County
because their progressive stances. He is bankrolling opponents to our state
Senator Victoria Gu as well as South Kingstown Dems Teresa Tanzi, Carol
McEntee, Alana DiMario, Kathy Fogarty and Bridgette Valverde.
Sen. Alana DiMario and Rep. Kathy Fogarty, both targeted by
Levesque, introduced legislation to close what ought to be called the “Levesque
Loophole” (2026-S
2720, 2026-H
7450) by extending
the $2000 limit to apply to multiple PACs that have the same owner.
Unfortunately, that legislation did not pass.
Finally, Boisclair’s land use legal work ought to earn her
the opposition of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), especially this case
that was covered by ecoRI (CLICK
HERE). So should Jim Mageau’s support for Boisclair.
Those are the negatives. Let’s look at your positive
alternative
Why you should vote for Tina Spears
 |
| Here's where I stand. Photo by Will Collette |
Tina points
to these achievements from the recently completed General Assembly session:
We were able to make life in
our community better by:
·
Fully funding library aid
·
Increasing education funding,
especially for special education
·
Securing funding for the
Charlestown Breachway rebuild
·
Passing the South Kingstown
High School bond
·
Advancing legislation allowing
New Shoreham to increase landing fees, manage its water district, and better
structure its taxing authority.
I am especially proud to have sponsored and
passed two bills:
The Act on Coasts provides Rhode Island with a roadmap to strengthen coastal
infrastructure in the face of rising seas. Rather than debating the causes, I
am focused on preparing our communities, particularly in District 36, for the
changes we are already seeing along our coastline
The Purple Alert establishes an early alert system when individuals with
disabilities go missing, making Rhode Island one of a small number of states to
prioritize this vulnerable population. In partnership with advocates, families,
and public safety officials, we turned a tragic situation into meaningful
action that strengthens our public safety response and saves lives.
Tina has a long
record of community service, while Boisclair has none. Tina often teams up
with other legislators such as state Senator Victoria Gu to boost her ability
to get bills passed. She meets often with voters in her district. On top of
that, she’s a genuinely kind and warm-hearted person.
Vote for Tina Spears in the September 9 Democratic primary. You must be a registered Democrat to vote in this primary.
And Tina DOES NOT protect pedos.
How often do people pass gas?
There's now an app for that
By Sanjukta
Mondal, Medical Xpress
Edited by Sadie Harley,
reviewed by Robert
Egan
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| In his case, constantly |
It is, however, an essential
bodily function that allows the digestive system to keep pressure within the
intestinal tract low and prevents painful stretching of the stomach and
intestines. Even though it is normal to fart, it remains unclear what counts as
a healthy number.
A study by researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organisation wanted to measure how many times people
pass gas in a day. So they designed a mobile phone application, Chart Your
Fart, that allowed more than 6,400 Australians to log their farting patterns in
real time.
They found that most people, on average, passed gas five
times a day, with men doing it more often than women. Flatulence patterns were
not the same throughout the day.
They observed a gradual increase that typically peaked
between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., coinciding with the time when people generally
consume the most calories and fiber.
The findings are published in JAMA Network Open.
Surprising research reveals why you shouldn't add bananas to your smoothies
You may not get what you want
University of California - Davis
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The issue is not that bananas are unhealthy. Instead, it
comes down to how certain ingredients interact after they are blended together.
In a study published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Food
& Function, researchers found that fruits with high levels of an enzyme
called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO, can sharply reduce the amount of flavanols
your body absorbs from a smoothie.
Flavanols are natural plant compounds linked to heart and
cognitive health. They are found in foods such as apples, pears, blueberries,
blackberries, grapes, cocoa, and other common smoothie ingredients.
For first time, Americans are getting more of their electricity from solar than coal
Tik Root, Senior Staff Writer
Solar energy just provided more electricity in the United States than coal for the first time on record — marking a milestone for the rise of renewables in America.
While gas and nuclear plants still lead the country’s energy mix, solar contributed 12.8 percent of the nation’s electrons in May, according to an analysis of government data by Ember, an energy think tank. Coal, meanwhile, provided just 12.2 percent. Just five years ago, solar was less than half of its current levels and coal was at 20 percent.
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
It's Easy To Create Lots of Shitty Jobs
So don't break out the champagne about Friday's jobs report
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Trump said, “It’s raining jobs!” White House National
Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett claimed the job
market is "hitting on all cylinders.” The mainstream media called it a “blowout
jobs report,” “stronger-than-expected jobs
data,” the labor market’s “best
three-month stretch in more than two years.”
What all this acclaim left out was that wages are
falling relative to prices.
Average hourly earnings for private-sector production and
non-supervisory workers — that is, for most employees — rose by only 8 cents
(or 0.2 percent) in May. That’s the weakest pace of wage growth since 2021.
Meanwhile, prices are rising quickly — by around 3.8 percent
annually. Hence, real wages — that is, their actual purchasing
power — are dropping. The paychecks of most American workers aren’t covering
rising costs. They’re getting poorer.
Included in the Cross' Mills Library Garden Tour...
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