Enjoy this scan of a 1975 copy of the Konsument catalog, which advertised the offerings of East Germany's state-run retail cooperative. The catalog shows the fashions, tools, housewares, consumer electronics, and other glorious goods made during the grim, oppressive Russian occupation. — Read the rest

The post Flip through East Germany's 1975 mail-order catalog appeared first on Boing Boing.

What is iron gall ink? Only one of the "most important substances in the history of civilization," says Joel Klein, the curator of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences at the Huntington in San Marino, California. That's because the ink, which is dark blue-gray, sinks into the surface of the paper or parchment and won't fade centuries after it's applied. — Read the rest

The post Iron gall ink lasts for centuries. Here's how to make it appeared first on Boing Boing.

Unknown hackers took over refrigeration controls in supermarkets in seven countries in Europe. This is the second attack. Last month, as many as 700 French supermarkets had to throw out frozen and refrigerated food after a cyberattack caused cooler temperatures to reach 122°F. — Read the rest

The post Hackers cooked supermarket freezers in seven European countries appeared first on Boing Boing.

Yet another word confuses Grandpa Pudding Brains, so he assumes everyone else is even more idiotic.

Explaining his objection to two candidates with nearly the same name appearing on the Alaska ballot, Diaper Don claims "incumbent" is confusing. He shows zero respect for the people who vote for him, but they never seem shake loose from the cult. — Read the rest

The post Trump worries Alaska voters won't understand the word "incumbent" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Investigative vlogger Yoonj Kim first visited downtown Los Angeles' Metropolis towers, where her investigation found hundreds of condos that have been sitting empty for years. Naturally, she asked: why would the developer want to hold on to them?

One answer is the votes. — Read the rest

The post The weirdest thing about LA's ghost condos is that they run the HOA appeared first on Boing Boing.

Historic flooding has struck Sedona, Arizona, for the second time in two weeks. Residents unable to evacuate fast enough spent part of Sunday standing on their roofs waiting for helicopters. Some with their pets.

Oak Creek moved through neighborhoods fast enough to trap residents above the water, and state rescue crews flew them out one rooftop at a time. — Read the rest

The post Sedona residents spent Sunday waiting on their roofs for helicopters appeared first on Boing Boing.

The Trump administration's extradition case against millionaire left-wing donor James "Fergie" Chambers, detained in Spain since July, ran into an apparent hurdle when two witnesses called before a federal grand jury announced their intention last week to refuse to testify.

Several observers familiar with the case said the grand jury is likely related to the extradition effort.

The refusal of the grand jury witnesses to testify takes on added importance because the U.S. is pursuing Chambers's extradition based on a criminal complaint, not an indictment, according to his Spanish lawyers. The criminal affidavit, signed by a single FBI agent, includes three charges related to his support for pro-Palestine causes.

The distinction, critics of the extradition case say, highlights how the case is hung on one agent's complaint, which remains under seal, rather than a grand jury investigation to determine if the state had sufficient evidence to indict Chambers.

"The complaint is not only vague and weak, it's not normal," said Aitor Martínez, one of Chambers's Spain-based lawyers. "In 20 years of practice, I've never seen a U.S. extradition request based on a criminal complaint."

Martínez pointed to a statement from a summary of the complaint contained in an international arrest order reviewed by The Intercept and directed at Spanish authorities that says, "If Chambers' extradition to the US is granted, another charging document called an indictment will be sought from a federal grand jury."

"In 20 years of practice, I've never seen a U.S. extradition request based on a criminal complaint."

Xavier de Janon, the executive director of the U.S.-based National Lawyers Guild and who is not working directly on the Chambers case, said, "Seeking an extradition without there being an indictment puts the cart before the horse."

"If he is extradited under a criminal complaint," said de Janon, "he can't even fully challenge the charges, because he hasn't been indicted."

The State Department referred questions to the Department of Justice, which declined to comment.

Related They Got 60 Days in Jail for Protesting Israel's Largest Arms Maker — and Say That's a "Huge Victory"

Two of the three charges underpinning the extradition request against Chambers — riot and incitement to riot — are related to allegations that he helped fund a late-2023 protest in Merrimack, New Hampshire, against an Israeli weapons manufacturer, according to the summary of the complaint contained in the arrest order. The summary says Chambers provided funds for demonstrators used to purchase materials such as smoke bombs and to help cover protesters' legal fees.

The third charge is international money laundering related to more than $7 million he transferred to bank accounts in Tunisia, where he was living in 2024. The Trump administration, according to the international arrest order, says the money was used to fund Hamas, which is a proscribed terror group in the U.S. The order does not say he is charged with material support for terrorism.

Chambers's family and supporters and multiple representatives of Club Africain, a Tunisian soccer club, have said the money was used to pay the club's debts and related expenditures such as training grounds. The club's fan base has long supported Palestinians.

Two women who participated in the 2023 protest against a factory operated by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems recently announced their intentions not to cooperate with a November 4 grand jury hearing where they have been summoned as witnesses.

"If they are being summoned now, this suggests that the grand jury seems to be linked to Chambers's case," said Martínez, his lawyer. "It seems like a fishing expedition against him."

Kira Kelley, an attorney for the two women, said, "Context clues suggest this is about Fergie."

If the pair don't answer questions from a federal prosector before the New Hampshire federal grand jury, they could risk a possible jail sentence for contempt.

Nonetheless, the two women — Bridget Shergalis and Sophie Ross — shared a statement with The Grayzone Thursday announcing their intention to refuse to testify. In an interview on the same day with The Intercept, the women recounted being under investigation for a year over the protest and being threatened with felony charges that carried potential sentences of decades in prison.

Read our complete coverage

Chilling Dissent

Shergalis and Ross said they turned down several deals for their cooperation. By the end of the ordeal, they were found guilty of misdemeanor offenses and received 60-day jail sentences.

Following that experience, said Ross, the pair decided to reject the subpoena to testify before a grand jury.

"It was an easy decision for both of us," Ross said.

Shergalis and Ross are slated to testify on Wednesday, at which time they plan to assert their Fifth Amendment rights and decline to answer any questions from the federal prosecutor.

At that point, a hearing before a judge may be scheduled, to determine whether to hold Shergalis and Ross in civil contempt, which could result in up to 18 months of prison, according to Kelley.

Martínez, who also worked on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's defense team, said the decision by Shergalis and Ross recalled that of Chelsea Manning, who twice refused to testify against Assange before a grand jury, serving time in prison in both instances. 

"It's like Chelsea Manning, years later," he said.

Related Trump Wanted Minnesota 15 Case to Be Another Prairieland. Instead, Twin Cities Rallied Behind Anti-ICE Activists.

Shergalis and Ross decided to go public with their plans after speaking with organizers behind the recently-launched NSPM-7 Defendants Union, a nationwide project for protesters targeted by the Trump administration's efforts to criminalize dissent as laid out in last year's National Security Presidential Memorandum-7. The document, part of a broader effort to paint left-wing activism as terrorism, directs the FBI to go after "violent and terroristic activities" associated with "anti-fascism."

The NSPM-7 Defendants Union is centered around signing a pledge to follow practices such as not cooperating with law enforcement, adopting collective legal strategy when possible, and publicly announcing those strategies — a goal that runs against the secrecy surrounding federal indictments.

While secrecy benefits prosecutors before a grand jury, said Shergalis, "It's good for all of us to be as transparent as possible."

"We're seeing NSPM-7 result in unprecedented levels of prosecution against protesters."

Shergalis, Ross, and Chambers have each signed the pledge, and the grand jury decision appears to be the first public test case of the union's ideas.

"We should celebrate people across the country deciding to assert their legal rights boldly against the federal government and its NSPM-7 policy," said de Janon, of the National Lawyers Guild. "We're seeing NSPM-7 result in unprecedented levels of prosecution against protesters."

Meanwhile, Chambers remains imprisoned in Madrid, as the Spanish courts decide whether to grant the U.S. extradition request or not.

Chambers has applied for asylum in Spain and, if his application is granted, he would be released and the U.S. extradition request would be denied. He cannot be extradited until the asylum case runs its course.

Related Trump Goes After Anonymous Email Provider in Italy. The Real Target Is Free Speech in the U.S.

A self-described communist and anti-imperialist, Chambers is heir of the Cox family, owners of Atlanta-based telecom giant Cox Enterprises. As part of a settlement in which his family severed ties with him at the time, he sold stock back to them in mid-2023 worth about $250 million.

Since then, he has been funding an estimated 100 humanitarian and left-wing projects in 20 countries, according to his partner, actress and activist Stella Schnabel, including aid projects in the Occupied Gaza Strip.

"I believe this is part of the persecution against pro-Palestine protest."

As for the Trump administration's case, Martínez, the Spanish attorney, underscored how the criminal complaint against Chambers raises charges related to the protest against the New Hampshire factory for Elbit Systems, Israel's largest arms manufacturer, but leaves out how federal prosecution efforts ended up with minor convictions for Shergalis, Ross, and other activists.

"The people who carried out the acts received a minor sentence," he said. "They leave this out. This is bad faith."

"Why don't they tell this to Spain?" he said. "It's likely that Spain won't turn someone over based on actions that got 60-day sentences."

Martínez said Chambers's opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza is the real reason behind the case. "I believe this is part of the persecution against pro-Palestine protest. The U.S. has even sanctioned the International Criminal Court because of this."

Of Chambers's case, Martínez said, "This is one more attack."

The post Fergie Chambers Faces Extradition to U.S. Despite Never Being Indicted, Says Lawyer appeared first on The Intercept.

Losing your mobile phone is disruptive enough. Lose your wallet at the same time, away from home, and suddenly many of the things you take for granted become impossible. You have no access to money, no means of payment, no maps or messages, and no easy way to contact anyone for help. When both were stolen from me near King's Cross station at the end of September, I discovered just how complicated getting back to normal could be.

30 September began well enough. I travelled by train from Cambridge, where I live, to the Bedford Square studio of Bloomsbury Radio, for a recording in connection with the 26 project honouring the bicentenary of University College London. UCL student Aleksandra Grebe and I were interviewed about our contribution to the booklet 26 firsts.

After the interview, I walked back to King's Cross through sunlight and thoughts of early lunch. My mobile's map guided me to Euston Road along streets and squares I wasn't that familiar with. At the King's Cross concourse I made eagerly for Upper Crust, opening my leather shoulder pouch in search of the wherewithal.

My wallet wasn't there.

My mobile phone wasn't there.

Snarl.

Still in the pouch were my ticket back to Cambridge, my railcards, my pensioner's bus pass, and the keys to my bike and to the house.

I found a seat near Platform 9¾ and parked myself to take stock of things.

Right. So I could get home without any difficulty.

I knew we had some leftovers in the fridge. They could make up for the fact that Upper Crust was now out of bounds.

I scribbled in my notebook a list of things to do.

• Report theft @ KGX
• Report theft of cards to bank
• Report theft of EH & NT cards

I wasn't sure how to report the theft at King's Cross. An information kiosk advised using the phone number 60106. That would have to be by the home landline.

I made the journey home, as per the original intention, by train and bike. It was a troubling experience to ride past Mill Road Co-op and know that that, too, was now out of bounds.

Delayed lunch was ham sandwiches, biscuits, and chocolate. I hope that came after reporting the theft.

The first stage was to pick up the phone and ring that 60106. An automated voice told me the network didn't handle local numbers without area codes.

I remembered reading, a few days earlier, John Elworthy's account in East Anglia Bylines of Cambridgeshire Police and its new application of artificial intelligence to the reporting of non-urgent crime. I found it online. It asked where the incident had happened, and what was the postcode. From Google Maps I found the postcode for King's Cross station, and found it again from King's Cross's own website when the police site asked for confirmation. At some point the app advised me that I was reporting an incident that had occurred outside Cambridgeshire Police's patch.

I forget whether I made the report to the Metropolitan Police or the British Transport Police. Later emails indicate that both are involved. See it, say it, sorted.

Then the report to the bank, to stop and replace the cards. I suppose I made it by phone. I have neither scribbles nor emails from it, but judging by later events it went smoothly.

My wife Clare was away at the time, in Brussels. I told her of the theft in a WhatsApp message from my laptop at 17:25.

Ordering the replacement phone was an evening job, done via my laptop. I specified that delivery should be to the named UPS pick-up point, a shop at the other end of the village.

WhatsApp on my laptop was fine for a fortnight. Then it logged me out and told me I would need a mobile phone to log myself back in.

I'd had no news of the replacement mobile on order. I looked for 'Fairphone' in my email. A message that I'd missed on Friday 2nd told me that delivery was expected on Tuesday 6th, and offered a 'Track' button. Clicking on this brought me the information that the package had been left at the front door on Tuesday 6th, but the photo bore no resemblance to our doorstep.

A phone call to the address I'd expected to collect from confirmed that they were in that line of business. I went and asked. They referred me to next door, and pointed south. Next door was a Chinese mini-market, who knew nothing of the matter. I asked at the original shop again. This time they pointed north: an Indian mini-market, who likewise knew nothing of the matter. My third enquiry at the original shop led to the explanation that the delivery must have been to the shop on the south side that was actually next door but one, the shop beyond the Chinese mini-market. This place had a UPS sign outside. I went in and was encouraged by the resemblance between their counter and the UPS driver's photo. I asked about my parcel, showing a print-out of the information I'd had. My parcel was the second thing they produced.

My next port of call was an EE phone shop. They fitted a SIM card that would allow me to keep my number. I spent the afternoon setting the new device up, with a back-and-forth of verifications between the new mobile and the laptop. Everything about the new mobile seemed that little bit more complicated and harder to control than on its predecessor.

I ended the day with WhatsApp installed on my new mobile, but I couldn't read all the messages there. Also, attempting to link my laptop to WhatsApp was frustrated by differences in terminology between the two devices. Eventually, WhatsApp had had enough of my attempts and advised me to come back later.

Next day, I switched the new mobile on with immediate frustration. Everything I tried to do with it was blocked by pages announcing that it had contracted varying numbers of viruses and claims about sites I knew I hadn't visited. There were offers to purge it of these things if I clicked the button marked 'Install'.

Evidently I'd misclicked at some point and brought down one or more rogue apps. Did this explain the previous day's waywardness?

Attending to this myself would probably make things worse. Best take the phone to EE again.

Pending that, I found the manual online and printed it out.

EE confirmed my suspicions. The man behind the lectern recognised the rogue apps straight away. They'd probably come in, he said, when I downloaded a QR code reader. Such things were not needed: the phone's camera should be able to read QR codes. Learn something new every day.

The replacement bank cards arrived a week after the theft.

Emails from milk supplier Milk & More, saying our regular payment to them had failed, continued after I tried registering the new card with them. I bought milk, fruit and bread using (with invitation) the stash of coins Clare keeps on her chest of drawers.

After another email from Milk & More, I had another go at entering the new card details. The update was immediately rebuffed, with advice to ring the bank.

A call to the bank, lasting 48 minutes, found no reason for the failure of the card update. They advised me to ring Milk & More, who offered to bundle home-delivered eggs into our regular delivery.

Then two sets of emails from Milk & More took different sides. One accepted the payment update, one rejected it. Since resolved by switching to the other card.

I've done this much to prevent a future theft: my new wallet is small enough to hide in a zipped pocket in the pouch. I bought it before the new cards arrived; Clare produced her card for our joint account to pay for it.

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The post See it. Say it. Sorted. But it's not that simple first appeared on East Anglia Bylines.

Welcome to the first Best of Bylines of the week, featuring an article from one of our 10 UK national and regional publications, hand-picked by our editors-in-chief and delivered directly to your inbox.

David Murray lives in West Lothian, is a member of the Scottish Currency Group campaign, and writes regularly for Bylines Scotland. As the press scrambles to analyse the first budget of a new Chancellor in Westminster, David grapples with the legacy of austerity in British and Scottish politics.

Austerity may be described as one of the Chancellor's tough decisions. A set of necessary technical economic policies that is analogous to temporary belt-tightening. But this framing does not represent the true nature of this political choice. Instead, it is better perceived as a systematic, banker-led assault on humanity itself.

Framed as responsible fiscal management, it delivers the opposite: low growth, stagnating wages and cost of living increases, lowering living standards in the present while stealing the future through lack of investment and reshaping society in ways that carry civilisational consequences. The damage is visible in everyday life and embodied in the quiet erosion of human potential, solidarity and hope.

Walk today through any town or city, shaped as they are by sustained austerity, and the natural outcomes are plain to see. Potholes scar the roads. The NHS strains under the weight of demand. Libraries close, parks and common landscapes grow neglected, infrastructure crumbles, and high streets fill with boarded-up shops.

These are not accidental by-products of hard times. Our governments, in currency-issuing nations, never experience "hard times" in a financial sense. These deficits in essential services are the predictable outcomes of policies that prioritise debt reduction and financial balance sheets over the maintenance of the public realm. The result is a collective reduction in living standards that affects everyone, not just those already on the margins.

The longer-term effects cut deeper. Austerity economics recasts fundamental human activities as market transactions. Students are no longer learners contributing to a shared pool of knowledge and capability; they become "consumers of education". Ill people are no longer patients in need of care; they become "consumers of healthcare". This linguistic and institutional shift is profound.

Healthy people once stood as the most productive and caring members of society. Educated people once offered insights, imagination and skills that advanced collective thinking. Under the consumer model those contributions are subordinated to individual payment and market metrics. The purpose of education and healthcare is no longer primarily the cultivation of human capacity for the benefit of an interconnected humanity. It becomes the extraction of value from individuals who must continuously prove their worth as customers.

The human cost of this transformation is unnecessary stress - one of the most debilitating conditions of modern life. Austerity generates chronic anxiety about the future. People live in perpetual fear of losing their place in society. When the essentials of life are perceived to be scarce, everything becomes competition. Secure housing, decent elderly care, stable employment and reliable public services are recast as scarce prizes rather than shared entitlements.

In response, households change their behaviour. Instead of spending what little they earn on present needs and community life, they save whatever they can. The motive is defensive: to stave off the worries of retirement, of declining health, of the next generation's prospects. People try to protect themselves rather than build for those who will follow.

Those savings do not remain inert. Banks and hedge funds absorb the funds and convert them into massive profits. The capital is recycled into the privatisation and financialisation of more public utilities and services. Quality of service declines while bills and the cost of daily essentials rise. Water, energy, transport and care are treated as investment vehicles rather than common goods.

The feedback loop is complete: austerity forces precautionary saving; that saving fuels the private capture of public assets; the degraded assets then justify further austerity and further individualised risk. It is a race to the bottom of immense proportions.

The civilisational stakes are high. A society organised around fear, competition and scarcity cannot easily generate the trust, long-term thinking or collective imagination required for genuine progress. When healthy and educated citizens are valued chiefly as revenue streams, the social surplus of care, insight and mutual support shrinks.

Stress becomes a constant. Solidarity frays. The capacity to invest in the next generation - through infrastructure, knowledge and a healthy environment - is displaced by the imperative of personal survival. What begins as fiscal discipline ends as a narrowing of human possibility.

This trajectory is not inevitable. It is the product of deliberate policy choices that elevate financial claims above human flourishing. Recognising austerity as a banker-led assault clarifies the choice before us. Continuing on the present path means accepting lower living standards, higher anxiety, degraded public goods and a society of competing consumers chasing the next dopamine high.

Stepping out of the race before the finish line requires rejecting the premise that public services must be subordinated to private profit, that education and healthcare are primarily markets, and that individuals must bear the full weight of systemic risk.

The alternative is not reckless spending but a reorientation of economic purpose. Public investment in reliable infrastructure, accessible care and high-quality education is not an optional extra; it is the foundation of productive, caring and imaginative citizens.

Reducing the ambient fear that drives excessive saving would free resources for present wellbeing and future-building. Restoring the idea that healthy and educated people are a collective asset (for society and business) rather than individual cost centres would reverse the consumerist inversion. These are practical steps, grounded in the recognition that a race to the bottom is one that no society can win without losing what makes it human.

The boarded-up shops, the neglected parks and the stressed households are not signs of natural scarcity. They are the visible scars of a policy regime that has prioritised financial extraction over shared human capability. Ending that regime is not merely an economic adjustment. It is a defence of the conditions under which people can live without constant fear, educate themselves for insight rather than market compliance, and care for one another as members of an interconnected humanity rather than as competing consumers. The prize for winning the austerity race is a diminished civilisation. We must not participate - we have better things to do.

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Germany's hydrogen backbone achieved a genuine milestone on August 4, 2026. RWE and its partners announced that renewable hydrogen produced during commissioning at Lingen had reached Marl Chemical Park, roughly 120 kilometres away. Electrolysers, converted natural gas pipelines and industrial receiving infrastructure were working together. The GET H2 consortium deserves ... [continued]

The post Germany's Hydrogen Pipeline Reached Marl. Its Market Still Needs to Add Up. appeared first on CleanTechnica.

• Just transition
• Climate finance
• Adaptation and mitigation
• Global stocktake and NDCs
• Action agenda and other issues

Delegates will soon gather in the Turkish resort city of Antalya for UN climate negotiations, against a backdrop of war, energy crisis and climate extremes.

At COP31, nations will try to find agreement on various issues, including climate finance for developing countries and a global "just transition" towards a cleaner economy.

This summit is unusual due to its joint presidency, which means that Australia is leading the negotiations while Turkey hosts the conference.

Outside the formal negotiations, Turkey is also pushing its own priorities as part of a wider "action agenda", including electrification, oceans and "green industrialisation".

In order to track parties' positions on key negotiating points and wider issues at COP31, Carbon Brief has analysed around 100 documents and captured them in the interactive table below.

The first column shows the countries and UN negotiating blocs, the second shows the topics up for debate and the third indicates specific issues within those topics.

The final column indicates the positions that the parties have expressed on each topic. These range from "priority" - meaning the party is likely to be pushing the issue - to "oppose", meaning it is likely to push against it.

This is a "living document" that will be updated over the course of COP31. 

Please get in touch if you would like to offer additions by emailing policy@carbonbrief.org.

Brief explanations of the key issues and jargon-filled language that permeate the talks can be found below the interactive table.

At COP30 in Brazil in 2025, nations agreed to establish a practical mechanism to help drive a "just transition" to a low-carbon economy.

Key aspects of this "Belém-Antalya mechanism" (BAM) - often referred to as the "just transition mechanism" (JTM) - were agreed during the June climate negotiations this year, but many details are missing and dividing lines remain between parties.

Parties have disagreed about the scope of the mechanism and whether it should be tied to the provision of finance.

Nevertheless, following progress in June within the "just transition work programme" (JTWP), civil society groups highlighted that getting the mechanism up and running is a "key expected outcome" from COP31. 

Climate finance is always a highly contested issue at UN climate negotiations. 

Developing countries have successfully pushed for a "work programme" on climate finance to feature on the conference agenda.

These parties see this programme as a way to pressure developed countries into providing more funding from their public coffers, specifically under Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement. Some are even proposing a "burden sharing" arrangement for climate-finance provision.

This comes against a backdrop of major donors cutting their aid budgets and the Trump administration in the US pressuring multilateral development banks (MDBs) to drop their climate objectives.

Developed countries, which have traditionally been responsible for providing finance, would prefer to keep a broader focus on issues such as improving access to existing finance and broadening the range of donors. Some developing countries, such as small-island states, also support these goals.

Nations have also been discussing Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement under the "Veredas dialogue". This focuses on making all global "financial flows" consistent with climate action.

Countries have different views about what this involves, with developing countries again hoping to keep the focus on developed countries' responsibilities to financially support them. 

At negotiations in June, parties were unable to agree on the details of a "global goal on adaptation" (GGA), which is intended to drive climate adaptation worldwide.

Having agreed at COP30 on a list of 59 "indicators" - ways to assess progress towards the GGA - nations now need to refine these before COP32 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This is a highly technical process that involves a taskforce working out how to use and track these indicators.

Broadly, developing countries stress the importance of finance to fund adaptation efforts, rather than simply to track progress. They also want reassurances about a pledge made last year to "triple adaptation finance".

At the June climate negotiations, negotiators also failed to make any progress when discussing the mitigation work programme (MWP) - the only formal agenda item that concerns cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Among other things, parties disagreed on whether the MWP should continue running over the next few years, or simply be brought to a close.

Back in 2023, the first "global stocktake" (GST) of the Paris Agreement set out the state of climate action and what needed to be done to set the world on course.

On mitigation, nations agreed to a package of measures, including "transitioning away from fossil fuels", tripling renewable energy and "halting and reversing deforestation" by 2030. 

Some of these outcomes remain contentious among certain parties, particularly large, developing countries and those with economies that rely on fossil-fuel exports.

Developing countries have persistently argued that they need more climate finance to implement the global stocktake outcomes.

Parties were meant to update their climate plans under the Paris Agreement, informed by the first global stocktake, by 2025. These plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), cover the period out to 2035.

So far, only 150 parties - responsible for three-quarters of global emissions - have submitted new NDCs. 

Iran, Vietnam, Egypt and Argentina are among those without new NDCs - and the US has withdrawn its climate plan under the Trump administration.

Some parties, such as the EU, have stressed the need for countries to submit their new NDCs ahead of COP31 - and to ensure they are aligned with the 1.5C temperature limit.

COP31 will also see the launch of the second global stocktake, which will conclude in 2028.

Turkey will be pushing its "action agenda" priorities at COP31, including global targets for electrification, reducing waste and reducing building-sector emissions.

(The Australian "presidency of negotiations" is intending to pursue a "cover text" decision at COP31 that may capture some of these wider targets, such as the electrification goal.)

The action agenda is meant to provide a complementary track to the formal negotiations, where governments and non-state actors can advance specific, real-world solutions.

A new COP31 presidency effort dubbed the "climate implementation bridge" is also meant to complement these ambitions by turning NDC goals into an "investable project portfolio"

Some parties have explicitly signalled their support for various elements beyond the formal negotiations, in the run-up to COP31. 

For example, a joint letter signed by 105 parties called for COP31 to "put the ocean at the heart of climate action" by embedding ocean-based climate action in the UNFCCC architecture.

The post Interactive: Who wants what at the COP31 climate change summit appeared first on Carbon Brief.

If you're a customer of cloud-hosted AI workflow platform Trigger.dev, take heed, because your environment variables may have been exposed in a security incident disclosed on Sunday.

Trigger offered little explanation in its Sunday security incident report, noting that its investigation had identified "exposure across a subset of organizations" and that an attacker had gained unauthorized access to environment variables belonging to those organizations.

Whatever exploit was used to gain access has been blocked, the company added, and affected customers have been notified of steps they need to take to prevent further security problems.

We likely don't have to tell The Reg readers how important environment variables are in SaaS and cloud services like Trigger. If compromised environment variables contain sensitive credentials, an attacker could basically end up with the keys to the kingdom, potentially gaining access to connected services and digital infrastructure.

For those unfamiliar with Trigger.dev, it's a platform for building AI agents and workflows in TypeScript, but here's the kicker: Trigger advertises itself as a durable execution platform that handles pesky things like retries, scaling, and keeping long-running tasks going through crashes and redeployments, while providing tools to monitor what those tasks are doing.

Trigger, the company's site notes, can be used to "build durable AI agents that survive refreshes, redeploys, and crashes," and is ideal for "long-running tasks with retries, queues, AI observability and elastic scaling."

In short, companies running their AI on Trigger probably want it to keep running, which makes stolen environment variables all the more dangerous.

Elastic scaling, automated retries, and, as Trigger notes, the ability to run lots of concurrent operations without timeouts could compound the consequences of compromised API keys, depending on what those credentials allow an attacker to access.

An attacker with stolen credentials could potentially interfere with a customer's connected services or workflows. Additionally, Trigger recently added webhooks to its offering, supporting services like Stripe, Supabase, and Slack, potentially expanding the range of integrations that could be affected if their credentials were exposed.

This could be pretty bad for anyone affected. Trigger has some fairly high-profile customers, with companies like fashion brand Emporio Armani, Pentagon-supporting AI acquisitions platform GovSignals, SaaS calendar platform Cal.com, and others all listed on the company's site. Trigger has not publicly identified which organizations were affected by the intrusion.

We reached out to Trigger, which declined to provide any additional information on the incident. A company spokesperson instead told us to wait for a full incident report to learn more.

Luckily for Trigger customers and those concerned about SaaS security now that AI is regularly coming up with new vulnerabilities in commonly used platforms, Trigger is open source and can be self-hosted, which might be a better alternative in this day and age than relying on a hosted service. ®

The MotoGP Grand Prix of Malaysia at Sepang is in the books, with Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) taking the victory ahead of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), while Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) completed the podium. Marco Bezzecchi finished sixth, while Jorge Martin sat out the weekend to focus on his recovery. Read the teams' post-race PR below.

More, from a press release issued by Ducati Lenovo Team:

Marc Márquez takes a dominant win in the Grand Prix of Malaysia with the Ducati Lenovo Team. Francesco Bagnaia thirteenth.

• Marc claims his 80th victory in the MotoGP class
• Alex Márquez on the podium in third with the Ducati of Gresini Racing MotoGP

Marc Márquez and the Ducati Lenovo Team came out victorious in the Grand Prix of Malaysia, setting the stage for the first match point of the season. Francesco Bagnaia finished the race in thirteenth position.

Márquez took the lead at Turn 1 by overtaking his brother Alex. After a brief exchange of positions between the two during the opening lap, Marc ultimately pulled away in the middle stages of the race before crossing the finish line with a 4.1-second margin over Acosta. Bagnaia, starting from the fourth row, lost several positions in the opening two laps and ultimately finished thirteenth.

As the nineteenth Grand Prix of the season draws to a close, Marc Márquez leads the Riders' standings with 399 points. Francesco Bagnaia is ninth with 173 points. The Ducati Lenovo Team is currently second in the teams' standings (572 points), while Ducati sits atop the constructors' championship (537 points).

The next Grand Prix on the calendar for the Ducati Lenovo Team is scheduled for November 6th to 8th at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar.

Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) - 1st: "The goal for today was to lead from start to finish. Based on the previous sessions, it was clear that my pace was good and I felt comfortable. Luckily, Alex (Márquez) went wide at Turn 4 after trying to overtake me. Apart from that moment, I focused solely on riding at my own pace, and I'm happy with the 34 points scored this weekend. We have reached the point in the season where we need to think about the overall situation. We're leading the championship and there are very few races left, but the job isn't done yet and there are still many moments to come."

Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) - 13th: "The race went more or less as expected. Yesterday, in a way, we were helped a little by the rain. Today, from the start, I knew I had a grip issue and tried to manage it as best I could. Even so, after five laps, the goal became simply to bring the bike home. Unfortunately, this is the situation, and I have to accept it. There are three Grands Prix left in the season, and we'll try to give it our all in every session."

Luigi Dall'Igna - Ducati Corse General Manager: "Today's race wasn't easy, because it was necessary to keep an eye on rear-tyre wear. Marc did an incredible job, and the bike worked well. Alex also had a good race, so I'm happy with the results. There are still three races left and a lot to do, so we must stay focused until the end. We're leading the championship, that's true, but we haven't achieved anything yet, so we'll keep both feet on the ground."

More, from a press release issued by Aprilia Racing:

Sixth place for Aprilia Racing in Malaysian Grand Prix. Marco Bezzecchi sixth, Ai Ogura fourth for SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team.

Aprilia Racing ended the weekend at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit with both RS-GP26s on track finishing in the top six of the long race.

Marco Bezzecchi started fifth on the grid and ran fourth for much of the race. In the closing laps, Ai Ogura of the SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team attempted to overtake, resulting in contact between the two RS-GP26 bikes. Bezzecchi lost a few metres to the Japanese rider, and shortly afterwards a small mistake took him wide and cost him another place. The Italian crossed the line sixth and holds third in the riders' standings on 332 points.

Ai Ogura of the SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team finished fourth. A result that sees Aprilia place the only two RS-GP26 bikes on track inside the top six.

Marco Bezzecchi: "I struggled badly in the race, but there are still positives to take from the weekend. Now we go to Qatar. I'm not sure what to expect, but there's no shortage of drive and determination. I hope we'll have an easier time, but if not, we'll take the same positive approach we had here at Sepang."

Massimo Rivola - CEO Aprilia Racing: "We knew Sepang would be a difficult track for us. The positive, though, is that the gap was confined to a single sector, which shows us where we need to focus to improve. Marco gave it everything, but by the end of the race he had no tyre left. Jorge tried to work a miracle, but the hard truth is that racing with a fracture of the radius six days earlier was always going to be a tall order. That won't change anyone's approach at Aprilia Racing. We'll keep fighting to the end."

More, from a press release issued by Tech3:

Double points finish for Tech3 as temperatures soar in Sepang.

Enea Bastianini fought until the very end of the Grand Prix of Malaysia to claim a well-earned fifth place, while Maverick Viñales also added to the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team's championship points tally, finishing in P14. 

Much like the previous two days, conditions at the Sepang International Circuit for the 19th round of the 2026 MotoGP Championship were among the most challenging of the season. Track temperatures had climbed to 55 degrees come the start time of the race at 15:00 MYT (UTC+8), while the humidity stood at 47%.

The 20-lap race also threw up other challenges. The soaring temperatures meant tyre wear was high and needed careful attention, while the track surface was also far from ideal.

Aware he was let down by his start in Saturday's Sprint, Bastianini worked with his crew ahead of Sunday morning to get a better launch in front of a record-breaking crowd. The hard work paid off as the Italian jumped from seventh to fourth at the first corner before a mistake at Turn 6 dropped him to sixth.

From there, 'La Bestia' was unable to run the pace of the lead group of five. But as the laps passed, he gradually gained on Marco Bezzecchi ahead. When his compatriot ran off track at Turn 14 on the final lap, Bastianini was on hand to claim fifth, his second-best Grand Prix result of the season. A successful points-scoring weekend now moves the Italian into the Top 10 of the Riders' Championship standings.

Starting from a season's best qualifying of twelfth, Viñales had a tricky start and dropped back to P20 on lap one. But 'Top Gun' was determined to make the finish, despite feeling a lack of grip in the hot conditions. The Spaniard continued gaining positions as the race wore on and scored two points from P14 as the chequered flag fell.

There's little rest for Tech3 after a successful Malaysian Grand Prix. The third round in as many weeks kicks off in just five days' time with the Grand Prix of Qatar at the Lusail International Circuit running from 6 - 8 November.

Enea Bastianini: "We worked during the night to try something different, and this morning my start was already better in the Warm Up, and we demonstrated it during the race. It was a bit risky to brake on the kerb at Turn 1, but it was the only solution to be close to the top at the end of Turn 1. I was in fourth position at Turn 6, but I braked late and went wide, and from there I lost some positions. I tried to stay with them, but it was complicated. I suffered like yesterday with the front, but I fought a lot during this race, I saved the bike probably 20 times. Anyway, we can be satisfied. It's been great work, because yesterday I wasn't confident of doing a great race like that. Turn 14 on the last lap was a bit like Christmas, a small gift. P6 to P5 doesn't change a lot, but anyway, it's better. Now we have Qatar, so I'm looking ahead to that." 

Maverick Viñales: "We managed to finish today and get some points, so that's a positive. The race was not so bad but overall, I found it hard to get a good feeling on the bike. We just keep trying to analyse, learn and improve with the team. I still haven't figured out how to ride the bike quite right, because I feel very low grip and it's so difficult to make a correct line. Over 20 laps it was tough for sure. After a few laps I started to brake a little bit differently, but the shoulder needs load, so it's what we expected coming into today. I hope I can recover between these two races. Qatar will feel totally different, but maybe it can be a place where I can start to learn a little bit more."

Nicolas Goyon, Team Manager: "Well, a pretty good result here in Sepang, with a strong P5 in the main race. We knew yesterday, after the disappointing Sprint, that Enea was able to do much better than this, and the work through the night has paid off. Congratulations to Enea, he delivered a solid race with a really great start, where he was already P4 at the first corner, and he fought all through the race with some decent lap times. In the end, it's P5 and Enea is now inside the Top 10 in the championship, which is ultimately his target. So, good job from Enea's side.

"On the other half of the garage, I know it's been a tricky weekend for Maverick. Yesterday he struggled to finish the Sprint, but I'd like to thank him for his effort today. I know he wants more, but at the moment that's all he can get, and in the end it is P14 and we take these two good points for the championship. We hope that Maverick can fight for higher positions in the near future. Now it's time for everyone to pack, and we're going to head to Doha for the next race next week in Qatar."

More, from a press release issued by BK8 Gresini Team:

Podium for Alex Marquez, Iker Lecuona scores points again.

• RACEDAY

ALEX MARQUEZ 3º

IKER LECUONA 15º

• WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

ALEX MARQUEZ 8º (202)

FERMIN ALDEGUER 10º (125)

IKER LECUONA 23º (11)

• TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

BK8 GRESINI RACING 5º (333)

Alex Marquez: "I'm very happy to finish on the podium and, above all, to have finished a race that really tested me, especially physically. Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to cope with two consecutive races, which is why I've decided to stop and undergo surgery tomorrow. Otherwise, I would arrive in Qatar without the strength needed to even make it through FP1. There were several possible windows for this operation, and I pushed it as far as I could to complete the overseas tour, but the time has come. Now the goal is to return at full strength for the final two races of the season."

Iker Lecuona: "Today, the heat was my biggest rival. This definitely isn't my circuit, but today's race pushed me to my physical limit. Let's say it felt like three normal races in one. I'm not a fan of the humidity and the heat, but I gave it my best today. I learned a lot this weekend and I have to be happy with it: it was a positive weekend in terms of my riding, and we also brought home a point for the team."

More, from a press release issued by Honda HRC Castrol:

Motivated Marini turns weekend around for seventh place as Mir's Malaysian GP ends early. 

Brutal conditions pushed the riders and their machines to the limit in the 20-lap Malaysian GP, Luca Marini overcoming his physical limitations to earn a solid seventh place.

As ambient temperature pushed towards 40°C from early in the day, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Sunday in Sepang would be a demanding affair. Ten short minutes of Warm Up allowed the Honda HRC Castrol team to implement their final changes before the main event of the weekend. A tenth place for Joan Mir and 15th for Luca Marini had the pair confident of again fighting for the top ten, even in the demanding conditions.

Having been left drained of his energy after Saturday's Sprint, Luca Marini entered Sunday unsure if he would be able to complete the full Grand Prix. Another incredible first lap thrust him into top ten contention and extra motivation provided by memories of the last three years with the Honda factory team spurred him on. Keeping Zarco as an early benchmark, Marini was able to open up a significant gap over the chasing pack and with others fading, the #10 kept his focus and held Di Giannantonio at bay until the end to secure seventh place and nine points. A welcome return to the top ten after complicated weekends in Indonesia and Australia.

He leaves Malaysia 39-points clear of Diogo Moreira in the battle for top Honda in the World Championship standings.

Joan Mir was able to make a much more aggressive start to Sunday and went side-by-side with his Honda HRC Castrol teammate through the first sector. As strong as ever, Mir battled with the likes of Marini, Moreira and Binder for the first eight laps. Unfortunately, his race would end soon after as he returned to the pits due to a change in his physical condition.

There are now only a few days until the Qatar Grand Prix, the Honda HRC Castrol team traveling directly to Doha to begin preparations for Round 20 of the 2026 MotoGP World Championship.

Luca Marini: "Today has been really good when we look at the whole weekend, yesterday after the Sprint I honestly did not know if I would be able to finish this race. I have to say a big thank you to everyone in my crew because they gave me a lot of motivation before the race, thinking about the three years we have spent together - I wanted to give them something to celebrate and match the effort they always show me. Today was a day to remember, even if it is just for seventh place, we did an amazing race in a tough situation. I knew that the first lap would be the most critical, so I went as hard as I could and I found myself with Zarco and kept him as a point of motivation throughout. Now I'll head back to Italy before Qatar to continue to improve my condition as much as possible."

Joan Mir: "Coming into this weekend we knew that there would be some challenges and had already agreed that if I started to feel different, I would stop. On lap nine I started to not feel at my 100% and decided to stop to avoid making anything worse. We need to double check everything now and understand our situation because the weekend until Sunday has been really good - even better than we were expecting. It's a big shame and of course I am frustrated, but I remain focused to work with the team to understand and overcome this situation."

More, from a press release issued by Monster Energy Yamaha: 

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Battle Heat in Sweltering Sepang Race. 

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins pushed in today's dry and hot Grand Prix of Malaysia Race. The duo completed the 20-lap contest in 11th and 12th place respectively.

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins had to strike a balance between pushing and tyre management in the 20-lap Grand Prix of Malaysia Race. They negotiated the Sepang International Circuit in 36°C and ultimately took 11th and 12th place respectively.

Quartararo started from P18, held the position in the opening corner to then overtake Jack Miller and Maverick Viñales. Though Iker Lecuona had got through on him on lap 1, he retaliated on lap 2. With Joan Mir retiring, the number 20 next found a way past Francesco Bagnaia on lap 9 and then chased his teammate, who was 1.5s ahead of him. With nobody closely behind, the Frenchman focused on his rhythm and gradually closed the gap to Rins, and a battle between the teammates ensued with two laps to go. Quartararo came out victorious. As two more rivals failed to reach the chequered flag, he secured P11, 25.826s from the winner.

Launching from P17, Rins had a good start. He went around the outside in the first corner and wrapped up the opening lap in P15. He continued his charge on the next lap, overtaking Bagnaia. It allowed the number 42 to latch onto the back of Franco Morbidelli for a while, but he ultimately couldn't stay with him. As Mir retired, Diogo Moreira crashed on lap 13, and Johann Zarco later also retired from the race, Rins was riding in P11 when he entered a battle with his charging teammate with two laps remaining. Rins finished in P12, 27.063s from first.

Following today's Race, Quartararo moves up to 14th in the MotoGP World Championship standings with 79 points, while Rins keeps 20th place with 29 points. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP stay 10th in the Team Championship with 108 points, and Yamaha remain fifth in the Constructor Championship with 105 points.

Alex Rins: "It was really tough, but I gave it my best effort, as always. I started really well, and I recovered some positions. But then I was seeing on the pit board 'Quartararo 1.6', then 1 second… I started to ride smoothly, but he caught me. I had a brief chat with him later, and he saw that I was on the limit with the front. I had a big drop of the tyre with 12 laps to go, but I had good fun. It was a tough and physical race, but we did it."

Fabio Quartararo: "I gave it my maximum, and the race went like expected. I think I improved my feeling a bit compared to Friday, but we were still not quite where we wanted to be."

More, from a press release issued by Prima Pramac Yamaha:

Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP faces another difficult Sunday in Malaysia.

Jack Miller finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in 16th position after tyre wear and grip issues affected his race, while Augusto Fernandez crashed out on the second lap.

Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP endured another difficult Sunday at the Malaysian Grand Prix, with both riders unable to achieve the results they had hoped for in the sweltering heat of Sepang. In a season that has proved more demanding than expected, the team faced another race in which the challenges encountered throughout the weekend continued to limit its potential.

Augusto Fernandez, standing in for the injured Toprak Razgatlıoğlu for the remainder of the season, saw his race come to an early end after crashing on the second lap. The Yamaha test rider had been looking to gain further valuable experience in race conditions, but the incident brought his Malaysian Grand Prix to a premature conclusion.

Jack Miller, meanwhile, battled in the midfield for much of the 20-lap race. However, the grip issues that had troubled him throughout the weekend, combined with increasing tyre wear in the closing stages, made it difficult to maintain his position. The Australian lost ground over the final laps and eventually crossed the finish line in 16th place.

Jack Miller: "It was a long, tough race. From start to finish, it was more about surviving than thriving. There's not a huge amount to say, really. I had a couple of moments early on, and by around lap ten, when I saw the riders ahead pulling away, I could already feel that I was struggling a little more than them. I tried to manage things as best I could, both with my riding and the engine maps, but towards the end I was pretty much a sitting duck and couldn't do much more. Tyre wear was definitely a factor. The conditions were among the toughest we've faced, and Turn 1 felt like an ice rink on every lap. The biggest issue for me was the huge difference in grip between the track surface and the kerbs, so you were constantly trying to use the kerbs to your advantage wherever possible. It was a really difficult situation out there."

Augusto Fernandez: "I made a mistake, and it was my fault. At the beginning, I was close to the other Yamahas, and after the pace we showed yesterday, I knew I could stay with them and try to make some passes. I was behind Iker Lecuona, and because of the engine difference, I was losing time in the corners and then he was able to pull away again on the straight. I wanted to get past him, but it was too early, and I made a mistake. Despite that, I think it was a positive weekend in terms of my riding. I'm recovering my pace and feeling more comfortable on the bike, so I'm making good progress. Physically, I felt okay during the race, and I was happy with how I managed the heat throughout the weekend. It's a shame I couldn't finish the Grand Prix, because completing the full race distance would have been important for rebuilding my physical condition, but I feel I'm getting there, both physically and mentally, as well as in terms of my riding. I was happy with the Sprint and with the overall progress we made." 

More, from a press release issued by Castrol Honda HRC:

Castrol Honda LCR rider Johann Zarco was unable to finish Sunday's race at Sepang.

• Starting from 8th on the grid after a positive weekend, Zarco was determined to fight for a strong result.
• The Frenchman made a good start and quickly gained positions, finding his rhythm and battling with his rivals for a place in the top five.
• Unfortunately, in the closing stages of the race, Zarco encountered a technical issue with his bike, which is currently under investigation. He was forced to return to the pits and retire from the race.
• Despite the unfortunate outcome, Zarco had shown strong potential throughout the race and was on course for a solid result, which would have been a fitting end to a weekend marked by consistency and good pace.

More, from a press release issued by Pro Honda HRC:

Pro Honda LCR rider Diogo Moreira crashed during Sunday's race at Sepang.

• Starting from 14th on the grid, Brazilian rider Diogo Moreira made a strong start and immediately began gaining positions.
• While battling for a top-ten finish, Moreira crashed at the last corner, some laps to the end. He managed to pick up his bike and rejoin the race but was eventually forced to retire due to the damage sustained to the bike.
• On a positive note, Moreira had been showing consistent pace and was on course for a strong result. Despite the unfortunate outcome, the rider and the team will take the positives from the weekend and aim to bounce back at the next race!

The post MotoGP: More From Teams On Sunday at Sepang appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.

Hacking Adventure Tours

Packaged adventure tours can be fun and useful. A guided hut-to-hut walk in the Italian Alps, or a bicycle tour around the villages of Rajasthan, or a kayaking cruise between Caribbean islands are fantastic journeys that can be hard to program yourself. A good adventure tour agency knows how to smoothly sequence events like this, and on higher-price tours you may get a guide as well.

But I prefer to create my own adventure tours, because I can save many thousands of dollars that way. I use the commercial adventure tour itineraries as a basis for my own travels, and then modify them as needed. The way I figure it, if they can move a dozen people along the route, I should be able to do it with one or two. The most reputable agencies publish their itineraries online in great detail as a sales incentive. But to complete many of the routes they are selling requires private transportation or special accommodations. You might need a pick-up or delivery at a trail-head, or a jeep to reach a village, or even a plane flight, etc. This is where many budget travelers stop. It took me many years to realize that in most places in the world today — even developing nations — it is not hard, or very expensive, to arrange private transportation or expert help. And with the internet, these arrangements can be made beforehand. I've pre-arranged jeeps, vans, buses, and boats. The simple rule of thumb is: if a US-based tour agency can pre-arrange it, you can too, and at a great savings.

It will take some time and googling to arrange all the parts of an adventure tour, but the payoff is that you can replicate the same tour for about 1/5th the cost of the glossy professional version. So now I page through the adventure travel sites discovering all kinds of nifty tours I would have never thought about doing. Unlike the unconnected places in a guide book, there's a logical flow to an itinerary, and because of their high prices, these agencies will hone and optimize a trip for peak experiences. A key thing: pay attention to the time of year they run a tour, which is again highly optimized. Still I wind up modifying them in some way for my own use. I usually chop off the leisurely entry in a big city and head directly to the adventure (I call that laser-forward-slow-back travel).

Adventure Tour Agencies

• National Geographic Expeditions
• Wilderness Travel
• Geoex
• AsiaTranspacific
• Africa Adventure
• Zegrahm
• Journeys International

Some famous adventure travel companies specialize in highly-refined premium tours around the world, but they may be low on actual adventures. For instance I find National Geographic Expeditions' trips (better than their Adventure trips) involve more car and plane travel than suits me, but occasionally they'll have a nice gem worth replicating. Wilderness Travel gets you walking or kayaking a bit more, but still cover more miles in vehicles than I want, but I have used their itineraries a few times with great success.

Geoex offers pretty cool offbeat trips I've not seen elsewhere, but they also have plenty that are too mileage-hungry to count as an adventure. AsiaTranspacific specializes in Asian trips, a few of which stay close to the bone. For Africa and animals I look to Africa Adventure; they have a really good season chart for best times of year and parks for wildlife viewing. I like Zegrahm for inspiration. They do real off-the road adventures, including trips one might describe as "expeditions" which is more my kind of adventure travel.

But of all the tour sites, the one that has provided me with the most appealing itineraries is Journeys International. They emphasize in getting you to walk, hike, bike and kayak and this is really the way to go anywhere. Almost any one of their itineraries would yield a fantastic adventure.

Remember, I have no personal experience with the tours given by any of these outfits. I only use their freely published routes. All these tours are super expensive if you buy them but I would bet they would be really fun and generally well done. I recommend them here only as models to assemble your own. — KK

Vehicle-Dependent Expedition Guide

This great book is unfortunately expensive and difficult to find. However it is the most stunning collection of vehicle expedition lore anyone is likely to encounter. It lists everything from how many Land Rover Defender 90's you can fit in a cargo container, to what socks to wear while driving in the desert. It is extremely detailed, does not shy away from product names, and is rife with real-world life-saving data. It includes tons of information on planning, visas, customs, shipping, survival, vehicle set up, driving tips, GPS and traditional navigation etc. On top of all that the writing style is matter of fact, the book is very well organized, and the photos and examples are inspiring. The most surprising fact that I learned from this book was how much weight matters, just like backpacking and mountaineering, it is the single most important thing to minimize in vehicle expeditions. Weight adversely affects handling, fuel efficiency, acceleration, braking, and your ability to traverse sand, mud, or steep grades. The $150 spent on this book will save anyone thousands on any offroad trip or expedition they are undertaking. — Alexander Rose

World Heritage Sites

I've slowly clued into the fact that there is a network of "World Heritage" monuments, sites, and natural parks throughout the world-places that are deemed unique enough, or endangered enough, to deserve funding by UNESCO. A cultural site can be a monument, a group of buildings, or an entire city. But to be granted a World Heritage designation, it must "represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; or bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared."

I like to think of these creations as the Best of Civilization.

Almost every country has at least one site, and sometimes many. Some places are justifiably famous, but many are mysteriously overlooked. Heritage sites are always among the most interesting destinations to visit in any country, well worth going out of your way to see. The sites range from ruins like the famous Inca Machu Picchu, to the less known ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri, India, to preserved towns like Visby, Sweden, to unspoiled wilderness areas like the Galapagos Islands. In total UNESCO lists 788 sites in 100 countries, which also include about 150 natural sites, deemed "areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance" or outstanding bio-diversity.

In my travels I've learned to seek them out.

For a full list, and criteria, see World Heritage List. — KK

• BULGARIA (Year added to list)1979 Boyana Church1979 Madara Rider1979 Rock-hewn Churches of Ivanovo1979 Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak1983 Ancient City of Nessebar1983 Srebarna Nature Reserve1983 Pirin National Park1983 Rila Monastery1985 Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari

Overlanders' Handbook

This is a more affordable version of Vehicle Dependent Expeditions. For $30 you'll get most of what is in that $100 plus book. In fact, this Handbook is more practical, with the kind of information you would want to take with you on a rough vehicle expedition, while Expeditions is more for pre-planning your trip. Think of it as the Lonely Planet guide to overlanding. — Alexander Rose

• The single biggest mistake first-timers make is over-equipping and overloadingtheir vehicle.
• Do You Need a Powered Winch?A powered winch may be crucial to the 'expedition look', but the received opinion from most 4×4 overlanders who've been there and got stuck is that, unless you're looking to push your 4×4 to the limit, there are many other more useful items.However they're powered, the typical permanent front mounting will be at the wrong end more than half the time and on many occasions there'll be nothing close enough to winch off unless other vehicles are present. And if they are, chances are they can simply pull you out.
• Shipping involves so many entities that it's very difficult to discern where a service charge ends and a bribe begins.
• You must also be very conscious of your situation and the local culture. In many developed countries, an attempted bribe could land you in a lot of trouble. On the other hand, in some countries, without a small bribe your vehicle could turn to rust before you get the single stamp you need on your temporary import document.

Once a week we'll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

Devon nature reserve says 'reckless' theft of narrow-headed ant colony sets back years of conservation work

A nest containing up to 5,000 of England's rarest ant species has been stolen from a nature reserve, a conservation charity has said.

Devon Wildlife Trust (DWT) said a nest of narrow-headed ants had been dug up and taken from Chudleigh Knighton Heath nature reserve in south Devon, which is the last place in England where the species still exists.

Jackery just launched the Explorer 100D portable power station. This is Jackery's smallest battery, giving a new level of versatility to power many of the devices people rely on most. Meanwhile, it integrates  the durability and safety people expect from Jackery's larger models into a compact case. The Explorer 100D ... [continued]

The post Jackery Launches Explorer 100D Portable Power Station. Maximum Capability For Carryon Compatibility appeared first on CleanTechnica.

The law of unintended consequences is being tested this year, as Tesla CEO and anti-transgender activist Elon Musk throws his hat into the political ring, seeking to boost Republican candidates in the 2026 US midtern elections.

The post A Referendum On Elon Musk And Transgender Rights — Who'd A Thunk It? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

TL;DR: Use AI to easily edit and convert PDFs with a lifetime subscription to PDNob Pro PDF Editor for $44.97, regularly $349.95.

Working with PDFs can be cumbersome — but with the PDNob Pro PDF Editor, AI features make creating, editing, and processing PDFs faster and more efficient. — Read the rest

The post Let AI handle your PDFs with PDNob Pro for $44.97 appeared first on Boing Boing.

Alarming footage shows a New Jersey mayor charging at a local resident during a "heated" council meeting. The chaotic incident was streamed live as council members told Pemberton Township Mayor Matthew Bianchin to stop; Bianchini was ultimately physically removed from the room, yelling threats ("I am getting you - I am fu**ing get you!") — Read the rest

The post Mayor gets upset in council meeting, charges at local resident appeared first on Boing Boing.

2026 ED138 is a large trans-Neptunian object, or as the BBC has it, an "enormous new dwarf" planet lurking in the outer regions of the solar system. Discovered by Matthew Holman, it's the first such body discovered using data captured by the Vera C. — Read the rest

The post Trans-Neptunian planet candidate hailed as "enormous new dwarf" appeared first on Boing Boing.

Atlantis is the new version of UserLand Frontier that runs on modern systems. As I've said earlier, I'm surprised how well we covered all the bases, it's reliable, it works like Frontier works with a couple of important exceptions which I've now had it start working on.

1. First, the Find and Replace command has never worked properly in Atlantis and it's been a struggle to get Claude to fix the problems. I think the key was I didn't tell it to use the C kernel as the guide for how Find & Replace works. So it was trying to create a F&R that you would have in a text editor, not the object database which is another level up, it's the structure that contains all the scripts.
2. Second, Frontier has a great debugger, but we haven't implemented it yet in Atlantis. After learning how to use the debugger in THINK C in the late 80s to write the original version of Frontier, I couldn't imagine working without one, so I added it to Frontier. We never put it on the list of immediate priorities for Atlantis, but today it is there. It would be like getting a new EV after driving my Model Y for four years. While I do like Atlantis without the debugger, I kvell like crazy for it if the debugger was in and working.

I'm juggling too many projects now and things are slowing down. I've got Bonbon which is the Markdown browser (core feature of the Writer's Web), a new version of FeedLand in the works with some great new features, and making it so that the API for RSS.chat allows it to be used as the editor for any app that wants a nice Markdown-based wizzy writing tool. And there's actually more, but I want to ship some of this soon. So there's that too.

This is the danger of working with Claude Code. It works faster than I can keep up with, so there's a new version of FeedLand queued up for me to test, and I have to do that now before looking at the other projects.

We had a full weekend of racing at Sepang, but all the excitement happened on Sunday night after the chequered flag had fallen. Yamaha announcing they would not travel to Qatar threw a spanner in the works for the MotoGP Group, who had spent all weekend pressuring the teams and persuading them all was well. Neil, Adam and David talk through the possible consequences and fallout from Yamaha's decision, what it means for Qatar, and why MotoGP is so keen to go there. 

With all that excitement, you'd almost forget there was a race. The crew also look at how Marc Marquez won, whether there were Aprilia team orders at play, they praise Pedro Acosta's race, and give their winners and losers and grades for the race.

Due to dodgy wifi in Malaysia, the video podcast did not upload completely to YouTube, and so it has been split into two videos.

• Read more about Paddock Pass Podcast Episode 589: Sepang Grand Prix Review - Triumph And Disaster
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