Links 12/10/2024: Boeing to Cut 17,000 Jobs, Medieval Sleeping Habits, Warning About Liquidweb
Contents
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Leftovers
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Michael Burkhardt ☛ What in the Whirled? - Michael Burkhardt's Whirled Wide Web
So I was digging through some old files on my NAS the other day and came across the remnants of early versions of my web pages from the late 1990s. Among the junk were a handful of title images featuring the name Michael Burkhardt’s Whirled Wide Web. It still works, so I’m bringing it back!
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The Guardian UK ☛ More clues in 100-year-old Mount Everest mystery as climber’s foot found
Irvine, who was 22, is believed to have been carrying a Kodak camera, which some have hoped might settle the question for good, but neither this nor the rest of his body have been found. It would be another 29 years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first acknowledged ascent in 1953.
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Positech Games ☛ Do not use liquidweb web hosting. Ever.
And today I discover that 9 months ago they just put my price up 50% without bothering to email me. What utter assholes. I do not understand how people running businesses think that this is the way to treat your customers.
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Science
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The Scotsman ☛ Everest British explorer mystery 'solved' 100 years after disappearance
The sock and boot were found at a lower altitude than Mallory's remains, which were located in 1999 by climber Conrad Anker , and are now in the possession of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association , which is responsible for climbing permits on Everest's northern side.
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CBC ☛ Scientists have finally seen the face of the world's largest bug
Once upon a time, scientists would have had to crack it open to find the treasures within, risking further fragmentation. But modern technology means scientists were able to peer inside the fossils using a CT scanner, similar to the kind you might see in a hospital, "but much more powerful," Lhéritier said.
The discovery was made with the help of undergraduate intern Adrien Buisson.
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The Scotsman ☛ Northern Lights in Pictures
The Northern Lights put on an incredible show last night for residents across Scotland as thousands turned their faces, and cameras, to the sky.
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The Conversation ☛ I was a beta tester for the Nobel prize-winning AlphaFold AI – it’s going to revolutionise health research
If you haven’t heard of AlphaFold, it may be difficult to appreciate how important it is becoming to researchers. But as a beta tester for the software, I got to see first-hand how this technology can reveal the molecular structures of different proteins in minutes. It would take researchers months or even years to unpick these structures in laboratory experiments.
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Axios ☛ Two Nobel Prizes for AI research show the field maturing
The big picture: The technical foundations of AI were laid over decades, but its advances have only received wide recognition more recently with the advent of chatbots and the popularization of generative AI.
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University of Michigan ☛ U.S. Space Force selects U-M for research development institute
“This is the first collaboration of this size at the University with the USSF, and it is an exciting opportunity to move fast,” Jorns wrote. “We hope this institute will make (the University) a go-to academic center for advanced space technology research for benefitting (the Department of Defense), commercial space and NASA.”
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Education
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Frank Meeuwsen ☛ Blog on Dave!
It’s all about connecting the dots. A phrase made popular by Steve Jobs in his Stanford commencement speech, from which I also learned about a whole new world of the Whole Earth Catalog and it’s origins through this other phrase: Stay hungry, stay foolish.
These two phrases stuck with me ever since. They also represent two guiding principles for me: Make sure you never lose that youthful enthusiasm and eagerness about the future. And cast a wide net of interests and people around you to see what happens next.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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[Old] BBC ☛ The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps'
Over the coming months, Ekirch scoured the archives and found many more references to this mysterious phenomenon of double sleeping, or "biphasic sleep" as he later called it.
Some were fairly banal, such as the mention by the weaver Jon Cokburne, who simply dropped it into his testimony incidentally. But others were darker, such as that of Luke Atkinson of the East Riding of Yorkshire. He managed to squeeze in an early morning murder between his sleeps one night – and according to his wife, often used the time to frequent other people's houses for sinister deeds.
When Ekirch expanded his search to include online databases of other written records, it soon became clear the phenomenon was more widespread and normalised than he had ever imagined.
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The Atlantic ☛ Can Medieval Sleeping Habits Fix America’s Insomnia?
Today’s sleep writers often wield Ekirch’s research to suggest that segmented sleep (or, as Ekirch calls it, biphasic—two-phase—sleep) is old, and one-sleep is new, and therefore today’s sleepers are doing it wrong. But that’s not the full story, he told me.
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[Old] University of California, Davis ☛ How blue light affects your eyes, sleep, and health
Blue light exposure from screens is small compared to the amount of exposure from the sun. However, there is concern about long-term effects of screen exposure from digital devices. This is especially true when it comes to too much screen time and screens too close to the eyes.
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Harvard University ☛ Blue light has a dark side
Avoid looking at bright screens beginning two to three hours before bed. If you work a night shift or use a lot of electronic devices at night, consider wearing blue-blocking glasses or installing an app that filters the blue/green wavelength at night.
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Lou Plummer ☛ When You Don't Have a Stop Button
I suppose my blogging habit could also fall into the overdoing-it category. I do love to write and interact with folks online. I have my time structured to publish at least three posts a day. I've been doing it for months. So far, it's not causing me any issues. I'm not holding up liquor stores to get the money to register more domain names or anything. If I get tired, I'll slow down. Until then, keep coming back for more!
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Discord: Why the messaging app is under scrutiny
The telecoms regulator in Russia banned Discord on Tuesday, citing the failure of the app to "prevent the use of messaging for terrorist and extremist purposes, recruiting citizens to commit them, sale of drugs, and ... the posting of illegal information."
Russian regulator Roskomnadzor said Discord was "actively used by criminals" and that the platform had failed to comply with an order issued on October 1 demanding the removal of nearly a thousand items of content.
Roskomnadzor had previously fined the San Francisco-based app for failing to remove banned content.
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Air Force Times ☛ Lockheed names software specialist as new head of F-35 jet program
The F-35 program has struggled with its own software issues, which were a major factor in a recent year-long delivery halt. Beginning in July 2023, the Pentagon refused to accept delivery of new F-35s that were to include an upgrade known as Technology Refresh 3, or TR-3, which promised better displays, computer memory and processing power.
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CBC ☛ Google's Nobel prize winners stir debate over AI research
The award this week of Nobel prizes in chemistry and physics to a small number of artificial intelligence pioneers affiliated with Google has stirred debate over the company's research dominance and how breakthroughs in computer science ought to be recognized.
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Variety ☛ OnlyFans Has Paid $20 Billion to Creators Since 2016, CEO Says
According to a regulatory filing last month, OnlyFans’ gross revenue increased by 19% for the year ended Nov. 30, 2023, to $6.63 billion last year. That means OnlyFans creators earned total payouts of $5.32 billion for the most recent fiscal year. Net revenue increased 20%, to $1.31 billion (with two-thirds of that from the U.S.), while the company’s pre-tax profit jumped 25% to $658 million.
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft applies fix for Outlook crashes
Microsoft's Outlook app is crashing for European users due to memory problems, Redmond has warned, and evidence suggests the problems are spreading to the US.
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The Register UK ☛ Zoom Clips users can soon script AI video doubles
Whether coworkers will appreciate being addressed in this way is another matter.
In conjunction with the Zoomtopia 2024 conference, the comms biz talked up its Zoom AI Companion 2.0, a generative AI assistant (formerly Zoom IQ) that works across the Zoom platform.
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Vox ☛ Democratic AI: Should companies like OpenAI and Anthropic get our permission? | Vox
There’s a very natural question here: Did anyone actually ask for this kind of AI? By what right do a few powerful tech CEOs get to decide that our whole world should be turned upside down?
As I’ve written before, it’s clearly undemocratic that private companies are building tech that aims to totally change the world without seeking buy-in from the public. In fact, even leaders at the major companies are expressing unease about how undemocratic it is.
Jack Clark, the co-founder of the AI company Anthropic, told Vox last year that it’s “a real weird thing that this is not a government project.” He also wrote that there are several key things he’s “confused and uneasy” about, including, “How much permission do AI developers need to get from society before irrevocably changing society?” Clark continued: [...]
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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EFF ☛ Should I Use My State’s Digital Driver’s License?
There are real privacy and security trade-offs with digital IDs, and it’s not clear if the benefits are big enough—or exist at all—to justify them.
But if you are curious about this technology, there are still a few things you should know and some questions to consider.
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Scoop News Group ☛ House Republicans probe NIST on facial recognition for federal digital identity verification
In a letter to NIST Director Laurie Locascio this week, the leaders of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology asked the agency to share findings from its digital identity and facial recognition work related to its Digital Identity Guidelines. Those guidelines serve as a best practices reference for U.S. agencies on identity verification methods for federal services.
According to the letter — which was signed by committee Chair Frank Lucas, R-Okla., Research and Technology subcommittee Chair Mike Collins, R-Ga., and Investigations and Oversight subcommittee Chair Jay Obernolte, R-Calif. — that guidance permits agencies to use face recognition technology as a method of identity verification.
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Hindustan Times ☛ Are kids really safe using ChatGPT?
Next, take privacy. When kids interact with tools such as ChatGPT, they’re inevitably sharing data, most of the times, without fully understanding the ramifications. Are they inadvertently giving away personal information? And are these platforms equipped to handle such sensitive data responsibly? A consultant with the government does not mince his words. “In India, for all the noise, this conversation is barely a whisper. We hear occasional murmurs about regulating AI. But concrete steps? Hardly any. It’s as if our children are navigating uncharted digital territories without a safety net.”
His point is that when kids input assignments into AI tools, they’re feeding data into systems they don’t understand. Are they inadvertently sharing personal information? Where does that data go? It’s unsettling to think their inputs might be stored or analysed without parental oversight.
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Macworld ☛ How to add your driver's license or state ID to Apple Wallet
There are currently seven states/territories in the U.S. that support this capability, with another 11 having announced support in the future. Here’s how you add your ID to Wallet, and why you might want to.
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[Old] The Washington Post ☛ How the CIA used Crypto AG encryption devices to spy on countries for decades - Washington Post
The operation, known first by the code name “Thesaurus” and later “Rubicon,” ranks among the most audacious in CIA history.
“It was the intelligence coup of the century,” the CIA report concludes. “Foreign governments were paying good money to the U.S. and West Germany for the privilege of having their most secret communications read by at least two (and possibly as many as five or six) foreign countries.”
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[Old] European Parliament ☛ Mass Surveillance [PDF]
But it’s not only the Asian countries that are allegedly designing stealth backdoors into their products. Documents revealed by Edward Snowden affirm that the NSA is secretly and routinely intercepting “routers, servers, and other computer network devices being exported from the U.S. before they are delivered to the international customers. The agency then implants backdoor surveillance tools, repackages the devices with a factory seal, and sends them on. The NSA thus gains access to entire networks and all their users."214 Other reports suggest that the NSA is also collaborating with major vendors of encryption technology with the objective of gaining access to encrypted information. This is achieved by introducing a flawed generation of random numbers that serve as seeds for encryption in the RSA algorithm215.
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[Old] European Parliament ☛ Legal Frameworks for Hacking by Law Enforcement: Identification, Evaluation and Conmparison of Practices [PDF]
This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, presents concrete policy proposals on the use of hacking techniques by law enforcement. These proposals are driven by a comparative examination of the legal frameworks for hacking by law enforcement across six EU Member States and three non-EU countries, in combination with analyses of the international and EU-level debates on the topic and the EU legal basis for intervention in the field.
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Defence/Aggression
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The Guardian UK ☛ Hospitals evacuated in Cologne after discovery of second world war bomb
The 1,000kg US aerial bomb, equipped with a front and rear impact detonator, is due to be defused on Friday.
A complex evacuation procedure had been in the planning since excavation work on the site began about six months ago, owing to well-founded fears that an unexploded ordnance would be discovered there.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Germany: Large WWII bomb detonated in Cologne
The city described it as its most complex bomb disposal operation since 1945, probably in large part because of the danger zone's location close to three different medical facilities including the large Cologne-Merheim Hospital.
Three clinics with almost 650 patients had to be cleared ready for the operation.
A small number of intensive care patients who could not be relocated safely were instead moved to what was deemed a "safe room" in one of the hospitals, well enough fortified to not be at risk even if the operation did not go to plan.
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NPR ☛ TikTok executives know about app’s effect on teens, lawsuit documents allege
For the first time, internal TikTok communications have been made public that show a company unconcerned with the harms the app poses for American teenagers. This is despite its own research validating many child safety concerns.
The confidential material was part of a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general that led to state officials suing the company on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok was designed with the express intention of addicting young people to the app. The states argue the multi-billion-dollar company deceived the public about the risks.
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NPR ☛ TikTok executives know about app’s effect on teens, lawsuit documents allege
The confidential material was part of a more than two-year investigation into TikTok by 14 attorneys general that led to state officials suing the company on Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok was designed with the express intention of addicting young people to the app. The states argue the multi-billion-dollar company deceived the public about the risks.
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Manton Reece ☛ TikTok even worse than we thought
We’ve known for a long time that the addictive nature of the infinite timeline pioneered by TikTok was causing problems for teenagers. But this is a whole new thing: [...]
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NPR ☛ Senators call on TikTok to produce documents in response to NPR report
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote the letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in response to reporting from NPR and Kentucky Public Radio that revealed internal company documents suggesting the company is aware of how the popular service can potentially endanger children.
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US News And World Report ☛ TikTok Was Aware of Risks Kids and Teens Face on Its Platform, Legal Document Alleges
TikTok was aware that its design features are detrimental to its young users and that publicly touted tools aimed at limiting kids’ time on the site were largely ineffective, according to internal documents and communications exposed in lawsuit filed by the state of Kentucky.
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The Washington Post ☛ TikTok knew app posed mental health risks for kids, lawsuit alleges
TikTok’s political woes deepened Friday after an inadvertent legal disclosure detailed how aware the app’s managers apparently were of its potential risks to children, airing explosive revelations as the Chinese-owned company tries to fend off a federal ban.
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NPR ☛ TikTok executives know about app's effect on teens, lawsuit documents allege
The lawsuit against the popular video sharing platform claims it was designed to keep young people hooked on the service. Documents uncovered by Kentucky Public Radio show that the company's internal research may help support this accusation.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Layoffs Reportedly Hit Hundreds of Employees in Malaysia
The ByteDance-owned app’s latest staff reduction entered the media spotlight in reports this morning, though TikTok may have set the layoffs in motion months ago. Running with Reuters’ indication that most of the “hundreds” of axed team members are based in Malaysia and handled content moderation, multiple relevant individuals have changed their LinkedIn employment status.
Some of the changes are decidedly recent, and others date back to at least May of 2024. That said, all these changes fall squarely under the content-moderation banner, and affected professionals’ titles include content analyst, content safety labeler, and creator community operation specialist, to name just a few.
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USMC ☛ Anduril debuts Bolt, loitering munition on contract with Marine Corps
The defense technology company, based in California, debuted two versions of the drone Thursday. The first is a baseline model able to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, known in the military as ISR. The other is Bolt-M, a version of the drone that acts as a munition.
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C4ISRNET ☛ Anduril debuts Bolt, loitering munition on contract with Marine Corps
This second model of the drone is under contract with the Marine Corps on its Organic Precision Fires-Light program, trying to deliver loitering munitions small enough for troops to stash in a rucksack. Aerovironment and Teledyne FLIR are also competing for the program, worth up to $249 million.
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C4ISRNET ☛ Secret X-37B spaceplane maneuvers could impact future space operations
Ten months into its latest and largely classified mission, the Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane is embarking on a new set of maneuvers that could inform future space operations for the service.
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New Eastern Europe ☛ How BRICS is collapsing under the weight of its own ambition
Nearly two decades after its establishment, the multilateral organization remains a mere talking shop with no coherent agenda or mission statement.
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Smithsonian Magazine ☛ Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Japanese Atomic Bomb Survivors Who Fight for Nuclear Disarmament
The group, which is also known as Hibakusha, helped give rise to the “nuclear taboo,” or the idea that using nuclear weapons is morally unacceptable. Though nuclear weapons have not been used in nearly eight decades, this taboo is now “under pressure,” according to the committee.
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CS Monitor ☛ Nobel Peace Prize goes to Japanese nuclear disarmament group
Efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons have been honored before by the Nobel committee. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons won the peace prize in 2017, and in 1995 Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won for “their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms.”
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The Washington Post ☛ Japanese atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo wins Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of atomic bomb survivors, for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.
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The Verge ☛ Violent threats against FEMA swirl on social media
TikTok posts either calling for violence or applauding unverified claims about physical attacks against FEMA personnel have garnered millions of views, according to a report yesterday from nonprofit Media Matters for America. X has also been fertile ground for threats of violence against FEMA, says another analysis published yesterday by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).
“This content is reaching millions of people and, in some instances, poses a credible risk to public safety,” ISD says.
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Environment
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Hakai Magazine ☛ Weather Forecasting Is Deadly for Marine Wildlife
The United States launches some 76,600 balloons annually, while Canada sends up around 22,000. As each balloon ascends, it expands. Once it has traveled up about 35 kilometers and its volume has grown 100-fold, it explodes, shooting latex in all directions and releasing a small parachute that floats the radiosonde back to Earth. These balloons are used just once.
Australian researchers at the Tangaroa Blue Foundation first flagged the problem of weather-balloon garbage a decade ago. Over 21 months, they collected 2,460 pieces of weather-balloon litter around the Great Barrier Reef. The researchers estimated that up to 70 percent of Australia’s weather balloons end up in the ocean. (The country has 38 sites from which it releases up to 300 balloons every week.)
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Energy/Transportation
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The Local DK ☛ Danish buses and trains could allow credit card fare payment
Rejsekort plans to put the future credit card system out to tender, the media writes. The new system will be expected to support plastic cards with NFC chips, like the current Rejsekort, as well as credit cards.
Once the new terminals are installed, it will still take some time before credit card payments are possible, with Christensen saying the credit card payment system will be introduced in a second phase.
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India Times ☛ Big Tech: Big Tech proposes power-rate terms in Ohio data-center fight
Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and other tech firms have proposed an alternative framework for how data centers pay for power in Ohio, according to documents filed with regulators on Thursday.
The companies had been fighting a proposal brought by utility AEP Ohio in May that would require data centers and cryptocurrency miners to provide pre-payments and other financial assurances for their massive energy needs. AEP said at the time it was overloaded with requests from those two groups.
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Energy Mix Productions Inc ☛ Walpole Island First Nation, Boralex Begin Construction on SW Ontario Battery Project
The facility will consist of 89 Tesla megapack batteries housed in storage containers and hooked up to nearby high-voltage power lines. In addition to the batteries, the project will include “inverters, medium voltage transformers, gravel internal access roads, buried collector and communication cabling, and a small transmission substation,” Boralex says. The project will benefit taxpayers “by reducing the need and cost associated with using gas-fired power plants during times of peak demand as well as helping to clean Ontario’s electricity system,” the company adds.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China's solar supremacy has become cause for concern
Officials meeting in Baku next month for the COP29 summit hope to agree on new finance targets to help developing countries respond to climate change, including ditching fossil fuels.
Last year, countries agreed to triple global installed renewable energy capacity by 2030.
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CBC ☛ A sailboat that ships cargo across the ocean? This company looks to the past for inspiration
With 325 pallets on board the Anemos, Picard says the boat actually transports his containers faster than a container ship, which would make more stops.
Leaving Santa Marta, Colombia, on Sept. 21, he says it arrived in Quebec City in under 20 days despite variability with the wind.
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The Washington Post ☛ Elon Musk will unveil Tesla’s robotaxi. Will it hit the roads this time?
Musk has a history of technological feats, including reusable rockets and speedy internet service from space. But the CEO’s record of overpromises about autonomous driving has many customers, analysts and investors skeptical about whether a Tesla robotaxi fleet will flood the roads anytime soon.
Here’s a look at Musk’s previous claims about Tesla’s progress on autonomous driving — and how his bold vision has yet to pan out. Musk and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
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Wired ☛ Unmasking Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto—Again
In the final scene of a new HBO documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, documentarian Cullen Hoback confronts Todd with the theory that he is Satoshi. In a previous work, Hoback unmasked the figure behind QAnon. Here, he tries to repeat the trick with Bitcoin.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Smithsonian Magazine ☛ Meet Milagra, a Rare Condor Rescued as an Egg and Newly Released Back Into the Wild | Smithsonian
The crowd looked on as four critically endangered California condors were released into the wild. Two took flight in about 40 minutes after their enclosure was opened. The third condor, though, the one people had traveled to see, waited nearly an hour and a half before emerging. Finally, Milagra, Spanish for “miracle,” stepped out into the world.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Jamie Zawinski ☛ I found better Footage of the Muskbot
The Muskanical Turk, or Optimus Primetime, or whatever Apartheid Emerald Mine Space Karen is calling it. Anyway, I hope this cleaned-up video clarifies things!
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The Guardian UK ☛ Boeing to cut 17,000 jobs amid worker strike and crisis over plane safety
Boeing is cutting 17,000 jobs “to align with our financial reality” as the beleaguered aerospace giant grapples with a sweeping strike and the persisting fallout from its latest safety crisis.
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RTL ☛ Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss
Boeing announced Friday that it plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce as it projected a large third-quarter loss in the wake of a machinist strike in the Seattle region.
The aviation giant must "reset our workforce levels to align with our financial reality," Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said, adding that the cuts of 17,000 positions globally "will include executives, managers and employees."
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India Times ☛ Musk's X will not be designated as gatekeeper under landmark EU tech rules
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Yilei Yang ☛ Google’s Alphabet Rebranding Didn’t Actually Fail
On the other hand, Alphabet is a holding company, and Google is both a product and a company under its umbrella. Other companies like Waymo also fall under Alphabet. When Alphabet was formed, it was intentionally designed to not have any products associated with it.
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Andrew Hutchings ☛ My WordPress Slack ban
I, and several others, immediately had questions as to how broad this was and the legal ramifications. This is important to me because my work on WordPress represents the MariaDB Foundation, my login uses my Foundation email address. Not only do I not want to be tied-up in legal issues, but I do not want to be responsible for dragging the MariaDB Foundation into them.
It is also very difficult for me to know if the MariaDB Foundation has a loose affiliation with WP Engine. Sure, I know they aren’t a direct sponsor, but they may be financially tied to one of our sponsors. As I am paid by the MariaDB Foundation, this could financially tie me.
I needed clarification on this before I could proceed. Others asking questions have clients who host on WP Engine, or use paid-for plugins created by WP Engine. They also needed similar clarification.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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The Guardian UK ☛ ‘It’s mindblowing’: US meteorologists face death threats as hurricane conspiracies surge
A series of falsehoods and threats have swirled in the two weeks since Hurricane Helene tore through six states causing several hundred deaths, followed by Milton crashing into Florida on Wednesday.
The extent of the misinformation, which has been stoked by Donald Trump and his followers, has been such that it has stymied the ability to help hurricane-hit communities, according to the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).
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Vox ☛ Why misinformation is running rampant after hurricanes Milton and Helene | Vox
Hurricanes Milton and Helene have absolutely devastated large swaths of the United States. But residents who are cleaning out waterlogged homes and businesses have another challenge to their recovery, one that hasn’t let up — viral disinformation.
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RTL ☛ X says 'alert' to manipulation efforts after pro-Russia bots report
X was "alert" to any platform manipulation attempts, the Elon Musk-owned site told AFP Friday, following a report that hundreds of apparent pro-Russian bot accounts were amplifying US election misinformation.
In a study shared exclusively with AFP earlier this week, the Washington-based American Sunlight Project (ASP) said it found nearly 1,200 accounts on X that pushed pro-Kremlin propaganda, content favoring Republican nominee Donald Trump, and misinformation about Democratic contender Kamala Harris.
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VOA News ☛ Meta removes fake accounts in Moldova ahead of presidential election
Authorities in Moldova, an ex-Soviet state lying between Romania and Ukraine, said they had blocked dozens of Telegram channels and chat bots linked to a drive to pay voters to cast "no" ballots in a referendum on European Union membership held alongside the presidential election.
Pro-European President Maia Sandu is seeking a second term in the election and called the referendum on joining the 27-member bloc as the cornerstone of her policies.
The fake Meta accounts posted criticism of Sandu, pro-EU politicians and close ties between Moldova and Romania, and supported pro-Russia parties in Moldova, the company said.
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VOA News ☛ Russian state media uses AI-generated images of Florida’s Disney World flooded by Milton
The images are fake, likely AI generated, as an inspection of their properties reveals an apparent digital alteration of basic elements, including false autofocus, false background and other indicators.
The origin of the images the Russian media published, citing RIA Novosti, is impossible to establish, as the agency restricted the Telegram’s default settings, which would enable downloading the images for a more detailed examination.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ NYT "Censors" Elon Musk's Jokes about Assassinating the Vice President and His "Censorship" of JD Vance Dossier
As journalists who focus on social media-enabled disinformation grow overwhelmed by the extent to which broad swathes of Americans have become detached from reality…
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Wired ☛ X Is Back in Brazil
Today, after a month-long suspension, X is now live again in Brazil. The platform had been suspended since late August after a showdown with the country’s Supreme Court, in which X refused a court order to remove certain right-wing accounts and content that the court said violated Brazilian law. After weeks of not complying, it seems Elon Musk has caved.
Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes authorized X’s return after the company blocked profiles accused of disseminating false information, reappointed a legal representative in the country, and paid fines that amounted to 28.6 million reais ($5.1 million).
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El País ☛ Milton, the Democrats’ secret weapon to win the election, and other campaign hoaxes
The misinformation that started to spread after the damage from Hurricane Helene and which continues unabated opens up a new front in the partisan battle with less than a month to go before Election Day
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Elon Musk's courtship with MAGA has driven X into misinformation abyss
Musk’s idea of “freedom” is amplifying hate speech, sowing misinformation, stoking conspiracies, propping up nationalists in places like India and Argentina, and complying with censorship requests from authoritarian regimes like Turkey‘s.
As for our presidential race here at home, Musk’s misleading election claims on X were viewed 1.2 billion times between January and July of this year, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
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The Hill ☛ Biden suggests Trump ‘get a life’ after false hurricane claims
President Biden on Thursday said that former President Trump “should get a life” amid false claims from Trump and his allies about the federal response to the recent hurricanes.
“Mr. President Trump, former President Trump, get a life man, help these people,” Biden said in remarks on Hurricane Milton from the White House.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Deutsche Welle ☛ India: When stick figure cartoons are seen as a threat
Back when she started, Narendra Modi had been newly elected as India's prime minister. She felt she had to directly react to his government's attempts to curb freedom of speech.
Using simple stick figures, she kept drawing her comics, commenting on all sorts of social, political and cultural topics, from #MeTooand patriarchy to freedom of speech and harassment against minorities.
The cartoons are all collected in her web series, called Sanitary Panels — a pun combining "sanitary pads" and "comic panels," reflecting her feminist focus.
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VOA News ☛ Cameroon bans any talk about 91-year-old president's health
From now on, "any debate in the media about the president's condition is therefore strictly prohibited. Offenders will face the full force of the law," Nji said.
He ordered the governors to set up units to monitor broadcasts on private media channels, as well as social networks.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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New York Times ☛ Evan Gershkovich, U.S. Journalist Imprisoned in Russia, Will Publish a Memoir
Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was imprisoned in Russia for more than a year, is writing a memoir about his time in prison, his five years living in Moscow and Russia’s slide toward autocracy.
The memoir will be published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House, with a tentative publication date in 2026.
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[Repeat] Deutsche Welle ☛ EU lawmakers urge Turkey to clear DW journalist Bulent Mumay
The European Parliament slammed the sentencing of Turkish DW journalist Bulent Mumay as part of a "pattern of judicial harassment and censorship" against Turkey's "independent media" in a resolution passed on Thursday.
The coordinator of DW's Istanbul bureau was handed a 20-month suspended sentence in May last year for "obtaining and publishing personal data without permission." He began serving his term this June following an unsuccessful appeal.
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ANF News ☛ Journalist Serhildan Andan detained in Amed
Kurdish journalist Serhildan Andan was taken into custody in Amed (Diyarbakir). The Dicle-Fırat Journalists Association (DFG), of which Andan is a board member, announced that the detention was carried out by the anti-terror police on Friday morning with no reasons being given.
In a written statement, the DFG stated that the government continues its practice of criminalising the work of journalists.
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CPJ ☛ Several journalists flee Cuba after state agents question, pressure at least 8
Cuban news website El Toque, which operates from exile, reported that the journalists were summoned as part of investigations into accusations that the journalists engaged in “mercenary” activities, including receiving foreign funding in violation of state security. If convicted, the journalists face prison sentences of 4-10 years.
CPJ confirmed eight cases of journalists being questioned and is investigating more than a dozen others. Four journalists publicly confirmed they were summoned and questioned by Cuban authorities: [...]
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Civil Rights/Policing
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RFERL ☛ The Azadi Briefing: Taliban Threatens Former Afghan Policewomen
The Taliban has threatened Afghan women who served in the police force under the previous Western-backed government, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The threats have forced hundreds of former Afghan policewomen, who were trained by the United States and its allies, to go into hiding, the global rights watchdog said.
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BIA Net ☛ Miners dismissed for unionizing march barefoot to parliament
Workers employed at Fernas Mining, owned by AKP deputy Ferhat Nasıroğlu in the Soma district of Manisa, organized under the Independent Mine Workers' Union (Bağımsız Maden İş) in response to poor working conditions, the inability to take leave, the lack of health and safety measures, bad meals, and low wages.
Initially, five unionized workers were dismissed, followed by two more. On August 26, miners started a protest to demand the reinstatement of their dismissed colleagues, as well as their rights. Since then, the number of dismissed workers has reached 95.
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[Repeat] BIA Net ☛ Turkey’s human rights agency ‘exists only in name'
Despite its official mandate to protect human rights and combat discrimination, Turkey’s Human Rights and Equality Institution (TİHEK) remains largely ineffective, according to the 2023 audit report of the Court of Accounts, the country’s highest governmental accounting body.
Established in 2016 to replace its predecessor, the Turkish Human Rights Institution (TİHEK) was mandated by Law No. 6332 to safeguard human dignity and promote equality. However, a recent audit reveals significant structural and operational shortcomings, suggesting that the institution is largely ineffective.
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Le Monde ☛ How Telegram was used by the Islamic State to trade slaves
A survivor of the massacres perpetrated on August 3, 2014 by IS against Yazidis on their ancestral lands, she was captured and enslaved by the men in black. First in Mosul, the Iraqi capital of the "caliphate" proclaimed by Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, where the little girl was put up for sale at $6.000. Then in IS's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, where she was offered at $4,000 on June 22, 2016. The sale offer, which Le Monde consulted, stated that Imane "wets the bed." The ad was published on a virtual market where child hostages of IS were auctioned off by the jihadists – boys destined to become child soldiers from the age of 7, and girls reduced to sex slaves. This sprawling market, hosted on the online messaging platform Telegram, proliferated with impunity across the "caliphate," until its fall in 2019.
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New York Times ☛ Tesla Loses Court Battle in Swedish Labor Dispute
A district court in Sweden ruled on Friday that it could not force a local postal company to resume deliveries to Tesla that had stopped nearly a year ago as part of a wider labor dispute aimed at getting the U.S. automaker to sign a collective bargaining agreement.
Tesla filed the lawsuit against PostNord, the main postal service in Sweden, last year as part of its efforts to push back against a walkout nearly a year ago by mechanics at its service centers across the country. The labor action garnered support from unions in other industries, including the postal carriers’ guild.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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