𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Thursday, March 09, 2023 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Fri 10 Mar 02:40:42 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 Full IPFS index in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔 and as plain text in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔/𝒕𝒙𝒕 Gemini index for the day: gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/03/09/ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmbPtsyc7sJxSwGRbURzMBpmJpQAgABouVYWUyXdfGhcFh QmSCXZVE6CQ7coFZMzXzjrALhoFTURwUpGRmU6CktGzSQz QmPbC3tAdXsThGxVyQYA3w5ThD5inZGhqy6fsNKHm55vAM QmfXoJrbKnWSQ2LZPdcn6D62y58ADQrCM6VaEptoYdSLz7 QmVFthGmR5Kh2aG2L3dgjZk4cCYoHhxwUKnwVSzKutqpZ9 Qmb1ifnMR1HKQVZSvpC4pPPzaFprCcVWkqqqznNJrvKGMT QmRmM7KSPSMNkJa65wrPNTYM2RSbSjrTUjyFydLzyeS74W QmcGKU7J3P2cV9jwQZBuJGz5uH9cKMjzpiF2ZKW9ZitXGr QmfG9Hg56mJpukz1EZw428rJ2z6dqsninonxMjQ6Hu8nDX QmQvUGyavcKLCo8JSF7418NQWwTLC4ErwUkVYeHeqdzCrT QmNyiqRsuJ8mYSSPM3c4spDSbX4bhkrqvCphrF31fpb2KW QmcAUH8T4ETkZScFqRu8n6bEqqRbJAcFnJGixx9EE2ZYiU QmcW7igPjwuakQoqAFKLgEWuf7X4XRc2H47aaaeGGuYkZu QmVZGpabW7vqhi5jrMcuG5MN3juWDPETLBCqucD3oR9Y4h QmYsfcJqbqbG7Lv61Nnp5KFzRCGXPSY2WarbDwFVT1QSYR QmTb3VrVbb7rRUMkz7jNVmmUJ6JGUcyM851rUHNyemG88b QmVvq9oAbrdJzwxRthZJur95LzT9NZ7FD3u2U6NJfiY6Td Qmcni93geQyDZP64S8771fM9wvJLcB5qHDAbieV4cWatvu QmdRM3K9yoELzYiZZgUgPZDvmQtAuSAP9qzGdnHk6ZjSdx QmauyfCy6vsU4XKUPM3eddwpwyvmwiKxwv4MtEvVQtZMx7 QmSqfGBdEzjVqZiBfP8ZT3EFXmSLtvqvuVc6fuNfopRyBL ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 08, 2023 | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2023/03/09/irc-log-080323/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2023/03/09/ocial-contrrol-media-rotting/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/03/09/peek-discontinued/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/03/09/sparky-2023-03/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 49 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/03/09/irc-log-080323/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/03/09/irc-log-080323/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 03.09.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Wednesday,_March_08,_2023⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:13 am by Needs Sunlight Also available via the Gemini protocol at: * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techrights-080323.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-080323.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-social-080323.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techbytes-080323.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 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈ § Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾ Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmSqfGBdEzjVqZiBfP8ZT3EFXmSLtvqvuVc6fuNfopRyBL ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 122 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 03.09.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_09/03/2023:_Social_Contrrol_Media_Rotting_Further⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 8:23 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Server o Audiocasts/Shows o Instructionals/Technical o Games o Desktop_Environments/WMs # K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o New_Releases o BSD o PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva_Family o Debian_Family * Canonical/Ubuntu_Family * Devices/Embedded * Open_Hardware/Modding * Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o Events o Education o FSFE o Programming/Development * 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 Freedom_of_Information_/_Freedom_of_the_Press o Civil_Rights/Policing o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality o Monopolies # Patents # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal o Politics o Technical # Internet/Gemini * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ Container Journal ☛ PerfectScale_Unfurls_SaaS_Edition_of_AI Platform_to_Control_K8s_Costs⠀⇛ PerfectScale this week launched a software-as-a- service (SaaS) edition of its namesake platform that employs machine learning algorithms to identify usage patterns that better enable IT teams to control Kubernetes costs. # ⚓ Red Hat ☛ Our_advice_for_configuring_Knative_Broker_for Apache_Kafka⠀⇛ In this article, you will learn how to set up the Knative_Broker_implementation_for_Apache_Kafka in a production environment. Recently, the Kafka implementation has been announced as General Availablitly. # ⚓ OpenSource.com ☛ Postgres_DevOps_database_administrator:_A day_in_the_life⠀⇛ A Postgres DevOps DBA plays a critical role in modern IT organizations that rely on Postgres as their primary database management system. The role of a Postgres DevOps DBA involves many responsibilities, skills, and tasks. A few of these include: Managing the database design and architecture, infrastructure management, ensuring high availability, security, and performing routine maintenance tasks (tuning, backup and recovery, and monitoring). This article summarizes the common responsibilities and skills expected of a Postgres DevOps DBA in today’s enterprise environments. MariaDB is an enterprise-grade database. Learning MariaDB is a great step toward using it to do things like managing web applications or programming language libraries. This… o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_Linux_AppImage_Finally_Addresses Greatest_Flaw!!⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_Endless_OS_5_:_THIS_Will_Blow_Your_Mind! (OFFLINE_INTERNET)⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_Love_Letters_From_Letterboxd⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_Enterprise_Linux_Security_Episode_58_– Tales_from_the_Red_Team⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_How_to_install_Sublime_Text_on_Linux Lite_6.2⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_How_Linux_killed_Unix:_the_UNIX_Wars⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_Women_in_Tech:_The_Pioneering_Female Programmers_Who_Shaped_the_Modern_Computing_World.⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_How_to_Manage_OpenStack_Private_Clouds Episode_5_–_Combining_OpenStack_and_OpenShift⠀⇛ # ⚓ Video ☛ 2023-03-08_How_to_install_Garuda_Linux_230305⠀⇛ o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ TecMint ☛ Pydf_–_An_Alternative_“df”_Command_to_Check_Disk Usage_in_Different_Colours⠀⇛ The “pydf” (Python Disk File System) is an advanced command line tool and a good alternative to the “df command”, which is used to display the amount of used and available disk space on a mounted filesystem, the same as df command, but in different colors. The output of the pydf command can be customizable according to your needs. This “pydf” command is written in python language that displays the amount of disk usage and available space on Linux mounted file system, using custom colors for different file system types. # ⚓ TecMint ☛ How_to_Create_Fillable_Forms_with_User_Roles_in ONLYOFFICE_Docs⠀⇛ Digital forms are a great way to boost the productivity of any team or group of users as they make it possible to create model documents within seconds. When you work with fillable forms, all you need to do is open a ready-to-use template, make the required changes to the text if necessary, share the updated template with other people, and wait until they fill out the file and send it back to you. The whole process doesn’t usually take much time and allows you to deal with contracts, legal agreements, questionnaires, admissions forms, and other similar documents with ease. # ⚓ Xe’s Blog ☛ The_GraphicalEmoji_hack⠀⇛ Yes, really. In order to make the emoji render correctly, I had to instruct the browser to render it in Times New Roman because that does not have the emoji defined. It will then fall back to the system font, giving us the ⚠️ that we truly desire. # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ 2023-03-07_How_to_View_Hidden_Files_and Folders_on_Linux⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux Made Simple ☛ 2023-03-07_How_to_install_Pinta_on Linux_Lite_6.2⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux Made Simple ☛ 2023-03-07_How_to_install_OpenBVE_on_a Chromebook⠀⇛ # ⚓ Make Tech Easier ☛ 2023-03-07_GNU_Nano_Keyboard_Shortcuts⠀⇛ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ 2023-03-08_How_to_Set_Up_a_Go_Development Environment_on_Linux⠀⇛ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ 2023-03-08_How_to_Set_the_Date_and_Time_on Linux⠀⇛ # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_ProcessWire_CMS_on_Debian_11⠀⇛ ProcessWire is a PHP-based Open-Source CMS used to deploy content on the web. This tutorial will show you how to install ProcessWire CMS on Debian 11. # ⚓ Teleport ☛ Getting_Rid_of_Shared_Secrets:_The_Major_Design Flaw_of_All_CI_Systems⠀⇛ Traditionally, engineers generated a long-lived SSH private/public keypair and stored this within the secrets store of their CI provider, where it can be accessed by their workflows. Since this keypair is stored in the CI platform’s secrets manager, this gives an attacker a new option: targeting the platform itself. This has become more common in recent years as the number of credentials stored in CI platforms makes them a lucrative target. If exfiltrated this long-lived credential gives the attacker months, or even years, to explore your systems. To fix this situation, let’s make CI runner’s credentials short-lived by using certificates. This solution also lets us get rid of the secrets manager. Our CI runner will submit its public key and proof of identity to get a signed short-lived certificate from a certificate authority (CA). This not only lets us issue a short-lived credential, but also means that no private keys are ever transmitted over the network. # ⚓ University of Toronto ☛ ANSI_colours_aren’t_consistent across_X_terminal_programs⠀⇛ Beyond the colour shifts in Gnome Terminal, there are other interesting colour changes from what you might expect. For instance, in all terminal emulators, the result of rendering ‘normal’ white coloured text in a black on white terminal is not invisible white text, but a greyish colour that remains somewhat readable. There are also ‘faint’ versions of basic ANSI colours, and the interpretation of faint white text on a white background isn’t necessarily what you’d expect and varies quite a bit between terminal programs (with urxvt seeming to ignore the faintness entirely for all colours). # ⚓ Klara ☛ The_system_that_spent_a_lot_of_time_doing_nothing, repeatedly⠀⇛ But in today’s “war story,” the customer was seeing an odd issue—the number of writes to disk was remaining low as expected, but reads and CPU usage were quite high. Performance profiling revealed that the biggest consumer of CPU time was the checksum algorithm, SHA256. When overwriting a file in place, NOPWrite calculates the hash of the new block, and compares it to the stored hash of the existing block. If the old hash matches the new hash, then the write can be skipped. This customer was using SHA256 hashes with a CPU which did not support any SHA-NI acceleration, so Klara recommended switching to the SHA512 checksum. (Counterintuitively, SHA512 hashes can be calculated around 50% faster than SHA256 hashes on 64bit x86 CPUs.) The change in hash algorithm provided a significant performance boost, but did not explain the amount of overhead, or the reads from disk. Further analysis revealed the problem: the overwrites were mis-aligned. The incoming random access writes were in 64 KiB blocks, but on disk the data was stored in 128 KiB blocks (the default value of the recordsize property). This required ZFS to perform a read/modify/write cycle on each record. # ⚓ Wladimir Palant ☛ Converting_incoming_emails_on_the_fly with_OpenSMTPD_filters⠀⇛ This little adventure began with me being annoyed at DMARC aggregate reports. My domain doesn’t have enough email traffic to justify routing DMARC emails to some third-party analytics service, yet I want to take a brief glance at them. And the format of these emails makes that maximally inconvenient: download the attachment, unpack it, look through some (always messy but occasionally not even human- readable) XML code. There had to be a better way. This could have been a Thunderbird extension, processing the email attachment in order to produce some nicer output. Unfortunately, Thunderbird extensions no longer have this kind of power. So I went for another option: having the email server (OpenSMTPD) convert the email as it comes in. Since I already had the implementation details of OpenSMTPD filters figured out, this wasn’t as complicated as it sounds. The resulting code is on GitHub but I still want to document the process for future me and anyone else who might have a similar issue. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Wallabag_on_Rocky_Linux_9⠀⇛ Wallabag is a read-it-later kind of service. It allows you to save webpages to read them later at your own leisure pace. This tutorial will cover how to install and set up Wallabag on a server running Rocky Linux 9. # ⚓ Trend Oceans ☛ How_to_Create_a_Desktop_Icon_for_an_AppImage Application_in_Linux⠀⇛ Add a desktop icon for an AppImage based application and launch it from the app menu like any other application. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Positech Games ☛ New_expansion_coming_for_Democracy_4⠀⇛ I’ve been working on this a while, but today I made the DLC page public, so I should now tell everyone about it :D. I’m working on a new expansion pack for Democracy 4, coming real soon now. here is the blurb: Democracy 4 – Event pack adds 45 new events to the game. # ⚓ Boiling Steam ☛ New_Steam_Games_with_Native_Linux_Clients with_Meg’s_Monster_and_Idol_Hell_–_2023-03-08_Edition⠀⇛ Between 2023-03-01 and 2023-03-08 there were 29 New Steam games released with Native Linux clients. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Ship_of_Harkinian,_a_PC_port_of_Ocarina_of Time_has_a_feature-filled_upgrade⠀⇛ Do you love the classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time? Clearly a lot of people do, and the PC port Ship of Harkinian just recently had a great sounding upgrade. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Subnautica_gets_upgraded_and_now_Steam_Deck Verified⠀⇛ Subnautica, the hugely popular watery open-world survival adventure has a fresh update out that notes it’s now Steam Deck Verified. It originally launched in 2018 after being in Early Access from 2014. Considering how it was quite a while ago now, it’s nice to see this kind of post-release support for it. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Free_and_open_source_6DOF_flight_racer_Fly Dangerous_has_a_huge_second_update⠀⇛ It’s fast, it gives you six degrees of freedom (6DOF) and it’s open source too! Fly Dangerous just had it’s second big upgrade since entering Early Access. Eventually, this could be quite something, although it’s already pretty impressive. Created originally as a “love letter to the Elite Dangerous racing community”. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Build_magical_colonies_and_manage_resources with_lasers_in_Scorchlands⠀⇛ Set in a fantasy world of magic and talking animals, Scorchlands is a peculiar city-builder now in Early Access. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Humble_Choice_for_March_has_some_fun_picks like_BIOMUTANT,_Jurassic_World_Evolution_2⠀⇛ Another fresh month and a new Humble Choice bundle has landed, here’s what’s inside and what compatibility to expect on Steam Deck and Linux Desktop. Looking over each title to give you a rating for Steam Deck, plus ProtonDB and noting if any have a Native Linux build to save you some clicking around. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Starfield_from_Bethesda_launching_September 6⠀⇛ While we have no idea how well it will work on Linux and Steam Deck with Proton just yet, we at least now have a date. Starfield from Bethesda is releasing September 6th. I’m cautiously optimistic on it, as a massive fan of everything space sci-fi like this, I’ve wanted to see more games like this for some time. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ Jan_Grulich:_Explained:_QGnomePlatform_and_Adwaita- qt⠀⇛ * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ 2023-03-08_Vanilla_OS_Makes_Major_Shift_from_Ubuntu to_Debian⠀⇛ o § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ Cassini_Nova_with_some_necessary_bugfixes_is_available⠀⇛ After less than a month, after Cassini Neo was released, we present you with Cassini Nova which ships with minor but necessary bug fixes and also with the usual refreshed main package versions for both the live environment as well as the offline installation option. o § BSD⠀➾ # ⚓ [Old] Steve Litt ☛ OpenBSD/pf_Firewalling_For_the_Less Gifted⠀⇛ If you’re a Ninja network administrator this document offers you nothing. Just go install OpenBSD, enable port forwarding, set the Internet facing NIC for DHCP and the LAN facing NIC for a proper address on the LAN, set up a DHCP server with properly set DNS servers on the LAN facing NIC, and plug it in. Ellapsed time — probably an hour — less if you have some ultra fast way to install OpenBSD. About the only thing you can get from this document is a way of explaining firewalling to others. If you’re NOT a Ninja network administrator, this document is for you. It explains in step by step detail how to set up an OpenBSD/pf firewall to protect your LAN, plus it details a two level firewall testing framework for ultimate safety and protection, plus it explains the concepts of firewalling so if you later have to improve on the generic firewall described herein, you’ll know just how to do it. This document is very long, which may lead you to believe that building an OpenBSD/pf firewall is hugely complicated and not worth the effort. Such a belief is not accurate. The reason this document is long is so you understand everything about this firewall, avoid most dead ends, and if you do hit a dead end, you know how to get out of it. o § PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family⠀➾ # ⚓ PCLOS Official ☛ Slimjet_Browser_38.0.4.0⠀⇛ Slimjet is built on top of the Chromium open-source project on which Google Chrome is also based. It enjoys the same speed and reliablity provided by the underlying blink engine as Google Chrome. However, many additional features and options have been added in Slimjet to make it more powerful, intelligent and customizable than Chrome. # ⚓ PCLOS Official ☛ Thorium_Browser_110.0.5481.178⠀⇛ Thorium Brower is a fast, highly optimized Chromium based web browser for higher end CPUs. Compiler optimizations include SSE4.2, AVX, AES, and modifications to CFLAGS, LDFLAGS, thinLTO flags, import_instr_limit flags, and PGO, as well as other compiler flags. # ⚓ PCLOS Official ☛ Thorium_Reader_2.2.0⠀⇛ Thorium Reader is an easy to use EPUB reading application for Linux. After importing e-books from a directory or OPDS feed, you’ll be able to read on any screen size, customize layout settings, navigate via the table of contents or page list, set bookmarks and more. # ⚓ PCLOS Official ☛ Basilisk_Browser_2023.03.04⠀⇛ Basilisk is a free and Open Source XUL-based web browser, featuring the well-known Firefox-style interface and operation. It is based on the Goanna layout and rendering engine (a fork of Gecko) and builds on the Unified XUL Platform (UXP), which in turn is a fork of the Mozilla code base without Servo or Rust. o § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Neowin ☛ Vanilla_OS_2.0_will_move_to_Debian_base_from Ubuntu⠀⇛ The relatively new Vanilla OS will be based on Debian Sid in the next version, the project’s developers have announced. Currently, the Linux distribution is based on Ubuntu but Vanilla OS’s developers have decided to make the switch as they have identified several good reasons to use Debian over Ubuntu, such as greater flexibility. The first reason outlined was that Debian uses a less modified GNOME Shell and the Vanilla OS team wants their distribution to use a vanilla version of GNOME. By switching to Debian, the Vanilla OS developers will not have to undo the changes Canonical has made which they describe as “time- consuming”. # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ A_new_version_of_APT_is_coming_to_Debian 12⠀⇛ The forthcoming “Bookworm” release of Debian, version 12, will include a new version of the APT packaging tools, with better handling of non-free software. Debian releases are given code names from the Toy Story series of movies; Bookworm, if you’re curious, was a “minor antagonist” from Toy Story 3. Debian 13 will be Trixie, and Debian 14 will be Forky. The APT packaging system is “probably the best feature in Debian”, as a commentator already observed back in 2004. APT is remarkably stable: the new release will be only version 2.6.0. # ⚓ University of Toronto ☛ Debconf’s_questions,_or_really whiptail,_doesn’t_always_work_in_xterms⠀⇛ Xterm is relatively unique in X terminal programs in that it supports text colours but allows you to turn them off at runtime as a command line option (or an X resource setting, which is what I use). I disable terminal colours whenever I can because they’re almost always hard for me to read, especially in the generally rather intense colour set that xterm uses (X terminal programs aren’t consistent about what text colours look like, so the experiences of people using Gnome Terminal are different here). Unfortunately, once you’ve started xterm with colours off, as far as I know there’s no way to turn them back on. * § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ o ⚓ Ubuntu ☛ Canonical_enables_Ubuntu_on_Microchip’s_PolarFire®_SoC FPGA_Icicle_Kit_RISC-V_board⠀⇛ March 8, 2023: Canonical published the optimised Ubuntu release for the first RISC-V based SoC FPGA – Microchip’s PolarFire® SoC FPGA Icicle Kit, expanding support for the RISC-V open source community. o ⚓ Ubuntu ☛ Charmed_Kubeflow_1.7_Beta_is_here._Try_it_now!⠀⇛ Canonical is happy to announce that Charmed Kubeflow 1.7 is now available in Beta. Kubeflow is a foundational part of the MLOps ecosystem that has been evolving over the years. With Charmed Kubeflow 1.7, users benefit from the ability to run serverless workloads and perform model inference regardless of the machine learning framework they use. * § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ o ⚓ CNX Software ☛ BeaglePlay_–_A_$99_Texas_Instruments_AM625 industrial_SBC_with_plenty_of_communication_and_expansion_options⠀⇛ The board ships with a Debian Linux image with a desktop environment pre-installed along with features such as Wi- Fi access point and BeagleConnect gateway functionality and the Texas Instruments CC1352P7 wireless microcontroller (MCU) can be programmed with the (Linux Foundation) Zephyr RTOS. Various examples, hardware and software documentation, and getting started instructions can be found on the documentation website. The BeaglePlay can support a range of applications such as industrial Human Machine Interface (HMI), retail and POS automation, 3D point cloud systems, vision analytics, vehicle and drone infrastructure, medical equipment, smart buildings, Edge AI, web3 Distributed Infrastructure, and more. * § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ o ⚓ Purism ☛ Where_is_My_Librem_5?_Part_3⠀⇛ This is the third in a series of posts updating our progress in shipping through the backlog of mass-produced Librem 5 orders. If you have not yet read Part 1 and Part 2, I recommend you do so, as in those parts I discuss our current strategy of splitting the remaining Librem 5 orders into three production runs, E3, E4 and E5. In this post I will give a brief status update on our progress to date and what milestones are remaining between now and when we reach shipping parity with the mass-produced Librem 5. At that point the mass-produced Librem 5 will join Librem 14 and Librem 5 USA as a product that ships within our standard 10-business-day window. o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Pi_Picos_Give_Casio_FX9000P_Its_Memory_Back⠀⇛ Is the Casio FX9000P a calculator or a computer? It’s hard to tell since Casio did make calculators that would run BASIC. [Menadue] didn’t know either, but since it had a CRT, a Z80, and memory modules, we think computer is a better moniker. o ⚓ Electronics Weekly ☛ Beagle_introduces_something_like_a_Raspberry Pi,_with_long-range_wireless⠀⇛ BeagleBoard has stepped into Raspberry Pi territory with a quad-Arm-core board called BeaglePlay, and at the same time has released a wireless microcontroller module called BeagleConnect Freedom. o ⚓ BeagleBoard ☛ BeagleConnect™_Freedom⠀⇛ BeagleConnect™ is a revolutionary technology virtually eliminating low-level software development for IoT and IIoT applications, such as building automation, factory automation, and home automation. Choosing BeagleConnect™ simplifies development by eliminating the need for layer of software development. While numerous IoT and IIoT solutions available today provide massive software libraries for microcontrollers supporting a limited body of sensors, actuators and indicators as well as libraries for communicating over various networks, BeagleConnect™ simply eliminates the need for these libraries by shifting the burden into the most massive and collaborative software project of all time, the Linux kernel. o ⚓ Bunnie Huang ☛ Infra-Red,_In_Situ_(IRIS)_Inspection_of_Silicon⠀⇛ This post introduces a technique I call “Infra-Red, In Situ” (IRIS) inspection. It is founded on two insights: first, that silicon is transparent to infra-red light; second, that a digital camera can be modified to “see” in infra-red, thus effectively “seeing through” silicon chips. We can use these insights to inspect an increasingly popular family of chip packages known as Wafer Level Chip Scale Packages (WLCSPs) by shining infrared light through the back side of the package and detecting reflections from the lowest layers of metal using a digital camera. This technique works even after the chip has been assembled into a finished product. However, the resolution of the imaging method is limited to micron-scale features. o ⚓ Arduino ☛ Turn_your_lights_on_and_off_by_staring_at_this_little robotic_switch⠀⇛ Based on an embedded machine learning model and a microcontroller, this device uses Person Sensor from Useful Sensors, which relies on a camera to gather images, processes them, and outputs the results over I2C. This information can include the total number of faces as well as individual bounding boxes for every detected face. From here, the information sent by the Person Sensor is read by an Arduino Uno and used to determine if someone is staring at the switch. o ⚓ Arduino ☛ Predicting_when_a_fan_fail_by_listening_to_it⠀⇛ Richmond started by collecting 15 minutes of data for each label, namely background noise, normal operation, soft failure, and severe failure. Once collected, the data was split into two-second samples and uploaded to the Edge Impulse Studio, after which an impulse was configured to use an MFE audio processing block and a Keras classification model. Once trained on the dataset, the model achieved an accuracy of almost 96% using real- world testing data. o ⚓ Martijn Braam ☛ Mobile_Linux_camera_pt6⠀⇛ The expectations this software has for “raw” image data is that it’s high bit depth linear-light sensor data that has not been debayered yet. The data from the Librem 5 is exactly this, the PinePhone sensor data is weirder. * § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ o ⚓ Lifewire ☛ How_to_Use_Split_Screen_on_Android⠀⇛ o ⚓ Sportskeeda ☛ GTA_4_APK_download_links_for_Android_devices_in 2023:_Real_mobile_game_or_fake_app?⠀⇛ o ⚓ The Sun ☛ Google_offers_all_Android_users_‘three_click’_chance_to avoid_disaster_–_the_cost_of_ignoring_it_is_just_too_high_|_The_US Sun⠀⇛ o ⚓ Android Authority ☛ Get_the_official_Galaxy_A54_and_A34 wallpapers_on_your_Android_phone_right_now_–_Android_Authority⠀⇛ o ⚓ Tom’s Guide ☛ Google_I/O_2023_kicks_off_May_10:_Android_14,_Pixel 7a,_Pixel_Fold_and_more_|_Tom’s_Guide⠀⇛ o ⚓ XDA ☛ Android_14_may_soon_support_auto-confirming_correct_PINs_so you_don’t_have_to_hit_enter⠀⇛ o ⚓ GSM Arena ☛ Android_14_Developer_Preview_2_is_now_out_– GSMArena.com_news⠀⇛ o ⚓ Good_News:_Task_Killer_Apps_Become_Useless_on_Android_14⠀⇛ o ⚓ Liliputing ☛ Lilbits:_Android_14_DP2_is_here,_Ubuntu_adds_support for_another_RISC-V_board_–_Liliputing⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o ⚓ Ariadne Conill ☛ Help_migrate_a_community_from_Discord_to something_else⠀⇛ On March 27th, Discord plans to roll out a new Privacy Policy which, among other things, grants them the right to record video calls without consent. It is very likely that they plan to do this in order to enforce Content ID type restrictions on the content being shared in Discord- using communities. [...] But I would be happy to hear about alternatives which have done similarly well at getting over the hump, where network effect is no longer a serious concern. o ⚓ OpenSource.com ☛ Contribute_to_open_source_without_code⠀⇛ An open source “community” means different things to different people. I think of open source a little like “falling in love” because it is about people and relationships. Treat open source as a community because, without people, there is no source, open or otherwise. I’m a member of the Apache DolphinScheduler community. Because that project is intentionally low-code, it appeals to many people who aren’t software developers. Sometimes, people who don’t write code aren’t sure whether there’s a meaningful way to contribute to an open source project that exists mainly because of source code. I know from experience that there is, and I will explain why in this article. o § Events⠀➾ # ⚓ Unicorn Media ☛ 12_Reasons_to_Attend_This_Year’s_Southern California_Linux_Expo_(SCaLE_20x)⠀⇛ SCALE 20x is just around the corner. Maybe even closer than that, depending on where you think the corner is relative to now. Anyway, it starts Thursday and runs through late Sunday afternoon. For those who’re going but thinking about leaving early instead of sticking around to the end of the day on Sunday, you might want to change your plans. The folks behind SCALE evidently know a thing or two about good showmanship and are leaving the best for last — but more about that further on. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ Frank Delporte ☛ Book_review_–_Practical_Design_Patterns for_Java_Developers⠀⇛ The goal of the book wants to break a returning pattern many programmers go through during their careers. When you start using a programming language like Python, JavaScript, or even Java, the platform allows you to create messy code. It’s only when you learn and understand patterns and debugging, and use a strongly typed language like Java, that you start writing “real” code. When someone starts a programming career with Java and has a solid understanding of design patterns, a lot of bad practices can be avoided. # ⚓ FreeBSD ☛ FOSDEM_2023_Conference_Report⠀⇛ A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to join members of the Open Source community in Brussels for the return of FOSDEM. It was my first time in Brussels and I was excited to meet the broad open- source community in Belgium. For the FreeBSD Foundation, it was a great opportunity to continue to advocate for FreeBSD, and to meet FreeBSD users and developers in-person. o § FSFE⠀➾ # ⚓ FSFE ☛ 2023-03-07_FSFE:_Happy_Women’s_Day!⠀⇛ o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Buttondown ☛ Formalizing_Stability_and_Resilience Properties⠀⇛ Sent to me via mailbag: Resilience Engineering, to my understanding, refers to building systems that can function in the presence of disruptions. For example, if a backend service gets overloaded, its dependencies can automatically switch to fallback logic to keep serving customers and give the service time to recover. I’ve not done much work personally with “resilience engineering”. But the idea comes up a lot in formal methods, in the form of resilience properties. These are goals of the systems that we want (and use resilience engineering) to achieve. And I think the details of resilience properties are interesting enough for a deep dive. I’ll use syntax, but it should be applicable to other specification languages, too. [...] Finally, resilience. It’s possible to achieve stability in a closed system, where the only thing that matters is the other components of the system, but in an open system, the outside world has a vote too. The temperature can be thrown out of the right range by a sudden heat wave, or a storm knocks out one of our servers, and so puts us out of control. Often the best we can do is guarantee we can recover from a shock: RESILIENT is the property that we always eventually return to control, or in TLA+ []<>Control. # ⚓ OpenSource.com ☛ Compiler_optimization_and_its_effect_on debugger_line_information⠀⇛ In my previous article, I described the DWARF information used to map regular and inlined functions between an executable binary and its source code. Functions can be dozens of lines, so you might like to know specifically where the processor is in your source code. The compiler includes information mapping between instructions and specific lines in the source code to provide a precise location. In this article, I describe line mapping information, and some of the issues caused by compiler optimizations. Start with the same example code from the previous article: The compiler only includes the line mapping information when the code is compiled with debugging information enabled (the -g option): * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ 2023-03-07_A_post-pandemic_trend:_Nearly_half_of Finns_dream_of_moving_to_the_countryside⠀⇛ o ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong_Kong_woman_handed_2-month_suspended sentence_over_doxxing_alleged_scammer⠀⇛ When handing down the sentence, the magistrate said he felt sympathy for the defendant as she was doxxing the alleged seller out of anger. However, taking revenge in that way was both unwise and wrong, he said, adding that Sham had to be held liable. o ⚓ Terence Eden ☛ Touring_TNMOC_with_a_living_legend⠀⇛ Amanda – who has has a canny eye for when people are slightly star-struck – asked if I’d like to interview Bruce at the weekend. At the National Museum of Computing. For a new exhibition. Errr… OMG, yes! So me and Lowena Hull got to spend some time chatting to Bruce on camera about his involvement in open source, the early days of Debian, and why OSS is still relevant today. o ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ The_GOP’s_“Weaponization”_Subcommittee_Leads_to…. Kash_Patel!⠀⇛ Worse than a bust, it’s a boomerang. o ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_Earthquake_Has_Left_Syrian_Kurds_Even_More_Under Siege⠀⇛ It was raining and cold on February 6 when the earthquake hit Aleppo. As tremors shook the city’s autonomous Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud, buildings crumbled and thousands of people fled into the streets. Among them were the family members of a middle-aged tailor’s assistant named Foruq. But Foruq himself could not get out in time. The multistory building in which he lived collapsed around him, and he was crushed in the rubble. o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Bode_Plot_Un-Lecture⠀⇛ [Rolinychupetin] insists that his recent video is not a lecture but actually a “recitation” about Bode plots. That may be, but it is still worth a watch if you want to learn more about the topic. You can see the video below. o ⚓ Meduza ☛ After_Putin’s_patriotic_rally,_Moscow’s_Luzhniki_Stadium no_longer_suitable_for_soccer_—_Meduza⠀⇛ The Russian Premier League (RPL) has announced that the March 11 Torpedo–Ural match, scheduled to take place at the Moscow Luzhniki Stadium as part of the Russian soccer championship, is being moved to the suburban Arena Khimki. o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Kevin_Alexander_Gray:_A_Mighty_Heart_Has_Stopped But_It_Didn’t_Fail⠀⇛ Kevin Alexander Gray had a massive heart attack yesterday and didn’t make it. He was apparently out doing yard work when his wife noticed it was quiet. They called EMS but they couldn’t revive him. I had just talked with Kevin last week. He said he was working on his will, but there was nothing to worry about, he just wanted to get it done. Kevin, who was 65 when he died, always felt was living on borrowed time because his dad and uncles had died young of heart failure—in their 40s and 50s. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ RFA ☛ Myanmar’s_school_system_in_shambles_since_coup_as high_school_exam-takers_plunge_80%⠀⇛ Community-based schools and ones operating under the shadow government are filling the gaps. # ⚓ Ruben Schade ☛ Rediscovering_books_and_libraries⠀⇛ Ergonomics are also a mixed bag. It’s easier to dog-ear, bookmark, and highlight pages than it is on a screen, even with all our high-resolution, haptic inputs. And while an ebook reader remembers where we left off, its not as easy as flipping back through the pages to find something. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Female_Education_In_Afghanistan_Is_A_Brutal_Open- And-Shut_Case_Of_Discrimination⠀⇛ Zahra Azimi, who completed her studies through the 12th grade, has experienced firsthand the deadly shock, the renewed optimism, and the ultimate crushing low women have experienced in their pursuit of an education under Taliban rule. # ⚓ NBC ☛ After_fleeing_for_their_lives,_Afghan_girls_robotics team_mourns_what_they_left_behind⠀⇛ Known at home as the “robot girls,” Ahmadi is part of an all-woman team that became a symbol of Afghan progress by taking part in competitions around the world where budding scientists show off their latest robotic creations. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ What_the_Oscars_Represent:_Meritocracy_Without Merit⠀⇛ Teachers are honored annually by the Milken Educator Awards, commonly described as “the Oscars of teaching.” Public servants are recognized by the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, “the Oscars of government service” (also known as “the Sammies”). Vintners have the Golden Vines Awards, “the Oscars of fine wine.” And on and on, from the National Magazine Awards to the World Cheese Awards—yes, “the Oscars of cheese.” # ⚓ New Yorker ☛ The_Right_Side_of_History⠀⇛ How should historians respond to the urgency of this current political moment? # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ One_of_US’s_Largest_Public_Universities_Could See_First_Strike_in_Its_257_Years⠀⇛ Unionized academic workers at Rutgers University have organized across hierarchies and are preparing to go on strike. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Physicists_Claim_Creation_of_a Superconductor_at_Near-Ambient_Conditions⠀⇛ >Huge if true. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ How_To_Make_A_Larger_Air-Cored_Inductor⠀⇛ Radio amateurs often have a love-hate relationship with home-made inductors, sharing all kinds of tips and tricks as to how the most stable nanohenry inductor can be wound. But there’s another group in the world of electronics with an interest in high- quality inductors, namely the audio enthusiasts. They need good quality inductors with a values in the millihenries, to use in loudspeaker crossover networks. [Homemade Audio] takes us through their manufacturing process for these coils, and the result is a watchable video resulting in some very well-made components. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Supercon_2022:_Alec_Vercruysse_Can_See_Through Murky_Water⠀⇛ Detecting objects underwater isn’t an easy challenge, especially when things get murky and dark. Radio waves don’t propagate well, so most techniques rely on sound. Sonar is itself farily simple, simply send out a ping and listen for an echo, and that will tell you how far something is. Imaging underwater is significantly harder, because you would additionally need to know where each echo is coming from. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ AI_Robots_Invade_the_Classroom_—_So_What?⠀⇛ The future tapped me quietly on the shoulder the other day and suggested that I take a moment to learn about the writing bots. They’re coming! # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Old_TV_To_RGB⠀⇛ As CRT televisions have faded from use, it’s become important for retro gaming enthusiasts to get their hands on one for that authentic experience. Alongside that phenomenon has been a resurgence of some of the hacks we used to do to CRT TV sets back in the day, as [Adrian’s Digital Basement] shows us when he adds an RGB interface to a mid-1990s Sony Trinitron. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Scratch_Built_Amiga_2000_Stacks_Up_The_Mods⠀⇛ Around these parts, we most often associate [Drygol] with his incredible ability to bring damaged or even destroyed vintage computers back to life with a seemingly endless bag of repair and restoration techniques. But this time around, at the request of fellow retro aficionado [MrTrinsic], he was given a special assignment — to not only build a new Amiga 2000 from scratch, but to pack it with so many mods that just physically fitting them into the case would be a challenge in itself. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Stepper_Killer_Killer_Killed,_Repair_Attempted⠀⇛ The low-cost servo motor in [Clough42]’s lathe’s electronic leadscrew bit the dust recently, and he did a great job documenting his repair attempts ( see video below the break ). When starting the project a few years ago, he studied a variety of candidate motors, including a ClearPath servo motor from Teknic’s “Stepper Killer” family. While that motor was well suited, [Clough42] picked a significantly lower-cost servo motor from China which he dubbed the “Stepper Killer Killer”. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ NL Times ☛ 2023-03-08_Highest_new_Covid_hospitalizations_in a_year;_Sewage_analysis_suggests_more_infections⠀⇛ # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Momentum_builds_against_TikTok_in_US as_White_House_applauds_bill_that_would_allow_ban_of_Chinese- owned_app⠀⇛ “Today, the threat that everyone is talking about is TikTok, and how it could enable surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party, or facilitate the spread of malign influence campaigns in the US,” Senator Warner said in a statement. “Before TikTok, however, it was Huawei and ZTE, which threatened our nation’s telecommunications networks. And before that, it was Russia’s Kaspersky Lab, which threatened the security of government and corporate devices,” said Warner. # ⚓ RFA ☛ White_House_backs_TikTok_ban_bill⠀⇛ He said that “China-based employees of [TikTok owner] ByteDance have repeatedly accessed nonpublic data” of U.S. citizens “despite TikTok saying to the contrary,” and added he did not trust any pledges given by the Beijing-based company about TikTok’s safety. “The Chinese Communist Party has proven over the last few years that it is willing to lie about just about everything,” Thune said. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘It’s_Not_an_Accident,_It’s_a_Crime’: Thousands_March_for_Justice_After_Greek_Train_Disaster⠀⇛ Tens of thousands of people marched throughout Greece on Wednesday—amid a nationwide walkout organized by labor unions and student associations—to demand accountability and reforms in the wake of the country’s deadliest train disaster, which has been attributed to austerity imposed from abroad. # ⚓ FAIR ☛ ‘The_Water_Crisis_Is_a_Manifestation_of_Jim_Crow Politics’⠀⇛ Janine Jackson interviewed the Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition’s Makani Themba about Jackson, Mississippi’s crisis for the March 3, 2023, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Senate_Dems_Elevate_Farmers’_Calls_for Relief_From_Toxic_Train_Derailment⠀⇛ Just over a month after a Norfolk Southern train derailed in near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, a trio of U.S. senators on Wednesday wrote to a pair of Biden administration leaders that “we are hearing from farmers and agricultural producers who are concerned about the impacts of the derailment and associated release of hazardous materials on their livelihoods.” # ⚓ DeSmog ☛ The_Railroad_Industry_Loved_Modern_Brakes_and Safety,_Until_They_Didn’t⠀⇛ National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy concluded that the East Palestine, Ohio, rail disaster was “100% preventable.”  The certainty of this statement raises the obvious question: Why did this happen?The answer was actually provided by one of Homendy’s predecessors at the NTSB. In 2014, speaking about the spate of oil train disasters that were occuring, NTSB chair Deborah Hersman told the Associated Press that, “We know the steps that will prevent or mitigate these accidents. What is missing is the will to require people to do so.” The NTSB has no enforcement capability, so its recommendations are often ignored by the rail industry. Meanwhile, the regulators at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) have enforcement capability, but lack the will to enforce regulations that would prevent these accidents. More evidence, as DeSmog has documented, that the rail regulatory system is “fundamentally broken.”   # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Critics_Deride_Norfolk_Southern’s_Newly_Released 6-Point_“Safety_Plan”⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Norfolk_Southern’s_‘Safety_Plan’_Includes Automation_That_Could_Further_Endanger_Workers⠀⇛ With railroad operator Norfolk Southern involved in numerous significant train derailments and other accidents in recent weeks, the company on Monday unveiled a “six-point safety plan” that officials claimed would “immediately enhance the safety of its operations.” # ⚓ The Nation ☛ “The_Government_Is_Trying_to_Kill_Us_Now”: Scenes_From_a_Lapsed_Covid_Emergency⠀⇛ Coming down out of the East Kentucky mountains and heading northwest on the Mountain Parkway, you’ll eventually come to a crossroads. You can go left, where you will find all the various cultural amenities Kentucky has to offer: the bluegrass, the scenic Red River Gorge, the basketball-famous University of Kentucky, horse racing tracks like The Red Mile and Keeneland, and the many bourbon distilleries surrounding Louisville and the state capitol in Frankfort. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ As_Hunger_Surges_and_Medicaid_Cliff_Looms, Biden_Readies_Record_Pentagon_Budget⠀⇛ As tens of millions of people across the United States face food benefit cuts and the potential loss of health insurance in the coming weeks, President Joe Biden is reportedly finalizing a fiscal year 2024 budget that would hand the Pentagon more than $835 billion—including $170 billion for weapons procurement. # ⚓ Deccan Chronicle ☛ White_House_backs_bill_that_would_allow TikTok_ban⠀⇛ With Congress and the White House aligned on the idea that a law is necessary to curb the powers of TikTok, the chances of the legislation making it into law are greatly increased. TikTok is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance and has more than a billion users worldwide including over 100 million in the US, where it has become a cultural force, especially for young people. # ⚓ [Old] CNN ☛ Why_experts_worry_TikTok_could_add_to_mental health_crisis_among_US_teens⠀⇛ GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher, the incoming chairman of a new House select committee on China, recently called TikTok “digital fentanyl” for allegedly having a “corrosive impact of constant social media use, particularly on young men and women here in America.” Indiana’s attorney general filed two suits against TikTok last month, including one alleging that the platform lures children onto the platform by falsely claiming it is friendly for users between 13 to 17 years old. And one study from a non-profit group claimed TikTok may surface potentially harmful content related to suicide and eating disorders to teenagers within minutes of them creating an account. o § Proprietary⠀➾ # ⚓ Andrew Helwer ☛ Google_Groups_has_been_left_to_die⠀⇛ This experience has been instructive for me. Once you start thinking on timescales of 5-10 years, communities built on proprietary software just don’t pass muster. Certainly self-hosted FOSS communities can die, but these are functions of community activity itself rather than the service they’re hosted on. # ⚓ Bruce Schneier ☛ BlackLotus_Malware_Hijacks_Windows_Secure Boot_Process⠀⇛ Researchers have discovered malware that “can hijack a computer’s boot process even when Secure Boot and other advanced protections are enabled and running on fully updated versions of Windows.” # ⚓ India Times ☛ Apple_to_shake_up_international_sales operations_to_make_India_its_own_region⠀⇛ Apple is making the change after its vice president in charge of India, the Middle East, Mediterranean, East Europe and Africa — Hugues Asseman — recently retired. With his departure, the iPhone maker is promoting its head of India, who reported to Asseman. That executive, Ashish Chowdhary, will now report directly to Michael Fenger, Apple’s head of product sales. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Jelmer Vernooij ☛ The_Kali_Janitor⠀⇛ The Debian Janitor is an automated system that commits fixes for (minor) issues in Debian packages that can be fixed by software. It gradually started proposing merges in early December. The first set of changes sent out ran lintian-brush on sid packages maintained in Git. This post is part of a series about the progress of the Janitor. Kali Linux have been running their own instance of the Janitor for the last year, under the kali-bot user on GitLab. Their web site has some excellent documentation explaining how the bot works. [...] Both projects share some common components – the core janitor codebase, Silver-Platter and the various codemods (lintian-brush and deb-new- upstream). The site and some of the review logic is different for Kali. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ EDRI ☛ #PrivacyCamp23:_Event_summary⠀⇛ In January 2023, EDRi gathered policymakers, activists, human rights defenders, climate and social justice advocates and academics in Brussels to discuss the criticality of our digital worlds. We welcomed 200+ participants in person and enjoyed an online audience of 600+ people engaging with the event livestream videos. If you missed the event or want a reminder of what happened in a session, find the session summaries and video recordings below. # ⚓ EDRI ☛ Open_Letter:_The_AI_video_surveillance measures_in_the_Olympics_Games_2024_law_violate_human rights⠀⇛ In an open letter, EDRi, ECNL, La Quadrature du Net, Amnesty International France and 34 civil society organisations call on the French Parliament to reject Article 7 of the proposed law on the 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games. # ⚓ ABC ☛ FTC_probes_Twitter_data_practices_after_Elon Musk’s_layoffs⠀⇛ The FTC has been watching the company for years since Twitter agreed to a 2011 consent order alleging serious data security lapses. But the agency’s concerns spiked with the tumult that followed Musk’s Oct. 27 takeover of the company. # ⚓ Axios ☛ Exclusive:_Senator’s_TikTok_whistleblower alleges_data_abuses⠀⇛ Driving the news: The whistleblower’s allegations, which have not been independently seen or verified by Axios, suggest that TikTok overstates its separation from its China-based owner ByteDance, relies on proprietary Chinese software that could have backdoors, and uses tools that allow employees to easily toggle between U.S. and Chinese user data. # ⚓ CBC ☛ If_I_delete_TikTok,_can_it_still_collect_my data?_Your_questions_answered⠀⇛ Well, that depends on exactly what you are deleting. If you delete your account and uninstall the app from your phone, TikTok can’t collect your data going forward, says Katherine Isaac, an executive at cybersecurity firm Carbide. But that doesn’t mean all your data disappears right away. TikTok will still have access to the data it collected about you during the time you used the app, said Isaac. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Warren,_Sanders_Want_to_Ban_Racist_Facial Recognition_Tools_From_Government_Use⠀⇛ # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ ACLU_Obtains_Docs_Detailing_FBI, Pentagon_Development_of_Facial_Recognition_Tech⠀⇛ “The continued proliferation of surveillance tools like facial recognition technologies in our society is deeply disturbing,” said Sen. Ed Markey, reintroducing a federal ban. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ What_Google_Street_View_Can_Say_About the_Quality_of_Life_in_Your_Neighborhood⠀⇛ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Amazon_Annoys_Ring_Owners_Further_By Making_Very_Basic_Features_Subscription_Based⠀⇛ The relentless push to make every last feature in every tech device you own part of a subscription service shows no sign of slowing down. Fitness companies like Fitbit have increasingly shoveled basic health monitoring features into their subscription plan. Companies like BMW have increasingly tried to make basic concepts like heated seats a subscription-only feature. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Shocking’:_FBI_Director_Admits Agency_Purchased_Geolocation_Data_of_Americans⠀⇛ Privacy advocates on Wednesday said testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray at a U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing offers the latest evidence that Congress must take action to keep the government from performing mass surveillance on people across the United States, as Wray admitted the bureau has purchased cellphone geolocation data from companies. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ FISA_Oversight_Board_Member_Says_Americans Need_More_Privacy_Protections_As_Congress_Debates Section_702_Reauthorization⠀⇛ One of the NSA’s most powerful spying tools is up for renewal at the end of the year. The problem with this power isn’t necessarily the NSA. I mean, the NSA has its problems, but the issue here is the domestic surveillance performed by the FBI via this executive power — something it shouldn’t be doing but has almost always done. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ RFERL ☛ German_Foreign_Minister_Calls_On_Iran_To_Halt Attacks_On_Iraqi_Territory⠀⇛ On a visit to Baghdad, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on Iran to cease its missile attacks on Iraqi territory. # ⚓ Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2023-03-06_There’s_Still_No_End_in_Sight to_Yemen’s_Catastrophic_War⠀⇛ # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Uvalde_Families,_DA_at_Odds_Over_Release_of Public_Records⠀⇛ Uvalde’s district attorney has joined the Texas Department of Public Safety in fighting the release of public records related to last year’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, arguing that all of the families who lost children want them withheld. But attorneys for a vast majority of the families are refuting that claim, saying that the information should be made public. “These Uvalde families fundamentally deserve the opportunity to gain the most complete factual picture possible of what happened to their children,” wrote Brent Ryan Walker, one of the attorneys who represents the parents of 16 deceased children and one who survived, in a court affidavit filed Tuesday evening. # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ In_Stockholm,_Hungarian_governing_party delegation_didn’t_bring_up_lies_Orbán_talked_about⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ A_Feminist_Demand_on_International_Women’s Day:_Fire_Victoria_Nuland⠀⇛ When President Biden nominated Victoria Nuland as Undersecretary of State, CODEPINK feminists objected to her nomination out of concern she would bring pain and heartache to mothers and daughters as she fomented war in their midst. Instead of promoting diplomacy, Nuland lights matches wherever she meddles, agitating for war in Afghanistan, and now Ukraine. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Omar_Unveils_Bill_to_Block_US_Security_Aid to_Human_Rights_Abusers⠀⇛ Citing her experience as a Somali war refugee, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Wednesday unveiled the Stop Arming Human Rights Abusers Act, which “imposes universal human rights and humanitarian conditions on security cooperation with the United States.” # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Ukraine_Resists,_1_Year_Later⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Evgeny_Prigozhin_confirms_ISW_report_on_Wagner Group’s_likely_capture_of_eastern_Bakhmut_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Following the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) March 7 report on the probable capture of eastern Bakhmut by the Russian forces, Evgeny Prigozhin issued a statement confirming ISW’s conjecture. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russia_launches_air_strikes_on_cities_throughout Ukraine_—_Meduza⠀⇛ The Russian military carried out missile strikes on cities throughout Ukraine on the morning of March 9. The Ukrainian authorities declared an air raid alert throughout the entire country. # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ Hungarian_delegation_in_Helsinki disappointed_with_Finland’s_position_on_Hungary⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Gray Zone ☛ VIDEO:_Germany_prosecutes_citizen_for condemning_aid_to_Ukrainian_Nazis⠀⇛ # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Missing_Links_in_Textbook_History:_The_Roots of_the_American_War_in_Vietnam⠀⇛ Jim Mamer continues his series deconstructing the flaws in American history taught in high school classrooms, this time tackling the Vietnam War. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_30th_Anniversary_of_the_FBI’s_Biggest Bomb⠀⇛ Thirty years ago last week, the largest terrorist attack in American history up to that time occurred when a 1200-pound bomb exploded beneath the World Trade Center in New York City. It was sheer luck that the explosion did not topple the entire skyscraper and kill thousands of people.  On the anniversary, politicians held solemn ceremonies but made no mention of the FBI’s role in that disaster. On November 5, 1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane was assassinated at a New York hotel. Kahane advocated banishing all Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories, and his political party was banned from the Knesset for “inciting racism” and “endangering security.” Kahane was shot by El Sayyid Nosair, a 36-year-old Egyptian immigrant, who was part of an anti-Israeli cabal of Muslims in the New York area. When police searched Nosair’s residence, they carried off 47 boxes of documents, paramilitary manuals, maps, and diagrams of buildings (including the World Trade Center). # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_New_“Last_Ditchers”⠀⇛ “There is a religious war going on in this country,” declared Pat Buchanan at the Republican National Convention in August 1993.   In the impassioned, game-changing speech he added, “It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as was the Cold War itself, for this war is for the soul of America.” With that speech, Buchanan launched the current round of the culture wars three decades ago. Today, white Christian conservatism has matured into a unified religious, political and social movement exercising power at both the federal and state levels. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ “The_End_Of_America’s_Empire_Is_HERE”_|_Chris Hedges_Interview⠀⇛ Chris Hedges and Russel Brand discuss the parallels between the Iraq & Ukraine Wars, and how America is pushing Russia & China together as they escalate the Ukrainian conflict. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Progressives_Back_Bipartisan_Push_to_End_US Military_Presence_in_Syria⠀⇛ The leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and outside advocacy groups are urging lawmakers to vote yes Wednesday on a war powers resolution aimed at ending the United States’ yearslong troop presence in Syria. # ⚓ The Dissenter ☛ March_To_Iraq_War,_20_Years_Later:_March_8, 2003⠀⇛ # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Thousands_In_Ukraine_Have_Complex_War-Related Injuries,_WHO_Says⠀⇛ Thousands of people in Ukraine have sustained complex injuries linked to the war and need rehabilitation services and equipment to help them, a senior World Health Organization official said. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ U.S._Intelligence_Suggests_Pro-Ukrainian_Group Sabotaged_Nord_Stream_Pipelines⠀⇛ New intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines last year, The New York Times reports. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Russia_Keeps_Ukrainian_Forces_Cornered_in Bakhmut⠀⇛ Western support in arms to Ukraine “has not translated into successes for Ukrainian troops on the battlefield,” the Russian Defense Minister said. # ⚓ The Local SE ☛ ‘Hungary_supports_the_Nato_membership_of Sweden’⠀⇛ A delegation of Hungarian parliamentarians met senior Swedish politicians on Tuesday to discuss Sweden’s Nato application. # ⚓ Quartz ☛ South_Korea_exported_weapon_components_to_Poland, knowing_they_would_end_up_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ The South Korean government confirmed it approved export licenses last year for components sent to Poland and used in weapons bound for the Ukrainian army last year, contradicting Seoul’s current military aid policy that prevents selling arms to countries involved in armed conflict. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Al-Qaida_suspect_transferred_from_US prison_to_Saudi_Arabia⠀⇛ A Saudi man long held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as a suspected al-Qaida operative has been returned to his home country. U.S. military officials announced the repatriation of Ghassan al Sharbi on Wednesday. It’s the latest transfer aiming to empty the Guantanamo military prison of detainees from the United States’ post-9/ 11 roundup of suspected violent extremists. Al Sharbi had been one of the Middle Eastern students singled out by the FBI before 9/11 as he trained at a Phoenix flight school. He was captured in Pakistan in 2002. U.S. military officials charged al Sharbi but eventually dropped efforts to put him on trial. # ⚓ ADF ☛ ‘They_Just_Kill’:_Fatalities_from_Extremist_Violence Rose_Nearly_50%_in_2022⠀⇛ That is according to a new report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), which showed that violent extremist groups committed 6,859 attacks in Africa last year, a 22% increase over 2021. The increase in militant Islamist-linked fatalities was marked by a 68% increase in fatalities involving civilians. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ World_Governments_Urged_to_‘Put_Women_at the_Heart’_of_Ending_War⠀⇛ As communities and governments around the world marked International Women’s Day on Wednesday, the need to include women in peace negotiations and place the needs of women and girls at the center of peace-building was a key theme of discussions at the United Nations Security Council. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Rise_of_the_Mercs_and_a_Race_to_the Bottom⠀⇛ The history of mercenary fighters–soldiers for hire who might be disciplined fighters abiding by the rules of engagement or might be plundering freebooters–from ancient Rome to today in Ukraine–is often an ugly, brutal, killers-for-hire story. For the U.S. armed forces and some of its allies in recent years, most of these contractors fulfilled non-combat roles like providing food services, but the most disturbing trend was companies providing armed contractors in war zones. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Ukraine’s_Trade_Unions_Will_Play_a_Central Role_in_a_Just_Peace⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Nonsense!’:_Jamie_Raskin_Rips_Republicans Over_Unending_January_6_Lies⠀⇛ As right-wing politicians and pundits continue to peddle lies and conspiracies related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, Democratic Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin on Wednesday delivered a passionate rebuttal of Republicans’ “nonsense.” o § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ # ⚓ The Washington Post ☛ 4_takeaways_from_the_new_Dominion-Fox lawsuit_documents⠀⇛ After the documents were released Tuesday, Fox accused Dominion of “distortions and misinformation in their PR campaign to smear Fox News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press. We already know they will say and do anything to try to win this case, but to twist and even misattribute quotes to the highest levels of our company is truly beyond the pale.” Below are some takeaways from the new documents. # ⚓ The Hill ☛ TikTok_poses_security_concerns,_FBI_director says⠀⇛ Wray, who was testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on worldwide threats, agreed with lawmakers that TikTok, which is owned by Chinese-based company ByteDance, has the ability to collect information on American citizens if it wanted to. # ⚓ The Hill ☛ Cyber_command_chief:_Election_interference_is not_going_away⠀⇛ Nakasone added that influence operations and disinformation campaigns launched by adversaries are “much more prevalent these days” than attempts to hack into election systems. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Patrick_Lawrence:_What_Dan_Ellsberg_Means⠀⇛ The term “Fourth Estate” had taken on the dust of a neglected antique before the release of the Pentagon Papers. Afterwards it seemed possible to think again of the press as the independent pole of power required by a working democracy. # ⚓ Shadowproof ☛ A_Conversation_With_Dan_Ellsberg_On_Assange And_The_State_Of_Journalism⠀⇛ This article was funded by paid subscribers of The Dissenter Newsletter, a project of Shadowproof. Become a monthly paid subscriber to help us publish more independent journalism on whistleblowing. To further their nationwide efforts to restrict access to transgender health care, Republicans in the state of Missouri have deployed a former case worker at Washington University’s Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, who they claim is a whistleblower. Shadowproof and Project Censored present a conversation between Kevin Gosztola and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg to mark the release of Kevin’s book, “Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange.”The book is available today, March 7, from Censored Press and Seven Stories Press. It is a crucial and compelling guide to the United States government’s case against the WikiLeaks founder and the implications for press freedom.“Kevin Gosztola is a rare journalist who understands the abominable threat that the case against Assange poses to press freedom,” says Daniel. “I rely on his indispensable reporting not only to stay informed about Assange, but also to follow developments in the wider war on whistleblowers.”Daniel has spent many decades sharing not only his experiences as a Nixon-era whistleblower but also showing support for fellow whistleblowers, who have faced similar attacks. He testified at the extradition trial against Assange in the United Kingdom in September 2020. He is also a board member for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.We thank Daniel for his generosity, and all the kindness he has shown to whistleblowers and independent journalists while standing up for peace and truth-telling.Below is the conversation between Kevin and Daniel on Guilty of Journalism. # ⚓ The Dissenter ☛ US_Still_Trying_To_Bury_‘Collateral_Murder’ Video_That_WikiLeaks_Released⠀⇛ o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ A_Treaty_to_Preserve_Oceans_–_And_Our World⠀⇛ Vital to the preservation of 30 percent of our earth, i.e. land and ocean, the oceans treaty broke many political barriers. The EU environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius applauded the event saying it was a crucial step towards preserving marine life and its essential biodiversity for generations to come. The UN Secretary General commended the delegates, his spokesperson calling the agreement a “victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to counter the destructive trends facing oceanhealth, now and for generations to come.” # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Germany_to_Lose_$960_Billion_by_2050_Due_to Climate_Change⠀⇛ “Climate change is already having severe economic consequences today,” parliamentary state secretary Stefan Wenzel said. # ⚓ Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-03-06_Climate_change_could_cost Germany_up_to_€900_billion⠀⇛ # ⚓ Denmark_slams_other_countries_for_‘total_embarrassment’_of climate_fund_failure⠀⇛ Denmark, an active foreign aid donor, on Tuesday slammed as a “total embarrassment” the fact rich nations have failed to raise a promised $100 billion a year to help poor countries battle climate change. # ⚓ International Business Times ☛ 2023-03-07_UK_faces_risk_of increasing_annual_flood_damage_costs_by_25%⠀⇛ # ⚓ Craig Murray ☛ Fascist_Judges⠀⇛ Three climate activists in two separate trials have been sent to jail by Judge Silas Reid using the entirely arbitrary powers of Contempt of Court, because they insisted on telling the jury that their protests had been motivated by the climate crisis and fuel poverty. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Calls_for_Climate_Reparations_Have_Grown Following_Recent_Severe_Weather_Events⠀⇛ # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ Quartz ☛ Crypto_bank_Silvergate_is_winding_down, becoming_another_domino_in_the_FTX_collapse⠀⇛ After nearly 10 years of serving the crypto industry, Silvergate Bank has been broken by the_FTX_collapse and its subsequent_fallout. # ⚓ India Times ☛ Cryptocurrencies_in_India_now_governed by_Prevention_of_Money-laundering_Act_2002⠀⇛ The notification said, “Exchange between virtual digital assets and fiat currencies, exchange between one or more forms of virtual digital assets, transfer of virtual digital assets, safekeeping or administration of virtual digital assets or instruments enabling control over virtual digital assets, and participation in and provision of financial services related to an issuer’s offer and sale of a virtual digital asset” will be now be covered by Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002. Virtual digital assets were defined as any code or number or token generated through cryptographic means with the promise or representation of having inherent value. # ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Germany_confident_it_has_located vessel_responsible_for_Nord_Stream_explosions_on_Danish island_of_Christiansø,_but_no_hard_evidence_yet⠀⇛ They sailed from the German port of Rostock and then moored and deserted the boat on the tiny Danish island of Christiansø following the explosions. It was later found by the German police. It is unclear which country was responsible. Was it simple sabotage of a false flag operation? # ⚓ India Times ☛ US_digital_asset_fund,_venture_capital firm_to_raise_$100_million_for_two_new_blockchain funds⠀⇛ Terpin in 2019 won $75.8 million in a civil judgment against Nicholas Truglia, who was 21 years old at the time and part of a scheme that defrauded Terpin of digital currencies, according to court documents. Truglia along with other participants stole 3 million tokens from Terpin’s cellphone account in early 2018. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ US_Watchdog’s_Message_to_Europe: There_Is_No_Such_Thing_as_‘Green_Fracking’⠀⇛ A leading watchdog on Wednesday responded to a report that Biden administration officials are meeting with industry representatives in a bid to boost exports of deceptively named “green” fracked gas to Europe by dispelling the notion that any fossil fuel could be considered “green”—especially during a worsening climate emergency. # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Salon ☛ Chimpanzees_have_their_own_language_—_and scientists_just_learned_how_they_put_“words”_together⠀⇛ Until now, that is. A new study reveals that chimpanzees — or at least, a group of 46 chimpanzees at Taï National Park in the African country of Côte d’Ivoire — are capable of complex vocalizations far beyond what more pessimistic scientists thought was possible. Their “words” were not like human phonetic words, but a combination of chimpanzee sounds, which generally sound a bit like grunts and chirps to human ears. And the size of the chimp dictionary? Almost 400 words. # ⚓ El País ☛ Anglerfish,_the_amazing_sexual_parasites_of the_abyss⠀⇛ This is the only known case of sexual parasitism in nature. The male secretes an enzyme that digests both his own skin and that of the female, so that their tissues and blood vessels are forever connected. Little by little, the male’s body wastes away. Its head is almost completely fused into the female’s body, losing much of its brain, eyes and even heart. At that point, it can only survive thanks to the nutrients provided by the female, and thus it is considered a parasite. Two have become one. # ⚓ NPR ☛ Can_insects_have_culture?_Puzzle-solving bumblebees_show_it’s_possible⠀⇛ Bridges persevered, however, and the experiment ultimately played itself out. In colonies where the tutor bee had originally learned to push the red tab, the other bees in the colony usually pushed the red tab. In colonies where the tutor bee was trained to push the blue tab, their fellow bees tended to do the same. “We found that the behaviors spread among the colonies,” she says. “They copied the demonstrators’ behavior even when occasionally they discovered that they could do the alternative.” # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ A_Tale_of_Two_Mothers⠀⇛ So many crises — from war to mass species die-offs to climate meltdown — afflict our world that we often don’t take time to draw insights from what generally passes for the small stuff, the things that happen all too close to home, including aging. Most of us don’t relish the prospect of getting old, much less watching our parents approach their deaths, something that’s even worse if you’re dying poor. Having a parent die, whatever the circumstances, is bound to be wrenching. The best we daughters and sons can hope for is that our parents finish out their lives on their own terms and where they want to be — with loved ones nearby and suffering as little as possible. In recent years, the deaths of our own mothers at opposite ends of the globe seemed to highlight, in some modest fashion, the experiences of women who suffer debilitating health problems late in life, as well as the deep humanity and kindness shown them by the people whose work it is to help them exit this world in comfort and with dignity. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ 5_Surprising_Things_That_Could_Be Preventing_Your_Backyard_From_Serving_as_a_Wildlife Sanctuary⠀⇛ Imagine a wildlife refuge that does not protect its wildlife. How could this be possible? It is not only possible, but it is also likely unless we take action to prevent it. Unfortunately, many advocates of native plants, birds, and pollinators—good-hearted people who want to help reverse biodiversity declines by providing the native plants which wildlife needs in their yards—inadvertently make this mistake. When we design ecologically attractive landscapes that also include real dangers to wildlife, we have actually created ecological traps that draw many animals to their death. And that, of course, is not the goal. # ⚓ The Revelator ☛ Moby:_Veganism,_Skepticism_and_Punk Rock⠀⇛ o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ The_French_Perform_the_Largest_Protest_of_the Last_Four_Decades⠀⇛ Under President Macron’s pension reform plan, it would require at least 43 years of work to be eligible for a full pension starting in 2027. # ⚓ The Age AU ☛ French_unions_say_‘non’_to_higher_pension age⠀⇛ The number of people taking part in marches across the country rose to 1.28 million, but most think the reforms are inevitable. # ⚓ Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2023-03-07_Marine_Le_Pen_Isn’t_on_the Same_Side_as_France’s_Pension_Protesters⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Age AU ☛ ASX_declines_as_investors_weigh_further_rate hikes⠀⇛ How high will rates go? The guessing game continues for the market as investors digest comments from Fed chairman Jerome Powell and RBA chief Philip Lowe. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Japan_revises_GDP_to_nearly_flat, showing_fragile_recovery⠀⇛ Japan’s economy grew at an annual pace of 0.1% in October-December, in a downgrade from an earlier 0.6% increase. The data released Tuesday show the world’s third-largest economy barely eking out growth. The Cabinet Office’s revised figure for seasonally adjusted gross domestic product, or GDP, for the last three months of 2022 showed growth on quarter was flat, down from an earlier estimate given in February at 0.2% growth. The annual rate shows what the growth would have been if the on- quarter rate continues for a year. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Class_War’_Erupts_at_Hearing_as_Union Leader_and_GOP_Senator_Exchange_Verbal_Blows⠀⇛ Sparks flew at a congressional hearing Wednesday when International Brotherhood of Teamsters president Sean O’Brien told Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma—a multimillionaire whose family previously owned five non-union plumbing companies—that “we hold greedy CEOs like yourself accountable.” # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Report:_Finland_not_unusually_dependent_on trade_with_China⠀⇛ China, the report shows, has a particularly key role for imports to Finland. Any disruption in the imports would be reflected virtually without delay on commerce and industry, most notably as shortages of batteries, laptops, mobile phones and other electronic devices. # ⚓ CBC ☛ 2023-03-07_Lawmakers_should_push_grocery_industry_for transparency_on_profits,_food_analysts_say⠀⇛ # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Inflation_level_remains_over_20%_in_Latvia⠀⇛ Inflation in Latvia remains at extremely high level with prices up by more than a fifth on the year in February. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ JPMorgan_sues_former_exec_over_ties to_Epstein_sex_abuse⠀⇛ JPMorgan Chase has sued its former executive Jes Staley, alleging that he aided in hiding Jeffrey Epstein’s yearslong sex abuse and trafficking in order to keep the financier as a client. The bank seeks to hold Staley personally liable for any financial penalties that JPMorgan may have to pay in two related cases. # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ Beyond_the_peak:_Hungarian_inflation’s slight_fall_to_25.4_percent_in_February⠀⇛ # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ The_biggest_corruption_case_of_recent times_in_Hungary:_the_Schadl-Völner_case⠀⇛ # ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ TPG_vulture_capitalists_descend_on InvoCare_to_pick_the_meaty_bones_of_Sydney’s_cemeteries, funerals_bodies⠀⇛ While stock market types have been scratching their heads trying to fathom how American private equity firm TPG could possibly justify paying a 40% premium for InvoCare shares, industry insiders get it. There is money in death, and the country’s largest market, Sydney, is running out of burial plots. The NSW Government’s dithering over OneCrown Cemeteries, its failed attempt to consolidate the management of four NSW Crown Land Managers, has left the sector in a regulatory void ripe to be exploited by commercial operators. Amid fights between the Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (CMCT) and other faith denominations, control of Sydney’s $5bn cemeteries sector remains up for grabs. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ In_Praise_of_Inefficiency:_Should_We_Serve the_Economy_or_Should_It_Serve_Us?⠀⇛ Trader Joe’s VP Marketing, Tara Miller, announced on the store’s Inside Trader Joe’s podcast that they will not be installing self-checkout machines in their stores. Good on them. “The bottom line here is that our people remain our most valued resource,” she said. “While other retailers were cutting staff and adding things like self-checkout, curbside pickup, and outsourcing delivery options, we were hiring more crew, and we continue to do that.” # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ To_Strengthen_Women’s_Resilience_to Disasters,_Make_the_Wealthiest_Pay_Their_fair_share⠀⇛ She will be called Aya. This is the name that nurses gave to the infant baby pulled from the rubble of a five-story building in Jinderis, northern Syria. A miracle. Beside her, the rescuers found her mother, dead. She had given birth within hours of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on the night of February 6, 2023. Like her, more than 50,000 people died in the earthquake. As tragic as it is hopeful, this story has moved the international media. It also reminds us that over 350,000 pregnant women who survived the earthquake now urgently need access to health care, according to the United Nations. And this is only one aspect of women’s vulnerability to natural disasters. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Setting_Our_Sights_on_the_Equality_of Women⠀⇛ A month ago, I heard on the news that Boston public schools would be closed on February 3 because of the severe Arctic cold and wind chill forecast for that day and the next. My first thought was: what if the students’ mothers are working single mothers, what if they cannot take off or cannot afford to lose the pay—given inflation of food, energy and rents and the impoverishing impact of Covid? o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ News_UK,_Mail,_Mirror_and_Guardian_execs reveal_whether_they_would_have_published_Hancock_Whatsapps⠀⇛ Some of the news bosses had “qualms” about how The Telegraph had used the Whatsapp messages. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Reach_2022_profit_hit_by_newsprint_costs and_plunging_online_ads_market⠀⇛ Growing online audience for Reach was accompanied by plunging revenue in Q4 2022. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_US_Government’s_War_on_TikTok_is Idiotic,_But_There_are_Upsides⠀⇛ The US government’s bi-partisan war on your right to publish embarrassing videos of yourself proceeds apace. As of March 6, Reuters reports, the White House is “working with Congress” on legislation that would give US president Joe Biden authority to pretend that he can ban TikTok. As I’ve written before, I’m all in favor of banning government use of TikTok. And all other apps. And smart phones. And the Internet. # ⚓ RFA ☛ White_House_backs_TikTok_ban_bill⠀⇛ Bipartisan bill would let US commerce secretary ban foreign tech deemed detrimental to national security. # ⚓ Deutsche Welle ☛ 2023-03-08_Musk_faces_ire_for_mocking_laid off_Twitter_employee⠀⇛ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Details_Of_FTC’s_Investigation_Into_Twitter_And Elon_Musk_Emerge…_And_Of_Course_People_Are_Turning_It_Into_A Nonsense_Culture_War⠀⇛ Back in the fall we were among the first to highlight that Elon Musk might face a pretty big FTC problem. Twitter, of course, is under a 20 year FTC consent decree over some of its privacy failings. And, less than a year ago (while still under old management), Twitter was hit with a $150 million fine and a revised consent decree. Both of them are specifically regarding how it handles users private data. Musk has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t care about the FTC, but that seems like a risky move. While I think this FTC has made some serious strategic mistakes in the antitrust world, the FTC tends not to fuck around with privacy consent decrees. # ⚓ John Gruber ☛ 2023-03-07_★_Phony_Stark_Picks_on_the_Wrong Guy,_Attempting_(and_of_Course_Botching)_an_HR_Exit_Interview Live_on_Twitter⠀⇛ # ⚓ CBC ☛ 2023-03-07_Hate_incidents_spiked_dramatically_across B.C._during_first_years_of_pandemic,_inquiry_finds⠀⇛ # ⚓ 37signals LLC ☛ Actions_beat_arguments⠀⇛ You can’t convince someone invested in their convictions to the contrary by arguments alone. Only actions can pry open a locked mind, and most minds remain locked most of the time. So if you wish to be persuasive, you ought to spend less time arguing and more time doing. This is as it should be. Talk is cheap, and others are right to keep their considered positions from being for sale at a discount. Everyone should be open to change their mind, of course, but they should also keep the bar high or they’ll drift about constantly and randomly. # ⚓ India Times ☛ TikTok_unveils_new_European_data_security regime_Project_Clover⠀⇛ At a news briefing on Wednesday, TikTok said it would begin storing European user data locally this year, with migration continuing into 2024. As part of this move, the company confirmed it would soon open a second data centre in Ireland, and another in the Hamar region of Norway. These data centres will be operated by an undisclosed third party. # ⚓ RTL ☛ TikTok_seeks_to_calm_Europe’s_fears_over_data privacy⠀⇛ TikTok executives said the company was working with a third-party European security company to oversee and check how it handles European users’ data, which will be stored at two centres in Dublin and one in Norway from 2023 onwards. European users’ data are currently stored in the United States and Singapore. # ⚓ Quillette ☛ Paul_Was_Dead_Right⠀⇛ Johnson’s 1964 essay, in fact, did not comment much on the Beatles’ music or the individual characters of the four musicians. He was more bothered by the cult of novelty and celebrity that was then being exploited by adult politicians and their handlers: a national election loomed that year, and various British candidates were striving to attach themselves to the Beatles’ immense appeal among the young. “The Beatles phenomenon,” he wrote, “… illustrates one of my favorite maxims: that if something becomes big enough and popular enough—and especially commercially profitable enough—solemn men will not be lacking to invest it with virtues.” The problem was not so much the Beatles themselves, but the way the civilization that generated them was becoming so consumed by money, marketing, and a frantic identification with contemporary styles that it risked forgetting the better, deeper parts of its own heritage, as “elders in responsible positions … seek to elevate the worst things in our society to the best”: [...] # ⚓ [Old] Rolling Stone ☛ John_Lennon:_The_Rolling_Stone Interview_(Part_Two)⠀⇛ I don’t know about the “history”; the people who are in control and in power, and the class system and the whole bullshit bourgeoisie is exactly the same, except there is a lot of fag middle class kids with long, long hair walking around London in trendy clothes, and Kenneth Tynan is making a fortune out of the word “fuck.” Apart from that, nothing happened. We all dressed up, the same bastards are in control, the same people are runnin’ everything. It is exactly the same. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Nikki_Haley’s_Presidential_Run_Is_Already_a National_Joke⠀⇛ In 2015, according to the talking points being floated by former South Carolina governor and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination Nikki Haley and her team, she alone heroically removed the Confederate flag that flew on the grounds of the state capitol and so healed racial wounds. She implied as much right after it happened, again at the 2020 Republican National Convention, and in subsequent interviews. This “achievement” remains a critical part of her story about why she aspires to be president. Given the weakness of the South Carolina governorship, Haley doesn’t have a lot to show for her time in office or, for that matter, defending President Donald Trump as his ambassador at the United Nations. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ South_African_Parliament_Votes_to_Downgrade Embassy_Over_Israeli_Crimes_in_Palestine⠀⇛ South African lawmakers voted Tuesday to downgrade the country’s embassy in Israel in response to its apartheid, illegal occupation, and other crimes against Palestinians—a move welcomed by human rights advocates around the world. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_Republican_Code_of_Silence⠀⇛ As the fight for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination slowly takes shape, January 6 is the elephant in the elephant’s room. The party of militant right-wing grievance would just as soon the American electorate put that whole plotting-a- coup-to-install-an-authoritarian-dictator thing firmly in the national memory hole. That’s why Florida Governor Ron DeSantis omitted all mention of the unfortunate episode in his recently published campaign memoir—and why, per a recent Politico dispatch, the assembled movement worthies at the Conservative Political Action Conference only spoke of the failed Trump coup as still another occasion to elevate their own pet narratives of political victimization. The real culprits, you see, were the Deep State agents forever conspiring to keep their virtuous Great Leader away from the machinery of federal power. # § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ The Age AU ☛ Court_exhibits_show_Rupert_Murdoch questioned_if_Fox_News_hosts_‘went_too_far’⠀⇛ The correspondence from the Fox Corp chairman is contained in a trove of new court exhibits that have become public in the Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Journalistic_Malpractice_on_Trial⠀⇛ What the Dominion Voting System Tells Us About How the Media Sacrificed their Credibility to Partisan Falsehoods # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Tucker’s_January_6_Video_Bombshell Explodes—in_His_Face⠀⇛ Things couldn’t be going better for Tucker Carlson—if by “better” you mean the universe unfolding to reveal his contempt for his audience and his personal and professional corruption. His hyped remix of violent January 6 insurrection footage, aired Monday night, came off like a TikTok for angry boomers, but without any dogs or funny music. It sampled more than 41,000 hours of security footage to reach its preordained conclusion: “Taken as a whole, the video record does not support the claim that January 6th was an insurrection,” Carlson declared. “In fact, it demolishes that claim.” # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Watchdog_Group_Files_Complaint_Over McCarthy_Sharing_Footage_With_Tucker_Carlson⠀⇛ o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ New Yorker ☛ Florida_Takes_Aim_at_the_First_Amendment⠀⇛ Two bills in the Republican-controlled state legislature propose radical alteration to libel laws. # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ 2023-03-08_YouTube_Chills_the_Hell_Out_On_Its Cursing_Policy⠀⇛ # ⚓ Make Tech Easier ☛ 2023-03-08_11_YouTube_Alternatives_for Something_a_Little_Different⠀⇛ # ⚓ Coconuts ☛ Censors_ban_Thai_horror_film_for_‘insulting Buddhism’_with_mom-hugging_child_monk⠀⇛ The censorship board said the scenes could be “divisive” and “insulting” to Buddhism. It said that if filmmakers cut the controversial scenes, they would bestow a rating of 20+, prohibiting anyone under 20 from watching it in the cinema. # ⚓ Broadband Breakfast ☛ Industry_Experts_Caution_Against Extreme_Politicization_in_Section_230_Debate⠀⇛ “What I really wish Congress would do, since 230 has become this political football, is put the football down for a second,” said Billy Easley, senior public policy lead at Reddit. Instead of starting from Section 230, Easley suggested that Congress methodically identify specific problems and consider how each could best be addressed. With many issues, he claimed that there are “a slew of policy options” more effective than changing Section 230. # ⚓ Teen Vogue ☛ Why_Are_Books_Banned?_Part_of_a_Broader_Effort to_Oppress_Girls_and_Nonbinary_People⠀⇛ In that sense, book bans are part of a larger, manufactured culture war to keep young people from understanding and uprooting harmful systems of oppression—all under the guise of, ironically, shielding them from harm in the first place. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ International_Women’s_Day_Has_a_Radical_History Rooted_in_Socialism⠀⇛ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ This_International_Women’s_Day,_Iranian Feminists_Are_at_the_Front_Lines⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Georgian_parliament_withdraws_controversial ‘foreign_agents’_bill_amid_mass_protests_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Georgian lawmakers announced Thursday that they’ve decided to withdraw the draft law “On transparency of foreign influence,” which sparked mass protests earlier this week. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Devin_Nunes_Loses_Yet_Another_Of_His_Frivolous SLAPP_Suits_Against_CNN⠀⇛ At some point, you have to wonder if judges are going to start slapping sanctions on former Representative Devin Nunes and his SLAPP-happy vexatious litigator, Steven Biss. We’ve covered their many escapades in filing highly questionable defamation cases against basically any major media organization that so much as lightly criticizes Nunes (and also… a satirical internet cow). Given its outsized roles in the minds of culture warriors who wish to insist that it is biased against them, it’s perhaps little surprise that the Nunes/Biss superduo has sued CNN numerous times. They also have a history of losing those cases. # ⚓ BBC ☛ International_Women’s_Day:_Istanbul_women_defy_ban_on protests⠀⇛ Police prevented them from reaching Taksim Square in the city centre but allowed them to carry on with their march for a while, although later they used tear gas to disperse them. o § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ CPJ ☛ 2023-03-07_CPJ_condemns_Mexican_military_surveillance of_activist’s_communications_with_journalists⠀⇛ # ⚓ CPJ ☛ 2023-03-06_Togo_journalists_Ferdinand_Ayité_and Isidore_Kouwonou_summoned_over_insult,_false_news allegations⠀⇛ # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2023-03-07_Xi_Jinping_condemns_US- led_‘suppression_of_China,’_state_media_reports⠀⇛ # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Russian_Blogger_Jailed_For_Covering_Ukraine_War Recognized_As_A_Prisoner_Of_Conscience_By_Amnesty International⠀⇛ # ⚓ France24 ☛ Protesters_clash_with_police_in_Georgia_for second_day_over_new_‘foreign_agents’_law⠀⇛ Thousands of people staged a second straight day of protests in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Wednesday, rallying outside parliament against a “foreign agents” law which critics say signals an authoritarian shift. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Thousands_in_Tbilisi_rally_against_‘foreign agents’_law_which_could_prevent_Georgia_from_joining_EU_or NATO_In_photos_—_Meduza⠀⇛ In Tbilisi, several thousand protesters took to the streets outside the Georgian parliament. On March 7, the parliament passed on the first reading its bill on “foreign agents.” If the bill is passed into law, Georgia could lose its opportunity to attain EU candidate status and join NATO. Protests outside the parliament escalated into clashes with police. Riot police used tear gas and water cannons against the protesters, while protesters threw bottles, firecrackers, and Molotov cocktails at the police. In the evening President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili declared her support for the protesters. Here’s how the protests went in Tbilisi. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Baltic_ministers_warn_Georgia_against_‘foreign_agent’ law⠀⇛ The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said on Wednesday that a bill on “foreign agents” being deliberated in Georgia raises “serious questions” about the country’s democratic prospects. # ⚓ CPJ ☛ How_You_Helped_Journalists_in_2022⠀⇛ Thank you for standing with CPJ in the fight for press freedom in 2022. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ When_Force-Feeding_Is_Torture⠀⇛ Mohammad Salameh isn’t going anywhere. Two straps crisscross his abdomen, pinning his shoulders to the chair. Each ankle has its own restraint, and another strap is buckled across his thighs. His handcuffed wrists rest in his lap. His body is limp. A week earlier, Salameh was so weak that when guards came to remove him from his cell, he couldn’t walk to the door. (He got a disciplinary ticket for this “offense.”) Still, as the force- feeding is about to begin, three men dressed in black riot gear encircle him. They grasp Salameh’s head and shoulders as the physician assistant inserts a nasogastric tube into his nostril. Then the PA puts a carton of nutritional supplement and some sterile water into a feeding bag. The fluid starts flowing into Salameh’s body.1This story was produced in partnership with Type Investigations, with support from the Fund for Constitutional Government. # ⚓ Democracy for the Arab World Now ☛ UAE:_Judge_Falah_al- Hajri_Convicted_Peaceful_Activists_and_Ignored_Evidence_of Torture⠀⇛ While in pretrial detention, many of the defendants reported torture, prolonged incommunicado detention periods up to a year, and the government barred them access to legal counsel until several months after their detention. When prosecutors granted them access to legal counsel, the court reportedly required a representative of the state security prosecutor to be present during these interactions. The trial itself lacked any semblance of due process, with defendants prosecuted solely for their expression of free speech. The government prohibited independent reporting of the trial and independent media and trial observers, and several relatives of the individuals sentenced faced harassment and even detention following their criticism of the proceedings. At least 17 of the individuals sentenced in 2013 remain arbitrarily detained despite serving the duration of their sentencing, under the vague pretext of “counter- extremism counseling.” # ⚓ France24 ☛ FRANCE_24_‘deeply_concerned’_by_former_Algeria correspondent’s_indictment⠀⇛ FRANCE 24′s former correspondent in Algeria, Moncef Ait Kaci, was tried on Wednesday in Algiers for “funding received from abroad and publication of information harmful to the national interest”, according to the prosecutor. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Team_Navalny_calls_Echo_of_Moscow_editor-in-chief Venediktov_corrupt,_Venediktov_explains_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Alexey Venediktov, the former editor-in-chief of the radio station Echo of Moscow, responded to research from Alexey Navalny’s associates at the Anti-Corruption Foundation. The Anti-Corruption Foundation accused Venediktov, among other journalists, of “divvying up the Moscow city budget” via a city-sponsored public works campaign call Moi Raion (My Neighborhood). The Anti- Corruption Foundation says Venediktov received 680 million rubles (almost $9 million) from the Moscow City Administration for the publication Moi Raion magazine. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Free_Press_Advocates_Say_FTC_Has_No Business_Probing_Journalist_Interactions_With_Twitter⠀⇛ Press freedom defenders on Wednesday expressed outrage after it was revealed that the Federal Trade Commission, as part of its investigation into Twitter’s data privacy practices, demanded that the social media giant “identify all journalists” given access to company records, including in relation to owner Elon Musk’s dissemination of the so-called “Twitter Files” purporting to expose censorship on the platform. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Arkansas_Governor_Signs_Bill_Making_It_Easier_to Violate_Child_Labor_Laws⠀⇛ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Staffers_for_Ed_Markey_Have_Formed_the_US Senate’s_First-Ever_Union⠀⇛ # ⚓ HRW ☛ 2023-03-08_Thailand:_Man_Jailed_for_Selling_‘Yellow Duck’_Calendars⠀⇛ # ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2023-03-07_Cyprus:_work_access_for asylum_seekers_is_improved_and_the_hate_speech_ban_in Parliament_welcomed,_but_problems_remain⠀⇛ # ⚓ Quartz ☛ Bernie_Sanders_will_finally_get_a_chance_to_grill Starbucks’_Howard_Schultz_on_union-busting⠀⇛ Interim Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will testify at a Senate hearing on March 29 about the company’s apparent union-busting tactics after being threatened with a subpoenae by Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. # ⚓ Quartz ☛ The_US_Senate_is_getting_its_first_union⠀⇛ # ⚓ Daniel Miessler ☛ Is_Equality_Unnatural?⠀⇛ I’m still struck by an observation that Scott Galloway has been making lately. He keeps talking about how the top 5% of men in terms of income and other measures are getting all the attention from women on dating apps. [...] Whereas when I see someone fail, I wonder how much of it is a capability issue vs. a trauma issue. And I believe it’s the job of civilization, and the people, and government to tease that out. It’s our job to remove the disadvantages of bad luck, historical deck-stacking, and institutional biases so that people can reach their full potential # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Child_marriage_ban_bill_defeated_in West_Virginia_House⠀⇛ A West Virginia legislative committee has defeated a bill that would have prohibited minors from getting married in the state. The Republican- dominated Senate Judiciary Committee rejected the bill Wednesday night, a week after it passed the House of Delegates. Currently, children can marry as young as 16 in West Virginia with parental consent. Anyone younger than that also must get a judge’s waiver. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Former_Tiananmen_leader_Wang_Dan_joins_growing_outcry over_Donnie_Yen_Oscars_invite⠀⇛ A former student leader of the 1989 democracy movement on Tiananmen Square has joined growing calls on the organizers of the Oscars to revoke an invitation to Hong Kong martial arts star Donnie Yen to present an award, after he took Beijing’s side over the 2019 protest movement in Hong Kong. # ⚓ Jacobin Magazine ☛ The_Anti-“Terrorist”_Crackdown_on_Cop City_Protesters_Is_the_War_on_Terror_Coming_Home⠀⇛ The episode neatly encapsulates what you might call the “concept creep” of terrorism. The American fear of terrorists and the drastic, often illiberal measures taken to combat them were originally sparked by high-profile instances of extremists deliberately killing dozens, even thousands of civilians, like the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 or the September 11 attacks in 2001. Now, apparently all it takes to earn that label is simply damaging or destroying inanimate objects and the possibility, however unrealized, that a person might merely be accidentally hurt in the process. Meanwhile, the only actual human death that’s been registered in the long-running fight over Atlanta’s “Cop City” came at the hands of the same authorities crying “terrorism.” # ⚓ ANF News ☛ Yazidi_and_Arab_women_march_in_Shengal⠀⇛ Hundreds of Yazidi and Arab women attended the march vowing to “avenge thousands of women abducted by ISIS” during the genocidal onslaught on their hometown in August 2014. # ⚓ VOA News ☛ Q&A:_Taliban’s_Policy_on_Women_Amounts_to_Crime Against_Humanity,_UN_Special_Rapporteur_Says⠀⇛ The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, says individual Taliban members could be held accountable for what he calls the group’s unacceptable policy to erase women from public life. In an interview Tuesday with VOA via Skype, Bennett said that the Taliban’s “gender persecution is a crime against humanity” and that the International Criminal Court would have responsibility to act against it. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ International_Women’s_Day:_Roots_in_Radical History,_Labor_&_Reproductive_Rights⠀⇛ March 8 marks International Women’s Day around the world, seeking to end gender discrimination, violence and abuse. We start the show by looking at the day’s roots in socialism, and what it means for the movement for reproductive justice in the United States. Our guest is Nancy Krieger, renowned professor of social epidemiology at Harvard University’s School of Public Health and director of the Interdisciplinary Concentration on Women, Gender, and Health. She’s also co-founder and chair of the Spirit of 1848 Caucus in the American Public Health Association, which links social justice and public health. International Women’s Day has always been a struggle for “the conditions in which people can thrive,” says Krieger. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ “Stand_Up_for_Afghan_Women”:_U.N._Calls Afghanistan_World’s_Most_Repressive_Country_for_Women, Girls⠀⇛ A top United Nations official said Wednesday that “Afghanistan under the Taliban remains the most repressive country in the world regarding women’s rights.” Since taking power nearly 19 months ago, the Taliban has moved systematically to erase women from public life by banning women and girls from schools, from working with nongovernmental organizations and from traveling without a male relative. “Afghanistan is now effectively one of the biggest prisons in the world for women,” says Zahra Nader, a freelance Afghan journalist who was formerly a reporter for The New York Times in Kabul and is now based in Canada. She is the editor-in- chief of Zan Times, a new Afghan women-led outlet documenting human rights issues in Afghanistan. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ “Women,_Life,_Freedom”:_Iranian_Women Continue_Protests_Amid_Crackdown_&_Poisonings_at_Girls’ Schools⠀⇛ Iranian parents and teachers have been holding protests in Tehran and other cities following a spate of apparent poisonings at girls’ schools since November. According to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran, there have been at least 290 suspected school poisonings in recent months, sickening at least 7,000 students with symptoms including headaches, fatigue and more. Meanwhile, the head of the country’s judiciary said earlier this week that Iranian women could be punished for violating the Islamic dress code. His remarks came just months after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody sparked nationwide protests. For more on women’s rights in Iran, we speak with Manijeh Moradian, assistant professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Barnard College, author of This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States and part of the Feminists for Jina network. # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Feds_Probe_Arrests_of_Disabled_Students_at_IL School⠀⇛ The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into a tiny Illinois school district for students with disabilities to determine whether children enrolled there have been denied an appropriate education because of the “practice of referring students to law enforcement for misbehaviors.” The investigation was initiated Feb. 13, two months after ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune reported how the district, which operates a therapeutic day school for students with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities, turned to police to arrest students with stunning frequency. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ “Torture”:_El_Salvador’s_Abortion_Ban Condemned,_Highlights_Horrors_Facing_U.S._After_Roe Overturned⠀⇛ As we mark International Women’s Day on March 8, we look at the criminalization of abortion with filmmaker Celina Escher, who directed the award- winning documentary Fly So Far about abortion in El Salvador, which has enforced an abortion ban since 1998, and dozens of people have been convicted and imprisoned after having miscarriages, stillbirths and other obstetric emergencies. On Monday, women’s rights activists called for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to condemn El Salvador in a case brought a decade ago by a woman, Beatriz, who died after being forced to carry a pregnancy although the fetus could not survive. Escher says El Salvador’s current policies amount to “torture for the women and girls” forced to bring nonviable and dangerous pregnancies to term against their will. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Florida_Judges_Have_the_Power_to_Force_Young People_to_Give_Birth⠀⇛ In January of last year, a 17-year-old girl in Florida was told by a county judge that he was denying her request to receive an abortion. “Jane Doe” was a junior in high school working three jobs that her father drove her to and from. She told the court that she felt she was too young and financially unstable to be a parent, and that having a child would end her dream of joining the military. But in part because her grade point average was too low, the judge ruled that she exhibited “a lack of intelligence” and was therefore not mature enough to make this decision. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ A_Proposed_Six-Week_Abortion_Ban_in_Florida Could_Threaten_Access_for_the_Entire_South⠀⇛ Florida has become a crucial access point for abortion in the region. A six-week ban could stop the wave of out-of-state patients coming in to access the procedure. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Arizona_Prisoners_Find_Hope_in_Their_Fight Against_Forced_Inductions⠀⇛ Arizona prison officials have been inducing the labor of its pregnant prisoners against their will. But shortly after the Arizona Republic broke the news, state lawmakers introduced a bill banning them from continuing to do so. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Special_forces_in_Tbilisi_use_water_cannons_and tear_gas_against_demonstratrors_protesting_new_law_on ‘foreign_agents’_—_Meduza⠀⇛ In Tbilisi, Georgia, special forces used water cannons and teargas against protestors who tried to enter Georgia’s parliament building, on Rustaveli Avenue. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Protestor_in_Georgia_charged_with_assaulting_a police_officer_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the arrest of a person suspected of assaulting a police officer during mass protests on March 7, near Georgia’s parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Teenage_political_activist_arrested_by_FSB, investigated_for_alleged_‘railway_sabotage’_—_Meduza⠀⇛ FSB operatives have arrested a 19-year-old political activist in the Karelian town of Sortavala, not far from the Finnish border.  # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Sixty-six_people_arrested_at_Tbilisi_protest against_‘foreign_agents’_bill_—_Meduza⠀⇛ 66 people were arrested in Tbilisi at Tuesday’s protest against the Georgian parliament’s passage of a draft bill on “foreign agents,” the TV network Rustavi 2 reported, citing the country’s Interior Ministry. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ A_Tale_of_Two_Mothers_Dying_with_Dignity⠀⇛ So many crises — from war to mass species die-offs to climate meltdown — afflict our world that we often don’t take time to draw insights from what generally passes for the small stuff, the things that happen all too close to home, including aging. Most of us don’t relish the prospect of getting old, much less watching our parents approach their deaths, something that’s even worse if you’re dying poor. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Democrats_Implore_Biden_to_Reject_‘Callous and_Inhumane’_Migrant_Family_Detention⠀⇛ Reports that the Biden administration is considering a plan to revive migrant family detentions drew outrage from members of the president’s own party on Tuesday, with Democratic lawmakers imploring the White House to reject the cruel practice that it largely shut down in late 2021. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘The_compassion_of_the_female_heart’_Excerpts_from Vladimir_Putin’s_International_Women’s_Day_speeches_in_2022 and_today_—_Meduza⠀⇛ o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ Michael Geist ☛ Government_Rejection_of_Key_Senate_Bill_C- 11_Amendment_Reveals_Its_True_Intent:_Retain_Power_to Regulate_User_Content⠀⇛ For more than a year, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has clung to the Bill C-11 mantra of “platforms in, users out”. When presented with clear evidence from thousands of digital creators, the former chair of the CRTC, and numerous experts that that wasn’t true, the Senate passed compromise language to ensure that platforms such as Youtube would be caught by the legislation consistent with the government’s stated objective, but that user content would not. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ A_Dirty_Campaign_Defeated_Gigi_Sohn._We Can’t_Let_it_Happen_Again.⠀⇛ On Tuesday, Gigi Sohn withdrew her nomination to the Federal Communications Commission. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Gigi_Sohn’s_Full_Statement_On_Withdrawing_Her FCC_Nomination⠀⇛ Yesterday, Karl wrote about the absolutely ridiculous situation in which the person perhaps most qualified to be an FCC commissioner, Gigi Sohn, had to withdraw her nomination, which had languished over nearly two years, mostly due to a bunch of absolute ridiculous bullshit lies from telecom and media giants who hated the idea of her being in that job. As someone who has known Sohn for well over a decade, the whole situation is infuriating. Almost all of the claims about her were ridiculous lies, or at least misleading. Anyone who knows her (even those opposed to her policy goals) recognizes that she’s smart, competent, knowledgeable, and focused on actually doing what’s best for the public. She is not, as some falsely framed her, some sort of “partisan” hack. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ CCIA ☛ Abandoning_the_Consumer_Welfare_Standard_to_Target Tech_Would_Harm_Users⠀⇛ The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing today… # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Leaks_Suggest_EU_Set_To_Approve_Microsoft, Activision_Acquisition⠀⇛ For months and months now, we have been talking about Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The $68 billion mega-deal had drawn narrow glares from several regulatory bodies, including in America, the UK, and the EU. While the FTC in the States and CMA in the UK have thus far not come off some very strongly worded concerns about approving the purchase, the EU appears like it will be the first domino to fall in this whole thing moving forward. # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ SparkFun Electronics ☛ Hedy_Lamarr_and_Frequency Hopping_Technology⠀⇛ In fully developed frequency hopping, the transmitter and receiver rapidly switch between different channels in a predetermined sequence. This sequence is known to both the transmitter and the receiver, and it is usually designed to cover a wide frequency range to increase the likelihood of finding a clear channel. Lamarr and Antheil received a patent for this technology and donated it to the US Navy, never getting any money from it. # ⚓ IP Kat ☛ 2023-03-06_Board_of_Appeal_finds_ViCo_is_now equivalent_to_in-person_proceedings,_and_that_G_1/21 “gold-standard”_no_longer_applies_(T_1158/20) [Ed: The EPO operates outside the rule of law; this is an example of constitutions being flagrantly violated]⠀⇛ # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Walled Culture ☛ Copyright_means_you_may_need permission_to_put_photos_of_your_own_furnished_room online⠀⇛ The photographer explained that he had given permission for his photos – of tulips, apparently – to be used for a wallpaper. But he had only given permission for the use of the photo as wallpaper, and claimed that further permission to display his image was required if a photo of it were put online. Unfortunately the Cologne Regional Court agreed with this interpretation. It’s a ruling that could have important ramifications for anyone taking pictures of furnished rooms, as the Pinsent Masons post explains: [...] # ⚓ Creative Commons ☛ Creative_Commons_Bootcamp_for California_Community_Colleges⠀⇛ This January, Creative Commons led a CC Certificate Bootcamp, or condensed training for 12 faculty and staff from 11 California Community Colleges implementing Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree programs. Building on a successful pilot ZTC Pathways program, the California Legislator invested $115 million to expand Zero Textbook Cost degrees and OER within the California community college system. The California ZTC programs reduce the overall cost of education and reduce the time to degree completion for California community college students. With the average costs of course textbooks estimated at $100/ student/course, ZTC programs have the potential to save students nearly a billion dollars in the coming years, offering a more than 800% return on investment, according to SPARC.  # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Omi_in_a_Hellcat_Handed_66_Months_in Prison_For_Pirate_IPTV,_Forfeits_$30m⠀⇛ Bill Omar Carrasquillo, better known online as Omi in a Hellcat, has been sentenced to 66 months in prison for a number of crimes related to his now-defunct pirate IPTV services. In comments outside a Pennsylvania federal court, Carrasquillo said the judge had been “super lenient but fair” and described the sentence – which includes almost $11m in restitution to several cable companies – as “probably salvation for my fat ass to lose some weight.” # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ DNS_Resolver_Quad9_Loses_Global Pirate_Site_Blocking_Case_Against_Sony⠀⇛ The Regional Court of Leipzig has ordered DNS resolver Quad9 to block global access to a music piracy site. The Court sided with Sony Music and held the DNS service liable for the infringing activities of its users. Quad9 characterizes the Court’s conclusion as “absurdly extreme” and will take the matter to Dresden’s Court of Appeal # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Another_German_Court_Says_The_DNS_Service Quad9_Is_Implicated_In_Any_Copyright_Infringement_At The_Domains_It_Resolves⠀⇛ Back in September 2021 Techdirt covered an outrageous legal attack by Sony Music on Quad9, a free, recursive, anycast DNS platform. Quad9 is part of the Internet’s plumbing: it converts domain names to numerical IP addresses. It is operated by the Quad9 Foundation, a Swiss public-benefit, not-for-profit organization. Sony Music says that Quad9 is implicated in alleged copyright infringement on the sites it resolves. That’s clearly ridiculous, but unfortunately the Regional Court of Hamburg agreed with Sony Music’s argument, and issued an interim injunction against Quad9. The German Society for Civil Rights (Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V. or “GFF”) summarizes the court’s thinking: * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal⠀➾ # ⚓ 🔤SpellBinding:_EIVLORK_Wordo:_ADIEU⠀⇛ # ⚓ New_Case_for_my_BITX40_Radio⠀⇛ My BITX40 needs a proper case. It’s an amateur radio transceiver kit for the 40 meter band by Ashar Farhan VU2ESE. I originally tested the kit by mounting it to an MDF board. It’s not very ergonomic nor very portable. # ⚓ Names⠀⇛ Cratylus, perhaps of some perplexity to the student, Plato. Do names have meaning, or do they slot as X and Y to equations grammatical? Fido trends dogwards, but what of Indiana? Sinn? Bedeutung? Maybe both, or not the other. o § Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ “They”_are_only_shooting_“each_other”⠀⇛ It’s been a common theme in reporting here in Sweden when people are murdered that it’s “only” criminals shooting “each other”, and today there was a news entry about how “actually eighteen people total without connection to the gangs have been injured or killed in the crossfire these last few years”. As if the other victims weren’t people too. They’re human, they’re us. We, the people, are shooting each other. o § Technical⠀➾ # § Internet/Gemini⠀➾ # ⚓ Why_it’s_bad_that_the_web_is_so_feature-rich⠀⇛ Welcome to Gemini!♥ The feature-rich web has a lot of advantages; the best web-apps are easy to learn, which is great since the learnability threshold is a huge problem with the wonderful world of Unix and worse-is-better that a lot of us are so enamored with. I remember when gratis webmail was first made widely available (with the launch of Rocketmail and Hotmail) and how it made email accessible to a lot of people who didn’t have access to it before: not only to library users, students and other people without ISPs, but also to people who couldn’t figure out how to use their ISP email (or to use it when they were away from home). =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 3911 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 03.09.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_09/03/2023:_Mesa_22.3.7,_Samba_4.18.0,_Peek_Discontinued⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 9:38 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Graphics_Stack o Applications * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o SUSE/OpenSUSE o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Open_Hardware/Modding o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Leftovers * Security o Privacy/Surveillance * Defence/Aggression * Environment o Energy/Transportation * Finance * AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics * Censorship/Free_Speech * Civil_Rights/Policing * Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality * Monopolies o Patents o Trademarks * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal o Politics o Technical # Programming * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Graphics Stack⠀➾ # ⚓ Free Desktop ☛ mesa_22.3.7⠀⇛ Hello everyone, The bugfix release 22.3.7 is now available. This is the last release of the 22.3 series. Users are encouraged to switch to the 23.0 series to continue receiving bugfixes. Cheers, Eric o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Ubuntu Handbook ☛ Peek_Animated_GIF_Screen_Recorder Discontinued!⠀⇛ Peek, the popular animated GIF screen recorder application, has been discontinued! It was one of my most favorite applications, that provides an easy to use interface for recording rectangle screen area into animated GIF. # ⚓ Samba_4.18.0_Available_for_Download⠀⇛ * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o § SUSE/OpenSUSE⠀➾ # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ openSUSE_finds_an_elegant_solution_to x86-64_version_support⠀⇛ SUSE, and the openSUSE project it sponsors, has a way around the issue of optimizing its distro for specific versions of the x86-64 architecture. This new move was announced last week and will, hopefully, resolve the issues over x86-64 support that have been causing dissent in the distros’ communities. Back in July we reported that SUSE’s new ALP distro might need x86-64-v3. Then, later, the rolling-release Tumbleweed distro considered requiring x86-64-v2. Apparently, though, enough users still ran older kit that didn’t support v2 and complained that the project leaders backed down and decided the new requirement would be dropped. o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Magazine ☛ Flathub_Vying_to_Become_the_Standard_Linux App_Store⠀⇛ Linux has a plethora of package managers and app stores. There’s apt, dnf, yum, zypper, pacman, GNOME Software, Discover, and Synaptic. For modern Linux distributions, however, you can also add Snap and Flatpak into the mix. Those last two have, for some time, struggled to gain much traction. However, over the past couple of years, those universal package managers have finally gained considerable popularity. But only one of those tools is vying to become the de facto standard app store for Linux. # ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ Big_data_basics:_What_sysadmins_need_to know⠀⇛ Learn what big data is, how data is processed and visualized, and key big data terms to know. # ⚓ Enterprisers Project ☛ 4_ways_for_CIOs_to_strike_a_balance between_operation_and_innovation⠀⇛ CIOs are often teetering between striving for innovation and maintaining operational excellence. With a potential recession on the horizon and lingering complications from the pandemic, what is the best way to strike a balance between the two? “CIOs are empowering everyone to challenge the status quo daily and providing the digital acumen and psychological safety required for teams to thrive in a culture of continuous improvement, experimentation, and rapid innovation,” according to Red Hat CIO Jim Palermo in our latest report in partnership with HBR Analytic Services. # ⚓ Enterprisers Project ☛ Bridging_the_IT_gender_divide:_3_key considerations⠀⇛ The lack of diversity in the technology industry is a persistent structural issue. Despite companies’ increasing investment in diversity efforts, the number of women in technical roles sits at 26 percent_globally. o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Dodepan:_Lo-Fi_Raspberry_Pi_Pico_Music Maker⠀⇛ Making chilled out beats with the Raspberry Pi Pico, this project is both a portable music maker and MIDI instrument. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ CYBER:_The_Great_Balloon_Panic_Has_Been Weird_But_Good_for_Balloon_Hobbyists⠀⇛ The amateur ballooning community has experienced a wave of interest after the U.S. went on a balloon killing spree. o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ The Sun ☛ Billions_of_Android_users_warned_to_check_phones for_‘bank_drain’_apps_right_now_–_they’ll_steal_everything they_can_|_The_US_Sun⠀⇛ # ⚓ XDA ☛ Telegram’s_new_mode_improves_performance_and_battery life_for_Android_devices⠀⇛ # ⚓ CNET ☛ How_to_mirror_an_Android_device_on_your_TV_–_CNET⠀⇛ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ 11_Lesser-Known_Android_Tips_to_Make_Your Life_Easier⠀⇛ # ⚓ SlashGear ☛ The_Strange_Swiveling_Android_Phone_That_Didn’t Quite_Cut_It⠀⇛ # ⚓ Future Publishing Limited ☛ Android_phones_could_soon_get_a hefty_performance_boost_|_T3⠀⇛ # ⚓ GSM Arena ☛ The_new_itel_A60_is_the_company’s_most affordable_smartphone_yet_–_GSMArena.com_news⠀⇛ # ⚓ Giz China ☛ BMW_will_be_using_Android_in_the_cars_starting this_year!⠀⇛ # ⚓ India ☛ Google_Claims_Android_Smartphones_Will_Be_Safer_in 2023:_Here’s_How⠀⇛ # ⚓ India Times ☛ Best_Android_smartwatch_for_your_android phones_–_Times_of_India_(March,_2023)⠀⇛ # ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Google_Keep_‘Single_note’_widget_rolling_out on_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ Gizmo China ☛ OnePlus_Nord_CE_Gets_Android_13-based OxygenOS_13_Update⠀⇛ # ⚓ OxygenOS_13_(Android_13)_update_and_bugs_tracker_(cont. updated)⠀⇛ # ⚓ CNET ☛ Android_14_Developer_Preview_2_Available_for_Google Pixel_Phones_–_CNET⠀⇛ # ⚓ TechRadar ☛ Android_14:_latest_news,_rumors_and_everything we_know_so_far_|_TechRadar⠀⇛ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ Android_14_Will_Crack_Down_on_Task_Killers and_Other_Bogus_“Speed_Booster”_Apps⠀⇛ # ⚓ Gizmo China ☛ POCO_F3_Finally_Receives_MIUI_14_Based_on Android_13_Update⠀⇛ * § Leftovers⠀➾ o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Feds_Investigating_Tesla_For_Making_Cars With_Steering_Wheels_That_Fall_Off⠀⇛ Some Tesla Model Ys are being shipped without a bolt that keeps the steering wheel in place, according to the announcement. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ RFA ☛ World’s_oceans_contain_170_trillion_plastic particles,_study_says⠀⇛ Research collated data from several marine regions, including the Pacific. # ⚓ RFA ☛ US_intel_chief:_Agencies_‘divided’_over_COVID origins⠀⇛ Senate also told that TikTok ‘enables our adversaries’ efforts at espionage’ amid moves to ban the platform. # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ How_China_takes_extreme_measures_to keep_teens_off_TikTok⠀⇛ China Report is MIT Technology Review’s newsletter about technology developments in China. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Tuesday. As I often say, the American people and the Chinese people have much more in common than either side likes to admit. # ⚓ The Scientist ☛ Hormone_Sobers_Up_Drunken_Mice:_Study⠀⇛ A hormone naturally induced by alcohol consumption accelerates the recovery of mice after binge drinking by activating neurons involved in arousal and alertness. # ⚓ The Scientist ☛ Molecular_Biologist_Michael_Green_Dies_at 69⠀⇛ Beyond his achievements in academia, he also cofounded three pharmaceutical companies and filed 15 patents related to cancer therapeutics. # ⚓ The Scientist ☛ Finally,_Scientists_Sequence_Single_Cells with_Long-Read_Technology⠀⇛ By combining two innovative approaches, researchers can now sequence the full spectrum of mutational differences between individual cells’ genomes. o ⚓ New Yorker ☛ [Humor]_I’m_Sick_All_Year_Round,_but_I’m_Also Ripped:_Meet_the_Coughing_Guy_at_Your_Gym⠀⇛ I’m one neck muscle away from being unable to tilt my head down, and I’m not going to stop now just because you might catch what I have. * § Security⠀➾ o ⚓ Pen Test Partners ☛ Monetising_hacking_by_shorting_commodity shipments⠀⇛ I’m continually asked by the maritime industry about the motivations of hackers. o ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Acer_Hacker_Seeks_Highest_Bidder_for_160GB_of Data⠀⇛ Acer has confirmed that data from an internal server has been leaked, after a hacker claimed to have grabbed 160GB of digital swag. Customer data should not be present in this leak. o ⚓ 3_Types_of_Vulnerability_Scanners_Explained⠀⇛ Vulnerability scanners — also known as vulnerability assessments — are automated, digital solutions specifically designed to identify vulnerabilities and gaps in an organization’s website, application, and network security systems. o § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ OpenRightsGroup ☛ Revised_DPDI_Bill_poses_even_greater threat_to_privacy_rights_in_the_UK⠀⇛ Open Rights Group has responded to the publication of a new draft of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. The revised Bill fails to address the privacy concerns raised by civil society, and in fact expands the ways that businesses and government bodies can process, use and re-use our data. * § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ o ⚓ LRT ☛ Belgium,_Slovenia_join_Lithuanian-coordinated_EU_cyber force⠀⇛ Belgium and Slovenia on Wednesday signed a diplomatic note and officially joined the Lithuania-coordinated cyber rapid response force, the Baltic country’s Ministry of Defence said. o ⚓ LRT ☛ Lithuanian_government_considers_law_on_barring_Russian travellers⠀⇛ The Lithuanian government wants the parliament to pass a separate law restricting travel of Russian and Belarusian citizens, something which is now imposed under a state of emergency resolution that needs to be periodically extended. o ⚓ LRT ☛ Lithuania_moves_to_recognise_Russia’s_Wagner_as_terrorist organisation⠀⇛ A draft resolution will be submitted to the Lithuanian Seimas with a proposal to recognise Wagner, a private Russian military company, as a terrorist organisation. o ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Georgians_Protest_Against_‘Foreign_Influence’_Bill⠀⇛ The new norm sets fines and jail sentences for directors of media outlets and NGOs that receive funds from other countries. o ⚓ EU_defence_ministers_hash_out_plan_for_sending_more_ammunition_to Ukraine⠀⇛ EU defence ministers on Wednesday discussed plans to raid their stockpiles to rush one billion euros’ worth of ammunition to Ukraine and place joint orders for more to ensure supplies keep flowing. o ⚓ The Local SE ☛ Swedish_government_submits_‘historic’_Nato_bill_to parliament⠀⇛ Sweden on Wednesday set a preliminary date for parliament to vote on the government’s bid to join Nato. o ⚓ The Local SE ☛ EU_defence_ministers_hash_out_plan_for_sending more_ammunition_to_Ukraine⠀⇛ EU defence ministers on Wednesday discussed plans to raid their stockpiles to rush one billion euros’ worth of ammunition to Ukraine and place joint orders for more to ensure supplies keep flowing. o ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Russian_Soldiers_Are_Attacking_Ukrainians_With Shovels,_UK_Intelligence_Says⠀⇛ Russia is running out of ammunition, and some of its troops are relying on an iconic 19th century weapon of war. o ⚓ LRT ☛ Baltic_ministers_warn_Georgia_against_‘foreign_agent’_law⠀⇛ The foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said on Wednesday that a bill on “foreign agents” being deliberated in Georgia raises “serious questions” about the country’s democratic prospects. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ EU_Agrees_To_Push_Ahead_On_Joint_Arms_Buying_To_Aid Ukraine⠀⇛ European Union countries agreed on March 8 to speed up supplies of artillery rounds and buy more shells to help Ukraine, but they still have to work out how to turn these aims into reality. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ Russian_Blogger_Jailed_For_Covering_Ukraine_War Recognized_As_A_Prisoner_Of_Conscience_By_Amnesty_International⠀⇛ Amnesty International has recognized as a prisoner of conscience Moscow student Dmitry Ivanov, who was sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison on a charge of discrediting Russia’s armed forces. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ NATO_Chief_Admits_Bakhmut_May_Fall_‘In_Coming_Days’⠀⇛ NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut may fall into Russian hands in the coming days following months of intense fighting. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ UN_Believes_Video_Of_Ukrainian_Soldier’s_Killing_‘May_Be Authentic’⠀⇛ The UN Human Rights Office said on March 8 that it believes that a viral video showing what it called the apparent execution of a captured soldier after saying “Glory to Ukraine” may be authentic. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ Berlin_Warns_Against_Hasty_Accusations_After_Nord_Stream Reports⠀⇛ German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned against premature accusations on March 8 after a media report said intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials indicated that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind last year’s attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. * § Environment⠀➾ o § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ Renewable Energy World ☛ Battery_storage_market_predictions are_trickier_than_ever⠀⇛ Much of the current movement to decarbonize the grid involves installing many gigawatts of battery- based energy storage. Lithium-ion technology is leading the way with breathtaking advances that are addressing everything from improved performance to strategies to mitigate the risk of fires. But the rapid development is causing numerous challenges. # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ Digital_technology:_The_backbone_of a_net-zero_emissions_future⠀⇛ The urgency of the global transition to a net-zero economy, focused on solutions that enable the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, cannot be overstated. * § Finance⠀➾ o ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ Wall_Street_subdued_ahead_of_US_jobs_data⠀⇛ The S&P 500 index has edged lower as investors grapple with mixed messages from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and United States economic data ahead of the release of labour and inflation reports. Stocks fell sharply on Tuesday after Powell told US lawmakers the Fed would likely need to raise interest rates more than expected. o ⚓ Fewer_people_receive_benefits_in_Denmark_despite_rising unemployment⠀⇛ The number of people in Denmark who receive the basic form of unemployment benefit, kontanthjælp, fell in the final quarter of last year. o ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Intel_Seeks_Additional_$5_Billion_in_Subsidies for_German_Fab [Ed: Intel wants to rob taxpayers to pay salaries (bailout amid losses)]⠀⇛ Intel has requested an additional $5 billion for its Germany fab as inflation drives the cost of leading-edge fabs even higher. o ⚓ WhichUK ☛ Fears_pensions_are_being_overlooked_in_DIY_divorces⠀⇛ Some spouses could lose out on thousands if pensions aren’t split during a divorce o ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Housing_crisis_in_Finland:_A_study_finds unprecedented_increases_in_housing_costs_across_the_country⠀⇛ Housing costs in Finland are rising at an unprecedented pace, according to a recent study by the Finnish Homeowners Association. The study found that local fees and charges are continuing to rise, with the highest increase in housing costs occurring in Kalajoki in the province of Northern Ostrobothnia, where costs have risen by almost €3,700 ($4,400) in just one year. On average, housing costs have risen by €1,671 ($1,989) in the past year, including electricity, water, and waste disposal charges, as well as property taxes. o ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ House_prices_have_returned_to_pre-pandemic levels,_says_economist_at_OP⠀⇛ HOUSE PRICES in Finland continued to slide in January. Statistics Finland on Thursday released preliminary data indicating that the prices of old dwellings in housing companies dropped by 5.3 per cent year-on-year and 2.4 per cent month-on-month in January.  The year-on-year drop stood at 5.5 per cent in the six largest cities and at 4.8 per cent in other localities across the country. o ⚓ WhichUK ☛ 7_ways_to_prepare_for_an_interest_rate_rise⠀⇛ With another likely base rate rise on the way, find out how to get your finances ready o ⚓ RFA ☛ Laos’_inflation_surges_over_40%_in_February⠀⇛ Drastic price surge comes despite government steps to limit imports and money-changing o ⚓ teleSUR ☛ 3.5_Million_French_Protested_Against_Pension_Reform Plan⠀⇛ On Tuesday evening, major French unions held an emergency meeting in Paris, where they agreed on two fresh demonstrations on March 11 and 15. * § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ o ⚓ WhichUK ☛ Apple_App_store_and_Google_Play_flooded_with_fake reviews⠀⇛ Analysis of nearly a million reviews reveals how apps could be gaming the biggest app stores to mislead consumers o ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Online_abuse_toll_means_fifth_of_women journalists_considered_leaving_industry⠀⇛ Almost half of the women said they promote their work less online and 10% had asked for their byline to be removed. o ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Channel_4_News_journalist_Ciaran_Jenkins_to_lead new_data_and_digital_Fact_Check_unit_in_Leeds⠀⇛ Ciaran Jenkins is leaving his role of Scotland correspondent to become data correspondent and presenter. o ⚓ New Yorker ☛ The_Origins_of_Netanyahu’s_“All-Systems_Assault”_on Israeli_Democracy⠀⇛ A new coalition has brought extremist politics into the mainstream, but undemocratic strains go back to the country’s founding. o § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ The_(mis)information_age:_How_harm_stemming from_misinformation_can_be_reduced⠀⇛ As we look to stay informed in an age when we are constantly hounded with new information, the truth can be hard to find. Social media’s ability to inform people about different emergencies and developments, oftentimes before official news outlets report it, has created the potential for the everyday person to become a news source. # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ Weaponized_incompetence_is_deeper_than_a TikTok_trend⠀⇛ TikTok trends come and go, but one that I can’t stop thinking about is “weaponized incompetence.” The template for this trend is quite simple: Show how poorly tasks are done when the person expected to do them is simply incompetent. * § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ o ⚓ New Yorker ☛ The_“Woke_History”_Wars⠀⇛ Emma Green discusses a major debate in academia about whether contemporary politics are shaping our understanding of the past too much. * § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ o ⚓ RFA ☛ World_Uyghur_Congress_nominated_for_Nobel_Peace_Prize⠀⇛ Group recognized for shedding light on Chinese repression of 11 million Uyghurs. o ⚓ RFA ☛ UN_human_rights_chief:_China_has_arbitrarily_detained Uyghurs,_separated_families⠀⇛ Turk also raises concerns about Tibetans, Hongkongers. o ⚓ OpenRightsGroup ☛ International_Women’s_Day:_We_must_challenge discrimination_women_face_across_the_digital_landscape⠀⇛ This International Women’s Day, ORG is celebrating the critical contributions made by the women on our staff (and all women across the digital rights space) to making technology, and in turn the world, more equitable, diverse, and inclusive. * § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ o ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ ‘They’re_Probably_Celebrating_at_Comcast:’ Democrats_Fumbled_Their_Shot_at_a_Better_Internet⠀⇛ A relentless industry smear campaign and a comically- corrupt Congress made short work of Gigi Sohn for FCC Commissioner. o ⚓ WhichUK ☛ BT_set_to_expand_rollout_of_Digital_Voice⠀⇛ It will restart migrating a small number of customers to its digital landline service from April * § Monopolies⠀➾ o § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ EPO_commemorates_International_Women’s_Day [Ed: EPO attacks women. EPO discriminated against women. This is patently true and has been proven with official EPO data. So why are those criminals using "women" now to embellish their image?]⠀⇛ Theme for 2023 puts spotlight on innovation and gender equality o § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ TTAB Blog ☛ Three_Recent_TTAB_Inter_Partes_Decisions, Briefly_Noted.⠀⇛ Here are three recent TTAB rulings in three inter partes proceedings: a Section 2(d) case, a Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness case, and a Section 2 (f) case. I present only the bottom line outcome in each, inviting you, dear reader, to explore the further if you are so inclined. * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal⠀➾ # ⚓ conflicted⠀⇛ i’ve never had a hard time making decisions. when conflicted with two options, i always chose fast and logically. this is why this situation i’ve encountered myself in is quite odd for me. i don’t remember the last time i couldn’t make a decision swiftly. i’m debating wether i should let a random chance choose for me. # ⚓ Abyss_of_links⠀⇛ If your capsule has URLs with numbers in them, and the resulting pages have a link to “next” that adds a constant to the current number, you have this issue, and crawlers may well crawl all the possible numbers. I found another one of these that accepted very big numbers indeed, up to the point where it gave an error about not being able to translate a string to a number. # ⚓ Well-defined_Blacks_and_Stark_Whites⠀⇛ I soaked up myriad musings stretching back to the dawn of the universe as I sat on that bench. I *was* the babe without a single drop of remembrance. I absorbed and penned a novel about the collective consciousness of every being that ever crossed the perimeter of the park. I experienced once again that one must remind oneself to clear the mind completely when traversing a space one has traversed before. If not, the danger of letting one’s own past interfere in the current moment looms. What I was trying to say, surely, in a non- elliptical tangle, was that it’d be groovy were the park an accumulator of memories from all that traversed it. A container of sorts. Given that, I’ll write about something tangential to it. # ⚓ Spring_is_here!⠀⇛ Formally is is still winter (night temperatures are still often under zero degrees) but during daytime temperatures are going over 10C here and my spring allergy is back once more. It seems that I wrote no phlog after the last SDF server OS upgrade (to the NetBSD 9.3) because only no I realised that the par(1) is not installed. # ⚓ The_Nature_of_Home⠀⇛ I’ve found myself in Nightfall City during a layover on my journey back to my hometown, so I figured I’d take a break from typing away in some old office suite on my Motorola Droid Pro and hop into the pub while I’m here. Throughout my travels today, the nature of what home is has been on my mind. As a college student, studying hundreds of miles away from where I grew up, it’s a peculiar split. On the one hand, my hometown is an integral part of my identity, It’s where my partner, parents, brother, and dog are. It’s the central point where I can see all my friends who scatter to various corners of the country most of the year. It’s the place I go back to so I can connect to all of the people that are close to my heart. o § Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Integration⠀⇛ In Swedish politics, the faction (the blue-brown alliance of KD, M, L, and SD) that has claimed “integration and immigration” as their main talking point has policies that are the opposite of integration. o § Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ Low_Tech_in_the_Midwest⠀⇛ The double-whammy of a warmer planet and a cooler economy has renewed my interest in reducing my consumption of resources and my impact on the world around me. To that end, I spent the last few evenings reading many posts at Low Tech Magazine ^, a site dedicated to identifying problems caused by modern technology and proposing low-tech solutions to them. Some of the ideas proffered by the site made me consider some of the particular challenges I face. I live in the American Midwest, not far from a large metropolis, and conditions in the area seem a tough fit for a number of the site’s proposals. # ⚓ Hypocrisy_of_enterprise_IT_security⠀⇛ Quick rant. In work I’ve been debuging issue with some customers. Recently we updated how our virtual camera works on MacOS. Before we use the DAL interface and now switched to the more secure system extension. DAL works more like how Windows implements virtual camera using Direct Show. The system loads a dynamic library into apps that wants to use it. There’s obvious problems, any DAL plugin can execute arbitrary code at that point. Including reading the process’s memory and steal confidential information. Also, since DAL is executing as another app. You need a daemon to transport video frames from source to destination. So Apple introduced the new API, System extensions. It runs the extension in it’s own “sandbox” (ignoring technical details here) and the system does the IPC. Basically a microkernel design so app developers can have low level access to the system while keeping system integrity. Extension can’t read anything it shouldn’t. After we released this upgrade. Some of our enterprice customers started to complain that they can’t install the system extension. We did soem debugging with them. Turns out MDM software can and commonly will block 3rd party system extensions from loading. # ⚓ Losing_Signal⠀⇛ Warning to my friends : Until further notice, consider I’m not receiving your Signal messages. Signal, the messaging system, published a blog post on how we were all different and they were trying to adapt to those differences. Signal was for everyone, told the title. Ironically, that very same day, I’ve lost access to my signal account. We are all different, they said. Except myself. # ⚓ Loopy_links_🔄⠀⇛ One thing I found by looking at where my #hashtag crawler went was that some people have a bottomless pit of links. The first one I saw was someone exposing a repository of the site content. That included a link to the content itself. Not a link to the actual site, but to the copy of it in the repo. That had a repo link, where you could find a site link, and so on. I spotted this when it got to several levels of site/repo/site/repo/site/repo and told the crawler to give up. I’m mildy curious how deep that could go. I suppose it’s limited by the maximum length of a gemini request (assuming that either the server or the client respected that limit). # ⚓ Re:_Why_it’s_bad_that_the_web_is_so_feature-rich⠀⇛ The thing I really hate about stage 4 web (to borrow idiomdrottning’s terminology) is being gaslit by webdevs about accessibility, especially as it relates to JavaScript. When I bring up the topic, it’s like, “JavaScript isn’t harmful for accessibility. In fact, the web is inaccessible without JS.” Yeah, I much prefer being able to use the web with command-line tooling and other comfortable tools. But the thing often doesn’t even work from the environments that web designers and developers insist that I use. This morning, I’ve asked Deedra to pay our Internet bill, because I couldn’t manage it with either Firefox or Chromium on Linux. She tried Brave on Linux, and now she’s booted into a Windows VM. If Windows browsers don’t work, I’ll try my phone. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try Safari on her iPhone. # ⚓ Video_Switch_hack⠀⇛ It seems that I can’t concentrate on software much these days. A friend had asked me to see what I can do with a broken 80′s video switch with about 100 lit pushbuttons. Ah, I remember seeing one of these at a high-end studio back in the day. I found myself drawn to it. How does one light up dozens of incandescent lamps with a microcontroller? Well, all the lights were blown out, so I stuck LEDs into the switches. Reverse engineering the board I traced past the drivers to flip-flops for the lamps — and it worked. I McGivered these into a shift register through creative soldering and lead- clipping, but it the thing was unreliable and after replacing a few chips I gave up on in-circuit modification. I think that someone attached a 12- volt power supply to 5-volt logic, blowing out every lamp and making the logic flaky. # § Programming⠀➾ # ⚓ Returns⠀⇛ I’ve got an old macbook air. The “Enter” key also says “Return” on it. An old Smith-Corona that lives near my desk also has a “Return” key. My PC just says “Enter” at me. Neither word makes a lot of sense in the modern world, but I think “Return” makes more. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 4996 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 03.09.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_09/03/2023:_LibreOffice_7.4.6_and_Sparky_2023.03⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 1:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Desktop/Laptop o Audiocasts/Shows o Instructionals/Technical o Games * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o New_Releases o Arch_Family o Debian_Family o Open_Hardware/Modding * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o SaaS/Back_End/Databases o Programming/Development # Python # Rust * Leftovers o Science o Hardware o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Security # Integrity/Availability/Authenticity # Privacy/Surveillance # Confidentiality o Defence/Aggression o Transparency/Investigative_Reporting o Environment # Wildlife/Nature o Finance o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics # Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda o Censorship/Free_Speech o Freedom_of_Information_/_Freedom_of_the_Press o Civil_Rights/Policing o Monopolies # Patents # Copyrights * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ LinuxStans ☛ The_Best_Online_Security_Tools_for_Linux_Users in_2023⠀⇛ It’s well-known that Linux users aren’t targeted as frequently by digital threats as users of more popular operating systems. After all, malicious hackers don’t bother making specialized viruses for an OS that’s used by an overwhelming minority. However, that doesn’t mean Linux users can relax and stop worrying about the numerous cybersecurity threats lurking online. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Tux Digital ☛ TWIL_219:_Linux_6.2,_Mesa_23,_GNOME_44, blendOS,_Solus,_and_more_Linux_news!⠀⇛ On this episode of This Week in Linux, KDE has released a new version of their Plasma desktop. There’s a lot of distro news to cover like Endless OS, Fedora Linux, OpenMandriva, Escuelas Linux and more. # ⚓ mintCast Podcast ☛ 407_–_“There’s_an_App_For_That”⠀⇛ First up in the news: Mint Monthly News – February, Ubuntu Flavors Agree to Stop Using Flatpak, Linux desktop powers consider uniting for an app store, Ubuntu Devs Working on ‘Mini’ Installer, Mesa 23 released, Mozilla narcs on Android apps, Fedora caught thinking, Linux supports Apple chips, OnlyOffice integrates, Falkon accelerates In security and privacy, LastPass Devs accounts get breached, NSA wants to help Then we have our usual Wanderings In our Innards section, we talk about the Android apps we can’t live without. Download o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Mousepad_Text_Editor_on_Ubuntu 22.04_LTS⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Mousepad Text Editor on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Mousepad is a lightweight and easy-to-use text editor for Linux operating systems. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Joomla_on_Rocky_Linux_9⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Joomla on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, Joomla is a popular content management system (CMS) used to build websites and web applications. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Enable_BBR_on_Debian_11⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to enable BBR on Debian 11. # ⚓ FOSSLinux ☛ Installing_and_using_custom_fonts_on_Linux Mint⠀⇛ Fonts play a crucial role in shaping the look and feel of any digital content, be it an article, presentation, or graphic design project. Although Linux Mint comes pre-installed with a variety of fonts, you may find that none of them fully satisfy your requirements. In such cases, custom fonts provide you with a solution. They enhance the visual appeal and give something a unique touch. Installing and using custom fonts on Linux Mint is not that difficult but requires a bit of technical know-how. # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Install_LibreOffice_in_Linux_Mint_21 or_20⠀⇛ LibreOffice is a free and open-source productivity suite that offers an alternative to commercial software such as Microsoft Office. It includes several applications such as Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentation), Draw (vector graphics editor), Math (equation editor), and Base (database management system). # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Upgrade_to_Fedora_38_from_Fedora 37⠀⇛ Fedora 38 is the latest release of the popular Linux distribution, bringing significant updates to enhance its robustness, security, and ease of use. Notable changes in this release include initial Unified Kernel support, live media modernization with a shorter shutdown timer, and Ruby and PHP version updates. # ⚓ Linux Shell Tips ☛ How_to_Send_Broadcast_Message_to_Logged- in_Users_on_Linux_Terminals⠀⇛ Linux is a multi-user operating system that allows multiple users to log in and use the system. This implies that at any given time, o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Godot Engine ☛ Maintenance_release:_Godot_3.5.2⠀⇛ We’ve just released Godot 4.0 after 3+ years of intense development, but we also still support the existing 3.5 stable branch. This maintenance release fixes a handful of issues which have been solved in the past few months, and could be backported to the 3.5 branch. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ OMG! Linux ☛ EndeavourOS_Cassini_Nova_Arrives_with_Linux Kernel_6.2⠀⇛ A new revision of EndeavourOS is available for download. EndeavourOS Cassini nova is a bug-fix update to last month’s EndeavourOS Cassini Neo release. o § Arch Family⠀➾ # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ Arch_Linux_vs_Other_Linux_Distros:_Which_is Right_for_You?⠀⇛ If you think about switching to Linux, you will come across hundreds of Linux distributions or “distros”. Each Linux distribution has its unique features, strengths, and weaknesses. They offer users a choice of unique features, tools, and interfaces to cater to different needs. The choice of the right Linux distribution can be overwhelming if you want to compare it with Arch Linux. In this article, I will focus on Arch Linux, one of the most popular Linux distributions and compare it with other popular Linux distributions. o § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Sparky GNU/Linux ☛ Sparky_2023.03⠀⇛ A March snapshot of Sparky rolling is out, which works on Linux kernel 6.1 LTS, and provides updates from Debian and Sparky testing repos. # ⚓ Thomas_Lange:_Launch_of_new_FAI_project_website⠀⇛ After more than 13 years, I’ve launched a new design for the FAI project web site # ⚓ Anton_Gladky:_Boost_C++:_default_for_Debian_Bookworm_will remain_1.74.0⠀⇛ Boost C++ is a popular set of free, open-source C++ libraries that provide developers with powerful tools and functionality to enhance their software development projects. The newest version, 1.81.0, has been available in Debian Bookworm for_about_a_month_now, but the default version for boost-dependent packages is still the older 1.74.0. # ⚓ Joey Hess ☛ Joey_Hess:_the_slink_and_a_half_boxed_set⠀⇛ this_youtube_video which takes a retrocomputing look at a product I was involved in creating in 1999. It was fascinating looking back at it, and I realized I’ve never written down how this boxed set of Debian “slink and a half”, an unofficial Debian release, came to be. As best I can remember, the CD in that box was Debian 2.1 (“slink”) with the linux kernel updated from 2.0 to 2.2. Specifically, it used VA Linux Systems’s patched version of the kernel, which supported their hardware better, but also 2.2 generally supported a lot of hardware much better than 2.0. There were some other small modifications that got rolled back into Debian 2.2. o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ Medevel ☛ 10_Raspberry_Projects_For_Education⠀⇛ Raspberry Pi is a versatile and affordable computer that has gained immense popularity among educators and students. It is an excellent tool for teaching coding, electronics, and robotics to students of all ages. # ⚓ peppe8o ☛ Types_of_PCB_Pads⠀⇛ In this article, we will explore the main types of PCB pads and their applications, providing valuable insights into the world of electronic circuit design. # ⚓ peppe8o ☛ Installing_an_ERP_and_CRM_with_Odoo_on_Raspberry Pi⠀⇛ Big companies usually spend a lot of money to have complete ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions. * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o ⚓ 9to5Linux ☛ LibreOffice_7.4.6_Office_Suite_Released_with_More Than_70_Bug_Fixes,_Download_Now⠀⇛ LibreOffice 7.4.6 is here one and a half months after LibreOffice 7.4.5, which only fixed a critical crash affecting a large number of users, and brings even more bug fixes to make the LibreOffice 7.4 office suite series more stable and reliable for everyday use either in offices or at home. In numbers, LibreOffice 7.4.6 includes a total of 73 fixes for bugs or other issues, which should improve document interoperability and the core components of the LibreOffice 7.4 office suite series. For details on these bug fixes, check out the RC1 and RC2 changelogs. o ⚓ Medevel ☛ 10_Reasons_Why_Open-source_Solutions_are_The_Best Options_for_Healthcare⠀⇛ o ⚓ Medevel ☛ Top_Open_Source_Projects_Originated_from_Germany⠀⇛ Open source has gained a lot of popularity in Germany over the years. The open-source software development model has been widely accepted in the country, and many organizations have adopted it. o § SaaS/Back End/Databases⠀➾ # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ MongoDB’s_stock_falls_as_light_revenue outlook_overshadows_solid_earnings_beat⠀⇛ A light revenue forecast for the coming quarter and full year weighed heavily on MongoDB Inc.’s stock in extended trading today, overshadowing what was a strong fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Bryan Lunduke ☛ Funny_Programming_Pictures_Part_XXVI⠀⇛ Don’t worry. At least one makes fun of Mozilla. # ⚓ Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk_Eddelbuettel:_RcppRedis_0.2.3_on CRAN:_Maintenance⠀⇛ A new minor release 0.2.3 of our RcppRedis package arrived on CRAN today. RcppRedis is one of several packages connecting R to the fabulous Redis in-memory datastructure store (and much more). RcppRedis does not pretend to be feature complete, but it may do some things faster than the other interfaces, and also offers an optional coupling with MessagePack binary (de)serialization via RcppMsgPack. The package has carried production loads on a trading floor for several years. This update is fairly mechanical. CRAN wants everybody off the C++11 train which is fair game given that it 2023 and most sane and lucky people are facing sane and modern compilers so this makes sense. (And I raise a toast to all those poor souls facing RHEL 7 / CentOS 7 with a compiler from many moons ago: I hear it is a vibrant job market out there so maybe time to make a switch…). As with a few of my other packages, this release simply does away with the imposition of C++11 as the package will compile just fine under C++14 or C++17 (as governed by your version of R). # ⚓ VM_test_cluster_using_JeOS/MinimalVM_images⠀⇛ JeOS (Just enough OS) or MinimalVM images are minimal VM images (duh!) that can be used to quickly deploy VMs. Instead of a installation you only need to go through a first boot setup. # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Compare_Strings_with_Integers in_Python⠀⇛ Python is a widely used programming language that offers a variety of built-in data types, such as strings and integers. Comparing strings with integers is a common task in Python programming, and it’s important to know the different techniques available. This article will discuss popular options to compare strings with integers in Python. # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_fix_ValueError_in_Python⠀⇛ ValueError is a common error that can occur while coding in Python. This error occurs when a function or method receives an argument with an inappropriate value or type. # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Use_Arithmetic_Operators_in Python⠀⇛ Arithmetic operators are an integral aspect of programming, and understanding how to use them in Python is essential for anyone looking to develop their skills in the language. Arithmetic operators are symbols that perform mathematical operations, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Use_Comparison_Operators_in Python⠀⇛ Comparison operators are essential for writing effective code in Python. They allow you to compare different values and determine whether they are equal, greater than, or less than each other. This guide will walk you through the process of using comparison operators in Python, from the basics to more advanced techniques. # § Rust⠀➾ # ⚓ Rust Weekly Updates ☛ This_Week_In_Rust:_This_Week_in Rust_485⠀⇛ * § Leftovers⠀➾ o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ The_Mysterious_‘Worm’_Floating_Inside_Your Mezcal_Bottle_Has_Been_Identified⠀⇛ Would you dare? # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ No,_Beaver_Butt_Secretions_Aren’t_Used_to Make_Artificial_Vanilla_(Any_More)⠀⇛ Well that’s a relief. # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Soil_Bacteria_Discovery_Could_Allow_Us_to Produce_Electricity_From_‘Thin_Air’⠀⇛ Nature has all the best solutions. # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Astronomers_Traced_The_Origins_of_Water_to a_Time_Before_The_Sun⠀⇛ Where does water come from? o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ STMicro_STM32H5_Arm_Cortex-M33_MCU_clocks_at 250_MHz,_supports_STM32Trust_TEE_Secure_Manager⠀⇛ STMicroelectronics has announced the STM32H5 Arm Cortex-M33 “high-performance” microcontroller family clocked at up to 250 MHz and supporting STM32Trust TEE Secure Manager to boost both performance and security in “next-generation smart applications”. # ⚓ Tedium ☛ Point,_Shoot,_and_Forget⠀⇛ Before Instagram, the disposable camera helped pave the way for digital photography. But the basic idea was a century old by the time it went mainstream. # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Feds_Investigating_Tesla_Steering_Wheels_That Might_Fall_Off⠀⇛ Imagine: you’re driving your brand new Tesla down the highway when suddenly, the steering wheel slumps from the steering column into your hands. # ⚓ Liam Proven ☛ The_Amiga_is_dead._Long_live_the_Amiga!_(The Inquirer,_January_3_2007)⠀⇛ I thought this was gone forever, like the rest of the late lamented Inq, but I found a copy.The Amiga is dead. Long live the Amiga! http:// www.theinquirer.net/ default.aspx?article=36685 AmigaOS 4 launches after last Amiga compatible dies THE END OF 2006 brought good and bad news for nostalgic geeks. On the plus side, an unexpected Christmas pressie: on December 24, Amiga, Inc. released AmigaOS 4.0, the all-new PowerPC version of the classic 1980s operating system. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Axios ☛ Long_COVID:_A_recipe_for_recovery⠀⇛ After recoveringfrom a “mild” COVID case in November, I developed long COVID, with debilitating symptoms that included persistent shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and insomnia. # ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ AUDIO:_James_Roguski_on_the_WHO’s_“Pandemic Treaty”⠀⇛ Independent researcher and journalist James Roguski talks with Jesse Zurawell about the World Health Organization’s planned “pandemic treaty” and how we can prevent it. You can read more of James’ work – including his battle with censorship – via his substack. TNT Radio is a 24/7 internet radio station, available here. # ⚓ PHR ☛ No_Duration_of_Detention_is_Safe_for_Children,_Biden Administration_Must_Not_Reinstate_Family_Detention_of Migrants:_PHR⠀⇛ In response to reports that the Biden administration is considering reinstating the policy of detaining migrant families, the following statement is attributable to Ranit Mishori, MD, MHS, senior medical advisor for Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine: [...] # ⚓ Ruben Schade ☛ “The_optics_are_better_at_the_front”⠀⇛ A colleague made the remark in the title of the post. This makes sense. Having the optics in the back of your head wouldn’t do much to improve your visibility, and would be obstructed by a skull, grey matter, and potentially a varying volume of hair and epidermis. It would also scarcely assist with peripheral vision if worn on the side, because lenses are optimised to direct light into the retina from the front. It could also potentially cause issues with hearing if the operators ears were blocked by the lenses. ” rel=”canonical” title=”Link to original post”>Ruben Schade in Sydney, 2023-03-08. # ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ From_the_Community_|_Meat_or_alternative meat?_Why_not_whole-food_plant_protein?⠀⇛ “Rather than jumping ships from real to fake meat,” writes Kathryn Lyons, “we should let meat be meat and consume it sparingly.” # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Covid-19:_Hong_Kong_university entrance_exam_candidates_must_wear_masks_despite_end_of mandate⠀⇛ Candidates sitting Hong Kong’s official university entry exams must “properly” wear a surgical mask during all examinations, including speaking assessments, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) has said. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ TikTok_introduces_Project_Clover_to_allay Europe’s_spying_concerns⠀⇛ The Chinese social media app TikTok announced today that it’s introducing a new data security plan to address Europe’s fears that the app might be spying for the Chinese Communist Party. The move comes just as the White House backed a new Senate bill that might spell the end of the app in the U.S. ⚓ Axios ☛ NTSB_to_investigate_Norfolk_Southern_safety_practices_amid accidents⠀⇛ The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into Norfolk_Southern_Railway‘s safety practices and culture in response to five “significant” accidents dating back to December 2021, the agency announced Tuesday. ⚓ Axios ☛ Norfolk_Southern_CEO_in_the_hot_seat⠀⇛ Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw is scheduled to testify before a Senate_committee Thursday about the train derailment in East Palestine,Ohio, as federal regulators open a special investigation into his company’s safety practices. Why it matters:One of the country’s largest freight rail operators, Norfolk Southern has become the common enemy in the wake of the devastating accident. Expect a grilling of the chief executive, a longtime company veteran who took the helm last May. ⚓ Axios ☛ Norfolk_Southern_CEO_Alan_Shaw_to_tell_Congress_he’s_“deeply_sorry”⠀⇛ Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw will tell the Senate tomorrow that he is “deeply sorry” for_last_month’s_derailment of a nearly two-mile long freight train carrying hazardous chemicals, according to prepared testimony obtained by Axios. § Security⠀➾ * ⚓ Security Week ☛ ‘Sys01_Stealer’_Malware_Targeting_Government Employees⠀⇛ The Sys01 Stealer has been observed targeting the Facebook accounts of critical government infrastructure employees. * ⚓ SANS ☛ Increase_in_exploits_against_Joomla_(CVE-2023-23752),_(Wed,_Mar 8th)⠀⇛ About three weeks ago, Joomla fixed a vulnerability in the Joomla content management system, patching a trivial to exploit access control vulnerability. The vulnerability allowed access to the Joomla username/password database. * ⚓ Security Week ☛ Chrome_111_Patches_40_Vulnerabilities⠀⇛ Google has released Chrome 111 in the stable channel with patches for 40 vulnerabilities, including eight high-severity bugs * ⚓ Security Week ☛ TSA_Requires_Aviation_Sector_to_Enhance_Cybersecurity Resilience⠀⇛ TSA instructs airport and aircraft operators to improve their cybersecurity resilience and prevent infrastructure disruption and degradation. * § Integrity/Availability/Authenticity⠀➾ o ⚓ US News And World Report ☛ Instagram_Down_for_Thousands_of_Users Globally_–_Downdetector⠀⇛ * § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Democrats_Band_Together_to_Try_Yet_Another_Federal Facial_Recognition_Ban⠀⇛ Senate Democrats introduced new legislation Tuesday attempting to, once_again, outright ban_facial recognition_use by federal agencies and officials, particularly law enforcement. o ⚓ Privacy International ☛ PI_and_EFF’s_comments_on_the_draft_UN Cybercrime_treaty_(Chapter_on_International_Cooperation)⠀⇛ o ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Inside_Bangladesh’s_new_data_protection_laws⠀⇛ The 2022 Draft Data Protection Act (DPA), which establishes new restrictions related to the processing, storage, and transfer of data, appears to move Bangladesh’s digital governance in a different direction. * § Confidentiality⠀➾ o ⚓ Malay Mail ☛ After_newest_data_leak,_lawyers_say_time_for Putrajaya_to_give_up_PDPA_immunity⠀⇛ Continued breaches exposing Malaysians’ private information at government agencies meant the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) should be amended to finally make these accountable, said legal experts In its current form, the PDPA only covers commercial entities and transactions, exempting both the federal and state governments from its rules and principles, including those requiring data users to properly secure personal information provided to them. This exemption has stood out more with each new data breach involving government agencies and departments, especially amid the worsening threat of online scams in the country. § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ * ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ TSA_issues_aviation_regulations_for_airlines, airports_facing_‘persistent_cybersecurity_threat’⠀⇛ The agency’s new cybersecurity rules issued on Tuesday followed the Biden administration’s national cybersecurity strategy. * ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Israel_blames_prolific_Iranian-linked_hacking_group for_February_university_hack [Ed: They should blame Microsoft Windows all over the place, not those who allegedly exploit that.]⠀⇛ MuddyWater has been attacking targets around the world for years, according to the U.S. and other western governments. * ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ US_intel:_Chinese_influence_operations_are_growing more_aggressive,_more_similar_to_Russia’s⠀⇛ China is stepping up efforts to influence U.S. public opinion, which increasingly resemble Russian operations.  * ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ US_promises_‘relentless’_pursuit_of_justice_in Matamoros_killings⠀⇛ After the kidnapping and killing of Americans in the border city this week, US officials are vowing to hold the culprits accountable. * ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ A_Gendered_Perspective_towards_Security_and Violence⠀⇛ Gender matters in terms of security whether you are talking about military operations or policing, grafting a strategy to confront security challenges or resolving a conflict. * ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ Standing_Together_–_Resisting_the_New_Normal⠀⇛ The US wanted Russia to attack Ukraine. So says Robert H Wade, professor of Global Political Economy at the London School of Economics. And then it brought in its wide-ranging sanctions regime in response. According to renowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersch, the US subsequently blew up the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. * ⚓ The Strategist ☛ The_threat_spectrum⠀⇛ Planet A Australia will be one of more than 100 states to co- sponsor Vanuatu’s historic resolution at the UN General Assembly calling on the International Court of Justice to provide an advisory opinion on nations’ [...] * ⚓ The Strategist ☛ When_disaster_strikes,_Australia,_New_Zealand_and_the US_should_partner_with,_not_for,_the_Pacific⠀⇛ Officials from Australia, New Zealand and the United States are set to meet in Canberra this week for the fourth annual Trilateral Pacific Security Cooperation Dialogue. * ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Ukrainians_will_never_surrender._How_long_can_they count_on_the_West?⠀⇛ Ukraine’s remarkable resistance during the first days of the Russian invasion convinced the democratic world to back the country but with Putin now preparing for a long war, continued Western resolve is vital writes Serhiy Prytula. * ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Chinese_refining_markets_101—and_their_implications for_price_caps_on_Russian_oil⠀⇛ Price caps on Russian crude and oil products have placed Chinese refineries in the spotlight. Their historical tendencies and political connections could shed light on what to expect from them as the oil market reorients itself. * ⚓ Defence Web ☛ First_Israeli_offshore_patrol_vessel_for_Cote_d’Ivoire arrives_home⠀⇛ Cote d’Ivoire has ordered two OPV-45 offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) from Israel and the first of these has been completed and has just arrived home. In December 2020, Israel Shipyards began construction of two OPV-45 offshore patrol vessels for Cote d’Ivoire. * ⚓ Defence Web ☛ ISS:_Al-Shabaab_on_the_defensive_–_is_it_time_to celebrate?⠀⇛ Three months after reclaiming the presidential office, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud resolved to root out al-Shabaab from Somalia. The new administration formed a unified front comprising local players, federal member states, religious leaders and external actors to confront al-Shabaab on military, religious and financial grounds. § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ * ⚓ Exclusive:_Archambeau_loses_key_powers_over_EUIPO_contract_row [Ed: Archambeau_is_just_a_corrupt_official_in_the_EU, connected to Battistelli and Campinos, the criminals of the EPO]⠀⇛ The EUIPO management board has suspended some of the executive director’s powers after he demanded compensation for the non- renewal of his mandate § Environment⠀➾ * ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Clouds_in_the_sky_provide_new_clues_to_predicting climate_change⠀⇛ While barely being given a second thought by most people, the masses of condensed water vapour floating in the atmosphere play a big role in global warming. * ⚓ Peter ‘CzP’ Czanik ☛ BBC_The_Green_Planet:_Quality_vs_Content⠀⇛ Where should I begin. I bought a 4K Blu-Ray player last Autumn. I did not plan to use it for movies: this was the cheapest way of buying a player for all of my various discs. For a couple of months I really only listened to my CD/DVD-Audio/SACD collection on it. * § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ o ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Fossils_of_Hummingbird-Sized_Ants_Are_Challenging What_We_Know_About_Insect_Sizes⠀⇛ Bigger isn’t always better, is it? § Finance⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Leaked_Audio_Suggests_Amazon_Is_Considering_Giving_Laid_Off Workers_Their_Jobs_Back⠀⇛ Earlier this year, Amazon_planned_to_lay_off_18,000_employees. Now a leaked audio from the company appears to indicate that the company may regret that decision. In the audio, an HR executive chews on a strategy to rehire employees that have been laid off. * ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Inflation_comes_with_a_big_gender_gap._Here_are_five ways_to_narrow_it.⠀⇛ This year’s International Women’s Day is taking place against a backdrop of an inflation surge that is disproportionately impacting women. * ⚓ H2 View ☛ UK_needs_‘own_version_of_Inflation_Reduction_Act’⠀⇛ The UK needs its own version of the Inflation Reduction Act to ensure it becomes the global location of choice for all forms of green investment, according to the Director of Policy… * ⚓ Axios ☛ Biden_to_propose_25%_billionaire_tax⠀⇛ The Biden_administration is set to propose a series of tax increases for wealthy Americans and large corporations,Bloomberg first reported and Axios has confirmed. Driving the news:The new budget_request_to_Congress, which is to be released on Thursday, includes a 25% minimum tax on the richest 0.01% of Americans. § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ * § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Sexual_Deepfakes_of_Emma_Watson_Run_Rampant_in_Facebook and_Instagram_Ads⠀⇛ As the role of artificial intelligence appears to continue growing in our daily lives, it’s taking people’s likeness along with it. § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Senators_Are_Largely_United_in_Desire_to_Rewrite_Section 230⠀⇛ During a combative Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Senate lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle doubled down on calls to gut major provisions of the internet’s most important legal liability shield. * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ YouTube_Chills_the_Hell_Out_On_Its_Cursing_Policy⠀⇛ Google’s finally rolling back its unpopular decree against any kinds of profanity in videos, making it harder for any creators used to offering colorful sailor’s speech in videos from monetizing content on behalf of its beloved_ad_partners. The only thing is, Google still seems to think the “f-word” is excessively… * ⚓ NYPost ☛ Critical_race_theory_is_teaching_kids_to_hate_each_other⠀⇛ When parents reject public-schools teaching critical race theory, a retort from the left is that it’s a university graduate-level analytical framework incomprehensible by children. * ⚓ France24 ☛ Protesters_clash_with_police_in_Georgia_for_second_day_over new_‘foreign_agents’_law⠀⇛ Thousands of people staged a second straight day of protests in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Wednesday, rallying outside parliament against a “foreign agents” law which critics say signals an authoritarian shift. * ⚓ JURIST ☛ Protests_erupt_in_Georgia_capital_following_endorsement_of ‘foreign_agent’_bill⠀⇛ Protests erupted in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi Wednesday after Georgia’s parliament endorsed a “foreign agent” bill. If it passes, the bill would require individuals and organizations to register as “foreign agents” if they meet certain qualifications. * ⚓ Internet Society ☛ We_Testified_Because_the_Internet_Needs_a_Voice⠀⇛ We testified in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law in support of Section 230. § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ * ⚓ AccessNow ☛ Rights_groups_reiterate_their_call_on_Moroccan_authorities to_end_the_persecution_of_Taoufik_Bouachrine,_and_other_critical journalists⠀⇛ We call on Moroccan authorities to end the persecution of Taoufik Bouachrine, journalists, and HRDs for exercising their right to freedom of expression. § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Workers_at_eBay_Subsidiary_TCGplayer_Rally_Ahead_of Unionization_Vote⠀⇛ As the first subsidiary of eBay to attempt to unionize, TCGplayer—a site where collectors can buy and sell any number of collectible cards used in games like Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic:_The Gathering, and Pokémon—knew that it was going to face opposition from management. * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Elon_Musk_Apologizes_to_Disabled_Twitter_Employee_He_Mocked Publicly⠀⇛ Twitter CEO and supreme overlord Elon Musk apologized_to_former employee_Haraldur_Thorleifsson for mocking his disability, proving that even tech’s biggest villain has a heart, or at the very least the sense to smell a huge incoming lawsuit. * ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ The_Healing_Words_Project:_Empowering_women_through art⠀⇛ On Int’l Women’s Day, Ann Marie Jackon profiles the powerful photographic work of artist Kate Van Doren that explores how words can heal. * ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ When_‘no’_is_not_an_option:_Perseverance_among_tech leaders_offers_inspiration_on_International_Women’s_Day⠀⇛ Today’s International Women’s Day is about many things, including gender equality, closing the job opportunity gap and breaking down barriers to career advancement. Yet perhaps more than anything else, IWD is about tales of perseverance. ⚓ France24 ☛ ‘Save_You’:_Online_platform_helps_French_expatriates_who_are victims_of_domestic_violence⠀⇛ To mark International Women’s Day on May 8, FRANCE 24 looks at an online platform dedicated to helping expatriate French women who are victims of domestic violence. Seeking help can be more difficult when women are living abroad with their abusers and are cut off from a support system of friends and family. ⚓ France24 ☛ French_museum_of_feminist_struggles_aims_to_shed_light_on neglected_histories⠀⇛ In a first for France, the University of Angers has announced plans for a museum of feminist struggles, drawing on its ample archival resources and expertise to give the history of women’s fight for emancipation and equal rights a permanent home. ⚓ France24 ☛ Macron_says_will_put_right_to_abortion_in_French_constitution_in ‘coming_months’⠀⇛ French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday his government would put forward a draft law enshrining abortion rights in the French constitution within months. ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Women_in_Hong_Kong_urged_to_call_for_greater_rights, as_equality_watchdog_data_shows_continued_imbalance⠀⇛ Women in Hong Kong have been urged to unite and call for greater rights and government support on International Women’s Day. ⚓ JURIST ☛ US_Justice_Department_report_finds_Louisville_Metro_Police Department_engages_in_illegal_and_unconstitutional_conduct⠀⇛ The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Wednesday released a report which found that the Louisville County Metro Police Department (LMPD) and the Louisville County Metro Government engaged in a pattern of civil rights violations. ⚓ Axios ☛ Protests_over_Netanyahu’s_judicial_overhaul_plan_rock_Israeli military⠀⇛ The growing public opposition to the Netanyahu_government’s_judicial overhaul has sent shockwaves through the Israeli military, with hundreds of reserve air force pilots, members of special forces units, and military intelligence officers saying they would not serve if the plan to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court is implemented. § Monopolies⠀➾ * § Patents⠀➾ o ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ US_government_increases_pressure_on_Mexico_to end_GM_corn_ban [Ed: Vilsack is shilling for the patent cartel to promote monopolies on seeds and harmful (carcinogen) pesticides)]⠀⇛ U.S. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack said the government “will continue to pursue all necessary steps to enforce our rights under the USMCA.” * § Copyrights⠀➾ o ⚓ Public Domain Review ☛ Picturing_Pregnancy_in_Early_Modern Europe⠀⇛ When the womb began to appear in printed images during the 16th century, it was understood through analogy: a garden, uroscopy flask, or microcosm of the universe. Rebecca Whiteley explores early modern birth figures, which picture the foetus *in utero*, and discovers an iconic form imbued with multiple kinds of knowledge: from midwifery know-how to alchemical secrets, astrological systems to new anatomical findings. o ⚓ Public Knowledge ☛ Sorry_Sydney:_Generative_AI_Doesn’t_(and Shouldn’t)_Have_a_Liability_Shield⠀⇛ If Section 230 or some new law shielded LLMs, it would mean that others, including society as a whole, would bear the costs of their new and barely tested technology, while tech companies reap the benefits. o ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ BPI_Reports_UK_Recorded_Music_Revenues Increase_for_Eighth_Successive_Year_in_2022 [Ed: They rip off people more and more each year; the current fad is renting access to music with DRM and spying (AKA "streaming")]⠀⇛ BPI reports that revenues for recorded music in the UK rose for an eighth successive year in 2022, fuelled by streaming growth, continuing demand for vinyl, and substantial label investment in artists. o ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ Snoop_Dogg_Co-Founder_of_New_Web3-Powered Livestream_Platform,_Shiller⠀⇛ Snoop Dogg is one of the Co-Founders of a new web3 live streaming platform called Shiller.  Snoop is no stranger to the world of web3, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. 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