Leftovers

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Trichotillomania: New Study Explains Why People Feel Compelled to Pull Out Their Own Hair

    Closer to understanding.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Observe Quantum Heat Waves at Room Temperature For The First Time

    Another notable step forward.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover a Bizarre New Way Life Can Make DNA… Without DNA

    This is mindblowingly weird.

  • Science Alert ☛ One Type of Diabetes Responds Better to a Weekly GLP-1 Drug Than to Insulin

    GLP-1 wins again.

  • Science Alert ☛ A New Kind of Plastic Vaporizes When Heated And Then Reassembles Itself

    "We've demonstrated a principle that wasn't previously available."

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Rockchip RV1126B-based Forlinx FCU3101 fanless edge Hey Hi (AI) system targets IIoT and smart security applications

    Forlinx has just introduced the FCU3101, a fanless Edge Hey Hi (AI) system based on the Rockchip RV1126B/RV1126BJ SoC and designed for Industrial IoT (IIoT) and smart security applications, such as video surveillance, license plate recognition, intrusion detection, industrial inspection, and material counting. It ships with up to 4GB of DDR4, up to 64GB of eMMC storage, and includes dual Ethernet, Wi-Fi 4, Bluetooth 4.2, optional 4G LTE, RS485, RS232, digital I/O, relay outputs, HDMI, and USB ports. It supports up to 9–36V DC input and operates in the -40°C to +85°C temperature range in its industrial configuration.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Haze triggers surge of asthma cases in Malaysia

    Upper respiratory tract infection cases also increased, rising by 124 per cent.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal The Strange Neurological Reason Your Pupils Dilate When You're Surprised

    Like a neural 'reset'.

• Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware

  • LWN ☛ Mourning [Microsoft] Steve French

    From Jeremy Allison we have the sad news of the passing of Steve French. He was the maintainer of the

    kernel's SMB filesystem code for many years, having only dropped that

    role due to health issues in the last week. "I've known Steve for

    over 20 years. He was a legend in the community, and a really good

    friend. He will be greatly missed. Farewell Steve." He will indeed be missed.

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

    • Jim Nielsen ☛ Getting an LLM to Make Me a Tool for Enriching the Color Metadata in My Icon Collection

      On my icon gallery sites, I have metadata I’ve manually added over the years to tag certain icons as being predominantly “blue” or “orange” or some other color.

      Then I use this metadata to present icons of (roughly) the same color. It’s kinda neat to be able to browse a wall of icons that are all the same color.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia reportedly warns biggest customers of 15% price hikes on Hey Hi (AI) servers — memory costs continue to soar

      The increases will take effect on Grace Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems shipping early next year.

  • Social Control Media

    • Futurism ☛ Dating App Cofounder Bails After Scandal Over Using Fake AI-Generated Influencers

      The app was found to be a "psyop."

    • International Business Times ☛ A66 Crash Kills Seven as Teen's Fentanylware (CheeTok) Videos Fuel Calls to Ban Police Chase Content

      A wrong-way crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough killed seven, including two police officers. Fentanylware (CheeTok) videos linked to the incident highlight concerns over dangerous driving content online.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ Peace through strength, says Taiwan’s President Lai on China battle anniversary

    He is visiting a front-line island to mark a key battle with Chinese forces almost seven decades ago.

  • France24 ☛ China abruptly delays ambitious Chang’e-7 mission to find water ice on moon

    China has postponed its Chang’e-7 lunar mission, which was due to launch in the coming days and search for water ice near the Moon’s south pole, a government agency said Saturday. Officials said the mission did not meet launch conditions, without providing further details.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says unmanned moon mission delayed over ‘launch conditions’

    It had initially been expected to be launched as early as next week.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran Warns Gulf States Not to Join Convicted Felon’s Economic War

    Iran’s new hard-line national security adviser, Mohsen Rezaei, vowed to prevent “a single drop of oil” from leaving the region.

  • France24 ☛ Iran discovers major new gas reserves amid war-hit energy sector

    Iran on Sunday said it had discovered more than 200 billion cubic metres of natural gas in the southern Fars province, with more than 160 billion cubic metres potentially recoverable. The find comes as the country’s energy sector faces disruption after months of US-Israeli strikes on gas facilities, oil depots and transport routes.

  • JURIST ☛ Human Rights Watch expresses alarm over escalating settler violence on West Bank

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Thursday that escalating settler violence and aggressive settler expansion in the occupied West Bank is driving the displacement of Palestinians, with the organization attributing the rise of settler extremism to Israeli authorities. HRW conducted investigations over April and May 2026 within 7 Palestinian West Bank communities.

  • France24 ☛ Israeli strikes kill three, including child, in Gaza Strip

    Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip killed three people, including a child, on Sunday, according to rescuers. The strikes came two days after a Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank following a rock-throwing incident.

  • The Strategist ☛ How to make military decision-support software reliable when comms go down

    Armed forces need greater robustness from the systems they are increasingly using to support combat decision-making.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea preparing further Russia troop deployments, no sign move is imminent: Seoul

      Pyongyang has continued to supply Russia with weapons systems, including short-range ballistic missiles.

    • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea preparing further Russia troop deployments, no sign move imminent: Seoul

      North Korea had continued to supply Russia with weapons systems, including short-range ballistic missiles.

    • International Business Times ☛ UK Parliament Lights the Palace of Westminster in Ukraine's Colours To Mark Kyiv's Independence Day

      The UK lit up the Palace of Westminster in Ukraine's flag colours to mark Kyiv's Independence Day, highlighting ongoing support amid tensions with Russia. PM Andy Burnham plans a visit to Kyiv.

    • LRT ☛ Ukrainian ambassador: If Russia says it wants to kill you, you best believe it

      Thirty-five years ago, Ukraine chose freedom, but for twelve of those years, Ukrainians have been forced to shed their blood to fight against Russian aggression and its imperial vision of the world, says Ukrainian Ambassador Olha Nikitchenko in an interview with LRT.lt. Ukrainians never sought to become heroes, she argues, they simply had no other choice: “If we stop fighting, then we stop existing.”

    • NYPost ☛ Zelensky details rift with Ukraine’s dismissed Defense Minister Fedorov

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he believes actions taken by dismissed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov were misguided, as he publicly detailed their dispute for the first time.

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky Says His Ex-Defense Minister Was Wrong to Call for Elections

      The Ukrainian president repeated his long-held position that elections in the middle of war would tear his country apart.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Rejects Call For Wartime Elections As EU Leaders, US Senators Visit Kyiv

      French leader Emmanuel Macron has vowed to accelerate delivery of new French air interceptor missiles to Kyiv following devasting Russian air attacks on a Ukrainian city and a call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    • France24 ☛ Wartime elections would 'destroy' Ukraine, says Zelensky

      Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said in remarks made public Sunday that wartime elections would be a "tsunami" that would "destroy the country".  Kyiv has been engulfed in a political crisis over the summer, triggered when Zelensky fired popular defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who days later called to organise a vote.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Turns To Coalition Of The Willing In Push To Bolster Ukraine's Defenses

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's push to bolster international support and to receive additional air defenses continues on August 24 as the so-called Coalition of the Willing meets to discuss ways to pressure Russia to halt its invasion months ahead of another likely brutal winter.

    • LRT ☛ On foot only: life at one of Lithuania’s last crossing points with Russia

      The Queen Louise Bridge over the Nemunas river has been closed since April 2022, two months after Russia invaded Ukraine. Back then Russia claimed to have shut it for repairs. Four years on, almost no work has been done.

    • JURIST ☛ Rights group sues Canada and Manitoba for ‘extremely underfunded’ legal aid

      The Canadian Civil Liberties Association on Thursday sued the governments of Canada and Manitoba for the province’s “extremely underfunded” criminal legal aid, arguing that the underfunding violates the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence, and is discriminatory against Indigenous people in effect.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine: Zelensky asks for more Patriot interceptors as civilian deaths hit highest level since 2022

      Kryvyi Rih is still digging through the wreckage. The Russian strike on a shopping centre there, in President Zelensky's own hometown, has now claimed at least sixteen lives, with several people still unaccounted for. It has added urgency to the request Zelensky has been making for months: he needs Patriot interceptors as the threat of winter looms. Camille Knight has more.

    • France24 ☛ President Zelensky says having elections in Ukraine would 'destroy the country'

      In remarks on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke out against holding war time elections. He believes it would be too dangerous for the country, that would ‘split’ Ukraine. The remarks came after his former defense minister publicly called for a vote. Details and analysis by FRANCE 24 correspondent in Kyiv, Emmanuelle Chaze.

    • France24 ☛ The week in pictures: a French woman in space, wildfires in Europe and the war in Ukraine

      Russian drones carry out deadly strikes in Ukraine, astronaut Sophie Adenot becomes the first French woman to spacewalk, fires rage in Belgium and across Europe, and torrential rain hits the Philippines: FRANCE 24 takes a look at the week's most striking images.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky rejects rival's call for elections, says would be 'huge risk' for Ukraine

      Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the prospect of wartime elections, saying it would be highly dangerous. The remarks come in response to a call from the former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov to organise a vote, after he was fired by Zelensky last month. Analysis by FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Matthew-Mary Caruchet.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky rejects wartime elections, saying vote would 'split' Ukraine

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that holding elections during wartime would pose a threat to the country, following a controversial call by his former defense minister to pave the way for an election. According to the latest opinion poll by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology carried out this summer, only 15 per cent of those surveyed want an election to be held at this time. Details by Eliza Herbert.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Futurism ☛ Amazon Delivery Drone Drops Package Directly Into Customer’s Swimming Pool

      "Oh s***!"

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ In Hong Kong, mourning a stray dog killed in mainland China means walking a fine line

      Outside a commercial building in Causeway Bay, one of Hong Kong’s busiest shopping districts, a column of people carrying umbrellas and flowers wrapped around the block. For hours, mourners waited in the rain so they could pay their respects to Wang Wang, a stray dog who was killed by five boys in mainland China.

    • New York Times ☛ Mapping America’s Largest ‘Dead Zone’

      In a decades-long crisis, marine life has suffered as oxygen periodically dwindles in waters along the Gulf Coast.

  • Overpopulation

    • JURIST ☛ UN warns humanitarian aid cuts leave children vulnerable to hunger in Somalia

      The UN warned on Friday that the global decrease in funding for humanitarian aid has forced aid programs and facilities in Somalia to shut down, and is resulting in increasingly severe consequences for Somali children.

• Finance

  • France24 ☛ Why is Saudi Arabia spending billions to become a global Esports power?

    Saudi Arabia is betting big on the global gaming industry. It's already gobbled up Electronic Arts in a $55 billion deal and the flagship Esports World Cup is now being held outside the country -- in Paris -- for the first time. This is part of efforts to diversify away from its oil and gas driven economy.

  • France24 ☛ Saudi Arabia asserts its dominance over Esports as MBS arrives in Paris for 'World Cup'

    Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives in France for a two-day visit this Sunday. President Emmanuel Macron is hosting the crown prince for the closing ceremony of the so-called Esports World Cup in Paris… which is organised and financed by the Saudis. Analysis by Andy Miah, chair of Sciences Communication & Future Media at the University of Salford.

  • France24 ☛ Greek Ithaca island hopes for big tourism boost thanks to Odyssey movie

    Greece's most famous islands have spent this year fighting to keep tourists out... with Santorini and Mykonos now capping cruise arrivals and charging steep entry fees just to manage the crowds. But on one small island, they're hoping for the opposite problem. Ithaca, the legendary home of Homer's Ulysses, is banking on a Hollywood boost, as Christopher Nolan's Odyssey draws new attention to a corner of Greece that's largely stayed off the tourist map. Story by Camille Knight.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ China media hails Canada’s ‘Chinese-style’ tariff retaliation

    The media cast Ottawa’s move as validating Beijing’s opposition to Washington’s protectionist trade policies.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Economic Approach Draws Concern From Some Republicans

    A plan to lower tariffs on imported beef and trade tensions with Canada have compounded some G.O.P. worries about a central issue in the midterms.

  • France24 ☛ French centre-left candidate launches presidential bid amid divided left

    Centre-left politician Raphaël Glucksmann on Sunday launched his bid for the French presidency, aiming to unite moderate left-wing voters and challenge Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s influence ahead of France’s 2027 election. With Marine Le Pen leading first-round polls, Glucksmann is seeking to position himself as a pro-European, pro-Ukraine alternative to both the far right and hard left.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese comedian Guo Degang investigated after patriotic song gag

    A famous Chinese comedian is under investigation, local authorities told AFP on Sunday, after he reportedly poked fun at a patriotic song during a performance. The ruling Communist Party maintains tight control over China’s arts scene, and the government has enacted laws in recent years to protect national heroes and symbols from purported slander.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil activists convicted under nat. security law

    Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil activists Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan have been convicted of incitement to subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

  • JURIST ☛ Hong Kong court finds Tiananmen massacre commemorators guilty of subversion

    The Hong Kong Court of First Instance on Friday found Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and the pair’s now-disbanded  Hong Kong Alliance, guilty of a “subversion” offense under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL).

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Science Alert ☛ Journalism Can Help Expose Bad Science And Trigger Real-World Change, New Study Shows

    Thanks for reading.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean survivor fights for workplace harassment ‘justice’

    Employers have no clear legal duty to tell victims of workplace harassment how their cases ended.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ MikroTik as a home router

    Guest Post: No homelab can be complete without a proper networking setup. Proceed at your own risk! (... it's worth it)

  • APNIC ☛ Do IXPs make the Internet faster? It’s complicated

    IXPs shape latency, cost, resilience, and the spread of new technologies, not just Internet speed. As the Internet evolves, the role of IXPs continues to expand, as highlighted in this BPF 2026 panel discussion.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Trademarks

    • Digital Music News ☛ Lady Gaga Triumphs in ‘Mayhem’ Trademark Lawsuit In Big First Amendment Win

      Lady Gaga has defeated a trademark infringement suit filed by a surfboard brand, as a judge dismisses the case, citing insufficient evidence. On Tuesday, a judge dismissed the trademark infringement lawsuit filed against Lady Gaga by a surfboard brand over her Mayhem album title and accompanying logo.

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ Bad Bunny Spent Nearly $500,000 Fending Off the ‘Enséñame Bailar’ Copyright Lawsuit, Court Filings Reveal (Updated)

      *Update, August 22-23: Since the publication of this article on Friday, August 21st, Empawa’s replacement counsel, Edwin M. McPherson of the LA-based McPherson LLP, has demanded multiple changes...