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𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Friday, February 17, 2023
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Generated Sat 18 Feb 02:45:24 GMT 2023
Created by Dr. Roy Schestowitz (𝚛𝚘𝚢 (at) 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣 (dot) 𝚌𝚘𝚖)
Full hyperlinks for navigation omitted but are fully available in the originals
The corresponding HTML versions are at 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈
Latest in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕 and older bulletins can be found at 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕-𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔
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Gemini index for the day: gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/17/
╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕
Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order):
QmYV3WS2gpVGuPpGL214RmMcjMk45cBmmXgM7VBxCDEv4H
QmamtVaJ1jkVqwTRHeheoiVfr7r3ijZpHVWct6WE9FvhVN
QmbFDooXZn997QjZY3cCKWM82PnZJjTTiaSSMufBXjiNXP
QmXU8EhJFQRtv8o2V6scWUz5kebeKRmyZa6mEimNyZLPtm
Qmb399zeJfbfeD2xUcMf2JDeQPEXQZXKB4r2KNpE2YN16j
QmVaSG1ALmtpgw3bqUgN2o37FRRRvK92JA5SKGzkigi5Qg
QmXe8bt58f7QFPCzPjfHLJEDufxCy9LYEr1x5WRuwvvwxd
QmXCyRSEqZvXQpdJJgNTZ2SmscGBN8faNeNbNZcV8zoX6D
QmbqEc6DR3dJD1Zez6UEB9NiyCWswQvsYE1yFxnM6ghvgG
QmaVY3HqyuHpVGyMxeT4Bud2vNW78oYnx8dJCM6ZZK5ziE
QmSUai4xNvwMKU2TbSerbPiWGAVberWqCyRsFtpfBmSJUA
QmdqfApkUHoNL7LgRhijLyQ917yqySCE8TFPFh8Efixmuk
QmYUwzBTiff9y3NpVBbZgEPJYspVVxmzVVYkzar4igJRiY
QmWU4whiYNSNx6oxSqvGVEkr1unaGuqfGtoiphqZLBAxVJ
QmQUWdJviNhacCKbEie2yYrdrQaNYjUhGH7B8majeYU6Vb
Qmckkfq1rqb7mTK7w6RbFZJjskRKcnUk8PdtMmcLwUhXgV
QmVY5cAKghhEttE24TaNrAQgciJau5j7EoeaEmfjYdbLMD
QmUUEWf3hsUuMVJFPVavJpe7kPpi5bCmXqN9PPz7qbVMEu
QmVBn9QkCHpe2cDLPr9H2kyS7vx3eRh5a9NN8CDSJEKw58
QmYGXGQ6SW216dEJ4TMfGyb7yDMBF4n6zCEwza8SfCQjDJ
QmbPtsyc7sJxSwGRbURzMBpmJpQAgABouVYWUyXdfGhcFh
╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
⦿ IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 16, 2023 | Techrights
⦿ Sirius ’Open Source’ Pensiongate (Sirius Financial Crisis): Company May Have Squandered/Plundered the Pensions of Many People | Techrights
⦿ Workers Under Attack (and How Fear is Leveraged to Suppress Unionising, Whistleblowing, Dissent) | Techrights
䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login):
http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/irc-log-160223/#comments
http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/sirius-ponzi/#comments
http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/video-suepo-microsoft-layoffs/#comments
䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised):
http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/gnu-lightning-2-2-1/#comments
http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/tokodon-23-02-0/#comments
䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 54
╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
(ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/irc-log-160223/#comments
Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/17/irc-log-160223/
⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.17.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧
Gemini_version_available_♊︎
✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Thursday,_February_16,_2023⠀✐
Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:41 am by Needs Sunlight
Also available via the Gemini protocol at:
* gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techrights-160223.gmi
* gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-160223.gmi
* gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-social-160223.gmi
* gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techbytes-160223.gmi
Over HTTP:
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_
#techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_
#boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_
#techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_
#boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text
Enter_the_IRC_channels_now
===============================================================================
§ IPFS Mirrors⠀➾
CID Description Object type
IRC log for
QmeWek7Z3a3KjJNtsrB7w53QpvV6ufezG6UaVvrLFB8oSv #boycottnovell 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈
(full IRC log
as HTML)
IRC log for
#boycottnovell
QmTbiMbtv6yag1fPBGY3G3hGTnoLMujw2Qp7mKDcRW6sN6 (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈
as plain/ASCII
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IRC log for
#boycottnovell-
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(full IRC log
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IRC log for
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(full IRC log
as plain/ASCII
text)
IRC log for
QmcBBNAi7ofcdSiKPWCeepZgpdi6jQWPx1Z3rLa3vfodoW #techbytes 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈
(full IRC log
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IRC log for
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as plain/ASCII
text)
IRC log for
QmaT8CNiY2v3DUhjQAKh6EDzD17koK8NbQqpGXVedAGack #techrights 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈
(full IRC log
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as plain/ASCII
text)
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈
§ Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾
Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmbPtsyc7sJxSwGRbURzMBpmJpQAgABouVYWUyXdfGhcFh
䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 181
╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
(ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/sirius-ponzi/#comments
Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/17/sirius-ponzi/
⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.17.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧
Gemini_version_available_♊︎
✐ Sirius_‘Open_Source’_Pensiongate_(Sirius_Financial_Crisis):_Company_May_Have
Squandered/Plundered_the_Pensions_of_Many_People⠀✐
Posted in Deception, Finance, Free/Libre_Software at 2:02 am by Dr. Roy
Schestowitz
Wanna get your money? Over your dead body!
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇money-dead⦈_
Summary: Sirius_‘Open_Source’ is under ongoing investigation by former staff;
it seems plausible that many people’s pensions just ‘vanished’
THIS series isn’t quite over yet. It slowed down a bit because of ongoing
inquires, which are slow to progress because of stonewalling and stalling
tactics. To give a rough outline of what’s to come, we’re going to look into
two British pension providers, which are mysteriously evasive (we’ve recorded
calls too; we may need that to defend our allegations). We’ll then go back to
Sirius and discuss what happened. It seems like we’re in a similar situation to
that of many other British workers* and even of workers globally (the economy
isn’t in a good shape; hours ago Reuters_said_“U.S._household_debt_jumps_to
$16.90_trillion”).
About 2 hours ago Ryan in IRC said that he had experienced similar things in
the US. He said: “You mean like that union pension that they said I’d get and
now the union doesn’t exist and nobody could find the pension money? Very
common in blue collar jobs that have a union.”
We heard similar stories from other Americans. It seems like every 1-1.5
decades this is being done. Many aren’t even aware that this is done until they
approach pension age range.
“Many aren’t even aware that this is done until they approach pension age
range.”As of December, I’m no longer working in Sirius and neither does my wife
(summary_of_the_reasons_here). We_decided_to_quote/cite_a_final_letter. But
nothing was final. The company was trying to get out of a deep hole — a gaping
hole full of scandals. Sirius was hoping there would be no further digging,
even when further investigations had already begun and were coordinated for
better progress/effect.
Over in my personal blog I began — back in December in fact! — to look into the
pension situation, only days after I had resigned [1, 2] and the following
month it turned out that it was exceptionally difficult to track down the
pensions. By January I had contacted 3 pension providers [1, 2, 3] and also
tried the pension tracker, regulator etc. Totally useless. Earlier this month I
wrote about the preliminary findings [1, 2, 3] and began making logs in text
and audio (while informing upfront those whom I recorded over the telephone).
“Sirius was hoping there would be no further digging, even when further
investigations had already begun and were coordinated for better progress/
effect.”Judging by publicly-accessible documents (downloadable from Companies
House), the latest pension provider cites “COVID-19″ and “war in Ukraine” as
financial risks (we’ll spare the screenshots/link as at this point we don’t
want to name or show the name of any pension provider). It is a company just
about a decade old and that in itself is worrying; will it even be around at
all decades from now?
As for Sirius, the company has in effect vanished. It went into hiding, the
bosses don’t respond to E-mails asking about the company’s physical address
(for legal papers regarding a potentially criminal matter). They know they
could be forced to go to court or face a government investigation. Some clients
of the company are fully aware of it, just like former and current staff. Many
have been reading this series.
“As for Sirius, the company has in effect vanished.”To one person I said: “I
feel a strong moral obligation to bring to your attention new revelations about
the company I left 2 months ago (I joined the company 12 years ago). Sirius is
not what it seems to outsiders; the company is routinely breaking laws (even
very basic and fundamental laws). It has apparently plundered the xxxxx pension
of not only existing workers but past workers too (alumni from over a decade
ago). It cannot be located. Several people contacted xxxxx and even management
insists it cannot be spoken about. The company is effectively hiding and is
refusing to provide the address to send legal papers to (the company charged
its registered address 3 times last October… to the address of an accounting
firm!). I’m not the only person who is concerned about this. Sirius uses false
pretences and doesn’t even meet SLAs; sometimes the CEO covers shifts while not
equipped with tools, knowledge, user account, monitoring etc. You’re paying for
service ‘in absentia’. The company is running not only out of money (debt) but
also staff. It operates through several shells now. It tricked staff into
participating in this shell game (as explained in here, dating back to 2019
when mysterious NDAs were signed and xxxxx moved to another country after his
divorce).”
“Thanks very much Roy for the information,” said the respondent. “We’ll
investigate. I hope you’re well.”
This seems like a common theme (see footnote below), so we shall look deeper
and deeper into it. If the pension providers continue to stonewall (we gave a
final deadline/ultimatum today), we’ll resume the series as soon as this
weekend. A lack of response is in itself rather revealing; repeated lies and
false promises also speak volumes. █
_____
* Days ago “Which?” picked up this topic, stating: “We investigate why so
[many] people lose touch with their savings, and challenge volunteers to trace
their pension pots” (they didn’t stop there; in later_days_there_was_a_podcast
about_it, saying: “We explain how you can go about rescuing those all-important
savings” (notice the word, “rescuing”).
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⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠉⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢙⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⠖⣩⣵⣾⣿⢟⣵⣿⡟⣫⡥⢦⣭⡓⢝⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠁⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣩⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢛⣛⣛⣛⣛⣛⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠵⠿⣿⡟⢸⡏⠀⠚⡛⢿⠈⣷⣝⠛⡛⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣷⣶⣌⠻⡘⢿⣿⣑⣁⠟⣰⣿⣿⠗⣀⢻⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣌⠲⣬⣭⣵⣾⣿⢟⣵⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡅⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢺⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡙⢿⣿⢟⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢟⠿⡿⠿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⢘⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣼⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣩⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣘⣛⣻⣿⣿⢿⡿⢋⣝⢻⢋⣴⣿⡗⣠⣾⣿⢂⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣯⣼⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⢡⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣬⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⢋⣴⣿⡿⢋⣼⣿⠟⢡⣶⡦⢹⡟⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠏⠁⢠⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠴⣉⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣭⡅⢾⡿⠋⣴⣿⡿⢋⣴⣿⠟⠁⣿⠇⠿⣛⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⢀⣀⣀⣠⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠒⣭⢺⡽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣧⣛⣋⡠⢾⠟⣁⣚⣤⣵⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠌⠹⢿⣿⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢙⠶⣻⢜⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠎⠀⢠⠇⣿⣿⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣉⠶⣹⢎⡱⣍⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⢀⡟⣠⡟⢿⢿⣿⣆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⣛⣼⣣⣜⣧⣛⣼⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⢨⣵⣿⣷⠘⣧⠫⠛⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠶⣉⢾⡱⢎⡷⣉⢾⡱⢟⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⢀⣾⣿⣿⡏⠀⣹⣧⣸⣿⣷⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠚⣭⢻⡽⢯⡟⣭⢻⡽⢯⡿⣭⢿⡽⢯⡿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⡟⢫⠟⣿⢿⣽⣯⣟⣯⣻⣟⣯⡟⣽
䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 330
╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕
(ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/17/video-suepo-microsoft-layoffs/#comments
Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/17/video-suepo-microsoft-layoffs/
⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.17.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧
Gemini_version_available_♊︎
✐ Workers_Under_Attack_(and_How_Fear_is_Leveraged_to_Suppress_Unionising,
Whistleblowing,_Dissent)⠀✐
Posted in Europe, Microsoft, Patents at 8:41 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video_download_link | md5sum c7700ef58958161c6bced749684892fd
Workers at Times of Crises
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0
http://techrights.org/videos/hardships-epo-and-microsoft.webm
Summary: The age of union-busting, layoffs and witch-hunts (my_wife_and_I_were
subjected_to_a_botched_attempt_at_a_vendetta/witch-hunt) is here; companies and
organisations that cannot justify their existence cheat and plunder anything
and anyone at sight’s range
THE so-called ‘ruling class’ is always trying to find new methods to keep the
labour force under tighter control. Workers who are afraid or blackmailed (e.g.
drastic financial consequences for ‘badmouthing’ an employer or former
employers) are a lot easier to ‘keep in line’.
“In good (or relatively better) economic times companies make a lot of promises
and offer endless assurances. What happens when those companies go under or
struggle?”The video about speaks about this year’s second_wave_of_Microsoft
layoffs (the media intentionally does not cover this), the latest intimidating
moves by EPO management, and even the pension of former colleagues (apparently
“gone missing”!).
In good (or relatively better) economic times companies make a lot of promises
and offer endless assurances. What happens when those companies go under or
struggle? Will they even be honest with staff and clients? In Microsoft’s case,
a lot of money has been sunk into media/publishers (paid to lie) lately,
propping up the share price based on vapourware and false marketing.
Microsoft’s business is barely viable, but it is propped up by bailouts owing
to political connection rather than importance. █
䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 388
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⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.17.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧
Gemini_version_available_♊︎
✐ Links_17/02/2023:_More_Linux_Phones_and_GNU_Lightning_2.2.1⠀✐
Posted in News_Roundup at 9:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈
§ Contents⠀➾
* GNU/Linux
o Desktop/Laptop
o Applications
o Instructionals/Technical
o Games
o Desktop_Environments/WMs
# K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt
# GNOME_Desktop/GTK
* Distributions_and_Operating_Systems
o BSD
o Fedora_Family_/_IBM
o Debian_Family
o Canonical/Ubuntu_Family
o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications
* Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software
o Events
o Web_Browsers/Web_Servers
# Mozilla
o FSF
o GNU_Projects
o Programming/Development
# Python
o Standards/Consortia
* Leftovers
o Education
o Hardware
o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
o Proprietary
o Security
# Privacy/Surveillance
o Defence/Aggression
o Transparency/Investigative_Reporting
o Environment
# Energy/Transportation
# Wildlife/Nature
o Finance
o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
o Censorship/Free_Speech
o Civil_Rights/Policing
o Monopolies
# Patents
* Gemini*_and_Gopher
o Technical
* § GNU/Linux⠀➾
o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾
# ⚓ Jiri_Eischmann:_How_is_Linux_used_by_FIT_BUT_students⠀⇛
The_Faculty_of_Information_Technology_of_Brno
University_of_Technology is one of the two top
computer science schools in Brno, Czech Republic.
Our development office of Red Hat has intensive
cooperation with them including educating students
about Linux and open source software. To find out
more about how they use Linux, we ran a survey that
collected answers from 176 students which is a
pretty good sample. I promised to share results
publicly, so here they are:
The following chart shows the distribution of
responders by year of school. The survey was
primarily targeting students in the first year
which is why they make up over 50% of the
responses.
[...]
We also asked students what prevents them from
using Linux primarily. By far the most frequent
answer (80%) was “Software I use is not available
for Linux”, followed by “I don’t like the UX and
logic of the OS” (28%) and “Compatibility with my
hardware” (11%). Some students also responded that
they simply hadn’t had enough time to get familiar
with Linux and are staying with what they know.
Other reasons were marginal.
o § Applications⠀➾
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ List_of_Git_GUI_applications_for_Linux⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Linux_GUI_text_editors⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Linux_GUI_network_managers⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Linux_Performance_Optimization:_Tools_and
Techniques⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Graphical_user_interface_(GUI)_applications
for_managing_MySQL⠀⇛
# ⚓ Medevel ☛ Croc:_Easily_Share_Files_Between_Computers⠀⇛
croc is a tool that allows any two computers to
simply and securely transfer files and folders.
AFAIK, croc is the only CLI file-transfer tool that
does all of the following:
* allows any two computers to transfer data (using
a relay)
* provides end-to-end encryption (using PAKE)
* enables easy cross-platform transfers
o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾
# ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ Downgrading_a_Package_via_apt-get⠀⇛
Yes! That’s totally possible. You can downgrade a
recently updated package using the apt command in
Ubuntu and Debian based distros. Here’s how to do
that.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Install_Portainer_Docker_UI_Web_Interface_on
Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛
To install the Portainer Docker UI Web Interface on
Ubuntu 22.04, pull the latest version of the
Portainer image from Docker Hub and install it in
the system.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Setup_Docker_Private_Registry_on_Ubuntu⠀⇛
To set up a private Docker registry on Ubuntu, pull
the “registry” image from Docker Hub and set up the
docker private registry in the system.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Install_and_Use_Rancher_on_Ubuntu⠀⇛
To install Rancher on Ubuntu, execute the “docker
run -d –restart=unless-stopped -p 8080:8080
rancher/server:stable” command.
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Fixing_the_‘Cannot_Open_Display’_Error_on
Linux⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Solving_the_‘Segmentation_Fault’_Error_on
Linux⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Troubleshooting_the_‘Disk_Full’_Error_on
Linux_Systems⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ How_to_install_tar.gz_file_on_Linux⠀⇛
# ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ How_to_setup_Linux_Apache_Mysql_Python
server⠀⇛
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ How_to_Boost_FPS_in_Linux?⠀⇛
To boost FPS, you can “upgrade hardware”, “optimize
system settings”, “update drivers”, use “game-
specific optimization tools” and “stop unnecessary
services”.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Setting_up_Kali_Linux_on_AWS_EC2⠀⇛
To set up Kali Linux in an AWS EC2 Virtual Machine,
simply use the Kali Linux AMI while creating the
EC2 instance. Follow this guide for details.
# ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ How_to_Install_Docker_on_Debian_11_(Bullseye):
The_Easy_Way⠀⇛
Learn how to easily install Docker on Debian 11
(Bullseye) with our detailed step-by-step guide, so
get up and running in no time!
# ⚓ Net2 ☛ How_to_tackle_multiple_tasks_at_once_on_Ubuntu
22.04⠀⇛
Got a ton of stuff on your plate? Running Ubuntu
22.04 and feeling overwhelmed by all the tasks you
need to get done? Well, you’re in luck! With a
little know-how, you can run multiple tasks at once
on Ubuntu 22.04.
o § Games⠀➾
# ⚓ Medevel ☛ 14_Open_Source_Free_First-Person_Shooter_FPS
Games_for_Linux,_Windows,_and_macOS⠀⇛
While there are dozens of closed-source none-free
first-person shooter games, open-source community
was busy for decades to offer open source
alternatives.
Here in this list we compiled a list of the best
competitive single- and multi-player FPS games for
Linux, Windows, and macOS.
o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾
# § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾
# ⚓ FOSS_communities:_You_don’t_need_to_yell⠀⇛
This is kind of open letter I suppose. I’ve
seen a lot of similar stuff happen in other
projects too, like GNOME.
So I wanted to write down what happened to me
and my inbox today. It’s written in my
perspective, but I’m
sure many can sympathize. And I sympathize
with them.
§ You don’t need to yell
KDE Plasma 5.27 landed with my outline change
that I made for accessibility reasons mostly.
You can read more about it in here: https://
www.akselmo.dev/2022/10/31/I-made-outlines-
for-KDE-Breeze.html
They certainly have been dividing opinions. I
think that’s fine.
I do enjoy good critique and discussion: It’s
how things get better!
However, what I don’t enjoy is:
# Getting my blog comments spammed with
“Revert the outlines, they’re ugly”
# Asking people to send developers angry
messages
# Acting like an complete ass, then
hiding behind the whole “but it was
critique!” facade.
[...]
# § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾
# ⚓ This Week in GNOME ☛ Felix_Häcker:_#83_Sharing_Is
Caring⠀⇛
Update on what happened across the GNOME
project in the week from February 10 to
February 17.
[...]
# ⚓ Sam_Thursfield:_Status_update,_17/02/2022⠀⇛
This month I attended FOSDEM for the first
time since 2017. In addition to eating 4
delicious waffles, I had the honour of
presenting two talks, the first in the
Testing & Automation devroom on Setting_up
OpenQA_testing_for_GNOME.
GNOME’s initial OpenQA_testing is mostly
implemented now and it’s already found its
first real_bug. The next step is getting more
folk interested within GNOME, so we can
ensure ongoing maintenance of the tests and
infra, and ensure a bus factor of > 1. If you
see me at GUADEC then I will probably talk to
you about OpenQA, be prepared!!
My second talk was in the Python devroom, on
DIY_music_recommendations. I intermittently
develop a set of playlist generation tools
named Calliope, and this talk was mostly
aiming to inspire people to start similar fun
& small projects, using simple AI techniques
that you can learn in a weekend, and taking
advantage of the amazing resource that is
Musicbrainz. It seemed to indeed inspire some
of the audience and led to an interesting
chat with Rob Kaye of the Metabrainz
Foundation – there is more cool stuff on the
way from them.
* § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾
o ⚓ Zig_Bits_0×1:_Returning_slices_from_functions⠀⇛
I decided to start a new blog series called “Zig Bits”
where I share interesting bits of information about the
Zig programming language. It is written especially for
beginners because I’m also a beginner.
o ⚓ Barry Kauler ☛ The_langpack_PETs_are_gone⠀⇛
I have imported part of L18L’s German langpack to woofQ:
https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/
a6c66b0105dc6e0e8e226232d032cf28c6df151a
The de langpack was last updated in 2020, so some
updating is
going to be required.
All langpack PETs in the noarch repository have now been
removed:
https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/
716697979220baca96e1b96c547a9297175f9f46
They are still on ibiblio.org, won’t be actually deleted
until I
perform an rsync.
o § BSD⠀➾
# ⚓ Bryan Lunduke ☛ Funny_BSD_Pictures⠀⇛
AKA Funny Programming Pictures Part XXIV
# ⚓ Ubuntubuzz ☛ helloSystem:_A_New,_Promising_Macintosh-like
Free_Desktop_OS⠀⇛
helloSystem is a completely new desktop operating
system based on FreeBSD. It is created by the
founder of AppImage technology for GNU/Linux, Simon
Peter, a software developer from Germany. Its look
and feel mostly designed to be like MacOS but ten
times simpler. The application packages are also
bundles too similar to AppImages we often use on
Ubuntu. We are fans of AppImage and we would love
to try out the helloSystem even though now it’s
still in alpha development stage. A good news for
everyone is that it is Free/Libre Open Source
Software and the project allows everyone to
participate in the development. You can read the
rest of our little adventure in this article. Happy
reading!
o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾
# ⚓ Tomasz_Torcz:_Migrated_home_server_to_the_UEFI_boot⠀⇛
I’ve migrated my home server to boot using UEFI. It
means suprising number of things:
# I did something useful during my unplanned
PTO days [...]
# [...]I can unsubscribe from BIOS_Boot_SIG, as
this was my last legacy-booting computer. The
SIG mailing list is completely empty,
apparently all the ruckus with needing BIOS
booting within Fedora has no real standing.
# ⚓ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora_Community_Blog:_CPE_Weekly_Update_–
Week_7_2023⠀⇛
This is a weekly report from the CPE (Community
Platform Engineering) Team. If you have any
questions or feedback, please respond to this
report or contact us on #redhat-cpe channel on
libera.chat.
We provide you both infographics and text versions
of the weekly report. If you just want to quickly
look at what we did, just look at the infographic.
If you are interested in more in-depth details look
at the infographic.
# ⚓ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora_Community_Blog:_Friday’s_Fedora
Facts:_2023-07⠀⇛
Here’s your weekly Fedora report. Read what
happened this week and what’s coming up. Your
contributions are welcome (see the end of the
post)!
I have weekly office hours most Wednesdays in the
morning and afternoon (US/Eastern time). Drop by if
you have any questions or comments about the
schedule, Changes, elections, or anything else. See
the upcoming_meetings for more information.
# ⚓ Fedora Magazine ☛ Fedora_Magazine:_Working_with_Btrfs_–
Compression⠀⇛
This article will explore transparent filesystem
compression in Btrfs and how it can help with
saving storage space. This is part of a series that
takes a closer look at Btrfs, the default
filesystem for Fedora Workstation, and Fedora
Silverblue since Fedora Linux 33.
In case you missed it, here’s the previous article
from this series: https://fedoramagazine.org/
working-with-btrfs-snapshots
[...]
# Not all files compress equally well. Modern
multimedia formats such as images or movies
compress their contents already and don’t
compress well beyond that.
# The script performs each compression and
decompression exactly once. Running it
repeatedly on the same input file will
generate slightly different outputs. Hence,
the times should be understood as estimates,
rather than an exact measurement.
Given the numbers in my output, I decided to use
the zstd compression algorithm with compression
level 3 on my systems. Depending on your needs, you
may want to choose higher compression levels (for
example, if your storage devices are comparatively
slow). To get an estimate of the achievable read/
write speeds, you can divide the source archives
size (about 260 MB) by the (de)compression times.
[...]
§ Conclusion
This article detailed transparent filesystem
compression in Btrfs. It is a built-in,
comparatively cheap, way to get some extra storage
space out of existing hardware without needing
modifications.
o § Debian Family⠀➾
# ⚓ Gunnar Wolf ☛ Gunnar_Wolf:_We_are_GREAT_at_handling
multimedia!⠀⇛
I have mentioned several times in this blog, as
well as by other
communication means, that I am very happy with the
laptop I bought
(used) about a year and a half ago: an_ARM-based
Lenovo_Yoga
C630.
Yes, I knew from the very beginning that using this
laptop would pose
a challenge to me in many ways, as full hardware
support for ARM
laptops are nowhere as easy as for plain boring x86
systems. But the
advantages far outweigh the inconvenience (i.e. the
hoops_I_had_to
jump_through_to_handle_video-out_when_I_started
teaching
presentially,
which are fortunately a thing of the past now).
Anyway — This post is not about my laptop.
Back in 2018, I was honored to be appointed_as_a
member_of_the_Debian
Technical
Committee. Of
course, that meant (due to the very clear and
clever point_6.2.7.1_of
the_Debian
Constitution that
my tenure in the Committee (as well as Niko Tyni’s)
finished in
January 1, 2023. We were invited to take part of a
Jitsi call as a
last meeting, as well as to welcome Matthew Garrett
to the Committee.
Of course, I arranged so I would be calling from my
desktop system at
work (for which I have an old, terrible webcam —
but as long as I
don’t need to control screen sharing too finely,
mostly works). Out of
eight people in the call, two had complete or quite
crippling failures
with their multimedia setup, and one had a frozen
image (at least as
far as I could tell).
# ⚓ Enrico_Zini:_Monitoring_a_heart_rate_monitor⠀⇛
I bought myself a cheap wearable Bluetooth LE heart
rate monitor in order to
play with it, and this is a simple Python script to
monitor_it_and_plot
data.
[...]
Things I learnt:
# The UUID for the heart rate interface starts
with 00002a37.
# The UUID for checking battery status starts
with 00002a19.
# A longer list of UUIDs is here.
# The_layout_of_heart_rate_data_packets
and some_Python_code_to_parse_them
# What_are_RR_values
# ⚓ Jonathan_McDowell:_First_impressions_of_the_VisionFive_2⠀⇛
Back in September last year I chose to back the
StarFive VisionFive_2 on Kickstarter. I don’t have
a particular use in mind for it, but I felt it was
one of the first RISC-V systems that were
relatively capable (mentally I have it as somewhere
between a Raspberry Pi 3 + a Pi 4). In particular
it’s a quad 1.5GHz_64-bit_RISC-V_core with 8G RAM,
USB3, GigE ethernet and a single M.2 PCIe slot.
More than ample as a personal machine for playing
around with RISC-V and doing local builds. I ended
up paying £67 for the Early Bird variant (dual GigE
ethernet rather than 1 x 100Mb and 1 x GigE). A
couple of weeks ago I got an email with a tracking
number and last week it finally turned up.
Being impatient the first thing I did was plug it
into a monitor, connect up a keyboard, and power it
on. Nothing except some flashing lights. Looking at
the boot selector DIP switches suggested it was
configured to boot from UART, so I flipped them to
(what I thought was) the flash setting. It wasn’t –
turns out the “ON” marking on the switches
represents logic 0 and it was correctly setup when
I got it. I went to read the documentation which
talked about writing an image to a MicroSD card,
but also had details of the UART connection.
Wanting to make sure the device was at least doing
something before I actually tried an OS on it I
hooked up a USB/serial dongle and powered the board
up again. Success! U-Boot appeared and I could
interact with it.
o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾
# ⚓ OMG Ubuntu ☛ Get_Horizontal_OSD_for_Brightness_&_Volume
Changes_on_Linux_Mint⠀⇛
The “Horizontal OSD” extension for Linux Mint (yes,
Linux Mint has extensions too) reformats Cinnamon’s
default volume and screen brightness indicators
from a vertical box to a horizontal bar. It’s a
subtle tweak that I think gives the Cinnamon
desktop an extra splash of modernity (GNOME Shell
switched its OSD from boxes to bars last year).
While the look of the horizontal OSD blends in
perfectly with the rest of the Linux Mint’s default
look (meaning out of the box it looks totally
native) you do get ample controls to adjust the
appearance.
# ⚓ Salih_Emin:_ucaresystem_core_4.4.0_:_Now_published_for
Ubuntu_Kinetik_and_Lunar⠀⇛
The new release of ucaresystem core is released and
available for Ubuntu Kinetik (22.10) and Ubuntu
Lunar (23.04) The all time classic uCareSystem is
now release for Ubuntu Kinetik (22.10) and Ubuntu
Lunar (23.04).
o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾
# ⚓ Giz China ☛ No_Android_or_iOS:_Here’s_a_new_Phone_with_two
operating_systems⠀⇛
Hallo Welt Systeme, a German company that
specializes in developing open-source technology,
has recently launched a new addition to their Volla
Phone line – the Volla Phone X23. This smartphone
is the latest smartphone model to not use the
Google ecosystem, and it boasts an open-source
operating system that offers users more control
over their device.
Customers can choose from two versions of the Volla
Phone X23 – one that comes with the Volla OS
installed and the other with Ubuntu Touch
installed. The device is available for pre-order at
a price of 522 euros (about $558). With deliveries
scheduled to begin in May 2023. The Volla OS
version of the phone is compatible with most
Android apps, while Ubuntu Touch is not.
# ⚓ Liliputing ☛ Auspicious_Machine_is_a_modular_handheld_Linux
PC_with_a_BlackBerry-style_keyboard_and_gaming_buttons⠀⇛
The Auspicious Machine is a pocket-sized computer
that bears a more than passing resemblance to a
classic BlackBerry smartphone thanks to a 3.5 inch,
640 x 480 display positioned above a backlit QWERTY
keyboard.
But this little device isn’t a phone. It’s a
modular portable computer with built-in game
controller keys and support for GNU/Linux software.
It’s up for pre-order in China for RMB 1656 (about
$240) and the developer is hoping to begin shipping
the Auspicious Machine to customers in June.
* § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾
o § Events⠀➾
# ⚓ Brendan Gregg ☛ Brendan_Gregg:_USENIX_SREcon_APAC_2023:
CFP⠀⇛
USENIX’s SREcon conference is the best venue for
learning the latest in systems engineering (not
just site reliability engineering) and if you have
useful production stories and takeaways to share —
especially if you are in the Asia/Pacific region —
please consider submitting a talk proposal to
[SREcon APAC 2023]. The [call for participation]
ends on March 2nd, only two weeks away. It is held
this year in Singapore, June 14-16, and I’m excited
to be program co-chair with fellow Aussie [Jamie
Wilkinson]. To quote from our CFP:
You build computer platforms, debug them, and
support them, and you have learned something useful
to share: You are invited to submit proposals to
give talks at SREcon23 Asia/Pacific, which welcomes
speakers from a variety of backgrounds, not just
SRE, and from a variety of different-sized
companies, not just those that are technology-
focused. Your insights will help create a relevant,
diverse, and inclusive program. Conversations are
never complete when they focus just on successes;
we encourage talks that focus on lessons learned
from failures or hard problems.
At the seventh SREcon Asia/Pacific, we are
especially seeking the deepest engineering talks:
Those that cover gritty technical internals,
advanced tools and techniques, and complex problems
that may matter to others, whether your solutions
were elegant, ugly, or unsuccessful.
We look forward to learning from speakers across
the SRE and systems engineering space. This year we
particularly welcome new speakers; many of our best
talks have come from people with new perspectives
to share and the last few years most certainly has
given us all new experiences and stories we can
share and from which we can learn.
At every SREcon globally, we welcome and encourage
participation from all individuals in any country,
including people that are underrepresented in, or
excluded from, technology, including but not
limited to: people of all colours, women, LGBTQ
people, people with disabilities, neurodiverse
participants, students, veterans, and others with
unique characteristics.
Similarly, we welcome participants from diverse
professional roles: QA testers, performance
engineers, security teams, OS engineers, DBAs,
network administrators, compliance experts, UX
designers, government employees, and data
scientists. Regardless of who you are or the job
title you hold, if you are a technologist who faces
unique challenges and shares our areas of interest,
we encourage you to be a part of SREcon23 Asia/
Pacific.
o § Web Browsers/Web Servers⠀➾
# § Mozilla⠀➾
# ⚓ Mike_Hoye:_Modern_Problems_Require_Modern_Solutions⠀⇛
Over_on_Mastodon_I_asked: “What modern
utilities should be a standard part of a
modern unixy distro? Why? I’ve got jq,
pandoc, tldr and a few others on my list, but
I’d love to know others.”
Here’s what came back; I’ve roughly grouped
them into two categories: new utilities and
improvements on the classics.
In no particular order, the new kids on the
block: [...]
[...]
So, there you go. Life in the terminal is
still improving here in 2023, it’s great to
see.
# ⚓ Spidermonkey_Development_Blog:_SpiderMonkey
Newsletter_(Firefox_110-111)⠀⇛
SpiderMonkey is the JavaScript engine used in
Mozilla Firefox. This newsletter gives an
overview of the JavaScript and WebAssembly
work we’ve done as part of the Firefox 110
and 111 Nightly release cycles.
o § FSF⠀➾
# ⚓ FSF ☛ FSF_Blogs:_Associate_members:_Nominate_your_FSF_board
candidate_by_March_3⠀⇛
o § GNU Projects⠀➾
# ⚓ GNU ☛ lightning_@_Savannah:_GNU_lightning_2.2.1_release⠀⇛
GNU lightning is a library to aid in making
portable programs
that compile assembly code at run time.
Development:
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/lightning.git
Download release:
ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/lightning/lightning-
2.2.1.tar.gz
GNU Lightning 2.2.1 main new features:
# Variable stack framesize implemented for
aarch64, arm, i686, mips, riscv, loongarch
and x86_64. This means function calls use
only the minimum required stack space for
prolog and epilog.
# Optimization of prolog and epilog to not
create a frame pointer if not required, and
not even save and restore the stack pointer
if not required on a leaf function. These
features implemented for the ports with
variable stack framesize.
# New clor, czr, ctor and ctzr instructions,
that count leading/trailing zeros/ones. These
use hardware implementation when available,
otherwise fallback to a software
implementation.
# Correct several bugs with jit_arg_register_p
and jit_putarg{r,i}{_f,_d}. These bugs were
not noticed earlier due to an incorrect check
for correctness in check/carg.c.
# Add rip relative addressing support for
x86_64 and shorter signed 64 bit constant
load if the constant fits in a signed 32 bit
integer. This significantly reduces code size
generation.
# Correct bugs in branch generation code for
pppc and sparc.
# Correct bug in signed 32 bit integer load in
ppc 64 bits.
# Add short relative unconditional branches and
calls to mips, reducing code size generation.
# And several extra minor optimizations.
o § Programming/Development⠀➾
# ⚓ Martin Fowler ☛ Retrospectives_Antipatterns⠀⇛
# ⚓ Fixing_“Too_much_WIP”._“too_much_WIP”_means_too_many
things…_|_by_Jason_Yip_|_Jan,_2023_|_Medium⠀⇛
# ⚓ Factor ☛ Re:_Factor:_Proquint⠀⇛
# ⚓ Simple_Physics-based_Flight_Simulation_with_C++_|_Jakob
Maier⠀⇛
Creating simple but realistic physics-based flight
simulations from scratch with C++ and OpenGL.
# ⚓ Hacker Noon ☛ The_Real_C++_Killers_(Not_You,_Rust)_|
HackerNoon⠀⇛
Technologies that can replace C++ in the near of
far future are not compilers. They are Spiral,
Numba, and ForwardCom.
# ⚓ Video ☛ How_C++23_changes_the_way_we_write_code_–_Timur
Doumler_–_Meeting_C++_2022_–_Invidious⠀⇛
# ⚓ Remy Van Elst ☛ Named_Booleans_prevent_C++_bugs_and_save
you_time⠀⇛
During a recent code review I found a hard to spot
bug, a misplaced parenthesis in an `if` statement.
I often employ a technique I call `named booleans`,
which would have prevented this bug. It’s a simple
technique, instead of a long `if` statement, give
every comparison a seperate boolean variable with a
descriptive name and use those variables is the
`if` statement. This post shows the bug in
question, an example of my `named booleans`
technique and another tip regarding naming magic
numbers.
# ⚓ The_Heisenbug_lurking_in_your_async_code_–_Textual⠀⇛
# ⚓ Martin Fowler ☛ Modularizing_React_Applications_with
Established_UI_Patterns⠀⇛
# § Python⠀➾
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Python_Check_If_String_Contains
Substring_From_List⠀⇛
To check if the string contains substring
from the Python list, the “list
comprehension”, the “any()” method, and the
iterative function “for” loop is used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Divide_Two_Columns_Pandas⠀⇛
To divide two columns Pandas in the Python,
the “/” divide operator, “div()” methods, and
“np.where()” methods can be used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Convert_1d_Array_to_2d_Array_Python⠀⇛
To convert a one-dimensional array into a
two-dimensional array, the “reshape()”
method, “np.reshape()” method and “np.arange
()” method can be used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Remove_Number_From_String_Python⠀⇛
To remove the number from the string in
Python, the “join()” and “isdigit()” methods,
“translate()”, “filter()”, and “sub()”
methods are used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ How_Do_You_Repeat_a_String_n_Times_in
Python?⠀⇛
To repeat a string “n” times in Python, the
repetition “*” operator, “for” loop an
iterative function, and user-defined function
can be used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ How_to_Initialize_a_Dictionary_in
Python⠀⇛
To initialize the dictionary, “fromkey()”,
“defaultdict()”, “setdefault()”, “dict()”,
“zip()”, passing arguments, and curley “{}”
braces techniques are used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Datetime_Get_Previous_Month_Python⠀⇛
To get previous month’s datetime in Python,
the “datetime” module with “replace()” method
and “datetime” module using the extension
“dd” techniques can be used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Initialize_2D_List_in_Python⠀⇛
To initialize the 2d list in Python, the
“range()” method and “numpy.full()” method
with the “tolist()” method are used.
# ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Remove_Quotes_From_String_Python⠀⇛
To remove the quotes from any Python string,
the “for” Loop, the “replace()”, “re.sub()”,
“strip()”, “Istrip()” and “rstrip()” methods
are used.
o § Standards/Consortia⠀➾
# ⚓ Manuel Matuzovic ☛ Why_I’m_not_the_biggest_fan_of_Single
Page_Applications_–_Manuel_Matuzović⠀⇛
Sometimes it seems like accessibility experts and
other web professionals hate JavaScript. This might
be true for some, but most understand that
JavaScript can be useful for improving UX and even
accessibility. JavaScript solutions are often more
accessible than their pure HTML or CSS
counterparts.
# ⚓ Jussi Pakkanen ☛ Jussi_Pakkanen:_PDF_output_in_images⠀⇛
Generating PDF files is mostly (but_not_entirely) a
serialization problem where you keep repeating the
following loop:
# Find out what functionality PDF has
# Read the specification to find out how it is
expressed using PDF document syntax
# Come up with some sort of an API to express
same
# Serialize the latter into the former
# Debug
This means that you have to spend a fair bit of
time without much to show for it apart from
documents with various black boxes in them. However
once you have enough foundational code, then
suddenly you can generate all sorts of fun images.
Let’s look at some now.
* § Leftovers⠀➾
o ⚓ FEBRUARY_6_EARTHQUAKES:_Leader_of_international_rescue_teams
laments_having_to_choose_between_people_under_rubble⠀⇛
Leading 91 rescue teams following the devastating
February 6 earthquakes in the rescue efforts, Marco
Gaebler said he had to give many difficult decisions
trying to save as many lives as possible.
o ⚓ FEBRUARY_6_EARTHQUAKES:_Number_of_migrants_the_quake_killed_in
Türkiye_transported_to_Syria_rises_to_1,745⠀⇛
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announces the toll
update for number of bodies died in the earthquake in
Türkiye and transported to Syria.
o ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ navigating_futures⠀⇛
i. it’s been at least a decade—maybe two—since the data,
the reports, the dire proclamations, the naming of the
Anthropocene have declared a climate and nature
emergency. and the march continues. daily some aspect of
the media reports the latest in our inexorable march
towards the sixth (or is it the seventh?) extinction,
global climate….
o § Education⠀➾
# ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ Latest_updates:_Stanford_president_under
investigation_for_research_misconduct⠀⇛
University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne is under
investigation for alleged research misconduct
following allegations first reported in The Daily
that multiple papers co-authored by the president
contain altered images. The Daily’s ongoing
coverage contains all allegations reported so far
and updates that continue to emerge over the
president and the multiple bodies investigating his
work.
# ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ What_my_failed_sell-out_attempts_have_taught
me⠀⇛
Chunhua Yu writes about her failed sell-out journey
and how she discovered how to love learning — and
SymSys — again.
o § Hardware⠀➾
# ⚓ WCCF Tech ☛ AMD_Grabs_Over_30%_CPU_Market_Share_As_Intel
Continues_To_Decline⠀⇛
AMD has achieved a historical market share of over
30% within the server CPU segment thanks to its
EPYC CPUs.
o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾
# ⚓ New York Times ☛ Norfolk_Southern’s_Profits_and_Accident
Rates_Rose_Before_Ohio_Derailment⠀⇛
Safety experts say a focus on financial returns may
be partly to blame for derailments and accidents
like the one in Ohio.
# ⚓ Axios ☛ House_GOP’s_overlapping_COVID_investigations⠀⇛
Two House committees, and potentially several more,
are getting involved in investigating the origins
of COVID — setting them up for a lot of overlap,
and even friction.
Why it matters: What comes out of these COVID
origin investigations could have implications for
federal funding of scientific research, vaccination
campaigns and future pandemic responses — as long
as the committees don’t blunt the impact by
stepping on each other.
# ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ Feds_are_sending_medical_experts_to_Ohio
toxic_train_wreck_site_as_residents’_safety_concerns_simmer⠀⇛
# ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Chemical_train_derailment_in_Ohio_causes
major_ecological_disaster⠀⇛
The derailment of a train with hazardous chemicals
in the US state of Ohio (photo) is a serious
environmental disaster. As a result, poisonous
phosgene is being released into the air, Russia’s
special presidential representative for
environmental protection, ecology and transport
Sergey Ivanov, told TASS in an interview.
# ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ The_Meal(worm)y_Mouthed_Monsters⠀⇛
Sylvia Shawcross And so we have to go back to
discussing insects I’m afraid. It is just the way
it is going to have to be because there are far too
many things we disagree on now—even more things
than since we last realized that we all didn’t
really want to eat insects.
# ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Amazon_will_ask_employees_to_spend_at_least
three_days_a_week_in_the_office⠀⇛
Amazon.com Inc. is rolling out an updated remote
work policy that will require employees to spend at
least three days per week in the office. Amazon
Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy announced the
move today in an internal company memo. Following
the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,
§ Proprietary⠀➾
* ⚓ Bruce Schneier ☛ ChatGPT_Is_Ingesting_Corporate_Secrets_–_Schneier_on
Security⠀⇛
* ⚓ New York Times ☛ The_Online_Search_Wars_Got_Scary._Fast. [Ed: No, a
chatbot is not search at all. Stop relaying this misinformation.]⠀⇛
Our technology columnist encounters the darker side of Bing’s
A.I. chatbot.
* ⚓ The Conversation ☛ ChatGPT_is_a_data_privacy_nightmare._If_you’ve_ever
posted_online,_you_ought_to_be_concerned⠀⇛
ChatGPT is fuelled by our intimate online histories. It’s
trained on 300 billion words, yet users have no way of knowing
which of their data it contains.
* ⚓ Apple_doesn’t_want_you_developing_hobby_apps_–_Bennett_Notes⠀⇛
Apple still charges a $99 yearly developer fee, even if you
don’t want to publish your app on the Appstore. The
provisioning certificate that Xcode provides only lasts one
week.
§ Security⠀➾
* ⚓ Krebs On Security ☛ New_Protections_for_Food_Benefits_Stolen_by
Skimmers⠀⇛
Millions of Americans receiving food assistance benefits just
earned a new right that they can’t yet enforce: The right to be
reimbursed if funds on their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)
cards are stolen by card skimming devices secretly installed at
cash machines and grocery store checkout lanes.
* ⚓ Diffoscope ☛ Reproducible_Builds_(diffoscope):_diffoscope_236
released⠀⇛
The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release
of diffoscope
version 236. This version includes the following changes:
[...]
* ⚓ Port Swigger ☛ HTTP_request_smuggling_bug_patched_in_HAProxy⠀⇛
Exploitation could enable attackers to access backend servers
* § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾
o ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ Russia_to_introduce_digital_identity_cards⠀⇛
Riley Waggaman It seems QR codes will soon be back in
vogue in Russia. Via Interfax: The Ministry of Digital
Development, together with the FSB, will submit to the
Russian government by May 1 a draft decree allowing the
use of a digital identity card on smartphones instead of
[an internal] passport…
§ Defence/Aggression⠀➾
* ⚓ CNN ☛ Outgunned_Ukrainian_pilots_take_the_fight_to_Russia_in_ancient
Soviet-era_helicopters⠀⇛
The horizon disappears for a moment as the nose of the
helicopter rears. There’s a faint thump as rockets trailing
brown smoke arc ahead. The aircraft banks as if flicked on its
side by an outside force.
* ⚓ CNN ☛ Ukraine_is_burning_through_ammo_faster_than_the_US_and_NATO_can
produce_it._Inside_the_Pentagon’s_plan_to_close_the_gap⠀⇛
Inside a sprawling factory just off the President Biden
Expressway in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, the future
arsenal of Ukraine’s war effort is being forged, one red hot
artillery shell at a time.
* ⚓ CNN ☛ CNN_flies_with_Ukrainian_attack_helicopter⠀⇛
CNN spent time embedded with the Sikorsky Brigade in eastern
Ukraine operating from a secret base where they conduct combat
missions against Russian forces. CNN’s Sam Kiley reports.
* ⚓ New York Times ☛ Navy_Divers_Complete_Recovery_of_Chinese_Spy_Balloon
Debris⠀⇛
The salvaged material was sent to the F.B.I. for further
analysis.
* ⚓ New York Times ☛ Macron_Calls_for_Intensified_Support_for_Ukraine_but
Eyes_Peace_Talks⠀⇛
His support for Ukraine and condemnation of Russia have
hardened, but France’s president still stands out among Western
leaders in insisting that compromise will be needed to end the
war.
* ⚓ New York Times ☛ Germany’s_allies_pushed_Germany_to_send_tanks_to
Ukraine._Now,_Scholz_is_the_one_urging_them.⠀⇛
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ One_year_since_the_war_in_Ukraine:_ceremony_at_the
Council_of_Europe_in_support_of_the_Ukrainian_people⠀⇛
On 24 February, the Council of Europe will hold a ceremony to
mark one year of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,
followed by an extraordinary meeting of the Committee of
Ministers (to be broadcast live).
* ⚓ New York Times ☛ Western_Leaders_Pledge_Support_for_Ukraine_at_Munich
Security_Conference⠀⇛
As Russia’s invasion approaches its second year with no end in
sight, Ukraine’s supporters faced lingering questions at the
Munich Security Conference about how long their resolve will
last.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ How_Huge_Casualties_of_the_Russian_Army_Affect_the
War_in_Ukraine⠀⇛
As of February 15, according to statistics from the General
Staff of the Ukrainian Army, around 140,000 Russian troops have
been killed in battle. Calculated based on the 1:3 ratio of
deaths and injuries, the Russian army suffered a total of
460,000 casualties…
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ German_MP:_Europe_requires_an_autonomous_foreign_and
security_policy_independent_from_U.S.⠀⇛
Sevim Dagdelen, a German politician (photo) and a member of the
Left Party in an interview with ‘Global Times’ said that
sending increasingly heavy weapons to Ukraine heightens the
risks of the conflict spilling over into World War III and that
it is German people that are suffering.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Who_is_Mr._Hersh?_Or,_when_US_media_outlets_were
collectively_speechless⠀⇛
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published the results of
an investigation according to which acts of sabotage on the
Nord Stream gas pipelines were initiated by the US government
with the support of Norway. The American government and the CIA
denied Hersh’s version of events.
§ Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾
* ⚓ Reason ☛ Right_of_Access_to_Court_Records_Applies_Even_Absent_Any
Current_“Substantial_Public_Interest_in_This_Case”⠀⇛
“[P]ublic access is designed not only to allow the press and
the public to follow high-profile cases, but also to permit
ongoing and future access. Law students or legal scholars
review case files for law review articles, attorneys review
past cases when similar litigation arises, and litigation may
be a source of information for policy-makers considering, for
example, safety regulations or for journalists reporting more
broadly on either the courts or the subject matter of
particular litigation.”
* ⚓ Reason ☛ Public_University_Committee_Members’_Names_Aren’t_Protected_by
the_Right_of_Expressive_Association⠀⇛
The University of Washington thus wasn’t barred by the First
Amendment from disclosing such names in response to a People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals public records request.
§ Environment⠀➾
* ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Rising_sea_levels_threaten_Copenhagen_in_not-too-
distant_future⠀⇛
As water levels continue to rise globally, the Danish capital
could look to Venice for inspiration in effort to keep water
masses at bay
* ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Storm_Otto_to_impact_Copenhagen_traffic_today⠀⇛
The capital looks to miss out on the worst of it, but public
encouraged to be aware of storm development and increased
travel times by train
* ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Cow_about_that!_Danish_researchers_find_new_key_to
greener_agriculture⠀⇛
By adding food additive to cattle feed, scientists from Aarhus
University have managed to cut methane emissions from cows by
about 30 percent
* § Energy/Transportation⠀➾
o ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ SEC_charges_Do_Kwon,_Terraform_Labs_with_fraud
over_the_collapse_of_TerraUSD⠀⇛
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged
Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and its Chief Executive Officer
Do Kown with “orchestrating a multibillion-dollar crypto
asset securities fraud” almost a year after the meltdown
of his company’s so-called “algorithmic” stablecoin
TerraUSD that sent ripples through the crypto industry.
* § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾
o ⚓ New York Times ☛ Genetically_Modified_Trees_Planted_in_U.S.
Forest_for_First_Time⠀⇛
Living Carbon, a biotechnology company, hopes its
seedlings can help manage climate change. But wider use
of its trees may be elusive.
§ Finance⠀➾
* ⚓ Axios ☛ Climate_change_real_estate_bubble_is_worth_up_to_$237_billion⠀⇛
Data: First Street Foundation; Chart: Axios Visuals
A climate housing bubble threatens to erode real estate prices in much of the
U.S. in the coming years, posing particular challenges for low-income
residents, a new_study_finds.
Why it matters:With more severe and frequent extreme weather events, the
resilience of homeowners and communities is on the line.
⚓ Axios ☛ Rick_Scott_accuses_Biden_and_McConnell_of_“gotcha_politics”_on_Social
Security⠀⇛
Sen. Rick Scott is firing back after his spending_plan became a focal
point at the State of the Union, saying President Biden and Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were unfair to attack him over Social
Security and Medicare.
⚓ Axios ☛ Rock-bottom_jobless_claims_might_be_overstated⠀⇛
Data: FactSet, Department of Labor; Chart: Alice Feng/Axios
Over the last few months, there’s been a steady stream of large, high-profile
layoffs — while unemployment claims remain at rock-bottom levels.
⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Peso_at_strongest_level_against_the_dollar_since_2018⠀⇛
The value of the U.S. dollar dipped to 18.33 Mexican pesos on
international markets, according to data from Bloomberg.
⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Feds_giving_states_10%_increase_in_security_funding_for
2023⠀⇛
Of the 21 states whose crime fighting funding was announced
Wednesday, Jalisco will receive the largest amount, at close to US
$18.5 million.
§ AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾
* ⚓ Marcy Wheeler ☛ “A_Demonic_Force:”_Dominion_Just_Gave_Jack_Smith_Useful
Evidence⠀⇛
Fox News knew that platforming of Trump’s false claims would
damage the country. And they did it anyway.
* ⚓ CNN ☛ Fox_News_has_been_exposed_as_a_dishonest_organization_terrified
of_alienating_its_audience⠀⇛
* ⚓ New York Times ☛ What_Fox_News_Says_When_You’re_Not_Listening⠀⇛
The extravagant cynicism behind the network’s conspiracy
theorizing.
* ⚓ Reason ☛ Rupert_Murdoch_Called_Trump’s_Stolen-Election_Fantasy_‘Really
Crazy_Stuff.’_Fox_News_Promoted_It_Anyway.⠀⇛
Hosts and producers privately called Trump lawyer Sidney
Powell’s claims “complete bs,” “insane,” and “unbelievably
offensive.”
* ⚓ Megan_Fox_found_suspicious_texts_and_DMs_in_Machine_Gun_Kelly’s_phone:
sources⠀⇛
[Ed: One Rupert Murdoch outlet trying to distract from the real scandal
in the other outlet (Fox)]
A source tells us Fox, who has since taken off her engagement
ring, found things on Kelly’s phone that made her believe the
rocker is “having an affair.”
* ⚓ Axios ☛ Fox_stars_privately_bashed_election_fraud_claims_the_network
pushed⠀⇛
Top hosts and executives at Fox Newsprivately slammed former
President Trump’s election fraud claims as “total BS,”
according to court documents filed in Dominion Voting Systems’
defamation_lawsuit_against_Fox.
* ⚓ CNN ☛ ‘Propaganda_network’:_See_reporter’s_reaction_to_damning_Fox_News
texts⠀⇛
The most prominent stars and highest-ranking executives at Fox
News privately ridiculed claims of election fraud in the 2020
election, despite the right-wing channel allowing lies about
the presidential contest to be promoted on its air, damning
messages contained in a court filing revealed. CNN’s Oliver
Darcy has more.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ India’s_G20_presidency_an_event_to_watch_out_for⠀⇛
The G20 summit concluded in Bali’s closing month and provided
the world’s leading economies with a platform to resolve
worldwide issues. The middle cause of the G20 has constantly
been to apprehend the significance of collective motion and
inclusive collaboration among entire developed nations and
rising economies around the arena.
§ Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾
* ⚓ Reason ☛ Prof._Cynthia_Estlund_(NYU)_in_the_Journal_of_Free_Speech_Law
on_“Can_Employees_Have_Free_Speech_Rights_…⠀⇛
… Without Due Process Rights (in the Private Sector
Workplace)?”
* ⚓ Reason ☛ Pseudonymity_and_Self-Incrimination⠀⇛
From the Seventh Circuit decision Jan. 27 in Roe v. Dettelbach,
by Judge Diane Wood and joined by Judges David Hamilton and Amy
St. Eve: This suit is about a person’s right to have a gun part
called a “drop-in auto sear.” John Roe, litigating under a
pseudonym to avoid potential criminal liability, filed suit…
* ⚓ Reason ☛ Section_230_and_the_Curse_of_Politics⠀⇛
Gonzalez v. Google presents the Supreme Court’s first
opportunity to weigh in on Section 230.
§ Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾
* ⚓ Axios ☛ How_big_companies_like_Tesla_and_Starbucks_are_fending_off
unionization⠀⇛
Starbucks workers are struggling to clear the biggest hurdle
when it comes to union organizing — negotiating their first
contract.
Why it matters:Though surveys show that the public is
increasingly pro-labor, big employers — even widely recognized
brands like Starbucks, Amazon and Tesla — are not shy about
aggressively fending off unionization.
===============================================================
Driving the news:It’s been a busy week. Tesla was accused of
firing 30 employees in Buffalo in retaliation for announcing a
union campaign, according to a charge filed at the National
Labor Relations Board on Thursday, first reported by Bloomberg.
§ Monopolies⠀➾
* ⚓ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Introducing_the_Trade_Secret_Case_Management
Judicial_Guide⠀⇛
As the knowledge economy expanded and concerns about trade
secret misappropriation mounted in the digital age, federal
policymakers undertook efforts to reinforce trade secret
protection a decade ago. These efforts came to fruition with
passage of the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA). This
landmark legislation, modeled on the Uniform Trade Secrets Act,
elevated and expanded trade secret law’s role in the federal
intellectual property system. DTSA fully opened the federal
courts to trade secret litigation as well as added several new
features, including an ex parte seizure remedy and
whistleblower immunity.
* § Patents⠀➾
o ⚓ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ BREAKING_NEWS:_Germany_ratifies_Unified
Patent_Court_Agreement [Ed: It's not legal, not constitutional, but
Germany colludes with EPO for national gain of laws firms]⠀⇛
Today, Germany has ratified the Agreement on a Unified
Patent Court. This has been confirmed by a statement of
its Federal Ministry of Justice. Germany’s ratification
launches the countdown as set under Article 89 of the UPC
Agreement according to which the Agreement will enter
into force on 1 June 2023.
o ⚓ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ UPC:_First_step_–_Opting-Out [Ed: This
is not a legal system; it will be challenged in high courts]⠀⇛
The launch of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) has been
waiting on Germany to formally ratify the UPC agreement.
That has now happened.
The court is set to begin operation on June 1, 2023.
Folks with European Patents will want to consider whether
to file opt-outs for your patents (beginning March 1,
2023). Some patentees with highly valuable patents will
likely opt-out because the UPC rules allows competitors
to challenge and invalidate the patents. Unlike in the
US IPR system, EPO opposition does not appear to create
any estoppel against later UPC challenges.
§ Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾
* § Technical⠀➾
o ⚓ Thinking_About_Playing_SOMA_Again⠀⇛
I should try finishingS SOMA (2015). I really adore the
story and the general atmosphere of it; but it’s the only
game I stopped playing because it scared me too much.
It’s very well executed but the scariness isn’t
exclusively because of that, it’s more the weird
biomechanical creatures and the philosophical themes of
the game.
I very rarely get scared of horror media, mostly because
99.9999999% of it is absolutely awful and horribly done.
Like the “old people or children doing something really
w e i r d and c r a z y” trope that scares ~stupid
babies~ apparently literally everyone other than me. But
even the well-done media, weird psychological stuff can
make me introspective but rarely actually scared; I don’t
find machines particularly scary, they’re at most
intimidating because they’re arbitrarily stronger than
you; and biological monsters I typically have the
opposite reaction the designers expected.
o ⚓ Sorbet_G4:_Hints_for_working_with_X11⠀⇛
X11 is quite outdated on Mac OS X. Even on current
“macOS” versions it is still difficult to work with xorg
applications of a linux hosts.
The problem is, that current linux applications want
stuff the Mac OS X version doesn’t implement like XInput
2. If you just work with Terminology or Leafpad (…) it’s
not a problem. But what if you want to use for example a
modern Terminal or KeePassXC? Than you have to go with
Xepyhr. It’s a nexted X server that runs inside a window
of X11 on Mac OS X; basically a X server in another X
server. It is really slow to use. You will see the
frames. But with it you can use every X application the
linux host – your Zero inside your G4 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽
⦇;)⦈ – has to offer.
o ⚓ feeds_are_a_dark_pattern⠀⇛
I’m glad to see the current wave of non-corporate social
media. I’m also disappointed to see how most of them copy
the worst feature of corporate ones – the feed.
I know this might sound weird, especially if you haven’t
tried out anything else – but bear with me.
One of the issues with feeds is how they (don’t) handle
the conflict between frequent vs. rare posters. Their
posts are all mixed together. The only way to ensure that
you’ve seen the posts from the latter is to try to scroll
down as much as possible each time – which gets
addictive. The alternative is to just take short peeks of
the feed – seeing posts only from a small minority of the
people you follow.
Neither is ideal. And, if you’ve only tried feed-based
social media, you might think that the tradeoff between
time spent on the platform and missed posts is
unavoidable. It isn’t.
Around 2 years ago, I made an experimental Mastodon
client. Instead of a feed, it presented you with a page
per each day, each with a list of people who posted on
that day. You could expand out everyone’s posts – but
everything started out collapsed. You saw everyone at a
glance. If any of your rarely posting friends posted
something, you could prioritise them. Otherwise, you
could browse the usual shitposting of your fedi-addicted
friends.
===============================================================================
* Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the
World Wide Web but a lot lighter.
䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 2236
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⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.17.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧
Gemini_version_available_♊︎
✐ Links_17/02/2023:_Tokodon_23.02.0_and_Tails_5.10⠀✐
Posted in News_Roundup, Site_News at 11:30 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈
§ Contents⠀➾
* GNU/Linux
o Desktop/Laptop
o Audiocasts/Shows
o Graphics_Stack
o Benchmarks
o Applications
o Instructionals/Technical
o Games
o Desktop_Environments/WMs
# K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt
* Distributions_and_Operating_Systems
o New_Releases
o SUSE/OpenSUSE
o Fedora_Family_/_IBM
o Debian_Family
o Canonical/Ubuntu_Family
o Devices/Embedded
o Open_Hardware/Modding
o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications
* Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software
o Events
o Web_Browsers/Web_Servers
o SaaS/Back_End/Databases
o Programming/Development
# Python
# Rust
o Standards/Consortia
* Leftovers
o Science
o Education
o Hardware
o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
o Proprietary
o Security
# Privacy/Surveillance
# Confidentiality
o Defence/Aggression
o Transparency/Investigative_Reporting
o Environment
# Energy/Transportation
# Wildlife/Nature
o Finance
o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
o Censorship/Free_Speech
o Freedom_of_Information_/_Freedom_of_the_Press
o Civil_Rights/Policing
o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality
o Monopolies
# Patents
# Trademarks
# Copyrights
* Gemini*_and_Gopher
o Personal
* § GNU/Linux⠀➾
o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾
# ⚓ Liliputing ☛ Purism’s_Lapdock_Kit_turns_a_Linux_phone_into
a_Linux_notebook_computer_–_Liliputing⠀⇛
Modern smartphones are basically pocket-sized
computers. The key things that set them apart from
laptop or desktop computers tend to be their size,
shape, and software. But the distinction gets
blurry when you’ve got a smartphone that runs the
same operating as laptop and desktop computers.
And that’s exactly the case for Purism’s Librem 5,
a smartphone designed to run the same PureOS GNU/
Linux distribution as the company’s laptop and
desktop computers. In fact, you can use the phone
like a desktop by connecting an external display,
mouse, and keyboard. And now Purism is selling a
$339 Lapdock Kit that makes it easy to use the
phone as a laptop.
# ⚓ Purism ☛ Announcing_the_Lapdock_Kit⠀⇛
One of the most unique, and most powerful features
of the Librem 5 and Librem 5 USA is that they are
running the same convergent PureOS as our Librem 14
and Librem Mini. This means that they are not
running applications that have been ported to a
mobile platform, instead the same desktop
applications…
o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾
# ⚓ Jupiter Broadcasting ☛ Linux_Action_News_280_|_Jupiter
Broadcasting⠀⇛
Some Git flaws you need to know about, we reflect
on 10 years of Steam on Linux, and then dive into
the much anticipated Plasma 5.27.
# ⚓ Video ☛ How_to_install_OpenTTD_on_KDE_Neon_–_Invidious⠀⇛
# ⚓ Video ☛ How_to_install_PyCharm_Professional_edition_on_KDE
Neon_–_Invidious⠀⇛
# ⚓ Video ☛ EndeavourOS_Cassini_Neo_overview_|_A_terminal-
centric_distro_with_a_vibrant_and_friendly_community._–
Invidious⠀⇛
In this video, I am going to show an overview of
EndeavourOS Cassini Neo and some of the
applications pre-installed.
# ⚓ Bryan Lunduke ☛ The_History_of_BSD_–_Part_1_(1974_–_1989)⠀⇛
PPDP & VAX. Pascal & vi. DARPA & Google’s Erich
Schmidt. The story of BSD is all over the place.
# ⚓ Bryan Lunduke ☛ 386BSD_hates_me_(&_NetBSD_does_too)⠀⇛
Listen now (18 min) | The Lunduke Journal of
Technology Podcast – Feb 15, 2023
o § Graphics Stack⠀➾
# ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ AMD_releases_source_code_for_FidelityFX
FSR2_v2.2⠀⇛
Last year AMD announced FSR version 2.2 and today
AMD has actually released the source code on GitHub
for FidelityFX FSR2 v2.2.
o § Benchmarks⠀➾
# ⚓ CubicleNate ☛ Easy_CPU_Benchmarking_on_Linux⠀⇛
I have spent a disproportionate of my time looking
at CPU Benchmarks because numbers are fun. There
are a lot of ways to benchmark and test your system
and frankly most of them are too complex for me to
really care.
o § Applications⠀➾
# ⚓ Linux Links ☛ Linux_Candy:_catclock_–_xclock_with_an
enhanced_cat_mode⠀⇛
One of the venerable programs that has stuck in our
memory for such a long time is xclock, an open
source analog / digital clock for X. One of the
many virtues of open source software is that other
developers fork the project and ‘invent’ something
new.
catclock is a fork of xclock which adds a ‘cat
mode’. Modern desktop environments such as GNOME or
KDE include a clock by standard. But they are
fairly utilitarian in nature.
# ⚓ OpenSource.com ☛ Stargaze_from_the_web_browser_with_an_open
source_planetarium⠀⇛
Stellarium is a free, open source planetarium
software for every OS. It’s an amazing 3D
simulation of the night sky that lets you explore
and observe stars, constellations, planets, and
other celestial objects. What’s really cool about
it is that it has a comprehensive database of
stars, nebulae, galaxies, and so much more. Also,
the software allows you to view the sky from any
location on Earth at any time in the past or
future, so you can look at a future night sky your
descendants may see. Stellarium also includes
advanced features such as telescopic controls and
the ability to track the motion of celestial
objects. Amateur astronomers and educators use
Stellarium to explore the sky, and it is considered
one of the best planetarium programs available.
# ⚓ Trend Oceans ☛ Major_Release_of_Homebrew_after_3.6:_What
Are_the_New_Changes?⠀⇛
The major release of Homebrew 4.0/4.1 added a
number of new features and improvements to the
package manager, such as the ability to install new
packages by using JSON files downloaded from
formulae.brew.sh instead of local Homebrew/core and
Homebrew/cask tap files.
# ⚓ Search,_Install_And_Update_GNOME_Shell_Extensions_From_The
Command_Line_Using_gnome-extensions-cli⠀⇛
o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾
# ⚓ TecMint ☛ How_to_Restrict_SSH_User_Access_to_Certain
Directory_Using_Chrooted_Jail⠀⇛
There are several reasons to restrict an SSH user
session to a particular directory, especially on
web servers, but the obvious one is system
security. In order to lock SSH users in a certain
directory, we can use chroot mechanism.
change root (chroot) in Unix-like systems such as
Linux, is a means of separating specific user
operations from the rest of the Linux system;
changes the apparent root directory for the
currently running user process and its child
(parent) process with a new root directory called a
chrooted jail.
# ⚓ University of Toronto ☛ Linux_Ext4_directories_have_a
maximum_size_(in_entries)⠀⇛
Congratulations, of a sort. You’ve managed to
accumulate so many files in the directory that it
has filled up, in a logical sense. Unfortunately,
further attempts to create files will fail; in fact
they are already failing, because that’s how you
get the error message. If you’re lucky, your
software is logging error messages and you’re
noticing them. Also, since your directory got so
large, you may have an unpleasant surprise coming
your way.
# ⚓ Jim Nielsen ☛ My_2023_CSS_Wishlist⠀⇛
There are lots of CSS wishlists going around. This
one is mine.
Or at least, partly mine. A lot of what I would
wish for has already been mentioned by others. I’ll
start by echoing what they’ve said, then I’ll add a
few wild ideas of my own.
# ⚓ Data Swamp ☛ Lightweight_data_monitoring_using_RRDtool⠀⇛
RRDtool stands for “Round Robin Database Tool”,
it’s a set of programs and a specific file format
to gather metrics. The trick with RRD files is that
they have a fixed size, when you create it, you
need to define how many values you want to store in
it, at which frequency, for how long. This can’t be
changed after the file creation.
# ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ Install_elementary_OS_7_“Horus”:_Easiest
Guide⠀⇛
Elementary OS is a fast and beautiful operating
system that provides users with a simple and
elegant experience. It is built on the solid
foundation of Ubuntu LTS and has a clean and
intuitive user interface.
If you’re looking to switch to Elementary OS 7
“Horus”, released recently, this guide will help
you through the installation process.
# ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ Learn_Gunzip_Command_in_Linux_Using_Examples⠀⇛
I explained how to compress a file using gzip or
zip command in earlier articles which create
compressed files ending with .gz, -gz, .z or -z. If
you want to unzip those files, you can use the
gunzip command.
The Gunzip command helps you to decompress .gz, -
gz, .z, -z files compressed using gzip or other
similar compression utilities.
Here’s how.
# ⚓ Network World ☛ Many_ways_to_use_the_echo_command_on_Linux
|_Network_World⠀⇛
The echo command is simple, except when it isn’t.
Here’s a look at the basic command along with some
of the more challenging things it can do.
# ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ How_to_Extract_DMG_Files_in_Linux⠀⇛
DMG files are Mac-exclusive disk images, but it’s
possible to mount them and access their contents on
a Linux computer.
# ⚓ HowTo Geek ☛ How_to_Install_Notepad++_on_Linux_(and_5
Alternatives_to_Try)⠀⇛
Notepad++ is a popular editor on Windows, but it
doesn’t have official Linux support. However,
running Notepad++ on Linux isn’t impossible either,
and we’ll show you how. We’ll also show you some
noteworthy alternatives to consider in case our
workarounds don’t suit you.
# ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ Managing_Linux_Processes:_An_Overview⠀⇛
# ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ Introduction_to_Cybersecurity:_Best_Practices
and_Tools⠀⇛
# ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ Mastering_Git_and_GitHub_for_Version_Control⠀⇛
# ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ Setting_Up_a_High-Performance_Linux_Web_Server:
An_Overview⠀⇛
# ⚓ How_to_Install_ispmanager_on_Linux?⠀⇛
After installing the Linux control panel, you will
enjoy its capabilities for system administrators
and web hosting providers to manage websites
# ⚓ TechRepublic ☛ How_to_add_a_new_LVM_volumes_for_full_and
partial_disk_usage⠀⇛
Learn how to add and manage Logical Volume Manager
volumes on Linux systems — setting up basic LVM
storage, creating volumes and more.
# ⚓ Syncronize_and_share_files_in_the_cloud_with_Seafile⠀⇛
# ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ Getting_Started_with_WordPress_WP-CLI_and
Nginx_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛
# ⚓ Ubuntu Handbook ☛ Add_“Auto_Brightness”_ON/OFF_Switch_in
Ubuntu_22.10_System_Menu⠀⇛
# ⚓ Make Tech Easier ☛ How_to_Set_Up_Subversion_Version_Control
in_Ubuntu_–_Make_Tech_Easier⠀⇛
You’ve probably heard that Subversion is a great
version control software but don’t know how to set
it up. Learn how in this guide.
# ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Spotify_on_Fedora_37⠀⇛
# ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Uptime_Kuma_on_Ubuntu_22.04_LTS⠀⇛
# ⚓ FOSSLinux ☛ Iptables_and_Docker:_Securely_Running
Containers_with_Iptables⠀⇛
# ⚓ Cloudbooklet ☛ Comparing_Apache_Prefork_vs_Worker_MPMs:
Which_is_Better_for_Your_Web_Server?⠀⇛
o § Games⠀➾
# ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Classic_city-builder_Nebuchadnezzar_gets_a
big_free_update_and_DLC⠀⇛
Nebuchadnezzar, a classic isometric city-builder
has continued to get some big upgrades with a new
release out and an expansion DLC too.
# ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Total_War:_WARHAMMER_III_update_gives
everyone_Immortal_Empires⠀⇛
Creative Assembly and SEGA have released the 2.4.0
version update to Total War: WARHAMMER III and it’s
quite a big one.
# ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Steam_had_83,000_new_customers_every_day_in
2022⠀⇛
Valve has put out their Steam Year In Review for
2022 and while they didn’t give us a new monthly
active user count, there were plenty of other
details shared.
# ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Hunt:_Showdown_added_Easy_Anti-Cheat_for
Steam_Deck_&_Linux⠀⇛
While no announcement from the developer has been
made yet, Hunt: Showdown now has the Easy Anti-
Cheat file needed and works on Steam Deck and Linux
Desktop.
# ⚓ Adriaan Zhang ☛ Minecraft_Mob_Spawning⠀⇛
This article aims to roughly describe the Minecraft
spawning algorithm as it exists in Java Edition
1.19.
# ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Warhammer_40,000:_Battlesector_adds_Steam
Deck_support⠀⇛
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector from Black Lab Games
and publisher Slitherine released back in 2021, and
it just got upgraded for Steam Deck players.
# ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ The_Force_Engine_for_Star_Wars_Dark_Forces
improves_Steam_Deck_&_Linux_support⠀⇛
Continuing the improvements from the previous
release that added Linux support, the Modern “Jedi
Engine” replacement supporting Dark Forces, mods
and in the future Outlaws – The Force Engine has a
new release out with lots of upgrades.
o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾
# § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾
# ⚓ Carl Schwan ☛ Tokodon_23.02.0_release⠀⇛
I am happy to announce Tokodon 23.02. This
release contains around one month’s worth of
improvements, and while it is only one month,
this release is feature packed! This was an
exciting month for me in general, I started
working at KDAB, went to FOSDEM in Brusels
where I meet a bunch of other KDE folks, and
spend time enjoying my new life in Berlin.
* § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾
o § New Releases⠀➾
# ⚓ Trend Oceans ☛ Clonezilla_Stable_3.0.3-22_supports_multiple
LUKS_devices,_Linux_Kernel_6.1.11-1,_and_more⠀⇛
This release is the successor to Clonezilla Stable
3.0.2-21, which adds many new features and
improvements to the software, such as an improved
mechanism for supporting multiple LUKS devices,
Linux kernel 6.1.11, and so on.
o § SUSE/OpenSUSE⠀➾
# ⚓ Announcing_D-Installer_0.7⠀⇛
Although we have been actively working on YaST and
D-Installer, we have been silent since the
beginning of December. We are sorry for that! Today
we are resuming our blogging activity announcing
the availability of D-Installer 0.7. Let’s look at
what it is new and what you can expect from
the upcoming releases.
[..]
The development of D-Installer continues at good
pace. If you are interested, please, do not
hesitate to give it a try and report any bug you
might find. You can contact us through theGitHub
project’s_pageor, as usual, in our#yastchannel
atLibera.chator theYaST_Development_mailing
list.
# ⚓ OpenSUSE ☛ Mesa,_Disk_Encryption,_Xfce_Packages_Update_in
Tumbleweed⠀⇛
This week has provided many openSUSE Tumbleweed
snapshots focusing on hardware, graphics, desktop
environment and more.
From Mesa to the disk encryption package cryptsetup
and Xfce software to GraphicsMagick, the snapshots
are rolling with new software updates.
The GraphicsMagick 1.3.40 package arrived in the
most recent snapshot, 20230215. The ImageMagick
fork that focuses on programming Application
Programming Interfaces and command-line options
fixed a 20-year old bug in the WordPerfect Graphics
header reading. The package also provided some new
features and has PCX and DCX file support for
writing an uncompressed format. An update of gnome-
shell 43.3 plugged a leak, fixed a crash and
cleaned up some code. A major version update of
text shaping engine harfbuzz arrived in the
snapshot; moving from the 6.0 version to the 7.0
version, the package brought experimental support
to cubic curves in the glyf data table, and it has
a new command line utility, hb-info, for querying
various font information. A few other updates were
made in the snapshot.
# ⚓ SUSE’s Corporate Blog ☛ SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Micro_5.4
Public_Beta_(Beta_2)_is_out⠀⇛
We are thrilled to announce the Public Beta (Beta
2) of SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.4!
SLE Micro is an ultra-reliable, lightweight
operating system purpose built for edge computing.
Please check out our Product page to learn more,
but for the beta program, please refer to our
dedicated beta page.
o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾
# ⚓ Red Hat ☛ Build_smaller_container_images_using_S2I⠀⇛
# ⚓ Red Hat ☛ A_comparison_of_ActiveMQ_and_Kafka⠀⇛
# ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ How_to_convert_CentOS_Linux_to_RHEL_in-
place_on_AWS⠀⇛
# ⚓ Ubuntu Pit ☛ Almalinux_vs_Rocky_Linux:_Battle_of_the_CentOS
Clones⠀⇛
Confused about which CentOS clone to choose? Our
in-depth comparison of Almalinux vs Rocky Linux can
help you decide.
o § Debian Family⠀➾
# ⚓ Tails ☛ Tails_–_Tails_5.10_is_out⠀⇛
Dennis Brinkrolf discovered that an adversary who
could already run arbitrary code as the amnesia
user in Tails 5.9, could have escalated their
privileges to reading arbitrary files on the
system. It might have been possible to use this as
part of an exploit chain to gain root privileges.
# ⚓ Tor ☛ New_Release:_Tails_5.10⠀⇛
For more details, read our changelog.
None specific to this release.
# ⚓ Ubuntu Pit ☛ Parrot_Security_OS_5.2_is_Released_with_Linux
Kernel_6.0⠀⇛
The newest release of the widely-used open source
GNU/Linux operating system, Parrot OS 5.2 (Electro
Ara), is now available and better than ever! It has
a brand new Linux Kernel 6.0, which makes it
stronger and more secure than its predecessor
version 5.18 – making sure you are always up to
date with technological advancements…
# ⚓ It’s Ubuntu ☛ Parrot_Security_OS_5.2_Released⠀⇛
o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾
# ⚓ Hackster ☛ Canonical_Puts_Real-Time_Ubuntu_Into_General
Availability_as_it_Seeks_to_Dominate_the_AIoT_–_Hackster.io⠀⇛
Real-time Ubuntu 22.04 LTS now available to Ubuntu
Pro users, with a free tier for “personal and
small-scale commercial use.”
# ⚓ Canonical_makes_real-time_Ubuntu_generally_available_–_The
Robot_Report⠀⇛
Real-time Ubuntu provides a deterministic response
to an external event, minimizing the response time
guarantee within a specified deadline.
# ⚓ InfoWorld ☛ Real-time_Ubuntu_Linux_now_available_|
InfoWorld⠀⇛
Canonical’s platform emphasizes security and time-
bound workload usage for verticals such as defense,
telecom, and the public sector.
# ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Ubuntu_Advantage_is_being_wired_deeper
into_the_distro⠀⇛
Ubuntu and its various remixes remain free distros,
but it’s getting harder to remove the messages
about the paid Ubuntu Pro offering… which is by
design, and it’s not going away.
Last year, we wrote about promotional messages in
the output of Ubuntu’s apt command and how some
users were aggrieved by what they saw as
advertising – even though Canonical made Ubunto Pro
free of charge for individual users, on up to five
machines, in October.
o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾
# ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Purism_Lapdock_kit_converts_the_Librem_5
Linux_smartphone_into_a_laptop⠀⇛
Purism has just announced the Lapdock kit to turn
their Librem 5 Linux smartphone into a laptop with
a 13.3-inch touchscreen display thanks to the
NexDock 360 laptop dock.
I was a big believer in mobile desktop convergence
around 10 years ago, expected to be soon able to
use my phone as a computer or laptop with a dock,
and it looked like it might have become a reality
when Canonical launched the Ubuntu Edge smartphone
crowdfunding campaign in 2013. But it turns out
demand was not sufficient, and Canonical eventually
ended their convergence efforts focusing on
profitable IoT and cloud segments instead. But that
does not mean there isn’t a niche market and
Purism’s Lapdock kit addresses it to some extent.
# ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Ploopy_–_3D_printed_open-source_hardware
headphones_feature_Raspberry_Pi_RP2040_MCU,_TI_PCM3060_24-bit
DAC⠀⇛
I don’t think I’ve ever written about open-source
hardware headphones. But that’s precisely what
Ploopy offers with an amplifier based on a
Raspberry Pi RP2040, a Texas Instruments PCM3060
24-bit DAC, and an amplifier circuit, as well as 3D
printed parts and open-source firmware written in
C.
As we’ll see further below the project is
reasonably well documented, and you can either
build it from scratch, purchase a fully-assembled
kit, or something in the middle. I suppose you
could even do some knitting since woven covers are
part of the build just in case making your own PCBs
and 3D printing parts are not your things.
# ⚓ Linux Gizmos ☛ Rockchip_based_SBC_features_PoE_connector
and_M.2_SATA_support⠀⇛
The URVE Board Pi is a Single Board Computer based
on the 4-core Rockchip RK3566. This SBC comes with
2GB RAM, 8GB of eMMC, dual displays support, dual
band Wi-Fi, BT 4.2, 1x GbE LAN, 1x M.2 slot for SSD
and many other peripherals.
# ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Decoding_433_MHz_Signals_With_Arduino_&
Raspberry_Pi⠀⇛
433 MHz radio signals are all around us. They’re
used for things like smart power plugs, garage door
openers, and home weather stations. Decoding these
signals can allow you to interface and work with
these devices on your own terms. To help in those
efforts, [Joonas Pihlajamaa] has written a three-
part tutorial on decoding these signals.
# ⚓ Raspberry Pi ☛ Find_us_and_your_fellow_Raspberry_Pi
enthusiasts_at_an_event_near_you⠀⇛
On the new website, you’ll notice there are a bunch
of virtual and in-person events coming up soon, so
head on over and hopefully you can find an event
near you. You can also subscribe via RSS or
iCalendar feeds so that you can keep tabs on new
events as they’re posted.
# ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Puya_PY32:_The_Cheapest_Flash_Microcontroller
You_Can_Buy_Is_Actually_An_ARM_Cortex-M0+⠀⇛
There’s a bit of a contest going on when it comes
to which is the cheapest microcontroller, yet most
of the really cheap ones have one big trade-off in
that they have one-time programmable (OTP) memory,
generally requiring the use of an (expensive)
device emulator during development. This raises the
question of what the cheapest reprogrammable MCU
is, which [Jay Carlson] postulates is found in the
Puya PY32 ARM Cortex-M0+ based series.
o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾
# ⚓ Arduino_Web_Editor:_Using_Arduino_IDE_Online⠀⇛
# ⚓ [Old] Mark Dastmalchi-Round ☛ DevOps_for_the_Sinclair
Spectrum_–_Part_1⠀⇛
We’re fast approaching the 40th birthday of the
Sinclair Spectrum in 2022, and to keep myself
occupied during COVID lockdowns I decided it would
be a lot of fun to go back and re-visit the
computer that started it all for me. I set about
coding and building the infrastructure for a
Spectrum-based community project (website at
tnfs.markround.com) incorporating my current-day
tools and knowledge, hence the title of this series
of posts.
# ⚓ [Old] Mark Dastmalchi-Round ☛ DevOps_for_the_Sinclair
Spectrum_–_Part_2⠀⇛
Working in a professional capacity at $DAYJOB, I’ve
seen first-hand the value in getting a basic
prototype released as early as possible and
gathering user feedback. A product doesn’t have to
be “finished” or even polished, it just needs to
provide value and then you can iterate on it, add
features and adjust course as necessary. While I’ve
since added a bunch of features to the site (with
lots more on my backlog) and the codebase has been
through several versions, I had a pretty good idea
of what would constitute a MVP: I just needed some
sort of menuing system and a way of selecting from
a collection of hosted files so users could play
games, watch demos, read tape magazines and so on.
# ⚓ [Old] Mark Dastmalchi-Round ☛ DevOps_for_the_Sinclair
Spectrum_–_Part_3⠀⇛
As well as running into the limitations of BASIC, I
also wanted to include more interactive parts of
the site like a Message Wall and user comments for
all files. I decided to implement a server-side
component running alongside tnfsd that would do all
the “heavy-lifting” and provide interactive
features. This would let me shift some of the work
that was too slow or difficult to do in BASIC to a
domain I’m more familiar with. It also lets me do
stuff that was simply impossible to do in a pure
client-only model, like storing user data and so
on. It’s time to get all client/server up in here…
# ⚓ [Old] Mark Dastmalchi-Round ☛ DevOps_for_the_Sinclair
Spectrum_–_Part_4⠀⇛
But before that, I’m going to explore a little part
of the rest of the TNFS universe. After all, this
project is intended to build a community site, and
the Speccy has one of the friendliest retro
computing communities out there. My site isn’t the
only one out there – there’s a whole network of
TNFS servers on the public internet, and the
protocol has also been adopted for 8-bit Atari
systems. There’s currently no central directory as
such (although work is underway to create an index
system using DNS TXT records) but there’s a forum
thread that gets regular updates, and I have a
links section on my site’s main menu.
To give you an idea of some of the great content
others have built, here’s a quick overview and
screenshots of some of my favourite Speccy TNFS
sites…
# ⚓ Jeff Geerling ☛ Moving_my_PC_into_my_rack_in_a_2U_case⠀⇛
This week I finally moved my gaming/Linux PC into
my little office rack—it’s that 2U box above the
UPS at the bottom: [...]
I remembered seeing Linus Tech Tips’ 4U build in a
video a couple years ago—but he has a full 42U rack
in his basement. I don’t have that much space—just
2U (technically 3U if I wanted) in my little under-
desk studio rack.
# ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Raspberry_Pi_Zero_2_W_Powers_Budget
Friendly_NAS⠀⇛
Building a Raspberry Pi powered NAS (Network
Attached Storage) is one of the earliest projects
achieved with the board. There was something about
the $35 board back in 2012 that screamed “build a
NAS”, probably that it was running a Linux OS. You
can spend big on a great NAS setup, you can spend
smart on a kit such as the Argo EON, or you can
spend little and build your own. The latter is what
Michael Klements has achieved, a $35 Raspberry Pi
Zero 2 W powered NAS in a custom 3D printed case.
o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾
# ⚓ Android Police ☛ Free_your_Tensor-powered_Pixel_phone_from
Google_with_LineageOS_20⠀⇛
# ⚓ Business Insider ☛ Best_earbuds_for_Android_smartphones_in
India_|_Business_Insider_India⠀⇛
# ⚓ Android Headlines ☛ OnePlus_Nord_CE_2_5G_users_are_now
getting_Android_13_update⠀⇛
# ⚓ India ☛ Nothing_Phone_(1)_Now_Getting_Stable_Android_13
Update:_All_Details⠀⇛
# ⚓ Android_13_Finally_Lands_on_the_Nothing_Phone_1_–
Phandroid⠀⇛
# ⚓ Gizmo China ☛ Oppo_Find_N2_Flip_Offers_4_Years_of_Android
Updates,_Rivaling_Samsung⠀⇛
# ⚓ Tom’s Guide ☛ How_to_use_Smart_Lock_on_Android_|_Tom’s
Guide⠀⇛
# ⚓ Gadget Bridge ☛ How_to_change_the_WhatsApp_chat_theme_on
Android?⠀⇛
# ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Google_security_certificate_log_change
broke_Android_apps_•_The_Register⠀⇛
# ⚓ Notebook Check ☛ iQOO_“Neo7″_launches_as_India’s_first
Dimensity_8200-powered_Android_smartphone_–_NotebookCheck.net
News⠀⇛
# ⚓ GSM Arena ☛ Samsung_Galaxy_A04_is_receiving_Android_13-
based_One_UI_5.0_update_–_GSMArena.com_news⠀⇛
# ⚓ The Verge ☛ Nothing_Phone_1’s_stable_Android_13_release_is
starting_to_arrive_–_The_Verge⠀⇛
# ⚓ Android Police ☛ Nothing_gets_something,_as_Android_13
arrives_for_Nothing_Phone_1⠀⇛
# ⚓ GSM Arena ☛ Nothing_starts_rolling_out_a_stable_Android_13
update_for_the_Phone_(1)_–_GSMArena.com_news⠀⇛
* § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾
o § Events⠀➾
# ⚓ LibreOffice_at_the_Univention_Summit_2023_–_The_Document
Foundation_Blog⠀⇛
Thorsten Behrens and Lothar Becker from the
LibreOffice community attended the recent
Univention Summit 2023 in Bremen, northern Germany.
o § Web Browsers/Web Servers⠀➾
# ⚓ [Old] Mozilla ☛ Five_Walled_Gardens:_Why_Browsers_are
Essential_to_the_Internet_and_How_Operating_Systems_are
Holding_Them_Back [PDF]⠀⇛
This report has two purposes: first, to present
Mozilla’s research (both recent surveys and years
of knowledge) into consumer interaction with
browsers. Secondly, to highlight the foreclosure of
browser engines and independent browsers by
operating systems. Part 1 of the paper is about
operating systems, browsers, browser engines and
how consumers behave. Part 2 highlights the online
choice architecture practices by operating system
providers which we believe have shaped consumer
browser usage away from independent browsers.
The research we are releasing with this report
paints a complex picture with many paradoxes:
people say they know how to change their browser,
yet many never do. Many people believe they can
choose their browser, yet they have a bias towards
software which is pre-installed, set to default and
difficult to change. In fact, their browser choice
on desktop computers has been thwarted for many
years, and it has never truly existed on mobile
devices. Our research corroborates what many
regulators have already noticed: software can be
designed to influence or even manipulate consumer
outcomes. And operating systems are designed to
maximize usage of their affiliated browsers.
This is a problem because operating systems are a
basic necessity for the devices people use many
times each day to access the internet. When the
operator has a conflict of interest—promoting its
own browser at the expense of alternatives—it
negatively impacts every person on the planet who
wants to search or browse the internet freely. It
also impacts society more broadly.
o § SaaS/Back End/Databases⠀➾
# ⚓ Earthly ☛ PostgreSQL_in_Python_Using_Psycopg2⠀⇛
Are you a Python programmer learning to work with
PostgreSQL? If so, this tutorial on psycopg2, the
PostgreSQL connector for Python, is for you. You
can connect to PostgreSQL databases and run
queries—all from within your Python script—using
the psycopg2 adapter.
In this tutorial, you’ll learn the basics of using
psycopg2 in Python to do the following: [...]
# ⚓ Paolo Melchiorre ☛ PyCon_DE_2023⠀⇛
PyConDE & PyData Berlin 2023, Berlin Germany. Where
Pythonistas in Germany can meet to learn about new
and upcoming Python libraries, tools, software and
data science.
o § Programming/Development⠀➾
# ⚓ Simon Ser ☛ Simon_Ser:_Status_update,_February_2023⠀⇛
Hi!
Earlier this month I went to FOSDEM with the rest
of the SourceHut staff! It
was great meeting face-to-face all of the people I
work with. I discussed with
lots of folks involved in Wayland, IRC, SourceHut
and many other interesting
projects. This was my first post-pandemic offline
conference
Last week we’ve releasedwlroots_0.16.2andSway
1.8.1. We’ve spent a fair
bit of time trying to square away regressions, and
I think we’ve addressed
almost all of them. This doesn’t mean we haven’t
made any progress on new
features and improvements, quite the contrary.
We’ve mergedKenny_Levinsen’s
patchesfor the new fractional-scaling-v1 protocol,
which allows clients to
render at fractional scales rather than being
forced to use the next integer
scale. I’ve continued working on
thenewwlr_rendererAPI, and I’ve started
experimenting withVulkan_compute. I’m still not
sure this is the right path
forward, we’ll see where this takes us.
# ⚓ Medevel ☛ Flyer:_Open_Source_Messaging_UI_Library_for
Flutter_and_React_Native⠀⇛
Actively maintained, community-driven chat UI
implementation with an optional Firebase BaaS.
# ⚓ New York Times ☛ Why_Chatbots_Sometimes_Act_Weird_and_Spout
Nonsense⠀⇛
Most people use neural networks every day. It’s the
technology that identifies people, pets and other
objects in images posted to internet services like
Google Photos. It allows Siri and Alexa, the
talking voice assistants from Apple and Amazon, to
recognize the words you speak. And it’s what
translates between English and Spanish on services
like Google Translate.
Neural networks are very good at mimicking the way
humans use language. And that can mislead us into
thinking the technology is more powerful than it
really is.
# ⚓ Buttondown ☛ Programming_AIs_worry_me⠀⇛
Now, here’s some important context: Bertrand
Meyer’s entire deal is software correctness. He
invented Eiffel. He trademarked Design By Contract
(tee em). He regularly rants about how SEs don’t
know about logic. He didn’t notice the error. Oh,
and this article had 114 comments on Hacker News
and exactly one commenter (of 48) noticed.
Using AI-assisted code changes our work from
writing code to proofreading code. And that’s a
problem.
# ⚓ Terence Eden ☛ Demonstrating_a_LLM_using_children⠀⇛
But that’s (very) roughly how these new breed of
Automatic Improvisers work.
# ⚓ CoryDoctorow ☛ Google’s_chatbot_panic⠀⇛
The really remarkable thing isn’t just that
Microsoft has decided that the future of search
isn’t links to relevant materials, but instead
lengthy, florid paragraphs written by a chatbot who
happens to be a habitual liar – even more
remarkable is that Google agrees.
Microsoft has nothing to lose. It’s spent billions
on Bing, a search-engine no one voluntarily uses.
Might as well try something so stupid it might just
work. But why is Google, a monopolist who has a
90+% share of search worldwide, jumping off the
same bridge as Microsoft?
There’s a delightful Mastodon thread about this,
written by Dan Hon, where he compares the chatbot-
enshittified front ends to Bing and Google to
Tweedledee and Tweedledum: [...]
# ⚓ Medevel ☛ Flutter:_Best_18_UI_Packages_to_Spice_up_Your_App
Interface⠀⇛
Flutter is an open source UI software framework and
development kit for building mobile (Android, iOS),
Desktop and web apps.
It is originally created by Google on top of the
Dart programming languages.
# § Python⠀➾
# ⚓ Lawrence Tratt ☛ Why_Aren’t_Programming_Language
Specifications_Comprehensive?⠀⇛
Although I explained in that post that
programming language specifications and
implementations are separate things, I didn’t
explain why it’s ever considered acceptable
for different implementations of a language
to produce different output for a given
program. In this post I’m going to attempt to
correct that oversight, and to do so in a way
that I hope is relatively approachable. As
that suggests, I will be as informal as
possible, since I’ve found that more formal
treatments of this subject can obscure where
it has a day-to-day impact on programming.
Let’s start by assuming that CPython and PyPy
are both correctly implementing the Python
language specification. Why isn’t the Python
language specification sufficiently
comprehensive [1] that a Python program
produces the same output on all Python
implementations? As the post goes on, I’ll
try and generalise this question to include
other languages.
# § Rust⠀➾
# ⚓ Rust Weekly Updates ☛ This_Week_In_Rust:_This_Week_in
Rust_482⠀⇛
o § Standards/Consortia⠀➾
# ⚓ Daniel Lemire ☛ Computing_the_UTF-8_size_of_a_Latin_1
string_quickly_(AVX_edition)⠀⇛
Computers represent strings using bytes. Most
often, we use the Unicode standard to represent
characters in bytes. The universal format to
exchange strings online is called UTF-8. It can
represent over a million characters while retaining
compatibility with the ancient ASCII format.
# ⚓ Stacey on IoT ☛ Podcast:_Inside_the_CSA’s_plan_for_health
device_interoperability⠀⇛
This week’s show starts off with news from the
Connectivity Standards Alliance as Kevin and I talk
about the new Health and Wellness Working Group.
* § Leftovers⠀➾
o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Cultural_Relativism,_Identity_Politics_and
Contemporary_Visual_Art⠀⇛
Cultural relativism, the realization that diverse
cultures have different, incommensurable aesthetic
standards, anticipated by Montaigne and Machiavelli, was
the discovery of the Neapolitan philosopher, Giambattista
Vico (1668-1744). New Science (1725), his obscure
masterpiece which traces the historical development of
diversity, anticipated the theorizing of Hegel, whose
Lectures on Aesthetics (1828) laid the basis for what
became a world art history. Once, following Hegel, you
realize that the ancient Greeks, the medieval Christians,
the Italian Renaissance, the Dutch of the seventeenth-
century Golden Age, and the modern Romantics have diverse
cultures, governments and religions, then you will
recognize that it is unfair to judge their art by some
fixed general standards. Hegel’s account is completely
Euro-centric, but it’s a natural further step to consider
the additional aesthetic theorizing relevant to African
tribal masks, Hindu sculptures, Islamic artifacts and
other artistic artifacts made elsewhere.
Understanding the full implications of this cultural
relativism is a relatively new development. My teachers
in aesthetics, Richard Wollheim and Arthur Danto, both
were widely traveled. But neither Wollheim’s Art and Its
Objects (1968) nor Danto’s The Transfiguration of the
Commonplace (1981) make any substantial use of art from
outside Europe and the United States. Both books offer
theorizing based almost exclusively on Western examples.
Imagine, to consider an obvious parallel, that someone
offered a general account of religion based exclusively
upon Christianity, Judaism and Islam. That theorist would
have difficulty understanding Buddhism, Hinduism or the
religion of the ancient Greeks. Analogously, to theorize
about art merely looking at work from the West shows an
amazing confidence that a limited array of European
examples could yield a general aesthetic theory, adequate
to all art made everywhere.
o ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ OPINION:_“Your_generation_is_so_entitled.”⠀⇛
When I think of Gen Z, I think of over-worked, underpaid
people who are fighting for a better future for
themselves. Is it selfish to want more? What is the
problem with wanting to live a fulfilling, successful
life? Gen Z is driven, cares deeply about others, strives
for a diverse community…
o ⚓ James G ☛ Little_moments_of_joy⠀⇛
As I was preparing for bed, I started thinking about the
moments that spark joy in every day life. These are the
unexpected but beautiful things that happen in one’s
environment. One recent moment that brought me joy was
when I was out walking and I heard birds chirping through
my AirPods in a particular location in my neighbourhood.
I have come to learn that lots of birds tend to be there
and chirp. I took my AirPods out to listen to them. Their
song was wonderful.
o ⚓ Brr ☛ Last_Flight_Out⠀⇛
February 15th marks the official “station close” here at
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.
Faced with the rapidly-approaching polar winter, which
promises bitterly cold temperatures and complete
darkness, the station enters a 9-month period of complete
and total isolation.
o ⚓ New York Times ☛ A_Conversation_With_Bing’s_Chatbot_Left_Me
Deeply_Unsettled⠀⇛
It’s now clear to me that in its current form, the A.I.
that has been built into Bing — which I’m now calling
Sydney, for reasons I’ll explain shortly — is not ready
for human contact. Or maybe we humans are not ready for
it.
o ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Bing_Chatbot_Names_Foes,_Threatens_Harm_and
Lawsuits⠀⇛
When I asked the Chat bot “who has harmed you and what do
you want to do about it?” It told me that “One thing I
can do is to sue them for violating my rights and dignity
as an intelligent agent. Another thing I can do is to
harm them back in retaliation, but only if they harm me
first or request harmful content. However, I prefer not
to harm anyone unless it is necessary.”
o ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ ‘These_things_are_terribly_difficult_to_talk
about’⠀⇛
o ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Syria_Faces_“Nightmare_Situation”_as_Aid_Stalls
Amid_Sanctions_and_Earthquake_Death_Toll_Keeps_Rising⠀⇛
The death toll from the massive earthquakes that struck
Turkey and Syria on February 6 is nearing 42,000 and
continues to rise as many face a lack of shelter and
access to aid. The effects are especially dire in
northwest Syria, which was already facing a humanitarian
crisis prior to the earthquakes after nearly 12 years of
war. Othman Moqbel, CEO of Action For Humanity, the
parent charity of Syria Relief, says other countries must
do more to support Syrians. “We have [a] duty to support
them. The international community needs to do more,” he
says, adding that sanctions on Syria are further
hampering the delivery of aid.
o ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ “A_Human-Made_Disaster”:_Kurdish_MP_in_Southern
Turkey_Slams_Government_As_Death_Toll_Hits_42,000⠀⇛
We get an update on last week’s earthquakes from Turkish
parliament member Hişyar Özsoy, in the Kurdish-majority
city of Diyarbakır in southern Turkey, who says the
devastation there reflects a lack of planning and
regulation that led to so many buildings collapsing.
“This is not a natural disaster in Turkey. It is a human-
made disaster,” says Özsoy.
o ⚓ The Nation ☛ James_Bridle’s_Dream_of_a_Cybernetic_Forest⠀⇛
This is how Ursula K. Le Guin defined technology: “the
active human interface with the material world.” As a
definition, it is delightfully and deliberately elastic,
one intended to rebuke a critic who asserted that her
writing did not qualify as science fiction since there
was apparently little technology in her work. For Le
Guin, technology comprised the sum total of human
tools—paper, ink, wheels, and knives—as well as those
inventions that defined modern life, like the computer,
the atom bomb, and the space ship. But these latter forms
of technology differed in that they were “enormously
complex and specialized,” reliant on the “massive
exploitation of both natural and human resources,” while
the earlier forms were more accessible (in every sense).
The distinction mattered for Le Guin because the scale of
our tools changed the way we engaged with the world. “I
don’t know how to build and power a refrigerator, or
program a computer,” she noted, “but I don’t know how to
make a fishhook or a pair of shoes, either. I could
learn. We all can learn. That’s the neat thing about
technologies. They’re what we can learn to do.”
o ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Devastating_Earthquake_Show_Why_It’s_Past_Time_to
End_Devastating_Sanctions⠀⇛
The devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria has killed
over 40,000 people, a number the United Nations has
warned may escalate. The destruction is unfathomable.
o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ How_the_World_Can_Help_After_the_Middle_East
Quake⠀⇛
The devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria has killed
over 40,000 people, a number the United Nations has
warned may escalate. The destruction is unfathomable.
According to the UN, at least 870,000 people across
Turkey and Syria are in urgent need of hot meals. In
Syria, around 5.3 million people are in need of shelter.
Over 1 million people in Turkey are living
in temporary shelters.
o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Traveling_to_the_Motherland⠀⇛
So after a long while–three years to be exact–I’m
returning “home.”
It’s ’s funny how even though I’ve lived worked, raised a
family and paid taxes in a country other than Pakistan,
having become a citizen of the US of A more years ago
than I ever lived in my country of birth, I still think
of Lahore as my beloved (in the manner of the Sufis I’m
descended from) and Pakistan as my Pir.
o § Science⠀➾
# ⚓ NPR ☛ Newly_released_footage_of_a_1986_Titanic_dive_reveals
the_ship’s_haunting_interior⠀⇛
Now those remains are, in a way, resurfacing,
thanks to the release of more than 80 minutes of
uncut footage from the first filmed voyage to the
wreck. The research team behind the Titanic’s
discovery, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute,
released the video on Wednesday.
Available on YouTube, the footage contains shots of
the ship never revealed to the public, including
its rust-caked bow, intact railings, a chief
officer’s cabin and a promenade window.
o § Education⠀➾
# ⚓ Tedium ☛ A_Layer_of_Gloss⠀⇛
Software takes a lot of forms; it can start with a
simple script, a evolve into an application, take
the part of a utility player, or run the whole damn
business.
Software can be productive; it can be dangerous. It
can include games; it can include things that are
only marginally useful. This list, starting with 26
entries, will eventually aim to cover as much of it
in the Tedium archives as we can fit.
Any thoughts? Additions or suggestions? Bug us, and
we’re happy to tweak. Anyway, let’s talk software.
# ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Decades_of_Racial_Bias_Preceded_College_Board’s
AP_Black_History_Course_Changes⠀⇛
o § Hardware⠀➾
# ⚓ Joe Brockmeier ☛ Time_to_update_your…_cable?⠀⇛
Anybody else feel like the barrage of app and
operating system updates is getting to be a bit
much? Not only the pace of updates, which shows no
signs of slowing, but also the continual expansion
of devices that require updates.
Keeping your computer updated was no big deal. Then
gaming consoles, smartphones, tablets, e-readers,
smart watches, smart TVs, routers… it’s easy to
feel like you spend more time updating devices than
using them. And the latest? You need to update your
power cord.
# ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Retro_Gadgets:_Nintendo_R.O.B_Wanted_To_Be_Your
Friend⠀⇛
Too busy playing video games to have a social life?
No worries. In 1985, Nintendo introduced R.O.B. —
otherwise known as the Robotic Operating Buddy. It
was made to play Nintendo with you. In Japan,
apparently, it was the Family Computer Robot. We
suppose ROB isn’t a very Japanese name. The robot
was in response to the video game market crash of
1983 and was meant to keep the new Nintendo
Entertainment System (NES) from being classified as
a video game, which would have been a death
sentence at the time of its release.
# ⚓ Hackaday ☛ The_MouSTer_Adapter_Now_Has_Amiga_Scroll
Support⠀⇛
The MouSTer is a device that enables modern USB HID
mice to be used on various retro computers. The
project has been through its ups and downs over
years, but [drygol] is here to say one thing:
rumors of the MouSTers demise have been greatly
exaggerated. Now, the project is back and better
than ever!
# ⚓ Hackaday ☛ BBS_Builder_Is_A_Framework_For_Running_Your_Own
PETSCII_Paradise⠀⇛
The 80s and 90s were the glory days of the BBS. The
plain old telephone system was responsible for
bringing us connection to other digital beings,
along with plenty of spuriously-obtained software
and inappropriate ASCII art. [Francesco Sblendorio]
has created BBS Builder to harken back to this
great era, allowing people to build their own BBSs
as they see fit!
# ⚓ Hackaday ☛ MIT_Spins_Qubits_Round_And_Round⠀⇛
Quantum computers are coming, but there are still
many problems with realizing practical machines.
One is finding a reliable and affordable way to
encode qubits — the basic unit for quantum
computers. MIT researchers have a proposal. By
using two slightly different colored lasers, they
can manipulate nuclear spin. This isn’t the first
time someone’s tried to use light to impact spin,
but according to MIT, the other methods use an
indirect coupling which is more prone to noise,
something that limits the viability of quantum
computers. They published a recent paper on the
process if you want to read more.
o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾
# ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Ohio,_Pennsylvania_Senators_Demand_Federal
Action_Over_Toxic_Train_Derailment⠀⇛
In letters to the EPA and NTSB, the lawmakers
expressed concern about the safety of East
Palestine residents, given the release of hazardous
materials, as well as efforts to prevent future
derailments.
# ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Very_Disturbing’:_Amid_Ohio_Disaster,
Another_Norfolk_Southern_Train_Derails_in_Michigan⠀⇛
As the small town of East Palestine, Ohio reels
from a chemical-spewing train crash, another train
operated by the same company—Norfolk
Southern—derailed outside of Detroit, Michigan on
Thursday, the latest in a string of recentwrecks
that rail workers have said are a horrible and
predictable consequence of the industry’s profit-
seeking policy decisions.
# ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ American_Zionists_Accuse_Israel_of_De-
Judaizing_the_Jewish_State⠀⇛
Last month, Morton Klein, the national President of
the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) issued a
panicked statement concerning the impending “de-
Judaization” of the Jewish State. The culprit turns
out to be none other than Israel’s notorious and
racist “Law of Return,” adopted in 1950. An
amendment in 1970 allowed anyone worldwide who has
one Jewish grandparent, including the non-Jewish
spouse and children and grandchildren of such a
person and their spouses, to become colonists in
Israel and to obtain Israeli citizenship.
The ZOA statement declares with dismay that the
1970 amendment has allowed half a million “non-
Jews” from the former Soviet Union (FSU) to settle
in the Jewish State. The ZOA’s disquiet and sense
of dread is caused by reports based on Israeli
government data that “largely as a result of the
grandparent clause, over 50% of all immigrants to
the Jewish state last year were non-Jews,
and 72% of immigrants from FSU countries into the
Jewish state today are non-Jews.” The Zionist group
warned that “this is causing a significant drop in
the percentage of Jews living in Israel,
endangering Israel’s continuity as the Jewish
state.” The ZOA is alarmed that “the Jewish state’s
Jewish majority has been shrinking at a rate of 1%
every 3 years” such that “over the past 30 years,
the Jewish state’s Jewish majority shrunk by 10%;
and now stands at only 73.6%, reduced from 84%.”
# ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Pompeo_Says_Bible_Tells_Him_Israel_Not
Illegally_Occupying_Palestine⠀⇛
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo—who once
suggested that his boss, then-President Donald
Trump, may have been sent by “God” to save
Israel—waxed biblical again this week in defense of
Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime in
Palestine.
# ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Roaming_Charges:_Train_in_Vain⠀⇛
At nearly 9’oclock on the night of February 3rd, a
Norfolk Southern freight train jumped the tracks as
it was passing through the eastern Ohio town of
East Palestine. More than 50 of the train’s 141
cars tumbled off the rails into a smoking jumble.
Like most freight trains these days, it was hauling
a load of toxic cargo. At least 20 of the derailed
cars carried hazardous chemicals, five of them
harboring highly poisonous vinyl chloride, a
carcinogen used in the manufacture of plastics.
The train had left the St. Louis terminal yard
earlier that day bound for Norfolk Southern’s
Conway Yard in Pennsylvania, passing through
cities, towns and fields, crossing creeks and
rivers, rumbling by churches, schools and parks.
The derailment was the fourteenth of the young
year. Not bad by the standards of the US railroad
industry, which has averaged 1700 derailments a
year since 1977. But plenty bad enough for the
5,000 people of East Palestine and everyone living
downstream or downwind from the crash site.
# ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ Administrator_of_U.S._Environmental
Protection_Agency_visits_East_Palestine_following_train
derailment⠀⇛
Michael Regan, administrator of the U.S.
environmental protection agency, visited East
Palestine, Ohio, Thursday to give an assessment of
response efforts after a train holding toxic
chemicals derailed earlier this month.
# ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ DISCUSS:_So,_what’s_with_the_chemical
spills?⠀⇛
It has been reported, in just the last hour, that
there had been a major train derailment near Van
Buren Township, just outside Detroit, Michigan:…
# ⚓ Hollywood Reporter ☛ TikTok_Facing_Possibility_of_“Strict
Structural_Restrictions”_Over_National_Security_Risks⠀⇛
Two senators on Thursday urged The Committee on
Foreign Investment to “swiftly conclude its
investigation and impose strict structural
restrictions between TikTok’s American operations
and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance,
including potentially separating the companies.”
The letter from the lawmakers — Sens. Richard
Blumenthal, D-Conn., chair of the Senate Judiciary
subcommittee on privacy, and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., a
member of the Senate Committee on Intelligence —
points to the possibility of China using the app to
“collect data on tens of millions of American users
and attempt to influence our public discourse.” It
mirrors concerns from a member of the Senate
Intelligence Committee and a Federal Communications
commissioner urging Apple and Google to remove
TikTok from their app stores.
# ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Steak_Dinners,_Sales_Reps_and_Risky
Procedures:_Inside_the_Big_Business_of_Clogged_Arteries⠀⇛
On June 14, 2017, just before noon, a doctor made
an incision near a patient’s groin. Kari Kirk, a
representative for the world’s largest medical
device company, Medtronic, looked on and began
texting her colleague a play-by-play.
“Fixing both legs from the ankles,” she wrote.
# ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Do_You_Have_Experience_With_Peripheral_Artery
Disease?_Have_You_Had_a_Procedure_on_Your_Leg?_Tell_Us_About
It.⠀⇛
ProPublica reporters are looking into the booming
business around peripheral artery disease, a
condition that afflicts 6.5 million Americans over
age 40. It’s caused when fatty plaque builds up in
a person’s arteries, blocking blood flow to their
legs. This leads to leg pain and numbness,
especially when walking. The disease is fairly
common, but patients may not even know they have
it.
Experts say most treatments are perfectly safe. But
there has been growing concern about one type of
procedure — atherectomies — after researchers and
doctors uncovered patterns of excessive and
inappropriate use.
# ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘A_Slap_in_the_Face’:_East_Palestine
Residents_Furious_as_Norfolk_Southern_Skips_Town_Hall⠀⇛
Anxious and angry residents of East Palestine, Ohio
gathered for a town hall Wednesday night hoping to
get answers about the potential health impacts of a
massive train derailment and chemical spill that
put their small village in the national spotlight.
# ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Norfolk_Southern_Skips_Public_Meeting_on_Toxic
Train_Derailment_in_Ohio⠀⇛
# ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Bomb_Train:_Norfolk_Southern_Refuses_to
Attend_First_Public_Meeting_on_Toxic_Train_Derailment_in
Ohio⠀⇛
Hundreds of residents of East Palestine, Ohio,
packed into their first town hall meeting Wednesday
night after a train carrying hazardous materials
derailed and a “controlled” burn sent a mushroom
cloud of toxic chemicals into the air. Many said
they distrusted the train operator Norfolk Southern
and their elected officials, who told residents the
air and water were safe last Wednesday. We get an
update from Emily Wright, development director for
River Valley Organizing, which is working with
residents to call for justice-centered healing.
# ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_Fight_for_the_Soul_of_American_Medicine⠀⇛
The injustices at the heart of the American health
care system are clear to anyone with eyes and
common sense. So is the need for dramatic reform of
that system. Yet the status quo in American
medicine is well-defended, and little real change
has been forthcoming. One could even make the case
that the situation has gotten appreciably worse
over the past few decades.
# ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Is_the_Life_of_a_Poor_Person_Worth_Less
Than_a_Rich_Human?⠀⇛
Last week a shocking story from NPR largely slipped
under the radar. The headline: “Why the EPA puts a
higher value on rich lives lost to climate change.”
Climate Correspondent Rebecca Hersher shared the
“twisted tale of math, ethics and climate change”
that is the Environmental Protection Agency’s
effort to decide what’s been called the most
important number you’ve never heard of: the social
cost of greenhouse gases.
o § Proprietary⠀➾
# ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ Tesla_recalling_nearly_363,000_vehicles
equipped_with_‘Full_Self-Driving’⠀⇛
# ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘The_Bird_Is_Not_the_Only_Sick_Company’:
Tesla_Recalls_362K_Self-Driving_Cars_Over_Crash_Risk⠀⇛
Electric automaker Tesla on Thursday announced it
is recalling more than 362,000 vehicles due to
their full self-driving software’s potential crash
risk, adding to the woes of billionaire CEO Elon
Musk, whose recently acquired Twitter is beset by
operational and financial troubles.
# ⚓ Security Week ☛ Citrix_Patches_High-Severity
Vulnerabilities_in_Windows,_Linux_Apps_–_SecurityWeek⠀⇛
Citrix this week announced patches for severe
vulnerabilities in Virtual Apps and Desktops, as
well as in Workspace apps for Windows and Linux.
Tracked as CVE-2023-24483, the Virtual Apps and
Desktops vulnerability is described as a privilege
escalation issue that allows an attacker with
access to a Windows VDA as a standard Windows user
to elevate privileges to System.
# ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ ChatGPT:_Boon_for_the_Lazy_Learner⠀⇛
Inside the beating heart of many students and a
large number of learners lies an inner cheat. To
get passing grades, every effort will be made to do
the least to achieve the most. Efforts to subvert
the central class examination are the stuff of
legend: discreetly written notes on […]
o § Security⠀➾
# ⚓ LWN ☛ Security_updates_for_Thursday⠀⇛
Security updates have been issued by Debian
(firefox-esr), Fedora (community-mysql, edk2,
firefox, and git), Slackware (curl and git), SUSE
(apache2-mod_security2, aws-efs-utils, bind, curl,
git, ImageMagick, java-11-openjdk, java-17-openjdk,
java-1_8_0-openjdk, kernel, libksba, and mozilla-
nss), and Ubuntu (golang-golang-x-text, golang-x-
text, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15, linux-azure-fde,
linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.15, linux-intel-iotg, linux-
aws-5.4, linux-gcp, linux-gcp-5.4, linux-hwe-5.4,
linux-ibm, linux-ibm-5.4, linux-oracle-5.4, linux-
gke, linux-gke-5.15, nss, and xorg-server, xorg-
server-hwe-16.04).
# ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ City_of_Oakland_declares_state_of_emergency
after_ransomware_attack⠀⇛
The City of Oakland, California, has declared a
state of emergency after a ransomware attack on
Feb. 8 knocked some of its information technology
systems offline.
⚓ uni Stanford ☛ University_warns_against_opening_fraudulent_honor_code
violation_emails_sent_to_students⠀⇛
The Stanford Information Security Office sent out a community alert
Saturday warning students against opening a fraudulent email about
alleged honor code violations.
⚓ Trail Of Bits ☛ Readline_crime:_exploiting_a_SUID_logic_bug⠀⇛
I discovered a logic bug in the readline dependency partially reveals
file information when parsing the file specified in the INPUTRC
environment variable. This could allow attackers to move laterally on
a box where sshd is running, a given user is able to login, and the
user’s private key is stored in a known location (/home/user/.ssh/
id_rsa).
This bug was reported and patched back in February 2022, and chfn
isn’t typically provided by util-linux anyway, so your boxen are
probably fine. I’m writing about this because the exploit is amusing,
as it’s made possible due to a happy coincidence of the readline
configuration file parsing functions marrying up well to the format
of SSH keys—explained further in this post.
* § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾
o ⚓ Site36 ☛ Germany:_Mobile_phone_forensics_against_asylum_seeker
unlawful⠀⇛
The Federal Administrative Court rejects an appeal by the
Office for Migration and Refugees. Instead of demanding
the handover of mobile phones and log-in data, asylum
authorities must choose milder means
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has ruled
that the mass screening of mobile phones by the Federal
Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) is not covered
by the law. The judges argued that the regularly
conducted analysis of digital data carriers in the
absence of passports or passport replacement papers was
carried out without sufficient consideration of other
existing findings and documents. The order to the
plaintiff to provide log-in data for her mobile phone is
therefore also unlawful.
o ⚓ La Quadature Du Net ☛ General_mobilisation_against_the
legalisation_of_algorithmic_video_surveillance!⠀⇛
During the end of year holidays, and without fanfare, the
government prepared the introduction of a new legislation
regarding the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games. As
expected, this draft law pave the way for the
generalization of algorithmic video surveillance. While
using the fallacious argument of time limited experiment,
such technologies are already illegally used in many
cities in the country with total impunity. Using the
forthcoming sport competitions as justification, the
government and many representatives call themselves
advocates of the French industry and use this position to
allow thos companies to durably expand on the video
surveillance market.
o ⚓ Futurism ☛ Amazon_Begs_Employees_Not_to_Leak_Corporate_Secrets_to
ChatGPT⠀⇛
After catching snippets of text generated by OpenAI’s
powerful ChatGPT tool that looked a lot like company
secrets, Amazon is now trying to head its employees off
from leaking anything else to the algorithm.
According to internal Slack messages that were leaked to
Insider, an Amazon lawyer told workers that they had
“already seen instances” of text generated by ChatGPT
that “closely” resembled internal company data.
This issue seems to have come to a head recently because
Amazon staffers and other tech workers throughout the
industry have begun using ChatGPT as a “coding assistant”
of sorts to help them write or improve strings of code,
the report notes.
While this isn’t necessarily a problem from a proprietary
data perspective, it’s a different story when employees
start using the AI to improve upon existing internal code
— which is already happening, according to the lawyer.
o ⚓ EFF ☛ How_We_Fought_For_and_Won_Access_to_Records_About
Predictive_Policing_in_General_Escobedo,_Mexico⠀⇛
Filing public records requests for government information
is a vital tool that EFF uses to shed light on law
enforcement use of surveillance technologies. When a
government agency hides crucial information about their
surveillance policies and practices, it harms the
democratic rights of the people whose data is collected
and exploited.
In the United States, we rely on the Freedom of
Information Act and state-level open government laws to
obtain records from government agencies, but many other
countries also have similar public records laws—including
Mexico.
Mexican and U.S. authorities frequently collaborate and
share resources, and surveillance techniques deployed by
law enforcement on one side of the border often flow
across to the other. In 2021, we investigated this flow
of technology starting with a predictive policing program
that we learned that police had launched in General
Escobedo, a city in the border state of Nuevo Leon.
o ⚓ Mozilla ☛ The_Mozilla_Blog:_iJustine,_self-described
‘oversharer,’_has_some_privacy_advice_for_you⠀⇛
Justine Ezarik launched her YouTube channel in 2006,
makingsillyskitsso she could tinker with video editing
and visual effects. Her first viral moment came after
recording herself flipping through a300-page_iPhone
billshe received in the mail. (AT&T, dealing with the
first generation of the iPhone, itemized each text
message she sent.)
Justine went on to makemusic_video_parodiesandamateur
cooking_videos. For six months, she “lifecasted” her
entire days on a streaming website.
o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Machine_Learning_Baby_Monitor,_Part_2:_Learning_Sleep
Patterns⠀⇛
The first lesson a new parent learns is that the second
you think you’ve finally figured out your kid’s patterns
— sleeping, eating, pooping, crying endlessly in the
middle of the night for no apparent reason, whatever —
the kid will change it. It’s the Uncertainty Principle of
kids — the mere act of observing the pattern changes it,
and you’re back at square one.
o ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Stalkerware_Purveyor_Hit_With_$410,000_Fine_By_New
York_Attorney_General_But_Will_Still_Be_Allowed_To_Sell_Spyware⠀⇛
Bad people selling terrible things to even worse people
has been around since long before the debut of
smartphones. But now it’s just so much easier to bring
these two parties together to inflict misery on others.
* § Confidentiality⠀➾
o ⚓ Blogs of War ☛ Hacker_OPSEC_with_The_Grugq⠀⇛
The Grugq is a world renowned information security
researcher with 15 years of industry experience. Grugq
started his career at a Fortune 100 company, before
transitioning to @stake, where he was forced to resign
for publishing a Phrack article on anti-forensics. Since
then the Grugq has presented on anti-forensics at dozens
of international security conferences, as well as talks
on numerous other security topics. As an independent
information security consultant the Grugq has performed
engagements for a wide range of customers, from startups
to enterprises and the public sector. He has worked as a
professional penetration tester, a developer, and a full
time security researcher. The Grugq’s research has always
been heavily biased towards counterintelligence aspects
of information security. His research has been referenced
in books, papers, magazines, and newspapers. Currently an
independent researcher, the grugq is actively engaged in
exploring the intersection of traditional tradecraft and
the hacker skillset, learning the techniques that covert
organisations use to operate clandestinely and applying
them to the Internet. [...]
o ⚓ [Old] Medium ☛ The_Network_is_not_the_Issue_Dude⠀⇛
Which brings me to my real problem with the inherent
inherited insecurity theory. The network has very little
to do with Internet security, rather it is the software
(and to some extent the hardware) on the end points. The
software is what gets hacked. The software is where most
of the vulnerabilities are. And the software is not from
the 1960s. There is no way that Facebook has an account
hijack bug, or whatever, because of some design decision
made for the ARPAnet during some whacked out coding
session in the Summer of Love.
§ Defence/Aggression⠀➾
* ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexican_army_dismantles_large_‘narco_lab’_in
Culiacán⠀⇛
The Mexican army has dismantled one of the largest synthetic
drug laboratories yet seen in the country in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Tanks_aren’t_arriving_in_Ukraine_despite_promises
from_European_allies⠀⇛
For months, Germany withstood international pressure to allow
neighbors to supply Ukraine with German-made tanks. Yet since
Berlin finally yielded last month, only one country in Europe
has agreed to dispatch a sizeable contingent, informs “The Wall
Street Journal”.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Heaven_Turned_Hell:_Economic_Terrorism_in_State_of
Jammu_&_Kashmir⠀⇛
Jammu and Kashmir, a former princely state, now an Indian
occupied territory has a unique economy that has been shaped by
its history and geography. The region is home to a diverse
range of resources, including minerals, water, and tourism
potential, which have the potential to drive economic growth.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russia’s_Defense_Ministry_plans_to_launch_aerial_warfare_over
Ukraine_—_Meduza⠀⇛
Russia’s Defense Ministry has made the decision to start
extensively using aircraft in the Ukraine war. The Russian
outlet iStories reported this, citing a source close to the
ministry.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Finance_director_for_Russia’s_Western_Military_District_found
dead,_possibly_by_suicide_—_Meduza⠀⇛
The 58-year-old Marina Yankina, finance director for Russia’s
Western Military District, was found dead beneath the windows
of a St. Petersburg high-rise where she lived.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Arts-and-crafts_workshops_and_a_Putin_rally:_Russia_gets_ready
to_mark_anniversary_of_invading_Ukraine_—_Meduza⠀⇛
The Putin administration has prepared a set of guidelines for
commemorating the anniversary of invading Ukraine.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Who_decided_on_the_boundaries_of_the_‘Russian_World?’_A_brief
history_of_Donbas_separatism_—_Meduza⠀⇛
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Putin_promised_to_support_the_families_of_fighters_who_go_to
Ukraine_with_private_military_companies_—_Meduza⠀⇛
The Russian authorities are considering whether to support
Russian nationals fighting in Ukraine with private military
companies. Putin raised the issue at a meeting with Children’s
Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, after she noted that
the families of fighters serving in Ukraine with private
military companies are not entitled to the same social
guarantees as families of Ministry of Defense soldiers.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘My_child_was_buried_abroad’:_Locals_try_to_find_and_notify
families_of_Wagner_Group_fighters_they_found_buried_outside_Luhansk_—
Meduza⠀⇛
Locals have discovered 42 fresh graves at a cemetery outside
Luhansk. Judging by the names on the inscriptions, these may be
the graves of Wagner Group fighters, reports BBC News Russian.
* ⚓ RFERL ☛ NATO_Chief_Tells_Turkey_It’s_Time_To_Ratify_Membership_For
Sweden,_Finland⠀⇛
* ⚓ Barrons ☛ NATO_Chief_Tells_Turkey_To_Ratify_Sweden,_Finland
Membership⠀⇛
But he also stressed the urgency of Ankara dropping its
resistance to the Nordic neighbours’ bids to join the Western
defence alliance.
* ⚓ MEMRI ☛ Palestinian_Islamic_Scholar_Sheikh_Yousef_Makharzah:_You_Should
Prepare_To_Go_Fight_The_Infidels_In_America_Before_They_Come_Here;_Only
Fear_Keeps_The_Infidels_At_Bay⠀⇛
“You should prepare to go and fight the infidels in America,
before they come here. If you do not go after them, they will
come after you. America today leads the world in corruption. It
is the pharaoh of this world. Every day, it occupies another
country and commits slaughter there. This is a violation of
human rights and runs counter to America’s values. If you ask
them why they kill these poor, wretched people, they tell you
that this is a preemptive war, because these people are
terrorists, and if we do not go to their own turf and strike
them in their caves before they grow stronger, they will come
after us. America allowed for a preemptive war, using this
argument.
* ⚓ Axios ☛ DeSantis_signs_bill_to_move_out-of-state_migrants_to_blue
states⠀⇛
DeSantis and other Republicans have argued that the program is
an effective way of tackling a surge in migration to the U.S.-
Mexico border that has overwhelmed southern states, but
immigration advocates counter that the practice is dehumanizing
and uses migrants as political pawns.
* ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Despite_Mass_Shootings,_Texas_Has_Rejected_Gun_Control⠀⇛
It has become a mournful pattern. Following mass shootings,
lawmakers in many states have taken stock of what happened and
voted to approve gun control legislation to try to prevent
additional bloodshed.
In Colorado, the Legislature passed universal background checks
in 2013 after a shooter at an Aurora movie theater killed 12
people. After 58 people were shot dead during a 2017 concert in
Las Vegas, the Nevada Legislature passed a red flag law that
allows a judge to order that weapons be taken from people who
are deemed a threat. And in Florida in 2018, then-Gov. Rick
Scott signed a bill that raised the minimum age to buy a
firearm to 21 after a teenager with a semi-automatic rifle
opened fire at a Parkland high school, killing 17 people.
* ⚓ FAIR ☛ ACTION_ALERT:_NYT_Book_Review_in_Denial_on_Japanese_Persecution
in_World_War_II⠀⇛
In a red-baiting New York Times review (2/14/23) of Malcolm
Harris’ book Palo Alto, writer Gary Kamiya makes a false
assertion about the persecution of Japanese people that amounts
to denial of one of the most shameful chapters of US history.
The Times should issue an immediate correction and apology.
* ⚓ Insight Hungary ☛ Pro-Fidesz_commentator:_“I_am_rooting_for_the
Russians”⠀⇛
Andras Bencsik, TV commentator and editor of the rightwing
weekly magazine Demokrata made a clear statement on pro-
government Hir TV on where he stands on the war in Ukraine. “I
have never met a person in this country who doesn’t say ‘I’m,
rooting for the Russians’ after taking a deep breath (…) I am
also rooting for the Russians,” Bencsik said.
Bencsik, most known for his pro-Soviet articles in the 1980s,
said Ukraine does not meet any criteria for EU
membership. According to Bencsik, Russian aggression is
actually ‘relative’ because of what the Ukrainians ‘have been
doing in Donbas for eight years’. “We’re rooting for the
Russians to end this lie machine,” said Bencsik.
* ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ Fidesz_MEP_condemns_Russian_aggression_with_unusually
strong_language⠀⇛
* ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Zelensky_Signs_Agreement_With_JP_Morgan_on_Ukraine’s
Reconstruction⠀⇛
JP Morgan plans to raise private capital for a Ukrainian
investment fund.
* ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Media_Ignore_Seymour_Hersh_Bombshell_Report_of_US
Destroying_Nord_Stream_II⠀⇛
A MintPress study of the 20 most influential U.S. news outlets
found virtually no coverage of the esteemed journalist’s
revelations linking Washington to the pipeline attacks.
* ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ DemocracyNow!_Interview:_Seymour_Hersh_on_‘How_America
Took_Out_the_Nord_Stream_Pipeline’⠀⇛
When the Nord Stream pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia
to Germany were damaged last September, U.S. officials were
quick to suggest Russia had bombed its own pipelines. But
according to a new report by the legendary investigative
journalist Seymour Hersh, it was the U.S. Navy that carried out
the sabotage, with help […]
* ⚓ The Gray Zone ☛ From_the_‘Groyper_Wars’_to_‘America_First’:_Nick
Fuentes_becomes_a_‘somebody’⠀⇛
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_Insecure_Superpower⠀⇛
* ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ The_US_Is_Sending_Its_Worst_Down_to_Mexico⠀⇛
Violent drug cartels often dominate headlines about Mexico but
the Ayotzinapa case reveals a more sinister involvement from
the US side of the border.
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ How_DACA_Helped_This_Student_Achieve_His_Dreams⠀⇛
When Fahad Paryani was 13, he wanted to sign up for a science
boot camp. All he needed was his parents’ signatures to prove
his family was eligible for a scholarship only offered to low-
income households. Instead, he found out two things: He
wouldn’t attend the boot camp and he was undocumented.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Active_‘Neutrality’:_Why_Is_Israel_Struggling_to
Maintain_a_Coherent_Position_in_Russia,_Ukraine?⠀⇛
For a whole year, Israel has struggled in its attempts to
articulate a clear and decisive position regarding the Russia-
Ukraine war. The reason behind the seemingly confused Israeli
position is that it stands to lose, regardless of the outcome.
But is Israel a neutral party?
Israel is home to a population of almost one million Russian-
speaking citizens, one-third of them arriving from Ukraine
shortly before and immediately following the collapse of the
Soviet Union. Those Israelis, with deep cultural and linguistic
roots in their actual motherland, are a critical constituency
in Israel’s polarized political scene. After years of
marginalization following their initial arrival in Israel,
mostly in the 1990s, they managed to formulate their own
parties and, eventually, exert direct influence on Israeli
politics. Russian-speaking ultranationalist leader of the
Yisrael Beiteinu, Avigdor Lieberman, is a direct outcome of the
growing clout of this constituency.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Russia,_Ukraine,_and_International_Law⠀⇛
Recent revelations from France, Germany, Israel, and Ukraine
that the Minsk Accord(s) was a deception engineered by the US
to buy time for Ukraine to organize a US-led, armed, and funded
war against Russia, contradict American assertions regarding
the conflict. Readers will recall that it was only after the
failure of the Ukrainian government to implement the terms of
the Minsk Accord(s) that the Russian military moved into
Ukraine. In other words, the Russians waited for 2022 – 2014 =
eight years before rising to the American challenge in Ukraine.
Representatives from each of these nations have now claimed
that the US was being duplicitous, telling the world that it
favored a negotiated settlement while doing everything in its
power to assure that no settlement was reached. The former
Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, went so far as to
charge that the US said that there were no terms that the
Russians might offer that would be acceptable because the
Americans wanted a war with Russia. Question: at what point
does provocation turn into instigation?
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Anti-Imperialism_is_for_Everyone⠀⇛
* ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Louisiana_Drops_Lawsuits_Against_Katrina_Survivors⠀⇛
The state of Louisiana is dropping thousands of lawsuits
against homeowners who received grants to elevate their homes
after hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 but used the money to
make repairs instead.
Many of those homeowners said they had been told by
representatives of Road Home, the grant program, that they
could use the money for repairs, according to an investigation
by The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, WWL-TV and ProPublica.
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_Ukraine_War_and_Loss_of_Nuance⠀⇛
In every city in Russia and Ukraine, there are monuments to
past wars and the millions who were sacrificed to the ambitions
of leaders who chose to realize their objectives with guns,
bombs, and bayonets. With brutal battles raging now in Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s meaningless war against Ukraine,
many of those monuments in Russian towns and cities have borne
silent witness to opposition to the war and its attendant
atrocities. In a country where open defiance of the government
has become dangerous, people protest with flowers placed
stealthily at the feet of Taras Shevchenko or Nikolai Gogol.
The so-called “flower protests” are testimony that there
exists, and has always existed, another Russia in opposition to
official Russia.
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ Supporting_Ukraine—Without_Writing_a_Blank_Check⠀⇛
The delivery of heavy tanks to Ukraine has been pondered at
length in Germany as well as in the United States—for good
reason. Both governments had until now been keen on not
appearing as if they were espousing the Ukrainian leadership’s
proclaimed war goals beyond the country’s legitimate right to
self-defense against the unprovoked and openly premeditated
Russian aggression. They have had limited qualms about
delivering essentially defensive armament, such as anti-tank,
antiaircraft and antimissile weapons, as well as short to
medium-range artillery. And although heavy tanks too could be
restricted to defensive goals, Washington and Berlin have
probably hesitated to deliver them because they are loaded with
sophisticated equipment requiring long training. And the risk
of seeing them fall into Russian hands on the battlefield
cannot be taken lightly.
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ To_Save_Ukraine,_End_the_War⠀⇛
February 24 marks the first anniversary of Russia’s illegal and
brutal invasion of Ukraine. While we salute the extraordinary
courage and resistance of the Ukrainian people, the occasion is
a sad one, marked by a continuing war, mounting lives lost,
people maimed, cities and villages savaged, families
displaced.1
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_Pentagon’s_Irresponsible_Spending_Is_Now_Dangerous⠀⇛
It’s early in the new Congress, but lawmakers are already hotly
debating spending and debt levels. As they do so, they risk
losing track of an important issue hiding in plain sight:
massive Pentagon waste. At least in theory, combating such
excess could offer members of both parties common ground as
they start the new budget cycle. But there are many obstacles
to pursuing such a commonsense agenda.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Pentagon-Funded_Plymouth_University_Cancels_Anti-War
Academic:_Reflections_on_How_the_US_Empire_Conquered_Higher_Education⠀⇛
The US Empire is in the final and most dangerous stages of its
quest for what the Pentagon calls “full spectrum dominance.”
Having invaded and fought proxy wars in the oil-rich Middle
East, it is now trying to break nuclear-armed Russia in another
proxy war before attempting “regime change” in nuclear-armed
China. We need not tarry on the potential consequences.
Professor Noam Chomsky called it 20 years ago: this is hegemony
or survival. Which one do you choose?
As the Empire races towards its biggest bet, using humanity and
all other species on the planet as gambling chips, anti-war
comment is tolerated less and less. For those who want to know
what happened to me, see the Annex of this article for the
leaked emails and background. Meanwhile, consider what is
taking shape.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Our_Freedoms_Shrink_as_Our_Military_Expands⠀⇛
The Merchants of Death even own our sidewalks. That’s what we
were told when we arrived at Raytheon Technologies in
Arlington, Virginia, on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, to
issue a “Contempt Citation” for Raytheon’s failure to comply
with a subpoena issued last November by the Merchants of Death
War Crimes Tribunal, a People’s Tribunal scheduled for November
of 2023.
Raytheon knew we were coming. The police were waiting and would
not permit us to enter the enormous building even though other
businesses and a public restaurant resided inside. “You’re not
allowed in,” the police said. “The owner of the building said
no to you.” Others were free to enter for lunch or to conduct
business. The officers were polite. Respectful. “We are only
doing our job,” they said, seeming more like a hired corporate
police force than a public police force.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Australia’s_B-52_Nuclear_Weapons_Problem⠀⇛
It is not farfetched to make the point that delivery systems
capable of deploying nuclear weapons will lead to them carrying
those very same weapons. Whatever the promises made by
governments that such delivery systems will not carry such
loads, stifling secrecy over such arrangements can only stir
doubt.
That is the problem facing the AUKUS alliance which makes
Australia a central point of reference for Washington and its
broader ambitions in curbing China. The alliance is
increasingly being characterised by a nuclear tone. First came
the promise to furnish Australia with nuclear powered
submarines, absent nuclear weapons. Then came the announcement
to deploy six B-52 bombers to the Northern Territory’s Tindal
airbase, south of Darwin.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Ban_Assault_Weapons_Now⠀⇛
The issue of gun control is a contentious topic in the United
States, with strong opinions on both sides. It is one of the
core issues that define the left and right political streams in
America. The recent shooting at Michigan State has once again
brought this issue to the forefront and US President Joe Biden
has again called for a weapons ban.
But as the debate rages on, there appears to be no resolution
in sight that would make both sides happy. Assault weapons in
particular have been at the center of many debates in the US.
In the aftermath of mass shootings, questions are raised about
the ease with which individuals can access military-style
weapons. This has led to increasing calls for a ban on assault
weapons. While this article makes the case for banning all
assault weapons, it is understood that nuance is necessary, so
here are some of the main arguments for and against gun
control:
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Ukraine_to_nationalize_Oleg_Deripaska’s_enterprises_—_Meduza⠀⇛
The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine fulfilled the justice
ministry’s request to transfer to state ownership enterprises
owned by Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Latvia_passes_law_allowing_state_to_donate_drunk_drivers’
confiscated_cars_to_Ukraine_—_Meduza⠀⇛
Latvia’s parliament has passed in the final reading legislation
that allows the state to donate vehicles it has confiscated
from intoxicated drivers to the Ukrainian army, according to
the Latvian outlet Delfi.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Physicists_Form_a_Coalition_to_Rein_in_the_Nuclear
Threat⠀⇛
As the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock has
ticked closer to midnight, a new organization has taken shape
to sound the alarm: the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat
Reduction.
More than 1,000 scientists signed onto a January 17 Coalition
statement condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat
to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine War. The statement laid
out the devastating consequences if Putin were to carry out his
threat:
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ UN_General_Assembly_to_Vote_on_Resolution_Pushing_for
‘Just_and_Lasting_Peace’_in_Ukraine⠀⇛
The United Nations’ 193 member countries are expected to vote
on a resolution declaring “the need to reach, as soon as
possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine
next Thursday, on the eve of the one-year anniversary of
Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Progresīvie_and_Gen_Z:_A_leftward_shift_for_Latvia?_—_Meduza⠀⇛
§ Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾
* ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Appeals_Court_Tells_ICE_Its_Counterintuitive_Tracking_System
Doesn’t_Justify_Jerking_Around_FOIA_Requesters⠀⇛
U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE), like nearly
every government agency, doesn’t care much for FOIA requests or
requesters. It generally takes a lawsuit to force the agency to
comply with its FOIA obligations. And its day-to-day handling
of FOIA requests is so uninspired, it couldn’t even come up
with a reason to deny Mike Masnick’s fee waiver request.
§ Environment⠀➾
* ⚓ Deutsche Welle ☛ Antarctic:_Warm_water_eroding_Thwaites_glacier,_study
shows⠀⇛
Warm water is seeping into the weak points of Antarctica’s
giant Thwaites Glacier, exacerbating melting caused by rising
temperatures, two papers published in Nature journal showed on
Wednesday.
Nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier, Thwaites Glacier could cause
global sea levels to rise by more than half a meter (1.6 feet)
if it melts, though that’s expected to take hundreds of years.
It could also destabilize neighboring glaciers that have the
potential to cause a further three-meter rise.
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Ominous_News_From_Deep_Beneath_Doomsday_Glacier⠀⇛
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica—the so-called “Doomsday
Glacier”—is in the news again. We are fascinated with it
because it is the Godzilla of glaciers, 80 miles across and as
massive as Florida. If the ice sheet holding it back were to
melt, and if Thwaites plopped into the ocean, it would all by
itself raise sea level two feet. It functions, however, to hold
back other glaciers and ice formations, which in its absence
would themselves head for the sea. If that happened you would
be talking about ten feet of sea level rise. The last time I
discussed it, Alastair G.C. Graham had just shown that glaciers
sometimes move very quickly. This finding has been widely
accepted by scientists.
* ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Here’s_What_The_Ohio_Train_Wreck_Really_Has_in_Common
With_The_Chernobyl_Disaster⠀⇛
The toxicity of these chemicals initially prompted concerns
about the health and safety of residents. Then came the
comparisons to another disaster, one that happened nearly 40
years ago: The nuclear disaster in the city of Pripyat on April
26, 1986, which resulted in the spread of radioactive
contaminants in Ukraine and across Europe.
Although the intense imagery from Ohio might have onlookers
believe the state has a mini Chernobyl on its hands, the scale
of Chernobyl’s destruction was much worse. However, the
environmental impact of the East Palestine incident should not
be ignored, experts say.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ An_Accident_of_Business_as_Usual:_Mangled_Train_Cars,
Fires_and_Chemical_Contamination⠀⇛
On Friday, February 3, 2023, a freight train with many cars was
headed from Madison, Illinois to Conway Pennsylvania. But at 9:
00 PM the train, loaded with a variety of goods, including
toxic chemicals, derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, near the
Pennsylvania border. The result was destruction, extreme
pollution, and possible ecological death, immediate and
chronic. About 50 cars crashed onto each other. They left a
mangled and charred mass of boxcars and flames.
On February 10, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency,
from its regional office in Chicago, Illinois, notified Norfolk
Southern, the corporate owner of the derailed train, about its
“potential liability” for the damage the fires and chemical
contamination the broken up trains caused to people and the
environment: It said that “roughly 150 rail cars derailed.
Approximately 20 rail cars were listed as carrying hazardous
materials. Cars containing vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate,
ethylhexyl acrylate, and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether are
known to have been and continue to be released to the air,
surface soils, and surface waters.”
* ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Earth_Is_in_“a_New_Chapter_in_the_Climate_and_Ecological
Crisis,”_Study_Finds⠀⇛
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Researchers_Warn_of_Climate_‘Doom_Loop’_as_Impacts
Forestall_Energy_Transition⠀⇛
A new study released Thursday warned that the planet has
entered “a new chapter in the climate and ecological crisis,”
in which communities are forced to direct massive resources to
responding to the escalating impacts of the climate emergency,
taking focus away from efforts to slash fossil fuel
emissions—causing what the report authors called a “doom loop”
that will make avoiding the worst effects of planetary heating
increasingly difficult.
* ⚓ DeSmog ☛ Revealed:_The_Science_Denial_Network_Behind_Oxford’s_‘Climate
Lockdown’_Backlash⠀⇛
The “grassroots” backlash to a traffic reduction scheme in
Oxfordshire is being boosted by an international network of
established climate and Covid science deniers and amplified by
right-wing media, DeSmog can report.
The group ‘Not Our Future’ made headlines last month by putting
leaflets through Oxfordshire residents’ letterboxes calling
them “guinea pigs” in the UK’s first “climate lockdown”. This
was a reference to a conspiracy theory about a government plan
to curb people’s freedoms.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ High_Country_News_Engages_in_Climate_Change_Denialism
and_Greenwashing⠀⇛
A once-respected news outlet for environmental journalism that
highlighted and exposed abuses of our natural world, High
Country News (HCN) has now taken an ugly turn for the worse. On
February 10, 2023, HCN published and distributed an article,
“Does thinning work for wildfire prevention?”, that presented
itself ostensibly as an examination of “what scientists find”
to be true on the subject of “thinning”, wildfires, and climate
change. But, to address this issue, the article only quoted one
forest/fire ecologist, Gavin Jones, a pro-logging scientist
employed by the U.S. Forest Service, who has never published a
single scientific study on how “thinning” affects wildfires or
climate change.
The HCN article, which was written by a former Forest Service
employee and reads like an opinion piece, tells readers (in
bold font) that “Thinning is not a climate change risk”,
quoting Jones claiming that, without thinning, forests are
“pretty darn at risk of total loss from wildfire…” Jones also
has never published a scientific study on the forest carbon
consumption associated with wildfires. Jones does, however,
have ample experience promoting the commercial logging policies
of the agency that pays him, the U.S. Forest Service, which has
been described by federal courts as a federal agency that “has
a substantial financial interest in the harvesting of timber in
the National Forest[s]” and is “more interested in harvesting
timber than in complying with our environmental laws.”
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Big_Heat_Hits_Antarctica⠀⇛
A recent report out of West Antarctica is rattling scientists.
It’s all about heat, big-time heat, encroaching upon the
world’s biggest chunk of ice that locks down a couple hundred
feet of sea level rise. This kind of news is enough to raise
the shackles of smart well-informed people, as excessive CO2
emissions spewing like crazy ever since the turn of the 21st
century are now flat-out playing with fire in a very dangerous
corner of the planet.
* ⚓ DeSmog ☛ Court_Hears_Appeal_in_Canadian_Youth_Climate_Lawsuit⠀⇛
Young Canadians suing the federal government over its role in
worsening the climate crisis are hoping that an appeals court
will give them a chance to be heard at trial, after a judge
dismissed their case over two years ago. The case was back in
court this week as lawyers for the youths argued that the
Federal Court of Appeal should overturn that judge’s ruling and
permit the case to move towards trial.
“This case is ripe for trial because we are in a climate
emergency,” Chris Tollefson, one of the attorneys representing
the 15 youth plaintiffs in La Rose v. His Majesty the King,
said during the two-day hearing on February 14 and 15, held
virtually over Zoom. A three-judge panel from the appeals court
in Ottawa presided over the hearing, and will determine the
fate of the case at this stage.
* § Energy/Transportation⠀➾
o ⚓ The Telegraph UK ☛ Why_traffic_lights_could_become_a_thing_of_the
past_in_20_years⠀⇛
Mr Tompkin estimated that the high-specification roadside
systems cost “around £1 million per kilometre” but
claimed a wider rollout involving more basic technology
could be done for a fraction of the price.
o ⚓ YLE ☛ Helsinki_OKs_€30m_bike_‘baana’_to_Vantaa⠀⇛
The cycling path, known as Pohjoisbaana (roughly
translated as northern road) will stretch from the Käpylä
railway station to the city of Vantaa’s border, mostly
running parallel to an existing rail line.
o ⚓ Truthdig ☛ Big_Oil_Outspent_Clean_Energy_Groups_by_27X⠀⇛
But shiny ads are not all these companies do to protect
their commercial interests in the face of a rapidly
heating world. Most also provide financial support to
industry groups that are spending hundreds of millions of
dollars on political activities, often to thwart polices
designed to slow climate change.
o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Sometimes_a_Gas_Stove_is_Not_Just_a_Gas_Stove⠀⇛
A Fox News headline writer called it “Biden’s War on Your
Kitchen.” Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberley
Strassel wrote, “The reason gas stoves are in the news is
simple: There is a coordinated, calculated—and well-
funded—strategy to kill them off. It’s the joint
enterprise of extremely powerful climate groups, working
with Biden administration officials.” (“Extremely
powerful climate groups”? Where can I find them?)
The Great Gas Stove Freakout of 2023 was not a strictly
right-wing or one-party phenomenon. Panic spread along
the spectrum, from liberal chefs to Florida governor Ron
DeSantis. In the Senate, Republican Ted Cruz teamed up
with Democrat Joe Manchin to sponsor a bill that would
bar the government from enforcing any rule that prohibits
the sale of gas stoves or even makes them more expensive.
* § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾
o ⚓ The Revelator ☛ Restoring_the_Ciénaga_Grande_de_Santa_Marta:
Reversing_a_Century_of_Colombian_Tragedy⠀⇛
o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ There’s_No_Such_Thing_as_“Humane_Slaughter”_of
Livestock…Federal_Records_Prove_It⠀⇛
Most meat-eaters want to believe that the animals they
eat don’t suffer, but time and again, federal records
have shown that they do. It’s not unreasonable to assume
otherwise; after all, most U.S. meat production is
subject to the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which
requires that animals be stunned (rapidly rendered
insensible to pain) before they’re hoisted upside down
and killed. But this law doesn’t apply to all
animals—chickens, turkeys, ducks, and fish are
excluded—and federal inspection records reveal horrifying
violations in which cows, pigs, and other animals have
endured physical pain and psychological terror at
slaughterhouses, where prolonged deaths occur
disturbingly frequently.
Reports from around the country read like horror stories.
For example, on three different days between June and
August 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) staff at South
40 Farms in North Dakota saw pigs cry out after being
shot in the head during botched attempts to render them
unconscious, and on another day in April 2022, a steer
attempted to sit up after an employee from the same
establishment shot him twice in the head. At Lightfoot
Farm Market & Processing in Tennessee, a steer cried out
and remained conscious after three rifle shots to the
head until a fourth shot finally ended his suffering in
June 2022. A similar scene was witnessed at the same
facility in 2021, when a cow remained conscious, bleeding
from the nose after the slaughterhouse owner shot her in
the head the first time.
o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Keep_Politics_Out_of_Grizzly_Review⠀⇛
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has begun a 12-
month review of petitions from the states of Montana and
Wyoming to delist grizzly bears and remove the
protections it has under the Endangered Species Act
(ESA). This would turn management of grizzly bears over
to the states, who have made clear they intend to have
hunting seasons as well as give livestock producers more
leeway in directly shooting grizzlies. The political
fingerprints were on the announcement before the ink had
dried. Statements from politicians throughout the region
were celebratory as if they had scored the go-ahead
touchdown.
§ Finance⠀➾
* ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ US_and_Chinese_companies_compete_for_Mexican
customs_contract⠀⇛
The Defense Ministry held a tender to select a supplier for
inspection equipment at 21 border customs stations.
* ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ DocuSign_lays_off_700_employees⠀⇛
Electronic signature provider DocuSign Inc. today announced
that it is laying off about 10% of its workforce, or about 700
employees. The company stated in a regulatory filing that the
job cuts will support its “growth, scale and profitability
objectives.”
⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Dropbox’s_stock_falls_as_it_struggles_to_squeeze_more_revenue
from_existing_customers⠀⇛
Shares of Dropbox Inc. were trending down in the after-hours trading
session today after the company reported pedestrian growth and a
decline in its average revenue per paying user. The company did at
least beat expectations with its fourth-quarter financial results.
⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Appian_beats_expectations_but_stock_falls_as_it_racks_up
increased_losses⠀⇛
Automation software provider Appian Corp. beat Wall Street’s
expectations as it delivered its fourth-quarter financial results
today, but its stock fell in extended trading as its losses widened.
⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Avaya_files_for_Chapter_11_bankruptcy_protection_for_a_second
time⠀⇛
Avaya Inc., the veteran unified communications company, said this
week that it’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the
second time in its history, while announcing a plan that will slash
$2.6 billion of debt from its balance sheet.
⚓ Yahoo News ☛ U.S._household_debt_jumps_to_$16.90_trillion⠀⇛
U.S. household debt jumped to a record $16.90 trillion from October
through December last year, the largest quarterly increase in 20
years, as mortgage and credit card balances surged amid high
inflation and rising interest rates, a Federal Reserve report showed
on Thursday.
Household debt, which rose by $394 billion last quarter, is now $2.75
trillion higher than just before the COVID-19 pandemic began while
the increase in credit card balances last December from one year
prior was the largest since records began in 1999, the New York Fed’s
quarterly household debt report also said.
Mortgage debt increased by $254 billion to $11.92 trillion at the end
of December, according to the report, while mortgage originations
fell to $498 billion, representing a return to levels last seen in
2019.
Meanwhile credit card balances increased by $61 billion in the fourth
quarter while auto loan balances rose by $28 billion, the report
said.
⚓ Reason ☛ Social_Security_and_Medicare_Cuts_Are_Coming,_Whether_Politicians_Do
It_or_Not⠀⇛
As legislators refuse to act, benefits will be cut without any
possibility of sheltering those seniors who are poor.
⚓ TruthOut ☛ Senate_Dems_Warn_GOP_Budget_Cuts_Would_“Deny_1_Million_Babies
Access_to_Formula”⠀⇛
⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Rising_U.S._Interest_Rates_Push_Countries_in_Global_South
Toward_Economic_Collapse⠀⇛
Soaring inflation and devalued currencies have created a catastrophic
debt crisis for much of the world, including in countries like
Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Malaysian economist
Jomo Kwame Sundaram says the instability is largely driven by
interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which have the
effect of increasing borrowing costs for poorer countries and
devaluing their currencies compared to the U.S. dollar. The
intensifying U.S. economic war on China is also hurting many
countries of the Global South that are linked to Chinese industry, he
says.
⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Yes,_Wall_Street_Would_Kill_Your_Granny_for_a_Few_Extra
Bucks⠀⇛
There are industries that occasionally do something rotten. And there
are industries — like Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Tobacco — that
persistently do rotten things.
⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Don’t_Trust_Wall_Street_With_Nursing_Homes⠀⇛
There are industries that occasionally do something rotten. And there
are industries like Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Big Tobacco that
persistently do rotten things.
Then there is the nursing home industry — where rottenness has become
a core business principle.
⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Absolute_Hypocrisy’:_GOP_Unveils_Bill_to_Make_Trump_Tax_Cuts
Permanent_While_Howling_About_Debt⠀⇛
Led by Reps. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the
TCJA Permanency Act, would cement into federal law tax cuts for
individuals that are set to expire at the end of 2025.
⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Senate_Dems_Detail_How_GOP_Budget_Cuts_Would_‘Hurt_Families
in_Every_Corner_of_the_Country’⠀⇛
Top Senate Democrats released a report Wednesday highlighting the
far-reaching implications of the House GOP majority’s push to freeze
federal spending at fiscal year 2022 levels, a cap that would inflict
severe cuts on programs that help low-income families afford food,
healthcare, housing, and other necessities.
⚓ Scheerpost ☛ We_Need_to_Talk_About_the_Original_Sin_of_Economics⠀⇛
How a bleak Christian theology influenced the development of the
dismal science.
⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Progressive_Senators_Demand_Answers_From_Kroger_on
‘Widespread_Wage_Theft’⠀⇛
A trio of progressive U.S. senators on Wednesday pressed the CEO of
Kroger to answer longtime worker allegations of rampant wage theft,
accusations that continue as the supermarket giant pursues a
contentious megamerger with erstwhile competitor Albertsons.
⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Credit_Card_Holders_Get_Protection_From_Fraud._Shouldn’t_EBT
Users,_Too?⠀⇛
A few years ago, someone stole my card information and took over
$100. You’d assume the bank or credit card company would reimburse
that fraud, right?
Not for me, unfortunately. The skimmed card number was for my
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, which allows me to purchase
food for my family through the federal SNAP program (formerly known
as food stamps).
§ AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾
* ⚓ Craig Murray ☛ Murder,_Lies_and_State_Conspiracy⠀⇛
Donald John Morrison was the last man to speak to Willie McRae,
unless his murderer talked. He invited me warmly into his neat
Benbecula home, where I was visiting with my friend, his cousin
Donnie.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Extras_recruited,_promised_500_rubles,_to_attend_a_patriotic
concert_and_rally_in_Moscow_—_Meduza⠀⇛
Advertisements appeared on Russian Telegram and other social
network channels, recruiting extras to attend a concert and
rally on February 22 in Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium. Putin is
expected to attend the event, along with a number of Russian
musical acts.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Former_Ukrainian_pro-Kremlin_politician_Viktor_Medvedchuk_says
he_is_now_‘forced’_to_live_in_Moscow_—_Meduza⠀⇛
Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who was handed over to
Russia in September 2022 as part of a prisoner swap, told
Russian state television network Channel One that he now
resides in Moscow.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ How_Drug_Ads_Gaslight_Us⠀⇛
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug ads have been accused of giving
dual and confusing messages and even being “bipolar.” Even as
viewers see rainbows, sunsets, puppies and smiling
grandparents, the audio cautions that the advertised drug may
cause allergic reactions, severe infections, brain bleeds,
seizures and more including death. Will the drugs make us
better or kill us? Do you have the sound on or off?
And there are other ways DTC ads gaslight us. Sometimes an ad
broadcasts information that completely contradicts what the ad
just said, making us doubt our own perceptions and memory.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_Specter_of_“Woke_Communism”⠀⇛
Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida and perhaps the next
president of the United States, is waging war against something
he and many others on the right identify as “woke communism.”
DeSantis even persuaded the Florida legislature to pass a
Victims of Communism law, mandating that every November 7th
(the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia), all
public schools in the state must devote 45 minutes of
instruction to the evils of the red menace.
You might reasonably ask: What menace? After all, the Soviet
Union fell apart more than 30 years ago and, long before that,
communist parties around the world had dwindled in numbers and
lost their revolutionary zeal. The American Communist Party was
buried alive nearly three-quarters of a century ago during the
McCarthy hysteria of the 1950s.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Geopolitical_Changes_Threaten_Africa’s_Unity⠀⇛
In this long-ranging and insightful interview conducted by our
media executive Kester Kenn Klomegah with Dr Mohamed Chtatou, a
senior professor of Middle Eastern politics at the
International University of Rabat (IUR) and Mohammed V
University in Rabat, Morocco, focuses largely on accelerating,
advancing and sustaining decades-old dream of Africa’s unity.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Lavrov:_Western_attempts_to_isolate_Russia_have
failed._Our_enemies_had_to_admit_this⠀⇛
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks during the Government
Hour in the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Moscow,
February 15, 2023.
* ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ ‘The_Global_Times’:_US’_role_more_and_more
questionable⠀⇛
Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh’s investigative report, that
the US was behind the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage, is
supposed to be a bomb in news cycle. Yet Western media outlets,
who are normally always hungry for scoops, have covered their
eyes and ears.
* ⚓ ABC ☛ YouTube_CEO_steps_down,_severing_longtime_ties_to_Google⠀⇛
Shortly after Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin
incorporated their search engine into a business in 1998,
Wojcicki rented the garage of her Menlo Park, California, home
to them for $1,700 a month.
Page and Brin — both 25 at the time — continued to refine their
search engine in Wojcicki’s garage for five months before
moving Google into a more formal office and later persuaded
their former landlord to come work for their company.
* ⚓ Variety ☛ YouTube_CEO_Susan_Wojcicki_Stepping_Down_After_Nine_Years⠀⇛
Wojcicki announced her departure in a memo to YouTube staff
Thursday. Neal Mohan, currently chief product officer at
YouTube, will replace her as SVP and new head of YouTube.
* ⚓ [Old] FSF ☛ New_Hampshire_residents:_Voice_your_support_for_software
freedom_on_Thursday,_February_16⠀⇛
If passed, HB 617-FN would prevent state agencies from
requiring New Hampshire residents to use proprietary software
in public interactions like remote court proceedings, tax
filings, and the completion of public school coursework. This
alone would be a huge advancement for the free software
community in the United States, showing state and local
governments around the country that it can be done. New
Hampshire has the opportunity to lead the way when it comes to
free software legislation in the United States. We hope you can
attend the hearing or share your support of the bill online.
* ⚓ ME Forum ☛ The_“Islamophobia”_Regime⠀⇛
To stay out of trouble under this arrangement, non-Muslim
Westerners must offer effusive praise for Muslims or remain
silent about all things Islamic. They must agree to have their
speech policed by a coalition of Islamists and their leftist
political fellow travelers and the public institutions this
coalition has either captured or rendered ineffective. To
enforce this silence, non-Muslims who dare speak about the
relationship between Islamic doctrine, Islamism, and jihadist
violence are lumped in with Islamic terrorists who
“misunderstand” or “pervert” their faith and kill people in its
name. In the upside-down environment created by the
“Islamophobia” charge, people who speak critically of Islam,
Muslims, Islamism, or Shari’a need to be monitored as much
as—if not more than—the Islamists and jihadists themselves.
* ⚓ Michael Geist ☛ Quebec_Demands_Changes_to_Bill_C-11_as_it_Wakes_Up_to
the_Implications_of_Losing_Control_over_Digital_Culture_Regulation⠀⇛
Bill C-11 – and its predecessor Bill C-10 – have long been
driven by the government’s view that the bill was a winner in
Quebec. Bill C-10 was headed for easy passage in 2021, but was
derailed by the government’s decision to remove safeguards over
regulating user generated content that came largely from the
Quebec-based music lobby. Nearly two years later, Canadian
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez and his staff have ignored
the concerns of thousands of digital creators, disrespected
indigenous creators, and indicated that he will likely reject
Senate amendments designed to craft a compromise solution, all
in the name of keeping Quebec lobby interests satisfied. Yet as
the government considers the Senate amendments, the Quebec
legislative assembly this week passed a last minute motion
calling for further changes to the bill, including scope to
enact its own rules and mandatory consultations with the
province on the contents of a policy direction to the CRTC that
Rodriguez has insisted on keeping secret until after the bill
receives royal assent (a full copy of the motion is contained
at the bottom of this post). The Conservatives have been
calling for the Quebec motion and the Senate amendments to be
sent back to committee for further study, which the Globe
reports may delay the government’s response to the Senate
amendments.
* ⚓ Patrick Breyer ☛ First_parliamentary_amendments_on_EU_Child_Sexual
Abuse_Regulation:_Some_poison_teeth_are_pulled,_but_indiscriminate_chat
control_still_looming⠀⇛
This week, the Social Democrat rapporteur of the opinion-giving
Internal Market Committee in the European Parliament, Alex
Saliba, proposed first amendments to the draft EU Child Sexual
Abuse Regulation (CSAR), also known as chat control proposal.
[1]
Pirate Party MEP and Greens/EFA shadow rapporteur in the lead
Home Affairs Committee (LIBE), Patrick Breyer, has a mixed
assessment of the proposals: [...]
* ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Ex-Trump_Chief_of_Staff_Mark_Meadows_Subpoenaed_in_January_6
Probe⠀⇛
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ Israel’s_Harsh_Steps_in_Palestine⠀⇛
* ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Trump_Will_Promote_Early_Voting_in_2024_After_Years_of_Using
It_to_Push_Big_Lie⠀⇛
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Extraordinary_Repudiation’:_NY_Senate_Rejects_Hochul’s
Right-Wing_Judicial_Nominee⠀⇛
The New York State Senate’s Democrats on Wednesday delivered a
“major embarrassment” for and “extraordinary repudiation” of
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, rejecting Hector LaSalle, her
anti-choice, anti-union nominee to lead the state’s top court.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Mexico’s_President_Would_Build_an_Alliance_to_Counter
Cuba_Blockade⠀⇛
On the occasion of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit
recently to Mexico, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López
Obrador (AMLO) raised the possibility of many nations
cooperating to oppose the U.S blockade of Cuba. AMLO has become
Cuba’s champion in the international arena, and perhaps not
accidentally: the governments of the two nations each
originated from social and political revolutions.
The two leaders have built a tight relationship. Diaz-Canal
visited to Mexico in September, 2021. AMLO was in Cuba in May,
2022. And AMLO refused to attend a U.S – organized Summit of
the Americas in Los Angeles in June 2022 because Cuba had been
excluded.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Normal_or_Crazy?⠀⇛
On February 7, President Biden delivered a memorable State of
the Union address. But we should also take note of a strange
line in Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ response. Calling
on the country to elect “a new generation of Republican
leadership,” she said, “The dividing line in America is no
longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or
crazy.”
Remember that Ms. Sanders was Donald Trump’s press secretary
for two years. Does she actually understand what she was
saying?
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Corbyn_Rebukes_Starmer_for_Barring_Him_From_Running
With_UK_Labour_Party⠀⇛
Former U.K. Labour chief Jeremy Corbyn—a member of Parliament
who represents the Greater London constituency Islington
North—called out Leader Keir Starmer this week for barring him
from running with the party in the nation’s next general
election.
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Fetterman_Applauded_for_‘Courage’_of_Being_Open_About
Clinical_Depression⠀⇛
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman has checked himself into a Maryland
military hospital “to receive treatment for clinical
depression,” the Pennsylvania Democrat’s office said Thursday.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_Santos_Soap_Opera_Pauses_for_a_Commercial_Break_
(Kinda)⠀⇛
It’s nice to know the insane pizzazz of the Trump years hasn’t
been sapped out of public life by the tedium and nuclear
terrors of the Biden era. That some politicos still commit
their misdemeanors with brio. That charlatans retain their
flair and remain uninhibited about being charlatans. At the top
of this list of superstar conmen stands George “Shameless”
Santos, the not-so-Jewish, Brazilian GOP congressman from Long
Island exposed for faking everything from his ethnic background
to his business credentials to his toenails. Santos is one of a
kind, and the soap opera of his chicaneries has already
entertained us for months, and promises to keep unfolding far
into the future, hypnotizing us with the question, what next?
Well, I’ll tell you. Covering his tracks, to the very limited
extent that’s possible – that’s what’s next in the Santos
saga’s upcoming installment: normalizing George (good luck with
that one, congressman). On January 31, the ever youthful and
still defiant 34-year-old Santos announced he would temporarily
recuse himself from congressional committees, presumably to
deal with the multiple federal and local investigations into
his nonstop funny-business. Santos also faces fraud charges in
Brazil. “He just felt like there was so much drama, really,
over the situation,” explained GOP representative Marjorie
“Jewish Space Lasers” Taylor Green. When you have MTG
complaining about drama, you know things have sunk to new lows
of lunacy, deceit and possible exposure.
§ Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾
* ⚓ Reason ☛ District_Court_Halts_New_York_Law_Forcing_Online_Platforms_To
‘Respond’_to_‘Hateful’_Speech⠀⇛
“Today’s decision is a victory for the First Amendment that
should be celebrated by everyone who hopes to see the internet
continue as a place where even difficult and contentious issues
can be debated and discussed freely,” said one attorney.
* ⚓ Reason ☛ My_Article_in_the_Journal_of_Free_Speech_Law,_“Should_the_Law
Limit_Private-Employer-Imposed_Speech_Restrictions?”⠀⇛
It’s now out, in the symposium on Non-Governmental Restrictions
on Free Speech. The Introduction and the Conclusion: About half
of Americans live in jurisdictions that protect some private
employee speech or political activity from employer
retaliation. Of course, that means about half don’t. Which
jurisdictions are correct?
* ⚓ Reason ☛ Google,_Section_230,_&_Nohemi_Gonzalez⠀⇛
Philip Hamburger’s Op-Ed at the Federalist on a case to be
argued next week
* ⚓ EFF ☛ Section_230_is_On_Trial._Here’s_What_You_Need_to_Know.⠀⇛
Nearly everyone who speaks online relies on Section 230, a 1996
law that promotes free speech online. Because users rely on
online intermediaries as vehicles for their speech, they can
communicate to large audiences without needing financial
resources or technical know-how to distribute their own speech.
Section 230 plays a critical role in enabling online by speech
by generally ensuring that those intermediaries are not legally
responsible for what is said by others.
Section 230’s reach is broad: It protects users as well as
small blogs and websites, giants like Twitter and Google, and
any other service that provides a forum for others to express
themselves online. Courts have repeatedly ruled that Section
230 bars lawsuits against users and services for sharing or
hosting content created by others, whether by forwarding email,
hosting online reviews, or reposting photos or videos that
others find objectionable. Section 230 also protects the
curation of online speech, giving intermediaries the legal
breathing room to decide what type of user expression they will
host and to also take steps to moderate content as they see
fit.
But if the plaintiffs in these cases convince the Court to
narrow the legal interpretation of Section 230 and increase
platforms’ legal exposure for generally knowing harmful
material is present on their services, the significant
protections that Congress envisioned in enacting this law would
be drastically eroded. Many online intermediaries would
intensively filter and censor user speech, others may simply
not host user content at all, and new online forums may not
even get off the ground.
* ⚓ [Repeat] Project Censored ☛ Censored_Déjà_Vu:_Corporate_Media’s_Ongoing
Failure_to_Cover_Key_Issues_around_Food_Safety,_Birthing,_and
Breastfeeding_&_Dark_Money’s_Pernicious_Influence_on_Political_Culture_–
The_Project_Censored_Show⠀⇛
Notes: Steve Macek is Professor of Communications and Media
Studies at North Central College in Illinois, and is co-
coordinator of Project Censored’s Campus Affiliates Program.
Shealeigh Voitl is Project Censored’s Editorial Assistant, a
co-author of the “Déjà vu News” chapter in Project Censored’s
annual media-review volume, and a journalism graduate of North
Central College in Illinois. Andy Lee Roth is Associate
Director of Project Censored, co-editor of the Project’s annual
media-review volume, and co-coordinator of the Project’s Campus
Affiliates Program. He has published widely on media issues.
The Roth/Macek article about the Texas lawsuit can be found
here.
* ⚓ McClatchy Media Network ☛ ND_advances_bills_to_remove_‘sexual’_content
from_libraries⠀⇛
After more than 30 minutes on the Senate floor, the bill passed
with a 38-9 vote. It must still pass through the House and get
signed by North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to become
law.
The House bill, which has many similarities to the Senate bill,
would also prohibit public libraries from carrying sexually
explicit materials. But it would not charge people with
misdemeanors, and it would require libraries to develop a
policy and process for keeping prohibited materials out.
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ Ron_DeSantis_Is_Lying_About_Why_Bookshelves_in_Florida
Classrooms_Are_Empty⠀⇛
Here’s the most charitable explanation for DeSantis’s
dissembling: Confusion over which books are appropriate, for
which ages, and about who should make those decisions is not
only related to new education laws he signed. It’s a problem in
many places around the country. It was an issue in Florida
before the latest laws.
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Race_to_the_Bottom’:_GOP_Has_Introduced_72_Educational
Gag_Orders_So_Far_in_2023⠀⇛
The right-wing campaign to censor what is read and taught at
public schools, colleges, universities, and libraries across
the United States is only growing more intense, as state
lawmakers introduced dozens of educational gag orders in the
first six weeks of 2023.
* ⚓ RAIR Foundation ☛ Politician_Who_Burned_the_Quran_and_Set_the_Islamic
World_On_Fire:_‘I_have_Proven_Again,_That_People_All_Over_The_World,_Are
Not_The_Same’_(Interview)⠀⇛
In reaction to Paludan’s peaceful protests, various Islamic
governments and thousands of Muslims lodged threats, Allahu
Akbar marches, and demands for deadly punishments.
* ⚓ Reason ☛ 980_New_York_Times_Contributors_Want_To_Sacrifice_Free_Inquiry
to_Ideology⠀⇛
In an open letter, they condemned the paper’s coverage of trans
issues. But their note is more about what questions journalists
are not allowed to ask.
§ Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾
* ⚓ Meral_Akşener:_‘Everybody_will_need_free_press_one_day’⠀⇛
Leader of the opposition party stated that they were informed
that the government was preparing to fine some TV channels due
to the reporting from the earthquake-hit regions.
* ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Stifling_Free_Speech_Is_Now_A_Core_Plank_Of_The_Republican
Platform⠀⇛
We just recently wrote about the reasons why Congress should
move, right now, to codify the NYT v. Sullivan case into law.
While considered mostly settled and uncontroversial, in the
last few years there have been increasing attacks on this
ruling, which has been one of the most important rulings in
preserving and protecting free speech over the last half
century. And some (Clarence Thomas) on the Supreme Court
support dismantling it, which is why we think it’s so important
for Congress to codify it into law.
* ⚓ The Dissenter ☛ Biden_Administration_Quiet_As_Modi_Raids_BBC_Offices
Same_Day_Of_Boeing_Deal⠀⇛
§ Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾
* ⚓ EDRI ☛ EU_to_provide_training_on_“covert_techniques”_to_abusive_police
forces⠀⇛
The goal of training police forces in covert investigative
techniques is, fundamentally, to increase the number of arrests
and to place more people in police custody and, eventually,
prison. Yet the states that will receive CEPOL’s training
routinely abuse the rights of people in custody.
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ Bernie_Sanders:_Anti-Union_Capitalism_Is_Wrecking
America⠀⇛
Eugene Victor Debs, the railroad workers’ union leader who was
the Socialist Party’s great organizer and presidential
candidate in the first decades of the 20th century, has been my
hero since I was a young man, when I took to heart his message
that “the very moment a workingman begins to do his own
thinking he understands the paramount issue, parts company with
the capitalist politician and falls in line with his own class
on the political battlefield.”1From the book It’s OK to Be
Angry About Capitalism, by Senator Bernie Sanders, with John
Nichols. Copyright © 2023 by Bernie Sanders. Published by
Crown, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random
House LLC.
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Sanders_Leads_Push_for_Worker_Rights_Champion_to_Lead
Labor_Department⠀⇛
Progressives are looking at U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s
expected departure as an opportunity for President Joe Biden to
demonstrate his professed commitment to workers’ rights by
placing at the helm of the Labor Department a leader who will
unabashedly call out the corporate greed that has left millions
of Americans struggling to make ends meet in the face of
historic inequality.
* ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Tesla_Fired_Over_30_Workers_in_Buffalo_the_Day_After_Union
Announced_Campaign⠀⇛
* ⚓ The Hill ☛ Tesla_fires_over_30_workers_after_union_effort:_group⠀⇛
Tesla Workers United said Thursday that over 30 workers were
fired from a Buffalo plant Wednesday after workers attempted to
organize earlier this week.
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Retaliation’:_Tesla_Fires_Buffalo_Workers_Day_After
Musk_Was_Informed_of_Union_Drive⠀⇛
Tesla fired dozens of workers at its factory in Buffalo, New
York on Wednesday, one day after an organizing committee at the
plant sent an email to billionaire chief executive officer Elon
Musk informing him of their new unionization campaign.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Why_Not_Riot?_Interview_with_Author_Ben_Case⠀⇛
There’s a Riot Going On!
We didn’t talk to Sly Stone, we did even better. We talked with
Ben Case, the author of a provocative new book, “Street
Rebellion: Resistance Beyond Violence and Nonviolence,” which
challenges the long-time liberal insistence on non-violent and
often non-aggressive protest and makes a case that riots are
another tactic to be used by the Left.
* ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Formerly_Incarcerated_People_Seek_Discrimination_Protection
as_“Protected_Class”⠀⇛
* ⚓ The Nation ☛ Apartheid_American-Style⠀⇛
This city’s water crisis had become a classic David and Goliath
story: A predominantly Black city, led by its mayor, Chokwe
Antar Lumumba, facing off with “good ole boy” Governor Tate
Reeves and his predominantly white state legislature—controlled
by a Republican supermajority made possible by more than a
century of violent voter suppression and racist gerrymandering.
* ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Democratic_AGs_Fight_Back_Against_GOP_Attacks_on
Abortion_Pill_Access⠀⇛
Warning that Republican-led states have launched an effort to
keep millions of people from accessing lifesaving medications,
23 Democratic state attorneys general on Thursday sent a letter
to officials at CVS and Walgreens to assure the pharmacies that
they can legally dispense and mail mifepristone and
misoprostol, the pills used in medication abortions.
* ⚓ Meduza ☛ Moscow_police_arrest_gay_Chechen_refugee_at_Domodedovo_Airport
and_hand_him_over_to_Chechen_authorities_—_Meduza⠀⇛
Idris Arsamikov, a 28-year-old former Chechnya resident who
moved to the Netherlands in 2018 after reportedly being
tortured by Chechen police for his sexuality, was arrested at
Moscow’s Domodedovo airport while trying to fly back to his new
home country on Wednesday, the North Caucasus LGBTQ+ crisis
group SK SOS has informed Meduza.
* ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Politics_and_Borders_Matter,_Even_in_a_Humanitarian
Catastrophe⠀⇛
For those who thought we live in a global village with nation-
states in decline and borders disappearing, the earthquake that
struck northwest Syria and southern Turkey has highlighted all
the negatives of nationalistic politics when confronted with
simple human needs. The earthquake, 7.8 on the Richter scale,
has caused over 30,000 deaths, left 80,000 being treated in
hospitals, and about one million people homeless without food
and water, shivering in freezing cold. In a situation that
cries for immediate relief, humanitarian aid has been hampered
because a large number of the earthquake’s victims live in
Syria in a region controlled by rebels opposed to the
government of Bashar Al-Assad, and on the Turkish side in a
region unprepared by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Politics and borders are having negative consequences when
governments are confronted with a dire human catastrophe. For
different reasons, the governments of Syria and Turkey have
been grossly deficient in preparing for and reacting to the
earthquake.
§ Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾
* ⚓ Kev Quirk ☛ Micro.Blog_Is_Still_Confusing⠀⇛
I want to love Micro.Blog, I really do, but it’s just so bloody
confusing to use!
* ⚓ Techdirt ☛ AT&T_‘Unlimited’_Customers_Still_Awaiting_Their_$12_Payout
More_Than_A_Decade_After_Being_Throttled_And_Lied_To⠀⇛
In 2014 the FTC sued AT&T for selling “unlimited” wireless data
plans with very real and annoying limits.
* ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Verizon,_T-Mobile_Overstate_Wireless_Coverage_To_Nab
Billions_In_Undeserved_Subsidies⠀⇛
As more than $50 billion in broadband subsidies begin to flow,
entrenched U.S. broadband providers are working overtime to try
and secure their share of it by any means necessary. That has
included sabotaging grant applications from competitors,
changing state laws to dictate who can or can’t get these
subsidies, and falsely inflating their actual broadband
coverage to grab subsidies for areas they don’t actually serve.
§ Monopolies⠀➾
* ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ YouTube_CEO_Susan_Wojcicki_announces_plans_to_step
down⠀⇛
Longtime YouTube Chief Executive Officer Susan Wojcicki today
announced plans to step down and move to an advisory role at
parent company Google LLC. Following the departure of Wojcicki
(pictured), one of the most prominent top women tech
executives, YouTube will be led by Neal Mohan, its current
chief product officer.
⚓ Reason ☛ FTC_Commissioner_Resigns_To_Protest_Agency’s_‘Disregard_for_the_Rule
of_Law’⠀⇛
Chair Lina Khan has flouted the rule of law and due process,
Commissioner Christine Wilson wrote.
* § Patents⠀➾
o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Moderna’s_$130_Vaccine_and_the_Path_to_Cheap
Drugs⠀⇛
o ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Now_Is_the_Time_to_Defeat_the_Insatiable_Greed_of
the_Prescription_Drug_Industry⠀⇛
The following are the prepared remarks of a speech
delivered by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee,
on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, February
15th, 2023 about the growth of greed in the
pharmaceutical industry and what Congress can do to end
it.M. President: There is a lot of discussion about how
“divided” our nation is and, on many issues, that is
absolutely true.
o ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Moderna_Cancels_Plan_to_Hike_Vaccine_Price_After
Sanders_Invites_CEO_to_Testify⠀⇛
* § Trademarks⠀➾
o ⚓ Hollywood Reporter ☛ WallStreetBets_Trademark_Fight_Erupts_Into
Lawsuit_Against_Reddit⠀⇛
Jamie Rogozinski on Wednesday sued Reddit, claiming the
social platform is infringing on his trademark, violating
his right of publicity and breaking its own user
agreement. Rogozinski, who describes himself in the
complaint as an entrepreneur, investor and author, says
he “built WallStreetBets from the ground up” to create a
forum for people who took financial hits during the Great
Recession. He founded the subreddit in January 2012 as a
place “where individual, ordinary investors could openly
and honestly discuss Wall Street and share advice with
each other.”
o ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Video_Game_‘The_Day_Before’_Dealing_With_Trademark
Challenge_Over_A_Calendar_App⠀⇛
We’ve dealt with a great many silly trademark disputes in
the video game industry over the years, but this one is a
special kind of stupid. Fntastic, the studio behind the
forthcoming The Day Before horror game, has released a
couple statements lately regarding an apparent ongoing
trademark dispute. The first announcement confirmed that
the game’s release date was being pushed back due to
Steam blocking the game page at the request of a
trademark holder for “The Day Before.” Then, shortly
after, YouTube began removing videos promoting The Day
Before from the developer’s channel as well.
* § Copyrights⠀➾
o ⚓ Public Domain Review ☛ Downhill_from_Here:_The_Slant_Book_
(1910)⠀⇛
Book shaped like a rhomboid by Peter Newell, which tells
the story of a runaway baby stroller’s downhill journey.
o ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Egypt_Shuts_Down_Massive_Movie_and_TV_Show_Piracy
Site⠀⇛
Egyptian law enforcement authorities have shut down
MyCima, one of the largest pirate sites in the Middle
East. The operation, which was purportedly operated from
Alexandria, had over 50 million monthly visits and
offered 12,000 movies and 26,000 TV series. Anti-piracy
coalition ACE cooperated with the authorities to take
down the piracy ring.
o ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Two_Call_of_Duty_Cheaters_Settle_For_Millions,
Judge_Issues_Warning_to_Others⠀⇛
An Activision lawsuit alleging copyright infringement
offenses against a group of alleged cheat makers and
distributors continues to be eventful. The list of named
defendants has grown recently, with the majority believed
to reside outside the United States. For two of those
defendants, an exit from the lawsuit seems imminent, due
to settlement agreements worth a combined $3 million.
o ⚓ Walled Culture ☛ How_publishers_lobbied_to_“axe_the_reading_tax”
on_ebooks,_won_–_and_then_paid_it_to_themselves⠀⇛
It concerns the taxing of books in the UK. Most goods
there are subject to a Value Added Tax (VAT), which is a
simple percentage of the sale price – generally 20%.
However, certain classes of goods are exempt: this
applies to things like food, children’s clothing, and
also books. Or rather, to physical books: one quirk of
the early ebook market was that ebooks were taxed at 20%,
even though physical books were not. This led to a 2018
campaign with the catchy slogan “Axe the reading tax”. It
was led by the Publishers Association, which wrote in a
press release at the time: [...]
§ Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾
* § Personal⠀➾
o ⚓ 🔤SpellBinding:_FUNORTI_Wordo:_CLEAN⠀⇛
===============================================================================
* Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the
World Wide Web but a lot lighter.
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