Leftovers

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Liam Proven ☛ An ultra-condensed history of computing since the 1980s for those who weren't paying attention

    Here is the summary:

    By the '90s microcomputers (computers based on single microprocessors) grew big enough to run Real OSes with memory protection etc. Most 20th century vendors did not have such things in their 1980/1990s OSes and lacked the ability to add them without destroying backwards compatibility.
    

  • Science Alert ☛ Six Never-Before-Seen Mystery Structures Found Lurking Deep Inside The Earth

    What are they?

  • Science Alert ☛ Global Warming Is Breaking The Link Between Two Major Oceans

    It's happened before.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Way You Draw Can Reveal Parkinson's Disease With Up to 99% Accuracy, Study Reveals

    The most impressive results yet.

  • Science Alert ☛ Of 30 Global Food Goals, We're on Track to Hit Just One

    A sobering reality check.

  • Science Alert ☛ Tiny Wrinkles in Graphene Turn It Into a Battery, Physicists Find

    Microscopic changes, big impacts.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover a Cannabis Receptor That Could Stop Breast Cancer Spreading

    Here's what we know.

  • Science Alert ☛ These Patients Couldn't Beat Lyme Disease, So Scientists Tried Giving Them Psilocybin

    The effects lasted for six months.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Built Prosthetic 'Skin' That Mimics One Crucial Feature of Pain

    This could help prevent injury.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Indonesia escalates battle against fires, putrid haze

    Several schools had been closed intermittently and the haze has also made people in Singapore and Malaysia unwell.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Masks, test kits back on shopping lists amid signs of Covid-19 resurgence in S. Korea [iophk: There'll be no end to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic]

    The country’s Covid-19 detection rate reached 9.1 per cent for Aug 9 to Aug 15.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia may only see clearer skies in October, says experts

    MetMalaysia forecasts also showed that haze could persist despite the rain.

• Proprietary / Vendor Lock-in / Malware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Microsoft-backed Hey Hi (AI) data center faces backlash over alleged unpermitted gas turbines and 1.5M-gallon LNG tank — groups' issues with $19.4B facility range from illegal construction to noise pollution

    The community surrounding the DataOne data center in Vineland, New Jersey, are complaining about the Microsoft-linked project. The company's deployment of several unpermitted gas turbines is just one of the issues that has been hounding the project, with potential water issues also surfacing in recent weeks.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ The Surveillance Crimes in the Cities Church Case Keep Stacking Up

      Georgia Fort's latest filing in the Cities Church case provides evidence that HSI goons and lawyers working for Harmeet Dhillon knowingly violated both the Privacy Protection Act and the Stored Communications Act by using customs summonses to spy on Fort and others.

    • Security Week ☛ Hasbro Data Breach Exposed Employee Personal Information

      A cyberattack caused disruptions at the toy and game giant earlier this year and the company is now disclosing a data breach.

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ UN committee sounds alarm as Maasai in Tanzania face evictions and abuse

    A UN committee on Friday warned that the Maasai Indigenous people in Tanzania are facing forced evictions and abuses at the hands of security forces, raising the alarm over escalating human rights violations.

  • France24 ☛ Situation in Niger 'not stabilised yet' as security forces deploy around airport

    A group of soldiers in Niger rebelled against officers at a key military base and fired at sensitive locations in the capital, Niamey, in an apparent mutiny marked by gunfire and explosions, authorities said Saturday, in what was seen as a major threat to the country's struggling junta. FRANCE 24's Wassim Nasr brings you this analysis.

  • New York Times ☛ Soldiers in Niger Attack Presidential Palace and Airport, Shaking Junta

    Renegade Nigerien soldiers attacked sites around the capital, the defense ministry said, including a key air base that hosts Russian mercenaries.

  • France24 ☛ Niger junta says it is back in control after soldiers' mutiny rocks capital

    Niger's junta said Saturday it was back in control after mutineers held soldiers hostage at a military base next to the capital's airport. Russian forces reportedly helped members of Niger's presidential guard recapture the air base, killing some of the mutineers, according to diplomatic and security sources.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Bipartisan US Lawmakers Take Aim At Serbia's Vucic Over Democracy, Russia Ties

      A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has taken aim at the government of longtime Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, citing what it calls “serious setbacks” in democracy and the rule of law, as well as Belgrade’s ties with US adversaries Iran, Russia, and China.

    • France24 ☛ 🔴 Russian strike on warehouse near Kyiv kills at least 27 people, hundreds evacuating

    • France24 ☛ Dozens dead after Russian drone strike hits warehouse

      At least 27 people have died after a Russian drone struck a depot near Kyiv's western suburbs overnight, sparking a huge fire and explosions, authorities said Saturday. FRANCE 24's Emmanuelle Chaze reports.

    • New York Times ☛ 37 Killed After Russian Strike on Weapons Depot as Ukraine Blames Negligence

      The depot, which was in a civilian area near Kyiv, “definitely shouldn’t have been there,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

    • RFERL ☛ Death Toll From Russian Strike On Kyiv Region Rises To 37

      The death toll from an overnight Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s Bucha district in the Kyiv region has risen to 37, as rescue operations continued on August 29 and officials fear that the toll could rise further.

    • France24 ☛ Hundreds evacuate after Russian strike on depot near Kyiv kills at least 37

      A Russian drone strike on a depot on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Friday killed at least 37 people and forced hundreds to evacuate, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Blasts 'Negligence' As Ukraine Mourns Dozens Killed In Russian Strike

      Ukrainian rescue crews early on August 30 continued to search for victims of the deadly Russian attack outside of Kyiv, while local residents -- as well as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy -- demanded answers as to why explosives were stored in a warehouse so near private housing.

    • France24 ☛ Russian strikes hit homes, warehouse, shopping mall across Ukraine

      A Russian drone strike triggered a major fire and explosions at a warehouse on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital Kyiv, forcing hundreds to evacuate the region, authorities said early Saturday.

    • France24 ☛ Warehouse hit by Russian attack stored munitions, Zelensky says

      A depot that exploded in a Russian strike overnight was owned by the Ukrainian military and stored shells, drones, and other munitions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday. FRANCE 24's Emmanuelle Chaze reports.

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ Nepali City Struggles to Handle the Many Bodies on Its Riverbanks

    The remains of hundreds of people have washed downstream after devastating floods.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Number of missing in deadly Nepal, China floods soars past 2,400

    Rescuers were battling through mud even as the threat of new floods loomed.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Risk of lake bursting near China-Nepal border disaster site wanes

    The lake had formed after a glacier collapsed on Aug 26.

  • France24 ☛ Rescue operations ongoing as death toll continues to rise

    Most arrive with nothing except the clothes they are wearing. As rescue efforts in communities buried by catastrophic flash floods along the border between Nepal and China entered their fourth day Saturday, authorities continued finding survivors and transporting them to safety. At relief centers, as some arrive, families wait anxiously for news of their loved ones as the death toll and the number of people unaccounted for continued to rise.

  • France24 ☛ Missing toll from Nepal, China flood nears 3,000 as race for survivors continues

    Rescuers in Nepal and China on Saturday continued to search for the nearly 3,000 people missing after devastating flooding along the border with China engulfed entire villages earlier this week. At least 682 bodies were recovered in both countries, including 675 in Nepal and seven in China.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Nepal-Tibet floods: 72 Malaysians safe in China, 55 in Nepal still missing

    Another 36 Malaysians have also been reported as uncontactable in China due to telecommunications disruptions.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says 16 dead, 546 missing in Tibet mudslide: State media

    Of those missing, 261 were foreign nationals, including 104 from Nepal, 49 from India, 33 from Latvia, and 18 from the US.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Number of missing in Nepal, China floods soars to nearly 3,000

    Rescuers in Nepal and China were still battling Saturday to locate thousands of people missing days after a deadly, tsunami-like wall of water and debris swept through the Himalayan region, engulfing villages.

  • France24 ☛ ‘Extremely risky operations’: Rescuers work amid threat of river banks bursting

    Nearly 3,000 people remained missing on Saturday, while 682 deaths had been confirmed after flash floods and landslides hit the Nepal-Tibet border. Rescue operations remain risky as a lake formed upstream by the floods threatens to burst its banks. FRANCE 24's Shahzaib Wahlah reports.

• Finance

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China tightens rules on selling unfinished homes to lift sector

    Chinese officials tightened the rules for selling unfinished homes on Friday as they try to lift the country’s property market out of a years-long slump that has weighed on consumption.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean woman allegedly made US$319,000 scalping K-pop tickets. Now she faces prosecution

    She is accused of using bots to buy tickets to concerts, including BTS' Gwanghwamun show in March.

  • New York Times ☛ Warsh, After Talking Tough on Inflation, Faces a ‘No-Win Situation’ on Rates

    Kevin M. Warsh, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, must soon decide whether to raise interest rates if inflation does not ease, even if it draws Hell Toupée’s ire.

  • New York Times ☛ ‘A New Form of U.S. Colonialism’: Venezuelans Bristle at U.S. Oil Takeover

    A deal giving the U.S. majority control of vast Venezuelan reserves strikes at the heart of national identity.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Craig Murray ☛ Dr David Halpin and David Kelly

    Dr David Halpin, a redoubtable campaigner over the murder of Dr David Kelly, and a friend of this blog for over twenty years, has died. He will be missed. His sister Mary was for many years an invaluable commenter here and occasional researcher for me.

  • International Business Times ☛ Michael Wolff Calls Convicted Felon a '300-Pound Man Who Stuffs Himself With Poison' While Discussing His Mortality

    Biographer Michael Wolff claims Hell Toupée is worried about his mortality, citing health concerns and recent celebrity deaths, sparking renewed debate over his fitness for office

  • New York Times ☛ Why Iceland and Others Might Want In, Not Out, of the E.U. Club

    A few years ago, some feared the European Union was going out of style. Now Iceland is mulling membership alongside a long list of candidates.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • New York Times ☛ A MAGA Uproar Ensued After a Bill Was Given a Nick Shirley Nickname

      A privacy measure for immigration aid workers became a free speech cause for backers of Mr. Shirley, a right-wing YouTube star. Democrats say the furor is fueled by misinformation.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Stanford University ☛ Stanford Daily wins free speech lawsuit against Convicted Felon administration

    A federal judge found that the government’s actions against noncitizens violated the First Amendment and created a chilling effect in student newsrooms.

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  • International Business Times ☛ Musk's X Loses First Amendment Lawsuit Over New York's Controversial 'Stop Hiding Hate Act'

    A federal judge dismissed X Corp.'s lawsuit against New York's 'Stop Hiding Hate Act', ruling that transparency mandates do not infringe on free speech.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • New York Times ☛ Fast Forward

    How do we balance our desire for modern conveniences with our nostalgia for the uncomplicated felicity of our pre-internet past?