ReHacked vol. 276: Speed Limiters Now Mandatory in All New EU Cars, The Law Code of Hammurabi, Tokyo’s oldest train line in pictures and more

eHammurabi #history #law #longread

The Law Code of Hammurabi is one of the oldest legal texts from ancient Mesopotamia. The artifact, a basalt stele, is believed to have been created between c. 1792–1750 BCE. It was discovered by Jacques Jean Marie de Morgan's team around 1901 in Susa, or present-day Iran. The name "Hammurabi" belongs to the sixth ruler of the Old Babylonian dynasty. The cuneiform inscription is in the Old Babylonian language, which is a later dialect of ancient Akkadian.

Make a donation - support Ukraine. My favourite: Support the Armed Forces of Ukraine | via National Bank of Ukraine. More options if you want alternatives. Also, very important Come Back Alive Foundation - Charity Organization.

Щира подяка. Разом до перемоги!

Don’t forget to share if you like what you read here, subscribe (if not yet) and leave a comment. Any form of your feedback is very important to me. Thanks!

RSS feed available if you don’t want to clutter your inbox.

I'm excited to offer you an opportunity to support my work as the sole contributor to ReHacked. Your contribution will play a crucial role in covering server expenses. Rest assured, my commitment to keeping the primary content accessible to everyone remains unwavering.

As the sole contributor, your support is truly invaluable. Feel free to become a paid subscriber, and remember, you have the flexibility to cancel or switch to the "Free" option at any time.

Thank you for being an essential part of our community. Together, let's continue fostering a culture of knowledge-sharing and making a positive difference in the digital landscape.

Giving Life To Æthelstan | History Today #history

King Æthelstan’s name now resonates in few places in contemporary Britain and finds little recognition beyond these shores. Yet during his own reign (924-939) Æthelstan’s contemporaries regarded him – in the words of a Breton abbot – as ‘one of the most excellent and illustrious among the earthly kings of our own day’. As the first Anglo-Saxon king to have united all the English peoples under one rule following his conquest of Northumbria in 927, Æthelstan enjoyed a deservedly high reputation at home and abroad. His contemporaries recognised him as a successful warrior who defeated native British and Scandinavian rivals for his throne, as well as a powerful administrator, innovative law-maker and devout supporter of the Church. Later in the tenth century a West Saxon chronicler, Æthelweard (died. c. 998), deemed Æthelstan the most powerful ruler in Britain since the Romans, observing that in his days ‘the fields of Britain were consolidated into one’.

The Six Dumbest Ideas in Computer Security #security #longread

What the Decentralized Nature of Anonymous Tells Us About Its Power ‹ Literary Hub #security

As Anonymous proliferated, it became even more difficult to control—for there were always those who sought to guide its path.

Crooks Steal Phone, SMS Records for Nearly All AT&T Customers – Krebs on Security #security

AT&T Corp. disclosed today that a new data breach has exposed phone call and text message records for roughly 110 million people — nearly all of its customers. AT&T said it delayed disclosing the incident in response to “national security and public safety concerns,” noting that some of the records included data that could be used to determine where a call was made or text message sent. AT&T also acknowledged the customer records were exposed in a cloud database that was protected only by a username and password (no multi-factor authentication needed).

How To Survive 3 Years In North Korea As A Foreigner (2021) #politics #world #longread

Shelley Duvall: The Shining and Annie Hall actress dies at 75 #promemoria

US actress Shelley Duvall, known for films like The Shining, Annie Hall and Nashville, has died at the age of 75.

Her partner Dan Gilroy confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.

"My dear, sweet, wonderful life partner and friend left us. Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away, beautiful Shelley," he said, according to the outlet.

She died in her sleep of complications from diabetes at her home in Texas, Gilroy said.

Wagara: Japanese Patterns and What They Mean #art

Wagara are traditional Japanese patterns; wa means “Japanese-style” and gara means “pattern.” You’ll notice these patterns everywhere in Japan — on kimono and yukata (cotton summer kimono), tenugui handkerchiefs, stationery, housewares and more. Many of these patterns date to the Heian period (794–1185), with roots stretching back even further. Mainly inspired by nature — whether in appearance or meaning — wagara have been passed down through generations of artisans.

Researchers discover a new form of scientific fraud: Uncovering 'sneaked references' #science

References in a scientific publication allow authors to justify methodological choices or present the results of past studies, highlighting the iterative and collaborative nature of science.

However, we found through a chance encounter that some unscrupulous actors have added extra references, invisible in the text but present in the articles' metadata, when they submitted the articles to scientific databases. The result? Citation counts for certain researchers or journals have skyrocketed, even though these references were not cited by the authors in their articles.

Children’s sugar consumption halved since tax announcement, study finds | Sugar | The Guardian #health

The amount of sugar consumed by children from soft drinks in the UK halved in the three years after the announcement of a sugar tax in 2016, a study has found.

The tax, which came into force in April 2018, has been so successful in improving people’s diets that experts have said an expansion to cover other high sugar food and drink products is now a “no-brainer”.

The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at responses from 7,999 adults and 7,656 children between 2008 and 2019 to the annual nationally representative UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey.

ESA - Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket powers into space #engineering #space

Ariane 6 is the latest in Europe's Ariane rocket series, taking over from Ariane 5, and featuring a modular and versatile design that can launch missions from low-Earth orbit and farther out into deep space.

"A completely new rocket is not launched often, and success is far from guaranteed. I am privileged to have witnessed this historic moment when Europe's new generation of the Ariane family lifted off – successfully – effectively reinstating European access to space,” said ESA's Director General Josef Aschbacher.

Dr. Edward C. Stone (1936-2024) #promemoria

Edward C. Stone was an internationally known physicist who served as project scientist for the Voyager program from 1972 to 2022. As a graduate student at the University Chicago, he was inspired to enter the fields of planetary science and space exploration by the launch of Sputnik in 1957.

Judge dismisses DMCA copyright claim in GitHub Copilot suit • The Register #copyrights

The anonymous programmers have repeatedly insisted Copilot could, and would, generate code identical to what they had written themselves, which is a key pillar of their lawsuit since there is an identicality requirement for their DMCA claim. However, Judge Tigar earlier ruled the plaintiffs hadn't actually demonstrated instances of this happening, which prompted a dismissal of the claim with a chance to amend it.

The amended complaint argued that unlawful code copying was an inevitability if users flipped Copilot's anti-duplication safety switch to off, and also cited a study into AI-generated code in attempt to back up their position that Copilot would plagiarize source, but once again the judge was not convinced that Microsoft's system was ripping off people's work in a meaningful way.

Specifically, the judge cited the study's observation that Copilot reportedly "rarely emits memorized code in benign situations, and most memorization occurs only when the model has been prompted with long code excerpts that are very similar to the training data."

"Accordingly, plaintiffs’ reliance on a study that, at most, holds that Copilot may theoretically be prompted by a user to generate a match to someone else’s code is unpersuasive," he concluded.

economy - How far back in time have historians estimated the rate of economic growth and the economic power of various empires? - History Stack Exchange #history #economy

TL;DR: Don't trust historical GDP data about pre-modern times

Speed Limiters Now Mandatory in All New EU Cars #automotive

• European Union mandate for Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) systems, which warn the driver and can limit vehicle speed, come into force this month.
• Manufacturers can choose from four different methods to warn drivers they're speeding, though the warnings are still easy to circumvent.
• Starting in 2022 all newly introduced car models in the EU have had Intelligent Speed Assist (ISA) installed, but now all new vehicles must feature them.

"Even in the case of speed control function, where the car speed will be automatically gently reduced, the system can be smoothly overridden by the driver by pressing the accelerator pedal a little bit deeper," the European Commission adds.

The main question, of course, is if these systems are so easy to ignore, will they have a measurable effect on the rate of traffic accidents that are linked to speeding, or will they become another system that will be easy to tune out, like pop-up ads?

Tokyo’s oldest train line – in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian #design #art

Chinese factories use TikToks to find new business partners - Rest of World #socialnetworks #economy

Factories in China are creating viral accounts on TikTok, Instagram, and WeChat.
Outside of costly trade fairs and wholesale market stalls, manufacturers want to show off their personalities to reach new customers.
The platforms’ recommendation mechanisms and large user bases help factories find new business customers.

If you would like to propose any interesting article for the next ReHacked issue, just hit reply or push this sexy “Leave a comment” (if not subscribed yet) button below. It’s a nice way to start a discussion.

Thanks for reading this digest and remember: we can make it better together, just leave your opinion or suggestions after pressing this button above or simply hit the reply in your e-mail and don’t forget - sharing is caring ;) Have a great week!

Dainius