Bryan Alexander

"Sunlight travels 93 million miles to reach the earth
None of them through the Strait of Hormuz"

- @billmckibben.bsky.social

How I follow the Iran war: notes, links, and questions.

bryanalexander.org/digital-lite...

The world is interpreting Trump's America as damage and routing around it.

Interesting Pew Research poll on how people view their fellow citizens in moral terms.
The US bit feels right:

www.pewresearch.org/religion/202...

Thank you.
And hi, Mo!

I suspect my home office emits the same scent.

"I guess."

Text Shot: Several thousand members of the campus community are already piloting the first tool, U of A Gen AI, which allows users to choose from five commercially available large language models: Claude, OpenAI, Gemma, Meta Llama and Amazon Nova. In addition to U of A Gen AI, the platform will eventually include additional services to support teaching and learning, research and operations across campus. These include:  A public-facing campus chatbot that uses verified university information to answer questions about programs, services and resources An Arizona AI assistant that will allow colleges, departments and offices to create custom chatbots that retrieve information only from approved institutional data sources AI sandboxes that provide controlled, secure environments where researchers, instructors and students can test and experiment with AI systems without exposing sensitive or restricted data

Introducing the U of Arizona AI Platform news.arizona.edu/uannounce/intr… (our campus chatbots) #AI #education

Oh man:

One university president announces Democracy Summer, when students work to protect voting access:
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/o...

Aren't they great?
And the Forum crowd is, as ever, brilliant with questions and comments.

I understand.
<waving blearily>

I am very excited - and heartened - to host Steve and Trent at 2 pm ET today. Their work is so creative and rooted in a sense of care.
Please join us!

Thank you! The most science fiction-sounding thing I've read today.

"If you go on vacation" - as if!

When I travel I rely heavily on phone and Kindle for ebooks.

Also, I love this sentence:

"Air tightness was improved with an intelligent liquid membrane across every surface."

A good example of the R&D we can do to decarbonize housing:

The ppl certainly belonged, both being researchers.
I didn't get to try those seats.

Same here.
Years ago I worked in a used bookstore. I still dream of it.

Libraries are one of the places I revere.

I would add more to this article, like the downstream targeting of electrostate China, but the point stands. We're refusing to discuss this war - and current events in general - in the climate change context.

Iran Update Evening Special Report, March 4, 2026 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted multiple strikes at several military compounds in southeastern Tehran on March 4.

Very detailed reports on the Iran war:
understandingwar.org/research/mid...

From WSJ, on Iran's missiles:

From the outside: locals dub the library "Fort Book."

Robarts Library rare books room.

I like the sound of that.
I write my books' intros saying something similar.

I should have thought of that.

Indeed, a story with a lot of today's topics: financial pressures, AI datacenters, branch campuses:

Interesting application.
Which creators do you have in mind: faculty, staff, students, publishers?

American Airlines leaving our luggage to soak in the rain for 2 hours.
Their helpful customer service desk.