Links 03/11/2023: Another Big Round of Layoffs, Australian Banks Offline
Contents
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Leftovers
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Zimbabwe ☛ You don’t need to upgrade to the latest phone or PC every year. And most of you agree
I have thought about this one for quite a long time. Is it really necessary to upgrade to a new device every year?
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ China's Quantum Satellite Program Designed to Transmit Unhackable Information
China is plotting out ways to to take its Quantum Key Distribution to new heights.
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CNX Software ☛ ADATA SE920 USB4 external SSD offers up to 2TB capacity, supports up to 3,800 MB/s data transfers
ADATA SE920 is a small USB4 external SSD with 1TB or 2TB storage capacity that leverages the 40 Gbps connection enabled by USB4 and delivers up to 3,800 MB/s sequential read speed. The storage device supports Thunderbolt 3 & 4 and is backward compatible with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 standards. The USB-C port makes it suitable for mini PCs, laptops, SBCs, and even smartphones, but one potential downside of the small form factor is that it integrates a fan to cool the SSD although the user can enable/disable it by extending/retracting the telescopic case.
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Hackaday ☛ Digital Photography Comes To The Apple II
Back in the very early days of consumer digital photography, one of the first stars of the new medium came from Apple. The QuickTake 100 used a novel flat form factor and at its highest resolution could only shoot 640×480 images, but at the time it was a genuine object of desire. It came in Windows and Apple versions, and to use the Apple variant required a Mac of the day with appropriate software.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ India Resumes Laptop and Tablet Imports After Ban Scare
After a hasty decision to encourage domestic manufacturing, the Indian government now allows the import of laptops, tablets, and servers with a more manageable import oversight.
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Hackaday ☛ Fancy Gyroscopes Are Key To Radio-Free Navigation
Back in the old days, finding out your location on Earth was a pretty involved endeavor. You had to look at stars, use fancy gimballed equipment to track your motion, or simply be able to track your steps really really well. Eventually, GPS would come along and make all that a bit redundant for a lot of use cases. That was all well and good, until it started getting jammed all over the place to frustrate militaries using super-accurate satellite-guided weapons.
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Hackaday ☛ A Network Adapter Thinks It’s A CD-ROM. Restore Its True Calling!
A mildly annoying trend over recent years has been for USB hardware devices to expose a CD-ROM drive containing their drivers for Windows users. Of course there’s no real CD in there, instead the software lives on a piece of flash memory. It’s usually not a problem as they also appear on the USB bus as their true calling, but not always.
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The Straits Times ☛ Logistics players ride the wave of Malaysia’s semiconductor surge from ‘chip war’
DHL is ploughing S$507.5 million over the next five years into its supply chain business in South-east Asia.
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New York Times ☛ China Is Winning in Solar Power, but Its Coal Use Is Raising Alarms
China is building as much clean energy capacity over four years as it had promised to build in 10 years, but continues to add coal-fired power plants.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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France24 ☛ Japan begins third release of wastewater from Fukushima plant
Japan on Thursday began releasing a third batch of treated wastewater from the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, a process that has seen China and Russia ban seafood from the country in response.
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Tedium ☛ Charged Debate
Is Panera playing with fire by putting so much caffeine in its fruity beverages? A new warning, spurred by a lawsuit, suggests yes.
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Pro Publica ☛ Nine Stories of People Impacted by the Philips Breathing Machine Recall
They thought they were getting clean air from the lifelines at their bedsides, coveted nights of healthy sleep that for too long did not come easy.
Near Portland, Oregon, Kim Binford’s sleep apnea machine helped him manage chronic pain. Outside Indianapolis, Connie Thompson was able to stay awake in class during her senior year of high school. In the suburbs of Atlanta, Debra Miller could put her grandchildren in the car and drive without fear.
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The Straits Times ☛ Former Malaysian PM Najib in hospital with Covid-19
Malaysia's jailed former prime minister Najib Razak has been admitted to a hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, his spokesperson said on Thursday.
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s ex-PM Najib taken to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19
He is in stable condition, his assistant said, after he was taken to hospital from prison.
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RFA ☛ Shanghai Halloween party-goers take aim at leaders through cosplay
Dressing up as COVID enforcers, Winnie-the-Pooh or Taiwan's president is a covert way to make a political point.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong man jailed for 7.5 months over exposing others to Covid-19 appeals conviction
A Hong Kong man who was jailed for seven and a half months over exposing others to Covid-19 infection has appealed his conviction. Paul Lui Po-lam, a fruit seller, appeared before judge Douglas Yau at the High Court’s Court of Appeal on Thursday morning.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Techdirt ☛ Will Clients Now Just Blame All Bad Lawyering On ChatGPT?
We all remember the infamous case from earlier this year, in which lawyer Steven Schwartz had to admit that he had used ChatGPT to help construct a brief (which was then signed by another lawyer, a partner at his firm), and that neither lawyer bothered to check whether or not the citations were made up (they were). Schwartz had to pay $5k in sanctions, and readily admits that the punishment is that his reputation is now “the lawyer who used ChatGPT”
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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IT Wire ☛ Bendigo and Adelaide Bank site hit by 4-1/2-hour outage
The website of the Bendigo and Adelaide bank went down at about 5.30am AEDT on Thursday and has just come back up after an outage of 4-1/2 hours.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Defence Web ☛ Some African governments are spending millions to spy on their citizens
Governments around the world use surveillance technology to monitor external threats to national security. Some African governments are also spending vast sums on mass surveillance of their own citizens. They are using mobile phone spyware, internet interception devices, social control media monitoring and biometric identity systems.
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Bruce Schneier ☛ Spyware in India
Apple has warned leaders of the opposition government in India that their phones are being spied on:
Multiple top leaders of India’s opposition parties and several journalists have received a notification from Apple, saying that “Apple believes you are being targeted by state-sponsored attackers who are trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Fashion Company Apple ID ….”
AccessNow puts this in context:
For India to uphold fundamental rights, authorities must initiate an immediate independent inquiry, implement a ban on the use of rights-abusing commercial spyware, and make a commitment to reform the country’s surveillance laws. These latest warnings build on repeated instances of cyber intrusion and spyware usage, and highlights the surveillance impunity in India that continues to flourish despite the public outcry triggered by the ...
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Privacy International ☛ Privacy International’s response to the South African Parliamentary Monitoring Group’s call for submissions on the on Regulation of interception of Communications and Provision of Communicated Related Information Amendment Bill
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Techdirt ☛ Court Tosses Lawsuit Against NSO Group Brought By Murdered Journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s Widow
Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist often critical of the Saudi government, was murdered by Saudi government agents while inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. He wasn’t just murdered. His body was dismembered. All of this was captured by hidden recording devices placed by the Turkish government in the Saudi consulate.
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Defence/Aggression
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Techdirt ☛ Corrupt LA Cops Saddle The City With More Lost Convictions
The LAPD’s handling of gang violence hasn’t gone well. For years, gang task forces roamed the city, violating rights repeatedly. Adding insult to these injuries, the city spent millions funding a predictive policing program that did little more than encourage biased policing.
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Latvia ☛ Saeima approves quicker deployment of border infrastructure
On November 2, the Saeima approved new rule which should accelerate development of security infrastructure on Latvia's eastern border.
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Security Week ☛ Countries at a UK Summit Pledge to Tackle AI’s Potentially ‘Catastrophic’ Risks
Delegates from 28 nations agreed to work together to contain the potentially “catastrophic” risks posed by galloping advances in artificial intelligence.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Feldman-Piltch in Non-State Actress on definition of terrorism and its application in the US, addressing case of Hamas
On October 31, Transatlantic Security Initiative nonresident senior fellow Maggie Feldman-Piltch wrote the latest edition of her project “Non-State Actress,” which provides a brief overview of the definition of a terrorist organization, act, and individual and how the additional requirements of designation are met and applied in the United States, addressing case of Hamas.
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France24 ☛ Brazil's army deployed to transport hubs in crackdown on organised crime
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Wednesday he is sending the armed forces to boost security at some of the country's most important airports, ports and international borders as part of a renewed effort to tackle organised crime in Latin America's largest nation.
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New York Times ☛ The Maine Shooter Showed Warning Signs. Why Did No One Stop Him?
Shortcomings in mental health treatment, weak laws and a reluctance to threaten personal liberties can derail even concerted attempts to thwart mass shootings.
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Meduza ☛ Dagestan courts jail 15 for participation in anti-Semitic airport riot — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ The Two Things Worrying U.S. Military Officials About Israel and Hamas
Israel, Iran, Ukraine and Russia are driving too much about geopolitics today.
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New York Times ☛ The Many Missed Warnings Before Maine’s Mass Shooting
The police were warned about the deteriorating mental health of an Army reservist months before a deadly shooting.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ Would Russians support Putin if he decided to end the war? 70 percent of Russian respondents in a new survey by the Levada Center said they would — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Putin Signs Law Revoking Russian Ratification Of Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
President Vladimir Putin on November 2 signed into law Russia's de-ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), according to the government website.
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Meduza ☛ One killed and four injured in Russian drone attack on Ukrainian city of Nikopol — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Cars with Russian number plates to be banned from traffic in Latvia
Starting February next year, vehicles with Russian registration numbers will be banned from participating in traffic in Latvia, while unregistered cars will be confiscated, according to amendments to the Road Traffic Law adopted by the Saeima on Thursday, November 2.
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Latvia ☛ Latvian filmmakers unhappy with 'European film festival' in Russia
Russia is holding a “European Film Festival” starting November 1, hosted by the European Union delegation in Russia. The festival repertoire includes films from all over Europe, including two films – “Oleg” and “Imad's Childhood”, which were co-produced by Latvia. The Latvian teams did not know about this, Latvian Television reported Wednesday.
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Meduza ☛ Wagner Group reportedly resumes recruitment as Rosgvardia unit led by Prigozhin’s son — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Latvian volunteer in Ukraine linked to deadly crash
A Latvian volunteer in Ukraine is wanted by the State Police following an auto accident in Latvia in which a driver was killed, reported LTV's Studio 4 (4. studija) program November 1.
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RFERL ☛ Kuleba Says Ukraine 'Optimistic' About Opening EU Accession Talks This Year
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on November 2 that Kyiv was confident about its quest to open EU membership talks this year, touting reforms it made even in the face of the Russian invasion.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Attacks In Ukraine's East Unabated As Analysts Predict Renewed Offensive
Russia launched dozens of air strikes overnight in Ukraine amid signs it is regrouping near the eastern city of Avdiyivka with the aim of renewing attacks on the embattled area.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Diplomat Confident Funding For Ukraine, Israel Will Pass Divided Congress
A top U.S. diplomat says the Biden administration's plans to provide assistance to both Israel and Ukraine will pass in a divided Congress despite opposition from Republicans who say the aid packages should be considered separately.
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The Straits Times ☛ Pope, on visit to military cemetery, says there are no real winners in war
November 02, 2023 8:11 PM
There are no real winners in any war, Pope Francis said on Thursday during a visit to a World War Two military cemetery, with conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine on his mind.
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RFERL ☛ Moldovan President Accuses Russia Of 'Buying' Voters In Local Elections
Moldovan President Maia Sandu has accused Russia of "buying" voters in the November 5 local elections by funneling money to pro-Moscow political parties.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Oligarch Kuzmichyov Charged In France With Tax Fraud
Russian billionaire Aleksei Kuzmichyov, one of the founders of the financial firm Alfa Group, has been charged with tax fraud in France, French authorities said on November 1.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Man, Woman Granted Asylum-Seeker Status In Kazakhstan
Anti-war activists Aikhal Ammosov and Natalya Narskaya, two Russian passport holders who are in an Almaty pretrial detention center, have received asylum-seeker status in Kazakhstan, their lawyer said on November 2.
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The Straits Times ☛ Russia says Moldova's president is a 'disgrace'
Russia said on Thursday that Moldova's pro-European president, Maia Sandu, was a disgrace and accused the Moldovan government of trying to distract from its own failings ahead of local elections by exaggerating the threat of Russia.
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New York Times ☛ Russia Pulled Out of a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Here’s What That Means.
In de-ratifying the agreement, Moscow removed another brick in the wall of formal arms control intended to limit proliferation.
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Meduza ☛ Three arrested in U.S. and charged with smuggling military technology to Russia — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Chief Rabbi of Russia attributes North Caucasus anti-Semitic riots to local sentiments, not Israel’s actions — Meduza
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Environment
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Finance
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The Straits Times ☛ Japan PM Kishida unveils $154b stimulus as poll numbers slump
Japan has been reeling from rising prices since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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New York Times ☛ Colombia’s Economic Woes Push Fighters to Join Ukraine War
Hundreds of experienced fighters have joined Kyiv’s ranks to improve their financial fortunes, reflecting the recruitment struggles faced by both sides of the conflict.
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New York Times ☛ Risk of a Wider Middle East War Threatens a ‘Fragile’ World Economy
After shocks from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there’s little cushion if the fighting between Hamas and Israel becomes a regional conflict.
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Federal News Network ☛ Did agencies forget how to prevent fraud during pandemic relief?
As the tally of fraud and abuse in pandemic relief spending mounts, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has a reminder: Program managers have a list of leading practices for preventing fraud. The question some have for those managers is why they did not use that list.
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CNN ☛ WeWork’s shares plunge 37% on bankruptcy reports | CNN Business
WeWork's shares plunged 37% in pre-market trading Wednesday, following news reports that the beleaguered company plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week as its losses mount.
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JURIST ☛ DC Attorney General announces anti-trust suit against city’s largest landlords
The Attorney General for the District of Columbia (DC) Brian Schwalb announced on Wednesday a lawsuit against 14 of the city’s largest landlords. The complaint alleges that these landlords colluded with RealPage, a rental management software, to artificially inflate rental prices in the city.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Confluent’s stock gets hammered on weak revenue guidance [Ed: Layoffs next. Buzzwords like "Big Data" not enough.]
Shares of the big-data software company Confluent Inc. took a pounding in the after-hours trading session today, losing more than a third of its value in response to light revenue guidance for the coming quarter and full year.
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YLE ☛ Fortum announces savings plan that includes job cuts
The energy giant aims to reduce costs by 100 million euros by the end of 2025.
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YLE ☛ More pensioners on the job, even as pensions grow faster than wages
The rise in pensions has only exceeded that of wages a few times since 1980.
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New York Times ☛ China’s Male Leaders Push to Get Women to Stay Home for Family
The Communist Party’s solution to the country’s demographic crisis and a slowing economy is to push women back into traditional roles.
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Forbes ☛ Charles Schwab, Panera Bread Slash Jobs
Financial services giant Charles Schwab plans to cut 2,000 employees, while soup and sandwich chain Panera Bread will reportedly cut more than 300 corporate positions ahead of its parent company’s initial public offering, marking the latest in a series of layoffs amid lingering recession fears (see Forbes’ layoff tracker from the first quarter here).
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Portuguese national set to plead guilty to conspiring to incite secession under security law
A Portuguese national has indicated he intends to plead guilty to conspiring to incite secession under the Beijing-imposed national security law after being remanded in custody for over a year.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Gay Games Hong Kong is legal, top gov’t advisor Regina Ip says, amid claims event is threat to national security
Top government advisor Regina Ip has denied claims that Hong Kong’s Gay Games is a threat to national security, ahead of the inclusive sporting competition opening on Friday.
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YLE ☛ President Niinistö headed to Germany for official visit
The presidents will hold talks on topics including Finnish-German bilateral relations, European security and others.
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RFERL ☛ Family Of Dead Iranian Teen Says It's Being Pressured To Change Memorial Date
Iranian security officials are reportedly exerting significant pressure on the family of Armita Garavand to change the date of a memorial ceremony for the teen, who died over the weekend due to injuries suffered in an alleged confrontation with Tehran's morality police.
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Latvia ☛ Latvia's future partnership law is incomplete, says rights movement
The future package of laws to regulate partnerships does not address all problems. including children's issues, so same-sex couples will continue to turn to courts with those matters, Kaspars Zālītis, head of the “Dzīvesbiedri” (Life Partners) movement, said in an interview on the Latvian Television's morning newscast November 2.
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Reason ☛ Supreme Court Roundup: Not all History is Created Equal
Bruen directs the proper approach to historical analogue laws in Rahimi.
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DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker Makes the State More Like Communist China by Forcing Non-Chicago Residents into Chicago Courts.
Governor Pritzker signed a “law” that says you have to sue the State over the FOID Act in either Chicago or Springfield.
This is so they can get the case into courts with Democrat judges who will always side with the State and won’t even pretend to respect our Constitutions (State or Federal).
It’s like Communist China forcing Hong Kongers into mainland courts so that they can’t get a fair trial. It will be Communist Party judges who don’t have to apply the Hong Kong Basic Law.
It’s so nice to see where the Democratic Party of Illinois gets their inspiration from.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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New York Times ☛ In Misinformation Over Israel-Gaza War, Images From Past Conflicts Can Undercut True Toll
Videos and photos of the conflict are competing with misappropriated depictions of unrelated tragedies, a cycle that experts say diminishes the experiences of victims past and present.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Civil Rights/Policing
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YLE ☛ Labour federation announces targets of next week's protest strikes
The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions SAK has announced a series of work stoppages starting next week in protest against the government's labour market policies and social security cuts.
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Stanford University ☛ Rising hate crimes reported on campus
Students reported multiple hate crimes to the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS) over the past weeks, amid rising tensions over the Israel-Gaza war. While the University reported that there was no significant increase in hate crimes, students said they witnessed many instances of hate crimes and hateful speech.
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Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ To Speak at This University, You Must Agree Not to Boycott Israel
Arkansas public colleges are subject to a state law that targets the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement. Similar laws exist elsewhere, but few affect colleges.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Ruben Schade ☛ Answering James Savage on blogging
Apoligies, the date on this got borked somehow.
James Savage has a new blog you should all read. He also posted some reservations about it:
I’ve been stewing on a bunch of thoughts like “do I actually want people to read things I’ve written" and “is this too personal to talk about on the internet”, but instead of coming to a resolution on those I stuck webmention link tags on my site. Curious if those will attract anything other than spam.
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APNIC ☛ APNIC celebrates 30 years: IPv6 — the long road to ‘more than enough addresses’
The lives of IPv6 and APNIC have parallels.
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MWL ☛ 19: Accidental Deployments
I’ve been trying to focus on Run Your Own Mail Server throughout October, and making some progress. Greylisting is a divisive technique. The first time a site mails your server, greylisting delays messages from ten minutes to a couple hours.
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Techdirt ☛ Telecom Sector Sees Major Layoffs Despite Historic Stretch Of Tax Breaks, Regulatory Favors
The Trump era was very, very good to the country’s giant telecom monopolies. Trump officials doled out billions in tax breaks (AT&T nabbed $42 billion alone) and billions more in poorly tracked subsidies. It also approved anticompetitive mergers without even reading the details, and handed out all manner of regulator favors like the dismantling of net neutrality or the elimination of media consolidation rules.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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MWL ☛ My Web Store Features
“Hey Lucas, what all do you offer on your web store?” I have had to answer this question three times, mostly from other authors looking to build their own web stores. A couple of the big ebook-selling platforms are clearly embracing enshittification, and interest in disintermediation among creators is greater than I’ve ever seen it.
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Monopolies
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Patents
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Digital Music News ☛ Exclusive: Sonos Officially Appeals After Federal Court Tosses $32.5 Million Jury Verdict
Last month, a federal judge tossed the jury verdict that Sonos had won as part of a high-profile patent monopoly infringement battle with Google. Now, the self-described sound experience company is officially appealing the decision. Sonos just recently submitted a notice of appeal in the years-running dispute, according to legal documents obtained by DMN.
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Software Patents
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Nokia sues Amazon over multimedia inventions [Ed: Unified Patent Court is an illegal kangaroo "court"; Amazon should strike back by ending its entire existence]
Nokia has started legal actions against Amazon in the US, Germany, India, the UK and at the Unified Patent Court for the unauthorized use of Nokia’s video-related technologies in streaming services and devices.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: How Did These Three Section 2(e)(1) Mere Descriptiveness Appeals Turn Out?
By my count, the Board has affirmed about 47 of the first 51 Section 2(e)(1) refusals that it reviewed this year. Here are three more. How do you think they came out? [Results in first comment].
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Copyrights
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Techdirt ☛ Judge Dismisses Most Of The First Of The Many ‘How Dare AI Train On My Material’ Lawsuits
There are now a bunch of these lawsuits accusing AI companies of some sort of copyright infringement for training their models on works of plaintiffs. However, the first high profile one was the case brought by Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz against Stability AI, MidJourney, and (bizarrely) DeviantArt. We covered the case back in April when the companies moved to have the case dismissed.
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Press Gazette ☛ Why Google’s generative Hey Hi (AI) gamble is a game of chicken it could lose
The tech giant has offered to indemnify users over Hey Hi (AI) copyright monopoly infringement.
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Digital Music News ☛ Sony Music Sues OFRA Cosmetics Over Alleged ‘Blatant, Willful, and Repeated Copyright Infringement’ on Twitter/X, Instagram, and TikTok
Sony Music Entertainment (SME) is officially suing makeup and skincare brand OFRA Cosmetics for allegedly infringing upon protected music in north of 300 social control media videos. The Big Three label only recently filed the complaint against Pompano Beach-headquartered OFRA Cosmetics, submitting the action to a Florida federal court.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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🔤SpellBinding: CEKLNSP Wordo: TRIKE
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Dagger Dagger
Traditional footnotes order is asterisk*, dagger†, and double dagger‡, with some medievalist using a tripple dagger after that. I use a double asterisk** (I deliberately use two ASCII asterisks** instead of a double asterisk glyph⁑) as my level two, so I have *, **, † and ‡ as four levels.
I just prefer having two asterisks that way, I think that looks fine enough and it keeps it ASCII clean and it introduces a li’l hurdle for me to make me less likely to have three or four footnotes in what’s supposed to be a quick message.
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Creative
I've probably been drinking too much coffee recently.
Back to that on-the-edge-of-manic energy that feels productive but probably isn't. October was busy at work, but also I decided to start learning Japanese again, and participated in #looptober for the first time, *and* really wanted to finalise a massive BookWyrm feature to allow people to migrate their accounts.
I blundered into a headspace of chastising myself for wasting time. Why was I bothering with writing code in my spare time, why did I buy a silly synth when I'm obviously never going to be some big dance music star playing to crowds? I'm not a programmer, or a musician. Why was I bothering to try to learn a language as difficult for English-speakers as Japanese? I may well not even go to Japan again.
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Telling you stories
I probably shouldn't, but I've done it, and I'm doing it anyway. I'm writing in English, fiction. This I've done and do on the excuse of being fun and having people who, by virtue of their generosity, read my stories anyway. To these, I'm adding the excuse that Gemini wants content. OK, here you have.
My immediate plans are to shares stories that I have already written, and shared elsewher on the Big Bad Web, with ne ones. But I'm not going to flood you with text files; rather, I shall publish them by small doses, a single story at a time. That will ensure a constant flow of stories.
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My October Reading
It is my custom, over the last several years, to read or re-read a classic Gothic novel. In the past few years, I've re-read Dracula and Frankenstein, and read the "Mysteries of Udolpho" and the "Castle of Otranto". This year's is "The Old English Baron", by Clara Reeve who, in 1777 decided to fix what was wrong with Walpole's 1764 Otranto, namely that its supernatural or mythic elements over-egged the cake, making it hard to suspend disbelief and maintain the atmosphere established in other parts of the story. It doesn't seem very long (it's hard to tell with e-books sometimes, and I am reading the Project Gutenberg edition). If I finish it in the first week and a half or so, I will probably add in Matthew Gregory Lewis's 1796 "The Monk", though I believe it's a bit longer, and if I don't finish it, it's okay.
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Technology and Free Software
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My dilemma
As most of my work were done in a browser it didn't matter what platform or operating system I used. Since I could remember using ubuntu back on my school it lab I thought why not try linux. Fast forward to now 3+ years later and I use arch btw.
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ORCΛ and Sunvox
User Nono on Bubble suggested to share Sonic Pi creations over gemini since it is essentially text. Well I don't use Sonic Pi but I do like the idea so here we go.
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1-dimensional cellular automata in ORCΛ
Encouraged by randomly discovering a binary counter, I made a cellular automaton.
I've introduced the ORCΛ only recently on this gemlog. It's a grid-based system that can generate MIDI messages to be picked up by external instruments, to compose / compute music in a live-coding kind of way.
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better cellular automata in ORCΛ
What I've come up with is a relay system that transmits information over longer distances but also over several time steps. This mandated a stoppable clock to allow signals to reach the other end of the field before being read.
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Internet/Gemini
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Ginger 2023 Update
In the last couple of months I got the itch once again to work on Ginger, a graph structured programming language that might become releasable before I die. As usual it's been more than a year since my last sprint of work on the language, and as usual I spent the majority of time fixing things where weren't broken.
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Software Releases/Announcements
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Unification of my website
Hello! This is a very short message to notice that I squashed both my `www.` and `blog.` domains into one single web site, based on `www.`.
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Programming
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magic programming
i've been working on a programming project for a few months now. it's been fun, and i've enjoyed working at a slower pace than i used to. the (currently) final project is entitled chat2me; something i only started working on because all the other communication technologies don't quite feel right to me. Midnight is by far the closest to an idyllic way of talking, but the underlying technologies of HTTP and Gopher leave a lot for me to desire. IRC is awesome, but why do i need to get a list of nicknames in a channel every time i send a message? far too much for my brain and small computer to handle. et cetera for everything that's out there (but i'll admit i'm partial to the nex and spartan protocols).
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.