Tootfinder

A coworker was telling us he'd been "fowling" (rhymes with "bowling") this weekend. We, naturally, heard that to be "foaling" and were initially quite confused.
It seems to be a very highly regionalized combination of American football, bowling, and cornhole gaining popularity in and around Detroit.
https://www.

Wenn die S12 Zugskomposition aus 3 DPZ in Winterthur beim Anfahren kurz ruckelt und wieder stehen bleibt und du bereits weisst: das wird nun dauern...
3 Minuten später die Durchsage "Störung beim Entkuppeln"
#SBB #ÖPNV

Low-field all-optical detection of superconductivity using NV nanodiamonds
Omkar Dhungel, Saravanan Sengottuvel, Mariusz Mrozek, Till Lenz, Nir Bar-Gill, Adam M. Wojciechowski, Arne Wickenbrock, Dmitry Budker
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11920

Low-field all-optical detection of superconductivity using NV nanodiamonds
Nitrogen-vacancy centers in nanodiamond offer a microwave-free, noninvasive platform for probing superconductors via near zero-field cross-relaxation magnetometry. We demonstrate this by depositing nanodiamonds on YBCO thin films to measure critical parameters: transition temperature and penetration field. This method leverages nanodiamond fluorescence modulation as a result of magnetic field variation with 1mT amplitude to observe the Meissner effect and field scans to measure the penetration …

Manipulating the metal-insulator transitions in correlated vanadium dioxide through bandwidth and band-filling control
Xiaohui Yao, Jiahui Ji, Xuanchi Zhou
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.10183

Manipulating the metal-insulator transitions in correlated vanadium dioxide through bandwidth and band-filling control
The metal-insulator transition (MIT) in correlated oxide systems opens up a new paradigm to trigger the abruption in multiple physical functionalities, enabling the possibility in unlocking exotic quantum states beyond conventional phase diagram. Nevertheless, the critical challenge for practical device implementation lies in achieving the precise control over the MIT behavior of correlated system across a broad temperature range, ensuring the operational adaptability in diverse environments. H…

Americans Are Falling Behind on Their Car Payments (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/auto-loans-subprime-late-payments-1d8bb33c
http://www.memeorandum.com/251010/p134#a251010p134

💧 Ultrasonic device dramatically speeds harvesting of water from the air
#water…

Ultrasonic device dramatically speeds harvesting of water from the air
Feeling thirsty? Why not tap into the air? Even in desert conditions, there exists some level of humidity that, with the right material, can be soaked up and squeezed out to produce clean drinking water. In recent years, scientists have developed a host of promising sponge-like materials for this "atmospheric water harvesting."

Austria's privacy regulator finds that Microsoft violated EU law by illegally tracking students through its Microsoft 365 Education software (Suzanne Smalley/The Record)
https://therecord.media/microsoft-violated-eu-law-austria

Microsoft violated EU law in handling of kids’ data, Austrian privacy regulator finds
Austria's data protection authority ruled that Microsoft illegally tracked students using its education software by failing to give them access to their data and using cookies without consent.

Effects of strain on the stability of the metallic rutile and insulating M1 phases of vanadium dioxide
Peter Mlkvik, Lena Geistlich, Nicola A. Spaldin, Claude Ederer
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11480

Effects of strain on the stability of the metallic rutile and insulating M1 phases of vanadium dioxide
We present a systematic density-functional theory study of the effects of strain on the structural and electronic properties in vanadium dioxide (VO$_2$), with particular emphasis on its effect on the relative stability of the metallic rutile and the insulating monoclinic M1 phases. We consider various strain conditions that can be related to epitaxial strain present in VO$_2$ films grown on different lattice planes. Our calculations confirm the dominant role of $c$ axis strain, i.e., along the…

Currently setting up my new laptop (HP EliteBook X Flip G1i), and so far:
1. The device was delivered with a bundled warranty that already started 50 days ago
2. The supplier delivered a Battery Replacement Care Pack for 3 years instead of 5 years as ordered
Called HP for the warranty precox, had to send the invoice. Agent: "Yeah, it's gonna be about 2 weeks till we correct that."
(OK, Laptop won't leave the house until then)
Wrote the supplier for…