GNU/Linux

• Desktop/Laptop

  • Linux Links ☛ Intel NUC 13 Pro Mini PC Running Linux: Introduction To The Series

    This is a weekly blog looking at an Intel NUC 13 Pro Mini PC running Linux. In this article, we examine its design and specifications.

• Desktop Environments/WMs

  • Top 10 Best GTK Themes For Ubuntu Linux For 2023

    You can get hundreds of beautiful themes which are available for download and use on websites such as DeviantArt. But! Have you ever tried the best GTK themes we have for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions? It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choice there is on offer.

Distributions and Operating Systems

• SUSE/OpenSUSE

  • SUSE's Corporate Blog ☛ saptune 3.1 is out [Ed: SUSE is promoting SAP (proprietary), not GNU/Linux or Free software]

• Devices/Embedded

  • Linux Gizmos ☛ Congatec Announces New SMARC Module for High-Performance AI Edge Applications

    Congatec unveiled last month its latest SMARC module 2.1 Computer-on-Module powered by Texas Instruments Jacinto 7 TDA4x or DRA8x processors optimized for high-performance AI edge applications with a focus on ultra-low power consumption.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• GNU Projects

  • GNU World Order (Audio Show) ☛ GNU World Order 532

    **jasper** , **jemalloc** , **jmtpfs** , **json-c** , **json-glib** , **judy**

    , **kdsoap** , **keybinder** , and **keyutils** from the **l** software series

    of Slackware.

    shasum -a256=997075000469d72b58febad7c3398935857006406c519785cd97aaab077d9f84

• Programming/Development

  • Python

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Variance

      The “DataFrame.var()” method is utilized in Python to determine the variance of single, multiple DataFrame objects of Pandas.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python dict() Function

      The “dict()” function is utilized to create and retrieve the key-value pairs dictionary object by taking the keywords arguments, iterable, or mapping objects.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas to Date

      In Python, the “pandas.to_date()” method of the “pandas” library is used to convert an object into a datetime format object.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Nlargest()

      The “DataFrame.nlargest()” method retrieves the particular “n” rows in descending order with the highest value at the top.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Merge by Index

      The “pandas.merge()” method, the “pandas.concat()” method, and the “DataFrame.join()” method is used to merge Pandas DataFrame by index.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Summary Statistics

      In Python, the “DataFrame.describe()” method is used to compute the descriptive summary statistics by not including the Nan values from DataFrame or Series.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Not In

      The NOT IN “~” operator is used along with the “DataFrame.isin()” method of Pandas to filter the rows of single or multiple DataFrame columns.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python Fractions

      In Python, the “fractions.Fraction()” class is used to create the fraction object by taking the numerator and denominator values.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python File seekable() Method

      The Python “file.seekable()” method retrieves the Boolean value to determine whether the specified file stream is seekable or not.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python File fileno() Method

      The “fileno()” method determines the integer of the file descriptor of the stream. It returns an error if the operator system does not use a file descriptor.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python ascii() Function

      The built-in “ascii()” function in Python retrieves the string that escapes the non-ASCII characters in the string using “\x”, and “\u” escapes.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python Format Numbers

      The “str.format()” method, “f-strings” method, “%” operator, and “round()” methods are used to format the input numbers in Python.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Rolling Correlation

      The “DataFrame.Rolling.corr()” method of the Pandas module is utilized to determine the rolling correlation of the Pandas Series or DataFrame.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python File writable() Method

      The “file.writable()” method in Python is utilized to determine whether the input file is writable or not according to the boolean value.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python File isatty() Method

      The “file.isatty()” method in Python is used to determine whether the specified file stream is interactive or connected to a terminal device.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Pandas Series to CSV

      The “Series.to_csv()” method is utilized to write a Pandas Series object with index and header to a comma-separated values (CSV) file.

    • Linux Hint ☛ Python bin() Function

      In Python, the “bin()” function is utilized to convert a decimal, octal, or hexadecimal value into its binary representation.

Leftovers

• Chris Ferris ☛ I have questions about MFA push notification fatigue

  In a sensibly set up MFA environment, I would assume that you don't get unsolicited, unprompted MFA requests out of the blue as an ordinary part of your ordinarily daily activities. Instead, you only get MFA requests if you're specifically doing something that needs authentication, such as logging in or sudo or whatever. I'd also expect the organization's authentication and MFA endpoints to require that a valid password be presented first (although if an invalid password was presented on a public endpoint, the endpoint might pretend it was doing an MFA prompt, to not provide an attacker a password validation service). I'd especially expect this to be required for anything that can be reached from outside the organization, by unauthenticated people on the Internet.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Mind-Blowing Experiment Reveals Antimatter Falls in Gravity

    The first direct measurement of free-falling antimatter.

  • Mark Dominus ☛ The Irish logarithm

    The Wikipedia article on “Irish logarithm” presents this rather weird little algorithm, invented by Percy Ludgate. Suppose you want to multiply !!a!! and !!b!!, where both are single-digit numbers !!0≤a,b≤9!!.

    Normally you would just look it up on a multiplication table, but please bear with me for a bit.

  • Science Alert ☛ Massive Study Pinpoints Specific Gut Bacteria Linked to Alzheimer's

    We found something.

  • University of Michigan ☛ UMich chosen to lead $30 million complex particle research center

    The University of Michigan was recently selected to head a $30 million collaborative complex particle research center funded by the National Science Foundation. The Center for Complex Particle Systems, or COMPASS, is an interdisciplinary, multi-university initiative completing research that spans physics to social science topics.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ This robotic exoskeleton can help runners sprint faster

    A wearable exoskeleton can help runners increase their speed by encouraging them to take more steps, allowing them to cover short distances more quickly.

  • New York Times ☛ Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough Gets a Bigger Burst of Laser Energy

    Researchers at the National Ignition Facility during a July firing of 192 lasers improved on a December result, but also ended up with duds in other experiments.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Brand New Parkinson's Trigger Has Been Found – And It Begins Far Earlier Than Thought

    An important clue in the brain.

  • New York Times ☛ To Knock an Elephant Off Balance, Bring Out a Giant Blindfold

    Elephants rely on visual cues to maintain consistent timing of their strides, a new study suggests.

  • Science Alert ☛ California Just Fired The World's Most Powerful X-Ray Laser

    A new era of science begins.

  • Science Alert ☛ This 3D Model of an Exotic Supernova Only Took 5 Million Hours to Make

    It was worth every minute!

  • Science Alert ☛ So Your Kid Just Dropped an 'F-Bomb'. Here's How Experts Think You Should React.

    I think you might be angry?

  • Hackaday ☛ Hypersonic Speech Jammer Works At A Distance

    Speech jammers were a meme a little while back. By feeding back delayed voice audio to a person’s ears, it makes it near-impossible for most people to speak, as our speech system runs on a continual feedback loop. [Benn Jordan] decided to try reworking that concept by replacing headphones with a directed sound projector.

  • GulagTube is a Burning Platform (Exit YouTube, Invidious Won't Save Us From Google/Alphabet in the Long Run)

    Alphabet Agency (Google) sees the future of video as a "skinnerbox" (running Android) that indoctrinates you like TikTok does

  • Science Alert ☛ Rising Addiction to Milk Tea Linked to Depression in Adolescents

    Not so sweet after all.

  • Science Alert ☛ Simple Worms Might Experience Basic, Fear-Like Emotions

    Welcome to the club.

• Education

  • LRT ☛ Ministry proposes 21% increase in Lithuanian teachers’ salaries next year

    It is proposed to increase teachers’ salaries by 10 percent from January and by 21 percent in total next year, Minister of Education, Science and Sport Gintautas Jakštas announced on Friday.

  • LRT ☛ Taiwan and Lithuania pledge joint investment in science projects

    Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the Lithuanian Science Council (LMT) on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding pledging to allocate up to 5 million euros to science projects over three years, reports the business daily Verslo Žinios.

• Hardware

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ Battle for Semiconductors: Will There Be Winners?

    All these factors forced the U.S. to take a new look at the technology standoff, given that China’s progress in semiconductors has since been tied directly to U.S. national interests. In its technology policy, Washington began to focus on two fronts simultaneously: first, restricting China’s access to advanced technologies as much as possible, and second, stepping up government support for its own innovations and encouraging the repatriation of production capacity to the American soil. Washington understands that semiconductors are the basis both for the development of civilian technologies (and hence economic growth) and for the development of modern weapons systems, i.e., ensuring the interests of national defense.

  • Hackaday ☛ Overclocking Raspberry Pi 5’s SoC To 3 GHz And 1 GHz GPU

    Overclocking computer systems is a fun way to extract some free performance, or at least see how far you can push the hardware before you run into practical limitations. The newly released Raspberry Pi 5 with BCM2712 SoC is no exception here, with Tom’s Hardware having a go at seeing how far both the CPU and GPU in the SoC can be pushed. The BCM2712’s quad Cortex-A76 CPU is normally clocked at 2.4 GHz and the VideoCore VII GPU at 800 MHz. By modifying some settings in the /boot/config.txt configuration file these values can be adjusted.

  • CNX Software ☛ ZX05 mini PC with Processor N100 CPU, 12GB RAM goes for $133 and up

    ZX05 is another Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N mini PC whose main selling points are its PC stick-like size (145 x 62 x 20mm) and its price with the device selling for $132.62 and up on AliExpress with 12GB RAM and an M.2 2280 socket for an NVMe SSD.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Mice Fed Low Levels of Aspartame Passed on Learning Deficits to Their Offspring

    What does this mean for us?

  • Thorsten Ball ☛ Someone on the Other End

    Every time I’m in the gym I use the same app on my phone: KeyLifts. For 3 years now, four to five times a week, the same app. I love it. I pay for the yearly subscription and the app is a huge if not the only reason why I’ve been running the same workout program (5/3/1) for years now. Whenever someone asks me about working out, I tell them about this app.

    Yet I can’t point at a single feature that makes me love it so much. It has some great features, sure, but most of them you can find in other workout apps too. There’s even bugs here and there.

  • Science Alert ☛ Extreme Fasting: What Does 'One Meal a Day' Actually Do to Your Body?

    Welcome to OMAD.

  • Hackaday ☛ Google’s Augmented Reality Microscope Might Help Diagnose Cancer

    Despite recent advances in diagnosing cancer, many cases are still diagnosed using biopsies and analyzing thin slices of tissue underneath a microscope. Properly analyzing these tissue sample slides requires highly experienced and skilled pathologists, and remains subject to some level of bias. In 2018 Google announced a convolutional neural network (CNN) based system which they call the Augmented Reality Microscope (ARM), which would use deep learning and augmented reality (AR) to assist a pathologist with the diagnosis of a tissue sample. A 2022 study in the Journal of Pathology Informatics by David Jin and colleagues (CNBC article) details how well this system performs in ongoing tests.

  • NYPost ☛ More than half of US adults won’t get updated COVID booster vaccine: survey

    A new poll has revealed how many people are planning on getting -- or not getting -- the latest COVID vaccine.

  • LRT ☛ Drug use among teenagers in Lithuania exceeds security threshold – adviser

    Drug use among teenagers in Lithuania exceeds the national security threshold, Kęstutis Budrys, adviser to President Gitanas Nausėda, has said.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaria makes a scary comeback in Malaysia

    The country recorded zero human malaria infections from 2018 to 2021.

  • New York Times ☛ A Public Health Setback

    Abortion politics are threatening a successful global AIDS program.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Funding available to address workplace ergonomic issues

    Departments and units that want to solve ergonomic issues can apply for a grant through the MHealthy Ergonomics Awareness Program through Oct. 31.

  • Latvia ☛ Major hospital construction at standstill, says Health Minister

    The construction of the new A building of Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS) is at a standstill, said Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri, who has requested full information on the planning of the significant project by the end of the week, the Ministry of Health (VM) said on October 2.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • India Times ☛ Google is killing this Gmail's over 10-year-old feature

    Google is killing another feature. This time of Gmail. The company is pulling the plug on Gmail’s basic HTML view starting January 2024. For those not aware, Gmail’s basic HTML view allows users to look at their emails in a no-frill state. The feature is more than 10 years old.

    Google has updated its support page to reflect that Gmail will automatically switch to the Standard view after the deadline date. The company has also sent Gmail users an email informing them of the same.

  • Pete Warden ☛ A Personal History of ML Quantization

    Tomorrow I’ll be giving a remote talk at the LBQNN workshop at ICCV. The topic is the history of quantization in machine learning, and while I don’t feel qualified to give an authoritative account, I did think it might be interesting to cover the developments I was aware of.

  • Ubuntu Pit ☛ 10 Best ChatGPT Alternatives That Steal the Spotlight

    No doubt that the best gift of AI technology in 2023 is ChatGPT. Even if it was available in early 2022, this year, people get used to this tool in both their professional and personal lives. Even many of us are replacing Google with this quick and reliable AI chatting tool.

  • Ars Technica ☛ Microsoft will stop old Windows product keys from activating new Windows installs

    RIP to one of my favorite loopholes: Microsoft quietly announced earlier this month (via Neowin) that users will no longer be able to install and activate Windows 10 or Windows...

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Latvia ☛ Does Latvia use Pegasus spyware? It's a secret

      "It's a state secret", "It seems not, but I don't know exactly", "I can't comment" – these were all answers to Rus.LSM.lv's questions about whether Latvian special services use the controversial "Pegasus" espionage software.

    • MIT Technology Review ☛ Child online safety laws will actually hurt kids, critics say

      This article is from The Technocrat, MIT Technology Review’s weekly tech policy newsletter about power, politics, and Silicon Valley. To receive it in your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Myanmar begins pilot census in 20 townships

      Critics say the move will be used to increase surveillance of opponents.

    • Reason ☛ Government Watchdog Calls Out Dangers in Section 702 Surveillance

      A divided board recommends reforms as Congress debates renewing snooping authority.

• Defence/Aggression

  • YLE ☛ Orpo: Street violence partly due to unsuccessful integration [sic] of immigrants

    Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) said on Sunday that his government plans tougher penalties and other means to ensure that gang-related [sic] crime in Finland does not explode as it has in Sweden.

  • France24 ☛ Turkey strikes Kurdish PKK targets in Iraq after Ankara suicide bombing

    The Turkish defense ministry says its warplanes have carried out raids on suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Sunday following a suicide attack on a government building in the Turkish capital.

  • New York Times ☛ Turkey Strikes Kurdish Rebels After Suicide Attack in Ankara

    “Many terrorists were neutralized,” Turkey said of the airstrikes, which it ordered after the P.K.K. took responsibility for a bomb attack.

  • Defence Web ☛ Reserve Force integral and essential for SANDF – Ramantswana

    SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Chief of Corporate Staff (CoS) Lieutenant General Michael Ramantswana maintains the country’s part-time soldiers are “a backbone to the regular forces.” Essentially number two in the SANDF uniform hierarchy, the three-star sees the Reserve Force augmenting the full-time component of the SANDF on what he says are “various operations”.

  • RFA ☛ Airstrikes and shelling killed 44 civilians in Myanmar in September

    Another 142 people were injured by aerial attacks and heavy artillery, RFA data show.

  • France24 ☛ Torture in Egypt a 'crime against humanity', say rights groups

    Egyptian authorities' "widespread and systematic" use of torture is "a crime against humanity", rights groups said Monday in an appeal to the United Nations to review Egypt's rights record.

  • Defence Web ☛ Global coalition to defeat ISIS to focus on African states

    The Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS has established a focus group to help African states build up their counterterrorism capabilities, particularly for regions where governance challenges have allowed extremist organisations to exploit economic deprivation and a lack of effective governance.

  • France24 ☛ Mali redeploys troops to northeastern rebel stronghold

    The Malian army began redeploying troops on Monday towards the northern rebel stronghold of Kidal, two security officials said, amid a resumption of hostilities in the region.

  • Defence Web ☛ SADC readying for DR Congo mission deployment

    Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly its volatile east, was under the spotlight during a high-level Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional security summit.

  • France24 ☛ UN set to vote on international armed force for Haiti

    The UN Security Council will decide on Monday whether to endorse an international force to back Haiti's police as they battle entrenched criminal gangs, according to a published agenda.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Pro-China election winner Mohamed Muizzu vows to unite Maldives, releases ex-leader

    The president-elect of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, secured the release of his jailed mentor on Sunday, a day after divisive polls that saw the pro-Beijing leader vow to rebalance relations with New Delhi.

  • JURIST ☛ Burkina Faso coup leader cancels 2024 elections, citing security concerns

    Burkina Faso coup leader Ibrahim Traore announced Friday that there would be no elections in the country until security concerns were addressed. Traore previously promised elections would be reinstated by 2024 to ensure democracy. Speaking on national television, the junta leader said elections were not a priority compared to the related security concerns.

  • JURIST ☛ India protestors try to storm Manipur Chief Minister’s residence amid ethnic tensions and curfew

    Police authorities in the Indian state of Manipur reported an incident on Thursday wherein a group of protestors attempted to storm and vandalize the residence of the state’s Chief Minister.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines, allies kick off two-week naval drills amid Asia-Pacific tension

    The exercises are being held a week after China blocked Filipino fishermen from sailing to a disputed shoal.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China hopes US will 'do more things' conducive to dialogue

    China hopes the United States will "do more things" conducive to Sino-U.S. dialogue, the foreign ministry said on Monday, days after Washington angered Beijing with accusations of information manipulation.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Thai Airways flights from China almost full after visa waiver

    Chinese visitors can enjoy visa-free entry to Thailand from Sept 25 to Feb 29.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Two elves and a scroll: Chinese military releases animation on Taiwan ‘reunification’

    It is about pieces of a scroll painting, which was torn in two over 300 years ago, being reunited.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Ex-leader Ma calls for boycott as Taiwan’s national day becomes polarising celebration

    Taiwan celebrates Oct 10 as its national day, marking a 1911 uprising that ended China's last imperial dynasty.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea slams UN nuclear agency as US mouthpiece

    Pyongyang called the agency a "paid trumpeter" for Washington.

  • Meduza ☛ Azerbaijan arrests former Nagorno-Karabakh foreign minister, says he was charged with crimes back in 2020 — Meduza

  • JURIST ☛ Columbia investigation reveals over 35,000 cases of sexual and gender violence in country’s armed conflict

    Columbia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal said Wednesday that at least 35,178 people have suffered sexual, gender and reproductive violence during Colombia’s armed conflict.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Bulgaria Bans Entry Of Cars With Russian License Plates

      Bulgaria will ban the entry of cars with Russian license plates by the end of the day on October 2, the head of Bulgaria's border police, Anton Zlatanov has announced.

    • Meduza ☛ Medvedev says British military instructors training AFU troops in Ukraine would be ‘legal targets’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Bust of Stalin installed at Tver memorial for victims of wars and repressions — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Drones downed in Russia’s Smolensk region, residents urged to remain indoors — Meduza

    • New Yorker ☛ Should Biden Push for Regime Change in Russia?

      The Russia scholar Stephen Kotkin says that Ukraine must exchange Russia-held territory for security guarantees. But the U.S. must also threaten Putin’s hold on power.

    • AntiWar ☛ The Key to Peace in Ukraine? The Other Broken NATO Promise.

      In 2007, Putin asked the world, “What happened to the assurances our western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them.” He then went on to remind his audience of NATO’s promise not to expand east of Germany toward Russia’s borders.

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Russian oligarch’s Australian sanction complaint

      The Guardian

      A Russian oligarch sanctioned over his alleged links to Vladimir Putin has asked a court to render Australia’s sanctions regime invalid, documents show.

    • RFERL ☛ Russians Unofficially Honor Wagner Mercenary Leader Prigozhin On 40th Day After His Death

      Russians have commemorated the founder and leader of Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin on the 40th day since his death, a Russian Orthodox tradition to honor those who have passed away.

    • European Commission ☛ Doorstep by Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi ahead of EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Kyiv

      European Commission Statement Kyiv, 02 Oct 2023 Check against delivery!

      As you know, our report on EU enlargement is imminent.

    • Latvia ☛ CERT: Cyber attacks on Latvia will continue

      Since last spring, when Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the level of threat to Latvia's cyber environment has been high, and there is currently no hope that this activity will decrease, Baiba Kaškina, head of information technology security incident prevention institution Cert.lv, told Latvian Television on October 2.

    • Latvia ☛ LTV's De Facto: plant product imports from Russia have tripled in Latvia

      Although Latvia currently imports considerably fewer goods from Russia than before the invasion of Ukraine, there are product categories that also bring hundreds of millions of euros of income to the Russian economy. It is cattle feed, especially maize, oil cake from sunflower seeds, and other agricultural products, Latvian Television's De Facto reported October 1.

    • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Zelensky tells EU ministers that ‘victory depends on our cooperation’

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday told a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv that victory 'directly depends on our cooperation'. His remark came after French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the meeting signified the EU’s long-term support to Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Lawmakers, Elon Musk Trade Barbs On Social Media

      Ukraine's parliament and Elon Musk, the head of the social media platform now known as X, have traded barbs in cyberspace as Kyiv tries to repel invading Russian soldiers with Western support.

    • RFERL ☛ Kazakhstan Cancels Concerts Of Russian Comedian Who Opposes Ukraine Invasion

      Two major concert halls in Kazakhstan said over the weekend that performances by Russian comedian and TV presenter Maksim Galkin, who has been vocal in his criticism of the Kremlin's war against Ukraine, cannot be held due to "repair works" at the venues.

    • RFERL ☛ Kosovo Says Serbia's Behavior Same As Russia's Before Ukraine Invasion

      Serbia's troop deployment on Kosovo's border is similar to Russia's behavior toward Ukraine before its full-scale invasion, the Kosovar foreign minister said, urging the European Union to take action against Belgrade such as freezing its candidacy status.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Foreign Ministers Meet In Kyiv Amid Concerns About Weakening Support For Ukraine

      Most European Union foreign ministers gathered for a meeting in Kyiv on October 2 in a show of solidarity with Ukraine as concerns are growing about a possible weakening of support in the bloc after the election victory in EU member Slovakia of a populist party that opposes military aid.

    • RFERL ☛ Biden Says U.S. Support For Ukraine Must Not Be Interrupted After Deal To Avert Shutdown Drops Aid

      U.S. President Joe Biden vowed on October 1 after signing a bill to avoid a government shutdown that aid for Ukraine that was dropped from the legislation would continue and said he expects Congress to pass the aid in separate legislation.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Forces Keep Up Attacks In Southern Ukraine As Missiles Downed Over Crimea

      The latest Russian attacks on the Kherson region in southern Ukraine killed at least one man, local military authorities said on October 1, while Russia said its air defenses shot down six Ukrainian drones over two western and southern regions.

    • YLE ☛ Luxury car smugglers bypass Russian sanctions via Finland

      Yle journalists placed geolocation trackers on luxury cars near the Russian border, pinpointing the vehicles as they made a 5,000 km journey to a Siberian car dealership.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia May Be Planning to Test a Nuclear-Powered Missile

      Visual evidence from a remote base in the Arctic shows launch preparations mirroring those that preceded earlier tests.

    • RFERL ☛ Jailed Belarusian Activist Whose Term Ended In August Faces New Trial

      Amid an ongoing crackdown on civil society groups and free speech in Belarus, activist Palina Sharenda-Panasyuk, who finished serving a prison term in early August but was not released, has gone on trial again, this time on a charge of "blatantly violating the penitentiary regulations."

    • The Straits Times ☛ Zelenskiy says cooperation with EU vital for victory, Kyiv needs defence support

      A Ukrainian victory in the war with Russia depends on cooperation with the European Union, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told EU foreign ministers gathered in Kyiv on Monday.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia-Ukraine War: E.U. Foreign Ministers Meet in Kyiv for Summit

      The top diplomats of E.U. member nations are gathering as the organization pledges to increase military support for Ukraine. Its most senior officials back Ukraine’s entry into the group.

    • New York Times ☛ Monday Briefing: U.S. Aid to Ukraine Is Uncertain

      Plus NASA’s plan to build houses on the moon.

    • New York Times ☛ Polish Opposition Supporters March in Warsaw Ahead of Key Election

      The fate of democracy and aid for Ukraine undergird the October vote, which will decide whether the governing Law and Justice party secures an unprecedented third term in a row.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • University of Michigan ☛ Theranos whistleblower Erika Cheung discusses ethics in tech at Rackham

    About 60 University of Michigan students and community members gathered inside Palmer Commons Friday afternoon to hear from Erika Cheung about her experience at Theranos, a health care startup company whose fraudulent activity was exposed when Cheung leaked reports about the company to authorities and to the Wall Street Journal investigative team in 2015. 

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ Space-Based Solar Power Is a Possible Alternative Energy Source

      Space-based solar power, once a topic for science fiction, is gaining interest.

    • Interesting Engineering ☛ Automakers fear new fuel standards will derail EV shift

      The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a proposal in July for setting fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks for the model years 2027-2032. The proposal aimed to increase the fuel efficiency of cars by 2% and light trucks by 4% every year. This is a significant jump from the previous standards, which already required an 8% annual improvement for cars and 10% for light trucks for the model years 2024-2026.

    • RFA ☛ Riding bicycles to get around a motorcycle ban

      Residents in Yangon’s Dala township have found a way around a junta-imposed ban on the use of motorbikes, electric bikes and sidecars after a local official was killed by motorcycle-riding assailants last year.

      Instead, residents are using bicycles and trishaws, three-wheeled passenger carts powered by human pedaling.

    • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Whoosh’ goes South-east Asia’s first high-speed rail in Indonesia

      The launch for the train named "Whoosh" is far behind the original target of operations in 2019.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Indonesia denies smog from forest fires drifted to Malaysia, says ‘no transboundary haze’

      Indonesia’s 2023 dry season is its most severe since 2019 because of the impact of El Nino.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian parents take precautions to limit children’s exposure to haze

      Limiting outdoor activities and masking up are among measures being taken by parents.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Southern Malaysian states braced for haze from Sumatra

      Moderate to dense smoke plumes from hot spot clusters in south Sumatra have been observed.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • New York Times ☛ We Asked Readers to Spend the Summer Watching Birds. Here’s What Happened.

      Thousands of people from around the world responded to the invitation, sharing their sightings with scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

• Finance

  • YLE ☛ Monday's papers: Inflation's winners and losers, Putin's future and an autumn storm

    Is inflation in Finland favouring borrowers?

  • France24 ☛ Why hard-right libertarian Javier Milei wants to dollarise Argentina’s economy

    Javier Milei, the "anarcho-capitalist" presidential candidate who took the lead in the August primaries with his "Liberty Advances" political coalition, owes much of his electoral success to his promise to dollarise the Argentine economy. Disoriented by hyperinflation and rising poverty, many Argentinians see the adoption of the US dollar as the country’s official currency as the long-awaited solution to an economic crisis that they’ve been struggling to escape from since 2018.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘I feel happier’: Young Chinese leave the big city behind in search of a simple life in ceramics capital Jingdezhen

    By Ludovic Ehret China’s “Porcelain Capital” Jingdezhen is attracting droves of young people drawn to the city of artisans in search of an escape from the urban rat race among its ceramics workshops.

  • New York Times ☛ China Evergrande’s Founder: The Rise and Fall of Hui Ka Yan

    Hui Ka Yan, who grew up poor in the countryside, was a symbol of China’s economic rise. With Evergrande teetering, his future is uncertain, too.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Kent Stater ☛ GUEST COLUMN: Unmasking justice: why Ohio’s bipartisan effort to end capital punishment matters

    She is currently interning with the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus within the Ohio House of Representatives.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Former Pacific leaders hope Australians 'find conscience' to pass First Nations referendum

    Former Pacific Islands leaders say they \"pray that Australians find it in their conscience\" to vote for constitutional recognition of First Nations people, amid concern Australia's image in the region will be damaged if, as polling predicts, the historic motion fails.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Developing countries double down on technology at Havana summit

    Developing nations on Saturday declared Sept. 16 the annual "Day of Science, Technology and Innovation in the South" as they prepared to wrap up a two-day summit on the subject.

  • ADF ☛ Experts Point to Key Difference in Gabon Coup

    In the early hours of August 29, Gabonese authorities announced that President Ali Bongo had won a disputed election that gave him a controversial third term.

  • CBC ☛ Canada's voluntary AI code of conduct is coming — not everyone is enthused

    Companies working with AI in Canada are being presented with a new voluntary code of conduct around how advanced generative artificial intelligence is used and developed in this country.

  • Penske Media Corporation ☛ Global Music Diplomacy Initiative Unveiled at State Department Event in Washington, D.C.

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken launched the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative on Wednesday (Sept. 27), a worldwide effort to elevate music as a diplomatic tool to promote peace and democracy.

    The launch event was held at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. Secretary Blinken was joined by Harvey Mason, Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy; Lyor Cohen, global head of music for YouTube and Google; and David M. Rubenstein, chairman of the board at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

  • India Times ☛ Meta technology chief defends tech titan's AI strategy

    Meta's chief technology officer is quick to push back on assertions that the company has fallen behind rivals like ChatGPT in the explosive surge across the tech industry in generative AI.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Biden Talks Trump, Democracy and SCOTUS Ethics With ProPublica

    President Joe Biden said Friday that he was not fully confident that the current U.S. Supreme Court, which he described as extreme, could be relied on to uphold the rule of law.

    When asked the question directly, Biden paused for a few seconds. Then he sighed and said, “I worry.”

  • New York Times ☛ Slovakia Appears Set to Join the Putin Sympathizers After Election

    The front-runner in the parliamentary vote has pledged “not to send a single cartridge” to neighboring Ukraine, a sign of the flagging European support for a victim of Russian aggression.

  • NYPost ☛ Trump arrives in NYC court to face $250M civil fraud trial

    The Republican frontrunner is charged with fraud for allegedly making false statements in business documents to secure favorable terms with banks — including by claiming that his soaring triplex penthouse at Trump Tower was 30,000 square feet when it was in fact closer to just 11,000 feet.

  • NYPost ☛ Trump fraud trial in NYC live updates: Ex-president leaves Trump Tower, headed to courthouse

    Donald Trump’s $250 million fraud lawsuit begins a non-jury trial today in Manhattan. Follow the Post’s live coverage as Trump, sons Eric and Don Jr., and the Trump Organization are accused of a decades-long scheme by New York AG Letitia James.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Middle East Monitor ☛ Tunisia fierce attack on the media

    This clear official attack against critical or dissenting voices, from which public television has not been spared, and which has not hosted any voices which are not supportive of the President for months but, instead, has given free rein to the shallow voices of hypocrisy. The Journalists’ Syndicate has condemned this in several statements, can only establish an atmosphere of fear and terror that prompts many to resort to self-censorship or silence. This is at a time when all journalists are already complaining about the absence of normal conditions conducive for them to do their jobs, the least of which is the lack of an official body to which they can refer back to for information, comments or clarifications on any issue, as there is no media official in the Carthage Palace and no director of the presidential office.

    No one but the President can speak!

  • Pen America ☛ PEN America condemns arrest of Tunisian cartoonist for mocking the Prime Minister

    The arrest takes place amid a concerning decline in individual freedoms and freedom of expression in Tunisia reflected in Tunisia’s rank 121 in Reporters Without Borders 2022 World Press Freedom Index. In September 2022, President Kaïs Saïed passed decree 2022-54 which imposes penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 dinars (approximately 15,800 USD) for those found guilty of intentionally using communication networks and information systems to spread false information or misleading rumors. The decree carries a maximum sentence of ten years’ imprisonment for defamation of a public official. Several journalists have already been charged with “disseminating false information.”

  • Reuters ☛ Tunisia detains cartoonist over drawings mocking prime minister

    Tunisia's public prosecutor on Thursday detained the cartoonist Tawfiq Omrane over drawings mocking the prime minister, Omrane's lawyer said, fuelling concern among free speech advocates.

    Omrane is well known for publishing satirical cartoons featuring President Kais Saied, who seized almost all powers two years ago after he shut down Tunisia's elected parliament in a move that the opposition described as a coup.

  • RFA ☛ Chinese police harass family of Washington DC student activist

    US universities need to realize how Beijing is pushing its agenda through student associations, experts say.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Associated Press ☛ The police chief who led a raid of a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended

    Cody’s suspension is a reversal for the mayor, who previously said he would wait for results from a state police investigation before taking action.

    Vice-Mayor Ruth Herbel, whose home was also raided Aug. 11, praised Cody’s suspension as “the best thing that can happen to Marion right now” as the central Kansas town of about 1,900 people struggles to move forward under the national spotlight.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Late-night shows return after writers strike as actors resume talks that could end their standoff

    "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" will be among the first to return on Monday.

  • LRT ☛ More than 2,000 teachers continue to strike in Lithuania

    More than 2,000 teachers and other education workers are continuing their strike in Lithuania on Monday, according to the National Education Agency.

  • BIA Net ☛ Hunger strike outside Germany’s Justice Ministry for release of political prisoners from Turkey

    Three people are staging a hunger strike outside the German Ministry of Justice, demanding the release of their friends, including members of Grup Yorum.

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Unions Are for Fighting the Boss. Don’t Turn Them Into Toothless Guilds.

    Schrager’s careful phrasing — “helps explain” — gives her some wiggle room, but she’s pretending not to see the elephant in the room. American labor law is absurdly slanted against workers trying to get organized. When a majority of employees at a workplace sign union cards, that isn’t enough for a union to be recognized. There has to be a certification election. In the run-up, bosses can force workers to attend “captive audience” meetings while they’re on the clock to subject them to antiunion propaganda and, quite often, thinly veiled threats that the place will shut down if a union is recognized and everyone will lose their jobs. The union doesn’t have a right to make their countercase or even have representatives present at the meeting.

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ We All Live in a Company Town Now. The Labor Movement Can Lead the Way Out.

    As educators, we have witnessed this housing crisis not only be a source of stress and instability for ourselves and our coworkers, but also uproot our students from schools — away from their friends, teachers, counselors, and neighborhood communities. The root of this injustice is the private market’s monopoly on housing construction and ownership. Unions from all sectors — education, service, manufacturing, and especially the building trades — need to unite and campaign for housing policies that break the monopoly of the private market.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ How QUIC helps you seamlessly connect to different networks

    Guest Post: QUIC overcomes a key issue with TCP by assigning Connection IDs instead of IP addresses.

• Monopolies

  • Patents

    • JUVE ☛ Dutch Patent Office and District Court deny SPC for Novartis/Genmab MS drug [Ed: Patent maximalists have ruined the patent system and this publisher, JUVE, got paid by them to promote lies and lobby for illegal, unconstitutional courts that serve injustice]

      In July 2021, Danish biotechnology company Genmab submitted an application for a supplementary protection certificate for ofatumumab, an indication which treats multiple sclerosis, to the Netherlands Patent Office (OCNL). Ofatumumab is a monoclonal antibody and CD20-inhibitor.

  • Trademarks

    • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Quarterly Index: July - September 2023

      E-mail subscriptions to the TTABlog are available. Just enter your e-mail address in the box on the right to receive a daily update via Feedblitz. Please report any broken or inoperative links, as well as any errors and omissions, to the TTABlogger at jwelch at wolfgreenfield.com.

  • Copyrights

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Weak IP Address Evidence Collapses 'Non-Responsive Movie Pirates' Lawsuit

      Voltage Holdings has lost its appeal against a 2022 Canada Federal Court decision that denied default judgment against a number of unnamed internet subscribers. Voltage claimed that the internet users, who all received two prior infringement notices, shared the movie 'Revolt' on BitTorrent or authorized someone else with access to their internet connection to do so.

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Jake Paul Fight Lasted 119 Seconds, H3 Podcast Copyright Battle Hits 124 Weeks

      In April 2021, Jake Paul knocked out Ben Askren in less than two minutes. Shortly after on YouTube, the popular H3 Podcast declared the fight "a disaster" and showed a clip of the fight to back up their claims. After being sued by Triller for $50 million in copyright damages, H3 opted for a fair use defense. Now into its 124th week over a short clip of a fight that lasted 119 seconds, the lawsuit should be compulsory reading for YouTubers.