2025-12-07
Horseshit
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Shoppers loved the 'fabric queen'. Then, order by order, her story fell apart
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UK IVF couples rank embryos based on potential IQ, height and health
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Schizophrenia sufferer mistakes smart fridge ad for psychotic episode
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A Very Big Fight Over a Very Small Language | The New Yorker
In the Swiss Alps, a plan to tidy up Romansh—spoken by less than one per cent of the country—set off a decades-long quarrel over identity, belonging, and the sound of authenticity.
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$700 for a bed? San Francisco startup plots 'sleeping pod' expansion
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One Side Has Definitively Won the Missing Heritability Debate
as technology improved, funding increased, and questions about heredity became more pressing, geneticists finally set out to do the hard thing. They gathered full genomes - not just the 0.1% - from thousands of people, and applied a whole-genome analysis technique called GREML-WGS. The resulting study was published earlier this month as Estimation and mapping of the missing heritability of human phenotypes, by Wainschtein, Yengo, et al. Partisans on both sides agree it’s finally resolved the missing heritability debate, but they can’t agree on what the resolution is.
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Volcanic eruptions set off a chain of events that brought Black Death to Europe
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Beeple unleashes uncanny robot canines at Art Basel Miami Beach
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Probing the existence of a fifth force via neutron star cooling
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$100k Robot Dogs That Look Like Billionaires? The Artist Explains
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Nearly half of tickets for Milan-Cortina Olympics still unsold
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British ex-paratrooper on track to complete 27 year walk around the world
celebrity gossip
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
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Amnesty: Smartphones silently infected via malicious ads and 0-click
The “Intellexa Leaks”, a new investigation published jointly by Inside Story, Haaretz and WAV Research Collective, presents troubling revelations about the surveillance company Intellexa and its signature product Predator, a form of highly invasive spyware that has been linked to human rights abuses in multiple countries.
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A New Governing Ecosystem Is Evolving
Indeed, as politics at the national level are paralyzed by zero-sum partisan combat or even moving in an authoritarian direction, engaged citizens across the democratic world, in cities, provinces and states, are coming together to forge solutions to the issues that matter most to them, closest to home. In Jim Fishkin’s new book, “Can Deliberation Cure The Ills of Democracy?,” the pioneering practitioner of deliberative polling surveys the whole array of such practices from citizens’ assemblies to policy juries and independent citizen reviews of ballot measures that are taking place from Brazil to Europe to the U.S. state of Oregon. The aim in each endeavor is to convene a gathering of citizens that is indicative of the body politic as a whole to consider issues outside the fever of the electoral arena. In those nonpartisan “islands of goodwill,” knowledgeable experts provide verified information. Pro and con positions are presented, as in a jury trial. On that informed basis, citizens deliberate choices and seek consensus to guide policymakers. Fishkin’s experience over 30 years consistently demonstrates how the polarization sparked by the partisan rancor of electoral competition dissipates and how common ground is found through structured deliberation.
- The "Consensus Process" as pushed by the Tides Foundation and Pol Pot.
Musk
Electric / Self Driving cars
Robot uprising / Humanioid Helpers
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
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Why there are no cracked biotechnologists?
There are stories about cracked engineers. The dude who rewrote the whole google maps in a weekend. John Carmack. Elon Musk. The 10x or 10^n x engineer is a well established concept and seems to be pointing at a real thing. High agency people who can completely lock in and achieve incredible feats of programming or engineering by just having an intuitive understanding of the system and its components. Despite working around the industry in various disciplines for like a decade, and the whole pitch being that we can "program" cells to do what we want, I have heard no tales much less encountered anyone who fits the cracked category in biotech. I'm talking about a go to person who has crazy output and can crack any problem. (Side note: the closest person at least close to this space is probably Shulgin, who was great, however my read is that he didn't have some massive 10x chemistry/pharmacology skill but a DEA license, a sense of adventure, and a pharmacopia of low hanging psychedelic fruit).
- Life has its own agendas
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
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Google Must Limit Default Contracts to One Year, Judge Rules
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It's Not Just You. Users Struggle with the Instagram Repost Button
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Theater Owners Worry Netflix Buying Warner Bros. Will Cripple Their Business
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Netflix Business Metrics and the Slow Death of Hollywood
Despite its claims of accounting profits, Netflix is a massive money-loser, projecting it will burn through $3.5 billion in cash just this year. Netflix is taking inputs and combining them into something that is of less value than those original inputs. But the company doesn’t really care if people watch its content, because it doesn’t sell content. The company is selling a story to Wall Street, that, like Amazon, it will achieve dominant market power. The story is that users will buy Netflix streaming services and it will be too much trouble to switch to a different service, which is a variant of a phenomenon called “lock-in.” So no one will be able to compete, the company will be able to raise prices and lower costs, and voila, another Amazon-style monopoly. It will be one of the few left standing after the inevitable shake-out.
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Star Wars Returns in February of 2027 in Its Original 1977 Theatrical Release
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In a statement from publisher Running With Scissors, the company said the reception to Postal: Bullet Paradise - a co-op "bullet-heaven" first-person shooter from developer Goonswarm Games - had "caused extreme damage" to its brand and reputation.
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11-year-old named Guinness World Record holder for youngest video game dev
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
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AI gadget makers are chasing problems that don't exist, says the CEO of AI gadget maker Logitech.
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AI chatbots can sway voters better than political advertisements
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Godfather of AI' Geoffrey Hinton says Google is 'beginning to overtake' OpenAI
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'It's like the lottery': AI boom has created parking chaos in SF neighborhood
Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO
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American Technology Revolution Reveals Disturbing Non-Human Influence.
The evidence emerging from recent congressional hearings on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, combined with historical patterns in technological development since 1947, points toward a conclusion that defense planners have likely reached in classified briefings but dare not speak aloud: the invasion is not coming. It has been unfolding methodically for nearly eight decades, and we are approaching its terminal phase. The “Digital SETI” hypothesis proposes that advanced non-human intelligence would not announce itself through interstellar radio signals. Instead, it would interact through existing digital infrastructure once that infrastructure achieved sufficient sophistication. An intelligence wishing to study, influence, or control human civilization could accomplish those objectives far more efficiently through the systems humanity built for its own purposes than through direct military confrontation. The machinery of invasion does not require warships when it can convince the target civilization to build its own cage, to lock itself inside, and to throw away the key while believing it has achieved technological transcendence. That is the genius of the strategy. That is the horror of recognizing the pattern too late.
Economicon / Business / Finance
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Trustpilot accused of running a "mafia-style extortion" scheme
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Redfin's 2026 Predictions: Welcome to the Great Housing Reset
The Great Housing Reset will take shape in 2026. It won’t be a quick price correction, and it won’t be a recession. Instead, the Great Housing Reset will be a yearslong period of gradual increases in home sales and normalization of prices as affordability gradually improves. It will start next year, with incomes rising faster than home prices for a prolonged period for the first time since the Great Recession era. It won’t be enough to make homebuying affordable in the short run for Gen Zers and young families, who will be forced to make tradeoffs, from moving in with roommates or their parents to delaying having children.
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'No US Citizens': Meet the IT Firms Discriminating Against Americans
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Collusion between firms increases by ninefold after onset of common leadership
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Working from Home Is Harming Young Employees. They're Starting to See That
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Apple Rocked by Executive Departures, with Chip Chief at Risk of Leaving Next
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NAR Says Typical First-Time Homebuyer Age Was 40 This Year–But Is This Accurate?
Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making
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How America's trucking industry became a hellscape - FreightWaves
In short, a well-intentioned but catastrophically naive campaign to “fix the driver shortage” combined with regulatory loopholes, unchecked immigration, technology back doors, and offshoring has fundamentally broken America’s trucking industry in less than a decade—and virtually no one in Washington or in corporate corner offices saw it coming.
Democrats
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What did Ilhan Omar know about the $1B welfare fraud case in her Minnesota district?
US Rep. Ilhan Omar’s close ties to the $1 billion welfare scam in her Minnesota congressional district are being uncovered. Omar (D-Minn.) held parties at one of the key restaurants named in the fraud, knew one of its now-convicted owners, and one of her own staffers has also been convicted — both for stealing millions.
Left Angst
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Without evidence, RFK Jr.'s vaccine panel tosses hep B vaccine recommendation
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US Flips History by Casting Europe–Not Russia–As Villain in New Security Policy
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Agency will allow railroads to reduce human track inspections and rely more on technology | AP News
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National Security Strategy Document Revives Monroe Doctrine, Slams Europe
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National parks drops fee-free MLK Day, Juneteenth day; adds Trump's birthday
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
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“As alleged, Paul Campo and Robert Sensi conspired to assist CJNG, one of the most notorious Mexican cartels that is responsible for countless deaths through violence and drug trafficking in the United States and Mexico,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “As part of that support, the defendants laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars they believed to be CJNG drug proceeds, agreed to launder millions more, and even agreed to use their financial expertise to facilitate cocaine trafficking right here in New York City. By participating in this scheme, Campo betrayed the mission he was entrusted with pursuing for his 25-year career with the DEA.
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Brian Cole confessed and told his FBI interrogators that he is a Trump supporter and holds anarchist views, MSNOW reported citing unnamed sources. But Loretta, his grandmother, said Cole has no party affiliation and never votes.
‘He’s not politically affiliated with anything,’ the grandmother told the Daily Mail during an interview at her home in Gainesville, Virginia. 'He has no social media contacts. He’s never online going back and forth with politics or anything like that. He says he don’t like either party. 'He’s borderline autistic,’ she added. 'He’s slow. He may be 30, but he’s got the mind of a 16-year-old. That’s why we’re thinking - What the hell? What’s going on?’
World
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Berlin: Police can secretly enter homes for state trojan installation
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India weighs greater phone-location surveillance; tech brands protest
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EU "Chat Control" Twist: Commissioner Sides with Parliament over Governments
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Germany votes to bring in voluntary military service programme for 18-year-olds
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Melbourne bakery found fame, trolls harassed young staff. Owners viral response
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RSF massacres left Sudanese city 'a slaughterhouse', satellite images show
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The Heist of Nearly 1/2 Ton of Its Culinary Crown Jewels Rocks French Village
Iran / Houthi
Russia Bad / Ukraine War
China
Health / Medicine
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Grok got me to demand the CT scan that saved my life from a ruptured appendix
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'Life being stressful is not an illness' – GPs on mental health over-diagnosis
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Kidney Recipient Dies After Transplant From Organ Donor Who Had Rabies - The New York Times
A man died of rabies after getting a kidney transplant from another man who died of the virus, only the fourth instance in nearly 50 years in which an organ donor passed the virus to a recipient, federal officials said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday that an Idaho man was on his rural property in October 2024 when a skunk approached him and scratched him on the shin. About five weeks later, the man started to hallucinate, have trouble walking and swallowing, and had a stiff neck, according to the C.D.C. report. Two days after his symptoms started, he collapsed of what was presumed to be a heart attack, the report said. The man was unresponsive and taken to a hospital, where he died. Several of his organs were donated, including his left kidney.
A Michigan man received the donated kidney. Five weeks after the transplant, he started to experience tremors, weakness, confusion and urinary incontinence, the report said. He was hospitalized a week later with symptoms including a fever, difficulty swallowing and fear of water, which is a telltale sign of rabies, the report said. After a week in the hospital, he died. Doctors treating the kidney recipient noted that the man’s symptoms were consistent with rabies. The report said that organ donations are not routinely tested for rabies “because of its rarity in humans in the United States and the complexity of diagnostic testing.”
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7 Deaths and hundreds of injuries are linked to faulty Abbott glucose monitors