Leftovers

• CS Monitor ☛ How our actions affect others – from driving more safely to making art

  Progress roundup: Studies show that Americans are safer partly because of better driving. And Britons are healthier when they pursue arts and culture.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient Beaches Found on Mars Reveal The Red Planet Once Had Oceans

    An incredible glimpse of the way it used to be.

  • Science Alert ☛ These 22,000-Year-Old Drag Marks Could Be Oldest Evidence of a Handcart

    Long before there were wheels.

  • Science Alert ☛ Surprise Spiral Shape Revealed in The Darkness Surrounding The Solar System

    It's weird out there...

  • Hackaday ☛ Atmospheric Water Harvesting With High Voltage

    Atmospheric water harvesting is a way to obtain fresh water in arid regions, as there is always some moisture in the air, especially in the form of morning fog. The trick lies in capturing this moisture as efficiently as possible, with a range of methods available that start at ancient low-tech methods involving passive fog droplet capture all the way to variants of what are effectively large dehumidifiers. A less common way involves high-voltage and found itself the subject of a recent Plasma Channel video on YouTube. The inspiration for the build was a 2018 paper by [Maher Damak] et al. (PDF) titled Electrostatically driven fog collection using space charge injection.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ The Importance Of Current Balancing With Multi-Wire Power Inputs

    In an ideal world, devoid of pesky details like contact resistance and manufacturing imperfections, you would be able to double the current that can be provided to a device by doubling the number of conductors without altering the device’s circuitry, as each conductor would carry the exact same amount of current as its neighbors. Since we do not actually live inside a simplified physics question’s scenario, multi-wire powering of devices comes with a range of headaches, succinctly summarized in the well-known rule that electricity always seeks the path of least resistance.

  • Hackaday ☛ Line Power With No Transformer

    Normally, when you want a low DC voltage from the AC line, you think about using a transformer of some kind. [RCD66] noticed that an AC monitor meter must have some sort of power supply but had no transformers in sight. That led to an exploration of how those work and how you can use them, too. You can watch the work in the video below.

  • Hackaday ☛ Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With All The Green Keyboards

    Okay, you have to see the gallery to appreciate it, but this keyboard was designed to resemble a red cedar tree with the green shell and wood bottom and the copper PCB showing through the tree cutouts on the sides.

  • Hackaday ☛ Old IPad To New Screen

    Turning surplus LCD panels into stand-alone monitors with the help of a driver board is an established hack, and a search of eBay or AliExpress will turn up boards for almost any widely available panel. [Drygol] has a couple of old iPad screens, and has done exactly this with them. What makes these two projects stand aside from the crowd is their attention to detail, instead of creating a hacky monitor this is almost something you might buy as a product.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Hackaday ☛ Where No E. Coli Has Gone Before

    While we’re still waiting for ET to give us a ring, many worlds might not have life that’s discovered the joys of radio yet. Scientists ran a two-pronged study to see how bacteria might fare on other worlds.

  • Science Alert ☛ Breast Cancer Is Rising in Young American Women, And We Don't Know Why

    "The increase in incidence we are seeing is alarming."

  • Science Alert ☛ A Man Fated to Get Alzheimer's Avoided It For Decades. But How?

    We can learn from his story.

  • Science Alert ☛ Incredible Discovery Shows Mice Trying to Revive Fallen Companions

    Mouse-to-mouse resuscitation?

  • Science Alert ☛ Simple Technique Is The 'Sweet Spot' to Boost Recovery After Exercise

    Try this and see if it works for you.

  • Science Alert ☛ Researchers Discover a Serious Hidden Risk With Many Generic Drugs

    "Not as safe as the FDA wants you to believe."

  • Science Alert ☛ Some Antidepressants Could Speed Decline in Dementia Patients

    A tough choice.

  • NYPost ☛ Scientists find clues on why COVID vaccine causes chronic health problems in some

    While rare, "post-vaccination syndrome" can cause long-term adverse effects.

• Proprietary

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft's ad-supported version of Office only saves to OneDrive [Ed: Just use LibreOffice]

    Microsoft Office gets an add-supported model.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Apple says it will spend $500 billion in US over next four years as it faces down Convicted Felon tariffs [Ed: Apple does not even have that kind of money, why does the press repeat lies? Apple working for Convicted Felon]

    Apple announced $500 billion in US spending over the next four years as it faces town tariff threats.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • The Strategist ☛ DeepSeek is in the driver’s seat. That’s a big security problem

      Democratic states have a smart-car problem. For those that don’t act quickly and decisively, it’s about to become a severe national security headache.

  • Social Control Media

    • Vietnamese students told to ‘love’ Facebook (Farcebook) post praising To Lam

      They were asked to put heart emojis on the piece about the top leader.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ Chinese aerospace executive expelled from Communist Party for graft

    This comes after 14 military delegates were expelled from China’s national legislative body in the past two years.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s New Deputy F.B.I. Director Has It Out for the ‘Scumbag Commie Libs’

    Dan Bongino is in a place to turn wild notions from the right-wing internet into pretexts for federal investigations.

  • New York Times ☛ Before Ascending to Top Tier of FBI, Dan Bongino Fueled Right-Wing Disbelief

    The post of deputy director will give Dan Bongino access to vast amounts of highly sensitive intelligence, as well as rumor, speculation and false accusations that F.B.I. agents regularly receive.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man and MElon cite fraud, but what does a government audit really look like?

    Each year, the U.S. government may be losing $233 billion or more to fraud. One way to address the problem: better up-front tracking of payments.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ AI will assess controversial email sent by MElon asking government workers to justify their jobs

    After a recent email demanding federal employees summarize their work, it’s now understood that the responses will be assessed by an artificial intelligence system to determine if their work is valuable.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ How a (Thus Far Unsuccessful) Lawsuit Caused MElon’s OPM Email to Faceplant

    A lawsuit filed last month just put some brakes on Elon's latest evil plan.

  • China conducts live fire drills in Tonkin Gulf as Vietnam draws sea border

    China announced the exercise as Vietnam released its baseline for the area.

  • ACLU ☛ The Infrastructure of Racial Justice Is Under Attack. We Must Fight for It

    President The Insurrectionist began February with a proclamation that Black History Month offered “an occasion to celebrate the contributions of so many Black American patriots who have indelibly shaped our nation’s history.” In the closing days of the month, he hosted a Black History Month reception at the White House where he promised he would fight for Black Americans. What he did not mention during his remarks was that the proclamation and reception came amidst a systemic crusade to dismantle the civil rights infrastructure that Black Americans helped build and that sustains our hopes for equal citizenship.

  • NYPost ☛ NYPD was unprepared for violence at September’s West Indian Day Parade where 1 person killed, 5 shot: lawsuit

    The trail of violence at the parade and associated event that celebrates Caribbean culture and heritage date at least back to 2003 and as recently as 2023 before last year’s shooting, according to the lawsuit.

  • NYPost ☛ Federal judge blocks Convicted Felon’s immigration crackdown inside some houses of worship

    A federal judge has blocked the Convicted Felon administration from indiscriminately conducting immigration raids and making arrests inside some houses of worship on Monday in response to a lawsuit filed by Quakers and other religious groups.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippine, Japan ministers agree to further enhance defence partnership

    Security ties between the two US allies have strengthened over the past two years.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Demography and geopolitics put Japan’s strength to the test

    By almost all freedom and prosperity metrics, Japan is a model for stability and success. However, looming challenges threaten this narrative, including an aging population, outdated social laws, a rigid labor market, and growing security and geopolitical concerns.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Korea University in chaos as pro-, anti-Yoon rallies take over campus

    South Korea's wave of rallies has spread to university campuses and raised concerns over campus security.

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-21 [Older] Exclusive-U.S. Exempts Security Funds From Aid Freeze — but Little for Humanitarian Programs

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-21 [Older] UN Security Council Calls on Rwanda to Pull Troops From Congo

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-17 [Older] Congo Rebels Promise Security in Bukavu After Looting

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-02-17 [Older] Scholz Calls for 'Strong and Sovereign' Europe Ahead of Security Talks in Paris

  • The Local SE ☛ 2025-02-17 [Older] Europe's security is at a 'turning point', EU leader warns

  • Federal News Network ☛ Hegseth defends Convicted Felon’s firings of Pentagon leaders and says there may be more dismissals

    “Nothing about this is unprecedented,” Hegseth told Fox on Sunday. “The president deserves to pick his key national security advisory team.”

  • New York Times ☛ North Koreans on Chinese Tuna Boats Boost Revenue for Kim Jong-un

    Thousands of miles from home, North Koreans work on Chinese tuna longliners in the Indian Ocean for pay that goes to their leader, a new study says.

  • The Strategist ☛ Sidewinders on P-8s and MH-60Rs: deterring Chinese attacks on Australian aircraft

    China’s continued attacks on aircraft patrolling the East Asian waters, including Australian aircraft, are unacceptable. But they’re encouraged by the targeted countries’ failure to equip their aircraft for self-defence.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Protecting US supply chains from foreign influence

    With the new Convicted Felon administration likely to place an even greater focus on reducing reliance on China, this trend is expected to accelerate.

  • France24 ☛ Syria: why is the US conducting an unprecendented number of strikes on former al-Qaeda?

    There's been an increase in US forces' drone attacks on former Al Qaeda operatives in the Syrian province of Idlib since the fall of Bachar al-Assad's regime. Analysis by FRANCE 24's Wassim Nasr.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Diddy’s Lawyers Move to Strike Evidence Obtained in US Government’s ‘Unconstitutionally Broad’ and ‘Racist’ Raids

    With his trial set to kick off in May, Sean “Diddy” Combs makes a bid to strike evidence obtained in the US government’s raids on his properties. If he’s found guilty on federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and more, Sean “Diddy” Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison.

  • Site36 ☛ German Foreign Office criticises Hungary’s justice system: Maja T. handcuffed and led into court on a leash

    Maja T. is accused of ‘attempted murder’ for allegedly attacking neo-Nazis in Budapest. At the start of the trial, the anti-fascist rejected a deal to reduce her prison sentence. Their father criticises blackmail. Jan Theurich, Matthias Monroy The trial against Maja T. from the German city of Jena began in Budapest on Friday.

  • Site36 ☛ Militarised operation at Rafah border crossing: German police to cooperate with military and gendarmerie

    The participation in the Eubam Rafah mission would be right on the edge of the German principle of separation of military and police. However, there are not yet any concrete plans for a deployment, ‘nd’ has learnt.

  • The Age AU ☛ 2025-02-19 [Older] Top spy agency’s dire warning for Australian security

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ Greenpeace Goes to Court in $300 Million Suit That Poses Bankruptcy Risk

    In a closely watched case, the owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline is claiming the environmental group masterminded protests that hurt the company’s business.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-19 [Older] India's Kumbh Mela brings up environmental challenges

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ New search begins for missing MH370 plane

      A vessel will be searching in an area spanning 15,000 sq km in the Indian Ocean.

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-19 [Older] High electricity prices: A threat to Germany's industry?

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Take-offs and landings at Hong Kong airport reach post-pandemic high, but figures still fall short of 2019

      Take-offs and landings at the city’s airport reached a post-pandemic high in January, the Airport Authority Hong Kong has said. The authority said in a press statement on Monday that flight movements reached around 33,660 in January.

  • Overpopulation

    • The Straits Times ☛ China adviser pushes to lower legal marriage age to 18 to boost birthrate

      China's legal marriage age is among the highest in the world, being 22 for men and 20 for women.

• Finance

  • France24 ☛ EU eases sanctions on major Syrian economic sectors

    In an effort to "facilitate engagement" with Syria's new leaders, the European Union on Monday suspended sanctions on Syria's energy, transport, and banking sectors, on the condition that the new government show progress towards respecting minorities' rights and establishing a democracy.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong Disneyland records first profit in 9 years, lawmaker says

    Hong Kong Disneyland Resort has turned a profit for the first time in nine years, while the number of the park’s visitors has soared by over a million, according to a lawmaker.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian central bank offers its mediation services

    Customers of commercial banks are being encouraged to make greater use of the mediation services offered by Latvijas Banka (LB), the Latvian central bank.

  • Tech Layoffs Show No Signs of Stopping

    The tirade of tech layoffs shows no signs of slowing down in 2025, as 11,299 tech workers have lost their job since the beginning of the year, according to research from Rationalfx.

    The company tracked company announcements, rounds ups from TrueUp, TechCruch, and Layoffs.fyi to reveal the staggering degree of tech layoffs carried out in 2024. While 2025 is at a slower start, according to the research, the trend of tech layoffs appears to be going no where, despite mega profit margins for global tech companies.

    2024 was a turbulent year for the tech sector, to put it mildly – 280,991 people lost their jobs in the sector as economic headwinds whipped the tech industry, and undulating market demands shook the sector’s sense of stability.

  • India Times ☛ “No one voted for Elon Musk”: Protesters block SpaceX HQ as Elon Musk faces backlash over federal layoffs

  • The Business Journals ☛ Meta begins renovations at Microsoft-leased building in Redmond, filings show [Ed: Microsoft explores becoming real estate company or has too much empty space after layoffs]

    It’s Meta’s latest expansion in the Redmond corridor, a cluster of office outposts along and around Willows Road that are largely focused on Reality Labs.

    [...]

    Permit filings over the last five months show Meta will occupy about 9,500 square feet in a corporate park at Willows Commerce Park at 9825 Willows Road NE.

    [...]

    Immediately east and west of the new lease, Meta leases two buildings internally dubbed Wildstar and Origin, both of which are focused on Reality Labs.

    [...]

    Permits indicate the lease was signed before Meta cut about 5% of its workforce ahead of what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said would be an "intense year" for the company. It's unclear how many people were affected by the layoffs locally, but Meta employs about 8,000 people in the Seattle area, according to Business Journal research. Zuckerberg described the layoffs as performance-based cuts with the intention of backfilling those roles later this year.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-02-19 [Older] Is Germany's industrial economic model in danger?

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • More than meets the eye

    Hundreds of Cook Islanders staged protests in the capital Avarua

  • Chinese officials get derisory ‘Snail Awards’ for lying down on the job

    The threats come amid growing concern over inaction among the country’s nearly 60 million-strong bureaucracy.

  • Beijing police detain petitioners ahead of annual parliament

    Anyone with a grievance is seen as a target for nationwide ‘stability maintenance’ measures.

  • ACLU ☛ State and Local Governments Are Saying No to Convicted Felon's Radical Agenda

    States and cities are on the frontlines of the fight against the second Convicted Felon administration’s efforts to restrict our rights — and it is a fight. Already we’ve seen The Insurrectionist respond to this state-based resistance by attempting to weaponize funding to intimidate local officials to follow his extreme agenda. But local officials not only can fight back — they are fighting back.

    For nearly a year, the ACLU has worked with our affiliates in every state to develop a playbook to block and disrupt Convicted Felon’s radical agenda. Our playbook outlines comprehensive tools to safeguard reproductive rights, immigrants’ rights, free speech, and more.

  • Rlang ☛ Political ideology and DOGE layoffs

    This post reproduces Dr. Adam Bonica's analysis into the relationship between the ideological alignment of government agencies and the targeting of layoffs by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

  • TruthOut ☛ 2025-02-18 [Older] Acting Social Security Commissioner Resigns Amid Pressure From “DOGE”

  • International Business Times ☛ 2025-02-18 [Older] Elon Musk's War on Social Security: Will His Takeover Leave Millions Without Benefits?

  • International Business Times ☛ 2025-02-18 [Older] Quick Facts About Michelle King: Top Social Security Official Leaves After Clash With DOGE

  • International Business Times ☛ 2025-02-18 [Older] 'Vampires on Benefits': Elon Musk Claims Millions on US Social Security Are Over 100

  • Truthdig ☛ 2025-02-18 [Older] Social Security Head Leaves As DOGE Seeks Access to Sensitive Data

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • New York Times ☛ How Fentanylware (TikTok) Helped Germany’s Left to a Surprise Election Showing [Ed: How Fentanylware (TikTok) gets NY Times to publish assertions that are all backwards]

      Struggling a month ago, the Die Linke party surged into Parliament by riding a backlash against conservative immigration policy.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Verdict for Jimmy Lai’s nat. security trial expected in October, Apple Daily’s liquidation proceeding to follow

    A verdict for Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai’s national security trial is expected in October, a Hong Kong court has heard in a separate proceeding over the newspaper’s winding up.

  • CPJ ☛ 2025-02-20 [Older] In Madagascar, journalist detained on false news charge over Facebook post

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Internet Society ☛ Internet Society Appoints Dr. Gonzalo Camarillo to IETF LLC Board

    The Internet Society Board of Trustees announces the appointment of Dr. Gonzalo Camarillo to the Board of Directors of the IETF LLC.

  • The Straits Times ☛ 1MDB drops $332m lawsuit against Wolf Of Wall Street producer, says report

    1MDB lawyers did not provide a reason as to why the state investment fund chose to withdraw the suit.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Right to Repair ☛ Celebrating 50 States on the Right to Repair

    As of last week, all 50 states are now actively participating in the fight for our collective right to repair. Notably, Wisconsin and New Mexico introduced repair legislation for the first time, filling the final gaps on our nationwide map. Meanwhile, states like New York, Oregon, and Minnesota continue to enhance their existing laws, marking steady progress across the country.

    Our signature color scheme of black, red, and white has traditionally been used to signal clear legislative action. However, with many states now expanding their laws, we are exploring new ways to visually represent these developments without sacrificing clarity.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Privilege Gone Too Far? How a 250-Year-Old Privilege Cost Atturo $10 Million

    by Dennis Crouch

    A new petition for certiorari in Atturo Tire Corp. v. Toyo Tire Corp. highlights an interesting procedural quirk in Illinois law that may require Supreme Court intervention to resolve an important state law question about the scope of litigation privilege. The case started as a patent monopoly importation dispute that Toyo filed with the ITC against various tire manufacturers, but not against Atturo. Toyo settled those cases with provisions requiring the settling parties to stop selling Atturo's tires. After Atturo won a $10 million jury verdict under Illinois law for tortious interference and related claims, the Federal Circuit reversed based on Illinois' absolute litigation privilege.  Atturo believes the scope of litigation privilege should be referred to the Illionois Supreme Court.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Republican Administration Maintains Exclusivity Stance in GLP-1 (Tirzepatide) Compounding Dispute

    Since late 2022, the extraordinary demand for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s) like Eli Lilly's tirzepatide (marketed as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss) has created a persistent nationwide shortage. This shortage opened a temporary but lucrative opportunity for compounding pharmacies, which the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act permits to produce copycat versions of branded drugs during officially declared shortages. In December 2024, the FDA abruptly determined that the tirzepatide shortage had resolved and removed these products from its shortage list, effectively terminating compounders' legal authority to produce these drugs. With the recent transition to the Convicted Felon administration—whose leader has repeatedly criticized pharmaceutical companies for "getting away with murder" on pricing and specifically targeted the cost of weight loss medications—I have wondered whether the FDA might reverse course under new leadership and side with compounders offering lower-priced alternatives.