Syria orders women to cover up on beaches with conservative new dress code
Syria issued a conservative new dress code Tuesday requiring women to wear burkinis or full-body swimwear on all public beaches, the latest cultural shift since Islamist-led rebels toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December.
The Tourism Ministry said the new guidelines were made in “the requirements of public interest.”
“Visitors to public beaches and pools, whether tourists or locals, are required to wear appropriate swimwear that takes into account public taste and the sensibilities of various segments of society,” Tourism Minister Mazen al-Salhani said in a directive posted to Facebook.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/10/middleeast/syria-dress-code-women-beaches-burkinis-latam-intl
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Lumps in Trump's Pants Revive Health Concerns as Speculation of 'Leg Braces' Grows Days After Tumbling Up Stairs
Lumps in Trump's Pants Revive Health Concerns as Speculation of 'Leg Braces' Grows Days After Tumbling Up Stairs
The internet is debating whether President Donald Trump is wearing leg braces, a catheter or just pants after the latest viral photos appeared to show lumps.Taylor Odisho (Latin Times)
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Maduro calls on the US people to stop its government's madness (+Foto) - Noticias Prensa Latina
Maduro llama al pueblo de EEUU a detener locura de su Gobierno (+Foto) - Noticias Prensa Latina
Caracas, 18 jun (Prensa Latina) El presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, llamó al pueblo estadounidense a detener la locura de su Gobierno de involucrarse en la guerra que sostienen hoy Israel y la República Islámica de Irán.Juan Carlos Díaz Guerrero (Prensa Latina)
![Z_Poster365 [none/use name]](images/person-80.jpg)
Liberals tell me to protest Drumpf: fuck you you don't control me
Maduro tells me to protest Trump: YES SIR MR MADURO SIR
Sumoud Convoy to Return to Tunisia after Permission Denied to Enter Egypt - Palestine Chronicle (2025-06-16)
Sumoud Convoy to Return to Tunisia after Permission Denied to Enter Egypt - Palestine Chronicle (2025-06-16)palestinechronicle.com/sumoud-…
------>> Organizers of a land convoy seeking to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip have reportedly announced their decision to cancel the convoy’s journey after authorities in eastern Libya refused to allow them to cross into Egypt.
>> In a statement on its Facebook page, the group said: “We have been informed by the Libyan authorities that the Egyptian authorities have rejected the licenses requests that we sent to the Egyptian Embassy in Tunisia through all possible legal and diplomatic channels.”
>> “We decided to return to Tunisia and look for other ways to lift the siege” in Gaza, the statement added.
>> ... the convoy “is peaceful and will remain peaceful and we will remain on the spot peacefully waiting” for the release of the detained participants.
#Soumoud #BreakTheSiege #Maghrib @palestine@a.gup.pe @israel
Sumoud Convoy to Return to Tunisia after Permission Denied to Enter Egypt - Palestine Chronicle
Organizers of a land convoy aimed at breaking Gaza's seige have decided to cancel the journey after permission was denied to enter Egypt.admin (Palestine Chronicle)
adhocfungus likes this.
Mike Huckabee Is A Deranged Armageddon Cultist
Mike Huckabee Is A Deranged Armageddon Cultist
Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative MatrixCaitlin Johnstone (Caitlin’s Newsletter)
Türkiye, China renew $4.7B currency swap deal to bolster bilateral trade
Türkiye, China renew $4.7B currency swap deal to bolster bilateral trade
Deal supports local currency transactions worth up to ₺189B ($4.79B), 35B Chinese yuanNewsroom (Türkiye Today)
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Update of my $65 4tb nvmes 🤣🤪
So i'm testing one of the drives I got on amazon using an old computer. It started off promising, didn't get any errors when formating the drive, write speed using a usb adapter at 25mb/s... Then it dropped off to 7mb/s and the expected time shot up from 40hours to 156h🤣
I'm going to let it run over night and see what happens in the morning. If I can get it to show 4tb without error I might still keep them to test out my geekworm pi nas, otherwise back to amazon you go!
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$65 for 4tb? they're almost certainly fake crap. just got done giving someone the bad news on some similarly-priced sd and ssd they bought off ebay.
grc.com/validrive.htm will verify real capacity in seconds.
Laptop left charging on bed causes house fire in Bendigo
Ms Robinson said the laptop was an 18-month old AppleMac Pro and it had started to lose charge more often in the lead up to the fire."It seemed to be going flat a lot, which can identify a faulty battery," Ms Robinson.
Fire Rescue Victoria commander Craig Houlahan attended the blaze.
"It was clear the fire had actually started from the bed," he said.
"It was quite obvious with the development of the fire that it was the laptop, because of the battery."
ABC News
ABC News provides the latest news and headlines in Australia and around the world.Rebecca Norman (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Experts warn mobile sports betting could be gateway to gambling crisis for young men in New York
Experts warn mobile sports betting could be gateway to gambling crisis for young men in New York
The popularity of online gambling, especially among young men, has addiction researchers worried in New York, where mobile sports betting has surpassed casino gambling as the primary reason for calls to the state’s helpline.Willa Odefey (Healthbeat)
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Experts warn mobile sports betting could be gateway to gambling crisis for young men in New York
Experts warn mobile sports betting could be gateway to gambling crisis for young men in New York
The popularity of online gambling, especially among young men, has addiction researchers worried in New York, where mobile sports betting has surpassed casino gambling as the primary reason for calls to the state’s helpline.Willa Odefey (Healthbeat)
adhocfungus likes this.
ICE Taking away a 3 year old from the parents
US Always Planned to Use Israel as Proxy to Attack Iran
US Always Planned to Use Israel as Proxy to Attack Iran
Donald Trump did everything he could to make sure that the war between Israel and Iran began, military and political observer Evgeny Mikhailov tells Sputnik.Sputnik International
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This is such nonsense. Netanyahu has been trying non-stop to get the US to attack Iraq and Iran for literally 30 years. And the US kept saying no.
The US is not benefiting from having all their regional assets and oil fields blown up by Iranian missiles. The only party which does not care about this whatsoever is of course Israel. The cart and the horse keep getting switched around.
Further evidenced by lemmy.ml/post/31869269/1932291…
Russia's Special Military Operation in Ukraine: How It is Progressing [Video]
Russia's Special Military Operation in Ukraine: How It is Progressing
In February, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after Kiev intensified attacks on the people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.Sputnik International
‘No Kings’ was biggest protest in U.S. history: data analyst
The “No Kings” protests in every state may have been the biggest day of demonstrations in American history, a data analyst has suggested.
“Based on hundreds of crowd-sourced records of No Kings Day event turnout, and extrapolating for the cities where we don’t have data yet, it looks like roughly 4-6m people protested Trump across the U.S. yesterday,” independent data journalist G Elliott posted to X Sunday.
For reference, that’d mean Saturday’s demonstrations featured 1-2% of the total population of 340 million taking to the streets in more than 2,000 cities to voice their opposition to the increasingly authoritarian, far-right policies the president has pursued since assuming office for the second time.
‘No Kings’ Was Biggest Protest in U.S. History: Data Analyst
For reference, that’s between 1 and 2 percent of the total population of the United States.Will Neal (The Daily Beast)
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MakeMKV down - cant find firmware to flash Verbatim 43888
Hi all,
I recently bought a Verbatim 43888. Went to rip my first disc, which is just a regular DVD. But MakeMKV isn't even able to detect the disc. I checked a few forums which all recommend Makemkv forums, however the site seems to be down.
I may need to rollback the firmware from version 1.05 to 1.03. Has anyone else had experience with this issue? Can it be done using linux?
I know the drive is working because I can see the video/audio files. It also works with Handbrake.
Cheers
Here you go 😀 Link
It doesn’t call home to makemkv so OP is played by this again, he/she won’t have this issue.
OpenAI weighs “nuclear option” of antitrust complaint against Microsoft
OpenAI weighs “nuclear option” of antitrust complaint against Microsoft
WSJ report says OpenAI mulling federal complaint as Microsoft stalls restructuring plan.Benj Edwards (Ars Technica)
Patreon will increase the cut it takes from new creators
Patreon will increase the cut it takes from new creators | TechCrunch
Patreon is bumping its take fee from creators from 8% to 10%, but only for new signups.Amanda Silberling (TechCrunch)
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Roche Miette as seen from Hidden Valley in Jasper National Park
Hidden valley
Another short but steep hike in eastern Jasper National Park, this hike takes you to a valley nestled under Roche Miette before you get to the bald up top. Much less intimidating than the wall on Morro Peak, but just as physical. One ladder section is easily climbed along the way and you may see some mountain goats while you’re up there! Hopefully he doesn’t see you eat it on the muddy slope like he did for me! At the trailhead is a great spot to watch Bighorn as well.
The ladder chained to the rock face leads to a slippery section made easier by the heavy duty chains running the length of it.
Looking back towards the Athabasca river valley below. The trail is in the lower valley and not on top of the ridgeline.
A look back towards the highway shows how quickly this trail rises before entering the canyon. The Athabasca river valley sprawls below.
letmarciscenza più elaborata del facile
Ho dei pensieri forse un po’ confusi a riguardo, e certamente rifletterci e scriverci su a quest’ora non aiuta — nonostante questo sia a dire il vero proprio l’orario migliore possibile per scrivere cose di questo tipo, perché il lieve sonno mi porta inevitabilmente alla stesura di righe che nemmeno sotto effetto di droghe sarebbe […]
octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…
letmarciscenza più elaborata del facile
Ho dei pensieri forse un po’ confusi a riguardo, e certamente rifletterci e scriverci su a quest’ora non aiuta — nonostante questo sia a dire il vero proprio l’orario migliore possibile per scrivere cose di questo tipo, perché il lieve sonno mi porta inevitabilmente alla stesura di righe che nemmeno sotto effetto di droghe sarebbe possibile concepire — però diavolaccio… Se davvero devo avviarmi sulla strada del bedrotting professionale, portando buona parte delle giornate ad essere concettualmente assimilabili a questa mia ultima trascorsa, ci sono un paio di appunti da tenere in conto per massimizzare il valore dell’esperienza, soprattutto in chiave di ricorrenza medio-alta. ✋Innanzitutto, il top bedrotting dovrebbe essere visto con più grande passione; ossia, nel modo in cui a quanto pare diverse persone su Internet già fanno… e non nel modo su cui senza volerlo ripiego io, ossia come “piano B”, come “ops oggi mi sento così e quindi farò così perché non mi va di fare come al solito“. In effetti, il marcimento lettifero nella sua forma più pura altro non è che un momento di straordinaria connessione con il sublime attraverso attimi altrimenti normali, banali; è lo stato di esistenza che più precisamente di tutti gli altri si trova a metà tra la vita e la morte, l’ordine ed il caos; insomma, l’equilibrio perfetto che, se non fosse per la fame e in molti casi il dover pagare l’affitto, potrebbe rappresentare la modalità dell’essere ideale permanentemente per tutti gli esseri umani… con la sofferenza tangibile della specie che sarebbe estremamente più limitata come conseguenza, e tutte le guerre che si formerebbero per sempre (…così come lo sviluppo della società ed il mantenimento dei servizi, in realtà, ma è un piccolo prezzo da pagare a confronto dei grandi benefici per tutti). 🥰
Quindi, boh: a parte le digressioni, serve più convinzione, più integrità. Innanzitutto, dovrei forse programmare il bedrotting come attività fissa all’interno della mia giornata, non sindacabile, da onorare e rispettare senza se e senza ma; e che occupi quanto più tempo possibile dei miei momenti di veglia, idealmente, anche se ciò non è sempre possibile nella pratica. Probabilmente, poi, dovrei rifarmi il letto appena mi sveglio dopo la notte, o almeno poco prima di darmi al bedrotting per la prima volta nella giornata dopo essermi alzata… non perché io ora dalla sera alla pre-notte creda alla propaganda dei rifattisti (quelli che dicono che il letto va rifatto subito perché bla bla bla e per giunta è una forma mentis zzz…), ma perché indubbiamente è più comodo sprofondare nel letto ordinato e senza pieghe, rispetto allo schifo che diventa durante la notte di sonno turbato, non prendiamoci in giro. 🌚
Questi due punti, dopo una piccola riflessione, mi appaiono veramente come il minimo da tenere in considerazione per un’esperienza di marciscenza spirituale decente. Ma, ovviamente si può, e probabilmente si deve, fare ancora di meglio… E dunque, da un lato temo di dover ammettere che bisogna ogni giorno lavarsi, per bene e subito, per dedicarsi alla funzione… e dall’altro bisogna porre un po’ di attenzione anche nel po’ di vestiario che si indossa durante la cosa. Lo sappiamo come questi giorni più scarichi portano a viziarci — e a viziarmi, personalmente, con io in particolare che finisco per lavarmi solo ben dopo pranzo, per poi indossare magliette e pantaloni veramente a casaccio, sotto l’influenza del diktat per cui sarebbe sconveniente tenere dentro casa quegli indumenti di maggior pregio estetico e morale che invece sarebbero meglio riservati solo per uscire. Ma, tra la puzza di ascelle dormite, e i vestiti con sopra i pallini di cotone consumati, l’anima ne soffre… e poi, che figura ci si fa con gli spiriti delle pareti che ci guardano da molto (molto) vicino durante la giornata in casa? 🪱
pinterest.com/pin/595601119507…
Ora, però, per concludere, un piccolo momento di rovescio della medaglia, che sento essere necessario anche se a molti non farà affatto piacere… Se vi considerate appassionati di bedrotting, o comunque in qualche modo siete praticanti più o meno abituali dell’attività, ma quello che ho detto qui vi sembra assurdo, fuori misura, o comunque non ne considerereste nemmeno mai la semplice idea di applicazione… ahimè, voi siete probabilmente nella trappola della marciscenza non introspettiva, la variante con buona ragione strettamente criticata persino dal Consiglio Assoluto degli Stellari. Oh, per carità: nessuno è perfetto, menchemeno io che stavolta mi permetto di fare questa predica (in parte auto-predica) che mi rendo conto essere a dir poco sconclusionata… però quantomeno mantenete la mente aperta a nuove formule di riposo più arricchenti del sé, suvvia! 😳
🎀💅
Mar 18, 2025 - Mine !! #bedrotting #prettygirlgang #aesthetic #nightsuit #pink #whisperbamb1doll (Pinterest)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem transported to DC-area hospital after allergic reaction, DHS says
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was transported by ambulance on Tuesday to a hospital in Washington, DC, after an allergic reaction, the Department of Homeland Security said.
“Secretary Noem had an allergic reaction today. She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution. She is alert and recovering,” said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.
CNN observed several Secret Service agents posted at several entrances outside the emergency room at the hospital where the secretary was admitted.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/politics/kristi-noem-hostpital
All 17 fired vaccine advisors unite to blast RFK Jr.’s “destabilizing decisions”
All 17 experts ousted from the federal vaccine advisory committee have spoken out about the drastic changes that anti-vaccine advocate and current US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made since taking office. Those changes include unilaterally restricting access to COVID-19 vaccines and summarily firing the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which had guided federal vaccine policies for more than 60 years.
"We are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of US immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put US families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses," the fired experts write in an editorial published in JAMA.
All 17 fired vaccine advisors unite to blast RFK Jr.’s “destabilizing decisions”
The experts say RFK Jr.’s actions show “troubling disregard for scientific integrity.”…Beth Mole (Ars Technica)
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Welcome to Peak Palantir [*Naked Capitalism*]
Welcome to Peak Palantir | naked capitalism
The company that " knows everything about you" is going from strength to strength as war rises and and the so-called "liberal" West turns into a dystopian novel.Nick Corbishley (naked capitalism)
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in all seriousness, palantir and clearview are way more dangerous than most of the other shit going on out there. only Putin has greater max evil potential (when considering not only politics and military but also Russian Mafia and western politician campaign secret donations).
theyre basically Albion from watch dogs legion.
I 100% agree with you about Clearview and Palantir. Really, 1,000%.
Putin, on the other hand, has passed his peak unless he's gong to get the nukes out. His potential at this point is simply how much longer he is around to keep perpetuating his "3 day war." Which is not nothing. The guy needs to go the fuck away, and the US justification for using nukes in Japan was that forcing a surrender via attack against civilian targets prevented a years-long slog and invasion. Well, here we are again. Justify whatever is needed to ensure he falls out a window one day this week. The power vacuum without Prighozin around is just going to revert to 1992 style robber barons anyway. It always would. There's never been an alternative to that.
🙄, but I’ll only address:
the US justification for using nukes in Japan was that forcing a surrender via attack against civilian targets prevented a years-long slog and invasion.
That was the US’s public-facing narrative, not its actual justifications. Japan was already ready to surrender at that point, but the US was worried that Japan might surrender to the USSR instead, and the US wanted an unconditional surrender, not one with conditions. It also wanted to scare the living shit out of the USSR, to discourage it from further spreading its influence. And it wanted to test the bomb on a city that had been left intentionally undamaged during the war, namely Hiroshima, for its own nuclear weapons research & development.
The company I work for is using software sold by palantir.
The software itself is benign, and quite clever and useful, but regardless it feels like we’ve made a deal with the devil to me.
Far-Right ‘Appeal to Heaven’ Flag Seen at Jan. 6 Riot Flown Above Government Agency in DC
The "Appeal To Heaven" flag, a popular symbol for Christian nationalists that was waved by January 6 rioters, was raised over the Small Business Administration headquarters last week.
Archived copies of the article:
* Archive.today
* web.archive.org
Far-Right ‘Appeal to Heaven’ Flag Flown Above Government Agency in DC
The “Appeal to Heaven” flag, a popular symbol for Christian nationalists that was waved by January 6 rioters, was raised over the Small Business Administration headquarters last week.Vittoria Elliott (WIRED)
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[Patch Notes] 3.26.0b Hotfix
3.26.0b Hotfix
- Fixed a client crash when failing to fall back to DirectX11 if DirectX12 is not supported.
Patch Notes - 3.26.0b Hotfix - Forum - Path of Exile
Path of Exile is a free online-only action RPG under development by Grinding Gear Games in New Zealand.Path of Exile
[Patch Notes] 3.26.0b Patch Notes (restartless)
3.26.0b Patch Notes
- Reduced the damage of the Memory Influence Monsters.
- The Refiner's Bargain Atlas Keystone now has Lifeforce found in your Maps is granted as a random Crop instead at 150% of the value (from 300%). The client will display the old value until updated in a later patch.
- Vastly reduced the gold cost of extremely rare Unique items from Cadiro in Betrayal. The rarest unique will cost at a maximum ~135000 gold. This is to alleviate an issue where you'd have to keep a huge amount of gold on your character at all times just in case the right unique item was offered. This is approximately twenty-five times cheaper now for the most expensive unique items.
- Fixed a bug where the Cannot have Minions other than Animated Weapons Modifier on the Dark Monarch Unique was not removing Animated Guardian.
- Fixed a bug where some Mercenaries would be unable to take actions while taunted by non-players.
- Fixed several cases of Mercenaries attempting to target players that had not opted into duels. They couldn't damage them, just try to.
- Fixed Veiled Chaos Orbs not being listable on the Currency Exchange.
- Fixed Syndicate Medallion, Echo of Loneliness, Echo of Trauma and Echo of Reverence not being in the Fragments tab of the Currency Exchange.
- Fixed Blessed Orbs not being usable on Expedition Logbooks.
- Fixed Kingsmarch resources not being collected if you hadn't visited Kingsmarch yet.
- Fixed a bug with Memory Lines sometimes not generating when talking to Eagon in your hideout.
- Fixed a bug where the Quisitive Quandaries The Dweller of the Deep Challenge was being completed when clearing the Fetid Pool instead.
- Added a tooltip for disabled Currency Exchange orders to clarify they can manually be migrated from Character Selection.
- Changed the Controller button for opening the Bestiary book and Heist inventory to avoid clashing with Mercenaries.
- Fixed a bug when using Controller where the dropdown selection in the Farm Plot UI was not working.
- Fixed a bug when using Controller where the Expedition Explosives placement not responding to right stick movement.
- Fixed a bug when using Controller where the Atlas Passive Tree selector on was not functioning correctly.
- Fixed a client crash when using Controller that could occur when talking to Sin about the Pantheon.
- Fixed a client crash when using Controller that could occur in the Challenges panel.
- Fixed a crash when using Controller that could occur when entering the socket management mode UI.
- Fixed 2 instance crashes.
This patch was deployed without restarting the servers, you'll need to patch your client to get the client changes.
Patch Notes - 3.26.0b Patch Notes (restartless) - Forum - Path of Exile
Path of Exile is a free online-only action RPG under development by Grinding Gear Games in New Zealand.Path of Exile
[Announcement] How Secrets of the Atlas Launch Went
We wanted to give an update talking about how the launch went and what we're immediately working on.
Over the weekend we launched Path of Exile: Secrets of the Atlas. We are so thrilled to see the number of people who joined us for launch day. Welcome back, Exiles!
Starting with the elephant in the room, unfortunately primarily our European servers but also servers across the globe have been facing a barrage of DDOS attacks. We understand that this issue has ruined such an anticipated launch for many players. This is unacceptable service and we are deeply sorry. We want to assure you that we are taking this very seriously and it is the highest priority problem for our company to solve. Due to the nature of these attacks, we're unable to provide a timeframe on when it will be resolved but we do want to acknowledge that we do see the issue and are doing everything we can to mitigate this.
Another thing we caught just prior to the launch was an issue with our final console builds which did not affect our internal realms so couldn't have been caught sooner than it was. Because this required brand new builds to be created, tested and then certified, this process took quite a long time to fix, but the console realms are now fully operational and players are able to login and play. We are implementing measures to prevent this occurring in the future.
While our system administration and backend team address the issues with the servers, our development team continues to monitor feedback. Currently the leading issue we're looking to address with the league is that a number of Mercenary skills, especially once you get to the middle of the campaign start to deal overwhelming amounts of damage to the player, often instantly killing you, you should expect a patch in the near future that puts all these skills more in line. This will not affect the Mercenary balance when they are your ally.
Additionally we're looking at making some improvements to the Memory Skills granted in maps influenced by The Originator, we'll have more updates on this later this week.
We also just wanted to give a huge thank you to all our players, be it those who have returned to play Path of Exile after a year with no expansions, and all those who are new to the game.
We're very excited to not only once again be delivering content, but playing the game alongside you all.
Thank you Exiles!
Announcements - How Secrets of the Atlas Launch Went - Forum - Path of Exile
Path of Exile is a free online-only action RPG under development by Grinding Gear Games in New Zealand.Path of Exile
EU league start was very frustrating, hopefully you ll find a solution. Seems like a tough problem to solve.
Community is not affiliated or run by Grinding Gear Games.
As far EU issues, they said that their service providers were being DDoSed so not much they can do themselves apart from diversifying the infrastructure.
Napster and Sonos Sued for Millions in Unpaid Music Royalties
Napster, the brand synonymous with the music piracy boom of the early 2000s, has a new copyright challenge. Together with audio giant Sonos, Napster faces a lawsuit demanding over $3.4 million in alleged unpaid copyright royalties. Filed by SoundExchange, the complaint centers on missed payments related to the "Sonos Radio" service, which until 2023 was powered by Napster's music catalog.
Napster and Sonos Sued for Millions in Unpaid Music Royalties * TorrentFreak
Napster, the brand synonymous with the music piracy boom of the early 2000s, now finds itself facing a new copyright challenge.Ernesto Van der Sar (TF Publishing)
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While Napster did get decked hard a long while ago, it's still a well known cultural icon, so some company was inevitably going to buy the rights to its branding/trademarks after it ate dirt to attract attention to whatever product they decide to slap it on.
The same thing kinda happened to Atari. That company got burned to a crisp by Nintendo and Sega after the 2600, but some nobodies bought it and things keep having the Atari logo even today because it was a well known brand. It sucked ass and failed... but we remember it.
Threads is adding fediverse content to your social feeds
Threads is adding fediverse content to your social feeds
A new ‘Fediverse feed’ in your Following section will show posts from Mastodon, Flipboard, and elsewhere.David Pierce (The Verge)
Meta is making all Facebook videos reels
Meta is making all Facebook videos reels
In the coming months, all Facebook videos will be shared as reels, Meta announced. You’ll be able to make them as long as you want.Jay Peters (The Verge)
‘Waste colonialism’: world grapples with west’s unwanted plastic
‘Waste colonialism’: world grapples with west’s unwanted plastic
Germany and UK are big exporters of plastic, much of which lies rotting in ports in Turkey, Vietnam and other countriesRuth Michaelson (The Guardian)
Krusty likes this.
A friendly reminder, the USA took 4 Presidents, thousands of lives, trillions of dollar and 20 years to replace Taliban with Taliban.
Submission Statement
Between 2001 and 2021, under four U.S. presidents, the United States spent approximately $2.3 trillion, with 2,459 American military fatalities and up to 360,000 estimated Afghan civilian deaths.
After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, approximately $7.12 billion worth of military equipment was left behind, according to a 2022 Department of Defense report. This equipment, transferred to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) from 2005 to 2021, included:
Weapons: Over 300,000 of 427,300 weapons, including rifles like M4s and M16s.
Vehicles: More than 40,000 of 96,000 military vehicles, including 12,000 Humvees and 1,000 armored vehicles.
Aircraft: 78 aircraft, valued at $923.3 million, left at Hamid Karzai International Airport, all demilitarized and rendered inoperable.
Munitions: 9,524 air-to-ground munitions worth $6.54 million, mostly non-precision.
Communications and Specialized Equipment: Nearly all communications gear (e.g., radios, encryption devices) and 42,000 pieces of night vision, surveillance, biometric, and positioning equipment. The total equipment provided to the ANDSF was valued at $18.6 billion, with the $7.12 billion figure representing what remained after the withdrawal. Much of this equipment is now under Taliban control, though its operational capability is limited due to the need for specialized maintenance and technical expertise.
The United States has provided at least $93.41 billion in total aid to Afghanistan since 2001. This includes:
Military Aid (2001–2020): Approximately $72.7 billion (in current dollars), primarily through the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund ($71.7 billion) and other programs like International Military Education and Training, Foreign Military Financing, and Peacekeeping Operations ($1 billion combined).
Humanitarian and Reconstruction Aid (2001–2025): Around $20.71 billion, including $3 billion in humanitarian and development aid post-2021 and $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan assets transferred to the Afghan Fund in 2022. Pre-2021 reconstruction and humanitarian aid (e.g., $174 million in 2001 and $300 million pledged in 2002) adds to this, though exact figures for the full period are less clear. 
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Come back to me in 80 years
On the one hand, props for putting a number to it, on the other, Jesus Fucking Christ.
You realize that all the countries' governments you listed have at least consented to us being there, whereas Afghanistan specifically said they wanted us gone?
Just going full Genghis Khan over here. As if the brazen conquest wasn't bad enough, you want to condemn our grandkids to the continued subjugation of their grandkids. Absolutely insane.
Ehhh kinda. For many of those countries, the troops were a leftover of occupation, it was a choice but kind of a forced one, you don't want to upset your overlords.
In the EU, with the increased independence as the organization grew, calls to send the American troops home became stronger and stronger.
[JS] MiniMax M1 model claims Chinese LLM crown from DeepSeek - plus it's true open-source
MiniMax-M1, the World's First Open-Source, Large-Scale, Hybrid-Attention Reasoning Model - MiniMax News
MiniMax-M1 launches as world's first open-source hybrid-attention reasoning model. Lightning Attention mechanism, CISPO RL algorithm, million-token context, top SWE-bench performance. Free usage + lowMiniMax
Dems Demand Answers from Palantir About Plans to Build IRS “Mega-Database” of American Citizens
Wyden, Ocasio-Cortez Demand Answers from Palantir About Plans to Build IRS “Mega-Database” of American Citizens | The United States Senate Committee on Finance
Wyden, Ocasio-Cortez Demand Answers from Palantir About Plans to Build IRS “Mega-Database” of American Citizenswww.finance.senate.gov
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Dems Demand Answers from Palantir About Plans to Build IRS “Mega-Database” of American Citizens
Wyden, Ocasio-Cortez Demand Answers from Palantir About Plans to Build IRS “Mega-Database” of American Citizens | The United States Senate Committee on Finance
Wyden, Ocasio-Cortez Demand Answers from Palantir About Plans to Build IRS “Mega-Database” of American Citizenswww.finance.senate.gov
adhocfungus likes this.
getoffpocket.com, my guide to Pocket alternatives, just got a redesign
I previously posted this at lemmy.world/post/30816595
I really appreciate all the feedback from the community! I haven't had time to address everything yet, but I thought I'd share the redesign as I continue to make this a useful tool for everyone who needs to find a new home for their articles. For anyone who saw the old version, I think you'll agree it has come a long way!
I'm making a guide to Pocket alternatives: getoffpocket.com
Still a work in progress, but even at this stage, I hope it can help you and anyone you know who has been affected by the Pocket shutdown.Guide to Open Source Pocket Alternatives
Comprehensive comparison of open source read-it-later tools and hosting optionsgetoffpocket.com
adhocfungus likes this.
empireOfLove2
in reply to MicroWave • • •Drusas likes this.
tal
in reply to empireOfLove2 • • •We used to have considerably-more-restrictive rules on women's swimwear ourselves in the US, not that long ago.
npr.org/sections/npr-history-d…
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Maeve likes this.
PugJesus
in reply to empireOfLove2 • • •It was never going to be a liberal government. The rule is conservative dreck, make no mistake, but the norm was already for burkinis and other such swimsuits to be worn. It's not a radical departure from extant behavior.
My concern, going forward, is more towards whether the government will resolve itself in a reasonably democratic way.
I'm not holding out hopes for a Tunisia, but a Jordan or Lebanon might be reasonable to cross one's fingers for.
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ISOmorph
in reply to PugJesus • • •like this
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PugJesus
in reply to ISOmorph • • •I mean I wouldn't call it a beacon of democracy, but all things are relative. I picked one of the more reasonable polities in MENA with a mostly-functioning multiparty system. The alternative would've been saying I hoped for Turkiye, but, uh, considering Erdogan's behavior, I wasn't sure I wanted to make that comparison as a positive.
My point is simply that there is still hope for Syria to improve into something better than it was - and certainly better than some immensely calcified repressive regime like Iran or the Saudis, and that this... immensely distasteful conservative dreck does not necessarily sink that hope.
We look for Syria to take a step forward, not to become Sweden in a decade (though that would, obviously, also be immensely welcome; just less likely). Institutions are built a year at a time, a battle at a time, not all once.
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mlg
in reply to PugJesus • • •Not that it matters that much anyway, HTS is essentially a joint puppet project by Turkey and the USA.
As long as whoever is in charge follows their geopolitical demands, they really won't care how they handle the internal country.
Still at least it's a significant upgrade from Assad. Anyone would take this over chemical weapon civil war again.
Gsus4
in reply to empireOfLove2 • • •like this
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dinren
in reply to MicroWave • • •like this
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idiomaddict
in reply to dinren • • •dinren
in reply to idiomaddict • • •Hey, at least your husband can’t beat you when you’re dead!
I’ll see myself out.
A_norny_mousse
in reply to MicroWave • • •like this
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burgerchurgarr
in reply to MicroWave • • •Not good because no one should tell wear anyone what to wear or what not to wear. Let’s not forget the obsession of conservatives and even liberals with banning hijabs and niqabs in the western world under the guise of "liberating“ women. I find it ridiculous that the whole world seems obsessed with telling women how to dress.
Anyway, this is definitely a hint at the society they imagine and I don’t think it’s a good direction. On the other hand I think westerners don’t understand the Middle East either.
The Middle East is very much class divided and the upper class wouldn’t go to public beaches anyway, while middle class and below is usually very conservative, no matter which religion or even if not religious.
That’s why even without this ban you wouldn’t really see women in a bikini on public beaches because that’s not the culture. You can find it good or bad but that’s how the culture is. Even in Tunisia which people love mentioning it’s not a common thing.
If you go to hotels it’s gonna be different because that’s where all the rich locals will go to be on their own and usually they have a more "western" lifestyle. To illustrate, not even in hotels in Saudi Arabia would they enforce such a dress code (we’re talking about luxury hotels here) because money talks.
OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe
in reply to burgerchurgarr • • •burgerchurgarr
in reply to OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe • • •OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe
in reply to burgerchurgarr • • •burgerchurgarr
in reply to OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe • • •OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe
in reply to burgerchurgarr • • •And my neighbors are rural Trumpers. I still don't grasp what the hell it is they're after.
Big data, plot points from individuals, statistical regressions. That's what you need to make those claims. If not, it's personal anecdotes, personal anecdotes from someone who lived in the geographical region, yes, but just anecdotes.
burgerchurgarr
in reply to OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe • • •madcaesar
in reply to MicroWave • • •vanta rainbow black
in reply to MicroWave • • •