Winding Down
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology, science and other news
by Alan Lenton
30 March 2025
This week...
The world is changing. It always has been, but the last few weeks have been exceptional and I have a mass of things that I thought would interest people. Not everyone is interested in everything. So how to proceed?
For this and the next issue, I have combed a bunch of interesting stuff out of the backlog and this fortnight’s events and just given you the headline and URL so you can dive deeper into subject, should you wish too. I don’t expect anyone to read all of them! But I hope you find something helpful an/or interesting!
I’ve also included the regular quote (politicians take note), and the URL to an absolutely sunning picture of the Sun.
Enjoy!
Quotes:
“History has shown that even when mistakes are fixed, voters often remember these kind of missteps the next time they head to the polls.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly25yny3ego
Pictures:
Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250316.html
Politics USA:
Trump hangs sword of Damocles over the American legal system
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/22/donald-trump-law-firms-threat-027250
Signal chat group affair: unprecedented security breach will seriously damage US international relations
https://theconversation.com/signal-chat-group-affair-unprecedented-security-breach-will-seriously-damage-us-international-relations-253090
Trump suggests media outlets be deemed illegal
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5195881-trump-media-illegal/
“Oopsie” – the word that means the United States has now tipped into a constitutional crisis
https://emptycity.substack.com/p/oopsie-the-word-that-means-the-united
The ‘Iron Mountain’ hoax: how anti-Vietnam war satire sparked today’s conspiracy theories
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/iron-mountain-hoax-anti-vietnam-war-satire-conspiracy-theories
New deputy FBI director Dan Bongino previously called for imprisoning Democrats
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/03/nx-s1-5308020/dan-bongino-trump-fbi-director-conspiracies-podcast
Trump’s Greenland bid is really about control of the Arctic and the coming battle with China
https://theconversation.com/trumps-greenland-bid-is-really-about-control-of-the-arctic-and-the-coming-battle-with-china-246900
Want to understand Trump’s US? Look at late ‘90s Russia
https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/want-to-understand-trumps-us-look-putin-russia-oligarchy-autocracy
Politics Elsewhere:
The AI-Justice Paradox: AI Has Been Partially Banned In The NSW Legal System
https://futuremindlabs.substack.com/p/the-ai-justice-paradox-ai-has-been
The Cybertruck as metaphor
https://davidaaronovitch.substack.com/p/the-cybertruck-as-metaphor
France offers US scientists a safe haven from Trump’s war on woke
https://go.reg.cx/tdml/3ad4/6800447f/a7a6e2e4/4gak
ULEZ one year on
https://us21.campaign-archive.com/?e=2071a7f4c4&u=46fb828256f8952f90a5738c3&id=1817837a0f
Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary as European doubt over US grows
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/microsoft_unveils_a_finalized_eu/
Planes are having their GPS hacked. Could new clocks keep them safe?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq6yg204pvmo
Lobbying in ‘forever chemicals’ industry is rife across Europe – the inside story of an investigation
https://theconversation.com/lobbying-in-forever-chemicals-industry-is-rife-across-europe-the-inside-story-of-our-investigation-247436
Will Labour cap political donations?
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/69098/will-labour-cap-political-donations
How to leave the submarine cable cutters all at sea – go Swedish
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/20/opinion_column_submarine_cables/
Ministers consider ban on all UK public bodies making ransomware payments
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/14/ministers-consider-ban-on-all-uk-public-bodies-making-ransomware-payments
Techie:
Viral footage of robot headbutting woman raises safety questions
https://www.sciencealert.com/viral-footage-of-robot-headbutting-woman-raises-safety-questions
Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/everything-you-say-to-your-echo-will-be-sent-to-amazon-starting-on-march-28/
Thousands of satellites are due to burn up in the atmosphere every year – damaging the ozone layer and changing the climate
https://theconversation.com/thousands-of-satellites-are-due-to-burn-up-in-the-atmosphere-every-year-damaging-the-ozone-layer-and-changing-the-climate-251845
Learn fast and build things – lessons from six years of studying AI in the public sector
https://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/policy-briefing/public-sector-ai/
AI running out of juice despite Microsoft’s hard squeezing
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/14/ai_running_out_of_juice/
Altnets told to stop digging and start stuffing fiber through abandoned pipes
https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/03/altnet_abandoned_pipes/
With 10 months of support remaining, Windows 10 still dominates
https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/02/windows_10_grows/
UK ICO not happy with Google’s plans to allow device fingerprinting
https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/23/uk_ico_not_happy_with/
The Digital Markets Act: ensuring fair and open digital markets
https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-2019-2024/europe-fit-digital-age/digital-markets-act-ensuring-fair-and-open-digital-markets_en
New Apple white paper on privacy risks in interoperability mandates
https://developer.apple.com/support/downloads/DMA-Interoperability-Dec-2024.pdf
How AI can (and can’t) help lighten your load at work
https://theconversation.com/how-ai-can-and-cant-help-lighten-your-load-at-work-252663
Local councils struggle with ill-fitting software despite spending billions with suppliers
https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/05/local_council_tech_struggles/
Economics:
Tesla’s challenges run deeper than ‘toxic’ controversy around Elon Musk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz61vwjel2zo
Ebola May Be Cured With a Pill, Monkey Experiment Suggests
https://www.sciencealert.com/ebola-may-be-cured-with-a-pill-monkey-experiment-suggests
A Hidden Compound in Rosemary Could Help Fight Alzheimer’s
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-hidden-compound-in-rosemary-could-help-fight-alzheimers
China’s dwindling marriage rate is fuelling demand for brides trafficked from abroad
https://theconversation.com/chinas-dwindling-marriage-rate-is-fuelling-demand-for-brides-trafficked-from-abroad-250860
Ecology:
Studying This Slow-Moving Alaskan Landslide May Help Avert Future Disaster
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/studying-this-slow-moving-alaskan-landslide-may-help-avert-future-disaster-180986191/
Unprecedented changes to North Atlantic winds could have major impacts on UK weather
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/weather-and-climate-news/2025/significant-climate-change-impacts-paper-nao
‘Dangerous new era’: Climate change spurs disaster in 2024
https://phys.org/news/2024-12-dangerous-era-climate-spurs-disaster.html
Recycling old copper wires could be worth billions for telcos
https://go.reg.cx/tdml/3ad4/6685e5ff/38f012a3/4d2t
Misc:
London’s Dickens Museum turns 100, and puts on a show
https://londonist.com/london/museums-and-galleries/the-dickens-museum-turns-100-and-puts-on-a-show
The Secret of Orange Cats Finally Uncovered After 60-Year Search
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-secret-of-orange-cats-finally-uncovered-after-60-year-search
Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music opens at the British Library
https://www.bl.uk/press/beyond-the-bassline-500-years-of-black-british-music-opens-at-the-british-library/
CIA guide to sabotage
https://www.404media.co/declassified-cia-guide-to-sabotaging-fascism-is-suddenly-viral/
Health:
Which infectious disease is likely to be the biggest emerging problem in 2025?
https://theconversation.com/which-infectious-disease-is-likely-to-be-the-biggest-emerging-problem-in-2025-245491
Health Gap at End of Life Is Now Wider in US Than Any Other Country
https://www.sciencealert.com/health-gap-at-end-of-life-is-now-wider-in-us-than-any-other-country
Lucy Letby case: the problems with expert evidence
https://theconversation.com/lucy-letby-case-the-problems-with-expert-evidence-249309
Coda:
As I was scanning through the online Smithsonian Museum magazine, I wondered how long it will be before Trump and/or Musk started to tell them (the Smithsonian) what they can and cannot put on display when...
...Trump targets ‘anti-American ideology’ at Smithsonian museums
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdjy1jmvvwzo
Footnote:
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
30 March 2025
Alan Lenton is a retired on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist (among other things), the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.com/alan/winding/index.html.
If you have any questions or comments about the articles on my web site, click here to send me email.