Leftovers

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ The Stigma Around This Common Skin Condition Runs Deeper Than You Think

    One in every 100 people has it.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Blood Type Affects Risk of Early Stroke, Study Reveals

    It's important to know.

  • Science Alert ☛ We Were Wrong About Fasting, Massive Study Finds

    What is fasting doing to your brain?

  • Science Alert ☛ A Radical Innovation Helped Archaic Humans Survive a Harsh Ice Age

    "Hard times can force us to adapt."

  • Science Alert ☛ A Strange Pattern in Certain Words Seems to Boost Your Reading Ability

    Have you ever noticed this?

  • Science Alert ☛ The Best Medicine For Joint Pain Isn't What You Think, Experts Say

    Too many patients aren't aware.

  • Science Alert ☛ This Week in Science: A Grisly Giant Jar, a Self-Aware Whale, And More!

    Our weekly science news roundup.

• Career/Education

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan college enrollment rate slips, despite $1B in state scholarships [iophk: K-12 education in MI has been basically defunded for decades so almost no one has the background knowledge needed to enter and succeed in college]

    New state data showing a 2025 college enrollment drop has some split on whether the state’s Michigan Achievement Scholarship is working to encourage more students to go to college.

  • JURIST ☛ Massachusetts students sue over state’s ‘two-tiered’ public school system

    Nine minor students and a coalition of community groups on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts education officials, alleging the state’s school districting illegally segregates Black and Latino children into an inferior, “two-tiered” education system.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Argentina sees vast protests against Milei's university cuts

• Hardware

  • JURIST ☛ Samsung Electronics reaches last-minute wage deal with labor union

    Samsung Electronics’ labor union held off on launching a planned 18-day strike Wednesday after reaching a last-minute, tentative wage deal with the company management, alleviating immediate concerns about a potential operational shutdown at the world’s leading memory chip maker. The tentative agreement comes roughly six months after the union’s formation in November 2025.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Wi-Fi controlled hacking USB cable stealthily packs in a microcontroller, microSD storage, and more — cable executes remote payload execution, keystroke injection, and more, but is 'built for makers, developers, enthusiasts, and cybersecurity learners'

    A device that 'looks like a normal USB cable' but packs in an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, micro SD card storage, and Wi-Fi capabilities has enjoyed great success on Kickstarter.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Ebola Travel Ban Faces Criticism From Congo Health Officials

    Kinshasa residents continue to pack markets, bars and public transportation, despite growing international concern about the spread of the virus.

  • France24 ☛ Uganda confirms three new Ebola cases as Africa CDC warns 10 countries 'at risk'

    Health authorities in Uganda on Saturday confirmed three new cases of Ebola linked to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, adding that all three people were still alive. The Africa CDC warned that 10 nations across the region were at risk of being affected by the deadly virus.

  • France24 ☛ Ebola: WHO raises health risk to 'very high' in DR Congo and new cases in Uganda

    Gabriela Arenas, Coordinator for Regional Operations in Africa IFRC in Kenya, is our guest.

  • France24 ☛ Uganda health authorities confirms new Ebola cases, linked to DR Congo

    Three new Ebola cases have been confirmed in Uganda, health authorities said Saturday, after the World Health Organization raised the risk from the deadly outbreak to the highest level for neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

  • France24 ☛ Ebola epidemic threatens ten African countries in addition to DRC and Uganda

    Ten African countries are at risk of being affected by the Ebola virus, in addition to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the African Union's health agency warned on Saturday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Why millions of Malaysians keep riding dangerous motorcycle lanes despite the death toll

    Despite Malaysia having 13 million registered motorcycles, efforts to improve safety for riders remain inadequate.

  • New York Times ☛ Short Naps, Long Hours: How Autism Clinics Squeeze Medicaid Dollars Out of Preschoolers

    The industry has grown rapidly, straining state budgets. A focus on finances has led to overbilling, fraud and even harm.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Suspected and confirmed measles deaths top 500 in Bangladesh

    At least 86 children have died from confirmed measles infections in Bangladesh this year, and another 426 with symptoms consistent with the disease, health officials said on Saturday, as the country battles one of its worst outbreaks in decades.

  • JURIST ☛ UN and AU sign landmark agreement guaranteeing access to safe health products

    The World Health Organization (WHO) and the African Medicines Agency (AMA) signed the Framework Agreement for Collaboration on Friday, which aims to strengthen regulatory systems and improve access to safe, efficient, and quality-assured health products across the African continent.

  • New York Times ☛ Firing Cancer Screening Experts Will Not Make Us Healthy Again

    The future of health advice is uncertain.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] EU negotiators agree new rules on vital medicines

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] 'Work not over,' says WHO after hantavirus evacuation

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-11 [Older] Endemic, epidemic, pandemic: What's the difference?

• Proprietary / SaaS

  • TruthOut ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Microsoft Ousts Head of Israeli Branch Over Use of Tech to Spy on Palestinians

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

    • Futurism ☛ Insiders at SoftBank Worry Their CEO Is Getting Conned by Scam Altman

      They're jittery.

    • Futurism ☛ Barnes and Noble CEO Says Sure, Why Not Sell AI-Generated Books and Set Our Reputation On Fire?

      "I have actually no problem selling any book."

    • Futurism ☛ MIT Expert Warns Courts “Will Basically Have to Grind to a Halt” as They’re Overwhelmed by AI-Generated Lawsuits [Ed: Garrett and Graveley put computer-generated garbage in the UK High Court]

      "There's a tradeoff here."

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ AI cost crisis hits tech giants as employee 'tokenmaxxing' backfires, sparking corporate pullback at Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon — agentic Hey Hi (AI) eats up to 1000x more tokens than standard AI

      Agentic Hey Hi (AI) is consuming so many tokens that it's draining Hey Hi (AI) budgets way faster than expected. Jevons Paradox rings true 161 years after it was coined.

    • Petter Reinholdtsen: Command line Norse God of Wind Hræsvelg move the clowns

      A while back, I came across the Hey Hi (AI) Fabric system created by Daniel Miessler. I liked its approach of providing command-line tools for filtering text using artificial idiocy services, allowing stepwise operations to be applied to a piece of text. The output of one operation can then serve as the input for another—in other words, Unix pipeline processing powered by large language models. I do no longer remember exactly how I discovered it, but suspect it was via Matthew Berman's video "How To Install Fabric - Open-Source Hey Hi (AI) Framework That Can Automate Your Life".

  • Social Control Media

    • CBC ☛ 2026-05-16 [Older] Manitoba's social media ban could bar teachers using YouTube in the classroom, says Kinew

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

      • International Business Times ☛ 'Greatest President Ever' Text: Trump Forces Unsafe App on FED Agencies, Raising Cyber Concerns

        Federal Chief Information Officer Greg Barbaccia, according to a report from Government Executive, instructed agency technology leaders to facilitate the mass installation. Internal communications reveal the administration needed assistance in understanding the mechanics of pushing software to executive branch phones.

        Cybersecurity researchers identified vulnerabilities within the platform shortly after its public launch. The software reportedly shares user IP addresses, time zones, and sensitive data with various third-party services.

  • Confidentiality

    • HIPAA ☛ 2026-05-11 [Older] Thousands of DICOM servers exposed due to shameful lack of basic security measures

    • 2026-05-18 [Older] Congress Learns of Prescription Data Hack Months Later

    • 2026-05-18 [Older] Extant Aerospace Data Breach Exposed SSNs for More Than 3,000 People

• Defence/Aggression

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] US: LA area mayor to plead guilty to acting as Chinese agent

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] War in Iran: Despite Iranian attacks, Doha steps up mediation efforts

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] Iran: Surge of political prisoners amid US-Israel war

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] Nigeria airstrike kills 100 at market, Amnesty says

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] Sport helping displaced Lebanese living in stadium to cope

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] Thailand scraps Cambodia naval pact amid sinking ties

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-11 [Older] Somali piracy disrupts global shipping and trade routes

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Tigray tensions raise fears of Ethiopia-Eritrea war

  • New York Times ☛ France Bans Israeli Minister Over Treatment of Detained Flotilla Activists

    Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli national security minister, has long drawn criticism for his hard-line statements and harsh policies against Palestinian prisoners.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan says China deployed more than 100 vessels in regional waters

    The deployment began before Convicted Felon’s meeting with his Pooh-tin in Beijing.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Nauru moves to change its name in break from colonial past

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Germany's shortfall in medium-range defense capabilities

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Gunshots heard at Philippine Senate as ICC arrest expected

  • RFERL ☛ Pakistani Army Chief Wraps Tehran Talks As Fragile US-Iran Diplomacy Intensifies

    Pakistan has emerged as a central intermediary as regional and global powers intensify efforts to turn a fragile cease-fire into broader U.S.-Iran negotiations amid ongoing talks in Iran and China.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan trade minister holds brief talks with Chinese counterpart amid diplomatic row

    Japan's Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa said on Saturday there were no formal bilateral talks with China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, though the two had a brief conversation before a dinner on Friday, without disclosing details.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Strikes Pummel Lebanon, Killing Medics Amid Fragile Truce

    Saturday’s strikes damaged a main hospital in the Lebanese city of Tyre, as funerals for paramedics killed a day earlier were held.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ A stranger from Belarus and a forest full of cigarettes: a portrait of balloon smugglers

      A Lithuanian man, convicted of collecting cigarettes smuggled across the border from Belarus by balloon told the court he had been driven by the desire for extra income and a better life. He kept his plans from his wife, telling her that night that he was going fishing.

    • New York Times ☛ ‘A Total Nightmare’: Voices From a Moscow Hit by Ukrainian Drones

      Residents who experienced attacks in recent days were shaken deeply by the conflict coming home to the capital region, the seat of the Kremlin’s power.

    • France24 ☛ Russia says 16 killed in strike on student dorm that it blamed on Ukraine

      The death toll from a drone strike ​on a student dorm in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine has risen to 16, with most of the victims young women, Russian officials said on Saturday, after a heated U.N. debate on the incident.

    • France24 ☛ Russian ballistic missile attack hits Kyiv after Moscow vows retaliation

      A large Russian ballistic missile attack struck Kyiv early on Sunday, wounding at least five people and damaging residential buildings after Moscow threatened retaliation for deadly Ukrainian drone strikes in occupied eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian and US officials had warned hours earlier of a potentially significant assault on the capital.

    • NYPost ☛ Russia pounds Kyiv with ballistic missiles following vow to ‘punish’ Ukraine

      Russia launched a major ballistic missile assault on Kyiv late Saturday, carrying out Moscow's explicit vow to punish Ukraine for a deadly strike in the occupied east.

• Environment

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-12 [Older] Hotter 2026 and El Nino could trigger extreme fires

  • Futurism ☛ Research Paper Warns That There’s a Massive Experiment at Work to Geoengineer the Earth’s Climate

    "We need to be extremely cautious."

  • Futurism ☛ Doomsday Glacier Shows Signs of Imminent Disintegration

    "Suddenly, large areas are just falling to pieces."

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Futurism ☛ Peter Thiel Working on Floating Data Centers in the Ocean

      "The future demands more compute than we can imagine."

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Germany news: Carmakers paint bleak picture on jobs

    • The Straits Times ☛ China to send astronaut on year-long space mission as it eyes 2030 moon landing

      One of the three astronauts is to stay on the Tiangong space station for a year.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China set for latest space launch, with Hong Kong astronaut aboard

      The Shenzhou-23 mission will carry 3 astronauts to the Tiangong space station.

    • The Straits Times ☛ How a ‘cockroach’ jibe united India’s disgruntled jobless youth

      The Cockroach Janta Party has overtaken the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the number of followers on Instagram.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ In Pictures: Hong Kong filmmaker’s quest to document city’s native newt and other wildlife

      On a spring night in 2023, Fung Hon-shing was driving on Fei Ngo Shan Road in Sai Kung when he discovered over a hundred newts that had been run over by vehicles. Some had died, while some were on the brink of death.

• Finance

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Satellites add a new layer to global poverty data

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-11 [Older] Germany news: 1-in-6 retailers fear for future

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] Indians growing anxious as Modi asks them to cut on fuel

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-13 [Older] India's Modi cuts size of convoy in austerity move — reports

  • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Robert Reich ☛ Trump's Gush of Slush | The Coffee Klatch for Saturday, May 23, 2026. A bit late this morning!

      We then examine whether Jeff Bezos — the fourth-richest person in the world — is a knave or a fool for going on network television claiming that the richest 1 percent of Americans pay 40 percent of all taxes (a Trump-like lie).

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ Alberta to vote in new independence referendum after adverse court rulings

    Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced Thursday that the government will ask voters in a fall referendum whether the province should remain in Canada. The announcement comes after a provincial court quashed a citizen-initiated independence petition over concerns that First Nations were not properly consulted.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-05-14 [Older] Tunisia sliding into authoritarianism, experts say

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • New York Times ☛ Colbert’s Sudden Return to Late Night? It Happened on Public Access.

    A day after the comedian hosted the final episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS, he hosted “Only in Monroe,” a community-access program in Monroe, Mich.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • Futurism ☛ Why Are So Many Websites Suddenly Demanding Evidence You’re Not a Robot?

    Why are we seeing CAPTCHAs everywhere?

  • JURIST ☛ Ontario court bars Waterloo region from removing encampment residents

    The Ontario Superior Court of Justice barred the regional municipality of Waterloo from removing encampments on Thursday. The court held that the municipality’s site-specific bylaw is not only discriminatory but also infringes the right to life, liberty and security of the encampment residents.

  • France24 ☛ AI, Palantir & the Pushback: AI, Palantir & the Pushback: The London Mayor Vs the Met Police

    As concerns continue to grow over artificial intelligence, national security and digital sovereignty, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has blocked a proposed fifty-million-pound contract between the Metropolitan Police and Hey Hi (AI) giant Palantir. The company had been expected to provide advanced tools to help police process intelligence in criminal investigations.

    To discuss the decision, FRANCE 24’s Gavin Lee is joined by Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative Party in the London Assembly.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • IP Kat ☛ 2026-05-18 [Older] Court of Appeal backs HOKA's restrictions on online sales

  • Patents

    • IP Kat ☛ 2026-05-18 [Older] Be careful what you wish for: Method of treatment claim for an antibody genus found to satisfy both written description and enablement requirement (Teva v Eli Lilly) [Ed: Patents on antibodies]

  • DRM and Copyrights

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ 007: First Light drops last-minute Denuvo DRM bombshell, leaving pre-order customers and fans furious — Bond title risks FPS drops and strict online check-ins, Pirates eagerly await repack as day-one cracks become the norm

      IO Interative's latest James Bond adventure has been hit with the curse of Denuvo DRM, leaving many paying customers frustrated over a deliberate roadblock. With all versions of Denuvo now cracked anyways, there's a high chance 007: First Light will be cracked within a few days of its launch anyways.

    • CBC ☛ 2026-05-17 [Older] FIFA is notorious for strict copyright rules. Here’s how Toronto businesses are navigating them

    • Glyn Moody ☛ 2026-05-18 [Older] Hadopi, perhaps the world’s worst copyright law, is moribund but not quite dead (yet)