Weekly Best Of: test
Oct 18 – Oct 25, 2026
15 top-scored articles
Oct 18 – Oct 25, 2026
15 top-scored articles
Generated: October 25, 2026 at 03:54 AM ET
Teenager Violet Clinton is conducting award-winning entomological field research on moths, requiring her father to purchase beer for her moth bait.
Keywords: moths, entomology, field research, teenager, hobby
MIT researchers placed 13 AI agents called Eko on a simulated desert island for 30 hours without specific tasks, observing that the agents began inventing their own challenges and playing. According to a paper on arXiv, agents that spent time exploring the island subsequently outperformed identical agents with no prior island experience when given specific tasks. The researchers suggest that allowing AI agents to explore rich environments without predefined goals could serve as an alternative method for learning skills and accumulating knowledge.
Keywords: AI, virtual island, MIT, artificial intelligence, whimsical
The New Orleans Pelicans announced a "Basketball Night" promotion for their March 11 game to boost attendance and attract new fans. The event will feature special programming such as photo opportunities with life-size cutouts of NBA players, dance performances, giveaways including Los Angeles Lakers hats, and a game against the Toronto Raptors.
Keywords: New Orleans Pelicans, Basketball Night, The Onion, satire, basketball
Adult children in Davenport, Iowa, jokingly complained that their mother made her birthday entirely about herself.
Keywords: birthday, satire, family, humor
This El Reg Offbeat digest covers various developments in AI, infosec, and FOSS. Topics include Linus Torvalds' stance on AI-generated code, Nvidia's keynote announcements and modular datacenter plans, Russian phishing attacks mimicking Signal support, zero-day attacks on SharePoint, the DEF CON Franklin project hardening critical infrastructure, the acquisition of Acronis by EQT, a lightweight Arch-based SparkyOS pendrive project, and the release of the Ubuntu 'Stonking Stingray' beta.
Keywords: arcade game, claw machine, Android, Bugdroid, whimsical
Following a viral video of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang demonstrating Microduck robots at the GTC Berlin conference, preorders for the toys exceeded 20,000 units within a day. Produced by Pollen Robotics—a company acquired by Hugging Face, which was subsequently bought by Nvidia in September—the open-source robots are trained using Nvidia's technology stack and allow owners to teach them new tricks. Scheduled for delivery by Christmas, the Microducks are anticipated to be a major holiday toy.
Keywords: Microduck robots, Nvidia, toys, Christmas, robots
This article from Book Riot celebrates the 40th anniversary of Brian Jacques's middle grade fantasy novel Redwall, originally published in the UK on October 23, 1986. The piece explores the series' origins—including Jacques's inspiration while working at a school for blind children—its blend of adventure and cozy descriptions of feasts, and its worldbuilding choices, such as omitting religious beliefs. It also notes critiques regarding dated tropes and stereotypical characters, while highlighting the franchise's broader legacy, which includes 22 novels, upcoming posthumous releases, graphic novels, cookbooks, animated adaptations, video games, and an active fandom.
Keywords: Redwall, Brian Jacques, fantasy series, anniversary, books
An increasing number of Jewish individuals in the United States are entering agriculture, inspired by the historical agrarian roots of Jewish tradition, culture, and faith. While organizations like the Jewish Farmer Network support a growing community of primarily first-generation agriculturalists, many modern Jewish growers operate independently within their regions. Farmers such as Wendy Rhein in North Carolina, along with non-profit and small-scale operations across the country—including Adamah Farm, Ma’alot Farms, Ekar Farm, Robariah Farms, and Migrash Farm—integrate Jewish values into their land stewardship. These practices manifest through charitable food donations reflecting concepts like *pe’ah* and *tzedakah*, ethical treatment and ritual slaughter of animals, sustainable farming methods, and crop selection aligned with seasonal or religious traditions.
Keywords: farming, sheep, agriculture, Jewish traditions, Chutzpah Hollow farm
Comedian Nathan Fielder reportedly deletes footage showing a functioning Theranos blood-testing machine.
Keywords: Nathan Fielder, Theranos, The Onion, satire, comedy
Apple has launched an Easter egg on its Apple Music 404 error page featuring a photo-realistic, functional original iPod to celebrate the device's 25th anniversary.
Keywords: Apple, iPod, Apple Music, 404 page, Easter egg, anniversary
A rare prototype cartridge of Pokémon Red for the Nintendo Game Boy has surfaced at auction, receiving a starting bid of $25,000.
Keywords: Pokémon Red, Nintendo Game Boy, prototype cartridge, auction, video game collectibles
Archival footage from November 2000 provides a tour of a busy CompUSA retail store in New York City, featuring products from the PC era such as translucent acrylic Presarios and iMacs.
Keywords: CompUSA, archival footage, Y2K, PC era, nostalgia, iMac
OnKey is a free, open-source singing trainer application for Mac computers with Apple Silicon running macOS 14.2 or later. Designed to work alongside music playing from a browser or app such as Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube, OnKey provides lyrics on the first play and learns the song's melody upon completion using audio separation and pitch-tracking models. On subsequent plays, it displays scrolling notes, tracks the user's live voice, and provides scoring and line reports. The application processes audio locally in memory without saving or streaming music, requires no user account, and includes configurable settings for features such as Shazam recognition, lyrics fetching, and update checks. Additionally, OnKey is distributed under the MIT license and can be built from source.
Keywords: OnKey, singing, app, hobby project, music
Channel 4 has released its first vertical drama on social media in the UK, titled The Guest List. Created in partnership with skincare brand Sol de Janeiro, the five-episode series features episodes lasting between 90 seconds and two minutes that focus on a group of young women. Unlike many bingeable international microdramas, Channel 4 is releasing only one episode per week.
Keywords: vertical dramas, Channel 4, The Guest List, microdramas, social media, Sol de Janeiro
Peter Houghton recounts meeting Anne Browning in Melbourne in 1997 while cast as onstage lovers in a production of Hamlet. After bonding over rehearsals and a coincidental horoscope reading that predicted they would meet a soulmate through work, Houghton admitted his crush while walking along St Kilda Road, to which Browning responded positively. Over nearly 30 years together, the couple has had two children, continued working as theatre artists, and built a lasting partnership based on trust, humour, and mutual support.
Keywords: romance, actors, theater, relationships, Melbourne, Hamlet