Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 1/12/2021: NixOS 21.11 Released



  • GNU/Linux

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • How to Find Default Gateway IP in Linux

        A gateway is a router that acts as an access point to pass network data from one network to another.

        The default gateway is your router’s IP address, which must be accessible from your device to communicate with the other device.

        Typically this is automatically detected by your operating system during installation, if not then you may need to change it.

        If your system is not able to ping self, it could be a gateway issue and you need to fix it. This might happen if there are multiple network adapters or routers in the network.ow

      • How to install Mcfly on Linux. - Unixcop the Unix / Linux the admins deams

        Hello, friends. Sysadmin and devops need a lot from the terminal. It is impossible to work in this area without knowing terminal tricks. Today I will help you with another one of these. In this post, you will learn how to install Mcfly on Linux. This utility allows you to examine your bash or zsh history at deep levels and is useful to know those commands you have forgotten or to examine what you have done with the terminal.

      • How to install and run Powershell on Fedora Linux | FOSS Linux [Ed: This would just be helping Microsoft monopoly though]

        PowerShell built upon the .NET Core framework is a powerful open-source command-line shell developed and maintained by Microsoft. It is a cross-platform (Windows, macOS, and Linux) automation and configuration tool that works well with your existing tools. It includes a command-line shell and an associated scripting language.

        PowerShell is syntactically verbose and intuitive for the user. The most recent version available, PowerShell 7 (.NET Core), was made open source in August 2018 and now supports Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems.

        The article guides you on installing PowerShell on your Fedora system using a package manager, snapcraft, and inside a container.

      • How To Install Etherpad on AlmaLinux 8 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Etherpad on AlmaLinux 8. For those of you who didn’t know, EtherPad is a real-time collaborative web-based text editor in which several people can conveniently work together online on a document. It is written in Node.js and can be self-hosted to work with various platforms like WordPress, Drupal, Odoo, Joomla, etc.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of the Etherpad open-source online editor on an AlmaLinux 8. You can follow the same instructions for CentOS and Rocky Linux.

      • How To Install KDE Plasma Desktop on Parabola GNU/Linux

        This tutorial will explain how to have Parabola computer operating system with KDE Plasma Desktop in step by step. Let's start!

      • How to Create and Execute Bash Scripts in Linux

        Shell scripts are a great way to automate repetitive tasks on Linux. You can write Bash scripts that perform system-related tasks such as installing software, adding new users, dynamically configuring the desktop, just to name a few.

        But what's the prerequisite? You should have in-depth knowledge of the Bash shell and its commands, including how to wrap these commands in a script—and the most important—how to run the script.

        Here's how you can create and execute Bash scripts on Linux.

      • How to Install Docker in Debian 11 (Bullseye)

        If you are an application developer that wishes to work under an open-source environment, then you will appreciate what docker has to offer in Debian 11 (Bullseye).

        Docker provides a flexible way of developing, shipping, and running application containers under a defined operating system environment. Docker makes software delivery faster because targeted applications and their preferred development infrastructures are independent of each other.

        Docker manages the software development and testing infrastructure while software developers manage running applications or one still under development.

        Docker’s methodology significantly reduces the timeline between writing useful code and getting it ready for production. It results in faster testing, shipping, and deployment of applications codes.

      • How to install and configure Grafana in Rocky Linux/Centos 8

        In this guide, we are going to learn how to install and set up Grafana in Rocky Linux/Alma Linux/Centos 8. This guide will also work on other RHEL 8 based derivatives.

        Grafana is a multi-platform open source analytics and interactive visualization web application. It provides charts, graphs, and alerts for the web when connected to supported data sources.

    • Distributions

      • New Releases

        • NixOS - Blog → Announcements: NixOS 21.11 released

          Hey everyone, we're Timothy DeHerrera and Tom Bereknyei, the release managers for 21.11. As promised, the latest stable release is here: NixOS 21.11 “Porcupine”.

        • NixOS 21.11 Available to Download

          NixOS is an independently developed GNU/Linux distribution that aims to improve the state of the art in system configuration management. In NixOS, the entire operating system, including the kernel, applications, system packages and configuration files, are built by the Nix package manager.

          The project’s latest release is NixOS 21.11 which includes the following highlights: “The default Nix version remains at 2.3.16. Nix has not been updated to version 2.4 due to regressions in non-experimental behavior. To upgrade to 2.4, use the nixos-unstable branch or set the nix.package option to either of nixFlakes or nix_2_4 packages. The nixUnstable attribute is a pre-release of Nix 2.5. Read the release notes for more information on upcoming changes. Please help us improve Nix by providing any breakage reports. iptables now uses nf_tables backend. PHP now defaults to PHP 8.0, updated from 7.4. kops now defaults to 1.21.1, which uses containerd as the default runtime. python3 now defaults to Python 3.9, updated from Python 3.8. PostgreSQL now defaults to major version 13.” Further information is available through the project’s release annoucement and in the release notes.

      • Debian Family

    • Devices/Embedded

    • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

      • I wrote myself a static site generator

        Raising the issue, however, prompted Michiel to wonder whether Babashka could run markdown-clj directly from source. Amazingly, although there were a couple of minor issues stopping it from working initially, within less than day he had fixed the issues, got them merged in upstream and had written all about it! I now had all the tools I needed to recreate my site.

      • SaaS/Back End/Databases

        • Acculturation Workshop

          YottaDB is a language-agnostic, hierarchical key-value, NoSQL database engine developed and released by YottaDB LLC. For historical reasons a key-value relationship such as ["^Population","Belgium",13670000] can be written as ^Population("Belgium")=13670000 and referred to as a global variable node, with ^Population referred to as a global variable. The caret ("^") at the beginning of the variable name makes it a database reference, with the node accessible to all processes accessing the database file in which the node resides and persistent beyond the lifetime of any process. [Although not relevant to the Acculturation Workshop, omitting the caret makes the variable a local variable which is accessible only within a process and whose lifetime is the lifetime of the process.]

      • Programming/Development

        • Spell check your Erlang code with Sheldon

          So, let’s look at how rebar3_sheldon can be used and what we can expect from its output. To test the plugin on your project, follow the following steps: [...]

        • Advent of Code 2021

          The first puzzles will unlock on December 1st at midnight EST (UTC-5). See you then!

        • Rust

          • Can Rust save the planet? Why, and why not ● The Register

            Here at a depleted AWS Re:invent in Las Vegas, Rust Foundation chairwoman Shane Miller and Tokio project lead Carl Lerche made the case for using Rust to minimize environmental impact, though said its steep learning curve made the task challenging.

            Miller is also a senior engineering manager for AWS, and Lerche a principal engineer at the cloud giant.

            How can Rust save the planet? The answer is that more efficient code requires fewer resources to run, which means lower energy usage in data centers and also in the environmental impact of manufacturing computing equipment and shipping it around the world.

  • Leftovers

    • Opinion | The "Shining City on a Hill" Is Ready to Ignite

      I'm beginning to think that when it comes to saving the United States and our fragile democracy, perhaps the only answer is to hit the off button and reboot.

    • Another Look at Christopher Hitchens? Why Ben Burgis, Why?

      He wasn’t, he was a constant plagiarist. His works on Kissinger lifted passages by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky. His Clinton book plagiarized Sam Husseini. His New Atheism book plagiarized Chapman Cohen. His 2004 book review of Isaac Deutscher’s biographical trilogy on Trotsky, The Prophet, published by The Atlantic, lifts from George Steiner. His nasty takedown of Edward Said, published as the man laid on his deathbed, plagiarized Orientalism in order to clumsily repudiate it.

      Plagiarism is a double crime. First you steal and profit off the labor of others, then you defraud your readers. If Burgis has bothered reading the outstanding polemic Unhitched: The Trials of Christopher Hitchens by Richard Seymour (Verso, 2012), he would have been aware of these issues and would perhaps come to his subject with a far more critical lens. It’s not that the plagiarism emerged simultaneous with the public allegiance to neoconservatism, it was there beforehand and probably is riddled throughout his writings as a nominal socialist.

    • Fly, Pelican, Fly

      What’s this all about? Let’s do a list. Die is last. Dawn is first. Underneath it all, the sea tries to say the sea is all there really is. Fly, pelican, fly. It’s not enough to love. Not even to die is enough. Shouldn’t we somehow learn to live with what sinks us? Here’s what works in the end: Spain, maybe. Flamenco. Friends at my side. Lorca, still alive.

    • Judy Collins Remembers Stephen Sondheim

      In 1973, I was feeling desperate, searching for the next songs that I could record and not sure that I was on the right track in my own career. One afternoon, I got a call from Nancy Bacal, a dear friend, who said, “I’m sending you over a record I want you to listen to.” The song, on the cast album of Little Night Music, was “Send in the Clowns.” Hearing it was an extraordinary experience. I was shaken to my very toes, weeping and laughing at the same time because this song said everything. Here on my turntable was the answer to my prayers. I called Hal Prince, Stephen Sondheim’s producer, and told him that I had heard “Clowns” and that it was a very good song. He said, “Yes, it’s a wonderful song! Two hundred people have already recorded it.” I said I didn’t care, that I just knew I had to record it.

    • Review: A World Without Email by Cal Newport

      A World Without Email is the latest book by computer science professor and productivity writer Cal Newport. After a detour to comment on the drawbacks of social media in Digital Minimalism, Newport is back to writing about focus and concentration in the vein of Deep Work. This time, though, the topic is workplace structure and collaborative process rather than personal decisions.

      This book is a bit hard for me to review because I spoiled myself for the contents by listening to a lot of Newport's podcast, where he covers the same material. I therefore didn't enjoy it as much as I otherwise would have because the ideas were familiar. I recommend the book over the podcast, though; it's tighter, more coherent, and more comprehensive.

      The core contention of this book is that knowledge work (roughly, jobs where one spends significant time working on a computer processing information) has stumbled into a superficially tempting but inefficient and psychologically harmful structure that Newport calls the hyperactive hive mind. This way of organizing work is a local maxima: it feels productive, it's flexible and very easy to deploy, and most minor changes away from it make overall productivity worse. However, the incentive structure is all wrong. It prioritizes quick responses and coordination overhead over deep thinking and difficult accomplishments.

    • Education

      • Even on U.S. Campuses, China Cracks Down on Students Who Speak Out

        On the bucolic campus of Purdue University in Indiana, deep in America’s heartland and 7,000 miles from his home in China, Zhihao Kong thought he could finally express himself.

        In a rush of adrenaline last year, the graduate student posted an open letter on a dissident website praising the heroism of the students killed in the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

      • Former Temple U. Dean Found Guilty of Faking Data for National Rankings

        The former dean, Moshe Porat, 74, was convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in a scheme to raise the ranking of the university’s Fox School of Business in Philadelphia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement on Monday. The school’s online M.B.A. program was ranked best in the country by U.S. News & World Report in the years that he falsified data.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • Foreseeable Risk: Omicron Makes its Viral Debut

        On November 26, the Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Evolution (TAG-VE) was convened to assess the threat posed by B.1.1.529.€  Named Omicron, its emergence was reported by South Africa to the World Health Organization on November 24.€  While the Delta variant had continued to remain dominant, instances of this new infection had been recorded, with the first specimen collected on November 9.

        Omicron’s debut brings with it a set of menacing questions.€ €  It has, for instance, a “large number of mutations”.€ €  Initial impressions point to a higher risk of re-infection relative to other variants of concern.€  It may have a growth advantage and spread more quickly.

      • Problems With Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act

        The BCSA legislation would designate almost 80,000 wilderness, primarily high elevation basins and drainages along the edge of the existing Bob Marshall and Lincoln Scapegoat Wildernesses. € A small addition to the Mission Mountain Wilderness would preserve a critical wildlife migration corridor. These wilderness designations are welcome. Senator Tester should be commended for recognizing the ecological, philosophical, and economic value of wilderness preservation.

        Senator Tester represents his constituency whom surveys show that over 75% of all Montanans support the legislation. In that sense, Senator Daines is out of step with the majority of Montanans.

      • Congress 'Asleep at the Switch' as Biden Continues Trump-Era Ploy to Privatize Medicare

        A Trump-era pilot program that could result in the complete privatization of traditional Medicare in a matter of years is moving ahead under the Biden administration, a development that—despite its potentially massive implications for patients across the U.S.—has received scant attention from the national press or Congress.

        "If left unchecked, the Direct Contracting program will hand traditional Medicare off to Wall Street investors."

      • Opinion | Travel Bans Are Not the Answer to the Omicron Variant

        Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant, is now on the march. While southern Africa appears to be its epicenter, countries including Britain, Canada, Australia, Israel and others now report cases. Dr. Anthony Fauci calls it "inevitable" that it will come to, or is already in, the U.S. We know the variant is very contagious, but still unknown is how severe it is or how resistant to vaccines it will be.

      • Amid Overdose Crisis, 260+ Public Health Groups Urge Congress to Pass Life-Saving Bills

        Two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released sobering statistics showing a record-breaking number of drug overdoses in the U.S. in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, more than 260 advocacy groups called on lawmakers Tuesday to urgently pass public health proposals to mitigate the crisis.

        "It is absolutely imperative that policymakers change course immediately and prioritize evidence-based public health alternatives that are proven to actually save lives."

      • Uncontacted Tribe’s Land Invaded and Destroyed for Beef Production

        The land invasion now underway is in flagrant violation of a 6-month Land Protection Order issued in September which bans all outsiders from the Piripkura Indigenous Territory.

        Only two members of Brazil’s Piripkura tribe are known to live in the territory, though others are also believed to live there, having retreated to the depths of the forest. Many Piripkura have been killed in past massacres.

      • Number of Covid Boosters Given in US Exceeds Single Shots in 8 African Nations Combined

        An analysis released Monday shows that the number of Americans who have received a coronavirus booster shot to date exceeds the number of people who have gotten a single vaccine dose in eight countries in southern Africa combined, a finding that came as the international community grappled with the threat posed by Omicron.

        "If we do not vaccinate the world as quickly as possible, Covid will continue to threaten us all."

    • Integrity/Availability

      • Proprietary

        • Security

          • Privacy/Surveillance

            • Thousands of Vulnerable People Harmed by Facebook and Instagram are Lost in Meta's "Average User" Data

              Are these technologies – embraced by billions – killing people and eroding democracy? Or is this just another moral panic?

              According to Meta’s PR team and a handful of contrarian academics and journalists, there is evidence that social media does not cause harm and the overall picture is unclear. They cite apparently conflicting studies, imperfect access to data and the difficulty of establishing causality to support this position.

            • This is a United States-based action. If you did not reside in the United States or its territories at the time you used the Zoom Meetings application, you are not eligible to participate in this Settlement.

              If you used the Zoom Meetings application between March 30, 2016, and July 30, 2021, this proposed class-action settlement may affect your rights.

              Plaintiffs and Class Representatives (“Plaintiffs”) and Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (“Zoom”) have reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit (the “Action”) entitled In re: Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Privacy Litigation, N.D. Cal. Master Case No. 5:20-cv-02155-LHK (the “Settlement”).

              The lawsuit focuses on alleged privacy and security issues with the Zoom Meetings Application (“App”). The lawsuit alleges that Zoom (i) shared certain information with third parties, (ii) should have done more to prevent unwanted meeting disruptions by third parties, and (iii) advertised its Zoom Meetings App as being encrypted “end-to-end” when Plaintiffs contend it was not at that time.

            • Fragmented Reactions Hinder Global Fight Against Omicron Variant

              Israel, the first nation to block travel in response to Omicron, granted its intelligence service temporary permission to monitor the phone data of people with confirmed cases of the variant.

            • Confidentiality

              • Improve security and protect your privacy on Computer Security Day!

                Computers have been part of our Daily lives for almost two decades, but a lot has changed since the beige boxes of the 2000’s: they have come off our desks and into our pockets in the form of smartphones, and have become more and more important in our work and our social lives. But our smartphones and computers now collect more data on us than ever before, and when their security is at risk, so is our privacy. This short guide will take you through some basic changes you can make to improve your security and privacy, both on your phone and your computer.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • 47 Groups Urge Congress to Avert 'Human Rights Failure' by Blocking Biden's Saudi Arms Sale

        Slamming the Saudi-led coalition's war crimes in Yemen—which are often perpetrated with U.S.-supplied weaponry—47 advocacy groups on Monday published a joint letter to congressional lawmakers urging them to block the Biden administration's "wrongful" planned $650 million arms sale to the repressive Middle Eastern monarchy.

        "U.S. involvement should have ended following Biden's declaration to end U.S. support for the coalition."

      • For Once, Hats Off to The New York Times

        Like a lot of journalists, I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with The New York Times. The paper’s enormous reach and influence, and the powerful lens it can train on people and events, so often seem wasted on the trivial and the transitory. Then there’s its longstanding role as cheerleader in chief for gentrification—not just in New York City, where the Times has been on the wrong side of nearly every fight dating back to the days of Robert Moses, but nationwide. There is nothing the Times likes better than a “rising housing prices” story—even if it has to go to Texas to find it.

      • As Build Back Better Is Gutted, Defense Act Is Deemed a “Must-Pass” Bill
      • Durbin Introduces Amendment to End 'Legacy of Cruelty' by Closing Guantánamo

        Recounting some of the "atrocities committed shamefully in the name of our nation" during the ongoing so-called War on Terror, Sen. Dick Durbin on Tuesday said he has introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would close the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba "once and for all."

        "How can we claim credibility as a nation, how can we hold authoritarian dictators accountable, if they can point to our own legacy of cruelty?"

      • DOJ Asks Tenth Circuit Appeals Court To Firmly Establish A Right To Record Police Officers

        Earlier this year, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decided there was no right to record police officers. In a case involving a man who had his tablet seized and searched by Denver, Colorado police officers when they discovered he was recording them, the Appeals Court sided with the cops, awarding them qualified immunity. The judges did this despite the officers being specifically instructed that there was a presumed right to record police officers via training that had been in place for years prior to this incident.

      • Massive Turnout in Favor of Leftists in Honduras Repudiates US-Backed Coup
      • As NATO Weighs Expansion in Eastern Europe, Russia Amasses Military on Ukraine Border

        As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Latvia for a meeting of NATO foreign secretaries, is war on the horizon? The meeting comes as tension continues to mount between Russia and Ukraine, while how to resolve the countries’ differences remains an open question. Russia has reportedly amassed 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, and aggressions have also recently intensified in eastern Ukraine between Moscow-backed separatists and government forces. “Russia is just trying to send a message of its absolutely inflexible opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine and is also trying to extract concessions from Ukraine and more importantly, Washington,” says Anatol Lieven, senior fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

      • “A Moment of Hope”: Xiomara Castro’s Likely Win in Honduran Election Ends Years of Right-Wing Rule After Coup

        We go to Honduras, where thousands took to the streets to celebrate the leftist presidential candidate Xiomara Castro’s lead in the polls ahead of the right-wing National Party candidate Nasry Asfura. The historic election saw a record voter turnout and could signal the end of the 12-year brutal regime under the conservative National Party, which rose to power after a coup backed by the U.S. in 2009 overthrew democratically-elected leftist President Manuel Zelaya. Castro, who is Zelaya’s wife, would become the first woman to serve as president of Honduras if her victory is confirmed. “It’s brought hope to the entire country,” says Faridd Sierra, a high-school teacher in Comayagua, Honduras. Years of corruption and conservative law-making “showed the Honduras people just how cruel the [National] Party was and … they voted in response,” adds Honduran scholar Suyapa Portillo. Castro’s likely win “is a testament to bottom-up organizing,” she says.

      • Trump's Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Is Cooperating With Jan. 6 Committee
      • Vijay Prashad on the strange origins of the term "tankie"
      • Deleting Critical American History
      • Backed by AFRICOM, corporations plunder DR Congo for “climate-friendly” materials and blame China
      • Progressives Decry US Gun Control Failures After 'Truly Sickening' Michigan School Shooting

        Progressives on Tuesday once again blasted the lack of stricter U.S. firearm laws in the wake of a deadly school shooting—this one in Oxford, Michigan—with one left-wing congressional candidate accusing Congress of having the victims' blood on its hands for failing to pass gun control legislation.

        "When do we decide that enough is enough? That kids are more important than guns?"

    • Environment

      • Research Reveals How PR Firms Have Spent Decades Fueling Climate Misinformation

        A pair of Brown University researchers on Tuesday exposed how public relations firms hired by the fossil fuel industry have significantly contributed to misinformation about the worsening climate emergency and impeded action to address it over the past few decades.

        "The hard truth is that advertising and public relations agencies are essential to the fossil fuel industry's propaganda machine."

      • The PR Industry Has Been a ‘Major’ But ‘Overlooked’ Influence in Climate Politics for Decades, Says Study

        From coining “clean coal” to “carbon footprint,” public relations firms have been instrumental in shaping the public discourse around climate and energy policy, and as a new study underlines, their powerful efforts have flown under the radar for too long.

        PR firms have played a key role in obstructing action on climate change over the past 30 years, engaging in PR campaigns on behalf of the fossil fuel industry to not only downplay the seriousness of climate change, but also to position industry-favored solutions as the preferred course of action.€ 

      • The Fog After the Storm
      • Opinion | Climate Warriors Need a New Battle Plan

        The well-known US climatologist Michael E. Mann is no pussyfooter. He likes to provoke, which makes his new book downright entertaining. In The New Climate War, Mann defies expectations. While it is unsurprising that he takes to task the decades-long machinations of large energy companies and their backers, other actors also attract his attention here.

      • Majority of World's Oil and Gas Workers Want to Seek Employment in Renewable Energy Industry

        More than half of workers in the global oil and gas sector say they are interested in pursuing employment in the renewable energy industry—a promising development that comes as experts say the pace of the worldwide transition to clean power must speed up to stave off the worst consequences of the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis.

        That's according to a report published Tuesday by the recruitment firm Brunel and Oilandgasjobsearch.com, which includes a survey showing that 56% of fossil fuel workers want to pursue employment in the renewable energy sector, up from 39% last year.

      • New Climate Study Predicting More Rain Than Snow in the Arctic 'Rings Alarm Bells'

        Research published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications suggests rainfall will become more common in the Arctic than snowfall, and decades sooner than previously thought—findings that elicited fresh warnings about the necessity of ambitious climate action.

        "The new models couldn't be clearer that unless global warming is stopped, the future Arctic will be wetter."

      • Energy

        • 'Extractive Industries Everywhere Are Watching': 9 Democrats Urge DOJ to Free Steven Donziger

          Nine U.S. House Democrats on Monday urged the Justice Department to "take immediate action" to secure the release of Steven Donziger, a human rights attorney who helped thousands of Ecuadorians win a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against oil giant Chevron and is now incarcerated on a contempt of court charge that experts say is retaliatory—and which followed two years of pre-trial house arrest, a violation of international law.

          "The DOJ must intervene in this case to show polluting companies that the Chevron model for avoiding responsibility for environmental catastrophe will not be tolerated."

      • Wildlife/Nature

        • Fishery Biologist: Delta Smelt are Likely "Virtually Extinct in the Wild"

          None have been found in the first two months of the four-month survey this year either.

          On November 14, California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) fishery biologist Tom Cannon in his California Fisheries Blog€ reported that two other surveys on the Delta have turned up similar results for the Delta smelt.

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Strange New World, Same Old Blues

        They always have been. Trying to get at their thoughts (Abbie).€  Trying to find out what makes them tick (MKULTRA). Trying to ease their way into the leadership like fascist sleeper cells (COINTELPRO.) Always smiling their grin-toothed benignity, but always, always in the service of turning them into gross domestic product meat puppets who buy, buy, buy the sugar. Always after the youth. It is the capitalist’s form of immortality.

        Well, they’re in trouble on the world population front.€  Seemingly following some kind of Mooresian Law, the population is growing exponentially each year and is, really, out of control. We started the 20th century with 2.3 billion people and we are now starting the 21st approaching 8 billion.€  In Planet of the Humans, a controversial Michael Moore film a couple of years back, one non-controversy was that the proverbial Elephant in the Crowded Room was the planet’s crowded room itself. Citing Project Drawdown, a climate research group, the Population Matters organization tells us that

      • It is 2023 and the GOP Cult is in Full Control of Our Government

        Since the 2022 election, the GOP controls pretty much everything but the presidency, and with Joe Biden’s approval ratings in the tank, Republicans seem poised to win that next year, as well as making even more gains in the U.S. Senate.

        Meanwhile, the second impeachment trial of President Joe Biden is in its second week in the U.S. Senate, while the destruction of American democracy and the planet goes forth unimpeded.

      • Silly, Pandering Politicians Introduce Silly, Pandering 'Cyber Grinch' Law That Would Ban Buying Bots

        In December of 1983, I had just turned 9 years old, and all of my friends wanted Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. They were everywhere, and are remembered as one of the most well known holiday crazes in which scarcity of the toy, and overwhelming demand, resulted in parents absolutely losing their minds trying to find the dolls. My parents, instead, told me that the dolls were impossible to find, or super expensive if they could be found, and told me to expect something else instead. I never got a Cabbage Patch Kid, and I survived the experience (and learned a bit about supply and demand... and mass hysteria).

      • Omar Slams Boebert After “Unproductive” Call on Islamophobic Comments
      • Hero as Intern

        Following closely an intern’s routine, Kyle arrives early, stays late at the scene— Checking the congressman’s need for caffeine, Conquering quirks of the Xerox machine, Running some errands, and keeping things clean, All the while toting his AR-15.

      • Sudan is Backsliding Dangerously

        “The reason why I wake up every day is that I have a little hope that I can find justice for my son,” she confided. “This will not be only for him, but to prevent other parents from having to face the devastation of losing their children because of state violence.”

        In this period of uncertainty for Sudan, one thing is clear: It would be fundamentally wrong and dangerous to jettison justice for serious past and more recent abuses in the name of political expediency.

      • The Crisis of Being a Man: Is It Really That Bad?

        The Senator speaks about the left, first as though it is a monolithic, well-organized entity, which is absurd not only on its face, but also in the details. Much like the 26 Christian churches in my small town of 5,000 people who each alone have the right answer to the God question, the left of America is tiny, splintered, and distracted by doctrinal battles. Foremost among those disagreements is how much of the center/right can be supported when election time comes along in the famous “better of two evils” conundrum. Hawley states:

        Hawley clearly understands nothing of progressive/liberal impulses. The progressive movement is actually about inclusion, of weaving a vibrant web of culture, of experiencing different food, clothing, music and literature; each experience a different chapter in an evolving diary of a person’s life story; of opening to the world outside one’s own orbit. The ultimate community is multi-faceted. Shared culture, like all sharing is at least a two-way street. Could he be talking about “others” not adopting his culture as the only valid one, requiring them to drop their traditions in favor of his uniquely correct ones?

      • Biden’s Imaginary Leftism Is Not Why The Media Hates Him

        Framing Joe Biden as a tool of the left is a narrative used by the fascist right in their conspiracy to erode democracy but why would the supposedly liberal media be joining in? A “return to normal” as represented by the corporate bipartisan neoliberal management of the underclass into the end times is exactly what Mr. Biden represents, and exactly what the media claimed they wanted.

        The criticism of Donald Trump, much like the criticism of Joe Biden, frames him as a leftist. Mr. Biden is framed as a woke socialist while Mr. Trump is framed as a revolutionary populist. It is at least true that Mr. Trump wants to end bourgeois democracy. And it is true that Donald Trump used every opportunity to eliminate the free press. This was in theory at least the reason for and the limit of the media’s criticism of him.

      • Opinion | Democrats Are Losing Control of the Narrative

        Joe Biden responded to the court verdict clearing Kyle Rittenhouse of all charges with the statement “I stand by what the jury has to say. The jury system works.” While Biden was certainly right that the criminal legal system is working as it was intended—to dole out punishment based on the color of one’s skin—his statement signaled a surrender to the right’s co-optation of the uprisings in Kenosha. For months, conservatives had painted Rittenhouse as the only thing standing between law and order and chaos in the Wisconsin city. They created from whole cloth the image of Rittenhouse as a cultural hero, a symbol of Second Amendment virtue and the preservation of a long-standing racial hierarchy. No doubt Biden feared alienating a base of voters who viewed Rittenhouse’s actions as more or less justified. So he did what Democrats often do when the narrative thread slips away from them: wave the white flag.

      • Brittany Ramos DeBarros Took on the War Machine. Now She’s Running for Congress.

        As the war in Afghanistan drew to a long-overdue end, a veteran of that conflict campaigned to represent Staten Island and South Brooklyn in Congress. At a street fair in the Bay Ridge neighborhood in August, Brittany Ramos DeBarros, 32, wore a white skirt over dark leggings, light blue Asics, big hoop earrings, and a T-shirt adorned with her new campaign logo. She talked to her potential constituents about housing, Covid-19 relief, and registering to vote. Her staff ran a bubble machine and handed out candy to the kids.

      • Camila Saab Speaks Out: Wife of Venezuelan Diplomat “Kidnapped” by US Gov’t Talks to MintPress
      • Diego Sequera Discusses the Underpinnings of Venezuelan Election and Huge Maduro/Socialist Victory
      • Joint CEO Statement: Europe needs to translate its digital ambitions into concrete actions

        We now need concrete and immediate action to seize the opportunity and fuel further technological innovation and inclusivity. Europe’s global role cannot be limited to buying and regulating the technology built by others: we must create the conditions for homegrown digital infrastructure and services to thrive and set global standards that others can aspire to.

    • Misinformation/Disinformation

      • Antivaccine “purebloods”

        One point I’ve long made about so-called “alternative” medicine is how many of its precepts are more religious than rational or scientific in nature. In particular, a huge part of alternative medicine relies on the concept that “contamination” (these days more frequently referred to as “toxins”) cause most, if not all, disease. Indeed, nearly five years ago, I was discussing how the various “detoxification” regimens that make up so much of alternative medicine (and, not coincidentally, the basis of many treatments for many conditions—like autism—that antivaxxers used to attribute to vaccines) have€ more in common with religious ritual purification rituals€ than they do with science or medicine. This concept of “purity” versus “contamination” (implied to be with evil) also has a lot to do with the idea that “natural immunity” to a disease (which in reality should be called post-infection immunity given that vaccine-induced immunity€ is€ natural) and has€ infected the discourse over COVID-19 vaccines, so much so that one of my€ go-to video clips€ when discussing this topic is of Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper from one of my favorite movies of all time,€ Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb€ explaining how fluoridation is a Communist plot to “sap and impurify” the “precious bodily fluids” of real Americans, mainly because anti-fluoridation, antivaccine, and anti-GMO pseudoscience€ all€ tap into the alternative medicine fear of “contamination” as a cause of ill health and “purity of essence” (again, from Dr. Strangelove) as key to good health. Not coincidentally, concepts of “contamination” versus “purity” (or even “pureblood” or “purebloods”) are also behind the fear stoked by antivaxxers that mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines “permanently alter” your DNA, thus contaminating and corrupting it with evil (the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein).

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • The Bad Apples Control The Bunch: USA Today Report Details Law Enforcements Punishment Of Good Cops

        Plenty of people try to minimize police misconduct by claiming what we witness day after day after day is just the work of a few "bad apples." That's only half of the adage, though. The rest of it notes that bad apples spoil the whole bunch. Keep bad apples around long enough and you're going to have to throw out the bunch eventually.

      • Women Are Changing the Look of Leadership

        We’re not supposed to talk about the way female politicians dress. After generations of mostly male journalists writing with breathless fascination about the fact that women don’t look like men, it’s a welcome reprieve. But something radical is happening.1

      • Opinion | The 'F' Word and the Media

        Just before Thanksgiving break, former President Donald Trump told Fox News that he had met with Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse at Mar-a-Lago, where the two smiled for a photo that was custom built for right-wing social media.

      • Tennessee Rejects "Moms for Liberty" Complaint Over Lessons on MLK
      • Two Trials: Slave Patrol Racism in Georgia and Racist Neofascism in Kenosha

        Similarities

        Both trials deliberated on events that included: murder by armed vigilantes claiming to have engaged in legitimate self-defense while claiming to protect private property not their own (used car dealerships in Kenosha and a house under construction in Brunswick); the use of guns against unarmed victims; efforts by victims to grab the killer’s gun; initial provocation by the killers.

      • With SCOTUS Set to Hear Abortion Case, Anti-Choice Groups Prepare to Enact 'Post-Roe Strategy'

        With the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear opening arguments Wednesday in a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade and threaten abortion rights for millions of people across the country, right-wing anti-choice groups are preparing to ensure that anyone who becomes pregnant in the U.S. is forced to continue the pregnancy.

        The consideration of Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban represents a moment the anti-choice movement has been waiting for since 1973, when Roe v. Wade affirmed that pregnant people have the right to obtain abortion care until 24 weeks of pregnancy.

      • Get Off Our Territory: Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders Condemn Canadian Police Raid on Pipeline Protest

        Canadian police continue to arrest Indigenous land defenders blocking construction of Coastal GasLink, a 400-mile pipeline that would carry natural gas through Wet’suwet’en land. Police arrested two people Monday for blockading an access road, less than two weeks after arresting more than 30 in a violent raid on Coyote Camp and elsewhere that ended a 56-day blockade of a drilling site. We get an update from Wet’suwet’en land defender Molly Wickham, also known as Sleydo’, just released from jail. “This is the third time they have come in and raided Wet’suwet’en territory,” says Wickham. “We’ve never signed any documents to cede our land.”

      • Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders Condemn Violent Police Raid Against Pipeline Protest
      • Should We Trust Thomas Bach About the Safety of Peng Shuai?

        Earlier this month, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai vanished after accusing China’s former vice premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault. For weeks, the three-time Olympian’s whereabouts were unknown. After an international outcry, she magically resurfaced on November 21 for a 30-minute video call with—of all people!— the president of the International Olympic Committee, who was joined by the head of the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission and an IOC member from China.

      • Protests Against Sexual Violence Have Overtaken College Campuses

        Several hundred students gathered by Traditions Plaza on the University of Missouri campus on October 5 to protest their college’s lack of action to protect their students from sexual violence at the hands of fraternity members. Among them was a current Mizzou student, Jane, who will be referred to by a pseudonym to protect her privacy. She survived an alleged drugged rape at an off-campus party and found little support from her college. Jane stood tall next to her friend with a “Protect Your Students, Not Your Reputation” sign. This story was produced for Student Nation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more Student Nation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email€ protected].

      • The Christian Legal Army Behind the Ban on Abortion in Mississippi

        In January 2018, attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom outlined a plan to “eradicate Roe” that is now coming to fruition. Speaking at the Evangelicals for Life conference, ADF senior counsel Denise Burke announced that just that week, state lawmakers in Mississippi had introduced the nation’s first-ever 15-week abortion ban. Based on ADF’s model legislation, the bill was designed to provoke a challenge from abortion rights groups that, ADF hoped, would make its way to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and then on to the Supreme Court.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

    • Monopolies

      • Opinion | The Federal Trade Commission Has the Power to Break Up Big Tech

        In a groundbreaking 2017 Yale Law Journal study, "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox," the legal scholar Lina Khan sized up the online giant.

      • Patents

      • Copyrights

        • Who Owns a Recipe? A Plagiarism Claim Has Cookbook Authors Asking.

          The law views a recipe merely as a factual list of ingredients and basic steps rather than as creative expression. The introductions, photography and design that accompany a recipe can be covered by a copyright, as can the cookbook as a whole, or a specific sequence of recipes, said Sara Hawkins, a business and intellectual property [sic] lawyer in Phoenix.

          If the instructions are written with enough literary flourish, she said, they may be sufficiently creative to be copyrightable.

        • Google Removes Pirate Bay Domains from Search Results Citing Dutch Court Order

          Google has removed The Pirate Bay and more than 100 related domains from its search results in the Netherlands. The search engine points to a local pirate site-blocking order that was forwarded by anti-piracy group BREIN. The order targets ISPs and doesn't name Google but the company chose to voluntarily comply.

        • Pirate IPTV: Police Arrest Two & Send Warning Messages to Customers

          Police are reporting the arrest of two people following a raid on an alleged pirate IPTV supplier in the UK. The suspects were detained at an address in Leicestershire under suspicion of infringing copyright by communicating protected works to the public. The service was shut down and according to police, now displays a warning to customers.

        • Miramax Survives Copyright Dispute Over 'Pulp Fiction' Poster Initiated By Opportunistic Photographer

          The iconic film Pulp Fiction appears to be a hot topic of conversation lately. We recently discussed Miramax's laughable lawsuit against Quentin Tarantino over his plan to offer NFTs for certain unreleased and unused portions of the film's drafted scripts, alongside the director's audio commentary revealing his thought processes and "secrets" surrounding the screenplay. While that whole thing is currently making Miramax look very confused as to intellectual property laws, there was recently a lawsuit ruled in Miramax's favor over the film's most iconic poster.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day