Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 29/08/2022: Debian's General Resolution on Non-free Blobs



  • GNU/Linux

    • Applications

      • Linux Linksncspot – ncurses Spotify client

        We’ve recently reviewed spotify-qt and Spotify TUI, third party-clients which let you enjoy Spotify without needing to use the semi-official bloated Spotify app.

        ncspot is a command-line Spotify client that’s written in Rust. It’s published under an open source license. Like the other third-party clients, you’ll need a Spotify premium subscription to use it.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • Dan LangilleAdding an SSL certificate to HomeAssistant

        In my previous blog post, I got homeassistant up and running, but without a TLS connection. Let’s fix that.

      • TecMint3 Ways to Install Skype in Fedora Linux [Ed: This is malicious spyware, controlled by an anti-Linux company]

        Skype is a popular proprietary communication application well known for its voice calls, chats, VoIP-based video telephony, and video conferencing functionalities. It helps people stay connected regardless of their geographical location; from colleagues within an organization to family and friends.

        Skype works across a wide range of devices including smartphones (iOS and Android) PCs, and tablets. You can also log in to Skype on the browser to stay in touch with all your contacts.

      • OpenSource.com4 ways to use the Linux tar command

        When you have a lot of related files, it's sometimes easier to treat them as a single object rather than 3 or 20 or 100 unique files. There are fewer clicks involved, for instance, when you email one file compared to the mouse work required to email 30 separate files. This quandary was solved decades ago when programmers invented a way to create an archive, and so the tar command was born (the name stands for tape archive because back then, files were saved to magnetic tape.) Today tar remains a useful way to bundle files together, whether it's to compress them so they take up less space on your drive, to make it easier to deal with lots of files, or to logically group files together as a convenience.

        I asked Opensource.com authors how they used tar, and related tools like zip and gzip, in their daily work. Here's what they said.

      • OpenSource.comClean up unwanted files in your music directory using Groovy

        In this series, I'm developing several scripts to help in cleaning up my music collection. In the last article, we used the framework created for analyzing the directory and sub-directories of music files, checking to make sure each album has a cover.jpg file and recording any other files that aren't FLAC, MP3, or OGG.

        I uncovered a few files that can obviously be deleted—I see the odd foo lying around—and a bunch of PDFs, PNGs, and JPGs that are album art. With that in mind, and thinking about the cruft removal task, I offer an improved script that uses a Groovy map to record file names and counts of their occurrences and print that in CSV format.

      • ID RootHow To Install Java on Linux Mint 21 - idroot

        In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Java on Linux Mint 21. For those of you who didn’t know, Java is the most popular programming language, and many applications require Java JRE (Java Runtime Environments) to execute programs. Java can be used on different platforms such as Linux, macOS, Windows, Raspberry Pi, and many others.

        This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of Java programming languages on Linux Mint 21 (Vanessa).

      • OSTechNixManage Docker Containers Using Portainer In Linux - OSTechNix

        In this tutorial, we will learn what is Portainer, how to install Portainer and how to manage docker containers using Portainer in Linux.

      • Linux Shell TipsHow to Block User-Agents in Nginx Web Server

        Suppose you are after infinite power and control in web administration. In that case, you have no choice but to consult Nginx, which is a reputable web server and is attributed to have almost infinite configuration footprints, high performance, and component adaptability in modern stacks.

        That said, if you are dealing with a high-traffic website and need a web server that is lightweight and fast, you should consider implementing Nginx.

        On the other hand, a user agent is simply a software package with the responsibility of retrieving, rendering and interacting with end users’ web content. Popular examples of user agents known to the Linux ecosystem include Curl and Wget.

        Sometimes the access that these user agents have to a web server can compromise its integrity. In this case, you need a way of blocking/restricting their access. This article will walk us through valid Nginx configurations for blocking user agents from having access to your web server data/information.

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Install Focalboard on Ubuntu 22.04

        Focalboard is an open-source and self-hosted project management tool. It is multilingual and an alternative to Asana, Trello, and Notion that can be used by developers to track and manage work across teams. It is based on kanban and is available for desktops and servers. It can be used as a stand-alone personal server for testing and development. Focalboard helps developers stay aligned to complete tasks, reach milestones, and achieve their goals.

        In this post, we will show you how to install Focalboard with Nginx as a reverse proxy on Ubuntu 22.04.

      • Linux HandbookHow to Ping an IPv6 Address in Linux Command Line

        Using the ping command is perhaps the most common way to check if a remote server is reachable or not.

        By default, the ping command works on the IPv4 address. But what if you need to ping an IPv6 address?

        The answer is that you still use the ping command. Yes, the newer versions of the ping command support IPv6 addresses.

      • AddictiveTipsHow to play Halo Infinite on Linux

        Halo Infinite is the sequel to Halo 5, released in 2021 on PC and Xbox platforms. The games multiplayer is free, although the campaign costs money. Unfortunately, the game was never released on Linux.

        Thanks to the hard work of Valve and other Proton developers in the Linux community, a blockbuster game like Halo is now available to play on Linux. If you’re dying to try out the new Halo on Linux, follow this guide to get it working.

      • HowTo ForgeHow to Setup Kubernetes Cluster with Kubeadm on Debian 11

        Kubernetes or k8s is an open-source platform for container orchestration that automates deployments, management, and scaling of containerized applications. Kubernetes is a container orchestration created by Google, and now become an open-source project and become standard for modern application deployment and computing platforms.

        Kubernetes is the solution for the modern container deployment era. It provides service discovery and load-balancing, storage orchestration, automated rollout and rollback, self-healing service, secret and configuration management. Kubernetes enables cost-effective cloud-native development.

      • Red Hat OfficialHow to use variables as arguments in Ansible | Enable Sysadmin

        When you write an Ansible playbook, you sometimes need to pass data into your play at runtime. To do that, you can use a variable, a sort of placeholder for data that's meant to be determined at some point in the future.

        There are lots of places to create variables for your playbooks, such as an inventory file, included files, or even dynamically in your playbook itself. However, you can also pass variables in the terminal when you launch your playbook.

      • LinuxOpSysRsync Command in Linux - Options + Examples

        As a system administrator or Linux power user, how do you transfer files from your local system to a remote?

        To synchronize folders or files to another machine we need a fast and reliable tool. In this tutorial, we learn about rsync command in Linux with some useful examples.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • GNOME Desktop/GTK

        • Its FOSS5 GNOME 43 Features to Keep an Eye On

          GNOME 43 is due for release on September 21, 2022. As of now, GNOME 43’s beta build is available to test.

          The features/changes that we find with GNOME 43 beta should arrive with the final release.

          So, what are the best GNOME 43 features that you should look forward to?

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

    • New Releases

      • 9to5LinuxMX Linux 21.2 Released with Linux Kernel 5.18, Based on Debian GNU/Linux 11.4

        Coming almost five months after MX Linux 21.1, the MX Linux 21.2 release is here as an updated installation medium for those who want to deploy the lightweight Debian-based distribution on new computers.

        MX Linux 21.2 is based on Debian GNU/Linux 11.4, which introduced 79 security fixes and 81 miscellaneous bugfixes, and bumps the kernel to Linux 5.18, despite it reaching end of life earlier this month, for the AHS (Advanced Hardware Support) edition. The standard editions stay with Debian’s Linux 5.10 LTS kernel.

    • Debian Family

      • DebugPointDebian Proposes Better Discovery of non-free Firmware Images

        Debian Linux provides two major installer images based on the firmware type. The “free” images contain the “open-source” drivers and packages, whereas the “non-free” images are for proprietary firmware packages.

        If you tried downloading the “non-free” version from the official website, you might have spent some time locating the installer images.

        Because the “non-free” images are kind of “hidden” and buried under several directory structures in the official Debian download server.

      • Its FOSSDebian Finally Starts a General Resolution to Consider a Non-Free Firmware Image

        Debian is one of the most loved Linux distributions for its approach to stability and a balance between new features. But, it does not come with any non-free firmware. And, that is becoming an issue for users who want to use Debian on newer hardware. Most of the latest devices and configurations need non-free firmware to make things work, which includes Wi-Fi, graphics, and more. To address that, Steve McIntyre, a Debian developer and a former Debian project leader, has been actively discussing the issue for a while. At the DebConf 22 conference, Steve recently talked about fixing the firmware mess to highlight this better to users and developers, as spotted by Geeker’s Digest.

        As an update to the discussion among the community: it looks like Debian has started a general resolution to let its stakeholders vote what to do with non-free firmware.

    • Canonical/Ubuntu Family

      • IT Pro Today3 Ubuntu Commands for Monitoring System Resource Use

        Here are three basic Ubuntu commands that will let you monitor system resource use in Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.

      • UbuntuMeet Canonical at Hannover Messe 2022

        Hannover Messe USA is almost here! With a 114,000+ net sq. ft exhibition area, 500+ companies, 129400+ registrants and 100+ countries represented, Hannover Messe USA is the largest gathering of industrial manufacturing in North America.

        Join Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, at Hannover Messe USA to discuss open source innovation in industrial technology. You can meet with the Canonical team on-site in Chicago and pick our technical experts’ brains about your industrial use case.€ 

    • Devices/Embedded

      • CNX SoftwarePine64 Star64 SBC to feature StarFive JH7110 quad-core RISC-V processor with Imagination GPU - CNX Software

        Pine64 Star64 is an upcoming single board computer (SBC) powered by StarFive JH7110 quad-core 64-bit RISC-V processor equipped with an Imagination BXE-4-32 GPU, and in a form factor similar to the earlier Pin64 model B boards such as the Quartz64 Model A.

        The Star64 SBC will be offered with either 4GB or 8GB of RAM, an HDMI 2.0 video output connector, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, a WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 module, USB 3.0 ports, a PCIe slot, and a GPIO header for expansion.

      • Linux GizmosPine64 reveals the Star64 RISC-V based Single Board Computer

        Yesterday, Pine64 made an announcement about the Star64 Single Board Computer (SBC) prototype. The company mentioned this SBC will be powered with the RISC-V based StarFive JH7110 64-bit processor.

        The processor integrated on the Star64 is the same one found on the recently launched StarFive VisionFive 2 board.€ 

      • CNX SoftwareStarFive JH7110 RISC-V processor specifications released

        Some documentation for the StarFive JH7100 processor has been released and answers some of those questions. It’s actually an SoC with six RISC-V cores, of which four 64-bit RISC-V cores run the main OS, plus a 64-bit RISC-V monitoring core, and a 32-bit RISC-V real-time core. The AI accelerators found in the JH7100 (Neural Network Engine and NVDLA) appear to be gone for good, and there are two 1-lane PCIe 2.0 interfaces up to 5 Gbps each.

        Target applications for the StarFive JH7110 processor include single board computers, home NAS, routers with software routing, Smart Home appliances, industrial robots, drones, and video surveillance applications. Right now, the documentation website only comes with a product brief, but the datasheet is coming soon, and a hardware design reference plus a software developer guide are also in the works.

      • HackadayA Pi Camera To Be Proud Of

        Inside the box is a Waveshare touchscreen that fits on the GPIO header, and a NanoWave 5000 mAH USB battery pack. The camera module fits on the front of the unit, with the C-mount ready to take a lens. Software is still a work in progress and is promised to be a Python script controlling the various camera programs. There are enough Pi camera projects for software to be a matter of choice and taste.

        We like the form factor and we like the use of the very compact NanoWave battery, so we think this is a design with some possibilities. Perhaps a cover over the Pi ports might be of use though for general robustness in the face of everyday photography. The question remains though, whether it can come close to the performance of even a budget mirror-less compact camera, and we’re guessing that will depend as much on the operator skill, lens quality, and software capabilities as it does on the Pi HQ module. We look forward to seeing what comes of this project, but meanwhile you can see a video with all the details below the break.

    • Open Hardware/Modding

      • ArduinoMonitoring the force of a 20-ton hydraulic press | Arduino Blog

        Material testing often comes down to breaking stuff and measuring how much force it took to do so. How a thing breaks is a result of different strength properties. There are many different types of strength, but mechanical engineers are most concerned with tensile, compressive, shear, and torsional strength. The easiest way to test compressive strength is to squish something with a very powerful press. Element14 Presents’ Clem Mayer purchased a 20-ton hydraulic press for that purpose and used an Arduino to measure its force.

        Even if you don’t have any shop experience, you’ve probably seen a hydraulic press in action in one of those YouTube videos where they squeeze household objects until they explode in an entertaining way. This particular press can exert up to 20-tons of force, which is about as heavy as three elephants. The actual pressure depends on how much area that force applies to. To calculate the pressure at the time of failure, Mayer needs the contact area (which is easy to measure ahead of time) and the current amount of force that the press is applying. He collected the pressure data using an Arduino Leonardo and a load cell.

      • Raspberry PiRemotely open your garage door with Raspberry Pi Pico W

        The best part about this creation being controllable via mobile phone is that you don’t need a bulky garage door remote on your keychain. You’ve already got your car key (hence the garage), your front door key, back door key, gym locker key, barcode thing you scan at the supermarket to collect points that never really get you anything. You get the picture. Also, have you ever tried to find a replacement battery for an old-fashioned garage door remote control? Skip the hassle and keep your keychain slimline with Michael’s Pico W-based solution.

      • HackadayShare Screen To RGB Panel With Pi Pico W

        RGB LEDs are great for adding a bit of color to your life, and it’s even more satisfying to use a matrix of them as a graphic display. [bitluni] built an RGB LED display with Pi Pico to which you can share a pixelated version of your PC’s screen.

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • Web Browsers

      • Mozilla

        • MozillaMerging two GitHub repositories without losing commit history [Ed: Mozilla is outsourced to proprietary software of Microsoft, betraying both standards and Free software]

          We are in the process of merging smaller example code repositories into larger parent repositories on the MDN Web Docs project. While we thought that copying the files from one repository into the new one would lose commit history, we felt that this might be an OK strategy. After all, we are not deleting the old repository but archiving it.

        • MozillaThe Truth is Out There [Ed: Mozilla continues to push for Web censorship under the guise of battling misinformation]

          Murky political groups are exploiting social media systems to spread disinformation. With important elections taking place around the world this year, who is pushing back? We meet grassroots groups in Africa and beyond who are using AI to tackle disinformation in languages and countries underserved by big tech companies.

    • GNU Projects

      • DebugPointGIMP 2.99.12 Released with Huge Updates, But No Date of v3.0 Yet

        The free and open source drawing program brings the latest point release (development) in the 2.99 series with a list of new features and updates. GIMP’s point releases are not minor ones. They often bring several new features and improvements.

        Although, in the official release announcement, the team did not say specifically when the much-anticipated GIMP 3.0.0 will be released. As it is a community project and a complex one, we can guess it will be released when ready.

    • Programming/Development

    • Standards/Consortia

      • Matt RickardTimeline of Early Email

        The first version of a computer email system that resembles anything like what we have today showed up around 1965. Computers had been primitively networked a few years earlier, and you could technically send and receive content.

  • Leftovers

    • Science

    • Education

      • Ruben SchadeHandwritten HTML sites

        Mine answer is the same, though like him I don’t run modern Windows. The tool might have changed, but I still write basic HTML sites by hand. It has to span dozens of pages, need editing by other people, or require interactive features for me to do it any other way.

      • Data SwampMy blog workflow

        I rarely spend more than 40 minutes for a blog post, the average blog post takes 20 minutes. Most of them are sharing something I fiddled with in the day or week, so the topic is still fresh for me. The content of the short articles often consists of dumping a few commands / configuration I used, and write a bit of text around so the reader knows what to expect from the article, how to use the content and what's the point of the topic.

        It's important to keep track of commands/configuration beforehand, so when I'm trying something new, and I think I could write about it, I keep a simple text file somewhere with the few commands I typed or traps I encountered.

    • Hardware

      • HackadayGiant 3D Printer Aims To Produce Life-Sized Boat

        As 3D printers become more ubiquitous, the number of custom designs and styles of printers has skyrocketed. From different printing materials and technologies to the movements of the printing head, we’ve seen all kinds of different takes on these tools. But one thing that has been largely limited to commercial and industrial use has been large print sizes —€  leaving consumer level prints to be split into several pieces to fit together later. Not so with this giant 3D printer from [Ivan], though.

      • HackadayAutomate Your Desk With The Upsy Desky

        It might be surprising for some, but humans actually evolved to be long-distance runners. We aren’t very fast comparatively, but no other animal can run for as long or as far as a human can. Sitting at a desk, on the other hand, is definitely not something that we’re adapted to do, so it’s important to take some measures to avoid many of the problems that arise for those that sit at a desk or computer most of the day. This build takes it to the extreme, not only implementing a standing desk but also a ton of automation for that desk as well.

      • HackadaySleep Posture Monitor Warns You Away From Dangerous Positions

        Age, we’re told, is just a number, but that number seems to be the ever-increasing count of injuries of a ridiculous nature. Where once the younger version of us could jump from a moving car or fall out of a tree with just a few scrapes to show for the effort, add a few dozen trips around the sun and you find that just “sleeping funny” can put you out of service for a week.

    • Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

      • SUVs 'eight times more dangerous' to kids walking or cycling than smaller cars are

        A recent study from the US has found that children are eight times more likely to be killed in a collision involving an SUV or pick-up truck than they are in a crash in which a standard passenger car is involved.

      • Helsinki TimesInstagram rolls out update to change default content settings for teens

        Instagram is also testing prompts for teens that suggest limiting who can interact with their content. The test will ask them to review privacy and security settings related to who can re-share their content, who can message them, the type of content they can see, and time management, as per The Verge.

      • Is TikTok or Instagram worse for teen mental health?: A therapist vs. psychologist perspective

        Although teens think TikTok may be the most harmful social media platform, therapists and psychologists disagree. Instagram perpetuates additional issues due to the fact that users can alter their public image. Regardless, this is nothing new. Media has shaped the body standard for decades. Therapists and psychologists also harp on the benefits of social media platforms, as they often provide community to those struggling.

      • Effects of Social Media on Teens: Understanding the Headlines

        Social media plays a powerful role in connecting with others, getting information and expressing ourselves. But over the past year, the impact of social media, particularly Instagram, has made headlines for its negative effects on teens, especially girls.

        Concerns around social media's impact on self-esteem adds to national conversations around the ongoing youth mental health crisis. It's more important than ever that parents, caregivers, educators and youth development professionals guide young people in having safe experiences online that support their wellbeing and success.

      • Counter PunchThe UN Proved Its Usefulness in Crafting Ukraine Grain Deal

        Before the war, Ukraine exported more than 45 million metric tons of grain annually to the global market. The war has caused grain prices to rise dramatically.

    • Proprietary

      • YLEPolice solve 4% of internet crime [iophk: Windows TCO]

        A decade ago, police managed to solve more than 30 percent of data breach cases. Police told Yle that the shrinking percentage of solved cases reflects the explosion of this type of crime. In 2012, for example, police said they dealt with fewer than 500 cyber crime cases.

    • Security

      • LWNSecurity updates for Monday [LWN.net]

        Security updates have been issued by Debian (curl, exim4, maven-shared-utils, ndpi, puma, webkit2gtk, and wpewebkit), Fedora (dotnet3.1, firefox, and webkit2gtk3), Mageia (clamav, mariadb, net-snmp, postgresql, python-ldap, and thunderbird), SUSE (freeciv, gnutls, keepalived, libyang, nim, python-Django, and varnish), and Ubuntu (schroot).

      • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

        • SequoiaPGPsq User Testing Results

          I did some user testing of sq with five volunteers. This blog post is a report of what I learned. Good news: everyone did get all the tasks done successfully and within the one hour I had allocated, with plenty of time left over. Of course, there were a few things that could be improved.

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • Scoop News GroupMost top mobile carriers retain geolocation data for two years on average, FCC findings show

          Ten of the top 15 mobile carriers collect geolocation data and provide no way for consumers to opt-out, according to information from the telecom companies the Federal Communications Commission published Thursday.

          The carriers’ answers to questions about data collection and retention from the FCC come in response to a July request from the agency seeking information on geolocation practices in light of concerns about how law enforcement could use phone data to arrest abortion-seekers in states where the procedure is now illegal or will soon be outlawed.

        • Silcon RepublicNorway reportedly wants to fine Meta for illegal data transfers

          While Norway is not a member of the EU, it is part of the European Economic Area which has incorporated GDPR.

          The proposal was a response to a draft ruling issued by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) to other EU regulators last month, following an investigation into whether Meta’s transatlantic data-sharing practices comply with EU rules.

          A final ruling could force Meta to halt data transfers between the EU and US.

        • DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer)Your bank and other Web sites are running creepy JavaScript that records your every action. NoScript can block that from running. Bonus: “Web Rot” | BaronHK's Rants

          Your bank and other Web sites are running creepy “Session-Replay” JavaScript that follows you around the site recording your every movement.

          You’re not “supposed to know” about this, but NoScript can block that from running.

          I had a conversation with Matthew Garrett (alleged security person, actual drama bomb thrower) on IRC the other day about the “security” of JavaScript.

          He had previously promoted it as a “great way of running untrusted code”.

          Unfortunately, there’s just nothing secure about JavaScript. It’s the most widely abused platform in all of computing because almost everyone ends up running it without thinking of the consequences, and browsers which are instructed to do so, do it without bothering to allow any user control over the process in their default state.

          If you can’t trust code, it’s better to not have it running at all.

          Especially if it’s not doing anything to help you, and is proprietary.

          Garrett said that “total sandbox escapes” where the program gets out of your browser sandbox and starts interfering with another tab or running arbitrary malicious code outside of any sort of confinement is “rare” to the point where someone would need to be “targeting you” and willing to blow a Zero Day exploit to do it.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • ABCBali bombmaker Umar Patek records on-camera interview from Indonesian jail

        Patek was filmed in recent days walking through the jail grounds at Porong in East Java, chatting with the prison governor, both men smiling and laughing together on camera as he casually discusses his role in the terror attacks, which killed more than 200 people.

      • NatureGlobal food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection

        In conclusion, the reduced light, global cooling and likely trade restrictions after nuclear wars would be a global catastrophe for food security. The negative impact of climate perturbations on the total crop production can generally not be offset by livestock and aquatic food (Fig. 5a). More than 2 billion people could die from a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, and more than 5 billion could die from a war between the United States and Russia (Table 1). The results here provide further support to the 1985 statement by US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and restated by US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2021 that ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’.

      • New York TimesThe Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was cut off from Ukraine’s grid, leading to outages, officials say.

        An off-site power supply from the electricity grid is essential for ensuring nuclear safety, the director, Rafael Marino Grossi, said in a statement. The plant has diesel generators and a separate coal-fired plant to provide backup power if it loses external power, he noted.

        Backup power is required to ensure the continued operation of cooling systems that remove heat from the reactors. Without cooling, the nuclear fuel could overheat and melt down, potentially releasing radiation.

      • BBCHow many people cross the Channel in small boats?

        As at 22 August, 22,557 migrants had made the crossing in small boats since the start of the year.

        [...]

        The government wants to send to Rwanda those who arrive in the UK through "illegal, dangerous or unnecessary methods", such as on small boats or hidden in lorries, when they could have claimed asylum in another safe country such as France.

      • The Telegraph UKDozens more Channel migrants land in Kent as total this year nears 25,000

        It comes as people smugglers are offering “TikTok Black Friday” cut-price Channel deals to Albanians to beat a Government crackdown ahead of the bank holiday.

        Gangs are advertising on the social media platform with offers as low as €£3,000 per migrant to cross the Channel, at least 40 per cent cheaper than the “standard” rates of around €£5,000 to €£5,500.

      • ABCNew Mexico man charged with supporting Islamic State group

        Federal prosecutors believe Wilson was trying to establish an “Islamic State Center” in New Mexico that would teach Islamic State group ideology, provide martial arts training and serve as a haven for people preparing to fight for the group in the U.S. and abroad.

      • ScheerpostWhy the US and Israeli Right Really Hate the Iran Nuclear Deal

        Juan Cole explores what right-wingers in both countries actually want to happen in Iran.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | Will Six Months of War in Ukraine Turn Into Six Years?

        President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Washington will fund an additional $3 billion in military aid for Ukraine. On the surface, this may seem like business as usual. After all, the United States has sent 19 separate tranches of military support since the war began, and Congress has already approved funding for at least another $10 billion worth of arms.

      • Counter PunchThe Death of Daria Dugina: Moscow’s Invocation of Terrorism is More Than Chutzpah

        Russian state television called the incident a “terrorist attack.” That terminology implies an act in violation of existing rules. A dictionary definition of terrorism is “The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.”

    • Environment

      • Energy

        • JURISTCalifornia approves regulation phasing out gasoline-powered car sales by 2035

          The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved Advanced Clean Cars II rule on Thursday making California the first state to prohibit sales of new gasoline-powered cars. The rule sets out a roadmap whereby 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in the state will be zero emission vehicles (ZEVs), including plug-in hybrids.

          The regulation codifies Governor Gavin Newsom’s light-duty vehicle goals set forth in Executive Order N-79-20 and requires automobile manufacturers to deliver an increasing number of ZEVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) each year beginning in 2026. Specifically, sales targets of new ZEVs and PHEVs are set at 35% in 2026, increasing to 68% in 2030 and ultimately 100% in 2035.

        • HackadayHackaday Prize 2022: Compact Solar Tracking System Doesn’t Break The Bank

          If you need to squeeze every available watt out of a solar panel, you’ll probably want to look into a solar tracking system. Unfortunately, they are usually quite large, heavy, and expensive. As an alternative, [JP Gleyzes] has put together a DIY solar tracking system that aims to address these issues.

      • Overpopulation

        • JURISTBangladesh dispatch: ‘A silent famine is prevailing across Bangladesh as food and commodity prices soar to record highs.’

          Many of us may have heard about the so-called domino effect in which one event causes a series of like events to happen one after another. Currently, we hear talk of a domino effect in South Asian countries. After the dreadful economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka, experts fear that other countries in this region may face a similar situation. Unfortunately, Bangladesh is on this list of countries.

          Why do experts fear this? The question is even more interesting because South Asian country’s $416 billion economy has been one of the fastest-growing in the world for years. In fact, in November 2021, the United Nations decided to strike Bangladesh off its list of the world’s least developed nations.

        • The Daily StarBringing population back into the conversation

          At present, the country has more than 167 million people, but strangely, the topic of "overpopulation" or "population explosion" receives little attention. Moreover, some quarters in our country tend to see this large population as an economic asset. There is no denying the fact that the population of a country is the greatest social capital a nation can have, but unchecked population growth can be detrimental to economic development. Some empirical studies have found that an unchecked rising population comes with several economic and social challenges. It diminishes the availability of capital per head by limiting access to food, housing, sanitation, healthcare, education and employment, which in turn reduces the productivity of its labour force. It often has devastating effects on the environment as well.

        • Climate Change: Are we heading towards extinction?

          Dire environmental consequences are happening in Africa and measures and initiatives are being attempted in this regard by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) within the theme 'Only One Earth'. Communities around the globe have observed World Environment Day on June 5 by putting environmental concerns in the spotlight. This effort is now considered as the UN's primary platform to promote action for the protection of the environment by raising awareness on issues such as human overpopulation, marine pollution, global warming, wildlife crime and sustainable consumption. Celebrated annually by more than 150 countries worldwide, the day is a global platform for environmental outreach, to also showcase initiatives at the country and global level in the promotion of environmental health.

        • Chatham Asset ManagementLetter: Overpopulation is cause of every environmental problem we face

          As any good doctor can tell you, treating symptoms can make you feel good for a while, but if you don’t treat the disease it will eventually kill you.

    • Finance

    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • ‘You are next’: Twitter ignores sick death threat against JK Rowling from Islamic extremist

        Afterward, Rowling shared an update from Twitter expressing that no standards had been broken corresponding to Aziz’s message after it had inspected the realities accessible. “[email protected] These are your principles, right? Rowling created. Savagery: You are not permitted to take steps to utilize viciousness against a particular individual or gathering of people. The advancement of savagery is additionally taboo. “Psychological warfare/fierce fanaticism: You may not compromise or supporter illegal intimidation,” it peruses.

      • Consortium NewsJOHN KIRIAKOU: Don’t Charge Trump With Espionage

        Nobody should be charged with espionage unless they are working for a foreign power and mean harm to the United States. The Espionage Act, which was written 105 years ago to combat German saboteurs, is rarely used now to target spies and traitors. Instead, it’s used as a cudgel to silence whistleblowers, journalists, and occasionally a stupid former president.

        To understand the damage that this deeply flawed law has done, and will continue to do, we have to look at its origins. The Espionage Act was written in 1917, at the height of World War I. The U.S. was panicked at the thought of German spies working undercover to steal its secrets and to disrupt its ability to produce war materiel and support its allies.

      • SalonTruth Social is headed for bankruptcy

        As the report points out, Truth Social has not been paying for web-hosting fees to the point where attorneys are now involved, traffic is collapsing, the value of stock in the company is plunging and money is running out.

      • TruthOutDark Money Groups Are Scheming to Bring Down Biden's Student Debt Relief Plan
      • Common DreamsRepublican AGs, Dark Money Groups Scheme to Sue Over Student Debt Relief

        "Conservative jurists, and ultimately the justices themselves, will be eager to shred the new program."

      • Counter PunchWill the Democrats Manage to Help Re-Elect Trump?

        I learned about this furious row because I knew a Canadian paper magnate who had bought a house close to Mar-a-Lago at about the same time as Trump. My friend was bitter that the agency that sold him the property had carefully timed his visit for a moment in the afternoon when there were no planes flying directly overhead.

      • Counter PunchWeaponizing Charity to Advance a Political Agenda
      • Counter PunchCould Liz Cheney Initiate a New Conservative Party?

        Elie Mystal of the Nation points out€ that Republicans rejected Cheney because “white conservative voters trash everything to keep themselves in power.” In other words, the core Republican base will not support any candidate who fails to address their fears of being replaced by others.

      • Misinformation/Disinformation

        • GannettMichigan students connected to TikTok, Snapchat — and learning is suffering, teachers say

          Saidi, a teacher at Salina Intermediate in Dearborn, started to notice students becoming less engaged in school long before the pandemic, particularly with the rise of smartphones and social media.

        • New York TimesA Journey Into the Misinformation Fever Swamps

          Several of my colleagues here at The New York Times track the trends and shifting tactics of these fraudsters on their daily beats. So I exchanged messages this week with Sheera Frenkel, Tiffany Hsu and Stuart A. Thompson, all three of whom spend their days swimming in the muck brewed by fake news purveyors here and abroad.

          Our conversation, lightly edited for length and clarity: [...]

    • Censorship/Free Speech

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • Counter PunchIt’s All Political: Julian Assange Appeals his Extradition

        Along this potted judicial road, Assange chalked up a qualified success before District Court Judge Vanessa Baraitser on January 4, 2021, who held that he would be at serious risk of suicide occasioned by the effects of Special Administrative Measures and confinement in the ADX Florence supermax facility in Colorado.€  This was deemed oppressive within the meaning of the US-UK Extradition Treaty.€  The most obvious aspect of the prosecution – its self-evidently political nature – was given little thought.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

      • Six Months with Android: A journey from a blind perspective

        During the last six months, I’ve used Android exclusively as my primary device. I made calls with it, texted with it, read emails with it, browsed the web, Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook with it, and played games on it. Now, I’m going to express my thoughts on it, its advancements, and its issues.

        This will contain mostly opinions, or entirely opinions, depending on whether you really love Android or not. But whatever your stance, these are my experiences with the operating system. My issues may not be your issues, and so on.

      • JURISTFormer Kentucky police detective pleads guilty to falsifying warrant affidavit that led to death of Breonna Taylor

        The US Department of Justice announced Tuesday that a former Louisville, Kentucky detective has pleaded guilty to two separate federal charges. Detective Kelly Goodlett admitted that she conspired to falsify an affidavit to obtain a warrant to search Breonna Taylor’s home without probable cause and that, after the search resulted in Taylor’s death, she also conspired to cover up the illegal warrant by lying to investigators.

        According to her plea agreement, Goodlett acknowledged that she assisted another LMPD detective and their unit supervisor in efforts to obtain a warrant to search Taylor’s home despite knowing that they lacked any probable cause to do so. In order to establish probable cause for the affidavit, the group knowingly created information that was false, misleading, and stale.

      • ABCFanta Bility's family reflects on grief 1 year after 8-year-old was fatally shot by police

        Fanta was shot while exiting a football game with her family at Academy Park High School on Aug. 27, 2021, when officers Brian Devaney, Devon Smith and Sean Dolan fired their weapons toward the crowd after two teens opened fire in a personal dispute close to the high school, according to Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.

      • TruthOutDisappointed in Biden's Inaction, Immigrant Rights Advocates Look to the States
      • TruthOutUPS Workers Say Union Activists Are Being Targeted Amid Contract Negotiations
      • Counter PunchTo Democrats: Make Labor Day A Workers’ Action Day

        Never mind the dwindling Labor Day parades. Instead, organize rallies and assemblies in neighborhoods around real reforms, redirections and respect that all workers (regardless of their political labels) want for themselves and their families.

      • Common DreamsOpinion | With Rights Under Assault, We Must Create a Feminism That Promotes Egalitarian Values

        One of the most liberating moments of my young life was when, at age 14, the school dress code finally loosened to the point where it ceased to exist (this was 1968.) I had always hated the compulsory skirts and knee socks that allowed the cold wind to freeze us girls as we walked to and from school. I definitely felt more comfortable in every way in my ratty, ripped jeans that I wore to school the minute I was able.

      • Counter PunchLife Isn’t Fair. Get Over It.

        Wolf starts with a cynical view of the American people: “But the overriding question for a lot of people who didn’t go to college, those who already paid off their loans or folks who make more than $125,000 (or more than $250,000 if they’re married couples or heads of households) is this: What about me?” How disgusting. Only Wolf is this selfish. The American people love one another and we love when our neighbor is helped. Fuck your fairness.

      • AccessNowSaudi authorities must release women’s rights activist Salma al-Shehab

        We, the undersigned NGOs, call on the international community to press Saudi Arabian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release women’s rights activist and academic Salma al-Shehab, who was recently sentenced to 34 years in prison based on tweets in support of women’s rights and for the respect of basic rights. It is the longest known prison sentence handed down against a peaceful activist for their free speech in Saudi Arabia, signalling an alarming deterioration of the human rights situation in the country.

        Al-Shehab, a 34-year-old mother of two children, is a dental hygienist and PhD student at Leeds University in the United Kingdom, where she was residing before her detention. She was arrested on 15 January 2021 while on holiday in Saudi Arabia, and subjected to solitary confinement and lengthy sessions of questioning over a period of nine and a half months before being brought before the Specialised Criminal Court (SCC), a court used as an instrument of repression to silence dissent in the kingdom. Al-Shehab belongs to the country’s Shi’a Muslim minority, who have long suffered from the government’s repression.

      • AccessNowFree Salma al-Shehab, Saudi’s Twitter activist! Even Big Tech has a role to play

        Saudi Arabian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release women’s rights activist and academic Salma al-Shehab — and all other prisoners locked up for free expression — and put an end to their oppressive regime of human rights abuses. Big Tech must play its part by ensuring human rights are at the core of any business dealings in the kingdom.

        In a joint statement, Access Now and civil society organizations from across the globe strongly condemn the arbitrary arrest and unlawful sentencing of Salma al-Shehab — “the longest known prison sentence handed down against a peaceful activist for their free speech in Saudi Arabia, signalling an alarming deterioration of the human rights situation in the country.”

        “A woman born into a totalitarian landscape dared to speak out — via Twitter. Now Saudi authorities plan on snatching the rest of her life away. Civil society says, unequivocally, no to this,” said Marwa Fatafta, MENA Policy and Advocacy Manager at Access Now. “We demand the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman immediately release Salma al-Shehab, and put an end to persecuting all activists.”

    • Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

      • Moving blog from blogger.com to wordpress.com – formicapunk

        I switched from blogger.com the Google Blog platform to the hosted wordpress.com of Automaticc, the WordPress blog engine main authors.

        [...]

        On the personal side, I also intend to pause twitter activity, as I notice current microblogging platforms tend to mostly contain flame wars, self promotion, or shared links I could find anyway with a good feed reader.

    • Monopolies

      • Copyrights

        • Torrent FreakYouTube Holds Licenses For Copyright Lawsuit Plaintiff's "Entire Back Catalog"

          YouTube says it will seek summary judgment to shut down a lawsuit headed by musician Maria Schneider which alleges mass copyright infringement. YouTube's motion reveals that Schneider's publisher granted YouTube a blanket license covering the musician's entire back catalog, but that's just the beginning.

        • Torrent FreakDash the Iranian: Busted Pirate IPTV Kingpin Allegedly Owns RapidIPTV

          In June 2020, a massive international law enforcement operation targeted an IPTV provider servicing two million subscribers. Millions of euros in assets were seized and authorities arrested the alleged kingpin. Known to colleagues as "Dash the Iranian" the businessman faces a legal nightmare. But what about the fate of the giant piracy service at the center of his prosecution?

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Personal

      • The disease called "Perfection"

        This post is by Single Dad Laughing. I found it in 2010 (or thereabouts) and it was transformative in helping me be more at peace with myself and the world around me. He gives permission to share it, so I wanted to preserve it here in the smolweb because it feels important and evergreen.

        [...]

        We live in communities where people feel unconquerable amounts of pressure to always appear perfectly happy, perfectly functional, and perfectly figured. “Perfection” is much different than perfectionism. The following examples of “Perfection” are all real examples that I have collected from experiences in my own life, from confidential sources, or from my circle of loved ones and friends. If you actually stop to think about some of these, you will probably cry as I admittedly did while writing it. If you don’t, maybe you’re infected with a little too much of this “Perfection” infection.

        “Perfection” is a wife who feels trapped in a marriage to a lazy, angry, small man, but at soccer practice tells the other wives how wonderful her husband always is. “Perfection” keeps people from telling the truth, even to themselves. My husband is adorable. He called me a whore this week because I smiled at a stranger. When I started crying, he said he had a game to go watch. I love him so much.

      • Verstappen makes everyone look foolish

        Verstappen qualified with a huge advantage, got put back to 15th with penalties, and still had an easy win. Everything was working for him this weekend. He could have won if he'd started last. It was quite impressive. It doesn't really matter what happened to the others.

      • AUMORTI Wordo: BRIDE
      • Ancom 2022?

        This is a follow-up to Ancom 2020? where I argued that the 2007 IPCC shook my ancom foundations.

        There’s another problem that’s come up more and more these last few years: the tension between autonomy and human rights.

        The federalism component of ancom was that every workplace, every village, every city block should be autonomous. The drawback of that view is that the bar for how humans treat each other can get placed a li’l too low and things like systematic racism can thrive. We’ve all seen the old “states rights” arguments that tramples human dignity in the name of autonomy.

    • Technical

      • Why Not Oberon?

        OberonStation was a tiny computer with a VGA output and ports for keyboard and mouse. It booted into Oberon in under a second, and featured an SD-card slot and ton of ports.

        It seemed like an ideal computer, the kind I always blab about. Not a trace of Intel inside - just a simple (too simple, perhaps) RISC CPU, fully described in the documentation, designed for the sole purpose of running compiled Oberon.

        But then I tried to write some simple code.


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



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