Links 24/05/2024: More Software Patents Invalidated (US), New Fights to Protect Free Speech
Contents
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Leftovers
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Ruben Schade ☛ Winter coffee shop chatter
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The Straits Times ☛ Zoning laws in Johor stifling, say nightspot operators
Entertainment association chair Tan Yam Meng said the industry could bring spillover effects to SMEs.
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Hackaday ☛ Grid Leak Radio Draws The Waves
[Stephen McNamera] found a schematic for a grid leak radio online and decided to throw together a few tubes on a piece of wood and see how it worked. As you can see in the video below, it works well. The video is a bit light on details, but the web page he found the plans on also has quite a bit of explanation.
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Hackaday ☛ Mapping The Human Brain And Where This May Lead Us
In order to understand something, it helps to observe it up close and study its inner workings. This is no less true for the brain, whether it is the brain of a mouse, that of a whale, or the squishy brain inside our own skulls. It defines after all us as a person; containing our personality and all our desires and dreams. There are also many injuries, disorders and illnesses that affect the brain, many of which we understand as poorly as the basics of how memories are stored and thoughts are formed. Much of this is due to how complicated the brain is to study in a controlled fashion.
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Hackaday ☛ Turning An ATX PSU Into A Variable Bench Supply
Bench power supplies can sometimes be frustratingly expensive and also kind of limited. If you’re enterprising and creative, though, you can create your own bench supply with tons of features, and it doesn’t have to break the bank either. Do what [Maker Y] did—grab an ATX supply and get building!
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New Yorker ☛ The New Midlife Crisis
The classic midlife crisis, with its flashy sports cars and covert affairs, has become a cliché in itself. Miranda July’s novel “All Fours” is part of a new wave of fiction that’s challenging expectations of what middle age can be.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover Key Food Nutrients Linked to Slower Brain Aging
One particular diet was a strong match!
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Think a Giant, Unseen Planet Is Hiding in Our Solar System
Lurking in the dark?
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Science Alert ☛ A Spectacular, Rare Alignment of 6 Planets Is About to Happen in The Sky
An amazing thing is taking shape!
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Science Alert ☛ Potentially Habitable Earth-Sized World Discovered Just 40 Light-Years Away
HUGE news.
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Science Alert ☛ Microplastics Found in Blood Clots in Heart, Brain, And Legs
A small study with big implications.
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Science Alert ☛ These 3 Strategies Can Improve Outcomes For Cancer Patients
Treatment is evolving.
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Science Alert ☛ Discovery in Timor May Rewrite How Humanity Arrived in Australia
A rare find.
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Science Alert ☛ Bird Flu Jumps to Human From Cow For Second Time in The US
Dairy cows remain a source of concern.
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RFERL ☛ Kremlin Denies Contact With Trump After Claim About Journalist's Release
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, expected to be the Republican candidate in November's presidential election, claimed Russian leader Vladimir Putin would release detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich "almost immediately" after the vote if Trump wins.
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CS Monitor ☛ Cicadas are out in the trillions and citizen scientists are rejoicing
The emergence of two periodical cicada broods that haven’t overlapped since 1803 is inspiring some people to dive deeper into citizen science.
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New York Times ☛ ESA Euclid Telescope’s New Images Search Dark Universe
The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope’s latest release shows off the device’s capabilities.
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RFERL ☛ Putin Signs Decree Allowing For Use Of U.S. Assets To Compensate For Russian Property Seized By Washington
Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 23 signed a decree allowing to compensate damages caused by confiscation of assets of Russian tycoons and the Central Bank in the United States by the assets, valuable papers and property belonging to the United States or the U.S. citizens in Russia.
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New York Times ☛ Russia Detains Another Defense Official, in New Sign of Putin Shake-Up
Lt. Gen. Vadim Shamarin is accused of “large-scale” bribery, the latest in a series of high-profile arrests that have coincided with the appointment of a new defense minister.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Oil, gas, and war: The effect of sanctions on the Russian energy industry
A new Atlantic Council report explores the effect of sanctions on Russia's energy industry. Are oil and gas still Putin's lifeline?
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The Strategist ☛ Is Putin preparing for nuclear war?
On 6 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he had authorised a military exercise involving the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in southern Russia.
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Hardware
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Ruben Schade ☛ Dave Farquhar on CD-ROMs in early PCs
Dave over at the Silicon Underground wrote a great historical post about the Multimedia PC standard, and the existence of CD-ROMs in 386 and 486-era machines.
The Golden Age of CD-ROM titles definitely came along a generation or two after the 286 and 386, during the 486 and Pentium era. CD-ROM drives were standard equipment by the time the Pentium was mainstream, and while low-end 486s didn’t necessarily come from the factory with a CD-ROM drive, they were a very popular upgrade. Having sold computers at retail in 1994 and 1995, I would estimate at least half of the computers I sold came with CD-ROM drives. And if a day went by with me not selling a CD-ROM upgrade kit, it must have been a slow day.
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CNX Software ☛ Airlytix ES1 environment monitor runs ESPHome for Home Assistant integration
Airlytix ES1 environment monitor is an ESP32-based environment tracking device that runs ESPHome. The device tracks various environmental parameters like temperature, humidity, air quality (PM1.0, PM2.5, PM4, PM10, VOCs, NOx, CO2), barometric pressure, ambient light, and noise levels. To make things even more interesting, the device ships with a compact 3D printed case and can be integrated with Home Assistant for smart home automation.
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CNX Software ☛ EdgeCortix SAKURA-II Edge Hey Hi (AI) accelerator deliver up to 60 TOPS in an 8W power envelope
EdgeCortix has just announced its SAKURA-II Edge Hey Hi (AI) accelerator with its second-generation Dynamic Neural Accelerator (DNA) architecture delivering up to 60 TOPS (INT8) in an 8Watts power envelope and suitable to run complex generative Hey Hi (AI) tasks such as Large Language Models (LLMs), Large Vision Models (LVMs), and multi-modal transformer-based applications at the edge. Besides the Hey Hi (AI) accelerator itself, the company designed a range of M.2 modules and PCIe cards with one or two SAKURA-II chips delivering up to 120 TOPS with INT8, 60 TFLOPS with BF16 to enable generative Hey Hi (AI) in legacy hardware with a spare M.2 2280 socket or PCIe x8/x16 slot.
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CNX Software ☛ Cincoze DV-1100 is a rugged embedded computer with Raptor Lake or Alder Lake SoC for industrial and railway applications
Cincoze DV-1100 is a rugged embedded computer powered by a choice of defective chip maker Intel 13th Gen Raptor Lake or 12th Gen Alder Lake S Series embedded processors with up to 32GB DDR5 DO-DIMM memory, various NVMe and SATA storage options, up to three display interfaces, 2.5GbE and GbE networking, optional WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G LTE, and/or 5G wireless connectivity, six USB ports for expansion, and more.
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Hackaday ☛ Almost Breaking The World Record For The Tiniest Humanoid Robot, But Not Quite
Did you know there is a Guinness World Record for the smallest humanoid robot? We didn’t either, but apparently this is a challenge attracting multiple competitors. [Lidor Shimoni] had a red hot go at claiming the record, but came up ever so slightly short. Or tall.
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Hackaday ☛ Orange FM Brings Radio To The GameBoy
We’ve all been there. You left your Walkman at home and only have your trusty Game Boy. You want to take a break and just listen to some tunes. What to do? [orangeglo] has the answer now with the Orange FM cartridge.
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Hackaday ☛ Roboticized 3D Printer Has Been Developing Shock Absorbing Structures For Years
Imagine you want to iterate on a shock-absorbing structure design in plastic. You might design something in CAD, print it, then test it on a rig. You’ll then note down your measurements, and repeat the process again. But what if a robot could do all that instead, and do it for years on end? That’s precisely what’s been going on at Boston University.
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Hackaday ☛ Lightweight Haptic Gloves With Electro-Osmotic Pump Arrays
Now that we have decent VR goggles, the world is more desperate than ever for a decent haptic interface for interacting with computers. We might be seeing a new leap forward in this wild new haptic glove design from the Future Interfaces Group at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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teleSUR ☛ Africa: Drought Threatens to Spread Food Insecurity
Droughts in Zambia have destroyed crops in areas where 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture for survival, she said.
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Reason ☛ California's Telemedicine Restrictions Are Forcing Rare Disease Patients To Travel Out of State for Care
A new lawsuit argues the state's requirement that doctors must be licensed in California to do remote consultations with patients there is unconstitutional.
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Stanford University ☛ ‘Coverage and access’: Medi-Cal expansion to undocumented immigrants draws cautious praise
California recently expanded full scope Medi-Cal insurance coverage to adult undocumented immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49 years old, making the state the first to offer health insurance to undocumented immigrants of all ages. Stanford Medicine physicians and health policy experts discussed the coverage expansion and persisting obstacles to healthcare access for vulnerable communities.
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Ongoing Sharp Increases in Deaths Across England and Wales This Year
IN the latest data release about England and Wales (mortality so far this year) we can see that in the latest week on record for 2024 we had 11,076 deaths. 2014-2019 average: 9,804. For the same week. That’s a steep increase.
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The Straits Times ☛ ‘Gimflation’ in South Korea as dried seaweed prices grow on rising global demand
South Korea commands over 70 per cent of the global dried seaweed market.
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CS Monitor ☛ A House committee set out to investigate COVID. Surprisingly, it’s making headway.
The committee’s hearings stand in contrast to the partisan fights elsewhere in Congress – and shed new light on a highly politicized issue.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Planning Massive Layoffs Impacting Marketing & Operations — As Clock Keeps Ticking on US Ban
TikTok plans a massive spate of layoffs that will impact its 1,000+ strong team of global employees in its marketing and operations divisions. The downsizing comes less than a month after President Joe Biden signed a law that bans Fentanylware (TikTok) in the United States unless Chinese company ByteDance completely divests from the social control media platform.
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Silicon Angle ☛ TikTok reports disruption of influence campaigns to limit state propaganda
The embattled Chinese social control media app Fentanylware (TikTok) may have assuaged the concerns of some of its detractors with a new report today detailing how it’s limiting the reach of state-affiliated media accounts and how it’s dealing with influence campaigns.
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Public Knowledge ☛ Putting the Public First: The Road to Accountable AI
We agree that Hey Hi (AI) innovation cannot come at the cost of our rights, and that AI’s benefits should be broadly and equitably shared with all people, especially those historically left behind.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ New Chinese chatbot was trained on President Pooh-tin Jinping's philosophies on socialism and several other 'major internet information' databases
China’s Cyberspace Research Institute is developing an Hey Hi (AI) chatbot with, among other things, the definitive collection of President Pooh-tin Jinping's political and philosophical thoughts.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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OpenRightsGroup ☛ Rushing DPDI Bill would be disaster for data protection rights in the UK
Open Rights Group has called on the government to drop the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill following the Prime Minister’s announcement that there will be a general election on 4 July.
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Scoop News Group ☛ Revamped privacy bill sails through House subcommittee
Even as the legislation advanced through a key subcommittee, members from both parties raised concerns with the measure, indicating that it faces an uncertain road toward passage and may still be significantly altered.
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Defence/Aggression
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Pro Publica ☛ Uvalde Police Will Face More Active Shooter Training as Part of $2 Million Settlement Between City and Families
The city of Uvalde, Texas, will overhaul police training and hiring policies as well as support more mental health services for survivors of the 2022 massacre at Robb Elementary School as part of a settlement with the families of 19 victims announced just two days before the second anniversary of the shooting.
Attorneys for the families said in a news conference this week that the city will also pay $2 million in restitution and help construct a permanent memorial.
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Federal News Network ☛ DoJ launches new effort to keep guns from dangerous hands
A new Justice Department resource center will help jurisdictions carry out firearms laws to keep guns from people deemed a danger to themselves and others.
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Press Gazette ☛ Sun, Telegraph and Metro cleared by IPSO over report of claim Hamas ‘beheaded babies’ on 7 October
Newspapers reported disputed incident as a claim, regulator finds.
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RFA ☛ North Korean golfers sport sanctions-blocked Nike apparel
State media removes images of ‘swoosh’ logo from photos and videos after Korean-language RFA story breaks.
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France24 ☛ Israeli forces advance deeper into Rafah, continue offensive in the north
Israeli tanks advanced to the edge of a crowded district in the heart of Rafah. On Gaza's northern edge in Jabalia, Israeli forces pressed on with a ground offensive that has carried on in parallel with the Rafah assault for two weeks. Health officials and residents say entire residential districts have been destroyed and dozens of people killed in the operation.
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RFERL ☛ Georgian PM Says EU Commissioner Threatened Him, Mentioning Shooting Of Slovak Premier
Embattled Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said that he was warned by EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi that if his government goes ahead with a controversial "foreign agent" law, he should be "very careful" after the recent assassination attempt of the Slovak prime minister.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Is the Assad regime finally facing some justice? What to know about the trial of Syrian officials in Paris.
A landmark trial has begun in Paris of three former Syrian intelligence officials charged with torture, murder, and other crimes.
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RFERL ☛ Kyrgyz Activist On Trial Says He Was Tortured While In Detention
Kyrgyz activist Askat Jetigen, who is on trial on a charge of calling for mass unrest which he rejects as politically motivated, said in a courtroom on May 23 that police tortured him with an electric shocker for one hour after his arrest on March 20.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Sarah Bauerle Danzman Testifies before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on outbound investment from the United States to China
GeoEconomics Center Senior Fellow Sarah Bauerle Danzman testifies on the scale of US outbound investment flows to China and recommendations on how the United States should regulate certain types of investment going forward.
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France24 ☛ Macron tells New Caledonians he will not force through voting reform that sparked riots
French President Emmanuel Macron said on a visit to riot-hit New Caledonia on Thursday that he won’t force through a contested voting reform that has sparked deadly unrest in the French Pacific territory and wants to leave time for local leaders to come up with an alternate agreement for the archipelago’s future.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China launches 2 days of military drills around Taiwan as ‘punishment’ for ‘separatist acts’
China on Thursday launched two days of military drills to surround self-ruled Taiwan in what it said was “strong punishment” for the island’s “separatist acts”.
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France24 ☛ China says Taiwan drills served to test its ability to 'seize power' over island
Beijing on Friday said ongoing drills encircling Taiwan were testing the military's ability to seize power over the self-ruled island, days after a new president was sworn in.
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France24 ☛ Taiwan dispatches forces to area where China is conducting military drills
Taiwan's military mobilized its forces and said it was confident it could protect the island, after China started two days of "punishment" drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to "separatist acts".
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘Not stressed’: Taiwanese shrug off China’s military drills, launched days after Lai Ching-te became island’s president
By Dene-Hern Chen and Yan Zhao As Beijing’s ships and warplanes encircled Taiwan on Thursday, television anchors on the self-ruled island focused instead on a store razed by fire, a proposed ban on ambulance sirens, and a restaurant scandal involving an influencer.
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JURIST ☛ Global journalist group urges WHO to grant Taiwan media press access
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded on Wednesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) allow journalists from around the world to cover its annual decision-making meeting, the World Health Assembly, and provide press accreditation to Taiwanese media. The call arose after two journalists from Taiwan were asked to provide Chinese passports for accreditation.
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JURIST ☛ China surrounds Taiwan with military vessels
China surrounded Taiwan with navy vessels and aircraft on Thursday as part of two days of military procedures, according to state media. The area surrounded included the Taiwan Strait, the north, south and east of Taiwan Island, as well as areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu, and Dongyin.
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RFA ☛ China conducts military drills around Taiwan
Joint Sword covers a larger area than the drills held after Nancy Pelosi’s Taipei visit
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teleSUR ☛ Chinese Military Drills Around Taiwan Are Legitimate: Wang
"The Chinese people will never waver in their resolve to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he pointed out.
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CS Monitor ☛ China practices military exercises off coast of Taiwan as ‘punishment’ for elections
As a new president takes office in Taiwan, China’s two-day military drills surrounding the island have put the country on high alert, scrambling jets and warning missile, naval, and land units.
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New York Times ☛ China Launches Military Drills Around Taiwan as ‘Punishment’
China said the sea and air drills were meant as a “stern warning” to its opponents after Taiwan’s new president asserted the island’s sovereignty in defiance of Beijing.
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The Straits Times ☛ U.S., allies call for Taiwan to be allowed to take part in WHO meeting
TAIPEI - The United States and several of its allies, including Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan, issued a joint statement on Friday calling on Taiwan to be allowed to take part in a key meeting of the World Health Organisation this month.
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The Straits Times ☛ US, allies call for Taiwan to be allowed to take part in WHO meeting
TAIPEI - The United States and several of its allies, including Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan, issued a joint statement on Friday calling on Taiwan to be allowed to take part in a key meeting of the World Health Organisation this month.
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New York Times ☛ A Test of Cloud-Brightening Machines Poses No Health Risk, Officials Say
After halting a test of controversial technology to fight global warming, the city of Alameda, Calif., said it had found no “measurable health risk” from the giant salty-mist-spraying fans.
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The Straits Times ☛ China starts second day of war games around Taiwan to test ability to ‘seize power’
The exercises are to "test the ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks", it said.
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JURIST ☛ China implements sanctions against US military-industrial companies and executives
China announced 12 US military-industrial companies and their senior executives as new sanction targets on Wednesday. The sanctions include the freeze of movable, immovable and other types of properties in China, and the refusal to issue visas and deny entry (including to Hong Kong and Macau) to 10 senior executives of the companies.
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RFA ☛ US Senate unanimously passes bill urging China to resolve Tibet dispute
Revised bill now heads back to the House before going to President Biden.
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RFA ☛ Bill giving sweeping powers to lawmakers sparks protests in Taiwan
The pro-China Kuomintang says change is needed, but critics say the bill could subvert the island's democracy.
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RFA ☛ South Korea, China, Japan to hold trilateral talks on May 26-27 in Seoul
The last meeting among the neighbors was held in 2019.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian hospitals urged to step up crisis preparedness
Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC), on Thursday called on the country’s healthcare establishments to improve their preparedness for war or emergency situations.
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Atlantic Council ☛ From Vilnius to Warsaw: How to Advance Three Seas Goals Between Summits
To define regional goals of digital, transport, and energy integration, the leaders of the Three Seas Initiative member states and partners meet annually. But to make real progress toward these goals, they must now create a secretariat to coordinate and act on challenges throughout the year.
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Environment
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Only 20% of residents at Hong Kong housing block in waste charge trial following rules, property manager says
Only about 20 per cent of residents in one housing block taking part in Hong Kong’s waste charge trial were using the government’s pay-as-you-throw bags to dispose of waste, the estate’s property manager has said. Hong Kong is set to implement a waste charging scheme on August 1 after multiple delays.
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Reason ☛ Ted Nordhaus: How Bad Is Climate Change? [Ed: Reason always forgets to note it is funded by the Overlords of Climate Science Denial, the Kochs]
Breakthrough Institute co-founder Ted Nordhaus on climate science and climate change anxiety.
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Energy/Transportation
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Barry Kauler ☛ Trike steering cannot kick the can down the road anymore
Here are the last two blog posts on the trike full-suspension
- Weight of an electric recumbent tadpole trike — May 18, 2024
- Recumbent trike front suspension Mark-2 assembled — May 17, 2024
As can be seen in the second link, a photo shows the "mark-2" tilting front suspension mounted on the trike. Getting to this point has been very good, has enabled me to see how everything will fit together.
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DeSmog ☛ Tories Have Received £8.4 Million from Fossil Fuel Interests, Polluters, and Climate Deniers Since 2019 Election
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DeSmog ☛ Climate Scientist Leaves ExxonMobil’s Board With Little to Show for It
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DeSmog ☛ Fertiliser Giant Yara Must Tackle Massive Emissions, Shareholders Say
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H2 View ☛ Hydrogen-powered buses enter operation in Beijing
China Yuchai International Limited has announced 50 hydrogen-powered buses utilising Yuchai Xingshunda fuel cells have debuted in Beijing, China.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Almost 70% of small, medium eateries still using disposable utensils despite single-use plastic ban, gov’t says
Almost 70 per cent of Hong Kong’s small- and medium-sized restaurants are still offering disposable utensils for free, the government has said as the city marked one month of its single-use plastics ban.
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Wildlife/Nature
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BIA Net ☛ Court annuls mining expansion in archeologically rich Latmos Mountains
The decision was contested by a local environmental group, which filed a lawsuit demanding a halt to mining activities in the region.
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New York Times ☛ Where Royals Once Hunted in France, a Green Forest Welcomes Everyone
With its boulders, trails and proximity to Paris, the 50,000-acre Forest of Fontainebleau draws millions of hikers, rock-climbers, trail runners and forest bathers each year. Some worry that its popularity is taking a toll.
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New York Times ☛ Fate of Retired Research Chimps Still in Limbo
The National Institutes of Health, which owns the chimps at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in New Mexico, has no plans to move the animals to sanctuary, despite a ruling from a federal judge.
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Finance
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Pro Publica ☛ New Mexico Judge Lifts Order on Discarding Homeless People’s Property
A New Mexico judge has lifted a temporary order that had mandated the city of Albuquerque stop throwing away the possessions of homeless people without providing notice and an offer to store their belongings.
District Court Judge Joshua Allison stood by his previous finding that the city had seized and destroyed personal property without providing “basic constitutional protections.” But, on Friday, he wrote that a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling could alter arguments in the Albuquerque case, and until the Supreme Court rules, any resolution to the New Mexico case is “unworkable.”
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation continues uphill climb in first half of May
The increase in the annual headline rate in the first half of the month may make the Bank of Mexico hesitate on another rate cut in June.
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Reason ☛ Inflation, the Economy, and Political Ignorance
Public ignorance has a big impact on voter atttudes on a major issue in the 2024 election.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Workday’s stock drops on mixed financial results and lower guidance
Shares of the human resources software company Workday Inc. initially fell more than 11% in extended trading today after it offered a disappointing forecast, only to recover somewhat once investors had time to digest its latest financial report.
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WhichUK ☛ How to get Nationwide's Fairer Share £100 bonus - plus £200 for switching
Nationwide has launched a trio of deals for members including a 5.5% savings rate
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis estimated to cost HK$224 billion
A huge scheme to build a housing and business hub along Hong Kong’s border with mainland China, known as the Northern Metropolis, will cost more than HK$224 billion, the government has estimated.
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New York Times ☛ Why Joe Biden Isn’t Getting Credit for the Economy [Ed: The economy is terrible; this headline is so loaded, as is the premise, that it is outright laughable and demonstrates the NY Times' failure]
To the people he needs to win over, prices still feel too high and wages too low.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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New York Times ☛ Justices Allowed a Contested Voting Map in South Carolina
Also, the U.S. called for the breakup of Ticketmaster’s owner. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.
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Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Hails DOJ Antitrust Suit To Break Up Live Nation/Ticketmaster Monopoly
The Justice Department has filed suit against Live Nation/Ticketmaster for monopolization and threatening competition.
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Press Gazette ☛ Election night 2024: How broadcasters plan to report results
Kay Burley will front Election Night Live for Sky News.
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Press Gazette ☛ Digital Markets Bill passed paving way for publisher ‘level playing field’ with big tech
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill could "empower publishers to reap fair reward".
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Censorship/Free Speech
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RFERL ☛ Slain Iranian Protester's Father Sentenced To 6 Years In Prison
Iran’s judiciary has sentenced Mashallah Karami, the father of executed protester Mohammad Mehdi Karami, to six years in prison on charges of endangering national security and "propaganda against the regime."
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ACLU ☛ A Comic That Illustrates the Fight to Protect Free Speech on Campus
For more than 100 years, the ACLU has defended students’ First Amendment rights across the United States. Since April, more than 2,000 people have been arrested or detained for participating in anti-war protests on campuses across the country. And it’s not just anyone and everyone protesting on campus who’s getting arrested or facing unjust repercussions. Specifically, authorities are disproportionately targeting those protesting for the rights of Palestinian people.
“We will defend anyone whose free speech and association are being challenged and stifled by the government. But especially in this moment, we’re not seeing ‘both sides’ be stifled in the same way,” said Allegra Harpootlian, a senior communications strategist with the ACLU. She’s part of the team who helped put this comic series together.
“The majority of censorship and repression has been directed toward people who are supporting the Palestinian people, and that was definitely true in the case of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida.
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Reason ☛ Libel Case Against Internet Sleuth / "True Crime" Podcaster, Related to Kiely Rodni Case, Can Go Forward
From Tuesday's decision in Robertson v. Upchurch by Judge William Campbell (M.D. Tenn.): Plaintiffs allege that [Defendant Ryan] Upchurch is a media personality who has approximately 3,140,000 subscribers on YouTube.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Pro Publica ☛ Texas Appeals Court Orders Dismissal of Lawsuit Against ProPublica, Texas Tribune
A Texas state appeals court on Wednesday ordered the dismissal of a 2022 disparagement lawsuit against ProPublica and The Texas Tribune filed by MRG Medical LLC., a health care services company. The court ruled that the defamation claims were barred by the one-year statute of limitation.
Writing on behalf of a three-judge panel of the 3rd Court of Appeals, Judge Rosa Lopez Theofanis sent the case back to the lower court to consider the news organizations’ request for court costs, attorneys fees and sanctions.
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JURIST ☛ Tunisia journalists sentenced to one year in prison for spreading false news
The Court of First Instance in Tunis decided on Wednesday to sentence Tunisian journalists Mourad Zghidi and Borhen Bsaiss to one year in prison for spreading false news that harms public security.
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Press Gazette ☛ Open Democracy wins complaint against Express over George Soros claim [Ed: Nope, Soros does control that site and, worse yet, they kept publishing puff pieces whitewashing him (while he paid them). "Open Democracy" does not have "editorial independence", it has sponsors and Soros is the biggest one. It corrupts the press and the Web at large.]
IPSO said the article could create a misleading impression about Open Democracy's editorial independence.
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Press Gazette ☛ Podcasts ‘are the future’ of news and investigations, says News Agents’ Lewis Goodall
Goodall says podcast format has allowed him to go into greater depth on stories than any other media.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Pro Publica ☛ Trump Campaign Bullied Workers Who Said They Were Harassed
Nearly eight years ago, convinced that she’d been treated unfairly, Jessica Denson sued Donald Trump’s campaign for workplace harassment.
Then she discovered the lengths Trump’s attorneys would go to hit back — and their unwillingness to stop.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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EFF ☛ NETMundial+10 Multistakeholder Statement Pushes for Greater Inclusiveness in Internet Governance Processes
This reality presents a stark contrast and practical challenge for truly inclusive multistakeholder participation, as the most important decisions are made without full transparency and broad input. This demonstrates that, despite the appearance of inclusivity, substantive negotiations are not open to all stakeholders.
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IT Wire ☛ felix mobile offers faster speeds with upgrade to 5G
“We are always looking at new ways to improve our customers’ experience, and with this 5G upgrade and major retail expansion, we are providing Australians a simple way to access great speeds, value and service that don’t cost the earth.”
As part of its environmental commitment, felix plants one tree per customer for every month they are with felix. With more than 1.8 million trees already donated globally, felix claims to be on track to achieve its target of two million trees by the end of 2024.
“We want to myth-bust the notion that environmentally responsible products and services cost more. Our expansion into Woolworths and Officeworks is a significant step towards this mission, showing that with felix, you don’t need to choose between your cost or conscience,” Beater said.
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Digital Music News ☛ DOJ Officially Files Antitrust Complaint Seeking Live Nation-Ticketmaster Split — Here’s a Detailed Look at the 124-Page Filing
After years of speculation, the Justice Department and 30 state attorneys general have officially filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, seeking, among other things, the split of the promoter from its Ticketmaster subsidiary.
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Digital Music News ☛ U.S. Department of Justice Expected to File Lawsuit Against Live Nation and Ticketmaster This Week — Here’s the Latest
The DOJ is expected to file a lawsuit as soon as this week against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, with a forced breakup of the conglomerate possible.
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New York Times ☛ DOJ Sues Ticketmaster Owner, Live Nation, in Antitrust Lawsuit
Accused of violating antitrust laws, Live Nation Entertainment faces a fight that could reshape the multibillion-dollar live music industry.
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European Commission ☛ Remarks by Executive Vice-President Vestager on the adoption of an antitrust decision against Mondelēz for cross-border trade restrictions
Today, the Commission has fined Mondelēz 337.5 million euros.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Speck v. Bates: Federal Circuit’s Two-Way Test for Pre-Critical Date Claims Limits Belated Interferences and Derivation Proceedings
In likely one of the last interference proceeding appeals, the Federal Circuit has applied a “two-way test” to determine whether pre-critical date claims and post-critical date claims are “materially different” under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 135(b)(1). The court found that Bates’ post-critical date claims in its U.S. Patent Application No. 14/013,591 were time-barred because they were materially different from Bates’ pre-critical date claims.
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Software Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ DynaIP entity WirelessWerx IP geotracking patent monopoly found invalid
On May 22, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a final rejection of the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,317,927 owned by WirelessWerx IP LLC, an NPE and Dynamic IP Deals LLC entity.
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Unified Patents ☛ Ask Sydney image search patent monopoly found invalid
On May 21, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a final rejection of the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 10,474,705, owned and asserted by Ask Sydney, LLC, an NPE. The ‘705 patent monopoly relates to analyzing tags associated with a sequence of images presented to a user to guide a user to a current interest.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ The Last Two Slides from My INTA Presentation
Thank you for attending the INTA presentation yesterday. Because of me own technical incompetence, the last two slides in my presentation yesterday were given short shrift. A few people said they would like to see them, so here they are. If you click on each one, you will get a larger picture.
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Right of Publicity
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Digital Music News ☛ OpenAI Fires Back Against Scarlett Johansson’s Concerns—Original Voice Actress Says ‘I’ve Never Been Compared to Her”
OpenAI has revealed documents related to its casting call for the Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot 4.0 update that features a voice assistant. Scarlett Johansson sought legal counsel after saying she believes the voice was modeled on her own. Proprietary Chaffbot Company says that’s not the case.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Beyoncé and Big Freedia Face Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Over ‘Explode’ and ‘Break My Soul’ — ‘The Similarities Go Beyond Substantial’
Beyoncé and Big Freedia are facing a copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit for allegedly copying elements of a New Orleans-based bounce group’s work on “Explode” and “Break My Soul.” Da Showstoppaz, a four-piece act that formed back in 2002, just recently submitted the firmly worded complaint to a Louisiana federal court.
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