Links 09/12/2023: Many 'Open'AI Employees Strongly Dislike Microsoft, Many Impending Strikes
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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Peter 'CzP' Czanik ☛ Music of the week: String Quartets
One of my favorite albums is Vedres Csaba és a Kairosz kvartett – Áldott Idő / Blessed Time. It was made by Hungarian pianist Csaba Vedres, who worked together with a string quartet. Their music taught me that string quartets playing alone, with a piano, or with any other instrument can do some fantastic music.
The band was founded by Csaba Vedres, who had a classical music education. Besides playing the piano, he also researched the topic of classical vs. popular music. And just like me, he does not like these categories. One of his examples was Trilogy from ELP, but that will be another story :-) This album sounds more like what we usually call classical music, but not completely. Csaba is one of the best rock pianists of Hungary and you can hear that from some of the songs. I could only find a single song from the album on YouTube, but luckily you can find the full album on TIDAL.
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James G ☛ Podcasts, Wrapped
Pocket Casts, the application I use to listen to podcasts, released a Pocket Casts Wrapped feature. This feature creates a Spotify Wrapped-esque slideshow featuring the highlights of one's year in listening to podcasts. According to my Pocket Casts Wrapped, I listened to 24 different shows and 364 podcast episodes in total. If I were to listen to all those podcasts back-to-back, I would spend seven days and three hours listening.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Dreams where you can’t get anywhere fast
I have two recurring dreams on a regular basis. Genres, you might say!
The first is this mad rush to pack before going somewhere, whether it be a holiday, business trip, house move, or even clearing a locker. There’s always a time crunch involved, and insufficient boxes or bags to pack everything.
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Ruben Schade ☛ The Eifel region of Germany
@Mirabilos shared a desire to go to the Eifel region of western Germany, which sent me down the rabbit hole over lunch of looking at photos.
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The Nation ☛ My Last Conversation With Norman Lear
I never thought of what we did as controversial. They turned out to be controversial topics, but they were the things that were discussed in neighborhoods across the country. If it wasn’t your home, it was up the street, down the street, across the street. These things were going on, and we simply dealt with the truth.—Norman Lear, to me, January 2018
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New York Times ☛ The Quiet Feminism of Norman Lear’s Middle-Aged Women
The shows of Norman Lear, who died on Tuesday, celebrated the needs and complexities of the everyday woman.
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Hackaday ☛ Making Visual Anagrams, With Help From Machine Learning
[Daniel Geng] and others have an interesting system of generating multi-view optical illusions, or visual anagrams. Such images have more than one “correct” view and visual interpretation.
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Science
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New York Times ☛ Particle Physicists Offer a Road Map For the Next Decade
A “muon shot” aims to study the basic forces of the cosmos. But meager federal budgets could limit its ambitions.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Plan to put attraction marking China’s success at Hong Kong Science Museum site not final, culture chief says
The Hong Kong government’s proposal that Tsim Sha Tsui’s popular Science Museum would make way for a new attraction celebrating China’s achievements was only an “initial idea,” the city’s culture chief has said.
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Hardware
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USPTO Names New Advisory Board Members on Heels of PPAC Report Forecasting Downward Trend in Finances
On December 6, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the new membership of its public advisory boards providing oversight of the patent monopoly and trademark operations of the agency. The announcement comes about a week after the USPTO’s Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) publicly released its most recent annual report summarizing the agency’s patent monopoly operations with recommendations to end user fee diversion and publicize data from America Invents Act (AIA) trials at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
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Ruben Schade ☛ Pigeonholing your unrivalled tech buyers
Pigeonholing is an English idiom that suggests one is classifying people based on something arbitrary or limiting. It comes from a classic postal pigeonhole, where letters are sorted into individual slots for people to collect.
Tech companies seem particularly vulnerable to pigeonholing their customers, because their devices or services can be made so specific with walls of technical specifications. Here’s how a company branded their SSD: [...]
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Hackaday ☛ Fail Of The Week: [Mark] Makes An Atari Cartridge
Part of the magic of the movies is that the actors always know what will happen next. There never has to be a scene where [James Bond] orders wine, and the sommelier has to correct his pronunciation, or he miscounts his hand at baccarat. Real life is rarely as smooth. Of course, YouTube is more akin to a movie than real life, and we always wonder how many flawlessly executed projects you see on YouTube really went that well. [Mark Fixes Stuff] left no scenes on the cutting room floor, though, in his realistic portrayal of his quest to build a nice-looking Atairi 2600 cartridge. Watch it below.
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Defence Web ☛ Algerian Army Chief of Staff visits China with a view to acquire military hardware
Defence ties between Algiers and Beijing are as old as the Algerian state itself, with China being a major supporter of the National Liberation Front which fought against the French presence in the 1960s.
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European Commission ☛ 24th EU-China Summit: engaging to promote our values and defend our interests
European Commission Press release Beijing, 07 Dec 2023 The European Union (EU) and China held their 24th Summit in Beijing on 7 December 2023. President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met with China's President, Pooh-tin Jinping, followed by an exchange with China's Premier, Li Qiang.
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Hackaday ☛ Artemis’ Next Giant Leap: Orbital Refueling
By the end of the decade, NASA’s Artemis program hopes to have placed boots back on the Moon for the first time since 1972. But not for the quick sightseeing jaunts of the Apollo era — the space agency wants to send regular missions made up of international crews down to the lunar surface, where they’ll eventually have permanent living and working facilities.
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YLE ☛ Iceland's atNorth plans fourth data centre in Finland
Initially, the new facility will have a maximum power capacity of around 60 megawatts.
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Hackaday ☛ Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The Biblically-Accurate Keyboard
Well, it was bound to happen at some point. [sporewoh]’s bunchiez40 keyboard for ants is made of mouse switches, which of course begs for a mouse made of keyboard switches.
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Hackaday ☛ Upgrade Puts A Lot Of Zeroes On Kit-Built Frequency Counter
If there’s anything more viscerally pleasing than seeing an eight-digit instrument showing a measurement with all zeroes after the decimal point, we’re not sure what it could. Maybe rolling the odometer over to another 100,000 milestone?
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Tom's Hardware ☛ TSMC leads healthy growth in foundry industry for Q3 2023
Foundry industry demonstrated healthy growth in Q3 2023 led by TSMC, Samsung, SMIC, and defective chip maker Intel Foundry Services.
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CNX Software ☛ MINIX X100-0DB fanless defective chip maker Intel N100 mini PC supports 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking
Companies keep on releasing new defective chip maker Intel Processor N100 mini PCs, and the latest one is the MINIX X100-DB fanless mini PC with support for 2.5GbE and WiFi 6 networking, and dual display setups through two HDMI ports.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Latvia ☛ Restriction on Saeima deputies with no Covid certificate was wrong, rules court
A rule change that prevented members of the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, from participating in person in parliamentary sittings did not comply with the Constitution, according to a judgement of the Constitutional Court (ST) December 7.
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Pro Publica ☛ SC Hospital Bends to Political Pressure on Trans Health Care
One Saturday morning in September 2022, Terrence Steyer, the dean of the College of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina, placed an urgent call to a student. Just a year prior, the medical student, Thomas Agostini, had won first place at a university-sponsored event for his graduate research on transgender pediatric patients. He also had been featured in a video on MUSC’s website highlighting resources that support the LGBTQ+ community.
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Pro Publica ☛ How the FDA Failed to Protect Millions of People From Tainted Breathing Machines
In 2021, after Philips Respironics sold millions of defective medical devices to those who struggle to breathe, the federal agency charged with protecting the health of the American public swept in.
The Food and Drug Administration accused the global powerhouse of a succession of mistakes — casting aside test results and health risks — long after the company discovered an industrial foam embedded in its breathing machines could break down and send tiny particles and fumes into the lungs of patients.
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Pro Publica ☛ Jailed for Their Own Safety, 14 Mississippians Died Awaiting Mental Health Treatment
Butch Scipper is haunted by the deaths of three men.
As chancery clerk of Quitman County in the Mississippi Delta, he coordinates a legal process in which people are ordered into treatment for serious mental illness or substance abuse — a common way for Mississippians, especially poor people without insurance, to access inpatient care.
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teleSUR ☛ Doctors in Italy Strike Against Proposed Pension Cuts
Some 85 percent of staff of the National Health Service and private medical facilities stayed away from work.
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Science Alert ☛ Misfolded Proteins Could Make Dementia Transmissible, Scientists Suggest
Can Alzheimer's spread?
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Science Alert ☛ Can a Supplement Really Help Control Those Pesky Eye Floaters?
A look at the science.
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Science Alert ☛ Unexpected Protein Linked to Early-Onset Dementia in Huge Discovery
A new hope for future treatments.
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Science Alert ☛ Mysterious Link Between Owning Cats And Schizophrenia Is Real, Study Says
There's some kind of pattern here.
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The Nation ☛ As Costs and Demand Skyrocket, Abortion Funds Struggle to Keep Up
In the year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to ban abortion with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund in Florida assisted about 400 callers. “For us that was a big deal, that was great,” said board member McKenna Kelley. Its monthly budget was just a few thousand dollars, “and we stuck to it.” The fund usually only needed to cover the cost of a caller’s procedure; when they offered practical support with the logistics of getting to an appointment, that mostly entailed helping drive people to and from local clinics. “No one needed to travel,” she said.
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The Kent Stater ☛ Biden administration takes more steps aimed at lowering health care costs
The Biden administration Thursday announced five new measures that seek to lower health care costs by promoting competition. Reducing health care prices is one of President Joe Biden’s key platforms as he seeks to build momentum in the 2024 presidential campaign.
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Science Alert ☛ 'Useless' Organ That Doctors Often Remove Could Actually Fight Cancer
You may not even know you have one.
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Federal News Network ☛ Do your health care homework this weekend!
It's hard to go wrong in picking a FEHBP plan, but with a little homework you can make a good thing better
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Business Insider ☛ OpenAI employees really, really did not want to go work for Microsoft
After Sam Altman was fired from Proprietary Chaffbot Company late last month, the startup’s employees threatened to leave and accept a blanket offer from Abusive Monopolist Microsoft to hire them all.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Techdirt ☛ Indian Court Orders Reuters To Take Down Investigative Report Regarding A ‘Hack-For-Hire’ Company
Over the years we’ve written about plenty of “cyberespionge” companies. Some engage in spyware or surveillance ware. Others actively hack devices. Almost all of these eventually get exposed through dogged investigative reporting.
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Techdirt ☛ Senator Markey Sends Automakers A Letter Criticizing Their Nonexistent Privacy Standards
Back in September Mozilla released a scathing report showing how modern vehicles are a privacy shitshow. After studying vehicle systems for over 600 hours, researchers found that most cars hoover up vast swaths of sensitive location and other information on consumers, then, like most companies, sell access to that data to pretty much any nitwit with a nickel.
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Cloudbooklet ☛ 23andMe Data Breach: Impacts 6.9 Million Customers
Learn about the recent 23andMe data breach that exposed sensitive genetic and personal information of millions of 23andMe users, how it happened, and what it means for user privacy.
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Security Week ☛ FBI Chief Makes Fresh Pitch for Spy Program Renewal and Says It’d Be ‘Devastating’ If It Lapsed [Ed: Spies running the country]
FBI Director Christopher Wray calls for the reauthorization of a U.S. government surveillance tool set to expire at the end of the year.
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Security Week ☛ Meta Makes End-to-End Encryption a Default on Facebook (Farcebook) Messenger [Ed: This is misleading. Facebook and governments can see everything. It's not E2EE but a fake variant of it.]
End-to-End encryption in Facebook (Farcebook) Messenger means that no one other than the sender and the recipient — not even Meta — can decipher people’s messages.
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Defence/Aggression
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RFERL ☛ Russian Girl, 14, Shoots Classmate Dead Before Committing Suicide
A 14-year-old Russian girl from Bryansk, some 885 kilometers southwest of Moscow, opened fire with a shotgun on her classmates on December 7, killing a 13-year-old girl, before turning the gun on herself and committing suicide.
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New York Times ☛ Girl Kills Schoolmate and Wounds 5 in Russia Shooting
The authorities said investigators were working to establish the motive for the shooting, which took place in the city of Bryansk, near the border with Ukraine.
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Meduza ☛ Russian eighth-grader reportedly opens fire on her classmates, injuring five and killing one — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ Lawmakers Press Biden Administration for Tougher Curbs on China Tech
Republican legislators argue that the Biden administration has been ill-equipped and unmotivated in a technology fight with Beijing.
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Techdirt ☛ Colorado Becomes 2nd State To Strike ‘Excited Delirium’ From The Law Enforcement Vernacular
In October, California became the first state in the nation to ban “excited delirium” as an official cause of death. While this was a positive development, the question remains: why did it take so long?
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JURIST ☛ Malaysia investigates citizen for pro-Israel comments
Authorities in Malaysia have opened an investigation into a local man on Wednesday for expressing support for diplomatic relations with Israel during an interview with an Israeli media personality.
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New York Times ☛ China and E.U. Leaders Met as Tensions Rise Over Russia
The European summit with China’s leader comes as relations have cooled over Beijing’s alignment with Russia in its war on Ukraine and a surge in Chinese exports.
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RFA ☛ China wants end to 'confrontation' but EU in no mood for compromise
EU officials take issue with China's support for Russia and a huge trade deficit, amid pressure to 'de-risk' ties.
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The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan intelligence says China leadership meet on election interference
December 08, 2023 12:10 PM
The meeting was held by the Chinese Communist Party's fourth-ranked leader, Wang Huning and chaired by President Pooh-tin Jinping.
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RFA ☛ Pariahs in arms: Russia finds an ally in military-run Myanmar
A relationship forged in Soviet times has assumed new significance as the two nations face international isolation.
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RFERL ☛ Putin Hails Ties With Iran In Meeting With Raisi
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his country's relations with Iran at a meeting in Moscow on December 7 with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
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NYPost ☛ Pickup truck strikes 3 people, ‘seriously’ injuring them ahead of Christmas parade in California
The truck backed into a crowd of partygoers waiting for the parade's 6 p.m. start time, Vice Mayor of Bakersfield Andrae Gonzales revealed
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RFA ☛ Civilian death toll jumps 7-fold in Myanmar in November
The junta turned to more airstrikes as it lost control territory on the ground.
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RFA ☛ White House official urges Senate to ratify Law of the Sea
The treaty is key to US opposition to Beijing's vast South China Sea claims, but Washington is not a party to it.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese balloon detected around Taiwan, island’s defence ministry says
Taiwan’s defence ministry said Friday it had detected a Chinese balloon crossing the so-called median line that bisects the sensitive strait separating the island from China. “1 PRC (People’s Republic of China) balloon was detected at 11:52 (0352 GMT) yesterday after crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait … 101 nautical miles (187 kilometres) […]
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YLE ☛ Finland prepared to request more border control help from Frontex, if needed
Fifty Frontex staff members arrived last week and they are scheduled to remain in Finland until the end of January
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Federal News Network ☛ One big reason for military recruitment crisis is unfit youth
In today's Federal Newscast: DoD's Electronic Health Record problems are still a big factor in military recruiting challenges. GAO says the Department of Veterans Affairs is failing to detect drug felons during the hiring process. And the Senate has confirmed the new director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
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Federal News Network ☛ Lawmakers find room for classification reforms in compromise NDAA
The must-pass defense bill includes some — but not all — of the reforms first introduced by members of the Senate earlier this year.
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The Straits Times ☛ With China poised, Campbell says vital for US to approve Pacific deals
Three Pacific island states are critical to US security, he tells a Senate hearing.
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The Straits Times ☛ US, South Korean and Japanese security advisers meet to discuss North Korea
Meetings come after the 3 countries condemned North's first reconnaissance satellite launch in November.
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France24 ☛ US to hold military exercises with Guyana amid border tensions with Venezuela
The United States announced joint military flight drills in Guyana on Thursday as soaring tensions over a contested oil-rich region with neighbour Venezuela prompted the UN Security Council to call an urgent meeting.
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France24 ☛ Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi looks to extend iron-fisted rule after ten years in power
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is the front-runner in Egypt’s upcoming presidential election which will be held from December 10-12. Despite being marked by a widespread crackdown on dissent and a weak economic and security record, the former army chief’s ten-year rule may be extended until 2030. It's an outcome that many believe is already written in stone.
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The Straits Times ☛ India PM Modi’s Sikh separatist fight driven by security and politics, say observers
The movement for a Sikh homeland in northern India has burst onto the global stage in recent months.
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New York Times ☛ Israel Claims It Has Killed 5 Hamas Commanders Seen in Rare Photo
Israeli forces have been targeting the Hamas leadership since the group launched an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
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New York Times ☛ Israel-Hamas War: Israel Says 5 Hamas Military Leaders Have Been Killed
The Israeli military released a photo of Hamas military leaders with five circled in red and labeled “eliminated.” They included the chief of Hamas’s aerial division and two battalion commanders.
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The Straits Times ☛ Up to 600 North Korean defectors deported by China ‘vanish’: Rights group
The defectors, mostly women, may face imprisonment, torture, sexual violence and execution in the isolated state.
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JURIST ☛ Amnesty International sounds alarm over El Salvador human rights amid gang crackdown
Amnesty International released an 85-page report on Monday, outlining the deterioration of human rights in El Salvador over the 21 months that the country has been in a state of emergency to combat gang violence.
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Defence Web ☛ SANDF Chief denies allegations of a secret rogue unit but questions remain
Following media allegations of a secret SANDF “death squad” allegedly involved in kidnapping, torture and murder, the Chief of the SANDF, General Rudzani Maphwanya, emphatically denied that such a unit exists.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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RFERL ☛ Pretrial Detention Extended For Navalny Lawyers Charged With Extremism
A court in Moscow on December 7 extended the pretrial detention of three lawyers for imprisoned opposition leader Aleksei Navalny until at least March 13, 2024.
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Meduza ☛ Russian authorities declare Russian America for Democracy in Russia ‘undesirable’ organization — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian authorities request extradition of 98-year-old SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka from Canada — Meduza
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JURIST ☛ US Justice Department charges four Russia soldiers with war crimes in Ukraine
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) formally unsealed war crime charges against four Russian soldiers on Wednesday. The soldiers charged with three war crimes each—unlawful confinement, torture and inhuman treatment—and one count of conspiracy to commit war crimes. The defendants face a maximum penalty of life in prison. None are currently in custody.
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RFERL ☛ Moscow Court Extends Pretrial Detention Of Nationalist Putin Critic Girkin
The Moscow City Court on December 7 extended the pretrial detention of Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov), once a leader of Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's east, who was arrested in July after he criticized President Vladimir Putin for “badly” handling the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Presidential Election Set For March 17; Navalny Says Putin Victory Could 'Destroy' Country
Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has set March 17 for a presidential election in which President Vladimir Putin is widely expected to run for another term, paving the way for him to stay in power until at least 2030.
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Meduza ☛ Russian authorities schedule presidential election for March 17, with voting held over three days — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ Russia Sets Date for Presidential Election
The winner of the contest is widely seen as a foregone conclusion: Vladimir V. Putin.
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Meduza ☛ Jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny calls on Russians to vote for ‘anyone but Putin’ in upcoming elections — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Kremlin says Biden ‘demonizing’ Russia after U.S. president suggests that ‘if Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there’ — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ So here’s the Russian opposition’s strategy to confront Putin in the March 2024 presidential election — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Winter clothing donation drive launched in Latvia
With a call for the donation of winter clothes, the foundation “Ziedot.lv” has launched the campaign “warm clothes days.” They are needed both for families in need in Latvia and for war refugees from Ukraine. Representatives say warehouses are currently empty, but cries for help from residents are growing louder, Latvian Television reported December 8.
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Latvia ☛ 'Science for Ukraine' initiative gathers momentum
An idea named #ScienceForUkraine that originally came from Sanita Reinsone, a professor at the University of Latvia in February 2022, has officially transitioned from a worldwide collective of academic volunteers to a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO), the organization said in a release.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Russia’s invasion cannot derail Ukraine’s rule of law reforms
As Ukraine defends itself against Russia's invasion, the country is also pursuing an ambitious reform agenda that is primarily focused on transforming the Ukrainian legal system and establishing the rule of law, write MPs Denys Maslov and Oleksandr Vasiuk.
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France24 ☛ US withholding aid to Ukraine 'unacceptable’, ex-president Poroshenko says
In an interview with FRANCE 24, former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019) reacted to the US Senate withholding a major package of financial and military aid for Kyiv. Poroshenko warned that the coming days are among "the most important in Ukrainian history" and undoubtedly for the world. He called it "absolutely unacceptable" that Ukraine can be the "hostage" of other issues such as internal politics ahead of next year's US presidential elections.
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France24 ☛ Macron hosts Hungary's Orban in bid to unlock EU support for Ukraine
French President Emmanuel Macron meets Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday in a bid to break the deadlock ahead of an EU summit after the Hungarian leader threatened to block further backing for Ukraine.
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JURIST ☛ Ukraine sources claim responsibility for assassination of former MP
Ukrainian authorities appeared to claim credit for the assassination of Illia Kyva, a former presidential candidate and member of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament), near Moscow on Wednesday.
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JURIST ☛ Nepal cracks down on alleged human smuggling ring tied to Russian army recruitment
In response to the recent deaths of six Nepali citizens serving in the Russian army, Nepali authorities have apprehended 12 individuals suspected of involvement in an illegal operation coercing unemployed youths to join the Russian military campaign in Ukraine on Wednesday.
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Intelligence Official Says Slain Former Lawmaker Likely Aided By Russia
A former Ukrainian lawmaker who was gunned down near Moscow took safety precautions that were likely aided by Russian authorities as he "took an active part in pushing Russian propaganda," an official from Ukraine's military intelligence has said.
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RFERL ☛ Japan Pledges $1 Billion In Additional Aid, Ukraine's Zelenskiy Says
Japan has pledged $1 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on December 7.
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RFERL ☛ Prosecutor In Russia's Bashkortostan Seeks Five Years In Prison For Activist's Posts
A prosecutor asked a court in Ufa, the capital of Russia's Bashkortostan region, on December 6 to sentence activist Ramila Saitova to five years in prison for her online posts protesting against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Retrial Ordered For Russian Jailed Over Daughter's Anti-War Drawings
A court of appeals in Russia has cancelled the two-year prison term for the father of a teenage girl who drew pictures against Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Thanks Japan For Aid Pledge After U.S. Senate Blocks Massive Package
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked Japan for a pledge of an additional $1 billion in aid, saying the funds will give "significant support" to the country just hours after the U.S. Senate blocked a White House request that would have earmarked around $60 billion for Kyiv.
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teleSUR ☛ US Senate Republicans Block Funding for Ukraine and Israel
The bill included US$61.4 billion in military and economic aid for Ukraine, and US$14.3 billion for Israel.
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New Yorker ☛ The Capital Has a Bad Case of Year-End Panic
Worries about a second Trump term and the end of aid to Ukraine are entirely justified.
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New Yorker ☛ The Senate Battle Over Immigration and Aid to Ukraine
Republicans are making one dependent on the other. Are vulnerable Democrats willing to make concessions?
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YLE ☛ Photo gallery: Ukraine, Barbie and Israel-Hamas conflict influence style at Independence Day bash
More than three million people in Finland tuned in to Yle TV to watch the Presidential Gala on Wednesday evening.
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YLE ☛ BBC: Russia recruiting migrants near Finnish border to fight in Ukraine
A Somali migrant told the BBC's Russian-language editorial unit that Russia is coercing migrants into becoming war mercenaries.
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New York Times ☛ Biden Tied Ukraine Aid to Border Security, and It Backfired on Him
President Biden faces difficult choices about how far to go in giving in to conservative demands that he choke off the number of migrants admitted to the United States.
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New York Times ☛ You Can’t Fix Immigration While Holding Ukraine Hostage
There is a bipartisan way to fix the asylum system and still provide aid to Ukraine. That’s not what Republicans want.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Carries On Fight While Pondering an Erosion of U.S. Aid
The government in Kyiv remains hopeful of further American assistance, but it is also looking to other resources — and trying to make clear what could be at stake.
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New York Times ☛ Ukrainian Troops Feel the Bite of Polish Truckers’ Protest
A border blockade by haulers angry that the European Union has suspended a permit system for their Ukrainian counterparts has led to problems with deliveries of wartime supplies.
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Silicon Angle ☛ UK reveals years-long Russian cyber-espionage activities
This probably comes as no surprise to anyone, but Britain’s Foreign Office revealed on Thursday that it has found long-term evidence of cyber-espionage targeting a variety of politicians, public officials and journalists by the FSB, Russia’s main security agency.
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Scoop News Group ☛ US and British authorities sanction, indict Russian hackers
Andrey Korinets and Ruslan Peretyatko are alleged to have played a key role in the FSB's efforts to meddle in U.S. and British politics.
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France24 ☛ UK, US accuse Russia of cyber-espionage campaign against top politicians
The UK government and the United States on Thursday accused Russian security services of engaging in a sustained cyber-espionage campaign against top politicians, journalists and NGOs.
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RFERL ☛ U.K., U.S. Sanction Two Russians Accused Of Cyber Spying On British Politicians, Journalists
The British Foreign Office and the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on December 7 against two Russians for their ties to a group of cybercriminals sponsored by Russia's Federal Security Service.
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New York Times ☛ UK Accuses Russia of Yearslong Cyberattacks
The government said a group linked to Russia’s intelligence service carried out sustained operations to undermine trust in Britain’s political system.
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LRT ☛ New Russia sanctions package to put more liability on EU firms – Lithuanian vice-minister
The European Union’s 12th package of sanctions against Russia will likely make EU companies responsible for the movement of their goods, Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Jovita Neliupšienė said on Thursday.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania could change laws to strip persons circumventing sanctions of citizenship – PM
If Lithuanian citizenship is acquired to circumvent international sanctions, it can be stripped by changing the country’s laws, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said on Thursday after it emerged that two children of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich have Lithuanian passports.
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RFERL ☛ Russia Detains Belarusian Over Explosions On Siberian Railway Line
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on December 7 it detained a Belarusian national with permanent residence in Lithuania on suspicion of carrying out explosions on two trains on the Baikal-Amur Main Line last week.
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RFERL ☛ Australia Hits 13 Russians With Sanctions Over Kara-Murza Poisonings
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on December 7 that Canberra has imposed sanctions on three officers of Russia's Federal Security Service and 10 other Russian citizens over two near-fatal poisonings of opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza in 2015 and 2017.
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Meduza ☛ More than 350 newly naturalized Russian citizens reportedly sent to army after police raid workplaces — Meduza
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Environment
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CS Monitor ☛ Climate progress in charts: Gaps and gains, as world meets in Dubai
How can we face the stark facts laid out by climate science without losing a sense of hope or agency? Our charts today aim to find that balance.
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Science Alert ☛ 132-Million-Year-Old Mystery Fossil's True Identity Is Finally Revealed
With a Pokémon twist.
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Energy/Transportation
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teleSUR ☛ Germany: Strike to Affect 80 Percent of Long-Distance Trains
Workers demand a reduction in working hours and a salary increase of 555 euros per month.
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New York Times ☛ 3 Laser Fusion Research Hubs Picked by Energy Department
With $42 million, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Colorado State University and the University of Rochester will work on studies to tap into a bountiful energy source.
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New York Times ☛ China’s Electric Car Factories Are Facing a Worker Shortage
China misjudged the rapid expansion of its electric vehicle sector, leaving a shortfall of skilled technicians as young people shun manufacturing careers.
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YLE ☛ Unions announce strike dates for next week, PM Orpo criticises move
Finland's largest trade union organisations will organise walkouts next Thursday if the government does not renegotiate before Wednesday.
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YLE ☛ Nature magazine names regional flights subsidy "most useless" folly of 2023
The Finnish state subsidises the loss-making flights operating between six regional airports and Helsinki, which the nation's top nature magazine criticised for its impact on the environment.
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Wildlife/Nature
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RFA ☛ N Korean ambassador in Geneva recalled over smuggling allegations: Report
Han Tae Song was previously expelled from Zimbabwe in 1992 for engaging in rhino horn trafficking.
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Vice Media Group ☛ Scientists Have Reported a Breakthrough In Understanding Whale Language
Researchers have identified new elements of whale vocalizations that they propose are analogous to human speech, including vowels and pitch.
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GNOME ☛ Christian Hergert: Toby is Recovering in ER ICU
Normally I’m posting about code here, but for the past two weeks most of my time has been spent taking care of our 4 year old Australian Shepherd. Toby is very special to me and we even share the same birthday!
Toby recently lost control of his hind legs, which was related to a herniated disk and likely IVDD. For the past two weeks my wife and I have been on full-time care duty. Diapers, sponge baths, the whole gamut.
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Overpopulation
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The Straits Times ☛ 30% of Malaysian children stunted due to unhealthy diet
Children from both low income and well-off families are affected by poor nutrition.
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Finance
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The Straits Times ☛ China and EU leaders agree on need of 'balanced' trade ties
The two sides gave no sign of resolving differences on a range of issues.
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Techdirt ☛ Wyoming’s Top Court Says It’s OK To For Cops To Steal Money Obtained From Legal Drug Sales
Possibly legally-obtained funds traveling from Point A to Point B? Those belong to the law enforcement middlemen. That’s how Wyoming’s top court explains things, in a decision [PDF] that says money obtained from legal drug sales in other states can be stolen by cops who operate in a state where this drug isn’t legal.
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Mexico News Daily ☛ Headline inflation increased in November, after 9 months of decline
The annual headline inflation rate was slightly higher last month than in October, however it is still below the rate forecast by analysts.
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The Straits Times ☛ In China’s slowing beauty market, big brand discounts won’t cut it
Regional brands like Japan’s Shiseido, which counted China as its top market for years, are also struggling.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia lists RTX 5880 Ada GPU, presumably a downgraded replacement for the RTX 6000 Ada in China
Nvidia's latest professional drivers list a new and unknown RTX 5880 Ada Generation GPU, presumably a downgraded replacement for the RTX 6000 Ada in China.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania-China trade relations ‘improving but fragile’ – minister
Lithuania’s bilateral trade relations with China are stabilising two years after Beijing imposed trade restrictions on Lithuania, Economy and Innovation Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė has said, warning, however, that this stability is fragile.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ EU tells China ‘clear imbalances and differences’ must be addressed
EU President Ursula von der Leyen told Chinese leader Pooh-tin Jinping on Thursday that the bloc and its biggest trading partner must address their differences, in the first in-person EU-China summit in over four years.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Tedium ☛ Diet Facebook
A browser extension I’m using has me really surprised about how much junk Facebook (Farcebook) feeds me. I hate that we’re stuck with it.
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The Nation ☛ Trump Bons Mots
Check out all installments in the OppArt series.
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The Nation ☛ In the GOP Debate, It’s the Lost Cause Redux
“I’ll get the communists, socialists, beatniks and atheists out of government.”—Alabama Governor George Wallace, 1966
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Press Gazette ☛ Who is incoming BillBC chair Samir Shah?
Former journalist known for 'forensic' intellect, seen by some as 'anti-woke'.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Urges Supreme Court To Strike Down Unconstitutional State Social Media Laws
Today, Public Knowledge filed an amicus curiae brief in two cases challenging unconstitutional state laws: Moody v. NetChoice (Florida) and NetChoice v. Paxton (Texas).
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Techdirt ☛ Florida Supreme Court: Victims’ Rights Law Can’t Be Used To Block Reporting On Police Misconduct
No one’s more willing to abuse a law than a cop. They pretend they don’t understand the complexities of laws when it suits them. But they’re always right on top of any law that might protect them from the consequences of their own actions.
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New Yorker ☛ How Would This Supreme Court Rule on Book Banning?
A lawsuit filed in federal court in Iowa is one of a number of cases that may eventually come before the Court. The key precedent is an instructive decision from 1982.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil activists appealing judgement in nat. security case to hear verdict within 3 months
Activists with Hong Kong’s defunct Tiananmen vigil group who are appealing their conviction and sentencing in a national security case will learn their verdict within three months, a judge has said.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong woman faces jail for removing devices from home of sister arrested under security law
An elderly Hong Kong woman faces a prison term for removing electronic devices from the home of her sister, who had been arrested under the national security law. Marilyn Tang, 63, admitting perverting the course of justice when she appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
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Reason ☛ Alabama Basketball Player's Libel Lawsuit Against New York Times Can Go Forward
From today's decision by Judge Scott Googler (N.D. Ala.) in Spears v. New York Times Co. (for more on the earlier correction in the case, see here): On the night of January 14, 2023, Spears and his two high school friends, Dylan Serafini and Esai Morse, went to the popular student gathering area called "The Strip" [...]
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Public Knowledge ☛ A Supreme Court Ruling in Murthy v. Missouri Could Help – or Hinder – Democracy Next Year
In August, Public Knowledge published a perspective on Missouri v. Biden, a lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri arguing that the Biden administration improperly coordinated with social control media companies to censor conservative viewpoints under the guise of anti-misinformation campaigns.
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RFA ☛ Chinese censors ban protest anthem lauding decades of dissent
The song links the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement with last year's 'white paper' protests, naming dissidents.
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Reason ☛ Should Universities Ban "Advocacy of Genocide"?
This question has been in the news recently, in light of the recent House Committee hearings on "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism." A few thoughts on my part: [1.]
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Reason ☛ Congress Shouldn't Encourage College Presidents To Censor Even More Speech
Both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian activism has been suppressed on campuses.
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New York Times ☛ At a Hearing on Israel, University Presidents Walked Into a Trap
The nationwide uproar is likely to lead to a crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech.
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Techdirt ☛ We Teamed Up With Bluesky To Tell The Supreme Court How State Social Media Laws Don’t Take Into Account User Empowerment
As you know, the Supreme Court is now considering the NetChoice/CCIA cases challenging two similar (but not identical) state laws regarding social media moderation. The laws in Florida and Texas came about around the same time, and were clearly written to target ideological speech. Both of them put restrictions on how certain social media apps can moderate or even recommend certain speech.
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Stanford University ☛ Saller addresses campus tensions around Israel-Gaza at GSC
Saller expressed concern for the safety of student protestors and advocated for free speech protections at a GSC meeting. While he shared that Stanford hired outside counsel to investigate reports of identity-based targeting by a COLLEGE 101 lecturer, he declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation.
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Reason ☛ FIRE's Statement on the House Hearings on Anti-Semitism
"Double standards are frustrating, but we should address them by demanding free speech be protected consistently — not by expanding the calls for censorship."
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Reason ☛ "This Will Not End Well": FIRE on Penn President's Backtracking on Free Speech
"Conservatives like Rep. Elise Stefanik should ask themselves: Do you honestly believe this [proposed new rule against "calls for genocide"] won't be weaponized to ban an Israeli cabinet official from speaking at Penn? An Israeli Defense Force soldier?"
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Reason ☛ David Lat, "Against Free-Speech Hypocrisy"
"And in (partial) defense of Harvard President Claudine Gay's controversial congressional testimony."
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Reason ☛ Don't Excuse the Hypocrisy of University Presidents When It Comes to Free Speech
Here are the receipts.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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New York Times ☛ Strike That Killed Reuters Journalist Was ‘Apparently Deliberate’ Israeli Attack, Group Says
Human Rights Watch found that the slain journalist and six colleagues were not near active fighting in southern Lebanon and would have been clearly visible to Israeli forces.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Pro Publica ☛ When the Coast Guard Intercepts Unaccompanied Kids
Tcherry’s mother could see that her 10-year-old son was not being taken care of. When he appeared on their video calls, his clothes were dirty. She asked who in the house was washing his shirts, the white Nike T-shirt and the yellow one with a handprint that he wore in rotation. He said nobody was, but he had tried his best to wash them by hand in the tub. His hair, which was buzzed short when he lived with his grandmother in Haiti, had now grown long and matted. He had already been thin, but by January, after three months in the smuggler’s house, he was beginning to look gaunt. Tcherry told his mother that there was not enough food. He said he felt “empty inside.”
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ACLU ☛ We’re Making Sure People in Immigration Detention Know Their Rights
Louisiana has more people in immigration detention than any other state in the country except Texas. Across the state, thousands of people are held in just nine Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, often in isolated regions where legal services are almost nonexistent. To put this into context, there are only about 10-12 pro-bono attorneys for the entire state, despite the immense need for legal support. This means that people detained in Louisiana essentially have no basic legal orientation or assistance in navigating the labyrinth that is the immigration legal system.
That’s why the ACLU of Louisiana has developed a unique series of visits to remote Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities, combining direct legal assistance with on-the-ground advocacy and litigation. About every five to seven weeks, we, along with coalition partners like Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center, pile into cars stuffed with Know Your Rights (KYR) materials in up to 10 languages to drive to visit two to three detention centers over the course of a week. We’ve been visiting people in detention and distributing these materials for the past two years.
During these visits, we conduct group KYR presentations and one-on-one interviews with detained individuals to provide vital information that people in removal proceedings desperately need. These presentations, while general, also delve into crucial details about the asylum process, other available protections in the U.S., and how to seek release from detention.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Internet Society ☛ Can You Kick the Trolls Out Of Your Online Forum? U.S. Supreme Court to Decide
Should the governments of Texas and Florida decide whether and how online discussion sites can moderate their posts?
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APNIC ☛ A carbon-aware Internet with the Green Web Foundation
Guest Post: Researchers used real-time data to annotate network connections with carbon intensity, allowing digital infrastructure providers to relocate their compute workloads to more environmentally sustainable regions.
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APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: LANOG 1.0
APNIC hosted a booth and conducted training at the inaugural LANOG 1.0, held in Vientiane, Lao PDR on 16 November 2023.
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APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: Telecoms World Asia 2023
APNIC hosted a booth at Telecoms World Asia 2023, held from 15 to 16 November in Bangkok, Thailand.
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APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: 40th TWNIC OPM
Geoff Huston gave a keynote presentation on LEOs and Starlink at the 40th TWNIC OPM, held on 16 November 2023 in Taipei.
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APNIC ☛ GPU fabrics for GenAI workloads
Guest Post: Exploring the intricacies of intra and inter-GPU server traffic patterns, network topologies for large clusters, the latest methods for handling network congestion, and more.
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Patents
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JUVE ☛ Dutch court nullifies one of Moderna’s mRNA patents [Ed: What if it was an illegal kangaroo "court" like the crime JUVE kept advocating for using lies?]
Moderna accuses Pfizer and BioNTech of infringing two of its patents for mRNA vaccines with their vaccine Comirnaty (case ID: C/09/643000). The claimant, which filed proceedings against the defendants in several countries at the end of 2022, is requesting damages for all sales made by its competitors after 8 March 2022.
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ ANVISA approves skinny labeling in Brazil
On December 6, the Board of Directors (DICOL) of the Brazilian Food & Drug Agency (ANVISA) passed new regulations accepting an exemption to allow generics and branded generics (also called “similar” drugs) to remove patented uses from their labels – i.e., skinny labeling.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Skinny Label Avoids Infringement
Lundbeck’s patents on vortioxetine as well as methods of using the drug to treat major depressive disorder (“MDD”) have expired. However, Lundbeck holds newer patents claiming additional methods of use, including U.S. Patent No. 9,278,096 (“the ‘096 patent”), which claims using Trintellix to treat patients who previously took other antidepressants but ceased use due to sexual side effects, and U.S. Patent No. 9,125,910 (“the ‘910 patent”), which claims treating MDD patients’ cognitive impairment with Trintellix.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ USPTO again Asks for Remand in Xencor to reconsider its Decisions.
Since I have been writing about the pending appeal in In re Xencor, I thought I would keep readers updated on the briefing. I am interested in the case because of its focus on the written description requirements for Jepson and means-plus-function claims. As covered in previous posts (here and here), the patent monopoly applicant has appealed PTAB rulings that its biotech antibody claims lack sufficient written description support. The patent monopoly applicant and amici have filed merits briefs, but most recently the USPTO asked for remand so that it could reconsider its approach just days before its merits brief deadline. The basic issues:
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Will Hey Hi (AI) lead to dramatic changes in patent monopoly prosecution over the next 5 years?
There are still a couple of days left to have your voice heard in this survey. What do you think? Will Hey Hi (AI) lead to dramatic changes in patent monopoly prosecution over the next 5 years?
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Brushed Aside? Dafni Tries to Keep its PTAB Win against Ontel
This pending case raises key issues of (1) mootness in the IPR/Court interplay and (2) the role of secondary indicia in obviousness determinations.
Gary Shaked (Dafni) holds several patents on hair straightening brushes, and the business took off as a video of the time-saving tool went viral. Dafni sued Ontel and others for patent monopoly infringement based upon several utility and design patents. Dafni responded with an IPR of one of the patents. U.S. Patent No. 9,877,562. Although the IPR was instituted, the patentee eventually won a judgment confirming that the claims were not proven invalid. The PTAB’s non-obviousness decision was largely based upon a indirect indicia of non-obviousness, including evidence of industry praise and industry adoption.
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Trademarks
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Reason ☛ How the Bushwacker Cocktail Migrated to Florida
The Pensacola favorite gave rise to festivals and even a federal trademark case.
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Techdirt ☛ No, Trademark Squatting On Anti-Israel Phrase Won’t Keep It From Use
For some reason, there are enough people who are ignorant enough about trademark law such that every once in a while you get people who don’t like a thing trying to trademark that thing thinking they can prevent that thing from being done or used. It’s a form of trademark squatting. Confused? An example would be one man who thought he could keep the NFL’s Raiders in Oakland merely by applying for a trademark on “San Antonio Raiders,” where the team was rumored to relocate to. Stuff like that doesn’t work, primarily because you have to actually show a use of the trademark in commerce, or at least a valid intent to use it. You don’t get to go out and trademark something merely to sit on it and prevent someone else from using it.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Inferring Secondary Meaning from Product Design Copying
In patent monopoly law, product copying can serve as indirect evidence of non-obviousness. A pending petition before the Supreme Court asks a similar question in the trademark realm – to what extent does copying of a product serve as evidence of secondary meaning of the product associated trade dress. Trendily Furniture, LLC v. Jason Scott Collection, Inc., 21-16978 (Supreme Court 2023). This is particularly important in the product design arena because evidence of secondary meaning must be proven before it is protectable as trade dress.
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Finds "STREAM THEATERS" Generic For .... Guess What?
The Board affirmed a refusal to register the proposed mark STREAM THEATRES on the Supplemental Register for, inter alia, the streaming of audiovisual material during in-person events at movie theaters and other venues [STREAM disclaimed], finding the term to be generic for the services. "Consumers, in the context of Applicant's services . . . would understand the term STREAM THEATRES to refer to theatres where entertainment is streamed." In re Christian J. A. O. Faloye and John C. R. Cato, Serial No. 90260733 (December 1, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Karen S. Kuhlke).
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TTAB Blog ☛ CAFC Upholds TTAB's Judgment on the Pleadings Based on Dissimilarity of Marks in VERITÉ Opposition
The CAFC affirmed the TTAB's decision [TTABlogged here] granting a motion for judgment on the pleadings (FRCP 12(c)) on the ground that Applicant Grands Domaines' word-and-design mark shown below, for "wines made from grapes from Côtes de Provence in accordance with adapted standards," is not confusingly similar to Opposer Jackson Family Farms' common law mark VERITÉ for wine and its registered mark VERITÉ for "alcoholic beverages except beers." Jackson Family Farms, LLC v. Grands Domaines Du Littoral, Appeal No. 2023-1675 (Fed. Cir. December 5, 2023) [not precedential].
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Exclusive: YouTube Issues Major Rule Change for Copyright Royalty Disputes — With a Possible Windfall for Established Publishers
YouTube is now changing its rules surrounding copyright monopoly royalty disputes, according to details shared with Digital Music News. The changes could generate a significant windfall for established music publishers. YouTube is instituting a substantial change in how it handles disputed copyrights and royalties, according to agreements shared this week with Digital Music News.
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Digital Music News ☛ SUISA Files Copyright Lawsuit Against Twitter/X in German Court: ‘Resolute Action Against the Illegal Use of Music’
In June, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) filed a $250 million copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit against Twitter/X. Now, SUISA has submitted a copyright monopoly complaint of its own against the social control media platform.
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Public Domain Review ☛ Rhapsodies in Blue: Anna Atkins’ Cyanotypes
In an era when the Enlightenment’s orderly vision of the natural world began to unravel, Anna Atkins produced the world’s first photography book: a collection of cyanotypes, created across a decade beginning in 1843, that captured algal forms in startling blue-and-white silhouettes. Paige Hirschey situates Atkins’ efforts among her naturalist peers, discovering a form of illustration that, rather than exhibit an artist’s mastery over nature, allowed specimens to “illustrate” themselves.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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.3 eyed
The door opens slowly and one of the old time patrons enters. He moves slowly, tries to wipe the fog off his glasses, just to realize, he's not wearing them. Somewhat insecure and slow he makes his way to the bar, holding his right hand up in front to sense his arrival. ~bartender is rustling about.
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Early to bed, etc.
Sleep well un-chemically-aided again. The main dream was something about my wife and I setting up for a performance with others supplying the sound system, which was an odd mess I was amazed actually worked. But the sound people and others I think were going to perform were annoyingly slow readying for show time, and I can't stand being late. A couple people from that entourage kept wanting to announce things to the audience in ways somehow requiring them to put their mouths on my microphone, which I also can't stand. So I was spending a bunch of time wandering around in search of a spray disinfectant that I know I'd seen earlier, but of course *then* couldn't imagine actually needing. So of *course* it disappears once finally needed.
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🔤SpellBinding — DHILPON Wordo: HUMID
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Politics and World Events
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Putin and Xi realizing the weakness of American Might: Democracy
Ukraine swelled with Western Concern and Aid until the flare-up of Palestinian-Israeli discourse came following the 7th of October. Suddenly, with a childish demeanour, the mental focus of the Mighty Western Mental Battleship announced a "hard to port" towards a fresh conflict. The Donbas became the Gaza Strip. Bakhmut became Ashkelon. Новий відлік became #الجزيرة.
Will this happen with Venezuela? Ethiopia? It did not seem to happen to _Artsakh_ now, did it? Is it a mistake to keep attempting to keep up or ahead of 'the next thing'? If just a handful of conflicts flare up, would “the West” lose its steam? Overwhelmed by internal strife, confusion, in-fighting, and apathy?
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About the phrase “From the river…”
I don’t like using that slogan because it has [also been used] by those who want to somehow “drive out” the entire Israeli population there, and I don’t agree with that. OK, the entire colonial project was a misguided carousel of atrocities but it’s been 106 years. Generations after generations have been born there. Many who advocate for peace and for civil rights for Arab-Israelis and Palestinians.
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Feeling of powerlessness of mine towards climate change
This post is not my usual rambling about tech. But I want to share my frustration with how I can't help with climate change.
First of all. I'm not virtual signaling, but I think I'm likely one of the least consumerist people in the population - I host my blog on Gemini. Boring jokes aside, I truly believe it. I barely buy new clothes. My Mom forced me to get new ones becasue the ones I had worn them for 12 years (but still good!). I don't own a car even though I do have a driver's license. I only switched out my smartphone becasuse the old one isn't fast enough for my work anymore. etc, etc.. I don't even go to the cinema or eat out. It's just not my thing. I buy vegitables and meat form a local market because it's chaper then the suepermarket.
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Technology and Free Software
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PHP static site generator
It operates by doing a first pass scanning over all files in a content template directory and building an index of *.gmi files, their headlines and hash tags. The second pass copies the template content, modifying (expanding simple tag lists to list of tag links) and creating files (such as the tag index) in the process.
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Inline Images: Data URLs
My static site generator now automatically detects images and inserts (very) low-resolution images as data URLs.
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a simple docker shortcut
Actually it is an alias for `docker ps -a` which I do use a lot. Typing this isn't tough but what annoys me is that the default output is too broad and that makes finding the right information in a long list of multi-column output tedious.
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So I built a HRNG - how do I know if it's any good?
Out of curiosity, and to use up some of my big bunch of quad op amps, I decided to build a hardware random number generator. It is comprised of 16 individual 12V-Zener-Diode noise generators, which feed into 8 comparators to generate 8 output bits at once. Those 8 bits can be sampled as a single byte by a microcontroller and then sent over UART to a PC. The principle is based on the Lampert circuit, where two uncorrelated noise sources are fed into a single comparator, to avoid biasing problems due to a shifting operating point in the Zener noise sources.
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Internet/Gemini
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The Gopher Situation, part II Unicode Booglaloo
The lead I thought I had [1] was a red herring. I thought it may have had something to do with reporting errors back to the client as seen from the logs [...]
That didn't work. The gopher server was still getting stuck. Attaching `gdb` to the stuck process didn't show anything, as the Lua [3] executable I was using didn't have debugging symbols. So then I recompiled Lua and the modules used that were written in C to include debugging information and restarted the server, yet again.
So now I think I think I found the root issue. Attaching `gdb` this time showed the server was stuck in LPEG (Lua Parsing Expression Grammars) [4]. Even better, I could see the text it was trying to parse and well … previously I said, “[t]he code hasn't changed since April.” That's not quite true. The server code hadn't changed since April, but an extension had! Back in late October [5] I modified the code that renders my blog on gopher to use Unicode combining characters to do some typographical tricks, and it seems that the code used to wrap the text just … wasn't up to par (Unicode is hard! Let's go to Mars!).
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Programming
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Don't let the sun catch you coding
I read of "neovim" today. Even my kind of batteries included: "Lua has also become the preferred way of configuring NeoVim, letting VimScript fall out of favor."
Dang, I wish I weren't too set in my ways to go through the effort of trying and likely suffering through *almost* installing it.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.