Fiat. $14,000

https://www.theverge.com/transportation/962753/fiat-topolino-ev-us-price-specs-micromobiilty

What happened when conglomerates and consolidation took over the power tool industry.

Your Power Tools Got Worse On Purpose

https://www.worseonpurpose.com/p/your-power-tools-got-worse-on-purpose

Visualising Global Conflicts Through Maps

https://warmapper.org

This has been in my bookmarks for a couple of weeks therefore I don't remember where I found it, but maps are handy.

Demand Is Booming for New No Tech, Repairable Tractor

https://www.404media.co/demand-is-booming-for-ursa-ag-new-no-tech-repairable-tractor/

I hope they succeed.  I hope this spreads to major household appliances.

Way back in the WmW days The Register was kinda the upstart, sort of snarky, cynical, tech news blog and lots of people sort of rolled their eyes and dismissed it compared to CNet and the other more established tech news outlets.  But here we are 20 years later and "El Reg" is still going strong with no paywall while many of the others have disappered or gone paywall.

I know I didn't expect it to last, but it has while others owned by big corporations got consumed by mergers with even bigger corporations and gutted.

Anyway, it's weird how this all played out but I'm grateful they are still around because I'm to cheap for paywalls.

Good read.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-costco-theory-of-the-internet/

QuoteCostco never promised perfect quality or the best product in every category; and it isn't doesn't claim to be a temple of taste. It sells enormous muffins, bulk socks, patio furniture, protein shakes, car tyres, petrol, hearing aids, rotisserie chickens, appliances, and tubs of dip large enough to drown any and all sorrows.

But more than that: Costco sells a higher floor.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/05/routine-vaccines-may-cut-dementia-risk-experts-have-startling-hypothesis-on-how/

QuoteVaccines may be training a part of our immune system long thought to be untrainable.

'Point of no return': New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level, study finds

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/04/new-orleans-sea-levels-relocation-climate-crisis

Quote"Even if you stopped climate change today, New Orleans's days are still numbered," he added. "It will be surrounded by open water, and you can't keep an island situated below sea level afloat. There's no amount of money that can do that."

So this video mentioned Yahoo Slurp is crawling the web and providing Yahoo's search results.  News to me can anyone confirm?

Top 10 Best GOOGLE SEARCH ALTERNATIVES to Use Now! (2026)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGBBQLzzCNM

Kind of old but this is first I'm hearing about it.

Exclusive: Nordics and Estonia rolling out offline card payment back-up in case internet cut

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/nordics-estonia-plan-offline-card-payment-back-up-if-internet-cut-2025-05-07/

QuoteFinland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Estonia are rolling out offline card payment systems to provide a back-up if internet connections are lost, including due to sabotage

(or conflict.)

Amazon Eyes Smartphone Comeback — 'Transformer' Project Reportedly Targets AI-Driven Future

https://news.yahoo.com/news/finance/sectors/technology/articles/amazon-eyes-smartphone-comeback-transformer-173235416.html

QuoteReuters sources indicate Amazon is exploring both traditional smartphones and "dumbphones." The latter would mirror the minimalist Light Phone to counter screen addiction.

A few days ago I saw a toot from metasearch Metager on Mastodon announcing they had added Mojeek to their list of search engines.  I can't confirm because Metager requires login but it seems like a good privacy match.

Good to see Mojeek's reach growing.

Between the anti-trust lawsuits against Google and Bing's price increases several smaller metasearch engines have added Mojeek which is good.

How Yahoo escaped its Verizon death spiral and became profitable again.

https://www.theverge.com/podcast/895221/yahoo-jim-lanzone-scout-ai-sports-finance-open-web

This is very long but I found it interesting.

Search stuff is about 2/3rds down.  Yahoo is 3rd as a search destination.

'Doomsday' report leaves experts rattled about increasing likelihood of US economy shake-up: 'The system wasn't designed for a crisis like this'

https://news.yahoo.com/news/finance/news/doomsday-report-leaves-experts-rattled-010000863.html

QuoteA scenario that began with unprecedented white-collar layoffs quickly devolved into mortgage meltdowns as capital continued to concentrate in the tech and AI sectors.

"The system wasn't designed for a crisis like this. The federal government's revenue base is essentially a tax on human time," Citrini's analysis explained. "People work, firms pay them, the government takes a cut.

"... The government needs to transfer more money to households at precisely the moment it is collecting less money from them in taxes."

Probably not.

If President Trump Wants Kei Cars Built and Sold in America, It'll Be a Regulatory Nightmare

https://autos.yahoo.com/policy-and-environment/articles/president-trump-wants-kei-cars-213200482.html

No, Trump Didn't Legalize Cheap Microcars For America

https://carbuzz.com/trump-didnt-legalize-japanese-kei-cars-for-america/


Aside:


In other news, Europeans are getting worried that American style car-size bloat is creeping in there as cars in the EU are getting longer, wider, fatter, heavier.

Local News:

I'm seeing a fair amount of locally owned chains getting bought by regional chains.

Item: An 8 store, family owned for 90 years, chain of ACE Hardware's sold to a larger chain of ACE's out of Michigan.

Item: Small chain of family owned grocery stores (4 stores) sold to larger regional chain out of Illinois.

Item: 16 store local grocery chain, sold to Hy-Vee foods, out of Iowa.

I'm sure there are more but that's what I remember locally.

In addition, I see in my feeds, news of many much larger but still regional consolidations happening in different parts of the country. 

Maybe this is just normal churn or maybe this is a pattern, I'm not sure.  Is anyone else seeing similar small chain local consolidations in their area?

My local utility is trying convince state regulators to let them establish a subsidiary that would supply power and connection infrastructure to AI data centers and probably regular data centers as well.  The radio news says they expect AI data centers to be using 12% of all the power in a few years.

Now combine that with charging all the expected personal and commercial EV's everyone is talking about.  We've already discussed what happens to the local grid in a subdivision if all homes get fast charging stations and most plug in at night.  Plus we've discussed truck stops offering charging for lots and lots of trucks being comparable to a large town.

There is no way the present grid can handle those loads, and nobody seems to be planning for it on a national level.  Heck some places have brownouts now when everyone runs their air conditioners, throw in EV's and AI and you'll have meltdown.

I got my Covid vaccination today (Moderna).  Also got the 2025 Flu shot (extra strength for 65+).

Indiana now requires a prescription from your doctor to get the Covid vaccine at any age.  So that is a new bit of friction in the process but not that difficult to overcome, just annoying.

Florida is now the 2nd most financially distressed state in the US — topped only by Texas

https://news.yahoo.com/news/finance/news/florida-now-2nd-most-financially-190300951.html


Why am I not surprised?

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/long-covid-hitting-doctors-and-nurses-hard-2025a1000n7q?form=fpf