WTF-Beta

Barack Obama launches podcast about books that ‘shaped his worldview’

The former US president will host six episodes of A Great Book for Audible, discussing work from Toni Morrison and John le Carré to James Baldwin

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/aug/10/barack-obama-launches-podcast-about-books-that-shaped-his-worldview

Here’s an easy daily habit that may help to keep the brain sharp in old age: Listen to music. A new study found that older adults who consistently listened to music reduced their risk of developing dementia by nearly 40 percent.

The study, from researchers at Monash University in Australia, used data from more than 10,800 relatively healthy men and women aged 70 and older who were enrolled in a long-running study of aging and health. None had Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia at the start of the study period. Participants underwent annual medical exams and regular tests of thinking and memory skills. They were followed for about a decade.

The researchers found that study participants who said they listened to music on most days had a 39 percent lower risk of developing dementia than their peers who “never,” “rarely” or only “sometimes” listened to music. They also had a 17 percent lower incidence of general cognitive decline, as well as higher scores on tests of thinking and memory skills, including episodic memory, or the ability to recall everyday events.

Regularly playing a musical instrument, such as a piano or guitar, also appeared to have benefits for the brain. Those who played a musical instrument had a 33 percent reduced risk of dementia and a 22 percent reduced risk of cognitive impairment.

https://www.alzinfo.org/articles/research/listening-to-music-may-cut-dementia-risk/

Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer’s – how complex mental maps and spatial reasoning protect your brain

https://theconversation.com/taxi-drivers-rarely-die-of-alzheimers-how-complex-mental-maps-and-spatial-reasoning-protect-your-brain-286650?utm_placement=newsletter

Almost missed it. Kept thinking all day that 8/11 is a day with significance. And then it came to me!

Happy birthday to our resident Cincinnatian!

@AndyD Nice! Reminded me of one of the projects that I saw on Grand Designs.

I also looked at this related listing:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/91462938#/?channel=RES_BUY

Both this one and the one you listed seem to have graveyards associated with them. Not sure how I'd feel about that. Lots of deep emotional energy stored in cemetery space.

This Box of 300 Love Letters Showed Up Out of the Blue. Who Was the Whimsical World War II Soldier Who Wrote Them?

Nobody knows who dropped Speedy Weber’s correspondence at a USO office in 2022. Researchers have finally tracked down two living relatives who remember him

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/this-box-of-300-love-letters-showed-up-out-of-the-blue-who-was-the-whimsical-world-war-ii-soldier-who-wrote-them-180989300/?utm_placement=newsletter

Hold on to your telescopes: the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team has released the largest-ever 2D color map of the universe. The 5.6-trillion-pixel map contains nearly 4 billion celestial objects, primarily stars and galaxies. The data is available for all to use and publicly viewable through the Legacy Survey Sky Viewer.

https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2026/08/10/scientists-release-biggest-2d-map-of-the-universe/?utm_placement=newsletter

@mark - Is your observatory still set up and being used?

Donald Trump secretly swapped planes as he left a Nato summit in Turkey last month, as part of an elaborate ruse in response to a possible Iranian threat, US media report.

The US president boarded Air Force One in view of television cameras before being transported to a military aircraft with the help of a catering truck, the Washington Post said. Journalists and some White House staff on board did not know he had been smuggled out.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2g90vvy62o

Wonder if the staff and reporters kinda feel expendable after this incident....

Brad

@DougG

Jackie's history:

https://laist.com/news/climate-environment/big-bears-famous-bald-eagle-jackie-has-died

She didn't make it.

RIP, Jackie.

@Bernard said:

Several hundred dollars for a piece of shit clothes washer that only worked 3 years.

Been reading a bunch of stuff you posted, plus following some links.

Here's one you might be interested in (if you haven't already found it yourself!):

https://clarityinsightadvisory.com/best-washing-machines-2026/

Microsoft has warned that hotel, conference, and other hospitality Wi-Fi networks are being actively abused by a Russian group to target travelers worldwide. The campaign, dubbed “CaptiveCrunch” turns a routine Wi-Fi login moment into an opportunity to compromise corporate accounts and devices.

From the user’s perspective, nothing looks out of the ordinary: they connect to hotel Wi-Fi, get the usual captive portal prompt, and perhaps see a familiar‑looking message about needing to update something before they can browse. However, behind the scenes, the allegedly state-linked group position themselves in the network path and manipulate DNS (Domain Name System) and HTTP traffic from captive‑portal Wi-Fi.

From there, several things can happen:

Logins are stolen: The user’s browser session is redirected to attacker‑controlled phishing pages, like fake Microsoft login prompts, where credentials, device codes, or OAuth tokens are harvested.

Malware is downloaded: The user is presented with fake update or ClickFix dialogs that download malware. In these cases, usually a remote access trojan (RAT) plus an infostealer.

A machine-in-the-middle attack (MitM) where traffic is quietly proxied through attacker infrastructure, putting the user in a position for further credential theft.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/08/travelers-targeted-when-logging-into-hotel-wi-fi-networks

I wonder if @mark knows these folks:

https://ledger.worseonpurpose.com/brands/beloit-mattress

Great stuff @bernard . Have experienced some of the same things you have.

Will definitely go back and read more when I have time....and will definitely be passing along those links to friends....

wit

The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Netflix

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/the-bombing-of-pan-am-103-cast-guide

critters

Happy Anniversary to the Millers!!!