Recent Entries

From The Rest Is History at 2025-04-03 00:05:00 (unread)

553. The Last Viking: Warrior of the New Rome (Part 2) (GLT5802152245.mp3?updated=1743594277)

Harald Hardrada; exiled prince of Norway and mercenary, has landed in the greatest city on Earth: Constantinople. There he joins one of the most prestigious military organisations in the world, the Varangian Guard, charged with protecting the Emperor. Almost the next ten years of Harald’s young life are spent at war protecting the city from enslaving raiders. But then, he becomes embroiled in the dark and complex political intrigues and plots of the Byzantine court. Zoe, the formidable wife of the recently deceased Emperor Michael IV, who had been exiled by her husband’s successor, recruits Harald to help her seize the throne. Wealthy, influential and renowned in the world’s most glittering city, things have never seemed better for Harald. But then, does he overreach and embark upon a dangerous affair with the empress herself? Imprisoned for his crimes, Harald manages to slay the terrible serpent haunting his prison cell, and escape at last back to Kyiv. But his ambitions still lie further north, in Norway, and the throne he is determined to reclaim… Join Dominic and Tom and they discuss Harald Hardrada’s astonishing time as a Varangian Guard in Constantinople, his hair-raising escape back to Scandinavia, and his fight for the throne of Norway, on the road to the dramatic climax of his epic life: the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-04-02 18:06:06

AI bots strain Wikimedia as bandwidth surges 50%

Automated AI bots seeking training data threaten Wikipedia project stability, foundation says.

From The Media Show at 2025-04-02 17:51:00

Impact of Adolescence drama, Nintento Switch 2 launch, The Young Turks (p0l1yx5y.mp3)

We explore the impact of the hit Netflix drama, Adolescence, which has sparked national debate over boys' media consumption and online misogyny. Katie talks to Cenk Uygur, founder of US progressive network The Young Turks and, on the afternoon it's released, we get the lowdown on Nintendo's long-awaited Switch 2 console.

Guests: Claire Holubowskyj, Senior Research Analyst, Enders Analysis; Dr Marcus Gilroy-Ware, Lecturer in Creative Digital Media SOAS, University of London; Oli Dugmore, Editor, Joe; Cenk Uygur, Host, Founder, CEO, Young Turks; Keza MacDonald, Video Games Editor, The Guardian

Presenters: Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins Producers: Simon Richardson and Lucy Wai

From Schneier on Security at 2025-04-02 12:04:08

Rational Astrologies and Security

John Kelsey and I wrote a short paper for the Rossfest Festschrift: “Rational Astrologies and Security“:

There is another non-security way that designers can spend their security budget: on making their own lives easier. Many of these fall into the category of what has been called rational astrology. First identified by Randy Steve Waldman [Wal12], the term refers to something people treat as though it works, generally for social or institutional reasons, even when there’s little evidence that it works—­and sometimes despite substantial evidence that it does not...

From The Django weblog at 2025-04-02 11:16:11

Django 5.2 released

The Django team is happy to announce the release of Django 5.2.

The release notes showcase a composite of new features. A few highlights are:

• All models are automatically imported in the shell by default.
• Django now supports composite primary keys! The new django.db.models.CompositePrimaryKey allows tables to be created with a primary key consisting of multiple fields.
• Overriding a BoundField got a lot easier: this can now be set on a form, field or project level.

You can get Django 5.2 from our downloads page or from the Python Package Index. The PGP key ID used for this release is: 3955B19851EA96EF

With the release of Django 5.2, Django 5.1 has reached the end of mainstream support. The final minor bug fix release, 5.1.8, which was also a security release, was issued today. Django 5.1 will receive security and data loss fixes until December 2025. All users are encouraged to upgrade before then to continue receiving fixes for security issues.

Django 5.0 has reached the end of extended support. The final security release, 5.0.14, was issued today. All Django 5.0 users are encouraged to upgrade to Django 5.1 or later.

See the downloads page for a table of supported versions and the future release schedule.

From The Django weblog at 2025-04-02 10:37:50

Django security releases issued: 5.1.8 and 5.0.14

In accordance with our security release policy, the Django team is issuing releases for Django 5.1.8 and Django 5.0.14. These releases address the security issues detailed below. We encourage all users of Django to upgrade as soon as possible.

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-04-02 09:00:00

Is one in four people in the UK disabled? (p0l1q67d.mp3)

Donald Trump is raising tariffs on Canada, but has his northern neighbour done anything to deserve them?

In her Spring Statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the UK’s fiscal “headroom” was, again, £9.9bn. We explore this curious coincidence.

Is it true that one in four people in the UK is disabled? And what does that mean for the state of our workforce?

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.

Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Producer: Nathan Gower Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

From Emperors of Rome at 2025-04-01 14:17:00

Crassus and the Social Wars (250402-crassus01.mp3)

Marcus Licinius Crassus was an influential politician in the late Roman republic, famous for the wealth he accrued and the power that he held. An ally of Caesar and a rival of Pompey, he rose to prominence during the social wars, but would never get the military glory he believed was his owed.

Episode CCXXXIX (239)

Part I of Crassus

Guest:

Assoc. Professor Rhiannon Evans (Classic and Ancient History, La Trobe University)

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-04-01 12:30:47

MCP: The new “USB-C for AI” that’s bringing fierce rivals together

Model context protocol standardizes how AI uses data sources, supported by OpenAI and Anthropic.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-04-01 12:01:36

Cell Phone OPSEC for Border Crossings

I have heard stories of more aggressive interrogation of electronic devices at US border crossings. I know a lot about securing computers, but very little about securing phones.

Are there easy ways to delete data—files, photos, etc.—on phones so it can’t be recovered? Does resetting a phone to factory defaults erase data, or is it still recoverable? That is, does the reset erase the old encryption key, or just sever the password that access that key? When the phone is rebooted, are deleted files still available?

We need answers for both iPhones and Android phones. And it’s not just the US; the world is going to become a more dangerous place to oppose state power...

From School of War at 2025-04-01 10:30:00

Ep 187: Richard Fontaine on the “Reverse Kissinger” (NEBM9282557557.mp3?updated=1743474442)

Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and co-author of No Limits? The China-Russia Relationship and U.S. Foreign Policy, joins the show to discuss Beijing-Moscow cooperation and the prospects of the U.S. driving a wedge between them. ▪️ Times      •      02:05 Introduction     •      02:21 Sino-Soviet split      •     06:20 Spheres of influence      •      09:17 Domination       •     13:20 Stabilizing effect        •      22:15 Xi & Putin      •      28:19 Pacific expansion         •      35:20 More resources       •      41:06 America in, Russians out, Germans down Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-31 12:04:55

The Signal Chat Leak and the NSA

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who started the now-infamous group chat coordinating a US attack against the Yemen-based Houthis on March 15, is seemingly now suggesting that the secure messaging service Signal has security vulnerabilities.

"I didn’t see this loser in the group," Waltz told Fox News about Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg, whom Waltz invited to the chat. "Whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean, is something we’re trying to figure out."

Waltz’s implication that Goldberg may have hacked his way in was followed by a ...

From The Rest Is History at 2025-03-31 00:10:00

552. The Last Viking: The Saga of Harald Hardrada (Part 1) (GLT8286135160.mp3?updated=1743368761)

“I swear I will not flee from this fight. I will triumph, or I will die!” In the 1066 game of thrones for the crown of England, the most extraordinary of the three contenders is arguably Harald Hardrada: viking warrior, daring explorer, emperor’s bodyguard, serpent slayer, alleged lover to an empress, King of Norway, and legend of Norse mythology. How did this titan of a man come to cross the North Sea with his army, and take on Harold Godwinson, in the titanic showdown of Stamford Bridge? His story before this point is so colourful that it may be one the most exciting lives in all history. Fighting from the age of twelve, Harald was born to a petty regional king of Norway, in a Scandinavia of competing religions and kingships. As a teenager, he would then join his fearsome brother Olaf, the man who united Norway but later fell foul of King Cnut, and subsequently sailed the seas and mysterious waterways of Russia, in a mighty battle to take back Norway. Their defeat was terrible and absolute, leaving the young Harald wounded and on the run. A journey of horrors and hardship would then lead him at last to the awe inspiring city of Kyiv, where he would serve as mercenary for the Grand Prince. But still hungry for wealth and glory he then travelled on to the most remarkable city in the world: Constantinople, where his life would take an even more dramatic turn… Join Dominic and Tom as they describe the electrifying early life of Harald Hardrada. From Scandinavian prince, warrior, and would-be usurper, to Baltic mercenary, and member of the elite Varangian Guard, in the glittering Constantinople or Miklagard - Asgard on earth. The stage is set for the greatest adventure of his life so far. But will Harald ever seize his ultimate destiny and become a king? EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-29 14:08:49

What could possibly go wrong? DOGE to rapidly rebuild Social Security codebase.

A safe and proper rewrite should take years not months.

From The Week in Westminster at 2025-03-29 11:30:00

29/03/2025 (p0l11sgg.mp3)

Pippa Crerar assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled her Spring Statement this week and Pippa takes a closer look at the details with the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Labour’s Dame Meg Hillier and the Conservative frontbencher and former Treasury minister, Dame Harriett Baldwin.

Also this week, Keir Starmer travelled to Paris for the latest meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’. Labour’s Dame Emily Thornberry, who chairs the Foreign Affairs select committee discusses this with the Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin, a former British army officer who served multiple tours in Afghanistan.

Reform UK's deputy leader, Richard Tice, who represents Boston and Skegness and Times columnist Fraser Nelson discuss the party's coming electoral test in the local elections.

And, following comments by the technology secretary Peter Kyle that the UK will see its first ever space launch this year, Pippa speaks to the physicist and broadcaster Professor Brian Cox about the benefits of space exploration.

From Ink Stained Wretches at 2025-03-29 08:45:00

Mixed Signal (NEBM9538039270.mp3?updated=1743193476)

In case you haven’t gotten enough of Signalgate, we’re here to help. We’re also diving into Columbia University, vibe shifts, and family outings at Hooters. Wretch on! If you have a story you want to discuss with us, email us at wretches@nebulouspodcasts dot com. Time Stamps: Front Page - 2:07 Obsessions - 1:00:43 Reader Mail - 1:09:49 Favorite Items - 1:11:27 Show Notes: The Atlantic: Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal  The Hill: Vance rips ‘hit piece’ in Jewish Insider  Jewish Insider: Vance’s reluctance to support Houthi strikes concerns some leading GOP senators Mediaite: Karoline Leavitt Fires Shot at Fox News’ Andy McCarthy Over Deportation Case: Trying to ‘Defend These Terrorists’ The Washington Post: Pentagon spokesman sidelined after uproar over Jackie Robinson article  The Wall Street Journal: Disabilities Act Becomes a License to Cheat  National Review: NPR CEO Admits Outlet Was ‘Mistaken’ in Refusing to Cover Hunter Biden Laptop Story  CNN: KFile: Gavin Newsom spent years fighting for progressive positions he now bashes on his new podcast  NBC News: Supreme Court turns down Trump donor Steve Wynn's bid to overturn libel precedent  The New York Times: We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives The New York Times: I Was Diagnosed With Autism at 53. I Know Why Rates Are Rising. The New York Times: Why Dads Take Their Gay Sons to Hooters The Wall Street Journal: Are Americans really snacking less? The Atlantic: Sex Without Women The Free Press: Columbia President Says One Thing to Trump Admin—and Another in Private  The Washington Free Beacon: What Columbia University President Katrina Armstrong Really Told Faculty Members About Changes the School Is Making The Wall Street Journal: Columbia’s President Faces Angry Faculty in Closed-Door Meetings Politico: AN ALT. WHCD? The New York Times: Graydon Carter’s Memoir Evokes the Golden Age of New York City Media  The Wall Street Journal: The Last Decision by the World’s Leading Thinker on Decisions

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-03-29 06:00:00

What’s Trump’s problem with Canada? (p0l0zszv.mp3)

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours, and since the end of the Second World War that’s exactly what the US and Canada have been. They’ve enjoyed free trade agreements, close knit economic ties - and not so friendly ice hockey matches. But recently this relationship has soured, with President Trump calling them “one of the nastiest countries to deal with”. It looks like the era of mostly free trade is over, with a raft of tariffs set to come into force on April the 2nd, or “liberation day” a Donald Trump calls it. But is President Trump right about the trading relationship between the two countries? What does he mean when he claims that “the US subsidises Canada $200 billion a year”? Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Studio manager: Andrew Mills

From Dan Carlin's Hardcore History: Addendum at 2025-03-29 00:38:00

EP32 The Show with Mike Rowe (dchh-Addendum32-The-Show-with-Mike-Rowe.mp3?dest-id=596146)

Dan has an extended and completely unplanned conversation with TV and podcast host Mike Rowe about jobs, history, media, politics and the current zeitgeist.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-28 22:11:00

Scientists are storing light we cannot see in formats meant for human eyes

New Spectral JPEG XL compression reduces file sizes, making spectral imaging more practical.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-28 21:04:42

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Werewolf Hacking Group

In another rare squid/cybersecurity intersection, APT37 is also known as “Squid Werewolf.”

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

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-28 19:41:14

Oracle has reportedly suffered 2 separate breaches exposing thousands of customers‘ PII

Alleged breaches affect Oracle Cloud and Oracle Health.

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2025-03-28 18:02:09

Gap Week: March 28, 2025

Hey folks! The conclusion of our look at the Siege of Eregion in Rings of Power will have to wait a week because I am off to a conference this week, the annual meeting of the Society for Military History, this year in Mobile, Alabama! I’m set to talk about how Roman military commanders were … Continue reading Gap Week: March 28, 2025 →

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2025-03-28 16:00:00

759: The Rapture, but Also for Birds (7e0f2ed9-a594-4332-8640-0df4ba7b9a30.mp3)

Our Ghibli Club gets together to discuss 2016’s “The Red Turtle,” an unusual Ghibli coproduction, as well as this year’s Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature, “Flow.”...

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-28 11:01:08

AIs as Trusted Third Parties

This is a truly fascinating paper: “Trusted Machine Learning Models Unlock Private Inference for Problems Currently Infeasible with Cryptography.” The basic idea is that AIs can act as trusted third parties:

Abstract: We often interact with untrusted parties. Prioritization of privacy can limit the effectiveness of these interactions, as achieving certain goals necessitates sharing private data. Traditionally, addressing this challenge has involved either seeking trusted intermediaries or constructing cryptographic protocols that restrict how much data is revealed, such as multi-party computations or zero-knowledge proofs. While significant advances have been made in scaling cryptographic approaches, they remain limited in terms of the size and complexity of applications they can be used for. In this paper, we argue that capable machine learning models can fulfill the role of a trusted third party, thus enabling secure computations for applications that were previously infeasible. In particular, we describe Trusted Capable Model Environments (TCMEs) as an alternative approach for scaling secure computation, where capable machine learning model(s) interact under input/output constraints, with explicit information flow control and explicit statelessness. This approach aims to achieve a balance between privacy and computational efficiency, enabling private inference where classical cryptographic solutions are currently infeasible. We describe a number of use cases that are enabled by TCME, and show that even some simple classic cryptographic problems can already be solved with TCME. Finally, we outline current limitations and discuss the path forward in implementing them...

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-28 11:00:58

Gemini hackers can deliver more potent attacks with a helping hand from… Gemini

Hacking LLMs has always been more art than science. A new attack on Gemini could change that.

From GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution at 2025-03-27 19:31:01

Mixed Signals and Emerging Technology with Amy Zegart (GoodFellows_2025-03-26_-_Amy_Zegart_wip03_podcast_96v17.mp3)

Does America have a plan for winning the competition of the future—mastering artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and space, plus other material and developmental sciences? Amy Zegart, the Hoover Institution’s Morris Arnold and Nona Cox Senior Fellow and cochair of the Stanford Emerging Technology Review (SETR), explains how this one-of-a-kind partnership between the Hoover Institution and Stanford University’s School of Engineering gives policymakers the tools they need to better address the challenges facing cutting-edge industries. Also discussed: the Trump national security team’s inelegant use of a chat app while prepping for a military strike in Yemen, plus the significance (or lack thereof) of Trump’s nemeses caving in to his demands—and whether other entities (Canada, Panama, Greenland, Venezuela’s trade partners) will follow suit.    Recorded on March 26, 2025. Download the SETR report here: Stanford Emerging Technology Review 2025

From The Briefing Room at 2025-03-27 16:02:00

What is Putin's bottom line? (p0l0qfrj.mp3)

Securing peace in Ukraine is proving harder than President Trump first thought. Separate talks between US officials and Ukrainian and Russian representatives were held in Saudi Arabia a few days ago. But the tentative ceasefire they reached just for shipping in the Black Sea has already hit problems with Moscow demanding certain sanctions are lifted if it’s to comply. And achieving a full ceasefire that Russia will accept still seems as elusive as ever. David Aaronovitch and guests ask what Putin’s bottom line on Ukraine really is? Have his long term aims changed and what might he accept?

Guests: Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia Editor for BBC Monitoring Sir Laurie Bristow, President of Hughes Hall at Cambridge University and the former U.K. ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. Angela Stent, Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former US National Intelligence Officer for Russia. Mark Galeotti, writer on Russian security affairs and director of the consultancy Mayak Intelligence.

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight and Bethan Ashmead Latham Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Vadon

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-27 11:15:10

OpenAI’s new AI image generator is potent and bound to provoke

The visual apocalypse is probably nigh, but perhaps seeing was never believing.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-27 11:00:32

A Taxonomy of Adversarial Machine Learning Attacks and Mitigations

NIST just released a comprehensive taxonomy of adversarial machine learning attacks and countermeasures.

From Strong Message Here at 2025-03-27 09:45:00

Seizing the Narrative (with Stephen Bush) (p0l0k757.mp3)

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci and journalist Helen Lewis decode the utterly baffling world of political language.

Are Labour telling a good enough story? Who is the best storyteller in politics? How do you establish a narrative to take control of events, rather than let events define you? To answer these questions, Helen and Armando are joined by Associate Editor and Columnist for The Financial Times, Stephen Bush.

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King Production Coordinator - Katie Baum and Caroline Barlow Executive Producer - Pete Strauss

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4. An EcoAudio Certified Production.

From The Rest Is History at 2025-03-27 00:10:00

551. The Road to 1066: Countdown to Conquest (Part 4) (GLT9351236299.mp3?updated=1743030994)

In the triumvirate of 1066, William of Normandy, Harald Hardrada, and Harold Godwinson, the latter has above all endured as one of the great heroes of English history. But how did he become the short-lived King during that tumultuous year? The answer lies in his formidable family, the Godwins. Often symbolised as the last of the Anglo-Saxons, their stratospheric rise to power was engineered by Godwin, an obscure Thaine from Sussex, in a striking case of social mobility. Making himself integral to Cnut, he was made Earl of Wessex to help him run his new kingdom. But Godwin was also cunning and conniving, constantly shifting sides to ensure the maximum advantage to his family. Even Edward the Confessor, who hated the Godwinsons, had no choice but to promote Harold and Godwin’s other sons, and marry his daughter, Edith. But, with his hatred mounting and the couple childless, the fortunes of the Godwins would soon change…in September 1051, with tensions reaching boiling point, they went into exile. It would not last, and their return would see them catapulted to even greater heights of influence. Meanwhile, just as Edward’s life was dwindling, Harold’s star was rising, and across the channel William of Normandy’s prowess was also mounting. What would happen when, in a remarkable turn of events, the two men finally met? What fateful oaths were taken that day…? Join Tom and Dominic as they lead us to the brink of 1066, and discuss the family behind it all: the Godwins. How would their hold on England see Harold crowned King of England, and turned oath-breaker? EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Media Show at 2025-03-26 18:57:00

26/03/2025 (p0l0jr85.mp3)

Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-26 14:54:33

Broadcom’s VMware says Siemens pirated “thousands” of copies of its software

VMware claims Siemens showed it a list of the VMware products it's using unlicensed.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-26 11:07:13

AI Data Poisoning

Cloudflare has a new feature—available to free users as well—that uses AI to generate random pages to feed to AI web crawlers:

Instead of simply blocking bots, Cloudflare’s new system lures them into a “maze” of realistic-looking but irrelevant pages, wasting the crawler’s computing resources. The approach is a notable shift from the standard block-and-defend strategy used by most website protection services. Cloudflare says blocking bots sometimes backfires because it alerts the crawler’s operators that they’ve been detected.

“When we detect unauthorized crawling, rather than blocking the request, we will link to a series of AI-generated pages that are convincing enough to entice a crawler to traverse them,” writes Cloudflare. “But while real looking, this content is not actually the content of the site we are protecting, so the crawler wastes time and resources.”...

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-03-26 09:00:00

Could a 2% wealth tax raise £24bn? (p0l09t2n.mp3)

Some Labour politicians have been calling for a wealth tax, claiming a 2% tax could raise £24bn. Where are the numbers from and do they add up?

A listener asked why housing in the UK is the oldest in Europe. We explain what’s going on.

The Office for National Statistics has changed how it measures the value of pensions and knocked £2 trillion off its estimates of wealth. Not everyone thinks it was a good change. We find out why.

And Lent is here, but how long is the Christian fasting period? We look at the history of a very flexible 40 days.

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news, and the world around us.

Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Producers: Nathan Gower and Charlotte McDonald Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman Sound mix: Gareth Jones Editor: Richard Vadon

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-25 21:36:58

Devs say AI crawlers dominate traffic, forcing blocks on entire countries

AI bots hungry for data are taking down sites by accident, but humans are fighting back.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-25 13:12:52

Europe is looking for alternatives to US cloud providers

Some European cloud companies have seen an increase in business.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-25 11:05:01

Report on Paragon Spyware

Citizen Lab has a new report on Paragon’s spyware:

Key Findings:

• Introducing Paragon Solutions. Paragon Solutions was founded in Israel in 2019 and sells spyware called Graphite. The company differentiates itself by claiming it has safeguards to prevent the kinds of spyware abuses that NSO Group and other vendors are notorious for.
• Infrastructure Analysis of Paragon Spyware. Based on a tip from a collaborator, we mapped out server infrastructure that we attribute to Paragon’s Graphite spyware tool. We identified a subset of suspected Paragon deployments, including in Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel, and Singapore. ...

From School of War at 2025-03-25 09:30:00

Ep 186: Walter Russell Mead on Trump, Strategy, and Mercantilism (NEBM3831070587.mp3?updated=1742867870)

Walter Russell Mead, Alexander Hamilton Professor of Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Florida's Hamilton Center and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, joins the show to talk about the role of economic issues in Trump’s strategic views. ▪️ Times      •      01:34 Introduction     •      04:09 Mercantilism & physiocracy      •      08:50 Silicon Valley      •      14:01 Coalitions       •      16:26 How things worked        •      22:52 Post-war policy & China      •      33:17 Tariffs         •      42:50 Executive overreach      •      45:53 The dollar  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 2025-03-24 22:14:15

You can now download the source code that sparked the AI boom

CHM releases code for 2012 AlexNet breakthrough that proved "deep learning" could work.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-24 10:38:58

More Countries are Demanding Back-Doors to Encrypted Apps

Last month I wrote about the UK forcing Apple to break its Advanced Data Protection encryption in iCloud. More recently, both Sweden and France are contemplating mandating back doors. Both initiatives are attempting to scare people into supporting back doors, which are—of course—are terrible idea.

Also: “A Feminist Argument Against Weakening Encryption.”

From The Rest Is History at 2025-03-24 00:10:00

550. The Road to 1066: Rise of the Normans (Part 3) (GLT9316865693.mp3?updated=1742557768)

Born into a world of treachery, violence and death, William of Normandy defied all expectations, forging a legacy that lasts to this day. Born out of wedlock and dismissed as an upstart, he was originally known as William the Bastard. Inheriting the Duchy of Normandy at just eight years old, William was faced with betrayal, bloodshed, and anarchy. From the restless Normans, who expanded across Europe as mercenaries and horsemen, to the growing threat of Anjou, the early years of his reign were blighted by power struggles. Following the brutal murder of his guardians, and with Normandy on the brink of collapse, William was forced to survive in a world without loyalty, where ambition was the ultimate currency. Meanwhile, across the Channel, the English throne was in turmoil, as the sons of Æthelred the Unready fought for survival and power… Join Tom and Dominic as they trace William’s rise from a vulnerable child to a formidable young duke, setting the stage for the ultimate confrontation: his claim to the English crown. _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Week in Westminster at 2025-03-22 11:00:00

22/03/2025 (p0kzn14d.mp3)

Ben Riley-Smith of The Daily Telegraph assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

After the government announced savings of £5bn a year from the benefits bill, Ben speaks to Labour MP Clive Lewis, who raised concerns about the plans in the Commons, and David Blunkett, formerly a Cabinet minister under Tony Blair and now a Labour peer.

Also this week Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch ditched her party's commitment to make Britain a 'net zero' carbon emitter by 2050, a policy first introduced by Theresa May's government in 2019. Conservative MP and former Cabinet minister, David Davis, and former Conservative adviser, Salma Shah, debate the merits of the plan.

Crossbench peer, Minette Batters, who is the former President of the National Farmers Union, joins Ben from her farm in Wiltshire to discuss whether Labour can mend its relationship with farmers.

And, following the visit of the new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Britain, Ben speaks to the former UK High Commissioner to Canada, Susan le Jeune d'Allegeershecque, and Labour MP Matt Western, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Canada.

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-03-22 06:00:00

What are the chances of an asteroid hitting earth in 2032? (p0kzlmf9.mp3)

On 27 December 2024, astronomers spotted an asteroid that was potentially heading towards earth. Named 2024 YR4, it was estimated to be between 40m and 90m across, with the potential to cause massive damage if it hit a populated area of the planet.

The chances of that happening, however, seemed to fluctuate significantly - ranging from 1% to a peak of 3%, before falling to virtually zero.

Tim Harford investigates what was going on, with the help of Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: Hal Haines Editor: Richard Vadon

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-21 21:14:35

Cloudflare turns AI against itself with endless maze of irrelevant facts

New approach punishes AI companies that ignore "no crawl" directives.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-21 20:30:35

Friday Squid Blogging: A New Explanation of Squid Camouflage

New research:

An associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Northeastern University, Deravi’s recently published paper in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C sheds new light on how squid use organs that essentially function as organic solar cells to help power their camouflage abilities.

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

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-21 19:08:56

Anthropic’s new AI search feature digs through the web for answers

Anthropic Claude just caught up with a ChatGPT feature from 2023—but will it be accurate?

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-21 18:26:22

My Writings Are in the LibGen AI Training Corpus

The Atlantic has a search tool that allows you to search for specific works in the “LibGen” database of copyrighted works that Meta used to train its AI models. (The rest of the article is behind a paywall, but not the search tool.)

It’s impossible to know exactly which parts of LibGen Meta used to train its AI, and which parts it might have decided to exclude; this snapshot was taken in January 2025, after Meta is known to have accessed the database, so some titles here would not have been available to download.

Still…interesting.

Searching my name yields 199 results: all of my books in different versions, plus a bunch of shorter items...

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2025-03-21 17:52:10

Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part IV: What Siege Equipment?

This is the fourth part of our [five? -ish? I, II, III] part series on the Siege of Eregion in Amazon’s Rings of Power. Last week, we took the opportunity presented by Adar’s absurd plan to dam a river using catapults to collapse a mountain to discuss the capabilities and functioning principles of historical counterweight … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part IV: What Siege Equipment? →

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2025-03-21 16:00:00

758: I'm Glad You Have This Sketch to Enjoy (c357ab62-b3e4-452e-a785-24db47786416.mp3)

In honor of the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” six of us create custom-built episodes of SNL by participating in a fantasy draft of sketches, hosts, musical guests, commercial parodies, digital shorts, and more....

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-21 11:47:32

NCSC Releases Post-Quantum Cryptography Timeline

The UK’s National Computer Security Center (part of GCHQ) released a timeline—also see their blog post—for migration to quantum-computer-resistant cryptography.

It even made The Guardian.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-20 15:14:23

Critical GitHub Attack

This is serious:

A sophisticated cascading supply chain attack has compromised multiple GitHub Actions, exposing critical CI/CD secrets across tens of thousands of repositories. The attack, which originally targeted the widely used “tj-actions/changed-files” utility, is now believed to have originated from an earlier breach of the “reviewdog/action-setup@v1” GitHub Action, according to a report.

[…]

CISA confirmed the vulnerability has been patched in version 46.0.1.

Given that the utility is used by more than 23,000 GitHub repositories, the scale of potential impact has raised significant alarm throughout the developer community...

From The Briefing Room at 2025-03-20 14:14:00

What's the government trying to do to the NHS? (p0kzbj0r.mp3)

The Government is reorganising the way the NHS is run in England by scrapping the body that’s been in charge and giving direct control to the Department of Health and Social Care. Jobs will go and the country’s biggest quango will be dismantled. But what is the government actually trying to do to the NHS? What are its aims and how does the restructure fit into the government’s big picture for the health service in the UK?

Guests: Hugh Pym, BBC Health Editor Siva Anandaciva, Director of Policy, King’s Fund Dame Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation Dame Carol Propper, Professor of Economics Imperial College in the Department of Economics and Public Policy

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Beth Ashmead Latham, Kirsteen Knight, Caroline Bayley Sound Engineer: James Beard Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Vadon

From Strong Message Here at 2025-03-20 09:45:00

Britain Isn't Working (p0kz4gf8.mp3)

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci and journalist Helen Lewis decode the utterly baffling world of political language.

This week, the Government announced their plans for welfare reform, so we take a look at the language around welfare, around benefit claimants, and how it's changed over the years. Gone are the 'strivers vs shirkers' of the 2010s or even Peter Lilley's infamous 'little list' of the early 90s. This government talks of 'supporting people into work' and 'right to try', but with the savings they are making, do their actions match their rhetoric?

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King Production Coordinator - Katie Baum and Caroline Barlow Executive Producer - Pete Strauss

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4. An EcoAudio Certified Production.

From The Rest Is History at 2025-03-20 00:10:00

549. The Road to 1066: Revenge of the Vikings (Part 2) (GLT2312975985.mp3?updated=1742408238)

Following the bloody St Brice’s Day Massacre, of the 13th of November 1002, which saw King Æthelred brutally exterminating the Danes from England, the Vikings were hungry for revenge. None more so than the terrifying Scandinavian King, Sweyn Forkbeard. Having capitalised on his famous father, Harold Bluetooth’s unification of Norway and Denmark, through his aggressive christianisation of the formerly pagan peoples there, Sweyn had built up a formidable force. It was this power that Æthelred had unwisely taunted, underestimating the might of the Danes. He would pay the price only a few short months later when Sweyn’s terrible fleet landed at Wilton Abbey in Wessex - one of the greatest symbols of the House of Alfred the Great - to bleed England dry, and destroy her King. Time and time again, from this date onwards, Sweyn’s Danish raids would devastate England, even going so far as to lock the Archbishop of Canterbury in a cage…by 1013 Æthelred’s reign was essentially over, his family having fled to Normandy, and England under Danish rule. But then, the death of Sweyn Forkbeard would change everything, setting in motion another titanic war of succession, this time pitting the Scandinavian Cnut against Æthelred’s son Edmund Ironside. Who would triumph in this climactic clash of would-be kings? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the revenge of the vikings and the rise of Cnut, as 1066 and the Battle of Hastings loom into view... EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-19 22:12:47

Study finds AI-generated meme captions funnier than human ones on average

Mollick proclaims "the meme Turing Test has been passed," but a new study offers a key caveat.

From The Media Show at 2025-03-19 17:32:00

Welfare reform coverage, Michael Jackson documentary, cuts to US-backed overseas media (p0kz4kgq.mp3)

Ros, Katie and guests assess Labour's media strategy amid its £5bn welfare cuts and weigh up the impact of Donald Trump’s defunding of US state-backed broadcasters. We've another in our series of 'tech bro' profiles, this week of Chinese AI entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng, whose Deepseek chatbot is challenging the US tech giants. Plus we talk to Dan Reed about Leaving Neverland 2, his latest documentary on the fallout from allegations against Michael Jackson.

Guests: Kate McCann, Breakfast Presenter, Times Radio; Sophia Smith Galer, writer and creator; Bay Fang, President, Radio Free Asia; Jennifer Gyrgiel, Associate Professor, Syracuse University; Richard Spencer, China Correspondent, The Times; Dan Reed, Michael Jackson doc

Presenters: Katie Razzall and Ros Atkins Producer: Simon Richardson Assistant Producer: Lucy Wai

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-03-19 09:00:00

Why are more people claiming disability benefits? (p0kyy5ky.mp3)

More working age people are claiming disability benefits. What's driving the trend?

Is it true that the UK imprisons more people for their social media posts than Russia does?

One of the country’s most important data sources has been falling apart. We find out why.

Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news.

Presenter: Tim Harford Reporter: Lizzy McNeill Producer: Nathan Gower Series producers: Charlotte McDonald and Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

From The Django weblog at 2025-03-19 07:49:49

Django 5.2 release candidate 1 released

Django 5.2 release candidate 1 is the final opportunity for you to try out a composite of new features before Django 5.2 is released.

The release candidate stage marks the string freeze and the call for translators to submit translations. Provided no major bugs are discovered that can't be solved in the next two weeks, Django 5.2 will be released on or around April 2. Any delays will be communicated on the on the Django forum.

Please use this opportunity to help find and fix bugs (which should be reported to the issue tracker), you can grab a copy of the release candidate package from our downloads page or on PyPI.

The PGP key ID used for this release is Sarah Boyce: 3955B19851EA96EF

From Wittenberg to Westphalia at 2025-03-19 03:23:12

Episode 99: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (media.mp3)

In this episode Henry tries to rescue the pope, then doesn't. Then he tries to get a divorce, then doesn't. Finally, he crushes a revolt in Saxony with the help of the wealthy and popular Otto of Northeim. Henry tries to force him to show up and fight a judicial duel, but he doesn't.

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

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-18 21:19:53

Nvidia announces DGX desktop “personal AI supercomputers”

Asus, Dell, HP and others to produce powerful desktop machines that run AI models locally.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-18 21:10:57

Nvidia announces “Rubin Ultra” and “Feynman” AI chips for 2027 and 2028

CEO Jensen Huang says new chips will power robots and billions of AI agents.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-18 11:15:35

Farewell Photoshop? Google’s new AI lets you edit images by asking

New AI allows no-skill photo editing, including adding objects and removing watermarks.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-18 11:10:08

Is Security Human Factors Research Skewed Towards Western Ideas and Habits?

Really interesting research: “How WEIRD is Usable Privacy and Security Research?” by Ayako A. Hasegawa Daisuke Inoue, and Mitsuaki Akiyama:

Abstract: In human factor fields such as human-computer interaction (HCI) and psychology, researchers have been concerned that participants mostly come from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries. This WEIRD skew may hinder understanding of diverse populations and their cultural differences. The usable privacy and security (UPS) field has inherited many research methodologies from research on human factor fields. We conducted a literature review to understand the extent to which participant samples in UPS papers were from WEIRD countries and the characteristics of the methodologies and research topics in each user study recruiting Western or non-Western participants. We found that the skew toward WEIRD countries in UPS is greater than that in HCI. Geographic and linguistic barriers in the study methods and recruitment methods may cause researchers to conduct user studies locally. In addition, many papers did not report participant demographics, which could hinder the replication of the reported studies, leading to low reproducibility. To improve geographic diversity, we provide the suggestions including facilitate replication studies, address geographic and linguistic issues of study/recruitment methods, and facilitate research on the topics for non-WEIRD populations...

From School of War at 2025-03-18 09:20:00

Ep 185: Lara Burns on the Hamas Threat in America (NEBM5146534582.mp3?updated=1742264279)

Lara Burns, retired FBI Special Agent and Head of Terrorism Research at George Washington University, joins the show to talk about how Islamist groups operate in the United States. ▪️ Watch the interview on YouTube - Ep 185: Lara Burns on the Hamas Threat in America ▪️ Times      •      01:32 Introduction     •      01:48 Terrorism squad     •     03:10 The Muslim Brotherhood     •      06:20 Hamas      •     14:26 The money        •      26:03 Oppressors      •      32:39 American Muslims for Palestine       •     35:18 All connected        •      43:07 Information campaign      •      50:19 Understanding      •      55:01 Fighting back Follow along on Instagram and on X @schoolofwarpod Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

From Dan Snow's History Hit at 2025-03-18 00:30:00

THE LEADERS: Stalin (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=RzUs9qAHcMNebp_ZZknheAwgFy9LtB1d0stGIF1QUtw)

Was WWII actually Stalin's War? He's a man whose name is synonymous with absolute power, the epitome of ruthless ambition, his story is one of both triumph and unspeakable cruelty. A man whose brutality matched any of the Axis leaders....who worked with Hitler….yet in the end ...aligned himself with the Allies. As a result, he came out of the war on top and shaped the world order for the subsequent 50 years. Even today his shadow falls over the events we're seeing on the evening news.

In this episode of 'The Leaders' Dan is joined by Professor of Strategic Studies at the University of St Andrews, Phillips O'Brien and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore to examine the rise of Stalin's totalitarian power and the way he manipulated everyone on both sides to reach his strategic aims. 

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore

Phillip's book 'The Strategists' is available now.

Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.

We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-17 15:09:57

Improvements in Brute Force Attacks

New paper: “GPU Assisted Brute Force Cryptanalysis of GPRS, GSM, RFID, and TETRA: Brute Force Cryptanalysis of KASUMI, SPECK, and TEA3.”

Abstract: Key lengths in symmetric cryptography are determined with respect to the brute force attacks with current technology. While nowadays at least 128-bit keys are recommended, there are many standards and real-world applications that use shorter keys. In order to estimate the actual threat imposed by using those short keys, precise estimates for attacks are crucial.

In this work we provide optimized implementations of several widely used algorithms on GPUs, leading to interesting insights on the cost of brute force attacks on several real-word applications...

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-03-17 09:00:00

How did lockdown impact children? (p0ky81k6.mp3)

In March 2020, the covid pandemic forced the UK into lockdown. Schools closed, universities went online and the economy shut down.

It slowly became clear that young people were not falling victim to the virus in significant numbers - they made up a fraction of a percent of the overall death toll.

But their lives were radically changed - most spending these formative ages stuck at home as the pandemic raged. Politicians and academics worried about the long term impact this would have on their chances in life.

Five years on, Tim Harford delves into the data to try to work out what we can say with confidence about the effect of the lockdown on the children and young adults who lived through it.

On questions of education levels, job prospects and mental health, what story does the best evidence show us?

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound mix: Nigel Appleton Editor: Richard Vadon

From Emperors of Rome at 2025-03-17 02:55:56

Excavating Pompeii (250317-excavating-pompeii.mp3)

Pompeii has been excavated for hundreds of years, and in that time techniques, practices and philosophies have changed. We’re now finding out a lot more about the city and the people who lived there, and there’s still more to find out.

The When in Rome podcast is now fundraising for an upcoming series 8. Please give your support.

Guest:

Dr Sophie Hay (Archaeologist, Archaeological Park of Pompeii)
Professor Steven Ellis (Classics, University of Cincinnati)

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-17 02:24:09

Large enterprises scramble after supply-chain attack spills their secrets

tj-actions/changed-files, corrupted to run credential-stealing memory scraper.

From Dan Snow's History Hit at 2025-03-17 00:30:00

Babylon: The Most Important City of Antiquity (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=q0-hD_UjbLBKKtyIbhNDrzcKeAm6rWVKae_pXvjWJ_k)

The urban cultures of ancient Mesopotamia formed the foundation for so much of our modern world. Nowhere exemplifies this better than the city of Babylon, which was the cultural seedbed for the Greek and Roman civilisations that in turn left such lasting legacies.

On this episode, Dan is joined by Amanda Podany, professor emeritus of history at the California State Polytechnic University. Amanda draws on an astonishing breadth of original documents and objects to explain just how foundational this civilisation was, and how people learnt to live side by side with one another.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

From The Rest Is History at 2025-03-17 00:05:00

548. The Road to 1066: Anglo-Saxon Apocalypse (Part 1) (GLT9632339286.mp3?updated=1742156513)

The Norman Conquest of 1066, culminating in the legendary Battle of Hastings, is perhaps the greatest turning point in the history of the English nation. It was a year that changed the fate of England forever, forging empires, and settling continents. And yet, despite its infamy and significance, the true nature of those totemic events are often forgotten. So what happened in the build up to the Battle of Hastings? The dramas of 1066 were set in motion by a succession crisis in 975 AD, following the death of King Edgar. England by that time was the wealthiest and best run government in Northern Europe, a kingdom of united English speaking peoples, established by Alfred the Great and his successors. Following the mysterious death of Edgar’s first son, Edward, his second son, Æthelred - later known as ‘The Unready’ - took the throne. For many years his kingdom flourished, until disaster struck: the Vikings returned to reign terror upon the Anglo-Saxon people, under the leadership of the terrifying Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway. With his coffers straining, his people enslaved, and his lands shrinking, Æthelred, now wed to the foreign Emma of Normandy, finally decided to take drastic action, and weed the Vikings out once and for all. So it was that with the dawning of the millennium, a terrible, bloody massacre began…. Join Tom and Dominic as they set out upon one of greatest narratives in all English history, with the build up to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. Would England survive the wrath of the Vikings? EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude  Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From The Week in Westminster at 2025-03-15 11:30:00

15/03/2025 (p0ky8lkk.mp3)

Sonia Sodha of The Observer assesses the latest developments at Westminster.

This week the Prime Minister kickstarted a mission to remake the state which he describes as "overstretched" and "flabby". He started by announcing he would abolish the arms-length body, NHS England. But there was ongoing disquiet in the Labour party about possible cuts to welfare spending which could be coming down the track. Sonia discusses all of this with former Conservative minister, Lord Willetts, who now chairs the Resolution Foundation, and Claire Ainsley, former director of policy for Keir Starmer.

After a week of intense diplomatic manoeuvring, could a ceasefire in Ukraine be on the horizon? Sonia brings together Bronwen Maddox, director of the foreign policy think tank Chatham House, and Johnny Mercer, former Conservative MP and Minister for Veterans, who has just returned from a trip to Ukraine.

Splits within Reform UK deepened this week following the party’s suspension of one of its five MPs, Rupert Lowe, after allegations of bullying and threatening violence. Professor Jane Green of Oxford University analyses whether the ongoing row will halt Reform's surge in support.

And, MPs who like to use TikTok are regularly flouting parliamentary rules on filming videos for social media. So do the rules need to change? Former Deputy Speaker, Nigel Evans, and Daily Mail political sketchwriter, Quentin Letts, discuss whether it's really a good idea.

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-03-15 06:00:00

What is an IQ map and can we trust them? (p0ky8tjr.mp3)

You may have seen a map circulated on social media that claims to show the average IQ of different nations.

If you look closely these numbers vary dramatically, with incredibly low scores in developing countries, including many in Africa.

Unsurprisingly the map is often used as a way to bolster arguments about racial or national superiority.

However, when you look at the data behind the claims the whole thing falls apart. We dive into the methods behind the map and ask whether it’s even possible to accurately put a number on intelligence. Presenter: Charlotte McDonald Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Studio Manager: James Beard Production Co-Ordinator: Brenda Brown

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-14 21:03:56

Friday Squid Blogging: SQUID Band

A bagpipe and drum band:

SQUID transforms traditional Bagpipe and Drum Band entertainment into a multi-sensory rush of excitement, featuring high energy bagpipes, pop music influences and visually stunning percussion!

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-14 20:03:41

Researchers astonished by tool’s apparent success at revealing AI’s hidden motives

Anthropic trains AI to hide motives, but different "personas" betray their secrets.

From A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry at 2025-03-14 17:26:06

Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part III: What Catapults?

This is the third part of our [I, II, I don’t know, a few more?] part series looking at Rings of Power‘s Siege of Eregion from a military history perspective. Last week, we discussed the remarkably bad siege preparation of both sides: Adar’s complete lack of a fortified siege camp and Eregion’s complete lack of … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part III: What Catapults? →

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-14 16:03:29

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

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

• I’m speaking at the Rossfest Symposium in Cambridge, UK, on March 25, 2025.
• I’m speaking at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 3, 2025.

The list is maintained on this page.

From The Django weblog at 2025-03-14 11:53:00

DSF member of the month - Cory Zue

For March 2025, we welcome Cory Zue (@coryzue.com) as our DSF member of the month! ⭐

Cory Zue is a Django developer for many years. He is currently a member of the DSF Social Media Working Group and he has been a DSF member since octobre 2022.
You can learn more about Cory by checking out his website or visiting Cory's GitHub Profile.

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

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

I'm a programmer-turned-manager-turned-entrepreneur and currently run a portfolio of businesses on my own (using Django of course!).

I grew up in Massachusetts and studied Computer Science at MIT where I met the founders of Dimagi, where I ended up as CTO for 10 years before starting my own businesses. In 2016, I moved to Cape Town, South Africa for a "temporary" relocation, and have been here ever since. These days my main hobbies include surfing, trail running, and exploring nature with my wife and two boys.

How did you start using Django?

My first major Django project was working on an SMS-based system that helped with the distribution of millions of bednets in Nigeria. It was built on top of a Django-based platform called RapidSMS that was initially developed by UNICEF. After that I worked on several other RapidSMS systems before eventually leading Dimagi's CommCare server team. CommCare eventually became -- to my knowledge -- the largest open source Django codebase in terms of contributions/commits.

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

I still love Django and use it for most projects that need a backend. That said, I find Django's "hands off" approach to modern front end development to be a big barrier for people who aren't already familiar with the framework.

If I had magical powers I would convince the Django community that it is worth providing some out-of-the-box support for modern front end tooling like TailwindCSS or a JavaScript bundler. I'd also try to get official "starter projects" built into the framework that show how you can use Django with some of the more popular front end options like React and HTMX.

What projects are you working on now?

My main project right now is SaaS Pegasus, which is a Django codebase creator that helps you spin up new projects more efficiently by bundling in even more batteries than Django itself. This includes things like configuring auth, front end, and deployment, but also has some more powerful features like multi-tenancy and billing baked in.

One of the great things about running Pegasus is that I can justify building new Django apps as dogfooding the product. So I always have other Django projects I'm working on. Right now the biggest one is a RAG chat-with-your-data LLM project called Scriv.ai.

Within the Django community my main contributions are in the form of writing in-depth guides to using Django, as well as pitching in on the Social Media working group to help grow Django's audience.

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

It's hard to go with anything other than the ORM (and migrations framework), which I still feel is Django's greatest and most important feature. It just fits my brain much better than SQLAlchemy or other options I've used.

One lesser-known library I'll shout out that I have been enjoying lately is django-cotton, which provides a nice little layer of syntactic sugar and tooling that makes working with components in Django templates much nicer.

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

1. The ORM + migrations.

2. The community.

3. That nearly every backend use case I have already has a feature that's been built to accommodate it (e.g. middleware, messages, i18n, etc.). I feel like the modern JavaScript frameworks I've used are way behind on this front.

What would you recommend to someone who wants to start out as an entrepreneur like you?

I have an entire talk/article about this!

But if I were to emphasize the most important part that worked for me, it was creating enough space in my life for deep, uninterrupted work and structuring it in a way that I never ran out of money or energy while I was trying (by working part time while I was getting started). In general, the path to success usually takes a long time, so giving yourself plenty of time is really important. The tactics you can figure out as you go, but the space and time to do it is the most important thing to have in place. Your main goal is not to quit.

Is there anything else you'd like to say?

Thank you for including me in this series!

Thank you for doing the interview, Cory!

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-14 11:02:58

TP-Link Router Botnet

There is a new botnet that is infecting TP-Link routers:

The botnet can lead to command injection which then makes remote code execution (RCE) possible so that the malware can spread itself across the internet automatically. This high severity security flaw (tracked as CVE-2023-1389) has also been used to spread other malware families as far back as April 2023 when it was used in the Mirai botnet malware attacks. The flaw also linked to the Condi and AndroxGh0st malware attacks.

[…]

Of the thousands of infected devices, the majority of them are concentrated in Brazil, Poland, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria and Turkey; with the botnet targeting manufacturing, medical/healthcare, services and technology organizations in the United States, Australia, China and Mexico...

From School of War at 2025-03-14 09:30:00

Ep 184: Alexander Burns on the Dawn of the Modern Battlefield (NEBM4076707252.mp3?updated=1741911508)

Alexander Burns, Assistant Professor of History at Franciscan University and author of Infantry in Battle 1733-1783 (From Reason to Revolution), joins the show to talk about how combat evolved in the decades between Marlborough and Napoleon. ▪️ Times      •     01:45 Introduction     •     02:19 1733     •     06:20 Infantry in battle     •     10:54 Achieving results       •     14:19 Tactical effectivness         •     18:40 Prussia       •     24:17 More than fear       •     29:45 Early nationalism        •     33:12 American evolution      •     38:50 Drones and prestige Follow along on Instagram, X @schoolofwarpod, and YouTube @SchoolofWarPodcast Find a transcript of today’s episode on our School of War Substack

From Dan Snow's History Hit at 2025-03-14 00:30:00

THE LEADERS: Mussolini (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=nGC7HSGEk7T199D1el4yox4TU_6lL08deFqVEMoaCKQ)

Once a political heavyweight with dreams of a new Roman Empire, Mussolini's journey from a rebellious socialist youth to the fascist leader of Italy is a story of ego, brutality and ultimately incompetence. In this third instalment of The Leaders series, Dan is joined again by Professor Phillips O'Brien, author of 'The Strategists'. They examine Mussolini's rise to power, the catastrophic decisions that led to Italy's devastation during the Second World War and his ultimate downfall.

Produced and edited by Dougal Patmore.

We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.

You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-13 21:16:05

AI search engines give incorrect answers at an alarming 60% rate, study says

CJR study shows AI search services misinform users and ignore publisher exclusion requests.

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-13 16:12:58

RIP Mark Klein

2006 AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein has died.

From The Briefing Room at 2025-03-13 16:02:00

Why is there a crisis in special educational needs? (p0kxz7p3.mp3)

There’s huge pressure on special educational needs and disabilities, known as SEND. The number of children and young people who need extra support has rocketed as more and more are diagnosed with autism, adhd and other mental health conditions. It’s led to a funding crisis which is putting a strain on council budgets which pay for the extra help. But it isn't just a financial issue - parents say they are struggling to access the right support for their children. So what’s gone wrong and what can be done about it?

Guests: Branwen Jeffreys, BBC Education Editor WIll Farr, Cambridge University Faculty of Education Tony Travers, Associate Dean LSE School of Public Policy Luke Sibieta, Institute for Fiscal Studies David Thomas, Former Head Teacher and CEO Axiom Maths

Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Beth Ashmead Latham, Kirsteen Knight and Caroline Bayley Sound Engineer: Rod Farquhar Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Vadon

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-13 15:43:38

AI coding assistant refuses to write code, tells user to learn programming instead

Cursor AI tells user, "I cannot generate code for you, as that would be completing your work."

From The Django weblog at 2025-03-13 14:00:00

Accessibility and inclusivity at FOSDEM 2025

For this year’s FOSDEM conference, our Django accessibility team organized the "Inclusive Web" track. Here’s a recap of how it went!

The idea for the Inclusive Web devroom started at FOSDEM 2024, where we discussed the importance of showcasing accessibility and inclusivity work in open source, in web development and beyond. The Django accessibility team got to work on a FOSDEM 2025 proposal. Lo and behold, it got accepted, and here we are with a room full of people interested in those topics, and a great lineup of speakers!

The room was full for most of the day with about 70 attendees, with the conference also providing a livestream for remote participants. We had a great mix of talks, covering a lot of the aspects of the Inclusive Web that we wanted to showcase.

The talks

Top Accessibility Errors Found in Open Source Through Automated Testing

In the first talk of the day, Raashi Saxena shares insights on the most common accessibility errors in open-source projects, based on manual and automated testing. She highlights real-world case studies to help developers improve accessibility in their projects – and warn against the legal risks of poor accessibility!

Solving the world’s (localization) problems

Eemeli Aro and Ujjwal Sharma introduce MessageFormat 2, a new standard to address long-standing localization challenges. They discuss its potential applications and the tools being built around it. This standard is very promising for Django developers working on multilingual applications to provide better translations for users, and better capabilities for translators.

Alternative Text for Images: How Bad Are Our Alt-Text Anyway?

Mike Gifford explores the importance of alt text in web accessibility and how often it misses the mark. He demonstrates his alt text scan Python script for auditing alt-text across websites. Alt text is a common issue on Django projects, and the AI generation showcased by Mike has the potential to move the needle.

Secure and Inclusive: WebAuthn for (Multi-Factor) Authentication

Storm Heg explains how WebAuthn (Passkeys) offers a secure and user-friendly alternative to traditional authentication methods. This talk covers how it works, its accessibility benefits, and how Django developers can integrate it into their projects. Storm showcases his django-otp-webauthn package and other alternatives.

How do we work out the environmental savings from accessibility?

Chris Adams discusses how supporting older devices through accessible digital services can reduce e-waste. He explores research on hardware obsolescence, data-driven methods for measuring environmental impact, and policy changes in digital sustainability. This builds upon previous work by Chris showcasing the parallels between web accessibility and sustainability.

Growing inclusive communities: Djangonaut Space program

Raffaella Suardini shares the success of the Djangonaut Space mentorship program in fostering sustainable contributions and welcoming new contributors. She provides strategies for building inclusive tech communities, which are crucial to the success of open-source projects like Django 💜.

Multilingual Speech Technologies That Understand You

Jessica Rose discusses how Common Voice’s crowdsourced speech dataset helps developers build speech technologies for underrepresented languages. She highlights the challenges of linguistic diversity in tech – which are very relevant for a project with such an international and multiligual user base as Django.

ATAG accessibility audits: worth your while

Thibaud Colas introduces the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) and explains why they are essential for content creation tools, like the Django admin. He shares highlights of where projects can learn a lot from ATAG, making this talk valuable for Django developers working with content publishing.

All recordings

You can watch them all on the FOSDEM website:

See you in 2026

We had a blast running this devroom, and we’re looking forward to doing it again in 2026 if we get the chance! Thank you to our speakers, devroom organizers (Saptak, Tom, Sarah, Thibaud, Eli), and helpers (Alex and Storm) for making this event a success! 🎉

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-13 11:15:51

Anthropic CEO floats idea of giving AI a “quit job” button, sparking skepticism

"Probably the craziest thing I've said so far," he admitted during an interview.

From In Our Time: History at 2025-03-13 10:15:00

Catherine of Aragon (p0kqbwn6.mp3)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), the youngest child of the newly dominant Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella. When she was 3, her parents contracted her to marry Arthur, Prince of Wales, the heir to the Tudor king Henry VII in order to strengthen Spain's alliances, since Henry's kingdom was a longstanding trade partner and an enemy of Spain's greatest enemy, France. For the next decade Catherine had the best humanist education available, preparing her for her expected life as queen and drawing inspiration from her warrior mother. She arrived in London to be married when she was 15 but within a few months she was widowed, her situation uncertain and left relatively impoverished for someone of her status. Rather than return home, Catherine stayed and married her late husband's brother, Henry VIII. In her view and that of many around her, she was an exemplary queen and, even after Henry VIII had arranged the annulment of their marriage for the chance of a male heir with Anne Boleyn, Catherine continued to consider herself his only queen.

With

Lucy Wooding Langford Fellow and Tutor in History at Lincoln College, University of Oxford and Professor of Early Modern History at Oxford

Maria Hayward Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Southampton

And

Gonzalo Velasco Berenguer Lecturer in Global Medieval and Early Modern History at the University of Bristol

Producer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production

Reading list:

Michelle Beer, Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain: Catherine of Aragon and Margaret Tudor, 1503-1533 (Royal Historical Society, 2018)

G. R. Bernard, The King's Reformation: Henry VIII and the Remaking of the English Church (Yale University Press, 2007)

José Luis Colomer and Amalia Descalzo (eds.), Spanish Fashion at the Courts of Early Modern Europe (Centro de Estudios Europa Hispanica, 2014), especially vol 2, 'Spanish Princess or Queen of England? The Image, Identity and Influence of Catherine of Aragon at the Courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII' by Maria Hayward

Theresa Earenfight, Catherine of Aragon: Infanta of Spain, Queen of England (Penn State University Press, 2022)

John Edwards, Ferdinand and Isabella: Profiles In Power (Routledge, 2004)

Garrett Mattingley, Catherine of Aragon (first published 1941; Random House, 2000)

J. J. Scarisbrick, Henry VIII (first published 1968; Yale University Press, 1997)

David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII (Vintage, 2004)

Giles Tremlett, Catherine of Aragon: Henry's Spanish Queen (Faber & Faber, 2011)

Juan Luis Vives (trans. Charles Fantazzi), The Education of a Christian Woman: A Sixteenth-Century Manual (University of Chicago Press, 2000)

Patrick Williams, Catherine of Aragon: The Tragic Story of Henry VIII's First Unfortunate Wife (Amberley Publishing, 2013)

Lucy Wooding, Henry VIII (Routledge, 2009)

From Strong Message Here at 2025-03-13 09:45:00

Be Quiet, Small Man (p0kxs7jl.mp3)

Comedy writer Armando Iannucci and journalist Helen Lewis decode the utterly baffling world of political language.

This week, Musk has been threatening a former astronaut (no, not the one he threatened the other week - another one), Trump has been talking tariffs, and Rupert Lowe took on his party's 'Messiah', Nigel Farage. What does all this tough talk mean in politics? Does projecting strength always work?

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Helen and Armando to decode? Email them to us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk

Sound Editing by Charlie Brandon-King Production Coordinator - Katie Baum Executive Producer - Pete Strauss

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4. An EcoAudio Certified Production.

From Ink Stained Wretches at 2025-03-13 08:45:00

Plutocrats & Populists (NEBM6326443290.mp3?updated=1741812496)

Happy Thursday! We’re coming to you a day early with MAGA infighting, a showdown at Columbia University, a media vibe shift, and the story behind the original Egg McMuffin. Wretch on! Time Stamps: 2:26 - Front Page 55:10 - Obsessions 1:04:39 - Reader Mail 1:08:51 - Favorite Items If you have a story you want to discuss with us, email us at wretches@nebulouspodcasts dot com. Show Notes: The New York Times: The Populist vs. the Billionaire: Bannon, Musk and the Battle Within MAGA The New Republic: Why Don’t Plutocrats Care That Trump Is Tanking the Economy? The Wall Street Journal: Capitol Hill’s Republican Sycophant Caucus National Review: Does Trump Know Why He Was Elected? Axios: Trump vows to "lead the charge" to unseat GOP Rep. Massie AP News: Trump warns that arrest of Palestinian activist at Columbia will be ‘first of many’ The Wall Street Journal: Faculty-on-Faculty War Erupts at Columbia as Trump Targets Elite School NPR: A top 'Washington Post' columnist resigns, accusing publisher of killing piece The New York Times: MeidasTouch Pops on Podcast Charts as Progressives Search for Answers The New York Times: Can the Media’s Right to Pursue the Powerful Survive Trump’s Second Term? The New York Times: The Future of News Looks Niche The Wrap: Wall Street Journal Cuts Tech Reporters and Editors in Media Reconfiguration of Coverage Sports Illustrated: Yankees’ Wives Carrying On Team’s Abandoned Battle Against Beards CNN: Trump official tasked with defending DOGE cuts posted fashion influencer videos from her office The Wall Street Journal: How Foundation and Eyeliner Became a Political Battleground WGN9: An early version of the Egg McMuffin included a surprising condiment Axios: MAGA's antisemitism divide BBC: Russian spy ring's plans to kill journalist 'beyond imagination' The Atlantic: Mitch McConnell and the President He Calls ‘Despicable’ The Wall Street Journal: The High-Pressure Tactics Attorney Gloria Allred Uses—On Her Own Clients

From The Duncan & Coe History Show at 2025-03-13 00:38:00

Blank Check History: When Scholars Hit the Jackpot (DC_Lottery.mp3?dest-id=4782257)

• Rory McGovern Race, Politics, and Reconstruction: The First Black Cadets at Old West Point

• Marcia Chatelain Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America

• Emily Tamkin Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities

• Chistine Caccipuoti Footnoting History

From The Rest Is History at 2025-03-13 00:10:00

The French Revolution: The Execution of the King (Part 4) (GLT2184509954.mp3?updated=1741801582)

The second revolution that engulfed France over the course of 1792 reached its climax in December, with an astonishing, world-changing spectacle, which held all the eyes of Europe spellbound: Louis Capet, formerly King Louis XVI of France, was on trial for his very life. A guilty verdict would undermine millennia of thought and tradition, ripping apart the longheld inviolability of the king, still held sacred in some quarters of France, and setting a dangerous precedent for the other monarchs of Europe. For the revolutionary leaders, then, this was a cosmic strike against tyranny, unpicking the very foundations of French society. The trial would serve to proclaim the institution of the new regime; a ritualistic rebirth born of the death of the king. It would last a month. Then, on the 15th of January, a verdict was finally reached: Louis was found guilty, and condemned to death by guillotine. With the former king’s day numbered, was there any way the judgement could be overturned? And if not, what would the consequences of this seismic event be for the future of France, Europe, and the world…? Join Tom and Dominic as they discuss the climax of the French Revolution - itself one of the most important moments of all history - with the extraordinary trial and death sentence of King Louis XVI. Would the sacrificial spilling of his royal blood cleanse the world of monarchy, and launch a new dawn for the Republic of France, once and for all? EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-12 22:12:39

New Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan will pick up where Pat Gelsinger left off

Tan will start as CEO on March 18, taking over from interim co-CEOs.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-12 22:03:11

Android apps laced with North Korean spyware found in Google Play

Google's Firebase platform also hosted configuration settings used by the apps.

From Biz & IT – Ars Technica at 2025-03-12 19:38:57

Google’s new robot AI can fold delicate origami, close zipper bags without damage

Google Gemini Robotics AI model gives robots fine motor skills and adaptability for general world use.

From More or Less: Behind the Stats at 2025-03-12 18:30:00

DOGE, apples and irregular migrants (p0kxrzvn.mp3)

It’s been 12 weeks since President Trump announced the formation of DOGE, the so-called department of Government efficiency. We fact-check various claims connected with the drive to route out inefficiency. Listeners asked us to investigate the claim that 1 in 12 Londoners is an illegal immigrant. We look into the claim that imported New Zealand apples have a smaller carbon footprint than British grown apples. Plus - did VAT on private schools really boost the rate of inflation, or was that just a media concoction?

Presenter: Tim Harford Series Producer: Charlotte McDonald Producers: Lizzy McNeill, Nathan Gower and Josh McMinn Sound Mix: Rod Farquhar Editor: Richard Vadon Production Co-Ordinator: Brenda Brown

From The Incomparable Mothership at 2025-03-12 17:00:00

757: Goodnight Moon Dragons (f040cc7d-b34f-487d-8d4f-956cfd0dbf4d.mp3)

Book Club travels to the far future for the sci-fi/fantasy mash-up “Moonbound” by Robin Sloan. Here be dragons! Not to mention wyrd multidimensional witches at the bottom of a pool, Arthurian proto-heroes, friendly sentient robot hive minds, and plucky talking beavers!...

From Schneier on Security at 2025-03-12 11:09:14

China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea Intelligence Sharing

Former CISA Director Jen Easterly writes about a new international intelligence sharing co-op:

Historically, China, Russia, Iran & North Korea have cooperated to some extent on military and intelligence matters, but differences in language, culture, politics & technological sophistication have hindered deeper collaboration, including in cyber. Shifting geopolitical dynamics, however, could drive these states toward a more formalized intell-sharing partnership. Such a “Four Eyes” alliance would be motivated by common adversaries and strategic interests, including an enhanced capacity to resist economic sanctions and support proxy conflicts...

From Dan Snow's History Hit at 2025-03-12 00:30:00

The Origins of Jim Crow (media.mp3?tk=eyJ0ayI6ImRlZmF1bHQiLCJhZHMiOnRydWUsInNwb25zIjp0cnVlLCJzdGF0dXMiOiJwdWJsaWMifQ==&sig=BsnePbprmy9HgeeTXRDwUqmLjz6BLGqp2UScy-aVocY)

The Jim Crow era is one of the darkest periods in American history. The country was divided by laws, customs and etiquettes that demeaned African Americans and segregated them from white Americans. But how exactly did this era begin? And was post-Civil War America always destined for racial segregation?

To answer this question we're joined by Aaron Sheehan-Dean, a Professor of Southern Studies at Louisiana State University. He explains why America's attempts to build a multiracial democracy after the Civil War failed, and how the wheels of Jim Crow were set in motion.

Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.

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