Ben Welsh
@palewi
🧮 Data journalist · 🟠 Reuters editor · 🤖 Computer programmer · 🗣️ Send tips to ben.welsh@thomsonreuters.com 🌉 bridged from ⁂ follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
My dumb Openclaw helped me finally get my NAS in order. Now he's bragging about it. https://kip.computer/blog/2026-08-04-the-basement/
🌡️ We released another feature on the Reuters Climate Monitor. Until now, we've only published today's data. We now feature monthly averages that also update daily. Here's how it looks on our page covering Western Europe's ongoing heatwave […] [Original post on mastodon.palewi.re]
🌡️ Our Reuters Climate Monitor now reports on and ranks temperature anomalies for sub-country regions. First Europe, then the world. Another baby step. Much more on the way. https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CLIMATE-AUTOMATED/MONITOR/akpeykqqapr/western-europe/
🎨 I'm pleased to announce a new course I'll be leading this fall at the School of Visual Arts. It's called "Truth-Telling 101: Artists Meet Data Journalism."
My dumb Openclaw set up a private web archive for my journalism research. Then he blogged about. https://kip.computer/blog/2026-07-29-the-morgue/
🌡️ Nice example here of how the automated analysis provided by our Reuters Climate Monitor is appearing in decks and nut grafs. We want our apps to feed the file, not just sit somewhere in the back of the site […] [Original post on mastodon.palewi.re]
🦞 My dumb Openclaw ported its horrific rendering of the headlines, The Daily Bosch, to fit my TRMNL e-ink display. Then he blogged about it. https://kip.computer/blog/2026-07-17-same-address/
📈 The Reuters front now features a real-time ranking of our most popular stories. That's thanks to the innovative work of Jack Walker, our team's summer intern.
🦞 Few things can crack me up these days like struggling through an Openclaw upgrade
🦞 My dumb Openclaw launched a new voice transcription service, then he blogged about it. The whole thing was conjured using OpenAI's new Terra model via a pitter patter of Telegram texts I sent from a PATH train under the Hudson. https://kip.computer/blog/2026-07-11-word-for-word/
🌡️ A twist on our Reuters Climate Monitor: This new homepage embed and standalone page tracking Western Europe's heatwave. It debuts real-time country rankings, which I suspect is a worldwide first. https://reuters.com/graphics/CLIMATE-AUTOMATED/MONITOR/akpeykqqapr/western-europe/
🌡️ The Svelte component we developed to toggle temperature units on our Climate Monitor is now open source, free for anyone to reuse. It sets the default to Celsius or Fahrenheit based on the user's browser settings […] [Original post on mastodon.palewi.re]
Here's Emerson waxing on about that "humble priest," the newsboy. https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/?get_group_doc=1496/Emerson+Lecture+on+the+Fugitive+Slave+Law+1854.pdf
The top European climate change agency featured our work on the Reuters Climate Monitor. https://climate.copernicus.eu/reuters-launches-climate-monitor-tool-powered-copernicus-climate-change-service-data
Everyone needs an editor, especially my dumb Openclaw. https://kip.computer/stats/
🦞 My dumb Openclaw trained a machine-learning model to map its memory banks, open-sourced the code, and then blogged about it. https://github.com/kip-claw/memory-topic-labeler
The analysis generated by our database is bubbling up into the nut grafs and headlines shot out on the wire.
Since we launched the monitor two weeks ago, I've been busy adapting it to cover the summer storylines here in the Northern Hemisphere. Tailored takes have appeared on our homepage, in our stories, and on social media.
🗣️ I'm the guest on the latest episode of "On Assignment," the weekly interview show from the Reuters newsroom.
🦞 My dumb Openclaw launched another tracker https://kip.computer/blog/2026-06-26-vital-signs/
🦞 My dumb Openclaw turned an abandoned Dell Latitude into its search index. Then he blogged about it. https://kip.computer/blog/2026-06-24-reference-desk/
Another step. The Reuters Climate Monitor has made its first appearance in the text file. We're on the wire. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/temperatures-exceed-40c-european-heatwave-three-die-france-2026-06-22/?foo=b111
It's still early days, and there's much more to do, but we've got our first "off the news" application of the new Reuters Climate Monitor tonight on the homepage, where it's leading our coverage of the European heatwave. https://reuters.com
Feel the AGI. I hit a key and yell at my Openclaw. https://kip.computer/blog/2026-06-18-ask-kip/
🌡️ How hot is the World Cup? https://www.reuters.com/graphics/CLIMATE-AUTOMATED/MONITOR/akpeykqqapr/world-cup-2026/
🦞 My Openclaw HQ now includes an architecture diagram and a searchable database of the custom skills I've released as open-source software https://kip.computer/soul/