Leftovers

• Niels Provos ☛ Netrunner music video: Weight painting for Metahuman Skeletons

  Now, we can export the asset as FBX from Houdini and reimport it into Unreal Engine for a final check. As it turns out, my hack did not entirely follow the real metahuman deformations, so it required a few round trips to get to the proper results. Apparently, Unreal 5.3 has built in tools for weight painting now which should make this whole process much easier.

• Hackaday ☛ Try It Out

  It’s like Star Wars versus Star Trek at a SciFi convention, or asking creamy or chunky at the National Peanut Butter Appreciation Festival. (OK, we made that one up.) When Jenny reviewed the 1.0 version of LibrePCB, it opened the floodgates. Only on Hackaday!

• Hackaday ☛ Sine-wave Speech Demonstrates An Auditory One-way Door

  Sine-wave speech can be thought of as a sort of auditory illusion, a sensory edge case in which one’s experience has a clear “before” and “after” moment, like going through a one-way door.

• Hackaday ☛ Implementing Commodore’s IEC Bus Protocol On A KIM-1 Single Board Computer

  Although the PET is most likely the more well-known of Commodore’s early computer systems, the KIM-1 (Keyboard Input Monitor) single board computer was launched a year prior, in 1976. It featured not only the same MOS 6502 MPU as later Commodore systems, but also an MCS6530 PIO IC that contained the ROM, RAM and programmable I/O, reminiscent of later I/O chips on Commodore systems. As the KIM-1 was only designed to be used with an external tape drive (and a terminal for fancy users), adding a floppy drive like the ubiquitous 1541 with its IEC bus interface was not a first-party accessory. How the IEC bus can be retrofitted to a KIM-1 system is demonstrated in this video by the Commodore History channel.

• Chris ☛ Retrospective: Metaculus Quarterly Cup

• Off Guardian ☛ Unbelievable Reality

  We have finally reached a point in the advancement of our technology where we no longer can believe anything we see or hear.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Assembly Theory: Bold New 'Theory of Everything' Could Unite Physics And Evolution

    Could this explain the origins of life?

  • Science Alert ☛ Female Animals Teach Each Other to Choose Unusual Males, Research Suggests

    It's a matter of taste.

  • Science Alert ☛ Want to Cut Heart Disease Risk? Here's How Many Flights of Stairs to Climb Daily

    Do try this at home.

  • Science Alert ☛ Iron Atoms Discovered 'Dancing' Inside Earth's Solid Inner Core

    Surprise!

• Education

  • LRT ☛ Some teachers sign collective agreement after reaching pay deal with Education Ministry

    Four trade unions representing education employees on Friday signed a collective agreement after agreeing with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport on a pay increase plan.

  • Declining reading culture: What role can parents, guardians play to boost reading?

    Several studies have shown that there is a decline of reading culture globally, particularly in the advent of internet-based technologies and social media, especially among the young generation and children being born today.

    Reading is by far still an essential ability for learning, personal development, and societal progress because it is through reading that we are able to comprehend things and interpret information.

    The diminishing reading culture is a result of many things, among them busy lifestyles of people in today’s world where work, family and social obligations takeover, with many finding themselves not being able to make time to read or teach children how to read.

  • The Drone Girl ☛ Using Drones to Teach Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

    Whether you’re a teacher, club leader, parent or any other role model for students, here are six reasons why drones are an effective tool to use in schools — and why they’re an ideal teaching tool you might adopt to get students ready for jobs in STEM fields.

  • The Register UK ☛ FTC: Please stop falling for social media scams, you've given crooks at least $650M so far this year

    In fact, according to the US government watchdog, since 2021 people have lost more than $2.7 billion from fraud pushed via social networks. Social media is the number one method for scammers to contact their victims, FTC data shows.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Control Tricks For Tailsitters

    An RC VTOL aircraft always makes for a compelling project, but ensuring the transition between hover and forward flight can be quite challenging. In the video after the break, [Nicholas Rehm] demystifies of the flight control algorithm required for a VTOL tailsitter.

  • Security Week ☛ Taiwan Probes Firms Suspected of Selling Chip Equipment to China’s Huawei Despite US Sanctions

    Taiwan authorities are investigating four Taiwan-based companies suspected of helping China’s Huawei Technologies to build semiconductor facilities.

  • Hackaday ☛ Designing A Macintosh-to-VGA Adapter With An LM1881

    If you’re the happy owner of a vintage Apple system like a 1989 Macintosh IIci you may know the pain of keeping working monitors around. Unless it’s a genuine Apple-approved CRT with the proprietary DA-15-based video connector, you are going to need at least an adapter studded with DIP switches to connect it to other monitors. Yet as [Steve] recently found out, the Macintosh’s rather selective use of video synchronization signals causes quite a headache when you try to hook up a range of VGA-equipped LCD monitors. A possible solution? Extracting the sync signal using a Texas Instruments LM1881 video sync separator chip.

  • Hackaday ☛ Playing The Guitar Of DOOM

    Over the years, we’ve seen DOOM run on pretty much everything from an 8088 to a single keycap. We’ve also written up one or two controllers, but we don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this — playing DOOM with an electric guitar.

  • Hackaday ☛ Hats Off To Another Weird Keyboard From Google Japan

    As portable as keyboards have gotten, you still need some place to put the thing — some kind of bag for travel, and a flat surface for using it. Well, it doesn’t get much more portable than a hat keyboard, now does it?

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ ZimaBlade Review: Affordable Home Server SBC Is a Personal Cloud

    The cloud is just someone else’s computer, but in the case of ZimaBlade the cloud is yours to do with and thanks to an easy to use app store and a plethora of ports you can build your own custom, personal cloud.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ New Freeware Detects Fake USB Drives with Inflated Capacity

    If you have a USB drive you suspect might not offer the capacity it was advertised as offering, ValiDrive puts it through a 576-region spot check.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Asean nations to prioritise members' rice needs: Malaysian state media

    Malaysia is among several countries affected by top exporters like India restricting shipments.

  • Latvia ☛ More than 100,000 Latvians are in a state of depression, says study

    A new study conducted on the mental health of the population of Latvia concludes that the situation is critical, with depression and anxiety widespread in society, leading experts said October 6 on Latvian Radio's 'How to live better?' radio show.

  • Science Alert ☛ Common Plastic Additive Linked to Autism And ADHD, Scientists Discover

    Here's what we know.

  • US News And World Report ☛ California Gov. Gavin Newsom Vetoes Bill That Would Have Decriminalized Psychedelic Mushrooms

    The bill would not have legalized the sale of the substances and would have barred any possession of the substances on school grounds. Instead, it would have ensured people are neither arrested nor prosecuted for possessing limited amounts of plant-based hallucinogens.

  • “The midwit effect”? Antivaxxers are irritated by a study on intelligence and vaccines

    One of the narratives that antivaxxers love to promote about themselves is that they see things about vaccines that the average person—including scientists—do not and cannot. Because, like all science denial, antivaccine beliefs are thoroughly rooted in conspiracy theory, it’s important understand that a key element of conspiratorial thinking is the belief that one is not a “sheeple,” that one has knowledge not appreciated or understood by the rest of the “sheeple,” that one is—dare I say it?—intelligent than average person. That’s why the antivaxxer supposedly “sees” all the “harms” caused by vaccines when everyone else, including top scientists, do not, which brings us to the “midwit effect.

  • Science Alert ☛ There's a Strange Cardiovascular Response When People Listen to Classical Music Together

    An orchestra of bodies.

  • NYPost ☛ Florida family sentenced for selling bleach as COVID-19 cure out of fake church

    A father and three sons face five to 12 years in prison for selling "Mineral Miracle Solution" out of a fake church, assuring users it would cure 95% of diseases.

  • Pro Publica ☛ “Unreliable” Lung Float Test Still Being Used to Convict Women of Murder

    Inside the medical examiner’s office, two pathologists removed a baby’s lungs from his chest, clamped them together and placed them in a container of water. Then they watched.

    They were examining the suspicious death of the baby whose body was found in a Maryland home; his mother said he was stillborn.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Futurism ☛ AI Chatbots Are Only Useful If You Think They Are, Scientists Find

    In a new study published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, a team of researchers from the MIT Media Lab found that subjects who were "primed" for a specific AI experience almost always ended up having that experience.

  • Nature ☛ Influencing human–AI interaction by priming beliefs about AI can increase perceived trustworthiness, empathy and effectiveness [paywall]

    As conversational agents powered by large language models become more human-like, users are starting to view them as companions rather than mere assistants. Our study explores how changes to a person’s mental model of an AI system affects their interaction with the system. Participants interacted with the same conversational AI, but were influenced by different priming statements regarding the AI’s inner motives: caring, manipulative or no motives. Here we show that those who perceived a caring motive for the AI also perceived it as more trustworthy, empathetic and better-performing, and that the effects of priming and initial mental models were stronger for a more sophisticated AI model. Our work also indicates a feedback loop in which the user and AI reinforce the user’s mental model over a short time; further work should investigate long-term effects. The research highlights the importance of how AI systems are introduced can notably affect the interaction and how the AI is experienced.

  • Quartz ☛ AI in Focus: Bored, send help

    Hello, fellow humans! Hope you’re enjoying the new, limited Saturday edition of the Daily Brief, which is focused on AI, though, we promise, written by actual people.

  • International Business Times ☛ Google Unveils New Assistant With Bard, Here's Everything It Offers

    Google has confirmed that the Assistant with Bard is currently in its early development phase. However, beta testers will be able to access it early. Apparently, Google will use their feedback to improve the newfangled Assistant before rolling it out to the public.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Jamie Zawinski ☛ Ring Is Cashing In on the UFO Craze to Promote Its Surveillance Dystopia

      The "Million Dollar Sighting" contest is Amazon's latest scheme to make people think of Ring cameras as wacky and fun instead of frightening and paranoid.

    • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ Tor Browser Enables WebP and AVIF by Default, In All Safety Modes.

      However, even on the Safest setting, where almost all of this is disabled and you can pretty much only view static sites, such as the ones that people are _supposed_ to put on the deep and dark Web, Google’s WebP and AVIF image formats are still enabled.

      As we saw about a month ago where all major browsers had the exact same zero-click-get-pwned bug and it turned out that the libwebp code is overly complex to the point of being nearly impossible to properly debug, and uniformly implements the same defects due to Google’s “throw code over the wall and fail to properly document how you would make a new implementation if you wanted to (a force of habit), and the stupid library being in all sorts of things that will take months or years to get patched, if they ever all do, we saw what a big mess the proliferation of substandard standards can really bring about.

      Fortunately, Mozilla-based browsers (Firefox, SeaMonkey, Pale Moon, Waterfox, Floorp, LibreWolf, GNU IceCat, Tor Browser, and maybe others) allow you to disable WebP and AVIF in about:config.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ How Aligning With China Changed Life in the Solomon Islands

    The author of a new book on the diplomatic switch says that ending recognition of Taiwan affected life in unexpected ways across the island nation.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea to enforce public release of mugshots, identities of those who commit serious crimes

    With the new rules, both the suspects and defendants may have their identity and mugshot released.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Mississippi Democrat Brandon Presley aims to rally Black voters in governor’s race

    Mississippi's Democratic nominee for governor says the election could hinge on turnout among Black voters. Brandon Presley says Black residents haven’t wielded political influence commensurate to their share of the state population. At at a campaign event in the 80% Black state capital of Jackson, Presley said Black voters could help carry him to victory. He also accused incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves of hoping they stay home. Presley says issues like health care and political representation for Black residents have not improved during Reeves’ term. Reeves has touted disaster recovery efforts in the state's majority Black areas.

  • France24 ☛ Turkey launches fresh strikes on Kurdish targets in Syria in retaliation for Ankara bombing

    Turkey's defence ministry said Friday it had a launched a new wave of air strikes against Kurdish targets in Syria in retaliation for a bombing attack in Ankara.

  • RFERL ☛ Local Member Of Putin-Backed Political Party Killed In Blast In Occupied Ukrainian City

    Vladimir Malov, a local official of the party backed by President Vladimir Putin, was killed in a vehicle explosion in the Russia-occupied city of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, the regional governor and Russian media reported on October 7.

  • New York Times ☛ On Russian Nuclear Threat, Putin Lets Others Rattle the Saber

    While Russian hard-liners voice provocative proposals about using nuclear weapons, Mr. Putin presents himself as a moderating force — while never really taking the threat off the table.

  • Greece ☛ EU Mediterranean ministers call for more migrant repatriations, increased resources

    Migration and interior ministers from five European Union countries most affected by migration across the Mediterranean — Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain — hailed a new EU pact on migration but said more resources were needed.

    The ministers from the Med 5 group, who met in Thessaloniki, Greece on Friday and Saturday, took a hard line on returning migrants who have crossed into the bloc illegally to their countries of origin, arguing that if Europe does not tackle the problem decisively, more extreme voices will take over.

  • Truthdig ☛ We Cannot Be a Party to Uranium-Enrichment in Saudi Arabia

    Curbing the spread of nuclear weapons and the uranium-enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing technologies needed to make them has long been in U.S. security interests. Today, this is especially true in the troubled Middle East, where one state, Israel, already is nuclear-armed, and another state, Iran, has amassed a substantial uranium-enrichment capacity. The challenge of containing Iran’s capabilities has grown significantly since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the successful Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Hundreds of migrants overwhelm tiny Canary Island

    Over half of those arrived in three boats at El Hierro island on Friday alone. Authorities on the island, with a population of 11,000, said they were overwhelmed by the number of arrivals.

  • YLE ☛ Interior Minister: Finnish street gang [sic] crime overshadowed by Sweden

    However, the minister said there are indications of similar Swedish-style criminal developments in Finland.

    "It is essential that we do not shy away from the phenomenon or fail to address this development," Rantanen argued.

  • teleSUR ☛ UN Security Council to Address the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

    Egypt is engaged in intensive diplomacy with several countries to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation

    Hamas militants have fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday. Israel says it’s now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.” Israel says at least 200 people have been killed and 1,100 wounded, making it the deadliest attack in years.

  • France24 ☛ More than 200 killed in unprecedented Hamas assault on Israel, 232 killed in Gaza

    More than 200 Israelis were killed on Saturday as Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented, multi-front attack on Israel at daybreak, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of Hamas fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea and catching the country off guard on a major holiday. At least 232 people have been killed and 1,610 wounded in Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

  • New York Times ☛ Gaza’s Hospitals and Morgues Are Crowded

    The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said 198 Palestinians had been killed and 1,610 wounded.

  • JURIST ☛ At least 100 Israel civilians killed following Hamas ground and rocket attacks

    Over 100 Israeli civilians were killed Saturday after Hamas fired rockets into Israel and scores of Hamas militants entered Israeli territory from Gaza, according to Israeli officials. The Palestinian Ministry of Health also reported that 198 Palestinians were killed after Israel conducted airstrikes on Gaza in response to the incursions.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Hamas rockets and deadly incursion shock Israel. Sides talk of ‘war.’

    In an early morning attack, Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into Israeli towns as far as 15 miles away, killing hundreds and abducting others in the deadliest attack in Israel in decades. Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”

  • France24 ☛ Hamas surprise attack a ‘historic failure’ for Israeli intelligence services

    The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, firing thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel, as dozens of fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea. The offensive caught the country completely off guard and represents a "historic failure" for Israeli intelligence services, according to Middle East expert David Khalfa.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel-Gaza Conflict: Air-Raid Sirens in Israel Warn of Continued Strikes on Sunday

    More than 450 people have been killed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate and turn Hamas strongholds “into rubble.”

  • New York Times ☛ Fighting in Israel and Gaza, in Photos

    A multipronged surprise attack by Palestinian militants put Israel and Gaza on a war footing. Here are images from the assault and its aftermath.

  • New York Times ☛ ‘We Are at War,’ Netanyahu Says After Hamas Attacks Israel

    Palestinian militants from Gaza launched an early-morning assault on southern Israel, invading towns and firing thousands of rockets. Israel retaliated with huge strikes on Gazan cities.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Ex-US soldier Joseph Schmidt arrested for trying to give classified info to China

    A former US Army sergeant was arrested on Friday for seeking to provide classified information to China, the Justice Department said. Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, who served in an army intelligence unit from 2015 until 2020, is charged with retaining national defense information and attempting to deliver it to China.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • France24 ☛ One killed in Ukrainian strike on Russian border region of Belgorod

      Ukrainian shelling on the Russian border region of Belgorod killed one person on Saturday morning, local authorities said. The news comes after Russian forces carried out an overnight missile strike on Ukraine's southern Odesa region, damaging port infrastructure, the Ukrainian authorities said.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine's Kharkiv region declares three days of mourning after deadly missile strike on Hroza

      Ukraine's Kharkiv region declared three days of mourning after a missile hit the village of Hroza on Thursday, killing 52 people in the deadliest single attack against civilians to date since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion on February 22, 2022. Even though scenes of destruction have become all too familiar to people living near the front line, the shock remains immense. FRANCE 24's Ukraine correspondant Emmanuelle Chaze and producer Illya Diaduk report from Hroza and the wider Kharkiv region.

    • JURIST ☛ UN rights chief opens investigation into Russian airstrike on Kharkiv

      Elizabeth Throssell, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned on Thursday a Russian airstrike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv that killed at least 51 civilians.

    • RFERL ☛ Kyiv Says 200 New Firms Developing Combat Drones

      Ukraine has increased drone production a hundredfold in the past year following the full-scale invasion by Russia, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Reports Small Advances In East As Russian Air Strikes Continue

      Russia carried out dozens of air strikes against Ukraine during the night of October 6-7, as Ukraine’s military reported continued slow progress in its ongoing counteroffensive.

    • RFERL ☛ At Least 34,000 Russian Soldiers Killed In Ukraine, Investigation Finds

      The number of Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine is nearly 34,000, according to a tally of names confirmed through open sources by the BBC and Mediazona.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Hits Ukraine’s Ports for Second Day in a Row, Ukrainian Officials Say

      The ports have been regularly struck with missiles and drones by Russian forces, in an attempt to squeeze the country’s vital grain trade with the outside world.

    • RFERL ☛ Kadyrov's Teenage Son Awarded 'Hero Of Chechnya' Medal

      The 15-year-old son of the strongman leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic has been awarded the Hero of Chechnya medal, State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov reported on Telegram on October 6.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Demands Apology After Cyprus Arrests Russian Journalist

      Authorities in Cyprus on October 6 said they had arrested a Russian journalist for “security reasons,” prompting the Russian Foreign Ministry to demand a formal apology.

    • Meduza ☛ Russia carries out missile attack on Ukraine’s Odesa region — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ United Russia party official killed by car bomb in occupied Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Kadyrov suggests either temporarily canceling Russia’s presidential election or putting only Putin on the ballot — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Slovakia halts military aid to Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Kremlin-installed authorities in Zaporizhzhia plan to deny medical care to residents without Russian passports — Meduza

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Futurism ☛ Autopsy Found That Neuralink Implant "Ruptured" Monkey's Brain

    A postmortem revealed the extent of the damage. Leaked adhesive from the implant had inflamed the part of the brain that secretes cerebrospinal fluid. The effects were so severe that the rear of the monkey's brain protruded from its skull, though how the cavity was created is unclear.

  • Wired ☛ How Neuralink Keeps Dead Monkey Photos Secret

    On September 13, 2018, she was euthanized, records obtained by WIRED show. This episode, regulators later acknowledged, was a violation of the US Animal Welfare Act; a federal law meant to set minimally acceptable standards for the handling, housing, and feeding of research animals. There would be no consequences, however. Between 2016 and 2021, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) enforced the humane treatment of animals through what it called “teachable moments.” Because the center—home to a colony of nearly 5,000 primates run by the University of California–Davis—had proactively reported the violation, it could not be legally cited.

  • Reason ☛ Cybertoonz explains Netchoice v. Paxton

    One of the biggest Supreme Court cases this year will be a Big Tech challenge to Texas and Florida laws that seek to impose limits and transparency on social media content regulation.

• Environment

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Amazon launches test satellites to rival Musk's Starlink

    If Amazon's test satellites perform as expected, it will deploy 3,236 more satellites in the next few years and offer broadband internet globally. In comparison, Starlink already has some 5,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.

  • The Register UK ☛ ESA funds space weather satellite swarm to understand and combat orbital debris

    Here's the crucial part: When sats shift, they can collide with other objects, creating debris that in turn strikes other satellites, creating a cascade of increasing debris and chaos, a situation dubbed the Kessler Syndrome. If that were to happen, with loads of bits of machinery swirling our world, it will be way more difficult to successfully operate birds in Earth's orbit, or even travel out into space from our planet in one piece.

  • RFA ☛ UN: Millions of children in Asia displaced by weather-related events

    The Philippines, India, and China are the most impacted worldwide.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China warns of big waves, wind and rain as Typhoon Koinu approaches

    An orange alert, the second highest in a four-coloured warning system, has been issued.

  • Green Party UK ☛ 2023-10-07 [Older] Green Party calls on companies to put communities and environment ahead of shareholder dividends

  • Green Party UK ☛ 2023-10-07 [Older] Green Party votes to ban ‘High Carbon Adverts’

  • Energy/Transportation

    • RFA ☛ Japan, South Korea among top donors to replenish Green Climate Fund

      The pledge fell short as wealthy donor countries tightened their purses.

    • Kansas Reflector ☛ Lack of oversight on transmission spending leads to higher electric bills, consumer advocate says

      And though the complaint to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was made on behalf of Ohio ratepayers, the same concern exists across much of the nation, so much so that the commission itself has weighed whether more monitoring of transmission spending is necessary.

    • Sean Conner ☛ Mowing Da Lawn

      I've taken over mowing the lawn over the past few months, and I've learned a thing or two:

      1. The electric mower is much nicer than the gas mower. Both are self-propelled, but the speed control is nicer on the electric than the gas. Also, the electric mower is easier to start.

    • Low Tech Mag ☛ Thematic Book Series: How to Downsize a Transport Network?

      Fast and cheap transportation props up industrial societies, both for the moving of people and cargo. However, our transport networks are very wasteful of energy and utterly dependent on fossil fuels. In this series of articles, Low-tech Magazine critically examines the call for electrified vehicles, which depend on unsustainable batteries and infrastructures.

    • H2 View ☛ Hydrogen fuel cells ‘dependable’ for powering data centres

      The study assessed various types of alternative power supplies and their reliability, cost, operating conditions and environmental impact. Several systems that can feasibly utilise hydrogen as an energy source were spotlighted as potentially viable alternative solutions that operate on renewable energy.

    • teleSUR ☛ German Agency Warns of Energy Supply Risks This Winter

      Weather forecasts indicate that "early winter will be rather warm," a spokesperson for Germany's National Meteorological Service (DWD) said. The latter part of the winter will be colder, the spokesperson added, but "still quite mild."

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Not so black and white? Panda fibs fuel anti-US vibe in China

      Chomping peacefully on a fruitsicle cake in her grassy Washington zoo enclosure Mei Xiang is blissfully unaware that she and a handful of other cute pandas are at the centre of a ferocious misinformation campaign driving anti-US sentiment in China.

    • Science Alert ☛ Antarctic Octopuses Survive in Earth's Coldest Ocean Without Freezing. How?

      New insight into these incredible creatures.

  • Overpopulation

    • The Age AU ☛ Surging population growth threatens Brisbane’s cultural identity

      But as demand increases, there are mounting pressures on infrastructure and housing, according to a new report – Brisbane’s Road to 2032: Growth Sustainability and the Games – released on Sunday by consulting firm RSM.

• Finance

  • Green Party UK ☛ 2023-10-06 [Older] “Four for 24”: Only Green MPs will stand up for solutions to UK’s housing crisis

  • GeekWire ☛ SeekOut lays off 7% of staff in restructuring but plans to grow headcount this year

  • Fudzilla ☛ US Army gives Microsoft a contract for advanced mixed-reality goggles [Ed: US Government bailout for Microsoft, yet again, under the guise of "defence"]

  • Canadian tech company Hopper cutting 30% of staff to reach profitability

    According to The Globe and Mail, Hopper Inc., a Montreal-based online travel services provider, has cut 30 per cent of its full-time staff, or 250 jobs, in an effort to reach profitability.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Separation of church and state? Why Hong Kong cathedral’s National Day flag-flying left some pouting in the pews

    The gentle purlieus of Hong Kong’s Anglican cathedral resounded to unaccustomed dissent last Sunday. The innovation which had some of the devout pouting in their pews was the addition of the national flag – I hope I do not need to say that this means China’s flag – to the usual ecclesiastical adornments.

  • New Yorker ☛ Inside Matt Gaetz’s Congressional Coup

    This week, Kevin McCarthy lost his Speakership in an ouster led by the Florida congressman. How did Gaetz become, briefly, one of the most powerful people in Washington?

  • El País ☛ New York rolls out free public transportation pilot project on five city bus lines

    The authorities have explained that the routes were chosen based on ridership, fare non-payment rates and poverty in adjacent communities, as well as the routes’ access to commercial corridors. That’s why Dora Smith, an African-American retiree from Manhattan, is pleased that one of the routes chosen is the 116 line, which takes her to a mall where several inexpensive supermarkets are located (another peremptory issue in the U.S. is the existence of food deserts, something even New York is not spared). “Before they were free, I came [to shop] only twice a month at most, because I couldn’t spend that much on transportation. Now that the shuttle is free, I can come buy fresh produce once a week without thinking about the fare,” she says.

  • El País ☛ The waning ‘Amazon effect’: tech companies are losing their allure for young job seekers

    Business schools report a decline in student interest in big tech companies, along with a decrease in job opportunities in the sector. InfoJobs noted a slight decrease of over 1% in job offers compared to last year. Amazon ramped up hiring during the pandemic due to increased demand, but is now laying off workers and slowing down hiring. “It’s no longer a top recruiter at business schools,” said Patrick Waller, director of IESE Business School’s career development center.

  • [Old] CISA ☛ Secure by Design

    As America’s Cyber Defense Agency, CISA is charged with defending our nation against ever-evolving cyber threats and to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely on every hour of every day. But, as we introduce more unsafe technology to our lives, this has become increasingly difficult.

  • The Register UK ☛ Musk in hot water with SEC for failure to comply with subpoena

    In its complaint, the SEC said Musk agreed to provide additional testimony after meeting with the Commission in July 2022. Neither Musk nor his lawyers made any indication that they intended to violate the SEC's subpoena issued in May 2023 compelling testimony in September, the SEC said.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Associated Press ☛ X removes article headlines in latest platform update, widening a rift with news media

      Musk’s platform has been the target of a lot of criticism recently, including accusations by a top European Union official who said that X has “the largest ratio of mis- or disinformation posts.” The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil-rights organization, has accused Musk of allowing antisemitism and hate speech to spread on the platform.

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ Fact check: AI doctors on social media spreading fake claims

      In videos posted on social media, apparent doctors wearing white lab coats and a stethoscope around their necks frequently appear giving advice about natural remedies or tips on whitening teeth. But in many cases, these aren't real doctors, but bots generated by artificial intelligence (AI) sharing medical advice with hundreds of thousands of followers. Not everything they say is true.

    • Zimbabwe ☛ A specialised AI to help find every word spoken by any politician on any topic

      Citizen Portal seeks to help citizens engage with their government and hold it accountable. It helps citizens stay informed about their local leaders by allowing them to deep search and find every word spoken by every elected leader on every topic.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • RFA ☛ ‘Pillar of Shame’ sculptor says Hong Kong 'too dangerous' to visit

    Danish artist says officials say he made the statue commemorating Tiananmen massacre to stir up trouble.

  • Kansas Reflector ☛ Where the Supreme Court stands on banning books

    Most Americans oppose removing books from libraries. That may explain why Illinois recently enacted a law that outlaws banning books: If any public library in the state bans materials because of “partisan or doctrinal” disapproval, it will be ineligible for state funds.

  • Reason ☛ Criticisms of Obamas (Including Racist Ones), Plus Other Speech, Didn't Qualify as Race-Based Workplace Harassment

    So holds an Eleventh Circuit panel; Judge Andrew Brasher's concurring opinion that notes the potential First Amendment problems with imposing liability for such speech.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi: Documenting Iran's torture

    The documentary of the same name now sheds light on the harrowing treatment of political prisoners in solitary confinement.

    White torture refers to a type of psychological torture technique that is used in Iran, in which prisoners are kept isolated for prolonged, indefinite periods of time, in a cell where everything is completely white.

  • teleSUR ☛ UAW President Says Strike Is Working as It Enters 22nd Day

    The United Auto Workers announced the strike at select factories of Ford, GM and Stellantis on Sept. 14.

  • RFERL ☛ Iranian Activist Tavakoli Starts Five-Year Prison Sentence

    Iranian political activist Majid Tavakoli has begun his sentence in the notorious Evin maximum security prison in Tehran, the newspaper Emtedad reported on Telegram on October 7.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • SANS ☛ Binary IPv6 Addresses, (Sat, Oct 7th)

• Monopolies

  • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ The Google Problem. (It’s so much worse than you think.)

    The problem with search monopolies that the US government, and others, take advantage of, is that when it’s only really Microsoft and Google that have their own actual Web index, then other engines come along and ask the big ones questions for you.

    This is a problem because it’s where all of the censorship and disinformation was coming from, to begin with.

  • Copyrights

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Reddit Sees Copyright Takedowns Peak While Subreddit Bans Drop

      Reddit's latest transparency report shows a modest increase in DMCA takedown notices. The number of copyright infringement-related user- and subreddit bans has declined, however. The latest data follows a hectic period at Reddit, where protests over an API policy change triggered a 'dramatic' 1169% increase in user data requests.