• The editors apologise for the unwontedly upbeat tone of many of today's new items.  We do expect to be back to our usual predictions of imminent doom tomorrow.
  
  
  
• The European Parliament has voted that words mean something.  (The Guardian)
  
  In a 355 - 247 vote, the parliament said that you can't call a plant-based product "steak" unless it was produced by feeding the plants to a cow.  The same goes for terms like "burger" and "sausage".
  
  All the usual suspects are outraged, as well as supermarket chains who will have to make sure all their products are appropriately labelled.
  
  
  
• Germany meanwhile has ruled that the police can shoot down drones, whether they are plant-based or not.  (Reuters)  (archive site)
  
  I think this should not only be allowed, but mandatory.

• Salesforce told Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters to go screw themselves.  (Ars Technica)
  
  The alliance of hacking groups claims to have stolen close to a billion records of data belonging to Salesforce customers, and demanded that the company pay them ransom.
  
  Salesforce said no.
  
  
  
• Synology announced that you know how we said you had to buy Synology-branded drives even for our desktop models, well, forget we ever said that.  (Ars Technica)
  
  Which is nice and all, but I think for many people the bridges are burned, the horses are bolted, the cat is out of the bag, the genie out of the bottle, and the toothpaste can't be squeezed back into the tube.
  
  
  
• Python 3.14 is here.  (The Register)
  
  This version actually brings some significant changes: The dreaded GIL - the global interpreter lock - has been removed, and a new JIT (just-in-time) compiler has been added.
  
  Neither is the default to ensure compatibility with previous versions, but they are there and ready for you to play with.
  
  
  
• How fast is it?  (Miguel Grinberg)
  
  Not very.  PyPy is a far superior solution to speeding up generic Python code, running 4x to 16x as fast as the Python JIT compiled in tests presented here.
  
  But the new implementation of the free-threaded model - the version that removes the GIL - is significantly faster in 3.14 than the first version released in 3.13, so there is still that.
  
  
  
• A chart of the bubble that dare not speak its name.  (Bloomberg)  (archive site)
  
  "A Ponzi scheme with extra steps", somebody called it.
  
  
  
• eBird - the world's largest citizen science project - has now clocked two billion sightings.  (Phys.org)
  
  They're still not real.

• Took my blood pressure this afternoon.  120/77.  It's always lower when I come in after a walk or working in the garden, but I hadn't done either, at least not in the past few hours.
  
  Just six weeks ago it was 70 points higher.
  
  
  
• Tried out my new lawn trimmer that I bought to replace my old Bosch model that went phut last week.  It works.  It actually works great.
  
  I don't like the handle arrangement as much as the old model, but it was half the price with a battery of the Bosch without, and Bosch doesn't make the old model anymore and their new model has the exact same handle arrangement as this cheap one.
  
  Power Blade brand, if anyone is looking.
  
  
  
• Got a couple of new roasting pans from Kmart to replace the old ones that had gone rusty, which I had also bought from Kmart.  I know, I know.
  
  The new ones were slightly more expensive which I put down to inflation, but they turn out to be far higher quality.  They weigh at least twice as much as the old ones, and seem to have a better non-stick coating as well.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Friday, October 10 2025 02:16 AM (3NtfN)

Posted by: normal at Friday, October 10 2025 06:38 AM (e0fX0)

Posted by: Rick C at Saturday, October 11 2025 03:34 AM (1zWbY)

Posted by: Rick C at Saturday, October 11 2025 03:37 AM (1zWbY)

Posted by: cxt217 at Sunday, October 12 2025 05:31 AM (ZLF73)

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