This is a very dangerous game. Stopping trade secrets from leaking from the U.S. to China is one thing. But trying to smash the Chinese tech industry is a far taller order, and it seems unlikely to succeed.

Countries specialize when they trade with each other. The U.S. is great at software, Japan at car manufacturing, Taiwan at making semiconductors, and so on. For China to be integrated with the world economy while not specializing in any internationally competitive high-tech products at all would be extremely strange. China is no longer the low-cost assembly platform it was in the 2000s, slapping together iPhones with components made in Korea and Japan; its tech talent and accumulated knowledge are now world-class. Someone, somewhere, will want to buy Chinese tech products, and the U.S. won’t be able to stop them.

And in the meantime, export controls are hurting U.S. companies. If China can’t buy high-tech equipment, semiconductors, and software from the U.S., then it will go buy them from Japan or Europe or elsewhere. Or if the U.S. manages to block that too, then China will simply learn how to make the products itself. The main enduring result will be a loss of revenue for American manufacturers, who will now be permanently shut out of the Chinese market.

Source: America can’t compete with Chinese tech by walling itself off | The Japan Times

Aguilar leads a staff of four professional chaplains, an administrative manager and about 60 spiritual care volunteers in three hospitals, Inter-Community Hospital in Covina, Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina, Foothill Presbyterian Hospital in Glendora, hospice and home care and a network of more than 16 primary and specialty care locations.

“In my daily routine, I’m involved in overseeing the spiritual care of 635 hospital beds,” he said. “This involves each of the professional chaplains to be rounding on patients, answering requests; assisting trauma’s and end-of-life situations, along with the care and support of over 3,500 employees. Chaplains are available 24 /7 and receive calls around the clock. I personally round at all three facilities on a regular basis.”

Source: Pandemic-Era Heroes: Chaplain maintains calm, strength amid the outbreak’s storm – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

• In the United Kingdom (UK), a new variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 (VOC 202012/01 or B.1.1.7) emerged with an unusually large number of mutations. This variant has since been detected in numerous countries around the world, including the United States (US) and Canada.
• In South Africa, another variant of SARS-CoV-2 (501Y.V2 or B.1.351) emerged independently of VOC 202012/01. This variant shares some mutations with VOC 202012/01. Cases attributed to this variant have been detected outside of South Africa.
• In Nigeria, another distinct variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 also emerged.

Source: Emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants | CDC

Source: The Essential Bradbury: The 25 Finest Stories by the Beloved Writer | Open Culture

At that time, the prevailing view of the cosmos was that the universe consisted entirely of the Milky Way Galaxy.

On the 30th December, 1924 Astronomer Edwin Hubble formally announces existence of other galactic systems at meeting of the American Astronomical Society

Source: 30th Day of December – Fatcowco

In the weeks leading up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, investigators at Pixalate, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based supplier of fraud management technology, documented how iFunny distributed data-stealing malware and, in doing so, actually targeted smartphone users in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. The public is unlikely to ever learn who ordered this campaign, and what they did — or intend to do, going forward — with this particular trove of stolen data.

Advertising practices

Even so, this shared intelligence from Pixalate is instructive. It vividly illustrates how threat actors have gravitated to hacking vulnerable mobile apps. The state of mobile app security is poor. Insecure mobile apps represent a huge and growing attack vector. Mobile apps are being pushed out of development more rapidly than ever, with best security practices often a fleeting afterthought. Apps with gaping security holes are on the phones and at the fingertips of every person glued to his or her smartphone. These security weaknesses happen to align seamlessly with the spreading of disinformation.

Source: MY TAKE: How Russia is leveraging insecure mobile apps to radicalize disaffected males | The Last Watchdog

We don’t know their names, but these scientists have been working tirelessly to fight the pandemic. It’s time to say thank you

Source: ‘Four years’ work in one’: vaccine researchers are the unassuming heroes of Covid-19 | Vaccines and immunisation | The Guardian

Trevor AaronsonDecember 29 2020, 5:32 a.m. Illustration: Clay Rodery for The Intercept MOHAMMED AGBAREIA WAS living the Florida dream. His three-bedroom, 2,126-square-foot home, with a palm tree-lined pool and hot tub in the backyard, was located near the tony town of Wellington: an equestrian-oriented playpen for the world’s richest people about 15 miles from President Donald Trump’s […]

FBI COUNTERTERRORISM INFORMANT SPENT A DECADE COMMITTING FRAUD – — Just Sayin’

The Senate vote on Wednesday was a major victory for Latin America’s growing feminist movement, and its ripple effects are likely to be widespread.