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From Odd Lots at 2025-11-19 09:00:00 (unread)

The Politics of AI Are About to Explode (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

AI wasn't much of a topic in the 2024 election. But it will almost certainly be big in 2028, and probably even the 2026 midterms. There are concerns about all the money being spent and whether a federal backstop or bailout will be necessary one day. There are the concerns about energy use and electricity prices. There are concerns about labor displacement. And there are concerns about whether we can trust AI outputs. Already we see numerous politicians lining up against AI in one way or another. On this episode, we speak with Saagar Enjeti, the co-host of the Breaking Points podcast to discuss how this issue is already blowing up, and how the tech industry may soon find itself friendless in DC.

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From The Django weblog at 2025-11-19 08:13:22 (unread)

Going build-free with native JavaScript modules

For the last decade and more, we've been bundling CSS and JavaScript files. These build tools allowed us to utilize new browser capabilities in CSS and JS while still supporting older browsers. They also helped with client-side network performance, minimizing the content to be as small as possible and combining files into one large bundle to reduce network handshakes. We've gone through a lot of build tools iterations in the process; from Grunt (2012) to Gulp (2013) to Webpack (2014) to Parcel (2017) to esbuild (2020) and Vite (2020).

And with modern browser technologies there is less need for these build tools.

• Modern CSS supports many of the features natively that the build tools were created for. CSS nesting to organize code, variables, @supports for feature detection.
• JavaScript ES6 / ES2015 was a big step forward, and the language has been progressing steadily ever since. It now has native module support with the import / export keywords
• Meanwhile, with HTTP/2 performance improvements, parallel requests can be made over the same connection, removing the constraints of the HTTP/1.x protocol.

These build processes are complex, particularly for beginners to Django. The tools and associated best practices move quickly. There is a lot to learn and you need to understand how to utilize them with your Django project. You can build a workflow that stores the build results in your static folder, but there is no core Django support for a build pipeline, so this largely requires selecting from a number of third party packages and integrating them into your project.

The benefit this complexity adds is no longer as clear cut, especially for beginners. There are still advantages to build tools, but you can can create professional results without having to use or learn any build processes.

Build-free JavaScript tutorial

To demonstrate modern capabilities, let's expand Django’s polls tutorial with some newer JavaScript. We’ll use modern JS modules and we won’t require a build system.

To give us a reason to need JS let's add a new requirement to the polls; to allow our users to add their own suggestions, instead of only being able to vote on the existing options. We update our form to have a new option under the selection code:

or add your own <input type="text" name="choice_text" maxlength="200" />

Now our users can add their own options to polls if the existing ones don't fit. We can update the voting view to handle this new option. We add a new choice_text input, and if there is no vote selection we will potentially handle adding the new option, while still providing an error message if neither is supplied. We also provide an error if both are selected.

def vote(request, question_id):
    if request.POST['choice'] and request.POST['choice_text']:
        return render(request, 'polls/detail.html', {
            'question': question,
            'error_message': "You can't vote and provide a new option.",
        })

    question = get_object_or_404(Question, pk=question_id)
    try:
        selected_choice = question.choice_set.get(pk=request.POST['choice'])
    except (KeyError, Choice.DoesNotExist):
        if request.POST['choice_text']:
            selected_choice = Choice.objects.create(
                question=question,
                choice_text=request.POST['choice_text'],
            )
        else:
            return render(request, 'polls/detail.html', {
                'question': question,
                'error_message': "You didn't select a choice or provide a new one.",
            })
    selected_choice.votes += 1
    selected_choice.save()
    return HttpResponseRedirect(reverse('polls:results', args=(question.id,)))

Now that our logic is a bit more complex it would be nicer if we had some JavaScript to do this. We can build a script that handles some of the form validation for us.

function noChoices(choices, choice_text) {
  return (
    Array.from(choices).some((radio) => radio.checked) ||
    (choice_text[0] && choice_text[0].value.trim() !== "")
  );
}

function allChoices(choices, choice_text) {
  return (
    !Array.from(choices).some((radio) => radio.checked) &&
    choice_text[0] &&
    choice_text[0].value.trim() !== ""
  );
}

export default function initFormValidation() {
  document.getElementById("polls").addEventListener("submit", function (e) {
    const choices = this.querySelectorAll('input[name="choice"]');
    const choice_text = this.querySelectorAll('input[name="choice_text"]');

    if (!noChoices(choices, choice_text)) {
      e.preventDefault();
      alert("You didn't select a choice or provide a new one.");
    }
    if (!allChoices(choices, choice_text)) {
      e.preventDefault();
      alert("You can't select a choice and also provide a new option.");
    }
  });
}

Note how we use export default in the above code. This means form_validation.js is a JavaScript module. When we create our main.js file, we can import it with the import statement:

import initFormValidation from "./form_validation.js";

initFormValidation();

Lastly, we add the script to the bottom of our details.html file, using Django’s usual static template tag. Note the type="module" this is needed to tell the browser we will be using import/export statements.

<script type="module" src="{% static 'polls/js/main.js' %}"></script>

That’s it! We got the modularity benefits of modern JavaScript without needing any build process. The browser handles the module loading for us. And thanks to parallel requests since HTTP/2, this can scale to many modules without a performance hit.

In production

To deploy, all we need is Django's support for collecting static files into one place and its support for adding hashes to filenames. In production it is a good idea to use ManifestStaticFilesStorage storage backend. It stores the file names it handles by appending the MD5 hash of the file’s content to the filename. This allows you to set far future cache expiries, which is good for performance, while still guaranteeing new versions of the file will make it to users’ browsers.

This backend is also able to update the reference to form_validation.js in the import statement, with its new versioned file name.

Future work

ManifestStaticFilesStorage works, but a lot of its implementation details get in the way. It could be easier to use as a developer.

• The support for import/export with hashed files is not very robust.
• Comments in CSS with references to files can lead to errors during collectstatic.
• Circular dependencies in CSS/JS can not be processed.
• Errors during collectstatic when files are missing are not always clear.
• Differences between implementation of StaticFilesStorage and ManifestStaticFilesStorage can lead to errors in production that don't show up in development (like #26329, about leading slashes).
• Configuring common options means subclassing the storage when we could use the existing OPTIONS dict.
• Collecting static files could be faster if it used parallelization (pull request: #19935 Used a threadpool to parallelise collectstatic)

We discussed those possible improvements at the Django on the Med 🏖️ sprints and I’m hopeful we can make progress.

I built django-manifeststaticfiles-enhanced to attempt to fix all these. The core work is to switch to a lexer for CSS and JS, based on Ned Batchelder’s JsLex that was used in Django previously. It was expanded to cover modern JS and CSS by working with Claude Code to do the grunt work of covering the syntax.

It also switches to using a topological sort to find dependencies, whereas before we used a more brute force approach of repeated processing until we saw no more changes, which lead to more work, particularly on storages that used the network. It also meant we couldn't handle circular dependencies.

To validate it works, I ran a performance benchmark on 50+ projects, it’s been tested issues and with similar (often improved) performance. On average, it’s about 30% faster.

While those improvements would be welcome, do go ahead with trying build-free JavaScript and CSS in your Django projects today! Modern browsers make it possible to create great frontend experiences without the complexity.

From Quite right! at 2025-11-19 00:01:00

Is Net Zero ‘mania’ over? And Labour’s migration crackdown (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=LMNYJ5azWTmIYTSS3FBWBtTkrNiHDxnQAis9S4QQmYw)

This week: a Commons showdown over asylum – and a cold shower for Net Zero orthodoxy.

After Shabana Mahmood’s debuts Labour’s new asylum proposals, Michael and Maddie ask whether her barnstorming performance signals a new star in Starmer’s government – or whether the Home Secretary is dangerously over-promising on a problem no minister has yet cracked. Is her Denmark-inspired model workable? Can she get it past the Labour left? And are the right-wing plaudits a blessing – or a trap?

Then: at COP30, the great climate jamboree struggles to command attention. As Ed Miliband charges ahead with his Net Zero agenda, the pair question whether Britain has finally passed 'peak Net Zero mania'. Is the UK hobbling itself economically while China cashes in? Has climate policy become more like a faith than a science? And what would a more balanced, less fanatical environmentalism look like?

And finally, Channel 4 claims a medical quirk shaped Adolf Hitler: does this kind of genetic reductionism teach us anything – or simply turn history’s greatest monsters into comic-book villains?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-18 20:37:04

Tech giants pour billions into Anthropic as circular AI investments roll on

ChatGPT competitor secures billions from Microsoft and Nvidia in deal to use cloud services and chips.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-18 18:37:23

Bonkers Bitcoin heist: 5-star hotels, cash-filled envelopes, vanishing funds

Bitcoin mining hardware exec falls for sophisticated crypto scam to tune of $200k

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-18 16:32:58

Google’s Sundar Pichai warns of “irrationality” in trillion-dollar AI investment boom

Sundar Pichai says no company is immune if AI bubble bursts, echoing dotcom fears.

From School of War at 2025-11-18 10:30:00

Ep 249: Mick Ryan on the Ukrainian Way of War (NEBM3170764110.mp3)

Major General Mick Ryan, Australian Army (retired), Senior Fellow for Military Studies the Lowy Institute and author of the Futura Doctrina substack, joins the show to discuss the current state of the Ukraine war. We cover tactical innovations, the challenges of operations and strategy, the structure of the Ukrainian military, the political landscape under Zelensky, and the industrial capabilities of both Ukraine and Russia.  ▪️ Times 00:00 State of Play 02:28 Tactical Innovations and Challenges in Ukraine 05:38 The Role of Drones 08:36 Russian Tactical Innovations and the Rubikon Units 11:45 Historical Parallels: Lessons from World War I 14:37 The Thousand Bites Approach: Russian Strategy Explained 17:46 Ukrainian Brigade Composition and Organizational Changes 23:19 Understanding the Ukrainian Military Structure 29:47 Challenges in Casualty Ratios and Manpower 37:37 Long-Range Strike Capabilities and Adaptation 40:29 Strategic Thinking in the Ukrainian Military 46:18 Industrial Base and Support Dynamics Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-17 22:20:38

5 plead guilty to laptop farm and ID theft scheme to land North Koreans US IT jobs

Fleets of laptops run from US residences gave appearance workers were in the US.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-17 16:41:05

Oracle hit hard in Wall Street’s tech sell-off over its huge AI bet

Company falls more than rivals over its borrowing and reliance on OpenAI contracts.

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-17 09:00:00

Jeffrey Gundlach Says Almost All Financial Assets Are Now Overvalued (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

Stocks are overpriced. Bonds are overpriced. And private assets are a powder keg. This is the view of Jeffrey Gundlach, the founder and CEO of DoubleLine Capital. As part of our 10-year anniversary celebration of the Odd Lots podcast, we've been talking to some big names in markets and economics to get a sense of how they see the world and what's changed in recent years. One major change, obviously, is the end of ZIRP. And while Treasuries have rallied modestly this year, Gundlach sees mounting pressure on government balance sheets pushing yields higher going into the future. We also talk about gold, the greater opportunities for a US-based investor when looking internationally, and why everyone should be holding more cash in their portfolios.

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From The Rest Is History at 2025-11-17 00:05:00

618. Elizabeth I: The Shadow of the Tower (Part 3) (GLT7928851339.mp3?updated=1763138973)

Why did Elizabeth I’s brother, Henry VIII’s heir, Edward VI, choose his cousin Jane Grey to succeed him, rather than either of his wily Tudor sisters? Later, how did Elizabeth survive the reign of her once dear Catholic sister, “Bloody Mary”, given Mary’s growing resentment? And, while imprisoned in the Tower of London, how did Elizabeth avoid the same bloody fate as her beheaded mother, Anne Boleyn…? Join Tom and Dominic as they recount the course of Elizabeth I’s dangerous early life, as she outfaced her rivals following Edward VI’s death, witnessed the execution of the young Jane Grey, and survived the reign of her sister and rival, Mary Tudor… _______ Hive. Know your power. Visit https://hivehome.com to find out more.  _______ Learn more at https://www.uber.com/onourway Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editor: Jack Meek  Social Producer: Harry Balden Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude  Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Week in Westminster at 2025-11-15 11:02:00

15/11/2025 (p0mgswd4.mp3)

The Guardian's political editor Pippa Crerar assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

Following a turbulent week for the government, with talk of plots to replace the Prime Minister and speculation over the budget, Pippa speaks to two Labour MPs, Chris Curtis and Rachael Maskell, about the mood on the Labour backbenches.

To discuss the challenges for BBC following the resignation of its director general, Pippa speaks to Conservative peer Tina Stowell, a former Head of Corporate Affairs at the BBC and Anna Sabine, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Culture, Media and Sport.

To discuss the state of the prison system, Pippa is joined by former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke who, earlier this year, carried out a review into sentencing for the government.

And, to give their take on a difficult week for the Prime Minister, Pippa is joined by the political editor of the News Statesman magazine Ailbhe Rea and Luke Tryl the Managing Director of the polling company More in Common.

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-15 09:00:00

Citi's Dirk Willer on How You Know When the Bubble Is Over (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

According to Dirk Willer, the Global Head of Macro Strategy at Citigroup, we are definitely in bubble territory. Per his research, the stock market has been in a bubble since May. Unlike many people, whose definitions of bubbles are a bit more vague or a bit more based on sentiment, Dirk's work focuses on precise timing and price indicators that distinguish bubbles from mere booms. Furthermore, he argues that when the bubble first forms, the correct move historically is to buy into it and then just accept that you'll never nail the top perfectly. On this episode, we talk about his overall approach as well as the signs of when the bubble has come to an end. We also talk about current parallels to the dotcom bubble, why gold has had such a monster year, and the signs from the Treasury market that make the US look increasingly like an emerging market.

Read more:
Stock Bounce Wanes on Fed Angst as Bitcoin Plunges: Markets Wrap
Gold ‘Trading Like a Meme Stock’ Sets Up Miners as Levered Bet

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From More or Less at 2025-11-15 06:00:00

Has there been a $50 trillion wealth transfer to the richest Americans? (p0mgn0wq.mp3)

Bernie Sanders says a vast amount of wealth - $50 trillion - has moved from 90% of the population to the wealthiest Americans since the 1970s. The figure comes from a study by Carter Price, a senior mathematician at nonprofit research institute the RAND Corporation.

Tim Harford speaks to Carter to understand how he calculated his figures and what they really mean.

If you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should take a look at, email moreorless@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Nicolas Barrett Series producer: Tom Colls Sound mix: Giles Aspen Editor: Richard Vadon

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2025-11-15 00:38:24

Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part I: The Othismos over Othismos

This week (and next) we’re looking at hoplites, the heavy infantry of the ancient Greek poleis in the (early? mid? late?) Archaic and Classical periods, into the Hellenistic. In particular, I want to outline the major debate, which I have alluded to quite a few times here, that swirls around hoplite warfare and the phalanx. … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part I: The Othismos over Othismos →

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-14 23:33:12

Friday Squid Blogging: Pilot Whales Eat a Lot of Squid

Short-finned pilot wales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) eat at lot of squid:

To figure out a short-finned pilot whale’s caloric intake, Gough says, the team had to combine data from a variety of sources, including movement data from short-lasting tags, daily feeding rates from satellite tags, body measurements collected via aerial drones, and sifting through the stomachs of unfortunate whales that ended up stranded on land.

Once the team pulled all this data together, they estimated that a typical whale will eat between 82 and 202 squid a day. To meet their energy needs, a whale will have to consume an average of 140 squid a day. Annually, that’s about 74,000 squid per whale. For all the whales in the area, that amounts to about 88,000 tons of squid eaten every year...

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-14 18:45:34

Forget AGI—Sam Altman celebrates ChatGPT finally following em dash formatting rules

Ongoing struggles with AI model instruction-following show that true human-level AI still a ways off.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-14 17:08:57

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:

• My coauthor Nathan E. Sanders and I are speaking at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC at noon ET on November 17, 2025. The event is hosted by the POPVOX Foundation and the topic is “AI and Congress: Practical Steps to Govern and Prepare.”
• I’m speaking on “Integrity and Trustworthy AI” at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, USA, on Friday, November 21, 2025, at 2:00 PM CT. The event is cohosted by the college and The Twin Cities IEEE Computer Society...

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2025-11-14 17:00:00

792: Deep Books in a Trenchcoat (20701426-ccb6-4ea0-89ed-6b36a347f188.mp3)

If you’ve been thinking of reading Science Fiction and Fantasy but had no idea where to start, we’re here to help. Our panel of longtime SF/F readers has some suggestions just for you!...

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-14 12:20:48

Researchers question Anthropic claim that AI-assisted attack was 90% autonomous

The results of AI-assisted hacking aren't as impressive as many might have us believe.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-14 12:00:33

The Role of Humans in an AI-Powered World

As AI capabilities grow, we must delineate the roles that should remain exclusively human. The line seems to be between fact-based decisions and judgment-based decisions.

For example, in a medical context, if an AI was demonstrably better at reading a test result and diagnosing cancer than a human, you would take the AI in a second. You want the more accurate tool. But justice is harder because justice is inherently a human quality in a way that “Is this tumor cancerous?” is not. That’s a fact-based question. “What’s the right thing to do here?” is a human-based question...

From School of War at 2025-11-14 10:30:00

Ep 248: Marc Milner on the Allies During WWII (NEBM9577485828.mp3)

Marc Milner, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick and author of Second Front: Anglo-American Rivalry and the Hidden Story of the Normandy Campaign, joins the show to discuss the turbulent passing of the torch of Western hegemony during WWII.  ▪️ Times 02:50 1917 10:52 American Battle Monuments Commission 14:31 FDR and the British Empire 21:36 American views on the Nazis 30:40 FDR at the Tehran Conference 35:42 Plans Before the Invasion of France 40:48 The British Empire and National Strategy  50:25 Churchill and the Russians in 1944 56:00 A Sophisticated Understanding of Imperial Politics 01:00:18 Revisionist Views of WWII 01:06:00 Communist and Fascist Extremism Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-14 09:00:00

Why Paul Kedrosky Says AI Is Like Every Bubble All Rolled Into One (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

In recent weeks, there's been renewed anxiety about the sustainability of the AI boom. This is partly due to comments from OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar about a possible role for a government backstop in the AI infrastructure build out. We've also seen the stock market wobble, with many major tech names hit hard. But even with all these concerns, we continue to see new announcements all the time. Just this week, Anthropic said it would spend $50 billion on data center development in the US. So are we actually in a bubble? Our guest on this episode believes we are -- and not just any bubble. According to Paul Kedrosky, a longtime VC currently at SK Ventures, the AI bubble is like every previous bubble rolled into one. There's the real estate element. There's the tech element. And, increasingly, there are exotic financing structures being put in place to fund it all. And then on top of that, there's talk of government bailouts and backstops. In this episode, we walk through some of the math that would be required to justify all this spending, and how the seemingly existential stakes of 'winning the AI race' is causing an unsustainable investment binge.

Read more:
AI Startup Cursor Raises Funds at $29.3 Billion Valuation
Point72’s Drossos Sees AI Boom Driving Gains in Asian Currencies

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From GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution at 2025-11-14 04:00:00

Cyber Rattling & Socialism: Anne Neuberger on Future Wars, Mayor Mamdani, and a Big Deal at the BBC | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution (GoodFellows_2025-11-12_-_Anne_Neuberger_wip03_podcast_-72wdd.mp3)

Will future wars be decided by who controls space—cyber and outer—and which superpower has better paired geostrategic thinking with emerging technologies? Anne Neuberger, the Hoover Institution’s William C. Edwards Distinguished Visiting Fellow and a former White House and Pentagon cyber policy advisor, joins GoodFellows regulars Sir Niall Ferguson, John H. Cochrane, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to discuss what she sees as a “cyber gap” between China and America, the need for the US to rethink traditional weapons platforms (hello, drones), plus how Dwight Eisenhower’s warning of a “military industry complex” is being redefined by the tech sector’s growing role in present-day and future warfare. After that: the three fellows weigh the significance of a utopian socialist recently elected mayor of a very capitalist New York City, a new “algocracy” (algorithms running the government) in Albania, the UK’s fabled BBC in hot water over alleged editorial bias, plus whether the “war of the tomorrow” may be in . . . Venezuela? Subscribe to GoodFellows for clarity on today’s biggest social, economic, and geostrategic shifts — only on GoodFellows.

From Quite right! at 2025-11-14 00:01:00

Q&A: Who could replace Keir Starmer? (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJpbiI6Imh0dHBzOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9hc3NldHMucGlwcGEuaW8vc2hvd3MvNjg1MTc5MmQwMDJmOWRhNDlhN2ZiZWY1LzE3NjMwNTE4NjYzOTEtMzNjNGVmN2ItYmY0ZC00NzExLThjM2YtMzcxODllOTFiMzJjLXB1YmxpY0ludHJvLm1wMyIsIm91dCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9hc3NldHMucGlwcGEuaW8vc2hvd3MvNjg1MTc5MmQwMDJmOWRhNDlhN2ZiZWY1LzE3NjMwNTE4NjgzMzItNmY5ZTIxMjQtZTZkNy00Yzc4LWI1NzQtZmJkM2EyNTI3YThjLXB1YmxpY091dHJvLm1wMyIsInN0YXR1cyI6InB1YmxpYyJ9&sig=KGXeJ8LD_LXOXipmxsXRDBTnlI0Y-SXOhqndYLnZpcs)

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, go to: spectator.co.uk/quiteright

This week on Quite right! Q&A: Could Britain see a snap election before 2029? Michael and Maddie unpack the constitutional mechanics – and explain why, despite the chaos, an early vote remains unlikely. They also turn to Labour’s troubles: growing pressure on Keir Starmer, restive backbenchers, and whether Angela Rayner’s sacking has boosted her chances as his successor.

Plus: should the Scottish Parliament be abolished? And on a lighter note, if you won a free holiday but had to take one Labour MP, who would you choose?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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From The Briefing Room at 2025-11-13 13:48:00

Why does the UK have a problem with productivity? (p0mgf5wl.mp3)

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been widely trailing this month’s budget and the difficult decisions she’ll have to make in just under two weeks time. This is being taken as code for tax rises and a possible break in Labour’s manifesto pledge with a rise in income tax. She’s said one of the key reasons for this is that the government's official forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility or OBR, is going to lower its UK productivity growth forecast for the coming years. So why is UK productivity a problem and what can be done to improve it?

Guests: Chris Giles, Economics Commentator, The Financial Times Helen Miller, Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies Duncan Weldon, economist and author Greg Thwaites, Research Director, Resolution Foundation.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Cordelia Hemming, Kirsteen Knight Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineers: Rod Farguhar and James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-13 12:09:39

Book Review: The Business of Secrets

The Business of Secrets: Adventures in Selling Encryption Around the World by Fred Kinch (May 24, 2004)

From the vantage point of today, it’s surreal reading about the commercial cryptography business in the 1970s. Nobody knew anything. The manufacturers didn’t know whether the cryptography they sold was any good. The customers didn’t know whether the crypto they bought was any good. Everyone pretended to know, thought they knew, or knew better than to even try to know.

The Business of Secrets is the self-published memoirs of Fred Kinch. He was founder and vice president of—mostly sales—at a US cryptographic hardware company called Datotek, from company’s founding in 1969 until 1982. It’s mostly a disjointed collection of stories about the difficulties of selling to governments worldwide, along with descriptions of the highs and (mostly) lows of foreign airlines, foreign hotels, and foreign travel in general. But it’s also about encryption...

From Net Assessment at 2025-11-13 10:05:00

Whither Venezuela? (Net_Assessment_-_14_Nov_2025_v1.mp3?dest-id=808287)

Chris, Melanie, and Zack, convene for a wide-ranging discussion of U.S. current and prospective military operations against the country of Venezuela, and the regime of Nicolas Maduro. Why is the United States sending fighter jets, an aircraft carrier, and other assets to the Caribbean? What does the military buildup say about which voices in the administration are being heard? And is there anything that Maduro can do, any deal he can make with Donald Trump, to avoid regime change, with or without a military conflict? Grievances for universities who cave to Chinese pressure and stop reporting on human rights abuses, to the Department of Defense's new plan for facilitating foreign arms sales, and to Congress for the pointless government shutdown. Attas to Norway for realizing that Chinese-made electric vehicles are vulnerable to hacking, to Paul Kelly for realizing the John Lennon's "Imagine" is a terrible song, to the Supreme Court and some members of Congress for appearing to resist Trump's executive overreach (finally!), and to the nation's veterans on the occasion of their annual official holiday.

Show Links:

• Missy Ryan, Vivian Salama, Michael Scherer, and Nancy A. Youssef, "Why Venezuela?" The Atlantic, November 6, 2025

• Matthew Kroenig, "Trump Should Oust Maduro," Foreign Policy, November 7, 2025

• Justin Logan and Lawrence Montreuil, "Don't Repeat Libya: The Dangers of US Intervention in Venezuela," Cato at Liberty, October 31, 2025

• Alexander B. Downes and Lindsey A. O'Rourke, "The Regime Change Temptation in Venezuela," Foreign Affairs, October 31, 2025

• Dan Grazier, "Hegseth Wants to Make the Pentagon a Global Arms Bazaar," Responsible Statecraft, November 6, 2025

• Brett Samuels, "Trump: 'I Doubt' US Going to War with Venezuela, but Maduro's Days are Numbered," The Hill, November 3, 2025. 

• Augusta Saraiva, "Trump's Move on Venezuela Splinters Region over Possible Strike," Bloomberg, November 1, 2025 

• "Norway Transport Firm Step Up Controls after Tests Show Chinese-Made Buses Can Be Halted Remotely," AP, November 5, 2025."

• Nadeem Badshad, "Counter-Terror Police Investigate Claim UK University Halted Research After Chinese Pressure," The Guardian, November 3, 2025. 

From Strong Message Here at 2025-11-13 09:45:00

The Buck Stops Here (with Ria Lina and Sophy Ridge) (p0mg869s.mp3)

This week, Armando is joined again by comedian Ria Lina, and Sky New's new breakfast host, Sophy Ridge.

In the week with 2 big resignations at the BBC, news journalism and accuracy are under the spotlight. We discuss the pressures on live broadcasting, editing, and deciding what stories make it to air. When is something worthy of coverage? These decisions are made all the time, but how? We also discuss how comedians skills can be deployed by journalists with tricky interviewees, and why the Edinburgh Fringe is the nadir of 'selective editing'.

Got a strong message for Armando? Email us on strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound editing: Chris Maclean Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman Executive Producer: Pete Strauss and James Robinson Recorded at The Sound Company

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-13 09:00:00

Cliff Asness on How Markets Got Dumber in the Last 10 Years (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

The Odd Lots podcast has been around for 10 years. Unfortunately, markets have gotten less rational over the same time frame. At least this is the contention of Cliff Asness, the co-founder and CEO of AQR Capital Management, a quantitative investing firm that's been around for nearly three decades. Asness' approach to investing is rooted in academic theory, having studied under the legendary Eugene Fama at the University of Chicago. In the world of social media and meme stocks, it's tough out there for the academically minded. And that's forced Cliff to adjust his approach over time. On this episode, we talk about the history of quantitative investing, market efficiency, and the emergence of AI/ML in his process. We also talk about the reality of investing other people's money, and the challenge of sticking with one's convictions at a time when temporary forces are working against you.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From The Rest Is History at 2025-11-13 00:05:00

617. Elizabeth I: Anne Boleyn's Bastard (Part 2) (GLT2585433242.mp3?updated=1762969632)

What happened to the infant Elizabeth I following the bloody execution of her mother Anne Boleyn? How did her father Henry VIII and his next four wives treat her? And, what became of Elizabeth following the death of Henry, and the succession of her protestant brother Edward…?  Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the next, unsteady phase of the young Elizabeth’s life, as she was transformed from adored royal princess, to outcast bastard; learnt to navigate her father’s infamous next four marriages, and overcame a dangerous sex scandal… Hive. Know your power. Visit https://hivehome.com to find out more.  Learn more at https://www.uber.com/onourway Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Social Producer: Harry Baldwin Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude  Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-12 22:54:47

OpenAI walks a tricky tightrope with GPT-5.1’s eight new personalities

New controls attempt to please critics on both sides with a balance between bland and habit-forming.

From The Media Show at 2025-11-12 17:28:00

How do we fix the BBC? (p0mg8j90.mp3)

On this week’s edition of The Media Show Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins take you inside the biggest crisis to hit the BBC in decades. A Panorama edit of Donald Trump’s speech has spiralled into a leadership meltdown, culminating in the simultaneous resignation of the Director General and Head of News. The BBC Chair is under fire, the Board is divided, and the President of the United States is threatening legal action. All this as the BBC begins negotiations for a license fee renewal in a shifting media landscape. Joining the show to make sense of it all are: John Shield, former BBC communications chief, now at the advisory firm Teneo, Jamie Angus former World Service director and Today programme editor, Tim Montgomerie, journalist and cohost of Not Another One podcast, Jane Martinson, Guardian columnist and with the view from America the former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker Tina Brown.

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Assistant Producer: Martha Owen

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-12 17:14:16

Meta’s star AI scientist Yann LeCun plans to leave for own startup

AI pioneer reportedly frustrated with Meta's shift from research to rapid product releases.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-12 12:01:53

On Hacking Back

Former DoJ attorney John Carlin writes about hackback, which he defines thus: “A hack back is a type of cyber response that incorporates a counterattack designed to proactively engage with, disable, or collect evidence about an attacker. Although hack backs can take on various forms, they are—­by definition­—not passive defensive measures.”

His conclusion:

As the law currently stands, specific forms of purely defense measures are authorized so long as they affect only the victim’s system or data.

At the other end of the spectrum, offensive measures that involve accessing or otherwise causing damage or loss to the hacker’s systems are likely prohibited, absent government oversight or authorization. And even then parties should proceed with caution in light of the heightened risks of misattribution, collateral damage, and retaliation...

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-12 09:00:00

Jerry Neumann on the Problem With Investing in AI Right Now (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

AI has made a lot of people fabulously wealthy. But sorry, it's probably not going to be the thing that makes you rich. And if history is any guide, we don't even know who the real AI winners are going to be. That's the thesis from longtime Venture Capitalist (now retired) Jerry Neumann. Earlier this year, Neumann published an article, "AI Will Not Make You Rich," putting the AI boom in the context of previous technological revolutions, such as the shipping container. He points out that a lot of the companies that were early to shipping containers didn't make much money, and that the real winners were the new businesses that emerged later and took advantage of the shipping container to build new business models (think about the likes of Walmart or Target). In this conversation, we talk about why it's so hard to invest in technological revolutions, where we are in the cycle, why he's getting out of VC, and when the big opportunities will eventually emerge.

Read more:
SoftBank Sells Nvidia Stake for $5.8 Billion to Fund AI Bets
AI’s $5 Trillion Cost Needs Every Debt Market, JPMorgan Says

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From Quite right! at 2025-11-12 00:01:00

BBC bias & Bridget ‘Philistine’s’ war on education (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=dPoMqjVIxNz7ZVHGQ_lB6eXTH-q6tdDyPfxOWP4v6H0)

This week: a crisis at the BBC – and a crisis of standards in our schools.

Following the shock resignations of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, Michael and Maddie ask whether the corporation has finally been undone by its own bias, and discuss how it can correct the leftward lurch in its editorial line.

Then: Labour’s new education reforms come under the microscope. As Ofsted scraps single-word judgements in favour of ‘report cards’, could this ‘definitive backward step’ result in a ‘dumbing down’ that will rob the next generation of rigour and ambition? And will ‘Bridget Philistine’s’ war on education undo the positive legacy of the Conservatives on education?

And finally, in Hollywood, actress Sydney Sweeney refuses to apologise for comments made in an interview last week – she now finds herself a heroine of the anti-woke age. Are we finally past peak woke?

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, go to: spectator.co.uk/quiteright

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From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-11 12:30:51

ClickFix may be the biggest security threat your family has never heard of

Relatively new technique can bypass many endpoint protections.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-11 12:08:48

Prompt Injection in AI Browsers

This is why AIs are not ready to be personal assistants:

A new attack called ‘CometJacking’ exploits URL parameters to pass to Perplexity’s Comet AI browser hidden instructions that allow access to sensitive data from connected services, like email and calendar.

In a realistic scenario, no credentials or user interaction are required and a threat actor can leverage the attack by simply exposing a maliciously crafted URL to targeted users.

[…]

CometJacking is a prompt-injection attack where the query string processed by the Comet AI browser contains malicious instructions added using the ‘collection’ parameter of the URL...

From School of War at 2025-11-11 10:30:00

Ep 247: Nicholas Wright on the Brain Science of War (NEBM7268802921.mp3)

Nicholas Wright, neuroscientist and author of Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain, joins the show to explore the implications of neuroscience for warmaking.  ▪️ Times 01:20 Neurology 02:57 Intelligence Defined 07:06 Mapping the Brain 17:05 How Modeling Happens 27:15 Outthinking and Outlearning the Enemy 30:25 Prioritization and Survival 35:15 Fear and the Fall of France in 1940 44:48 Enhancing Military Training 49:47 AI and Its Impact on Human Cognition Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-10 23:06:42

Researchers isolate memorization from reasoning in AI neural networks

Basic arithmetic ability lives in the memorization pathways, not logic circuits.

From School of War at 2025-11-10 10:30:00

Ep 246: Veterans Day Special — Remembering Angus MacLean (NEBM1776442614.mp3)

Host Aaron MacLean pays tribute to his father, World War Two and Vietnam Veteran Angus MacLean. This memorial originally ran in the publication Engelsberg Ideas.  ▪️ Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find more content on our School of War Substack

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-10 09:00:00

How Chinese Real Estate Became the Biggest Bubble in History (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

Land is a weird asset. We need it to be affordable because everyone needs somewhere to live. But for many people, real estate is also their biggest store of wealth — a kind of national piggybank that fuels both personal fortunes and broader economies. Nowhere is that tension sharper than in China, where housing affordability remains a major challenge even as real estate has been a huge driver of wealth for households and companies alike. China's policymakers have now spent years trying to let the air out of China’s property bubble — without causing it to burst completely. In this episode, we speak with Mike Bird, The Economist’s Wall Street editor and author of the new book, The Land Trap: A New History of the World’s Oldest Asset. We talk about how much of China's economic progress has been tied up in real estate, different models of land ownership around the world, and why this particular asset is unlike any other.

Read more:
New World, Vanke Debt Moves Shake Up China’s Property Sector
CapitaLand Is Said to Mull Merging Non-China Assets With Mapletree

Only http://Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

Join the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From The Rest Is History at 2025-11-10 00:05:00

616. Elizabeth I: The Fall of the Axe (Part 1) (GLT9331634740.mp3?updated=1762727918)

How did Elizabeth I’s tumultuous early life in the court of her wife murdering father, Henry VIII, influence the rest of her life? What was the nature of the Tudor world she was born into? Why did Henry VIII so desperately desire a son? And, why did Henry and Anne’s marriage following his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, change the fate of Britain forever? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the story behind the birth of Britain’s greatest queen - Elizabeth I. From her father Henry VIII’s reign and early marriages, to Tudor court politics, and the ruthless execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn…. Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editor: Jack Meek Social Producer: Harry Balden Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Week in Westminster at 2025-11-08 11:00:00

08/11/2025 (p0mfddp9.mp3)

Sunday Times political editor Caroline Wheeler reports on the latest developments at Westminster.

Following a political row about mistaken prisoner releases, Caroline speaks to former Conservative Justice Secretary, Sir Robert Buckland, and Labour MP Chris Murray, a member of the Home Affairs Committee.

The chair of the Lords economic affairs committee, Stewart Wood, and Reform MP, Danny Kruger, discuss the Chancellor's speech in which she appeared to lay the ground for the government to break its manifesto tax promises.

Why do parties have manifestos? And what are the implications of ditching them? Dr Cath Haddon of the Institute for Government explains.

And does Zohran Mamdani's victory in the New York mayoral election hold any lessons for left-wing politicians in Britain? Green Party Leader, Zack Polanski, and Observer political editor, Rachel Sylvester, debate the significance of Mamdani's win.

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-08 09:00:00

The Viral Milk That Helped Set Off America's Protein Boom (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

Protein seems to be everywhere these days, with brands from Starbucks to Pepsi jumping on the trend. But the obsession with protein may have started earlier — with a humble dairy product that defied the broader decline in US milk consumption. Fairlife, which uses a specialized filtering process to boost protein and cut sugar and lactose in its milk products, helped spark the modern protein craze that’s unfolded alongside the rise of Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs. Since Coca-Cola acquired the brand in 2020, Fairlife has become one of the company’s biggest growth drivers. Yet its success also highlights deeper challenges facing the American dairy industry, where per capita milk consumption continues to fall. So how did Fairlife buck the trend? And what does its story reveal about the future of US dairy? On this episode, we speak with Corey Geiger, lead dairy economist at CoBank.

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From More or Less at 2025-11-08 06:00:00

Is RFK Jr right about China's diabetes rate? (p0mfdrmb.mp3)

The US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr is on a mission to make America healthy again. One of his health-promotion ideas is to reduce chronic illness, specifically diabetes. And has part of his campaign he said that: "a typical pediatrician would see one case of diabetes in his lifetime, over a 40 or 50 year career. Today, 1 out of every 3 kids who walks through his office door is prediabetic or diabetic. Twenty years ago, there was no diabetes in China, today 50% of the population is diabetic' Diabetes does carry a huge burden of health, but are his numbers right and how much of a problem is diabetes in the US and around the globe? We speak to diabetes expert and co-author of the Diabetes Atlas, Professor Dianna Magliano to find out more. Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Studio Manager: Rod Farquhar Editor: Richard Vadon

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-07 22:01:03

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Game: The Challenge, Season Two

The second season of the Netflix reality competition show Squid Game: The Challenge has dropped. (Too many links to pick a few—search for it.)

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2025-11-07 21:26:13

Fireside Friday, November 7, 2025 (On the Roman Strategy Debate)

Hey folks! Fireside this week. I had wanted to have my post on the hoplite debate (the othismos over othismos) ready for this week, but it’s not quite done, so I am shifting that to next week. So instead this week I want to outline another debate in ancient military history, the ‘Roman strategy debate.’ … Continue reading Fireside Friday, November 7, 2025 (On the Roman Strategy Debate) →

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-07 20:15:33

Researchers surprised that with AI, toxicity is harder to fake than intelligence

New "computational Turing test" reportedly catches AI pretending to be human with 80% accuracy.

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2025-11-07 17:00:00

791: Elio and Glordon's Excellent Space Adventure (6df8d507-a7e7-4aec-9f1f-30fabce536b5.mp3)

Pixar Club re-forms to discuss “Elio,” the studio’s lowest-grossing feature film of all time. Funny thing, though… it’s a pretty good movie? It’s funny, has some space adventure and gross-but-lovable aliens, and even has a nice message about making connections. Look, we didn’t go see it in the theater either, but we sure had a fun time watching it on Disney+....

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-07 12:01:46

Faking Receipts with AI

Over the past few decades, it’s become easier and easier to create fake receipts. Decades ago, it required special paper and printers—I remember a company in the UK advertising its services to people trying to cover up their affairs. Then, receipts became computerized, and faking them required some artistic skills to make the page look realistic.

Now, AI can do it all:

Several receipts shown to the FT by expense management platforms demonstrated the realistic nature of the images, which included wrinkles in paper, detailed itemization that matched real-life menus, and signatures...

From School of War at 2025-11-07 10:30:00

Ep 245: Edward Luce on Zbigniew Brzezinski’s Twentieth Century (NEBM1469669899.mp3?updated=1762466523)

Edward Luce, U.S. national editor and columnist at the Financial Times and author of Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet,joins the show to discuss one of the most interesting characters of the Cold War, Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski. ▪️ Times 00:00 The Life and Legacy of Zbigniew Brzezinski 02:55 Carter's Foreign Policy and Brzezinski's Influence 05:56 Contrasting Worldviews: Brzezinski vs. Kissinger 08:52 The Formative Years: War and Identity 11:35 The Cold War Landscape and Brzezinski's Rise 14:34 Order vs. Justice: Diverging Philosophies 17:55 Brzezinski's Strategic Vision for the Cold War 20:57 The Vietnam War and Its Impact on Brzezinski 23:47 Brzezinski's Approach to Foreign Policy 28:35 The Rise of Jimmy Carter and the Trilateral Commission 32:12 Carter's Foreign Policy Challenges: The Middle East and Iran 37:15 Human Rights and the Shift from Nixon to Carter 45:27 Reagan's Continuity and Change: A New Era in Foreign Policy 51:19 The Iranian Revolution and Brzezinski's Legacy Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

From The Django weblog at 2025-11-07 09:01:19

Django at PyCon FR 2025 🇫🇷

Last week, we had a great time at PyCon FR 2025 - a free (!) gathering for Pythonistas in France. Here are some of our highlights.

Sprints on Django, our website, IA, marketing

Over two days, the conference started with 27 contributors joining us to contribute to Django and our website and online presence. Half in the room were complete newcomers to open source, wanting to get a taste of what it’s like behind the scenes. We also had people who were new to Django, taking the excellent Django Girls tutorial to get up to speed with the project. The tutorial is translated in 20 languages(!), so it’s excellent in situations like this where people come from all over Europe.

Carmen, one of our sprint contributors, took the time to test that our software for ongoing Board elections is accessible 💚

Discussing Django’s direction

At the sprints, we also organized discussions on Django’s direction - specifically on marketing, Artificial Intelligence, and technical decisions. Some recurring topics were:

• Highlights from the State of Django 2025 report produced by JetBrains, and the need for fundraising partnerships like their ongoing 30% Off PyCharm Pro – 100% for Django campaign.
• What “batteries included” means for Django in 2025. Does it include REST? Contributors discussed the recent forum thread Django needs a REST story.
• Type hints and Django. The existing feature requests, and how feature requests are meant to work for Django.
• The impact of Artificial Intelligence on Django and Django developers. How AI adoption could be supported with documentation investments, but also the ethical concerns of AI coding.

We had a great time during those two days of sprints ❤️ thank you to everyone involved, we hope you stick around!

Design systems with JinjaX, Stimulus, and Cube CSS

Mads demonstrated how to bring a design-system mindset to Django projects by combining JinjaX, Stimulus JS, and Cube CSS. Supported by modern tooling like Figma, Vite, and Storybook. JinjaX in particular, allows to take a more component-driven “lego blocks” approach to front-end development with Django.

Three years of htmx in Django

Céline Martinet Sanchez shared her takeaways from using htmx with Django over three years. The verdict? A joyful developer experience, some (solved) challenges with testing.

Her recommended additions to make the most of the two frameworks:

• django-htmx: opinionated htmx integration
• Slippers: better DX for Django templates
• factory_boy: test data generator (alternative to fixtures)
• Syrupy: snapshots for pytest

Becoming an open-source contributor in 2025

In her talk, Amanda Savluchinske explored how newcomers can get involved in open source—highlighting the Django community’s Djangonaut Space program. She explains why doing it is great, how to engage with busy maintainers, and specific actions people can take to get started.

We really liked her sharing a prompt she uses with AI, to iterate on questions to maintainers before hitting “send”:

“You are an expert in technical writing. I'm trying to write a message about a question I have about this open-source project I'm contributing to. Here's the link to its repo ‹Add link here›. I want to convey my question to the maintainers in a clear, concise way, at the same time that I want it to have enough context so that the communication happens with the least back and forth possible. I want this question to contain a short, max two sentence summary upfront, and then more context in the text's body. Ask me whatever questions you need about my question and context in order to produce this message.”

La Suite numérique: government collaboration powered by Django

PyCon FR also featured La Suite numérique, the French government’s collaborative workspace—developed with partners in Germany, the Netherlands (Mijn Bureau), and Italy. Their platform includes collaborative documents, video calls, chat, and an AI assistant — all powered by Django 🤘. This work is now part of a wider European Union initiative for sovereign digital infrastructure based on open source, for more information see: Commission to launch Digital Commons EDIC to support sovereign European digital infrastructure and technology.

Up next…

Up next, we have the first ever Django Day India event! And closer to France, DjangoCon Europe 2026 will take place in Athens, Greece 🇬🇷🏖️🏛️☀️

We’re elated to support events like PyCon FR 2025. To help us do more of this, take a look at this great offer from JetBrains: 30% Off PyCharm Pro – 100% for Django – All money goes to the Django Software Foundation!

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-07 09:00:00

Lots More on the Worsening State of the US Labor Market (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

If the government were open, we'd be getting a jobs report today. But as it is, we're in this blackout of official economic data. That's unfortunate, because the economy is already in a very confusing spot, and so any additional data right now would be very helpful in figuring out where things are heading. In the absence of Non-Farm Payrolls, we talked with Bloomberg Opinion columnist Conor Sen about the worsening state of the labor market, and why he thinks the Federal Reserve needs to step in before the unemployment rate deteriorates further. We also talk about the role AI is (or isn't) playing in the labor market.

Read more: 
US Companies Announce Most October Job Cuts in Over 20 Years
Fed’s Hammack Says Inflation a Bigger Concern Than Labor Market

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From Quite right! at 2025-11-07 00:01:00

Q&A: Boris, Cameron or May? Plus, our most left-wing beliefs revealed (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=TJcRbnhWPouT7FOpE3kzIGREz_wPMm4pEvVbXiynSaI)

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, go to: spectator.co.uk/quiteright

This week on the first ever Quite right! Q&A: What’s your most left-wing belief? Michael & Maddie confess their guilty liberal secrets on the Elgin Marbles, prison reform and private equity – or ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism’.

Also this week: who would you trust to save your life on a desert island – Boris Johnson, Theresa May or David Cameron? And finally, a literary turn: from John Donne to Thomas Hardy, Michael and Maddie share their favourite poems, and make the case for learning verse by heart.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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From The Rest Is History at 2025-11-07 00:00:00

RIHC: Disney's Legacy, with Bob Iger (GLT6989183827.mp3?updated=1762470283)

What’s the first question people at Disney ask themselves when they have a great idea? How does Bob Iger view his legacy, and does he think Walt Disney would approve of his record? How did Bob first get into The Rest Is History? And who is his dream dinner party guest from history? In this special bonus episode, Tom and Dominic are joined by Friend of the Show Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company. They delve into Walt's legacy, the 70th anniversary of Disneyland, and Bob's time at the helm of the worlds of Mickey House, Snow White and Luke Skywalker… Watch Tom and Dominic's tour of Disneyland with Bob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwPaOpifZ-M _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Social Producer: Harry Baldwin Video Editor: Harry Swan  Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude  Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-06 22:17:21

Wipers from Russia’s most cut-throat hackers rain destruction on Ukraine

Sandworm and other Russian-state hackers unleash data-destroying payloads on their neighbors.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-06 17:24:51

Google plans secret AI military outpost on tiny island overrun by crabs

Christmas Island facility would support naval surveillance in strategic Indo-Pacific waters.

From The Briefing Room at 2025-11-06 15:14:00

What's happening in Venezuela? (p0mf45g5.mp3)

Something is going in the southern Caribbean. The world’s largest aircraft carrier - the American USS Gerald R Ford- is on its way to the region. Small boats said to belong to Venezuelan drug smugglers are being blown up by the US military. Old US bases are being de-mothballed. And there’s media talk of Trump-induced regime change in Caracas, with Venezuela’s authoritarian, leftist president Nicolas Maduro in the crosshairs. In this week's Briefing Room, David Aaronovitch and guests ask what this military show of strength is really about and what it mean for the region?

Guests:

Will Grant, BBC Mexico, Central America and Cuba Correspondent. Jeremy McDermott, co-founder and co-director of InSight Crime, a Colombia-based think tank that studies organised crime in the Americas. Dr Christopher Sabatini, Senior Fellow for Latin America at Chatham House Dr Annette Idler, Associate Professor in Global Security at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Cordelia Hemming Production co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound Engineer: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-06 12:02:45

Rigged Poker Games

The Department of Justice has indicted thirty-one people over the high-tech rigging of high-stakes poker games.

In a typical legitimate poker game, a dealer uses a shuffling machine to shuffle the cards randomly before dealing them to all the players in a particular order. As set forth in the indictment, the rigged games used altered shuffling machines that contained hidden technology allowing the machines to read all the cards in the deck. Because the cards were always dealt in a particular order to the players at the table, the machines could determine which player would have the winning hand. This information was transmitted to an off-site member of the conspiracy, who then transmitted that information via cellphone back to a member of the conspiracy who was playing at the table, referred to as the “Quarterback” or “Driver.” The Quarterback then secretly signaled this information (usually by prearranged signals like touching certain chips or other items on the table) to other co-conspirators playing at the table, who were also participants in the scheme. Collectively, the Quarterback and other players in on the scheme (i.e., the cheating team) used this information to win poker games against unwitting victims, who sometimes lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. The defendants used other cheating technology as well, such as a chip tray analyzer (essentially, a poker chip tray that also secretly read all cards using hidden cameras), an x-ray table that could read cards face down on the table, and special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards. ...

From Strong Message Here at 2025-11-06 09:45:00

Be Vigilant (with Phil Wang) (p0mdz7ky.mp3)

This week, Armando is joined by Phil Wang to look at the use and abuse of political language.

Defence Secretary John Healy says we need to 'be vigilant', and Reform councillor Laila Cunningham says 'Labour want us to shut up and die' - we look at how the public and the police respond to horrific events, and at our relationship with the police.

We also discuss chocolate getting worse, NIgel Farage straddling the line between being a maverick and assuring the markets, and what other things Rachel Reeves is 'refusing to rule out'.

Got a strong message for Armando? Email us on strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Listen to Strong Message Here at 0945 on Radio 4, and an extended version is available on BBC Sounds.

Sound editing: Chris Maclean Production Coodinator: Jodie Charman Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Recorded at The Sound Company

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-06 09:00:00

Dmitry Shevelenko on Perplexity's Vision for Reshaping the Internet (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

The news business isn't a great one these days. At least for a lot of legacy outlets (newspapers, cable networks, print magazines etc.), the Internet has obliterated their business model. And now AI is coming along and there's a risk that it makes conditions even worse, because unlike in the glory days of the search era, the user doesn't even have to click to get what they're looking for. So how does an AI company like Perplexity, which combines search and AI to create a real-time destination for learning about the news, affect industry economics? On this episode, which was recorded live at Lazard's Foursquare conference (an annual gathering for business leaders in sports, media, and entertainment), we speak with Perplexity's Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko. We talk about the company's relationship with the news business, a new battle against Amazon, and the general economic and finance environment for hot AI startups.

Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From The History Book Buffs at 2025-11-06 06:00:00

The Days that Changed the World: 23 August, 1939. The signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. (https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-10-5%2F410679105-44100-2-97aeb004a9a3a.mp3)

On 23 August 1939, two dictators who despised each other made a decision that reshaped the world. In this episode, we explore the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact — often known as the Nazi-Soviet Pact — and its profound impact on Europe and the outbreak of the Second World War.

In the first of a new series on THE DAYS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, Roger Moorhouse and Antonia Senior discuss the tense negotiations in Moscow, the secret territorial agreements, and the shock felt across the political spectrum when Stalin and Hitler aligned their interests. Far from being a footnote, this moment led directly to the invasion of Poland and the dismemberment of Eastern Europe, sealing the fate of millions and altering global history.

We also examine how this episode has been remembered — and misremembered — and why it remains crucial to understanding both Stalin’s strategic mindset and the origins of the war.
Recommended readings are shared at the end of the conversation for those looking to dive deeper.

• Why the 1939 pact changed the course of history

• Stalin and Hitler’s unlikely diplomatic manoeuvring

• What the secret protocols really meant for Eastern Europe

• Reactions inside the international communist movement

• The pact’s human and geopolitical consequences

• Where this moment fits in wider WWII historiography

• Realpolitik and ideological betrayal

• The invasion of Poland and division of Eastern Europe

• Historical memory and overlooked turning points

• The scale of suffering unleashed by the agreement

“Stalin is a very canny operator.”
“The suffering is immense on both sides.”
“It’s a day that changed the world.”

From The Django weblog at 2025-11-06 05:00:00

2026 DSF Board Candidates

Thank you to the 19 individuals who have chosen to stand for election. This page contains their candidate statements submitted as part of the 2026 DSF Board Nominations.

Our deepest gratitude goes to our departing board members who are at the end of their term and chose not to stand for re-elections: Sarah Abderemane and Thibaud Colas; thank you for your contributions and commitment to the Django community ❤️.

Those eligible to vote in this election will receive information on how to vote shortly. Please check for an email with the subject line “2026 DSF Board Voting”. Voting will be open until 23:59 on November 26, 2025 Anywhere on Earth.

Any questions? Reach out on our dedicated forum thread or via email to foundation@djangoproject.com.

All candidate statements ¶

To make it simpler to review all statements, here they are as a list of links. Voters: please take a moment to read all statements before voting! It will take some effort to rank all candidates on the ballot. We believe in you.

1. Aayush Gauba (he/him) — St. Louis, MO
2. Adam Hill (he/him) — Alexandria, VA
3. Andy Woods (he/they) — UK
4. Apoorv Garg (he/him) — India, now living in Japan
5. Ariane Djeupang (she/her) — Cameroon
6. Arunava Samaddar (he/him) — India
7. Chris Achinga (he/him) — Mombasa, Kenya
8. Dinis Vasco Chilundo (he/him) — Cidade de Inhambane, Mozambique
9. Jacob Kaplan-Moss (he/him) — Oregon, USA
10. Julius Nana Acheampong Boakye (he/him) — Ghana
11. Kyagulanyi Allan (he/him) — Kampala, Uganda
12. Nicole Buque (she) — Maputo, Mozambique
13. Nkonga Morel (he/him) — Cameroun
14. Ntui Raoul Ntui Njock (he/his) — Buea, Cameroon
15. Priya Pahwa (she/her) — India, Asia
16. Quinter Apondi Ochieng (she) — Kenya-Kisumu City
17. Rahul Lakhanpal (he/him) — Gurugram, India
18. Ryan Cheley (he/him) — California, United States
19. Sanyam Khurana (he/him) — Toronto, Canada

From The Rest Is History at 2025-11-06 00:05:00

615. Disneyland: The Modern American Utopia (GLT8516268220.mp3?updated=1762367224)

Why is Disneyland one of the most influential architectural creations of the 21st century? How did the Second World War impact Disney? And, how is Disneyland inextricably intertwined with the history of America? Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the magical world of Disneyland, along with the fascinating history of Theme Parks, and the insight they provide into the historical contexts they were born of.  ____ Start generating your own greener electricity for less, with £500 off Solar. Visit https://www.hivehome.com/history for more information. T&Cs apply**Output and savings varies by season, electricity usage and system size. Paid-for surplus requires an eligible SEG tariff. Offer for new customers only. Ends 17th November. ____ Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Social Producer: Harry Baldwin Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude  Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-05 23:00:46

5 AI-developed malware families analyzed by Google fail to work and are easily detected

You wouldn't know it from the hype, but the results fail to impress.

From The Media Show at 2025-11-05 17:50:00

Mishal Husain, Andy Wilman, and the Traitors finale (p0mdz02t.mp3)

Ros Atkins and Katie Razzall talk to Mishal Husain about her new Bloomberg radio show and her departure from the BBC after 26 years. Andy Wilman, the creative force behind Top Gear and Clarkson’s Farm, shares candid insights from his new book and decades of collaboration with Jeremy Clarkson. As Celebrity Traitors heads into its nail-biting finale, executive producer Mike Cotton reveals how the show became one of the year’s biggest hits. And we unpack the BBC’s latest controversy - Panorama’s editing of Donald Trump’s Capitol riot speech - and what it means for public trust in journalism.

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Content Producer: Lucy Wai

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-05 12:04:34

Scientists Need a Positive Vision for AI

For many in the research community, it’s gotten harder to be optimistic about the impacts of artificial intelligence.

As authoritarianism is rising around the world, AI-generated “slop” is overwhelming legitimate media, while AI-generated deepfakes are spreading misinformation and parroting extremist messages. AI is making warfare more precise and deadly amidst intransigent conflicts. AI companies are exploiting people in the global South who work as data labelers, and profiting from content creators worldwide by using their work without license or compensation. The industry is also affecting an already-roiling climate with its ...

From The Django weblog at 2025-11-05 12:00:00

Django security releases issued: 5.2.8, 5.1.14, and 4.2.26

In accordance with our security release policy, the Django team is issuing releases for Django 5.2.8, Django 5.1.14, and Django 4.2.26. These releases address the security issues detailed below. We encourage all users of Django to upgrade as soon as possible.

From Wittenberg to Westphalia at 2025-11-05 04:15:54

Episode 102: Greeting Gregory (media.mp3)

In today's episode we run through the election of Gregory the 7, watch Henry do something clever and seemingly break up the Saxon rebellion, all while Milan is in total chaos.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Quite right! at 2025-11-05 00:01:00

Rachel Reeves’s Budget ‘bollocks’ and Britain’s everyday crime crisis (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=WDVMT8EzTi5IQgMcd79SUFITgLKbX9Ff9aP4O5hJDRU)

To submit your urgent questions to Michael and Maddie, go to: spectator.co.uk/quiteright

This week on Quite right!: Rachel Reeves goes on the offensive – and the defensive. After her surprise Downing Street address, Michael and Maddie pick over the many kites that have been flying in advance of the Budget at the end of the month. Was she softening the public up for tax rises, or trying to save her own job? Michael explains why Reeves is wrong to say that Labour’s inheritance is the reason for our current economic misfortune and says that it is ‘absolute bollocks’ that Brexit is to blame.

Next, a chilling weekend of violence sparks a bigger question: are we witnessing the rise of nihilistic crime in Britain? From the Huntingdon train stabbings to rampant shoplifting, are we becoming used to the ‘anarcho-tyranny’ that is taking hold – where petty crimes go unpunished and public order breaks down?

And finally, from Halloween to Bonfire Night, the culture wars go seasonal. Michael and Maddie debate whether we should loathe ‘pagan’ Halloween and instead turn 5 November into a national holiday.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.

For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts.

Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-04 12:05:54

Cybercriminals Targeting Payroll Sites

Microsoft is warning of a scam involving online payroll systems. Criminals use social engineering to steal people’s credentials, and then divert direct deposits into accounts that they control. Sometimes they do other things to make it harder for the victim to realize what is happening.

I feel like this kind of thing is happening everywhere, with everything. As we move more of our personal and professional lives online, we enable criminals to subvert the very systems we rely on.

From School of War at 2025-11-04 10:30:00

Ep 244: Oren Cass on a Strategy of Reciprocity (NEBM3691720440.mp3)

Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of American Compass and author of the article A Grand Strategy of Reciprocity for Foreign Affairs, joins the show to discuss how the United States should think about the current strategic moment. ▪️ Times 00:01 Introduction to Free Markets and Trade 00:43 Discussion on China and Global Strategy 02:15 Historical Context of American Grand Strategy 04:40 Assumptions about China 07:40 Strategic Competition and Spheres of Influence 10:00 Economic Decoupling and Its Challenges 13:30 Relationships with Other Countries 16:00 Concept of Reciprocity in Alliances 20:00 US-Mexico-Canada Relations and Global Implications 25:00 The Role of the Trump Administration 30:00 Future of Global Alliances 35:00 Economic and Security Strategies 40:00 Conclusion and Final Thought Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-11-03 17:23:11

OpenAI signs massive AI compute deal with Amazon

Deal will provide access to hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips that power ChatGPT.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-11-03 12:05:25

AI Summarization Optimization

These days, the most important meeting attendee isn’t a person: It’s the AI notetaker.

This system assigns action items and determines the importance of what is said. If it becomes necessary to revisit the facts of the meeting, its summary is treated as impartial evidence.

But clever meeting attendees can manipulate this system’s record by speaking more to what the underlying AI weights for summarization and importance than to their colleagues. As a result, you can expect some meeting attendees to use language more likely to be captured in summaries, timing their interventions strategically, repeating key points, and employing formulaic phrasing that AI models are more likely to pick up on. Welcome to the world of AI summarization optimization (AISO)...

From Odd Lots at 2025-11-03 09:00:00

San Francisco's New Mayor on Homelessness, Unaffordability, and AI (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

New York City is about to elect a new mayor, and whoever it is will have to address growing challenges like unaffordability, homelessness, and other basic quality-of-life challenges. Very few of these challenges are distinct to NYC. San Francisco, in particular, has also faced this weird tension, where it's incredibly dynamic and wealthy, and also famous for its obvious symptoms of dysfunction. The city is one year into the new Daniel Lurie administration, and many of the quality-of-life statistics have been improving (which is the case in other cities as well). The city is ground zero for the world's AI industry, which is heavily concentrated in SF, rather than the Bay Area writ large. So we spoke with Lurie about his approach to city management, what he's learned in his first year on the job, his vision for improving zoning, and what, if any, advice he'd offer to the next NYC mayor.

Read more:
Uber to Take on Waymo in San Francisco With Lucid, Nuro Robotaxis
Trump Cancels San Francisco Raids After Benioff, Huang Calls

Only Bloomberg - Business News, Stock Markets, Finance, Breaking & World News subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From The Django weblog at 2025-11-03 07:00:00

Announcing DjangoCon Europe 2026 in Athens, Greece! 🏛️🇬🇷

We’re excited to share that DjangoCon Europe returns in 2026 — this time in the historic and sun-soaked city of Athens, Greece 🇬🇷, with three days of talks from April 15–17, 2026!

Photo by Rafael Hoyos Weht on Unsplash

DjangoCon Europe is one of the longest-running Django events worldwide, now in its 18th edition - and 15th country!

What’s on the agenda

We’re preparing a mix of Django and Python talks, hands-on workshops, and opportunities to collaborate, learn, and celebrate our community. Whether you're new to Django or a long-time Djangonaut, DjangoCon Europe is designed to help you build new skills and connect with others who care about open-source software.

Athens provides the perfect backdrop — a lively, accessible city full of culture 🏛️, great food 😊, and spring sunshine ☀️.

Join us in Athens

DjangoCon Europe thrives because people across our community take part. As the organizers prepare the programe, there will be many ways to get involved:

• Attend the conference in person in Athens
• Submit a talk or workshop proposal (stay tuned for our Call for Proposals announcement)
• Sponsor the conference and support the Django ecosystem
• Volunteer your time to help the event run smoothly

Stay updated

We’ll share details on proposals, tickets, sponsorship packages, and sprints in the coming weeks, via our newsletter on the conference website.

Sign up for updates

We are also on:

• Twitter/X: @DjangoConEurope on Twitter/X
• LinkedIn: DjangoCon Europe
• Mastodon: @djangoconeurope@fosstodon.org

From The Rest Is History at 2025-11-03 00:05:00

614. Walt Disney: The Great American Storyteller (GLT5465018421.mp3?updated=1762128594)

How did Walt Disney come to found the company that still bears his name, and would change the world forever? How did Disney help to establish American culture as the most dominant culture in the world? And, was Mickey Mouse Walt Disney’s greatest invention?  Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the story behind the wonderful world of Disney, and the man from whose marvellous imagination it sprung.  ______ Start generating your own greener electricity for less, with £500 off Solar. Visit ⁠https://www.hivehome.com/history⁠ for more information. T&Cs apply**Output and savings varies by season, electricity usage and system size. Paid-for surplus requires an eligible SEG tariff. Offer for new customers only. Ends 17th November. ⁠Learn more at ⁠⁠https://www.uber.com/onourway⁠ ______ Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter, discounted books from the show, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at therestishistory.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editor: Jack Meek  Social Producer: Harry Balden Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude  Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Django weblog at 2025-11-02 14:29:05

Five ways to discover Django packages

With tens of thousands of available add-ons, it can be hard to discover which packages might be helpful for your projects. But there are a lot of options available to navigate this ecosystem – here are a few.

New ✨ Ecosystem page

Our new Django’s ecosystem page showcases third-party apps and add-ons recommended by the Django Steering Council.

State of Django

The 2025 State of Django survey is out, and we get to see how people who responded to the survey are ranking packages! Here are their answers to “What are your top five favorite third-party Django packages?”

Thank you to JetBrains who created this State of Django survey with the Django Software Foundation! They are currently running a bit promotion campaign - Until November 11, 2025, get PyCharm for 30% off. All money goes to the Django Software Foundation!

Django Packages

Django Packages is a directory of reusable Django apps, tools, and frameworks, categorized and ranked by popularity. It has thousands of options that are easily comparable with category "grids".

Awesome Django

Awesome Django is more of a community-maintained curated list of Django resources and packages. It’s frequently updated, currently with 198 different package entries.

Reddit and newsletters

The r/django subreddit often covers new tools and packages developers are experimenting with. And here are newsletters that often highlight new packages or “hidden gems” in Django’s ecosystem:

• Django News - Weekly Django news, articles, projects, and more.
• Real Python (Newsletter and podcast)

From The Week in Westminster at 2025-11-01 11:02:00

01/11/2025 (p0md06lh.mp3)

Ben Riley-Smith, the political editor of the Daily Telegraph, assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

Ben discusses the troubles at the Home Office with two former Home Secretaries: Alan Johnson, who served under Gordon Brown and Amber Rudd, who served during Theresa May's premiership.

Following the row over the China spying allegations, Ben discusses managing relations with China with Lord Sedwill, the former Cabinet Secretary and former National Security Adviser and Labour MP Matt Western who is the chair of the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy.

The 'Speaker's Conference' - which has been investigating abuse and intimidation towards politicians - published its final report this week. Ben discussed the findings of the report with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons.

And, in the week that the Prime Minister discussed his musical tastes on the Radio Three programme 'Private Passions', Ben spoke to two musical politicians about the power of music: Labour's Baroness Thangam Debbonaire, who was a professional cellist and the LIberal Democrat MP Anne Sabine, who plays the bassoon.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-10-31 21:03:56

Two Windows vulnerabilities, one a 0-day, are under active exploitation

Both vulnerabilities are being exploited in wide-scale operations.

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2025-10-31 18:42:32

Miscellania: Europa Universalis V Confirmed! (First Impressions)

Something different this week! The folks at Paradox Development Studios were nice enough to give me a review copy of the upcoming Europa Universalis V (releasing Nov. 4) ahead of release so that I could share some thoughts! For the unfamiliar, Europa Universalis is a series of strategy games covering the early modern period (traditionally … Continue reading Miscellania: Europa Universalis V Confirmed! (First Impressions) →

From More or Less at 2025-10-31 17:00:00

Halloween special: How many people did the real Dracula impale? (p0mczgpf.mp3)

Vlad III Dracula, the Wallachian Prince who became Bram Stokers inspiration behind his famous vampire 'Count Dracula,' was a brutal ruler. So brutal that history dubbed him 'Vlad the Impaler' due to his penchant for that particularly gruesome form of execution. Which, without going into too much detail, involved driving a large stake or pole through someone's body - often vertically.

Chroniclers and historians claim that he impaled over 20,000 people during his reigns which, if true is a very, very big number. But is it true? We speak to Historian Dénes Harai whose paper: 'Counting the Stakes: A Reassessment of Vlad III Dracula’s Practice of Collective Impalements in Fifteenth-Century South-eastern Europe' attempts to set the record straight.

Let's travel back to 1431 to separate the math's from the myth.

Presenter/Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Sound Mix: Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

From The Django weblog at 2025-10-31 16:47:10

Django Developers Survey 2025 results

The results from the 2025 Django Developers Survey are now available. This is the fourth annual report conducted from November 2024 to January 2025 by the Django Software Foundation in collaboration with JetBrains PyCharm.

The full report contains infographics, quotes, and dedicated sections so you can easily navigate through all the results. There is also a The State of Django 2025 blog post highlighting key Django trends in 2025 and actionable ideas for your own Django development.

From School of War at 2025-10-31 09:30:00

Ep 243: Alexander Mikaberidze on Russia’s Failed Battle with Turkey… in 1809 (NEBM9757666642.mp3)

Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History at LSU Shreveport and contributor to An Unavoidable Evil: Siege Warfare in the Age of Napoleon (From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815),  joins the show to discuss the siege of Brăila and the lessons of the Russo-Ottoman War of 1806-1812. ▪️ Times 00:00 The Shifting Balance of Power in the Black Sea 02:00 Siege Warfare in the Age of Napoleon 04:09 Decisive Battles vs. Positional Warfare 08:30 The Evolution of Strategy: 18th to 19th Century 14:16 The Debate on Siege Tactics in the Russian Military 21:27 Kutuzov's Strategic Evolution 25:26 Geopolitical Context: Russia and the Ottoman Empire's Rivalry 31:31 The Siege of Brăila: A Military Catastrophe 38:39 The Cost of War: Casualties and Consequences 50:40 Lessons in Military Culture: Accountability and Adaptation Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

From Odd Lots at 2025-10-31 08:00:00

How Hudson River Trading Actually Uses AI (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though you can get great stock picks just by going to ChatGPT and asking it to recommend some investments. And yet financial firms of all sorts — including trading firms — say they're increasingly using AI. But are the tools actually being deployed? And how do these tools differ from traditional machine learning or algorithmic approaches to trading, the likes of which have been used by quant firms for decades now. On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Iain Dunning, the head of AI research at Hudson River Trading, a major US market maker. We discuss the firm's attempts to use AI not just for more efficient trading, but also to make short-term predictions about price, which further gives its traders an edge. Dunning walks us through his work, his views on the main constraints facing the space (labor, power, chips, etc.) and how his work is both different and similar to what's happening at the major cutting edge research labs like ChatGPT.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From The Rest Is History at 2025-10-31 00:05:00

Spartacus and Gladiators, with Mary Beard (GLT6726080326.mp3?updated=1761845796)

Where did gladiatorial combat originate? Who was Spartacus, the legendary gladiator? How did he come to lead the most famous slave revolt in all Roman history? How did the rebellion unfold? And, what was Spartacus’ fate..? In the grand finale of our thrilling series on four of classical antiquity’s most notorious subjects, Tom is joined by the world renowned classicist Mary Beard, to discuss gladiators and the famous gladiator turned rebel Spartacus. Sign up to The Rest Is History Club to get the whole episode! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Exec Producer: Dom Johnson Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Producer: Tabby Syrett Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude Video Editor: Jack Meek Social Producer: Harry Balden Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2025-10-30 19:00:00

790: Serious Academic Arguments (251be3d5-61ea-4d0c-a227-db3b0ca06759.mp3)

It’s time for another Old Spooky Club, as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stuart Gordon’s horror-comedy classic, “Re-Animator”, which bears very little resemblance to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. We’ve got notes about severed heads, chomped-on fingers, lobotomized deans, weird character motivations, creepy stalkers, a literal blood bath, and everything Barbara Crampton....

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-10-30 18:24:32

ChatGPT maker reportedly eyes $1 trillion IPO despite major quarterly losses

It could be "one of the biggest IPOs of all time," according to Reuters.

From The Briefing Room at 2025-10-30 16:09:00

How should we handle historic public inquiries? (p0mcsc6y.mp3)

When a disaster or serious event happens, such as the Grenfell Tower fire, the Manchester Arena terrorist attack or the Covid pandemic, you can be pretty sure that a public inquiry will follow. They’re popular with the public as a means of investigating serious state failure. And for Governments they can be a good way of kicking a difficult issue into the long grass, as usually by the time the inquiry is finished a different set of politicians will have to deal with the report.

There are currently 25 public inquiries in progress in the UK today - the most ever, with six announced so far this year. They range from one into Scottish child abuse, which is the longest current inquiry, to another into a police restraint death which has just lost its chair and the lawyers working for the inquiry, to Covid 19 - the largest currently underway. And which by the end of June this year had cost 177 million pounds. David Aaronovitch and guests discuss how these public inquiries work, what they achieve and who, if anyone, benefits from them?

Guests:

Judith Moritz: BBC Special Correspondent Deborah Coles, Executive Director, INQUEST Emma Norris, Director of Policy and Politics at IPPR think tank, Professor Lucy Easthope, emergency planner and responder and visiting Professor at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Cordelia Hemming. Sound engineer: Duncan Hannant Editor: Richard Vadon.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-10-30 15:54:18

After teen death lawsuits, Character.AI will restrict chats for under-18 users

AI companion app faces legal and regulatory pressure over child safety concerns.

From Strong Message Here at 2025-10-30 09:45:00

Deep Disillusionment in This Country (with Stewart Lee) (p0mclhrz.mp3)

This week, Armando is joined again by Stewart Lee to look at how political actors use language.

Wes Streeting says there is a 'deep disillusionment in this country', and says there is a “growing sense of despair about whether anyone is capable of turning this country round". Why is that? And does politicians speaking in that way confound our misery? We look at Sarah Pochin's comments about black and asian people in adverts, and the responses across parliament to that. We also look at how much news is just speculation, and how politicians use speculation to further their arguments.

We also look at how we get our news - is it exhausting to have to keep fact checking things ourselves? Is it preferable to the alternative?

Armando shares his confusion at Immersive experiences, and Stewart invents a new word, and we hear about Starmer's charm offensive.

Got a strong message for Armando? Email us on strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Listen to Strong Message Here at 0945 on Radio 4, and an extended version is available on BBC Sounds.

Sound editing: Chris Maclean Production Coodinator: Jodie Charman Executive Producer: Pete Strauss Recorded at The Sound Company

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.

From Net Assessment at 2025-10-30 09:00:00

Are Rising Powers Over? (Net_Asssessment_-_30_Oct_2025_v1.mp3?dest-id=808287)

Chris, Zack, and Melanie get together to talk about Michael Beckley's new article, "The Stagnant Order and the End of Rising Powers." What consequences might the decline and greying of populations have for global security? Has the era of transformative discoveries ended? Has the United States become a "rogue superpower, with little sense of obligation beyond itself"? Have corruption, political dysfunction, and waning innovation made it impossible for states to pursue agendas of economic growth and national security?

Chris has a strong grievance for Congress which has failed to do its constitutional job and is again putting the country through a government shutdown, Zack praises President Trump for securing a peace deal between Cambodia and Thailand, and Melanie is frustrated by President Trump putting more tariffs on Canada because of an ad featuring President Reagan that he didn't like. 

Links

• Francis J. Gavin, The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty: Rethinking International Relations and American Grand Strategy in a New Era (International Institute of Strategic Studies, 2024).

• Brian Mann and Sarah McCammon, "People are having fewer kids. Their choice is transforming the world's economy," NPR, October 27, 2025.

• Julia Gledhill, "What You Need to Know about Pentagon and Military-Related Spending in H.R. 1," Stimson Center/Costs of War Project, October 23, 2025.

• Pooja Salhotra, "In Trump-Friendly Iowa, the President's Policies Have Hit Hard," New York Times, October 26, 2025.

• Lalee Ibssa and Ivan Periera, "Trump Raises Tariffs on Canada 10% After Reagan Ad Airs During World Series," ABC News, October 26, 2025.

• Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Closes Billion-Dollar Deals with Australia, White House, October 20, 2025.

• Nicholas Eberstadt, "The Age of Depopulation: Surviving a World Gone Grey," Foreign Affairs, January/February 2025.  

• Greg Iacurci, "ACA Enhanced Subsidy Lapse Could Hit Early Retirees Hardest Amid Shutdown Fight," CNBC, October 17, 2025.

From The Django weblog at 2025-10-30 08:48:56

Django is now a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA)

We’re proud to announce the Django Software Foundation has been authorized by the CVE Program as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA)! 

What it means for Django to be a CNA

Our security team deals with vulnerability reports on a daily basis, and every so often some turn out to be real vulnerabilities for us to fix and publish. CNAs are organizations responsible for the regular assignment of CVE IDs to vulnerabilities, and for creating and publishing information about the vulnerability in the associated CVE Record. Each CNA has a specific scope of responsibility for vulnerability identification and publishing. As a CNA, we are more autonomous through this process. For full details, see our scope on the new CVE Numbering Authority page.

How to report a vulnerability

For reporters, our process remains completely unchanged: to report a security issue in Django, please follow our security policies to report over email at security@djangoproject.com.

How our CNA operates

Our CNA is currently run within our existing security team, with support from the foundation’s President and Vice President. Day to day, the Django Fellows take care of CNA activities. Check our CNA page for more information and ways to contact us about CNA matters.

—

Thank you to Natalia Bidart for initiating our application process to become a CNA! And if you have feedback or questions, come say hi on the Django forum in Django as a CNA.

From Odd Lots at 2025-10-30 08:00:00

The Movement That Wants Us to Care About AI Model Welfare (audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=982f5071-765c-403d-969d-ae27003a8d83)

You hear a lot about AI safety, and this idea that sufficiently advanced AI could pose some kind of threat to humans. So people are always talking about and researching "alignment" to ensure that new AI models comport with human needs and values. But what about humans' collective treatment of AI? A small but growing number of researchers talk about AI models potentially being sentient. Perhaps they are "moral patients." Perhaps they feel some kind of equivalent of pleasure and pain -- all of which, if so, raises questions about how we use AI. They argue that one day we'll be talking about AI welfare the way we talk about animal rights, or humane versions of animal husbandry. On this episode we speak with Larissa Schiavo of Eleos AI. Eleos is an an organization that says it's "preparing for AI sentience and welfare." In this conversation we discuss the work being done in the field, why some people think it's an important area for research, whether it's in tension with AI safety, and how our use and development of AI might change in a world where models' welfare were to be seen as an important consideration.

Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox — now delivered every weekday — plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From The Django weblog at 2025-10-30 05:00:00

DSF member of the month - Anna Makarudze

Due to the Malcolm Tredinnick Memorial Prize announcement in September, we paused our regular DSF Member of the Month feature for that month.

For October 2025, we welcome Anna Makarudze as our DSF member of the month! ⭐

Anna is a Django Girls+ Trustee and has dedicated years to growing Django globally. She served as DSF President and founded DjangoCon Africa, helping expand Django's reach in the world. She has been a DSF member since August 2016. You can learn more about Anna by visiting Anna's Linkedin profile and her GitHub Profile.

Let’s spend some time getting to know Anna better!

Can you tell us a little about yourself (hobbies, education, etc)

I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science from Midlands State University, Gweru, Zimbabwe, many years ago (2009). I am now pursuing an MSc in Software Engineering at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden, courtesy of a scholarship from the Swedish Institute. I have completed numerous courses for various IT certifications over the years, most of which have expired. I have also taken management courses to keep upskilling myself, as I enjoy learning.

Regarding hobbies, I enjoy baking, especially trying out new cake and pastry recipes for fun; it's my favourite way to relax after busy or stressful times. I also enjoy walking, particularly in areas with lush greenery and natural beauty, but my fear of snakes and creepy crawlies limits my solo adventures into the woods. My fear of snakes is justified; my family home (parents’) is located within a very natural reserve with many indigenous trees and forests, close to Lake Kyle in Masvingo. Although the area is stunning, it does have snakes and other wildlife such as hippopotamuses and crocodiles (if you go too close to the lake). I have encountered snakes many times at my parents’ house because of the numerous trees, so I have learnt to avoid them as most are venomous. Additionally, being African, a fear of these creatures and death is instinctive for me. I also enjoy listening to music, reading books, and occasionally watching a good film.

How did you start using Django?

I learnt Python in 2015 through Treehouse as part of a scholarship from Muzinda Hub’s Entrepreneurship training. We were expected to develop a Python project at the end of the three-month course, and I chose to use Flask. A friend of mine, Humphrey Butau, used Django, and he encouraged me to try it. After that, I was hooked.

What other framework do you know and if there is anything you would like to have in Django if you had magical powers?

I also know Flask, and recently, through school assignments, I have had to use Express JS. If I had magical powers, I would want Django to support NoSQL databases like MongoDB out of the box, just as it supports SQL databases. I have been working with the django-mongodb-backend and realised that it works if you either download their template or do some extra work to be able to run the default Django migrations.

What projects are you working on now?

As part of my Master’s studies, I am actually working on quite a number of projects for the two courses I am currently taking (until 31st October). For the Software Evolution and Maintenance course, we have been working on Home Assistant, which is also based on Python. We are working on a fork, though, so that we don’t flood the upstream with pull requests from Python, but it has been amazing seeing all the integrations available in it. My group and I chose to work on the Google Tasks integration. I will likely want to continue experimenting with Home Assistant even after the course ends.

For the Cloud Computing and Big Data Analysis course I am undertaking, I have recently completed two projects: one involving provisioning and orchestration of two RESTful Django microservices with Kubernetes, and another focused on Big Data Analysis using Express JS. Currently, I am working on implementing monitoring for an application that utilises Clojure and a MongoDB database, although I intend to develop the monitoring in Python.

Besides that, I am personally developing a MongoDB version of a Conveyances app I created several years ago, which was built using Django, Django Rest Framework, Vue, and Postgres. The app had nested data due to the restrictions of a SQL database structure, so I want to experiment with NoSQL to see how simpler it would be. I had meant to do this before DjangoCon Africa and present a talk on it, but the toll of organising a conference blocked me, so I am finally working on it now.

What are you learning about these days?

I am currently learning about cloud computing and Big Data, with a focus on provisioning and orchestrating Big Data Analysis cloud architectures. I am also learning how to improve and monitor the performance of these systems in terms of CPU, memory, and storage utilisation.

Which Django libraries are your favourite (core or 3rd party)?

My favourite Django core libraries are the Django ORM and Django Admin. They make it very easy to set up a functional website with minimal effort. The ORM simplifies database connections and queries, and Django Admin provides a ready-to-use backend admin interface. My favourite third-party library is Django Rest Framework. It makes creating RESTful APIs with Django quick and straightforward.

What are the top three things in Django that you like?

The top three things that I like in Django are the management commands, migrations and the authentication systems. I like how the management commands make it so easy to quickly automate stuff, whether it's the default Django management commands or if you have written your own. Django migrations do the work for you in terms of making changes to the database, and you need not worry about writing the SQL statements.

The authentication system is fairly basic, but it can get you started with minimal effort on your part. This makes Django fulfil its tagline of being “The framework for perfectionists with deadlines”. I have used it in most of my projects for my Master’s programme, where we were chasing deadlines, and it always turned out to be true.

You were previously a board member and President of the Django Software Foundation, what would you suggest to someone wondering if they should take this role or being part of the board?

Being part of the Django Software Foundation board is an excellent way to contribute to the Django community, as you can shape and influence important decisions related to Django and its ecosystem. While the DSF Board does not dictate the technical direction of Django, it does influence how those who impact the technical direction are selected or governed.

As President, you also have the chance to implement your ideas on the future of the Django community, the staff who maintain Django, and the direction of Django events. Although it may require more of your time than being an ordinary member due to additional responsibilities, it is a valuable opportunity to develop and strengthen your leadership skills.

Anyone who uses Django, even if they haven't contributed code but have attended or organised Django events, can be part of the DSF board. I joined the DSF board at the end of 2017 for 2018, after using Django for just over two years, so you need not worry about your level of experience. All you need is your commitment and a clear plan of what you hope the DSF board should achieve during your term.

You were the chair of DjangoCon Africa this year, what do you think is required to organize a conference like this? Why do you think this is important conference like DjangoCon Africa?

Organising a conference like DjangoCon Africa requires substantial community engagement, significant time, effort, and resilience. Firstly, Africa differs from other continents in many ways. In some aspects, these differences are advantageous, while in others, they present challenges. Technologically, Africa is a greenfield; there is ample opportunity for technological advances, and we have the population to pursue this, meaning most of our attendees are eager to learn and contribute to the community. We also have the “Ubuntu” community spirit ingrained within us, which makes our DjangoCon Africa events feel like home.

However, this presents a significant challenge regarding funding, as there are not many successful Django-based startups capable of financing an event as large as DjangoCon Africa. Our colonial history as a continent creates major obstacles to international financial transactions, mainly due to numerous structural barriers. This makes it notably harder for corporate sponsors without local offices to offer sponsorship.

Despite these challenges, I believe it is essential to organise DjangoCon Africa because it is the only continent where many Africans can travel visa-free or without restrictions. My first DjangoCon events were in Europe and then the US, and I have faced numerous visa applications each time I needed to travel. Within Africa, I can visit many countries visa-free. Once I arrive, I am often mistaken for a local until I speak, and then I am limited to speaking English, not their local language. DjangoCon Africa's programme is curated specifically for Africans, featuring talks suited to their level of understanding and offering numerous beginner workshops to help them get started, while also catering for mid-level and advanced programmers.

DjangoCon Africa takes over a year to plan, which demands a significant time commitment. When we are halfway through organising it, I ask myself why I keep getting into trouble by arranging a DjangoCon. After each event, I feel tired and exhausted but incredibly fulfilled because of the impact I can see we have achieved from that single occasion. While other events are more polished and well-established, DjangoCon Africa has only hosted two events so far and remains far from perfect, yet I still sense its impact despite all the imperfections. One can only truly understand the feeling of being at DjangoCon Africa if they have attended it.

I know you are a Django Girls+ Trustee, could you tell us a bit more about Django Girls+ and how we could be involved in Django Girls if we are interested?

Django Girls Foundation is a non-profit that empowers women+ to organise free programming workshops for women+ by providing the resources they need. Django Girls+ workshops are one or two-day events where participants are exposed to web development using Python and Django using our popular, beginner-friendly Django Girls Tutorial, which is open source. The participants get to learn at their own pace with the help of coaches.

We also have several open-source resources to help our volunteers run and organise our workshops: the Organiser Manual, Coach Manual, Organiser FAQs and Tutorial Extensions. In the 11 years that Django Girls+ has existed, (put some statistics + links)

There are several ways to get involved with Django Girls+. One can apply to organise a workshop in their city or become a coach at one of our events. They can also contribute to all the resources mentioned above, as well as our open-source website. They can also contribute financially by supporting us through Patreon, donating via PayPal or GitHub Sponsors (put links). If they are corporates, they can reach out to me as the Fundraising Coordinator and we can discuss a partnership. (link to fundraising email).

Django is celebrating its 20th anniversary, do you have a nice story to share?

Being part of the Django community since 2016 has been a blessing in my life. I have travelled to many countries for Python and Django conferences, forming many meaningful friendships that have become essential to me. I have contributed to Django in many ways, and in return, Django has given me so much. I have been able to showcase my leadership qualities through the Django community, and I am grateful to them for allowing me to be myself and celebrate my identity as an African woman who’s passionate about coding and community.

One of my favourite memories from DjangoCon Europe 2018 is taking a pedal boat ride with my good friend Jessica Upani in Heidelberg, right after DjangoCon Europe 2018. We had previously visited a castle, and it had been lovely. While on the boat, Jessica, true to her nature, kept laughing and not taking our safety seriously, while I, on the other hand, was panicking that we might capsize. We had no life jackets, and I was sure I wouldn’t swim well in the river. When we disembarked, I felt relieved and told her I was worried we would capsize and I wouldn’t be able to swim, and she admitted she was worried too. Who does that? With that, I say happy 20th birthday to Django. I have so many fond memories to share from the Django community.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

The Django community has put in a lot of work to make the environment welcoming for beginners and for everyone, especially minorities. I have made many genuine friends over the years, whom I am always excited to meet again at various community events. I am one of those people who came for the framework and stayed for the community, and I would like to see this continue.

Thanks so much to all the work the DSF board members (past and present) have done all these years. Things move slowly in Djangoland, as Carlton Gibson likes to say, but it has been a great pleasure watching every board build on what the previous boards have started, and I hope to see that continue. Special thanks to all the working groups, members and volunteers that support the DSF - Django is great because of you.

Thank you for doing the interview, Anna !

From The Rest Is History at 2025-10-30 00:05:00

613. Nelson: Glory at Trafalgar (Part 6) (GLT7193792251.mp3?updated=1761782432)

How did the British fleet prepare for war, on the morning of the Battle of Trafalgar? With the flags of both fleets flying and both Nelson and the French admiral Villeneuve glittering in their uniforms, how did the two fleets finally collide? Amidst the rivers of blood, the blast of canons, the flying splinters, and the swirling smoke, how did Nelson’s ships and sailors fare? And, cornered by three enemy ships, what would be the fate of Nelson aboard his Victory…? Join Dominic and Tom as they reach the glorious, tragic climax of their epic voyage through the life and battles of Horatio Nelson, at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. _______ Start generating your own greener electricity for less, with £500 off Solar. Visit https://www.hivehome.com/history for more information. T&Cs apply* *Output and savings varies by season, electricity usage and system size. Paid-for surplus requires an eligible SEG tariff. Offer for new customers only. Ends 17th November. Learn more at https://www.uber.com/onourway _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editor: Jack Meek Social Producer: Harry Balden Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude Producer: Tabby Syrett Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith Exec Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-10-29 21:04:45

NPM flooded with malicious packages downloaded more than 86,000 times

Packages downloaded from NPM can fetch dependancies from untrusted sites.

From GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution at 2025-10-29 20:00:00

Trick or Treat? A Fight Between Good and Evil with Michael McFaul | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution (GoodFellows_2025-10-28_-_Mike_McFaul_wip03_Podcast_9avd0.mp3)

At a time of “hot wars” across the globe, there’s also an ideological “cold war” featuring two foes: those who embrace freedom and those who oppress it. Michael McFaul, the Hoover Institution’s Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow and author of the newly released Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, America, Russia and the New Global Disorder, joins GoodFellows regulars John Cochrane and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to discuss where he departs from the Trump administration on its approach to Russia and China (one autocracy economically dwarfing the other), his suggestions for course change, and why he holds “guarded” optimism for America’s future. After that: John and H.R. go “trick-or-treating”—weighing the pros (“treats”) and cons (“tricks”) of a new White House ballroom, a Chinese military purge, the latest inflation numbers and gold prices that no longer glitter, a CEO’s tariff worries, New York City on a non-hallowed eve of “democratic socialism,” plus a new and tougher American citizenship test (could Sir Niall Ferguson pass it?). Finally, as Halloween approaches, John and H.R. give us their go-to candies. Subscribe to GoodFellows for clarity on today’s biggest social, economic, and geostrategic shifts — only on GoodFellows.