Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ Rules of blogging, some of which can be ignored

  Back when blogging was something regular people did, there were self-anointed experts who wrote guidelines on how to write, coached as “rules”. They were often quite funny, because they’d invariably contradict the rules put down by other such experts!

  There were a few broad themes though, and I’ve broken all of them over the years.

  Be as specific with dates as possible. Don’t say “earlier this month”, say “on the 9th of May”. I used to do this, but I don’t think people care.

• Hackaday ☛ How To Find Replacement Parts When Model Numbers Don’t Match

  [Sharad Shankar] repaired a broken TV by swapping out the cracked and malfunctioning image panel for a new one. Now, part-swapping is a great way to repair highly integrated modern electronics like televisions, but the real value here is something else. He documented his fix but the real useful part is his observations and guidance on how to effectively look for donor devices when the actual model of donor device can’t be found.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Metaphors Might Be The Secret That Set Us Apart From Neanderthals

    It goes beyond speech.

  • Science Alert ☛ Oldest Known Human Viruses Found in 50,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Bones

    This might explain their demise.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Hidden Gem' Dinosaur Skin Fossil Reveals Surprises About Feather Evolution

    Here's how they bridged the evolutionary gap.

  • Science Alert ☛ Thousands of People Globally Are Unaware They Have Hepatitis C

    Here's what to know about the infection.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Brutalized' Iron Age Skeleton Is Rare Evidence of Human Blood Sacrifice

• Education

  • Stanford University ☛ Graduate Workers Union overwhelmingly ratifies economic platform

    According to SGWU organizers, bargaining on the proposals will likely begin in mid-June and a future strike is “within the realm of possibility,” if negotiations are ineffective.

• Hardware

  • The Next Platform ☛ Gordon Bell: A Giant Of Minicomputers, Unparalleled In Supercomputers

    Two Gordons loom large in the history of computing, and both made observations about the interplay of economics and technology and how they foster progress, which have both been enshrined as laws.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Abortion Pills May Become Controlled Substances in Louisiana

    A bill that is expected to pass would impose prison time and thousands of dollars in fines on people possessing the pills without a prescription.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Choate Employee Kept Working for Days After a Camera Caught Him Beating a Patient

    Cameras in the common areas of Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center were supposed to make the troubled southern Illinois facility safer for the approximately 200 people with developmental disabilities who live there.

    But in mid-February, a camera caught a mental health technician grabbing a patient by the shirt, throwing him to the floor and punching him in the stomach, according to court records.

  • Science Alert ☛ Something Really Awesome Happens When You Use Banana Peel as an Ingredient

    We've been eating bananas wrong.

  • University of Michigan ☛ The unspoken elephant in Asian American homes

    For as long as I can remember, a massive, metaphorical elephant took up residence in my childhood home. It stomped around loudly, occupying an immense space, yet everyone avoided acknowledging its looming presence. This rarely discussed elephant was the issue of mental health.

  • PHR ☛ 2023 Attacks on Health Care in War Zones Most Ever Documented: Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) Report

    This press release is cross-posted from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC). Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a steering committee member of the SHCC.

  • Latvia ☛ 'We get enough sun' – public urged to avoid UV radiation

    Vitamin D is no excuse to stay out toasting in the sun for a long time thus increasing the risk of skin cancer, said Raimonds Karls, dermatologist and chairman of the board of the association "Dermatologists Against Skin Cancer", in the Latvian Radio program "How to Live Better".

  • European Commission ☛ Factsheet on European Union actions to ensure better health

    Factsheet on European Union actions to ensure better health Factsheet on European Union actions to ensure better health

  • European Commission ☛ European Health Union: stronger and better prepared for the future

    Today, the Commission adopted a Communication on the European Health Union, which highlights the strides made in EU health policy over the last four years, for the benefit of citizens in the EU and worldwide.

  • European Commission ☛ The European Health Emergency preparedness and Response Authority – HERA *

  • European Commission ☛ Factsheet on European Health Data Space *

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Public Knowledge ☛ FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel Moves To Disclose Hey Hi (AI) Content in TV, Radio Ads

    Today, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek comment on whether the agency should require disclosure when there is AI-generated content in TV and radio political ads.

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ End of the Internet? Dead Internet Theory + Disappearing Content = Rut Roh

    The Internet is mostly made by AI... but that's ok, it's all being deleted anyway.

  • JupiterMedia ☛ Old Wine New Bottle | Coder Radio 571

    Big Tech's latest Hey Hi (AI) flex? More like a desperate grab for attention. Google, OpenAI, and Abusive Monopolist Microsoft are hyping up underwhelming updates while Sam Altman spills the tea on their shady motives.

  • EuroGamer ☛ Games industry layoffs surpass 10,000 for 2024 so far

    Over 20,000 in less than 18 months.

  • Embracer Group Says Alone In The Dark Failed To Meet Expectations

    Embracer Group said that the Alone in the Dark reboot failed to meet expectations after its March 2024 release. The announcement came as part of the company’s latest earnings report released on Thursday.

  • Second round of layoffs looms at SeekOut

    Seattle-based recruitment software provider, SeekOut is preparing for further layoffs, marking a second workforce reduction in less than a year. The imminent redundancy cycle is a result of an economic downturn affecting the recruitment sector and the company’s revenue streams.

    The impending layoffs are seen as necessary to balance expenses and stabilize the company’s financial position. Despite the job cuts, SeekOut intends to continue serving its customers with quality recruitment software solutions whilst navigating these challenging times.

    While the exact numbers of impacted workers remain unknown, those affected will receive severance pay and job transition services.

  • The Gamer ☛ No, Microsoft Probably Isn’t Going To Buy Valve

    It seems incredibly far-fetched, especially considering the rumour claims that an offer of over $16 billion in cash was being entertained, which is both not enough for a company like Valve and sounds more like something out of a Batman movie than actual reality. Why not burn up this giant pile of money while you’re at it, since you’re such a bloody joker?

  • ‘Brutal’: PR execs over 50 are wading through a tough job market | PR Week

  • The Register UK ☛ US politicos voice concern over Microsoft's G42 deal • The Register [Ed: What could possibly go wrong?]

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • TechCrunch ☛ Bing’s API was down, taking Microsoft Copilot, DuckDuckGo and ChatGPT’s web search feature down too [Ed: Proof that DuckDuckGo is just a 'Microsoft skin']

      Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, was working improperly for several hours on Thursday in Europe. At first, we noticed it wasn’t possible to perform a web search at all. Now it seems search results are loading properly.

      This outage also affected Bing’s application programming interface (API), which means that other services that relied on Bing weren’t working properly.

      The incident seemed to end around 7.20 am Pacific Time, and services began coming back online after more than five hours of outage.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong police arrest 100 suspects linked to scams totalling HK$180 million in losses

      Hong Kong police have arrested 100 suspects linked to scams with losses totalling HK$180 million as part of a crackdown on fraud and money laundering. Sham Shui Po district police said on Wednesday they had arrested 75 men and 25 women, aged 17 to 75, in a two-week operation between May 6 and May 20.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Recall drawing regulatory scrutiny in the UK — Microsoft's Hey Hi (AI) Copilot+ feature a 'privacy nightmare'

      The UK Information Commissioner's Office is concerned about the privacy risks of Microsoft's new "Recall" feature on Copilot+ PCs, a concern shared by many in the industry.

  • Confidentiality

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Unredacting Pixelated Text

      Experiments in unredacting text that has been pixelated.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ America’s Monster

    How the United States backed kidnapping, torture and murder in Afghanistan.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Charges: St. Paul school put on lockdown after man tried to get inside, threatened staff with machete

    A school maintenance worker tried walking him off the property, but he raised the machete again twice, charges say.

  • RFA ☛ North Korean toy store gets attention with ICBM-themed fireworks

    Military-themed toys are meant to instill pride and possibly gain public support for arms development, experts say.

  • RFA ☛ In a first, Kim Jong Un’s portrait is displayed next to his predecessors

    The move implies he is to be revered on the same level as Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung.

• Environment

  • LRT ☛ ‘Almost apocalyptic’: heavy rainfall floods Lithuania’s Klaipėda – photos

    Exceptionally heavy rain on Tuesday evening submerged the streets of Klaipėda under water, making some of them difficult to navigate.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong orders crypto project Worldcoin to halt operations in city over ‘excessive’ data collection

      Cryptocurrency project Worldcoin has been found to violate Hong Kong’s privacy law by the city’s data watchdog. Requiring users to provide face and iris scans to verify their “humanness” amounted to “unnecessary and excessive” collection of personal data, the privacy body said.

    • The Future of Renewable Energy: Innovations and Challenges

      Emerging Innovations in Renewable Energy Technology The renewable energy sector is witnessing unprecedented advancements, fundamentally altering how we generate and utilize power. One of the most significant innovations is the development of advanced solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. These next-generation PV cells boast higher efficiency rates and improved durability, making solar power more viable and cost-effective.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian crypto asset law moves forward

      In order to regulate the functioning of the crypto-assets market in Latvia, the Budget and Finance (Tax) Commission of the Saeima on Wednesday, May 22, conceptually supported the draft Law on Crypto-asset Services, as well as related amendments to seven more laws.  The law is necessary to establish a legal framework for the operation of crypto-asset market in Latvia, taking into account the requirements of the European Union. The new law will apply to persons involved in the issuance of crypto-assets and their trade.It is planned to designate the Bank of Latvia, the central bank, as the supervisory authority in the field of crypto-assets, in addition to its current role as the country's banking and financial services regulator.The Bank of Latvia will also investigative powers, and it will be able to apply administrative measures and impose sanctions for violations in the field of crypto-assets. The Bank of Latvia will also be able to determine the criteria used by crypto-asset service providers to ensure that clients are provided with advice or information about crypto-asset services by individuals who have the necessary knowledge and competence in this field.The new draft law determines the rights and obligations of crypto-asset service providers, including the obligation to register with the Bank of Latvia and obtain a permit to issue, publicly offer or allow trading of crypto-assets or to provide crypto-asset services. For the issuance of a permit, cryptoasset service providers will have to make a payment to the Bank of Latvia, and it is planned that this will depend on the amount of resources required for monitoring this area, the amount of services provided and the planned income from the provision of this service.    Information provided by the Ministry of Finance shows that there are currently around 10 crypto asset service providers in Latvia, that have registered with the State Revenue Service, the tax authority. These service providers will have to re-register with the Bank of Latvia from July next year, according to the amendments.It is planned that the Crypto Asset Services Law will come into force on June 30 of this year, but before then it will need to be approved by Saeima votes. The budget committee will ask the Saeima to include the bill in the agenda of the May 23 session of the Saeima.

    • DeSmog ☛ DOJ Must Investigate Big Oil’s ‘Ongoing Enterprise,’ Lawmakers Say

    • DeSmog ☛ ExxonMobil Urges EU to Remove ‘Policy Hurdles’ Slowing Oil Industry’s Hydrogen Plans

    • DeSmog ☛ The True Power of the Climate Movement Is Now to Admit Our Own Powerlessness

    • The Strategist ☛ Northern Australia’s energy and minerals development still needs more action

      Federal government initiatives revealed this month have reinforced Northern Australia’s pivotal role in national and international energy and minerals security.

• Finance

  • Atlantic Council ☛ There’s less to China’s housing bailout than meets the eye

    Beijing’s property measures are a drop in the ocean

  • New York Times ☛ U.K. Inflation Falls to 2.3%, Lowest in 3 Years

    The decline, which was less than economists expected, is nearing the Bank of England’s 2 percent target.

  • WhichUK ☛ Inflation plunges to 2.3% – almost all savings deals can now beat it

    Falling gas and electricity prices helped push the CPI figure to its lowest level in nearly three years

  • New York Times ☛ How Today’s Economy Could Matter in November

    Some pollsters and economists believe voters form their perceptions of the economy over time.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • CS Monitor ☛ Prime Minister Sunak sets July 4 date for national election

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said a national election will be held early July. His announcement follows a sharp drop in inflation in the U.K. – but voters aren’t likely to give him another chance.

  • Reason ☛ House Passes a Bill To Create Independent Oversight of the Troubled Federal Prison System

    Staff shortages and chronic corruption have plagued the Bureau of Prisons for years, exposing inmates to abuse and whistleblowers to retaliation.

  • Pro Publica ☛ A Conservative Texas School Board Member Rejects Extremism in Facebook Posts

    I have been covering the bare-knuckle, far-right political battles in a rural North Texas county since shortly after the 2020 presidential election. Just about an hour southwest of Fort Worth, Hood County might be off the beaten path, but it has been at the cutting edge of hard-line conservative activism in Texas for the past few years.

    A year after the 2020 presidential election, I covered the effort in the county, which voted 81% for former President Donald Trump, to force out its independent elections administrator and give her duties to an elected county clerk who had used social media to promote baseless allegations of widespread election fraud.

  • New York Times ☛ Inside the Life of Nicole Shanahan, RFK Jr.’s Running Mate

    Nicole Shanahan, a lawyer who was married to Sergey Brin, a Surveillance Giant Google founder, led a rarefied and sometimes turbulent life in Silicon Valley, according to a Times examination.

  • France24 ☛ Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani pleads not guilty in election interference case

    Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani pleaded not guilty Tuesday to nine felony charges stemming from his role in an effort to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Arizona to Joe Biden.

  • Latvia ☛ Security Service looks at EP candidate's social control media remarks

    The State Security Service (VDD) has launched an investigation into statements made on social networks by European Parliament candidate Olga Čerņavska (Alliance of Young Latvians).

  • France24 ☛ ‘The Apprentice’ director shrugs off threat of Trump lawsuit over explosive Cannes biopic

    Filmmaker Ali Abbasi has played down the threat of legal action over his Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice”, which caused a stir at the Cannes Film Festival this week but may struggle to secure a US theatrical release in the run-up to the November 5 presidential election.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Inside the Michigan GOP’s MAGA Meltdown

    Standing in a cafe decorated with tiny American flags and antique cabinets as big as bodyguards, Peter Meijer paused as he considered what to say to the man in the “Stand for God” shirt who had just called for his bodily harm.

    It was a snowy morning in February. Meijer was the keynote speaker at a coffee-and-donuts meeting hosted by the Republican Party chapter in Kent County, Michigan, the most populous county on the west side of the state. Dressed in a candidate-casual uniform of jeans, a flannel shirt and an outdoorsy blazer, Meijer was seeking the Republican nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat, a race that could determine control of Congress’s upper chamber, in a state that could decide the presidential election. If Republicans wanted to win in November, Meijer told the 40-odd people in attendance, they needed to move on from the past and focus on their shared enemy.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • JURIST ☛ Report shows more than half of global population is living through freedom of expression crisis

    Free speech organization Article 19 released its 2024 Global Expression Report (GER) on Tuesday showing that more than half of the world’s population is “living through a freedom of expression crisis,” unable to speak freely.

  • Reason ☛ A List (with Links) of Antisemitism Lawsuits Filed against American Universities

    Along with dozens of Title VI administrative complaints filed with the Office of Civil Rights, at least fourteen colleges and universities are facing lawsuits over their handling of antisemitism on campus since October 7.

  • Reason ☛ "Stealthing" #TheyLied Libel Case Can Go Forward

    From Luke v. Schwartz, decided yesterday by Judge Robert Pitman (W.D. Tex.); of course, as usual, keep in mind that at this stage of the lawsuit these are only allegations: Plaintiff David Luke … alleges the following facts ….

  • JURIST ☛ 30,000 protesters surround Taiwan parliament decrying proposed parliamentary reform law

    30,000 Taiwanese demonstrators surrounded the Legislative Yuan, the island’s parliament, on Tuesday protesting against the legislative majority’s attempts to enact new laws by allegedly violating procedural justice and the island’s constitution.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan released after 4 years’ jail over coverage of Covid-19

    Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan has been released from prison after serving four years for her coverage of Beijing’s Covid-19 response, according to a video released by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. However, rights groups said Zhang was still under surveillance and that her freedom was extremely limited.

  • RFA ☛ Pandemic citizen journalist ‘taken to brother’s home’ in Shanghai

    Zhang Zhan, who has been incommunicado following her release from jail, is still ‘very unfree,’ campaigners say.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Pro Publica ☛ Former Naperville Student’s Civil Rights Lawsuit Targets School Ticketing

    Amara Harris, the young Black woman from suburban Chicago who won a yearslong fight against a police ticket that accused her of stealing a classmate’s AirPods, took her fight to court again Tuesday.

    This time, she was the plaintiff, not the defendant.

  • JURIST ☛ Amnesty International UK criticises House of Lords for failing to reject clauses which strip away human rights protections for prisoners

    Amnesty International UK criticised the House of Lords on Wednesday for their failure to strike down clauses in a vote earlier in the week, which strip away human rights protections for prisoners. They have warned of a “sinister trend” of human rights being “switched off, ” with prisoners being the latest group to be targeted.

  • JURIST ☛ Humanitarian organizations decry targeting of human rights defenders by El Salvador government

    Human rights organization WOLA (the Washington Office on Latin America) on Wednesday issued a statement of solidarity with groups within El Salvador fighting for citizens unjustly detained following the country’s major gang crackdowns in March 2022.

  • RFERL ☛ Memorial Rights Group Recognizes Bashkir Activist As Political Prisoner

    The Memorial human rights group on May 22 recognized Bashkir activist Fail Alsynov as a political prisoner.

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘We thought they’d become peaceful’: Terrorism fears return to Johor village after police killings

    Jemaah Islamiyah was founded by Indonesians Abu Bakar Bashir and Abdullah Sungkar in Malaysia in 1993.

  • Reason ☛ Nellie Bowles: How the Lockdowns Drove Us Crazy

    The former New York Times reporter explores the collective madness that washed over us in 2020, tracing the path from #MeToo to “Intifada Revolution!”

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Decoding Patent Ownership beginning with Core Principles

    In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit vacated a district court’s grant of summary judgment that an inventor, Dr. Mark Core, had automatically assigned a patent monopoly associated with his PhD thesis to his then-employer and education funder TRW.  Core Optical Techs., LLC v. Nokia Corp., Nos. 23-1001 (Fed. Cir. May 21, 2024). The key issue was whether Dr. Core developed the patented invention “entirely on [his] own time” under his employment agreement. The majority opinion written by Judge Taranto and joined by Judge Dyk held the contract language was ambiguous on this point and remanded for further factual development to determine the parties’ intent.  Judge Mayer dissented.

    Although not discussed in the court’s decision, the appellant brief includes a suggestion that the Federal Circuit should “narrow or overrule” the automatic assignment law seen in FilmTec Corp. v. Allied Signal, Inc., 939 F.2d 1568 (Fed. Cir. 1991), and its progeny.

  • JUVE ☛ Lindt infringes vegan chocolate patent monopoly in Germany

    Patents on the composition or manufacture of foodstuffs are rarely the subject of patent monopoly disputes. Patents for sweets or chocolate are even less likely to find their way to the patent monopoly courts.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Immediate access to documents granted by Paris Central Division in NJOY Netherlands v Juul Labs – a step towards open justice in the UPC? [Ed: Any justice in the UPC would be impossible as the UPC itself is illegal and unconstitutional - birthed by corruption and lies to form a kangaroo court]

      On 24 April 2024, the UPC’s Central Division in Paris granted Nicoventures Trading Limited access to written pleadings and evidence under RoP 262.1(b) in a patent monopoly revocation case brought by NJOY Netherlands B.V. against Juul Labs International, Inc (ORD_587436/2023 in UPC_CFI_316/2023).