Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Light Waves Brought to a Stop in a Crystal Promises New Ways to Control Photons

    A cunning trap...

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Have Created a Functional Brain Cell Based on a Mix of Salt And Water

    Brain-like computers are coming.

• Education

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Lakeville teachers authorize strike amid impasse over job transfers

    Teaching assignment transfer rule changes proposed by the district are a key sticking point keeping negotiations from moving forward, union representatives say.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Modders build PC with coffee machine inside — full roaster and grinder fit in the chassis

    YouTube maker Nerdforge puts a coffee grinder and maker inside of a working PC, allowing the user to get fresh roasted coffee from inside of their computer.

  • Hackaday ☛ This Is How A Pen Changed The World

    Look around you. Chances are, there’s a BiC Cristal ballpoint pen among your odds and ends. Since 1950, it has far outsold the Rubik’s Cube and even the iPhone, and yet, it’s one of the most unsung and overlooked pieces of technology ever invented. And weirdly, it hasn’t had the honor of trademark erosion like Xerox or Kleenex. When you ‘flick a Bic’, you’re using a lighter.

  • Linux Links ☛ TEAMGROUP QX 2TB 3D NAND QLC Solid State Drive Review

    TEAMGROUP are an emerging brand in the consumer SSD market. They provided a review sample for the QX 2TB SSD for review and testing.

  • Hackaday ☛ Make 3D Scenes With A Holodeck-Like Voice Interface

    The voice interface for the holodeck in Star Trek had users create objects by saying things like “create a table” and “now make it a metal table” and so forth, all with immediate feedback. This kind of interface may have been pure fantasy at the time of airing, but with the advent of AI and LLMs (large language models) this kind of natural language interface is coming together almost by itself.

  • Hackaday ☛ Upgrade Your Test Probes

    One of the most basic tools for tinkering with electronics is a multimeter. Today, even a cheap meter has capabilities that would have been either very expensive or unobtainable back in the 1970s. Still, even then, a meter was the most affordable way to do various tasks around the shop. Is this cable open? Are these two wires shorted? What’s the value of this resistor? Is the circuit getting power? Is the line voltage dropping? You can answer all those questions — and many more — with a basic meter. But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed much over the years: probes. That’s a shame because there are a lot of useful options.

  • Hackaday ☛ Sound And Water Make Weird Vibes In Microgravity

    NASA astronaut [Don Pettit] shared a short video from an experiment he performed on the ISS back in 2012, demonstrating the effects of sound waves on water in space. Specifically, seeing what happens when a sphere of water surrounding an air bubble perched on a speaker cone is subjected to a variety of acoustic waves.

  • Hackaday ☛ A CH552G Devboard In Case You Missed It

    We might just never get tired of covering cool small cheap MCUs, and CH552G sure fits this description. Just so you know, here’s a Hackaday.io project you should check out – a CH552G devboard that’s as simple as it sufficient, in case you needed a tangible reminder that this chip exists, has a lively community, and is very much an option for your projects.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Not All Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers Were Big Into Meat, New Study Reveals

    You can make friends with salad.

  • BIA Net ☛ 82-year-old ill prisoner denied house arrest

    Suffering from multiple health issues, Makbule Özer was re-arrested this month.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Scotland’s leader resigns. His government couldn’t agree on climate change, health care.

    Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, resigned as his government coalition collapsed. Transgender care and tackling climate change were just some of the issues that weakened Mr. Yousaf’s government.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Public health senior finds meaning in helping community

    Olivia Jeong plans to apply to medical schools in the coming months, and hopes to spend a year working in a public health consulting position in Boston.

  • Young heart transplant recipient fights off cancer with toughness

    Roman DiLeo was born in June 2022 and needed several life-saving medical procedures – from heart pumps to a heart transplant. Roman is not only a fighter but a cancer survivor.

  • LRT ☛ Measles cases up almost 7 times in Lithuania

    This year, 22 cases of measles have already been registered in Lithuania, which is almost seven times more than last year, according to the country’s National Public Health Centre (NVSC).

  • Federal News Network ☛ More than a dozen military families in Hawaii spark trial over 2021 jet fuel leak that tainted water

    A trial for a mass environmental injury case is starting more than two years after a U.S. military fuel tank facility under ground poisoned thousands of people when it leaked jet fuel into Pearl Harbor's drinking water. The 17 plaintiffs represent more than 7,500 others, including service members.

  • Science Alert ☛ Enzymes Discovered in Gut Bacteria Can Change a Donor's Blood Groups

    Life-saving if it works.

  • Science Alert ☛ Concerning Levels of Uranium And Lead Found in The Urine of Teens Who Frequently Vape

    This can't be good.

  • Science Alert ☛ There's a Whole Other Class of Dementia We Know Shockingly Little About

    It doesn't just affect the elderly.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Antique Books Could Be Poisonous to The Touch. Here's What to Look For.

    Judging books by their cover.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Silicon Angle ☛ F5 shares fall over 9% on disappointing earnings outlook

    Shares in F5 Inc. fell over 9% in late trading today after the application security firm reported mixed results in its fiscal second quarter and fell short of expectations with its third-quarter outlook.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Ford probed in US after fatal collisions in self-driving cars

    A U.S. road safety agency today said it has launched a probe into Ford Motor Co.’s BlueCruise driver assistance system following two fatal crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, said the driver-assistance software has been linked with a number of crashes, including two in 2024 that resulted in fatalities.

  • The Washington Post ☛ 8 major newspapers join legal backlash against OpenAI, Microsoft [Ed: Chatbots are a lot worse than a loss of money at epic scale]

    A group of eight major daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News, sued OpenAI and Microsoft on Tuesday, joining the backlash to artificial intelligence companies that have used copyrighted work to train their algorithms without compensating content owners.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Krebs On Security ☛ FCC Fines Major U.S. Wireless Carriers for Selling Customer Location Data

      The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today levied fines totaling nearly $200 million against the four major carriers -- including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon -- for illegally sharing access to customers' location information without consent.

    • Security Week ☛ Google Says it Blocked 2.28 Million Apps from Surveillance Giant Google Play Store

      In 2023, Surveillance Giant Google said it blocked 2.28 million bad applications from being published on Surveillance Giant Google Play and banned 333,000 developer accounts.

    • IT Wire ☛ Vocus expands Surveillance Giant Google deal to provide faster US-Australia cable systems

      The system will also include pre-positioned branching units to enable other Pacific nations to connect in the future.

      The agreement is meant to provide Vocus with dark fibre across the Pacific Connect system, with the option to acquire additional capacity in future as demand requires. This will initially provide Vocus with up to 30Tbps of capacity, depending on the length of the route, when the system is ready for service in 2026.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Atlantic Council ☛ An Iron Curtain may fall again—this time in Libya

    The US and its allies cannot ignore anymore the importance of stabilizing Libya through a constant, inclusive, and transparent political process accompanied by a forceful action of resistance and pushback against the Russian infiltration.

  • RFA ☛ Border conflicts cause shortages, high prices for Myanmar traders: report

    Trade with China, Bangladesh and Thailand has been hurt by conflict between junta and insurgent forces.

  • RFA ☛ Thai top diplomat on resignation: Work would slow without deputy PM position

    Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara’s decision to quit raises concerns about continued diplomatic efforts in Myanmar crisis.

  • YLE ☛ Finns Party MP faces police probe, loses leader Purra's trust over karaoke bar shooting incident

    Finns Party MP Timo Vornanen declined to comment to Yle when approached at his home in the city of Joensuu on Monday.

  • YLE ☛ Finnair suspends flights to Estonian city following GPS disruptions

    Flights to Tartu will be put on hold for one month to give the city's airport authorities time to build an approach system that does not rely on GPS signals.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian army to create seven new battalions

    In order to strengthen Latvia's security, it is planned to create seven new battalions – five reserves and two high-tech battalions – in the National Armed Forces in the coming years. Commander Leonīds Kalniņš has already signed the order to create three new battalions, Latvian Television reported on April 29.

  • Defence Web ☛ World military spending rises for the ninth year

    World military expenditure is up for the ninth consecutive year to an all-time high of $2 443 billion as war, rising tensions and insecurity manifest in various parts of the world.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s coast guard expels Philippine vessels from waters off Scarborough Shoal, state media says

    Beijing and Manila have repeatedly clashed in recent months at the submerged reef.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Pro-China Sogavare out of the race as Solomon Islands votes for next leader

    SYDNEY - Manasseh Sogavare, the Solomon Islands prime minister who drew his nation close to China, sharpening the United States' focus on the strategic importance of the Pacific Islands, has bowed out of the race for leader after an inconclusive election.

  • RFERL ☛ China's Pooh-tin To Visit Serbia, Hungary During European Tour Next Week

    Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping will visit France, Serbia, and Hungary from May 5-10, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry announced April 29.

  • RFA ☛ Chinese student jailed in US for threatening pro-democracy activist

    Wu Xiaolei’s nine-month sentence could deter similar behavior from China’s ‘Little Pinks’ overseas.

  • RFA ☛ Media Watch: China spins Taipei’s war tax debate to stoke distrust

    Despite Taiwan’s reassurances, pro-China media used the news to spread disinformation

  • RFA ☛ Philippines ‘add eyes,’ takes delivery of mobile radar system from Japan

    Manila now has two of the four radars it bought from Tokyo for US $99 million in 2020.

  • RFA ☛ China views European spying allegations as a 'serious problem'

    Beijing summons the German ambassador, calls British allegations 'a political farce.'

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ Winning a Fulbright Was a High Honor for Russians. Now It Could Jeopardize Scholars Who Go Home.

      Some fellowship recipients find themselves in limbo after Moscow levels accusations at academic exchange.

    • France24 ☛ Former NSA employee sentenced to 21 years for trying to spy for Russia

      A cyber specialist who briefly worked at the top secret US National Security Agency (NSA) was sentenced to more than 21 years in prison on Monday for attempting to spy for Russia, the Justice Department said.

    • RFERL ☛ Ex-NSA Employee Who Tried To Spy For Russia Sentenced To 21 Years

      A cyberspecialist who briefly worked at the top secret U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was sentenced on April 29 to more than 21 years in prison for attempting to spy for Russia, the Justice Department said.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Envoy Meets Sudan's Army Commander In Show Of Support

      Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov visited Sudan on April 29 in a signal of support for the Sudanese Army, which is locked in a war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

    • RFERL ☛ Czechs Confirm Russian Involvement In Blasts At Ammunition Depots In 2014

      Czech police confirmed on April 29 that agents of Russia's military intelligence (GRU) were involved in two ammunition depot blasts that killed two workers near the eastern Czech village of Vrbetice in 2014

    • RFERL ☛ 2 Police Officers Killed In Russia's Karachai-Cherkessia

      Authorities in Russia's North Caucasus region of Karachai-Cherkessia said on April 29 that two police officers were killed and four were wounded overnight in an attack by several armed individuals who threw an explosive device and opened fire at a traffic police patrol.

    • teleSUR ☛ Russia successfully launches Angara-A5 cargo rocket

      The Angará-A5 rocket is a three-stage heavy vehicle and all its components are ecologically safe. They work with safe fuel elements: paraffin and liquid oxygen, according to teleSUR, a partner of TV BRICS.

    • teleSUR ☛ Blinken Accuses China of Supporting Russian Defense Industry

      The Russian production of ammunition, missiles, and tanks has grown at a faster rate than at any other time, he said.

    • [Meme] Russian Reversal

      Mark Shuttleworth: In Soviet Russia's spacecraft... Man exploits peasants

    • YLE ☛ Paper: EU guards to remain at Finnish-Russian border until at least autumn

      The EU agency Frontext sent around 50 border guards to Finland last year, as Finnish authorities dealt with an increase in the number of undocumented migrants arriving at eastern border checkpoints.

    • Meduza ☛ Tajikistan says hundreds of its citizens stranded in Moscow airports as Russia bars them from entering — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ About 1,000 Tajik Nationals Stranded At Moscow Airports

      The Tajik Foreign Ministry said on April 28 that 954 Tajik nationals have been left stranded at Moscow airports due to tightened passport and custom controls in the wake of a terror attack last month.

    • RFERL ☛ Kadyrov Appoints Son, 16, As Supervisor Of Special Forces School In Chechnya

      Chechnya's Moscow-backed authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov says he has appointed his 16-year-old son as supervisor at a Chechen special forces training school in Gudermes.

    • RFERL ☛ Putin Likely Didn't Directly Order Death Of Navalny, U.S. Official Says

      U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ ‘Our Europe is mortal. It can die.’ Decoding Macron’s Sorbonne speech.

      The French president recently delivered a nearly two-hour speech outlining an ambitious agenda for Europe.

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ Philippines Closes Schools Because of Heat Wave, Jeepney Strike

    Scorching temperatures coincided with a nationwide strike of jeepneys, the main mode of public transport in the country.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • DeSmog ☛ London Luton Airport Hit With Greenwashing Complaint Over Pro-expansion Ads

    • Reason ☛ China Is Doubling Down on Electric Vehicle Subsidies

      Electric vehicles are not a bad thing, especially in heavily polluted China. But the market should drive demand, not central planners.

    • France24 ☛ Tesla clears key Chinese regulatory hurdles during Musk visit

      Tesla received a key security clearance from China during Elon Musk's whistlestop visit to the world's biggest electric car market, which wrapped up on Monday.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • New York Times ☛ They Shoot Owls in California, Don’t They?

      An audacious federal plan to protect the spotted owl would eradicate hundreds of thousands of barred owls in the coming years.

    • Science Alert ☛ Chickens Can Blush When They're Feeling Emotional, And We Should Pay Attention

      Put that chicken down.

  • Overpopulation

    • YLE ☛ Finland's baby bust extends to historically large Laestadian families

      The use of contraceptives is still officially prohibited within the Laestadian movement, but the birth rate among the religious community has declined over the past decade.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Press Gazette ☛ James Harding warns BillBC podcast ads will ‘drain advertising away from journalism’

    House of Lords also hears that Spiked has been put on advertising blacklist.

  • Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 201: Robert Diab on the Billion Dollar Lawsuits Launched By Ontario School Boards Against Social Media Giants

    Concerns about the impact of social control media on youth have been brewing for a long time, but in recent months a new battleground has emerged: the courts, who are home to lawsuits launched by school boards seeking billions in compensation and demands that the social control media giants change their products to better protect kids. Those lawsuits have now come to Canada with four Ontario school boards recently filing claims.

  • Reason ☛ Where Do Libertarians Stand on the Campus Wars?

    Plus: A listener asks the editors about the magical thinking behind the economic ideas of Modern Monetary Theory.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong court rules in favour of teacher fired over comments about police in 2019 Facebook (Farcebook) posts

    A Hong Kong judge sided with a teacher who was fired over online comments about police in 2019, ruling that the authorities’ decision to dismiss her was “oppressive.” Toffee Tam, a veteran teacher, won her case against the Civil Service Bureau at the High Court on Friday.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam arrests 2 Facebook (Farcebook) users over ‘vaguely written’ Article 331

    Rights groups say law is frequently used by the government to silence critics.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US bill aims to rename street of Hong Kong trade office ‘Jimmy Lai Way,’ as city condemns ‘malicious interference’

    A US bill has been introduced to rename part of the street in front of Hong Kong’s representative office in Washington DC “Jimmy Lai Way.”

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Prosecution witness spent 65 hours talking to police about emotional state after security law arrest, court hears

    A prosecution witness testifying at media mogul Jimmy Lai’s national security trial has said he spent 65 hours in meetings with police officers without giving official statements following his arrest under the national security law.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • YLE ☛ Inspections reveal poor treatment, underpaying of foreign workers by Lapland tourism firms

    An investigation by a regional Lapland authority uncovers evidence that foreign employees are expected to work excessive hours, without requisite rest periods, and often receive less pay than they are entitled to.

  • ACLU ☛ How Comics Can Spark Conversations About Race and History in the Classroom

    Right now, efforts to censor college protestors, to ban diverse materials in schools and to silence students and staff threaten our right to free speech in schools. People are having their voices silenced, their right to learn challenged, and their access to information restricted. But how can we navigate these complex issues with the next generation?

    We at the ACLU created a series of comic stories with illustrative journalist Eda Uzunlar to empower students and educators, spark vital conversations about their rights, and ensure all voices are heard and clear, both in the classroom and beyond. Our first installment illustrates the story of Anthony Crawford who is a public school teacher and part of a lawsuit challenging HB 1775, Oklahoma’s classroom censorship law.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • AccessNow ☛ Tell MENA authorities: #NoExamShutdown

    Year after year, the MENA region has led the world in exam-related shutdowns. With the 2024 exam season in the region quickly approaching, it's time to take action and demand change! #NoExamShutdown

  • AccessNow ☛ End internet shutdowns during exams for good: #NoExamShutdown

    As the 2024 exam season in MENA draws near, the #NoExamShutdown campaign continues to advocate for an end to internet shutdowns during exams.

  • APNIC ☛ APNIC EC makes moratorium on new NIRs permanent

    At its February meeting, the APNIC EC resolved to make the existing 12-year moratorium on new NIR applications permanent.

  • APNIC ☛ Enhancing the security and efficiency of Member account management

    APNIC will significantly upgrade the security and user experience for users of the Member account management system.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• European Commission ☛ Commission designates Apple's iPadOS under the Digital Markets Act

  European Commission Press release Brussels, 29 Apr 2024 The European Commission has today designated Fashion Company Apple with respect to iPadOS, its operating system for tablets, as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”). Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance of iPadOS with the DMA obligations.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 6: TTAB Denies Meta Platforms' Motion to Dismiss META Opposition on Timing and Standing Grounds

    The Board denied Applicant Meta Platform, Inc.'s motion to dismiss this Section 2(d) opposition, rejecting its claims that the Board lacked subject matter jurisdiction (FRCP 12(b)(1)) and that Opposer MyMeta Software, Inc. failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted (FRCP 12(b)(6). The first ground concerned the alleged untimeliness of opposer's amended notice of opposition, while the second denial hinged on the relationship of MyMeta Software, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and MyMeta Software SRL, its Italian counterpart. MyMeta Software, Inc. v. Meta Platforms, Inc., Opposition No. 91286055 (April 24, 2024) [precedential].

• Copyrights

  • Reason ☛ Dungeons & Dragons at 50: You Can't Copyright Fun

    How lax intellectual property rules created a nerd culture phenomenon

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Personal/Opinions

    • 🔤SpellBinding: ABCFKTS Wordo: STOPS

    • big brain dump

      brain dump! because i'm feeling very scattered and overwhelmed.

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Internet/Gemini

      • Profectus Alpha 0.10: Spartan Support and Firefox Themes

        Profectus is a new graphical browser for Gemini, Nex, Scroll, and Spartan.