Links 06/01/2024: Tensions in East Asia and ‘Your Freedom Is on the Ballot’
Contents
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Leftovers
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Hackaday ☛ Digital Master Tapes Seek Deck
As a nerdy kid in the 90s, I spent a fair bit of time watching the computer-themed cartoon Reboot. During the course of making a documentary about the show, [Jacob Weldon] and [Raquel Lin] have uncovered the original digital master tapes of the show.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Printed Cookies, Sort Of
Are there any cookies that taste better than the ones you make yourself? Well, maybe, but there’s a certain exquisite flavoring to effort. Just ask [jformulate], who created these custom chocolate-topped butter cookies using a mixture of 3D printing, silicone, and of course, baking and tempering.
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Science
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New York Times ☛ Galaxies in the Early Universe Were Shaped Like Bananas, Study Suggests
Images from the Webb telescope suggest that newborn galaxies look weirder than expected. Exactly how screwy was physics at the dawn of time?
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CS Monitor ☛ ‘The best science is international’: UK, EU restore research partnership
Britain is back in Europe! Well, in Horizon Europe, the European Union’s research and innovation program. The renewed cooperation between British and EU scientists is restoring opportunities that Brexit had stymied.
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Science Alert ☛ Our Universe Isn't as Clumpy as It Used to Be, And That's a Real Problem
What are we missing?
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Science Alert ☛ Our Perception of Time Can Actually Speed Up Wound Healing
Can we think our way to a faster recovery?
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Latvia ☛ Ten Latvian scientific achievements of 2023 highlighted
The Latvian Academy of Sciences (LZA) has compiled last year's greatest achievements in science in Latvia, highlighting a total of 10 studies on various topics, LETA reported January 5.
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Studied 3,000 Viking Teeth And Discovered Surprisingly Advanced Dentistry
We still prefer 21st-century treatments though.
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Education
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Pablo Iranzo Gómez: Advice for Telegram usage in education
Telegram is being used frequently at schools for allowing an easy communication flow using the ‘channels’, where teachers can send information to families without sharing their personal contact details so that they can’t be contacted outside of the official tools.
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia launches another sanctions-compliant GPU for China — RTX 5880 Ada debuts with 14,080 CUDA cores, 48GB GDDR6
Nvidia releases the RTX 5880 Ada Generation graphics card for the Chinese market.
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Hackaday ☛ High-Resolution MIDI Controller
For an older standard, MIDI has remarkable staying power in the music industry. It remains the de facto digital interface between computers and instruments thanks to its open nature, but its age does show a little bit. Sending control change (CC) messages, for example, was originally designed to fit within seven bits, which doesn’t give particularly fine resolution compared to more capable modern computers. To work around that, a fourteen-bit message is possible, doubling the resolution, and this MIDI interface uses this larger amount of data to send these high-resolution CC messages.
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Hackaday ☛ The ScottoKatana Keyboard Is Cutting-Edge
The lovely thing about a hobby like keyboard building is that the melting pot of designs manages to never turn into a nasty porridge. Rather, it remains a tasty chili that keeps getting more flavorful with time. It’s a simple recipe, really; someone becomes dissatisfied enough with their peripherals to do something about it, often trying various designs until they either settle on one, or come up with yet another awesome variant that suits their needs — and possibly someone else’s down the line.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Reason ☛ Biden Administration Quietly Extended the Unnecessary COVID Bailout for States and Local Governments
Republican senators say the change is "mind-bending and deeply concerning."
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Meduza ☛ No longer withering on the vine More than 30 years after independence, Armenia’s winemakers are still making up for lost time — Meduza
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Off Guardian ☛ The Perfidious Unreality of the “New Normal”
So, what’s with all the fake crying? Rachel Maddow pretended to cry about “kids in cages”. Matt Hancock pretended to cry about Covid vaccines.
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Techdirt ☛ Utah Governor Absolutely Positive That Social Media Harms Kids Despite Study After Study After Study After Study After Study Saying He’s Wrong
Okay, look, at this point, we need to start calling out those in positions of power who insist that it’s unquestionable that social media is harmful to kids when the don’t present any evidence at all to back up those assertions. Because as we’ve been documenting, every single study that comes out these days seems to say the exact opposite. I know that I’ve posted this a few times lately, but I’m going to do so again, because it’s important to understand just how the research consensus is shaping up these days:
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New York Times ☛ Switching to a Flip Phone Helped Me Cut Down on My Smartphone Addiction
Was it inconvenient? Yes. Did T9 texting drive me crazy? Definitely. Was it worth doing? Absolutely.
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Science Alert ☛ A Crash Diet Could Be a Seriously Bad Idea For Weight Loss
Here's what to do instead.
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Latvia ☛ Reimbursable blood pressure medicine supply interrupted in Latvia
Many pharmacies in Latvia currently do not have the two cheapest reimbursable medicines to regulate blood pressure and heart rate, and they are also unavailable with wholesalers, the State Agency of Medicines (ZVA) told Latvian Television on January 4.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Duluth’s Essentia Health, Wisconsin’s Marshfield Clinic break off merger talks
This is the second time since 2019 that Marshfield has been in failed merger talks.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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CS Monitor ☛ How Hey Hi (AI) helps to bridge learning gaps in Indian schools
In 2022, less than half of India’s schools had a computer and just over a third had Internet access. Hey Hi (AI) systems, such as Amazon’s Echo Dot speaker, are helping to bridge this gap. Hey Hi (AI) helps teach English, lesson plan, and identify at-risk students.
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Security
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Integrity/Availability/Authenticity
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ More than 40,000 cyber scam suspects handed over from Myanmar to China in 2023
More than 40,000 people suspected of taking part in cyber scams in Myanmar were handed over to China last year, Beijing state media said Friday. Online fraud compounds have flourished in Myanmar’s borderlands, staffed by citizens from China and other countries who are often trafficked and forced to work swindling their compatriots.
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YLE ☛ Tax officials warn of renewed online scams
Fraudulent messages purportedly from Finland's Tax Administration are circulating again, aimed at stealing personal information.
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Security Week ☛ Nigerian Arrested, Charged in $7.5 Million BEC Scheme Targeting US Charities
A Nigerian national arrested in Ghana faces charges in the US for a BEC scheme involving two charitable organizations.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Cloudbooklet ☛ Facebook Link History: Privacy Nightmare for Users
Learn how Facebook (Farcebook) Link History, a new feature stores your browsing history across its platforms poses a serious threat to your online privacy and security.
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Defence/Aggression
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JURIST ☛ NYC Mayor Eric Adams files lawsuit against transporters bussing migrants from Texas
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration filed a lawsuit against 17 bus companies on Thursday for transporting 33,000 migrants from Texas.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea's Kim Jong Un sends sympathy messages to Iran, Japan: KCNA
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent messages of sympathy to the leaders of Iran and Japan on Saturday, state media said, after the countries were hit with deadly bombings and earthquake respectively this week.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China urges ‘calm and restraint’ from all sides after North Korea fires artillery near South Korean islands
China called Friday for “restraint” from all sides after Seoul said North Korea had fired an artillery barrage near two South Korean islands.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korean minister says US troops likely to stay even if Trump is re-elected
It was earlier reported that Trump was considering letting North Korea keep its nuclear weapons.
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RFA ☛ North Korea fires 200 shells into sea off western coast
Move comes after Kim Jong Un and daughter tour ICBM launcher factory
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France24 ☛ S. Korea issues evacuation orders for two of its islands as N. Korea fires more than 200 shells
North Korea fired more than 200 artillery shells near two South Korean islands on Friday, prompting evacuation orders for their residents, Seoul's defence ministry and local officials said.
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Techdirt ☛ Homicide Rates Hit Another Historical Low Despite What You May Have Heard Pretty Much Everywhere
The banal will never capture as much attention as the lurid.
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CS Monitor ☛ Did US homicide rate rise or fall in 2023? The answer might surprise you.
The U.S. homicide rate dropped by the most on record in 2023 – a welcome reversal after pandemic spikes in violence.
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France24 ☛ Historic ‘animosity’ between IS group and slain General Soleimani prompted deadly bombings in Iran
The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings that left at least 84 dead at a commemoration for slain Iranian General Qassem Soleimani on Wednesday. FRANCE 24’s Wassim Nasr explains the roots of the deep animosity between the Sunni Islamic State group and the late leader of the Shiite state’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.
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RFERL ☛ Iran Moves To Seal Borders With Afghanistan And Pakistan After Deadly Blasts
Iran said it is shutting its vast borders with neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan to increase security after the twin bombing that killed at least 89 people in the southeastern city of Kerman on January 3.
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RFERL ☛ Iran Says Several Suspects Detained Over Suicide Bombings As Country Mourns Victims
Several suspects have been detained in Iran in connection with the Islamic State-claimed deadly suicide bombings this week that killed at least 84 people during commemorations for a former Iranian commander.
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New Yorker ☛ Ava DuVernay Wants Her Film “Origin” to Influence the 2024 Election
The celebrated filmmaker is back with a challenging movie intended to provoke a political response. Plus, the subject of a January 6th conspiracy theory speaks out.
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New York Times ☛ Neo-Nazi Podcasters Who Called for Prince Harry’s Death Are Sentenced
The men, who were described by the police as “homophobic, racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic and misogynistic,” received eight- and seven-year sentences.
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Defence Web ☛ 2023 a year of ‘good’ mixed with ‘bad’ and some ‘ugly’ for the SA defence industry
2023 showed that the SA defence industry (SADI) is mainly on its own when looking for solutions and market opportunities. 2023 kicked off with a bang and the rolling story of the Lady R docking in Simons Town.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan slams China balloons as harassment and ‘serious threat’ to aviation safety
Taiwan’s defence ministry condemned Beijing on Saturday for sending balloons across the median line that separates the self-ruled island and China, saying they pose a “serious threat” to aviation routes and are a form of harassment.
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The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan says Chinese balloons threaten aviation safety
Taiwan’s Defence Ministry accused China of threatening aviation safety and waging psychological warfare.
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RFA ☛ Taiwan accuses China of gray zone tactics by flying balloons
Taipei’s defense ministry said Chinese balloons spotted recently over Taiwan pose a serious threat to flight safety.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan election 2024: The 3 presidential candidates and what they say about relations with China
Taiwan’s presidential election on January 13 will shape the future of the self-ruled democratic island, from relations with China and the US to domestic issues that affect the livelihood of its 23 million people.
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RFA ☛ Philippines hits back at China, says joint patrols with US not ‘provocative’
The activity, held within its territory, is its 'sovereign right,' Manila said.
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JURIST ☛ Amnesty International welcomes indictment of Chile commanders over response to 2019 protests
Amnesty International welcomed Thursday the indictment of three senior commanders of Carabineros de Chile for their purported involvement in the disproportionate and unlawful repressive response to mass protests in Chile in late 2019.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Overstretched and undersupplied: Can the US afford its global security blanket?
The hollowing out of the broader US manufacturing base has made defense companies dependent on supply chains originating in, of all places, China.
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RFERL ☛ Iranian Commander Challenges 'Enemy' Naval Presence In Region
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps vowed on January 6 to reach "the enemy" far and near as tensions soar on key shipping routes where Tehran’s allies have been attacking vessels.
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New York Times ☛ Terrorism in Iran Exposes a Vulnerability It Doesn’t Want to Admit
Even after the Islamic State took responsibility for deadly bombings, Iran’s government, facing public anger, blamed Israel.
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New York Times ☛ As Gaza Losses Mount Under Israeli Strikes, Proper Burials Are Another Casualty
“The lucky are those who have someone to bury them when they die,” Dr. Mohammad Abu Moussa, a radiologist at one Gaza hospital, said of those killed by Israeli airstrikes.
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New York Times ☛ Hezbollah’s Leader Says It Would Not Negotiate Peace With Israel Until War in Gaza Ends
In a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah addressed Israeli citizens directly, warning that they “will be the first to pay the price” unless the military action stops.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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RFERL ☛ Two Candidates Approved To Run Against Putin In Russian Presidential Election
Russia's Central Election Commission has registered two candidates to run against Vladimir Putin in a presidential election in March.
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New York Times ☛ Putin Aims to Strengthen Russia’s Military by Easing Citizenship for Foreigners
President Vladimir V. Putin is seeking to strengthen his military to fight in Ukraine while avoiding a potentially unpopular mobilization of Russians.
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Latvia ☛ Latvia sends presents to Ukrainian children
The society “Your Friends” have created and sent Christmas gifts from donations from Latvian residents for 408 children from Ukraine, Latvian Television reported January 4.
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Latvia ☛ Kurzeme ready to take on more Ukrainian refugees
According to the Ministry of Interior estimates, around 12,000 more refugees from Ukraine could arrive in Latvia this year. In western Latvia, Liepāja and Dienvidkurzeme municipalities are ready to accommodate around 150 to 200 Ukrainians in addition, while Ventspils says the capacity is almost exhausted, TV Kurzeme reports.
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Security Week ☛ Russia Hacked Residential Cameras in Ukraine to Spy on Air Defense, Critical Infrastructure
Ukraine said Russia hacked two surveillance cameras and used them to spy on air defense systems and critical infrastructure in Kyiv.
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Reason ☛ Canadian Immigration Officials Block Citizenship Grant for Russian Immigrant Because She Was Convicted of the "Crime" of Speaking Out Against Russia's War of Aggression Against Ukraine
If the absurd ruling stands, she could potentially be deported back to Russia, where she faces an 8-year prison sentence.
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France24 ☛ US accuses Russia of using North Korean missiles against Ukraine
Ukraine said Friday it was so far unable to confirm that Russia had used North Korean missiles to attack it after Washington accused Moscow of using weapons provided by Pyongyang.
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LRT ☛ ‘We don’t fit on the island anymore.’ Amid war in Ukraine, Lithuanians buy property in Tenerife
Tenerife is a beloved destination for Lithuanians to spend holidays or the entire winter. After the war in Ukraine broke out, a number of Lithuanians also decided to acquire property on this Spanish island. “We don’t fit on the island anymore,” said a Lithuanian real estate agent in Tenerife.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian shops will not remove Vičiūnai products after its designation as ‘war sponsor’
After Ukraine added the Lithuanian food manufacturer Vičiūnai Group to the list of international supporters of the war, due to it still operating in Russia, Lithuania’s major supermarket chains say they are not planning to remove the company’s products from their shelves.
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RFERL ☛ Chechen Leader Offers Ukrainian Captives In Exchange For Lifting Sanctions On His Family
The authoritarian ruler of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has offered to release Ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange for the lifting of U.S. sanctions against his family members and horses, Russian media reported on January 5.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Troops Shell Ukraine's Pokrovsk, Causing 'Casualties,' Regional Authorities Say
Russian troops shelled the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk in the eastern province of Donetsk late on January 5, causing “casualties,” the head of the regional military administration said.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Joins U.S. In Saying Russia Is Using North Korean Missiles
Russia has hit Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea for the first time during its full-scale invasion, a senior Kyiv official said on January 5, a day after the United States said Moscow had used missiles obtained from Pyongyang in Russia's conflict with its western neighbor.
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RFERL ☛ Nepal Halts Work Permits For Russia, Ukraine After Soldiers Killed
Nepal has stopped issuing permits to its citizens to work in Russia and Ukraine until further notice, an official said on January 5, after at least 10 Nepali soldiers were killed while serving in the Russian Army.
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Meduza ☛ Citing deaths in war, Nepal stops issuing citizens permits to work in Russia and Ukraine — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Attack On Kherson Region Kills One As Ukraine Claims Successful Mission in Russian-Occupied Crimea
In a rare admission of its military operations in Crimea, Ukraine has admitted it carried out attacks on a Russian military command post and a military unit in separate strikes on the Russia-occupied peninsula, saying it had inflicted "serious damage" to Russia's defense system.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine’s Patriot Defenses at Work: Shuddering Booms and Bursts of Light
The American-provided air-defense systems have helped Ukraine defend itself against Russian assaults, but Washington has warned that it will not be able to keep them supplied for much longer.
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Hackaday ☛ Teardown Of Two Russian Missile Sensors
Recently [Michel] received two packages from Ukraine containing some salvaged Russian electronics that once belonged to (presumably) a 9K38 Igla, Vympel R-27 or similar infrared homing missile, as well as a Fiber Optic Gyroscope (FOG) from an unknown missile, though possibly from the Tornado family of MRLSes. The latter uses the Sagnac effect to detect the phase shift between two laser beams being injected into the same fiber when the fiber, and thus the device, are rotating. The advantage of such a gyroscope is that it is effectively solid-state, requiring only some optical components, amplifier stage and as shown here an Altera Cyclone II FPGA to integrate the results.
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Meduza ☛ Moscow priest who spoke out against war in Ukraine removed from post — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Ramzan Kadyrov offers to release Ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange for sanctions relief for his family — Meduza
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LRT ☛ Russian billionaire Abramovich’s son received new Lithuanian passport in October
Arkadiy, the son of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, renewed his Lithuanian passport last autumn, a year and a half after his father was added to the EU sanctions list, the Siena Centre for Investigative Journalism reports.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania’s education minister suggests phasing out Russian schools
Lithuania’s Education Minister Gintautas Jakštas has said that the country should phase out secondary education in the Russian language, following an example of neighbouring Latvia and Estonia.
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RFERL ☛ Moldovan Separatist Leader Denounces New Trade Duties
The leader of Moldova's separatist Transdniester enclave denounced Chisinau's introduction of import and export duties for his pro-Russian region, saying central authorities were violating fundamental rights and crushing business.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea likely sending its newest missiles to Russia
The missiles are priced at about US$5 million (S$6.7 million) each.
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Meduza ☛ ‘You can resist much more than it seems’: St. Petersburg librarians on Russia’s book bans and the ways they fight back — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region to evacuate city residents who wish to leave because of shelling — Meduza
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JURIST ☛ Belarus president enacts stricter presidential candidate criteria and presidential immunity
The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko assented on Wednesday to comprehensive amendments to the law “On the President of the Republic of Belarus,” which tightened the requirements for a presidential candidate within the country.
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RFERL ☛ Belarus Recalls Ambassador To Sweden Over Naming Of Envoy To Belarus's Democratic Community
Minsk has recalled its ambassador to Sweden over the appointment of Sweden’s former ambassador to Belarus to serve as Stockholm’s representative to the Belarusian democratic community abroad.
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RFERL ☛ U.S. Puts Baku On Religious Freedom Watch List As Commission Takes Dim View Of Belarus Law
The United States has put Azerbaijan and three other countries on a watch list for engaging in or tolerating “severe violations of religious freedom” after Baku took over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Environment
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DeSmog ☛ The Law Firm Helping Big Oil Weaponize the First Amendment
For years, the fossil fuel industry has maintained that the First Amendment protects its right to mislead the public about the climate crisis, but that criticism and protest of its operations violates the law. Now, one of the industry’s preferred law firms — which has long been recognized for its defense of the First Amendment — is arguing both sides of this issue in court.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represents oil giant Chevron in lawsuits brought by dozens of state and local governments to hold the company accountable for deceiving consumers and the public about its products’ central role in climate change. (You may also recognize Gibson Dunn as the firm that accused U.S. attorney Steven Donziger and his Ecuadorian plaintiffs of racketeering after they defeated Chevron in Ecuador’s courts.) As the evidence of Big Oil’s long-standing campaigns of climate denial piles up, and the cases inch closer to trial, the firm is deploying a defense that seeks to protect its clients’ ability to mislead the public.
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RFA ☛ Cold, hot and wet: China’s year of climatic contrasts
The world’s largest polluter is facing extreme weather conditions.
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YLE ☛ Cold and colder – Enontekiö sees winter's record low of -44.3 Celsius
This winter's national record cold reading, so far, has been registered at Enontekiö in Finnish Lapland, where the temperature fell to -44.3 degrees in the early hours of Friday.
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YLE ☛ Finland braces for deep freeze weekend with temperatures of -40C
Although the weekend will remain bitterly cold, temperatures are expected to rise significantly across the country on Monday.
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Energy/Transportation
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Sam Thursfield: Cross-border rail in 2023
A new discovery of mine for 2023 was the #CrossBorderRail movement. It’s mainly a project of Jon Worth who is investigating all current and former border crossings in the EU by train and bike. His motivation, aside from the fact that I guess he likes to explore, is to highlight obvious issues and improvements which are needed to get more people onto trains and off of short-haul flights. I have some experiences to share in that area myself.
Back in June I made an unambitious commitment to take no more than 10 flights in 2023, which I didn’t actually meet having taken the 11th flight to get back to the UK for Christmas. (I think the climate crisis is built on people making unambitious targets and then failing to meet them anyway). Anyway, I decided to return by train to Santiago.
I have plenty of experience taking unadvisably long overland trips. The apex of this being driving to Mongolia in 2016 and taking the train back from Ulan Ude, Russia to Manchester. By comparison, travelling from North Wales to Galicia seems pretty straightforwards. However due to a combination of factors, this trip in late 2023 had more issues than that much longer journey of 2016. Here’s how it went.
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YLE ☛ Record high electricity spot prices set to decrease
Extreme prices of more than 2€ per kWh on the electricity exchange will experience a sharp fall on Saturday, but remain well above normal levels.
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Overpopulation
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RFA ☛ Go forth and multiply
Authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan pressed the creator of a riverside sculpture of a mother, father and single child to add two extra offspring under the Communist Party's campaign to encourage people to have more kids to boost flagging birth rates. Guo Xue was asked to give his work in Wuhan's Jiangtan Park, titled "A Better Future," a makeover, and added two extra children to reflect the government's current "three-child" policy, rather than the one-child policy of recent decades.
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Finance
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YLE ☛ Finnish cinemas enjoy bumper year, but fall short of pre-pandemic levels
Ticket sales were up 25 percent year-on-year, with domestic productions such as Aki Kaurismäki's 'Fallen Leaves' and international blockbuster 'Barbie' driving the increased footfall.
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New York Times ☛ Eurozone Price Pressures Edged Higher to End the Year
Inflation in the countries that use the euro rose to 2.9 percent in December, but the underlying rate continued a downward trend.
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YLE ☛ Higher food prices drive December inflation
Preliminary data compiled by Statistics Finland found that food prices were up by more than 3 percent year-on-year last month.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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JURIST ☛ Ecuador President Daniel Noboa announces plan for referendum on stricter security measures
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced on Wednesday plans for a national referendum to implement stricter anti-crime legislation and tighten security measures in a bid to curb an upward trend of escalating crime rates and violence in the country.
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France24 ☛ US Secretary of State Blinken arrives in Turkey on Mideast tour focused on Gaza
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Friday as part of a Middle East tour amid mounting fears the war in Gaza will become a larger regional conflict. Lebanon filed a complaint to the UN Security Council over Israel's suspected assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, while Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group must respond to Arouri's assassination on Lebanese soil.
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Defence Web ☛ SADC mission deploys to DR Congo
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has deployed a mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with the major aim of restoring peace and security in the eastern part of the sprawling central African country.
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The Straits Times ☛ Bangladesh holds general election on Sunday
Bangladesh holds a general election on Sunday, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set to win a fourth straight term and the fifth overall for her Awami League-led alliance, despite an economy that required an international bailout last year.
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New Yorker ☛ What We Lost When Ex-Twitter Became X
As a former Ex-Twitter employee, I watched Elon Musk undermine one of the Internet’s most paradoxical, special places.
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New York Times ☛ Biden Condemns Trump In Re-Election Speech: ‘Your Freedom Is on the Ballot’
The president framed the election as a choice between a candidate devoted to upholding American ideals and a chaos agent willing to discard them for his personal benefit.
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Mint Press News ☛ How Corporate Media Whitewash Israeli Crimes: A Personal Narrative
This speech was delivered by MintPress founder Mnar Adley in Chicago at the Sirat Conference on December 25th, 2023. Adley was invited to give a keynote address to talk about corporate media’s complicity in Israeli war crimes and Israel’s attack on journalists.
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France24 ☛ Biden cites Trump promises of ‘revenge and retribution’ in first campaign speech
US President Joe Biden accused Donald Trump, his likely rival in the 2024 presidential contest, of placing concern for his own personal power over the service of democracy in a Pennsylvania speech on Friday intended to kickstart his campaign and mark the third anniversary of the January 6 attacks on the Capitol.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Reason ☛ Magistrate Judge/Zoologist Recommends Dismissal of Drug Company's Libel Claim Against Scientists
An excerpt from a long report and recommendation released Wednesday by Magistrate Judge Ona Wang (S.D.N.Y.) in Cassava Sciences, Inc. v. Bredt; [...]
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JURIST ☛ Hong Kong activist pleads guilty to sedition charges
Hong Kong activist Chu Kai-poon pleaded guilty on Thursday to two counts of sedition at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. Chu was previously arrested on November 27 by national security police at the Hong Kong International Airport for wearing a shirt with “seditious wording.”
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RFA ☛ Critic faces charges after mocking government on Facebook
Badly beaten in September, Ny Nak has been critical of government ministries for some time.
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Reason ☛ Review: Banksy's Iconic Art on Display in London
The unauthorized "Art of Banksy" exhibit includes ads from the street artist's real-life Palestine hotel.
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Cloudbooklet ☛ Twitch Implied Nudity Ban: The End of the Censor Bar Meta
Leran about the Twitch Implied Nudity Ban, a new update of Twitch in response to a recent trend, where streamers making an illusion of being naked.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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Federal News Network ☛ ‘Fat Leonard’ seeks new attorneys ahead of sentencing in Navy bribery case, causing another delay
Convicted Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis who led a daring escape weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced in 2022 is seeking new defense attorneys now that he is back in U.S. custody after the Venezuelan prisoner swap last month.
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Reason ☛ What If Your Children's Bickering Never Stops?
The case caption promises a mix of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: The plaintiff styles himself "The Excellent the Excellent Patel, from all capacities" and the defendants are Patel and Kumar.
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CS Monitor ☛ Lifting a hurdle to a welcome home
California rescinds housing laws that discriminate against people previously incarcerated as part of a broader shift binding rehabilitation to individual dignity.
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Digital Music News ☛ Breaking: Live Nation Moves to Dismiss Sexual Orientation Discrimination Lawsuit from Ex-Contractor
Live Nation has moved to dismiss a lawsuit it’s facing for allegedly cutting ties with a contractor because of its owner’s sexual orientation.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Activist priest stages 25-day sit-in at gov’t HQ demanding right of abode for Hongkongers’ China-born children
An activist priest in Hong Kong has begun a 25-day silent sit-in outside Admiralty’s government headquarters, demanding authorities grant the right of abode to Hongkongers’ mainland-born children. Reverend Franco Mella, an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a veteran human rights activist in the city, led a group of elders on Friday to the demonstration.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Techdirt ☛ Prepare For A Ton Of Dumb, Counterproductive Streaming Video Mergers
While Comcast’s streaming service Peacock has now reached 30 million subscribers, Comcast has been taking an absolute bath on the proposition. Comcast CEO Mike Cavanagh says the company lost nearly $3 billion dollars on the effort last year alone.
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CCIA ☛ Examining State Activity in the Antitrust and Competition Space
The 2023 state legislative session saw seven state legislatures introduce competition-related legislation [...]
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Sharon Israel, PTO New Chief Policy Officer
Congratulations to Sharon Israel on her new leadership role at the USPTO. I was happy to learn that Director Vidal has appointed Sharon Israel as its new Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs. Ms. Israel has been a leader of the patent monopoly bar for many yeas and will bring tremendous expertise to this important role overseeing the USPTO’s policy and international programs. For the past few years, she has been a partner at Shook Hardy focusing on patent monopoly litigation — primarily on the defense side.
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Federal Funded Innovation and March-In Rights
The Biden Administration is seeking comment on its proposed framework for how how agencies should evaluate exercising “march-in rights” over federally funded inventions. For those familiar with march-in rights, this guidance has been a long time coming. While these powers have technically existed for years under the Bayh-Dole Act, the lack of clear procedures around their use has rendered them largely theoretical. This proposal could change that.
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JUVE ☛ InterDigital prevails against Oppo and OnePlus over SEPs in Munich
For years, InterDigital has fought various mobile phone manufacturers in different countries over SEPs relevant for the 3G, 4G and 5G standards.
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Kangaroo Courts
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Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Top ten of most popular articles of 2023 [Ed: These patent maximalists are shamelessly celebrating a high-level crime, an unconstitutional kangaroo court]
The Unified Patent Court, what else? For the patent monopoly community 2023 was a historical year. After two decades of hard work and debates, but also delays, court cases, Brexits and other disappointments, the new European patent monopoly court finally opened its doors and the Unitary Patent saw the light of day.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ The Top Ten TTAB Decisions of 2023 (Part I)
The TTABlogger has once again chosen the ten (10) TTAB (Tee-Tee-Ā-Bee) decisions that he considers to be the most important and/or interesting from the previous calendar year (2023). This is the first of two (2) posts; the first five (5) selections are set out below.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Breaking: French Montana Beats “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’” Copyright Lawsuit Despite ‘Apparent Similarities’ With Allegedly Infringed Work
French Montana has officially beat a copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit over “Ain’t Worried About Nothin.’” But in issuing its summary judgement, the court acknowledged similarities between the popular track and the plaintiff’s allegedly copied work.
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Digital Music News ☛ Exclusive: The Rolling Stones, BMG, and Universal Music Face Appeal in ‘Living in a Ghost Town’ Copyright Suit
The plaintiff in a copyright monopoly infringement suit against Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and others is officially appealing the case’s dismissal. This filing party only recently submitted a notice of appeal, with a Louisiana federal judge having tossed the suit on jurisdictional grounds in October of 2023.
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New Yorker ☛ Why Some Academics Are Reluctant to Call Claudine Gay a Plagiarist
A political-science professor wrestles with his role in the drama surrounding the former Harvard president.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Sollemnitas Magorum
As "Heilige Drei Könige" is a bank holiday in Bavaria, all the shops are closed today. We of course planned to do some shopping for food as we always do on Saturday mornings, but after waking up I realized that this is not going to happen today. So we went back to sleep.
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something different
Normally, if a stranger talks to me on Messenger, it's always catfishing. I usually say that I don't know the person, or that they have the wrong phone number, and end the conversation. However, in this case, the person is often persistent and tries to continue the conversation. So today I tried something different: I simply said that I hadn't heard about the appointment today. To my surprise, the person stopped talking to me. I'm going to try this method for a while. :)
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🔤SpellBinding: ACJLOUR Wordo: SECTS
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#Lore24 - Day 6 - Telepathic Withdrawal
One of the removed chapters from Flight of the Scions[1] was a memory from Ruben's father of watching his wife going through telepathic withdrawal[2] after they were forced to leave the Isle of Vo. It was a rough scene, mainly because Tagon was struggling to contain his emotions but also because it established the idea that having an always-on connection to a massive collective for thirty years and then suddenly having it disconnected can be devastating.
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Welcome to polprog's gophersite
For now, please check out this cool 8086 ascii art
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Politics and World Events
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Book Report: The Consolation of Philosophy
I do a lot of reading on my own, but don't get to share the things I've read with others much. This year I'm going to try out a new exercise: write a book report for books I read on my own. My hope is that these reports will help me better retain what I've read, and act as a kind of TLDR I can reference back for myself in the future. If nothing else perhaps some others will find these summaries useful, if not interesting.
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dimkr: Some Opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
This is not the most fluent text I've ever written, mostly because it's a series of thoughts I collected in a text file over some time.
I know this is a very sensitive topic and I apoligize I failed to remove all traces of bias and all opinions not clearly marked as opinions. I know many people smarter than me, and many people with better communication skills (especially in English), so please believe me that my intentions are good even if I made the mistake of choosing words that offend somebody.
Here's some context, to allow critical reading: I grew up in Beer Sheva; I remember the fear to take a bus ride to school, the rockets and the events leading to Operation Cast Lead and the operations that came after it. My opinions are very different today compared to back then: I'm a 31 years old, Jewish man married to a Jewish woman (both of us originally from the south, with family there), we live in Rishon Lezion (big city in central Israel) and we're very luck to be alive, have each other and have our (old and crumbling) house. We hear explosions all day long, including intercepted rockets above Ashdod or Ashkelon, and sometimes we hear faint, bass-heavy explosions or see the window glass shaking, when the news says the air force is bombing tunnels in Gaza.
[...]
Without adding too much detail: some relatives of my wife were murdered or kidnapped by Hamas.
[...]
The political situation in Israel forces the formation of a coallition government, and the right wing parties achieve majority easily, if they subject themselves to the demands of nationalist or religious parties.
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Yretek
A recent trouble in Antenna shows the need for more than one platform for whatever: sharing posts, forums, engines... Because yes, the owner of a platform has every right to disallow content that she or he or hän doesn't want there.
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Happy Theophany!
Hey Gemini! Happy feast!
I woke up early today and went to church, and I'm gonna do it again tomorrow. Since we did the Blessing of Water after Liturgy today, I have some holy water from the church. I labeled it in a few languages, writing 'ἁγίασμα', 'apă sfințita', 'holy water', and 'haleġwæter'.
Classes begin again on Monday, and I'm trying to enjoy the time off. Yesterday I walked all the way to Mt. Lykavēttós and saw the (unfortunately abandoned) amphitheater. It's a bit of a mess up there, but the views are amazing. I wanted to visit the church of St. George at the top, but I was 1 minute late and didn't make it in time.
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Technology and Free Software
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Teaching NixOS about OpenTofu
In my endless quest to come up with a completely data-driven and reproducible environment, I decided to take a stab at a new automation tool: OpenTofu[1]. I've already gotten a good NixOS[2] setup, but I wanted to also be able to check in the setup for my instances (and to a smaller degree, my bare metal servers in my home lab) to expand on the functionality. It didn't hurt that work had settled on Terraform.
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Testing syncthing
I don't know why I haven't tried syncthing sooner. This tool is awesome. It is possibe to pair all the devices you want (many OS supported) and, on each device, you can choose folders you want to sync and with which device(s). many options are available.
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little question about username changes
I've been kinda thinking about changing mine - is it possible to do so? And how should I contact m15o or someone else about it? Also... wooo first post! I've been lurking and commenting since around April or May of last year, and it's a little funny that my post isn't some deeply philosophical prompt but a very ordinary, very meta post.
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Internet/Gemini
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Gemini reminds me why I'm tired of the web
Discovering this network has been a breath of fresh air for me, and it's made me realize just how much the web has sucked the life out of me.
There are the usual reasons: the Big Tech hegemony, the attention economy, social media, privacy, etc.
But there's also all the small ways that the cognitive load of maintaining websites has been slowly poisoning my spirit.
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Programming
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Back to the Rust programming language
I’ve decided to return to Rust as my default programming language.
At this point I think that when I have an opinion, there is only one thing that will surely happen: At some point in future I’ll change my opinion…
Since some time I’m working on a personal project of mine, which I always dreamed of. And this time I’m actually making progress, not a big one, but progress nonetheless. And I’m feeling great about it.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.