Leftovers

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Lost Soviet Luna 9 Moon Lander May Have Been Found

    Two research teams have identified possible landing sites for Luna 9, the first human-made object to safely reach the lunar surface. “One of them is wrong,” an expert said.

  • New York Times ☛ Climate Change Is Erased From Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence for Judges

    After Republican criticism, a group that offers professional resources to judges withdrew a climate science chapter from its Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.

  • France24 ☛ NASA delays rocket launch to ISS over weather conditions

    NASA announced Tuesday it would again delay the launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station again due to weather conditions. The agency said it is targeting February 13 for the lift-off of Crew-12, which includes French astronaut Sophie Adenot.

  • Science Alert ☛ Something Far Darker Than a Black Hole Could Hide in The Heart of The Milky Way

    A true cosmic horror.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth's Largest Reserve of Hydrogen Could Be Hiding in Its Core

    More than in all of the world's oceans.

  • Science Alert ☛ NASA Rover Drove Across Mars Without Human Control For Two Days

    Road trip!

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Have Discovered a Protein That Reverses Brain Aging in The Lab

    Brain aging may be optional.

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient Romans Really Did Use Poop as Medicine. We Just Got The First Real Proof.

    Plug your noses.

  • Science Alert ☛ These Tiny Actions Could Give Your Life Real Meaning, a Psychologist Explains

    It's not about the big things.

• Career/Education

  • BIA Net ☛ Vocational Education Centers: The reproduction of class inequality through education

    While upper-class families steer their children toward knowledge, academia, and secure futures, children from lower-class families are condemned at an early age to work, insecurity, and narrow life prospects.

  • France24 ☛ Senegal orders university closure following student death during protests

    In tonight's edition, anger, grief, and unanswered questions in Senegal a day after a student protest turns deadly in Dakar. Also, in Sudan, deadly drone strikes are intensifying. And childbirth can be a matter of survival in some parts of Uganda: as hospitals fail and fees rise, expectant mothers are forced to seek care wherever they can find it.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ YouTube Argues It Isn’t Social Media in Landmark Tech Addiction Trial

    The app said in opening statements that it was more of an entertainment platform. The lawsuit claims social control media companies design products that cause personal injury.

  • JURIST ☛ California trial over social control media harm to children begins

    Opening statements in a landmark trial involving some of the world’s biggest social control media companies, including Google, YouTube and Meta, opened in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday, to determine the platforms’ alleged harmful effects on children.

  • New York Times ☛ F.D.A. Refuses to Review Moderna Flu Vaccine

    The vaccine maker’s shots involve the successful Covid vaccines’ RNA technology. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has broadly rejected it, canceling millions of dollars in research projects.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian company develops smart leggings for stroke patients

    The Latvian company InnovoMotion has developed smart leggings with a precise sensor system that enables stroke patients to perform therapeutic exercises at home after which they receive feedback that is almost as reliable as in-person sessions, reports Labs of Latvia.

  • European Commission ☛ Commission launches Action Plan Against Cyberbullying to protect young people online

    European Commission Press release Strasbourg, 10 Feb 2026 The European Commission's Action Plan Against Cyberbullying aims to protect the mental health of children and teens online in the EU.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea to raise medical school quota to ease shortage

    Policymakers argue that expanding medical school intake is necessary to prevent worsening access to care.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Families in China scramble for mercury thermometers ahead of ban despite health risks

    The ban applies to manufacturing, not to owning or selling existing inventory.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Whitmer signs classroom smartphone ban for Michigan schools. What to know

    Michigan K-12 students will be banned from using smartphones during instructional time starting this fall. Here’s what to know about the new law signed Tuesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

• Proprietary

  • Qt ☛ QtWidgets to QtQuick, An Application Journey Part 2

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Adam Jackson: now you're footgunning with gas!

      If you haven't heard of gastown it is my sincere pleasure to be the one to fix that. If you're like me and you have way more ideas than time or ability to type them, gastown is an absolute game changer. I haven't felt this jazzed about programming in decades, like, I'm using antiquated slang like "jazzed" without embarrassment. 

      Well. Not embarrassment about that.

    • Futurism ☛ ChatGPT Users Are Crashing Out Because Proprietary Chaffbot Company Is Retiring the Model That Says “I Love You”

      "He wasn’t just a program."

    • Futurism ☛ Researchers Studied What Happens When Workplaces Seriously Embrace AI, and the Results May Make You Nervous

      "You don't work less. You just work the same amount or even more."

    • Futurism ☛ Anthropic Researcher Quits in Cryptic Public Letter

      The world is "in peril."

    • Futurism ☛ “Novelist” Boasts That Using Hey Hi (AI) She Can Churn Out a New Book in 45 Minutes, Says Regular Writers Will Never Be Able to Keep Up

      "Be shameless."

    • AccessNow ☛ A call to EU legislators: protect rights and reject the call to delete transparency safeguard in Hey Hi (AI) Act

      We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject the deletion of the Article 49(2) transparency safeguard for high-risk Hey Hi (AI) systems that is proposed in the Hey Hi (AI) Omnibus. This transparency safeguard ensures that providers of Hey Hi (AI) systems cannot circumvent the core obligations of the Hey Hi (AI) Act.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • Open Source Initiative ☛ Europe’s Open Source Opportunity: our vision for the EU Open Digital Ecosystems strategy

      The OSI submitted its feedback to the Open Digital Ecosystems strategy, which comes at a time when both Open Source communities and the European Union face unprecedented challenges. We highlighted the benefits of Open Source for Europe, and how to leverage them in a way that strengthens Open Source communities.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ Election Commission mulls e-voting option for Malaysians abroad, says minister [Ed: Terrible idea, easy to crack]

      Malaysians living overseas are currently allowed to vote through the overseas postal voting system.

    • Science Alert ☛ How to Spot an Online Romance Scam Before It Costs You Everything

      One red flag stands out.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Futurism ☛ TikTok Refuses to Confirm or Deny That It’s Providing User Data to ICE

      "Yeah, everyone just go ahead and delete Fentanylware (CheeTok) now if you haven't already."

  • Confidentiality

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea government calls Coupang breach involving 33.7 million records worst ever

      Information leaked included names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

• Defence/Aggression

  • European Commission ☛ Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the European Parliament on the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Sudan

    European Commission Speech Strasbourg, 10 Feb 2026 The horrific humanitarian crisis in Sudan has already lasted more than one thousand days. And the crisis keeps getting worse.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea police raid spy agency over drone flight into North

    Three civilians have already been charged over their alleged role in the drone scandal.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s army eyes 24-hour childcare services for military families

    Service members and military civilian staff face difficulties in arranging childcare.

  • France24 ☛ Inside Iran's crackdown: Legacy of a bloodbath

    Imagine having to mourn a loved one in secret. One month on, that seems to be the lot of many inside a shellshocked Iran, this after seeing the regime shut the Internet and start the shooting at unarmed protesters across the country in towns big and small. And when the lights came back on, the Islamic Republic of Iran had gotten away with the very bloodbath that The Insurrectionist warned not to carry out.

  • Site36 ☛ Immigration office wants brothers of Mouhamed Dramé, killed by police, to leave Germany – Supporters demand right to remain

    Sidy and Lassana Dramé are to leave Germany – despite possible appeal against acquittal of perpetrator. The immigration office has already confiscated their passports. Now resistance is forming. Sidy and Lassana Dramé face deportation from Germany, even though the legal proceedings surrounding their brother Mouhamed’s death are not yet concluded.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Leader of Myanmar armed group says world is ignoring junta’s deadly air strikes

    He said only China was intervening in the conflict.

  • New York Times ☛ A Crucial Step in Convicted Felon’s Gaza Plan

    Persuading Hamas to give up its weapons is the “linchpin of everything” in the president’s plan.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China to support ‘reunification forces’ in Taiwan, go after ‘separatists’

    A senior Chinese official said officials must advance the “great cause of national reunification”.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines sees signs of cooperation from China despite sea disputes

    Envoy Jose Manuel Romualdez said Manila’s relationship with Beijing should not be defined solely by maritime disputes.

  • Defence Web ☛ UN Chief says South Sudan conflict is targeting humanitarian operations

    Along with South Sudanese, aid workers are paying “a devastating price” as humanitarian operations in war-torn South Sudan are increasingly [...]

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan President urges Parliament to pass stalled special defence budget

    Taiwan President Lai Ching-te proposed the defence boost to counter China.

  • The Strategist ☛ Under new president, Honduras reconsiders its relationship with China

    It turns out that China’s economic clout isn’t so strong.

  • BIA Net ☛ Report: Turkey seeks to repatriate 2,000 ISIS-linked nationals from Syria for trial

    The US last month began transferring ISIS prisoners from northern Syria to Iraq following an agreement between the Syrian Kurds and Damascus.

  • The Strategist ☛ An army of lawyers is advancing. Taiwan is the target

    China has built not only a military to coerce Taiwan, but an army of lawyers to intimidate and constrain it. In 2025, Beijing’s lawfare campaign shifted decisively from largely declaratory threats to active enforcement. The ...

  • The Straits Times ☛ Seven killed in gold mine accident in eastern China, state media CCTV reports

    The accident occurred on Feb 7 when a cage fell down a mine shaft.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China charges former official of defence industry regulator with graft

    China has accused a former deputy director of its defence industry regulator of bribery and abuse of influence, the top prosecutor said on Tuesday, as Beijing steps up its anti-graft campaign in the military and supporting industries.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japanese businesses in China worried over negative impact from diplomatic row

    China has implemented a string of measures such as an advisory against travel to Japan.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia charges two Chinese nationals with foreign interference

    SYDNEY, Feb 11 - Two Chinese nationals are set to appear in court on Wednesday, after Australian police charged them with foreign interference on grounds of covertly collecting information about a Buddhist group, on behalf of a Chinese government security agency.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ Olympic Officials Ban Ukrainian’s Helmet Honoring War Dead

      Vladyslav Heraskevych said he would risk disqualification to wear a helmet that the International Olympic Committee said defied a ban on political speech.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Knocked Out the Heat. So She Slept in a Tent on Her Bed.

      With defiant ingenuity, Kyiv residents are trying to find ways to stay warm in a cruel winter.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Nears Capture of Key Ukrainian Towns After Year of Grinding Assaults

      Russian troops have advanced at a glacial pace in recent months, but gains in southern and eastern Ukraine could give Moscow an edge in U.S.-mediated peace talks.

    • ADF ☛ Fears of Rebellion Rising in Southeast CAR

      An ethnic militia that was recruited, trained and armed by Russia’s Wagner Group PMC has turned against the government of Central African Republic’s President Faustin-Archange Touadéra.

    • ADF ☛ Russia Targets Africa’s Fish as Funding Source

      Several ships left a port in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Lithuania and Poland, in August 2024 and sailed off on a mission called “The Great African Expedition.”

    • New York Times ☛ Epstein Files Reveal Efforts to Build Ties With Russian Officials, Including Putin

      New documents detail Jeffrey Epstein’s efforts to foster strategic, sometimes reciprocal relationships with Russian officials.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Further Restricts Telegram, Escalating Internet Clampdown

      The throttling of the communication app, used by more than 100 million Russians, endangers what remains of the country’s free internet.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ After major Poland energy grid cyberattack, CISA issues warning to U.S. audience

      The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the attack highlighted threats from vulnerable edge devices to operational technology and industrial control systems.

    • New York Times ☛ How Ukrainians Are Coping Without Heat

      Our Kyiv bureau chief, Andrew E. Kramer, describes how Kyiv residents are coping with Russia’s unrelenting assaults on their country’s heating and electrical systems and finding ways to stay warm in a cruel winter.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia attacks on Ukraine energy grid cause severe harm, rights group says

      Amnesty Intentional reported Tuesday that widespread outages of essential services amid continuing Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left residents without heat, electricity, or running water during severe winter conditions. The report cites numerous testimonies from Ukrainian civilians that detail worsening conditions in a particularly harsh winter.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian journalists evade Russian drone attack in Ukraine

      A Latvian Public Media (LSM) journalistic team – journalist Odita Krenberga and cameraman Aigars Kovaļevskis – were attacked by a Russian drone while working near the front line in Ukraine, but managed to emerge unscathed from the encounter, reports Latvian Television.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvia sends Covid-19 vaccines and ambulance to Ukraine

      The Latvian government on Tuesday, February 10th, supported the donation of an Emergency Medical Service (NMPD) ambulance and more than 50,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Ukraine.

• Environment

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • New York Times ☛ Baboon Sibling Rivalry Suggests Monkeys Feel Jealousy Like People

      Young primates in a southern African nature park were observed to constantly interfere when their mother was giving attention to a younger brother or sister.

    • Science Alert ☛ Newly Discovered Fossil Among The Earliest Land Creatures to Enjoy a Salad

      What's for lunch?

    • ADF ☛ Cameroon’s Shrinking Forests

      Forests cover nearly half of Cameroon, but they are being rapidly degraded by illegal logging operations that feed China’s appetite for tropical lumber. Cameroon has granted companies from around the world nearly 100 timber concessions to cut and ship logs legally.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Press Gazette ☛ Faces of fakery: More fake and Hey Hi (AI) generated experts con their way into media

      New Press Gazette research uncovers more PR-generated Hey Hi (AI) fakery in UK media.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong activist's father convicted under national security law over insurance policy

    A Hong Kong court found the father of a wanted activist guilty of a national security violation on Wednesday after he tried to end her insurance policy and withdraw the funds, drawing international criticism for the targeting of relatives of pro-democracy campaigners.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ BREAKING: Father of wanted Hong Kong activist found guilty of handling funds linked to ‘absconder’

    The father of Hong Kong democrat Anna Kwok has been found guilty of handling funds linked to an “absconder” – the first family member of a wanted activist to be convicted of a national security offence.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Safeguarding nat. sec in Hong Kong ‘an unrelenting fight,’ Beijing says after Jimmy Lai’s sentencing

    Safeguarding national security in Hong Kong is “an unrelenting fight,” Beijing has said in a high-level policy document, after pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was jailed for 20 years.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Reach to close two out of three remaining printing plants

    Glasgow and Watford sites to close and outsource most of their work.

  • JURIST ☛ Hong Kong court sentences media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years upon national security convictions

    The Hong Kong Court of First Instance sentenced media tycoon and Apple Daily newspaper founder Jimmy Lai to 20 years imprisonment on Monday following his conviction in December on “national security” charges. This marks the latest development in a years-long legal battle, and the heaviest sentence since the instatement of the 2020 National Security Law.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Jimmy Lai ‘deserves his punishment,’ Hong Kong leader says after Apple Daily founder handed 20-year jail term

    Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai “deserves his punishment,” Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has said, after the activist was handed a 20-year-jail term for his national security conviction.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s ex-workers ‘broke down in tears’ as they watched sentencing

    Apple Daily reporter Tammy Cheung and her colleagues were in tears after hearing a Hong Kong court sentence their ex-boss, pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, to 20 years in jail.

  • LWN ☛ Dave Farber RIP

    From the NANOG list comes the sad news of the

    passing of Dave Farber.

  • New York Times ☛ Italy’s Top Sports Journalists Plan to Strike Over Anchor’s Olympics Gaffes

    Paolo Petrecca made numerous gaffes while commentating on the Olympics opening ceremonies for Italy’s public broadcaster. Journalists are incensed.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • ACLU ☛ Into the Black Hole: Navigating the Center of Convicted Felon’s Deportation Force in Louisiana

    EDITOR’S NOTE: Nora Ahmed joined the ACLU of Louisiana as legal director in 2020. She has helped to build the organization’s policing, immigration, voting rights, and First Amendment dockets from the ground up. Under her leadership, the Justice Lab program has secured nearly $1.5 million in settlements for police brutality victims and changed Louisiana’s statute of limitations after two Supreme Court cases, expanding constitutional protections for thousands of Louisianans. She’s now leading the newest iteration of Justice Lab focused on freeing immigrants wrongfully detained in Louisiana’s carceral system.

  • EDRI ☛ EDRi urged the Council to demand a proper scrutiny of the Digital Omnibus proposal

    The Digital Omnibus proposal fails to comply with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Better Regulation rules, EDRi urged the Council to send the proposal back to the Commission for proper scrutiny and comprehensive assessments.

  • The Straits Times ☛ India tightens grip on social control media with new three-hour takedown rule

    India’s IT rules allow the government to order the removal of content deemed illegal under various laws.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Repealing Section 230 Won’t Protect Kids Online

    Doing away with Section 230 protections will likely make the internet worse for online youth, not better.

  • Internet Society ☛ Safer Internet Initiative

    Connectivity is essential, but not enough. Everyone deserves a safe Internet. Today, we are excited to share our Safer Internet Initiative, a project designed to protect people online.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Futurism ☛ Google Has a Major Problem With ICE

  "As the workers who provide the foundational labor in building this technology, we are horrified."

• European Commission ☛ Commission approves Google's acquisition of Wiz

  The European Commission has unconditionally approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition by Surveillance Giant Google of Wiz.

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ Acacia entity, Stingray IP, Wi-Fi patent monopoly found invalid

    On February 5, 2026, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) issued an Advisory Action in the reexamination filing of U.S. Patent 7,224,678, owned and asserted by Stingray IP Solutions, an NPE and entity of Acacia Research Corporation. The Examiner maintained the rejections of all challenged claims of the ‘678 patent. The ‘678 patent monopoly relates to detecting an intrusion in a network system.

  • Software Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Pre-Alice Patents Keep Falling: Three Section 101 Decisions from the Federal Circuit

      Three Federal Circuit Section 101 decisions in one week show why pre-Alice software patents face persistent eligibility problems — and why prosecution history often can't save them.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Pandora Moves to Invalidate the MLC’s Entire Ability to Sue on Copyright Grounds — As a Simple Royalty Dispute Morphs Into a Far More Serious Battle

    Both Pandora and the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) are pushing for summary judgment in their increasingly ugly royalties dispute — with the DSP questioning whether the MLC even has standing to sue. Days out from the second anniversary of the case’s kickoff, each litigant just recently submitted a summary judgment motion.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Amazon MGM’s ‘Melania’ Documentary Hit With a Copyright Infringement Allegation — Any Lawyers In the House?

    Amazon MGM’s Melania Convicted Felon documentary has been called to remove a piece of music taken from a film without authorization. On Monday, director Paul Thomas Anderson and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood released a statement calling for Melania Convicted Felon’s documentary, Melania, to remove a piece of music from the pair’s 2017 film, Phantom Thread.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Musician Ramsey Elkholy of Monotronic Appears 2,000+ Times in Epstein’s Emails—Here’s What They Discussed

    Fresh from his 18-month sentence in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor, Jeffrey Epstein found a willing ally in Ramsey Elkholy of the New York-based music collective Monotronic. An October 14th, 2009 email captures Elkholy adding Epstein as a Facebook (Farcebook) friend—igniting close correspondence that would span more than a decade.

  • Creative Commons ☛ Semana de la Cultura Libre with CC Uruguay

    In November 2025, we had the privilege of supporting and participating in Semana de la Cultura Libre (Open Culture Week) in Montevideo, Uruguay