Leftovers

• New Yorker ☛ Saving a Lost Generation of Young Men—with Chop Saws

  The College of St. Joseph the Worker, which combines the trades with a liberal-arts education, is trying to restore its students’ sense of their own competence, and revive the city of Steubenville, Ohio, along the way.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Our FLAC Navidrome has begun!

  I’ve stared a new Navidrome library for FLAC files. Yay!

• Legal

  • International Business Times ☛ Retired Adult Film Star Asia Carrera Passes Texas Bar—Just to Show She Could Do It

    Carrera, born Jessica Steinhauser, revealed this week that she has passed the Texas bar exam, a two-day test widely regarded as one of the toughest in the US. The result, confirmed by TMZ, shows official records showing her admission to the State Bar of Texas under her birth name, places her on firm legal footing even if she remains ambivalent about practising.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Getting Stuck in a 'Boring' Conversation Could Have a Surprising Benefit

    Let them rant – it'll be good for both of you.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Simple Calculation May Predict High Blood Pressure Better Than BMI Can

    No more need for scales.

  • Science Alert ☛ Artemis II Astronauts Say Returning Home Was Glorious, But One Part Was Scary

    They gave high marks to their moonship.

  • Science Alert ☛ Nature Might Pulse to a Universal Rhythm – 2 Beats Per Second

    Dancing to the same beat.

  • Science Alert ☛ Misophonia Has Genetic Links to Anxiety And Depression, Study Says

    A profile of this mysterious condition is emerging.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Found 5.5 Million Bees Living Beneath a New York Cemetery

    One of the largest aggregations of ground-nesting bees in the world.

  • Science Alert ☛ It's Official: Antarctica's Iconic Emperor Penguins Are Endangered

    Here's what can be done.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ WiQwiic-32 – A compact USB-C IoT board with eight Qwiic connectors (Crowdfunding)

    Hack The Board’s WiQwiic-32 is a small USB-C IoT development board based on an ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth module, and equipped with a 1.14-inch LCD and eight Qwiic ports for easy prototyping with compatible modules. It also features a microphone and a buzzer for audio interaction, four buttons, two RGB LEDs, and a power LED.  There aren’t any through-holes for GPIO pins, so expansion is only possible through the Qwiic connectors, although you can always add a Qwiic to header converter module if you ever need breadboard-compatible GPIO headers.

  • CNX Software ☛ Boardcon Tiny1126B is a smaller and lighter Rockchip RV1126B system-on-module, yet with more I/Os

    Boardcon Tiny1126B shrinks the company’s MINI1126B-P Rockchip RV1126B system-on-module (SoM) from 38x30mm to 34x30mm, targeting even more compact Hey Hi (AI) vision systems such as smart cameras, smart door locks, inspection cameras, cleaning/logistics robots, DMS (Driver Monitoring Systems), BSD (Blind Spot Detection) solutions, and smart displays. Despite its smaller size, the Tiny1126B features two 0.4mm pitch 100-pin connectors, instead of two 0.5mm pitch 80-pin connectors for its predecessors, offering even more I/Os.

  • CNX Software ☛ Conclusive Engineering KSTR-SAMA5D27 is an ultra-compact, low-power SBC based on Microchip SAMA5D27 SiP

    Conclusive Engineering KSTR-SAMA5D27  is an ultra-compact (70x50mm) single board computer (SBC) powered by a Microchip SAMA5D27 Arm Cortex-A5 processor microprocessor clocked at 500 MHz paired with 256MB LPDDR2 (system-in-package). The board also features a microSD card slot and EEPROM for storage/configuration, Fast Ethernet, WiFi 4, and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity, a USB-C port, two GPIO headers, and supports USB and battery power.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ A.I. Backlash Turns Violent + Kara Swisher on Healthmaxxing + The Zuck Bot Is Coming

    Is anti-A.I. radicalization a growing trend?

  • JURIST ☛ HRW backs communities affected by contaminated Zambia mining site

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement on Wednesday in support of a group in Zambia that has called for the African Union to take steps to clean up a mine site that has caused child led-poisoning. Complainants included the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa, Zambian nongovernmental organizations, and affected families.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China hits food delivery platforms with $671 million fine for ‘ghost’ deliveries

    The legal representatives of the companies were also fined a total of 19.7 million yuan, the market regulator said.

  • Latvia ☛ Hospital services will likely become costlier in Latvia

    Costs affecting hospitals are rising. Both energy resources, particularly heating, and medications have become more expensive. Hospitals note that if current trends continue, prices for paid services could also rise in the future, Latvian Television reported on 16th April.

  • New York Times ☛ New PEPFAR Data Show Worrying Declines in Testing and Treatment for H.I.V.

    The numbers are the first to quantify the effect of the Convicted Felon administration’s shutdown and restarting of a program that has saved millions of lives worldwide.

  • New York Times ☛ With Vaccines Widely Popular, Kennedy Changes Tone, but Maybe Not His Plans

    Several moves suggest Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could revive his campaign to question the safety and effectiveness of the shots after the midterm elections.

  • WhichUK ☛ Is my wood burner damaging my health? I tracked pollution in my home to find out

    A growing body of evidence suggests that wood burners could be bad for our health - I tracked pollution from my stove to investigate its impact

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Mental health advocates optimistic about Michigan reforms

    Bipartisan support for early intervention legislation and newly outlined recommendations on bed capacity have renewed faith in revamping the state’s behavioral health system.

  • France24 ☛ EU moves to tighten rules on harmful pollutants: The invisible danger of 'forever chemicals'

    They are known as "forever chemicals": synthetic compounds that resist breakdown in the human body and the environment. Also known as PFAS, there are thousands of them, and you might not even realise that you are being exposed to them while doing simple everyday tasks like cooking. The EU does have a strict rulebook on chemicals, when compared to other parts of the world, but some say that industrial lobbying is holding back more stringent regulation. In this episode we look at how the EU is trying to tighten its rules on these pollutants.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Skin boosters made from cadavers raise ethical concerns in South Korea

    Domestically donated bodies are not used to make the boosters, said South Korea's Health Ministry.

• Proprietary

  • CBS ☛ NPR receives $113 million in charitable gifts, including $80 million from Connie Ballmer - CBS News [Ed: Connie Ballmer not just a CEO's wife but also from the PR agency of Microsoft. This is a bribe and corruption of the media. Waggener Edstrom buys the media along with Bill Espteingate.]

    NPR said the donation from Ballmer, the largest to the public radio network by a living donor, will help offset the loss of federal funding in 2025.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ Fury Erupts as Val Kilmer’s Estate Announces Starring Role in Hey Hi (AI) Film Made From Beyond the Grave

      "This is truly the MOST disgusting thing I’ve ever seen."

    • Futurism ☛ There Are Signs of a Massive Hey Hi (AI) Backlash

      It's a powder keg.

    • Futurism ☛ Millions of Americans Are Talking to Hey Hi (AI) Instead of Going to the Doctor, and It’s Giving Them Horrendously Flawed Medical Advice

      What could possibly go wrong?

    • Kev Quirk ☛ On Hey Hi (AI) Images and Feature Images in General

• Linux Foundation

  • The Fast Mode ☛ Linux Foundation Networking Welcomes O-RAN Software Community in Major Open RAN Integration Move

    Linux Foundation Networking (LFN), the facilitator of collaboration and operational excellence across open source networking projects, welcomes the formal migration of the O-RAN Software Community (O-RAN SC) under the LFN umbrella, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of open source Radio Access Network (RAN) software development.

  • Linux Foundation Networking takes over Open RAN software group set up with O-RAN Alliance

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Scoop News Group ☛ The surveillance law Congress can’t quit — and can’t explain

      Congress overhauled Section 702 in 2024 with 56 changes. Now, as the law nears expiration, supporters and critics can’t even agree on what the numbers show.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Why the surveillance powers in FISA roil Congress – across party lines

      A section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, designed to help head off terrorist attacks, is also seen as a threat to civil liberties if misused. Members of Congress have been split across party lines as they wrestle with what to do ahead of a Monday deadline.

    • Michael Geist ☛ More Surveillance Demands to Come?: Government Admits Bill C-22’s Lawful Access Provisions Could Be Expanded

      Debate on Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, continued this week with Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and Secretary of State for Combatting Crime Ruby Sahota leading the government’s case on Wednesday.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ Iran War Forces America’s Friends in Asia to Court Its Rivals

    The severe disruption of oil supplies from the Middle East as a result of the war has prompted South Korea and the Philippines to make deals with Russia and Iran.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australian former soldier gets bail on Afghanistan war crime charges

    An Australian court ordered bail with travel restrictions on Friday for the country's most decorated soldier, following his arrest on accusations of war crimes while deployed in Afghanistan more than a decade ago.

  • The Straits Times ☛ First South Korean tanker transits alternative Red Sea route

    Seoul said in April that it would send five ships to the Saudi Arabia to establish alternative routes.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran Resisted a Powerful Attacker. Taiwan Can, Too.

    By holding off America’s more powerful military, Iran showed how Taiwan can deter or defeat China.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China offers Vietnam railway loans, technology; shows off high-speed rail

    China said it would guide enterprises to participate in railway construction projects in Vietnam.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war

    Chinese state media outlets are increasingly amplifying Taiwanese critics of the island’s ruling party.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says its military activities around Taiwan are ‘reasonable, justified’

    China sends its warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan almost daily.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says Japan stirs ‘trouble’ with vessel in Taiwan Strait

    China is firmly opposed to the vessel’s presence and has protested to Tokyo.

  • New York Times ☛ Why Lebanon’s Government Has Struggled to Contain Hezbollah

    Lebanon’s government has been caught between Western demands to disarm the Shiite Muslim militant group and fears of inflaming sectarian tensions.

  • Defence Web ☛ Regional drug routes shift as domestic impact grows, Mozambican authorities say

    Mozambique is being pulled deeper into evolving regional drug trafficking routes, as new data reveals that the country is no [...]

  • France24 ☛ 'Wake-up call for Europeans to step up: There’s been a lack of investment' in defence

    William Hilderbrandt is pleased to welcome Basil Germond, Professor of International Security in the School of Global Affairs and Co-Director of the University research institute Security Lancaster. He examines the emerging European-led initiative to secure the Strait of Hormuz in a post-war context, placing it within broader questions of maritime security, geopolitical negotiation, and transatlantic relations. From his perspective, this initiative reflects a strategic shift: European actors are attempting to shape the conditions of peace and stability themselves, beyond a US-led framework.

  • New York Times ☛ Prosecutor Withdraws From Convicted Felon Team’s Investigation of Ex-CIA Director John O. Brennan

    A career Justice Department lawyer, Maria Medetis Long, in Miami is said to have raised concerns about whether the evidence justified moving forward with a bid to prosecute John O. Brennan.

  • The Straits Times ☛ New Zealand defends military patrol flight near China

    April 18 - New Zealand on Saturday defended the actions of a military patrol aircraft flight near China after Beijing said it had undermined its security interests.

  • The Strategist ☛ Sovereign resilience starts in the north

    With the war in Iran, Australia is facing a second major external shock this decade.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian diaspora reps say dual citizenship should be national security matter

      A joint commission of the Lithuanian parliament and the World Lithuanian Community has adopted six resolutions, including a call for state leaders to treat the retention of birthright citizenship as a national security issue.

    • New Yorker ☛ Corruption Toppled Viktor Orbán. Could The Insurrectionist Be Next?

      “Corruption is the Achilles’ heel of autocrats. It’s not a bug in the system. It’s the model,” the New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer says.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Lawyer Who Lashed Out At Putin Released From Mental Hospital

      Ilya Remeslo, a longtime pro-Kremlin blogger who was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after abruptly directing strongly worded criticism at Russian President Vladimir Putin, says he has been released after a month in the facility in St. Petersburg.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China, Russia ties driving North Korean economic recovery, Seoul says

      North Korea’s economy is showing signs of recovery as Pyongyang deepens trade and diplomatic ties with Russia and China, South Korea’s unification ministry said in a report sent to AFP on Friday.

    • RFERL ☛ US Lawmaker Wilson Flags Western Chips Still Flowing Into Russian, Iranian Drones

      A senior Republican lawmaker has raised concerns over continued US-origin components appearing in Russian weapon systems amid Ukrainian reports that recent drone strikes show evidence of Western microelectronics manufactured as recently as 2025.

    • RFERL ☛ US Quietly Renews Russian Oil Waiver Amid Market Turmoil, Policy Confusion

      The United States has again temporarily eased sanctions on Russian oil, issuing a new waiver that allows certain shipments already at sea to be delivered and sold, even as Washington publicly insists it is maintaining pressure on the Kremlin.

    • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Extends Sanctions Exemption on Some Russian Oil as High Gas Prices Persist

      The Forrest Dump administration made the announcement hours after Iran said that the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial ships.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian carriers have recovered over half of trucks detained in Belarus

      The flow of Lithuanian trucks returning from detention in Belarus has slowed in recent days, border officials said, as transport industry groups estimate that more than half of the seized vehicles have already been recovered.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ 5-magnitude earthquake strikes off mountainous Nagano in Japan: NHK

    There were no reports so far of any damage.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ Ex-bus driver in Malaysia jailed, fined after video of girlfriend seated on his lap goes viral

      The ex-bus driver and his girlfriend were sentenced to 12 months' and six months' jail respectively.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Analytics group signals possible delays at 40% of Hey Hi (AI) data center construction sites — companies deny schedule holdups, but satellite imagery indicates otherwise

      At least 40% of all Hey Hi (AI) data centers slated for completion in 2026 will be delayed, according to a data analytics group. Hey Hi (AI) tech companies say everything is on schedule, but labor and material shortages are seemingly holding up construction.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s data centre boom: Powering innovation or jeopardising climate goals?

      By Steven Chan Hong Kong attempts to position itself as Asia’s innovation hub, and the numbers look impressive. According to market data, the city hosts 47 data centres with a total IT load of 581 megawatts. Another 671 megawatts worth of facilities are already in planning or under construction.

    • New York Times ☛ Supreme Court Sides With Oil Companies in Louisiana Coastal Lawsuits

      The companies had asked the justices to clear the way to move environmental lawsuits out of state courts, to friendlier federal venues.

    • Latvia ☛ No signs Lufthansa changes will impact airBaltic, says senior official

      Germany's national airline Lufthansa has announced that it has decided to implement its new business strategy at a much faster pace than previously planned in response to rising fuel prices and strikes at the airline – however, such moves should not affect airBaltic, in which the German airline holds a 10% stake, reports Latvian Television.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ After a Mexico City suburb euthanized 11,000 street dogs, Sheinbaum demands a review

      The former mayor of Tecamac, México state, now a federal senator, authorized the killings from 2019 to 2023, saying the dogs were in "deplorable" health or proven dangerous.

    • France24 ☛ Elusive wolf in South Korea recaptured after nine days on the run

      A wolf that escaped ⁠from a zoo ​in the South Korean city of Daejeon was recaptured on Friday after nine days on ​the run, bringing to a close a saga that gripped the public as the elusive animal evaded earlier capture attempts.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ Our Tax System Should Make You Furious

    The tax expert Ray Madoff explains why the American tax system is broken, and how to make it fairer.

  • CS Monitor ☛ The wages are subminimum. But is the offer of something more? (video)

    “Sheltered workshops” are often charged with exploiting workers diagnosed with intellectual disabilities. But many workers and their caregivers support such workshops and the sense of purpose and community they can bring. Our multimedia reporter spoke to people in both camps and visited workers at three sites for this short documentary.

  • The Telegraph UK ☛ Asda considers vending machines to fight shoplifting

    Asda is drawing up proposals to put perfume and batteries into vending machines to stop criminals stealing them from shelves as Britain grapples with a shoplifting epidemic.

    The supermarket is holding talks about installing vending machines across its stores for products that are regularly targeted by criminals.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Starmer Fires Senior U.K. Civil Servant Over Mandelson Revelations

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office confirmed that Peter Mandelson, a Jeffrey Epstein associate, failed security checks before he became Britain’s envoy to Washington.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • The Straits Times ☛ Is this singer real? Why China wants to regulate AI-generated humans [Ed: Now they call CG (computer-generated) "AI-generated"; just comes to show how much BS there is out there]

      Potential problems range from users being misled to the erosion of trust in tech or the larger society.

    • Futurism ☛ A Prominent PR Firm Is Running a Fake News Site That’s Plagiarizing Original Journalism at Incredible Scale

      "This is very upsetting to see."

    • New York Times ☛ Hundreds of Fake Pro-Dihydroxyacetone Man Avatars Emerge on Social Media

      The artificial-intelligence-generated fake influencers have surged on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook (Farcebook) and YouTube in an apparent bid to hook conservative voters.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • JURIST ☛ Amnesty International condemns Kazakhstan conviction of human rights protestors

    Amnesty International called the conviction and sentencing of 19 activists who participated in a peaceful protest in Kazakhstan a “travesty of justice,” in a press release on Tuesday. The protest was intended to raise awareness of and to help end human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region. 

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Former pro-democracy lawmaker struck off Hong Kong medical register over national security conviction

    A former pro-democracy lawmaker has been struck off Hong Kong’s medical register following his conviction for conspiracy to subvert state power in the landmark “Hong Kong 47” national security case.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Bauer unveils major digital restructure hitting jobs in Germany and UK

    Germany subsidiary of digital publishing arm to shut down with 160 affected.

  • NYPost ☛ FBI Director Kash Patel threatens to sue The Atlantic over ‘categorically false’ report alleging excessive drinking

    The “hit piece,” as Patel’s lawyer described the story, claims the FBI director’s “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” have “alarmed” Justice Department and bureau officials – and in one alleged instance resulted in his security detail requesting “breaching equipment” to get him out of a locked room.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Standard website transfers to Independent with more than 30 staff leaving

  • France24 ☛ Press association denounces Israel’s use of altered image to depict slain journalist

    Lebanese journalist Ali Shoeib was killed during an Israeli strike on March 28. To justify this attack, the Israeli army published an image online of Shoeib wearing a uniform of militant group Hezbollah. The army later admitted that the image was photoshopped.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • CS Monitor ☛ How women’s digital lives change China

    Chinese women not only excel over men in the use of artificial intelligence, but also bring qualities of online engagement that are a model for trusted, empathetic activism in a controlled society.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Stanford University ☛ Friend Drop founder posed as Stanford student, accuses Date Drop of intellectual property infringement

    Friend Drop founder alleges Date Drop copied their business model, Date Drop maintains that its new friend drop feature had been in the works for months.

  • Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ Jeffrey M. Gross entity, TurboCode, cellular decoding patent monopoly challenged

      On April 14, 2026, Unified filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 6,813,742, owned and asserted by TurboCode LLC, an NPE and entity of Jeffrey M. Gross. The ‘742 patent monopoly generally relates to a broadband processor for wireless communications focused on turbo code decoding.

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Same Problem, Same Solution: Reading Trade Secrets Across Fields

      Federal Circuit reverses $17M Penuma judgment, tightening California's 'generally known' trade secret rule and tying it to patent monopoly inventorship.

    • Unified Patents ☛ Vision Works vehicle anti-rollover patent monopoly challenge instituted

      On April 15, 2026, three weeks after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 8,315,769, owned and asserted by Vision Works IP Corp., an NPE. The ’769 patent monopoly generally relates to changing suspension characteristics of a moving vehicle in response to lateral acceleration.

    • JUVE ☛ Former litigators of August Debouzy and Aramis join forces for new French IP boutique [Ed: Seems to be marketing spam for litigation fanatics who pay this site]

      Anaïs Pallut and Annabelle Divoy’s new firm Pairs Law will cover the full range of IP matters, including patents, trademarks, copyright, designs and software, but with a clear focus on patent monopoly litigation.

    • Unified Patents ☛ Empire IP entity, Fleet Connect, Wi-Fi patent monopoly found invalid

      On March 26, 2026, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a notice of intent to issue a reexamination certificate cancelling challenged claims 1-9, 11-13, 20, 21, 28, and 29 of U.S. Patent 7,742,388, owned and asserted by Fleet Connect Solutions, LLC, an NPE and entity of Empire IP. The '388 patent monopoly focuses on a system and method for increased bandwidth in digital communications, particularly within local and wide area networks including WLANs and mobile networks.