Perhaps we could start a “wiki-factbook” site?
https://www.bespacific.com/cia-ends-publication-of-its-popular-world-factbook-reference-tool/
CIA ends publication of its popular World Factbook reference tool
AP: Close the cover on the CIA World Factbook: “The spy agency announced Wednesday that after more than 60 years, it is shuttering the popular reference manual. The announcement posted to the CIA’s website offered no reason for the decision to end the Factbook, but it follows a vow from Director John Ratcliffe to end programs that don’t advance the agency’s core missions. First launched in 1962 as a printed, classified reference manual for intelligence officers, the Factbook offered a detailed, by-the-numbers picture of foreign nations, their economies, militaries, resources and societies. The Factbook proved so useful that other federal agencies began using it, and within a decade, an unclassified version was released to the public. After going online in 1997, the Factbook quickly became a popular reference site for journalists, trivia aficionados and the writers of college essays, racking up millions of visits per year. The White House has moved to cut staffing at the CIA and the National Security Agency early in Trump’s second term, forcing the agency to do more with less.
The entire site is rchived here: https://web.archive.org/web/20260000000000*/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/
Downloading a site from Archive.org and then serving locally using Kiwix – “Access vital information anywhere. Use our apps for offline reading on the go or the Hotspot in every place you want to call home. Ideal for remote areas, emergencies, or independent knowledge access.”
Simon Willison’s Blog – Up until 2020 the CIA published annual zip file archives of the entire site. Those are available (along with the rest of the Factbook) on the Internet Archive. I downloaded the 384MB
.zipfile for the year 2020 and extracted it into a new GitHub repository, simonw/cia-world-factbook-2020. I’ve enabled GitHub Pages for that repository so you can browse the archived copy at simonw.github.io/cia-world-factbook-2020/.”
The technology of war is changing.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/05/europe/starlink-ukraine-russia-blocked-intl
Ukrainian Defense Ministry says Starlink terminals used by Russia in Ukraine are ‘cut off’
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said Thursday that Russia’s Starlink satellite internet terminals in Ukraine have been “cut off,” disrupting Russian military communications.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said SpaceX, which owns Starlink, is working with Ukraine to update a “whitelist” of approved and verified Starlink terminals, while unapproved Russian systems have been blocked.
“The Starlink terminals added to the ‘whitelist’ are working. The Russians’ terminals have already been blocked,” Fedorov said in a statement Thursday. “We continue to verify Starlink terminals. The first batch of terminals that made it onto the ‘whitelist’ are already operational.”
Perhaps AI lawyers?
Criminal charges must be dismissed if defendant can’t get a lawyer, Oregon Supreme Court rules
Oregonians charged with crimes who cannot get timely legal representation from the state must have their cases dismissed, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that a defendant’s criminal charges must be dismissed if the state has failed to provide a defense attorney for 60 days in a misdemeanor case or 90 days in a felony case, after the defendant’s first court appearance.
The ruling could force the dismissal of more than 1,400 criminal cases statewide for those who do not have a court-appointed lawyer. More than 900 affected cases are in Multnomah County, according to data from the Oregon Judicial Department.
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