2026-08-xx
Horseshit
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DNA reveals a society organised around women in pre-Roman Britain
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It's the SUV tyranny: where have all the normal family cars gone?
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People with Stronger Psychopathic Traits Carry Certain Gut Bacteria
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Neuroscientists have underestimated brain cells' computing power
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'We are not lonely': Solitude as a new aspirational lifestyle
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2,400-year-old grave of possible ancient pro wrestler discovered in Turkey
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388 years ago, Galileo worked out why human giants can't exist
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Humanists Have Done Nothing Wrong
For many years, I’ve held a pet theory that cultural consumers can be grouped into two broad categories: Primary Source People and Secondary Source People. The former are the book lovers, cinephiles, archive perusers, and history buffs who grew to love their areas of study because of the specific objects that constitute the field: the two women I overheard whispering about how they wanted to fuck Adam Bede, in one of my undergrad classes; the student of mine who disclosed that he loved The House of Mirth because “something similar happened to me recently” (????); or the guy who collects swords as a way into understanding the medieval period are examples of this type. You’ve certainly met these people or been taught by them; they are often motivated by personal attachments to specific works, and my hunch is that they represent the majority of those who care about art today.
Secondary Source People are different; they become obsessed with the discourse about the objects being studied. Professional critics, “theory bros” (gender neutral), Letterboxd reviewers who primarily read other Letterboxd reviews, the weirdly combative people in your seminars who know all about the different scholarly camps on a topic—this group prioritizes the conversations, contexts, and conflicts surrounding the works above and beyond the works themselves. Secondary Source People are the main contingent both producing and consuming academic writing. For them, the question of a text’s beauty or capacity to immerse is less important than how its ideas expand or contract as we engage with them.
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Planes With Same Call Sign at PHX – one departing, one arriving
Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering
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China ‘funding pro-Palestine marches in UK’
US politicians investigating alleged secret Chinese backing of Code Pink, a far-Left feminist protest group established in the US, are examining its activities in Britain as part of an inquiry into foreign interference. Code Pink has organised protests in the UK against Britain’s involvement in “the genocide in Gaza”, encouraged its activists to demonstrate outside RAF bases, and issued statements claiming that Britain’s leaders have been “bought by Zionism”. The investigation comes amid concern that Beijing is seeking to exploit divisive causes in the West to deepen social tensions and wage what critics describe as “political warfare” against its adversaries. The Telegraph can reveal that the US investigation is examining £250,000 in alleged payments to a company linked to Code Pink in the UK from firms connected to Neville Roy Singham, a tech tycoon accused of financing Chinese propaganda around the world.
Jason Smith, the chairman of the US Congress ways and means committee, told The Telegraph: “It’s clear from the ways and means committee investigation that Singham’s money and influence does not stop at America’s borders. “The committee is well aware that Singham’s funding is supporting pro-Hamas and pro-communist causes not only in the United States, but also overseas, including in the United Kingdom.”
Musk
Robot uprising / Humanoid Helpers
Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation
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all of our known fundamental descriptions of how the universe constrains physical systems are quite local and simple, even if they result in complicated physical worlds. That includes all proposed interaction and boundary condition rules. This strongly suggests that whatever rule describes which experience systems really feel versus not is also simple and local. And the obvious simple local rule to consider re which experiences systems actually feel is panpsychism: all experience systems made of brains that calculate what they would feel, if they were to feel, actually do feel that feeling. Rules that specify instead that this state depends on how much of a brain is made out of carbon instead of silicon, or if it is composed of microtubules, seem far more non-local and complex. To me, this puts a strong prior on panpsychism. And priors are all we will ever have here.
Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts
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Scientists increasingly depend on 'black-box' tools they cannot control
This issue extends beyond AI. Many remote sensing products rely on proprietary processing that researchers cannot fully access and verify, while some wildlife tracking devices provide only processed animal locations, while withholding the underlying raw data. Online platforms such as search engines and social media, which have become valuable sources for studying biodiversity and human interactions with nature, are based on hidden algorithms and changing policies that can introduce unknown biases in such data. Similar problems are also affecting social surveys. Scientists are increasingly relying on private companies to recruit participants and manage surveys, with often limited information about how respondents are selected, how data quality is maintained, or whether responses may have been affected by AI agent interference.
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JAMA journal won’t retract oxycodone paper despite author request, citing no ‘falsification’
JAMA Internal Medicine has rejected a petition by a group of clinicians calling for the journal to retract an article on oxycodone therapy for osteoarthritis. The request — which initially included two of the paper’s original authors — stems from 19-year-old court records revealing the sponsor of the study withheld evidence about opioid withdrawal that contradicted the paper’s conclusions.
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Shadowy paper mills let you pay to be a published author of fraudulent research
Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising
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Roblox Is Now Under Investigation by the U.S. Senate over Child Safety
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Intel CEO hints at return to the memory business – market is ripe for innovation
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Vulnerability giving attackers full control of Macs is under active exploitation
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Flock Say Their Surveillance Tech Would've Solved the Nancy Guthrie Case
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Meta Patents AI Glasses to Use Facial Recognition to Identify People
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A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux
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Peer-reviewed study of 443,000 Backblaze drives ranks HGST most reliable
WD comes in at about 52% of Seagate's failure rate, while Toshiba sits in last at 107%. As for the most reliable brand in the ranking? HGST, one you can't buy new after WD acquired it in 2012 and wound it down.
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Remembering the pre-Google web, when search was an experiment
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Chinese firm tops Micron and Kioxia in shipments of crucial NAND memory chips
TechSuck / Geek Bait
AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World
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OpenAI slows release of Astra model citing cyber capabilities
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Anthropic sees AI risks rising, no plan to release stronger "Model 2"
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Secondhand UK and Irish booksellers suspect AI firms behind strange bulk orders
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Suspecting court of using AI, man injected prompts in filings to try to win case
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AI agents aren't legally responsible for harm they cause. So who is?
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OpenAI and Anthropic in price war as Chinese AI rivals gain ground
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Mesa activists oppose Japanese data center, seek audience with city council
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Anthropic IPO valuation hinges on $190-200B 2028 revenue forecast
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An Infamous Math Problem Closer to Being Solved by Encouraging AI
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AI productivity gains drive net CO₂ increase in global energy–economy model
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Nvidia Downsizes Plans for $250B Guarantee of OpenAI Data Center
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Why does Claude Fable feel worse than older Claude Opus models?
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AI Just Had Another Math Breakthrough–With Help from a High-School Dropout
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U.S. to tell partners they must pick sides in AI race with China
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Anthropic shares details about how Claude's new watermarks will work
Neo Gambling / Crypto con games
Economicon / Business / Finance
Left Angst
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Trump says USS Lincoln's record time at sea during operations not long enough
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Federal agents surveilled Minnesota unions in hunt for Antifa conspiracy case
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Haitians in Springfield are required to report to ICE and wear ankle monitors
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DFW Airport Cancels Muslim Foot-Washing Stations in Stunning Development
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EPA sued for approving semiconductor chemicals that may pose health risks
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Researchers test Minneapolis soil after federal agents' tear gas use
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The Enshittification of Everything (Part 3)
It is important to understand that Trump is not the cause of the enshittification of America. He is a consequence. Unless the system is fundamentally changed, the enshittification will continue even after Trump is long gone. As I’ve shown, wealth and power in America now reside in a relatively small group of (almost entirely) men — the American oligarchy. My prime example has been Jamie Dimon, chair and CEO of JPMorganChase, the largest bank in the world — because he’s regarded by corporate Democrats as the most trusted business leader in America — but I could equally focus on Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Larry and David Ellison, or any other billionaire using his vast wealth to create and enhance his political power.
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Cornell: Pro Palestine Students Targeted by ICE: Come Back to US or Lose Funding
Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security
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As speed cameras spread to more states, so does the backlash from drivers
Millions of drivers across the country are encountering automated speed cameras for the first time, or they will soon. Safety advocates say there's clear evidence that these cameras work to make roads safer. But there's also a growing backlash from drivers in Florida and beyond.
- The most rank scams are the "private" speed cameras; they mail out fake tickets on the authority of some fly by night company. They're a good sign that the municipality hosting them is totally bent.
External Security / Militaria / Diplomania
World
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Europe is stuck between "rock and a hard place" on launch costs & rocket reuse
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Malaysia to launch palm oil-based immersion cooling fluid for data centers
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France's constitutional authority strikes down social media ban for under-15s
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Apple takes down billboard after accusations of 'electronic babysitting'