Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ Something for the #TODO list: stick with one

  I have struggled, struggled with to do lists.

  I cannot overstate just how much I’ve struggled. You could say there are these things called to do lists, and I’ve struggled with them. Struggled.

  I’ve struggled to choose one. Every to do list system comes with its own set of helpful features that I appreciate, and limitations or quirks I find frustrating enough to quit. Yes, I’ve tried the one you use, or are about to recommend. Web, mobile, console, desktop, text, LISP, paper, I’ve tried them all.

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• Science

  • Futurism ☛ Whistleblowers Say NASA Is Poised to Kill an Astronaut

    "No one is coming to save us."

  • Futurism ☛ Compsci Grads Are Cooked

    "They're happy to get one job offer."

  • Science Alert ☛ Physicists Simulated a Black Hole in The Lab, And It Then Began to Glow

    An elusive radiation takes shape.

  • Science Alert ☛ First Stars Appeared in a 'Pre-Heated' Universe, Says Surprising Study

    Set oven to bake.

  • Science Alert ☛ Working Egg Cells Made Using DNA From Human Skin in World First

    A win for fertility research.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth Is at Risk From 'Invisible' Asteroids Lurking Near Venus

    Uh oh.

• Career/Education

  • New York Times ☛ Harvard Blasts Administration Over ‘Distorted’ Civil Rights Investigation

    The Sept. 19 letter came days before the Department of Health and Human Services started the process of cutting off federal funds to the university.

  • New York Times ☛ Athens Democracy Forum: Freedom of Speech in Academia Is Under Attack

    Clashes on university campuses, and administrators’ failures when dealing with them, have triggered actions by some governments meant to limit what universities and their students can say and do.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China's 96-core x86 CPU taps chiplet design to rival AMD EPYC and defective chip maker Intel Xeon — 13 chiplets per processor provide up to 384 cores on a single motherboard, but no word on power consumption

    Zhaoxin announces the company's latest KH-50000 series of server processors, leveraging a chiplet design with up to 96 cores.

  • Hackaday ☛ Hard Hat Becomes Bluetooth Direction Finder

    Have you ever wanted to find a Bluetooth device out in the wild while looking like the comic relief character from a science-fiction series? You might like Dendrite, the direction-finding hat from [SolidStat3].

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ New York firm faces China investigation over $17M advanced trading hardware smuggling — accused of installing customized processors and networking hardware at Shanghai Futures Exchange

    Tower Research Capital is under fire by a Chinese regulator for using possibly-illicit hardware.

  • Hackaday ☛ Improved 3D Printer Cannibalizes Two Older Printers

    In the late 2010s, the Ender 3 printers were arguably the most popular line of 3D printers worldwide, and for good reason. They combined simplicity and reliability in a package that was much less expensive than competitors, giving a much wider range of people access to their first printers. Of course there are much better printers on the market today, leaving many of these printers sitting unused. [Irbis3D] had an idea that with so many of these obsolete, inexpensive printers on the secondhand market, he could build something better with their parts.

  • Hackaday ☛ Unitree Humanoid Robot Exploit Looks Like A Bad One

    Unitree have a number of robotic offerings, and are one of the first manufacturers offering humanoid robotic platforms. It seems they are also the subject of UniPwn, one of the first public exploits of a vulnerability across an entire robotic product line. In this case, the vulnerability allows an attacker not only to utterly compromise a device from within the affected product lines, but infected robots can also infect others within wireless range. This is done via a remote command-injection exploit that involves a robot’s Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Wi-Fi configuration service.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Long Covid Risk for Children Doubles After a Second Infection, Study Finds

    The new research provides evidence that Covid reinfections can increase the risk of long-term health consequences.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Another Young Artist Crashes? Lola Young Cancels All Upcoming Shows to ‘Work On Myself’

    Lola Young announces stepping away from the spotlight to focus on her health after she collapsed on stage during a performance over the weekend.

  • NYPost ☛ Human eggs created from skin cells for first time in landmark fertility study

    Eggcelsior! Scientists have made a landmark breakthrough that enables the creation of viable human egg cells from a skin cell, new research claims.

  • LRT ☛ HIV cases rising in Lithuania, driven by infections among foreign nationals

    Lithuania has seen a rise in HIV cases since 2022, largely due to infections diagnosed among foreign nationals, according to public health officials.

  • PHR ☛ Study: U.S. State Abortion Bans Lead to ‘Cascading Harms’ Across Various Medical Fields, from Oncology to Neurology

    U.S. state abortion bans are disrupting medical care across many fields of medicine and resulting in substandard, discriminatory health care, according to a Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) research brief published today.

  • Futurism ☛ Huge Proportion of Young Americans Now Reporting Serious Cognitive Issues

    Feel like you're losing your mind?

  • Latvia ☛ Husband seeks justice after death of pregnant wife in Latvia

    If a patient suffers harm as a result of a doctor's treatment, they can apply for compensation. But the road can be very long and challenging - according to a story on Latvian Radio, aired 30 September, about a man who, after the death of his pregnant wife, tried to find out how this could have happened if she had been under the care of a doctor.

• Proprietary

  • Qt ☛ Qt 6.9.3 Released

    The last release from the Qt 6.9 series, Qt 6.9.3, is now available for download.  As a patch release, Qt 6.9.3 does not introduce new features but delivers over 250 bug fixes, security updates, and enhancements on top of the Qt 6.9.2 release. 

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ You Might Want to Ditch Your Hey Hi (AI) Investments Now That Jim Cramer Says No Bubble Is Coming

      "The grim reaper of finance has weighed in, the collapse of the global financial system is imminent."

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Anthropic touts safety, security improvements in Claude Sonnet 4.5

      Even with all the testing, the company said in its released research that the model tightened up once it was “aware” it was being evaluated. 

    • Futurism ☛ Amazon’s New AI-Powered Alexa Is a Half-Working Mess

      "LLMs aren’t designed to be predictable, and what you want when controlling your home is predictability."

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Phishing evolves with Hey Hi (AI) and stealth

      Currently, phishing is going through a shift driven by sophisticated AI-powered deception techniques and innovative evasion methods. Cybercriminals are exploiting deepfakes, voice cloning and trusted platforms like Telegram and Surveillance Giant Google Translate to steal sensitive data, including biometrics, electronic signatures and handwritten signatures, posing unprecedented risks to individuals and businesses.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • LRT ☛ Report: FBI-run encrypted phone data was stored on server in Lithuania

      Data from encrypted Anom phones that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation used to monitor organised crime worldwide was stored on a server in the northern Lithuanian city of Šiauliai, the news website 15min.lt reported Tuesday.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ 404 Accountability not found: Spyware accountability through software liability

      This report proposes a legislative safe harbor framework that would incentivize technology companies to engage in spyware accountability.

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Is cookie consent going to change in the UK?

      Open Rights Group convened a stakeholder roundtable on the future of adtech and cookie consent requirements in the UK following the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) consultation on a new enforcement approach toward regulating advertising.

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ COOKIE CONSENT REVIEW EXPOSES WEAKNESSES IN UK DATA PROTECTION REFORM

      The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is running a consultation on a new enforcement approach to regulating advertising. This call for views will also support the government in developing planned secondary legislation to create a new exception to consent requirements for specific low-risk advertising purposes.

    • Digital Music News ☛ YouTube Music and Waymo Team Up For Personalized Listening in Select Cities [Ed: Surveillance + Surveillance]

      Waymo riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix can now link their YouTube Music accounts to personalize their experience in a new way. Self-driving robotaxi company Waymo has added yet another audio streaming platform to its list of partnerships and integrations.

• Defence/Aggression

  • France24 ☛ Morocco rocked by violent clashes as youths protest health, education system

    Violent clashes broke out in several Moroccan cities late Tuesday after days of protests over health and education reforms, local media reported. Videos showed masked youths in Inezgane, near Agadir, throwing stones, setting fires near a shopping center and damaging a post office, though AFP could not verify them.

  • JURIST ☛ DOJ sues New Jersey protestors over violent disruptions to synagogue services

    The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that it will sue New Jersey protestors for intimidating Jewish worshipers at a synagogue and “preventing their participation in lawful religious services”. The protestors disrupted Jewish worship services by violently protesting at Congregation Ohr Torah in November 2024.

  • France24 ☛ US government nears first shutdown in nearly 7 years amid partisan standoff

    Democrats and Republicans traded blame Tuesday as a government shutdown loomed, with neither side willing to compromise on health care and spending. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers risked furloughs as lawmakers failed to reach a deal.

  • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man warns of "irreversible" actions in case of government shutdown

    As the US Senate prepared to vote again on a stopgap bill to keep the government funded for a few more weeks, President The Insurrectionist said a government shutdown was likely and warned Democrats that the administration could take some "irreversible" actions in such a scenario, including cuts to personnel and benefits. Meanwhile, YouTube agreed to pay Convicted Felon $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the freezing of his account in the wake of the January 6 riot in 2021.

  • Pro Publica ☛ How a U.S. Ambassador Allegedly Shielded President Bukele From Law Enforcement

    In August 2020, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, went to the U.S. ambassador with an extraordinary request. Salvadoran authorities had intercepted a conversation between a journalist and a U.S. embassy contractor about corruption among high-level aides to the president.

    The contractor, a U.S. citizen, was no ordinary source. He collaborated with U.S. and Salvadoran investigators who were targeting the president’s inner circle. Over the previous year, he had helped an FBI-led task force uncover a suspected alliance between the Bukele government and the MS-13 street gang, which was responsible for murders, rapes and kidnappings in the United States. He had worked to gather evidence that the president’s aides had secretly met with gang bosses in prison and agreed to give them money and protection in exchange for a reduction in violence. The information posed a threat to the Bukele government.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Democrats vote down GOP funding bill, putting government on path to shutdown

    Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government, putting it on a path to a shutdown after midnight Wednesday. The 55-45 vote Tuesday on the bill to extend federal funding for seven weeks fell short of the 60 needed to end a filibuster and pass the legislation. The action comes as Democrats are making good on their threat to close the government if President The Insurrectionist and Republicans won’t accede to their health care demands. Instead of negotiating, Democrats and Republicans are angrily blaming each other and refusing to budge from their positions. A government closure, which would be the first in almost seven years, would mean that hundreds of thousands of federal workers could be furloughed or laid off.

  • SIU uncovers syndicates which allegedly looted R2 billion at Tembisa hospital

    The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) says its investigation into corruption at Tembisa Hospital, in Ekurhuleni, has uncovered three coordinated syndicates, responsible for the looting of over R2 billion meant for healthcare.

  • Defence Web ☛ Dutch cargo ship Minervagracht hit by explosive device in Gulf of Aden

    A Netherlands-flagged general cargo vessel, Minervagracht (IMO 9571521), sustained substantial damage following an attack in international waters of the Gulf of Aden on Monday (239 September 2025), according to several maritime security sources and the vessel’s operator. The incident occurred approximately 128 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s port city of Aden. >

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s Lee, outgoing Japan PM Ishiba hold talks on global trade, North Korea

    Mr Ishiba said he hoped Korea and Japan would continue to work together more closely.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Denuclearisation off the table for North Korea, but freeze is achievable, say analysts

    A suspension of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme is a plausible outcome should a Convicted Felon-Kim summit happen.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea ex-PM Han’s trial over martial law crisis kicks off

    He has admitted to committing perjury, but denies helping an insurrection.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s young job seekers fear shrinking age window for entry-level work

    The age South Koreans consider appropriate to begin a career is 30.4 for men and 28.2 for women.

  • CS Monitor ☛ India, China look to be partners amid US tariff turmoil

    As U.S. tariffs upend trade, India’s investment in ports could boost its international trade and help it keep thawing relations with rival China.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Liu Haixing takes over Communist Party of China’s international department

    The career diplomat replaces a predecessor reportedly under investigation.

  • New York Times ☛ How Chinese Weapons Transformed a War Between Two Neighbors

    China urged Cambodia and Thailand to end their border war in July. But weeks earlier, it had sent rockets and artillery shells to Cambodia, Thai intelligence documents show.

  • ACLU ☛ ‘My Child is Now a Political Debate’: Immigrant Families Battle Convicted Felon’s Birthright Citizenship Threats

    *Some names have been changed to protect identities.

    When Jane* learned that the Supreme Court greenlit President The Insurrectionist’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, she immediately panicked. The order was slated to take effect July 27. Jane’s first child was due just 10 days later.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ German far-right lawmaker’s ex aide sentenced to nearly 5 years for spying for China

    By Andrea Hentschel A former aide to German far-right lawmaker Maximilian Krah in the European parliament was jailed for four years and nine months on Tuesday on charges of spying for China.

  • New York Times ☛ U.N. Security Council Approves Larger Force to Fight Gangs in Haiti

    The vote on Tuesday would establish a force of up to 5,500 soldiers and police officers. It was unclear what countries were willing to contribute personnel or money.

  • JURIST ☛ Myanmar authorities convert Rohingya land into security facilities, UN report says

    The UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said Monday that Myanmar’s Ministry of Home Affairs, Border Guard Police (BGP), and private corporations benefitted from the destruction and dispossession of Rohingya property during the military’s 2017 operations in Rakhine State.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ How a UN Security Council resolution could help end the war in Gaza

    Drawing inspiration from an earlier example, the council should pass a one-time-only resolution authorizing an international transitional governing authority and security force.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ As Europe’s neutral states shift closer to NATO, Ireland approaches a turning point for its security

    Ireland spends the least of any EU country on defense. Taoiseach Micheál Martin wants to change that. In a country with a policy of military neutrality deeply rooted in the country's history of violent civil conflict, what will re-armament take?

  • The Strategist ☛ The overlooked frontline of Women, Peace and Security

    In 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 and established the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong Chief Exec. John Lee warns foreign diplomats not to engage in ‘destructive activities’

    Hong Kong’s leader has warned foreign diplomats in the city not to engage in “destructive activities” after the new top US envoy Julie Eadeh reportedly invited opposition figures to her inaugural receptions.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China beefs up missile threat against Taiwan

    China is transforming parts of its east coast into a platform for potential missile strikes against Taiwan.

  • The Strategist ☛ Multinational combined joint force offers credible collective deterrence

    The Indo-Pacific’s networked deterrence architecture must evolve into an institutionalised, combined joint mechanism that can harness the collective power of like-minded nations.

  • New York Times ☛ South African Ambassador to France Is Found Dead in Paris

    The police are investigating the death of the ambassador, Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa, as a possible suicide.

  • France24 ☛ South African ambassador found dead at Paris hotel in possible suicide: prosecutor

    South Africa's ambassador to France, formerly a long-serving cabinet minister, was found dead on Tuesday at a Paris hotel in what is being treated as a possible suicide, the Paris prosecutor said. FRANCE 24's Tom Canetti reports.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Suicide blast targeting Pakistan paramilitary kills 10, officials say

    QUETTA, Pakistan - A suicide bombing killed at least 10 people outside the headquarters of a paramilitary force in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Tuesday, officials said.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Belarus dictator must not be rewarded for releasing his own prisoners

      Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka is attempting to repair relations with the West by trading political prisoners for concessions. If this hostage diplomacy proves successful, it will strengthen Lukashenka’s grip on power, writes Hanna Liubakova.

    • RFERL ☛ IAEA Working To Restore Power Line At Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Plant After Zelenskyy Sounds Alarm

      The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is working to restore offsite power to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the head of the agency said on September 30 after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the situation at the power plant had become critical.

    • RFERL ☛ Second Ukrainian Suspect Detained Over Nord Stream Blasts

      Polish authorities have detained a Ukrainian man suspected of involvement in the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, prosecutors in Warsaw said on September 30.

    • New York Times ☛ A.I. Fighter Jets and Cockroach Spies: Inside the Changing Business of War

      Russia’s war on Ukraine changed the course of a generation of start-ups and investors that have applied a new business model to Europe’s military buildup.

    • New York Times ☛ Secretive Program That Keeps Ukraine’s Weapons Firing Is Suddenly in Doubt

      A Czech Republic-led effort gathers munitions for Kyiv from around the world, but an opposition party expected to win elections there has vowed to drop it.

    • Meduza ☛ Pain at the pump: Parts of Russia are resorting to price caps and gasoline rationing after Ukrainian drone strikes cut refining capacity during peak demand — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Hospitals and kindergartens are the first to suffer’ Russia destroyed the water infrastructure in Ukraine’s occupied Donbas. Civilians are paying the price. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Telegram founder Pavel Durov says he thinks he was poisoned in 2018 — Meduza

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Putin’s dream of demilitarizing Ukraine has turned into his worst nightmare

      Putin had hoped to demilitarize and decapitate the Ukrainian state, but his self-defeating invasion has inadvertently created the militarily powerful and fiercely independent Ukraine he feared most of all, writes Peter Dickinson.

    • Latvia ☛ Ukrainian Latvian discussion taking place this week

      On October 2nd a public discussion will be taking place in Rīga  a with a distinguished guest from Ukraine – Ukrainian writer, literary scholar, and publicist Dr. Oksana Zabuzhko.

    • The Strategist ☛ Bookshelf: Brzezinski, one of the last grand strategists

      Zbigniew Brzezinski was a lifelong Cold War hawk who was deeply suspicious of the Soviet Union.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker’s message to allies ‘dragging their feet’ on defense spending

      At the 2025 Transatlantic Forum on GeoEconomics, Whitaker called upon each ally to "start spending money on their defense and stop buying Russian energy."

    • France24 ☛ France investigates oil tanker listed under Russia 'shadow fleet' sanctions

      French authorities are investigating a suspected offence by a Benin-flagged oil tanker that is listed under European Union and UK sanctions against Russia. EU officials say the vessel, currently anchored off France’s Atlantic coast, is linked to the transport of Russian crude oil and is involved in "high-risk shipping practices".

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania expects expanded powers for NATO air mission amid Russian threats

      Lithuania expects NATO fighter jets guarding Baltic skies to receive broader powers in the coming months, including the authority to shoot down hostile aircraft, President Gitanas Nausėda’s chief national security adviser said Tuesday.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia’s Military Budget Shrinks as War Costs Hit Kremlin’s Economic Limits

      The budget indicates that Russia will continue to fight largely as it has, locking it in a grinding war of attrition.

    • Meduza ☛ Gay until proven otherwise: The strange targets of Russia’s anti-LGBTQ crackdown include a manga snake romance, a sibling blog, and an eco activist — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Czechia bans unaccredited Russian diplomats and closes its visa centers in Russia — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s vanishing act: Sociologist Salavat Abylkalikov on how migration shifts and underinvestment in motherhood drive a looming population crisis in Russia — Meduza

    • JURIST ☛ UN presses Belarus to loosen child contact restrictions for convicted mothers

      UN experts on Monday urged Belarus to lift current restrictions that limit women convicted of extremism from contacting their children. Women in these circumstances are denied direct communication with their children and are allowed to correspond only every two-to-three months. In-person visits and phone calls are systematically prohibited.

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ Pope Leo Plans to Speak on Climate Change

    The address comes 10 years after his predecessor’s groundbreaking statement on global warming. His words will be watched for signals on the direction of the new papacy.

  • European Commission ☛ Video message by President von der Leyen at the “Climate action that works for you” event

    In the last decade, we moved from ambition to action. Soon the world will gather for COP30. Our message will be clear: Europe is staying the course.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Strong quake in central Philippines kills 8 as search ongoing

    The 6.9-magnitude quake wrecked roads and buildings and knocked out power in parts of the region.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ $7.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency recovered from newly convicted 'Bitcoin Queen' — funds from fraudster thought to be the largest seizure to date

      The Metropolitan Police announced a conviction against the so-called "Bitcoin Queen" from whom they seized approximately $7.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Dozens missing, three dead in Indonesia school collapse

      The building on Java island, where students were gathered for afternoon prayers, gave way on Sept 29.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong accepts health certificates from official mainland Chinese vets for imported cats, dogs

      Hong Kong now recognises animal health certificates issued by official veterinarians from all customs authorities in mainland China for the import of cats and dogs into the city. The new policy, announced by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) on Tuesday, marks a widening recognition of mainland certificates.

    • Science Alert ☛ Multiple Mushrooms Have Evolved Their Own Ways to Make Psilocybin

      An evolutionary surprise.

• Finance

  • BIA Net ☛ Turkey’s state science academy used research funds for personal gadgets, audit reveals

    The Court of Accounts found that TÜBA spent public research funds on items unrelated to scientific work, including smartphones, furniture, and fiction books.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Insurrectionist’s Fentanylware (CheeTok) Deal Looks Like Crony Capitalism

    The sale demonstrates the President’s personal brand of industrial policy—transactional, opaque, and designed to politically benefit him and his allies.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ HKFP Lens: Sea of red in Hong Kong as city prepares for PRC’s 76th anniversary

    The streets in Hong Kong have turned into a sea of red as Chinese and HKSAR flags fly across the city to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on Wednesday.

  • New York Times ☛ Athens Democracy Forum: Discontent Has Put Democracy in Jeopardy

    Experts at the Athens Democracy Forum this week will explore the challenges to democracy, from artificial intelligence and subversion to complacency and inequality.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Bills to watch as government shutdown draws nearer

    Lawmakers have introduced a variety of government shutdown bills throughout September, looking to reform both federal benefits and shutdowns themselves.

  • New York Times ☛ How Zohran Mamdani Built a Campaign Around Food

    The front-runner for New York mayor is leveraging his lifelong love of eating to inform his policy plans and spread his message.

  • New York Times ☛ Starmer Describes Fight for ‘Soul’ of U.K. as Populist Right Rises

    In a speech at a Labour conference, the British prime minister contrasted his political project with that of Nigel Farage, whose party has promised mass deportations.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Generals Speech Was Political Theater

    The military was again used as a backdrop for Convicted Felon’s clashes in America’s culture wars, testing the armed services’ nonpartisan, apolitical nature.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Gave the Military’s Brass a Rehashed Speech. Until Minute 44.

    On an almost daily basis, thousands of words pour forth from the president’s mouth. Sometimes, he tucks in a wildly revealing insight about the direction he is taking the country.

  • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man's Martial plan? US military encouraged to embrace 'warrior ethos'

    First his war secretary warned against wokism and fat general, before The Insurrectionist told hundreds of generals summoned for an unprecedented gathering of US top brass to expect more deployments to fight the "enemy from within. Although, his bragging about federal troops sent to cities run by "radical democrats" came amid a rambling speech, one that railed against the press and affirmative action but also included praise for firemen and Barack Obama's way of going down staircases without holding the handrail.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man calls for using US cities as a ‘training ground’ for military in unusual speech to generals

    Addressing military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia on Tuesday, Convicted Felon outlined a muscular view of the military’s role in domestic affairs.

  • New York Times ☛ 5 Takeaways From Convicted Felon’s Address to Top Military Leaders

    The president leveraged the meeting as his chance to trumpet his domestic and foreign policy moves.

  • New York Times ☛ Judge Rules Convicted Felon Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens Over Pro-Palestinian Speech

    In a blistering opinion, a federal judge in Boston said the Convicted Felon administration used the threat of deportations to systematically intimidate certain campus demonstrators into silence.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ May Solidarity and Speech Defeat Pardons and Tanks

    In a sharp rebuke to Convicted Felon's assault on free speech, Judge William Young reflects that Alone, [we] have nothing but [our] sense of duty. Together, We the People of the United States –- you and me -- have our magnificent Constitution.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Newspaper columnists and BillBC execs becoming more elitist, research finds

    Media remains one of UK's most elitist industries according to the Sutton Trust.

  • FAIR ☛ US Cartooning Tradition in Peril in Trump’s First Year

    The political cartoon is of vast importance to the history of the United States. Benjamin Franklin’s “Join or Die” made the case for unity to colonists wanting independence from Great Britain. Thomas Nast exposed the corruption of Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall; when Tweed attempted to escape justice, he was identified from a Nast cartoon. It was political cartoonist Herblock who coined the term “McCarthyism” in a 1950 piece attacking the Republican Party platform.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • The Straits Times ☛ What restrictions have the Taliban imposed in Afghanistan this year?

    Afghanistan's internet and mobile telephone services were down nationwide on Tuesday, and while the Taliban administration offered no immediate explanation, in recent weeks it has voiced concern about pornography online.

  • RFERL ☛ Afghanistan In Massive Internet Shutdown Amid Taliban 'Morality' Crackdown

    A large-scale Internet blackout swept across Afghanistan on September 29, just weeks after the ruling Taliban authorities started severing fiber-optic cables in multiple provinces, leading to localized outages.

  • France24 ☛ UN calls for Taliban to restore internet as Afghanistan goes dark

    The United Nations called on Afghanistan's Taliban authorities Tuesday to immediately restore internet and telecommunications in the country, 24 hours after a nationwide blackout was imposed. The government began shutting down high-speed internet connections to some provinces earlier this month to prevent "immorality", on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. FRANCE 24's Charlotte Lam reports.

  • NYPost ☛ Employees are being forced back to the office – and it’s impacting remote workers’ baby boom

    Turns out the real home office perk isn’t fewer commutes — it’s more cribs.

  • JURIST ☛ Rights group warns new China law threatens minority protections

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday warned that recent Chinese legislation may lead to escalated repression of ethnic minorities and extend “ideological control” beyond the country’s borders. The new legislation prioritizes Mandarin Chinese dominance.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Opposes FCC Phone Jamming Vote

    Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted to adopt a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek comment on reducing regulatory barriers to combatting contraband wireless device use in correctional facilities. Specifically, the item would allow correctional facilities to use jamming devices to block cellphone signals within the correctional facilities.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Centralized Expanded Discretionary Denial

    Soon after taking office, newly confirmed USPTO Director John Squires formally delegated his discretionary authority over inter partes review institution decisions to Deputy Director Coke Morgan Stewart on September 25, 2025. Just one day later, on September 26, the agency exercised that delegated authority to deny institution in fifteen IPR petitions covering eight patent monopoly groups. The denial decisions, though brief (each under two pages of text), reveal continued reliance on the expanded “Fintiv” framework that weighs parallel district court proceedings, while also emphasizing “settled expectations” based on patent monopoly age and petitioner delay. Notably, one decision denied institution even though the parallel district court case had been stayed, marking another expansion of discretionary denial grounds beyond trial timing concerns.  L’Oréal USA, Inc. v. Brightex Bio-Photonics, LLC, IPR2025-00971. 

  • Unified Patents ☛ Lexidine vehicle camera patent monopoly challenge instituted

    On September 29, 2025, six weeks after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,609,961, owned and asserted by Lexidine LLC, an NPE. The ‘961 patent monopoly relates to integrating a camera into a vehicle light.

  • JUVE ☛ European court cancels Biogen’s extended market exclusivity for Tecfidera

    In addition to the parallel patent monopoly disputes pending in several European countries concerning Biogen’s multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera, the company is also battling over marketing authorisation. The European General Court has now overturned a European Commission decision that favoured extending market exclusivity.

  • Unified Patents ☛ $3,000 awarded for Cloud-Native Heroes Challenge - prior art found on Proxense '640

    Unified Patents and Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) are pleased to announce the winning prior art submissions in the Cloud Native Heroes Challenge, a patent monopoly troll bounty program. The results of this contest demonstrate the benefits of engaging open source developers and technologists with domain expertise in the fight against patent monopoly trolls.

  • John Squires Confirmed as USPTO Director, With Serious Work Ahead

    Last Thursday, the Senate confirmed John Squires as Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), advancing him alongside a slate of 47 other Convicted Felon Administration nominees in a single vote under the so-called “nuclear option.” His confirmation process may have been straightforward, but the road ahead is anything but.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Weakness of "MANE" for Hair Products Yields Dismissal: MAIN ESTEEM Not Confusable with MANE 'N TAIL

    The Board dismissed this opposition to registration of the mark MANE ESTEEM for hair care products and hair salon services [MANE disclaimed], finding confusion unlikely with the registered mark MANE 'N TAIL for hair care products for humans and domestic animals. The weakness of the term "MANE" as a formative, coupled with the dissimilarities in the marks, led to the Board's conclusion. Straight Arrow Products, Inc. v. Willette Manigault and Mane Esteem, LLC, Opposition No. 91266129 (September 25, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Elizabeth K. Brock).

• Copyrights

  • Public Domain Review ☛ Birth of the Pearl (1901)

    A "living picture" film staging Botticelli’s *Birth of Venus* with a twist.