Soarin into 3rd place

My program continues to run well. I have a few issues here and there with it not selecting an answer, which I think is due to how it "sees" the question (there is sometimes hidden text and other times the answer is too close to the question so it appears like it's not a match). And there's the issue of "map questions" where it asks you to touch where a city is. These don't follow the standard A B C D answers. 

Louvre heist reveals museum used ‘LOUVRE’ as password for its video surveillance, still has workstations with Windows 2000 - glaring security weaknesses revealed in previous report | Tom's Hardware

Well. Alrighty then. 

Windows 2000, with all of its outdated and unsupported security issues. Unchanged and easy to guess passwords. It sounds like the Louvre didn't take its technical security seriously enough.  

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/louvre-heist-reveals-glaring-security-weaknesses-previous-reports-say-museum-used-louvre-as-password-for-its-video-surveillance-still-has-workstations-with-windows-2000

Common Sweetener Could Damage Critical Brain Barrier, Risking Stroke : ScienceAlert

First off, I'm glad to see that there are still scientific studies ongoing at US universities. And sincerely hope that they are able to, and do, continue. 

Second, what they found in their study is that eryththritol, which was heralded as a great breakthrough in alternative sweeteners, may actually be (very) bad for brain health. 

I've tried it in a few drinks and thought it tasted weird, and so I've stuck to sugar. But it's interesting to learn more about these chemical compounds that are engineered. 

https://www.sciencealert.com/erythritol-sweetener-blood-brain-barrier-study#

Bob Iger Interview: Podcast Shares His Disney Successors and Legacy

Bob Iger provides a look into his tenure as ceo, and gives a few insights into the role and what it's like to follow in Walt's footsteps. 

The linked podcast is about 30 minutes and is a good listen…and the podcast has a few other episodes related to Walt and the company that are now on my playlist. 

"That's really constant innovation, a constant exploration, a constant essentially desire to reinvent and or to invent even more than anything else. That's what I'd want," he continued. "But I think we do occupy a place in the world as great storytellers, perhaps maybe the greatest in many respects. And I would hope that that position would continue for years and years."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/bob-iger-successors-legacy-podcast-1236420559/

Space power: The dream of beaming solar energy from orbit

A company tested the feasibility of beaming energy from space by testing out a land based solution. 

They took their prototype system to a football field and beamed the energy across that expanse. 

You can't fault them for proving out their equipment without having to launch into space, for now. 

And now they're about ready to take it to that next step. And with the cost to launch being at a reasonable place, it's certainly feasible. 

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251029-the-beam-dream-should-we-build-solar-farms-in-space

Female-Led Arab Team Turn Coffee and Plastic Waste into Activated Carbon, Capturing CO2 in the Atmosphere

The outcome - using coffee and plastic to create a carbon capture device  to reduce CO2 - is pretty cool. 

But more than that this was brought about by a group of women who are Arabic. In some places, women are not allowed to work  as researchers, so it's good to see something positive like this. 

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/female-led-arab-team-turn-coffee-and-plastic-waste-into-activated-carbon-capturing-co2-in-the-atmosphere/

Reversing peanut advice prevented tens of thousands of allergy cases, researchers say : NPR

This is a remarkable story. It's peculiar how peanut allergies spiked for around 20 years and became a thing so a researcher started studying what was going on. 

He got the peanut industry to fund the research and then studied children in Israel who had a lower incidence of peanut allergies against children from similar backgrounds who lived in the US. 

And what he found was that children in Israel were given a peanut snack fairly commonly from a very young age, where children in the states were not. 

And after studying further the conclusion was that avoiding peanuts in young children actually increased the likelihood of peanut allergies. 

The recommendation, then, was to introduce peanuts early, and the number of cases we y down. 

Science for the win. 

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/21/nx-s1-5580211/peanut-allergy-study