Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 14/09/2022: Pixelbook Grounded



  • GNU/Linux

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Hardware

        If you want a 100% repairable laptop, you can buy one from Framework, and build it yourself. It is mostly compatible with free software, and soon they are going to switch to coreboot.

        If you want a corebooted Linux laptop, you can buy one from System76, Purism, Novacustom or Starlabs. [...]

      • PC WorldGoogle is done making its own Chromebooks

        In short, it sure feels like Google’s Chrome OS and Chrome hardware teams aren’t on the same page. And if The Verge’s report is accurate, the latter doesn’t really exist anymore. The former isn’t doing so hot, either: after a phenomenal sales boom during the pandemic, global Chromebook shipments dropped by more than 60 percent in the first quarter of 2022. Previously outselling Mac hardware and posing a serious threat to Windows in the budget segment, Chrome OS powered just 6 percent of new laptops sold in the same period.

      • The VergeGoogle canceled its next Pixelbook and shut down the team building it

        Google has canceled the next version of its Pixelbook laptop and dissolved the team responsible for building it. The device was far along in development and expected to debut next year, according to a person familiar with the matter, but the project was cut as part of recent cost-cutting measures inside of Google. Members of the team have been transferred elsewhere inside the company.

      • Linux LinksLinux Around The World: Latvia - LinuxLinks

        We cover events and user groups that are running in Latvia. This article forms part of our Linux Around The World series.

    • Server

      • OpenSource.comPackaging Job scripts in Kubernetes operators

        When using a complex Kubernetes operator, you often have to orchestrate Jobs to perform workload tasks. Examples of Job implementations typically provide trivial scripts written directly in the manifest. In any reasonably-complex application, however, determining how to handle more-than-trivial scripts can be challenging.

        In the past, I've tackled this problem by including my scripts in an application image. This approach works well enough, but it does have a drawback. Anytime changes are required, I'm forced to rebuild the application image to include the revisions. This is a lot of time wasted, especially when my application image takes a significant amount of time to build. This also means that I'm maintaining both an application image and an operator image. If my operator repository doesn't include the application image, then I'm making related changes across repositories. Ultimately, I'm multiplying the number of commits I make, and complicating my workflow. Every change means I have to manage and synchronize commits and image references between repositories.

        Given these challenges, I wanted to find a way to keep my Job scripts within my operator's code base. This way, I could revise my scripts in tandem with my operator's reconciliation logic. My goal was to devise a workflow that would only require me to rebuild the operator's image when I needed to make revisions to my scripts. Fortunately, I use the Go programming language, which provides the immensely helpful go:embed feature. This allows developers to package text files in with their application's binary. By leveraging this feature, I've found that I can maintain my Job scripts within my operator's image.

      • Kubernetes BlogKubernetes 1.25: PodHasNetwork condition for pods | Kubernetes

        Kubernetes 1.25 introduces Alpha support for a new kubelet-managed pod condition in the status field of a pod: PodHasNetwork. The kubelet, for a worker node, will use the PodHasNetwork condition to accurately surface the initialization state of a pod from the perspective of pod sandbox creation and network configuration by a container runtime (typically in coordination with CNI plugins). The kubelet starts to pull container images and start individual containers (including init containers) after the status of the PodHasNetwork condition is set to True. Metrics collection services that report latency of pod initialization from a cluster infrastructural perspective (i.e. agnostic of per container characteristics like image size or payload) can utilize the PodHasNetwork condition to accurately generate Service Level Indicators (SLIs). Certain operators or controllers that manage underlying pods may utilize the PodHasNetwork condition to optimize the set of actions performed when pods repeatedly fail to come up.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • 17+ Best Linux Books - For Different Target Groups and Use Cases

        This article will go through the best Linux books for all the different target groups and use cases.

      • LinuxiacHow to Install Oracle Linux 9: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

        This guide will walk you through installing Oracle Linux 9, a high-performance, secure, and enterprise-ready RHEL fork.

        Oracle Linux has a history dating back more than 15 years of consistent stability and reliability, being a popular choice among the large enterprise segment.

        The distro is fully 1:1 binaries compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and is entirely free (available under the GNU General Public License) to download and use.

      • Russell CokerStoring Local Secrets - etbe - Russell Coker

        In the operation of a normal Linux system there are many secrets stored on behalf of a user. Wifi passwords, passwords from web sites, etc. Ideally you want them to be quickly and conveniently accessible to the rightful user but also be as difficult as possible for hostile parties to access.

        The solution in GNOME and KDE is to have a wallet that is encrypted to store such passwords, the idea is that if a hostile party gets access to a PC that doesn’t use full disk encryption then the secrets will be protected. This is an OK feature. In early versions it required entering a password every time you logged in. The current default mode of operation is to have the login password used to decrypt the wallet which is very convenient.

        The problem is the case where the user login password has a scope larger than the local PC, EG a domain login password for Active Directory, Kerberos, or similar systems. In such a case if an attacker gets the encrypted wallet that could facilitate a brute force attack on the password used for domain logins.

        I think that a better option for this would be to store wallets in a directory that the user can’t access directly, EG a mode 1770 directory with group “wallet”. Then when logging in a PAM process running as root could open the wallet and pass a file handle to a process running in the context of the user. For access apart from login there could be SETGID programs to manage it which could require authenticating the user’s password before any operation that exports the data so that a vulnerability in a web browser or other Internet facing program can’t just grab the file contents.

      • UNIX CopHow to install WebTorrent Desktop on Ubuntu 22.04

        In this post, you will learn how to install WebTorrent Desktop on Ubuntu 22.04

    • WINE or Emulation

      • Its FOSSCrossOver Review: The ‘Premium Wine’ to Run Windows Software on Linux

        It is not an emulator program. Instead, it provides a compatibility layer on top of your host operating system to make it possible to run Windows software.

        In other words, it adds components that windows software needs to run on any supported OS.

        But how well does it work? Can you run all Windows software using it? Is it a viable solution for you to ditch Windows for good?

        Here, I shall share my experience with using CrossOver on Linux and sharing my experience with it.

    • Games

      • Boiling SteamNew Steam Games with Native Linux Clients - 2022-09-14 Edition - Boiling Steam

        Between 2022-09-07 and 2022-09-14 there were 25 New Steam games released with Native Linux clients. For reference, during the same time, there were 238 games released for Windows on Steam, so the Linux versions represent about 10.5 % of total released titles.

      • GamingOnLinuxEA AntiCheat could spell trouble for Steam Deck / Linux

        EA has just recently given out more information on their upcoming EA AntiCheat (EAAC), not to be confused with Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), because EA are apparently terribly at naming.

      • GamingOnLinuxYour Steam Deck deserves a DeckMate

        The creator of the DeckMate system sent over a bundle of their accessories for me to try and I was instantly sold on the whole thing.

      • GamingOnLinuxW4 Games raised $8.5 million USD to support Godot Engine

        W4 Games is a new company from the creator of Godot Engine along with long-time contributors, and now they've managed to gain plenty of funding.

      • GamingOnLinuxGOG has a 'Made in DACH' sale to showcase games from Germany, Austria and Switzerland

        Made in DACH is the name of the latest theme sale from game store GOG.com, with a special selection of titles developed by people in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Running until September 19th, 2022, 10 PM UTC, perhaps this is a chance for you to find something from a smaller developer or just something new to play through the week?

      • GamingOnLinuxValheim gets more teasers of The Mistlands

        Iron Gate assure us it's coming but they're not quite ready to set a date for The Mistlands update to Valheim. So we don't have a date but we do have some more info, plus some extra screenshots.

      • GamingOnLinuxKitsune Zero, prequel to Kitsune Tails, out now as DLC for Super Bernie World

        Kitsune Zero is a new platformer that comes as a DLC for the free game Super Bernie World on Steam or as a standalone on itch.io. It's acting as the prequel to an upcoming game called Kitsune Tails. Developed by Kitsune Games (MidBoss, Ultra Hat Dimension) with publishing from MidBoss (2064: Read Only Memories).

      • GamingOnLinuxThis Vampire Survivors styled game has you defend against pigeons pooping on your house

        Pigeons, they can be a menace flying around pooping everywhere and this developer decided to make a game styled like Vampire Survivors about it. It's called "Don't Shit On My #!$@& Roof" and I don't think it needs much in the way of an explanation does it? Your clearly angry about the Pigeons and so you're taking matters into your own hands.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • UbuntuShould you use open-source databases?

        Several sources confirm the growing popularity of open-source databases. For example, the DB-Engines ranking shows that open-source databases have been overtaking commercial ones since early 2021 in terms of popularity.

        The top 4 most used databases are, indeed, all open source.

        The adoption of open-source databases is set to grow. According to this Percona survey, nearly half of IT companies are planning to increase their adoption of open-source solutions in the upcoming years...

    • Programming/Development

      • Linux HintArrays in C

        The array represents the collection of various items that have a similar data type and are stored in the physically adjacent memory addresses. The data type of the items in an array must be similar and it can be any data type as char, integers float and double, or even the structures. In an array, the sequence of the items is stored in the form of indices. The items in the array are stored from left to right. The left-most items are the initial items with zero (0th) index. The right-most items have the index (n-1). The “n” signifies the total number of items in the array. We may access any item or member of the array with its index which is the memory location of the item.

        In programming languages, we are required to make the arrays because we have to define more variables with the ordered values like 1-200. So, instead of separately defining and storing the values in 200 variables, we rather just make an array of size (200).

      • Linux HintArrow Operator in C

        “The use of the arrow operator is very common in all programming languages, e.g., C, C ++, etc. The arrow operator is used to point out the memory address of the different members of either the Union or the Structure. This operator is symbolically made by combining the symbolic representation of the ” greater than (>)” and the “subtraction operator (-)”. So as a whole, this operator looks like an arrow, e.g., ” ->”. We use this operator with the pointer variable so that we can access the element of the structure and modify its values that are already stored in the memory according to our requirements. The arrow operator, along with the pointer variable, is used since it provides fast access to the elements (improved execution) and it takes the lesser memory.”

      • HackadayC23 Programming For Everyone

        Here’s a history quiz: What architecture did the first C++ compiler target? Of course, it is a trick question. The original C++ — known then as C with classes — compiler wrote out standard C code that you then compiled for whatever your target was. This has a lot of advantages since C compilers are everywhere. Now we are seeing a similar approach to bring C23 to the world with Cake. Cake can translate C23 or other versions to C99 which you can then compile with normal compilers.

    • Standards/Consortia

      • No Yes/No, yes? | Attracted by virtual constructs

        Some time ago I ran into a variant of a self-service checkout system in a supermarket which, when asking for applying the data collection identity card, used a dialog with the button options “Yes” & “No”. Being privacy-positive, my thoughts were, yes, I want to keep my data private, and was about to press the “Yes” button. Only to check once more and find that the question actually was “Do you want to use our card?”. Which made me wonder why in the year 2022 new systems are developed that apply that old pattern of “Yes” & “No” replies. And reminded me that also in newer software made in the KDE community I had seen new appearances of that scheme. Had it not been found to be inferior, from what I had seen by-passing in the HMI field?

        [...]

        On a quick look I could not find related scientific research reports that could back up the guideline recommendations. But instead I came across research about the related field of designing questionnaires, on the topic of preventing errors in the given answers e.g. due to misunderstandings or lack of concentration. And that seemed to confirm that people gave more correct answers and also felt it simpler to do when the items representing the choice (e.g. a text next to a checkbox) themselves had clear unique references to the choice instead of being abstract items whose meaning only could be known by the assignment to a choice in the question itself. Abstract items being things like colors, shapes, positions, numbers or the very Yes & No.

        Not seen discussed or even researched, but my theory would be that things are worse even when there is a memory effect and something could mean the opposite in other similar choices.

        [...]

        With the upcoming KDE Frameworks 6 API series around the corner, it would be good to have some substitute API done before, so the HIG-conflicting API could be deprecated still for KF5. And KF6 would only hold API trapping developers into more HIG-conforming UIs.

        Some, sadly non-exciting proposals to address this should appear in the next days, both as further blog posts as well as MR with actual code.

      • IRC × OAuth 2.0 €· emersion

        In the past few days I’ve been working on better integrating IRC with OAuth 2.0. In a nutshell, my goal is to make IRC clients obtain a token by interacting with an OAuth 2.0 server, and then use that token to authenticate with the IRC server. This effort has resulted in various patches for meta.sr.ht’s OAuth 2.0 server, for the soju IRC bouncer and for the gamja & goguma IRC clients.

  • Leftovers

    • The VergeWelcome to the new Verge

      So we’re back to basics with something we’re calling the Storystream news feed, right on our homepage. Our plan is to bring the best of old-school blogging to a modern news feed experience and to have our editors and senior reporters constantly updating the site with the best of tech and science news from around the entire internet. If that means linking out to Wired or Bloomberg or some other news source, that’s great — we’re happy to send people to excellent work elsewhere, and we trust that our feed will be useful enough to have you come back later. If that means we just need to embed the viral TikTok or wacky CEO tweet and move on, so be it — we can do that. We can embed anything, actually: I’m particularly excited that we can directly point people to interesting threads on Reddit and other forums. The internet is about conversations, and The Verge should be a place to find great conversations.

    • Telex (Hungary)Ryanair to reduce number of Budapest flights on seven routes this winter
    • The NationMichael Mann Returns to the Scene of the Crime

      It’s an old showbiz joke: Given half a chance, even the most glamorous actor or actress will tell you that what they really want to do is direct. In the last few years, though, it turns out that what the great directors really want to do is write novels.

    • Science

      • uni MichiganVisualizing nanoscale structures in real time | University of Michigan News

        Open-source software enables researchers to see materials in 3D while they're still on the electron microscope

      • Exploring Reinforcement Learning To Control Nuclear Fusion Reactions - News - Carnegie Mellon University

        A student in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Computer Science (SCS) has used reinforcement learning to help control nuclear fusion reactions, a significant step toward harnessing the immense power produced in nuclear fusion as a source of clean, abundant energy.

      • New York TimesThe Supply Chain Broke. Robots Are Supposed to Help Fix It. - The New York Times

        The people running companies that deliver all manner of products gathered in Philadelphia last week to sift through the lessons of the mayhem besieging the global supply chain. At the center of many proposed solutions: robots and other forms of automation.

        On the showroom floor, robot manufacturers demonstrated their latest models, offering them as efficiency-enhancing augments to warehouse workers. Driverless trucks and drones commanded display space, advertising an unfolding era in which machinery will occupy a central place in bringing products to our homes.

        The companies depicted their technology as a way to save money on workers and optimize scheduling, while breaking down resistance to a future centered on evolving forms of automation.

      • BBCRobot boat maps Pacific underwater volcano - BBC News

        A robot boat, controlled from the UK, has returned from an initial survey of the underwater Tongan volcano that erupted explosively back in January.

        The Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Maxlimer is part-way through mapping the opening, or caldera, of the underwater Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano.

    • Education

    • Hardware

      • HackadayInexpensive Reading Glasses Become Stereoscope

        It’s an unfortunate consequence of growing older, that no longer are you able to read the print on a SOT-23 package or solder a QFN without magnification. Your eyes inexorably start to fail, and to have any hope of continuing a set of reading glasses is required. We have this in common with [Niklas Roy], who noticed while shopping for cheap reading glasses that their lenses were of surprisingly good quality. The result of this observation was a stereoscope made from card and a few euros worth of eyewear.

      • HackadayResin Cleanup: A Sticky Situation

        We’ll admit it. We like the results of resin 3D printing, but we don’t always care for the mess. We aren’t alone, and a common issue is to have drips of resin on your LCD screen — a potential disaster. You ought to have a screen protector, but yeah… you should back up hard drives, too. [Jessy] has the same problem and he has heard that you can easily clean cured resin from the screen using wood glue. Does it work? Check out the results of three glues in the video below.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Proprietary

    • Linux Foundation

    • Security

      • The Global State of Cybersecurity Is Not Good - IT Jungle

        “It’s a jungle out there” may be the best way to summarize the state of cybersecurity at the moment, as recent global events coalesce into a melting pot of politically motivated hackers, the criminal underground, foreign scammers, and widespread domestic vulnerabilities.

        Let’s start with everybody’s favorite topic: scams. If you’re longing for the simple days of the Nigerian 419 scams, you’re not alone, as the playing field for scams has evolved considerably in recent years. That’s not to minimize the continued threat of the 419 scam, which sometimes resulted in a physical kidnapping, or worse. But the idea of getting ripped off via world travel sounds almost quaint by today’s rough-and-tumble digital standard.

      • OpenSource.com3 steps to protect your home network

        The typical setup for Internet connectivity today is for your home to have a router, usually a little physical box located somewhere in your house, that acts as a gateway to the rest of the world. The router creates a local network, and you connect your devices to it, including your computer, mobile, TV, game console, and anything else that needs to connect to the Internet or to each other. It's deceptively easy to think of this setup as there being two "sides" of your router: On one side there's the Internet, and on the other, your devices. That's an awful colloquial, though, because in reality there's an entire worldwide network of computers on one side of your router, and your digital life on the other. When you use the Internet directly, you're logging onto a shared area of somebody else's computer. When you're not using the Internet, it doesn't go away, and there are lots of scripts and programs out there designed to visit millions upon millions of routers in an attempt to find open ports or services. With the Internet of Things (IoT) commonplace, there are sometimes more services running on your home network than you realize. Here are three steps you can take to audit and protect your home network from unwanted traffic.

      • Krebs On SecurityWormable Flaw, 0days Lead Sept. 2022 Patch Tuesday

        This month’s Patch Tuesday offers a little something for everyone, including security updates for a zero-day flaw in Microsoft Windows that is under active attack, and another Windows weakness experts say could be used to power a fast-spreading computer worm. Also, Apple has also quashed a pair of zero-day bugs affecting certain macOS and iOS users, and released iOS 16, which offers a new privacy and security feature called “Lockdown Mode.” And Adobe axed 63 vulnerabilities in a range of products.

      • LWNSecurity updates for Wednesday [LWN.net]

        Security updates have been issued by CentOS (open-vm-tools), Debian (freecad and sqlite3), Fedora (qt5-qtwebengine and vim), SUSE (firefox, kernel, libzapojit, perl, postgresql14, and samba), and Ubuntu (dotnet6, dpdk, gdk-pixbuf, rust-regex, and systemd).

      • Hacker NewsSparklingGoblin APT Hackers Using New Linux Variant of SideWalk Backdoor [Ed: It's malware, not a "backdoor"; unlike Windows, here one needs to actually install it]

        A Linux variant of a backdoor known as SideWalk was used to target a Hong Kong university in February 2021, underscoring the cross-platform abilities of the implant.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • The HillTop election security official warns of election workforce problems: 1 in 3 have left posts

        “As these stories of threats and intimidation are shared, people who would normally be poll workers on Election Day or work at a voting center are taking a step back and saying, ‘I don’t know that it’s worth my life or worth my personal safety,’” she added.

        Wyman also said that state officials across the country are having trouble hiring poll workers ahead of the midterm elections.

      • Counter PunchColombian Intelligence Operations, with US Backing, Are Bad for Peace

        Colombian intelligence operations serve U.S. imperialist objectives as they target Cuba and Venezuela. Colombian governing authorities appear to have forgotten the legacy of independence hero Simón€ Bolívar who, up against Spanish rule and U.S. pretentions, fought for Latin American unity. In 1829 he remarked that, “The United States appear to be destined by€ Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.” He was denouncing unencumbered U.S. license to control Spanish America, as proclaimed in the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 and still in force.

      • Counter PunchContractors Cash in as Congress Adds Billions to the Pentagon Budget

        It would be one thing if such added funding were at least crafted in line with a carefully considered defense strategy.€  More often than not, though, much of it goes to multibillion dollar weapons projects being built in the districts or states of key lawmakers or for items on Pentagon wish lists (formally known as “unfunded priorities lists”). It’s unclear how such items can be “priorities” when they haven’t even made it into the Pentagon’s already enormous official budget request.

      • Meduza‘We’re going to shoot your child’: A woman from a village in Ukraine’s now-liberated Kharkiv region recounts life under Russian occupation — Meduza
      • TruthOutJan. 6 Committee Member Suggests Ending Electoral College
      • The Gray ZoneVIDEO: 13-year-old on Ukrainian gov’t kill list speaks out
      • MeduzaArmenia asks Russia for assistance after skirmishes with Azerbaijan — Meduza

        Armenian public television reports that the Armenian government has appealed to Russia, the member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and, the UN Security Council after skirmishes on the border with Azerbaijan took place on the night of September 13.

      • MeduzaUkraine produces draft agreement on security guarantees, urges allies to maintain sanctions against Russia — Meduza

        Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former general secretary of NATO, have released recommendations for guaranteeing Ukraine’s security, reports the Ukrainian leader’s press office.

      • Meduza‘When you’re nearly 100, you can’t be too afraid’: A WWII vet explains why he still protests in the streets of Novosibirsk — Meduza
      • Democracy NowJulian Aguon: U.S. Militarization of Guam Is “Nothing Less Than Cataclysmic”

        The geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China is reshaping life in the U.S. territory of Guam, where the already-massive military presence is set to expand as the Pentagon builds up its capabilities in the Pacific. “We are directly in the line of fire,” says Julian Aguon, a CHamoru writer and human rights lawyer, who describes the build-up of U.S. troops and military infrastructure on Guam as “nothing less than cataclysmic” for the Indigenous people. Aguon also talks about the ongoing fight for independence in Guam, which he says the U.S. has thwarted for more than a century. “The U.S. is a country that prefers, routinely, power over strength and living over letting live.” Aguon is the author of several acclaimed books, including, “The Fire This Time: Stories of Life Under U.S. Occupation” and “What We Bury at Night: Disposable Humanity.” His most recent book, released Tuesday, is titled “No Country for Eight-Spot Butterflies.”

      • TruthOutFormer British Colonies in Caribbean Consider Cutting Ties to the Monarchy
      • Counter PunchCool Subjects: The Other Side of Elizabeth II’s Reign

        Negative commentary, notably of the brisk too-soon mould, caused sparks and retributive anger. When news of Elizabeth II’s deteriorating condition reached critical race theorist and Carnegie Mellon academic Uju Anya on September 8, she jumped on Twitter with menacing enthusiasm. “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating.” In the room next door, grant applications for future funding were probably being written.

      • Democracy NowJamaica, Antigua & Barbuda May Cut Ties to British Monarch; Renew Call for Reparations for Slavery

        We look at how the death of Queen Elizabeth II is prompting former British colonies in the Caribbean to replace the British monarch as their head of state. Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister has vowed to hold a referendum soon on whether to become a republic, and Jamaica’s ruling Labour Party also plans a vote. The Caribbean at one point formed the heart of England’s first colonial empire in North America, with millions of enslaved Africans taken to the islands, where many were worked to death. Dorbrene O’Marde, chair of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Commission, says he is not personally mourning Queen Elizabeth’s death because her reign helped to “cloak the historical brutality of empire in this veneer of grandeur and pomp and pageantry.” We also speak with renowned Jamaican poet and musician Mutabaruka, who says the British monarchy “represents criminal activity” and that the British state needs to make reparations to former colonies like Jamaica to redress the history of abuses. “Actions speak louder than words,” he says.

      • The NationWith Queen Elizabeth Gone, Monarchy’s Magic May Be Fading

        Queen Elizabeth was “the glue that held our nation together”—or so it has been frequently uttered since Britain’s longest reigning monarch died last week. It is a revealing cliché, simultaneously hinting at the fragility of the country’s social order and the Crown’s abiding function in maintaining it. If, in life, this was the queen’s largely unspoken function, her death unintentionally underlined it.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | The Death of a Queen and the Whitewashing of Empire

        ollowing the death of Queen Elizabeth, no one in the established media is taking any chances with the public mood. Public affection for the late queen is not in doubt, and yet BBC journalists are whipping up paroxysms of grief that wouldn't be out of place in North Korea.

      • ScheerpostAmerica’s Forever Wars Go Viral

        Andy Kroll traces the pathways we’ve taken from our disastrous war on terror abroad to wildly disturbed and conspiratorial thinking right here at home through the life of one (murdered) young man.

      • ScheerpostRussia’s Underperforming Military (and Ours): Convenient Lessons to Impede Learning

        Russian military ineptitude obliquely affirms the military mastery of the United States. Will the U.S. learn anything from Putin's disastrous invasion?

      • Meduza‘The public reaction is very emotional,’ says Russian press secretary about war in Ukraine — Meduza

        Dmitry Peskov, press secretary to the Russian president, said that although not all Russians are happy with how the situation in the war zone in Ukraine is developing, the majority, like before, support the president.

      • MeduzaUAF says they have shot down an Iranian drone; Russia denies purchasing such weapons — Meduza

        The Department of Strategic Communications of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) reported that they shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near Kupyansk, in the Kharkiv region, which “in all likelihood” was produced in Iran.

      • MeduzaRussian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov: ‘The special military operation in Ukraine has escalated into a full-scale war’ — Meduza

        At the first plenary meeting of the Russian State Duma’s fall session on Tuesday, Russian Communist Party (KPRF) leader Gennady Zyuganov said that the “special [military] operation” in Ukraine has grown into a full-fledged war. During the two months that he and his fellow deputies were on vacation, Zyuganova said, the situation on the front has “changed drastically.”

      • Counter PunchNATO’s “death wish” will destroy not only Europe but the rest of the world as well

        This is not the first time that humanity finds itself confronted by a grave crisis that could have been prevented by keeping the promises given to the late Mikhail Gorbachev by the former US Secretary of State James Baker[1] and by other US officials. NATO’s eastern expansion since 1997 has been perceived by Russian leaders as a serious breach of a crucial security agreement with existential overtones. It has been perceived as an ever increasing menace, a “threat of the use of force” for purposes of article 2(4) of the UN Charter. This entails a grave risk of nuclear confrontation, since Russia has a huge nuclear arsenal and the means to deliver the warheads.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | What—If Anything—Will US Military Learn From Putin's Disastrous Ukraine Invasion?

        In Washington, wide agreement exists that the Russian army's performance in the Kremlin's ongoing Ukraine "special military operation" ranks somewhere between lousy and truly abysmal. The question is: Why? The answer in American policy circles, both civilian and military, appears all but self-evident. Vladimir Putin's Russia has stubbornly insisted on ignoring the principles, practices, and methods identified as necessary for success in war and perfected in this century by the armed forces of the United States. Put simply, by refusing to do things the American way, the Russians are failing badly against a far weaker foe.

      • Common Dreams10,000+ Sign Letter Urging Biden to Reverse 'Terrorism' Designation for Cuba

        "Your policies toward Cuba, which have been more aligned with those of President [Donald] Trump than President [Barack] Obama, are hurting the well-being of the Cuban people and run counter to the will of the majority of U.S. citizens," says the letter, organized by peace campaigners at CodePink. "An important policy change that we urge you to take immediately is to remove Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Peaceful Resistance Turns Military Might Into Weakness

        Here's a story I've never told before:

    • Environment

      • VOA NewsUN Chief: Climate Impacts Heading to 'Uncharted Territories of Destruction'

        The impacts of climate change are "heading into uncharted territories of destruction," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned on Tuesday on the release of a multi-agency scientific report reviewing the latest research on the subject.

        The report, led by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), warns that the world is "going in the wrong direction" on climate change.

      • Helsinki TimesClimate change is affecting drinking water quality, says study

        Forests play a key role in the water cycle. They filter the water and bind nutrients and are therefore necessary for good water quality. The fewer nutrients - i.e. nitrogen or phosphorous compounds - contained in reservoir water, the better it is for drinking water treatment. "This makes it more difficult for algae to develop, making drinking water treatment in the waterworks more cost-effective and easier," explains UFZ lake researcher and co-author Dr. Karsten Rinke. "Nutrient management in water conservation areas is therefore very important. Over the past decades, long-term concepts with close cooperation between forest and water management have advanced the development of large areas of forest in the Rappbode reservoir catchment area." The rapid forest decline in the eastern Harz region is now a matter of grave concern for the reservoir and waterworks operators.

      • The HillDRIED UP: In Utah, drying Great Salt Lake leads to air pollution

        Cars and wildfires contribute to Utah’s air pollution, but the Great Salt Lake is a less obvious but important contributor. Sitting just northwest of Salt Lake City, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere is drying up because of water use and drought amid a changing climate, sending dust with toxic metals — including arsenic — in the air of a metro area with approximately 1.2 million people.

      • Common Dreams50,000 People Urge Biden Admin to Reject 'Archaic' Oil Terminal in Houston Area

        "Choose our health and our climate over the greed of Enterprise and Enbridge."

      • Common DreamsNew UN Report Shows Fossil Fuel Addiction Is a 'Recipe for Permanent Climate Chaos'

        "The current fossil fuel free-for-all must end now."

      • Energy

        • Le MondeParis monuments to shut off lights at 10 pm to save energy

          The "energy sobriety" plan aims to cut energy use by 10%, said Ms. Hidalgo, which could help soften the blow of rising costs by some 10 million euros. Ms. Hidalgo, a Socialist who played up her efforts to green Paris during a failed presidential run earlier this year, said she would also push the government to do the same for national monuments in the city, such as the Pantheon or the Arc de Triomphe.

        • ABCEiffel Tower to go dark earlier at night in response to energy crisis

          Additionally, the lighting on the exterior facades of all municipal buildings and monuments, including borough town halls, will be turned off at 10 p.m. starting on the same date, she said.

          Public lighting will be maintained to ensure the safety of Parisians, the mayor said.

        • Counter Punch“We’ll Meet Them Out in the Fields”: Challenging the Pipelines to Nowhere

          A company called Summit Carbon Solutions is proposing to build a 2,000-mile network of pipelines sprawling across parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. The system would collect liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2) from 32 ethanol fuel plants across the region and transport it to North Dakota’s oil country for storage. A second company, Navigator CO2 Ventures, wants to build 1,300 miles of pipeline to pick up CO2 from 20 ethanol and fertilizer plants in the same region but transport it in the opposite direction, to Illinois. At both destinations, the compressed CO2 would be injected into deep rock formations where it is supposed to remain until far-off geologic time.

        • Democracy NowYanis Varoufakis on Europe’s Energy Crisis, War in Ukraine & Crackdown on Dissent After Queen’s Death

          We look at how the Ukraine war is contributing to an energy crisis across Europe with Greek politician and economist Yanis Varoufakis. Last week Russia announced it would not resume sending natural gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, blaming Western sanctions for supposed maintenance delays keeping the gas shut off. Prior to the war, Russia supplied Europe with 40% of its natural gas, but now European nations must find ways to cope with fuel shortages and soaring energy prices as winter approaches. Varoufakis says a history of market liberalization and reliance on cheap Russian gas has left the continent scrambling, in turn pushing up energy costs in the Global South as richer European countries buy up other sources of energy. “Yet again, Europe is exporting misery to the rest of the world,” says Varoufakis, a member of the Greek Parliament and former finance minister. His latest piece for Project Syndicate is “Time to Blow Up Electricity Markets.”

        • Common DreamsRapid Green Energy Transition by 2050 Could Save the World at Least $12 Trillion

          "Accelerating the transition to renewable energy is now the best bet not just for the planet, but for energy costs too."

        • Common DreamsOpinion | Europe's Energy System Is a Scam Against Its Own People

          Amid a growing energy crisis, political leaders across Europe want to divert attention away from their own role in its exacerbation and instead make citizens focus on one thing only: Russia. However, it is far more complex than that.

        • Common DreamsOpinion | The Climate Solution Standing Right in Front of Us: Mature and Old-Growth Forests

          This August, we saw the passage of the historic Inflation Reduction Act, which includes more than 100 programs that will invest about $369 billion in climate action, clean energy jobs, and environmental justice. While this marks the single largest investment in climate action by Congress, it does not mean our work to address the climate crisis is over. It marks just the beginning.€ 

        • The NationThe Price of Private Equity’s New York Power Plant Grab

          In November 2021, without fanfare, and having received no public comments, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) issued a succinct declaratory ruling enabling a new company called Generation Bridge LLC to absorb a massive fossil-fuel-burning power plant in Staten Island and another one upstate, in Oswego. The PSC’s language made it seem benign. “No further review will be conducted of the proposed transfer of ownership interests,” the order stated, noting that the direct owners of the Arthur Kill and Oswego Harbor plants were authorized to go into debt for up to $700 million to fund their acquisitions and would continue to be subject to lightened regulation. This story was published in partnership with New York Focus, an independent, investigative news site covering New York state and city politics.

        • TruthOutNuclear Power Is Too Risky Even in Peacetime. Ukraine Is the Tip of the Iceberg.
        • DeSmogGas Companies Accused of Using Hydrogen to ‘Greenwash’ Boilers

          Analysis published today by Global Witness finds that brands including British Gas and Worcester Bosch are portraying “hydrogen blend” boilers as a green way to heat homes.€ At recent trade fairs, some firms have also had “100 percent hydrogen boilers” on display.

      • Wildlife/Nature

        • Counter PunchA Bigger Hammer Won’t Stop Large Fires

          Yet over and over, lawmakers and others continue to believe that they can control wildfires by “reducing” fuels through logging or prescribed burning and ramping up firefighting.

      • Overpopulation

    • Finance

      • The VergePatreon is laying off 17 percent of its workforce and closing offices

        The layoffs are hitting Patreon’s go-to-market, operations, finance, and people teams. Workers in the US will receive three months’ severance pay as well as two extra weeks per half year of tenure they have beyond their first year at the company. European workers get a similar deal, with three months of healthcare coverage, whereas Americans will get COBRA through the end of 2022. Conte says he’ll be hosting “multiple Q&A sessions” to address the decision.

      • FuturismGoogle Employees Alarmed That the Company Suddenly Expects Them to Do Work [Ed: Media promoting the lie that workers are lazy so that you can abuse them some more]

        Crab cake lunches aren't enough to quell growing employee discomfort at Google. In late July, Googlers were told to get off their bean bag chairs and work — and now, upon the announcement that the company has extended a two-week hiring freeze, Insider reports that workers have grown increasingly alarmed at the new mandate that they actually do work.

      • TruthOut2021 Had Lowest-Ever Supplemental Poverty Rate, Thanks to Stimulus Provisions
      • TechdirtT-Mobile Fires More Employees After Promising That Most Definitely Wouldn’t Happen After Their Last Merger

        It’s a tale as old as time. Two companies look to merge, and promise regulators that the new super-union will create unlimited, untold synergies. They insist repeatedly the consolidation most certainly won’t raise prices, and that the megadeal will absolutely in no way result in layoffs.

      • Counter PunchRepublicans: Another Reason a Recession Would be Bad News

        I, and others, have pointed out the enormous human costs associated with a recession. Unemployment is traumatic for everyone, but we know that the people who are most likely to lose their jobs in a recession are those who are most disadvantaged in the labor market, such as Blacks, Hispanics, people with less education, and people with a criminal record.

      • Common DreamsHistoric Drop in Child Poverty at Risk Due to Manchin's Tanking of Key Tax Credit

        According to the federal data, child poverty fell from 9.7% in 2020 to a record low 5.2% last year, a decline that the Census Bureau attributed largely to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion approved under the American Rescue Plan. Stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment benefits also played a role in cutting poverty among children and the U.S. population overall in 2021.

      • Common DreamsManchin Calls in Big Oil CEOs to Help Ram Through Dirty Deal as Backlash Grows

        Bloomberg reported Monday that Manchin's outreach "has included companies in the mining, utilities, and oil and gas industry," all of which stand to benefit from a federal permitting overhaul—and all of which donate to the West Virginia Democrat's political campaigns.

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics



      • New YorkerThe Search for Dirt on the Twitter Whistle-Blower

        Many of Peiter (Mudge) Zatko’s former colleagues have received offers of payment for information about him.

        On August 23rd, a Slack chat for former employees of the payments company Stripe began filling with accounts of strange queries about an ex-colleague. “I’m getting inundated with paid interview requests,” one of the former employees, Dan Foster, wrote. Another, Marty Wasserman, later posted that he’d received a similar message via e-mail. “Hi Marty, Hope you’re having a great week!” the message read. “I’m currently working on a project regarding leadership in tech, and my client is hoping to speak to an experienced professional about a particular individual you may have worked with.” The message requested a “45-60 minute compensated phone consultation.” Wasserman was suspicious of the timing. “Preeeettyy sure this is regarding Mudge,” he wrote, pasting it in the Slack chat with his former colleagues. “Hard pass.”

        Hours earlier, CNN and the Washington Post had reported that Twitter’s former head of security, Peiter (Mudge) Zatko, had filed a whistle-blower disclosure to federal agencies, accusing the social-media platform of reckless security practices. Zatko’s sweeping claims, if proven, could aid Elon Musk in his attempt to terminate his forty-four-billion-dollar agreement to acquire Twitter, a legal fight with implications of billions of dollars for investors. The dozens of e-mails and LinkedIn messages received by people in Zatko’s professional orbit appeared to be mostly from research-and-advisory companies, part of a burgeoning industry whose clients include investment firms and individuals jockeying for financial advantage through information. At least six research outfits—Gerson Lehrman Group (G.L.G.), AlphaSights, Mosaic Research Management, Ridgetop Research, Coleman Research Group, and Guidepoint—approached former colleagues of Zatko’s at Stripe, Google, and the Pentagon research agency darpa. All offered to pay for information, sometimes noting that the compensation would be high or apparently unrestricted. At least two investment firms, Farallon Capital Management L.L.C. and Pentwater Capital Management L.P., also sought information from individuals close to Zatko.

      • Bruce SchneierWeird Fallout from Peiter Zatko’s Twitter Whistleblowing - Schneier on Security

        People are trying to dig up dirt on Peiter Zatko, better known as Mudge.

        For the record, I have not been contacted. I’m not sure if I should feel slighted.

      • Twitter, Facebook may need license to operate: US senator

        Graham said that he was working on a measure - he did not say what form it would take - with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican. Graham could not be reached for further comment and Warren and Hawley did not immediately return a call for comment.

        At a hearing to discuss security lapses at Twitter, Graham said the companies were allowed to become internationally powerful with few restrictions on what they could and could not do. He also expressed concern that the Federal Trade Commission seemed to have few tools in their regulatory toolbox to rein them in.

      • ABCTwitter whistleblower details allegations to lawmakers

        Last month, he brought sweeping allegations to Congress and federal regulators, contending that Twitter misled regulators about its cybersecurity capabilities and efforts to control millions of fake accounts.

        The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Zatko to tesitfy, worried that his allegations “raise serious concerns” and potentially “show dangerous data privacy and security risks for Twitter users around the world.”

      • NPRWhistleblower calls out Twitter's sloppy security in Congressional hearing

        Zatko said Twitter struggled to identify potential infiltration by foreign agents and typically was only able to do so when notified by outside agencies. The company was "unwilling to put the effort in" to hunt down bad actors, he said.

        In his testimony, Zatko painted a portrait of a company beset by widespread security issues and unable to understand the extent and implications of the data it collects.

      • The HillFour takeaways from the Twitter whistleblower hearing

        The hearing also led to calls for restructuring Twitter management, revamping U.S. regulatory agencies, and passing bipartisan bills targeting tech giants that have struggled to get across the finish line.

        Here are four takeaways from the hearing.

      • The HillTwitter shareholders approve Musk merger agreement

        During the special meeting, the shareholders also approved a measure relating to compensation for Twitter executives resulting from the merger agreement.

        After the meeting concluded, an official said more details would be provided publicly in the near future.

      • Counter PunchTrump’s Legal Troubles Bare Secret Government Run Amok

        We laugh€  when President Trump, caught trying to steal secret documents that as president he was able to rifle through at will, read in bed, tear up, flush down the toilet, or cart off to his hotel and golf club at Mar-a-Lago, is defended against an FBI raid of his Florida “home,” by right-wing political supporters who say, “If this can happen to an ex-president think what can happen to you?”€  (These same right-wing Trump backers have long supported such police-state actions including passing the laws and confirming the judges that allow them to happen, so the hypocrisy is stunning.)

      • Counter PunchElizabeth II and Marsha Hunt: Two Passings That Impoverish Our Memory

        While these two women came from different countries and backgrounds, and took wildly different career paths, I’m struck by what they had in common with each other that few of the rest of us can even remember, let alone really understand.

      • Counter PunchBannon: Another Trumpeter in the Dumpster
      • HackadayHow The BBC (Still) Sends Audio To Transmitter Sites

        Running a radio station is, on the face of it, a straightforward technical challenge. Build a studio, hook it up to a transmitter, and you’re good to go. But what happens when your station is not a single Rebel Radio-style hilltop installation, but a national chain of transmitter sites fed from a variety of city-based studios? This is the problem facing the BBC with their national UK FM transmitter chain, and since the 1980s it has been fed by a series of NICAM digital data streams. We mentioned back in 2016 how the ageing equipment had been replaced with a modern FPGA-based implementation without any listeners noticing, and now thanks to [Matt Millman], we have a chance to see a teardown of the original 1980s units. The tech is relatively easy to understand from a 2020s perspective, but it still contains a few surprises.

      • MeduzaActivists demand Moscow lower greenhouse gas emissions in Russia’s first climate lawsuit — Meduza

        A group of environmental activists have filed a lawsuit in the Russian Supreme Court demanding the revision of a presidential order and a government decree concerning the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the country. The filing marks the first climate change-related lawsuit against the Russian government.

      • Craig MurrayThe Question of The Day

        I have just spoken to the media office of the Scottish government, and followed up with this email.

      • The NationEverybody Has a Price: Ari Fleischer, the LIV Golf Tour, and the House of Saud

        Ari Fleischer is a bought man. The former press secretary under George W. Bush, best known for threatening post-9/11 dissenters from the White House press podium and laundering the lie about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, is now a PR flack for the LIV Golf Tour, the “sportswashing” fig leaf of the House of Saud.

      • The NationAlaska’s Special Election Offers a Lesson for Democrats

        Last month, when Mary Peltola won the special election for Alaska’s sole seat in the US House of Representatives, Democrats gained major ground—literally. By flipping that seat, they doubled the amount of land they represent in the lower chamber of Congress, reflecting how unusual it is that the party was able to succeed in the massive rural state.

      • The NationBarrel of Monkeys
      • MeduzaKazakh president supports bid to change capital’s name back to Astana — Meduza

        Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has endorsed an initiative by parliamentary deputies to change the name of the country’s capital from Nur-Sultan to its previous name, Astana. Kazakh Presidential Press Secretary Ruslan Zheldibai confirmed Tokayev’s support in a Facebook post...

      • The NationCan Stacey Abrams Turn the Tide in Georgia?

        Here’s a case of political affirmative action for white male Republicans: As they run for reelection, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both of whom resisted former President Donald Trump’s arm-twisting to overturn Joe Biden’s victory there, are getting credit as democracy-affirming GOP moderates. Trump backed “Big Lie” primary challengers to both men in May, but both prevailed. That gave them a patina of independence and integrity, and they are leading their Democratic opponents right now—despite their ongoing actions against democracy.

      • Common DreamsNearly 100 Members of Congress Reported Stock Trades That Overlap With Committee Work

        "People wonder why it's so difficult for Democrats to convince voters that they'll improve outlooks for working families."

    • Misinformation/Disinformation

  • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • VOA NewsEU Wants to Assess Media Mergers for Media Pluralism, Editorial Independence

      Editorial independence safeguards should consider undue interference by owners, management or governance structures, it added.

      The proposed rules also require regulators to examine whether the merging companies would remain economically sustainable if there was no deal.

      The EU executive and a new European Board for Media Services can offer their opinions on whether the two criteria have been met.

    • teleSURRally Supporting Assange Before Blinken's Arrival in Mexico

      On Sunday, Julian Assange's father and brother, John and Gabriel Shipton, were present at a rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City to demand the release of the Wikileaks founder.

      The 24F Life and Liberty Coalition called for a rally with cyclists before the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will arrive in this country on Monday for a dialogue with officials from the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ( AMLO).

    • RFERLImprisoned Iranian Journalist Razzagh Faces New Charges

      Saeed Dehghan, Razzagh’s lawyer, wrote in a tweet on September 11 that his client has been accused of "conspiring and colluding against the regime" for managing a popular room on the Clubhouse social media network.

      He also faces two other new charges, including "propaganda against the system and publishing lies with the intention of disturbing the public mind," which he is accused of for defending people of the Baha'i faith and supporting Sepideh Rashno, a woman who was arrested for protesting mandatory head-scarf rules.

    • TechdirtCalls For Violence Against The Press Have Paid Off: Politician Accused Of Murdering Investigative Reporter

      Given the inalienable protections this country has determined are essential to democracy, the United States has only tolerated limited violence against journalists. Most of this violence is perpetrated by law enforcement officers who feel a fully functioning democracy demands they greet documentation of their acts with force or unjustified arrests.

  • Civil Rights/Policing

    • France24UN accuses Taliban of harassing, detaining female staff in Afghanistan

      Citing an example, UNAMA said three Afghan women working for the organisation were "singled out and temporarily detained for questioning" by armed security agents of the authorities on Monday.

    • Citizen Lab[Repost] Mass DNA Collection in the Tibet Autonomous Region from 2016–2022

      Police have targeted men, women, and children for DNA collection outside of any ongoing criminal investigation. In some cases, police have targeted Buddhist monks. Authorities have justified mass DNA collection as a tool to fight crime, find missing people, and ensure social stability. But without checks on police powers, police in Tibet will be free to use a completed mass DNA database for whatever purpose they see fit. Based on our analysis, we believe that this program is a form of social control directed against Tibet’s people, who have long been subject to intense state surveillance and repression.

    • VOA NewsCrow Tribe Journalism Teacher Seeks Stories No One Tells

      Brien’s interest in reporting started while growing up in Hardin. Skimming her father’s daily newspapers once he was finished with them. What started out as skipping to the comics led to finding her name in the scholastic achiever’s list and eventually to learning about current events through local articles.

      As she grew older, she noticed the lack of news focusing on the Crow Indian Reservation. She said it was her curiosity about a family member who went missing that spurred her own journalistic pursuits. She pestered family members who were reluctant to discuss it and neighbors to find out what everyone knew about the disappearance.

      She learned that people went missing from her community, often without much of a follow-up investigation, more often than she thought.

    • NPRThe economics behind 'quiet quitting' — and what we should call it instead

      "People who shut down their laptop at 5... they don't work for me," says business thinkfluencer Kevin O'Leary in a CNBC video. "I hope they work for my competitors."

    • Counter PunchAlabama and the Alabama Room: a Needed Reminder of Successful Arbitration

      If Americans think of Alabama as a Southern state, when public international lawyers and members of the International Geneva community think of Alabama, they think of the Alabama Room in the City Hall of Geneva where the first third-party arbitration took place following the American Civil War. The Room was also the venue for the 1864 signing of the Geneva Convention, the founding act of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

    • TruthOutHundreds Protest as Starbucks Holds Investor Day Without Any Retail Workers
    • Common DreamsOpinion | Is the Right-Wing Supreme Court the Actual Death Panel?

      The U.S. Supreme Court has turned radically to the right. Starting in 2010, the Court decided that corporate spending on politics is protected speech (Citizens United v. FEC). Currently, approximately 84% of Americans think corporate political spending should be limited, but nearly unlimited individual and corporate money is allowed to filter through to campaigns via PACs, Super PACs, and corporate-backed nonprofits such as the Chamber of Commerce that do not have to disclose who the donors are.

    • Pro PublicaVoting Restrictions Could Make It Harder for 1 in 5 Americans to Vote

      For all the recent focus on voting rights, little attention has been paid to one of the most sustained and brazen suppression campaigns in America: the effort to block help at the voting booth for people who struggle to read — a group that now amounts to about 48 million Americans, or more than a fifth of the adult population.

    • Pro PublicaHow Human Traffickers Force Victims Into Cyberscamming

      “Selling a Chinese man in Sihanoukville just smuggled from China. 22 years old with ID card, typing very slow,” one ad read, listing $10,000 as the price. Another began: “Cambodia, Sihanoukville, six Bangladeshis, can type and speak English.” Like handbills in the days of American slavery, the channel also included offers of bounties for people who had run away. (After an inquiry from ProPublica, Telegram closed the White Shark Channel for “distributing the private information of individuals without consent.” But similar forums still operate freely.)

    • Counter PunchOn Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Alt-Right Trolls, and Racism in JRR Tolkein’s Writings

      Putting it simply, Jackson had a lot more to worry about with Film I. Back in 2001, the Kiwi director was an unknown commodity and the studio didn’t know what exactly they had on their hands. Fantasy had been relegated for decades to the B movie ghetto of old men shooting cartoon lightening bolts from their fingers with cutesy sidekicks and knights in tin can shining armor. If Fellowship had bombed, it would have meant that the studio would be stuck with two massive clunkers to dump on direct to video release (remember that veritable toilet of glorious schlock?) As such, Jackson front-loaded the first film with an average of one action set piece every ten minutes or so, which is the recipe for a magnificent epic action movie in the best tradition of Classical Hollywood Cinema.

    • Common DreamsRights Advocates Condemn UK's Crackdown on Anti-Monarchy Protesters

      "As precious, if not more precious than the monarchy, is the real beautiful web of freedoms and civil liberties that we've built up here over centuries, and we'd be very wrong to begin to sacrifice those in this kind of moment."

    • TruthOutLaw-and-Order Policies Make Us Less Safe. The Trajectory of the '90s Shows Why.
  • Monopolies

    • TechdirtBehind Washington’s Antitrust Gambit

      Summer is nearly over, but, for many politicians, destructive tech regulations are always in season. Congress is back from recess, and the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA) is once more under consideration.€ 

    • The NationVeteran Activist David Segal Shows How to Make an Issue of Corporate Monopolies

      David Segal, a cofounder of the progressive activist group Demand Progress, is mounting a congressional campaign in Tuesday’s Rhode Island Democratic primary that highlights his many years of work on issues of economic, social, racial, and environmental justice—alongside his steady support for a foreign policy focused on peace and diplomacy.

    • TechdirtEurope Moves Forward With Dumb Plan To Tax ‘Big Tech’ To Pad The Pockets Of Big Telecom

      Last year€ we noted how€ FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr had launched a bad faith effort suggesting that “big tech” gets a “free ride” on the internet, and should be forced to fund broadband expansion. This argument, that tech giants like Google and Netflix somehow get a free ride (they don’t) and should “pay their fair share” to fund broadband expansion is a€ fifteen year old AT&T lobbyist talking point.

    • Trademarks

      • TechdirtThe Absurdity Returns: Iceland Foods Appeals Invalidation Of Its Trademark

        I really cannot believe we’re back here. Way back in 2016 we wondered aloud who gets to trademark the word “Iceland”. Confused? Well, Iceland Foods is a grocery in the UK that’s been around since the 1970s. Iceland is also the name of a sovereign nation established in the early 1900s. In 2016, Iceland Foods finally got a trademark on its brand name after years of trying. It then chose to block a trademark application in the EU for “Inspired by Iceland”. The applicant of that mark was the nation of Iceland. The nation, as you might assume, was not pleased and petitioned EUIPO to invalidate the Iceland Foods mark entirely, which it did in 2019. The first part of the title of that last post I did was The End of Absurdity.

    • Copyrights

      • Torrent FreakTelecoms Group Wants to DDoS IPTV Pirates Off The Internet

        In most regions of the world, the problem of IPTV piracy isn't going away, despite attempts to take illegal services down using enforcement agencies and ISP blocking. In Hungary a new anti-piracy option has been placed on the table - cyberattacks against IPTV pirates. What could possibly go wrong?

      • Torrent FreakAdobe Thinks it Can Solve Netflix’s Password 'Piracy' Problem

        As Netflix and similar legal streaming services come under pressure to maximize profits, 'password piracy' looks set to become a recurring news event in the months and years to come. Adobe believes that business opportunities exist and is offering its services. Tools include carrots and sticks, supported by intense monitoring of customer behavior.

      • TechdirtTechdirt Podcast Episode 329: Is AI Art The End For Artists?

        The explosion of AI-generated art has taken the internet by storm, and is poised to continue growing for a long time. In turn, that’s sparked a lot of conversation (and a lot of backlash) about the impact on artists — but much of the controversy seems misguided or overblown. This week we’re joined by Rob Sheridan, an artist and designer who has embraced the power of these tools, to discuss what AI-generated art really means for artists.

      • Michael GeistThe Bill C-11 Hearings Are Back, Part Two: The Risks to Canadian Creators

        The first post in my series on Bill C-11 focused on the risks associated with regulating user content. But it isn’t just ordinary users posting on services such as TikTok or Youtube that could find their content subject to regulation. The bill is ostensibly designed to support Canadian creators, yet many fear it will do the opposite. For the independent production sector, there was a late change to the bill as part of the government’s rush to pass it without committee debate that could undermine an essential policy that supports the film and television sector. And for digital creators, there are justifiable fears the bill will result in less revenue, less global exposure, and lost opportunities for one of Canada’s fastest growing cultural sectors.

        The independent production sector issue has not attracted much attention, in part because it was snuck into the bill during a process where the government effectively cut off debate or discussion as it rushed debate on over 150 proposed amendments.

      • Michael GeistThe Bill C-11 Hearings Are Back, Part One: The Risks of Regulating User Content

        The Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications resumes its hearings into Bill C-11 this week with plans for four sessions that will hear from a wide range of witnesses. Given the shortcomings of the House committee hearings – numerous important stakeholders were not given the opportunity to appear – the Senate review this fall provides a critical opportunity to re-examine the bill and to address some of its obvious flaws. With that in mind, this post is the first of a series that highlights some of Bill C-11’s major risks and concerns.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • The end of the United Queendom

        I'm moderately against monarchy, but I've lived in one all my life, so I'm used to it. The queen didn't seem like an objectionable person, and it's a sad thing that she died. But the news media have gone bananas. There's queen coverage everywhere.

        [...]

        People have been arrested for protesting about the new king. A man holding up a blank sheet of paper was told he'd be arrested if he wrote "Not my king" on it (and he posted a video of his discussion with the police to prove it).

        [...]

        My protest idea is to print a t-shirt with a photo of Elvis Presley and "Not my king either". Subtle enough to avoid arrest?

      • GHILNSR Wordo: CHINK
      • Balance of Power

        Elections tend to get pretty tight and even outside of parliamentary politics it seems that on any issue there is as many people believing in one thing as believing the opposite.

        [...]

        There might be other reasons too. It’s not fully understood, but while the Overton window shifts like a tug-of-war (usually in the wrong direction), there’s usually about as many people on side A as on side B.

        And, take climate change as an example. It’s much more important and urgent and actionable than even side A’s policies reflect (let alone side B which is much worse).

        So it’s not as if they’re tug-of-warring right over the center of the chasm of truth. Instead, they’re both lost far over the edge of wrongness.

        Let’s not delude ourselves here. Side A’s and Side B’s strengths both derive not from truth itself, but from perception of truth. From narrative.

    • Religion

    • Technical

      • Science

        • HackadayNeon Lamps — Not Just For Pilot Lights

          It’s easy to see why LEDs largely won out over neon bulbs for pilot light applications. But for all the practical utility of LEDs, they’re found largely lacking in at least one regard over their older indicator cousins: charm. Where LEDs are cold and flat, the gentle orange glow of a neon lamp brings a lot to the aesthetics party, especially in retro builds.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries
Links 26/03/2024: Inflation Problems, Strikes in Finland
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Losing Children, Carbon Tax Discussed
Links for the day
Mark Shuttleworth resigns from Debian: volunteer suicide and Albania questions unanswered, mass resignations continue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 26/03/2024: 6,000 Layoffs at Dell, Microsoft “XBox is in Real Trouble as a Hardware Manufacturer”
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/03/2024: Microsofters Still Trying to 'Extend' Gemini Protocol
Links for the day
Look What IBM's Red Hat is Turning CentOS Into
For 17 years our site ran on CentOS. Thankfully we're done with that...
The Julian Paul Assange Verdict: The High Court Has Granted Assange Leave to Appeal Extradition to the United States, Decision Adjourned to May 20th Pending Assurances
The decision is out
The Microsoft and Apple Antitrust Issues Have Some But Not Many Commonalities
gist of the comparison to Microsoft
ZDNet, Sponsored by Microsoft for Paid-for Propaganda (in 'Article' Clothing), Has Added Pop-Up or Overlay to All Pages, Saying "813 Partners Will Store and Access Information on Your Device"
Avoiding ZDNet may become imperative given what it has turned into
Julian Assange Verdict 3 Hours Away
Their decision is due to be published at 1030 GMT
People Who Cover Suicide Aren't Suicidal
Assange didn't just "deteriorate". This deterioration was involuntary and very much imposed upon him.
Overworking Kills
The body usually (but not always) knows best
Former Red Hat Chief (CEO), Who Decided to Leave the Company Earlier This Month, Talks About "Cloud Company Red Hat" to CNBC
shows a lack of foresight and dependence on buzzwords
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 25, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 25, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Discord Does Not Make Money, It's Spying on People and Selling Data/Control (38% is Allegedly Controlled by the Communist Party of China)
a considerable share exists
In At Least Two Nations Windows is Now Measured at 2% "Market Share" (Microsoft Really Does Not Want People to Notice That)
Ignore the mindless "AI"-washing
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Still Has Hundreds of Thousands of Simultaneously-Online Unique Users
The scale of IRC