Sparkling World has added a photo to the pool:

stan.jernigan has added a photo to the pool:

I took this photo of an “Island and Oyster Cultivations Rafts” with my iPhone 17 Pro Max while cruising into Hiroshima, Japan. The platforms have the oysters suspended from cedar or bamboo rafts or long lines. This setup allows the oysters to stay in nutrient-rich water columns and avoid seafloor contaminants…

stan.jernigan has added a photo to the pool:

I took this photo of the Cherry Blossoms along the “Osaka Castle Moat” with my iPhone 17 Pro Max while visiting Osaka, Japan. I love the flowering trees and the natural beauty they create…

SergioQ79 - Osanpo Photographer - has added a photo to the pool:

Tokyo, nei pressi della stazione di Uguisudani.

Non è la Tokyo delle cartoline.
Non è quella dei grandi incroci, delle insegne luminose o delle file davanti alle attrazioni.

Qui la città parla un'altra lingua.

Piccoli locali aperti sulla strada. Tavoli stretti. Birra alla spina. Yakitori a 100 yen. Persone che mangiano in piedi o si fermano per un ultimo boccone prima di tornare a casa.

Uguisudani è famosa per altre cose. Per gli hotel, per le strade secondarie, per una Tokyo che molti visitatori non vedono nemmeno. Eppure è proprio qui che la città sembra più sincera.

Nessuno presta attenzione al fotografo.
Nessuno si accorge del turista.

La gente entra, mangia, beve qualcosa e riparte.

Io faccio quello che faccio sempre.
Mi fermo a osservare.
Poi, quando arriva il momento giusto, entro anch'io.

東京、鶯谷駅の近く。

観光客が思い描く東京ではない。
有名な交差点も、大きなネオンもない。

ここには別の東京がある。

道路に面した小さな店。
立ったまま食べる人。
ビール。焼き鳥。仕事帰りの人たち。

鶯谷は別のことで知られている街だ。
でも、このあたりを歩くと東京の日常が見えてくる。

誰も観光客を気にしない。
誰も写真を撮る人を気にしない。

みんな食べて、飲んで、また歩き出す。

私は少し離れた場所からそれを眺める。

そして最後には、自分も店に入る。

Tokyo, near Uguisudani Station.

This is not postcard Tokyo.
No giant crossings, no famous landmarks, no crowds of visitors.

Here the city speaks a different language.

Small eateries open to the street. Narrow tables. Draft beer. 100-yen skewers. People stopping for a quick meal before heading home.

Uguisudani is known for different reasons. Hotels, side streets, and a side of Tokyo that many visitors never see. Yet this is where the city often feels most genuine.

Nobody notices the photographer.
Nobody notices the tourist.

People come in, eat, drink, and leave.

I do what I always do.
I stop and watch.
Then, sooner or later, I go in as well.

Opa vertelt maar toen wij 14 waren blowden we ook weleens mee in het park, en daarna kregen we dan heel hard de slappe lach of werden ontiegelijk paranoïde. Wat we heel nadrukkelijk niet deden: snuiven, althans, die ene rare jongen achterin de klas wel, maar dat was lijm en hij had geen vrienden. Er was wel een dealer, maar dat was eigenlijk gewoon een jongen die er ouder uitzag en dus wiet of hasj meekreeg uit de coffeeshop. 

Dat er sindsdien het een en ander veranderd is blijkt uit Nachtkinderen, de nieuwe driedelige docuserie van vriendin van de show Sahar Meradji. Die maakt sowieso altijd geweldig spul - eerder volgde ze al op indrukwekkende en indringende wijze wokisten, extreemrechtse gekken, hoeren, junkies, en Nederlandse moslims, nu komen daar dus tieners die keta, 3-mmc of ander obscuur spul gebruiken bij. Afijn, wat ons betreft solliciteert Meradji met Nachtkinderen nadrukkelijk naar de eretitel beste documentairemaker van Nederland, want christus te paard wat een spul is dit. Het leidt tot allerlei talkshowdiscussies over hoe wijdverbreid dit fenomeen nou is, en dat is logisch en goed, maar als je het daadwerkelijk zit te kijken, is dat helemaal niet zo relevant - het is erg genoeg dát dit fenomeen er is. 

Nu kijkbaar op Videoland - was een uitstekende serie geweest voor de NPO, maar die zaten waarschijnlijk te slapen, of hadden te weinig budget omdat het leger aan middenmanagers ook betaald moet worden. 

Ho, en wellicht ten overvloede, maar doe toch maar geen drugs, kinders.

Ja dat is dan een probleem he! Als je jarenlang alleen maar bezig bent geweest met ruziemaken en het belasteren en het neerhalen van anderen komt er een dag waarop de politieke ballon, die soms gevuld moet worden met compromissen, knapt in je snuit. Als je jarenlang als een onsympathieke olifant door de porseleinkast raust, iedereen tegen je in het harnas jaagt, een kwalijke & vuige drankroddel over een bobo van een andere partij de wereld in helpt en dat extreem huichelachtig in de schoenen van een 'medewerker' probeert te schuiven, de leider van een andere partij naait, een bizarre aanval plaatst op een kopstuk van een andere partij waarvoor je zelfs een standje hebt gekregen van je eigen Kamervoorzitter, je als minister smerige politieke spelletjes speelde door te beloven dat er geen 19 meloen naar de Hamas-loverboys van UNRWA zou gaan om dan lekker pûh stiekem toch 19 meloen naar de Hamas-loverboys van UNRWA te peren, en daarop toch alleen / vooral de ontstane ophef te betreuren, en vrijwel iedereen van links tot rechts je daardoor bestempelt als enorm arrogant, of als mager mannetje, of als draaikont, terwijl je in een vlaag van zelfbevlekking nog een positief kwakje doet over je EIGEN Wikipedia: dat gaat het een keertje mis. NU DUS!

Compleet krankzinnig. Echt compleet krankzinnig is het dat, zoals het nu lijkt, groepen Syriërs andere Syriërs voor de ogen van argeloze vakkenvullers de vernieling in rammen en op het hoofd stampen in een Groningse supermarkt. Het loopt de spuigaten uit en het is écht compleet krankzinnig met die Syriërs. Syriërs terroriseren Baarn, Syriërs terroriseren Den Bosch, Syriërs terroriseren Utrecht, Syriërs terroriseren Arnhem, Syriërs terroriseren Groningen, Syriërs terroriseren Nijmegen, Syriërs terroriseren Eindhoven, Syriërs terroriseren Ter Apel, Syriërs terroriseren gewoon ieder dorp waar ze maar terecht komen.

Syriërs steken, snijden, stelen, vechten, verspreiden IS-propaganda, willen aanslagen plegen, pikken knuffels, slashen, verkrachten, verkrachten nog meer, gaan achter de vrouwen aan, roven, gaan achter familie aan, beroven, spugen en goh hadden we daar iets aan kunnen doen? Nou, vast, want we WETEN en WISTEN dat een groot deel van die Syrische gasten psychisch verknipt is en dat lees je óók gewoon bij de NOS. Maar wat doen we in Nederland? Iedere week, week na week, jaar na jaar en kabinet na kabinet, laten we doodleuk 800 - 1.000 asielzoekers de poort passeren: voor een groot deel jonge, alleenstaande mannen uit Syrië. Nog even los van het feit dat het COA werkelijk geen flauw idee heeft WIE PRECIES ze binnenlaten is er géén capaciteit, geen mankracht om te handhaven, géén plek, géén woning, géén draagkracht, géén politieke daadkracht, géén sturing en het is echt: COMPLEET KRANKZINNIG.

Wel, dan zal er vast wel hard worden opgetreden tegen al die psychisch getroebleerde idioten die hier de boel komen verzieken? Tuurlijk! Robbie Jetten ligt de helft van de tijd met z'n slurf in het water waar-ie zich laat prikken door kwalletjes en de andere helft is-ie bezig met het orkestreren van jolige postjes op social media, met z'n vrindje of omdat-ie al 100 dagen op de troon zit. We hebben VVD'ers die al 100 jaar hetzelfde roepen, we hebben PVV'ers die ook maar wat roepen en we hebben heel veel mensen links van D66 die eigenlijk alleen maar méér asielzoekers willen - hell, we hebben zelfs VVD'ers die alleen maar méér asielzoekers willen. We hebben partijen die garen spinnen bij de ophef rond Syriërs omdat ze dan weer iets kunnen roepen over racisten (Denk), we hebben grote oppositiepartijen met een leider die doodleuk weigert te erkennen dat er sprake is van een asielcrisis (PRO), de partij ook die een gestoorde als Kati Piri hoog in de pikorde heeft die er alles aan doen om hier méér Syriërs te krijgen, we hebben volslagen overbodige Tokkelroomtankers van het CDA die tégen het asielbeleid stemmen dat hun EIGEN minister staat te verdedigen en het is echt niet omdat die politici kwaadaardig zijn (Kati Piri is dat trouwens wel), maar in veel gevallen zijn ze gewoon onvoorstelbaar naïef, of dom, of achterlijk. De media dan? De media lopen duchtig in de pas bij een paar semidictatoriale Belgen die van ieder krantje dezelfde eenheidsworst draaien, met algoritmisch gestuurde crack over symbooltjes op autobanden, en daar zetten ze dan heel trots onder: 'Dit stuk stond 2 jaar geleden ook al in de krant'. Kritische stemmen worden er per openbare executie uitgeflikkerd en mogen met een kulverhaal op het matje komen bij Karel Smouter, de plak SMAC van DPG, die als zelfbenoemd moreel gidsfiguur helemaal is verdwaald in de macaroni van policor kutjournalistiek. Bovendien: waarom zou je als medium scherp berichten over Syrische gangs die elkaar de vernieling in trappen als je Hanina Aiaiaiaiai of Blabla Knallieknallie kan aanstellen als columnist? Diversiteit, veel belangrijker! Bij talkshows zit iedere week weer precies hetzelfde bepvolk op schoot bij zo'n poepflauwe stoelenverkoper als Humberto Tan, de wandelende lachband die in 1992 z'n laatste kritische vraag stelde en sindsdien door heel hard HAHA te roepen bij iedereen in de kont glijdt, of in de Mens Health, of op een of ander congres om dagvoorzittertje te spelen. Gelukkig hebben we talloze BN'ers die zich massaal uitspreken tegen al die Syrische asielzoekers die jatten, roven, vrouwen verkrachten en aanslagen willen plegen! Grapje natuurlijk: BN'ers zitten massaal aan de petitieharing en lullen elkaar een beetje na in de hoop geaccepteerd te blijven door de goegemeente, want anders mogen ze niet meer uit elkaars envelopje snuiven op het Boekenbal, en voor je het weet worden ze niet meer uitgenodigd bij Beau of voor een of ander halfgaar schijtfeest met een rode loper. Wat BN'ers trouwens wél doen: Instagram voljanken met in de donkere kamer van Dedainokles ontwikkelde foto's van hun deelname aan de Rode Lijn, want hoewel het verkrachten van vrouwen door Syriërs in Nederland toch vooral een mannenprobleem is, is het verkrachten van vrouwen door Hamas-strijders in Israël toch vooral een Jodenprobleem. Ja, vogel die logica maar eens uit. BN'ers zijn zo fenomenaal betrokken bij het lot van die arme Gazanen, en die paar extra likes als ze weer met een Palestijnenvlag op de foto staan zijn ook mooi meegenomen, en als dat het niet is melken ze wel een of andere kanker uit voor wat extra social bereik. Het is écht: COMPLEET KRANKZINNIG. Burgers dan? Ja, DIE zijn de overlast door Syriërs zat, maar burgers zijn dan ook allemaal extreemrechts, of nazi, of fascist, of erger.

HOELANG accepteren we die vechtende, stelende, verkrachtende, terroriserende en stekende Syriërs dan nog? Oh ja nou mensen: heel lang, wen er maar aan, want het is: compleet krankzinnig. Dat is wat het is.

Steun GeenStijl met een paar euro per maand

Doneer hier

After postponing a planned signing last month for an executive order addressing advanced cybersecurity AI models, President Trump has signed a largely similar version that’s just as questionably effective. The EO, signed in a private ceremony on Tuesday, directs various government agencies to take steps to protect their systems and data, as well as those of agencies they support, from cyber threats, while also facilitating access to advanced AI models that could help agencies bolster their cybersecurity defenses. The order also directs the Treasury Department to establish an “AI cybersecurity clearinghouse” that works with the AI industry and critical infrastructure operators to coordinate and deconflict the use of advanced AI tools for software vulnerability scanning, vulnerability discovery and validation, and remediation and patching efforts. Additional provisions are included to direct federal grant programs toward companies developing AI vulnerability detections, and to expand the US Tech Force's Information Cybersecurity Specialist hiring and placement pathways. Those elements are pretty cut-and-dried, but it’s the rest of the order that has raised eyebrows among policy experts who’ve weighed in on the order so far. Section three of the EO, Secure Frontier Model Deployment, is where the government’s AI model pre-release review scheme is outlined, and it is also where the most substantial change in the order compared to the earlier May draft appears. The version signed Tuesday directs various agencies to work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish a “voluntary framework” through which the federal government would get access to “covered frontier models” for up to 30 days before their planned release to “other trusted partners” in order for the agencies to review them for potential cybersecurity risks. The May draft included a 90-day review period; the reduction to 30 days appears to be the most significant change between the two versions. Along with the review period, section three of the order also asks federal agencies to “develop and maintain a classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models,” which would also be used to determine which AI models qualify as covered frontier models for the purpose of the order. The EO also asks that the voluntary framework enable AI companies to "collaborate with the Federal Government to select trusted partners that will have early access to covered frontier models,” meaning that the Trump administration would effectively have a role in picking which companies get to participate in programs like Anthropic’s Project Glasswing for its Claude Mythos Preview. Want early access? You'd better be on our side The Register was contacted by various policy analysts about the EO, and while all agreed some sort of rule was better than nothing, a number of them shared their concerns. “The White House executive order on frontier AI models, while imperfect, is a step in the right direction to prepare the nation for the release of advanced AI systems,” Cato Institute policy analyst Juan Londoño said of the order. “The lack of clear specifications on which criteria should be used to determine what constitutes a 'covered frontier model,' and the government's involvement in decisions about which 'trusted partners' can access these advanced models, gives the executive a great deal of discretion,” Londoño added. “This could open the door to potential weaponization against companies that have any sort of conflict with the administration.” Former FTC chief technologist Neil Chilson likewise said that the order is better than the “current informal approach,” but hopes Congress will take action to establish some actual rules. Gaps in the order, Chilson said, “could be used to pick winners and losers, or to give short-term national security concerns excessive weight at the expense of longer-term national security, economic growth, innovation, and other national interests.” The Center for Democracy and Technology’s VP of policy, Samir Jain, likewise said that the EO takes necessary steps to address risks to critical infrastructure, and like others, he praised the choice to make the framework non-mandatory. That trusted partners element, however, raised his hackles, too. “The EO should not become a mechanism for the Administration to punish companies for political or other arbitrary reasons, and so we will be closely monitoring the details of its implementation as they emerge,” Jain said. The White House didn’t respond to questions for this story. ®

Bug hunting has become a whole lot more exciting in recent months with both Anthropic and OpenAI touting their latest models (that also happen to be super-scary exploit machines). On Tuesday, as Anthropic announced a fourfold expansion to its Mythos preview program, Cisco jumped into the fray, praising the transformative power of AI - but without disclosing how many bugs the latest frontier models found. Cisco SVP Anthony Grieco in a Tuesday blog said that the advanced AI systems, including Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview and OpenAI’s GPT 5.5-Cyber, scanned 1.8 billion lines of code in eight weeks looking for vulnerabilities in Cisco products - a task that otherwise would have taken the networking giant’s advanced security team eight years to accomplish. However, Grieco, who heads Cisco’s security and trust organization, didn’t say how many flaws Mythos and other frontier models uncovered, or if they have all been fixed. The company also did not respond to The Register’s questions about this. Grieco did say that “speed is only half the story,” calling the “real breakthrough” the “scale, quality, and impact” of the models’ findings. The 1.8 billion lines of code, written in more than 25 different languages, spanned Cisco’s portfolio, we’re told. Netzilla paired the models with a “human-guided harness,” and achieved a false positive rate of under 3 percent, Grieco wrote. “Rather than focusing on a specific scope for a security evaluation, we can assess entire code bases of a product. It’s like switching from a flashlight to a flood light to illuminate a dark room,” he said. “Because each finding is validated through a hybrid of AI and human expertise, our engineering teams are receiving actionable intelligence rather than a wall of warnings.” Meanwhile, Anthropic on Tuesday said it expanded Project Glasswing to about 150 additional organizations, bringing the total partner count to about 200. Project Glasswing is the AI giant’s controlled partner program for giving selected orgs access to Claude Mythos Preview. When it announced the new model and partner program in early April, Anthropic limited the preview to about 50 entities, claiming Mythos is so good at finding and exploiting security holes that all hell would break loose and the zombie apocalypse would hit should the model fall into the wrong hands. Since April, these select government agencies and corporate partners - including Cisco - have been using Mythos to find and fix bugs in their own products. Palo Alto Networks, one of the original Project Glasswing partners, said in May that after spending a month using frontier AI models, including Anthropic's Mythos, to scan more than 130 products across its three platforms, it uncovered 26 CVEs representing 75 underlying security issues. For comparison, the cybersecurity giant said it typically discloses fewer than five CVEs per month. At the time, a company exec forecast “a narrow three-to-five-month window for organizations to outpace the adversary before AI-driven exploits start to become the new norm.” The newly expanded Project Glasswing spans more than 15 countries, and, while an Anthropic spokesperson declined to name them or the new partner companies, it’s a safe bet that these are likely Western and/or “friendly” nations. So not China and Russia. Rubrik, a data security and management vendor, said that it was among the new Glasswing partners. The expanded list also reportedly includes the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), along with Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and SK Telecom, among other Korean companies. “The group covers several industries that weren’t well-represented in our initial cohort, such as power, water, healthcare, communications, and hardware,” according to a Tuesday Anthropic blog. “And many of the new partners are vendors - companies or nonprofits that maintain codebases that are relied upon by lots of other organizations around the world, including governments.” Each new partner must meet Anthropic’s security requirements before they gain access to Mythos, the company added. ®

Longtime Slashdot reader Matt_Bennett shares a blog post from Adafruit: Adafruit received at 10:38 p.m. ET on May 22, 2026 a letter from former FBI chief of staff, Jonathan F. Lenzner, and partner at Fenwick & West LLP, counsel for Flux, demanding, among other things, that Adafruit refrain from publishing an article addressing what the letter characterizes as false and potentially defamatory claims about Flux, including statements about Flux's intellectual property, commercial traction and user base.

The letter further asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Adafruit accessed only information that Flux's own systems made publicly available through a server misconfiguration. Adafruit's reporting concerns a matter of public security interest and was conducted in the ordinary course of responsible disclosure.

Although Adafruit vigorously rejects the assertions made in Flux's May 22, 2026 demand letter, we have temporarily stopped publishing on the Adafruit blog while we consider our response and next steps. We will update the community as appropriate. For context, Adafruit is a major open-source hardware company and electronics retailer known for its maker-focused boards, components, tutorials, and community publishing. Flux.ai is relevant because it is building an AI-assisted circuit-board design platform aimed at changing how engineers create and collaborate on PCB designs.

"Adafruit probably did a review of AI PCB tools," writes HN user karmicthreat. "I've used Flux.ai before; it was a pretty bad experience. After about 50-100$ in tokens a couple of times, I couldn't get more than a couple of simple components on the schematic. And not in sensible positions..."

Redditor AlexTaradox adds: "Nothing was published as far as I know. I assume they did review of AI tools and likely contacted flux with some preliminary results, but flux saw where it is going and decided to block them from publishing any results. Flux is garbage and they obviously know it, but they need to hold for some time until some other scam acquires them. Doing anything with them is just asking to be screwed..."

Further discussions are taking place on Reddit and Hacker News.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New EU battery rules taking effect early next year are pushing tech makers toward user-replaceable batteries in products like headphones, e-readers, handheld consoles, laptops, and possibly earbuds. But carve-outs for smartphones and tablets may mean replaceable batteries won't necessarily return to phones in the way many users remember. The Verge's Dominic Preston reports: Since the upcoming law doesn't actually come into force until February 18th, 2027, companies still have plenty of time to get their ducks in a row. Still, it's likely that before then we'll see more and more manufacturers launch products with user-replaceable batteries, across audio, e-readers, gaming handhelds, and more. Only time will tell whether most of those products are EU only, or whether the new European laws shape the nature of tech worldwide.

It's likely that some product categories will move slower than others. Tech companies will have breathed a sigh of relief that wearables look likely to be exempt, but if wireless earbuds aren't carved out as well then there may be a scramble to adapt the miniature designs for easy replaceability. "The in-ear form factor demands extreme miniaturization, to fit the driver, antenna, processor, microphones and battery," notes a recent report from consultants Futuresource, going on to suggest that meeting the requirements will make earbuds both bigger and more expensive to manufacture.

There also remains uncertainty about how some elements of the law will be interpreted. The law requires that user repairs be possible using "commercially available tools," which are "tools available on the market to all end-users." Right to Repair Europe's Alberico points out that this is a broad definition, likely to include a lot of tools not found in most houses, so there will likely be nothing to stop manufacturers requiring the sorts of less common screws that require dedicated electronics tool kits. There's also no strict definition of the "reasonable" price that manufacturers are required to set for spare parts. "That will likely take time -- and possibly litigation -- to clarify in practice," Alberico says. "But without fair access to affordable spare parts, repair will struggle to become the simplest and most attractive option for consumers."

The big disappointment is that the separate phone and tablet legislation means we won't see any real changes there, so long as manufacturers make their batteries and devices durable. "This creates a false tradeoff between durability and repairability," Alberico says. "Robust, waterproof devices should not have to come at the expense of user-replaceable batteries. While the ecodesign legislation requirements meant an improvement in battery durability and replaceability, at Right to Repair Europe we'll continue to advocate for all products to be designed with user-replaceable batteries." Whether the EU will listen remains to be seen. Otherwise, the main product people seem to want to replace the battery in may remain one of the only ones where they can't.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In April, GitHub announced that it was moving subscribers from request-based billing to a usage-based model for its AI-powered Copilot service. As that new pricing model goes into effect today, many GitHub Copilot users are reporting some extreme sticker shock as they realize just how quickly their previous "normal" usage is burning through their newly limited monthly allotment of AI credits. Across social media and forums, many Copilot users are sharing personal statistics showing how just a few hours of AI usage can now account for a large chunk of their new monthly subscription caps. For some users, it reportedly took less than a day to use up a month's usage quota.

That's a big change from previous months, when GitHub Copilot subscribers were allocated a certain number of "requests" and "premium requests" based on their payment tier. GitHub said that the old system meant that "a quick chat question and a multi-hour autonomous coding session [could] cost the user the same amount," forcing Copilot itself to "absorb much of the escalating inference cost behind that usage." [...] Indeed, some Copilot users have been sharing estimates from GitHub's own tool showing that their previous monthly usage would rack up bills in the thousands of dollars under the new pricing plan. Under GitHub's new usage-based pricing system, paid Copilot subscriptions instead grant users a certain number of AI "credits" each month, with one credit corresponding to $0.01 of usage. Subscribers also get bonus credits depending on their subscription level: the $10/month Pro plan includes 1,500 credits ($15 worth); the $39 Pro+ plan includes 7,000 credits ($70 worth); and the $100/month Copilot Max plan includes 20,000 credits ($200 worth).

The precise number of Copilot credits used by a given prompt is determined by the number of input and output tokens used and the rates charged by the underlying large language model. That means pricing is highly dependent not just on the type of request but on the specific model that a user chooses. One million output tokens from OpenAI's GPT-5.4 nano would run just $1.25 on GitHub Copilot, but that same level of output would run $30 on the frontier GPT-5.5 model (Copilot users who rely on "Auto" mode to pick the most appropriate available model for any request should be extremely careful, as some users report it can switch to expensive models for extremely simple queries).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz, beter bekend als Míchel, tekende dinsdag een contract voor twee seizoenen als hoofdtrainer van Ajax. Van Girona maakte hij een stuntclub, tot hij dit seizoen onverwachts degradeerde.

De 50-jarige Harry Leijdekkers is dinsdag door Turkije uitgeleverd aan Nederland. Hij werd twee weken geleden al opgepakt en vastgezet. Leijdekkers is de oudere broer van de Brabantse drugscrimineel ‘Bolle Jos’ Leijdekkers, die op de Nationale Opsporingslijst staat en zelf zou verblijven in Sierra Leone.

Het Nationaal Kiezersonderzoek heeft diepgravend de politieke afwegingen van kiezers onderzocht. Wanneer blijven ze trouw aan een partij? Wanneer besluiten ze tot een tegen- of strafstem? En is de Nederlander wel zo’n wispelturige stemmer als wordt gedacht?

Het werd de langste formatie in de Deense geschiedenis, maar er is een nieuwe regering. „Het is een regeringsakkoord dat goed is voor de mensen in Denemarken, voor de komende generaties – en ook voor de dieren”, aldus premier Mette Frederiksen.

Given the heat generated during firing, it’s rare to see paper incorporated into a ceramics practice. For Seoul-based artist Jongjin Park, though, the two go hand-in-hand.

Park recently won the 2026 Loewe Craft Prize, a prestigious annual award celebrating innovative makers, for his striking sculpture “Strata of Illusion.” A rectangular shape with an open top and slouching side, the piece features countless folded layers made from paper towels dipped in watered-down ceramic slip.

Inspired by the distinctive, rippled textures and minuscule lines within stacks of paper, Park “wanted to break through the traditional boundaries and stereotypes inherent in ceramics as a medium,” he tells Colossal. “To do this, I began experimenting with alternative materials other than clay, searching for a meaningful intersection.”

Standard paper towels were a natural fit, but they didn’t come without challenges. “Because the process required firing massive amounts of paper, I had to overcome both technical and ethical hurdles regarding the combustion and disappearance of the paper,” he says. “I strictly use recycled paper made from repurposed milk cartons, and technically, I utilize specialized kilns equipped with high chimneys to manage the exhaust.”

There were also conceptual challenges that Park addressed through reframing how he thought about the material, particularly its malleability when drenched and slippery. “In my practice, this pre-fired state is not viewed as ‘fragile’—the way traditional unfired ceramics are commonly perceived—but rather redefined as a ‘flexible’ state where patterns, forms, and colors can be actively manipulated,” he shares, adding that finding the balance between strength and elasticity was the most difficult part of the experimental process.

Layers, for Park, are both apt metaphors for the passage of time and a material illusion. “When hundreds or thousands of these sheets are stacked together, they withstand the intense heat of the kiln and acquire a solid, monumental permanence, akin to natural rock formations or geological strata,” he says. “I am deeply drawn to this visual and conceptual tension, where seemingly opposing values—thinness and density, flexibility and rigidity—coexist harmoniously within a single structure.”

In addition to his studio practice, Park is a professor in Craft & Collectible Design at Seoul Women’s University. Peek into his process in this video, and find more of his work on Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Jongjin Park Layers Slip-Soaked Paper into Patchwork Sculptures appeared first on Colossal.

​Donald Pols (ex-apartheid, ex-Milieudefensie, ex-Tata Steel) is op zoek naar een nieuwe uitdaging. Bij voorkeur zoekt hij een bedrijf dat voorstander is van streng klimaatbeleid, een laks klimaatbeleid, en rassenscheiding.

“Zal ik ‘Tata Steel’ toevoegen?”, vraagt Donald Pols zich hardop af. Hij kijkt naar het scherm van zijn computer. Hij is een uurtje geleden begonnen aan de brief voor zijn – inmiddels vaste – recruitmentbureau. ‘Ik ben van alle markten thuis. Ik zoek een werkgever die het niet erg vindt dat ik geen moreel kompas heb, of überhaupt een kompas. Ik ben een open boek, tenminste, voor iedereen met toegang tot het internet.’

Pols neemt een slok van zijn muntthee en begint aan het kopje ‘kwaliteiten’. ‘Ik ben thuis in communicatie van grote bedrijven. Ik weet hoe je een verhaal kan spinnen. Dat heb ik niet alleen in mijn vorige functies laten zien, maar ook tijdens het wisselen ervan.’

Pols kijkt uit het raam. “Misschien iets met diversiteit.”

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SergioQ79 - Osanpo Photographer - posted a photo:

Tokyo, nei pressi della stazione di Uguisudani.

Non è la Tokyo delle cartoline.
Non è quella dei grandi incroci, delle insegne luminose o delle file davanti alle attrazioni.

Qui la città parla un'altra lingua.

Piccoli locali aperti sulla strada. Tavoli stretti. Birra alla spina. Yakitori a 100 yen. Persone che mangiano in piedi o si fermano per un ultimo boccone prima di tornare a casa.

Uguisudani è famosa per altre cose. Per gli hotel, per le strade secondarie, per una Tokyo che molti visitatori non vedono nemmeno. Eppure è proprio qui che la città sembra più sincera.

Nessuno presta attenzione al fotografo.
Nessuno si accorge del turista.

La gente entra, mangia, beve qualcosa e riparte.

Io faccio quello che faccio sempre.
Mi fermo a osservare.
Poi, quando arriva il momento giusto, entro anch'io.

東京、鶯谷駅の近く。

観光客が思い描く東京ではない。
有名な交差点も、大きなネオンもない。

ここには別の東京がある。

道路に面した小さな店。
立ったまま食べる人。
ビール。焼き鳥。仕事帰りの人たち。

鶯谷は別のことで知られている街だ。
でも、このあたりを歩くと東京の日常が見えてくる。

誰も観光客を気にしない。
誰も写真を撮る人を気にしない。

みんな食べて、飲んで、また歩き出す。

私は少し離れた場所からそれを眺める。

そして最後には、自分も店に入る。

Tokyo, near Uguisudani Station.

This is not postcard Tokyo.
No giant crossings, no famous landmarks, no crowds of visitors.

Here the city speaks a different language.

Small eateries open to the street. Narrow tables. Draft beer. 100-yen skewers. People stopping for a quick meal before heading home.

Uguisudani is known for different reasons. Hotels, side streets, and a side of Tokyo that many visitors never see. Yet this is where the city often feels most genuine.

Nobody notices the photographer.
Nobody notices the tourist.

People come in, eat, drink, and leave.

I do what I always do.
I stop and watch.
Then, sooner or later, I go in as well.