ReHacked vol. 219: Backup Ukraine, Reddit vs the Internet, Japan’s Ever-Popular Capsule Toys and more
Blogging myth: posts need to be 100% correct. --J.Evans
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Reddit vs the Internet
Some of theese links might not work at the time you get the newsletter because of the reddit’s black-out.
Major Reddit communities will go dark to protest threat to third-party apps - The Verge #internet #socialnetworks
App developers have said next month’s changes to Reddit’s API pricing could make their apps unsustainable. Now, dozens of the site’s biggest subreddits plan to go private for two days in protest.
Tell HN: My Reddit account was banned after adding my subs to the protest | Hacker News #censorship
x89/Shreddit: Remove your comment history on Reddit as deleting an account does not do so. #software #python
Remove your comment history on Reddit as deleting an account does not do so.
Archive Your Reddit Data While You Still Can | xavd.id #software
If you're an active Reddit user, you may have heard about impending changes to its public API. This move will have widespread impact on Redditors, including the death of beloved 3rd party clients and some subreddits even going dark indefinitely. These changes mark the beginning of the (apparently) inevitable enshittification of Reddit as a platform. Realizing this bummed me out more than I expected the death of a website might.
Reddit CEO doubles down on attack on Apollo developer in drama-filled AMA | TechCrunch
Despite community backlash — which includes a site-wide protest from thousands of communities known as subreddits — Huffman’s AMA confirmed the company has no plans to revise its coming API changes. What’s more, Huffman continued his accusations against Apollo, calling out the developer, Christian Selig’s, “behavior and communications” as being “all over the place” and saying he couldn’t see Reddit working with the developer further.
Reddark - watch the reddit goes dark
RIF will shut down on June 30, 2023, in response to Reddit's API changes : redditisfun
Sync will shut down on June 30, 2023 : r/redditsync
Addressing the community about changes to our API : r/reddit
Tokyo Weekender selected
Onionlabs Encapsulates Japan in Animated Pixel Art | Tokyo Weekender #art #culture
For generations, Japan has been a muse for artists of all mediums. Filmmakers, painters, writers and photographers from around the world have found inspiration in various aspects of the country and its culture, infusing its charm and aesthetic with their own unique style.
One such artist is Nelson Wu, a pixel artist and illustrator whose colorful depictions of everything from Japanese landscapes to convenience store snacks have not only amassed him a large online following, but also led to his work being displayed on the big screen of the world-famous Shibuya Scramble Crossing.
Catching up with Wu, commonly known online as Instant Onion, we discuss how a love of art and Japan has culminated into an award-winning career spanning multiple forms of media.
Gachapon Obsession: Japan’s Ever-Popular Capsule Toys | Tokyo Weekender #culture #japan
The satisfying cranking of the dial. That’s followed by the surprising ‘pop’ sound when the capsule rolls into the collection tray. And then comes the heightened anticipation as you wait with bated breath for your mystery prize to be revealed. We are, of course, talking about gachapon, Japan’s vending machine-dispensed capsule toys. The simple and affordable thrills still hold a special place in our hearts. If you’re visiting Tokyo or any other big Japanese city, we recommend treating yourself to at least one gacha. Though you’ll certainly want to leave with more.
The other news
UNESCO - Backup Ukraine (case study) - YouTube #technology #culture #art #heritage
The 'Backup Ukraine' project is a digital rescuer of Ukraine' culture. The bombings in Ukraine are relentless. As well as the countless deaths and unspeakable suffering, Ukraine’s architecture and cultural heritage is being destroyed. While Ukrainian citizens are fighting for their lives and country, groups and individuals among them are working to physically save Ukraine’s architecture and cultural heritage. Vast numbers of antiquities and monuments are being actively removed from harm’s way, where possible. But many others have already been, or will be, lost, and some are immovable, leaving them vulnerable to destruction.
The challenges in saving artefacts during an active war are many, and rarely a priority as infrastructure and resources are rightfully dedicated to more pressing priorities. But in the digital era, mobile 3D scanning technology available through Polycam offers a way to save full renderings of any physical object.
A peek into Japan's Convenience Stores #history #economy #culture
The beginnings of Japan’s convenience stores
In the early 1970s, Masatoshi Ito, the chairman of Ito Yokado visited the United States. Ito Yokado owned several department stores and shopping centers, and was one of the businesses impacted by the Large Scale Store Act.
In Texas, Masatoshi visited a 7-Eleven convenience store and, impressed, took the idea to Japan. Crucially, his idea hinged on this: no store would be >500 m² (5,380 sq. ft), parking included.
This, was the shopping centers’ answer to the Large Scale Store Act.
The Dutch government wants to automatically and administratively gain permission to target victims of hackers - Bert Hubert's writings #privacy #security
The Dutch law (’Wet op de inlichtingen – en veiligheidsdiensten 2017’) has articles on special powers like targeted interception, bulk interception and hacking. In addition, there is a list of interests the services have to protect, and a list of intelligence they should be gathering. Crucially, the powers and the interests are not tied to each other directly.
This means that the law makes it possible to perform targeted operations on organizations or people that are not themselves targets. One of the two oversight bodies (CTIVD, ex-post) has written in 2017 that such ’non-target’ activities have to meet an elevated standard.
Death of Unabomber returns spotlight to Harvard mind-control study - The Washington Post #history #inmemoriam
Ted Kaczynski, the anarchist and so-called Unabomber who died in a federal prison medical facility on Saturday, transformed from boy genius to terrorist, going from a star mathematics student to a feared assailant who targeted academics, scientists and industrialized society as a whole.
[ Ted Kaczynski, who planted fear and death as the Unabomber, dies at 81 ]
Google un-bans Downloader app, but developer still mad about “broken” DMCA | Ars Technica #copyrights #software
Google has reversed the suspension of an Android TV app that was hit with a copyright complaint simply because it is able to load a pirate website that can also be loaded in any standard web browser. The Downloader app, which combines a web browser with a file manager, is back in the Google Play Store after nearly a three-week absence.
As we previously reported, Google suspended the app based on a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint from several Israeli TV companies that said the app "allows users to view the infamous copyright infringing website known as SDAROT." But that same website could be viewed on any standard browser, including Google's own Chrome app.
"The app was removed on May 19th due to the DMCA takedown request," developer Elias Saba wrote in a blog post today. "Instead of recognizing the absurdity of the claim that a web browser is somehow liable for all the unauthorized use of copyrighted content on the Internet, Google took a backseat and denied my appeal to have the app reinstated."
Do No Harm: Don't give Big Tech access to our medical records #privacy
We want the right to privacy over our medical records. This means having control over our personal health information, who has access to this information and for what purpose.
- We demand you to amend the European Health Data Space by:
- Requiring explicit consent from patients regarding sharing of medical records for purposes not directly related to treatment(aka for secondary use)
- Limiting the extensive categories of ‘health data’
- Narrowing the scope of how this information can be used, and who can access it
The constant pain that dominated my pre-menopause life #health
Wolfgang and Helene Beltracchi fooled the art market — and made millions | CNN #art #crime #history
After decades of painting fakes, falsifying evidence and diligently covering their tracks, it was a single act of carelessness that brought the Beltracchis’ deception to light.
One half of the German husband-and-wife duo, Wolfgang Beltracchi, had run out of the zinc he used to create white paint for their forgery operation. He instead purchased a zinc pigment from a Dutch manufacturer who did not disclose that it contained titanium.
The next year, after one of Wolfgang’s creations — “Red Picture with Horses,” which had been passed off as the work of expressionist artist Heinrich Campendonk — sold at auction for a record 2.8 million euros (then $3.6 million), an inconsistency emerged. Analysis of the painting found traces of the titanium, but the substance had only been used as a white pigment since the 1920s.
The work in question was supposedly made in 1914.
Nanoplastic Ingestion Causes Neurological Deficits | The Scientist Magazine® #health #environment
Microplastics, or plastic particulates measuring less than five micrometers, are a growing environmental concern. These particulates disrupt reproduction, immune cell and microbiome composition in the gut, and neural and endocrine function in aquatic species and laboratory animals.1-4 Now, a new study published in Cell Reports suggests that the smaller the plastic, the greater the problem.5
According to Chao Wang, an immunologist at Soochow University and coauthor of the study, feeding mice nanoplastics induced a greater overall immune response in their guts than feeding mice larger microplastics. This supports previous research showing size-dependent differences in how nanoparticles interact with cells and instigate responses from them.6
Scientists Guide Lightning Bolts With Lasers for the First Time | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine #technology
For the first time, scientists have diverted lightning by using lasers. On the Säntis mountain in northeastern Switzerland, they shot rapid-fire beams of light into the sky and successfully guided lightning for 50 meters.
With this success as proof-of-concept, lasers could one day protect large infrastructure such as airports and launchpads from lightning strikes, write the researchers in a paper published Monday in Nature Photonics.
What Hallucinogens Will Make You See - Nautilus #nature
Psychonaut turned scientific researcher Josie Kins has personally tried over 200 psychedelic compounds and had hundreds of psychedelic experiences. But she no longer takes them herself. “I’ve already explored them so thoroughly,” she says. Over the past 12 years, Kins has compiled a list of 233 effects people experience under the influence of psychedelic drugs, drawn from online accounts and her own experience, called the Subjective Effect Index.
Octopuses, crabs and lobsters to be recognised as sentient beings under UK law following LSE report findings #law #nature
Octopuses, crabs and lobsters will receive greater welfare protection in UK law following an LSE report which demonstrates that there is strong scientific evidence that these animals have the capacity to experience pain, distress or harm.
The UK government has today confirmed that the scope of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill will be extended to all decapod crustaceans and cephalopod molluscs.
This move follows the findings of a government-commissioned independent review led by Dr Jonathan Birch. The review drew on over 300 existing scientific studies to evaluate evidence of sentience in cephalopods (including octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) and decapods (including crabs, lobsters and crayfish).
Some blogging myths #blogs
here are the myths:
- myth: you need to be original
- myth: you need to be an expert
- myth: posts need to be 100% correct
- myth: writing boring posts is bad
- myth: you need to explain every concept
- myth: page views matter
- myth: more material is always better
Forests Around Chernobyl Aren’t Decaying Properly | Science| Smithsonian Magazine (2014) #nature #environment #catastrophes #history
However, there are even more fundamental issues going on in the environment. According to a new study published in Oecologia, decomposers—organisms such as microbes, fungi and some types of insects that drive the process of decay—have also suffered from the contamination. These creatures are responsible for an essential component of any ecosystem: recycling organic matter back into the soil. Issues with such a basic-level process, the authors of the study think, could have compounding effects for the entire ecosystem.
The team decided to investigate this question in part because of a peculiar field observation. “We have conducted research in Chernobyl since 1991 and have noticed a significant accumulation of litter over time,” the write. Moreover, trees in the infamous Red Forest—an area where all of the pine trees turned a reddish color and then died shortly after the accident—did not seem to be decaying, even 15 to 20 years after the meltdown.
Our Right To Challenge Junk Patents Is Under Threat | Electronic Frontier Foundation #copyrights
The U.S. Patent Office has proposed new rules about who can challenge wrongly granted patents. If the rules become official, they will offer new protections to patent trolls. Challenging patents will become far more onerous, and impossible for some. The new rules could stop organizations like EFF, which used this process to fight the Personal Audio “podcasting patent,” from filing patent challenges altogether.
If you have a personal experience with patent troll attacks, please mention it. Comments are not anonymous and you should use your real name.
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