Michael Hudson: From Neoliberalism to Neofeudalism
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UK | Citizen's Arrest Network hold Anglian Water to account, because no one else will
No one else is holding criminal water companies to account, so one group carried out a citizens arrest on Anglian Water CEO
Archived version: archive.is/newest/thecanary.co…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
US | The government shutdown is strangling aviation
Staffing levels were already low before the shutdown.
The government shutdown is strangling aviation
The government shutdown has had a huge impact on air travel. Delays are soaring, and some airports have been forced to operate without air traffic control.Darryl Campbell (The Verge)
Israel's bombing killed soldier captured by Hamas, family says
Palestinian group returns body of Tamir Nimrodi, a soldier captured alive on 7 October
Archived version: archive.is/newest/middleeastey…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Israel's bombing killed soldier captured by Hamas, family says
The family of an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas has said he was killed by Israeli air strikes during the genocidal war on Gaza.Mera Aladam (Middle East Eye)
European Commission fines Gucci, Chloé and Loewe $183 million for price interference
The European Commission has fined Gucci, Chloé, and Loewe over 157 million euros for anti-competitive pricing practices
[Technology Connections] Some DVD re-releases got cheapened out in a weird way [17:59]
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US charges Cambodian executive in massive crypto scam and seizes more than $14 billion in bitcoin
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Chen, a native of China who is also known as “Vincent,” remained at large as of Tuesday...
According to Chen’s indictment, Prince Holding Group built at least 10 compounds in Cambodia where workers — often migrants held against their will — were forced to contact thousands of victims through social media or online messaging platforms, build rapport and entice them to transfer cryptocurrency with hopes of big investment returns.
The compounds functioned as forced labor camps, with dormitories surrounded by high walls and barbed wire fences, and automated call centers with hundreds of mobile phones lined up on racks controlling tens of thousands of fake social media profiles, prosecutors said. One compound was associated with Prince Holding Group’s Jinbei Casino Hotel. Another was known as “Golden Fortune.”
In 2023, the United Nations estimated around 100,000 people were being forced to carry out online scams in Cambodia, as well as at least 120,000 in Myanmar and tens of thousands in Thailand, Laos and the Philippines.
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Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
“The proposed transaction poses a number of significant foreign influence and national security risks, beginning with the PIF’s reputation as a strategic arm of the Saudi government,” the Senators wrote in their letter. “As Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the PIF has made dozens of strategic investments in sports (including a bid for the U.S. PGA Tour), video games (including a $3.3 billion investment in Activision Blizzard), and other cultural institutions that ‘are more than just about financial returns; they are about influence.’ Leveraging long term shifts in public opinion, through the PIF’s investments, ‘Saudi Arabia is seeking to normalize its global image, expand its cultural reach, and gain leverage in spaces that shape how billions of people connect and interact.’ Saudi Arabia’s desire to buy influence through the acquisition of EA is apparent on the face of the transaction—the investors propose to pay more than $10 billion above EA’s trading value for a company whose stock has ‘stagnated for half a decade’ in an unpredictably volatile industry.”
Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
Democratic U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren sent letters to the Department of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson, raising concerns about the $55 billion acquisition of the giant American video game company in part by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).Specifically, the Senators worry that EA, which just released Battlefield 6 last week and also publishes The Sims, Madden, and EA Sports FC, “would cease exercising editorial and operational independence under the control of Saudi Arabia’s private majority ownership.”
“The proposed transaction poses a number of significant foreign influence and national security risks, beginning with the PIF’s reputation as a strategic arm of the Saudi government,” the Senators wrote in their letter. “As Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the PIF has made dozens of strategic investments in sports (including a bid for the U.S. PGA Tour), video games (including a $3.3 billion investment in Activision Blizzard), and other cultural institutionsthat ‘are more than just about financial returns; they are about influence.’ Leveraging long term shifts in public opinion, through the PIF’s investments, ‘Saudi Arabia is seeking to normalize its global image, expand its cultural reach, and gain leverage in spaces that shape how billions of people connect and interact.’ Saudi Arabia’s desire to buy influence through the acquisition of EA is apparent on the face of the transaction—the investors propose to pay more than $10 billion above EA’s trading value for a company whose stock has ‘stagnated for half a decade’ in an unpredictably volatile industry.”
As the Senators' letter notes, Saudi Arabia has made several notable investments in the video game industry in recent years. In addition to its investment in Activision Blizzard and Nintendo, the PIF recently acquired Evo, the biggest video game fighting tournament in the world (one of its many investments in esports), was reportedly a “mystery partner” in a failed $2 billion deal with video game publisher Embracer, and recently acquired Pokémon Go via its subsidiary, Scopely.
“The deal’s potential to expand and strengthen Saudi foreign influence in the United States is compounded by the national security risks raised by the Saudi government’s access to and unchecked influence over the sensitive personal information collected from EA’s millions of users, its development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and the company’s product design and direction,” the Senators wrote.
The acquisition, which is the largest leveraged buyout transaction in history, includes two other investment firms: Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, the latter of which was formed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The Senators letter says that Kushner’s involvement “raises troubling questions about whether Mr. Kushner is involved in the transaction solely to ensure the federal government’s approval of the transaction.”
These investments in the video game industry are just one part of Saudi Arabia’s broader “Vision 2030” to diversify its economy as the world transitions away from the fossil fuels that enriched the Saudi royal family. The PIF has made massive investments in aerospace and defense industries, technology, sports, and other forms of entertainment. For example, Blumenthal and other Senators have expressed similar concerns about the PIF’s investment in the professional golf organization PGA Tour.
The Senators don’t specify what this “foreign influence” might look like in practice, but recent events can give us an idea. The comedy world, for example, has been embroiled in controversy for the last few weeks over the Saudi hosted and funded Riyadh Comedy Festival, which included many of the biggest stand-up comedians in the world. Those who participated in the festival, despite the Saudi government's policies and 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, defended it as an opportunity for cultural exchange and freedom of expression in a country where it has not been historically tolerated. However, some comedians who declined to join the festival revealed that participants had to agree to certain “content restrictions,” which forbade them from criticizing Saudi Arabia, the royal family, or religion.
Human Rights Watch Refuses Aziz Ansari Riyadh Comedy Festival Donation
Human Rights Watch says it 'cannot accept' donations from Aziz Ansari and other comedians who performed at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.Ethan Shanfeld (Variety)
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Pete Hegseth clearing out military lawyers as 'part of a grander plan': former official
Pete Hegseth clearing out military lawyers as 'part of a grander plan': former official
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is clearing the ranks of the military's lawyers to "get them out of the way" of possibly illegal moves, according to current and former defense officials.Hegseth fired Lt. Gen.Travis Gettys (Raw Story)
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Sam Altman prepares ChatGPT for its AI-rotica debut
(src)
Some like it bot! ChatGPT promises AI-rotica is coming for verified adults
: Maybe this will bring in some actual profit?Brandon Vigliarolo (The Register)
If I genuinely believed I was 18 months away from superintelligence that could solve cancer, I would probably not be pivoting to horny chatbots, but that's just me (a person with priorities)
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‘College Group Chat’: JD Vance Dismisses ‘Pearl Clutching’ Over Young Republicans Leak to Attack Jay Jones
‘College Group Chat’: JD Vance Dismisses ‘Pearl Clutching’ Over Young Republicans ...
Liberals hit back at Vance's blunt dismissal of racist, antisemitic and misogynistic messages leaked from a Young Republicans group chat.David Gilmour (Mediaite)
Pokémon, mega leak fino al 2030: Gen 10 “Winds and Waves”, Legends: Galar e un MMO multi-regione “Seed”
Un maxi leak delinea la roadmap Pokémon: Gen 10 ‘Winds & Waves’ nel 2026, Legends: Galar, MMO multi-regione ‘Seed’ e Gen 11 nel 2030.
Cosa è ufficiale e cosa no, leggilo qui: Pokémon, mega leak fino al 2030: Gen 10 “Winds and Waves”, Legends: Galar e un MMO multi-regione “Seed”
Pokémon, mega leak 2026–2030: Gen 10 ‘Winds & Waves’, Legends: Galar e MMO ‘Seed
Un maxi leak delinea la roadmap Pokémon: Gen 10 ‘Winds & Waves’ nel 2026, Legends: Galar, MMO multi-regione ‘Seed’ e Gen 11 nel 2030. Cosa è ufficiale e cosa no.Redazione (Atom Heart Magazine)
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Italofonia, il merito degli italo-discendenti
Trump’s Tariff Fight With China Means Trouble for a Vast Wilderness in Brazil
Brazilian farmers are lobbying to roll back deforestation restrictions in order to sell more soybeans to the huge Chinese market.
What happened is kind of like what happened to the cotton market in the Civil War — back then the South decided to threaten to withhold cotton destined for British mills in order to force the British to intervene on their side. Instead, the mill owners set up a cotton industry in Egypt, and stopped needing to buy from the US anymore. This meant that the high profits from cotton never returned. In the same way, Chinese pig farmers have switched their sourcing of soy, and no longer buy from the US
Trump’s Tariffs Should Force a Reckoning With America’s Soy Industry
The industry became the world’s second-largest not because of human demand for soy, but to feed China’s pigs.The New Republic
Improved drilling to boost Gulf of Mexico offshore oil output as US onshore growth slows
HOUSTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Rigs drilling beneath the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico will drive U.S. oil industry growth this year and next as onshore production slows due to lower prices and maturing shale fields, and analysts and consultants expect the trend to continue as new technology and friendly regulations attract investment offshore.
The offshore oil and gas sector took a backseat to shale in recent years because drilling at sea requires years of construction work and higher upfront investments. Entry costs were lower for shale production and returns quicker, so rapid expansion in shale made the U.S. the world's top oil producer.
Now, technological improvements allow for high-pressure offshore drilling while U.S. President Donald Trump has brought in industry-friendly regulations. With the most prolific shale areas depleting in giant fields like the Permian, shale producers must shift drilling to less productive areas at higher prices.
Improved drilling to boost Gulf of Mexico offshore oil output as US onshore growth slows
HOUSTON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Rigs drilling beneath the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico will drive U.S. oil industry growth this year and next as onshore production slows due to lower prices and maturing shale fields, and analysts and consultants expect the trend to continue as new technology and friendly regulations attract investment offshore.
The offshore oil and gas sector took a backseat to shale in recent years because drilling at sea requires years of construction work and higher upfront investments. Entry costs were lower for shale production and returns quicker, so rapid expansion in shale made the U.S. the world's top oil producer.
Now, technological improvements allow for high-pressure offshore drilling while U.S. President Donald Trump has brought in industry-friendly regulations. With the most prolific shale areas depleting in giant fields like the Permian, shale producers must shift drilling to less productive areas at higher prices.
BlackRock, Nvidia-backed group strikes $40 billion AI data center deal
Oct 15 (Reuters) - An investor group, including BlackRock and Nvidia (NVDA.O), will buy Aligned Data Centers from Macquarie Asset Management (MQG.AX) in a deal worth $40 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, as AI infrastructure expansion powers on.
The deal underscores an intensifying race to expand the costly, supply-constrained infrastructure required to develop artificial intelligence technology, as companies rush to build sophisticated AI models.
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I'm not the only one seeing the 20 or so deals like this in the last few weeks. Right?
Is this because the SEC is shutdown?
The purchases (like this one) are real. The partnership deals (AMD, ARM, Broadcom, CoreWeave) are all fake and only help NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI avoid antitrust/anti-competitive suits in the future by feeding them breadcrumbs.
The real deal is Oracle hosting OpenAI models on NVIDIA hardware. Until we figure out if it’s a bubble or not, I guess the only company with guaranteed profit is TSMC.
Un riparo da malattie infettive e tanto altro, scoprilo
Il Lisozima: L'Eroe Nascosto della Nostra Salute – Perché Questa Medicina Naturale È Incredibilmente Ignorata dal Sistema?
Nella frenesia della vita moderna, siamo costantemente bombardati da nuove cure e soluzioni complesse, dimenticando spesso che alcuni dei ...Giuliano (Blogger)
I analyzed 200 e-commerce sites and found 73% of their traffic is fake
cross-posted from: lemmy.bestiver.se/post/676673
Comments
How 73% of Your E-commerce Visitors Could Be Fake
A conversion rate of less than 0.1%. That was the moment I realized something was fundamentally broken with the way we measure success on the internet.joindatacops.com
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How old is this article? Is it a reprint from years ago? Because he talks about suddenly pivoting his data by “conversion rate” and having an AHA moment about how we measure success.
Except… conversion rate is a bone-standard, absolutely ubiquitous way to measure traffic quality in ecommerce. No one places ads without knowing how many of them lead to conversions. Defining your conversion event is often part of setting up an ad in the first place.
He then goes on to describe his hand-rolled script that analyses mouse movements to differentiate humans from bots.
Except… that’s exactly what the “I am human” checkbox from CloudFlare and Google have been doing for years.
CloudFlare have said that about 30% of Internet traffic is bots. This is well known. It could easily be 70% for some sites.
I would say that there’s nothing to see here, but it’s probably a little worse than that: just adding some really shaky analysis and anecdotal data to an already widely-covered topic. Are we actually going to trust an internet marketer’s hand-rolled mouse movements analysis over CloudFlare?
I’m not.
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
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The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]
Millions read the Kyiv Independent, but only one in 1,000 supports us financially
Russia’s war against Ukraine
A photo purporting to show the still-burning Russian oil depot in Feodosia, occupied Crimea on Oct. 14 after a Ukrainian drone strike the day previously (Telegram/Crimean Wind).
US defense manufacturer reveals new Tomahawk launcher — just what Ukraine would need to hit Russia. The Tomahawk’s range would open up great swathes of Russia to Ukrainian long-range missile strikes, most notably Moscow and St. Petersburg.
‘Surprising’ drop in military aid to Ukraine in recent months, report says.
In July and August, total military aid to Ukraine fell 43% lower than the amount received in the first half of the year, a report by the Kiel Institute finds.
Ukraine urges UN to condemn Russian attack on UN aid convoy in Kherson Oblast. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged U.N. member states to condemn Russia’s Oct. 14 attack on a U.N. aid convoy in Kherson Oblast, which left one truck destroyed and another badly damaged.
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Russia’s largest oil terminal in occupied Crimea still on fire 2 days after Ukrainian drone strike. “Poisonous smoke floats over the city, which can be seen even from Stary Krym (25 kilometers away),” local media reported.
Trump says Turkey’s Erdogan could mediate Russia-Ukraine war.
“He’s respected by Russia. Ukraine, I can’t tell you about, but he is respected by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Trump told journalists.
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Trump’s two wars: why diplomacy worked in Gaza but not in Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump’s success in brokering the Oct. 9 ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has been praised worldwide. What seems to be a diplomatic victory in the Middle East stands in sharp contrast with Trump’s failure to negotiate a ceasefire in Eastern Europe.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Zelensky strips tainted Odesa Mayor Trukhanov of Ukrainian citizenship, effectively pushes him out of office
President Volodymyr Zelensky stripped Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov of his Ukrainian citizenship after years of allegations that he possessed a Russian passport.
Photo:
Yulii Zozulia / Ukrinform / Future Publishing via Getty Images
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Who buys Russian oil and gas?
While China and India have rushed to buy up the oil and gas spurned by Europe in the wake of Russia’s 2022 intensification of its war against Ukraine, a handful of EU countries continue to import significant amounts even as the West examines wider restrictions on Moscow’s main source of revenue.
Photo: Contributor / Getty Images
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‘Kyiv could be Silicon Valley’ — New 50-million-euro startup fund will develop Ukraine’s tech-ecosystem
If most investors have opted to watch Ukraine from a distance during Russia’s ongoing invasion, Charles Whitehead and Dominique Piotet are undeterred, launching a 50 million euro venture capital fund to boost local talent and help put Ukrainian startups on the global map.
Photo: UNIT.City / Facebook
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Human cost of Russia’s war
Hospital damaged in Russian strike on Kharkiv, 6 people injured. At the time of the attack, more than 100 patients were in the hospital.
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International response
IMF keeps Ukraine’s growth forecast unchanged, despite mounting attacks on energy. The IMF forecasted 2% growth in 2025 and 4.5% in 2026, unaltered from its April 2025 projections.
US expects ‘big’ NATO spending pledges for Ukrainian weapons purchases, envoy says. The comments come ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Oct. 15, chaired by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Trump says Putin should ‘do something’ to end war in Ukraine, cites ‘a million and a half’ Russian losses. “I mean, I had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin, but he just doesn’t want to end that war,” Trump said during a meeting with Argentina’s President Javier Milei on Oct. 14.
US Treasury Secretary meets Ukraine’s prime minister, pledges stronger pressure on Russia. The meeting comes as a Ukrainian delegation — also including top presidential aide Andriy Yermak and Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov — holds high-level talks with U.S. officials on defense, energy resilience, and sanctions.
Lukashenko ready for ‘big deal’ with US if it serves Belarus’s interests.
“We will wait for their big proposals, for a big deal, as they like to say. They love these big deals,” Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko said.
Opinions and insights
Russia has tortured Ukrainian POWs for years. Now they’re even more vulnerable.
On Sept. 29, 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law withdrawing from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, symbolically making Russia the first country in history to abandon this anti-torture pact. Russia’s decision to quit Europe’s anti-torture convention is both a symbolic gesture of defiance and a concrete step with grave human rights consequences.
Photo: Chris McGrath / Getty Images
In other news
Belgorod resident says life in Russia is ‘simply hopeless’ amid drone strikes, power outages, intercepted call suggests. “Dozens of (strike drones) were launched somewhere. Can you imagine?! I look and it’s flying. Where will it fly, and what will it do, what is it targeting? It’s simply hopeless,” the woman said.
Russia mulls price caps at gas stations, expert warns of mass ‘out-of-stock’ signs. The proposal, initiated by the Russian National Automobile Union, comes amid a deepening supply crisis exacerbated by Ukraine’s escalating drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.
Belarus detains at least 88 over alleged ties to military monitoring group, rights watchdog says. The military monitoring group Belarusian Hajun was an open-source intelligence project that tracked Russian and Belarusian troop movements and other military activity in Belarus.
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zionists already breaking the Ceasefire
Israel imposes new Gaza aid restrictions, keeps Rafah crossing closed
Israeli forces kill several Palestinians in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire comes under growing strain.Abby Rogers (Al Jazeera)
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Frieren - Capitolo 14
Per la prima volta dopo un po' di tempo, le cose si mettono malino per Frieren, a causa del suo eccesso di zelo...
Al-Qassam Brigades Honor Secret ‘Shadow Unit’ after Prisoner Handover
The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, issued a tribute on Tuesday to the Shadow Unit, following the handover of Israeli soldiers who had been held captive by the resistance.
In a statement published on Telegram, the Qassam Brigades wrote: “A fitting tribute to the unknown soldiers of the Shadow Unit,” describing the group as responsible for protecting and concealing the prisoners held by the resistance, despite Israel’s persistent attempts to uncover their fate.
The Brigades added that the tribute was “for those who safeguarded the enemy’s prisoners throughout two years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada under the most difficult conditions, giving their effort and blood until the resistance’s promise of freedom for our prisoners was fulfilled.”
Hollywood producer to lead acquisition of Israeli spyware maker NSO
Following the ownership change, Hollywood producer Robert Simonds joined NSO’s board and attempted to acquire the company. He resigned five months later, after the deal fell through.
Interestingly, when asked about the deal by TechCrunch, an NSO spokesperson said the following:
“This investment does not mean that the company is moving out of Israeli regulatory or operational control. (…) The company’s headquarters and core operations remain in Israel. It continues to be fully supervised and regulated by the relevant Israeli authorities, including the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli regulatory framework.”
He later requested that the comments be withdrawn, arguing they were made off the record, though TechCrunch stated that no such understanding had been established.
Hollywood producer to lead acquisition of spyware maker NSO - 9to5Mac
Other members of the investor group, as well as the financial terms, remain undisclosed. Here's what has been reported so far.Marcus Mendes (9to5Mac)
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Hollywood producer to lead acquisition of Israeli spyware maker NSO
Following the ownership change, Hollywood producer Robert Simonds joined NSO’s board and attempted to acquire the company. He resigned five months later, after the deal fell through.
Interestingly, when asked about the deal by TechCrunch, an NSO spokesperson said the following:
“This investment does not mean that the company is moving out of Israeli regulatory or operational control. (…) The company’s headquarters and core operations remain in Israel. It continues to be fully supervised and regulated by the relevant Israeli authorities, including the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli regulatory framework.”
He later requested that the comments be withdrawn, arguing they were made off the record, though TechCrunch stated that no such understanding had been established.
Hollywood producer to lead acquisition of spyware maker NSO - 9to5Mac
Other members of the investor group, as well as the financial terms, remain undisclosed. Here's what has been reported so far.Marcus Mendes (9to5Mac)
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Frieren - Capitolo 13
I nostri eroi si trovano nuovamente a non avanzare più di tanto, e quindi anche questo capitolo offre più che altro solo delle riflessioni...
Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere soared by a record amount in 2024 to hit another high, UN data shows, deepening the climate crisis that is already taking lives and livelihoods across the world.
Scientists are worried that the natural land and ocean “sinks” that remove CO2 from the air are weakening as a result of global heating, which could form a vicious circle and drive temperatures up even faster. The global average concentration of the gas surged by 3.5 parts per million to 424ppm in 2024, the largest increase since modern measurements started in 1957, according to the report by the World Meteorological Organization.
Several factors contributed to the leap in CO2, including another year of unrelenting fossil fuel burning despite a pledge by the world’s countries in 2023 to “transition away” from coal, oil and gas. Another factor was an upsurge in wildfires in conditions made hotter and drier by global heating. Wildfire emissions in the Americas reached historic levels in 2024, which was the hottest year yet recorded.
Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating
CO2 in air hit new high last year, with scientists concerned natural land and ocean carbon sinks are weakeningDamian Carrington (The Guardian)
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Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating
Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere soared by a record amount in 2024 to hit another high, UN data shows, deepening the climate crisis that is already taking lives and livelihoods across the world.
Scientists are worried that the natural land and ocean “sinks” that remove CO2 from the air are weakening as a result of global heating, which could form a vicious circle and drive temperatures up even faster. The global average concentration of the gas surged by 3.5 parts per million to 424ppm in 2024, the largest increase since modern measurements started in 1957, according to the report by the World Meteorological Organization.
Several factors contributed to the leap in CO2, including another year of unrelenting fossil fuel burning despite a pledge by the world’s countries in 2023 to “transition away” from coal, oil and gas. Another factor was an upsurge in wildfires in conditions made hotter and drier by global heating. Wildfire emissions in the Americas reached historic levels in 2024, which was the hottest year yet recorded.
Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating
CO2 in air hit new high last year, with scientists concerned natural land and ocean carbon sinks are weakeningDamian Carrington (The Guardian)
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About 40% of methane emissions come from natural sources. But scientists are concerned that global heating is leading to more methane production in wetlands, another potential feedback loop. The rest comes from fossil fuel exploitation; livestock such as cattle; rotting waste in landfills; and rice paddies. Human-caused nitrous oxide emissions include those from overuse of fertiliser by farmers and some industrial processes.
Add on to this all the new methane seeps they're discovering on the antarctic sea floor. Personally I think this will turn out to be a major tipping point. There is believed to be a lot of methane down there and methane, while short lived in the atmosphere, is a far more portent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
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You can really tell that with the new clusterfucks drawing all the attention, things like social progress and fighting climate change are being neglected.
Edit: And Sudan. I'm less sure about social progress, actually, because it's always been nebulous, but Sudan has gotten good and ignored.
Sweden, Estonia, and Finland pledge to increase spending on weapons purchases from US
Sweden, Estonia, and Finland pledged contributions on Wednesday to increase spending on purchases of US weapons for Ukraine, but countries including Spain, Italy, France, and Britain have faced criticism for holding back, Reuters reports.
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday urged allies to ramp up investment in the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, which replaced US arms donations to Ukraine and now requires allies to pay for US weapons deliveries.
Sweden, Estonia, and Finland pledge to increase spending on weapons purchases from US – Europe live
Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he expected further pledges, noting that $2bn already had been committed through the mechanismJoe Coughlan (The Guardian)
Frieren - Capitolo 12
Il gruppo di avventurieri, ora 33% più vasto di prima, nel continuare sul proprio percorso arriva alla città di Waal, dove però...
China retaliates in response to Dutch seizure of Nexperia, blocking chipmaker's exports following takeover — 861,000 square foot assembly site in Gaungdong affected as trade war spirals
China has blocked the export of certain products produced by the Dutch chip company, Nexperia, according to Bloomberg. This is the same company that the Dutch government recently seized from its Chinese parent company to prevent the transfer of what it called "crucial technological knowledge" from leaving the country. This action appears to be retaliatory and highlights the increasingly multi-polar world that is developing under the umbrella of rapid global expansion in AI capabilities, and a rush to secure important strategic chip development resources.
Chinese trade relations with Western nations have been far more fractious in 2025 than in years past. Following increasingly aggressive global trade policies, China has pivoted from integrating with the wider global economy to focusing more on shoring up its own semiconductor development and nearer-to-hand trading partners. Many Western nations have mirrored this in turn, with the Dutch government's latest actions appearing to be just one more example of nations ensuring their own supply of silicon above almost all else.
China mandates domestic firms source 50% of chips from Chinese producers — Beijing continues to squeeze companies over reliance on foreign semiconductors
Questions remain about how native chips will work with existing AI infrastructure and software platforms like CUDA.Jon Martindale (Tom's Hardware)
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sure....
"china" started this and west "mirrored"
We’re too obsessed with the cult of personality in this country. It’s very difficult to get anyone to turn on a candidate, once voters decided they like the person. People don’t like admitting they were wrong, so a candidate really has to do something extreme to lose support they’ve gained, and make anyone re-evaluate.
Mamdani’s team knows this. Which is why he’s racing to compromise everything, hoping to add moderates to his base.
Poles hating russians makes sense historically, but historically Germans, both Prussian and Austrian , have been just as bad, if not worse with the nazis, so why don't they hate them too?
I think the "russophobia" today has more to do with current events than history. If Germany did anschluss 2 and invaded Austria, I think Poland would be just as scared of them.
Maybe, but those specific targets were more often than not killed. So yeah, people who survived may say the russians were worse because you can't ask a dead jew who they thought were worse. The Germans killed 36x as many people during the occupation. Yeah the soviets taking your shit and trying to suppress your culture and autonomy sucks but that's better than the Germans doing the same while sending a good chunk of the population to death camps
Again, I think that perspective is more shaded by the more recent soviet occupation after the war. If the nazis won and implemented their full lebensraum plans for Poland, nobody would be saying the russians were worse.
Some true, yet Austria did hit Poland only few times, while Germany, did that many times for over a millennium.
Germans are often hated, true, but for many, they are also allies in NATO, EU, Schengen and work market, so for many, they aren't bad anymore. I mean, for many, there still are, rarely because of history, but many polish nationalists, even nazis, view whole EU as bad, as EU is trying to unify Europe beyond what nationalism wants coexist with others. Polish vs German hate falls under nationalism vs globalism war currently.
But rus, they are good source for smuggling only, and always should be hated.
UK must prepare buildings for 2C rise in global temperature, government told
UK must prepare buildings for 2C rise in global temperature, government told
Climate advisers warn that current plans to protect against extreme weather are inadequateFiona Harvey (The Guardian)
Trump threatens to cut US aid to Argentina if Javier Milei loses election
Trump threatens to cut US aid to Argentina if Milei loses election
US president says ‘we will not be generous’ if leader fails to win key midterms after promising $20bn to prop up struggling economyGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
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‘Catholicism is reinventing itself’: Brazilians waking at 4am to stream prayers
‘Catholicism is reinventing itself’: Brazilians waking at 4am to stream prayers
Habit of rising early for livestreams growing rapidly, suggesting Brazil is testing ground for religious influencersTiago Rogero (The Guardian)
Televangelists and their victims, a never-ending story.
Don't fall for the scam of religion.
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Peffse
in reply to FenrirIII • • •paraphrand
in reply to Peffse • • •Oh no.
I remember bootlegs being common for certain genres at used DVD stores back in the 2000s. I pointed some out once, and the clerk was like “whatever man.”
Back then it was anime and esoteric stuff. It makes sense to me that TV show box sets would be a target for bootlegs.
ferret
in reply to Peffse • • •like this
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Canadian_Cabinet
in reply to Peffse • • •like this
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warm
in reply to Peffse • • •like this
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Peffse
in reply to warm • • •It's a pretty big mistake, though given it's his second (casual) channel it is very low stakes.
He can't posit that re-releases are being done on single layer DVDs to save money, but use bootlegs as proof. Bootlegs aren't a DVD release done by the distributor. That's a pretty fatal flaw in logic.
It's the equivalent of "Steam games are getting re-released in a weird way" and linking to Pirate Bay torrents, and the entire video is about how cheap games have gotten since they don't have Steam features like achievements and cloud-save.
warm
in reply to Peffse • • •It's really not a big deal lol. He already pointed out his error and leaving the video up is fine, it's showing that you can make mistakes and hold accountability. But its a fucking DVD video, let's not blow something so minor out of proportion for "drama" lmao
Also, that analogy couldnt be any more off the mark.
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Peffse
in reply to warm • • •Holytimes
in reply to Peffse • • •ravenaspiring
in reply to FenrirIII • • •Aibo1
in reply to FenrirIII • • •Those releases he is referring to are definitely bootlegs. He should get his movies from a more respectable outlet instead.
I imagine that he started collecting DVDs because it's a cheap way to own a physical copy of your favorite shows...
But for the love of god just go hunt for cheap Blu-ray versions instead and leave DVDs in the past.
Unless you, for whatever reason, just must own a specific DVD release because it has otherwise unreleased extra content/commentary, or it never made it to Blu-ray.
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ieatpwns
in reply to Aibo1 • • •Frezik
in reply to ieatpwns • • •like this
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Chozo
in reply to Frezik • • •frongt
in reply to Chozo • • •LainTrain
in reply to Frezik • • •khannie
in reply to LainTrain • • •Aibo1
in reply to ieatpwns • • •Frezik
in reply to Aibo1 • • •Flamekebab
in reply to Frezik • • •Droechai
in reply to Flamekebab • • •cmnybo
in reply to Frezik • • •Frezik
in reply to cmnybo • • •I have a few on my desk right now that won't. Usually somewhat more obscure titles where nobody has ripped the key and shared it in the public
KEYDB.cfg. Like the Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection (incidentally, one of the movies in there is public domain, and another will be on this coming Jan 1).Although I also have a copy of Deadpool, not UHD, that won't rip, so it's not always obscure titles, either.
SmoothLiquidation
in reply to cmnybo • • •cmnybo
in reply to SmoothLiquidation • • •SmoothLiquidation
in reply to cmnybo • • •I ended up with an archgon MD-8107 and it has been great. It is external and plugs in via usb, and works great on both my Mac Laptop and my Linux box with MakeMKV.
I think I found it via the forums on MakeMKV to make sure I got one that I could put the correct firmware on.
QuadratureSurfer
in reply to FenrirIII • • •Additional context from his pinned comment to that video:
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Sheridan
in reply to FenrirIII • • •BirdObserver
in reply to Sheridan • • •I HAVE broken discs in similar sets (Mr. Robot, Planet of the Apes) taking them out of those awful cases, and also had them arrived scratched up. Definitely check them closely when they arrive so you don’t realize (like I have) when you get to disc six a month later and realize it won’t play past 40 minutes. So many cheap box sets now have the same horrible packaging that ruins the discs.
When possible with those kinds of cases, I just rip out the horrible center disc holders, put the discs in sleeves and then put those in the case.
nyan
in reply to BirdObserver • • •So someone actually came up with something worse than the Scanavo DVD cases (on the grounds that I never actually broke a disc taking it out of a Scanavo case, just thought I was going to)? That's . . . brutal.
Frezik
in reply to FenrirIII • • •Jo Miran
in reply to FenrirIII • • •Some "bootlegs" are licensed and sold in Amazon. Note the manufacturer.
Real
"Bootleg"
RebekahWSD
in reply to Jo Miran • • •Caillte
in reply to FenrirIII • • •I feel like it’s also probable that he didn’t do the exhaustive due diligence here because he was trying to get many videos out very quickly to coincide with the launch of the good store socks.
I could see being annoyed that this might be why an issue like this slipped through, but it’s a fund raiser for charity. So, uhh, y’know, let this slide.