Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 04/10/2022: Tor Project Board and Conflicts of Interest, More Politics



  • GNU/Linux

    • Kernel Space

      • TalospaceLinux 6.0

        The Linux 6.0 kernel is out, formerly "5.20," and on its way to a distro near you. Keeping in mind that no Linux numerical release corresponds to any particular milestone, real or imagined, the marquee improvements include more graphics hardware support, XFS performance and scalability improvements (I like this in particular since my Fedora root is still XFS), further preparations for Compute Express Link, zero-copy send for networking and io_uring userspace block driver support.

      • Ubuntu HandbookLinux Kernel 6.0 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 22.04 | UbuntuHandbook

        Linux Kernel 6.0 was released hours ago! Here are the new features and how to install instructions for Ubuntu 22.04.

        “So, as is hopefully clear to everybody, the major version number change is more about me running out of fingers and toes than it is about any big fundamental changes.” Linus Torvalds announced.

      • Linux CapableHow to Install Linux Kernel 6.0 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

        The Linux Kernel 6.0 release contains several features and improvements. One of the most notable is support for the newest generation of Intel, AMD, and ARM processors. In addition, the kernel includes updates to improve security and performance and support various new hardware devices. For users, the most significant change in this release will likely be the new capabilities and improved stability. As always, users are advised to upgrade to the latest kernel version if they require only to do so or understand the risks of using mainline kernels.

        Some of the various changes besides the typical CPU improvements include the following.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • DebugPointHow to Enable, Disable Keyboard, Mouse and Touch Devices via Terminal

        Xinput is a utility that gives you configuration options to control mouse, keyboard, touchpad, and touch screen devices in Linux (applicable for all Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora). It is part of xorg-xinput package, which provides various device services.

        Here'a a simple tutorial to demonstrate how you can enable & disable various peripheral devices using Xinput via the terminal.

      • PowerDNSStructured Logging in PowerDNS Recursor

        The problem with free text logging is that is it very hard to keep it consistent and hard to process automatically in a reliable way. It is also not always clear (unless the creator of the message is very careful) what information is actually logged and quoting of special values is often problematic. A typical example of a free format log message looks like this (set quiet=no when running Recursor to see these detailed messages, this is not recommended in a production environment as it generates an awful lot of messages): [...]

      • JCSBBSing at 300 Bits Per Second

        I recently acquired a 3M Whisper Writer 1000 communications terminal circa 1983, and restored it to working order. This is a short session of it dialing into my Kludge BBS (hosted on a Macintosh Plus circa 1986) over its internal 300 bps modem.

      • Manuel MatuzovicDay 6: the :has() pseudo-class

        It’s time to get me up on speed with modern CSS. There’s so much new in CSS that I know too little about. To change that I’ve started #100DaysOfMoreOrLessModernCSS. Why more or less modern CSS? Because some topics will be about cutting-edge features, while other stuff has been around for quite a while already, but I just have little to no experience with it.

      • In defence of swap: common misconceptions

        Having swap is a reasonably important part of a well functioning system. Without it, sane memory management becomes harder to achieve. [...]

      • VideoHow to install Microsoft Fonts on Linux Mint 21 - Invidious

        In this video, we are looking at how to install Microsoft Fonts on Linux Mint 21.

      • Linux Made SimpleHow to install GachaBoba on a Chromebook

        Today we are looking at how to install GachaBoba on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

    • Games

      • Daniel MiesslerStadia is Google’s Product Strategy - Daniel Miessler

        Google refuses to invest in solid product strategy and UI/UX, and the results are becoming predictable

        [...]

        As I ranted about with Google’s management interfaces, the interfaces seem completely oblivious to how people will actually use the products. So they fail.

      • AIMStadia Joins The League Of Extraordinary ‘Killed by Google’ Projects

        In 2019, Google introduced Stadia during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) held in San Francisco. A cloud gaming service, Google described it as ‘a platform for everyone’ – one that could stream games from the cloud to the Chrome browser, Pixel devices, and Chromecast. Against this backdrop, Google had also planned to establish its own gaming studio for exclusive titles. Stadia was touted to be the next disruptive thing in the gaming industry.

      • Obliteration is a new PS4 Emulator for PC (Windows/Linux)

        And here comes a new challenger. Developer ultimaweapon has released a brand new Playstation 4 emulator for the PC, called Obliteration. Obliteration is currently at a very early point, and it doesn’t exist for commercial games. Nevertheless, for that video demonstration can be found under the map as well as a download link.

      • GamingOnLinuxSteam Next Fest - October 2022 Edition is live now

        Ready to try more game demos? Now is your chance once again as Steam Next Fest - October 2022 Edition is live.

      • GamingOnLinuxKDE devs talk Steam Deck and their work for it at Akademy 2022, over a million shipped

        Recently at the Akademy 2022 conference, KDE's David Edmundson gave a talk on the Steam Deck and the ongoing work in KDE to improve things.

      • GamingOnLinuxAMD driver update gets Red Dead Redemption 2 working better on Steam Deck / Linux

        Are you having issues with Red Dead Redemption 2 on either the Steam Deck or a Linux desktop with an AMD GPU? Well, upcoming driver updates should improve it. While there was an update in Proton Experimental recently that fixed the game not running after the FSR2 upgrade, it seems there's still problems with it crashing after a while.

      • GamingOnLinuxSteamOS and Steam Deck on top for Linux in the Steam Hardware Survey

        The latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey is out now for September 2022, with it showing that clearly the Steam Deck with SteamOS is the most popular way now to game on Linux.

      • GamingOnLinuxProton Experimental updates fix up Indiana Jones, Final Fantasy IV (3D Remake)

        Valve has recently put up a fresh update for Proton Experimental, bringing more game compatibility and some fixes. The update was released on September 30th.

      • HackadaySubverting PS4 And PS5 Through The PS2 Emulator

        Game console hacking remains a fascinating area, and we’re glad when someone brings the spoils of exploration for us to marvel at. This time, we’re looking at the [mast1c0re] hack story by [cturt] – an effort to find bugs in PS2 emulation toolkit present on Sony PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles, proving fruitful in the end. What’s more, this exploit seems unpatchable – not technically, but under the Sony’s security practices, this emulator falls under the category of things they refuse to patch when identified.

      • HackadayYour Own Home IR Cloner

        Many devices use infrared (IR) as a signalling medium like, for example, RGB LED strip controllers modules and some TV controllers. Often times these signals aren’t meant for secure applications which means the functionality can be reproduced by simply replaying back the received signal verbatim. Sometimes, enterprising hackers want to reverse engineer the IR signals, perhaps to automate some tasks or just to get a better understanding of the electronics we use in our everyday life. To help in this effort, [dilshan] creates an open source hardware IR cloner device, capable of snooping IR signals and retransmitting them.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Bryan Lunduke25th Anniversary of FreeDOS -- with the creator of FreeDOS

      Back in 2019, on the 25th anniversary of FreeDOS, I talked with the projects founder… Jim Hall.

      Note: This video was originally recorded in 2019 and is presented here, unedited. Including advertisements from the time. Because historic computer ads are cool and should be preserved.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • Jeff GeerlingYou can't buy a Raspberry Pi right now

        Well, two reasons:

        1. Raspberry Pi is one of the few SBC vendors (maybe the only one) to tackle the most important feature for adoption and ongoing end-user happiness: support.

        Instead of throwing hardware at the wall, seeing what sticks, and relying on developer communities to support their hardware with distributions like Armbian, Raspberry Pi actively supports their boards, all the way back to the original Pi model B. They ship Raspberry Pi OS. They continually improve their documentation and focus on a great end-user experience for beginners and advanced users.

        2. Production limitations because of the global components shortage.

      • NetBSDThe Geeks way of checking what the outside wheather is like

        Long story short - I was still in the process of recabling the house (running ethernet to every room) and added a serial cable from the machine room to the WS2300, and then did some pkgsrc work and got misc/open2300 and misc/open2300-mysql. I used those to log the data from the weather-station to a mysql database, and later moved that (via misc/open2300-pgsql) to a postgres database.

        Now sometime this year the machine running that database had to be replaced (should have done that earlier, it was power hungry and wasteful). The replacement was an aarch64 SoC (a Pine64 Quartz64 model A) - and it had no real com ports (of course) any more. I had experimented with USB serial adapters and the WS2300 before, but for unclear reasons this time I had no luck and couldn't get it to work. Since some of the outdoor sensors of the old weather-station had started failing, I decided to replace it.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Web Browsers/Web Servers

      • Mozilla

        • TorThe Role of the Tor Project Board and Conflicts of Interest

          First off, a word about non-profit boards of directors. Although every non-profit is unique in its own way, the purpose of a board of an organization like The Tor Project, with a substantial staff and community, is not to set day-to-day policy or make engineering decisions for the organization. The board's primary role is a fiduciary one: to ensure that Tor is meeting its obligations under its bylaws and charter, and “hire/fire” power over the executive director. Although staff members may consult board members with relevant expertise over strategic decisions, and board members are selected in part for their background in the space, the board is separate from the maintenance and decision-making on Tor's code, and a board seat doesn't come with any special privileges over the Tor network. Board members may be consulted on technical decisions, but they don't make them. The Tor Project's staff and volunteers do. The Tor Project also has a social contract which everyone at Tor, including board members, has to comply with.

    • Programming/Development

      • Lawrence TrattUML: My Part in its Downfall

        In this post I'm going to try and explain some of the factors that I think contributed to UML's downfall. To some extent this is a historical document, at least of my perspective. But, with the benefit of hindsight, I feel there are general lessons to be drawn about how both group dynamics and standardisation can develop in unfortunate ways. Be forewarned that I only saw part of what was going on (so I will be unaware of possibly important details), I didn't write a diary (so I will recall things incorrectly), and my recollections are bound to reflect my biases (my ego will inevitably encourage me to relay the story in a way that presents me in a better light than I deserve).

      • RlangR tips and tricks – get the gist

        In scientific programming speed is important. Functions written for general public use have a lot of control-flow checks which are not necessary if you are confident enough with your code.To quicken your code execution I suggest to strip run-of-the-mill functions to their bare bones. You can save serious wall-clock time by using only the laborers code lines. Below is a walk-through example of what I mean.

      • Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

        • Alexandru NedelcuExecute Shell Commands in Java/Scala/Kotlin

          The following describes snippets for executing shell commands, in Java, Scala, and Kotlin, using standard functionality. It’s also useful to compare Java vs Scala vs Kotlin for this particular problem.

  • Leftovers

    • Terence EdenBlog To Speech

      I find this curious. I don't think it is bad or wrong or unbloggerly. Just a bit odd. I'm from the generation who hated phone calls and ruthlessly mocked voicemail. And now I see the youth leaving each other voicenotes and I feel bemused.

      Reading is faster than listening. For me, at least. But reading requires focus. It's hard to cook dinner while reading text. But it's pretty easy to do most things while a podcast prattles on in the background.

    • Andre FrancaBrief thoughts on Mastodon

      Lately, I've been in a movement to limit my access to Mastodon, so I can focus on my family, or things like reading and studying. Although I don't toot much, my account is active and I try to catch up monthly on what's going on there.

    • HackadayLaser Zaps Cockroaches Over One Meter

      You may have missed this month’s issue of Oriental Insects, in which a project by [Ildar Rakhmatulin] Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh caught our attention. [Ildar] led a team of researchers in the development of an AI-controlled laser that neutralizes moving cockroaches at distances of up to 1.2 meters. Noting the various problems using chemical pesticides for pest control, his team sought out a non-conventional approach.

    • HackadayHackaday Prize 2022: An Easy-To-Build Fermenter For Tempeh

      [Maud Bausier] and [Antoine Jaunard] believe we should all know about tempeh — a traditional Indonesian food made out of legumes fermented with fungi. To simplify the process a bit: you get some soybeans, add a tempeh starter fungi culture to them, ferment them a while, and out comes the tempeh. It’s a great source of proteins that’s relatively easy to grow on your own. One catch, though — you do need a certain kind of climate to have it develop properly. This is why [Maud] and [Antoine] are bringing a tempeh fermenter design to this year’s Hackaday Prize.

    • Science

      • Matt RickardThe Steffen Boarding Method

        Boarding an airplane is no fun. Usually, it's done by airline status or back-to-front. In a wildly unprofitable industry where time is the major constraint – isn't there a quicker boarding method? A survey of queuing algorithms.

      • Lee Yingtong LiBayesian biostatistics procedures matching frequentist confidence intervals

        Confidence intervals are commonly misinterpreted as there being, after observing the data, a 95% probability that the true parameter lies within the confidence interval. The usual explanation why this is incorrect is that the true parameter is not random, and so is either inside or outside the confidence interval. This explanation holds in the ‘relative likelihood’ interpretation of probability associated with frequentist statistics.

        However, as I have discussed previously, in the ‘subjective’ interpretation of probability associated with Bayesian statistics, we can assign a probability to the true parameter lying within a given interval. To do so implies that we are thinking of a particular likelihood function for the data, and a prior that would allow us to assign a probability to the true parameter lying within the interval before observing any data.

        It is relevant to ask, then, if we interpret a frequentist confidence interval of level $α$ as a Bayesian credible interval of level $α$, what prior does this imply? Equivalently, can we construct Bayesian procedures whose credible intervals exactly match the standard frequentist confidence intervals, for all levels $α$?

      • RTLSweden's Paabo wins medicine Nobel for sequencing Neanderthal DNA

        Paabo's research gave rise to an entirely new scientific discipline called paleogenomics, and has "generated new understanding of our evolutionary history", the Nobel committee said.

        "By revealing genetic differences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human," it said in a statement.

        Paabo -- the founder and director of the department of genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig -- found that gene transfer had occurred from these now extinct hominins to Homo sapiens following the migration out of Africa around 70,000 years ago.

    • Education

      • uni TorontoUniversities and their non-employees (part two)

        In an ordinary conventional company (or more broadly many organizations), everyone present not merely matters to the company but also is paid by the company and actively work for it. They're an employee or a contractor of the company, they get paid for it, and they think of their relationship with the company this way. Even in sectors that are plagued by 'unpaid internships', I think that such people still think of themselves as working for the company, just for free.

      • Positech GamesThis article is too long for you

        I made the mistake today of reading some social media comments (twitter, reddit, arstechnica, slashdot) on a topic I know a bit about and have read a lot of the background on. As you might guess it was an IQ-barren tirade of abuse, uninformed hot-takes and absolutely baseless bullshit. This isn’t new, but I am beginning to worry that its basically the only means of communication people can cope with now. I think that our IQs have taken a battering, but far far worse, our attention spans have been destroyed, which is the first step towards making us even stupider.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

    • Proprietary

      • AIMCloud Prices Are Hurting Enterprises Bad, But There Might Be Ways Out

        The discussions around companies facing an ongoing cloud crisis are everywhere. According to a recent report published by autonomous solution provider company Anodot, almost 50% IT professionals are currently facing difficulties in controlling cloud costs, and almost a third of the respondents witnessed a 25–50% hike in cloud prices.

      • JoinupInterview of Lydia Prinsen from the City of Amsterdam and Jeroen Naves from Pels Rijcken Permalink

        The ambition of this project has always been to show it is possible to operationalize general guidelines for AI ethics to ensure the digital human rights are safeguarded while making use of the advantages that digitalization may bring to a city. Because of interest from other players in Europe with regards to the Amsterdam practices, further promotion of ethical AI by having an European standard for public procurement of AI And algorithmic systems was a perfect next step. For this reason, we, DG CNECT and DG GROW of the EC jointly decided to announce this collaboration by holding a webinar. Here, Amsterdam shared it’s experiences on the AI-clauses and it’s conditions were in depth presented by Jeroen Naves. This was a first step in ultimately creating a draft version of the European AI Clauses.

    • Security

      • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

        • Jan Piet MensDNSSEC signing with the se.SAM N200 HSM with PKCS#11

          I pretty much stumbled over sematicon and their N200 Series on my quest for Hardware Security Modules (HSM) of almost any shape and size, and after a very pleasant phone call with one of their managers, I was quickly given documentation to study and access to a dedicated device over a Wireguard VPN.

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • Rolling StoneAretha Franklin Was Tracked By the FBI for 40 Years. Here’s What’s In Her File

          From 1967 to 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation methodically collected information about Aretha Franklin using false phone calls, surveillance, infiltration, and highly-placed sources, according to the documents obtained in September by Rolling Stone.

          Franklin’s FBI file — first requested in via the Freedom of Information Act on Aug. 17, 2018 — is 270 pages long, peppered with phrases like “Black extremists,” “pro-communist,” “hate America,” “radical,” “racial violence,” and “militant Black power” and overflowing with suspicion about the singer, her work, and the other activists and entertainers with whom she she spent time. Some documents are heavily redacted and others indicate that there may be additional materials in the FBI’s possession. Rolling Stone has requested the FBI make available any and all additional records.

        • Site36Artificial intelligence for border surveillance: Greece tests autonomous drone swarms

          Now the Greek authorities are researching new methods to detect border crossings from the air. This will involve the use of drones that will take over tasks for border surveillance and law enforcement with the help of „real-time artificial intelligence“. The project is called REACTION and researches technologies for land border surveillance. Details of the project were presented by the Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, at a trade fair in Thessaloniki earlier this month.

        • InklPeter Thiel’s Palantir Had Secret Plan to Crack UK’s NHS: ‘Buying Our Way In’

          Palantir Technologies had a secret plan to deepen its relationship with the UK’s National Health Service without public scrutiny.

          The US data-analytics company aimed to buy up smaller rivals that already had an existing relationship with the NHS, according to emails and strategy documents seen by Bloomberg. This approach would hopefully allow Palantir to avoid further scrutiny in working with one of the largest depositories of heath data.

          Palantir’s regional head Louis Mosley described the strategy in an email entitled “Buying our way in…!” sent in Sept. 2021, which outlined “hoovering up” small businesses serving the NHS to “take a lot of ground and take down a lot of political resistance.”

        • HackadayBig Brother Or Dumb Brother? Bus Drivers In Beijing Are Forced To Wear “Emotional Monitors”

          Humans aren’t always great at respecting each other’s privacy. However, common sense says there’s a clear boundary when it comes to the thoughts in one’s own head and the feelings in one’s heart.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Counter PunchStop the Ukraine War: Refuse to Handle Military Cargo

        We, members and retirees of the ILWU, are very concerned about the Coast Committee’s public statement of March 3, 2022 on the war in Ukraine. It diverges from the many anti-war positions that our union has taken even when it was unpopular to do so. The ILWU has always criticized NATO’s war moves. Since the end of World War II we’ve opposed U.S. wars and coups in Korea, Vietnam, Angola, Serbia (former Yugoslavia), Cuba (Bay of Pigs Invasion), Chile (coup), El Salvador and Nicaragua.

      • Democracy NowNoam Chomsky & Vijay Prashad on Ukraine, Why U.S. Must Negotiate with Russia & What Media Gets Wrong

        We speak to world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky and political writer Vijay Prashad about the Russian war in Ukraine, now in its eighth month. When it comes to continuing the war rather than negotiating a peace settlement, “the United States and Britain are pretty isolated on this,” says Chomsky. “The United States saw Ukraine as a kind of loose nail under which they place their weapons, billions of dollars of weapons … in order to egg Russia on,” says Prashad. Chomsky and Prashad are co-authors of the new book, “The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of U.S. Power,” which covers failed U.S. foreign policy in recent wars and the importance of seeing beyond dominant media narratives.

      • MeduzaThe Ukrainian offensive in the Kherson and Donetsk regions New developments at the front, in detail — Meduza

        While the official Kremlin is busily annexing Ukrainian regions on paper, Ukraine’s armed forces are conducting a major offensive in the Kherson and Donetsk areas. Please note that, during a war, fact-checking all the incoming information for complete accuracy takes time. This report reflects our best understanding of what’s currently happening at the front, and may be amended in the future.

      • BBCNorth Korea fires ballistic missile over Japan

        The UN prohibits North Korea from ballistic and nuclear weapons tests.

        "North Korea appears to have launched a missile. Please evacuate into buildings or underground," the Japanese government said in a rare alert issued at 07:29 local time on Tuesday (22:29 GMT Monday).

        Officials said the missile fell into the Pacific Ocean about 3,000 km (1,860 miles) from Japan, and that no injuries had been reported in connection with it.

      • The HillUS faces election worker shortage ahead of midterms due to rise in threats

        In an interview last month, Kim Wyman, senior election security lead at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said because of those threats 1 in 3 elections officials and poll workers have quit their positions over fears for their safety, and state officials are having a hard time hiring for such positions.d

      • NBCOath Keepers leader regretted not having guns on Jan. 6, prosecutors say at seditious conspiracy trial

        The Justice Department alleges that Rhodes and members of his organization plotted to oppose the peaceful transfer of power, stockpiling guns in "quick reaction forces" just outside of D.C. that could be brought into the city at a moment's notice. Rhodes' lawyers have noted that he followed D.C.'s strict gun laws, which they say is an indication that he would have only acted upon an order from then-President Donald Trump. But the audio recording and other evidence prosecutors presented Monday suggest that Rhodes planned to disrupt certification of the presidential election regardless of what Trump said.

      • The HillProsecutors lay out sprawling sedition case against Oath Keepers

        Federal prosecutors on Monday laid out their sprawling case against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the far-right militia as it brings rarely used seditious conspiracy charges in one of its most high-profile trials against those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

        Rhodes is on trial alongside Oath Keepers Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, each accused of conspiring to use force to overthrow the government — a crime that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

      • The Telegraph UKVolodymyr Zelensky hits back at Elon Musk after he tweets his ‘peace’ plan for Ukraine

        "Which @elonmusk do you like more?," the president tweeted, offering two responses: one who supports Ukraine, one who supports Russia.

        Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Mr Zelensky, asked Mr Musk in a response: “Will hundred thousand dead in Mariupol vote? Or those who went through concentration camps? @elonmusk you create rockets and dream of colonising Mars. Russia creates mobile crematoria and dreams of Ukrainians disappearing as a nation. It is not a "voting" issue.”

      • NPROath Keepers planned an armed rebellion, prosecutor tells jury in sedition case

        Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the far-right group tried to change history and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler told jurors hearing the first seditious conspiracy trial to result from the assault on the U.S. Capitol last year.

      • SalonGinni Thomas and the Oath Keepers signal the "no regrets" phase of January 6 apologia

        Ginni Thomas is sticking to the Big Lie, even when testifying before the January 6 committee. We still don't know her exact phrasing, but reports from members of the January 6 committee indicate that the right-wing activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reiterated during her testimony last week the false belief that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Whether or not she was sincere in this claim is hard to discern. She also told the committee she never speaks about her extensive political activism with her husband, a claim so implausible that it casts doubt on the truthfulness of anything she said during an interview in which she was not put under oath.

      • Over 2,295 Teachers Killed In North-East Schools’ Attacks, Says TRCN

        The Registrar/Chief Executive of Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Ajiboye, has disclosed that attacks on schools by insurgents claimed the lives of more than 2,295 teachers in the North-east between 2009 and 2022.

      • Nigerian TribuneAttack On Schools: Over 2,295 teachers killed in North East between 2009 – 2022, says TRCN

        Registrar/chief executive of Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Ajiboye, who disclosed this, on Friday in Abuja, also revealed that over 19,000 others have been displaced, and over 910 schools damaged or destroyed due to the conflict.

      • Number of migrants crossing the Channel this year edges closer to 33,000

        There have been 27,539 crossings since then home secretary Priti Patel announced the deal with the east African nation in April.

      • Kent UKChannel crossings crisis is 'out of control', says Home Secretary Suella Braverman

        Channel crossings this year are already past 30,000. Picture: UKNIP

        “So the problem has gone out of control for a variety of reasons.”

      • The Telegraph UKPolice catch people-smuggling gang behind 50 Channel crossings

        Each Channel dinghy generally carries more than 40 migrants and is said by police to have netted the smugglers around €£70,000 apiece, or more than €£3.5 million in total.

        News of the raids came as an estimated 650 to 700 migrants crossed the Channel on Thursday following 667 confirmed as being intercepted in the Channel on Wednesday. It takes the total past 31,000 for this year, compared with 28,561 for the whole of 2021.

      • RTLUnexploded WWII bomb found in Hosingen

        The grenade was taken to a nearby patch of woodland and neutralised in a controlled explosion.

      • The Telegraph UKMystery military drone washes up on Crimea beach

        The unmarked vessel – carrying cameras and other electronic equipment – was found on a beach at Omega Bay, close to the Sevastopol naval base on the Crimea peninsula, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

        The discovery of the device, around 150 nautical miles from Ukrainian-held waters, may explain why Russia took the recent decision to move its Kilo-Class attack submarines from the Sevastopol base to Novorossiysk, in Krasnodar Krai, southern Russia.

      • Marcy WheelerStop Magnifying The Former President’s Incitement

        We have gotten so well-practiced with mass shootings in the US, we know well enough not to participate in the mass shooter’s actions by magnifying his manifesto.

        But we don’t follow that rule about terrorism-in-process, at least not in the form of the former President’s own tweets.

      • ScheerpostHedges: ‘The Greatest Evil is War’ Excerpt Details the Horrors of a Post-War Life

        Chapter X: Wounds That Never Heal

      • ScheerpostDobbs Is a Recipe for Disaster in the Military

        Andrea Mazzarino gives us a feeling for just what a disaster the Dobbs decision is likely to be for one community of Americans of which she’s a part: military spouses.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • Helsinki TimesLaw on whistleblower protection finally moving forward in Finland

        The bill states that private companies with 50–249 employees must introduce an internal channel that enables the anonymous reporting of misconduct by 17 December 2023. Companies with 250 or more employees must introduce such a channel within three months of the act passing. The obligation to set up the channel will also apply to certain smaller organisations in the financial sector.

        Whistleblowers who do not have access to such a channel or who have good reason to believe the internal report would be ineffective can also submit their reports to the office of the Chancellor or Justice.

      • TruthOutNational Archives Says It's Still Missing Docs Trump Removed From White House
    • Environment

      • Energy

        • ScheerpostBlinken Says Nord Stream Sabotage Is a ‘Tremendous Opportunity’

          The secretary of state says it's an opportunity to remove Europe's dependency on Russian energy.

        • Common Dreams'Their Greed Knows No Bounds': Analysis Shows Ongoing Price Gouging by Oil Giants

          "Why are gas prices still failing to match lower oil prices? Corporate greed."

        • Common Dreams'Doing This for My Son': UK Climate Activist Gives Interview While Handcuffed, Hauled Off by Cops

          "The United Nations has said we should have no new oil."

        • Michael West MediaBeyond the Vales: towering profits and squalid PR tactics at the twilight of the coal boom

          “Extremely investor friendly” is how the latest fossil fuel buyer describes Australia. Along with the twilight of the coal era with its astronomical profits has come the rise of squalid public relations tactics. Zacharias Szumer investigates the case of Liechtenstein-based coal trader Sev.en Global Investments, its billionaire owner Pavel Tykač and Sev.en’s propaganda associates.

          The recent sale of the Vales Point coal plant to Czech company Sev.en Global Investments has already attracted plenty of controversy. Not least because of the $200 million price tag. It was an extremely tidy turn for Liberal Party donor and local coal baron Trevor St Baker who bought it for only $1 million from the NSW Government in 2015.

        • VarietyKim Kardashian to Pay $1.26 Million to Settle SEC Charges She Illegally Hyped Cryptocurrency

          According to the SEC’s order, Kardashian failed to disclose that she was paid $250,000 to publish a post on her Instagram account about EMAX tokens, the crypto asset security being offered by EthereumMax. Kardashian’s post linked to the EthereumMax website, which provided instructions for potential investors to purchase EMAX tokens.

        • NPRSEC charges Kim Kardashian for unlawfully touting crypto on her Instagram account

          The Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday Kardashian has agreed to pay a fine of $1 million, although she did not admit or deny the S.E.C.'s findings. She will also give back $260,000, which includes her payment from the company with interest.

        • Soylent NewsThe Bicycle

          Why is a gasoline moped allowed to do 30, but an electric one only 20? Oil industry bribes to legislators, or is Secretary Buttigieg on the take? Are oil companies bribing him? He and my elected representatives will be getting some emails... Or more likely, Trump’s transportation secretary Elaine Chao, since the Republican Party is the Party of Big Oil, the party of climate change skeptics, the party of billionaires, no longer the party of Lincoln but now the party of Trump, the president who engineered a failed attempt to hold onto power despite the vote.

          But, the fellow at Ace was correct. The maximum speed without pedaling is 20. I recommend that shop, they have good people.

          As to the bike itself, here’s a short review: [...]

        • HackadayLithium-Ion Batteries Are Easy To Find

          In the first article, I’ve given you an overview of Lithium-Ion batteries and cells as building blocks for our projects, and described how hackers should treat their Lithium-Ion cells. But what if you don’t have any LiIon cells yet? Where do you get LiIon cells for your project?

        • DeSmogScrap UK’s Net Zero Target, Key Figure in Pro-Truss Think Tank Tells Tory Conference

          Andy Mayer, chief operating officer and energy analyst at the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), called the legally binding target “nonsense” adding that the energy crisis shows that energy security and “affordability” are more important.

        • HackadayAncient Nuclear Plant Computer Finds New Home In Bletchley Museum

          Although technology keeps advancing every year, safety-critical systems in factories and power plants typically stay with the technology that was available when they were built, in the spirit of “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke”. When it comes to safety, there are probably few systems more critical than nuclear power plants, and as a result one power station in Dungeness, in the south-east of England, was controlled by the same Ferranti Argus 500 computer from the early 1970s until the reactor was shut down in 2018.

        • Common DreamsSupreme Court Gives Biden DOJ a Chance to Prove Its Commitment to Climate Justice

          In Suncor Energy Inc. v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County, Suncor and ExxonMobil are urging the conservative-dominated Supreme Court to intervene after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the fossil fuel companies' argument that such climate liability cases belong in federal court.

        • Common DreamsOpinion | A New Term Begins for This Extremist Right-Wing Supreme Court

          The Supreme Court begins its new term today, October 3, and will soon consider critical questions about the future of fair elections, affirmative action, and more. While there's much we don't know, one key data point is what we've learned over the last year. The blockbuster Supreme Court term that ended in June was the first full-year opportunity for the 6–3 conservative supermajority to wield power. It frequently did so in radical ways.

      • Wildlife/Nature

    • Finance

      • The NationCapitol Flight: How Dems Dropped the Stock Ban

        Congress gaveled out last Friday to begin a recess for all of October, so that members can campaign for reelection. As this legislative session winds down, lawmakers will be leaving behind plenty of unfinished business, but one item in particular stands out: a policy with stronger public support than the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CARES Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, student debt cancellation, and gun control.

      • The NationLabor Without Love

        “No one wants to work anymore” was the surprise refrain of late 2021, posted on the doors of businesses forced to close for lack of staff and delightedly memed by a burgeoning anti-work crowd online. Reddit’s r/antiwork subgroup, the clearinghouse for cathartic quitting stories and texts to horrible bosses, became so popular it warranted a report from the Financial Times. If the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic were marked by astonishing unemployment rates as businesses closed down and fired or furloughed staff, so many people quit their jobs in 2021 that the phenomenon acquired its own nickname: the Great Resignation. Baristas, the quintessential service workers, have won unionization campaigns at Starbucks franchises across the country; in April 2022, warehouse workers on Staten Island finally struck a blow against the seemingly invincible Amazon. Wages for American workers have risen rapidly, a novelty after decades of stagnation. But what should we take from these recent developments in the politics of labor? Are they aftershocks of the pandemic alone, or are they indicative of broader trends?

      • TruthOutLiz Truss Is Roiling the British Economy in Her Zeal to Serve the 1 Percent
      • TruthOutIlhan Omar and Ro Khanna’s Offices Overwhelmingly Vote to Unionize
      • TruthOutWorkers Have Held More Strikes So Far in 2022 Than in All of 2021, Data Finds
      • Common DreamsUK's Truss Drops Tax Break for Wealthy, But Austerity Threat Remains Amid 'Tory Class War'

        "They need to reverse their whole economic, discredited trickle-down strategy."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Will Congress Extend Corporate Tax Breaks But Not Tax Provisions That Reduce Child Poverty?

        Congress may enact bipartisan legislation after the midterm election to stop corporate tax increases that are scheduled to go into effect under former President Trump's 2017 tax law, which Republicans passed without a single Democratic vote. Republican lawmakers who voted for the 2017 tax law now universally want to prevent these cost-containing provisions in that law from taking effect, which would make Trump's corporate tax cuts even larger than originally enacted. Regardless of what one thinks of the merits of this, it would be entirely unreasonable to enact these corporate tax cut "extenders" without also extending the expansions in the Child Tax Credit that pulled 2.1 million children out of poverty in 2021 according to recent Census data.

      • Common DreamsTo 'Step Back From the Edge of Recession,' UN Urges Central Banks to Stop Rate Hikes

        "We have the tools to calm inflation and support all vulnerable groups. This is a matter of policy choices and political will."

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Democracy NowNoam Chomsky & Vijay Prashad on Brazil Election, Lula’s Leftist Platform & Fears of a Bolsonaro Coup

        Brazil’s presidential contest will be settled by a runoff vote on October 30 after leftist former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fell short of a majority in Sunday’s election, winning 48% of votes compared to incumbent far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who received 43%. Bolsonaro outperformed expectations set by recent polls, which had suggested an outright win for Lula. On Friday, we spoke to world-renowned political dissident Noam Chomsky in Brazil and political writer Vijay Prishad, just back from the country, about the stakes in one of the most important elections in Latin America. The results of the contentious election will determine, among many things, the fate of the Amazon, and another Bolsonaro term would be “devastating for the world,” says Chomsky. Lula is leaning more left than in his previous presidency and has made “very clear that questions of social justice will be at the forefront of his presidency,” says Prashad.

      • Common Dreams'We Will Be on the Streets': Lula Vows Resolve as Brazil Heads Toward Runoff

        "Tomorrow we will be on the streets to win the elections. We don't have a break. We are going to work hard," Lula said as the results showed a second round would be necessary.

      • ScheerpostLula Vows Resolve as Brazil Heads Toward Runoff

        "We don't have a break. We are going to work hard," said the leftist former president. "And we have 28 more days."

      • Common DreamsBrazilians Elect Three Transgender Progressives to Congress

        "We won the election, despite the attacks from sectors of the left, attacks from Christian fundamentalists, and death threats from the extreme right."

      • ScheerpostScott Ritter: The Onus Is on Biden & Putin

        We are, literally, on the eve of destruction. Now is the time for the kind of political maturity leaders rarely demonstrate.

      • TruthOut"We Will Be on the Streets": Lula Vows to Keep Fighting in Runoff With Bolsonaro
      • Common DreamsBrazil Votes Live: Lula Wins the First Round Over Far-Right Bolsonaro; Runoff Oct. 30

        Brazil’s presidential race will need to go to an October 30th second round after former president€ Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva€ fell short of the 50%+1 he needed to avoid a run-off with extremist incumbent€ Jair Bolsonaro.

      • TruthOutBolsonaro Pushes Brazenly False Claims of Election Fraud After First Round Loss
      • The NationLula Wins the First Round, but Bolsonarismo Is Here to Stay

        São Paulo—Last night, Brazil went to bed in the knowledge that the election has another 28 days left and that a bitterly fought second round awaits between former president Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva and Jair Bolsonaro. Progressives in São Paulo spent the day in high spirits: The sun was out, red-clad Workers Party (PT) supporters were gathering in bars and on the streets, and there were very few people dressed in the national soccer team jersey that, over the past decade, has been appropriated by Brazil’s right wing.

      • The NationOff the Record: Barack Obama on Donald Trump

        The last few days of any president’s term are bound to spark moments of melancholy reflection—perhaps for Barack Obama even more so than most commanders in chief. Imagine Obama in the third week of January 2017: He had made history as the first Black US president; he had prided himself on trying to govern rationally and to engage with his Republican foes with civility on the playing field of competing ideas; he was leaving a presidency that, despite many headwinds, had some notable achievements to its credit, such as the Affordable Care Act, the Iran nuclear deal, and the Paris Agreement on climate. Despite all that, Obama was about to be replaced by a malevolent buffoon.

      • The NationThis Supreme Court Will Decide the Fate of the Voting Rights Act

        The Voting Rights Act shaped my childhood, though as a kid I didn’t know that. Heading to the polls with my parents every Election Day was as routine as getting up for church each Sunday. It’s also the reason I upended my career as a biologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to start a civic engagement organization, Fair Count. Let me explain.

      • The NationThe Promise of Freedom

        On May 24, 1861, the fate of the Civil War was unclear. The Confederacy was formed in large part to defend slavery, but the Union was not yet committed to ending the chattel regime. That did not deter three enslaved people—Frank Baker, James Townsend, and Shepard Mallory—from doing their part to change the meaning of the conflict. Leased out to construct Confederate defenses in Virginia, they fled at night, rowing a boat four miles north along the Chesapeake coast to Fort Monroe, the Union’s only base in Virginia at the time. Under the Fugitive Slave Law, the Union should have returned the three men to their enslavers. The commanding officer of the fort, Benjamin Butler, thought differently: Secession had invalidated any Union responsibility to Confederate property, he insisted, and the men could be kept as “contraband of war.” Butler still justified the emancipation of the enslaved by treating them as property—the Emancipation Proclamation was still about two years away—but the three fugitives’ escape marked the point at which Black people began to turn the conflict into a war for freedom. Over the next 19 months, some 500,000 people, fleeing to Union lines, would join them in self-liberation.

      • TechdirtLazy-Ass House GOP Uses Foreign Stock Photos In Video About America

        I get that stock photos are a thing and that political campaigns or teams may be pressed for time, but some things really shouldn’t be so hard. If you follow politics, you may be aware that House Republicans, led by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, unveiled an agenda for 2023 politics it’s calling “Commitment to America.” I’ll leave any discussion of the agenda itself to sites that focus on politics. I will note, however, that if this whole thing sounds familiar to you, then you’re old enough to remember Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” which is heralded as an important primer that led to the GOP gaining 54 House and 9 Senate seats in the 1994 elections.

      • MeduzaSuing Gorbachev 31 years after the USSR’s collapse, a group of Lithuanians sought to hold its last leader to account — Meduza
      • MeduzaDmitry Ozerkov, head curator of contemporary art, resigns from Hermitage — Meduza

        Dmitry Ozerkov, the head curator of contemporary art at St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage, has resigned from his position after 22 years of working at Russia’s celebrated art museum.

      • MeduzaRussia’s State Duma more than unanimous in ratifying annexation treaties, with more votes in favor than deputies present — Meduza

        Russian State Duma deputies have ratified four treaties signed by Vladimir Putin and the heads of several Ukrainian regions, where annexation “referendums” were conducted on Sept. 23–27. The treaties join the self-proclaimed “DNR” and “LNR,” as well as Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, to the Russian Federation as its new constituents. As part of the formal annexation procedure, these documents had to be approved by the Russian parliament.

      • Telex (Hungary)Novák only V4 president to not sign presidential declaration condemning Russian annexation of Ukrainian territories
      • Telex (Hungary)Orbán: This is the beginning of cannibalism in Europe
      • uni TorontoUniversities, "Bring your own device", and security

        Organizations have a strong interest in making sure that the devices people use to do their work (and access to organization's resources) are secure. When BYOD is in effect, my impression is that the common corporate approach is to require people to put their BYOD devices under some sort of corporate remote management (sometimes called 'Mobile Device Management (MDM)' when it applies to smartphones and the like). This remote management is then used to apply security settings, insure things are up to date, look for signs of compromise (and perhaps remotely wipe the device if they're detected), and often intrusively track what's done on the device in the name of the organization's security.

      • The NationWhat We Can Learn From Watergate

        Watergate demonstrates both the importance and the limits of accountability. The Watergate investigations of a sitting president led not only to Nixon’s resignation but to the prosecution of some 40 government officials—and prison time for many, including Nixon’s chief of staff, White House counsel, domestic affairs director, and attorney general.

        To this day, those serving in the White House remain aware that they are not above the law. White House counsel Pat Cipollone warned that “we’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable” if Trump joined the march on the Capitol on January 6. When Trump sought to replace the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, with a zealot prepared to certify baseless claims about election fraud, the acting deputy attorney general, Richard Donoghue, threatened he would resign and “your entire department of leadership will walk out within hours.” Trump backed down, possibly remembering how Nixon’s “Saturday night massacre”—the firing of Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox—kick-started the impeachment process.

      • The HillGoogle shuts down translation feature in China

        “We are discontinuing Google Translate in mainland China due to low usage,” Google told The Hill in a statement.

        Bloomberg News also reported that the Hong Kong version of the translation service isn’t accessible in the area without a virtual private network.

      • CNBCGoogle shuts down Translate service in China

        Alphabet's Google on Monday said it shut down the Google Translate service in mainland China, citing low usage.

        It marks the end of one of Google's last remaining products in the world's second-largest economy.

      • TruthOutEvery Single Florida House Republican Voted Against Disaster Relief Funding
      • TruthOutThe Supreme Court May Well Legalize Election Theft This Term
      • FAIRThe Persistently Faulty Record of Generic Ballot Polling

        Yet, in the past several weeks, numerous news stories (e.g., Washington Post, 8/27/22; Washington Examiner, 8/20/22; New York Times, 9/16/22) have suggested that the Democrats may not suffer disastrous losses in the House after all.

      • Common DreamsRights Groups Implored EU Leaders to Denounce Israeli Apartheid at Summit

        "The decadeslong European failure to take action in the face of grave human rights abuses has emboldened Israeli authorities to brazenly escalate their repression of Palestinians."

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Make No Mistake: Donald Trump Is on the Ballot
      • Common Dreams'We Must Not Stand By': Amnesty Urges State Leaders to Ban Guns Near Polling Places

        "The presence of firearms at polling places will act as a force multiplier for violence and could result in abuses of the right to life."

      • The NationThe Differences Between Us

        In 2015, The New York Times Book Review posed the question “Whatever happened to the Novel of Ideas?” to the writers Pankaj Mishra and Benjamin Moser. On the question of “whether philosophical novels have gone the way of the dodo bird,” Mishra answered in the affirmative and—not a writer who shies away from generalizations—charged that the culprit was the MFA program. “America’s postwar creative-writing industry,” Mishra claimed, has “hindered literature from its customary reckoning with the acute problems of the modern epoch” and “boosted instead a cult of private experience.”

      • The NationLady Justice
    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • ABCHigh court will hear social media terrorism lawsuits

        In the cases the court agreed to hear, relatives of people killed in terrorist attacks in France and Turkey had sued Google, Twitter, and Facebook. They accused the companies of helping terrorists spread their message and radicalize new recruits. One of the cases was thrown out, mostly under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, while the other was allowed to proceed.

        The court, which began its new term Monday, is expected to hear arguments in the cases this winter with decisions before the court recesses for the summer, usually in late June.

      • Dhaka TribuneIran: Lawmaker labels female protesters as prostitutes

        An Iranian lawmaker labeled women who have taken off mandatory headscarves to protest against the death of Mahsa Amini as "rioters" who are "out to prostitute themselves."

        Mahmoud Nabavian, a legislator from Tehran, made the comments as hardline attitudes grow against ongoing protests following Amini's death, which occurred while in police custody.

      • Dawn MediaTwo firemen shot dead in ‘targeted attack’ on Korangi fire station

        Two employees of the city’s fire brigade department were shot dead in what police described as a targeted attack aimed at spreading terror in Korangi in the small hours of Saturday morning.

        Korangi SSP Faisal Bashir Memon said all the victims were firemen, who were there to respond to any fire emergency in the area.

      • TruthOutGrassroots Groups in Mississippi Are Pushing for Representation in Local Office
      • Common DreamsOpinion | When You Have No Choice in a Pro-Violence Society

        In significant parts of this country, the Supreme Court's June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade returned Americans to a half-century-old situation in which hundreds of thousands of women, faced with unwanted pregnancies, were once forced to resort to costly, potentially deadly underground abortions. My spouse's employer, the Pentagon, recently announced that its own abortion policy, which allows military insurance to cover the procedure when a pregnancy results from rape or incest, or poses a threat to the mother's life, still holds.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | The Rise of the Right-Wing University

        The notion that American institutions of higher learning are pervasively left-wing and endeavor to instill liberalism or socialism in their students is a conventional wisdom that has gone virtually unexamined since the student movement in the 1960s.

      • ScheerpostPrison Strike Spreads in Alabama as Incarcerated Individuals Demand DOJ Protect Their Human Rights

        After a week of striking, Jared Ware shares how prison authorities have tried to thwart inmates' protests.

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • TechdirtDish’s ‘New 5G Network’ Remains Kind Of A Mess

        You might recall that the Trump administration “fix” to the competition and layoff problems created by the Sprint T-Mobile merger (which consolidated four major wireless players into three major players) was to have Dish build a new 5G network. But the effort has been a sloppy mess from the start, and three months into its commercial launch, there’s not a whole lot of indication it’s gotten much better.

    • Monopolies

      • CoryDoctorowAn antitrust murder whodunnit

        First, I'll explain the authors' conclusion, then I'll explain the evidence that supports it. The authors conclude that the change in US antitrust enforcement wasn't the result of reasoned argument, but rather, a mix of financial enticements and a covert influence operation.

      • Patents

        • TechdirtNew Study Shows That High R&D Costs Don’t Explain High Drug Prices

          For years, defenders of pharma patents loved to claim that the reason that they needed patents and the reason they had to charge extortionate rates for drugs was because of the high cost of R&D for new drugs. The numbers keep going up. When I first started covering pharma patents, the number bandied about was $600 million per new drug. Then it jumped to $800 million. Then $1 billion. The latest I’ve heard them claiming is an average of $1.5 billion per new drug.

      • Copyrights

        • Torrent FreakHosting a Pirate Streaming Site on GitHub Isn't the Best Idea

          WishFlix is a French pirate streaming site that chose GitHub as its hosting platform. While this worked well for a while, the site was targeted by a StudioCanal takedown notice last week. WishFlix is currently still afloat but GitHub probably isn't the best hosting option for a pirate site that went viral on social media.

        • TechdirtPublishers Lose Their Shit After Authors Push Back On Their Attack On Libraries

          On Friday, we wrote about hundreds of authors signing a letter calling out the big publishers’ attacks on libraries (in many, many different ways). The publishers pretend to represent the best interests of the authors, but history has shown over and over again that they do not. They represent themselves, and use the names of authors they exploit to claim the moral high ground they do not hold.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • Would you rub the crystal ball?

        My long-term anxiety sees every month as less than guaranteed. Sometimes I can't even take a week for granted. If I had the ball, all I would have to do is ask, and know whether or not my anxiety is well-founded...but doing so puts a countdown on the rest of my life, regardless of whether the answer is in 6 weeks or 6 decades.

    • Politics

      • Re: Everything is Rotten

        Under the delusions of market capitalism, fossil fuel has been a remarkable source of energy to cheaply enable far-reaching transportation. It’s all illusory because we’ve been paying for that wealth by wrecking our own planet.

        [...]

        Abolishing that will decrease our standard of living very much. And we’ve got to, or we’ll die. That’s what gasoline populists don’t understand.

        [...]

        And, I still haven’t seen any anarchist solutions to externalities, unlike exploitation; modern ancom grew out of the class struggle and has an effective plan to fight exploitation; we need a new toolbox to solve climate externalities.

    • Technical

      • Akka and the future of SpaceBeans

        Apparently a paid licence will only be necessary for large companies (not sure if profiting from Akka), and looks like security patches will be backported (at least for a while). Any non-OSS version will be released as OSS after 3 years, but that doesn't matter in my opinion.

        SpaceBeans is currently using the latest OSS version of Akka (the service relies on Akka Streams), and I don't plan to use the non-OSS version, so this is the end of the road for SpaceBeans as it is today.

      • Science

        • Everything is Rotten

          The personal implications of this are insightful. Often there are parts of my life that I start to dismantle without understanding the purpose of it. This leads me to despair at points, since I realize that there is really nothing founding the majority of what holds my own identity together. This tempts me to "come up with a solution to all these problems in [my] head", as Jeremy says. This leads me into a depressing epistemic nihilism.

          [...]

          I believe everything is rotten. Our institutions are designed to serve those already in power, states cannot respond properly to any social issues, corporations are empowered to destroy the environment for profit, and so much more.

          [...]

          Social democrats say that society cannot be changed radically, fighting against "extremists" with the same vehemence as those who push for less incrementalist societal shifts. Bolshevists say society must be changed radically, but the people will not be ready without actively pushing for class consciousness.

          [...]

          As I heard from a wise indigenous anarchist, abolishing capitalism will probably increase our standard of living, but abolishing colonialism will likely lower it. This is because our lives have been built upon institutions that depend on genocide.

        • Chesterton’s Fence

          Critical thinking is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of humankind. It is like a sharp sword that cuts through the follies of society, leaving nothing undefiled in its wake. Yet, when deployed improperly, it can also injure the thinker, bring ruin to his or her life, and ultimately accomplish nothing productive.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • 2022 Week 38/39: Thoughts and Photos

          Much of the negative commentary I've read about Gemini recently seems to focus on how much convenient functionality it lacks relative to the Web--functionality such as forms, in-line links, and stateful connections. The set of people who have this "too featureless" mindset seems to correlate heavily with the set of people who have been told that Gemini is a "better Web". In my opinion, while Gemini sits comfortably between Gopher and the Web, it's much more correct to think of Gemini as an expansion of Gopher than a contraction of the Web. It might be more helpful to show newcomers the nature of Gopher and its limits, and then explain what Gemini does to improve on its concepts. Those who see Gopher as pointless will probably think similarly of Gemini, in which case it's important not to oversell the protocol.

          My wife and I have returned from two trips out of the area. The first was a vacation, and the second was a business trip, on which I traveled alone. My wife got sick immediately after returning from the vacation, but the head cold was kind enough to let me fly out to the office and back before filling my brain with fog. I now get to enjoy my first few days back with a box of tissues and a bag of cough drops.


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



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