2026-01-16

etc

• Failed part on UPS plane that crashed in KY failed 4x on other planes previously

• Edison neglected maintenance before the Jan. 7 fires. Now its trying to catch up

Horseshit

• The crisis whisperer: how Adam Tooze makes sense of our bewildering age

• Ravers are swapping dancefloors for chessboards

• As birthrates tumble, progressives say the left needs to offer ideas, solutions

• Social media time does not increase teenagers' mental health problems – study

• Prediction Markets Turned Life into a Dystopian Gambling Experiment

• Ellison Renames Yacht After Critics Point Out It Spells "I'm a Nazi" Backwards

• The surprising benefits of standing on one leg

• The competitive claw machine boom

Obit

• Renfrew Christie has died, sabotaged South Africa's nuclear program

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• What Does It Mean to Make a Voice Call in a Post-Telephone World?-Howard v. RNC

  politicians don’t want to restrict their own power. “Do as I say, not as I do.” Today, many politicians are inveterate direct marketers, flooding their supporters (and sometimes their non-supporters) with requests for contributions. Why would they give up that stream of cash flows?

Musk

• X 'acting to comply with UK law' after outcry over sexualised images

  • Grok was finally updated to stop undressing women and children, X Safety says

  • Grok and the A.I. Porn Problem

  • X says Grok now blocks undress photo edits where theyre illegal

  • Elon Musk's Grok 'Undressing' Problem Isn't Fixed

• Tesla to stop selling FSD package, moves to subscription-only: why a big move

• SpaceX will attempt to reach Mars by the end of 2026

Electric / Self Driving cars

• EV roadside repairs easier than petrol or diesel, new data suggests

• 'Waymo Has Got to Go': Demonstrators Call for Robotaxis to Leave San Francisco

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• Two Indian students won a $200k settlement with US university

• Why child prodigies rarely become elite performers

  • There's a whole system to find these people and beat them into the "normal" shape

• Computer science used to be a golden ticket to a lucrative career

• Americans Overwhelmingly Support Science, but Some Think the U.S. Is Lagging

• The Lie That Elite Colleges, and a Nation, Wanted to Believe

• Students are choosing community college or certificates over four-year degrees

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Supernatural VR will no longer get new content or features

• Now that the memory drought has dried up supply of DDR5 and the older DDR4 modules alike, DDR3 is next to go.

• Yet Again: Digg is back.

  • Digg launches its new Reddit rival to the public

• Nvidia Reportedly Ends GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Production, RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB Next

• Millions of Audio Devices Need a Patch to Prevent Wireless Hacking and Tracking

• US regulator tells GM to hit the brakes on customer tracking

• Rockstar Launches Official User-Generated Content Marketplace for Mods

• Verizon's Hourslong Wireless Outage Tied to Software Update

  • The Day the Cell Towers Died

• 'Star Wars' Boss Kathleen Kennedy Departs, Ending an Asteroid-Filled Reign

• Nintendo Bans Infamous Japanese "Adult Only" Animal Crossing Island

• Sign of the times: Amazon is making a fallout shelter reality TV show

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• How stagnant is CPU technology?

  processor performance is indeed going up, sometimes dramatically so, but not all of our software can benefit from the improvements.

• The Surprisingly Long Life of the Vacuum Tube

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Chat is the least interesting interface to LLMs

• Move Over, ChatGPT

• AI tools boost individual scientists but could limit research as a whole

• Mira Murati's startup, is losing two of its co-founders to OpenAI

  • Two Thinking Machines Lab Cofounders Are Leaving to Rejoin OpenAI

• Google Gemini Can Proactively Analyze Users' Gmail, Photos, Searches

• Microsoft vows to 'pay its way' as it seeks to defuse data centre backlash

• Here comes the advertising in AI chatbots

• Microsoft's spending on Anthropic AI on track to reach $500M

• Sadiq Khan to urge ministers to act over 'colossal' impact of AI on London jobs

• 'It's AI blackface': account hailed as Aboriginal Steve Irwin is AI character

• Volvo tells us why having Gemini in your next car is a good thing

• Wikipedia Signs AI Licensing Deals on Its 25th Birthday

  • Wikipedia signs AI training deals with Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon

  • Wikimedia Foundation Announces AI Partnerships with Amazon, Meta, Microsoft

• The Downside to Using AI for All Those Boring Tasks at Work

• A.I. Is Keeping Aging Coal Plants Online

• OpenAI invests $250m in Sam Altman's brain computer interface startup Merge Labs

• OpenAI leak claims the ChatGPT maker is developing an earbud-style wearable

• State and Federal Lawmakers Want Data Centers to Pay More for Energy

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Crew-11 astronauts undock in 1st-ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station.

  • NASA astronauts begin 'bittersweet' medical evacuation from space station

  • Astronauts splash down to Earth after medical evacuation from space station

• Our Moon Is Curiously Lopsided, and an Impact Could Be to Blame

• Mystery sounds under review for signs of extraterrestrial life

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Meta Lays Off 1,500 People in Metaverse Division

• TSMC smashes forecasts with record profit, flags more US factories

• Report Shows Uber and DoorDash Drove $550M in Delivery Worker Pay Losses

• The parable of the supermarket self-checkout

• US factory headcount falling despite Trump's promised manufacturing boom

• Oracle Trying to Lure Workers to Nashville for New 'Global' HQ

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• US gov't: House sysadmin stole 200 phones, caught by House IT desk

  According to the government’s version of events, 43-year-old Christopher Southerland was working in 2023 as a sysadmin for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In his role, Southerland had the authority to order cell phones for committee staffers, of which there are around 80. But during the early months of 2023, Southerland is said to have ordered 240 brand-new phones—far more than even the total number of staffers—and to have shipped them all to his home address in Maryland. The government claims that Southerland then sold over 200 of these cell phones to a local pawn shop,

• California commits economic suicide as tech investors flee wealth tax

• New York proposal requires 3D printer manufacturers to prevent gun printing

Trump

• Trump Threatens to Invoke Insurrection Act in Response to Minnesota Protests

• Trump Signs Bill Allowing Schools to Serve Whole Milk Again

  • Trump signs a law returning whole milk to school lunches.

• Trump Officials Vow to Keep All US Coal Plants Running

• Trump unveils health care framework aimed at lowering costs

• Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize winner presents her medal to Trump

Democrats

• Kamala Harris upgrades LA real estate portfolio with $8M mega mansion in Malibu's celeb-packed Pt. Dume

Left Angst

• The Ham Radio Operator Who Made Trump Want Greenland

• ICE Is a Secret Police

• ICE agents do not have 'absolute immunity' from state prosecution

• Trump tests the First Amendment: A timeline

• US tech giants allying with European far-right to strip back EU rules

• The White House just said your life is worth nothing. Yes, literally.

• The Palantir app helping ICE raids in Minneapolis

• Trump and Ellison declare war on "woke Netflix"

• Musk and Hegseth vow to "make Star Trek real" but miss the show's lessons

• State Department Threatens UK Because Only the US Is Allowed to Ban Foreign Apps

• Once you pay the geld, ... Only 16% of Europeans still see the US as an ally, new survey finds

• DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Says People Should Be Prepared to Prove US Citizenship

• DHS used neo-nazi anthem for recruitment after fatal Minneapolis shooting

• Who’s Funding the Domestic Terrorist and Insurrectionary Groups in the US? Why, George Soros, the Ford Foundation, and Democrat Dark Money Groups, Of Course

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• Tech investors assess minerals mining as U.S. takeover talk on Greenland grows

• US Government to take 25% cut of AMD, Nvidia AI sales to China

• US suspends immigrant visa processing for 75 countries beginning January 21

• Taiwan will invest $250B in U.S. chipmaking under new trade deal

World

• Banning Things for Other People Is Easy

  Australia has moved to require social media companies to prevent under 16s from holding an account, and there’s always talk of us following suit in the UK. I want to talk a little today about why I think that’s a bad idea. I don’t use TikTok and it’s no skin off of my back if it gets banned. Banned or not, though, I don’t see a reason to ban it only for children. It doesn’t seem to be more harmful for them. They don’t seem to be using it lots more than adults. If you’re going to ban TikTok because it’s harmful or for geopolitical reasons, fine. But ban it universally; if we’re not willing to do that, stop pretending that a child-only ban is principled. A child-only ban is what you do when you want to do something but can’t think of anything better to do, and you don’t want to impact voters.

• Nearly 5M Accounts Removed Under Australia's New Social Media Ban

• Hand-stitched Indian ship arrives in Oman to rousing welcome

  The Indian Navy's hand-stitched wooden sailing vessel INSV Kaundinya arrived in Oman on Wednesday to a water salute after completing 17 days at sea. Wooden planks were stitched together with coir rope made from coconut fibre and sealed with natural resin. The ship does not have an engine and moves under square sails, helped by favourable winds.

• Amazon launches its 'sovereign' cloud in Europe and plots expansion

• France fines telcos €42M for sub-par security prior to 24M customer breach

• Nepal's Mountainside Teahouses Elevate the Experience for Trekkers

• Britain Awards Wind Farm Contracts That Will Power 12M Homes

• Danish Armed Forces expand their presence and continue exercises in Greenland

  • European military personnel arrive in Greenland as Trump says US needs island

  • Greenland's defence is 'common concern' for NATO, as European troops fly in

  • Greenland and Denmark say Trump set on 'conquering' territory after meeting

  • European troops arrive in Greenland to boost the Arctic island's security

• Germany's Merz Admits Nuclear Exit Was Strategic Mistake

• India warns Apple it will proceed with antitrust case after plays for time

• Study shows views of British empire shape voting behavior–but in subtle ways

• Within months, UK smartphones could be subjected to client scanning surveillance

• Denmark's struggle to break up with Silicon Valley

Venezuela

• The US has officially started selling Venezuelan oil

Iran / Houthi

• Iran's internet shutdown is now one of its longest ever, as protests continue

• Activists in Iran Are Using Starlink to Stay Online

China

• Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip

• Chinese EVs are transforming the auto industry

• Photos Capture the Breathtaking Scale of China's Wind and Solar Buildout

• Are You Dead?: The viral Chinese app for young people living alone

• Chinese military says it is developing over 10 quantum warfare weapons

• China's customs agents told Nvidia's H200 chips are not permitted, sources say

• DeepSeek Founder Liang's Funds Surge 57% as China Quants Boom

• The big ambitions of China's private space industry

• China's mighty green tech sector still has stubborn weak points

• China has applied to launch 200,000 satellites, but what are they for?

  China has applied to launch nearly 200,000 satellites into Earth orbit, but the move may be an attempt at merely reserving orbital space rather than a genuine effort to build the largest mega-constellation in existence.

Health / Medicine

• HHS official condemns Canada’s practice of organ donation through euthanasia.

• ARPA-H launches program for the 46% of U.S. counties don't have a cardiologist

• Quest for a drug that lowers an artery-clogging particle nears finish line

• FDA paves way for more consumer wearables to hit the market

• Aspartame decreases fat but reduces cognitive performance and enlarges heart

• Surprise Finding: Immune System May Keep Us from Burning Fat

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• Fauci Knew That Natural Immunity Was Superior to Vaccine and Still Pushed to Require It.

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Locust swarms destroy crops – scientists found a way to stop it

• Utah's other Great Salt Lake is underground, ancient, deep, and fresh

• Google's growing water use in Oregon

• U.S. carbon pollution rose in 2025, a reversal from prior years