Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Fail Of The Week: Beaker To Benchy More Bothersome Than Believed

  Making nylon plastic from raw chemicals used to be a very common demo; depending where and when you grew up, you may well have done it in high school or even earlier. What’s not common is taking that nylon and doing something with it, like, say extruding it into filament to make a benchy. [Startup Chuck] shows us there might be a reason for that. (Video, embedded below.)

• Hackaday ☛ Word Processing: Heavy Metal Style

  If you want to print, say, a book, you probably will type it into a word processor. Someone else will take your file and produce pages on a printer. Your words will directly turn on a laser beam or something to directly put words on paper. But for a long time, printing meant creating some physical representation of what you wanted to print that could stamp an imprint on a piece of paper.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Nick Heer ☛ I Bet Normal Users Will Figure Out Which Power Adapter to Buy

    Maybe. I think it is fair to be concerned about this being another thing people have to think about when buying a laptop. But, in my experience, less technically adept people still believe they need specific cables and chargers, even when they do not.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Alien Hey Hi (AI) Might Turn Advanced Civilizations 'Invisible' in a Cosmic Blink

    They grow up so fast.

  • Science Alert ☛ Burning Object Found in Australian Desert Likely Fell From Space

    Not something you see every day.

  • Science Alert ☛ Concerning Levels of Lead Discovered in Protein Powders, Study Finds

    Should we be worried?

  • Science Alert ☛ 6,000-Year-Old Chewing Gum Reveals Clues on Neolithic Gender Roles

    It's an old habit.

  • Science Alert ☛ Study Reveals 2 Genes That Could Influence Your Interest in Cannabis

    A new way to identify risk.

  • Science Alert ☛ China Brought Something Unexpected Back From The Far Side of The Moon

    Oopsie.

• Hardware

  • Pete Zaitcev: Time flies

    A guy who sits next to me is in his 70s, and he said: "I started out on a teletype." But I didn't. Not only I never lived in a world without computers, but when I started out, CRT displays were already a thing. Guys who worked on vacuum tube computers are in their 90s now.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Vision Restored Using Prosthetic Retinal Implant

    The device could help a million people with a severe form of macular degeneration to be able to see enough to read.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Spike in influenza cases in Indonesia prompts calls for stronger public health measures

    Symptoms of influenza A include fever, dry cough and headache.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan cuts off weight-loss drugs for most Medicaid patients, saving $240M

    The $81 billion state budget imposes new restrictions on many GLP-1 drugs, requiring them to be used only for the 'morbidly obese'

  • New York Times ☛ In China’s Crowded Hospitals, She Found a New Career

    As China’s population grows older, a new industry of gig workers is stepping in to help older patients navigate a complex, bureaucratic hospital system. We spent time with Jessica Wang, a 49-year-old mother from Beijing who found steady income and a renewed sense of purpose by becoming a professional hospital companion.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft denies Mexico data center linked to water shortages, local illnesses, and power outages — stomach bugs and even hepatitis reported in region as 1.5 Gigawatt Hey Hi (AI) data center buildout looms

    Microsoft has denied claims that its data center in central Mexico is tied to a recent spate of power outages, water shortages, and health concerns, claiming it always prioritizes the needs of local communities in any actions it takes.

  • New York Times ☛ [Slop] Data Centers Create Fury From Mexico to Ireland

    As tech companies build data centers worldwide to advance artificial intelligence, vulnerable communities have been hit by blackouts and water shortages.

  • Science Alert ☛ Migraines May Affect More Women Than Previously Thought. Here's Why.

    It's more than a headache.

  • Science Alert ☛ Embryo-Like 'Blood Factories' Could One Day Supplement Donations

    They're called hematoids.

  • Science Alert ☛ HIV's Cunning Strategy For Hiding in Our Body Finally Revealed

    It's not random.

• Proprietary

  • SANS ☛ Many Online Services and Websites Affected by an proprietary trap AWS Outage, (Mon, Oct 20th)

    The info is spreading across the news websites: For approximatively two hours, many online services or websites are suffering of an Amazon Web Services outage. Some affected services: [...]

  • Ruben Schade ☛ AWS outage last night

    People hosting their stuff on proprietary trap AWS in the US-East availability zone had some adventures last night. It didn’t affect my stuff here because I host elsewhere, but it affected a good chunk of the Internet.

    Outages happen. Things go down. People are people. The real question is what we can learn from the experience. I can think of a few things:

    Consolidating much of the Web into a few hyperscalers and operating systems was a bad idea for resiliency. If one of these environments goes down, or if backdoored Windows Server or GNU/Linux has problems, the contagion spreads fast and wide. At minimum, you should spread risk with a hybrid, distributed strategy. Also, throw a few different systems into the mix. You’ll be thankful you have something running over nothing.

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean park asks social control media users to remove posts promoting off-limits cliff

      More than 1,000 posts on Instagram have been uploaded with the #1275peak as at Oct 20.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ 10 South Koreans arrested, two rescued in Cambodia scam crackdown

      Seoul is working to locate 80 South Korean nationals still unaccounted for in Cambodia.

    • WhichUK ☛ Which? warns of fraudsters targeting internet outage confusion

      Scammers may reach out to try to gain your personal information after the blackout – here's how to stay protected

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • It's FOSS ☛ That One (of the several) Feature ProtonMail Does Better Than Gmail

      The newsletters can be a mess to manage. ProtonMail gives you better features than Gmail to manage your newsletter subscriptions.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Futurism ☛ Futurism ☛ Hell Toupée Posts Hey Hi (AI) Video of Himself Spraying Explosive Diarrhea on Peaceful Protestors

    Our 79-year-old commander in chief, folks.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea seeks to become fourth-largest global defence power

    South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said that the country will devote a “larger-than-expected budget” in defence.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Public support for unification between the two Koreas dips below 50% for 1st time: Poll

    The poll showed a decline in the perceived need for unification, observed across all generations.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean teacher who murdered pupil dodges death penalty, gets life sentence instead

    Myeong Jae-wan, 48, had stabbed Kim Ha-neul to death in a school classroom in Daejeon on Feb 10.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dozens injured in firecracker accident in Malaysia; two arrested

    The incident occurred at about 12.45am on Oct 20.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia school stabbing: Hundreds attend funeral of murdered schoolgirl

    100 blue and white balloons were released into the sky in memory of 16-year-old Yap Shing Xuen.

  • New York Times ☛ Australia Says Chinese Fighter Jet Released Flares Near Its Military Plane

    The incident in the South China Sea on Sunday highlights tension in a region where China is demonstrating its growing military capabilities.

  • New York Times ☛ In China, a Forbidden Question Looms: Who Leads After Xi?

    Xi Jinping seems to believe that only his continued rule can secure China’s rise. But as he ages, choosing a successor will become riskier and more difficult.

  • The Straits Times ☛ What is the AUKUS submarine partnership between Australia, US and Britain?

    Australia, the United States and Britain announced in 2021 they would transfer nuclear powered submarines to Australia, and two years later detailed an ambitious pathway that would bolster U.S. efforts to counter China's naval ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China criticises UK for delaying ruling on new embassy

    LONDON - China accused Britain on Monday of lacking "credibility and ethics" after the UK government postponed a decision on whether to approve Beijing's plan to build a new embassy in London.

  • New York Times ☛ How Jared Kushner Re-emerged at the Center of the Israel-Hamas Peace Deal

    Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had a single goal: Get to a yes first, and hash out the details later. Tyler Pager, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, describes Mr. Kushner’s role in cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea suspends tours to border village Panmunjom, fuelling speculation of Convicted Felon-Kim meeting

    Many observers caution that the suspension may be more about deterrence than diplomacy.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Latvia ☛ Security Service urges prosecution of former executives of 'Moscow House'

      The State Security Service (VDD) has asked the Prosecutor's Office to prosecute two former executives of the former 'Moscow House' for violating European Union (EU) sanctions, according to a VDD statement on 20 October.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ How Convicted Felon can apply his Middle East success to ending Russia’s war in Ukraine

      Several lessons learned from the recent US-brokered cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas can be applied to ending Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Senior German General Says Europe Must Do All It Can to Help Ukraine

      European democracy and rule of law are at risk, the general says, so Europe must give Ukraine whatever it can to pressure Moscow, even if Convicted Felon does not.

    • CS Monitor ☛ As Russia hits energy grid, Ukraine tries to avoid a cold, dark winter

      Ukraine is facing a third winter at war, and Russia is targeting energy infrastructure like never before – an apparent bid to weaken morale. But war has taught the Ukrainians how to keep the lights on under almost any circumstance.

    • RFERL ☛ Kazakh Gas Production Hit By Ukrainian Drone Attack On Major Russian Plant

      A Ukrainian drone attack on a gas plant in Russia's Orenburg, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world, continues to impact production in neighboring Kazakhstan as the European Union moved to phase out Russian gas imports by end of 2027.

    • The Strategist ☛ Russia and Ukraine fight global shadow war

      The war between Russia and Ukraine stretches far beyond the trenches. Kyiv has been waging a shadow war, hunting Russian operatives and collaborators around the world. Now, as the Kremlin steps up its own covert ...

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian FM rejects Convicted Felon-Putin meeting in Budapest: Europe ‘no place for war criminals’

      Lithuania’s foreign minister said Monday that there is “no place in Europe for war criminals”, responding to reports that US President The Insurrectionist and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had agreed by phone last week to meet in Budapest.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russia says Lavrov and Rubio held 'constructive' pre-summit call

      Russia said its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, tasked with preparing a summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and The Insurrectionist, held a "constructive" conversation on Monday.

    • RFERL ☛ EU, Zelenskyy Doubt Putin On Peace As Kremlin Says Work On Budapest Summit To Begin 'Shortly'

      The European Union and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed doubts about Russian President Vladimir Putin's willingness to end the more than three-year war in Ukraine as the prospect of a summit in Budapest with US President The Insurrectionist looms.

    • RFERL ☛ Europe Jumps Into Action After Convicted Felon Call With Putin, Zelenskyy Meeting

      Europe jumped into action on October 20 with a flurry of moves and announcements at it looked to ratchet up pressure on Russia and bolster support for Ukraine after US President The Insurrectionist reportedly pushed his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to give up land as part of a peace deal.

    • France24 ☛ Lavrov and Rubio discuss Putin-Dihydroxyacetone Man summit, Zelensky seeks invite

      Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov and US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed preparations for an upcoming summit between Vladimir Putin and The Insurrectionist in a call on Monday, both sides said. This follows a reportedly tense meeting between Convicted Felon and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where Convicted Felon reneged on the possibility of sending the long-range missiles to Ukraine. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from Kyiv.

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man-Putin meeting in Budapest 'would be a disaster for Europe', expert says

      French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday welcomed a planned meeting between US President The Insurrectionist and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin but said Ukrainians and Europeans should be included. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Marc Loustau, Affiliated Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study at the Central European University in Vienna, says that the meeting 'would be a disaster for Europe's unity and any sense that it could have agency' in the conflict in Ukraine.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • American Oversight ☛ American Oversight Seeks Emergency Court Relief Over Apparent DHS Cover-Up of Text Messages by Noem, Other Top Officials

    The lawsuit follows our bombshell revelation that the agency stopped preserving text messages in April amid heightened scrutiny over inhumane immigration enforcement.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ With SpaceX Behind Schedule, NASA Will Seek More Moon Lander Ideas

      Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, and Lockheed Martin are among the contractors that may compete with MElon’s company in the race back to the lunar surface.

    • Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 246: Mohamed Zohiri on the Rise and Emerging Regulation of Stablecoins

      Stablecoins have increasingly begun to enter the mainstream with previously reticent policy makers, regulators, and financial institutions now shifting toward regulatory frameworks that seem more supportive of their development. The U.S. has been the most aggressive with the recent passage of the GENIUS Act, but Canadian officials have taken notice and begun to speak openly about the issue.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Fall in China's exports of rare earth magnets stokes supply chain fears

      China's exports of rare earth magnets fell in September, reigniting fears that the world's top supplier could wield its dominance over a component key for U.S. defence firms and makers of items from cars to smartphones as leverage in trade talks.

    • New York Times ☛ Australia Could Be a Rare Earths Alternative to China for the U.S.

      China’s escalating curbs on the critical minerals has given Australia, a longstanding U.S. ally, the opportunity to reposition itself to a transactional president.

    • New York Times ☛ To Counter China’s Hold on Rare Minerals, Convicted Felon Turns to Australia

      The United States hopes to become less dependent on China by increasing access to mineral-rich countries. Rare earth metals are vital to an array of modern industries.

    • Hackaday ☛ High Performance Motor Control With FOC From The Ground Up

      Vector Control, also known as Field Oriented Control or FOC is an AC motor control scheme that enables fine-grained control over a connected motor, through the precise control of its phases. In a recent video [Excessive Overkill] goes through the basics and then the finer details of how FOC works, as well as how to implement it. These controllers generally uses a proportional integral (PI) loop, capable of measuring and integrating the position of the connected motor, thus allowing for precise adjustments of the applied vector.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Straits Times ☛ Oriental stork dies in South Korean bird-release ceremony, prompting animal-cruelty accusations

      Fewer than 3,000 of the birds are believed to remain in the wild worldwide.

    • The Revelator ☛ Why Journalists Should Write About Insects

    • Science Alert ☛ There's One Super Predator in Africa That Instills More Fear Than Lions

      The scariest of all.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s top trade negotiator removed from WTO post

    It was part of a routine list of recent ambassadorial changes approved by Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s key trade negotiator Li Chenggang removed from WTO post

    Senior Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang has been removed from his post as China’s permanent representative to the World Trade Organization, state media reported on Monday, just days after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described him as “unhinged”.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Embattled Dutch chipmaker Nexperia blasts ousted CEO over false accusations — claims of unpaid salaries and independent operation in China are 'falsehoods', say company

    The ousted ex-CEO of Dutch chip firm, Nexperia, has reportedly been claiming that Chinese workers can defy Dutch administrators and that staff haven't been paid. Dutch management denies these claims, calling them "factually incorrect and misleading."

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chipmaker Nexperia tells Chinese staff to ignore orders from Dutch HQ

    Management from chipmaker Nexperia’s Chinese unit told employees they can ignore instructions from overseas, according to a company statement, escalating a recent row over control of the Dutch-based firm.

  • New York Times ☛ Wealthy Americans Are Spending. People With Less Are Struggling.

    Data show a resilient economy. But that largely reflects spending by the rich, while others pull back amid high prices and a weakening labor market.

  • New York Times ☛ Lower-Income Americans Are Missing Car Payments

    Inflation and a tough job market are making it harder for some people to pay back the car loans they signed in better times.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Gold prices keep rising. Why? And how far could the surge go?

    Gold prices rise in uncertain times. The current spike may signal both hedges against inflated stock market risk and doubts about the dollar as a stable reserve currency.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ How to grow publishing revenue in a world of declining traffic

    Six key take-homes from Press Gazette's Future of Media Trends event in London.

  • New York Times ☛ Running a Local Paper? In This Economy?

    They were journalists at major news outlets in New York and D.C. before taking big pay cuts to run the Midcoast Villager, a paper covering a rocky, coastal part of Maine.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Ofcom backs away from change to rule over politicians acting as presenters

    Concerns over "de facto ban" on politicians presenting any type of programme under Ofcom's proposed change.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • France24 ☛ Nigerian police clashed Monday with protesters demanding the release of Nnamdi Kanu

    In Lagos tensions have been boiling over as protesters demand the release of the Seperatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Police used tear gas on demonstrators while there were also reports of gunshots being fired. Dozens were arrested... Kanu who is the leader of the banned Indigenous People of Biafra group, is currently on trial on terrorism charges... His case has caused tension in southeast Nigeria, where the Igbo ethnic group allege marginalization by the Nigerian government.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

    • Marcin Juszkiewicz ☛ The end of my prepaid

      Over 8 TB of data to use means “some kind of” unlimited data transfers, right? I have no idea how much time it would take to make use of it with normal use. I asked a friend, and he told me that, according to the operator data, I had used 226 GB in Poland and 14.2 GB abroad during the last year.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Suno and Udio Face New Copyright Suits from Indie Artists: ‘No Technological Innovation, Regardless of How Transformative, Can Legally or Ethically Justify Widespread Infringement’

    Suno and Udio are officially facing new lawsuits from indie artists for allegedly training on protected music without authorization, violating the DMCA, and fueling “cognizable market substitution and dilution” with their outputs.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Supreme Court Schedules Cox v. Sony Music Legal Arguments for December — With a Billion-Dollar Lower-Court Decision at Stake

    The Supreme Court has scheduled oral hearings in December regarding the ongoing legal battle between Sony Music and ISP Cox Communications. In the continuing saga of the legal battle between internet service provider (ISP) Cox Communications and Sony Music, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on December 1.

  • Digital Music News ☛ UMG Decisively Shuts Down Anitta Infringement Claim Over “Funk Rave”

    A federal judge has ruled against two songwriters who claimed Brazilian pop star Anitta ripped off their 2006 song with her 2023 hit “Funk Rave.”

  • Digital Music News ☛ Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube Battling a $1.3 Million Fraud Lawsuit Involving ‘Mount Westmore’ Rap Supergroup

    Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube are battling a $1.3 million lawsuit accusing them of fraud. The rappers fervently deny all allegations. Rappers Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube have been sued for $1.3 million in a lawsuit by a company, Westside Merchandise, alleging fraud, which the pair adamantly deny.