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All Your Bat Genomes R Us

'[Sonja Vernes] and Emma Teeling at University College Dublin decided 10 years ago that they wanted to sequence the genomes of every bat on Earth "because they're such amazing creatures."' 'They built a collaboration of 600 researchers around the world, including 137 from 64 countries who are co-authors on the new paper.' | This is the data set which enabled the recent flurry of articles about bats originating in Europe ~65 million years ago, and developing their echolocation and disease resistance early as well.

The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Serbia’s populist president Aleksandar Vučić resigns to run for prime minister

Vučić not allowed to seek third presidential term and PM election will test his grip on rule after widespread protests

Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vučić, has resigned to pursue an attempt to become the prime minister in an upcoming early parliamentary election that will test his firm rule in the Balkan country after nearly two years of protests.

Vučić’s second presidential term would otherwise end in May next year. He is banned by the Serbian constitution from seeking a third term and said he was resigning to lead his rightwing Serbian Progressive party (SNS) in the 25 October ballot.

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Eva Longoria: Searching for France review – this lovely travel show radiates charm

It’s light stuff with more than a touch of Emily in Paris to it, but the actor’s latest travelogue has enough passion to make it highly endearing TV

‘I’m Eva Longoria and I’m a SERIOUS Francophile!” So begins each instalment of the actor’s Gallic travelogue. France, says Longoria, “is my home away from home”, although she’s usually in the country for work, rather than to experience its abundance of “joie de vivre”. (She does, she notes, have some extracurricular experience with the French, having previously been married to the French-American basketball player Tony Parker for three years.) Now, though, she is on her own adventure, having returned to l’Hexagone for something “deeper”. Cut to a clip of our intrepid guide in a vineyard, getting acquainted with cabernet sauvignon grapes (“That’s my favourite!” she whispers animatedly), before we segue to her floating gracefully past the Eiffel Tower.

Eva Longoria: Searching for France follows the equally alarmist-sounding Eva Longoria: Searching for Spain, and sets up the exciting possibility of an extended Longoria televisual universe, where the Desperate Housewives star makes her way across the entire globe (Eva Longoria: Searching for Equatorial Guinea, anyone?). It’s all been done before on television, of course, but the passion and lightness of touch here make it an endearing proposition.

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Andy Burnham to fight next election with plan for NHS-style care service

PM says he is willing to expend political capital to bring in universal service that would be funded by ‘everybody’

Andy Burnham will fight the next election with a pledge to finally fix the broken social care system, acknowledging that he is willing to expend political capital by asking taxpayers to cover the cost.

As Labour’s party conference began in Liverpool, he pledged to “rip the plaster off” to radically transform care, setting out a vision for a universal service that would be free at the point of use for everybody in England.

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Five arrested on terrorism charges after explosives found near RAF base used by US

Counter-terrorism police investigate whether Iran is behind suspected bomb plot after member of public calls 999 over suspicious vehicles

Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Iran is behind a suspected bomb plot after armed officers found explosives on three vans parked minutes from an RAF base used by the US military.

The Guardian understands that after five men were arrested on terrorism charges, investigators were examining materials found in the vans, with an initial view being they were consistent with improvised explosive devices.

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第4回ぎふ長良川花火大会 The 4th Gifu Nagara-gawa Fireworks Festival

ELCAN KE-7A has added a photo to the pool:

第4回ぎふ長良川花火大会 The 4th Gifu Nagara-gawa Fireworks Festival

026年8月8日に開催された第4回ぎふ長良川花火大会から、第2章、磯谷煙火店によるスターマイン「ふるさとの風と川の流れ」。The 2nd chapter, Starmines by Isogai enkaten from the 4th Gifu Nagara-gawa Fireworks Festival on 8 August 2026.

第4回ぎふ長良川花火大会 The 4th Gifu Nagara-gawa Fireworks Festival

ELCAN KE-7A has added a photo to the pool:

第4回ぎふ長良川花火大会 The 4th Gifu Nagara-gawa Fireworks Festival

026年8月8日に開催された第4回ぎふ長良川花火大会から、第2章、磯谷煙火店によるスターマイン「ふるさとの風と川の流れ」。The 2nd chapter, Starmines by Isogai enkaten from the 4th Gifu Nagara-gawa Fireworks Festival on 8 August 2026.

John, Paul, George, Ringo, Stuart in het StamCafé

Hele dag in de gaten gehouden, was allemaal net niks: inmiddels zijn John, Paul, George, Ringo en Stuart opgepakt bij een vliegbasis van de RAF bij Fairford. Althans, John, Paul, George, Ringo en Stuart: zo zullen ze dan wel heten! Er gaat een (wazige) foto rond van de Johns en Georgen die een aanslag hebben willen plegen op de vliegbasis waar Britse en Amerikaanse militairen gevestigd zijn en zware bommenwerpers (de B-1B Lancers bijvoorbeeld) staan - de scherpe foto is een bewerking door AI. Volgens Trump wilde het stel 'big damage' toebrengen aan de Amerikanen aldaar: "Ze waren van plan ons fort zware schade toe te brengen; de samenwerking met de Britten verliep uitstekend en we hebben ze te pakken gekregen." De mannen hebben mogelijk geprobeerd een aanslag te plegen met drie witte busjes gevuld met explosieven, maar werden betrapt door een boer die 999 (112) belde. De popo heeft nog niet het antwoord op alle vijf W's en de H. Wel is er mogelijk een link met Iran. En ach ja, die terroristen heb je dan in je land, kan gebeuren!

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DNA Lounge: Wherein Folsom Street Events has fucked us, and not in the consensual way

Friday evening, the Folsom Street Fair web site finally published the map of the fair. (This is not unusual for them: many years they don't publish the map or schedule until after the fair has begun.)

And lo what do we see? That for the first time in over twenty-five years they have decided that our block of 11th Street is outside of the fair.

This has, to put it mildly, massive financial consequences.

So we mail them, and:

From: Angel Adeyoha <angel@folsomstreet.org>
Date: Fri, Sep 25, 2026 at 11:15 PM
Subject: Re: Why is DNA Lounge excluded this year?
To: <devon@dnalounge.com>

Hey Devon,

The map has been public since our ISCOTT application, and we can't make a change to our footprint two days before the event, legally. We have moved to a closure system with fewer gates to make it work better for our staffing and traffic control, and so have to choose where closures that are emergency exits would work best. We didn't want to fence you or Butter in, especially since we haven't had any conversations about participation with your bar. We can for sure discuss what sort of participation you'd like in the future, right after we get done with this fair!

I'm sorry it caught you off guard and we're always open to meeting to discuss further.

Let me translate that for you from its native Douglas Adams:

There's no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now. ... What do you mean you've never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven's sake, mankind, it's only four light years away, you know. I'm sorry, but if you can't be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that's your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams.

Thank you, Vogon Street Fair Events.

Yes it did "catch us off guard" that for the first time in twenty-five years their organization chose to completely FUCK us with zero notice to the tune of $20,000 in combined lost sales -- from our outside bar that nobody can visit, and our free daytime indoor party that nobody will attend. "Golly gee, nothing to be done. Better luck next time, fuck you very much."

The street closure permit (ISCOTT 1532891) shows all of 11th Street marked as closed up to Harrison. There's nothing that indicates the block need only be partially closed. So they closed our entire street -- but intentionally excluded us from the fair anyway. Best of both worlds!

And not just us, of course: our neighbors Butter, Buzzworks, Audio, Bergerac and Halcyon are also fucked by this.

To be clear, this is not the City who did this to us -- this was done to us by Folsom Street Events, the corporation that runs the Folsom Street Fair.

Why would they do this? Who knows. Did we piss someone off? Did they decide that we're just not "Folsom" enough for them? On that note, here are some photos and videos of our parties on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening:


Update, Saturday Evening:

At around 10pm, a crew showed up to start installing the barricades. Now, let me clarify what that used to mean: at literally every previous Folsom Street Fair, the "gate" was a couple of 3' tall stanchions, a card table, and a drag queen with a tip bucket and a hard sell. This time? the "gate" they were building was an 8' tall chain-link fence going wall-to-wall, blocking even the sidewalk. This was an Outside Lands fence. This was not a, "Welcome to the street party, please tip" gate, this was a, "You are not seeing Charli XCX for free" barricade.

Which means that this was not just a design and psychological barrier to people at the fair coming our way, they made it literally impossible.

Anyway, funny story, they started setting up that wall just north of Buzzworks -- so only Buzzworks, Butter and DNA Lounge were fucked. Audio, Bergerac and Halcyon got to be inside the fair. This did not sit well with Vlad, the owner of Butter and Buzzworks, and he went off. He told the fence installers that either they were taking it down or he was, and eventually they said "I am not paid enough for this" and left.

And then Angel (Folsom Street Events Executive Director) called the cops on him! An hour later, a squad car showed up.

Cop: You can't keep knocking down the fence, they will keep calling us, that's their property.

Vlad: No it's not, it's abandoned garbage in the middle of the street in front of my door, keeping my customers away.

Cop: Hold that thought, here is someone else we need to go assault, TTYL.

Then the cops went and sat on some dude and 4 more squad cars showed up with sirens blazing to rubberneck, as they do. I don't even know what this dude did, I blinked and suddenly there was a guy face down on the concrete getting cuffed.

So, I dunno man. Our best guess is that Angel has beef with Vlad for some reason unknown to us, and Angel considers DNA Lounge to be acceptable collateral damage in their little feud. Who can even tell. This is still some serious bullshit that is costing us a colossal amount of money and I would prefer to just be able to invite customers into my venue and provide them entertainment, food and beverages without someone trying to persistently fuck my shit up, so if Angel and company could knock that shit off that would be greatly appreciated.

As of 11:30 AM, they keep trying to put the barricade back up and Vlad keeps taking it down. I guess he hasn't been arrested yet. This story is "developing", as they say.

We are all hanging on by god damned thread here, and we don't need this kind of petty, vindictive, petulant, childish, circular-firing-squad nonsense from people who should be on our side. Jesus Fucking Christ on a God Damned Pogo-Stick.

ANYWAY.

If you could find the time to visit us at DNA Lounge this afternoon and evening, that would really be appreciated. I mean, if someone is going to so much effort to keep you away from us, we must be throwing a pretty good party, right?

We will be here all day, at the ass end -- literally the ass end -- of this fucking fair.

Zwitserse kiezers verwerpen bij referendum strengere definitie van neutraliteit in de grondwet

Als het voorstel was aangenomen, was het voor Zwitserland voortaan moeilijker geweest sancties op te leggen of toenadering te zoeken tot een militair bondgenootschap als de NAVO. De Russen spraken steun uit voor het referendum en noemden Zwitserse sancties eerder een aantasting van het neutraliteitsprincipe van het land.