*Why the Arabic World Turned Away from Science.*

Science thrived in the Islamic world until around 1000 CE, but since then has lost its impetus and its influence. The article speculates about what the causes was, and whether there is a chance of changing it today. One suggested cause is that Islam never recognized autonomous institutions of study that were not controlled by religious authorities.

Today there are Arabs who do science, but they often do it in parts of the world where Islam does not dominate.

*Lawsuits filed by a civil rights group allege that county jails in Michigan banned in-person visits in order to gouge prisoners and their families, as part of a "quid pro quo kickback scheme" with prison phone companies.*

The reason "prison phone companies" exist is to exploit an opportunity to gouge people who can least afford it — people who can't work except for a minuscule wage.

We need laws to require that these phone calls have a low price, or even zero price.

TikTok is accused of tracking journalists to find out who has met physically with TikTok employees to investigate the company.

*"BJP v democracy": India’s opposition alliance cries foul as election nears.*

New York City has set up a Chatbot, supposedly to give people information about legal questions based on official web sites. The site uses a bullshit generator, so its answers are often incorrect.

The article describes this behavior as "lying", but that cannot be true. The definition of "a lie" is a false statement, made knowing that it is false, intending that it deceive someone. A bullshit generator doesn't know that its output "means" anything, let alone whether a statement in that output is true or false.