Leftovers

• MJ Fransen ☛ Books and some interesting stuff I read in July 2026

  This month I read some though provoking books, a nice science fiction book, and had a lot of fun reading several essays and short stories.

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ There May Be 170 Million Black Holes Lurking in The Milky Way's Graveyard

    A galactic underworld.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Tested 17 Human Artery Samples – And Found Microplastics in Every Single One

    There's no avoiding microplastics.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Brain Seems to Rearrange Itself as Tinnitus Becomes Chronic

    It changes over time.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Find a Hidden 'Fish City' Beneath Antarctica's Ice

    "Critical evidence of unique, structured breeding habitats."

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ 'Nozzlegate' erupts as Prusa CORE One 3D printer kits arrive with soft steel nozzles — Bondtech admits machining flaws with no quick fix (Updated)

    Bondtech, the creator and manufacturer of the INDX toolchanger system used to create the highly anticipated Prusa CORE One+ INDX, admitted to a significant labeling mistake. The nozzles provided with the INDX kit do not meet industry standards for “hardened steel” as advertised.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Lee Yingtong Li ☛ Mid-spinal canal depth by weight, mean and 95% centile

  • New York Times ☛ Self-Help Influencer Nicole LePera Faces Litigation

    Millions look to Nicole LePera for advice on how to achieve contentment and maintain healthy relationships. But her own story is complicated.

  • Science Alert ☛ Are Artificial Sweeteners Really Worse For Your Brain Than Sugar? An Epidemiologist Explains

    Here's what's really going on.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth's Inner Core Could Be Full Of Extreme Hydrogen Unlike Anything on The Surface

    Hydrogen that flows like a liquid and conducts electricity.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Natural Protection From Asthma And Allergies': Scientists Isolate Bacteria Behind The Immune System Farm Effect

    A bit of dirt can be good for you.

  • The Straits Times ☛ McDonald’s pulls corn burger in South Korea after customers report finding stones

    McDonald’s Korea also said it was investigating the source of the reported particles.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Millions of Thais banish the booze for Buddhist Lent

    Hundreds pledged abstinence from alcohol in a campaign blending public health with spirituality.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Restores Some Vaccine and Health Aid to Unicef, Gavi and World Food Programme

    The amount is still far below what the U.S. spent previously on humanitarian and health aid, but resumes the flow of money for key efforts to fight malnutrition and disease.

• Linux Foundation

  • HPC Wire ☛ Linux Foundation’s OPI Project Releases 1st DPU/IPU Abstraction Framework

    The Open Programmable Infrastructure (OPI) Project, a community-driven initiative focused on creating a standards-based open ecosystem for next-generation architectures and frameworks based on DPU/IPU-Like (Data Processing Units)/(Infrastructure Processing Unit) technologies, has announced its first coordinated release, OPI Abstraction v0.1.0, marking an important technical milestone in making DPU/IPU infrastructure easier to consume, integrate, and scale. With this release, OPI helps break down barriers to DPU/IPU adoption, including fragmentation across proprietary SDKs, toolchains, APIs and operational models.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ For a Day, Surveillance Giant Google Made It Easy to Spoof Satellite Imagery

      A new Surveillance Giant Google Earth tool allowed the creation of Hey Hi (AI) deepfake maps. The tech giant quickly pulled it back after a backlash and concerns about disinformation risks.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ Pakistan Police Station Bombing Kills at Least 14

    The authorities said the suicide bombing, which killed at least 14 people in the Swat Valley. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

  • The Straits Times ☛ At least 14 killed in suicide attack at police station in northern Pakistan

    The blast took place at a busy intersection near a police station in Swat during a civil society protest.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Suspected suicide bombing at police station kills at least 14 in Pakistan, officials say

    PESHAWAR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Aug 2 - At least 14 people were killed in a suspected suicide bombing outside a police station in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, a rescue group and a regional police official said, as the country battles widening insurgencies.

  • France24 ☛ Sudanese army drone strike kills 35 at Darfur court, rights group says

    The Sudanese army struck a traditional court in a Rapid Support Forces-held village in North Darfur with drones on Sunday, killing 35 people, a rights group said. Emergency Lawyers said the attack hit Garra al-Zawaya as civilians gathered for local court hearings, wounding several others during the afternoon strike.

  • New York Times ☛ How China Keeps Tabs on Foreigners

    An unsecured police dashboard was a rare window into how the authorities track foreigners by collecting and aggregating vast amounts of private data.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Why Taiwan’s idyllic eastern outlying islands are increasingly crucial in its defence calculus

    China views Taiwan as its territory and has never ruled out the use of force to “reunify” with it.

  • The Strategist ☛ Stick with it until you win: why Beijing keeps sovereignty disputes alive

    No one should expect diplomatic pressure alone to make Beijing abandon a sovereignty claim.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Sri Lanka boosts prison security after riot kills one

    COLOMBO, Aug 2 - Sri Lanka tightened security across its prisons on Sunday after a riot left one person dead and six injured, an official said, as the nation struggles to manage its overcrowded jails.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Iran suspected of conducting cyberattacks on US water suppliers in 45 municipalities — small towns mostly targeted, with utilities switching to manual control

    Several US towns said that their water utilities have suffered from cyberattacks, which are suspected to have originated from Iran. While systems remain running, several have resorted to manual control to protect the water supply.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ At Least 3 Killed, 21 Wounded In Moscow Restaurant Bombing, Russian Authorities Say

      Russian authorities said on August 2 that an improvised explosive device was detonated at a restaurant in central Moscow, killing three people and wounding 21 others, as investigators worked to determine who was behind the bombing.

    • RFERL ☛ Patriot Debate Deepens As Don Bacon Questions Convicted Felon Shift, Senate Moves On Ukraine Arms

      US President The Insurrectionist's decision to step back from his earlier pledge to allow Ukraine to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors has prompted renewed debate in Washington over the future direction of US military support for Kyiv.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Says 'Answers' Needed On Patriot Delivery As Civilian Death Toll Climbs

      In the wake of the latest deadly Russian air strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed frustration with his Western allies, urging speedier delivery of urgently needed Patriot air defense missiles and other weapons.

    • LRT ☛ Ukraine and Gulf conflicts increasingly intertwined, says Russia-Iran analyst

      Russia's partnership with Iran has become one of the most influential strategic partnerships in today's geopolitical landscape. While Moscow and Tehran have stopped short of a formal military alliance, their cooperation in drones, intelligence, sanctions evasion and internal security has deepened since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    • France24 ☛ Three people killed in Moscow bombing

      A blast near the centre of Moscow has killed at least three people and injured 21 others. It happened at around 8pm local time, when a homemade explosive device detonated as a woman tried to enter a restaurant and was stopped by a security guard, according to Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee. Both the woman and the security guard were killed, along with a visitor at the restaurant, which was hosting a private function. Authorities have not said who they believe was the target, but Russian independent media report it may have been a military official. The attack is also suspected of being linked to the war in Ukraine. In recent years, several senior Russian military figures have been assassinated in and around Moscow, with the Kremlin blaming Kyiv for those attacks. Morgan Ayre has this story.

    • France24 ☛ At least 14 dead as Ukraine and Russia exchange strikes

      Ukrainian attacks killed at least nine people across Russia on Sunday, while Russian strikes left at least five dead in Ukraine, officials said. Both sides intensified long-range attacks despite stalled efforts to negotiate an end to the war.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvia sends dozens more confiscated vehicles to Ukraine

      One of the ways Latvia supports the defenders of Ukraine is by sending cars confiscated from local drunk drivers to soldiers and medics at the front.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Landslide death toll rises in China’s Gansu province as heavy rains continue

    Flash floods in Gansu province in China's north-west last week killed 25 people.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ Canada’s WestJet Cancels Trips Amid Strike By Flight Attendants

      Labor talks resumed on Sunday between the airline and union representing 4,400 flight attendants, who want improved wages and compensation for unpaid work.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • France24 ☛ France steps up fire prevention

      As France grapples with its worst wildfire season in decades, officials are looking for ways to stop fires before they even start. Catherine Viette has more.

• Finance

  • Gregory Hammond ☛ How much is too much? Or what's the maximum a price should increase?

    When you get older and start to buy your own things, you begin to notice prices increase over the years. How much more would you pay for exactly the same thing or sometimes even less? Even if everything went up by ten cents, it all adds up when put together.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Young South Koreans look for jobs in Japan as they struggle to find work at home​

    South Korea’s youth unemployment rate stood at 7 per cent in June.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Craig Murray ☛ The Hard Right Packing of the UK Supreme Court

    Unlike the USA, where it is obsessively watched, the UK has no political culture of scrutinising the political composition of its Supreme Court. This is a big mistake.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Gov’t refusal to release banned book list following independent bookstore arrests is ‘abuse of power,’ Christian NGO says

    The Hong Kong government’s refusal to release a list of banned books amounts to an “abuse of power” and undermines the rule of law, a conservative Christian NGO has said after authorities raided independent bookstores and arrested their staff last month.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Has Patent Term Adjustment Peaked?

      I wrote in April that PTA showed no sign of leveling. It has leveled. I am not ready to call that a decline, though, and biotech is carrying the burden.