Leftovers

• Tedium ☛ Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too

  Pondering “You Get What You Give,” the one-hit wonder recorded by a guy smart enough to realize that it would be a one-hit wonder. It’s a survival story.

  [...]

  Given all that, Gregg Alexander was a genius for breaking up New Radicals when he did. What seemed like a very rock-star thing to do—quit a band before it had a chance to even shine—was actually quite brilliant.

• Hackaday ☛ V-Slot Wheels Or Linear Rails?

  In the early days of 3D printers, most builds used smooth rods and bearings that rode on them. But these days, printers are shipping with either V-slot extrusions with Delrin wheels or linear rails. Which is best? Everyone seems to have an opinion, but [Spencer] decided to compare them using some well-defined experiments, and he shares his results in the video below.

• Science

  • CS Monitor ☛ NASA: Astronauts stuck on ISS must wait for SpaceX ride home in 2025

    After months of tests and debate, NASA decided test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will come back in a SpaceX capsule in February. Their empty Boeing Starliner capsule will attempt to return on autopilot in early September.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal Hidden Waves Could Shape Earth's Mysterious Highlands

    The giant stirs.

  • Science Alert ☛ NASA Astronauts Stuck in Space to Wait Half a Year Before Coming Home

    It's just too risky.

  • Science Alert ☛ Giant Study Reveals What Happens if You Don't Exercise Until The Weekend

    Is skipping weekdays bad?

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ A Simple But Effective Receiving Loop Antenna

    There’s a joke in the world of radio that all you need for a HF antenna is a piece of wet string, but the truth is that rudimentary antennas rarely perform well. Random pieces of wire may pull in some signal, but along with it comes a ton of unwanted interference and noise. It’s thus worth putting in the effort to make a better antenna, and if you’re not fortunate enough to have a lot of space, your best choice may be a magnetic loop. [Robert Hart] takes us through the design of a receive-only coaxial loop. It’s referred to as a Moebius loop because the conductor takes a “twist” path between the inner and outer halfway around.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nintendo PlayStation controller prototype sells for $35,000 at auction

    Just prior to the 3D console era getting its proper start with Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, Sony and Nintendo were in a partnership that produced a scarce few Nintendo PlayStations before the two companies went separate ways.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Hackaday ☛ Talking Milk Jug Says Glug-Glug-Glug

    Children can be a great source of daily inspiration, especially when they are just beginning to speak in full sentences and starting to let their little personalities show.

  • Science Alert ☛ Eating Seaweed May Help Prevent Parkinson's, Study Finds

    Here's what we know so far.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Human Heart Is Unique Among Mammals For This Key Reason

    We are the odd ones out.

  • Science Alert ☛ Cutting Back on One Amino Acid Increases Lifespan in Mice by Up to 33%

    Intriguing...

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Hype around generative AI: Has it already ‘jumped the shark’?

    It has only been around a few years, but the question is already emerging: Has the hype around generative Hey Hi (AI) reached its peak?

  • New York Times ☛ Arrest of Telegram’s Pavel Durov Becomes Free Speech Flashpoint

    Pavel Durov, the founder of the app, which has more than 900 million users, was taken into custody by the French authorities.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France over alleged failure to moderate criminal content

    Pavel Durov, the co-founder and chief executive officer of encrypting messaging app company Telegram Messenger Inc., was arrested by French authorities on Saturday evening local time on serious charges relating to abetting terrorism, fraud, money laundering and crimes against children. The charges do not allege that Durov himself undertook any such crimes.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ Is Taiwan Ready for War With China? A Show Has People Asking.

    Some think the drama, “Zero Day,” helps Taiwan confront an increasingly plausible scenario. Others say the show is alarmist and a tool of the government.

  • RFA ☛ Archeologists unearth ruins of ancient Uyghur city in Mongolia

    The discovery comes at a time when China is trying to recast Uyghur history as its own.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Philippines accuses China of firing flares at its South China Sea plane

    The Philippines accused China on Saturday of recently firing flares at one of its aircraft as it patroled over the South China Sea. Beijing claims most of the strategic waterway and has been involved in tense maritime confrontations with Manila in recent months, sparking fears of armed conflict that could draw in the United States, […]

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Second Amendment, as Applied

    Just as the Alito-authored Dobbs spawned a host of ugly laws, regulations, and ripple effects across the country, the Thomas-authored Bruen is now doing the same. Welcome to the Federalist Society Judicial System.

  • NYPost ☛ Israel-Hamas cease-fire, hostage talks to continue as weekend closes without an agreement

    The talks included CIA director William Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. A Hamas delegation was briefed by Egyptian and Qatari mediators but did not directly take part in negotiations.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China says will voice ‘serious concerns’ and ‘stern demands’ on Taiwan and security in upcoming US talks

    China plans to voice “serious concerns” on Taiwan and other security issues in upcoming talks with the United States, state media said Sunday.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel Strikes Hezbollah in Lebanon and Says It Thwarted Major Attack

    The Israeli military said it had destroyed rocket launchers aimed at Israel. Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group, later said it had fired hundreds of rockets, but both sides appeared to signal they did not intend to escalate further.

  • New York Times ☛ How the Latest Israel-Hezbollah Strikes Unfolded

    Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah carried out some of their heaviest cross-border attacks in months on Sunday morning.

  • France24 ☛ US helped track Hezbollah rocket, drone attacks against Israel, says defence official

    The United States helped track the barrage of rockets and drones launched by Hezbollah against Israel, but was not involved in strikes in Lebanon or in shooting down incoming projectiles, a US defence official said on Sunday. The news came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Sunday's strikes in Lebanon were "not the final word" in his country's military campaign against Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. "We are striking Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows ... and, I repeat, this is not the final word," Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ After a failed attack, Hezbollah’s propaganda seeks to prevent a wider war with Israel

    Committed as Hezbollah is to saving its Gaza-based allies, the group does not currently want a full war with Israel.

  • New York Times ☛ In a Region on Edge, Israel and Hezbollah Launch Major Attacks on Each Other

    The escalating strikes across the Israel-Lebanon border fueled fears of a bigger conflagration, but both sides signaled that they were de-escalating, for now.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Israel and Hezbollah exchange heavy fire, then back off, as Egypt hosts Gaza talks

    Israel launched what it called a preemptive strike in southern Lebanon to avert a large rocket and missile attack. Hezbollah said it fired hundreds of rockets and drones to avenge the killing of a top commander. Both signaled no immediate further escalation.

  • BBC ☛ Lebanese relief as Hezbollah and Israel seem to step back from brink

    Everyone knew the powerful Iranian-backed group would seek revenge for Israel’s assassination on 30 July of a top military commander, Fuad Shukr. The Israelis managed to hunt him down deep in Hezbollah’s heartland of South Beirut. That was both a strategic loss and a public humiliation.

  • JURIST ☛ Tennessee man charged with making threats against Biden, Harris and Obama

    US Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin G. Ritz announced on Friday that a man was charged with making threats against President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama on social control media.

  • Security Week ☛ Iranian Hackers Targeted WhatsApp Accounts of Staffers in Biden, Trump Administrations, Meta Says

    Meta said it discovered a network of Iranian hackers, who posed as tech support agents for companies including AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo and Google.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ ‘Even KGB agents were her unfortunate brothers’ – remembering Nijolė Sadūnaitė

      A fellow dissident remembers Nijolė Sadūnaitė, a nun, an activist for the rights of believers, and a prominent figure in Lithuania’s resistance to the Soviet rule. A press release by the Andrei Sakharov Research Center for Democratic Development at Vytautas Magnus University.

• Environment

  • RFA ☛ Pacific leaders meet for ‘pivotal’ climate change, decolonization and security talks

    The Pacific Island Forum’s importance is growing as geopolitical competition heats up in the region.

  • Science Alert ☛ Megatsunami in Greenland Produced Waves That Lasted an Entire Week

    Both scary and awe-inspiring.

  • Science Alert ☛ Experts Concerned as Australia Hits Record-Breaking Heatwave in Winter

    An unsettling forecast.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ The Finnish Embassy in Washington Has a Different Idea of Diplomacy: A Seat at the Sauna.

    The Finnish Embassy offers one of the hottest invitations in Washington: a chance to discuss serious topics in a sauna.

  • University of Michigan ☛ DNC focuses on young voters, social control media presence [Ed: But "social control media presence" means being manipulated by Trump, Musk, KSA, CPC etc.]

    As Democrats from across the country gathered in Chicago to watch Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accept their nominations for president and vice president, the pair attempted to appeal to a united coalition of Democratic voters while mobilizing younger voters.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • JURIST ☛ Türkiye airstrikes claim lives of two female journalists in Northern Iraq

    A Turkish airstrike in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region killed two female journalists, Hero Baha’uddin and Golestan Tara, on Friday. Both journalists worked for a local Kurdish media company and were traveling near the village of Teperash in Sulaimaniyah province when the strike hit, according to reports from local media.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • The Strategist ☛ China may be putting the Great Firewall into orbit

    The first satellites for China’s ambitious G60 mega-constellation are in orbit in preparation for offering global satellite internet services—and we should worry about how this will help Beijing export its model of digital authoritarianism [...]

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • New York Times ☛ Apple Rethinks Its Movie Strategy After a String of Misses

    “Wolfs,” a new film starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, was going to get a robust theatrical release. But the company is curtailing that plan.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Hackaday ☛ A Simple 6DOF Hall Effect ‘Space’ Mouse

    The 3DConnexion Space mouse is an interesting device but heavily patent-protected, of course. This seems to just egg people on to reproduce it using other technologies than the optical pickup system the original device uses. [John Crombie] had a crack at building one using linear Hall effect sensors and magnets as the detection mechanism to good — well — effect.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Red Flags Waved Off: Federal Circuit Rejects Overzealous Fee Award against Patentee

    While sitting by designation as at the Federal Circuit, Judge Alan Albright has authored an important new opinion on attorney fees patent monopoly cases under 35 U.S.C. § 285. The court vacated and remanded a fee award by Colorado Judge Brooke Jackson, finding that Judge Jackson abused her discretion when determining that the case was “exceptional” under the statute. Realtime Adaptive Streaming L.L.C. v. Sling TV, L.L.C., No. 2023-1035 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 23, 2024).

    One wild thing about this case is that Sling TV (DISH) was awarded a $3.9 million fee for seven months of pre-trial litigation — with the defendant on eligibility at the summary judgment stage. (Having requested ~$5 million).