Friday the New York Times (following up on reports from the Wall Street Journal) wrote that China had “refused to hand over” important raw data to a 14-member World Health Organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus, reporting that “their Chinese counterparts were frustrated by the team’s persistent questioning and demands for data.” But Saturday two of those 14 team…
Tag: shame
‘Recovering’ QAnon Members Seek Help from Therapists, Subreddits, and On Telegram
“More than at any point since the QAnon conspiracy began, there is a tremendous opportunity to pull disaffected followers out of the conspiracy,” writes FiveThirtyEight. And while it’s just one of three possible scenarios, online posts suggest at least some members are abandoning the group, “but they will need support to really sever their connection.” ABC News reports that some QAnon…
The Case Against Section 230: ‘The 1996 Law That Ruined the Internet’
Writing in the Atlantic, programmer/economics commentator Steve Randy Waldman explains “Why I changed my mind” about the Communication Decency Act’s Section 230: In the United States, you are free to speak, but you are not free of responsibility for what you say. If your speech is defamatory, you can be sued. If you are a publisher, you can be sued for…
YouTube Cancels Rewind Video Amid Pandemic
YouTube says it will not produce its annual end-of-year “Rewind” video this year, due to the global pandemic. The BBC reports: The video-sharing platform has produced an annual retrospective since 2010, featuring well-known YouTube stars referencing big viral moments. But, in a statement it said: “2020 has been different. And it doesn’t feel right to carry on as if it weren’t.”…
He Called it a ‘Scamdemic’ – Then Saw His Family Getting Sick
A remarkable first-person story in today’s Washington Post: I used to call it the “scamdemic.” I thought it was an overblown media hoax. I made fun of people for wearing masks. I went all the way down the rabbit hole and fell hard on my own sword, so if you want to hate me or blame me, that’s fine. I’m doing…
Remembering the Golden Age of Computer User Groups
Slashdot reader #16,185 wrote regularly for the newsletter of a small-town computer users group. Now they’ve written an article for Ars Technica reminding readers that “The Homebrew Computer Club where the Apple I got its start is deservedly famous — but it’s far from tech history’s only community gathering centered on CPUs.” Throughout the 70s and into the 90s, groups around…
Starbucks Worker Insisting Customers Wear Masks Rewarded With $70K On GoFundMe
“Masks are stupid and so are the people wearing them,” posted one San Diego woman on Facebook (who is also an anti-vaxxer). “She has also shared previous posts expressing her refusal to wear masks, and her belief that those who wear them are ‘not thinking clearly,'” reports the Washington Post. Here’s what happened next… Amber Lynn Gilles walked into a Starbucks…
Sweden Tries Out a New Status: Pariah State
Sweden’s population is not quite twice the size of Norway’s — yet Sweden has reported 21 times as many deaths from Covid-19, prompting many countries to close its border to Sweden, reports the New York Times:
Norway isn’t the only Scandinavian neighbor barring Swedes from visiting this summer. Denmark and Finland have also closed their borders to Swedes, fearing that they would…
Reporter Tests Walmart’s $140 Laptop ‘So You Wouldn’t Have To’
Ars Technica’s technology reporter Jim Salter tested Walmart’s 11.6-inch EVOO laptop, which sells for $139 and ships with just 2GiB of RAM and a 32GB SSD, which he worries “simply is not enough room for Windows itself, let alone any applications.”
The first thing I noticed while looking through the Windows install is that our “internal” Wi-Fi is actually a cheap USB…
The Nokia 8.3 Is the First Truly Global 5G Phone
HMD Global today unveiled its latest Nokia-branded mobile phones. “The Nokia 8.3 5G is the world’s first global 5G phone, which means it supports bands in every country in which 5G is currently deployed,” reports Android Police. “At the same time, the Nokia 5.3, 1.3, and a new roaming data plan from HMD also made their debut.” From the report: Powered…