Tootfinder

I’m sat on a bench in Lincoln Square, Manchester, surrounded by a buzz of expectation.
The Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, is in town for his first day at Number 10 North
-- the government’s new northern base inside Heron House, immediately in front of me.
Police officers are stationed around the square, keeping watch on all the entrances.
In the middle of it all, Abraham Lincoln stands looking out across the square with the weary air of somebody who has seen it all

Andy Marshall's Genius Loci Digest: 7 Aug 2026
I feel as though I’m in a kind of dystopian bubble of my own making - an aberration in the continuum, as though I’ve slipped into the square from another century, carrying some obsolete way of looking at the world.

Shipwrecks from the Age of the Real ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Found–and Filmed–for the First Time https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/shipwrecks-linked-to-the-caribbeans-infamous-age-of-piracy-found-and-filmed-for-the-fir…

Shipwrecks from the Age of the Real 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Found–and Filmed–for the First Time
Through dives in and around Nassau, and thanks to knowledge from local divers, six wrecks were discovered.

NFL news roundup: Latest league updates from Friday, Aug. 7 https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-news-roundup-latest-league-updates-from-friday-aug-7

OpenAI says it has expanded safety testing around its upcoming model Astra as it "cannot rule out" critical cyber capabilities, potentially delaying launch (Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/08/07/openai-astra-model-delay-cybersecurity-risks…

Exclusive: OpenAI slows release of Astra model citing cyber capabilities
The move comes amid concerns that recent models from OpenAI and others have been breaking beyond sandboxes.

Hate “The Algorithm?” RSS Is One of the Tools You’ve Been Looking For
RSS is one of the best examples we have of the open web, where we can design and customize how we experience the internet, not the other way around.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/hate

Hate “The Algorithm?” RSS Is One of the Tools You’ve Been Looking For
Since at least the moment Facebook introduced (and apologized for) its News Feed, “the algorithm” has been shorthand for the ways the tech giants control what we see and when we see it. In the age of enshittification, there is a push to reclaim our feeds and networks. Good news: there’s a tool that’s been around for decades that can help wrangle many of your feeds into something manageable: Really Simple Syndication, more commonly known as RSS.

"Butterflies around the world are changing habitats – and experts say it’s ‘signalling a warning’"
#Butterflies #Insects #Climate

Butterflies around the world are changing habitats – and experts say it’s ‘signalling a warning’
New research shows early-warning species is on the move, expanding or contracting geographic range and changing altitude

Oda With Josiah Shala
A podcast featuring in-depth conversations with successful Albanians from around the world. Hosted by Josiah Shala—an Australian-Albanian radio personality, national television presenter, MC, and podcast host...
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: https://www.greataustralia…

The Trump administration moved to further limit legal immigration Thursday
with a new proposal that would place more restrictions on who can work legallyin the United States and for how long.
In a yet unpublished Federal Register filing, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was looking to tighten rules around work authorizations,
known as EADs,
-- particularly for those with humanitarian parole and non-DACAdeferred status,
as well as those facing po…

US Visa Update: Nearly 1M Migrants Could Face New Work Permit Restrictions
The Trump administration said it was cutting the incentives for illegal immigration and giving Americans greater job security.

China's Nexchip Semiconductor says it aims to raise around $890.37M in its Hong Kong share sale by offering 216.2M shares at ~$4.12 per share (Rajasik Mukherjee/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/chinas-nexchip…

The rise of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News,
and before them, grifter television evangelists,
turned out to be critical in blocking the country’s movement toward equality and true representation,
instead bringing democracy to the brink of collapse.
The U.S. disaster is currently mirrored around the world by ascendant authoritarian parties and movements.
Something larger is going on,
and as always, it’s worth paying attention to the very particular history of …

Trumpism as social contagion
It isn't just propaganda ops. Authoritarianism spreads person to person.