… Generative AI353Climate Tech200Robotics180. News Categories. AI Video278Funding Round241Startup News157AI Research121Artificial Intelligence88Press …
Where does Earth’s mysterious ‘ring current’ come from? NASA and the US Space Force are launching a mission to find out
NASA, working with the Space Force, plans to launch a space weather mission later this month to study a strange “ring current” surrounding our planet. Read original article: Read More
Ted Turner impacted US politics – WYMT
A company is voluntarily recalling several varieties of snack mix over dry milk powder that may contain salmonella. National · Three … Read original article: Read More
Mobile dev Mindtail raises $2M fund for ‘AI-powered’ games
Top StoriesGenerative AI, Machine Learning, & LLMsFunding. About the Author. Diego Argüello. Contributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper …
Why Obama’s Presidential ‘Library’ May Be the Last Normal One – TIME
“I don’t believe in building libraries or museums,” Trump recently told reporters. … The librarians… Read original article: Read More
Sacramento City Unified School District, the Black Parallel School Board, and the Office of …
This updated framework focuses on strengthening systems, improving educational access and student supports, and ensuring that implementation efforts … Read original article: Read More
FortiAnalyzer 7.4.11 Release – Fortinet Document Library
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“Viruses don’t care about our politics”: WHO gives update on US relationship amid hantavirus spread
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Agentic AI Moves from Hype to Reality in Automation Engineering – Tech Briefs
… Acquisition | Robotics, Automation & Control | Software. Agentic AI … Generative AI for Industrial Environment. Related Article Image. Tech …
The U.S. Department of Education has launched a Title IX investigation into Smith College’s …
The U.S. Department of Education has launched a Title IX investigation into Smith College’s policy allowing transgender women to enroll. Read original article: Read More
Ted Turner impacted US politics – WSFA
Six years later, the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering 19-year-old Aniah Blanchard will be sentenced today. The Rundown. Read original article: Read More
Elon Musk’s xAI Is Becoming a Cloud Firm – The Information
… startup Cursor. Last we checked, AI firms with leading models need … Generative AI Takeover List · Generative AI Database · AI Chip Database · AI …
Gigawatt-Scale AI Ecosystems : India AI Hub – Trend Hunter
Students and educators in the region will receive training in cloud computing and generative AI, directly benefiting from the Skills Trade and …
Collibra launches AI Command Center to manage AI agents – Techzine Global
Generative AI · IT in Retail · NIS2 · RSAC 2025 Conference · Security Platforms … A partnership with AI startup Giskard and support for AI UC-1 …
Larry Grimes on Religion in The Sun Also Rises
In our fourth episode celebrating the centenary of The Sun Also Rises, we examine the theme of religion and its role in the novel.
From the title, the epigraphs, the pilgrims on the train, Jake’s self-conscious prayer, the festival of San Fermín, and the idea of fishing as a religious experience, Larry Grimes guides us through this vast topic and shows Hemingway’s religious design in The Sun Also Rises. Grimes also discusses the minor roles of Harris and Montoya and explains why Jake is such a rotten Catholic.
Listening to Larry Grimes talk about such a crucial topic in this great novel is our idea of a divine pleasure. We hope you’ll enjoy it, too!
Also, in these Sun Also Rises episodes, we enjoy the legendary actor William Hurt reading from Jake’s fascinating prayer in chapter 10, courtesy of our friends at Simon & Schuster Audio.
Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, read by William Hurt. Copyright © 1926 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Thank you for supporting One True Podcast, from Mark and Michael (each with a hell of a Biblical name!)
Korea, US, Japan Push Joint AI Memory Chip R&D – Businesskorea
… Generative AI Startup Association (CEO of Wrtn Technologies); Kim Gwang-suk, Head of the Economic Research Office at the Korea Economic and …
Google Cloud’s Shweta Maniar on moving life-sciences AI from research to reality
Generative AI, a field Google researchers helped launch with the 2017 “Attention Is All You Need” paper that introduced the transformer …
Jeffrey Epstein’s Purported Suicide Note Is Released by Federal Judge – The New York Times
Purported Epstein Suicide Note Is Released
A federal judge released the note, which Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate said he found in a graphic novel. The New York Times has not authenticated that Mr. Epstein wrote it.
Listen · 6:05 min
By Benjamin Weiser, Jan Ransom and Steve Eder, May 6, 2026
A federal judge has released a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein that was sealed for years as part of the criminal case of his cellmate.
“They investigated me for month — FOUND NOTHING!!!” the note begins, adding that the result was charges going back many years.
“It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye,” the note continued.
“Wasatch want me to do — Bust out cryin!!” the note reads.
“NO FUN,” it concludes, with those words underlined. “NOT WORTH IT!!”
Mr. Epstein’s cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, said he discovered the note in July 2019 after Mr. Epstein was found unresponsive with a strip of cloth wrapped around his neck. Mr. Epstein survived that incident, but he was found dead weeks later at age 66 in the now shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan.
The note was made public on Wednesday by Judge Kenneth M. Karas of Federal District Court in White Plains, N.Y., who oversaw the cellmate’s case. The judge acted after The New York Times petitioned the court last Thursday to unseal the document and published an article in which Mr. Tartaglione described the note and how it came into his possession.
The Times has not authenticated the note, which was placed on the court docket Wednesday evening. The note repeats a saying — “bust out cryin” — that Mr. Epstein wrote in emails. It included another phrase — “No fun” — that Mr. Epstein also used in emails, as well as in a separate note found in his jail cell at the time of his death.
The document unsealed on Wednesday remained hidden from public view even as the Justice Department released millions of pages of documents related to Mr. Epstein in a move required by a new law. The Times searched those records and did not find a copy of the note. (A spokeswoman from the Justice Department said the agency had never seen it.)
The search did turn up a cryptic two-page chronology that described how the note became caught up in Mr. Tartaglione’s complicated legal case. The chronology said that Mr. Tartaglione’s lawyers authenticated the note, though it did not explain how.
Mr. Tartaglione, a former police officer in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., shared a cell with Mr. Epstein while awaiting trial in a quadruple murder case. He told The Times in recent phone interviews from a California prison that he found the note in a graphic novel after Mr. Epstein was taken out of their cell after the apparent suicide attempt.
Editor’s Note: Credit to the New York Times, for not placing this important news update behind their paywall. That’s public service to America. Updated May 7, 2026. Now, the link is behind a paywall. –DrWeb
Continue/Read Original Article: Jeffrey Epstein’s Purported Suicide Note Is Released by Federal Judge – The New York Times
Iran Expected to Respond Tomorrow to U.S. Proposal
The President’s latest proposal to end the war with Iran is a single page. This as sources say there are signs of movement in Iran and signs of skepticism inside the White House.
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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Groundbreaking set for new education center at the Eisenhower Presidential Library – Salina Post
Courtesy photo DICKINSON COUNTY —The Eisenhower Foundation announces a. Read original article: Read More
How I made $350K from an open-source JavaScript library using dual licensing
… library using dual licensing (paritydeals.com). 3 points by sachinneravath 17 minutes ago | hide… Read original article: Read More
Rounds Lauds McMahon For Supporting Returning Education Decisions To States – YouTube
During a Senate Appropriations Committee in April, Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) praised Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Read original article: Read More
Calendar • Gaston County Library, NC • CivicEngage
Join us for our 9th Annual Gaston County Public Library Comic-Con! Enjoy incredible artists, comic… Read original article: Read More
Vivek Ramaswamy wins Ohio GOP primary, setting up tight governor race – The Guardian
The Trump-backed biotech entrepreneur will face Democrat Amy Acton in a competitive November contest. Read original article: Read More
I Really Hope This Deadly Virus Doesn’t Reach America, or We’re Doomed – Esquire
The health ministry in South Africa said the Andes strain of the virus was identified in two people who had been evacuated from the ship to the … Read original article: Read More
Trump’s Gyrations on the War Leave Even Rubio Out of Sync – The New York Times
The administration’s latest shifts on the status of the conflict show how treacherous it is to speak for a president who cultivates an erratic … Read original article: Read More
Ted Turner impacted US politics – Alaska’s News Source
Video shared from a crash scene where a Massachusetts state trooper was killed by a wrong-way driver in suburban Boston. News. Read original article: Read More
KU Medical Center faculty say closing pediatric ICU creates ‘serious and preventable risks’
The faculty is also worried about educational needs of medical students. “There will be significant harm to medical education,” the letter said. Read original article: Read More
Michigan Democrats keep control of state Senate in election win that offers clues about midterms
Democrat Chedrick Greene won a special election in Michigan on Tuesday, securing his party’s control of the state Senate through the remainder of … Read original article: Read More
House Democrats’ Primary Endorsements Divide the Party – The New York Times
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s intervention in contested primaries in critical House races has highlighted deep divides over … Read original article: Read More
Xbox appoints new internal leaders and ditches Copilot AI – Game Developer
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said the company is halting development of Copilot on console and pivoting away from the generative AI technology on mobile.
Gold/Diamond Open Access 2026: Data gathering concluded, prelim. data available
The second pass was completed–and some data checking was done, resulting in a very slightly lower count: 22,395 journals. Of these: 8,106 have fees; 14,295 are diamond/no-fee (63.9%) Special cases include 501 bi (inactive since 2023); 262 xd* (defunct/inactive since 2020); 180 xj* (removed from DOAJ); 190 xm (malware or certificate problems–a much lower figure Read original article: Read More
ServiceNow continues its AI transformation with an integrated experience – Computerworld
Generative AI. Lynn Greiner. by Lynn Greiner. ServiceNow continues its AI … And thanks to the recent acquisition of Traceloop, Control Tower …
Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit cap expanded from $250 million to $275 million
It’s a reporting project and collaboration of KGOU, KOSU, KWGS and KCCU, with broadcasts heard on NPR Member stations. … The Department of Education … Read original article: Read More
How an exoplanet odd couple survived by traveling in from the cold together
By probing the atmosphere of a mini-Neptune exoplanet, the James Webb Space Telescope has found that it formed much farther from its star than it is today, possibly explaining the origin of many other mini-Neptunes in the process. Read original article: Read More
Opinion: We Want a Widely Celebrated Jewish American Heritage Month. But Should We?
… education, as we strive to imbue learners with Jewish pride and … U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel. Read original article: Read More
CFP: AIRUS at ALA Annual 2026 – In-person & Online Hybrid Event – 6/29/26 – Artificial Intelligence in Reference & User Services (AIRUS) Interest Group
Call for Presenters: AIRUS at ALA Annual 2026Join the Artificial Intelligence in Reference & User Services (AIRUS) Interest Group for our session at ALA Annual in Chicago!We are seeking four dynamic presenters to share practical insights and innovative strategies on integrating AI into library services. This will be a hybrid session taking place on Monday, June 29, 2026, from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM CST. #ALAAC26What We Are Looking For:We invite proposals that provide actionable value for reference and instruction librarians. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:AI & DEIA Practices: Integrating AI considerations into Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility practices in library services.AI at the Reference Desk: Real-world applications for traditional and virtual reference.AI in the Classroom: Using AI tools and concepts to enhance library instruction, including one-shots and developing workshops, courses, and micro credential badges.AI Professional Development: Training and professional development initiatives for librarians and staff to build competency and expertise in AI applications.AI Tools: Demonstrations of AI-enhanced discovery and productivity tools.Critical AI Literacy: Pedagogical frameworks for teaching students about AI ethics, bias, and privacy.Session Logistics:Format: 4 presenters total (2 in-person and 2 presenting virtually via Zoom).Time Commitment: Monday, June 29, 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM CST.Goal: Brief, high-impact presentations followed by community discussion.How to Apply:Are you ready to share how AI is reshaping your workflows or instruction? CFP Form: https://forms.gle/LoZjAyu99My4dyfv9This CFP closes on 6/1/26, and presenters will be notified by 6/8/26.Any Questions? Contact Melissa Del Castillo, meldelcast@gmail.com, or through ALA Connect_______Find out more about AIRUS: FAQs: https://bit.ly/airus-faqALA Community: https://bit.ly/airus-connect Read original article: Read More
Arash Azizi and Jodi Kantor: Iran Has the Leverage
The regime in Tehran is not as fractured as is commonly portrayed, and it is also pragmatic enough to see the economic opportunities that would follow from a deal with an eager-to-please-the-markets Donald Trump. Read original article: Read More
From Empathy to Action: Building Allyship Through Middle Grade Books
Moving beyond empathy to action, this approach uses middle grade books to help young readers practice allyship, challenge bias, and speak up in real-world situations.
The post From Empathy to Action: Building Allyship Through Middle Grade Books first appeared on Public Libraries Online. Read original article: Read More
Europe’s 1st reusable spacecraft ‘Space Rider’ clears key hurdles on the road to launch
Space Rider, a novel spacecraft concept from the European Space Agency, is passing key milestones in its tests and qualifications to bring the vehicle to flight readiness. Read original article: Read More
Practical Strategies for Helping Youth Develop Empathy
Using middle grade books as a starting point, libraries can help youth build empathy, practice allyship, and gain confidence in speaking up against bullying and bigotry.
The post Practical Strategies for Helping Youth Develop Empathy first appeared on Public Libraries Online. Read original article: Read More
Leading with Intention: Building a Values-Based Culture in Public Libraries
From navigating staff challenges to shaping workplace culture, PLA 2026 sessions highlighted how intentional, values-based leadership can transform library environments.
The post Leading with Intention: Building a Values-Based Culture in Public Libraries first appeared on Public Libraries Online. Read original article: Read More
Building Joy in Libraries: Small Practices, Big Impact
From small “seeds of joy” to meaningful connections, PLA 2026 highlighted how intentional practices can build stronger, more resilient library staff and communities.
The post Building Joy in Libraries: Small Practices, Big Impact first appeared on Public Libraries Online. Read original article: Read More
AI Writing Tools Cheat Sheet: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and More – eWeek
AI Writing Tools Cheat Sheet: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini,
and More
Written By Aminu Abdullahi, Apr 27, 2026, 8 minute read
eWeek content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More
There’s a moment most writers recognize now: you stare at a blank document, and instead of panicking, you open a chat window. Somewhere between 2023 and 2026, AI quietly moved from novelty to writing partner.
That shift created a crowded market. More than 100 AI writing tools now promise faster drafts, sharper edits, better SEO, cleaner research, and stronger creative work. Some deliver. Many are just the same underlying model with a new interface.
This guide cuts through the noise, organizing the best AI writing tools by how they actually fit into a writer’s workflow, from general assistants and SEO platforms to fiction tools, research engines, and professional editing software.
- Before you read
- The big three general assistants
- Marketing and SEO specialists
- Creative and fiction writing
- Academic and professional tools
- The trends reshaping how we write
- Pro tip: The two-step prompt
Before you read
Most AI writing tools are built on a small handful of underlying models, primarily OpenAI’s GPT family and Anthropic’s Claude. Paying a premium for a polished interface can be worth it, but it’s worth asking: does this tool do something the raw model can’t? When the answer is yes, we say so. When it’s no, we say that too.
The big three general assistants
Call them the heavyweights. Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini aren’t just tools; they’re the infrastructure that most other tools are built on top of. They’re generalists by design, capable of handling everything from a 10-word subject line to a 50,000-word research document. What separates them in 2026 is personality, not raw capability.
Anthropic’s Claude
Best for: structured writing, deep research, editing with your voice intact
Claude has earned a loyal following among journalists and researchers who need writing that doesn’t sound like it was generated by a committee. Its long context window, now well over 200,000 tokens, means you can feed it an entire book manuscript and have a coherent conversation about it.
Where it truly separates itself is in tasks that require careful reasoning and nuance: it spots logical gaps in arguments, maintains consistent voice across long documents, and edits with a light touch that doesn’t flatten your prose.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Best for: all-purpose workhorses, multimodal tasks, teams on varied projects
Still the most famous name in the room, and still earning it. The GPT-5 series brought multimodal capabilities that make ChatGPT a genuine all-in-one hub: you can draft copy, generate the header image concept, write the code for your landing page, and research the competition, all in one window. Its free tier remains remarkably capable, and its polished, formal writing style suits content that needs to sound authoritative from the first draft.
Read more: AI Writing Tools Cheat Sheet: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and More – eWeekContinue/Read Original Article: AI Writing Tools Cheat Sheet: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and More
Primary Sources for Teaching Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month – Teaching with the Library
Teaching with the Library Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators
ISSN 2691-6916
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Primary Sources for Teaching Asian/
Pacific American Heritage Month
May 5, 2026, Posted by: Colleen Smith
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For teachers looking for resources to celebrate and honor Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, consider exploring a range of primary sources available through the Library’s digital collections.
This free to use and reuse set highlights images that show experiences and contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islanders, while living in the United States.
You might notice that one of the items in the set links to a collection of research guides that offer a wealth of resources across the Library, including related Topics in Chronicling America, ethnographic resources through the American Folklife Center, to materials in different formats on Asian American/Pacific Islander studies.
In addition to the free to use and reuse images set, teachers can also find a range of primary sources including images, documents, oral histories, and newspaper articles for the classroom in several primary source sets:
Veterans Stories: Struggles for Participation
- Dating back to the birth of the United States, women and people of color have always served the nation in times of conflict, whether by taking up arms or providing support for the war effort. However, over those same centuries, women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans had to undergo long years of struggle to achieve full participation in, and receive full recognition from, the U.S. armed forces.
Hawaii: Selected Library of Congress Primary Sources
- The primary sources in this set document key moments in the state’s story and provide opportunities for students to explore that rich history further.
- Between 1942 and 1945, thousands of Japanese Americans were, regardless of U.S. citizenship, required to evacuate their homes and businesses and move to remote war relocation and internment camps run by the U.S. Government. This proved to be an extremely trying experience for many of those who lived in the camps, and to this day remains a controversial topic.
- The Spanish-American War lasted only about ten weeks in 1898. However, the war had far-reaching effects for both the United States and Spain.
Teaching with the Library’s classroom materials also offers You can also find narratives and selected primary sources that examine experiences of Japanese and Chinese immigration to the United States.
Finally, don’t forget to take a look at previous blog posts from Teaching with the Library that share Library-wide resources, programs, and teaching strategies. We hope you find some of these ideas helpful! If you use materials from the Library to support your teaching about Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, please tell us about it in the comments.
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Continue/Read Original Article: Primary Sources for Teaching Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month | Teaching with the Library
Mapped: Most Americans Can’t Afford New Homes – Visual Capitalist
Real Estate
Mapped: Most Americans Can’t Afford New Homes
Published 1 day ago, on May 5, 2026
Design, Sabrina Lam
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Mapped: Most Americans Can’t Afford New Homes
See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Key Takeaways
- 65% of U.S. households can’t afford a new median-priced home.
- In the least affordable states, over 80% are priced out.
- Even in the most affordable state, a majority of households still can’t buy.
Most Americans can’t afford a new home.
A new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that 65% of U.S. households are priced out of newly built homes, based on current prices and mortgage rates.
In some parts of the country, the situation is even more extreme. More than 80% of households can’t afford a new home, highlighting how widespread the affordability gap has become.
This map shows where Americans are being priced out and where barriers to homeownership are highest.
Ranked: Where Americans Are Most Priced Out of New Homes
At the extreme end, buying a new home is nearly out of reach. In New Hampshire, 83.4% of households are priced out of a new median-priced home.
In total, 11 states have at least 80% of households locked out.
This table shows the share of households priced out of new homes by state in 2026. A household is considered “priced out” if total housing costs—principal, interest, taxes, and insurance—exceed 28% of income, based on median new home prices and a 6% mortgage rate. entries per pageSearch:
| State | % of Households Priced Out of New Homes | Median New Home Price | Income Needed to Qualify |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 83.4% | $677,982 | $211,080 |
| Hawaii | 83.0% | $884,781 | $234,818 |
| Maine | 82.7% | $548,493 | $160,714 |
| Alaska | 82.2% | $627,077 | $188,313 |
| Connecticut | 81.8% | $696,752 | $224,811 |
| Wyoming | 81.8% | $580,627 | $164,982 |
| Montana | 81.5% | $495,610 | $141,997 |
| Oregon | 81.0% | $608,135 | $173,717 |
| New York | 80.5% | $656,108 | $204,163 |
| Vermont | 80.1% | $580,627 | $181,064 |
| Pennsylvania | 80.0% | $528,370 | $160,900 |
| Massachusetts | 79.8% | $836,236 | $246,370 |
| Wisconsin | 77.3% | $485,449 | $149,085 |
| Ohio | 76.5% | $443,646 | $137,310 |
| Washington | 76.1% | $649,812 | $185,213 |
Showing 1 to 15 of 51 entries
While high-cost states like Hawaii and Massachusetts rank among the least affordable, others such as Maine and Wyoming show that affordability pressures are no longer limited to major metro areas.
Affordability Isn’t Just a Coastal Problem
The most striking takeaway is how universal the problem has become.
Even in lower-cost states like Mississippi ($267K) and West Virginia ($309K), a majority of households are still priced out new homes. While buyers need under $90,000 in income—compared to over $200,000 in the least affordable markets—that threshold remains out of reach for many.
In other words, moving to a cheaper state is no longer a reliable solution. Instead, the data points to a deeper issue, which is that incomes have not kept pace with rising housing costs across the country.
While existing homes can be more affordable than new construction, this data highlights a key constraint: much of the new housing supply entering the market is already out of reach for most households.
The Bigger Picture
As new home prices continue to outpace income growth, the gap between who can and can’t afford newly built homes is widening. That shift is reshaping where Americans live, how they build wealth, and whether homeownership is attainable at all.
If even the most affordable states are out of reach for most households looking at new homes, the question becomes harder to ignore: where can buyers realistically go next?
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on where wealth is moving in America. Enjoying the data visualization above?
Related Topics:affordability, home prices, hawaii, U.S. housing market, homeownership, New Hampshire, priced out of homes
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Continue/Read Original Article: Mapped: Most Americans Can’t Afford New Homes
Preserving the 175,000 FSA photographs, one at a time – Timeless
Timeless Stories from the Library of Congress
ISSN 2836-9459
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Preserving the 175,000 FSA photographs, one at a time
May 5, 2026, Posted by: Neely Tucker
Here we are in the digital darkroom of the Prints and Photographs Division, where a 16-year-long effort to digitize in high resolution the 175,000 or so Farm Security Administration photographs of the country in the 1930s and ’40s is coming to an end, perhaps by the end of this year.
It’s kind of a big deal.
The FSA’s work (also carried out under the names of the Resettlement Administration and the Office of War Information) was intended to be daily publicity and propaganda for New Deal-era social programs that ran from 1935 to 1944. But over time, the images became some of the most iconic documentary photographs in American history, and the photographers some of the most revered.
There is Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother,” Arthur Rothstein’s Dust Bowl-defining images, Russell Lee’s Southside Chicago photo of “Negro Boys on Easter Morning,” and dozens of others, including work by Walker Evans, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee and Jack Delano.
They have been used for decades in books, documentaries, feature films, photography retrospectives, museum collections and endless newspaper, magazine and online stories. The Library issued its “Fields of Vision” photobook series in 2008, chronicling the work of several of these photographers.
Still, the chemical-laden images are eight decades old and deterioration has begun to set in on some due to their age. Making digital copies is essential both for their long-term survival and for ongoing historical study.
“For researchers … digital images are obviously a gazillion times better than looking at the original negative,” says Taren Ouellette, a digital library specialist who has worked on the project since its inception and now manages it. “You’re not having to pore over a negative with a loupe (a small magnifier), saying ‘What is this in the background?’ You can zoom in on your screen, and the image resolution is so high that you can read remote street signs and pick up other details.”
The FSA negatives were entrusted to the Library in 1944. For decades, they could only be accessed on-site, through prints or copies of prints. Meanwhile, other photographs went virtually unseen for years; Wolcott’s work was not widely appreciated until the 1970s and ’80s.
In the 1990s, the Library used newly available technology to make a first pass at digitizing the negatives, but the tools of the time could not create high-resolution images.
That was problematic because the film had been roughly treated when it was first produced – it was seen as journalism, not art – and dust specs or small scratches on the original negatives were not uncommon. Also, heavy usage in the intervening decades had taken a toll. (The Library has long since moved the negatives into its off-site storage at Fort Meade; patrons can no longer handle them.)
Even after a new digitization project began in 2010, the task was still daunting. Cameras required four photographs of a negative to produce one high-resolution file. Each image had to be carefully stitched together.
The acquisition of two 150-megapixel cameras greatly sped up the process – just one photo per negative required – but it’s still a small lab and with no more than one or two technicians at a time.
Further complicating the process, the FSA photo stock is varied, made by different manufacturers at different sizes for different cameras. They all are aging differently. Some negatives are on nitrate (preserved in fire-proof rooms at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia), some are on 35 mm film strips, a few even on old-fashioned glass. Mostly they are 3-by-4-inch or 4-by-5-inch single negatives, which gives them their great depth of field and clarity.
Digitizing each image is a study in patience.
Technicians call up several boxes of negatives at a time, each with about 275 negatives, from cold storage to the digital lab in the James Madison Building. A technician opens the box, pulls a negative from its sleeve and places it on a custom-made photo table. Each item is cleaned and inspected, then placed in front of a camera on the table. The image is photographed, then the digital image is inspected again.
Let’s check in to see how this works.
In the dim light of the lab, Helen McNamara, a digital library technician, zooms in to look at a tiny, squiggly white line on a full-size image she’s just made of a negative. It’s a 1941 photo of a man in an office, but McNamara is staring at the squiggly line.
“A hair,” she murmurs.
She turns to the original negative and gets a small air bulb. She gently squeezes the bulb and a puff of air flows across the negative. Poof — the offending hair floats away.
She then replaces the negative on a stand with a stabilized camera and takes a new image. She then checks it again for focus, clarity, any remaining specs of dust or other flaws that can be corrected.
“We don’t retouch anything and we shoot everything full frame,” Ouellette says. “The idea is to preserve it as it is. If we can’t get something tiny off with the air bulb or some other minimal work, we’re not doing anything to it.”
Once the image is complete, McNamara saves the digitized image, which will be checked again and eventually uploaded to the Library’s website. She then removes the negative from the camera set-up, refiles it in a small envelope, and places that envelope back in its rectangular gray filing box.
Working in this manner, the staff gets about 1,000 images done each month — about 50 every working day, or about six an hour, one every 10 minutes or so. That’s somewhere around 12,000 per year out of catalogue of 175,000.
More than 160,000 have been digitized. The project is now in the home stretch.
Ouellette, who processes negatives herself each day, is excited about the collection’s importance but is straightforward about the slow pace of digitizing each image carefully.
“This gets tedious,” she says. “I tell the staff, ‘Please don’t shoot all day. I don’t want you to go insane. You’ve got to keep a fresh eye.’ ”
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Continue/Read Original Article: Preserving the 175,000 FSA photographs, one at a time | Timeless
Most Americans doubt Donald Trump’s fitness to lead: Poll – The Hill
Most Americans say Trump is mentally, physically unfit to serve effectively: Poll
by Ashleigh Fields – 05/04/26 1:17 PM ET
The Hill’s Headlines — May 4, 2026
A new poll found that most Americans say they believe President Trump is mentally and physically unfit to serve as commander in chief.
The Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 59 percent of U.S. respondents indicated Trump does not have the mental sharpness it takes to lead the country. Forty percent of respondents said the president is mentally equipped for leadership, and 1 percent of participants skipped the question.
Comparatively, 55 percent of surveyed U.S. adults said Trump is not in good enough physical health to serve as president, while 44 percent disagreed and 1 percent of survey participants skipped the question.
More than half of respondents, 54 percent, said they do not believe the president is a strong leader.
Sixty-seven percent of survey participants also said they don’t think Trump carefully considers important decisions.
The responses fall in line with other recent surveys indicating the president’s disapproval rating has reached a new high.
His disapproval has been driven in part by affordability concerns stemming from the Iran war and tariffs.
The Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping point responsible for carrying a fifth of the world’s oil transits, has remained closed to commercial traffic, in turn driving up gas and energy prices.
The Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 50 percent of respondents said they believe gas prices will become worse in the next year, 21 percent said they believe prices will get better, 15 percent expected prices to stay the same and 13 percent were unsure of future conditions.
On Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said “once the strait opens, you’ll see prices come down, come down immediately,” in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
He later added, “It’s going to take time to get back to where we were before this conflict began, but you’re going to see, I think, immediate relief once the strait opens.”
Last month, the president said prices will drop “tremendously” before the midterm elections.
An American naval blockade is preventing commercial ships from passing through the strait as Iran’s threat to shoot down vessels remains in place.
U.S. strikes on Iran have largely subsided since a ceasefire went into effect last month; Trump has told Congress the war has been “terminated.”
Sixty-one percent of survey respondents said the Iran war has increased the threat of terrorism against Americans, 11 percent said it decreased threats, 26 percent said it made no difference and 2 percent of respondents skipped the question.
The Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted online April 24-28 among 2,560 U.S. adults nationwide. The margin for error is 2.2 percentage points.
Continue/Read Original Article: Most Americans doubt Donald Trump’s fitness to lead: Poll
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