Facebook feed
Are you not seeing what you want to see on Facebook? Are you missing out from news from friends, updates from organizations you support, and useful content from affinity groups?
It’s the algorithm.
Basically, you start with your friends and page likes. The algorithm takes that info and adds in on what posts you click most often, ads you click on, kinds of posts on which you comment. . . and what you see in your feed is the result. Which is why you may not see posts from particular friends. If you haven't clicked on a post to read more or comment, they are ofen left out of your feed.
Learn more in Facebook Algorithm Explained: How Does It Work in 2025?.
AI use and the very real negative environmental consequences
I have AI on the brain.
LLM Journalism Tool Advisor for Writing Prompts | Other Goodies landed in my inbox today only hours after King and Queen County Democratic Committee (Facebook) shared an action alert from Friends of Dragon Run about the potential negative effects of a data center on the Dragon Run watershed area.
Also inboxed today is For data center sustainability in Virginia, state regulation is a must. You might find it of interest.
Yale School of the Environment’s Out of the Wild: How A.I. Is Transforming Conservation Science arrived last week. Author “Jim Robbins reports on how advances in artificial intelligence are revolutionizing the field of conservation. Drones, camera traps, and other instruments have allowed scientists to gather huge reams of information remotely, but analyzing these vast troves of data has been daunting. Now, with A.I., researchers are able to process this data to map landscapes, monitor animal behavior, and identify new species. The new technology is a ‘paradigm shift,’ says one ecologist, though critics warn it could mean scientists will spend less time in the field gaining firsthand knowledge of what they are studying.”
But it was the comment from Annie Singer that stood out: If you use AI, you are contributing to the environmental problems that can, and do, result from data centers.
AI is everywhere. My go-to online graphics site Canva is pushing the use of AI. DuckDuckGo is working on an AI search option. And Journalists Toolbox, which I love and refer to a lot, shared AI resources today. They are cool. I mean, what’s not to love about AI-generated videos? Perfect background music?
No solution from me. Just info. Have thoughts? Share them in the FB post about today’s TA.
Plant this, not that
The 2025 Plant this, not that by the James River Association provides actionable information in an easy-to-understand format.
What I like: The organization identifies native plants that have the same or similar attributes as invasive plants which are more common and have greater familiarity. One of the important attributes is looks. As is shown below, JRA’s plant this is the wild hydrangea instead of Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora). And the way they do it is smart: They use pictures and just enough text to get the major points across.
In 2024, the organization suggested Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin) in place of the forsythia (Forsythia suspensa). As for grasses, JRA’s 2023 suggestions included Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) in place of Chinese silvergrass (Miscanthus sinensis), Fountain grass (Pennisetum), and Pampas grass (Cortaderia selloana).
Is there a way your business or organization could take a lesson from James River Association?
