Links 16/02/2024: Sagging Economy and Efforts to Rescue Julian Assange
Contents
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Leftovers
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James G ☛ Making my bookshelves clickable
You can make regions of an image clickable with a number of techniques, from overlyaing an SVG that contains
onclick
JavaScript handlers all the way to using image maps. I love this idea. I started to think about how I could create an image of my bookshelves that you could click to learn more about each book I am reading. This would be more engaging than a traditional list of text. -
Tedium ☛ Retro Zeitgeist
Jon Stewart’s fascinating late-career return to The Daily Show is further evidence that linear television is no longer what it once was.
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Chinese chipmaker tapes out 16-core DragonChain-powered CPU, 64-core coming — Loongson LS3C6000 server processor will rival Zen 3 CPUs
Loongson tapes out the 16-core/32-thread LS 3C6000 CPU, preps 32-core and 64-core processors.
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TechTarget ☛ 7 causes of SSD failure and how to deal with them
Although SSDs are a reliable storage technology, they are still prone to occasional failure. Here are some best practices to keep your SSDs humming along.
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ Indonesia's presumed new president pays tribute to strongman Suharto
Indonesia's presumed new president Prabowo Subianto paid tribute to the nation's past leaders during a triumphant victory speech on Wednesday, joking about his close ties to his ex-father-in-law and former authoritarian ruler, Suharto.
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JURIST ☛ Indonesia presidential frontrunner claims victory after preliminary vote tally
Indonesina presidential candidate and Minister of Defence Prabowo Subianto claimed victory Wednesday after early vote totals showed him with a commanding lead in the 2024 presidential election to succeed termed out incumbent President Jokowi.
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New York Times ☛ Middle East Crisis: Israel Strikes in Lebanon After Deadly Rocket Attack
The Israeli military said it had launched extensive airstrikes in response to rocket fire that killed a soldier, a significant escalation in cross-border tensions. Four were killed in Lebanon.
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ACLU ☛ “There Was No One That Looked Like Me:” Why Diversity Matters in the Military
Last year, the Supreme Court overturned its prior holdings on affirmative action, effectively ending race-conscious admissions practices in most colleges and universities and, consequently, restricting the ability of schools to address systemic racial inequalities that persist in higher education. But the court’s decision was left with one exception: military service academies. Now, the same group that brought to the Supreme Court the case that overturned affirmative action, Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), is suing the U.S. Naval Academy and West Point, alleging in two separate lawsuits that the military academies’ use of race in their admissions processes is unconstitutional.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Brazil aims to advance its bid for leadership of the Global South through food security
If Brazil delivers tangible benefits on food security through its Presidency of the G20 and COP30, it will cement its position as a key leader of the Global South.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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France24 ☛ NATO chief says countries boosting defence outlays, Trump ‘undermining’ alliance
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that European allies and Canada have ramped up defense spending to record levels, as he warned that former U.S. President Donald Trump was undermining their security by calling into question the U.S. commitment to its allies.
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Finance
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Latvia ☛ The 'high value-added' fallacy in Latvia
A recent report titled “Increasing investments and competitiveness for Latvia’s economic security” from the influential American Chamber of Commerce in Latvia (AmCham) calls, on page 3, for a “transition to a high value-added economy”.
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YLE ☛ Strikes impact the whole of Finland
Politically motivated strikes have spread into industry and transport, among other sectors.
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YLE ☛ Most train services to resume on Thursday
Night trains, rail buses and HSL area and VR commuter trains are to run normally – but capital-region metro, trams, light rail and most buses will not due to a strike.
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Homeworld 3 studio Blackbird Interactive hit with layoffs
The studio behind Homeworld 3, Homeworld: Deserts Of Kharak, and Hardspace: Shipbreaker have cut a number of jobs, explaining this is "part of a realignment plan that's necessary because of new projects that were shelved by some of our partners". Blackbird Interactive haven't confirmed the number of people who lost their jobs, nor have they said what the mystery projects were. It's been a grim year for people working in the video games industry, with thousands losing their jobs, and we're only halfway through February.
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Homeworld 3's Dev Blackbird Once Again Laid Off Its Staff
Blackbird Interactive, the developer behind the upcoming Homeworld 3, has confirmed the second round of layoffs that took place in the last 6 months.
According to the statement given to GamesIndustry.biz, the studio had to let go of some people because of the economic pressure Blackbird has been facing.
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Texas ☛ Will 2024 Be a Big Year for Job Cuts?
You’re probably seeing headlines almost daily screaming about layoffs, layoffs, layoffs. The ubiquity of those stories may make you worry about your own job stability.
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Factbox-US, Canadian companies kick off 2024 with layoffs
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Former CEO: High interest rates ‘killing’ companies as layoffs continue
President Joe Biden is blaming corporations for high prices and “shrinkflation.” Business executives and many economists disagree, arguing the real problem is inflation created by federal deficit spending policies.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Biden posted a video on X saying, “While you were Super Bowl shopping, did you notice smaller-than-usual products where the price stays the same? Folks are calling it Shrinkflation and it means companies are giving you less for every dollar you spend. I’m calling on the big consumer brands to put a stop to it.”
The Center Square first reported on shrinkflation in May 2022 noting that consumers were paying more for less on everything from food to toiletries to services they purchase.
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700+ Techies Fired Every Day In 2024 Due To AI, Cost Cutting Measures [Ed: This has nothing to do with "AI"; it's an economic problem, the buzzwords are a smokescreen]
The main reasons for 28,329 layoffs job losses in January were cited to be “restructuring” and 14555 job cuts were credited to the “closing” of plants, stores, and units.
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The Washington Post ☛ Layoffs are tearing through the game industry. This year could be worse.
Video games can’t be this big, this expensive — in this volatile an industry — and remain a sustainable business
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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RFA ☛ INTERVIEWS: 'If I take a step back, how will Hong Kong be free?'
Two Hong Kong activists in exile talk about the potential impact of a second national security law on their lives.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Some Hong Kong gov’t departments and public bodies ‘completely disregarded’ security law, official auditor says
Some Hong Kong government departments and public organisations “completely disregarded” the national security law after it was enacted in June 2020, the government auditor has said.
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France24 ☛ US House impeaches homeland security chief Mayorkas over border policies
Republicans impeached US President Joe Biden's immigration chief on Tuesday, the culmination of months of attacks on the Democratic administration as they seek to make border security a key issue in November's election.
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JURIST ☛ US House of Representatives impeaches Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
The US House of Representatives voted 214-213 Tuesday night to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the situation at the US-Mexico border. The articles of impeachment accused Mayorkas of a “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with federal immigration laws and a breach of public trust.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ Exp[o]rt Reports: When David Weiss Claimed Keith Ablow’s Sawdust Was Hunter Biden’s Cocaine
David Weiss appears to have submitted a photo of a photo of sawdust taken by a Keith Ablow client and claimed it is a photo of "apparent cocaine" taken by Hunter Biden. That's going to make the forensic challenges of prosecuting Hunter Biden using the laptop far more difficult.
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JURIST ☛ US House of Representatives holds hearing on judicial security as Marshals report increase in threats against judges
The US House of Representatives Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held a hearing Wednesday with US Marshals Service Director Ronald Davis to discuss the agency’s response to threats against federal judges one day after Davis revealed to Reuters that threats against federal judges have skyrocketed across the country [...]
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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IT Wire ☛ Lower house votes for Assange to be freed and sent back home
After independent MP Andrew Wilkie moved a resolution on Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted 86-42 to end the Australian WikiLeaks founder's persecution and bring him back home.
Assange is being held in the UK's Belmarsh Prison where he has been since he was arrested following an US extradition request on 11 April 2019.
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The Straits Times ☛ Australia PM backs parliament motion calling for Julian Assange's release
Assange is wanted in the US on criminal charges over WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential US military records.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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RFA ☛ Prison authorities refuse to sell canteen food to jailed blogger
Tran Huynh Duy Thuc’s family is concerned that he will resume a previous hunger strike in protest.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Ars Technica ☛ Twitter front-end Nitter dies as Musk wins war against third-party services | Ars Technica
Musk's changes kill service that let you view tweets without going to Twitter.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Oklahoma Radio Station Says It Won’t Play Beyonce Country Album—Quickly Backtracks
Beyonce dropped new music for her country era, but one radio station in Oklahoma didn’t get the message. Now after being informed by the BeyHive—100.1 KYKC is playing the new Beyonce single, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” A Ex-Twitter user with the name Justin reached out to his local radio station to make the request yesterday.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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