Links 09/06/2025: Science, Hardware Projects, and Democracy Receding
Contents
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Leftovers
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Can This Blue Chemical Really Boost Your Brain? Here's What We Know.
It's a sensation, but is it real?
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Science Alert ☛ Caffeine Has a Weird Effect on Your Brain While You're Asleep
And it affects younger people more.
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Science Alert ☛ Experiment Reveals What Prolonged Fasting Actually Does to The Human Body
And it's not all great.
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Science Alert ☛ Weight-Loss Drugs Like Ozempic Can Leave Lasting Damage in Your Mouth
A number of side effects have emerged.
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Science Alert ☛ Bed Bugs May Have Been The First Urban Pest to Ever Plague Humans
Long-term relationships are never easy.
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Science Alert ☛ A Mathematician Calculated The Size of a Giant Meatball Made of Every Human
This is truly bizarre.
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Science Alert ☛ Strange Metal From Beyond Our World Spotted in Ancient Treasure Stash
More precious than gold.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Simple Triggering For Saleae Logic Analyzers
Saleae logic analyzers seem to have it all: good sampling rates, convenient protocol decoding, and plenty of channels – but not a good way to set rising or falling-edge triggering. [James] found this rather inconvenient when debugging embedded devices, and shared a workaround that replicates these simple triggering modes.
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Hackaday ☛ Wireless Power Makes For Cable-Free Desk
Some people hate cables with a passion; others are agnostic and prefer cabled peripherals to having to stop and charge their mouse. [Matt] from DIYPerks has the best of both worlds with this wireless-powered, no-cable desk setup.
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Hackaday ☛ Garden Hose Gets Laminar Flow
We aren’t sure if [Joshua Bellamy] is serious that he wants a laminar flow to water his plants, but there are many places where having a smooth and predictable flow of water is useful or even essential. With his 3D printed adapter, you can produce laminar flow from any garden hose.
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Hackaday ☛ Piano Doorbell Adds Music To Your Home
Regular ding-dong doorbells are fun and all, but it can be nice to put something a little more special by your front door. To that end, [Arpan Mondal] built this neat little piano doorbell to make visiting his home just a touch more fun.
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Hackaday ☛ Bringing A Father Ted Joke To Life
Inspired by a gag from a mid-90s sitcom Father Ted, [Stephen] decided to create his own talking tape dispenser.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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New York Times ☛ Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Eggs Sickens Dozens
The outbreak has been tied to multiple brown organic and brown cage-free egg brands distributed to grocery stores in seven states, officials said.
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NYPost ☛ Retired architect, 80, forced to bag groceries as medical bills, promise to dying wife leave him broke
“I took care of her at home from the day she was diagnosed till I held her in my arms when she took her last breath and it was because I took vows, it’s as simple as that. I took vows in sickness and in health.”
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Science Alert ☛ Gluten Intolerance vs Celiac Disease: Experts Reveal The Key Differences
Is going gluten-free right for you?
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Ruben Schade ☛ Externalities
I’ve mentioned the term externalities a lot on the blog over the last half a decade, whether it’s been about COVID-19, the blockchain, or generative AI. Whenever I do, someone asks what exactly I mean by it, or that they haven’t heard the term before. Let’s explore it today.
An business externality is a cost not paid by the buyer or seller of a good or service. You can think of it as a side effect of a business transaction that’s imposed on someone else.
A factory is a classic example. Say you produce widgets that generate toxic waste, which you pump into a river because cleaning is expensive. This lets you sell your widget cheaper, which someone will then buy. It’s important to recognise that cost didn’t disappear, it was externalised to local residents who now have to pay to clean their river.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Federal News Network ☛ Supreme Court allows DOGE team to access Social Security systems with data on millions of Americans
The Supreme Court has handed the Convicted Felon administration two victories in cases involving the Department of Government Efficiency, including giving it access to Social Security systems containing personal data on millions of Americans. The court's majority sided Friday with the Convicted Felon administration in its first Supreme Court appeals involving DOGE, the effort recently led by MElon. The three liberal justices dissented in both cases.
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New York Times ☛ The Rich Compensation for Being the C.E.O.
The chief executives at Palantir, which scoops up data for the government, and Veeva Systems, a cloud-computing company, topped two lists of the highest-paid C.E.O.s.
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Defence/Aggression
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New York Times ☛ The Quiet Unraveling of the Man Who Almost Killed Convicted Felon
Thomas Crooks was a nerdy engineering student on the dean’s list. He stockpiled explosive materials for months before his attack on The Insurrectionist, as his mental health eroded.
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France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man sends National Guard to Los Angeles over immigration raids protests
National Guard troops on Sunday arrived in Los Angeles on orders from US President The Insurrectionist to quell "lawlessness" in the area after two days of unrest sparked by a crackdown on undocumented migrants. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the move was "purposefully inflammatory" and warned that it would "only escalate tensions".
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France24 ☛ Immigration raid protests intensify in LA after Convicted Felon deploys National Guard
Security forces clashed with protesters outside a Los Angeles detention center on Sunday as National Guard troops deployed by President The Insurrectionist spread across the city after days of unrest over immigration raids. Convicted Felon vowed "very strong law and order," hinting at possible wider troop deployments.
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France24 ☛ Protesters rally against immigration agents for second day in LA
Federal agents in Los Angeles faced off against demonstrators for a second day in a row on Saturday following immigration raids a day earlier, prompting a senior White House official to call the protests a "violent insurrection." The security agents on Saturday were in a tense confrontation with protesters in the Paramount area in southeast Los Angeles, where some demonstrators displayed Mexican flags and others covered their mouths with respiratory masks.
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France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man threatens to deploy 'troops everywhere' in LA over raid protests
Security forces clashed with protesters outside a Los Angeles detention center on Sunday as National Guard troops deployed by President The Insurrectionist spread across the city after days of unrest over immigration raids. Convicted Felon vowed "very strong law and order," hinting at possible wider troop deployments.
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JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court sides with American gun manufacturers in Mexico’s lawsuit over cartel violence
The United States Supreme Court ruled on Thursday in favor of seven American gun manufacturers in a lawsuit brought by the Mexican government accusing them of aiding and abetting Mexican cartels.
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New Yorker ☛ The Victims of the Convicted Felon Administration’s China-Bashing
A Cold War-era report is a reminder of how long suspicion has trailed people of Chinese descent in the U.S.
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New York Times ☛ Japan Flexes Its Military Muscle at China, and Convicted Felon
A highly visible missile base on Okinawa is part of a Japanese defense buildup made amid fears of Beijing’s growing power and questions about U.S. commitment.
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The Straits Times ☛ China Vice-Premier He Lifeng to meet US delegation for trade talks in London
Dihydroxyacetone Man had announced the talks after a phone call with Chinese counterpart Pooh-tin Jinping.
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The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan coast guard, military drill to better face China’s ‘grey zone’ threat
The drills simulated the seizing of a ferry by “international terrorists”.
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The Straits Times ☛ Key US-China trade talks set for Monday in London
LONDON - Top U.S. and Chinese officials will sit down in London on Monday for talks aimed at defusing the high-stakes trade dispute between the two superpowers that has widened in recent weeks beyond tit-for-tat tariffs to export controls over goods and components critical to global supply chains.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China vice premier to meet US delegation for trade talks, Beijing says
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will meet a US delegation for talks next week in Britain, Beijing announced Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers.
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The Straits Times ☛ Japan flexes its military muscle at China, and Convicted Felon
Tokyo's top priority is improving security ties amid negotiations with Washington over tariffs.
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The Straits Times ☛ Thailand and Cambodia say they will return to agreed border positions after fatal clash
Thailand had earlier shortened operating hours at 10 border crossings with Cambodia after a deadly clash in May.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Says It Has Stepped Up Its Drone Game, Again
The Ukrainian military says its new weapon system, which launches antiaircraft missiles from a remote-controlled speedboat, has brought down two Russian jet fighters.
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New York Times ☛ Russian Drone Swarms Test a Volunteer Air-Defense Unit Near Kyiv
On a “hot night,” when Russia tries to overwhelm Kyiv’s air defenses, Ukraine relies not only on Patriot missiles, but on civilians wielding searchlights and vintage guns.
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France24 ☛ Russia, Ukraine accuse each other of delaying POW swap
A large-scale prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine – the only concrete outcome of peace talks – was thrown into doubt Saturday after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of delaying and thwarting the swap. At talks in Istanbul on Monday, Kyiv and Moscow agreed to release all wounded soldiers and those aged under 25 who had been captured – more than 1,000 people on each side.
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France24 ☛ Russia claims its forces have reached Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time
Russia claimed on Sunday that its forces had reached the border of Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time and were pushing into the central-eastern industrial and mining hub in what would be a symbolic and strategic setback for Kyiv. There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia's statement.
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France24 ☛ Russia says pushing offensive into Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk
Russia said Sunday it was pushing into Ukraine's eastern industrial Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its three-year offensive – a significant territorial escalation amid stalled peace talks. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports.
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The Straits Times ☛ Russian intelligence says it collects WeChat data. What does that mean?
The popular Chinese messaging and social control media app has over 1.4 billion users globally.
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The Straits Times ☛ Secret Russian intelligence document shows deep suspicion of China
The threats are laid out in an internal FSB planning document obtained by The New York Times.
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France24 ☛ Wagner Group leaves Mali, replaced by Moscow-backed Africa Corps
The Russian-backed Wagner Group, which spent more than three years fighting Islamic extremists in Mali, will be replaced by the Moscow-run Africa Corps. In the last decade, Mali has relied on an estimated 2,000 mercenaries, according to US figures, in its battle against an insurgency by armed groups that include those linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Says Still Pressing For Prisoner Swap, But Accuses Putin Of ‘Dirty’ Games
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would press on with plans for a prisoner swap with Moscow, although he expressed doubts about a successful outcome, while his military leaders denied Russian claims that its forces had for the first time advanced into the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
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NYPost ☛ Everything old is old again — like Putin playing with Stalin’s handbook
Contrary to popular belief, I have thoughts.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia boat capsize: Bodies of last two victims found
Rescuers found the married couple's bodies 200m apart at sea.
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The Straits Times ☛ 15 die after bus carrying university students collides with MPV in Malaysia
The accident took place at 1.10am along the East-West Highway near Tasik Banding in Perak.
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Wildlife/Nature
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The Straits Times ☛ Mother elephant refuses to abandon trapped calf in Malaysia
Local authorities sedated the mother to free the calf from a rope snare.
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Finance
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong catering group King Parrot informs staff of closure, unions say
Hong Kong catering group King Parrot has informed staff members about its closure but has yet to sort out severance pay, according to trade unions.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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New York Times ☛ Takeaways From Graduation Speeches by Convicted Felon, Taraji P. Henson and Others
The New York Times studied videos of addresses posted online, including those by Hell Toupée, Kermit the Frog and a slew of celebrity speakers. Here is a look at key themes that emerged.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea president calls for measures to respond to rising prices
He said the increasing cost of living is causing 'too much pain'.
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JURIST ☛ US court blocks efforts to stop AmeriCorps work in certain states
A federal judge in Maryland ordered the Convicted Felon administration on Thursday to restore AmeriCorps-funded programs in Washington, DC, and 24 Democratic-led states as their lawsuit over recent cuts proceeds.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian political cartoonist’s travel ban stirs anger, but police call it a mistake
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim ordered the police to provide an explanation.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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JURIST ☛ Zambia court order and cyber laws raise concerns over press freedom
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed concern Friday over a Zambian court’s interim injunction that blocks a media outlet from airing an investigation documentary on Chinese investments in Zambia. The nation’s High Court granted the order following a lawsuit filed by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Zambia against the media outlet News Diggers.
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JURIST ☛ US federal court upholds White House restrictions on Associated Press
A US federal court ruled on Friday that President The Insurrectionist’s administration can bar the Associated Press (AP) from some events and spaces in the White House. The opinion follows an AP lawsuit claiming the administration infringed upon the outlet’s First Amendment rights.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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New York Times ☛ Italians Prepare to Vote in Citizenship Referendum
A referendum on Sunday and Monday will give Italians the chance to loosen citizenship laws for immigrants. But it is not clear enough voters will turn out.
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France24 ☛ Italy holds referendums on citizenship and workers' rights
Italians began two days of voting Sunday in a referendum on easing citizenship rules and strengthening labour laws, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government opposed to both and urging people to abstain.
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JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court unanimously rules against higher burden of proof in reverse discrimination lawsuits
The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday against imposing a higher burden of proof for reverse discrimination lawsuits under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Court reversed on a case involving a heterosexual woman who claimed that she was denied promotion and demoted because of her sexual orientation.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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New York Times ☛ MElon’s Starlink Hits a Roadblock in Its March Across South America
Mr. MElon’s Starlink has brought the internet to some of South America’s most remote places. But Bolivia is shunning it, even as many there are desperate for better service.
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