Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ Having a move named after you: The Godwin!

  Via Gymastics New South Wales:

  Georgia Godwin has made history! A new skill has been named after the women’s artistic gymnast and introduced into the Code of Points by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

  The Godwin is performed on Uneven Bars and is defined by a clear hip circle forward to handstand with 1/1 turn (360°) in handstand phase (Weiler kip). The skill has been allocated an ‘E’ difficulty.

• Ali Reza Hayati ☛ Numa Numa

  In December 2004, 19-year-old Gary Brolsma uploaded a webcam video titled “Numa Numa,” featuring himself lip-syncing to the Romanian song “Dragostea Din Tei” by O-Zone. Hosted initially on Newgrounds.com, Brolsma created the video after watching a cartoon about Japanese cats.

• Ruben Schade ☛ That cool indie project? It’s no more!

  I’m no Superman ♫, in the words of Lazlo Bane. But I do have three unique, superhuman abilities I like to think are quite special:

  I can write lists of nonsense that some seem to take far too seriously.

  People always stack it whenever I watch them on a scooter or skateboard. I bet I could even make Tony Hawk fall off just by watching him.

  Indie hardware projects always wrap up and disappear as soon as I find them.

• Adrian Gaudebert: The ruins of Dawnmaker's lost continent

  Today we are releasing a new version of Dawnmaker, with two big changes. The first one is the 2D board, which I talked about in my previous blog post. The second one is a new feature called "Ruins and Rewards". That feature… adds ruins and… changes rewards. Yeah. Pretty good name, right?

  As with everything we do in this game, there is a good reason. So let's start with why we're changing things: feedback from our players! (But also feedback from a publisher, and observations from watching people play, but hey, ultimately it's players giving feedback directly or indirectly.)

• New Yorker ☛ The Forgotten Giant of Yiddish Fiction

  Though his younger brother Isaac Bashevis Singer eventually eclipsed him, Israel Joshua Singer excelled at showing characters buffeted by the tides of history.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Mars Needs Insects

    If humans are ever going to live on the red planet, they’re going to have to bring bugs with them.

  • New York Times ☛ Could Longevity Drugs for Dogs Extend Your Pet’s Life?

    Longevity drugs for our canine companions are moving closer to reality. They also raise questions about what it might mean to succeed.

  • Science Alert ☛ Electricity Seen Flowing Like Liquid in Strange Metals

  • Science Alert ☛ Wild New Study Suggests We Could Use Tiny Black Holes as Sources of Nuclear Power

    This will end well.

  • Science Alert ☛ Is Earth's Magnetic Field on The Verge of Flipping Over? An Expert Explains.

    It's happened before.

• Hardware

  • The Straits Times ☛ China hits back at West’s de-risking strategy at supply chain expo

    Mr Li Qiang said China will continue to create an international and rule of law-based business environment.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam, Japan upgrade relations to highest level

    The move comes as Asian nations seek to strengthen and de-risk supply chains that have relied heavily on China.

  • RFA ☛ Progress in China’s aircraft carrier building

    Military bloggers share images of China’s third aircraft carrier undergoing important catapult testing.

  • JURIST ☛ California dispatch: US-China relationship dominated APEC summit beset by multiple diplomatic, policy challenges

    Joshua Villanueva is a JURIST Assistant Editor and a 2L at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), He files this dispatch from San Francisco.  The recently-concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit, originally designed to address economic challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, found itself overshadowed by the unfolding drama of the US-China relationship.

  • Hackaday ☛ Single-piece Tank Chassis Goes Robotic

    [EXTREME3DPRINT] has a new version of their print-in-place tank chassis: the PiPBOT now accepts drop-in motors (in the form of 360° rotation servos), RC receiver, and battery pack to make a functional RC tank platform in no time flat. The design is entirely 3D printed with no supports needed.

  • Hackaday ☛ A Tube Guitar Amp For A Modest Budget

    There’s a mystique among both audiophiles and musicians about vacuum technology, thus having a tube amp still carries a bit of a cachet. New ones can be bought for eye-watering prices and old ones can be had for the same price with the added frisson of unreliability. Happily it’s surprisingly straightforward to build your own, as [_electroidiot] shows us with a fairly inexpensive build.

  • Hackaday ☛ Tektronix’s Ceramic CRT Production And The Building 13 Catacombs

    As a manufacturer of test equipment and more, Tektronix has long had a need for custom form factors with its CRT displays. They initially went with fully glass CRTs as this was what the booming television industry was also using, but as demand for the glass component of CRTs increased, so did the delays in getting these custom glass components made. This is where Tektronix decided to use its existing expertise with ceramic strips during the pre-PCB era to create ceramic funnels for ceramic CRTs, as described in this 1967 video.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Here's What Parents of Teens Can Do to Curb Rising Drug Deaths in The US

    There aren't always warning signs.

  • Hackaday ☛ CAR T Cell Immunotherapy And The Quiet Hope For A Universal Cancer Treatment

    All of us have to deal with the looming threat of developing cancer during our lifetime, no matter how good our genetics are, or how healthy our lifestyle is. Despite major improvements to the way that we treat and even cure cases of cancer, the reality today is that not all types of cancer are treatable, in many cases there’s the likelihood that one day it will return even after full remission, and chemotherapy in particular comes with potential life-long health issues. Of the most promising new and upcoming treatments, immunotherapy, is decidedly among the most promising.

  • Science Alert ☛ 12-Year Study Reveals How The Mediterranean Diet Might Affect Your Brain

    It’s a powerful association.

  • Science Alert ☛ ADHD's Genetic Mystery Unraveled: Single Variations May Explain Half of Inheritance

    How can such a small change affect so much?

  • Science Alert ☛ What Your Baby Hears Before They're Born Really Can Shape Their Brain

    Somebody has been listening to you.

  • New York Times ☛ Egypt Wiped Out Hepatitis C. Now It Is Trying to Help the Rest of Africa.

    Effective drugs that have made the disease curable have yet to reach most of the region.

  • New York Times ☛ Biden Campaign Aims to Weaponize Trump’s Threat to Obamacare

    The president’s aides quickly jumped on a statement by Donald Trump that he was “seriously looking at alternatives” to the health law.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Doctors warn of New Zealand health tragedy after smoking ban scrapped

    Experts are baffled at the incoming government’s change of heart.

  • teleSUR ☛ African Public Health Conference Opens in Zambia

    Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema stressed the importance of collaboration and leadership at all levels of the health system in Africa.

  • Latvia ☛ Hospice care at home might start on January 1 in Latvia

    Palliative care services at the patient's home are still not in place. Home care options for dying patients across the country had to be provided as early as October 1, but the introduction of services is delayed and is now scheduled to be provided from January 1, Latvian Radio reported Monday.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian eating habits examined

    What do Latvians eat, and why is their health in such an apparently poor state? Latvian Television's show 'Forbidden Method' (Aizliegtais Paņēmiens, AP) asked these ambitious questions in its November 27 broadcast.

  • YLE ☛ Study: Air purifier use at daycare centres cut kids' sick days by a third

    The results of the study at two Helsinki daycare centres are still preliminary but promising, a researcher says.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • TechTarget ☛ VMware layoffs a familiar Broadcom story

    Broadcom has started laying off VMware employees this week, a move that reminds some of how it proceeded when it acquired CA Technologies in 2018.

  • Windows Central ☛ Microsoft is among the top tech giants attracting employees from other competitor firms, according to a broad study [Ed: This explains Google becoming very, very vicious and evil]

    In these unprecedented and tough economic times, we've seen big tech firms like Microsoft and Meta take major hits over the past few months. This has directly contributed to massive layoffs. At the beginning of this year, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella confirmed that the company will cut 10,000 jobs by the end of FY23 Q3.

    While the tough times continue to persist, a new study by Switch On Business sought to understand which tech giants attract the most talent from competitors with a microscope on Google (Alphabet), Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, IBM, Tesla, Oracle, Netflix, Nvidia, Salesforce, Adobe, Intel and Uber.

    Headhunting isn't a new phenomenon in the tech world. In fact, per Switch On Business' study, Meta and Google have the highest percentage of employees that have worked for other tech giants before joining them. Microsoft comes in at sixth place with 13.86%.

  • Another publication accused of serving up AI-generated crap [Ed: It's chatbot/LLM, not "AI"]

    Futurism has been digging hard into AI-generated “journalism,” and its latest target is Sports Illustrated.

    Actual human journalists at Futurism found Drew Ortiz, a product reviewer on SI’s website, had no other internet presence and that his profile pic came from a website offering AI-generated headshots.

    Anonymous sources told Futurism that Drew was one of several phony authors and that the content, poorly written and full of formatting errors, was AI-generated.

    SI parent company The Arena Group said the content came from a third-party company, AdVon Commerce, which assured them it was human-produced — though some authors used pen names.

    Arena has since removed all AdVon content and stopped working with the company. Hmm!

  • New York Times ☛ Warnings Emerge Over Emirati Hey Hi (AI) Firm G42’s Ties to China

    American spy agencies have warned about the Emirati firm G42 and its work with large Chinese companies that U.S. officials consider security threats.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • RFERL ☛ Moscow More Than Doubles Spending On Surveillance

      Russia's capital will more than double its spending on video-surveillance equipment next year, the budget approved by the Moscow City Duma shows.

    • NYOB ☛ noyb files GDPR complaint against Meta over “Pay or Okay”

      noyb files GDPR complaint against Meta over “Pay or Okay”

      Meta charges up to €251.88 to respect the fundamental right to privacy of EU users. This is a violation of the GDPR

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Secret White House Warrantless Surveillance Program

      There seems to be no end to warrantless surveillance:

      According to the letter, a surveillance program now known as Data Analytical Services (DAS) has for more than a decade allowed federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to mine the details of Americans’ calls, analyzing the phone records of countless people who are not suspected of any crime, including victims. Using a technique known as chain analysis, the program targets not only those in direct phone contact with a criminal suspect but anyone with whom those individuals have been in contact as well...

    • Techdirt ☛ Facial Recognition Tech Is Encouraging Cops To Ignore The Best Suspects In Favor Of The *Easiest* Suspects

      Facial recognition tech has slowly gone mainstream over the past half-decade. Not just in acceptance, but also in opposition. Kashmir Hill exposed perhaps the worst purveyor of this tech — Clearview — with a series of articles exposing the company’s tactics as well as its far right backers.

• Defence/Aggression

  • BIA Net ☛ SOHR: Turkish airstrikes on Rojava limit electricity access for over 2 million people

    Turkey carried out airstikes targeting Kurdish-controlled areas in Syria’s north in response to a PKK bomb attack in Ankara.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Man held over $1.4m bounty to assassinate Malaysia’s PM Anwar and Cabinet

    A 34-year-old man has been detained for threatening Malaysia’s Prime Minister via social control media.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan indicted 10 military personnel suspected of spying for China

    Three of those indicted were said to have built a spy ring for China that recruited military personnel to collect state secrets.

  • YLE ☛ Sweden prepared to help with Finland's border issues, PM Kristersson says

    The Swedish premier noted that Finland's eastern border is a matter that affects the entire European Union.

  • YLE ☛ Prosecutors to consider suspected human trafficking of Thai berry pickers

    Investigators believe there are at least 170 suspected victims in the case, and could be as many as 2,000.

  • JURIST ☛ Afghanistan arrests four local employees of Germany government aid agency

    The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development confirmed to German public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) last week that four local Afghan employees of the German government aid organization Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) office in Afghanistan have been arrested by the Taliban-backed Afghan government.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China's Pooh-tin urges stronger rule of law overseas amid 'external risks'

    President Pooh-tin Jinping has called for stronger rule of law related to foreign affairs given "external risks and challenges" as China opens up to the outside world, state media reported on Tuesday.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 3 Chinese navy ships arrive in Myanmar for joint drills as rebel groups’ advance strains ties

    Yangon, Myanmar Three Chinese navy ships have arrived in Myanmar for joint drills with its navy, the country’s junta said, as a border conflict strains ties between the Southeast Asian nation and its most important ally. A destroyer, frigate and a supply vessel carrying hundreds of sailors arrived at Thilawa port on Monday ahead of “naval […]

  • Reason ☛ Want Freedom to Criticize China, Palestine, Mexico, etc.? Protect Criticism of Israel

    After the Oct. 7 murders, the first attempts to punish speakers focused on those who defended Hamas's murders. But, unsurprisingly, things have turned to trying to suppress criticism of Israel more broadly, including criticism of Israel's attacks on Gaza. (The slippery slope is a real phenomenon, in a culture where people reason by precedent and…

  • France24 ☛ Myanmar rebels claim new ground in north as Chinese troops hold border exercises

    Ethnic minority rebels fighting Myanmar's military junta said they had seized a key trading post on the northern frontier, across the border from where China's military was conducting exercises to improve combat readiness and emergency response.

  • New York Times ☛ An Oratorio About Shanghai’s Jews Opens in China at a Difficult Time

    “Émigré,” about Jews who fled Nazi Germany, debuts amid U.S.-China tensions and cultural rifts over the Israel-Hamas war. It comes to New York in February.

  • BIA Net ☛ Prisoners commence hunger strike demanding freedom for PKK leader

    The declaration of the strike coincides with the anniversary of the PKK's founding.

  • NYPost ☛ Hamas gives 10-month-old Israeli hostage to separate Palestinian terror group: ‘More psychological torture’

    “We are experiencing moments of great uncertainty. The realization that we will not get the hug we wished for leaves us speechless.”

  • Off Guardian ☛ The Life and Public Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by the CIA

    What is the truth, and where did it go?

  • New York Times ☛ Trial Starts in France for Teenagers Accused of Helping Teacher’s Killer

    The teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded by an Islamist extremist in 2020 after showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to illustrate free speech. The case horrified the nation.

  • RFA ☛ N Korea claims new satellite took photos of White House, Pentagon

    But the claim is still under question due to a lack of supporting evidence.

  • France24 ☛ North Korea defends satellite launch at UN as Kim studies images of White House

    North Korea's ambassador made a rare appearance at the UN Security Council on Monday to defend his country's launch of a spy satellite, as leader Kim Jong Un studied images including of the White House and Pentagon.

  • Defence Web ☛ Southern African troops versus M23 rebels in the DRC: four risks this poses

    The security situation in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to deteriorate. The region comprises North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces. It’s about seven times the size of neighbouring Rwanda. The violence in North Kivu has drawn most of the attention of the DRC’s neighbours and the international community.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea's Kim received photos taken by spy satellite of White House, Pentagon: KCNA

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received photos of the White House, Pentagon and U.S. aircraft carriers in the naval base of Norfolk, taken by its recently launched spy satellite, state media KCNA said on Tuesday.

  • France24 ☛ North Gaza residents flee south, setting up camp in schools and hospitals

    A UN camp with no water for days, makeshift shelters in schools, and hospitals that are already overwhelmed... These are the conditions that residents from the northern part of the Gaza Strip find when they arrive in the south after fleeing the Israeli bombardment. The FRANCE 24 Observers team has been following two families who fled the north to seek refuge in the south. They've set up camp at schools and hospitals, where supplies are severely lacking.

  • Reason ☛ USC Professor Put on Remote Teaching After Saying Hamas Should Be Killed

    The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) (Jessie Appleby) wrote about this last week (as did the Academic Freedom Alliance): The University of Southern California has barred economics professor John Strauss from teaching on campus for the rest of the semester in response to anti-Hamas remarks he made to pro-Palestinian protesters last week.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea cites rare dissent in elections even as 99% back candidates

    This latest election is the first since North Korea revised its election law to allow multiple candidates.

  • YLE ☛ Finland, USA edge closer to landmark defence agreement

    The final acceptance of the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) requires a vote in the Finnish parliament.

  • Federal News Network ☛ DoD’s Replicator program must be repeatable to be successful

    While the Defense Department’s Replicator program will be successful if it is able to get 2,000 drones within two years, speakers at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology said that the program will be more successful if this is not a one-time thing. DoD must replicate this initiative in the future whether it is with new drones or another technology to help move beyond the valley of death.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • The Strategist ☛ What ‘winning’ an election means in Putin’s Russia

      As expected, Russian President Vladimir Putin has unofficially begun his campaign for re-election ahead of the presidential election scheduled for 17 March 2024.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Iran finalises deal to buy Russian fighter jets - Tasnim

      Iran has finalised arrangements for the delivery of Russian made Sukhoi su-35 fighter jets and helicopters, Iran's deputy defence minister told Iran's Tasnim news agency on Tuesday, as Tehran and Moscow forge closer military relations.

    • RFERL ☛ Putin Signs Russia's National Budget For Next Three Years, Bolstering Military Spending

      Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 27 signed a national budget for the next three years that increases spending by around 25 percent.

    • RFERL ☛ Finland Expects More Asylum Seekers To Arrive From Russia, PM Says

      Finland expects more asylum seekers to arrive at its border via Russia and plans to take further measures to stem the flow after closing all but one entry point.

    • RFERL ☛ Kadyrov Critic Flees Kyrgyzstan To Avoid Deportation To Russia

      Russian citizen Mansur Movlayev, an outspoken critic of Ramzan Kadyrov -- the authoritarian ruler of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya -- has left Kyrgyzstan before a court order to deport him to Russia was implemented.

    • YLE ☛ Russian, Ukrainian media report Finnish Interior Minister's Putin asylum comments

      Minister Mari Rantanen of the Finns Party stated on Yle TV last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin could seek asylum in Finland under the current regulations.

    • Meduza ☛ Putin signs law suspending indexation of salaries for all government employees except military and security forces — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ Putin Signs Russia's National Budget For Next Three Years, Bolstering Military Spending

      Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 27 signed a national budget for the next three years that increases spending by around 25 percent.

    • YLE ☛ Russian, Ukrainian media report Finnish Interior Minister's Putin asylum comments

      Minister Mari Rantanen of the Finns Party stated on Yle TV last week that Russian President Vladimir Putin could seek asylum in Finland under the current regulations.

    • Meduza ☛ Putin signs law suspending indexation of salaries for all government employees except military and security forces — Meduza

    • European Commission ☛ EU and Ukraine outline plans for sustainable reconstruction in a high-level conference

      European Commission Press release Brussels, 27 Nov 2023 From tomorrow to 1 December the Commission is hosting a high-level conference in Vilnius, Lithuania on the green recovery in Ukraine

    • The Kent Stater ☛ Intercepted calls from the front lines in Ukraine show a growing number of Russian soldiers want out

      In audio intercepts from the front lines in Ukraine, Russian soldiers speak in shorthand of 200s to mean dead, 300s to mean wounded. The urge to flee has become common enough that they also talk of 500s — people who refuse to fight.

    • NYPost ☛ Russian college students asked to donate vapes so parts can be used to make drones to attack Ukraine: report

      Russian students are touting the slogan "1 e-cigarette= 1 drone attack on the enemy!" while collecting vapes to donate to the country's military in its war against Ukraine.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Spillover from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine may spread to the Western Balkans, warns Albanian prime minister

      Western Balkans countries must “work day and night to keep the conflict out of the borders of our region,” Prime Minister Edi Rama said at the Atlantic Council.

    • France24 ☛ More than a dozen dead as storm sweeps through Russia, Ukraine and Moldova

      Hurricane force winds, snowfall and flooding that swept parts of southern Russia, Ukraine and Moldova left at least 18 people dead Monday and almost 2 million without power, authorities said.

    • France24 ☛ Deadly storm cuts power to nearly 2 million people in Russia, Ukraine

      Almost two million people in Russia and occupied Ukraine were left without power on Monday, after hurricane force winds and heavy rains cut electricity lines and caused widespread flooding.

    • RFERL ☛ Multiple Weather-Related Deaths Reported In Black Sea Region After Massive Winter Storm

      At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured in Ukraine, Moldova, and Russia due to a winter storm that wreaked havoc in areas of Southeastern Europe and along the Black Sea coast, toppling trees and pulling down power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.

    • Meduza ☛ Inclement weather in Ukraine leaves at least ten dead and 23 injured — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ Storm Batters Southern Ukraine, Spreading Misery for Civilians and Soldiers

      Violent waves stirred by hurricane-force winds threatened to tear maritime mines from their moorings in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

    • Meduza ☛ Frightful weather on both sides of the border Winter storm pounds Ukraine and Russia with heavy snow, wind, and rain — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ IAEA chief Rafael Grossi speaks to FRANCE 24 about global nuclear threats

      "Iran does not have nuclear weapons, but it has certain nuclear capabilities that are a source of concern," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi tells FRANCE 24 in a wide-ranging interview also touching on nuclear threats in Ukraine and North Korea.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania to provide €2m in aid for exporting grain from Ukraine

      Lithuania this year will contribute 2 million euros to the global humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine, the government’s press service has said.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Strikes Kryviy Rih, Nikopol With Missiles, Artillery, Ukraine Says

      Russian forces launched a missile strike at the city of Kryviy Rih in the eastern region of Donetsk overnight, Yevhen Sytnychenko, the head of the city's military administration, said.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania needed decision on universal draft back in 2022 – presidential aide

      Lithuania should have made the decision to introduce universal military conscription last year, Kęstutis Budrys, President Gitanas Nausėda’s chief national security advisor, said on Monday, adding that it is too late to discuss it now.

    • RFERL ☛ Five Ukrainian Emergency Officials Indicted In Case Of Helicopter Crash That Killed Interior Minister

      Ukrainian investigators have charged five emergency officials with violating aviation safety regulations that led to the helicopter crash that killed Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy and 13 other people in January.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Says There Will Be No Lavrov-Blinken Talks At OSCE Meeting This Week

      There will be no meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a conference in North Macedonia this week, Russian news agency TASS reported on November 27, citing a comment by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia's Lavrov Says Some In The West Requested Meetings At OSCE Council

      Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he would take part in a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in North Macedonia if Bulgaria opened its air space to the Russian delegation

    • teleSUR ☛ Russia Has No Expansionist Plans in Europe: Lavrov

      On Sunday, Russian air defense forces downed nine Ukrainian drones attempting to attack Moscow, Tula, Kaluga, and Bryansk.

    • New York Times ☛ After 9 Years in Limbo, Treasures From Crimea Return to Ukraine

      The artifacts were on loan to a Dutch museum when Russia invaded in 2014. Ukraine argued that they must be kept out of the aggressor’s hands.

    • RFERL ☛ Scythian Gold Of Crimea Returns To Ukraine From The Netherlands After Court Decision

      A collection of gold artifacts from Crimea, known as the Scythian Gold, which was on loan to a Dutch museum when Russia seized Ukraine's peninsula in 2014, was returned to Ukraine after Dutch courts decided that the collection cannot be returned to Moscow-annexed Crimea.

    • New Yorker ☛ Lola Kirke Walks the Line

      In the back room of an East Village Ukrainian joint, the musician and “Gone Girl” star engages in a boot scoot to her new song “He Says Y’all.”

    • Meduza ☛ Russian company imported 370 million rubles worth of Ukrainian aircraft parts since January 2022, new investigation finds — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Wife of Ukrainian military intelligence chief reportedly hospitalized with poisoning symptoms — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Former Russian state news employee who was illegally held in basement for suspected desertion makes contact with wife — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ Siliņa: 'The ruling regime of Belarus does not represent the people of Belarus'

      Latvia will continue to support the democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus and the opposition, and also strongly condemns the repressions against the people of Belarus by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa emphasized during a meeting in Rīga on November 27 with President-elect and leader of the Belarusian democratic opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

    • LRT ☛ Belarusian KGB activity in Lithuania at ‘historical high’ – intelligence

      Lithuania is currently observing an unprecedented level of activity from Belarusian KGB, Darius Jauniškis, head of the State Security Department (VSD), has said.

    • Meduza ☛ Families of Russian draftees release manifesto and petition against ‘indefinite mobilization’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ U.K. Defense Ministry: Russian military casualties in last six weeks likely among war’s highest — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ Trial Starts For Belarusian Activist Arrested Upon Her Return From Poland

      Alyaksandra Kasko, a 30-year-old Belarusian rights activist who was arrested in early February right after she returned from Poland, went on trial in the western city of Hrodna on November 27

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry proposes ‘controlled stay’ register for foreigners in country illegally — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ Moscow Court Hands Prison Terms To Two Journalists On Extortion Charge

      A Moscow court on November 27 sentenced journalist Aleksandra Bayazitova, a former reporter of Izvestiya and Kommersant newspapers, and media manager Olga Arkharova to five years and 4 1/2 years in prison, respectively, on a charge of extortion.

    • Meduza ☛ Ukraine’s Air Force says responsible for downing of military aircraft in Russia’s Bryansk region last May — Meduza

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ 6.5-magnitude quake strikes north of Papua New Guinea

    There is “no tsunami threat”, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hot nights, extreme rainfall in Hong Kong to increase significantly by 2040s, scholars say

    A team of scholars from several of the city’s top universities have forecast that extreme weather events in Hong Kong will increase significantly by the 2040s, with the number of hot nights rising by 50 per cent and extreme rainfall by 40 per cent.

  • YLE ☛ Etla: Finland unlikely to meet carbon neutrality target

    The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy predicts that, at the current rate, Finland will not meet its target of being carbon neutral by 2035.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Binance’s Noah Perlman: Ties to FTX, Epstein and Gemini Earn

      After Binance’s settlement with the DOJ and the removal of its longtime leader Changpeng Zhao, one of the most important figures at Binance – Chief Compliance Officer Noah Perlman – is poised to have an outsized role over the activities of and data held by the world’s largest crypto exchange.

    • Barry Kauler ☛ Recumbent trike on the Munda Biddi Trail

      The Munda Biddi Trail is for bicycles. It very roughly follows parallel to the Bibbulmun Track, which is for walkers. The Munda Biddi Trail is 1067km, extending from Mundaring (just outside Perth) down to Albany on the Western Australian South West coast:

      I aways thought that it would be unsuitable for a recumbent trike, as it is really designed for mountain bikes. The trail varies from fire-roads, to narrow rocky tracks, to sand tracks, and in places very steep. Yes, even the official website says recumbents are not suitable:

      [...]

    • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Do not open plane doors’ warning in South Korea mandated for planes in flight [Ed: This won't help when dumb or malicious people board the plane]

      A pre-announcement about the revision is set to take place by Dec 14.

    • Hackaday ☛ A 48 Volt Battery Pack With Carefully Balanced Cells

      Many readers will have at some time or another built their own lithium-ion battery packs, whether they are using tiny cells or the huge ones found in automotive packs. A popular choice it to salvage ubiquitous 18650 cylindrical cells, as [limpkin] has with this 48 volt pack. It’s based around an off-the-shelf kit aimed at the e-bike market, but it’s much more than a simple assembly job.

    • RFERL ☛ Mayor Of Kyrgyz Town, Son Detained On Corruption Charges Over Quartz Mine

      The Kyrgyz State Committee of National Security (UKMK) said on November 27 that its officers had detained Erkin Toigonbaev, the mayor of the southern town of Toktogul, and two other men including his son on suspicion of illegally obtaining a quartz mine near the town.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s dog meat supporters threaten to let 2 million dogs out near presidential office

      They vowed to protest against the government’s move to ban dog meat consumption.

• Finance

  • Latvia ☛ EIB and Luminor sign smaller company finance agreement

    The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Luminor Bank AS said November 27 they have signed a €115 million agreement to facilitate additional lending to small to medium sized companies and mid-caps in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

  • Latvia ☛ Number of ATMs in Latvia set to shrink next year

    A steady reduction in the number of Automated Telling Machines (ATMs, bankomāti or 'cash machines') looks set to continue in 2024.

  • Zimbabwe ☛ New president of Argentina plans to shut down central bank, imagine closing the RBZ, could that work?

    Utter the name ‘RBZ’ in front of most adult Zimbabweans and you’ll hear a ‘tsk tsk’ in return. For all the good that the Zimbabwean central bank has ever done, its failures are just so large as to eclipse it all.

  • New York Times ☛ Nikki Haley Is Coming for Your Retirement

    Wall Street’s new favorite is far from a populist.

  • LRT ☛ Growing inflow of migrant workers poses threat to Lithuania’s security – minister

    The growing inflow of foreigners coming to Lithuania for work is a threat to Lithuania’s security, Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė has said.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • France24 ☛ Paris mayor quits X, calling social control media platform a 'vast global sewer'

    Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Monday she was quitting Elon Musk's social control media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which she described as a "global sewer" and a tool to disrupt democracy.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Amid antisemitism allegations, Elon Musk visits Israel

    The oft-fractious and always headline-grabbing billionaire Elon Musk was seen in Israel alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, the two touring a site of a Hamas attack. The visit comes at a time when Musk (pictured) is taking flak for what’s been perceived as his antisemitism.

  • The Nation ☛ Radical Left

  • Reason ☛ Arkansas AG's Opinion on Government Entities' Moderation of their Social Media Comments

    From Arkansas AG opinion 2023-034, issued two weeks ago: [T]he content-moderation policies for the Arkansas Department of Transportation's "official social control media account(s) (such as Twitter, IDRIVE, Arkansas Instagram, Facebook, etc.)" [...]

  • JURIST ☛ NYT and WSJ: unredacted lawsuit alleges Meta purposely designed social control media platforms to attract children

    The New York Times (NYT) and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed previously redacted details Saturday of a US multi-state lawsuit against Facebook (Farcebook) parent company Meta, alleging that Meta purposefully designed its social control media platforms to be attractive to children and collected children’s personal data despite the company’s guidelines barring young children from joining [...]

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Reason ☛ Journal of Free Speech Law: "'Dangerous to the Liberties of a Free People': Secret Societies and the Right to Assemble," by Nathan Ristuccia

    This just-published article is here; the Abstract: Americans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries often feared that secret assembly threatened republican government. Oath-bound secret societies were allegedly elitist cabals that would establish an imperium in imperio oppressive to ordinary citizens.

  • New Yorker ☛ When Your Own Book Gets Caught Up in the Censorship Wars

    I had envisioned book bans as modern morality plays—but the reality was far more complicated.

  • RFA ☛ Former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Viet Dung flees Vietnam for Thailand

    ‘If I stayed in Vietnam, I would have faced a lot of difficulties, and could be rearrested at any time.’

  • JURIST ☛ South Korea man jailed for writing poem praising North

    Lee Yoon-seop, a 68-year-old man from South Korea, was sentenced to 14 months in jail Monday for writing a poem that praised North Korea and entering it into a competition organised by a North Korean propaganda website, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

  • Techdirt ☛ Elon’s Censorial Lawsuit Against Media Matters Inspiring Many More People To Find ExTwitter Ads On Awful Content

    We’ve already discussed the extremely censorial nature of ExTwitter’s lawsuit against Media Matters for accurately describing ads from major brands that appeared next to explicitly neoNazi content. The lawsuit outright admits that Media Matters did, in fact, see those ads next to that content. Its main complaint is that Elon is mad that he thinks they said that such ads regularly appear next to such content, when it only (according to him) rarely appears next to that content, which he admits the site mostly allows.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • RFERL ☛ Azerbaijani Independent TV Journalist Detained

    Aziz Orucov, the executive director of Azerbajian's Kanal 13 Internet TV station, was detained late on November 27 and his home and office were searched by the police.

  • RFERL ☛ Russia Extends U.S. Journalist's Pretrial Detention

    The pretrial detention of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, has been extended by two months until January 30, a Moscow court said on Telegram.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Russian court extends pre-trial detention for WSJ reporter Gershkovich

    Moscow's Lefortovo district court has extended the pre-trial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich for two months until Jan. 30, 2024, the court's press service said on Tuesday.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Hunter Biden: Which Came First, the Chick Selling Sex or the Extortion of Campaign Dirt?

    You cannot claim to be doing journalism on the Republican effort to impeach Joe Biden based on allegations about his son unless you understand the ties between Rudy Giuliani's efforts to dig up dirt, including from Russian agents, and the Hunter Biden investigation.

  • 300 staff to lose jobs as TVB reorganises its operations

    Hong Kong broadcaster TVB announced yesterday that it will be cutting 300 jobs and reducing its number of free-to-air TV channels to four. The announcement comes as the loss-making broadcaster seeks to make savings by restructuring its

    TV broadcasting and e-commerce businesses. More than 200 staff will be laid off in its broadcasting division as the overall production of programming hours will be shortened. The arrangement is expected to save HK$100 million (US$13 million) in content costs in 2024.

    Read more at: https://www.campaignasia.com/article/300-staff-to-lose-jobs-as-tvb-reorganises-its-operations/493007

  • Adafruit ☛ After 151 years, Popular Science will no longer offer a magazine

    After 151 years, Popular Science will no longer be available to purchase as a magazine. In a statement to The Verge, Cathy Hebert, the communications director for PopSci owner Recurrent Ventures, says the outlet needs to “evolve” beyond its magazine product, which published its first all-digital issue in 2021.

    PopSci, which covers a whole range of stories related to the fields of science, technology, and nature, published its first issue in 1872. Things have changed a lot over the years, with the magazine switching to a quarterly publication schedule in 2018 and doing away with the physical copies altogether after 2020.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • New York Times ☛ Russian Women Get a Fresh Warning About Their Rights

    Expressing feminist views in Russia is now an increasingly dangerous thing to do.

  • eff.org

    • EFF ☛ Digital Rights Updates with EFFector 35.15

      EFFector 35.15 is out now—you can read the full newsletter here, and subscribe to get the next issue in your inbox automatically! You can also listen to the audio version below: [...]

    • EFF ☛ How We Fundraise

      If you are reading this, you are probably already a donor to EFF (thank you!) or are considering supporting us and want to do your due diligence. We’d like to share some information with you about how EFF raises money for digital rights and (perhaps more importantly) how we don’t.

      Part of our team’s mandate is to not only raise money to support EFF’s work defending your rights in a digital world, but to bring as many people to our community as possible. Our members don’t only provide the financial support that fuels our organization. When we submit amicus briefs or testify in front of Congress, and say that we speak with 30,000 voices, the courts and legislators listen more closely.

      Many nonprofit organizations focus their attention on a handful of high-dollar, powerful donors. EFF’s ethos is the absolute opposite of that approach. Last year, about 60% of EFF’s revenue came from individual donors, including a quarter of all our revenue coming from individuals who gave less than $1,000.

  • Pro Publica ☛ How an Indiana Youth Center and a State Agency Failed to Protect Teens From Sexual Abuse

    Dena Sue Patel couldn’t hide her desire for a teenager at the youth treatment center in northern Indiana where she worked as a supervisor, according to court records.

    Patel, 50, allegedly used her key fob to enter a 19-year-old resident’s living area at Pierceton Woods Academy on her days off and took him on private walks. Patel told the boy, “I’ve been wanting you,” and had sexual contact with him, prosecutors have alleged, and she admitted to being in a “romantic” relationship with the boy in a text message to a co-worker.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Settles Two Use-of-Force Cases

    Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, has agreed to pay settlements to two families who accused its sheriff’s deputies of using excessive force against teenagers.

    The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office agreed to contribute to a $1.25 million settlement with the family of Eric Parsa, a 16-year-old boy with severe autism who died nearly four years ago after deputies pinned him to the pavement and then sat on his back for more than nine minutes. The September settlement, the cost of which will be shared by the shopping center where the boy died, is one of the largest in the department’s history.

  • RFA ☛ Jailed Hong Kong, Chinese attorneys honored with human rights award

    Three lawyers made 'outstanding commitment and sacrifice' in human rights work, European law society says.

  • Techdirt ☛ Dear Marin County Board of Supervisors: Reject The Sheriff’s Proposal To Install License Plate Cameras In The County

    With almost zero public notice, the Board of Supervisors of Marin County, California (just to the north of San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge) is on the verge of approving tomorrow a demand by the county sheriff’s department to install license plate cameras throughout the county. As a county resident, I object. My comment submitted to the board is below.

  • Techdirt ☛ Fifth Circuit Says Siccing A Police Dog On A Suicidal Person Is Excessive Force, Still Grants Immunity To Officer

    I don’t know what it is about US law enforcement culture, but it far too often seems to be that officers deployed to help people choose to hurt people instead. When people are suffering mental distress, cops become first responders. Unlike other first responders, like EMTs or firefighters, the desire to harm tends to surpass any desire to help.

  • PHR ☛ Physicians for Human Rights Fights Texas Abortion Ban in Amicus Brief Filed in Zurawski v. State of Texas

    A ban on abortions in Texas has made it nearly impossible for doctors in the state to care for their patients who need medically necessary care, even in cases where a pregnant patient is at acute risk of dangerous complications or where a fetus will not survive pregnancy [...]

  • CS Monitor ☛ Can children really lead the way?

    In an age of youth-led climate movements, children are leaders. But what motivates them? A climate lawsuit driven by a group of kids in Montana offers an answer.

  • New York Times ☛ Arizona Legislators Must Testify About Voting Laws, Supreme Court Rules

    Two Republican lawmakers had argued that they could not be questioned about their motives for supporting the laws, which require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Hackaday ☛ Swatch Internet-Time Clock Doesn’t Miss A Beat

    The thing about human invention is that occasionally, two or more people think of an idea around the same time, and it’s difficult to determine who was first. Such is the case with Swatch’s Internet time, which is told in something called “.beats”. Rather than using hours and minutes, the solar day in the .beat system is divided into 1,000 parts equal to one minute in the French Revolutionary decimal time system, or 1 minute and 26.4 seconds of standard time.

  • Techdirt ☛ California Activists Say State Isn’t Being Transparent About How Billions In Broadband Subsidies Are Being Spent

    Two years ago the state of California unveiled a major broadband plan that, among other things, aims to spend $3.5 billion to create a massive, open access “middle mile” fiber network in a bid to boost competition. It’s part of a broader quest to make broadband both more affordable and more competitive (see our Copia report from last year discussing the benefits of open access fiber).

• Monopolies

  • Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ SOTAT surveillance patent monopoly reexam granted

      On November 24, 2023, less than a month after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding a substantial new question of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 9,854,207, owned and asserted by SOTAT, LLC, an NPE. The ‘207 patent monopoly relates to a mobile surveillance system that connects to a mobile device and has been asserted against twelve defendants [...]

    • JUVE ☛ Stephenson Harwood boosts IP practice with London partner [Ed: JUVE is still posting pure spam, or one single low-level hire disguised as news. Worse yet, JUVE published false things to lobby for a crime. JUVE is basically a defunct, corrupt former news site.]

      Helen Conlan joined the intellectual property practice at Stephenson Harwood in November. She previously spent a brief period at UK firm Mishcon de Reya, where her practice focused on technology, media and telecommunications. Prior to her stint at Mishcon, where she moved in April 2021, Conlan spent over 15 years at Bird & Bird.

    • Unified Patents ☛ Graphite Charging power supply patent monopoly challenged

      On November 21, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 8,291,243, owned by Graphite Charging Company LLC, an NPE. The ‘243 patent monopoly relates to an adaptive power supply system and has been asserted against Tesla.

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Fate of Patent Term Adjustment: In re Cellect Seeks Rehearing on Double Patenting

      In August 2023, the Federal Circuit decided an important case questioning how  obviousness-type double patenting (OTDP) is impacted when the terms of two family-member patents that would otherwise expire on the same day are separated by patent monopoly term adjustment (PTA) added to the term of one of the patents.  In re Cellect, LLC, 81 F.4th 1216 (Fed. Cir. 2023).  One of Cellect’s patents passed through the PTO quickly, but the other was delayed and thus received extra term as required by the statutory “patent term guarantee” codified in 35 U.S.C. 154(b).  In its panel decision, the Federal Circuit held that Cellect should have filed a terminal disclaimer to disclaim the portion added by the statutory term adjustment. 

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Guest Post: Judgment Preservation Insurance and the Federal Circuit

      An exotic insurance product has recently taken the litigation world by storm.  Judgment preservation insurance, or JPI, was neither offered nor widely discussed, at least publicly, as recently as five years ago.[1]  Now, it’s hard to avoid; a brief Internet search will turn up hundreds of hits and dozens of explainer articles by insurance brokers, law firms, and litigation funders extolling the benefits and pitching such policies to appellants. In IP lit, panels, presentations, and brand-new conferences, insurers and lawyers extol the virtues of these “bespoke” policies.  They now undergird some of the biggest eye-popping judgments on appeal to the Federal Circuit.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ Ideahub (former ETRI) HEVC Patent Revoked in EPO [Ed: EPO grantd more software patents that turned out to be fake]

      On November 22, 2023, the European Patent Office announced the revocation of all claims of EP 3402195. The EP ‘195 patent monopoly is currently owned by Ideahub Inc. but was previously owned by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). The EP ‘195 patent monopoly involves improving the efficiency of encoding and decoding methods with particular reference to determining quantization parameters for encoding and decoding object blocks such that the quantization parameters are adaptively set according to prevailing or neighboring conditions.

  • Trademarks

    • TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 33: TTAB Reverses Failure-to-Function Refusal of "FOLLOW THE LEADER" for Credit Card and Travel Services

      The Board rendered a rare reversal of a failure-to-function refusal, finding the USPTO's evidence insufficient to establish that the phrase FOLLOW THE LEADER is incapable of serving as a source indicator for credit card incentive program, credit card financial, travel information, ticket reservation, travel advisory, salon and spa reservation, and concierge services. Although FOLLOW THE LEADER is in common use in various contexts, the phrase may convey different meanings in those contexts, and it does not have a commonly understood meaning applicable to the applicant’s services. In re Black Card LLC, 2023 USPQ2d 1376 (TTAB 2023) [precedentia] (Opinion by Judge Jonathan Hudis).

Gemini* and Gopher

• Personal/Opinions

  • 🔤SpellBinding: AEXMOTI Wordo: GLASS

  • Happiness is

    We found a house we loved, and put an offer on it. Degrees of hysteria in an around a detail or two, but we're certain it's where our daily life belongs.

    We made it to a "caroling" practice last night for a show at some barn this coming Saturday. Should be interesting, if not fun. I'm definitely going to need to practice at home, because I'm not used to reading lyrics *and* a specific voice (as in "tenor") part at the same time from sheet music. It didn't help that the guy sitting next to me was "all over the place", making it difficult to land notes in the vicinity/context of his sonic uncertainty.

  • 20 Cheese and No Beef

    A few days ago, a writer I used to talk to a bit on Twitter passed away suddenly. I didn't find out about this on Twitter, but on Bluesky: having left the former site behind at the end of July, I was left to hear about it through mutuals who still posted and scrolled there, despite the wreckage, despite the mess, despite everything. And as I googled him, I found an obituary that looked suspicious. Against my better judgement, I clicked, and confirmed: AI-generated obituary copy. Is any of it real? Who knows. To whoever generated it, who cares. The page asks me to remove my "ads blocker", "to support them". I go to the root of this supposed funeral site, out of morbid curiosity: FDA approves... first Malaria outbreak in... Thailand's new Burger King contains 20 cheese and no beef...

    Doesn't this just encapsulate it, this new garbage age. The web becoming a vast sea of whatever people think might generate a few cents in ad revenue, who cares about what it's doing to our trust. The important thing is I make money; fuck you, I'm gonna get mine.

  • The sun set on Sacré Cœur

    I've talked quite a bit about Tina Dickow's Sacre Coeur track. It's off of her acclaimed album "Count to Ten" and is by far one of my favorite tracks of all time.

    This track spoke to me throughout my twenties and into my thirties (aka the last 10 years since discovering her music). This is a song about seeing two paths ahead of you. The road you know and the one you don't. There is an alluring pull into the unknown, a sense of opportunity and excitement, and then there is the road back home where its safe; but is safe the right choice?

  • The Look of Winter

    As the American Midwest reaches late autumn, the weather steadily becomes colder. The grass yellows, the trees shed their leaves, and the midday shadows slowly get longer as the sun sinks lower in the sky.

    My wife and I have lived in the Midwest our entire lives, so we're used to these seasonal changes. I always enjoy them: I know the grass and trees will soon be covered in beautiful white snow, and I look forward to shorter days leading to longer evenings spent with family and friends as we celebrate Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The colors of spring and summer are gone, but we make do with the harvests of the warmer seasons, and the cold darkness reminds me of how grateful I am to have the light and warmth of my possessions and the people fear to me.

  • people's assessments

    “You won’t be able to handle 2 hours of commute.” - Several people. // Made it work for almost a year until I was able to move closer.

    “You will have to get up at 5 am? It’s way too early, you’ll always be tired and soon get up at 8 am again.” - ex-coworker that had issues with getting up on time, hit snooze endlessly, only to rush out the house merely 10 minutes before she was supposed to arrive – with a busy morning car commute. // Have been getting up at 5am for years now. Have met many others who do so for work and see nothing unusual about it.

• Technology and Free Software

  • A hard DNS problem

    The first paragraph sets up the context, and at the end, presents a DNS problem. I worked with DNS before, and this doesn't seem that hard a question.

    So, I've noticed an issue with a record I wanted added to a zone file, say a TXT (Text) RR (Resource Record) for `foo.example.com` that reads “I have a red pencil.” I'm also assuming I've done a check from an outside network and didn't see the record, and that looking up the SOA (Start Of Authority) RR (also from an outside network) showed the new serial number. My first step would be to query the authoritative name servers (typically two to four, could be more) and see if the record is there. If the record does show up, then it's a propagation issue, maybe related to caching or TTL (Time-To-Live) issues.

  • Re: A hard DNS problem

    The zone file is entirely correct as far as syntax goes and was updated with the new record without error. The new record does not appear in queries about it, but does appear in the new zone file even on the secondary servers.

  • Calm notifications

    I am a fan of notifications actually (and I miss having a good reliable notifications system now that I'm on iPad where the notifications system is a flaky mess; a good notification system was part of what my relationship to my old Debian desktop system so healthy).

    Without notifications, I can easily find myself in neurotic, addicted “checking-checking-checking” loops.

  • Oh, how I occasionally wish my technical hair were cURL-ier

    Yesterday (due to reading some thread that included the author of 'cURL' weighing in on the Gemini protocol, and some of the discussion having me starting to feel as though the absence of inline links *was* rather silly...) I messed with a couple Lua scripts tentatively called 'gemtext2gemtext' and 'gemtext2html' to transform what I'm tentatively calling "pre-gemtext" to gemtext and html, respectively.

  • This week — Pixels, Voxels, and Plain Text

    TL;DR: I designed more pixel art, achieved some milestones in Dragon Cave and Pixpet, participated in this month's GBF Unite and Fight event (barring some days when I forgot), changed my text editor to Notepad++, and tried out Veloren.

    I skipped the other week's update because I had to run some errands, then got distracted making pixel art pieces for pixel clubs. Whoops.