Leftovers

• Gizmodo ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] I Cannot Take Amazon's New Robot for Business Seriously

• Engadget ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Amazon’s dinky Astro robot is now available as a security guard

• Education

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Greeks March to Commemorate 1973 Student Uprising

• Hardware

  • Liam Proven ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] TIL that some people can't remember the difference between the 386 & 486

  • TechTarget ☛ Comparing RAID levels: 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and 50 explained

    RAID protects data and improves storage performance and availability, but it can be confusing. Read about the different levels of RAID, the pros and cons, and where they work best.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Conversation ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] What the world's oldest dog can tell us about ageing

  • The Conversation ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Flame retardant chemicals can cause serious health risks – and they only slow fire by a few seconds

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-10 [Older] CTE: When an athlete's brain slowly deteriorates

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Norway's seed vault protecting Africa's food supply

  • The Conversation ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] Creative minds are vulnerable to mental illness – but magicians escape the curse

• Security

  • Alexa/Amazon/Privacy/Surveillance

    • Engadget ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Amazon is laying off several hundred employees working on Alexa [Ed: Alexa.com is dead. Is Alexa next?]

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Amazon Lays off Hundreds in Its Alexa Division as It Plows Resources Into AI

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Amazon Aggregator Thrasio Prepares for Bankruptcy - WSJ

    • Engadget ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Amazon is officially killing the Comixology app, forcing users over to Kindle

    • Gizmodo ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Amazon Restructures Games Division to Refocus on Prime Gaming, Lays Off 180

    • Engadget ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Amazon cuts 180 jobs from its gaming division

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Amazon Cuts Games Unit Jobs in Broader Restructuring

• Defence/Aggression

  • Spiegel ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] Jewish Life in Germany: A Sudden, Ominous Sense of Insecurity

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Israel: Sports stop amid Hamas war and fears over security

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Tens of Thousands of Supporters of Israel Rally in Washington, Crying 'Never Again'

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-11 [Older] Japan’s New National Security Strategy and Changing Dynamics with India

  • CBC ☛ 2023-11-11 [Older] Canadians mark Remembrance Day as top soldier warns of global security threats

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] The Pentagon Proclaims Failure in its War on Terror in Africa

  • Truthdig ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] The Pentagon’s Failed War on Terror in Africa

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] In Africa, the Legacy of the US War on Terror Is Death and Chaos

  • ADF ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Iranian Efforts to Deepen Ties in Africa Draw Skeptical Response

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] Arab Coordination Group pledges $50 billion for Africa’s development

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Africa Seeks Action Plan on Slavery Reparations at Ghana Conference

  • The Local SE ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Turkey moves closer to ratification of Swedish Nato application

  • The Local SE ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] Turkey's ratification of Sweden's Nato bid hit by new delay

  • ANF News ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Turkey bombs civilian settlements in South Kurdistan

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-11 [Older] Australia Foreign Minister Touts Tuvalu Security, Migration Pact

  • BBC ☛ Israel Gaza live news: Israel says tunnel found under Gaza hospital as hostage deal hopes grow - BBC News

    The latest IDF footage from al-Shifa comes as Hamas officials say 13,000 people have now been killed in the Palestinian enclave.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • NL Times ☛ 2023-11-18 [Older] The Netherlands to earmark €2 billion for Ukraine support next year

    • The Age AU ☛ 2023-11-18 [Older] APEC leaders divided over Ukraine, Gaza but together on WTO reform

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] WP: “Ukraine could get left behind U.S. priorities”

    • Counter Punch ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] The Need for Immediate Ceasefires in Ukraine and Gaza

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Ukraine updates: 2,400 children taken to Belarus — report

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] APEC Leaders Divided on Ukraine, Gaza Wars, Back WTO Reform

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Haitian Immigrants Sue Indiana Over Law That Limits Driver's License Access to Certain Ukrainians

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] Sullivan: ‘The window is closing’ on US funding for Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] Could a Ukraine under siege join NATO?

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] Ukraine updates: Cameron visits Kyiv on first foreign trip

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] UK's Cameron Meets Zelenskiy in Kyiv on First Foreign Trip as Foreign Minister

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Peace Initiatives on Ukraine: The Barely Audible Rustle of Peace

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Western contractors redeploy from Ukraine to Israel

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] “Why can’t anyone say how much we’ve spent on Ukraine?”

    • Spiegel ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Ukraine Prepares Electricity Grid for Another Winter of War

    • Latvia ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Latvia allocates 50,000 towards helping Ukraine grain supplies

    • CBC ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Man from Manitoba First Nation dead after going to fight in Ukraine, chief says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Ukrainian Troops Have Secured Foothold in the South, Senior Official Says

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Israel’s mixed blessing for Ukraine: Western alliance can’t fight on two fronts

    • Counter Punch ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Biden Visits Hitler’s Bunker, Sends for a Decorator: Israel and Ukraine Edition

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] Rasmussen suggests accepting Ukraine into NATO with no guarantees for occupied territories

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] Ukraine to shake up recruitment as troops prove scarce

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] Ukraine updates: Germany to double 2024 military aid to Kyiv

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] Germany Set to Double Its Ukraine Military Aid Under Scholz Plan -Bloomberg News

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] Senior Ukrainian Officer Coordinated Nord Stream Attack: Washington Post

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-11 [Older] Ukraine updates: Explosions rock Kyiv after relative calm

    • Spiegel ☛ 2023-11-11 [Older] Ukraine: Special Forces Officer Allegedly Involved in Nord Stream Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-11 [Older] One Year After Liberation, Ukrainians in Kherson Hold on to Hope Amid Constant Shelling

• Environment

  • Spiegel ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] A Potential Rift in the Climate Movement: What's Next for Greta Thunberg?

  • Truthdig ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] When Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics

  • 2023-11-16 [Older] Denmark's library of ancient ice tells tales of climate's past

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] We Need More State Climate Corps Jobs Open to More Young People

  • Green Party UK ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Investment in flood defences inadequate to cope with climate breakdown warn Greens

• Finance

  • The Age AU ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] CBA profits increase to $2.5b despite slower economic growth

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] Capitalism Isn’t Just Buying and Selling Things. It’s a System of Domination.

  • Business Standard ☛ Bill Gates as dubious philanthropist

    In his new book, The Bill Gates Problem, the journalist Tim Schwab dismisses that makeover as a fanciful fable. The real Gates, according to Schwab, remains a power-hungry, narcissistic control freak, and the sprawling Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is little more than a vehicle for him to accumulate and deploy influe­nce on a far greater scale than he could as a mere billionaire software mogul. It is profoundly undemocratic and entrenches inequality, Schwab argues. Gates and his then-wife established their foundation around 2000 to tackle some of the world’s most pressing chall­enges, including public health, family planning, hunger and education. Armed with roughly $67 billion, the foundation is better equipped to attack disease and malnutrition than many governments. But the foundation doesn’t simply dole out Gates’s money to worthy causes, according to Schwab. Gates exerts control. One of the book’s most compelling sections is about the foundation’s support for family planning. Gates’s preferred method of contraception is a hormone implant that gets inserted into women’s arms and prevents pregnancy for up to five years. The foundation struck a deal with drug companies to encourage them to sell tens of millions of these implants at steep discounts. With the market flooded, health clinics in countries like Malawi and Uganda began resorting to “hard-sell tactics” to push women to accept implants that they didn’t want. Schwab describes it as a form of eugenics-inspired coercion.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] TikTok to Prohibit Videos Promoting Bin Laden's 'Letter to America'

  • Scheerpost ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] ‘Free Speech’ Fans Call for Censoring TikTok as Chinese Plot to Make Israel Look Bad

  • Vox ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] The lie of “deinfluencing”

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] How deportations of Afghans imperil Pakistan's security

  • Vox ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] How I stopped buying my way out of everything

  • Vox ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] The achievement of this year’s Biden-Xi summit is, simply, the meeting itself

  • Green Party UK ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Greens welcome Supreme Court decision on deportations to Rwanda

  • Green Party UK ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Green Party reaction to Rishi Sunak's cabinet reshuffle

  • ANF News ☛ 2023-11-12 [Older] What the judicial crisis in Turkey means

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • International Business Times ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] UK Cybersecurity Center Warns of 'Deepfakes' Threat to Next Election

    • The Conversation ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Should the media tell you when they use AI to report the news? What consumers should know [Ed: Chatbots are not "AI"]

    • Engadget ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] Three in ten US adults still get their news from Facebook [Ed: A power fertile or ripe for misuse and abuse]

    • International Business Times ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] Wikipedia Founder Slams Elon Musk-Owned X (Twitter)

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • ANF News ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Kurdish journalist Ahmed Azad Çağan at risk of deportation from Switzerland to Turkey

  • ANF News ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] Kurdish filmmaker Reber Dosky detained in Turkey for three days and deported

  • BIA Net ☛ 2023-11-18 [Older] Producer and director Reber Dosky detained in Turkey for three days

  • CPJ ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Killer of journalist Hrant Dink freed in Turkey amid widespread criticism

  • ANF News ☛ 2023-11-18 [Older] Journalist Akdeniz: Situation of migrant workers in Turkey is catastrophic

  • ANF News ☛ 2023-11-17 [Older] Cards sent to writers and journalists behind bars in Turkey

  • BIA Net ☛ 2023-11-18 [Older] Israeli police disrupt journalists from Turkey's public broadcaster

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-11-10 [Older] Polish startup helps employers overcome paternal stereotypes

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • 2023-11-10 [Older] Goodbye Gandi

    As a long-term, and satisfied customer, of Gandi’s services, I’m sad to have witnessed them being sold to a greedy company like Total Webhosting Solutions B.V., earlier this year.

    I first heard about Gandi, the French cloud service provider, after getting my Ubuntu Membership back in 2009. It turned out that the Ubuntu Membership came with a few perks. One of the perks, happned to be a generous discount rate at Gandi.

    I became a customer at Gandi, partly because of the discount, but also because I liked that they both funded and supported various non-profit organizations and open source projects, like Creative Commons, Gnome, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Students for Free Culture, World Wide Fund for Nature, International Federation for Human Rights, Ubuntu and Debian. They also used open source software themselves, at least for some of their services. And their services seemed to be good and reasonable priced as well.

• Monopolies

  • Patents

    • IP Kat ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] Defining what the invention is not can be as important as defining what the invention is (T 0273/22, Chimeric antibodies/REGENERON) [Ed: Conflating patent monopoly with "invention"]

  • Trademarks

    • IP Kat ☛ 2023-11-13 [Older] The difficulty of protecting olfactory marks

    • IP Kat ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] [Guest post] Gilding the lily: The shiny challenge of registering gold soles as trade marks

    • IP Kat ☛ 2023-11-14 [Older] “miababy” and “ia BABY interapothek”: Average phonetic similarity doesn’t offset low visual and conceptual similarity

  • Copyrights

    • IP Kat ☛ 2023-11-10 [Older] Brussels event announcement - Technological governance at the crossroads: The present and future of EU copyright law [Ed: Brussels is controlled by corporations, corrupt people, and the copyright maximalists' lobby. The same is true for patents, as the totally illegal UPC shows.]

    • Engadget ☛ 2023-11-16 [Older] AI music pioneer quits after disagreement over 'fair use' of copyrighted works

    • IP Kat ☛ 2023-11-15 [Older] [Guest Post] Event report: AI Fringe, Protecting Creators in the Age of AI [Ed: Promoting the bogus narrative of CG being "AI"; it's mostly plagiarism by hacking around "fair use"]

    • 2023-11-13 [Older] An Analogy for the Current Wave of AI Copyright Lawsuits