Leftovers

• Evan Hahn ☛ Takeaways from The Economist's style guide book

  I’ve been trying to improve my writing so I read Writing with Style, the Economist’s style guide book.

  Here were my main takeaways: [...]

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ The First Ever Sighting of a Colossal Squid

    An expedition spotted a baby of the species in the South Sandwich Islands. This cephalopod can grow to more than 20 feet and has proved elusive in its deep-sea environs.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian Youth Capital 2026 applications open

    The Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) has announced a competition for municipalities "Latvian Youth Capital 2026", inviting applications until 13 June.

  • Science Alert ☛ Rare Arthurian Sequel Featuring Merlin Found Binding Medieval Record

    "It's a piece of history in its own right."

  • Science Alert ☛ Something Amazing Happens if You Use Banana Peel as an Ingredient

    We've been eating bananas wrong.

  • Science Alert ☛ Physicists Designed a Quantum Rubik's Cube And Found The Best Way to Solve It

    Your move. Or not.

  • Science Alert ☛ Rare Isotope of Helium Seen Blasting From a Hole in The Sun

    Well you don't see this every day.

  • Science Alert ☛ Breaking: Live Colossal Squid Filmed in World First

    "I started hyperventilating." [...] The colossal squid is even bigger and more mysterious. It's so elusive, living in the deep ocean near Antarctica, that scientists didn't even know it existed until 100 years ago.

• Career/Education

  • University of Michigan ☛ Authoritarianism, here and now

    “We’re in the midst of an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. It’s been coming and coming, and not everybody is prepared to read it that way,” Lee Bollinger said, former University of Michigan president and First Amendment scholar, in an interview with the “Chronicle of Higher Education” last month.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Announcing The Hackaday Pet Hacks Contest

    A dog may be man’s best friend, but many of us live with cats, fish, iguanas, or even wilder animals. And naturally, we like to share our hacks with our pets. Whether it’s a robot ball-thrower, a hamster wheel that’s integrated into your smart home system, or even just an automatic feeder for when you’re not home, we want to see what kind of projects that your animal friends have inspired you to pull off.

  • Hackaday ☛ A New Kind Of Bike Valve?

    If you’ve worked on a high-end mountain or road bike for any length of time, you have likely cursed the Presta valve. This humble century-old invention is the bane of many a home and professional mechanic. What if there is a better option? [Seth] decided to find out by putting four valves on a single rim.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ DUG Nomad is a mobile, immersion-cooled data center cube for edge AI

    The DUG Nomad is an immersion-cooled data center is capable of handling a handful of rugged environments so you can take edge Hey Hi (AI) computing on the go.

  • Hackaday ☛ Making Parts Feeders Work Where They Weren’t Supposed To

    [Chris Cecil] had a problem. He had a Manncorp/Autotronik MC384V2 pick and place, and needed more feeders. The company was reluctant to support an older machine and wanted over $32,000 to supply [Chris] with more feeders. He contemplated the expenditure… but then came across another project which gave him pause. Could he make Siemens feeders work with his machine?

  • Hackaday ☛ DIY AI Butler Is Simpler And More Useful Than Siri

    [Geoffrey Litt] shows that getting an effective digital assistant that’s tailored to one’s own needs just needs a little DIY, and thanks to the kinds of tools that are available today, it doesn’t even have to be particularly complex. Meet Stevens, the AI assistant who provides the family with useful daily briefs. The back end? Little more than one SQLite table and a few cron jobs.

  • Hackaday ☛ Binner Makes Workshop Parts Organization Easy

    We’ve all had times where we knew we had some part but we had to go searching for it all over as it wasn’t where we thought we put it. Organizing the numerous components, parts, and supplies that go into your projects can be a daunting task, especially if you use the same type of part at different times for different projects. It helps to have a framework to keep track of all the small details. Binner is an open source project that aims to allow you to easily maintain a database that can be customized to your use.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • University of Michigan ☛ Men have sex too: Why their sexual health matters

    Reproductive health is often framed as a “women’s issue.” Society places the burden of contraception, family planning and sexual health primarily on women.

  • New York Times ☛ Autism Rate Continues to Rise Among Children, C.D.C. Reports

    While the agency stressed that increased screening was most likely behind much of the increase, the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., called it an “epidemic.”

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ How the federal government is tracking changes in the supply of street drugs

    In 2021, the Maryland Department of Health and the state police were confronting a crisis: Fatal drug overdoses in the state were at an all-time high, and authorities didn’t know why.

  • Federal News Network ☛ VA starts search for new health and benefits leaders

    The VA is looking for candidates that President The Insurrectionist can nominate as the next under secretary for health and undersecretary for benefits.

  • Latvia ☛ 'Straupe' dairy plant resumes production after E. coli concerns

    The Straupe dairy company has received permission from the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) to resume production and marketing of manually packaged dairy products, which had been suspended after epidemiologists detected E. coli bacteria in several of the company's employees, Straupe said on 14 April.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Cofco hiring dozens in farm powerhouse Brazil

    Cofco's move underscores the importance of Brazil amid an escalating global trade war between the US and China.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexico ranks among top Latin American countries for quality of life, led by Querétaro

    While locals say Querétaro has the best quality of life, chilangos can say they live in the friendliest city in the world, according to the World Population Review. 

  • Science Alert ☛ Worsening Heat Could Trigger Mental Health Crisis in Coming Decades

    Heat isn't just a physical stress.

  • I saw RFK Jr.’s press conference on autism and…

    …holy crap.

  • England and Wales Deaths Rose From 9,867 to 11,241 in Six Years (Very Considerable Weekly Increase)

• Proprietary

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ Calling Whistleblowers at Microsoft

    See some shenanigans at a computer company or organization?

  • Slop or BS Called Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • It's FOSS ☛ 11 Vibe Coding Tools to 10x Your Development on GNU/Linux Desktop [Ed: It's not coding, it's slopping with buzzwords and new hype]

      Want to vibe code and chill on your GNU/Linux system? Here are the tools you can explore.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Four arrested for sale of obscene Hey Hi (AI) images in first such Japan crackdown: Local media

      The suspects had used free Hey Hi (AI) software to create images of naked adult women.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ American Airlines Will Offer Free Wi-Fi on Most Flights Next Year

      Starting in January, members of the airline’s AAdvantage loyalty program will have free access to wireless internet on 90 percent of its fleet, the company said.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Defence Web ☛ Egypt close to acquiring FA-50 light combat aircraft from South Korea

    According to a statement from the Egyptian ambassador to South Korea Khaled Abdelrahman, Cairo is on the verge of concluding a deal with Seoul for up to 100 FA-50 light combat aircraft. The agreement should also include technology transfer.

  • The Strategist ☛ Strengthening Australia’s space cooperation with South Korea

    The time is ripe for Australia and South Korea to strengthen cooperation in space, through embarking on joint projects and initiatives that offer practical outcomes for both countries.

  • Defence Web ☛ Nigeria strengthens Chinese defence partnership with NORINCO visit

    As part of efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s domestic defence manufacturing base, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Defence, Dr Bello Muhammad Matawalle, hosted a high-level delegation from China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) at the Ministry of Defence in Abuja.

  • France24 ☛ Sudan's UNHCR Goodwill Amb: 'Don't help us without us, none of us are free until all of us are free'

    Sudan on Tuesday marked two years of a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis -- with no sign of peace. Fighting erupted on April 15, 2023 between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. Khartoum quickly became a battleground. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on the harrowing plight of civilians in war-torn Sudan, FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Emtithal Mahmoud, Activist, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and World Champion Poet.

  • ADF ☛ Chinese Port Expansion Raises Sovereignty, Security Concerns

    Chinese companies are involved in one-third of Africa’s 231 commercial ports, a significantly larger presence and influence than anywhere else in the world, including Asia, according to a recent report.

  • FAIR ☛ Failing to Rise to the Constitutional Crisis

    As the Trump administration openly defies court orders to return a man wrongfully deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, some American outlets are underplaying the significance of this constitutional crisis.

  • France24 ☛ Hamas says ‘lost contact’ with captors of Israeli-American hostage key to Gaza truce proposal

    Hamas’s military wing on Tuesday said it had “lost contact” with the captors holding the Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after a direct Israeli strike on their location. Alexander is reportedly central to a 45-day ceasefire proposal put forward by Israel, in which it demands Hamas to hand over 10 living hostages.

  • New York Times ☛ Head of Kuwait Specialty Field Hospital in Gaza Says Israeli Strike Killed a Guard

    Israel’s military did not immediately comment on the report, which came two days after it attacked the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man and Pooh-tin test rival styles of strongman leadership in tariff war

    The U.S.-China trade war could be decided by leaders’ differing styles. Convicted Felon acts on impulse, Mr. Pooh-tin prefers the pursuit of strategic goals.

  • France24 ☛ China's Pooh-tin continues charm offensive in SouthEast Asia

    After Vietnam, China's president Pooh-tin Jinping arrived in Malaysia.  Unlike Vietnam which trades more with the United States than with China, Malaysia has kept China as its top trading partner for 16 years. During the visit, Pooh-tin is also expected to discuss a free trade agreement between China and ASEAN, as Malaysia is currently chair of the regional bloc. Meanwhile, Beijing has reportedly ordered its largest airlines to halt further deliveries of Boeing jets as a trade war with the US escalates.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man: Xi’s Vietnam trip aiming to ‘screw’ the US

    The Chinese leader is there as part of a South-east Asia tour that will include Malaysia and Cambodia.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese leader Xi’s Vietnam trip aiming to ‘screw’ US, says Hell Toupée

    China’s President Pooh-tin Jinping urged Vietnam to join forces in upholding free trade, before wrapping up a visit to Hanoi on Tuesday which The Insurrectionist said was aiming to “screw” the United States.

  • New York Times ☛ What Are Rare Earth Metals, the Exports Halted by China?

    China’s new restrictions on exports of the metals could have an impact on the production of everything from LED lights to fighter jets.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man orders tariff probe on all US critical mineral imports

    The Insurrectionist on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all U.S. critical minerals imports, a major escalation in his dispute with global trade partners and an attempt to directly rebuke industry leader China.

  • New York Times ☛ China’s Halt of Critical Minerals Poses Risk for U.S. Military Programs

    The Pentagon and defense contractors are heavily reliant on magnets and rare earth minerals mined or processed in China, which has suspended exports of the materials in an escalating trade war.

  • New York Times ☛ A Crisis at a British Steel Mill Has Cast a Shadow Over U.K.-China Relations

    Britain was edging closer to China, but a dispute at a Chinese-owned steel company in the U.K. may prompt a rethink.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Nvidia faces $5.5B sales hit from new constraints on H20 chip exports to China

    Chipmaker Nvidia Corp. has been hit by new U.S. restrictions targeting the export of its specialized H20 graphics processing units to China. The policy change, implemented this week, will cost the company billions of dollars as it renders a product line designed to comply with earlier curbs on China essentially useless.

  • New York Times ☛ Nvidia Says U.S. Will Restrict Sales of More of Its Hey Hi (AI) Chips to China

    The restrictions are the first major limits the Convicted Felon administration has put on semiconductor sales outside the United States, toughening rules created by the Biden administration.

  • New York Times ☛ I Have Never Been More Afraid for My Country’s Future

    Dihydroxyacetone Man’s worldview is stuck in the 1970s, and his whole administration is a cruel farce.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines calls joint US drills ‘defence rehearsal’ as China tensions simmer

    The annual drills will include training on the NMESIS anti-ship missile system.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines, China accuse each other of dangerous moves in disputed South China Sea shoal

    Tensions between China and the Philippines over the South China Sea have escalated in the last two years.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines, US to deploy troops and anti-ship missile in drills

    Around 14,000 troops will be deployed in the annual joint military drills near the South China Sea.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwanese fraud suspects arrested in Cambodia handed over to China: Phnom Penh

    Cambodia said the decision to send the arrested people to China was in accordance with its law.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says it is ‘tearing down walls’ to expand trade alliances amid US stand-off

    President Pooh-tin Jinping is on a tour of South-east Asia amid an escalating trade war with the US.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s top Hong Kong official warns US ‘hillbillies’ over tariffs

    “It is not after our ‘tariffs’. It wants to take our ‘lives’,” he says.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China, Vietnam support multilateral trade regime amid U.S. tariff pressure

    HANOI - China and Vietnam expressed their support for maintaining a multilateral trade regime centered around the World Trade Organization in a joint statement issued on Tuesday at the end of a two-day visit by Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Pooh-tin arrives in Malaysia, pledges deeper ties amid escalating US trade war

    Xi is scheduled to meet Malaysia’s King and Prime Minister on April 16.

  • Death of former top US official sparks mourning, tributes in Taiwan

    Richard Armitage had helped strengthen the diplomatic bridge between the U.S. and Taiwan.

  • New York Times ☛ Jordan Says It Foiled a Plot Against the Kingdom

    The country’s main intelligence branch said the plans, apparently years in the making, involved rockets, weapons manufacturing and drones.

  • RFERL ☛ US Lifts Sanctions Against Member Of Orban's Cabinet

    The United States on April 15 lifted sanctions on the head of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's cabinet, Antal Rogan, who oversees Hungary's intelligence services and government communications.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian Security Service repeats warning not to go to Russia, Belarus

      The State Security Service (VDD) reiterates its call on Latvian citizens not to travel to Russia or Belarus, warning that special services may be operating at border checkpoints in these countries, identifying potential recruitment targets and infecting travellers' mobile phones with spyware.

    • Stanford University ☛ Stuart H. Goldberg discusses the sincere voice in Russian poetry

      On Wednesday, the Stanford Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures hosted a colloquium featuring Stuart H. Goldberg, who discussed the process of poets signaling, and readers interpreting, the authenticity of a work.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Australia asks Indonesia about Russian request to base aircraft in Papua

      The province is near Darwin, where a US Marines Corp rotational force is based for six months a year.

    • Meduza ☛ Russian state media deletes video of drone strike directed from central Moscow after angry bloggers argue it makes city a legitimate military target — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Moscow's spring offensive begins Russian forces launch their first major operation since the battle for Sudzha with a thrust toward Kostiantynivka — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Trump administration tells G7 allies it won't support statement condemning Russia's Sumy strike — Bloomberg — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Zelensky fires Sumy governor amid scrutiny over military award ceremony on day of Russian strike — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ 'Fake van' migrant smuggler group on trial in Latvia

      A group of six have been charged in the Latgale District Court for last year's crime of smuggling migrants in fake police and border guard vans from the Belarusian border area. Two attempts failed, but one succeeded, and 24 border crossers were dropped off in a forest near Olaine, Latvian Television reported on 14 April.

    • Meduza ☛ One dead and nine injured after more than 100 Ukrainian drones attack Kursk region, Russian authorities say — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian junior sergeant gets 15 years in first known conviction for voluntary surrender to Ukrainian forces — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ U.S. reduces its estimate of Ukraine's debt for wartime aid by — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ Palm Sunday Attack Leaves Sumy Residents Doubtful of a Ukraine-Russia Cease-Fire

      People in the Ukrainian city struck on Palm Sunday have little hope of a cease-fire.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russia says it is not easy to agree on Ukraine peace deal with US

      Biden and other leaders describe Russia’s 2022 invasion as an imperial-style land grab.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Beijing slams ‘manipulation and hype’ over Chinese soldiers captured in Ukraine

      Zelensky said several hundred Chinese nationals were fighting at the front line alongside Russia.

    • RFERL ☛ Drone Attack On Kursk Kills 1, Injures 9, Russian Authorities Say

      A Ukrainian drone attack killed an 85-year-old woman and injured nine people in the Russian city of Kursk near the border with Ukraine, regional authorities said on April 15.

    • ‘Russia lied to us’: Chinese fighters captured by Ukraine tell their story

      Ukraine said last week ‘several hundred’ Chinese citizens were believed to be fighting for Russia.

    • LRT ☛ Elderly Ukrainian refugee struggled to find job – and then to get paid

      A Ukrainian refugee who worked as a carpenter in a furniture manufacturing company in central Lithuania says he has not received a single cent in four months and is owed roughly €5,600.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian civilians cast shadow over peace talks

      Russia's Palm Sunday ballistic missile strike on Sumy was the latest in a series of attacks on Ukrainian cities that have killed dozens of civilians and cast a long shadow over The Insurrectionist's efforts to initiate peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, writes Mercedes Sapuppo.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ US funding cuts create openings for Russian disinformation in Ukraine

      Drastic recent cuts to US funding for Ukraine's independent media will create unprecedented opportunities for Russian disinformation, writes Muhammad Tahir.

    • Meduza ☛ After meeting with Putin, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff says peace deal is 'taking shape' and would involve 'five territories' — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ 'These are red lines for us': Zelensky responds to U.S. envoy's statement that potential peace deal could involve 'five territories' — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Replaces Regional Governor As Sumy Buries More Victims Of Russian Strike

      Ukraine's government approved the dismissal of the military governor of the Sumy region for holding an award ceremony that appears to have been the target of a Russian air strike that killed 35 people, including two children.

    • France24 ☛ Bogged down in east Ukraine, Putin’s Russia eyes ‘opportunistic’ gains in northern Sumy

      Russia’s grisly Palm Sunday attack on the city of Sumy has focused attention on the northern Ukrainian region where Kyiv says an expected Russian spring offensive is already under way. Experts say the push into Sumy is aimed at stretching Ukraine’s defensive lines and projecting an image of Russian progress on the front – even as Moscow’s war of attrition in the east grinds to a bloody stalemate.

    • NYPost ☛ Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to cease-fire in Ukraine shows why we can’t trust Russia

      Putin is playing us in the Ukraine like Stalin played us in Korea.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Press Gazette ☛ UK ‘at risk of evolving into propaganda regime’ with unenforced FOI rules and official secrecy

    Journalists interviewed for a study said failure to comply with FOI rules at public bodies is now "par for the course".

  • American Oversight ☛ American Oversight Lawsuit Forces CIA to Confirm Federal Records Were Destroyed in Signalgate Scandal

    The Forrest Dump administration’s court-ordered declarations reveal troubling inconsistencies about agencies’ efforts to preserve messages and expose what appears to be the illegal destruction of federal records.

  • The Dissenter ☛ Dismantling Freedom Of Information

  • Computer Weekly ☛ UK authority’s search for answers over deleted Julian Assange emails comes too late to retrieve data

    The Crown Prosecution Service has finally searched for information about the destruction of emails from the WikiLeaks founder’s lawyer – but too late to retrieve data about the deleted documents

• Environment

  • France24 ☛ In 2024 Europe faced its most widespread flooding since 2013

    Europe faced its most widespread flooding last year since 2013, as fossil fuel-driven climate change continued to prompt torrential rain and other extreme weather, the European State of the Climate report has found. Antonia Kerrigan has this story.

  • Meduza ☛ Why the Kremlin still fears the legacy of Soviet eco-warriors — Meduza

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean airport was warned repeatedly about bird strikes before deadly Jeju Air crash [Ed: But why did the landing gear fail?]

      179 people were killed in the Dec 29 crash at Muan International Airport.

    • New York Times ☛ Airport Warned Repeatedly on Bird Strikes Before Fatal Jeju Air Plane Crash [Ed: Modern planes can still run OK with one engine down, it's just more of a challenge in some planes, but why did the gear not come down? Bad design? Stop blaming birds, check the engineering.]

      Operators of the airport where Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashed in December, killing 179, failed to meet both international and South Korean guidelines intended to prevent such strikes.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China, Vietnam to assess viability of new railways, document shows

      Another railway linking Vietnam’s north coast to Kunming in China will begin construction in 2025.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China orders airlines to suspend Boeing jet deliveries amid trade war, Bloomberg reports

      China’s top three airlines had ordered 179 Boeing planes between 2025 and 2027.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ This Land Is Our Land: New Books About Public Lands, the Threats They Face, and Their Ecological Importance

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea aims to delay US tariffs in talks, cooperate in mutual areas

    SEOUL - South Korea will seek to delay the implementation of tariffs as long as possible in negotiations with the United States, its finance minister said on Tuesday, as Seoul targets cooperation in areas of mutual interest such as shipbuilding and energy.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US Treasury Sec Bessent invites South Korea finance minister for trade talks next week

    SEOUL - South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok will hold a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent next week to discuss trade issues during a visit to the United States at the suggestion of Bessent, Seoul's ministry said on Wednesday.

  • France24 ☛ Bin strike in Birmingham enters sixth week as union rejects pay offer

    Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city, has entered its sixth week of a strike by municipal waste workers, leaving large amounts of trash uncollected. Council workers overwhelmingly rejected a new deal, which unions claim would result in a significant pay cut. Oliver Farry reports.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australian politicians took $147,000 of match tickets while weighing sports betting ban

    SYDNEY - Australian politicians were gifted about A$245,000 ($147,000) in match tickets over nearly two years by the country's most popular sporting leagues as part of a lobbying campaign against a proposed ban on advertising of online gambling, according to Reuters calculations based on government documents.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s predicament amid trade war ‘unfortunate,’ American trade group says

    Hong Kong’s current predicament amid the US-China trade war “is unfortunate” because the city has a trade deficit with Washington, an American chamber of commerce has said. “The recent U.S. trade policy decisions and worldwide reactions have had great ramifications on the global economy.

  • France24 ☛ The Debate - Convicted Felon tariffs: West’s pain, China’s gain?

    The Insurrectionist fired the first shot but is he ready for this fight? With China’s president on the second leg of a regional tour of Vietnam, Malaysia and later Cambodia, it looks like the coalition building phase of a conflict that’s sure to upend global supply chains and rewrite the rules of globalization as they’ve stood since Beijing entered the World Trade Organization in 2001.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • BIA Net ☛ Bahçeli urges swift verdict in İmamoğlu case

    “If the suspect, Ekrem İmamoğlu, is innocent, then he must be acquitted. If not, then he must be penalized in a manner that aligns with public conscience, absolutely and as quickly as possible," says the nationalist leader.

  • New York Times ☛ Grassley Draws Jeers From Constituents at Raucous Town Hall

    The Iowa Republican was pressed on Hell Toupée’s policies, including the case of a Salvadoran immigrant who his administration has admitted it mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Press Gazette ☛ BBC study revealing scale of AI-generated news inaccuracies is ‘crucial checkpoint’ but we shouldn’t write the tech off

      Paul Doyle says Hey Hi (AI) issues need to be addressed at risk of "integrity of our entire information ecosystem".

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ 4Chan Hack Reveals University Professor Moderators, 10 Million Bans, 10 Year Old Software

    Hack of 4Chan was carried out by users of a competing image message board which published 4Chan source code, staff emails, & more.

  • New York Times ☛ Wednesday Briefing: A Convicted Felon-Harvard Showdown

    Plus, the fight over Van Gogh’s roots.

  • Jeff Geerling ☛ It's easier than ever to de-censor videos

    For years, people have used the censor tool to blur or pixelate out parts of videos where there's sensitive information. And for years, every time I've used it, I get a few comments from people saying that's not a safe way to censor information.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Amnesty International opens Hong Kong section ‘in exile’

    The group says it will keep advocating for the human rights of Hong Kongers, within the city and abroad.

  • Pro-democracy banners unfurled at an overpass in China

    Images shared via social control media are reminiscent of ‘Bridge Man’ in Beijing who inspired 2022 White Paper protest.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Nashville’s NICE Nonprofit Struggles to Support Refugees After Trump Cut Funding

    When Max Rykov started reading a Jan. 24 letter sent to the leaders of the country’s 10 refugee resettlement agencies, he found the wording vague but ominous. The agencies were ordered to “stop all work” funded by the Department of State and “not incur any new costs.”

    At first, he wondered if the order from the Trump administration was only targeting refugee work in other countries. Rykov, then the director of development and communications at a refugee resettlement partner in Nashville, began texting colleagues at other agencies. “What does it mean?” he asked.

  • BBC ☛ Supreme Court backs 'biological' definition of woman [Ed: The legal system deals with issues that should be trivial but not with pressing issues that are essential. So we stand to lose. It's like they pick cases based on social control media "controversies".]

    The court sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people that are born female.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Standards/Consortia

    • University of Toronto ☛ The DNS system isn't a database and shouldn't be used as one

      It would be nice if we had a global, distributed, relatively easily queryable, consistent database system. It would make a lot of things pretty nice, especially if we could wrap some cryptography around it to make sure we were getting honest answers. However, the general DNS system is not such a database and can't be used as one, and as a result should not be pressed into service as one in protocols.

    • APNIC ☛ DNS at IETF 122

      One of the more active areas of activity at the IETF falls under the DNS Operations Working Group (DNSOP) remit. It’s an operational Working Group rather than a protocol development Working Group. Nevertheless, DNS is a very rich topic with much to talk about.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Digital Music News ☛ YouTube Reportedly Prepares to Unbundle Music from Premium in South Korea Amid Regulatory Scrutiny

  YouTube is reportedly set to unbundle Music from Premium in South Korea, where it’s facing a Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) competition investigation. Regional outlets just recently pointed to the possible move, after the mentioned government agency revealed a YouTube Premium and Music probe about one year ago.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ ASCAP and BMI Double Down on Opposition to New Regulations as US Copyright Office’s PRO Inquiry Continues

    ASCAP and BMI have officially responded to the Copyright Office’s performing rights inquiry, which was set in motion after lawmakers raised transparency concerns last year. We covered those concerns – extending to the accuracy of public performance payments, the “increased costs and burdens imposed on licensees,” and more – back in September 2024.