Leftovers

• Science

  • LRT ☛ Lithuania holds its first ceremony honouring donors who gave their bodies to science

    “I used to joke with my mother that perhaps some good surgeon would learn by practising on our bodies,” says Valerijus, who came to say farewell to his late mother. Both of them have decided to donate their bodies to science after death. On Wednesday, Vilnius University’s Faculty of Medicine held Lithuania’s first-ever burial ceremony honouring donors who had given their bodies for medical education and research.

  • Science Alert ☛ Astronomers Catch a Ring System Forming Around Chiron in Real Time

    This odd jelly-donut world between Jupiter and Uranus is wild.

  • Science Alert ☛ Red Spider Nebula Holds a Secret in Its Glowing Heart, JWST Reveals

    Never-before-seen details, just in time for Halloween.

  • Science Alert ☛ Deep Beneath The Pacific Ocean, Earth's Crust Is Tearing Itself Apart

    "It's like watching a train slowly derail, one car at a time."

  • Science Alert ☛ Halloween Contact Lenses Can Cause Serious Harm to Your Eyes

    Here's what you need to know.

  • Science Alert ☛ Oldest Air Ever Measured Found in Ice From 6 Million Years Ago

    Hold your breath.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ 2025 Component Abuse Challenge: An Input Is Now An Output

    Part of setting up a microcontroller when writing a piece of firmware usually involves configuring its connections to the outside world. You define a mapping of physical pins to intenral peripherals to decide which is an input, output, analogue, or whatever other are available. In some cases though that choice isn’t available, and when you’ve used all the available output pins you’re done. But wait – can you use an input as an output? With [SCART VADER]’s lateral thinking, you can.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nexperia conflict spills overseas as it halts exports to China — German automotive manufacturers slow production due to semiconductor shortages from Dutch chipmaker

    The fallout of the Nexperia ownership scuffle between the Dutch government and Chinese business interests is spilling overseas, with German automotive parts suppliers slowly reducing production due to semiconductor shortages. Meanwhile, Nexperia's Dutch facilities have now blocked exports to its Chinese facilities.

  • Hackaday ☛ Recovering Data From The OceanGate Depths

    When the files on the Titan submersible disaster were published, most people skimmed for drama. Hackers, however, would likely zoom in on the hardware autopsy. [Scott Manley] actually did this. He faced a hacker’s nightmare: three crushed PCs, bent SSDs, and an encrypted SD card from a camera that survived six kilometres under pressure, all sealed in titanium and silence.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Global appetite for Malaysian durian grows export, fruit planting projects

    Malaysian durians are now exported to more than 40 countries, including Singapore.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan lawmakers mull regulating kratom and ‘gas station heroin’ byproduct

    As it stands now, Michigan children can buy kratom, a substance that some say is dangerous. Lawmakers are considering regulating it.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan open enrollment: Here’s how much health insurance rates are rising

    Premiums are going up an average 20.2% for individuals who get insured through HealthCare.gov. But prices could surge higher without the tax credits being debated during the government shutdown.

  • Futurism ☛ American Obesity Rates Are Now Falling, and It’s Almost Certainly Because of Ozempic

    This is going to have unforeseen consequences for Americans if this trend continues.

  • Latvia ☛ Breast cancer screening does not hit targets in Latvia

    Latvia has been screening for breast cancer for 16 years, but we have been among the countries with low uptake in the EU for all that time. Apart from a few years, attendance has been between 30 and 40 per cent, Latvian Radio reported on 30 October.

  • Latvia ☛ Study suggests one in five mothers suffer from postpartum depression in Latvia

    18% of new mothers in Latvia suffer from postnatal depression, according to a study conducted by Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and Rīga Maternity Hospital (RDzN), RSU said in a release on 30 October.

  • Latvia ☛ Daugavpils hospital short-staffed in cardiology

    Daugavpils Regional Hospital has been developing invasive cardiology services for several years, with an emphasis on life-saving treatment for the region's population. However, there is a lack of doctors, Latvian Radio reports on 31 October.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea investigates death of worker at London Bagel Museum over reported overwork

    The 26-year-old employee had reportedly worked nearly 80 hours in a week.

  • Science Alert ☛ Brain-Training App 'Reverses 10 Years' of Decline in a Key Brain System

    "This is the first time any intervention, drug or non-drug, has been shown to do that in humans."

  • Science Alert ☛ A Signal Hidden Deep in Your Brain Could Track Parkinson's Symptoms

    This discovery could play a valuable role in treatments.

  • Science Alert ☛ 44% of Halloween Injuries Stem From One Simple Cause

    A true horror story.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Identified a New Blood Group After a 50-Year Mystery

    A medical breakthrough that could save lives.

  • Science Alert ☛ Physicists Just Ruled Out The Universe Being a Simulation

    There's a critical feature making it impossible.

• Proprietary

  • Qt ☛ Qt Creator 18 released

    Qt Creator 18 adds experimental support for Development Containers and many more improvements.

  • Qt ☛ 2D vs 2.5D vs 3D User Interfaces for Modern Device Design

    Choosing between 2D, 2.5D, and 3D user interfaces for embedded devices depends on hardware capabilities, data complexity, and user needs. This guide explains what 2.5D is, compares 2D vs 2.5D vs 3D approaches, and details the benefits of each when designing for embedded devices. Learn when 3D graphical user interfaces justify the complexity, when 2.5D offers the best balance, and why 2D remains essential for safety-critical applications.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ Former Proprietary Chaffbot Company Insider Says It’s Failed Its Users

      "People deserve more than just a company’s word that it has addressed safety issues."

    • Futurism ☛ New Law Would Prevent Minors From Using Hey Hi (AI) Chatbots

      "We in Congress have a moral duty to enact bright-line rules to prevent further harm from this new technology."

    • Futurism ☛ A New Paper Tested AI’s Ability to Do Actual Online Freelance Work, and the Results Are Damning

      "I should hope this gives much more accurate impressions as to what's going on with Hey Hi (AI) capabilities."

    • New York Times ☛ Character.AI’s Teen Chatbot Crackdown + MElon Groks Wikipedia + 48 Hours Without A.I.

      “We are living through a dramatic contraction in the access that teenagers have to technology online.”

    • It's FOSS ☛ The Internet is Dying. We Can Still Stop It

      Almost 50% of all internet traffic are non-human already. Unchecked, it could lead to a zombie internet.

    • LWN ☛ Large language models for patch review

      There have been many discussions in the free-software community about the role of large language models (LLMs) in software development. For the most part, though, those conversations have focused on whether projects should be accepting code output by those models, and under what conditions. But there are other ways in which these systems might participate in the development process. Chris Mason recently started a discussion on the Kernel Summit discussion list about how these models can be used to review patches, rather than create them.

      Mason's focus was on how LLMs might reduce the load on kernel maintainers by catching errors before they hit the mailing lists, and by helping contributors increase the quality of their submissions. To that end, he has put together a set of prompts that will produce reviews in a format that maintainers are used to: ""The reviews are meant to look like emails on lkml, and even when wildly wrong they definitely succeed there"". He included a long list of sample reviews, some of which hit the mark and others of which did not.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia hunts seven suspects after Singapore busts Cambodia scam ring

      This comes after Singapore issued arrest warrants for the seven Malaysians and 27 Singaporeans linked to a syndicate.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia considering linking school CCTVs with police for live monitoring

      The Education Ministry has allocated $2.5 million to install CCTVs at strategic areas in schools.

    • Futurism ☛ ICE Is Now Wandering the Streets, Scanning People’s Faces to Check If They’re Citizens

      "I'm an American citizen so just leave me alone."

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ China’s Pause on Rare Earth Controls: What to Know

    China has suspended export controls announced this month, but was conspicuously silent about rules imposed earlier, which are snarling global supply chains.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ US and Japan move to loosen China’s rare earths grip — nations partner to build alternative pathways to power, resource independence

    Announced on October 28 in Tokyo, the agreement commits both governments to securing mineral flows and accelerating the deployment of advanced nuclear power.

  • CS Monitor ☛ At summit, US and China declare ceasefire in trade war

    China hopes that its refusal to bow to U.S. trade pressure will persuade Mr. Convicted Felon to seek a more conciliatory relationship with his country’s main rival.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan does not want China’s ‘one country, two systems’, says President Lai Ching-te

    No major political party in Taiwan supports China's "one country, two systems" idea.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China opens probe into Taiwanese lawmaker for ‘separatist activities’

    China has opened a probe into Puma Shen, a prominent Taiwanese lawmaker it has previously sanctioned, for alleged criminal “separatist activities”, authorities said Tuesday. Shen is an outspoken member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which advocates for Taiwan’s sovereignty.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea says denuclearisation is unrealisable ‘pipe dream’ before China, South Korea summit

    Xi and Lee are set to meet on the sidelines of the APEC forum held to discuss the issue.

  • New Yorker ☛ Portland Prepares for Invasion

    The Forrest Dump Administration, looking for another TV-ready fight in Oregon, is ready to sic the National Guard on the city’s inflatable-costumed protesters.

  • France24 ☛ Tanzania rocked with post-election violence

    As post-election violence grips Tanzania, the United Nations is urging the government to refrain from using disproportionate force against protestors. This follows remarks made by Tanzania's army chief - labelling the protestors 'criminals'. According to the opposition, around 700 have been killed in the clashes. Internet access has been disrupted since October 29- while a heavy military and police presence patrolled the streets of Dar es Salaam.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ What to Know About US Nuclear Weapons as Convicted Felon Threatens to Restart Testing

      Though the country’s nuclear arsenal has undergone no explosive testing for decades, federal experts say it can reliably obliterate targets halfway around the globe.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • American Oversight ☛ American Oversight Wins Appeal in Open Meetings Act Lawsuit Against Georgia State Election Board

    The Georgia Court of Appeals reverses dismissal, clears path for our lawsuit to proceed.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ China and Japan join forces on typhoon research as climate warms

    The agreement between the two institutions was signed last week.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Futurism ☛ Awe-Inspiring Airplane Footage Shows Inside Hurricane Melissa

      This is unreal.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China sends its youngest astronaut to ‘Heavenly Palace’ space station

      Missions on China’s Shenzhou-21 spacecraft involve trios of astronauts on six-month stays in space.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ China deploys wind-powered underwater data center off Shanghai coast — $226 million project could top 24 megawatts, harnessing the cooling power of the sea

      China has launched what it claims is the world’s first wind-powered undersea data center — a sealed, seawater-cooled cluster sitting 35 meters beneath the surface off the coast of Shanghai.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • New York Times ☛ He Studied Why Some Female Birds Look Like Males

      Jay Falk explored a fundamental question: How do genes give rise to different bodies? But without funding, “there’s not really a future here.”

    • Futurism ☛ Stray Dogs in Chernobyl Zone Turn Mildly Blue

      Researchers say they may have identified the cause.

    • The Straits Times ☛ India seizes two endangered gibbons, one dead and one alive, in checked luggage at Mumbai airport

      The passenger, who had travelled from Malaysia, was given the rare apes by a syndicate for delivery in India.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea President Lee says global trade order at critical inflection point

    The Apec region accounts for 50 per cent of global trade and 61 per cent of GDP.

  • The Straits Times ☛ APEC official says member countries working hard for consensus on trade

    GYEONGJU, South Korea - Most Asia-Pacific countries want and are heading in the direction of free and open trade, a senior official at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) secretariat said, as U.S. President The Insurrectionist's tariffs overshadowed the forum's annual summit.

  • Breach Media ☛ Mark Carney and Doug Ford keep serving Big Landlords

    Economist Ricardo Tranjan joins Desmond Cole to discuss how Ford and Carney’s housing policies heavily favours corporate landlords

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Jeanine Pirro Covers Up The Insurrectionist’s Doxing Conspiracy

    Among the things Convicted Felon's DOJ excised from the sentencing memo of Tayler Taranto yesterday is Convicted Felon's own role, by doxing Barack Obama, in getting Taranto to stalk Obama's neighborhood.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • The Straits Times ☛ Anthony Grey, Reuters journalist held captive in Mao’s China, dies at 87

    In his first job interview with Reuters, Anthony Grey was asked why he wanted to cover international news. To be mixed up in important events, he said.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Redbird Capital chief issues plea to get £500m Telegraph purchase over line

    Telegraph editors and readers appear unconvinced by Redbird independence pledges.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Express rapped by IPSO over inaccurate headlines nine times in 2025 so far

    The articles mostly relate to Labour's financial policies.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Mail on Sunday Bob Vylan ‘death to Israelis’ splash ‘not misleading’, IPSO says

    Front page splash drew 123 complaints to press regulator IPSO.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Good Morning Britain chief correspondent Richard Gaisford to step down

    Journalist described as a "consummate professional and a first-class broadcaster".

  • Press Gazette ☛ Senior editorial staff and editors hit hard by Reach cutbacks

    Final Reach headcount reduction expected to be less than planned total of 186.

  • Citizen Lab ☛ How Anti-Cybercrime Laws Are Being Weaponized to Repress Journalism: Columbia Journalism Review

    In many countries, laws against cybercrime are being weaponized to repress journalism. Speaking to the Columbia Journalism Review, Citizen Lab doctoral fellow Gabrielle Lim warns that democratic countries passing similar laws could provide cover to repressive authoritarian regimes.  “

  • Press Gazette ☛ John Edwards dies aged 91: ‘One of the great writer reporters’

    'For almost 60 years he was always where the action was'.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • ACLU ☛ Biometric bracelets for prisoners

    Some prisons and jails around the United States have started using non-consensual, non-removable biometric wrist straps on prisoners to monitor their pulse, blood oxygenation level, skin temperature, “activity level,” and location. WBUR Radio recently covered this technology, and our allies at EPIC wrote up a good privacy analysis of the technology last year.

  • New Yorker ☛ How Bad Is It?: Why an Antifascism Scholar Fled the Country

    As the Convicted Felon Administration casts Antifa as a terror threat, its sweeping definition of extremism sets the stage for right-wing campaigns against dissenting voices.

  • ACLU ☛ Why Police Traffic Stops Are Dangerous and Ineffective

    The Fourth Amendment protects us from being stopped, searched, or detained by police without good reason. But over the years, courts have dramatically weakened those protections when it comes to cars and traffic enforcement.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ [Podcast] Greasing the wheels

    Shumon Huque discusses how greasing — testing unused protocol values — can keep extensible protocols flexible and prevents future extensions from breaking.

  • Internet Society ☛ Working Together for an Accessible and Safe Internet

    By working together, as a global society, we can amplify our impact and advance a more inclusive and resilient Internet for everyone.

  • LWN ☛ ICANN report: DNS runs on FOSS

    ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) has announced a report on "the critical role of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) within the Domain Name System (DNS)". The report is aimed at policymakers and examines recent cybersecurity regulations in the US, UK, and EU as they apply to FOSS in the DNS system; it includes findings and guidelines "to strengthen the FOSS ecosystem that is critical to the secure and stable operation of the Internet".

  • Internet Society ☛ From Connectivity to Capability: Rethinking the Digital Divide

    India's rapid digitalization has been remarkable. But connectivity and processes alone do not guarantee capability. The digital divide today is not just about who is online; it's about who can navigate, trust, and benefit from being online. 

Monopolies/Monopsonies