Leftovers

• YLE ☛ Louis Theroux on first visit to Finland: "Maybe you don't have enough weird people"

  The world-renowned documentary filmmaker is attending the annual Aurora futures conference in the town of Levi in Finnish Lapland.

• NYPost ☛ Monty Python star John Cleese says he ‘killed a man’ during ‘A Fish Called Wanda’ movie screening

  John Cleese has made a startling admission on his new video series, claiming he once “killed a man”.

• CS Monitor ☛ Letter from Tampa: Aging gets a makeover at this gerontology summit

  Researchers aim to bust stereotypes and shift perceptions about growing older – in the interest of happier, healthier lives free from discrimination.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ This Amazing Ultrafast Laser Is Tiny Enough to Fit on a Fingertip

    "Paves the way for eventually using cell phones to diagnose eye diseases."

  • Science Alert ☛ Being Optimistic About Finances May Say Something About Your Thinking Skills

    What are the chances?

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Impossible' Crystal Was Forged in World's First Nuclear Bomb Test

    Something never seen before.

• Education

  • RFA ☛ UK universities get China-linked funding, risking national security: report

    30% of this Chinese funding comes from entities linked to the military, report shows.

  • Latvia ☛ World Economic Forum backs Latvian Education Accelerator

    The World Economic Forum, in partnership with Swedbank, Accenture, and the Ministries of Education and Science, and Economics, is announcing the launch of a Latvian Education Accelerator, planned at the end of November 2023.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD's RX 7900 XTX faces price hikes in China amid RTX 4090 ban — AMD continues to ship highest-end gaming GPU to China

    Pricing for the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and GeForce RTX 4090 is rising in the Chinese market.

  • Hackaday ☛ Supersize Your Intel 4004 By Over 10 Times

    The Intel 4004 was among the first microprocessors and one of the first to use the MOS silicon-gate technology. In the decades long race to build bigger CPUs, it’s been mostly forgotten. Forgotten that is, until [Klaus Scheffler] supersized it over ten-fold!

  • Hackaday ☛ A Low Voltage Tube Makes For A Handy Preamplifier

    When most people think of tube circuits, the first thing that comes to mind is often the use of high-voltage power supplies. It wasn’t a given for tube circuits, though, as a range of low-voltage devices were developed for applications such as car radios. It’s one of these, an ECH83 triode-heptode, which [mircemk] has taken as the basis of an audio preamplifier circuit.

  • Hackaday ☛ Electric Truck Carries 74 Tons

    Thanks to the various measurement systems in use, we aren’t sure if Volvo has created an electric truck that carries 74 metric tons, 74 short tons, or 74 long tons, but either way, that’s a lot of cargo for an electric truck. After all, that’s somewhere between 148,000 and 163,000 pounds (or 67,000 kg to 74,000 kg). That’s about three times what a typical 18-wheeler with a flatbed carries in the US. In fact, on a U.S. road, trucks typically have to weigh less than 80,000 pounds, including the truck to be legal.

  • Hackaday ☛ Behold The Track-Twisting Möbius Tank

    It started with someone asking [James Bruton] about using a Möbius strip as a tank tread. He wasn’t sure what the point would be, but he was willing to make one and see what happened. Turns out it works reasonably well!

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Hacker fixes Fashion Company Apple Magic Mouse's most glaring design flaws, including its oft-maligned charge port

    A hardware hacker has addressed both the Fashion Company Apple Magic Mouse’s pancake flat ergonomics and its problematic charging port.

  • CNX Software ☛ AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX Alder Lake-N SBC features Processor N50 to Atom x7425E SoC

    AAEON PICO-ADN4 Pico-ITX SBC comes with a choice of four Alder Lake-N processors – Processor N50, Processor N97, Core i3-N305, or Atom x7425E – and is available in SKUs with both standard (0°C ~ 60°C) and wide-temperature (-40°C ~ 85°C) ranges for industrial applications. The single board computer comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5, SATA and mSATA storage, three display interfaces (HDMI, eDP/LVDS, DDI), dual Ethernet with 2.5GbE and GbE RJ45 ports, USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, and M.2 and mPCIe sockets for expansion.

  • Hackaday ☛ You Can Now Build Your Own Polaroid-style Pack Film Cartridge

    Instant photography was one of the twentieth century’s coolest-to-have consumer inventions, but when the digital photography revolution came it had few answers. It survives as a niche format thanks to Fuji’s Instax line and a group of Dutch entrepreneurs who revived a defunct Polaroid works, but what hasn’t made it are the earlier pack and roll film formats for which the picture is revealed by peeling apart a negative and positive side. All isn’t lost though, because a small Austrian company has been producing pack film cartridges as a handmade artisan product. To reduce the cost per print they’re now available as a DIY self-assembly kit, and it’s this which [In an Instant] is taking a look at in their latest video.

  • Hackaday ☛ Additive Manufacturing Of Nickel Nanopillars Using Two-Photon Lithography

    Manufacturing nano-sized features is rapidly becoming an essential part of new technologies and process, ranging from catalysts to photonics and nano-scale robotics. Creating these features at scale and in a reproducible manner is a challenge, with previous attempts using methods ranging from dealloying and focused ion beams to templated electrodeposition all coming with their own drawbacks. Here recent research by Whenxin Zhang and colleagues as published in Nano Letters demonstrates a method using additive manufacturing.

  • Tedium ☛ Making Magnetic Media

    Pondering the legacy of 3M as a high-profile creator of magnetic media—a memorable business for the manufacturing giant that it gave up nearly three decades ago.

    If you ask the average person what the company 3M does, odds are if they have a few gray hairs hanging out on their scalp, they will likely say that the company makes floppy disks. Now, this was once true, but if you look on 3M’s own website, you will see no mention of this legacy—it’s a firm that sells abrasive materials, adhesives, filters, films, personal protective equipment, and medical equipment. (Younger people, if they recognize 3M, it’s probably because of Post-it notes, or more recently their N95 masks, which is a weird legacy!) About 28 years ago this week, 3M got out of the data storage business in an announced spinoff of the asset to a new firm called Imation, a company that is still around today, with a much smaller profile. But even with that said, if you look around, people will frequently say that of the many makers of floppies out there, 3M made the best ones. Given that, I’m ultimately curious to figure out exactly why 3M became the most memorable brand in data storage during the formative days of computing, and with that, today’s Tedium honors the role 3M played in the computer revolution.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • TruthOut ☛ Insurance Companies Flout State Laws Made to Safeguard Cancer Treatment Access

  • Techdirt ☛ Yet Another ‘Social Media Trend’ That Only Went Viral Because Of The Media

    We’ve done this a few times now where people start talking about a social media trend that actually only went viral because of the media coverage of the supposed (but not really) social media trend. And each time there’s some outrage moral panic about how “social media” is destroying the children or whatever, when it’s more frequently just adults freaking out over an overblown story.

  • New York Times ☛ As Bedbug Anxiety Spreads to Asia Exterminators Turn Profits

    Outbreaks in France and South Korea have people across Asia on high alert for bedbugs. Exterminators in the region say business is booming.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Concerning': Excessive Screen Time Linked to Lower Cognitive Function

    This is a big problem.

  • Science Alert ☛ Cats Might Be Communicating With Bacteria Living in Their Butts

    We need to talk.

  • YLE ☛ Police investigate powder in envelopes at Posti sorting centre

    Authorities said the substance was not dangerous, although three workers handling the envelopes developed mild symptoms.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Hundreds evacuated from Gaza's Al Shifa hospital

    A rapid evacuation of Al Shifa hospital began on Saturday morning, with Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry saying hundreds had been evacuated except for 120 patients and an unknown number of premature babies. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments.

  • Reason ☛ Rand Paul: Pursuing Accountability on Lab Leak 'Deception'

    Reason's Zach Weissmueller talked with the senator about his quest to uncover the origins of COVID-19 and hold Anthony Fauci accountable.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 37 Hong Kong students took own lives this year; health official says trend causes ‘serious alarm’

    Thirty-seven Hong Kong students have taken their own lives between the beginning of the year and last Wednesday, according to the city’s suicide prevention experts. In all, 269 students are known to have attempted suicide this year.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Homeless man ‘died by suicide’ at detention centre, Hong Kong coroner’s court rules

    The death of a homeless man whilst in the custody of the Correctional Services Department (CSD) was ruled to be a case of suicide by the coroner’s court on Friday. Le Van Muoi, a 54-year-old unhoused person from Vietnam, had previously said he was a victim of police brutality.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Amazon lays off hundreds from Alexa unit amid generative Hey Hi (AI) refocus

    Amazon.com Inc. is letting go hundreds of employees from the business unit that develops its Alexa voice assistant. Daniel Rausch, the vice president of Amazon’s Alexa and Fire TV unit, disclosed the move today in an internal memo that was published by GeekWire.

  • Reason ☛ Starting Next Year, You Can Buy a Car on Amazon [Ed: They can run this at a loss just to crush competition, i.e. the usual]

    While the partnership between Hyundai and Amazon is a good first step, states should get rid of laws that mandate franchise dealerships.

  • Unix Men ☛ Ad-Free Surfing on Vivaldi: Try StandsApp’s Free AdBlocker

    Internet users frequently encounter a deluge of advertisements when navigating the web. However, with the assistance of StandsApp’s Fair AdBlocker, the Vivaldi browser can reclaim its digital space. By adding an ad blocker for all platforms, Vivaldi further demonstrates its commitment to the user by offering extensive privacy and customization options.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Security Week ☛ Researchers Dive Into Activities of Indian Hack-for-Hire Firm Appin

      Researchers uncover the activities of Appin, a hack-for-hire Indian firm involved in espionage, surveillance, and disruptive attacks.

    • Techdirt ☛ Surveillance Tech Companies Are Writing Press Releases For Cops. Worse, News Agencies Are Publishing Them.

      There’s nothing new about cop shops letting their tech providers write their press releases for them. Law enforcement officers love power but often think nothing of surrendering their autonomy to the providers of the snooping tools.

    • Security Week ☛ Key GOP Lawmaker Calls for Renewal of Surveillance Tool as He Proposes Changes to Protect Privacy

      The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has called for the renewal of a key US government surveillance tool as he proposed a series of changes aimed at safeguarding privacy.

    • Meduza ☛ Russian State Duma raises fee to receive biometric passport — Meduza

• Defence/Aggression

  • Reason ☛ Prof. Samuel Estreicher (NYU) on The Laws of War, as to the Hamas-Israel War

    From the article, by a leading American academic who teaches and writes about, among other things, Foreign Relations Law and the law of war: Those who argue Israel does not have a right of self defense make two claims: First, they argue that Israel's "inherent right" is nullified because it is the "occupying power"...

  • TruthOut ☛ Texas Lawmakers Approve Country’s Most Extreme Anti-Immigrant Laws

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Judge Chutkan Denies Trump’s Bid to Disavow His Mob

    Trump is trying to have a protected privilege to make inflammatory threats, while gagging others about the effect of them. 

  • YLE ☛ Vantaa postal worker killing remains unsolved, one year on

    The National Bureau of Investigation began looking into the deadly assault of the young woman last spring.

  • Pro Publica ☛ The Miscalculations of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

    Since it was founded in 1802, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken on some of the nation’s most ambitious attempts to manipulate nature for the benefit of human beings. The agency’s motto — “Essayons!” — translates from French to “Let Us Try!” And try it does.

    The Corps has plunged ahead time and again with billion-dollar construction projects based on assumptions that don’t exactly pan out. In some cases, the agency goes on to spend billions more restoring the natural environment it manipulated.

  • YLE ☛ Widely-shared video shows man accusing Finnish PM Orpo of "genocide"

    The incident in a Turku coffee shop has been viewed thousands of times since being shared by the Iranian state news agency IRNA.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Two weeks in the West Bank: a reporter’s notebook

    The Christian Science Monitor’s Taylor Luck found that there’s only one thing you can count on in a violence-wracked zone: That you can take nothing for granted.

  • TruthOut ☛ Trump’s Election Interference Trial May Stretch Past Election, Legal Experts Say

  • New York Times ☛ APEC Gave a Rare Opportunity to See China’s Pooh-tin Up Close

    President Pooh-tin Jinping of China is one of the most self-contained Chinese leaders in decades, who reveals next to nothing about his personal life.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Pandas and partnership: Was China’s Pooh-tin Jinping’s US trip a success?

    In a whirlwind US trip this week, Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping held long talks with President Joe Biden, got a standing ovation from top business leaders, and even hinted there could be more pandas on the way to the United States.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US Sec. of State Blinken says China ought expect candid talk after Joe Biden calls Pooh-tin Jinping ‘dictator’

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that China should expect candid statements it dislikes after President Joe Biden called his counterpart Pooh-tin Jinping a “dictator” moments after meeting him.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ APEC: China’s Xi Jinping and US Pres. Joe Biden compete for Asia-Pacific allies at summit

    US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Pooh-tin Jinping made rival bids to win over Asia-Pacific allies at a summit in San Francisco Thursday, just a day after the two leaders met in a bid to reduce tensions between the superpowers.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Canada PM Trudeau says he hopes to meet China’s Pooh-tin one day once tensions defused

    Mr Trudeau said he had "a good exchange" with Mr Pooh-tin on the sidelines of the Apec meeting.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Pooh-tin calls for Asia-Pacific regional peace as he wraps up US trip

    Mr Pooh-tin has said China wants friendship with the US and that his nation won’t fight a war with anyone.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dogged by red flags and territorial clashes, China-funded projects in Philippines hit snag

    
    

    Manila has pulled out of talks with China for the funding of three ambitious railway projects.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines’ Marcos meets China’s Pooh-tin to find ways to reduce South China Sea tensions

    They spoke on the sidelines of the Apec Summit in San Francisco.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Marcos asks Fentanylware (TikTok) to help Philippine retailers promote products

    Shopping platform Fentanylware (TikTok) Shop, launched in April 2022, has become a threat to e-commerce players.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam ‘ramps up’ island building in South China Sea

    New report says Hanoi created over 133ha of new land in 2023 with dredging tools it had not used before.

  • RFA ☛ Taiwan: the ‘most sensitive’ issue, linchpin to US-China relations

    The issue will also be watched closely by key U.S. allies, Japan and South Korea.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Relying on old enemies: The challenge of Taiwan’s economic ties to China

    This economic challenge will be just as important to Taiwan’s economic and political well-being as the imperative to strengthen military capabilities and alliances in the Asia-Pacific, especially as Taiwanese companies join other multinationals in de-risking their investments in China.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia criticises China for ‘unsafe, unprofessional’ naval interaction

    Australian navy vessel, Chinese warship interaction on Nov 14 left Aussie military divers injured.

  • Reason ☛ Today in Supreme Court History: November 17, 1880

    11/17/1880: The United States and China sign treaty that protects Chinese laborers residing in the United States. This treaty was implicated in Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886).

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ AMLO and Chinese President Pooh-tin talk fentanyl at their first in-person meeting

    Despite the tough issues on the table, the leaders came out of the meeting celebrating their countries' 'strategic partnership.'

  • New York Times ☛ The Battle of Tarawa in Pictures

    The Battle of Tarawa, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, took a heavy toll on American forces and led to outrage at home.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taliban minister raises return of deported Afghans' assets in Pakistan visit

    The Taliban's acting commerce minister said he had asked Pakistan to help return the assets of expelled Afghans and discussed ways to overcome Afghanistan's stalled banking sector transactions during a four-day visit to Islamabad this week.

  • JURIST ☛ International Court of Justice orders Syria to prevent torture in case brought by the Netherlands and Canada

    The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague issued an interim order on Thursday directing the Syrian government to “take all measures within its powers” to prevent torture. This development comes from a case brought by the Netherlands and Canada, accusing Syria of engaging in a prolonged campaign of torturing its own citizens.

  • New Yorker ☛ Trump’s Vindictive Second-Term Agenda

    What would a second Trump Administration look like in comparison to the first, and how would America’s democratic institutions fare?

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Latvia ☛ Concerns raised over Moscow road signs on Latvian highway

      Following a 60-kilometer stretch of road from Tīnūži to Koknese, the Latvian Television's broadcast 4. studija counted 34 roadsigns pointing to Moscow. Journalist and traffic expert Pauls Timrots is of the opinion that reminders like this can cause negative emotions, 4. studija reported November 17.

    • Meduza ☛ Estonia transports anti-tank barriers to bridge on Russian border — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian student home from school gets house-call, hands-on special lesson in military equipment and battlefield first aid — Meduza

    • CS Monitor ☛ Why is Finland closing crossing points along its Russia border?

      Finnish authorities say that Russia has started allowing undocumented travelers to access the border zone and enter crossing stations between the two countries. To curb this influx, four crossing points on its border will be closed Friday.

    • JURIST ☛ Finland closes 4 border crossing points with Russia over irregular migration concerns

      The Finnish government announced the closure of four crossing points on the Finland-Russia border Thursday. The closure will start on November 18 and remain in force for one year. Upon the closure, asylum seekers will only be able to make their submissions at two crossing points: Vartius and Salla.

    • YLE ☛ "We have an agreement with the police", border smugglers tell Yle

      Traffickers who take migrants to the Finnish border say they work with Russian authorities.

    • YLE ☛ Purra: Finland ready to close entire border with Russia

      Finland announced plans to close four border crossing points in the southeast from midnight on Friday, but four more will remain open further north along the country's frontier with Russia.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Delegation Concludes Visit To North Korean Capital

      A Russian delegation led by Natural Resources Minister Aleksandr Kozlov has left Pyongyang after a visit that North Korea's state media said was to discuss "cooperation in trade, economy, science, and technology."

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Lawmakers Approve Budget With Record Amount Devoted To Defense

      The lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, approved a federal budget on November 17 that increases spending by around 25 percent in 2024 and devotes a record amount to defense.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Slams Russia's 'Shameful' Use Of Migrants At Finnish Border

      The European Union on November 17 accused Russia of making a "shameful" use of migrants to put pressure on other countries, saying it had noted an increased number of undocumented asylum seekers crossing Russia's border to Finland.

    • Meduza ☛ Zelensky says West’s pivot to Israel has slowed delivery of new artillery shells to Ukraine, as Kremlin plans his ouster in so-called ‘Maidan 3’ plot — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine Says It Has Seized Small Dnipro Foothold After Months of Raids

      The Ukrainian military said it had taken a sliver of Russian-controlled land, a move that might offer some hope but was unlikely to lead to a rapid breakthrough.

    • France24 ☛ 'Fiery hell': Ukraine secures multiple strategic areas along eastern bank of Dnipro River

      Ukraine's marine corps said Friday it has secured multiple bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region in fighting it described as having left nearly 3,500 Russians killed or wounded and dozens of ammunition depots, tanks, armored vehicles and other weaponry destroyed.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ David Petraeus on how the US should manage a world of overlapping crises

      Petraeus discussed how conflict and deterrence have changed—and what those changes mean for Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.

    • New York Times ☛ Europe Moves to Fill Weapons Gap Amid Doubts About U.S. Commitment to Ukraine

      Germany, Norway, Britain and others are increasing weapons production to help Kyiv. But the aid may be coming too late as winter looms and Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia stalls.

    • CS Monitor ☛ The call of home: Why some Ukrainian refugees are risking a return now

      Though millions of Ukrainians remain refugees abroad, an increasing number are returning home despite the war. But while being in their homeland brings some relief, it also poses new stress.

    • YLE ☛ Friday's papers: Russia's new enemy, AI's impact on jobs and rising layoffs

      Russia is now framing its invasion of Ukraine as a war against the west, Ilta-Sanomat reports on Friday.

    • YLE ☛ Finland prepares to send Ukraine 20th military aid package since Russian invasion

      The latest shipment brings the total value of defence support provided by Finland to Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022 to 1.5 billion euros.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says It Has Established 'Several Bridgeheads' Along East Bank Of Dnieper River

      The Ukrainian military says it has established "several bridgeheads" on the eastern banks of the Dnieper River in Russian-occupied territory of the southern Kherson region following a "series of successful operations."

    • RFERL ☛ U.K. Foreign Secretary Visits Moldova, Discusses Black Sea Security

      Britain's new foreign secretary, David Cameron, visited Moldova after his trip to Ukraine and discussed security in the Black Sea and bilateral cooperation with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, the president's office said on November 17.

    • RFERL ☛ 'Serious Damage': Ukraine Attributes Destruction Of Russian Ships To Innovative Use Of Drones

      The Russian fleet has suffered "serious damage" largely caused by Ukrainian drones, according to Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk, who said the tactics have made Ukraine the driver of a new type of naval warfare.

    • RFERL ☛ Conference On Military-Industrial Cooperation Between U.S., Ukraine To Take Place In December

      Ukraine and the United States will hold a conference in December to explore military-industrial cooperation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) said on November 17.

    • RFERL ☛ Major Russian Drone Attack Targets Infrastructure In Southern, Northern Ukraine

      A large-scale overnight drone attack launched from Russian territory struck infrastructure in southern and northern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said on November 18.

    • RFA ☛ Russian soldier in Ukraine discusses North Korean weapons in video

      Shared on social control media, the video could prove that Russia is in violation of UN sanctions.

    • Reason ☛ Fund Ukraine's War Effort by Confiscating Russian Government Assets

      The $300 billion in frozen Russian state assets in Western nations could fund a large part Ukraine's defense.

    • AntiWar ☛ What’s Next for Ukraine: The Outlines of a Peaceful Settlement

      As Ukraine’s counteroffensive begins to unravel, it is not clear that the hundreds of thousands of deaths already suffered have purchased any of its goals. Ukraine is not in NATO, and it has not received any firm assurance that it will ever be.

• Environment

  • Breach Media ☛ In Quebec’s aluminum towns, the green-tech future looks like the past

    While aluminum giant Rio Tinto receives corporate welfare for green promises, Saguenay residents cope with the consequences of the industry’s last 100 years

  • European Commission ☛ Readout of the meeting between EU Commissioner for Climate Action and China's Special Envoy on Climate Change

  • France24 ☛ Indigenous people and climate change: With the Guna when the oceans rise (4/4)

    FRANCE 24 brings you the stories of people on the front lines 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 last episode, we take you to Panama.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • TruthOut ☛ Humanitarian Crisis in Congo Is the Sinister Underbelly of “Green Tech”

    • France24 ☛ Climate groups call for funding withdrawal of TotalEnergies’ Mozambique project

      Banks and other financiers should withdraw their support of TotalEnergies' $20 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Mozambique, environmental lobby groups urged in a letter sent to more than two dozen project funders on Friday.

    • Barry Kauler ☛ Solar leaning trike safety concerns

      I have been discussing with Bart via email, safety concerns for a leaning trike with large solar panel on top. Some quotes from bart:

      when pivoting around and when going to the max., that the momentum of the top weight will kick your back wheel away. Then you end up with the bike on top and you trapped underneath it.

    • DeSmog ☛ UAE Oil Fields Constantly Flaring Despite 20-Year-Old Commitment To Stop, Analysis Shows

      State-owned oil and gas fields across the United Arab Emirates have flared almost constantly despite a long-standing policy to eliminate “routine” flaring in their operations, DeSmog can reveal.

      New data, produced exclusively for The Guardian and DeSmog, found that a single gas field in the United Arab Emirates run by state oil firm Adnoc flared more gas than all oil and gas fields in Norway last year.

    • DeSmog ☛ Why the Belief That Carbon Capture Technologies Can Work at Gigaton-Scale Is a Gigantic Gamble

      With the start of the 28th annual United Nations climate summit, COP28, just two weeks away, a battle is brewing over the role of fossil fuels as nations try to stem the tide of climate change. 

      A “high ambition” coalition of nations such as France, Tuvalu, Ethiopia, and Ireland backed by climate scientists, climate and civil society organizations, and the UN Secretary General, are calling for commitments to phase out coal, oil, and gas. On the other hand, many oil and gas producing countries, supported by the politically potent fossil fuel lobby, are urging an approach that allows continued fossil fuel extraction – and even expansion – under the assumption that emissions mitigation technologies can largely eliminate the climate pollution of business-as-usual, emissions-intensive activities.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong seeks to impose HK$100k fine and 1 year jail time for illegal feral pigeon feeding from next Aug

      Hong Kong is seeking to change the city’s wild animal protection laws to raise the maximum penalty for illegal feral pigeon feeding to HK$100,000 and imprisonment for one year. The proposed penalty would take effect next August, subject to approval by the legislature.

• Finance

  • New Yorker ☛ Economists Struggle to Come to Terms with “Immaculate Disinflation”

    Experts said that inflation couldn’t be conquered without a lot more economic pain, but it’s happening.

  • YLE ☛ S-Group retiring house brand Rainbow after more than 50 years

    The retail firm noted that customers are increasingly price-conscious at the grocery store.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Alibaba shares collapse after cloud service spinoff cancelled

    Shares in Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba tanked 10 percent in Hong Kong on Friday after the firm’s surprise decision to call off part of its high-profile restructuring because of the US-China chip war.

  • New York Times ☛ How to Keep Your Bank from Canceling All Your Accounts

    Banks have suddenly shut down the accounts of scores of customers. Here’s how you can avoid becoming one of them.

  • New York Times ☛ Sex Workers Have Been Shunned by Banks, Even When Their Work Is Legal

    Financial service companies often avoid what they deem high-risk industries like adult entertainment. When workers lose their accounts, they are left with few options.

  • Daily Dot ☛ ‘Yet their prices keep going up’: Geico lays off 2,000 workers. So does Liberty Mutual. Why?

    In a reflective TikTok video that has attracted nearly 300,000 views, Matthew Layson (@matthewlayson) sheds light on the recent streak of layoffs in the insurance industry.

    His detailed analysis, titled “#geico #libertymutual #layoffs #insurance,” begins with some startling statistics: “So, Geico laid off about 6% of their workforce, 2,000 people. Liberty Mutual just laid off about 2% of their workforce, 850 people. We’ve already talked about Farmers and their 11% layoff. What in the world is going on with the insurance industry?”

    Layson doesn’t shy away from criticizing the vague corporate public statements accompanying the layoffs, describing them as “corporate mumbo jumbo trying to position themselves to say that they’re doing just fine, even though they clearly are having some struggles.” He shares insights from current and former employees across various companies, revealing a common premonition of impending layoffs. “First a leader changes, then some benefits stop, and then suddenly there’s a restructure,” he explains, highlighting the warning signs employees he spoke to noticed.

  • The Statesman ☛ Amazon laying off hundreds in Alexa division, India team impacted

    Amazon is laying off “several hundred employees” from its Alexa devision, including in India, amid a renewed focus on artificial intelligence (AI), the media reported on Friday.

    In a memo sent to employees and seen by GeekWire, Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Fire TV team, said that the company is eliminating “several hundred roles”.

    “As we continue to invent, we’re shifting some of our efforts to better align with our business priorities, and what we know matters most to customers — which includes maximising our resources and efforts focused on generative AI,” he told employees in the memo.

  • New York Times ☛ Unions in Sweden Expand Blockade Against Tesla

    In sympathy with striking mechanics, unions representing dockworkers, electricians and others in the country are refusing to do work for the electric carmaker.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Over 33,000 federal employees will see additional raises in fiscal 2024

    On today's Federal Newscast: The Defense Department is still the only federal department that's never earned a clean audit opinion. GOP lawmakers are trying to override a controversial cybersecurity regulation. And locality pay strikes again, as more than 33,000 federal employees will see additional raises in January.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • LRT ☛ Expat Lithuanian representatives believe citizenship referendum will succeed this time

    As Lithuania prepares to vote in a referendum to change its citizenship laws, expat Lithuanian representatives believe it has better chances of succeeding than the previous initiative that failed due to low turnout.

  • France24 ☛ Establishment insider or political provocateur? Argentina faces stark presidential choice

    Amid skyrocketing poverty and inflation, Argentinians face a stark choice on Sunday between two wildly different presidential candidates. Libertarian Javier Milei has led a disruptive campaign that has galvanised voters and won support from a faction of the traditional far-right. But a shock first-round victory for current Economy Minister Sergio Massa has set the scene for a down-to-the wire race in the final round of voting on Sunday.

  • TruthOut ☛ Gallego Is Ahead of Lake, Sinema in New Poll on Arizona Senate Race

  • Techdirt ☛ As Elon Musk Endorses Bigoted Nonsense, Advertisers Find Their Ads On Nazi Content

    At this point you need to assume that organizations still advertising on exTwitter know that they’re supporting a new fascist movement… and are okay with it. Yes, many advertisers on exTwitter have pulled the plug on advertising on the site. And even the ones that Linda Yaccarino has been able to coax back appear to be spending a fraction of what they spent before.

  • New York Times ☛ Apple and Disney Halt Ads on X After Musk Endorses Antisemitic Post

    Disney, Apple, Paramount and Lionsgate halted marketing on X, formerly Twitter, as Elon Musk faced a furor over antisemitic abuse on his social control media platform.

  • New York Times ☛ Who Is Mira Murati, OpenAI’s Interim CEO?

    The company’s interim C.E.O. has been managing the development and distribution of Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot and DALL-E for years.

  • France24 ☛ OpenAI shocks tech world with firing of Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot CEO Sam Altman

    OpenAI, the company that launched Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot a year ago, said Friday it had dismissed CEO Sam Altman in a shock firing of a central figure in the Hey Hi (AI) revolution.

  • New York Times ☛ Emergency Pod: Sam Altman is Out at Open AI

    “Probably the most shocking tech story of the year.”

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Generative Hey Hi (AI) gets the Abusive Monopolist Microsoft treatment, supercomputers get the Hey Hi (AI) treatment – and Sam Altman gets the boot from OpenAI

  • CS Monitor ☛ Voter registration: Missouri lawsuit challenges photo ID requirement

    A lawsuit in Missouri is underway that challenges the constitutionality of the state’s new law requiring voters to show photo identification. Advocates say this law makes it difficult for elderly voters and people with disabilities to cast their ballots.

  • The Nation ☛ If Only AR-15 Murder-Scene Photos Would Bring About an Assault Weapons Ban

    I learned that The Washington Post planned a blockbuster feature about the way AR-15 rifles destroy human bodies, complete with grisly photos, via the ever-growing network of bereaved families and survivors of domestic weapons-of-war gun violence. Scheduled for Thursday, the project was thought to perhaps include what some tone-deaf proponents of better gun regulation insist would be a political game-changer: gory photos of murdered children, to show the horrors too many Americans allegedly ignore.

  • Hackaday ☛ The Case For A Technology Aware Lobby Correspondent

    We cover all manner of stories here at Hackaday, including awesome hardware hacks, the latest trends and inventions, and in-depth guides to fascinating technologies. We also cover a few news stories from the wider world outside our community, usually when they have some knock-on effect that has an impact on us. Recently this last category of stories has included laws which present a threat to online encryption and privacy in the UK and in the European Union, for example. They’re not the most joyful of news, but it’s vital for everyone with an interest in online matters to be informed about them.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Former first lady Rosalynn Carter enters hospice care

    Former first lady Rosalynn Carter has entered hospice care at her home in Georgia, The Carter Center announced Friday. “Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter has entered hospice care at home. She and President Carter are spending time with each other and their family.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Wisconsin’s Legislative Maps Are Bizarre, but Are They Illegal?

    Any number of odd, zigzag examples can be used to make the case that legislative districts in Wisconsin are excessively gerrymandered.

    There’s the pistol-shaped 31st Assembly District, held by a Republican, that was drawn with a western border that splits the Democratic city of Beloit in two.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Biden signs a bill averting a government shutdown for now, with Israel and Ukraine aid still stalled

    President Joe Biden has ended the immediate threat of a government shutdown, signing a temporary spending bill a day before much of the government was to run out of money. The bill maintains existing funding levels. It pushes a fight with congressional Republicans over the federal budget into the new year, when GOP lawmakers in the House are vowing to exact stiff spending cuts. It splits the deadlines for passing full-year appropriations bills into two dates: Jan. 19 for some federal agencies and Feb. 2 for others. The measure does not include any wartime aid for Ukraine or Israel, nor does it offer humanitarian funding for Palestinians.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan's Kishida, S. Korea's Yoon talk tech, cooperation in Silicon Valley

    South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged cooperation on clean-energy supply chains, quantum computing and other innovative technology during a Silicon Valley roundtable on Friday.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Meduza ☛ Elves vs. trolls: Navalny’s team says it doesn’t have an anti-Kremlin social media army. Here’s who does. — Meduza

    • New Yorker ☛ A Rise in Antisemitism; and a Conversation with the Hey Hi (AI) Pioneer Geoffrey Hinton

      The normalization of antisemitism has the potential to destabilize democracies, a historian says. Plus, the godfather of artificial intelligence on why his brainchild scares him.

    • Vice Media Group ☛ A Century-Old, Debunked Theory Is Fueling the Fentanylware (TikTok) Moral Panic

      Lawmakers claim that Fentanylware (TikTok) is "brainwashing" America's youth to support Palestine and share bin Laden's writings. It's a perfect storm of bad ideas.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Reason ☛ No Arbitration of Suit Alleging Stanford Internet Observatory et al. Collaborated with Government to Pressure Social Media Platforms

    From Judge Terry Doughty's opinion yesterday in Hines v. Stamos (W.D. La.) (already being appealed), rejecting defendants' motion to compel arbitration: Hines is a … co-Director of Health Freedom Louisiana, a consumer and human rights advocacy organization. Hoft is … the founder, owner, and operator of the news website, The Gateway Pundit.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Spotify to Enhance Recommendations, Target ‘Potentially Harmful Content’ With Expanded Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) Deal

    Spotify is officially set to expand its artificial intelligence content recommendation capabilities as part of a new agreement with Google.

  • MWL ☛ Penguicon fundraiser, featuring Orc-Cased Orcs

    Did you miss the Prohibition Orcs Kickstarter–specifically, the orc-leather-cased exclusive omnibuses? I know many of you did. You told me about it. Bitterly and at length. Orc leather? If you didn’t know — when an orc dies, their final gift to their clan is their remains.

  • Meduza ☛ Russian authorities ask Supreme Court to ban ‘international LGBT movement’ — Meduza

  • Meduza ☛ ‘Are they going to ban rainbows?’ How Russian society is reacting to the authorities’ bid to outlaw the ill-defined ‘LGBT movement’ — Meduza

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Supreme Court To Hear Justice Ministry Lawsuit Calling For LGBT Movement To Be Designated 'Extremist'

    The Russian Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry calling for the "international LGBT movement" to be designated "extremist" and its activities in Russia banned.

  • France24 ☛ Russian artist sentenced to seven years in prison over supermarket protest

    A Russian court on Thursday sentenced artist Alexandra Skochilenko to seven years in prison for spreading "false information" about the army after she swapped supermarket price tags with slogans criticising Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

  • New York Times ☛ Russia Sentences Activist to Penal Colony for Antiwar Notes on Price Tags

    A court sentenced Aleksandra Y. Skochilenko to seven years in a penal colony, in one of the most prominent cases of Russia’s crackdown on wartime dissent.

  • Meduza ☛ Russia authorities add Moscow Times to ‘foreign agents’ list — Meduza

  • RFERL ☛ The Moscow Times, Noted For Its English Coverage Of Russia, Is Declared 'Foreign Agent'

    The Russian Justice Ministry on November 17 added The Moscow Times, an online newspaper popular among Russia's expatriate community, to its list of “foreign agents.”

  • JURIST ☛ Russia adds lawyers for dissident Alexei Navalny to ‘extremists’ list

    Russia’s Federal Service for Financial Monitoring added on Thursday three lawyers representing jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny to its list of “terrorists and extremists.” Under Russian law, individuals on the “terrorist and extremist” list face frozen bank accounts and suspended services.

  • Meduza ☛ Moscow authorities deny request by mobilized soldiers' wives to hold protest, citing COVID-19 restrictions — Meduza

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • JURIST ☛ US appeals court reinstates disability lawsuit against Florida school district

    The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Monday reinstated a lawsuit alleging a Florida school district failed to meet disabled students’ right to a free and appropriate public education under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

  • Meduza ☛ ‘We left everything’: Uprooted and jobless, Nagorno-Karabakh refugees start from scratch in Armenia — Meduza

  • Techdirt ☛ WV Supreme Court: Omnipresent Concern Like ‘Officer Safety’ Can’t Be Used To Excuse Constitutional Violations

    The things said by law enforcement when trying to keep evidence from being tossed all sound the same. There are only a handful of acceptable excuses for performing warrantless searches and, man, do they get used so frequently we can probably all repeat them in our sleep.

  • EFF ☛ On His 42nd Birthday, Alaa Abd El Fattah’s Family Files UN Petition for His Release

    Today is the birthday of Alaa Abd El Fattah, a prominent Egyptian-British coder, blogger, activist, and one of the most high-profile political prisoners in the entire Arab world. This will be the tenth birthday that he will spend in prison. But we are newly optimistic for his release: This week, Alaa's family and International Counsel acting on his behalf filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations requesting urgent action over his continuing and unjust imprisonment in Egypt.

    The petition asks the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNGWAD), which meets this week in Geneva, to consider Alaa’s case under its Urgent Action procedure. We hope that the Working Group will conclude that Alaa’s detention is arbitrary and contrary to international law, and to find that the appropriate remedy is a recommendation for Alaa’s immediate release, as the petition requests.

    EFF submitted a petition the UNGWAD in 2014, along with the Media Legal Defence Initiative.  The Working Group issued an opinion that Alaa’s detention was arbitrary and called for his release. In 2016, the UNWGAD declared Alaa's detention (and the law under which he was arrested) a violation of international law, and called for his release.

    This latest appeal comes after Alaa spent more than half of 2022 on a hunger strike in protest of his treatment in prison, which he started on the first day of Ramadan. A few days after the strike began, on April 11, Alaa’s family announced that he had become a British citizen through his mother. There was hope last year, following a groundswell of protests that began in the summer and extended to the COP27 conference, that the UK foreign secretary could secure his release, but so far, this has not happened. Alaa's hunger strike did result in improved prison conditions and family visitation rights, but only after it prompted protests and fifteen Nobel Prize laureates demanded his release. 

  • France24 ☛ South Korea: Where feminism has become taboo

    In this special edition, Annette Young heads to South Korea, which, despite its impressive economic record, consistently scores poorly for gender equality among advanced nations. It has the worst gender pay gap among OECD nations, while its traditional workplace culture results in many women giving up their careers after childbirth. Now the country has recorded the lowest fertility rate in the world, with women of reproductive age having fewer than one child on average.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean police decline to detain rape suspect ‘because he is old’

    Officials decided that he posed no threat of fleeing.

  • teleSUR ☛ Italians Protest Against Meloni and Defend the Right to Strike

    The CGIL and UIL unions organized around 100 demonstrations nationwide, joined by students in various cities such as Rome and Milan.

  • LRT ☛ Teachers’ union pledges to continue strike until Lithuanian parliament adopts budget

    The Lithuanian Education Workers’ Union (LŠDPS) is planning to continue its strike until the parliament, Seimas, adopts next year’s government budget.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Lawmakers Call for Juvenile Detention Audit Following “Alarming” Findings at Knoxville Facility

    A group of Tennessee lawmakers is calling for an audit of the use of seclusion inside juvenile detention facilities, and the removal of a Knox County superintendent, following reporting from WPLN and ProPublica.

  • Democracy Now ☛ Cop City Protest Tear-Gassed as Activists Face “Unprecedented” RICO & Domestic Terrorism Charges

    Protesters in Atlanta held a week of action to stop the construction of the massive $90 million police training complex known as “Cop City” in the Weelaunee Forest. This comes as activists have been organizing for a citywide referendum on the project which officials have tied up in court. Meanwhile, 61 people facing RICO, or racketeering, and domestic terrorism charges appeared in court this month as the state tries to characterize them as “militant anarchists.” We get an update from Kamau Franklin, founder of the Atlanta-based grassroots organizing collective Community Movement Builders, who describes Atlanta’s repression of peaceful civil disobedience as part of an effort “to protect cops and capitalism.” We also feature excerpts from Al Jazeera’s new Fault Lines documentary on the “Stop Cop City” movement and speak with correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who calls the mass charges against protesters “unprecedented.”

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Security Week ☛ FCC Tightens Telco Rules to Combat SIM-Swapping

    Under the new rules, wireless carriers are required to notify customers of any SIM transfer requests, a measure designed to thwart fraudulent attempts by cybercriminals.

  • RFERL ☛ Tajikistan To Link Up With China Telecoms Network

    Tajikistan on November 17 announced plans to link with China's telecommunications network in order to improve the mountainous, landlocked country's Internet access as Beijing's influence in Central Asia grows.

  • Techdirt ☛ The FCC Is Trying To Stop Discrimination In Broadband Deployment. Telecoms And Republicans Are Big Mad About It

    For decades, big ISPs like AT&T have refused to upgrade low income and poor communities to fiber, despite billions in subsidies, regulatory favors, and tax breaks that were supposed to accomplish precisely that. Groups like the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) have released studies on cities like Cleveland and Detroit, documenting how this discrimination lines up with 30s “redlining” efforts.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • New Yorker ☛ Algorithm Recommendations Since Having Kids

    Disney+: You have watched every episode of “Bluey” more than fifty times and nothing else. We recommend more “Bluey.”

• Monopolies

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Apple files appeal over EU’s approach to regulating its services

    Apple Inc. has filed an appeal over the way European Union regulators are applying the bloc’s Digital Markets Act to its services. The Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU’s judicial branch, announced the development today. The appeal is not unexpected: Bloomberg reported last Friday that Fashion Company Apple was preparing such a complaint.

  • Patents

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ The UPC – a tale of multiple divisions [Ed: The UPC is illegal and unconstitutional. This is a "legal" system which is itself illegal and constructed by deliberate abuse and corruption.]

      This is the first of a new series of monthly posts on the UPC from Bristows, in which our UPC experts will be providing their commentary and insights on the development and themes arising from the cases being brought in the UPC.

    • JUVE ☛ Andrew Yen: “The draft SEP regulation contradicts the fundamental pillars of FRAND” [Ed: Lies and lobbying site JUVE, which takes bribes to promote and whitewash criminal activities in Europe, "conducted at the AIPPI world congresses in Istanbul" to basically lobby some more for patent extremists]

      In an exclusive interview with JUVE Patent, conducted at the AIPPI world congresses in Istanbul, Andrew Yen talks about Panasonic’s response to the European Commission’s proposed changes to FRAND and SEP regulation in Europe, and how other, industry-led solutions might lead to a more harmonious market approach.

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ EU Pharma Package – Bolar exemption under scrutiny and first amendments being proposed [Ed: European Commission owned by the pharmaceutical industry]

      In April 2023, the European Commission (EC) published the pharmaceutical legislation package, including the proposal for a Pharmaceutical Directive[1] , and further proposals for regulations on SPCs[2]. Article 85 of the proposed Directive aims at providing an amended provision for the so-called Bolar exemption, currently codified in Article 10(6) of Directive 2001/83/EC. >

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ 14,000 Words to Win It: Why Medtronic’s Appeal Strategy Backfired

      The Federal Circuit’s new decision in Medtronic v. Teleflex delves into the old pre-AIA law of inventorship and prior art.  It also provides an important appellate procedure lesson with the court finding the appellant waived a key argument. 

      Teleflex’s U.S. Patent No. RE46,116 claims methods for using a special extension for its guide catheter. Medtronic filed a pair of IPR petitions, asking the USPTO to cancel the claims. Although the PTAB granted the petitions, it eventually sided with the patentee — agreeing that one of the asserted references did not qualify as prior art.  On appeal, the Federal Circuit has affirmed.

      The basic question is whether Itou (7,736,355) qualifies as prior art against Teleflex’s patent monopoly (RE46,116). The Itou application was filed about nine-months before the Teleflex application.

  • Trademarks

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Failures to Function and Likelihood of Confusion: Takeaways from Two Recent Federal Circuit Trademark Decisions

      The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently affirmed two Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) decisions. In In re GO & Associates, LLC, 2022-1961 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 13, 2023), the Federal Circuit affirmed the TTAB’s refusal to register the mark EVERYBODY VS RACISM because it failed to function as a trademark. In Trek Bicycle Corp. v. Isaacs, 2022-1434 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 15, 2023), the Federal Circuit affirmed the TTAB’s dismissal of Trek’s opposition to the registration of the RANGER TREK mark, finding no likelihood of confusion with Trek’s registered marks, and that Trek’s bicycle fame did not extend to backpacks.

    • TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Orders Cancellation of Registration for Configuration of Glass-Breaking Device on the Ground of Section 2(e)(5) Functionality

      In a highly detailed and instructive opinion, the Board granted a petition for cancellation of a registration for the product configuration shown below, for a "spring-loaded glass-breaking device," on the ground of de jure functionality under Section 2(e)(5). The parties proceeded under the Accelerated Case Resolution (ACR) regime, waiving pre-trial disclosures and trial and submitting briefs accompanied by evidence in the form of declarations or affidavits. Trevari Media, LLC v. Laurent Colasse, Cancellation No. 92078038 (November 14, 2023) [not precedential[ (Opinion by Judge Jonathan Hudis).

    • JUVE ☛ Pinsent Masons hires partner to lead IP team in Dublin [Ed: This is a classic example of JUVE, a spamming, disinformation and propaganda site which takes bribes to lobby for crime, not even pretending to do journalism. Some company hiring a person is not news, this is a paid ad.]

      Maureen Daly joins from Irish full-service law firm Beauchamps, where she has been partner and head of technology and IP for 18 years.

Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • Relax, get through it

    And I'm not even talking about the most glaringly in-need-of aspect, namely a preponderance of humans magically becoming better than self-centric morons. I'm talking merely about simple things not becoming complicated things in ways increasingly unrelated - as the complication unfolds - to the initial impetus.

  • 3 AM rants from a disturbed mind

    There is a moment. Well, it's usually more like a collection of them. A collection of a recollection of emptiness. Staring at the blinking cursor, typing, retyping, deleting and retyping and finally the moment. A blank page. Back to square one.

  • Has it really been 45 years since this Star Wars Special that George Lucas disavowed aired for the first, and so far, only time?

    Yikes! I'm getting old. I remember watching this [1] when it first aired, and, except for the cartoon segment [2], didn't find it all that interesting. It certainly didn't help that it centered on Chewbacca's family (an hour or grunts and growls) and no subtitles what-so-ever. That's a very odd choice, but it's not like it's the only odd thing in the special—you have a Wookie getting off on soft-core porn (seriously!), Bea Arthur singing, Harvey Korman attempting comedy, Carie Fisher a̲t̲t̲e̲m̲p̲t̲i̲n̲g̲ to sing to the main Star Wars theme (who knew it has lyrics?) while wasted, Mark Hamill wearing makeup, and Harrison Ford wantint to be anywhere else than this special.

• Technology and Free Software

  • Three cheers for Saturday productivity

    We did a lot of house rearranging and cleaning, and also prepared for a performance tonight. A couple buddies from the town where we used to live will be joining us. It'll be at a bar we've been trying to help out with free music. Tonight they're having some kind of dinner event. Should be fun.

    The work we did inside the house was so significant that the living room acoustics are noticeably different. Cray!

  • The Temptation, Part II

    Yes, yet more email to another Sean Conner that arrived in my Gmail account. This time, informing me I should change “my” password to “my” Instagram [2] account.

  • WTF Instagram? Seriously, WTF?

    So I'm trying to update the profile on “my Instragram account [1]” when I see this: “Editing your links is only available on mobile. Visit the Instagram app and edit your profile to change the websites in your bio.”

    Really?

    I can edit my bio, and my gender, but I can't update a̲ ̲l̲i̲n̲k̲?̲ Because I'm on a desktop computer?

  • Migrating from Debian Bookworm to Devuan Daedalus on the Libre Computer "Renegade" Single Board Computer

    This is why I remarked how it was very important the fact that at Libre Computer were able to run a stock Debian instead of some arguable rearrangement… Kudos to them!

  • Internet/Gemini

    • I Don't Even Want To See You At All: SEO and Amanda Chicago Lewis' "The people who ruined the internet"

      I've been on the internet for a long time. Though my first encounter with it was sometime in '94 or early '95, via Mosaic on the 386 at my mother's office, I count my real start to be late '95. Barely a teen, and having been immersed in the online world for mere months via BBSs (which I loved, which I will always love, and which I didn't know then were dying), I used a cracked copy of Telix and my 2400 bps modem to dial up a free community access internet project. I'd written out my application form in person, mailed it in. A few weeks later I received instructions, a username, a default password. So I added it to my directory, called it, and got started.