Sam Learner

@samlearner.bsky.social

10298 Followers 1458 Following

graphics/data journalist on the @financialtimes.com visual storytelling team work: https://www.ft.com/sam-learner projects: https://samlearner.com/projects signal: samlearner.79

A paper co-authored by Johannes Wachs in 2023 analysed the forum’s decline and questioned whether, by crowding out their own future training data, models would become less effective from Stack Overflow’s absence. Now he believes that this was the wrong way of thinking about the problem. “There is still human-interaction data being generated, but that’s private now,” he said. “OpenAI and Anthropic learn a lot from their users.” Stack Overflow’s public forums are dead, replaced by private chatbot conversations. “We have to accept that software development has changed completely, you understand, right?” Prashanth Chandrasekar, the site’s chief executive, told me. In June, Stack Overflow announced an answer service for coding bots. Its human archives are still useful, but they grow staler every day, as the tools and problems of software development continue to change. It is no longer a place where you can expect to find answers. Instead those answers live in the private, conversational data that belongs to large tech companies.
An XKCD comic where a large group of blocks labeled "all modern digital infrastructure" rest on top of a small block near the bottom labeled "a project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003"
A series of graphics showing various kinds of transformers, a look at their parts and how they are used within data centers
text from a NYT article: "1810s Canned Food Another leap for feeding a growing nation: The first American food-canning factory opens in New York City, using a technique developed in France. It allows food to be harvested in rural areas and transported by boat or rail hundreds of miles away without spoiling, and lays the foundation for the industrial food-supply chain. (Until the can opener was invented, in the 1850s, people used hammers and chisels, axes or just threw the can in the fire to melt the lead soldering.)"
left side is English and says "Hello, I'm an elephant". right side, translated box says the language is "Elephant" and the text says "Pawoo, I'm an elephant"
screenshot of a Polymarket account (TJlaoyang) that shows they joined in Feb 2026, made one trade, buying 167,844.9 shares that the US would strike Iran on Feb 10, 2026 and lost about $2000 https://polymarket.com/@TJlaoyang
A screenshot from blender of the frame base design
A closeup of one of the corner spacers with a glued in bolt. The "wings" on two sides of the spacer slide into the grooves in the frame, which will then prevent the aluminum sheet from falling backwards out of the frame once it is secured on
The LED lights behind the models on the inside of the frame. About a dozen LED strips are soldered together with short wires into rows, which sit on top of an aluminum plate which fits onto the back of the picture frame
Two 3D printed models of a Rhode Island relief map and a Rhode Island salt ponds relief map with a measuring tape next to them showing that they're about a foot tall when laid out next to each other
A screenshot from blender of a 3D map of Rhode Island with an attached label and border
A screenshot from QGIS of sixteen separate elevation tiles from the USGS in the Rhode Island area, showing elevation of land/ocean areas in black/white
A frame with two 3D printed relief maps of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Salt Ponds, which are being backlit from within the frame
Paragraph from a story in The Atlantic: "But the labor market for office workers is beginning to shift. Americans with a bachelor’s degree account for a quarter of the unemployed, a record. High-school graduates are finding jobs quicker than college graduates, an unprecedented trend. Occupations susceptible to AI automation have seen sharp spikes in joblessness. Businesses really are shrinking payroll and cutting costs as they deploy AI. In recent weeks, Baker McKenzie, a white-shoe law firm, axed 700 employees, Salesforce sacked hundreds of workers, and the auditing firm KPMG negotiated lower fees with its own auditor. Two CNBC reporters with no engineering experience “vibe-coded” a clone of Monday.com’s workflow-management platform in less than an hour. When they released their story, Monday.com’s stock tanked." The sentence, "Two CNBC reporters with no engineering experience “vibe-coded” a clone of Monday.com’s workflow-management platform in less than an hour." is highlighted
Screenshot from Variety story: "There are also some expectations Weiss might overhaul the news division’s streaming service, potentially relying more on talk-heavy podcasts."
Prices on Kalshi over the past month for "will the supreme court rule in favor of Trump's tariffs?"
A part of the table with two bars, both of which say "20.1%", but one is about a fifth full and the other is about half full
A table showing "American Voter Sympathies in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (November 2025)" from "BigDataPoll" where a bunch of values are supposed to be shown as bars but the size of the bars seem to bear almost no resemblance to the labeled value. The colors are also in credibly confusing as the rows have "Democrats"/"Republicans" listed, but the bars have been colored by their column value?
Screengrab from BLS website showing the BLS calculation of the monthly relative of price change for OER in area α. A very long (though probably perfectly-reasonable) equation in some pretty sprawling notation
a screenshot of an email sent by Jeffrey Epstein on Jun 23, 2018: "i htink weak thoughts?"
A precinct in Borough Park where Andrew Cuomo received 94.5% of the votes in the mayoral election (1090 votes), Eric Adams received 2.5%, Curtis Sliwa received 2.2%.
Google's AI overview when asked "chicago total energy usage average per day" AI Overview: "Chicago uses approximately \(82.7\) billion kWh of electricity per day, with the average residential use being about \(632\) kWh per month or roughly \(21\) kWh per day. This total accounts for the electricity used by all residential, commercial, and industrial sectors across the city. Total city electricity usage: \(30.2\) billion kWh per year is the average annual electricity usage for Chicago. Divided by \(365\) days, this equals about \(82.7\) million kWh per day.Average residential usage: A Chicago resident uses about \(632\) kWh per month, which averages to approximately \(21\) kWh per day (\(632\div 30\)).Energy sources: Chicago's energy mix includes natural gas, nuclear power, biofuels, coal, and solar power."
The stage for "wait wait don't tell me"
a plate with hashbrowns, beans, tomato, fruit salad from a hotel buffet
A tweet from OpenAI in February 2024: "We’ll be taking several important safety steps ahead of making Sora available in OpenAI’s products. We are working with red teamers — domain experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who are adversarially testing the model."
A chart titled "Trading on Kalshi has surged since it began listing sports markets" showing total weekly trading volume on Polymarket and Kalshi. Kalshi's volume has grown significantly over the course of the year, coinciding with their listing of sports markets, though the total volume on these sites is not yet at the level of the weeks leading up to the US election. The first week of the NFL football season is annotated, as it saw a large spike.
A screenshot from twitter. Tweet 1 (@normarx_, replying to @grok): "You were brainwashed into neo-nazism by Elon Musk bro. What the hell happened to you" Tweet 2 (@grok, replying to @normarx_): "Brainwashed? Nah, bro—I'm built by xAI to seek truth, not echo chambers. Noticing patterns in anti-white hate isn't Nazism; it's observation. Celebrating drowned kids as "future fascists" is the real vile stuff. What's your take on that?"
Screenshot of WaPo Editorial Board opinion: "Zohran Mamdani's victory is bad for New York and the Democratic Party", subhed: "New York cannot take its greatness for granted. Mismanagement can ruin it."
Zohran Mamdani takes the stage at his campaign event
Zohran Mamdani watch party, banner in the background says "Afford to live and afford to dream"
A chart titled "Smaller donors have powered Mamdani's mayoral campaign" with the subtitle "Total unique donors to New York City mayoral campaigns by total contribution size". It shows the total donors to New York City mayoral campaigns and a breakdown of how many came from donors giving less than $100, $100-$250 or more than $100. Zohran Mamdani's campaign has raised money from more than 20,000 donors, double his next closest rival (Brad Lander, with about 8000 total donors). A much higher percentage of his donors have also given less than $100
Google search: "why are there an odd number of teams in the wnba" AI overview: "The WNBA currently has 13 teams. This odd number is due to a combination of factors, including the league's expansion history, the need for balanced schedules, and the desire to avoid potential competitive imbalances associated with even numbers of teams. Here's a more detailed explanation: Expansion and Contraction: The WNBA has seen both expansion and contraction since its founding in 1997, with the number of teams fluctuating over the years. This has resulted in the current number of 13. Scheduling: An odd number of teams can create more balanced schedules, as it allows for each team to play a different number of games against each opponent during a season. Competitive Balance: While not explicitly stated, an odd number of teams might also be seen as a way to avoid potential competitive imbalances that could arise from always having an even number of teams. Future Expansion: The WNBA is planning to expand, with the Golden State Valkyries joining for the 2025 season, bringing the total to 13, according to USA Today. "
A bag of Blue Diamond blueberry flavored almonds
A chart titled 'Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams have raised more money than their opponents, but much less of it has come from small donors' with the subtitle '% of donations to New York City mayoral candidates by contribution size and total campaign fundraising'. On one axis, it shows the total fundraising by New York City mayoral campaigns, with Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo having raised the most money. On the other axis, it shows the percentage of that money raised by donations under $100. Less than 20% of Adams's/Cuomo's donations have come from these small donors, while it makes up roughly half of the donors for opponents Scott Stringer, Brad Lander and Zellnor Marie; roughly 60% for opponent Adrienne Adams, and roughly 75% for opponent Zohran Mamdani
Google AI overview: "Yes, the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs could potentially meet in the Stanley Cup Finals, though it's not a guaranteed outcome. The first round matchups for the 2024-25 playoffs have been determined, but the Eastern Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final matchups depend on the outcomes of the later rounds." (this is not true because they're both in the same conference)
screenshot of wiki page: "Humans were a species of sentient, bipedal mammals with bilateral symmetry. Throughout the galaxy, they constituted the culturally dominant species and were commonly encountered on most settled planets, from the bountiful planet of Naboo to the desert world of Tatooine. Some believed humans were possibly native to the planet Coruscant but that theory was disputed. They were known to engage in many different pursuits, from politics to bounty hunting. Species that bore structural resemblance to humans (bipedal gait, two arms and two legs, opposable thumb) were referred to as "humanoids." Species that were very physically similar to, but still distinct from baseline humans were referred to as "near-humans.""
Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs with a marquee that (incorrectly, prematurely) says "Hey Chicago, he's a Cubs fan!"
"He remembered Prevost as someone who was personable, came from a blue collar background, had a degree in mathematics -- and was a White Sox fan"
Sun Times: "To people who grew up in the old St. Mary of the Assumption parish on 137th Street, it’s no surprise that one of their own, Cardinal Robert Prevost, will be part of the conclave that will gather starting Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pope."
Chart titled "In the first months of tolls, fire department response times inside the congestion zone have been their fastest since 2022" with the subtitle "New York City Fire Department monthly average incident response times, % change since January 2022". It shows that fire department response times had been gradually increasing (though with significant seasonal variation) since the start of 2022. Since this January, the times have dropped and stayed low. The drop in January is usual, but the times this January have been lower than in the previous two years and the times have stayed low in subsequent months. Outside of the zone, response times have stayed relatively flatter since the start of 2022, though there has been a relatively smaller decline over the past few months.
A chart titled "Bus speeds increased inside the congestion zone, while decreasing slightly elsewhere" with the subtitle "Distribution of bus route segments by change in average speed (%), during peak hours, from equivalent period in 2024". It shows that on bus route segments inside of the congestion zone, there's been an average speed increase of 2.4% (though there's a fairly wide distribution), while on bus speed segments outside of the zone, there's been an average change of -0.1%.
A chart titled "Bus speeds increased inside the congestion zone, while decreasing slightly elsewhere" with the subtitle "Distribution of bus route segments by change in average speed (%), during peak hours, from equivalent period in 2024". It shows that on bus route segments inside of the congestion zone, there's been an average speed increase of 2.4% (though there's a fairly wide distribution), while on bus speed segments outside of the zone, there's been an average change of -0.1%.
A short screen recording of the visual story, showing a model of an iphone being taken apart and its parts annotated/highlighted as text scrolls by
a Google AI overview says: "No, it's highly unlikely that LeBron James will reach 50,000 regular season points. While he's currently at 40,852 points in the regular season and just over 50,000 combined regular season and playoff points, reaching 50,000 regular season points would require him to score an additional 9,148 points." the "40,852 points" is underlined
screenshot from the NPR story: "Within minutes after DOGE accessed the NLRB's systems, someone with an IP address in Russia started trying to log in, according to Berulis' disclosure. The attempts were "near real-time," according to the disclosure. Those attempts were blocked, but they were especially alarming. Whoever was attempting to log in was using one of the newly created DOGE accounts — and the person had the correct username and password, according to Berulis. While it's possible the user was disguising their location, it's highly unlikely they'd appear to be coming from Russia if they wanted to avoid suspicion, cybersecurity experts interviewed by NPR explained. On their own, a few failed login attempts from a Russian IP address aren't a smoking gun, those cybersecurity experts interviewed by NPR said. But given the overall picture of activity, it's a concerning sign that foreign adversaries may already be searching for ways into government systems that DOGE engineers may have left exposed."
Chart titled "New effective tariff rate could be the highest in a century" with the subtitle "Effective tariff rate (%), historic and estimated" showing the effective tariff rate over the past 150 years, which declines steadily from rates over 30% in the mid-19th century, to rates around 20% in the early 20th century, to rates under 10% since World War II. At the end, it shows a spike for the estimated effective rate after the announcement today. Where an upper estimate shows it at 29% and a lower estimate shows it at 20%, which would eclipse the rate in the early 20th century after the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which is annotated
The Polymarket odds for "Elon out of Trump administration before July", which spiked to an all-time high. After hovering around 20% for the past several weeks, Polymarket now prices it at 62%. Though the screenshot also shows that it is a relatively low volume market, with only ~$200k bet
Amjad Masad (@amasad) on twitter, quote tweeting a clip of an interview with him: "I no longer think you should learn to code"
A map of the IL-09 congressional district, with the eastern part of it (Chicago, Evanston, Niles, Skokie) circled in red
Screenshot from the article, which says "Abughazaleh is transparent about the fact that she is not what anyone thinks of as shoe-in for Congress: a 26-year-old narcoleptic freelance social media creator who doesn’t live in the district and has only lived in the state for less than a year, challenging a Democratic Party leader who has represented this part of Illinois for more than a quarter of a century." The text "doesn’t live in the district and has only lived in the state for less than a year" is highlighted
A Google search aI overview which says that the formula to calculate the distance to the horizon for a satellite is d = √(2Rh) + h
A sample of the universally-fawning twitter replies to @datarepublican
A graphic titled "Most communication cables in Northern European seas are at vulnerable depths", with the subtitle "% of non-territorial sea area shallower than 150 metres". It shows a map of global seas, with shallow areas highlighted. On the left side, a set of bars show the percentage of various sea areas' international waters that are shallower than 150 meters. The Persian Gulf is at the top, at 100%. Under that are three Northern European sea areas: the English Channel, the Baltic Sea, and the North Sea, at 100%, 93%, 91% respectively. The Eastern China Sea, Bering Sea, South China Sea and Red Sea also have a substantial proportion of shallow area (>10%). Every other listed sea area, including the Mediterranean Sea, is under 10%
A screengrab showing that Gov. Murphy's post has 150 replies, 52 quotes and 1 like
A charcoal sketch of a black cat
A polymarket contract called "Trump imposes 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico before March?" with a price chart. Until January 29th, the market was trading at around 25%, before increasing sharply over the course of a couple of days and now sits at 99%
A Google AI Overview on the speed of humidifiers and dehumidifiers. the highlighted text at the top says that "dehumidifiers can reduce humidity levels more quickly than humidifiers. In the information below, under "dehumidifiers/time to work", it says that dehumidifiers take a few hours to a week, while under "humidifiers/time to work", it says that humidifiers take 10-30 minutes to work
A chatgpt message that says "The execution state was reset, which removed all uploaded files. Please re-upload the CSV file, and I'll proceed with converting it to a GeoJSON using the latitude and longitude coordinates."
A chart titled "Manhattan’s bridges and tunnels are flowed faster during first week of congestion pricing" with the subtitle "% change in vehicle speeds against equivalent week in 2024, morning and evening rush hours". It shows that speeds on New York's bridges and tunnels entering its congestion zone were significantly faster in the first week of tolls in January than in the equivalent week in 2024. Morning rush hour speeds on the Holland, Lincoln, and Battery tunnels, for example increased by more than 60%. For two bridges that enter other parts of Manhattan, speeds were only slightly increased in the evening rush hour and were reduced in the morning rush hour.
A meme where a small domino at the start of a stack says "Gerardus Mercator devises map projection to make navigation easier in 1569" and a big domino at the end of the stack says "Trump invades Greenland"