Jonas Koll
@kachumbali.bsky.social
Diplomat 🇩🇪 @diplo.de, 🇩🇪 DCM in Dakar. Worked a lot on tech and AI in diplo-stuff. Ornamental, without tie. If I had the time I’d have more hobbies. 👉🏻 Not official, views entirely my own.
Yesterday afternoon 14:09 in Lacanau Océan in France. A pale red sun through the smoke tinged everything in Mars style orange. Welcome in the climate emergency! Despite all denial of the fossil fuel lobby, it’s scientific fact: CO2 emissions heat up Earth & make fires worse. 🔥🔥🔥
Some more impressions. The black stuff is soot on the beach. For this Girond fire alone, 63,000 people have been evacuated. We’re waiting for news whether we should leave, too.
✈️🇺🇦 The gunner of Yak-52 light anti-drone aircraft of Ukrainian Air Force shoots down Russian "Shaheds" in the sky over the Odesa region with small arms fire.
Holiday in the climate emergency. No that’s not AI or edited, just a snapshot I just took with my phone on Lacanau beach in France. What future will this boy grow up in? It is in our hands, but time is running out.
Grenoble - Paris - Dakar - et on y vas! Off to my new job in Dakar!
As long expected. It’s climate science 101. The vapor thirst of the atmosphere increases exponentially with temperature. A law of physics known since the early 19th C (Clausius–Clapeyron law). It causes more drought even if rainfall doesn’t decline. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Climate crisis-driven heat ‘sucking soils dry’ as extreme drought hits Europe
Analysis shows how heatwaves are making atmosphere thirstier, damaging water supplies, food production and power generation
theguardian.com
Bis 2050 drohen Deutschland Klimafolgekosten von bis zu 900 Mrd. Euro. Wir zahlen heute den Preis des Zögerns. Zeit, über den Nutzen von Klimaschutz zu sprechen. 🎙️ www.ndr.de/nachrichten/...
Ökonomin Kemfert zu Klimaschutz: "Kosten für Nichthandeln sind enorm"
Bis 2050 könnten bis zu 900 Milliarden Euro Folgekosten entstehen. "Wir müssen endlich über den Nutzen sprechen", sagt Claudia Kemfert.
ndr.de
Investigation by "Forbidden Stories" 14 media organisations into Morocco's adoption of NSO's Pegasus spyware, a generous gift from UAE. "You could say it’s like Netflix: a friend pays for the subscription, and the others use their account.” www.theguardian.com/news/2026/ju...
Moroccan intelligence insider reveals widespread use of Pegasus hacking software
Whistleblower suggests internal security services deployed spyware from 2017 against key domestic and foreign targets
theguardian.com
Geopolitical update: Straits of Sunshine remains open Found this on LinkedIn. To good not to share.
🚰 97% of people in the EU can turn on a tap right now, mid-heatwave. And for over 30 years, we've been making sure what comes out of it is safe to drink. Find out how: link.europa.eu/kxqk74
Sobering to see in one chart how June temperature records have been broken this year in so many European countries www.ft.com/content/5f06...
"Inflamed by carbon pollution, the deadly June heatwave helped push surface air temperatures for the region 3.06C above their average from recent decades, according to the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring service." @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Western Europe records hottest-ever June as heatwaves intensify
Temperatures across ravaged region 3C above average as scientists warn of risks for people, ecosystems and infrastructure
theguardian.com
Russia's latest batch of fake news posts targets parties in Germany from the far-left to centre-right, but stopping short of the far right, for obvious reasons. Note the very similar numbers of replies, views, and reposts, signs of bot networks boosting the post, but little to none real engagement.
One every years all your stuff is already in a container while you still have to work a while and empty the freezer. Found some dried chilies in the fridge door to spice up the meal. #diplolife
Nach Merz-Anruf bei FIFA: Deutschland wieder bei WM dabei!
Nach Merz-Anruf bei FIFA: Deutschland wieder bei WM dabei!
Berlin (dpo) - Hurra! Die FIFA hat heute entschieden, dass Deutschland doch noch in der WM mitspielen darf. Insidern zufolge ging der Entscheidung ein
der-postillon.com
No sh*t Sherlock - not surprised. Few things are as mind blowing and rewarding as starting to learn a new language. The cascades of understanding that that unlocks literally feel like your brain’s pumping iron and looking like Arnold in his best days. #Wolof feels like tearing a muscle 😅
The Guardian@theguardian.com · last mo.Learning another language appears to slow brain ageing, scientists say
🏖️🐻 Les logiciels libres de l'été, jour 13 Pascal Editor : un éditeur 3D dédié à la modélisation architecturale
Die #AfD will ihre politische Kommunikation offenbar mit #KI hochfahren: Eine Firma der AfD hat dafür ein Tool gebaut, das auf Knopfdruck Posts, Parolen und Grafiken im Parteidesign erstellt – bis hin zu fertigen Hetz-Posts. CORRECTIV hatte Zugang und hat die KI getestet.
Die Propaganda-KI der AfD
Eine Firma des AfD-Bundesvorstands hat eine KI gebaut, die auf Knopfdruck Propaganda erzeugt. CORRECTIV testete die AfD-KI-Propaganda undercover.
correctiv.org
28 degrees, rain, people in shorts. Reminds me of my time in Hanoi…
During a heatwave cities can at best create environments within which people can keep cool. Paris is doing a better job than Berlin
Berlin is even worse equipped than Paris for Europe’s heatwave
Berliners gaze with dread at this weekend’s forecast of 40ºC (104ºF)
econ.st
Japan tried balloon bombs in WW2, of thousands launched they managed to kill a picnicking family in Oregon. But combine high-alt balloons with GPS and onboard terminal guidance for a dropped munition and maybe the idea gets interesting www.defensenews.com/global/europ...
Ukraine’s newest strike weapon drifts into Russia on the wind
The U.S. and Russia are fielding the same balloons used by Ukraine that bait air defenses and now launch missiles.
defensenews.com
Short test for a running mask under tropical conditions here in Berlin with 32-35 degrees. Works surprisingly well for a short and slow run. Will test longer runs soon in Dakar.
Sinkende Leistungen und Sorge vor Lernverlusten: Die Regierung in Oslo zieht die Reißleine und schränkt generative KI wie ChatGPT oder Claude an Schulen ein. #Künstliche Intelligenz
Zurück zu Buch und Stift: Norwegen verbannt KI aus Grundschulen
Sinkende Leistungen und Sorge vor Lernverlusten: Die Regierung in Oslo zieht die Reißleine und schränkt generative KI wie ChatGPT oder Claude an Schulen ein.
heise.de
Start using @mistralai.bsky.social Le Chat now. Far behind Claude, but will never catch up if they don’t get revenue / invest. And for that they need users.
Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 2mo ago"The Trump administration is banning foreign governments, companies and individuals from using Anthropic’s most powerful artificial-intelligence tools, prompting the company to shut off access to everyone to comply with the new rule." www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
Europeans need tech sovereignty now
Social Media Lab@socialmedialab.ca · 2mo ago"The Trump administration is banning foreign governments, companies and individuals from using Anthropic’s most powerful artificial-intelligence tools, prompting the company to shut off access to everyone to comply with the new rule." www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anth...
"I often felt using the tool was somewhere between delightful and unnerving. (…) the unnerving part was how little I did. I gave a really ambitious instruction, the AI followed it. I gave a couple of minor pieces of feedback, and the AI figured it out. My role was extremely limited"
What it feels like to work with Mythos
Claude Fable represents another big jump in AI
oneusefulthing.org
