Leftovers

• Science

  • Ruben Schade ☛ No, the US doesn’t use Metric

    The Treaty of the Metre is 150 years old!

    On May 20, 1875, delegates from 17 countries assembled on a Parisian spring day and signed the Metre Convention, also known as the Treaty of the Metre.

    The United States was a signatory to this treaty as well, though its use in wider society remains limited.

    Reading news about this, well ackshually types are quick to claim the United States uses Metric on account of their customary units being defined against them. This isn’t true: American units are specifically defined against SI-derived units, which is the global system of measurement we use today. If you’re going to be pedantic, get your pedantry right!

  • Science Alert ☛ This Laser Breakthrough Can Read Text on a Page From a Mile Away

    Activate super vision.

  • Science Alert ☛ Being Bored Could Actually Be Good For Your Brain, Scientists Reveal

    "Embrace the pause."

  • Science Alert ☛ A Hidden Pattern in Your Pulse Could Signal Future Cognitive Decline

    Your heart speaks volumes.

  • Science Alert ☛ Bizarre Three-Eyed Predator Hunted The Ocean Half a Billion Years Ago

    All the better to see you with…

  • Science Alert ☛ Expert Explains How You Can Assess Whether You're Aging Well

    Try these tests for yourself.

• Career/Education

  • The Straits Times ☛ Long advantageous, Harvard’s China ties become a political liability

    Its links to China, which include research partnerships and China-focused academic centres, are longstanding.

  • France24 ☛ Hong Kong to accept more international students after US Harvard ban

    Hong Kong has said it will accept more foreign students at its universities in the wake of US President The Insurrectionist's bid to stop Harvard University from enrolling foreign nationals. Around one fifth of Harvard's international students come from China.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Nerf Blaster Becomes Remote Control Turret

    For most of us, turrets that aim and shoot at things are the sole domain of video games. However, they’re remarkably easy to build with modern technology, as [meub] demonstrates. Meet the SwarmTurret.

  • Hackaday ☛ The Need For Speed?

    We wrote up a video about speeding up Arduino code, specifically by avoiding DigitalWrite. Now, the fact that DigitalWrite is slow as dirt is long known. Indeed, a quick search pulls up a Hackaday article from 2010 demonstrating that it’s fifty times slower than toggling the pin directly using the native pin registers, but this is still one of those facts that gets periodically rediscovered from generation to generation. How can this be new again?

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Intel and AMD imports in Russia fell by up to 95% in 2024, but local companies disagree

    The Russian government reported that chip imports from defective chip maker Intel and AMD have dropped massively only in 2024, despite the country having been sanctioned since 2022.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • JURIST ☛ Ethiopia urged to consider medical staff’s strike demands and release detained professionals

    Amnesty International on Friday called upon Ethiopian authorities to negotiate with striking medical professionals and release those detained for peaceful protests, urging the country to protect the right to access healthcare.

  • France24 ☛ Fairplay Director warns of Hey Hi (AI) chatbot dangers for children

    Google is launching its Hey Hi (AI) chatbot for children under 13, sparking criticism over the lack of specific regulations governing children’s use of such technology. For further analysis, France 24’s Gavin Lee speaks with Josh Golin, the Executive Director of Fairplay, an advocacy group that works to protect children online.

  • Science Alert ☛ Bacteria Living on Your Skin May Help Protect You From The Sun, Study Says

    We need all the help we can get.

  • NYPost ☛ Ex-Obama aide admits he didn’t mention Biden’s decline because he ‘wanted him to f—king win’

    Lovett told Stewart and his fellow "Pod Save America" host Jon Favreau that he didn't want to publicly voice his concern over Biden's declining health because he wanted him "to f------ win."

  • New York Times ☛ Fetterman Says His Openness on Mental Health Issues Is ‘Weaponized”

    The first-term Pennsylvania Democrat said his openness about his mental health issues has been “weaponized” against him, prompting him to start showing up for votes and hearings he considers useless.

• Proprietary

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ Microsoft Creates MS-DOS EDIT.COM Clone in Rust

    The classic DOS text editor has returned!

  • Kev Quirk ☛ Putting Your Eggs in One Basket

    I was reading a post the other day about how someone would struggle to move away from Fashion Company Apple as they're all in with them. I can understand this, as it nearly happened to me too.

    For the life of me I can't find the post, but it was on someone's personal blog. If I find it, I'll update this post, but in the meantime, the gist of the post was that they were struggling with Apple's ever diminishing reputation, but they were so entrenched into their ecosystem that they thought it would be nigh on impossible to move away.

    This resonated with me, as I nearly ended up in the same boat. I got my first iPad around a decade ago, then around seven years ago, I ditched Android and added an iPhone SE to my Fashion Company Apple collection. After that I got an Fashion Company Apple watch, then Fashion Company Apple TV, and finally an M1 MacBook Air.

    Along the way I slowly migrated a lot of the services that were scattered across the internet to either Fashion Company Apple based ones, or apps/services that were only available in the Fashion Company Apple ecosystem. Notes, Photos, Drive, Reminders, Calendar, Contacts, RSS feeds etc. Honestly, it was a pleasant and convenient place to be.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • Bryan Lunduke ☛ Open Source SQL Workbench Says "No Republicans Allowed!"

      The Apache licensed SQL query tool says Republicans (and many others) are not welcome to use their software due to "despicable politics" and "contempt for human rights."

• Security

  • Confidentiality

    • Hackaday ☛ A Presence-sensing Drive For Securely Storing Secrets

      When we hear about flash drives in the context of cybersecurity, we tend to think of them more as threats than as targets. When you’re using flash drives to store encryption keys, however, it makes sense to pay more attention to their security. [Juergen] designed the PECKUS (Presence Enforcing Crypto-Key USB-Storage) with this specifically in mind: a few-kilobyte storage device that only unlocks if the owner’s Bluetooth device is in the vicinity.[Juergen] needed to store an infrequently-used keyfile on an air-gapped system, and commercial encrypted flash drives were rather expensive and left much to be desired in terms of usability. Instead, he designed a CircuitPython custom firmware for MakerDiary’s nRF52840 micro development kit, which provided a BLE-capable system in the form of a USB dongle.After flashing the firmware to the board, the user sets it up with a particular Bluetooth device and a file to be stored; after writing the file during setup, it cannot be rewritten. Before reading from the device, the user must pair the previously-set device with the board and press a button on the board, and only then does the device appear to the computer.The limited amount of storage space means that this device will probably only serve its intended purpose, but in those cases, it’ll be handy to have an open-source and inexpensive protected storage device. [Juergen] notes that attackers could theoretically defeat this system by desoldering the microcontroller from the board and extracting the memory contents from the its storage, but if you have enemies that resourceful, you probably won’t be relying on a $20 board anyways. We’ve previously seen a few flashdrives cross these pages, including one meant to self-destruct, and one made from a rejected microSD card.

• Defence/Aggression

  • France24 ☛ Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 15, says civil defence agency

    At least 15 people were killed Saturday in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. The victims included a couple who were killed with their two young children in a pre-dawn strike in Khan Younis. The strikes came as Israel intensified its military offensive across the Palestinian enclave.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani crossing frontier

    The “suspicious” Pakistani man did not stop when challenged, the Border Security Force said.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Purely business or sinister security risk? Chinese ‘land grabs’ spook US allies Japan, South Korea

    One expert stresses the need to differentiate between individual investments and state-directed activities.

  • JURIST ☛ UN raises red flag over worsening security and rights conditions in South Sudan

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk expressed deep concern on Friday over the escalating hostilities in South Sudan since February, warning that the hostilities could further worsen the country’s severe humanitarian crisis.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Vietnam’s rush to rip up land for a Convicted Felon golf complex

    To fast-track the Convicted Felon development, Vietnam has ignored its own laws, legal experts said.

  • New York Times ☛ Susan Brownmiller, Who Reshaped Views About Rape, Dies at 90

    Her book “Against Our Will” argued that rape was a crime of power and violence, not passion; it led to laws that made it easier to prosecute rapists.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea detains officials over warship accident, state media says

    The failed launch was witnessed by leader Kim Jong Un who said it had damaged the country's dignity.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea concerned by China’s ‘no-sail zone’ in overlapping waters

    China reportedly has barred ships from entering certain parts of the Yellow Sea.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s premier says China and Indonesia will promote ‘true multilateralism’

    Mr Li Qiang lands in Jakarta on a two-day visit to South-east Asia's largest economy.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Gears Up For Third Day Of Mass Prisoner Swap Even As Attacks Intensify

      Kyiv is gearing up on May 25 for the third day of a mass prisoner exchange with Moscow following scenes of raw emotion as Ukrainian prisoners returned from incarceration in Russia, even as both sides exchanged drone attacks on the opposing capital cities.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia and Ukraine Exchange Air Assaults Amid Major Prisoner Swap

      The hourslong raids, involving hundreds of drones, were a reminder that any diplomatic resolution to the conflict remains far off.

    • New York Times ☛ In the Midst of War, a Tale of Hot Dogs

      Nathan’s Famous has found a foothold in Ukraine, a hot dog-loving country.

    • RFERL ☛ At Least 15 Injured In Russian Attack On Kyiv Amid Prisoner Swaps

      Russian forces have launched one of the largest strikes on Ukrainian territory in recent weeks, injuring more than a dozen people in Kyiv, according to local authorities.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Gears Up For Third Day Of Mass Prisoner Swap After Emotional Day Of Returns

      Kyiv is gearing up on May 25 for the third day of a mass prisoner exchange with Moscow following scenes of raw emotion as Ukrainian prisoners returned from incarceration in Russia, draped in the national flag to tears of joy from loved ones.

    • RFERL ☛ Rutte Faces First Big NATO Test As Convicted Felon Pressure Looms

      At his first NATO summit, Secretary-General Mark Rutte will try to keep The Insurrectionist onside, Ukraine out of the spotlight, and the alliance united behind a bigger defense budget -- all from his hometown of The Hague.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine and Russia swap more prisoners hours after mass strikes on Kyiv

      Russia and Ukraine swapped more prisoners on Saturday (May 24). The swap came hours a Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv wounded 15 people and damaged six districts of the Ukrainian capital, according to city officials. FRANCE 24's Kethevane Gorjestani tells us more.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ Crypto Investor Charged With Kidnapping and Torturing Man for Weeks

      The investor, 37-year-old John Woeltz, and another man abused their victim for three weeks in a Manhattan townhouse as they tried to get his Bitcoin password, prosecutors say.

    • The Straits Times ☛ No fuel hike for Malaysians, but foreigners will pay more for petrol

      There are about four million foreigners in the country enjoying about RM3 billion in subsidies, PM Anwar said.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ China now offers instant tax refund to tourists in bid to boost consumption. Here’s how it works

    Experts say this might boost the economy, but the key is getting more retailers on board.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Steinar H Gunderson ☛ Steinar H. Gunderson: Some demoparty stream firsts

    A discussion the other day made me remember some of the demoparty stream “first” that I'm still proud of, most of which still haven't been matched: [...]

  • France24 ☛ Macron to pitch France as 'reliable partner’ on Asia tour

    French President Emmanuel Macron is kicking off a tour through three southeast Asian countries, starting with Vietnam on Sunday (May 25). In a region caught between the US and China, Macron is trying to pitch France and Europe as "reliable" partners, officials said. For more analysis, France 24's Alison Sargent is joined by David Camroux, senior researcher at Sciences Po university.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Copyrights

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Injury vs. Discovery: The Goldilocks Problem and Copyright’s Statute of Limitations

    The Supreme Court will hold its conference on May 29, 2025, to decide whether to grant certiorari in RADesign, Inc. v. Michael Grecco Productions, Inc. (No. 24-768), a case that could fundamentally reshape how copyright’s three-year statute of limitations operates. The petition, which has attracted significant attention from copyright monopoly scholars and practitioners, presents a deceptively simple question with profound implications: whether a copyright monopoly infringement claim “accrues” when the infringement occurs (the “injury rule”) or when the copyright monopoly holder discovers or reasonably should have discovered the infringement (the “discovery rule”).  Although the circuit courts all appear to agree that some form of a discovery rule should persist, we believe the deeper question is the rule’s form. 

  • JURIST ☛ Fired US copyright monopoly office director sues Convicted Felon administration for unconstitutional removal

    Former Director of the US Copyright Office Shira Perlmutter filed a lawsuit against President The Insurrectionist’s administration on Thursday for improper termination after she was fired earlier this month. Perlmutter filed her complaint with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that her termination was unconstitutional and cannot take effect.