Links 11/10/2023: 'Hey Hi' (AI) Fatigue and Censorship Attacks
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Monopolies
- Gemini* and Gopher
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Leftovers
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CS Monitor ☛ How a half sand dollar taught me to be present
A trip to the beach with my children yielded a valuable lesson: when I relinquished perfection, I found presence.
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Ruben Schade ☛ A fear of the future is a fear to learn
I can’t remember who posted this on Mastodon, but it’s an interesting line.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Sculpting package managers
You know that famous quip about sculptors removing everything from a marble slab that doesn’t look like an elephant? The origins and meaning may be murky, but it’s still a humerous way to summarise how effortlessly professionals perform their craft, while the rest of us stare in awe.
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CS Monitor ☛ My first trip abroad helped me appreciate home
It’s easy to find majesty in new places. Our work is to find beauty in the ordinary.
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Ruben Schade ☛ The Grift Shift, with apologies to The Commodores
Amy Castor and David Gerard back in June:
Half of crypto has been pivoting to AI. Crypto’s pretty quiet — so let’s give it a try ourselves! Turns out it’s the same grift. And frequently the same grifters. […] Much like crypto, AI has gone through booms and busts, with periods of great enthusiasm followed by AI winters whenever a particular tech hype fails to work out.
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Science
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Vice Media Group ☛ Scientists Found Microplastics Deep Inside a Cave Closed to the Public for Decades
A Missouri cave that virtually nobody has visited since 1993 is contaminated by high levels of plastic pollution, scientists found.
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New York Times ☛ Chemistry Nobel Prize Revealed in Media Hours Early
Some Swedish news outlets correctly reported the laureates’ names even before the choice was formally signed off, according to the academy that awards the prize.
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Science Alert ☛ Mysterious Pulsar Burst Unleashes The Most Energetic Photons Ever Seen
Scientists don't know how this is possible.
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Education
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Latvia ☛ 300 schools in Latvia get threatening e-mails; police say risk is low
About 300 educational institutions across Latvia have received identical e-mails October 10 about possible security risks, the State Police (VP) said, noting that there is no reason to worry and the threat level is described as low.
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Hardware
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Alan Pope ☛ Alan Pope: Boot to BBC BASIC: Agon Edition
Agon and Agon
Last month I visited the RMC Cave where we got a sneak peek at the Agon Console8 from Heber. The Agon Console8 is a consolised version of the more general-purpose Agon8 Computer. They come in a natty retro case, and features twin 9-pin joystick ports.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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NYPost ☛ House COVID panel threatens Cuomo subpoena for nursing home scandal records
“To date, we have not received a single document from you. The Select Subcommittee is comprised of physicians from both sides of the aisle and members who take our responsibilities seriously,” Wenstrup wrote to the former governor.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Vice Media Group ☛ What It’s Like To Own the Cars That Became a Viral Sensation To Steal
Kias and Hyundais were manufactured without an anti-theft device and are being stolen by the thousands nationwide. For owners who bought the car before the vulnerability was made public, they’re stuck with a nightmare.
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The Strategist ☛ Artificial intelligence and the future of humanity
Thinking and learning about artificial intelligence are the mental equivalent of a fission chain reaction.
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Your MacBook's keyboard could also become it's mouse according to this patent
A new MacBook patent appears to show a key being removed from the keyboard and being used as a mouse, and Apple now owns it - but will it ship it?
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TechXplore ☛ How consumers are navigating the Amazon/Alexa data dilemma
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ ‘Must’ve been about 20 shots fired’: Crowds in Bangkok’s Siam Paragon panic, flee as shooting started
The shooting took place at a time when Thailand is working on boosting its economic recovery.
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The Straits Times ☛ Thai teenager charged with murder over Siam Paragon mall shooting spree
Police found many rounds of ammunition, including 49 9mm bullets, in the suspect's room during a search.
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Vice Media Group ☛ A Shitposting YouTuber Captured by the Taliban Was Just Freed
"Lord" Miles Routledge, a self-proclaimed "war tourist" from the U.K., was freed from Taliban captivity along with three other individuals.
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Federal News Network ☛ Live updates | Day 4 of the latest Israel-Palestinian war
The latest Israel-Palestinian war is reverberating around the world as foreign governments try to determine how many of their citizens are dead, missing or in need of medical help or flights home. Numerous countries also offered to play a role in mediating an end to the fighting, which already has killed at least 1,900 people. The death toll was expected to grow as Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with airstrikes and blockaded the densely populated Palestinian territory. The war began after Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Saturday, bringing gun battles to the country's streets for the first time in decades.
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teleSUR ☛ Members of Hamas Political Bureau Killed in Israeli Airstrike
According to the latest update from the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the death toll from Israeli strikes has risen to 849, while the number of injured exceeds 4,300.
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Security Week ☛ Beyond the Front Lines: How the Israel-Hamas War Impacts the Cybersecurity Industry
The war with Hamas will inevitably absorb manpower and focus from the cybersecurity sector.
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New York Times ☛ How Israel’s Security Services Failed to Stop Hamas
Israel’s military and espionage services are considered among the word’s best, but on Saturday, operational and intelligence failures led to the worst breach of Israeli defenses in half a century.
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JURIST ☛ EU reverses decision to suspend aid funding to Palestine over Hamas attacks
The European Commission reversed course late Monday evening as it retracted a decision to immediately suspend funding for Palestine over Hamas’s ongoing attacks on Israel.
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Reason ☛ Remarkable Acknowledgments by Leading (Retired) Israeli National Security Officials
In the New York Times, some acknowledgements of failure of the sort we rarely see from US officials. It would be like leading retired American national security officials announcing in 2013 or so that they completely misunderstood the situation in Iraq for the past ten years. Yet for Israeli leaders, Hamas was useful, too.
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JURIST ☛ Israel declares state of war over Hamas attacks
Israel’s Security Cabinet declared a state of war on Sunday. The Israeli Prime Minister’s (PM) office made the declaration public, stating that the war “was imposed on the State of Israel through a murderous terrorist attack from the Gaza Strip.” A
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New York Times ☛ ‘A Massacre’ in Kfar Azza Kibbutz, Israeli Village Near the Gaza Border
A Times reporter and photographer visited an Israeli village raided by Palestinian gunmen.
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France24 ☛ Civilians take shelter as rockets rain down on southern Israel
The towns of Ashdod and Ashkelon, just a stone's throw from Gaza in southern Israel, were the targets of a hail of rockets on October 9 and 10. Two locals told the FRANCE 24 Observers team about the stress of each alert, and how they were able to get to safety.
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France24 ☛ Mohammed Deif, the elusive architect of Hamas's attack on Israel
Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas's Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, organised the deadly assault on Israel over the weekend. The attack plunging Israel and Gaza into a new war brings to the forefront a little-known character who has managed to elude Israel's intelligence services for over 30 years.
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France24 ☛ ‘No place is safe’ in Gaza as Israel lays siege to Hamas-held enclave
Israel laid “total siege” to the Gaza Strip on Monday, vowing to cut off food, water and electricity supplies to the impoverished enclave as it pounded the Hamas-ruled territory in retaliation for a brazen and bloody incursion that caught Israel’s vaunted security apparatus completely off guard.
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France24 ☛ ‘We just ran for our lives’: An Israeli festivalgoer recounts nightmare attack
It was close to 6am local time on Saturday, October 7 when Hamas fighters opened fire on the Tribe of Nova music festival in Israel. Rescuers say at least 260 bodies were found at the site in the Negev Desert, about half-an-hour's drive from the border with Gaza. Videos recorded by festivalgoers show the nightmare that unfolded when thousands of young people were taken off-guard by the attack in the midst of the rave.
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New York Times ☛ After Hamas Massacre in Israel, Scale of Atrocities Grows
As Israeli soldiers regain control of areas near Gaza that came under attack, they are finding evidence seen in videos and photos and confirmed by witness accounts of the massacre of civilians by Hamas terrorists.
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New York Times ☛ Nowhere to Hide in Gaza as Israeli Onslaught Continues
Residents and health authorities say that mosques, hospitals and schools are being targeted by airstrikes.
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France24 ☛ Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid: 'The endgame is no Hamas in Gaza'
In an interview with FRANCE 24, Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid reacted to Hamas's surprise attack on Israel from Gaza. The incursion, which killed hundreds of Israelis, is being called "Israel's 9/11". Hundreds of Palestinians living in Gaza have been killed in retaliatory Israeli air strikes. Asked how he saw the situation playing out, Lapid said "the endgame is, there will be no Hamas in Gaza".
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New York Times ☛ Iran’s Supreme Leader Issues Tehran’s Latest Denial of Involvement in Israel Attacks
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested that Tehran was not behind the assault in Israel and warned of consequences from retaliatory strikes in Gaza.
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The Strategist ☛ Without evidence, it’s unwise to assume Iran is Hamas’s puppeteer
As the world comes to grips with the death toll from the multi-pronged assault by Hamas on southern Israel and tries to understand how Israel’s security agencies were blindsided [...]
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New York Times ☛ Biden Pledges Support for Israel
Also, Republicans search for a new speaker. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.
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RFA ☛ San Francisco police shoot, kill driver who rammed China's consulate
'Terrified' people flee the building after a man crashes a car into the visa office
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RFA ☛ Manila dismisses China’s ‘gunboat’ claim
Beijing said it took necessary measures to drive away an ‘intruding’ navy vessel in disputed South China Sea.
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BIA Net ☛ Syrian Democratic Council calls for international action against Turkey’s strikes
Turkey continues drone and air strikes targeting northern Syria following the October 1 bomb attack in Ankara.
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France24 ☛ Dozens killed in Myanmar military strike on camp for displaced people, rebel group says
Twenty-nine people were killed and dozens wounded in a military strike on a camp for displaced people in northern Myanmar, a spokesman for an ethnic rebel group that controls the area told AFP on Tuesday.
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JURIST ☛ Myanmar parallel government claims military junta orchestrated refugee camp attack
Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG) said on Tuesday that the country’s ruling military junta orchestrated an attack on the Munglai Hkyet refugee camp in Kachin, Myanmar. The attack allegedly resulted in 30 fatalities and 57 injuries. The NUG stated that the deliberate attack employed heavy artillery and launched coordinated airstrikes.
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RFA ☛ 29 dead as blast hits camp of civilians on Myanmar-China border
Dozens more were injured in what Kachin forces say was an airstrike near their HQ.
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RFA ☛ Junta training civilian militias for security patrols in Bago region
Some areas in the central Myanmar region remain under control of anti-junta forces.
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RFERL ☛ Kyrgyz Authorities Shut Down 32 Mosques, 5 Religious Schools In Southern Batken Region
Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee of National Security (UKMK) said on October 10 that it had closed 32 mosques and five religious schools in the southern region of Batken.
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ADF ☛ Extremists Threaten to Encircle Burkina Faso’s Capital
ADF STAFF New research shows that Burkina Faso’s security situation has worsened dramatically one year after the first of its two military coups. Since the coups that brought Capt. Ibrahim Traoré to power in October 2022, deaths from terrorism in Burkina Faso have tripled, according to an analysis by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies [...]
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RFA ☛ Hamas fighters may be using North Korean weapons, experts say
Video shows Palestinian militant holding a rocket-launcher resembling a North Korean weapon.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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RFERL ☛ Armenian PM Won't Attend CIS Summit, Move Seen As Snub Of Putin
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will not participate in a summit of the Council of the Leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which is scheduled to take place in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on October 13.
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teleSUR ☛ Putin Blames the US for Escalation of Crisis in the Middle East
The U.S. "never took into account the fundamental interests of the Palestinian people," Putin said.
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New York Times ☛ Putin’s Muted Response to Attack on Israel Speaks Volumes
Vladimir Putin has long projected friendly ties to Israel. But his silence since Saturday’s assault illustrates how the war in Ukraine has strained the relationship between the two countries.
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RFERL ☛ Another Former Wagner Mercenary Recruited From Russian Prison Charged With Murder
A former fighter from the Wagner mercenary group who was recruited from prison last year has been accused of killing a woman after returning home to the Far Eastern region of Primorye Krai from the Kremlin's ongoing war against Ukraine.
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Latvia ☛ Play performance in Daugavpils sparks controversy
The premiere of a play launching the new theatrical season at Daugavpils Theater has become the center of a controversy involving both the theater itself and the Ukrainian embassy in Latvia, reports LSM's Russian-language service.
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Latvia ☛ Businessman Rieksts accused of war crime glorification
The State Security Service (VDD) has launched criminal proceedings against a person on September 27 for alleged glorification and justification of crimes committed by the aggressor country Russia in Ukraine, as well as for acts aimed at inciting national and ethnic hatred and intolerance, VDD said.
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Latvia ☛ Police officer fined over inaction in 'flag attack' case
Former policewoman Anastasija Cvirko, who has been accused of inaction in connection with the attack on a youth with a Ukrainian flag, has been fined €9,300, Latvian Television reported on October 10.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukrainians fear becoming hostage to US political paralysis
The unprecedented removal of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker has thrust US politics into uncharted territory while also sparking alarm across the Atlantic as Ukrainians fear for the future of vital American military aid, writes Peter Dickinson.
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Atlantic Council ☛ The case for investing in Ukraine’s energy future
Despite uncertainty over when the war will end and corruption in Ukraine, international investors should see Ukraine’s energy reconstruction as an opportunity to create a European energy leader.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Memo to the president: A bold agenda for the Washington summit: How to advance vital US interests by helping Ukraine win and defining its path to NATO membership
The upcoming NATO summit marking the Alliance's seventy-fifth anniversary presents an opportunity for US leadership to meet this danger by taking steps to provide Ukraine the means to win the war and by setting a clear path for Ukraine’s membership in NATO.
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France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Zelensky accuses Russia of supporting Hamas operations in Israel
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday accused Moscow of supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas in its war against Israel. This came after the president travelled to Romania for the first time since Russia's invasion to speak to President Klaus Iohannis about artillery and air defence supplies.
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RFERL ☛ Germany Announces New Defense Aid Package For Ukraine Worth $1.1 Billion
Germany unveiled on October 10 fresh support package for Ukraine worth around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), its Defense Ministry said.
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RFERL ☛ Bulgarian Police Arrest 12 Accused Of Illegally Exporting Goods To Russian Soldiers
Bulgaria has arrested 12 people who officials say were part of a criminal group illegally exporting goods to Russian troops in Ukraine.
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YLE ☛ Finnish textile firm Finlayson apologises for Ukraine campaign
The company's advertising campaign called for an end to the war in Ukraine while at the same time inviting customers to check out the new autumn collection.
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New York Times ☛ Zelensky Says Gaza War Furthers Russian Aims
The Ukrainian president said Moscow was aiming to sow division in the region and the attack on Israel could distract allies from his country’s conflict.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy, Iohannis Discuss Romanian Defense Aid For Ukraine, Doubling Grain Transit
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after talks in Bucharest with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis on October 10 that the two sides discussed military aid for Ukraine, and that "there will soon be very good news about artillery and air defense."
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RFERL ☛ Two Former Top Officials Of Ukrainian Defense Ministry Suspected Of Embezzlement
Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations (DBR) said on October 10 that its officers officially informed a former deputy defense minister and an ex-chief of a department at the ministry that they are suspected of embezzlement
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New York Times ☛ U.S. Envoy to NATO Says Aid to Israel Won’t Come at Ukraine’s Expense
Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said Washington could “stay focused on our partnership and commitment to Israel’s security” and still support Kyiv.
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Science Alert ☛ Coolant Leak on ISS Raises Concerns Over Russian Space Program
This is not a coincidence.
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RFERL ☛ UN General Assembly Rejects Russia's Bid To Regain Seat On Human Rights Council
Russia's attempt to regain its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council has failed in the UN General Assembly, which handed the two seats on the council available to the East European regional group to Bulgaria and Albania.
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New York Times ☛ Russia Is Denied a Seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council
Russia lost a vote in the General Assembly to Albania and Bulgaria, failing in its bid to be restored to the council after its suspension last year. But nearly half of the assembly backed Russia, showing that it was not completely isolated.
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New York Times ☛ Evan Gershkovich to Stay in Russian Prison, Court Rules
Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, was accused of espionage after being arrested during a reporting trip. He denies the charge.
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RFERL ☛ Permission Denied To Mark 471st Anniversary Of Kazan's Fall, Tatar Activists Say
Activists in Russia's Tatarstan said on October 10 that authorities in the republic’s capital, Kazan, refused to allow them to commemorate Tatars fallen during the 1552 siege of Kazan by Russian troops.
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RFERL ☛ Belarusian Authorities Detain Noted Historian, Daughter Of Late Leader Of Country's Tatar Community
Police in Belarus have detained noted historian Zaryna Kanapatskaya, the 45-year-old daughter of the late leader of the country's Tatar community, Ibrahim Kanapatski, amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania sends new team of border guards to help Latvia stop migrants
A new team of ten Lithuanian border guards are heading to Latvia to help patrol its border with Belarus, replacing 20 counterparts who have been working in the neighbouring country for two weeks.
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RFERL ☛ Moscow Court Rejects U.S. Journalist Gershkovich's Appeal Against Extension Of Pretrial Detention
The Moscow City Court has rejected the appeal by U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pretrial detention until November 30 on an espionage charge that he, his employer, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and the U.S. government reject.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Battery Binding Material Swap Delivers 10% Endurance Boost Say Researchers
Research found cells made with PP tape showed significantly decreased self-discharge (up to 70%) and increased cycle life (up to 10%).
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H2 View ☛ Market Infra to support Pawson on hydrogen feasibility project
Pawson has announced it has engaged UK expert infrastructure consultancy Market Infra on a hydrogen feasibility project.
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Vice Media Group ☛ A Computer Model Is Causing Years of Delays for Amtrak's New High-Speed Trains, Scathing Audit Finds
The flagship Acela fleet may have to cut service because Amtrak is running out of spare parts and using unsupported software on critical components while the new fleet is nowhere close to entering service.
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New York Times ☛ The Places That Sam Bankman-Fried Left Behind
Before his FTX crypto exchange imploded and he went on trial for fraud, Mr. Bankman-Fried ran a global business empire spanning Berkeley, Calif., Hong Kong and the Bahamas.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Defence Web ☛ Thirty years jail for Kruger rhino poacher
A convicted poacher will spend the next 30 years behind bars, the regional court in Skukuza has ruled. Sidney Sibuyi was, according to a SANParks statement, one of three armed men who illegally entered the Kruger National Park on 26 September 2020 to “hunt rhino”.
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Overpopulation
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Overpopulation ☛ How to Fix the Planet, the Easy Way
To avoid disastrous deterioration of Earth’s climate and biosphere, humanity has to reduce its demands on nature. Fewer births and a falling population is no quick fix, but compared with voluntary austerity, it has many more up-sides than down-sides. by Jon Austen Scientists are reporting that there is an existential threat to life on Earth.
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Finance
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Video series explores housing as a human right
Professors Kathy Velikov and Fabian Pfeffer have released the second of a two-video series that explores the divides and radical new approaches to propose solutions to housing inequality.
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New York Times ☛ Fragile Global Economy Faces New Crisis in Israel-Gaza War
A war in the Middle East could complicate efforts to contain inflation at a time when world output is “limping along.”
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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New York Times ☛ Trump Sues Over Steele Dossier on Russia in London Court
Former President Donald J. Trump is arguing that the document known as the Steele dossier was calculated to embarrass him and that it breached data protection laws.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ HKFP Lens: Taiwan marks 112th National Day with military flypast, parades
Taiwan celebrated its 112th National Day — also known as “Double Ten Day” — with annual military flypast, honorary guard parades and street performances on Tuesday. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen delivered a National Day speech during the ceremony.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan leader vows island will be democratic ‘for generations’
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Tuesday that democracy had thrived on the island despite increased Chinese pressure, and vowed that its people would remain “free for generations”. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory, and has in recent years stepped up military and political pressure against Tsai’s administration.
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The Straits Times ☛ Booker winner Arundhati Roy facing prosecution in India: Media
She could be prosecuted for a 2010 speech about Kashmir.
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ACLU ☛ The Supreme Court Must Find South Carolina’s Voting Map Unconstitutional
Racial discrimination exists in many forms. It can be as violent and overt as police brutality or as subtle as lines drawn on a voting map. In the latter case, the act may seem innocuous or technical, but the impact is significant.
Just look at what happened in January 2022. Ahead of the midterm elections, South Carolina’s majority-white and majority-Republican Legislature redrew Congressional District 1 (CD 1) to maintain political power. But it purposefully targeted Black communities to do so. Mapmakers unnecessarily moved thousands of Black voters out of the district in textbook racial sorting.
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NYPost ☛ On ‘Dirty 51’ ex-spy boss Michael Hayden’s death wish for Sen. Tuberville
Ex-intel boss Michael Hayden displayed an incredible lack of intelligence this week with his crude attack on Tommy Tuberville, suggesting the US senator be removed from “the human race.”
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RFERL ☛ Four British Nationals Detained In Afghanistan Released
Britain's Foreign Ministry said four British citizens who were detained in Afghanistan for violating local laws have been released.
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New York Times ☛ A $19,000 Lectern for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Draws Scrutiny
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is facing criticism over the expense, and a whistle-blower’s accusation that her office altered records to cover up how it was paid for.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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New York Times ☛ Social Media Changed How Brands Talk to Us, but Are the Jokes Wearing Thin?
For a decade, marketers have found success on social media by roasting customers, and even flirting with them. But with Gen Z, and platforms like TikTok on the rise, the jokes may be wearing thin.
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RFA ☛ Cambodian man beaten for second time in protest of school expulsion
Keo Sovannrith and others were assaulted by police in August in a video widely seen on Facebook.
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WhichUK ☛ Watch out for scam Facebook ads for bogus Jo Malone advent calendars
Shoppers are being targeted with tempting offers leading to dodgy shopping
websites
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NYPost ☛ Ex-76ers writer Jackson Frank reveals next move after firing over Israel-Palestine tweet
On Tuesday, Frank returned to X, formerly known as Twitter, where he had briefly deleted his account.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Digital Music News ☛ YouTuber Latasha Kebe Still Owes Cardi B $3.4 Million in Defamation Ruling Despite Bankruptcy, Judge Rules
A federal judge rules that, despite filing for bankruptcy, the YouTuber who defamed Cardi B is still on the hook for over $3.4 million.
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RFA ☛ YouTube deletes another satirical channel that targeted Xi Jinping
The channel's producer says her content should have been exempt from the platform's cyberbullying policy.
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Off Guardian ☛ Some Call It Conspiracy Theory – Part 1
There are certain assumptions that are applied to anyone labelled a “conspiracy theorist”—and all of them are fallacies. Indeed, the term “conspiracy theory” is nothing more than a propaganda construct designed to silence debate and censor opinion on a range of subjects.
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Reason ☛ California Trial Court Allows First Amendment Claim Against L.A. Department of Public Health …
to go forward based partly on allegations that "DPH caused the suspension of [Alliance of Los Angeles County Parents'] Twitter Account."
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Reason ☛ Justice Thomas Again Speaks Out—But Alone—Against New York Times v. Sullivan Libel Standard
From this morning's opinion concurring in the Court's refusal to hear the case Blankenship v. NBCUniversal, LLC (for more on the underlying dispute, which involved then-Senate-candidate Don Blankenship suing outlets for calling him a felon when he had been convicted only of a serious misdemeanor, see here): [...]
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UN human rights experts ‘troubled’ over Hong Kong’s 47 democrats trial under national security law
A group of United Nations (UN) experts have said they were “very troubled” over the trial relating to 47 pro-democracy figures under the national security law.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US biz chamber urges Hong Kong to give ‘straightforward interpretations’ of security law in Policy Address
The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Hong Kong has called on the local government to provide “straightforward interpretations and applications” of the national security law in the upcoming Policy Address.
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RFA ☛ People's Daily call to quit whining sparks social media backlash
The wellness mantra comes amid youth joblessness and disillusionment.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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RFERL ☛ Bulgaria's GERB Nominates Journalist Anton Hekimyan As Sofia Mayor Candidate
Bulgaria's center-right GERB party on September 25 nominated journalist and political novice Anton Hekimyan as its candidate for a mayoral election in the capital, Sofia, next month that pits two factions in the country's governing coalition against each other.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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RFA ☛ ‘I was beaten by guards when I fought for prisoners’ rights’
Le Quy Loc talks of his time in a Vietnamese prison after completing a 5-year sentence.
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New York Times ☛ Why Is the Public’s Business at the Mercy of a Few Extremists?
A tiny faction of Republicans are again putting their interests over the business of running the government.
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Vice Media Group ☛ Child Labor Is Such a Big Problem That California Will Teach Kids Their Rights at School
A new bill signed on Saturday will require schools to teach students about child labor, workplace safety, and rights to organize.
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RFA ☛ Uyghur families at risk of deportation in Pakistan
Pakistan orders all migrants lacking documentation to leave after recent suicide bomber attacks by Afghans.
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University of Michigan ☛ Kids’ content on YouTube: The good, the bad and the ‘Skibidi’
If you grew up in the late 2000s and early 2010s and you’re at all like me, some of your fondest memories involve YouTube. Hear me out: I was a daydreamer, and YouTube back then only sought to enhance my imagination.
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teleSUR ☛ Mack Trucks Workers on Strike in the United States
With Mack workers going on strike, the total number of UAW members that are on strike now exceeds 30,000 across 22 states.
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ACLU ☛ Asylum Seeker's Wrongful 6-Year Detention is Emblematic of a Broken System
Jessica Barahona-Martinez and her three children arrived at the southern U.S. border in 2016. Fleeing gang violence and government persecution in El Salvador, she came seeking asylum and a better life. Like many asylum seekers with family in the United States, after being apprehended by Border Patrol, she and her children were released to live with her sister, who is a lawful permanent resident, in Virginia. Her release came with strict reporting requirements as her asylum case proceeded through the courts.
For over a year, Jessica attended every check in with ICE. She complied with all conditions — even when ICE told her during a Friday check in to go home, say goodbye to her children, and report to a detention center the following Monday. She was arrested and detained in June 2017 and unjustly remained in ICE custody for over six years — only being released late September 2023 following a federal court’s intervention.
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LRT ☛ Talks with government hit impasse as Lithuanian teachers’ strike enters 3rd week
As talks with the Education Ministry are hitting a wall, the striking teachers’ union plans to take the negotiations to the Lithuanian parliament which begins debating next year’s government spending bill.
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RFA ☛ North Korean woman sentenced to 3 years for calling South Korea
A broker who arranged the call was also punished.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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APNIC ☛ We need to talk about your students
Guest Post: Network and IT readiness to deal with cheating in the age of online assessment.
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Vice Media Group ☛ Reddit Investors Are Super Stoked About a War in the Middle East
Amid bloody turmoil, Redditors in the meme stock hub of the internet were trying to figure out if there's money to be made.
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APNIC ☛ Notes from OARC 41
Observations on DNS topics picked up from the OARC 41 meeting's presentations.
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Monopolies
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New Yorker ☛ The F.T.C. Finally Takes On Amazon
The government has filed a long-awaited antitrust suit against the company, which controls a sweeping share of the U.S.’s online-shopping market. What will it accomplish?
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Reason ☛ The Best of Reason: Competition, Not Antitrust, Is Humbling the Tech Giants
The worst of the antitrust alarmism keeps proving untrue, as tech companies believed by some to be monopolies instead lose market share.
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Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ $10,000 for Emerging Automotive vehicle patents prior art
Unified added 5 new PATROLL contests, with a $2,000 cash prize for each, seeking prior art on the list below. The patents are owned by Emerging Automotive LLC. The patents generally relate to user profiles for vehicles and e-Keys. The patents have been asserted against Toyota and Kia. The contests will end on December 4, 2023.
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JUVE ☛ Kirkland & Ellis patent partner makes lateral move to Linklaters [Ed: This is spam disguised as news. JUVE has become a part time spam site, part time propaganda site that promotes illegal things like UPC (because it is paid to do this).]
Katie Coltart (38) started her career at Allen & Overy in 2011, where she worked on a variety of IP proceedings in various sectors.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 29: After an Exhausting 2(d) Analysis, TTAB Finds HME (Stylized) Confusable with KME for Building Products
In an exhaustive and exhausting decision, the Board sustained an opposition to registration of the mark HME in the stylized from shown below, for various types of pipes and other building products, finding confusion likely with opposer's mark KME for overlapping goods. There was no dispute regarding priority, nor regarding the similarity of the goods, channels of trade, and classes of consumers. The Board found opposer's mark to be "inherently distinctive and conceptually strong, of average commercial strength."
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ WMG Fills Chief Digital Officer Vacancy With Carletta Higginson—Another Former YouTube Exec
Warner Music Group has announced Carletta Higginson is joining the company as Executive Vice President (EVP), Chief Digital Officer. The move is effective October 16. Higginson is an accomplished media executive and music rights expert, joining the WMG team after serving as the Global Head of Music Publishing at YouTube and Google Play.
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Public Domain Review ☛ Pantographia: A Specimen Book of All the Alphabets Known on Earth (1799)
Containing 405 alphabet specimens from 164 languages, the book is a treasure chest for the epigraphical imagination.
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Digital Music News ☛ Coldplay Counter-Sues Ex-Manager for $17 Million
Legal warfare heats up as Coldplay counter-sues their former manager, seeking damages following the lawsuit he filed against them over an alleged breach-of-contract.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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🔤SpellBinding: CIULNSK Wordo: TENET
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🔤SpellBinding: CDGIUNK Wordo: LOVED
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Tarotic Journal: October 9 2023
I used a pyramidal synthetic spread where an array of influences are spread across a bottom row, and then higher rows show the interactions of those influences. It's been my go-to for a while now, and I like that it's scalable.
I asked the deck for two influences within my personal life, particularly my desire to re-establish a social group and find new lovers, and two influences regarding my work. Here's the spread.
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Get thee behind me, Satan
Over the past few months of dealing with Bunny's medical issues, the wait for appointments was excruciating and in light of that, I just couldn't cancel someone else's appointment. Also, I thought about it, and it could have been a transcription error on the part of the doctor's office. My name can be spelled “Sean,” “Shawn,” “Shaun,” or “Shon.” My last name can be spelled “Conner” or “Connor.” That's eight combinations—more if you accept “Konner” or “Konnor” (it's not out of the realm of possibility—I had an uncle [2] whose last name was “Kollins,” not “Collins”).
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Skimmer
I have a problem. I like to read my feeds in newsboat but I can't seem to get it working on a few machines I use.
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Technology and Free Software
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Would Twitter Please Hurry Up and Die, Already
A good article at Rolling Stone about just how far this site has fallen. Even before the takeover, things weren't great: it was always the smallest of the major social networks, smaller than Facebook, than Instagram, but it had something that they didn't: cachet. Facebook's for your racist parents. Instagram's for the vain. But Twitter had the feel of smoking in your school parking lot (you know, when you could actually do that), making fun of the beautiful. News broke there first. People went there for alerts. It was the social network that felt the most like critical infrastructure. But, that was then.
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The Temptation
So why don't I just ignore this? Why go to the bother of notifying parties they have a wrong email address? Because I feel that notifying is the proper thing to do—these people are leaking private information to strangers, and apparently, they either don't know or care about it. If they don't care about, well, then it's on them, but if they don't know I'm sure that being notified would be helpful to them. That's why I do it.
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Marimba Madness II
So the code got a bit out of hand. A "Sectionator" object lays out MIDI sections of some length, and calls one of several "Generator" objects that return MIDI events for that section (repeated beats of a few random durations, a short-long beat pair of set duration, and silence). The generators are shuffled once used up, and are gone though a few (16) times.
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Family, Perl, etc.
I wrote a bunch of perl scripts back in the 1990s and 2000s. It's been a minute. I am rewriting my gopher/gemini proxy in perl as an excuse to get back into it.
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The PC Build
I had been planning for a while to build a computer soon after I'd graduated and been in a job for a little bit. Sort of a graduation present to myself. Last weekend that time finally came.
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The future of Offpunk: UNIX command-line heaven and packaging hell
Two years ago, I decided that I wanted to be able to browse Gemini while offline. I started to add a permanent cache to Solderpunk’s AV-98, the simplest and first Gemini browser ever. It went surprisingly well. Then, as the excellent forlater.email service went down for a week, I thought that I would add a quick and hackish HTTP support to it. Just a temporary experiment.
The same week, I serendipitously stumbled upon chafa, an image rendering tool which was on my computer because of neofetch. I thought it would be funny to have pictures rendered in webpages in my terminal. Just an experiment to take some funny screenshots, nothing more.
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15 A few (free) softwares
I tried a few software on GNU/Linux or Android during the last month.
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My new computer
I'm not sure how I had this idea; it's probably influenced by what I've been reading about permacomputing, combined with my general dissatisfaction with the modern user experience with computers and the internet in general. I'm fortunate enough that I can say "I want none of this", and I can go back to my nostalgia bubble where I interact with people via email, Mastodon, text-based websites, and Gemini.
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Internet/Gemini
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smolZINE - Issue 40
I didn't mean for there to be this long of a break but we're back with another issue. We have some really great gems to share and some electric thoughts leaked from my brain. Sorry about that.
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kelbot: Internet Archive finds
I'm really enjoying this list of found items in the Internet Archive. Every now and then I take a look myself, and am amazed at what they've been able to preserve. kelbot just lists a few things - surf music, Palm OS stuff, pulp magazines - found during the latest dive. I'm always fascinated by what people find and decide to share.
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Internet Archive Finds Vol. 2
I did one of these posts a while back and intended it to be a series where I periodically share the good stuff I find in the depths of the Internet Archive. It took me longer than I had planned but here is a second installment of gems I think more people should be aware of on the Archive.
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The First Casualty of Microblogging Was Nuance
Since Hamas' sudden attack on Israel (which by all accounts has been a combination of legitimate military targets, as well as civilians), I haven't been able to avoid the subject on social media. To the Israeli diaspora and many Jews worldwide, this is the latest salvo in an ongoing campaign against their very existence. To supporters of the Palestinian people and those who envision the return of the state of Palestine, well, same.
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Programming
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Random Melody Generation
Weighted random assigns a particular weight to each possible note, and then you roll for each note in turn. For example with a 100-sided die the note "C" might be from 1 to 20, the note "D" from 21 to 35, etc.
[...]
This produces bad results, at least from a musical standpoint. Walker's Alias Method (which is what the Math::Random::Discrete module implements) might however be good to know about, as a fairly efficient way to make weighted random choices.
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Proportional fonts for coding? No thank you
There's some back and forth in the Gemini [1] community about coding with a proportional font [2]. You can pry my monospace font from my cold dead hands.
I've been coding for nearly 40 years now, and it's always been some form of a monospace font, some pretty, like the character set for VGA (Video Graphics Array) on IBM (International Business Machine) PC (Personal Computer)s, and some not to pretty, like the character set on the TRS (Tandy-Radio Shack)-80 Color Computer. Code in a proportional font just looks weird to me.
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.