Links 14/12/2023: Growing Tensions in the Far East and More Crackdowns on Dissent
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Tedium ☛ A Incomplete Picture
A recent scandal around a popular YouTuber’s nonprofit foundation has created a lot of drama, but what it’s missing are voices that understand the nonprofit sector.
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CS Monitor ☛ This Chinese folk artist shares joy on paper, one snip at a time
Women are keeping the art of paper cutting alive in northwestern China. To ensure the craft’s future, they must pass on their passion to the next generation.
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Science
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Hackaday ☛ Voyager 1 In Trouble As Engineers Scramble To Debug Issue With Flight Data System
Recently the team at JPL responsible for communication with the Voyager 1 spacecraft noticed an issue with the data it was returning from the Flight Data System (FDS). Although normally the FDS is supposed to communicate with the other subsystems via the telecommunications unit (TMU), this process seems to have broken down, resulting in no payloads from the scientific instruments or engineering sensors being returned any more, just repeating binary patterns. So far the cause of this breakdown is unknown, and JPL engineers are working through potential causes and fixes.
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teleSUR ☛ Kenya: Experts Meet to Promote Research in Nuclear Technology
"In Africa, several countries plan to implement national nuclear research reactors programs so as to improve their health care, industrial and agricultural productivity," said deputy director general and head of the nuclear energy department at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications
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Zimbabwe ☛ Itel A70 review. So much hype around this $89 smartphone.
So I pulled out the Itel A70 and my cousin who just finished grade 7 immediately identified the phone. “This phone is getting so much hype at my school” were the words she said and I was not even aware of its existence up until the point when I got it for review.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Cheap Computer PSU Puts On Weight With Box Of Iron
Humans are funny creatures. For whatever reason, when handling a piece of electronics, we tend to equate heft with value. If something feels too light, it gives the impression of being cheap or inferior. As such, it’s not unheard of for gadgets to include a little chunk of metal that serves no purpose other than to add weight.
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Hackaday ☛ X86 ENTER: What’s That Second Parameter?
[Raymond Chen] wondered why the x86 ENTER instruction had a strange second parameter that seems to always be set to zero. If you’ve ever wondered, [Raymond] explains what he learned in a recent blog post.
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Hackaday ☛ NASA Blames Probe Chute Failure On Wire Labels
When NASA’s OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule screamed its way through the upper atmosphere, it marked the first time the space agency had brought material from an asteroid back to Earth. Hundreds of thousands tuned into the September 24th live stream so they could watch the capsule land at the Utah Test and Training Range. But about ten minutes before the capsule was set to touchdown, keen eyed viewers may have noticed something a bit odd — when ground control called out that the vehicle’s drogue parachute was commanded to deploy…nothing seemed to happen.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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University of Michigan ☛ The Daily Weekly: Unraveling ADHD and the Social Media Maze
In this episode of The Daily Weekly, we delve into the intricate relationship between social control media, attention spans, and ADHD in college students.
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Off Guardian ☛ Won’t Someone Save Us From The COVID-19 Inquiry?
As Scotty once said “I can’t take it Captain!” If I have to read, see or hear one more legacy media report about the monumental farce that is the UK’s COVID-19 inquiry, I fear my brain will batter my soul to death.
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ADF ☛ Drug Consumption Grows in West Africa After Years on Transit Route
West Africa has transitioned over the past decade from a transit route for illegal drugs headed to Europe from South America to a booming illegal drug market with a troubling rise in domestic users.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea may downgrade Covid-19 alert level in 2024
It will go from the current second-highest level of “alert” to the third-highest of “caution”.
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Pro Publica ☛ Idaho Keeps Some Psychiatric Patients in Prison, Ignoring Decades of Warnings About the Practice
One night in March 1976, a young advocate for people with mental illness arrived at the Idaho statehouse with a warning.
Marilyn Sword urged lawmakers not to ratify a system that would ultimately lock away some of Idaho’s most debilitated psychiatric patients in the tiny, concrete cells of a maximum security prison — a kind of solitary confinement with no trial, no conviction and often no charges.
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Pro Publica ☛ Senators Ask GAO to Probe FDA Medical Device Oversight
Two prominent U.S. senators are calling for a government investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s oversight of medical devices following revelations that the agency failed to protect the public from defective breathing machines capable of sending particles and fumes into the masks of patients.
Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked the Government Accountability Office — the investigative arm of Congress — to probe how the FDA tracks warnings about dangerous devices, oversees recalls and takes action against companies that put patients at risk.
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Pro Publica ☛ Thousands of Patients May Be Undergoing Vascular Procedures Too Soon or Unnecessarily
Four years ago, researchers warned the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that some doctors were overusing — potentially even abusing — invasive vascular procedures, increasing patients’ chances of complications, which include amputation or even death.
They handed the federal agency a list of outlier physicians they found in the government insurer’s own data. But the agency has done little to stop the practice and instead continues to pay doctors who exhibit this behavior millions of dollars a year.
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Pro Publica ☛ How ProPublica and CareSet Investigated the Overuse of Vascular Procedures
Over the past year, ProPublica has investigated these vascular treatments, and we found some doctors are earning millions of dollars conducting a questionable number of procedures. For treatments in outpatient clinics, federal insurers, like Medicare, pay generous reimbursements to doctors, who can charge tens of thousands of dollars for procedures done in a single office visit.
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Pro Publica ☛ Researchers Warned of Possible Abuse of Lucrative Vascular Procedures. Doctors Pushed Back.
Vascular surgeon Dr. Caitlin Hicks recalls the first time, about a decade ago, that a patient came to her with a lower leg mottled with purple and starting to decay. She searched for a pulse in the damaged limb, but blood had stopped flowing into it.
The patient had previously undergone an invasive vascular procedure, using devices designed to clear out clogged arteries. But when Hicks questioned the patient about the symptoms that had led them to initially seek treatment, they seemed mild or nonexistent.
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Pro Publica ☛ Lawmakers Propose Ban on Insurers Charging Doctors a Fee for Electronic Payments
A bipartisan group of six U.S. representatives has introduced a bill that would prohibit insurers and their intermediaries from levying fees on doctors for paying them electronically. The legislation comes in the wake of a ProPublica investigation that detailed the toll of such fees, which add up to billions of dollars that could be spent on care but are instead funneled to insurers and payment processors.
The charges are akin to having an employer deduct 1.5% to 5% to provide a paycheck electronically if an employee prefers to receive a payment directly into their bank account rather than via a paper check. Yet that’s the choice many insurers are increasingly forcing on doctors.
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Science Alert ☛ One Simple Trick Could Make More People Eat Vegan Food
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Science Alert ☛ Landmark Study Shows Antibody Therapy Controls 92% of Severe Asthma Cases
Reducing reliance on steroids.
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Science Alert ☛ Unexpected Discovery About Dopamine May Help Explain Parkinson's
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Science Alert ☛ There's an Indiscriminate Killer Stalking Your Yard, Study Confirms
Another reason to keep your cat inside.
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RFERL ☛ WHO Says Hundreds Of Afghan Children Dying Because Of Respiratory Diseases
A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) says respiratory diseases have killed more than 2,000 children under the age of 5 this year in Afghanistan, a problem that may grow due to the country's underfunded health-care system.
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Latvia ☛ 'E-health' to include all lab results as of next year
As of next year, the results of laboratory examinations will be readily available free of charge on the eHealth Portal (eveseliba.gov.lv), thus making the healthcare system more efficient which has been the aim of the system all along, according to amendments to cabinet regulations approved by the government on Tuesday, December 12.
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RFA ☛ Pods of pollution: COP28 art puts Beijing, Delhi smog on display
Report says China and India had the highest deaths related to poor air quality.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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BBC ☛ Elon Musk's Tesla recalls two million cars in US over Autopilot defect - BBC News
It follows investigation into crashes which occurred when firm's Autopilot system was in use.
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Softonic ☛ 2023 may also be the worst year for video games
Three weeks before the end of the year, the video game industry has seen an impressive figure of 9,000 job layoffs.
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India Today ☛ Ex-Spotify employee calls layoffs an emotional roller coaster, says she has no words to express herself
A former Spotify employee took to LinkedIn and shared that she was laid off recently and that she has no words to express how it feels.
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Layoffs resume, but businesses battle for AI talents [Ed: Hype and vapouware don't create jobs, it's just a mirage to keep investors throwing money into loss-raking operations]
Despite recent job cuts, notably among US firms, businesses are still battling for AI talent, according to industry sources.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Reason ☛ House Proposal Would Expand Federal Warrantless Spying Authority
One bill set to be considered would grow the scope of federal digital surveillance and would authorize the federal government to use those powers against more individuals.
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Reason ☛ American Courts Enforcing Subpoenas to Identify Defendants in Foreign Court Cases
There's an interesting summary of the issues related to this practice from Magistrate Judge Peter Kang's decision last week in U.S. v. Meta Platforms, Inc. (N.D. Cal.).
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Privacy International ☛ Stop GILAB
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Vice Media Group ☛ Congress Pulls Bill That Would Massively Expand Surveillance After 'Dramatic Showdown'
The House was set to vote on two competing bills reauthorizing a powerful mass surveillance tool, but faced backlash from rights groups.
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ACLU ☛ The Federal Trade Commission Must Investigate Meta and X for Complicity with Government Surveillance
When you created your Facebook, Instagram, or Ex-Twitter account, did you think you were signing up to have the government spy on you? That your personal information — who you are, what you say, what you do, your friends, and your political views — could be tapped by surveillance companies and sold to police, deportation agencies, and other local, state, and federal forces?
In 2016, the ACLU of Northern California blew the whistle on how private surveillance vendors were using Facebook (Farcebook) and Ex-Twitter to help police target Black Lives Matter activists. As a result of advocacy by the ACLU of Northern California, MediaJustice, and Color of Change, both Facebook and Twitter strengthened their anti-surveillance policies and cut off access to social control media surveillance companies.
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Defence/Aggression
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Federal News Network ☛ How to help troubled service members and veterans get through the holidays
Tis the season to be jolly. But military service members and veterans often experience a spike in depression or post traumatic stress disorder -- even suicide -- this time of year. For some of the warning signs and how you can help, we turn to the Director of Admissions at Warriors Heart, Michael O'Dell.
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France24 ☛ French warship intercepts Huthis aerial attack on Norwegian tanker near Red Sea
Yemen's Huthi rebels claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a missile strike on a Norwegian-flagged tanker, an attack the Iran-backed group said was part of its military campaign against Israel.
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ADF ☛ Sudan Conflict Expanding, ‘Taking on a Life of Its Own’
Community leaders in Babanousa in Sudan’s West Kordofan State hoped their truce with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) would prevent the violence that has devastated the country from consuming their community.
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New York Times ☛ Israel-Hamas War: Attacks in Red Sea and on Israel Bolster Houthis’ Regional Standing
Monday’s strike on a Norwegian tanker was the militia’s latest flex on the fringes of the Israel-Hamas war. Once a scrappy tribal group, the Houthis now hold what analysts say are higher aspirations.
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New York Times ☛ Errant Airstrikes by Nigeria’s Military Have Killed Worshipers, Herders and Refugees
The U.S.-backed Nigerian military has been killing civilians in airstrikes at an alarming pace, security analysts and human rights advocates say, with little accountability.
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RFA ☛ Calls grow for release of man ‘tortured’ for doxxing Xi’s daughter
Family members and activists say the post wasn’t published by Niu Tengyu or his meme website, VulgarWiki.
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The Straits Times ☛ China’s Pooh-tin meets Vietnam leaders on second day of state visit to Hanoi
On Dec 13, Mr Pooh-tin will pay tribute to the mausoleum of the founding leader of Communist Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh.
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RFA ☛ Vietnam joins China-led vision of foreign policy
During Pooh-tin Jinping’s state visit to Hanoi, Vietnam agreed to build a ‘Community with a Shared Future’ with China.
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JURIST ☛ Philippines summons China ambassador amid escalating tensions in South China Sea
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs announced Tuesday that it summoned the Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, to lodge a diplomatic protest in the wake of the most recent confrontation between Chinese and Filipino vessels in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) near the Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal) [...]
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Defence Web ☛ South Africa hosts China-South Africa Defence Committee
South Africa has hosted the ninth meeting of the China-South Africa Defence Committee, which marks a continuation of the close defence ties between the two BRICS nations.
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The Straits Times ☛ Chinese forces approached close to Taiwan coast to ‘intimidate’ voters before key elections: Sources
Taiwan officials have repeatedly warned that China is trying to sway voters toward candidates seeking closer ties with Beijing.
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Atlantic Council ☛ A maritime blockade of Taiwan by the People’s Republic of China: A strategy to defeat fear and coercion
Marek Jestrab considers a naval blockade of Taiwan by the People's Republic of China and advances recommendations for the United States, Taiwan, and likeminded nations to resist and respond to a blockade.
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New York Times ☛ Wednesday Briefing: Biden Says Israel Is Losing Support
Plus, Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded for more aid in Washington.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Meduza ☛ Preschool director and teacher in Russia ‘resign’ after students mistakenly given certificates with Ukrainian symbols — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Biden Hails Ukraine's Fight Against Russia As 'Victory,' Urges Congress To Speed Additional Aid
President Joe Biden told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy that if U.S. Congress fails to approve additional military aid to Kyiv, it would represent a "Christmas gift" to Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Zelenskiy continued his multipronged diplomatic offensive during his Washington visit.
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Meduza ☛ Putin spokesman says Navalny’s whereabouts not Kremlin’s concern — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Navalny reportedly transferred to Moscow as part of new criminal investigation — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ Russia-Ukraine War: Biden Says Putin Is ‘Banking On’ the U.S. Failing to Deliver Aid to Ukraine
Standing beside President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, President Biden said Russian propagandists were celebrating Republicans’ decision to demand border security changes in return for aiding Kyiv’s war effort.
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Latvia ☛ Latvia plans to reclaim 'Moscow House' and give it to Ukraine
The Saeima will advance a law on the acquisition of the so-called Moscow House building in Riga, Marijas Street 7, into state ownership for approval in January. If this happens, the building is intended to be used to assist Ukraine or to be given to Ukraine, Latvian Radio reported on December 12.
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Reason ☛ The GOP's Bogus Linkage Between Aiding Ukraine and "Border Security"
The analogy between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and illegal migration to the US is nonsensical. And many of the GOP's demands are actually intended to make legal migration more difficult, a policy likely to actually increase the illegal kind.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Zelenskyy visits DC at Ukraine’s most dangerous moment
Our experts analyze what Zelenskyy got from the visit and what’s next with US support for Ukraine's war effort.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s Hey Hi (AI) road map seeks to balance innovation and security
As the world grapples with the implications of rapidly evolving Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, Ukraine has recently presented a national road map for Hey Hi (AI) regulation that seeks to balance the core values of innovation and security, writes Ukraine's Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.
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Atlantic Council ☛ New Polish PM Donald Tusk vows “full mobilization” of West to help Ukraine
Poland’s newly appointed Prime Minister Donald Tusk has vowed to rally Western support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russia’s ongoing invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.
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Scoop News Group ☛ Ukraine’s largest mobile communications provider down after apparent cyber attack
Millions of customers lost mobile phone and home internet service as a result of what Kyivstar said was a cyber attack.
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France24 ☛ Scores injured in Russian missile strikes on Kyiv
Ukraine’s capital came under another ballistic missile attack early Wednesday, resulting in more than 50 injuries and several damaged buildings, officials said.
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France24 ☛ Zelensky, Biden give joint press conference as US aid for Ukraine hangs in the balance
President Joe Biden told President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday that the United States will not abandon Ukraine in its desperate fight against Russia, even as Republicans signaled opposition to extending US war funding.
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France24 ☛ EU mulls billions in funding for Hungary on eve of Ukraine aid summit
Brussels is expected to unlock 10 billion euros in EU funding for Hungary on Wednesday, the eve of a summit on support for Ukraine that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has threatened to derail.
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France24 ☛ Ukraine's drone war: the technology at the centre of the conflict
Ukraine's top general Valery Zaluzhny recently identified five areas that the country’s armed forces need to work on in order to regain an edge over the Russians. Two of them involve drones: the drones themselves, and the techniques for jamming them. Big and small, in the air, on land and in the sea, unmanned vehicles are absolutely central to this war, and the technology is evolving rapidly. But while Ukraine is a hotbed of innovation, quantity matters as well as quality. And that's where Ukraine is lagging behind Russia. Our correspondent Gulliver Cragg takes a look at the constellation of companies, military units and government programmes trying to provide Ukraine with the drone capacity it needs.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s Russian speakers hesitant to use their language in public amid pressure to prove loyalty
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian speakers in Lithuania say they are afraid to speak Russian in public and only communicate in their mother tongue at home. In public, questions are constantly raised about their loyalties and they are readily identified with the Russian government.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Intelligence Assesses Ukraine War Has Cost Russia 315,000 Casualties
A declassified U.S. intelligence report assessed that the Ukraine war has cost Russia 315,000 dead and injured troops, or nearly 80 percent of the personnel it had when the conflict began, a source familiar with the intelligence said on December 12.
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RFERL ☛ EU's Michel Still Working On 'Plan A' For Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia
European Council President Charles Michel said he is still working on "Plan A" when it comes to giving the green light to opening accession talks with Ukraine at a crucial EU summit in Brussels this week despite a repeated threat by Hungary to block the process.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Lawmakers Approve In Final Reading Bill Allowing National Guard To Hire Volunteers
Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma, on December 12 approved in its final reading a bill allowing the National Guard to have its own volunteer groups that can take part in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ EU Must Convince Hungary Over Ukraine Aid At Summit, German Official Says
The European Union aims to convince holdout Hungary to back its proposed 50 billion-euro ($54 billion) aid facility for Kyiv at its summit to send a clear signal to Russia, a German government official said.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine's Largest Phone Operator Says Huge Cyberattack Disrupted Services
Ukraine's largest mobile phone operator, Kyivstar, says it was targeted on December 12 by a massive cyberattack that brought down its cellular and Internet signal.
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RFERL ☛ After Refusing To Extradite Russian Ultranationalist To Kyiv, Finland Extends His Detention
After refusing to extradite to Kyiv a Russian ultranationalist and former commander of the Rusich sabotage group that fights alongside Russia's armed forces in Ukraine, a court in Finland extended his detention on December 11.
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YLE ☛ Defence Minister: Russian aggression reinforces international community
Finland must always be on its guard, Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) says, but the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine has brought western countries and Nordic nations closer together.
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CS Monitor ☛ Poland’s new PM Donald Tusk is pro-EU, committed to helping Ukraine
Centrist party leader Donald Tusk was elected prime minister by Poland’s parliament after eight years of conservative rule under Law & Justice. He has taken a pro-European Union stance and vows to keep the rest of the world committed to helping Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ No Aid for Ukraine Would Be a Gift to Russia, Biden Says as Zelensky Visits
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine traveled to Washington to make a last-ditch appeal for more help to fight Russia. But Republicans said they wouldn’t act without a border deal.
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New York Times ☛ Republicans Sideline Zelensky With Border Demands, Imperiling Aid Package
The Ukrainian president delivered an urgent plea for more help for his country in its fight against Russia, only to be told by Republicans that his challenges were not their focus.
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Meduza ☛ Over 50 injured in Russian nighttime strike on Kyiv — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ Russia Strikes Kyiv, Injuring 53 People
The bombardment, which the mayor said damaged an apartment building and a hospital, was at least the third significant strike on Ukraine’s capital in a week.
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Meduza ☛ U.S. intelligence says 315K Russian troops killed or injured in Ukraine — Meduza
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The Straits Times ☛ Ukrainian president Zelenskiy on surprise visit to Norway
December 13, 2023 3:32 PM
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Norway on Wednesday in a previously unannounced visit, the Norwegian government said in a statement.
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Off Guardian ☛ Russia’s friendliest bank will help BRICS implement the “climate agenda”
The 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, better known as COP28, is heating up in Dubai. As expected, the conferencegoers are in unanimous agreement that renewable energy scams are very good and carbon is very, very bad.
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RFERL ☛ Georgian President Says No EU Green Light Means A Win For Russia
As the European Union heads toward a crucial summit in Brussels this week, Georgia President Salome Zurabishvili says she's under no illusion as to what it will mean if her Caucasus nation fails to be given the green light to become a candidate for membership in the bloc.
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RFERL ☛ Finland To Reopen Two Border Crossings With Russia But Will Maintain Other Closures
The Finnish government on December 12 said it plans to reopen two border crossings with Russia by January 14. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the large Vaalimaa crossing in southeast Finland and one near Niirala further north will be reopened to traffic.
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RFERL ☛ Request For Early Release Of Chechen Opposition Bloggers' Mother Denied
A court in the Russian North Caucasus region of Chechnya has rejected a request for early release filed by Zarema Musayeva, the imprisoned mother of three self-exiled outspoken Chechen opposition activists.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Political Analyst Who Was Charged With Online Calls For Terrorism Fined
A court in Russia's Komi region on December 12 fined sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky 600,000 rubles ($6,660) on a charge of making online calls to justify terrorism and ordered his release from custody.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea hosts Russia delegation for talks on economic cooperation
A North Korean minister met with the governor of the Russian region bordering the two countries to discuss boosting regional economic cooperation, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday, the latest exchange between the neighbouring states.
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YLE ☛ Finland to re-open two eastern border checkpoints
The Finnish government closed the entire eastern border nearly two weeks ago in response to a suspected Russian hybrid attack involving increasing numbers of undocumented migrants arriving at Finnish checkpoints.
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New York Times ☛ Finland Partly Reopens Its Border With Russia
The Nordic country, which recently joined NATO, has accused Moscow of funneling migrants to their shared land border.
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Meduza ☛ Finland to reopen two border crossings with Russia — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Trucks wait on Latvia-Belarus border for up to 12 days
At the Latvian-Belarusian border point "Pāternieki" which is currently the only place to cross, 460 vehicles were queuing on Tuesday, December 12. Waiting times can take as much as 12 days, Latgale regional television reported.
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Environment
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Science Alert ☛ The Arctic Smashed So Many Terrifying Records in 2023, What Can We Even Say?
Heating 3x faster than the global average.
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Energy/Transportation
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Wildlife/Nature
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ADF ☛ Uganda’s Pioneering Wildlife Court Is Deterring Crime
Gladys Kamasanyu frequently travels about an hour outside of Uganda’s capital, Kampala, to the Entebbe Zoo, where she feeds, pets and even talks to rhinos, elephants, pangolins and other endangered animals. She also talks to the staff at the zoo, known as the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Center [...]
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Finance
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The Straits Times ☛ IMF board clears first review of Bangladesh's $4.7 billion bailout
The International Monetary Fund said its executive board cleared the first review of Bangladesh's $4.7 billion bailout on Tuesday, providing $936.6 million in funding to Dhaka as it battles high inflation ahead of national elections in January.
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New York Times ☛ Lawmakers Call for Raising Tariffs and Severing Economic Ties With China
A bipartisan report recommended stripping China of the low tariffs the United States granted it two decades ago, among other actions.
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RFA ☛ China steps up positive propaganda in bid to boost economic growth
State media pump out data to back up the claim that there is 'a bright future' in store for the economy.
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The year of the layoff: A timeline of the biggest redundancies to hit the channel in 2023
Constrained growth and supply chain hangovers in 2023 sparked major layoffs across tech, here's a round-up the most impactful layoff announcements
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Softonic ☛ The owner of Dungeons and Dragons announces thousands of layoffs
No one is safe from the multinational corporations’ scissors. Technological transitions and high costs have led to the disappearance of thousands of jobs at companies like Spotify, Microsoft, or Amazon. Now, the iconic toy company Hasbro joins this sad trend with the recent layoff of thousands of its employees.
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WorkReduce founder and CEO arrested for solicitation of minor
Remote staffing company that works with major holding companies is removing Brian Dolan as an officer and director
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Pro Publica ☛ The Judiciary Has Policed Itself for Decades. It Doesn’t Work.
For decades, judges have relied on a select group to make sure the judiciary adheres to the highest ethical standards: themselves.
The Judicial Conference, a secretive, century-old council of federal judges led by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, oversees the ethics and financial disclosures for more than 1,700 federal judges, including the nine justices of the high court. Those financial disclosures, submitted yearly as a list of assets and gifts, are often the only window into whether judges with lifetime appointments have conflicts of interest as they rule on the country’s most consequential legal cases.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Techdirt ☛ Community Notes Is Great Until It Challenges Elon, And Then It’s Being ‘Manipulated’ By State Actors
Oh Elon. As we’ve discussed, Elon is infatuated with Community Notes as a sort of crowdsourced alternative to actually funding a trust & safety staff and tooling. And while we actually like Community Notes and think more social media should use similar tools, it’s simply not a full trust & safety replacement.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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RFA ☛ Hong Kong arrests 7 pro-democracy activists for protesting poll
The authorities also issue warrants for 2 overseas activists who called for a boycott of ‘patriotic’ election.
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RFA ☛ Pro-Beijing ‘thugs’ tormented Pooh-tin protesters, activists say
US lawmaker says San Francisco police ignored repeated beatings of protesters during last month’s APEC summit.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Techdirt ☛ Text Messages, Emails Show KBI Had Full Knowledge Of Raid On Kansas Newspaper’s Office
On August 11, the Marion County PD — with the assistance of the Kansas Department of Revenue, the county sheriff’s office, and (for some fucking reason) the local fire marshal — raided the office of the Marion County Record, along with the home of its co-owner, 98-year-old Joan Meyer.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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The Nation ☛ Indigenous Wisdom
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New York Times ☛ Director of Sciences Po Offers to Step Aside After Domestic Violence Dispute
Mathias Vicherat, the director of Sciences Po, has exchanged accusations of domestic violence with his partner. The police are investigating.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 9 to face sentencing over unlawful assembly near PolyU during Hong Kong protests in 2019
Nine people will face sentencing over unlawful assembly near the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2019, where intense clashes broke out amid the extradition-bill protests and unrest. Wong Chun-yin, Ronald Cheng, Tang Long-yin, Lai Hang-kei, Ng Chun-fung, Vicky Chiu, Yip Pui-shan, Law Tsz-kwan and Catherine Wong appeared at District Court on Tuesday afternoon.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Techdirt ☛ The Telecom Industry Is Very Mad Because The FCC MIGHT Examine High Broadband Prices
We’ve long noted how the FCC (regardless of party) largely ignores how muted competition and monopolization drives up prices for consumers. The agency often talks a good (if ambiguous) game about “bridging the digital divide,” but they don’t collect and share pricing data proving market failure, nor are they capable of admitting monopolies exist and are harmful in public-facing messaging.
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Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Welcomes Fair Competition Win in Epic v. Surveillance Giant Google Jury Verdict
[Ed: Public Knowledge also has Microsoft inside the board, i.e. a conflict of interest]Jury finds that Surveillance Giant Google violated antitrust laws by monopolizing the market for Android app distribution.
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Digital Music News ☛ Epic Games Triumphs Over Surveillance Giant Google in Antitrust Lawsuit: ‘A Win for All App Developers and Consumers Around the World’
Epic Games has officially triumphed in its antitrust lawsuit, centering on fees charged to Play Store developers as well as adjacent agreements, against Google. >
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JURIST ☛ US jury finds Surveillance Giant Google app store policies violate antitrust law
A US jury decided Monday that Google’s current app store policies violate Sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act as well as the California Cartwright Act. Sometime next year, there will be a separate judicial process to determine the penalty that Surveillance Giant Google will suffer as a result of the jury’s Monday decision.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Are These Two Bird Design Marks Confusingly Similar for Clothing?
In this battle of the birds, frequent TTAB plaintiff Abercrombie & Fitch opposed an application to register the mark shown below left, for various clothing items, claiming a likelihood of confusion with its registered design mark shown below right, for overlapping clothing items. Since there were no limitations in the application or pleaded registrations as to channels of trade and classes of consumers, the Board presumed that the goods travel in the same, normal channels to the same consumer classes. So it all boiled down to the marks. How do you think this case out? Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co. v. Srinivasa Rao Gubbala, Opposition No. 91255288 (December 8, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Wendy Boldt Cohen).
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Federal Circuit Decision Causes Confusion on Trademark Cancellation
I previously wrote about the trademark case of Great Concepts v. Chutter that involves two restaurants both using the same phonetic name: DANTANNA’S and DAN TANA’S. In the underlying trademark cancellation proceeding, the TTAB found that one party had committed fraud within its declaration of incontestability; and that fraud justified cancellation of the registration. On appeal the Federal Circuit reversed — concluding that the statute was very specific that fraud in obtaining the registration can justify cancellation, but says nothing about fraud in establishing incontestability. The court distinguished with some squirrely precedent finding that renewal counted as “obtaining” for the fraud-cancellation doctrine. Torres v. Cantine Torresella S.r.l., 808 F.2d 46 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Altice USA Faces Yet Another $1 Billion+ Copyright Lawsuit — ‘An Attractive Tool and Safe Haven for Infringement’
New York City-headquartered internet service provider (ISP) Altice USA is officially facing yet another $1 billion+ copyright monopoly lawsuit stemming from its alleged failure to stop subscribers’ repeat infringement.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Some of the music i'm listening to - 10
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The protocol seems wonderful, but the community result seems dubious - if not imaginary
What I've found instead is like a lot of houses, each with a clipboard attached to a board pounded into the ground in the front yard, and every now and then home-dwellers sneak out to replace the piece of paper containing text clamped to their clipboard with another piece of paper containing different text, then scurry back into their house before anyone notices, because <deity>forbid they'd have to actually talk to anyone....
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The protocol seems wonderful, but the community result seems dubious - if not imaginary
Same with capitalism, peoples. It's not a thing. It's not like the sun. It seemingly exists because you keep patronizing it by buying shit, especially shit you really don't need. We've learned there's a fuckload of negative side-effects to that dynamic at society scale.
Stop it - i.e. the unnecessary buying of unnecessary shit - and tell others how much better you feel for having been that much less covetous. Let that *ease* - in contrast to dis-ease - be what spreads.
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Composition Considered Harmful
Since Alan Perlis pointed it out, y’all know by now how Lisp programmers know the value of everything and the cost of nothing. Same goes in society. When things get neatly packaged up behind a comfy interface, a neat case and a button to push, it’s hard to remain aware of the rusty gears and Rube Goldberg yak-shaving mousetraps that happen behind the scenes.
Like, a chicken lays two eggs every three days approximately, so if you eat two eggs per day, that’s three entire chickens that are being kept somewhere just for your sake.
And modern abstraction have become recursive; each of the gears in the machine are in turn pushing more buttons for you, which in turns start their own sets of gears, and one machine suddenly turns into five which turns into twenty which turns into a hundred.
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Technology and Free Software
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jarotsim at hybrid live coding interfaces 2023
we presented jarotsim, a playground for the discovery, exploration and livecoding of Turing machines, at the Hybrid Live Coding Interfaces 2023: Boundless Thinking workshop, on december 11th, 2023.
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Infinite Scrolling and hyper personalization are evil
I miss the old BBS and forums long gone the few that exist are like ghost town. Once in a blue moon I go back and I remember vividly certain topics or obscure knowledge bits. The ability to navigate and map the information with section, broken down into topics and comments.
The main page was the same for everybody and everybody knew what the other would get.
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More Service-Breaking Chess Bugs
While I work in IT, I am not a programmer, and my programming skills are far from perfect. I've learned this the hard way with the many bugs I've come across in my capsule's chess service. Today, I found and fixed another major one.
The chess service works asynchronously and uses match invitations created by users to find challengers to play against. A SQLite database stores all match and invitation information in the backend, including pending invitations. As users fill in information such as what color they want to play as and public comments, that information is stored in a pending invitation row until the invitation is published.
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Building a huge library
While it is common for a person to unconsciously open instagram or tiktok when bored, I open Z-library, and scout for books. Productive as this may sound, I have yet to read those books I've collected in my device. And then comes the question of space, both storage in my device and mental space, for whenever I download a book, leaf through it, and decide I'm going to keep it, I am not merely hoarding, but there is an implicit commitment to read it sooner or later. So it is that I organize my books in the filesystem according to topic, and those books that I store "for later" go into a backup in a hard drive, perhaps for a future when the free access to information becomes a thing of the past. But even the few subjects that I decide to keep around start growing on me, and every so often I need to go and prune the tree of topics and subtopics that so develops.
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Internet/Gemini
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Small Roundup on the Web and Journalism
Speaking of such: Sports Illustrated's publisher has fired its CEO after the scandal that had the sports icon's site include AI-generated articles by AI-generated reporters. There was an outcry over the audacity, but if you look at who owns it, you shouldn't be surprised: Authentic Brands Group is the sort of industry-agnostic value vampire that would do exactly this sort of thing, and did. If CNET can be ruined by this sort of dreck, why not Sports Illustrated, they probably reckoned. Absolutely. Why not. What's the value of creation, anyway? Why love anything? Pull the content lever and fill 'er up with sludge.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.