Leftovers

• Tedium ☛ The Thrill Was Never There

  A famous punk-music personality reveals he was in it for the money—a revelation that has upset fans. But to be fair, it was the algorithm that pushed him in that direction.

  I’m not a punk. I was never into punk. I could get behind things with a punk-ish spirit, like The Replacements or At the Drive-In, but it was never my scene.

  I was too young and too not-in-the-know for ’80s hardcore, outside of that one Suicidal Tendencies video. Green Day never really sucked me in as much as Weezer or Oasis. My favorite Blink-182 song is probably “I Miss You,” because it didn’t sound like Blink-182. The old stuff never grabbed me as I got older. And I don’t do well in mosh pits. Sure, I’ve had periodic interests in bands that could be described as punk, like Fucked Up or Titus Andronicus, but I just never got into it.

  Which is why, nine years and 50 weeks into this newsletter I call Tedium, I’ve written relatively little about punk. So, suffice it to say, I don’t understand the culture of a creator who calls himself The Punk Rock MBA.

  But I will say this much: I don’t get how someone who calls themselves that could create a community around something like that for nearly a decade, as Finn McKenty did when he launched his YouTube channel in 2017, without any apparent passion for the work. After a few months of softly hinting that his meal ticket was kind of losing its luster, McKenty admitted recently that he had decided to quit being The Punk Rock MBA.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Dennis Overbye on Retiring from The New York Times: A Solstice of the Soul

    For his next trick, your cosmic correspondent for the past quarter-century will (try to) retire.

  • Science Alert ☛ Flat Earthers Went to Antarctica to Look at The Sun. Here's What Happened.

    Surprise!

  • Science Alert ☛ There's Something Strange About These Ancient Egyptian Sheep Horns

    The world's oldest evidence of the phenomenon.

  • Newsmax ☛ Shaffer in NewsMaxWorld: Science Belongs at Universities, National Laboratories – Not the UN

  • Science Alert ☛ Rock Used as a Doorstop For Decades Turns Out to Be Worth Over $1 Million

    A value missed even by jewel thieves!

  • Science Alert ☛ The World's Largest Iceberg Has Broken Free And Is On The Move

    The leviathan wakes.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ US gov't set to ban Huawei intermediary Sophgo over Hey Hi (AI) chip supplies — partnership skirted US chip sanctions

    U.S. to ban Sophgo, which supplied Hey Hi (AI) chiplets to Huawei, but its affiliate Bitmain avoids sanctions.

  • Hackaday ☛ 3D Printing A Big LEGO Christmas Tree

    LEGO make lots of neat floral arrangements these days, and even little Christmas trees, too. While they’re fun to build out of tiny little blocks, they’re a little small for use as your main Christmas tree. Sadly, a bigger version simply doesn’t exist in the LEGO catalog, so if that’s your desire, you’ll have to build your own—as [Ruth] and [Ellis] did!

  • Media Watch: Rumors hit chipmaker Nvidia amid US-China row

    American chipmaker faces scrutiny as China launches an antitrust probe amid export controls.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China's CXMT begins producing DDR5 memory — first China-made DDR5 sticks reportedly aimed at consumer PCs

    China-based CXMT has reportedly started to mass produce DDR5 memory and ship it to third-party module makers.

  • EXCLUSIVE: One US-sanctioned Hong Kong company disappears, another takes its place

    VPower comes back as Horsemart, with the same directors and government contracts.

  • Hackaday ☛ Building A Diet Coke Button

    [mars91] had an interesting problem to solve—his girlfriend often requested Diet Coke, but yelling for one across the apartment was frustrating and impractical. A dedicated Diet Coke button seemed like the perfect solution, so that’s precisely what he built.

  • Hackaday ☛ Making A Mechanical Watch From Scratch Is Fine Work

    There are plenty of hard jobs out there, like founding your country’s nuclear program, or changing the timing chain on a BMW diesel. Making your own mechanical watch from scratch falls under that umbrella, too. And yet, [John Raffaelli] did just that, and prevailed!

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Bank Negara steps in to help Malaysians hit with higher health insurance premiums

    News of the planned rise in premiums led to widespread public outrage.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Drugs like Ozempic now make up 5% of prescriptions in the US

    US doctors write billions of prescriptions each year. During 2024, though, one type of drug stood out—“wonder drugs” known as GLP-1 agonists. As of September, one of every 20 prescriptions written for adults was for one of these drugs, according to the health data company Truveta.

  • Latvia ☛ 'High Five' charity drive raises a million euros

    The eleventh "High Five!" charity campaign has ended with a record-breaking amount of donations – 1,000,743 euros, which will help people with critical and acute health problems who need immediate help, but whose treatment costs are not covered by the state.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Respiratory viruses causing more illnesses in Minnesota, according to state data

    Health officials continue to encourage vaccinations to help prevent severe illnesses from influenza, RSV and COVID-19.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Why childhood vaccines are a public health success story

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ AI PC revolution appears dead on arrival — 'supercycle’ for Hey Hi (AI) PCs and smartphones is a bust, analyst says

    Micron’s worse-than-expected forecast for the second quarter is down to low demand for Hey Hi (AI) PCs and smartphones.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ Is Amazon’s Drone Delivery Finally Ready for Prime Time?

      We flew to Arizona to test the recently debuted service ourselves.

  • Confidentiality

    • dwaves.de ☛ Two Factor auth on Android without Surveillance Giant Google – Aegis Authenticator App alternative to Google

• Defence/Aggression

  • France24 ☛ Paris court issues heavy sentences in teacher Samuel Paty's beheading trial

    France’s anti-terrorism court convicted eight individuals on Friday for their roles in the 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed after showing Prophet Mohammed cartoons in class during a debate on freedom of speech.

  • New York Times ☛ French Court Convicts 8 People Tied to Events Leading to Teacher’s Beheading

    Samuel Paty was beheaded in 2020 by an Islamist extremist after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to his students to illustrate free speech.

  • France24 ☛ Samuel Paty murder: Paris court to issue verdicts in beheaded teacher trial

    A French court is due to hand down verdicts in the trial of eight people accused of abetting the jihadist murder of teacher Samuel Paty in October 2020. Paty was beheaded outside his school near Paris after showing his class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a debate on freedom of speech.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Pro-Palestine activists file lawsuit against UMich over alleged violations of free speech [Ed: If TikTok censoring people is "Free Speech", then why can't Hamas also be "Free Speech"?]

    A group of pro-Palestine students, alumni and members of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality at the University of Michigan filed a lawsuit Friday against the University, accusing leadership of violating their free speech, due process and equal protection rights.

  • New York Times ☛ Ten Years Later, a Political Exile Returns to a Syria in Transition

    In 2014, Sawsan Abou Zainedin left Syria during a civil war, while Bashar al-Assad was in power. Now, with rebel militants in control, Ms. Abou Zainedin is working on the country’s delicate political transformation.

  • Taiwan gets first batch of ‘world’s most advanced’ tanks from US

    But some experts say M1A2T tanks might be constrained on the island.

  • Defence Web ☛ Military spending in DRC and South Sudan rose fastest in the world: society ends up paying the price

    Global military expenditure is dominated by the United States and China, with 49% of total spending between them. According to the most recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military spending reached US$2.4 trillion in 2023, a 6.8% increase on 2022. Africa’s military expenditure is comparatively low.

  • NYPost ☛ Several injured as Yemen’s Houthi rebels launch missile at Israel

    The missile strike sent Israelis fleeing their beds to safety in the middle of the night, resulting in at least 14 people suffering minor injuries from broken glass.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Can Syria heal? For many, Step 1 is learning the difficult truth.

    As Syrians seek to recover from decades of a brutal dictatorship, they want to learn what happened to missing loved ones. For many, the first stop is a notorious prison.

  • New Yorker ☛ Christmas in Tehran During the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis

    In 1979, a minister received a telegram from Iranian militants who had taken hostages in the American Embassy, inviting him to perform Christmas services. Two days later, he was inside.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia says Facebook, X, Fentanylware (TikTok) must get licences, NST reports

    The move is meant to combat rising cases of cybercrime and bullying.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Senators Urge Biden to Extend TikTok’s January 19th Forced-Sale Cutoff — ‘The Stakes Here Are High’

    With just 30 days remaining until TikTok’s forced-sale deadline in the U.S., senators from both sides of the aisle are asking the president to approve a one-time 90-day extension. Senators Edward Markey (D-MA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) made that request in a straightforward letter to President Biden.

  • France24 ☛ The World This Year 2024: A look back at events

    This year, headlines have been dominated by wars in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East. Israel’s leader has become a wanted man for alleged war crimes, and revolution in Syria has led to the downfall of a dictator, though the true scale of Assad’s reign of terror is still coming to light.

  • France24 ☛ 'We cannot characterise what happened in Syria as Turkey's doing': Turkish FM Fidan

    In an interview with FRANCE 24 in Ankara, Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed his country's position in the wake of the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Fidan claimed that Turkey played no role in the Syrian rebel group HTS's ouster of the Assad regime. He also said Turkey's interests are with the Syrian people, and that Ankara does not support foreign troops remaining in Syria, be they Russian or American soldiers.

  • JURIST ☛ UN expresses concerns about escalating tensions on Korean Peninsula

    UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo on Wednesday expressed deep concerns about the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, emphasizing that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is continuing to carry out a five-year military plan launched in January 2021 rather than complying with its international obligations.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea police questioned acting president Han over martial law decree

    Mr Han Duck-soo is being investigated as a suspect, reported Yonhap news agency.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Stable leadership wins South Korean Speaker the nickname ‘Thor’ after martial law saga

    Mr Woo Won-shik has been voted the most trustworthy politician by 56 per cent of South Koreans.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • European Commission ☛ Solidarity with Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania delays ban on Russian-language driving tests until 2026

      On Friday, Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič signed an order to postpone for a year his predecessor’s decision to abolish driving exams in the Russian language.

    • RFERL ☛ Lawmaker Shot Dead In Parliament Of Georgia's Breakaway Abkhazia

      One lawmaker was killed and another injured in a shooting at the de facto parliament in Georgia's Abkhazia, a breakaway region supported by Russia.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Europe needs a coalition of the resolute

      Europe must develop a “coalition of the resolute” to provide security guarantees to Ukraine and to show resolve to take more responsibility for their own security.

    • France24 ☛ 'You need peace' to send EU troops to Ukraine: Belgian FM Quintin

      Preparing to support Ukraine "in all scenarios' – that's how the head of the EU Council described the gist of the last European summit of the year, before Donald Trump returns to the White House. We explore the EU's preparedness with Belgian Foreign Minister Bernard Quintin. He raises the thorny issue of possible troop deployments by European countries in Ukraine, something that was touched on at the EU summit. He also talks about his hopes for a more democratic Syria following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, and how the EU should support the transition there.

    • France24 ☛ Erasmus programme, consumer protection, online safety: What the EU gets right

      Things may look bleak for the European Union in the depths of winter, with challenges across the board: the threat of a trade war with the US, weakened political figures in Germany and France, European farmers menacing protests about the Mercosur deal, an uncertain outcome for the conflict in Ukraine, plus budgets being tightened for households and governments across the bloc. But despite or perhaps because of those threats, Europeans' sentiment is on the up: 51 percent of Europeans tend to trust the EU, the highest level since 2007; while 44 percent have a positive image of the bloc, a figure that's stayed more or less constant since 2010. Those figures are according to a recent Eurobarometer poll.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian PM says he feels ‘privilege and honour’ during first Kyiv visit

      Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas is paying his first visit to Ukraine on Friday and says he feels “privilege and honour”.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian cabinet visits Ukraine, to meet Zelensky, other leaders

      Lithuania’s new cabinet is visiting Ukraine on Friday and will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, the prime minister, the parliamentary speaker, and the foreign minister, as the country continues its fight against Russia’s invasion.

    • Ukraine military drops leaflets urging North Korean troops to surrender

      The soldiers are also provided with fake Russian ID to hide their nationality.

    • Why is Russia burning dead North Korean soldiers' faces in Ukraine? | RFA Insider #22

      North Korean soldiers in Russia's war with Ukraine, Vietnam's 'barefoot monk' Thich Minh Tue, and alleged spy H6

    • RFERL ☛ Kyiv Hits Kursk After Massive Wave Of Deadly Russian Strikes On Ukraine

      Ukraine launched a deadly missile attack on the Russian region of Kursk on December 20, just hours after Russia carried out a massive air assault on Kyiv during rush hour that killed one person and damaged a historic cathedral and other buildings in the capital, including six embassies.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘The development of Russian identity’: Inside a St. Petersburg holiday camp designed to sell Ukrainian children on a future in Mother Russia — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Trump to push for five percent NATO defense spending target but plans to keep arming Ukraine — FT — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ At least six dead after Ukrainian HIMARS attack on town in Kursk region, Russian authorities say — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ Hungary shields Russian oligarchs with Latvia links from sanctions

      Hungary has stepped in to protect two Russian oligarchs with connections to Latvia from European Union (EU) sanctions, reports the Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re:Baltica.

    • Meduza ☛ Head of company responsible for border defenses in Russia’s Kursk region arrested on embezzlement charges — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian missile strike on Kyiv kills one, leaves homes, hospitals, and schools without heat — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Blame it on the Roma A human rights activist explains how discrimination and bigotry shape life in one of Russia’s most vulnerable communities — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘We have land to liberate, and every shell costs money’: Governor of Russia’s Kursk region says state won’t fully compensate residents for destroyed property — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Armed Forces see efforts to accuse Lithuania of plotting coup in Belarus

      Analysts of the Lithuanian Armed Forces are seeing efforts to accuse Lithuania and NATO of plotting a coup against the Lukashenko regime in Belarus.

    • ‘Unprecedented’ Russia-China ties based on ‘full trust’: Putin

      The Russian leader rejects a suggestion he would be in a weaker position if and when he meets Trump.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia’s Abrupt Setback in Syria Creates Headaches for Putin

      Losing Syrian military bases would hurt the Kremlin’s attempts to project power in the Middle East and Africa.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia approves fresh attempt to search for missing plane MH370

      Ocean Infinity will resume the search within a 15,000 sq km area off the coast of Western Australia.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia readies itself for nuclear power after 2035

      Given its 2050 net-zero target, it may have no choice but to make nuclear a part of its energy mix.

    • New flight to connect Tibet’s capital with Singapore

      Experts see move as part of China’s strategy to wield greater influence in Southeast Asia.

    • Hackaday ☛ Training A Self-Driving Kart

      There are certain tasks that humans perform every day that are notoriously difficult for computers to figure out. Identifying objects in pictures, for example, was something that seems fairly straightforward but was only done by computers with any semblance of accuracy in the last few years. Even then, it can’t be done without huge amounts of computing resources. Similarly, driving a car is a surprisingly complex task that even companies promising full self-driving vehicles haven’t been able to deliver despite working on the problem for over a decade now. [Austin] demonstrates this difficulty in his latest project, which adds self-driving capabilities to a small go-kart.

• Finance

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Sheinbaum denies textile tariffs are aimed at China: Friday’s mañanera recapped

    She also addressed claims that her party arranged for the withdrawal of criminal charges against a senator in exchange for his vote on judicial reform.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Amazon and Starbucks workers are on strike. Trump might have something to do with it

    One expert says he thinks workers at both companies are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump can appoint a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian prosecutors challenge acquittal of Najib Razak’s wife Rosmah

    Malaysia’s High Court acquitted Rosmah Mansor of 17 charges involving 7.1 million ringgit.

  • JURIST ☛ UN expert commends Malaysia for prioritizing human rights of older persons

    An independent UN expert commended Malaysia on Friday for prioritizing aging in its policy framework, noting the necessity for comprehensive measures to safeguard the human rights of older individuals.

  • New York Times ☛ Australia Targets China’s Influence With Deals in Pacific Islands

    In separate agreements with Nauru, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Australia is attempting to edge out China’s influence in the region.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Christmas in China, the people’s way

    Despite the secular trappings of an imported holiday, the Chinese have devised a type of giving that captures the Christmas spirit.

  • EXPLAINED: What are China’s plans for Macau?

    President Pooh-tin Jinping says he wants the gambling hub to become a platform for global economic exchange.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ After 25 years of Chinese rule, Macau’s civil society has entered ‘a bitter winter’

    A decade ago, the elegant cobblestone streets of Macau’s Tap Seac Square were jam-packed with people clamouring for change and government accountability — the high-water mark for the former Portuguese colony’s political awakening.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Chinese President Pooh-tin urges gambling hub Macau to diversify economy

    He called for Macau to develop new industries and connect with China’s national development strategies.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Cambodia to grant Japan visitation rights to China-linked naval base

    Cambodia's influential former Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday that Japan would be granted visitation rights to the country's Ream Naval Base, a facility the United States is concerned could become a military outpost for China.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says its astronauts complete record-breaking spacewalk

    Astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong spent over nine hours outside China's Tiangong space station.

  • Breach Media ☛ Who’s afraid of Chrystia Freeland?

    Beyond the palace intrigue, The Breach Show dissects Canada’s unfolding electoral political dynamics

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China lifts ban on Australian rock lobster, marking an end to ‘trade impediments’ imposed on Canberra by Beijing

    China has lifted a ban on imports of Australian live rock lobsters, Canberra said Friday, demolishing the final barrier in a broader, multibillion-dollar trade war between the countries. Beijing has banned or slapped retaliatory tariffs on more than US$12 billion worth of Australian exports, from wine to timber, during years of soured ties with Canberra.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Media wins right to challenge Sara Sharif judges anonymity order

    Appeal hearing to be held in January.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • AccessNow ☛ Open letter: the UK government must act now to free Alaa

    The undersigned human rights organizations call on the UK government to take immediate action to free Alaa, and save his mother's life.

  • Breach Media ☛ 15 movement victories in 2024 you may not have heard about

    From tenant rent strikes to surging Palestine solidarity to the beginnings of pharmacare, here are some of the political achievements of the past year

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Law Requiring AM Radio in Every Vehicle Gets Tossed From Federal Funding Bill

    The AM in Every Vehicle Act was excluded from the continuing resolution (CR) bill to fund the federal government. The National Association of Broadcasters lobbied to have the bill included, but musicians and the musicFirst Coalistion want to see the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA) passed at the same time.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• New York Times ☛ Google Proposes Fix to Solve Search Monopoly

  The search giant’s proposals included allowing flexibility for companies and consumers in choosing a search engine.

• Patents

  • dwaves.de ☛ feasability of colonizing Mars in 10 (not so easy) steps

    most recently another “scientific” “nay sayer” video has been uploaded of those who THINK they patented truth itself [...]

  • JUVE ☛ CJEU follows Advocate General in question over SPCs for combination drugs

    The judgment is based on referrals from both the Finland Market Court and the Supreme Court of Ireland in disputes over MSD’s diabetes drug Janumet and its cholesterol-lowering drug Inegy. Both questions concern the scope of the supplementary protection certificate regulation with regard to combination drug products. >

  • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ An SPC Present from the Christmas Court

    It’s this time of the year again – merry Christmas, happy holidays and/or best wishes for whatever you are celebrating next week. This year’s Christmas present comes from the CJEU and is specifically directed to the SPC Community.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Orange Book Device Patent Listings: Understanding Teva v. Amneal

    In a major decision clarifying the scope of Orange Book patent monopoly listings, the Federal Circuit has ruled that device patents must claim at least the active ingredient to be properly listed. Teva Branded Pharm. Prods. R&D, Inc. v. Amneal Pharms. of N.Y., LLC, No. 24-1936, -- F.4th --, 2024 WL 2923018 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 20, 2024). The court rejected Teva's attempt to list patents covering only inhaler components, explaining that the listing statute requires patents to "claim the drug" - which means they must particularly point out and distinctly claim at least the active pharmaceutical ingredient.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ How long will Kirkland resist the UPC’s courtrooms? [Ed: UPC is illegal and unconstitutional, but this publisher was paid to lobby for that regardless]

      The same rumour has been circulating in the London patent monopoly community for years: Nicola Dagg is jumping ship to the next US law firm.

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ First UPC FRAND decision: Amours à l’Italienne (Panasonic v. Oppo) [Ed: UPC is illegal, so this entire decision should be null and void]

      Like Prudence the heroine of Amours à l’Italienne (Rome Adventure in English), UPC local division of Mannheim gives us a lesson in polyamory in the first UPC FRAND decision (November, 22, 2024, Panasonic v. Oppo), in which it reminds us of its Love for CJEU case law, but also, and above all [...]

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Recommended Reading: The Trademark Reporter's Theme Issue on Artificial Intelligence

    The November-December 2024 (Vol. 114 No. 6) issue of the Trademark Reporter is devoted to artificial intelligence and its impact on trademark and related intellectual property law. [pdf here]. Willard Knox, Editor-in-Chief, summarizes the contents as follows (and below): "The TMR devotes this issue to the realm of artificial intelligence (“AI”). Whether one believes that Hey Hi (AI) is mostly hype or as seismic a change as the smartphone, there is no doubt that Hey Hi (AI) will evolve and improve, fundamentally changing one’s professional and private lives in ways one can only begin to imagine. The preeminent authors of the articles in this curated collection describe the present relationship between Hey Hi (AI) and trademarks (and complementary intellectual property) and explore what the future may bring to this emerging and evolving area of the law."

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Federal Judge Reportedly Prepares to Dismiss the Majority of Music Publishers’ Anthropic Lawsuit

    A federal judge is reportedly poised to dismiss the majority of a copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit filed by music publishers against Hey Hi (AI) giant Anthropic. That development emerged during a hearing yesterday on Anthropic’s motion to dismiss.