Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Apr 26, 2025

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Digital Music News ☛ A Step Towards Training Fairness? ‘Efficient and Effective’ Generative Hey Hi (AI) License Slated for Q3 Release In the UK

      An Hey Hi (AI) training license is expected to launch just months from now in the UK – albeit with an initial focus on the writing and publishing side. London’s Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) announced its “ambitious plans” for the license in a brief release.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Citizen Lab ☛ The Real Lesson of SignalGate: A Surveillance Arms Race Has Poked a Gaping Hole in National Security

      In his article for Foreign Affairs, Citizen Lab founder Ron Deibert discusses the lessons of SignalGate, highlighting that “much of the debate has downplayed an even larger problem: the very real possibility that a foreign government or other hostile power was snooping on the devices through which those communications were taking place.”

• Defence/Aggression

  • Pro Publica ☛ ICE Cancels $3.8 Billion Contract for Immigrant Tent Detention Camp at Fort Bliss

    In an unusual move, the administration of President Donald Trump has canceled a $3.8 billion contract to build an immigrant detention camp in Fort Bliss, Texas, just days after issuing it.

    That doesn’t mean the job won’t go forward. Sources told ProPublica the administration still intends to move ahead with the plan to build a tent detention camp at Fort Bliss. A site visit for interested contractors took place on Wednesday.

  • France24 ☛ Filmmaker Sepideh Farsi on documenting life of slain Gaza photojournalist Fatma Hassona

    An Iranian filmmaker who has been documenting the life of a woman in Gaza for her film that has been accepted for the Cannes Film Festival has told FRANCE 24 how she continues to send her messages, even though she knows she was killed in an Israeli air strike. Sepideh Farsi had been following the life of Fatma Hassona, but a week and a half ago, the day after they heard the film had been selected for Cannes, Hassona was killed, along with nine members of her family. The director of "Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk" spoke to us in Perspective.

  • France24 ☛ Israel warns of 'larger' Gaza assault as air strikes kill at least 55

    Israeli air strikes on Gaza Thursday killed at least 55 people as the military warned of a wider assault if the remaining hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel were not released. The strikes came amid mounting pressure from Israeli officials and expanding evacuation orders, deepening the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave.

  • Stanford University ☛ Why I’m anti anti-Zionism

  • FAIR ☛ ‘Yemen Has Been a Place the US Has Seen Fit to Bomb With Little Public Discussion’: CounterSpin interview with Khury Petersen-Smith on Yemen distortions

    Janine Jackson interviewed the Institute for Policy Studies’ Khury Petersen-Smith about Yemen distortions for the April 18, 2025, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • The Straits Times ☛ Uzbekistan in talks with Belgium over return of $108m belonging to jailed ex-president's daughter, RIA reports

      ALMATY, Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan's government is negotiating with Belgian authorities over the return of $108 million in frozen assets belonging to Gulnara Karimova, the jailed daughter of the country's former president, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Thursday.

    • New Yorker ☛ Where Are Convicted Felon’s Big, Beautiful Deals?

      Whether a trade pact with China or a peace accord with Russia, the President doesn’t seem to know what he’s actually asking for, never mind how to actually achieve it.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Jails General Who Criticized Army’s Senior Command

      Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a popular battlefield commander, was fired after airing grievances against superiors.

    • LRT ☛ Recognising Russian annexation of Crimea would ‘open a hell’ – Lithuanian FM

      Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys insists there should be no recognition of Russia’s claims to Crimea because this would undermine international law and send a message to aggressors that they can keep occupied territories.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian president strips Russian conductor Yuri Bashmet of state award

      President Gitanas Nausėda has stripped Russian conductor Yuri Bashmet of a Lithuanian state award.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Can Russia’s defense sector break through in the Gulf?

      Despite speculation, the context is even less favorable today for the Russian defense industry to boom in the region than a decade ago.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Dispatch from Vilnius: A NATO ally in Russia’s shadow won’t let history repeat itself

      The United States is urging its allies to strengthen their own defenses. To ensure it is never again dominated by Moscow, Lithuania is doing just that.

    • Meduza ☛ As Trump presses Ukraine to accept deal with Moscow, Russia pounds Kyiv with deadliest attack since children’s hospital strike — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Trump’s plan for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine calls for freezing the front line and territorial exchanges. Here’s what that might look like, in four maps. — Meduza

    • JURIST ☛ UN experts alarmed by reports of psychiatric treatment as punishment for political dissent in Belarus

      Independent UN rights experts expressed alarm Thursday about the use of forced psychiatric treatment to punish political dissenters in Belarus. The experts have stated that 33 people have been coerced into undergoing psychiatric treatment in response to political protest.

    • Meduza ☛ U.S. considering lifting sanctions from Nord Stream 2 and other Russian energy projects in Europe — Politico — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Azerbaijan extradites Russian soldier charged with desertion — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ A more joyous life Economist Will Pyle explains new research that shows satisfaction and economic optimism rising among Russians since the invasion of Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow ready to make deal with U.S. on Ukraine but some points still 'need to be fine-tuned' — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ If America Walks Away From Ukraine, What Will Europe Do?

      Europeans see Ukraine’s security as vital to their own and want to defend the principle of no border changes by force, even if Hell Toupée does not.

    • New York Times ☛ Red Line on Crimea Isn’t Just Zelensky’s. It’s Ukraine’s.

      In Ukraine, memories of Russia’s annexation are fresh and resentments run high, leaving the country’s president few choices on the latest American peace plan.

    • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Crimea Proposal Would End a Decade of U.S. Resistance

      A new U.S. peace plan offered to Russia and Ukraine proposes American recognition of the peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s ‘quick fix’ approach to diplomacy slow to yield results

      The Insurrectionist boasted he could get a Ukraine peace deal in a day. The conflicts there and in Gaza are proving harder nuts to crack than he’d thought.

    • Meduza ☛ Trump calls Russia not seizing all of Ukraine a 'big concession' — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ U.K. likely to abandon plans to deploy thousands of ground troops to Ukraine — The Times — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ 'Vladimir, STOP!': Trump criticizes Russia over deadly attack on Kyiv — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ 'I lost control of my life': How one Russian region made abortions almost impossible to get — without passing any new laws — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘A raging meat grinder’: How a riot in Krasnodar highlights the Russian army’s desertion problem — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Mystics, meet Russia’s muzzle Lawmakers move forward with legislation to ban advertisements for ‘new age and magical services,’ from astrologists to witches — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian volunteer lay for weeks in Ukrainian steppe. His body is finally coming home

      Dainius Valentėlis led the way into the flat. "This is Tomukas’ room – it feels like a museum to me now: I sweep, dust it off, and that’s it," said the father of Tomas Valentėlis, a volunteer killed in Ukraine.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia sentences former military commander who criticized leadership to 5 years for larceny

      Russia’s Tambov Garrison Military Court sentenced Major General Ivan Popov, who had publicly disapproved of the way Russian military forces operated in Ukraine, to five years in prison on Thursday and stripped him of his military rank.

    • France24 ☛ South Africa : Ramaphosa backs unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine war

      Pretoria says it is ready to cultivate peace efforts over Russia's invasion of Ukraine... as well as welcoming Vladimir Zelensky to South Africa, President Ramaphosa has been busy talking to key players in the Eastern European conflict, including the US's The Insurrectionist.

    • Meduza ☛ Trump envoy Steve Witkoff arrives in Moscow — Meduza

    • Insight Hungary ☛ Donald Trump Jr to visit Budapest on Friday

      Donald Trump Jr, son of U.S. president Donald Trump, is set to meet Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, in Budapest on Friday, Bloomberg reports.

      The visit has sparked speculation over potential business interests. Trump Jr, who serves as executive vice president of the Trump Organization, is responsible for expanding the family's portfolio that includes estate and retail. Hungarian officials declined to comment further on the purpose of the trip.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Dissenter ☛ The Trump Administration's Lie Detector Dragnet

• Environment

  • Pro Publica ☛ Trump’s NOAA Budget Cuts Could Gut Critical Climate Modeling

    Over the past two months, the Trump administration has taken steps to eliminate regulations addressing climate change, pull back funding for climate programs and cancel methods used to evaluate how climate change is affecting American society and its economy. Now it is directly undermining the science and research of climate change itself, in ways that some of the nation’s most distinguished scientists say will have dangerous consequences.

    Proposed cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency whose weather and climate research touches almost every facet of American life, are targeting a 57-year-old partnership between Princeton University and the U.S. government that produces what many consider the world’s most advanced climate modeling and forecasting systems. NOAA’s work extends deep into the heart of the American economy — businesses use it to navigate risk and find opportunity — and it undergirds both American defense and geopolitical planning. The possible elimination of the lab, called the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, in concert with potential cuts to other NOAA operations, threatens irreparable harm not only to global understanding of climate change and long-range scenarios for the planet but to the country’s safety, competitiveness and national security.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • David Revoy ☛ A DIY digital stethoscope for cats

      Hey everyone, I'm taking a break from my usual digital painting topics to share a special DIY project. I'm not sure who this will help, but I think there's a place for it on my blog somehow. Who knows, maybe it will spark some ideas for your own DIY projects.

      Recently, during a routine health check of my four cats, I found out that one of the band might have heart problems, the younger one "Geuloush". I'll tell you right away he's fine, everything is fine, but he just has a little abnormality that needs to be monitored.

    • The Revelator ☛ To Save This Critically Endangered Bird, It Takes a Village

• Finance

  • Pro Publica ☛ Only 1% of Workers at This Factory Made What Nike Says Is Typical

  • New Intel CEO Announces Additional Office Day for Employees

    Intel has announced a change in its remote work policy that now requires workers to come into the office four days a week, rather than three. The change was announced by new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who also revealed further changes to the company, which could see 20% of Intel’s workforce laid off.

    The technology company joins the ranks of many others who are now issuing return-to-office (RTO) mandates, following the worldwide adoption of hybrid working after the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, Google loosely warned remote workers that their jobs may be impacted by layoffs, and IBM employees have been told they must come into the office at least three times per week.

  • Reuters ☛ Intel offers weak forecast amid trade tensions as CEO talks to TSMC

    In a conference call with investors, Tan also gave the first hints of sweeping plans to revitalize Intel's culture of innovation, including a mandate for employees to return to the office four days a week, fewer meetings and stripping out unnecessary internal administrative work in favor of core engineering work.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Meta cuts jobs at its Reality Labs mixed reality unit

    Meta Platforms Inc. is cutting jobs at its Reality Labs unit, which makes the company’s Quest mixed reality headsets and the software that powers them. The Facebook (Farcebook) parent announced the layoffs today. A source told Bloomberg that more than 100 staffers are affected.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • FAIR ☛ Jeff Hauser on DOGE, Karen Thompson on ‘Fetal Personhood’

    Right-click here to download this episode (“Save link as…”).

  • Pro Publica ☛ Ed Martin, Interim D.C. U.S. Attorney, Secretly Ghostwrote Online Attacks on Illinois Judge

    The attacks on Judge John Barberis in the fall of 2016 appeared on his personal Facebook page. They impugned his ethics, criticized a recent ruling and branded him as a “politician” with the “LOWEST rating for a judge in Illinois.”

    Barberis, a state court judge in an Illinois county across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, was presiding over a nasty legal battle for control over the Eagle Forum, the vaunted grassroots group founded by Phyllis Schlafly, matriarch of the anti-feminist movement. The case pitted Schlafly’s youngest daughter against three of her sons, almost like a Midwest version of the HBO program “Succession” (without the obscenities).

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ Adobe & YouTube Censor & Silence Journalist

    At the demand of Adobe, Surveillance Giant Google has removed leaked video of Adobe's CEO from YouTube.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • JURIST ☛ France broadcasters sue Meta over alleged unlawful practices

    Law firms Scott + Scott and Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier on Wednesday sued Facebook’s parent company, Meta, on behalf of France’s leading publishers over the tech giant’s allegedly unlawful business practices.

  • Meduza ☛ Body of journalist Victoria Roshchyna returned to Ukraine months after death in Russian captivity — Meduza

  • FAIR ☛ Cuts to PBS, NPR Part of Authoritarian Playbook

    NPR (4/15/25) found itself having to write its own obituary recently when it reported that the “Trump administration has drafted a memo to Congress outlining its intent to end nearly all federal funding for public media, which includes NPR and PBS.”

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Spotify Expands Its Hey Hi (AI) Playlist Beta to 40 More Countries — Just Moments After YouTube Music Releases AI-Generated Personalized Radio Stations

    Spotify expands its Hey Hi (AI) Playlist beta to 40 more countries as YouTube announces a very similar feature. Spotify launched its Hey Hi (AI) Playlist beta a year ago, a feature that creates playlists on the fly based on listeners’ text prompts.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is BLADE Merely Descriptive of Hammers for Hammer Mill Machines?

    The USPTO refused to register the proposed mark BLADE for a "hammer sold as an integral component of hammer mill machines" on the ground of mere descriptiveness under Section 2(e)(1). Applicant Jacobs Corporation argued that that its hammers are employed in hammer mills "to crush and pulverize; they do not slice or cut as blades do." How do you think this came out? In re Jacobs Corporation, Serial No. 97513349 (April 22, 2025) [not precedential] Opinion by Judge George C. Pologeorgis).

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Personal/Opinions

    • Cataclysm: Dog Days Ahead

      So this mission in "Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead" requires one to rescue a dog, alive, from somewhere else on the map and return said dog to the NPC. This is a difficult mission as usually the dog sees a zombie, starts barking, attracts all the zombies, and then dies.

      With some luck and skill and items the dog can be rescued. Alive, and not as meat rations. First up is to mark three map cells around the location of the dog as "do no enter" so nothing runs in this area (unless recent versions of CDDA have increased the size of the reality bubble). If you're already within that range, then too bad? Skills and equipment could be an issue early in the game, and later on zombie evolution will be more of a problem. Ideally one will want night vision goggles. These, during a new moon, will let you see more and the zombies and dog hopefully less. A dog whistle will also be handy, as this will turn the dog from aggressive to passive. And a pet pack, so you can carry the dog, or failing that a rope so you can (if all goes well) leash the dog to your getaway vehicle, which should have a cargo basket or extra seat or something for that.

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Zoe - A New Gemini Game

      Happy Friday. I wrote a game. It may be the first 3D game on Gemini. I'm not trying to be hyperbolic. I just want you to click the link. You'll need a client certificate and your wits to emerge victorious. Do you have what it takes?

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^* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.