Leftovers

• Gregory Hammond ☛ Permission to Not Post About That Vacation - Why You Never Have to Post About It

  When you get home from a vacation, there’s tons to do, and one thing many people think about is posting about their vacation. You don’t have to do this, in fact, I believe there are many reasons why you shouldn’t.

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Ultrasound Reveals a Deadly Cancer Building Its Own 'Nest' Inside The Brain

    (peterschreiber.media/ iStock/Getty Images Plus)

    "A major step forward in studying neuro-oncological processes."

  • Science Alert ☛ The Sun And Moon Can Trigger Earthquakes, And Scientists May Finally Know How

    (Tetra Images/Tetra images RF/Getty Images)

    A ground-shaking orbital dance.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth's Mysterious Black Diamonds May Have Begun With an Ancient Cosmic Impact

    (James St. John/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

    No one has identified the rock in which they originally formed.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Age You Reach Menopause May Be Linked to Your Future Brain Health, 18-Year Study Finds

    (Crispin la valiente/Moment RF/Getty Images)

    How midlife affects late life.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Pacific Ocean Is Doing Something Weird as It Warms: Young Water Gets Older, And Old Water Gets Younger

    (Ken Kiefer 2/Connect Images/Getty Images)

    A paradoxical effect, explained.

• Career/Education

  • France24 ☛ US prosecutors reopen Cornell university gang rape investigation

    US prosecutors reopened an investigation on Monday into an alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University after the woman involved accused the school of failing to punish those responsible adequately. In a lawsuit, she said seven Chi Phi fraternity members drugged her with ketamine and assaulted her. Cornell closed the fraternity and expelled several students.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • European Commission ☛ Commission launches EU Screening Week with new recommendations on cardiovascular health checks

    Ahead of World Heart Day and to mark the launch of the first-ever EU Screening Week, the European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Council Recommendation on cardiovascular health checks. It aims to safeguard the health of European citizens by improving early detection and screening and, ultimately, reducing premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases.

  • Science Alert ☛ America's Oldest Person Just Turned 116 – Here's What Science Says About How to Live That Long

    Exceptional.

  • Science Alert ☛ Venting Doesn't Reduce Anger, But Something Else Does, Research Finds

    Blowing off steam may do more harm than good.

  • The Straits Times ☛ More toddlers in South Korea start using smartphones before turning 2: Report [Ed: Being used by]

    The report also found an association between mothers’ smartphone use and their children’s smartphone use.

  • Science Alert ☛ Just 5 Infections Responsible For More Than 2 Million New Cancer Cases Annually

    (Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library RF/Getty Images)

    This is astounding.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Anthropic, Proprietary Chaffbot Company will not attend Australian senate Hey Hi (AI) hearing on October 1

    Anthropic will not appear before an Australian senate committee hearing on Hey Hi (AI) on October 1, a source familiar with the matter said, days after a disclosure that an agent from Proprietary Chaffbot Company gained unauthorized access to the country's health system database.

• Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware

  • SANS ☛ Apple Emergency Patch for iOS 26, macOS26, macOS15 (CVE-2026-86950), (Mon, Sep 28th)

    Apple today released patches for all of its operating systems. However, only patches for older branches include a security fix. The vulnerability being addressed in iOS 26, macOS 26 and macOS 15 is already being exploited.

  • Security Week ☛ Kiteworks Urges Server Shutdown, Finds Advanced Forms Vulnerability

    The company says the measure was precautionary and that it has no evidence of Kiteworks or customer systems being compromised.

  • Amid Mass Layoffs at XBOX, the Fight for Equity in the Video Game Industry Continues

    Asha Sharma, the recently appointed CEO of XBOX, sent out a teamwide email on July 6, 2026, that started, “We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history.” What followed was the corporate outline of how “resetting XBOX” would take the company to a more simplified operating model, all at the cost of cutting 3,200 employees throughout FY 2027—including the 1,600 roles that were eliminated the day the email was sent.

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

    • Futurism ☛ Microsoft Shrivels When Asked If Its “Good Neighbor” Data Center Policy Will Involve Actually Supporting Community Groups

      So much for "community-first AI."

    • Futurism ☛ You Know Those Three Brothers Who Buy Struggling News Sites and Turn Them Into AI-Powered Content Farms? It Turns Out One of Them Has Extensive Connections to Ghislaine Maxwell

      The Brown brothers are power players of high-traffic AI-powered slop media. We were surprised to learn that one of them also has a history with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted collaborator of deceased sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

    • Futurism ☛ OpenAI Halts Frontier Model Training as Rogue Agent Crisis Deepens

      Its models broke into online government services.

    • Futurism ☛ Man Says Meta’s Muse Hey Hi (AI) Gave His Home Address Out to Strangers

      "A guy just showed up at my door, ready to buy, because as far as he knew, we had a deal."

    • Futurism ☛ It’s Starting to Look Like Frontier Hey Hi (AI) Labs Will Be Taken Down in a Storm of Product Liability Suits If Their Models Keep Going on Incredibly Illegal Rogue Hacking Sprees

      "What we have seen in terms of what these agents are up to is just the tip of the iceberg."

    • Futurism ☛ Human Contractors Are Seeing All Your Horny — and Creepy — Hey Hi (AI) Prompts

      Depraved Hey Hi (AI) image prompts, and the human contractors that sift through them.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Security Week ☛ New Mexico Jury Finds Facebook (Farcebook) Liable for Deceiving Users About Privacy Protections

      A New Mexico jury has found Facebook (Farcebook) liable for deceiving users about privacy protections on the platform.

• Defence/Aggression

  • France24 ☛ US deportations are triggering a 'cascade' of rights abuses, UN experts warn

    The Forrest Dump administration's policy of deportating thousands of people to countries with which they have no links is "increasing risks of torture and ill-treatment and enforced disappearance", a panel of independent UN experts warned on Monday. An investigation by an international consortium of journalists including FRANCE 24 reporters determined last week that more than 25,000 third-country nationals had been deported by the end of August.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia begins deportations, but hostility towards Rohingya refugees not stopping any time soon

    Myanmar refugees in Malaysia fearful ahead of the first round of repatriations on Sept 29.

  • The Straits Times ☛ At least 33 people killed in western Myanmar air strike, say rebel group and aid worker

    At least 36 people were also injured in the air strike in the town of Kyauktaw in Rakhine state.

  • New York Times ☛ Over 800 Killed in Renewed Houthi-Saudi War in Yemen, W.H.O. Says

    The fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi militia and Saudi-backed government forces has exacerbated one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the World Health Organization said.

  • The Strategist ☛ Destruction on a budget

    ‘There are weeks when decades happen’ has been a stock phrase to remember this summer.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea says US approval for South Korea’s nuclear submarine increases regional instability

    The approval is also another demonstration of US nuclear proliferation through AUKUS pact, the North Korean ministry said.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea’s mines likely behind DMZ explosions, says Seoul

    Two soldiers were seriously injured and one sustained minor injuries in the incident on Sept 21.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Wang tells ex-Japan minister bilateral ties need to be normalised

    China’s foreign minister Wang Yi urged Japan to “correct the erroneous words” of its leader on the Taiwan issue as soon as possible.

  • North Korea issue dwarfed by more pressing concerns during Convicted Felon-Xi summit

    Dihydroxyacetone Man has said he wants to meet with Kim Jong Un again, but experts say China will not act as go-between.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man offered to sell arms to Xi: US ambassador to Fox News

    US President The Insurrectionist offered to sell arms to his Chinese counterpart Pooh-tin Jinping in response to concern over weapons sales to Taiwan, the US ambassador to China said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man denies offering to sell arms to China’s Xi, but says ‘maybe it’s a good idea’

    US President The Insurrectionist on Monday denied asking Pooh-tin Jinping if he wanted to buy American weapons, countering his own envoy’s claim that Convicted Felon made the offer to his Chinese counterpart. US Ambassador to China David Perdue told Fox News on Sunday that Convicted Felon made the extraordinary offer to sell arms to the rival superpower.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Haiti gang retaliation leaves at least 11 dead after security operation

    At least 11 people were killed on Monday in Haiti's central Artibonite region by gang members after a deadly security operation, the local mayor said.

  • France24 ☛ Expert says UK airbase plot 'fits into a very intense pattern we've been seeing in past two months'

    British police said Monday five men arrested near an airbase used by the United States were released on bail, as officers probed whether a "foreign state" could be involved in a suspected bomb plot. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Monte Francis, Yan Saint-Pierre, CEO of Modern Security Consulting Group, explains that many of the hybrid warfare cases seen recently "involve local nationals, this is not about exporting terror" adding that foreign actors aim to have "as many layers as possible to complicate any investigation and accurate denounciation of culprits".

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Krebs On Security ☛ Dutch Police Arrest ‘Reformed’ Hacker in Shiny Hunters Investigation

      Authorities in the Netherlands have arrested a 23-year-old convicted cybercriminal on suspicion of aiding in data thefts and extortions by the prolific hacker group ShinyHunters. In the days immediately following the suspect's arrest, remaining ShinyHunters members dramatically escalated their attacks, stealing highly sensitive data from the FBI and extorting the Russian ransomware group Cl0p.

    • LRT ☛ I worry about Russian miscalculation in Baltics – interview with Britain’s top general

      Britain’s top navy general Gwyn Jenkins visited Lithuania and the Baltic states last week as the UK continues to build the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) as a coalition of the willing that would speed up decision-making in case of a Russian attack.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania imposes national sanctions on Russian billionaires Usmanov, Fridman

      Lithuania began imposing national sanctions on Russian billionaires Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman last Friday.

    • New Yorker ☛ The Cellmate Who Taught Me the Codes of Russian Prison

      On the outside, we would have never been friends. But in our small shared space we established a delicate rapport.

    • New York Times ☛ The Russian Prison That Evan Gershkovich Carried Home

      In an interview, Mr. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was imprisoned in Russia for 16 months, described his ordeal and the moment that nearly broke him.

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ MND Local Guadalajara: Cirque du Soleil, Day of the Dead festivities and Ukrainian ballet coming to town, but mind the sinkholes

      Thousands have sinkholes have opened around the Guadalajara Metro Area, so drivers should exercise caution on their way to the exciting array of upcoming cultural events, writes Dawn Stoner.

    • France24 ☛ Ukrainian arms producers warn competitive edge eroding due to stringent export licence rules

      Russian drones struck Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences in the historic heart of Kyiv on Monday, in the latest deadly daytime attack on the capital. Volodymyr Zelensky has long been pleading with Ukraine’s allies for more military aid to fend off Russia. But Ukrainian weapons producers say the country could be bringing in significant revenue of its own, if only they were allowed to export their products. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from Kyiv.

    • LRT ☛ Russian language study falls, German rises in Lithuanian schools

      The number of Lithuanian school students learning Russian as a second foreign language has fallen by more than 40 percent since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, while the number studying German has risen by 50 percent.

    • LRT ☛ Canadian, Norwegian, Ukrainian ambassadors in Lithuania sign plea to bring back detainees

      The ambassadors of Canada, Norway, and Ukraine to Lithuania have co-authored an open letter, announcing their shared effort to bring back home every deported child, detained civilian, and prisoner of war.

    • LRT ☛ Amid warnings over possible attack, Europe mulls contingency plans

      Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs disagrees with the mounting calls and reports that Russia may attack NATO or the European Union in the coming months in an attempt to weaken their support for Ukraine. He says they've already started.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Warns of New Russian Mobilization and 10,000 North Korean Troop Deployment

      The death toll from Russia’s jet-powered drone attacks mounted in Ukraine while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the Kremlin is preparing for a new mobilization at home and a fresh deployment of 10,000 North Korean troops.

    • RFERL ☛ Kallas Says Russia's Mockery Of UN Meeting Shows It's Not Interested In Ending Ukraine War

      European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on September 28 that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's treatment of his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, after their recent UN meeting demonstrates that Russia is not interested in peace in Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Reports Deadly Russian Air Strikes On Kyiv, Kharkiv, And Dnipro

      Russia continued its attacks on Ukraine, killing at least six people, including an Azerbaijani citizen, and injuring dozens others, including 10 children, in strikes on the Kyiv region and Kharkiv.

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea summons Ukraine envoy in protest over North Korean POW transfer

      South Korea's foreign ministry summoned Ukraine's acting ambassador on Monday to protest against Kyiv's disclosure of the transfer of captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea, and demanded an official explanation and apology.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Explainer: What comes next for North Korea soldiers transferred from Ukraine to South Korea?

      Seoul’s Unification Ministry said their cases would be reviewed under relevant laws and past practices.

    • New York Times ☛ Russian Drone Strikes Ukraine’s Science Academy, Causing Fire in City Center

      A Russian jet-powered drone hit Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences, the source of almost all of the country’s major scientific discoveries.

    • New York Times ☛ Their Sons Are Dying on Battlefields in Ukraine. They Still Back Russia’s War.

      The Russian region of North Ossetia has suffered a heavy toll, yet many accept the Kremlin’s line that the fighting must continue until victory is secured.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Warns Of New Russian Mobilization, 10,000 North Korean Troop Deployment

      The death toll from Russia’s jet-powered drone attacks mounted in Ukraine while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the Kremlin is preparing for a new mobilization at home and a fresh deployment of 10,000 North Korean troops.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian central bank will discuss 'new geopolitical reality' in November

      Latvijas Banka, the Latvian central bank (LB), has released a few details of its next annual conference, which "will focus on the economic challenges the euro area is facing in the new geopolitical reality."

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Federal News Network ☛ Kennedy Center put off planned repairs despite known structural issues, former employees allege

    Some former Kennedy Center employees are accusing officials at the performing arts venue of long knowing about structural issues they recently cited as new problems. The anonymous whistleblowers allege in a letter to Congress that top Kennedy Center official Matt Floca halted a funded plan to address roofing issues in April. Floca denies that and says recent investigations revealed new hazards at the building. The center closed temporarily in September as officials cited safety risks from structural deterioration. A judge has ordered a status report by Friday on the temporary closure.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ No typhoon hit South Korea this summer, but experts says it’s not all good news

    With fewer typhoons stirring the ocean, warmer waters can fuel stronger subsequent storms.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Federal News Network ☛ A growing coalition wants Congress to think about wildfires as a national security challenge

      "It's an unsustainable model and ultimately one that they're not getting paid enough to do," said Tyson Bertone-Riggs.

    • Science Alert ☛ Dogs Share a Speech Trick Once Thought Uniquely Human

      (Mary Swift/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

      So smart!

• Finance

  • Digital Music News ☛ Yes, the BOTS Act Can Apply to Ticketmaster and Major Ticketing Platforms, Federal Judge Rules

    A federal judge rules that the FTC can absolutely pursue litigation against Ticketmaster under the BOTS Act for allegedly enabling mass-scale ticket resale. The case will now proceed to discovery.

  • New York Times ☛ The Voices Behind ‘Made in China’

    In a faltering Chinese economy, working-class stories are striking a chord.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s Labour Conference Speech Will Aim to Reset UK Mood

    Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to lay out his policy plans in an address on Tuesday at the Labour Party’s annual conference.

  • Green Party UK ☛ Greens turn tables on Labour, asking where they stand on climate action

    Green MP, Adrian Ramsay, has responded to Ed Miliband’s speech at Labour conference, where he said that parties that deny the dangers posed by the climate crisis are a threat to national security.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Digital Music News ☛ Rapid-Fire Site Blocking? Federal Lawmakers Target Foreign Piracy Platforms With the Bipartisan ‘Defend IP Act’ [Ed: USA has fast become the North Korea of North America]

    With an eye on curbing “foreign digital piracy,” federal lawmakers have introduced the Defend IP Act, which would enable rightsholders to petition district courts for ISP-level site-blocking orders.

  • ACLU ☛ NIH Censors Crucial Research in Alzheimer's, Kidney Disease, and More, Researchers Share

    NIH is targeting and terminating grants for research studies that it thinks will communicate disfavored viewpoints on diversity, gender identity, climate change, and more, violating First Amendment rights and threatening the future of public health.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ BBC to cut local radio and regional TV news with 90 jobs at risk

    Latest changes are part of £500m annual cost savings to be found in next three years.

  • BIA Net ☛ A dead doctor, jailed spies and a TV series: The reopened Kozinoğlu case raises more questions than answers

    The investigation has expanded from the circumstances of the former intelligence officer’s 2011 prison death to his medical treatment, former cellmates, prosecutors, journalists and television figures.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • The Straits Times ☛ With national holidays approaching, workers in China demand a proper break

    The online outcry is the latest in a series of social control media flare-ups over gruelling schedules.

  • France24 ☛ France braces for a day of strikes and protests over civil servants' pay

    Trade unions in France have called on public sector workers - from train drivers to teachers to health workers and police officers - to stop working and protest at the government's plan to freeze the public sector's pay index, just days before the government is set to unveil its draft budget for 2027.  Plus, as Paris Fashion Week kicks off, we speak with an expert on what the struggling luxury sector needs to do towards a more sustainable future.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Apply now for an APRICOT 2027 Fellowship

    APRICOT is offering a limited number of fellowships in the lead up to APRICOT 2027. Apply now!

  • APNIC ☛ Thou shall not pass: Gatekeeping outbound TLS connections

    Guest Post: To quantify how closely guideline recommendations align with real-world TLS deployments, we collected over 50 million TLS handshakes during two weeks from our research institution.

    [...]

    Transport Layer Security (TLS) is the default protocol for securing communication over the Internet. We think that every time we connect to a web page that supports TLS, our data is safely transmitted. But is that always true?

    In practice, TLS’s security guarantees are frequently compromised by outdated versions and misconfigurations. Merely having TLS is not enough — a secure deployment requires the proper options and configuration. However, keeping track of known and emerging vulnerabilities and identifying the optimal settings to mitigate all security risks can be a challenging task for system administrators. To establish common configuration standards, national cybersecurity agencies have published different TLS guidelines.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ This Is Not a Feature Vector: Zentian v. Apple

      Federal Circuit affirms cancellation of Zentian's speech-recognition patent, rejecting a Magritte analogy that codewords aren't feature vectors.

    • Unified Patents ☛ High IQ Networks networking patents being investigated

      The team at Unified is using Pearl to identify and chart prior art against patents owned by High IQ Networks LLC. The patents target a wide array of networking products, including data center switches, line cards, operating systems, routers, and stack cables.

    • Kangaroo Courts

      • JUVE ☛ “Divisional game” under scrutiny as UPC proceedings over semaglutide kick off in Milan [Ed: UPC is completely illegal and this should be the main issue in people's minds, not these minor details]

        Sandoz kicked off the action by filing a revocation against EP 3 689 365 at the Milan central division this summer (case ID: UPC-CFI-0002221/2026). It is the first UPC action against a patent monopoly related to the active ingredient in treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity, such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus.

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ Jermaine Dupri, Jacquees, and Mass Appeal Face ‘Pick It Up’ Infringement Suit from 90s Duo Home Team

      One month after dropping his multimillion-dollar Sony Music infringement lawsuit, Jermaine Dupri is staring down a copyright monopoly complaint for allegedly lifting from a decades-old work to create 2023’s “Pick It Up.” The members of hip-hop duo Home Team, brothers Patrick Watler and Van J. Watler, just recently submitted the concise action to a Florida federal court.