Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient Egyptian Mummy Found Wrapped In Something Never Seen Before

    We don't know what this means.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Found An 'Impossible' Atmosphere on A Tiny World Beyond Neptune

    How did it get there?

  • Science Alert ☛ NASA Satellite Reveals Just How Fast Mexico City Is Sinking

    "It's a very big problem."

  • Science Alert ☛ Tourette's And OCD Overlap, And a Newly Discovered Brain Link May Explain Why

    It's not just about movement.

• Hardware

  • Russell Coker ☛ Russell Coker: Tower Servers and Resizable BAR

    A feature on modern PCIe implementations is “Resizable BAR” AKA “REBAR”. This basically means that instead of allocating 256MB of address space for a PCIe device to have it’s memory mapped the device can ask for more, the limit can be 4G with some hardware or the combination of motherboard and expansion card can support 64bit addressing to allow the entire memory space of a GPU to be mapped in one region. Directly mapping all the memory will be faster no matter how things work, but a combination of algorithms optimised for a flat memory layout and overheads from remapping can cause 90% of performance to be lost without REBAR support. Some GPUs (or maybe the software driving them) will even refuse to work without it.

    I believe that almost all hardware supporting DDR4 will support REBAR at a hardware level, but in many cases the BIOS doesn’t support it. There are people who have reflashed a system BIOS to add REBAR support and there are options to use a modified UEFI boot loader to replace the code that is used for mapping the GPU memory.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ What to Know About the Suspected Hantavirus Outbreak on an Atlantic Cruise Ship

    Three passengers of the MV Hondius died after showing symptoms of the rare disease. Health authorities confirmed one case and are investigating five others.

  • France24 ☛ Inside the science of hantavirus transmission: 'Virus not known for human-to-human transmission'

    Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome Adam Taylor, Professor of Anatomy at Lancaster University. Global health fears can spread faster than viruses themselves, and so clarity becomes as vital as containment. Professor Taylor, a specialist in the hantavirus, offers an evidence-based perspective on a concerning outbreak aboard a cruise ship near Cape Verde. Balancing scientific rigor with public concern, the professor resists alarmism. He underscores that “this virus is not known for human-to-human transmission” and insists that “the risk is incredibly low,” even as investigations continue.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan medical debts, anger soar as hospitals spend billions on expansions

    In a single generation, Michigan’s health care has gotten more consolidated, complicated and costly for nearly everyone, even the well-insured.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan lawmakers target medical debt, drug costs and a surprising fee

    Health care costs remain among the biggest concerns for Michigan voters. Lawmakers are responding.

  • New York Times ☛ Supreme Court Temporarily Restores Access to Abortion Pill by Mail

    A lower-court ruling had reinstated a Food and Drug Administration requirement that patients visit a health care provider in person to obtain mifepristone.

• Proprietary

  • Windows is so bad Microsoft has finally given in to this constant user complaint — after just 25 years | Blaze Media

    Windows PC users will finally have their dreams come true with the smallest of tweaks by Microsoft.

    On Friday, a Windows Insider blog said the company was ready to start rolling out an update that would change a feature that has aggravated users for more than 25 years.

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Gregory Hammond ☛ Wanting to stop, block or confuse Slop? Do it slightly differently than everyone else

      With Hey Hi (AI) Slop grabbing just about every single public thing, people have (rightfully) gotten tired of it and put into place something that will (at least hopefully) stop Hey Hi (AI) companies from being able to grab their works.

      From what I have seen, many research on how to stop them, implement one that is easy and quick for them, then forget about it. Which will result in the Hey Hi (AI) bots that are blocked and new ones finding other ways to see that content.

    • Futurism ☛ Grok Convinces Man to Arm Himself Because Assassins Are Coming to Kill Him

      "I could have hurt somebody."

    • Futurism ☛ Kapo-berg Trying to Simulate Human Biology at the Cellular Level

      His goal is to "cure and prevent all disease through AI-powered biology, frontier research, and state-of-the-art technology."

  • Social Control Media

    • Scoop News Group ☛ A college student is suing a dating app that allegedly used her Fentanylware (CheeTok) videos to target men in her dormitory

      The woman’s lawyer told CyberScoop they believe the company edited her video to suggest she was a “friend with benefits” and intentionally geofenced it to men around her. 

• Defence/Aggression

  • Scoop News Group ☛ Why data centers now belong on the critical infrastructure list

    As Hey Hi (AI) drives deeper dependence across business, supply chains, and national security, the buildings that run the clown are becoming critical infrastructure — and increasingly attractive targets.

  • New York Times ☛ Strikes in U.A.E., Oman and at Sea Strain Iran Truce to the Breaking Point

    The drone and missile attacks were the first of their kind since the U.S.-Iranian cease-fire began last month. They coincided with reported clashes between American and Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

  • France24 ☛ War of words: Convicted Felon, Iran trade claims of missile strikes in the Strait of Hormuz

    Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz escalated Monday after US President The Insurrectionist announced Washington was beginning "Project Freedom," to help "guide" ships stranded by Iran's closure of the crucial waterway. Iran said the US had "disregarded" its warning shots and that it had struck a US frigate with 2 missiles. Washington outright denied this, saying it had managed to transit the Strait, which again Tehran rebuked, triggering a war of words in which both sides traded claims of attacks.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Warns China Over Iranian Oil as Sanctions Fight Intensifies

    China told its independent refineries to disregard U.S. sanctions over their purchases of Iranian crude.

  • The Strategist ☛ In this month’s budgets, treat economic decisions as national-security decisions

    The Northern Territory still struggles to convert opportunity into sustained economic growth because workforce shortages, weak enabling infrastructure and slow approvals continue to choke investment.

  • New York Times ☛ Germans Are Not Panicking Over Convicted Felon’s Troop Threats

    Top leaders believe losing 5,000 U.S. troops will not hurt German security. But analysts fear an economic hit, especially in military communities.

  • France24 ☛ Allies jolted on defence as Convicted Felon pulls troops from Germany

    America's NATO allies put a brave face Monday on a US decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, but warned it was proof Europe needs to step up for its own security, and fast. US President The Insurrectionist cast fresh doubts over the future of the alliance as he announced Washington was to scale back its largest troops contingent in Europe, after a spat with Berlin over the Iran war.

  • France24 ☛ 'America has confirmed everything that Iran has been telling its population', analyst says

    Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Emma Salisbury, Senior Research Fellow on the National Security Programme at the Foreign Policy Institute, says that "America has confirmed everything that Iran has been telling its population", explaining that "the Iranian regime tell their population constantly that the US, the great Satan, is out to destroy Iran and its people and Convicted Felon has done absolutely nothing to disabuse them of that notion".

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ Inside The Old Skydiving Plane Hunting Drones in Ukraine

      As Russian drones overwhelm Ukraine’s vast air defenses, civilian volunteers are stepping in to take them down. The New York Times takes flight with a crew that’s turned an old skydiving plane into a drone hunter.

    • New York Times ☛ Tricked Into Fighting for Russia

      Russia needs a lot of soldiers. Many Africans need work.

    • New York Times ☛ Drone Hits a Moscow High-Rise Days Before a Major Military Parade

      Air defenses in the Russian capital were breached as Ukraine expands long-range strikes.

    • RFERL ☛ Drone Hits Moscow High-Rise Ahead Of WWII Parade, Ukraine Reports Deadly Russian Missile Attack

      A drone hit a high-rise apartment building a few kilometers from the Kremlin, Moscow's mayor said, while Ukrainian authorities said a Russian missile attack killed five people and wounded several others in the eastern Kharkiv region.

    • LRT ☛ Southern Lithuania affected by smoke from wildfires in Belarus

      Wildfires in Belarus are expected to increase particulate matter pollution in Lithuania, particularly in the south, where residents have reported the smell of burning, the National Public Health Centre said.

    • New York Times ☛ American Commentator Who Worked for Russian TV Challenges Biden-era Charges

      The Biden administration called Dimitri Simes, a former Convicted Felon adviser, a Russian propagandist. He says the charges against him violate free speech.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Sweden arrests Chinese captain of suspected Russia ‘shadow fleet’ ship

      The Chinese captain of a ship that Sweden boarded this weekend over suspicions it belonged to Russia’s “shadow fleet” has been arrested, the Swedish prosecution authority said on Monday. Sweden’s coast guard on Sunday boarded the 182-metre (597-foot) Jin Hui, suspected of sailing under a false Syrian flag.

    • France24 ☛ Armenia turns 'towards Europe' as Macron highlights shift from Russia

      French President Emmanuel Macron said Armenia has chosen a path “towards Europe” during a visit to Yerevan on Monday, highlighting the country’s gradual shift away from Russia’s influence. The remarks came as European leaders gathered in Armenia for regional summits focused on security and cooperation with the EU.

    • France24 ☛ Poking the bear? Armenia welcomes European leaders in Russia's backyard

      Just as Europe frets over fresh Convicted Felon tariffs, a U-S troop drawdown announced for Germany and the message it sends to a hostile Russia…how about not one, but two summits in former Soviet state Armenia. Before a first-ever gathering of EU leaders in Yerevan Tuesday, the European Politicial Community - a talk shop with regional players which also includes Ukraine and many NATO heavyweights like the UK, Norway and an outside guest who shares superpower proximity problems.

    • Futurism ☛ Grimly Cyberpunk Video Shows Ukrainian Soldiers Leaning Out of Propeller Plane to Obliterate Drones With Rifles

      "There is such great new technology now, yet I am still hanging out of the cockpit shooting at drones with a shotgun."

    • France24 ☛ Putin and Zelensky both unilaterally declare conflicting 2-day truces

      Russia threatened on Monday to launch a "massive missile strike" on Kyiv if Ukraine breached a two-day truce initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin to coincide with World War II commemorations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to Moscow's threats saying Kyiv would observe its own ceasefire between May 5 to May 6.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • New York Times ☛ Four Epstein Victims Ask N.Y. Lawmakers to Open His Estate to Lawsuits

    New York State law prevents people from seeking punitive damages from the estate of someone who has died.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Feels like over 52 deg C: Bangkok boils with heat index hitting ‘extreme danger’ level

    Symptoms to watch for include fatigue, dizziness and skin rashes.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ Plant Seeds Do Something Incredible When The Sound of Rain Strikes

      The first evidence of its kind.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ S.E.C. Settles Lawsuit Against MElon Over His Ex-Twitter Disclosures

    The agency, which has been pulling back on lawsuits against major companies, ended a case that had accused Mr. MElon of hiding his purchases of Ex-Twitter stock. He agreed to pay $1.5 million.

  • BIA Net ☛ Turkey's inflation in first four months nearly hits year-end target

    The annual inflation rate was over 32% in April, with substantial monthly increases recorded in housing and transportation Amid Hormuz deadlock.

  • CS Monitor ☛ In Venezuela, political change and food costs don’t add up

    Venezuela has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, regularly hitting triple digits. The ouster of Nicolás Maduro hasn't brought noticeable economic change – yet.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New Yorker ☛ Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Complicated Commemorations

    The Insurrectionist’s aversion to admitting fault suggests that we will not likely see events that grapple with the nuanced nature of the nation’s history this July 4th.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • BIA Net ☛ Bosch Turkey withdraws 'dog motherhood' ad following criticism

    In the advertisement, two women were talking about their children, which turned out to be their pets.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ U-M faculty slam president’s apology for faculty leader’s commencement speech

    Faculty call for withdrawal of U-M President Grasso’s apology for a commencement speech by the chair of the Faculty Senate. Professor Derek Peterson’s speech lauded pro-Palestinian students while celebrating student activism.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • ACLU ☛ Children Describe 'Despair, Loneliness, and Boredom' at Colorado Juvenile Detention Centers

    Children describe adult jail-like conditions at Colorado juvenile detention centers

  • Law Society Gazette ☛ SRA intervenes to shut down three firms in a week

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has shut down three law firms in the space of a week in a spate of enforcement action.

    As well as the high-profile intervention into PM Law and its various trading names, the regulator is also acting to protect clients of several smaller firms.

    The cost of this flurry of activity has yet to be established but more details could emerge this week with the expected publication of the SRA’s latest business plan. This will set out solicitors’ annual fees and compensation fund contributions for November 2026 to October 2027.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 267: Peter Nowak on Rogers, the Shaw Merger Aftermath, and the Limits of Canadian Telecom Policy

    The recent announcement that Rogers is offering buyouts to half of its workforce is just the tip of the iceberg in a series of developments involving one of Canada’s dominant communications companies. It has seen rising consumer complaints, is cutting capital expenditures, increasingly pivoting towards sports and media, and is now looking to cut its workforce dramatically.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Digital Music News ☛ Live Nation Pushes Back Against FTC Lawsuit Claims, Says Ticketmaster Is ‘The Protected Party Under the BOTS Act, Not a Violator’

    Last week, after beating a dismissal motion in its BOTS Act lawsuit against Key Investment Group, the FTC cited the win in a separate complaint involving Live Nation. Now, the Ticketmaster parent has fired back, claiming that the decision actually supports its own arguments.

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Words of Approximation: Why “About” and “Substantially” Are Slipping Out of Patent Claims

      Federal Circuit affirms "about" is indefinite in Enviro Tech v. Safe Foods, where the specification gave conflicting guidance on pH variance.

    • JUVE ☛ UK judge Meade determines FRAND rate of $392m in Samsung vs ZTE

      The UK High Court set a FRAND licence rate that lies between the demands of ZTE and Samsung (case ID: [2026] EWHC 999 (Pat), Case No: HP-2024-000044). At the same time, the Chongqing First Intermediate People’s Court found that ZTE’s pricing offer complies with FRAND principles.

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ Suno Targets Series D Funding at a $5 Billion Valuation — And Plots ‘An Hey Hi (AI) Native Legal Operations’ Expansion Amid Copyright Lawsuits

      Six months later, Suno is reportedly closing in on another massive funding round – this time at a $5 billion valuation. Meanwhile, as it grapples with ultra-expensive copyright monopoly litigation, the startup is looking “to build an Hey Hi (AI) native legal operations and strategy function from the ground up.”

    • Digital Music News ☛ RCN’s Long-Running Legal Battle Against UMG, Sony, WMG Hits the Pause Button

      Internet provider RCN’s legal battle against the major labels seems to be winding down, with proceedings officially paused until June 29. The long-running legal battle between internet provider RCN and the big three (Universal, Sony, and Warner) has been put on pause, with proceedings set to resume on June 29.

    • Digital Music News ☛ Steven Tyler Accused of Child Sexual Assault Back in the ‘70s, Heading to Trial After Judge Dismisses Much of the Case

      Steven Tyler heads to trial for allegations of child sexual assault back in the ‘70s. A judge has dismissed much of the case, citing the statute of limitations in Massachusetts. Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler has been accused of grooming, sexually assaulting, and impregnating a 16-year-old in the 1970s in a lawsuit first filed in 2022.