Leftovers

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Harvard’s Largest Faculty Division Will No Longer Require Diversity Statements

    Instead, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will require applicants to describe their “efforts to strengthen academic communities,” a senior university leader said in an email.

  • Science Alert ☛ Evidence of Earth's First Rains Found Trapped Within Primordial Crystals

    4 billion years ago.

  • Science Alert ☛ Mysterious 'Seahenge' Structure in UK May Finally Be Explained

    A lost civilization's desperate measure.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Highly Active Sunspot Is Pointed Right at Us Again. Here's What to Expect.

    Fun times!

  • Science Alert ☛ Giant 'Giga-Goose' Once Thundered Across Prehistoric Australia

    A spectacular creature is revealed.

• Education

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Kent State student reaches settlement after suing university

    A Kent State student reached a $50,000 settlement with the university and the State of Ohio. Maeve Grennan, a junior studio art major, filed the lawsuit in the Ohio Court of Claims after being injured on campus.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ A Human-Sized Strowger Telephone Exchange

    A large hacker camp such as EMF 2024 always brings unexpected delights, and one of those could be found in the Null Sector cyberpunk zone: a fully functional Strowger mechanical telephone exchange. Better still, this wasn’t the huge array of racks we’ve come to expect from a mechanical exchange, but a single human-sized unit, maybe on a similar scale to a large refrigerator. [LBPK]’s PAX, or Private Automatic Exchange, is a private telephone network, 1950s style.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Hot Nights Linked With Increased Risk of Stroke, Scientists Warn

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia to launch large-scale study on postnatal depression

    This week, the largest-ever study in Latvia on improving the recognition, care, and treatment of postnatal depression in Latvia is being launched. The project is being implemented by the Department of Psychiatry and Narcology of Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) in collaboration with Riga Maternity Hospital (RDzN), RSU said.International research data show that the global prevalence of postnatal depression ranges from an average of 9.5% in high-income countries to 20.8% in middle-income regions and 25.8% in low-income countries.

  • Latvia ☛ First snakebites of the season seen in Latvia

    The first two patients with a snake bite this season have been admitted to Riga East Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS), the hospital reported June 3.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Find a Cannabis Compound Inside Totally Different Plant

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Prenatal Supplements Probably Aren't What You Think They Are

    More needs to be done.

  • Science Alert ☛ Arid Deserts Are Devouring Earth's Rangelands, Threatening Billions

    Land degradation on a catastrophic scale.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ AI Will Increase the Quantity—and Quality—of Phishing Scams

    A piece I coauthored with Fredrik Heiding and Arun Vishwanath in the Harvard Business Review:

    Summary. Gen Hey Hi (AI) tools are rapidly making these emails more advanced, harder to spot, and significantly more dangerous. Recent research showed that 60% of participants fell victim to artificial intelligence (AI)-automated phishing, which is comparable to the success rates of non-AI-phishing messages created by human experts.

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ Seeing Like a Data Structure

    Technology was once simply a tool—and a small one at that—used to amplify human intent and capacity. That was the story of the industrial revolution: we could control nature and build large, complex human societies, and the more we employed and mastered technology, the better things got. We don’t live in that world anymore. Not only has technology become entangled with the structure of society, but we also can no longer see the world around us without it. The separation is gone, and the control we thought we once had has revealed itself as a mirage.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • EDRI ☛ Open letter: The dangers of the May 2024 Council of the EU compromise proposal on EU CSAM

      EDRi has signed the Global Encryption Coalition open letter in response to news of the Belgian Presidency’s latest compromise proposal, dated May 2024, on the Regulation on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA).

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Leaked database reveals unreported Surveillance Giant Google privacy breaches from 2013 to 2018

      Google LLC’s privacy practices are in the spotlight after, ironically, a database detailing its privacy investigations from 2013 and 2018 has been leaked. The database details a wide range of incidents across various Surveillance Giant Google apps and products, including Waze, YouTube and AdWords, that have not been previously made public.

• Defence/Aggression

  • CS Monitor ☛ Korean peace deal pops as trash-filled balloons sour border relations

    In response to North Korea’s launch of trash-carrying balloons, South Korea says it will suspend a rapprochement deal between the two states – and blast foreign news and K-pop songs across the border.

  • RFA ☛ South Korea to suspend inter-Korean military pact over trash balloons

    Comprehensive Military Agreement is designed to defuse military tension, avoid war on Korean Peninsula.

  • JURIST ☛ North Korea agrees to stop sending waste balloons into South Korea

    The Vice Minister of National Defense of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) announced Sunday that they would cease sending further waste-carrying balloons to South Korea. The waste balloon project began on May 28, transporting paper and rubbish into metropolitan areas such as Seoul.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea's Yoon calls for greater cooperation with Africa on minerals, trade

    SEOUL - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday the country will step up cooperation with African nations to secure a stable supply of critical minerals and speed up negotiations to promote economic partnerships and trade.

  • RFERL ☛ Iranian Newspaper Accuses Taliban Consulate Staff Of 'Torturing' Photographer

    A centrist Iranian newspaper has accused a Taliban representative in Iran of “torturing” a photographer, ultimately leading to his expulsion from the country.

  • The Strategist ☛ Australia sees the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea

    In the ‘differ where we must’ dimension of dealing with China, Australia is wielding a new nomenclature stick.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines rejects Chinese allegation that troops point guns at its coast guard

    MANILA - The Philippine military on Tuesday rejected Chinese allegations that troops stationed on a warship grounded on a disputed South China Sea shoal had pointed guns at its coast guard, insisting its personnel maintained professional conduct.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Amid isolation over Gaza, Israelis grapple with ‘becoming outcasts’

    Both sides in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza are seeking international empathy. In Israel, a growing sense of global isolation is fueling both support for the hard-line government and a feeling of abandonment.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel’s Seizure of Gaza Border Zone Strains Ties With Egypt

    Israel defied ominous Egyptian warnings and took control of the Philadelphi Corridor, but the reaction from Egypt, which wants to maintain its security cooperation with Israel, has been muted.

  • Reason ☛ Photo: Cops Crack Down on Campus Protests

    The University of Texas is just one campus that has seen police arrest pro-Palestine demonstrators.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: US urges UN Security Council to back Israel-Hamas ceasefire plan

    The United States on Monday announced a draft Security Council resolution supporting the Israel-Hamas ceasefire plan outlined by Joe Biden last week, urging Hamas to accept it. But it appears that even within Israel there are major divisions over the plan it allegedly presented, with two senior ministers threatening to leave Netanyahu’s government if he signs off on the proposal.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Conviction of 14 democrats over primary election bid shows ‘real risks’ to national security, says Hong Kong’s John Lee

    A court verdict that saw 14 democrats convicted under a Beijing-imposed security law last week shows there are “real risks” to national security, Hong Kong leader John Lee has said.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 8th arrest for ‘sedition’ linked to Tiananmen crackdown anniversary posts under Hong Kong’s new security law

    Hong Kong police have apprehended a 62-year-old man over suspected “offences in connection with seditious intention,” marking the eighth arrest under the new security law in a case linked to jailed human rights activist Chow Hang-tung.

  • RFA ☛ Hong Kongers light up Lion Rock on Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary

    Public commemoration of the 1989 bloodshed is now banned under security laws.

  • France24 ☛ China cracks down on attempts to mark 35th anniversary of Tiananmen massacre

    Checkpoints and rows of police vehicles lined a major road leading to Beijing's Tiananmen Square as China heightened security on the 35th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

  • RFA ☛ If you could time travel back to 1989, would you take part in the student movement?

  • The Straits Times ☛ Self-exiled Hong Kong artist aims to counter China's silence on June 4

    Hong Kong artist Kacey Wong is striving to keep alive the memory of China's June 4 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators from his adopted home of Taiwan, as Chinese authorities again bar all public commemoration or discussion of the killings in 1989.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Security tight in China and Hong Kong on Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

    China authorities said they would close Beijing's Tiananmen Square on 35th anniversary of the June 4 crackdown.

  • JURIST ☛ HRW: China authorities suppressing commemoration of 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre

    The Chinese government is silencing discussion and commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, according to a statement released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday. June 4 will mark 35 years since the Chinese military attacked civilian protestors in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, allegedly killing and wounding thousands.

  • RFA ☛ Taiwan holds up torch of Tiananmen as Hong Kong is silenced

    The democratic island is the only site in the Chinese-speaking world where a memorial is openly held.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Deceased Hong Kong activist funded ‘military training’ trip in Taiwan during 2019 protests, terrorism trial hears

    A deceased Hong Kong activist funded a trip for radical protesters to receive “military training” in Taiwan during the 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations and unrest, a court has heard.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Beware of troublemakers ‘hijacking’ Tiananmen crackdown anniversary, John Lee says, as police deployment expected

    Hong Kong leader John Lee has warned of people potentially “hijacking” the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown to disturb public peace. Tuesday marked 35 years since hundreds, if not thousands, were killed when China’s People’s Liberation Army cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong hits back at foreign condemnation of conviction of 14 democrats

    China’s national security agency in Hong Kong has hit back at foreign governments’ condemnation of a court’s decision to convict 14 democrats under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China accuses Britain’s MI6 of recruiting couple who worked for ‘central state agency’ to spy for UK

    China on Monday accused Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) of recruiting a couple who worked for the central government to spy for the UK, adding to months of mutual espionage allegations between Beijing and Western powers.

  • JURIST ☛ China accuses two state employees of spying for UK Secret Intelligence Service MI6

    The Chinese Ministry of State Security on Monday published a statement accusing the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6 of turning two unnamed Chinese state employees into spies for the British government. According to the public statement, the two suspected spies were a couple both serving sensitive functions within the Chinese government.

  • RFA ☛ Uyghur brothers shot dead on same day in Xinjiang prison

    They were involved in a scuffle with a security guard who killed them, officials and police say.

  • The Strategist ☛ Understanding Pooh-tin Jinping Thought: the clear and present implications for democratic nations

    Xi Jinping Thought (XJT) is now the principal ideology governing China. It carries deep implications for the ways democratic nations deal with the country in an increasingly confrontational era of strategic competition.

  • The Strategist ☛ ANZUS and the fabric of peace in the Pacific

    China is seeking to establish itself as the hegemonic power in Asia, using coercion and intimidation, and by challenging US primacy.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on modernizing the transatlantic partnership

    Tai outlined how the United States should strengthen transatlantic trade and counter China’s nonmarket economic practices.

  • JURIST ☛ Iran foreign ministry summons China ambassador on statements appearing to support UAE claim to disputed islands in Strait of Hormuz

    The Iranian foreign ministry summoned China’s ambassador to the country Sunday over statements made during a China-UAE bilateral meeting appearing to dispute Tehran’s sovereignty over three islands in the Strait of Hormuz claimed by the UAE.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Reason ☛ Requiem for Alexei Navalny

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b19dzWe3Xs This was written shortly after the death of Navalny (a leading Russian dissident) in a Russian prison in February, but I just heard it yesterday.

• Environment

  • Science Alert ☛ Months of Record Heat Set to Ease as El Niño Shows Signs of Ending

    A brief respite.

  • University of Michigan ☛ U-M lands $6.5M center to study Great Lakes algal blooms

    Great Lakes researchers at U-M have been awarded a $6. 5 million, five-year federal grant to host a center for the study of links between climate change, harmful algal blooms and human health.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Strategist ☛ Australia’s gas strategy conflicts with its national interest

      Australia’s Future Gas Strategy poorly reflects northern Australian resource needs and undermines the national interest.

    • New Yorker ☛ Is China’s E.V. Industry a Threat to the U.S.?

      Is China’s electric-vehicle industry a threat to the U.S., or something to learn from?

    • CS Monitor ☛ Airline revenues are at a high – so why are ticket prices also expected to soar?

      Worldwide inflation and pandemic production delays are some of the reasons why summer airline tickets are sky-high. Airline revenue is estimated to reach nearly $1 trillion in 2024, a record high.

• Finance

  • teleSUR ☛ Namibia: National Minimum Wage Introduced

    Currently, minimum wages exist in security, agriculture, construction, and domestic sectors, leaving others without regulated minimums and vulnerable to low "offer and take" wages.

  • RFA ☛ North Korean companies ‘scrambling’ to send workers to Chinese factories

    Some employment contracts have already been signed as Pyongyang looks for more foreign cash.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Trial of Jimmy Lai adjourned after pro-democracy media tycoon appears to be unwell in Hong Kong court

    The national security trial of Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been adjourned after his legal team told the court he felt unwell. Lai, 76, who founded now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Fashion Company Apple Daily, has been detained since December 2020.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • James G ☛ The Train WiFi Test

    I have travelled thousands of miles by train over the last few years, on which WiFi access and capability has ranged from reasonable to inaccessible. I am regularly on trains where pages take several seconds to load, if they load at all. In these times, I am appreciative of websites that are fast to load. I am doubly appreciative of sites with offline fallbacks so that I can continue to use them even if I temporarily lose my internet connectivity.

    I would like to propose a new informal test for evaluating the performance of your website: the Train WiFi test. The test is as follows:

    Does the key information on your website load in a reasonable amount of time on spotty train WiFi?

  • APNIC ☛ Standardizing network data

    Guest Post: The power of PrefixCtl and RegCtl.

  • APNIC ☛ Nominations now open for NRO NC Election 2024

    Submit a nomination now for the open seat on the NRO NC. Nominations close on 5 August 2024.

  • Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 204: What Could Have Been for the Bill S-210 Hearings

    Bill S-210, the mandated age verification bill for pornography sites that in reality targets everything from Google Search to Netflix, was expected to be the subject of extensive hearings by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

Monopolies/Monopsonies