World's tallest church is practically complete after 144 years under construction

 

Almost a century and a half after construction began on La Sagrada Familia, the exterior structure of the tallest church in the world was finally completed last Friday in Barcelona, Spain.

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, as it's officially named and the only way I refer to it in casual conversation, has now had its tallest tower, the tower of Jesus Christ, reach its maximum height. It's been topped with the upper arm of a three-dimensional four-armed cross that's clad in glass and white enameled ceramic.

Last week saw the upper arm of this roughly 56-ft (17-m) tall cross fitted with the help of a giant crane. That final piece, which is nearly 15 ft (4.5 m) tall, completes the grouping of the six central towers of the church – and brings the basilica's height to a dizzying 566 ft (172.5 m). READ MORE...

Kim & I have been to the Sagrada Família twice - and it's amazing! Outside it's vast & the detail is so intricate. Inside it's breathtaking. Some folks claimed that it would never be finished - but now amazingly - it's almost finished!  Antoni Gaudí's vision was incredible & to the Glory of God: "One metre less than Barcelona’s tallest hill Montjuic, as Gaudi thought it improper that a mere mortal’s construction should overshadow anything made by the Creator". If you haven't been yet - do go - you won't be disappointed! 

www.newatlas.com

Oxford Products is reviewing whether or not to continue as a sponsor of the British Superbike Championship

Major BSB sponsor Oxford Products is considering leaving the championship due to the series’ partnership with title sponsor Zyn. 

BSB struck a deal with the nicotine pouch manufacturer in June 2025, however, Oxford Products is concerned about the impact it could have on racing fans and motorcyclists in general. 

Zyn took over the role of title sponsor earlier this year when long-time partner Bennetts ended its partnership with the British series. The company is a subsidiary of tobacco giant Philip Morris International, with its nicotine pouches advertised as ‘smoke-free’ alternatives to cigarettes.

However, studies have suggested that the pouches are “highly addictive”, which Oxford Products says “is not compatible with our philosophy of making life on bikes better”.

Oxford Products has been a mainstay in the world of two-wheel racing since the mid-1970s, and in recent years it has backed riders and teams in BSB. Oxford Products was previously the title sponsor of the Moto Rapido Ducati team.

Well done Oxford Products - good to see a company with decent ethics. Now if only big tech could learn how to behave...

www.visordown.com

A Meta AI security researcher said an OpenClaw agent ran amok on her inbox

The now-viral X post from Meta AI security researcher Summer Yue reads, at first, like satire. She told her OpenClaw AI agent to check her overstuffed email inbox and suggest what to delete or archive.  

The agent proceeded to run amok. It started deleting all her email in a “speed run” while ignoring her commands from her phone telling it to stop. 

“I had to RUN to my Mac mini like I was defusing a bomb,” she wrote, posting images of the ignored stop prompts as receipts.

Rookie mistake: NEVER allow software to delete your data. When it all goes horribly wrong (one day it will) - you'll only have yourself to blame! Back in the early 2000s - I allowed an early version of Apple iTunes for PC to "manage" my MP3 music library. I'm still living with the fallout of that disaster now... Never again! Learning experience #2 - always backup!

www.techcrunch.com

Microsoft says bug in classic Outlook hides the mouse pointer

 

Microsoft is investigating a known issue that causes the mouse pointer to disappear in the classic Outlook desktop email client for some users.

This bug has been acknowledged almost two months after the first reports started surfacing online, with users saying that Outlook became unusable after the mouse pointer vanished while using the app.

"My mouse just stopped being visible while I am using Outlook, and this is very, very, frustrating because my permission wasn't given to make these changes, and now I can't find anything, can't open emails, can't copy and paste, and the list goes on and on," one customer noted.

Microsoft explained in a recent support document that the mouse pointer (and in some cases the cursor) will suddenly vanish as users move it across Outlook's interface, and noted that this bug also affects some users of other Microsoft 365 apps.

www.bleepingcomputer.com

Reading for today: Jeremiah tells of God's love & Grace

 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 

Read Jeremiah 29 at Bible Gateway

What happens to a car (or motorbike) when the company behind its software goes under?

Imagine turning the key or pressing the start button of your car - and nothing happens. Not because the battery is dead or the engine is broken but because a server no longer answers. For a growing number of cars, that scenario isn’t hypothetical.

As vehicles become platforms for software and subscriptions, their longevity is increasingly tied to the survival of the companies behind their code. When those companies fail, the consequences ripple far beyond a bad app update and into the basic question of whether a car still functions as a car.

Over the years, automotive software has expanded from performing rudimentary engine management and onboard diagnostics to powering today’s interconnected, software-defined vehicles. Smartphone apps can now handle tasks like unlocking doors, flashing headlights, and preconditioning cabins—and some models won’t unlock at all unless a phone running the manufacturer’s app is within range.

However, for all the promised convenience of modern vehicle software, there’s a growing nostalgia for an era when a phone call to a mechanic could resolve most problems. Mechanical failures were often diagnosable and fixable, and cars typically returned to the road quickly. Software-defined vehicles complicate that model: When something goes wrong, a car can be rendered inoperable in a driveway—or stranded at the side of the road—waiting not for parts but a software technician. READ MORE - and beware!

Take for example KTM and their 890 Adventure R motorcycle - then remember KTMs legendary reliability - or lack thereof and add to that KTMs horrific financial issues. Remember in the olden days when you bought something & it was actually yours? Now - not so much! I'm a technologist by trade - but really don't want tech in my car or motorbike! 

www.arstechnica.com

The data center gold rush is warping reality

It begins quietly, as many stories do, in a small rural town where the horizon seems impossibly broad. The town planning commission gathers in a modest room, the air thick with the scent of burnt coffee and aged carpet, to hear that their town will soon win the modern economy: 10 new data centers within the town’s boundaries. Not just one or two, but 10. The PowerPoint presentations shine with promises: construction jobs, some permanent positions, “community investment,” and a new tax base that will “transform the region.”

Sure, there will be jobs. But not the jobs that rebuild a town’s soul. Data centers don’t employ thousands once they’re up; they employ dozens, sometimes fewer, depending on how automated the operation is. The real impact isn’t people—it’s power, land, transmission capacity, and water. When you drop 10 massive facilities into a small grid, demand spikes don’t just happen inside the fence line. They ripple outward. Utilities must upgrade substations, reinforce transmission lines, procure new-generation equipment, and finance these investments. Guess who ends up paying a meaningful portion of that over time? Local ratepayers, in one form or another, will face higher bills or the quiet deferral of other infrastructure work.

Water is often the second shoe to drop. Even when operators insist they’re “water efficient,” cooling is cooling, and cooling at scale is never free. Some facilities will use evaporative systems; some will use closed-loop systems; some will promise innovation that appears impressive in a press release. Meanwhile, the town’s farmers now watch the aquifer levels and the weather forecast with equal anxiety, except now they’re competing with an industry whose thirst is measured in engineering diagrams, not drought stories.

This is what the data center boom looks like on the ground: a glossy promise wrapped around very physical constraints. READ MORE...

www.infoworld.com