Leftovers

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Gout Is Surging in Young Men, And It Could Be Fueling Erectile Dysfunction Too

    The most common form of inflammatory arthritis.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Find a Fungus That Could Protect The Body From Radiation

    It already lives inside you.

  • Science Alert ☛ Arctic Rivers Are Defying What Scientists Thought They Knew About Erosion

    "We literally expected to see the opposite."

  • Science Alert ☛ Statins Linked to Lower Dementia Risk in Massive Type 2 Diabetes Study

    The earlier, the better.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover a Serious Problem With Sleep Trackers

    Stop obsessing.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Are Trying to Define What 'Reversing Aging' Really Means

    Let's get specific.

  • Science Alert ☛ Extremely Rare 'Rapunzel Syndrome' Can Cause a Hairball So Large It Requires Surgery

    A serious outcome from a compulsive behavior.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Warning Sign of Heart Attack And Stroke May Show Up on Your Face

    This could save lives.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Is This The Year Of The Linux… Television?

    Of course everyone knows commercial set-top boxes and “smart” TVs alike run Android, which is built atop a Linux kernel. Those are getting steadily more frustrating to use as corporate enshittification continues, so why not DIY? [Haggis]’s build uses a miniPC in a custom 3D-printed case, running Nobara Linux with a Waydroid TV build to provide the Android set-top box experience, plus light/casual gaming via Steam.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Heat-related deaths in South Korea nearly quadruple in five years

    The increase has coincided with an unprecedented run of extreme summer heat.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Selangor bans open burning, to close schools if air quality index exceeds 200

    People were also advised to reduce strenuous outdoor activities and remain indoors when air quality was unhealthy.

• Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Iustin Pop: Hey Hi (AI) agents aha moment

      Looking at the reactions to the Debian Hey Hi (AI) vote, I think some people still think the clock can be turned back, as if that ever worked in history. Rather than cry about spilled milk, I prefer to find a path forward in the new world. There are many ways to use LLMs, some of them are straightforward, others not so much.

• Security

  • SANS ☛ Critical MikroTik Vulnerability - Patch Now, (Sun, Sep 6th)

    Mikrotik released a patch late last week for an already-exploited vulnerability. The vulnerability allows an SSH authentication bypass and is already being exploited. At this point, assume compromise. Attackers have been adding new accounts to affected devices to maintain access after a patch is installed.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Futurism ☛ Dyson’s New Hey Hi (AI) Toothbrush Conducts Video Surveillance on the Inside of Your Mouth

      It's like Flock, but for the gaps between your teeth.

    • Futurism ☛ Surveillance-Happy Police In Shambles After Convicted Felon Tariffs Makes Drones Absurdly Expensive

      "There is currently no economically viable domestic replacement" for Chinese drones, an officer complained.

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ Senate Democrats urge Postal Service to halt implementation of new ballot restrictions

    In a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner, the seven Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) demanded Friday that the US Postal Service (USPS) halt implementation of new mail-ballot procedures required by President The Insurrectionist’s executive order.

  • The Strategist ☛ A new claim on the Batanes, from an old Chinese playbook

    Now China is going after the Batanes Islands, a strategically crucial Philippine territory in the Luzon Strait south of Taiwan.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines’ Teodoro says China could exploit cuts in US-South Korean exercises

    He said Washington had assured Manila that its commitments to the Philippines remained unchanged.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US refutes PAS leader Hadi Awang’s claim of attempt to influence Malaysian politics

    Hadi alleged that PAS was asked who the party would propose as PM if it took over the Malaysian government.

  • The Straits Times ☛ No rift between me and Anwar, says Malaysia DPM Zahid

    He also said decisions within the government continued to be made professionally.

  • France24 ☛ Germany's far-right AfD clear frontrunner in eastern state vote

    German voters headed to the polls on Sunday for a key regional election in the ex-communist east where the far-right, anti-immigrant, Moscow- and Convicted Felon-friendly AfD is expected to secure an easy majority. Our correspondent Nick Holdsworth tells us more.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea’s Kim Jong Un says new destroyer will be part of nuclear response system

    The Kang Kon is capable of delivering 'annihilating retaliatory strikes'.

  • France24 ☛ Iran claims strike on US ship in Strait of Hormuz as fighting escalates

    Iran said Sunday it struck an unmanned U.S. vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, the latest salvo in a new flare-up of fighting between the two countries.

  • France24 ☛ Middle East Live: Israel army orders evacuation of zone in south Lebanon ahead of strikes

    The Israeli army demanded early Monday that residents of Deir Zahrani in southern Lebanon leave a specific zone ahead of strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah. Hezbollah's Al-Manar television channel later reported Israeli airstrikes on Deir Zahrani. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates.

  • JURIST ☛ Death of Baloch student raises concerns amid enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, UN experts say

    UN experts on Friday raised alarm over the alleged enforced disappearance, torture and extrajudicial killing of Imran Ali, a student from Balochistan province, calling it part of a state-sponsored pattern of targeting ethnic Baloch people and urging Pakistan to conduct an urgent investigation.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Give us a Hong Kong-style Handover of Falklands from UK, says Argentinian leader

    Argentine President Javier Milei has called for a Hong Kong-style Handover of the disputed Falklands from the UK.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ U.S. Envoys Witkoff and Kushner Arrive in Kyiv After Talks With Putin

      Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met on Sunday with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, a day after talks with Vladimir V. Putin in Moscow.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Calls For Trilateral Negotiations With Russia After 'Substantial' Talks With US Envoys

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for the resumption of trilateral negotiations between the United States and Russia as US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner concluded talks in Kyiv and Moscow, as part of efforts to end the conflict, now in its fifth year.

    • France24 ☛ 🔴 Convicted Felon's envoys Witkoff and Kushner arrive in Kyiv after 'substantive' talks with Putin

    • New York Times ☛ What Secret Audits Tell Us About How Ukraine’s Military Is Spending Its Money

      The documents amount to an autopsy of the weapons-contracting process.

    • New York Times ☛ In Ukraine, Fraud and Waste Are Rewarded With More Weapons Contracts

      Secret military audits reveal a military procurement system riddled with mismanagement. In 2024 alone, Ukraine lost $1.2 billion to fraud and waste.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine-Russia talks: What are the US objectives?

      US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv on Sunday in their first official visit to Ukraine as part of a renewed push for peace, more than 4½ years after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. We discuss this topic with our guest, John E. Herbst, director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council.

    • France24 ☛ US envoys bring ‘more effective’ Ukraine peace proposals to Kyiv, official says

      US envoys brought new, “more effective” proposals to Kyiv aimed at ending the war with Russia, a senior Ukrainian presidential official said on Sunday. President Volodymyr Zelensky and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner described talks positively but announced no breakthrough, as Zelensky warned fighting could continue into winter.

    • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Mummy, mummy’: 5-year-old stuck in muddy sludge rescued three days after Nepal’s flood disaster

      Survivors of floods that swept away houses near the border with China's Tibet boost morale of rescuers.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Nepali rescuers buoyed by miracle finds but tough conditions persist

      The glacial and mountain collapse on the China-Nepal border has killed at least 1,372 people.

    • The Straits Times ☛ At flood-destroyed China-Nepal border, no sign of a once-busy port

      There was no trace of the five-storey Chinese customs building that once stood there.

    • France24 ☛ The week in pictures: Nepal rescue operations, World Nomad Games and Russian strikes on Kyiv

      From the desperate search for workers trapped in the hydropower tunnels buried by the catastrophic flooding in Nepal to crowds of women mourning the victims of a US bombardment of a wedding in southern Iran, FRANCE 24 looks back at the week's most striking pictures.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Singapore police help with disaster victim identification in Nepal

    They are in Nepal to support the local authorities with aerial surveillance and especially disaster victim identification.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Several sporting events in Malaysia put on hold amid haze

    Sports experts advise modifying training based on air pollutant levels.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • France24 ☛ Amazon cargo plane crashes at Miami airport, killing at least five

      At least five people were killed and five injured after an Amazon cargo plane overshot the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday and crashed into several vehicles, officials said. Miami Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said there was “no apparent threat to public safety” following the crash.

    • New York Times ☛ What to Know About Cargo Plane That Overran Its Runway, Killing 5 in Miami

      The plane, which was operating as part of Amazon’s cargo fleet, flew from Puerto Rico to Miami. It crashed into several vehicles after overrunning the runway.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Slumping’ South Korean corals worry divers, scientists studying climate change

      Over the past decade, marine heatwaves around Korea have extended almost four times longer, at 83.3 days.

    • France24 ☛ Wildfires, heatwaves threaten global air quality and health, UN warns

      Wildfires and heatwaves are threatening global efforts to improve air quality and protect human health, the World Meteorological Organisation said on Monday. The UN agency warned that increasingly severe fires are raising exposure to toxic PM2.5 pollution, even as regulations have reduced industrial and transport emissions in Europe and North America.

• Finance

  • Ruben Schade ☛ A closing department store in Carlingford

    Much hay has been made both domestically, and by incredulous tourists on YouTube, over how Australian and Asian retail has thrived where it’s faltered in the US. The truth is… somewhere in the middle. While Australian shopping centres and malls have fared significantly better than those in the States, they haven’t been immune to economic downturn, the rise of online shopping, and extortionate rents. It’s not even limited to big box outlets squeezing out smaller stores either; department stores and other large chains have been downsizing, consolidating, or exiting spaces altogether.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s memories of Mao fade to nostalgia 50 years after his death

    The crimson flags on Nanjie village’s “East is Red” Square hang limp in the sweltering summer heat as a trickle of tourists take photos with a towering statue of Chairman Mao Zedong, still gleaming white almost 50 years after he died.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Enrico Zini: Migrating away from .org/.net/.com domains

    After having witnessed how easy it is for good people to lose a .org domain over a fascist tantrum (you can follow the Autistici/Inventati story here and here), I've started moving all my infrastructure to differently managed TLDs.

    enricozini.org and enricozini.com will keep being functional for the time being, as dropping a domain makes it available for squatting and impersonation.

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 74

  In August, two high-profile activists were found guilty in a national security case along with the organisation they once led – the now-dissolved Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.