Leftovers

• Alex Sirac ☛ [Note] Towards a homemade web (roundup) – Alex

  I’m trying a new format, which is sharing 3-5 links (with context) on one given topic. I’m starting with what I believe to be the easiest one, since I already have a giant collection about it: moving towards a homemade web.

• Connor Tumbleson ☛ The disappointing starknet.io

  Once Starknet started noticing this abuse - they audited GitHub usernames which led this army of crypto individuals to find a new method to make money. So I wanted to open a bug report about this spam I was receiving for something I wanted no part in.

• Zach Flower ☛ Shameless

  It's taken nearly all my life to really recognize this fact, but my tolerance for screwing up is inversely proportional to how visible said screw up is, regardless of its size.

• Matt Fantinel ☛ Separating my website's content from its code

  Unfortunately, there are some people that clone the website and then just remove my name, while keeping all the content on it. That's not very nice.

  I'm not particularly knowledgeable (or interested, to be honest) in how all that works legally. Technically that content was part of the code, right? So it's probably not illegal or anything, just not nice.

  Which is why I decided to remove the content (blog posts, work experience, resume) out of the main website repo and into a different (and private) one.

• Frederik Braun ☛ How I got a new domain name

  So my amazing aunt told the story again. The other Frederik heard the story and found it very amusing. It's apparently not the first time for him to have found a namesake. He asked if I am the opera singer by he same name (What?) and told her the email address I should use to reach out.

• Andreas ☛ Versioning my website with git - 82MHz

  Now that the site is about to turn one year old, I thought it was time to move to a hosting provider that was maybe a bit less… Microsoft. So a few weeks ago I got a small webspace from a provider here in Germany and started looking into how to move my website and domain over to them, which is something I had absolutely zero experience with, but thankfully was fairly straight forward.

• Off Guardian ☛ The parallel universe the legacy media insist we’re living in

  Hey people, are you seeing this? You might have less money, more debt, massive energy bills, your chickens might be about to be culled, your car rendered unusable, your health permanently destroyed by a safe and effective “vaccine”… but look, the Princess of Wales is wearing a big hat! And a STRIPEY BOW!

• Standards/Consortia

  • Terence Eden ☛ Digital Litter Picking

    In an ideal world, the local authorities would publish all these data in a standardised format, with appropriate metadata, and digitally authenticate the documents. But councils are cash-strapped and many of the people involved come from a paper-based world with little thought for digital technologies. Despite repeated efforts, local authorities seem reluctant to engage in the data-driven world.

  • Tedium ☛ Artifacting

    How the JPEG file—and the lossy compression it allowed and encouraged—became the dominant way we shared digital photos on the internet.

    I fully admit it—I stretch images. I also intentionally wash images out, remove as many colors as possible, and save the images in formats that actively degrade the final result. This is a crime against imagery on the internet, an active ignoring of the integrity of the original picture, but to me, I kind of see it as having some artistic advantages. Degradation, you see, is a tenet of the modern internet, something that images have to do to flow through the wires more quickly. Gradually, the wires got fast enough that nearly any still image could be delivered through them in a reasonable amount of time. But the artifacts still matter. The degradation still matters. The JPEG was the puzzle piece that made the visual internet work. With that in mind, today’s Tedium considers how the JPEG came to life. — Ernie @ Tedium

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Meet Sauron: New Piranha-Like Species Named After Ultimate Villain

    "It looks just like the Eye of Sauron."

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient Star Seen Zooming Through Space at 600 Kilometers Per Second

    Why such a rush?

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Create The Thinnest Lens on Earth Using Quantum Physics

    Just 3 atoms thick!

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out Where Paranoia Lives in The Brain

    Jumping at shadows.

  • Science Alert ☛ Neanderthal DNA Exists in Humans, But One Piece Is Mysteriously Missing

    What happened to it?

  • Science Alert ☛ Captivating Video Shows a Mysterious Deep Sea Squid Clutching Its Eggs

    Beautiful to watch.

• Education

  • The Hindu ☛ Libraries can parry superstitions, says council secretary

    Libraries can parry superstitious behaviours in the society, said State Library Council secretary V.K. Madhu here on Sunday.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ $2.4 million Texas home listing boasts built-in 5,786 sq ft data center with full liquid cooling immersion system, no bedrooms

    A Zillow listing for a $2.4 million "house", really a datacenter in disguise, in Dallas has been found on X, formerly Twitter. If you have corporate data center needs and want to work in a Texas suburb, this listing is for you.

  • Lewis Dale ☛ PSA: Cleaning keyboards

    It was not fine. Long story short, there’s at least one short somewhere and now half of my keys are dead. RIP Keychron K8, you were a great keyboard. Anyway, don’t do what I did, because it’s quite an expensive mistake. I’ve got a spare keyboard, but it’s one of the Apple Magic keyboards that I’m not fond of. Hopefully soon I can get together a new one.

  • Wired ☛ Light-Based Chips Could Help Slake AI's Ever-Growing Thirst for Energy

    One of the most promising ways forward involves processing information not with trusty electrons, which have dominated computing for over 50 years, but instead using the flow of photons, minuscule packets of light. Recent results suggest that, for certain computational tasks fundamental to modern artificial intelligence, light-based “optical computers” may offer an advantage.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ An Alarming Thing Happens Whenever Magic Mushrooms Are Decriminalized

    A phenomenon seen in cities across America.

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Meaty rice’? South Korean professor aims to change global protein

    South Korean scientists are injecting cultured beef cells into individual grains of rice.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Egg prices in Malaysia cut by 3 cents under new subsidy scheme

    Retail prices for eggs in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan will be adjusted accordingly.

  • New York Times ☛ China’s Lust for Durian Is Creating Fortunes in Southeast Asia

    Demand for the fruit, known for its rich taste and intense smell, has reshaped parts of Southeast Asia, where it has long been a staple.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • The Register UK ☛ Nearly 20% of running SQL Servers have passed end of support

    IT asset management platform Lansweeper has dispensed a warning for enterprise administrators everywhere. Exactly how old is that SQL Server on which your business depends?

    According to chief strategy officer Roel Decneut, the company scanned just over a million instances of SQL Server and found that 19.8 percent were now unsupported by Microsoft. Twelve percent were running SQL Server 2014, which is due to drop out of extended support on July 9 – meaning the proportion will be 32 percent early next month.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Windows 11 bug eats CPU resources — Abusive Monopolist Microsoft identifies Cross Device Service as cause, no fix ready yet

    Windows 11 Insider builds suffer from a buggy Service with High CPU usage.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Don Marti ☛ Don Marti: happy Father’s Day, here’s a Dad joke

      Ready? Joke time. Here’s an old one.

      What’s the difference between a donut and a turd?

      I don’t know.

      Remind me never to send you out for donuts.

      What reminded me of that joke is all the surveillance advertising companies going on about how surveillance advertising is so good for small businesses.

    • Mozilla ☛ Introducing Anonym: Raising the Bar for Privacy-Preserving Digital Advertising

      Mozilla has acquired Anonym, a trailblazer in privacy-preserving digital advertising. This strategic acquisition enables Mozilla to help raise the bar for the advertising industry by ensuring user privacy while delivering effective advertising solutions. The online advertising industry is undergoing a significant transformation.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s loudspeakers face questions over reach into North

    There are questions over how far the propaganda messages can blast.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s worst ever riots? Read the history

    Ronny Tong’s graduation from a producer of occasional pro-government soundbites to a fully-fledged writer of op-ed pieces will no doubt raise the literary quality of local journalism, but calls for one piece of advice.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong police investigate suspected suicide of officer at marine division base

    The Hong Kong police are investigating the death of an officer, who was believed to have taken his own life using his service pistol at a marine division base on Sunday, the force have said. On Sunday at around 3.20 pm, police found a 51-year-old officer injured inside a changing room at the Marine Harbour […]

  • RFA ☛ North Korea estimated to possess ‘up to 50 nuclear weapons’: think tank

    The number jumped from 30 last year, according to a Swedish group.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Retired cop in Malaysia reconnects with drowning boy he saved 19 years ago

    The boy fell into a swimming pool in 2005.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China coast guard says Philippine supply ship bumped Chinese ship in South China Sea

    For months, China and the Philippines have traded accusations over dangerous manoeuvres and collisions at the Second Thomas Shoal.

  • The Strategist ☛ Minilateral groupings: the UAE and its role in the geopolitical landscape

    Great-power competition between the United States and China continues to weaken multilateralism and the rules-based order.

  • New York Times ☛ As China’s Pressure on Taiwan Rises, Departing U.S. Envoy Urges Steady Hand

    Worries about Chinese belligerence rose during Sandra Oudkirk’s three years in Taipei. As she leaves, she is seeking to assure Taiwan of continued U.S. support.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China coast guard: Philippine supply ship bumped Chinese ship at Second Thomas Shoal

    For months, China and the Philippines have traded accusations over dangerous manoeuvres and collisions at the Second Thomas Shoal.

  • RFA ☛ Philippines seeks UN validation to extend continental shelf limits

    The extension would go beyond the outer limits of the Philippines’ 200-mile EEZ in the South China Sea.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan is not seeking war with China, defence minister says

    Taiwan is building up deterrence capability to make it harder for China to capture the island.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • JURIST ☛ Serbia court decides to extradite Belarusian filmmaker to Belarus

      Serbia’s Higher Court in Belgrade decided on Thursday to extradite Belarusian filmmaker Andrei Gnet to Belarus pursuant to the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and the interstate agreement Serbia and Belarus made on January 3, 2019.

    • New York Times ☛ Russian Forces Quash Prison Mutiny Led by Terrorism Suspects, State Media Reports

      The assailants had taken two guards hostage and were killed, the prison service said.

    • RFERL ☛ Security Forces Storm Russian Detention Center To End Hostage Drama

      Two corrections officers at a Russian detention center in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don were freed on June 16 by Russian special forces who stormed the facility after several inmates took the officers hostage.

    • RFERL ☛ Trial Of Jailed U.S. Journalist Gershkovich To Start June 26 Behind Closed Doors

      The trial of jailed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich will start on June 26 and be held behind closed doors, Russian court officials announced on June 17.

    • JURIST ☛ Finland suspects four Russian military planes violated airspace

      The Finnish Border Guard stated on Friday that it suspects four Russian military planes violated Finland’s airspace on Monday. This comes after Finland’s Ministry of Defence suspected the airspace violation of one Russian military plane on Monday. The suspected violation violated Finland’s airspace by 2.5 km and involved a four-plane division.

    • JURIST ☛ Sweden armed forces call Russia aggression over Baltic Sea ‘unacceptable’ following largest-ever NATO naval exercise

      The Swedish Armed Forces on Saturday issued a statement after a Russian military aircraft violated their airspace the previous day. 

    • France24 ☛ IS group detainees killed after taking hostages in Russian prison, say authorities

      Security forces stormed a detention center in southern Russia on Sunday, killing inmates accused of links to the Islamic State group who had taken two staff members hostage, state-funded news channel RT reported.

    • New York Times ☛ More Than 80 Nations Back Talks to Ease Path to Peace in Ukraine

      Meeting in Switzerland, world leaders backed a joint statement urging more diplomacy, but were divided on how to engage Russia.

    • New York Times ☛ Inside the Chechen Units Helping to Fight Russia’s War

      After hundreds of years of enmity with Russia, Chechens are deploying to Ukraine to fight Moscow’s war.

    • New York Times ☛ U.N. Humanitarian Chief: World Leaders Are Failing Us

      They are breaking the compact between ordinary people and those in whom power is vested.

    • RFERL ☛ 80 Countries Back Ukraine's 'Territorial Integrity' At Swiss Peace Summit

      Eighty countries have called for the "territorial integrity" of Ukraine to be the foundation of any peace agreement to end Russia's war in a communique issued on the second and final day of their gathering at a Swiss resort on June 16.

    • RFERL ☛ First Pride Rally Held In Kyiv Since Russia's Full-Scale Invasion

      Several hundred LGBT activists and their supporters, including Ukrainian soldiers, marched in central Kyiv on June 16 to demand the government grant them more rights as they took part in the first Pride march in the Ukrainian capital since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Coach Asks For Continued Support Ahead Of Opening Match In Euro 2024

      Ukraine coach Serhiy Rebrov asked Europe to keep supporting his nation in the war against Russia ahead of Ukraine's Euro 2024 opener against Romania on June 17.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Journalist Killed In Drone Attack In Ukraine's Donetsk Region

      A Russian journalist was killed in a drone attack in the Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, his news organization said on June 16.

    • France24 ☛ Swiss summit backs Ukraine’s ‘territorial integrity’, calls for peace talks with Russia

      Nearly 80 countries called Sunday for the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine to be the basis for any peace agreement to end Russia’s two-year war, though some key developing nations at a Swiss conference did not join in. The way forward for diplomacy remains unclear.

    • European Commission ☛ Press statement by President von der Leyen at the joint press conference at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine

    • The Straits Times ☛ US rebukes Vietnam ahead of expected visit by Russia's Putin

      The US has led Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Barry Kauler ☛ Motrike 320 rear shock mounted with ordinary bolts

      I posted a few days ago about the poor construction of the rear fork:

      https://bkhome.org/news/202406/trike-320-frame-rear-fork-large-gap.html

      ...which is strange, as I thought they would have used a jig to hold the pieces of the fork in place while welding. Maybe they did and the jig itself is wrong.

• Finance

  • Tesla, Google, Microsoft and Tiktok push tech layoffs total to nearly 100,000 this year

    Global tech layoffs are nearing 100,000 this year as the likes of Tesla, Google and Microsoft continue to shed employees in a bid to satisfy investors.

    More than 98,000 employees have been laid off by 326 companies so far this year, according to online tracker layoffs.fyi.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ Venezuela opposition party says government arbitrarily detained three activists ahead of presidential elections

    Venezuelan opposition parties said Saturday that three activists for the opposition were arbitrarily detained on Friday and have not been seen since, following a string of opposition political activists being detained ahead of Venezuela’s July presidential elections.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Reason ☛ A Frightening View of Free Speech and Academic Freedom at Harvard

    A Harvard Dean suggests universities can and should limit controversial speech.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ US news trends 2024: Interest and trust in news slowly recovering

    Trust, interest and the percentage paying for news all nudged up in 2024.

  • Press Gazette ☛ News avoidance at record levels as four in ten ‘worn out’ by news

    Report says news not just "depressing" but people are also finding it "relentless".

  • Press Gazette ☛ Online news subscriptions stagnate amid jump in numbers saying they would never pay

    In UK 8% of people paid for online news in the past year, down from 9%.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Jim Nielsen ☛ Notes From “You Are Not A Gadget”

    Jaron Lanier’s book You Are Not a Gadget was written in 2010, but its preface is a prescient banger for 2024, the year of our Hey Hi (AI) overlord:

    It's early in the 21st century, and that means that these words will mostly be read by nonpersons...[they] will be minced...within industrial clown computing facilities...They will be scanned, rehashed, and misrepresented...Ultimately these words will contribute to the fortunes of those few who have been able to position themselves as lords of the computing clouds.

    Today he might call the book, “You Are Not an Input to Artificial Intelligence”.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Science Alert ☛ Internet Could Be Worsening Our Fear of Small Holes, Psychologists Say

    Trypophobes beware.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• KOL435 | Austrian Libertarian Association (Spain): Intellectual Property, Libertarians in Politics and Our Differences

  Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 435.