2025-08-28

etc

• Stone Age settlement lost to rising seas 8,500 years ago found off Denmark coast

Horseshit

• Former Meta exec blasts Bay Area tech culture

• Why Aren't People Going to Local and Regional In-Person Events Anymore?

  some people switched how they’re learning. Some folks switched to recorded videos, individual live streamers, written blogs, or self-guided on-demand learning through AI tools like ChatGPT. (Yes, I’m being generous and assuming people are using it for learning here, not just saying “do my work for me,” but that does relate to the next point.) Some people stopped learning and/or networking. Some people got off that hamster wheel during COVID and chose not to get back on, instead deciding to coast based on what they know, or just coast until retirement. I’ve actually talked to folks who decided, “I’ve only got a few years left – I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, the same way, at the same company, until they let me go or until I decide to quit.” LLMs like ChatGPT made it easier to get by without actually knowing what you’re doing – at least in the short term – and that’s all these kinds of people care about.

• The forgotten medieval fruit with a vulgar name

  The polite, socially acceptable name by which it's currently known is the medlar. But for the best part of 900 years, the fruit was called the "open-arse" – thought to be a reference to the appearance of its own large "calyx" or bottom. The medlar's aliases abroad were hardly more flattering. In France, it was variously known as "la partie postérieure de ce quadrupede" (the posterior part of this quadruped), "cu d'singe" (monkey's bottom), "cu d'ane" (donkey's bottom), and cul de chien (dog's bottom)… you get the idea. And yet, medieval Europe was crazy about this fruit.

  In 1989, one American academic wrote that "probably not one in a hundred" botanists had seen a medlar. Today it's not sold at a single British supermarket. Where there are still plants growing in public spaces, they often go unrecognised and are left to rot on the ground.

• The Gunther Werks F-26 Takes the Porsche 911 Design Somewhere New

  The car’s name is meant to match its fighter-jet look, and 26 is the planned production run.

• Escaped slaves on St.Croix hid settlements so well they still haven't been found

• Study Links Thumb Length to Brain Size and Cognition

• DraftKings said it acted properly in voiding Iowa man's $14.2M payout

• Pet Rats Using Paws to Create Masterpieces That Have Sold for over $2,600 Total

• Glow-in-the-dark succulents are here

celebrity gossip

• Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s spy industry connections

  Although the emails were posted without technical metadata or cryptographic signatures that would allow their authenticity to be verified, they include dozens of images, videos, voice recordings, and scanned documents from Barak and his friends and family that have never been published elsewhere. And they include information that was not publicly known at the time of the email leaks,

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• Bluesky now platform of choice for science community

• News Subscriptions Should Be Subsidized

  Cost is a major reason why people do not subscribe to news outlets. Because fewer lower-income Americans pay for news, paywalls—which 74 percent of US news consumers regularly encounter—lower the odds that they will get high-quality news. Paywalls also tend to alter what news is produced, skewing content toward the better-off. The lack of wider access limits the media’s ability to reach citizens and hold power to account, exacerbating the culture wars and even putting democracy at risk.

  One idea is a readership assistance program that offers free or subsidized digital subscriptions for readers who can’t afford the full cost of a subscription. For many Americans today, a $60 Newsweek or $360 Boston Globe annual digital subscription is out of reach. A few major outlets such as The Hill or NPR are free. Yet a substantial part of the value in the diversity of media is choice. Readership assistance programs would be less complex than their pharmaceutical equivalents because they would not need to verify prescriptions in addition to income. Eligibility could be easily automated with software or with the creation of a shared verification platform. The platform could be nonpartisan and made available to all media companies for free.

  • "all media platforms" would be the same as the current "major media"; those platforms that are acceptable for advertising. I expect "Daily Caller" and the Wobblies would not be eligible for any funding.

Musk

• SpaceX pulls off Starship rocket launch in comeback

  • SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

• With Starship, SpaceX encounters an obstacle that haunted NASA's space shuttles

• Starlink Militarization and Its Impact on Global Strategic Stability

• Money Can't Buy You Love: The Story Behind Elon Musk's Berghain Rejection

• Elon Musk's SpaceX achieve first satellite deployment on Starship's 10th flight

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Electric Vehicle vs. Gas Car Calculator

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• Spirituality Went from Taboo to Trendy in the Art World

  Indeed, at the advent of the second quarter of the 21st century, a pileup of crises—social, political, environmental, and technological—seems to have all but extinguished the sense of optimism about the future that flared periodically throughout the 20th century. Af Klint’s mysterious, luminous abstractions offer a salve to our jangled nerves. They also, as Higgie suggests, provide a stand-in for the values of feminism, environmentalism, collectivity, and spirituality that run counter to the current fixation on money, testosterone, and power. Af Klint is just one manifestation of the art world’s embrace of what we might describe as a spiritual turn, with the MoMA exhibition emphasizing her work’s mystical side.

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Apraxic teen with autism, thought to be intellectually disabled, accepted at MIT

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Word documents will be saved to the cloud automatically on Windows going forward

• CISA warns of actively exploited Git code execution flaw

• Nothing busted using professional photos as Phone 3 samples

• At Google's '25 event, signs cued the audience to clap when "applause" lit

• Kpop Demon Hunters becomes Netflix's most viewed film

• Social media users rubbish at spotting sneaky ads, say boffins

• Let's Make Sure GitHub Doesn't Become the Only Option

• Microsoft 'escort' program gave China keys to Pentagon

• Stop killing games: Demands for game ownership must also include workers' rights

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• AI-Skilled 20-Somethings Are Making Thousands a Year

• Meta to spend millions on pro-AI super PAC

• Parents of teenager who died sue OpenAI

  • Parents of California teen claim ChatGPT became son's 'suicide coach'

  • Teen killed himself after 'months of encouragement from ChatGPT', lawsuit claims

• The Evidence That AI Is Destroying Jobs for Young People Just Got Stronger

• The A.I. Spending Frenzy Is Propping Up the Real Economy, Too

• MIT study on AI profits rattles tech investors

  • MIT's 95% AI failure rate is wrong

• Spotify Launches In-App Direct Messaging for Music Sharing

• Anthropic thwarts hacker attempts to misuse Claude AI for cybercrime

• Apple Discussed Buying Mistral AI and Perplexity

• Microsoft talks set to push OpenAI's restructure into next year

• OpenAI, Anthropic Team Up for Research on Hallucinations, Jailbreaking

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• James Webb Space Telescope takes first look at interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Investor called Cracker Barrel transformation plan 'folly' before rebranding

• Private equity finds a new way to deal with its deadline crisis

• TikTok owner eyes valuation of over $330B as revenue surpasses Meta

• Nvidia Sales Jump 56%, a Sign the A.I. Boom Isn't Slowing Down

• Bay Area home sales dropped in July, but so far prices haven't followed

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• The $140 Billion Failure We Don’t Talk About - The New York Times

  Twenty years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina drowned our hometown, New Orleans. In the grim weeks that followed, bodies were disentangled from trees, axed out of damp attics and stacked in makeshift morgues. In all, 1,800 people across the Gulf Coast died. Most Americans soon moved on, but the federal government did something extraordinary: It committed more than $140 billion toward the region’s recovery. Adjusted for inflation, that’s more than was spent on the post-World War II Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe or for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks. It remains the largest post-disaster domestic recovery effort in U.S. history. Today, New Orleans is smaller, poorer and more unequal than before the storm. It hasn’t rebuilt a durable middle class, and lacks basic services and a major economic engine outside of its storied tourism industry.

  • To talk about it would be to admit that the media storm was far more destructive than the actual flooding, and risks exposing the Democratic malfeasance that led to the floods and wasted incredible amounts of money for "rebuilding". Enough attention to that might hamper the current feeding frenzies in more recent disaster zones.

• House to investigate Wikipedia over allegations of organized bias

• They could always give the money back: Intel details everything that could go wrong with US taking a 10% stake

• CDC director being ousted weeks into job

Trump

• The White House Is Going to Put Government Statistics on the Blockchain

• I Wasn't Worried About the Fed. Now I Am

• Trump Team Weighing Options to Extend Influence to Regional Fed Banks

• Trump hits India with punishing 50% tariffs for buying Russian oil

• Tony Blair Attends White House Meeting with Trump on Postwar Gaza

Democrats

• Tax the Rich. They Won't Leave New York

• Gates Foundation Cuts Ties with Firm Linked to Democrats

Left Angst

• The Mediocrity of Curtis Yarvin

• A political feud that could trigger a major national crisis

  this clash runs deeper than a short-term political spat. It might develop into a full-blown crisis between a Republican White House and a major Democratic-run city and state. Likely legal challenges could turn on core values of republicanism in a dispute between a president with a monarchical sense of power and a state that rejects federal duress. When Pritzker on Monday told Trump, “Do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,” he was echoing tensions fundamental to the American system of governance that were stirred at notable moments of US history — for instance, in the run-up to the Civil War and around federal enforcement of civil rights laws.

  • in both those cases, as in this one, it was Democrats fighting to preserve sufferings from which they benefited; despite the universal recognition that they were wrong to do so...

• Admin issues stop-work order for offshore wind project

• Scientist exposes anti-wind groups as oil-funded. Now they want to silence him

• Trump administration pulls additional $175M from California high-speed rail

• Europe's 'century of humiliation' could be just beginning

  Donald Trump is using America’s military and technological superiority to force one-sided deals on Europe. Trump can wield this coercive advantage because — just like the 19th century British imperialists — he holds the military and technological cards, and is well aware his counterpart lags miles behind in both sectors. He knows Europe doesn’t want to face Russian President Vladimir Putin without U.S. military back-up and can't cope without American chip technology, so he feels he can dictate the trade agenda.

• Whistleblower says DOGE officials copied Social Security numbers

• Get Ready for the End of Fed Independence

• We have become an authoritarian state, and our top newsrooms are in denial

• Democratic governors demand Trump resume offshore wind project near Rhode Island

• John Roberts and the death of rule of law in America

• India's Russian Oil Gains Wiped Out by U.S. Tariffs

• Some FEMA staff who signed dissent letter over agency cuts being put on leave

• Theese Countries Never Trusted America. Trump Is Proving Them Right

• Trump to accept 600k Chinese students, sparking uproar among conservatives

• Drowning prevention program comes to a halt at the CDC

• CDC stopped actively tracking 6 foodborne infections amid budget cuts

• RFK Jr. Promises to Reveal the 'Cause' of Autism Next Month

• Trump Tries to Strong-Arm Nations to Retreat on Climate Goals

  • Past presidents strong armed them to comply with "climate goals", was that better?

• As PBS Stations Confront Cuts, American History Takes a Hit

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Mass Shooting At Minneapolis Catholic School: 2 Dead, Many Injured, Suspect "Contained" | ZeroHedge

  Benny Johnson confirmed: "Minneapolis Catholic church shooter Robin Westman was a transgender who "identified as a woman" and legally changed his name from "Robert" in 2020."

  The alleged shooter released multiple videos on social media, which showed that he clearly hated Christians. They have since been taken down.

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• 25 countries suspend postal services to U.S. over tariffs: UN

• Men with links to Trump try to infiltrate Greenland

  • Denmark summons top US diplomat over alleged Greenland influence operation

• Chinese doctor accused of stealing confidential US-funded cancer research

• F-35 pilot held 50-minute airborne conference call with engineers before crash

World

• The UK Is Roiled Again As a 13-Year-Old Scottish Girl is Arrested... for the Crime of Brandishing a Knife and Hatchet to Keep a Foreign Man from Sexually Harassing Her 12-Year-Old Sister

• Japan asks countries to skip China's WWII commemorative events in Sept

• Germany, Japan partner to face down aggressive China

• PayPal Blocked by German Banks

  • PayPal fails – German banks block payments in the billions

• Amazon aiming to deploy Kuiper satellite services in Vietnam

• Datacenters face rising thirst as Europe dries up

• 4chan Sues UK Ofcom over Online Safety Act

  • 4chan and Kiwi Farms Sue the UK over Its Age Verification Law

  • 4chan and Kiwi Farms file joint lawsuit against the UK

Israel

• Initial inquiry shows troops spotted camera set up by Hamas around hospital

• Israeli government claims credit for pushing Albanese to expel Iranian diplomats

• Microsoft headquarters go into lockdown after activists take over Brad Smith's office | TechCrunch

  Protesters stormed Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters on Monday and made it into president Brad Smith’s office in Building 34, forcing a temporary lockdown. The “No Azure for Apartheid” group livestreamed their sit-in on Twitch, hoisting banners, chanting ‘Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!’ and posting a mock legal summons charging Smith with “crimes against humanity.”

  • Microsoft hosts emergency press conference after protesters 'storm a building'

  • Microsoft's employee protests have reached a boiling point

• The hill where the idea of a Palestinian state may die

• How Africa wants to redraw the world map

• UN demands accountability over Gaza hospital attack as Israel releases findings

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Exxon Held Secret Talks with Rosneft About Going Back to Russia

• Why Ukraine Remains the Most Innovative War Machine

China

• China Utopia Censorship Propaganda

• A Chinese lab starts to tackle a giant mystery in particle physics

• Taiwan indicts three over alleged theft of TSMC trade secrets

• Chinese 'gadget maker' Xiaomi taking on Tesla and Apple

• China sends an AI to its space station

Health / Medicine

• Mouth to gut bacteria migration explains why smoking is good for inflamed bowels

• Autism is on the rise: what's behind the increase?

• The Brain's Map of the Body Is Surprisingly Stable–Even After a Limb Is Lost

• Leprosy existed in America long before arrival of Europeans

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• FDA approves new Covid-19 vaccines in US but limits who can get them

  • Covid vaccine in US now requires consultation with physician

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Repeated heatwaves can age you as much as smoking or drinking

• This air conditioning strategy is the sweet spot for saving energy and money

  Three experts interviewed by The Associated Press agreed that setting the thermostat a few degrees higher than normal while you’re away is generally the best way to balance energy efficiency against comfort and humidity.

• Funds control about $47T, what do they say about climate change?

• The Lessons of a Glacier's Collapse

• Lidar measures the toll of climate disasters

• Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century

• How the Pygmy Sea Horse Lost Its Snout

• Prozac Might Give Clams a Boost

• Google's AI model nailed the forecast for the strongest Atlantic storm this year

  • Really? I seem to recall headlines saying it was gonna be the "worst hurricane season ever"; but then they say that every single year.

• The world produced enough calories in 2020 to feed 15B people

• As the Colorado River dries up, states angle for influence over water rights