Morning Digest
35 stories from 8 sources, 59 more held back.
An Iowa city council meeting erupted into controversy after opening with a Satanic invocation that ended with the words “Hail Satan,” prompting a local pastor to demand that officials “reverse this curse.”
Iranian strikes forced US troops to effectively abandon a major military base in Kuwait during the opening stages of the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to newly released footage and accounts from American servicemen obtained by CBS News.
Iran threatens to block ‘illegal’ routes through Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to block what it calls “illegal” traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, saying it retains full control of the passage despite US claims to the contrary. The waterway is one of the world’s most important energy routes, normally carrying around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
US folded to EU pressure on Ukraine – Lavrov. The US gave in to pressure from the EU, which has openly gloated about undermining the Anchorage understandings and declared them “buried,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. The top diplomat made the remarks on Wednesday while speaking at a press conference following a ministerial meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian resistance organizations launched an attack out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel under the code name “Al-Aqsa Flood.
A former Australian Catholic bishop has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for sexually abusing two young indigenous men over the course of a decade. 76-year-old ex-bishop Christopher Saunders is one of the most senior Australian clerics to be convicted in a series of scandals that have shaken the Catholic Church for decades.
Europe is in revolt – its leaders are preparing for war. Europe’s leaders have grand plans – spend more on weapons, prepare for war, and tighten citizens’ belts. The people have more immediate concerns however, like finding somewhere to live, keeping their jobs, and getting an education.
A major escalation in Yemen has brought Saudi Arabia back into military confrontation with the Iran-backed Houthis, ending years of relative calm as tensions rise across the Middle East. Much of the fighting has taken place along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the strategically important Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following major Houthi territorial gains and a Saudi-backed counteroffensive.
Last week, MLB Pipeline revealed its selections for Minor League Hitting Prospect of the Year and Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year during the 2026 MiLB Awards Show on MLB Network. Brewers corner infielder Andrew Fischer won hitting honors after swatting 48 homers, the most in the Minors since 1982.
This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
I've always been kind of into computers since I was young. And then when film started to move from analog film to digital, I became more interested in that aspect of it. And the visual effects workflow for many years has included machine learning.
As previously promised, here’s Anthropic’s new fast, low cost model: Introducing Claude Haiku 5.5. The previous Haiku, 4.5, was very much showing its age. It came out almost a year ago, and was priced at $1/million input and $5/million output—relatively expensive even back then, and a full 10x the price of OpenAI’s GPT-6 Luna, released last month.
Anti-Patterns in Software Blogging (via) Some excellent writing advice from Michael Lynch. Michael warns against "meandering intros", misjudging your reader's existing knowledge, assuming they'll read your previous posts, and excessive formality. He also warns against overreliance on links as an excuse not to explain terminology.
I was a graph theory junkie long ago and even moved to Budapest for awhile to study among the greats. While I was there I started working on Barnette's Conjecture which came to occupy my thoughts over the next 24 years of my life, on and off as I worked in many different fields. Last summer I even thought for a few days that I had actually solved it.
OpenAI “rogue” agent activities found on Wikimedia projects. Given how tempting a target wikis are for rogue agent swarms, it's not a huge surprise that Wikipedia found evidence of that activity once they went looking:. The Wikimedia Foundation conducted its own investigation to see whether Wikimedia websites had been similarly affected by AI agents, focusing on those operated by OpenAI.
Since the Medicare breach, OpenAI has put in place additional monitoring to allow “immediate intervention” by staff to stop training if the company’s models access the internet in ways they’re not supposed to, Mr. Kwon [chief strategy officer at OpenAI] said.
OpenAI released their new Jev-style Decisions API, as previously announced at last week's DevDay. Since I already have an llm-typesafe plugin for talking to Jev, I had GPT-6 Astra read the new OpenAI API documentation and build an llm-openai-decisions plugin inspired by llm-typesafe. Unlike Jev, the new gpt-6-luna decision model supports image input in addition to text.
Before the news, do us a favor: take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the restack icon. That’s the best way to make sure independent journalism reaches the people who truly need it. Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx recently bragged about physically abusing his wife and said he’d do it again.
Before the news, help us reach more people by tapping the ❤️ and restacking this newsletter. It only takes a couple of seconds and helps more than you know. Here’s what’s on deck: Texas Republican Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton was caught admitting in a leaked audio recording that Donald Trump’s war with Iran is the single biggest problem for his campaign’s flagging numbers.
Before we get to the news, take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the circular restack button. Those two clicks make sure these stories reach the people who really need to hear them. The same Republicans who once called for their colleague, Congressman Max Miller of Ohio, to resign from Congress over damning domestic violence allegations are now spending millions of dollars to keep him in…
Global energy company Schneider Electric this week said it will acquire industrial design, engineering, and data management firm PTC Inc. for about $22.6 billion. The Boston-based companies claimed that the combination will bridge the “digital and physical worlds across the lifecycle, from design and build to operate and maintain.”
Teradyne Robotics, a subsidiary of Teradyne Inc. and parent company of Universal Robots A/S, announced the settlement on Oct. 1. The resolution aims to bring the dispute between the parties to a close and reflects their shared interest in avoiding the continued time and cost associated with legal proceedings.
Selecting the right motion architecture is one of the most important design decisions in robotics. At RoboBusiness 2026, Marcel Almonte, a mechatronics applications engineer at Harmonic Drive, will lead the session, “Integrated Drive Actuator Design: Combining Gearheads, Motor, Drive, and Sensors for Smarter Motion. RoboBusiness will take place Oct. 20 and 21 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Georgia will be without one of its key running backs when it plays at No. 6 Alabama on Saturday night. Junior Chauncey Bowens, who leads the No. 2 Bulldogs with six rushing touchdowns in five games, will miss Saturday's game against the Crimson Tide (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC), according to the SEC's initial availability report.
CHICAGO -- Jo Adell and Jose Ramirez powered Cleveland with a pair of two-out triples, and the Guardians avoided an AL Division Series sweep by cooling off the Chicago White Sox with a 9-3 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday. Adell's three-run triple gave Cleveland a 4-1 lead in the third inning. Ramirez's three-bagger drove in Travis Bazzana and Patrick Bailey for a 7-3 advantage in the eighth.
We've got a Super Wednesday in the 2026 MLB playoffs. That's right, four games -- all win or go home for the teams with their backs against the wall. Does it get any better than that?
When the WNBA semifinals resume Wednesday, all eyes will be on who won't be on the court. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray has already been ruled out of Game 2 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) against the New York Liberty after hurting a finger in Sunday's opening game.
Coach Becky Hammon glanced to her left and offered an apology she knew wasn't really necessary. "Sorry about the 40," Hammon said to Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, who had just played every minute of the team's series-clinching victory Thursday in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. "If there's somebody who's going to do 40, it's her," Hammon said.
Soon after the 2026 MLB playoffs end with the crowning of a World Series champion, much of the focus of the baseball world will turn to the tense negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement.
You've heard of buying your favorite team's merchandise or even a treasured season-ticket seat from an old stadium. But how about a urinal trough? That's the question Nebraska football is asking -- and reportedly has had answered, at least by a few fans.
Download this complimentary White Paper today! This White Paper gives robotics researchers and engineers an overview of a new large-scale motion capture dataset built to close the data gap limiting humanoid robot learning. It also shows how policies trained on the dataset transfer to a real humanoid robot.
Anduril intends to gradually scale production once Arsenal-2 begins operations as the defense systems maker builds its workforce, supplier base, infrastructure and production rate required for submarine output. Arsenal-2 will be built on a 187-acre site for “high-volume, high-precision production of undersea naval capabilities.
AI and automation are among the biggest trends in manufacturing. Manufacturers are leveraging newer technologies as a way to bridge the persistent skill gap in the industry, with AI boosting engineering productivity and automation in manufacturing is set to more than double by 2030.
Boston Dynamics, a humanoid and industrial robot maker owned by Hyundai, said it has appointed Rohit Prasad as CEO, effective today. The company hired Prasad for his experience turning physical artificial intelligence breakthroughs into commercial successes.
BD said it is the largest manufacturer of essential medical consumables and shares a commitment with the Trump administration to bolster the U.S. healthcare infrastructure. Under the agreement, the company said it will spend $3 billion to expand strategic production sites across the country and increase its annual U.S. output by about 5 billion essential medical consumables.
An Iowa city council meeting erupted into controversy after opening with a Satanic invocation that ended with the words “Hail Satan,” prompting a local pastor to demand that officials “reverse this curse.”
Iranian strikes forced US troops to effectively abandon a major military base in Kuwait during the opening stages of the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to newly released footage and accounts from American servicemen obtained by CBS News.
Iran threatens to block ‘illegal’ routes through Strait of Hormuz. Iran has threatened to block what it calls “illegal” traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, saying it retains full control of the passage despite US claims to the contrary. The waterway is one of the world’s most important energy routes, normally carrying around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
US folded to EU pressure on Ukraine – Lavrov. The US gave in to pressure from the EU, which has openly gloated about undermining the Anchorage understandings and declared them “buried,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. The top diplomat made the remarks on Wednesday while speaking at a press conference following a ministerial meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other Palestinian resistance organizations launched an attack out of the Gaza Strip and into Israel under the code name “Al-Aqsa Flood.
A former Australian Catholic bishop has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for sexually abusing two young indigenous men over the course of a decade. 76-year-old ex-bishop Christopher Saunders is one of the most senior Australian clerics to be convicted in a series of scandals that have shaken the Catholic Church for decades.
Europe is in revolt – its leaders are preparing for war. Europe’s leaders have grand plans – spend more on weapons, prepare for war, and tighten citizens’ belts. The people have more immediate concerns however, like finding somewhere to live, keeping their jobs, and getting an education.
A major escalation in Yemen has brought Saudi Arabia back into military confrontation with the Iran-backed Houthis, ending years of relative calm as tensions rise across the Middle East. Much of the fighting has taken place along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the strategically important Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following major Houthi territorial gains and a Saudi-backed counteroffensive.
Georgia will be without one of its key running backs when it plays at No. 6 Alabama on Saturday night. Junior Chauncey Bowens, who leads the No. 2 Bulldogs with six rushing touchdowns in five games, will miss Saturday's game against the Crimson Tide (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC), according to the SEC's initial availability report.
CHICAGO -- Jo Adell and Jose Ramirez powered Cleveland with a pair of two-out triples, and the Guardians avoided an AL Division Series sweep by cooling off the Chicago White Sox with a 9-3 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday. Adell's three-run triple gave Cleveland a 4-1 lead in the third inning. Ramirez's three-bagger drove in Travis Bazzana and Patrick Bailey for a 7-3 advantage in the eighth.
We've got a Super Wednesday in the 2026 MLB playoffs. That's right, four games -- all win or go home for the teams with their backs against the wall. Does it get any better than that?
When the WNBA semifinals resume Wednesday, all eyes will be on who won't be on the court. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray has already been ruled out of Game 2 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) against the New York Liberty after hurting a finger in Sunday's opening game.
Coach Becky Hammon glanced to her left and offered an apology she knew wasn't really necessary. "Sorry about the 40," Hammon said to Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, who had just played every minute of the team's series-clinching victory Thursday in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. "If there's somebody who's going to do 40, it's her," Hammon said.
Soon after the 2026 MLB playoffs end with the crowning of a World Series champion, much of the focus of the baseball world will turn to the tense negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement.
You've heard of buying your favorite team's merchandise or even a treasured season-ticket seat from an old stadium. But how about a urinal trough? That's the question Nebraska football is asking -- and reportedly has had answered, at least by a few fans.
Before the news, do us a favor: take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the restack icon. That’s the best way to make sure independent journalism reaches the people who truly need it. Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx recently bragged about physically abusing his wife and said he’d do it again.
Before the news, help us reach more people by tapping the ❤️ and restacking this newsletter. It only takes a couple of seconds and helps more than you know. Here’s what’s on deck: Texas Republican Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton was caught admitting in a leaked audio recording that Donald Trump’s war with Iran is the single biggest problem for his campaign’s flagging numbers.
Before we get to the news, take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the circular restack button. Those two clicks make sure these stories reach the people who really need to hear them. The same Republicans who once called for their colleague, Congressman Max Miller of Ohio, to resign from Congress over damning domestic violence allegations are now spending millions of dollars to keep him in…
Last week, MLB Pipeline revealed its selections for Minor League Hitting Prospect of the Year and Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year during the 2026 MiLB Awards Show on MLB Network. Brewers corner infielder Andrew Fischer won hitting honors after swatting 48 homers, the most in the Minors since 1982.
This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Global energy company Schneider Electric this week said it will acquire industrial design, engineering, and data management firm PTC Inc. for about $22.6 billion. The Boston-based companies claimed that the combination will bridge the “digital and physical worlds across the lifecycle, from design and build to operate and maintain.”
Teradyne Robotics, a subsidiary of Teradyne Inc. and parent company of Universal Robots A/S, announced the settlement on Oct. 1. The resolution aims to bring the dispute between the parties to a close and reflects their shared interest in avoiding the continued time and cost associated with legal proceedings.
Selecting the right motion architecture is one of the most important design decisions in robotics. At RoboBusiness 2026, Marcel Almonte, a mechatronics applications engineer at Harmonic Drive, will lead the session, “Integrated Drive Actuator Design: Combining Gearheads, Motor, Drive, and Sensors for Smarter Motion. RoboBusiness will take place Oct. 20 and 21 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Download this complimentary White Paper today! This White Paper gives robotics researchers and engineers an overview of a new large-scale motion capture dataset built to close the data gap limiting humanoid robot learning. It also shows how policies trained on the dataset transfer to a real humanoid robot.
I've always been kind of into computers since I was young. And then when film started to move from analog film to digital, I became more interested in that aspect of it. And the visual effects workflow for many years has included machine learning.
As previously promised, here’s Anthropic’s new fast, low cost model: Introducing Claude Haiku 5.5. The previous Haiku, 4.5, was very much showing its age. It came out almost a year ago, and was priced at $1/million input and $5/million output—relatively expensive even back then, and a full 10x the price of OpenAI’s GPT-6 Luna, released last month.
Anti-Patterns in Software Blogging (via) Some excellent writing advice from Michael Lynch. Michael warns against "meandering intros", misjudging your reader's existing knowledge, assuming they'll read your previous posts, and excessive formality. He also warns against overreliance on links as an excuse not to explain terminology.
I was a graph theory junkie long ago and even moved to Budapest for awhile to study among the greats. While I was there I started working on Barnette's Conjecture which came to occupy my thoughts over the next 24 years of my life, on and off as I worked in many different fields. Last summer I even thought for a few days that I had actually solved it.
OpenAI “rogue” agent activities found on Wikimedia projects. Given how tempting a target wikis are for rogue agent swarms, it's not a huge surprise that Wikipedia found evidence of that activity once they went looking:. The Wikimedia Foundation conducted its own investigation to see whether Wikimedia websites had been similarly affected by AI agents, focusing on those operated by OpenAI.
Since the Medicare breach, OpenAI has put in place additional monitoring to allow “immediate intervention” by staff to stop training if the company’s models access the internet in ways they’re not supposed to, Mr. Kwon [chief strategy officer at OpenAI] said.
OpenAI released their new Jev-style Decisions API, as previously announced at last week's DevDay. Since I already have an llm-typesafe plugin for talking to Jev, I had GPT-6 Astra read the new OpenAI API documentation and build an llm-openai-decisions plugin inspired by llm-typesafe. Unlike Jev, the new gpt-6-luna decision model supports image input in addition to text.
Anduril intends to gradually scale production once Arsenal-2 begins operations as the defense systems maker builds its workforce, supplier base, infrastructure and production rate required for submarine output. Arsenal-2 will be built on a 187-acre site for “high-volume, high-precision production of undersea naval capabilities.
AI and automation are among the biggest trends in manufacturing. Manufacturers are leveraging newer technologies as a way to bridge the persistent skill gap in the industry, with AI boosting engineering productivity and automation in manufacturing is set to more than double by 2030.
Boston Dynamics, a humanoid and industrial robot maker owned by Hyundai, said it has appointed Rohit Prasad as CEO, effective today. The company hired Prasad for his experience turning physical artificial intelligence breakthroughs into commercial successes.
BD said it is the largest manufacturer of essential medical consumables and shares a commitment with the Trump administration to bolster the U.S. healthcare infrastructure. Under the agreement, the company said it will spend $3 billion to expand strategic production sites across the country and increase its annual U.S. output by about 5 billion essential medical consumables.