Leftovers

• Science

  • Futurism ☛ Physicists Say They’ve Proven Whether We’re Living in a Simulation

    Maybe there is no red or blue pill.

  • New York Times ☛ Merck PCSK9 Pill Results Point to Extremely Low Cholesterol Future

    The drug targets the PCSK9 protein, and could give millions of people a more affordable option to reduce their heart disease risk.

  • Science Alert ☛ This Week in Science: Brain Rinse Cycle, World's Biggest Spider Web, And More!

    Our weekly science news roundup.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Unique Protein in Camels And Llamas May Protect The Brain From Alzheimer's

    "We believe they can form a new class of drugs."

  • Science Alert ☛ The Surprising Reason Why Giraffes Have Such Very Long Legs

    This makes a lot of sense.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal How The Maya Predicted Eclipses For Centuries

    Accurate for at least 700 years.

  • Science Alert ☛ Mysterious Ritual Site From 5,500 Years Ago Reveals an Ancient Society in Upheaval

    Something very big happened here.

• Career/Education

  • JURIST ☛ Cornell University announces $60M deal with Convicted Felon administration to restore funding

    Cornell University announced on Friday that it reached a settlement with US President The Insurrectionist’s administration to pay $60 million and adopt the administration’s interpretation of federal civil rights laws. In exchange, the federal government will restore Cornell’s federal research funding and end ongoing investigations. President Michael I.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ What Has 5,000 Batteries And Floats?

    While it sounds like the start of a joke, Australian shipmaker Incat Tasmania isn’t kidding around about electric ships. Hull 096 has started charging, although it has only 85% of the over 5,000 lithium-ion batteries it will have when complete. The ship has a 40 megawatt-hour storage system with 12 banks of batteries, each consisting of 418 modules for a total of 5,016 cells. [Vannessa Bates Ramierz] breaks it down in a recent post over on IEEE Spectrum. You can get an eyeful of the beast in the official launch video, below. The Incat Tasmania channel also has other videos about the ship.

  • Hackaday ☛ 2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Heat Activated LED Candles

    [Miroslav Hancar] wasn’t satisfied with abusing just a single component for our Component Abuse Challenge. He decided to abuse a whole assembly, in particular, some LED candles.

  • Hackaday ☛ Teardown Of HP Optical Link And Signal Investigations Using Siglent Technology

    Anything with a laser has undeniable hacker appeal, even if the laser’s task is as pedestrian as sending data over a fiber optic cable. [Shahriar] from [The Signal Path] must agree, and you can watch as he tears down and investigates a fiber optic link made from old HP equipment in the video below.

  • Hackaday ☛ Camera Capabilities Unlocked From A Mouse

    There is a point where taking technology for granted hides some of the incredible capabilities of seemingly simple devices. Optical mice are a great example of this principle, using what are more or less entirely self-contained cameras just for moving the cursor across your screen. Don’t believe us? Check out this camera made from an old optical mouse from [Dycus]!

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ CPU collector peels the lid off a Soviet-era ‘fish can’ chip to peer inside with multiple microscopes — K565RU3 was a Cold War-era clone of Western chips that powered Fashion Company Apple II, Commodore PET, and original I.C.B.M. PC

    A fascinating Soviet-era retro electronics artifact has been dissected and micrographed by a CPU collector.

  • Hackaday ☛ Autopsy Of A First-Generation RX7 Mazda Rotary Car Engine

    In theory, Wankel-style rotary internal combustion engines have many advantages: they ditch the cumbersome crankcase and piston design, replacing it with a simple, single-chamber design and a thick, plectrum-shaped chunk of metal that spins around inside that chamber to create virtual combustion chambers. This saves weight and maximizes performance-to-weight. Unfortunately, these types of engines are also known for burning a lot of oil and endless seal troubles, especially with early rotary Mazda engines that easily died.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Inside China’s Quest to Defy Aging with Longevity Labs and ‘Immortality Islands’

    Longevity labs, “immortality islands” and grapeseed pills are part of China’s national project to conquer aging, despite sometimes shaky science and extravagant claims.

  • Science Alert ☛ Pain Drugs Could Be The Cause of Your Headaches. Here's Why.

    It’s important to be aware of this.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Allure—and the Policing—of Subway Surfing

    Mayor Eric Adams’s administration has wrapped an expansion of invasive surveillance in the apolitical packaging of saving teen-agers from their addled selves.

  • Stanford University ☛ Women’s athletic health conference presents breakthrough research for female athletes

    In the “Nutrition and Fueling” panel discussion at Stanford’s Female Athlete Research Meeting (FARM), researchers revealed how energy availability, meal timing and gut health can prevent injuries and optimize recovery for females in athletes.

• Proprietary

  • It's FOSS ☛ YouTube Goes Bonkers, Removes backdoored Windows 11 Bypass Tutorials, Claims 'Risk of Physical Harm'

    When will these Big Tech platforms learn?

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ OpenAI asks U.S. to expand CHIPS Act tax credit to cover Hey Hi (AI) infrastructure despite firm's denial wanting a government 'backstop' for its massive loans

      OpenAI has asked the Convicted Felon administration to expand a major CHIPS Act tax credit to support the build-out of Hey Hi (AI) infrastructure, including servers, data centers, and power systems.

    • Futurism ☛ Kim Kardashian Says She Screamed at Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot After It “Made” Her Fail Law School Tests

      "They’re always wrong. It has made me fail tests all the time."

    • Drew DeVault ☛ OpenAI employees… are you okay?

      You might have seen an article making the rounds this week, about a young man who ended his life after Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot encouraged him to do so. The chat logs are really upsetting.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Straits Times ☛ China’s security state sells an Hey Hi (AI) dream

      The vision of an all-seeing state has unnerved Washington.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ Saudi Ex-Intelligence Official Seeks American Help Spilling U.S. Secrets

    Saad Aljabri, feuding with the de facto Saudi ruler, wants former U.S. officials to help him fend off Saudi corruption claims.

  • New York Times ☛ A Powerful Tool to Override Constitutional Rights Goes to Court

    The Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases involving provinces using a clause to pass laws that violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

  • New York Times ☛ Black South Carolina Residents Say Re-Routed Penn Center Parade Feels Like Erasure

    The annual Penn Center Heritage Day Parade in South Carolina draws hundreds to celebrate the Gullah Geechee people. But a new route has Black residents feeling as if their legacy is vanishing.

  • JURIST ☛ Rights groups accuse Tunisia of prioritizing EU migration funding over humanitarian concerns

    Amnesty International has accused Tunisian authorities of intensifying abuses against sub-Saharan migrants through violent policing, expulsions, and discriminatory laws that violate fundamental human rights. The organization said Tuesday that European governments risk complicity in these violations by continuing to fund Tunisia’s border operations.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US military slams ‘destabilising’ North Korea missile launch; North threatens ‘offensive action’

    North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea off its east coast a day earlier.

  • JURIST ☛ UN Security Council adopts resolution removing Syria transitional president from sanctions measures

    The UN Security Council on Thursday announced its adoption of Resolution 2799, which aims to remove two individuals, including current President Ahmed al-Sharaa, from its sanctions list on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda, in a move widely celebrated as a revival of Syria’s economy.

  • JURIST ☛ UN experts warn of proxy actors rising in both war and peacetime

    The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries warned Friday of the increasing use of mercenaries and private military and security companies (PMSCs) as proxy actors in both conflict and peacetime settings. These private actors reportedly facilitate violence and human rights violations worldwide.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 64

    The trial of fugitive activist Anna Kwok’s father began in October over the alleged handling of funds belonging to his daughter. A Hong Kong man was arrested weeks after his acquittal in a terrorism case, while two teenagers pleaded guilty to national security charges.

  • France24 ☛ Louvre museum tightens security with additional CCTV cameras

    The Louvre museum is introducing new security measures in light of criticism it recieved following the recent robbery. Gabrielle Nadler has the story.

  • France24 ☛ French anti-terror unit expands probe into 2015 attacker’s illicit possession of USB stick

    As France prepares to mark the tenth anniversary of the deadly November 13, 2015 Paris attacks, three suspects were questioned over a USB stick found in the possession of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving attacker, in a high security prison, an anti-terror unit said Saturday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan Vice-President makes rare trip to Europe for Parliament speech

    The country's only formal diplomatic ties in Europe are with the Vatican.

  • New York Times ☛ Inside Convicted Felon’s Deportation of Venezuelans: Four Months in a Salvadoran Prison

    The Times interviewed dozens of migrant men sent to a prison in El Salvador by the Convicted Felon administration. Independent forensic analysts called the testimony credible and consistent and said the treatment met the U.N.’s definition of torture.

  • NYPost ☛ Suspect in Texas torture house was once obsessed with making a ‘bed of nails:’ grandmother

    Frankie Lefevers, 64, insisted her grandson Maynard Lefevers was an upstanding boy, despite a "strange" fixation on creating his own "bed of nails."

  • JURIST ☛ Former ICC prosecutor says US boat strikes are crimes against humanity

    A former Argentinian prosecutor for the International Criminal Court told the BillBC on Thursday that recent US airstrikes on suspected boats smuggling drugs in the US would constitute crimes against humanity under international law. 

  • France24 ☛ Israeli strikes in Lebanon kill three, EU calls for truce to be respected

    Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday killed three people, including two brothers in a car on the slopes of Mount Hermon. The IDF said they were "terrorists" smuggling weapons. The EU called on all parties to respect a ceasefire reached in November 2024.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Latvia ☛ Latvia faces dilemma over sport's willingness to welcome Russian participants

      At the end of October, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that Russian athletes can participate in the International Luge Federation (FIL) competitions under in the status of supposedly 'neutral' athletes. As a result, the Sigulda stage of the World Cup in luge is under threat as, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Latvia does not allow Russian athletes to compete on its soil alongside Latvian athletes.

    • France24 ☛ At least four killed by Russian strikes in Ukraine

      A Russian drone slammed into a tower block in eastern Ukraine early Saturday while many were sleeping, killing four and injuring 12 people, Ukrainian authorities reported. Shirli Sitbon has the latest.

    • France24 ☛ Massive Russian attack damages Ukraine's energy network, killing one

      A large-scale Russian attack damaged Ukraine's energy infrastructure prompting emergency power outages, Ukrainian authorities said on Saturday, as the emergency services said a Russian drone strike on a nine-storey building in Dnipro killed one woman and wounded six people. France24 correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze reports the latest from Kharkiv.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Warns Against 'Weak' Western Response As Russia Blasts Ukraine's Energy Sector

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kept up his call for additional Western pressure on the Kremlin as the death toll rose from the latest Russian attacks and as authorities struggled to restore power following the latest strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

    • RFERL ☛ Homes, Energy Sector Hit In Deadly Russian Attack On Ukraine

      Russia carried out a large, overnight combined strike using drones and missiles across multiple Ukrainian regions, with officials emphasizing that energy infrastructure and civilian facilities were key targets.

    • New York Times ☛ Russian Bombardment Causes Large Outages in Ukraine’s Big Cities

      The attack by Russian missiles and drones targeted the capital, Kyiv, and the large cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv, as well as several smaller municipalities.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Warns Against 'Weak' Western Response As Russia Attacks Ukraine's Energy Sector

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy kept up his call for additional Western pressure on the Kremlin as the death toll rose from the latest Russian attacks and as authorities struggled to restore power following the latest strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure

    • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Gives Hungary a Reprieve on Sanctions After Meeting With Orban

      The United States has imposed sanctions on nations buying Russian oil, but President Viktor Orban successfully argued that Hungary had few other options.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines evacuates 100,000 people as Fung-wong intensifies into super typhoon

    The Philippines evacuated over 100,000 residents across its eastern and northern regions as Fung-wong intensified on Sunday into a super typhoon ahead of its expected arrival later in the day, threatening to unleash torrential rains, destructive winds, and storm surges.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • France24 ☛ USA: Hundreds of flights canceled nationwide amid government shutdown cuts

      More than 5,000 US flights were delayed or canceled on Friday, the first day of new mandates requiring airlines to cut air traffic as the government shutdown continues. The rules, implemented at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports, aim to reduce pressure on air traffic controllers and other federal workers who are reporting to duty without pay amid the historic funding impasse. Professor of Computer Science at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain, Sheldon H. Jacobson, gives his insights.

    • Futurism ☛ Chinese Firefighters Using Robot Dogs With Huge Hoses Attached

      "This is the direction of technological development: to help people, not replace them."

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia banks on Lynas’ expansion to become vital cog in rare earth supply chain

    This comes after China’s export controls caused a global supply crunch in rare earths.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ As Spacemen Stalk Jim Comey, Loaner AUSA Tyler Lemons Doxed Him

    On the same day that a guy posting threats targeting Jim Comey was arrested, Rebekah Donaleski had to point out to Tyler Lemons it's not cool to publicly post emails and phone numbers in court filings.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Washington Roundtable Answers Your Questions

    How might this week’s election results shape the next year of American politics?

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • France24 ☛ Court orders anti-migrant group to stop barring foreigners from South African healthcare

    A South African court has ruled that an anti-migrant group must cease preventing foreign nationals from entering public hospitals, clinics, and schools, declaring the practice unlawful. The group, Operation Dudula, has been staging pickets outside health facilities in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, checking identity documents and turning away anyone not identified as South African - actions that have now spread to schools. Nina Masson and Nicholas Rushworth report.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Chipmaking industry pushes back on U.S. Patent Office considering imposing annual fee based on assessed value — “tax on innovation” draws strong opposition from Semiconductor Industry Association

    A proposal to change the USPTO's fee structure from fixed rates to a percentage basis is facing resistance from the semiconductor industry.