Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ LEAF Mission Seeks To Grow Plants On The Moon

  We have seen a recent surge of interest in whether it’s possible to grow potatoes and other plants in Martian soil, but what is the likelihood that a future (manned) lunar base could do something similar? To that end [Space Lab] is developing the LEAF project that will be part of NASA’s upcoming Artemis III lunar mission. This mission would be the first to have Americans return to the Moon by about 2028, using the somewhat convoluted multi-system SLS-Starship-Lunar Gateway trifecta. The LEAF (Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora) science module will feature three types of plants (rape (Brassica Rapa), duckweed and cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) ) in an isolated atmosphere.

• New Yorker ☛ The Amazing, Disappearing Johnny Carson

  Carson pioneered a new style of late-night hosting—relaxed, improvisatory, risk-averse, and inscrutable.

• New York Times ☛ Eikoh Hosoe, Photographer Who Elevated the Avant-Garde, Dies at 91

  He pioneered a surrealistic narrative style in collaborations with dancers, artists and the author Yukio Mishima, with whom he created startling erotic tableaus.

• Tedium ☛ Know What You Control

  If you’re stuck dealing with a bug that you can’t seem to fix, there’s nothing wrong with getting some white space from it. No harm in that.

• Standards/Consortia

  • Rob Knight ☛ Why Is No One Using the Recipe Schema?

    While working on my recipe handling for this site as outlined in my previous post I realised that there are many recipe-related browser extensions available so I should be able to test my schema.org markup and my microformat class locally so I downloaded a handful of the most popular ones.

  • Cloudflare ☛ What is HTTP/3?

    An important difference in HTTP/3 is that it runs on QUIC, a new transport protocol. QUIC is designed to be fast and to support switching rapidly between networks. It relies on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) rather than the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which mitigates an issue called head-of-line blocking in TCP, where network packet loss or reordering can slow down high-transaction connections. Furthermore, QUIC separates out the layer 4 transport connection from the layer 3 IP flow, allowing for migration between different networks without disruption.

    QUIC can better support mobile-heavy Internet usage in which people carry smartphones and constantly switch from one network to another as they move about their day. This type of Internet usage was not common when the first Internet protocols were developed: devices were less portable and did not switch networks very often.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ The Mysterious Origins of Fast Radio Bursts May Finally Be Identified

    Where are they coming from?

  • Science Alert ☛ Wild Discovery Reveals That Comb Jellies Can Age in Reverse

    A species that can reverse its life cycle?

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Axiomtek CEM710 COM Express module features defective chip maker Intel Xeon D-1700 SoC with up to 100Gbps Ethernet support

    In 2022, we covered Intel’s Xeon D (Ice Lake-D) processor family, which includes the D-2700 and D-1700 models. These processors are designed for software-defined networking and edge applications, providing data center-grade capabilities at the edge. Key features include integrated Hey Hi (AI) and crypto acceleration, built-in Ethernet, and support for defective chip maker Intel Time Coordinated Computing (TCC) and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) to ensure high reliability.

  • Hackaday ☛ What Happens If You Speedrun Making A CPU?

    Usually, designing a CPU is a lengthy process, especially so if you’re making a new ISA too. This is something that can take months or even years before you first get code to run. But what if it wasn’t? What if one were to try to make a CPU as fast as humanly possible? That’s what I asked myself a couple weeks ago.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Foe of Drug Makers and Regulators, Is Poised to Wield New Power

    President-elect Donald Trump has encouraged him to “go wild on health” but has not made clear what role Mr. Kennedy will play.

  • PHR ☛ Trump’s Threats to Human Rights and Health in the United States Will Be Met by PHR and Civil Society

    With Donald Trump set to become the next president of the United States, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) will mobilize its network and resources to protect human rights in the United States and around the globe.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian residents generally rate their health worse than EU peers

    Latvian residents tend to be rather pessimistic about the state of their health, when compared with other EU countries, regardless of whether they are citizens or not, according to new Eurostat data.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Afghan opium cultivation bounces and shifts two years after ban, UN says

    VIENNA - Opium poppy production in Afghanistan, long the world's dominant supplier of the raw material for heroin, has risen by a fifth in the second full year since the Taliban banned it but remains a fraction of pre-ban levels, a U.N. report said on Wednesday.

• Science Alert ☛ One Stage of Sleep Seems to Be Critical in Reducing Dementia Risk

  Our brains need it.

• Latvia ☛ Police official suspected of helping cigarette smugglers

  In the second half of October, the Internal Security Bureau (IDB) arrested an official of the Latgale Region of the State Police on suspicion of abuse of an official position, including aiding a smuggling ring, the IDB said in a release November 5.

• JURIST ☛ Parents of teen suicide victims lead lawsuit against Fentanylware (TikTok) in France

  Seven families have united under the collective Algos Victima to file a civil lawsuit against Fentanylware (TikTok) in the Créteil judicial court, represented by their lawyer, Laure Boutron-Marmion, on Monday. The families allege the Chinese social control media platform exposes children to harmful videos that promote suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders.

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Outlook users beware — Classic Outlook is currently crashing when you open more than 60 emails at once

  Microsoft Outlook's Classic version has a bug with mass-managing 60+ emails.

• Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia becomes the world's most valuable company by market capitalization — Chipmaker dethrones Fashion Company Apple for the second time this year

  Today, the stock market saw Nvidia overtake Fashion Company Apple - now standing as the world's largest company by market capitalization at $3.5 trillion.

• The Register UK ☛ Sysadmin shock as Windows Server 2025 installs itself after update labeling error

  Administrators are reporting unexpected appearances of Windows Server 2025 after what was published as a security update turned out to be a complete operating system upgrade.

• India Today ☛ Tech Layoffs 2024 continue as Mozilla, X and Samsung announce fresh round of job cuts

  As we near the close of 2024, the wave of layoffs in the tech industry shows no sign of slowing down. Following the mass job cuts announced in 2022 and 2023, tech companies have continued to announce additional layoffs throughout this year amid economic pressures, shifting strategies, and the impact of technological advancements like AI. According to Layoffs.fyi, over 143,209 jobs have been cut across 493 tech companies so far this year. These cuts include positions at both large and small tech firms, such as Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap, Microsoft, and others.

  For some companies, these job cuts are part of restructuring, while others have shut down certain departments or entire companies under pressure from slow revenue growth. Recent layoffs in particular were seen from major players like Mozilla, X– formerly Twitter, and Samsung which announced new rounds of job cuts, adding to the list of mass layoffs announced over the past few years.

Defence/Aggression

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Former high-level Chinese government worker to be executed for spying

  A former high-level Chinese government employee has been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power, Beijing’s spy agency said Wednesday.

• The Straits Times ☛ South Korea wants to build ‘perfect’ security partnership with new US administration

  South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was expected to speak to the US president-elect in the coming days.

• The Strategist ☛ Demonstrated destruction is deterrence

  US and Israeli air strikes in the last month underlined the unrivalled ability of sophisticated air forces to reach and destroy sensitive targets.

• JURIST ☛ Lebanon military court fails to hold security forces accountable for torture of Syrian refugee

  Amnesty International condemned Lebanon’s military court on Tuesday for its failure to hold security forces officers responsible for Syrian refugee Bashar Abd Saud’s death in custody accountable.

• JURIST ☛ Brazil police bring formal charges in murder of environmental activists

  The Federal Police in Brazil announced on Monday that they identified and arrested the murderer of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, ending a two-year investigation into the double homicide of the Brazilian indigenous activist and the British journalist who were killed in the Javari Valley in the Amazon.

• The Straits Times ☛ Philippines says joint maritime exercises rein in China in South China Sea

  Beijing has for years sought to expand its presence in the disputed waterway.

• The Straits Times ☛ China will work with US but more rivalry expected under Trump

  The President-elect has said he will slap tariffs in excess of 60 per cent on Chinese imports.

• Myanmar junta chief seeks China’s help on border stability

  Min Aung Hlaing, on his first trip to China since his coup, traveled to Kunming; no sign of Beijing visit

• The Straits Times ☛ China pledges support for Myanmar’s political transition

  Min Aung Hlaing is on his first visit to neighbouring China since he seized power in a 2021 coup.

• China looks for U.S. cooperation; media blames ‘US hawks’ for strained ties

  Both U.S. parties have made China a ‘scapegoat’ for domestic woes, commentators said in the China Daily.

• North Korean officials in China saw Trump win election via South Korean media

  The officials were impressed by the election’s transparency and how voters had the right to choose.

• Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

  • RFERL ☛ Russian Nationalist Girkin Loses Appeal Over Anti-Putin Remarks

    Russian nationalist and former separatist commander Igor Girkin, also known by his alias Strelkov, has lost his appeal against a four-year prison sentence he was handed for calling for "extremist activity."

  • Meduza ☛ Russian state officials and politicians respond optimistically to Trump’s election victory, despite Putin’s claimed preference for Harris — Meduza

  • Meduza ☛ Putin withholds congratulatory call to Trump, will wait to see what he does once back in office come January — Meduza

  • France24 ☛ 'Going to be rough': NATO braces for Donald Trump's return

    US allies at NATO scrambled Wednesday to put a brave face on the return of Donald Trump to the White House amid fears the unpredictable Republican could upend European security and pull the plug on Ukraine support. For more, FRANCE 24 correspondent, Dave Keating.

  • JURIST ☛ South Korea and EU condemn North Korea arms and troop transfers to Russia

    South Korea and the EU condemned North Korea’s contribution of military arms and personnel to Russia as illegal under international law in a joint statement on Tuesday. The statement follows recent reports that Russia has deployed North Korean troops in its war against Ukraine.

  • LRT ☛ What Trump’s victory means for Ukraine

    Following the U.S. presidential election on November 5, the decision by Americans to return Donald Trump to the White House has reverberated around the world.

  • RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Congratulates Trump On Victory In U.S. Presidential Election

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he spoke with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and congratulated him on his election victory.

  • Meduza ☛ Zelensky congratulates Trump on U.S. election victory — Meduza

  • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Drone Strikes Russia's Daghestan For First Time

    A Ukrainian drone made an incursion inside Russia’s North Caucasus region of Daghestan, in an attempt to strike the city of Kaspiisk near the Caspian Sea.

  • RFERL ☛ Armenian Arrested In Moscow For Fighting For Ukraine

    Armenian citizen Armen Balian, who fought alongside Ukrainian troops against invading Russian forces, has been detained in Moscow and charged with mercenary activity, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

  • RFERL ☛ Russia Massing Thousands Of Troops In Kursk, Ukraine Says

    Russia has massed some 45,000 troops in Kursk likely in preparation of a counteroffensive to expel Ukrainian forces from the region, Ukrainian commander in chief General Oleksandr Syrskiy said on November 6, adding that Moscow was also seeking to beef up its effectiveness with North Korean soldiers.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Ukraine’s jittery new reality: ‘Work with Trump and hope for the best’

    Ukrainians followed the U.S. presidential contest almost as if it were their own, nervously expressing the sense that their country’s future hung in the balance of an election in which they had no say.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Cargo packages waiting for North American flights ignited. Officials blame Russia.

    Intended for cargo planes headed to North America, the incendiary devices ignited while in storage in Germany and England. Linking the plot to Russia, Western security officials say the Kremlin is sabotaging Ukraine’s allies.

  • New York Times ☛ For Ukraine, Trump Victory Signals a Shift. To What, Is Unclear.

    As U.S. president, Donald J. Trump will inherit a role as Ukraine’s chief benefactor. But he has been skeptical about continuing aid to Kyiv.

  • Meduza ☛ Russian mayor ousted for telling a woman that her brother died fighting in Ukraine to expedite a local construction project now heads a regional psychological center — Meduza

  • Meduza ☛ FT: Ukrainian soldiers fear Trump will cut off U.S. aid and Russia will take Donbas — Meduza

  • Meduza ☛ The Donald returns What Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory means for Russia and the war in Ukraine — Meduza

  • RFERL ☛ Russia Summons Moldovan Envoy Over 'Hostile' Treatment Of Election Observers

    Russia's Foreign Ministry said on November 6 that it had summoned Moldova's ambassador to protest what the Kremlin describes as the "hostile and discriminatory" treatment of Russian election observers by Moldovan authorities.

  • RFERL ☛ U.S. Imposes More Sanctions On Bosnian Serb Leader's 'Patronage Network'

    The U.S. Treasury Department on November 6 added an individual and a company to the sanctions list for their alleged roles in helping Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and his son evade U.S. sanctions.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian man detained in Belarus for smuggling ammunition

    Belarus has detained a Lithuanian citizen who was trying to smuggle ammunition into the country, officials from both countries have confirmed.

  • LRT ☛ Baltic defensive line takes shape

    The Baltic defensive line is beginning to take shape – Estonia is testing bunkers, Latvia is putting up concrete blocks and Lithuania is acquiring mines.

  Apple is acquiring a Lithuanian graphics editing app Pixelmator created by brothers Aidas and Saulius Dailidė.

Environment

• Energy/Transportation

  • Science Alert ☛ New Discovery Paves The Way to Generating Energy From Body Heat

    Use it or lose it.

Finance

• The Straits Times ☛ From Taiwan to trade, China braces itself for more rivalry as Trump claims victory

  Chinese strategists expect more fiery rhetoric and potentially crippling tariffs.

• Asians see Trump offering tougher policies on China, despite contradictions

  Some worry tariffs from Trump’s trade war will spill over to hurt the region.

• LRT ☛ Lithuanian would-be PM’s company buys lithium batteries from China

  Garnis, a Lithuanian maker of battery systems, partly owned by Gintautas Paluckas, the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party’s candidate for prime minister, says it buys small quantities of Chinese lithium batteries for its products through intermediaries in Poland and Germany, but claims it is looking for alternative suppliers.

• LRT ☛ Lithuanian PM calls proposals to normalise relations with China ‘unwise’

  Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has described proposals to normalise Lithuania’s relations with China as “unwise”.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• New York Times ☛ World Reacts to Donald Trump’s Win in U.S. Presidential Election

  Donald J. Trump has said he would transform America’s relationship with allies and adversaries. He has pledged to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, increase tariffs and deport millions.

• CS Monitor ☛ Here’s what it looks like when voting goes right

  As election results came in, one North Carolina county opened its doors to show democracy in action. The election showed how healthy the process is.

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China says it hopes for ‘peaceful coexistence’ with US as Donald Trump declares victory in presidential election

  China said Wednesday it hoped for “peaceful coexistence” with the United States as Donald Trump neared a decisive victory over Kamala Harris in the country’s presidential election.

• The Strategist ☛ Trump vs China, round two

  In August 2019, amid an escalating trade war with China, then-US president Donald Trump fired off a series of tweets directing US companies to ‘immediately start looking for … alternative[s] to China’

• CS Monitor ☛ Why Latino voters shifted Republican to help elect Donald Trump

  Donald Trump received a boost in the election by Latino voters, especially men, according to exit polls. It appears that the economy and inflation are two key reasons driving their support.

• New York Times ☛ Netanyahu Faces Backlash for Firing Israel’s Defense Minister

  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dismissal of Yoav Gallant was seen as a risky step as Israel fights wars on two fronts. Opposition leaders said the move put national security at risk.

• CS Monitor ☛ What Trump’s historic victory says about America

  Former President Donald Trump’s win reflected many voters’ frustration with issues from border security to the cost of living to America’s role in the world, and is part of a larger anti-incumbent backlash seen in other Western democracies.

• France24 ☛ Trump 2.0: who will possible new tariffs hurt the most?

  Wall Street rallied, bitcoin hit a new record while German auto stocks plunged... as markets digested Donald Trump's comeback, Chinese consumers are bracing for a possible new wave of punitive tariffs... but a new round of trade war could hit its economy harder than before. Yuka Royer spoke with economist Antonio Fatas of INSEAD who said that those promised tariffs would ultimately lead to higher inflation and hurt American consumers.

• JURIST ☛ More than 100 influential attorneys caution against filing of frivolous US election lawsuits

  More than 100 past presidents of US state, local and national bar associations issued a letter on Monday cautioning attorneys against the filing of meritless election lawsuits. The letter’s authors reminded attorneys that it is their “sacred responsibility” to “safeguard the rule of law.”

• New York Times ☛ In Concession Speech, Harris Says She Will Not Give Up Her Fight

  Her commitment to a peaceful transfer of power was more than President-elect Trump ever offered to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris after they defeated him in 2020.

• New York Times ☛ What’s at Stake for Mexico in a Second Trump Presidency?

  Tariffs, border crossings, mass deportations of migrants and military strikes on cartels: Mexico is in the firing line of the president-elect.

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong civil servants to be given confidential guidelines on how to safeguard national security

  The Hong Kong government will introduce national security guidelines for all civil servants in the first half of 2025, the city’s security chief Chris Tang has said.

Censorship/Free Speech

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Retrial of Hong Kong ex-professor convicted of killing wife, daughter in ‘yoga ball murder’ case begins

  Hong Kong’s High Court has begun a retrial of an ex-professor convicted and jailed for life over murdering his wife and daughter in 2015. Khaw Kim-sun, a former associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an anaesthesiologist from Malaysia, appeared before a seven-member jury at the High Court on Wednesday.

• JURIST ☛ China human rights lawyer in deteriorating health after hunger strike in arbitrary detention

  Human rights organizations sounded the alarm on Tuesday over the deteriorating health of Chinese legal scholar and human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who has been on a hunger strike for nearly a month to protest his ongoing ill-treatment in detention.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

• Press Gazette ☛ News organisations are forced to accept Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) crawlers, says FT policy chief

  FT letter says Google's social contract with publishers is broken.

Civil Rights/Policing

• JURIST ☛ EU urged to address human rights crisis in Azerbaijan during COP29

  Human Rights Watch (HRW) and 16 other organizations urged the European Union on Wednesday to confront Azerbaijan’s government on human rights abuses during the upcoming COP29 climate conference. The organizations call for EU leaders to help end the increasing politically motivated arrests, detainments, and restrictions on free speech in Azerbaijan.

• RFERL ☛ Tajik Activist Reportedly Attempts Suicide In Germany To Protest Deportation

  Tajik opposition activist Dilmurod Ergashev attempted to commit suicide before being deported from Germany to Tajikistan, The Insider investigative group reported on November 6, citing self-exiled Tajik opposition activist Sharofiddin Gadoev.

• ACLU ☛ How the ACLU Will Fight Four More Years of Trump

  The results of the election are in: Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the United States.

  Trump’s win comes after a campaign in which he consistently targeted immigrants, transgender youth, and other vulnerable communities with hateful rhetoric. He also threatened retribution against dissidents and political opponents.

  I know that many of us fear what these results mean for our communities, our nation and ourselves. We know that a second Trump administration will be even more aggressive and effective than it was before — because Trump has repeatedly said so.