Luke Auld-Thomas and his fellow researchers found a lost Mayan city, dubbed “Valeriana,” under the jungle canopy in southeastern Mexico purely by using Google and analysing publicly available data, without even setting foot in the area. Here’s how they did it, and what the implications are for the future of archaeology. Reporting by Anna Plaza for @wiredenespanol.
📹editor: @evystadium
Elon Musk could have his United States citizenship revoked and be exposed to criminal prosecution if he lied to the government as part of the immigration process, according to legal experts.
Musk, who was born and raised in South Africa and later emigrated to Canada before eventually settling in the US and becoming a citizen, has spent more than $100 million to support Donald Trump and his nativist presidential campaign, and has personally demonized immigrants.
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📹 editor: @hallieyearwood_
Former Georgia State Rep. Stacey Abrams has fought voter suppression for more than a decade—and she’s still fighting it.
“I’m not concerned about the safety of voters. I am concerned about what this attack on democracy signals. I’m concerned for our election workers who have to navigate this maelstrom of lie and invective and fear. I am hopeful that what we are seeing are isolated incidents of misdirection and people who are just, I think, deeply disturbed. Instead, we focus on how do we expand access?”
Today, she joins @LeahFeiger from Kamala Harris’s campaign trail to talk about election conspiracies, Elon Musk’s influence, ballot box fires, Joe Rogan, and whether a Democratic candidate can win Georgia.
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📹 editor: @alanamyzola
“I was in shock and disbelief,” says a paid door knocker flown to Michigan to help turn out the vote for former president Donald Trump on behalf of Elon Musk’s America PAC.
In Michigan, canvassers and paid door knockers for the former president, contracted by a firm associated with America PAC, have been subjected to poor working conditions: A number of them have been driven around in the back of a seatless U-Haul van, according to video obtained by WIRED, and threatened that their lodging at a local motel wouldn’t be paid for if they didn’t meet canvassing quotas. One door knocker alleges that they didn’t even know they were signing up for anything having to do with Musk or Trump.
A representative for Musk and America PAC did not return a request for comment. @evystadium has more.
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Days away from the vote, officials are putting in place the typical final measures to ensure the smooth operation of an election. But beyond checking that they have enough ballots and that machines are working properly, officials are now faced with having to monitor for threats and make sure they have done everything they can to protect themselves and their staff.
“Given the current political environment, the possibility that an event may occur has increased and our election professionals have responded in kind,” says Tammy Patrick, a former election official in Arizona’s Maricopa County who’s now a senior advisor at the nonprofit Bolstering Elections Initiative. “Efforts focusing on the physical security of the voters, election workers, and staff by putting in bulletproof glass, panic buttons, razor wire and fencing are fairly common, as is the installation of surveillance cameras and systems, cyber protections, and training on de-escalation techniques and response drills.”
And nowhere in the #US is the militarization of the #election process more evident than in #MaricopaCounty. @evystadium has more.
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What do we think about Amazon’s new Kindle Colorsoft?
“I’m just disappointed in what the first-ever color Kindle could have been, especially since Amazon takes its time to release new versions of these devices,” WIRED reviewer @bstoly says. “That said, there’s a chance the road map will be more aggressive considering the competition and renewed interest in the e-reader market. You can always wait for a major sale event like Prime Day or Black Friday to pick one up.”
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Where are you getting your election news? WIRED’s @alanamyzola went to ask Kamala Harris supporters at her Washington, DC rally. From Facebook to mainstream outlets to the downfall of reliable info from X, they shared their sources and opinions about misinformation online.
📹 editor: @evystadium
(Due to large crowds, video quality may be impacted.)
Is that a ghost!? Just in time for Halloween, physics expert @rhettallain explains the phenomenon behind why we see this ghostly reflection in an optical illusion called Pepper’s Ghost. First introduced as a stage cinematic technique by English scientist John Henry Pepper in 1862, it uses the properties of light to create an apparition using glass, light, and reflection.
📹 editor: @evystadium
A team of US and Mexican researchers analysed 11-year-old data to discover a previously unidentified Mayan city in Campeche state, southeastern Mexico. The results of the study are published in the journal Antiquity. @matthew.champion10 reports.
📹 editor: @evystadium
Donald Trump appeared to offer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a job in his administration during a mammoth rally at Madison Square Garden on October 27, promising to let the anti-vaxxer advocate “go wild” on “health,” “the food,” and “medicines.”
Kennedy has spent years spreading health mis- and disinformation, particularly about vaccines. In 2014, Kennedy joined Children’s Health Defense (CHD) as a member of its board. CHD pushes debunked conspiracy theories linking conditions like autism with vaccines and other environmental factors. In 2021, Meta banned Kennedy’s Instagram account for spreading disinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine, and he was named by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) as one of 12 people responsible for 65 percent of vaccine disinformation across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, Kennedy’s own profile, as well as that of CHD, began to rise. CHD raised more money in 2021 than it ever had before.
Meta reinstated Kennedy’s Instagram account last year when he announced his run for the presidency, and it remains up, despite the fact that he is no longer running for office. CHD remains banned from Meta’s platforms. More recently, Kennedy has echoed unfounded conspiracies that could undermine faith in the integrity of the 2024 elections.
“The only thing I don’t think I’m even going to let him get near is the liquid gold we have under our feet, I don’t know Elon, he might not like liquid gold, its oil and gas, sometimes referred to as oil and gas. JD I think we’re going to have to keep him away from the oil and gas, what do you think?” Trump added.
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📹editor: @evystadium
The iPad Mini has always felt like an outlier in Apple’s iPad lineup. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles like the iPad Pro, it’s not the cheapest iPad, and unlike the iPad Air, it’s a little too small to use for work. That size is its biggest strength though—if you really want a tiny tablet to tote around everywhere, the iPad Mini doesn’t have strong competition and remains the best. @bstoly takes a look at the latest iteration.
Rudy Giuliani has been ordered to turn over his Manhattan penthouse and a host of valuable items to two Georgia election workers he falsely accused of election fraud after the 2020 election.
Federal judge Lewis Liman said the property and items must be put into a receivership and transferred to mother and daughter Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss within seven days, as part of the $148 million the former New York mayor owes them in damages for defamation.
Giuliani may be able to keep his Palm Beach condo and his Yankees World Series rings, which Giuliani’s son says he was given by his father. @matthew.champion10 reports.
📹 editor: @alanamyzola
A Russian-aligned propaganda network notorious for creating deepfake whistleblower videos appears to be behind a coordinated effort to promote wild and baseless claims that Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz sexually assaulted one of his former students, according to several specialists tracking the disinformation campaign.
Experts believe that the campaign is tied to a network called Storm-1516, which has been linked to, among other things, a previous effort that falsely claimed vice president Kamala Harris perpetrated a hit-and-run in San Francisco in 2011. Storm-1516 has a long history of posting fake whistleblower videos, and often deepfake videos, to push Kremlin talking points to the West. @davidgilbertwriter reports:
📹editor: @alanamyzola
Accounts linked to Russia have reached new levels of aggression in Moldova, which is facing a tide of disinformation unprecedented in complexity and aggression.
That’s according to Ana Revenco, Moldova’s former interior minister, who is now in charge of the country’s new Center for Strategic Communication and Combating Disinformation.
What’s happening in Moldova on Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube, she believes, carries a warning for the rest of the world. “This shows us our collective vulnerability,” she tells WIRED. “Platforms are not only active here. If [Russia] can use them here, they can use them everywhere.” @morganmeaker reports.
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📹editor: @evystadium
