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You know, there’s stupid, and then there’s stupid on a level that is unbelievably dangerous. While RFK Jr. is very busy attempting to ensure that America loses its measles elimination status through a combination of vaccine skepticism, pushing alternative treatments, and generally being unable to present a solid message around the current outbreak, you will recall that he also recently traveled to Texas to visit the family of a child that recently died from measles. In turning that visit into a grotesque photo opp for his social media account, Kennedy also lauded the work of what he called two “extraordinary healers” that had “treated and healed” hundreds of children infected with measles.

At the same time, he continued to promote medically unsound treatments for the viral disease. In a separate post, he stated that he met with two doctors, Richard Bartlett and Ben Edwards, and claimed that they had “treated and healed” some 300 Mennonite children using a combination of aerosolized budesonide (a steroid) and clarithromycin (an antibiotic).

One of those doctors, Ben Edwards, is back in the news. Not because his so-called treatments healed even more children, mind you, but rather because he managed to get a breakthrough case of the measles himself. And, because these are deeply unserious, wildly dangerous people, Edwards kept showing up to work at health facilities and continued to treat measles cases while he was infected.

The doctor’s infection was revealed ina video posted online by Children’s Health Defense (CHD), the rabid anti-vaccine advocacy organization founded and previously run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time anti-vaccine advocate who is now the US secretary of health. Kennedy headed CHD until January, when he stepped down in anticipation of his Senate confirmation.

In the video, the doctor, Ben Edwards, can be seen with mild spots on his face. Someone asks him if he caught measles himself, and he responds, “Yeah,” saying he was “pretty achy yesterday.” He went on to say that he had developed the rash the day before but woke up that day feeling “pretty good.” The video was posted by CHD on March 31, and the Associated Press was the first to report it.

It’s hard to overstate just how insidiously ignorant this is. Edwards told the AP that he only worked with patients already infected with measles, apparently attempting to suggest that he wasn’t putting anyone at danger with his own infection. Unfortunately for that claim of his, the video he appeared in showed him in rooms with groups of people who don’t appear to have been patients, all while he conversed with them unmasked.

He shouldn’t even have been there. Walking into a healthcare facility while infected with measles carries all kinds of risk and is the exact type action that prolongs or furthers an outbreak of an infectious disease. In this case, one of the most infectious diseases.

And, of course, Kennedy’s advocacy for this kind of quackery from the seat of federal healthcare oversight is absolutely bonkers.

Edwards and his unproven treatments have garnered direct praise from Kennedy, who in a social media post called Edwards and another controversial doctor working in the area, Richard Bartlett, “extraordinary healers.” In 2003, Bartlett was disciplined by the Texas Medical Board for “unusual use of risk-filled medications” in multiple patients, including children. The risky treatments included intravenous antibiotics and hefty doses of glucocorticoids.

Edwards will be fine, most likely. He got the MMR vaccine as a child, though he cannot recall whether he received one shot or the recommended two shots. That may explain the breakthrough infection, as a single shot only offers something like 93% lifetime protection.

But the people in the facility he waltzed into may not be so lucky.

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cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/4747084

I love the feeling that comes with just like, having some money on your card—being able to afford a coffee, shit like that.

I used to get by fairly well just by posting; I met a lot of people on Twitter who just thought I was cool and would send me money if I ever needed it. Then it all just fell apart somehow.

I’m trying to rebuild that online presence btw; DM me and I’ll send you my Mastodon and/or Bluesky @‘s.

I love the feeling that comes with just like, having some money on your card—being able to afford a coffee, shit like that.

I used to get by fairly well just by posting; I met a lot of people on Twitter who just thought I was cool and would send me money if I ever needed it. Then it all just fell apart somehow.

I’m trying to rebuild that online presence btw; DM me and I’ll send you my Mastodon and/or Bluesky @‘s.

Artist: Minau37 | pixiv | twitter | deviantart | danbooru

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Looks like China is having some difficulty in the trade war after all.

Prices have surged as the costs of the Trump’s tariffs are passed along to consumers.

Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein hiked its prices for American customers by up to 377 percent in order to offset the costs of Donald Trump’s tariff war.

In what looks to be an early indication of how the Trump administration’s escalating tariffs will impact consumers, data Bloomberg compiled shows astronomical markups on the retailer’s most popular items, which took effect on Friday night.

The average price for Shein’s top 100 beauty and health products surged by 51% overnight, with many items more than doubling in cost. Home and kitchen goods rose by an average of 30%, while women’s clothing increased by a more modest 8%.

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cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/168917

For streaming services such as Netflix, Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems provide a level of control over the company’s most valuable assets, including movies, TV shows, and other content for consumer consumption.

DRM not only restricts access to customers authorized to consume content, it can determine when and how it’s consumed too. When all goes to plan, DRM should also prevent end users from casually copying movies and TV shows, which should result in a positive contribution towards minimizing the spread of pirated content online; at least in theory.

Widevine Everywhere

Ultimately, whether users loathe it or just hate it, DRM exists in billions of web browsers and devices. One of the most widespread is Google’s Widevine and avoiding its footprint today is almost futile. It can be found in Chrome, Firefox and similar browsers, mobile platforms such as Android, videogame consoles, plus many set-top boxes and smart TVs. At least five billion of them, most probably more.

Unsurprisingly, Widevine has been exploited and reverse engineered over the years, as evidenced by the content it’s supposed to protect ending up on pirate sites, almost without exception. In 2020, Google took action against Chrome extension Widevine L3 Decryptor, which was capable of decrypting Widevine content keys by hijacking calls to the browser’s Encrypted Media Extensions (EME).

Problems persisted throughout 2021 and 2022 with Widevine Dump but the problems haven’t gone away. The same goes for individuals and groups committed to countering Widevine, although it’s still possible to attract negative attention.

OnlyFans Targets CDRM-Project

In a DMCA takedown notice dated April 22, 2025, OnlyFans owner Fenix International Limited informs GitHub that it had “recently become aware” of repos on the platform with code “specifically designed” to circumvent Fenix’s DRM, aka Widevine.

“The identified repositories contain step-by-step instructions which are specifically designed to circumvent the DRM protections in place on OnlyFans. The repositories contain links that are ‘hard-coded’ and specifically targeted at OnlyFans,” Fenix writes.

“The coding is designed to impersonate a video player in order to decrypt and play DRM protected files, obtaining the ‘secret’ token required to play the DRM protected content. The downloaded files are then converted into an MP4 format which has the DRM protection removed.”

CDRM-Project repo before suspension

In line with its pro-developer policy when processing DMCA takedown notices, GitHub contacted the operator of the main repo and the operators of six additional forks, with an opportunity to address the complaint and avoid suspension.

For reasons that aren’t revealed, GitHub’s outreach couldn’t prevent the suspension of the entire CDRM-Project repo and all reported forks.

CDRM-Project repo is no more

GitHub requested Fenix to identify “every specific file” in the repo that it considers infringing; Fenix responded with a statement that the “entire repository is infringing” and should be removed.

Anti-Circumvention Complaint

To GitHub’s credit, when rightsholders allege violations of the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions, GitHub conducts its own assessment. If there is no basis for a claim, GitHub sometimes finds other copyright-related grounds, but here there is no pushback. That’s usually a sign of a complaint that stands up under intense scrutiny.

Another unusual aspect to the complaint is the Fenix response to GitHub’s request to provide the alleged infringer’s contact details, if they’re in possession of them. In most cases rightsholders say they’re unaware of those details but here, Fenix provides the details of two sets of owners and two sets of contributors.

The project is now being made available via a repo on cdm-project.com but how long that’s likely to last is unclear.

When any DRM system unnecessarily restricts access to content by design or due to inherent limitations, those who suffer the most are legitimate customers. Most have no interest in piracy, were never part of the original problem, but are responsible for the bulk of the revenue. Once DRM starts to feel like DRM, that’s where the big problems start.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

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I will be making sure they are the right objectives in every way before I purchase anything. I'd just like to know where I can start looking. I added a 60x a while back, it was really cheap but works surprisingly well considering I payed like 20$ CAD for it. Parfocality is just about the same as my stock objectives, just a slight turn of the fine focus. That said, I'd like to spend more and get a whole new set of higher quality objectives.

I'd love to hear feedback if someone here has switched out objectives on this particular model. I do not need to hear that my microscope sucks haha, I'm a hobbyist so its not a big concern of mine at this time.