Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ George Fame: I Love the Life I Live

  Keen-eyed viewers may recognise the cover as being a similar style to Ben Sidran’s Cool Paradise, released around the same Go Jazz label. They also toured together, and appeared on each others concert albums. There’s something so magical about that late 80s mix of electronic synth and jazz/big band I can’t get enough of.

• New York Times ☛ James Earl Jones Dies at 93; His Acting Resonated Onstage and On-screen

  From destitute days working in a diner and living in a $19-a-month cold-water flat, Mr. Jones climbed to Broadway and Hollywood stardom with talent, drive and remarkable vocal cords. He was abandoned as a child by his parents, raised by a racist grandmother and mute for years in his stutterer’s shame, but he learned to speak again with a herculean will. All had much to do with his success.

• Lou Plummer ☛ How to Get Lots of Internet Points

  I follow the IndyWeb tenet of POSSE - Post on (your) Site, Syndicate Elsewhere, and it works for me. The only social media site I spend any meaningful time on is Mastodon. I have listed my blogs on a few blog directories and I help my friend Jedda maintain one as well. I don't do any kind of search engine optimization to drive traffic to my blogs.

• Jim Nielsen ☛ Seeing Others in Data, But Not Ourselves

  In other words: we believe data is a reflection of others, but not ourselves.

• Dhole Moments ☛ Doesn’t Matter - Dhole Moments

  To be a little more blunt: It’s overwhelmingly likely that nothing I write here will ever directly be on the final exam for any course you study. Your academic, career, romantic, and life success will not depend on my musings in any significant way.

• Catherynne M Valente ☛ Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things: Three Decades of Survival in the Desert of Social Media

  I’ve always rather liked the year I was born, 1979. The cuspy Oregon trail Xennial micro-generation to which I belong. It means I’ve seen a lot of transitions I might have missed had my parents not both been oldest children who had me young. All my siblings are significantly younger than me and missed a great deal of what I remember. Add to that a very politically active mother, a digital early-adopter father, and a creepily good memory and you have an elder millennial who nevertheless recalls some key Gen X touchpoints from a tiny child’s point of view. I’ve always valued that perspective as time and the internet has gone on, and it sure as fuck makes me madder now than I ever would’ve been if MySpace was my introduction to social media networks.

  So this clown car isn’t just going back to the turn of the millennium or GeoCities, but to Granddaddy Prodigy.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Sean Conner ☛ How? How do people not know their own email addresses?

    I don't know why this should surprise me any more, but it still does. I just … why? How? What's the angle here?

• Science

  • Hackaday ☛ The Science Of Coating Steel

    [Breaking Taps] has a look at “parkerization” — a process to coat steel to prevent rust. While you commonly see this finish in firearms, it is usable anywhere you need some protection for steel parts. The process is relatively easy. It does require heat and a special manganese solution made for the purpose. You scuff up the surface of the steel and degrease and wash it.

  • Not exactly “sensible medicine” for Elle Macpherson’s breast cancer

    A few days ago, I wrote about how the news was abuzz with stories about an interview that supermodel turned “wellness” entrepreneur Elle Macpherson gave to The Australian Women’s Weekly as part of the promotional campaign for her new book Elle. Specifically, the stories were about the part of the interview where Macpherson revealed that she had been diagnosed with some form of breast cancer in 2017, which had been surgically excised (apparently), but then made a decision that I wouldn’t consider “sensible” by refusing mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy. If you read my post, you’ll know that I was a bit confused about what, exactly, it was that Macpherson had been diagnosed with, given that at one point she referred to it as “intraductal carcinoma” (which is a premalignant, not a malignant lesion) but then said that doctors had recommended that she undergo mastectomy with reconstruction, chemotherapy, and radiation. Why? For one thing, chemotherapy is not in the treatment armamentarium for “intraductal carcinoma,” more commonly referred to as ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS for short. For another thing, radiation therapy after a mastectomy is also not in the treatment armamentarium for DCIS, even DCIS so extensive that it requires a mastectomy to clear. postmastectomy radiation is generally indicated for large invasive cancers that involve skin or muscle and/or have metastasized to the axillary lymph nodes (the lymph nodes under the arm, not DCIS.

  • Science Alert ☛ Astronomer Reveals The Dangers of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Mission

    As the commercial space industry takes off, there will be accidents and people will die. Polaris Dawn, planned to launch early in September 2024, will be a high-risk mission using only civilian astronauts. So, now is a good time to assess the risks and rewards of leaving the Earth.

  • Hackaday ☛ One Giant Steppe For Space Flight

    In a recent photo essay for the New Yorker magazine, author Keith Gessen and photographer Andrew McConnell share what life is like for the residents around the launch facility and where Soyuz capsules land in Kazakhstan.

  • Hackaday ☛ DOOM On A Volumetric Display

    There’s something magical about volumetric displays. They really need to be perceived in person, and no amount of static or video photography will ever do them justice. [AncientJames] has built a few, and we’re reporting on his progress, mostly because he got it to run a playable port of DOOM.

• Education

  • Henrique Dias ☛ Fear of Deep Water

    It feels weird to do swimming lessons as an adult, a bit embarrassing even, especially when everyone around me can swim. But if you look at the stats, you’ll see that 40-55% of adults don’t know how to swim (ranging from study to study). So it’s actually not out of the ordinary. I just happened to come from a sea-side country to another sea-side country and therefore the majority of people in both countries know how to swim.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ This Tiny Steam Engine Takes A Watchmaker’s Skill To Build

    When your steam engine build requires multiple microscopes, including those of the scanning electron variety, you know you’re building something really, really tiny.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ The GPU benchmarks hierarchy 2024: Ten years of graphics card hardware tested and ranked

    Our GPU benchmarks hierarchy ranks all the current and previous generation graphics cards based on real-world gaming tests. Find out how the latest GPUs from Nvidia, AMD, and defective chip maker Intel stack up, with this comprehensive look at over 80 GPUs from the past decade.

  • CNX Software ☛ Mayhem v2 expansion for Flipper Zero adds Wi-Fi, BLE, camera, microSD card slot, and NRF24 or CC1101 radio support

    Erwin Ried‘s Mayhem v2 is an all-in-one ESP32 and NRF24L01-based expansion board designed for Flipper Zero. This board adds Bluetooth and Wi-Fi through an ESP32-S module, features 2MP camera with flashlight, a microSD card slot, and support for either an NRF24L01 module (for sniffing and mousejacking) or a CC1101 module (for external radio communication).

  • CNX Software ☛ Jetway MF32 3.5-inch SBC is offered with defective chip maker Intel Core i5-1335UE or defective chip maker Intel Processor U300, four 2.5GbE, M.2 expansion

    Jetway MF32 is a 3.5-inch single-board computer (SBC) offered with either an defective chip maker Intel 13th Gen Core i5-1335UE or an defective chip maker Intel Processor U300. It includes four defective chip maker Intel 2.5GbE LAN ports and optional dual PoE with a max output of 40W. The board supports up to 32GB of DDR5 memory, offers various M.2 expansion slots, and comes with a Nano SIM card slot.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Pro Publica ☛ Which Brands Want to Loosen the Definition of “Recyclable”?

  • JURIST ☛ Biden administration finalizes new rules to improve mental healthcare access

    The Biden administration on Monday finalized several modifications to the existing legal framework governing mental healthcare, aiming to close loopholes in the existing law and improve access to treatment for mental illness and addiction.

  • New York Times ☛ How a Rural Maine County Jail Helped Prisoners Blunt Opioid Cravings

    A sheriff fought to give prisoners addicted to opioids a shot that suppresses cravings for a month. Upon release, they were more likely to continue treatment.

  • NYPost ☛ Slash’s stepdaughter Lucy-Bleu Knight left suicide notes at death scene: medical examiner

    Slash's stepdaughter Lucy-Bleu Knight left suicide notes before tragically taking her life in a rental unit, the medical examiner confirmed to The Post.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Biden Admin Strengthens Protections for Mental Health Care Coverage

  • New York Times ☛ The Trade-Off for Mountain Tranquillity in California? Increasing Fire Risk.

    Many Southern Californians have moved to San Bernardino County for more affordable homes and calmer lifestyles, but some also face disaster risks.

  • Science Alert ☛ Timing Chemotherapy With Cancer Cell Clocks May Improve Treatments

    Tumors have a ticker, too.

  • New York Times ☛ Greed, Gluttony and the Crackup of Red Lobster

    How missed opportunities, a $1.5 billion real estate deal, all-you-can-eat shrimp and the global pandemic sank the country’s largest seafood chain.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Telegraph Ukraine podcast presenter David Knowles dies aged 32

    Knowles died aged 32 after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest.

    >

  • European Commission ☛ EU and Canada launch Health Policy Dialogue to advance Health Priorities

    European Commission Press release Brussels, 09 Sep 2024 Today, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, and Canada's Minister of Health, the Honourable Mark Holland, held a virtual meeting to launch the EU-Canada Health Policy Dialogue under the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership Agreement.

  • Latvia ☛ Local diphtheria outbreak detected in Latvia

    A local outbreak of diphtheria has been detected in Latvia, the Children's Clinical University Hospital (BKUS) said in a release on September 9.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Deadly Pandemic Now Threatens The Most Remote Place on Earth

    Just as we feared.

  • New York Times ☛ Adams Tests Positive for Covid, Prompting Him to Scale Back Schedule

    Mayor Eric Adams canceled two planned events as federal investigations swirl around him and his inner circle.

  • CS Monitor ☛ East Africa’s mpox responders fight stigma with ‘love and dignity’

    Drawing on lessons from past epidemics like HIV and COVID-19, communities in East Africa are fighting stigma around mpox to stop the disease’s spread.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Brewed coffee over espresso

    I’d say most coffee people like both espresso and brewed coffee, but we all have a preference towards one or the other. Espresso is made from water forced through coffee at high pressure, whereas a brewed coffee is allowed to steep and filter its way to your cup. Both have their pros and cons, and have such diverse taste that I classify them as different drinks, just as I do boba and green tea, or my beloved Pilsner or a Weißbier.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Embracer's Lost Boys Interactive Hit With Layoffs - News

    “Today is a challenging day for Lost Boys Interactive as we face the difficult decision to reduce our workforce,” said the CEO of Lost Boys Interactive Shaun Nivens. "We recognize the impact of this decision on our team members, who have contributed greatly to our success. Decisions involving staff reductions are never made lightly, and this action was taken only after considering all other options. We are committed to supporting them in every way we can during this transition."

  • Xe's Blog ☛ Reflection is cooked

    Generative Hey Hi (AI) is in its Cambrian Explosion phase. So many people are taking the models and messing around with them in so many ways to try and see if they can make something work. There's just one problem: how do you tell if a model is good or not without actually setting it up and using it?

    One of the biggest points of comparison is the ELO score that each model gets when it's added to the LMSYS Chatbot Arena leaderboard. This is generally seen as a consistent way to evaluate models, but it's kinda costly to do these evaluations and takes a fairly long time to converge on a ranking that "makes sense". My favorite model Hermes 3 70b isn't currently on the leaderboard (probably because it was released like two weeks ago), but the model it's based on (Facebook's Llama 3.1 70b Instruct model) currently ranks 16th.

  • Kevin Boone ☛ Comparing Dropbox, pCloud, and rsync.net for off-site storage for Linux users

    I will consider three off-site backup and synchronization services that have some claim to be Linux-friendly: Dropbox, pCloud, and rsync.net. By ‘Linux-friendly’ I mean that they either provide specific software for Linux (Dropbox and pCloud), or use protocols that are widely used in the Linux world (rsync.net). I’m specifically not including Google Drive, because it offers no official support for Linux at all. There are third-party Linux tools that provide some measure of integration with Google Drive, and Linux users can still use its web interface. Nevertheless, I’m focusing on services that specifically target Linux – if only in a half-hearted way – rather than those that actively repudiate it.

    The three services I describe in this article are ones that I have used extensively, over the last ten years or so. I have most experience with Dropbox so, if I seem particular hard on that service, it’s probably because I’ve had longer to get familiar with its faults.

  • [Old] The Verge ☛ Social media is doomed to die

    This cycle has become all too familiar to me after growing up on AIM and Myspace, going to college on Facebook, and watching dozens of social companies rise and fall as a reporter at Insider and The Verge. Each platform began honorably, with young founders enthusiastically revealing that if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product. “We’re going to do things differently around here!” they say through a grin.

    And then the founders discover, one by one, that there’s something not quite right about the business of social media. They made their apps free to scale their community, and then they found there was no turning back. Unfettered growth became the only way forward, no matter how unrecognizable the product had to become to get there.

  • It's FOSS ☛ What is Hugging Face?

    Hugging Face is a crucial platform for Hey Hi (AI) models. But, what is it? And, what can you expect? Here, we tell you.

  • Qt ☛ Examples of local LLM usage [Ed: Peddling the cargo cult du jour (and Wall Street valuation Ponzi scheme, based on lies and false promises)]

    While researching for my Qt Contributors Summit 2024 talk I have learned about llamafile (and Mozilla’s Huggig Face repository), which allows you to distribute and run large language models (LLMs) with a single file.

  • IGN ☛ Ex-PlayStation Chief Criticized for Saying Laid Off Developers Should ‘Drive an Uber’ or ‘Go to the Beach for a Year’

    The former boss of Sony’s European PlayStation business has come under fire for saying video game developers who are laid off should drive an Uber or go to the beach for a year until the industry recovers.

    Chris Deering, who was boss of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe from 1995 to 2005 and in charge of the business for the launch of the original PlayStation in Europe, appeared on the My Perfect Console podcast to discuss the brutal layoffs that have seen tens of thousands out of a job in recent years. He downplayed the role of corporate greed in the layoffs, and had some controversial advice for those who have found themselves made redundant.

    "I don't think it's fair to say that the resulting layoffs have been greed," Deering said. "I always tried to minimise the speed with which we added staff because I always knew there would be a cycle and I didn't want to end up having the same problems that Sony did in electronics."

  • Those Affected By Layoffs Should Drive Uber, Says EX-Sony President

    X-Sony President Chris Deering explains in a podcast that the layoffs in the gaming industry aren't due to corporate greed.

  • Jakub Steiner ☛ Jakub Steiner: Autonomous Cameraman

    It’s been a while since I’ve annoyed you by mentioning drones, but here we are with DJI’s latest creation—the Neo. DJI is a giant, soulless corporation, but they’ve made some clever design decisions with this drone. It’s a flying camera that works without a phone or remote, and for about half the price of a GoPro, you get a self-sufficient, button-operated flying cameraman. Take it out, push a button, and off it goes, capturing footage like it knows what it’s doing. It might also just simply be a response to the actually innovative HoverAir X1, just made extremely affordable.

  • Privatisation/Privateering

    • New Statesman ☛ Could the UK's water bosses really go to prison?

      The Great Stink, as it has since come to be known, was a disgusting natural phenomenon in which that summer’s hot weather exacerbated the inescapable smell of untreated human waste and industrial chemicals that had seeped onto the banks of the Thames. The centre of London being thrown into chaos by the inexorable stench of human excrement that summer could have been avoided. It was largely down to the capital’s ageing and inadequate sewage system emptying directly into the famous river, and the episode led to a major upgrade of the wastewater network led by the engineer Joseph Bazalgette.

  • Security

    • Privacy/Surveillance

      • BIA Net ☛ Turkey seeks help from Google as 108 million people’s info stolen in massive breach

        Among the stolen data are the Turkish identification numbers of 108 million people, residential addresses of 82,322,190 people, and mobile phone numbers of 134,817,279 individuals.

        The five files, encompassing data of all individuals registered with any official body in Turkey, regardless of their citizenship status, have a total size of 42.18 GB.

      • Scheerpost ☛ You Really Do Have Some Expectation of Privacy in Public

        This is where mass surveillance comes in. While it is unreasonable to assume that everything you do in public will be kept private from prying eyes, there is a real expectation that when you travel throughout town over the course of a day—running errands, seeing a doctor, going to or from work, attending a protest—that the entirety of your movements is not being precisely tracked, stored by a single entity, and freely shared with the government. In other words, you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in at least some of the uniquely sensitive and revealing information collected by surveillance technology, although courts and legislatures are still working out the precise contours of what that includes.

      • EDRI ☛ Save the date: Freedom not Fear 2024

        Freedom not Fear (FNF) is an annual self-organised conference on privacy and digital rights. People from all across Europe meet and work towards more freedom in the digitalised world, plan actions against increasing surveillance and other attacks on civil rights.

      • EDRI ☛ BigBrotherAwards Germany 2024

        Watch as the worst offenders on privacy and surveillance are being slammed at the German BBA gala. The BigBrotherAwards are presented to companies, institutions and persons who act in a prominent and sustained way to invade people’s privacy, sell personal data or use it beyond the permitted purpose.

      • BIA Net ☛ Turkey seeks help from Surveillance Giant Google as 108 million people’s info stolen in massive breach

        The company has reportedly complied with Turkey’s request to delete data stored in Surveillance Giant Google Drive.

      • Venture Beat ☛ Oracle Database is in many enterprises and now it’s in Surveillance Giant Google Cloud too

        The Oracle Database@Google Cloud service is now generally available enabling Surveillance Giant Google users to bring AI, data analytics and other applications to Oracle data.

  • Defence/Aggression

    • JURIST ☛ UN warns of escalating humanitarian crisis in Sudan amid ongoing conflict

      The United Nations issued a dire warning on Sunday about the worsening crisis in Sudan, emphasizing the devastating impact of ongoing conflict and the inadequate international response. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), reported that over 20,000 people have died since the conflict began in April 2023.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China to train 3,000 overseas police officers as it seeks to cement role as global security provider

      China will train thousands of law enforcement officers from different countries over the next 12 months, its police chief said Monday, as it seeks to cement its role as a global security provider.

    • New Yorker ☛ “In the Dark” Reports on the Lack of Accountability for a U.S. War Crime

      The podcast investigates the events in Haditha, Iraq, and compiles a database to show the inherent problem of the military judging its own members.

    • RFERL ☛ Heavy Fighting Breaks Out Again On Afghan-Pakistan Border

      Fighting erupted again on September 9 between Taliban forces and Pakistani security forces in the Kurram-Khost border areas, with eyewitnesses saying the violence includes heavy weaponry and one elder saying a Pakistani soldier had been killed, although that could not be confirmed.

    • France24 ☛ Israeli military says it detained UN convoy in northern Gaza to question 'Palestinian suspects'

      Israel's military has detained a United Nations convoy in the northern Gaza Strip, saying that it has intelligence that several "Palestinian suspects" are in the vehicles. A UN spokesperson said he was aware of an "ongoing incident" and said that he was trying to establish the facts.

    • RFERL ☛ Police Block Pakistani Highway Over Military, Intelligence Meddling

      Hundreds of policemen in northwestern Pakistan were blocking the Indus Highway that links Peshawar with the port city of Karachi on September 9 to protest alleged interference by Pakistan's military and its intelligence agencies in their daily work.

    • France24 ☛ Israeli airstrikes kill more than a dozen in Syria, state media says

      Israeli air strikes on Syria's Masyaf region late Sunday killed at least 16 people, Syrian state media reported. The strikes, which destroyed military facilities, wounded at least 36 others, according to a local health official cited by the SANA news agency. Iran on Monday accused its regional arch-foe Israel of carrying out what it called a "criminal" act in central Syria.

    • New York Times ☛ Airstrikes Hit Syrian City Said to Be a Weapons Research Hub, Killing 18

      Syria accused Israel of carrying out the attacks in and around Masyaf, where experts say missiles and unconventional weapons are developed. Israel did not comment.

    • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea’s Kim Jong Un says country to increase number of nuclear weapons: KCNA

      He gave a speech on North Korea’s founding anniversary on Sept 9.

    • Semafor Inc ☛ To woo China, Saudi Arabia may accept yuan for oil

      Saudi Arabian officials expressed willingness to accept the Chinese yuan as payment for crude oil ahead of Premier Li Qiang’s visit to the kingdom on Sept. 9, as Saudi seeks to deepen ties with China to help its economy diversify from oil.

    • New York Times ☛ Trump Steps Up Threats to Imprison Those He Sees as Foes

      Over the past month, he has shared a post calling for former President Barack Obama to be subject to “military tribunals” and reposted fake images of well-known Democrats clad in prison garb. He has threatened the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg with a life sentence for helping state and local governments fund elections in 2020. He stoked fears of voter intimidation by urging police officers to “watch for the voter fraud” at polling places because some voters may be “afraid of that badge,” and warned that people deemed to have “cheated” in this election “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ In One Week, Trump Suggests He'll Eliminate Sanctions on Iran and Lies about Iran Hack to Supporters

      I’m interested in the response, generally, because if there was a quo that Trump was supposed to provide after Russia helped Trump win in 2016, it was sanctions relief. Trump went to some effort — with an attempt to script Steve Bannon’s HPSCI testimony, Don Jr’s refusal to testify before a grand jury, Trump’s complete blow-off of a sanctions question from Mueller, and the attempt to reverse the Mike Flynn prosecution — to prevent Mueller from substantiating that Trump had taken steps to deliver that quo before the Russian investigation became overt.

      Yet here he is again, suggesting he’ll end sanctions on Russia during the election.

      But I’m particularly interested in Trump’s affirmative inclusion of Iran in the comment.

    • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

      • Meduza ☛ Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian children’s rights commissioner wanted for war crimes, reportedly marries monarchist media billionaire — Meduza

      • Meduza ☛ Ukraine holds its ground in Russia’s Kursk region as defense crisis in Donbas grows — Meduza

      • RFERL ☛ Russian Rapper In Exile Under Investigation

        Russian state media quoted sources in law enforcement over the weekend as saying that a probe was launched in absentia against rapper Morgenshtern (real name Alisher Valeyev) on a charge of failure to comply with Russia's "foreign agent" law.

      • RFERL ☛ Poland Neutralizes Sabotage Group Linked To Belarus, Russia

        Polish security services have neutralized a sabotage operation orchestrated by Russia and Belarus that aimed to destabilize Poland, Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said on September 9.

      • RFERL ☛ Former Siberian Official Sentenced On Corruption Charge

        A court in the Russian city of Tomsk on September 9 sentenced the former governor of the Siberian Tomsk region, Dmitry Gurdin, to four years in prison on embezzlement charges.

      • New Yorker ☛ Russia’s Espionage War in the Arctic

        For years, Russia has been using the Norwegian town of Kirkenes, which borders its nuclear stronghold, as a laboratory, testing intelligence operations there before replicating them across Europe.

      • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Discerning Russian Trolls Appreciate Truth Social’s Treatment of Fake Accounts

        Deep in the Doppelganger dossier, it described that the social control media company of Candidate A -- Trump -- doesn't require Russian trolls to use perishable accounts to evade moderation.

      • RFERL ☛ U.S. Accuses Laser Tech Salesman Of Illegal Exports To Russia

        A former salesman for a manufacturer of laser welding machines was arrested on September 9 on charges that he conspired to evade U.S. export-control laws in order to sell his company's products to a division of the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom.

      • New York Times ☛ A Tug Between Russia and Europe Divides Montenegro

        A falling-out between former political allies in Montenegro has complicated the country’s efforts to join the European Union and curb pro-Russian influence.

      • RFERL ☛ More Belarusian Activists Go On Trial Amid Crackdown

        More Belarusian activists went on trial on September 9 on charges including allegations of support for a group called INeedHelpBy that assists political prisoners and their families.

      • RFERL ☛ Serbian Deputy PM Meets With Shoigu In Moscow To Discuss BRICS Invite

        Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin on September 9 discussed the upcoming BRICS summit with Sergei Shoigu, formerly Russia's defense minister, who now serves as the secretary of the Security Council.

      • LRT ☛ Lithuania calls for beefed up Baltics’ air defence after Russia drone crashes in Latvia

        Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has condemned violations of NATO airspace and called for strengthening air defence in the Baltic countries following the crash of a Russian military drone in Latvia on Saturday.

      • LRT ☛ Russia war symbols appear on objects in Lithuania’s Klaipėda

        Police in Lithuania’s port city of Klaipėda on Saturday received reports of Russia’s war symbol, the letter Z, having appeared on a number of objects.

      • Latvia ☛ Latvian Defense Ministry statement on Russian drone incursion

        The full statement issued by the Latvian Ministry of Defense about the incursion of a Russian drone into Latvian airspace is reproduced below. The statement was issued on the afternoon of September 8, 2024,

      • Latvia ☛ Russian drone that fell in Latvia had explosives attached

        The Russian drone that fell in the Rēzekne region on Saturday, September 7, was a "Shahed" type drone equipped with explosives, representatives of the National Armed Forces (NBS) said at a press conference Monday, September 9.

      • New York Times ☛ Russian Forces Capture 2 Villages in Eastern Ukraine, Analysis Shows

        Russia appears to be trying to cut off Ukrainian soldiers around the strategic city of Pokrovsk, a focal point of the war in recent months.

      • CS Monitor ☛ Ukraine’s push into Russia did wonders for morale. But will it change the war?

        History will judge whether Ukraine’s bold incursion into Russian territory will pay off in military terms, but it has cheered the public mood.

      • RFERL ☛ EU Hints At 'Swift' Response Over Iran Missile Supplies To Russia

        The European Union on September 9 described as "credible" information provided by allies suggesting Iran has supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to help Moscow wage war in Ukraine and hinted at a "swift" response.

      • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says Overnight Russian Drone Attack On Kyiv Was Fifth This Month

        The head of Ukraine's military administration in the capital said on September 9 that an overnight drone attack was Russia's fifth aerial assault on Kyiv this month.

      • RFERL ☛ UN Rights Commissioner Decries Dire Path, Highlighted By Afghan And Ukraine Suffering

        UN rights chief Volker Turk launched a four-week session of the Human Rights Council with a call for global leadership to avert a "dystopian future," invoking urgent warnings about the treatment of women in Taliban-led Afghanistan and Ukrainians under near-constant Russian attack.

      • Scoop News Group ☛ Russian, Kazakhstani men living in Miami indicted over cybercrime training service

        The pair stand accused of administering WWH Club, a major Russian-language cybercrime marketplace.

      • LRT ☛ Lithuania to provide €10m to Ukraine for purchase of long-range weaponry

        Lithuania will provide 10 million euros to Ukraine for the acquisition of long-range weapons from its own manufacturers.

      • France24 ☛ EU says it received 'credible' reports that Iran sent ballistic missiles to Russia

        The European Union is looking into "credible" reports from allies that Iran has supplied Russia with ballistic missiles to use in its war in Ukraine. Tehran has rejected the allegation while the US State Department warned that such a move would mark a "dramatic escalation" engendering "significant consequences".

  • Environment

    • The Revelator ☛ ‘The Mountain Wagtail’: How Pollution and Mining Are Destroying Kyrgyzstan

    • DeSmog ☛ Inside the Anti-Climate Culture War Led by Jordan Peterson and Project 2025

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Greenpeace finds microplastics in 85% of wild mammal faeces in Hong Kong

      Polyethylene particles made up 47.9 per cent of the particles found, while polypropylene particles made up 36.6 per cent, the study showed. The highest concentration of microplastics was found in cattle, with a median concentration of 65.5 microplastic particles per gram of dry faeces in samples found in Cheung Sha.

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Democrats Don’t Need to Back Fracking to Win Pennsylvania

      Kamala Harris has come out against a fracking ban, in line with the media narrative that voters in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania love fracking. But public support for the environmentally destructive practice in the state is thin and on the decline.

    • RFA ☛ Scores killed by Asia’s most powerful storm of the year

      Typhoon Yagi ripped through Vietnam after leaving trail of destruction across the Philippines and China .

    • Energy/Transportation

      • New York Times ☛ Battery Maker Northvolt to Cut Costs as E.V. Demand Slumps in Europe

        The Swedish battery manufacturer said it would eliminate jobs and seek partnerships as it grappled with competition from China.

      • Hackaday ☛ Hard Lessons Learned While Building A Solar RC Plane

        Although not the first to try and build a DIY solar-powered remote control airplane, [ProjectAir]’s recent attempt is the most significant one in recent memory. It follows [rctestflight]’s multi-year saga with its v4 revision in 2019, as well as 2022’s rather big one by [Bearospace]. With so many examples to look at, building a solar-powered RC airplane in 2024 should be a snap, surely?

      • H2 View ☛ Sungrow’s alkaline electrolyser starts operation at Chinese chemical park

        Sungrow Hydrogen has begun operating its alkaline electrolyser at the Shanxi Yulin Coal Chemical Industry base in China.

      • Science Alert ☛ Astronomer Reveals The Dangers of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Mission

        "Now is a good time to assess."

      • Science Alert ☛ Boeing Starliner Returns Home With No Crew: NASA Expert Explains Why

        The latest developments.

    • Wildlife/Nature

      • Science Alert ☛ Artists Recorded Haunting Sounds From The World's Largest Living Thing

        The giant has something to say.

      • Science Alert ☛ Amazing Footage Shows How Eels Escape Death After Being Swallowed

        We've never seen this before!

      • Science Alert ☛ US Confirms First Human Case of Bird Flu With No Known Animal Trace

        Here's what we know.

      • Science Alert ☛ Mass Die-Off in Bats Across US Linked to Over 1,000 Human Infant Deaths

        A catastrophe with deadly consequences.

      • Science Alert ☛ Stunning Video Shows How Much Earth Has Changed in 1.8 Billion Years

        We've never looked so far back in time.

    • Overpopulation

      • Atlantic Council ☛ Brazil 2050: A vision for global food security

        How can the world meet the growing demand for food while also adapting to climate change?

      • RFA ☛ To raise birth rate, North Korea punishes abortion doctors and contraceptive sellers

        2 doctors who performed secret abortions were sentenced to prison.

  • Finance

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Claims against Hong Kong gym chain Physical Fitness reach HK$31m as 8 personal trainers take case to police

      Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog has received 1,000 complaints with claims amounting to about HK$31 million against gym chain Physical Fitness, days after the company announced a “temporary shutdown.” Physical abruptly closed 23 fitness and health centres across Hong Kong last Friday, blaming high rents.

    • Latvia ☛ Inflation was 0.7% in August in Latvia

      The latest data published by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) September 9 show that in August 2024, compared to August 2023, the average level of consumer prices in Latvia increased by 0.7 %.

    • Federal News Network ☛ IRS announces $1.3B recovered from high-income wealthy individuals under IRA initiatives

      The IRS is tapping into Inflation Reduction Act funds to support these enforcement efforts.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China consumer prices reach 6-month high in August but fall short of expectations

      Chinese consumer inflation ticked up slightly in August to a six-month high, official data showed Monday, but the reading missed expectations and did little to soothe worries about sluggish spending in the world’s number two economy.

  • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

    • RFA ☛ EXPLAINED: What is ‘China Week’ at the US Congress?

      American lawmakers have 28 China-related bills they want to pass.

    • RFA ☛ China slams Germany’s reported plan to sail through Taiwan Strait

      China’s foreign ministry says it “firmly opposes” attempts to provoke under the guise of freedom of navigation.

    • RFA ☛ Xi’s latest message to North Korea’s Kim hints at cooling ties

      It marked the Chinese president’s first message to the North Korean leader since January.

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Discerning Russian Trolls Appreciate Truth Social's Treatment of Fake Accounts

      But I was interested in the post for another reason.

      The most interesting details from the Doppelganger dossier released with a takedown request last week pertain to how the Russian [astroturfers] described efforts by social media companies to police inauthentic content.

    • The Center for Investigative Reporting ☛ She Ate a Poppy Seed Salad Just Before Giving Birth. Then They Took Her Baby Away.

      Horton didn’t realize that she would be drug tested before her child’s birth. Or that the poppy seeds in her salad could trigger a positive result on a urine drug screen, the quick test that hospitals often use to check pregnant patients for illicit drugs. Many common foods and medications—from antacids to blood pressure and cold medicines—can prompt erroneous results.

    • Federal News Network ☛ How Labor solved its IT modernization funding puzzle

      Another big change brought on by this collaboration and coordination effort with the budget office and lawmakers is Labor’s annual IT modernization funding is now two-year money. Previously, Labor’s funding would expire in a year.

      Ahluwalia said over the last three-plus years since Labor received IT working capital fund authority, it has turned its IT spending around. When he got to Labor in 2016, the agency spent about 90% of its now $939.1 million IT budget on operations and maintenance (O&M) and 10% development, modernization and enhancement (DME) projects.

    • The Strategist ☛ The US election will overturn Europe’s strategic status quo

      With the US election just two months away, European decision-makers have gone from grappling with Trumpian nightmare scenarios—new trade wars, abandoning Ukraine and withdrawing from NATO—to experiencing an emotion they had almost forgotten: hope.

    • The Kent Stater ☛ Kolya Project helps war refugees find a home in Kent

      The founders of the Kolya Project have helped relocate war refugees from Ukraine to Kent since the war between Russia and Ukraine escalated in 2022.  Becky Gibson met Kolya Koretskyy when her and her husband helped sponsor him to enter the seminary in Ukraine.

    • Latvia ☛ Ambulances arrive in Ukraine from Latvia

      Any kind of support is important for Ukraine, and especially ambulances that save lives, representatives of the Ganta Foundation told Latvian Television in Ukraine. LTV met them in Kyiv, where another convoy of ambulances had arrived from Latvia and was handed over to the medics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian public media campaign raises EUR 334 thousand for Ukraine

      In the charity campaign organized by the public media - Latvian Television, Latvian Radio, and the portal LSM.lv - in cooperation with "Ziedot.lv", 334,733 euros have been donated in three weeks to support Ukraine, Latvian Television reports September 9.

    • Latvia ☛ Nearly 30,000 Ukrainians have turned to Latvian employment body since 2022

      This year the State Employment Agency has already provided support to 3,700 Ukrainian war refugees, the State Employment Agency (NVA) told LETA September 8.

    • RFERL ☛ Two More Ex-Cons Recruited By Wagner Mercenary Group Sentenced For Murders

      Two more former convicts recruited by the Wagner mercenary group have been handed lengthy prison terms for murders in Siberia.

    • RFERL ☛ Kremlin 'Not Interested' In Granting Interview With Putin To Reporter Gershkovich

      The Kremlin is currently "not interested" in granting an interview with President Vladimir Putin to Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 9.

    • Latvia ☛ 'Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Latvia’s Defense and Internal Affairs Sectors' seminar upcoming

      On September 11, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will host a one-day seminar titled: “Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Latvia’s Defense and Internal Affairs Sectors”.

    • New York Times ☛ Harris Said She Is Ready for the Debate

      Also, the U.S. argued that Surveillance Giant Google has an ad-tech monopoly. Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.

    • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

      • EDRI ☛ News Impact Summit: Fighting climate misinformation

        Since 2014, the EJC has organised 36 News Impact Summits. The Summits have inspired communities of journalists and media organisations in 29 cities in 20 countries across Europe and the Middle East, featuring 400+ speakers from leading international news organisations.

      • EDRI ☛ Disinformation & Democracy Conference 2024

        The conference seeks to address the critical issue of disinformation and its impact on democratic processes. It will bring together experts from the public sector, private industry, academia, and non-governmental organizations to discuss strategies for combating disinformation and enhancing strategic communication.

      • EDRI ☛ DisinfoCon 2024 – Taking stock of information integrity in the age of AI

        DisinfoCon is a forum for civil society, policymakers, journalists and Hey Hi (AI) practitioners to meet, exchange and align on a values-based approach to the Hey Hi (AI) revolution affecting our democracies.

      • EDRI ☛ Call for papers: Cambridge Disinformation Summit 2025

        The 2025 Cambridge Disinformation Summit is designed to convene global thought leaders to discuss research regarding the efficacy of potential interventions to mitigate the harms from disinformation.

      • New Eastern Europe ☛ Russia in the trenches of cognitive warfare

        As Włodzimierz Bączkowski, one of the most astute Polish Sovietologists, noted in his 1938 article “Notes on the essence of Russian power”, the definition of war in Russia is much broader than in the West. Aware of the relative weakness of its army, Russia has always tried to bring it into play only in the final phase of a long process of preparing the ground for aggression through subversion and propaganda campaigns.

      • Press Gazette ☛ Online overtakes TV as biggest source of news in UK for first time

        It has now narrowly been overtaken by the internet, with 71% of adults getting news online in the past year. This is up from 68% last year and 64% in 2018 and has primarily been driven, Ofcom said, by the rise in people accessing news [sic] through social media.

  • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 211: Carlos Affonso Souza on the Unprecedented Brazilian Court Order Blocking Twitter/X and VPN Use to Access the Service

      The Law Bytes podcast is back with a deep dive into a high profile case coming out of Brazil, where Ex-Twitter or X has been under a blocking order this month. Not only is the service blocked, but individuals face significant fines if they try to circumvent the order to access the service by using a VPN. The case raises many questions about enforcing domestic laws, political and tech power, and the impact on individual rights and freedoms.

    • JURIST ☛ Former Brazil president leads ‘free speech’ rally amid X’s suspension

      Former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro led a political rally on Saturday, Brazil’s Independence Day, amid growing dissent over the suspension of social control media platform X (formerly Twitter) in the country.

    • El País ☛ The ‘torture’ of Alexey Soldatov, the father of the Russian Internet, terminally ill and imprisoned without a bed

      Although he was part of the government during the Putin era as Deputy Minister of Telecommunications (2008-2010) under President Dmitry Medvedev, he did not rise very far due to his opposition to creating a vertical Russian Internet capable of separating itself from the global one, on the orders of the Kremlin. Finally, in 2019, he was accused of alleged appropriation of Internet domains by the head of the presidential department for the Internet, Andrei Lipov. The accuser would later be promoted to head of the Internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor.

      “I think my father’s case is related to the policy of the Russian authorities to nationalize the Internet infrastructure. I think it has nothing to do with me,” says Andrei Soldatov, a well-known investigative journalist who lives in exile because he is on the Kremlin’s wanted list.

    • Tor ☛ Artikel 5 e.V. - Another police raid in Germany - general assembly on Sep 21st 2024

      These were once again one and a half hours with armed police in a personal living room, threatening to de-facto kill a livelihood and software business (carrying a truckload hardware away) of an non-profit board member to force cooperation.

      As a consequence, I am personally no longer willing to provide my personal address&office-space as registered address for our non-profit/NGO as long as we risk more raids by running exit nodes. That is a risk I am just no longer willing to take anymore.

    • RFA ☛ Whistleblowing pandemic journalist Zhang Zhan back in detention

      Sources say Zhang is at risk of further prosecution, just 3 months after her release from prison.

  • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ German activist and HKU journalism grad David Missal says Hong Kong denied him entry despite travelling freely to China

      An award-winning German journalist, activist and University of Hong Kong (HKU) graduate has said he was barred from entering the city. David Missal said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was denied entry on Sunday evening: [...]

    • RFA ☛ Hong Kong turns away German activist as US warns of growing risks

      ‘I feel like Hong Kong is the same as mainland China now, or it may be more strict,’ says David Missal.

    • VOA News ☛ Turkey’s media regulator says journalists on YouTube need licenses 

      A requirement by Turkey’s media regulator for journalists on YouTube to have a broadcast license is being criticized as a way for authorities to more easily censor content.

      In a TV interview earlier this month, Ebubekir Sahin, the head of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council, or RTUK, said that a 2019 regulation means that all broadcasts, including those on the internet, “are under our supervision.”

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • CS Monitor ☛ Afghan women sing freedom

      The Taliban’s harsh laws that even command women not to sing at home have led many women to sing on social control media – with a melody of equality and dignity.

    • RFA ☛ EXCLUSIVE: 5 teenage Tibetan monks attempt to take own lives

      Five young Tibetan former monks who were forced to leave their monastery by Chinese officials and attend a local government-run boarding school attempted to kill themselves in early September, saying they found it “unbearable” to stay in the school’s “prison-like conditions,” people with knowledge of the situation told Radio Free Asia.

    • Bridge Michigan ☛ As US Postal Service bleeds money, some in Michigan will drive miles for mail

      Stacer’s situation will become a bigger deal on Oct. 16. That’s when the contract postal service will close in his Washtenaw County community, forcing him and 45 other neighbors to make a 14-mile round trip to get their mail from a post office in Northville.

    • JURIST ☛ HRW criticizes Malaysia’s detention of children in refugee centers

      Malaysia’s Baitul Mahabbah initiative to move children to dedicated refugee centers is no different from detention and continues to violate children’s rights, said Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Byrony Lau on Monday. These centers were introduced by the Malaysian government a year ago to move children aged 10 and under from immigration depots.

  • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • EDRI ☛ Enforcing the European Union’s new digital platform laws: How it is going so far

      It’s already September and the European Parliament’s summer break is officially over. While the legislature was sleeping, the European Union’s (EU) tech enforcers and their counterparts—Big Tech lobbyists—have been busy plotting their next moves.

  • Digital Restrictions (DRM)

    • Hackaday ☛ PC Floppy Copy Protection: Softguard Superlok

      Many have sought the holy grail of making commercial media both readable and copy-proof, especially once everyone began to copy those floppies. One of these attempts to make floppies copy-proof was Softguard’s Superlok. This in-depth look at this copy protection system by [GloriousCow] comes on the heels of a part 1 that covers Formaster’s Copy-Lock. Interestingly, Sierra switched from Copy-Lock to Superlok for their DOS version of games like King’s Quest, following the industry’s quest in search of this holy grail.

  Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Argues Surveillance Giant Google Created Ad Tech Monopoly

    The tech giant went to court on Monday in a second antitrust trial, this one focused on its dominance in advertising technology software. The case could reshape its business.

  • New York Times ☛ Google’s Legal Scorecard Before New Antitrust Fight

    How the tech giant has fared in its major legal battles across the U.S. and Europe so far.

  • New York Times ☛ Google’s Ad Technology to Be Challenged in Second Antitrust Trial

    In a second antitrust trial that starts on Monday, the Justice Department has called for a breakup of the tech giant, which it says controls the vast majority of online advertising.

  • Wired ☛ Google’s Next Antitrust Trial Could Make Online Ads Less Annoying

    The government contends that controlling DoubleClick enabled Google to corner websites into doing business with its other services. That has resulted in Google allegedly monopolizing three big links of a vital digital advertising supply chain, which funnels over $12 billion in annual revenue to websites and apps in the US alone.

  • Patents

    • Digital Music News ☛ Breaking: Blue Spike and Warner Music Settle Their Patent Infringement Battle — As the Blue Spike-Universal Music Dispute Rages On

      Warner Music Group (WMG) has hammered out a settlement in the years-old patent monopoly complaint filed against it by Blue Spike. But the latter company’s separate legal action against Universal Music Group (UMG) is still in full swing. The WMG-Blue Spike settlement came to light in a recent dismissal order from the presiding judge.

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Brazil – Digital Health and patent monopoly enforcement

      Co-authored by Dara Offrede The first Over-the-Counter Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) ever cleared in the United Stated by the FDA was launched by Dexcom.

    • Kangaroo Courts

      • JUVE ☛ BSH case could lead to greater competition among patent monopoly courts [Ed: Some of these are neither legal nor constitutional; they constitute high-level crime]

        The dispute between the German company BSH Hausgeräte and the Swedish company Electrolux is currently in its second round at the CJEU. The key question is whether a Swedish court can rule on the parts of a European patent monopoly that have not been validated for Sweden when it comes to invalidity arguments.

    • Software Patents

      • Unified Patents ☛ IP Investments entity DigiMedia Tech H.264/AVC patent monopoly found invalid

        On September 3, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a notice of intent to issue a reexamination certificate canceling the challenged claims (claims 1-2, 4-5, and 8-9) of U.S. Patent 6,606,287, owned by DigiMedia Tech, LLC, an NPE and an IP Investments Group entity.

  • Trademarks

    • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Which of these Three Section 2(d) Refusals Was/Were Reversed?

      Here are three recent TTAB Decisions in Section 2(d) appeals. At least one of the appeals led to a reversal. How do you think they came out?

      In re Liberty Orchards Company. Inc, Serial No. 97840459 (September 3, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Catherine Dugan O'Connor). [Section 2(d) refusal of COCOZEN (Stylized) for "Coconut milk; coconut milk for culinary purposes; coconut milk-based beverages; dried coconuts; grated coconut; coconut oil for food; coconut butter for food; coconut chips; pressed fruit paste; coconut, processed; condensed milk," in Class 29, and "coconut water; coconut-based beverages not being milk substitutes, in Class 32, in view of the registered mark COCOZEN for "Dietary supplements."]

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ Verizon Moves to Dismiss Major Label Infringement Litigation, Calling Entire Action ‘Legally Deficient’

      Verizon is now filing a motion to dismiss the major labels’ infringement lawsuit, calling the entire action ‘legally deficient.’

    • Digital Music News ☛ Major Music Publishers Fire Back Against Anthropic Dismissal Motion in High-Stakes Infringement Dispute

      A little over a month out from the one-year anniversary of its start, the copyright monopoly suit levied by major music publishers against Anthropic is heating up amid the Hey Hi (AI) giant’s renewed push for dismissal.

    • Digital Music News ☛ Today in Copyright Lawsuits — APM Sues Johnson & Johnson Over ‘Rampant Copyright Infringement’

      Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is being sued for ‘rampant copyright monopoly infringement’ by production music house APM.

    • The Guardian UK ☛ White Stripes sue Trump over ‘flagrant misappropriation’ of hit song

      The White Stripes’ Jack White and Meg White have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for what they allege is the “flagrant misappropriation” of a recording of their hit song Seven Nation Army in a campaign video.

      In an Instagram post on Monday, Jack White shared the first page of the lawsuit, filed in court in New York, with the caption: “This machine sues fascists.”

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate IPTV Arrests in Sweden Should Include Users, Rightsholders Tell Govt.

      Swedish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance has just announced the prosecution of a man allegedly behind pirate IPTV service 'Ghost Farmer TV'. The case is one of several initiated in Sweden in recent years but, for rightsholders, a few prosecutions simply isn't enough. Sweden's Justice Minister considers calls from anti-piracy groups to start going after subscribers premature. That said, the government isn't ruling it out.

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Hollywood and Netflix Report Piracy Threats to the EU, Call for 'Intermediary' Action

      The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has submitted its latest overview of piracy threats to the European Commission. The submission details many of the usual targets, including torrent sites, streaming portals, and piracy apps. The main theme, however, concerns the role of third-party intermediaries. According to the MPA, these companies should take more responsibility, whether they like it or not.