Leftovers

• Games

  • The New Leaf Journal ☛ Best and Worst NBA Title Defenses Since 1983-84

    I was inspired by a recent article to undertake a survey of NBA title defenses. Below, after an introduction, I will examine the team stats of every NBA championship defense from 1983-84 through 2024-25, finding the best and worse in various statistical categories for the regular season and playoffs.

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Daniel Miessler ☛ Leave the em dash Alone

      Even after all this tough talk I don’t think I can avoid wincing when people ask me if I used Hey Hi (AI) to write something because of my em dashes.

      But I hope I can resist the temptation to stop using them.

      AI will continue to get better at doing the things that we cherish, and I refuse to be battered to-and-fro by people’s second and third-order reactions to this.

      I’m just going to be me and hope it all works out.

    • When feeling perturbed and cheeky I also have the nuclear option of sending people my archives page to to show I was using these things long before Hey Hi (AI) came around.
    • Now that I think of it, I should add a new section that’s just posts with em-dashes. :)

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • Open Source Initiative ☛ Open letter: Harnessing open source Hey Hi (AI) to advance digital sovereignty [Ed: Jordan Maris of Microsoft OSI is still openwashing and boosting a giant Ponzi scheme]

      Europe is at a crossroads. The Summit on European Digital Sovereignty marks an important milestone for the EU and its member states in aligning on a shared strategy for achieving real and lasting European digital sovereignty. As the EU pursues the goal of digital sovereignty, we urge you to harness open source — that is, technology that is free to use, inspect, adapt, and share — as a key enabler of this strategy.

• Security

  • LWN ☛ Security updates for Thursday

    Security updates have been issued by AlmaLinux (bind, bind9.18, container-tools:rhel8, expat, grub2, haproxy, idm:DL1, kernel, kernel-rt, lasso, libsoup, libssh, libtiff, pcs, podman, python-kdcproxy, qt5-qt3d, redis, redis:7, runc, shadow-utils, sqlite, squid, vim, webkit2gtk3, xorg-x11-server, xorg-x11-server-Xwayland, and zziplib), Debian (chromium), Oracle (lasso and postgresql), SUSE (erlang27, ghostscript, grub2, kernel, libIex-3_4-33, python312, and sbctl), and Ubuntu (linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.4, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-hwe-5.4,

    linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, linux-xilinx-zynqmp, linux-aws-6.8, linux-fips, linux-aws-fips, linux-gcp-fips, linux-oracle, and mysql-8.0, mysql-8.4).

  • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

    • The Record ☛ New Android malware can capture private messages, researchers warn

      Dutch cybersecurity firm ThreatFabric said on Thursday it had identified the malware, dubbed Sturnus, which can steal banking credentials using highly convincing fake login screens and give attackers near-total remote control of infected devices.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ ‘I can’t believe I’m going home’: travellers relieved as Lithuania reopens Belarus border

      Two key Lithuanian border checkpoints with Belarus reopened at midnight Thursday, allowing several dozen travellers to cross in both directions after weeks of disruption that forced people to reroute through Poland or Latvia.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian trucks remain stranded as Minsk demands government-level meeting – Linava

      Belarus is still blocking Lithuanian freight trucks from leaving special holding areas despite Lithuania reopening two border checkpoints at midnight, the head of the national road carriers association Linava said Thursday.

    • Meduza ☛ Stephen King’s ‘It’ disappears from Russian bookstores and online retailers — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Life matters more than your wallet’: Meduza takes a look at the Kremlin’s new media guidelines for spinning Russia’s tax hikes — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ How Swarovski Optik is still sending sniper scopes to Russia, despite Austria’s policy of ‘permanent neutrality’ — Meduza

    • The Straits Times ☛ 2-year-old Russian boy dies from box jellyfish sting in Langkawi

      The incident happened suddenly while he was playing in shallow water, his father said.

    • France24 ☛ French general says country must 'prepare to lose its children' in potential war

      France’s top general, Fabien Mandon, has sparked political backlash after warning that the country must be ready to 'lose its children' in the event of a war with Russia, citing societal unpreparedness despite France’s economic and demographic strength. While some officials and centrist politicians defend the warning as a realistic alert, critics on the left denounce it as political.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Russia’s shadow war: How the Kremlin uses sabotage to wear down Europe

      Moscow’s goal is not just to damage infrastructure but also to sow distrust inside Western societies.

    • Security Week ☛ US and Allies Sanction Russian Bulletproof Hosting Service Providers

      Media Land, Hypercore, and their leadership and employees are allegedly connected to various cybercriminal activities.

    • Security Week ☛ Russian Hacking Suspect Wanted by the FBI Arrested on Thai Resort Island

      Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau said an FBI tip that the “world-class hacker” was traveling to Thailand led to his arrest in Phuket.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Outright capitulation’: Reactions to Trump’s new ‘peace plan’ for Russia and Ukraine are in — and they’re mostly negative — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ In nearly four years of full-scale war, these are the major initiatives to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including Trump’s latest peace plan — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ US-backed plan would hand eastern Donbas to Russia, Zelensky calls for 'dignified peace'

      The plan put forward by the United States to end the war in Ukraine calls, among other measures, for Kyiv to cede the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday appealed for a “dignified peace,” as Russia claimed to have captured the stronghold of Kupyansk.

    • France24 ☛ Britain unravels money-laundering web feeding Russia’s war in Ukraine

      A billion-dollar money-laundering network in Britain bought a bank in Kyrgyzstan to help Russia evade Western sanctions and funnel funds to its war in Ukraine, UK police said on Friday. The group used hundreds of couriers across 28 towns to move cash from drugs and firearms trafficking.

    • New York Times ☛ Move Over, Netflix: Ukraine’s Corruption Investigators Bring the Drama

      The country’s anti-graft agencies have taken a cinematic approach to revealing a scandal that has touched President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle.

    • New York Times ☛ Hiring Increased, but So Did the Unemployment Rate

      Also, bear attacks are disrupting life in rural Japan. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky Says Ukraine Ready to ‘Honestly’ Engage With U.S. Peace Plan

      The proposal, which the White House confirmed on Thursday without providing details, echoes many long-held Russian demands.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Ready For 'Constructive, Honest, And Prompt' Work With Convicted Felon On Peace Plan

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has received the controversial new US-drafted peace plan that calls for Kyiv to make major concessions, his office said, and Zelenskyy would seek to discuss it further with President The Insurrectionist.

    • LRT ☛ Any peace negotiations must include Ukraine and Europe – Lithuanian FM

      Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said Thursday that any peace negotiations over the war in Ukraine must include Kyiv.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine: Brussels alarmed by alleged US-Russia peace talks excluding Europe

      European ministers meeting in Brussels voiced sharp frustration over reports of a secret US-Russia peace plan for Ukraine, warning that no agreement can be made without Kyiv and Europe at the table. The alleged proposal mirrors Russia’s key demands—territorial concessions, halving Ukraine’s army, and banning NATO forces—raising major security concerns across the EU.

    • France24 ☛ With release of Epstein files looming, is Convicted Felon 'in a hurry to push through a Ukraine peace deal'?

      There's growing alarm across Ukraine, and the European continent, as reports emerge of a secret US-Russia draft peace plan aimed at ending the war. Convicted Felon's 28-point plan appears to grant numerous demands the Kremlin has made repeatedly since the full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago. It was not clear if any concessions were asked of Russia. And it comes at a moment when President Zelensky has been weakened by a widening corruption scandal, while Russian forces intensify attacks in the south. Yinka Oyetade welcomes Peter Zalmayev, Director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, who warns the unilateral plan will be a non-starter "for both Ukraine and its European allies." He makes very clear that Ukraine's citizens, leaders, and military would not even entertain "capitulatory negotiations with Russia" at this stage.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Axis of authoritarians poses mounting threat on the global information front

      The authoritarian axis that has taken shape since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is currently setting new standards in terms of coordinated information operations across media platforms, write William Dixon and Maksym Beznosiuk.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian-Ukrainian charity choir extends a seasonal goodwill invitation

      The mixed Latvian-Ukrainian choir of the charity "Tavi draugi" and its supporters, invites the public to a charity concert in Rīga, at the Dome Cathedral, on December 9th at 7:00 p.m.

    • Latvia ☛ Braže: EU members should not wait to take action against Russia's 'shadow fleet'

      Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže, was in Brussels on November 20th, again urging more European Union action in support of Ukraine and in particular suggesting that member states should take swift action against Russia's so-called 'shadow fleet' of sanctions-busting ships without waiting for a unified EU position on the matter.

    • Meduza ☛ How the Ukrainian blogger photographed in the aftermath of Russia’s Mariupol maternity hospital strike became a pro-Putin propagandist — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ US-Russian framework to end war in Ukraine: a plan for peace or for capitulation?

      Ukraine is facing another huge challenge in its fight to save its borders, its land and its people. The military battle continues as it has since 2014, as it was stepped up in 2022. The new challenge is the emergence of a US-Russia plan to end the war. It has left observers perplexed, and Ukrainians open mouthed in shock.This plan seems to be trying to press-gang Ukraine: to give up land; arms; its armies to placate Putin's Russia. There would also be cultural changes enforced like the suppression of the Ukrainian language in favour of Russian. Convicted Felon's go-to man on all key world issues, Steve Witkoff and Kiril Dmitriev, a Putin's advisor who is not subject to a travel ban, met in Miami late last month to hatch this plan.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Any serious Ukraine peace plan must address Putin’s imperial ambitions

      The new US plan to end the war in Ukraine fails to recognize that Putin is not driven by limited political goals. He believes he is engaged in an existential struggle to revive Russia’s great power status and will never accept a compromise peace, writes Mykola Bielieskov.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • France24 ☛ US artists launch nationwide ‘Fall of Freedom’ protest against rising censorship

    In this episode of Arts 24, we look at "Fall of Freedom" – a nationwide wave of performances, readings and public art events as artists across the United States mobilise against mounting censorship and political pressure on cultural institutions. Hundreds of theatres, museums, and libraries are taking part on November 21 and 22 in what organisers call an urgent stand for artistic freedom. Joining us from New York are two of the movement’s leading voices: Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Lynn Nottage and visual artist Dread Scott. They discuss why they believe democracy is at risk, how cultural institutions are being pressured into silence, and why artists are uniting now. Among the stars participating in "Fall of Freedom" are filmmaker Michael Moore, director Ava DuVernay, musicians John Legend and Amanda Palmer, Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer Egan and visual artists Marilyn Minter. Events include staged readings, public art installations, concerts, film screenings, and library programs, all aimed at defending free expression.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is RODEO TEXAS Primarily Geographically Descriptive of Sports Event Parties and Non-rodeo Clothing?

    The USPTO refused to register the mark RODEO TEXAS (in standard characters) for “Clothing and apparel, namely, shirts, hats, and jackets not for use by rodeo competitors,” in International Class 25, and for “Entertainment services, namely, conducting special events in the nature of pre event [sic] parties, watch parties, and after parties in connection with sports and entertainment events” in International Class 41, on the ground that the mark is primarily geographically descriptive of the goods and services under Section 2(e)(2). On the same ground, the Board refused to register the word-and-design mark shown below, for "Clothing and apparel, namely, shirts, hats, and jackets, all of the foregoing not for use by rodeo competitors,” absent a disclaimer of RODEO TEXAS. Applicant argued that it does not render rodeo services or sell clothing to wear in rodeo competitions. How do you think this appeal came out? In re Fantasy Rodeo, LLC, Serial Nos. 90531680 & 905316991 (November 18, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Robert Lavache).

• Copyrights

  • New York Times ☛ Netflix, Comcast and Paramount Submit Warner Bros. Discovery Bids

    The outcome of the sale could alter the trajectory of the entertainment business.