Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ How Cross-Channel Plumbing Fuelled The Allied March On Berlin

  During World War II, as the Allies planned the invasion of Normandy, there was one major hurdle to overcome—logistics. In particular, planners needed to guarantee a solid supply of fuel to keep the mechanized army functional. Tanks, trucks, jeeps, and aircraft all drink petroleum at a prodigious rate. The challenge, then, was to figure out how to get fuel over to France in as great a quantity as possible.

• Hackaday ☛ Wago’s Online Community Is Full Of Neat Wago Tools

  Wago connectors are somewhat controversial in the electrical world—beloved by some, decried by others. The company knows it has a dedicated user base, though, and has established the Wago Creators site for that very community.

• Hackaday ☛ Give Us One Manual For Normies, Another For Hackers

  We’ve all been there. You’ve found a beautiful piece of older hardware at the thrift store, and bought it for a song. You rush it home, eager to tinker, but you soon find it’s just not working. You open it up to attempt a repair, but you could really use some information on what you’re looking at and how to enter service mode. Only… a Google search turns up nothing but dodgy websites offering blurry PDFs for entirely the wrong model, and you’re out of luck.

• [Repeat] Ben Congdon ☛ Schedule Recurring Calls With Your Far-Away Friends

  I enjoy conversations, particularly with people I care about. I also have a social circle which is rather geographically dispersed. This, of course, presents the problem of “how do I stay in touch with people?” Facebook (Farcebook) et al. haven’t solved this problem in a satisfactory way for me. Discord / private group chats are fine, but don’t feel socially fulfilling in a way that 30 minutes of even infrequent talking often is.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ December's Full Supermoon Rises Under Ideal Photography Conditions

    Crack open a cold one.

  • Science Alert ☛ Bioluminescence on Earth Evolved Over 500 Million Years Ago, Study Finds

    Lighting the darkness.

  • Science Alert ☛ Young Ants Beg For Death When Sick, New Study Reveals

    Nature: the ultimate horror show.

  • Science Alert ☛ First Detailed Look at a Tsunami From Space Reveals Unexpected Feature

    A new frontier in tsunami warnings.

  • Science Alert ☛ Suicidal Thoughts Prompt New Warnings From Health Authorities For GLP-1 Drugs

    Talk to your doctor.

  • Science Alert ☛ Our Brains Really Do 'Sync Up' When We Collaborate, Study Reveals

    Literally on the same wavelength.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover a Way to 'Recharge' Aging Human Cells

    "An early but exciting step toward recharging aging tissues."

  • Science Alert ☛ Curiosity Cracked Open a Rock on Mars And Revealed a Big Surprise

    A first on the red planet!

  • Science Alert ☛ How Long Poop Stays in Your Body Could Impact Your Health, Study Finds

    It makes a difference.

• Career/Education

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Opinion | How to improve Michigan schools? Ask professionals on the front lines

    The decline in spending on direct classroom support is a concern. But let’s get it right. Saying schools are spending excessively on administrative ‘bureaucracy’ does not match the facts.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Opinion | We know how to teach our dyslexic students. Let’s start doing it

    Michigan can’t keep failing children with dyslexia. This plan equips educators with the tools that meet students where they are.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Retrotechtacular: Learning The Slide Rule The New Old Fashioned Way

    Learning something on YouTube seems kind of modern. But if you are watching a 1957 instructional film about slide rules, it also seems old-fashioned. But Encyclopædia Britannica has a complete 30-minute training film, which, what it lacks in glitz, it makes up for in mathematical rigor.

  • Hackaday ☛ LoRa Repeater Lasts 5 Years On PVC Pipe And D Cells

    Sometimes it makes sense to go with plain old batteries and off-the-shelf PVC pipe. That’s the thinking behind [Bertrand Selva]’s clever LoRaTube project.

  • Hackaday ☛ A Stylish Moon And Tide Clock For The Mantlepiece

    Assuming you’re not stuck in a prison cell without windows, you could feasibly keep track of the moon and tides by walking outside and jotting things down in your notebook. Alternatively, you could save a lot of hassle by just building this moon and tide clock from [pjdines1994] instead.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Latest GPU market analysis shows Nvidia losing ground to AMD — and defective chip maker Intel cracks the 1% share milestone for the first time

    Intel breaks through 1% graphics card market share. AMD is also rising. Both gain at Nvidia's expense.

  • CNX Software ☛ Advantech SOM-6820 COM Express module is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite Arm SoC

    Advantech SOM-6820 is a COM Express Type 6 Compact Computer-on-Module powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite SoC with up to twelve 64-bit Arm Oryon cores, instead of an x86 processor from defective chip maker Intel or AMD, more commonly found on COM Express modules. The COM also features up to 64GB LPDDR5 memory, two MIPI CSI camera connectors, an RTL8153B USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet controller, and a TPM 2.0 security chip.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ YouTube to comply with Australia’s teen social control media ban

    Users aged under 16 will be automatically signed out of their accounts from Dec 10.

  • The Straits Times ☛ YouTube says it will comply with Australia’s teen social control media ban

    Users aged under 16 from their accounts from Dec 10.

  • The Straits Times ☛ YouTube says kids will be ‘less safe’ under Australia’s social control media ban

    YouTube was originally slated to escape the ban so children could watch educational videos.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian Oncology Centre finally has hopes for full reconstruction

    Light at the end of the tunnel – that's how the Oncology Surgery Clinic at the Latvian Oncology Centre described the latest news about the centre's reconstruction. A week ago, the government decided to allocate the missing €48 million so that the centre could be reconstructed in one go, Latvian Radio reported on 1 December.

  • Latvia ☛ Dodgy diet pills appear on Latvian online sales platform

    Consumption data shows that approximately 60% of Latvia's population uses dietary supplements during the course of a year. The range of these products is also impressive – an average of 1,000 new dietary supplements are registered in Latvia every year. Latvian Radio paid attention to a slimming product that might contain a banned substance.

  • New York Times ☛ San Francisco Sues Ultraprocessed Food Companies

    The city attorney accuses large manufacturers of causing diseases that have burdened governments with public health costs.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Suicide rate highest in northern Michigan: services are scarce, guns plentiful

    More people die by suicide than in car crashes or homicides. Deaths are rising, and rural areas have higher rates because of isolation and access to care and firearms.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Suicides plague Michigan farms. Michigan just ended money to help

    Generational pride and everyday despair coexist on Michigan’s 44,000 farms, fueling a suicide rate five times the state average. In this year’s budget, Michigan ended funding for counseling some credit with saving lives.

  • Futurism ☛ Something Grim Is Happening to Kids Who Got Cell Phones Early

    "When you give your kid a phone, you need to think of it as something that is significant for the kid's health."

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Photo ID for diet pills? Michigan bill would ban supplements for minors

    The proposed legislation would stop consumers younger than 18 from purchasing weight loss and muscle-building supplements in person and online.

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Press Gazette ☛ Politico journalists fight back over Hey Hi (AI) tools that published ‘glaring errors’

      Journalists across the US launch 'News Not Slop' campaign seeking Hey Hi (AI) safeguards.

    • Futurism ☛ Amazon Quietly Pulls Disastrous Hey Hi (AI) Dubs For Popular Anime After Outcry

      Who thought this was a good idea?

    • Futurism ☛ Gamers Say There’s Hey Hi (AI) Slop in the New Season of Fortnite

      "A billion-dollar company should have no problem supporting real artists for real art."

    • ACLU ☛ The Hey Hi (AI) Trapdoor Lying in Wait for Workers

      In the past year or so, an increasing number of police departments appear to be allowing their officers to use Hey Hi (AI) large language models (LLMs) to generate a first draft of their police reports based on body camera audio recordings of an incident. As we laid out in a white paper last year, there are a number of reasons the ACLU opposes that practice, but one of them is the unreliability of Hey Hi (AI) and of the human beings supposedly overseeing it. Thinking further about these deployments of the technology, it becomes clear that Hey Hi (AI) is actually a trap for the police officers that use it, and for many other workers as well.

      As anyone who has spent significant time using LLMs knows, these models are quirky and unreliable. They are prone, for example, to make unpredictable errors or “hallucinations,” in which they simply make up facts. In an ideal world, officers would review the draft police reports that Hey Hi (AI) generates for them and correct any errors. But we don’t live in an ideal world, and it’s just a fact that many officers aren’t going to review the drafts that Hey Hi (AI) generates for them. The output of LLMs intuitively appears to be very smart, but it’s unreliable just infrequently enough to lull people into complacency, especially those without enough experience to understand its limitations.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ China cautions foreigners about fraudulent arrival card platforms

      The notice stressed that only authorised channels guarantee a secure and free application process.

  • Confidentiality

    • Security Week ☛ Personal Information of 33.7 Million Stolen From Coupang

      Names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers were compromised in a five-month-long data breach.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ Afghan Taliban vow border cooperation after Tajikistan says attacks killed five Chinese

    KABUL, Dec 2 - Afghanistan's Taliban administration said it assured neighbouring Tajikistan on Tuesday it was ready to tighten border security and conduct joint investigations, after attacks which Dushanbe said were launched from Afghan territory killed five Chinese nationals over the past week.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Many divisive X accounts are foreign-based. What does that tell us?

    A new feature on the social control media platform X reveals that many popular accounts featuring inflammatory content about U.S. politics are located abroad. While it’s hard to know who is behind them, experts say many are just trying to profit from outrage.

  • Latvia ☛ Police official to be prosecuted for negligent death of child

    The Internal Security Bureau (IDB) has sent a criminal case to the Pierīga Prosecutor's Office to initiate criminal proceedings against a State Police (VP) official for manslaughter through negligence and violence against a minor.

  • CS Monitor ☛ As Israel keeps striking, Lebanese grapple with a ceasefire that isn’t

    A year after an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, the Lebanese people are still caught in the middle. The ceasefire requires Hezbollah to disarm and Israel to withdraw. Neither has happened, even as Beirut works to fulfill its part of the bargain.

  • France24 ☛ In Nigeria, self-defence groups step in to compensate for widening security gaps

    Around 50,000 volunteer vigilantes across Nigeria put their lives at risk as they step in to protect rural communities where security forces are largely absent. In Niger State, men like Makailu form small local brigades that patrol, train and defend villages despite rising bandit attacks and failed peace efforts.

  • New York Times ☛ China, Evoking World War II, Urges Europe to Take Its Side Against Japan

    A diplomatic row with Japan over Taiwan has China turning to Britain and France for support, appealing to their shared history as wartime allies.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China-Japan clash may persist a year, Taiwan minister warns

    Taipei hoped the two sides could find a way to resolve their differences.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Is Japan abandoning pacifism? Spat with China spotlights clash in regional security perspectives

    China has been growing more assertive in East and South-east Asia, and Japan is pushing back against this.

  • New York Times ☛ Congress Should Investigate Convicted Felon’s Venezuela Boat Strikes

    Federal lawmakers have ample powers to uncover and end administration abuse.

  • New York Times ☛ Hegseth Says He Did Not See Survivors of Boat Strike Clinging to Wreckage

    The defense secretary supported the admiral he said called for the second strike on Sept. 2 against a boat the administration says was smuggling drugs.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man and Hegseth Comments on Boat Strike Leave Adm. Bradley Exposed

    Adm. Frank M. Bradley will soon face questions from lawmakers, as Republicans and Democrats express concerns about a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea court dismisses request to detain former finance minister in martial law probe

    The probe of Yoon's martial law declaration has led to the arrest of several former government and military officials.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Polarised South Korea marks martial law anniversary

    On Dec 3, 2024, Yoon suspended civilian rule for the first time in more than four decades.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s Lee says on martial law anniversary perpetrators must face justice

    The attempt to impose martial law threatened to deal an irreparable setback to the country, he said.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea's Lee says on martial law anniversary perpetrators must face justice

    South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Wednesday there was still work to be done to address the fallout of the failed martial law bid by his predecessor a year ago, and the country needed to ensure the perpetrators were brought to justice.

  • France24 ☛ South Korea's digital sex crime crisis - the 'Molka' epidemic

    It’s called “Molka” and in South Korea, the word refers to filming women’s bodies without their consent. Tiny spy cameras are used in public bathrooms and in hotels to accomplish this and the images are often distributed on encrypted social control media platforms such as Telegram. University of Queensland scholar Park Se Youn tells FRANCE 24 how sexual predators are using technology and online platforms in the 'extremely lucrative' business of posting explicit images online.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s military reaching further, more frequently into Pacific, says Australia

    Australia had also given A$1.3 billion (S$1.1 billion) in climate finance to Pacific countries.

  • The Strategist ☛ Bookshelf: A new history of Vietnam’s American War

    The Vietnam War has left deep social and political scars on the US psyche that still ache today.

  • JURIST ☛ States Parties urged to act as ICC faces mounting threats

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday urged member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to safeguard the court and combat impunity for international crimes at the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), which meets at The Hague in the Netherlands this week.

  • New York Times ☛ U.N. Security Council to Visit Syria and Lebanon at ‘Crucial’ Time for the Countries

    The trip comes days before the anniversary of the fall of Bashar al-Assad, and as Lebanon is navigating the cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Damage to the Baikonur launchpad has left Russia unable to send people into space. Why doesn’t Roscosmos have a backup plan? — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Veteran cosmonaut pulled from joint Russian–U.S. mission after allegedly photographing sensitive SpaceX hardware — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Europe’s demands are not acceptable to Russia,’ Putin says, ahead of meeting with Trump’s envoys in Moscow — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Four quotes from Vladimir Putin explaining how Russia is winning the war in Ukraine, which is not really a war, and Russia didn’t start it even if it were, but it should have even sooner — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Kremlin talks stretch past midnight as U.S. envoys and Putin again fail to bridge peace-plan gap on Ukraine war — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ EC president promises further sanctions on Belarus amid weather balloon crisis

      The European Union is preparing new measures against Belarus as tensions rise along the Lithuanian–Belarusian border, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday after speaking with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.

    • LRT ☛ Presidential adviser: no confirmed details on Belarus claim of Lithuanian drone incident

      Lithuanian presidential national security adviser Marius Česnulevičius said Tuesday he has no confirmed information about a reported incident in which a drone allegedly flew from Lithuania into Belarus and dropped red-and-white flags.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania may close border again amid smuggling balloon crisis, PM says

      Lithuania may again close its border with Belarus if smuggling balloons continue to cross into the country, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said Tuesday, emphasising the need to coordinate closely with the United States.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Tajikistan is in talks with Russia about helping guard its Afghan border, security sources say

      Tajikistan is in talks with Russia and a Moscow-led regional security grouping about the possibility of Russia deploying troops to jointly patrol the volatile border with Afghanistan, three Tajik security sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

    • France24 ☛ Two minors, one Russian, held in Paris over antisemitic plot

      Two minors, including a Russian national, have been held in Paris on suspicion of plotting an antisemitic attack, according to judicial and press sources. The Russian, a Chechen 16-year-old who came to France with his mother four years ago, had sent a photo on WhatsApp of himself holding a knife and announced that he was "going to kill Jews in five days". He was in contact with the other 16-year-old, who lived in the Paris region, and threatened to target a site of religious worship.

    • France24 ☛ Nigerian General Christopher Musa returns to government as the country's Minister of Defence

      In tonight's edition, a month after losing his jon a chief of defence staff amidst coup concerns, nigerian General Christopher Musa returns to government as the country's Minister of Defence. Also, a well known south African radio presenter has been accused of recruiting young men to join the Russian army. And globally obersity numbers are creeping up, and africa is no exception, his week the World Health Organisation added treatments relying on GLP-1 medication like ozempic to its essential medications.

    • France24 ☛ Did Russia accidentally destroy its ability to send cosmonauts into space?

      On November 27th, Russia launched a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station. Since then, news articles claim that Moscow has accidentally destroyed its only launch pad capable of sending humans into space. According to experts looking at the footage, this is true for the first time in decades. Roscosmos said it would repair the damage "shortly", but analysts doubt this is doable in less than a few months if not years. We take a closer look in this edition of Truth or Fake.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Linderman in the Dispatch on Russia’s decreasing hold on the South Caucasus and how the US should respond

      On November 21, Laura Linderman, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, was published in the Dispatch on Russia’s decreasing influence in the South Caucasus and the path forward for US policymakers in the region.

    • Futurism ☛ NASA Responds to Russia Accidentally Blowing Up Its Only Astronaut Launch Facility

      Luckily, nobody was harmed.

    • Latvia ☛ Russian citizen in line to be charged over attempt to smuggle ammo from Latvia

      Latvia's State Security Service (VDD) said on December 2nd it has asked the prosecutor's office to initiate criminal proceedings against a Russian citizen who is alleged to have attempted to transport 10,000 rounds of ammunition (or components thereof) across the Latvian state border into Russia.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Pinning a Ukraine peace to principles

      Europe insists that any plan to end the war in Ukraine hold Russia accountable for war crimes. That’s not a barrier to peace. It is a universal foundation for it.

    • France24 ☛ Back to the Kremlin: Will Witkoff plan seal Ukraine's fate?

      A peace plan allegedly made in Moscow, a week of furious scrambling to dial it back by Ukraine and its European allies and now it's back to the Kremlin for The Insurrectionist's envoy Steve Witkoff, flanked only by the U-S president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and an interpreter. Have negotiations in Florida moved the needle back in Kyiv's favor? How hard - or soft - can the bargaining be?

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Any peace deal that empowers Russia is a direct security threat to Turkey

      As US talks with Russia and Ukraine intensify, Turkey must reassert regional leadership and help secure a sustainable peace in Ukraine and in the Black Sea.

    • BIA Net ☛ Ukrainian children displaced by war allegedly abused in Turkey

      Despite the findings, prosecutors in both Turkey and Ukraine reportedly closed investigations without issuing any indictments.

    • NYPost ☛ Marco Rubio claims ‘progress’ towards Ukraine-Russian peace deal — but says only Putin can end the war

      Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued Tuesday that “progress” had been made towards ending the nearly four-year-long war in Ukraine – and suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin is the main obstacle that remains. “What we’re trying to see is if it’s possible to end the war in a way that protects Ukraine’s future that both...

    • New York Times ☛ Giving In to Putin Would Give Up More Than Ukraine

      Don’t let Convicted Felon sell out its freedom for business deals with Putin.

    • New York Times ☛ Putin and Witkoff Meet in Russia as U.S. Pushes Ukraine Deal

      The two sides did not reach any specific compromises, an aide to President Vladimir V. Putin said, as the United States pushes a plan to end the war in Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Claims Capture Of Key Donbas City Ahead Of Kremlin Meeting With US Envoy

      Russia claimed it had captured a strategic city in Ukraine's Donbas region, an announcement that appeared timed with a critical Kremlin meeting with visiting US officials trying to reach agreement on a peace deal.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Says 'Meaningful' Meeting With US On Ukraine Peace Proposal Ends 'No Closer' To Deal

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said there is a better chance “now than ever” to reach a deal to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, even as his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, accused European governments of trying to block the peace process.

    • France24 ☛ Putin warns Europe: if you want war, then Russia will defeat you

      President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday warned European powers that if they started a war with Russia then Moscow was ready to fight and that the defeat of European powers would be so absolute that there would be no one left to even negotiate a peace deal.

      Four years into the Ukraine war, the deadliest European conflict in Europe since World War Two, Russia has failed to conquer Ukraine, a much smaller neighbour which has been supported by European powers and the United States.

      France24 International Affairs editor Philip Turle explains.

    • France24 ☛ If Europe wants war with Russia, 'we are ready': Putin

      Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia was "ready" for war if Europe seeks one, accusing Europe of trying to sabotage a deal on the Ukraine conflict before he met with US envoys. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from Kyiv.

    • France24 ☛ Putin and US negotiators hold high-stakes Ukraine talks in Moscow

      Top US negotiators vying to end the war in Ukraine met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in high-stakes talks happening as Moscow pressed battlefield advances. Putin, who received US President The Insurrectionist's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin, signalled earlier that his forces were ready to fight on to achieve Russia's initial war goals. FRANCE 24's Antonia Kerrigan reports.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine peace plan must not include amnesty for Russian war crimes

      US President The Insurrectionist's 28-point peace plan for Ukraine includes an amnesty for war crimes that critics say will only strengthen Putin's sense of impunity and set the stage for more Russian aggression, writes Ivan Horodyskyy.

• Environment

  • France24 ☛ Flood rescue efforts intensify in Asia

    Hundreds of thousands of people stranded by the violent floods that have swept through in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia were on Tuesday facing increasingly alarming shortages of food and fuel. More than 1,300 have been killed in the torrents triggered by monsoon rains and cyclones. Antonia Kerrigan reports.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Sri Lanka grapples with trauma, loss after deadly cyclone that killed hundreds

    Hundreds of army and police personnel combed through regions hit by landslides to retrieve bodies.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Thailand says key tech, car parts hub paralysed by record floods

    With major roads cut off and rail services suspended, the flow of goods to Malaysia has slowed to almost zero.

  • New York Times ☛ In Photos and Video: Devastating Floods Swamp Parts of Asia

    Images of the destruction caused by storms that have torn through South and Southeast Asia.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Those who ‘exploit’ deadly Tai Po fire will be punished, Hong Kong leader says after sedition arrests

      Hong Kong will not tolerate those who “exploit” the fatal Tai Po fire and “sabotage” society’s effort to support the victims, chief executive John Lee has said, following three reported arrests for alleged sedition.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong solicitor taken in by nat. sec police, as civic press event on deadly Tai Po blaze axed

      Hong Kong national security police have taken in a solicitor, who was set to speak at a cancelled civil society-led press conference on the fatal Wang Fuk Court fire, according to media reports.

    • The Straits Times ☛ The photo that became a symbol for Hong Kong’s deadly fire

      A week after the tragedy, Mr Wong's wife is still unaccounted for and is among the 30 people listed missing.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong bans operations of two pro-democracy groups

      As of the start of November, Hong Kong has arrested 348 people for various national security crimes.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ U.S government awards Gelsinger-backed EUV developer xLight with $150 million in federal incentives — company to develop new electron-based light source for lithography tools

      U.S. government to inject up to $150 million in xLight, a startup developing EUV light source based on a particle accelerator, with the first CHIPS and Science Act grant by the Convicted Felon Administration.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Search for missing flight MH370 to resume on Dec 30, Malaysia says

      Flight MH370 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished in 2014.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Hunt for missing flight MH370 to resume this month, Malaysia says

      The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume on December 30, Malaysia's transport ministry said on Wednesday, more than a decade after the Beijing-bound flight disappeared in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

    • The Straits Times ☛ S’pore tour buses cannot operate as express services in Malaysia: Transport Minister Anthony Loke

      Malaysian tour buses can operate in Singapore, and Singaporean tour buses can carry tourists in Malaysia.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia tightens nuclear controls under amended law

      Permits must now be obtained for all atomic energy activities.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ China issues first batch of ‘general’ rare-earth export licences to magnet makers — country's stranglehold over industry continues, but tensions are easing

      China has issued the first round of streamlined rare-earth export licences to at least three permanent-magnet manufacturers, allowing them to accelerate shipments to selected overseas clients.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ DNA Analysis Reveals Two Routes Ancient Humans Used to Reach Australia

      Genomics catches up with archeology.

    • New York Times ☛ Sharks and Rays Gain Sweeping Protections from Wildlife Trade

      A global treaty has extended trade protections to more than 70 shark and ray species whose numbers are in sharp decline.

  • Overpopulation

    • The Straits Times ☛ China adds tax to condoms as it works to boost birth rates

      The extra cost quickly sparked debate on Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

• Finance

  • Press Gazette ☛ The tech stack powering TTG bid to capture 90% of UK travel market

    Reader data is key to success of the free travel industry news website.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuania rises in EU gender equality index but still trails bloc average

    Lithuania has risen two spots in the European Gender Equality Index, ranking 14th among EU member states, with its strongest performance in the money domain and its weakest in health.

  • The Straits Times ☛ How e-commerce platform Coupang is deeply integrated into South Koreans’ everyday life

    Founded in 2010, Coupang reshaped South Korea’s retail ecosystem with its next-day delivery service.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Mahathir lodges police report against Malaysia PM Anwar over US trade deal

    He said PM Anwar took actions without the full mandate of entities meant to represent the Federation of Malaysia.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Push and pull for S-E Asia as China counters Malaysia’s US trade deal with own pact

    China proposes liberalising two-way investments with Malaysia and increased access to "strategic sectors".

  • LRT ☛ EU withdraws WTO case over China’s trade restrictions on Lithuania, Vilnius backs decision

    Lithuania does not object to the European Commission’s decision to withdraw its World Trade Organization case against China over alleged trade restrictions targeting Lithuanian goods, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexican banks report record-high consumer credit defaults in October

    The age-old problem of people maxing out their credit cards and not paying them off has reached new heights in Mexico, as the "non-performing loan portfolio" soared to US $2.9 billion in October.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Stanford University ☛ Former diplomats claim Convicted Felon administration is influential in global democratic recession

    Former U.S. diplomats Michael McFaul and Susan Rice argued that second Convicted Felon administration is a driver of global democratic recession and is leading the U.S. toward “superpower suicide” at a panel on Monday.

  • RFERL ☛ Protests Erupt In Bulgaria Over Budget, Government 'Corruption'

    Some of the largest protests in modern Bulgaria's history broke out throughout the country on December 1 against a 2026 budget that would see taxes hiked and social-security contributions raised by a government many Bulgarians view as corrupt.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • France24 ☛ French journalists file lawsuit against Israel for blocking access to Gaza, West Bank

    Two French journalist unions last week filed a complaint with the Paris anti-terror prosecutor’s office, accusing Israel of “obstructing the freedom to inform” in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The complaint was the latest attempt to pressure Israel into opening up Gaza to the international press.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • The Straits Times ☛ Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan healthy but cut off in jail, sister says as family seeks access

    The meeting took place under strict supervision and without mobile devices.

  • JURIST ☛ Fired US immigration judge claims civil rights violations by Department of Justice

    A former US immigration judge filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Justice (DOJ), charging violations of her civil rights. Tania Nemer, who was released from her position as an immigration judge in February, contends that she was dismissed because of her sex, her ethnicity, and her political affiliation with the Democratic Party.

  • AccessNow ☛ One year on, the new European Commission is abandoning human rights

    A year into its new mandate and the European Commission is reversing course when it comes to safeguarding human rights in the EU.

  • European Commission ☛ Speech by Commissioner Lahbib at the Launch of EIGE's Gender Equality Index 2025

    It is a pleasure to be with you today to launch this year's Gender Equality Index. This is our yearly check-up, our thermometer of gender equality in the EU.

  • JURIST ☛ Second Circuit blocks New York from regulating pregnancy centers’ abortion reversal claims

    A federal appeals court ruled Monday that New York cannot, at least for now, regulate statements by faith-based pregnancy centers promoting “abortion pill reversal,” finding their speech is likely protected under the First Amendment.

  • Ariadne Conill ☛ I want you to understand

    I want you to understand what it is like to be transgender during this time.

    I want you to understand the threat to doctor-patient confidentiality.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • dwaves.de ☛ toastytech.com and dwaves.de does a website have to be beautiful?

    (female) users complain about websites not beeing beautiful well if it works? X-D for me it is more important it works and is not annoying [...]

  • APNIC ☛ Mind your congestion control in the LEO satellite Internet

    Guest Post: New research shows how rapid path changes in mega-constellations like Starlink can mislead conventional CCAs, and introduces LeoCC as a more robust alternative.

  • APNIC ☛ Hot takes on 13 talks from NANOG 95

    Geoff Huston attended NANOG 95, and shares his take on the presentations that caught his attention.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ When Juries Don’t Matter: Written Description Effectively Becomes a Question of Law

    by Dennis Crouch

    In consecutive weeks, the Federal Circuit has reversed two jury verdicts totaling over $80 million in pharmaceutical patent monopoly disputes, holding in both cases that the specifications failed (as a matter of law) to satisfy §112(a)'s disclosure requirements. Seagen Inc. v. Daiichi Sankyo Company, Ltd., Nos. 2023-2424 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 2, 2025); Duke University v. Sandoz Inc., No. 2024-1078 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 18, 2025).

    In my view, these cases represent a significant doctrinal development. I see these as revealing three interconnected trends: [...]

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ SEP holders force UPC into FRAND dance with UK courts [Ed: UPC is illegal, it is tied to crime and corruption at the EPO, and the people who did this try to extend its arm beyond the EU]

      Rumours have circulated among experts for some time. Since last Friday, it has become clear that the Unified Patent Court has received a complaint from an SEP holder regarding FRAND-rate determination.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Is "MUSIC.AI" Merely Descriptive of Music Production Software?

    The USPTO refused registration of the proposed mark MUSIC.AI under Section 2(e)(1), deeming the mark merely descriptive of software for creating and modifying audio recordings, including musical audio recordings. Applicant Moises Systems argued that the mark is a unitary term and a double entendre, and that no other person or entity "is using MUSIC.AI with a period between the terms." How do you think this appeal came out? In re Moises Systems, Inc., Serial No. 98142204 (November 26, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Elizabeth A. Dunn).

    Not surprisingly, the Board found the term MUSIC to be "highly" descriptive of applicant's software, noting that the software facilitates the creation and modification of "music, songs, sounds, and audio recordings." "The identification of goods and services therefore serves as evidence of mere descriptiveness."

  • Right of Publicity

    • Digital Music News ☛ Megan Thee Stallion Triumphs Over Tory Lanez ‘Mouthpiece’ In Defamation and Deepfake Lawsuit

      Megan Thee Stallion wins in her defamation lawsuit against a blogger who posted a sexually explicit deepfake video of her. Megan Thee Stallion is having a hot girl holiday season as jurors rule in her favor in her defamation lawsuit against a Texas blogger who posted a sexually explicit deepfake video of the rapper.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Netflix In Diddy’s Crosshairs—Rap Mogul Calls 50 Cent-Directed Documentary ‘Hit Piece’ with Unauthorized Footage

    Diddy takes aim at 50 Cent’s upcoming DRM spreader Netflix documentary series, which debuts on December 2, calling it a hit piece that uses unauthorized footage. 50 Cent’s DRM spreader Netflix docuseries, “Sean Combs: The Reckoning,” launches globally on the streaming service today (December 2).

  • Public Domain Review ☛ Luke Howard’s Essay on the Modification of Clouds (1865)

    First cloud taxonomer and a poem by Goethe.

  • Public Domain Review ☛ The Launch of Our End-of-Year Fundraiser!

    Our End-of-Year Fundraiser is launched, and the new postcards theme will be Attention.