Thursday, October 15, 2026

Today's news and jokes







A write-up











FWIW























In July, scientists announced the creation of SpudCell, a synthetic cell with a lot of the hallmarks of life. I recently went to a meeting where they talked about their next steps--including making sure SpudCell doesn't get used for evil. Here's my dispatch. (Gift link) nyti.ms/4yTzTiw

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— Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer.com) October 14, 2026 at 7:26 AM
(“With the creation of synthetic cells, we have a biological system that we can fully understand and fully control,” [she] told the audience. “And that’s where the fun can really start.”..."Before they make SpudCell widely available, they are engineering its DNA and proteins it so that it can only survive on an exotic diet of chemicals not found in nature.")











Again, framing this primarly as a supply issue rather than one of demand sets our responses up for failure - MI5 chief Ken McCallum confirms Russia did interfere in Brexit referendum but says it had little impact – UK politics live www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

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— Eliot Higgins (@eliothiggins.bsky.social) October 13, 2026 at 8:19 AM
("the idea that a Ukrainian strike silenced fake accounts is a compelling story of victory against a common enemy. It also supports the comforting belief that your political enemies aren’t even real") ("Data shows that instead of going dark, malicious bots went on the move")











some popular livestreamers have been using an off-the-shelf chinese robot to fuck with people on the street for clout and have repeatedly gone viral for it; they harassed some teen girls with it. the teens reported them to the police. all of it is on video. nothing mysterious happened

— Jason Koebler (@jasonkoebler.bsky.social) October 14, 2026 at 9:21 AM

Men find yet another way to film and harass women without consent, this time, using a remote controlled robot to push against a "16-year-old girl's buttocks", and this is how the most well-resourced news agencies cover it: Read *our* piece here: www.404media.co/theres-nothi...

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— 404 Media (@404media.co) October 14, 2026 at 10:14 AM
























"The FTC alleges that Digital Forensics, along with its owner Dmitry Belkin and several affiliated companies, misled victims of sextortion into paying at least $60 million by falsely claiming that it would provide sextortion assistance services."

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— Matt Burgess (WIRED) (@mattburgess1.bsky.social) October 14, 2026 at 1:33 PM
























(Whalefall star Austin Abrams on meeting sperm whales)















































How's his beer brand doing















































(Not fact-checking this. (My quick research said she's 5'10", and he's 5'5.") (Has there been writing about how bad her look was in Terminator?)(If it's the Tom King story, as I recall, the plot was incoherent))





















































































@pepper.steps Replying to @✨🫠✨ ♬ original sound - pepper steps








@harlowbean_and_bugsy Trying to train Bugsy to stay at 9 weeks old 🐶Very difficult with a short attention span, but he's gotten better now at 4 months old. Beanie sets him straight 🤣 . . #creatorsearchinsights #puppyboy #shihtzusoftiktok #shihtzupuppy #cutepetsvideo ♬ som original - Echoes of The Beat - Marco Ferrari




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