You’re awesome - have a great day. Thank you.

Thank you very much for taking time to reply - and for the added context!

Can someone help me understand this?

While drawing criticism for limiting Python execution to locked-down Azure cloud containers, Python in Excel has also earned accolades from the likes of Python creator Guido van Rossum, now a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer, as well as Pandas creator Wes McKinney.

Does this mean the creator of the Python language is a Microsoft employee now?

Further, does this mean that Python in spreadsheets only works in the cloud MS Office?

Then there’s this:

Left unmentioned in Monday’s announcement is that Microsoft managed to convince the USPTO to issue it a patent in July 2024 on the Enhanced Integration of Spreadsheets With External Environments (alt. source), which Microsoft explains covers the “implementation of enhanced integrations of native spreadsheet environments with external resources such as-but not limited to-Python.” All of which may come as a surprise to software vendors and individuals that were integrating Excel and external programming environments years before Microsoft filed its patent application in September 2022.

What are the implications now that this patent has been granted - considering there is nothing new with running scripting languages in spreadsheet applications like Libre Office Calc?

And I wonder: if a spreadsheet application vendor wanted to incorporate scripting in Python in their application, could they be hindered from doing so?

I’m curious to hear the thoughts of others on any of this news. Thank you.

If I’m not mistaken, the attackers were using this URL for Reliable Recent News - which appears to be seized indeed:

https://rrn.media

This reference is found on page 50 of the following lawsuit by the United States of America versus “certain domains”:

https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/doppelganger_affidavit_9.4.24.pdf

Interesting how the malign actors are colloquially referred to as “Doppelganger”.

Leon Musk might be proud being the lead oligarch in a starving and ailing world, but something has to change soon.

I hope the oligarchs get what they deserve.

I appreciate every bit of good news, no matter how little, how late. Hoping the genocide can somehow end…

Respectfully begging to differ, I think he did demonstrate solid self-control by not posting such a picture.

Further, I think he was just expressing his disgust for obscene wealth.

That’s an excellent point. For this oligarch and all others.

It’s incredible to what lengths this racist and his cohorts went to bring harm unto others. Notably, immigrants who gave up all they had because of great desperation.

Imagine if you will, going from one hell and entering another where people like Thomas Birley placed flaming bins by the hotel exit door. Subsequently adding wood to fuel the fire further.

And if this doesn’t go far enough to demonstrate the trauma he and his fellow racists wrought, the hotel staff’s reaction might lend some insight on that:

The judge Jeremy Richardson KC heard how 22 staff in the hotel barricaded themselves into a panic room using freezers and “thought they were going to burn to death”.

I agree - excellently stated! Have a great day.

Please don’t leave. We all need you here. (But I understand if you do…)

Thank you for your comment. I couldn’t agree with you more.

What if the Russians didn’t start a war?

Came here to say something to this effect - but you beat me to it and you stated it more elegantly than I could have. Thank you.

This oligarch is fascinating:

Bella Nilsson is one of 11 people charged with “aggravated environmental crime”.

She was chief executive of waste management company NMT Think Pink, which is accused of dumping or burying 200,000 tonnes of waste in 21 locations between 2015 and 2020.

Lawyers for Ms Nilsson who is now called Fariba Vancor, and another former chief executive Leif-Ivan Karlsson say they deny any wrongdoing.

She changed her name, fully. But both names are quoted in news articles, it would appear. I’m not certain if this was an attempt for her to re-brand herself.

And to get a perspective of how great the damage was, this small snippet is noteworthy:

In one incident, a Think Pink waste pile close to a nature reserve burned for two months after spontaneously combusting.

Trashy oligarchs - I hope karma serves them well.

There are no words for this, really.

The intro:

Researchers at Google’s AI arm DeepMind, continue to raise alarm bells over the potential military applications of their work, particularly in relation to contracts with the Israeli government.

According to sources, at least 200 employees at Google DeepMind have expressed deep reservations about their parent company’s reported defense contracts, in particular its $1.2billion agreement to supply Israel with cloud computing services called Project Nimbus.

The controversy came to light when an internal letter, dated May 16, began circulating within the organization. The memo, signed by a significant number of staff members, highlighted growing unease about the company’s alleged involvement with military organizations.

The letter points to reports that the Israeli military uses AI for mass surveillance and to select bombing targets in Gaza, with Israeli weapon firms mandated by the government to purchase cloud services from Google and Amazon.

Further down:

The situation is particularly sensitive given the history between DeepMind and its parent company. When the AI lab was acquired by Google in 2014, assurances were made that its technology would never be used for military or surveillance purposes.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the brave souls that stand up for what is right.

Let’s contrast this “cybersecurity” problem by the terrorists who brought us the Pegasus spyware system that harmed the world over.

I’m reminded of unarmed people defending their homeland from invading tanks with nothing but stones or bricks picked off the remains of destroyed homes.

Humiliated Putin picking easy civilian targets.

I think “Humiliated” makes for a very apt honorific in the case of the fascist authoritarian.

Humiliated Putin is who he is indeed.