Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ Dates have been a bit off

  This is another inside baseball post, as my American friends say. But despite outward appearances, I didn’t write four posts on Monday, and none on Tuesday. I used to write half a dozen posts a day at uni, but I got more than a few comments from people at the time saying I was spamming their RSS reader. Then again, I’ll bet John Walkenbach had a similar issue with the late J-Walk Blog, a site I miss every day.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Charity shop finds: 1990s CD-ROMs

  Clara and I like going to charity/op shops around Sydney looking for books and music. CDs are great because they can be shucked and put in folders, so they don’t take up additional space. Books can also be read, and then put in those street libraries for others to enjoy.

  Last weekend I managed to find all these, for less than $5 total. We have Motocross Madness from 1998, Dangerous Creatures from 1994, and a blank DVD-RW in its original shrinkwrap.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Moons Around Rogue Planets Could Have The Conditions to Support Life

    Who needs a star?

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Earbuds Might Be Raising Your Risk of Infection, Expert Warns

    Here’s what you can do about it.

  • Science Alert ☛ Strange 'Chirp' May Reveal What Powers The Brightest Supernovae in The Universe

    "The signal seemed too structured to be due to random interactions."

  • Science Alert ☛ Insomnia Can Be an Early Alzheimer's Warning Sign. New Research Explains Why.

    It was tau all along.

  • Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough to Strengthen Bones Could Reverse Osteoporosis

    A potential treatment for millions.

  • Science Alert ☛ NASA Spacecraft Crashes Back to Earth in Uncontrolled Reentry

    Solar activity hastened its demise.

  • Science Alert ☛ Major Study Finds IVF Not Linked to Cancer Risk, But There's a Catch

    Here's what to know.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover a New Twist in Why Falling Cats Land on Their Feet

    What is this anatomical trickery?

  • Science Alert ☛ A Simple Drink Choice Helps Gamers Stay Focused For Hours, Study Finds

    A healthier way to game for longer?

• Career/Education

  • Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ The University of California Is Abandoning International Students

    A meditation on immigration, philosophy, and magic.

  • New York Times ☛ Slavery Photos of Renty Get a ‘Final Resting Place,’ Ending a Fight With Harvard

    The images of a father known as Renty and his daughter Delia were honored today in a ceremony by their new steward, a museum in South Carolina.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Blues Notecard for Skylo IoT module offers 5G NTN satellite, NB-IoT/LTE-M cellular, WiFi, and GNSS connectivity

    Blues Notecard for Skylo is an IoT module combining subscription-free 5G NTN satellite, NB-IoT or LTE-M cellular, WiFi, and GNSS connectivity for asset tracking applications in transportation and logistics, energy, and commercial equipment. provides an all-in-one satellite IoT solution that doesn’t require additional hardware or a satellite subscription contract. By default, the module connects over WiFi and switches to cellular when out of range.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Framework raises RAM prices for the third time in three months, SSD costs up — company warns that it’s running out of stock on some defective chip maker Intel processors as well

    Framework increased RAM prices for the third consecutive month, while also announcing that it's hiking the costs of some of its SSDs.

  • CNX Software ☛ Turris Omnia NG Wired dual 10GbE, quad 2.5GbE router drops Wi-Fi for cost savings

    Not everybody needs Wi-Fi in their router. That’s why Turris has now introduced the Omnia NG Wired dual 10GbE, quad 2.5GbE router without built-in Wi-Fi 7 connectivity to reduce costs. The specifications are the same as those of the earlier Turris Omnia NG Wi-Fi 7 router introduced last November, and it still features two 10 Gbps Ethernet SFP+ cages and four 2.5GbE RJ45 ports, but Wi-Fi 7 (and 5G cellular) connectivity is optional.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Two People Die After Paid Plasma Donation at Clinics in Canada

    Grifols, a Spanish health care company, operates clinics in Canada that collect blood plasma from donors in exchange for an honorarium.

  • New York Times ☛ A Third of Americans Have Cut Spending or Borrowed Money for Health Care

    As medical costs rise, more than 80 million people have made sacrifices like skipping meals and driving less, a new survey finds.

  • WhichUK ☛ Do you really need to wash chicken and is reheated rice dangerous? 6 food safety myths busted

    With help from experts at the Food Standards Agency, we reveal the common cooking habits that could put your health at risk

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan confirms third pediatric flu death, first measles case of year

    Michigan health officials confirm a third pediatric flu death, and the state reports its first measles case of 2026.

  • Federal News Network ☛ A kaleidoscope of global threats—and an underprepared U.S. public health agency

    "I can't emphasize enough: You don't want to be figuring this out during the emergency. You need to move quickly and save lives," Mary Denigan-Macauley said.

  • European Commission ☛ Speech by Commissioner Lahbib on Combatting Cyber Violence Against Girls

    Last summer, I became a grandmother for the first time. A little girl named Jenna. When she is with me, I sometimes check messages on my phone.

• Proprietary

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Iran threatens Nvidia, Microsoft, other tech companies with strikes over alleged attack on Tehran bank — says that economic centers and banks are now considered legitimate targets

    Iranian media just released a list of potential economic targets, including offices and infrastructure of Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and more in the Middle East.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ Mother Sues Proprietary Chaffbot Company for Not Telling Police About Mass Shooter Before Deadly Rampage

      OpenAI isn't sweeping this one under the rug.

    • Ruben Schade ☛ How would you “enforce” LLM restrictions?

      Back in January I introduced my LLM Licence. For the cost of a donation to one of a few different technical foundations in which I harbour a keen interest and admiration, the licence would grant you permission to use an LLM trained on my works for a query.

    • A Response to Opposition of the ‘Stealing Isn’t Innovation’ Campaign

      Just over a month ago, the Human Artistry Campaign launched “Stealing Isn’t Innovation”—a graphic advertising campaign backed by over 1,000 artists, performers, authors, organizations and other creators. The Copyright Alliance joined dozens of groups and organizations supporting this powerful moment of creative community unity and strength. The campaign’s high-level three-word-message was simple and obvious, and difficult to contest.

    • Futurism ☛ US Military Investigating Whether Hey Hi (AI) Was Involved in Bombing Elementary School in Iran

      This is horrifying.

    • Futurism ☛ The AI-Generated Tilly Norwood Just Dropped the Worst Music Video We’ve Ever Seen

      Who thought this was a good idea?

    • Futurism ☛ Grammarly Is Pulling Down Its Explosively Controversial Feature That Impersonates Writers Without Their Permission

      "We hear the feedback and recognize we fell short on this."

    • Futurism ☛ Character.AI Still Hasn’t Fixed Its School Shooter Problem We Identified in 2024

      We can't stress enough how easy it is to find this stuff.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ Men linked to Myanmar fraud hub charged in South Korea over romance scam

      Five suspects were indicted in detention while three were charged without arrest.

    • Digital Music News ☛ Shein Faces Another Major Lawsuit Over Knockoffs, This Time From the Selena Estate

      Shein faces yet another lawsuit over the widespread selling of knockoff artist merchandise on its marketplace, this time from Selena’s estate. China-based global e-commerce platform Shein is no stranger to being pelted with lawsuits for hosting the sale of counterfeit artist and other celebrity merchandise.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ Ex-Officer Who Took Nude Images From Phones in Traffic Stops Is Sentenced

      The former Missouri police officer, Julian Alcala, was sentenced to two years in prison and now faces civil lawsuits from several of the 20 victims the authorities identified.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese University of Hong Kong suspends professor caught posing as student, photographing pupils in Sydney

      The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has suspended a professor who was arrested in Australia after posing as a student at a boys’ school and taking photos of its pupils.

    • New York Times ☛ They Don’t Want Their Company’s Surveillance Tool Used by ICE

      Thomson Reuters, best known for its media outlet and legal research tools, provides an investigative tool to immigration enforcers. Its Minnesota employees want that to stop.

    • Federal News Network ☛ Social Security watchdog opens probe into alleged misuse of data by ex-DOGE employee

      SSA’s inspector general informed the leadership of four congressional committees that it was launching the probe after receiving an anonymous complaint.

    • Privacy International ☛ Privacy International’s remarks at the side event of the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council on the Human Rights Impacts of Using Artificial Intelligence in Countering Terrorism

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Strategist ☛ Bondi royal commission needs full visibility—without creating new security risks

    Thank you for the invitation to appear today in relation to the Royal Commissions Legislation Amendment (Protections for Providing Information) Bill.

  • France24 ☛ US war on Iran: Using military force to achieve political outcomes rarely produces lasting stability

    Nadia Massih is pleased to welcome Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in US politics and International Security at the University of Portsmouth. For Mr. Townley, the most striking feature of the current US operation against Iran is the gap between clear military action and ambiguous political strategy. The Pentagon has articulated core military objectives, which includes weakening the country’s military. What remains far less clear, however, is the political end game that these operations are meant to achieve.

  • France24 ☛ 'Two decades in the making': expert details how Mossad built its network of spies in Iran

    Iran has ⁠arrested dozens including ​a foreign national for allegedly spying for the country's "enemies". Dr Aviva Guttmann, Lecturer in Strategy and Intelligence at the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, details how Mossad has inflirtated Iran's security apparatus over the past two decades. She also explains that Iranian intelligence is resorting to using "disposable agents" for its operations in Israel.

  • New York Times ☛ China’s Military Has Quietly Cut Flying Near Taiwan

    For years, China has flown military jets near Taiwan almost daily. Then they suddenly stopped, leaving analysts to wonder why.

  • New York Times ☛ Countries Scramble to Shore Up Global Oil Supplies as Ships Are Attacked

    The United States and Israel launched more strikes against Iran, where crowds mourned military commanders killed in the war. Israel also bombed targets in Lebanon, where the death toll climbed.

  • New York Times ☛ Jimmy Kimmel Addresses the Notion of a Drone Strike on California

    “Isn’t this how ‘Ironman 3’ started?” Kimmel said after the F.B.I. warned state officials tobb prepare for a retaliatory Iranian drone strike on the West Coast ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US navy aircraft transits Taiwan Strait ahead of Convicted Felon's planned China visit

    A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace on Wednesday, in a move the U.S. 7th Fleet said "demonstrates the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific."

  • Press Gazette ☛ Media wins fight to name suspected Syrian war criminal charged with murder

    Salem Al-Salem has been accused of crimes including murder in Syria in 2011.

  • France24 ☛ A world war? Iran war draws in more than regional rivals

    One war can fuel another.

    After the United States and Israel launched an operation that began on Day One with the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, The Insurrectionist expressed surprise at Tehran’s decision to draw in Gulf oil producers and disrupt global supplies.

  • Futurism ☛ US Military Tested Havana Syndrome Weapon on Large Mammals, Whistleblowers Says

    "I did some very interesting things for the US government, always with the idea that they would have my back if I got jammed up."

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexico partners with big tech to combat digital violence against women: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped

    Google, Meta and Fentanylware (CheeTok) have agreed to strengthen community standards, carry out campaigns to encourage the reporting of online abuse and increase collaboration with authorities to investigate cases of digital violence in Mexico.

  • Michael Geist ☛ Words Are Not Enough: Countering Relentless Antisemitic Violence in Canada With Action

    On a hot August day nearly 32 years ago, I was married at the Shaarei Shomayim synagogue in Toronto. My Globe and Mail op-ed notes that I leafed through my wedding album this weekend as I grappled with the news that gunfire targeted the synagogue on Friday night, the third such attack on a synagogue in Toronto in a matter of days. The photos of my grandparents – Holocaust survivors who rebuilt their lives in Canada – looked back at me as if to warn that the risks are real.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New Yorker ☛ How Putin Views Convicted Felon’s War in Iran

      Russia’s President is profiting from rising oil prices, but he’s also facing a hard new reality: he’s no longer the lead disruptor of the postwar global order.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese shipping company Cosco suspends operations at Panama Canal

      Chinese shipping giant Cosco said Tuesday that it is suspending operations at a Panama Canal port amid an ongoing row between the United States and China over the waterway’s oversight.

    • Bridge Michigan ☛ Enbridge, Line 5 foes argue tunnel plan before Michigan Supreme Court

      The court will soon decide whether state regulators acted properly when they granted key permits for the proposed Line 5 tunnel. It's one of several imminent decisions that could decide the fate of the controversial oil pipeline in the Great Lakes.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Cliffside Chinese village draws visitors with cable car. Can this be replicated?

      Gulu was hailed as a successful example of China’s rural revitalisation efforts at parliamentary meetings.

    • LRT ☛ Heating bills push Lithuania's most vulnerable to the brink

      As the calendar winter draws to a close following two months of bitter frost and sharply higher heating bills, more people are queuing for food aid across Lithuania. Their stories reveal a quiet crisis: some have been warming themselves only at work or school, others cannot afford winter clothing, and this year, when wells froze solid, some families melted snow for water.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea helps end dog slaughter in Indonesia

      The operation was conducted in Kupang, on Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara island.

• Finance

  • Site36 ☛ EU Blocking Regulation does not protect against US financial repression: Germany and Union powerless

    US sanctions against an “Antifa Ost” group are not supposed to apply in Europe, says the German Ministry of Finance – yet they do. This has now also been criticised by two ICC judges at an EU JHA meeting.

  • New York Times ☛ Banks in Gulf Evacuate Their Offices

    After an overnight attack on a bank, Iranian officials signaled a new willingness to target economic centers and banks with ties to the United States.

  • France24 ☛ Citi, StanChart evacuate Dubai offices, HSBC closes Qatar branches as fears grow

    US financial service group Citi and two other companies in Dubai's financial centre asked employees to evacuate their offices on Wednesday after Iran threatened to strike US and Israel-linked banks in the Middle East. FRANCE 24's Camille Knight has more.

  • France24 ☛ Banking, finance and consultancy firms evacuate staff in Gulf States

    Several major international businesses closed or evacuated offices in Gulf countries after Iran threatened US- and Israel-linked economic targets and centres in the Middle East. US finance group Citi and British consultancy Deloitte evacuated offices in Dubai's financial centre, while PwC, another British consultancy, closed offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait. HSBC has closed all branches in Qatar until further notice.

  • Bloomberg ☛ Green Cement Startup Slashes Staff After Trump Cuts Support

    Massachusetts-based Sublime Systems has cut two-thirds of its current workforce, casting doubt on a deal to supply Microsoft with low-carbon material.

  • US applications for unemployment benefits inch down to 213,000 as layoffs remain stable [Ed: Many companies just hide or don't advertise, so the figures are misleading; "layoffs remain stable" is a case of trying to make bad things sound desirable]

    Filings for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ James Fishback, a Republican Candidate for Florida Governor, Is Running on Rage Bait

    Young conservatives in Florida are fascinated by James Fishback, a long-shot gubernatorial candidate known for his provocative online posts.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Call to end Chinese Communist Party rule does not mean ‘overthrowing’ gov’t, Hong Kong lawyer tells subversion trial

    Calling for an end to the rule of China’s ruling party does not mean “overthrowing” its government and state organs, a Hong Kong court has heard during the national security trial of Tiananmen vigil activists.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ The non-profit publisher making local news pay in London

    Social Spider CIC reinvests any profit it makes back into its local journalism.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Politics newsletter makes nearly $4m in subs despite giving most content away

    Tangle converts 16% of its free newsletter subscribers to paid.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • The Straits Times ☛ China set to pass new ethnic minority law, prioritise use of Mandarin language

    Critics say the move will further erode the identity of people who are not majority Han Chinese.

  • Digital Music News ☛ ‘Michael’ Moves Forward Despite New Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against the Jackson Estate — Early Screening Set for April 22nd

    A new lawsuit against the Michael Jackson estate isn’t delaying the release of Michael, which is now scheduled to receive an early screening ahead of its April 24th U.S. premiere. In addition to dropping a fresh trailer for the biopic, Lionsgate and IMAX yesterday confirmed the availability of pre-release tickets.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Social Security ordered to restore telework; EPA and NASA roll back collective bargaining

    SSA told the arbitrator that it suspended telework for employees who were AFGE bargaining unit members “to address critical operational needs."

  • Daniel Pocock ☛ Kerzers (Chiètres) Postbus fire deaths, Switzerland cover-up analysis

    Remember the Basel suicide petition? We found the name A. von Bidder on the petition and Adrian von Bidder died on our wedding day. The petition admits there are some cases where the authorities are failing to help people. We also know there are other cases where they become too proactive and put too many people in the psychiatric hospital, for example, to protect homeless people from the cold or using people with mild or temporary conditions to fill empty beds. Filling empty beds ensures the hospital can charge extra fees to the health insurance system. As a consequence, some of the psychiatric hospitals are always at one hundred percent capacity and some people who need real care are left waiting a few days in a regular hospital or emergency room.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ APNIC Routing Security SIG at APRICOT 2026: Social engineering, RPKI, ASPA, & TA constraints

    There were six insightful presentations on RPKI at the APNIC Routing Security SIG at APRICOT 2026.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Security Week ☛ Wiz Joins Surveillance Giant Google Cloud as Landmark Acquisition Closes

  Google has completed its $32 billion acquisition of the clown security giant, which will maintain its brand.

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ From Graham to Gramm: A New Deere Case Arrives at the Federal Circuit

    I question whether the Federal Circuit improperly found that MPF equivalents are not part of claim construction.

  • JUVE ☛ Qualcomm and Bardehle win semiconductor dispute with NST

    The judgments relate to three patents. In March 2024, US company Network System Technologies, which focuses on licensing, sued Qualcomm for infringement of EP 1 552 669 as well as EP 1 875 683 and EP 1 552 399. All patents relate to chip technology and cover methods for the transmission of signals in semiconductors.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ Dispute between ParTec and Nvidia threatens to escalate after dismissal [Ed: Unified Patent Court is illegal and unconstitutional; it must be abolished, the sooner the better.]

      Today’s decision concerns one of three lawsuits filed by ParTec against the US chip giant at the Unified Patent Court. ParTec is backed by former IPCom founder Bernhard Frohwitter.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Federal Judge Urges Live Nation and Remaining States to Pursue a Resolution Ahead of Friday Hearing — States Tap ‘One of the World’s Leading Antitrust’ Attorneys for Representation

    Following its DOJ settlement, can Live Nation hammer out an agreement with over two dozen states? Time will tell, but for now, the presiding judge is encouraging the remaining litigants to pursue a resolution ahead of a Friday hearing.

  • Digital Music News ☛ We Haven’t Heard Much About the Dionne Warwick Catalog—Now, a Contentious Lawsuit May Explain Why

    Dionne Warwick files eight counterclaims against the royalty collection agency that sued her last year, accusing them of “pilfering” millions. It’s been quiet on the Dionne Warwick front since the company that negotiated her deal for the sample used in Doja Cat’s “Walk On By” sued the legendary singer last year, alleging breach of contract.

  • Public Domain Review ☛ Calicornication: Postcards of Giant Produce (1909)

    "Tall-tale" or "exaggeration" postcards illustrating the bounties of California.