If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Alexandre De Moraes may have overplayed his hand while drafting and executing Brazil’s policies aimed at controlling speech on social platforms active in the country. According to reports out of Brazil‚ this is now making even those allies he effectively helped get elected – such as the sitting president’s environment – nervous. Moraes‚ president of the Superior Electoral Court and Supreme Federal Court justice‚ seemed fairly confident when he decided to escalate a public clash with X owner Elon Musk over court orders to ban a large number of accounts‚ including those of high profile figures. Moraes chose not to address the issue at hand – why X was supposed to comply to censor these people without being given any explanation‚ and while under a gag order‚ unable to reveal where the orders came from (it was from Moraes). Instead‚ he went for launching an investigation into Musk and X under “digital militias” law. But all this has achieved‚ it seems‚ is bring an unprecedented amount of attention to Moraes and his role in spearheading online censorship in Brazil‚ which has been ongoing for some years. Influential Brazilian “newspaper of record” Folha de S&;atilde;o Paulo now writes that Moraes is increasingly criticized not only by the opposition‚ but also members of the government of President Lula and Congress members normally aligned with both. Apparently‚ in addition to the executive and legislative branches of power‚ Moraes’ decisions are on an increasingly shaky ground even within “his own” Supreme Court. For now‚ these are just opinions expressed “behind the scenes” and in “private conversations‚ but the very fact that the newspaper – described by some observers “as the New York Times of Brazil” – decided to look into the matter of the power‚ role and support that Moraes enjoys‚ could be indicative of which way the wind is blowing. The criticism seems to boil down to various officials either wanting some of the inflammatory and controversial measures to be outright revoked‚ while others are in favor of‚ essentially‚ damage control – taking some (real or perceived) steps back‚ to calm current tensions. The post Brazil’s Chief Censor Faces Growing Criticism From Even Congress and Lula Government appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A US federal judge – who imposed draconian surveillance measures against a man charged and later convicted and paroled in connection with the January 6 events – is clearly unimpressed by the ruling of a US Court of Appeals‚ that recently overturned his decision. Senior District Judge Reggie Walton now wants the controversy officially revisited‚ so he scheduled a new hearing date for June 4 in a bid to make his original order for Daniel Goodwyn’s computer to be surveilled for “mis/disinformation” stick. Early in April‚ the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia announced that the order to monitor and “inspect” Goodwyn’s computer for “mis/disinformation” was the result of the district court having “plainly erred.” Goodwyn (described in reports as a citizen journalist) was convicted on a single trespassing misdemeanor count based on him spending 36 seconds inside the Capitol on the day. Goodwyn was subsequently arrested and sentenced by Judge Walton to two months in prison‚ but that was not all – his computer was to be “monitored and inspected” during his parole. This last bit of the ruling was too much for the circuit court‚ which overturned it earlier in the month. The ruling said Walton “plainly erred in imposing the computer-monitoring condition without considering whether it was ‘reasonably related’ to the relevant sentencing factors and involved ‘no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary’ to achieve the purposes behind sentencing.” But now Walton is trying to once again impose surveillance of Goodwyn’s computer‚ ordering him to “show cause” as to why that should not be happening. This might even be seen as testing the presumption of innocence‚ but Goodwyn’s attorney Carol Stewart is happy to point out that‚ “the First (free speech) and Fourth (unwarranted searches protections) Amendments have not been wiped out of the US Constitution yet” – calling for the computer monitoring measure to be dismissed once and for all as unconstitutional‚ and irrelevant. “The application of computer monitoring conditions to conduct invasive searches is covered extensively by case law‚ where the computer had to be used for the crime. And use could not have just been incidental or casual. The computer had to be integral to the crime‚” said Stewart. And it turns out – just as Judge Walton‚ who threw the book at Goodwyn not only for his participation in the January 6 events but it seems (at least where the “computer surveillance” measure is concerned) mostly for him talking to Tucker Carlson‚ then of Fox News – the judge himself has his own history of appearing in the media and making what can be viewed as controversial statements. On CNN‚ that is‚ as a vocal and controversial critic of Donald Trump. The post Judge Challenges Appeals Court Over Computer Monitoring Ban in January 6 Parole appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties‚ subscribe to Reclaim The Net. What is best known as the “politicization of institutions” in authoritarian societies is these days making a creeping but steady progress in some countries/blocs one would not have suspected of such things until relatively recently. Here we have Europol (EU’s law enforcement agency) and the supposedly “divested” from the EU shenanigans via Brexit UK – but is it really&;#63; – and that country’s National Crime Agency (NCA)‚ teaming up to attack Meta for dozens and dozens of reasonable reasons‚ but for the one thing the company is apparently trying to do right. Read the joint declaration here. And that’s implementing in its products end-to-end encryption (E2EE)‚ the very‚ necessary‚ irreplaceable software backbone of a safe and secure internet for everybody. Yet that is what many governments‚ and here we see the EU via Europol‚ and the UK‚ keep attempting to damage. Related: But mass surveillance is a hard sell‚ so the established pitch is to link the global and overall internet problem‚ to that of the safety of children online‚ and justify it that way. The Europol executive director‚ Catherine De Bolle‚ compared E2EE to “sending your child into a room full of strangers and locking the door.” And yet‚ the technological truth and reality of the situation is that undermining E2EE is akin to giving the key to your front door and access to everybody in it‚ children included‚ to somebody you “trust” (say‚ governments and organizations who like you to take their trustworthiness for granted). But once a copy of that key is out‚ it can be obtained and used by anybody out there to get into your house at any time‚ for any reason. That includes governments and organizations you don’t trust or like‚ straight-up criminals – and anything active on the web in between. None of this seems to make any difference to those pushing for encryption backdoors (i.e.‚ giving up the keys to your online life). Privacy advocates and experts have long warned that the real reason is not these entities “thinking of the children” – but trying to facilitate mass surveillance. And they’re not giving up on trying to put a negative spin on encryption‚ and a positive one on their own dubious to say the least efforts. According to NCA chief Graeme Biggar‚ Meta and its properties – Facebook‚ and Instagram – have “consciously blinded themselves” to serious crimes. The post Privacy Under Siege: Europol and the UK Crime Agency Target Encryption‚ Call For Backdoors appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

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You never know when your next dinner is coming in the deep sea. To ensure it never misses a meal‚ the black swallower fish has evolved a formidable jaw and a balloon-like belly that allows it to swallow prey much larger than itself. The black swallower (Chiasmodon niger) measures just 25 centimeters (about 10 inches) long‚ but it has been known to swallow fish that are more than double its length and 10 times its weight. They live in many parts of the world’s oceans‚ including tropical and temperate waters across the Atlantic‚ Pacific‚ and Indian Oceans. You’ll have to dive very deep to find one alive‚ though. The species typically dwells around 700 to 3‚000 meters (3‚000 to 10‚000 feet) below the ocean’s surface at a depth where sunlight struggles to reach. Black swallowers are brilliantly adapted to life in the desolate abyss. Like a stealth bomber jet‚ its body is dark and scaleless to avoid detection by predators and prey alike. If the lone-ranging fish is lucky enough to find any prey in its unforgiving environment‚ it will swiftly gobble it up with its gaping mouth. To stop the swallowed victim from evading its guts‚ the mouth and palate are lined with sharp and interlocking teeth that point inwards towards the gullet‚ acting like a spiked trap. Its obnoxious method of eating isn’t perfect‚ however. Very occasionally‚ black swallowers can be found floating on the water’s surface with their stomachs nearly bursting with gas. This occurs when swallowed prey is so large it starts to decompose before the gluttonous host can digest it. Black swallowers were first reported in the early 19th century and appear in a fair number of written accounts about ocean exploration from decades gone by. One of the most colorful historical descriptions comes from a 1904 book called Creatures of the Sea: Being the Life Stories of Some Sea Birds‚ Beasts‚ and Fishes by Frank Thomas Bullen‚ a fascinating London-born author who wrote about life on the high seas.It reads: “The next monster down for notice is a very good specimen of the deep-sea chimaera‚ Chiasmodon niger. It is a veritable nightmare in appearance‚ being entirely black in color‚ with a mouth that cleaves the head asunder laterally for its whole length‚ so that vulgarly speaking‚ when its mouth is wide open it has no profile.”“Its immense mouth is furnished with equally effective teeth‚ which are not only found in the jaws but on the palate also. Its front teeth are hooked and movable‚ so that while they may be pushed inward to admit the entrance of prey‚ they effectually prevent it from coming out. This peculiarity is explained by a slight examination of the creature’s feeding habits. It can and does swallow entire fish actually larger than itself – which sounds impossible‚ but it is not. For the belly of this atrocious glutton is like an India-rubber bladder which may be expanded amazingly‚” Bullen writes. Even in today's world of deep-sea exploration and remotely operated submersibles‚ black swallowers are rarely ever seen alive in their natural habitat. Given their terrifying reputation‚ perhaps that's not necessarily a bad thing...

Movies and TV shows give the impression of space stations as aseptic and squeaky-clean environments. But wherever there are humans‚ there are all the bacteria that we bring with us. Bacteria have found niches in the International Space Station (ISS) and since they can evolve pretty quickly‚ a species was seen becoming distinct from its earthly counterparts.The bacteria in question are strains of Enterobacter bugandensis. This is an opportunistic pathogen‚ meaning that it can cause disease only if the host is already &;quot;perturbed&;quot;‚ such as if they are battling disease already or if they are immunocompromised. The bacteria is notorious for being multi-drug resistant‚ meaning that several antibiotic treatments are no longer effective in fighting it off. So it is important to understand what this bacteria is like in orbit.  Five strains of this bacterium were found on the ISS in 2018‚ and new work reports the existence of 13 strains on the space station. While the previous analysis reported similarities‚ the more in-depth genetic work suggests that under the stress of such a unique environment‚ the ISS strains could have mutated in multiple ways to become both genetically and functionally distinct from the E. bugandensis we find on Earth.“We identified certain genes from our study that are exclusively present in organisms associated with the ISS‚ but not in their terrestrial counterpart‚” the authors wrote in the paper.Understanding how bacteria evolve in space is important to protect the health of astronauts and also to work out alternative approaches to fight off these pathogens. In the case of these freshly evolved strains‚ their adaptation to microgravity might hide their Achilles’ heels.“These genes could potentially serve as valuable targets for therapeutics against pathogenic microorganisms in the unique environment of the IS‚” the authors continued.The research team admits some limitations in the genetic analysis so they cannot say without any doubt that these strains are the way they are because of space and space alone. Still‚ there is plenty of compelling evidence and they even go on to show how these strains are integrated into communities of many different bacteria‚ some of them also opportunistic pathogens that are resistant to multiple drugs.This coexistence could be another factor that has helped the organisms to successfully find their niches in the low-gravity‚ high-radiation‚ and elevated-carbon-dioxide environment of the ISS.The study is published in the journal Microbiome.

A new study suggests that patients who are treated by female doctors have lower mortality rates and are readmitted less frequently when compared to their male colleagues. Although the study did not set out to explain this outcome‚ it is possibly because female doctors are better at communicating with patients.Is there a gender bias in treatment outcomes&;#63;Sex disparities in health care and hospital outcomes are well known. For decades‚ there have been various studies that have shown how female patients are less likely to receive intensive care and related procedures than men‚ are more likely to experience delayed diagnoses‚ and tend to have more negative patient experiences too. At the same time‚ research has shown that female patients are more likely to be dismissed and to have their pain or symptoms underestimated by doctors.Similarly‚ multiple studies have now shown that receiving treatment from female physicians and surgeons often leads to better outcomes. For instance‚ in 2017‚ a large-scale study found that patients operated on by a female surgeon had a significantly lower chance (12 percent) of dying during the following 30 days of recovery. Then‚ in 2023‚ another team found that patients operated on by female surgeons tended to lower rates of adverse post-operative outcomes.However‚ despite the growing body of literature on the potential impact of physician sex on patient outcomes‚ there is still little evidence on whether these effects of physician sex on clinical outcomes varies depending on patient sex. This is where the new study comes in.Female doctors and improved outcomesThe researchers examined data for nearly 800‚000 patients (458‚108 female and 318‚819 male) who were covered by Medicare‚ a US health insurance program designed for people over 65 years of age‚ younger people with disabilities‚ and those with end-stage renal disease. The patients had all been hospitalized between 2016 and 2019 and were in hospitals that provided care and treatments for serious illnesses and injuries.The results are interesting. Patients – male and female – appear to have better rates of survival and were less likely to be readmitted within 30 days of leaving the hospital if they were treated by a female doctor. The benefits of receiving care from female doctors was more clinically meaningful for female patients when compared to male ones. Female patients had an 8.15 percent mortality rate when treated by a female doctor‚ compared to 8.38 percent when treated by a male doctor. This may appear small on the face of it‚ but it is a clinically significant difference when you consider the number of lives that represents.When it came to men‚ those treated by a female doctor had a 10.15 percent mortality rate compared to 10.23 percent when treated by a male doctor. However‚ the team admit that this is too small a difference to rule out the influence of chance.For readmissions or repeat hospitalization within 30 days of leaving‚ female patients had a 15.51 percent readmission rate when cared for by female doctors. This is compared to a 16.01 percent rate when treated by a male doctor. Similarly‚ male patients had a 15.65 percent readmission rate when treated by a female doctor‚ compared to 15.87 percent rate when treated by a male. This was also considered too small to rule out the role of chance.While the results demonstrate that patients treated by female doctors tend to experience better outcomes‚ this does not mean male doctors are bad at their jobs or that someone seeking care should choose a female physician over a male.It does‚ however‚ indicate that there may be gendered difference between how doctors interact with patients.As the team conclude in their study‚ “There are several potential mechanisms through which treatment by female physicians may be associated with better outcomes among female patients but not among male patients.”Firstly‚ male doctors may underestimate illness severity among female patients.“Underappreciation of symptoms and risks among female patients may result in delayed or incomplete care‚ ultimately leading to poorer patient outcomes”‚ the team explain. “These issues may be exacerbated by the limited opportunities for systematic medical training in women’s health in general medical curricula.”Secondly‚ being treated by a female doctor may be associated with patient-centred communication‚ especially among female patients.“Ineffective communication hinders patients from providing crucial information for accurate diagnoses and treatment‚ potentially leading to suboptimal outcomes.”Thirdly‚ being treated by a female doctor may also alleviate embarrassment‚ discomfort and social-cultural taboos that may arise from sensitive examinations or conversations.“Female patients who receive care from male physicians may experience incomplete physical examinations”‚ the authors add.The researchers add that future work needs to examine and identify the underlying mechanism that lead to these differences in patient outcomes‚ especially in relation to female patients and why they benefit from being treated by female doctors.The paper is published in the journal Annals of International Medicine.

Matyas Moravec: Modern physics suggests time may be an illusion. Einstein’s theory of relativity‚ for example‚ suggests the universe is a static‚ four-dimensional block that contains all of space and time simultaneously – with no special “now”. What’s the future to one observer‚ is the past to another. That means time doesn’t flow from past to future‚ as we experience it. This clashes with how time is conceptualised in other areas of physics‚ such as quantum mechanics‚ however. So is time an illusion or not&;#63; One approach to find out would be to try to prove that time is unreal using logic alone. In 1908‚ J.M.E. McTaggart‚ an English philosopher‚ published a paper arguing that we might be able to work out the unreality of time just using logical thinking alone. Imagine that someone has given you a box of cards‚ each one representing an event. One card describes the year 2024‚ another one the death of Queen Victoria‚ and another the solar eclipse in 2026. The cards have been mixed up. You have been told to arrange these cards in a way that represents time. How would you go about doing it&;#63; The first way is to use what McTaggart calls the “B-series”. You pick one card and place it on the floor. Then you take another one from the box and compare it with the one already on the floor. If it’s earlier‚ you put it to the left of it. If later‚ you put it to the right. For example‚ the death of Queen Victoria goes to the left of the 2026 solar eclipse. The year 2024 goes to the left of the 2026 solar eclipse‚ but to the right of the death of Queen Victoria. You keep repeating this until you end up with a line of cards‚ any two of which are related using the earlier-later relation. As you sit and look at the finished arrangement‚ you realise that something is missing. The line of cards is static. Once the cards have been put in place‚ nothing about their order changes. But‚ as McTaggart insists‚ you cannot have time without change. Time is ultimately a measure of change‚ even according to physics. It is often identified as a rise in disorder – entropy – of a closed system. Take a cup of hot coffee. As it cools down‚ entropy rises. And you can tell roughly how long a cup of coffee has been standing there by its temperature. Any device that measures time‚ such as a clock‚ relies on change (ticks). Remember‚ your original job was to arrange the cards in a way that represents time. But you ended up with something that doesn’t change. It would be odd to say that time does not change. So the B-series cannot capture time. There is‚ however‚ another option. You can start again and try to arrange the cards using what McTaggart calls the “A-series”. You create three neat piles – on the left go all the cards describing events that happened in the past‚ like the death of Queen Victoria. In the middle go those happening in the present‚ like the year 2024. And on the right‚ those that will happen in the future‚ like the 2026 solar eclipse. Unlike the B-series‚ this arrangement is not static. As time goes on‚ you have to move the cards from the right (future) pile into the middle (present) pile‚ and the ones from the (present) middle pile into the left (past) pile‚ where they stay forever. So there is clearly change happening here. Does that mean that the A-series describes time&;#63; According to McTaggart‚ the A-series is circular. Your hand moving the cards from the left-hand pile into the middle one and then into the right-hand pile is a process that already happens in time. You need to be in time to be able to perform this arrangement. But time is exactly what you are trying to capture. In other words‚ you already need to have time in order to describe time. This is circular‚ and circularity violates logic. Let’s sum up. The B-series arrangement cannot describe time‚ because nothing changes about it. And change is required for time. So the B-series doesn’t work. The A-series does change‚ but unfortunately‚ it is circular. So it doesn’t work either. Since neither of these works‚ McTaggart concludes that time cannot be real. A hundred years later Over a hundred years later‚ philosophers are still searching for a solution. Some‚ called “A-theorists” try to define the A-series in a way that’s not circular. Others‚ called “B-theorists”‚ accept that the B-series describes reality and say that McTaggart was wrong to require the series to change. Maybe all there is to time is just a line of events. There are also “C-theorists” who go further and say that the line of cards does not even have a direction from earlier to later. The year 2024 goes between the death of Queen Victoria and the 2026 solar eclipse. But the fact that we’re used to thinking of the death of Queen Victoria coming before the 2026 solar eclipse‚ rather than the other way around‚ is perhaps just a matter of habit. It’s like numbering planks on a fence: you can start from whatever end you want. The fence itself has no direction. I’m not yet convinced that any of them are right‚ perhaps there are different ways of thinking about time altogether. Ultimately‚ time will tell. And regardless of who’s right‚ what is remarkable is that McTaggart was able to get the argument going without any findings from science‚ but purely by thinking logically about the problem. Matyas Moravec‚ Gifford Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy‚ University of St Andrews This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The post How logic alone may prove that time doesn’t exist appeared first on Anomalien.com.