Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ What does a professional calligrapher do?

  I posted on Tuesday about handwriting, and how I struggle to read much of it thesedays. I attributed this to a lack of practice, and perhaps an over-reliance on typeset and computer text. I mentioned:

  My late mum was a professional calligrapher, and had some of the most beautiful casual handwriting I’ve ever seen.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Artyom Bologov ☛ GESS Stenography for Russian and English

    So I was looking for a good shorthand / stenography system. Preferably multi-lingual, so that I can write both English and Russian / Interslavic. I searched far and wide for Armenian stenography systems. Because Armenian phonetics is almost a superset of Russian and English. So if I can write Armenian shorthand, I can write English and Russian easily. But no, there’s no Armenian shorthand documented anywhere. Even in the biggest library of Armenia. Only Russian-language systems, like GESS.

• Audiocasts/Shows

  • Six Colors ☛ Introducing the Six Colors Audio Newsletter

    As a result, I’ve built a new “Six Colors Audio Newsletter” podcast feed. Using the same logic as our regular members-only email newsletter, it posts an episode any day there’s at least one full story on the site. Any day we’ve got stuff on the site, a new Audio Newsletter episode drops, complete with introduction and chapter markers per story. Here’s a link to a sample episode.

  • Doc Searls ☛ The Other Reasons Why Podcasting is Hot

    Near the end of this Pivot podcast, starting at about the 55 minute mark, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway give a great summary of why podcasting is “the fastest-growing ad-supported medium.” Among other things, they say “People actually listen to the ads,” and that host read-overs are very effective and remunerative (bringing much higher CPMs).

    Five additional points.

• Science

  • Rlang ☛ “Approximating evidence via bounded harmonic means” is out! [in Statistics and Computing]

  • Science Alert ☛ One Common Habit Can Make Your Insomnia Worse, Expert Explains

    Research has helped us understand some things.

  • Science Alert ☛ The World's Most Mysterious Volcano Can Finally Be Explained

    "A unique place on Earth."

  • New York Times ☛ Were Neanderthals Able to Hunt Elephants? The Proof Is in an Ancient Bone

    A new study found that a pachyderm skeleton, dismissed for decades as unimportant, offers evidence of careful planning, teamwork and a calculated kill.

  • Futurism ☛ Scientists Say They’ve Figured Out What That Golden Orb Found at the Bottom of the Pacific Ocean Actually Was

    "This turned into a special case that required focused efforts and expertise of several different individuals."

  • The Straits Times ☛ Chips today, fog tomorrow? Study links processed foods to waning focus

    A study has linked ultra-processed foods to reduced focus, even among otherwise healthy eaters.

• Career/Education

  • Latvia ☛ Online e-book buying not particularly popular in Latvia

    In 2025, 9.5% of EU residents, who used the internet in the past 3 months, bought e-books or audio books in the 3 months before the survey on the use of ICT in households by individuals, up from 7.3% in 2024, according to Eurostat.

  • Stanford University ☛ GSC passes free speech and student dignity resolutions

    The Graduate Students Council (GSC) passed two resolutions advancing free speech and students of all legal status.

• Hardware

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Finding a Commodore 64 250466 motherboard

    This is my beautiful old Commodore 64 “Aldi” case and keyboard I picked up in September 2023 from a seller in Germany: [...]

  • CNX Software ☛ Axiomtek PICO570 – An defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake Pico-ITX SBC with DDR5-5600 SO-DIMM memory, HDMI 2.1 up to 4Kp120

    Axiomtek has recently introduced the PICO570, a high-performance Pico-ITX SBC built around defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra (Series 1)  Meteor Lake-U processors. Measuring just 100 x 72 mm, this ultra-compact board with its 11 TOPS NPU is designed for edge Hey Hi (AI) applications.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says US export bills risk disrupting chip supply chains

    Beijing said the misuse of export controls would harm the global chip industry.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • LRT ☛ Drink-spiking in Vilnius: how to protect yourself

    Drink-spiking still takes place in Vilnius clubs and bars, and can be used for more reasons than sexual violence.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover an Amazing New Use For Your Leftover Coffee Grounds

    Stop pouring them down the drain.

  • Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough to Restore Aging Joints Could Help Treat Osteoarthritis

    "We are very excited."

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Opinion | What Michigan is about to lose

    If Planned Parenthood of Michigan is forced to close more health centers or scale back services further, that access does not simply shift elsewhere. It disappears, and the impact will be felt in missed cancer screenings, untreated infections, gaps in birth control access, and delayed care.

  • Stanford University ☛ Stanford team takes home first prize at National Bioethics Bowl

    The five-person team tackled challenging moral dilemmas across medicine, biotechnology and healthcare.

  • New York Times ☛ Kenyan Court Strikes Down Ruling Protecting Right to Abortion

    The decision, in a country where thousands of women die yearly from unsafe abortions, held that abortions deprive unborn children of the “right to life.”

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Press Gazette ☛ Slop in journalism: Live tracker of scandals and mistakes

      Round-up of the main cases where Hey Hi (AI) Slop use in journalism has gone wrong.

    • Futurism ☛ The Horrible Economics of Hey Hi (AI) Are Starting to Come Crashing Down

      The financials are absolutely brutal.

    • Futurism ☛ Three Years Ago Today, “Avengers” Director Joe Russo Predicted There Would Be a Fully AI-Generated Movie Within Two Years

      How'd that work out?

    • Futurism ☛ Chinese DRM spreader Netflix Competitor Opens Floodgates to Hey Hi (AI) Slop

      Sorry, C-drama fans.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ How a cavalcade of blunders gave unauthorized users access to Claude Mythos — restricted model accessed by third parties, thanks to knowledge from data breach

      Unauthorized individuals have accessed Anthropic's new Mythos cybersecurity-focused Hey Hi (AI) model, despite the developer locking it down to just a handful of companies. Considering the Hey Hi (AI) was purposefully designed to find zero-day exploits and offer viable fixes, the breach raises questions about Anthropic's own security, and why Mythos couldn't protect it.

    • Security Week ☛ In Other News: Unauthorized Mythos Access, Plankey CISA Nomination Ends, New Display Security Device

      Other noteworthy stories that might have slipped under the radar: Supreme Court hacker sentenced, Lovable exposed user data, Surveillance Giant Google expands enterprise security. 

  • Social Control Media

    • New York Times ☛ Turkey Passes Legislation to Bar Children Under 15 From Social Media

      The government says the measure, which must be signed into law by the president, will protect minors. Critics worry it will threaten free speech and privacy online.

    • The Straits Times ☛ From Australia to Europe, countries move to curb children's social control media access

      April 24 - Australia in December became the world's first country to ban social control media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube and Meta's Instagram and Facebook, amid mounting concerns over the impact of social control media on children's health and safety.

• Defence/Aggression

  • France24 ☛ 'Information leakage to our adversaries': When prediction markets spiral out of control

    A US Army soldier has been indicted on Thursday for using classified military intelligence to place winning bets on former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's capture. This is the latest and most explosive case in a growing pattern of insider trading on prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea says US alliance not in crisis despite Coupang-linked friction, media reports

    Seoul acknowledged that current strains with Washington required careful management.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China holds live-fire drills in waters near Luzon as US, the Philippines stage war games

    The US and the Philippines will hold drills on the island of Itbayat, about 155km from Taiwan.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China bans dual-use item exports to seven European entities over Taiwan arms sales

    China's Commerce Ministry said on Friday it was banning exports of dual-use items to seven European entities over arms sales to Taiwan, placing them immediately on its export control list, in a rare case of Europe-targeted, Taiwan-related sanctions.

  • ASEAN, China unlikely to finalize South China Sea Code of Conduct at upcoming summit

    Beijing routinely skirts international agreements, so a COC must have enforcement mechanisms, analysts said.

  • Security Week ☛ Locked Shields 2026: 41 Nations Strengthen Cyber Resilience in World’s Biggest Exercise

    Locked Shields has grown significantly over the past 16 years, with only four nations participating in the first edition.

  • The Straits Times ☛ No US-Iran peace talks in sight, but Islamabad maintains security lockdown

    Markets are deserted and weekend commuters are stuck with no service at bus terminals.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ 'We are the first university to be branded extremist' – interview with EHU Vilnius rector

      Belarusian authorities have designated the European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius as an “extremist organisation”, raising concerns over the safety of its students and staff as well as its future. “Every border crossing becomes a potential risk – people could face sanctions or political persecution because of their links to the university,” the university’s rector, Vilius Šadauskas, told LRT.lt in an exclusive interview.

    • New York Times ☛ Venice Biennale Bars Awards for Countries Facing Crimes Against Humanity Charges

      The jury said it would “refrain from considering” countries whose leaders are facing charges of crimes against humanity, which would affect Israel and Russia.

    • New York Times ☛ A New Idea to Save the AMOC? Dam the Bering Strait.

      Blocking the narrow waterway between Russia and Alaska could help stabilize a vulnerable system of ocean currents, scientists found in a study.

    • RFERL ☛ Beijing Targets 7 European Firms As EU Russia Sanctions Hit Chinese Companies

      Beijing has placed seven companies in the European Union on an export control list, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on April 24.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian MPs call for UN action over destruction of victims' memorials in Russia

      Two Lithuanian conservative lawmakers have called for an appeal to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the imposition of sanctions following the demolition of a memorial complex dedicated to victims of Stalinist repression in the Russian city of Tomsk earlier this month.

    • Latvia ☛ TP-Link router vulnerabilities found in Latvia

      The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has revealed in an international investigation that routers manufactured by the Chinese brand "TP-Link" have a significant vulnerability that has been exploited by the Russian Military Intelligence Service (GRU). Latvian authorities also participated in the investigation, and several compromised "TP-Link" routers were discovered in Latvia too, reported Latvian Television on 23rd April.

    • LRT ☛ A drip, drip of dissent in Russia: 'minor symptoms' or something more serious?

      When the head of a Russian tractor manufacturer set off on the 370-kilometer journey to the Moscow Economic Forum earlier this month, he was about to put his company on the map with some stinging criticism of his country’s authorities.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Pulls Funding For Venice Biennale After Russia's Inclusion

      The European Union has stripped the Venice Biennale of a 2 million-euro ($2.3 million) grant after organizers of the prestigious contemporary art exhibition allowed Russia to participate in this year’s event.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy In Saudi Arabia For Defense Talks As Russia Continues To Pound Ukraine

      President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Saudi Arabia for security talks, marking his second visit to the region since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran, now under cease-fire, as Russia continued to pound Ukraine with deadly strikes.

    • RFERL ☛ 'Museums' To Ukraine Invasion Open In Schools Across Moscow

      Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has touted the creation of 175 “museums” inside schools in the Russian capital dedicated to the invasion of Ukraine.

    • LRT ☛ Nausėda urges swift start to Ukraine's EU accession talks

      Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has called for Ukraine's European Union membership negotiations to be launched in full without delay, setting out a clear ambition for Kyiv to join the bloc by 2030.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian court hears terrorism case over arson plot targeting Ukraine-bound equipment

      A court in the northern Lithuanian city of Šiauliai has begun hearing a terrorism case against six foreign nationals accused of plotting to set fire to military equipment destined for Ukraine.

    • France24 ☛ Russia kills elderly couple in their home

      In Ukraine, a Russian drone attack in the coastal city of Odesa killed a married couple in their seventies when their home was struck early in the morning, with several apartment buildings damaged—one nearly split in two—while separate drone strikes in the frontline region of Kherson also left two dead, a 68-year-old man and a woman whose identity was still being confirmed, according to local officials, in a report by Catherine Viette.

    • France24 ☛ Iran: Neither war nor Peace, Ukraine’s Lifeline, Starmer: “Just a Scratch”?

      In a week where a stalemate appears to have developed after nearly two months of asymmetric conflict between the US and Iran, Hell Toupée’s Truth Social posts have swung between belligerent maximalism and breezy deal-making—one minute suggesting a within-reach deal, and that Iranian forces would personally help their enemy confiscate what he called its “nuclear dust” and move it to America.

    • New York Times ☛ As Putin Orders That the Economy Be Fixed, Russia Grasps for Solutions

      Another interest-rate cut highlights the narrowing path for the country’s central bank amid the strains of immense wartime spending.

    • LRT ☛ Baltic states, Poland seek more EU funding for eastern border security

      The Baltic states and Poland will seek more European Union funding to secure the eastern border, Lithuanian Finance Minister Kristupas Vaitiekūnas said on Friday.

    • European Commission ☛ Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the Conference "Strengthening Resilience of the EU Eastern Border"

• Finance

  • Stanford University ☛ Fed Chair nominee Warsh ’92 criticizes Fed overreach in Senate hearing

    In a testy hearing, Warsh criticized the Federal Reserve for “letting inflation take hold” and pledged reform.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia picks a former judge to lead its anti-graft agency

    Mr Abdul Halim Aman will begin as chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on May 13.

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Corporate mafia’: The scandal that Malaysia can no longer ignore

    Drink-driving, MACC scandal: Malaysia's justice system bending to public pressure or finally getting serious?

  • BBC ☛ The cost of rising rents: Working four jobs and pushed on to benefits - BBC News

    Lauren Elcock is among the young Londoners who say rising rents are forcing them to quit the capital.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Social Security plans ‘limited’ rollout of systems to manage its workload

    Among its upcoming changes, SSA is centralizing the intake and processing of incoming applications following significant workforce reductions last year.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Insurrectionist’s Economic Warfare Abroad Comes Home

    From tariffs to the war with Iran, the President is blowing up the global economy.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Approval of President Sheinbaum holds strong in March with over 60% support

    Despite concerns related to security, the economy and healthcare, over two-thirds of respondents in Mexico continue to approve of Sheinbaum's performance as president.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Kash Patel Just Invited SPLC To Demonstrate Their Importance (and His Negligence)

    In July last year, the Anti-Defamation League provided the FBI a tip about a far-right extremist who seemed to be preparing for violence. Kash Patel's FBI failed to act before Desmond Holly shot up Evergreen High. The SPLC prosecution is bound to expose the FBI's use or misuse of similar tips.

  • France24 ☛ 'I wasn't in politics before and I'm not going to be after': Macron to quit politics in 2027

    French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that he will quit politics in 2027 as the final year in his second term approaches. He added that at this late stage in office, the "hardest thing" was to strike a balance between defending his record and acknowledging what "didn't work out".

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexico gears up to regulate [Slop], with prison sentences for wrongful uses

      The Senate is preparing a bill to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) use in Mexico, banning electoral misinformation, sexual deepfakes and more.

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea arrests man for spreading [Computer]-generated image of escaped wolf

      Neukgu’s escape prompted a local elementary school to close over safety concerns.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Press Gazette ☛ Essex Police press statements were defamatory of Allison Pearson, judge says

    Pearson suing over police press statements and commissioner's LBC and Conservative Home appearances.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Judge Tosses Smokey Robinson’s $500 Million Defamation Countersuit Against Jane Doe Accusers

    A judge has dismissed Smokey Robinson’s defamation countersuit filed against his accusers, who filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Motown legend. A judge has dismissed Smokey Robinson’s defamation claims in a countersuit filed against his former employees, who sued the Motown legend last year.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Judge Dismisses Diddy’s $100 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against NBC Over ‘Making of a Bad Boy’ Documentary

    A judge has dismissed Diddy’s $100 million defamation lawsuit against NBC over its “Bad Boy” documentary after the rap mogul admitted in court that he ruined his own career.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Are Hong Kong’s new national security rules for restaurants clear enough?

    The Hong Kong government’s attitude to the rule of law is interestingly ambiguous. It wishes to claim credit for being a law-abiding government, but it does not want to sacrifice for this purpose the achievement of other desires. This implicit conflict is nicely wrapped up in the matter of restaurant licences.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • ACLU ☛ ACLU Joins Coalition Calling For FIFA to Uphold Human Rights Ahead 2026 World Cup

    The coalition has issued a travel advisory for fans, players, journalists, and other visitors attending the 2026 World Cup in areas impacted by the Convicted Felon administration’s militarized immigration crackdown.

  • Futurism ☛ New Lawsuit Is Not Looking Good for MrBeast

    "If true, he’s f***ed."

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Internet Society ☛ Anatomy of a Scam

    Online scams are at an all-time high. But luckily, with the right information and some simple protective habits, you can learn how to identify them and keep yourself safe.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ $8,000 for Gaea data storage patents prior art

      Unified Patents added four new PATROLL contests, each with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on the list below. The patents are owned by Gaea LLC, an NPE. The patents relate to storage devices with controller and memory that enforce storage policies for content handling. They have been asserted against Samsung and Meta.

      The contests will expire on June 1, 2026. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for these contests. PATROLL researchers are required to use Pearl to generate claim charts. Submitted invalidity charts must address every limitation of the challenged claim.

    • Unified Patents ☛ NL Giken video streaming patent monopoly challenge granted

      On April 22, 2026, five weeks after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on challenged claims 1-3 and 5 of U.S. Patent 10,880,592, owned and asserted by NL Giken Incorporated. The ‘592 patent monopoly relates to a digital contents receiving apparatus.

    • Unified Patents ☛ Bedrock IP entity, Magma Scientific, deep neural network patent monopoly campaign - invalidity charts coming soon

      The team at Unified IP Services is using Pearl to identify and chart prior art against U.S. Patent 11,328,206, owned by Magma Scientific, LLC, an NPE and entity of Bedrock IP Co. Ltd. The ‘206 patent monopoly relates to using deep neural networks to monitor and predict computing-device or processor behavior, then using those predictions to control system operation. The patent monopoly has been asserted against Amazon Web Services.

    • Kangaroo Courts

      • JUVE ☛ Nokia wins anti-suit injunction against Geely’s interim-licence application [Ed: Illegal and unconstitutional court where judges are Nokia staff. European corruption.]

        The connected cars dispute between Nokia and Geely, which has been pending since last summer, came to a head this week. After Geely filed an application for an interim licence in China, Nokia successfully filed an anti-suit injunction against a Chinese interim licence with both the Munich Regional Court and the UPC.

  • Copyrights/Music

    • WhichUK ☛ Secondary ticketing market could con fans out of £24m this summer

      Which? calls the government to bring forward a Bill in the next King's Speech to ban the resale of tickets above face value

    • Digital Music News ☛ Universal Music and Sony Music Aggressively Push to Obtain Warner Music’s Suno Agreement Terms Amid Discovery Dispute — As Another ‘Rolling Cipher’ Decision Comes Down

      It’s high time for Suno to disclose the terms of its Warner Music licensing deal – at least according to Universal Music and Sony Music, which are aggressively pushing to obtain a copy of the contract via discovery.

    • Digital Music News ☛ As ‘Michael’ Premieres, the Jackson Estate Moves to Compel Arbitration Against the Cascio Family Under 2020 Agreement

      In the entertainment world, the newly released Michael might be poised to break box office records. But in the courtroom, the Michael Jackson estate has moved to compel arbitration in the ugly sexual abuse complaint filed by multiple Cascio family members.