Links 02/12/2023: ChatGPT Drowns in Bad Press, Censorship Worldwide Increases Some More
Contents
- Leftovers
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Leftovers
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Mark Dominus ☛ Obsolete spellings and new ligatures in the names of famous persons
I suppose I will have to change my practice, and feel the same strangeness whenever I write “Gauß” or “l'Hôpital” as I do when I write “Shakespeare”.
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Alex Ewerlöf ☛ Rule of 10x per 9
When setting SLOs (service level objectives) there’s a rule of thumb that goes like this:
For every 9 you add to SLO, you’re making the system 10x more reliable but also 10x more expensive.
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Ivan Sagalaev ☛ The config
This story is about an accomplishment at work. Due to it being work-specific I won't go into too much detail, so it won't be necessarily useful. It's just a personal piece. For various reasons (such as changing places, raising a child, workplace politics, poor luck) I haven't got any clear wins under my belt for quite some time, probably since building a Python team at Yandex 15 years ago. So this one feels a little special.
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The Cyber VanguarThe Cyber Vanguard ☛ The 88x31 GIF Collection: Part 1
A collection of 4210 classic 88x31 buttons from the 1990s, 2000s, and today in GIF format. I try to update this page regularly. Feel free to copy buttons to your website, but avoid hot-linking if possible.
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The Verge ☛ Telegram opens up voice transcription to all users in latest update
There is one important caveat: only Premium Telegram subscribers have unlimited access to transcriptions — free users will be limited to converting just two messages per week. Still, that’s better than nothing, and could prove useful in rare situations where you need to keep your hands free. Telegram says the transcription feature is rolling out gradually, and may not be available everywhere immediately.
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Terence Eden ☛ You can now buy my South Up, Aotearoa Centred, Equal-Earth Projection Map
Over the last few years, I've been designing a custom map. As per the credo of the "Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality", this map uses the Equal Earth projection to ensure proportional land-mass size, the South is at the up, and - of course - the globe has been rotated to 150°.
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Science
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Omicron Limited ☛ One of the largest magnetic storms in history quantified: Aurorae from the tropics to the polar regions
In early November of this year, aurora borealis were observed at surprisingly low latitudes, as far south as Italy and Texas. Such phenomena indicate the impacts of a solar coronal mass ejection on the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere. Far more dramatic than this recent light show was, it was nothing compared to a huge solar storm in February 872.
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Rlang ☛ Beyond SAS: How R is Revolutionizing Pharma and Life Sciences
In this article, we will delve into the ongoing debate surrounding SAS and R, examining the pros and cons of each and exploring whether SAS is becoming obsolete in the face of R’s growing popularity.
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Omicron Limited ☛ Europe is working on a multi-purpose habitat for the moon
Despite MPH being only a concept right now, the partnership between ASI and Thales Alenia Space comes after MPH's design passed NASA's Element Initiation Review just last month and with a Mission Concept Review (MCR) slated to be conducted sometime in the first quarter of 2024. The goal of MPH will be its compatibility with Artemis architecture for future lunar crewed missions.
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Scoop News Group ☛ House Science panel advances National Quantum Initiative reauthorization
The 36-0 vote sent the bill (H.R. 6213), co-sponsored by Science Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and ranking member Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., to the House floor. The National Quantum Initiative, which was aimed at bolstering quantum research, expired Sept. 30. The reauthorization, the sponsors say, would build off the accomplishments of the 2018 law in an effort to ensure U.S. competitiveness against China and Russia.
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Education
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Adriaan Roselli ☛ Web Development Advent Calendars for 2023
I have not included advent calendars that are delivered via email only (Advent of JavaScript, Advent of CSS, React Holiday), single blog posts, or image-only efforts with inaccessible images. It would be a terrible gift from me to you if you sign up for spam or end up taking advice from organizations that are clearly bad at advice.
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Bjoern Brembs ☛ Scholarly societies: like a cat chasing the laser dot
Of course, their handling of social technology is just a litmus test for how seriously a learned society is taking its role in our modern world and what perspective it has taken with regard to scholarship more generally. It appears as if scholarly societies that are still genuinely interested in pursuing their core mission are as elusive as finding Schrödinger’s cat both inside and outside its box simultaneously. Instead, the majority seem more concerned with securing and protecting sufficient publication income to maintain five, six figure salaries for their execs.
So, to the scholarly societies out there, here’s a challenge: step up, embrace Mastodon (and any of the other cool fediverse options like peertube, owncast, writefreely, hubzilla, etc.), and give those faux-societies a run for their money. Show us you’re all about scholarship, not just financial catnip!
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Ali Reza Hayati ☛ Social networks addiction
It was when I quit social networks that I knew how they’re truly addicting. I felt something was missing from my life. I missed communicating with friends I made, I missed writing about whatever came to my mind, and I was opening the web sites randomly out of habit only to realize I no longer have anything there.
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Science Alert ☛ Wild Hypothesis Links The Bubonic Plague to Modern Oral Health
A microbial community dominated by the genus Methanobrevibacter emerged about 2,200 years ago, although it is now largely extinct in modern Industrialized people, after disappearing around 1853
The more modern microbial community, meanwhile, showed lower bacterial diversity and was largely dominated by the genus Streptococcus – a community that tends to support bacteria linked to periodontal disease.
This suggests that the modern origins of gum disease "may in fact originate from the Streptococcus-associated communities," the authors write.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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MIT Technology Review ☛ A high school’s deepfake porn scandal is pushing US lawmakers into action
Within 24 hours of learning about the photos, Francesca was writing letters to four area lawmakers, sharing her story and asking them to take action. Three of them quickly responded: US Representative Joe Morelle of New York, US Representative Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey, and New Jersey state senator Jon Bramnick. In the past few weeks, her advocacy has already fueled new legislative momentum to regulate nonconsensual deepfake pornography in the US.
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The Verge ☛ Gmail had two outages this week that delayed emails
Downdetector showed that more than 700 people reported issues with Gmail on Thursday, and on Friday, Downdetector reports topped out at a little over 100, so there may not have been widespread issues. But for those who were dealing with problems, it was probably a pain — especially in the middle of two US weekday workdays.
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Futurism ☛ Israel Reportedly Using AI to Identify Targets for “Mass Assassination Factory”
The software, which the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) briefly announced in early November, is supposed to generate intelligence on "precise attacks on infrastructure associated with Hamas while inflicting great damage to the enemy and minimal harm to non-combatants."
Interviews with in-the-known sources, however, suggest exactly the opposite: that the widespread collateral damage, in the form of thousands and thousands of civilian deaths that have led to a humanitarian crisis and a global outcry, isn't just known to IDF intelligence units, but is also an intentional tactic.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Scoop News Group ☛ Bipartisan Senate bill to ban TSA use of facial recognition technology gains support of civil rights groups
“Every day, TSA scans thousands of Americans’ faces without their permission and without making it clear that travelers can opt out of the invasive screening,” said Kennedy in a statement. “The Traveler Privacy Protection Act would protect every American from Big Brother’s intrusion by ending the facial recognition program.”
Civil and digital rights groups like the ACLU, Electronic Privacy Information Center and others have come out strongly in favor of the legislation, which they say will tackle facial recognition technology’s infringement on people’s privacy and discriminatory practices against people of color and women in particular.
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Confidentiality
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The Register UK ☛ Boffins find asking ChatGPT to repeat key words can expose its training data
ChatGPT can be made to regurgitate snippets of text memorized from its training data when asked to repeat a single word over and over again, according to research published by computer scientists.
The bizarre trick was discovered by a team of researchers working across industry and academia analyzing memorization in large language models, and detailed in a paper released on arXiv this week.
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Defence/Aggression
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Quartz ☛ Meta is trying to stop Chinese accounts from swaying US and Indian elections
Last quarter Meta removed 4,789 fake Facebook accounts in China it identified as partaking in coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) targeting the United States, according to the company’s most recent transparency report released yesterday (Nov. 30). The fake account owners posed as Americans to post content across Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) about US politics and US-China relations ahead of the November 2024 elections.
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JURIST ☛ Federal judge temporarily blocks Montana TikTok ban
Earlier this year, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law. Building on the previous law that prohibited access to the app on government issued devices, the state law enforced $10,000 fines for using or downloading TikTok. Users would be issued a $10,000 fine each day for any continuous violations. The law would enforce restrictions on mobile app stores for devices like Google and Apple, making Montana the first state to pass a law that would ban the app within the entire state. The law was set to take effect beginning on January 1.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Introduces Artist Accounts to ‘Boost Discoverability’ on the Platform
The release is the latest in TikTok’s greater move to bolster its reach into music and other sectors, as legal restrictions loom in the United States and other countries across the globe.
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NPR ☛ Federal judge blocks Montana's TikTok ban before it takes effect
The ruling, which came on Thursday, means that Montana's TikTok ban, which was set to go into effect on Jan. 1, has now been temporarily halted.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Ban in Montana Blocked By Federal Judge
In May, Montana lawmakers became the first in the nation to pass legislature to enact a complete ban on TikTok based on the argument that the Chinese government could have access to user information via the app’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance. The measure was first brought before Montana’s legislature only weeks after a Chinese balloon was identified flying over the state.
The ban was scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024, and would prohibit downloads of TikTok within the state. Fines of $10,000 per day were to be issued to any “entity,” such as app stores or TikTok itself, for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access or download the app. Users would receive no penalties.
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New York Times ☛ TikTok’s C.E.O. Uses Personal Touch to Address Antisemitism Concerns
TikTok, like many other social networks, has been criticized since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, for spreading misinformation, graphic footage and hate speech. But TikTok has faced added scrutiny because it is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company, and because it is an increasingly influential source of news [sic] for younger Americans.
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The Nation ☛ If Narendra Modi Is Running a Global Death Squad, He’ll Be Protected by the Kissinger Doctrine
According to the unsealed indictment, along with the killing of Nijjar, a parallel and intertwined murder scheme, carried out at the behest of an Indian government employee, was coming to fruition in the United States. The indictment details an elaborate plot carried out by an unnamed “Indian field officer” and an Indian national named Nikhil Gupta, who is currently under arrest for murder for hire and conspiracy to commit murder for hire.
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The Verge ☛ An oil exec, a climate crisis, and reparations: what’s going down at the United Nations summit in Dubai
The stakes are high at the summit, dubbed COP28 because it’s the 28th “Conference of the Parties,” a meeting of 197 nations and territories that ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Whatever is decided in Dubai will have consequences for the whole world. The Verge is tracking how the negotiations play out; stay tuned.
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Common Dreams ☛ Good Fucking Riddance: HK Finally Kicks His Bucket of Blood
In gratitude, we mark the death of Henry Kissinger, America's peerless war criminal. As U.S officials laud an "elder statesman" and "erudite strategist," the rest of us, and surely millions of brown-skinned people, celebrate the end of an "iconic napalm rights advocate" whose lies, hubris, towering inhumanity and many blood-soaked foreign policy follies left a legacy - in Vietnam, Chile, Cambodia, Argentina - of an "enormous pile of corpses" that may number four million. The consensus: "Burn hot, Henry."
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New Yorker ☛ How Henry Kissinger Conquered Washington
Henry Kissinger, a shaper of the twentieth-century world order, died this week, at the age of 100. He leaves behind a complicated legacy.
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Democracy Now ☛ The Case Against Henry Kissinger: War Crimes Prosecutor Reed Brody on Kissinger’s Legacy of “Slaughter”
Former U.S. secretary of state and national security adviser Henry Kissinger has died at the age of 100. He leaves behind a legacy of American statecraft that brought war, covert intervention and mass atrocities to Southeast Asia, South Asia and South America. “Few people have had a hand in so much death and destruction,” says our guest, human rights attorney and war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. By some accounts, Kissinger was responsible for the deaths of at least 3 million people. We focus today on Kissinger’s actions in Cambodia, Bangladesh (previously East Pakistan) and East Timor, where, Brody argues, Kissinger ordered and oversaw U.S. actions that would make him “liable for war crimes.” Brody also discusses the International Criminal Court and the ongoing war in Gaza.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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France24 ☛ Putin signs decree boosting Russia's troop numbers by 15 percent
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Friday boosting troop numbers by 15 percent, in a move the army said was due to "threats" associated with the Ukraine offensive.
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Meduza ☛ Jailed Putin critic Alexey Navalny says he’s facing new felony charges — Meduza
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Atlantic Council ☛ Don’t stop now. US aid to Ukraine continues to be a wise investment.
Cutting off aid to Ukraine now, as some in Congress propose, would undermine the immediate war effort in Europe and diminish the deterrent power of US military force globally.
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France24 ☛ Ukraine spy agency launches fresh sabotage attack on Russian railway in Siberia
Ukraine's domestic spy agency has detonated explosives on a Russian railway line deep in Siberia, the second attack this week on military supply routes in the area, a Ukrainian source told Reuters on Friday.
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LRT ☛ Window of opportunity to invite Ukraine to EU ‘quite small’ – Lithuanian vice-minister
The window of opportunity for inviting Ukraine to the European Union is quite small, Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister Jovita Neliupšienė said on Friday.
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RFERL ☛ Swiss Have Frozen $8.8 Billion Of Russian Assets
Switzerland has frozen an estimated 7.7 billion Swiss francs ($8.81 billion) in financial assets belonging to Russians, the government said on December 1, under sanctions designed to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Polish, Ukrainian Ministers Meet To Seek Solutions To Trucker Blockade On Border
Ukrainian and Polish government officials met on December 1 in Warsaw to try to find ways to end a weekslong protest by Polish truckers who want the European Union to reintroduce entry permits for their Ukrainian competitors heading for EU countries.
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RFERL ☛ Second Train In Days Explodes On Main Russian Railway Line In Siberia
A second train has exploded on Russia's major railway line in the Siberian region of Buryatia in recent days.
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RFERL ☛ Russia Fails To Get Elected To UN Ship Agency's Governing Council
Russia failed on December 1 to win enough votes for reelection to the United Nation's shipping agency's governing council after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had urged countries not to allow Moscow to be part of the UN body's executive arm.
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RFERL ☛ Orban Says Ukraine's EU Accession Not Currently In Hungary's Interest
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said opening European Union accession negotiations with Ukraine is not currently in Budapest's interest and that the 27-member bloc should opt instead for a "strategic partnership" with the war-wracked country.
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RFERL ☛ Gergiev Appointed Bolshoi Director After Predecessor, Who Protested Ukraine War, Resigns
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on December 1 appointed Kremlin-friendly conductor Valery Gergiev to the post of director of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, one day after Vladimir Urin left the post without explanation.
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Meduza ☛ SIM card from Ukrainian telecom operator found inside downed Russian drone — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘They fell into the trap’ A double train explosion on a key railway in Russia’s Far East was reportedly orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence — Meduza
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New York Times ☛ A Russian Village Buries a Soldier, and Tries to Make Sense of the War
In Russia, the pain and loss of the war in Ukraine are felt most profoundly in small villages, where a soldier’s burial produces not just grief but a yearning to find meaning in his death.
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LRT ☛ ‘2000 euros for nothing’. How sovereigns operate in Lithuania – LRT Investigation
Most people in Lithuania first heard about the so-called sovereigns’ movement this summer, when the parents kidnapped their children and tried to flee to Belarus. The LRT Investigation Team has found out that there are several sovereign organisations in Lithuania, most of which have links to actors in Russia and Belarus and resemble a financial fraud scheme.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Imposes Sanctions On Three Tankers And Their Owners For Shipping Russian Oil Above Price Cap
The United States on December 1 imposed additional sanctions related to the price cap on Russian oil agreed by the Group of Seven, the European Union, and Australia to curtail Russia’s revenue from seaborne oil shipments.
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Meduza ☛ Russia announces major military exercises to be held next year — Meduza
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian, Latvian, Polish leaders refuse to take photo with Lukashenko at COP28
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and the leaders of Latvia and Poland sat out a joint photo at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai on Friday because authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko posed for it.
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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[Repeat] New York Times ☛ Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago
The approximately 40-page document, which the Israeli authorities code-named “Jericho Wall,” outlined, point by point, exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people.
The translated document, which was reviewed by The New York Times, did not set a date for the attack, but described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases, including a division headquarters.
[...]
“It is a plan designed to start a war,” she added. “It’s not just a raid on a village.”
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Neritam ☛ Whistleblower Craig Murray Speaks Out After Being Imprisoned
“That’s 200 out of a population of 900,” he added, emphasizing that all of these prisoners would have been symptomatic. (Prisoners who weren’t symptomatic were not tested.)
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Omicron Limited ☛ Social media ads are littered with 'green' claims. How are we supposed to know whether they're true?
Online platforms are awash with ads for so-called "green" products. Power companies are "carbon neutral." Electronics are "for the planet." Clothing is "circular" and travel is "sustainable." Or are they?
Our study of more than 8,000 ads served more than 20,000 times in people's Facebook feeds found many green claims are vague, meaningless or unsubstantiated and consumers are potentially being deceived.
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Environment
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Omicron Limited ☛ 'Silent devastation' of drought set to increase globally under climate change, says UN report
Says UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw, "Unlike other disasters that attract media attention, droughts happen silently, often going unnoticed and failing to provoke an immediate public and political response. This silent devastation perpetuates a cycle of neglect, leaving affected populations to bear the burden in isolation."
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Interesting Engineering ☛ Michigan welcomes US's first wireless charging roadway for EVs
The wireless-charging roadway consists of copper inductive charging coils embedded beneath the surface of a quarter-mile segment of 14th Street, just west of downtown Detroit. The coils can transfer electricity wirelessly through a magnetic field to vehicles equipped with Electreon receivers, charging their batteries while they drive, idle, or park above them. The coils only activate when a vehicle with a receiver passes over them, making the roadway safe for pedestrians, motorists, and animals.
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Futurism ☛ The Cybertruck Needs a Giant Extra Battery in Its Bed to Get the Range Elon Promised
In a half-hearted attempt to appease sticker-shocked and disappointed fans, Tesla came up with an awkward workaround, offering customers an entirely separate battery pack that takes up a large portion of the truck's bed, pushing the top trim's range to a more-respectable 440 miles — at the expense of its already-small bed, of course.
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Futurism ☛ The Average Bitcoin Transaction Wastes a Full Swimming Pool of Water, Scientists Say
Now, each transaction is estimated to expend over 16,000 liters of water. According to Alex de Vries from the Vrihe Universiteit Amsterdam, the study's sole author, that's around six million times more than what you use buying something with a credit card.
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Cell Press ☛ Bitcoin’s growing water footprint
Amid growing concerns over the impacts of climate change on worldwide water security, Bitcoin’s water footprint has rapidly escalated in recent years. The water footprint of Bitcoin in 2021 significantly increased by 166% compared with 2020, from 591.2 to 1,573.7 GL. The water footprint per transaction processed on the Bitcoin blockchain for those years amounted to 5,231 and 16,279 L, respectively. As of 2023, Bitcoin’s annual water footprint may equal 2,237 GL. To address this increasing water footprint, miners could apply immersion cooling and consider using power sources that do not require freshwater. A change in the Bitcoin software could also significantly reduce the network’s water footprint.
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Gizmodo ☛ Generating AI Images Uses as Much Energy as Charging Your Phone, Study Finds
Creating images with generative AI could use as much energy as charging your smartphone according to a new study Friday that measures the environmental impact of generative AI models for the first time. Popular models like ChatGPT’s Dall-E and Midjourney may produce more carbon than driving 4 miles.
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MIT Technology Review ☛ Making an image with generative AI uses as much energy as charging your phone
In fact, generating an image using a powerful AI model takes as much energy as fully charging your smartphone, according to a new study by researchers at the AI startup Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University. However, they found that using an AI model to generate text is significantly less energy-intensive. Creating text 1,000 times only uses as much energy as 16% of a full smartphone charge.
Their work, which is yet to be peer reviewed, shows that while training massive AI models is incredibly energy intensive, it’s only one part of the puzzle. Most of their carbon footprint comes from their actual use.
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International Business Times ☛ 700 People Trapped In Eurostar Train For 7 Hours With No Power, Working Toilets: 'This Is Inhumane'
"We're sorry for the delay to the #ES9114 today. The train is being detached from the overhead power lines but this is taking longer than expected. Due to a lack of power on board, it's not possible for announcements to be made. We apologise for the inconvenience," wrote Eurostar on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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BBC ☛ Passengers stuck on Eurostar with no electricity
The Eurostar spokesperson said all affected passengers would be met in London with refreshments and would receive enhanced compensation.
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Low Tech Mag ☛ Test our Bike Generators in Paris, Rotterdam, and Barcelona
In a future article, we will cover the construction process and technical details of these two new muscular power plants. These machines are based on spinning bikes and are more powerful than the first bike generator we built.
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Energy/Transportation
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New York Times ☛ What’s Next for OpenAI, Binance Is Binanceled and Hey Hi (AI) Is Eating the Internet
It’s full steam ahead for the tech world despite, well, everything.
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Overpopulation
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International Business Times ☛ Elephant Herd Attacks Family After Their Car Hits Calf
Human-elephant conflicts have been on the rise as more and more forest areas are encroached on. The experts believe that these incidents could be prevented if tuskers were identified and continuously tracked.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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The Gray Zone ☛ VIDEO: Understanding the insane appeal of Argentina’s Javier Milei
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The Nation ☛ Homeland : A Poem
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Insight Hungary ☛ Viktor Orban slips down on Politico's power player list
In the latest assessment of European power players by Politico, Viktor Orbán, has slipped down a notch in the rankings of European influencers-- despite his persistent anti-Brussels campaigns this year. Formerly holding the second spot behind Giorgia Meloni, Orbán now finds himself eclipsed by the governor of the Russian Central Bank and Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan separatist in exile in Brussels.
Politico commended Orbán for his enduring confrontations with Brussels, his alliance with Russian President Putin, and his aspirations for a surge of far-right influence in the 2024 European Parliament elections. According to the publication, Orbán might be gearing up to leverage Hungary's EU presidency in the latter half of 2024 to champion policies that diverge from European values. However, his strategy is complicated by the setback of his Polish allies in the October elections, necessitating the quest for new alliances within the European Council.
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The Drone Girl ☛ Israel emergency ruling mandates UTM connection for drones above 200 grams. Here’s how to comply
In an emergency ruling published in late November, the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI) made it illegal for drones weighing more than 200 grams to fly without a UTM connection.
UTM (short for UAS Traffic Management), is the three-letter acronym for a system of drone air traffic control, and it’s been on the minds of aviation regulators across almost every country. Israel just happens to be moving arguably the fastest.
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Futurism ☛ There Are Now Zero Women on OpenAI's Board
But following the coup — reportedly spearheaded by the eccentric Sutskever — and Altman's reinstatement, the board looks noticeably different, as detailed in a new statement issued by the company. The new board's chair is former Salesforce CEO Bret Taylor, former Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo, the only returning member.
That means the board is now exclusively made up of men, with Toner and McCauley both resigned — a noticeable shift in the governing structure of one of the fastest-growing and influential AI companies in the world.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Vintage Everyday ☛ Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Story Behind the Banned ‘Electric Ladyland’ Album Cover
Shot by David Montgomery, this photography work was chosen as the European cover for Jimi Hendrix’s 1968 album Electric Ladyland. It features nineteen London Club girls, all non-models, who pose nude. When it was released, the cover was banned in the United States, while others sold it with the gatefold cover turned inside out, or in a brown wrapper.
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[Old] Future Publishing Limited ☛ Jimi Hendrix: a tale of 19 nudes and a one controversial album sleeve
“Linda McCartney shot the original picture of Electric Ladyland in New York. She took a picture of a little white kid and a little black kid playing together. It was peace, love, harmony – all that stuff. But the record company in London looked at it and said: ‘What the hell is this? This isn’t gonna sell records.’ So that’s when I got the job.
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JURIST ☛ Russia Supreme Court labels LGBTQ+ movement ‘extremist,’ drawing international condemnation
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned on Thursday the Russian Supreme Court’s decision to outlaw the LGBTQ+ movement in the country and label proponents of the movement “extremists” under new legislation. The court’s decision is the most recent development in Russia’s ongoing crackdown against LGBTQ+ people within the country.
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Meduza ☛ Moscow police raid multiple LGBTQ+ clubs in wake of new Supreme Court ban — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘The Kremlin outlawed several million people’ Politicians, journalists, and human rights activists weigh in on Russia’s decision to ban the ‘LGBT movement’ — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Police Raid Gay Clubs, Saunas In Moscow As St. Petersburg Club Shuttered
Russian police have conducted raids on LGBT-friendly clubs and saunas in Moscow, the Caution, News site reported on its Telegram channel.
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RFERL ☛ Museum Of Prominent Gulag Survivor In Russia's Far East Shut Down
Authorities in Russia's Far Eastern town of Debin have shut down a museum devoted to prominent writer Varlam Shalamov, who was widely known for his short stories about his years in a gulag.
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RFERL ☛ Imprisoned Kremlin Critic Kara-Murza Fined For Failing To Follow 'Foreign Agent' Requirement
A court in Moscow has fined imprisoned Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza for a "violation of the law on foreign agents" because while incarcerated he failed to report every three months to the Justice Ministry about his activities due to his designation as a "foreign agent."
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RFERL ☛ Georgia Does Not Allow Outspoken Russian Nationalist To Enter Country
Dmitry Dyomushkin, an outspoken Russian nationalist, said late on November 30 that Georgian officials prevented him from entering the country upon his arrival at the Tbilisi airport.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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CPJ ☛ Hong Kong journalist Minnie Chan missing after reporting trip to Beijing
China ranked as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in CPJ’s 2022 prison census, which documented those imprisoned on December 1, 2022, with at least 43 journalists behind bars.
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Omicron Limited ☛ The news is fading from sight on big social media platforms: Where does that leave journalism?
According to a recent survey by the News Media Association, 90% of editors in the United Kingdom "believe that Google and Meta pose an existential threat to journalism."
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New York Times ☛ Russian Court Extends Detention of U.S. Journalist
Ms. Kurmasheva is the second journalist holding American citizenship to be detained by Russia this year. In March, Russian special services arrested Evan Gershkovich, a Russia correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, on espionage charges, which he and The Journal have denied. He remains in a high-security prison in Moscow awaiting trial.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Scoop News Group ☛ Federal officials state their case for continued telework during House Oversight hearing
Preserving remote-work options for federal employees saves taxpayer dollars, broadens and diversifies applicant pools, and helps the government retain and compete for private-sector talent, four agency officials said during a Wednesday congressional hearing on post-pandemic telework policies.
Testifying before the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce, the agency officials touted increased rates of in-person work while also pushing for sustained telework flexibility to ensure continuity of services.
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uni Emory ☛ Emory, silence won't protect you
Simply put, activism should not be institutionalized. Emory emphasizes advocacy as intrinsic to the institution, and therefore, the student body. Yet, our institution repeatedly stifles student perspectives and undermines civic discourse on campus, continuing to capitalize on the facade of encouraging student advocacy. Emory’s activism is reduced to a website tagline rather than tangible action; whether it be in the context of giving back to Atlanta or engaging with issues one cares about on campus, Emory, as a private institution, has and will primarily prioritize self-focused interests. Emory students, who support issues across different perspectives, can come together in the powerful realization that their activism is an individual identity, independent from Emory.
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[Old] Free-Range Kids ☛ How Children Lost the Right to Roam in Just 4 Generations
Imagine if this had happened to any other group: If we kept restricting the rights of women, or minorities — it would be seen as a terrifying, intolerable assault on their freedom.
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Scheerpost ☛ The Real Cost of Bottled Water
In fact, market researchers are explicit in recommending that bottled water firms should target their advertising campaigns at African Americans and Latinos/as. According to one market report, “Black and Hispanic consumers are important consumer groups for packaged water brands. Both groups believe bottled water tastes better than tap water. Black consumers are significantly less likely than total consumers to use refillable water bottles and drink tap water… marketing messages around taste/flavor may resonate strongly with Black consumers. Water brands can steal Black and Hispanic consumers from the sports drink market.” The leading bottled water firms have faced substantial criticism for focusing their marketing on these communities, as well as immigrants from nations where tap water may not be safe or reliable.
Thus, the social groups who on average can least afford to pay for a constant supply of bottled water are precisely those who tend to trust their tap water the least, who are targeted by the industry’s advertising, and who spend the highest percentage of household income to buy packaged water.
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Federal News Network ☛ ‘Telework is not one-size-fits-all’: Agencies defend hybrid work for feds in front of House lawmakers
A hearing Wednesday of the Oversight committee’s subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce came after months of pressure from Republican members who have repeatedly called on agencies to share more granular data on telework and productivity of federal employees.
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Common Dreams ☛ Michigan Becomes First State to Register People to Vote as They Leave Prison
Today, Michigan became the first state to automatically register people to vote as they leave prison. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law House Bill 4983 requiring Michigan’s secretary of state to coordinate with the Department of Corrections to register people upon their release from prison as part of an expansion of the state’s automatic voter registration (AVR) program.
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Monopolies
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Spotify Confirms Uruguay Exit After ‘Being Pushed Out’ by New Copyright Legislation — AEPO-ARTIS Applauds Bill As ‘A Win for the Whole Music Industry’
“Whenever there is a country somewhere in the world that adopts a legislation that improves the situation of performers, you know that it will not take long before stories about the end of diversity, the downfall of investment and the collapse of the entire music industry will pop up,” penned AEPO-ARTIS general secretary Ioan Kaes, specifically taking aim at critical remarks from WIN.
“Change is needed and it is legistlative interventions such as the one in Uruguay that put performers and their own CMOs in a position to enforce such change,” continued Kaes. “We ask our producers to stop spreading the message that paying performers will harm our industry.
“We are in this together. Instead of pointing at unspecified unintended consequences of the new Uruguayan law, let’s try to focus on the actual intentions of this legislation and work towards better remuneration of our performers.”
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Walled Culture ☛ Good artists copy, great artists steal – and generative AI does the marketing for both
The attacks on generative AI started out claiming that it was all about protecting the creators whose works were being “stolen” in some mysterious way by virtue of software analysing them. In some cases, that high-minded stance has already degenerated into yet another scheme to pay collecting societies even more for doing next to nothing. But beyond all this unseemly squabbling, there is a much deeper and more interesting question. It concerns not what goes into generative AI systems, but what comes out.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Pirate Bay URL Disappears from Google Knowledge Panel in 'Blocked' Regions
In dozens of countries around the world, The Pirate Bay and other deviant sites are blocked by ISPs. The underlying court orders and other legal mechanisms are intended to make it harder for people to access pirate sites. To help with this, Google removed thepiratebay.org from its search results in regions where it's already blocked. This ban apparently applies to Google's 'knowledge panels,' from which the site's problematic URL is carefully stripped.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Bungie Wins Powerful Disclosure Order to Identify Anonymous Cheat Makers
In a lawsuit filed early August targeting cheat operation Ring-1, Bungie warned that the "wholesale assault" on Destiny 2 would have consequences for those involved. With up to 50 Ring-1 developers, marketers, and customer support staff in Bungie's crosshairs, some have already been identified. An order handed down by a Washington court this week, one of the broadest ever seen in a case of this type, requires dozens of major platforms to help identify the remainder.
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.