2026-05-03

Horseshit

• It's super weird, super odd, super rare: meet the twins who have different dads

• UK firm pioneers data centres using lampposts

• The dark side of senior housing

  I don’t know for a fact that Franklin, Tennessee, is trying to keep poor kids out of their city, but it sure looks like they are. A dark secret of affordable housing development in the U.S. is that towns routinely discriminate against families with children by using homes for the elderly as a cover.

• Your Next Dog May Live Longer

  A new pill could soon extend dogs’ lives. How will that change our relationship with our pets?

• Self-declared 'King of Switzerland' builds empire of 117,000 square metres

• The Gen Z investing boom

• Infrasound waves stop kitchen fires, but can they replace sprinklers?

• Nature vs. nurture: How much of our personalities are determined at birth?

• LA's levitating amoeba: a new kind of museum

• B.C. researcher taps magic of Dungeons and Dragons to help kids

• 18th-century mechanical volcano roars to life 250 years later

• Can countries grow richer by exporting people, not goods?

• The Consensus Draft Board Debate is Sports Culture War at Its Worst

  the conversation was plagued by a dynamic in the three big American sports that has aggravated me for decades: the latter side had won an overwhelming victory among the media, in team front offices, and even within the overall NBA fanbase, and yet partisans for the analytics side constantly acted like they were a beleaguered minority, endlessly complaining and nakedly self-celebratory. As in in American society writ large, the nerds had won by any possible measure and yet still complained about how oppressed they were.

• Kids promised 'forever homes' instead confined in for-profit institutions

• The Race Is on to Find the Treasure Buried in San Francisco

Obit

• Craig Venter of Human Genome Project Dies at 79

Musk

• Tesla reveals $573M web of transactions between Elon Musk's companies

Electric / Self Driving cars

• Emergency First Responders Say Waymos Are Getting Worse

• Uber wants to turn its drivers into a sensor grid for AV companies

• California to begin ticketing driverless cars that violate traffic laws

Robot uprising / Humanioid Helpers

• Robot fighting league has new home in S.F. you can watch – and buy – 'humanoids'

• Meta buys robotics startup to bolster its humanoid AI ambitions

Edumacationalizing / Acedemia Nuts

• First Nations students are teaching themselves

• Hobson vs. Hansen and the Decline of D.C. Schools

• (Jan 2026) I've Been a Public School Teacher for 20 Years. Trust Me: Homeschool Your Kids

• The College Admissions Chess Game Is More Complicated

• Palantir Comes to Campus

Info Rental / ShowBiz / Advertising

• Microsoft's Xbox mode is now available for all Windows 11 PCs

• ICANN opens applications for new top-level domains for the first time since 2012

• Apple Raises Mac Mini's Starting Price to $799 After AI Frenzy Drains Supply

• Apple Faces Lawsuits over AirTag Stalking After Class Action Denied

• New US phone network for Christians to block porn and gender-related content

• Disneyland Now Uses Face Recognition on Visitors

• The RAMpocalypse has bought Microsoft valuable time in the fight against SteamOS

• Ask.com shuts down after 30 years

• Meta faces New Mexico trial that could force change to Facebook, other platforms

TechSuck / Geek Bait

• When hard drives were still huge: The Quantum Bigfoot turns 30

Space / Boomy Zoomers / UFO

• Watch NASA test its new X-59 jet designed to go faster than the speed of sound

• Interstellar comet came from a much different solar system than ours

• NASA to increase CLPS contract to support surge of lunar lander missions

AI Will (Save | Destroy) The World

• The AI Race Is Charged by the Fear of Being Left Behind

• Apple just gave a clue that a big AI acquisition may be in the cards

• Brace for the patch tsunami: AI is unearthing decades of buried code debt

• It's a Weird Time to Be Named Claude

• Cyber-Insecurity in the AI Era

• Sam Altman says OpenAI doesn't want to replace you with AI

• A Dark-Money Campaign Is Paying Influencers to Frame Chinese AI as a Threat

• Minnesota passes ban on fake AI nudes; app makers risk $500K fines

• Santa Cruz restaurant changes logo after flurry of negative reviews for AI art

• AI threatens Big Law's talent pipeline

• So, About That AI Bubble

• Oscars says AI actors and writing cannot win awards

• Deepfakes Are Coming for Your Bank Account

• States rethink data center incentives amid costs and environmental concerns

Neo Gambling / Crypto con games

• The $11B Casino-Style Economy Built on Players Who Can Never Cash Out

Economicon / Business / Finance

• Spirit Airlines says it's going out of business after 34 years

  • Spirit Airlines Is Winding Down All Operations

  • Spirit Airlines shutting down after rescue talks collapse

  • Spirit Airlines canceled all flights and is going out of business

  • Spirit Airlines Ticket Holders Should Not Go to the Airport

• High Housing Costs Are Pushing Foreclosures to a Six-Year High

• GameStop Preparing Offer for eBay

  • GameStop is looking to buy eBay, report says. Both stocks are soaring

  • GameStop wants to buy eBay in an aggressive pivot to e-commerce

• Where in the World Is All That Gold Stored?

• Opioid maker Purdue Pharma shuts down as part of $7.4B deal

• Roblox shares plummet 18% as child safety measures weigh on bookings

• What Silicon Valley layoffs hide about the future of the job market

Gubmint / Poilitcks / Law Making

• A Bill Aimed at Creating Homes Is Leaving Plots Empty Instead

• Steve Hilton: British former Fox News host be California's next governor?

• Seattle's mayor waves goodbye to prosperity

• House Bill Cuts Federal Funds for Online Censorship

Trump

• Trump issues executive order against Cuba

  President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday, tightening U.S. sanctions on Cuba, expanding penalties on the island's government and foreign companies that do business with it.

• Trump weighs cabinet appointment for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

• Executive Order pushes fixed-price contracting but implementation questions loom

Left Angst

• Thousands of Pentagon Civilian Workers Will Be Fired Next Week as Purge Begins

• Trump says it's 'treasonous' to say US not winning war in Iran

• Pushed by Trump policies, top U.S. battery scientist is moving to Singapore

• The 'manosphere' has already infiltrated the workplace. We're only just noticing

• Trump's border wall expansion just bulldozed an ancient tribal site

Law Breaking / Police / Internal Security

• America's Expanding Domestic Surveillance

External Security / Militaria / Diplomania

• US to Withdraw Troops from Germany

  • Pentagon to pull 5k troops from Germany, alarming Republican lawmakers

• U.S. Considering Foreign Designs, Shipyards for New Navy Frigate, Destroyer Work

World

• Inside Italy's 'Cheese Bank,' Parmigiano Reggiano becomes financial gold

• India's major airlines on 'verge of closing down' as high fuel costs sting

• UK court orders Samsung to pay China's ZTE a $392M lump sump after patent trial

• Alberta allows windfall oil and gas payments to select ranchers – on public land

• Swiss plan to cap population gains ground ahead of referendum

• It's Hard to Get a British Driving License

• In Amsterdam, Ads for Fossil Fuels or Meat Are Now Verboden

Iran / Houthi

• Oil tanker hijacked off Yemen, steers toward Somalia

• US blockade costs Iran $4.8B, US Navy acting 'sort of like pirates,' Trump says

  • Trump says US navy like ‘pirates’ while seizing a ship in Iranian blockade

Israel

• 'Go inside, he will kill you' Israeli militants step up West Bank school attacks

China

• There's a lot of hype about Chinese EVs, is any of it true?

• Convicted former Harvard scientist rebuilds brain computer lab in China

• Chinese Government Got the Largest Digital Rights Conference Canceled

  • China Pressure Canceled Largest Digital Human Rights Conference

• Tired of high costs, some Americans are importing homes straight from China

Health / Medicine

• Gut bacteria may play a role in the rise in colon cancer in young adults

• 'Like science fiction': How a new wave of immunotherapy is eliminating cancers

Pox / COVID / BioTerror AgitProp

• An Unreleased Lyme Disease Vaccine Is Sparking False Conspiracy Theories

Environment / Climate / Green Propaganda

• Oak trees outwit their predators

• Iceland's Pools and Hot Tubs Now UNESCO-Recognized. Some Locals Aren't Thrilled.