𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Saturday, December 12, 2020 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Sun 13 Dec 03:28:55 GMT 2020 Created by Dr. Roy Schestowitz (𝚛𝚘𝚢 (at) 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣 (dot) 𝚌𝚘𝚖) Full hyperlinks for navigation omitted but are fully available in the originals The corresponding HTML versions are at 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈 Latest in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕 and older bulletins can be found at 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕-𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 Full IPFS index in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔 and as plain text in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔/𝒕𝒙𝒕 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmZ2hDQGLcFiBexEJSLeXytE1arKzw2acB1Tjz9a89V4Fa Qmd6CkrB6BxvbpYc2A4inaPdP66KBtq72z4VXkuwzSMgkP QmYfrMVyySrZF2SrDo83bXq8ZvCS5nvmuBRbTwmmUMwfmG QmX8sx4qHQqTcXiwTPUfF5FJgwB17cRE94Vdq7o8aajWoB QmNgrJVRJJYg75CzFXHMzwK5Qzc4TSeqDifwZp45So4rE4 QmVRL6WMmGiPV37uPBGTUEvLUEsKm7Yrd3bfHwpJyyzhPU QmS9bP8yhTuXvtdnGKjZQcTYCgofc2LYKW3KEeK8Vq8hti QmZQcuYLNJ1irDo1sgAAN46wJgKbFzZkWPXhqzsJr4wmpV QmfVy1Cefdnogv1y46TCGUYXffiMvPoaUrebDtBmzQouNd QmY1YfMUmDPhBaybxneMM72CHSdttnzK6m6Az1quYcU13Y Qmb1nmr8opPQQQchMsxCxxgtpnpvC6ntG5egMNCvSy6goB QmedadEVa8qx38m3nCc1XAsSv1Ysax8t5GDMfnDFFQ9uuD Qmbeyyus6WJKney9DHZmnSFuEe3qvF2Sobtjn7Meuxzeax QmPWBiWqJudrvMfHmJsdpGQnTiyouDZ2XVRas97CR47vCe QmbWU8LZAoueFo3sFHg9yUhSStNjX3gHp2HdjiLbC1S1CY QmTHV7Z8T6n8D8q3njyZvFEW2igm8TkT7vWz9BwTnLtZCY QmYq9nBUinhGJxPEMNFrimohy385yozBshCqbwY9ZfdYW9 QmQxFpN1zaj9q7VEH7KHHxsNW8nxKEKw42BNKPmSZXAgEP QmekNhrLiLMoZ4ZPFaxo2Ys3qBUQn368R3QWYRgu3C9e7P QmdpfTZxDZZquSvRkhW95WZVsZytNYA53p6shrBUHSQPYr QmdouB7iwNKj8ZU7ab1Z5zsMaER5uXJZLnFx1U2iHwkZGd ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ SUEPO, the Staff Union of the European Patent Office (EPO): António Campinos Gives a “Strong Impression” That “Mr Battistelli is Still Running the Office Through the Trustees He Placed in the House.” | Techrights ⦿ [Meme] Nobody to Talk to at the European Patent Office | Techrights ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 11, 2020 | Techrights ⦿ Two Years Ago SUEPO Discussed Rules of Strike With António Campinos and 3 Days From Now EPO Staff in All Sites Goes on Strike | Techrights ⦿ António Campinos Has Been a ’Lame Duck’ for Nearly Two Years Now, But the Administrative Council Failed to Act | Techrights ⦿ You Can Really Tell That EPO Management is Growingly Stressed or Increasingly Worried by Next Week’s Strike in All EPO Sites | Techrights ⦿ Two Years of Absolutely Nothing From António Campinos (Except Photo Ops and Self-Praising Fluff) | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/an-epo-coverup/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/european-patent-office-deaf/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/irc-log-111220/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/mou-open-letter/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/open-letter-working-group-and-performance-assessment/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/stress-of-epo-management/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/two-years-of-nada/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/easyos-2-5-3/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/kde-frameworks-5-77-0/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 65 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/an-epo-coverup/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ SUEPO,_the_Staff_Union_of_the_European_Patent_Office_(EPO):_António_Campinos Gives_a_“Strong_Impression”_That_“Mr_Battistelli_is_Still_Running_the_Office Through_the_Trustees_He_Placed_in_the_House.”⠀✐ Posted in Europe, Patents at 6:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Recent: European_Commission’s_Thierry_Breton_Covers_Up_EPO_Corruption_For_His Friend_Benoît_Battistelli 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇Papa Don't Preach; Just carry on with breach of the law⦈ Summary: Staff of the EPO is smart enough to understand how politicians work, in effect putting in place cover-up mechanisms which stifle self-assessment, introspection, investigation or shift in objectives In spring of last year the staff union of the EPO, SUEPO, wrote to members and colleagues about António_Campinos. To quote: “Already before his arrival at the EPO, he [Campinos] must have informed himself and read public blogs and papers written by relevant stakeholders. In any event, after 9 months spent in the Office and after having met personally a thousand staff members, who often complained to him about HR, Mr Campinos is fully aware of the responsibility of HR (top) managers for the present disarray.” “How can workers not join the strike?”Team Battistelli remained in charge of HR despite lack of qualifications and relevant skills (we saw some embarrassing private letters that we cannot publish as that would certainly expose a source; even people nearby struggle to keep their mouths shut about what they saw). Having circulated this_letter [PDF], SUEPO said: “Whilst the IM department (now “BIT”) is undergoing a profound reorganisation with change of (top) managers, we are witnessing no change at all in HR. A disturbing question inevitably comes to mind: WHY?” 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇Breton-Battistelli relationship⦈ The main_culprit is named also; including at the end: “We doubt that his [Campinos] sympathy for Ms Bergot’s policies or methods is sufficient to explain Mr Campinos’ unfaltering support of PD43, considering the consequences this open support has on his image and the strong impression it gives – namely that Mr Battistelli is still running the Office through the trustees he placed in the house. Like our readers, we can only make assumptions about Mr Campinos’ true reasons for changing nothing in HR. In any event the continued presidential support to HR top management does not bode well for social dialogue and the EPO’s future.” With 3 days until strike in all EPO sites we can see the consequences; not only has Campinos failed to investigate Battistelli’s grift (EPOTIF for instance), he actively participates in this whole gambling scam by stealing money from workers and pensioners. How can workers not join the strike? As SUEPO puts it, “Enough Is Enough!” Trop c’est trop! █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 132 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/european-patent-office-deaf/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ [Meme]_Nobody_to_Talk_to_at_the_European_Patent_Office⠀✐ Posted in Europe, Patents at 11:16 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇Best negotiator ever, António Campinos⦈ Summary: Nobody does it like ‘Tony’; he’ll pretend to listen, do whatever he wants regardless, then label himself “social” something (because his_father_was in_the_Socialist_Party) ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 156 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/irc-log-111220/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Friday,_December_11,_2020⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:50 am by Needs Sunlight 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text Enter_the_IRC_channels_now =============================================================================== § IPFS Mirrors⠀➾ CID Description Object type IRC log for  QmbD1JUwmGaM519dzXyNgg1C2H1AG791vgUG1VV3WPVFcU #boycottnovell 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell  QmNwSeHhhyMeSha5uGmdc2Z6WsSTuuVd7iNw64KTEdM38X (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmdG8HvvUJqsbnvt7r29beeKdGYKHZ4jQ6H4FBquFt31cC social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  Qmcd5M2TavZ1Rif6ertRNSSbWHK5Kme2UszFQiZEZbmJqh social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmU1sS6CEhV7MC92iTbSd62XjCBr1h3Na4saEUmZx9FjiL #techbytes 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techbytes  QmTLdyAa8Ha23wns5jFkHDztMBLSvHBkBzVhWQtDkS2cdL (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmeKzRUZ9qFt2v2bLKjDoDiVPT2HTfDEz8E2D7t6HDzbVB #techrights 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techrights  QmewRtqP4uKSLRm5hfaDoyHHKkvh9EXpNArwxnWQySTwqu (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈ § Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾ Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmdpfTZxDZZquSvRkhW95WZVsZytNYA53p6shrBUHSQPYr ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 269 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/mou-open-letter/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Two_Years_Ago_SUEPO_Discussed_Rules_of_Strike_With_António_Campinos_and_3 Days_From_Now_EPO_Staff_in_All_Sites_Goes_on_Strike⠀✐ Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:15 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Union-busting and anti-strike provisions did not work for long, did they? You can’t sweep legitimate grievances under a rug, not even during a pandemic. 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇A photo of Ion Brumme⦈ Summary: On December twelfth 2018 (exactly 2 years ago) the staff union of the EPO published a letter which said they had “discussed the rules for strike (Articles 30a and 65(1)c) ServRegs and Circular No. 347), which triggered many litigation cases currently pending. The President confirmed his readiness for looking at them together with us with the intention of settling pending litigation cases and finding a modus vivendi reflecting a staff union’s prerogative for organising a strike.” LAST YEAR in the middle of May (before talks broke down due to António_Campinos failing to engage in a genuine dialogue, much like Benoît_Battistelli had failed), the staff union of the EPO (SUEPO) sent out this “[o]pen letter from SUEPO Central to Mr Campinos on discussion of a Memorandum of Understanding,” stating that Campinos “invited SUEPO to discuss on 16 May a new framework for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the EPO and our Union. Our response, which we sent already to the delegations of the Administrative Council, is available…” “Notice the tone used back then compared to today’s.”It’s quite typical for Campinos to stage “meetings” with people just to tick a box and then claim to the Administrative Council that he was doing something social, piggybacking his father’s social(ist) creds. But as SUEPO made very clear in this_letter: [PDF] 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇MoU_EPO_open_letter_page_1⦈_ 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇MoU_EPO_open_letter_page_2⦈_ 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇MoU_EPO_open_letter_page_3⦈_ The latter letter was published exactly 2 years ago. Notice the tone used back then compared to today’s. It’s amazing a strike was prevented for this long; in fact, one_was_planned_and_scheduled_just_before_the_pandemic_interrupted things. To quote from the_strike’s_statement: “Management seems to believe that Staff of the EPO is in a state of paralysis and will not react, no matter how hard they will be hit, as if the pandemic would have anesthetised our senses. Only that can explain the current attacks after years of loyal and competent work. Indeed, year after year, Council meeting after Council meeting, managers and Heads of Delegations keep praising the results of our work, the great working atmosphere, the huge production with ever reducing working staff. Only to come some days later with new and inventive attacks on our working conditions. Changes are always imposed, making a mockery of the consultation with Staff Representatives. For the president this is only a power game where he has all the cards. We are tired of being always the losers of this game. We don’t want to play your game Mr Campinos: Enough is enough.” “We will likely write a lot more about the EPO next year.”SUEPO linked to this some days ago and new comments say “abandon the EPC! Viva national law!” and “The cash injection system in the SSP and this Salary Adjustment Prreform [sic] change the working atmosphere at the EPO from a golden cage to a menagement [sic] heaven based on employees hell.” (by “Worried employee”) For a long time Team Battistelli worked hard to make it harder and harder to arrange a strike; don’t miss Tuesday’s opportunity to take a day off without being bullied by line managers. This is just the start. “SUEPO has announced the strike will be the start of a year of social conflict to defend the future of the Staff and their families,” says the article cited by SUEPO. We will likely write a lot more about the EPO next year. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 359 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/open-letter-working-group-and-performance-assessment/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ António_Campinos_Has_Been_a_‘Lame_Duck’_for_Nearly_Two_Years_Now,_But_the Administrative_Council_Failed_to_Act⠀✐ Posted in Europe, Patents at 11:02 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz This year, according to a survey, only 1 in 33 or 1 in 34 members of staff can still trust Campinos (the Administrative Council is trusted by 0%, based on that same survey) 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇Lame duck⦈ Reference: Lame_duck Summary: As escalations from the Chairman of the Central Staff Committee show, it was around spring of 2019 that Campinos lost control and people lost trust in him (or honeymoon period was over, as the metaphor/saying goes) BACK in March of last year staff representatives at the EPO (Central Staff Committee) spoke to constituents/staff about “[a]djustments to the new career system” (that was before breakdown of talks with António_Campinos; still a ‘grace period’ after 8 years of Benoît_Battistelli). The open letter is reproduced in full below and it speaks of “a first VICO “kick-off” meeting”, reminding us that the_term_has_been_used_since_(at_least) last_year and it’s not a substitute for trials or formal appeals: Reference: sc19041cl-0.3.1/4.2.1/6.1 Date: 19.03.2019 Mr António Campinos President of the EPO ISAR – R.1081 § OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT⠀➾ Setting-up a Working Group (WG) on adjustments to the performance management system and procedure for incompetence Dear Mr President, The CSC thanks you for your letter dated 22 February 2019 in which you propose to resume discussions started in 2018 and reconvene the WG on performance management and procedure for incompetence. We welcome your declaration that “any career and performance management has to be regularly reviewed and adapted”. As a first step, we have accepted the invitation to a first VICO “kick-off” meeting to take place on 21 March. Composition_of_the_Working_Group It would appear that the main interlocutor involved from the side of the Administration is one who has shaped (the implementation of) the performance management system, with somewhat limited success. By contrast, we believe it is necessary to equip your delegation with nominees whose presence does not preclude any success of the working groups ab initio. Mandate_/_scope In view of the short duration of this first meeting, we propose to focus our discussions on the mandate of this working group and the time frame for its work. Some guiding principles for the working group could (in our view) be based upon input we have already provided to you with our documents: - “Position of the CSC with regard of performance management” (sc18154cl sent as annex to our letter sc18153cl dated 14 November 2018); - Annex 1 “Adapting the career system to EPO needs” to our letter sc18138cl dated 19 October 2018; - Our letter sc18121cl on Article 52 (procedure for incompetence). ===================================================================== While our nominees will reference these documents as a starting point for the discussions in the working group to establish its mandate, we do not forget the deliverable that is expected to come out of it: proposals for (necessary) change. The CSC remains convinced that there is an urgent need to amend the current career system to make it fit for an Office granting high quality patents, to motivate staff and to reduce litigation while ensuring long term sustainability. A first step of devising fair transitional measures (with a corresponding budget) from the previous to the current career system, as was done in the EU institutions, could address past litigation. Further amendments to the system, as a result of successful social dialogue, might lead to increased transparency, thereby avoiding discrimination and perhaps preventing further litigation. It would also foster staff engagement. The members of the Working Group appointed by the CSC look forward to receiving the statistical data on the implementation of the New Career System since 2015 onwards (requested with our letter sc19040cl dated 8 March 2019). Finally, our expert nominees are looking forward to collaborating with the career specialists you will appoint from your side to try and ensure that this new working group delivers proposals for change that are to the benefit of the EPO and its staff. Yours sincerely, Chairman of the Central Staff Committee Enclosures_in_electronic_form: Letter sc18121cl Letter sc19040cl “The President proposed to resume discussions started in 2018 and reconvene the WG on the performance management system and procedure for incompetence,” said the Chairman of the Central Staff Committee. “We believe that the composition of the WG is essential to be able to deliver proposals for change.” “This was shortly before the faked financial ‘analysis’ (justifying the robbery of present and past staff, mostly for gambling purposes).”It is important to remind ourselves that at this stage the representatives were still hopeful, trying to be optimistic as if there’s a chance of a real turnaround. “A first step of devising fair transitional measures from the previous to the current career system,” they wrote, “as was done in the EU institutions, could address past litigation.” This was shortly before the faked financial ‘analysis’ (justifying the robbery of present and past staff, mostly for gambling purposes). Future staff? What future? The EPO plans layoffs, not recruitment. The destruction of the Office is already underway. Exactly one week later those same staff representatives spoke of “[w]orrying performance assessment for 2018″. Here’s the full letter, signed by the same people with copies sent to Vice Presidents Stephen Rowan, Nellie Simon, and Christoph Ernst: Reference: sc19039cl-0.3.1/4.2.1 Date: 08.03.2019 Mr António Campinos President of the EPO ISAR – R.1081 Performance Assessment for 2018 Dear Mr President, The Staff Representation feels obliged to report to you on the enormous anxiety, worry and demotivation among many of our colleagues caused by the performance assessment for the year 2018, confirmed by the quite negative hands-on experience of many colleagues in the assessment exercise in the last few weeks. In particular, the CSC sees an urgent need to discuss with you one recent publication: - Guidance to performance assessment 2018 – Performance assessment of examiners and formalities officers of 19th February 2019. This document includes crucial elements of the system for structuring the planning and evaluation of the work of about five thousand employees in DG1. The document establishes a classification with four possible grades: • above the expected level • at the expected level • below the expected level or even • far below the expected level A very similar scale based system ranging from (1) “Excellent” to (5) “unsatisfactory” also existed in the performance assessment system described in Circular 246 until the year 2014, with the fundamental difference that it also comprised a fifth possible, positive evaluation: • (1) – Excellent, which corresponded to a level “far above the expected level” ===================================================================== Since the founding of the European Patent Organisation, however, the number of employees with a negative assessment – below or far below the expected level – has been consistently very small, indeed almost negligible1. This has also been the result of a very careful recruitment procedure, where the competencies and skills are monitored at the beginning. Such a distribution of individual assessments seems to be still in line with “normal” national and international administrations. This year, possibly for the first time in the forty years of the Organisation’s history, the Staff Representation is observing an abrupt change in the hitherto essentially consistent assessment system, and many colleagues are reporting that their performance will be evaluated “below” or “far below” the expected level, much worse than what should be expected. Historical trends and statistics may be unpopular with (some) managers or consultants. However, we fail to understand why an institution praised as a leading actor in IP matters worldwide should set its own standards in such a manner that it ends up portraying itself as relying to quite an extent on the work of staff it considers unable to meet their “targets”. Importantly, it is not plausible at all that more than 30% of the highly educated and carefully selected staff members in DG1 will become “underperformers” overnight. Moreover, and contrary to the past, consultation with the Staff Representation on the Guidance to performance assessment has not taken place2, which leaves doubts whether an improvement in management style is intended at all. Further it appears that reference figures, for example reference examiners, so-called “corridors”, etc. are neither public nor have they been a matter of consultation with the Staff Representation. We cannot see any improvement on that front either. In fact the announced performance assessment system appears as continuing, or even reinforcing, past and outdated prejudices against staff, in particular Examiners and Formalities Officers. It is completely at odds with your intention to establish a renewed and genuine (social) dialogue based on pride and “engagement”: this system and its implementation cannot but be regarded as a slap in the face for all DG1 employees. ____ 1 This margin has been kept throughout all subsequent performance management systems (see for example previous Circular no. 246, item A. (5), CODEX March 2015). It is also referred to in the Joint Communiqué from VP1, VP2 and the CSC to all DG1 and DG2 examining staff ProPro ll for 2004, 2005 in Munich. This document, signed by the then Vice-President DG1, the Vice-President DG2 and the Chairman of the CSC, confirmed that only 0,9% of the Examiners were given – in the year 2004 – a productivity box marking below 3 (good). 2 The guidance to performance assessment refers to the amended version of circular 366 (“New Circular 366”). This circular has not entered into force, but was withdrawn before any discussion in the GCC meeting of December 2018. ===================================================================== In addition, the consequence of an abnormal number of negative appraisal reports will in all likelihood be an increased number of conciliation/objection procedures before the Appraisals Committee possibly followed by ILOAT complaints, which is not in the common interest of the EPO and of the employees. It is worth noting that, in the past, with the existing conciliation procedure in place including a neutral mediator, a settlement rate of 80% of cases prior to further litigation could be achieved. The abolishment of neutral mediators, together with the introduction of the New Career System abruptly stopped this trend in the year 2014 in favour of litigation, quickly tunnelled to the ILOAT by the so-called “Appraisals Committee”3. Conclusion_and_requests Having in mind that the reporting exercise for the year 2018 will be finalised during the spring of 2019, this is a matter that cannot really wait and a dedicated meeting on this particular topic would need to be arranged at your earliest convenience. Appropriate measures have to be envisaged urgently in order to avoid further damage to staff and to our Organisation. Regards / sincerely Joachim Michels Chairman of the Central Staff Committee cc.: Vice-President DG1; Mr Stephen Rowan Vice-President DG4; Ms Nellie Simon Vice-President DG5; Mr Christoph Ernst ____ 3 The Appraisals Committee does not fulfil minimum requirements of a balanced composition and impartiality, since the Staff Representation is excluded. Long story short, the EPO is ‘re-engineering’ the appraisal process to be more biased against staff and justify dismissals, layoffs etc. 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇The lame ducks depicted in this Clifford K. Berryman cartoon are defeated Democrats heading to the White House hoping to secure political appointments from then President Woodrow Wilson.⦈ “Already in early March,” the representatives note, “we felt obliged to report to the President the enormous anxiety, worry and demotivation among many colleagues caused by the performance assessment for the year 2018, confirmed by the quite negative hands-on experience of many colleagues in the assessment exercise in the last few weeks.” “The destruction of the Office is already underway.”“Therefore,” they add, “we proposed an urgent dedicated meeting on this particular topic to avoid further damage to staff and to our Organisation.” We already know what happened in weeks that followed; talks basically broke down completely. But it was around that time when things soured and hopes turned into major disappointment. Not to say this is some sort of anthropological research into root causes (based on a trail of letters with reports from meetings); nevertheless, as staff goes on strike in 3 days, it’s important to set the record straight and show whose fault it is. Representation of the staff (union and the Central Staff Committee) was far more than courteous and open-armed; Campinos really had an opportunity to rescue the EPO, but he chose censorship, grift and naked_corruption instead. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 723 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/stress-of-epo-management/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ You_Can_Really_Tell_That_EPO_Management_is_Growingly_Stressed_or_Increasingly Worried_by_Next_Week’s_Strike_in_All_EPO_Sites⠀✐ Posted in Europe, Patents at 7:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 3 months ago: 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇EPO quiet⦈ The past 3 days (or less): 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇EPO gallop close-up⦈ Summary: The EPO’s management is busy writing loads of superficial puff pieces while the rest of the staff actually does all the work (and prepares to go on strike this coming Tuesday) THE facts are very clear. The facts are on the side of EPO staff. The facts are damning. The facts can literally get Benoît_Battistelli detained, prosecuted, and arrested, along with any enablers and collaborators/facilitators/ accomplices. His boss was recently arrested. His bodyguard was also arrested. No wonder he keeps a ‘low profile’ (and has been for two years now, in effect hiding in a French law school). “Campinos and his cohorts already squirm.”There’s an old saying along the lines of being unable to change the past (except cheap revisionism and cover-up). Truth can sort of ‘catch up’ with people, as some people allege in relation to Donald Trump (there are rumours he’s already applying for asylum somewhere while delaying the inevitable outcome of last month’s election). The EPO has basically just done a ‘news’ item about António Campinos talking to a computer (a so-called ‘speech’) with Andrei_Iancu displayed on the screen as if it’s a significant event. They try to make a ‘cult of personalities’ based on a crook riding his dead dad’s coattails. According to this (warning: epo.org link), a few days ago Campinos was chatting with a Trump booster, Andrei Iancu, who actively promoted Trump ahead of the election (he had worked for Trump before netting this job, so it’s a bit like EPO nepotism). To quote (lots of inaccuracies there): “EPO President António Campinos delivered [sic] a keynote speech [sic] yesterday (10 December), followed by a joint panel [sic] discussion [sic] with the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Andrei Iancu, at the Center for Intellectual [sic] Property [sic] (CIP) FORUM 2020.” 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇EPO gallop⦈ How is this actually newsworthy? What’s the importance of this? How does that compare to the other 3 pieces published in less than 2 days prior to that? As of last night, Watchtroll repeated EPO propaganda about illegal_software_patents (“4IR”) seeing “exponential growth”… in effect fake patents that should not have been granted. We already know that Watchtroll works closely with Team Battistelli. It should be noted that nobody but us and Kluwer Patent Blog even mentioned next week’s strike, which is now public information (it’s even in the front page of SUEPO’s Web site). Europe’s second-largest institution going on strike is not news? Whereas 4 pieces of fluff about Campinos are somehow EPO “front page” (homepage) material? Who are those people kidding? The above is the 4th spammy EPO ‘news’ in less than 3 days (earlier this year they went on for over a month without even one! See screenshots at the top!) because the EPO’s dictators try to distract from their crimes, which eventually caused the staff to go on strike (next week). Well, also mind the dates; this whole torrent of garbage started the day Campinos received the letter from SUEPO, informing him about the imminent strike. We’ve already seen how the ‘gish_gallop’ of fluff overlaps truly damaging_things_which_happen_at_the_Office (and Office management tries hard to distract from). Clearly someone (or someones) feels a little nervous. Later in the weekend we may produce here more evidence of that. So in effect the strike is having a real effect even prior to actually taking place. That’s collective bargaining or leverage. Campinos and his cohorts already squirm. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 818 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/12/two-years-of-nada/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Two_Years_of_Absolutely_Nothing_From_António_Campinos_(Except_Photo_Ops_and Self-Praising_Fluff)⠀✐ Posted in Europe, Patents at 10:21 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇When Central Bureau of SUEPO met the EPO President⦈ 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇António Campinos Photo Ops⦈ Summary: The letter from SUEPO, published one week after the 5 December 2018 meeting with EPO President António Campinos, is worth recalling; it shows that for 2 years Campinos mostly perpetuated the harm caused by Benoît_Battistelli because the likes of Aurélien Pétiaud and Michael Lund never received justice and those_who_abused_Laurent Prunier_still_work_at_the_Office A DOCUMENT or a message published on 12/12/2018 (i.e. exactly 2 years ago) spoke about an early “[m]eeting between the Central Bureau of SUEPO and the President of the EPO” — the first such meeting. “The Central Bureau of SUEPO met the President in The Hague on 5 December 2018 for the first time since Mr Campinos took office on 1 July,” SUEPO told members. Their main paper was already_uploaded_last_month [PDF]. “We called for a normalisation of relations between SUEPO and the Office,” they said. “If reforms are discussed with SUEPO we can contribute to reducing litigation and to improving acceptance of reforms. Harm inflicted by Mr Campinos’ predecessor on SUEPO as an institution and on several of its Officials and Staff representatives still requires concrete action for putting an end to these dire straits, as has previously been flagged in letters by the CSC and by USF.” “…the likes of Aurélien Pétiaud and Michael Lund never received justice and those who abused Laurent Prunier still work at the Office.”The USF_letter is in French, but the CSC_letter is in English. Here’s the substance of the letter from the USF, which also uploaded_the_letter_from_the_CSC): 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇USF_2018_letter⦈_ Munich 09.11.2018 sc18151cp – 0.2.1/5.2 Staff Representation Disciplinary Cases – Urgent action needed Dear colleagues, In June 2018, the ILO Administrative Tribunal, with a series of judgments, set aside disciplinary measures inflicted on EPO staff representatives / SUEPO officials, and on one former staff member now employed by SUEPO. It is clear to even the inattentive observer that the cases resulted from a political campaign launched by the previous President and his Administration, aimed at weakening any opposition to their plans. In the meantime the new President, Mr. Campinos, has concluded the two cases concerning Malika Weaver and Ion Brumme. However, this does not clean the slate. Amnesty In Judgment 4047, the matter was remitted to the EPO to enable the charges against Elizabeth Hardon “to be considered afresh”. In Judgment 4052, the case was sent back to the EPO for the President of the Office “to undertake a new examination”. In this latter case, the Tribunal ordered that the examination “shall take into account the instruction to the President contained in Administrative Council Resolution CA/26/16 dated 16 March 2016.” In that Resolution, the Council requested the President to consider the possibility of involvement of an external reviewer for arbitration or mediation. We do not see this happening. Quite on the contrary – Elizabeth Hardon will soon face a new disciplinary committee instigated by the same old Administration, and apparently with the same old charges – even though the Administration’s behavior has already been castigated by the Tribunal. In June 2019, the Tribunal will rule in the case concerning Laurent Prunier, the last of the staff representatives / SUEPO official dismissed by the previous President. He was disciplined despite CA/26/16, and for extraneous motives, similarly to Elizabeth, Malika and Ion. We cannot see that the Office has learnt from the other cases. The Judgments have preserved the President’s dispositive powers. We, for our part, consider that amnesty would be a fair execution of the Judgments. In all cases, it would also serve social peace and justice. ===================================================================== Reparation and protection A second pillar of the justice system, namely the functioning of the internal Appeals Committee, also needs to be repaired. Staff representatives face difficulties accommodating their workload in the Appeals Committee with the workload in their other duties, mostly patent examination. Judgments 3971 and 4050 made public these difficulties, resulting in disciplinary measures against Aurélien Pétiaud and Michael Lund, which the Tribunal considered “within the range of acceptability” or “not to be disproportionate”. It is now absolutely clear that those disciplinary measures were politically motivated as part of an intimidation campaign against staff representatives. We consider that reparation of the torts inflicted on Aurélien Pétiaud and Michael Lund would also serve social peace and justice. This would draw a final line under an inglorious chapter in the Office’s history. Against that historical backdrop, special attention must now be paid to ensure that members of the new Appeals Committee have both a minimum level of independence and peace of mind. As staff representatives, they are increasingly facing the same quandary as their predecessors: trying to reduce the backlog when workload is being increased on all fronts. This is why we expect that management will refrain from undue pressure, vexations or threats of retribution against them in their day-to-day business. The Central Staff Committee We reproduced the above letter at the time; but what’s noteworthy is that now we can make a ‘scorecard’ and see that in 2.5 years in Office Campinos accomplished almost nothing. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 973 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Links_12/12/2020:_EasyOS_2.5.3,_KDevelop_5.6.1,_Wine_6.0_RC2⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 2:39 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ SUSE_+_Nutanix_=_HCI_Heaven⠀⇛ Finally, Nutanix and SUSE are both leaders in their field. Nutanix’s HCI platform is recognized by analysts as an industry leader. SUSE is the world’s first provider of an Enterprise Linux distribution and we enable you to accelerate your IT transformation by providing the widest hypervisor support available, including AHV, KVM, Xen, VMWare and IBM z/VM. # ⚓ Kubernetes:_What_You_Need_To_Know⠀⇛ Kubernetes is a system that helps with the deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications. Engineers at Google built it to handle the explosive workloads of the company’s massive digital platforms. Then in 2014, the company made Kubernetes available as open source, which significantly expanded the usage. [...] In fact, Kubernetes changes the traditional paradigm of application development. “The phrase ‘cattle vs. pets’ is often used to describe the way that using a container orchestration platform like Kubernetes changes the way that software teams think about and deal with the servers powering their applications,” said Phil Dougherty, who is the Senior Product Manager for the DigitalOcean App Platform for Kubernetes and Containers. “Teams no longer need to think about individual servers as having specific jobs, and instead can let Kubernetes decide which server in the fleet is the best location to place the workload. If a server fails, Kubernetes will automatically move the applications to a different, healthy server.” # ⚓ Using_ThinkPad_T410_as_a_server⠀⇛ I’ve been using a QNAP NAS for a couple of years. For an appliance, it did a decent job. But after a long while, I realized that I actually don’t want an appliance: I want a proper Linux server. My immediate thought was to set up a Raspberry Pi- based server. Then I remembered that I still have a ThinkPad T410 stashed in a storage box. # ⚓ Containerized_OpenStack_Clouds?_Sure_says_Mirantis⠀⇛ Running a cloud from containers? It may sound like your putting the container cart before the cloud horse, but there are times it makes sense. For example, you can use the OpenStack cloud running on containers being orchestrated by Kubernetes to host both legacy and modern apps, such as Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). The trick is to get this to work without pulling your hair out. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ My_Thoughts_on_the_CentOS_news,_and_why_WE_need_to_change our_Mindset⠀⇛ The recent news about CentOS was quite a shock to many, and in this completely unscripted video I give you my thoughts. We need to change our mindset when it comes to our own usage of Linux, and the recent news that IBM revealed is very evident of that. # ⚓ Reality_2.0_Episode_51:_Poop_in_the_Desert⠀⇛ Doc Searls and Katherine Druckman have a fun chat with Petros Koutoupis about open source in space, digital detox, World War 2 cryptography, and poop in the desert. # ⚓ Do_We_REALLY_Need_This_Many_Linux_Distros?_–_YouTube⠀⇛ Welcome back to my chat with Thomas of Ubuntu-based gaming distro Drauger OS! In this video I toss a tough question at him about the ever-increasing number of Linux distributions, and we talk a bit more about Windows and Linux gaming. # ⚓ Linus_Torvalds_Wanted_An_M1_Mac_Running_Linux [Ed: No, this is a typically misleading headline; he just wanted Linux support for that hardware]⠀⇛ The M1 Mac is a really interesting device if you care about ARM and none other than Linus Torvalds the creator of Linux was considering purchasing that is if he could get Linus running on it without much hassle. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Challenges_in_protecting_virtual_machines_from_untrusted entities⠀⇛ As an ever-growing number of workloads are being moved to the cloud, CPU vendors have begun to roll out purpose-built hardware features to isolate virtual machines (VMs) from potentially hostile parties. These processor features, and their extensions, enable the notion of “secure VMs” (or “confidential VMs”) — where a VM’s “sensitive state” needs to be protected from untrusted entities. Drawing from his experience contributing to the secure VM implementation for the s390 architecture, Janosch Frank described the challenges involved in a talk at the 2020 (virtual) KVM Forum. Though the implementations across CPU vendors may vary, there are many shared problems, which opens up possibilities for collaboration. Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) from AMD (more information is available in the slides [PDF] from a talk at last year’s KVM Forum and LWN’s brief recap of it), Trust Domain Extensions (TDX) by Intel, and IBM’s Secure Execution for s390 (last year’s KVM Forum talk [YouTube] about it) and Power are some of the hardware technologies that aim to protect virtual machines from potential malicious entities. Other architectures, such as Arm, are expected to follow suit. The sensitive state of a secure VM should not be accessible from the hypervisor, instead a “trusted entity” — a combination of software, CPU firmware, and hardware — manages it. But this raises a question: What counts as “sensitive state”? The lion’s share comprises the guest’s memory contents, which can contain disk encryption keys and other sensitive data. In addition, guest CPU registers can hold sensitive cryptographic key fragments. The execution path of the VM is another; a rogue hypervisor can potentially change the execution flow of a VM — e.g. it can inject an exception into the guest, which is highly undesirable. Therefore, effective “VM controls” that decide which instructions to execute, and how they’re executed, must be protected. Furthermore, a hostile hypervisor, even if it can’t extract any information from its guests, can still mount a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on them. Then there is “data at rest” (i.e. guest data stored on disk), which is often not protected by the trusted entity; it is the VM’s responsibility to protect it with common techniques such as disk encryption. Successfully protecting VMs and their data allows users to deploy sensitive workloads in public clouds. # ⚓ Scheduling_for_asymmetric_Arm_systems⠀⇛ The Arm processor architecture has pushed the boundaries in a number of ways, some of which have required significant kernel changes in response. For example, the big.LITTLE architecture placed fast (but power-hungry) and slower (but more power- efficient) CPUs in the same system-on-chip (SoC); significant scheduler changes were needed for Linux to be able to properly distribute tasks on such systems. For all their quirkiness, big.LITTLE systems still feature CPUs that are in some sense identical: they can all run any task in the system. What is the scheduler to do, though, if confronted with a system where that is no longer true? Multiprocessor support on Linux was born in the era of symmetric multiprocessing — systems where all CPUs are, to a first approximation, identical. Any CPU can run any task with essentially the same performance; the scheduler’s main concern on SMP systems is keeping all of the CPUs busy. While cache effects and NUMA locality discourage moving tasks between CPUs, the specific CPU chosen for any given task is usually a matter of indifference otherwise. Big.LITTLE changed that assumption by bundling together CPUs with different performance characteristics; as a result, the specific CPU chosen for each task became more important. Putting tasks on the wrong CPU can result in poor performance or excessive power consumption, so it is unsurprising that a lot of work has gone into the problem of optimally distributing workloads on big.LITTLE systems. When the scheduler gets it wrong, though, performance will suffer, but things will still work. Future Arm designs, though, include systems where some CPUs can run both 64-bit and 32-bit tasks, while others are limited to 64-bit tasks only. The advantage of such a design will be reduced chip area devoted to 32-bit support which, on many systems, may never actually be used at all; meanwhile, the ability to run the occasional 32-bit program still exists. The cost, though, is the creation of a system where some CPUs cannot run some tasks at all. The result of an incorrect scheduling choice is no longer a matter of performance; it could be catastrophic for the workload involved. # ⚓ epoll_pwait2(),_close_range(),_and_encoded_I/O⠀⇛ The kernel’s “epoll” subsystem provides a high- performance mechanism for a process to wait on events from a large number of open file descriptors. Using it involves creating an epoll file descriptor with epoll_create(), adding file descriptors of interest with epoll_ctl(), then finally waiting on events with epoll_wait() or epoll_pwait(). When waiting, the caller can specify a timeout as an integer number of milliseconds. The epoll mechanism was added during the 2.5 development series, and became available in the 2.6 release at the end of 2003. Nearly 20 years ago, when this work was being done, a millisecond timeout seemed like enough resolution; the kernel couldn’t reliably do shorter timeouts in any case. In 2020, though, one millisecond can be an eternity; there are users who would benefit from much shorter timeouts than that. Thus, it seems it is time for another update to the epoll API. Willem de Bruijn duly showed up with a patch set adding nanosecond timeout support to epoll_wait(), but it took a bit of a roundabout path. Since there is no “flags” argument to epoll_wait(), there is no way to ask for high-resolution timeouts directly. So the patch set instead added a new flag (EPOLL_NSTIMEO) to epoll_create() (actually, to epoll_create1(), which was added in 2.6.27 since epoll_create() also lacks a “flags” argument). If an epoll file descriptor was created with that flag set, then the timeout value for epoll_wait() would be interpreted as being in nanoseconds rather than milliseconds. # ⚓ ID_mapping_for_mounted_filesystems⠀⇛ Almost every filesystem (excepting relics like VFAT) implements the concept of the owner and group of each file; the higher levels of the operating system then use that information to control access to those files. For decades, it has usually sufficed to track a single owner and group for each file, but there is an increasing number of use cases wanting to make that ownership relative to the environment any given process is running in. Developers have been working for a few years to find solutions to this problem; the latest attempt is the ID-mapped mounts patch set from Christian Brauner. In truth, the ID-mapping problem is not exactly new. User and group IDs for files only make sense across a management domain if there is a single authority controlling the assignment of those IDs. Since that is often not the case, network filesystems like NFS have had the ability to remap IDs for many years. The growth of virtualization and container technologies has brought the problem closer to home; there can be multiple management domains running on a single machine. The NFS ID- remapping mechanism is of little use if NFS itself is not being used. # ⚓ Intel_Adding_Interface_To_Pass_Workload_Hints_To_The_Linux Kernel_For_Thermal/Power_Purposes_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Intel’s INT340X thermal code that is used by the likes of the Intel Thermal Daemon “Thermald” for thermal/power management with their modern SoCs will now be able to accept workload hints for making more informed thermal decisions. With Linux 5.11 the INT340X kernel code is set to see a mailbox driver introduced for handling of workload hints. The intent is to give an indication to the hardware/firmware about what’s being run in order to better manage the system power and thermal conditions. # ⚓ Some_Of_The_Features_You_Can_Expect_To_See_With_Linux_5.11: Lots_From_AMD,_Intel_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ The Linux 5.10 kernel is expected to be released this Sunday that will in turn start the Linux 5.11 merge window. Based on the material queued so far into the various “-next” branches, here is a look at what should be on the table for this next major kernel release and come February will be the first major kernel release of 2021. # ⚓ PowerPC_40x_Support_Slated_For_Removal_From_The_Linux Kernel_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Following the original, first-generation PowerPC CPU support being removed in the Linux 5.10 kernel, the original PowerPC 400 series is also looking like it will now be removed as well from the kernel. Patches were sent out for PowerPC 40x platform removal from the mainline kernel. This is for the early PowerPC 40x series parts but doesn’t go as far as removing the newer but still old PowerPC 440 series. The PowerPC 40x platforms of Acadia, Kilauea, Klondike, Makalu, OBS600, and Walnut are all set for removal as part of this clearing of the 40x-specific code. # ⚓ OpenZFS_Now_Supports_Reacting_To_CPU/Memory_Hot-Plugging_– Phoronix⠀⇛ Following the recent OpenZFS 2.0 release, a new feature that has landed in the latest OpenZFS development code is the ability to respond to CPU and memory hot-plugging. # § Graphics Stack⠀➾ # ⚓ Classic_OSMesa_Retires_In_Mesa_21.0_As_The_Worst_Of The_Software_Rendering_Paths_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ While working on some core Mesa cleaning/ improvements, Eric Anholt has retired the classic OSMesa support in next quarter’s Mesa 21.0. Those wanting Mesa software rendering in 2020 and beyond should really be using LLVMpipe or otherwise Softpipe should LLVM not be available for your software/hardware platform. LLVMpipe offers much better performance not to mention OpenGL 4.6 and is actually maintained. With classic OSMesa code just rotting and being of minimal use these days for off-screen rendering, the classic code has been gutted. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Gromit-MPX_–_desktop_annotation_tool⠀⇛ You’ve migrated over from Windows or Mac OS X to the wonderful world of Linux. You’ve selected a Linux distro (after a spot of fruitful distro hopping), chosen a desktop environment, and studied the basic Linux commands. Or you’ve been using Linux for decades, know the operating system like the back of your hand. Whatever your level of experience, you want some really useful free utilities. Software that enriches your workflow, offers new opportunities, and allows you to tap into new innovations. We’re always on the look out for small, interesting programs that make tasks easier. Gromit-MPX (GRaphics Over Miscellaneous Things) is a utility to make annotations on the desktop. It’s a multi-pointer port of the original Gromit annotation tool, and uses the Multi-Pointer X.org feature. Gromit-MPX is free and open source software. # ⚓ XFE_–_A_Lightweight_Windows_File_Explorer_Like_File_Manager for_X⠀⇛ XFE (X File Explorer) is a lightweight Windows File Explorer or Commander like file manager for Unix / Linux X. It’s small memory footprint, very fast, and only requires the FOX library to be fully functional, and aims to light desktop users. # ⚓ PAPPL_v1.0.0⠀⇛ The first stable release of PAPPL is now available for download. PAPPL is a simple C-based framework/ library for developing CUPS Printer Applications, which are the recommended replacement for printer drivers. # ⚓ CUPS’_Founder_Releases_PAPPL_1.0_As_Modern_Printer Application_Framework⠀⇛ Just one week shy of one year since CUPS founder Michael Sweet left Apple, which in turn seemingly led to the downfall of CUPS, PAPPL 1.0 has been released as his modern alternative printer application framework. # ⚓ Mutt_releases_version_2.0⠀⇛ The venerable email client Mutt has just reached version 2.0. Mutt is different from the type of client that has come to dominate the email landscape—for one thing, it has no graphical interface. It has a long history that is worth a bit of a look, as are its feature set and extensive customizability. Version 2.0 brings several enhancements to Mutt’s interface, configurability, and convenience, as well. In this article, readers who are unfamiliar with Mutt will learn about a different way to deal with the daily chore of wrangling their inboxes, while Mutt experts may discover some new sides to an old friend. [...] Mutt has two main advantages: efficiency and configurability. It appeals to those who spend hours tuning their .vimrc files (mea maxima culpa) and who demand that their programs start up and respond instantly. Mutt is extremely configurable in the way that it presents information and in its command interface. In order to take advantage of this, the user must become familiar with the basics of Mutt’s pattern language, which is set of codes that refer to properties of messages. All the details about this are in Mutt’s exhaustive manual; in this article I’ll provide some examples, to give a bit of flavor of what it is like to work with Mutt. There are two main places where Mutt presents information: the index is the list of messages, and the pager shows the contents of a message. Upon startup, the user sees the index; when a message is selected for viewing, the window is split: a small portion on top to see the index entry of the message with some context, and a larger portion with the email. The following screen shot shows Mutt with one message selected for viewing. The colors of each email header, as well as each level of quoting, can be specified in the startup file. The screen shot shows the command reminder on the top line, with the index pane beneath it. This has the “cursor”, indicated by black text on a cyan background, on message four, which is the message displayed in the large pane at the bottom. # ⚓ Cockpit_234_and_Cockpit-Podman_26⠀⇛ Cockpit is the modern Linux admin interface. We release regularly. Here are the release notes from Cockpit version 234 and Cockpit-Podman 26. [...] Cloning copies a virtual machine into a new VM, duplicating configuration and storage. After cloning, the original VM and its clone are nearly identical, with the exception of the few configuration changes that need to differ. Virtual machine cloning is often used for preparing an optimal virtual machine and then quickly spinning up several similar VMs without having to step through an installation process. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_To_Install_and_Use_ProtonVPN_on_Desktop_Linux_– LinuxBabe⠀⇛ ProtonVPN is a VPN service provider based in Switzerland. In this article, I’m going to show you how to use ProtonVPN on desktop Linux, including Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Fedora, CentOS, Arch Linux, and OpenSUSE. # ⚓ 2_Ways_to_Install_MariaDB_on_CentOS_7⠀⇛ MariaDB is a popular open-source SQL database management system that is a fork and drop-in replacement for MySQL. Since the acquisition of MySQL by Oracle, MariaDB has become the database system of choice by the open-source community. MariaDB provides improved performance with faster replication speeds, tighter security measures, and additional storage engines to mention a few benefits. In this guide, you will learn how to install MariaDB on CentOS 7. There are two ways of installing the MariaDB server. You can install the default version that is available on CentOS 7 repositories or install the latest version by manually adding the MariaDB repository. # ⚓ Let’s_Encrypt_on_my_Raspberry_Pi⠀⇛ At home though what I want is to generate certs for each of my machines. The certbot client has plugins for Apache and Nginx but I can’t use them coz my home machines don’t have any public IP. I suppose I could just generate the certs on one machine and copy them around etc. but I want to keep things simple and automatic. In my case the solution would be to use one of their DNS plugins. They support the following: [...] # ⚓ SSH_Remote_Network_Access⠀⇛ In a recent technical meeting, someone asked about some SSH ProxyJump documentation I’d posted. I promised to follow up with a full configuration for using ProxyJump with a remote network, so here goes nothing. # ⚓ Install_MariaDB_on_FreeBSD_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ MariaDB is a free and open-source derivative of the MySQL database management system. It was developed due to reservations of the MySQL userbase when it was being acquired by Oracle back in 2009. For this reason, it’s quite compatible with MySQL and has only recently deviated a bit with the introduction of source engines, MyRocks, Aria, and Columnstore, to name a few. This is a quick tutorial on installing MariaDB 10.3 Database Server on a FreeBSD 12 system. By following the instructions here, you’ll be able to set up the database on your own FreeBSD server. # ⚓ What_is_the_Difference_Between_“Git_Reset”_and_“Git_Reset –Hard”?_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ Git is known to be the most popular version control system. The concept of version control becomes significant whenever we talk about teamwork and collaboration. For example, if multiple employees are working on a single project, then data consistency is a major issue that must be addressed. You cannot simply assume that a change made by one of the employees will automatically be notified to all other employees working on that project. Rather, there should be a proper mechanism through which data consistency can be ensured. Now, if we talk about version control software or system, then as the name implies, its main job is to keep track of your version history. It means that all the changes made to any particular file will be considered as separate versions of that file. A version control software or system will essentially allow you to revert to an older version at any time you want as per your needs. Apart from this, a version control system like Git also ensures that the changes committed to any file have equal visibility to all the users who have access to that file so that they might not accidentally start working on an older version or a copy of that file. # ⚓ How_to_Use_Acme.sh_to_Provision_LetsEncrypt_SSL Certificates_–_Petri⠀⇛ LetsEncrypt has changed the face of SSL certification issuance. Making it easy for website developers to freely and easily issue an SSL certificate, LetsEncrypt has opened the floodgate to properly securing every website. A service is often only as good as its tools and an open-source project that has gained traction is the Acme.sh shell utility. There are three functional steps in retrieving an SSL certificate from LetsEncrypt, requesting the certificate, verifying that the requestor is authorized, and issuing the certificate. Acme.sh makes all three of these steps easy, offering flexibility in what type of certificates are requested and how they are verified. # ⚓ Riseup_a_free_opensource_&_easy_to_use_VPN⠀⇛ The program is RiseUp, as the program provides a good and safe service and relies on donations as funding for the project. The program is available (Linux/Android/Windows and Mac) on almost all platforms. In this tutorial, we will talk about how to install it on Linux and Android. Now I leave you with the installation process. # ⚓ Building_a_openSUSE_MicroOS_RPi_Network_Monitor⠀⇛ How to use combustion to reproducibly configure MicroOS - openSUSE MicroOS is one of openSUSE’s most exciting projects, and for me has replaced openSUSE Leap as my go-to server operating system of choice. I currently have 3 MicroOS installations, all running as podman with openSUSE containers. o § Wine or Emulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Wine_6.0-rc2_Announcement⠀⇛ The Wine development release 6.0-rc2 is now available. What's new in this release (see below for details): - Bug fixes only, we are in code freeze. The source is available from the following locations: https://dl.winehq.org/wine/source/6.0/wine-6.0- rc2.tar.xz http://mirrors.ibiblio.org/wine/source/6.0/wine- 6.0-rc2.tar.xz Binary packages for various distributions will be available from: https://www.winehq.org/download You will find documentation on https:// www.winehq.org/documentation You can also get the current source directly from the git repository. Check https://www.winehq.org/git for details. Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. See the file AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list. # ⚓ Wine_6.0-RC2_Released_With_40_More_Bugs_Fixed_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Following last week’s Wine 6.0-RC1 release that marked the feature freeze and start of the release process for the annual stable Wine release, Wine 6.0-RC2 is out today with the latest assortment of fixes. Wine 6.0 is expected to debut in January as the annual feature release following the Wine 5.x development builds over the past year. But until then these weekly release candidates will continue. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Godot_Engine_receiving_support_funded_by_Facebook_Reality Labs⠀⇛ It is with great excitement that we announce that the Godot Engine project is receiving support funded by a grant from Facebook Reality Labs to further the development of Virtual Reality (VR) features within Godot. Godot is a not-for-profit free and open source game engine which aims at empowering all users in their 2D and 3D game development projects. This grant will enable us to accelerate our efforts in providing first-class support for VR technologies. This includes cross-platform OpenXR support, an extended input action system for VR, Vulkan rendering and optimizations on mobile, and more! We designed a work package for VR and mobile rendering which we are now able to fund thanks to this generous grant. Like all Godot donations and corporate sponsoring, this grant is administered by our legal and fiscal sponsor Software Freedom Conservancy, a not-for-profit charity that promotes software freedom. # ⚓ Godot_Engine_–_Dev_snapshot:_Godot_3.2.4_beta_4⠀⇛ While development keeps going at full speed towards Godot 4.0 (see recent devblogs on GDScript typed instructions, Complex Text Layout, Tiles editor, documentation, and 2D rendering improvements!), a lot of work is also being done on the 3.2 branch for the upcoming Godot 3.2.4. This new beta 4 adds a new round of bugfixes and enhancements over the previous dev snapshots, as well as some nice new features. # ⚓ New_Gang_Beasts_Update;_Adds_Aquarium_Stage_and_Engine Upgrade⠀⇛ What is perhaps one of the funniest games of all time has got an update for us. I had reviewed Gang Beasts a little over four years ago, and to this day, the game is still getting updated, and I still get a good chuckle out of it. This update packs quite a punch in terms of new content and bug fixes, and it’s free. Most notably, a new stage has been added; an aquarium that has a deadly octopus residing in the pool in the center: [...] Be careful once those tentacles come out! They’ll pull your character right into the watery depths below if it gets too close. [...] As for Linux, this version now requires a 64-bit operating system; as of Unity 2019, 32-bit distros are no longer supported. # ⚓ Improving_your_CyberPunk_2077_Experience_on_Nvidia_– Boiling_Steam⠀⇛ Since CyberPunk 2077 launched, Linux users have had quite a few issues with the game, and more often so for Nvidia users while we are waiting for driver updates and other fixes in the Proton suite. [...] By the way, if you are from the future, note that the above will probably be outdated by late December 2020 or later. But if you can’t wait to play Cyberpunk 2077 on Nvidia these may be your best options for now. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ KDevelop_5.6.1_released⠀⇛ About three months after the release of KDevelop 5.6.0, we provide a first bugfix and stabilisation release for the 5.6 series today: KDevelop 5.6.1 # ⚓ Compositing_Scheduling_in_KWin:_Past,_Present,_and Future⠀⇛ Currently, compositing infrastructure in KWin is heavily influenced by the X11 requirements, e.g. there is only one compositing clock, compositing is throttled to the lowest refresh rate, etc. Besides that, incorrect assumptions were made about the behavior of glXSwapBuffers() and eglSwapBuffers(), unfortunately, which result in frame drops and other related issues. With the ongoing Wayland improvements, we hope to fix the aforementioned issues. # ⚓ KDE_Plasma’s_KWin_Working_On_Per-Screen_Refresh Rates,_Compositing_From_Multiple_Threads_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ KDE Plasma users will hopefully be seeing the KWin Wayland compositor perform better and more reliably in 2021. As KWin becomes more focused as a Wayland compositor rather than imposing the current limitations found with X11, the KDE Plasma desktop experience should improve nicely. KDE developer Vlad Zahorodnii penned a post today outlining some of the KWin improvements being pursued particularly around compositing scheduling. o § Distributions⠀➾ # § Puppy Linux⠀➾ # ⚓ EasyOS_version_2.5.3_released⠀⇛ # ⚓ Easy_Buster_version_2.5.3⠀⇛ EasyOS versions 1.x are the “Pyro” series, the latest is 1.3. Easy Pyro is built with packages compiled from source using ‘oe-qky- src’, a fork of OpenEmbedded. Consequently, the builds are small and streamlined and integrated. The Pyro series may have future releases, but it is considered to be in maintenance status. The “Buster” series start from version 2.0, and are intended to be where most of the action is, ongoing. Version 2.0 was really a beta-quality build, to allow the testers to report back. The first official release was 2.1. The main feature of Easy Buster is that it is built from Debian 10 Buster DEBs, using WoofQ (a fork of Woof2: Woof-CE is another fork, used to build Puppy Linux). The advantage of Buster over Pyro is access to the large Debian package repositories. That is a big plus. # ⚓ EasyPup_is_deprecated⠀⇛ I am seriously considering discontinuing development of EasyPup. I know, I have said that before, but then gone and done some more work on it. # ⚓ Put_disabled_HDD_into_deep-sleep_mode⠀⇛ For EasyOS “Copy session to RAM & disable drives” mode, forum member ‘MochiMoppel’ has suggested that “hdparm -Y ” be applied to the “disabled” drives. See forum thread: # ⚓ Tweaks_for_“save”_icon_in_lockdown_modes⠀⇛ EasyOS has two lockdown modes. There is “Copy session to RAM” and “Copy session to RAM & disable drives”. Both have a “save” icon on the desktop, so the user can at any time choose to save the session to the boot media. One problem was that when boot in lockdown mode, the ‘init’ script in the initrd edits / root/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin, replacing the “update” icon with a “save” icon. # § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ Garuda_Linux_Provides_a_Hassle-free_Arch_Experience With_a_Beautiful_Neon_Look_[Review]⠀⇛ Many Arch-based Linux distributions have mushroomed lately. The one that is promising in this crowd is Garuda Linux. Read this review to know why I say so. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ CentOS_killed_by_IBM_–_a_chance_to_go_new_ways?⠀⇛ But this post is not about BSD, because there simply are cases where you want (or need) a Linux system. And when it comes to stability, CentOS was simply a very good choice that’s very hard to replace with something else. Fortunately Rocky Linux was announced (https: //rockylinux.org) – an effort by the original founder of CentOS who wants to basically repeat what he once did. I wish the project good luck. However I’d also like to take the chance as an admin and hobby distro tinkerer to discuss what CentOS actually stood for and if we could even accomplish something better! Heresy? Not so much. There’s always room for improvement. Let’s at least talk about it. # ⚓ On_the_whole_CentOS_thing⠀⇛ Well, I guess we know what’s up with that now. The latest news this week is that CentOS 8 is having the rug pulled out from under it. Instead of having a final EOL of 2029, it now hits the wall in *six months* and will be completely dead in twelve. By the end of 2021, it will be all over. What’s coming is something using the same name to push a different kind of product – one I’m not looking to run. I want boring. I *like* boring. I want a machine that just sits there and occasionally drops in a new patch and never picks up any new features. This is a good thing to me. # ⚓ Red_Hat_and_GitHub_Collaborate_to_Expand_the Developer_Experience_on_Red_Hat_OpenShift_with_GitHub Actions [Ed: Ted Hat is working to help Microsoft's proprietary software monopoly]⠀⇛ # ⚓ 10_reasons_to_run_SAP_S/4HANA_on_Red_Hat_Enterprise Linux [Ed: “SPONSOR: RED HAT”; so IDG became a spammy dumping ground, though it used to be a network of sites with actual journalism]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux_7_to_8_In-Place_Upgrade Using_Leapp⠀⇛ # ⚓ 7_best_practice_tips_for_managing_remote_teams_| Enable_Sysadmin⠀⇛ Managing a remote team is both challenging and rewarding. Glean best remote team management practices from someone who does it. # ⚓ CIOs_strive_to_build_on_IT’s_business_cred_for_2021⠀⇛ During the coronavirus pandemic, CIOs gained political capital by fortifying business operations and digitizing services in accordance with social distancing decrees. From accelerated migrations to new collaboration tools to implementing contactless services, IT leaders reprioritized roadmaps to empower employees and serve customers. # § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Dirk_Eddelbuettel:_RcppSpdlog_0.0.4:_New_upstream⠀⇛ Not quite two months after the last release, we are happy to announce version 0.0.4 of RcppSpdlog. It contains release 1.8.2 of spdlog made today, along with version 7.1.3 of fmt. # ⚓ Evgeni_Golov:_systemd_+_SELinux_=_Fire⠀⇛ Okay, getting a title that will ensure clicks for this post was easy. Now comes the hatd part: content! When you deploy The Foreman, you want a secure setup by default. That’s why we ship (and enable) a SELinux policy which allows you to run the involved daemons in confined mode. We have recently switched our default Ruby application server from Passenger (running via mod_passenger inside Apache httpd) to Puma (running standalone and Apache just being a reverse proxy). While doing so, we initially deployed Puma listening on localhost:3000 and while localhost is pretty safe, a local user could still turn out evil and talk directly to Puma, pretending to be authenticated by Apache (think Kerberos or X.509 cert auth). Obviously, this is not optimal, so the next task was to switch Puma to listen on an UNIX socket and only allow Apache to talk to said socket. This doesn’t sound overly complicated, and indeed it wasn’t. The most time/thought was spent on doing that in a way that doesn’t break existing setups and still allows binding to a TCP socket for setups where users explicitly want that. We also made a change to the SELinux policy to properly label the newly created socket and allow httpd to access it. The whole change was carefully tested on CentOS 7 and worked like a charm. So we merged it, and it broke. Only on CentOS 8, but broken is broken, right? This is the start of my Thanksgiving story “learn how to debug SELinux issues” 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇;)⦈ From the logs of our integration test I knew the issue was Apache not being able to talk to that new socket (we archive sos reports as part of the tests, and those clearly had it in the auditd logs). But I also knew we did prepare our policy for that change, so either our preparation was not sufficient or the policy wasn’t properly loaded. The same sos report also contained the output of semanage fcontext –list which stated that all regular files called /run/foreman.sock would get the foreman_var_run_t type assigned. Wait a moment, all regular files?! A socket is not a regular file! Let’s quickly make that truly all files. That clearly changed the semanage fcontext –list output, but the socket was still created as var_run_t?! # ⚓ Markus_Koschany:_My_Free_Software_Activities_in November_2020⠀⇛ Welcome to gambaru.de. Here is my monthly report (+ the first week in December) that covers what I have been doing for Debian. If you’re interested in Java, Games and LTS topics, this might be interesting for you. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ Gemini_Lake_based_Hackboard_2_starts_at_$99_with_Ubuntu⠀⇛ A “Hackboard 2” SBC has launched on Crowd Supply with Ubuntu ($99) or Win 10 Pro ($140) running on a dual-core Gemini Lake CPU with 4GB DDR4, 64GB eMMC, 3x USB, HDMI, 40-pin RPi GPIO, and 2x M.2 for NVM and 4G/5G. The Hackboard 2 is billed by Austin, Texas based startup Hackboard as “a powerful and affordable Windows 10 Pro SBC” and “one of the lowest-priced Intel-powered and Windows-based single-board computers ever.” Yet, unlike most PCs and mini-PCs, you are not paying a Windows tax for the pleasure of erasing Windows to load Linux. The Intel Gemini Lake based Hackboard 2 is available with Ubuntu for $99 or Win 10 Pro for $140. # ⚓ Convergent_App_Development⠀⇛ The Librem 5 while docked is just as versatile to write code on as our laptop. Build apps once, and run them on any screen size on a variety of hardware. # ⚓ Ollie_USB_board_exposes_isolated_UART,_CAN,_USB,_RS485_& RS232_interfaces_(crowdfunding)⠀⇛ Just like months, we wrote about Tigard open-source USB FT2232H board for hardware hacking with easy access to OpenOCD, JTAG, Cortex, flashrom interfaces used to debug/flash boards, extra I/Os with UART, SPI, and I2C, as well as a header to connect a logic analyzer and observe signals. If the board does not exactly match your requirements, Ollie USB board might, also it may not serve exactly the same purpose(s). The board acts as a USB bridge to isolated UART (x2), CAN, USB, RS485, and RS232 interfaces. # ⚓ Jetson_Mate_Cluster_box_takes_four_Jetson_Nano/Xavier_NX modules⠀⇛ While we’ve seen plenty of cluster boards based on Raspberry Pi SBC or Compute Modules, I had never seen clusters of Jetson modules. Those already exist, and PicoCluster has a few, but what made me write this post today is Seeed Studio’s Jetson Mate cluster box equipped with a carrier board taking up to four NVIDIA Jetson Nano or Xavier NX modules, an enclosure covered with a largish cooling fan with RGB LED for good effect… # ⚓ Raspberry_Pi_CM3_“Industrial_IoT”_baseboard_features_PoE, 4G_LTE_modem,_and_isolated_I/Os⠀⇛ The Raspberry Pi Computer Module 4 (CM4) may have been introduced in October, but that does not mean people have stopped all development on Raspberry Pi CM3/CM3+ hardware, and Waveshare has just launched a carrier board for the module with PoE support and a 4G LTE modem namely Simcom SIM7600G-H module with 3G and 2G fallback. The board also offers Ethernet and WiFi connectivity, HDMI and MIPI CSI/DSI video interfaces, multiple USB ports, as well as isolated CAN bus, RS485, RS232, and other I/Os for industrial applications. # § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ What’s_the_Value_of_Hackable_Hardware,_Anyway?_« bunnie’s_blog⠀⇛ There is plenty of skepticism around the value of hackable products. Significantly, hackability is different from openness: cars are closed-source, yet support vibrant modding communities; gcc is one of the “real OG”s of open source, but few users find it easy to extend or enhance. Is it better to have a garden planted by the most knowledgeable botanists and maintained by experienced gardeners, or an open plot of land maintained by whoever has the interest and time? # ⚓ What’s_the_Value_of_Hackable_Hardware,_Anyway?⠀⇛ As long as humans choose to embrace diversity, I think hackability will have value. A notional “perfect” product implies there’s such a thing as a “perfect” user. However, in reality, even the simple conundrum of left- or right-handedness challenges the existence of a singular “perfect” product for all of humanity. Fortunately, accommodating the wonderfully diverse, quirky, and interesting range of humanity implicates just a few simple engineering principles, such as embracing screws over adhesives, openness, and modularity. That we can’t hack our products isn’t a limitation of physics and engineering. Precursor demonstrates one can build something simultaneously secure and hackable, while being compact and pocketable. This suggests the relative lack of hackable products on the market isn’t a fundamental limitation. Maybe we just need a little more imagination, maybe we need to be a little more open-minded about aesthetics, and maybe companies need to be willing to take brave steps toward openness and inclusivity. For Apple, true “courage to move on and do something new that betters all of us” was to remove the headphone jack, which resulted in locking users deeper into a walled-garden ecosystem. For hackers like myself, our “courage” is facing blunt criticisms for making “ugly” products with screws in order to facilitate mods, such as braille keyboards, in order to expand the definition of “all of us” beyond a set of privileged, “perfect” users. I hope this braille keyboard is just the first example of many mods for Precursor that adapt the product for unique end-users, bucking the trend of gaslighting users to mold their behavior and preferences to fit the product. If you’ve got an itch to develop your own yet-to-be-seen feature in a mobile device, please visit our crowdfunding campaign page to learn more about Precursor. We’re close to being funded, but we’ve only got a week left in the campaign. None of this becomes a reality without hitting our crowdfunding goal on December 15th – if you like what you see, please consider helping us to bring Precursor to life! # ⚓ Arduino_Blog_»_This_12X_scale_model_Arduino_runs_on an_actual_Arduino⠀⇛ When you need a way to fit a microcontroller into a small space, the Arduino Nano is a great choice. If you need significant IO, the Mega is a go-to option. But if you need something physically very large, with the power and look of an Uno, the “Arduino Giga” by Zach Hipps of byte sized may fulfill your requirements nicely. Hipps’ device scales up the Arduino Uno 12 times, including 3D-printed models of connectors and other onboard components. Lettering is engraved with a CNC router, and after a bit of paint work, the finished product could be mistaken for the real thing (if you didn’t know the scale, of course). # ⚓ Arduino_Blog_»_arduino-cli_0.14.0_is_out_and_ready for_the_public!⠀⇛ It’s been a while, so this time around you’re in for a treat. Don’t forget to go through the list of breaking changes and the new upgrade guide, this might save you some headaches. # ⚓ Linker_shrinks_RISC-V_application_size⠀⇛ The Segger Linker has been developed from the ground up to create executables for embedded systems, shrinking the size of RISC- V applications by up to 15 percent, shortens link time, delivers a detailed map file and provides more flexibility. The RISC-V Summit has highlighted the growth of the ecosystem for the open instruction set acrchitecture. The latest addition to Embedded Studio for RISC-V from Swedish tool vendor Segger is a custom Linker in addition to the GNU linker. This is based on the same code as the Segger Linker for ARM, adding integrated integrity check generation with a number of algorithms (CRCs and hashes), the ability to automatically place code and data in non- contiguous regions, and the ability to prioritize data into fast memories. o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # § Free Software⠀➾ # ⚓ Public_code_for_publicly_financed_international development_cooperation⠀⇛ International development cooperation is increasingly digitised. Free Software thus is becoming a fundamental technology to reach the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Together with experts in the field, the FSFE summarises these interrelations in an article and demands publicly funded software to be published as Free Software. Inherent attributes of Free Software and its communities include equal access to the sources, an international culture of sharing and developing software together for the benefit of everyone. While many of us find these freedoms to be universally acceptable, we see that this is not the case once we look in the world of proprietary software. Unfortunately, the same is to be said for the distribution of natural resources around the globe. In 2015 the United Nations General Assembly set the Sustainable Development Goals, aiming at “a better and sustainable future for all” by trying to reduce inequalities and offer equal access to the most basic resources of our societies like food, health and education. International development cooperation strives to achieve the UN sustainability goals by improving global conditions and the empowering of local partners. In some extend similar as to software freedom, existing dependencies should be reduced and new dependencies avoided at all costs. [...] The article is part of our series about the basics of Free Software. It delivers background on the ongoing process of digitisation in international development cooperation, its effects and the status quo. # ⚓ FSFE_Local_Group_Zurich_receives_DINAcon_Award⠀⇛ In 2019, the FSFE’s local group Zurich has launched the “Learn like the pros” campaign. Goal of the campaign is to present solutions for the use of Free Software in education. Recently, the campaign was awarded the DINACon Award. On this behalf we interviewed the coordinators Ralf Hersel and Gian-Maria Daffré. Unfortunately, non-Free Software is still increasingly used in the educational environment. Proprietary software however does not offer students and teachers the opportunity to study and adapt the functionality and principles of the software in use. In order to promote the digital maturity and sovereignty of the students as well as the teaching staff, Free Software should be consistently used in education instead. In order to get one step closer to this goal, the FSFE local group Zurich has picked up the topic with its own campaign called “Lernen wie die Profis” (German for “Learning like the pros”). The content of the campaign includes arguments and background information about the use of Free Software in the educational environment – combined with concrete solution and software proposals. Recently the campaign won the DINAcon Special Award 2020. This is an award for the campaign, but also for the local engagement and commitment of the FSFE local group Zurich. We took this award as an opportunity to introduce the campaign through an interview with the local Zurich coordinators Ralf Hersel and Gian-Maria Daffré (‘Giammi’). [...] On the news portal GNU/Linux.ch, which is maintained by Ralf and Lioh, there were many helpful discussions and ideas on this topic. Besides the many positive experiences we can also draw a worrying conclusion from the FSFE campaign work. The metaphor of the few and tired Free Software developers, also applies to this project work. Background: The FSFE local group Zurich exists since 2010. Current coordinators are Ralf Hersel with Gian-Maria Daffré as vice- coordinator. Prior to the “Learn like the pros” campaign presented in this article, the group has already launched the campaign Freedomvote. The group meets every second Thursday of the month. Usually at the digital agency Liip in Zurich, currently online via Big Blue Button. If you feel like joining the group now, just drop by. # ⚓ Free_Software_Switch_Poster⠀⇛ Continuing the LibreOffice Shortcuts, Use Open Document, and LibreOffice Switch, here is one more colorful educational poster to promote Free Software and switch from nonfree software at the same time. This poster introduces not only LibreOffice alone, but also GIMP as a replacement alternative to Photoshop, as example, among other examples. You can freely take this poster, edit and translate to your own language, and share with your people in your country. For example, you can use this as a wall poster in your school or pick one to put on your personal website. As always, this poster is also available as png and svg. With this, I wish you can proudly invite people to adopt Free Software. # § Web Browsers⠀➾ # § Mozilla⠀➾ # ⚓ Performance_Sheriff_Newsletter_(November_2020) –_Mozilla_Performance⠀⇛ In November there were 324 alerts generated, resulting in 54 regression bugs being filed on average 6.8 days after the regressing change landed. Welcome to the November 2020 edition of the performance sheriffing newsletter. Here you’ll find the usual summary of our sheriffing efficiency metrics, followed by a dive into some of our other metrics. If you’re interested (and if you have access) you can view the full dashboard. [...] Having so many performance testing frameworks makes it challenging for Firefox engineers to know which they should use to write a test, and which they should run when testing performance of their patches. Whilst all of these frameworks are written in Python and produce similar looking output, they have different requirements and very different command line syntax. In 2020 we have started to address this issue by introducing yet another test framework! Don’t panic though, because the intention behind mozperftest is to eventually replace all of our other test frameworks. We already have several tests running, and we are actively encouraging all new performance tests to be written using mozperftest instead of any of the legacy frameworks listed above. If you’d like to find out more you can read the documentation, and if you have any questions you can reach out to the team in #generic-perf-tests on Matrix. # ⚓ TenFourFox_Development:_Unexpected_FPR30 changes_because_2020⠀⇛ If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know how much I like to be punctual with releases to parallel mainstream Firefox. However, there have been no reported problems from the beta and there are no major security issues that must be patched immediately, so there’s a simple workaround: on Monday night Pacific time the beta will simply become the release. If you’re already using the beta, then just keep on using it. Since I was already intending to do a security-only release after FPR30 and I wasn’t planning to issue a beta for it anyway, anything left over from FPR30 will get rolled into FPR30 SPR1 and this will give me enough cushion to get the G5 back in working order (or at least dust off the spare) for that release on or about January 26. I’m sure all of you will get over it by then. 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇:)⦈ # ⚓ Differences_in_cookie_length_(size?) restrictions⠀⇛ I was digging through some of the old http-state tests (which got ported into web-platform-tests, and which I’m rewriting to be more modern and, mostly work?) and noticed an interesting difference between Chrome and Firefox in disabled-chromium0020-test (no idea why it’s called disabled and not, in fact, disabled). # ⚓ How_anti-fingerprinting_extensions_tend_to_make fingerprinting_easier_|_Almost_Secure⠀⇛ Do you have a privacy protection extension installed in your browser? There are so many around, and every security vendor is promoting their own. Typically, these will provide a feature called “anti-fingerprinting” or “fingerprint protection” which is supposed to make you less identifiable on the web. What you won’t notice: this feature is almost universally flawed, potentially allowing even better fingerprinting. [...] Let’s say that all the technical issues are solved. The mechanism for installing fake values works flawlessly. This still leaves a question: how does one choose the “right” fake value? How about choosing a random value? My display resolution is 1661×3351, now fingerprint that! As funny as this is, fingerprinting doesn’t rely on data that makes sense. All it needs is data that is stable and sufficiently unique. And that display resolution is certainly extremely unique. Now one could come up with schemes to change this value regularly, but fact is: making users stand out isn’t the right way. What you’d rather want is finding the largest group out there and joining it. My display resolution is 1920×1080 – just the common Full HD, nothing to see here! Want to know my available display space? I have my Windows taskbar at the bottom, just like everyone else. No, I didn’t resize it either. I’m just your average Joe. The only trouble with this approach: the values have to be re-evaluated regularly. Two decades ago, 1024×768 was the most common display resolution and a good choice for anti- fingerprinting. Today, someone claiming to have this screen size would certainly stick out. Similarly, in my website logs visitors claiming to use Firefox 48 are noticeable: it might have been a common browser version some years ago, but today it’s usually bots merely pretending to be website visitors. # § Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra⠀➾ # ⚓ Better_PDF_signature_verification_in_Draw⠀⇛ Draw now has much better support for detecting unsigned incremental updates between signatures at the end of PDF documents. We now also make sure that incremental updates introduced for adding signatures really just add annotations and don’t change the actual content. # ⚓ LibreOffice_Template_Contest_–_Win_awesome_prizes!⠀⇛ LibreOffice comes with various templates, and extras are available on our dedicated extensions and templates website. But even more are always welcome! Today, Swiss company Adfinis, a contributor to LibreOffice and member of The Document Foundation’s Advisory Board, is starting a contest to get shiny new templates for LibreOffice. So, what does this entail? Well, until January 31, you can create templates for Impress, Writer and Calc, and submit them in the contest. There are some rules and requirements, but if you abide by them, your template(s) will be rated by a jury and the winners will be announced at FOSDEM. # ⚓ Get_cool_LibreOffice_merchandise_–_T-shirts,_hoodies, mugs_and_more⠀⇛ Show your love for LibreOffice with some snazzy merchandise! You can get T-shirts, hoodies, bags, mugs, baseball caps and more from online shops. And even better: some of the proceeds from sales go to The Document Foundation, the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice. This helps us to grow our community, organise events, share knowledge and keep making LibreOffice even better. # § FSF⠀➾ # ⚓ In-depth_free_software_news:_Read_the_fall_Bulletin online_—_Free_Software_Foundation⠀⇛ For 35 years, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has attempted to provide you with the best information about threats to computing freedom, highlight the efforts of activists worldwide, and connect more people to the struggle. One resource we produce to this end is the biannual Free Software Foundation Bulletin, which is printed as well as presented online – if you’ve received yours in the mail, we encourage you to post a picture on social media with #fsfbulletin! # ⚓ The_problems_with_Apple_aren’t_just_outages,_they_are injustices⠀⇛ This November, both everyday users and privacy advocates found new reasons to be concerned about Apple. After an update to the latest version of their operating system, users found that they were unable to launch applications that were not written by Apple itself. This problem was caused by an Apple server outage. But why did the unavailabilty of a remote server prevent a user from launching a program on their own computer? It turns out that each time a program is opened on macOS, it phones home via the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) to see if that application is “okay” to launch: it asks the corporation permission each time a new application is encountered, sending potentially identifying information along with that request. While this function only made news because of the recent server outage caused by the release of the newest version of macOS, Big Sur, research indicates that the report-back has existed in the operating system since September 2018, with the release of macOS Mojave. This is a classic case of proprietary software serving as an instrument of unjust power. Although Apple does not directly receive the name of the application, but rather information on who developed it, most developers have only a very limited number of apps on the App Store, making it easy for Apple to infer. More disturbing yet is the other identifying information that is sent along with the request, which includes the user’s approximate location and the current date and time. Because macOS is so restricted, it leaves everyone, including free software developers, powerless to help users prevent their application use from being reported back to Apple. Due to the way the system is engineered, free software firewalls like LuLu are unable to block the information from being sent to Apple domains. Furthermore, the information is sent unencrypted over the network, potentially allowing a snoop to see which applications a user was trying to launch on their own computer. The request also bypasses any VPN, letting Apple know their approximate location even if the user has taken steps to stay anonymous. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Building_REST_APIs_with_Laravel_Orion_–_Laravel News⠀⇛ Have you noticed, that when building an API, you often keep writing the same code over and over again? You create a controller for [name your entity here] with methods for listing, creating, showing, updating, and deleting that [entity]. Then you create another controller, and it happens again, and again. Then you need to write some custom methods (endpoints) just to support updating a relation or a field on the pivot table? Sounds familiar, isn’t it? Over the past year I was working on a Laravel package that does exactly that – abstracts these patterns, so you could focus on what really matters – building your application. Laravel Orion allows you to build fully- featured REST APIs in a matter of minutes by providing common endpoints for CRUD operations, working with soft deletable models, and performing a comprehensive search. It works hand in hand with Laravel solutions like Requests for handling validation, Policies for handling authorization, and Resources for transforming responses. # ⚓ Learn_Julia_by_coding_a_game_|_Opensource.com⠀⇛ These concepts are the basis of most programming languages. Once you understand them, you can start figuring the rest out. Programming languages usually share some similarities. Once you know one programming language, you can learn the basics of another by recognizing its differences. # § Perl/Raku⠀➾ # ⚓ Day_12:_That_Raku_feeling_–_Raku_Advent Calendar⠀⇛ When we talk about measuring time, we could be thinking of a number of different ways to measure a number of different things. # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Python_structural_pattern_matching_morphs_again [LWN.net]⠀⇛ way to specify multiply branched conditionals in the Python language—akin to the C switch statement—has been a longtime feature request. Over the years, various proposals have been mooted, but none has ever crossed the finish line and made it into the language. A highly ambitious proposal that would solve the multi-branch-conditional problem (and quite a bit more) has been discussed—dissected, perhaps—in the Python community over the last six months or so. We have covered some of the discussion in August and September, but the ground has shifted once again so it is time to see where things stand. It seems quite possible that this could be the last major change that is made to the language—if it is made at all. As with many mature projects, there is a good deal of conservatism that tends to rear its head when big changes are proposed for Python. But this proposal has the backing of project founder (and former benevolent dictator for life) Guido van Rossum and has attracted support from other core developers—as well as opposition from within that group. It may also depend on one’s definition of major, of course, but large syntactic and semantic language changes are definitely finding major headwinds in the Python community these days. # § Rust⠀➾ # ⚓ Advent_of_Rust_8:_Please_Make_Your_Error_More Error-y_|_The_Mad_Scientist_Review⠀⇛ It’s Day 8 of the no-longer-so-stream- of-consciousness-log of teaching myself the Rust programming language by solving the programming puzzles at Advent of Code 2020. Today I start off by refactoring my boilerplate code some more. I got loads of friendly advice from Federico Mena Quintero including how to configure Cargo so that the main.rs doesn’t have to be in a subdirectory, some reading material on error handling which I am working my way through, and a talk which I watched last night while washing the dishes, on Rust programs as a dialogue between the programmer and the compiler. A dialogue between the programmer and the compiler is certainly what some of these puzzles have been! # ⚓ Advent_of_Rust_9:_Find_That_Number,_(F)or_Else |_The_Mad_Scientist_Review⠀⇛ Welcome again to the not-so-stream-of- consciousness log, where the puns in the titles get worse every day. Today’s topic is the same as every day’s topic: me teaching myself the Rust programming language by doing programming puzzles from Advent of Code 2020. # ⚓ Advent_of_Rust_10:_When_All_You_Have_is Itertools,_Every_Problem_Looks_like_an_Iter_|_The Mad_Scientist_Review⠀⇛ Welcome back to episode 10 of the previously-stream-of-consciousness-now- abbreviated log of me trying to teach myself the Rust programming language, stumbling my way through the puzzles from Advent of Code 2020. I have noticed that by now doing a puzzle each day and writing about it is somewhat tiring. I’ve found myself eager to solve the puzzle in the quickest way possible rather than to use each day’s puzzle as an excuse to learn a new language feature in Rust. But on the other hand I think that’s OK! Despite that, I am still enjoying it and looking forward each day to seeing what the new puzzle is. It’s just fine to want to solve puzzles in a hacky way; once the puzzle is solved, it’s done! # ⚓ Rotating_the_compiler_team_leads⠀⇛ Since we created the Rust teams, I have been serving as lead of two teams: the compiler team and the language design team (I’ve also been a member of the core team, which has no lead). For those less familiar with Rust’s governance, the compiler team is focused on the maintenance and implementation of the compiler itself (and, more recently, the standard library). The language design team is focused on the design aspects. Over that time, all the Rust teams have grown and evolved, with the compiler team in particular being home to a number of really strong members. Last October, I announced that pnkfelix was joining me as compiler team co- lead. Today, I am stepping back from my role as compiler team co-lead altogether. After taking nominations from the compiler team, pnkfelix and I are proud to announce that wesleywiser will replace me as compiler team co- lead. If you don’t know Wesley, there’ll be an announcement on Inside Rust where you can learn a bit more about what he has done, but let me just say I am pleased as punch that he agreed to serve as co-lead. He’s going to do a great job. # § Java⠀➾ # ⚓ Analyze_monolithic_Java_applications_in multiple_workspaces_with_Red_Hat’s_migration toolkit_for_applications⠀⇛ Analyzing your transformation path with migration toolkit for applications is just the beginning of modernizing a monolithic Java application. As a next step, you could break the application into microservices using cloud-native runtimes such as Quarkus, Spring Boot, and Node.js. With support from Red Hat Runtimes, you can gradually refactor your entire, monolithic application as a set of distributed cloud-native microservices. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ This_Is_Our_Home_Too⠀⇛ o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ Two_pictures_of_quantum_computation⠀⇛ Interpretations of quantum mechanics are boring. Boring! Maybe the universe has a strict partition between quantum and non-quantum. Maybe there are a bunch of parallel universes with limited crosstalk. Or maybe it’s whatever the Bohmian mechanics people are talking about. Shut up and calculate, I think. I don’t say this out of some disdain for idle philosophizing or to put on airs of a salt-of-the- earth laborer in the equation mines. It’s just there are so, so many interesting things you can learn about in quantum theory without ever going near the interpretation question. Yet it’s many peoples’ first & last stop. Rise above! This one is about quantum interference. A humble phenomenon, usually first encountered in high school physics when learning about whether light is a particle or a wave. Maybe your physics teacher took your class down to the dark, empty, disused school basement and fired a laser through a grating. You saw an interference pattern on the wall that kinda resembled what you saw, with water, in the ripple tank back upstairs. And that was that. # ⚓ Everything_You_Need_to_Make_Beer,_Wine,_Cider,_and_Mead⠀⇛ Sanitation is perhaps the most important part of any fermentation process. You want to make sure everything that touches your liquid pre- and post- ferment has been fully sterilized with a no-rinse sanitizer (see the section on Star San below). This keeps poor-tasting yeasts and other contaminants out, and ensures shelf stability. # ⚓ Electromagnetic_Space_Launch_«_etbe_–_Russell_Coker⠀⇛ An accelerator of 14G for 10 seconds (well below the level that’s unsafe) gives a speed of mach 4 and an acceleration distance of just under 7km. Launching a 100 metric ton spacecraft in that way would require 14MW at the end of the launch path plus some extra for the weight of the part that contains magnets which would be retrieved by parachute. 14MW is a small fraction of the power used by a train or tram network and brown-outs of the transit network is something that they deal with so such a launch could be powered by diverting power from a transit network. The Rocky Mountains in the US peak at 4.4KM above sea level, so a magnetic launch that starts 2.6KM below sea level and extends the height of the Rocky Mountains would do. A speed of mach 4 vertically would get a height of 96Km if we disregard drag, that’s almost 1/4 of the orbital altitude of the ISS. This seems like a more practical way to launch humans into space than a space elevator. o § Health/Nutrition⠀➾ # ⚓ ‘Seems_Like_a_Good_Policy!’_CBO_Shows_Medicare_for_All Could_Cover_Everyone_for_$650_Billion_Less_Per_Year⠀⇛ The analysis shows that administrative costs under a single-payer healthcare system “will be lower than what even the most rabid Medicare for All supporters have traditionally claimed.” # ⚓ Republican_Madness⠀⇛ Remember: Trump lost the election in part because he ignored the pandemic. These are caustic times, and not only because of the superspreading COVID and an economy sinking because of it. It’s also what lies beneath, like a circling shark: the repeated onslaught of lies by Trump and his far-right Republican allies that the president won the election. # ⚓ Nineteen_Tragic_Facts_About_COVID-19⠀⇛ 50 million. 50 million people are now facing hunger at least once a month, including 1 in 4 children. The rate of adults who sometimes or often do not have enough to eat is double in Black and Latino homes, according to the Associated Press. 30 million. 30 million people are facing eviction as of December 31, 2020 when the current Centers for Disease Control moratorium on evictions ends. There has been a 70% increase in the number of people paying their rent by credit card. # ⚓ The_Sociopathy_Contagion⠀⇛ I mention this because it seems to be one bookend of the American experience, by that I mean the European invader chapter, from which my people came. They often fled terrible situations, but took the toxicity of those places they fled and planted it in the fertile American soil. For years upon years the “lucky” accident that they landed on a gorgeous land conveniently depopulated was propelled as evidence of the superiority of the winner take all system. But reality shows itself, sometimes hundreds of years later. We are in the era of unvarnished truth emerging. The covid failure on the part of the United States is shaping up to be the end of any rational narrative that America is unique in the world (other than in a negative sense by virtue of the virus numbers). It’s only possible for so long to go along with gaslighting and magical thinking before the reality of the situation takes hold. Covid-19 plunges forward, unconcerned with the inane murmuring of personal freedom, hoaxes–really anything else that makes the owner of said irrational thoughts feel better and more in control of their world. The part of the brain crying out “it’s a hoax” is the same spot that for millennia, people have used to do the mental gymnastics they needed to feel safe. Whether it’s saying a black man should have “done what the police told him” or a raped woman was drunk and inappropriately dressed—it’s just a cowardly way to feel you won’t end up in a victim situation—a way to separate yourself. Those others did wrong, the virus is fake—and now I am going to get very irate about something incredibly minimal, but my pain is orders of magnitude more important than that of others. It’s fragile egos that explode rather than reflect. # ⚓ Wall_Street_is_Now_Betting_on_the_Future_of_water Supplies⠀⇛ Wall Street is about to launch futures contracts tied to the price of water for the first time in US history, as Business Insider reports. As water becomes scarce due to climate change, investors are planning to effectively bet on the availability of water in California. The contract laid out by CME Group, a global markets company, is linked to the state’s $1.1 billion local water market. # ⚓ US_Sets_a_Grim_New_Record:_Over_3,000_COVID_Deaths_in_One Day⠀⇛ According to figures published by the Johns Hopkins University tracker, 3,124 Covid-19 deaths recorded in the United States on Wednesday, plus an additional 221,276 new cases confirmed. It is the first time since the pandemic began that the US has recorded more than 3,000 deaths in a single day. # ⚓ Open_source_release_of_NZ_COVID_Tracer⠀⇛ The app has been released under the AGPL license. Works derived from it must also be released under the same license. We intend to release other system components over time to continue building trust in the integrity of the NZ COVID Tracer app.a o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # § Proprietary⠀➾ # § Pseudo-Open Source⠀➾ # § Openwashing⠀➾ # ⚓ Expanding_Fuchsia’s_open_source_model⠀⇛ Starting today, we are expanding Fuchsia’s open source model to make it easier for the public to engage with the project. We have created new public mailing lists for project discussions, added a governance model to clarify how strategic decisions are made, and opened up the issue tracker for public contributors to see what’s being worked on. As an open source effort, we welcome high- quality, well-tested contributions from all. There is now a process to become a member to submit patches, or a committer with full write access. In addition, we are also publishing a technical roadmap for Fuchsia to provide better insights for project direction and priorities. Some of the highlights of the roadmap are working on a driver framework for updating the kernel independently of the drivers, improving file systems for performance, and expanding the input pipeline for accessibility. # ⚓ LwM2M_v1.2_M2M_&_IoT_device_management protocol_adds_support_for_HTTP_and_MQTT, LwM2M_gateways⠀⇛ Lightweight M2M (LwM2M) is a REST-based protocol from the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) for M2M & IoT device management that defines the application layer communication protocol between an LwM2M server and an LwM2M client running on an IoT/embedded device. While LwM2M v1.0 was published in early 2017, we first covered the new protocol a year earlier as Imagination Technologies released the source code for the LwM2M stack running on MIPS Creator Ci40 development board. Since then we’ve mostly seen the LwM2M protocol supported in cellular LTE IoT modules including Quectel BC66 and u-Blox Sara-R410M, as well as the now-defunct Samsung Artik WiFi IoT modules. # ⚓ Finding_Critical_Open_Source_Projects⠀⇛ Open source software (OSS) has long suffered from a “tragedy of the commons” problem. Most organizations, large and small, make use of open source software every day to build modern products, but many OSS projects are struggling for the time, resources and attention they need. This is a resource allocation problem and Google, as part of Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), can help solve it together. We need ways to connect critical open source projects we all rely on, with organizations that can provide them with adequate support. # ⚓ Google_Comes_Up_With_A_Metric_For_Gauging Critical_Open-Source_Projects_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Google as part of their involvement in the Open-Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) has devised the “Criticality Score” as a means of judging crucial open-source projects. In order for being able to determine projects in need of support for funding or development assistance, Google with the other OpenSSF parties came up with the “Criticality Score” as a 0 to 1 metric for indicating a project’s criticalness. # § Privatisation/Privateering⠀➾ # § Linux Foundation⠀➾ # ⚓ EdgeX_Foundry,_the_Leading_IoT_Open Source_Framework,_Simplifies Deployment_with_the_Latest_Hanoi Release,_New_Use_Cases_and_Ecosystem Resources⠀⇛ EdgeX Foundry, a project under the LF Edge umbrella organization within the Linux Foundation that aims to establish an open, interoperable framework for IoT edge computing independent of connectivity protocol, hardware, operating system, applications or cloud, today announced the “Hanoi” release that makes IoT deployment easier and the launch of new ecosystem resources. “EdgeX Foundry fosters an ecosystem of interoperable components from a variety of vendors to create a much-needed IoT framework for edge solutions,” said Arpit Joshipura, general manager, Networking, Automation, Edge and IoT, the Linux Foundation. “With the support of LF Edge members and EdgeX contributors from across the globe, we are paving the way to enable and support a more robust solution at the IoT, Enterprise, Cloud and Telco edge.” # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ PLEASE_READ_ME_Ransomware_Attacks_85K_MySQL Servers⠀⇛ “The attack starts with a password brute-force on the MySQL service. Once successful, the attacker runs a sequence of queries in the database, gathering data on existing tables and users,” said Ophir Harpaz and Omri Marom, researchers with Guardicore Labs, in a Thursday post. “By the end of execution, the victim’s data is gone – it’s archived in a zipped file which is sent to the attackers’ servers and then deleted from the database.” # ⚓ Introducing_software_fuzzing_–_part_of_AI_and ML_in_DevOps_–_JAXenter⠀⇛ This isn’t just about having to reboot your phone when an app freezes. While that’s certainly a software quality issue that causes you a minor annoyance, it doesn’t impact your safety (unless you happen to be driving and if so – shame on you!) or access to services. As our technology inevitably fades into the background, the software reacting to us will be our literal backdrop, the infrastructure that moves us around, helps us communicate, and lets us work and collaborate. If we are living in a software world, and we want to live in a high-quality world, then we need high-quality software testing. We need that testing to stand up to the future, and that means greatly increasing the velocity of our testing frameworks. Although we can get far with human-driven testing, and augment that with things like static code analysis, at scale it becomes more and more difficult to eliminate tester bias from the pool of test cases. Thinking about the true purpose of software testing, what are we trying to achieve? At the most granular level, we are trying to take the software down as many code execution paths as possible, and we are monitoring the behavior of the application to see how it behaves along those paths. Do we get the output we are expecting? Does the application crash? Can we manipulate the application to show us data that we shouldn’t be able to see? # ⚓ Episode_237_–_Door_12:_Video_game_hacking_– Open_Source_Security⠀⇛ Josh and Kurt talk about video game hacking. The speedrunners are doing the best security research today # ⚓ Reproducible_Builds_(diffoscope):_diffoscope 163_released⠀⇛ The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope version 163. # ⚓ Payment_Processing_Giant_TSYS:_Ransomware Incident_“Immaterial”_to_Company⠀⇛ On December 8, the cybercriminal gang responsible for deploying the Conti ransomware strain (also known as “Ryuk“) published more than 10 gigabytes of data that it claimed to have removed from TSYS’s networks. # ⚓ Finnish_Data_Theft_and_Extortion⠀⇛ The Finnish psychotherapy clinic Vastaamo was the victim of a data breach and theft. The criminals tried extorting money from the clinic. When that failed, they started extorting money from the patients: [...] # ⚓ Misery_of_Ransomware_Hits_Hospitals_the Hardest⠀⇛ In September, employees at Universal Health Services (UHS), a Fortune-500 owner of a nationwide network of hospitals, reported widespread outages that resulted in delayed lab results, a fallback to pen and paper, and patients being diverted to other hospitals. The culprit turned out to be the Ryuk ransomware, which locked up hospital systems for days. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ When_it_Comes_to_Facebook,_the_Need_for Action_Has_Been_Obvious_for_a_Long_Time⠀⇛ It was 1998 when Microsoft finally landed in the cross hairs of the federal government, when the Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general alleged in an antitrust lawsuit that the software giant had abused its market power to crush competition. It was the last time the government took meaningful action against the unfettered rise of a tech behemoth. # ⚓ “Schrems_II”_reaches_US_Legislator:_US Senate_Hearing_on_EU-US_data_transfers today⠀⇛ Max Schrems, honorary chairman of noyb and plaintiff in the underlying case before the CJEU C‑311/18 – Schrems II: “I very much welcome that the US Senate is now considering the problems we face, given the excessive US surveillance of its international customers. The problems we face can only be overcome if there are legislative changes on the US side.” Unfortunately, the hearing will only feature US lawyers, but no European expert. Next to representatives of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Department of Commerce (DoC) the Senate will hear from Facebook’s main witness in the Irish procedure (Peter Swire), a representative of the Software Industry (Victoria Espinel) and the main witness of the Irish Data Protection Commission (Neil Richards). Facebook and the Irish Data Protection Commission have lost the case before the European Court of Justice. # ⚓ EUROPOL_and_Counterterrorism:_Commission Calls_for_Biometric_Mass_Surveillance_and Attacks_Encryption⠀⇛ Today, the European Commission presented new proposals for the reform of Europol and a strategy to combat terrorism. Europol has just been reprimanded by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Now it is to be allowed to collect large amounts of data on non-suspects such as cell-mast data. In addition, the EU Commission’s counter-terrorism strategy advocates, among other things, facial surveillance in public places. # ⚓ How_the_Attention_Economy_Hurts_You_via Social_Media_Sites_like_Facebook ⠀⇛ There is a whole science to manipulating our attention. And because there is a lot of money to be made by doing this well, it means we all encounter attempts to manipulate what we pay attention to each day. What is this, and how is it harmful? This post will be the first on a series on the topic. [...] What does it mean to society at large — and to you personally — that large companies make a lot of money by maximizing fear and controversy? The most obvious way is it leads to less common ground. If the posts and reactions that show common ground are never seen because they don’t drive engagement, it poisons the well; left and right hate each other with ever more vigor — a profitable outcome to Facebook, but a poisonous one to all of us. I have had several friendships lost because I — a liberal in agreement with these friends on political matters — still talk to Trump voters. On the other side, we’ve seen people storm the Michigan statehouse with weapons. How did that level of disagreement — and even fear behind it — get so firmly embedded in our society? Surely the fact that social media shows us things designed to stimulate fear and anger must play a role. What does it do to our ability to have empathy for, and understand, others? The Facebook groups I’ve been in for like-minded people have largely been flooded with memes calling the President “rump” and other things clearly designed to make people angry or fearful. It’s a worthless experience, and not just that, but it’s a harmful experience. When our major media — TV and social networks — all are optimizing for fear, anger, and controvesry, we have a society beholden to fear, anger, and controvesy. In my next installment, I’m going to talk about what to do about this, including the decentralized social networks of the Fediverse that are specifically designed to put you back in charge of your attention. # ⚓ PrivChat_with_Tor:_2020-12-11_Tor advancing_human_rights⠀⇛ Tomorrow, on 11th December, 2020 at 18:00UTC, Tor will host the third edition of the PrivChat event, to discuss with some real life Tor users and talk about how Tor helps them to defend human rights. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ US_COVID_Deaths_Top_American_World_War_II_Casualties⠀⇛ # ⚓ A_Very_Trumpian_Christmas_Surprise?_Signs_Point_to_a Possible_US_Attack_on_Iran⠀⇛ On November 12, President Trump reportedly asked his top national security advisers to prepare plans for attacking nuclear processing facilities in Iran after Tehran announced its intent to accelerate its uranium enrichment activities—a step taken in response to Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and his imposition of crushing economic sanctions. According to White House sources, Trump was talked out of launching an attack on that date by some of his top advisers, including Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who claimed it would ignite an eruption of violence all across the Middle East. # ⚓ Imperfect_Releases:_Andrew_Hastie,_War_Crimes_Reports_and Australia_in_Afghanistan⠀⇛ Of interest is where the report goes from here. A fair guess is that it will not venture too far into waters of reform. Hastie, for one, would have preferred it never to have been published, or at least not released in the “imperfect” way it was. He takes particular issue with the connected work of consultant Samantha Crompvoets, a sociologist commissioned by the Special Operations Commander of Australia (SOCAUST) to conduct a “cultural review” of the Special Operations Command in mid-2015. In many ways, the work of Crompvoets, which is drawn upon and referenced heavily by the Brereton Inquiry itself, is more significant. It is less tightly hemmed by qualifications and speaks to the broader tactics and methods of Australia’s Special Forces. In her January 2016 report, she refers to body count competitions and the use of the Joint Priority Effects List (JPEL). Euphemised for battle, the JPEL effectively constituted a “sanctioned kill list” with numbers that were massaged. # ⚓ The_New_Humanitarian_|_Honduran_storm_survivors_form_US- bound_migrant_caravan⠀⇛ For many Hondurans already suffering widespread poverty, government corruption, and one of the highest rates of violence in the world outside a warzone, back-to-back hurricanes in November, which razed paths of destruction and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes, were the final straw. Hundreds began trickling out of the northern city of San Pedro Sula on foot on 9 December – the first US-bound caravan since early October, and potentially the start of a new wave of Central American migrants that would test Joe Biden’s commitment to moving on from the anti-migration policies of the Trump era. # ⚓ Abolish_the_Death_Penalty⠀⇛ Lame duck President Donald Trump is rushing through five federal death-penalty executions before he leaves office. Trump’s killing spree breaks a 130- year-old tradition of not executing prisoners during a presidential transition. In 2019, Trump began resuming executions in federal death penalty cases, which had not been carried out since 2003. With these last five executions, Trump’s federal executions will total 13 since July, the most federal executions in any year since 1896. Two of the five remaining executions were already carried through on December 10 and 11. Of the five slated for death, three are mentally disabled and four are black men, which fits with the longstanding pattern of who is most likely to be executed by the state. 170 people originally sentenced to the death penalty have been exonerated of their accused crimes since 1973. o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ UK_Dark_Sky_Reserve_Success_for_National_Parks⠀⇛ The Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks have been designated International Dark Sky Reserves, joining an exclusive global family of Dark Sky Places. The Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors are home to some of the darkest skies in the country, with large areas of unpolluted night sky where it’s possible to see thousands of stars, the Milky Way, meteors, and even the Northern Lights. As part of a coordinated approach by the two National Parks, the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA), has granted Reserve status to both areas, which combined cover over 3500 km2 of northern England. This is by far the biggest such announcement in the UK and represents one of the largest areas in Europe to be simultaneously designated. Both National Parks have worked hard over several years to achieve this award, gaining support from councils, parishes, landowners, businesses, and renowned astronomical experts. # § Energy⠀➾ # ⚓ Marin,_Finnish_groups_welcome_EU_climate_agreement⠀⇛ The EU wants to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050, a deadline that scientists say the world must meet to avert the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Finland, meanwhile, aims to be carbon-neutral by 2035. # ⚓ Electric_Utilities_Are_Slow_to_Address_the_Climate Crisis,_Reports_Indicate⠀⇛ This is according to two reports released last week on electric utilities and climate. One assessment by fossil fuel watchdog group, the Energy and Policy Institute (EPI), finds that many electric utilities are on a slow track to decarbonizing the electricity sector over the next decade and are still prioritizing fossil fuels over renewable energy. Another report published jointly by the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University argues that electric utilities have a legal obligation to be planning for climate-related risks but finds that few utilities are doing this high- quality planning. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ To_the_Barricades:_The_Red_House_and_the_Future_of_Eviction Defense⠀⇛ Either way, the stories you’ll hear will focus on violence.  If you look into it a little, you’ll realize that what the stories are really focusing on are destruction of property — particularly the windows of police cars smashed by well-aimed rocks — and the number of times over the past few months of the eviction defense encampment on the front yard of the Red House that the police have been called because of “disturbances.”  81 times, according to police records, the police emphasize in the report they issued after they entered the house and arrested occupants in a pre-dawn raid on December 8th. I can only imagine what some of those disturbances might have been caused by.  The house is just at the end of the commercial section of Mississippi Avenue, where what remains of one of Portland’s two historically Black neighborhoods stands, with its uncomfortable mix of wine-sipping gentrifiers living alongside a perennially struggling and shrinking Black working class, along with increasing numbers of people living in tents that line the highway which cuts through the neighborhood — the highway that was originally routed through that neighborhood in order to destroy it, as was done to so many other Black neighborhoods across the US when the highways were being built. # ⚓ Beating_Up_on_Finance⠀⇛ # ⚓ Don’t_Withhold_Hazard_Pay⠀⇛ This past spring, large retail chains like Walmart, Kroger, and Amazon introduced hazard pay under a variety of names (“Hero Pay,” “Appreciation Pay”), paying single bonuses or supplementing workers’ hourly wages by up to $2 per hour. Then, over the summer, they quietly ended the practice. There’s a triple injustice in these developments. Prior to the pandemic, millions of workers had been denied a living wage that could sustain a family. People employed as home health aides, nursing assistants, cashiers and retail salespersons, janitors and cleaners, security guards, and laborers had been making, on average, hourly wages below $15 an hour. According to a Brookings Institution analysis, almost half the 50 million people who work in frontline essential jobs fall into this category. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Every_Republican_in_Congress_May_Have_to_Vote_on_Trump’s Coup⠀⇛ That won’t happen, if only because the Democratic- controlled House isn’t going to support Brooks’s effort to overturn the election. But it would force each and every Republican member of Congress to go on record supporting or opposing Trump’s coup, in the ultimate loyalty test just before the 45th president leaves office, shrieking and whining the whole way. They all know Trump’s refusal to accept defeat is childish and dangerous, but will they have the courage to deny him one final gesture of fealty? I wouldn’t be so sure about it. But if they do succumb in large numbers to this last temptation, their party will for years bear the stain of so outrageous and authoritarian a measure, as bright and red as the biblical Mark of the Beast. # ⚓ Republicans_want_more_than_a_coup:_Trump’s_loyalty_test exposes_their_hatred_for_democracy⠀⇛ In doing so, these Republicans have outed themselves as opponents of democracy. There is no other way to read this, and no wiggle room to pretend otherwise. This isn’t about “voter fraud” or any of the other bad-faith gambits that Trump and his supporters are throwing out as distractions. It’s about throwing out entire state elections because they favored a Democrat. And while Republicans in the Senate have not formally signed onto this assault on the concept of democracy, many have done so informally. # ⚓ A_Guide_to_Giving:_Worst_Year_Ever_Edition⠀⇛ Was 2020 the worst year you can remember or what? Well, cheer up. Think how much worse you’d feel if Joe Biden had lost. Let’s not let Covid, homeschooling by Zoom, Republicans, Amy Coney Barrett, and the weird death-throe flailings of Donald Trump (firing squads—really?) keep us from spreading joy and justice to good people who are trying to light a candle in this naughty world. # ⚓ The_Electoral_College_Invites_Fraud⠀⇛ It does so because, instead of looking toward the candidates’ overall vote totals nationwide, it aggregates 51 smaller elections. As a result, fraud can determine the outcome if the election is close in just one or more states – even if one candidate wins decisively nationwide. Just look at the Trump-Biden election. Biden defeated Trump by more than 6 million votes – far beyond the margin of realistic fraud. But in several battleground states, totaling enough electoral votes to change the outcome, the margin is sufficiently close that Trump has managed to convince millions of people he was robbed. # ⚓ Personnel_as_Policy:_What_Biden’s_Picks_So_Far_Tell_Us⠀⇛ “The grown-ups are back in charge,” announced a relieved Financial Times editorial board, hailing the early cabinet appointments of President-elect Joe Biden. So far, his picks have all been known quantities: experienced, smart, and competent—no small relief after the madcap chaos of the Trump years. However, they will inherit cascading calamities that require new thinking and dramatic change. And their experience in office is a testament to the failure and follies of the so- called best and brightest. # ⚓ No_Time_to_Waste_on_Whining,_Absent_Politicians⠀⇛ In the meantime, the individual responsible for dealing with the nation’s many and varied crises is busy whining about the election he lost, still claiming he won, and evincing not a shred of concern for the health and well-being of 330 million Americans. Put bluntly, there’s no more time to waste on whining and absent politicians. The numbers are so shocking it’s difficult to put them in perspective: 217,664 new cases of COVID infection a day, heading towards a stunning 3,000 daily deaths — the equivalent of one 9/11 attack every day or 10 fully-loaded passenger jets crashing and killing everyone on board 24-7. Hospitals are running out of beds while doctors and nurses are exhausted from the nonstop tragedy and endless number of cruel deaths. o § Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ Dissenter_Weekly:_COVID-19_Data_Whistleblower_Targeted_In Raid—Plus,_Assange_Update⠀⇛ On this edition of the “Dissenter Weekly,” host and Shadowproof editor Kevin Gosztola comments on the raid that Florida state agents conducted against COVID-19 data whistleblower Rebekah Jones. Later in the show, Gosztola highlights an anti- money laundering law with major whistleblower- killing loopholes. He also provides updates on NSA whistleblower Reality Winner and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. # ⚓ Julian_Assange:_Covid_Risks_and_Campaigns_for_Pardon⠀⇛ Before the January 4 ruling of District Judge Vanessa Baraitser in the extradition case of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks publisher will continue to endure the ordeal of cold prison facilities while being menaced by a COVID-19 outbreak. From November 18, Assange, along with inmates in House Block 1 at Belmarsh prison in south-east London, were placed in lockdown conditions. The measure was imposed after three COVID-19 cases were discovered. The response was even more draconian than usual. Exercise was halted; showers prohibited. Meals were to be provided directly to the prisoner’s cell. Prison officials described the approach as a safety precaution. “We’ve introduced further safety measures following a number of positive cases,” stated a Prison Service spokesperson. # ⚓ UN_torture_envoy_calls_for_immediate_release_of_Julian Assange_on_10th_anniversary_of_arrest:_‘He’s_not_a_criminal and_poses_no_threat_to_anyone’⠀⇛ The rights of Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange have been “severely violated” for more than a decade, according to the UN’s top envoy on torture, and the British government should release him from detention immediately. Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, said Mr Assange had been convicted of no crime, and yet as he awaited for a court to decide whether to extradite him to the US to face espionage charges, he was at threat of contracting Covid-19. Mr Melzer repeated his assertion Mr Assange’s treatment amounted to torture, and called for the British authorities to either release him or put him under guarded house arrest. # ⚓ Independent_UN_expert_calls_for_Julian_Assange’s_release, cites_prison’s_COVID_outbreak⠀⇛ “Mr. Assange is not a criminal convict and poses no threat to anyone, so his prolonged solitary confinement in a high security prison is neither necessary nor proportionate and clearly lacks any legal basis”, said Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on torture. The WikiLeaks founder has been detained since 2010 after his site published classified diplomatic information. A decision on extradition to the US is expected early in the new year. # ⚓ China_Authorities_Detain_Bloomberg_News_Beijing_Staff Member⠀⇛ Chinese authorities have detained Haze Fan, who works for the Bloomberg News bureau in Beijing, on suspicion of endangering national security. Fan was last in contact with one of her editors around 11:30 a.m. local time on Monday. Shortly after, she was seen being escorted from her apartment building by plain clothes security officials. # ⚓ Elderly_Iranian_Journalist_Begins_Prison_Term_Over_Protest Coverage⠀⇛ The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is urging Iran to cease jailing members of the press for their work after a 72-year-old journalist began a three-year prison sentence over his coverage of protests last year. # ⚓ CPJ_calls_on_North_Carolina_county_to_grant_court_access, drop_charges_against_journalist⠀⇛ Visiting district court Judge Fred Wilkins has twice refused to allow the media to be present for Alamance County court hearings over which he presided, according to the Alamance News. According to an Alamance County administrative order from October 12, witnesses and observers are allowed to be present at trials, and, in cases where social distancing to prevent virus transmission is not possible, the court should offer video or a livestream of the proceedings. Separately, the county district attorney charged Murawski, a reporter for the Alamance News, with resisting a public officer following his October 31 arrest while reporting on a social justice demonstration in Graham, North Carolina. This class 2 misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000, according to North Carolina law. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ Human_Rights_Day⠀⇛ # ⚓ We_Want_a_More_Democratic_University—Until_Then,_We_Won’t Pay⠀⇛ In an unprecedented mass action organized by the Columbia-Barnard Young Democratic Socialists of America, more than 2,500 students across Columbia institutions have committed to withholding their tuition if Columbia continues to ignore our demands, which advocate that students should be included in decisions over the university’s allocation of resources—not just as an educational institution, but as an employer and an international investor. # ⚓ The_Vanishing_Queer_Underground_of_Los_Angeles⠀⇛ Before the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to be temporarily shuttered, La Plaza was one of the oldest running gay bars in Los Angeles. A fixture in the city for over four decades and serving a mainly Latino clientele, the club was a favorite of the late queer theorist José Esteban Muñoz, who described it in his book Cruising Utopia as having a “kind of gay Mexican cowhands feel.” When he visited, Muñoz took in the spirited, folksy drag shows that were staged at the bar. The Spanish- speaking performers, running through lip-synched routines of Latin anthems and English-language pop songs, helped transform the dingy space. Their songs and the bar conjured stories of “migratory crossings, both legal and illegal,” where the sea of bodies onstage and in the audience, so often in the process of flux, finally seemed on the cusp of belonging. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ Deep_Dive_Shows_FCC’s_Covid_Response_Was_Largely_Theatrical Nonsense⠀⇛ Back in March, the Trump FCC put on a big show about a new “Keep America Connected Pledge” to help broadband users during COVID. In it, the FCC proudly proclaimed that it had gotten hundreds of ISPs to suspend usage caps and late fees, and agree to not disconnect users who couldn’t pay for essential broadband service during a pandemic. The problem: the 60 day pledge was entirely voluntary, temporary, and because the FCC just got done obliterating its consumer protection authority over ISPs at lobbyist behest (as part of its net neutrality repeal), was impossible to actually enforce. It was regulatory theater. # ⚓ Stupid_Cable_TV_Retrans_Feuds_And_Blackouts_Make_Their_Way To_Streaming_TV⠀⇛ For the last decade or so, U.S. cable TV customers have been plagued by a steady parade of content blackouts as cable providers and broadcasters bicker over new programming contracts. For the end user, so-called “retransmission feuds” usually go something like this: a broadcaster demands a cable company pay significantly more money to carry the same content. The pay TV provider balks, and one side or the other blacks out the aforementioned content. Consumers spend a few months paying for content they can’t access, while the two sides bitch at each other and try to leverage consumer anger against the other guy. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Facebook_sued_by_the_US_FTC,_might_be_forced_to_sell Instagram_and_WhatsApp⠀⇛ The antitrust lawsuits say Facebook “used its monopoly power to snuff out competition at the expense of everyday users”. Letitia James, the New York Attorney-General, said “it is critically important to block this predatory acquisition of companies” and that confidence in the market should be restored. In order for Facebook to break its monopoly, it might have to part ways with its two most prized possessions – photo-oriented social media platform Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp. The former was purchased in 2012 for $1 billion, while the latter followed suit in 2014 for the mindblowing-at-the-time price of $19 billion. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Movie_Pirate_Has_US$15m_in_Crypto_Seized_By_New Zealand_Authorities⠀⇛ Following an investigation that began in 2016 at the behest of US authorities, New Zealand’s High Court has now ordered the seizure of cash and more than US$21m in cryptocurrencies from a man who helped to develop a movie piracy site. The funds were restrained back in 2019 and in the meantime have gained significant value. # ⚓ New_U.S._Streaming_Piracy_Bill_Focuses_on_Commercial Services⠀⇛ Senator Thom Tillis has announced a new bill that will criminalize streaming piracy. Unlike similar legislation that was proposed in the past, the new ‘‘Protecting Lawful Streaming Act of 2020’’ specifically focuses on commercial pirate platforms. While this is less broad than the SOPA and PIPA plans, critique remains, especially because the amendment will be added to the Government’s must-pass spending bill. # ⚓ Disney_plans_to_match_Netflix_in_its_spending_on streaming⠀⇛ In a presentation to investors on December 10th Disney dispelled those doubts once and for all. It announced a content binge designed to put it on a par with Netflix—and to shift the company’s focus sharply towards streaming. This was just what the presentation’s audience of market analysts wanted to see. Disney’s share price leapt by almost 14% the next day, reaching an all-time high and adding $38bn to the company’s stockmarket value (see chart). ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 4476 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.12.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Links_13/12/2020:_KDE_Frameworks_5.77.0,_Armbian_20.11.3,_Rescuezilla_2.1⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 10:24 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ TUXEDO_launch_their_smallest_Linux_gaming_notebook_with_the Book_XP14⠀⇛ With a rather unassuming and plain case that doesn’t give much away, the new TUXEDO Book XP14 is their smallest and lightest gaming notebook now available. Coming with Intel Tiger Lake processors with either the Core i5-1135G7 or the Core i7-1165G7 it’s backed up by their new Xe graphics, you can also upgrade it to have an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 if you want that extra bit of power for your gaming needs. Not only does it have ample power, it also has a speedy 14″ 120Hz screen along with a matte finish to help keep away as much glare as possible to be usable in various lighting conditions. o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ Kubic_with_Kubernetes_1.20.0_released⠀⇛ The Kubic Project is proud to announce that Snapshot 20201211 has been released containing Kubernetes 1.20.0. # ⚓ Top_6_Linux_server_distributions_for_your_data_center⠀⇛ Linux powers the enterprise. From the cloud to containers and to the backbone of your network, Linux is there working tirelessly to keep your business humming. Whether you use Linux in your AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or your on-premise data center, you use Linux. But what distribution? You’ve either gone one of two routes: You’ve selected a single company (such as Ubuntu, Red Hat, or SUSE) to supply you with a Linux distribution, or you’ve gone the mix-and- match route to ensure that each distribution serves a specific function and does it to perfection. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ The_Most_Unique_Laptop_|_My_New_Daily_Driver⠀⇛ Here is my new daily driver in the mobile space. You’d be hard-pressed to find something better and more versatile. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Micron’s_HSE_Open-Source_Storage_Engine_Hits_v1.9_– Phoronix⠀⇛ Announced earlier this year by Micron was the HSE open-source storage engine aimed for low-latency, speed-performance on modern SSD storage and ideal for powering the likes of NoSQL databases. In squeezing out one more major release before year’s end, HSE 1.9 was released on Friday. # ⚓ Maple_Tree_“RFC”_Patches_Sent_Out_As_New_Data_Structure_To Help_With_Linux_Performance_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ For over the past year there has been work on the new “Maple Tree” data structure led by Oracle for the Linux kernel and this week marked the patches being sent out in “request for comments” (RFC) form with the aim still on helping the kernel performance. Maple Tree amounts to a data structure that works well on modern CPUs and in an RCU-safe manner for storing index ranges that map to a single pointer. Oracle’s Liam Howlett sums up the Maple Tree data structure as “an RCU-safe range based B-tree designed to use modern processor cache efficiently. There are a number of places in the kernel that a non-overlapping range-based tree would be beneficial, especially one with a simple interface. The first user that is covered in this patch set is the vm_area_struct rbtree in the mm_struct with the long term goal of reducing the contention of the mmap_sem. The tree has a branching factor of 10 for non-leaf nodes and 16 for leaf nodes. With the increased branching factor, it is significantly short than the rbtree so it has fewer cache misses.” # ⚓ Intel’s_Newest_Linux_Driver_Is_For_Radio_Frequency Interference_Mitigation_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Adding to the new features coming for Linux 5.11, the Intel “RFIM” driver has been queued up as the company’s latest open-source driver. The RFIM driver tweaks the DDR memory rates and fully integrated voltage regulator stemming if believed to be causing WiFi/5G interference. Intel’s RFIM INT340X thermal driver is for Radio Frequency Interference Mitigation. This driver is used for tweaking the fully integrated voltage regulator (FIVR) and DDR frequencies in order to avoid radio frequency interference with WiFi and 5G wireless. For modern laptops and other small form factor devices using Intel SoCs, this driver can have the SoC’s integrated voltage regulator switch frequencies by a small percent to avoid the noise harmonic interference with 5G/WiFi. The driver can tweak the IVR operation just enough that it doesn’t interfere but without impacting the performance of the voltage regulator. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ 11_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Linux_Password_Managers⠀⇛ A password manager is a utility which helps users store and retrieve passwords and other data. Most password managers use a local database to hold the encrypted password data. In modern society, people face a bamboozling amount of information to retain. Most people read a considerable amount of information online on a regular basis. Whether you conduct business online, read for your job, or just read for pleasure, the internet is a vast source of information. Retaining that information on a long-term basis can be difficult. However, some nuggets of information need to be recalled quickly. Passwords are one such example. # ⚓ Ventoy_1.0.30_–_Neowin⠀⇛ Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files. With Ventoy, you don’t need to format the disk over and over, you just need to copy the ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD (x)EFI files to the USB drive and boot them directly. You can copy many files at a time and ventoy will give you a boot menu to select them. Both Legacy BIOS and UEFI are supported in the same way. Most type of OS supported (Windows/WinPE/ Linux/Unix/Vmware/Xen…) o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_Install_Kdenlive_Video_Editor_20.12_in_Ubuntu_20.04, 20.10_|_UbuntuHandbook⠀⇛ KDE announced its December 2020 apps update including Kdenlive 20.12 two days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA. Kdenlive 20.12 is a big release with many new features, stability improvements, various mix and transition fixes. # ⚓ How_to_Convert_CentOS_Linux_8_to_CentOS_Stream_[3_Steps]⠀⇛ CentOS Stream is a continuously delivered Linux distro, which tracks ahead of RHEL. It will have rolling release ie changes are made constantly. CentOS is going to be an upstream build that will have testing patches and updates. With the end of the year 2021, Centos Linux 8 will end, the best option is to migrate to CentOS Stream 8. CentOS 6 reached the end of life (EOL) on November 30, 2020. Redhat will continue to update CentOS Linux 7 till June 30, 2024. But there won’t be any CentOS 9 release anymore. Are you currently using CentOS Linux 8 and like to convert to CentOS Stream, then follow the below steps. # ⚓ RHCE_Ansible_Series_#11:_Managing_Systems_With_Ansible⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_Change_Time_Zone_in_Linux_–_TecAdmin⠀⇛ A time zone refers to the local time of a region or a country. Generally each country uses one time zone but few of the countries shares multiple time zones due to its geological areas. It is always an important thing to set a correct time zone in your system. Many of applications are build with time crucial. So it is necessary to set correct time zone to work application correctly. This tutorial will help you to check current time zone of system and also set the new time zone on Linux based systems. # ⚓ How_To_Install_WordPress_on_Debian_10_–_idroot⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install WordPress on Debian 10. For those of you who didn’t know, WordPress is the most popular open-source blogging and CMS platform worldwide, powering a quarter of all websites on the Internet today. It is based on PHP and MySQL and packs a ton of features that can be extended with free and premium plugins and themes. WordPress is the simplest way to create your website or blog. This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step by step installation of WordPress free and opensource CMS on a Debian 10 (Buster). # ⚓ du_command_in_Linux_with_Useful_Examples_–_TecAdmin⠀⇛ du is the short of disk uses. Which means the du command calculates the size on disk used by a files. It is the basic Linux command frequently used the Linux system users. # ⚓ How_to_create_encrypted_partitions_on_Linux_with_GNOME Disks_–_Neowin⠀⇛ Some of most popular Linux distributions including Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Fedora come with a disk and partition manager tool called GNOME Disks, a tool developed by the GNOME project. While it’s packed with features, one interesting capability that’s a bit tucked away is disk encryption; this can be used to create secure partitions on your hard drive or create an encrypted USB device. # ⚓ How_to_install_Blender_CAD_software_on_MX_linux_–_Linux Shout⠀⇛ Blender is a free and open-source CAD software for 3D animation, modeling, motion graphics, texturing, computer games, UV unwrapping, and more. It is a professional open-source program and an alternative to commercial software such as Maya or Cinema 4D and imports or exports standard formats such as OBJ, FBX, 3DS, PLY, and STL. Blender also can be used as a video editing software. We can perform various editing tasks such as cutting videos, apply transition effects, use picture-in-picture effects, display 3D or 2D graphics, or add a soundtrack. Here we will let you know the simple steps to install Blender on MX Linux using the command line and graphical package installer. The below steps can be used for Ubuntu, Elementary, and Linux Mint as well. # ⚓ How_to_Install_LXQt_Desktop_in_Arch_Linux_[Complete Guide]⠀⇛ This guide explains the steps you need to install LXQt Desktop in Arch Linux. This guide has two parts. The first part deals with installing the base Arch system. The second part is installing the complete LXQt desktop environment on top of Arch Linux. # ⚓ 30_Basic_commands_which_every_Linux_user_should_know⠀⇛ It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced Linux user. This Basic command you should know. Just bookmark this page because you require this command will work for daily use. Let’s start the basics command journey 1. pwd Command We use the pwd command when we want to know the name of the current working directory. Syntax trendoceans@LINUX:~$ pwd Output /home/trendoceans When you pass the pwd command in the terminal, you will get the full path of the current working directory. It will always start from the forward Slash (/ ) after that directory name. o § Wine or Emulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Wine_6.0_comes_closer_with_a_second_Release_Candidate⠀⇛ The Wine compatibility layer is closing in on a big new release, with the second Release Candidate now available for testing on Wine 6.0. Since they’re attempting to fix up major and annoying issues for the 6.0 release, no big new features are being pulled in. Instead, they use this time just for bug fixing. With that in mind this release notes a total of 40 bugs marked off the very long list, some newly fixed and some fixed a while ago that got fresh testing. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ 0_A.D_Is_A_Superb_Free_(As_In_Freedom)_Game_–_DT_LIVE⠀⇛ 0 A.D is a free and open source real-time strategy game, similar in spirit to Age of Empires. I am not much of a gamer, and 0 A.D is not something that I often win at, but I do enjoy playing this game. And I love promoting open source games, especially those that are native to Linux. # ⚓ Godot_Engine_set_to_get_better_VR_support_with_a_new_hire thanks_to_Facebook_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ Godot Engine, the free and open source game engine for 2D and 3D games is getting a nice VR boost – thanks to Facebook Reality Labs. We can expect great things from this by the sounds of it. Admittedly, anything with Facebook attached ends up raising a few eyebrows over here but we are talking about open source and the work will benefit everyone. Writing in a blog post on the Godot website, Project Manager Rémi Verschelde mentioned that Facebook has given the team a grant which has enabled them to hire developer Bastiaan Olij, who will be working on Godot full time as of February 2021. # ⚓ Make_some_sweet_honey_in_the_1_year_anniversary_update_to beehive_builder_Hive_Time_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ Hive Time, the sweet beehive building and management sim from Cheeseness hits the one year mark, celebrates with a new upgrade and a fresh little trailer. # ⚓ Hollow_Knight_on_Linux_|_Ubuntu_20.04_|_Native_–_YouTube⠀⇛ Hollow Knight running natively on Linux. # ⚓ Cyberpunk_2077_is_playable_on_Linux_right_now,_but_it’s_not the_best⠀⇛ Well, ProtonDB — a community-driven database that is dedicated to software, says Cyberpunk 2077 is playable on Linux but it has various audio and graphical issues. Valve developers have been working on their Proton software, which acts as a compatibility layer allowing Linux operating systems to run DirectX games through Steam. It’s not perfect and some can’t even get it to play, but Valve’s Proton software allows Cyberpunk 2077 right now — but for AMD Radeon gamers only. But there are people saying that with the GeForce 455 drivers, Cyberpunk 2077 works on Proton. # ⚓ Open_Source_Game_Achievements_with_Gamerzilla⠀⇛ Gamerzilla is a multitude of pieces. The web interface is served by Hubzilla, a federated social network service. Hubzilla has extensive addon capabilities which could implement game achievements. Perhaps the biggest contributing factor to choosing Hubzilla was FreeGameDev site setting up an instance. Asking developers to interact with a web interface probably wouldn’t get much traction. LibGamerzilla is a C library that handles interfacing with the Hubzilla instance. It should be as easy for developers to use as the Steam API. However that would still require every game to add a setting page where you specify your Hubzilla instance and login information. No one wants to do that. Instead LibGamerzilla can also be added to a game launcher like Lutris or GameHub. Connection information would be configured once and the launcher would relay all achievements to the Hubzilla instance. If you don’t want to upload your data, no problem the game launcher saves data locally and could display your achievements. Everything is saved locally and synchronized. If you play a game without the game launcher running, it will synchronise next time you run it from the game launcher. You can also play offline and upload achievements at a later date. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ This_week_in_KDE:_Usability_bonanza⠀⇛ This week we focused a lot on the little usability details that make software a joy to use! A lot of really exciting longer-term work is underway too, some of which you can read about on Vlad Zahorodnii’s blog. But that stuff is still in progress, so until it’s merged, check out this stuff… Have a look at https://community.kde.org/ Get_Involved to discover ways to be part of a project that really matters. Each contributor makes a huge difference in KDE; you are not a number or a cog in a machine! You don’t have to already be a programmer, either. I wasn’t when I got started. Try it, you’ll like it! We don’t bite! Finally, consider making a tax-deductible donation to the KDE e.V. foundation. # ⚓ KDE’s_Development_Focus_Ahead_Of_The_Holidays_Has Been_About_Better_Usability⠀⇛ KDE developer Nate Graham is out with his weekly development summary highlighting the desktop project’s changes for the week. WebRTC support with the screencast code in Plasma now works on Wayland, but the Plasma Wayland changes are lighter than we’ve seen in recent weeks. Instead the emphasis this week seems to have been on enhancing KDE’s usability. # ⚓ Release_Announcements_KDE_Frameworks_5.77.0⠀⇛ KDE Frameworks are 83 addon libraries to Qt which provide a wide variety of commonly needed functionality in mature, peer reviewed and well tested libraries with friendly licensing terms. For an introduction see the KDE Frameworks release announcement. This release is part of a series of planned monthly releases making improvements available to developers in a quick and predictable manner. # ⚓ KDE_Frameworks_5.77_Released_with_More_Than_250_Fixes and_Improvements⠀⇛ KDE Frameworks 5.77 packs a month’s worth of improvements, bug fixes and new features to make your KDE Plasma and Apps experience much better and more reliable than ever. There are more than 250 changes included in this monthly update, but below I’m gonna highlight some of the most important ones. First, the usability improvements as KDE Frameworks 5.77 makes it possible to send multiple files to a Bluetooth device. Moreover, a new option in the standard file overwrite dialog will let you overwrite older files automatically, and it’s once again possible to navigate to other folders with the keyboard in URL navigators. # ⚓ OSM_Opening_Hours_Integration_in_KDE_Itinerary⠀⇛ I recently wrote about KOpeningHours, a new library to parse and interpret OSM opening hours expressions. Here is now how we make use of this in KDE Itinerary. [...] At this point I considered the opening hours topic sufficiently covered, just leaving the standard KDE review process to be done for integrating this into the 21.04 release service. Then I however got contacted by an OSM contributor, who, after having imported the opening hours of all French post offices into OSM and finding himself confronted with a number of false-positive warnings by the OSM validator, was looking into improving the Osmose OSM validator for opening hours expressions. KOpeningHours was apparently performing quite well during an evaluation for this, and is therefore being considered as a parser for the validator. # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ Learning_Dvorak_keyboard_layout_·_GeekSocket⠀⇛ Earlier I practiced QWERTY on GNU Typist. This time I tried Klavaro, and I really liked it. On Fedora it can be installed with sudo dnf install klavaro. It is a GUI application with different levels like basic, adaptability, speed and fluidity. It guides the user step by step with visual instructions. You can also see a graph of your progress. [...] After reaching to 30 WPM, I was subconsciously typing with QWERTY sometimes. I started to use Dvorak on weekends and decided to switch to it. That helped me to overcome the issue of typing QWERTY. This was after 2 months since I started practicing. I faced one issue with GNOME when I added ‘English (Dvorak)’ as a second layout. While Ctrl key is pressed, the layout gets switched back to primary one [‘English (US)’ in my case]. This happens only with applications running natively on Wayland. Setting the Dvorak layout as primary input source (dragging it to the top of the list) mitigates the issue. Take a look at GNOME/ gtk#1825, Mozilla Bug 1644502 for more details. # ⚓ GVls_and_Code_Style_diagnostics_–_Daniel_Espinosa⠀⇛ Vala-Linter has merged my contribution to convert it to a library, while it has been integrated into GVls, the GNOME Vala Language Server, to diagnose coding style “errors” based on elementary’s one. Just now found GVls is crashing, that wasn’t the case for a while, and that is because the way #ValaLinter uses @vala_lang’s library, I think. While the recovery is fast enough, I don’t like that situation. Vala-Linter can be executed as a command line, that may is harder to use, but if the crashing is too frequent that may needs to be used by GVls to reduce the effect of crashing or just because a software crash is not good. Vala’s library is used in its internal Unit Test System, that catch any crash or undesirable behavior. The harder part on having a Unit Type system is to find a way to reproduce an issue and fix it; then write the test to make sure it has gone away, while in the future the test will be executed on any change you made in your code, ensuring the issue is not back. GVls was used by Vala’s library to fix lot of warnings; the warnings don’t prevent Vala’s compiler to work, but make GVls to fail on its Unit Test system, so an external code test was created, to test your entire code in GVls and find an issue not present in the tests cases in GVls, currently more than 90. o § Distributions⠀➾ # ⚓ IPFire_Wireless_Access_Point:_Introducing_WPA3⠀⇛ Today we are releasing an update to the wireless access point feature of IPFire: WPA3 The new standard to secure wireless connections is arriving. Since we are all spending more time in the office or at home working our way through the pandemic, we want it to do as comfortable as possible – and secure, too! I am sure most of you remember the days of WEP and WPA1. Breaking them was part of the daily tech news cycle and hopefully nobody is running networks like that any more. WEP has been designed in the late nineties, based on RC4 and artificially weakened because of laws that limited exporting cryptography from the United States. It was therefore easy to implement in hardware, but broken very quickly. # § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ Rescuezilla_2.1_Makes_It_Easier_to_Extract_Files_from Backups,_Based_on_Ubuntu_20.10⠀⇛ Rescuezilla 2.1 comes two months after version 2.0, but it’s not just a point release. In fact, this is a major update to Rescuezilla, which has been rebased on the latest Ubuntu 20.10 (Groovy Gorilla) operating system. The biggest change in this release is the introduction of the Image Explorer utility that makes it easier to extract files from backup images by allowing you to mount partclone images. While still in beta, Image Explorer is currently based on partclone-nbd, but future versions will be based on partclone-utils. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ After_Rocky_Linux,_We_Have_Another_RHEL_Fork_in_Works to_Replace_CentOS⠀⇛ Enterprise oriented Linux server distribution CloudLinux has announced that they are also working on an open sourced, community fork of RHEL to replace CentOS. # ⚓ Project_Lenix_–_CentOS_Fork_Announced_by_CloudLinux Team⠀⇛ Well, this seems another good news for many CentOS users. The CloudLinux Team announces that they plans to fork RHEL and create a CentOS like distribution named ProjectLenix. # ⚓ GoComply_with_OSCAL_&_FedRAMP_::_Introduction_to oscalkit⠀⇛ This is the third post of the GoComply series that introduces open source pipeline to produce and process OSCAL and FedRAMP documents. If You want to achieve continuous compliance at the lowest possible cost, GoComply project is here to help. With GoComply, You will rely on open source tooling and your data will be stored in standardized formats and thus you will have a enough head room and knee room to achieve your organizational goals. # ⚓ GoComply_with_OSCAL_&_FedRAMP_::_Introduction_to metaschema⠀⇛ This is the fourth post of the GoComply series that introduces open source pipeline to produce and process OSCAL and FedRAMP documents. # ⚓ IWB,_IBM_Emeritus:_Why_Business_Transformation Efforts_Often_Fail⠀⇛ A 2019 study found that the average digitization level across all industry sectors was only around 25% of their ultimate potential. But, the pandemic has now made the case for accelerating the digital transformations firms and economies were forced to make to help them cope with the crisis. But, how successful are such major transformation likely to be? A few months ago I received an email from the Harvard Business Review recommending a classic article from its 50 Best Selling collection that could shed light on this important and timely question, – Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail, originally published in 1995 by (now emeritus) Harvard professor John Kotter. “Over the past decade, I have watched more than 100 companies try to remake themselves into significantly better competitors,” wrote Kotter. These included large and small organizations, US and non-US based, some that were on their knees and some that were doing quite well. “But, in almost every case, the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment.” [...] In an interview at a 2007 conference, then WSJ technology columnist Walter Mossberg asked me whether IBM’s near-death experience in the early 1990s was a major factor in the company’s subsequent successful transformation while so many other IT companies didn’t make it. It clearly was. Transformative change is very difficult for established companies. Already consumed with managing their existing operations, they may see the transformations needed to keep up with rapidly changing technologies and markets as more of a distraction than an opportunity. But, a major crisis should be an opportunity to implement the actions needed to survive. As Rahm Emanuel famously said in a 2008 interview: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” # ⚓ How_long_will_be_CentOS_Stream_supported?⠀⇛ If you were like me, you had hard time finding how long exactly is the new CentOS Stream going to be supported. Carl George from the CentOS Project gave me the following answer. CentOS should be supported roughly 5-6 years. # ⚓ Need_a_stable,_RHEL-compatible_alternative_to_CentOS? Three_reasons_to_consider_Oracle_Linux⠀⇛ Since the debut of Oracle Linux release 4, in 2006, it has been completely free to use and easy to download. Major and update release have been free for more than 14 years. Errata releases have been freely available since 2012. Free source code, free binaries, free updates, free errata, freely redistributable – without having to sign any documents with Oracle and no need to remove trademarks and copyrights – and free for production use. # ⚓ Oracle_Linux_Looking_To_Attract_CentOS_Users_Looking For_Alternatives⠀⇛ In light of this week’s major bombshell that CentOS 8 is being EOL’ed next year and CentOS focusing on “CentOS Stream” as the upstream to RHEL, Oracle is hoping at least some of those frustrated CentOS users will transition to Oracle Linux. Oracle Linux has been tracking RHEL upstream and with their Red Hat Compatible Kernel is quite close to the vanilla RHEL/CentOS state. Oracle does offer support services around Oracle Linux but the distribution itself is available as a free download. Lately, Oracle Linux has been quicker in re-basing against new RHEL releases than CentOS itself. Hence why in our article earlier this week about CentOS 8 going away, Oracle Linux is worth mentioning as an alternative. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ $199_kit_clusters_four_Jetson_Nano_or_NX_modules⠀⇛ Seeed’s $199 “Jetson Mate” is a carrier board for clustering up to 5x Jetson Nano or Jetson Xavier NX modules with a 5-port GbE switch, 5x USB, 2x MIPI- CSI, HDMI, a case, and cooling fan. Ever since Nvidia’s low-cost, Linux-driven Jetson Nano module and Dev Kit arrived last year, developers have set up Nano clusters for tasks such as running Kubernetes clusters or GPU farms for AI development. How-to articles for setting up your own Nano cluster may be found here and here, with more discussion found on the Nvidia Developer site. Meanwhile, PicoCluster, which also offers Raspberry Pi clusters, sells up to 20-board Jetson Nano cluster kits. # ⚓ Armbian_20.11.3_Released_with_Linux_5.9_Support_for_More Devices,_PineCube_Support⠀⇛ Armbian 20.11.3 comes just two weeks after Armbian 20.11 to add support for the latest and greatest Linux 5.9 kernel series to more devices, such as those based on 32-bit Rockchip and Marvell Embedded Business Unit (mvebu). Additionally, the Meson64- dev branch received support for the upcoming Linux kernel 5.10. This point release also improves memory performance on the ROC-RK3328-CC (Renegade) platform, adds support for PINE64’s PineCube open-source Linux IP camera kit, as well as to add UTF-8 encoding support for all locales and a non-existing keyboard variant to the first login script. # ⚓ Block-based_programming:_does_it_help_students_learn?⠀⇛ # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Nokia_2.4_review:_Android_One_on_a_budget⠀⇛ # ⚓ Nokia_is_announcing_a_new_Android_Go_smartphone_on December_15⠀⇛ # ⚓ Where_is_my_Android?_How_to_locate_your_Android_using Google’s_Find_My_Device_service⠀⇛ # ⚓ PUBG_Mobile_1.2_beta_APK_download_link_released_for Android_users;_here’s_how_to_download⠀⇛ # ⚓ December_2020_Android_security_patch_here_for Pixels⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_11_starts_rolling_out_to_Redmi_Note_9_Pro_and Xiaomi_Mi_10_users_in_India⠀⇛ # ⚓ AT&T’s_Samsung_Galaxy_Note20_Ultra_5G_gets_Android 11-based_One_UI_3.0_stable_update⠀⇛ # ⚓ 16_new_and_notable_Android_apps_from_the_last_week including_Look_to_Speak,_Synology_Photos,_and_Samsung GameDriver_(12/5/20_–_12/12/20)⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_December_2020_security_patch:_Features_and Updates⠀⇛ # ⚓ Huawei_swapping_Android_for_HarmonyOS_in_new_beta programme_next_week⠀⇛ # ⚓ Riseup_a_free_opensource_&_easy_to_use_VPN⠀⇛ # ⚓ Oppo_A52_Android_11-based_ColorOS_11_update_status⠀⇛ # ⚓ Digit_Zero_1_Awards_2020:_Best_High-end_Android Smartphone_Camera⠀⇛ # ⚓ PUBG_Mobile_fans_alert!_1.2_beta_APK_download_link released_for_Android_users_|_Here’s_how_to_download_and install⠀⇛ # ⚓ 10_Free_Spy_Apps_for_Android_Without_Target_Phone⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_View_Saved_WiFi_Password_on_Android_Without Root⠀⇛ # ⚓ Best_Mobile_Games_2020_For_iPhone_And_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ Yubico_Begins_Public_Beta_for_Updated_Android_and_iOS SDKs⠀⇛ # ⚓ Pixel_font_comes_to_your_Android_keyboard⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # § FSF⠀➾ # § GNU Projects⠀➾ # ⚓ Power_up_your_Linux_terminal_text_editor_with ed⠀⇛ The GNU ed command is a line editor. It’s considered the standard Unix text editor because it was the very first text editor for Unix, and so it was (and generally still is) available on any POSIX system. In some ways, it’s easy to tell that it was the first because, in many ways, it’s extremely rudimentary. Unlike most other text editors, it doesn’t open in a window or screen of its own, and in fact, by default, it doesn’t even prompt the user for input. On the other hand, its near lack of any interface can also be a strength. It’s a functional editor that can be controlled with short instructions either interactively or through a script. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ 15_Open-source_Full-Text_Search_Engine_Solutions_for developers⠀⇛ Full-Text Search is a technical term referred to advanced linguistic text query for a database or text documents. The search engine examines all the words stored in a document as it tries to match certain search criteria giving by the user. Many web websites depend on Full-text search to perform advanced search operations. As a new trend, many developers and companies tend to create static websites instead of dynamic database-driven ones. In both cases they can use Full-Text search with help of several libraries and services. Some cloud-based services offer Full-Text search as a service likeAlgolia.com. However, open-source alternatives can save time and resources as provide better control for enterprise. # ⚓ OpenBLAS_0.3.13_Released_With_A_RISC-V_Port,_POWER10 Optimizations_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ OpenBLAS 0.3.13 was released today as the newest update to this leading open-source BLAS (and LAPACK) implementation. # ⚓ AMD_AOMP_11.12_Released_For_OpenMP_Offloading_To Radeon_GPUs_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Last week there was the release of AOCC 2.3 as AMD’s LLVM Clang downstream focused on Zen-optimized support. Meanwhile on the graphics side of the house, this week ushered in AOMP 11.12 as their LLVM Clang downstream focused on Radeon OpenMP GPU offloading. AOMP continues maturing as the company’s downstream of LLVM Clang that allows OpenMP offloading to Radeon hardware. AMD has been working to upstream their Radeon OMP patches into LLVM, but at least until that’s all perfect, AOMP is continuing to advance. Friday’s release of AOMP 11.12 follows the recent ROCm 3.10 for which this compiler is now re-based against those sources. We are also still expecting ROCm 4.0 to be released in the coming days after being announced last month at SC20. # § Perl/Raku⠀➾ # ⚓ Raku_Advent_Calendar:_Day_13_–_Helping_the Github_Action_elves [Ed: No, there is nothing "great" about helping to reinforce Microsoft monopoly and an attack on Free software]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Advent_of_Code_2020_Day_12.1/25_in_the_Raku programming_language_–_Andrew_Shitov⠀⇛ Here is my solution of the first part of Day 12 of this year’s Advent of Code. The point in this solution is that I use multi functions a lot. Well, actually, the whole logic of the program is based on the dispatching rules of the variants of a single multi function. # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Firebird_python3_driver_status⠀⇛ The firebird-driver package provides driver for Python 3.8+ and Firebird 3+. This driver uses new Firebird OO API provided by fbclient library. You can download it or install directly from Python Package Index. To use the driver you can start with the Getting Started from documentation area A few more examples are in Usage Guide from documentation area Please note, that his new driver requires Firebird 3+ and Python 3.8+. This “high” base line was chosen deliberately, to use all new features available from latest Firebird & Python releases without constraints and limits that backward compatibility would require. Internally, the driver uses new client API based on interfaces introduced by Firebird 3. This new API has many limits raised (like statement sizes, blob sizes etc.) or completely lifted (like number of databases participating in distributed transaction), and provides access to new Firebird features (like scrollable cursors). # § Rust⠀➾ # ⚓ Advent_of_Rust_11:_Can_I_Pretend_to_Write Python_Instead?⠀⇛ I’m starting to run out of substantially different lead paragraphs to write about this latest installment of the chronicle of trying to teach myself the Rust programming language by completing the programming puzzles on Advent of Code 2020, so let’s just get to it! * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Electric_Talk_Therapy⠀⇛ 1) This story is 100% true, told as faithfully as I can tell it. 2) I was set up for this completely unexpected experience by: 1) the horrible social and psychic realities of the Covid pandemic; and 2) intensive reading of Carl G. Jung’s work in November 2020, concerning dreams and accessing available unconscious resources to help deal with life’s challenges (The Red Book and Modern Man in Search of a Soul, specifically). o ⚓ An_Icy_Rally_With_Burning_Demands⠀⇛ But sadness can intrude here too. In Wilkau-Hasslau (in southern Saxony, pop. 9,656), the candy factory was a main employer since 1898. Publicly-owned in the GDR era until 1990, it offered about 300 jobs. With German “unification” HARIBO took over and cut that in half. Now its West German owners decided to shut down their only remaining plant in East Germany; modernization of their plant near Bonn makes it superfluous. Neither 13,000 protest signatures nor pleas by the mayor or even Saxony’s Minister President disturbed their “happy world”. The bitter locals could tell them where to stuff those cute little gummies! HARIBO won success in a very small market niche. A renowned American firm is angling higher – for the entire world retail market! Amazon, in its German section, hires about 6,000 people plus 10,000 temporary workers for the current boom – and stubbornly defies union organization. o ⚓ Of_Thee_I_Sing⠀⇛ These are the fundamental premises of journalist and stringed instrument player Richard Manning’s eminently readable and fascinating new book If It Sounds Good, It is Good: Seeking Subversion, Transcendence, and Solace in America’s Music. To be honest, the title is slightly misleading; this book is about more than just American music even though its primary focus is on the Delta blues, hillbilly hollers, gospel exhilarations and the miscegenation of them all. Manning discusses the psychology of music and its potentially healing medicine. He also shares stories about women and men he has encountered through playing music and all that can become associated with that practice. Throughout the text, a thread develops linking US history, politics, loves and hatreds together like a river and its tributaries or a highway and the roads that feed into it as the asphalt meanders across the country east to west or north to south. As even a dilatory read of US cultural history reveals, certain highways that crisscross the north American continent are not only legendary, they were instrumental to various periods of that history. Two that come easily to mind are Route 66 and Highway 61. For the purposes discussed here and in Manning’s text, it is the latter which is most important. Not only is Highway 61 part of the title of a Bob Dylan album and a song, it is the road that links the Mississippi delta to the north and vice versa. People and their music that traveled along this road define much of what is considered roots American music; the music that oozes much of what is identified with the US of A. Slavery, Jim Crow, industrialization, hard times, the open road, loose women and easy men, union battles and corporate greed—the whole shebang, as it were. Grateful Dead and Kerouac biographer Dennis McNally covered this highway and its meaning in greater detail in his 2015 masterwork On Highway 61: Music, Race and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom. Manning includes that text in his bibliography. The highway’s essential role in the drama of US history carries on. o ⚓ The_Wrong_Mank⠀⇛ Played by Gary Oldman in a scenery-chewing performance that impressed most critics, Mank is always coming up with some arch, overly clever dialog that has about as much relationship to the way that people speak as I do with running in a marathon. When the secretary learns that Mank was a frequent guest of William Randolph Hearst, she asks him what his mistress Marion Davies was like. He replies: “Why is it when you scratch a prim, starchy schoolgirl, you get a swooning motion picture fan who has forgotten all she learned about the Battle of Hastings.” The secretary, of course, is the starchy schoolgirl and his reference to the Battle of Hastings was a put-down since he assumed she knew nothing about it. She immediately shows him up by identifying the day it took place, which is the kind of drama you can expect from this film. I had a sense of déjà vu watching the patronizing and obnoxious behavior of Mank. Where did I see such a character before? All of a sudden it hit me. The friction between Mank and his two female aides was straight out of “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” the 1942 film that featured Monty Woolley as Sheridan Whiteside—a famous radio personality on a speaking tour. When he falls on the ice in front of the house where he is to be a dinner guest, he breaks his leg. Carried into the house, he insists on remaining there until he heals. People love this film because Whiteside, like Mank, is always coming up with pithy observations that seem more at home in a theater than in a film. o ⚓ Who_Will_Be_Labor_Secretary?⠀⇛ Some will doubtless carp that lefties like Reich or Sanders will never snag senate approval. Well, for once the Dems could play hardball. Biden could use the Vacancies Act to appoint someone for 300 days, if he times making the appointment during the 60 days after his inauguration, because the act allows him to name someone to serve “during the pendency of a nomination.” If Mitch McConnell’s senate won’t consider Sanders or Reich, for instance, fine. Let Biden ignore these reactionary corporatists and appoint a progressive acting secretary. A labor secretary can do a lot of good in a year. Then later Biden might be able to make a recess appointment of Sanders or Reich – and recess appointments can last as long as two years. It could require a lot of finagling, but it’s doable, if there’s a will. Of course, if the Dems win the Georgia senate races, thus regaining senate control, then they have no excuse not to appoint a progressive labor secretary. It’s no secret that labor has taken a beating in the past four and a half decades. Hostile supreme court rulings, the general absence of pro-union legislation and labor’s inability to erase anti-union laws, specifically Taft- Hartley – which prohibits wildcat strikes, secondary boycotts, solidarity strikes, closed shops, mass picketing and direct union donations to federal political campaigns – all emaciated the labor movement. As a result, the standard of living for working-class Americans plunged. Without union protections, the curse of precarity, i.e. gig employment, flourishes like poison ivy in labor’s garden. The number of people working two or three jobs just to stay afloat mushroomed. The U.S. became one of the most economically unequal countries on the globe. These evils all spring from anti-union soil, from mind-numbing free-market religion and from plutocrats consciously waging class war, and winning, while workers get clobbered. o ⚓ Seeing_Hillbillies⠀⇛ Why? Viewing human complexity and vulnerability in capitalist society helps me to understand what I have experienced. That is, after all, the basis of my consciousness. Each familial relationship in Hillbilly Elegy is complex in its own way, a bit like Tolstoy’s take on the similarities of troubled families. Accordingly, the family members in Hillbilly Elegy experience life events that resonated with me. o ⚓ Rossi,_the_Man_With_the_Rapier_Thrust⠀⇛ Paolo Rossi’s achievement was, unlike Maradona’s four years later, also due to a team which hit peak form at the right time, the business-end of the tournament. If anything, while Diego Maradona carried the Argentinian team almost single handed, the 1982 Italian team carried Paolo Rossi as a virtual passenger throughout the group stage. It was players such as Bruno Conti and Marco Tardelli (his room-mate in Spain), as well the famed Juventus defence, which enabled the Italians to edge through the group phase without winning, but neither losing, a single game. Rossi, who had earlier caught the eye as a free scoring centre forward first with Vicenza and then on loan at Perugia, still reeling from the death of their player, Renato Curi, had been banned from football for two years. He had been implicated in the calcio scommesse betting scandal, a charge he refuted, always protesting his innocence. He missed the European Championship on home soil after having earned raving notices for the Italian team at the 1978 World Cup where Italy finished fourth, beating eventual winners, Argentina in the first group phase. Rossi, alongside Roberto Bettega, stole the show in the first rounds and part of the second group phase, scoring goals and moving freely assisted by players drawn from the team he would eventually join and play for exactly following the 1982 triumph – Juventus. Unlike in Spain, Italy started that campaign in Argentina like a house on fire until their brilliance tapered off and they ended losing a lead and match in what was virtually a semi-final against a Cruyff-less Holland side. Rossi started out as a member of the Juventus youth squad and played for Italy at that level. By then, the end of Argentina 1978, Rossi had already earned himself star billing as one of the deadliest strikers in world football. He had set Serie A alight in season 1977-78 with his goal-scoring exploits with unfashionable Vicenza, or Lanerossi Vicenza, as they were known then, but with little impact in European club football, immediately after the 1978 Argentine expedition, as his Veneto club could not get past the UEFA Cup first round; they lost to Czech outfit, Dukla Prague. The following year (1979-80), playing for Perugia against Aris Salonica in the first round of the UEFA Cup, he would be on the receiving end of a 0-3 home reversal after opening the scoring, in the away leg in Thessaloniki, with a typical opportunist goal, a deft slight touch to a low cross in a 1-1draw. o ⚓ How_to_cope_with_virtual_meeting_fatigue⠀⇛ Throughout much of 2020, virtual meetings have been a major part of our lives. This is new for many of us—while we may have participated in webinars or other virtual meetings on occasion, we have never relied on our webcams for doing our day-to-day work. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ Failing_Students_Need_Support,_Not_Blame⠀⇛ The Washington Post reports that an unprecedented number of students are failing classes, but asks whether standard A-F grading, as opposed to a simple Pass/Fail, is fair during a pandemic. I think the question is bigger than that. My questions are: What should our role be as teachers? And what prepares students best for future success in life? o § Health/Nutrition⠀➾ # ⚓ St._Petersburg_restaurant_owners_take_down_‘Resistance_Map’ after_just_two_days⠀⇛ The creators of the “Resistance Map” project — a group of restaurants and bars in St. Petersburg, planning to operate over the New Year holidays despite official orders to close to prevent the spread of COVID-19 — have announced that they are shutting down their website: # ⚓ Tom_Vilsack_Is_the_Reason_Urban_and_Rural_Progressives_Must Unite_to_Fight_Corporate_Agribusiness_Control_Over Democracy⠀⇛ If progressives ever want to gain more votes in rural America, they must rid the Democratic Party of the Corporate Agribusiness stranglehold over everything rural and strike fear into any politician who attempts to pander to those interests. # ⚓ What_If_Trump_Had_Worn_(and_Marketed)_a_Mask?⠀⇛ Was this inevitable? It’s not like this particular topic has been a hot button issue for decades like feminism or fluoride or gays. Surgical masks have been absent from the last half century of culture wars, unmentioned by Phyllis Schlafly, Ronald Reagan or Alex Jones. So, having been off the table this whole time, the mask “issue” was up for grabs and I venture to suggest that it could have gone the other way. In an alternate universe, Republicans would now be die-hard mask-wearers and Democrats… well, I’m not so sure. # ⚓ Russia_set_to_roll_out_second_coronavirus_vaccine ‘EpiVacCorona’⠀⇛ Russia’s second coronavirus vaccine, “EpiVacCorona,” is about to be made available to the general public, announced Rospotrebnadzor head Anna Popova, on Friday, December 11. # ⚓ Does_the_Chicken_Price_Fixing_Scandal_Surprise_Anyone?⠀⇛ The landscape is getting worse because the food behemoths are increasingly privatized. The USDA continues to allow chicken producers and meat producers in general to essentially self-police, a phenomenon which began with the institution of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point or HACCP. Why let humane or hygiene considerations slow down profits?  It should surprise no one that government meat inspectors can be ignored or ridiculed at these privatized slaughter plants…when they don’t unabashedly switch loyalties. How bad is the situation in U.S. slaughterhouses which mainstream media like to sanitize by calling food “packing” or “processing” plants? While the nation was busy watching Covid, the USDA allowed the top chicken slaughter plants to increase kill line speeds from 140 birds a minute to 175 birds per minute or three birds a second. Think about that. In addition to worker injuries and Covid transmission, this condemns even more birds to be boiled alive because they miss the stunner. # ⚓ Get_the_Feds_Out_of_the_Way_of_Cannabis_Reform⠀⇛ Fifteen states, home to 25 percent of the U.S. population, have legalized the possession and use of marijuana by anyone over the age of 21. Most states now allow some form of medicinal use. Federal law, which mandates that possessing any amount of cannabis is a criminal offense, is woefully out of sync with these policies. Each year, this chasm between state and federal policies grows wider. # ⚓ Biden’s_Pick_of_Tom_Vilsack_to_Head_USDA_Is_a_Missed Opportunity⠀⇛ # ⚓ Dunking_on_a_7′_hoop,_or:_Refuting_Dr._Vinay_Prasad’s attack_on_medical_skepticism⠀⇛ Skeptics, like Rodney Dangerfield, “don’t get no respect, no respect at all,” at least not from academics. This lack of respect for what we do (and for science communication in general) has historically ranged from indifference to outright disdain and contempt and is nothing new. For example, Carl Sagan’s fame and science communication negatively impacted his career. Arguably, nowhere has this been more true than in the branch of skepticism dealing with medical claims and quackery; in other words, the very branch with which I’m most associated. Basically, there remains a prevalent attitude out there among all too many physicians, particularly academics, that countering quacks and antivaxxers is just so damned easy that it’s not worth our precious time as physicians.  To some extent, that attitude is changing, a process that, from my perspective, began with the growing prominence of the antivaccine movement several years ago, resulting in measles outbreaks, and accelerated with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US earlier this year and the tsunami of medical misinformation and quack cures that followed. Even so, the more things change, the more they stay the same, at least in some ways, which brings us to the case of someone whom I like to refer to as the very eminent rising star in oncology, Dr. Vinay Prasad. o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # § Proprietary⠀➾ # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Dassault_subsidiary_in_US_hit_by_Windows_Ragnar Locker_ransomware⠀⇛ Dassault Falcon Jet, a US subsidiary of the 91-year-old French aviation firm Dassault Aviation, has taken a hit from a gang of cyber criminals using the Windows Ragnar Locker ransomware. # ⚓ Episode_238_–_Door_13:_Unlucky_or_survivor bias?_–_Open_Source_Security⠀⇛ Josh and Kurt talk about the unluckiest man in the world and survivor bias # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Apple,_Cloudflare_Join_Forces_To_Encrypt DNS⠀⇛ Each time you visit a website, your browser interacts with a domain name system (DNS) resolver that converts web addresses to an IP address understood by the machines along your path. Historically however this traffic exchange isn’t encrypted, making it possible for your broadband provider or another third party to monitor your browsing data based on your DNS queries. DNS inventors in the 80s didn’t really bet on a future where all DNS queries would be tracked, monetized, or weaponized by third parties. # ⚓ IPANDETEC_Releases_First_Report_Rating Nicaraguan_Telecom_Providers’_Privacy Policies⠀⇛ The organization reviewed six companies: Claro Nicaragua, a subsidiary of the Mexican company America Móvil; Tigo Nicaragua, a subsidiary of Millicom International, headquartered in Luxembourg; Cootel Nicaragua, part of the Chinese Xinwei Group; Yota Nicaragua, a subsidiary of Rostejnologuii, a Russian company; IBW, part of IBW Holding S.A, which provides telecom services across Central America, and Ideay, a local Nicaraguan  company. The ¿Quién Defiende Tus Datos? report looks at whether the companies post data protection policies on their website, disclose how much personal data they collect from users, and whether, and how often, they share it with third parties. Companies are awarded stars for transparency in each of five categories, detailed below. Shining a light on these practices allows consumers to make informed choices about what companies they should entrust their data to. Main Findings o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ After_Senate_Effort_Fails,_Biden_Urged_to_Block_‘Corrupt and_Dangerous’_$23_Billion_Weapons_Sale_to_UAE⠀⇛ “Our government should not sell a single bullet to the UAE, much less billions of dollars in deadly military equipment.” # ⚓ With_Endless_War_Abroad_and_Endless_Suffering_at_Home, Peace_Group_Warns_Against_Making_NDAA_Fight_All_About_Trump⠀⇛ “While we commend Congress for not ceding to Trump’s demands, particularly on the question of Confederate base names, we must not lose sight of the fact that the FY21 NDAA is about much more than that.” # ⚓ Trump_Deal_to_Trade_Occupied_Western_Sahara_for_Morocco Normalizing_Ties_With_Israel_Denounced_Worldwide⠀⇛ “Only the people of Western Sahara can decide their own future as they have an inalienable right to self-determination recognized by the U.N.,” said one Sahrawi official. # ⚓ Inspired_by_Columbine_but_driven_by_bullies_Russia’s response_to_school_shootings_has_overlooked_underlying causes,_says_new_‘Mediazona’_report⠀⇛ In a new article published by Mediazona, journalist Elizaveta Pestova argues that Russia’s response to increasingly common school shootings has been too heavy-handed. She spoke to multiple scholars who say the country’s authorities are ignoring the phenomenon’s underlying problems: bullying and a lack of support from parents and teachers. Meduza summarizes Pestova’s report. # ⚓ “I_Told_You_So._You_Damned_Fools”:_75_Years_of_the_Bulletin of_the_Atomic_Scientists⠀⇛ The commemorative issue is a compendium of highlights. Early attitudes to the atomic bomb are covered in the June 1947 issue of the Bulletin, with Sylvia Eberhart’s report. Eberhart had been tasked by Dr. Leonard S. Cottrell, Jr., subcommittee chair of the Committee on the Social Aspects of Atomic Energy of the Social Science Research Council, to compile the findings. Few Americans, she suggested, ventured to “depreciate the power of the bomb.” There was a universal emphasis on “its destructiveness.” A sense of the weapon’s normality was detected. “On the whole, it must be concluded from the survey that the threat of the bomb does not greatly preoccupy the people, and that they are not giving special attention to the issues in which it is involved.” Much of this might have been put down to ignorance. A third of those surveyed were unable to explain the role of the United Nations or know what it was designed to accomplish. This was all the more notable for the fact that the UN was meant to be responsible for the control of the bomb. Opposition to the UN having such control was notable in the survey, as it was perceived to be “giving the bomb secret away to foreign countries.” # ⚓ Calls_to_“Abolish_the_Death_Penalty”_Grow_as_Trump’s_Last- Minute_Execution_Spree_Kills_Brandon_Bernard⠀⇛ “In a world of incredible violence, the state should not be involved in premeditated murder,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders. # ⚓ Case_closed_Putin_says_that_the_murders_of_Boris_Nemtsov and_Galina_Starovoitova_have_been_solved._Is_that_true?⠀⇛ During a meeting with the Human Rights Council on Thursday, December 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the high-profile murders of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov and State Duma deputy Galina Starovoitova have been solved. In particular, he said that in addition to the perpetrators, the people who ordered the killings have been found. Meduza fact-checks Putin’s comment against previous criminal convictions in connection to both killings, as well as the most recent reports from state investigators. # ⚓ Pukr:_Palestinians,_Uighurs,_Kashmiris_and_Rohingyas⠀⇛ PUKR also serves as an acronym for Palestinians, Uighurs, Kashmiris, and Rohingyas. These four peoples in various parts of the world are similarly situated in terms of pukr, that is, subjugation and suffering. Furthermore, these four peoples are predominantly Muslims. Studying their shared predicament may compromise the specifics of adversity that each population encounters, as there are varying degrees of persecution severity. Yet the study unfolds a shared script of cruelty containing siege, denativization substitution, and expulsion, and the failure of nations and international institutions to find meaningful solutions beyond selective condemnation. The following analysis reveals that the PUKR peoples are treated as non-natives in their ancestral homelands while the suppressive states alter the demographics, and they are subject to harsh military clampdown forcing many to leave homes and become stateless refugees. The suppressive states deny persecution or justify repressive measures; they defy international pressure and blame the PUKR peoples as the villains of peace and security. The mantra that the PUKR people spawn terrorists and jihadis has been so repeatedly chanted in unison that the clarity of oppression has been thoroughly muddled. # ⚓ What_is_the_United_States_of_America?_A_Military Democracy⠀⇛ The fiscal year 2021 defense budget comes in at a whopping $740.5 billion dollars. But there is more security to be had: The Department of Homeland Security will spend roughly $50 billion and the Department of Justice (houses the FBI) $30 billion. US intelligence agencies are expected to spend approximately $85 billion in 2021 with a new focus on China. That adds up to about $905 billion dollars. Merchant of Death, For Real # ⚓ ‘US_Leadership’—and_Other_Euphemisms_for_War⠀⇛ Joe Biden doesn’t become president for a month and a half, but already sections of the corporate media are calling on him to use US power to dominate the world. # ⚓ How_US_Sanctions_Have_Contributed_to_the_50K_Dead_of Coronavirus_In_Iran⠀⇛ Iran suffers the worst pandemic outbreak in the Middle East. # ⚓ The_gateway_to_Africa_Carnegie_Moscow_Center_experts explain_why_Russia_is_setting_up_a_naval_base_in_Sudan⠀⇛ In recent years, the main indicator of Russia’s military presence in Africa has been the activities of mercenaries and political consultants associated with Kremlin-linked oligarch Evgeny Prigozhin. But now, for the first time since the Soviet era, Moscow is set to make its presence official. In the near future, Russia will have a new naval base in Sudan, on the shores of the Red Sea. That said, it’s too early to talk about large-scale Russian expansion, to put it mildly, argue Africa specialists Andrey Maslov and Polina Slyusarchuk in an article for the Carnegie Moscow Center. In their opinion, this is largely a phantom threat created by Western media — and one that’s only supported by extreme patriots inside Russia itself.  # ⚓ Trump’s_Parting_Shot_at_Yemen⠀⇛ Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Chris Murphy (D- CONN), and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the resolutions. Senate Joint Resolution 77 would have blocked the sale of up to 18 weapons-ready MQ-9B Reaper unmanned drones. Senate Joint Resolution 78 would have blocked the sale of 50 F-35 stealth warplanes, America’s most advanced fighter jet. (Senator Murphy notes that this is “the second- largest ever sale of U.S. drones to a single country.”) President Donald Trump vetoed similar resolutions twice in the past. This time he didn’t have to. In a mostly party-line vote, the two resolutions were defeated 46 to 50 (Reapers) and 47 to 49 (F-35s). # ⚓ Biden’s_Pentagon_Pick:_a_Five-Sided_Blunder⠀⇛ First of all, civilian control of the military has been under attack since the unfortunate passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act in 1986 that enhanced the political influence of the regional commanders-in- chief, such as General Anthony Zinni and David Petraeus, and marginalized the civilian leaders of the Department of Defense. These regional commanders became more influential than U.S. ambassadors and assistant secretaries of state. The Act created a more powerful chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, allowing the chairman to bypass the secretary of defense and personally brief the president on war plans.  Nevertheless, the Act passed the Senate with little discussion and without one vote of opposition. President Ronald Reagan’s strengthening of the uniformed military was at the expense of the Department of State.  President Bill Clinton further weakened the State Department by abolishing the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the United States Information Service.  Clinton ignored the strong opposition of our diplomats when he pursued the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which continues to complicate U.S. relations with Russia.  President Barack Obama demonstrated too much deference to the military, particularly in his first term, which then Vice President Biden tried to prevent. # ⚓ Don’t_Cheer_Trump’s_11th-Hour_Troop_Withdrawals⠀⇛ Last Friday, the Pentagon announced that nearly all US military forces in Somalia, by order of the president, will leave the country by January 15. The announcement came on the heels of a similar decision in November to halve America’s military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, to about 2,500 personnel in each country. Together, the moves amount to a last-minute attempt by Trump, who will be replaced in the White House on January 20, to make good on his pledges to scale back foreign wars. # ⚓ Cruz_Aims_to_Use_Trump’s_False_Claims_of_Fraud_to_Block Biden’s_Appointments⠀⇛ # ⚓ Trumpists_Are_Ranting_About_Election_Fraud_as_Americans_Die of_Covid⠀⇛ # ⚓ Trump_Recognized_Morocco’s_Illegal_Occupation_to_Boost_the Israeli_Occupation⠀⇛ # ⚓ U.S._Recognizes_Morocco’s_Occupation_of_Western_Sahara_in Latest_Betrayal_of_Sahrawi_People⠀⇛ We continue to examine the U.S.-brokered deal between Morocco and Israel to normalize relations. As part of the deal, the U.S. will become the first country in the world to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, which Morocco has occupied since 1975 in defiance of the international community. We convene a roundtable to discuss developments: Mouloud Said, a representative of the Polisario Front in Washington; Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco; and Sahrawi journalist and activist Nazha El-Khalidi. # ⚓ Palestinian_Official_Hanan_Ashrawi:_Trump’s_Morocco-Israel Deal_Legitimizes_Land_Theft_&_Occupation⠀⇛ In a deal brokered by the Trump administration, Morocco and Israel have agreed to establish diplomatic relations. The United States has also agreed to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over occupied Western Sahara, the first country in the world to do so. Morocco has occupied much of the resource-rich territory since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and the international community. Thousands of indigenous Sahrawis have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the Moroccan occupation. Morocco is the fourth Arab nation to establish ties with Israel since August, part of a diplomatic push by the outgoing Trump administration to shore up international support for Israel. Palestinian diplomat and scholar Hanan Ashrawi says this latest agreement is legitimizing land theft. “This is part of a whole pattern of behavior, a process whereby the Trump administration has been acting as the errand boy for Israel in order to try to get as many victories, as many benefits, as many privileges for Israel,” she says. # ⚓ Andrew_Bacevich_on_Why_Retired_General_and_Raytheon Official_Lloyd_Austin_Should_Not_Head_Pentagon⠀⇛ Joe Biden’s nominee for defense secretary, retired four-star Army General Lloyd Austin, would make history as the first African American to lead the Pentagon if confirmed by the Senate. But Austin can only be confirmed if he secures a waiver from Congress due to laws designed to preserve the civilian control of the military, and several leading Democratic senators have indicated they would oppose granting a waiver. Andrew Bacevich, president and co-founder of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, says he shares those concerns. “The general is not a civilian, and it seems to me if we’re serious about civilian control of the military — and we should be as citizens — that we ought to have a bona fide civilian in charge of the Pentagon,” he says. o § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ # ⚓ House_Passes_PACER_Bill_As_Budget_Office_Says_It_Will_Cost Less_Than_$1_Million_A_Year_To_Provide_Free_Access_To_Court Documents⠀⇛ We’re one step closer to free access to federal court documents. The House has passed the Open Courts Act of 2020, moving it on to the Senate, which will decide whether the bill lands on the president’s desk. # ⚓ ICE_Withdraws_Demand_For_Journalists’_Sources_After_Having Its_Unconstitutional_Demand_Outed_By_BuzzFeed⠀⇛ They say “sunshine is the best disinfectant.” Sometimes, though, sunshine is the best RAID. When you’ve got government cockroaches (feel free to pronounce it like Tony Montana) trying to crawl all over your stuff, the best thing you can do is point all the wattage/candlepower you can on its indiscretions. o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ Why_a_“Re-Indigenization”_of_Society_Makes_Sense⠀⇛ If we are to legitimately address a history of these inequalities and their historical consequences, “environmental destruction”, “genocide”, “racism”, “systemic warfare”, “human exploitation”, and “state system oppression”, we must begin by examining if progress means a continuation on our present path toward self- destruction. In part, I address some of the effects of these colossal man-made calamities in my new book, Epochal Reckonings (2020, Co-Winner of the Proverse Prize)—a poetic guide to some of our 21st century crises. What I wish to examine here is a re-thinking of ourselves on our planet earth, in relation to an indigenous understanding of “Mother Earth”. Moreover, I will argue while we have moved well beyond the likes of French philosopher René Descartes, for many reasons his intellectual legacy still remains as we struggle to come to terms with our environment and our heritage from the Agricultural Revolution. # ⚓ Sea_of_Plastic⠀⇛ Check out all installments in the OppArt series. # ⚓ World_still_warms_in_2020_as_greenhouse_gases_fall⠀⇛ Greenhouse gases have fallen during 2020. But that’s no reason for congratulations, in a year of climate drama. # ⚓ Capitalism_and_the_Green_New_Deal⠀⇛ Optimism that the incoming Democratic administration will take decisive action to address environmental decline is misplaced. An analogy, in terms of the institutional and political backdrop and an alleged public purpose, is the Affordable Care Act. Sentiment amongst its supporters is that the ACA was better than nothing. In fact, the ACA did not improve health outcomes. What it accomplished was to secure the role of health insurance companies as healthcare intermediaries and increase executive pay. Thomas Ferguson’s ‘investment model,’ where policy favors are exchanged for political contributions, well predicted this outcome. The urgency of addressing environmental decline raises the conundrum of how to force political solutions by several degrees of magnitude. Electoral rhetoric had it that the Biden administration would be more amenable to political suasion than Donald Trump because Democrats are more ideologically aligned with the environmental Left. Right. It would be a mistake to assume that Democrats couldn’t (wouldn’t) make the current situation worse. The political accomplishment of the ACA was to convince half the electorate that important progress had been made when it hadn’t, and the other half that viewed the program as ‘socialism,’ that socialism doesn’t work. # ⚓ ‘We_Need_to_Get_Off_the_Current_Road_to_Hell,’_Say_Former UN_Climate_Leaders⠀⇛ Global ambition to avert climate catastrophe “must shift quickly to another scale, beyond recognition.” # ⚓ Noting_Nation’s_Unparalleled_Contributions_to_Global Crisis,_100+_Groups_Push_Biden_to_Commit_US_to_‘Fair_Share’ of_Climate_Action⠀⇛ The letter to the president-elect calls for not only rejoining the Paris agreement, but also “bold, equitable, and ambitious emissions reductions and a commitment to support less wealthy countries to do the same.” # ⚓ Embracing_Ecological_Realism⠀⇛ Does Joe Biden see his mission as merely reclaiming situation normal from Donald Trump? How aware is he of the big, beyond-our-lifetimes future and the crucial need to address climate change? Is he able to acknowledge that human “interests” go well beyond national borders? And if so, how much political traction would he have to have before he could begin turning vision into policy? A recent bit of news: The House just voted overwhelmingly in favor of the 2021 Pentagon budget: $740.5 billion. The vote was 335-78. More Democrats than Republicans gave it their blessing — in utter defiance of any sane recognition of true security, national or otherwise. This is situation normal in action, requiring nothing from a politician except limited thinking. # § Energy⠀➾ # ⚓ The_American_Petroleum_Institute_Is_Working_to_Kill Voting_on_Local_Measures⠀⇛ # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Apocalypse_Cow:_The_Future_of_Life_at_Point_Reyes National_Park⠀⇛ During the last Ice Age, 30,000 years ago, much of the Earth’s waters were locked up in glaciers, and the Pacific Ocean was 400 feet lower than it is today. “The Farallon Islands were then rugged hills rising above a broad, gently sloping plain with a rocky coastline lying to the west,” according to California Prehistory—Colonization, Culture, and Complexity. Humans migrated from Asia walking the coastal plains toward Tierra del Fuego. Then, 12,000 years ago, the climate warmed and glaciers melted. Seas rose, submerging the plains. A wave of immigrants flowed south from Asia over thawed land bridges. Their subsequent generations explored and civilized the Americas, coalescing into nations, including in West Marin and Point Reyes. # ⚓ Gray_Wolf_Recovery_and_Survival_Require_Immediate Action_by_the_Biden_Administration⠀⇛ # ⚓ Trump’s_BLM_Withdraws_Cattle_Grazing_Plan_in_Face_of Environmental_Lawsuits⠀⇛ In March of 2018 the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council sued to stop the BLM’s plan to burn sagebrush-juniper habitat in the Iron Mask area in the Elkhorn Mountains near Canyon Ferry Reservoir, southwest of Townsend, Montana.  In 2019, a federal court judge ordered the project stopped because the agency failed to analyze the cumulative impacts of the project on wildlife. The BLM did not comply with the Court’s 2019 Order and issued a “Supplemental Environmental Assessment” that did not analyze cumulative impacts to wildlife. The two conservation groups, therefore, filed suit against the agency again on February 28, 2020 asking the Court to stop the BLM from illegally burning sagebrush and juniper. In July 2020, United States Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan found in favor pur favor. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ ‘There_for_His_Donors,_But_Not_for_Us’:_Ossoff_Ad_Blasts Perdue_Over_Opposition_to_$1,200_Stimulus_Checks⠀⇛ “We needed our senator’s help, but for David Perdue, we weren’t the priority.” # ⚓ 220,000+_Sign_Petition_Demanding_Biden_‘Clean_House’_of Trump_Social_Security_Appointees_on_Day_One⠀⇛ “Donald Trump’s political appointees are undermining our Social Security system, and Biden must remove them immediately.” # ⚓ Organized_Debtors_Are_Preparing_to_Strike_If_Biden_Doesn’t Cancel_Student_Debt⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_SEC_Has_a_Graph_of_the_Wall_Street_Short-Term_Loan Market_that_Blew_Up:_It_Needs_a_Surgeon_General_Warning Before_Viewing⠀⇛ The market is Wall Street’s Short-Term Funding Market which includes its integral repurchase agreement (repo) market. The repo market blew up in 2008 during the last financial crisis and required a Fed bailout. It blew up again on September 17, 2019 for reasons that have yet to be credibly explained and required at least $9 trillion in cumulative emergency loans from the Federal Reserve over the next six months. As we reported yesterday, the Fed appears to still be propping up that market while not reporting those Fed loans to the American people. The SEC’s graph above is part of a report the SEC released in October titled “U.S. Credit Markets Interconnectedness and the Effects of the COVID-19 Economic Shock.” The report makes no mention of the fact that the repo market blew up on September 17, 2019 – months before there was a COVID-19 case reported anywhere in the world. Everything in the SEC’s report is framed around the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic caused all of the dislocations in the repo and related short-term funding markets. (For an in-depth look at the actual events as they unfolded beginning on September 17, 2019, see our archive of articles on this topic.) # ⚓ PPP_Loans_Failed_to_Reach_Communities_in_Most_Need⠀⇛ # ⚓ Dr._Paul_Farmer:_Centuries_of_Inequality_in_the_U.S._Laid Groundwork_for_Pandemic_Devastation⠀⇛ # ⚓ ‘Congress_Cannot_Go_on_Recess_Without_Providing_This’: Sanders,_Hawley_Move_to_Attach_$1,200_Payments_to_Must-Pass Spending_Bill⠀⇛ “It would be outrageous and simply unacceptable for members of Congress to go home to their families when tens of millions of working-class families in this country are facing economic desperation.” # ⚓ Can_Progressives_Save_Biden_From_Disastrous_Economic Policies?⠀⇛ The post-1970 trauma of the working class was worsened, as traumas often are, by being minimally recognized and even less discussed in the media, among politicians, or in the academy. Workers thus encountered the end of the century of rising real wages individually as a mysterious evaporation of the American Dream or loss of an earlier American Greatness. They also reacted individually. More members of households (especially adult women) undertook more hours of paid labor outside the home to compensate for stagnant real hourly wages. Households also compensated by borrowing more heavily than any working class anywhere had ever done. Workers wanted so desperately to hold on to that American Dream. Capital obliged: mortgage and auto debts spread more widely and deeply throughout the U.S. population. Credit cards were newly promoted to consumers who filled millions of wallets with many of them. Toward the end of the 20th century, capital added massive student lending that now exceeds total U.S. credit card debt. Capital thereby supplemented its profits from production (boosted by stagnant wages) by adding interest on consumer and student debts (undertaken because of stagnant wages). No wonder the U.S. stock market boomed in the 1980s and 1990s. No wonder that the Clintons and other centrist Democrats celebrated that debt boom for their political advantage instead of attending to its immense risks and disruptive social costs. # ⚓ Bernie_Sanders_Pushes_to_Attach_$1,200_Payments_to_Must- Pass_Stimulus_Bill⠀⇛ # ⚓ New_Report_Shows_Top_Billionaires’_Wealth_Skyrocketing During_Pandemic⠀⇛ o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Citing_14th_Amendment,_Pascrell_Says_These_GOP_House Members_Shouldn’t_Even_Be_Sworn_In⠀⇛ “The text of the 14th Amendment expressly forbids members of Congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a pretty clear example of that.” # ⚓ In_Just_‘Two-Ish_Minutes,’_AOC_Details_Progressive Accomplishments_From_First_Two_Years_in_Office⠀⇛ Often accused of being ineffective by conservatives and centrists, the congresswoman highlighted her work passing legislation, serving her constituents, and leading House investigations into corruption and fraud.  # ⚓ ‘Harebrained’_Texas_Election_Lawsuit_a_Serious_GOP_Attack on_Democracy,_Warn_Experts⠀⇛ “Trump will leave office in January. But the attorneys general who are aiding his failed coup are just getting started.” # ⚓ Canada,_Haiti_and_Hong_Kong⠀⇛ Despite hundreds of thousands of Canadians having close ties with both Haiti and Hong Kong, only protests in the latter seem to be of concern to politicians. Recently NDP MP Niki Ashton and Green MP Paul Manly were attacked ferociously in Parliament and the dominant media for participating in a webinar titled “Free Meng Wanzhou”. During the hullabaloo about an event focused on Canada’s arrest of the Huawei CFO, Manly — who courageously participated in the webinar, even if his framing of the issue left much to be desired — and Ashton — who sent a statement to be read at the event but responded strongly to the backlash in an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press — felt the need to mention Hong Kong. Both the NDP (“Canada must do more to help the people of Hong Kong”) and Greens (“Echoes of Tiananmen Square: Greens condemn China’s latest assault on democracy in Hong Kong”) have released multiple statements critical of Beijing’s policy in Hong Kong since protests erupted there nearly two years ago. So have the Liberals, Bloc Québecois and Conservatives. # ⚓ What_Trump’s_Doing_Is_Crazy_and_Dangerous—and_It_Ain’t_Over Yet⠀⇛ Trump still threatens us, and discussing the election in the past tense is stupid. # ⚓ Want_to_Defund_the_Police?_Then_Vote_for_Loeffler_and Perdue_in_Georgia_Senate_Run-Off_Race⠀⇛ When police (and teachers and firefighters and other essential state and local government workers) are defunded and fired in the next few months, blame it on Republicans like Purdue and Loeffler. # ⚓ ‘Without_Decency_and_Without_Dignity’:_German_Newsweekly Der_Spiegel_Names_Trump_‘Loser_of_the_Year’⠀⇛ “The country is more divided than ever since the times of the Civil War. This is not a by-product of Trump’s politics, it is their goal.” # ⚓ Question:_How_Should_the_Left_Judge_Biden’s_Success?_Answer From_a_Leftist:_‘How_Many_People_Stop_Going_Hungry’_Is_One Good_Way⠀⇛ “Honestly, if Biden is able to keep his own campaign promises,” says Justice Democrats co- founder Saikat Chakrabarti, “that’ll be pretty good.” # ⚓ Republican_Senate_Groups_Have_Five_Times_More_Cash_for Georgia_Runoffs⠀⇛ # ⚓ What_Criticisms_of_Bolivia’s_2019_Elections_Continue_to_Get Wrong⠀⇛ Even before the October election, many in the opposition had pledged not to accept the results of the vote if Morales won. The Organization of American States (OAS), in country to observe the vote, poured gasoline on the fire when — the day after the election and with the official count not yet complete — it issued a press release expressing concern about “an inexplicable change in trend [in the preliminary count] that drastically modifies the fate of the election and generates a loss of confidence in the electoral process.”1 The statement delegitimized the election in the eyes of many, both in Bolivia and internationally. It also provided opposition elements with the justification they needed to reject the election results and force Morales from office three weeks later.2 As CEPR and a number of other independent researchers have shown, the OAS has produced no credible evidence to back up its statement of October 21, 2019. While a long interruption of the preliminary vote count ― from around 7:45 p.m. on October 20, 2019 to 6:30 p.m. the following day ― raised understandable concerns, there was no “inexplicable” or “drastic” change in trend following the interruption, as the OAS alleged. # ⚓ Hinch-22⠀⇛ # ⚓ When_Justice_and_Politics_Match:_Deb_Haaland_Should_Be Biden’s_Interior_Secretary⠀⇛ It would be a big disappointment to the environmentalists, progressives, all those members of Congress who supported her, and the tribes Haaland organized and mobilized to help elect Joe Biden to overlook such a well-qualified candidate for his Cabinet. # ⚓ Will_Trump_Break-Up_the_Republican_Party?⠀⇛ For all Trump’s rants and tweets about voter fraud and a rigged election, one this clear – on 22nd he will no longer be president. The political questions that is emerging is whether Trump’s defeat will set the stage for the break-up of the Republican Party? The Republic Party was founded in 1854 to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. The “Grand Old Party” as it came to be known was formed by disaffected members of the Whig Party opposed Pres. Andrew Jackson who many considering a tyrant. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president and, six weeks later, South Carolina seceded from the Union, setting the stage for the Civil War. # ⚓ Go_Vote_Yourself_a_Raise,_Georgia_–_You’ve_Long_Earned_It⠀⇛ If the Democrats win both seats, the Senate would be split, 50-50. Vice President Kamala Harris would serve as President of the Senate, and in the case of tied votes have the deciding vote. The Democrats could also take control of the Senate, choose the Committee Chairs, and set the rules for moving legislation to the floor. Georgia is normally a Republican state. But on November 3rd, the state chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by about 12,670 votes. The two incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler failed to win a majority of the votes. This triggered a runoff against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock. # ⚓ AOC_Slams_House_Republicans_for_Spending_Their_Time_Trying to_Overturn_Trump_Loss_While_‘People_Are_Starving’⠀⇛ More than half of the House GOP caucus has endorsed a likely doomed-to-fail Texas lawsuit seeking to undo the results of the November presidential election. # ⚓ Is_It_Really_Terry_McAuliffe’s_Turn_in_Virginia—Again?⠀⇛ Virginia’s Democratic renaissance has largely been powered by women—female candidates as well as voters. When Democrats came within a seat of taking the House of Delegates in 2017 (they finished the job in 2019); 11 of 15 victorious challengers were women, including several women of color, propelled by a wave of anti-Trump revulsion. Already two women, both of them African American, have launched campaigns for governor in 2021 (incumbent Ralph Northam can serve only one term). Second-term Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy and 14-year veteran state Senator Jennifer McClellan made their announcements within days of one another last summer—a historic first for Black women in the former capital of the Confederacy. # ⚓ Roaming_Charges:_Negative_Creep⠀⇛ + Biden is a politician who is unlikely to disappoint his followers for the simple reason that he has few truly devoted adherents and offers them little of substance. Mostly, he delivers on small things, tiny symbolic acts that serve to mask the broader betrayals of movements and aspirations he claimed to represent but never had any real interest in. Unlike Obama, idealism was never Biden’s calling card. His entire career he has sold a brutal brand of pragmatism behind a dental implant smile. + Few politicians in American history have been as programed by the System as Joe Biden, conditioned to the point where Biden eventually became a chief programmer himself, updating the operating system of the Republic every decade or so with new measures of austerity, imperial violence  and domestic punishment. If the American brand of neoliberalism is approaching a crisis point, it’s a crisis that Biden himself, perhaps more than anyone else on the political scene today, helped bring about. # ⚓ Songs_of_the_Biden_Heart⠀⇛ The aggrieved band could not stop Trump’s expropriation of their anthem of triumph. The president’s supporters were wont to bellow the song up until Election Day 2020. Among Trump’s other unsportsmanlike musical favorites was Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”; the hit’s bullying words when heard from MAGA loudspeakers was gloss on “You’re Fired!”: “Don’t want to see your face, you’d better disappear.” In the 1990s the singer and his then-secret bride, Lisa Marie Presley, bought a luxury apartment in Trump Tower a few floors below the future president’s penthouse. Such proximity aside, entertainment elites generally hate Trump, all the more when he kidnaps their tunes for political purposes. # ⚓ The_Centrality_of_Critical_Education_in_Dark_Times:_a Tribute_to_Noam_Chomsky_on_his_92nd_Birthday⠀⇛ Across the globe, democratic institutions such as the independent media, schools, the legal system, certain financial institutions, and higher education are under siege. The promise, if not ideals, of democracy are receding as right-wing populism and an updated version of fascist politics are once again on the move subverting language, values, courage, vision, and hope for a more just and humane world. In the current historical moment, we are witnessing a crisis of education, consciousness, civic imagination, and democratic values. Education has increasingly become a tool of domination as right-wing pedagogical apparatuses controlled by the entrepreneurs of hate attack workers, the poor, people of color, refugees, immigrants from the south and others considered disposable. In the midst of an era when an older social order is crumbling and a new one is struggling to define itself, there emerges a time of confusion, danger, and moments of great restlessness. The present moment is once again at a historical juncture in which the structures of liberation and authoritarianism are vying for shaping a future that appears to be either an unthinkable nightmare or a realizable dream. The dark times that haunt the current age are epitomized by a new crop of authoritarians who echo the politics of a totalitarian past and have come to rule in the United States and a number of other societies. These architects of a new breed of fascist politics increasingly dominate major cultural apparatuses and other commanding political and economic institutions across the globe. Their nightmarish reign of misery, violence, and disposability is legitimated, in part, in their control of all sorts of knowledge producing settings that construct a vast machinery of manufactured consent. This reactionary educational formation includes the mainstream broadcast media, digital platforms, the Internet, and print culture, all of which participate in an ongoing spectacle of violence, the aestheticization of politics, the legitimation of opinions over facts, and an embrace of a culture of ignorance. For instance, in the United States, Donald Trump’s shaping of political culture has become in many ways more toxic and damaging than his public policies given his undermining of the civic fabric, rule of law, and democracy itself. He normalized racism, state violence, hatred, and disinformation by not only bringing it to the center of power, but also by deeply embedding a toxic, death-dealing politics deep into American consciousness and culture. Trump used the term fake news as an instrument of power to disdain the truth and call the press the enemy of the American people. Anti-intellectualism and a hatred for the truth became the new normal in American culture. Under such circumstances, the growing reign of authoritarianism and right-wing popular movements waged a war on critical forms of education, regarded the truth with disdain, and disparaged the very presence of critical judgment in any sphere where civic literacy asserted itself. This plague of ignorance and culture of lies took place in the midst of a death dealing pandemic accelerated by a bungling mode of governance that disdained scientific evidence, played down the seriousness of the virus, offered no national plan to deal with the pandemic, and confused science with pseudo-science. As infections rose and deaths skyrocketed, the United States turned into a funeral home. Trump’s response was to focus relentlessly on the bogus claim that he won the presidential election while relentlessly attempting to legitimate and circulate a range of bizarre and utterly delusional right-wing conspiracy theories. # ⚓ Senator_Ron_Johnson_No_Longer_Has_Constituents;_He_Has_a Boss,_a_Don⠀⇛ Senator Ron Johnson stopped representing the people of Wisconsin on January 20, 2017. The two-term Republican decided on that day that he would serve one man: Donald Trump. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ Kimberle_Crenshaw_on_the_Equity_Gag_Order⠀⇛ # ⚓ Content_Moderation_Case_Study:_Facebook’s_AI_Continues_To Struggle_With_Identifying_Nudity_(2020)⠀⇛ Summary: Since its inception, Facebook has attempted to be more “family-friendly” than other social media services. Its hardline stance on nudity, however, has often proved problematic, as its AI (and its human moderators) have flagged accounts for harmless images and/or failed to consider context when removing images or locking accounts. o § Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ Russian_lawmakers_propose_strengthening_penalties_for failure_to_comply_with_‘foreign_agent’_requirements⠀⇛ A group of Russian State Duma lawmakers have submitted a draft law toughening penalties for individuals and media outlets recognized as “foreign agents” that fail to comply with the stipulations of that status.  o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ Mass_Incarceration_is_Declining,_But_Not_for_Women⠀⇛ In 2020, the people of Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota voted to legalize marijuana, joining 11 other states and the District of Columbia. In Oregon, voters opted to decriminalize possession of all drugs. And even during the deeply divisive Trump administration, bipartisan criminal justice reform managed to pass a Republican Senate and Democratic House to get signed into law. Slowly but surely, the absurdly large incarcerated population in the U.S. is declining. One noteworthy exception, though, is women. # ⚓ Supreme_Court_Says_Muslim_Men_Can_Sue_The_FBI_For_Placing Them_On_The_No-Fly_List_For_Refusing_To_Become_Informants⠀⇛ The FBI really enjoys its take on the War on Terror. Starting with the hassling of Muslims at airports and border entries, the FBI cultivates a large collection of confidential informants. These informants then find pliable individuals to target with extra attention, pushing them towards threatening to engage in violence. Then the FBI swoops in to arrest these supposed “terrorists” — ones that often seem unable to stay gainfully employed, much less capable of carrying out terrorist attacks. The FBI’s favorite targets are impressionable Muslim men with mental health issues — ones its agents and informants radicalize right into jail cells. # ⚓ Congressional_Investigation_Finds_Many_Booster_Seat_Makers “Endangered”_Children’s_Lives_After_Review_of_“Meaningless Safety_Testing”⠀⇛ In an unusually harsh and pointed report, a U.S. House subcommittee, responding to a ProPublica investigation, found widespread evidence that the nation’s largest manufacturers of car seats “endangered the lives of millions of American children and misled consumers about the safety of booster seats” in crashes that can kill or paralyze children. On Friday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy upped the ante, formally requesting that federal highway safety regulators, as well as the Federal Trade Commission, investigate “unfair and deceptive marketing and unreasonable risks to safety” by the makers of booster seats. Separately, the subcommittee urged state attorneys general to look for violations of consumer protection laws by these companies. # ⚓ Fighting_From_Federal_Death_Row_in_My_Friend_Brandon Bernard’s_Memory⠀⇛ Last night: Brandon Bernard # ⚓ How_the_Safe_Bet_Lost_in_North_Carolina⠀⇛ On October 9, Cal Cunningham, the Democratic candidate in North Carolina’s 2020 Senate race, gave an online press conference to reporters. It was a critical moment in his campaign: Over the past week, the generic but apparently wholesome Southern Democrat whose eventual victory over Republican incumbent Thom Tillis seemed all but preordained had become a man under siege. Cunningham was now primarily occupied with dealing with the fallout from a leaked series of explicitly sexual—but not exactly sexually explicit—text messages that he’d exchanged with a woman who was not his wife. Though labeled “sexts” by the media, the texts found Cunningham telling the woman, Arlene Guzman Todd, things like “You are historically sexy 😘,” and “Sounds so hot and fun!” o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ Can_Broadband_Policy_Help_Create_A_More_Equitable_And inclusive_Economy_And_Society_Instead_Of_The_Reverse?⠀⇛ 25 years ago, then NTIA Administrator Larry Irving warned that the rising importance of the internet had the downside of creating what he coined a “digital divide.” # ⚓ The_Broadcasting_Act_Blunder,_Day_16:_Mandated_Payments_and a_Reality_Check_on_Guilbeault’s_Billion_Dollar_Claim⠀⇛ (prior posts in the Broadcasting Act Blunder series include Day 1: Why there is no Canadian Content Crisis, Day 2: What the Government Doesn’t Say About Creating a “Level Playing Field”, Day 3: Minister Guilbeault Says Bill C-10 Contains Economic Thresholds That Limit Internet Regulation. It Doesn’t, Day 4: Why Many News Sites are Captured by Bill C-10, Day 5: Narrow Exclusion of User Generated Content Services, Day 6: The Beginning of the End of Canadian Broadcast Ownership and Control Requirements, Day 7: Beware Bill C-10’s Unintended Consequences, Day 8: The Unnecessary Discoverability Requirements, Day 9: Why Use Cross- Subsidies When the Government is Rolling out Tech Tax Policies?, Day 10: Downgrading the Role of Canadians in their Own Programming, Day 11: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – Licence or Registration Required, Broadcast Reform Bill Could Spell the End of Canadian Ownership Requirements, Day 12: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – The CRTC Conditions, Day 13: The “Regulate Everything” Approach – Targeting Individual Services, Day 14: The Risk to Canadian Ownership of Intellectual Property, Day 15: Mandated Confidential Data Disclosures May Keep Companies Out of Canada) o § Monopolies⠀➾ # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Saturday_Sundries [Ed: "IP" maximalists at it again]⠀⇛ The IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Network is hosting the Third IP & Innovation Researchers of Asia (IPIRA) Conference on 24-27 March 2021 (online). The deadline for submissions is 15 December 2020, with more information available here. Coming up next week is the IFIM Holiday Seminar, taking place online on 17 December. For those interested in IP damages, copyright exceptions and fairness in copyright, this is the ‘place’ to be. More information is available here. [...] CREATe (University of Glasgow) yesterday published an open letter signed by a coalition of international academics concerning the new right of revocation found in Article 22 of the recent EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, focusing on the lessons to be learned from existing national laws in the implementation of the directive. # ⚓ Virtual_oral_proceedings_–_Are_they_legal_under article_116_EPC? [Ed: EPO_breaking_the_law]⠀⇛ The President of the EPO decided on November 10, 2020, that Oral Proceedings before Opposition Divisions are to be held by video conference, until September 15, 2021. According to this decision, agreement of the parties is not necessary (Decision of the president of the European Patent Office dated 10 November 2020, Articles 1 and 2). The Boards of Appeal at the EPO intend to go one step further, namely to restrict the possibility for Oral Proceedings according to Article 116 EPC permanently (if “exceptional circumstances” can be confirmed). Reference is made to the proposed text of Article 15(a) EPC of the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal, according to the user consultation, as online on December 2, 2020. The present article will not focus on whether such “virtual Oral Proceedings” are in general reasonable or, in a broader sense, legitimate during an extreme pandemic situation with severe travel restrictions (which should not be confused with any “exceptional circumstances”) as a specific and limited deviation of the law, but rather whether such “virtual Oral Proceedings” are legal under the EPC. This article will also not focus upon whether virtual proceedings should be possible if the party (or the representative) agrees. In essence, this article relates to how Article 116 EPC must be interpreted and not about how it should be worded. [...] The authors contend that depriving parties and representatives of their right to personal appearance before the EPO infringes Article 116 EPC. The wording of Article 116 EPC clearly requires the (“physical”) presence of the parties or their representatives. General principles in the member states (by way of example only, Germany) do not understand “Oral Proceedings by video conference” to be Oral Proceedings. Since any provision in the RPBA or any decision of the President of the EPO must (of course) be in line with the EPC itself, the abovementioned decision of the President appears to be illegal as would the intended Rule 15a of the ROPB. # ⚓ QSAM_Biosciences_Receives_Notice_of_Allowance_for European_Patent_and_Expands_Licensed_IP_Portfolio⠀⇛ QSAM Biosciences Inc. (OTCQB: QSAM), a company developing next generation nuclear medicines, including Cyclosam® Samarium-153- DOTMP, for the treatment of cancer and related diseases and conditions, announced today that the European Patent Office (EPO) has allowed the first patent covering “DOTMP kit formulations for radioisotopes.” This is the first patent outside the United States and is in addition to the two prior patents issued by the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) covering “High purity and low specific activity therapeutic bone agents.” The EPO patent allowance covers technology licensed exclusively by QSAM from IGL Pharma, Inc. that protects the radiopharmacy preparation of CycloSam. The DOTMP kits, which refer to the chelating agent that binds the radioisotopes to growing cells in the bone and is believed by management to reduce toxicity and increase efficacy of the drug candidate, are a crucial component of the Cyclosam radiopharmaceutical product. # ⚓ Verdant_Technologies™_granted_European_patent⠀⇛ # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Meet_CC_Mexico,_Our_Next_Feature_for_CC_Network Fridays!⠀⇛ The Creative Commons Global Network (CCGN) consists of 46 CC Country Chapters spread across the globe. They’re the home for a community of advocates, activists, educators, artists, lawyers, and users who share CC’s vision and values. They implement and strengthen open access policies, copyright reform, open education, and open culture in the communities in which they live. # ⚓ How_Bob_Dylan_Wrote_the_Second_Great_American Songbook⠀⇛ Bob Dylan takes great pains to detail just how inimical to popular taste his music was when he first started performing in the late 1950s and early ’60s. “I had no song in my repertoire for commercial radio anyway,” Dylan writes in the first—and to date only—volume of his memoirs, Chronicles: Volume One (2004). “Songs about debauched bootleggers, mothers that drowned their own children, Cadillacs that only got five miles to the gallon, floods, union hall fires, darkness and cadavers at the bottom of the rivers weren’t for radiophiles. There was nothing easygoing about the folk songs I sang. They weren’t friendly or ripe with mellowness. They didn’t come gently to the shore. I guess you could say they weren’t commercial.” ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 7660 ➮ Generation completed at 03:31, i.e. 165 seconds to (re)generate ⟲