Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Nice Retro Displays Set This Watch On Edge

  A common design language for watches has evolved ever since they first started popping up in the 1500s. Whether worn on the wrist or in a pocket, watches are relatively slim front to back, with the display mounted on the face. That’s understandable given the imperatives of human anatomy. Still, it’s not the only way to arrange things, as this very cool LED matrix watch with an edge-mounted display demonstrates.

• Hackaday ☛ What’s New In 3D Scanning? All-In-One Scanning Is Nice

  3D scanning is important because the ability to digitize awkward or troublesome shapes from the real world can really hit the spot. One can reconstruct objects by drawing them up in CAD, but when there isn’t a right angle or a flat plane in sight, calipers and an eyeball just doesn’t cut it.

• Hackaday ☛ Hidden Gutter Antenna Keeps HOA Happy

  The United States and a few other countries have an astounding array of homeowners’ associations (HOAs), local organizations that exert an inordinate influence on what homeowners can and can’t do with their properties, with enforcement mechanisms up to foreclosure. In the worst cases they can get fussy about things like the shade of brown a homeowner can paint their mailbox post, so you can imagine the problems they’d have with things like ham radio antennas. [Bob] aka [KD4BMG] has been working on tuning up his rain gutters to use as “stealth” antennas to avoid any conflicts with his HOA.

• Hackaday ☛ Supercon 2024: May The Best Badge Add-Ons Win

  One of our favorite parts of Hackaday Supercon is seeing all the incredible badge add-ons folks put together. These expansions are made all the more impressive by the fact that they had to design their hardware without any physical access to the badge, and with only a few weeks’ notice. Even under ideal conditions, that’s not a lot of time to get PCBs made, 3D print parts, or write code. If only there was some standard for badge expansions that could speed this process up…

• Defence Web ☛ AAD youth programme needs funding

  With less than a month before the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2024 exhibition opens its doors for business, an important exhibition component needs R3 million to participate properly.

• Hackaday ☛ Building A Small Gyro Stabilized Monorail

  Monorails aren’t just the core reason why The Simpsons remains on air after thirty-six seasons, twenty-six of which are unredeemable garbage. They’re also an interesting example of oddball rail travel which has never really caught on beyond the odd gadgetbahn project here and there. [Hyperspace Pirate] recently decided to investigate the most interesting kind of monorail of all—the gyro stabilized type—on a small scale for our viewing pleasure.

• Science

  • CS Monitor ☛ Can plants talk and think? Some scientists say yes.

    “The Light Eaters” gives insights into how plants communicate, while “Alien Earths” explores the search for intelligent life on other planets.

  • Science Alert ☛ Black Hole Telescope Makes Record Observations From Earth's Surface

    Coming soon: black holes with 50% more detail.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Ham Sandwich Daily May Raise Risk of Type 2 Diabetes by 15%, Study Says

    "The most comprehensive evidence to date."

  • Science Alert ☛ Expert Reveals The Risks of Polaris Dawn's Landmark Mission

    "There are no professional astronauts aboard."

  • Science Alert ☛ Blind Cavefish Grow Bizarre Taste Buds On Their Face As They Age

    More useful than your ear hairs.

• Education

  • LRT ☛ Lithuania to start new academic year with shortage of 650 teachers

    Ahead of September 1, which marks the beginning of the new academic year, there are around 650 vacancies for teaching jobs in Lithuania, but the problem is global, Education, Science and Sport Minister Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė has said.

  • New Yorker ☛ What Does It Really Mean to Learn?

    A leading computer scientist says it’s “educability,” not intelligence, that matters most.

• Hardware

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Researching home lab racks

    Recently I’ve been looking more seriously at cases like the SilverStone CS382 for Clara’s and my homelab boxes. Currently our FreeBSD Supermicro board lives in an old Antec 300, which is great for airflow, but replacing drives is a pain. Our NetBSD install still lives in an HP MicroServer Gen 8, which is starting to show its age. And the less said about my poor Debian Xen cluster, and our smattering of single-board computers, the better.

    This lead me down the rabbithole of thinking… what about rackmount server cases for them? And then… what about a rack to put them in? Before long, I had a rack diagram created in LibreOffice Calc, and was planning everything from the patch panels, to how much space a smaller UPS would take, to whether Token Ring MAUs can be mounted backwards or whether I’d need a brush panel.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ What to Know About the Rare Mosquito-Borne Virus E.E.E.

    The disease has caused one death in New Hampshire and the virus has also been identified in humans in neighboring states, health officials said.

  • CS Monitor ☛ In sports and the arts, making room for mental health and disabilities

    Progress roundup: Fans are recognizing that athletes have mental health needs. And in formal venues, rules soften so more people can enjoy the arts.

  • WhichUK ☛ 12 tips for reducing air pollution in your home

    The air you breathe can have a significant impact on your health. Find out how to breathe cleaner air at home

  • Pro Publica ☛ What Mental Health Care Protections Exist in Your State?

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Local organizations work to continue services for LGBTQ+ community following Rainbow Health closure

    The Aliveness Project was awarded some 30 contracts from Rainbow Health that include services like housing, medical transportation and legal services.

  • ADF ☛ Africa CDC, WHO Declare Emergency as Mpox Spreads

    The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared its first public health emergency on August 13 as mpox, a virus commonly known as “monkeypox,” spread into several countries that never had reported cases.

  • Science Alert ☛ Alzheimer's Drug Could Put Patients Into Hibernation-Like State

    This could save lives.

• Defence/Aggression

  • RFA ☛ US soldier who entered North Korea will plead guilty

    Facing disciplinary action, Travis King suddenly sprinted across the border from South Korea.

  • RFA ☛ China launches military exercises on Myanmar border

    The drills follow spillover from fighting in Shan state that has unsettled Beijing.

  • RFA ☛ China is borrowing Nazi’s ‘genocide tourism’ practices in Xinjiang: scholar

    Beijing wants visitors to believe the Uyghurs are thriving – and control what they see, a Swedish expert writes.

  • RFA ☛ China arrests 15 North Korean escapees near Laos

    They were hoping to take a speedboat out of China to Southeast Asia, then onward to South Korea

  • The Strategist ☛ Floating piers and sinking hopes: China’s logistics challenge in invading Taiwan

    No doubt the Chinese military was paying attention. Last month the United States disassembled and removed the floating pier it had assembled at a Gaza beach to take aid deliveries. Heavy seas beat it.

  • ADF ☛ Can DRC’s Neighbors Halt Threat of New Regional War?

    In the decades after the Congo Wars of the 1990s, widespread armed conflict has touched the lives of nearly everyone in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  • ADF ☛ SAF Discoveries in Omdurman Point to UAE’s Secret Support for RSF

    When the Sudanese Armed Forces retook a key neighborhood in the city of Omdurman from the Rapid Support Forces in March, soldiers discovered four passports belonging to residents of the United Arab Emirates, the RSF’s silent partner in its war for control of Sudan.

  • ADF ☛ Nigeria Strives to Contain Banditry Problem

    On Christmas Day in 2023, fighters commonly called “bandits” killed more than 115 people in northern Nigeria. The bandits destroyed more than 220 homes in about 10 communities. They killed more than 400 people in Plateau State in attacks in the last quarter of 2023, the Jamestown Foundation reported.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir Draws Anger for Comments on Disputed Holy Site

    In the latest in a series of provocations, Itamar Ben-Gvir agreed that a new synagogue should be built at the site, which Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims know as the Aqsa Mosque complex.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Study looks at gaps in firearms relinquishment laws

    State and federal laws across the United States prohibiting firearm possession in cases of domestic violence often lack enforcement mechanisms, according to a U-M study.

  • ADF ☛ RSF Exemplifies Dangers Militias Pose for Nations

    Across a continent where militias pose significant dangers, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan stands alone among the cautionary tales.

  • JURIST ☛ Philippines government condemns China for repetitive aggression in South China Sea

    The Office of the President of the Philippines released a statement criticizing Chinese maritime forces for repetitive and illegal actions in the South China Sea on Monday.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ A Mercedes-Benz Fire Jolts South Korea’s E.V. Transition

      The government is aggressively promoting electric cars. But a dramatic blaze in an underground lot has left some potential buyers worried about safety.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Canada slaps 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, as Beijing calls move ‘politically motivated’

      Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday 100 percent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, matching US measures seeking to fend off a flood of Chinese state-subsidized cars into North America.

    • Hackaday ☛ Hardware Reuse: The PMG001 Integrated Power Management Module

      Battery management is a tedious but necessary problem that becomes more of a hassle with lithium-ion technology. As we’re all very aware, such batteries need a bit of care to be utilized safely, and as such, a huge plethora of ICs are available to perform the relevant duties. Hackaday.IO user [Erik] clearly spent some time dropping down the same old set of ICs to manage a battery in their applications, so they created a drop-in castellated PCB to manage all this.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ Humpback Whales Create And Use Skilled Hunting Tools, Study Reveals

      This places them in an elite club.

  • Overpopulation

    • Science Alert ☛ Predicted Drop in Population Mightn't Be Enough to Save The Environment After All

      It's a little more complicated.

    • RFA ☛ US coordinator highlights Tibet’s role as regional freshwater source

      Uzra Zeya spoke to a global water security conference about China's recent hydropower and water diversion projects.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Trump Campaign Stokes China Fears to Lure Michigan Voters

    JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, waded into a fight over plans by Gotion, a Chinese battery plant, to build a factory in Michigan.

  • RFA ☛ EXCLUSIVE: Arrest of Chinese dissident on spy charges leaves trail of broken trust

    A democracy activist is accused of spying for China. His ex-wife works for the US government.

  • RFA ☛ Once a safe haven, Hong Kong is now ‘exporting its own refugees’

    Exiled political activist Nathan Law says the city was once a ‘place of hope’ for refugees like his father.

  • RFA ☛ EXCLUSIVE: China to transfer 2 ships and pier to Cambodian navy

    Analysts suspect the transfer is part of a deal giving China special access to the Gulf of Thailand base.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Georgia’s New Elections Rule Violates State Law, Experts Say

    The members of the Georgia State Election Board could not have been clearer. Back in May, four of them voted down a proposed rule that would have given county election boards a new way to delay or reject election results, which could throw the November vote count into chaos.

    “You run counter to both the federal and the state law,” said Ed Lindsey, a Republican board member and attorney who practices election law, to the woman who proposed the rule.

  • RFA ☛ Top White House official in Beijing for talks with foreign minister

    National security adviser Jake Sullivan and Wang Yi meet amid regional protests about Chinese incursions.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • RFA ☛ China cuts off internet, phones of outspoken journalist Gao Yu

    The move comes after Gao disputed an order to leave Beijing on enforced ‘vacation.’

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Portsmouth college ditches journalism training after 60 years

    FE college loses out in battle for students versus more expensive degree courses.

  • ADF ☛ Burkinabe Junta Silences Critics as Security Challenges Escalate

    Three journalists critical of Burkina Faso’s military junta were kidnapped over a 10-day period in June. At least one of them, Serge Oulon, editor of the newspaper L’Événement, was abducted by a group of armed men claiming to be from the National Intelligence Agency, according to Reporters Without Borders.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • RFA ☛ North Korea bans karaoke, saying it smacks of ‘rotten’ capitalist culture

    Restaurants with karaoke machines are to be shut down, shocking owners and customers alike.

  • France24 ☛ Naturist exhibition in Marseille welcomes visitors in the nude

    Stripped down to their birthday suits, visitors can flock to the Museum of Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean in Marseille and become fully immersed in its exhibition on the history of the naturist lifestyle in Europe.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Science Alert ☛ New Experiment Brings The Quantum Internet a Step Closer to Reality

    An internet that's basically hack-proof?

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Hybe Pushes Out Ador CEO After Months-Long Dispute — Now a $75 Million Put Option Is Reportedly Hanging in the Balance

    Multiple months and twists later, Hybe has seemingly succeeded in ousting Min Hee-jin as CEO of its Ador subsidiary. South Korean outlets just recently shed light on the development, which won’t exactly come as a surprise to those who’ve followed the underlying dispute.