Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ A Supercapacitor From Mushrooms

  The supercapacitor is an extremely promising energy storage technology, and though they have yet to reach parity with the best batteries in terms of energy density, offers considerable promise for a future of safe and affordable energy storage. Perhaps best of all from our point of view, they are surprisingly simple to make. A practical supercapacitor can be made on the bench by almost anyone, as the ever-resourceful [Robert Murray-Smith] demonstrates using mushrooms as his feedstock.

• Noel Rappin ☛ The Big Book Post for 2023

  This is late even by my absurd standards for having this post be late.

• Los Angeles Times ☛ Keeping the Hawaiian steel guitar tradition alive

  “You have to put in a lot of effort in order to be able to sound good on it, to sound proficient,” the 30-year-old software engineer said. “But because of that it’s a more expressive instrument than any other. Do you slide into it, do you play staccato? It’s really what you do in between the notes too.”

• Manton Reece ☛ Bluesky mentions in Micro.blog

  Some folks on Micro.blog who also actively use Bluesky have noticed something new we’ve been rolling out over the last couple of days: Micro.blog will now look for replies on Bluesky to your blog posts, bringing them into the Micro.blog timeline. This transforms Micro.blog into a base platform to manage even more of your social interactions.

• James G ☛ Technical Writing Chat with Ally Sassman

  This is the first interview in Technical Writing Chats, a series where I speak with technical writers about their day-to-day role and how they got started in their career. Today's interview is with Ally Sassman, a Senior Technical Writer at New Relic. I sincerely hope you enjoy!

• Michal Zelazny ☛ Updates, updates

  The last few weeks have been very busy and… quiet at the same time. I’ve been doing some interesting things in my professional life, very interesting and very fulfilling. I’ve enjoyed them and I’m grateful to everyone involved. But it made me rethink my approach to consumption and socialization. I really needed to regenerate and recharge as much as possible to avoid burnout and – which happens quite often when I’m overwhelmed – depression. So I spent a lot of time on self-care and self-maintenance. It worked. It’s still working. Now it’s time to write down some conclusions.

• Science

  • Mark Dominus ☛ The Universe of Discourse : Stuff that is backwards in Australia

    Then more recently I was thinking about it more carefully and I was stunned when I realized that the phases of the moon go the other way. So I thought I'd should actually make the list, because a good deal of it is not at all obvious. Or at least it wasn't to me!

  • Quartz ☛ Earth's 8 weirdest cave systems

    Some caves are so alien from the land aboveground that one can feel as though they’re part of another world, or they are (at the least) arenas forbidden to humankind. The following caves are known for their size, for their age, or for the things, living and dead, that have made their mark on the Earth’s underbelly.

• Education

  • Crooked Timber ☛ Indiana’s DEI Law — Crooked Timber

    Coverage of the law in The Chronicle of Higher Education emphasizes the practical difficulties with implementation as well as the law’s likely unintended consequences. Meanwhile, many teachers at these institutions vehemently oppose the law on academic freedom grounds. I’m sympathetic with these criticisms. The law is ominous indeed. It seems intentionally vague, with intellectual diversity serving as a pretext for lashing out against teachers perceived to be indoctrinating students, and it affords boards ample flexibility to punish teachers whether or not they’re doing any such thing.

    But I wonder if college teachers shouldn’t make a different kind of argument against this law: Why not question the law’s premise, that intellectual diversity is our critics’ cause and not our own?

  • International Business Times ☛ In 1939, Former Slaves Rented Their Home to a Chinese Family; Here's What Happened 80 Years Later

    While the donation will spark more debates, Ashley noted that the Dong's generosity is not about atonement and repair. Instead, the gesture was a transaction with no strings attached.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Faculty members consider the role of AI in the classroom

    “While (AI) will likely change our methodology, it will not change our purpose. AI does not change our values. And in instances where it has the potential to collide with our purpose and values, we have to be collaborative and honest about how to approach that situation,” McCauley said.

    With the fast-paced, everchanging nature of AI, Conway said, faculty members need to tackle the change head on and learn how to use AI to their advantage. Uncertainty among faculty, she said, is causing confusion and frustration for students who have some course syllabi that threatens failure if caught using AI and other syllabi that encourage its use to a certain extent.

    “I think maybe the biggest threat is that we can’t move fast enough to figure out how to make sure that we are ethical about these things, and we don’t set young people up for a world where they’re not prepared to make hard decisions because they’re depending on the computer to do it for them,” she said.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Students and staff voice concern for U-M introductory math courses

    The University of Michigan Department of Mathematics is ranked 16th in the United States, yet many students try to avoid math classes at all costs. Students not majoring in mathematics, including engineering, economics, and business majors, are required to pass introductory math courses, though many of these students opt to take required math courses at other institutions for transfer credit. The Michigan Daily talked to students and staff about the reasons behind this choice, and their concerns regarding introductory math courses.

  • Oxide ☛ Engineering a culture / Oxide

    The initial work as described by Matt represents a creative solution to a thorny problem; if it’s clear in hindsight, it certainly wasn’t at the time! (In Matt’s evocative words: "One morning, I had a revelation.") I first learned of Matt’s work when he demonstrated it during our weekly Demo Friday, an hour-long unstructured session to demo our work for one another. Demo Friday is such an essential part of Oxide’s culture that it feels like we have always done it, but in fact it took us nearly two years into the company’s life to get there: over the spring and summer of 2021, our colleague Sean Klein had instituted regular demos for the area that he works on (the Oxide control plane), and others around the company — seeing the energy that came from it — asked if they, too, could start regular demos for their domain. But instead of doing it group by group, we instituted it company-wide starting in the fall of 2021: an unstructured hour once a week in which anyone can demo anything.

• Hardware

  • The Drone Girl ☛ U.S. drones in 2024: the official number of pilots, registered drones

    For starters, the number of registered drones alone is nearly 800,000. That means — very likely — there are well over a million drones out there in the U.S., considering not all drones need to be registered. And that doesn’t even consider the toy drones you can buy for, say, $30 at your local Target, Costco or Walmart, or online through Amazon. Those almost certainly aren’t registered. After all, only drones weighing 250 grams or more, or that are flown for commercial purposes, need to be registered.

    Here’s a deeper dive into the latest U.S. drone statistics, which the Federal Aviation Administration released on December 31, 2023.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ How ASML took over the chipmaking chessboard

    “SMEE are making DUV machines, or at least claim they can,” he told MIT Technology Review, referring to a company that makes the predecessor to EUV lithography technology, and pointed out that ASML still has the dominant market share. The political pressures could mean more progress for China. But getting to the level of complexity involved in ASML’s suite of machines, with low, high, and hyper NA is another matter, he says: “I feel quite comfortable that this will be a long time before they can copy that.”

  • Tim Bray ☛ A057X

    That’s on a Fujifilm X-T2, one of the bulkier of Fuji’s X-cameras. What’s not instantly obvious is that the camera and lens are sitting on the lens’s tripod shoe. That camera is now eight years old and needs to be replaced, but I’m not fully won over by the latest X-cams and the lens was an easier trigger to pull.

    The reviews all said “Considering what it does, it’s amazingly small and light!” Maybe, but in fact it’s neither of those things; a big freakin’ hunk of metal and glass. A tripod really helps.

  • Wouter Groeneveld ☛ Error Handling in Baby Toys

    Then there’s of course 0000 which shouldn’t trigger any sound since it’s the default state, meaning we’re left with 1111, 1001, and 1101 as unassigned ones. Would pressing that combination of switches crash the whole thing? Nope! Clementoni’s engineers were smart enough to “catch” that error: triggering one of the unknown states by forcing a combination with your fingers emits a bloop followed by a voice saying “uh-oh!”. It made me laugh—good catch indeed!

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • V Chris ☛ 📝 A walk in the forest

    I lay in the grass next to the pond, letting the sunshine warm my face and letting go of all the stress. While relaxing, I realize that my headache is gone. It seems as if I left it behind at the beginning of the forest. I’m amazed again at what a good walk can do to my mood.

  • NPR ☛ Lead in the drinking water is still a problem in the U.S. — especially in Chicago

    In Chicago, about 400,000 homes still get their tap water through lead service lines — pipes that connect individual homes to the main water line.

    And nearly 70% of young children are getting exposed to lead from their home tap water, according to recent estimates published in JAMA Pediatrics. The study also finds that Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are more likely to have lead exposure, but less likely to be tested for lead.

  • CNN ☛ Two-thirds of young children in Chicago are exposed to dangerous lead levels in water, study finds

    The study published on Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics analyzed lead exposure based on 38,385 household lead tests collected by the Chicago Department of Water Management between January 2016 and September 2023. The researchers used machine learning, an artificial intelligence technique using algorithms, to estimate lead levels in tap water across Chicago based on this existing data.

    They found that about 75% of residential city blocks in Chicago had lead-contaminated water. And more than two-thirds – approximately 129,000 – children under the age of 6 in Chicago live on these blocks and may be exposed to lead-contaminated water.

  • Scripps Media Inc ☛ Students' bones show lead exposure as new report ties problem to literacy rates

    It showed while none of the kids had elevated blood lead levels, meaning no students tested above the action level, which is 3.5 ug/dl.

    However, their bones told a different story.

    All of the students who participated in the bone test showed higher than normal amounts of lead.

  • Vox ☛ How do you get lead poisoning? Why lead keeps showing up where it’s not supposed to.

    Once lead finds its way inside a person’s body, it quickly enters the bones because of its molecular similarities to calcium. It then subsists for decades, moving around and finding easy access to important organs, including the brain. And as lead takes up residence in places where calcium is supposed to be, it disrupts important biological and neurological functions.

    “Lead is a toxin like no other,” Luby said. ‘People think about ‘Oh, yeah. Lead’s bad. Mercury’s bad. Cadmium’s bad. Air pollution is bad. All these things.’ No — lead is really disproportionately bad.”

  • NDTV ☛ Trump's Surgeon General Left With Staggering Bill For Dehydration Treatment

    Former US surgeon general Jerome Adams was stuck with an eye-watering medical bill of nearly $5,000 after being treated for a simple case of dehydration following an overnight stay at an Arizona hospital last January.

    Now he's calling for reforms to the country's market-based health care system, including greater transparency around costs and an independent arbitration process -- while using his bully pulpit to speak out for the 100 million Americans saddled with medical debt.

  • FAIR ☛ New Doc Traces Alex Jones’ Footprints on Our Post-Truth Landscape

    To lose a child to violence is already one of the most traumatic things a human being can experience. To compound that by seeing those deaths made the center of a seemingly limitless conspiracy theory pushes that suffering to a level that is almost inconceivable.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • India Times ☛ Hume AI: Behind Hume’s conversational AI with emotional intelligence

    Artificial intelligence can now understand human emotions, pull-off sarcasm, and even express anger. New York-based startup Hume AI last week launched the first voice AI with emotional intelligence which can generate conversations for emotional well-being of its users.

  • CoryDoctorow ☛ Humans are not perfectly vigilant (01 Apr 2024) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

    Guessing the next word without understanding the meaning of the resulting sentence makes unsupervised LLMs unsuitable for high-stakes tasks. The whole AI bubble is based on convincing investors that one or more of the following is true: [...]

  • Scoop News Group ☛ AI won’t replace cybersecurity workforce, agency leaders say

    For cybersecurity specialists working in the federal government, the flood of artificial intelligence tools in recent years has had a transformative effect on agencies’ work.

    In these relatively nascent days, some federal cyber officials have said they believe that AI provides more of an advantage to defenders than attackers in cyberspace, while others warn that the pace of innovation looms as a threat to the country.

    But from a workforce standpoint, agency cyber experts believe that the worst fears of AI replacing humans won’t be realized.

  • VOA News ☛ US, Britain announce partnership on AI safety, testing

    Under the formal partnership, Britain and the United States plan to perform at least one joint testing exercise on a publicly accessible model and are considering exploring personnel exchanges between the institutes. Both are working to develop similar partnerships with other countries to promote AI safety.

    "This is the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world," Donelan said. "AI is already an extraordinary force for good in our society and has vast potential to tackle some of the world's biggest challenges, but only if we are able to grip those risks."

  • Hindustan Times ☛ ‘Glad it wasn’t an April Fools’ Day prank’: Sundar Pichai as Gmail turns 20

    Gmail was launched as a free service boasting just one gigabyte of storage per account, enough to store about 13,500 emails.

    “The original pitch we put together was all about the three ‘S’s” — storage, search and speed," said former Google executive Marissa Mayer, who helped design Gmail and other company products before later becoming Yahoo's CEO.

    When Gmail was launched on April 1, many people couldn't help but wonder if it was a prank, considering that Page and Brin routinely pulled off elaborate pranks on people.

  • India Times ☛ gmail 20 years: Gmail at 20! Google April Fool's joke that changed global tech history

    It was such a mind-bending concept that shortly after The Associated Press published a story about Gmail late on the afternoon of April Fool's 2004, readers began calling and emailing to inform the news agency it had been duped by Google's pranksters.

    "That was part of the charm, making a product that people won't believe is real. It kind of changed people's perceptions about the kinds of applications that were possible within a web browser," former Google engineer Paul Buchheit recalled during a recent AP interview about his efforts to build Gmail.

  • El País ☛ Gmail revolutionized email 20 years ago. People thought it was Google’s April Fool’s Day joke

    Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin loved pulling pranks, so much so they began rolling outlandish ideas every April Fool’s Day not long after starting their company more than a quarter century ago. One year, Google posted a job opening for a Copernicus research center on the moon. Another year, the company said it planned to roll out a “scratch and sniff” feature on its search engine.

    The jokes were so consistently over-the-top that people learned to laugh them off as another example of Google mischief. And that’s why Page and Brin decided to unveil something no one would believe was possible 20 years ago on April Fool’s Day.

  • The Verge ☛ 20 years of Gmail

    Teenagers are notoriously dramatic, but Gmail did revolutionize email. It reimagined what our inboxes were capable of and became a central part of our online identities. The service now has an estimated 1.2 billion users — about 1/7 of the global population — and these days, it’s a practical necessity to do anything online. It often feels like Gmail has always been here and always will be.

  • India Times ☛ Google Gmail: Two decades later, a look at Gmail — Google’s best April Fool’s joke

    Gmail started as a free service boasting 1 gigabyte of storage per account. This might sound minuscule now, but back then it was nothing short of a humongous amount of email capacity, enough to store about 13,500 emails before running out of space compared to just 30 to 60 emails in the then-leading webmail services run by Yahoo and Microsoft.

  • Japan ☛ Japan’s game industry weathers the storm amid layoffs worldwide

    From Microsoft to Sony Interactive Entertainment, industry giants have shed hundreds of employees, with games canceled as a result. But in Japan, something of a parallel universe exists: The country has proven curiously resistant to layoffs, with local gaming studios actually embarking on a hiring push and raising salaries to entice talent.

  • Game-News24 ☛ In a fresh round of layoffs, Ubisoft is cutting 45 jobs

    Thousands of jobs have been cut across the entire game industry in decades, and that number is continuing to rise. One of the most innovative companies in a decade has cut off 15 jobs, according to GameSpot.

    The company recently confirmed that, a year ago where more than 120 people were laid off from the conference in November of last month it had announced its cutting 45 jobs for its Global Publishing division and Asia-Pacific to streamline operations so as they could improve their collective efficiency.

  • Ubisoft is Cutting 45 Jobs in Fresh Round of Layoffs

    Thousands of jobs have been cut across the entire games industry in a wave of mass layoffs in 2024 so far, and that number is continuing to steadily grow. Ubisoft is the latest company to have eliminated positions, having cut 45 jobs in a fresh round of layoffs, as reported by GameSpot.

    Having laid off over 120 people last November, the company recently confirmed that it’s cutting 45 jobs in its Global Publishing and Asia-Pacific divisions in order to “streamline operations” and “enhance collective efficiency.”

  • The gaming industry is looking dire as Ubisoft is cutting down 45 jobs

    How many layoffs are we going to hear of throughout 2024? So far, this year has been devastating for the industry itself, and on top of that, Ubisoft has also announced a new wave of layoffs, more precisely, 45 of them. As the company says, these layoffs are due to a reorganizational effort.

    Earlier, Ubisoft also laid off 120 employees, which is something you don’t see rare in a company of this caliber. Either way, the gaming sector has been plagued, as Microsoft, EA, and PlayStation have also been hit by such anomalies.

  • Indie devs facing tough times as Epic Store and Xbox Game Pass cut funding [Ed: Microsoft contributes to the layoffs in gaming studios this way]

    Releasing an indie game does take a lot of hard work and more importantly – funding.

    In the past, large publishers would fund indie game studios, but that won’t be the case anymore.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Papers Please ☛ Tracking vehicles across state lines

      As the number of women traveling across state lines to obtain abortions continues to grow (analysis of trends, statistics and map), recent reports have confirmed the reality of some of the ways we feared that motorists traveling for these or other purposes can be identified and tracked.

      The ACLU of Northern California and Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle have reported that, despite a directive from the California Attorney General forbidding California state and local government agencies from sharing automated license plate recognition (ALPR) data with out-of-state entities, police in some California cities are continuing to share this location data with out-of-state police and/or interstate data brokers.

      The order from the Attorney General was specifically intended to prevent other states from using ALPR data from California to identity or take action against abortion travelers.

    • The Verge ☛ You can use ChatGPT for free without a login

      OpenAI will no longer require an account to use ChatGPT, the company’s free AI platform. However, this only applies to ChatGPT, as other OpenAI products, like DALL-E 3, cost money to access and will still require an account for access. “We’re rolling this out gradually, with the aim to make AI accessible to anyone curious about its capabilities,” OpenAI said in a blog post.

    • Chuck Carroll ☛ The Kafkaesque Experience of Setting Up a LinkedIn Account

      LinkedIn uses a 3rd party called Persona where I have to take a photo of both the front and back of my government issued ID and a selfie. First of all, there's no way in hell I'm going to scan and upload a copy of my government-issued ID to a third party whose privacy policy can be summarized as "You can trust us, pinky promise!". On top of that, they claim that they need to make sure that what's on your government-issued ID matches with what's on your LinkedIn profile. I can imagine how this will become problematic because there are people who go by a different name than what's on their ID (my given name is Charles, but I go by Chuck). I can only assume this ID verification, if not done by AI, is probably outsourced to a person in another country who might not know that Chuck is short for Charles.

    • VOA News ☛ China spy agency fingers consultancies as espionage threat

      It tells the story of an executive at a Chinese company who is pressed by a consulting firm representative on a string of questions, including the company’s total profit, the technical parameters of its products, and how its products are used by the Air Force.

      In a WeChat post released with the video, the ministry warned about the national security risks that consultancy agencies pose.

      "The seemingly normal investigation conducted by consulting firms are in fact attempts to illegally acquire our commercial secrets and efforts to suppress our advantageous industries," the ministry wrote, adding that these consulting firms are accomplices to foreign spy agencies aiming to infiltrate key sectors in China.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Google to delete or anonymize billions of data points to settle Chrome lawsuit

      The plaintiffs argued that the search giant’s practices affected millions of consumers worldwide. They sought damages of at least $5,000 in damages per user, which could have amounted to as much as $5 billion.

      The settlement detailed today waives the potential class-action damages that Google may have been required to pay. However, individuals can still file damages claims and 50 people have reportedly done so already. Additionally, the agreement requires Google to take a number of steps designed to improve Chrome users’ privacy.

    • New York Times ☛ Google to Delete Billions of Chrome Browser Records in Latest Settlement

      On Monday, the company resolved its fourth case in four months, agreeing to delete billions of data records it compiled about millions of Chrome browser users, according to a legal filing. The suit, Chasom Brown, et al. v. Google, said the company had misled users by tracking their online activity in Chrome’s Incognito mode, which they believed would be private.

      Since December, Google has spent well over $1 billion to settle lawsuits as it prepares to fight the Justice Department, which has targeted Google’s search engine and its advertising business in a pair of lawsuits.

    • The Hill ☛ Google agrees to destroy private browsing data to settle class-action lawsuit

      The company also agreed to rewrite the disclosure that appears at the beginning of every “incognito mode” session to inform users that it collects data from private browsing sessions, according to court documents filed Monday.

      Google must also allow incognito mode users to block third-party cookies for the next five years as part of the settlement.

    • US News And World Report ☛ Google to Purge Billions of Files Containing Personal Data in Settlement of Chrome Privacy Case

      The lawyers valued the settlement at $4.75 billion to $7.8 billion, relying on calculations based primarily on the potential ad sales that the personal information collected through Chrome could have generated in the past and future without the new restrictions.

      The settlement also doesn't shield Google from more lawsuits revolving around the same issues covered in the class-action case. That means individual consumers can still pursue damages against the company by filing their own civil complaints in state courts around the U.S.

    • Quartz ☛ Google Incognito lawsuit settled with deletion of browsing data

      In 2019, Google’s Chief Marketing Officer Lorraine Twohill emailed Chief Executive Sundar Pichai that Google’s “really fuzzy, hedging language” regarding its Incognito mode “is almost more damaging.”

      Google agreed to the settlement in December, however, details of the agreement were disclosed in court documents filed on Monday.

    • RTL ☛ Cookies: Google to delete incognito search data to end privacy suit

      Google has agreed to delete a vast trove of search data to settle a suit that it tracked millions of US users who thought they were browsing the [Internet] privately.

      If a proposed settlement filed Monday in San Francisco federal court is approved by a judge, Google must "delete and/or remediate billions of data records" linked to people using the Chrome browser's incognito mode, according to court documents.

    • The Register UK ☛ Google will delete data collected from private browsing

      The lawsuit [PDF], filed in June, 2020, on behalf of plaintiffs Chasom Brown, Maria Nguyen, and William Byatt, sought to hold Google accountable for making misleading statements about privacy.

      Specifically, the search behemoth's Privacy Policy claimed that users could control the information Google collects. But, as alleged in the lawsuit, Google didn't provide the privacy it promised and implied through services like Chrome's Incognito mode.

    • The Register UK ☛ US House of Reps tells staff: No Microsoft Copilot for you

      "The Microsoft Copilot application has been deemed by the Office of Cybersecurity to be a risk to users due to the threat of leaking House data to non-House approved cloud services," the documents read.

    • Techdirt ☛ Because Facial Recognition Tech Just Isn’t Sketchy Enough, Cops Are Now Running Searches Using AI-Generated Faces

      Facial recognition tech is probably improving as time goes on. Given enough providers, controversy, and individuals who definitely want this tech to stop being so terrible at correctly identifying women and minorities, anything is possible.

• Defence/Aggression

  • RTL ☛ Lou Conter: Last survivor of Pearl Harbor battleship sinking dies

    Lou Conter was a 20-year-old quartermaster who helped rescue fellow sailors on December 7, 1941, after the United States' Pacific fleet came under surprise attack.

    The assault, which catapulted the United States into World War II, damaged or destroyed most of the fleet stationed at the Hawaii naval base and resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 Americans.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Lou Conter, last survivor of USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, dies at 102

    The Arizona was the centerpiece of the carnage that morning. Of the more than 2,400 service members and civilians killed that day, nearly half — 1,177 — were sailors and Marines aboard the Arizona. As Japanese bombers lay waste to Pearl Harbor’s “battleship row,” explosions ignited a massive amount of gunpowder stored on the Arizona. The resulting explosion lifted the ship “30 to 40 feet out of the water,” Conter said during a January 2008 interview with the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.

  • The Hill ☛ Last USS Arizona survivor of Pearl Harbor attack dies

    Lou Conter, who went on to be a lieutenant commander in the Navy after the attack, was 102 years old. Conter was 20 when hundreds of Japanese aircraft assaulted Pearl Harbor, a sneak attack that sank the Arizona alongside three other battleships.

    The attack killed an estimated 2,400 people — nearly 1,200 on the Arizona alone — and sent the U.S. to war against Japan.

  • US Navy Times ☛ Last survivor of USS Arizona dies at 102

    Born in Ojibwa, Wisconsin, Conter enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1939 at the age of 18. Two years later, he would bear witness to the attack that finally drew the United States into the Second World War.

    Starting his shift as quartermaster at 7:45 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941, Conter had barely rubbed the sleep from his eyes when the Japanese assault began a mere three minutes later.

    At exactly 8:09 a.m., the hull of the USS Arizona was struck by a 1,760-pound Japanese armor-piercing bomb.

  • Hindustan Times ☛ Lou Conter dead at 102: Last survivor of USS Arizona battleship from Pearl Harbor attack dies

    The rusting wreckage of the Arizona still lies in waters where it sank. More than 900 sailors and Marines remain entombed inside.

  • New York Times ☛ Lou Conter, Last Survivor of the Battleship Arizona, Dies at 102

    Mr. Conter, who was knocked forward but uninjured, tended to survivors, many of them blinded and badly burned. When the order to abandon ship came, he was knee deep in water. A lifeboat took him ashore, and in the days that followed he helped in recovering bodies and putting out fires. Only 93 of those who were aboard the ship at the time lived; 242 other crew members were ashore.

  • Robert Reich ☛ How Trump is Following Hitler’s Playbook

    You’ve heard Trump’s promise:

    TRUMP: I’m going to be a dictator for one day.

    History shows there are no “one-day” dictatorships. When democracies fall, they typically fall completely.

    In a previous video, I laid out the defining traits of fascism and how MAGA Republicans embody them. But how could Trump — or someone like him — actually turn America into a fascist state? Here’s how in five steps.

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Trump Doesn’t Think He’ll Be Punished for Attacking Judge's Daughter

    Merchan wrote that Trump’s “pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose.” He continued, “The average observer, must now, after hearing [Trump’s] recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well. Such concerns will undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitute… a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself.”

  • Meduza ☛ ‘Fundamentals of Homeland Security’ How Russia is turning schools into training grounds for future soldiers

    A year later, the Russian authorities supplemented this ideological teaching with military instruction. In addition to things like fire safety and first aid, students began learning “basic military training” in their “Fundamentals of Life Safety” classes. In 10th grade, they learn about the workings of the Kalashnikov assault rifle and “information-psychological warfare.”

  • New York Times ☛ Will MAGA Republicans Block Baltimore’s Rebuilding?

    In Congress, rebuilding the Key Bridge could be the next Ukraine funding debate.

  • New York Times ☛ Tuesday Briefing: Iran Said Israel Killed Top Generals

    Also, the U.S. could vote on aid to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

  • New York Times ☛ Monday Briefing

    Protests against Israel’s prime minister.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Reason ☛ What if America Runs Out of Bombs?

      The U.S. is dispensing munitions to Ukraine and Israel faster than they can be replaced.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Russia’s new air offensive leaves Ukraine facing humanitarian disaster

      Unless Ukraine's Western partners urgently enhance the country's air defenses, Russia's new air offensive will leave millions of Ukrainians without access to electricity, water, and heating, writes Aura Sabadus.

    • France24 ☛ Blinken in Paris for talks on Ukraine, Gaza

      US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday on supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia and the Israel-Hamas conflict.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine fortifies its front lines in anticipation of new Russian offensive this summer

      Though Russia has made no major gains on the Ukrainian front line since February, its forces are keeping up the pressure, with the avowed aim of seizing more territory. Last year, the Ukrainians found their attempts to liberate more of the occupied lands stymied by Russian-built fortifications. But, hoping for swift victories, they hadn’t really built an equivalent on their side. They’re now scrambling to do so before the Russians – who’ve just launched a major mobilisation drive – gather their strength for a summer offensive.

    • France24 ☛ France expects 'clear messages' from China to Russia over Ukraine war

      France's top diplomat said on Monday that Paris wants China to send "clear messages" to its strategic ally Russia over its war in Ukraine, after meetings with his counterpart in Beijing.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia seeks extradition from Ukraine of all individuals connected with Moscow concert hall bombing

      The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Russia demanded extradition from Ukraine of all individuals connected with terrorist acts on Sunday.

    • RFA ☛ Media Watch: Moscow attack fuels rumors on Ukraine, US involvement

      Officials and state-backed media in Russia and China are on the frontline, spreading unverified claims.

    • RFERL ☛ Kremlin-Installed Official Killed In Blast In Occupied Ukrainian Region

      A Kremlin-installed official in the Russian-occupied city of Starobilsk in Ukraine’s Luhansk region was killed in a car bombing on April 1, Russian officials said.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Claims Russia Targeted Kyiv With 5 Hypersonic Missiles This Year

      Russia has used five hypersonic Zircon missiles to attack Kyiv since the start of the year, the city's military administration said on April 1.

    • RFERL ☛ France Seeking 'Clear Message' From China To Russia Over Ukraine War

      French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said on April 1 that Paris expects China to send "clear messages" to its close partner Russia over its war in Ukraine, after meetings with his counterpart in Beijing.

    • New York Times ☛ Johnson Outlines Plan for Ukraine Aid; House Could Act Within Weeks

      The G.O.P. speaker’s proposed conditions for sending a fresh infusion of military assistance to Kyiv are the strongest sign to date that he plans to defy critics in his own party and push through the aid package.

    • Meduza ☛ Ukraine charges in absentia Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan for promoting genocide — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ Russia arrests four more suspects linked to deadly Moscow concert hall attack

      Russia’s FSB security service said Monday that four people arrested over a foiled “terror” plot had provided money and arms for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall last month.

    • RFA ☛ Russia’s veto on North Korea sanctions watchdog sparks international criticism

      The move also shows Moscow fears exposure of its own U.N. sanction violations, say experts.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Says 4 Held In Daghestan On Suspicion Of Aiding Moscow Concert Gunmen

      Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on April 1 that it has detained four people in the North Caucasus region of Daghestan suspected of providing financing and weapons to participants in the March 22 massacre at the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow that killed 144 people.

    • RFERL ☛ At Least 8 Killed In Train-Bus Crash In Russia's Yaroslavl Region

      At least eight people were killed in Russia’s Yaroslavl region after a fast train smashed into a passenger bus at a railway crossing, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on April 1.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Extends Detention Of RFE/RL Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva

      A Russian court has extended the pretrial detention of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until June 5.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Ends Search For Trapped Miners In Far East

      Authorities in Russia’s Far East on April 1 called off a rescue effort for 13 workers trapped deep underground in a collapsed gold mine and declared them dead.

    • RFERL ☛ New Probe Claims Russia May Be Linked To Mysterious 'Havana Syndrome'

      A new joint investigation claims the mysterious Havana Syndrome, which has afflicted U.S. diplomats and intelligence agents in several spots around the globe, may be linked to a Russian military intelligence sabotage unit wielding energy weapons.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russian court extends pre-trial detention of RFE/RL journalist

      KAZAN - A Russian court extended the pre-trial detention of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until June 5, a Reuters witness reported from the courtroom.

    • New York Times ☛ China’s Advancing Efforts to Influence the U.S. Election Raise Alarms

      China has adopted some of the same misinformation tactics that Russia used ahead of the 2016 election, researchers and government officials say.

    • Meduza ☛ Financial Times: poll shows over half of Russians believe Kyiv behind deadly terrorist attack in Moscow — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Unlawfully deported’: Police crack down on Russia’s migrant community after Central Asian suspects arrested for Moscow terrorist attack — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian strikes on Kharkiv destroy ‘almost all’ energy infrastructure, mayor says — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Five years after municipal elections sparked mass protests in Moscow, the Kremlin is laying the groundwork for a United Russia landslide — Meduza

    • The Straits Times ☛ Moscow court puts 10th suspect in concert hall attack under pre-trial custody

      MOSCOW - Moscow's Basmanny district court ruled on Monday that the 10th suspect in the March 22 deadly concert hall attack should be put into custody until May 22, pending trial, the court said on Telegram.

    • Meduza ☛ Moscow court remands 10th suspect into custody in Crocus City Hall terrorist attack case — Meduza

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Britain Helped Franco Destroy Spanish Democracy

    "Most commentators have placed considerable weight on the logistical assistance given to Franco by Hitler and Mussolini. However, the bald statement that Franco’s military rebels enjoyed a massive advantage thanks to the support of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy fails to take into account the considerable advantage provided by the barely disguised sympathy of the Conservative government of Great Britain. . . . The democratic powers of Western Europe ignored any considerations of self-interest, let alone of solidarity when they effectively supported the cause of the Spanish military rebels behind the farcical façade of non-intervention"

    On the anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War, Preston sits down with Jacobin’s Eoghan Gilmartin to discuss the betrayal of the Spanish Republic.

• Environment

  • Futurism ☛ Rich People Hiking Mount Everest Now Forced to Bring Their Poop Back With Them

    Back in the good old days of summiting Mount Everest, you could just shimmy down your pants, drop a deuce, and leave it right there on the snowy ground.

    The problem with just leaving poop on the highest peak in the world is that the environ's extremely cold temperatures are not at all conducive to degrading biological matter. In addition, poop runoff is a problem at lower elevations — to the degree that they've contaminated the local watershed.

    Basically, Mount Everest is covered in human feces. It's a problem that hikers, sherpas and local officials have been complaining about for years.

  • CNN ☛ Everest climbers will have to take their poop away with them, as Nepal tries to address growing waste problem

    “Each person produces 250 grams (8.8 ounces) of excrement a day and they will spend 2 weeks on the higher camps for the summit push,” Sindurakar explained, adding that each climber will be given two poop bags, which can each be used six times.

    The bags contain chemicals to solidify the human waste and make it odorless, Sindurakar said, and Nepal’s Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality will issue some 8,000 bags this season.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Quartz ☛ A Fisker Ocean depreciated by 69% in 2 months

      Back in January, Edmunds bought a Fisker Ocean to add to its long-term testing fleet. The 2023 Fisker Ocean Extreme cost the outlet $69,012 (nice!) and was about as loaded as an Ocean could get without all the promised over-the-air updates. Last Friday, after only two months of testing, it published an article with the headline “Do Not Buy A Fisker Ocean,” which we have to agree is great advice. Fisker’s looming bankruptcy and software that still needs improving make it hard to justify spending even $24,999 on a new Ocean right now.

    • The Hindu ☛ India’s hydropower output records steepest fall in nearly four decades

      The 16.3% drop in generation from India’s biggest clean energy source coincided with the share of renewables in power generation sliding for the first time since Prime Minister Narendra Modi made commitments to boost solar and wind capacity at the United Nations climate talks at Paris in 2015.ll

      Renewables accounted for 11.7% of India's power output in the year that ended in March, down from 11.8% a year earlier, a Reuters analysis of daily load despatch data from the federal grid regulator Grid-India showed.

    • Henrique Dias ☛ Bike Thieves

      What upsets me the most is that this has happened inside a closed bike parking, where there are security cameras and to which supposedly only residents in my building have access to. Supposedly. I think there’s more to this story than what’s supposedly supposed to happen.

      Anyways, I’m pretty upset. I’ve obviously made the report with the police, and I’m just waiting for the bike shop report to give all the remaining information to the insurance. The police likely won’t do anything, and I just have to wait for the bike and for the insurance.

      What can I do? I can start bringing the battery up when I leave it parked there. But I can’t bring the bike every time I come back home: it’s a hassle to bring it in the lift, and I simply don’t have space to put a bike. And we don’t have any sort of external storage space.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ The Weirdest Eyes in The Animal Kingdom See a World We Can't Even Imagine

      In addition, a protein in their eyes could allow them to see magnetic fields. Migratory birds can navigate extraordinarily well, and for a long time, it wasn't clear exactly how they achieve this. Recently, scientists narrowed it down to a class of proteins called cryptochromes, which are sensitive to blue light.

      Birds' magnetoreception – that is, their ability to perceive magnetic fields – seems dependent on blue light, suggesting that the sense may be vision-based. There's the distinct possibility that this magnetic filter for the color blue is the result of a quantum quirk. More recent lab studies have shown how a magnetic field affects a quantum property of cryptochromes, governing their electrons.

    • The Revelator ☛ Cranes in Ukraine: Birds of Joy in a War-Torn Land

  • Overpopulation

    • CS Monitor ☛ Birthrates are tumbling worldwide, forcing hard choices

      The global population grew almost fourfold over the last century. That growth stoked fears of overpopulation, conflict, and ecological collapse. But at some point in the next 70 years, the world population, currently 8 billion, is expected to peak around 10 billion, and then start to decline. An end to humanity’s relentless expansion is in sight.

      When it comes, debates about population growth, which have been driven by beliefs that humanity is too fecund for the Earth’s carrying capacity, will acquire a different character.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Quartz ☛ Sam Altman removed as owner of OpenAI Startup Fund

    OpenAI, the company behind the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, has removed its CEO, Sam Altman, as the owner and manager of its corporate venture fund, a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission revealed.

  • Quartz ☛ AI startup Cognition Labs says it's worth $2 billion after 6 months

    As analysts debate whether high investments and valuations in the AI space are creating a bubble akin to the dot-com bubble of the 90s, a less than six-month-old startup is seeking a valuation in the billions.

  • The Washington Post ☛ Trump Media plunges as Truth Social’s $58 million loss reported

    Former president Donald Trump’s social media company said Monday it lost more than $58 million last year, sending its stock plunging more than 21 percent only days after a highflying public debut set the company’s value at more than $8 billion.

  • Quartz ☛ Trump Media stock plunges 20% after company reveals $58 million loss

    Trump Media, the company behind Trump’s social media platform Truth Social, reported a loss from operations of almost $16 million, plus interest expense of $39.4 million, while bringing in just $4.1 million in revenue, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. That’s compared with a loss from operations of $23.2 million, plus interest expense of $2.0 million, on $1.5 million in revenue in 2022.

  • Scoop News Group ☛ Space is essential for infrastructure. Why isn't it considered critical?

    The increasing importance of space systems to everyday economic activity and a rapidly expanding space economy has many experts arguing that these systems ought to be designated as critical infrastructure in order to better protect them. This debate is coming to a head amid the Biden administration’s ongoing rewrite of Presidential Policy Directive 21, which is the key federal policy document governing the security of critical infrastructure, but experts are deeply divided about whether the policies in place are enough to handle threats posed to space systems.

  • CNBC ☛ Rubrik files to go public as tech companies see thawing of IPO market

    Rubrik said in its prospectus that since April 2021, it has paid Glean $356,000 for software. Lightspeed Venture Partners investor Ravi Mhatre, a Rubrik director, also sits on Glean's board. Rubrik is backed by Microsoft and said it's committed to spending $220 million over up to 10 years on Microsoft's Azure public cloud.

  • New York Times ☛ Opinion | We Still Haven’t Figured Out How to Beat ISIS

    For all of the counterterrorism wins that the United States has had in its fight against the Islamic State — and there have been many — we still have not figured out how to defeat it.

  • The Hill ☛ Retired general says US ‘target No. 1’ for ISIS-K after Moscow attack

    The current U.S. Central Command leader, Gen. Michael Kurilla, last March warned Congress that ISIS-K was rapidly building up its ability to conduct “external operations” in Europe and Asia and could even be able to hit U.S. and Western interests outside Afghanistan “in as little as six months and with little to no warning.”

  • Gannett ☛ ISIS-K, terror group that hit Moscow nightclub, eyes attack in US

    “The U.S. remains target No. 1 for ISIS-K,” said Mark Quantock, a retired two-star Army general who oversaw intelligence operations for U.S. Central Command. “They clearly would like to strike the homeland, but their challenge is penetrating our security, which has proven to be quite resilient in recent years.”

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • The Hill ☛ How misinformation is making us fear our food

      So why are people spreading this kind of misinformation? Look at the dynamics of social media and the attention economy. Fearmongering is sexy. People respond more strongly to all-or-none statements about what is good or bad for us. It’s easy, it’s actionable — and it gives people a sense of control over their health.

    • VOA News ☛ X users circulate old photo to contrive possible Russia-NATO strife in Red Sea

      Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023, Polygraph.info has documented a number of social media posts using recycled footage or images to support false, misleading or otherwise unsubstantiated narratives about the conflict and related events in Yemen and the Red Sea.

      In a January report, the European Fact-Checking Standards Network Project, a consortium of fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT) organizations across Europe, said that X, formally known as Twitter, ranked “worst” in its efforts to fight disinformation.

    • El País ☛ Spies, agents of influence and disinformation: Russia redoubles its operations ahead of the European elections

      Russia is using several tools in its hybrid war in Europe: espionage, disinformation and propaganda campaigns, and influence operations to interfere and destabilize. A little more than two months before crucial European Parliament elections, the European Union has warned in several internal reports, to which EL PAÍS has had access, that the Kremlin is redoubling its efforts. Now, the latest coordinated operation by several European secret services against a Kremlin influence network has set alarm bells ringing. Under investigation is whether MEPs from far-right parties received payments for their “collaborations” with an article-publishing platform “promoting” Russian propaganda. Investigators believe that politicians from the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Poland, the Netherlands and Hungary may be involved, but have not ruled out that the network has also been active with lawmakers from other EU member states.

    • India Times ☛ AI deepfake: AI-generated deepfake videos, voice cloning emerge as potential threats during election season

      There is no technology available that can automatically detect and differentiate between original and fake video content created using artificial intelligence (AI).

      "By the time it gets noticed, the damage is already done because it gets spread on social media," the officer said.

    • NDTV ☛ "Grave Step Backwards": Meta Shuts Down Misinformation Monitoring Tool In Poll Year

      For years, CrowdTangle has been a game-changer, offering researchers and journalists crucial real-time transparency into the spread of conspiracy theories and hate speech on influential Meta-owned platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.

      Killing off the monitoring tool, a move experts say is in line with a tech industry trend of rolling back transparency and security measures, is a major blow as dozens of countries hold elections this year -- a period when bad actors typically spread false narratives more than ever.

    • Firstpost ☛ Meta to shut down crucial misinformation monitoring tool ahead of major US elections – Firstpost

      CrowdTangle has played a pivotal role in enabling journalists and researchers to track the dissemination of misinformation and disinformation across social media platforms. Its impending shutdown has raised concerns about the potential impact on efforts to hold tech companies accountable for their role in spreading false information.

      Meta asserts that it will replace CrowdTangle with a new Content Library API. However, this replacement will necessitate researchers and nonprofits to apply for access to the company’s data.

      Criticism has come up from entities such as the Mozilla Foundation and several other civil society organizations, arguing that the new offering lacks many of CrowdTangle’s essential functionalities. They have urged Meta to maintain the original tool until January 2025.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Scotland’s new hate crime law: what does it cover and why is it controversial?

    Why does the new law not include misogyny?

  • VOA News ☛ Scotland’s contentious new hate crime law may impact free speech

    “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who has called the law “ludicrous,” is among critics who say it could be used to silence what are known as “gender-critical” feminists, who argue that rights for trans women should not come at the expense of those who are born biologically female.

  • The Scotsman ☛ Hate Crime Act: JK Rowling is standing up for free speech for all, including trans rights campaigners who despise her – Euan McColm

    The implementation of the Hate Crime Act marks the start of a new era during which we can no longer take our right to free speech for granted. This badly written law, criticised as unworkable not only by Scottish opposition politicians but by lawyers and senior police officers, is wide-open to abuse by activists who – I am certain – will try to use it to silence those who might challenge their views.

  • New York Times ☛ Scottish Hate Crime Law Takes Effect as Critics Warn It Will Stifle Speech

    The legislation expands protections and creates a new charge of “stirring up hatred.” The “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling criticized the law for omitting women and said it was “wide open to abuse.”

  • The Age AU ☛ Video: JK Rowling dares police to arrest her

    After Scotland introduced new hate crime laws, Harry Potter author JK Rowling has dared police to arrest her.

  • The Scotsman ☛ JK Rowling launches attack on Scotland's Hate Crime Act with hashtag 'Arrest Me'

    JK Rowling has launched an attack on Scotland’s new hate crime laws as she insisted she looks forward “to being arrested” if her remarks fall foul of the legislation.

    Writing on social media, the author said: “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.

  • Evening Standard UK ☛ Controversial hate crime law comes into effect

    The Act has also raised the ire of policing bodies, with the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) claiming training for officers is not enough and the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) raising concerns about the legislation being weaponised for political purposes.

    ASPS warned vexatious complaints could be made against people based on their views by political opponents.

    In a letter to Holyrood’s Justice Committee, they said the law could be “weaponised” by an “activist fringe” across the political spectrum.

  • BBC ☛ Scotland's new hate crime law comes into force

    Stirring up hatred based on race, colour, nationality or ethnicity was already illegal in Great Britain under the Public Order Act 1986 but, in an attempt to streamline the criminal law in Scotland, that too is now part of the Hate Crime Act.

    The bar for this offence is lower than for the other protected characteristics, as it also includes "insulting" behaviour, and as the prosecution need only prove that stirring up hatred was "likely" rather than "intended".

  • The Telegraph UK ☛ JK Rowling dares police to arrest her over SNP's new hate crime law

    The Harry Potter author, who lives in Edinburgh, tweeted: “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.

    “I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”

  • The Scotsman ☛ Hate Crime Act is far from a joke

    Unlike an April Fool’s prank, which takes effect on only one day of the year, this Hate Crime Act is intended to be a permanent feature – but looks set to be yet another piece of legislation from the Scottish Parliament which will divide public opinion.

  • JURIST ☛ Scotland's controversial new hate crime law comes into effect

    Much initial criticism surrounded the act’s failure to criminalize hatred of women, with gender identities protected but sexual identities not. The Misogyny and Criminal Justice in Scotland Working Group fronted this, which recommended the introduction of a new act to combat misogyny. An amendment was proposed to add sex to the list of protected characteristics, but it was voted down. Former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont argued that “the case for including women is indisputable,” as they “understand hate crime more than any other group does.”

    Further criticism has surrounded the effect the act may have on the debate surrounding transgender issues. SNP MP Joanna Cherry has been a major critic, certain the act “will be weaponised by trans rights activists to try to silence, and worse still criminalise, women who do not share their beliefs.”

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • RFERL ☛ Iranian Journalist Stabbed In Britain Says He's Out Of Hospital And 'Recovering'

    [...] Zeraati, 36, was attacked on March 29 in Wimbledon, southwest London, by a group of men who fled the scene in a car, said Iran International, which is critical of Iran’s government. [...]

  • VOA News ☛ Russian court extends detention of jailed American RFE/RL journalist

    “Alsu’s imprisonment is as outrageous today as it was six months ago,” RFE/RL President Stephen Capus said in a statement in response to the extension of the reporter’s detention.

    “The charges against Alsu are baseless. It's not a legal process, it's a political ploy, and Alsu and her family are unjustifiably paying a terrible price. Russia must end this sham and immediately release Alsu without condition,” Capus added.

  • RFERL ☛ Russia Extends Detention Of RFE/RL Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva

    RFE/RL and the U.S. government say the charges are reprisals for her work as a journalist for RFE/RL in Prague. She had traveled to Russia to visit and care for her elderly mother and was initially detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2 at Kazan airport, where her U.S. and Russian passports were confiscated.

  • Tedium ☛ Can Real-Time Journalism Make A Fediverse Comeback?

    Today in Tedium: This week, the tragic, seemingly random destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was at the center of our news cycle. It dominated the headlines, and lots of people were looking for answers as to what happened. In an earlier time, this information would have been somewhat easy to gather. But the recent disruption of social media has changed the picture around real-time news-gathering, something that Twitter used to be at the center of. Where once you could follow a trusted feed of news sources from a trending topic, the algorithm has now minimized prominent and trustworthy voices, putting speculation at the forefront. It wasn’t always like this, and one has to wonder, will things change to improve this not-so-great state of affairs? Today’s Tedium considers one path forward for real-time news in the social media era. — Ernie @ Tedium

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • New York Times ☛ Palestinian Christians Mark Easter in Gaza’s Only Catholic Church

    More than 500 people are sheltering at the Holy Family Church and approximately 300 others are at the historic Saint Porphyrius Greek Orthodox Church nearby, Father Meli said. Together, he added, they make up the vast majority of Gaza’s tiny and tight-knit Christian population.

  • The Atlantic ☛ Ingrid Robeyn's 'Limitarianism' Makes the Case for Capping Wealth

    Endowing an underfunded medical school is clearly a better use of money than buying yet another super-yacht. But it’s also staggering that a decision as society-shaping as dissolving the debt load of thousands of potential doctors could depend on the whims of one individual, and that one person has the resources to implement such a policy on their own, needing no one else’s input or approval.

    Gottesman’s fortune is comparatively modest next to those of the growing group of ultrawealthy individuals. Her estimated $3 billion isn’t even high enough to crack the top 100 wealthiest on the Forbes list, where characters such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bernard Arnault cavort in the 12 figures. If Gottesman has the power to change so many lives, the power held by those with 10 or 50 times her fortune is hard for the mind to even grasp. Maybe we should be asking whether she—or anyone else—should have that much wealth at all.

  • HRW ☛ “The Boot on My Neck”: Iranian Authorities’ Crime of Persecution Against Baha’is in Iran

    For the past four decades, the authorities’ serial violations of Baha’is’ rights have continued, directed by the state’s most senior officials and the Islamic Republic’s ideology, which holds extreme animus against adherents of the Baha’i faith. While the intensity of violations against Baha’is has varied over time, the authorities’ persecution of people who are members of this faith community has remained constant, impacting virtually every aspect of Baha’is’ private and public lives.

    In recent years, as Iranian authorities have brutally repressed widespread protests demanding fundamental political, economic, and social change in the country, the authorities have also targeted Baha’is. Authorities have raided Baha’i homes, arrested dozens of Baha’i citizens and community leaders, and confiscated property owned by Baha’is.

  • RFERL ☛ Iran Arrests Nine More Members Of Baha'i Faith

    In a religious fatwa issued in 2018, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei forbade contact, including business dealings, with the followers of the faith.

    Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, hundreds of Baha'is have been arrested and jailed for their beliefs. At least 200 have been executed or were arrested and never heard from again.

    Thousands more have been banned from receiving higher education or had their property confiscated, while vandals often desecrate Baha'i cemeteries.

  • Zerodha Broking Ltd ☛ The remoteness of remote work

    TL;DR Like numerous other orgs, we transitioned (actually, flipped overnight) to being fully remote during the first COVID pandemic lockdown in 2020. It worked out great in the first year, started losing its sheen in the second year, and became detrimental to creativity and collaboration by the third year. It failed for us in the most critical areas. We then made the collective decision to switch to a “hybrid” mode, where about 10% of us involved in creative and decision-making endeavours now come to the office three days a week while 90% of us continue to be fully remote.

    The hard lesson we learnt is that effective, long term remote work requires specific skill sets and DNA to pull off.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Hindustan Times ☛ Elon Musk's Starlink faces obstruction from Italian phone carrier amid high-speed [Internet] rollout

    In a complaint filed to Italy’s communications watchdog and the Industry Ministry late last week, Starlink claims that Telecom Italia SpA has for months failed to comply with regulations requiring it to share spectrum data in order to avoid frequency interferences with its equipment, a document seen by Bloomberg shows.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Gizmodo ☛ Microsoft Teams and Office Are Breaking Up as Regulators Close in

  Microsoft confirmed to Gizmodo on Monday that it will sell Teams separately from its Office suite of products on a global level. The company has been offering Teams as a free add-on to customers who buy Office 365 and Microsoft 365 for years. Teams experienced huge growth during the covid-19 pandemic, growing from 20 million users in November 2019 to 44 million in March 2020 and 75 million one month later, according to Business of Apps. As of last year, Teams had more than 300 million users.

• Patents

  • Software Patents

    • Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure ☛ Unified Patent Court has an EU treaty legality problem, said ex-CJEU judge Melchior Wathelet

      Melchior Wathelet, ex-judge at the European Court of Justice (CJEU), said in a conference two days before the launch of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) that the construction has a serious legal problem, still depriving National Courts to interpret EU law (art267TFEU). The UPC aim to legalize software patents in Europe, without any intervention possible of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), with part-time technical judges working also for large corporations such as Nokia or Airbus.

      Two days before the launch of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), former CJEU’s Avocate general Melchior Wathelet said in a conference that the whole construction was running against the jurisprudence of the CJEU on ‘Autonomy of EU law’, as National Courts cannot be removed from interpreting EU law by the Unified Patent Court.

• Copyrights

  • Torrent Freak ☛ The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Torrent is Now 20 Years Old

    While the majority of The Pirate Bay's users download recent content, some older torrents still manage to survive. An episode of the Swedish TV series "High Chaparral" celebrated its twentieth anniversary recently. Other older torrents, including a copy of the documentary "Revolution OS", also remain active after two decades.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Hi! I'm Alan Partridge! You Lot Are Fools For Pirating Music....and Pirating Me?

    Greetings, dear listeners! It's your friendly neighborhood broadcaster, Alan Partridge, here to bring you another riveting episode of "Alan Partridge's Musical Marathon." Today, we're diving headfirst into the murky waters of music piracy. Is it more evil than the devil himself, or is it the best thing since sliced bread? Buckle up and find out!