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Crews battled wildfires in North and South Carolina on Sunday amid dry conditions and gusty winds as residents were forced to evacuate in some areas.The National Weather Service warned of increased fire danger in the region due to a combination of critically dry fuels and very low relative humidity.In South Carolina, where more than 175 fires burned 6.6 square miles (17 square kilometers), Gov. Henry McMaster declared a state of emergency on Sunday to support the wildfire response effort, and a statewide burning ban remained in effect.Crews made progress containing a fire in the Carolina Forest area west of the coastal resort city of Myrtle Beach, where residents had been ordered to evacuate several neighborhoods, according to Horry County Fire Rescue. Video showed some people running down the street as smoke filled the sky. But by late Sunday afternoon, the fire department announced that Carolina Forest evacuees could return home.The South Carolina Forestry Commission estimated Sunday evening that the blaze had burned 2.5 square miles (6.5 square kilometers) with 30% of it contained. No structures had succumbed to the blaze and no injuries had been reported as of Sunday morning, officials said.In North Carolina, the U.S. Forest Service said fire crews were working to contain multiple wildfires burning in four forests across the state on Sunday. The largest, about 400 acres (162 hectares), was at Uwharrie National Forest, about 50 miles (80.47 kilometers) east of Charlotte. The Forest Service said Sunday afternoon that it had made progress on the fire, reaching about one-third containment.The small southwestern town of Tryon in Polk County, North Carolina, urged some residents to evacuate Saturday as a fire spread rapidly there. The evacuations remained in effect Sunday. A decision on whether to lift them was expected to be made Monday after intentional burns are set to try to stop the fire from spreading.That fire has burned about 500 acres (202 hectares) as of late Sunday, with zero percent containment, according to the Polk County Emergency Management/Fire Marshal’s office. The North Carolina Forest Service was conducting water drops and back-burning operations on the ground, and area residents should expect a lot of smoke during those operations, officials said.Officials have not said what caused any of the fires.
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E-Commerce
Theres a cat-and-mouse game between those using generative AI chatbots to produce text undetected and those trying to catch them. Many believe they know the telltale signsthough as a journalist fond of the word delve and prone to em-dashes, Im not so sure. Researchers at four U.S. universities, however, have taken a more rigorous approach, identifying linguistic fingerprints that reveal which large language model (LLM) produced a given text. All these chatbots are coming out every day, and we interact with them, but we dont really understand the differences between them, says Mingjie Sun, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University and lead author of the study, which was published in Cornell Universitys preprint server arXiv. By training a machine learning classifier to do this task, and by looking at the performance of that classifier, we can then assess the difference between different LLMs. Sun and his colleagues developed a machine learning model that analyzed the outputs of five popular LLMs, and was able to distinguish between them with 97.1% accuracy. Their machine learning model uncovered distinct verbal quirks unique to each LLM. ChatGPTs GPT-4o model, for instance, tends to use utilize more than other models. DeepSeek is partial to saying certainly. Googles Gemini often prefaces its conclusions with the word essentially, while Anthropics Claude overuses phrases like according to and according to the text when citing its sources. xAIs Grok stands out as more discursive and didactic, often reminding users to remember key points while guiding them through arguments with not only and but also. The writing, the word choices, the formatting are all different, says Yida Yin, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and a coauthor of the paper. These insights can help users select the best model for specific writing tasksor aid those trying to catch AI-generated text masquerading as human work. So, remember: according to this study, if a model utilizes certain words, its certainly possible to identify it.
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E-Commerce
America has been dealing with a bird flu outbreak for some time, and now fears over possible contamination in cat food have led to a recall. Heres what to know about the recall of cat food linked to possible bird flu contamination. Whats happened? On March 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a recall notice relating to certain products sold by Wild Coast LLC (dba Wild Coast Raw) of Olympia, Washington. The recalled products are raw pet food for cats. The reason? The products may be contaminated with Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1, better known as bird flu. The bird flu virus can live in manufactured products, including pet food that has been made with contaminated birds. The notice posted on the FDAs website expands on a mid-February public health alert from the Washington State Department of Agriculture warning that it found the presence of HPAI in multiple cats and the same cat food they consumed. That cat food was Wild Coast LLC Boneless Free Range Chicken Formula with lot numbers #22660 and #22664 and the Best By Date 12/2025, according to the notice. However, the notice posted on the FDAs website on March 1 widens the list of products that could be affected. That notice is about a voluntary recall initiated by Wild Coast LLC. What cat food products are included in the recall? According to the recall notice posted on the FDA website, Wild Coast LLC’s voluntary recall covers the following: Brand name: Wild Coast Raw Product Description: Frozen Boneless Free Range Chicken Formula raw pet food for cats product. Best Buy date: 12/25 Lid numbers: #22660, #22653, #22641, #22639, #22672 and #22664 Images of the product packaging can be found here and here. The notice posted on the FDAs website says that owners who have had the recalled pet food in their possession should remain alert for symptoms of bird flu in both their pets and other people. What are the symptoms of bird flu in pets? According to the notice on the FDAs website, symptoms of the bird flu in pets include: fever lethargy low appetite reddened or inflamed eyes discharge from the eyes and nose difficulty breathing tremors stiff body movements seizure lack of coordination blindness The notice states that you should contact a veterinarian if you observe these symptoms in your pets. What are the symptoms of bird flu in people? According to the notice posted on the FDAs website, symptoms of bird flu in humans include: eye redness or irritation (conjunctivitis) cough sore throat sneezing runny/stuffy nose muscle/body aches headaches fatigue fever trouble breathing seizures rash diarrhea nausea vomiting People who experience symptoms are urged to contact their local health department and healthcare provider. What do I do if I have the recalled product? You should not serve it to your pets or any other animal. Also, do not donate or sell the recalled products. Instead, you should securely dispose of it in a way so no animals, including wildlife, can consume it. You are also urged to wash your hands and thoroughly sanitize any surfaces the product or its packaging have come into contact with. Those with questions can contact Wild Coast Raw at (360) 591-3543 or email them at info@wildcoastraw.com.
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E-Commerce
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