afternoonbuzz

Acadia National Park, Maryland Horror Movies, Bluesky, More: Sunday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, November 2, 2025

NEW RESOURCES

Mount Desert Islander: Epp and the Jesup unveil Creating Acadia National Park Research Archive. “After more than a decade of preparation, a digital collection of 30,000 primary documents related to the creation of Acadia National Park is now available to the public through the History Trust as the Creating Acadia National Park Research Archive.”

Baltimore Banner: Feeling spooky? Find your next Maryland horror movie with our database.. “‘The Blair Witch Project’ is set in Maryland, but did you know the Old Line state also plays backdrop to 59 other horror movies? Spanning 31 subgenres, they take place across the state, from the Eastern Shore to Baltimore to the woods of Western Maryland.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

TechCrunch: Bluesky hits 40 million users, introduces ‘dislikes’ beta. “Social network Bluesky, which on Friday announced a new milestone of 40 million users, will soon start testing ‘dislikes’ as a way to improve personalization on its main Discover feed and others.”

USEFUL STUFF

Press Gazette: How to spot fake AI-written press releases. “With journalists currently being bombarded by AI-written PR content, Press Gazette has gathered together tips on how to spot fake material.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Bloomberg: Meta, xAI starting trend for billions in off-balance sheet debt. “Just this month, Meta Platforms Inc. has secured about US$60 billion in capital to build data centres, part of its spending to get ahead in the artificial intelligence race. Half of that won’t show up on the social media giant’s balance sheet as debt. Meta is among firms popularizing a way for debt to sit completely off balance sheet, allowing enormous sums to be raised while limiting impact on its financial health.

Ars Technica: YouTube denies AI was involved with odd removals of tech tutorials. “Late Friday, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed that videos flagged by Ars have been reinstated, promising that YouTube will take steps to ensure that similar content isn’t removed in the future. But, to creators, it remains unclear why the videos got taken down, as YouTube claimed that both initial enforcement decisions and decisions on appeals were not the result of an automation issue.”

Poynter: A teacher in Ecuador found teens already doubt what they see online — and taught them how to turn that into power. “As a high school history teacher and fact-checker, Gabriel Narváez wanted to bridge his two professional worlds. His goal was to strengthen public discourse by teaching his students to question what they read and share online.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

New York Times: A.I. Is Making Death Threats Way More Realistic. “Artificial intelligence is already raising concerns for its ability to mimic real voices in service of scams or to produce deepfake pornography without a subject’s permission. Now, the technology is also being used for violent threats — priming them to maximize fear by making them far more personalized, more convincing and more easily delivered.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

404 Media: Grokipedia Is the Antithesis of Everything That Makes Wikipedia Good, Useful, and Human. “One needs only spend a few minutes clicking around the launch version of Grokipedia to understand that it lacks the human touch that makes Wikipedia such a valuable resource.”

Carnegie Mellon University: Researchers Explore How AI Can Strengthen, Not Replace, Human Collaboration. “Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business are learning how AI can be used to support teamwork rather than replace teammates. Anita Williams Woolley is a professor of organizational behavior. She researches collective intelligence, or how well teams perform together, and how artificial intelligence could change workforce dynamics. Now, Woolley and her colleagues are helping to figure out exactly where and how AI can play a positive role.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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