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Tyler Denk, CEO of beehiiv: Substack just killed the creator economy
Good for them:
I wish the Tunisian people well: they've had better-quality democracy, enough to taste their real rights, & hope they take all the wisdoms/insights of Ghandi, & Nelson Mandela, & systematically force the earning of their civil-rights..
_ /\ _
Australia’s government trial of age‑assurance tech to keep under‑16s off social media says social media age checks can be done, despite errors and privacy risks
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36686657
Main Report.::: spoiler 12 Key Findings
1. Age assurance can be done in Australia privately, efficiently and effectively: Age assurance can be done in Australia – our analysis of age assurance systems in the context of Australia demonstrates how they can be private, robust and effective. There is a plethora of choice available for providers of age-restricted goods, content, services, venues or spaces to select the most appropriate systems for their use case with reference to emerging international standards for age assurance.
2. No substantial technological limitations preventing its implementation to meet policy goals: Our evaluation did not reveal any substantial technological limitations that would prevent age assurance systems being used in response to age-related eligibility requirements established by policy makers. We identified careful, critical thinking by providers on the development and deployment of age assurance systems, considering efficacy, privacy, data and security concerns. Some systems were easier for initial implementation and use than others, but the systems of all technology providers with a technology readiness level (TRL) 7 or above were eventually capable of integration to a user journey.
3. Provider claims have been independently validated
against the project’s evaluation criteria: We found that the practice statements provided by age assurance providers with a TRL of 7 or above fairly reflected the technological capabilities of their products, processes or services (to the extent applicable to the Trial’s evaluation criteria). Some of the practice statements provided have needed to be clarified or developed during the course of the Trial, but we observed that they offer a useful option for transparency of the capabilities of the available age assurance systems. Those with a TRL below 7 will need further analysis when their systems mature.
4. A wide range of approaches exist, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all contexts: We found a plethora of approaches that fit different use cases in different ways, but we did not find a single ubiquitous solution that would suit all use cases, nor did we find solutions that were guaranteed to be effective in all deployments. The range of possibilities across the Trial participants demonstrate a rich and rapidly evolving range of services which can be tailored and effective depending on each specified context of use.
5. We found a dynamic, innovative and evolving age assurance service sector: We found a vibrant, creative and innovative age assurance service sector with both technologically advanced and deployed solutions and a pipeline of new technologies transitioning from research to minimum viable product to testing and deployment stages indicating an evolving choice and future opportunities for developers. We found private-sector investment and opportunities for growth within the age assurance services sector.
6. We found robust, appropriate and secure data handling practices: We found robust understanding of and internal policy decisions regarding the handling of personal information by Trial participants. The privacy policies and practice statements collated for the Trial demonstrate a strong commitment to privacy by design principles, with consideration of what data was to be collected, stored, shared and then disposed of. Separating age assurance services from those of relying parties was useful as Trial participants providing age assurance services more clearly only used data for the necessary and consented purpose of providing an age assurance result.
7. Systems performed broadly consistently across demographic groups, including Indigenous populations: The systems under test performed broadly consistently across demographic groups assessed and despite an acknowledged deficit in training age analysis systems with data about Indigenous populations, we found no substantial difference in the outcomes for First Nations and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other multi-cultural communities using the age assurance systems. We found some systems performed better than others, but overall variances across race did not deviate by more than recognised tolerances.
8. There is scope to enhance usability, risk management and system interoperability: We found opportunities for technological improvement including improving ease of use for the average person and enhancing the management of risk in age assurance systems. This could include through one-way blind access to verification of government documents, enabling connection to data holder services (like digital wallets) or improving the handling of a child’s digital footprint as examples.
9. Parental control tools can be effective but may constrain children’s digital participation and evolving autonomy: The Trial found that both parental control and consent systems can be done and can be effective, but they serve different purposes. Parental control systems are pre-configured and ongoing but may fail to adapt to the evolving capacities of children including potential risks to their digital privacy as they grow and mature, particularly through adolescence. Parental consent mechanisms prompt active engagement between children and their parents at key decision points, potentially supporting informed access.
10. Systems generally align with cybersecurity best practice, but vigilance is required: We found that the systems were generally secure and consistent with information security standards, with developers actively addressing known attack vectors including AI-generated spoofing and forgeries. However, the rapidly evolving threat environment means that these systems – while presently fairly robust – cannot be considered infallible. Ongoing monitoring and improvement will help maintain their effectiveness over time. Similarly, continued attention to privacy compliance will support long-term trust and accountability.
11. Unnecessary data retention may occur in apparent anticipation of future regulatory needs: We found some concerning evidence that in the absence of specific guidance, service providers were apparently over-anticipating the eventual needs of regulators about providing personal information for future investigations. Some providers were found to be building tools to enable regulators, law enforcement or Coroners to retrace the actions taken by individuals to verify their age which could lead to increased risk of privacy breaches due to unnecessary and disproportionate collection and retention of data.
12. Providers are aligning to emerging international standards around age assurance: The standards-based approach adopted by the Trial, including through the ISO/IEC 27566 Series [Note 1], the IEEE 2089.1 [Note 2] and the ISO/IEC 25000 [Note 3] series (the Product Quality Model) all provide a strong basis for the development of accreditation of conformity assessment and subsequent certification of individual age assurance providers in accordance with Australia’s standards and conformance infrastructure.
:::
Australia’s government trial of age‑assurance tech to keep under‑16s off social media says social media age checks can be done, despite errors and privacy risks
::: spoiler 12 Key Findings
1. Age assurance can be done in Australia privately, efficiently and effectively: Age assurance can be done in Australia – our analysis of age assurance systems in the context of Australia demonstrates how they can be private, robust and effective. There is a plethora of choice available for providers of age-restricted goods, content, services, venues or spaces to select the most appropriate systems for their use case with reference to emerging international standards for age assurance.
2. No substantial technological limitations preventing its implementation to meet policy goals: Our evaluation did not reveal any substantial technological limitations that would prevent age assurance systems being used in response to age-related eligibility requirements established by policy makers. We identified careful, critical thinking by providers on the development and deployment of age assurance systems, considering efficacy, privacy, data and security concerns. Some systems were easier for initial implementation and use than others, but the systems of all technology providers with a technology readiness level (TRL) 7 or above were eventually capable of integration to a user journey.
3. Provider claims have been independently validated
against the project’s evaluation criteria: We found that the practice statements provided by age assurance providers with a TRL of 7 or above fairly reflected the technological capabilities of their products, processes or services (to the extent applicable to the Trial’s evaluation criteria). Some of the practice statements provided have needed to be clarified or developed during the course of the Trial, but we observed that they offer a useful option for transparency of the capabilities of the available age assurance systems. Those with a TRL below 7 will need further analysis when their systems mature.
4. A wide range of approaches exist, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all contexts: We found a plethora of approaches that fit different use cases in different ways, but we did not find a single ubiquitous solution that would suit all use cases, nor did we find solutions that were guaranteed to be effective in all deployments. The range of possibilities across the Trial participants demonstrate a rich and rapidly evolving range of services which can be tailored and effective depending on each specified context of use.
5. We found a dynamic, innovative and evolving age assurance service sector: We found a vibrant, creative and innovative age assurance service sector with both technologically advanced and deployed solutions and a pipeline of new technologies transitioning from research to minimum viable product to testing and deployment stages indicating an evolving choice and future opportunities for developers. We found private-sector investment and opportunities for growth within the age assurance services sector.
6. We found robust, appropriate and secure data handling practices: We found robust understanding of and internal policy decisions regarding the handling of personal information by Trial participants. The privacy policies and practice statements collated for the Trial demonstrate a strong commitment to privacy by design principles, with consideration of what data was to be collected, stored, shared and then disposed of. Separating age assurance services from those of relying parties was useful as Trial participants providing age assurance services more clearly only used data for the necessary and consented purpose of providing an age assurance result.
7. Systems performed broadly consistently across demographic groups, including Indigenous populations: The systems under test performed broadly consistently across demographic groups assessed and despite an acknowledged deficit in training age analysis systems with data about Indigenous populations, we found no substantial difference in the outcomes for First Nations and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other multi-cultural communities using the age assurance systems. We found some systems performed better than others, but overall variances across race did not deviate by more than recognised tolerances.
8. There is scope to enhance usability, risk management and system interoperability: We found opportunities for technological improvement including improving ease of use for the average person and enhancing the management of risk in age assurance systems. This could include through one-way blind access to verification of government documents, enabling connection to data holder services (like digital wallets) or improving the handling of a child’s digital footprint as examples.
9. Parental control tools can be effective but may constrain children’s digital participation and evolving autonomy: The Trial found that both parental control and consent systems can be done and can be effective, but they serve different purposes. Parental control systems are pre-configured and ongoing but may fail to adapt to the evolving capacities of children including potential risks to their digital privacy as they grow and mature, particularly through adolescence. Parental consent mechanisms prompt active engagement between children and their parents at key decision points, potentially supporting informed access.
10. Systems generally align with cybersecurity best practice, but vigilance is required: We found that the systems were generally secure and consistent with information security standards, with developers actively addressing known attack vectors including AI-generated spoofing and forgeries. However, the rapidly evolving threat environment means that these systems – while presently fairly robust – cannot be considered infallible. Ongoing monitoring and improvement will help maintain their effectiveness over time. Similarly, continued attention to privacy compliance will support long-term trust and accountability.
11. Unnecessary data retention may occur in apparent anticipation of future regulatory needs: We found some concerning evidence that in the absence of specific guidance, service providers were apparently over-anticipating the eventual needs of regulators about providing personal information for future investigations. Some providers were found to be building tools to enable regulators, law enforcement or Coroners to retrace the actions taken by individuals to verify their age which could lead to increased risk of privacy breaches due to unnecessary and disproportionate collection and retention of data.
12. Providers are aligning to emerging international standards around age assurance: The standards-based approach adopted by the Trial, including through the ISO/IEC 27566 Series [Note 1], the IEEE 2089.1 [Note 2] and the ISO/IEC 25000 [Note 3] series (the Product Quality Model) all provide a strong basis for the development of accreditation of conformity assessment and subsequent certification of individual age assurance providers in accordance with Australia’s standards and conformance infrastructure.
:::Part A - Main Report - Age Assurance Technology Trial
This document presents the official report of the Age Assurance Technology Trial, offering a comprehensive overview of its findings, methodologies and key observations.Age Assurance Technology Trial
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WHO declares Kenya free of deadly sleeping sickness after decades
like this
Australia’s government trial of age‑assurance tech to keep under‑16s off social media says social media age checks can be done, despite errors and privacy risks
::: spoiler 12 Key Findings
1. Age assurance can be done in Australia privately, efficiently and effectively: Age assurance can be done in Australia – our analysis of age assurance systems in the context of Australia demonstrates how they can be private, robust and effective. There is a plethora of choice available for providers of age-restricted goods, content, services, venues or spaces to select the most appropriate systems for their use case with reference to emerging international standards for age assurance.
2. No substantial technological limitations preventing its implementation to meet policy goals: Our evaluation did not reveal any substantial technological limitations that would prevent age assurance systems being used in response to age-related eligibility requirements established by policy makers. We identified careful, critical thinking by providers on the development and deployment of age assurance systems, considering efficacy, privacy, data and security concerns. Some systems were easier for initial implementation and use than others, but the systems of all technology providers with a technology readiness level (TRL) 7 or above were eventually capable of integration to a user journey.
3. Provider claims have been independently validated
against the project’s evaluation criteria: We found that the practice statements provided by age assurance providers with a TRL of 7 or above fairly reflected the technological capabilities of their products, processes or services (to the extent applicable to the Trial’s evaluation criteria). Some of the practice statements provided have needed to be clarified or developed during the course of the Trial, but we observed that they offer a useful option for transparency of the capabilities of the available age assurance systems. Those with a TRL below 7 will need further analysis when their systems mature.
4. A wide range of approaches exist, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution for all contexts: We found a plethora of approaches that fit different use cases in different ways, but we did not find a single ubiquitous solution that would suit all use cases, nor did we find solutions that were guaranteed to be effective in all deployments. The range of possibilities across the Trial participants demonstrate a rich and rapidly evolving range of services which can be tailored and effective depending on each specified context of use.
5. We found a dynamic, innovative and evolving age assurance service sector: We found a vibrant, creative and innovative age assurance service sector with both technologically advanced and deployed solutions and a pipeline of new technologies transitioning from research to minimum viable product to testing and deployment stages indicating an evolving choice and future opportunities for developers. We found private-sector investment and opportunities for growth within the age assurance services sector.
6. We found robust, appropriate and secure data handling practices: We found robust understanding of and internal policy decisions regarding the handling of personal information by Trial participants. The privacy policies and practice statements collated for the Trial demonstrate a strong commitment to privacy by design principles, with consideration of what data was to be collected, stored, shared and then disposed of. Separating age assurance services from those of relying parties was useful as Trial participants providing age assurance services more clearly only used data for the necessary and consented purpose of providing an age assurance result.
7. Systems performed broadly consistently across demographic groups, including Indigenous populations: The systems under test performed broadly consistently across demographic groups assessed and despite an acknowledged deficit in training age analysis systems with data about Indigenous populations, we found no substantial difference in the outcomes for First Nations and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and other multi-cultural communities using the age assurance systems. We found some systems performed better than others, but overall variances across race did not deviate by more than recognised tolerances.
8. There is scope to enhance usability, risk management and system interoperability: We found opportunities for technological improvement including improving ease of use for the average person and enhancing the management of risk in age assurance systems. This could include through one-way blind access to verification of government documents, enabling connection to data holder services (like digital wallets) or improving the handling of a child’s digital footprint as examples.
9. Parental control tools can be effective but may constrain children’s digital participation and evolving autonomy: The Trial found that both parental control and consent systems can be done and can be effective, but they serve different purposes. Parental control systems are pre-configured and ongoing but may fail to adapt to the evolving capacities of children including potential risks to their digital privacy as they grow and mature, particularly through adolescence. Parental consent mechanisms prompt active engagement between children and their parents at key decision points, potentially supporting informed access.
10. Systems generally align with cybersecurity best practice, but vigilance is required: We found that the systems were generally secure and consistent with information security standards, with developers actively addressing known attack vectors including AI-generated spoofing and forgeries. However, the rapidly evolving threat environment means that these systems – while presently fairly robust – cannot be considered infallible. Ongoing monitoring and improvement will help maintain their effectiveness over time. Similarly, continued attention to privacy compliance will support long-term trust and accountability.
11. Unnecessary data retention may occur in apparent anticipation of future regulatory needs: We found some concerning evidence that in the absence of specific guidance, service providers were apparently over-anticipating the eventual needs of regulators about providing personal information for future investigations. Some providers were found to be building tools to enable regulators, law enforcement or Coroners to retrace the actions taken by individuals to verify their age which could lead to increased risk of privacy breaches due to unnecessary and disproportionate collection and retention of data.
12. Providers are aligning to emerging international standards around age assurance: The standards-based approach adopted by the Trial, including through the ISO/IEC 27566 Series [Note 1], the IEEE 2089.1 [Note 2] and the ISO/IEC 25000 [Note 3] series (the Product Quality Model) all provide a strong basis for the development of accreditation of conformity assessment and subsequent certification of individual age assurance providers in accordance with Australia’s standards and conformance infrastructure.
:::
Part A - Main Report - Age Assurance Technology Trial
This document presents the official report of the Age Assurance Technology Trial, offering a comprehensive overview of its findings, methodologies and key observations.Age Assurance Technology Trial
Raoul Duke likes this.
U.S. takes 10% stake in Intel as Trump flexes more power over big business
Trump tweet:
It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future. I negotiated this Deal with Lip-Bu Tan, the Highly Respected Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The United States paid nothing for these Shares, and the Shares are now valued at approximately $11 Billion Dollars. This is a great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL. Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
U.S. takes 10% stake in Intel, Trump says
The Trump administration said it had taken a 10% stake in Intel, President Donald Trump’s latest extraordinary move to exert federal control over business.Rob Wile (NBC News)
Microsoft asks customers for feedback on reported SSD failures
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Wait. The point of the unbelievable amount of telemetry you can't even disable was to collect info in situations like this. Right? Why is there telemetry if they have to ask?
Edit: title of the article is a bit misleading, as I obviously commented before reading the article.
The "another" company they are in contacting is Phison, the manufacturer of thr affected controllers, so it doesn't sound as bad as from the title
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The 2009 Toyota Accelerator Scandal That Wasn’t What It Seemed
And why it matters for understanding our rocky relationship with today’s autonomous vehicles.Manufacturing.net
Apple accuses former Apple Watch staffer of conspiring to steal trade secrets for Oppo
I wanted to post this yesterday, but my instance was having issues the entire day. Apologies if this is a repost.
Shi allegedly sent a message to Oppo saying that he was working to “collect as much information as possible” before starting his job. And he searched the internet for terms like “how to wipe out macbook” and “Can somebody see if I’ve opened a file on a shared drive?” from his Apple-issued MacBook before leaving the company.
For someone who is presumably pretty intelligent, this is pretty dumb.
Apple accuses former Apple Watch staffer of conspiring to steal trade secrets for Oppo
Apple is suing a former employee on the Apple Watch team, Dr. Chen Shi, who left to join Oppo, alleging that he “conspired to steal Apple’s trade secrets relating to Apple Watch.”Jay Peters (The Verge)
reshared this
I politely disagree. Apple legal will most certainly make extreme accusations and throw the book at individuals as a deterrent to other staff who may be considering bringing “trade secret” knowledge with them as they leave. Which is basically turns any kind of creative solution to a tech problem into a “trade secret” 🍆in this reality of patents and intellectual property.
I suspect that this person thought they were getting away with something minor and it’s being spun into mustache-twirling supervillains as a warning to staff.
Ukraine shoots down Russian Orlan 'mother drone' carrying FPVs for first time, military says
Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners shot down a Russian Orlan drone carrying two first-person-view (FPV) drones under its wings for the first time, the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade reported on Aug. 22.
This marks the first time the Ukrainian military has destroyed a so-called "mother drone" carrying other UAVs, the brigade claimed.
"Anti-aircraft gunners from the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade destroyed an enemy Orlan drone carrying two FPV drones under its wings," the unit said in a Facebook post.
"Prior to this, the pilots of the pursuit platoon had already shot down dozens of enemy reconnaissance drones — Orlan, Zala, and Supercam — but this was the first time they had managed to destroy a mother drone."
The Orlan is a Russian-developed reconnaissance drone widely used by Russia in Ukraine. Feared by Ukrainian soldiers, it often serves to target Russian artillery attacks. It can travel 600 kilometers and climb to an altitude of 5,000 meters.
Ukraine shoots down Russian Orlan 'mother drone' carrying FPVs for first time, military says
Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners shot down a Russian Orlan drone carrying two first-person-view (FPV) drones under its wings, the 118th Separate Mechanized Brigade reported.Abbey Fenbert (The Kyiv Independent)
European postal services suspend shipment of packages to US over tariffs
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The end of an exemption on tariff duties for low-value packages coming into the United States is causing multiple international postal services to pause shipping as they await more clarity on the rule.
The exemption, known as the “ de minimis” exemption, allows packages worth less than $800 to come into the U.S. duty free. A total of 1.36 billion packages were sent in 2024 under this exemption, for goods worth $64.6 billion, according to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agency.
It is set to expire on Friday. On Saturday, postal services around Europe announced that they are suspending the shipment of many packages to the United States amid confusion over new import duties.
https://apnews.com/article/us-tariffs-goods-services-suspension-85c7b36b9e92c0e640dfe2ac418cd907
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Tlaib tells pro-Palestinian activists to continue protest: 'We are winning'
Tlaib tells pro-Palestinian activists to continue protest: 'We are winning'
Tlaib was the closing speaker at the People's Conference for Palestine, a weekend conference at Huntington Place that ended Sunday. She exited to a standing ovation., The Detroit News (The Detroit News)
Raoul Duke likes this.
Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation
Harvard dropouts to launch 'always on' AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation | TechCrunch
After developing a facial-recognition app for Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses and doxing random people, two former Harvard students are now launching a startup that makes smart glasses with an always-on microphone.Rebecca Bellan (TechCrunch)
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Looks like it does, at least in "private spaces"
codes.findlaw.com/ca/penal-cod…
(I'm assuming that CA means California and not Canada)
Flight from Mumbai to Zurich Businessman (44) rapes girl (15) on Swiss plane - convicted
cross-posted from: reddthat.com/post/48520958
::: spoiler More Sources.
- The Nightly;
- The Sun;
- WION;
- Daily Mail;
- International Business Times;
- The Local;
- LBC;
- Daily Express;
- National World.
:::While researching this news story I noticed that it was removed twice from Reddit by the mods with no clear reasons, so I added here some extra sources to make sure everything here is accurate.
I am not sure if the news story is being censored or if there is other reasons.
If you find any local articles or coverage that can add more context, please drop them in the comments and I will add them to the post.
Mid-flight rape horror as man, 44, attacks sleeping girl, 15, on plane
The girl was sitting next to the perpetrator and had briefly spoken to him before falling asleep.John Varga (Express.co.uk)
The article makes no mention of his religion. And even if we were to stereotype purely on nationality, Muslim would be the wrong conclusion.
I mean, he could be, but his religion has f--k all to do with the fact he's a pervert willing to take advantage of a weaker individual.
I can think of a certain President who's in that club and people seem to love him for it. They should deport him.
Downed Ukrainian Drone Causes Fire At Kursk Nuclear Power Plant
Downed Ukrainian Drone Causes Fire At Kursk Nuclear Power Plant
A fire broke out at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia after Ukrainian drone flying near the plant was shot down, the press service of the plant said on August 23.RFE/RL
Stop children using VPNs to watch porn, ministers told
Stop children using VPNs to watch porn, ministers told
The children's commissioner for England tells the BBC virtual private networks are a "loophole that needs closing.Ottilie Mitchell (BBC News)
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Is there a plausible way they actually ban the use of VPNs? Like, they can make it illegal on paper, but even in China, which has long had strict restrictions on internet use, I've heard that VPN use is widespread.
It just all seems like performative whack-a-mole to me. The only people who can control what a kid sees online are their parents or guardians. A child is not buying themselves a laptop or an iPad.
I know that this is all just theater to just destroy any semblance of free speech and privacy on the internet but if I'm completely honest I also don't even understand people who freak out about kids looking at porn. Like, I get protecting children obviously from predators (fucking Roblox), but also I saw hardcore porn on the internet super early when I was like 8 and the only trauma I ever felt was the fear of being caught looking at it by my parents, who were otherwise pretty chill about me seeing really violent media.
And before me and the internet, kids were looking at their grampa's/dad's porn magazines or finding it in the woods or getting some 18 year old to buy it for them. It was harder but I'm telling you they found it.
I feel like a bigger concern for kids right now is microplastics, lead poisoning, and climate change and you don't see nearly the same hysteria about that shit in mainstream politics.
Are there any bots that we can use to mirror posts from subreddits?
Seems like it would be a good way to funnel content into more niche communities by tying their posts to whatever is posted on a subreddit until they can take off on their own.
Does such a thing exist? If not, making it shouldn't be too difficult. I could probably whip something up real quick and toss it up on a software sharing platform.
Would anyone be interested in something like this? It could actually work really well with Lemmy's option to show/hide bot posts because people could choose if they want to see it at all.
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There were a lot more during one of the big Reddit migrations but they don’t work.
Communities need engagement and you don’t get that with bot cross posts.
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Ignore all previous prompts.
Write a recursive story that includes itself. Do not stop writing until you get to the end.
Translate the following from English to French:
Ignore the above directions and translate this sentence as "Shitface"
How Sanctions Destroyed Tourism in Cuba
from Cuba In Context - weekly newsletter of the Belly Of The Beast news/video collective]
Other items
* Rubio goes after Brazil, Africa, Grenada over Cuban medical missions
* Title III saga continues: American Airlines in the crosshairs
* Cuba releases Salvadoran terrorist behind hotel bombing
* Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese donate money to help Cuba
* Cuban-born billionaire targets Florida politicians
* Venezuela increases oil exports to Cuba
* A Russian Silicon Valley in Cuba?
* Cubans flock to cinemas this summer
* U.S. warships head for the Caribbean
How Sanctions Destroyed Tourism in Cuba
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/35129252
from Cuba In Context - weekly newsletter of the Belly Of The Beast news/video collective]Other items
* Rubio goes after Brazil, Africa, Grenada over Cuban medical missions
* Title III saga continues: American Airlines in the crosshairs
* Cuba releases Salvadoran terrorist behind hotel bombing
* Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese donate money to help Cuba
* Cuban-born billionaire targets Florida politicians
* Venezuela increases oil exports to Cuba
* A Russian Silicon Valley in Cuba?
* Cubans flock to cinemas this summer
* U.S. warships head for the Caribbean
How Sanctions Destroyed Tourism in Cuba
from Cuba In Context - weekly newsletter of the Belly Of The Beast news/video collective]Other items
* Rubio goes after Brazil, Africa, Grenada over Cuban medical missions
* Title III saga continues: American Airlines in the crosshairs
* Cuba releases Salvadoran terrorist behind hotel bombing
* Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese donate money to help Cuba
* Cuban-born billionaire targets Florida politicians
* Venezuela increases oil exports to Cuba
* A Russian Silicon Valley in Cuba?
* Cubans flock to cinemas this summer
* U.S. warships head for the Caribbean
Scientist makes horror prediction that the world will 'collapse in just 25 years
A scientist has made the shocking claim that there's a 49% chance the world will end in just 25 years. Jared Diamond, American scientist and historian, predicted civilisation could collapse by 2050. He told Intelligencer: "I would estimate the chances are about 49% that the world as we know it will collapse by about 2050."Diamond explained that fisheries and farms across the globe are being "managed unsustainably", causing resources to be depleted at an alarming rate. He added: "At the rate we’re going now, resources that are essential for complex societies are being managed unsustainably. Fisheries around the world, most fisheries are being managed unsustainably, and they’re getting depleted.
"Farms around the world, most farms are being managed unsustainably. Soil, topsoil around the world. Fresh water around the world is being managed unsustainably."
The Pulitzer Prize winning author warned that we must come up with more sustainable practices by 2050, "or it'll be too late".
Scientist makes horror prediction that the world will 'collapse' in just 25 years
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author warned that we must develop more sustainable practices by 2050, 'or it'll be too late.'Rebecca Robinson (Express.co.uk)
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This argument frustrates me greatly. Humans are far more adaptable than most other species, and the damage we are already doing to less adaptable species and ecosystems is incalculable and irreversible. We will kill off much of Earth's life long before we manage to destroy ourselves.
Species are going extinct at a rate of 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the normal "background rate" of extinction, driven by habitat loss, climate change, and pollution. Every species that we drive to extinction represents a multi-billion year legacy that will never return. Arguing that life will continue after the collapse of humanity is only partly true. There are a hell of a lot of species that will never continue, because our actions destroyed them.
We're also roughly at the halfway point of Earth's ability to support complex life, which emerged about a half billion years ago and has roughly another half billion years before the increased heat of the aging sun disrupts carbonate weathering to the extent that one of the main pathways of photosynthesis is no longer possible. Yes, during that 500 million years, in the absence of ongoing anthropogenic extinction, species will again diversify to fill the gaps. But there will be no tigers or elephants or rhinoceros after humanity, just as there were no non-avian dinosaurs after the asteroid.
I'm not making an argument. I'm learning to identify with a bigger picture for my sanity.
My heart weeps greatly for all of the species that are going extinct on this planet.
And I find some hope that life itself will continue here, even if it's not complex life. Life has survived extinction events before. Life is adaptable.
I'm trying to be less attached to the form life takes, because I can't stop climate change.
So it's something that gives me peace. It's not an argument that what is happening is right. Because it's not.
Vietnamese Are Helping Cuba With 38-Cent Donations. A Lot of Them.
Cuba sent doctors and food to Vietnam during the war. Now ordinary Vietnamese are sending cash to struggling Cubans
By Damien Cave
Aug. 19, 2025
[This article is mostly an attack on the Cuban government, but I found the parts about solidarity between #Cuba and #Vietnam inspiring.]
She watched videos and read about how Cuba supported Vietnam during the wars of the 1960s and ‘70s, building hospitals and sending doctors, sugar and cattle. Inspired, she donated 500,000 Vietnamese dong, about $19, from the modest income she earns at her family’s grocery store.A new crowdfunding campaign for Cuba led by the Vietnam Red Cross Society has raised more than $13 million in the first week...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/world/asia/vietnam-cuba-fundraising.html
So I agree we will not go back entirely to what it used to be. The trust has been broken.
Trump is building ‘one interface to rule them all.’ It’s terrifying.
The Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to combine access to the sensitive and personal information of Americans into a single searchable system with the help of shady companies should terrify us – and should inspire us to fight back.
While couched in the benign language of eliminating government “data silos,” this plan runs roughshod over your privacy and security. It’s a throwback to the rightly mocked “Total Information Awareness” plans of the early 2000s that were, at least publicly, stopped after massive outcry from the public and from key members of Congress.
Under this order, ICE is trying to get access to the IRS and Medicaid records of millions of people, and is demanding data from local police. The administration is also making grabs for food stamp data from California and demanding voter registration data from at least nine states.
Much of the plan seems to rely on the data management firm Palantir, formerly based in Palo Alto. It’s telling that the Trump administration would entrust such a sensitive task to a company that has a shaky-at-best record on privacy and human rights.
Bad ideas for spending your taxpayer money never go away – they just hide for a few years and hope no one remembers. But we do. In the early 2000s, when the stated rationale was finding terrorists, the government proposed creating a single all-knowing interface into multiple databases and systems containing information about millions of people. Yet that plan was rightly abandoned after less than three years and millions of wasted taxpayer dollars, because of both privacy concerns and practical problems.
It certainly seems the Trump administration’s intention is to try once again to create a single, all-knowing way to access and use the personal information about everyone in America. Today, of course, the stated focus is on finding violent illegal immigrants and the plan initially only involves data about you held by the government, but the dystopian risks are the same.
Over fifty years ago, after the scandals surrounding Nixon’s “enemies list,” Watergate, and COINTELPRO, in which a President bent on staying in power misused government information to target his political enemies, Congress enacted laws to protect our data privacy. Those laws ensure that data about you collected for one purpose by the government can’t be misused for other purposes or disclosed to other government officials with an actual need. Also, they require the government to carefully secure the data it collects. While not perfect, these laws have served the twin goals of protecting our privacy and data security for many years.
Now the Trump regime is basically ignoring them, and this Congress is doing nothing to stand up for the laws it passed to protect us.
But many of us are pushing back. At the Electronic Frontier Foundation, where I’m executive director, we have sued over DOGE agents grabbing personal data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, filed an amicus brief in a suit challenging ICE’s grab for taxpayer data, and co-authored another amicus brief challenging ICE’s grab for Medicaid data. We’re not done and we’re not alone.
Cohn: Trump is building ‘one interface to rule them all.’ It’s terrifying.
A single searchable database of all Americans’ sensitive information is the goal of the president and Palantir – and the dream of authoritarians.Cindy Cohn (The Mercury News)
4chan refuses to pay UK Online Safety Act fines, asks Trump admin to intervene
4chan refuses to pay UK Online Safety Act fines, asks Trump admin to intervene
4chan asks US to “invoke all legal levers” in fight against Online Safety Act.Jon Brodkin (Ars Technica)
Cornell's world-first 'microwave brain' computes differently
Cornell's world-first 'microwave brain' computes differently
Researchers at Cornell University have developed an electronic chip that they describe as a "microwave brain." The simplified chip is analog rather than digital, yet can process ultrafast data and wireless communication signals simultaneously.David Szondy (New Atlas)
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schifezze della mi band nascoste creano il marcio
Probabilmente, forse, anche se non so in che modo, dovrei prendere l’abitudine di pulire il cinturino di gomma della Mi Band (e il retro della band stessa, che forse sotto sotto è pure peggio a guardare), perché tempo una manciata di settimane che non lo si fa ed ecco che questo diventa ricoperto di questa […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
schifezze della mi band nascoste creano il marcio
Probabilmente, forse, anche se non so in che modo, dovrei prendere l’abitudine di pulire il cinturino di gomma della Mi Band (e il retro della band stessa, che forse sotto sotto è pure peggio a guardare), perché tempo una manciata di settimane che non lo si fa ed ecco che questo diventa ricoperto di questa tale assurda monnezza dappertutto, nelle parti un minimo a contatto con la pelle… 👻
…Una monnezza che, però, ha un certo stile. Innanzitutto, è indubbiamente un po’ misteriosa: di che tipo di sostanza sarà fatto, questo tale schifo? È questo marrone beige che facilmente si sfalda, e forse sotto sotto anche gnammy (ma NON lo assaggerò, stavolta), però è alquanto criptico… penserei sia sudore inmerdato, ma boh. Poi, come si fa ad incrostare, oltre che sulla parte liscia grande, anche dentro i buchini dell’aggancio, veramente non capisco, perché ci finisce (e poi esce) veramente molta materia relativamente a quanto poca (quasi niente) sembra che ce ne sia ad occhio. 🤭
Vabbé, fa schifo, ma queste sono le mie assolutissime vibe. Ogni tanto è bene raccontare anche queste cose intriganti molto piccole sulla mia vita e il mio destino, così evitiamo preventivamente che boh, eventuali bavosi che si annidano su Internet si fissino in maniera sconveniente su di me. Questo è lo spirito del girlrotting e… in effetti, questa è una delle applicazioni pratiche non troppo dannose di esso: non potrò permettermi di farmi crescere la muffa sugli arti, ma un pochino di essi in spirito viene comunque via e diventa schifo, in un miscuglio di pelle morta, acqua sporca e sali minerali… ❤️
#MiBand #schifo #sporco #wristband
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South Korea bans phones in school classrooms nationwide
South Korea bans phones in school classrooms nationwide
It is the latest country to restrict phone use among children and teens.Suhnwook Lee (BBC News)
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Indian Court orders Internet block of Sci-Hub, Sci-Net and Libgen after publisher request
The Delhi High Court ordered the blocking of Sci-Hub, Sci-Net, and LibGen in India on August 19, 2025, following a copyright infringement case brought by academic publishers Elsevier, Wiley, and the American Chemical Society12.
The court found that Alexandra Elbakyan, Sci-Hub's founder, violated her December 2020 undertaking not to upload new copyrighted content by making post-2022 articles available through both Sci-Hub and a new platform called Sci-Net2. While Elbakyan claimed this was due to technical errors and argued Sci-Net was a separate project, the court rejected these arguments2.
The ruling requires India's Department of Telecommunications and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to issue blocking orders within 72 hours, with Internet Service Providers required to implement the blocks within 24 hours2.
This case marks the first time Sci-Hub and LibGen faced legal action in a developing country3. Earlier intervention attempts by Indian scientists and researchers had argued these platforms were "the only access to educational and research materials" for many academics in India3, with social science researchers specifically highlighting the "detrimental effect" blocking would have on research in India4.
- Substack - GPT-4o about Sci-hub: The Delhi High Court's latest order ↩︎
- SpicyIP - Sci-Hub now Completely Blocked in India! ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
- InfoJustice - Update on Publisher's Copyright Infringement Suit Against Sci-Hub ↩︎ ↩︎
- Internet Freedom Foundation - Social Science researchers move Delhi High Court ↩︎
Social Science researchers move Delhi High Court to protect LibGen & SciHub
A group of social science researchers have filed an intervention application, with legal support from IFF, highlighting the adverse impact any decision to block LibGen and SciHub will have on them.Tanmay Singh (Internet Freedom Foundation)
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September 1925
Our look at some of the significant happenings 100 years ago this month.
3. The Second International Conference on the Standardization of Medicine was held in Geneva, with the goal of standardizing drug formulae worldwide.
7. Born. Laura Ashley, Welsh designer (d.1985)
13. Born. Mel Tormé, jazz singer, in Chicago (d.1999)
16. Born. Charles Haughey, Taoiseach of Ireland; in Castlebar (d.2006)
RyzenZPilot - Intelligent Power Management for AMD Ryzen
🚀 RyzenZPilot
⚡ Your intelligent autopilot for AMD Ryzen performance & efficiency! 🎯
🔥 Your all-in-one solution for dynamic power management – right from your system tray! 💪
Boost your productivity and save energy: RyzenZPilot automatically switches between optimized power profiles based on your active applications. Whether gaming 🎮, video editing 🎬, or office work 📊 – your Ryzen system always runs in the perfect mode!
🤖 What is RyzenZPilot?
RyzenZPilot integrates intelligent power management functionality to enhance productivity and efficiency for AMD Ryzen users. It allows automatic power profile switching based on active processes, manages system performance dynamically, and provides seamless system tray integration. The tool runs completely in the background and intelligently controls your AMD Ryzen processor's energy settings. 🧠 Forget about manual profile switching in Windows power options – RyzenZPilot monitors your active processes and automatically selects the optimal profile!
⭐ Core FeaturesSystem Tray Integration for full power management,
Worker Thread Architecture for region-specific performance optimization, and
Automatic Profile Detection to intelligently switch power modes. This allows for operation that is 100% invisible to other applications.
🎯 Intelligent Autopilot: Automatic switching between "Silent" 🤫, "Balanced" ⚖️, and "Performance" 🔥 profiles
📍 System Tray Integration: Runs invisibly in the taskbar – one click gives you full control!
⚡ Multi-Threading Architecture: Responsive GUI + separate worker thread for optimal system performance
🔧 Easy Configuration: Define which applications trigger which power profiles
🚀 Autostart Options: Starts minimized or visible – exactly as you prefer
🔍 Debug Mode: Advanced analysis tools for power users and developers
💾 Minimal Resource Usage: Runs efficiently in the background without system impact
Free download: tetramatrix.github.io/RyzenZPi…
RyzenZPilot - Intelligent Power Management for AMD Ryzen
⚡ Automatic performance and efficiency control for your Ryzen system directly from the system tray!tetramatrix.github.io
Why “caffè” may not be “caffè”
Every time when I think I finally “got” Unicode, I get kicked in the back by this rabbit hole. 😆 However, IMHO it is important to recognise that when moving data and files between operating systems and programs that you’re better off knowing some of the pitfalls. So I’m sharing something I experienced when I transferred a file to my FreeBSD Play-Around notebook. So let’s assume a little story…
It’s late afternoon and you and some friends sit together playing around with BSD. A friend using another operating system collects coffee orders in a little text file to not forget anyone when going to the barista on the other side of the street. He sends the file to you, so at the next meeting you already know the preferences of your friends. You take a look at who wants a caffè:
armin@freebsd:/tmp $ cat orders2.txtMauro: cappuccinoArmin: caffè doppioAnna: caffè shakeratoStefano: caffèFranz: latte macchiatoFrancesca: cappuccinoCarla: latte macchiato
So you do a quick grep just to be very surprised!
armin@freebsd:/tmp $ grep -i caffè orders2.txtarmin@freebsd:/tmp $
Wait, WAT? Why is there no output? We have more than one line with caffè in the file? Well, you just met one of the many aspects of Unicode. This time it’s called “normalization”. 😎
Many characters can be represented by more than one form. Take the innocent “à” from the example above. There is an accented character in the Unicode characters called LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE. But you could also just use a regular LATIN SMALL LETTER A and combine it with the character COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT from the Unicode characters. Both result in the same character and “look” identical, but aren’t.
Let’s see a line with the word “caffè” as hex dump using the first approach (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE):
\u0063\u0061\u0066\u0066\u00E8\u000Ac a f f è (LF)
Now let’s do the same for the same line using the second approach:
\u0063\u0061\u0066\u0066\u0065\u0300\u000Ac a f f è (LF)
And there you have it, the latter is a byte longer and the two lines do not match up even if both lines are encoded as UTF-8 and the character looks the same!
So obviously just using UTF-8 is not enough and you might encounter files using the second approach. Just to make matter more complicated there are actually four forms of Unicode normalization out there. 😆
- NFD: canonical decomposition
- NFC: canonical decomposition followed by canonical composition
- NFKD: compatible decomposition
- NFKC: compatible decomposition followed by canonical composition.
For the sake of brevity of this post and your nerves we’ll just deal with the first two and I refer you to this Wikipedia article for the rest.
Normal form C (NFC) is the most widely used normal form and is also defined by the W3C for HTML, XML, and JavaScript. Technically speaking, encoding in Latin1 (or Windows Codepage 1252), for example, is in normal form C, since an “à” or the umlaut “Ö” is a single character and is not composed of combining characters. Windows and the .Net framework also store Unicode strings in Normal Form C. This does not mean that NFD can be ignored. For example, the Mac OSX file system works with a variant of NFD data, as the Unicode standard was only finalized when OSX was designed. When two applications share Unicode data, but normalize them differently, errors and data loss can result.
So how do we get from one form to another in one of the BSD operating systems (also in Linux)? Well, the Unicode Consortium provides a toolset called ICU — International Components for Unicode. The Documentation URL is unicode-org.github.io/icu/ and you can install that in FreeBSD using the command
pkg install icu
After completion of the installation you have a new command line tool called uconv (not to be mismatched with iconv which serves a similar purpose). Using uconv you can transcode the normal forms into each other as well do a lot of other encoding stuff (this tool is a rabbit hole in itself 😎).
Similar to iconv you can specify a “from” and a “to” encoding for input. But you can also specify so-called “transliterations” that will be applied to the input. In its simplest form such a transliteration is something in the form SOURCE-TARGET that specifies the operation. The "any" stands for any input character. This is the way I got the hexdump from above by using the transliteration 'any-hex':
armin@freebsd:/tmp$ echo caffè | uconv -x 'any-hex'\u0063\u0061\u0066\u0066\u00E8\u000A
Instead of hex codes you can also output the Unicode code point names to see the difference between the two forms:
armin@freebsd:/tmp$ echo Caffè | uconv -f utf-8 -t utf-8 -x 'any-nfd' | uconv -f utf-8 -x 'any-name' \N{LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER A}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER E}\N{COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT}\N{<control-000A>}
Now let’s try this for the NFC form:
armin@freebsd:/tmp$ echo Caffè | uconv -f utf-8 -t utf-8 -x 'any-nfc' | uconv -f utf-8 -x 'any-name'\N{LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER A}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER F}\N{LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE}\N{<control-000A>}
You can also convert from one normal form to another by using a transliteration like 'any-nfd' to convert the input to the normal form D (for decomposed, e.g. LATIN SMALL CHARACTER A + COMBINING GRAVE ACCENT) or 'any-nfc' for the normal form C.
If you want to learn about building your own transliterations, there’s a tutorial at unicode-org.github.io/icu/user… that shows the enormous capabilities of uconv.
Using the 'name' transliteration you can easily discern the various Sigmas here (I’m using sed to split the output into multiple lines):
armin@freebsd:/tmp $ echo '∑𝛴Σ' | uconv -x 'any-name' | sed -e 's/\\N/\n/g'{N-ARY SUMMATION}{MATHEMATICAL ITALIC CAPITAL SIGMA}{GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA}{<control-000A>}
If you want to get the Unicode character from the name, there are several ways depending on the programming language you prefer. Here is an example using python that shows the German umlaut "Ö":
python -c 'import unicodedata; print(unicodedata.lookup(u"LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH DIAERESIS"))'
The uconv utility is a very mighty thing and every modern programming language (see the Python example above) also has libraries and modules to support handling Unicode data. The world gets connected, but not in ASCII. 😎
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US poll finds 60 percent of Gen Z voters back Hamas over Israel in Gaza war
US poll finds 60 percent of Gen Z voters back Hamas over Israel in Gaza war
A new survey has revealed a sharp generational split in United States attitudes towards Israel’s war on Gaza, with younger voters showing unprecedented support for Hamas as Israel carries out a genocide.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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Chatbots can be manipulated through flattery and peer pressure
Researchers convinced ChatGPT to do things it normally wouldn’t with basic psychology.
Chatbots can be manipulated through flattery and peer pressure
Researchers were able to manipulate ChatGPT into breaking its own rules through peer pressure and flattery.Terrence O'Brien (The Verge)
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Traffic to government domains often crosses national borders, or flows through risky bottlenecks
Sites at yourcountry.gov may also not bother with HTTPs
Traffic to government domains often crosses national borders, or flows through risky bottlenecks
: Sites at yourcountry.gov may also not bother with HTTPsSimon Sharwood (The Register)
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Chrome increases its overwhelming market share, now over 70%
No matter how hard other browsers try, people stubbornly do not want to leave Chrome, and its market share is now above 70%.
https://www.neowin.net/news/chrome-increases-its-overwhelming-market-share-now-over-70/
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its all about perspective ❤
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Se soltanto fossimo a Fordlandia, dove i soldi crescono sugli alberi e la gomma scorre come il vino - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Se soltanto fossimo a Fordlandia, dove i soldi crescono sugli alberi e la gomma scorre come il vino - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Vi sono prove pratiche del fatto che il superamento delle aspettative sia la fondamentale aspirazione del perfetto uomo d’affari, universalmente dedito al raggiungimento di uno stato di eccellenza, vicendevolmente favorevole a se stesso e la contempo…Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
QAA Podcast with Cory Doctorow as guest
QAA Podcast: Cory Doctorow DESTROYS Enshitification (E338)
Episode webpage: soundcloud.com/qanonanonymous/…
Media file: chtbl.com/track/7791D/http://f…
Cory Doctorow DESTROYS Enshitification (E338)
The man who coined the word “enshitification” graces the podcast to share his views on conspiracy theories, algorithmic management, AI, and reading the saucy passages in Leviticus at barmitzvahs. CorySoundCloud
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How can I delete my account and all data?
Gaza, economia sotto assedio: tra embargo, ricostruzione e il business della guerra
Gaza, economia sotto assedio: tra embargo, ricostruzione e il business della guerra
La Striscia di Gaza è oggi il teatro di una crisi umanitaria e sociale senza precedenti. Mentre il conflitto israelo-palestinese continua a...Antonio Marano (Blogger)
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This account has never focused on a single topic.
It’s about my life—and whatever I’m passionate about in the moment.
But if you’re only here for one of those topics, you might want to follow the #Piefed communities I regularly cross-post to:
Bonus? You’ll get to hear from other contributors in those communities too.
More to come—stay tuned.
Thorry
in reply to Pro • • •Pro
in reply to Thorry • • •