New: Police in Wisconsin used Flock to create a pretext to search a man's car for weed. Their justification? He drove from Wisconsin to Michigan, a “known source state for marijuana as it is legal there,” and Flock showed he "travels to Michigan frequently." www.404media.co/cops-used-fl...

Cops Used Flock to Track a Man Across State Lines to Create Pretext to Search His Car for Weed

"The vehicle travels to Michigan frequently which is a known source state for marijuana as it is legal there," a probable cause justification reads.

404media.co

The skull of a Flat-tail horned lizard (Phrynosoma mcallii), close relative of the 'Texas horny-toad', native to the Sonoran desert. Unlike the thorny spikes on the body that are made of modified skin keratin, head spikes (horns) are bony skeletal structures covered in keratin. (📷: Emily Chebul)

Nobody ever explained to me what a passkey is or how they work. Websites just started asking me for passkeys like it's something we talked about.

*I agree with my colleague James Patrick Kelly here, and I also think that getting thoughtful people into the same room to breathe the same air is an excellent response to AI writing

TTAB Reverses Specimen Refusal, Finding Webpage Sufficient for Pet Food Products thettablog.blogspot.com/2026/08/ttab...

Okay everyone, my dad had an issue of Popular Science from the month of his birth and it’s time to take a little adventure through the history of advertising …

Who says patents can't be fun!

Meredith Lowry@meredithlowry.bsky.social · yesterday

It's a banana banana stand. All of y'all are slightly at my mercy if I don't put who obtained the patent. In my defense for this one, there were 2,200+ new designs and still a billable day of work.

It's a banana banana stand. All of y'all are slightly at my mercy if I don't put who obtained the patent. In my defense for this one, there were 2,200+ new designs and still a billable day of work.

This sucks ass. When I start my car I want to be able to put my foot on the pedal and drive off. I dont want to watch an ad. A distracting ad. Right in the middle of my console. Again. This sucks ass.

Soft Rains Day. "Today is August 4, 2026, in the city of Allendale, California. Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills." RIP Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012

Every now and then someone takes a run at me along the lines of "I don't understand why you, a scifi writer, don't appreciate 'AI'," and I'm all, motherfucker, it's *because* I'm a science fiction writer I have the positions I have, how many times do we have to fucking yell "torment nexus," my dude

The Cairo, a City class ironclad river gunboat, completed in 1861. She was the first ironclad to be sunk by a mine when one exploded under her in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862. Parts of the boat were salvaged and preserved near the Vicksburg National Cemetery. #NavalHistory

Yes, the "purpose" is not just what they see as the value that can be extracted from the media bsky.app/profile/tima...

Tim Ackermann@timack.bsky.social · 5d ago

The phrase "has served its purpose" is load-bearing here and is wrong.

If you happen to have a Coldcard wallet for BTC, act ASAP.

Protos@protos.com · 6d ago

Coldcard attack: 25 minutes, 500 wallets, $38M in BTC gone protos.com/coldcard-att...

A little Roman octopus to wish you a happy week! 🐙❤️ From a Roman villa mosaic at Villaquejida, León, Spain. Limestone, AD 100-200. Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid 📷 by me #MosaicMonday #Archaeology

Super useful. I figure a lot of us here in the Sky know this stuff already, but it might be handy to hand to parents, grandparents and pals who are less technically minded. www.librarian.net/NoToAI/

Clarkesworld has recently discovered that their August issue successfully breached containment and gained access to the Internet, where it is presently hacking reader's minds. "Oh no, what will we do? Who knew that stories could be so powerful?" said Neil Clarke, when approached for comment.

Clarkesworld@clarkesworldmagazine.com · 4d ago

The August issue of Clarkesworld is now online and features stories by Ravn J. Silver, Eilis O’Neal, Jordan Alexander, D.A. Xiaolin Spires, E.N. Auslender, Y.M. Pang, and H.H. Pak. clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_239 Subscribe today at: clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

TTAB Upholds Section 2(e)(5) Functionality Refusal of Office Chair Wheel Configuration thettablog.blogspot.com/2026/08/ttab...

I have just been sent the transcript of a deposition my grandmother gave in 1977 while she was serving as an expert witness in a series of tribal rights cases and let me tell you, if nothing else this is proof that I come by it honest for every conceivable value of “it”

The other options are: stinky socks, liver & onions, BARF, stink bug, DEAD FISH, wet dog, and toothpaste. These belong at a nuclear waste site.

Because the goal there isn’t to let that book swill around in murk. It’s to allow for use for patrons, typically for free or with tuition costs, and not just the enrichment of self-deluding weirdos.

Ummm.

A London Startup Is Selling Permanent Stick-On Tattoos—and It Wants to Do Mail Order

Concerned parents of the world, unite.

gizmodo.com

You can watch part of John Oliver's Last Week Tonight show about Buc-ee's enforcement against companies using logos containing cartoon alligators, teddy bears, and other animals and info about Oliver's sale of "Buc-off" merch (I bought a hat to display in my office) here: youtu.be/J6OzxDLdnZ0?...

Buc-ee's #lastweektonight

YouTube video by LastWeekTonight

youtu.be

Highly recommend this article - Comedian Daring Buc-ee's To Sue Takes Dig At Brand Policing (www.law360.com/articles/250...) - about Buc-ee's aggressive enforcement of trademark rights in its logo (a bucktoothed cartoon beaver wearing a red baseball cap), with a few quotes from me.

Comedian Daring Buc-ee's To Sue Takes Dig At Brand Policing - Law360

The string of lawsuits Buc-ee's Ltd. has filed against businesses it says mimic its popular beaver branding has caught the attention of comedian John Oliver, who unveiled a bucktoothed "Buc-Off" masco...

law360.com

Update: Google just sent me a statement saying it is “rolling back” this AI feature that let anyone make completely bullshit satellite images. Comes after our demos of the tool and those from OSINT researchers. One of the worst AI tools I’ve ever seen bsky.app/profile/jose...

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5d ago

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

Aaaaaaand Google is rolling back the AI function for Google Earth:

Geoff Brumfiel@gbrumfiel.bsky.social · 5d ago

BREAKING: Google has rolled back its tool less than a day after it launched. Updated story coming soon.

And... bsky.app/profile/leah...

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 6d ago

Google Earth, a tool often used as a source of satellite imagery to verify photos and videos, has added a feature that allows you to alter satellite imagery with AI, for reasons. blog.google/products-and...

'Anthropic described the project as “our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books” in an internal memo, which noted “we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project”.'

Dr. Jeroen W.P. Wijnendaele@drdragases.bsky.social · last wk.

No longer content with pillaging intellectual work and dismembering our environment (already critically weakened), AI companies are now hellbent on destroying books galore including rare editions. Shut down these nefarious enterprises already.