15 bookmarks for 2026-05-18

876.

Your Attempt To Solve Debate Will Not Work

www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-attempt-to-solve-debate-will

Scott Alexander argues that projects aiming to solve debate via technology are fundamentally doomed. Real-world disagreements are driven by divergent value systems, epistemic weightings, and social incentives — not mappable logical syllogisms or simple factual errors. He covers argument mapping failures, the false fact fallacy, user acquisition problems for debate apps, and why 2,000 years of history suggest the problem is human, not technical.

875.

Frank Hayden, Canadian researcher who helped spearhead Special Olympics, dies at 96

www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/frank-hayden-canadian-researcher-who-helped-spearhead-special-olympics-dies-at-96/ar-AA23txVD

Dr. Frank Hayden, a Canadian researcher whose work was foundational to the global Special Olympics movement, has passed away at the age of 96. His 1960s research demonstrated that exercise is highly beneficial for individuals with intellectual disabilities, spearheading the creation of the Special Olympics.

874.

How the New Testament Was Copied and Preserved

www.jeremysarber.com/p/how-the-new-testament-was-copied

The New Testament’s transmission differed from the Old Testament due to the early church’s dispersion and persecution. This led to less uniform copies but a greater number of manuscripts. Textual criticism, using principles like the “golden rule,” helps determine the original text by analyzing variants and their origins.

Scribes often made changes to biblical texts, both accidental and intentional. Accidental errors were common due to the nature of early manuscripts, while intentional changes were usually made out of reverence or a desire to clarify or harmonize passages. This tendency led to a longer, smoother text over time, with later manuscripts often expanding titles for Christ, adding phrases, and harmonizing accounts across different Gospels.

The addition of verse numbers to the Bible in the 16th century reflected the longer form of the text found in later manuscripts. As textual scholarship advanced, it became clear that certain phrases were later additions, leading to their removal in modern critical editions. This removal, while sometimes perceived as missing content, does not affect any essential doctrine, demonstrating the faithful preservation of Scripture’s substance.

873.

Kevin Boone: keplerd: a new Java-based server for the Gemini protocol and others

kevinboone.me/keplerd.html

Oh, dear – another server for the Gemini protocol. What use can that possibly be?

872.

The just-say-no engineer was a ZIRP phenomenon

www.seangoedecke.com/the-just-say-no-engineer-was-a-zirp-phenomenon
871.

Shifting the Trap

jxself.org/shifting-the-trap.shtml
870.

Under Haitian Law, Is It Illegal to Make a Zombie?

www.loweringthebar.net/2026/05/under-haitian-law-is-it-illegal-to-make-a-zombie.html

Not specifically?

869.

This blind Yukon birder learned to use his ears — now hearing loss means every spring is quieter | CBC News

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/birdwatching-yukon-disabilities-9.7198409

76-year-old Brian Lendrum, who is blind, spent decades learning to locate and identify birds by sound. But now, he says, as he ages his hearing is “just very, very gradually going down every year.”

868.

KritBlade/MVU_Game_Maker: Turn any SillyTavern RPG character card into MVU based.

github.com/KritBlade/MVU_Game_Maker

Turn any SillyTavern RPG character card into MVU based. - KritBlade/MVU_Game_Maker

867.

‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Package Manager Where This Regularly Happens | Kevin Patel

kevinpatel.xyz/posts/no-way-to-prevent-this

Kevin Patel - Application Security Engineer @ NISC

866.

DeepSeek-V4-Flash means LLM steering is interesting again

www.seangoedecke.com/steering-vectors
865.

Browsers Treat Big Sites Differently

denodell.com/blog/browsers-treat-big-sites-differently

Safari and Firefox change how big sites render based on the domain. TikTok, Netflix, Instagram… even SeatGuru. Chrome doesn’t. Why is that?

864.

Atem's Agent OS

hermes-plugins-hub.vercel.app

Building a personal agent operating system on top of Hermes, Claude Code, and the harnesses I've collected. Plugins, notes, stack, journey.

863.

donovan-yohan/hermes-plugin-remote-hosts: Hermes Agent plugin for explicit SSH-backed remote host tools

github.com/donovan-yohan/hermes-plugin-remote-hosts

Hermes Agent plugin for explicit SSH-backed remote host tools - donovan-yohan/hermes-plugin-remote-hosts

862.

A brain-controlled system may help listeners with hearing loss cut through the noise

www.npr.org/2026/05/14/nx-s1-5821161/brain-controlled-hearing-aids-cocktail-party-effect

A hearing system that monitors brain waves could help people with hearing loss communicate in noisy environments.