Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ A Nuclear Winter Could Destroy Much of The World's Food Supply

    Some regions fare better than others.

  • Science Alert ☛ Concerns Emerge Over Potential Cancer Links to Drugs Like Ozempic

    Here's what we know so far.

  • Science Alert ☛ Parkinson's Link to Gut Bacteria Hints at an Unexpected, Simple Treatment

    Inching closer to the full picture.

  • Science Alert ☛ Alzheimer's Breakthrough: Lithium Reverses Memory Loss in Mice

    "Deficiency could be a cause of Alzheimer's disease."

  • Science Alert ☛ A Routine Vaccine May Lower Dementia Risk by as Much as 20%

    Scientists say this could lead to other breakthroughs.

• Hardware

  • Kai Uwe ☛ New Hardware Fun

    The device shipped with backdoored Windows 11 and whenever I touch a backdoored Windows machine I’m baffled that people put up with this. I connected it to Wifi (beginner’s mistake apparently) since I wanted to install all firmware updates and salvage a couple of things from it before formatting the SSD (ICC profiles, Dolby audio presets, etc). The first run wizard asked me for my choice of locale, then went looking for updates. Once done, the system rebooted. After that it asked me to give the computer a name. Guess what? Another reboot, and more updates. And then the dreaded compulsory Abusive Monopolist Microsoft account I had no intention of creating. You can open a terminal by pressing Shift+F10 but the old bypassnro trick just led to a reboot and it asking the same questions again. Just when I was about to give up, Bhushan showed me another trick how to create a local account. Indeed, after yet another reboot and clicking away like 10 individual nag screens about privacy and cloud stuff, I was able to log into the system.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Attack on Intel’s C.E.O. Could Compound Factory Struggles

    The challenges in Ohio highlight the risks that federal and state officials took when they financially backed Intel, a once-powerful force in chip manufacturing.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Intel's chairman reportedly tried to sell fabs to TSMC, CEO Lip-Bu Tan opposed

    Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan's push to retain in-house chip manufacturing has put him at odds with chairman Frank Yeary and other directors who explored spinning off or selling defective chip maker Intel Foundry to TSMC.

  • Hackaday ☛ Tearing Down A Mysteriously Cheap $5 Fiber Optic To Cable TV Adapter

    In his regular browsing on AliExpress, [Ben Jeffrey] came across something he didn’t understand—a $5 fiber optic to RF cable TV adapter. It was excessively cheap, and even more mysteriously, this thing didn’t even need power. He had to know how it worked, so he bought one and got down to tinkering with it.

  • Hackaday ☛ Clock Of Clocks Expands, Goes Digital

    Some people just want to have their cake and eat it too, but very few of us ever get to pull it off. [Erich Styger] has, though with V5 of his “MetaMetaClock”— a clock made of clocks, that uses the orientation of the hands to create digits.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Massive Study Links 8 Genetic Signals to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

    Relief for all who've been stigmatized.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Funding for Landmark Maternal Health Program, ERASE MM, Is at Risk

    Seven years ago, when President Donald Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act into law, it was hailed as a crucial step toward addressing the nation’s maternal mortality crisis.

    The law pumped tens of millions of dollars a year into a program to help fund state committees that review maternal deaths and identify their causes. The committees’ findings have led to new protocols to prevent hemorrhage, sepsis and suicide. Federal money has allowed some states to establish panels for the first time.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Just Shrugs as Kennedy Undermines His Vaccine Legacy

    Hell Toupée’s laissez-faire approach is notable, given that the development of the Covid vaccine was seen as one of his first term’s most notable achievements.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-08-02 [Older] How India's Gen Z is redefining spirituality

• Proprietary

  • Social Control Media

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong man’s incitement to subversion case under nat. security law transferred to District Court

      A Hong Kong man charged with inciting subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law will have his case transferred to the District Court, where he faces up to seven years’ imprisonment if convicted. Chan Ho-hin, a former waiter, appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday in a case linked to social control media posts [...]

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • Pen Test Partners ☛ Thumbnail forensics. DFIR techniques for analysing backdoored Windows Thumbcache

      TL;DR Introduction backdoored Windows thumbnail cache, or thumbcache, is a well-known forensic artifact, but often one that is overlooked. The thumbcache stores small previews of images, videos and documents and can persist even after the original files are deleted, which offers analysts an opportunity to uncover traces of user activity.

    • Hackaday ☛ One File, Six Formats: Just Change The Extension

      Normally, if you change a file’s extension in Windows, it doesn’t do anything positive. It just makes the file open in the wrong programs that can’t decode what’s inside. However, [PortalRunner] has crafted a file that can behave as six different filetypes, simply by swapping out the extension at the end of the filename.

• Security

  • Security Week ☛ In Other News: Nvidia Says No to Backdoors, Satellite Hacking, Energy Sector Assessment

    Noteworthy stories that might have slipped under the radar: federal court filing system hack, Chanel data breach, emergency CISA directive.

  • Security Week ☛ Help Desk at Risk: Scattered Spider Shines Light on Overlook Threat Vector

    As attackers target help desks and identity systems, traditional security perimeters are proving insufficient against agile, socially-engineered threats.

  • Security Week ☛ French Telecom Firm Bouygues Says Data Breach Affects 6.4M Customers

    Bouygues has been targeted in a cyberattack that resulted in the personal information of millions of customers getting compromised.

  • Security Week ☛ CodeSecCon 2025: Where Software Security’s Next Chapter Unfolds

    Taking place August 12-13, CodeSecCon is the premier virtual event bringing together developers and cybersecurity professionals to revolutionize the way applications are built, secured, and maintained.

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• Defence/Aggression

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-08-02 [Older] Romania ready to talk about Sinti and Roma genocide

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-08-06 [Older] Why is Saudi Arabia leading push for Palestinian statehood?

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-08-04 [Older] France and Saudis Vow to Keep up Momentum for 'Two-State Solution' to Israel-Palestinian Conflict

  • Scoop News Group ☛ Federal courts to ramp up filing system security after ‘recent escalated cyberattacks’

    The statement from the U.S. court system follows reports that the judiciary suffered a recent cyber breach.

  • The Strategist ☛ Friends to all: Tonga values independence while being reliable security partner

    Tonga’s unique political structure helps ensure its foreign partnerships are among the region’s most stable.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia urges Israel not to take military control of Gaza

    The comments come as Israel's security Cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Israeli security Cabinet expands the war in Gaza

    Israel’s security Cabinet decides to expand Gaza War in bid to destroy Hamas

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Military Takeover of Gaza

    The announcement appeared to stop short of saying explicitly that Israel would take full control of the Gaza Strip, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was his intention earlier.

  • New York Times ☛ What to Know About the Israeli Hostages Still Held in Gaza

    A group representing many of the hostages’ families has said the Israeli security cabinet’s plan to take control of Gaza City could further endanger their loved ones.

  • France24 ☛ What's Israeli PM's plan to control Gaza and end the war?

    Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s conditions to end the war include defeating and disarming Hamas, releasing all hostages, and maintaining Israeli security control over Gaza. While Israel plans to keep military oversight, civilian governance would be handed to a third party supported by Arab states. The Israeli cabinet has officially approved Netanyahu’s plan.

  • France24 ☛ Israel cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza despite army misgivings

    Israel’s military will take control of Gaza City under a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, approved by his security cabinet, to 'defeat' Hamas while delivering aid outside combat zones. Nearly two years into the war, Netanyahu faces growing pressure for a truce to avert famine and free hostages. FRANCE 24's Noga Tarnopolsky has more from Jerusalem.

• Environment

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-08-02 [Older] Japan braces for more heat after hottest July on record

  • BIA Net ☛ 2025-08-01 [Older] Turkey records all-time high temperature in July heatwave

  • Energy/Transportation

    • WhichUK ☛ Which? calls for Citroën to urgently improve shameful recall handling

      Repair delays and unclear compensation just two of many flaws with Stellantis' recall campaign

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Tesla scraps custom Dojo wafer-level processor initiative, dismantles team — MElon to lean on Nvidia and AMD more

      Tesla is shutting down its Dojo supercomputer program, reassigning staff and leaning more on AMD and Nvidia. Tesla's eventual designs expected to rely on a unified architecture spanning from edge devices to data centers.

• Finance

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Central bank slows rate cuts, but still brings interest rate to a 3-year low

    The rate cut was half the size of the four previous cuts as the bank's governors seek a balance between lowering inflation and boosting the economy.

  • Latvia ☛ Annual inflation rate remained at 3.8% during July in Latvia

    July saw Latvia's annual inflation rate remaining at 3.8%, according to data published by the Central Statistics Bureau (CSB) on August 8th.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New Yorker ☛ Your Questions Answered: Convicted Felon vs. the Rule of Law

    Jeannie Suk Gersen and Ruth Marcus, who write about the law for The New Yorker, address listeners’ pressing questions about the Convicted Felon Administration’s legal controversies.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong’s second nat. security case to be transferred to High Court

    Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong’s second national security case will be transferred to the High Court, where he may face life imprisonment if convicted. Wearing a white T-shirt and a black jacket, Wong appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday.

  • JURIST ☛ Arrest of former Macao lawmaker under national security law sparks international concern

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday called for the immediate and unconditional release of a former Macao lawmaker following his arrest under national security charges. The arrest marked the first time Macao, a Special Administrative Region of China, has invoked its sweeping Law on Safeguarding National Security. 

  • Digital Music News ☛ Court Grants Drake’s Motion to Serve Kojo Menne Asamoah in UMG Lawsuit

    Drake’s motion to subpoena Kojo Menne Asamoah in his defamation suit against UMG has been granted, with discovery forthcoming. Drake and his legal team have been granted permission to serve alleged key witness Kojo Menne Asamoah after filing a motion requesting to subpoena him last month.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Leon Hickman: ‘Peerless’ journalist who headed up sport at Birmingham Post for decades

    Leon Hickman has died aged 84 and worked at Birmingham Mail for 29 years.

  • Press Gazette ☛ 2025 journalism job cuts tracked: August starts with layoffs at Vox Media and Wyoming local newspapers

  • Press Gazette ☛ Nearly 1,000 journalists sign new petition urging end to Gaza ‘information blackout’

    Move comes as press freedom groups say Gaza journalists starving to death.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-08-02 [Older] Germany updates: Domestic violence at all-time high — report

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-08-01 [Older] Turkey, Italy and Libya Leaders Discuss Mediterranean Migration Route, Cooperation

  • BIA Net ☛ 2025-08-05 [Older] The women of the land: The silent revolution of ecofeminism in Turkey

  • BIA Net ☛ 2025-08-06 [Older] Rights group documents over 26,000 violations in Turkey’s prisons in 2024

  • ANF News ☛ 2025-08-07 [Older] Petition for immediate suspension of Mehmet Çakas' deportation from Germany to Turkey

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-08-06 [Older] Turkey Arrests Youth Activist, Drawing European Protest

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Michael Geist ☛ Carney’s Digital Recalibration: How the Government is Trending Away from Justin Trudeau’s Digital Policy

    Digital policies did not play a prominent role in the last election given the intense focus on the Canada-U.S. relationship. Prime Minister Mark Carney started as a bit of a blank slate on the issue, but over the past few months a trend has emerged as he distances himself from the Justin Trudeau approach with important shifts on telecom, taxation, and the regulation of artificial intelligence. Further, recent hints of an openness to re-considering the Online News Act and heightened pressure from the U.S. on the Online Streaming Act suggests that a full overhaul may be a possibility.

  • Internet Society ☛ The Internet of Wonder: How a Scientific Livestream Became a Cultural Phenomenon

    A scientific expedition in Argentina is becoming a cultural phenomenon thanks to the Internet, pulling in thousands of livestream viewers.

Monopolies/Monopsonies