Links 01/07/2024: Catchup With Science and War in Ukraine
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- 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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DragonFly BSD Digest ☛ Lazy Reading for 2024/06/30
I was not able to get this done early like the last few posts, but there’s still a good range here. Can You Make It Bigger? – A Journey In Building Arcade Cabinets. (via) Via previous story, the Picade. The 84 Series. On point for current topics and period stylings.
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Andrew Healey ☛ 2D Multiplayer From Scratch — Andrew Healey
I recently built a game prototype for a 2D arena shooter. Here are my notes on some of the patterns I used and the design of the server and client systems.
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Troy Hunt ☛ Troy Hunt: The State of Data Breaches, Part 2: The Trilogy of Players
A decade on, I still find this to be an odd space to occupy, sitting on the fringe and sometimes right in the middle of the interactions between these three parties. It's unpredictable, fascinating, exciting, stressful, and I hope you found this interesting reading 🙂
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Robert Birming ☛ We Blog 24/7
I heard someone describe an artist as "someone who never takes a break from being an artist”.
I think that's an excellent description. As everyday bloggers, we may not call ourselves artists, but we can certainly call ourselves creators.
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Kev Quirk ☛ Why Have a Personal Site Instead of Social Media?
I was posting my usual waffle over on Fosstodon yesterday, and someone asked a question about having a personal site vs just using social media. So I naturally decided to write a post on my personal site about it. 🙃
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Juha-Matti Santala ☛ Why a personal site rather than social media presence?
Kev Quirk started a discussion with Why Have a Personal Site Instead of Social Media? in which he answered a question that he was asked in Mastodon. As an advocate for personal web, I want to add my two cents on top of what Kev listed in his post.
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Jon Udell ☛ The things we carry
For a long time there were only two essential things that I carried everywhere: keys and wallet. Two was a manageable number of objects that I had to remember to put into pockets, and two was a manageable number of pockets to put them in.
Then my first phone bumped that number to three. When reading glasses became the fourth must-carry item, it started to feel like there were too many objects to always remember and too few pockets to put them in. When the seasons changed, or when traveling, it got harder to reset the canonical locations for all four things.
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Habib Cham ☛ Blogging Workflow and Tools
With the continued resurgence of blogging, I love and appreciate the enthusiasm many bloggers have put into helping newcomers adopt this medium; from writing guides on choosing the right blogging platform, to blog posts with unfeigned encouragement reminding writers to forego perfectionism and write from the heart. Write like a human.
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Robert Birming ☛ What really matters
What makes it truly inspiring is that it’s not about someone playing hard to get or being a diva.
It's about a person with strong integrity and a strong belief in herself. Someone who knows what she wants and how to stay true to that belief—and that's what really matters.
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Science
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] The science of beauty: how aesthetics can boost your mood and cognition
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] Maths makes finding bat roosts much easier, our research shows
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] The fascinating sex lives of insects
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] Did inbreeding cause the woolly mammoth’s extinction? Our research suggests it was more sudden than that
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CBC ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] Head of National Microbiology Lab resigns in wake of scientist security scandal
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Wired ☛ Cryptographers Are Discovering New Rules for Quantum Encryption
In a string of recent papers, researchers have shown that most cryptographic tasks could still be accomplished securely even in hypothetical worlds where practically all computation is easy. All that matters is the difficulty of a special computational problem about quantum theory itself.
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Futurism ☛ There's an Extremely Stupid Reason NASA Scientists Can't Study China's Amazing New Moon Rocks
But there's one nation that will be barred from poring over the exceedingly rare samples: the United States.
That's because the US enacted a law called the Wolf Amendment in 2011, which prevents NASA from using government funds to cooperate directly with China.
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Science Alert ☛ 'Extremely Dangerous' Hurricane Beryl Breaks Record as Season Begins
A dramatic start to hurricane season.
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Science Alert ☛ Siberian Wolf Preserved For 44,000 Years Could Host Ancient Viruses
What's inside this thing?
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New York Times ☛ Robots Get a Fleshy Face (and a Smile) in New Research
Researchers at the University of Tokyo published findings on a method of attaching artificial skin to robot faces to protect machinery and mimic human expressiveness.
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New York Times ☛ How Science Went to the Dogs (and Cats)
Pets were once dismissed as trivial scientific subjects. Today, companion animal science is hot.
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NYPost ☛ Medical manufacturers recalled 135 batches of this medication over fear capsules could cause cardiac arrest: FDA
“Consumers that have Potassium Chloride Extended-Release Capsules subject to the recall should consult with their physician or health care provider before they stop using the product,” FDA officials advised.
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Science Alert ☛ This Mysterious Black Hole at The Dawn of Time Weighs a Billion Suns
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Science Alert ☛ Time Crystals Could Unlock a Radical New Future For Quantum Computers
No longer just a theory.
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Education
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Nico Cartron ☛ On the exchanges with native speakers and learning new expressions
One thing that struck me though, is that when talking with native speakers, you get a chance to learn new expressions or sentences that are a bit more unusual or advanced.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ Almost Google Glass In 1993 [Ed: CCTV mounted onto humans]
You might think Google Glass was an innovative idea, but [Allison Marsh] points out that artist [Lisa Krohn] imagined the Cyberdesk in 1993. Despite having desk in the name, the imagined prototype was really a wearable computer. Of course, in 1993, the technology wasn’t there to actually build it, but it does look like [Krohn] predicted headgear that would augment your experience.
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Mere Civilian ☛ Reconsidering my music setup in my study
A decision matrix is a tool to evaluate and select the best option between different choices.
Here is mine: [...]
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Derek Kędziora ☛ The problem with the e-Ink tablets
I’ve had my eye on e-Ink table for awhile. I’d something a bit less locked down than a Kindle, that I’d mostly use for reading and notes. Being able to pop online to look things up is nice. Access to my RSS feeds, read later, and email are nice touches that a Kindle simply doesn’t offer.
The problem is that all of the possible candidates are made in China by Chinese brands.
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Ben Frain ☛ More Keys or Fewer Keys for mechanical keyboards
I a 42-key keyboard for a couple of months to see how it compares to keyboards like the Glove80 and Advantage360; keyboards with nearly double the number of keys.
I’d long held the belief that I couldn’t sensibly get by with less than about 55 keys but never put the theory to the test. This was that test.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Motherboards and systems with China's Loongson CPUs now shipping to US customers — options start from $373 for a DTX board with processor and cooler
DIY PC builders have another option from AliExpress, with two new motherboards supporting the Loongson 3A6000 System-on-a-Chip from China.
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Hackaday ☛ Root Your Sleep Number Smart Bed, Discover It Phoning Home
Did you know you can get a “smart bed” that tracks your sleep, breathing, heart rate, and even regulates the temperature of the mattress? No? Well, you can get root access to one, too, as [Dillan] shows, and if you’re lucky, find a phone-home backdoor-like connection. The backstory to this hack is pretty interesting, too!
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Hackaday ☛ A Vintage AC Bridge Teardown
If you ever encounter a British engineer of a certain age, the chances are that even if they use a modern DMM they’ll have a big boxy multimeter in their possession. This is the famous Avo 8, in its day the analogue multimeter to have. Of course it wasn’t the only AVO product, and [Thomas Scherrer OZ2CPU] is here with another black box sporting an AVO logo. This one’s an AC bridge, one of a series of models manufactured from the 1930s through to the late 1940s, and he treats us to a teardown and restoration of it.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Printing With A Twist
When we think about sending an STL off on the Internet for processing, we usually want someone to print it for us or we want mesh repair. But [Chuck] found an interesting project on GitHub from [Andrew Sink] that will let you add a variable amount of twist to any STL and then return it to you for printing or whatever else you use STLs for. If you don’t get what we mean, check out the video below.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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CBC ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] TikTok has been called the therapist's couch of Gen Z. But not all the #mentalhealth info checks out
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Science Alert ☛ Trees Have Become a Hidden Source of Air Pollution in Los Angeles
And it’s only getting worse.
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Science Alert ☛ Fungal Pathogens Are Mutating Dangerously as The World Gets Hotter
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The Straits Times ☛ Singapore oil spill: Johor coastline cleanup almost complete, says Malaysian official
More than 43 tonnes of oil-contaminated waste have been collected from the Johor coastline.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Futurism ☛ Facebook Lunatics Are Making AI-Generated Pictures of Cops Carrying Huge Bibles Through Floods Go Viral
Because Facebook is an undead land of bots and synthetic imagery, it's hard to tell just how much engagement supposedly garnered by this post — currently over 46,000 likes and nearly 1,000 shares — is genuine.
Still, that posts like this continue to get picked up by Facebook's algorithm feels like a grim sign of platform erosion for the social media site, which now feels more like an empty, chaotic funhouse for scammers than it does a website for humans. If only there were room on that HOLE FOBE for Facebook to escape the AI flood.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft's Copilot+ PC exclusive features are a bad joke, even for AI fans
On the bright side, for Intel and AMD users, the Copilot+ features they can’t have are absolutely useless, even for folks who like to play with AI. On the other hand, AI isn’t going anywhere and will be used in more and more useful workloads so the Qualcomm laptops’ 45 TOPS (total operations per second) NPUs will be very useful tomorrow, if not today.
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Jeremy Keith ☛ Trust
In their rush to cram in “AI” “features”, it seems to me that many companies don’t actually understand why people use their products.
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Leon Mika ☛ I wish more podcasters know …
I wish more podcasters know what a double-ended podcast is. Having Zoom’s compression algorithm garble your most important point is not a great listening experience. If you’re just starting off, or if you have a guest, that I understand. But if you’ve been doing this for years as part of your job? 🫤
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Don Marti ☛ Return of the power user
But now the balance is shifting again. Now the small office or home office PC is more of a point of sale device, loaded with surveillance software, compliance risks, and SaaS upsells. The peripherals work, in a sense, but they don’t work so much for you as for some far-away product manager who needs to nail their OKRs to get promoted and afford a down payment on a house. And the small-business-facing Internet is a more or less wretched hive of scum and villainy, from fairly mild shelfware without the shelf schemes, all the way to actively heinous stuff like sending your marketing budget to terrorists.
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Daniel Miller ☛ You Might Think Using AI in Your Business Will Save You Time and Development Cost but You'd Probably Be Wrong
You might even think that AI will help you create software, even if that software is the old, boring, garden-variety kind. AI will speed up your current software developers, allow your product designers to create full-fledged applications, and prevent you from having to grow your developer team in the future, while still pumping out software at the same rate.
Here are some things you might want to keep in mind as you allow this temptation to take root: [...]
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Michał Sapka ☛ Are the LLMs worth it?
Recently, half of my waking time seems to be spent actively ignoring the current AI boom. Every investor, every product, even some open source project - all are part of the biggest craze I’ve ever witnessed. My skepticism for all this crap doesn’t come from being against the idea behind it. I love AI, but LLMs are different.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Gizmodo ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] Identity Verification Firm Used by X, TikTok, and Uber Exposed Users' Driver's Licenses
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CBC ☛ Canada 'sleepwalking' into cashless society, consumer advocates warn
It's critical to act now, he added, before retailers begin removing all of the infrastructure required to store and maintain physical money.
"They are already used to dealing with cash," he said. "So this is the moment to act, before it is more complicated."
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The Register UK ☛ China warns netizens to stop chatting about state secrets
State-controlled media yesterday covered the Ministry's call for netizens to stop marking the location of military installations on maps and discussing military topics in online forums.
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Lou Plummer ☛ I Have Some Strong Opinions on Privacy Freak Outs | Living Out Loud
In the end though, who knows how well I am protected? There really isn't any way to find out. Mentally I deal with it the same way I deal with the looming climate disaster and the rise of right-wing fascism; I try not to think about it too much. I'll tell you what I don't do. I don't continue to use the Internet, Facebook, Google and the like while pretending that privacy is super-duper important to me. The online and corporate worlds are full of performative cyber-security theater people who are always online but act like they are engaged in a life-or-death battle with the forces of evil. The truth is that the people who really and truly value their privacy are living an analog, non-digital life as far as possible and giving up lots of the benefits that being connected gives you in the 21st century. As far as I am concerned, if you aren't willing to go that route, maybe quit making a big deal out the reality we all live in, OK?
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PCLinuxOS Magazine ☛ ICYMI: NSA Recommends Do This To Keep Mobile Devices Safe
How exactly Google ranks websites has long been a mystery, pieced together by journalists, researchers, and people working in search engine optimization. Now, an explosive leak that purports to show 2,500 pages of internal documents appears to offer an unprecedented look under the hood of how Search works — and suggests that Google hasn't been entirely truthful about it for years, according to an article from The Verge. So far, Google hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment on the legitimacy of the documents.
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Defence/Aggression
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] UN Security Council Demands Iran-Backed Yemen Rebels Halt Their Attacks on Ships in Mideast Waters
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CBC ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] Canada urges citizens to leave Lebanon over 'volatile' security situation
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] Canada Urges Citizens to Leave Lebanon Citing Unpredictable Security Situation
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Defence Web ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] SA security technology industry ‘an attractive one to invest in and build’
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CBC ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] 'He doesn't see anybody': Critics accuse Netanyahu of putting political survival ahead of Israelis' security
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Defence Web ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] EAC field training exercise consolidated bloc security efforts
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Defence Web ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Kruger rangers shoot four suspected rhino poachers in four days
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Michael Geist ☛ Government’s Choice for Chief of Human Rights Commission Cited Terrorism as a Rational Strategy With High Rates of Success
The effectiveness of terrorism and counter-terrorism efforts is certainly within the scope of academic study. However, citing terrorism as a rational, successful strategy surely raises alarm bells for someone who wants to lead the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Indeed, it is hard to see how an advocate for human rights can reference the use of terrorism against civilians without engaging in the human rights violations that directly arise from those terror activities.
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Daniel Miessler ☛ How the Far-left Will Elect Trump in November 2024
In short, it’s because the far-left in the US is pushing a horribly negative view of the US that 50% of the country outright rejects.
The far-left is basically saying the following anywhere they can—including in the media and in as many school curricula as they can possibly affect.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles, says Seoul
The South Korean military is analysing the launch.
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RFA ☛ North Korea fires two ballistic missiles: South
The launch came after it condemned South Korea, the U.S. and Japan for their recent joint military exercises.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea fires two short-range ballistic missiles, Seoul says
The South Korean military is analysing the launch.
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France24 ☛ North Korea test-launches two ballistic missiles, South Korea military says
North Korea's launch of two ballistic missiles on Monday escalated tensions with South Korea. Seoul responded by suspending a military treaty, resuming propaganda broadcasts, and conducting live-fire drills.
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RFERL ☛ Serbia To Stay On Red Alert After Crossbow Attack At Israeli Embassy
President Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia's heightened security alert will likely stay in place for at least two more days after a "well-trained" attacker was killed after shooting a police officer with a crossbow in a presumed terrorist incident in front of the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade.
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JURIST ☛ Serbia official bans Kosovo-Serbia reconciliation festival
Internal Affairs Minister of Serbia Ivica Dačić ordered the ban of “Mirëdita, Dobar Dan!” festival in Belgrade on Thursday, citing security concerns, according to the country’s public broadcaster RTS.
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JURIST ☛ Taiwan advises people to avoid travelling to Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau
Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council on Thursday raised the travel alert for Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” level and advised people to avoid non-essential travelling.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Gizmodo ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] ISS Astronauts Forced to Take Shelter After Russian Satellite Mysteriously Disintegrates
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] Weimar Triangle starts preparing for a standoff with Russia
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] Ukraine Military Says Russian Troops Pushed Out of Part of Key Eastern Town
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CPJ ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] CPJ joins call to President Biden to designate RFE/RL’s Alsu Kurmasheva ‘wrongfully detained’ by Russia
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International Business Times ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] She Spent $700 To Start An eCommerce Site; Now She's Russia's Richest Woman Worth $7.4B
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Truthdig ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] U.S. Cluster Bombs Kill Russian Children at Beach
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NL Times ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] ICC issues arrest warrants for Russian Security Council chair, Armed Forces chief
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] How Ukraine is trying to combat Russia's influence in Africa
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] ICC issues arrest warrants for 2 senior Russian officials
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] Russia bans access to over 80 Western media outlets
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HRW ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] In Russia, a Trial in Name Only
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] Pentagon Chief, Russian Defense Minister Discuss Open Lines of Communication
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] Russia Has Nuclear Advances for an AI Era, Top Arms Control Diplomat Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] Russia, Ukraine Each Return 90 Prisoners of War, Russian Defence Ministry Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-25 [Older] UAE Says It Succeeded in Mediating an Exchange of 180 Prisoners of War Between Russia and Ukraine
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IP Kat ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] From Russia, with trademarks? Maintaining IP rights during wartime
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Zimbabwe-Russia Relations: From Historical Legacies to Contemporary Security and Mineral Interests
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia summons US envoy over Crimea strike
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Spiegel ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] A Prisoner of War Describes Captivity in Russia: "At Night, I Prayed I Wouldn't Survive to the Next Day"
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The Age AU ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] At least seven people killed during attacks in southern Russia
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] US Is Expected to Send Ukraine $150 Million More in Munitions to Fight off Russia's Attacks
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Russia Offers to Help Vietnam Develop Nuclear Energy, RIA Reports
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CBC ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Attackers kill 15 police officers and several civilians in Russia's Dagestan, governor says
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Russia: Priest, police killed in Dagestan 'terror' attacks
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Ukraine updates: Kyiv strikes Russia after Kharkiv attack
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Russia Missile Attack on Kyiv Region Injures Two, Damages Houses, Ukraine Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Ukraine Launches Tens of Drones on Russia's Bryansk Region, Russian Official Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] More Than 15 Policemen, Several Civilians Killed by Gunmen in Russia's Southern Dagestan Region
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Orthodox Priest, at Least 15 Police Killed in Gunmen Attack in Russia's North Caucasus, Officials Say
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] One Killed, Ten Wounded by Russian Strikes on Kharkiv, Official Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Russia Could Reduce Decision Time for Use of Nuclear Weapons, Lawmaker Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Russia Says Three Killed, Nearly 100 Wounded in Ukrainian ATACMS Attack on Crimea
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Russia's North Korea Defense Deal Could Create Friction With China: US General
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Ukrainian Drones and Missiles Kill 4 in Russia and Crimea, Fresh Bombing of Kharkiv Leaves 1 Dead
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] With Its New Pact With North Korea, Russia Raises the Stakes With the West Over Ukraine
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia hits power plants 2nd time this week
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] Investigation of Russian Hack on London Hospitals May Take Weeks Amid Worries Over Online Data Dump
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] Russian Bomb Attack Kills Three, Injures 52 in Ukraine's Kharkiv
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] 3 Dead in Bombing of Kharkiv as Russia Launches Missiles on Ukrainian Energy Facilities
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] Russia Says It Hit Ukraine's Energy Facilities Overnight
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] Russian Strikes Damage Ukrainian Power Facilities, Two Workers Hurt
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-27 [Older] War in Ukraine: Oleg Sentsov's 'accidental' documentary
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Copenhagen Post ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] Training of Ukrainian pilots on Danish soil will stop after 2024
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy visits Donetsk front line
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HRW ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] New ICC Warrants Issued for Ukraine Crimes
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] German center-right gets tough on Ukrainian refugees
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Germany's center right gets tough on Ukrainian refugees
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The Local DK ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Denmark to stop training Ukrainian F-16 pilots
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Ukraine Makes Its Own Targeting Decisions, Pentagon Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Replaces Commander of Joint Forces
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] IAEA Urges Halt to Attacks on Town Near Ukrainian Nuclear Plant
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] North Korean Official Criticises US for Expanding Support for Ukraine, KCNA Reports
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Ukrainians in Warsaw Jump Over a Bonfire, Float Braids to Celebrate Solstice Custom Away From Home
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-23 [Older] Under Curfew, Ukrainians Mark Midsummer With Bonfire Jumping at a Festival With Pagan Roots
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Scheerpost ☛ 2024-06-22 [Older] The Ukraine Peace Summit Must Now Become a Great-Powers Summit
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Scheerpost ☛ 2024-06-21 [Older] Why Won’t the US Help Negotiate a Peaceful End to the War in Ukraine?
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Futurism ☛ Teslas Are Breaking Down More and More, Data Shows
Elon Musk's Tesla has been struck with a plague of bad news lately, from the company laying off scores of workers to a federal investigation on wire fraud.
Now add another headache: the latest JD Power US Initial Quality Study found that Tesla cars are breaking down more and more — and that electric vehicles, with Tesla far and away the top seller in America, are having more mechanical issues than vehicles powered by gas.
The study not only sends into high relief overall problems at Tesla, but also undercuts the prevalent narrative that EVs require less maintenance and repair compared to gas-powered vehicles — a narrative long touted by federal agencies and parroted by mainstream media.
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Jamie Zawinski ☛ Read this at my funeral
For nearly all of my life, I've known how I was going to die. Not from cancer, or diet, or drink, but by being crushed under a car. I will be mangled and bleed out painfully. The driver, distracted on their phone, will say that I "came out of nowhere". The police and the DA will call it an "accident". There will be no consequences of any kind. Except for my death, of course. It almost happened again yesterday. A driver blew through a red light at 30 miles per hour, finally slamming on their brakes 18 inches from my body. I would not have stood a chance. He would have had, at worst, a bad day.
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Futurism ☛ Man Says His Brand New Cybertruck's Brakes Failed, Causing Catastrophic Crash
It's unclear if the incident is related to the glaring accelerator issue that forced Tesla to recall all of the Cybertrucks it had sold at the time earlier this year. Shocked Cybertruck owners discovered that a design flaw could cause the massive pickup's accelerator pedal to get stuck down.
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Business Insider ☛ Tesla Driver Says He Crashed After New Cybertruck's Brakes Didn't Work - Business Insider
He said a Tesla manager told him that due to the terrain, the accelerator may or may not disengage, and they're looking into the braking issue. He said that was the last he heard from Tesla.
Tesla didn't respond to BI's request to verify Freshwater's account or to comment on the situation.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Science Alert ☛ Extreme Wildfires Have Doubled in Just Two Decades
Our world is literally burning.
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Overpopulation
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Kansas Reflector ☛ Hoping for a miracle to save the Ogallala Aquifer? Prepare for the new Dust Bowl.
The Dust Bowl was the result of severe drought, economic collapse, and poor soil conservation. It was an environmental crisis made worse by greed and bad decisions, and it prompted one of the largest migrations in American history. By 1940, some 2.5 million people had abandoned the plains states. Powell’s warning about settlement west of the 100th Meridian had proven true.
After World War II, technology provided a solution to the problem of farming in the arid West: irrigation.
In western Kansas and most of the Great Plains in the first decades of the last century, irrigation meant “flood irrigation.” It was an inefficient method of flooding cropland by diverting the flow of water from a river by way of a canal (or “ditch” as they are mostly called in the West). Ditches are still used to move water from one place to another, but by far the most water used in agriculture in western Kansas is groundwater from the Ogallala Aquifer. The aquifer is one of the world’s largest and lies beneath eight states, from South Dakota to Texas.
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Finance
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The Wall Street Journal ☛ Companies Will Have to Disclose Spending on Worker Pay for the First Time
The Financial Accounting Standards Board voted Wednesday to require U.S. publicly traded businesses to break out things like inventory purchases and employee compensation spending in the footnotes of their financial statements, giving investors more insight into companies’ operations.
The standard setter voted 7-0 to mandate quarterly disclosure of employee compensation, depreciation of property and equipment, amortization of intangible assets such as trademarks, and inventory purchases in the footnotes of income statements. The details will provide more information about the cost of goods sold and selling, general and administrative expenses for companies.
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Gizmodo ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] This L.A. Influencer's Whole Gimmick Is Not Tipping Service Workers
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International Business Times ☛ 2024-06-26 [Older] Top Executive at GraniteShares Is Bullish on Cybersecurity, Recommends Four Stocks Held by The $5 Billion Investment Firm
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Sony’s Recordable Media Business is Reportedly Cutting 250 Jobs
The games industry has been caught in a devastating grip of endless layoffs for over a year and a half at this point, but other tech industries have been feeling similar impacts as well. For instance, another division of Sony has reportedly been hit with mass layoffs.
As reported by Mainichi, Sony’s recordable media business, which is responsible for research and development of all physical media, has been hit with layoffs, with roughly 250 jobs being impacted. As per the report, the layoffs are part of a larger plan to take the foot of the gas in the physical media space, with the company’s intention allegedly being to eventually cease production of physical media (including Blu-Ray discs) entirely. What exactly the timeline for the plan looks like is unclear.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ NYT 2016: “But Her Emails” NYT 2024: “But His Debate”
Remember back in 2016 when Hillary Clinton’s emails were all The New York Times could write about? Flooding its front page instilled FUD – fear, uncertainty, and doubt, a well-known and frequently used tactic to undermine opposition.
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RFERL ☛ Xi To Combine SCO Summit With State Visits To Kazakhstan, Tajikistan
China's Foreign Ministry announced on June 30 that President Pooh-tin Jinping will attend the 24th summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Astana and pay state visits to Kazakhstan and Tajikistan from July 2-6.
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JURIST ☛ China Communist Party expels two former defense ministers from party for alleged bribery
The Communist Party of China (CPC) expelled two of its former defense ministers had been expelled from the party Thursday, citing the reasoning of “serious violation[s] of Party’s discipline and the law,” according to government news agency Xinhua. The ministers in question are Li Shangfu and Wei Fengh. Li Shangfu was first removed from the […]
The post China Communist Party expels two former defense ministers from party for alleged bribery appeared first on JURIST - News.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Handover Day: China to gift another pair of giant pandas to Hong Kong
Hong Kong is to receive another pair of giant pandas from China, as a gift from the central government. The announcement coincided with Monday’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day, marking 27 years since the Handover to China. In a statement, Chief Executive John Lee thanked the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of […]
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Tedium ☛ The Art Of Annoyance
When it comes down to it, it’s best to think of advertising as a coordinated, decades-long campaign to annoy the heck out of you. And it works pretty well.
[...]
In many ways, advertising is always meant to be a distraction. An intentional one, even. After all, just think about how billboards work, for example. In their most effective setting, they represent focal points in a sea of dead space, commanding your attention because you are a captive audience, insisting on being right there, not even asking for permission in the equation.
They know you’re stuck. If you’re in a classroom and Channel One News starts playing, you should know that you’re committed to watching, even if the ad for Twix annoys you. And unless you want to pay for YouTube Premium or subscribe to a premium feed, know that most videos have some sort of ad in them, mildly frustrating you.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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[Repeat] Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong's national security crackdown - month 48
Using powers in the new law, authorities identified overseas activists as “absconders” and ordered their Hong Kong passports cancelled; the first people were charged under Article 23; and the first legal challenge was filed against the law by a protester whose early release from prison was scrapped days before he was set to walk free.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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Doc Searls ☛ The Future, Present, and Past of News
News flows. It starts with what’s coming up, goes through what’s happening, and ends up as what’s kept—if it’s lucky.
Facts take the same route. But, since lots of facts don’t fit stories about what’s happening, they aren’t always kept, even if they will prove useful in the future. (For more on that, see Stories vs. Facts.)
But we need to keep both stories and facts, and not just for journalists. Researchers and decision-makers of all kinds need all they can get of both.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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JURIST ☛ Guatemala Constitutional Court imposes restrictions on LGBTQ+ Pride Parade
Guatemala Constitutional Court issued a ruling Friday requiring public security authorities to supervise the LGBTQ+ Pride Parade to ensure it conforms to “good customs.”
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JURIST ☛ Bolivia authorities transfer general accused of failed coup attempt to maximum security prison
Bolivian authorities transferred General Juan José Zuñiga on Saturday to the maximum security El Abra prison as part of an ongoing investigation into his alleged leadership of a failed coup attempt against President Luis Arce’s government, Director of the Penitentiary System Juan Carlos Limpias told local media.
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Truthdig ☛ NYPD Commissioner Buried Police Brutality Cases - Truthdig
His case is one of dozens in which Caban has used the powers of his office to intervene in disciplinary cases against officers who were found by the oversight agency to have committed misconduct.
Since becoming commissioner last July, he has short-circuited cases involving officers accused of wantonly using chokeholds, deploying Tasers and beating protesters with batons. A number of episodes were so serious that the police oversight agency, known as the Civilian Complaint Review Board, concluded the officers likely committed crimes.
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New York Times ☛ Facial Recognition Led to Wrongful Arrests. So Detroit Is Making Changes.
On Friday, as part of a legal settlement over his wrongful arrest, Mr. Williams got a commitment from the Detroit Police Department to do better. The city adopted new rules for police use of facial recognition technology that the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented Mr. Williams, says should be the new national standard.
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JURIST ☛ Afghanistan dispatch: parties to Doha discussions should push Taliban on women’s rights, humanitarian aid access and inclusive governance
Law students and young lawyers in Afghanistan are reporting for JURIST on the situation there after the Taliban takeover. For privacy and security reasons, we are withholding the name of our correspondent filing this dispatch.
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New York Times ☛ Taliban Talks With U.N. Go On Despite Alarm Over Exclusion of Women
The decision to exclude women sets “a deeply damaging precedent” and risks “legitimatizing their gender-based institutional system of oppression,” Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said in a statement referring to the Taliban’s policies toward women. “The international community must adopt a clear and united stance: The rights of women and girls in Afghanistan are nonnegotiable.”
Since seizing power from the U.S.-backed government in 2021, Taliban authorities have systematically rolled back women’s rights, effectively erasing women from public life. Women and girls are barred from getting education beyond primary school and banned from most employment outside of education and health care, and they cannot travel significant distances without a male guardian.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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APNIC ☛ APNIC farewells Paul Wilson
On behalf of the EC, I thank Paul for his 25 years of dedication to APNIC, its Members, the EC, and Secretariat, and the broader Internet community. He has significantly contributed to APNIC’s vision of an open, global, stable, and secure Internet. His commitment to Internet development in the Asia Pacific region leaves a lasting legacy.
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Nathan Knowler ☛ The Web Is Not Inevitable
We do not have the Web we have today by chance. It was not inevitable. The Web of tomorrow is likewise not inevitable.
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Robin Rendle ☛ Instability
When I first heard this phrase I felt a sigh of relief. I’ve always ignored Google when it comes to my writing on the web and I’ve had this unspoken but fundamental belief that, as an independent writer, it’s not helpful to think about how a search engine will read my work. If anything it will lead to bad writing, like SEO-written titles.
This might sound all the alarms for you though. If the web we know is dying, where is it going next? And if we don’t know the rules of this new game that we’re playing, how do we win?
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Doc Searls ☛ The Personal Internet
Alas, we all still are seats, eyeballs, end users, and consumers, and our reach still does not exceed corporate, government, and organizational grasp, because all of those entities operate their services on the client-server model. And, so long as nearly everyone believes that client-server is the only way to go, the fact that the Internet is end-to-end beneath everything done on it remains irrelevant. Nothing in any of these (and many other) efforts before and since has done anything to change the damned Internet of Accounts:
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Copyrights
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-06-24 [Older] Music Record Labels Sue AI Song-Generators Suno and Udio for Copyright Infringement
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Torrent Freak ☛ Torrent Site MagnetDL Suffers Extended Downtime (Update)
Popular torrent search engine MagnetDL has been offline for five days. Instead of the regular search interface, visitors are welcomed by a Cloudflare error message. Whether the downtime is temporary or permanent is unknown, as the operator is not responding to a request for comment.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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