|US tech employment had its worst start to the year since 2023, with AI blamed for tens of thousands of brutal job cuts, according to a new report.
The first three months of 2026 saw 52,050 tech layoffs, a 40% jump from the same period last year according to a report published today. Artificial intelligence is blamed for the cuts. It happens throughout history
Big tech ended the pony express in 1861, which began on this date in 1860. It relied on young riders who swapped horses at 157 relay stations and braved blizzards, bandits, and attacks by Native tribes to deliver 34,753 letters over 18 months, losing only one bag across 616,000 miles.
Starting with 49 letters and newspapers, including Lincoln’s inaugural address, it charged $5 per half-ounce and used over 400 horses, but it still lost money. $200,000 to start, $7 million today, but no profit. The service ran 308 trips until October 24, 1861.
And then it happened. The transcontinental telegraph ended its reign, leaving riders jobless two days later.
It was a romantic piece of Western history, though. Heck, I would have signed up to be a rider. By the way, that story leads to two others. When I started courting my wife, I sent her a lot of cassette tapes, just me talking to her, expressing my love for her, of course, and telling her more than she would ever want to know about my life from birth to present.
Today, we were at the home of her then mailman and his wife. I won’t mention their names for privacy reasons. We’ll just call them collectively, JD. It was a nice visit, and I learned a few things about my family not previously known. So JD got the large envelopes filled with tapes delivered in a timely manner to my galfriend, probably wondering what the heck was going on.
Sometimes things go awry. I suspect it was about 17 months ago that a person sent me a letter from Columbus, a distance of 151 miles. It took the USPS 10 days to get the letter to me. The Pony Express would have taken less than two days. During my mountain hiking days, I could have done it in 10 days, especially here in Ohio.
