Leftovers

• Science

  • The Conversation ☛ 2024-09-27 [Older] Scientists have figured out how to ‘see’ through mice – could humans be next?

  • Smithsonian Magazine ☛ Metal Detectorists Unearth 1,000-Year-Old Viking Coins on a Small Island in the Irish Sea

    Two men, John Crowe and David O’Hare, were on the island metal detecting last May when they uncovered the lucky find. The collection includes 36 silver coins—some whole, some fragmented. This week, Manx National Heritage, an organization that protects the natural and cultural heritage of the Isle of Man, announced that Rebecca Cubbon, the Isle of Man Deputy Coroner of Inquests, examined the impressive artifacts and declared them as official treasure.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Mechanical Switch Sci-Calc Is Also A Macropad

    Smartphones have replaced a desktop calculator for most folks these days, but sometimes that tactility is just what you need to get the mathematical juices flowing. Why not spruce up the scientific calculator of yore with the wonders of modern microcontrollers?

  • Hackaday ☛ How To Revive A Tandon Floppy Drive

    In this episode of [Adrian’s Digital Basement], we dive into the world of retro computing with a focus on diagnosing and repairing an old full-height 5.25-inch floppy drive from an IBM 5150 system. Although mechanically sound, the drive had trouble reading disks, and Adrian quickly set out to fix the issue. Using a Greaseweazle—a versatile open-source tool for floppy disk diagnostics—he tests the drive’s components and explores whether the fault lies with the read/write head or electronic systems.

  • Jonathan Dowland ☛ Jonathan Dowland: synths

    Although I've never written about them, I've been interested in music synthesisers for ages. My colleagues know this. Whilst I've been off sick, they had a whip-round and bought me a voucher for Andertons, a UK-based music store, to cheer me up.

    I'm absolutely floored by this generosity. And so, I'm now on a quest to buy a synthesizer! Although, not my first one.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ A Costco salad may explain why a mother tested positive for opiates

    Horton was stunned. “Are you sure it’s my urine?” she recalled asking the nurse. She had no clue how it could be positive for anything. It wasn’t until later that Horton and her family began to suspect that the poppy seeds from the salad were the likely reason for the positive drug test, which prompted a traumatic battle with authorities to prove Horton was a fit mother and not a drug user.

    The hospital launched an investigation over the incident.

    “It was devastating to our family,” Horton said.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Adversity, maternal depression linked to teen mental health risk

    Teens who faced high levels of emotional and multidimensional adversity in their early years are at the most significant risk for mental health challenges, a 15-year U-M study revealed.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Bold Challenges announces women’s health, climate change themes

    Women's health and the intersection of climate change and health are the two newest areas of focus in Bold Challenges' Boost program to address pressing issues.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong beauty group announces plan to ‘take over’ parts of shuttered gym chain Physical Fitness

    A Hong Kong beauty group has announced its plans to “take over” parts of shuttered gym chain Physical Fitness, which abruptly closed 23 fitness and health centres in early September leading to thousands of consumer complaints.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian Radio investigates why life-saving medicines are so expensive in Latvia

    Latvian Radio's 'Avertie Faili' (Open Files) investigative strand this week examined an important and at times startling set of circumstances that mean people requiring life-saving medication in Latvia often have to pay much more than those in neighboring countries.

  • Latvia ☛ First case of West Nile virus detected in bird in Latvia

    The laboratory of the State Scientific Institute "Bior" has detected the first case in Latvia of a goshawk dying of West Nile virus infection. The West Nile virus was detected in a sample of the bird's carcass, which was sent for investigation to establish the cause of death, the institute said.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • HoloLens: Microsoft is giving up on the mixed reality headset

    Microsoft is putting an end to HoloLens. There will no longer be a successor to the HoloLens 2. All models of the high-end mixed reality headset sold so far, which once had such an ambitious start, will continue to receive critical updates for several years to come.

  • Microsoft Is Discontinuing HoloLens 2, With No Replacement [Ed: End of a Biden bailout for Microsoft]

    HoloLens 2 production has ended, Microsoft confirmed to UploadVR.

    Now is the last time to buy the device before stock runs out, the company has been telling its partners and customers.

    HoloLens 2 will continue to receive "updates to address critical security issues and software regressions" until December 31 2027. As soon as 2028 starts, software support for HoloLens 2 will end.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Don Marti ☛ why I’m turning off Firefox ad tracking: the PPA paradox

      I am turning off the controversial "Privacy-preserving attribution" (PPA) advertising tracking feature in Firefox, even though, according to the documentation, there are some good things about PPA compared to cookies:

• Defence/Aggression

  • Pro Publica ☛ How the U.S. Worked Overtime to Deliver Weapons to Israel

    In late January, as the death toll in Gaza climbed to 25,000 and droves of Palestinians fled their razed cities in search of safety, Israel’s military asked for 3,000 more bombs from the American government. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, along with other top diplomats in the Jerusalem embassy, sent a cable to Washington urging State Department leaders to approve the sale, saying there was no potential the Israel Defense Forces would misuse the weapons.

    The cable did not mention the Biden administration’s public concerns over the growing civilian casualties, nor did it address well-documented reports that Israel had dropped 2,000-pound bombs on crowded areas of Gaza weeks earlier, collapsing apartment buildings and killing hundreds of Palestinians, many of whom were children. Lew was aware of the issues. Officials say his own staff had repeatedly highlighted attacks where large numbers of civilians died. Homes of the embassy’s own Palestinian employees had been targeted by Israeli airstrikes.

  • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Navigating the Storm: Security Challenges Facing CPEC

  • CBC ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Jewish Montrealers enter high holidays with increased security at synagogues

  • The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized Disclosure: Matthew Hoh

  • FAIR ☛ Exposing Bias Against Palestinians, Ta-Nehisi Coates Is Predictably Accused of Bias by CBS

    Acclaimed journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates returned to nonfiction with his essay collection The Message, published on October 1, only to be met with patronizing dismissal and a whiff of racism on CBS Mornings (9/30/24).

  • FAIR ☛ Derek Seidman on Insurance and Climate, Insha Rahman on Immigration Conversation

  • US News And World Report ☛ Colorado Judge Who Sentenced Election Denier Tina Peters to Prison Receives Threats

    A rural Colorado county courthouse beefed up security Friday after threats were made against staff and a judge who sentenced former county clerk Tina Peters to nearly nine years behind bars and admonished her for her role in a data breach scheme catalyzed by the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.

  • Deseret Media ☛ Facebook seeks to attract young adults with new community, video features

    Young adults on Facebook spend 60% of their time watching videos and more than half watch Reels daily. The company said it would also roll out an updated video tab in coming weeks that collects short-form, live and longer videos in one place.

    Facebook's dating feature, launched in 2019 and which lets users flip through suggested profiles, has seen a 24% year-over-year increase in conversations started among young adults in the U.S. and Canada, the company said.

  • Axios ☛ Inside Jack Smith's latest Jan. 6 evidence against Trump

    Job No. 1 is to convince the courts that Trump's actions were the actions of a private person desperate to cling to power — not those of a president carrying out his official duties. And the additional evidence prosecutors put forward in their latest brief is designed to help make that arguments.

    The new details: A White House staffer overheard Trump telling family members, "it doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell," according to Smith's filing.

    The new filing says Trump responded "So what?" when he was told that Vice President Pence had to be evacuated from the Capitol.

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Zuckerberg is now world's second wealthiest person

    Zuckerberg’s bet on the metaverse — which initially looked like a huge bust — has paid off in recent months, pushing his net worth to a high-water mark of US$206.2-billion (R3.6-trillion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That puts him $1.1-billion ahead of Amazon.com’s Bezos and almost $50-billion behind Tesla’s Elon Musk.

  • The Moscow Times ☛ Moldova Uncovers ’Unprecedented’ Pro-Russia Vote Rigging - The Moscow Times

    More than 100,000 people with the right to vote were thought to be involved in the vote-buying scheme, Cernauteanu said.

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] TikTok Personality 'Mr. Prada' Charged in the Killing of a Louisiana Therapist

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-01 [Older] Appeals Court Reinstates Indiana Lawsuit Against TikTok Alleging Child Safety, Privacy Concerns

  • Gizmodo ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Experts Warn of Growing Inhalant Trend on TikTok as ‘Chroming’ Gains Popularity

  • CBC ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Canada needs better security checks for international students, critics say

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] South Sudan President Dismisses Long-Serving Security Chief

  • NL Times ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] The Hague giving no info about security measures for Israel, Iran, Lebanon embassies

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] The US Is Sending a Few Thousand More Troops to the Middle East to Boost Security

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] UN Authorizes Haiti Security Force for Another Year

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Iran's Supreme Leader Moved to Secure Location Under Heightened Security, Sources Say

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Israeli Strike Hit 500 Metres From Beirut Airport Buildings, Security Source Says

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Six People Killed in Pakistan Helicopter Crash, Security Sources Say

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-27 [Older] Where Trump and Harris Stand on Immigration and Border Security

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] Kamala Harris Surrenders to Trump on Border Security and Endorses the War On Drugs

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Insight Hungary ☛ German envoy summoned over remarks on Hungary's relations with NATO and EU

      Hungary's Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó summoned the German ambassador, Julia Gross, over comments he called "unacceptable," claiming they violated Hungary's sovereignty.

      Szijjártó, who announced the decision via social media, said the ambassador had "seriously interfered" in the country’s domestic affairs during a speech delivered at a Wednesday evening event in Budapest. At a reception to celebrate the Day of German Unity, Gross criticized the Hungarian government for shifting away from the path of friendly relations between the two countries and described the delay in approving Sweden's NATO membership as “nothing more than a farce.” During her remarks, Gross urged Hungarian public figures to speak out against actions that are eroding the trust of Hungary's EU and NATO allies.

    • Meduza ☛ Russian state investigators seized everything Alexey Navalny touched in final hours before death, new leaked documents show — Meduza

    • CPJ ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] CPJ urges Russia to drop charges against journalists accused of ‘illegal’ border crossing

    • 2024-10-03 [Older] At the Behest of Russia, Apple Has Purged Nearly 100 VPN Apps From the App Store

    • Project Censored ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Foreign Spending to Influence US Elections Goes Well Beyond Russian Covert Operations

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] The US and Microsoft Disrupt a Russian Hacking Group Targeting American Officials and Nonprofits [Ed: Microsoft took control of the US government]

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Moldova Alleges Pro-Russian Vote-Buying Scheme Ahead of Key Vote

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Russia Begins Evacuating Its Citizens From Lebanon

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Russia Intercepts Drone Near Kursk, No Damage to Nuclear Plant, Governor Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Russian Defence Ministry Confirms Capture of Vuhledar in Eastern Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Russian Drone Attack Kills Two Adults, Child in Ukraine's Chernihiv Region

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Russian Prosecutor Wants U.S. Ex-Marine Gilman Jailed for Nine Years, RIA Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Russia Rejects Arms Talks With United States Unless There Are Preconditions

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Russia Says Confrontation With West Is Unparalleled in History

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] Global Power Rivalry: AFRICOM and Africa in the Face of China and Russia’s Influence

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] Ukraine pulls troops from Vuhledar as Russia advances

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] US will allow Ukraine to hit deep into Russia, ex-envoy says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] 4 Russian Journalists Accused of Working for a Navalny Group Go on Trial in Moscow

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] Behind Closed Doors, Russia Tries Four Journalists for Links to Navalny Team

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] Forced Closure of Weekly Spells the End for Russia's Independent Print Media

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] Russia Rules Out Nuclear Talks With U.S. Given Its Stance on NATO Expansion

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] Undeterred by Iran or Russia, Ultra-Orthodox Israelis Celebrate New Year in Ukraine

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-10-01 [Older] Confronting the Russia-China-Iran Bloc with Lessons of the World Wars

    • Scheerpost ☛ 2024-10-01 [Older] Mr. President, Russia Isn’t Bluffing!

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-01 [Older] Chinese and Russian Coast Guard Ships Sail Through the Bering Sea Together, US Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-01 [Older] Ukraine Investigating Alleged Shooting of 16 POWs by Russia

    • Scheerpost ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Speaks at 2024 UN General Assembly

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia launches drone attack on Kyiv

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] Hungary and Ukraine Ministers Hold 'Frank' Talks Amid Russia Strains

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Africa At the 7th Russian Energy Week: Opportunities and Future Perspectives

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Hospital Clowns Bring Joy to Young Ukrainian Cancer Patients Who Survived Russian Missile Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] What to Know From the UN: China, Russia Have Their Say, and a Frog Metaphor Makes a Cameo

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Russia Downs Over 100 Ukrainian Drones in One of the Largest Barrages of the War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Kremlin Says Russia's Updated Nuclear Doctrine Is Being Formalised

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Russia Downs 125 Ukrainian Drones, Residential Apartment Hit in Voronezh

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Russia Pounds Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia City With Guided Bombs, Injures 16

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Russia Says It Thwarts Ukraine's Attempts to Enter Kursk Region

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] What's behind Russia's plan to ban 'child-free' ideology?

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Russia Invokes Its Nuclear Capacity in a UN Speech That's Full of Bile Toward the West

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Russian Attacks Kill Top Judge and Three Others in Ukraine's Kharkiv, Officials Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Russian Attacks on Hospital in Ukraine's Sumy Kill 9, Kyiv Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Russian Strikes on a Medical Center Kill 9 People in the Ukrainian City of Sumy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Russia's Lavrov Warns West Against 'Fight to Victory With a Nuclear Power'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Ukraine Says It Downed 69 Drones, 2 Missiles in Overnight Russian Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Zelenskiy Says Trump Assured Him of Support for Ukraine in War With Russia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-27 [Older] South Korea's Foreign Minister Says Russia Engaging in Illegal Arms Trade With North Korea

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s war made Ukraine the most heavily mined country in the world. See how specialists work to clear battlefields of unexploded ordnance. — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ ‘Mom, I Want to Live’: A Young Girl Battles War and Cancer

      Sonya Liakh was diagnosed with eye cancer at age 2. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted her treatment, her family faced a desperate struggle.

    • RFERL ☛ Verdict Expected For 72-Year-Old U.S. Man Facing 'Mercenary' Charge In Russia

      The Moscow City Court will pronounce the verdict and sentence of Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old U.S. citizen, on October 7, as announced by Judge Aleksandra Kovalevskaya on October 3.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Visits Ukrainian Troops In Region Bordering Russia's Kursk

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on October 4 visited the northeastern Sumy region and spoke with military commanders and soldiers who have fought along Ukraine's border with Russia and in Russia's Kursk region.

    • RFERL ☛ Nuclear Security Chief in Ukraine's Russian-Occupied Zaporizhzhya Killed In Car Bombing

      The head of security at the Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine was killed in a car bombing on October 4.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ How the US and Europe can counter Russian information manipulation about nonproliferation

      This strategic framework presents the findings and recommendations of the Atlantic Council project to develop and strengthen comprehensive responses to counter Russian foreign malign influence that undermine nonproliferation norms and regimes in Eastern Europe.

    • Defence Web ☛ AUSSOM planning ahead of November UN deadline

      Work is underway in Mogadishu on mission design and funding for the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) that will replace ATMIS (AU Transition Mission in Somalia) three months from now.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia prosecutor’s office approves treason indictment against ‘political prisoner’

      Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Thursday that the Prosecutor’s Office in the Volgograd region approved an indictment against Nikita Zhuravel, who was charged with treason under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code. The maximum penalty for treason under the Russian Criminal Code is life imprisonment.

    • LRT ☛ Vilnius hosts 13th Free Russia Forum

      The 13th Free Russia Forum, the largest platform for the Russian opposition, is getting underway in Vilnius on Friday.

    • LRT ☛ Train with provocative Russian inscriptions stopped at Lithuania’s border

      A Moscow-Kaliningrad transit train bearing unauthorised Russian inscriptions was allowed to cross into Lithuania only after the train staff wiped off the symbols, the State Border Guard Service (VSAT) said on Thursday.

    • RFERL ☛ Activists Sentenced For Drone Attack On Russian Military Plane In Belarus

      Twelve people were sentenced in Minsk to prison terms of between two and 25 years on October 4 for "acts of terrorism" and "treason against the state" in connection with an attack in February 2023 that damaged a Russian plane.

    • RFERL ☛ Moscow Pushes For Lifting Sanctions On Taliban-Led Afghanistan, U.S. Remains Cautious

      Russia has urged the West to lift unilateral sanctions on Afghanistan and called for the inclusion of the Taliban-led government in discussions about the country’s future, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during the sixth Moscow Format consultations in the Russian capital on October 4.

    • RFERL ☛ Dutch Citizen Reportedly Detained In Moscow For Assaulting Police

      A Dutch citizen has been detained in Moscow after striking a police officer in the face following a disagreement over a knocked-down road sign, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported on October 4, citing a source at law enforcement in the Russian capital.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Seizes Web Domain Names From Hacking Group Linked To Russian Intelligence

      U.S. authorities said they have seized dozens of website domain names that hackers linked to Russian intelligence allegedly used to try and break into U.S. government computer systems.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia and Syria Silent on Reported Strike Near Russian Base in Syria

      A weapons facility near a Russian air base in a coastal Syrian city was destroyed on Thursday, according to a monitoring group.

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s Defense Ministry could recruit at least 225,000 contract soldiers over next three years, budget allocations show — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Behind Lithuania’s push to take Lukashenko to court

      Tucked away in a small, fifty-seat conference room of a central Vilnius hotel, Lithuanian lawyers, prosecutors and the Belarusian opposition addressed a tough question – has Belarus been forgotten?

    • Meduza ☛ Horses, Hyundais, and headless rubber goats: A dispatch from the 5th World Nomad Games — Meduza

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] New NATO Chief Rutte Reaffirms Support for Ukraine on Kyiv Trip

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Ukraine's Top Commander Orders Defences Bolstered in East After Vuhledar Falls

    • Counter Punch ☛ 2024-10-02 [Older] On the Ukraine War and Where It’s Going

    • IP Kat ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] Ukrainian IP [sic] Office registers works incorporating AI-generated content protected under new sui generis right

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] G7 Aims to Finalise Deal on $50 Billion Loan to Ukraine by End-Oct, EU Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] Putin's Nuclear Talk Shouldn't Stop NATO Backing Ukraine, Stoltenberg Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy: Front Line 'Very, Very Difficult,' We Must Do What We Can in Autumn

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Ukraine: Adoption rates on the rise

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-29 [Older] Ukraine updates: Zaporizhzhia hit by 'massive aerial strikes'

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Blinken says China's talk of Ukraine peace 'doesn't add up'

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Ukraine updates: Sumy hospital hit by deadly double attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] China, at UN, Warns Against 'Expansion of the Battlefield' in the Ukraine War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] North Korea Says US Military Aid to Ukraine Is 'Incredible Mistake'

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-28 [Older] Switzerland Praises China-Brazil Peace Plan for Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-09-27 [Older] Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy meets Trump in New York

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-27 [Older] Looking for Ukraine Support, Zelenskyy Gets Earful of Politics From Trump

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-27 [Older] Nine Deported Children Brought Back to Ukraine, Ombudsman Says

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Franky Carrillo owned oil, tobacco stock in run for state Assembly

    What Carrillo didn’t tell them: At the time, he owned as much as $820,000 worth of stock in Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Philip Morris, among other fossil fuel and tobacco companies, and was using his personal wealth to finance his campaign.

• Environment

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] How to Help Those Affected by Hurricane Helene

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-09-30 [Older] How to Help After Hurricane Helene Devastates Southeastern U.S.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • DeSmog ☛ Blowout Erupts in West Texas’s Permian Basin, Creating 100-Foot Tower of Oily Water

    • Pro Publica ☛ Nike Just Made It Harder to Track Executives’ Use of Private Jets

      Nike, the world’s largest athletic apparel brand, has moved to hinder public scrutiny of its corporate jets after ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive highlighted executives’ travel destinations. In doing so, it became the latest participant in a cat-and-mouse game of jet owners seeking to cloak their movements around the globe.

      A month after the story’s publication, Nike’s two Gulfstream G650ER jets were no longer visible on the flight tracking website FlightAware. Both were added to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed list, consisting of planes that sites like FlightAware are not allowed to show. Placement on the list makes it harder — but not impossible — to see where the planes are going.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ ‘Three Rivers of Woe’ — David Quammen on Climate Change, Extinction, and Epidemics

• Finance

  • International Business Times ☛ 2024-10-03 [Older] Boomer Reveals Heartbreaking Reason He Wishes He Claimed Social Security Earlier Than 70: 'I Regret Always Planning For The Future'

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2024-10-01 [Older] The Only Real Shortcut to Long-Term Security: Greater Equality

  • International Business Times ☛ 2024-10-01 [Older] October Social Security Payouts: Hundreds Of Dollars Added For Many Recipients—Check Your Payment Date

  • ABP ☛ Amazon Layoffs: Tech Firm To Cut 14,000 Manager Positions By 2025, Says Report

    Amazon is reportedly planning to reduce 14,000 managerial positions by early next year in a bid to save $3 billion annually, according to a Morgan Stanley report. This initiative is part of CEO Andy Jassy's strategy to boost operational efficiency by increasing the ratio of individual contributors to managers by at least 15 per cent by March 2025.

    This initiative from the tech giant is designed to streamline decision-making and eliminate bureaucratic hurdles, as reported by Bloomberg.

    Jassy highlighted the importance of fostering a culture characterised by urgency, accountability, swift decision-making, resourcefulness, frugality, and collaboration, with the goal of positioning Amazon as the world’s largest startup.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Atlantic ☛ It’s Time to Stop Taking Sam Altman at His Word

    OpenAI announced this week that it has raised $6.6 billion in new funding and that the company is now valued at $157 billion overall. This is quite a feat for an organization that reportedly burns through $7 billion a year—far more cash than it brings in—but it makes sense when you realize that OpenAI’s primary product isn’t technology. It’s stories.

  • Dan Q ☛ We’ll Pay You to Go (so we’re confident in who stays…)

    The effect of Automattic’s “if you don’t feel aligned with us, we’ll pay you to leave” offer has been significant: around 159 people – 8.4% of the company – resigned this week. At very short notice, dozens of people I know and have worked with… disappeared from my immediate radar. It’s been… a lot.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • New York Times ☛ Trump’s False Claims About FEMA’s Response to Hurricane Helene

      Here’s a fact check of Mr. Trump’s recent remarks.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • France24 ☛ French [sic] jihadist linked to Charlie Hebdo attackers sentenced to life in prison

    During that time he is suspected of training his Paris childhood friend Cherif Kouachi, who along with his brother Said perpetrated the January 7, 2015 massacre at Charlie Hebdo's offices in the French capital -- for which AQAP later claimed responsibility.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Il Fatto Quotidiano ☛ Stella Assange: “In Strasbourg so that a new Assange case won’t happen again”

    “It is important not just to establish what happened, but also what the implications are”. Stella Assange does not only look back. Together with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, she also looks to the future and at the impact of the case on freedom of the press, now that with the Assange’s plea agreement, the US government has been able to assert – for the first time in U.S. history – that journalists who reveal classified documents in the public interest are committing an extremely serious crime, and that the United States can try extradite and put them in prison, no matter their nationality. Il Fatto Quotidiano interviewed Stella Assange in Strasbourg, where the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe just approved a resolution based on the report by the Rapporteur on Political Prisoners, Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir.

  • JURIST ☛ Council of Europe designates Julian Assange as 'political prisoner' following plea deal release

    PACE this week approved the resolution to designate him as a political prisoner based on a committee report highlighting the gravity of the charges Assange faced in the US. The report stated that Assange’s conviction stemmed from actions that amounted to “newsgathering and publishing,” vital components of journalism. This designation aligns with the definition of a political prisoner that PACE adopted in 2012, indicating that Assange’s case is not merely a legal issue but a matter of press freedom and human rights.

  • Doc Searls ☛ Think Globally, Eat Here

    Our plan is to prototype and prove locally what can apply globally for local news, starting with what Columbia Journalism Review called “news deserts” back in 2017—a label that has since caught on. There are many efforts toward seeding and watering these deserts, most prominently Press Forward, which is devoting $500 million to that challenge.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • RFA ☛ US tech giants face human rights concerns over Vietnam investments

    Executives from Google, Meta made no mention of Vietnam’s freedom of speech crackdown after meeting its leaders.

  • NYOB ☛ CJEU: Meta must "minimise" use of personal data for ads

    In today's ruling in C-446/21 (Schrems v. Meta), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has fully backed a lawsuit brought against Meta, over its Facebook (Farcebook) service.

  • FAIR ☛ Top Papers Quoted More Wine Importers Than Union Leaders on Port Strike

    At midnight on October 1, over 45,000 port workers across the Eastern US began a strike that was to last for three days. This labor action was only the latest in a series of high-profile confrontations between workers and bosses in North America, but corporate media never seem to get better at reporting on such disputes.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • EFF ☛ Join the Movement for Public Broadband in PDX

    EFF and local Electronic Frontier Alliance members, Personal TelCo Project and Community Broadband PDX, are calling on city council & mayoral candidates to sign a pledge to support an open-access business model, where the city owns and leases the "dark" fiber. That way services can be run by local non profits, local businesses, or community cooperatives. The hope is these local services can then grow to support retail service and meet the needs of more residents.

    This change will only happen if we show our support, join the campaign today to stay up to date and find volunteer opportunities.  Also come out for fun and learning at The People’s Digital Safety Fair Saturday October 19th, for talks and workshops from the local coalition. Let’s break the private ISP monopoly power in Portland!

    Leading this campaign is Community Broadband PDX, with the mission to ‘guide Portlanders to create a new option for fast internet access: Publicly owned and transparently operated, affordable, secure, fast and reliable broadband infrastructure that is always available to every neighborhood and community.’ According to Jennifer Redman, President, Board of Directors, and Campaign Manager of Community Broadband PDX, (who also formerly served as the Community Broadband Planning Manager in the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability with the City of Portland) when asked about the campaign to expand IRNE into affordable accessible internet for all Portlanders, she said:

  • Drew Breunig ☛ We Need Help With Content Discovery More Than Content Generation

    Roughly ~11k books are published on the average day – without self-publishing it’s a mere ~2.5k! ~220 new comic issues were launched on Comixology, an Amazon company last week. And ~280 new video games launch on Steam every week! ~3.7 million YouTube videos are uploaded every day.

    The problem isn’t generation. It’s discovery. We keep hearing about generation because it makes for better demos.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • 2024-10-02 [Older] At the Behest of YouTube, Juno Has Been Removed From the App Store

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Copyrights

  • CBC ☛ 2024-09-27 [Older] B.C. beauty brand battles music giant over social media copyright

  • Torrent Freak ☛ MPA Reports 'Notorious' Piracy Threats to U.S. Government

    The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has sent its latest overview of notorious piracy markets to the U.S. Government. The Hollywood group, which also represents Netflix and Amazon, lists a broad variety of online piracy threats. Aside from traditional pirate sites, it also includes domain registries and hosting providers.

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Personal/Opinions

    • Complications

      I picked up a cheap Chinese hand-wound mechanical pocket watch last weekend. I already own an old Ingersoll Buck watch, but it was in bad shape, so I didn't bother learning how to care for it long-term. This is a new watch, so I decided to actually do some research.

      While learning about escapements, jewels and keyless works, I discovered that any feature on a mechanical watch other than indicating the hour, minute and second is called a "complication." These are so called because adding them to a mechanical system makes the system inherently more complicated. Traditionally, the mark of a master watchmaker was the ability to design and build watches with as many complications as possible. The term has even carried over to smartwatches like the Apple Watch.

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Long Keys

      This does not close existing connections; sshd takes pains to allow a daemon restart without nuking the existing sessions. (If systemd is involved then unexpected session kills may happen, but that's systemd being different from most everything else in unix.)