Leftovers

• Sean Voisen ☛ On time and tokens

  Clocks are so ubiquitous in modern life that it’s easy to forget—like any technology—that they have evolved and changed since their original inception. One thing I had never considered before reading Ihde was that the earliest mechanical clocks were one-handed. While dividing the day into twenty-four intervals radically changed things for humanity compared to pre-clock cultures, the introduction of the minute hand further accelerated our collective focus on the now, propelling us closer to what philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls our “temporal crisis.” Ihde writes: [...]

• Dan Q ☛ Postcards… from the Internet!

  I’ve started a new page to collect all the cards, including a (hopefully pretty-accessible) CSS-powered interactive “flipper” so you can turn them over, and I’m hopeful that I might attract a few more as time goes on. Getting physical mail from “Internet friends” helps make the digital world feel a little bit smaller, and I love it.

• Daniel Miller ☛ Why Write Online?

  I don’t. I write this blog primarily for myself. I think of it as my “commonplace book”. I write in three different notetaking apps. Sometimes those notes end up here, which is essentially just a forth, that I happen to post to a public URL. (Sometimes they go straight onto this site, like this.)

• University of Toronto ☛ Brief notes on learning and adjusting Polkit on modern Linuxes

  Unfortunately, Polkit configuration is arcane and as far as I know, there aren't really any readily accessible options for it. For instance, if you want to force people to authenticate for root-level things using the root password instead of their password, as far as I know you're going to have to write some JavaScript yourself to define a suitable Administrator identity rule. The polkit manual page seems to document what you can put in the code reasonably well, but I'm not sure how you test your new rules and some areas seem underdocumented (for example, it's not clear how 'addAdminRule()' can be used to say that the current user cannot authenticate as an administrative user at all).

• The Independent UK ☛ Rare comic found in family’s attic becomes most expensive ever sold

  The comic, which received an exceptional 9.0 grade out of 10 for its unrestored condition, was discovered by three brothers in Northern California in their late mother's attic.

• Pete Brown ☛ This is not a post on the Internet.

  We have allowed software developers and “Show Your Work” YouTube grifters to sell us a story about how the best environment for our creativity is the acid bath of the public [Internet]. That is crazy and wrong. The [Internet] is not a therapist or a creative writing group or an art workshop. We should not be letting a bunch of people who are pushing their own brand or building platforms for their own purposes tell us how to produce art. I am generally skeptical that there is “a point” to human creativity, but to the whatever extent there is one, it is certainly not to increase subscriber counts or provide content for someone else’s mill.

• Alex Ewerlöf ☛ 3 levels of writing

  Your work may have elements from all 3 levels but there’s a clear distinction in intention, challenges and the skillsets you need to be aware of.

• The Independent UK ☛ Info to decipher secret message in Kryptos sculpture at CIA headquarters sells for close to $1M

  The information needed to decipher the last remaining unsolved secret message embedded within a sculpture at CIA headquarters in Virginia sold at auction for nearly $1 million, the auction house announced Friday.

  The winner will get a private meeting with the 80-year-old artist to go over the codes and charts in hopes of continuing what he's been doing for decades: interacting with would-be cryptanalyst sleuths.

• Sean Voisen ☛ On time and tokens

  Clocks are so ubiquitous in modern life that it’s easy to forget—like any technology—that they have evolved and changed since their original inception. One thing I had never considered before reading Ihde was that the earliest mechanical clocks were one-handed. While dividing the day into twenty-four intervals radically changed things for humanity compared to pre-clock cultures, the introduction of the minute hand further accelerated our collective focus on the now, propelling us closer to what philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls our “temporal crisis.” Ihde writes: [...]

• Dan Q ☛ Postcards… from the Internet!

  I’ve started a new page to collect all the cards, including a (hopefully pretty-accessible) CSS-powered interactive “flipper” so you can turn them over, and I’m hopeful that I might attract a few more as time goes on. Getting physical mail from “Internet friends” helps make the digital world feel a little bit smaller, and I love it.

• Daniel Miller ☛ Why Write Online?

  I don’t. I write this blog primarily for myself. I think of it as my “commonplace book”. I write in three different notetaking apps. Sometimes those notes end up here, which is essentially just a forth, that I happen to post to a public URL. (Sometimes they go straight onto this site, like this.)

• University of Toronto ☛ Brief notes on learning and adjusting Polkit on modern Linuxes

  Unfortunately, Polkit configuration is arcane and as far as I know, there aren't really any readily accessible options for it. For instance, if you want to force people to authenticate for root-level things using the root password instead of their password, as far as I know you're going to have to write some JavaScript yourself to define a suitable Administrator identity rule. The polkit manual page seems to document what you can put in the code reasonably well, but I'm not sure how you test your new rules and some areas seem underdocumented (for example, it's not clear how 'addAdminRule()' can be used to say that the current user cannot authenticate as an administrative user at all).

• The Independent UK ☛ Rare comic found in family’s attic becomes most expensive ever sold

  The comic, which received an exceptional 9.0 grade out of 10 for its unrestored condition, was discovered by three brothers in Northern California in their late mother's attic.

• Pete Brown ☛ This is not a post on the Internet.

  We have allowed software developers and “Show Your Work” YouTube grifters to sell us a story about how the best environment for our creativity is the acid bath of the public [Internet]. That is crazy and wrong. The [Internet] is not a therapist or a creative writing group or an art workshop. We should not be letting a bunch of people who are pushing their own brand or building platforms for their own purposes tell us how to produce art. I am generally skeptical that there is “a point” to human creativity, but to the whatever extent there is one, it is certainly not to increase subscriber counts or provide content for someone else’s mill.

• Alex Ewerlöf ☛ 3 levels of writing

  Your work may have elements from all 3 levels but there’s a clear distinction in intention, challenges and the skillsets you need to be aware of.

• The Independent UK ☛ Info to decipher secret message in Kryptos sculpture at CIA headquarters sells for close to $1M

  The information needed to decipher the last remaining unsolved secret message embedded within a sculpture at CIA headquarters in Virginia sold at auction for nearly $1 million, the auction house announced Friday.

  The winner will get a private meeting with the 80-year-old artist to go over the codes and charts in hopes of continuing what he's been doing for decades: interacting with would-be cryptanalyst sleuths.

• Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Digital map brings ancient Roman roads to life

• Science

  • Interesting Engineering ☛ MIT innovates research by applying CT scanning to 5,000-year-old slag

    Effectively reaching for the source, the region in Iran is regarded as one of the earliest places where evidence of copper processing and object production might have happened, MIT researchers explained. The slag had already been analyzed and determined to belong to 3100 to 2900 BCE.

    In what has been called the first attempt to study ancient slag with CT scanning, they acquired an industrial CT scanner to perform their experiment, along with a regular CT scanner already at their disposal on campus.

• Career/Education

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Canada seeks star academics from abroad, but stable funding for higher education remains a concern

  • Matthew Weber ☛ It's Okay Not To Read

    It’s okay not to read every day. It’s okay to have months where you don’t read a book at all. I know from experience that eventually I’ll get back to reading. For myself, I know that the more pressure I put on myself to read more, the less I actually end up reading. So, I just need to remove that pressure. Less BookTube for me, and I think I’ll be happier.

  • Nico Cartron ☛ Amstrad Addict retro magazine

    It took me a bit of time to start reading it, as the first impression I got when having a look was "there's a lot of long articles" so I wanted to take the time to enjoy it.

    And boy don't I regret it!

• Hardware

  • Interesting Engineering ☛ Compact ultraviolet light source helps China enhance 14 nm chip yields

    Chinese researchers have allegedly developed a new desktop-sized extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) light source for producing 14-nanometre microchips. While the new technology cannot replace traditional Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography (ASML) machines, it offers an interesting alternative for producing small batches when needed.

  • Ken Shirriff ☛ Unusual circuits in the Intel 386's standard cell logic

    I've been studying the standard cell circuitry in the Intel 386 processor recently. The 386, introduced in 1985, was Intel's most complex processor at the time, containing 285,000 transistors. Intel's existing design techniques couldn't handle this complexity and the chip began to fall behind schedule. To meet the schedule, the 386 team started using a technique called standard cell logic. Instead of laying out each transistor manually, the layout process was performed by a computer.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Omicron Limited ☛ Sustainable pastoralism is an asset, not a threat, in stemming biodiversity loss

    A new analysis published in the journal BioScience challenges conventional conservation approaches by demonstrating that traditional livestock grazing on rangelands represents a crucial but often overlooked strategy for protecting global biodiversity.

  • Jeff Geerling ☛ Air Lab is the Flipper Zero of air quality monitors

    This one was sent to me for review, and I like to think of it as like the Flipper Zero of air quality measurement. Air Lab reads CO2, NOx, VOCs, Temperature, Humidity, and Pressure, and it'll log all that data for you wherever you take it.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] 'Gin' must contain alcohol, top European court says

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] Biovac Starts Trials on South Africa's First Domestically Developed Cholera Vaccine

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Africa Experiencing Worst Outbreak of Cholera in 25 Years, Africa CDC Says

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-10 [Older] Alberta's role in Canada's loss of measles elimination status embarrassing, former chief medical officer says

  • Counter Punch ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Canada Loses Its Official ‘Measles-Free’ Status – and the US Will Follow Soon, as Vaccination Rates Fall

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] German farmers venture into risky wetlands to cut emissions

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] More than 260 Quebec doctors apply for Ontario licences following pay reform bill

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-12 [Older] Federal investigation probes grocery store competition in Halifax

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-12 [Older] P.E.I'.s oyster industry looking south of the border for help battling deadly diseases

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Inside a Montreal clinic struggling to deal with Quebec’s imposed health reforms

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] They’re at risk of dying from opioid overdose. The government cut funding that could help them

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Workers face uncertain future after Newfoundland seafood plant destroyed by fire

• Proprietary

  • Cyble Inc ☛ CERT-In Warns Of Critical Asus Router Flaw CVE-2025-59367

    The warning, published in CERT-In Vulnerability Note CIVN-2025-0322, outlines how remote attackers could infiltrate specific router models without user involvement. The affected devices include the Asus DSL-AC51, DSL-N16, and DSL-AC750, three routers that are common in home and SOHO environments relying on DSL [Internet] connections.

  • Lee Yingtong Li ☛ pyaccdb: Python library for Microsoft Access .accdb files

    I introduce pyaccdb, a minimal open-source Python library for parsing and exploring Microsoft Access .accdb database files.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ Gaming Exec Says That "Gen Z Loves AI Slop"

      The exec’s inflammatory rhetoric fueled a fiery debate. Just because people are playing a game called “Steal a Brainrot,” does that mean they’re voting in favor of AI slop?

    • The Atlantic ☛ Elon Musk Is Trying to Rewrite History

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Wall Street warns of rising AI debt risk as stocks slide on wobbly investor confidence — analysts warn of 'systemic risk' as Nvidia share price creaks

      The multiple hundred-billion-dollar deals struck between AI and technology firms in 2025 have raised eyebrows every time the news breaks, but so far, there's only been an upside for the companies involved. OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, Anthropic, and others have all seen their share prices skyrocket in the wake of their interlocking deals, making many of these companies feel like they're buoying each other while they all hunt for the elusive AI profit that has yet to materialize.

      But those vibes are now turning into genuine concerns in the financing world.

    • Jeff Triplett ☛ 🤖 How I Accidentally Spent Over 62 Million OpenAI Tokens

      I could blame this on vibecoding since DjangoTV is >99% vibe coded, but the project was built using sensible defaults and this wasn’t obvious at the time.

    • Alex Ward ☛ Mozilla is now an AI company

      There is a big presupposition built into this: Generative AI (that's the thing upending livelihoods) is a technology that deserves Mozilla's attention, and could be a market differentiator for them.

    • Wired ☛ Trump Takes Aim at State AI Laws in Draft Executive Order

      A draft of the order viewed by WIRED directs US attorney general Pam Bondi to create an “AI Litigation Task Force,” whose purpose is to sue states in court for passing AI regulations that allegedly violate federal laws governing things like free speech and interstate commerce.

    • Sean Goedecke ☛ Why it takes months to tell if new AI models are good

      The problem with this approach is that it takes a fair amount of time and effort to judge if a new model is any good, because you have to actually do the work: if you’re not engaging with the problem yourself, you will have no idea if the model’s solution is any good or not. So testing out a new model can be risky. If it’s no good, you’ve wasted a fair amount of time and effort! I’m currently trying to decide whether to invest this effort into testing out Gemini 3 Pro or GPT-5.1-Codex - right now I’m still using GPT-5-Codex for most tasks, or Claude Sonnet 4.5 on some simpler problems.

  • Social Control Media

    • International Business Times ☛ Meta 'Lied to Congress' About Risks on Kids, Refused to Enforce Protections

      According to the lawsuit, which was unsealed Friday, 21 November, the evidence includes testimony from Vaishnavi Jayakumar, Instagram's former head of safety and well-being. When Jayakumar joined Meta in 2020, she reportedly discovered the company's lax policies regarding online safety. Specifically, she testified that Meta had a '17x strike policy for accounts that repeatedly engaged in sex trafficking'.

      'You could incur 16 violations for prostitution and sexual solicitation, and upon the 17th violation, your account would be suspended,' said Jayakumar. "...By any measure across the industry, a very very high strike threshold.'

    • Don Marti ☛ a backwards (?) metric for a social app

      The big difference is one of the success metrics they’re tracking. MyFeed has a goal of five minutes a day of user engagement.

      That’s five minutes maximum.

      If a user spends more than five minutes a day in the app, they will treat that as a problem and make a point of fixing it. (Prosocial Design, so hot right now.)

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • The Record ☛ Local law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma, Massachusetts responding to cyber incidents

      Hackers have successfully targeted local law enforcement agencies in two states this week, launching cyberattacks that impacted IT systems.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Record ☛ 2025-11-10 [Older] Short-term renewal of cyber information sharing law appears in bill to end shutdown

    • Tech Policy Press ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] The Case for Making EdTech Companies Liable Under FERPA

    • India Times ☛ Zuckerberg, Meta directors agree to $190 million settlement of shareholder privacy case

      The company's board also agreed to policy changes governing directors' conduct, insider trading and whistleblower protections.

      The deal ended litigation by shareholders who accused the Facebook co-founder and other defendants of saddling the company with billions of dollars in fines and legal costs stemming from violating privacy regulations.

    • NYOB ☛ Digital Omnibus - First Legal Analysis

      This week the "Digital Omnibus" came out. noyb is right now working on an in-dept written analysis that we hope to publish the next days. As a preview, we brought together team members that worked on the various aspects of the Omnibus proposal by the European Commission in a video, to go into more details on select topics (the new personal data definition, the new research exemption, limitations on transparency rules and the new rules on access to the terminal equipment). We hope this video is useful for you!

    • Zimbabwe ☛ Is Your Minister Using Gmail? Why That’s a National Security Threat

      I feel compelled to address a growing and deeply concerning trend within Zimbabwe’s public sector, government websites remain insufficiently secured and many high-level state officials continue to use personal Gmail accounts for official government business.

      This is not merely an administrative oversight. It is a national security risk. A number of Zimbabwean government websites still operate without modern encryption standards, leaving citizens’ information vulnerable every time they access a public platform. Any website handling national data must at minimum be protected by current SSL/TLS security, continuous monitoring and regular security patching.

    • Nick Heer ☛ European Commission Proposes Sweeping Changes to A.I. And Privacy Policies

      I think relying on individual consent is ridiculous. If that is the best we can do, instead of outlawing creepy and privacy-hostile behaviour in its entirety, then a browser preference seems fine. It is too bad the Do Not Track standard, originally proposed by the U.S. FTC, was not mandatory for advertisers to follow, and that its replacement is not well supported either. Maybe this is the legislative push it needs.

    • Kevin Boone ☛ The privacy nightmare of browser fingerprinting

      I imagine that most people who take an interest in de-Googling are concerned about privacy. Privacy on the Internet is a somewhat nebulous concept, but one aspect of privacy is surely the prevention of your web browsing behaviour being propagated from one organization to another. I don’t want my medical insurers to know, for example, that I’ve been researching coronary artery disease. And even though my personal safety and liberty probably aren’t at stake, I don’t want to give any support to the global advertising behemoth, by allowing advertisers access to better information about me.

      Unfortunately, while distancing yourself from Google and its services might be a necessary first step in protecting your privacy, it’s far from the last. There’s more to do, and it’s getting harder to do it, because of browser fingerprinting.

  • Confidentiality

    • 2025-11-12 [Older] St. Thomas Brushed Off Red Flags Before Dark-Web Data Dump Rocks Houston

    • BBC ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] A jailed hacking kingpin reveals all about the gang that left a trail of destruction

    • 2025-11-12 [Older] Doctor Alliance Data Breach: 353GB of Patient Files Allegedly Compromised, Ransom Demanded

    • 2025-11-12 [Older] Court of Appeal reaffirms MFSA liability in data leak case, orders regulator to shoulder costs

    • 2025-11-12 [Older] A Wiltshire police breach posed possible safety concerns for violent crime victims as well as prison officers

    • National Law Review US ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] District of Massachusetts Allows Higher-Ed Student Data Breach Claims to Survive

    • 2025-11-12 [Older] Almost two years later, Alpha Omega Winery notifies those affected by a data breach.

    • Europol ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] End of the game for cybercrime infrastructure: 1025 servers taken down

    • NBC ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] Army gynecologist took secret videos of patients during intimate exams, lawsuit says

    • Digital Health ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] NHS providers reviewing stolen Synnovis data published by cyber criminals

    • National Law Review US ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] Gates Down: Third Circuit Says Breaking Employer Computer Access Policies Is Not Hacking

    • 2025-11-14 [Older] Did you hear the one about the ransom victim who made a ransom installment payment after they were told that it wouldn’t be accepted?

    • 2025-11-15 [Older] Washington Post hack exposes personal data of John Bolton, almost 10,000 others

• Defence/Aggression

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-12 [Older] French foreign minister, at G7 meeting in Canada, says U.S. boat strikes violate international law

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Explosion hits police station in Kashmir

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] France: Anti-drug activist's brother killed in Marseille

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] How can Tanzania heal after deadly election protests?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Tanzania: President promises inquiry into election violence

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Islamabad bombing: Pakistan arrests 4, links to Afghan cell

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-12 [Older] Refugee claims jump 98% in Sask. as immigration cuts leave newcomers in limbo

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-12 [Older] Swedish king’s visit highlights growing Canadian interest in Saab military aircraft

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Singapore jails Australian man who rushed Ariana Grande

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Germany to lift partial weapons embargo on Israel amid Gaza ceasefire

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Azerbaijan seeks life sentence for former Nagorno-Karabakh leaders

  • India Times ☛ UAE announces $1 billion initiative to expand AI in Africa

    The UAE is one of the biggest investors in Africa. Its bilateral trade in 2024 reached approximately $107 billion, a 28% increase from the previous year, and its total investments in Africa were over $118 billion between 2020 and 2024, the statement said.

  • C4ISRNET ☛ Lithuanian startup rushes strike drones to Ukraine – in fluffy padding

    Granta Autonomy’s latest innovation is its vertical take-off and landing X-Wing loitering munition, which was unveiled this year and has already been tested by Ukraine, with hundreds of units on order. The strike drone is equipped with a four-kilogram warhead and will be integrated with Ukrainian-made components, including electronics used on navigation systems.

    “Recently tested in Ukraine against their own jammers, it took off, navigated, and was successfully controlled,” Laurynas Litvinas, technical director at Granta Autonomy, told Defense News during a visit to the company’s facilities on Nov. 19. “Battlefield testing closer to the frontline is planned for the near future.”

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Will Ecuador allow US troops on its soil?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Ecuador voters reject referendum to bring back US bases

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Why is the US restarting military drills with Cambodia?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] What's next after Thailand suspends Cambodia ceasefire pact?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Sudan: RSF pushes east as conflict intensifies

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Carney heads to the UAE amid questions about atrocities in Sudan

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] US to designate Germany's 'Antifa Ost' a terrorist group

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Has Pakistan constitutionalized military supremacy?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Italy opens 'sniper tourism' Bosnian War crimes probe

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Italy: Prosecutors probe Sarajevo 'sniper tourism' charges

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Nadav Lapid's 'Yes' portrays Israel's 'madness'

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] South Korea: Truck plows into pedestrians, killing 2

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] France marks 10 years since deadly Paris terror attacks

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] German coalition government agrees new military service plan

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Germany news: Police search AfD politician's property

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Germany to introduce voluntary military service

  • 2025-11-12 [Older] A little too late? The ICC’s first Darfur conflict conviction

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] Top Diplomats From G7 Countries Meet in Canada as Trade Tensions Rise With Cheeto Mussolini

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] Canada opening new consulate in Greenland this week, in a bid for closer relations

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Mexico: 'Gen Z' protests spread following mayor's murder

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Hitler's DNA: What analysis really reveals about the dictator’s health

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Iran's foreign minister says Tehran not enriching uranium

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Operation Southern Spear: What is the US doing off Venezuela’s coast?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Philippines: Mass protest in Manila over corruption scandal

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Suspected migrant boat capsizes off California coast, killing 4

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] UK announces asylum policy 'overhaul' to cut refugee numbers

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] US warships enter Caribbean Sea amid Venezuela tension

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Argentina: 'Huge' explosions rock industrial complex

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] DR Congo and M23 agree to new framework for peace deal

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Sudan: UN to deploy el-Fasher fact-finding mission

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Verge ☛ ‘Jmail’ is like Gmail, but with Jeffrey Epstein’s emails

    The 20,000 pages of Epstein messages released earlier this month are now available in the style of a Gmail inbox.

• Environment

  • Michigan Advance ☛ Environmental groups join call to open DTE data center contracts to public scrutiny

    The Sierra Club, Michigan Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council and Citizens Utility Board of Michigan are calling on the Michigan Public Service Commission to initiate a contested case proceeding in reviewing DTE Energy’s contracts, arguing that this type of proceeding is needed for the groups to properly evaluate the company’s proposal and advocate for Michiganders who will be impacted by the project.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Fossil fuel emissions to hit new record in 2025: study

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] COP30: Environmental activists stage mass protest in Belem

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Germany news: Former FM Baerbock expected at COP30

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Brazil: What COP30 means for the people of Belem

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Sweden: Several killed, injured as bus crashes into bus stop

    • CBC ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Illicit crypto-to-cash deals are unlocking new ways to launder money in Canada

    • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Weekend transit shutdown cancelled in Montreal as union, STM reach tentative deal

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] China is steering the world's green transition — whether it wants to or not

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] The unexpected coalition trying to force fossil fuels onto the agenda at COP30

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] UK court rules BHP responsible for 2015 Mariana dam collapse

    • CBC ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] 1 dead after 2 planes collide north of Cornwall

    • CBC ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] How 4 different expansions are planned for Canada's largest oil export pipeline system

    • CBC ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Divers seeking lost shipwreck near Toronto find an even older mystery

    • CBC ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Port of Churchill, Hudson Bay Railway get $51M in provincial money toward improvements

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Winnipeg couple plead guilty to animal cruelty after killing cats, birds, axolotl for videos they sold

• Finance

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Canada Is Too Economically Dependent on the US

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Starbucks to Burger King: US brands rethink China strategy

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Residents of this Ontario neighbourhood were hit with $14K per household for work done a decade ago

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-10 [Older] Canada Post submits overhaul plan to the federal government

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Donald Cheeto Mussolini’s 50-year mortgage plan is being panned. It also wouldn’t fly in Canada [Ed: When Ponzi economics come to a standstill make a long kick and fling that can FIFTY years down the road (borrowing from half a cenutry later, based on false assumptions)]

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Desperate parents needing baby formula turn to online strangers as Canadian prices nearly double since 2017

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] German government agrees on record debt for 2026

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Christmas presents, in this economy? How some people are shifting their spending

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] US to remove some tariffs from Argentina, Ecuador

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] US, Switzerland reach deal to cut tariffs

  • Layoff crisis hits Black workers hard amid corporate restructuring

    Nnenna Anosike once worked at the top echelon of pharmaceutical research, where high-stakes clinical trials were her daily currency.

    For six years, the work was so stable that she never had to apply for a job; recruiters always sought her out. Earlier this year, after nine months of unemployment, her reality involved navigating the anxieties of dropping off food deliveries for DoorDash, while the high salary she once enjoyed ran dry.

    Anosike’s abrupt transition from a clinical research associate to a gig worker is the human face of a sudden, brutal layoff crisis that disproportionately impacts Black professionals nationwide.

  • Why so secretive? Amazon layoffs are anyone’s guess

    Amazon is laying off upwards of 14,000 people globally. An initial report suggested that job losses could amount to 35,000 and while the company officially confirmed less than half that number, there is room for more.

    In a blog post announcing the cuts, the company said it expects “to continue hiring in key strategic areas while also finding additional places we can remove layers, increase ownership, and realize efficiency gains” next year.

    This latest round of layoffs comes after the company began culling 27,000 employees in late 2022 around the globe.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  "" ☛ https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/trusted-flaggers-under-dsa | Source: European Commission

  • European Commission ☛ Trusted flaggers under the Digital Services Act (DSA)

    The Digital Services Coordinator (DSC) of the Member State of establishment of the applicant entity awards the trusted flagger status. DSCs oversee the application process, ensuring entities meet the following criteria: [...]

  • Michael Tsai ☛ Mastodon CEO Steps Down

  • Crooked Timber ☛ Musk’s last grift

    Having failed with the Cybertruck and robotaxis, Tesla’s value depends almost entirely on the projected success of the Optimus humanoid robot. There’s a strong case that Optimus will be outperformed by rivals like Unitree But the bigger question is: why build a humanoid robot at all?

    The choice of a humanoid form factor reveals more about the sloppy thinking of our tech elite than about engineering logic. The design represents a triumph of anthropomorphic fantasy over functional optimization, producing machines that excel primarily at generating media buzz rather than performing useful work.

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Judge approves recount that could threaten conservative majority in Newfoundland

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Australia: First ever treaty signed with Aboriginal people

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Cypriot president visits Berlin before Cyprus EU presidency

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Czechia: Will conflict of interest stop Babis becoming PM?

  • 2025-11-11 [Older] From commandos to mission command: Boer War lessons for modern South African defence

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2025-11-11 [Older] Cuba’s Role in Angola Changed the Course of African History

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Bangladesh's ex-PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Why is India upping forces at chokepoint with Bangladesh?

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Chile: Far-left, far-right candidates proceed to runoff vote

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Bihar election 2025: Modi's alliance wins by large margin

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Federal refugee employment program faces 'extremely long, ballooning wait times'

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Germany tackles housing crisis for refugees

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Global aid crisis dire as winter nears for millions in need

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Holocaust items auction draws outrage in Germany

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] How is Nigeria's new arts museum tied to the Benin Bronzes?

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Fact check: Was rainforest cut to build a highway for COP30?

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-12 [Older] Algeria pardons writer Boualem Sansal after German appeal

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] EU launches Google probe over news site suppression claim

  • The Atlantic ☛ The Earliest Days of 'The Atlantic' Online

    The Atlantic launched its website in November 1995, 138 years after it first went into print. The magazine began in response to one information revolution; the website appeared at the dawn of another. Now, 30 years on from the launch, you can buy a copy of the first printed edition of the magazine on eBay, but you can’t find much of the original website. The internet, notable for remembering just about everything, seems to have forgotten that particular piece of its own history.

  • The Telegraph UK ☛ Daily Mail owner in exclusive talks to buy The Telegraph for £500m

    Lord Rothermere’s holding company DMGT said it “plans to invest substantially in Telegraph Media Group with the aim of accelerating its international expansion”.

    The company is in talks with RedBird IMI, the joint venture between the United Arab Emirates and the US private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners.

  • El País ☛ The world curries favor with Bin Salman while Jamal Khashoggi is forgotten

    In the case of the United States, Donald Trump was very careful not to be seen with MBS after the murder, especially after the CIA itself confirmed that it was the crown prince who ordered Khashoggi’s execution due to his growing criticism of Saudi absolutism. However, contacts with the Saudis did not cease, as Riyadh’s mediation was key to one of Trump’s flagship projects: the Abraham Accords to normalize relations between Middle Eastern states and Israel. With his successor, Joe Biden, in office, public contacts with MBS resumed; the man who truly wields power in Saudi Arabia, even though his father, Salman bin Abdulaziz, is the official head of state.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] I craved friendship after moving to Canada, but learned some friends aren't worth having

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Vatican Returns to Canada Artefacts Connected to Indigenous People

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Vatican returns Indigenous cultural items to Canada's Catholic bishops on a 'historic day'

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] A sacred pipe returns to Whitecap Dakota First Nation after 135 years

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Pope returns dozens of Indigenous artifacts to Canada

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-11-15 [Older] Pope Returns 62 Artifacts to Indigenous Peoples From Canada as Part of Reckoning With Colonial Past

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Grand Theft Auto makers accused of union-busting after firing employees in Canada, U.K.

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Only 1 member of Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap barred from entering Canada: Immigration Department

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-14 [Older] Zimbabwean activist receives German Africa Prize

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Hamilton boys hockey team culture was ‘cesspool’ of bullying and sexual misconduct: adjudicator

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-16 [Older] Calgary MLA apologizes for using 'inappropriate word' in voicemail to constituent

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] Halifax man faces eviction following year of complaints to property management company

  • CBC ☛ 2025-11-17 [Older] A minister under fire, alleged lobbyist connections: Ontario's Skills Development Fund controversy explained

  • The Record ☛ Flock Safety cameras used to monitor protesters, rights group finds

    EFF analyzed 10 months of nationwide searches on servers from Flock Safety, a controversial provider of surveillance technology, and found that more than 50 federal, state and local agencies ran protest-related searches, including queries about the “No Kings” demonstrations held in June and October. Law enforcement in some cases homed in on specific activist groups, EFF said.

    The analyzed data spans from last December to October 2025.

    In addition to searches related to the “No Kings” protests, researchers found law enforcement searched for license plates present at other protests opposing the Trump administration, including demonstrations connected to the 50501 movement in February, and the “Hands Off!” protests in April.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Wouter Groeneveld ☛ Is Collecting Physical Games Worth It? (Part IV)

    Meanwhile, your digital copy will be worth nada simply because you can’t get rid of it as you never really owned it in the first place.

    To conclude, I wrote another thousand words to confirm what I already said in part II four years ago: [...]

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-13 [Older] Why some in Germany are wary of Google's data center plans

• Nick Heer ☛ A.I. Competition Might Not Disrupt Google

  There was a brief moment in early 2023 when some commentators were certain Google would face serious competition from the then-recent arrival of A.I. results in Bing. Those were quaint times. Microsoft still insists Bing is growing its market share, which might be true, but only barely. For most people, Google’s monopoly is fairly durable, and it will probably continue as it fights ChatGPT, specifically, not Copilot in Bing.

• Nick Heer ☛ To Be Clear, Instagram Was Acquired to Eliminate a Competitor, and That Was Fine With the FTC

  The FTC could have reviewed these frank and incriminating emails when it approved the acquisition in 2012. Yet, to repeat myself, it approved the acquisition anyhow. The United States has, since the mid-1970s, exercised a pretty weak enforcement of its antitrust laws compared to the way it policed corporate size before. It allowed this kind of stuff to happen in the first place, where one goal of the acquisition was explicitly to eliminate competition. Whether Instagram would exist today as an independent company is a great hypothetical question, and the FTC could have laid the groundwork to answering it in 2012.

• Copyrights

  • Thomas Rigby ☛ #TIL: Claude cites the articles it uses to bypass paywalls by mistake

    Unfortunately, those citations are for the articles it read on the way to help it bypass paywalls on the actual content it needed to cite.

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Personal/Opinions

    • 🔤SpellBinding — BINOSXU Wordo: MYNAH

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Native Alhena For Linux

      I was finally able to get Alhena compiled with GraalVM. This is the technology that won the "Java One Billion Row Challenge". If you don't know it, the winning submission was able to read and parse one billion records in less than two seconds. The contest proved so popular that other languages joined in on the fun. If you think Java is slow, you should check out the results.

      This experimental version of Alhena launches in milliseconds and may be of interest to people that prioritize fast startup. Regular Java can be faster over time if you let the hotspot compiler do it's thing. Everything works except remote sync and possibly printing. (I removed the former and wasn't able to test the latter).