“People like me used to be ‘crazy’ but now we’re just inconvenient. 1984 is now and it gets worse every day while you scroll through Pornhub on your iPhone and try not to think about it. We can’t pretend like we don’t know anymore. Not after Edward Snowden. Not after Chelsea Manning. Not after Julian Assange and Virginia Giuffre and Wikileaks and the Epstein Files. We quite simply know too goddamn much to go back now. We know ‘they’ know and they know we know. … This was precisely the kind of climate that ignited the Luddite Rebellion of early 19th century England.” (08/24/26)
“The prevailing understanding of poliovirus pathogenesis posits that the virus, following intestinal infection, gains access to the central nervous system (CNS) through viremia and subsequent crossing of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, this model fails to adequately explain several key epidemiological and clinical features of the historical polio epidemic, including the localized nature of paralysis, the disproportionate involvement of the lower limbs, the increased susceptibility of young children, and the striking predilection for anterior (motor) neuronal damage while simultaneously sparing posterior (sensory) spinal cord structures.” (08/23/26)
“A mountainous heap of refuse collapsed at the largest landfill in Guinea ‘s capital of Conakry early on Sunday, killing 30 people, according to the central government. Authorities said that heavy rains, which started at around 2 a.m., washed over the refuse at Dar Es Salam — the largest landfill in Conakry — and triggered a landslide that buried nearby shacks. A search and rescue operation was underway to find survivors. Six people were seriously injured and several homes were destroyed. The site, an open-air waste dump which is the largest in the city, had been designated for closure on Sunday, according to Lt. Col. Baldé Mamadou Bailo, the sanitation officer for the military engineering battalion.” (08/23/26)
“Women now have more tattoos than men :: Bonnie and Mark removing tattoos :: Sarah has a younger sister who is NOT a communist :: Bonnie’s experience contacting her dead grandpa :: Can a ghost haunt a car?” (08/23/26)
“In 2015, I wrote an essay entitled, ‘Will robots replace human labour and reduce real wage levels?’ That essay still seems to attract quite a lot of attention even though some of the thoughts in it are now out of date. I did not anticipate the impact of Large Language Models (LLMs). One of the things I like about my previous essay is the use of down-to-earth examples to illustrate processes. So, I will try to continue in that vein.” (08/23/26)
“Three teenagers were killed and another eight people, including seven children, were wounded after drone debris hit a private childcare centre in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region overnight, Russian officials said. In a post on Telegram, Russia’s children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova said that three teenagers, aged 13, 15 and 16, had been killed, with six more children hospitalised. Local governor Veniamin Kondratyev said that two adults had also been wounded. … The attack came as Ukraine attacked several logistics centres belonging to Russian online retailer Ozon, including in the town of Enem, close to Krasnodar city.” (08/24/26)
“It is never correct to chastise the media for printing things that are true and important. [Jason] Arday’s academic misconduct is well-documented at this point. To say that they are unimportant is to say that it doesn’t matter whether one of the finest universities in the world can distinguish truth from fiction, or scholarship from a cut-and-paste job. If that’s what Arday’s academic defenders believe, then we should be paying more attention to what’s going on at Cambridge, not less. But they’re mistaken even if you think that a free press doesn’t mean the freedom to pile on. In this year of our Lord 2026, the kind of censorship they want is not just a terrible idea. It is an impossible dream.” (08/23/26)
“Kazakhstan’s pro-government Adilet party won more than 71 percent of the vote in Sunday’s parliamentary election, said the electoral commission in a result likely to consolidate the power of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Announcing the results on Monday, the commission said that four other blocs also entered parliament: the pro-business Respublika and Ak Zhol parties, the centre-left Nationwide Social Democratic Party and the Auyl party, which represents rural voters. … Adilet was founded in the Central Asian nation earlier this year and is led by Tokayev’s top aides. Shortly after its inception, it absorbed the previous ruling party, Amanat. All four other parties entering parliament are also seen as broadly supportive of Tokayev’s administration.” (08/24/26)
“Stars and Stripes is largely funded by, and its operations and distribution are almost completely enabled by, the US government. ‘Editorial independence’ may sound like a wonderful idea, but there’s always been a leash. We’re just watching the leash get shorter. Thankfully, the collar at the end of that leash only strangles Stars and Stripes. These days, even troops aboard ships at sea and at remote firebases in hostile territory have far greater contact with the outside world, most of the time, than even civilians at home enjoyed 50, let alone 150, years ago. … The military news coverage, and consumption, of the future will look a lot more like WikiLeaks than like Stars and Stripes.” (08/22/26)
