2026-01-31

etc

• Stagnant Construction Productivity Is a Worldwide Problem

• Coast Guard breaks up ice in Hudson River as NYC Ferry remains suspended

Horseshit

• 1,400-year-old tomb featuring giant owl sculpture discovered in Mexico

• Billionaires trying to prolong their life end up wasting it

• Mysterious Artifacts Donated to Thrift Shop Might Be Medieval

• Some blind fans to experience Super Bowl with tactile device that tracks ball

• Women do find men with big penises more attractive, academic study confirms.

• GM Wants Its Cars to Change Lanes for You Based on Nothing but Where You Look

• Palisades Fire victims told they had to pay for new hydrant in order to rebuild

• Polymarket, 'privileged' users made millions betting on war strikes

Epstein

• US Justice Department releasing more than three million pages from Epstein files

• DOJ Publishes 3.5M Pages in the Epstein Files Transparency Act

• 3 Million new pages of Epstein files released

• Millions of Pages of Epstein Documents Released

• Epstein: Gates caught STD from trafficked girls, discussed medicating Melinda

  • Bill Gates asked Epstein for "antibiotics" for an STD from "Russian girls."

  • Epstein: Bill Gates caught STD from 'Russian girls,' slipped Melinda antibiotics

• Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known, emails show

• Was Epstein a Go-Between for Elon and Sultan Bin Sulayem?

celebrity gossip

• Charles Tillman transformed football, then joined the FBI

Obit

• Catherine O'Hara Dead at 71

  • Catherine O'Hara, 'Home Alone' and 'Schitt's Creek' Actress, Dies at 71

Rank Propaganda / Thought Policing / World Disordering

• UN risks 'imminent financial collapse', secretary general warns

  • Could they stop funding Hamas?

Musk

• SpaceX targeting mid-March for 1st flight of bigger, more powerful Starship ‘Version 3,’ Elon Musk says.

• Tesla kills Models S and X to build humanoid robots instead

  • The End of the Model S Is the Start of a New Tesla

  • Tesla Just Killed the Most Important Car of the 21st Century

• Tesla's Robotaxi data confirms crash rate 3x worse than humans even with monitor

• Tesla introduces U.S.-manufactured solar panels

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Waymo under scrutiny after hitting child near Santa Monica elementary school

Religion / Tribal / Culture War and Re-Segregation

• The Vitalists: hardcore longevity enthusiasts who believe death is wrong

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• 'Empire of Madness' calls for 'the end of psychiatry'

• Nobel Hacking Likely Leaked Peace Prize Winner Name, Probe Finds

• The Film Students Who Can No Longer Sit Through Films

• Texas A&M Ends Women's Studies and Overhauls Classes Over Race and Gender

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Angry gamers are forcing studios to scrap or rethink new releases

• Memory Shortage Haunts Apple's Blowout iPhone Sales

  • Apple can't secure enough chips as iPhone demand surges, memory prices rise

• Atlas Obscura Turns First Annual Profit in 16-Year History

• GOG: Linux "the next major frontier" for gaming as it works on a native client

• Google to pay $135M to settle Android data transfer lawsuit

• Microsoft is working to rebuild trust in Windows

• Spotify's Crackdown on Anna's Archive Domains Hits a Jurisdiction Snag

• Nvidia GeForce Now has the Steam Machine in its sights with native Linux support

  • Nvidia Releases a Geforce Now App for Linux Systems

• Oracle seeks to build bridges with MySQL developers

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• Pentagon clashes with Anthropic over military AI use, sources say

• Deezer says up to 85% of its AI-music streams are now fraudulent

• Big Blue Poised to Peddle Lots of on Premises GenAI

• Clay Shirky: Students Are Skipping the Hardest Part of Growing Up

• New OpenAI tool renews fears that "AI slop" will overwhelm scientific research

• Amazon Found 'High Volume' of Child Sex Abuse Material in AI Training Data

• Abusers using AI and digital tech to attack and control women, charity warns

• Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon in talks to invest up to $60B in OpenAI

• Top engineers at Anthropic, OpenAI say AI now writes 100% of their code

• Infostealers added Clawdbot to their target lists before security teams knew

• Clay, an A.I. Sales Startup, Lets Employees Cash Out. Again

• IBM Became an AI Darling

• Microsoft Is More Dependent on OpenAI Than the Converse

• Guys, I don't think Tim Cook knows how to monetize AI

• Wisconsin communities signed secrecy deals for billion-dollar data centers

• Microsoft is quietly walking back Windows 11's AI overload

• AI is booming. Tech jobs in San Francisco are not

• The $100B Megadeal Between OpenAI and Nvidia Is on Ice

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• NASA delays Artemis moonshot with astronauts due to extreme cold in Florida

Crypto con games

• The Crypto CEO Who's Become Enemy No. 1 on Wall Street

• The Ethereum Foundation is entering a period of mild austerity

Economicon / Business / Finance

• A Single Diplomatic Meeting Crashed Gold 7% in One Hour

• Silver plunges 30% in worst day since 1980, gold tumbles

  • The dollar is losing credibility, central banks are scrambling for gold

  • What is behind the extraordinary rise in investment into silver and gold?

• Wall Street Braces for AI Bond Binge as Complacency Fears Mount

• Apple Reports Record-Setting 1Q 2026 Results: $42.1B Profit on $143.8B Revenue

• Microsoft lost $357B in market cap as stock plunged most since 2020

  • Microsoft sheds $360B in market value as AI spending spooks investors

  • Microsoft Loses $440B in One of Tech's Largest Single-Day Drops

• Hedge funds' correlation with stocks sparks fears over lack of crash protection

• Do markets make us moral?

• "Cascade Farm and Outdoor" Tractor Supply rival chain shutting all locations soon.

• Panamanian Court Strikes Down Hong Kong Firm's Canal Contract

• Oracle may slash up to 30,000 jobs, sell health unit to pay for AI build-out

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• Twix Is OK but Granola Isn't as States Deploy New Food Stamp Rules

• Senate Strikes Deal to Fund Government, Averting a Shutdown

Trump

• Trump warns Iran: Massive US armada is ready for violence

• Trump Nominates Kevin Warsh for Federal Reserve Chair to Succeed Jerome Powell

  • Donald Trump announces Kevin Warsh as next Fed chair, replacing Jerome Powell

  • Trump Taps Kevin Warsh to Lead the Federal Reserve

• Trump says he's decertifying Canada-made aircraft and threatens 50% tariffs

  • Trump threatens to tariff, decertify Canadian aircraft in latest trade war move

  • US threatens to 'decertify' Canadian aircraft as rift with Ottawa deepens

• Trump sues IRS and US treasury for $10B over leak of tax returns

Democrats

• Gov. Walz says he “will never run for an elected office again” once term ends.

• NYC cops, sanitation workers ordered to stop taking down homeless encampments weeks before 10 found dead in deep freeze

• Mamdani to kill the NYC AI chatbot caught telling businesses to break the law

Left Angst

• The powerful tools in ICE's arsenal to track suspects – and protesters

• As Chants Ring Out About Lynching Kristi Noem, Clueless Lib Protesters Realize to Their Horror Who They're in Bed With

  • Diversity is our strength! We may not agree on everything but we can act in concert on those issues we do agree on; that's what this country is about.

• How ICE Knows Who Minneapolis Protesters Are

• The World Files for Economic Divorce from America

• Dems Mistake TSA for ICE, Protest Their Dinner.

• Medium gives employees Friday off to participate in national strike protesting ICE | TechCrunch

• Hate crimes are OK when done by Democrats: Ex-CNN host Don Lemon arrested for Minnesota church invasion.

  • Journalist Don Lemon taken into custody after Minnesota church protest

  • Former CNN journalist Don Lemon arrested in connection with Minnesota protest

  • Ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon arrested on charges connected to Minnesota church protest

  • Former CNN journalist Don Lemon arrested after church protest in Minnesota

  • Don Lemon Arrested

• Florida nurse gives up license after saying he won’t perform anesthesia on MAGA patients.

  • How long 'til they decide they're obligated to make "mistakes" with patients they don't think are morally compatible with their own faith? How many have already decided such?

• Government Using Image Manipulation for Propaganda

  • And it's bad again, now that it's not Democrats in office.

• Trump Admin Weakens Safety Guidelines for Nuke Reactors

• Amazon's Spending on 'Melania' Is a Barely Concealed Bribe

• Washington Post Raid Is a Frightening Reminder: Turn Off Your Phone's Biometrics

• DHS ramps up surveillance in in immigration raids, sweeping in citizens

• ICE Begins Warehouse-Buying Spree Despite Local Protests

• Judge: DOJ's statements on slavery exhibit display 'dangerous' & 'horrifying'

• MAGA Women Defy the Birth Dearth

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• Minnesota Man Arrested for Posing as FBI Agent in Plot to Free Luigi Mangione.

  • A man impersonating an FBI agent tried to get Luigi Mangione out of jail, authorities say.

• U.S. Judge in Mangione Case Rules Prosecutors Cannot Seek Death Penalty

• Central Florida man caught in ‘sexual performance’ with vacuum, deputies say

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• US ‘nuke sniffer’ arrives in UK after Trump threatens Iran

• Barring last-minute nuclear deal, US and Russia teeter on brink of new arms race

  • The Last Nuclear Deal Is Expiring. Does Anyone Care?

World

• India's electric bus push has a deadly blind spot

• Taiwan's GDP in 2025 Grew at Fastest Pace Since 2010 (+8.63%)

• Automation is inevitable, and South Korea's president just said it out loud

• Greek police arrest scammers using fake cell tower hidden in car trunk

• Smithsonian museum to return 3 bronzes to India

• Taliban's New Law Legalises Slavery in Afghanistan, Makes Mullahs Immune

Venezuela

• Venezuela to Shutter Torture Center, Promises Political Amnesty

Iran / Houthi

• Iran rounds up thousands in mass arrest campaign after crushing unrest, sources say.

Israel

• Israel accepts Gaza death toll is broadly accurate, saying 70k have died

Russia Bad / Ukraine War

• The Deathonomics of Putin's War

China

• AI health care is taking off in China, led by Jack Ma's Ant Group

• China executes 11 members of Myanmar-based group in crackdown on scam operations

Health / Medicine

• Having that high-deductible health plan might kill you, literally

• The Rotten Science Behind the MSG Scare

• The fat you can't see could be shrinking your brain

• Heritability of intrinsic human life span is about 50% with confounding factors

• I grew a third boob after having a baby — there's even a nipple

• Yawning has an unexpected influence on the fluid inside your brain

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• From bad omen to national treasure: The rare bone-swallower stork saved by a female army

• The North Sea oil field used to store greenhouse gas

• Solar panels on land used for biofuels could power all cars and trucks electric

• Hippo's 'Magic' Sweat Explained

• Why the government is trying to make coal cute

• A Plan to Save Elephants Sparked a Deadly Conflict

• Volunteers wanted to live on Skomer Island and count puffins

  While the roles are unpaid, free accommodation and travel expenses to and from the island within the UK will be provided by WTSWW, plus a bursary ranging from £200 to £400. Knott said the counting operation involved splitting the island into sections and going around about two hours before sunset when a larger number of puffins were on land. "We get our clickers out and we count all the ones on the land, then the sea and the ones in the air as well," he added.