Leftovers

• Latvia ☛ Latvia's strangest museums: Jūrkalne Storm Museum

  The big-name museums in the capitals of Europe are some of the prime tourist draws of the continent, and contain infinite revelations and treasures. But sometimes it’s hard not to feel you’re getting a country as it wants to be seen – or at the very least, a narrative that represents how a small number of influential people have decided to see it at that moment.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Dark Angel, as discussed by Adrift

  I rediscovered Adrift’s blog recently, and specifically this post about an early 2000s TV show I hadn’t thought about for years! Emphasis added:

  After finishing Star Trek: Picard, I watched all 42 episodes of Dark Angel (yeah yeah, embarrassing – WHAT ISN’T?!?). What’s interesting/funny about this 20 year old show (and I forgot all about that), is that it takes place in 2020. I was positively surprised by that and it’s definitely one of the reasons why it felt like the right time to watch it right now.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ The Largest T. Rex Was Probably Much Bigger Than We Ever Realized

    T is for Terrifying.

  • Science Alert ☛ Mysterious 2,500-Year-Old Graveyard Found Filled With Young Children

  • Science Alert ☛ Toxic Secret Found Hidden in The Golden Hues of Famous Rembrandt

    A dangerous glow.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Huawei may borrow a page out of Fashion Company Apple and Intel's CPU playbook — next-gen Kirin CPU may use similar packaging as Fashion Company Apple M-series chips and defective chip maker Intel Lunar Lake

    Huawei's Kirin chip will allegedly use a unified memory architecture, doubling its memory bandwidth compared to previous PC chips.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Puget says its defective chip maker Intel CPU failure rate is lower than AMD Ryzen failures — system builder releases failure rate data, cites conservative power settings

    High-end PC builder Puget Systems say that its data indicate a lower than expected failure rate for its defective chip maker Intel builds, compared to what’s widely reported.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Hospitals Are Running Out of Saline, And It's a Global Problem

    Shortages putting lives at risk.

  • New York Times ☛ Canadian Doctors Warn Against Private Medicine as a Cure for the System’s Ills

    The Canadian Medical Association has called for a ban on payments for procedures long covered by public systems and is warning about contracting services out.

  • New York Times ☛ When Elder Care Is All in the Stepfamily

    Adult children are less likely to assist an aging stepparent, studies show. A growing “step gap” in senior care worries experts.

  • JURIST ☛ US court finds Florida ban on transgender healthcare discriminatory

    Chief US District Judge Mark E. Walker ruled Thursday that the state of Florida’s employee health insurance plan violates Title VII employee protections against discrimination on the basis of sex.

  • Latvia ☛ Swimming not recommended in Rīga, Jūrmala

    The Health Inspectorate has imposed bathing restrictions at most of the official bathing sites in Jūrmala and Rīga because the microbiological quality of the water does not meet the requirements, the inspectorate said August 2.

  • WhichUK ☛ 6 things you might not know are covered by private health insurance

    From mental health support to physiotherapy sessions

  • Science Alert ☛ The Starting Point of Schizophrenia May Have Been Found in Brain Scans

    This is where it all begins.

  • Science Alert ☛ Cranberry Juice Really Does Have Promising Benefits For UTIs

    A solution to antibiotic resistance?

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Firm says Nvidia's skyrocketing Hey Hi (AI) valuation is in a 'bubble' and 'overhyped' — Elliott says Hey Hi (AI) apps are not viable

    Elliot Management follows Sequoia Capital's assessment that Hey Hi (AI) is overhyped, which makes Nvidia's stock a bubble.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia Blackwell GPUs allegedly delayed due to design flaws — launch expected to be pushed back by three months or more

    Nvidia is reportedly pushing back the initial deliveries of the B100 and B200 Hey Hi (AI) Superchips by at least three months to address design flaws.

  • Security Week ☛ CISA Names Lisa Einstein as First Chief Hey Hi (AI) Officer

    Einstein has led CISA’s Hey Hi (AI) efforts since 2023 as CISA’s Senior Advisor for AI.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Hackaday ☛ How About Privacy and Hackability?

      Many smart electric meters in the US use the 900 MHz band to broadcast their usage out to meter readers as they walk the neighborhood. [Jeff Sandberg] used an RTL-SDR dongle and some software to integrate this data into his own home automation system, which lets him keep track of his home’s power usage.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ Iran Arrests Dozens After Killing of Hamas Leader Haniyeh

    Iran has begun a sweeping investigation into the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, with its intensity a sign of how damaging and shocking the security failure was.

  • JURIST ☛ US Defense Secretary overturns plea deal for 9/11 plotters

    On Friday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejected a controversial plea deal that would have prevented three alleged 9/11 terror attack planners from facing the death penalty.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel Conducts Airstrikes on West Bank, Killing 3 Hamas Military Wing Members

    Israel hit a town in the occupied West Bank with two airstrikes on Saturday in the latest use of a once-rare tactic in the densely populated area.

  • New York Times ☛ Myanmar Junta Evades Sanctions and Increases Airstrikes

    The military has stepped up a campaign of airstrikes, and killed more civilians, to fend off rebel advances.

  • France24 ☛ Riots erupt in another UK city over knife attack as police brace for weekend turmoil

    Police faced violent far-right protests in Suderland on Friday following a knife rampage that left three young girls dead earlier in the week. It was the latest episode of unrest linked to what officials have said was a far-right online disinformation campaign about the British-born suspect.

  • France24 ☛ More than 30 killed in Somalia beach attack claimed by Al-Shabaab

    At least 37 people have been killed and scores wounded following an attack by an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber and gunmen at a popular beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu, police said Saturday. It was the latest in a string of attacks claimed by the Islamist militants in Mogadishu and other parts of the country.

  • New York Times ☛ Beach Attack in Somalia Kills at Least 32

    Gunmen and a suicide bomber struck a seaside hotel in one of the deadliest such assaults in the country in months. The Islamist militant group Al Shabab claimed responsibility.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ Prisoner Deals Stoke Fears of Perverse ‘Incentive’ to Grab Americans

      Hostile governments like Russia and Iran are often involved, and practical alternatives are hard to come by, experts say.

    • New York Times ☛ Alongside the Trump-Russia Inquiry, a Lesser-Known Look at Egyptian Influence

      The Justice Department and special counsel Robert Mueller investigated whether a Trump adviser was part of an Egyptian plan, never proven, to funnel $10 million to the 2016 Trump campaign.

    • New York Times ☛ Inside the Russian Prisoner Swap: Long Johns, Forensics and a Bound Killer

      The complex choreography caught some prisoners being freed in their robes and slippers, unaware of their fates, and required forensic experts to make positive identifications.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Antiwar Musician Kushnir Dies In Custody

      Classical pianist and Russian antiwar activist Pavel Kushnir has died in pretrial custody in the city of Birobidzhan, the capital of Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Oblast.

    • RFERL ☛ Finding Joy In Small Things: How Alsu Kurmasheva's Prison Letters Kept Hope Alive

      After spending 288 days in Russian detention, RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was released on August 1 as part of a prisoner swap between the United States and Russia. During her detention, Kurmasheva chronicled much of what she experienced in her letters to friends and family, some of which are now being published by RFE/RL.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says It Sank Russian Submarine; Oil Facilities Set Ablaze In Russia

      Ukraine's military said on August 3 that it had sunk a submarine in Russian-controlled Sevastopol, attacked a southern Russian airfield, and targeted oil depots and fuel and lubricant storage facilities in a number of regions.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Wins Its First Gold Medal At Paris Olympics

      Ukraine has won its first gold medal of the Paris Olympics by defeating South Korea in the final of the women's team saber fencing on August 3.

    • RFERL ☛ Kyiv's Human Rights Commissioner Appeals To UN, Red Cross Over Alleged Killing, Mutilation Of Ukrainian POW

      Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s leading human rights official, has appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations to investigate an image widely shared online on August 3 that he said likely showed a Ukrainian prisoner-of-war killed and dismembered by Russian forces.

    • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea says Russia's Putin offered humanitarian aid over flood damage

      SEOUL - Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered humanitarian aid to North Korea, which has been hit by heavy rainfalls and floods, Pyongyang's state media KCNA said on Sunday.

• Environment

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Death toll from bridge collapse caused by heavy rains in northern China rises to 38

    The death toll from a highway bridge collapse in northern China after heavy rains two weeks ago has climbed to at least 38 with 24 still missing, state media said Friday.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia PM’s alliance aims to win by-election battle in opposition stronghold state of Kelantan

    A win by rival PN in Nenggiri will reinforce views that Anwar's hopes for more Malay support remain elusive.

  • RFA ☛ Cambodia’s Hun Dynasty stakes reputation on the Funan Techo Canal

    Economic, environmental and security concerns about the vanity project will keep controversy alive for years.

  • Reason ☛ Maduro Is Bad for Venezuela and Bad for the U.S.

    His rule threatens U.S. interests by stifling market opportunities, fueling illegal immigration, and elevating regional security risks.

Monopolies/Monopsonies