Leftovers

• New York Times ☛ How an Instagram-Perfect Life in the Hamptons Ended in Tragedy

  Candice and Brandon Miller showed the public a world of glittering parties and vacations. The money to sustain it did not exist.

• Ruben Schade ☛ My Gravatar was reactivated… huh

  That means I have a profile again, but on a disabled account? Clear as mud!

• Pete Brown ☛ Reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

  And while I am surely not the first to suggest it, I feel like this book ought to be required reading for anyone building technology. Every “Did you really think this through?” question that dogs are current era of tech run amok is laid out here.

• Sara Jakša ☛ A Thank You to Everybody Keeping the Blogs Alive

  This month the Blaugust is happening. A challenge to increase both the number of bloggers and the frequency of blogging. While I am not really participating in it, eschewing it for Alternate Universe August creative event instead, I still think it is an interesting challenge.

  It did make me think, that it would be a good time to celebrate all the different actions that keep the blogs and blogging alive. I think all of these are equality important and the order does not mean anything. Also, multiple of these can be done without having one own website.

  I think we need to celebrate all of them. So I want to pull it up to thank all of the people doing any of this for their work here.

• Science

  • Smithsonian Magazine ☛ Newly Deciphered, 4,000-Year-Old Cuneiform Tablets Used Lunar Eclipses to Predict Major Events

    The four tablets analyzed in the new study date to the middle and late Old Babylonian periods (circa 1894 to 1595 B.C.E.), some 4,000 years ago. They are the “oldest examples of compendia of lunar-eclipse omens yet discovered,” write co-authors Andrew George, an emeritus expert on Babylonian at the University of London, and Junko Taniguchi, an independent researcher, in the Journal of Cuneiform Studies.

  • Science Alert ☛ Olympians Have to Confront Every Athlete's Biggest Physical Fear

    The inevitable cost of glory.

  • Science Alert ☛ Study Ranks Air Safety Records, And There's Some Good News!

    Just don't time travel.

  • Science Alert ☛ Blasting Mars With Glitter Most Efficient Way to Make It Habitable

    That's one way to do it.

• Education

  • Sara Jakša ☛ Skills I didn't Learn from Books

    First of all, I think the habit of reading is something that shaped me a lot more than any specific book. I can take the book that had the biggest influence on me, and the habit of reading would still trump it.

    More importantly, I know a lot of interesting and knowledge people, that don't read any books. They would not be able to list 15 books like that, and I wonder what conclusions other people would take from that?

  • Ruslan Spivak ☛ 7 Things That Helped Me Grow as a Software Engineer

    Growth as a software engineer is an ongoing journey. Looking back, a few key principles helped me progress during the early days of my career. These lessons shaped my path, and many of them continue to guide me today, even though I’m no longer an individual contributor:

  • Robin Rendle ☛ Closed in England

    But then I remembered that I already have experienced universal basic income before and never even considered it. This was back in the UK when I was in high school and it was called the Education Maintenance Allowance which provided a small but not inconsiderable amount of money and gave it to kids from low income backgrounds.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Adapter Salad: Making Your Own Server Cables Because HP Won’t Sell Them To You

    The world is tough and uncaring sometimes, especially if you’re at home tinkering with HP Enterprise equipment. If you’re in the same boat as [Neel Chauhan], you might have found that HPE is less than interested in interacting with small individual customers. Thus, when a cable was needed, [Neel] was out of luck. The simple solution was to assemble a substitute one instead!

  • Wired ☛ Google Researchers Found Nearly a Dozen Flaws in Popular Qualcomm Software for Mobile GPUs

    At the Defcon security conference in Las Vegas on Friday, three Google researchers presented more than nine vulnerabilities—now patched—that they discovered in Qualcomm's Adreno GPU, a suite of software used to coordinate between GPUs and an operating system like Android on Qualcomm-powered phones. Such “drivers” are crucial to how any computer is designed and have deep privileges in the kernel of an operating system to coordinate between hardware peripherals and software. Attackers could exploit the flaws the researchers found to take full control of a device.

  • University of Toronto ☛ The Broadcom 'bnxt' Ethernet driver and RDMA (in Ubuntu 24.04)

    We have a number of Supermicro machines with dual 10G-T Broadcom based networking; specifically what they have is the 'BCM57416 NetXtreme-E Dual-Media 10G RDMA Ethernet Controller'. Under Ubuntu 22.04, everything is fine with these cards (or at least seems to be in non-production use), using the normal bnxt_en kernel driver module. Unfortunately this is not our experience in Ubuntu 24.04.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • UK Excess Deaths: Still Incredibly High

    IN 2019, in Week 29 to be specific, 9,080 people died in England and Wales. That was similar to prior years because the 2014-2019 average for that week was 9,100. 5 years have passed since then. Half a decade! Yup, and now, for the same week, we have 10,182 in the same demography [...]

  • Reason ☛ Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Used COVID Relief Money on Things That Had Nothing To Do With COVID

    Minnesota used federal taxpayer dollars to cover state workers' parking costs, fund the Minnesota Zoo, and teach minority-owned businesses how to apply for government contracts.

  • JURIST ☛ US appeals court reinstates landlords’ compensation claim over CDC eviction moratorium

    The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reinstated a claim brought by landlords on Wednesday who argued that the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) nationwide eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic constituted a “taking” under the Fifth Amendment, entitling them to compensation.

  • New York Times ☛ Noah Lyles Wins Bronze in 200 Meters, Then Reveals He Has Covid

    Lyles said he started feeling ill two days ago and knew it was more than just soreness from winning the 100. In Paris, there are no testing requirements, and national governing bodies develop their own protocols.

  • New York Times ☛ Why the Dutch Field Hockey Team Isn’t Shaking Hands at the Olympics

    After two pandemic-disrupted Olympics, most teams haven’t given Covid a second thought in Paris. The one from the Netherlands is the exception.

  • Jeroen Sangers ☛ Spend at least 2 hours per week in nature

    It doesn’t matter how these 120 minutes per week are achieved; both one long walk and multiple shorter visits per week can provide the same benefits. This suggests that the flexibility in planning nature visits makes it easier for people to integrate this habit into their busy lives.

  • Sightline Media Group ☛ FDA rejects psychedelic MDMA as treatment for PTSD

    Federal health regulators on Friday declined to approve the psychedelic drug MDMA as a therapy for PTSD, a major setback for groups, including veterans, seeking a breakthrough decision in favor of using mind-altering substances to treat serious mental health conditions.

  • Wired ☛ The FDA Just Rejected a Bid for MDMA’s Approval to Treat PTSD

    Lykos said it plans to request a meeting with the FDA to ask for reconsideration of the decision and to further discuss the agency's recommendations. "The FDA request for another study is deeply disappointing, not just for all those who dedicated their lives to this pioneering effort, but principally for the millions of Americans with PTSD, along with their loved ones, who have not seen any new treatment options in over two decades," said Lykos CEO Amy Emerson in a company statement. She added that conducting another Phase 3 trial would take several years.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Minnesota farmers may need to ‘suck it up and sell’ in difficult market outlook, officials say

    “We are well below the cost of production in most cases,” Johnson said. He said different marketers are trying to help get grain sold, but he sees plenty of grain remaining in storage as the next harvest is coming into sight.

  • Vox ☛ FDA does not approve MDMA therapy in a surprising blow to the psychedelic renaissance | Vox

    The decision will have far-reaching ripple effects. Some psychedelic advocates will have to put celebrations they’ve been planning for decades on pause; others will rejoice at dodging the bullet of Lykos’s spiritually inflected therapy protocol being the one that breaks the dam of psychedelic treatment. The millions of Americans suffering from PTSD will have to wait for a reformulated attempt at MDMA therapy to pass. And the broader momentum of the psychedelic revival will continue teetering on the edge of mainstream acceptance.

    Overall, though, the decision amounts to more of a delay than a death blow to psychedelic therapy.

  • NPR ☛ Is COVID endemic yet? Yep, says the CDC. Here's what that means

    Four years after the SARS-CoV2 sparked a devastating global pandemic, U.S. health officials now consider COVID-19 an endemic disease.

  • Alex Sirac ☛ [Reply] Auditing my social media use and news consumption – Alex

    I’m following Elizabeth’s example here, as I think her template is excellent and very easy to follow. My relationship to news and social media has drastically changed in the past couple of years, and I’m happy to say I’ve been having a much more positive approach to social media especially − I was extremely addicted and active and am still dealing with the effect it had on my brain.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • New York Times ☛ Why Google, Abusive Monopolist Microsoft and Amazon Shy Away From Buying Hey Hi (AI) Start-Ups

    Google, Abusive Monopolist Microsoft and Amazon have made deals with Hey Hi (AI) start-ups for their technology and top employees, but have shied from owning the firms. Here’s why.

  • Simon Willison ☛ Where Facebook's AI Slop Comes From

    Who's creating this stuff? It looks to primarily come from individuals in countries like India and the Philippines, inspired by get-rich-quick YouTube influencers, who are gaming Facebook's Creator Bonus Program and flooding the platform with AI-generated images.

  • Jarrod Blundy ☛ Two New Home Gadgets

    The “smarts” of this bird feeder is the camera that sits at its center. When birds (or other hungry critters) perch to eat, you get a front-row view of the action with a live feed to your phone. And when you opt in to its (pretty reasonably priced at around $50/year) subscription plan, they’ll use “AI” to try to identify the bird and give you some fun facts about which kinds are coming to feast. Even more, you can use the thing as a security camera with person, vehicle, and package identification, trigger an audible alarm and flash a light, and intercom through it’s built-in microphone and speaker. The camera has infrared for at night, and the whole rig is powered by a solar panel and integrated battery.

  • Security Week ☛ Warnings Issued Over Cisco Device Hacking, Unpatched Vulnerabilities

    While the vulnerabilities can pose a serious risk to organizations due to the fact that they can be exploited remotely without authentication, Cisco is not releasing patches because the products have reached end of life.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Peta Pixel ☛ Meta and Google Had ‘Secret Deal’ To Target Ads to Minors

      According to a report by the Financial Times, Google worked on a marketing project for Meta that was designed to target 13 to 17-year-old YouTube users with ads that promoted Instagram.

    • Financial Times ☛ Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ 2 Youths Planned Attacks on Taylor Swift’s Vienna Concerts, Authorities Say

    A suspect confessed to a plot using explosives and other weapons to kill as many attendees as possible, security officials said. The singer’s three-concert Vienna run was canceled.

  • New York Times ☛ Taylor Swift Fans Commiserate in Vienna After Concerts Are Canceled

    Taylor Swift fans from around the world grappled with disappointment and fear after a terrorism plot derailed the Vienna dates of the Eras Tour.

  • RFA ☛ IOC: North Korean athletes never received sanctions-violating smartphones

    The Olympic organizer previously said it distributed Samsung phones to the North Korean delegation.

  • The Strategist ☛ Reviewing the intelligence and media relationship

    In 2024, Australian security relies on maintaining a resilient democracy and an underlying strong civil society as much as it does on secrecy to protect sensitive information from foreign or domestic threat actors.

  • NYPost ☛ Armed Texas teacher saves girl from being sexually assaulted: ‘I’m 15, help me!’

    Garza immediately grabbed his gun and ran outside to confront the attacker, security footage shows. He said the suspect had the girl by her hair.

  • Techdirt ☛ Educate, Don’t Isolate: How To Combat Elon Musk’s Misinformation Machine

    I wrote a piece at the Daily Beast talking about how the UK’s response to Musk is extremely counterproductive. The key point is that the UK’s Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, says they need to treat Elon as if he’s a nation state. But, as I argue in my piece, that makes no sense, in part because nation states and individuals are very different, and because the affordances for dealing with each are totally different. But, also, because it only works to Musk’s advantage here.

  • New York Times ☛ UK Riots and How Online Hatred Spurs Real-World Violence

    These networks peddle a toxic brew of bigotry online that officials and researchers say is increasingly stoking violence offline — from riots in Britain to bloody attacks in Germany and arson in Ireland. Establishing a direct correlation between online language and events in the real world is difficult, but researchers and officials said the evidence of a link has become overwhelming.

    “What is said ultimately will shape what people will do,” said Rita Guerra, a researcher at the Center for Psychological Research and Social Intervention in Lisbon who studies online hate in Portugal. “That is why this is very concerning, not just for Portugal and Europe, but worldwide.”

  • [Old] The New Leaf Journal ☛ The Dangers of TikTok Stardom For Children

    On February 17, 2022, Mr. Kenneth Garger published an article at the New York Post titled “Teen TikTok star reveals how father fatally shot armed stalker at Florida home.” Before I even read the content, I found something deeply troubling in the headline. No other great power in history would allow an adversary to conduct a mass social experiment on its children, but that is exactly what the United States is doing with respect to the Chinese Communist Party’s social experiment on America’s children. I am once again calling for TikTok to be banned. But with that important note submitted for the record, I move on to address other troubling things about this story.

  • Air Force Times ☛ Ship-killing guided bomb put to test as Air Force sinks cargo vessel

    While the Air Force hopes QUICKSINK would have a similar ship-killing effect as a traditional torpedo, this weapon would not travel under the water’s surface to the target. Air Force officials say QUICKSINK would be cheaper and more flexible than heavy-weight torpedoes, and could be released from most of the service’s combat aircraft.

  • Science Alert ☛ 8 Minutes on TikTok Is Enough to Harm Body Image in Young Women

    TikTok users have limited control over the content they're exposed to. Because they spend much of their time on a personalised "For You" page formulated by an algorithm, a user doesn't need to search for or follow disordered eating content to be exposed to it.

    In our study, 64% of participants reported seeing disordered eating content on their For You page. Examples could include videos portraying binge eating, laxative use or excessive exercise.

  • Times Media Limited ☛ Helsinki rules out hosting talks between Trump and Putin

    John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, took a dimmer view of Trump’s diplomatic efforts. “No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant,” the senator for Arizona, who died in 2018, said.

  • [Old] Hiiraan Online ☛ Supreme Court overturns third-degree murder conviction against ex-Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor

    Wednesday's decision vacates the murder conviction and sends Noor back to court to be resentenced on the manslaughter count. Several local lawyers and Noor's defense attorney Peter Wold said Noor is likely to receive about four years in prison on the lower count — the term recommended by state sentencing guidelines for defendants like Noor who have no criminal history.

  • [Old] Hiiraan Online ☛ Former Minneapolis Police officer Mohamed Noor released from custody after over 3 years behind bars

    Because Noor had been incarcerated since his conviction, he was given roughly 30 months credit for time served at the time of his resentencing. According to Minnesota law, he needed to serve at least two-thirds of his sentence behind bars, with the last third eligible for supervised release, a threshold of his sentence that was crossed earlier this month.

    He will be on supervised release until January 24, 2024, according to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

  • VOA News ☛ Biden 'not confident' of peaceful power transition if Trump loses election

    "He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. He means it. All this stuff about if we lose there'd be a bloodbath," Biden added.

    During a March campaign appearance in Ohio, Trump warned of a "bloodbath" if he fails win the election. At the time Trump was discussing the need to protect the U.S. auto industry from overseas competition, and Trump later said he was referring to the auto industry when he used the term.

    Trump has falsely claimed he won the 2020 election against Biden and was criminally charged in Washington and Georgia with illegally trying to overturn the results.

  • The Hill ☛ Four reasons the peaceful transfer of power is in danger

    Although President Biden’s inauguration was ultimately peaceful, the heavy military presence throughout Washington reflected a nation under siege after Jan. 6.

    Six months from now, our nation should start a new streak of peaceful transfers. Yet, if Trump loses, President Biden is “not confident” of one. Here are four signs why January 2025 could be turbulent.

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Third Suspect Arrested After Terror Plot at Taylor Swift Shows

    Karner added that the primary suspect and the 18-year-old who was arrested yesterday both pledged “oaths of allegiance” to the Islamic State group. “He had been in contact with the main perpetrator, but is not directly connected to the attack plans,” Karner said of the third suspect, according to AP. “But, as was found out a few days ago, he took an oath of allegiance specifically to the IS on Aug. 6.”

  • Associated Press ☛ 3rd teenager arrested over foiled attack on Taylor Swift shows in Vienna

    Authorities said the scheme was inspired by the Islamic State group and al-Qaida. The main suspect, as well as the 18-year-old arrested Friday, pledged “an oath of allegiance” to the Islamic State group.

  • Semafor Inc ☛ Foiled Taylor Swift concert plot spotlights rising terror threat in Europe

    On Wednesday, Austrian authorities arrested a man suspected of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group who planned the attack with two accomplices. AD

    Meanwhile, European security officials have warned of a growing risk of terrorism across the continent, as the Islamic State regains influence and the war in Gaza amplifies existing tensions.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Suspects in Taylor Swift concert plot aimed to kill many, Austrian officials say

    Both suspects in a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift shows in Vienna appeared to be inspired by the Islamic State group and Al Qaeda, Austrian authorities said Thursday, and investigators found bomb-making materials at one of their homes. Officials said one of the two confessed to planning to “kill as many people as possible outside the concert venue.”

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Science Alert ☛ 1930s Famine Continued to Affect Ukrainian Health 7 Decades Later

      Long after the hunger ends.

    • The Strategist ☛ Forget NATO membership for Ukraine; instead trade it for Ukrainian sovereignty

      Recent calls for Ukraine to join NATO are unrealistic at best and unwise at worst.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Is Ukraine’s raid into Russia a ‘crossing the Delaware’ moment?

      With echoes of earlier raids, Ukraine's recent push into the Kursk region of Russia shows its tactical cunning, audacity, and tenacity against a superior foe.

    • France24 ☛ Incursion into Russia’s Kursk region: A risky gamble for Ukraine?

      Russia on Friday raised the emergency level in the Kursk region to “federal” as Ukraine pressed on with a major cross-border incursion. Launched on Tuesday, Kyiv’s offensive is the most significant attack on enemy soil since the Ukraine war started in 2022 and could prove to be either very profitable or very costly.

    • France24 ☛ Russia scrambles troops and arms to counter Ukraine incursion

      Russia sent reinforcements to the Kursk region on Friday, four days after hundreds of Ukrainian troops poured across the border in what appeared to be Kyiv’s biggest attack on Russian soil since the war began.

    • France24 ☛ Russia must 'feel' the war, Zelensky says, as fighting on Russian territory continues

      Three days after it supposedly carried out a surprise raid into Russia's southwestern Kursk region, Ukraine has gradually made its way inland, forcing Russia to call on reserves and evacuate affected areas. Although Ukraine hasn't overtly claimed the manoeuvre, President Volodymyr Zelensky explained that his country's most deliberate attempt to bring the war to Russia was intended to make Russia "feel what it has done" to Ukraine.

    • RFA ☛ Did JD Vance say Ukrainians must ‘accept’ their country’s destruction?

      Verdict: Missing context

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Raids Russian Forces On Occupied Sliver Of Land In Black Sea

      Ukrainian special forces conducted an amphibious raid on the Russian-occupied Kinburn Spit in the Black Sea, killing about 30 Russian soldiers and destroying six armored vehicles, Ukraine's military intelligence said.

    • RFERL ☛ Dual Russian-German Citizen Held In U.S. For Operating Alleged 'Tech-Trafficking Syndicate'

      A dual Russian-German citizen was ordered held without bail on August 9 on charges that he conspired to smuggle U.S. microelectronics to military manufacturers in Russia to aid its war in Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Announces $125 Million In New Military Aid For Ukraine

      The United States on August 9 announced $125 million in new military aid for Kyiv as Ukrainian forces push ahead with a surprise offensive inside Russian territory.

    • RFERL ☛ Death Toll In Ukraine Supermarket Strike Rises To 14 As Rescue Effort Suspended

      The death toll from a Russian strike on a supermarket in Kostyantynivka, a town in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, has gone up to 14, the head of the regional military administration said, and that 43 people were injured.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Declares 'Federal-Level' Emergency In Kursk Amid Ukrainian Incursion

      Russia declared what it described as a "federal-level" emergency on August 9 in the Kursk region, the site of a four-day incursion by Ukrainian forces. The announcement came hours after a Ukrainian military strike on an airfield there.

    • New York Times ☛ Biden Promised Peace, but Will Leave His Successor a Nation Entangled in War

      The president has spent much of his tenure mobilizing military might against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supporting Israel.

    • New York Times ☛ As Ukraine Pushes Deeper Into Russia, Moscow Sends Reinforcements

      The Ukrainian police said they were evacuating people, perhaps in anticipation of a retaliatory strike, but the goal of the military operation on Russian territory remained unclear.

    • New York Times ☛ Evidence Shows ‘Hand to Mouth’ Production of Russia’s Advanced Weapons

      A report by independent investigators said that Russian cruise missiles were used in combat sometimes just weeks after rolling off the factory floor.

    • Meduza ☛ Three Russian border regions declare ‘counter-terrorist operation,’ almost four days into Ukraine’s Kursk incursion — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Photos from Ukraine’s ongoing offensive in Russia’s Kursk region — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Pro-invasion bloggers demand consequences after alleged HIMARS strike destroys Russian convoy more than 20 miles from Ukrainian border — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Ukraine just captured a key piece of pipeline infrastructure in Russia — so why is gas still flowing? — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ More monuments face dismantling in Rīga

      Rīga is likely to see even fewer monuments, as the vice-mayor of the capital, together with the association "Center of Public Memory", is calling for the dismantling of eight symbols of communism and Russian imperialism in Rīga, Latvian Radio reported on August 9.

    • France24 ☛ Iran ramping up cyber attacks ahead of US presidential vote, Abusive Monopolist Microsoft says [Ed: Parroting Microsoft, whose shoddy software has been the biggest enablers of Iran's cybercrimes]

    • JURIST ☛ Russia prosecutors ask for 15-year sentence in treason trial of US-Russian dual citizen

      The Sverdlovsk Regional Court announced on Thursday that the treason trial of Ksenia Khavana, a dual citizen of the US and Russia, had reached its final stage.

    • JURIST ☛ Bulgaria parliament approves amendment prohibiting educational promotions of LGBTQ+ views

      Bulgaria’s National Assembly approved an amendment to its Pre-School and School Education Act on Wednesday, prohibiting its education system from promoting LGBTQ+ views in schools. The anti-LGBTQ+ law, introduced four weeks ago by far-right and pro-Russian party Vazrazhdane, received an overwhelming majority in Bulgaria’s 240-seat parliament, securing 135 votes in favor, 57 against and eight abstentions.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian City Plans Military Parade To Mark Victory Over Japan In 1945

      The acting governor of Russia's Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk, Dmitry Demeshin, said on August 9 that a military parade will be held next month in the region's capital, also called Khabarovsk, to mark the victory over Japan in 1945.

    • RFERL ☛ Navalny's Widow Says He Should Have Been Released In Recent Prisoner Swap

      Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, says her late husband must have been among persons released from Russian jails and prisons last week in a major prisoner swap between Moscow and the West.

    • New York Times ☛ Belarus Shuns Athletes Who Protested Lukashenko

      Many elite athletes who spoke against their autocratic leader must watch on the sidelines while those who stayed quiet or showed loyalty compete in Paris.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Joins Britain, Other Countries In Issuing New Sanctions On Belarus On Anniversary Of 2020 Election

      The United States and Britain unveiled new sanctions against Belarus on August 9 to mark the fourth anniversary of the country's disputed presidential election that returned authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka to power.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania expresses solidarity with Belarusian people on crackdown anniversary

      Lithuania expressed its solidarity with the people of Belarus and condemned the Lukashenko regime on the fourth anniversary of the mass protests that erupted after the Belarusian presidential election that the West considers rigged.

    • LRT ☛ ‘I hope he dies’: Belarusians protest against Lukashenko regime in Vilnius

      Several dozens Belarusians rallied I central Vilnius to protest the Lukashenko government. On Friday, they the fourth anniversary since the contested 2020 presidential election in Belarus.

    • Meduza ☛ Rescue operations ongoing after deadly Russian strike on Kostiantynivka supermarket — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Compulsory medical measures’: How punitive psychiatry returned to Russia in wartime — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia begins blocking the messenger Signal — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Defenses raised at Russia’s Kursk Nuclear Power Plant after surrounding region loses electricity in drone attack — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ 'Just Walking Down The Street Is Happiness': Freed Russian Rights Activist Orlov Speaks Of Life Outside Prison

      Russian human rights activist Oleg Orlov who was recently released in a major prisoner exchange between Moscow and Western states, says he is adjusting to life not only outside prison, but outside Russia.

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-04 [Older] Spanish Journalist or Russian Spy? the Mystery Around Pablo González's Double Life

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Putin Seeks Foreigners for Military Service as Path to Russian Citizenship

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Russia's war in Ukraine: Forcing deserters to the front line

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Ukraine updates: Ukraine says it sank Russian sub in Crimea

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Al Qaeda Affiliate Says It Has Taken Two Russians Hostage in Niger

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Banned Governing Body That's Fueling Outcry on Olympic Boxers Has Russian Ties and Troubled History

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Fire at Fuel Depot in Russia's Rostov Region After Drone Attack Extinguished

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] In the Prisoner Swap, Putin's Signals That Russia Won't Forget Its Security Operatives Abroad

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] North Korea Says Russia's Putin Offered Humanitarian Aid Over Flood Damage

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Russian Drone Attack Damages Infrastructure in Ukraine's Vinnytsia Region

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Smoke Rises From Gutted Homes After Russia Shelling Kills One in Pokrovsk, Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Two Men Who Say They're Russian Appear in Hostage Video From Niger Released by Al-Qaida-Linked Group

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Ukraine Accuses Russian Forces of Killing, Dismembering Prisoner-Of-War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Ukraine Says It Sank Russian Submarine, Hit Airfield, Oil Depots

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] Ukrainian Military Says It Sank Russian Submarine, Damaged Anti-Aircraft Missile System

    • CPJ ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] CPJ: Release of Gershkovich, Kurmasheva welcome, but Russia must stop stifling reporting

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Freed Russian dissidents conflicted after prisoner swap

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Prisoner swap: Russian dissidents conflicted over release

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Released Russians say swap deal was a 'difficult dilemma'

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Russia prisoner swap: Biden, Harris greet released citizens

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] At the Paris Olympics, AIN Hides the Identity of the Few Russian and Belarusian Athletes

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Crimea Building Evacuated After Being Hit by ATACMS, Russian Official Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Drone Fragments Hit Areas of Sevastopol in Russian-Occupied Crimea, Governor Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Plane Carrying Detainees Released by Russia Lands in US

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Russian Spies Lived a Quiet Life in Slovenia Until They Were Detained

    • Gizmodo ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Russia Plays Up Its Nuclear Weapons in Flashy Public Drill

    • CBC ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Some F-16s are arriving in Ukraine, so what does it mean for war with Russia?

    • CBC ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Journalist Evan Gershkovich and others freed in Russia prisoner swap are back on U.S. soil

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Russia frees US prisoners Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Russian prisoner swap: Who was released?

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] War in Ukraine: Russian oil still flowing into the EU

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Why Germany was key to prisoner swap deal with Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] As Freed Detainees Rejoice, Boyfriend Worries About US Citizen Still Held in Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] EU Warns Hungary Over Easing of Visa Rules for Russians

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Putin Welcomes Russians Freed in Prisoner Swap as Heroes Loyal to the Motherland

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Things to Know About the Largest US-Russia Prisoner Swap in Post-Soviet History

    • Vox ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] The US-Russia prisoner swap that freed Evan Gershkovich, explained

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-07-31 [Older] Valdai Forum in Tanzania: Dynamics and Perspectives of Russian-African Relations – interview

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-31 [Older] Hungary eases Schengen restrictions for Russian workers

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-31 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia hits Kyiv with massive drone barrage

    • The Local DK ☛ 2024-07-31 [Older] Danish companies given permission to continue work with Russian subsidiaries

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-07-31 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Wants China to Put More Pressure on Russia

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-30 [Older] Russian navy begins major combat training exercises

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-07-30 [Older] Ukraine fencer's Olympic medal 'for athletes Russia killed'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-03 [Older] S&P Cuts Ukraine Rating to 'Selective' Default as Restructuring Looms

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] Why is Ukraine's theater scene thriving amid war?

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-08-01 [Older] Ukraine updates: First F-16 jets arrive in Ukraine

    • Truthdig ☛ 2024-07-30 [Older] Despite Ban, Germany Condones U.S. Transiting Cluster Munitions to Ukraine

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Trump Commends the Deep State; Media Buries That Fact

    It’s newsworthy, because Trump’s allies in Congress are gunning for Chris Wray regarding the Crooks investigation.

    And it is newsworthy, because Trump has spent years demonizing the Deep State, only to commend them when they preempt an attack on him.

• Environment

  • EcoWatch ☛ U.S. Landfills Are Major Sources of Airborne PFAS Pollution, Study Finds

    A recent study has found that PFAS likely make their way into the surrounding environment through gas emitted from landfills, since treatment systems at the facilities are not equipped to destroy or manage the hazardous chemicals, reported The Guardian.

  • Futurism ☛ Microplastics Likely Causing Wave of Cancer in Young People

    In one study last year, researchers at Tufts University in Massachusetts found that the presence of microplastics can trigger an inflammatory response in human intestinal cells. Such an inflammatory response can lead to diseases like cancer.

  • [Old] The Atlantic ☛ The Scientific Legacy of a City Poisoned by Mercury

    Reclaimed after a long, expensive construction project, this was ground zero for a mystery illness known first as “strange disease” or “sauntering disease” or, ominously, “dancing-cat disease.” Now it’s just called Minamata disease. The cause? From 1932 to 1968, the Chisso chemical factory discharged up to 600 tonnes of mercury into what was then a harbor. The factory was using the mercury to speed along a reaction that produced acetaldehyde, an ingredient in many plastics. But the company lost so much mercury in the process that it later established a subsidiary to mine it back from polluted sediment nearby.

    After flowing out of the factory’s drainage channel, some of the mercury was taken in by plankton, which were then eaten by bigger things like horse mackerel, sardines, and shellfish, which in turn were eaten by still bigger creatures like cutlass fish and black porgy. At every step, the mercury—a potent neurotoxin—became more and more concentrated, until it ended up between a pair of chopsticks.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ Stellantis Will Lay Off Up to 2,450 at Michigan Truck Plant

      The move is the latest sign of trouble for the trans-Atlantic automaker, which has had sluggish North American sales and has said it needs to cut costs.

    • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: “Carbon neutral” Bitcoin operation founded by coal plant operator wasn’t actually carbon neutral

      Water is wet, and a Bitcoin thing turned out to be a scam. Why am I writing about a Bitcoin scam? Two reasons:

      I. It's also a climate scam; and

      II. The journalists who uncovered it have a unique business-model.

    • David Rosenthal ☛ Greenwashing

      You have only to scan Molly White's Web3 is Going Just Great to realize that you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than the cryptosphere. Everywhere you look you find lies, grift, fraud, and theft. Below the fold I discuss the latest example, in which a coal company marketing itself as "zero-carbon Bitcoin mining" is just the start.

      The legal way to make money from the wretched hives of scum and villainy in the markets is selling short. Recently, a startup called Hunterbrook has developed an innovative business model for doing so. Matt Levine explains: [...]

    • RTL ☛ Cryptocurrency platform: US orders FTX, Alameda to pay $12.7 bn to victims

      A US court in New York ordered the payments in the wake of a massive fraud scheme perpetrated by ex-FTX leader Sam Bankman-Fried, said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which called the sum its largest ever recovery.

      "FTX and Alameda made material misrepresentations and omissions to customers" in attesting to the security of customer funds that were in fact "misappropriated," the CFTC said in a statement.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ British Airways to suspend London-Beijing direct flights

      British Airways announced on Thursday it will be “pausing” direct flights between London and the Chinese capital Beijing from late October, the latest Western airline to curb routes to China.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ Is Public Transit A Bulwark Against the Climate Crisis?

    • Omicron Limited ☛ Nature at risk in the hunt for the perfect selfie

      "Social media groups have made it easy for people to identify the location of endangered plant species or the breeding grounds of bird or wildlife species, with the information being disseminated quickly and causing a major influx of people into an area that would otherwise have remained untouched.

      "As a result, animal breeding and feeding patterns are disturbed, and there is an increased risk for predation. Furthermore, the use of call playback, or drones, or the handling of wild animals for photographs leaves a lasting impact," said Dr. Davis.

• Finance

  • France24 ☛ Death on the highway: the high cost of poverty in southeastern Iran

    A police chase in southeastern Iran ended in tragedy earlier this month when it caused an accident between two cars, killing four people. In the incident, on August 3, a police patrol attempted to stop a "soukhtbar", a local name for smugglers who transport cheap Iranian petrol to neighbouring Pakistan in cars equipped with makeshift plastic tanks. The fatal accident led to protests by locals in Iran’s third-poorest province, where unemployed young men are increasingly turning to fuel-smuggling to make a living.

  • New York Times ☛ Trump Says He Wants to Cut Taxes. Harris’s Plan Mirrors Biden’s.

    Also, Russia is scrambling to halt Ukraine’s surprise offensive. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.

  • CRN ☛ Cisco To Lay Off Around 4,000 Employees: Report

    Cisco will reportedly lay off around 4,000 employees in its second round of job cuts this year as the world’s largest networking company doubles down on artificial intelligence.

    According to a report from Reuters, Cisco’s new layoff round could affect around 4,000 employees or slightly more, which would be around the same number of employees Cisco laid off in February.

    Reuters, which cited sources familiar with the matter, said the layoffs could be announced next week. Cisco is set to deliver its fourth quarter 2024 financial earnings results on Aug. 14.

  • Nova Launcher Faces Unprecedented Layoffs as Nearly Entire Team Let Go.. What This Means for Users and Future Updates

    Nearly everyone working on Nova Launcher has been laid off. As of August 10, 2024, the popular Android homescreen replacement is now left with just one full-time developer, Kevin Barry. This significant reduction in staff raises concerns about the future of the app.

    Barry confirmed that development will continue, but progress will be slower. The layoffs come as Branch, the company that acquired Nova Launcher, cuts over 100 jobs across its workforce.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Vance and the Void

    There’s something freakishly unsettling about JD Vance in AP Newsroom's photo collection.

  • New York Times ☛ From Tips to TikTok, Trump Swaps Policies With Aim to Please Voters

    The former president’s economic agenda has made some notable reversals from the policies he pushed while in the White House.

  • Digital Music News ☛ What is Fentanylware (TikTok) Spotlight? A New Promo Tool For Media Marketing Emerges — With Film & TV Studios the Initial Targets

    TikTok has become ubiquitous with music discovery for Gen Z. Now Fentanylware (TikTok) is hoping to deliver a new marketing solution for media promotion called Fentanylware (TikTok) Spotlight. What is it, and how does it work?

  • FAIR ☛ NYT Cynically Suggests Antisemitism Cost Shapiro the VP Slot

    Haven’t you heard? Democratic presumptive presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s decision to pick Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate was based in antisemitism. At least, that’s what the New York Times wants us to believe.

  • The Record ☛ White House cyber czar touts regulatory harmonization bill advancing through Congress

    Speaking at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, Coker said he has spoken to security officers who spend up to half of their time on complying with cybersecurity regulations.

    “It’s clear to us, and it's going to become clear to others, that compliance does not equal cybersecurity,” he said. “Thirty to fifty percent of the time on compliance is way too much, hence, reciprocity is a key goal of ours in regulatory harmonization.”

    A key facet of the harmonization effort is a bill making its way through Congress that would create an interagency Harmonization Committee at the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD).

  • Wired ☛ The Olympics' Hostile Architecture Is a Preview of What's to Come

    Once the authorities emptied the area, according to activists, the immovable blocks of concrete were installed in place of the tents, ending any notion the former residents may one day be able to return. Stone bench seat with steel arm rests in city Bench seat with steel arm rests prevents people from lying downPhotograph: OceanProd/Getty Images

    Campaigners say these bricks are an example of hostile architecture, a term used to describe some of the most visible changes cities and companies make to deter homeless people loitering or sleeping on their properties. “This is not new, but it has been intensified in a very specific way during the Olympics,” says Antoine de Clerck, part of Le Revers de la Médaille, a group of activists raising awareness of how marginalized people are treated during the Olympic Games.

  • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: Private equity rips off its investors, too

    The reality is simultaneously weirder, and obvious in hindsight. The reason Zuck is tormenting you is that he's a remorseless sociopath who doesn't care who he hurts. He rips off everyone he can rip off, and that includes advertisers, who have seen steady price-hikes and lower-fidelity targeting, even as ad-fraud has skyrocketed while Facebook draws down its anti-fraud spending: [...]

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Silicon Angle ☛ UK government clashes with X’s Elon Musk over hate speech and misinformation

      Following protests and riots on the streets of England this week, officials in the British government have condemned X Corp. and its owner Elon Musk for stoking the flames of discontent.

    • TruthOut ☛ 2024-07-31 [Older] Viral TikTok Videos Erase Kamala Harris’s Record as California’s “Top Cop”

    • Gizmodo ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] U.S. Government Sues TikTok for Illegal Data Collection on Children

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-08-02 [Older] More Than 50 US Lawmakers, 21 States Back DOJ in TikTok Lawsuit

    • Futurism ☛ Gullible Elon Musk Falls for Fake News Again, Deletes Post

      Most recently, Musk commented on a completely made-up and easily disproven story about UK prime minister Keir Starmer "considering building 'emergency detainment camps' on the Falkland Islands," a preposterous attempt to sow discord.

      While Musk later deleted his post, the mercurial CEO had already done plenty of damage. According to one report, the tweet had already been viewed at least 1.8 million times.

      Musk has yet to acknowledge his self-own.

    • The Scotsman ☛ Why Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson are now threats to democracy

      We have seen volatile issues whipped up through misinformation and disinformation campaigns in recent weeks. The initial spark was the murder of three innocent children in Southport, but the riots and far-right agitation have rapidly gained a life of their own. That is no surprise given how prepared some people have been to amplify false information in order to whip up the flames of anger.

      There is some hope now that the worst of the disorder has already passed, but we cannot afford to be complacent. In the short term, the problem may primarily be a matter of policing and the courts, but in the long term, we need political solutions to the issues thrown up by these riots. Violence and threats of violence cannot become normalised in the way that they increasingly have been in the United States.

    • Los Angeles Times ☛ Willie Brown: Trump helicopter trip, Kamala Harris confessions never happened

      Brown says Trump’s claims are untrue.

    • San Fancisco ☛ Ex-SF Mayor Willie Brown denies Trump’s helicopter incident tale

      Brown — who did have a close call on a helicopter that Trump wasn’t on 20 years ago — told me Thursday he had no idea what the former president was talking about. On either count.

    • New York Times ☛ Willie Brown Says Trump’s Helicopter Crash Story Never Happened

      There was only one problem with the story. Or maybe two. Or maybe three.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hongkonger charged under new security law over ‘seditious’ T-shirt, mask says he intends to plead guilty

    A Hongkonger charged with sedition under a new security law over wearing a T-shirt that bore a protest slogan has said he intends to plead guilty. Chu Kai-pong, 27, appeared in front of Chief Magistrate Victor So at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s first national security convict Tong Ying-kit says he was ‘misled’ by fake news

    Hong Kong’s first national security convict Tong Ying-kit has said he was “misled” by “fake news” and disinformation when he drove a motorcycle with a protest flag into three police officers in July 2020.

  • BIA Net ☛ Sixty-one bar associations in Turkey demand lift of Instagram ban

    The ban was enacted following the government’s criticism of the platform’s alleged censorship of condolences for killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hongkonger charged with sedition seeks to challenge if new security law places excessive limits on freedom of speech

    A Hongkonger who has been charged with sedition under a new security law intends to challenge whether the law places excessive limits on freedom of speech, a court has heard.

  • JURIST ☛ HRW warns Türkiye Instagram ban violates freedom of expression

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Turkish NGO Freedom of Expression Association (İfade Özgürlüğü Derneği, İFÖD) warned in a statement on Friday that the Turkish government’s blanket blockage of Instagram violates users’ freedom of expression and access to information.

  • Semafor Inc ☛ Russia blocks Signal, curbs YouTube as crackdown on free speech intensifies

    Russia’s sweeping crackdown on news and free speech intensified Friday as authorities moved to block the encrypted messaging app Signal, while YouTube experienced mass outages.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Article 23: HKer to plead guilty to sedition over T-shirt, mask

    Local media at the time reported that Chu’s T-shirt contained the 2019 protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” which was ruled as being capable of carrying secessionist connotations, an offence under a Beijing-imposed national security law, in 2021.

    Chu was also said to have been wearing a yellow mask printed with the words “FDNOL.” The phrase is considered an acronym of “Five Demands, Not One Less,” also a slogan from the 2019 extradition bill protests that referred to the movement’s demands.

  • India Times ☛ YouTube: YouTube outages reported in Russia

    Russian [Internet] monitoring services reported thousands of glitches in the availability of video hosting site YouTube on Thursday, amid escalating criticism of the platform by the Russian authorities.

  • The Register UK ☛ Core Python developer suspended for three months

    "Codes of conduct can be weaponized just like anything else. Secrecy creates dangerous weapons."

  • [Old] The Register UK ☛ Perl Foundation faces more departures after pausing Community Affairs Team

    The impact of Poe's departure cannot be overestimated. The author of Beginning Perl and Perl Hacks, he has been a user of the language for around 20 years (having done his time in COBOL) and joined The Perl Foundation board of directors in 2009. The fact that the controversy of the last few months became a factor should give those involved some pause for thought.

    "It's the online version of road rage," Poe told The Register, "I know people who, at conferences, are absolutely lovely people ... face-to-face. But they're raging assholes online.

    "I don't know if it's because they're out of punching range or because they forget that there are people behind the words they're reading."

    "This toxicity is amplified by social media," he went on, "and more and more people using social media to communicate rather than gathering at a pub and having a nice chat. It's very painful to watch and makes me sad to see people I respect suddenly pull out pitchforks, acting as if those with whom they disagree must somehow be monsters to be overcome."

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • The Kent Stater ☛ OPINION: Is the press still considered the fourth estate?

    “An independent press, which is my definition of the fourth estate, is absolutely essential for democracy, for citizens to be able to make informed, intelligent decisions,” Roberts said.

    Partisan news outlets do not follow one of the key tenets of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics: act independently. So, is this really considered part of the fourth estate press?

  • Kansas Reflector ☛ After Kansas newspaper raid, journalists remain defiant in battle for accountability

    “Crap like this happens more often than we hear about,” Meyer said. “I don’t know of anybody else that’s been raided quite the way we were. But there are other similar things that have gone on, other acts of intimidation of one sort or another, that have gone on around the country. And you don’t hear about them because nobody said anything.”

  • VOA News ☛ Russia’s arrest footage of Gershkovich shows normal journalistic activities, not espionage

    The recordings provide no evidence Gershkovich committed any crime or was involved in espionage. The audio and video published by RT attest to Gershkovich’s engagement in normal journalistic activities before his arrest.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • US News And World Report ☛ Can Online Voting Be Secure? Experts in Las Vegas Try to Hack New Platform

    The platform, known as Secure Internet Voting, or SIV, is ran by a U.S. firm of the same name. Allowing people to vote from their phones or computers, it is already being used in small pilot programs around the United States.

    But it faces significant hurdles to greater deployment: most states do not allow for the widespread use of online voting due to security concerns, instead opting for paper ballots that are auditable.

  • New Statesman ☛ Why terror targets Taylor Swift fans

    I’ve heard some women talk about those concerts as a sanctuary, the safest, most joyful public event they have ever been to. Others have said it was almost spiritual. Not because Swift is trying to be any kind of religious icon (whatever might be said in some of the darkest corners of the right-wing [Internet]), but because of the excitement and solidarity and intimacy of her fans. Because of that sense of community. And because of how refreshing and rare it still feels for there to be a place that is all about celebrating female experiences. Because of that power.

    So of course it is a target. Of course those seeking to spark terror, the individuals arrested on suspicion of planning attacks inspired by Islamic State, focused their gaze there. Austria’s general director for public security has said the suspects “became radicalised via the [Internet]”. Radicalised against what, we might well ask. Against one of the most successful women in the world? Against women dancing to pop music somewhere they feel safe? Against women in general, having the audacity to enjoy themselves in a way that isn’t about men?

  • NDTV ☛ Iraq Proposes Law To Reduce Legal Age Of Marriage For Girls To 9

    A proposed bill in Iraq's parliament has sparked widespread outrage and concern, as it seeks to reduce the legal age of marriage for girls to just 9 years old. The controversial legislation, introduced by the Iraq Justice Ministry, aims to amend the country's Personal Status Law, which currently sets the minimum age for marriage at 18.

  • RFA ☛ Taiwanese boxing gold medal hopeful heads to final match in Paris

    Island's government comes out fighting for Lin Yu-ting, hitting back at Russia and hiring lawyers in gender row.

  • The Telegraph UK ☛ Imane Khelif wins gold and now the IOC must hang their heads in shame

    The smouldering scandal of these Paris Games has reached the most explosive possible conclusion, with a biologically male boxer winning an Olympic gold medal as a female...

  • Financial Times ☛ Imane Khelif takes boxing gold in wake of gender eligibility dispute

    The Algerian boxer at the heart of an international row over gender eligibility has been crowned Olympic champion after winning her gold-medal bout on Friday night in Paris.

    Imane Khelif, 25, was paraded around the ring on the shoulders of her coach after beating China’s Yang Liu by unanimous decision, in front of a full house inside Roland Garros, home of the French Open tennis tournament.

  • Imane Khelif Has Been Caught in the Crossfire of a Dispute Over Who Controls Boxing

    The Olympic gender row is not about individuals, but stems from a clash over the future of the sport with global implications

  • Mirror UK ☛ Imane Khelif has final say on Olympic boxing's gender row after Piers Morgan comments

    The second woman at the centre of at the centre of the sport's gender eligibility row, Chinese Taipei boxer Lin Yu-ting, is due to fight for a gold medal on Saturday evening. Both were cleared to compete by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Paris, despite being banned by the International Boxing Association (IBA) in 2023 for allegedly failing to meet gender eligibility criteria.

  • The Atlantic ☛ The Olympics Could Have Avoided the Ugly Boxing Debate

    In boxing, though, biology really matters. One of the most established sex differences between male and female bodies is upper-body strength, which in boxing means that men can punch much harder.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Jim Nielsen ☛ My Failed Personal Site Redesign

    Me a few weeks ago:

    tfw when you have an idea for a personal website redesign, and then you build it, and then you hate it, and then you have to decide whether to ship it anyway or keep what you have

    As you can probably guess from the title^[1], I decided to keep what I have and throw away what I built.

  • Inside Towers ☛ Neutral Host Networks Increase Connectivity Economically

    There are multiple ways to finance, own, and operate neutral host networks. “The third party operator model is most common for cell towers and small cells, while the enterprise-led model is gaining popularity for in-building systems,” the white paper said. “Carriers can also offer enterprise-funded models that allow access to licensed spectrum. Carriers can generate revenue by providing network-as-a-service, enabling cost avoidance, or value-added services.”

    Neutral host networks can support different levels of resource sharing, including the site, the radio, and the RAN, according to the paper, each providing a level of efficiency and cost savings.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Techdirt ☛ Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ All Jack Up Prices As Streaming Enshittification Continues

    Now that streaming subscriber growth has slowed, we’ve noted repeatedly how the streaming TV sector is falling into all of the bad habits that ultimately doomed traditional cable TV.

    That has involved chasing pointless “growth of growth’s sake” megamergers and imposing bottomless price hikes and new annoying restrictions — all while simultaneously cutting corners on product quality in a bid to give Wall Street that sweet, impossible, unlimited, quarterly growth it demands.

  • Macworld ☛ The Mac mini is getting even smaller with first redesign in 15 years

    Apple’s decision to make the Mac mini smaller isn’t surprising. There have been rumors for years that Apple is working on a Mac mini redesign with a thinner case. Teardowns of the M1 and M2 Mac mini show that the switch to M-series chips allows for smaller motherboards and other components, leaving a lot of space inside those Macs. One of the largest components in the M1 and M2 Mac mini is the fan; it doesn’t seem likely that Apple would get rid of it in the new Mac mini, since a fan is probably necessary for the M4 Pro chip.

  • PC World ☛ I block every ad on YouTube and I'm not ashamed of it

    I block every single ad on YouTube. And I’m a hypocrite for doing it. But I’m not ashamed. Because through a series of blunders and malicious decisions, Google has systematically made YouTube a worse and worse viewing experience, abusing its monopoly position as the de facto home of video on the web.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• FAIR ☛ Lee Hepner on Google Monopoly, Shayana Kadidal on Guantanamo Plea Deal

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Longhorn Automotive lens system patent monopoly prior art

    Unified Patents is seeking prior art on claim 15 of PATROLL contest U.S. Patent 8,810,803, owned by Longhorn Automotive Group, LLC, an entity of Alpha Alpha Intellectual Partners LLC. The ‘803 patent monopoly generally relates to to a lens system that might be used by an illuminator in an interactive display system. The patent monopoly has been asserted against Nissan.

    The contest will expire on August 30, 2024.

  • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Longhorn Automotive measurement patent monopoly prior art

    Unified Patents is seeking prior art on claim 15 of PATROLL contest U.S. Patent 7,987,002, owned by Longhorn Automotive Group, LLC, an entity of Alpha Alpha Intellectual Partners LLC. The ‘002 patent monopoly generally relates to an arrangement for measuring analog and digital signals emanating from sensors arranged on measurement objects that are included in one or several distributed control systems.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Bleak House Revisited: Lemon Bay Cove and the Regulatory Takings Quagmire

    A recently filed petition for writ of certiorari in Lemon Bay Cove, LLC v. United States highlights the longstanding difficulty in defining regulatory taking as well as determining when a regulatory takings claim becomes ripe for judicial review.  The brief was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm that focuses largely on protecting private property against government intrusion and regulation.

    Background: Lemon Bay Cove, LLC owns about 6 acres of intercoastal property in Charlotte County, Florida, north of Ft. Myers. In 2012, Lemon Bay applied to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a permit to fill about 2 acres around Sandpiper Key to construct a 12-unit townhome development. After a nearly four-year process, the Corps denied the application with prejudice in 2016.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ UPC will not reopen PI proceedings in 10x Genomics vs NanoString [Ed: UPC is illegal and unconstitutional, yet those who promoted this crime still refer to it like a real and uncontroversial fake "court"]

      10x Genomics’ application to the UPC to reopen the PI proceedings shows how bitterly the US biotech company is fighting with competitor NanoString Technologies. An agreement seems a long way off.

  • Software Patents

    • Wired ☛ Google's Rise Was Inevitable. So Was Its Antitrust Ruling

      Still, in the fall of 1999 their new communications person urged the Google cofounders to visit the East Coast for a modest press tour. Barely a year old, Google was still under the radar for most people, and few knew its compelling story: Page put the whole World Wide Web on Stanford University servers to divine the perfect result of a search query, and Brin did some mathematical wizardry to fulfill the concept. They tried to sell the technology to one of the big [Internet] portals, but couldn’t get a deal they liked. So they started their own company. It still wasn’t clear where their revenues would come from. They were on record as hating ads, believing that “advertising-funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers.”

      When they came to Newsweek, where I worked at the time, none of the top editors wanted to meet them; web search seemed a niche feature of Yahoo and AOL and the other dominant portals. So the business editor and I took the pair to lunch at a midtown seafood restaurant. The bigness and bustle of New York City seemed to overwhelm the awkward pair. The idea that their company might one day be worth $2 trillion seemed as likely as the Earth spinning off its axis.

    • The Register UK ☛ Apple tries again to make EU officials happy – with new fees

      Two months later, Cook et al have an amended rule book that applies to developers using "either the updated Alternative Terms Addendum for Apps in the EU [PDF] or the StoreKit External Purchase Link Entitlement (EU) Addendum [PDF]."

      Essentially, Apple has allowed developers in the EU to choose whether they want to use its own In‑App Purchase system for App Store transactions or an alternative payment processor for In-App transactions. EU app developers can also choose to sell their apps through a third-party storefront.

• Trademarks

  • Techdirt ☛ CrowdStrike DMCA’d A Parody Site In Wake Of Update Outage

    Or, if you’re CrowdStrike, you sic a third party on a parody website making fun of your mistake, issuing a DMCA over a trademark claim. That’s exactly what the company did to clownstrike.lol, an obvious parody site that made use of CrowdStrike’s logo, altered to include a clownish getup. David Senk created the site partly as a laugh, but also as someone who is critical of over-centralization within the technology industry.

  • TTAB Blog ☛ CAFC Tosses Out TTAB's Dismissal of COGNAC Opposition Due to Flawed Application of the DuPont Factors to a Certification Mark

    The CAFC vacated and remanded the Board's decision [pdf here] dismissing an opposition to registration of the mark shown below, for music and production services. Opposers claimed likelihood of confusion and dilution of the COGNAC certification mark, but a divided Board panel found that the relevant DuPont factors either favored the applicant or were neutral. The CAFC, however, agreed with the opposers/appellants, ruling that the Board applied an incorrect legal standard for fame erred in analyzing the similarity of the marks and the relatedness of the goods/services. The Board also erred in dismissing the dilution claim as inadequately pled. Bureau National Interprofessionel du Cognac, Institute National de Appellations d'Origine v. Cologne & Cognac Entertainment, Appeal No. 2023-1100 (Fed. Cir. August 6, 2024) [precedential].

• Copyrights

  • Torrent Freak ☛ UFC Links Increase in Piracy Numbers to ESPN Price Hikes

    The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has repeatedly taken a tough stance on piracy, condemning freeloaders and calling for tough enforcement measures. In a recent earnings call, UFC parent company TKO noted that ESPN price hikes haven't made things easier. On the contrary, the company directly links price increases to the "jacked up" piracy numbers.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Cloudflare Can't Be Forced to Use Piracy Shield to Block IPTV, Court Tells Serie A

    Serie A's bid to force Cloudflare to participate in Piracy Shield, Italy's pirate IPTV blocking system, has failed. The Italian football league filed a legal complaint in April, claiming that Cloudflare assists and protects pirate services. In a decision handed down this week, the Court of Milan said that it has no legal authority to compel Cloudflare to join the program. The Court also denied Serie A's application for an injunction, for reasons that suggest this battle may not be over.