Leftovers

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Steven Spielberg is ‘a big PC Gamer’ — loves shooters, and insists on keyboard and mouse

  Legendary Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg is “a big PC gamer,” according to his son Max. In a recent interview the co-founder and creative director at FuzzyBot, Max Spielberg, also said that his father passed down his passion for gaming and thus inspired his own career in the games industry.

• New York Times ☛ Wreck of ‘Ghost Ship of the Pacific’ Found Off California

  The rediscovery of the vessel, which was captured by the Japanese for a time during World War II, highlights the potential of underwater autonomous vehicles to map the ocean floor.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Doc Searls ☛ When Radio Delivers

    Of course, there’s lots of information on social media (e.g. BlueSky, Xitter, Threads), but if you want live coverage, radio still does the job. Yes, you need special non-phone equipment to get it when the cell system doesn’t work, but a lot of us still have those things. Enjoy the medium while we still have it.

• Science

  • University of Michigan ☛ Whit Pow delivers lecture on randomness, determinism and identity in computer science

    About 40 University of Michigan students, faculty and staff gathered in Weiser Hall Tuesday afternoon to hear U-M alum Whit Pow, New York University associate professor, lecture on the intersections of randomness, determinism and identity in computer science and computational media. 

• Education

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-20 [Older] New limits on international students are causing turmoil among colleges, universities

  • International Business Times ☛ 2024-09-25 [Older] 'They're Scammers': Netizens React To Shocking 13K International Students Applying For Asylum In Canada This Year

• Hardware

  • [Old] Linux Questions ☛ Peppermint OS-(Devuan): The Ideal Linux distro

    Whilst responding to another LQ member’s query about a suitable distro for a family member to self-manage, I came across Peppermint OS.

    The distro was to be installed on an elderly 10 year old laptop with 4GB of RAM.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-21 [Older] Small town on hook for $5M after B.C. Hydro impacts water quality

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Schools across Canada are finding creative ways to curb students' itchy cellphone fingers

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-21 [Older] Forever chemicals are everywhere. These burnt wood chips could help change that

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong boy, 4, dies after taking unprescribed herbal pills

    A four-year-old boy in Hong Kong has died after he was given unprescribed herbal pills by his mother, who was arrested over alleged ill-treatment of her son. The boy, surnamed Chou, died around 7.30 pm at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei on Sunday.

  • Latvia ☛ Free breast cancer screening van on tour across Latvia

    As part of the launch of the Breast Health Month campaign "For Your Breast Safety", a pink mobile mammography van was unveiled on Monday, September 30, outside the Latvian National Opera and Ballet building. It will travel across Latvia throughout October, providing free mammograms for women aged 40 and over.

  • Latvia ☛ Rīga Children's Hospital unveils new building

    On Tuesday, October 1, the Children's Clinical University Hospital (BKUS) unveiled a new building, which will in the future house the emergency medical center and outpatient clinic, the hospital said in a release.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] The Alberta government banned electronic vote tabulators. Municipalities want it to reconsider

• Defence/Aggression

  • Iran preparing to launch imminent ballistic missile attack on Israel, US official says

    Israel's military has said its paratroopers and commandos were engaged in intense fighting with Hezbollah militants after launching "limited, localised and targeted raids" against the armed group in Lebanon.

  • France24 ☛ Lebanon repositions border troops as Israeli incursion looms

    Lebanon's army is "repositioning and regrouping forces" at the southern border following threats of an Israeli incursion, a military official said on Monday, as the US State Department said Israel told the US it had begun conducting small raids targeting Hezbollah inside Lebanon. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded.

  • JURIST ☛ HRW: Israel military actions causes disproportionate harm to children with disabilities

    A Human Rights Watch (HRW) release on Monday highlighted the disproportionate harm that children with disabilities in Gaza are suffering as a result of Israel’s violations of humanitarian law, which include military strikes against hospitals, restrictions on humanitarian aid and a 16-year blockade on the Gaza Strip.

  • RFA ☛ Vietnamese inmates on hunger strike to demand release of political prisoners

    Three high-profile prisoners of conscience are also protesting harsh conditions and treatment.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Samsung India protests escalate, police detain over 900 workers, union members

    CHENNAI - Indian police on Tuesday said they had detained 912 Samsung Electronics workers and union members for organising a street protest, as a strike at the South Korean firm's home appliances plant in Tamil Nadu state entered its fourth week.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Palestinian commander targeted in Israeli strike in Lebanon, sources say

    An Israeli strike in Lebanon early on Tuesday targeted Mounir Maqdah, commander of the Lebanese branch of the Palestinian Fatah movement's military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, according to two Palestinian security officials.

  • New York Times ☛ As Crisis Builds, Lebanon’s Government Is Nowhere to Be Found

    Already crippled by years of economic decline, political paralysis and other crises, Lebanon has little but its own citizens’ grit to survive the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.

  • New York Times ☛ As Israel Strikes Hezbollah, Iran-Backed Militias Fail to Provide Aid

    Iran united militias to take on Israel, but as the Israelis pummel one, Hezbollah, the rest have so far largely failed to come to its aid.

  • New York Times ☛ What to Know About the Axis of Resistance, the Iran-backed Militia Network

    The alliance is under scrutiny after the recent Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel’s Attack in Central Beirut Was Its First There in Years

    Here’s a look at where the Israeli military has been striking in the Beirut area recently.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Strike Inside Beirut City Limits Puts Residents on Edge

    A blast in the Cola neighborhood was the first known Israeli strike in the central part of the city since a war with Hezbollah in 2006.

  • New York Times ☛ A Blast in Central Beirut Damages a Building

    If the explosion is confirmed to be an Israeli attack, it would be the first Israeli strike within the Lebanese capital since the 2006 war with Hezbollah.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Germany: Police raids in southwest target human traffickers

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Switzerland: Police investigate 1st use of 'suicide capsule'

  • RFERL ☛ Man Accused Of Attempting To Assassinate Trump Pleads Not Guilty

    A man who authorities say spent 12 hours camped outside Donald Trump's golf course before Secret Service spotted him with a rifle pleaded not guilty on September 30 to federal charges including attempted assassination.

  • Stanford University ☛ Q&A: Nisrin Elamin Ph.D. ’19 calls for attention, aid to Sudan

    The conflict in Sudan has received only a fraction of the attention given to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. In a Q&A, anthropology Ph.D. '19 Nisrin Elamin urged greater international humanitarian support for civil society groups.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Rutte Pledges Strong Support For Ukraine As He Takes Reins At NATO

      Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte immediately pledged his strong support for Ukraine as he took over as the head of NATO on October 1 at a pivotal time in the military alliance's history as Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor approaches the 1,000-day mark.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Marks 'Defenders Day' Amid Fresh Russian Strikes

      Ukraine on October 1 is celebrating Defenders' Day amid a fresh wave of Russian drone strikes and a increasingly difficult situation on the battlefield in the east, where Russia's grinding offensive is making incremental progress.

    • RFA ☛ North Korea denounces Ukraine’s Zelensky for calling it Russia’s ‘accomplice’

      North Korean leader’s sister said US military aid worth US$8 billion to Ukraine is an ‘incredible mistake.’

    • LRT ☛ Trump commends Lithuania’s aid to Ukraine: other NATO countries should give more

      Former US president Donald Trump, who is now seeking another term in the White House, has told the Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen that NATO countries near Ukraine are providing enough aid to the country fighting Moscow’s aggression, while allies further away should step up.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia launches drone attacks on Ukraine hospital

      Officials from Ukraine reported that Russia launched two drone attacks on the Saint Panteleimon hospital in Sumy on Saturday. The interior minister of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, reported that the first of two drones demolished several floors of the hospital, and the second attack occurred during the evacuation of patients and staff.

    • France24 ☛ Russia plans to boost defence spending by a quarter for 2025

      Russia will boost its defence budget by nearly 30% next year, surpassing welfare and education spending, a draft budget showed on Monday. The 2025 defence budget is set at 13.5 trillion rubles ($145 billion), up from 10.4 trillion in 2024. Military expenditure has reached Soviet-era levels, as Moscow sustains its Ukraine offensive.

    • France24 ☛ Mark Rutte takes over as new NATO chief, dismisses Trump concerns

      NATO's new chief Mark Rutte took over the leadership of the military alliance from outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg at a ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday. In his acceptance speech, Rutte downplayed fears over the impact of a potential Donald Trump victory in upcoming US president election and pledged to keep backing Ukraine.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Zelenskyy and the challenge of navigating election-year America

      The Ukrainian president’s recent fraught visit to the US underscored both the historic stakes of the election and the perils involved in maneuvering around the parties.

    • France24 ☛ UN extends Kenya-led security mission in Haiti amid rising hunger, violence

      The UN extended its authorization of a multinational policing mission in Haiti led by Kenya on Monday amid reports of thousands of deaths due to gang violence this year and rising levels of acute hunger in the country. The transitional council governing Haiti said that a chronic lack of funding has hobbled the mission so far and called for the force to be transitioned into a UN peacekeeping mission, a plan the body sidestepped in its adopted text after opposition by China and Russia.

    • France24 ☛ Harris, Trump battle for Pennsylvania’s Polish-American voters

      With Pennsylvania set to be one of the major battleground states in the US presidential election, its large Polish community are finding themselves at the centre of a political tug-of-war, with both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris pitching for their votes in recent weeks. Harris has sort to portray herself as the only candidate who would stand up to Russian aggression in eastern Europe, but for many voters, the message has fallen on deaf ears.

    • Meduza ☛ Russia surrounds key ‘fortress town’ in southern Donbas as battlefield crises mount for Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Seeking to distract from the war in Ukraine and rising prices at home, the Kremlin is amplifying anti-migrant rhetoric — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ A baker, a nurse, and a drone pilot: Photos from a rehab center for Ukrainians wounded in Russia’s war — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ U.S. and Allies Sound Alarm Over Their Adversaries’ Military Ties

      The Biden administration is struggling to halt cooperation among Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. It feels urgency over the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East while also aiming to protect Taiwan.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia to Boost Defense Budget as Ukraine War Drags On

      The Kremlin plans a 25 percent increase to more than $145 billion in 2025, a year in which it had intended to cut military spending.

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky Returns to Russian Strikes in Eastern Ukraine and Counterattacks in Kursk Region

      Cities across Ukraine have suffered airstrikes in recent days, and Moscow is pressing a slow advance in the east. Kyiv has hit back against arms depots, trying to disrupt Russian logistics.

    • New York Times ☛ Separated by the Ukraine War, Two Soul Mates Reconnect

      Sofia Malina and Polina Muzhychkova met in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, but were separated after it came under brutal assault by Russian forces. They were reunited after a long and harrowing saga.

    • CS Monitor ☛ How did Austria’s far right win its first national election since World War II?

      Drawing on anxieties about immigration, inflation, and Ukraine, the Freedom Party finished ahead of the governing conservatives on Sept. 29. Rivals say they won’t work with party leader Herbert Kickl, who needs a parliamentary majority to become chancellor.

    • RFERL ☛ 72-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty In Moscow To Fighting For Ukraine

      Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old U.S. citizen, has pleaded guilty in a Moscow court to charges of mercenary activity for receiving money to fight for Ukraine against invading Russian forces, Russian state-run media reported, which his family members immediately questioned.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania asks ICC to investigate crimes by Belarusian government

      The Lithuanian government has asked the International Criminal Court to start an investigation into what it believes to be crimes against humanity committed by the Belarusian government of Alexander Lukashenko.

    • LRT ☛ Belarusian smuggler balloon falls down in Vilnius Airport

      A small uncontrolled balloon was spotted within the territory of Vilnius Airport on Saturday evening and fell down with its cargo of contraband cigarettes.

    • RFERL ☛ IAEA Says Grossi To Visit Belarus

      Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, is to visit Belarus on October 1, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

    • RFERL ☛ Belarus Pressures Pardoned Political Prisoners, Rights Groups Say

      Belarusian human rights activists accused the country's government on September 30 of pressuring political prisoners who have been pardoned by authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and forcing them to cooperate with authorities.

    • RFERL ☛ Exiled Belarus Opposition Hails Lithuanian Appeal To ICC On Lukashenka

      Belarus's opposition in exile has welcomed Lithuania's plan to ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged crimes against humanity by Aleksandr Lukashenka's regime, saying the process could bring international accountability and hope to Lukashenka's victims.

    • RFERL ☛ Moscow Court Hands Life Sentence To Man For Attempted Murder Of Pro-Kremlin Writer

      A Moscow court on September 30 sentenced a man to life in prison after finding him guilty of attempting to murder pro-Kremlin writer and political activist Zakhar Prilepin.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • CBC ☛ 2024-09-19 [Older] Ontario eyes barring new bike lanes where car lanes would be cut

    • CBC ☛ 2024-09-19 [Older] CN pulling rail workers out of Jasper as Alberta mountain town rebuilds from wildfire

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Why are European renewable giants fleeing Vietnam?

    • CBC ☛ 2024-09-22 [Older] Air Canada union head says she'll resign if pilots reject deal

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2024-09-21 [Older] Rail Giants Score Another Win Against Workers

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] The true cost of protecting the Amazon and who should pay

    • CBC ☛ 2024-09-19 [Older] Is toilet paper a waste of Canada's boreal forest? Scorecard pushes greener choices

  • Overpopulation

    • CBC ☛ 2024-09-25 [Older] Population growth slows for first time since pandemic as federal government clamps down

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ Junior doctors in Kolkata resume full strike amid disappointment with top court’s ruling

    The doctors’ demands include increased police protection in hospitals.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Germany decries UniCredit bid for Commerzbank 'unfriendly'

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-23 [Older] Lush Cosmetics lays off staff, scales down Vancouver operation

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian banks clash with regulator over service price caps, free cash limits

    As Lithuania’s banking regulator is expanding the plan of basic payment services commercial banks must offer to their clients at a fixed price, banks themselves call it “planned economy”.

  • Latvia ☛ Bank profits in Latvia 20% smaller than last year so far

    Latvian monetary financial institutions (MFIs), mainly banks, made a profit of EUR 379 million in the first eight months of this year, which is 19.5% less than in the corresponding period of 2023, according to information published by the Latvian central bank (Bank of Latvia), LETA reports Monday.

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-19 [Older] 2,600 new homes to be sold at 60% market value in new Vancouver housing initiative

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s biggest banks say they will tweak mortgage rates as Beijing seeks to boost housing market

    Six of China’s biggest banks said they would tweak interest rates on mortgages for existing home loans following a request to lower them from Beijing’s central bank, state media said Monday, as the country seeks to pull itself out of a housing slump.

  • Latvia ☛ Building a healthy financial sector

    By Mārtiņš Kazāks (Governor of Latvijas Banka) and Gediminas Šimkus (Governor of Lietuvos bankas)

  • 73% of Amazon Employees Consider Quitting Due to New Work Policy - Read Here

    A recent survey conducted by the American firm Blind has revealed alarming sentiments among Amazon employees, with 73% expressing a desire to leave the company following the announcement of a new work-from-office policy. This significant finding, reported by Hindustan Times, highlights potential unrest within one of the world's largest corporations.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-23 [Older] Germany: Brandenburg election brings relief for ruling SPD

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-23 [Older] Germany increases 'Deutschlandticket' price to €58

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-23 [Older] Far-right gains in east Germany could deal blow to economy

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Will simultaneous elections work in India?

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ AI and the 2024 US Elections

      For years now, Hey Hi (AI) has undermined the public’s ability to trust what it sees, hears, and reads. The Republican National Committee released a provocative ad offering an “AI-generated look into the country’s possible future if Joe Biden is re-elected,” showing apocalyptic, machine-made images of ruined cityscapes and chaos at the border.

    • Security Week ☛ Worldcoin: Fighting Deepfakes and Bots With Global Permissionless Blockchain Identity

      That dream of a decentralized privacy-retaining identity system able to combat AI-driven bots and deepfakes may not be as elusive as feared – courtesy of Tools for Humanity (TfH) and Worldcoin.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • RFA ☛ China steps up security, surveillance in Beijing for 75th anniversary

    State security police follow rights lawyer as journalist's phones remain blocked.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • France24 ☛ Georgia judge overturns state law banning abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy

    A judge in the southern US state of Georgia overturned a stringent state-wide abortion law introduced after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in 2022. The Georgia judge ruled that the ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy – when many women don't yet realize they're pregnant – was inconsistent with the rights of women to control their own bodies.

  • NYPost ☛ Dockworkers from Maine to Texas go on strike in move that could spark economic doom

    The strike affecting 36 ports is the first by the union since 1977.

  • New York Times ☛ Dockworkers Strike at U.S. Ports Could Begin Tuesday

    A work stoppage at East and Gulf Coast ports would halt most activity at some of the busiest American ports.

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-21 [Older] China ended its international adoption program. Some prospective parents want Canada to intervene

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] U.S. politicians press Canada in writing on anti-forced-labour failure

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-21 [Older] B.C. minister 'absolutely disgusted' by officers' alleged chats revealed in internal probe

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Supreme Court asked to clarify when suicide can be murder before Kenneth Law trial

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-24 [Older] Strike begins at Metro Vancouver terminals that move half of Canada's grain

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-23 [Older] Metro Vancouver grain terminal workers union set to strike

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-22 [Older] Possibly too gentle? Why this modern parenting trend is facing backlash

  • New York Times ☛ Port Strike Begins on East and Gulf Coasts

    Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association walked out for the first time since 1977 in a standoff over wages, benefits and job security.

  • New York Times ☛ How the Port Strike Could Affect the Economy

    Transportation and warehousing sectors are poised to first feel the pinch, with a broader economic fallout expected if the strike drags on.

  • BIA Net ☛ Rights violations in Van prisons

    Reported violations range from restricted access to healthcare to delayed prisoner releases.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ ICYMI: Backblaze has announced support for IPv6

    Interesting insight into a recent IPv6 deployment.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Silicon Angle ☛ Epic Games sues Google, Samsung over ‘Auto Block’ mobile cybersecurity feature

  Epic Games Inc. today sued Surveillance Giant Google LLC and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. over the Auto Block feature in Samsung’s Android devices. The complaint is the second that the video game maker has brought against Surveillance Giant Google in recent years.

• Digital Music News ☛ In a Jab Against Shazam, Surveillance Giant Google Delivers a New Song Search Quick Tile Setting for iOS & Android

  Google’s built-in Song Search is getting easier to access with a new Quick Tile setting. Here’s how it works. Surveillance Giant Google Pixel devices currently detect when a song is playing and offer a button to show the song title and artist on the lock screen.

• Patents

  • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Brazil – Rules surrounding access to genetic resources

    As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Brazil has long been a natural research powerhouse. In fields such as pharmaceuticals, it is common to study the genome of plants, animals and microorganisms, applying this knowledge to create new products and processes that may be eligible for patent monopoly protection.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Animated Arguments: Can Plotagraph’s Digital Animation Patents Survive Alice?

    On September 30, 2024, the Supreme Court held its long conference, and considered whether to grant certiorari in a number of pending patent monopoly cases, including the eligibility-focused petition in Eolas v. Amazon. As we await the outcome of that conference, I wanted to highlight another new elitibility petition. This one in Plotagraph v. Lightricks.

    Plotagraph, Inc. along with inventors Troy Plota and Sascha Connelly petitioned the court - seeking review of a non-precedential Federal Circuit decision that invalidated five of their patents related to digital animation technology.  U.S. Patent Nos. 10,346,017, 10,558,342, 10,621,469, 11,182,641, and 11,301,119. 

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ Local division The Hague hears first infringement case over plant energy [Ed: This is a totally illegal court that should not even exist in the first place and it symbolises widespread crime in the European patent "industry", notable EPO]

      The Munich local division has long since had its first oral hearing in a main case.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 awarded for Disintermediation Services web communications patent monopoly prior art

      Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Ritu Tyagi, Priti Dubey, and Ekta Aswal, who split an awarded $2,000 for their prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 11,240,183, owned and asserted by Disintermediation Services, Inc. The ‘183 patent monopoly outlines a system for web-based communication. The system involves an electronic processor that manages conversations between users and responders.

    • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 awarded for Owlpoint IP entity Universal Connectivity communications patent monopoly prior art

      Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Dinesh Swami, who was awarded $2,000 for his prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 7,154,905, owned by Universal Connectivity Technologies Inc., an NPE and entity of Owlpoint IP Opportunities JVF LP. The ‘905 patent monopoly generally relates to communications techniques and particularly to communications between hosts and data store devices.