2026-08-20

Horseshit

Children with More Screen Time Score Better on Cognitive Tests, Not Worse
In a Heat Wave, Schizophrenia Is Much Deadlier Than Any Other Medical Condition
Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans. Just Not for Their Own Kids
The critical tech staying safe by going underground

Engineering firms told BBC News they are seeing rising demand for undergrounding, in part due to Russia's war with Ukraine, which has revealed just how vulnerable above-ground facilities can be to drone attacks.
Why it might be time to rethink the human family tree
Where Human Sleep Went Wrong

When evolutionary anthropologist David Samson was living and working among the Hadza tribe in northern Tanzania, he noticed something puzzling: Their sleep was highly fragmented, short in duration, and low in “efficiency,” or actual time spent sleeping versus time in bed. This broken sleep was partly the consequence of activity and noise well into the night in the camps. People stayed up late telling stories, sharing food, and dancing. Yet, the Hadza uniformly reported high satisfaction with their sleep.
The Cast-Iron Company That Has Been Controlled by the Same Family for 130 Years
Top album releases linked to rise in fatal crashes
Teen Culture Has Always Been Co-Opted. In 2026, It's Reached New Heights
Does daycare damage children's brains?
Edmonton Marathon apologizes, says detour error lengthened 2026 race distances
We Bought a $500 Counterfeit Rolex So Good, Even Rolex Didn't Spot It
Could indigo light prevent nearsightedness in children?
A Society That Runs on Stimulants Is Badly Broken

Around the world, people are pumping themselves full of caffeine, amphetamines, and other performance-enhancing drugs just to survive their working hours. This isn’t sustainable.
Blood Boy for All – Young blood is a human right

Bryan Johnson’s Project Blueprint isn’t an insane fantasy, it’s a disgrace to the positive-sum and egalitarian goals of scientific research. While Johnson has burned millions of dollars running irreproducible studies on himself, dozens of scientists have studied the rejuvenating impact of young blood—not for the immortality of one CEO—but for the health of the public.
The Case for Chilling Out About Birth Rates

celebrity gossip

Bill Clinton Turns 80 Today. Does the Old Man Have Character?

Obit

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

The Peter Thiel-Linked Race Science Network that Penetrated Cambridge University and Targeted Jason Arday
- Jason Arday's rise and fall tells a larger story about academia, a critic says
The controversy over Arday has become about more than just the allegations themselves. For some, Arday's rise showed how liberal institutions could put diversity goals ahead of academic standards. For others, his downfall exposed the intense and often racist scrutiny Black academics face.
- No, Jason Arday Wasn’t the Media’s Fault: Blaming a suicide on correct reporting unfortunately makes perfect sense in this reality-challenged era.
Censorship Industry: The European Firms Monetizing the DSA

Musk

Cursor capitalizes on GitHub frustration, launches rival hosting platform
SpaceX tugs Starship into port after 24 days at sea
NASA images show crater carved by a SpaceX rocket that slammed into the moon
- New images reveal before/after when a SpaceX rocket slammed into the moon
- NASA estimates the size of the hole SpaceX made in the moon
'For You' feeds amplify outrage

"The message we take away is that the values that we hold – what we really care about – should be just as informative to the platforms as engagement,” Bernstein explains. “Right now, we engage with all sorts of content – sometimes because we agree with it, and sometimes because we’re angry at it – but the platforms misinterpret it all as a kind of desire for more of that kind of content."
- X's algorithm feeds off ragebait and impacts Democrats more, study finds
The paper, titled Value misalignment of X’s feed algorithm is a reflection of value tensions in engagement, found that the site’s algorithm prioritized engagement above all else when it generated a user’s For You Page. It also showed that X serves more ragebait to people who say they are Democrats, although the exact reason for that is unclear.
- Democrats have been focusing on hate as their core value since the Clintons took over.
SpaceX Attempted to Acquire AI Coding Startup Cognition

Robot uprising / Humanoid Helpers

Unitree Robotics IPO: "Embodied AI" Valuation Bubble?
- Shares in humanoid robot firm Unitree surge 600% on Chinese stock market debut
- Chinese humanoid robot maker surges 600% in trading debut

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

Biological sex is neither binary nor a spectrum, it's multidimensional

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

Meta's blockbuster trial draws parallels to big tobacco
- $200B case against Facebook and Instagram begins
- Zuckerberg lied about concern for child safety
Meta ran ads for an app promising to nudify female politicians
Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code
- 3D-printing enthusiast creates 'Flock Sock' to blind controversial cameras
- Police officer used Flock cameras to track estranged wife 717 times
Over 170k Nonprofits Lost All Their Data. Is Microsoft to Blame?

a crisis that has rocked small nonprofit owners across the globe, who allege that Microsoft failed to communicate with them in a substantive manner about the license cancellations and left them unable to prepare their organizations for the future. As they’ve related online, these already resource-strapped nonprofits have lost troves of data, are struggling to continue their operations, and have been left unable to make up the technology gaps with alternative services. People who run service orgs with low budgets and benefited for years from Microsoft’s programs no longer have much of the technology they need to keep things going—for either the short or long term.
- Data inaccessible on Microsoft 365 for nonprofits
- "First hit free!" ... also how handy for some suddenly politically active front groups to have lost all those records before a court could request them.
There's No Reason to Buy a New Phone Anymore
Amazon seemingly leaked Jason Statham's Mutiny movie
Columbia House is shutting down after 71 years
Roblox to face external audits to prove it's safe for Australian children
- Australia secures court-enforceable child safety undertaking from Roblox
FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal, suggesting it is unfair to slower technologies
EA staff fear new Saudi Arabia owners will police their games
Nielsen is leaning more on wearables to hear what people are watching
New AirPods leak reveals built-in cameras and Visual Intelligence
YouTube Offers Creators Millions to Not Work with Netflix
Postgres pioneer credits Oracle with helping his database take over the world

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

Mystery of 'space activity' forcing plane's Antarctic U-turn solved
NASA turned a spy satellite into its new dark energy telescope
NASA's rescue mission for the Swift space telescope has failed
- NASA cancels Swift Boost mission to save Swift space observatory
- Mission to save NASA's Swift space telescope is called off
The mission to save NASA’s sinking Swift Observatory was called off Wednesday, dooming the telescope to a fiery reentry later this year. NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies announced the news more than a month after the startup’s Link spacecraft rocketed away to the telescope’s rescue. Katalyst said Link will not attempt to capture Swift and boost it to a higher orbit because of problems with controlling the spacecraft. NASA said this means the telescope will plunge through the atmosphere after more than 20 years of tracking some of the biggest explosions in the universe like gamma ray bursts and exploding stars. Its demise is not expected before October. NASA paid $30 million to Katalyst in an attempt to raise the telescope to a safer, longer-lasting orbit. Intense solar activity caused it to lose altitude faster than expected. The rescue spacecraft went into an uncontrollable spin a few weeks after its liftoff in early July. While flight controllers managed to slow Link’s tumble, issues continued to plague its pointing and positioning in orbit.

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

Economicon / Business / Finance

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

Arizona city sues over fire truck prices
DOJ to send 1,000 poll monitors to watch elections this fall.
National security question trips up Sen. Darline Graham

Sen. Darline Graham, who is competing in next week’s runoff election in South Carolina, stumbled over a question about foreign policy in a debate on Tuesday night. “Are Taiwan and the South China Sea national security issues for the United States and if so, why or how?” asked one of the moderators. Graham started her answer by saying, “I’m just going to be honest here.” “I’m not that informed on national security,” she said, then paused. “But I do support the military.” Her answer was noteworthy because her late brother was known for his involvement in foreign policy, something that Graham mentioned in her answer.
- Darline Graham’s Senate Campaign Is Now in a Death Spiral.
Google Just Made It Easier for Campaigns to Send You Fund-Raising Emails
Secret Architect of Trump’s Impeachment, Ukrainian Agent Alexander Vindman, Defeated by Lunatic DSA Candidate in Race for Senator from Florida