Journalist, author + now cook. Just Add Love gathers the life stories and recipes of Holocaust Survivors. Fab photos. Check us out at https://xitter.cf/t.co/Z4khWRA0cZ
Sydney
Joined January 2009
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Irris Makler retweeted
New poll in Palestine by the Jerusalem Media & Communications Center (JMCC) & Friedrich Ebert Stiftung showing:
* 55.8% support peaceful negotiations as the "best method to achieve the Palestinian people's goals of ending the occupation". 13.3% support armed resistance. 17.8% support non-violent resistance.
* If elections were held today, 27.5% would vote Fatah, only 7.6% would vote Hamas, 40.2% won't vote.
* 50.1% of Palestinians believe that the Oct 7 attacks harmed Palestinians national interests, 15.7% believe it served them
* Which political factions you trust? 55% trust no one, 22.3% trust Fatah, 6.7% trust Hamas.
jmcc.org/en/File/29187y16832…
Irris Makler retweeted
The egg that became you was made inside your mother while she was still a fetus inside your grandmother.
A female fetus builds her entire lifetime supply of eggs before she is born. By about 20 weeks she has six to seven million of them. By the day she is delivered the number has already fallen to one or two million, and it keeps falling. Around 400 will ever be released.
Which means that at one moment your grandmother was carrying your mother, and your mother was already carrying the cell that would become you. Three generations in one body at the same time, and only one of them knew about it.
Work out the date and it gets stranger. A woman born in 1976 came from an egg formed around 1946, three decades before she was born, in a body that was itself unborn.
There is a caveat worth being honest about. An egg carries half your genetic material, so the cell in your grandmother was half of you. And a few studies in mice have raised the possibility that women might make some new eggs in adulthood, though the finding is contested and nobody is rewriting the textbooks.
What is not contested is the timing. Your mother never made that egg, she was assembled around it while the egg sat waiting inside her.
There is one part that has no caveat. The mitochondria, the parts of your cells that make energy, come only from the egg. Yours were in your grandmother's body. If you have a daughter, hers were in yours, formed while you were carrying her and had no idea.
So a woman pregnant with a girl is carrying her grandchildren too, in the most literal sense the phrase allows. Every woman reading this began inside a woman she may never have met, in a body that had not yet been born itself.
britannica.com/science/oogen…
Irris Makler retweeted
40 out of 86 Brown students scored a perfect 100 on their midterm. Then the professor moved the final in person, and 22 of those perfect scorers never showed up again.
He'd suspected AI cheating from the start. The take-home midterm was deliberately harder than usual, yet the class averaged 96 when the historical range is 65 to 80. Some answers contained odd phrasing that matched what ChatGPT produced when he ran the questions through it himself.
Roberto Serrano has taught economics at Brown for 34 years. He filed no accusations. He announced the final would be in person, count for half the grade, and that if the two distributions didn't match, the final alone would determine grades.
Then the exodus. 27 students never showed up. 22 of them had perfect midterms. Of the 59 who did show, 19 failed. Several signed the exam and turned it in blank. The average fell from 96 to 48, the lowest in the course's history.
He never needed a plagiarism detector. The cheaters identified themselves by walking away. A grade distribution became a confession.
Here's the part nobody's sitting with. Serrano proved it. He sent the distributions to Brown's dean and provost. The provost never responded. The academic committee's reply amounted to calling it "a wake-up call." The students who bailed before the final walked away clean.
Every university in America is now grading two populations, students and students plus ChatGPT, on one curve. The honest kids in Serrano's class watched a 96 average get set by machines, then sat a real final against it. The cheaters lost nothing. That's the incentive structure now, and it grades itself.
Irris Makler retweeted
A fuel crisis keeps spreading across Russia.
I ran the country's largest oil company. Let me explain what is actually happening — and why the Kremlin cannot stop it. 🧵[1/12]
Irris Makler retweeted
I heard a lovely anecdote today about Sir Alex Younger, the former head of MI6, who has died at the age of 62.
Around the time the James Bond film “Spectre” was coming out, there was a private viewing at MI6’s HQ in Vauxhall with some of the production team and actors, including Ralph Fiennes.
Alex Younger compared the event, which included an opportunity for members of the audience (who were largely real life spies) to quiz the actors and producers.
One person asked Ralph Fiennes: Who was your favourite Bond?
He gave an answer about how they were all good, but his favourite was Daniel Craig. The rest of the team said similar.
Then Alex threw the question back to the person in the audience who had posed it, asking them who their favourite Bond was.
But before this person had time to give an answer, someone else in the audience shouted out: “You, sir!”
The individual (a former diplomat) who shared this story with me said it was one of so many examples of how admired, liked and respected Alex was by his colleagues.
“He was one of the best chiefs”.
Heartbreaking, the post. And the piece. So much lost @washpo
Three months later, this is my last @washingtonpost story — delayed because nearly everyone involved in it was laid off. I am very grateful to newsroom friends who made sure it published anyway, and to brave Roman Mongold and his family for their time.
wapo.st/4cNY7Cm
Irris Makler retweeted
Iran’s attacks on Qatar have damaged facilities accounting for 17% of the country’s liquefied natural gas export capacity, with repairs expected to take three to five years, QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters on Thursday.
“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar… would be in such an attack,” Kaabi said, adding the strike came “especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan.”
The damage is expected to have a significant impact on global LNG supply.
iranintl.com/en/202603192282
Irris Makler retweeted
⚠️ Update: #Iran's internet blackout has entered its 20th day, with international connectivity unavailable to the general public for over 456 hours.
The incident is now the longest recorded shutdown in Iran's history, surpassing the blackout imposed during protests in January.
Irris Makler retweeted
Russia’s most popular messaging app, Telegram, has largely stopped working inside the country, according to outage-tracking websites.
meduza.io/en/news/2026/03/16…
Irris Makler retweeted
“This is pushing a thriving city that prided itself on its digital sophistication back into the Stone Age.”
@NastyaStognei on Moscow’s mobile blackouts, which have shut down almost all traffic as Russia seeks to control the internet: ft.com/content/f9584377-f63f…
Irris Makler retweeted
1 Instead of producing an Iran's Delcy Rodriguez, the war has for now produced a budding Iranian Kim Jong Un. A profile of Mojtaba Khamenei, including from a Tehran source who's long known him. "They’ve just killed his family; He’s bloodthirsty now." theatlantic.com/internationa…
Ah, the ultimate vengeance 😆
A certain critic—for such men, I regret to say, do exist—made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled this man by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.
Irris Makler retweeted
A certain critic—for such men, I regret to say, do exist—made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained 'all the old Wodehouse characters under different names.' He has probably now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled this man by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.
Irris Makler retweeted
Small numbers here but some signs the UAE's intercept rate is decreasing and that the air defense network is fraying. 25% of Iranian drones made it through today which is an all-time high since the onset of hostilities. (Previous high was 10% of drones hitting UAE on March 3.)
الدفاعات الجوية الإماراتية تتعامل مع 8 صواريخ باليستية و 26 طائرة مسيرة.
رصدت الدفاعات الجوية الإماراتية اليوم (10 مارس 2026) 9 صواريخ باليستية حيث تم تدمير 8 صواريخ باليستية، فيما سقط 1 صاروخ باليستي في البحر، كما تم رصد 35 طائرة مسيرة، حيث تم اعتراض 26 طائرة مسيرة، بينما سقطت 9 طائرات مسيرة داخل أراضي الدولة.
ومنذ بدء الاعتداء الإيراني السافر تم رصد 262 صاروخاً باليستياً، حيث تم تدمير 241 صاروخاً باليستياَ، فيما سقط 19 منها في مياه البحر، وسقط 2 صاروخ على أراضي الدولة. كما تم رصد 1475 طائرة مسيرة إيرانية وتم اعتراض 1385 منها، فيما وقعت 90 طائرة مسيرة داخل أراضي الدولة، كما تم ايضاً رصد وتدمير 8 صواريخ جوالة.
وخلفت هذه الاعتداءات 6 حالات وفاة من الجنسية الإماراتية والباكستانية والنيبالية والبنغلادشية، و122 حالة إصابة بسيطة ومتوسطة من الجنسية الإماراتية، المصرية، السودانية، الإثيوبية، الفلبينية، الباكستانية، الإيرانية، الهندية، البنغلادشية، السريلانكية، الأذربيجانية، اليمنية، الأوغندية، الإرتيرية، اللبنانية، الأفغانية، البحرينية، جزر القمر، التركية، العراقية، النيبالية، النيجيرية، العمانية، الأردنية، والفلسطينية.
وتؤكد وزارة الدفاع أنها على أهبة الاستعداد والجاهزية للتعامل مع أية تهديدات والتصدي بحزم لكل ما يستهدف زعزعة أمن الدولة، وبما يضمن صون سيادتها وأمنها واستقرارها ويحمي مصالحها ومقدراتها الوطنية.
#وزارة_الدفاع
#وزارة_الدفاع_الإماراتية
#MOD
#UAEMinistryOfDefence
Irris Makler retweeted
During the "tanker war" in the 1980s, America escorted an average of one convoy through the Strait of Hormuz each week.
"At that pace it would take two and a half years to get all 320 or so vessels currently stranded in the Gulf out of there. Even resuming three-quarters of Hormuz sailings would still prevent nearly 4m b/d of oil from getting to global markets."
"Jeff Currie of Carlyle, a private-equity firm, says the cost of a single escort would exceed the value of the cargo it is meant to protect." economist.com/finance-and-ec…
Irris Makler retweeted
"He wants to be helpful," President Trump says regarding his conversation with President Putin and Iran, despite reports that Russia was providing intel to Iran on US military targets.
Irris Makler retweeted
BREAKING: Thousands of Basij members across Iran are reportedly receiving threatening messages on Telegram from unknown accounts, warning them:
"You are completely under our surveillance. We know what crimes you committed against the Iranian people. We have identified you and all your associates. Surrender or flee. There will be no second warning."
From persecutors to the persecuted, the tables are turning.😉
Irris Makler retweeted
President Trump, in a phone intvw late Sat w/ @CBSNews, dismissed threats from Iran's top nat-sec official, Ali Larijani, who says Trump must "pay the price" for the strikes.
"I have no idea what he's talking about, who he is. I couldn't care less. I couldn't care less," Trump said. "He's already been defeated."
Irris Makler retweeted
Bahrain and Kuwait bore the brunt of Iranian drone attacks overnight. A desalination plant and a major hotel were hit in Bahrain. In Kuwait, the airport’s fuel tanks were ablaze, as was a high-rise headquarters of the social security department. Two officers in the Kuwait border force were also reported killed.
Irris Makler retweeted
🚨BREAKING: MIT hooked people up to brain scanners while they used ChatGPT.
What they found should concern every single person reading this.
ChatGPT users showed 55% weaker brain connectivity than people who didn't use it. Not after years. After just four months.
Here's how they tested it. 54 people were split into three groups: one used ChatGPT to write essays, one used Google, and one used nothing but their own brain. They wore EEG monitors that tracked their brain activity in real time across four sessions over four months.
The brain-only group built the strongest, most widespread neural networks. Google users were in the middle. ChatGPT users had the weakest brains in the room. Every time.
Then the memory test hit. Participants were asked to recall what they'd just written minutes earlier. 83% of ChatGPT users couldn't quote a single line from their own essay. They wrote it. They couldn't remember it. The words passed through them like they were never there.
It gets worse. In the final session, ChatGPT users were told to write without AI. Their brains were measurably weaker than people who never used AI at all. 78% still couldn't recall their own writing. The damage didn't go away when the tool was removed.
Meanwhile, brain-only users who tried ChatGPT for the first time? Their brains lit up. They wrote better prompts. They retained more. Their brains were already strong enough to use AI as a tool instead of a crutch.
The researchers also found that every ChatGPT essay on the same topic looked almost identical. More facts, more dates, more names. But less original thinking. Everyone using ChatGPT produced the same generic output while believing it was their own.
MIT gave this a name: cognitive debt. Like financial debt, you borrow convenience now and pay with your thinking ability later. Except there's no way to pay it back.
The question isn't whether ChatGPT is useful. It's whether the price is your ability to think without it.
