Links 01/06/2024: Ukraine Updates, MongoDB Collapses
Contents
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Leftovers
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Tedium ☛ Losing Sight Of Creators
Instead of building ways to block ads, we need to make the case for the tech-minded to build creator-supporting ideas. Creators would help.
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Science
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Barry Kauler ☛ Ackermann steering compensation
A few days ago I posted about problems with the steering linkage introduced by having shock-absorber suspension:
https://bkhome.org/news/202405/trike-steering-cannot-kick-the-can-down-the-road-anymore.html
Another problem is tyre scrubbing when turning a corner. If both front wheels are parallel, when turning a corner, they will be fighting each other. They are following the same radius, whereas the inner one should be following a smaller radius.
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CS Monitor ☛ Boeing has seen a tide of bad headlines. It’s hoping for a reset with space launch.
Boeing plans to launch a crewed spaceflight to prove it can successfully transport astronauts to the International Space Station.
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Science Alert ☛ Devastating Outburst Could Be a Whole New Kind of Volcanic Eruption
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Science Alert ☛ Strange Discovery Suggests Children Trust Robots Over Humans
Who would you believe?
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Science Alert ☛ Whoa! Astronomers Just Discovered The Earliest Galaxy We've Ever Seen
Brightly gleaming in the Cosmic Dawn.
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Science Alert ☛ Giant Tonga Volcanic Eruption Could Disrupt Weather For Years to Come
This isn't over.
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Education
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Pro Publica ☛ NY Education Dept. Hindered Abuse Probe of Shrub Oak International
In a strongly worded rebuke, a New York judge has ordered the state Education Department to cooperate with an investigation into abuse and neglect at a pricey residential school that draws students with autism from across the country.
The judge ruled that the New York State Education Department must turn over documents it has about incidents at Shrub Oak International School to the watchdog group Disability Rights New York within seven days of the decision. The Education Department for months has refused to give DRNY records it has received about the private school, which is not approved or monitored by the state.
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Hardware
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India Times ☛ Arm offers new designs, software for AI on smartphones
Smartphones remain Arm's biggest single market, where the company supplies intellectual property to arch rivals such as Apple and Android chip suppliers Qualcomm and MediaTek.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Science Alert ☛ Bird Flu: Third Human Case in US Emerges After Dairy Cattle Outbreak
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Science Alert ☛ Can Eye Exercises Improve Your Vision? An Expert Reveals The Truth
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Science Alert ☛ Family Contracts Rare Parasite After Dining on Wild Bear Kebabs
Wriggling under the microscope.
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Science Alert ☛ The US Is Facing an 'Out of Control' STI Epidemic, Experts Warn
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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New York Times ☛ Google Eats Rocks, a Win for Hey Hi (AI) Interpretability and Safety Vibe Check
“Pass me the nontoxic glue and a couple of rocks, because it’s time to whip up a meal with Google’s new Hey Hi (AI) Overviews.”
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The Conversation ☛ We asked ChatGPT for legal advice – here are five reasons why you shouldn’t
We put the chatbots to the test in a recent study published in the International Journal of Clinical Legal Education. We entered the same six legal questions on family, employment, consumer and housing law into ChatGPT 3.5 (free version), ChatGPT 4 (paid version), Microsoft Bing and Google Bard. The questions were ones we typically receive in our free online law clinic at The Open University Law School.
We found that these tools can indeed provide legal advice, but the answers were not always reliable or accurate. Here are five common mistakes we observed: [...]
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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LRT ☛ Russian, Belarusian opposition hit with Pegasus spyware in Vilnius
Russian and Belarusian journalists and activists living in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were targeted by the Pegasus spyware, according to a new report by the nonprofit Access Now and Digital Lab research centre at the University of Toronto in Canada.
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Defence/Aggression
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France24 ☛ Israel accused of using torture in military prison of Sdei Teiman
In Israel, human rights groups have filed a court case in a bid to close the Sdei Teiman military prison. Set up after the October 7 attacks in the heart of the Negev desert, it serves as a detention centre for prisoners from Gaza. Numerous eyewitness accounts speak of mistreatment and torture. An internal investigation has established that at least two prisoners have died after beatings by soldiers. FRANCE 24's Claire Duhamel and Robert Parsons investigate this secret prison.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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The Strategist ☛ Parliament’s role in shaping Australia’s support for Ukraine is vital
Ministers and officials can expect a grilling about Australia’s support for Ukraine in Senate Estimates hearings next week.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Why the US is giving Ukraine the green light to attack inside Russia
With Kharkiv under threat, will this White House reversal make a difference? Our leading Ukraine-watcher gives his assessment.
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France24 ☛ NATO chief Stoltenberg seeks 'at least' 40 billion euro in yearly Ukraine aid
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Friday urged members to commit to providing Ukraine at least 40 billion euros ($43 billion) a year in military aid, seeking to ensure long-term support as war with Russia grinds on.
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France24 ☛ Russia launches strikes on Kharkiv as Biden lets Ukraine use US arms to hit inside Russia
Russian strikes killed three people in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the regional governor said early Friday, hours after the United States authorised Kyiv to use American weapons to hit targets inside Russia in defence of the embattled region.
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LRT ☛ NATO needs to show ‘it is serious’, says Lithuanian FM
NATO will soon have to show whether "it is serious" about helping Ukraine win the war, said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
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RFERL ☛ Stoltenberg More Confident About Ukraine's Ability To Defend Kharkiv After Policy Shift On Weapons
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he’s more confident that Ukraine can successfully defend the eastern city of Kharkiv now that NATO allies have eased restrictions on the use of weapons they supply to hit targets inside Russia.
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RFERL ☛ 75 Ukrainians Returned In Prisoner Exchange With Russia, Zelenskiy Says
Russia and Ukraine have held their first prisoner swap in more than three months, with each side exchanging 75 people in a deal mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
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RFERL ☛ Blinken Confirms Biden Change On Policy Toward Ukraine Using U.S. Weapons Inside Russia
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says President Joe Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending the eastern city of Kharkiv.
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RFERL ☛ Western Allies Urge North Korea To Cease Giving Arms To Russia
Western allies on May 31 issued a joint statement calling on North Korea to stop its weapons transfers to Russia for use in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ NATO Is In For 'The Long Haul' In Backing Ukraine, Says Stoltenberg
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance must enhance its role in supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia's unprovoked invasion and make clear to Moscow that Western backing for Kyiv will continue for as long as necessary.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Signs Security Deals With Nordic Countries As Russia Ramps Up Attacks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on May 31 signed security and cooperation agreements with Sweden, Norway, and Iceland as he attended the third Ukraine-Northern Europe Summit in Stockholm.
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RFERL ☛ 1 Dead, 12 Wounded In Russian Shelling Of 5-Story Building In Kharkiv
Russian forces hit a five-story residential building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, causing a fire and possibly trapping people in the burning rubble, Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said after the attack that occurred around midnight local time on May 30.
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CS Monitor ☛ Kharkiv hails Biden OK to strike Russia: ‘We’ve been waiting’
Throughout the war in Ukraine, a recurring theme has been Kyiv’s gratitude for U.S. military aid tinged with impatience over its timeliness. President Biden’s decision to allow some use of U.S. weapons against targets in Russia fits the pattern.
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CS Monitor ☛ Some Ukrainian soldiers are struggling with a personal foe: gambling addiction
Soldiers do what they can to relieve the stress of the battlefield. For some Ukrainian troops, that has meant gambling – and gambling addiction. Now the government is trying to help them get back control.
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New York Times ☛ Deepfake of U.S. Official Appears After Shift on Ukraine Attacks in Russia
A manufactured video fabricated comments by the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller.
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New York Times ☛ Blinken Hints U.S. May Allow Ukraine Greater Latitude to Strike in Russia
The U.S. secretary of state suggested that Ukraine’s use of American-supplied arms could expand beyond the current limitation to strikes in the Kharkiv area.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Buoyed by Biden’s Move on Using Weapons to Strike Russia
After weeks of entreaties, Ukraine won permission to hit targets inside Russia with American-made weapons, a tactic that it says will help it defend territory in the northeast.
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New York Times ☛ The Weapons That Ukraine Might Use to Shoot Into Russia
Decisions by President Biden and others give Ukrainian forces several new options. But they’re still restricted in the use of Western missiles that could strike far inside Russia.
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Latvia ☛ Expect a lot of Russian nonsense over the next week
The Kremlin is likely to continue its usual efforts to polluting the waters of other people's democracy, according to a commentary piece by Anete Bērzkalne, who is a fact checker and specialist disinformation researcher with Latvian Radio's news service.
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LRT ☛ 'Preparing for a bad scenario': On Latvia's Russian border as fortification work begins
In places where once not even border posts disturbed the landscape, earthmoving equipment is currently carving a trench down the boundary between Baltic NATO and Russian territory.
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RFERL ☛ France Files Terror Charges Against Chechen Teen Accused Of Plan To Attack Olympic Fans
French authorities on May 31 filed preliminary terrorism charges against an 18-year-old man from Chechnya accused of a plot targeting spectators attending soccer games at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
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RFERL ☛ EU Expands Sanctions On Iran Over Drone Transfers To Russia, Proxies
The Council of the European Union on May 31 placed sanctions on three Iranian entities and six individuals over their involvement in the transfer of drones to Russia and Tehran’s regional allies.
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RFERL ☛ RFE/RL Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva Sees Detention Extended By Russian Court
A court in Russia on May 31 extended the pretrial detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Prague-based journalist with RFE/RL who holds dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, until August 5.
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The Straits Times ☛ US says it could act against China firms, banks over Russian war support
Mr Kurt Campbel urged European and Nato countries to send a collective message of concern to China.
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RFA ☛ Thai police crack down on Russian investors on holiday island of Phuket
67 Russians were accused of breaching business laws
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Meduza ☛ ‘Mitigating factors’: Russian soldiers found guilty in domestic violence cases are getting off with just small fines — Meduza
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Finance
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Silicon Angle ☛ MongoDB’s stock tanks on lower guidance
A disappointing forecast for the coming quarter and full year sent database company MongoDB Inc. headlong into a tailspin today, as the value of its stock dropped like a lead balloon in after-hours trading today. The company’s dismal guidance is the latest in a string of subpar financial forecasts from enterprise software vendors.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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RFA ☛ Episode 7b: Radio Free Asian America
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Democracy Now ☛ Guilty: Trump Becomes First Ex-President Felon in U.S. History
Guilty on all 34 felony counts — that’s the historic verdict delivered Thursday by a New York jury in former President Donald Trump’s hush money and election fraud criminal trial. Trump was charged with falsifying business records to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to protect his 2016 presidential campaign and is now the first former president to be convicted of a felony, facing the possibility of up to four years in prison. Judge Juan Merchan set his sentencing date on July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention, where Trump will become the party’s official presidential nominee. Trump, who can still be president as a convicted felon, slammed the verdict as a “disgrace,” and his defense team plans to appeal. We speak with criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby, who followed the case closely and says there was a “tsunami of circumstantial evidence” that supported the prosecution’s case. “The defense never posed any sort of realistic counternarrative,” says Kuby.
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Democracy Now ☛ “Unprecedented in the History of American Republicanism”: Historian on Trump Verdict & GOP Extremism
In a historic verdict, a New York jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts in his criminal hush money and election interference trial. Trump is now the first former president to be convicted of a felony and faces up to four years in prison. “All this is unprecedented in the history of American republicanism,” says U.S. historian Manisha Sinha. “A man like Trump could very much upend this over-200-year historical experiment in representative government.” Trump can still be president as a convicted felon and is poised to become the Republican nominee for the nation’s highest office in July. “One of the most dangerous things about Trump is that he’s not a one-man show,” says Sinha. “He’s the presumptive nominee of a political party in a two-party system. That in itself poses an immense danger to American democracy.”
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FAIR ☛ New York Man Goes Down the New York Way
Donald Trump is now the first former US president to be convicted of a felony, found guilty on 34 counts of “in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex” (AP, 5/31/24). Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement (5/30/24) that Trump was found “guilty of repeatedly and fraudulently falsifying business records in a scheme to conceal damaging information from American voters during the 2016 presidential election,” and that his prosecutors “proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Trump illegally falsified 34 New York business records.”
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Latvia ☛ How to vote in the European Parliament elections in Latvia
European Union citizens registered in Latvia have the right to vote in European Parliament elections. However, information on how to actually cast a ballot at a voting station is often either inaccurate or simply lacking for those who do not speak Latvian fairly proficiently.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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