New Scientist recently ran a striking headline: the late‑June 2026 heatwave in Europe “may have killed around 20,000 people.” For anyone following climate politics and media narratives, this raises an obvious question: is this just a sensational claim, or does it rest on solid ground?[1][2] What New Scientist Actually Claims The article reports that … Read more
I do not believe NATO is doing well at all. I am not sure to what extent this summit triggered international reactions, but here in Türkiye, it was a big deal. The government used this as an occasion to show off. I have asked both ChatGPT and Perplexity to collect information about this summit. You … Read more
For more than a year now, instead of Google search, I have been using DuckDuckGo and Perplexity AI. Key takeaways from the video: DuckDuckGo origins: Founded in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg in his living room with $10k after Google search quality declined due to spam; core promise is “we store nothing” — no IP logging, … Read more
Here are the key takeaways from the video: Meta’s open AI strategy, which looked like a competitive edge, became a liability as competitors and open models improved, and as transparency concerns around benchmarks and training data surfaced. This pushed Meta to pivot toward a more closed approach with Muse Spark. The release of Llama under … Read more
I could not write about these stories when they happened, but I still want to keep them in the EFD record. They are not necessarily connected, yet together they say something about contemporary Turkey: ritual, spectacle, medical entrepreneurship, migration, music, and earthquake anxiety all appearing in the same news cycle. On the first day of … Read more
In nine episodes (you can find them here), I have focused on some characteristics of the current academic life that is killing the university system -not any more- slowly: Nine episodes of administrative bloat, ranking obsessions, funding regimes that reward the wrong things, accreditation rituals nobody quite believes in, a journal hierarchy that has turned … Read more
It was a relatively short but beautifully written novel. Snow by John Banville. A touch of melancholy embedded. Honestly, I was more interested in the smooth flow of beautiful writing than the detective work itself. This morning, I could not stop until I finished it. A good start to my lazy Saturday. I have asked … Read more
Comedian Deniz Göktaş detained after new show goes viral today. It was an expected result. Mr. Göktaş seemed well prepared for the aftermath. If he ever performs the third act, it will center around his prison days. This time, I asked Grok to round up positive and negative critiques on X about Deniz Göktaş’s … Read more
Europe is in big trouble as Thermal cameras reveal intense heat for outdoor workers in Europe, the human toll increases, but Air conditioning creates political divide after France records hottest day and Europe is not ready for the climate crisis: Amid the heatwave, Europe needs a new urbanism Here is an in-depth report for the … Read more
1. The Industry-Wide Dating App Fatigue Bumble’s massive 95% stock crash isn’t happening in isolation — the entire dating app ecosystem is shrinking. By 2023, global dating app downloads had fallen by 17% over three years [06:35]. The core issue is demographic burnout: Millennials who popularized these apps are aging out of them, while … Read more
Another well-known actor since my childhood days has passed away. Kadir İnanır had a strong personality and political standing, and was a conscious artist, which we do not see much of nowadays. Here is an obituary and at the end you will find a detailed report on his filmography and an infographic. The Final … Read more
International Press Institute (IPI), together with press freedom, freedom of expression, and human rights organisations, has written to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to raise urgent concerns about the denial of accreditation to independent media in Türkiye seeking to cover the 2026 Ankara Summit. Dear Secretary General Rutte, The undersigned press freedom, freedom of expression, … Read more
Ankara is no good for the citizens nowadays. The media accreditation process is especially disappointing. Here is a roundup: Preventive arrests and bans on dissent Police have detained more than 200 people in large “anti‑terror” operations in Ankara, Istanbul and other cities, formally targeting alleged members of jihadist and far‑left organisations.[4][3][5] Among those detained are … Read more
An X user: Semih Kılıç, who scored 12 goals at age 19 for Beşiktaş, was benched. To keep Semih from playing in Euro 24, Barış Alper was made the center forward, but Barış failed to score or assist in any of the matches he played. Semih was brought into the game in the final minute … Read more
Here are the key takeaways: Lorem ipsum is not original, coherent Latin filler created for typesetting; it’s a scrambled excerpt derived from Cicero’s De Finibus. The common belief that it was invented by an anonymous 1500s typesetter is widespread but likely inaccurate; the text’s lineage predates modern digital typesetting. The earliest identifiable trace of similar … Read more