Links 03/03/2024: Depression in Hong Kong, Sex 'Apps' and STIs
Contents
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Leftovers
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Hackaday ☛ Lost Print Vacuum Casting In A Microwave
Hacks are rough around the edges by their nature, so we love it when we get updates from makers about how they’ve improved their process. [Denny] from Shake the Future has just provided an update on his microwave casting process.
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Off Guardian ☛ Some People Like This, and Always Will
When all this Covid crap started up my primary concern was why most people did not see what we saw. Then I began to realize they did see a lot of it, or at least most of them did, and they just didn’t care.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ ‘Actually I am not happy’: Hong Kong seeks new strategies to stem rise in student suicides
In the studio of Hong Kong art therapist Gigi Leung, recent visitors were met with an arresting spectacle — a wall full of well over 100 handwritten cards.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Pythagoras Was a Genius, But He Was Wrong About One Thing
You know it when you hear it.
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Science Alert ☛ We Finally Know What Turned The Lights on at The Dawn of Time
This changed everything.
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Science Alert ☛ We Finally Know How Giant Sea Spiders Come Into This World
A scientific mystery for almost 150 years.
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Science Alert ☛ The Scent of a Female Can Trigger Early Death in Male Mice
Too much, too late.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ It’s A CoCo! No, It’s An Apple II!
Original retrocomputing hardware is now decades old and showing its age, so the chances are it’s more common in 2024 to experience a machine from the 1970s or 1980s by way of an emulator on a modern machine than it is on the real hardware. There’s another more limited emulation scene as similar 8-bit machines emulate each other, for example when the very similar Dragon 32 and Tandy CoCo have a go at each other’s software. Rarest of them all though is when one classic machine emulates another with a different architecture, but that’s exactly what’s happened with [DragonBytes], who has persuaded a Tandy CoCo to emulate an Apple II.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Scientists use whey protein sponges to extract gold from computer parts, like motherboards — the process is 50X less expensive than the cost of gold and eco-friendly
A scientist from the Department of Health Sciences and Technology has discovered that whey proteins from dairy are a super effective tool that can help recycle gold from electronic waste.
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Hackaday ☛ DIY Geophone Build Performs Well
If you want to know what’s going on with the ground, geologically speaking, a geophone is a great tool to have. It lets you listen in on the rumbles and grumbles beneath your feet, and can give you great insight into matters of seismic importance. [mircemk] has designed a very capable geophone that’s simple enough for you to build at home.
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Hackaday ☛ Cheap Microscope Can Take Amazing Images With Some Simple Upgrades
[Birdbrain] is trying to make their own microfluidic devices. To aid in this quest, they need a quality microscope to see what they’re doing. Instead of buying one outright, they purchased a cheap microscope and upgraded it to do the job instead.
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Tedium ☛ Luster Lost
There’s this effect I often refer to when talking about digital photography. Old photographs, for whatever reason, tend to age themselves significantly over time, as the formats reflect older processes for making pictures, as well as the general effects of age. But digital photos, while not nearly as high a resolution as a modern pro-quality camera can take, do not age themselves quite so quickly. So as a result, pictures on Flickr that are nearly 20 years old at this point often manage to look like they were, for all intents and purposes, taken yesterday. As time goes on, the baseline for quality improves. Same with music: A pop song from 1998 generally doesn’t draw too much attention to its age on modern radio compared to a song from 1988, in part because digital recording formats like ProTools had become common by that point. But decay is always around the corner, and today’s Tedium talks all about the way things fade.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Science Alert ☛ Arthritis Affects Thousands of Kids, And One Piece of Advice Is Crucial
There is no cure, but this can help.
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New York Times ☛ King Harald V of Norway Receives Temporary Pacemaker in Malaysia
Implanted after the monarch, 87, contracted an infection, the device is intended to aid in transporting him back to Norway, his royal house said.
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The Straits Times ☛ Norway's King Harald on his way home from Malaysia, media reports say
Norway's King Harald was discharged from a Malaysian hospital on Sunday and was flying home on a medical evacuation plane, according to Norwegian media reports, after receiving treatment for an infection and receiving a temporary pacemaker.
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The Straits Times ☛ Fiery dragon year brings bumper durian harvest in Malaysia
Farmer expects at least four batches of fruits this season, which could last until September.
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The Straits Times ☛ Vegetable and fish farmers in Malaysia enjoy great yield with prolonged dry spell
Prices of vegetables and seafood are either stable or have dropped.
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YLE ☛ Finland sees unprecedented rise in STIs
Last year Finland recorded a concerning rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
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Breach Media ☛ Pharmcare bill is a rebuke to corporate interests, for now
Nav Persaud joins Donya Ziaee on The Breach Show to break down the (mostly) good, the bad, and ugly parts of the bill
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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New York Times ☛ Why Elon Musk’s Proprietary Chaffbot Company Lawsuit Leans on Hey Hi (AI) Research From Microsoft
In his lawsuit against Proprietary Chaffbot Company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, Mr. Musk relies on a provocative paper from the start-up’s closest partner.
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New York Times ☛ The Paradox at the Heart of Elon Musk’s Proprietary Chaffbot Company Lawsuit
Mr. Musk says in his complaint that the company’s technology is now so good that it must be made freely available to the public — and held back from Microsoft.
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Reason ☛ "More Human Than Human: Measuring Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot Political Bias"
From an article in Public Choice by Fabio Motoki, Valdemar Pinho Neto & Victor Rodrigues: We investigate the political bias of a large language model (LLM), ChatGPT, which has become popular for retrieving factual information and generating content.
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-02-27 [Older] EU Probes Microsoft's Security Software Practices
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Security
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Surveillance
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JURIST ☛ Canada watchdog says Montreal adult entertainment company violated privacy laws
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne announced that Montreal-based adult entertainment company, Aylo, on Thursday violated Canada’s privacy laws. The company allowed videos to be uploaded to Pornhub and other Aylo-owned companies without the knowledge or consent of individuals involved.
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JURIST ☛ Canada Supreme Court rules IP address privacy warrants constitutional protection
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 5-4 on Friday that Canada’s Constitution protects Canadians’ internet protocol (IP) addresses from unreasonable search. The police are required to obtain prior judicial authorization before obtaining an IP address for criminal investigations, provided by Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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Defence/Aggression
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YLE ☛ STT: No positive decisions for eastern border asylum applications
Finland's eastern border will remain closed until 14 April.
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Reason ☛ Federal Court Rejects Texas's Argument that Illegal Migration Qualifies as "Invasion"
The ruling has the most extensive discussion of the meaning of "invasion" in the Constitution ever included in a court decision.
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NYPost ☛ Border Patrol union mocks Biden’s trip to southern border with fake itinerary
The Border Patrol union mocked President Biden’s visit to the southern border in Texas this week. The National Border Patrol Council posted a fake joke itinerary for the 81-year-old president’s trek down to Brownsville, Texas in a tweet on Saturday — accompanied by a photo of Biden fast asleep in a beach chair.
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New York Times ☛ Israel Helped Organize Convoy That Ended in Disaster
It was one of four convoys put together by local Palestinian businessmen this week at the behest of Israeli officials, who promised to provide security.
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New York Times ☛ An Israeli strike near a hospital in Rafah killed at least 11 people, Gaza health officials say.
Dozens of other displaced Palestinians who had been sheltering nearby were also injured, the officials said.
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JURIST ☛ Kenya agrees to send 1,000 officers to Haiti to curb gang violence
Kenya and Haiti signed a security deal on Friday which will see Kenya deploy 1,00 police officers to Haiti, a country which has increasingly fallen victim to gang violence, to help restore order. Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry thanked President William Ruto and the people of Kenya for their commitment to Haitian security.
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France24 ☛ Thief who stole bag with Paris Olympics security plans jailed for seven months
A man has been jailed for seven months for stealing a bag containing Olympic security plans from an employee of the Paris town hall, a judicial source confirmed on Saturday.
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Security Week ☛ Pentagon Leak Suspect Jack Teixeira Expected to Plead Guilty in Federal Case
The Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified military documents on social control media is expected to plead guilty in his federal case.
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Defence Web ☛ More SA Army fatalities in DRC
Two South African soldiers died in what appears to be a murder/suicide incident on Thursday (29 February) in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-02-28 [Older] White Powder Sent to Judge in Donald Trump's Civil Fraud Case, Adding to Wave of Security Scares
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-02-28 [Older] Police From US, Mexico, Guatemala to Collaborate on Border Security
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-02-28 [Older] UK Government Increases Security Funding for Jewish Community
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-02-28 [Older] US Pushes for UN Security Council Action to End War in Sudan
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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The Local SE ☛ 2024-02-26 [Older] How will Sweden's Nato membership affect Baltic Sea security?
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RFERL ☛ People Keep Paying Their Respects At Navalny's Grave Despite Police Presence And Arrests
People continued to come and pay their respects on March 2 at the grave of Aleksei Navalny, who was buried in Moscow on March 1 following his suspicious death in an Arctic prison last month, despite a high police presence at the cemetery and the arrest of more than 120 people across Russia.
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Meduza ☛ Navalny’s mother-in-law addressed crowd at his interment, called on media to stop ‘spreading lies’ about her daughter’s relationship with Navalny’s mother — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ ‘Keep it brief’: Despite a heavy police presence, mourners are still bringing flowers to Navalny’s grave — Meduza
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine needs enhanced air defenses as Russia expands missile arsenal
With Russia now reportedly receiving missiles from both Iran and North Korea, it is time for Ukraine’s partners to step up their own deliveries of air defense systems, writes Olivia Yanchik.
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LRT ☛ Ukrainian children on war, learning Lithuanian, and future plans
Nikita, Mila, Masha, and Pavel are just four of 11,000 Ukrainian children who have found a safe haven from the Russia-launched large-scale invasion in Lithuania. Here, they go to school, learn Lithuanian, and dream about the future.
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RFERL ☛ 'We Need More Air Defenses,' Says Zelenskiy As Russian Shelling, Drone Strikes Kill At Least 11 In Ukraine
Russia launched a wave of drone strikes early on March 2 on three Ukrainian regions -- Odesa, Mykolayiv, and Kharkiv -- killing at least four people, wounding several others, and causing material damage, regional officials said.
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RFERL ☛ Berlin Investigates Russian Reports Of Recorded German Military Officials
Germany is investigating an audio recording, which was published in Russian media and reported to be a conference call involving high-ranking German military officials talking about weapons for Ukraine.
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RFERL ☛ Drone Blamed For Blast In St. Petersburg Apartment Building
An explosion occurred on March 2 in a five-story apartment building in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, with the local media saying the blast was caused by a Ukrainian drone.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Signs Miliary Aid Pact With Dutch PM, Discusses Speeding Up Delivery Of F-16s
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed gratitude to the Netherlands on March 1 for a new package of aid signed during a visit to Kharkiv by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
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New Yorker ☛ UNESCO’s Quest to Save the World’s Intangible Heritage
For decades, the organization has maintained a system that protects everything from Ukrainian borscht to Jamaican reggae. But what does it mean to “safeguard” living culture?
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The Straits Times ☛ Moscow says Russia, China agree that Russia must be present in Ukraine talks
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and China's special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, said it is impossible to discuss a Ukraine settlement without Moscow's participation, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.
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JURIST ☛ Russia fines Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief over alleged discrediting of Russia military
A Russian court in Moscow fined the editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Sergei Sokolov, on Thursday over accusations of discrediting the Russian armed forces.
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RFERL ☛ Slovak Foreign Minister Meets With Russia's Lavrov In Turkey
A senior member of Slovakia's government met his Russian counterpart on March 2 in a rare high-level encounter between an EU member state and a country that the bloc has sought to isolate.
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Environment
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Green Party UK ☛ 2024-02-27 [Older] State of Our Rivers Report: Green Party repeats call to take water companies into public ownership
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Green Party UK ☛ 2024-02-26 [Older] Electing more Green MPs into Westminster will help push next government to do the right thing for people and planet
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Energy/Transportation
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YLE ☛ ERR: Finnish-Estonian electrical cable repairs to take 6 months
Estonian grid operator Elering has ruled out external interference as a potential cause of the cable malfunction.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia's next-gen Hey Hi (AI) GPUs could draw an astounding 1000 Watts each, a 40 percent increase — Dell spills the beans on B100 and B200 in its earnings call
Dell's estimate of a 1000W TDP B100 Hey Hi (AI) and HPC GPU could indicate that Nvidia is going chiplet design.
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Ravi Dwivedi: Malaysia Trip
Last month, I had a trip to Malaysia and Thailand. I stayed for six days in each of the countries. The selection of these countries was due to both of them granting visa-free entry to Indian tourists for some time window. This post covers the Malaysia part and Thailand part will be covered in the next post. If you want to travel to any of these countries in the visa-free time period, I have written all the questions asked during immigration and at airports during this trip here which might be of help.
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Gizmodo ☛ 2024-02-27 [Older] YouTube Mysteriously Restores Crypto Billionaires’ Attack Ad Against Katie Porter
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Wildlife/Nature
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Fireworks may attract tourists to Hong Kong, but they are known to cause severe distress for wildlife
By Michael Boyle & Victoria Amaral Hong Kong has struggled to return tourism to pre-covid levels, leading to the government seeking novel strategies for enticing visitors back to the city.
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-02-28 [Older] Losing their tails provided our ape ancestors with an evolutionary advantage – but we’re still paying the price
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Finance
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New York Times ☛ South Korea Is Desperate for Foreign Workers
Though a shrinking population makes imported labor vital, migrant workers routinely face predatory employers, inhumane conditions and other abuse.
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France24 ☛ Argentina's Milei warns lawmakers he will make reforms 'with or without' them
Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, in his first policy speech to parliament Friday, said he would push his package of sweeping economic reforms whether or not legislators back it.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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The Straits Times ☛ China’s Pooh-tin grooms next-generation party leaders, but no anointed heir yet
Nine government officials promoted ahead of annual Parliament session that kicks off on March 4.
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RFA ☛ State-funded film set during Indochina war attracts surprising interest
‘Peach, Pho and Piano,’ released at the start of Tet holiday, spurs ticket sales as the distributor adds showings.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ What are China’s Two Sessions? The annual parliamentary meetings explained
Thousands of delegates from across China will convene in Beijing next week for the start of the country’s annual legislative meetings known as the “Two Sessions”. The tightly controlled voting on legislation already pre-approved by the ruling Communist Party means there will be no major changes.
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The Straits Times ☛ Government candidate wins Australian by-election amid cost-of-living squeeze
Win is a boost for govt as Australians experience financial pressure from high inflation.
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Green Party UK ☛ 2024-02-26 [Older] Green Party reaction to Lee Anderson comments
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s homegrown security law: Safeguarding the city’s future
In Hong Kong, where East and West collide, a crucial piece of legislation has long remained unresolved. Article 23 of the Basic Law, which pertains to national security, has been the subject of contentious discussion for numerous years.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s homegrown security law: Once seen as a ‘toothless tiger,’ it’s back with sharper claws
Hong Kong’s first attempt in 2003 to pass a homegrown security law failed in the face of mass protests.
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-02-26 [Older] Mexican President Slams YouTube for Taking Down His Video That Shared a Journalist's Phone Number
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-02-26 [Older] Mexico President Lambastes YouTube After Company Edits Video Revealing NYT Journalist's Number
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Vox ☛ 2024-02-26 [Older] The Supreme Court appeared lost in a massive case about free speech online
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2024-02-25 [Older] How I make YouTube (on the web) less annoying and distracting
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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RFA ☛ Traveling to North Korea? No wifi, limited hot water and bring your own TP
A Russian travel agency issues guidelines to tourists going to the reclusive country.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Clownflare’s IPv6 map is missing something
Or should I say, it’s missing many somethings:
I can already see I’m in trouble here, because while Singapore is still around, the ground under my feet in Australia has vanished. Even Germany is gone, which throws half my genome into question.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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