Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ This Ouija Business Card Helps You Speak To Tiny Llamas

  Business cards, on the whole, haven’t changed significantly over the past 600-ish years, and arguably are not as important as they used to be, but they are still worth considering as a reminder for someone to contact you. If the format of that card and method of contact stand out as unique and related to your personal or professional interests, you have a winning combination that will cement yourself in the recipient’s memory.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Something Is Warping The Disk Around One of The Brightest Stars in Our Sky

    Movement in the planetesimal graveyard.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Opposite of Déjà Vu Happens, And It's Even More Uncanny

    The weird world of jamais vu.

  • Science Alert ☛ Most Earth-Like Planet Yet May Have Been Found Just 40 Light Years Away

    Howdy neighbor!

• Career/Education

  • Pro Publica ☛ Chicago Public Schools’ STEAM Experiment: Can It Help Declining Enrollment?

    This summer, worried parents called the principal at Chalmers Elementary on Chicago’s West Side to ask if the district had shuttered the school. They had noticed second-floor windows boarded up.

    But despite years of declining enrollment, the school wasn’t closing. It was undergoing major renovations.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ O Brother, What Art Thou?

    Dedicated word processors are not something we see much of anymore. They were in a weird space: computerized, but not really what you could call a computer, even in those days. More like a fancy typewriter, with a screen and floppy disks. Brother made some very nice ones, and [Chad Boughton] got his hands on one for a modernization project.

  • Hackaday ☛ Bambu Lab’s PLA Tough+ Filament: Mostly A Tough Sell

    Beyond the simple world of basic PLA filaments there is a whole wild world of additives that can change this humble material for better or worse. The most common additives here are primarily to add color, but other additives seek to specifically improve certain properties of PLA. For example Bambu Lab’s new PLA Tough+ filament series that [Dr. Igor Gaspar] over at the My Tech Fun YouTube channel had over for reviewing purposes.

  • Hackaday ☛ The Magic Of The Hall Effect Sensor

    Recently, [Solder Hub] put together a brief video that demonstrates the basics of a Hall Effect sensor — in this case, one salvaged from an old CPU fan. Two LEDs, a 100 ohm resistor, and a 3.7 volt battery are soldered onto a four pin Hall effect sensor which can toggle one of two lights in response to the polarity of a nearby magnet.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian fear of draughts will not be blown away any time soon

    Summer weather brings with it numerous dangers: sunburn, dehydration, drowning, but none of these are viewed with quite as much apprehension among Latvians as the possibility of having to crack open a window, for doing so creates the possibility of causing a draught (or 'draft' to Americans) – known in Latvian as the caurvējš (for more on the peculiar power of the caurvējš in the Latvian imagination see this).

  • Science Alert ☛ Study Links CT Scans With Risk of Birth Defects. Here's What You Must Know.

    It's complicated.

  • Science Alert ☛ Cannabis Use Linked With Chromosomal Abnormalities in IVF Eggs

    "The safest choice is to abstain."

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean YouTuber Great Library died due to cerebral haemorrhage

    South Korean streamer Na Dong-hyeon was found dead at his home in Seoul on Sept 6.

  • Science Alert ☛ Unexpected Link Between Menthol And Alzheimer's Found in Mice

    Could inhaling menthol help fight the disease?

  • Science Alert ☛ Cutting Caffeine Could Do Something Weird to Your Dreams

    They may surprise you.

  • Science Alert ☛ New 'Fastball' Test Could Assess Alzheimer's Risk in Just 3 Minutes

    A different approach.

  • Latvia ☛ Covid incidence expected to rise further in Latvia

    The number of Covid-19 patients in Latvian hospitals is increasing, and some have severe disease symptoms. Epidemiologists expect the incidence rates to rise, Latvian Television reported on 9 September.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia's suicide rate continues to fall

    Latvia has the lowest rate of suicide among the three Baltic states – but is still above the European Union average for intentional self-harm, according to Eurostat data published September 10th.

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • ACLU ☛ Open vs. Closed: The Battle for the Future of Language Models [Ed: ACLU gets dragged into mindless hype and openwashing]

      Free Future home

      I’ve been writing about the democratic future of large language models (LLMs). Will this tech turn out to be an inherently centralized, authoritarian technology like nuclear power, or a more inherently democratic technology like solar power? I’ve suggested that there are three dimensions to watch as the technology develops, including how accessible the training of new models is, and the extent to which it is practical to run models on local hardware.

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • Security Week ☛ Microsoft Patches 86 Vulnerabilities

      Microsoft has released patches for dozens of flaws in backdoored Windows and other products, including ones with ‘exploitation more likely’ rating.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Meduza ☛ ‘We have the power here, don’t we?’ Anger over WhatsApp and Telegram call bans sparks rare protests in multiple Russian cities — Meduza

• Defence/Aggression

  • European Commission ☛ Speech by Commissioner Kos in the EP Plenary on: Wave of violence and continuous use of force against protesters in Serbia

  • Site36 ☛ Activists storm headquarters of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit in Germany and damage property

    At least five activists have stormed the German headquarters of Elbit Systems, damaging furniture and equipment. They are following the example of the British group “Palestine Action,” which has successfully weakened Israel’s largest arms manufacturer.

  • Site36 ☛ First German trial on the “Budapest Complex” nearing its end with a martial demand: Hanna S. might face nine years in prison.

    On September 26, the verdict will be delivered against Hanna S. The charges related to attacks on neo-Nazis in Budapest range up to attempted murder. Yet there are significant doubts about her guilt.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Democrats seek information on Convicted Felon administration’s security clearance revocations

    So many revocations either reflects deep problems with government vetting or suggests the process has become politicized, the lawmakers wrote.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Cairncross calls for investing in cyber workforce, upping federal defenses

    The new national cyber director laid out the second Convicted Felon administration’s cybersecurity agenda in his first public remarks since being confirmed.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Russia hands six-year prison sentence in absentia to founder of group helping men evade army service over Bucha post — Meduza

    • European Commission ☛ Speech by Commissioner Kos at the European Parliament on the debate on EU action to ensure security guarantees and just peace for Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Flight data suggests Putin was in Sochi during deadly overnight drone attack — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Pro-war blogger accused of embezzling millions meant for Russian military medical supplies — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Trump calls on Europe to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on India and China for buying Russian oil — FT — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ Russian Empire flag spotted on house in Rēzekne municipality

      Administrative offence proceedings have been initiated for putting up the flag of the Russian Empire in front of a house in Malta parish, Rēzekne municipality, Latgale Regional Television reported on 8 September.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘In the process of division’: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán says Ukraine will inevitably be split into three parts — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ More than 20 civilians killed in Russian strike on village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Russia brings only death and horror’: Ukrainian officials call for accountability after one of Moscow’s deadliest strikes on civilians so far — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Nearly one in three Russians say they know someone killed fighting in Ukraine — Levada Center — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Drones breach Polish airspace during Russian attack on Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia hits multiple Ukrainian regions with drones and missiles overnight, killing at least one — Meduza

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Pro Publica ☛ Connecticut DMV Committee to Examine Towing Law for Broader Changes

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Pro Publica ☛ The Case Against Ayman Soliman Could Fuel Trump Immigration Crackdown

    In the weeks leading up to July 9, Ayman Soliman told friends he was terrified of losing the sanctuary he’d found after fleeing Egypt in 2014 and building a new life as a Muslim chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

    Soliman, 51, was to show up at 9 a.m. on that date for his first check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement since losing his asylum status. He’d been granted the protections in 2018 under the first Trump administration. Then, in the last month of the Biden presidency, immigration authorities moved to revoke them based on sharply disputed claims of fraud and aid to a terrorist group. Once President Donald Trump returned to office weeks later, court records show, immigration officials bumped up the terrorism claims and formalized the asylum termination June 3.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Trump’s “Debanking” Executive Order Undermined by His Gutting of CFPB

    Last month, when President Donald Trump signed an executive order “guaranteeing fair banking for all Americans,” he served notice of a coming federal crackdown.

    Banks who have denied customers access to accounts, loans or credit cards “on the basis of political or religious beliefs or lawful business activities,” he said, would now feel the full force of government regulators. Violators could find themselves facing fines, consent decrees or “other disciplinary measures” in an effort to stamp out “politicized or unlawful debanking.”

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • EDRI ☛ Deregulating digital rights: Why the EU’s war on ‘red tape’ should worry us all

    The European Commission has made deregulation a top priority for the EU over the next four years. Under the banner of ‘simplifying’ EU rules, we risk seeing the entire digital rulebook – for which we have advocated for years – being stripped away. If the EU wants a healthy, competitive tech market that puts people at its center, then this deregulation push is not only bad for the protection of fundamental rights, but is also an act of self-sabotage which must be reversed.

    /blockquote>

  • EDRI ☛ Open Letter: The EU weakens the rules that safeguard people and the environment

    470 civil society society organisations, trade unions and public interest groups are making it clear to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Commissioners and EU Member States that our rights, planet, health and justice are not for sale. They call on EU lawmakers to protect and promote the rights enshrined in the EU Charter and international human rights law, instead of endangering them.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Security Week ☛ Ex-WhatsApp Employee Sues Meta Over Vulnerabilities, Retaliation

  Attaullah Baig has filed a lawsuit against Meta and its executives, accusing them of retaliation over critical cybersecurity failures.