Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Hacking Trees To Bring Back The American Chestnut

  “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” is playing on the radio now in the Northern Hemisphere which begs the question, “What happened to the American chestnut?” Would you be surprised to hear there’s a group dedicated to bringing it back from “functional extinction?” [via Inhabitat]

• Lou Plummer ☛ Are There Ethics to Blogging?

  At some point, my goal is to have more time to write more polished and detailed work, to spend more time fine-tuning what I put out there for folks to read. I want to work through more than one draft, like what I envision a real writer does, Meanwhile, I will continue to be a happy hack making stuff that's good enough to share even if it won't win any rewards.

• Robin Rendle ☛ The eras of CSS

  I wouldn’t have become a designer if it wasn’t for CSS3 and HTML5. They came together at just the right time and captured everything that was so exciting about publishing and typography on the web. And I was drawn towards the web because of this groundswell of excitement.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Judging 9.5% of developers by commits

  I added an item to that list. Can you spot which one? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not “limit humanity’s progress”.

• Alex Ewerlöf ☛ Accountable vs Responsible

  To me responsibility and accountability were synonyms until I did the research.

  There is a nuanced but profound difference between the two.

• Career/Education

  • Greece ☛ Over 10,000 pupils suspended for violating school cell phone ban, minister says

    This regulation builds on an earlier measure aimed at combating cyberbullying, which allowed for the expulsion of pupils found filming classmates and posting the footage online to ridicule them.

  • Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Lucy Bellwood

    This is the 66th edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Lucy Bellwood and her blog, lucybellwood.com

• Hardware

  • Dan Q ☛ Stuck in a Lift

    It turns out it did so at all times. Except when it bounced between floors, as we were now, the emergency brakes detected this as a problem and locked on. The lift jerked to an immediate halt. We were stuck.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • International Business Times ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] NHS Junior Doctors Leave Permanent Roles For Better-paying Locum Work, Driven By TikTok Trends [Ed: China can ruin British health and cause chaos through social control media "trends" ]

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] TikTok CEO Sought Musk's Input Ahead of Trump Administration, WSJ Reports [Ed: They're all in this together, dictators with their social control media]

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] Factbox-TikTok Decision Coming Soon as Jan. 19 Divestment Deadline Looms

  • Futurism ☛ Doctors Intrigued by Treatment That Makes Dead Brains Show Signs of Life

    In fact, Yale School of Medicine neuroscientist Zvonimir Vrselja and his colleagues are looking to try the technique on human brains — efforts, needless to say, that could have thorny ethical ramifications.

    For one, the definition of when a person has died has remained a lively debate among health practitioners.

  • New Scientist ☛ The radical treatments bringing people back from the brink of death

    That was when something incredible happened. The cortex turned from grey to pink. Brain cells started producing proteins. Neurons juddered back to life, displaying signs of metabolic activity indistinguishable from that of living cells. Basic cellular functions, activities that were supposed to irreversibly cease after blood flow stopped, were restored. The pig’s brain wasn’t alive, exactly – but it certainly wasn’t dead.

  • Vox ☛ Political polarization is linked to worse health. Could RFK Jr. change that?

    “Political polarization is harming our health in just about every way,” says Matthew Motta, a political scientist and health law scholar who studies anti-science attitudes at Boston University — and “pretty much all aspects of health have become politicized.” That leads elected officials and other authority figures to make bad health policy decisions and communicate with the public in ways that link health behavior with partisan ideology. A public that sees everything through a red-or-blue lens is more likely to distrust experts, dislike policies with clear health benefits, embrace policies with clear health risks, and make self-destructive choices.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Omicron Limited ☛ A rising tide of e-waste, made worse by AI, threatens health, the environment and the economy

    According to the study, the boom in artificial intelligence will significantly contribute to this e-waste problem, because AI requires lots of computing power and storage. It will, among other things, lead to more turnover of computer servers used in the data centers that support the extra computational needs of AI systems.

    This rising tide of e-waste, coupled with the limited lifetimes of hi-tech devices, could affect global sustainability goals.

  • Michigan Advance ☛ Biden administration leaves ‘foundational’ tech legacy, technologists say

    Though he was unable to get federal regulations on AI passed through Congress, Biden’s goal was to bring tech access to all Americans, while safeguarding against potential harms, the technologists said.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • India Times ☛ Meta faces trial in 2025 on unfair competition case lodged by Spanish media

      The hearings will be held on Oct. 1 and 2, the 15th Madrid commercial court said in a statement.

      The AMI media association, which represents 87 Spanish media firms, filed a lawsuit last year alleging Meta violated EU data protection rules between 2018 and 2023.

    • [Repeat] RFA ☛ China plans big data warning system to prevent public killings

      “We should ... deeply tap into the rich seams of political and legal data, strengthen data identification, screening, analysis and evaluation, and find ways to capture and identify risks and hidden dangers,” party law enforcement czar Ting Bai told officials on a recent inspection tour in the eastern province of Zhejiang, according to official reports.

    • El País ☛ A dozen eggs and a dozen bullets: Ammunition hits US grocery stores

      Kimberley Chandler, a reporter for AP, contacted American Rounds and a spokesperson for the company confirmed that this was a pilot initiative set to expand throughout the U.S. in the coming months. The goal, according to the machine’s creators, is to streamline and simplify the sale of legal ammunition to those who meet the only requirement: to be of legal age, which is verified thanks to a simple AI facial recognition device that is activated with the machine.

• Defence/Aggression

  • International Business Times ☛ Over 900K Migrants Now Call England Home In The Last Year: Top 5 Spots They're Moving To And Their Origins

    When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 and changed the face and history of the country forever, he came with just 10,000 men. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest net migration of over 900,000 in the year to June 2023 alone, a new high.

  • The Register UK ☛ Brits are scrolling away from X and aren't interested in AI

    X suffered the most significant fall in total adult use of all social media sites, which also resulted in it sliding down the rankings to sixth, behind Reddit, which registered the largest year-on-year growth – 47 percent – taking May's figure to 22.9 million.

    Several changes have been made at X in recent months, but the platform has continued on a downward trajectory in Britain and Northern Ireland.

  • VOA News ☛ Iran to enrich uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges, UN says

    Iran will begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its two main nuclear facilities at Fordo and Natanz, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog said Friday, further raising tensions over Tehran's program as it enriches at near weapons-grade levels.

  • CBC ☛ Recycling is failing as a way to reduce plastic. Here's why

    The figure most often cited is that only nine per cent of the world's plastic has ever been recycled. That statistic is taken from a 2017 study looking at how much plastic the world has thrown out from 1950 to 2015.

    It's a lot: 6.3 billion tonnes, or the weight of nearly 54,000 CN Towers.

  • CBC ☛ Final UN plastic treaty talks reach halfway mark

    Canadian negotiators at the United Nations plastic pollution treaty talks in South Korea said Thursday they are working "around the clock" to finalize an agreement, though the process has been predictably difficult.

    Negotiators from 177 countries are meeting in Busan for what is supposed to be the fifth and final round of negotiations to develop an international, legally binding treaty to end plastic waste by 2040.

  • The Strategist ☛ 6.5 million on the move: across the world, migration is surging

    A record 6.5 million people made new homes in advanced nations last year, according to the newly released Migration Outlook of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Migration flows into advanced countries last year were 28 percent higher than in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

    This does not include the exodus from Ukraine, which about 300,000 people left last year, taking the number of Ukrainians who have fled the war to 5 million.

  • International Business Times ☛ Did TikTok Swing Romania's Election? Recount Ordered Following Claims Platform Boosted Far-Right Candidate

    With less than two weeks to go before Romania votes on its next President, the country's Constitutional Court has ordered a recount of the first round votes after Elena Lasconi's Union Save Romania Party was accused of breaking campaign rules. Meanwhile Călin Georgescu, who topped the first round votes, has been accused of having his campaign boosted by Tiktok and Russia.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Romania orders election recount after shock far-right win

    Romania's top court on Thursday mandated a recount of votes in the first round of the country's presidential election, where a far-right candidate scored a surprise victory.

    The Romanian Constitutional Court (CCR) "unanimously ordered the reverification and recounting of the voting ballots for the November 24 presidential election," it said in a statement.

  • The Record ☛ UN, international orgs create advisory body for submarine cables after incidents | The Record from Recorded Future News

    On Friday, the United Nations Agency for Digital Technologies said it is partnering with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) to create the International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience.

    “Submarine cables carry over 99 percent of international data exchanges, making their resilience a global imperative," ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin said in a statement. “The Advisory Body will mobilize expertise from around the world to ensure this vital digital infrastructure remains resilient in the face of disasters, accidents, and other risks."

  • LRT ☛ Damaged Lithuania-Sweden telecoms cable repaired – Telia

    The communications cable running between Lithuania and Sweden in the Baltic Sea, which was damaged almost two weeks ago, has been repaired, Telia Lietuva, a Lithuanian arm of the Swedish telecoms company, has announced.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ China says ready to 'work with' Baltic Sea cut cables probe

    It comes after Sweden asked for Beijing's cooperation in the probe into the rupture of two data cables on November 17-18 in an area where a China-flagged vessel had been sighted.

    Both cables were restored as of Friday morning, their respective operators said.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuania’s would-be culture minister critical of ‘cancelling’ poet Salomėja Nėris

    The Desovietisation Commission has issued a recommendation and the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania director has made the decision that streets named after Nėris should be renamed and that Vilnius should remove her monument.

    They based the decision on the artist’s role in legitimising the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Why Georgia’s pro-democracy protests failed

    Unless something drastically changes, it seems like the ruling Georgian Dream party will be able to consolidate some form of authoritarian governance and that the country’s EU membership hopes are in tatters.

    But most painfully for pro-EU forces, Georgian democracy did not die heroically in a hail of Russian bullets, or under the batons of riot police. It appears to be dying because it’s too cold outside and Georgians are too depressed and nihilistic to resist.

  • Wired ☛ The US Army's Vision of Soldiers in Exoskeletons Lives On

    While a DEVCOM spokesperson declined to identify which commercially produced systems were evaluated by soldiers, the Army announced its intent in August to award a contract to exoskeleton maker SUITX to “give users experience of advanced soldier augmentation technologies,” according to a government notice. “This exoskeleton will serve as a critical tool for evaluating the potential benefits of robotic assistance in increasing soldier endurance, strength, and overall operational effectiveness.”

  • New York Times ☛ Opinion | F.B.I. Checks of Trump Nominees Are Critical for the Nation’s Security

    Efforts to bypass F.B.I. background checks and even Senate confirmation itself via mass recess appointments, made by the president when the Senate is not in session, never would have flown with past iterations of the Judiciary Committee, regardless of which party was in charge. The Senate shouldn’t stand for it now.

  • New York Times ☛ Trump Disavowed Project 2025 During the Campaign. Not Anymore.

    Now, as he plans his agenda for his return to the White House, Mr. Trump has recruited at least a half dozen architects and supporters of the plan to oversee key issues, including the federal budget, intelligence gathering and his promised plans for mass deportations.

  • India Times ☛ Australia's social media ban for under 16s divides opinion, draws Big Tech flak

    After a national debate, the legislation has set a global benchmark as one of the strictest regulations targeting major tech companies. Under the law, platforms such as Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, as well as TikTok, must block minors from logging in or face penalties of up to A$ 49.5 million. A trial to determine enforcement methods will commence in January, with the full ban coming into effect by November 2025.

  • CBC ☛ Australia is banning social media for those under 16. Is it a solution for Canada?

    Australia's new law banning social media for those under 16 will likely move the needle on Canadian efforts demanding more online protections for young people, experts say, though they call the "sledgehammer approach" an imperfect solution.

    Passed Thursday, the new law will require TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and other social media companies to take "reasonable steps" to keep users under 16 off their platforms or face fines.

  • The Hill ☛ Australia imposes social media ban for kids under 16

    The Australian Senate passed the legislation Thursday night with bipartisan backing. The law will impact social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, X and Reddit, but it will not be enforced for YouTube.

    The companies are the only ones responsible for enforcing the restriction, and if they fail to do so after one year, they could face fines of up to $32 million.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Australian Senate bill means under 16s will be banned from using social media

    However, this won’t happen overnight. Companies will have 12 months to comply with the rules, which will mean introducing new age-verification systems for Australian users. If companies don’t comply with the rules, they might find themselves fined A$50 million ($32.5 million).

    The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the law reflects the concerns of parents who see their kids’ health being harmed from social media use. In a press conference, he said, “Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them.” He said there is a “clear, causal link between the rise of social media and the harm [to] the mental health of young Australians.”

  • Jewish News ☛ BBC staff quit journalists' union after being told to dress in Palestinian colours

    The National Union of Journalists has confirmed to Jewish News that BBC journalists have resigned from the union after it distributed directives from the TUC urging workers to dress in Palestinian colours, or wear a keffiyeh, as part of a Day of Action for Palestine.

  • YLE ☛ Finland, Sweden complete repairs on Baltic Sea cables

    Shortly after reports about the damage emerged, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius suggested the incidents were sabotage.

    According to the Wall Street Journal, a Chinese-flagged freighter, the Yi Peng 3, intentionally dragged its anchor along the seabed for a distance of more than 160km, damaging the cables.

  • NPR ☛ A social media ban in Australia for children under 16 is first in the world

    The law will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.

    The Senate passed the bill on Thursday 34 votes to 19. The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the legislation by 102 votes to 13.

  • The Register UK ☛ Australia bans under-16s from some social media

    The social media ban came in the form of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 which, as its explanatory memorandum makes clear, "introduces an obligation on providers of an age-restricted social media platform to take reasonable steps to prevent age-restricted users from having an account with the platform."

    The definition of an "age-restricted" platform covers services that allow users to post material, to interact with two or more people, and to interact with some or all other end-users. Australia's government expects that TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram and X will meet that definition and therefore have an obligation to verify users' ages.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] An Insight into Russia’s Nuclear Partnership with Africa

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] Ukraine updates: Kyiv says it hit Russia fuel facility

    • HRW ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] UN: Russia Vetoes Sudan Resolution Despite Global Support

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] EU Proposes Sanctions Against Chinese Firms Helping Russia, Bloomberg News Reports

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] Ukraine's Kyiv Under Multi-Wave Russian Drone Attacks, Mayor Says

    • Scheerpost ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Russia Says US Missile Defense Base in Poland Is a Potential Target

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Russia Says US Using Taiwan to Stir Crisis in Asia

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Moscow Offers Debt Forgiveness to New Recruits and AP Sees Wreckage of a New Russian Missile

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Ukraine Needs Better Air Defences, Zelenskiy Says After Russian Drone Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Russia Removes Commander in Ukraine for Misleading Reports, War Bloggers Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Two Missiles, 27 Drones Downed Over Russia's Kursk, Regional Governor Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Ukraine Studies Debris From New Russian Ballistic Missile

    • CBC ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] As Trump's return threatens to end U.S. support for Ukraine, allies scramble to fill the gap

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Iran alarmed by treatment of students at Russian university

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Life under occupation: 'Russians say they came to liberate'

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Russia offers debt relief to recruits for Ukraine war

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Moscow Bans Adoption of Russian Children to Countries That Allow Gender Transition

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Russian Forces Capture Settlement of Novodmytrivka in Eastern Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Russia's Claim of Emissions in Annexed Ukraine Regions Draws Protests at COP29

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Putin Signs Law Forgiving Debt Arrears for New Russian Recruits for Ukraine War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Russian Strikes Have Damaged 321 Ukrainian Port Infrastructure Facilities, Zelenskiy Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Ukraine Has Lost Over 40% of Russia's Kursk Region to Counter-Attacks, Kyiv Military Source Says

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] It’s Time to End the War in Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] Russia supplied anti-air missiles to North Korea, Seoul says

    • The Local SE ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] Swedish Defence Minister: Russian provocations won't scare us from supporting Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] Russia Says Its Forces Capture Dalne Village in Eastern Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] At Least Seven Russian Mercenaries Killed in Mali Attack

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] Ukraine Steps up Air Defence Development in Response to Russian Missile Deployment, Zelenskiy Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-22 [Older] What to Know About Russia’s New Nuclear-Capable Hypersonic Missile

    • Scheerpost ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Report: Ukraine Fires British Storm Shadow Missiles Into Russia

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Russia expands criteria for a nuclear strike

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Ukraine updates: Russia fires intercontinental missile at Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] US Intelligence Warns Defense Companies of Russian Sabotage Threat

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Russia and China Oppose Changing the Kenya-Led Force in Haiti to a UN Peacekeeping Mission

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Russia, North Korea Agree to Boost Charter Flights After Trade Meeting, TASS and KCNA Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Ukraine Launches UK Cruise Missiles Into Russia, a Day After Using US ATACMS

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Putin Touts Russia's New Missile and Delivers a Menacing Warning to NATO

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Russia Launches Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in Attack on Ukraine, Kyiv Says

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Russian Attack on Dnipro Damages Industrial Enterprise, Rehabilitation Centre, Authorities Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Russia Says New US Base in Poland Raises Overall Nuclear Danger

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Says Russian Strike With New Missile Is Clear Escalation

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] US Believes Russia's Attack in Ukraine Showcased New Missile

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-20 [Older] Russia arrests German citizen on sabotage charges

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-20 [Older] Russia denies cutting Baltic Sea cables as tensions rise

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-20 [Older] Ukraine updates: Kyiv fires UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia

    • Renewable Energy World ☛ 2024-11-20 [Older] Ukraine has seen success in building clean energy, which is harder for Russia to destroy

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-19 [Older] Russia-Austria gas spat stokes fears of new EU energy crisis

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] G7 foreign ministers meet to talk Middle East, Ukraine

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] Trump's Foreign Policy: Rethink NATO, Troops to Mexico, End Ukraine War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-25 [Older] Europeans Will Ramp up Military Support for Ukraine, Says German Defence Minister

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Ukraine updates: France backs longer-range missile use

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Romanians Vote in Presidential Election Focused on High Living Costs, Ukraine War

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-24 [Older] Turkey's Erdogan to Discuss Ukraine War With NATO Chief

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Germany's conservatives want to cut benefits for Ukrainians

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Blinken Heads to Last G7 Meeting of Biden Presidency With Ukraine and Mideast Topping the Agenda

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Exclusive-Trump Considers Ex-Intelligence Chief Richard Grenell for Ukraine Post, Sources Say

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-23 [Older] Polish Farmers Block Border Crossing With Ukraine in Mercosur Trade Protest - Report

    • Scheerpost ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] UK Sees Privatization ‘Opportunities’ in Ukraine War

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Ukraine updates: Putin says 'medium-range' missile tested

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Zelenskiy Says Crimea Can Only Be Restored to Ukraine Through Diplomacy

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Biden's Shift on Missiles for Ukraine Informed by North Korean Troops in Kursk, Trump's Election Victory

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Hungary to Install Air Defence System Near Ukraine Border

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2024-11-21 [Older] Ukrainian Parliament Postpones Friday Sitting, Public Broadcaster Reports

    • Truthdig ☛ 2024-11-18 [Older] Biden’s ‘Last Bang’ in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Selling a ‘new perception’ The Kremlin is scrambling to reverse course as its anti-migrant campaign backfires — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Disabled Ukrainian man abducted by Russian security forces in 2023 charged with ‘espionage’ — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ Photos: Xmas market opens in Old Rīga

      On Friday, November 29, the traditional Christmas market opened in Rīga, Doma Square.

    • LRT ☛ Vilnius launches Christmas season – photos

      Vilnius lit its main Christmas tree on Friday evening, officially launching the festive season.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • ARRL ☛ ARRL 2023 Annual Report Now Available

    Also included in the annual report is ARRL's Report to America, which references the involvement of amateur radio operators during natural disasters that occurred in 2023, in addition to formal partnership agreements with served agencies including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In May 2023, ARRL entered into an updated Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with FEMA, to enhance cooperation between ARES® and FEMA in providing disaster communications -- When All Else Fails®.

• Environment

  • DeSmog ☛ Kemi Badenoch’s Policy Chief Attacked Net Zero Climate Target

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Coral adaptation unlikely to keep pace with global warming, warn scientists

    Coral adaptation to ocean warming and marine heat waves will likely be overwhelmed without rapid reductions of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to an international team of scientists.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • International Business Times ☛ Are We Ready For Driverless Buses? Autonomous Buses To Begin UK Trials

      Inside, the entire pod is dedicated to passenger space, offering seating along both sides and a centrally positioned door for convenient entry and exit. According to MK Citizen, the shuttles are scheduled for trials in the city centre this December, with final approval pending based on their performance.

      As the UK prepares for this futuristic mode of transportation, the question remains: are we ready to embrace a driverless future on our roads?

    • Renewable Energy World ☛ Auto industry’s shift toward EVs is expected to go on despite Trump threat to kill tax credits

      Ending the credits, which were a key provision of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, almost certainly would reduce EV sales, which have been growing in the United States this year, though not nearly as fast as automakers had expected. The slowing growth has forced nearly all auto companies to scale back EV production and delay construction of battery factories that are no longer needed to handle a more gradual transition.

      Jonathan Chariff, an executive at Midway Ford in Miami, one of the company’s top EV-selling dealers, said he thinks ending the tax credits would severely hurt sales. The credits reduce monthly payments, he noted, making an EV closer in price to a gasoline counterpart.

    • CBC ☛ Russian troops closing in on a Ukrainian power plant, but it's already been 'cannibalized' by crews

      This past spring and summer, as Russia's military edged closer, hundreds of workers gathered at the site again to take what they could and transport the equipment to thermal plants in the west that were in desperate need of spare parts after waves of Russian attacks.

    • CBC ☛ Night train renaissance: For a greener trip, Europe's rolling back to the past

      In North America, night trains like these are still rare. Distances between cities are, in most places, impractically long, and there's no high-speed network like in Europe that could help cut the time.

      There's also far less competition than in Europe — in Canada, passenger trains always take a back seat to those operated by freight companies Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, which also own the railways they run on.

    • Axios ☛ Empowered [cryptocurrency] lobby wants Washington to ease banking limits

      Why it matters: [Cryptocurrency] interests want to see a much lighter touch from the Trump administration's regulators, and they're also planning to push Congress for a new framework that would help [cryptocurrency] become a bigger part of the financial system.

    • Hidde de Vries ☛ Trains are offices | hidde.blog

      Taking the train for work travel can cost more time than going by car or plane. But it's one of the most energy efficient ways to travel, and I get this weird productivity boost from them.

      Note that you can absolutely also chill out, read, sleep or listen to music on trains. I like that too, sometimes. But this post is about when I use train time to work. In Europe.

    • New York Times ☛ Death of Cyclist in Paris Lays Bare Divide in Mayor’s War Against Cars

      It sent a shock through Paris, a city striving to transform itself into one of the great cycling metropolises in the world: a bicycle rider, crushed under the wheels of an SUV in a bike lane just a few yards from La Madeleine, the landmark neoclassical church, in what prosecutors suspect was a deliberate act of road rage.

• Finance

  • FAIR ☛ NYT, WSJ Concur Economists Lost the Election—But Can’t Agree on Why

    In the aftermath of the Trump victory, the opinion pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both published post-election eulogies for conventional economics. Remarkably, these columns shared almost the exact same headline.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ Starbucks offers glimpse of North Korean life from new cafe

    The 30-seater cafe opens on Nov 29 at the observatory tower of a park in Gimpo, South Korea.

  • The Register UK ☛ Intel must control its foundry under CHIPS Act cash deal

    Intel has quietly revealed that the $7.86 billion of cash coming its way thanks to the US CHIPS Act came with conditions that include Chipzilla retaining control of its foundries – an asset the struggling silicon giant may have intended to offload.

    That condition and several others are spelled out in a November 27 filing [PDF] that reveals the CHIPS Act cash came with "change of control restrictions" that mean Intel must retain 50.1 percent ownership and/or voting rights in its foundry business if it's spun out as a separate private entity.

  • The Strategist ☛ Has Angela Merkel no shame?

    Similarly, Merkel is still repeating the canard that Nord Stream was a purely economic project, even though it obviously was not. In defending appeasement of Russia, she argues that Poland and Ukraine did not mind having gas transit through their territories as long as they profited from it. But the controversy around Nord Stream was that by circumventing Poland and Ukraine, it diminished whatever influence they had vis-a-vis Moscow. Merkel decided that cheaper gas was more important than Polish or Ukrainian security. In the end, her approach brought an energy crisis and was one of the causes of a new land war on the European continent. The result was no cheap energy and no security.

  • The Hill ☛ Maggie Haberman weighs in on Mark Zuckerberg's Mar-a-Lago visit

    Zuckerberg is the latest tech CEO to try to mend his relationship with the former president after past tensions. Trump seemingly changed his tune on the Facebook founder after he chose to withhold an endorsement during the 2024 presidential election.

  • European Commission ☛ European Digital Identity Wallets – list of certified wallets

    This implementing act sets out rules for the submission to the Commission of information on certified wallet solutions and their associated electronic identification schemes by EU countries. It also sets out the requirements for the secure electronic system to be set up by the Commission for receiving the submissions.

  • European Commission ☛ European Digital Identity Framework – cross-border identity matching

    This implementing act sets out the provisions on unequivocal identity matching when using electronic identification means or European Digital Identity Wallets. It sets out what EU countries must do to ensure unequivocal identity matching when users want to access online cross-border public services when using electronic identification means or European digital identity wallets.

  • European Commission ☛ European Digital Identity Wallets – registration of relying parties

    This act sets out the provisions on the process for registering relying parties in EU countries. The provisions relate to information necessary for authentication to access European Digital Identity Wallets, and to relying parties’ contact details and their intended use of wallets, including what data relying parties may ask users for. The provisions include specifications and requirements for relying party access certificates issued after the registration of a wallet relying party.

  • European Commission ☛ European digital identity framework – verification of electronic attestation of attributes

    It also establishes a catalogue of attributes that must be verifiable against authentic sources, and sets out rules on notifying and publishing information on public sector bodies that issue attestations of attributes and are responsible for managing the authentic sources these attestations come from.

  • European Commission ☛ European Digital Identity Wallets – security breaches

    This implementing act sets out rules for EU countries to have mechanisms in place to ensure the suspension and, where applicable, withdrawal of European Digital Identity Wallets if there is a security breach or partial compromise affecting a wallet’s reliability.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Kushal Das: Amnesty seminar on activism

    2 Weeks ago I was down with fever, but as I became better after a few days I managed to attend Amnesty International's Stockholm chapter's event on activism. I had to travel to a different part of Stockholm, which was fun.

    The day started with welcome talk and then a new "Palestine Activist Group" presented their work (in both English and Swedish). Then the main opening talk (in Swedish) from a very senior Swedish journalist about history and important dates related to Palestine. I managed to understand 50-60% of the words. Still a lot of learn.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ EU parliament calls for release of jailed HK pro-democracy activists

    The European Parliament has passed a non-binding resolution calling for the unconditional release of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and sanctions against city officials, a move that prompted condemnation from the city’s government.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Ex-HK journalist Gwyneth Ho seeks to challenge conviction, jailing

    Like many of the other democrats who were also denied bail after being charged in 2021, Ho had been detained for almost four years by the time she received her sentences. The threshold for bail is higher for national security cases, in which judges have to be convinced that the defendant does not pose a threat to national security before releasing them on bail.

  • Meduza ☛ Alexey Gorinov, the first person jailed in Russia for ‘disinformation,’ gets new three-year-sentence for ‘justifying terrorism’

    The new “justifying terrorism” charges stem from comments Gorinov allegedly made to fellow inmates about the 2022 bombing of the Crimean Bridge and the actions of Ukraine’s Azov and Kraken regiments, both of which are classified as terrorist organizations in Russia. Gorinov maintains that he was provoked into discussing politics by his fellow prisoners, and insists nothing he said could be reasonably interpreted as justifying terrorism.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Jimmy Lai hoped for ‘more draconian sanctions’ as Beijing’s security law approached, court hears

    Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has told his national security trial that he hoped the US would impose “more draconian sanctions” on China to stop an imminent national security law promulgated by Beijing in mid-2020.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Businessman Dale Vince confirms interest in buying Observer

    New bidder emerges as Tortoise Media nears end of exclusivity period.

  • VOA News ☛ Russia’s war in Ukraine inspires exiled journalist to found media startup

    Tagaeva founded the news website from exile shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The outlet now reaches millions of people each month and has grown into a major player in the independent Russian media landscape.

  • VOA News ☛ Pakistan charges journalist with terrorism after reporting on protest

    Bashir told reporters Thursday that he was freed and dropped off on a street three hours later. Jan, who hosts a political talk show on television and runs his own YouTube channel with nearly 400,000 subscribers, is a known critic of Pakistan’s military for its alleged meddling in governance matters.

  • ANF News ☛ Nine writers and journalists released

    The statements of most of the journalists and writers who were taken into custody in house raids conducted in Amed and other cities as part of the investigation launched by the Eskişehir Public Prosecutor's Office have been completed.

    Mesopotamia Women Journalists Association (MKG) chair Roza Metina, caricaturist Doğan Güzel, writer-translator Ömer Barasi and Berfin Atlı were referred to the judge with a request for judicial control. The request was accepted.

  • VOA News ☛ In the Philippines, some progress for media rights, but risks remain

    In the past year, media analysts have seen some improvement. The suspected mastermind in a journalist killing from more than a decade ago was arrested; a court reversed an order forcing the media website Rappler to close; and earlier this month, Marcos appointed former journalist Joe Torres Jr. as head of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security.

    But outside the capital, community and radio journalists are at risk of threat or attack, experts say.

  • VOA News ☛ China court jails journalist for 7 years on spy charges, family says

    Police in the Chinese capital detained the 62-year-old former Guangming Daily editor and journalist in February 2022 while he was lunching with a Japanese diplomat, the U.S. National Press Club said in a statement. He was later charged with espionage.

  • Deseret Media ☛ China court jails journalist for seven years on spy charges, family says

    A Beijing court sentenced veteran Chinese state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in prison for espionage, his family said in a statement, calling the verdict a grave injustice.

  • New York Times ☛ China Journalist, Dong Yuyu, Is Sentenced to Prison for Espionage

    As part of his job, Mr. Dong had met regularly with foreign diplomats and journalists. He was also a prolific writer, expressing support for the rule of law and constitutional democracy, ideas that the ruling Communist Party says it supports but in reality has suppressed. Some of his writing criticized the party’s selective version of Chinese history, which downplays its role in dark periods like the Cultural Revolution.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • FAIR ☛ Katherine Gallagher on Abu Ghraib Verdict

  • Wired ☛ Returning the Amazon Rainforest to Its True Caretakers

    Recently, however, the Siekopai have successfully challenged the legality of these titling laws—the legal process that results in the recognition of the right to property of indigenous people to their ancestral lands—and have already won two major legal victories in Ecuador and Peru. In 2021, the Siekopai received land titles to more than 500,000 acres of their lands in Peru. In September 2022, the Siekopai filed a suit against the government of Ecuador to regain ownership over Pë’këya, part of their ancestral territory located along the border. In November 2023, an Ecuadorian appeals court ruled in favor of the Siekopai, granting them legal title to another 100,000 acres of labyrinthine flooded forests and blackwater lagoons in the heart of their ancestral homelands, and marking the first time the government would issue land title to an indigenous peoples whose territory was located inside a protected area.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Raju Devidas: Finding all sub domains of a main domain

    Problem: Need to know all the sub domains of a main domain, e.g. example.com has a sub domain dev.example.com , I also want to know other sub domains.

    Solution:

    Install the package called sublist3r, written by Ahmed Aboul-Ela

    $ sudo apt install sublist3r

    run the command

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Report: Meta to spend $10B+ on 25,000-mile submarine internet cable

    The project was first detailed last month by subsea networking expert Sunil Tagare. According to TechCrunch, multiple sources close to Meta have confirmed the initiative. The Facebook parent is no stranger to undersea internet infrastructure: It has already built several submarine internet cables in partnership with other companies.

    Unlike those earlier systems, the upcoming cable is expected to be wholly owned by Meta. It will span more than 24,850 miles from the East Coast to the West Coast with pit stops in South Africa, India and Australia. The report didn’t specify the cable’s planned bandwidth.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Facebook parent company Meta plans to build its own sub-sea cable — the source says the company plans to “avoid areas of geopolitical tension”

    Although the company has already made some plans for the project, it hasn’t announced it yet. The Meta will likely discuss it publicly in early 2025, confirming its intentions, route, budget, and capacity. However, we don’t expect Meta to have its exclusive undersea network within the next year, as projects like these take several years to complete. Furthermore, companies that lay down these cables are few and far between, with many already having their services reserved by other tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • 404 Media ☛ The Redbox Removal Team

    Junkluggers has partnered with retailers and liquidation companies who work with Walmart, Dollar General, Costco, Publix, and a few other big chain stores to disconnect and dispose of Redbox kiosks that have been left abandoned.

  • The Washington Post ☛ The best alternatives to Amazon, Audible for e-book and audiobook gifts

    Amazon, which owns Kindle and Audible, is by far the most popular retailer of e-books and audiobooks, but there are great options if you prefer smaller digital-book sellers. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

    Book industry insiders and avid readers told me their favorite alternatives to Amazon for e-books and audiobooks. Some of these options let you support a favorite local bookstore or cost zilch.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• The Register UK ☛ Google faces competition action by two big nations

  In India – the most populous nation on Earth – the Competition Commission ordered [PDF] a probe after a developer called WinZo – which promotes itself with the chance to "Play Mobile Games & Win Cash" – complained that Google Play won't host games that offer real money as prizes, only allowing sideloading onto Android devices.

  Google India has, however, conducted a pilot under which two classes of real money games – fantasy sports and the card game Rummy – have been allowed. WinZo thinks its exclusion is unfair.

• Canada ☛ Competition Bureau sues Google for anti-competitive conduct in online advertising in Canada

  This case is about online web advertising, which consists of ads shown to users when they visit websites. Many publishers count on digital ad revenue to support their activities and reach. Digital ad inventory is often purchased and sold through automated auctions using sophisticated platforms. These individual platforms are known as ad tech tools while the entire suite of tools used throughout the buy and sell process are collectively known as the ad tech stack.

  The Bureau’s investigation found that, in Canada, Google is the largest provider across the ad tech stack for web advertising and has abused its dominant position through conduct intended to ensure that it would maintain and entrench its market power. Google’s conduct locks market participants into using its own ad tech tools, prevents rivals from being able to compete on the merits of their offering, and otherwise distorts the competitive process.

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ USPTO Patent Grant Rate and Growing Backlog

    The USPTO utility patent monopoly grant rate data reveals an interesting narrative of policy shifts and administrative changes over the past fifteen years. The graph shows a clear upward trajectory from a notable low point around December 2009, when the grant rate bottomed out near 50%, to recent levels hovering around 75-80%. This dramatic shift beginning in 2010 coincided with Director David Kappos taking the helm at the USPTO, marking a decisive break from the more restrictive patent monopoly policies of his predecessor Jon Dudas. Under Kappos’s leadership, the office embraced a more applicant-friendly approach, focusing on working with inventors to achieve allowable claims rather than pursuing multiple rounds of rejection.

  • Is It Time to Talk (Again) About Reforming Australia’s ‘Best Method’ Requirement?

    The recent Full Federal Court decision in Zoetis Services LLC v Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc [2024] FCAFC 145 has highlighted fundamental flaws in the Australian patent monopoly law’s ‘best method’ requirement.  While the court's application of existing principles appears sound, the resulting analysis reveals that the requirement is not only arbitrary in its operation, but potentially counterproductive to innovation.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ UPC Christmas Quiz [Ed: UPC is illegal and unconstitutional; so the longer it goes on for, the greater the damage to the EU's reputation and credibility]

      As we approach 18 months since the UPC opened its doors and the festive season, we thought this would be a good time to offer our readers the chance to showcase their UPC knowledge by participating in the Kluwer UPC Christmas Quiz.

    • JUVE ☛ Half-time in the e-cigarette battle between NJOY and Juul Labs [Ed: This "court" is illegal; UPC 'cases' are bruising the EU by exporting the EPO's crime to many nations across Europe. This needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Constitutions have been trashed.]

      It is one of the largest sets of proceedings at the UPC. This November, the Paris central division has handed down the first four judgments in the nine revocation actions brought by NJOY Netherlands against Juul Labs and its subsidiary VMR Products.

  • Software Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Two Decades and Counting: The Never-Ending Section 101 Battle Over Financial Analytics [Ed: Software patents by any other name or mask]

      Application No. 10/028,284, filed in December 2001, provides a fascinating window into the evolution of patent monopoly eligibility jurisprudence. This application – assigned to GE Financial and prosecuted by folks at Hunton and Williams – is still pending 23 years after its original filing date. Filed pre-Bilski and still pending post-Alice, the application claims a “waterfall tool” that analyzes financial product pricing by tracking how actual revenue “cascades down” from list price through various deductions (like underwriting errors, discounts, commissions, and bonuses) to arrive at the final “pocket price.”

• Trademarks

  • The Independent UK ☛ More than 3,000 fake Gibson guitars seized at Los Angeles port

    Authorities announced the seizure Tuesday but didn't say when the guitars were taken, which country they came from, or who made them.

    The investigation involving the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is ongoing.

• Copyrights

  • Torrent Freak ☛ EU Research Links Youth Unemployment and Income Inequality to More Piracy

    A new EUIPO study reveals that while piracy rates have stabilized in the EU, significant variations exist across countries and content types. The research also links higher piracy rates and socioeconomic factors such as youth unemployment and income inequality. Higher average incomes and increased awareness of legal alternatives reduce piracy.

  • The Washington Post ☛ Top Canadian publishers sue OpenAI, joining AI copyright fight

    The lawsuit, brought by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the Globe and Mail, Canadian Press and newspaper owners Torstar and Postmedia, alleges that OpenAI illegally scraped their content and used it to train its AI tools. Similar lawsuits have been launched in the United States by the New York Times and other newspapers including the Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News.