Exposing The Flaw In Our Phone System: Mildly terrifying episode of Veritasium showing how easy it is to hack almost any phone via exploiting the SS7 system.

Spy companies using Channel Islands to track phones around the world: The Channel Islands are a hotspot for the SS7 attacks that may allow hackers to track almost any phone’s location as well as intercepting calls and SMS.

Nope, the Pandemic Did Not Make Us All Gain Weight:: NHANES data suggests that, contrary to earlier speculation, the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t cause everyone (well, Americans) to gain weight.

Tory gasps as Robert Jenrick reveals daughter’s middle name is Thatcher: New level of weird Conservative obsession with Margaret Thatcher achieved.

Cannabis legalisation could be worth £9.5 billion per year to the UK: It’s astonishing and absurd to me that you can still go to jail for cannabis possession here in the UK.

Is UK maternity pay excessive and how much does it cost the taxpayer?: No, it’s nowhere near ‘excessive’.

Maternity pay is ‘excessive’, says Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch: No, ‘personal responsibility’ is not a substitute for statutory maternity pay (tbf she’s subsequently backtracked a bit on this).

‘Not all cultures equally valid’ when it comes to immigration, says Badenoch: I hope this was just bad phrasing, (but I’m not optimistic on that front).

The Forever Plague and its enemies: A reminder to put Covid in the context of other illnesses and the external events it’s associated with before assigning it uniquely nightmarish properties.

Iran vows vengeance after assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah: Israel’s assassination of Nasrallah seems destined to be another step on the path of an increasingly terrifying escalation of the conflict.

Rosie Duffield resigns as Labour MP: Furious both at Keir Starmer’s political style and the ‘cruel and unnecessary’ policies that he supports.

Moving to Pika: In which a post about changing blog hosts turns out to be full of commentary on coping with the exhausting conditions of modern existence.

The True Story of “Hidden Figures,” the Forgotten Women Who Helped Win the Space Race: Not all 1960s NASA brainiacs were bespectacled White men.

Reducing Food Cravings: Pratik shares 4 things that research suggests can diminish food cravings: visualising nature, diverting your focus, physical creativity and (certain?) smells.

NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules: The US National Institute of Standards and Technology advises that it’s counterproductive to make users set passwords with specific composition rules or change them regularly.

Eric Adams charged with taking bribes and foreign campaign contributions: Another US politico-crime first - Adams is the first sitting New York City mayor to be subject to criminal charges.

Twitter Is a Far-Right Social Network: Claims from last year that under Musk’s ‘leadership’ Twitter became indistinguishable from Parler or Truth Social.

Elon Musk says he wants free speech, but his track record suggests otherwise: Elon Musk is only really a ‘free speech absolutist’ when it comes to his own speech.

Twitter is complying with more government demands under Elon Musk: Probably not a bad thing, but it’s definitely a hypocritical thing vs what Musk likes to pretend his values are.

Hate speech is soaring on Twitter under Elon Musk: Contra Musk’s claims, hate speech on Twitter reportedly increased after he took over.

The EU far right wants to give Elon Musk a free speech award: What a surprise that it’s only the far right that want to award Musk the same status as Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai et al.

Sakharov Prize: A prize given by the European Parliament to “individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought”.

Elon Musk backs down in his fight with Brazilian judges to restore X: Musk presumably decided that his wealth was more important than his supposed ‘principles’.

A battle with the gods: Exercising creativity is difficult, but forgoing the attempt may be even worse.

Highlights from Matt Mullenweg’s Spiciest Word Camp Presentation at WordCamp US 2024: More info and context on, and reactions to, the Mullenweg / WP Engine feud.