Leftovers

• Jim Nielsen ☛ Could I Have Some More Friction in My Life, Please?

  A clip from “Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy” features a former executive of an online retailer explaining how motivated they were to make buying easy. Like, incredibly easy. So easy, in fact, that their goal was to “reduce your time to think a little bit more critically about a purchase you thought you wanted to make.” Why? Because if you pause for even a moment, you might realize you don’t actually want whatever you’re about to buy.

  Been there. Ready to buy something and the slightest inconvenience surfaces — like when I can’t remember the precise order of my credit card’s CCV number and realize I’ll have to find my credit card and look it up — and that’s enough for me to say, “Wait a second, do I actually want to move my slug of a body and find my credit card? Nah.”

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discovered a Hidden Clue Why Men Are Taller Than Women

    A key genetic mechanism revealed.

  • Science Alert ☛ Sugar-Coated Particles May Protect Neurons From Alzheimer's Disease

    A new defense emerges.

  • Science Alert ☛ Light Travels Across The Universe Without Losing Energy. But How?

    To infinity and beyond!

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Peered Inside The Echidna's Mysterious 'Pseudo-Pouch'

    There's a lot going on in there.

  • Science Alert ☛ We Now Know What Switched The Lights on at The Dawn of Time

    This changed everything.

  • Science Alert ☛ Mesmerizing Video Shows Cardiac Cells Building a Heart

    Total timelapse of the heart.

  • Science Alert ☛ New Link Connects Herpes to Alzheimer's. Here's What We Know.

    Let's look at the evidence.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth's Core Holds a Vast Reservoir of Gold, And It's Leaking Toward The Surface

    "We realized that we had literally struck gold!"

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover West Nile Virus in The UK For The First Time

    How did it get there?

• Career/Education

  • The Straits Times ☛ Scholars from China flock to Malaysia

    Affordable education and cultural ties fuel the academic migration.

  • The Straits Times ☛ More Malaysians choosing skills over degrees; vocational training gets boost from Beijing

    Vocational training in Malaysia is gaining momentum, offering a practical pathway to steady employment and careers.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • LRT ☛ Bedbugs on the move: Lithuania faces post-pandemic invasion

    Lithuania’s largest cities are facing a growing bedbug problem, with pest control experts reporting a significant spike in infestations since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Calls to exterminate bedbugs have doubled, and the situation is worst in the capital, Vilnius, followed by Kaunas and Šiauliai.

  • JURIST ☛ HRW calls WHO pandemic treaty a landmark but “flawed” step, urges human rights-based implementation

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that the new World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic treaty is a landmark effort, but is flawed and inadequate in its implementation mechanisms and effectiveness to combat inequalities between countries.

  • Latvia ☛ Butter is expensive and will remain so, say Latvian dairy producers

    The price of butter has risen by 31% over the year, according to the latest data from the Central Statistical Bureau on consumer price changes, Latvian Radio reports on 25 May. This is one of the items that has had a significant impact on inflation, which has been unexpectedly high in the last month.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea sees sharp rise in synthetic cannabis use among teenagers

    New psychoactive substances now make up 35 per cent of all drug analysis requests there.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Pandemic preparedness: First Pandemic Treaty adopted

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] B.C. mother raises alarm about state of health care after son's injury allegedly mishandled

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Unicorn Media ☛ Think Nobody’s Successfully Monetized Generative AI? Think Again.

      While plenty are scoffing at the billions big tech is burning on generative AI, there’s growing evidence that a pot of gold really does wait at the end of this rainbow.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Youth getting hooked on Hey Hi (AI) child porn: Malaysian police

      The authorities are leading a multinational effort to combat issue and find offenders.

    • Licensing / Legal

      • Simon Willison ☛ AI Hallucination [sic] Cases

        Damien Charlotin maintains this database of cases around the world where a legal decision has been made that confirms hallucinated content from generative AI was presented by a lawyer.

      • Damien Charlotin ☛ AI Hallucination Cases Database – Damien Charlotin

        This database tracks legal decisions1 in cases where generative AI produced hallucinated content – typically fake citations, but also other types of arguments. It does not track the (necessarily wider) universe of all fake citations or use of AI in court filings.

  • Social Control Media

    • NYPost ☛ 300 teens force shutdown of New Jersey carnival after TikTok-inspired meetup descends into chaos and spreads to nearby mall

      Eventually, the chaos spread into the Woodbridge Center Mall, forcing many stores to lock up early and even shelter shoppers inside as the teens ran wild.

    • The Strategist ☛ China’s love-bombing of Gen Z Taiwanese has its limits

      Through a mix of subsidised tours, university scholarships, TikTok-style propaganda and influencer outreach, Beijing is trying to win over the generation in Taiwan that has grown up with democracy [...]

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • Kevin Burke ☛ github.com/garyburd/redigo has been deleted

    One of the first ever Redis libraries for Go was hosted at github.com/garyburd/redigo. It has been deprecated for some time and has now been finally removed altogether from Microsoft's proprietary prison Microsoft's proprietary prison GitHub. If you still have a dependency on this project, this means that will be broken now. github.com/gomodule/redigo should be a drop-in replacement for github.com/garyburd/redigo.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • WhichUK ☛ Scam watch: conned by a copycat Lastminute.com website

      Copycat websites can be convincing - know how to spot one

    • New York Times ☛ Qatari Push to Dominate Another Sport, Table Tennis, Draws Scrutiny

      A wealthy Qatari businessman’s campaign to lead the sport’s global body is being investigated. One of his critics was detained and interrogated in Doha.

    • New York Times ☛ Why Vietnam Ignored Its Own Laws to Fast-Track a Convicted Felon Family Golf Complex

      As Hell Toupée blurs the lines between politics and business — and threatens steep tariffs on trade partners — governments feel compelled to favor Convicted Felon-related projects.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Vietnam’s rush to rip up land for a Convicted Felon golf complex leaves residents at a loss

      To fast-track the Convicted Felon development, Vietnam has ignored its own laws, legal experts said.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Strategist ☛ Eyes over the paddock: farm monitoring with Chinese drones is a national security risk

    Australia’s national security conversation often focuses on critical minerals, undersea cables, sovereign cloud and satellite capabilities. Yet one area remains underexamined: the quiet, high-resolution eyes flying above our farms.

  • France24 ☛ France blames sabotage for second Riviera blackout, boosts security

    France boosts security after suspected sabotage at a Nice power substation caused a second major Riviera blackout in two days, cutting electricity to 45,000 homes and briefly hitting the airport. A similar attack disrupted Cannes' film festival finale on Saturday, forcing backup generator use.

  • JURIST ☛ Federal judge finds US wrongfully deported asylum seeker despite protection order

    A federal judge has ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday to return a gay Guatemalan man to the US after immigration authorities unlawfully deported him to Mexico, despite a court order granting him protection from removal to Guatemala.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Espionage in Germany: The most spectacular spy cases

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] EU decides to review its trade ties with Israel over Gaza

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Fact check: Did Chinese fighter jets deliver aid to Gaza?

  • France24 ☛ Macron visits Vietnam, kicking off Southeast Asia tour pitching France as reliable trade partner

    French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Hanoi on Sunday for the first stop of a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia aimed at showcasing France as a reliable trading partner and a counterweight to China in the Indo-Pacific region. His six-day trip includes stops in Indonesia and Singapore.

  • France24 ☛ Macron tours Asia amid US-China rivalry

    French President Emmanuel Macron begins a tour of Southeast Asia this Sunday (May 25), starting with Vietnam. The trip is part of France’s push to trying deepen economic and diplomatic ties in the region. FRANCE 24's Clovis Casali tells us more.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man tariff tensions test Southeast Asian leaders at regional summit as bloc caught in midst of US-China trade war

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Warming Toward Syria Complicates Israel's Military Strategy

    Since Hell Toupée’s embrace of the new Syrian leader, Israeli airstrikes on the country have subsided.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Airstrike Kills Doctor’s Children, Gaza Officials Say

    Two more children were missing, and the doctor’s husband and one other child were injured in the strike on Friday, the officials said. Israel said it was checking if it had harmed “uninvolved civilians.”

  • France24 ☛ Gaza school strike leaves 13 dead as Israel ramps up Hamas offensive

    Palestinian rescuers said an Israeli dawn strike on a Gaza City school killed 13 Monday as Israel steps up operations against Hamas. Fighting has drawn global condemnation, while a near three-month aid blockade has deepened shortages of food, water, fuel, and medicine in Gaza.

  • France24 ☛ Israeli air strikes kill 22, including pregnant woman, in Gaza, rescuers say

    Rescuers in Gaza said at least 22 people were killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli air strikes across the Palestinian territory on Sunday. Two Red Cross workers were also killed in a strike on their home in Khan Yunis, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia slams ‘double standards’ on Gaza atrocities

    Foreign ministers from Asean in February asserted their “longstanding support” for Palestinian rights.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia calls for Myanmar truce extension, pushes for peace deal

    The post-earthquake ceasefire is due to run out at the end of May.

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Iran says it is 'ready for talks' about renewing relations with Canada, but Ottawa must make 1st move

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Iran summons British diplomat over arrest of nationals

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Middle East: Israel allows Gaza aid for 'diplomatic reasons'

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] From AfD to Reform UK: The far right and European politics

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Germany updates: Extra border checks unsustainable — police

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Germany: Report slams Merz's new immigration policies

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Germany updates: Sharp rise in politically motivated crime

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] How Malcolm X fought against the 'American nightmare'

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] ICJ backs Equatorial Guinea in Gabon islands dispute

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • NYPost ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man slams Putin after Russia’s deadly overnight drone and missile attack on Ukraine: ‘He has gone absolutely CRAZY!’

      We're in the middle of talking and he's sending rockets into Kyiv and other cities. I don't like it at all," Convicted Felon said of Putin.

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man calls Putin 'crazy' after massive Russian drone attack on Ukraine

      US President The Insurrectionist on Sunday called Russian leader Vladimir Putin "crazy" after Moscow launched a deadly drone barrage on Ukraine, killing at least 13. The attack, involving a record number of drones, came as the warring nations completed a major prisoner exchange.

    • RFERL ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Calls Putin 'Absolutely Crazy,' Warns Of Russia's 'Downfall'

      US President The Insurrectionist said Russia's Vladimir Putin "has gone absolutely crazy!" following a series of deadly attacks and warned that if he attempts to conquer all of Ukraine it will lead to Russia's "downfall," in his harshest public comments ever toward the Kremlin leader.

    • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Rebukes Putin, Calls Escalation of Attacks ‘Absolutely Crazy’

      “He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” Hell Toupée said of his Russian counterpart.

    • France24 ☛ At least 12 killed as Russia pummels Ukraine in fresh night of strikes

      Russia and Ukraine swapped 303 prisoners on Sunday (May 25), completing a three-phased exchange of 1,000 prisoners each in the largest such swap since the war began three years ago. Sunday’s prisoner exchange came hours after a massive Russian missile-and-drone attack killed at least 12 people in Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Released Prisoners Return To Ukraine After Biggest Russian Air Attack Yet

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned what he called “America’s silence” after another huge Russian air assault that claimed at least a dozen lives.

    • New York Times ☛ At Least 12 Killed and Dozens Injured After Russia’s Air Strike In Ukraine

      The attack involved nearly 370 missiles and drones, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. At least 12 people were killed.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China and Russia leaders’ statement avoids wording that could irk Japan: Sources

      Beijing had asked to remove such references so as not to damage ties with the neighbouring country.

    • New York Times ☛ Selfies From the Front: Inside the ‘V.I.P.’ Brigade for Ambitious Russian Officials

      After a stint with a drone unit led by a member of Parliament, Russian officials return to work, and promotions, garlanded as war veterans. Most soldiers are stuck in indefinite deployments.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Will subsidized electricity rescue German industry?

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-22 [Older] Stellantis postpones Canadian-made 2026 Dodge Charger R/T model amid tariffs

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Why no one in B.C. knows exactly how many black bears there are

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-19 [Older] Can we learn to live with wildfires?

• Finance

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] More Ottawa homeowners hit with years-old water bills from previous occupants

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Canada Post is in trouble. Here are the facts

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] 3-year deal reached in labour dispute between LifeLabs and 1,200 striking workers

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ Indonesian President Prabowo hails China ties as key to regional peace, prosperity

    Chinese Premier Li Qiang is in Jakarta on a three-day working visit.

  • LRT ☛ EU Commissioner Kubilius: ‘We have to avoid a chaotic divorce‘ with the US – interview

    “Any military conflict causes major repercussions throughout today’s interconnected global world,” says European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius. The European Union (EU) should therefore aim to prevent escalation – but how consistently does it apply the principle in relations with the US, China or Israel?

  • France24 ☛ Venezuelan opposition calls for election boycott

    In Venezuela, regional parliamentary elections are taking place today. The country remains one of the poorest in Latin America, and the regime of President Nicolás Maduro stands accused of widespread human rights abuses - including the torture, disappearance, and imprisonment of political opponents. Many opposition leaders are in hiding, following presidential elections that were widely condemned by the international community as fraudulent. To discuss the situation, France 24’s Gavin Lee is joined by Phil Gunson, Senior Analyst at the International Crisis Group.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Asean has reached ‘consensus’ on trade, US tariffs and power grid ahead of summit: Anwar

    Asean has built consensus on a number of issues including intra-Asean trade and US tariffs, he said.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Koreans eye constitutional change to president’s power after martial law

    A poll in April found that 67% of respondents supported revising the Constitution to fix the presidential system.

  • New York Times ☛ As South Korea Gets Ready to Vote, Women Don’t Like the Choices

    Women took the lead in the protests against South Korea’s last president. But the men running to replace him are saying little about the discrimination they face.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Koreans eye constitutional change to president's power after martial law

    SEOUL - South Korea's political crisis has ignited bipartisan calls for constitutional amendments to reshape the power of the president, an issue hotly debated ahead of the June 3 snap election.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s presidential front runner Lee Jae-myung suggests extending US tariff talks

    Tariff negotiations with the US will be a big challenge for the winner of the June 3 election.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea detains another official over warship launch accident

    Mr Ri Hyong Son is the fourth person reportedly detained in connection with the accident.

  • France24 ☛ North Korea arrests fourth official over failed launch of warship

    North Korea has detained an official linked to last week's failed warship launch, which damaged a 5,000-ton destroyer, state media said Monday. Pyongyang called it "a serious accident" during Wednesday's ceremony, crushing parts of the vessel's hull

  • New York Times ☛ North Korea Arrests 3 Over Failed Ship Launch That Angered Kim Jong-un

    Three shipyard officials were arrested, including the chief engineer, state media said. The North Korean leader was watching as the launch of a navy destroyer went wrong.

  • The Straits Times ☛ More South Korean young adults economically ‘inactive’, especially women, college grads

    The report was based on a survey of 3,189 young people who said they took a break over the past year.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-20 [Older] Fact check: Speculations and misinformation after Biden's cancer diagnosis

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • JURIST ☛ Vietnam orders messaging app Telegram to be blocked

    Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology has instructed telecommunication service providers to block the messaging app Telegram for not cooperating in combating alleged crimes committed by its users, according to local news agencies Vietnam News and Vietnam Pictorial.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • JURIST ☛ UN expert sounds alarm on Guatemala judiciary and rule of law

    UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite on Friday stated that Guatemala’s legal system is at a turning point, stressing that the country’s democratic future depends on whether upcoming judicial appointments are handled with transparency and whether criminal law is applied fairly and without political interference.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-21 [Older] Quebec to impose French-language quotas on streaming giants