Leftovers

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘I’m not interested in 3D men’: In China, young women cast female cosplayers as dream dates

  During her final years of high school, Chinese teenager Xu Yunting found an unusual way to make some pocket money — transforming herself into male video game characters and taking their female devotees on dates. The trend, called “cos commissioning”, has gained traction in China recently, with social control media posts [...]

• Hackaday ☛ The Hidden Crystal Method

  Ever been working on a project and get stuck on one of those last little details?  That’s what happened to [Empire of Scrap].  He’s building an Ohio Scientific (OSI) superboard II replica. He wants it to be accurate down to the dates on the chips. It is quite an impressive build.  The problem is the crystal. OSI used large crystals, even by early 1980s standards. The crystal is in a large can with thick pins, like something you’d expect to find in old radio equipment. The problem is that this crystal package isn’t made anymore. 

• Pro Publica ☛ How a Customer Got Trapped in Ambetter’s Ghost Network

• Pro Publica ☛ How to Find an In-Network Mental Health Provider

• Malia Obama makes rare red carpet appearance in Vivienne Westwood to promote her directorial debut

  The daughter of former President Barack Obama turned heads as she stepped out at the 50th annual Deauville American Film Festival in France.

• Science Alert ☛ Quantum Experiment Could Finally Reveal The Elusive Gravity Particle

  We could soon detect them for the first time.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ New Mercury Images From BepiColombo Spacecraft Show Clear Views

    BepiColombo, a joint European-Japanese mission, completed its latest flyby of Mercury, sending back a sneak peek of the cratered planet it will begin to orbit in 2026.

  • Science Alert ☛ Lightning Strikes More Often in Skies Full of Pollution, Study Shows

    A scary side effect.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Researchers snoop data from air-gapped PC's RAM sticks by monitoring EM radiation from 23 feet away

    This cyberattack exploits the electromagnetic emissions of RAM sticks to broadcast data.

  • Science Alert ☛ Surprise Result Shows Mysterious Alzheimer's Signal May Protect Brain

    "A surprising new neuroprotective role."

  • Science Alert ☛ We Learn to Pretend Surprisingly Early in Our Lives, Study Shows

    As early as 4 months.

  • Science Alert ☛ Physicists Are Unraveling The Great Mystery of Earth's Inner Core

    Without it we’d be unlikely to even exist.

  • Science Alert ☛ Here's Why Legal Documents Are So Hard to Understand, According to Science

    This has gotten way out of hand.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China vexed at expansion of ASML chip tool export controls, reveals ministry statement

    The Chinese government is not satisfied with the Dutch government's decision to export control ASML's Twinscan NXT:1970i and 1980i.

  • Hackaday ☛ 2024 Tiny Games Contest: An Epic Minimalist Entertainment System, Indeed

    One way to keep things tiny is to make a system with cartridges where the brain lives on each cartridge instead of the platform itself. [Michael]’s Epic Minimalist Entertainment System (EMES) is one of those, and boy, is it tiny. EMES makes use of the ATtiny10, and they don’t get much AT-tinier than that.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Accidental Virus Release May Have Triggered Mysterious 1977 Pandemic

    A self-fulfilling prophecy?

  • University of Michigan ☛ The ethics of the artists I hide

    Content warning: Mentions of abuse and suicide. It has happened again. And so again, I perform my little ritual: I lock the door, sit up on my bed, put my earbuds in, take out my phone and begin to dig.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Hackaday ☛ Self Driving Cars Learn From Our Eyes

    [Michelle Hampson] reports in IEEE Spectrum that Chinese researchers may improve self-driving cars by mimicking how the human eye works. In some autonomous cars, two cameras use polarizing filters to help understand details about what the car sees. However, these filters can penalize the car’s vision in low light conditions.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • JURIST ☛ US New Mexico sues Snapchat over alleged failure to prevent child sexual exploitation

      New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a lawsuit against Snap Inc. (Snap) on Thursday, accusing the company’s social control media service Snapchat, of failing to protect minors from sexual exploitation and addictive design features.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ North Korea Sends More Trash Balloons South

    Hundreds of propaganda balloons ferrying trash have landed in South Korea in recent days, where officials say they typically do not pose a threat.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian cops bust civil servant-led drug ring, seize $600k in drugs

    A total of 10 individuals, including a 38-year-old civil servant, were detained.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian commuters call for single immigration clearance app at Johor-Singapore land checkpoints

    More than 320,000 Malaysian commuters have been using three apps to clear the two land checkpoints.

  • France24 ☛ Israel airstrikes in Central Syria kill at least 7 people, says war monitor

    Israeli airstrikes on Syria's Masyaf region late Sunday killed seven, including three civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The strikes, which destroyed military facilities, wounded at least 15 others, according to the Britain-based monitor with sources inside Syria.

  • France24 ☛ Hezbollah fires rockets, Israel strikes after attack kills Lebanese emergency workers

    Hezbollah announced retaliatory rocket fire targeting a town in northern Israel early Sunday in response to an Israeli attack that killed three civil defence personnel in the country's south. The Iran-backed Lebanese movement has exchanged near-daily fire with Israeli forces in support of ally Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.

  • France24 ☛ Three Israelis killed in shooting at West Bank-Jordan border crossing

    A gunman crossing from Jordan killed three Israeli civilians on Sunday at the Allenby Bridge border between the West Bank and Jordan, Israeli officials said, in what appeared to be an attack linked to the 11-month-old war in Gaza. The assailant was killed in a shootout with Israeli security forces.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US warns of business risks in Hong Kong linked to nat. security laws, as city says claims ‘false, baseless’

    Hong Kong has rebutted American claims about increasing business risks in the city after the US warned that all companies and individuals in the city are “are subject to the broad and vague provisions” of national security laws.

  • RFERL ☛ In Pakistan, Supporters Of Imran Khan Rally To Demand His Release From Prison

    Supporters of the imprisoned Pakistani leader Imran Khan have gathered to demand his release, amid tight security.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • France24 ☛ Russia claims new gains in east Ukraine push, launches deadly strikes

      Russia claimed on Sunday that its forces had taken full control of a town in eastern Ukraine as they advance on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again urged Kyiv's partners to give him more scope to use Western-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia.

    • RFERL ☛ Germany's Scholz Calls For Renewed Push For Peace In Ukraine

      German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a renewed effort to bring peace to Ukraine, adding that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had both agreed in recent talks on the need for a new peace conference that would include Russia.

    • RFERL ☛ Kyiv Denounces Russian Voting In Occupied Crimea

      Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has denounced Russia’s elections in the occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea, noting that the procedure is a violation of international law.

    • RFERL ☛ 6 Killed By Russian Air Strikes As Ukraine Presses 'Long-Range Solutions'

      Russian attacks overnight killed and wounded several Ukrainian civilians at various locations, Ukrainian officials reported on September 8, shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was continuing “long-range solutions” aimed at forestalling such air strikes.

    • RFERL ☛ NATO Members Romania, Latvia Accuse Russia Of Violating Airspace With Military Drones

      Romania and Latvia, both members of NATO, on September 8 accused Russia of violating their countries' airspace with military drones, escalating tensions between Moscow and the West.

    • Latvia ☛ Russian drone falls on Latvian territory

      On Saturday, September 7, a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) crashed in the Rēzekne municipality, representatives of the Military Public Relations Department of the Latvian Ministry of Defense said.

    • The Strategist ☛ Modernising the Bangladesh Air Force: time to turn away from China and Russia

      The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) needs modernisation. This time, rather than arming itself via Russia and China again, it should look west. The deposing of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina presents an opportunity for a ...

    • JURIST ☛ US DOJ charges former Trump adviser with sanctions violations and money laundering

      The US Department of Justice announced on Thursday that charges have been filed against Dimitri Simes, a Russian-born US citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Simes is accused of working for a sanctioned Russian state television network and laundering the proceeds from his involvement.

    • LRT ☛ How Crimea ended the first joint Russia–NATO military operation

      Oana Lungescu has become one of the most recognisable public faces of NATO. She spent thirteen years, from 2010 to 2023, curating the alliance's rhetoric and public narratives. During this time, she also had to respond to the biggest crises since the end of the Cold War.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Xi, Russia’s Putin send greetings to Kim Jong Un on North Korea’s founding day

      2023's founding day on Sept 9 was marked with parades and diplomatic exchanges.

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Doppelgänger Debunking: Monitoring Social Media Does Not Equate to Recruitment

      Commentators are misrepresenting a reference to Russia's tracking of 2,800 pro- and 1,900 anti-Russian influencers included in last week's Doppelgänger affidavit.

    • New York Times ☛ Struggling to Stem Extremism, Tajikistan Targets Beards and Head Scarves

      After Tajiks were charged with a deadly attack in Moscow, the country has cracked down on signs of Islam. But experts say it’s not addressing the causes of terrorism.

• Environment

  • France24 ☛ Torrential floods kill several people in southeastern Morocco

    Torrential rains caused floods that killed at least 11 people in Morocco's southern provinces of Tata, Tiznit, and Errachidia, authorities said Sunday. Nine others remain missing. The floods destroyed 40 homes, damaged 93 roads, and disrupted electricity, water supply, and phone networks in several villages.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hackaday ☛ Repairing A Hallicrafters S-120

      [MIKROWAVE1] claims he’s not a radio repair guy, but he agreed to look at a malfunctioning Hallicrafters S-120 shortwave receiver. He lets us watch as he tries to get it in shape in the video below. You’ll see that one of his subscribers had done a great job restoring the radio, but it just didn’t work well.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ Something Strange Is Happening to The Calls of Amazon Parrots

      They don't sound the same.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s rescue plan for property market appears insufficient to reverse price decline

    Second-hand home prices have continued to fall, with August marking the 28th month of consecutive decline.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ In Rural China, ‘Sisterhoods’ Demand Justice, and Cash

    Growing numbers of Chinese women are challenging a longstanding tradition that denies them village membership, and the lucrative payouts that go with it.

  • RFA ☛ INTERVIEW: Documentary filmmaker re-lives the 2019 Hong Kong protests

    'There were some scenes where I really couldn't stop crying.’

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China tells US it presents ‘opportunity’ not ‘threat’ – ministry

    Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen told his US counterpart on Saturday that a modern China was an economic “opportunity” not a “threat” to the United States, the ministry said.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Five bills to watch in the Michigan Legislature: August 2024

    Each month, The Michigan Daily publishes a compilation of bills in the Michigan legislature to inform students at the University of Michigan about what is happening in their state.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ How did a Hong Kong judge find media outlet Stand News a seditious ‘tool’ to smear Beijing?

    In a landmark judgement handed down last week, a Hong Kong judge found that independent online media outlet Stand News had become a tool to smear and vilify authorities in Beijing and the city during the 2019 protests and unrest.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • JURIST ☛ Rights organizations issue joint statement calling on Saudi Arabia to release detainees

    A group of 40 rights organizations issued a joint statement Friday calling on Saudi Arabian authorities to release all those unfairly jailed for their online expression before Riyadh hosts the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from December 15 to 19.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • New York Times ☛ Brazil’s X Ban Upended Digital Businesses Overnight

    The ban on Elon Musk’s X has dealt a blow to Brazilians whose livelihoods depended on internet followings they had amassed for years, and which disappeared overnight.

  • Tedium ☛ Tethered

    On the freedom that cellular modems gave to consumers—and how mobile companies tried to claw it back during the iPhone era.

    [...]

    Cell phones and similar mobile devices were still in their relative infancy in the mid-1980s. In the fall of 1983, the first commercial cellular service launched in earnest.

    By the spring of 1984, companies were already hatching plans to connect modems to the network.

    The first company credited with bringing networked computing capabilities to cellular networks was the Dallas-based firm Spectrum Cellular Communications. That firm first announced a device called the BRIDGE in 1984, and filed for a patent for said device in 1986. A 1984 piece in Infoworld described what the BRIDGE was capable of at the time.

  • Computers Are Bad ☛ 2024-09-08 private lines

    I have been meaning, for some time, to write about common carrier switching arrangements (CCSAs). These could be considered an early form of products like "virtual private ethernet:" a private telephone network that was served by the same switching machines that handled the public telephone system. A CCSA is, in effect, a "virtual telephone network." AT&T operated a number of these for both government agencies and large private organizations, and they might be viewed in a way as precursors to the large CENTREX-and-WATS arrangements that became a common fixture of state governments and school districts.

    The problem is that I fear I am putting the cart before the horse. CCSAs, and even the fully private telephone systems they were intended to replace, are basically the extreme extension of the private line. Besides, private lines are an important part of the history of computing, as well: they were the pattern for the digital "leased line" services that formed the bulk of computer network connections through the early days of the internet.

    Let's ease into it by starting with an important source in telephone history: the Bell System Practices.

  • Sergio Durigan Junior: Chatting in the 21st century

    Several people have been asking me to explain and/or write about my solution for chatting nowadays. I realize that the current scenario is much more complex than, say, 10 or 20 years ago. Back then, this post would probably be more about the IRC client I used than about different chatting technologies.

    I have also spent a non trivial amount of time setting things up the way I want, so I understand that it’s about time to write about my setup not only because I think it can be helpful to others, but also because I would like to document things for myself.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) of 2024: From Oz to Earth

    As its name suggests, the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) is designed to substantially overturn the Supreme Court's decisions in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., 566 U.S. 66 (2012), and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. 208 (2014). Together those cases created a firestorm of invalid patents and challenges for the patent monopoly office and patent monopoly holders alike.  The bipartisan proposal was introduced in the Senate (Coons/Tillis) earlier this term and most recently introduced to the US House of Representatives (Kiley/Peters).