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Links 01/08/2022: diaspora* 0.7.18.0 and Media Distraction From Linux Release (Clickbait)



  • GNU/Linux

    • Server

      • Earthly ☛ Docker Slim - Earthly Blog

        Docker is an open containerization platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. It enables you to package your applications in isolated environments, called containers, where they can run independently from infrastructure. In the container, they have all the dependencies needed for the application to run.

        However, a common issue with Docker images is their construction and size. Docker Slim is a tool for optimizing Dockerfiles and Docker images.

        It can reduce image size up to thirty times without any manual optimization. It can also help automatically generate security profiles for your Docker containers and has built-in commands that help you analyze and understand your Docker files and images.

      • Matt Rickard ☛ Non-Obvious Docker Uses

        Many developers use Docker the old-fashioned way -- a docker build and a docker run. Some non-obvious ways to use Docker.

        As a compiler. I gave a talk at DockerCon back in 2019 about the potential to use Docker as a compiler, and the idea is finally coming to fruition. Use a multi-stage build to copy the output files to a scratch container, then use the --output flag on docker buildx build to output the contents of an image build to a folder. Now you can easily cross-compile binaries (using multiple --platform targets) or whatever else without dealing with actual Docker images.

        As a task-runner alternative to make. With Docker Buildkit, you can write alternative frontends to build images (other than the Dockerfile). Together with the built-in caching infrastructure, this makes Docker an interesting replacement for make. That's part of the idea behind the co-founder of Docker's second act, Dagger.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Kernel Space

      • OMG Ubuntu ☛ Linux Kernel 5.19 Released with Major Network Improvements + More - OMG! Ubuntu!

        A brand new version of the Linux kernel is available to download, to round off July or signal the start of August, depending on your locale.

        Linux 5.19 is a pretty sizeable update all told, and it features a litany of low-level optimisations, several notable improvements to networking support, all-important security fixes, and lots more.

        In announcing the release on the Linux Kernel Mailing List, Linus Torvalds remarks “…the most interesting part here is that I did the release (and am writing this) on an arm64 laptop. It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a _loong_ (sic) time, and it’s finally reality, thanks to the Asahi team.”

        Asahi is the project to get Linux working on laptops using Apple Silicon.

        He also says that the next release of the Linux Kernel is “likely” to be badged as v6.0 rather than 5.20 — we’ll hear more on that approach in the coming weeks.

      • Linus Torvalds Releases Linux 5.19 - From an Apple Silicon MacBook - Slashdot

        "Linus Torvalds just released Linux 5.19 as stable for the newest version of the Linux kernel..." reports Phoronix.

        But they also note that on the Linux kernel mailing list, "Torvalds went on to write about his Arm-based MacBook [running an AArch64 Apple M1 SoC]... now under Linux thanks to the work of the Asahi Linux project."

      • LWN ☛ The 5.19 kernel is out [LWN.net]

        He also notes that the next kernel is likely to be 6.0.

        Significant features in 5.19 include Arm Scalable Matrix Extension support, a number of io_uring improvements, BIG TCP support, numerous random-number generator improvements, support for AMD's Secure Nested Paging and Intel's Trusted Domain Extensions mechanisms, support for the Loongson "LoongArch" CPU architecture, a new proactive reclaim mechanism, and more. See the LWN merge-window summaries (part 1, part 2) and the KernelNewbies 5.19 page for more information.

      • DebugPoint ☛ Linus Torvalds Released Linux Kernel 5.19 From An Apple Hardware Running Asahi Linux

        Release highlights of Linux Kernel 5.19 (mainline) which brings improvements across CPU, CPU, storage and misc updates.

      • Its FOSS ☛ Linus Torvalds Uses Apple MacBook Hardware to Release Linux Kernel 5.19 - It's FOSS News

        Three months after the last kernel release, Linux Kernel 5.19 is finally here. This exciting release brings plenty of improvements to every aspect of the kernel and opens up opportunities with new hardware.

        The most interesting part is that the Linux creator Linus Torvalds used an Apple MacBook, the Arm version, to announce this release.

        Don’t get your pitchfork out just yet. Torvalds used Asahi Linux, a project dedicated to adding Linux support to Apple’s Arm-based Silicon Macbooks.

      • Google's Pichai To Staff: 'time To Sprint'; Linus Torvalds Shows Latest Linux On Apple Silicon - Forbes India

        Google is launching a new initiative called "Simplicity Sprint" to improve efficiency and focus as the global economic slowdown grinds on, after reporting back-to-back quarters of weaker-than-expected earnings. Linus Torvalds, the Finnish software developer who created Linux, yesterday, used an Apple MacBook running on an M1 chip to release the latest version of the open-source software

      • The Register UK ☛ Linus Torvalds looses Linux 5.19 using Asahi Linux on a Mac ● The Register

        Linus Torvalds has released version 5.19 of the project, and hailed Apple's homebrew silicon – and the Asahi Linux distribution that runs on it – for making Arm-powered computers useful for developers.

        In his announcement of the release, Torvalds called out work to support for the made-in-China Loongarch RISC architecture as an important step, along with "another batch of the networking sysctl READ_ONCE() annotations to make some of the data race checker code happy."

        Torvalds then revealed he's got his hands on some Apple silicon.

        "On a personal note, the most interesting part here is that I did the release (and am writing this) on an arm64 laptop. It's something I've been waiting for for a _loong_ time, and its finally reality, thanks to the Asahi team," he wrote. "We've had arm64 hardware around running Linux for a long time, but none of it has really been usable as a development platform until now."

        The emperor penguin hedged a little, admitting "Not that I've used it for any real work, I literally have only been doing test builds and boots and now the actual release tagging."

    • Applications

      • FOSS Post ☛ Czkawka is Your Swiss Knife For Cleaning Files on Linux

        After using your Linux system for a couple of months or years, you will find that a lot of dust will start building up on different parts of your OS.

        This is especially true regarding your own data and files.

        You will have many duplicate files, large files that you no longer use or need, files which you copied to somewhere else but forgot to delete from the original position to free up space… It will eventually be a mess.

        On Windows, there were many data cleaning programs like CCleaner and others, but are there any useful alternatives on Linux?

        Luckily, the answer is yes, and today we will be doing a walkthrough on Czkawka; an open source data cleaning software which can be used for all your system cleaning purposes.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • The whatis command in Linux

        If you want information about a package or command you can use the man command (Manual Pages).

        You will find a manual page for almost every single package you installed in your Linux Distribution and Linux commands.

      • LinuxOpSys ☛ How to Install XFCE Desktop Environment in Linux Mint
      • LinuxOpSys ☛ 4 Ways to Check Which Shell You are Using on Linux
      • LinuxOpSys ☛ Sudo Command in Linux Explained with Examples
      • ByteXD ☛ How to Install NodeJS on Ubuntu 22.04 - ByteXD

        This tutorial will walk you through installing NodeJS step-by-step on Ubuntu using the three methods. Although we use Ubuntu 22.04 for the demos, you can use your preferred version.

      • ByteXD ☛ How to Uninstall NodeJS in Ubuntu 22.04 - ByteXD

        Uninstalling NodeJS in Ubuntu can be ineffective if you don’t understand how programs get installed in Ubuntu. The confusion worsens when you are unsure whether to use the uninstall, remove, or purge commands.

        This tutorial simplifies NodeJS uninstallation by explaining the workings of package managers, installation directories and the most suitable commands to apply. Lastly, it takes you through practical examples of uninstalling NodeJS in Ubuntu.

      • Chris ☛ Long Hiatus: Emacs Upgrades

        I wrote before about how I started publishing these articles using Emacs.

      • Trend Oceans ☛ What are the Absolute and Relative paths, and why do we use them? - TREND OCEANS

        While following some of the articles, you may frequently hear about absolute and relative paths. They may suggest you to use an absolute path or a relative path, but what is exactly this term, and why should you care about it?

        And what is the key difference between absolute and relative paths, and how can you exactly use the following fundamental concept to get a more proficient way of traversing (moving) through a directory?

        So let’s clear up this topic with a basic command that everyone has used till now.

      • Linux Shell Tips ☛ How to Check if a Library is 32-Bit or 64-Bit

        If you have managed to explore the software development ecosystem, then you are well aware of the implication a library has on a system. We can define a library as a grouping of non-volatile resources or an assortment of pre-compiled code blocks reusable to running programs. A program will therefore query a library for a resource it needs to continue with or finish its execution.

        Libraries can either be 32-Bit or 64-bit depending on the availed Linux system architecture. A 64-bit Linux system can host both 32-bit and 64-bit libraries while a 32-bit Linux system can only host 32-bit libraries.

        For this reason, this article will focus on 64-bit Linux system users. We should also note that the libraries being addressed in this article are C/C++ libraries due to their strong ties to the Linux operating system.

      • UNIX Cop ☛ How to install Spotify on Fedora 36? - Unix / Linux the admins Tutorials

        Hello, friends. In this short and simple post, you will learn how to install Spotify on Fedora 36?

        Spotify is one of the most popular audio music streaming platforms in the world, like Apple Music and many more. From where you can listen to tons of songs and music. The Spotify team has worked really hard to make it the best music platform by adding the oldest music libraries to the latest song playlists.

        That’s why many people consider it indispensable for the system, and it has become one of the most important ones out there.

        The procedure to install Spotify on Ubuntu 20.04 we have already seen that it was simple, but today we will tackle another very popular system, such as Fedora 36.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • Neowin ☛ Linux Mint 21 ‘Vanessa' released, available in Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce flavours - Neowin

        The Linux Mint team has announced the availability of Linux Mint 21 ‘Vanessa’. It comes after a two-week beta testing period and just days after the final ISOs began last-minute checks. Each of the Linux Mint editions will get the same amount of support, including security updates that will be delivered for five years until 2027.

      • Ghacks ☛ Linux Mint 21 is now available - gHacks Tech News

        The Linux Mint team has released a new version of the popular Linux distribution to the public. Linux Mint 21, codename Vanessa, is now available.

        Linux Mint 21 is a long-term support release that will be supported until 2027. Linux Mint 21 remains the base until 2024; expect several point releases with easy to perform upgrades. Development shifts to a new base in 2024, Linux Mint 22, but Linux Mint 21 will continue to be supported until 2027.

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Content Management Systems (CMS)

      • diaspora* version 0.7.18.0 released! - The diaspora* Project

        As announced, a new minor release is now released. Over the past three months, we have managed to collect 113 commits made by 3 contributors for this minor release.

        A huge thanks to all the contributors from diaspora*'s amazing community! If you want to help make diaspora* even better, please check out our getting started guide. Please see the changelog for a complete list of changes made in this release.

      • People of WordPress: Carla Doria

        In this series, we share some of the inspiring stories of how WordPress and its global network of contributors can change people’s lives for the better. This month we feature Carla Doria, a customer support specialist from South America on how WordPress opened up a new world for her, and gave her the ability to help the local community.

        For Carla, working with WordPress is a vital part of her life. It gave her a career and a community, in which she she would organize the first WordCamp in her city, Cochabamba, and the first in Bolivia.

        Carla studied industrial engineering and has a master’s degree in environmental studies. Her first experience with WordPress was when she decided to start a small business designing and selling cushions and bedclothes. While Carla sat in the small store she had rented, hoping that people stopping at the shop windows would step in to buy something, she decided she needed to create a website.

    • Programming/Development

      • Linux Hint ☛ YAML Comments

        In this article, we will be discussing the concept of creating comments in a YAML file. YAML allows single-line comments with the help of the “#” character. We can use the single-line comment multiple times to make a block comment paragraph in the YAML file. Now, a YAML file is a configuration support file for storing data for other programs like Ruby and Dockers. For this article, we used the YAML file as a support file for Dockers. The Docker-compose supports files with a “.yml” file. In these files, the configuration of a Docker image file is stored. The pre-requisite for the implementation is to install Dockers and Docker-compose through the Ubuntu terminal.

      • Bozhidar Batsov ☛ RuboCop Serves (Much) Faster

        RuboCop’s motto has always been “The Ruby Linter that Serves and Protects”.1 Now, with the addition of a server mode in RuboCop 1.31 that motto is truer than ever! But first - a bit of background.

      • Matt Rickard ☛ Fault-Tolerant Design

        The very first fault-tolerant computer was the Samočinný počítač, or SAPO, built in 1950. It could tolerate the failure of an arithmetic unit --it had three parallel arithmetic logic units and decided on the correct result by voting1.

        The obvious use cases for fault-tolerant computers are when maintenance or repairs are extremely hard to do (spacecraft) or when failures are extremely costly (nuclear power plants).

      • Geshan ☛ JavaScript: Return multiple values from a function call with code examples

        Learn how to return multiple values from a function call in Javascript. Unlike go lang, JavaScript does not have a native way to return multiple values from a single function. In this post, you will learn how to improvise on this and get around the issue if you have to get back multiple values from a JavaScript function call. Time to get going.

      • Medevel ☛ Build a Next.js React Apps with MongoDB in Mins

        Next.js is a free open-source React framework for building a web applications. It allows developers to generate start website or use server-side rendering to create a highly scalable sites.

      • Medevel ☛ Lightence Is a Free Outstanding Full-Featured Dashboard Template for React

        React is a popular open-source web development framework for creating interactive web apps. It has a large community of developers of all levels, and it is the first choice for many companies and enterprise developers.

        Open-source React templates save developers time, and fasten their development speed, especially in large projects.

        There are many React dashboard and control panel templates, that we covered the open-source free ones here, however, most of them come in 2 editions; free/ open-source and a pro or enterprise edition that has more features, components and custom pages.

      • Perl / Raku

      • Python

        • Didier Stevens ☛ Update: re-search.py Version 0.0.21

          This new version of re-search.py adds a regex for UNCs to the library and has a Python 3 fix.

        • Didier Stevens ☛ Update: oledump.py Version 0.0.69

          This update brings an update to plugin plugin_vba_dco.py.

          This is a plugin that scans VBA source code for keywords (Declare, CreateObject, GetObject, CallByName and Shell), extracts all lines with these keywords, followed by all lines with identifiers associated with these keywords.

          For example, if the result of a CreateObject call is stored in variable oXML, then all lines with this oXML identifier are selected.

          I updated this plugin with two options -g (–generalize) and -a (–all).

          Option -g generalize will replace all identifiers (like variable & functions names) with a general name: Identifier#### where #### is a numeric counter.

          I added this option to analyze a sample where almost all identifiers where completely unreadable, as they consisted solely out of characters that are between byte values 128 and 255 (e.g., non-ASCII).

  • Leftovers

    • Bozhidar Batsov ☛ A Note About “Guest” Posts

      What are my thoughts on this? It’s never happening! I didn’t start a personal blog, so I’d be posting here random content from random sources. My blog, my thoughts, my rules. I don’t care about making money out of my blog - I care only about writing down my thoughts and sharing them with the world.

      [...]

      I wish some of those “content managers” would come across this article and think twice about their approach and the people who they are targeting. I’m quite skeptical this is going to happen, though, so I’ll just keep dealing with them the only way I know how.

    • Science

      • Kev Quirk ☛ How Big Is a Billion?

        I’m sure many people reading this know what a billion is, right? It’s a thousand, thousand, thousand. That’s a big bloody number! But quantifying this mind-bogglingly big number is difficult.

        I was thinking about this while walking the dog last night. So did some basic maths to try and quantify this stupidly big number in a way my little brain can comprehend. I thought I’d share some of those numbers.

      • Integration leads to leap in tech for forest inventory, management - Purdue University News

        Through integration of aerial and ground-based mobile mapping sensors and systems, a team of Purdue digital forestry researchers has used advanced technology to locate, count and measure over a thousand trees in a matter of hours.

      • New Scientist ☛ Quantum computer cools itself down by performing calculations | New Scientist

        Quantum computers made from imperfect diamonds could stop themselves from overheating just by running an algorithm. Most quantum machines must be kept at low temperatures, but “algorithmic cooling” might allow quantum computers to perform well at room temperature in the future.

    • Hardware

      • Ruben Schade ☛ Q&A about my NW-A55 Walkman

        My recent Walkman post generated a ton of email and comments; thanks to most of you for sharing your ideas and questions!

        I say most, because it seemed to attract more trolls than anything I’ve written in a long time. It’s disheartening to have something you enjoyed (and tried to share with people) immediately shat on by those who don’t even bother to read it. At times it makes me wonder why I even blog in the first place; but then I remember all the rest of you :).

    • Security

      • Radio waves for the detection of hardware tampering - Newsportal - Ruhr-Universität Bochum

        Up to now, protecting hardware against manipulation has been a laborious business: expensive, and only possible on a small scale. And yet, two simple antennas might do the trick.

        As far as data security is concerned, there is an even greater danger than remote cyberattacks: namely tampering with hardware that can be used to read out information – such as credit card data from a card reader. Researchers in Bochum have developed a new method to detect such manipulations. They monitor the systems with radio waves that react to the slightest changes in the ambient conditions. Unlike conventional methods, they can thus protect entire systems, not just individual components – and they can do it at a lower cost. The RUB’s science magazine Rubin features a report by the team from Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy and the IT company PHYSEC.

      • TechTarget ☛ Coveware: Median ransom payments dropped 51% in Q2 [Ed: This is predominantly a Microsoft Windows issue]
      • TechTarget ☛ SSH2 vs. SSH1 and why SSH versions still matter

        The Secure Shell protocol, SSH, was redesigned and released as SSH2 in 2006. While SSH1 lingers for legacy uses, find out how the protocols differ and why it's important.

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • Ish Sookun ☛ [Repeat] How much space is required to store 2 mins of data captured from all internet traffic in Mauritius?

          That number is not fixed because internet traffic changes all time, every day, every second. However, we can use it to base our answer.

          Let's first convert the number into Megabytes, which is understood by many. To do so, we divide the number by 8, because 1 byte = 8 bits. Thus, 211,312 Megabits is equivalent to 26,414 Megabytes.

        • The Center for Investigative Reporting ☛ Facebook and Anti-Abortion Clinics Are Collecting Highly Sensitive Info on Would-Be Patients - Reveal

          Facebook is collecting ultra-sensitive personal data about abortion seekers and enabling anti-abortion organizations to use that data as a tool to target and influence people online, in violation of its own policies and promises.

          In the wake of a leaked Supreme Court opinion signaling the likely end of nationwide abortion protections, privacy experts are sounding alarms about all the ways people’s data trails could be used against them if some states criminalize abortion.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Associated Press ☛ In Ukraine war, a race to acquire smarter, deadlier drones

        Drone camera footage defines much of the public’s view of the war in Ukraine: grenades quietly dropped on unwitting soldiers, eerie flights over silent, bombed-out cities, armor and outposts exploding in fireballs.

        Never in the history of warfare have drones been used as intensively as in Ukraine, where they often play an outsized role in who lives and dies. Russians and Ukrainians alike depend heavily on unmanned aerial vehicles to pinpoint enemy positions and guide their hellish artillery strikes.

      • Democracy Now ☛ [Older] Coffin Holding Patrice Lumumba’s Tooth Returns to DRC Six Decades After Assassination | Democracy Now!

        The Democratic Republic of Congo is preparing to soon hold three days of national mourning for slain independence leader Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated in 1961. On Monday, Belgium, the former colonial power, handed over a tooth that a Belgian police officer said he took as a trophy after he helped cut up Lumumba’s body and then dissolved it in acid. The tooth is believed to be the only remains left of Lumumba, who was killed a year after he became the first elected prime minister of the Congo in 1960. The CIA had ordered his assassination but could not complete the job. Instead, the United States and Belgium covertly funneled cash and aid to rival politicians who seized power and killed Lumumba. A coffin holding Lumumba’s tooth is expected to fly from Brussels to Kinshasa today. Lumumba’s son Roland spoke on Tuesday.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • ACM ☛ When Should a Black Box Be Transparent?

        We have been working with a third-party vendor that supplies a critical component of one of our systems. Because of supply-chain issues, they are trying to "upgrade" us to a newer version of this component, and they say it is a drop-in replacement for the old one. They keep saying this component should be seen as a black box, but in our testing, we found many differences between the original and the updated part. These are not just simple bugs but significant technology changes that underlie the system. It would be nice to treat this component as a drop-in replacement and not worry about this, but what I have seen thus far does not inspire confidence. I do see their point that the API is the same, but I somehow do not think this is sufficient. When is a component truly drop-in and when should I be more paranoid?

      • Internet Freedom Foundation ☛ Digital Transparency: A Right to Information Report for July 2022

        For the month of July 2022, IFF has filed 9 Right to Information (“RTI”) applications. In response to an RTI application on surveillance of sanitation workers in Chandigarh, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has shared that they have been using “human tracking watches” on field staff since August 1, 2020 and incur approximately Rs 17.5 lakhs per month on it.

    • Environment

      • Michael West Media ☛ There's a new sheriff in town (and 43 into 47 will go) - Michael West

        The 47th Parliament opens on Tuesday with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promising to get Labor’s 43% emissions target legislated as the first order of business.

        Albo is pledging a more consultative approach, and in that conciliatory frame of mind, on Monday he damned the former Coalition government’s wedge politics.

        Promises of a kinder, gentler politics are the stock-in-trade of new governments. Tony Abbott boasted that ”the adults are back in charge” when he won government in 2013. Malcolm Fraser was going to get politics off the front page. John Howard was going to get us ”relaxed and comfortable”. Ah, memories.

      • Energy

        • Venture Beat ☛ Does the engineering world need to care about NFTs and blockchain?

          If the first question out of people’s mouths about either blockchain or NFTs is “What exactly are they?” the second question inevitably is “Is this something that I actually need to care about?”

          If you’re an artist who makes a living selling art, the answer might be yes. But if you’re in the engineering world, the potential benefits are far less clear.

        • Didier Stevens ☛ Quickpost: Standby Power Consumption Of My USB Chargers (120V vs 230V) | Didier Stevens

          I connected each one to the AC power supply (120V 60Hz) and used a powermeter (GPM 8310, resolution 0,1 €µW) to measure the standby power consumption over 24 hours.

        • Michael West Media ☛ The Dutton-proof fence has got a hole in it (got a hole in it) - Michael West

          The idea of ”Dutton proofing” a law has a certain appeal. Up there with the legendary Abbott-proof fence.

          And as of writing on Tuesday, this was the vow by Greens leader Adam Bandt as his party’s negotiations continued with the Albanese government.

          Bandt is adamant that the 43% emissions reduction target by 2030 not be unwound at a future date. Alas, most legislation can be unwound at a future date. Under the Westminster system, parliaments do not allow themselves to be hobbled. That’s the job of the constitution. As for the Abbott-proof fence, Tony Abbott unwound Labor’s climate targets. Peter Dutton could do the same, should he choose (though he shouldn’t).

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • Michael West Media ☛ Triumph of the Teals: a media love-in rolls on

        The Teal independents are still riding a wave of media adulation. The coverage suggests a new, more idealistic way of practising politics. But when MPs emphasise the primacy of their own electorates, the unity of the nation is overlooked, writes Mark Sawyer.

        There are plenty of challenges awaiting the new members of Australia’s 47th parliament, challenges particular to each. Labor has the complicated task of governing in an environment of austerity and without a Senate majority. The Greens have the opposite problem: harnessing their newfound power in a way that helps the progressive cause and does not embolden the right. The Opposition is cactus of course.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Technical

      • Science

        • Chris ☛ Survival Analysis For Customer Retention

          This is similar to another problem in medical research: patients die, but not all of them. Medical (and epidemiological) research is sometimes done by recruiting patients who are at risk for something (maybe the ones who have been hospitalised for some serious disease), and then following up on them every month. Some of them die, and then we know in which month they died. At some point, the study ends, and then some patients are still alive. At that point, we know they have been alive for so-and-so many months, but we don’t know when they will die.

          Do you see how that leads to the same sort of data analysis problem we’re having? Formally, we say that the survival times (or customer retention times) are right-censored, in that we know the true value for some patients (that have actually died) and for the currently alive patients we only know that their death date is greater than the time they have been with us so far.

          There’s a branch of statistics called survival analysis that deals with data of this kind. It’s named after the patients dying, but sometimes it’s also called time-to-event analysis because death isn’t the only significant event. In particular, it’s the right tool to analyse customer retention data.

      • Programming

        • Antenna - A Python Player for Radio Streams

          My visitors went home today. I always have a tough time getting used to

          having a houseful of people. Then I do get used to them and miss the buzz

          of conversation when they leave.

          I am suddenly reacting to insect bites. In the past, I never got any

          swelling or itching. This year, my bites are big red and yellow welts

          and they're miserably itchy! Weird.


* 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: Thursday, September 24, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, September 24, 2026
Supporters of winding-up process staking claims against Reform UK Party (CR-2026-007405)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Winding-up petition leaked before service on Reform UK Party Limited / Nigel Farage
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 24/09/2026: Laziness, Outdoor Seating, "AngelNova’s Interview Malware and Its North Korea Connection"
Links for the day
Links 24/09/2026: Slop "Linked to Disturbing Culture of Sexual Assault"; "Zelensky Warns Russia’s War Will Expand if It Is Not Ended Soon"
Links for the day
Winding-up petition served on Reform UK Party Limited (Nigel Farage)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Appliances Should be Dumb
Any "Smart Home Appliance" is basically a thing that does not last long, does not work as advertised, and is generally unfit for purpose
SLAPP Censorship - Part 198 Out of 200: It Sounds Like Garrett is Now Sending People to Silence Critics (Including His Own Spouse)
This week Garrett is having a somewhat karmic experience
Links 24/09/2026: Slop Contaminating KDE, Slop-Focused Data Centres Have Severe Environmental Impact
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 197 Out of 200: Garrett Became So Poor That He Wants Others (in Another Continent) to Pay for His Own Legal Work Being Faulty
They lie to courts
The Register MS Has Become a Slopfest
This is the behaviour of a perishing publisher
Gemini Links 24/09/2026: Requiem for a Season, Philosophy, Rube-Goldberg Machine, ROOPHLOCH 2026, and Git over Gemini
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 23, 2026
IBM Grapevine: Development Outsourced to LLM Slop and It Results in Many Bugs
IBM is circling down the drain and every insider knows it
Microsoft Gives Many People the 'Booty' This Week, Not Counting PIPs (Silent Layoffs and 'Voluntary' Layoffs)
Microsoft PIPs allegedly target "20-25% in some teams."
Nearly 1,000 People at EPO 'Met' to Plan Further Strikes and Impending Action to Dethrone Corrupt Leadership
Exploring the purchasing "power" of EPO leadership (buying elections while doing cocaine in public)
Links 23/09/2026: Pax Silica Hub Ruins a Country for a Pyramid Scheme (Slop), Convicted Felon's Press Block Resembles Iran, Russia, China
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/09/2026: Stuck, Gambling, Fury Road, IPFS, and More
Links for the day
The Register Got Paid Today to Spew Out "AI" Almost 50 Times (Keeping the Pyramid Scheme Buzzing in Headlines)
paid-for spam
SLAPP Censorship - Part 196 Out of 200: Sending Someone to Our Doorstep to Ship Approximately 5 KG of Legal Papers (Instead of to Our Representatives)
it is not about law, this is lawfare
IBM's Anderon Already Smells Like a Fraud and IBM Insiders Heckle the Lies From the Management
Sabine Hossenfelder recently made some videos which explain in simple terms why IBM is lying and has already lied about this for years
Links 23/09/2026: Mass-Surveillance by Clownflare and "Data Centre" Crunch Commences
Links for the day
Same Name/Brand, Not the Same Project/Product
What is Linux becoming?
Germany, Like Switzerland, Will Dump Microsoft's Proprietary Software and Disservices, Then Dump Windows for GNU/Linux
This impacts not only the Windows revenue; this corrodes any "rents" Microsoft was getting from "subscriptions"
3 Years Divorced From Americans
Next year we plan to pursue the UK's Court of Appeal
The Register MS Uses Slop About Slop (in Images)
Months ago we caught The Register MS using slop for text as well
There Are Likely Over a Thousand Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Networks Online, Net Gain of 16 Seen This Month by Andreas Gelhausen's netsplit.de
It's good that they're still tracking that sort of stuff
SLAPP Censorship - Part 195 Out of 200: Two Years Since Garrett, Graveley and Lozza Worked in Parallel to Censor Techrights
It began in September 2024, shortly after we had sued Garrett
Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 8 - In Conclusion
this can invite more SCO-like problems in the future
Microsoft Shuts Down More Studios, Morale Low, More Mass Layoffs Ahead of Reports
They pretend it's not happening or that it's a lot smaller than it actually is
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Gemini Links 23/09/2026: Ljubljana, Poetry, and FORTRAN
Links for the day