2025-10-10

Horseshit

• 996 work culture is sad and inhumane. Whatever's wrong with 888 – or even 000?

• “Jason Lives” in Rutledge, Georgia

  Camp Crystal Lake lives in our nightmares. But it also lives in Rutledge, Georgia, a town located in Morgan County, about an hour east of Atlanta. Rutledge is a small place, home to about one thousand citizens. In lieu of a stoplight at its main intersection, the people of Rutledge dropped a red barrel into the center of the crossroads and stuck four stop signs into it.

• Easter Island's giant statues walked to their final platforms

• Hanson and Buterin for Nobel Prize in Economics

  In my 2002 book, Entrepreneurial Economics: Bright Ideas from the Dismal Science, which featured Robin’s paper on Decision Markets, I wrote: "If Hanson is right about the benefits of decision markets, then perhaps one day, instead of quoting an expert, the New York Times editorial section will refer to the latest quote on “health care plan A” available in the business pages." That day is upon us! It probably will not happen on Monday but it is time to give Robin Hanson, the father of prediction markets, and Vitalik Buterin, the co-father of Ethereum, a Nobel prize in economics for applied mechanism design.

• Why doesn't anything work anymore? | Jason Rodriguez

  I’ve worked in the tech industry for close to two decades at this point. I’ve seen how difficult it is to build quality products, but I’ve also seen that it can be done. It just feels like no one gives a shit anymore, beyond a handful of independent devs and small shops. It’s wild.

• 'Bluetoothing': Blood-Sharing Drug Trend Fuels Alarming Global HIV Surge

celebrity gossip

• Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick

Musk

• Musk's Cheap Teslas Are the Wrong Kind of Cheap

• The deep ties between Twitter and Saudi Arabia

• Tesla is facing an investigation over Full Self-Driving traffic violations

  • US opens Tesla probe after more crashes involving its "full self-driving"

  • Tesla investigated over self-driving cars on wrong side of road

• Elon Musk's security clearances will be made public due to his own X posts

  Elon Musk's social media posts helped The New York Times win its fight to secure a list detailing the billionaire's top-secret security clearances after a US agency tried to block the disclosures by claiming that Musk had a right to privacy. In an opinion issued Wednesday, US District Judge Denise Cote said that Musk publicly discussing his security clearances on X—as well as his drug use and foreign contacts—tipped the balance so that the public's substantial interest in the list the NYT sought clearly outweighed "any privacy interest" Musk may have.

• Musk's Tesla package pays him billions even if he misses 'Mars-shot' goals

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Can Ferrari Persuade the Superrich to Buy an EV Sports Car That Won't Rev?

Robot uprising / Humanioid Helpers

• Why DoorDash built its own delivery robot

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• UN official proposes a global ban on surrogacy

• You won't believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned

  The pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires.

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Unsealed warrant: fired professor's homes searched alleged federal funding fraud

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• URL in children's books redirects to porn site

• New York City sues social media companies for allegedly addicting children

• Logitech will brick its $100 Pop smart home buttons on October 15

• Nobel Prize in Literature 2025 László Krasznahorkai

• Kentucky Attorney General sues Roblox, urges ID age verification

• Intel rethinking how it contributes to open source community

• New report claims mass production has begun on Valve's Steam Frame headset

• New York City Sues Social Media Companies over 'Youth Mental Health Crisis'

  • New York City sues social media companies for allegedly addicting children

• Pokémon Fans Suspected Fake Cards, One Found the Clue to Prove It

• Amazon's giant ads have ruined the Echo Show

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• In thirsty Reno, a crucial vote could usher in more water-guzzling data centers

• OpenAI wasn't expecting Sora's copyright drama

• Bank of England warns AI stock bubble rivals 2000 dotcom peak

• OpenAI's Nvidia, AMD Deals Boost $1 Trillion AI Boom With Circular Deals - Bloomberg

• Anthropic and IBM Partner in Bid for AI Business Customers

• Hobble your AI agents to prevent them from hurting you too badly

• Reflection AI Raises $2B to Build "American DeepSeek"

• Low quality papers flooding the cancer literature–can AI tool help catch them?

• 'AI is here to stay and change things': Mad Max director George Miller

• Gen Z faces 'job-pocalypse' as firms prioritise AI over new hires, report says

• AMD could beat Nvidia to launching AI GPUs on the cutting-edge 2nm node

• 'This is not a bubble': Nvidia climbs toward record

• 'I Believe It's a Bubble': What Some Smart People Are Saying About AI

• Central bank says what the Federal Reserve won't

• 'My son genuinely believed it was real': Parents are letting kids play with AI

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• We're about to find more interstellar interlopers

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Polymarket Founder Is Youngest Self-Made Billionaire After Deal with NYSE Owner

• The debasement trade': what's driving gold, Bitcoin and shares to record highs?

• First Brands' Go-To Bank Jefferies Opens Books as Fallout Builds

  • First Brands Is Missing Some Money - Bloomberg

  • Wall Street Got Blindsided by an Auto Parts Supplier

  • First Brands creditor claims as much as $2.3B has 'simply vanished'

  • First Brands Creditor Seeks Investigation of 'Vanished' Cash

• Tonight's restaurant dinner fell off the Sysco truck

• Silver Trades to $50 an Ounce

• Google adds limits to 'Work from Anywhere' policy that began during Covid

• Inside the Bank Where Almost Every Employee Is a Gig Worker

• US Job Market Is Rebalancing Not Weakening, Dallas Fed Blog Says

  • (PDF) Postpandemic US Immigration Surge: New Facts and Inflationary Implications

• McCormick spice company has a $140M tariff problem

• TSMC Reports Better-Than-Expected Sales on Sustained AI Demand

• Intel's big bet to save US chipmaking

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• First-in-the-nation law to ban ultra-processed foods from school lunches

• Lauren Boebert vows to pursue ‘truth about UFOs’ as she bids for re-election | House of Representatives | The Guardian

  The Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert has kicked off her run for a fourth term in the US House by pledging to pursue “the truth about UFOs”, said an email from the Colorado politician’s re-election campaign to potential donors. In an interview with the Colorado news station KDVR, the Democratic political analyst Andy Boian interpreted the bizarre message to be “almost a cry for help … to be honest,” as Boebert vied to retain her seat during the November 2026 midterms.

• Dominion Voting sold to company run by ex-GOP election official

• New York Attorney General Letitia James Indicted on Bank Fraud Charges

  • New York AG James, a Trump foe, indicted for bank fraud

• Squatters, illegal BASE jumpers invade Yosemite amid federal shutdown

• 'Farmageddon' Can't Be Solved with a Bailout Alone

Left Angst

• Jensen Huang says H-1B changes would've prevented his family from immigrating

• Apple Is Helping the U.S. Government Chill Speech on ICE

  • Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses

• Trump's major coal sales flop in Wyoming and Montana

• Why Your Energy Bills Are Going Up

  • Leftists insisting that no new power but "renewable" can be built for that last 3 decades? Drilling permits revoked and energy markets regulated to insanity? nono... It's all Trump's fault!

• From Woke to Roke: How the Republicans Embraced Cancel Culture

  When Elon Musk commanded his millions of followers to “cancel Netflix for the health of your kids,” he wasn’t just making a parental recommendation—he was participating in the very culture war theater he and his allies claim to despise.

• How Trump Threw a Wrench into Credit Markets

• Tariffs Are Way Up. Interest on Debt Tops $1T. and Doge Didn't Do Much

• Federal immigration officers drive cars without license plates

• Predator drones shift from border patrol to protest surveillance

• Barron Trump, 19, Pitched for Top Job at TikTok

• US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

• YouTube will give banned creators a 'second chance' after rule rollback

• Trump tariffs, immigration policies hit the 22 states now in, or close to, a recession

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Man obsessed with fire arrested for palisades blaze

  • ChatGPT image snares suspect in deadly Pacific Palisades fire

  • Man Arrested Alleging He Maliciously Started What Became the Palisades Fire

  • Deadly Palisades Fire set ‘maliciously’ by Florida firebug Jonathan Rinderknecht, feds say

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• No they aren't. America's Soybean Farmers Are Panicking over the Loss of Chinese Buyers

• Colombia's president says boat struck by US was carrying Colombians

• US Launches Financial Rescue of Argentina, Treasury Buys Pesos

World

• Spain's grid operator warns of new voltage swings; actions to avoid blackout

• UK universities offered to monitor students' social media

• UK Cider makers toast bumper summer – but drinks are too strong to sell

• Asahi forced to take orders by fax as Japan races to avoid beer shortage

• Italy opens 'Commodus Passage' in Colosseum to public

• 'War is a business': Training Sudan's child fighters to 'go and get killed'

• Post office in France rolls out croissant-scented stamp

• Italy’s ruling party proposes ban on burqas, niqabs, and foreign mosque funding.

Israel

• US has spent $33.7B on Israel since it began its war on Gaza two years ago

• All the hostages are coming home

• Trump says hostages probably released Monday

• Donald Trump says Israel and Hamas agree to 'first phase' of Gaza peace deal

• Israel and Hamas agree to first phase of Gaza ceasefire plan

• Israel-Hamas Deal Paves Way for Gaza Cease-Fire

• What concessions did Israel, Hamas make to reach hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza?

• Ceasefire in Gaza approved by Israeli cabinet

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• Putin admits Russia downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane in 2024 that killed 38

China

• The sinister disappearance of China’s bosses

• Chinese Surgeons Perform First Pig-to-Human Liver Transplant

  • Man in China Survives Six Months After First Pig-Human Liver Transplant

• Chinese officials boast a god's-eye view of towns from above

• China confirms solar panel projects are irreversibly changing desert ecosystems

• Chinese dams hold people to ransom

• Little Genius smartwatches captivate children in China

• China Tightens Grip on Rare Earths Ahead of Expected Trump-Xi Meeting

Health / Medicine

• Man gets drunk, wakes up with a medical mystery that nearly kills him

• Drug Rehabs Lure in Patients for Insurance Money–Then Leave Them on the Street

• Balkan endemic nephropathy: on the trail of a mystery disease in the Balkans

• 'Guilty until proven innocent': Fight between docs and insurers over downcoding

• Why everything you thought you knew about your immune system is wrong

• Study of young athletes finds neurodegeneration might begin before CTE

• More Marijuana Users Are Crash Dummies

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Whooping cough infections are spiking again this year in U.S.

• US Measles Cases Pass 1500, Worst Outbreak Since It Was Eliminated 25 Years Ago

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• An E.U. Plan to Slash Micropollutants in Wastewater Is Under Attack

• Global renewable energy generation surpasses coal for first time

• EPA hasn't released a completed toxicity report on this forever chemical

• Brains of Stranded Dolphins Showed Signs of Alzheimer's Disease

• What climate targets? Top fossil fuel producing nations keep boosting output

• Australian orchids suffer rapid pollination decline since the 1970s

• The world's driest desert blooms into a rare, fleeting flower show

• Injured monarch butterfly able to fly again after wing transplant

• Fossil fuel companies control a mere 1.4% of renewable energy projects worldwide