Leftovers

• NYPost ☛ Four charged with selling $1M worth of dinosaur bones to China, causing $3M in damages

  The indictment states all four "knew or should have known that these paleontological resources were excavated, removed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported, and received from Federal lands."

• New York Times ☛ Cameo to the Moon, and Back

  A start-up that offers fans a way to buy personalized videos from celebrities was supercharged by pandemic boredom and venture capital. All it had to do was grow forever.

• Ruben Schade ☛ The Economist on luck at work

  From their issue last week:

  But if luck does play a more important role in outcomes than is often acknowledged, what does that mean? For individuals, it suggests you should increase the chances that chance will work in your favour.

• Ruben Schade ☛ The purpose of tech

  Amanda Silberling, Dominic-Madori Davis, and Kyle Wiggers put it so beautifully, I leave it here without comment:

  The missing link here is how we can use tech to actually take care of people; how to feed them, clothe them, how to make sure the planet doesn’t reach such high temperatures that we all just melt away. […] What is missing here is that the technological revolution made it easier to hail an Uber or order food delivery, but did nothing about how those drivers and delivery people are being exploited, and how some live in their cars to sustain a decent wage.

• New York Times ☛ Man in Poland Posed as Mannequin to Steal Jewelry

  A 22-year-old man in Warsaw posed motionless, carrying a shopping bag, beside mannequins in a storefront window, the police said. Security officials caught him.

• Science

  • The Conversation ☛ Carl Sagan detected life on Earth 30 years ago – here’s how his experiment is helping us search for alien species today

    Suppose one were to fly past Earth in an alien spacecraft with the same instruments on board as Galileo had. If we knew nothing else about Earth, would we be able to unambiguously detect life here, using nothing but these instruments (which wouldn’t be optimised to find it)? If not, what would that say about our ability to detect life anywhere else?

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Revolutionizing radar: Integrated THz emitter for precise rotating target detection

    Imagine a radar system that doesn't just rely on linear waves but instead uses spiraling electromagnetic waves with orbital angular momentum (OAM). These special "vortex" waves have a helical twist and introduce a signature rotational Doppler effect when they encounter a spinning object.

• Education

  • Latvia ☛ Teachers' union and Education Ministry continue talks about wages

    In order to address uncertainties in the issue of teachers' salaries, the Latvian Education and Science Workers' Union (LIZDA) met with representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM) October 19 but failed to reach an agreement, Latvian Radio reported.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Exchange students study at the university to experience the U.S. culture

    In fall 2023, the university recorded the highest number of international students after returning from the pandemic, according to Kent State International Admissions. Many exchange students come to America not only to learn English but to learn American culture, get a degree and more reasons.

  • The Atlantic ☛ If You Ever Speak in Public, Follow This Advice

    I still believe that it’s possible to construct a piece of advice that’s useful to just about anyone, even strangers. But it’s difficult, because that advice has to have three elements that rarely go together: It must be nonobvious, broadly applicable, and harmful to no one.

    In fact, I’ve only ever come across one such piece of advice. It goes like this: When speaking into a microphone, hold it about three inches from your mouth.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Spinning Up A New Laundry Monitor

    For all that modern washers and dryers do, they don’t let you know when they’re finished. Or they do, but it’s only a short victory song that plays once and can be easy to miss. What most of us need is a gentle reminder that there’s damp laundry festering in the washer, or fresh laundry in the dryer getting wrinkly.

  • Hackaday ☛ 2023 Halloween Hackfest: Haunted Keyboard Is Free From Ghosting

    This may look like another DIY mechanical keyboard, but it’s hiding a secret. [Mx. Jack Nelson] has combined Halloween and keyboards in glorious, haunted fashion. Type a line, any line into this bad boy and you get a spooky, sort of cryptic response generated by AI.

  • Hackaday ☛ Junk Bin Cyberdish Turns You Into The Satellite Tracker

    The good thing about listening in on satellites is that they tend to beam down all kinds of juicy information from their lofty perches. The bad thing about satellites is that to stay in those orbits, they’ve got to be moving really fast, and that means that you’ve got to track them if you want to keep a nice consistent signal during a pass. And that can lead to all sorts of complexity, with motorized two-axis mounts and fancy tracking software.

  • Hackaday ☛ Pocket Calculator Isn’t A Brain Or Magic

    If you predate the pocket calculator, you may remember slide rules. But slide rules take a a little skill to use. There was a market for other devices that were simpler or, in some cases, cheaper. One common one was the “magic brain” or Addiator which was a little metal box with some slots that could add numbers. However, using clever tricks it could also subtract and — in a fashion — multiply. [Our Own Devices] has a teardown of the device you can see in the video below. It is deceptively simple, and the description of how it works is at least as interesting as the peek inside.

  • Hackaday ☛ Converting A Polaroid SX70 Camera To Use 600 Film

    These days, it’s possible to buy a number of different Polaroid instant cameras new off the shelf. That’s largely thanks to the retro resurgence that has buoyed interest in everything from vinyl records to analog synthesizers. However, if you’re truly old-school, you might still be rocking a vintage Polaroid SX-70 camera. Thankfully, there’s a way to convert these old rigs to work properly with the more popular modern 600 film.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ IBM debuts power-efficient NorthPole machine learning processor

    IBM Corp. today detailed NorthPole, an internally designed artificial intelligence chip that it says is significantly more power-efficient than competing processors. NorthPole was developed over the course of eight years by staffers at the company’s research lab in Almaden, California.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia introduces 'extra-effective' flu shot for seniors

    A particularly effective vaccine against influenza is available in Latvia for the first time this year for seniors aged 65 and over. Doctors are urging young people to campaign for parents and grandparents to get vaccinated “so as not to end up in hospital and die”, according to a Disease Prevention and Control Center's press briefing on October 19.

  • Science Alert ☛ Major Study Claims to Identify The Root Cause of Obesity: Fructose

  • Science Alert ☛ Hitting Snooze Could Actually Give Your Brain a Cognitive Boost

    We may have been wrong about this!

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Ketamine is easier to prescribe than ever, and the FDA is not happy about it

    I talked with a man who said ketamine saved his life.

  • New York Times ☛ Shoving Attack Renews Calls for M.T.A. to Make Subway Platforms Safer

    The transit system had been enjoying a recovery from the height of the coronavirus pandemic. A random attack is now threatening its progress.

  • Reason ☛ After Losing Billions to Scammers, This COVID Aid Program Won't Require All Loans To Be Repaid

    But that decision seems to violate federal law.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong activist Dickson Chau fined HK$10,500 for violating Covid-19 mask mandate

    A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist has been found guilty of violating the Covid mask mandate while rallying outside court in February as the city’s largest national security trial got underway. He was ordered to pay a fine of HK$10,500.

  • Science Alert ☛ Kids Keep Eating Magnets, And Surgeons Say There's Only 1 Way to Stop It

    This is a serious problem.

  • Pfizer Hikes Price of COVID Antiviral Paxlovid From $530 To Nearly $1,400

  • Ars Technica ☛ Pfizer hikes price of COVID antiviral Paxlovid from $530 to nearly $1,400

    Pfizer on Wednesday revealed that it raised the list price of a course of Paxlovid—its lifesaving antiviral drug used to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 in those most vulnerable—to nearly $1,400, more than double the roughly $530 the US government has paid for the treatment in the emergency phase of the pandemic.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Food truck phenomenon draws hipster foodies and entrepreneurs in Malaysia

    Many jobless Malaysians turned to the food truck industry during the pandemic as a way to stay afloat.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Pandemic relief funds kept child care programs afloat. What now?

    After two years of receiving federal subsidies, 220,000 child care programs across the country lost funding. The funding that expired in October stabilized the industry during the pandemic but now millions of children and families lack support they need.

  • New York Times ☛ The Restaurant Industry Is Undergoing a Badly Needed Revolution [Ed: Wall Street Times found a way to spin "going under"]

    Many restaurants are fundamentally changing how they do business after the pandemic.

  • [Old] University of Michigan ☛ Wallace House Center for Journalists

    Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan is committed to fostering excellence in journalism. We are home to programs that recognize, sustain and elevate the careers of journalists to address the challenges of journalism today, foster civic engagement and uphold the role of a free press in a democratic society. We believe in the fundamental mission of journalism to document, interpret, analyze and investigate the forces shaping society.

  • Techdirt ☛ California Bans ‘Excited Delirium’ As A Cause Of Death

    Excited delirium is a very unique medical condition. It almost always kills its victims. The victims of this apparent sudden cause of death are almost always in the presence of police officers when they die. And the victims are almost always of a certain… type.

  • European Commission ☛ Video message by Mr Janusz Wojciechowski at "Food supply chains and the future of agriculture", conference organised by the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, and Food, Slovenia.

  • YLE ☛ Government survives confidence votes on health and social services

    All five opposition parties voted against the government in Friday's vote.

  • YLE ☛ Government aims to legalise alcohol home deliveries

    The government is planning to loosen a number of restrictions on booze sales.

  • YLE ☛ Finland's newborn life expectancy rate sees biggest drop in 50 years

    Life expectancy of females decreased in 2022 for the third year in a row, according to Statistics Finland.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • LegalZoom Layoffs 2023: What to Know About the Latest LZ Job Cuts

    California-based LegalZoom (NASDAQ:LZ) may be having some problems. The company is downsizing its workforce, and the ramifications extend beyond LegalZoom and LZ stock.

  • CNBC ☛ Dropbox handing over 25% of San Francisco HQ back to landlord as commercial real estate softens

    Dropbox is giving back over 165,000 square feet of its San Francisco headquarters to the landlord, representing more than a quarter of its space there.

  • New York Times ☛ Peering Into A.I.’s Black Box, Who’s the Real Techno-Optimist? and Reading Ancient Scrolls With A.I.

    New ways we’re understanding A.I. models, the musings of a billionaire venture capitalist, and the first word from an ancient scroll.

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ AI and US Election Rules

    If an AI breaks the rules for you, does that count as breaking the rules? This is the essential question being taken up by the Federal Election Commission this month, and public input is needed to curtail the potential for AI to take US campaigns (even more) off the rails.

    At issue is whether candidates using AI to create deepfaked media for political advertisements should be considered fraud or legitimate electioneering.

  • Security Week ☛ Philippine Military Ordered to Stop Using Artificial Intelligence Apps Due to Security Risks

    The Philippine defense chief ordered the 163,000-member military to stop using applications that harness AI to generate personal portraits, saying they could pose security risks.

  • International Business Times ☛ iPhone 15 Demand In Key Markets Like China Doesn't Look Promising

    Much to Apple's chagrin, it looks like the demand for the newly launched iPhone 15 is alarmingly low in key markets. Also, some pieces of vital information about the upcoming iPhone 16 series have popped up on the internet.

    The executive director at GF Securities and renowned analyst Jeff Pu sent a note to investors stating the demand for the latest iPhone 15 series is lower than demand for its predecessor, the iPhone 14, in the same period last year.

  • Futurism ☛ Fugees Rapper Says His Lawyer Lost His Case by Using AI

    In a heavily redacted motion filed in district court in Washington, DC, Michel claims that Kenner used "an experimental AI program to write his closing argument, which made frivolous arguments, conflated the schemes, and failed to highlight key weaknesses" in the government's case against him.

  • Futurism ☛ That AI You’re Using Was Trained By Slave Labor, Basically

    Though this is far from the first time we've heard about the horrors of AI data-training gigs, it's nonetheless shameful that these well-funded companies are outsourcing their labor for such incredibly low wages.

    When the gig economy meets uber-cheap labor markets, the result can sound a lot like the sorry state of American prison labor.

  • Wired ☛ Millions of Workers Are Training AI Models for Pennies

    Appen is still her sole source of income. Pay ranges from 2.2 cents to 50 cents per task, Fuentes says. Typically, an hour and a half of work will bring in $1. When there are enough tasks to work a full week, she earns approximately $280 per month, almost meeting Colombia’s minimum wage of $285. But filling out a week with tasks is rare, she says. Down days, which have become increasingly common, will bring in no more than $1 to $2. Fuentes works on a laptop from her bed, glued to her computer for over 18 hours a day to get the first pick of tasks that could arrive at any time. Given Appen’s international clients, days begin when the tasks come out, which can mean 2 am starts.

  • Techdirt ☛ IRS Pilots Direct File Program While Tax Prep Industry Flails In Response

    We have long detailed through a series of posts, most of them based on fantastic reporting from Pro Publica, Intuit’s shady bullshit when it comes to its supposed “Free to File” program offered through a longstanding deal with the IRS. The summary is: massive tax prep companies cut a deal with the IRS so that the agency wouldn’t offer its own free filing program in exchange for those prep companies offering it themselves and potentially upselling customers into paid programs. In practice, those same companies, especially Intuit and its TurboTax platform, did everything possible to hide the free options from customers, including the poor and veterans. Because of all that, the IRS stated in 2020 that it was going to alter that deal and begin offering its own free file program. Here’s what Intuit had to say about that at the time.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • ACLU ☛ The Vital Role of End-to-End Encryption

      Our lives are increasingly intertwined with technology, and people must be able to communicate privately and securely. End-to-end encryption is the best protection, offering individuals the assurance that their personal data are shielded from prying eyes. As employed in Apple’s new iCloud implementation and in messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, this technology can ensure that only the sender and the intended recipients can access the content of a message. This level of security not only protects individuals from cyberattacks but also empowers citizens to communicate freely without fear of surveillance, censorship, and warrantless searches — whether by the government, Big Tech, data brokers, or anyone else.

    • Sedishj Authority for Privacy Protection ☛ H&M has made it unnecessarily difficult to avoid marketing

      In its decision, IMY states that H&M has violated the GDPR by not ceasing to handle the complainants' personal data for direct marketing without undue delay, despite the complainants objecting to this.

    • Techdirt ☛ Surveillance Tech Firm Scraps US Marketing Force, May Just Continue Selling To Human Rights Abusers

      Make enough bad choices and, sooner or later, those decisions are going to come back to haunt you. Or, at least, haunt the 50 or so employees you’ve laid off because your past performance has made it all but impossible to pitch your tech to US government agencies.

    • EFF ☛ What to Do If You're Concerned About the 23andMe Breach

      In a blog post, 23andMe claims the bad actors accessed the accounts through "credential stuffing:" the practice of using one set of leaked usernames and passwords from a previous data breach on another website in hopes that people have reused passwords. 

      Details about any specific accounts affected are still scant, but we do know some broad strokes. TechCrunch found the data may have been first leaked back in August when a bad actor posted on a hacking forum that they'd accessed 300 terabytes of stolen 23andMe user data. At the time, not much was made of the supposed breach, but then in early October a bad actor posted a data sample on a different forum claiming that the full set of data contained 1 million data points about people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. In a statement to The Washington Post a 23andMe representative noted that this "would include people with even 1% Jewish ancestry." Soon after, another post claimed they had data on 100,000 Chinese users. Then, on October 18, yet another dataset showed up on the same forum that included four million users, with the poster claiming it included data from "the wealthiest people living in the U.S. and Western Europe on this list." 

      23andMe suggests that the bad actors compiled the data from accounts using the optional "DNA Relatives" feature, which allows 23andMe users to automatically share data with others on the platform who they may be relatives with. 

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania to buy underwater surveillance system to shield LNG terminal

      To beef up the protection of the Klaipėda’s floating LNG terminal, Lithuania is buying systems to monitor potential underwater threats.

    • Reason ☛ Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions

      Harvesting Facebook data, directorial diversity, and corrupt intent.

• Defence/Aggression

  • NYPost ☛ Travis King charged by the Army with desertion for defecting to North Korea — and child porn

    The Army's charge sheet accuses King of broad misconduct before his defection into North Korea, including an alleged attempted escape from US military custody in October 2022.

  • The Straits Times ☛ US Army charges Private Travis King with desertion over dash into North Korea

    Mr King was accused of soliciting a Snapchat user in July 2023 for child pornography.

  • New York Times ☛ Travis King, Soldier Who Entered North Korea, Faces Desertion Charge

    The Army is also accusing Pvt. Travis T. King of other crimes including assaulting other soldiers and child pornography, according to a charging document.

  • The Strategist ☛ The G7’s anti-coercion campaign against China could backfire

    On 28–29 October, Japan will host the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Osaka. The primary focus of the gathering will be improving supply-chain resilience and strengthening export controls on critical minerals and technologies.

  • France24 ☛ As it happened: Biden ‘overjoyed’ after Hamas releases two US hostages from Gaza

    Hamas on Friday freed an American woman and her teenage daughter it had held hostage in Gaza, the first such release from among the around 200 people the militant group abducted during its October 7 rampage through southern Israel. The release came as thousands of people in Muslim countries gathered in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, calling for an end to Israel's blockade and airstrikes.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s family spends millions yearly on luxury goods: S. Korean official

    Mr Kim is reportedly known to gift luxury items to North Korean officials to keep their loyalty.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China formally arrests Japanese man held since March for ‘espionage’

    China has formally arrested a Japanese man detained this year on espionage allegations, Tokyo’s embassy in Beijing said on Thursday. “We can confirm that the Japanese national detained in March has been arrested,” an embassy official said in a statement to AFP.

  • New York Times ☛ China’s Military is Making Risky Moves and Adding Nuclear Warheads, U.S. Says

    The Defense Department said in a report to Congress that Beijing’s “coercive” air intercepts were aimed at intimidating U.S. forces in the region.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says US Pentagon report on nuclear warheads distorts facts

    October 20, 2023 3:35 PM
    
    

    China's foreign ministry said on Friday said a U.S. Pentagon report saying China will probably have over 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030 is filled with prejudice and distorts facts. REUTERS

  • The Straits Times ☛ China's Xi offers to help Sri Lanka, buy more of its exports

    China is willing to offer assistance to Sri Lanka without political conditions and buy more of its exports, President Xi Jinping told his Sri Lankan counterpart during a meeting in Beijing on Friday, state media said.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China's Xi tells Vietnam not to forget roots of their friendship

    Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Vietnam's second-highest ranking official on Friday that both countries must not forget the "original intention" of their traditional friendship.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam president attends BRI Forum as Xi Jinping plans Hanoi trip

    The exchanges come as Hanoi attempts to balance relationships with the U.S. and China.

  • CS Monitor ☛ China’s Belt and Road Initiative: What’s working and what’s not

    Ten years ago, China launched a massive global infrastructure push. As the Belt and Road Initiative enters a “new stage,” has it delivered on its promises of mutual prosperity?

  • The Straits Times ☛ China's Xi Jinping commits to more investments in Nigeria

    China's President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday for his country to increase investments in Nigeria's power generation sector and its digital economy, the Nigerian vice president's office said in the wake of a Belt And Road Initiative forum in Beijing.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s stance on Hamas a key point of division, US envoy Burns says

    The US has urged China to use its influence with Iran to prevent a wider escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

  • RFA ☛ Junta committed 22 massacres since coup, research group finds

    The Institute for Strategy and Policy listed air strikes and raids by troops in its tally of attacks on civilians.

  • JURIST ☛ UK Commons Foreign Affairs Committee finds Foreign Office failed to protect Matthew Hedges from torture in UAE

    The UK Commons Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) published a report Thursday finding that the FCDO failed to protect UK national Matthew Hedges from torture in United Arab Emirates.

  • BIA Net ☛ German justice minister: Attacks on Rojava are unacceptable

    Reminding everyone of the increasing attacks on Rojava, Bünger stated, "In these attacks, civilians, including women and children, have been killed, and the infrastructure of residential areas has been bombed."

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Breaking down China and India’s race to represent the Global South

    The divergences between them will define geopolitics.

  • AntiWar ☛ Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence

    James Bamford’s Spyfail ruffles all the right feathers. Bamford is best known for his books The Puzzle Palace and The Shadow Factory, both about the National Security Agency. The NSA did not initially know whether to fete or undermine Bamford after he thrust the agency’s secretive activities, such as data mining Americans, into the spotlight.

  • New York Times ☛ Justices Reject, for Now, Missouri’s Effort to Override Federal Gun Laws

    The move blocked an expansive state law, the Second Amendment Preservation Act, and let stand a ruling that it was an unconstitutional attempt to nullify federal laws.

  • YLE ☛ NBI suspects Chinese vessel over gas pipeline damage

    Investigators have discovered that a Hong Kong flagged vessel was observed in the vicinity of a gas pipeline that was damaged at the weekend.

  • YLE ☛ Finland sending aid to Armenia

    More than 100,000 Armenians have been displaced from the region Nagorno-Karabakh.

  • Federal News Network ☛ The US is welcomed in the Indo-Pacific region and should do more, ambassador to Japan says

    Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, says the U.S. is welcomed in the Indo-Pacific and should do more to counter China's influence there. Speaking at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York on Friday, Emanuel described Japan as an essential player in U.S.-led alliances and an influential power that works with the U.S. in the region. He says the U.S. needs to “think of a new and kind of modernized way we approach Japan and the region as well.” Tensions have grown in the Indo-Pacific region, where China has become more assertive over both the South China Sea and the East China Sea and ratcheted up military pressure over Taiwan.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Why should the US care about Chinese investment in Mexico?

    Mexico News Daily CEO Travis Bembenek outlines three possible U.S.-China scenarios and how they could impact the North American economy.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ The political factors behind China’s disappearing leaders

    Several senior Chinese officials appear to have been ousted in recent months. A close look at the officials involved suggests that a variety of personal and institutional factors contributed to their downfall.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US projects China will have 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030; Beijing says weapons for ‘self-defence’

    Beijing on Friday stressed its nuclear programme was only intended for self-defence, insisting nations had nothing to fear as long as they did not threaten China with attack.

  • RFA ☛ Reject Tibet name change, leader of Tibet's government-in-exile says

    His words come as China seeks to change Tibet’s name to ‘Xizang.’

  • RFA ☛ China moves to boost 'patriotic education,' including in Hong Kong

    The move comes as Communist Party leader Xi Jinping seeks to shore up his personal power against internal dissent.

  • RFA ☛ Pentagon: Chinese military ‘more dangerous and coercive’

    U.S. Defense Department report says Chinese military increased provocative actions in the Indo-Pacific in 2022.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Week When Biden Hugged Bibi

    The President, fresh off a grim trip to the Middle East, makes the case for funding Israel’s war—and Ukraine’s, too.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Kremlin calls Biden’s statement comparing Putin and Hamas ‘unacceptable’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian school invites former Wagner fighter with two murder convictions to speak to seventh graders — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘I’m back to being afraid’: Three years after mass protests rocked Belarus, exiled Belarusians still fear Lukashenko’s long arm — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Envoy To Hungary Reiterates Growing Concern Over Orban's 'Troubling' Meeting With Putin

      Hungary's deepening relationship with Russia and Prime Minister Viktor Orban's recent meeting with President Vladimir Putin is causing growing concern in the United States and among allies, Ambassador David Pressman confirmed to RFE/RL on October 20.

    • Insight Hungary ☛ Ambassadors of NATO member countries meet to discuss Orban-Putin meeting

      The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has published a short video of the Vladimir Putin - Viktor Orban meeting in Beijing. In the Russian-language footage, Putin first talks about the fact that even in these difficult times, there are European states with which relations have not been broken, even though it is not easy to maintain them. Viktor Orbán was the only EU politician to have attended and spoken at the One Belt, One Road forum in Beijing.

      During the bilateral meeting, Orbán said he met the Russian President thirteen times since 2009, but never in such complex circumstances. The reason for this is the "military operation", he said, referring to the war in Ukraine and "the Western sanctions that go with it".

    • AntiWar ☛ Xi Showcases Russia-China Friendship

      On October 17, the third Belt and Road Initiative forum opened in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping making his entrance into the Great Hall. In front of him were over twenty heads of state, representatives from more than 130 countries and UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

    • Federal News Network ☛ Biden asks Congress to secure $105 billion for Ukraine, Israel, the border and more

      Congressional chaos and opposition will be a hurdle for President Joe Biden as he pushes for $105 billion in funding for Israel, Ukraine, border security, humanitarian assistance and countering China. Friday's announcement follows Biden's Oval Office address the night before, when he made the case for deepening U.S. support for its allies in the midst of two wars. National security adviser Jake Sullivan says the Democratic president's budget request "is critical to advancing America’s national security and ensuring the safety of the American people.” But the chances of progress on Capitol Hill are in doubt because of political resistance and Republican infighting that has left the House of Representatives at a standstill.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Biden wants $105 billion for wars, humanitarian aid. Can he get it?

      Congressional chaos and opposition will be a hurdle for President Joe Biden as he pushes for $105 billion in funding for Israel, Ukraine, border security, humanitarian assistance, and countering China.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania, Borodyanka, Bucha agree to develop 3D urban planning tool to rebuild Ukraine

      Lithuania and the Ukrainian towns of Borodyanka and Bucha, which have been significantly damaged during the Russian invasion, have agreed to develop a 3D urban planning tool to help rebuild Ukraine's destroyed cities.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Forces Hold Out, Zelenskiy Says, Amid Continued Russian Onslaught On Eastern City

      Ukrainian forces repelled a new Russian attack on the eastern city of Avdiyivka and were holding their ground in heavy fighting in the area, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address on October 20, thanking Ukrainian troops.

    • teleSUR ☛ Biden Pledges Continued US Support for Israel and Ukraine

      He said ensuring Israel's success in the conflict with Hamas and Ukraine's victory in its conflict with Russia "is vital for America's national security."

    • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea condemns US for supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine

      October 21, 2023 6:41 AM
      
      

      North Korea says any strike on Russia will only hamper peace efforts.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Iran, tormentor of US presidents, tests Joe Biden

      From the 1979 hostage crisis to support for Islamic militants, Iran has afflicted U.S. presidents. Now it’s testing President Joe Biden in the Israel-Hamas war, as well as in Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ A Small Country Far From Ukraine Is Sending Hundreds to War, on Both Sides

      Scores of young Nepali men have gone to fight, some lured by Russia’s promise of work, others to fight for Ukraine, raising the prospect of Nepalis fighting one another in a distant war.

    • New York Times ☛ With Raids Across Dnipro, Ukraine May Be Seeking New Front

      Military experts are reporting extensive strikes on Russian-held territory in the south, potentially with the goal of establishing a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnipro.

    • Latvia ☛ Another accused in 'Baltic antifascists' case

      On October 16 this year, the State Security Service (VDD) encouraged the prosecutor's office to prosecute another person who allegedly spied for Russia while carrying out certain tasks of the criminal organization Baltic antifascists, the VDD said Friday.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania divided after Russian ice skater stripped of citizenship – poll

      More than half of people in Lithuania oppose the move to revoke the country’s citizenship given to a Russian ice skater, Margarita Drobiazko, according to a poll conducted earlier this month.

    • RFERL ☛ Investigation Links Notorious Russian Intelligence Unit To Arms Depot Explosion In Bulgaria

      An investigation has linked an explosion at a Bulgarian arms depot in 2011 to the activity of a notorious unit of Russia’s military intelligence that has been accused of involvement in other blasts and poisonings in NATO countries.

    • RFERL ☛ European Commission Investigating Gas Deal Between Bulgaria And Turkey

      The European Commission is investigating a deal allowing Bulgaria to access gas supplies via Turkey over a possible breach of the bloc's antitrust rules.

    • RFERL ☛ Finland Contacts China, Russia Regarding Baltic Sea Pipeline Investigation

      Finland's Foreign Ministry said on October 20 that it had contacted China and Russia via diplomatic channels regarding the investigation of damage to a pipeline and a telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea

• Environment

  • The Nation ☛ Close the Fridge!

  • Interesting Engineering ☛ Health crisis: 220,000 planes still use lead fuel, warns US agency

    “Aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions in our air,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong to ban single-use plastic tableware from next April

    The Legislative Council (LegCo) passed the Product Eco-responsibility (Amendment) Bill 2023 on Wednesday in its first meeting after the summer recess. The ban will be introduced two phases, with the first regulations implemented on April 22, 2024 to mark Earth Day, a spokesperson for the Environment and Ecology Bureau (EEB) said in a Wednesday press release.

  • France24 ☛ Indigenous people and climate change: With Kenya's Turkana people, when drought kills (1/4)

    FRANCE 24 brings you the stories of the people who are on the frontlines of climate change. From Kenya to Panama, via Greenland and Australia, our reporters James André and Achraf Abid went to meet the indigenous people who live in harmony with nature and whose daily lives are being turned upside down by global warming. Don't miss our series of four special reports. In this first episode, we take you to Kenya.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Science Alert ☛ World Finally Reaches 'Tipping Point' For Solar Power, Study Suggests

      We desperately need this.

    • Science Alert ☛ Amazing Project Could Reduce Stops at Red Traffic Lights by 30%

      Cities will never be the same.

    • New York Times ☛ Crypto Influencers and ‘Degenerates’ Flock to Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trial

      The presence of crypto YouTubers, podcasters and commentators at the FTX founder’s fraud trial has created something of a culture clash in the courtroom.

    • Hackaday ☛ NFTs And Tulipmania: A Little Bit Of History Repeating

      We were not surprised to read that a company that tracks NFTs declared that most NFTs are now worthless. But the NFT — non-fungible token — market was huge, so around 23 million people invested in NFTs that are now worth nothing. Worse still, the company notes that because of oddities in how NFTs are priced, the real number of worthless assets is probably even greater than they think.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ AI has a global warming problem, a VC’s manifesto misses the mark — and don’t miss Supercloud 4

      Generative artificial intelligence may be the next big thing, but it’s also the next big energy hog — and that’s a problem for all those data centers training and running AI models: It’s not clear how they’re going to withstand all the heat produced by increasingly large and power-hungry chips.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ SEC drops lawsuit against Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chairman Chris Larsen

      The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dismissed all charges against Ripple Labs Inc. Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen claiming the pair aided and abetted the company in violating U.S. securities laws.

    • Latvia ☛ Daugavpils fulfills dream of locally-produced trams

      In a project supported by the Cohesion Fund, AS “Daugavpils Locomotive Repair Factory” (Daugavpils Lokomotīvju remonta rūpnīca, DLRR) has manufactured and delivered the first two of the four new tram cars to the commissioning party – municipal public transport company. Thus, one of the oldest companies in Daugavpils has fulfilled its dream of starting tram production, LSM and Latgales laiks author Ivars Soikāns reports.

    • Federal News Network ☛ Long lines at gas pump unlikely, but Middle East crisis could disrupt oil supplies, raise prices

      Fifty years after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the current crisis in the Middle East has the potential to disrupt global oil supplies and raise prices. But don’t expect a repeat of the catastrophic price hikes and long lines at the gasoline pump, experts say. The head of the International Energy Agency said the latest Israel-Hamas war is “definitely not good news” for oil markets already stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China.

    • DeSmog ☛ Activists Decry FERC Rush to Construct LNG Gas Terminal, Say Permits for More Potential ‘Train Wreck’

      On my lastest flight surveying fossil fuel industry sites in southwest Louisiana at the end of September, I photographed liquified natural gas (LNG) export facilities, signs of drought, fire-scarred stretches of marsh, and a salt dome site at risk of collapsing. The visuals illustrate issues climate advocates publicized this week related to impacts fossil fuel industry sites are having on the environment. 

      First, on October 19, the Louisiana Bucket Brigade called out the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) for granting Venture Global’s request to construct its Plaquemines LNG gas export terminal on a 24/7 construction schedule. The decision comes after Plaquemines Parish faced a months-long water crisis due to a major saltwater wedge in the Mississippi River.

• Finance/Government

  • YLE ☛ Government building inspired by Eiffel Tower set for demolition

    The Finnish Heritage Agency says that the more than 100-year-old printing press building in the courtyard of the Government Palace can be demolished, to be replaced by a new building costing around 90 million euros.

  • JURIST ☛ Former Bank of China chairman arrested on bribery charges in China

    Chinese officials arrested former chairman of the Bank of China Liu Liange on corruption charges, Chinese official state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday.

  • University of Michigan ☛ ‘Dumb Money’ knows it’s dumb and that’s why it’s worth the money

    Everyone has that friend who’s too into internet culture. They say some odd things, but every once in a while they reference something so out of left field you pee your pants from laughing so hard. Craig Gillespie’s (“Cruella”) “Dumb Money” is that friend in film form. 

  • CNBC ☛ Big banks cut thousands of jobs, more layoffs coming

    Job losses in finance could pressure the broader U.S. labor market in 2024. Faced with rising defaults on loans, lenders are poised to make deeper cuts.

  • More trouble in tech: A spate of new layoffs hits Silicon Valley

    After a lull in which it seemed like the worst of the layoffs had passed for tech workers, a fresh wave of job cuts is now upon Silicon Valley.

    Major companies like LinkedIn, Qualcomm, and Nokia announced substantial headcount slashes this month, pointing to factors like weakened revenues and ongoing cost-cutting drives.

    The tech industry job losses are still far from the peaks they reached earlier this year, when tech giants dropped tens of thousands of positions combined. But the new spate of notable names making relatively deep cuts signals the bleeding isn’t quite over, even after analysts at Bernstein Research declared in August that the tech jobs recession was done.

  • San Fancisco ☛ Tech layoffs: Google lays off workers in second cut in two months

  • Computing UK ☛ Google announces job cuts in news division

    The downsizing comes at a crucial time when digital platforms are under pressure to provide accurate information during global conflicts

  • Bloomberg ☛ The UK Consumer May Be Starting to Struggle

    You know I have a tendency to look on the bright side (relatively speaking) when it comes to the UK. That’s not because I’m especially enthusiastic about the economy overall. We have lots of problems and they’re all challenging to solve (see last week’s Merryn Talks Money podcast with Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies for more on that — the aftershow is also available now to subscribers).

    However, the idea that the UK is in uniquely dire straits has always struck me as overdone. Hence the attempts to point out where the consensus has been too gloomy.

    But I’ll admit I’ve been growing somewhat more concerned about the outlook. Rising interest rates and a rising tax take combined with a form of political paralysis do not represent an auspicious economic backdrop, and it feels as though all of those factors may be starting to bite. (Though again, the UK is hardly unique here).

    This morning’s economic data, for example, was mostly not very encouraging. First, we got UK retail sales data for September. This came in far weaker than expected, with sales (excluding petrol) down 1.2% on the year, compared to analysts’ forecasts for a 0.3% drop.

    It’s pretty clear what the issue is. Year-on-year, the value of spending (again, excluding petrol) was up 6%. So people are spending a lot more to get significantly less for their money. This has been the case since inflation really started to take off but the spread between value and volume is painfully wide right now.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Greek economy wins new vote of confidence with credit rating upgrade and hopes for investment boost

    Greece has won new certification of its financial health. Standard & Poor’s has become the first of the three major international ratings agencies to upgrade the formerly struggling country’s credit rating to investment grade. The one-notch upgrade, from BB+ to BBB-, is expected to significantly boost market confidence in the Greek economy, attracting investment and lowering the government’s borrowing costs. The center-right government hailed it Friday as a major success. It came more than a decade after Greece’s bonds were relegated to sub-investment — or junk — grade amid the financial crisis that pushed the country to the brink of financial collapse and forced three massive international bailouts.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Cointelegraph ☛ ‘This will be our last post’ — LBRY throws in towel against the SEC

    Blockchain company LBRY — the creators of the LBRY blockchain — has issued its final message to the crypto community, citing “several million dollars” of debts that have now made it impossible for the firm to continue.

    “This will be our last post,” said the LBRY team in an Oct. 20 statement on Odysee, a LBRY-powered video-sharing website, which was also shared on X (formerly Twitter).

  • The Drone Girl ☛ This is how drone companies plan to spend money in 2024 (and it’s neither software nor hardware)

    Ultimately, 31% of respondents selected marketing & sales. Meanwhile, only 17% selected software development, and 13% selected hardware development as areas where they will primarily spend money in 2024

    Here’s a breakdown of spending areas that drone companies are prioritizing this year, in order from most to least: [...]

  • NYPost ☛ Over 3,000 NYC migrants have received notices to reapply for housing under new 60-day limit

    The Big Apple is mandated to provide housing for anyone who needs it as part of a decades-old rule, known as the right to shelter.

  • France24 ☛ Teen arrested as France grapples with rash of fake bomb threats

    A 16-year-old was arrested over a bomb hoax outside Paris, police sources said on Friday, as authorities scrambled to halt a week of bomb scares at airports, schools and landmarks.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • New Statesman ☛ Misinformation in the Israel-Hamas war is a serious problem

      On social media, users have two choices: to log off and look away, or stay and witness horrors and lies that make things worse.

    • The Atlantic ☛ AI Is About to Photoshop Your Memories

      No wonder, then, that Google touts the tool’s ability to “bring your photos in line with how you remember a moment.” And, as The Verge’s Allison Johnson noted recently, Google Photos has also changed its motto from “Home for all your photos and videos” to “Home for all your memories.” That might sound meaningless, but the distinction between photos and videos and memories is a crucial one. Much like the Magic Editor photo of the tossed beach kid, memories are skewed recollections of something that happened. Perhaps you weren’t bathed in perfect golden-hour light the first time you held your oldest child in the hospital room, but that’s the way you recall the moment in your mind. Over time, memories blend sensory information into something that is between real and feel.

    • France24 ☛ Gaza hospital blast was caused by misfired rocket, says European military source

      A misfired rocket launched by a Palestinian faction in Gaza was likely responsible for the al-Ahli hospital blast, according to a European military source interviewed by FRANCE 24. The death toll of the explosion, which Hamas attributed to an Israeli air strike, is likely to be lower than announced, the same source said.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • RFA ☛ China bans book on last Ming emperor after comments link it to Xi

    Online comments link the book's analysis of Chongzhen's reign to China's current situation under Xi Jinping.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Supreme Court lifts restrictions on Biden administration communications with social media companies

    CNN– The Supreme Court on Friday lifted restrictions on the Biden administration’s communications with social media companies while a lawsuit targeting the government’s efforts to combat online misinformation plays out.

  • RFA ☛ British government urged to protect Hong Kong activists

    Immigrants under a popular visa program say they are under threat, sometimes followed.

  • JURIST ☛ EU directs Meta and TikTok to explain compliance with Digital Service Act amid Israel-Hamas conflict

    The European Commission issued formal requests for information to social media giants Meta and TikTok, seeking explanations on their compliance with the European Union’s (EU) Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA requires these platforms to take proactive measures to combat harmful posts and disinformation, particularly in light of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

  • Techdirt ☛ KOSA Won’t Just Silence LGBTQ Voices; It Will Also Be Used To Hide Abortion Info From The Internet

    We’ve highlighted in great detail how KOSA (the Kids Online Safety Act), sponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn, which currently has an astounding 46 cosponsors, will be used to stifle LGBTQ voices. We know this because Republicans keep telling us that’s exactly how they plan to use it.

  • Techdirt ☛ Supreme Court Takes Up Case Regarding White House Pressure On Social Media Moderation, While Alito, Thomas & Gorsuch Seem Confused

    We’ve been following the bizarre and frequently problematic case initially brought by Louisiana and Missouri against the Biden administration, claiming that the administration’s coordination with researchers and pressure on social media companies regarding how they moderate content violates the first amendment. As we’ve said for quite some time, there are legitimate and important questions about the boundaries between government officials using the bully pulpit to persuade companies to act in a certain way (allowed) and using threats to coerce companies to act in a certain way (very much not allowed).

  • Meduza ☛ ‘I’ll go with my head held high’: A Russian mother whose daughter is behind bars for trying to burn down a government building talks about the case and her own ‘extremism’ charges — Meduza

  • Reason ☛ My Emory Law op-ed on 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis

    More on an important free-speech case from the recent Supreme Court Term

  • CS Monitor ☛ Free speech on college campuses: Is it time for a reset?

    In the wake of intense criticism surrounding statements about the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, campuses are wrestling with their role.

  • Off Guardian ☛ The Israel-Hamas War is ALREADY Pushing the Great Reset Agenda

    A few days ago we published an article discussing how the Great Reset agenda is still moving forward behind the scenes, while the headlines are full of Israel-Palestine.

  • Reason ☛ Firing Professors Who Engage in Speech to Prevent Students from Being Offended—or from Fearing Discrimination by the Professors

    A conversation with a colleague leads me to repost this item from 2016; I also made similar points in this 2017 post about a different controversy. It's of course far removed in some ways on the facts from the controversies we've been seeing recently.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Israel-Gaza war: 21 journalists killed in conflict so far

    The conflict is the deadliest for journalists since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Court Prolongs Detention Of RFE/RL Journalist Until October 23

    A Russian court has accepted a request by prosecutors to extend the detention of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva after she was picked up earlier this week by police on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.

  • EFF ☛ Internet Access Shouldn't Be a Bargaining Chip In Geopolitical Battles

    That is why we are deeply concerned that a key part of Israel’s response has been to target telecommunications infrastructure in Gaza, including effectively shutting down the internet.  

    Here are a few reasons why:  

    Shutting down telecommunications deprives civilians of a life-saving tool for sharing information when they need it the most. 

  • Meduza ☛ Russian investigators request formal arrest for detained Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva — Meduza

  • Meduza ☛ Israel moves to shut down Al Jazeera’s local office and confiscate equipment, in effort to suppress pro-Palestinian coverage — Meduza

  • Press Gazette ☛ Telegraph and Spectator sale processes kick off

    The titles were first seized by Lloyds Banking Group in June.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • RFA ☛ 51 nations blast China over violating Uyghurs’ rights

    Move comes after China was named to the UN Human Rights Council despite its poor record.

  • Gizmodo ☛ 'Invasive' Google Keyword Search Warrants Get Court Greenlight. Here's Everything You Need to Know

    Civil liberties and digital rights experts speaking with Gizmodo described the court’s “confusing” decision to punt on the constitutionality of reverse keyword search this week as a major missed opportunity and one that could inevitably lead to more cops pursuing the controversial tactics, both in Colorado and beyond. Critics fear these broad warrants, which compel Google and other tech companies to sift through its vast cornucopia of search data to sniff out users who’ve searched for specific keywords, could be weaponized against abortion seekers, political protestors, or even everyday internet users who inadvertently type a result that could someday be used against them in court.

  • European Parliament ☛ Jina Mahsa Amini and Iranian women protest movement win the 2023 Sakharov Prize

    President Metsola declared: ʺOn 16 September we marked one year since the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini in Iran. The European Parliament proudly stands with the brave and defiant who continue to fight for equality, dignity and freedom in Iran. We stand with those who, even from prison, continue to keep Women, Life and Freedom alive. By choosing them as laureates for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2023, this House remembers their struggle and continues to honour all those who have paid the ultimate price for liberty.ʺ

    Jina Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman. She was arrested by police in Tehran on 13 September 2022 for allegedly ignoring Iran’s strict veiling laws, and died in a Tehran hospital three days later following physical abuse while in custody.

  • BBC ☛ Mahsa Amini awarded EU's Sakharov human rights prize

    The 22-year-old died in custody after allegedly violating the strict Iranian hijab (headscarf) rule for women.

    Her death sparked protests that presented the most serious challenge to the Iranian authorities in decades.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Jina Mahsa Amini wins EU's Sakharov Prize

    The prize is awarded by the European Parliament to individuals and groups for defending freedom of thought and human rights.

    It is named in honor of Soviet physicist, political dissident and 1975 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.

  • RFERL ☛ Mahsa Amini And Iran's 'Women, Life, Freedom' Movement Win EU's Sakharov Prize

    Mahsa Amini and the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement in Iran that was triggered by her death were awarded this year's Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament’s top rights award, the second honor bestowed upon Iranian women this month for their sometimes deadly struggle for human rights after activist Narges Mohammadi won the Nobel Peace prize.

  • VOA News ☛ Mahsa Amini Awarded Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought

    "The European Parliament proudly stands with the brave and defiant who continue to fight for equality, dignity and freedom in Iran," EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in a statement. "By choosing them as laureates ... this house remembers their struggle and continues to honor all those who have paid the ultimate price for liberty."

  • Pro Publica ☛ Wounded Knee Descendants Want Objects Back From American Museum of Natural History

    ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

    One afternoon earlier this year, Wendell Yellow Bull received a call from a longtime friend with word of a troubling discovery.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Teachers union in Portland, Oregon, votes to strike over class sizes, pay, lack of resources

    The teachers union in Portland, Oregon, has voted to go on strike. The Portland Association of Teachers announced the vote results Friday. The strike would begin Nov. 1, unless an agreement is reached with the school district before then. Large class sizes, low pay and a lack of resources were among the main issues cited by teachers. The union has been bargaining for months with the school district for a new contract, which expired in June. Portland Public Schools said it would stay at the bargaining table in the hopes of reaching a fair settlement.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Head of auto workers union says strikes will continue in drive to gain better offers from companies

    United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that while Detroit’s automakers have increased their wage and benefit offers, he believes the union can gain more if it holds out longer in its contract talks. In a Facebook Live appearance, Fain didn’t announce any more factories to add to those that have been on strike for up to five weeks. But he warned that the UAW could announce such an expansion of its strikes at any time, depending on how much progress it makes in its negotiations with the automakers.

  • JURIST ☛ Mexican federal court workers launch 4-day strike against proposed budget cuts

    Personnel from Mexico’s judiciary, including administrative staff and judges, gathered outside of Mexico City’s primary federal court to launch a four-day nationwide strike on Thursday in opposition to proposed budget cuts.

  • Vice Media Group ☛ 34 Lawmakers Say Strikes Put Pensions at Risk, Worker Demands Must Be Met

    Dozens of Arizona lawmakers signed on to a letter calling on Blackstone to meet striking hotel workers' demands to preserve pensions.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ In Pictures: Hong Kong’s hostile architecture designed to keep homelessness off the streets

    For street sleepers in Hong Kong, places that once offered shelter and perhaps a little privacy have become increasingly inhospitable. In July, five homeless people petitioned outside the government headquarters, lobbying against recently implemented blockades of a number of popular sleeping sites in the city.

  • Reason ☛ He's Going to Prison for Twitter Trolling. That's Not Justice.

    Douglass Mackey's case raised questions about free speech, overcriminalization, and a politicized criminal legal system.

  • Reason ☛ Odd Colorado Ruling Upholds Internet Keyword Search Warrant

    Court says the warrant was “constitutionally defective” but grants police a “good faith” exception.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Techdirt ☛ Comcast Takes Heat For Misleading ’10G’ Cable Broadband Branding

    Back in 2019 the cable industry, envious of all the attention 5G wireless was getting, pulled a new marketing term completely out of its ass. It simply started calling ordinary cable broadband upgrades 10G, based on absolutely no real-world standards or definitions. It was a hollow attempt to capitalize on wireless 5G hype because these companies hope to someday offer 10 Gbps cable broadband.

• Monopolies

  • Patents

    • H2 View ☛ Greenway supplies gas-to-hydrogen technology to GME Hydro [Ed: Monopoly by patents]

      Greenway Technologies has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to manufacture and deliver two patented natural gas to hydrogen technology systems.

    • JUVE ☛ Illumina loses more patents for DNA-sequencing technology [Ed: EPO granted yet more fake patents on life itself]

      For years, patent holder Illumina has been in dispute with Chinese biotechnology company MGI, a subsidiary of the BGI Group, over various patents for DNA sequencing technology. Now the EPO Opposition Division has revoked EP 3 363 809, covering modified nucleotides for polynucleotide sequencing.

    • JUVE ☛ Mathys & Squire bolsters telecoms litigation practice with new partner [Ed: This is 100% SPAM from a site that took bribes to also relay propaganda and endorse a crime, the UPC]

      Nicholas Fox (52) joined the London office of the European patent attorney firm Mathys & Squire. The firm has offices in six UK locations, including London, as well as a presence in Munich and Paris. At Mathys & Squire, Fox will bolster the litigation practice for telecoms, electronics and software.

    • A Unified Litigation Funding Disclosure Rule

      Last week, I had the rare opportunity to speak at the UK’s Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys Congress 2023 in Cambridge. I was there to discuss evolving business models of U.S. patent assertion and strategies related to litigation finance and investment. And business, at least as far as we know, is good.

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Talking Turkey at the EPO

      A recent letter by the EPO’s Central Staff Committee (CSC) about Rewarding quality in the core business is too important and far too well-written to remain unnoticed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it confirms the reality of the problems addressed in my earlier posts, e.g. (1), (2) and elsewhere.

  • Trademarks

    • TTAB Blog ☛ CAFC Affirms Cancellation of CAPTAIN CANNABIS Registration: Petitioner Established Priority Via Analogous Trademark Use

      In a non-precedential ruling, the CAFC affirmed the TTAB's decision [TTABlogged here], granting a petition for cancellation of a registration for the mark CAPTAIN CANNABIS for comic books, on the ground of likelihood of confusion with Petitioner Laverne J. Andrusiek's identical common law mark, also for comic books. The court concluded that the Board did not abuse its discretion in construing the petition to include a priority claim based of use analogous to trademark use, and further concluded that substantial evidence supported the Board's findings regarding Andrusiek's prior use.

  • Copyrights

    • Torrent Freak ☛ Shopify Files Lawsuit over Illegal DMCA Takedown Abuse

      E-commerce platform Shopify is suing a 'John Doe' defendant for sending numerous false copyright complaints. The DMCA takedown notices have targeted a variety of vendors, who had their legitimate products taken offline as a result of the fraudulent actions. In addition, these vendors risked losing their entire accounts due to multiple false claims.

    • Walled Culture ☛ European Parliament sabotages the AI Act by failing to recognise that the right to read is the right to train

      Leaving aside the impossibly large volume of material that might need to be summarised, another issue is that it is by no means clear when something is under copyright, making compliance even more infeasible. In any case, as the DisCo post rightly points out, the EU Copyright Directive already provides a legal framework that addresses the issue of training AI systems: [...]

    • Digital Music News ☛ Anderson .Paak Signs On to Direct Live Nation-Funded Film ‘K-Pops!’

      R&B singer Anderson .Paak signs on for his directorial debut with the Live Nation-funded film, ‘K-Pops!’ Global media company Stampede Ventures has announced the beginning of principal photography for the Live Nation-funded dramatic comedy, “K-Pops!,” on October 30 in Los Angeles.

Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • 🔤SpellBinding — IMOPSVT Wordo: KEENS

  • Where is the new world...

    ...some people had imagined during the SARS-CoV2 crisis ? Remember, it was the time of the remote working, the time of leaving the cities for the countryside or the beach, the time of avoiding cars and travelling in cities where wild animals had returned...A time to rethink and renew our way of living, of working. Did you believe that ? Really ? Of course not, we are humans and we love our habits. I didn't believe to that new world. But this period has changed a lot of things for me...(as has my illness this year).

  • Getting used to new digs

    So I've settled into an apartment for a few months while I'm studying Byzantine music. I'm living in a suburb (more like a neighborhood) τῆς πόλεως very near to the University.

  • indecisive

    I've recently struggled a lot with being very indecisive and not knowing what I want, at best just knowing what I don't want, and that's very new for me.

    I am used to knowing exactly what I want, how I want it, and go looking for that thing exactly. I know precisely what I don't want, and the opposite is scratching the itch perfectly. The plan is very focused and driven and doesn't allow for much error or compromise. That makes looking for specific solutions or goods very easy and I know I will definitely be happy with the change. It's bound to be a success. I feel very safe and confident during all of it and it's very easy to commit to the plan fully.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Invalid Filenames

    This post discusses the valid filenames in Windows.

  • Internet/Gemini

    • Gemini as a Community

      There's been a lot of discussion in Geminispace about whether Gemini can be considered a community. I admit that I haven't read every post people have made about it, but I do want to document some of my initial thoughts as I read others' opinions. The topic is especially interesting to me as I feel the word "community" has surged in popularity in the Internet age--marketers and influencers are using the word to describe everything from a tight-knit group of confidants to a broad classification of people based on a single attribute about them.

    • More thoughts about communities

      An interesting point was said. People using something could be a community? I find that when a company or creator builds something around their product, like a forum or chat to bring together their users. From the ‘utilitarian value’ side, this helps with support and network effect. The intrinsic value of the product is bigger if more people are using it.

    • Disinterring the Gemini mailing list archives

      I must say, I am a big skeptic.

      Gemini had already solidified by the time the mailing list took off. The discussions on the list helped clarify a few points where the spec was ambiguous, but it became a locus of agitation against Solderpunk's stated or implicit goals.