𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Wednesday, December 22, 2021 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Thu 23 Dec 02:41:12 GMT 2021 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 Gemini index for the day: gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2021/12/22/ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmQPL4aU5VkHzGprihFtysZx7tMGqLPQa11SU2s4ao6H6r QmWDLoPpML1exaPTP8wfzYiKd4whiRGaCCqWNHJQ8Tgfgg QmXP9uUCLGPXq5XphWSHwKkEcNvzBUFmcGuun1rgVhDoMf QmbcSKJZiufM2XfxxnB92wQE323m9MsiAMo5YFmwFPu8VN QmWmC3AgPDFykej4Jpay8nnpKKVGMMEfv8MjggJ9Qw5Lm9 QmNPpiGqWGFQNEECwNKt72LSricBeH2VuxSzamtqTrESHV QmUNbGTar72DvDUxqyAh6Jdzfvu4JHUqaTFKqWpu9P64bk QmXFHTXDoB1z4Af36pfwwfrJcsZWK4nkbqqF2EndNyJ9YA QmcFJuq5PVoQgjijbLaMibeRbgr4h5pFcpzBYWqLap1cNu QmSBPP9JjsnqHFcHfShHhNsQwTc4eHz66BF5ihuBjaxpKM QmPrW6GPykdMyQtg8txV2DXmRYjghF1TQPv6CJcwVUx6iy QmVNVya1kBzPYdBdJekAHEpk3m857qJsnQet4QNxycPonK QmUQmiHKq1wV1JkS2hwXEf1etD3jM43Afc68V6omxpqaCi QmbheKKYhpyw3SvZSmHbavdgcv1PSaRtPdaQ746tgUFXbp QmZqoL722Mk7hDJcSz2oBxydXY7S2G5r4ByHgRdKBw7dUH QmTZSRzHEP7hwr4tL7ky23HxA9Z3tUBjQrfwYPAieSYsGe QmRKnWzns1EsWaoxUGG5KEEhiyhSELGYVdfVqSB5Ay4qhc QmZdVw5kGwFeXoGNexLWZDS8MJxeGKAeup4JpiAnmE946y QmYdAKSfCu9puR3SWGWwGW19Uzo1jj4L1aYpeGqpC5FCp6 QmZP4LnsTHrznHVdokybFZafDLWJqRPKyvvberG4dVRasQ QmfL4kPLDVa6CGiB1yXozobGCQ5fTPahv8T7hPstsxvkie ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ Driving You Insane? | Techrights ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 21, 2021 | Techrights ⦿ The Car Drives You - Part II - Turning Computers and Cars Into Restrictive ’Consoles’ With DRM | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/driving-you-insane/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/irc-log-211221/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/restrictive-vessels/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/alpha-20-of-7-days-to-die/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/manjaro-21-2-0/#comments http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/supertux-0-6-3/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 55 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/driving-you-insane/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2021/12/22/driving-you-insane/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.22.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Driving_You_Insane?⠀✐ Posted in DRM, Free/Libre_Software at 12:26 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum 11ede530f091de65a119d203925fe23c http://techrights.org/videos/cars-expensive-complex.webm Summary: Cars or any vehicles in general are being taken away from those who bought them by means that are rarely explained in the media (there’s an attempt to misframe and misportray the issue) THE direction the car industry has taken is the subject of an ongoing series (see Part_I and Part_II) that started after we had witnessed further_erosion_of the_notion_of_car_ownership, leading to some followup_videos and a lot of debate around the Web. It's_about_software. 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇John Deere product⦈ More people seem to have woken up to the fact that not only John_Deere is turning vehicles you buy and fully pay for into de facto rentals, wherein you have to ask for permission to do things (to your own vehicle) and can only receive service at extortionate prices. John Deere employees recently protested and so should we (the company is cruel to its very own workers [1-11] and to its very own customers [12-22]). When dealing with corporations one meaningful form of communication is financial (a language they understand; maybe the only language they can grasp), which means boycotting their products and encouraging others to do the same might work, causing them to change current trends. It has worked to some extent when it comes to music DRM, which never quite caught on for good (the big companies gave up; now they try streaming as a subscription instead, selling you access to what you pay for, albeit only for limited time). █ References: 1. ‘Some_Things_Are_Worth_Fighting_For’:_10,000_Unionized_John_Deere_Workers Now_on_Strike 2. 10,000_John_Deere_Workers_Walk_Off_Job_as_Strike_Wave_Sweeps_US 3. The_Working_Class_Is_on_Strike 4. On_the_John_Deere_Picket_Line_in_Iowa_With_UAW_Local_281 5. Sanders_Calls_John_Deere_Threat_to_Take_Away_Striking_Workers’_Health Coverage_‘Beyond_Outrageous’ 6. 10,000_Striking_John_Deere_Workers_Demand_“Equitable”_Pay_&_Benefits_as Company_Sees_Record_Profits 7. John_Deere_Strike_Ends_as_Workers_Win_Higher_Wages,_Bonus_and_Better Pension 8. John_Deere_Workers_Remain_on_Strike_and_Reject_Two-Tier_Pay 9. ‘Sacrifice_and_Solidarity’_Pay_Off_as_Striking_John_Deere_Workers_Win Bigger_Wage_Hike 10. Opinion_|_Corporations_Shouldn’t_Be_“The_Master_of_Our_Fate” 11. Sanders_Rails_Against_John_Deere_Threat_to_Striking_Workers’_Health Coverage 12. John_Deere_announces_$1.6_billion_in_third_quarter_profits:_enough_to_pay every_UAW-Deere_worker_$160,000 13. Congress_To_Consider_National_Right_To_Repair_Law_For_First_Time 14. John_Deere_turned_tractors_into_computers_—_what’s_next? 15. Auto_Industry_Pushes_Bullshit_Claim_That_‘Right_To_Repair’_Laws_Aid Sexual_Predators 16. Apple*_and_John_Deere*_shareholders_file_resolutions_questioning_their anti-repair_stances_|_U.S._PIRG 17. Obnoxious_Repair_Monopolies_Keep_Turning_Farmers_Into_Activists 18. Biden_Executive_Order_Will_Try_To_Address_Some_‘Right_To_Repair’_Harms 19. John_Deere_Promised_Farmers_It_Would_Make_Tractors_Easy_to_Repair._It Lied. 20. John_Deere_Promised_To_Back_Off_Monopolizing_Repair._It_Then_Ignored_That Promise_Completely. 21. Massachusetts_Voters_Overwhelmingly_Support_Expanded_‘Right_To_Repair’ Law 22. Apple,_John_Deere_Investors_Pressure_Companies_On_Their_Backwards_Repair Policies ⣶⢆⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⢘⡁⣽⡾⠟⠒⣜⣠⡶⡿⡙⢶⡟⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠇⠛⠁⠠⠘⠁⠀⠀⠀⠉⢘⡄⠠⠀⠀⣾⡆⢰⣦⣘⣧⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠎⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⠆⠀⠀⠰⢾⢿⣿ ⣿⢣⢜⠒⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠛⠀⢰⣿⠟⠁⢹⡥⣾⡥⠿⡿⢏⢗⣠⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠄⠀⠀⠀⣳⣤⣤⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣎⣁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⠄⢰⠁⠙⠺⡴⣾ ⣿⣷⡧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⢷⡟⣻⡶⢰⣶⣔⣻⣇⣥⡷⠒⠂⠛⢦⢀⠐⠀⢀⣀⠐⠀⠘⠀⠈⣀⣭⣿⣽⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣏⣿⡛⠐⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠂⠀⠀⣉⠙ ⡿⠙⠻⡥⠤⠖⠂⢀⣠⠀⠘⠀⢘⠓⠟⠁⠙⡌⣀⣽⡿⡏⠻⣟⢈⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠧⣼⣏⠯⠓⠋⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠌⣉⣉⡛⠻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣄⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠐⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣴ ⣷⣣⣴⣶⠶⢆⠆⠈⠉⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⡨⠀⠁⠅⠐⠀⠐⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠔⠉⠀⠀⠀⡙⣀⠨⠈⣸⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣌⡙⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⣀ ⢈⢶⠛⠙⠁⢤⣈⠐⠀⠦⠈⠀⢠⡀⢰⠀⠀⡔⠄⠀⠀⢐⠀⠁⠀⠈⠀⢀⠔⠁⠀⠀⠀⡀⢠⣠⣾⣿⣶⣮⣽⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡙⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠳⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠃⠉ ⠀⢤⣶⣦⣤⣸⡿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⢿⠿⡿⢿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣦⣤⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⠀⠁ ⣛⡧⠀⢨⠟⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⠄⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⢀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠂⠐⠠⢢ ⠂⠈⠀⠆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⠤⠤⠤⠤⠤⠤⠤⠤⠤⠤⠄⠄⠀⠀⠀⠤⢀⣀⣀⣈⣀⣈⣋⣤⣺⣂⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⢹⣿⢿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢷⡀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠔⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⠆⠀⠀⢨⢅ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡄⡐⠠⠤⠊⡅⣶⣠⣤⣼⣒⣤⣤⣴⣄⣔⣬⣤⡤⣯⣲⣷⣶⣶⣬⣠⣀⣦⣐⣴⡶⢄⢀⡠⢀⠀⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣁⡧⠀⠀⢸⣿ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢐⠁⢄⣴⡏⣵⢦⡶⣿⠽⣽⢿⢿⡿⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡟⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⠿⢿⣿⠟⠿⣿⠿⢶⠆⠡⠞⠞⠄⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿ ⠀⠠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⢿⣺⣿⣿⣧⣿⣿⣿⡻⣿⣿⢟⣿⣻⢷⣛⣛⢛⣛⡛⢛⡻⣯⣛⡿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣗⢿⡿⣹⣍⣆⡧⢰⣒⣴⣎⠐⣀⣀⣀⠀⣀⣀⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣿ ⠀⠀⢀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣿⣿⣽⣿⣿⣿⡿⢏⣿⢰⣿⣾⣾⣧⣸⣇⣒⣿⢠⡆⣿⣎⢾⢱⣿⣿⣾⣿⣯⢻⡔⢹⣏⡋⣧⠎⣿⣙⠩⠀⣿⣀⣹⠇⢸⣇⡄⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣿ ⢦⣤⡌⠇⠀⠀⠘⠀⢀⡀⢀⡀⠀⢺⢞⣿⢿⡿⣿⣿⣿⡼⣷⡿⣬⣿⣟⣻⢯⣻⣇⢖⣿⡸⢇⡇⡹⣿⢸⣿⣿⢿⣿⢟⣼⠧⢸⡏⠇⡋⢠⣿⠍⢠⠀⣿⡘⣧⡀⣸⣇⣁⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠰⣶⠀⠀⠀⣟⣿ ⠈⠈⢡⠀⠀⠀⠀⡄⢸⣯⣄⠀⠀⡡⠟⣷⢾⣯⡽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣾⣿⣾⣿⣾⣿⣷⣾⣯⣿⣮⣼⣿⣿⣭⣭⣭⡷⢧⣭⡭⣉⣥⢨⠩⡭⠍⠈⠉⠁⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢤⡀⣶⡆⠀⠀⢠⣿⣿ ⣤⣾⣶⣿⣆⠀⠀⠈⠈⠼⣿⣶⣶⣶⣵⣽⣾⣵⣯⣼⣥⣻⣯⣯⣿⣾⣿⣽⣿⣾⣿⡿⣿⣻⡿⣻⢟⢳⣏⡟⠯⢊⠨⠁⢉⡪⠑⢂⠐⠋⠂⠕⠀⠀⠂⠀⠀⠉⡂⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡠⢻⢿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⣛⣋⣉⣀⣀⣘⣿⣷⣤⣤⠈⠉⢩⣭⣭⣭⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣷⣶⣾⣶⣧⣾⣶⣶⣶⣾⣶⣶⣶⣶⣷⣶⣿⣿⡻⠿⠷⠶⠤⠀⠐⠻⠛⠁⠀⠁⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣀ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡀⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣾⣾⣿⣿⣿⠉⠉⠉⢹⣭⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠋⠉⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠸⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠀⠀⠀⡥⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢀⣤⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿ ⠈⠁⠀⢙⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡆⠀⣀⡈⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠾⠿⢿⡿⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠸⠋⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⢡⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢳⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⣷⢹⢿⡿⠿⣻⠟⠙⠛⡚⠻⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠐⠂⠀⠃⠀⠀⠛⠛⠿⠿⠥⠤⡤⢤⠴⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⣠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠁ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢻⣿⣯⠀⠀⠠⡪⠄⢀⣤⣶⣶⣶⣶⣤⣶⣦⣷⣤⣤⣦⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣥⣤⣤⣬⢡⣬⢤⣔⣲⣾⣴⣦⣴⣶⣦⣓⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠿⢿⠿⢥⣄⠀⠛⠉⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⡿⠄⠀⠃⢀⣴⡿⠟⣱⣿⡿⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠉⠁⠀⠈⠁⠀⠉⠉⠁⡸⣿⣷⣾⣿⣏⠉⠉⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⢛⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠚⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠤⠊⠀⠀⠀⢰⡿⠛⣠⣾⣿⠟⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠘⠉⠛⢿⣿⣷⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⣈⢿⣿⣿⣌⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣆⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣊⡁⠀⠀⣀⣀⣠⣋⣠⣾⣿⣿⣁⣀⣠⣶⣖⣠⣤⣄⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣂⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣨⣿⣿⣿⣦⣀⣀⣤⣶⣟⣋⣁⣀⣹⣿⣿⣧⣘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⠿⢂⠀⠀⠀⣻⣿⣻⠿⠿⠿⠷⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠾⠿⠿⠿⠛⠻⠿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⢉⣉⠉⠉⠙⠛⠙⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠛⠉⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 174 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/irc-log-211221/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2021/12/22/irc-log-211221/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.22.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Tuesday,_December_21,_2021⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:56 am by Needs Sunlight Also available via the Gemini protocol at: * 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Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmfL4kPLDVa6CGiB1yXozobGCQ5fTPahv8T7hPstsxvkie ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 301 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2021/12/22/restrictive-vessels/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2021/12/22/restrictive-vessels/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.22.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ The_Car_Drives_You_—_Part_II_—_Turning_Computers_and_Cars_Into_Restrictive ‘Consoles’_With_DRM⠀✐ Posted in DRM at 8:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Part 2 of at least 5 in total, belatedly encouraging a much-needed debate 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇Analogue speed display⦈ Odometers are nowadays being remotely updated by some unscrupulous (self- serving) vendor, so what works today might not work tomorrow (or might work differently against the will of drivers and passengers) Summary: There are overlapping issues in the fight for control over one’s own computing and the battle to merely maintain control over one’s own car (which one paid for); in this series we discuss aspects and developments that are typically overlooked or remain largely unspoken about Nn Part_I we looked at what has generally been happening to cars (newly-sold ones) over the past 10-20 years. Computers inside cars aren’t an entirely new thing, but that used to be limited to entertainment systems. As for microcontrollers of all sorts, those too go way back. But what’s creeping into more and more cars these days isn’t just electricity for air conditioning, wipers, and lights. It’s going a lot further than this. What’s more, all this technology is being leveraged to milk car “owners” (if they can still be called that) or alleged “drivers” (who lack control over more and more aspects of “their” cars). Today we’ll try to focus on economic aspects for the most part; sure, financial means are becoming more meager, cars are priced higher than ever (even if inflation-adjusted), and price/money isn’t the most important thing. In later parts we’ll focus on more philosophical and technical aspects, quite likely while name-dropping the F-word (“Freedom”) every now and then in the context of software freedom. “…all this technology is being leveraged to milk car “owners” (if they can still be called that) or alleged “drivers” (who lack control over more and more aspects of “their” cars).”As Ryan put it this past weekend: “Maybe quote me on the parody of where all of these “subscriptions” could go. My aunt always got a new Chevy every 2 years, and it was because the old one was malfunctioning. Then she’d brag about always having a new car. One of them, a Chevy Nova, started filling up with water every time it rained, and they were waiting for the car to turn 2 so they would have paid off enough of the loan to trade it in for another car. They had it in for warranty repair like 14 times or something, and finally she asked the service guy “You’re never going to fix this, are you?” and he replied, “I’m not allowed to tell you that.” So they waited for a day where it wasn’t raining and drove up to the sales department and traded it in. When mom gave the Impala, it was flooding because the holes in the bottom of the door panel were plugged up with leaves and dirt and shit. So I drove it down to a car wash and pumped the water out using the vacuum. [...] I think I probably pumped out like 30 gallons or so. It was awful. Major thunderstorm the night before.” That’s just an anecdote, but note how car mechanics aren’t allowed to say much (or anything). They’re subjected to Orwellian contracts. This is what cars are turning into and what mechanics too have become. You cannot repair your cars, you’re barely allowed to even attempt that, and those who are authorised to fix things work in a secretive fashion under the thumb of manufacturers. I’ve been driving since the 1990s (as a teenager) and I was already upset enough about electric windows, seeing how frequently something would go wrong with them. And yes, they are a repair nightmare, both in terms of feasibility and in terms of cost. They’re not simple to fix, especially on one’s own. Back then we had no “apps” and GPS and stuff inside cars; the level of interaction between bits of the cars was very limited, so fewer things could go wrong, including remote updates (“get the latest version, press “OK” to agree to new terms and hope nothing gets bricked”). “I’ve been driving since the 1990s (as a teenager) and I was already upset enough about electric windows, seeing how frequently something would go wrong with them.”Nowadays, in 2021 (almost 2022), the sorts of things they put on sale all come with such nasty stuff included; they even presume everyone carries around tracking devices (so-called ‘phones’) and wants to get all the latest, useless gimmicks (you cannot opt out; it’s part of the car as a “standard” “feature”). As Ryan put it: “What concerns me is the selective disabling of features and the fact that a lot of the diagnostic troubleshooting codes can only now be accessed with dealership computers when previously the codes were all standard. This is obviously something they do to make their dealers happy. When you can only have the car worked on by a shop that charges three hundred percent more for labor. I’m a lot happier with an old piece of junk that runs than I would be with one of these modern cars. Even with lots of repairs, the modern cars cost 3.5-4x as much on average to make payments to banks and insurance companies. And they start depreciating immediately. By the time it’s 2 years old, nobody wants to give you half of what you paid for it, and that’s even if you managed to avoid any major damage. The great thing about an old car is they’re pre-dented and pre-scratched. Some lady that didn’t speak any English parked next to me and the wind caught her door a couple of days ago. WHACK! Right into the side of my car, and it scuffed some plastic trim a little, but I didn’t care. The car’s 20 years old. The body already has scratches and dents and a mismatched front bumper and a bit of rust. You get a new car and you end up parking it out in the middle of nowhere, right, and then some asshole driving an old jalopy parks out in the middle of nowhere next to you and hits your car anyway. And then you’re really pissed because you JUST SIGNED THE PAPERWORK and you owe $60,000 of your life to this finance bank. You were hoping people would see you in a nice new car and say “Hey, he’s doing okay!” and then when it was time, you’d sell it and get one of your testicles back.” Pardon the colourful language. “I’ve had some really horrible cars,” Ryan added. “The worst one was a 1995 Chevy Corsica, and a 1995 Ford Taurus wasn’t far behind that. But the problem was that the original owners just didn’t take good care of them. People buy a new car and then they don’t even bother to do the most basic upkeep and it goes straight to hell.” In the posts that we published some days ago we used the example of what Toyota had been doing. As Ryan put it, “what Toyota is doing ensures that the car essentially will have no resale value at all, and that’s just stunning.” MinceR said, “better get a Toyota from before 2018… though I wonder if the Land Cruiser J70s they’re still making have any of this cellular backdoor bullshit in them; it’s supposed to be an old design, after all, not very luxurious.” “I don’t really care about luxury,” Ryan said, “I care about getting places.” “…one can only imagine what level of spying will come next (or tugged along with the next system update for the car).”“Because the Japanese brands were like the last holdouts,” Ryan continued, “which actually cared about producing stuff that held up, and they would advertise that most of the stuff they built was on the road 20 or 30 years later with half a million miles on it.” MinceR said: “Remote Start might still be a luxury feature and to some extent, so’s any other feature they’d implement with that cellular connectivity.” “The Toyota debacle means that it’ll be necessary to figure out how to “hack the car” somehow to obey a radio command from a keyfob,” Ryan said. “This is beyond ridiculous, and then as soon as there’s a recall out and you take it to the dealer, they’ll probably update the computer so your key doesn’t work again. This is now called a “security update”. You have no control. If you have control of your property, it’s a “security hole”. So unless you can avoid the dealership forever after you figure out how to “hack the car”, assuming that’s even possible, you have to subscribe to a radio key for a remote starter that’s already there. I think we need to reiterate the remote starter thing, because it sounds dumb, but if people accept it, what’s next? You have to subscribe for $5 a month or your FM radio doesn’t work? I think $7 a month or else your heated seats don’t work is totally reasonable. You wouldn’t want your butt getting cold when it’s -10F outside. What about air conditioning? We could do basic and premium air conditioning. If you want to set it below 78 degrees, you need a $6 a month premium air conditioning subscription. You own the car after all. Those $850 a month “basic Toyota” payments testify to that. Toyota Air Conditioning Home Basic Starter Edition. Brought to you by Microsoft. There’s a parody article in this somewhere. This all makes manufacturing very simple. All of the cars that go out have exactly the same features. And you have to pay to access the ones you want. It’s probably cheaper for Toyota to use these “anytime upgrades” to segment the market rather than guess wrong about supply and demand for each possible feature combination and have remaining inventory that needs marked down. Then in return for helping them optimize their supply chain, you get to pay through the nose to turn on all of the things you could have just bought forever previously. It’s exactly like Windows, except it’s actual hardware that costs Toyota money to put in and then to disable. Intel started downmarket by selling physically defective processors cheaper after burning out the cache memory that didn’t work properly. (the Celeron) Now they’re getting such reliable yields that to make a downmarket processor, they need to do it intentionally. But they’re still getting better at the yields, so eventually there will only be a few actual physical models, but they all selectively disable features and then you have to pay more money to make those features work. I bought a Toyota, but it’s driving me nuts! “What’s wrong with it?” Oh, my free trial of Cruise Control ran out and now I have to keep my foot on the pedal!” On the privacy aspects he noted: “I noticed something about the way mom and dad both drive. They speed up towards stop lights and then jam on the brakes. No wonder they don’t want to plug in a device that bills them based on how safely they’re driving. Not a physics major….” With these_sorts_of_things_considered_legal, one can only imagine what level of spying will come next (or tugged along with the next system update for the car). In the next part we’ll focus a bit on DRM-like aspects and then look at the number of small and large computers which come included in today’s cars. It’s more than an order of magnitude higher than most people care to realise. █ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣤⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣤⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣴⣾⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣯⣤⣭⣍⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣦⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⠛⣉⣹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡏⠉⠉⠙⠛⠿⢿⣿⣿⣶⡿⠻⣿⣷⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣰⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠛⠻⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣀⣄⣈⣻⣿⣾⣿⣭⣿⢿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣈⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣤⣤⣤⣤⣀⣠⣬⣿⣿⣿⣿⣯⣅⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠹⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⡿⣿⣷⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢈⣽⣿⣿⡿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠋⠹⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣾⢿⣽⡻⠛⠀⠀⠀⠈⠙⠛⠙⠛⠛⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠛⠛⠻⢿⡿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠋⣉⣿⠀⠀⠀ ⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣰⡿⠳⣶⠍⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠛⠻⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠒⠟⢋⣀⣣⠀⠀ ⡻⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣼⡿⡻⠷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠙⠛⠻⠿⠟⠉⠀⠀⣀⣘⣟⣋⣀⣢⠀ ⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠁⠒⢶⣶⣶⣶⣦⣼⣿⣽⣟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣤⣤⣶⣆⣀⣿⡇⣀⠶⠀⢀⣠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠙⠻⠟⢋⣁⣀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠺⢾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣿⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣤⣤⣬⣭⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣿⣯⣤⡤⠆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠛⠉⢀ ⣶⣤⣤⣤⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢈⣩⡛⠛⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣾⣯⣭⣿⣿⣛⡿⠛⠀⠀⣤⡴⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠛⠛⠉ ⠛⢿⣿⠿⢁⣤⡄⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣿⣧⣭⠁⠀⠙⠋⠛⠛⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣠⣴⣿⣶⣶⣶⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠙⠛⠛⠻⠿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣀⣀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠙⠿⠛ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠁⠀⠀⢀⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣾⣿⣤⡅⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠈⠙⠙⠛⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠄⣀⣀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉⠋⠁⠉⠉⣻⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣦⣤⣤⣍⣉⣛⣓⠲⠶ ⠀⠀⠬⣽⣿⣿⣿⠆⠀⠀⣀⣀⠀⠀⠒⠒⢲⣿⣧⣤⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠛⣓⣶⣷⣶⣶⣶⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⠀⠀⠀⠙⠿⠿⠟⠀⠀⢀⣸⡟⠀⠀⠀⠀⣾⣿⣤⡅⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣦⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠙⠛⠛⠿⠟⠉⠙⣛⠿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠯⣤ ⠀⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⡄⢤⡄⣀⣸⡏⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣧⣤⠄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⢤⣤⣀⣀⣀⠀⢀⡀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠙⠛⠛⠿⠿⠿⠥⣄⣀ ⠈⠙⠿⣿⣿⣿⠁⠬⣧⣟⣿⡿⠠⣤⣤⣴⣿⣧⣤⠄⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠀⠀⠀⠁⠀⠒⠂⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣶⡤⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠐⠲⠦⢤⣤⣀⣀⣀⡈ ⣀⡀⠀⢀⡈⠁⠀⣴⣿⣥⣼⣁⣙⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉⠙⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠀⠤⢤⣀⣀⠀⠉⠻⣿ ⣀⣸⣿⣿⣿⠆⠀⠋⠃⠉⠛⠛⠻⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⣤⠀⣀⣀⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠲⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠰⠤⢤⣄⣀⡀⠈⠉⠉⠙⠛ ⠀⠉⠛⠛⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⣿⣯⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠐⠛⠻⠿⠶⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⠀⠈⠉⠙⠛⠛⠲⠾ ⢦⣦⣶⣤⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠉⠉⠙⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠐⠒⠒⠢⠤⢴ ⠺⣿⣿⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⡶⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⣌⣠⣤⣶⣦⣴⣶⣴⣶⣶⣤⣤⣤⣄⣀⣀⣀⠀⢀⣀⡀⠀⠀⠉⠀⠒⠢⠤⠤⢤⣤⣤ ⠀⢀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⠴⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠁⠀⠀⠈⠙⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠛⠻⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣷⣶⣦⣤⣤⣄⣀⣀⣠⣈ ⣹⣿⠿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿⣷⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣀⣈⡉⠙ ⠛⠛⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠋⠛⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⣁⠀⢀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠙⠛⠻⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣥⣭⣝⡛⠃ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠛⠛⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠉⠉⠙⢛⡻⢿⢿⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠻⣿⣿⠿⢿⣿⣿⠟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢉⠛⠿⢶⡏⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠂⠀⠀⠀⠹⣿⡄⠀⠉⠤⣤⣤⣀⣀⣀⠀⠺⠟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣙⠻⠿⣶⡟⠀⠀ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 541 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.22.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_22/12/2021:_Pi_in_Short_Supply,_Alpha_20_of_7_Days_to_Die⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 8:20 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ The_2021_Tuxies_|_LINUX_Unplugged_437⠀⇛ It’s the second annual Unplugged Tuxies; our community votes on the best projects, distros, desktops, and services of 2021. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ IO_uring_Network_Zero-Copy_Transmit_Continues_Looking_Great For_Linux_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Sent out last month were an early set of patches working on IO_uring zero-copy send support for the networking subsystem. This work to boost the throughput potential has evolved now into a second revision of the patches and continues looking very promising. This work by Pavel Begunkov is for wiring up zero- copy send support with IO_uring, initially for IPv4/UDP while TCP support is also in the works. The v2 patches out today are still being treated as “request for comments”, but the performance numbers and overall direction appear to be in good standing. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Create_your_own_animations_with_this_open_source_motion graphics_tool⠀⇛ That’s why animation is (relatively) easy with Synfig Studio. As the animator, you only have to account for an element at the start and at the end of its movement. Synfig calculates everything else. Synfig is a useful tool for solo animators who don’t have a team of assistants to handle their inbetween frames, for users who don’t consider themselves illustrators but still need movement in a graphic for a movie or presentation, and users who are confident in their illustration skills but want to focus on animation technique. I once worked on splash screens and motion backgrounds, which are those graphic sequences you see in TV spots and news programs, and I often surprised myself at how quickly they came together in Synfig. I’d create a few graphics, get the color scheme right, set two key frames, and the job’s done. It really is as easy as that. Give it a try. # ⚓ Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Alternatives_to_Autodesk ShotGrid⠀⇛ Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software company that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. It bills itself as a “… leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software”. The company was founded in 1982 by John Walker, who was a joint developer of the first versions of AutoCAD, the company’s best known software application. Autodesk is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, it has over 11,000 employees, and is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. While Autodesk develops many high quality applications they are proprietary software. And the vast majority of their products are not available for Linux. This series looks at the best free and open source alternatives. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ Some_usage_notes_for_the_Linux_ss_program⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_To_Install_Rudder_on_Ubuntu_20.04_LTS_–_idroot⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Rudder on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, The rudder is a free, open-source, and multi-platform tool that helps you to automate system configuration across large IT infrastructures. It helps you to manage your IT infrastructure by automating system configurations while ensuring visibility and control of your infrastructure. Rudder offers an outstanding web- based GUI that can help ease the burden on your IT staff a bit. This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Rudder system configuration and auditing tool on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint. # ⚓ Kubernetes-in-Kubernetes_and_the_WEDOS_PXE_bootable_server farm⠀⇛ When you own two data centers, thousands of physical servers, virtual machines and hosting for hundreds of thousands sites, Kubernetes can actually simplify the management of all these things. As practice has shown, by using Kubernetes, you can declaratively describe and manage not only applications, but also the infrastructure itself. I work for the largest Czech hosting provider WEDOS Internet a.s and today I’ll show you two of my projects — Kubernetes-in-Kubernetes and Kubefarm. With their help you can deploy a fully working Kubernetes cluster inside another Kubernetes using Helm in just a couple of commands. How and why? Let me introduce you to how our infrastructure works. All our physical servers can be divided into two groups: control-plane and compute nodes. Control plane nodes are usually set up manually, have a stable OS installed, and designed to run all cluster services including Kubernetes control- plane. The main task of these nodes is to ensure the smooth operation of the cluster itself. Compute nodes do not have any operating system installed by default, instead they are booting the OS image over the network directly from the control plane nodes. Their work is to carry out the workload. # ⚓ How_to_install_Suricata_on_Debian_11_–_Unixcop_the_Unix_/ Linux_the_admins_deams⠀⇛ Suricata is a high-performance network IDS (Intrusion Detection System), IPS, and network security engine, developed by the OISF, this is an open-source application, so we will not have too many problems using it in our system. Suricata works internally based on a set of externally developed rules to monitor network traffic and provide alerts to the system administrator when suspicious events occur. So, Suricata is a great tool to protect our servers, and today you will learn how to use it. # ⚓ Windows_games_on_Linux:_How_to_start_games_from_the_Epic Games_Store_–_Market_Research_Telecast⠀⇛ You don’t look in the mouth of a given horse: Epic Games’ strategy of expanding its user base with free games is having an effect even on many die- hard Linux gamers. A good 150 games have already gathered in this way in the author’s Epic Games account. In many cases, the collected games can also be played under Linux with the help of Wine, but a Linux version of the Epic Games Launcher is not in sight. Open source tools such as Heroic Games Launcher, Legendary or Lutris fill the gap. With the help of the compatibility layer Wine (or its Fork Proton), the tools pretend Windows games to have a suitable operating system environment. Lutris brings many different platforms from GOG to Steam to retro emulators under one roof, but it is quite complex). Heroic Games Launcher and the underlying command line tool Legendary, on the other hand, have specialized in making Epic Games’ games run across platforms – on Linux, macOS and Windows. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Remi_Repo_in_RHEL,_CentOS,_Rocky,_& AlmaLinux⠀⇛ RHEL Linux, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux, and CentOS systems are all familiar with the YUM package manager, which is used to easily search, download, install, and delete various targeted software packages. Also, we need the YUM package manager for frequent system updates that lead to recent and better OS versions. # ⚓ How_to_Download_&_Install_Pop!_OS_21.10_from_USB_Boot_Drive –_LinuxCapable⠀⇛ Pop!_OS 21.10 was released and saw the introduction of GNOME 40, Linux kernel 5.15. This Pop!_OS release also introduces a New App Library, and a more excellent search window replaced the full- screen app menu and all the regular updates seen in Ubuntu 21.10 short-term release. In the following tutorial, you will learn to install Pop!_OS 21.10 on a fresh PC using a USB Bootable Disk. # ⚓ [Updated]_30_Useful_Linux_Commands_for_System Administrators⠀⇛ In this article we are going to review some of the useful and frequently used Linux or Unix commands for Linux System Administrators that are used in their daily life. This is not complete but it’s a compact list of commands to refer to when needed. Let us start one by one how we can use those commands with examples. # ⚓ How_to_Install_MariaDB_10.6_on_CentOS_8_Stream_– LinuxCapable⠀⇛ MariaDB is one of the most popular open-source databases next to its originator MySQL. The original creators of MySQL developed MariaDB in response to fears that MySQL would suddenly become a paid service due to Oracle acquiring it in 2010. With its history of doing similar tactics, the developers behind MariaDB have promised to keep it open source and free from such fears as what has happened to MySQL. MariaDB has become just as popular as MySQL with developers, with advanced clustering with Galera Cluster 4, faster cache/indexes, storage engines, and features/extensions that you won’t find in MySQL. In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install MariaDB 10.6 on CentOS 8 Stream. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Alpha_20_goes_live_for_survival_game_7_Days_to_Die_| GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ The Fun Pimps have promoted Alpha 20 of 7 Days to Die to the stable release builds making in the new official update and it’s a big one again. Players are clearly enjoying it, with it still remaining at a higher player count than it had been seeing months prior to the experimental version. o § Distributions⠀➾ # ⚓ Top_7_Best_Rolling_Release_Linux_Distributions⠀⇛ There are so many Linux distributions that can be divided into different categories based on their characteristics, features, intended user base and more. In this article, I’ll list some of the best rolling release Linux distributions. Do you know what is a rolling release distro? These distros do not wait for six months or more to release a new version with newer versions of Linux kernel, desktop environment and other major software components. They update these components soon after they are released. You don’t have to upgrade your distribution from one major version to the next because your distribution keeps getting the upgrades on a regular basis. # § BSD⠀➾ # ⚓ What_Is_DragonFly_BSD?_The_Advanced_BSD_Variant Explained⠀⇛ DragonFly BSD is one of the best BSD-based operating systems with a prime focus on stability and robustness. When you hear the term BSD, you might think of FreeBSD, NetBSD, or OpenBSD, but there’s another BSD variant that seems to get less attention—DragonFly BSD. What is this newest variant of BSD, and is it for you? Read on to find out. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ Raspberry_Pi_computers_are_speeding_to_the International_Space_Station⠀⇛ # ⚓ Pi_in_Short_Supply:_Site_Claims_52-Week_Wait_for_4GB Model⠀⇛ If you’re looking for a Raspberry Pi, particularly a Pi 4 with 4GB, you may have to look harder than usual or prepare to wait. Due to the supply chain issues we’ve seen Various global reseller listings show that models of the Raspberry Pi 4 are going out of stock, and one site, Digi-Key, claims to have a 52-week “lead” time until it comes back in. # ⚓ Upgrading_a_motherboard’s_BIOS/UEFI_(the_hard_way)⠀⇛ So here’s where the fun began. I needed to flash the new BIOS version onto the motherboard. I have a CH341A mini programmer that also came with a clip that can be used to hook up directly to 8-pin SOIC chips on circuit boards. You can find these all over Amazon and eBay for pretty cheap. I don’t want to link to them because the links will change over time, but you can search for CH341A programmer and find them. You do have to be careful with them, because at least some of them, including the one I got, have a major design flaw. They correctly power the SPI flash chip with 3.3V, but they provide 5V on the signal wires going to the chip. That would be bad, because typically 3.3V flash chips don’t want to see 5V on any of their pins, not to mention all of the other connected components on the motherboard. A lot of people have had success with these programmers even with the 5V issue, but I wouldn’t trust putting 5V on a pin that’s supposed to have a lower voltage. There is a simple hack you can perform on the board to fix this, which I already did a while ago. You can see my hack wire in the picture below. # ⚓ 20-Year-Old_Apple_Power_Mac_G4_Gets_M.2_SSD_Upgrade, Despite_133_MBps_PCI_Bus⠀⇛ Just plugging things in is not enough to make PCIe hardware work with a Power Mac G4. That system for obvious reasons does not support the NVMe protocol used by modern speedy SSDs. But it appears to support the AHCI protocol used by modern hard drives, some PCIe SSDs, and all SATA SSDs. The Power Mac G4 shipped with SCSI or Parallel ATA HDDs, and it looks like Apple used PATA controllers that support AHCI, but we are speculating here. This AHCI support enables the use of PCIe SSDs that use this protocol, such as Samsung’s SM951. # ⚓ A_Label_Maker_That_Uses_AI_Really_Poorly_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ [8BitsAndAByte] found herself obsessively labeling items around her house, and, like the rest of the world, wanted to see what simple, routine tasks could be made unnecessarily complicated by using AI. Instead of manually identifying objects using human intelligence, she thought it would be fun to offload that task to our AI overlords and the results are pretty amusing. She constructed a cardboard enclosure that housed a Raspberry Pi 3B+, a Pi Camera Module V2, and a small thermal printer for making the labels. The enclosure included a hole for the camera and a button for taking the picture. The image taken by the Pi is analyzed by the DeepAI DenseCap API which, in theory, should create a label for each object detected within the image. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to do that very well and [8BitsAndAByte] is left with labels that don’t match any of the objects she took pictures of. In some cases it didn’t even get close, for example, the model thought an apple was a person’s head and a rotary dial phone was a cup. Go figure. It didn’t really seem to bother her though, and she got a pretty good laugh from the whole thing. # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_speed_up_Chrome_on_Android_|_Tom’s_Guide⠀⇛ # ⚓ Samsung_Galaxy_A72,_A52,_A52_5G,_A52s_5G_reportedly set_for_imminent_Android_12_release_–_NotebookCheck.net News⠀⇛ # ⚓ Vivo_Android_12_(Funtouch_OS_12/OriginOS/iQOO_UI_3.0) update_tracker⠀⇛ # ⚓ Vivaldi,_the_first_browser_for_Android_Automotive_OS, debuts_on_Polestar_2_|_Technology_News,The_Indian Express⠀⇛ # ⚓ Polestar_2_gets_a_browser_as_Vivaldi_comes_to_Android Automotive_OS_–_SlashGear⠀⇛ # ⚓ 12_Android_tips_you_shouldn’t_miss_from_2021_| Computerworld⠀⇛ # ⚓ FLauncher_Android_TV_Launcher_Built_On_Flutter Framework_Now_Available⠀⇛ # ⚓ You_really_need_to_clear_the_cookies,_cache_on_your Android_phone’s_browser_–_CNET⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android’s_future:_11_predictions_for_2022_– TechRepublic⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_set_and_change_default_web_browser_on_Android –_Phandroid⠀⇛ # ⚓ Lenovo_Tab_P12_Pro_is_ready_for_Android_12L_beta_in the_US_–_SlashGear⠀⇛ # ⚓ Oppo_Android_12_(ColorOS_12)_update_tracker:_Eligible devices,_release…⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # ⚓ [Old] DigitalOcean_Donates_$25,000_to_BigBlueButton_Inc.⠀⇛ At BigBlueButton, an open source virtual classroom platform supported by Blindside Networks, the pandemic meant a massive increase in usage of BigBlueButton in just a few weeks. Following a two week sprint in 2020, Blindside Networks spun up over 1,000 servers on DigitalOcean, which has led to over half a billion minutes of online classes being hosted on DigitalOcean. We are excited to share that today, DigitalOcean has furthered their support of BigBlueButton by donating $25,000 to BigBlueButton Inc., which will use the donation to promote awareness and advocacy, foster and recognize research, introduce contribution awards, and support more collaboration amongst the BigBlueButton community, all benefiting teachers world-wide. BigBlueButton started at Carleton University in 2007 with one goal: to provide the most teacher- centric virtual classroom in the world. As an open source project, it enabled anyone in the world to run on their own servers. For years, Blindside Networks, the main developer of BigBlueButton, was hosting it for many large and small schools all over the world using physical servers. # § FSF⠀➾ # § Licensing/Legal⠀➾ # ⚓ TikTok’s_PC_streaming_app_accused_of_violating an_open_source_license⠀⇛ # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ [Old] Lossless_Image_Compression_in_O(n)_Time⠀⇛ Introducing QOI — the Quite OK Image Format. It losslessly compresses RGB and RGBA images to a similar size of PNG, while offering a 20x-50x speedup in compression and 3x-4x speedup in decompression. All single- threaded, no SIMD. It’s also stupidly simple. tl;dr: 300 lines of C, single header, source on github, benchmark results here. # ⚓ Coding⠀⇛ This post is part of a series, starting at Reflections on a decade of coding. This is going to be much more vague than the other parts of the series because this is the actual work. Good judgement is learned from experience, not from blog posts. So I think the most useful thing I can convey is what kinds of things I think about when coding, rather than what answers I come up with. I’m also trying to focus on things that were non-obvious to me or that run counter to what I was taught. # § Raku⠀➾ # ⚓ Raku_Advent_Calendar:_Day_22_–_Santa_Claus_is Rakuing_Along⠀⇛ # § Java⠀➾ # ⚓ AMD_slips_by_as_Log4Shell_exploit_affects_other top_tech_giants,_such_as_Intel,_Microsoft,_and NVIDIA⠀⇛ Four days ago, the Log4Shell Java exploit was unearthed, allowing hackers to take control of exposed web-facing servers by sending and activating a malicious string of text, affecting tech giants such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Intel. This exploit is located in the open-source Apache Log4j library that logs events and errors inside Java-based applications. # ⚓ How_to_check_if_your_Linux_servers_are vulnerable_to_the_Log4j_flaw_with_a_single command_–_TechRepublic⠀⇛ Jack Wallen shows you a quick way to test if your Linux servers are vulnerable to the Log4j vulnerability. o § Standards/Consortia⠀➾ # ⚓ A_challenger_to_the_throne_of_vector_graphics._SVG_is_dead, long_live_TinyVG!⠀⇛ What we really need is a format like PNG for vector graphics. Compact, versatile and simple to implement. What most of us don’t need are vector graphic animations or vector graphic applications. What we definitly don’t need is a vector graphic format that can do raw sockets. After the reasearch I did to implement SVG in Zig, I was disappointed and angry that stuff like vector graphics is so complex and in my stubbornness I decided: [...] # ⚓ The_QOI_File_Format_Specification⠀⇛ QOI will not compress images as well as an optimized PNG encoder and that’s OK. We already have image formats that out-compress PNG anyway. QOI’s virtue is in its simplicity. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Busking_in_the_Metaverse⠀⇛ Those writing the strange history of this pandemic might come to consider August, 2021 as the brief renaissance period, the early stages of the Delta variant, when it was possible to say something like, “I had a great tour of Denmark.”  But now even Denmark’s viral coping mechanisms are no match for the new variant, and they’re shutting down theaters and cinemas, too. As prospects for concert tours in early 2022 are looking pretty bleak, you can bet I’m not the only musician thinking about how to get the best sound quality out of a Quest 2 headset.  I’m behind the curve as usual, and have no such headset, but what’s cooking here is fairly easy to smell.  A month ago I was all ready to quit doing gigs on the internet altogether — sick of it, like so many others.  But that was a long time ago.  Now there’s Omicron.  And along with it, the metaverse. o ⚓ Remembering_the_Clarion_Call_of_bell_hooks⠀⇛ I was always unsure how to greet her, the radiantly brilliant scholar named Gloria Watkins who wrote worlds into being as bell hooks. She was a neighbor of mine in the 1990s; we lived within blocks of each other in Greenwich Village. I did not know her well, but our paths crossed with some regularity because we wrote on overlapping topics—race, gender, class. She was the eminence whose first book—Ain’t I a Woman?, written while still an undergraduate—had revolutionized second-wave feminism. She forced an epistemic rethinking of intersectionality, encapsulated well by the title of the landmark 1982 anthology All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave.   o ⚓ bell_hooks_Will_Never_Leave_Us,_She_Lives_on_Through_the_Truth_of Her Words⠀⇛ My Nana, who was probably frustrated by my endless complaints about being bored, stuck a copy of “Ain’t I A Woman” in my hand and told me just to “shut up and read.” I remember that summer because after I read that book, all we talked about was bell hooks and who she was and who I wanted to be. I said then that I wanted to be a writer, like bell hooks, and change the world with my words. I took her words with me when I went off to college, and by then, I had my own dog-eared copies of some of her books. I went to her work whenever I needed to be reminded of my strength. The world felt much safer when bell hooks and Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou were on the front line, carving out a path to freedom and modeling what a Black woman’s resistance to a system hellbent on trying to make them small looked like. bell hooks’ words went with me everywhere, even while they kept taking me back to myself. o ⚓ bell_hooks,_We_Will_Always_Rage_On_With_You⠀⇛ o ⚓ OnlyFans_founder_is_making_way_for_firm’s_marketing_chief⠀⇛ Amrapali Gan is currently marketing head at OnlyFans, which is known for hosting adult content, and has seen a spike in use during the pandemic. In a social media post Tim Stokely, who founded the company in 2016, said he was stepping down “to pursue new endeavours”. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ Progress_On_DNA_Storage⠀⇛ Now, Scaling DNA data storage with nanoscale electrode wells by Bichlien H. Nguyen et al shows that the collaboration between Microsoft and U. Washington has made significant progress toward this goal. Their abstract reads: [...] # ⚓ Plastics:_Photopolymers_For_3D_Printing_And_Beyond_| Hackaday⠀⇛ Chances are good that if you’ve done any 3D printing, it was of the standard fused deposition modeling variety. FDM is pretty simple stuff — get a bit of plastic filament hot enough, squeeze the molten goo out of a fine nozzle, control the position of the nozzle more or less precisely in three dimensions, and repeat for hours on end until your print is done. To the outsider it looks like magic, but to us it’s just another Saturday afternoon. Resin printing is another thing altogether, and a lot closer to magic for most of us. The current crop of stereolithography printers just have a high-resolution LCD display between a UV light source and a build tank with a transparent bottom. Prints are built up layer by layer by flashing UV light patterns into the tank as a build plate slowly lifts it up from the resin, like some creature emerging from the primordial goo. Of course it’s all just science, but if there is any magic in SLA printing, surely it’s in the resins used for it. Their nondescript brown plastic bottles and information-poor labels give little clue as to their ingredients, although their hydrocarbon reek and viscous, sticky texture are pretty good clues. Let’s take a look inside the resin bottle and find out what it is that makes the magic of SLA happen. # ⚓ Ground_Effect_Aerodynamics_On_An_RC_Car_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ Ground effect aerodynamics will return to Formula 1 in a big way in the 2022 season, hopefully washing away the bad taste left in fan’s mouths after the recent controversial season decider. [Engineering After Hours] has experimented with F1 aerodynamics on RC cars before, and decided that it was time to try and implement a proper ground-effect design himself. The aim of ground effect aerodynamics is to create a constriction for airflow between the bottom of the car and the ground underneath. This constriction accelerates the flow beneath the car, and as per Bernoulli’s principle, causes a corresponding pressure drop, sucking the car down onto the track. Viscosity also plays a role; from the car’s perspective, the road beneath the vehicle is moving backwards at some speed, pulling on the fluid thanks to the boundary layer on the ground itself. This further helps increase the strength of the effect. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ International_schools_following_the_Finnish_education_model get_an_audit_model_of_their_own⠀⇛ These schools operating in international environments follow locally tailored and approved curricula that are based on the Finnish National core curriculum (2014). These schools following the Finnish education model differ in many respects from Finnish schools operating abroad. FINEEC has now developed an audit model for auditing international schools following the Finnish education model. The audits verify that the principles related to these schools’ operation and organisation of education really are in line with the Finnish school characteristics. After having passed the audit, the school receives a quality label that will be valid for four years. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Bubble_Lights_Made_From_Scratch_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ Bubble lights are mesmerizing things to watch, up there with lava lamps as one of the nicer aesthetic creations of the mid-20th century. [Tech Ingredients] decided to head into the lab to whip up some of their own design, taking things up a notch beyond what you’d typically find in a store. Bubble lights have a liquid inside glass that is held under a vacuum. This reduces the boiling point of the fluid, allowing a small heat input to easily create bubbles that float to the top of the chamber inside. The fluid used inside is also chosen for its low boiling point, with [Tech Ingredients] choosing dichloromethane for safety when using flames to work the glass. # ⚓ Where_The_Rubber_Meets_The_Computer_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ If you ever get a chance to go to Leiden, take it. It is a beautiful little city that hides some high- power university research. It also boasts the world’s first rubber computer. You won’t be running Crysis on it anytime soon, though. The fledgling computer has memory and can count to two — really more of a state machine. It is easier to watch the video below than try to fully explain it. Or you can read through the actual paper. If you watch the video, you’ll see that deformation in the corrugated rubber structure is apparently repeatable and represent bits in the machine. Pressing and releasing pressure on the structure forms both input and clock and it is possible for the material to go from state A to B on compression, but when you release pressure, it reaches state C. The compression and the angle of the pressure allow for different input conditions. One example rubber state machine counts how many times you compress the piece of rubber. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Opinion_|_OSHA’s_Employee_Vaccine-Or-Test_Mandate_Is_Smart Public_Policy⠀⇛ The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for employers to cope with the health dangers posed by COVID-19. The centerpiece of the ETS is a vaccine-or-test mandate for employees working at firms with over 100 employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The mandate is good public policy: it will reduce deaths and hospitalizations, and it will also increase economic growth and reduce the main inflationary pressures facing the U.S. economy. # ⚓ To_End_‘Deafening_Noise_of_War,’_Pope_Says_Nations_Must Fund_Education_Over_Weapons⠀⇛ Pope Francis has released a new peace message in which he rebukes soaring military spending and praises work and activism that uplift the common good. “We ought to esteem and encourage all those young people who work for a more just world.” # ⚓ Forbidden_Parties:_Boris_Johnson’s_Law_on_Illegal_Covid Gatherings⠀⇛ This was what Britain was told by the government of Boris Johnson, a man famed for his rutting proclivities, to behave, huddle and battle SARS- Cov-2, and its disease, COVID-19.  But the manner he, and his officials, have done so have shown the country’s citizenry that Johnson’s Law on Illegal Covid Gatherings is in full swing, a glorious exemption that few can partake in. There was Prime Minister Johnson himself gleefully shaking the hands of infected patients, thereby infecting himself despite telling others not to shake hands.  There was the grasping, emotion starved canoodling of former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, whose amorous (and camera captured) embrace with senior aide Gina Coladangelo jarred with public health orders. # ⚓ Holiday_Omicron_Wave_Could_Mean_Overwhelmed_Health_Systems and_More_Deaths⠀⇛ # ⚓ 2022_Must_Be_the_Year_the_Left_Proactively_Shapes_the_COVID Agenda⠀⇛ # ⚓ This_Scientist_Created_a_Rapid_Test_Just_Weeks_Into_the Pandemic._Here’s_Why_You_Still_Can’t_Get_It.⠀⇛ When COVID-19 started sweeping across America in the spring of 2020, Irene Bosch knew she was in a unique position to help. The Harvard-trained scientist had just developed quick, inexpensive tests for several tropical diseases, and her method could be adapted for the novel coronavirus. So Bosch and the company she had co-founded two years earlier seemed well-suited to address an enormous testing shortage. # ⚓ Biden_Admin_to_Distribute_500_Million_Free_COVID_Tests After_Mocking_Idea⠀⇛ # ⚓ ‘Finally’:_After_Mocking_Idea,_Biden_Administration_to Distribute_500_Million_Free_Covid_Tests⠀⇛ After mocking the idea just two weeks earlier, the Biden White House on Tuesday announced a plan to distribute 500 million free at-home coronavirus tests to households across the U.S. as the administration ramps up its effort to combat the surging Omicron variant, which now accounts for nearly 75% of the nation’s new cases. According to a fact sheet the White House unveiled Tuesday morning, the administration will soon “purchase a half-billion at-home, rapid tests this winter to be distributed for free to Americans who want them, with the initial delivery starting in January 2022.” # ⚓ WHO_Chief:_Holiday_Omicron_Wave_Could_Mean_‘Overwhelmed Health_Systems’_and_‘More_Deaths’⠀⇛ The head of the World Health Organization delivered a stark warning Monday about the state of the coronavirus pandemic as the highly transmissible Omicron strain continued to rip through large swaths of the global population, posing the greatest threat to poor countries that have been denied access to vaccines. “An event canceled is better than a life canceled.” # ⚓ Some_Prisoners_Released_During_Pandemic_Can_Stay_on_Home Confinement,_Says_DOJ⠀⇛ Rights advocates and progressive U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday welcomed an announcement that some federal prisoners released to home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic will not be required to return to prison—a reversal of a controversial Trump administration policy. “We are very grateful to the Biden administration for fixing this mistake.” # ⚓ ‘We_Can_Do_It_Again’:_Citing_Covid-19_Test_Reversal,_AOC Calls_On_Biden_to_#CancelStudentDebt⠀⇛ Amid reports that his administration is considering extending the federal college loan payment moratorium scheduled to expire on February 1, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday added her voice to the growing chorus of calls by progressives for President Joe Biden to cancel student debt. Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) cited the Biden administration’s about-face decision to distribute millions of free at-home Covid-19 testing kits, tweeting that the idea was “initially laughed at, yet now it’s happening.” # ⚓ Not_How_Any_Of_This_Works:_Pandemic’s_Wrongest_Man_Sues Twitter_For_Kicking_Him_Off_The_Platform⠀⇛ For good reasons, Alex Berenson has been dubbed the “pandemic’s wrongest man.” He played up the fact that he once wrote for the NY Times and turned that into a weird, shady attack on pot, before going all in on medical misinformation. In the early days he played down the threat of COVID, and has since become a leading vaccine disinfo spreader. He had built a large Twitter following for his nonsense, and shortly before his Twitter account was finally shut down, he had warned that if it was shut down he would sue Twitter… for defamation. Then, once he was banned, he (in typical grifter fashion) immediately went into fundraising mode even though the extraordinarily wealthy heir of a frozen food fortune promised to fund such a lawsuit. # ⚓ Can_smartphone_usage_by_parents_hinder_child’s_development? Here’s_what_a_study_says⠀⇛ Are you addicted to your smartphone and use it extensively? If yes, then you need to step back, as a new study claims parents’ use of smartphones has the potential to disrupt their children’s development. As per the study, the interaction between mothers and their toddlers is reduced by a factor of four when they use their smartphones extensively, negatively impacting their growth. Published in the Child Development Journal and led by Dr Katy Borodkin of the Department of Communication Disorders at the Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions, Sackler Faculty of Medicine of Tel Aviv University, the research examined 33 Israeli mothers and their 16 toddlers, all boys aged between 24-36 months. # ⚓ Chicago_mandates_vaccine_passports_as_the_vaccine_fails_to slow_the_spread_of_COVID._–_BaronHK’s_Rants⠀⇛ Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) has announced that everyone who wants to go pretty much anywhere but the grocery store and church will need a vaccine passport starting January 3rd. The COVID vaccine campaign has utterly failed to even slow it down. Lying politicians on “both sides of the aisle” have different responses. In Indiana, which is governed by Republicans, they reported 119 COVID deaths today according to worldometer, and in Florida, with 5 times as many people, they reported nearly 13,000 new cases an 0 deaths. Nobody believes Ron DeSantis, but at the same time, I think the Indiana approach is probably for the best. Give people the real facts but let them decide how to mitigate risk, or not. The only thing the Democrats are accomplishing here in Illinois is to make everyone depressed and fat and unable to go anywhere, while killing the businesses that employ people, even though all of the federal unemployment aide is gone thanks to Biden allowing it to expire. o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # ⚓ Authentication_and_Authorisation_Using_Single_Sign-On⠀⇛ In the first blog of this series, we explored multi-factor authentication and a move away from credentials that can be stolen, as motivated by recent attacks. This blog will dive into authorisation and single sign-on to aid in technology selection and deployment considerations. It provides a foundation for the following blog post that introduces emerging standards that have taken into account learnings from the challenges of past protocols, reducing points of vulnerability where possible. # § Proprietary⠀➾ # ⚓ Attackers_have_found_a_way_to_bypass_a_crucial Microsoft_Office_patch_|_TechRadar⠀⇛ Attackers have managed to create a novel exploit capable of bypassing a critical remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Office which was patched earlier this year. According to new research from the cybersecurity firm Sophos, the attackers were able to take a publicly available proof-of- concept Office exploit and weaponize it to deliver the Formbook malware. Back in September, Microsoft released a patch to prevent attackers from executing malicious code embedded in a Word document that downloads a Microsoft Cabinet (CAB) archive containing a malicious executable. By reworking the original exploit and placing the malicious Word document inside a special crafted RAR archive, the attackers created a “CAB-less” form of the exploit capable of successfully evading the original patch. Surprisingly though, this novel exploit was distributed using spam emails for approximately 36 hours before it disappeared completely. Sophos’ researchers believe that the exploit’s limited lifespan could mean that it was a “dry run” experiment that could be used in future attacks. # ⚓ Attackers_find_new_way_to_exploit_Office_hole_patched by_Microsoft⠀⇛ The original exploit affected the Office file format. To take advantage of this flaw, attackers could execute malicious code embedded in a Word document that downloads a Microsoft Cabinet archive, which, in turn, contained a malicious executable. A statement from Sophos said: “Attackers have reworked the original exploit by placing the malicious Word document inside a specially crafted RAR archive. The newer, ‘CAB-less’ form of the exploit successfully evades the original patch. # § Security⠀➾ # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ France_Says_Clearview_Broke_Privacy_Laws, Orders_It_To_Delete_Residents’_Data⠀⇛ Clearview is again on the receiving end of an order demanding it delete all the local data it scraped from thousands of websites and social media platforms. # ⚓ Facebook_Blocks_Seven_Malware_Purveyors, Deletes_Hundreds_Of_Accounts,_Notifies 50,000_Potential_Hacking_Targets⠀⇛ Thanks to the ongoing onslaught of negative press involving malware merchants like Israel’s NSO Group, tech companies whose devices and platforms have been used to deploy exploits targeting journalists, activists, and religious leaders are punching back. You’re a human rights abuser with high-dollar spyware at your disposal? Too bad. Ask for a refund, I guess. # ⚓ Podcast_Episode:_The_Life_of_the_(Crypto) Party⠀⇛ Join EFF’s Cindy Cohn and Danny O’Brien as they talk with Matt, who has worked as a data journalist, a software engineer, a security researcher, a trainer, and a hacker—and learn more about how education, transparency, and building trust can increase privacy and safety for everyone. And best of all, you get to go to a party while you’re doing it. # ⚓ Israeli_spyware_was_used_against_US diplomats_in_Uganda⠀⇛ The advanced spyware Pegasus, created by Israeli firm NSO Group and used by governments like Saudi Arabia to gather intelligence on those it deems terrorists or criminals, has reportedly been detected on at least 11 iPhones used by US officials in Uganda or conducting business related to the country, as well as locals working for the embassy. That news — first reported Friday by Reuters — will likely exacerbate NSO Group’s fraught relationship with the US government; while the company says Pegasus can’t be used on phones with US numbers, the recent hack shows there are loopholes that allow foreign governments to spy on US citizens and government employees. It’s the first known incident of the technology being used against American officials, although it’s not yet known which of NSO Group’s clients hacked the devices. # ⚓ Spy_Tool_Was_Deployed_in_State-Sponsored_ [Crack]_of_Ugandans⠀⇛ Two journalists and one politician said they received alerts warning them of “state- sponsored” attacks on their iPhones. At least one of those attacks was linked to the powerful Israeli cyberespionage tool, Pegasus. # § Confidentiality⠀➾ # ⚓ Disclosing_Shamir’s_Secret_Sharing vulnerabilities_and_announcing ZKDocs⠀⇛ These bugs allow a malicious user of the threshold signature scheme to steal the secret keys of other users or to crash their nodes. Exploiting these vulnerabilities is simple: an attacker just needs to configure a malicious ID at the start of either the key generation protocol or the resharing protocol. # ⚓ Semi-self-hosted_email⠀⇛ To figure out how to handle my email, I needed to have some explicit goals in mind: I want all my email on my own server, under my control, and searchable/ archivable in an easy plain text format, like Maildir or mbox. I would prefer email I send to my friends/colleagues to be routed and stay within my country, rather than being routed to and stored in/via another country (unless they are using GMail or similar). I don’t want to have to work constantly with domain settings and requesting myself removed from spam blacklists, etc. If I use a hosting provider for my email, I’d like to be able to quickly switch to another hosting provider with minimal downtime. I don’t want to be tied to a specific provider. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ “Shut_Down_Those_Tanks”:_Anger_Grows_in_Hawaii_After_U.S. Navy_Fuel_Site_Contaminates_Water⠀⇛ The United States Navy is facing growing calls to permanently shut down one of their fuel storage facilities in Hawaii after a petroleum leak contaminated the water supply that serves over 90,000 families around the naval base of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu. The storage site, called the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, has long been protested by environmental activists in part because of its location just 100 feet above the primary groundwater aquifer for Honolulu and the rest of Oahu. We speak with two Native Hawaiian guests: civil rights lawyer Camille Kalama and Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a former commissioner of the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management. “This is the most critical threat that we’ve ever had to our groundwater resources,” says Beamer. “The Navy assured us and promised our state Water Resource Management Commission that this would never happen, and yet here we are.” # ⚓ Trump_to_Mark_Anniversary_of_Capitol_Attack_With_News Conference_at_Mar-a-Lago⠀⇛ # ⚓ Social_Movements_in_Chile_Fend_Off_Far_Right_Threat_With Gabriel_Boric’s_Victory⠀⇛ # ⚓ Chileans_Elect_Gabriel_Boric_as_New_President,_Reject Ultra-Conservative_Candidate⠀⇛ At stake were prospects for overcoming left-overs from the Pinochet dictatorship that ended in 1990. Policies in place had prompted massive protests in October 2019 and for weeks afterwards. Demonstrators demanded rights for youth, labor, pensioners, and indigenous people. They called for a new Constitution to replace the one imposed by the dictatorship. Under fire, the Pinera government prepared for a Constituent Assembly, which voters authorized in May, 20121. Delegates to that Assembly are at work now presumably removing constitutional protection for Pinochet-era laws and regulations, neo-liberal in nature. With Kast as president, approval of a new constitution and then implementation would likely have been problematic. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Mission_Unaccomplished:_Describing_Failing_US Military_as_‘Awesome’⠀⇛ Professional sports is a cutthroat business. Succeed and the people running the show reap rich rewards. Fail to meet expectations and you get handed your walking papers. American-style war in the twenty-first century is quite a different matter. # ⚓ Jan._6_Committee_Makes_First_Request_for_Testimony_From_a Member_of_Congress⠀⇛ # ⚓ Balhaf:_The_Oil_Port_Where_UAE_Loots_Yemen_and_Imprisons and_Tortures_Yemenis⠀⇛ Al-Shabwani, a resident from Ateq city in Shabwa province who requested that only his nickname be used, told MintPress News that he was detained for months and tortured in a secret prison inside Balhaf. Since 2016, when the UAE first entered Yemen’s most productive oil and gas areas in Shabwa, Abu Dhabi has carved out Balhaf as its personal fiefdom and turned the former gas facility into a military camp and secret prison. “Balhaf should be a lifeline for us in this difficult time, not a military camp and secret prison,” al-Shabwani said. “It’s time to kick the UAE forces and their mercenaries out.” # ⚓ Protecting_the_Nazis:_The_Extraordinary_Vote_of_Ukraine_and the_USA⠀⇛ This is verbatim from the official report of the UN General Assembly plenary of 16 December 2021: # ⚓ In_a_Public_First,_Jan._6_Committee_Requests_Information From_a_Sitting_Member_of_Congress⠀⇛ As Alex Jones filed suit against the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 and indicated his intent to plead his Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate, the committee moved forward with its investigation, asking Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) to provide documents and testimony. Perry is the first known member of Congress to be asked to supply information to the committee. The committee requested testimony from Perry, one of 21 Republicans who voted against a bill to honor Capitol Police officers who responded to the insurrection, in a letter requesting his voluntary cooperation. It has not yet issued a subpoena to Perry. # ⚓ Retired_US_generals_warn_of_2024_election_coup⠀⇛ The three retired generals—Steven Anderson, Paul D. Eaton and Antonio M. Taguba—all veterans of the Iraq war and other US military conflicts around the world, declare that the approaching first anniversary of the January 6 attack on the Capitol should be the occasion for considering what could happen if the outcome of the 2024 presidential election is disputed. # ⚓ Why_the_Taliban_Still_Love_Suicide_Bombing⠀⇛ On a separate occasion, the Taliban memorialized suicide bombers at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. This time, the regime’s interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani—head of the notorious Haqqani network —addressed hundreds of men representing the family members of suicide bombers. Haqqani congratulated the men for their loved ones’ divine sacrifice and gifted them with clothes, cash, and the promised allocation of land plots. And in October, amid increasing tensions with Tajikistan, the group announced the deployment of 3,000 suicide bombers to the border between the two countries. # ⚓ Islamic_extremists_sidestep_Facebook’s_content_police⠀⇛ Photos of beheadings, extremist propaganda and violent hate speech related to Islamic State and the Taliban were shared for months within Facebook groups over the past year despite the social networking giant’s claims it had increased efforts to remove such content. The posts — some tagged as “insightful” and “engaging” via new Facebook tools to promote community interactions — championed the Islamic extremists’ violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, including videos of suicide bombings and calls to attack rival across the region and in the West, according to a review of social media activity between April and December. At least one of the groups contained more than 100,000 members. o § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ # ⚓ A_Julian_Assange_Update_Featuring_Kevin_Gosztola_–_The Project_Censored_Show⠀⇛ The Official Project Censored Show A Julian Assange Update Featuring Kevin GosztolaPlay EpisodePause EpisodeMute/Unmute EpisodeRewind 10 Seconds1xFast Forward 30 seconds 00:00 /SubscribeShare # ⚓ What_Julian_Assange_Told_Us_about_Central_America⠀⇛ A decade ago, the controversial WikiLeaks offered an unprecedented window into the workings of the U.S. government in Central America. Now the possible extradition and trial of founder Julian Assange may set a dangerous precedent for the criminalization of commonplace news-gathering activities, press advocates say, and contradict moves by Biden to punish those seeking to harm journalists around the world. o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ Alfred_Döblin’s_Surreal_Foray_Into_Climate_Fiction⠀⇛ Alfred Döblin’s sprawling 1924 epic, Berge Meere und Giganten—recently translated into English for the first time as Mountains Oceans Giants—begins in a relatively near future when the earth is on a crash course for disaster. “None were still living of those who came through the war they called the World War,” Döblin writes. A fading memory in the space of the text, World War I retained a decisive influence over the author’s Weimar Republic in both symbolic and material terms. The German scholar Rudolf Kayser was likely thinking of the brutality of mechanized trench warfare when he remarked, in 1932, that the human race was “dying of its own works.” By then, the Great Depression and contemporary political turmoil would have colored his outlook as well (the Weimar Republic itself “died” early the following year). If some Germans in the interwar period saw promise in technological acceleration, more dreaded its consequences. Facing threats from the sky to the factory floor, people had to wonder: How long could humanity hold out? # ⚓ How_Black_Communities_Become_“Sacrifice_Zones”_for Industrial_Air_Pollution⠀⇛ Every time Pam Nixon drives along Interstate 64, she sees the Union Carbide plant. Wedged between a green hillside and the Kanawha River, the sprawling facility has helped define West Virginia’s “Chemical Valley” for the better part of a century, its smokestacks belching gray plumes and fishy odors into the town of Institute, population 1,400. To many West Virginians, the plant is a source of pride — it was a key maker of synthetic rubber in World War II — and a source of hundreds of jobs. But to Nixon and others in Institute’s largely Black community, it has meant something else: pollution. The plant reminds Nixon of leaks, fires, explosions — dangers she’s dedicated most of her adult life to trying to stop. Now, on a warm September evening, the 69-year-old retiree was at it again. # ⚓ Despite_Climate_Imperative,_94%_of_Analyzed_Coal_Companies Have_No_Phaseout_Plan⠀⇛ With a new analysis in hand, an international climate advocacy group on Tuesday demanded that banks and investors worldwide use their leverage to force the coal industry to more rapidly end their planet-wrecking operations. “Credible transition plans are all the rage, but our analysis reveals that the overwhelming majority of coal companies have no such thing.” # ⚓ 2021:_A_Year_in_Photos_From_the_Front_Lines_of_the_Climate Crisis⠀⇛ This was the year the United Nations Secretary- General declared human-driven global heating a “code red for humanity.” And this selection of photos I shot for DeSmog throughout 2021 offers visual proof that his warning is merited.  My work documents the ongoing trend of science denial becoming increasingly woven into right-wing rhetoric by steadfast Trump supporters, the impacts of extreme weather fueled by climate change, and the actions taken by climate advocates fighting for environmental justice and against pollution from the fossil fuel industry.  # § Energy⠀➾ # ⚓ Toxic_waters_in_war-torn_Ukraine:_How_not_to_phase out_coal⠀⇛ When a mine ceases to operate, water must be constantly pumped out of the underground shafts and chambers to prevent them from flooding. Groundwater that does enter can become contaminated with heavy metals, which may then permeate underground aquifers and the surrounding soils, rendering them unusable for farming. # ⚓ RadioShack_Turns_to_[Cryptocurrency]_With_RADIO Tokens⠀⇛ RadioShack, which you might best remember for carrying all manner of trending electronics goods since its founding in 1921, is restructuring. The company has decided that its steps toward ecommerce weren’t enough; it now wants to turn to blockchain technology. Specifically, it wants to become a Decentralized Finance (DeFi) provider. And it’s positioning itself as the only entity that can “…be the bridge between the CEO’s [sic] who control the world’s corporations and the new world of cryptocurrencies.” To help that …interesting string of words move toward reality, the company plans to launch its own token: RADIO. # ⚓ Unintuitive_conclusions_from_urban_planning⠀⇛ This one is pretty well-known but bears repeating. Thanks to induced demand, adding more highway capacity causes more people to use the highway, because it’s now the most convenient option. Hence, the highway becomes more congested until it returns to the steady-state equilibrium of the maximum sadness people are okay with. This is usually when people start getting annoyed at congestion and push for the highway to be expanded. There is one counterargument to this: even if congestion didn’t get any better, surely we at least were able to transport more people to places they wanted to go? I think the response to this is that while this is true, expanding roads also strengthens the norm that it’s ok to travel 10, or 20, or 30 miles for a brief errand. This alters the pattern of development such that people start building destinations further away. If we assume the quality of each destination is the same regardless of theoretical distance, this means we’re having people drive further, and experience equivalent levels of traffic, for the same quality of destination. That seems bad. # ⚓ Car_supremacy_and_America’s_traffic_paradox⠀⇛ In urban planning, there is an idea called the “Downs-Thomson Paradox,” which holds that “the equilibrium speed of car traffic on a road network is determined by the average door-to-door speed of equivalent journeys taken by public transport.” In other words, as the Not Just Bikes show explains, “car traffic will get worse and worse and worse until it becomes faster to take the bus or the metro or the tram.” When this concept was originally developed decades ago, it was often used as an explanation for the fact that expanding road capacity does not usually reduce traffic. American cities have seen this proved thousands of times — you add a lane to a highway or street, and within a few weeks or months the road is just as jammed as it was before. Public transit comes into the picture by considering the large population of people who are neutral between transportation options. Some people love cars or trains, of course, and will go out of their way to use them, but many (perhaps most) people just want convenience — whatever option is fastest, that’s what they’ll take. So if driving becomes faster thanks to a new lane or road, car traffic will simply increase to the point where driving roughly matches the speed of public transit once again. That’s the paradox. # ⚓ [Old] Did_a_conspiracy_really_destroy_LA’s_huge streetcar_system?⠀⇛ Elkind says the streetcar still could have been saved, but that “it would have taken some imagination and foresight on the part of the public to think, ‘what if we did subsidize this transit service? We might be able to address some of the problems that we have and make it a better service.’” Instead, local and state officials repeatedly punted on plans to finance badly needed infrastructure that could have helped salvage key portions of the streetcar system. A Pacific Electric-backed plan to build elevated tracks in Downtown Los Angeles was defeated at the ballot box in the 1920s. Instead, voters chose to fund Union Station, which gave the city a consolidated rail terminal but no infrastructure to speed up streetcar service. # ⚓ [Old] Designing_to_Move_People⠀⇛ While street performance is conventionally measured based on vehicle traffic throughput and speed, measuring the number of people moved on a street—its person throughput and capacity—presents a more complete picture of how a city’s residents and visitors get around. Whether making daily commutes or discretionary trips, city residents will choose the mode that is reliable, convenient, and comfortable. Transit has the highest capacity for moving people in a constrained space. Where a single travel lane of private vehicle traffic on an urban street might move 600 to 1,600 people per hour (assuming one to two passengers per vehicle and 600 to 800 vehicles per hour), a dedicated bus lane can carry up to 8,000 passengers per hour. A transitway lane can serve up to 25,000 people per hour per travel direction. # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Another_Yellowstone_Bison_Slaughter⠀⇛ Yellowstone’s wild bison were declared our national mammal in 2016 and are of international significance. Yellowstone bison are not the same as other bison scattered around the West. They are the most genetically pure bison left on the continent, largely influenced by natural evolutionary processes. # ⚓ A_Christmas_Confession:_I’m_Taking_an_Eco-Holiday From_It_All⠀⇛ There, I’ve said it! It feels good to get that off my chest, even if it makes me sound like a cold-hearted Grinch of a mother. But maybe that’s what it truly takes to be a good environmentalist these days. On the radio recently, I heard this stumper: the U.S. economy depends on consumers consuming and the earth depends on us not consuming. Which are we going to choose? Once the conundrum of this moment was posed that way, I knew instantly where I stood. With the earth and against consumption! I raised my fist in support, even as I maneuvered my empty seven-person, gas-fed minivan down the highway. I mention that lest you jump to the conclusion that I’m a 100% eco-soul, which, of course, none of us can be in this strange world of ours. (On that, more to come.) # § Overpopulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Media_Forget_Afghan_Plight_as_US_Sanctions_Drive_Mass Famine_Risk⠀⇛ As the United States withdrew militarily from Afghanistan in August, US TV news interest in the plight of the country’s citizens spiked, often focusing on “the horror awaiting women and girls” (CNN Situation Room, 8/16/21) to argue against withdrawal (FAIR.org, 8/23/21). o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ Rare_Unionizing_Opportunity_in_Big_Box_and_Retail_Chain⠀⇛ Chalk it up to the pandemic’s dislocations when millions of workers left their jobs, and many have not yet returned. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) see the opportunity of a lifetime, but are they putting enough organizing resources into this effort? For over four decades, unions of all kinds in the corporate economy have been in decline. Only six percent of private sector workers are now in unions. However, polls are showing a high favorability level for unions, following worker heroics on behalf of Covid-19 victims. # ⚓ Tornadoes_Can_Kill._So_Can_Amazon’s_Business_Model⠀⇛ # ⚓ Build_Back_Better_Now_DOA:_Next_Phase_in_US_Economic_and Political_Crisis Begins⠀⇛ But Manchin’s real objective has always been to shit can the bill, in order to prevent the necessity of raising taxes on corporations and investors in order to pay for it. To borrow a phrase: “It’s the Tax Cuts, Stupid!”. The taxes involved in the Build Back Better bill were just a small part of Trump’s $4.5 trillion 2018 tax cuts. The Build Back Better bill’s funding involved partially raising Trump’s corporate taxes. But even that was too much for the thousands of corporate lobbyists who descended on Washington in recent months; their single objective has been to ensure corporate interests in the Senate–within the Democrat party as well as the Republican–don’t pass the Build Back Better bill in any form, since paying for it involved to a significant extent clawing back some of Trump’s $4.5T tax cuts for corporations and investors. Their lobbying effort has proved quite successful. # ⚓ Opinion_|_What’s_Driving_Higher_Prices?_Unchecked_Corporate Power⠀⇛ # ⚓ ‘A_For-Profit_Company_Is_Trying_to_Privatize_as_Many_Public Libraries_as_They_Can’⠀⇛ Janine Jackson interviewed librarian Caleb Nichols about defending public libraries for the December 17, 2021, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. # ⚓ What’s_Gone_Wrong_at_Chicago’s_Last_Black-Owned_Bank?⠀⇛ The bank’s board meeting on April 28, 2016, started with a prayer. Then it turned to plans for keeping the bank alive. That week, federal regulators had signed off on a deal allowing new owners to take control of Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan, one of the last Black-owned banks in the country. For more than a year, regulators had warned the bank could be shut down if it didn’t raise capital. They had also ordered it to improve its management. # ⚓ Warren_Slams_Grocers_for_Raising_Prices_While_Raking_In Profits⠀⇛ # ⚓ Kellogg_Strike_Ends_After_11_Weeks_as_Workers_Approve_New Contract⠀⇛ # ⚓ Manchin_Under_Fire_for_Blowing_Potential_$60_Billion_Hole in_US_Economy_During_Pandemic⠀⇛ Beyond its near-immediate—and potentially devastating—impact on millions of families with children, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s obstruction of his party’s Build Back Better package could have far-reaching consequences for the overall U.S. economy as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage at home and abroad. “Without BBB, the economic recovery will be vulnerable to stalling out.” # ⚓ Coal_Miners_Union_Rebukes_Manchin_for_Effort_to_Kill_Build Back_Better⠀⇛ The push for passage of the Build Back Better Act got a potential boost late Monday as the United Mine Workers of America, the coal miners’ union that Sen. Joe Manchin counts as a key ally, called on the right-wing Democratic senator to reconsider his opposition to his party’s signature economic agenda. UMWA president Cecil Roberts outlined several provisions in the $1.75 trillion investment in anti-poverty programs and climate action which would directly benefit the union’s 80,000 members, and made clear that coal miners are counting on the West Virginia lawmakers to “revisit his opposition.” # ⚓ Is_Killing_the_Build_Back_Better_Act_Part_of_Manchin’s_Run for_President?⠀⇛ # ⚓ ‘A_Wake-Up_Call_to_Restaurants’:_New_Campaign_for_$15 Minimum_Wage_Kicks_Off_in_Michigan⠀⇛ Amid historic and ever-increasing wage inequality and as a record number of U.S. jurisdictions are set to raise their minimum wages in 2022, Michigan food service industry employees, owners, and advocates have launched a campaign in support of a ballot initiative to lift the state’s hourly pay floor from under $10 to $15 for all workers, including those who receive tips. “The restaurant industry has had the lowest-paying jobs for generations, largely due to the money, power, and influence of a trade lobby called the National Restaurant Association.” # ⚓ As_Pressure_Mounts,_Biden_Considers_Extending_Pause_of Student_Loan_Payments⠀⇛ This is a developing news story, check back for possible updates… The Biden administration is reportedly considering another extension of the federal student loan payment pause that is set to end on February 1, a shift that comes as the White House is facing growing pressure from progressive lawmakers and grassroots advocates. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ GOP_‘Tidal_Wave’_of_Voter_Suppression_Set_to_Intensify_in 2022,_Analysis_Warns⠀⇛ Republican state lawmakers are showing no signs of slowing down the “tidal wave of restrictive voting legislation” that ramped up across the country in 2021, according to a new analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice on Tuesday that warns such attacks are set to continue or even escalate in the New Year. “Congress has the power to take bold action now to protect American voters from the kinds of restrictions enacted this year and the looming threats to voters and elections that may be imposed in 2022 and beyond.” # ⚓ In_the_Great_Tradition_of_Populist_Leaders,_Boris_Johnson Can_No_Longer_Tell_Truth_From_Falsehood⠀⇛ Johnson required no tuition in mendacity since he had practiced it continually throughout his career, but he was nevertheless impressed by Trump’s expertise in selling falsehoods. Johnson’s own record of duplicity in word and deed is, in my view, unrivalled in British politics: “He has mastered the use of error, omission, exaggeration, diminution, equivocation and flat denial,” wrote Rory Stewart, who was a minister at the Foreign Office when Johnson was foreign secretary, last year. “He has perfected casuistry, circumlocution, false equivalence and false analogy. He is equally adept at the ironic jest, the fib and the grand lie; the weasel word and the half-truth; the hyperbolic lie, the obvious lie, and the bullshit lie – which may inadvertently be true.” # ⚓ Confirmation_Bias⠀⇛ But essential as the reporting is, it nevertheless sits uneasily with me. In fact, I’m infuriated by it, in particular its focus on “confirmation bias”: The psychological tendency, as Times reporters summarize it, “to search for and interpret information in a way that confirms a pre-existing belief.” Examples highlighted in the articles include the mistaken belief that “people streaming toward a fresh bombing site…are ISIS fighters, not civilian rescuers,” or that “men on motorcycles” are fighters in formation, not just random men on motorcycles. In another example cited by the Times, intelligence reports of an alleged car bomber driving a “darkly-colored heavily armored vehicle” were used by an “air support coordinator” to justify destroying an unarmored blue car and a white van following it. Seven people were killed, all of them civilians instructed by Isis to flee the area. One of the dead was an infant child on his mother’s lap. That’s not “confirmation bias,” that’s manslaughter. In Florida (where I live), manslaughter (stat. §782.07) is defined as: “The killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, without lawful justification.”  There are usually under 100 cases per year of negligent manslaughter in Florida. They involve vehicular negligence, negligent handling of a weapon by an adult, children playing with guns and “34 other negligent killings.” # ⚓ The_Challenge_of_Chile⠀⇛ There are many reasons the resounding victory of Gabriel Boric, a millennial left-wing congressman, in Chile’s presidential elections will echo far beyond the borders of that Andean nation. # ⚓ Gabriel_Boric_Win_in_Chile_Is_“Huge_Victory”_for_Social Movements_That_Fought_Off_Far-Right_Threat⠀⇛ Former student activist and leftist Gabriel Boric will become Chile’s youngest president after easily defeating the far-right candidate José Antonio Kast with over 55% of the vote. Boric has vowed to fight for progressive social reforms and overhaul the neoliberal economic policies left by the U.S.- backed dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. We speak with Chilean writer Pablo Abufom and feminist activist Javiera Manzi, who say Boric’s victory signals an opening for progressive policy in Chile and Latin America more broadly. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Left_Wave_Continues_in_Latin_America_With Historic_Victory_in_Chile⠀⇛ With 99.9% of the votes counted, Chile elected progressive Gabriel Boric over right-wing candidate José Antonio Kast on Sunday December 19, 2021. Boric won 55.9% (4,618,480) of the total votes, leaving Kast trailing with 44.1% (3,648,394) as polls closed at 6 pm local time. # ⚓ ‘I_hate_that_I’m_broken’_Two_years_ago,_Dasha_Lesnykh’s partner_was_sent_to_prison_as_part_of_the_‘Moscow_Case.’ Photographer_Evgeny_Feldman_captures_her_life_on_the outside.⠀⇛ In December 2019, “Moscow Case” defendant Egor Lesnykh proposed to his girlfriend Dasha during his final courtroom remarks. The next day, he was sentenced to three years in prison. Egor was charged with assaulting a police officer at a rally after he tried to protect other protesters from being beaten by members of the National Guard. Today, he’s serving his sentence in an open prison near Volgograd; he’s due to be released in June 2022. Approximately once every two months, Dasha is able to visit Egor in prison. Over the course of several weeks, Meduza photographer Evgeny Feldman snapped photos of Dasha before and after one such visit. # ⚓ Facing_six_years_in_prison_in_Belarus,_Russian_national Sofia_Sapega_appeals_to_Lukashenko_for_clemency⠀⇛ Awaiting trial in Belarus and facing a minimum of six years in prison, Russian national Sofia Sapega has already asked Alexander Lukashenko to grant her a pardon, her stepfather Sergey Dudich told the radio station Ekho Moskvy on Tuesday, December 21.  # ⚓ How_Democrats_Lost_Build_Back_Better⠀⇛ The Build Back Better Act, President Joe Biden’s signature social safety net legislation, is now dead—in its current form, at least. After months of grueling negotiations, during which the initial $6 trillion proposal slowly shrunk to $1.7 trillion over 10 years, Senator Joe Manchin went on Fox News last weekend to deliver the final blow. # ⚓ The_Coverage_of_Build_Back_Better’s_Failure_Is_Focused_on the_Wrong_Culprits⠀⇛ Political suicide is painful to watch. That’s especially true right now, with Democrats apparently intent on losing to a craven Republican Party trying to systematically undermine American democracy. President Biden has had to punt both his Build Back Better bill and the election reform bills to next year, but he still doesn’t have the votes for either of them. The failure to deliver hurts working Americans, has ominous implications for our democracy, and is ruinous for Democratic prospects in the 2022 elections. # ⚓ Fauci:_Fire_Fox_News_Host_Who_Called_for_‘Ambush’⠀⇛ Watters told college students in the crowd that he was going to “deputize” them to be “little James O’Keefes,” referring to the Project Veritas founder and activist who uses hidden cameras and deceptive editing to film “gotcha” videos in an attempt to “expose” mainstream media outlets and progressive groups as frauds. And he used a violent metaphor to get his point across. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ 5_Years_for_a_Retweet:_Egyptian_Rights_Activist_Alaa_Abd El-Fattah_Sentenced_by_Emergency_Court⠀⇛ An emergency court in Egypt has sentenced leading human rights activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah to an additional five years in prison on the charge of “spreading false news undermining national security” for sharing a post on Twitter. El-Fattah has been imprisoned since his arrest in September 2019, just six months after he was released following a five-year prison term for his role in the peaceful demonstrations of 2011 that led to the fall of Egypt’s longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak. “Alaa wasn’t even in the courtroom,” says El- Fattah’s aunt, the acclaimed Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, who was in the courtroom at the time of his sentencing. “What Alaa did was he had one retweet, and they are punishing him for that with a five-year prison sentence.” # ⚓ Senate_Dems_Tell_Facebook,_Google_CEOs_to_Fulfill_Pledges to_End_Spread_of_Climate_Disinformation⠀⇛ A trio of Democratic U.S. senators on Tuesday sent a letter demanding that the CEOs of Facebook and Google follow through on their promises to stop the spread of climate disinformation on their platforms. “Disinformation that downplays the crisis or rejects climate change threatens the potential for humankind to act collectively to pull itself back from the brink.” o § Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ Plans_to_Save_the_Local_Newspaper⠀⇛ My friends, Robert McChesney and John Nichols, have put forward the “Local Journalism Initiative (LJI)” to answer the call. (A fuller version is available here.) Their proposal would set out a pot of money to be distributed to local newspapers, based on votes at the county level. They propose elections take place every three years, with each person given three votes. The money would be distributed to news organizations in proportion to the votes received, with a cutoff of 1.0 percent required to get any funding, or 0.5 percent in large counties. They envision the total size of the pot to be equal to 0.21 percent of GDP or roughly $46 billion in the 2021 economy. This is their estimate of the size of the subsidy from the Postal Service to newspapers in the 19th century, when it was required to deliver newspapers at a loss. # ⚓ ‘How_do_you_justify_this?’_|_Twitter_Hammered_For_Blocking Journalist_Who_Sought_Protection_For_Brother_In_Kashmir⠀⇛ In another arbitrary step, Twitter temporarily blocked the account of Kashmiri journalist ⁦Aarti Tikoo⁩ for a tweet where she is looking out for her brother Sahil Tikoo, whose life is allegedly threatened by terrorists. Claiming that Sahil Tikoo was being openly threatened by ‘jihadi’ terrorists Aarti Tikoo took to Twitter to seek protection and safety for her brother. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Defending_Julian_Assange_Is_Defending_Anyone_Who Dares_to_Speak_the_Truth⠀⇛ December 10 was International Human Rights Day. It is always a sham holiday for the United States, which locks up its own people at rates exceeding those of every other country, and routinely makes war against the rest of the world. In 2021 the date was treated as even more of a mockery than in the past. Joe Biden convened a bizarre democracy summit, wherein he declared other nations good or bad based on whether they go along with the dictates of the U.S. empire. Although it was in London where the U.S. behaved in a particularly shameful manner, working with the United Kingdom to secure the right to extradite Julian Assange. # ⚓ Assange_to_seek_Supreme_Court_leave_to_appeal_against extradition⠀⇛ …newspaper’s Washington correspondent, Adam Creighton, used strong language to call for Assange’s release, saying: “The Biden administration could have dropped the pursuit [of Assange], showing itself to be above the sort of petty, vicious vendettas that motivate authoritarian regimes.” He wrote that the true casualty count of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which WikiLeaks disclosed, had already come to light. “The US has never made a convincing case that the information, related to events that occurred more than five years earlier, put anyone’s life in danger – the traditional argument for censorship. No ‘clear and present danger’ from publication existed,” Creighton claimed. He also had harsh words for Australia and the UK. “Nothing Assange did was illegal in Britain or Australia, both of which have shamefully facilitated his extradition and probable imprisonment. Both rely on the US militarily and economically, especially Australia, but combined they could have acted to thwart his extradition, as the US would have done for its own citizen, a point made by [Australian deputy prime minister Barnaby] Joyce.” o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ Opinion_|_Migrants_and_Refugees_Face_Devastating_Hardships This_Festive_Season⠀⇛ Many of us welcome the first signs of winter and snow with delight. We associate it with warmth: knitted jumpers, cosy fireplaces, end of year festivities and children playing in the snow. But for others, the onset of winter marks the beginning of a potentially life-threatening period. # ⚓ Before_Roe_v._Wade:_How_to_Get_a_“Therapeutic_Abortion”⠀⇛ How to Get a “Therapeutic Abortion” Abortion was illegal, dangerous, expensive, and commonplace in New York in the fifties. It was the nightmare threat, the dark cloud of death that shadowed the freedom of sexual liberation in the days of its first dawn, not just for wild young people who were out for kicks, but starry-eyed romantics who believed they were truly in love and dared to bring their passion to physical completion without the sanction of marriage. It was not just pot-smoking beatnik girls who got pregnant when they weren’t married; it was ‘nice girls’ who graduated from Vassar and Smith, girls as bright, sensitive, and serious as Salinger’s much-beloved Franny Glass. # ⚓ Federal_Class-Action_Suit_Filed_Over_Haitian_Migrants ‘Abused_and_Dehumanized’_at_US_Border⠀⇛ A group of Haitian asylum-seekers and their advocates on Monday filed a class-action lawsuit against President Joe Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and numerous U.S. agencies and officials alleging physical abuse, racism, unlawful expulsion, and other “inhumane” mistreatment at the hands of immigration authorities. “By deporting me and other asylum-seekers, President Biden has condemned us to death.” # ⚓ Never_Again⠀⇛ # ⚓ A_Sheriff_for_the_People⠀⇛ Longtime independent police monitor and criminal justice reformer Susan Hutson seemingly pulled off the impossible on December 11 when she beat incumbent Marlin Gusman to become sheriff-elect of Orleans Parish. Hutson will be the first African- American woman to run the city’s jail—indeed, the first ever female black sheriff in Louisiana history. # ⚓ Russian_court_rejects_prison_officials’_petition_to_jail Doxa_editors_who_missed_curfew_because_of_their_own_wedding⠀⇛ A Russian court has rejected a petition from the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) to transfer student journalists Alla Gutnikova and Vladimir Metelkin to a remand prison. # ⚓ My_Neighbor_Protested_His_Family’s_Expulsion_From_Its Home—Now_He’s_in_an_Israeli_Prison⠀⇛ When Israeli officers and undercover agents raided Murad Attieh’s home and arrested him on August 10, his mother, Nuha, had hoped he would be out of the interrogation room in a matter of hours. She’d seen many of her neighbors in Sheikh Jarrah—including my siblings and myself—detained, interrogated, and released shortly after and assumed her son would fall into this pattern. Today, however, marks Murad’s 133rd day in prison. No one knows if and when he will be released. # ⚓ The_Mind_Numbing_Hypocrisy_of_the_Supreme_Court⠀⇛ In July, the Supreme Court refused to hear my appeal against eight months imprisonment for Contempt of Court by the High Court of Edinburgh. And yet yesterday they issued a judgment stating in the strongest possible terms that there should be a right of appeal in Contempt of Court cases. # ⚓ Girl_shot_dead_by_Taliban_while_family_was_preparing_to flee_to_Canada⠀⇛ It’s unclear why the Taliban shot at the family’s vehicle. Bashir said they may have been targeted because he worked for the Canadian and U.S. forces, but there were also indications it was a result of Taliban negligence. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ The_(Still_Secret)_Online_Harms_Consultation:_What_the Government_Heard,_Part_Two⠀⇛ # ⚓ As_U.S._Prepares_Big_New_Broadband_Plan,_Few_Notice_Our Last_Major_Broadband_Plan_Was_A_Major_Dud⠀⇛ “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it” isn’t just a quaint saying. Especially in tech or telecom policy. If you don’t learn from the mistakes you made the last time you tried to tackle a complex policy issue, you’re just going to repeat some or all of the process and see similar results. But it often seems as if the United States has a severe allergy to learning from history and experience, especially if it’s in certain companies’ best interests that we not learn from our past policy failures (see: banking, airlines, insurance, energy, health care, pharma…). # ⚓ On_The_Legacy_of_Rob_Blokzijl⠀⇛ In 1989, Rob was one of the co-founders of the European Network Operators Group – in French, the Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE). Over the next 25 years, in his role as RIPE Chair, his vision and expertise were essential to the growth and spread of this well-respected forum, which acted as a model for many community organisations that would form later on. Through this time, looking beyond RIPE itself, Rob also did an extraordinary amount of work to enable and support people who were trying to build the Internet in their own regions. The kind of locally focused collaboration and cooperation that Rob fostered among regional Internet communities was essential for the success of the Internet as a whole. # ⚓ Mobile_data_is_now_just_3.2%_short_of_beating_out_voice calls_as_the_top_earner⠀⇛ The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has today released its sector performance report for Q3 2021. And as I am sure you all expected, mobile data has continued its march upwards. According to the report, mobile internet traffic increased by 10.4% to record 25,902,392,908MB from the 23,436,332,679MB registered in Q2 2021. # ⚓ IFF_wrote_to_the_MHA_and_the_DOT_seeking_implementation_of the_recommendations_made_on_internet_shutdowns_by_the Standing_Committee_on_Communication_and_Information Technology⠀⇛ The Standing Committee on Communication and Information Technology (‘Standing Committee’) released its report on ‘Suspension of telecom services/internet and its impact (‘Report’) on December 1, 2021 highlighting several important recommendations taking into account the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin v Union of India, and representations made by various stakeholders (including IFF) working on the issue of internet shutdowns. Previously, we summarised the recommendations in the Report. We have now written to the Ministry of Home Affairs (‘MHA’) and the Department of Telecommunications (‘DoT’) urging them to implement the most relevant recommendations at the earliest. o § Digital Restrictions (DRM)⠀➾ # ⚓ Google_is_turning_off_the_controls_for_OnHub_routers_at_the end_of_2022⠀⇛ Google’s insistence on cloud-based controls for its networking products has occasionally caused issues, even though it was supposed to make life with OnHub routers simple. Now it will be a reason pushing anyone still using the OnHub to find a replacement by the end of next year when Google’s apps stop allowing owners to change the settings on their devices. An email went out to users, and a support page revealed the changeover is scheduled for December 19th, 2022 (via Droid-Life). When it still seemed unusual for Google and Amazon to make their own hardware, Google teamed up with TP-Link and, eventually, Asus to build OnHub routers that made a point of blending in seamlessly with the rest of your house. They had slick mobile apps to simplify setup and controls, plus a style that blended in so people were more likely to place them in a central location, which could improve WiFi coverage. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Details_Leak_On_Apple’s_Secret_$275_Billion_Deal_With_The Chinese_Government⠀⇛ More troubling news has surfaced about Apple’s and China’s relationship. Apple relies on Chinese manufacturing to make its phones and the Chinese government relies on its massive amount of power to leverage deals that allow it to achieve its ends, many of which are oppressive. # ⚓ Oxfam_Files_SEC_Complaint_Against_Moderna_for_Deceiving Investors_Over_Patent_Dispute⠀⇛ Oxfam America filed a complaint Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that accuses vaccine maker Moderna of making “deceptive and ambiguous statements” that “were designed to hide damaging information from investors,” in violation of disclosure laws. Those alleged “misleading statements” center on Moderna’s ongoing dispute with the U.S. government regarding intellectual property rights to the mRNA Covid-19 vaccine developed in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, and the language the company used to convey that fight in reports to shareholders.  # ⚓ Microsoft_accused_of_letting_NHS_use_Teams_for_free_to enact_‘takeover_by_stealth’⠀⇛ Microsoft made Teams available for free to NHS members of staff in the United Kingdom in March 2021. The move was made to help NHS staff members communicate during the pandemic, according to Microsoft. Competitors of the Redmond-based tech giant appear to view Microsoft’s efforts in a different light. According to the Daily Mail, the UK’s Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Kwasi Kwarteng, is looking into Microsoft’s maneuver. # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ The_US_Gov’t_Paid_For_Moderna_To_Develop_Its_Vaccine; But_Moderna_Wants_To_Keep_The_Patent_All_To_Itself⠀⇛ Folks may know that when Jonas Salk created the polio vaccine he chose not to patent it, and when asked who owns the patent on it, responded: “Well… the people I would say. There is no patent… Could you patent the sun?” # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Digital_Services_Act_—_Is_the_EU_legislative_train_on the_right_track?⠀⇛ On the concerning side, we warn against the use of upload filters, which absent human moderation are highly prone to error. We also do not want to see a version of the internet where sharing occurs on proprietary platforms designed to keep users within their own, non- interoperable, systems. These “walled gardens” impose strict legal terms and use technical functionality that undermine better sharing and permissive copyright licensing, as well as sharing of Creative-Commons- licensed content. When content does move across platforms, widespread norms have emerged that have reduced creator autonomy and impeded on users’ freedom to share. # ⚓ Another_Example_Of_How_The_Playing_Field_Is_Tilted_In Favor_Of_Copyright_Owners⠀⇛ It’s widely known that artists of all kinds often get a raw deal from the contracts they sign. But this kind of legal unfairness is not the only danger they face: copyright can also be turned against creators in other, illegal ways. For example, according to a report on MarketWatch: # ⚓ Hollywood_&_Netflix_Win_High_Court_Order_to_Block_15 Major_Pirate_Sites⠀⇛ Several Hollywood studios and Netflix have been awarded a High Court injunction to block 15 pirate streaming sites in the UK. Under the banner of the Motion Picture Association, the injunction compels six major ISPs including BT, Sky, and Virgin Media to block 17 domains that have pulled in hundreds of millions of visitors over the past six months alone. # ⚓ Kim_Dotcom_Suffers_Setback_in_His_U.S._Extradition Battle⠀⇛ Kim Dotcom and former colleagues Mattias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk have encountered a setback in their attempt to avoid extradition to the United States. The Supreme Court of New Zealand has denied an appeal of a previous court ruling, rejecting the defendant’s argument that there was a miscarriage of justice. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 3358 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.22.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_22/12/2021:_‘ris’_Leaves_LWN,_Microsoft’s_Share_in_Web_Servers_Down About_15%_This_Year,_and_Manjaro_21.2.0⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 4:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o ⚓ Linux_cybersecurity_mistakes_businesses_commonly_make⠀⇛ Recently more and more businesses are starting to use Linux operating systems. Its users boast that this system is exceptional for security and means that Linux websites are less likely to be affected by malware, viruses, or from being hacked. However, some Linux users state having problems with the security of this operating system which poses a contradiction. Let’s be honest though, we should not blame Linux for that, but its users instead. Here are the most common mistakes they make, which can lead to security problems… o ⚓ A_farewell_to_LWN [Ed: Paywall; a free link will be posted at a later date]⠀⇛ Back at the beginning of 2020, it was predicted that retirements would increase during this decade. In 2021, the prediction was that retirements would increase over the next couple of years. It is happening and LWN is no exception. I am retiring at the end of this year after more than 20 years with LWN. So who am I and how did I get here? To some, I’m a name at the bottom of some LWN page. To a few, I’m the one that reminds them when their LWN group subscription is about to expire. You might have even met me at a conference. Not that I have been to very many. Mostly I tend to be quietly in the background watching the LWN mailbox, looking for brief items and quotes of the week (sorry I haven’t found much lately), proofreading articles, managing subscriptions, and more. But I’m older than most of you and this is my last LWN weekly edition. Getting here is a bit of story. o ⚓ [$]_LWN’s_2021_retrospective⠀⇛ It may have seemed questionable at times, but we have indeed survived yet another year — LWN’s 22nd year of publication. That can only mean one thing: it is time to take a look back at our ill-advised attempt to make predictions in January and see how it all worked out. Shockingly, some of those predictions were at least partially on the mark. Others were … not quite so good. o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ Apache_http_server_2.4.52_release_with_buffer_overflow_fix in_mod_lua⠀⇛ The release of the Apache HTTP server 2.4.52 has been published , which contains 25 changes and fixes 2 vulnerabilities… # ⚓ December_2021_Web_Server_Survey⠀⇛ In the December 2021 survey we received responses from 1,168,864,866 sites across 268,328,184 unique domains and 11,669,818 web-facing computers. This represents a loss of 6.53 million sites, but a gain of 1.30 million domains and 144,000 computers. nginx lost a significant number of sites (-23.88 million) and domains (-8.54 million) this month, though it continues to hold the highest market share in both categories with 32.9% of sites and 26.7% of domains. nginx’s domain market share lead over Apache dropped significantly, falling from a 5.6 percentage point lead to a 2.6 percentage point lead. nginx also gained 81,100 web-facing computers this month, giving it 37.5% of market share in this category. Apache also lost sites (-3.09 million) and domains (-446,000) this month, though it gained 5,700 web- facing computers. Apache continues to hold second place across all three key metrics. The largest increase in both domains and hostnames was seen for “awselb”, used by Amazon’s Elastic Load Balancing service, and accounts for the majority of the loss experienced by nginx. The change was as a result of GoDaddy’s URL redirector service, which allows domains registered with GoDaddy to be pointed at arbitrary URLs, being moved from their own hosting facilities to Amazon’s ELB service. Many other web servers also saw reasonable growth in the number of sites this month, with OpenResty and Microsoft gaining 2.42 million and 2.15 million respectively, followed by LiteSpeed and Cloudflare with 1.76 million and 1.28 million. Fewer servers gained domains this month, though OpenResty gained a respectable 850,500 (+2.19%). [...] Microsoft’s market share dropped, as it lost 4,119 sites this month taking it to 6.15% of the total and down from 6.89% at the start of the year. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Full_Circle_Weekly_News_#240⠀⇛ # ⚓ What_is_Open_Source_&_How_to_Start?_–_Invidious⠀⇛ In this video, we talk about what #OpenSource is and how contributing can help you. # ⚓ A_Mounting_Solution_For_My_Triple_Monitors_–_Invidious⠀⇛ So my dilemma was that I have triple monitors, and all of the commercial mounting solutions involve either (a) clamping to the back of the desk , or (b) drilling into the desk. And I couldn’t do either one of those to the desk in my office. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux_5.15.11⠀⇛ I'm announcing the release of the 5.15.11 kernel. All users of the 5.15 kernel series must upgrade. The updated 5.15.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ stable/linux-stable.git linux-5.15.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/ linux-s... thanks, greg k-h # ⚓ Linux_5.10.88⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_5.4.168⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.19.222⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.14.259⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.9.294⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux_4.4.296⠀⇛ o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ The_6_Best_White_Noise_Apps_for_Linux_to_Help_You_Relax⠀⇛ White noise is a combined sound of different frequencies. The noise created as a result provides a calming effect. Examples of white noise include water running down a stream, birds twittering in the morning, or raindrops falling on leaves. These frequencies help mask background noise by engaging your ears with positive sounds. All these white noises will impart a soothing feel on you. White noise apps do exactly that and let you relax or focus by minimizing the disturbance from background noises. These apps can even help you go to sleep. So, let’s look at six white noise apps for Linux that you can download and enjoy for free. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_digitize_documents_with_feeder_scanners_on_Linux_– Market_Research_Telecast⠀⇛ Anyone who wants to transfer large quantities of files, letters and invoices from paper form to a more contemporary digital archive needs a feeder scanner that can automatically digitize several individual sheets. A flatbed scanner would be much too cumbersome for that, especially with documents that are printed on both sides. # ⚓ Creating_an_endless_loop_using_MQTT_and_syslog-ng_–_Blog_– syslog-ng_Community_–_syslog-ng_Community⠀⇛ Version 3.35.1 of syslog-ng introduced an MQTT source. Just for some fun in the last syslog-ng blog post of the year, I created an endless loop using syslog-ng and the Mosquitto MQTT broker. Of course, it does not have much practical value other than possibly a bit of stress testing, but hopefully provides a fun introduction to MQTT- related technologies in syslog-ng. # ⚓ Learn_How_to_Manage_Remote_Connections_via_SSH⠀⇛ The Secure Shell protocol is a common way to connect with a remote machine via client/server applications. It makes use of a toolset such as ssh, scp, and sftp, among many others, to ensure a secure authentication process and encrypted communication that follows. Due to this, these tools replace other older remote command execution toolsets such as telnet, rcp, and rlogin. In this guide you will learn how to install and enable OpenSSH server/client services in your machine. It also covers all the necessary commands (SSH tools) to access and remotely manage systems and transfer files in between. # ⚓ How_to_install_Wine_7_on_Fedora_35_–_NextGenTips⠀⇛ Wine is a compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems i.e Linux, macOS, and BSD. Instead of simulating internal Windows logic like a virtual machine or emulator, Wine translates Windows API calls into POSIX calls instantly eliminating the performance and memory penalties of other methods and allowing you to integrate Windows applications in your desktop. # ⚓ How_to_crash_Linux⠀⇛ There are a number of dangerous commands that can be executed to crash a Linux system. You may find a nefarious user executing these commands on a system you manage, or someone may send you a seemingly harmless command, hoping that you will run it and crash your computer. It is important for system administrators to be aware of these commands, and run them on their own systems to ensure that they have taken the proper measures to prevent these attacks. Then again, maybe you are just a curious user and you want to crash your virtual machine for fun. That is fine, too. # ⚓ Free_Let’s_Encrypt_SSL_Certificate_Alternatives_| RoseHosting⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will talk about Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate alternatives. free lets encrypt ssl certificate alternatives We are going to show you how to install a Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate and its alternatives such as BuyPass and ZeroSSL certificates. The SSL certificate is a digital certificate, that enables the encrypted collection to identify the identity of the website and improves its security. The SSL certificate is required also to verify ownership of the website, prevent attackers from creating fake versions of the website, and keep user data secure. Let’s get started! # ⚓ AutoHotKey_–_Custom_Keyboard_Shortcuts_in_Windows_–_TREND OCEANS⠀⇛ Have you ever heard about AutoHotKey or tried to set up custom keyboard shortcuts to start applications or open files and folders in Windows? Linux has its own custom keyboard shortcut option to attach custom shortcuts to Program, File, and Folder. For windows, the story is a little bit different, here you don’t have any built-in option instead have to take the help of applications like AutoHotKey. In the future, I expect Microsoft will introduce this as a built-in feature in their operating system or at least integrate it with its powerful open-source tool PowerToys. # ⚓ How_to_Setup_Opencart_with_LAMP_(PHP,_Apache,_Mariadb)_on OpenSUSE_Leap_15.3⠀⇛ In this guide, we will explore setting up Opencart in a OpenSUSE Leap Server with Apache serving it and Mariadb 10 acting as the database. Opencart is an open-source eCommerce platform. Everything you need to create, scale and run your business”. It is an Open Source online store management system. It is PHP-based, using a MySQL database and HTML components. Apache is a popular web web server software that is often used to serve php content. Mysql is also a popular relational management system used by popular websites. # ⚓ How_to_install_Webmin_in_Rocky_Linux/Alma_Linux_8⠀⇛ In this guide we will install and connfigure Webmin on a Rocky Linux 8 server. This guide will also work for other RHEL 8 based servers like Oracle Linux and Centos 8. Webmin is a web-based system configuration tool for Unix-like systems, although recent versions can also be installed and run on Microsoft Windows. It s a free and open-source control panel for administering Unix/Linux servers. Webmin provides users with a graphical web-based user interface to configure common system tasks and settings. If you don’t like the idea of using the command line to manage your server, then Webmin is a good graphical alternative to you. The following is a list of functionalities provided by Webmin. # ⚓ How_to_install_and_set_up_PHP_and_Apache(LAMP_stack)_on OpenSUSE_Leap_15.3⠀⇛ In this guide we are going to Install and set up Apache virtual host to serve PHP content on an OpenSUSE Leap 15.4 system. The Apache HTTP Server(Apache), is one of the most popular free and open-source cross-platform web server software, released under the terms of Apache License 2.0. Apache is popular as part of the LAMP setup, being the A in the Acronym. The apache server functionality can be extended with the many available modules. PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development. It is one of the popular programming languages for the web. Popular tools such as WordPress are coded using php. Big companies like Facebook also uses php heavily. # ⚓ How_to_Install_and_set_up_PHP_and_Nginx_(LEMP)_on_Rocky Linux/Alma_Linux_8⠀⇛ In this guide we are going to install and set up PHP and Nginx in Rocky Linux/Alma Linux 8. We will also set up a virtual host to serve a simple php info page. PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development. It is one of the popular programming languages for the web. Popular tools such as WordPress are coded using php. Big companies like Facebook also uses php heavily. Nginx is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. It started out as a web server designed for maximum performance and stability. Nginx has grown in popularity since its release due to its light- weight resource utilization and its ability to scale easily on minimal hardware. Nginx excels at serving static content quickly and is designed to pass dynamic requests off to other software that is better suited for those purposes. # ⚓ How_to_install_Zorin_OS_16_Lite_–_Invidious⠀⇛ In this video, I am going to show how to install Zorin OS 16 Lite. # ⚓ How_to_install_Unrar_Debian_11_Bullseye_or_10_Buster_Linux –_Linux_Shout⠀⇛ Just like with ZIP, RAR is another format to compress and create archive files on a PC or laptop. This process compresses the data and reduces storage space. RAR (.rar) is one of the common formats of compressing files, hence if you are on Debian 11 or 10 and want to use unrar to extract some RAR format archive file downloaded from the web then here are the steps to follow. Unrar is the tool available in the Debian Base repository for the extraction of compressed archive (.rar) files. Well, we need to install it manually because Unrar is not pre-installed on the Linux systems. Here we learn not only the method to install Unrar on Debian 11 or 10 but also how to use its command line to extract or uncompress a RAR archive file. # ⚓ How_to_install_Sketchup_on_Ubuntu_|_FOSS_Linux⠀⇛ Sketchup 3D is one of the most popular 3D design and modeling software. It is an intuitive 3D modeling application that is suitable for creating designs and presentations in the fields such as construction, architecture, interior design, video game design, industrial design, and many more. You can quickly implement many design models such as creating blueprints for buildings and machine parts, site surveying, landscape architecture, and animation concepts. The software is available for free as SketchUp Free with limited features or as premium software (SketchUp Pro), which comes with complete toolsets. The article is a step-by-step guide on installing Sketchup 3D on Ubuntu using Wine. # ⚓ How_to_use_Quarkus_with_the_Service_Binding_Operator_|_Red Hat_Developer⠀⇛ In the seven years since Kubernetes was released, there have been various efforts to simplify the process of consuming and binding to services from Kubernetes clusters. While discovering a service isn’t much of an issue if you employ a well-known set of conventions, getting the credentials and other details required to access that service is sometimes trickier. The Kubernetes Service Catalog was an attempt to simplify provisioning and binding to services, but it seems to have lost momentum. The lack of uniformity between providers, differences in how each service communicates binding information, and the fact that developers tend to favor operators for provisioning services all made the Service Catalog hard to use in practice. The Service Binding Operator for Kubernetes and Red Hat OpenShift is a more recent initiative. It stays out of the way of service provisioning, leaving that to operators. Instead, it focuses on how to best communicate binding information to the application. An interesting part of the specification is the workload projection, which defines a directory structure that will be mounted to the application container when binding occurs in order to pass all the required binding information: type, URI, and credentials Other parts of the specification are related to the ServiceBinding resource, which controls which services are bound to which application, and how. # ⚓ Install_KDE_Plasma_Desktop_on_Ubuntu_22.04_–_Linux Nightly⠀⇛ This guide will show you how to install the KDE Plasma desktop environment on Ubuntu Linux. This process will work if you are switching from GNOME to KDE, or just need to install KDE Plasma on an Ubuntu server that doesn’t currently have a GUI. # ⚓ Setting_up_local_mTLS_environment_using_mkcert⠀⇛ mTLS or mutual TLS is a way of doing mutual authentication. When we talk about TLS in general, we only about TLS for the servers/services. There the clients can verify that they are connected to the right server. But, the server does not know much about the clients themselves. This can be done via mTLS, say for services talking to each other. To know more please read the Cloudflare writeup on mTLS. # ⚓ Intro_to_Koji_video⠀⇛ This week I created an Introduction to Koji video. Koji is the build system we use for the Fedora Project and Red Hat products. # ⚓ How_to_Build_a_Linux_Desktop_Environment⠀⇛ Have you tried many desktop environments but nothing suits your taste? Or maybe you like some components of a desktop environment and don’t like the others. Perhaps it’s time to consider building your own desktop environment… # ⚓ How_To_Install_Jenkins_on_Fedora_35_–_idroot⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Jenkins on Fedora 35. For those of you who didn’t know, Jenkins is a popular and open source automation server written in Java, which helps automate the non-human part of the whole software development process. Jenkins allows executing a predefined list of steps, for example: to compile Golang source code to build a binary file. 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 the Jenkins open source automation server on a Fedora 35. # ⚓ How_to_Install_R_Programming_Language_on_Debian_11_Bullseye –_LinuxCapable⠀⇛ R is an open-source programming language and free software environment for statistical computing and graphical representation created and supported by the R Core Team and the R Foundation. R’s popularity is widely used amongst statisticians and data miners for statistical and data analysis software developers. In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install R on Debian 11 Bullseye. # ⚓ [Updated]_Prevent_Files_And_Folders_From_Accidental Deletion_Or_Modification_In_Linux_–_OSTechNix⠀⇛ Some times, I don’t think straight and accidentally “SHIFT+DELETE” my data. Worse, I don’t even backup the data before deleting them. If you’re anything like me, here is a good news for you. I know an useful commandline utility called “chattr” that is used to prevent files and folders from accidental deletion or modification in Linux. Chattr, short for Change Attribute, applies/removes certain attributes to a file or folder in your Linux system. So nobody can delete or modify the files and folders either accidentally or intentionally, even as root user. Sounds useful, isn’t it? Indeed! o § Wine or Emulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Wine_on_Wayland_year-end_update:_improved_functionality_& stability⠀⇛ It has been just over a year since we first announced our effort to implement a Wayland driver for Wine. Since then a lot of work has been done to improve the functionality and stability of the driver, and to provide a cleaner and more upstreamable patchset. This work continues as we expand our testing and receive valuable feedback from the community. # ⚓ Collabora’s_work_on_a_Wayland_driver_for_Wine_is_coming along_nicely_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ To end the year the open source consulting firm Collabora, who often works with Valve, has written up a fresh post with a video to show off their Wayland driver for Wine. Something they announced originally back in 2020, they’ve really put a lot of work into this one. Reaching a stage where a huge amount of things now sound like they’re working including window handling, OpenGL and Vulkan (with support for WineD3D and DXVK), multiple monitor support, HiDPI scaling and the list goes on. It’s coming together nicely. It’s not quite ready for upstreaming yet, and they have some issues still to be solved for things like cross-process rendering (Chromium/CEF based applications, like game stores). # ⚓ CodeWeavers_Blogs_|_CJ_Silver_|_We’re_Getting_There_— CrossOver_Support_for_DirectX_12_|_CodeWeavers⠀⇛ In 2022 DirectX 12 support is a top priority. That being said, our CrossOver developers are working through the challenge of developing support for DirectX 12 in two distinct gaming environments. The obstacles in Linux are not the same as the obstacles in Mac. Let’s take a look at how CrossOver supports DirectX 12 and what the challenges are. CrossOver uses VKD3D to run DirectX 12 games. VKD3D is a 3D graphics library built on top of Vulkan. Currently, lots of work is being done to improve VKD3D performance. With the help of the Vulkan descriptor indexing extension, which allows for functionality similar to DirectX 12 descriptor heaps, Vulkan descriptors are written less often and far less GPU memory is used. As a result, VKD3D can support games that use enough descriptors to require resources from Tier 2 and Tier 3 hardware. # ⚓ CodeWeavers_Planning_For_A_Busy_2022_With_VKD3D_D3D12_For CrossOver_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ While the VKD3D-Proton fork has been very active and running an increasing number of Direct3D 12 Windows games well as part of Valve’s Steam Play, CodeWeavers and the upstream Wine community does continue working on VKD3D. CodeWeavers is planning to make big improvements to VKD3D in 2022 to offer better DirectX 12 support with their commercial CrossOver software for Linux and macOS. # ⚓ CodeWeavers_is_helping_DirectX_12_Windows_games_to_run_on Linux⠀⇛ CodeWeavers CrossOver is one of the most popular ways to run Windows applications on other operating systems. It combines the excellent work of the open-source Wine project (of which CrossOver’s developers contribute code to) with an easier-to- use interface and front end. CodeWeavers released CrossOver 21 back in August, and now the company has shared details about its work to bring modern game support to Linux and Mac. Many recent Windows games (and other graphics-heavy applications) rely on DirectX 12, the latest version of Microsoft’s DirectX graphics library, which uses lower-level APIs to achieve faster performance. DirectX is only available on Windows (and Xbox consoles), so the Wine compatibility layer uses the VKD3D graphics library to execute Direct3D calls on top of Vulkan (which is available on Linux, Windows, and other platforms). The Vkd3d library is primarily developed by Valve Software for its Proton compatibility layer, and the rapid progress on VKD3D is the main reason why so many Windows games are now playable on Linux. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ 2D_open-world_sandbox_action-adventure_Necesse_released_for Linux_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ A weird love-child mixture of games like Minecraft, Stardew Valley and Terraria we have Necesse that’s currently in Early Access and a Linux version is now available. On Monday, December 20 the next major update of the game landed which overhauled and improved many parts of the game and gave us a surprise with support both both Linux and macOS. Developed by Mads Skovgaard who goes under the alias Fair, Necesse originally started off as a hobby game but eventually progressed into something that Skovgaard was able to work full time on and it is yet another impressive example of what a solo developer / tiny team can do. Looks like it will scratch a good itch for crafting and exploration fans. # ⚓ GameBuntu:_“Linus_Proof”_Your_Gaming_Ubuntu_Install_– Invidious⠀⇛ Have you ever felt like Linux gaming was too difficult, you don’t want to deal with the setup, well lucky for you GameBuntu exists to Linus proof your ubuntu install and make linux gaming a piece of cake # ⚓ Valve’s_Steam_Winter_Sale_Is_Now_Underway_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ For those wanting to pickup some new games to enjoy around the holidays and/or expand your game collection ahead of the Steam Deck beginning to ship next quarter, Valve’s Winter Sale is now underway. Valve calls this their “biggest sale of the year” with big discounts on a plethora of games — for the games that aren’t native to Linux, many Windows titles will work with ease thanks to Steam Play. # ⚓ The_Steam_Winter_Sale_2021_is_now_live_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ The moment I’m sure plenty of our readers have been waiting for: the Steam Winter Sale 2021 is now live. Perhaps now is a good time to stock up on some games ready for the Steam Deck? Then again, speaking from experience, my own backlog is somewhat frightening that I can’t wait to dive in with on it. Still…certain games are hard to ignore when they have a particularly tasty discount going. # ⚓ Godot_Engine_received_a_fresh_grant_from_Facebook_/_Meta for_XR_work_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ Seems that Blender isn’t the only free and open source project pulling in attention from backers, with the Godot Engine team announcing today that Facebook / Meta have given them additional funding for VR / AR (XR) work. This follows on from the grant the Godot team received around the same time in 2020, that saw developer Bastiaan Olij overhaul many parts of XR support in Godot including a mobile version of the Vulkan renderer, stereoscopic rendering support through Multiview and a rewrite of the core XR system in the upcoming Godot 4. On top of that, work was done to bring full OpenGL-based OpenXR support to Godot 3 and more. # ⚓ Godot_Engine_–_Godot_Engine_receiving_a_new_grant_from Meta’s_Reality_Labs⠀⇛ We are delighted to announce that the Godot Engine project is receiving a new grant from Meta’s Reality Labs to support our work on the XR capabilities of the engine. This renews Reality Labs’ engagement to support the free and open source Godot game engine, after a first grant in December 2020. This grant will enable us to continue our efforts in providing a high quality, free and open source all-in-one solution for AR and VR applications. We designed an XR work package for 2022 which is funded 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_–_Maintenance_release:_Godot_3.4.2⠀⇛ We released Godot 3.4.1 just a few days ago with a huge array of bugfixes, but a regression was then found for macOS rendering which could cause flickering. This new Godot 3.4.2 is a hotfix release to solve this and a few other minor issues that were fixed in the meantime. Godot 3.4.2 is a recommended upgrade for all Godot 3.4 and 3.4.1 users. For a detailed overview of the changes that 3.4.1 included and which are also part of this new release, please read the 3.4.1 release notes. Download Godot 3.4.2 now or try the online version of the Godot editor. # ⚓ Death_Stranding_absolutely_sold_me_and_you_should_play_it_| GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ I don’t actually often play the big AAA games but for Death Stranding, I finally took the plunge and thanks to Steam Play Proton running it on Linux was a fantastic experience overall. Note: spoilers, personal purchase. With my ancient PlayStation 4 on its last legs, I’m glad I sat on this and waited a little while for any patches and then eventually the Windows release on Steam so it worked out all quite nicely. I’m certainly no stranger to Hideo Kojima, having played through various Metal Gear games and always liked the production value Kojima puts in and Death Stranding delivers constantly. It certainly helps that it has an all-star cast with the likes of Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, and Lindsay Wagner. # ⚓ Book_of_Travels_did_not_have_a_good_launch,_Might_and Delight_let_devs_go_|_GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ Times are tough for some developers with the latest victim of a poor release being Book of Travels from Might and Delight. Following on from a successful crowdfunding campaign for their small online RPG, the developer managed to raise around £207,362. That was back towards the end of 2019 and it saw a few delays before entering Early Access in October 2021. Seems the release did not go as well as they had hoped. # ⚓ The_itch.io_Winter_Sale_is_now_live_with_plenty_of_indies_| GamingOnLinux⠀⇛ Ready to pick up some more games to stay warm with this Winter? If you enjoy indie games then it may be worth take a look over on itch.io with their Winter Sale. Live now until January 3, 2022. One of the really interesting things about itch.io is that developers set their own revenue share with the store, it can even be 0% if they really wanted to. There’s also the ability to pay more if you really like the game with various funding options. They also have an open source app. # ⚓ Linux_runs_80%_of_the_100_most_popular_games_on_Steam_– itsfoss.net⠀⇛ According to the protondb.com service , which collects information on the performance of gaming applications in the Steam catalog on Linux, 80% of the 100 most popular games are currently running on Linux. When looking at the top 1000 games, the support rate is 75% and the Top10 is 40%. In general, out of 21244 tested games, performance was confirmed for 17649 games (83%). [...] According to the protondb.com service , which collects information on the performance of gaming applications in the Steam catalog on Linux, 80% of the 100 most popular games are currently running on Linux. When looking at the top 1000 games, the support rate is 75% and the Top10 is 40%. In general, out of 21244 tested games, performance was confirmed … Read more o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ Marcus_Lundblad:_Christmas_Maps⠀⇛ So it’s that time of the year again and about time for an end-of-year post. Some news in Maps for the upcoming GNOME 42. Finally, we have added support for running development versions of Maps (such as from the Nightly Flatpak repo) in parallel with the stable ones The develop one is distinguished by the “cogwheel” background in the headerbar, and also by it’s ”bio-hazard” strip icon as seen above. o § Distributions⠀➾ # § Arch Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Manjaro_Linux_21.2_“Qonos”_Released_with_Linux_Kernel 5.15_LTS,_GNOME_41,_and_More⠀⇛ Dubbed “Qonos” and powered by the latest long-term supported Linux 5.15 LTS kernel series, Manjaro Linux 21.2 is here four months after Manjaro Linux 21.1 “Pahvo” to give you up-to-date live and installable ISO images with all the latest and greatest GNU/ Linux technologies and Open Source software. Manjaro Linux 21.2 “Qonos” ships with the usual editions featuring the Xfce, GNOME, and KDE Plasma desktop environments, which have been updated to Xfce 4.16 (same version as in previous releases since Xfce 4.18 is yet to be released), GNOME 41.2, and KDE Plasma 5.23.4. # ⚓ Manjaro_21.2_Released_With_Better_Btrfs_Support, Linux_5.15_LTS_Powered_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Arch-based Manjaro Linux is out with version 21.2 “Qonos” ahead of the holidays in offering some nice incremental updates for this popular enthusiast distribution. First up, Manjaro 21.2 continues improving its Calamares-based installer. With Manjaro 21.1 back in August there were some Btrfs file-system support improvements and that continued for 21.2. Manjaro 21.2 has an improved default sub-volume layout for better snapshots/rollbacks, swapfile support on Btrfs, and other installation improvements. # ⚓ Manjaro_21.2.0_Qonos_released!⠀⇛ Since we released Pahvo Mid-Season this year all our developer teams worked hard to get the next release of Manjaro out there. We call it Qonos. This release features major improvements to Calamares, including filesystem selection for automatic partitioning and enhanced support for btrfs. For btrfs installations, the default subvolume layout has been improved for easier rollbacks and less wasted space on snapshots. Additionally, swapfiles on btrfs filesystem are now supported. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ Disaster_preparedness:_3_key_tactics_for_IT_leaders⠀⇛ You can’t prepare for every “black swan” event – consider the current supply chain disruptions impacting the holiday season and creating inflationary pressures. Even planned technology upgrades or simple configuration changes can have catastrophic consequences. SkyWest recently reported in its quarterly earnings that migration of critical systems to a newly built server in October resulted in a server outage. This IT issue resulted in a cancellation of 1,700 flights, disruption to other major airlines and thousands of passengers, and a potential loss of $15 to $20 million. By their nature, disasters – especially black swan events bought on by the pandemic – are not easy to predict. But as an IT leader, you can better prepare for them and reduce the business impact by focusing on three key areas: enforcing change management controls, managing risks, and ensuring business continuity governance. # ⚓ 12_tutorials_for_building_Linux_labs_|_Enable Sysadmin⠀⇛ In a different professional life, I was a technical instructor. I noticed that some students excelled at learning through books or lectures, but most people learn by doing. One frustration was limited lab time because of the realities of being out of the office, and another was the amount of content I needed to deliver. I also had to keep up with myriad changes to operating systems and network technologies. All this is to say that I’m a big believer in the value of hands-on opportunities for IT practitioners, whether they’re just breaking into the industry or have decades of experience. As an editor and author for Enable Sysadmin, I’m regularly exposed to creative ideas in the articles I edit. I recently edited two articles that covered home-lab environments, Build a lab in five minutes with three simple commands by Alex Callejas and Build a lab in 36 seconds with Ansible by Ricardo Girardi. After doing some digging on the Enable Sysadmin site, I discovered other articles on the topic. These articles are great (and discussed in more detail below), and I discovered I could expand on some of the topics they cover. These articles inspired me to write several more pieces on creating and using hands-on learning environments. To help boost your continuing education, this article pulls together Enable Sysadmin’s resources on creating a home lab environment. # ⚓ Top_10_Red_Hat_blogs_from_2021⠀⇛ We’re all still navigating this hybrid work thing, but one thing that’s for sure is that it’s prompting us to wear more hats than we’ve ever had to. We’ve got people in system administrator and architect roles also juggling their conference call “mute monitor” hats and parenting hats—and doing it well. The Red Hat Blog is proud to have been a trusted hat rack for many households this year. We provided troubleshooting and security guides when you needed them and also had the opportunity to celebrate big milestones with you. Our readers wanted to know more about a wide range of topics—and we’re proud to have been your resource for everything from hybrid work to hybrid cloud. In this post, we invite you to take a look back at some of the most visited pages on the Red Hat Blog in 2021 (listed in no particular order). No matter what hat you’re wearing today, rest assured that Red Hat is still Red Hat. And we’re going to continue bringing you the open source goodness you love while helping you navigate where we go from here—whether that’s from home, office or your local coffee shop. # ⚓ Java,_Quarkus,_Kafka,_and_more:_The_best_of_2021_| Red_Hat_Developer⠀⇛ Red Hat Developer always puts developers at the center of what we do, and we are proud of the content we published this year on application development and support topics. Keep reading for our most popular articles on Java, Quarkus, Apache Kafka, Camel K, and more. [...] Java remains one of the most important development platforms for enterprise use. Developers are eager to learn how to use their Java code and skills to build applications in modern distributed environments. So it’s no surprise that this year’s most popular Java article was the first installment in our series on making Java programs cloud-ready, An incremental approach using Jakarta EE and MicroProfile. Part two of the series, Upgrade the legacy Java application to Jakarta EE, garnered a lot of reader interest as well. For more on this topic, check out Markus Eisele and Natale Vinto’s new book Modernizing Enterprise Java. The recent release of JDK Flight Recorder and JDK Mission Control as open source was widely welcomed in the Java developer community. Our readers were interested in how they could use their VM monitoring and analytics capabilities in their own containerized projects. Andrew Azores delivered an Introduction to Cryostat: JDK Flight Recorder for containers, while Jie Kang discussed JDK Flight Recorder support for GraalVM Native Image. # ⚓ Red_Hat_selects_the_National_Park_Foundation_as_top recipient_of_2021_U.S._corporate_holiday_donation⠀⇛ For the fourteenth year in a row, Red Hatters based in the United States took an active role in selecting a charitable organization to be the beneficiary of our U.S. corporate holiday donation. During the process, more than 140 charities were nominated, and more than 1,100 associates participated in the final vote. This year, we used a cumulative voting approach, which allowed associates to rank their top five organizations from the initial list. The National Park Foundation received the most votes and will receive a $50,000 donation that will contribute to the organization’s mission to protect these places we all share. On top of our donation to the National Park Foundation, we will also be donating an additional $50,000, which will be split between the next four charities based on associate voting. Those charities are Every Mother Counts, The Trevor Project, Code.org and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. # ⚓ Fedora_Magazine:_An_introduction_to_Fedora_Flatpaks⠀⇛ Flatpak is a distribution agnostic universal package manager leveraging bubblewrap to separate applications from the system, and OSTree to manage applications. There are multiple Flatpak repositories (remotes in Flatpak terminology), such as Flathub (the de-facto standard), GNOME Nightly, KDE and finally Fedora Flatpaks, Fedora Project’s Flatpak remote. This article explains the motivation behind Fedora Flatpaks, how to add the remote, how to use it and where to find resources. [...] Flatpak is built with the Linux desktop in mind. Application stores such as GNOME Software have the ability to install and remove Flatpak applications after you add a Flatpak remote, making it easy to manage applications. On GNOME Software, visiting an application’s page and pressing on the Source button at the top right hand side opens the list of available of sources. By default, on Fedora Linux, GNOME Software selects Fedora Linux (RPM). Fedora Linux (Flatpak), provided by Fedora Flatpaks, is available as an available source, but is not used by default. Simply select it, and then press on the “Install” button. For example, to install Firefox from Fedora Flatpaks, head over to the Firefox page on GNOME Software. Then, press on the Source button at the top right hand side. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ How_To_Charge_Your_Android_Phone_Faster_and_Safer⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_Monitor_and_Block_Ad_Trackers_on_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_Turn_Off_Wi-Fi_Calling_on_Android⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android_13_may_finally_bring_full_support_for Bluetooth_LE_Audio⠀⇛ # ⚓ PSA:_Amazon_Has_Fixed_Its_Broken_Appstore_on_Android 12⠀⇛ # ⚓ Samsung_Galaxy_S21_Series_Android_12_Update_Paused Due_to_Google_Play_Compatibility_Issues:_Report_| Technology_News⠀⇛ # ⚓ Two_insiders_say_Samsung_will_replace_Android_with Fuchsia_OS_in_a_few_years_–_PhoneArena⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # § Funding⠀➾ # ⚓ Munich-Based_Open_Source_MLOps_Framework_ZenML_Raises $2.7_Million_In_Seed_Funding⠀⇛ # § FSF⠀➾ # ⚓ Support_the_Freedom_Ladder_campaign:_Lessons_we learned_so_far_and_what’s_next⠀⇛ Free software can only be a sustainable idea if we are continuously bringing new people into the free software community. For a freer future, we need to guarantee that free software continues to be developed, that interest in it continues to grow, and that activism for its use spreads. Since most people are not taught to be aware of the technological tools that are so deeply integrated into their lives, the idea of software freedom is not one that is typically as valued as it should be, and as it would be if people understood the snowball effect that software freedom can have on our day to day lives. Software is the language of the world we live in, but unlike learning how to read, which is considered a priority in life, it is not something that is taught at a general level. Rather, the understanding of software is reserved for the “highly specialized.” With this campaign, we want to have supportive conversations about the challenges this lack of technical knowledge poses to bringing new people into the fold, and we want to accommodate the fact that most people do not step into full software freedom in the span of a single day. It takes one step at a time. And like every other climb in life, we want to help people to appreciate where they find themselves, as much as their destination. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ AMD_AOCC_3.2_Helps_Squeeze_A_Bit_More_Out_Of_Zen_3_– Phoronix⠀⇛ Released earlier this month was AMD’s AOCC 3.2 compiler based on LLVM/Clang/Flang that provides optimized support for AMD Zen processors. I’ve been running some benchmarks of AOCC 3.2 compared to prior AMD Optimizing C/C++ Compiler releases and this newest release has been helpful in squeezing a bit more out of Zen 3. # ⚓ Intel_oneAPI_Toolkits_2022_Released_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Intel has now made their oneAPI Toolkits 2022 release publicly available after announcing it earlier this quarter. Intel’s oneAPI Toolkits offers a wide assortment of open-source software components for maximizing the potential out of Intel hardware from CPUs to GPUs/XPUs. This includes packages from their oneDNN deep learning library to their Data Parallel C++ compiler, optimized Python packages like for TensorFlow and PyTorch, OpenVINO, and a lot more. It’s quite an incredible assortment of packages at this point and quite useful to developers. # ⚓ QML_Component_Design_–_KDAB⠀⇛ In a well-designed QML application, the UI is built using re-usable components, while the data and logic live in C++ based components we call controllers here. The QML part of the application uses these components (that themselves may be written in QML or C++) to build up the user interface and connect these components with the controllers. In this setup, the controllers provide the data as well as receive input from the UI. How hard can it be? # ⚓ Registry_of_pickles_for_GNU_poke⠀⇛ GNU poke allows the users to write their own descriptions of the data they want to edit or operate with. These descriptions are written in the Poke programming language, and consist on type definitions, variables, functions, pretty-printers and so on. We call ‘pickles’ to Poke source files containing definitions of types, variables, functions, etc, that conceptually apply to some definite domain. For example, elf.pk is a pickle that provides facilities to poke ELF object files. Pickles are not necessarily related to file formats: a set of functions to work with bit patterns, for example, could be implemented in a pickle bitpatterns.pk. # ⚓ 10_Most_Common_Applications_with_Elegant_Syntax_from Laravel⠀⇛ When it comes to developing powerful backends for web solutions, it is essential to choose a robust framework. Advancing technology has brought many languages and frameworks into the web application development domain, but Laravel remainsone of the preferred choices for developers. Be it creating a simple one- page website or an entire full-fledged social networking app, Laravel always assists web developers to come up with customized, feature-rich solutions. We will go through the most common web applications based on Laravel in this article. But, before moving ahead, let’s have a glance at the top benefits of this open- source PHP web framework. # § Java⠀➾ # ⚓ Mitigating_Log4Shell_and_Other_Log4j-Related Vulnerabilities⠀⇛ CISA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the cybersecurity authorities of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory in response to multiple vulnerabilities in Apache’s Log4j software library. Malicious cyber actors are actively scanning networks to potentially exploit CVE-2021-44228 (known as “Log4Shell”), CVE-2021-45046, and CVE-2021-45105 in vulnerable systems. According to public reporting, Log4Shell and CVE-2021-45046 are being actively exploited. This advisory expands on CISA’s previously published guidance, drafted in collaboration with industry members of CISA’s Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), by detailing recommended steps that vendors and organizations with information technology, operational technology/ industrial control systems, and cloud assets should take to respond to these vulnerabilities. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Why_buy_toys_if_you_can_3d_print_them?_|_Stop_at_Zona-M⠀⇛ A few days ago, a parent proudly posted on social media some photographs (not the ones you see here) of several toys he had happily, proudly 3D-printed at home for his 6-years old son. Discussion ensued. Background, in case you are wondering: this activity is relatively easy for every parent with a bit of spare skill, money, time and desk space at home. Basically, once you have the 3D printer all you have to do is download into it the design files you available, on Thingiverse and similar portals, for train sets, Duplo Playgrounds and many more toys. As I said, discussion ensued. A few of its contents may be relevant for every parent pondering the same question, so here they are. o ⚓ Unstructured_data_are_BAD_for_everybody_|_Stop_at_Zona-M⠀⇛ Materials Science is Britannica ” the study of the properties of solid materials and how those properties are determined by a material’s composition and structure.” A newsletter I just received summarizes what is required for a “True Digital Transformation” of Research and Development (R&D) activities in that crucial branch of science and engineering. To know more about that specific issue, read the full email, or the actual “Report on Materials Informatics 2022-2032”. What you need to know here is that one of the ways in which that R&D should change is essential for a positive “digital transformation” of the whole society, not just Materials Science. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ The_Dreamcast_Legacy_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ The Dreamcast is a bit of an odd beast. Coming on the heels of the unpopular Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was meant to be a simple console built with off-the-shelf parts. The PlayStation 2 was already tough competition, and ultimately the Dreamcast fell out of the public eye as the Nintendo 64 was released with incredible fanfare. In some sense, it’s a footnote in console history. But despite not achieving the success that Sega hoped for, the Dreamcast has formed a small cult following, because as we know, nothing builds a cult-like following like an untimely demise. Since its release, it has gained a reputation for being ahead of its time. It was the first console to include a modem for network play and an easy storage solution for transferring game data between consoles via the VMUs that docked in the controllers. It had innovative and classic games such as Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, Phantasy Star Online, and Shenmue. Microsoft even released a version of Windows CE with DirectX allowing developers to port PC games to the console quickly. We see our fair share of console hacks here on Hackaday, but what is the ultimate legacy of the Dreamcast? How did it come to be? What happened to it, and why did so much of Sega’s hopes ride on it? o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # ⚓ A_BIOS_Update_is_Wrecking_Select_Dell_PCs_|_Digital Trends⠀⇛ If you own a Dell PC, you might want to be a bit more careful with installing the latest system updates. According to multiple reports on social media, there’s a new BIOS version that could end up wrecking Dell Latitude 5320 and 5520 laptops, the Inspiron 5680 desktop, and even the Alienware Aurora R8. There are three specific BIOS versions that are causing issues. On the Dell Latitude 5320 and 5520, the BIOS number comes in at version 1.14.3. On the Dell Inspiron 5680, it comes in at version 2.8.0, and on the Alienware Aurora R8, it’s version 1.0.18. Based on social media accounts, after installing this BIOS version, users report that these systems are unable to boot into Windows. In some cases, users can’t even access their files and other important content. [...] On the Alienware side of things, with the Aurora R8, a user running the Ubuntu operating system on the device reports that after installing problematic BIOS, the system’s hard freezes and crashes. The system also sometimes reboots to an endless automatic repair loop. Using the recovery mode, recovery USB, and Ubuntu recovery stick does not resolve the issue. Though it has not been confirmed, this user specifically believes it could be a motherboard problem, linked to the BIOS update. # § Proprietary⠀➾ # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Security_updates_for_Wednesday⠀⇛ Security updates have been issued by CentOS (firefox, ipa, log4j, and samba), Debian (sogo, spip, and xorg- server), Fedora (jansi and log4j), Mageia (apache, apache-mod_security, kernel, kernel-linus, and x11-server), openSUSE (log4j and xorg-x11-server), Oracle (kernel, log4j, and openssl), and SUSE (libqt4 and xorg-x11-server). # ⚓ What_Is_Linux_Patch_Management_and_Why_Is_It Important?⠀⇛ Got Linux machines? Running a time- repeated patch script on each one is a dated practice. Centralized patch management across your fleet is the way forward — and it’s achievable, too. Linux comes with significant benefits as an operating system for organizations large and small. Linux machines are highly configurable and customizable, whether they’re physical or virtualized, server or client, housed on-site or elsewhere, using Ubuntu, Red Hat, or another distro. They also present significant cost savings over other operating systems such as Windows and macOS. # ⚓ 5_open_source_security_resources_from_2021_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ One of the most prevalent discussions on Opensource.com in 2021 was about the security and privacy of your own data. A noticeable theme was that your data is yours and that passwords were key to security. This year’s security authors provided helpful tips and open source tools for keeping your data and hardware secure. # ⚓ Apache_Releases_Security_Update_for_HTTP Server⠀⇛ The Apache Software Foundation has released Apache HTTP Server 2.4.52. This version addresses vulnerabilities—CVE-2021-44790 and CVE- 2021-44224—one of which may allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected system. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ US_returns_$154_Million_in_bitcoins_stolen_by_Sony employee⠀⇛ However, on December 1, following an investigation in collaboration with Japanese law enforcement authorities, the FBI seized the 3879.16242937 BTC in Ishii’s wallet after obtaining the private key, which made it possible to transfer all the bitcoins to the FBI’s bitcoin wallet. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 5145 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.22.21⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_23/12/2021:_SuperTux_0.6.3,_Pardus_21.1,_and_AWS_‘Clown_Computing’ Downtime_(Again)⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 9:36 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o ⚓ A_non-technical_Linux_user’s_tale⠀⇛ As I mentioned in many posts, my goal for this website is to bring the world of Linux closer to the ordinary computer user, who focuses on productive tasks, creative hobbies, administration or a study. I want to free Linux from the misconception of being too technical, too complicated, too user-unfriendly, and only for techies, system administrators and programmers, because that is an incorrect image that misrepresents what Linux really has to offer. I think together we can help others see that Linux is actually a great friendly platform by sharing our experiences from that real user point of view. So I am proud that today’s article is not from my hand, but splendidly written by Paul Surman, one of the readers of this website who is very enthusiastic about what Linux and open source has to offer. Paul takes us into his real user experiences with Linux from, among other things, his work as a poet. Paul takes us along on his personal journey through his Linux world, the rationale behind his choices and above all the pleasure Linux gives him on a daily basis. Enjoy his story. o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ 4_Best_Linux_Distros_for_Music_Production_to_use_in_2022_– Linux_Shout⠀⇛ Linux is always viewed as a developer-centric platform due to its immense advantageous features for development. Still, many people don’t know that it is a great operating system when it comes to exploring your creativity. If you are a music producer and want to use Linux, you are in the right place. In this article, we will explain everything about the best Linux distros for music production. Why Do We Choose Linux Distros? Linux distro is considered a good choice for any user because it offers many more benefits, DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), manipulation tools, countless image editors, etc. Users can use these distros in detail by crossing their creative limits while sitting comfortably. o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ AWS_power_failure_in_US-EAST-1_region_killed_some_hardware and_instances⠀⇛ A small group of sysadmins have a disaster recovery job on their hands, on top of Log4J fun, thanks to a power outage at Amazon Web Services’ USE1-AZ4 Availability Zone in the US-EAST-1 Region. The lack of fun kicked off at 04:35AM Pacific Time (PST – aka 12:35PM UTC) on December 22nd, when AWS noticed launch failures and networking issues for some instances in its Elastic Compute Cloud IaaS service. 26 minutes later the cloud colossus ‘fessed up to a power outage and recommended moving workloads to other parts of its cloud that were still receiving electricity. Power was restored at 05:39AM PST and AWS reported slow recovery of services, however a 6:51AM update admitted that ongoing networking issues were hampering efforts at full restoration. At the time of writing, AWS has still not fully restored networking. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Say_No_to_Node_|_Coder_Radio_445⠀⇛ We’re both impressed by Rails 7 and how an old foe got us down again. # ⚓ FLOSS_Weekly_661:_Open_Source_for_Observability_–_Computer Security,_VIZIO_Lawsuit⠀⇛ Is it a coincidence that observability is both an essential feature of open source and also a scourge of our wantonly spied lives online? Can we use the former to solve the latter? That and many other questions are discussed during FLOSS Weekly. Join Doc Searls as he is joined by co-hosts Jonathan Bennett and Simon Phipps for a year-end look at the crazy state of our connected world and discussing other topics such as the VIZIO class-action lawsuit & the Linux Tech Tips Linux challenge. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Intel’s_IWD_Wireless_Daemon_Preparing_WiFi_DPP_Support_(Wi- Fi_Easy_Connect)_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Intel’s open-source IWD modern wireless daemon that works with the likes of NetworkManager, systemd- networkd, and their own ConnMan has been preparing support for WiFi Device Provisioning Protocol (DPP). The WiFi standard’s Device Provisioning Protocol is a modern replacement to WPS (WiFi Protected Setup). DPP is more secure than WPS for pairing WiFi devices and also is designed to work better for current IoT device pairing. # ⚓ Linux_5.17_Will_Have_An_Important_Intel_P-State_Update_For Alder_Lake_Mobile_CPUs_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ Linux 5.17 will have a seemingly important fix for upcoming Intel Alder Lake mobile processors. Without this change/fix, you might not see the advertised one-core turbo frequencies being met for your processor depending upon the system and whether tuning your EPP. A change to the Intel P-State CPU frequency scaling driver is now queued up as part of the power management code destined for Linux 5.17. “There is an expectation from users that they can get frequency specified by cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq when conditions permit. But with AlderLake mobile it may not be possible,” begins the patch with this Alder Lake mobile fix. # ⚓ A_growth_year_for_upstream_kernel_contributions⠀⇛ With over 350 patches authored and nearly 200 reviewed and tested in multiple subsystems, 2021 was a great year for Linux kernel development at Collabora. In addition to the work some of us do as maintainers, reviewing and accepting patches in subsystem trees, we also contributed significantly to KernelCI, the community-led project which powers kernelci.org with automated testing for the upstream Linux kernel. Since January the team has grown with 10 new amazing joiners already contributing and making a difference. Here is a look at some of our achievements during the year. # ⚓ Digging_into_the_community’s_lore_with_lei⠀⇛ Email is often seen as a technology with a dim future; it is slow, easily faked, and buried in spam. Kids These Days want nothing to do with it, and email has lost its charm with many others as well. But many development projects are still dependent on it, and even non-developers still cope with large volumes of mail. While development forges show one possible path away from email, they are not the only one. What if new structures could be built on top of email to address some of its worst problems while keeping the good parts that many projects depend on? The “lei” system recently launched by Konstantin Ryabitsev is a hint of how such a future might look. One of the initial motivations for creating LWN, back in 1997, was to spare readers from the impossible task of keeping up with the linux-kernel mailing list. After all, that list was receiving an astounding 100 messages every day, and no rational human being would try to read such a thing. Some 24 years later, that situation has changed: linux- kernel now runs over 1,000 messages per day, and there are dozens of other busy, kernel-oriented mailing lists as well. It is easy to miss important messages while trying to follow that kind of traffic — and few developers even try. While much of the traffic that appears on any mailing list is quickly forgettable, some of it has lasting value; that means that good archives are needed. For most of the kernel project’s history, those archives did not exist. There were indeed archives for most lists, but they were scattered, of mixed reliability, difficult to search, and usually incomplete. It is only a few years ago that Ryabitsev put together lore.kernel.org to serve as a better solution to this problem. By using a search-friendly archiving system (public-inbox), building complete archives from pieces obtained from numerous sources, and archiving most kernel- oriented lists, Ryabitsev was able to create a resource that quickly became indispensable within the community. Lei (which stands for “local email interface”) comes out of the public-inbox community. It works nicely with lore, to the point that Ryabitsev refers to the whole system as “lore+lei”. The idea behind this combination is to create a new way of dealing with email that allows developers to see interesting messages without having to subscribe to an entire list. Public-inbox is built on some interesting ideas, including the use of Git to store the archive itself. The real key to its usefulness, though, is the use of Xapian to implement a fast, focused search capability. The “fast” part allows for nearly instantaneous searches within the millions of messages in the email archive; this query, for example, shows immediately that the term “dromedary” has been used exactly 30 times in all of the lists archived on lore. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_upgrade_to_Blender_3_on_Linux⠀⇛ Blender 3.0 is here! With it, 3.0 comes many excellent new features and performance improvements. If you’re an avid user of Blender, you’ll want to get this latest upgrade. Here’s how you can upgrade Blender to 3.0. # ⚓ Install_Chamilo_LMS_on_Ubuntu_20.04_–_Unixcop_the_Unix_/ Linux_the_admins_deams⠀⇛ Hello, friends. In this post, we will talk about how to install Chamilo LMS on Ubuntu 20.04. Let’s go for it. # ⚓ How_to_install_Jellyfin_Media_Player_on_Linux⠀⇛ The Jellyfin Media Player is a tool users can install on Linux to view content hosted on their Jellyfin Media Server. This program is supported on Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, OpenSUSE, and Flatpak. Here’s how to get it working on your system. # ⚓ How_to_Manage_User_Passwords_on_Linux_Machines_– JumpCloud⠀⇛ Using a password with an associated user account is the primary method of authentication in Linux and most UNIX systems. It’s one of the few authentication methods supported by the SSH protocol besides public key authentication, which requires admins to create a key pair (public and private key) to authenticate a user with a remote system. However, unlike public key authentication, passwords are prone to breaches such as brute force attacks that can be executed using automated scripts. Passwords can also be forgotten which means that users get locked out of the system. Weak and easily guessable passwords such as “Password123” can also present a security risk, and are often a consequence of password fatigue. Password management is, therefore, one of the top- of-mind tasks that any system administrator should carry out. This tutorial sheds light on some of the ways you can manage passwords on a Linux system. # ⚓ Implement_governance_on_your_Kubernetes_cluster⠀⇛ When you work with Kubernetes, it slowly becomes your production temple. You invest time and resources into developing and nurturing it, and you naturally begin looking for ways to control the Kubernetes end user in your organization. What can it do? What resources can it create? Can it label two deployments in a specific way? Which best practices should we follow? Meet OPA Gatekeeper. This article will show you how to use it to create and enforce policies and governance for your Kubernetes clusters so the resources you apply comply with that policy. [...] OPA is like a super engine. You can write all your policies in it, then execute it with each input to check whether it violates any policies and, if so, in what way. # ⚓ How_to_install_Audacity_3.1.2_on_a_Chromebook⠀⇛ Today we are looking at how to install Audacity 3.1.2 on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/ audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below. # ⚓ Linux_Shutdown_Command_[with_Examples]⠀⇛ Need to know how to shutdown your Linux system safely using command line or how to schedule shutdown at specific time? Here’s the answer! The shutdown command in Linux brings the system down in a secure way. This involves cutting the power to the main components of the system using a controlled process. The shutdown command allows you to shutdown the system immediately, or schedule a shutdown using 24 hour format. When the shutdown is initiated, all logged-in users and processes are notified that the system is going down by the signal SIGTERM. In addition to, no further logins are allowed. # ⚓ Upgrade_Linux_Kernel_of_CentOS_8_–_Unixcop_the_Unix_/_Linux the_admins_deams⠀⇛ Kernel is the most important component of any Linux OS. A linux kernel works as an interpreter or mediator between computer hardware and software processes. # ⚓ Understand_Access_Control_Lists_for_CentOS_8_–_Unixcop_the Unix_/_Linux_the_admins_deams⠀⇛ Access Control Lists (ACL) provides flexible permission mechanism for file system. ACL assists with file permission, it allows to give permissions for any user or group to any directory or file. Using ACL you can also give required access to a user which is not a member of a group. Basically we can ACL to make a flexible permission mechanism in linux. # ⚓ How_to_install_Gimp_3_Beta_on_Elementary_OS_6.0_– Invidious⠀⇛ In this video, we are looking at how to install Gimp 3 Beta on Elementary OS 6.0. # ⚓ Apply_a_command_on_files_with_different_names_Using_mkdir⠀⇛ # ⚓ Share_a_file_quickly_using_a_python_web_server_Using_cd⠀⇛ # ⚓ Find_failures_with_journalctl_Using_sort,_uniq⠀⇛ # ⚓ Monitor_memory_without_top_or_htop_Using_watch⠀⇛ # ⚓ Display_disk_partition_sizes⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_set_up_dual_monitors_on_your_desktop_PC_–_Android Authority⠀⇛ When you connect a second monitor to your Ubuntu Linux computer, your system should pick it up on its own. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux_Has_Grown_Into_A_Viable_PC_Gaming_Platform_And_The Steam_Stats_Prove_It_|_HotHardware⠀⇛ When was the last time you tried using Linux as a desktop OS? Sure, some high-profile YouTubers have been having a lot of trouble recently, but they’re trying to make a point out of love. For enthusiasts, the transition from Windows is surprisingly smooth these days, and on the vast majority of consumer PC hardware, Linux pretty much “just works.” That even includes PC gaming, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of contributors to open-source software. At the forefront of this movement is Valve and its Proton translation layer, itself built on the backs of numerous open-source projects including Wine and dxvk. The project maintains a site called ProtonDB that is a compatibility database of (primarily Windows) PC games indicating how seamlessly the game works on Proton. Going over ProtonDB, a surprising 74 of the top 100 most-played games on Steam are in “Gold” or “Platinum” status. The former indicates that the game works flawlessly with minor tweaks, and the latter means the game should work “out of the box” with no modifications. A further 10 games are in “Silver” status, which implies that the game is playable with minor issues. Just four games are in “Bronze” status indicating more major issues, while twelve of the top 100 games are in “Borked” status, meaning they don’t work at all. # ⚓ SuperTux_|_SuperTux_0.6.3⠀⇛ The SuperTux team is excited to announce the release of SuperTux 0.6.3 after approximately 1.5 years of development. This release introduces many new features; perhaps the most new features in a long time! # ⚓ SuperTux_0.6.3_Brings_In-Game_Improvements,_WebAssembly Support⠀⇛ Well known open-source video game SuperTux that is inspired by Super Mario Bros is out with its first release in one and a half years for the Tux-themed platform game. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ GNOME’s_Wayland_Session_Shows_Potential_For_Better Battery_Life_Than_With_X.Org_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ While not talked about as much as raw performance and other factors, but in the recent testing of the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen2 laptop with AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U, it was observed that the GNOME Wayland session by default on Ubuntu 21.10 is delivering better battery life / lower power consumption than using the GNOME X.Org session. For those curious about Wayland vs. X.Org for mobile computing, the GNOME Wayland session is reliably having around up to a ~3 Watt power saving on battery with Radeon graphics at least compared to the traditional X.Org session with all of that crusty code running. o § Distributions⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux_for_the_Paranoid_Does_the_Work_for_You⠀⇛ The distribution is based on Ubuntu, so all the familiar tools are there. There are also a few security and privacy tools included like KeePass, Tox, OnionShare, i2p, and more. The desktop shows a summary of secure network information Do you need Kodachi? Probably not, if you are a Linux guru. Plus, most people aren’t doing anything that’s that interesting. But if you want to protect your privacy or you are up to something, give Kodachi a try. Then again, if you are that paranoid, maybe that’s just what THEY want you to do. Make your own decisions. You can also check out the video review from [eBuzz Central] below. # § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ Pardus_21.1_Sürümü_Yayımlandı [Ed: Pardus 21.1 released]⠀⇛ # § Gentoo Family⠀➾ # ⚓ OSS_News:_Learn_More_Linux,_More_Zen_for_ML,_Desktop Linux_New_and_Old⠀⇛ The Gentoo-based Calculate Linux distribution — made in Russia — on Dec. 8 was updated to version 22; a major release that brings several new features and updated components. It is an impressively different Linux operating system. This is a distribution designed with home and SMB users in mind. Calculate is particularly appealing to small businesses that want a rock-solid system with the flexibility to meet a variety of needs. It is optimized for rapid deployment in corporate environments. Calculate is old-computer friendly. It lets users optimize systems to match their hardware to best fit their needs and can be an inviting computing option for consumers with Linux know-how. Calculate is not difficult to use. Though it is a bit different under the hood, especially in how its package management system works. Calculate Linux 22 offers a switch to PipeWire as the default sound server instead of PulseAudio. It also offers a former default option of ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture). This latest version installs the system once and lets you update when needed. You can even update from a new image system while still running the current one. This is a great option to ward off upgrade surprises. # § SUSE/OpenSUSE⠀➾ # ⚓ openSUSE_Board_Election_2021_happening_right_now⠀⇛ The election was announced on the project mailing list on the 1st of November 2021. The current Election Committee is composed of Ariez Vachha, Mohammad Edwin Zakaria and myself. This election is required to fill two seats on the openSUSE Board, as the term for Simon Lees and Vinzenz Vietzke are coming to an end. # § Arch Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Jesus_would_likely_be_a_Linux_user,_so_install Manjaro_21.2_‘Qonos’_to_celebrate_Christmas⠀⇛ Christmas is just a few days away now, and I am definitely not in a great mood for the special holiday. Like many of you, I am depressed about this new Omicron variant of COVID-19 running rampant. Sadly, we all may have to lock ourselves down once again, staying in our homes while waving goodbye to visiting family and going to restaurants. This is not the Christmas I was envisioning just last week. Sigh. Thankfully, there is a way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ without leaving the house — installing a Linux distribution! Look, I can’t prove it, but I’d like to think Jesus would be a fan of both Linux and open source software. If he returned to Earth tomorrow, I think he would be more likely to use the Arch-based Manjaro than Windows 11. And so, if you are forced to stay indoors this Christmas weekend, I highly recommend trying out the all-new Manjaro 21.2 operating system. Code-named “Qonos,” the distribution becomes available for download today. The distro can be had with your choice of three desktop environments — GNOME (41.2), KDE Plasma (5.23), and Xfce (4.16). Manjaro 21.2 ships with Linux kernel 5.15 LTS by default, but 5.4 LTS and 5.10 LTS are available too. You can read more about the changes in version 21.2 here. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ Adding_fs-verity_support_for_Fedora_36?⠀⇛ Fs-verity is a kernel feature that is supported by some filesystems; it provides a way to ensure that the contents of a file cannot change on disk. It revolves around a Merkle tree that is created for each file being protected; the tree contains hashes of each data block in the file. When a file is protected by fs-verity, it is marked as read- only and every read operation checks that the block read matches the value stored in the tree; the operation fails if there is no match. In addition, the tree itself can be cryptographically signed to ensure that nothing has been changed underneath the filesystem by, say, accessing the raw block device or image file. Fedora program manager Ben Cotton posted the Fedora change proposal to add fs-verity support on behalf of the feature owners: Davide Cavalca, Boris Burkov, Filipe Brandenburger, Michel Alexandre Salim, and Matthew Almond. There are several elements to the plan. To start with, the Koji build system needs to be able to create and sign the Merkle tree for each file that gets shipped in the RPM package. The tree itself is not added to the RPM package, just the signed top-level hash for each file. On the other end, an optional fs-verity RPM plugin would install the Fedora key and enable fs-verity for each file it installs. The filesystem would then recreate the Merkle tree, check it against the signature in the RPM metadata, and store the tree with the file. After that, each access to the file will be checked against the tree, which means that various kinds of operations (e.g. read (), mmap(), execve(), etc.) will only proceed if the data blocks on disk have not changed. The proposal mainly focuses on the build side of the equation: “Specifically, installing and enabling the fs-verity rpm plugin by default is explicitly considered out of scope here.” The overhead of creating the Merkle tree at installation time did not “appear to meaningfully slow down package installs during empirical testing”, but there is some (unspecified) cost of creating the tree for every Koji build, of course. The Merkle tree is only stored if the RPM fs-verity plugin is enabled and adds roughly 1/127th (0.8%) to the size of the installed file. All RPMs would get additional metadata, in the form of signatures, if the proposal is adopted, but even that is fairly negligible: “in the vast majority of cases we expect to see minimal to no size increase thanks to RPM header packing”. # § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Ubuntu_Blog:_A_look_forward_to_storage_in_2022⠀⇛ More and more data is being created every day. It truly is non-stop. In 2021 alone, it was predicted that enterprise storage vendors would ship almost 150 Exabytes in capacity, and this number is only expected to increase again in 2022! We now see 20TB hard drives on the market to help with these needs, but we have to remain vigilant when building storage clusters, as the access speed of these drives hasn’t really changed at all over the last few years. In failure scenarios, where we have to recreate replicas or erasure-coded shards of data, it can take many many hours with drives of such high capacity. So the rule of thumb remains the same: a larger number of smaller drives leads to a more predictable system for any amount of capacity. Of course, you do have to remain pragmatic to balance capacity needs with the cost of increasing the number of spindles. [...] Open source storage solutions such as Ceph can readily help solve for the growth and scaling challenges seen across the industry. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ UPS_HAT_For_Raspberry_Pi_offers_real-time_monitoring⠀⇛ SB Components has won KS funding for a $31 and up “UPS HAT For Raspberry Pi” with slots for dual 18650 Li-Ion batteries plus dual 5V micro-USB inputs, 8.4V 2A charging, a 0.91 OLED display, and real-time monitoring. SB Components, which has launched Raspberry Pi add- ons such as the PiRelay 8, has gone to Kickstarter to fund a UPS HAT For Raspberry Pi. The Uninterruptible Power Supply HAT provides backup power during outages using a battery pack of dual, BYO 18650 Li-Ion batteries. The HAT “allows for the safe, orderly shutdown of a computer and connected equipment,” says SB Components. # ⚓ ESP32_UWB_board_features_DW1000_module_for_accurate_indoor positioning_–_CNX_Software⠀⇛ FiRa “Fine Ranging” UWB technology was introduced a few years ago and is now found in devkits and Apple U1 chip. Makerfabs ESP32 UWB board provides another option with Espressif ESP32-WROVER-32 or ESP32- WROOM-32 WiFi & Bluetooth module combined with a Decawave DW1000 module for precision tracking. Makerfabs explains the board acts like a continuously scanning radar that locks onto another device (called Anchor, since it’s usually in a fixed location) and communicates with it to determine the distance between objects by calculating the time of flight (ToF) between devices, or in other words, the roundtrip time of challenge/response packets. # ⚓ MYIR_introduces_i.MX_8M_Plus_module_and_devkit_with_AI/ML capabilities_–_CNX_Software⠀⇛ There are already plenty of i.MX 8M Plus systems- on-module, but here’s one more courtesy of MYIR Tech with MYC-JX8MPQ i.MX 8M Plus module with as well as MYD-JX8MPQ development board for evaluating the solution. The module is especially well suited to applications leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) with the NXP Cortex- A53/M7 integrating a 2.3 TOPS Neural Processing Unit (NPU). The module comes with up to 6GB LPDDR4, 128GB eMMC flash, 32MB QSPI flash, a PMIC for power management, as well as a 314-pin MXM 3.0 connector exposing the I/Os from the processor. # § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ LDC_Display_and_Arduino_Uno:_I2C_Liquid_Crystal wiring_and_code_–_peppe8o⠀⇛ Using a display is a common need to have data visualization for projects including mobile screen. I2C 16X2 Liquid Crystal Character LCD Display is one of most used device and can be interfaced to Arduino Uno by using Arduino IDE In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to connect and use an LCD Display with Arduino Uno. # ⚓ ThingsBoard_and_Raspberry_PI:_getting_a_Professional IoT_dashboard_–_peppe8o⠀⇛ IoT devices can collect a lot of environment data that you have to manage, rearrange and show. ThingsBoard on Raspberry PI lets you create amazing dashboards getting data from a wide number of devices In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to install ThingsBoard on Raspberry PI computer boards. # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ ‘Panlingual’_feature_for_per-app_language_settings planned_for_Android_13⠀⇛ # ⚓ Xiaomi_to_upgrade_20_devices_to_MIUI_13_and_Android 12_outside_China_in_initial_upgrade_rollout_– NotebookCheck.net_News⠀⇛ # ⚓ Motorola_reveals_Android_12_update_list_and_release date_–_PhoneArena⠀⇛ # ⚓ One_excellent_Android_12_feature_Samsung_could_have made_even_better_–_SamMobile⠀⇛ # ⚓ Google_wants_developers_to_know_that_more_people_are using_Android_apps_on_Chromebooks⠀⇛ # ⚓ Vivaldi_launches_the_first_Android_Automotive_web browser_–_9to5Google⠀⇛ # ⚓ Nokia_T20_review:_Basic_but_simultaneously_brilliant_ [Video]_–_9to5Google⠀⇛ o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # ⚓ Top_10_Stories_About_Compute_Engines,_Linux_in_2021_|_ITPro Today:_IT_News,_How-Tos,_Trends,_Case_Studies,_Career_Tips, More⠀⇛ Compute engines saw notable developments, particularly around Linux, in 2021. Review ITPro Today’s top 10 articles on the topic. # ⚓ GoTestWAF:_Open-source_project_for_evaluating_web application_security_solutions⠀⇛ GoTestWAF is a tool for API and OWASP attack simulation that supports a wide range of API protocols including REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSockets, SOAP, XMLRPC, etc. It was designed to evaluate web application security solutions, such as API security proxies, web application firewalls, IPS, API gateways, and others. # ⚓ Apache_Kafka_Gains_Adoption_as_Streaming_Data_Grows⠀⇛ Apache Kafka is a distributed event-streaming platform that enables companies to monitor and manage real time data feeds. This open source software launched in 2011, following its initial development by LinkedIn, and evolved into a real- time event-streaming platform by 2015. Kafka is not the only event-streaming technology; it competes in the marketplace with Amazon Kinesis. But Kafka has gained solid marketshare, and is the basis for multiple implementations, including Red Hat AMQ Streams. # ⚓ CodeSee:_Why_we_support_the_OSI⠀⇛ CodeSee offers a developer tool called Maps, built to help developers and teams visually understand codebases. Maps are auto-syncing code diagrams, with features designed to drive collaboration, improve code reviews, reduce onboarding friction, and more. In September 2021, CodeSee launched OSS Port—a space for open source project maintainers and contributors to connect and collaborate, with the ability to use CodeSee Maps to easily onboard new developers and guide code reviews. Maps is forever-free to use on open source projects. # § Web Browsers⠀➾ # § Mozilla⠀➾ # ⚓ Need_a_Thunderbird_Tray_Icon_on_Ubuntu?_Try BirdTray_–_OMG!_Ubuntu!⠀⇛ Thunderbird is Ubuntu’s default e-mail client but it’s not the most well integrated of tools — at least, not by default. For instance, some Linux apps (e.g., Telegram) show an unread count on the Ubuntu dock while the app is running. This makes it easy to see, for instance, how many unread messages you have. Thunderbird doesn’t do this. But this is open source software, so you’re not out of options. One way to keep tabs on new mail as it arrives in Thunderbird is to install the BirdTray tool. BirdTray is free, open source software that’s available to install straight from the Ubuntu repos (though it’s also available on Flathub, if you’d rather). # ⚓ Will_Kahn-Greene_on_Socorro_Engineering:_2021 retrospective⠀⇛ 2020h1 was rough and 2020h2 was not to be outdone. 2021h1 was worse in a lot of ways, but I got really lucky and a bunch of things happened that made 2021h2 much better. I’ll talk a bit more about that towards the end. But this post isn’t about stymying the corrosion of multi-year burnout–it’s a dizzying retrospective of Socorro engineering in 2021. # § SaaS/Back End/Databases⠀➾ # ⚓ PostgreSQL:_Database_Lab_Engine_3.0:_UI,_persistent clones,_PostgreSQL_14,_more⠀⇛ The Postgres.ai team is happy to announce the release of version 3.0 of Database Lab Engine (DLE), the most advanced open-source software ever released that empowers development, testing, and troubleshooting environments for fast-growing projects. The use of Database Lab Engine 3.0 provides a competitive advantage to companies via implementing the “Shift-left testing” approach in software development. Database Lab Engine is an open-source technology that enables thin cloning for PostgreSQL. Thin clones are exceptionally useful when you need to scale the development process. DLE can manage dozens of independent clones of your database on a single machine, so each engineer or automation process works with their very own database provisioned in seconds without extra costs. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ GNU_Parallel_–_News:_GNU_Parallel_20211222_ (‘Støjberg’)_released_[stable]_h⠀⇛ GNU Parallel 20211222 (‘Støjberg’) [stable] has been released. It is available for download at: lbry://@GnuParallel:4 No new functionality was introduced so this is a good candidate for a stable release. # ⚓ Stochastic_bisection_in_Git_[LWN.net]⠀⇛ Regressions are no fun; among other things, finding the source of a regression among thousands of changes can be a needle-in-the- haystack sort of problem. The git bisect command can help; it is a (relatively) easy way to sift through large numbers of commits to find the one that introduces a regression. When it works well, it can quickly point out the change that causes a specific problem. Bisection is not a perfect tool, though; it can go badly wrong in situations where a bug cannot be reliably reproduced. In an attempt to make bisection more useful in such cases, Jan Kara is proposing to add “stochastic bisection” support to Git. Bisection looks for problem commits using a binary search. The developer identifies the latest known good commit with git bisect good and the earliest known commit showing the bug with git bisect bad. Git will then find a commit near the midpoint between the two, check out that commit, and wait for the developer to try to reproduce the bug. Another git bisect command is used to mark the commit as “good” or “bad”, and the process repeats, dividing the range of commits in half each time, until only one commit remains. That commit must be the one that introduced the bug in question. This technique can be powerful. A bug introduced in a 12,000-commit kernel merge window can be narrowed to a single commit in 14 bisect cycles, which makes the process of finding the actual bug much easier. But it works less well when dealing with bugs that are difficult to reproduce and which, thus, may not manifest in any given testing cycle. A 14-step bisection is 14 opportunities for the developer to provide an incorrect result, and it only takes one such to throw the entire process off. It is not uncommon to see nonsensical bisection results posted to mailing lists; they are often caused by just this kind of problem. # ⚓ Linux:_Linker-Alternative_Mold_wants_to_be_faster than_GNU_Gold_and_LLVM’s_lld [Ed: Automated translation]⠀⇛ lld developer Rui Ueyama has released Mold 1.0, a new linker alternative to GNUs Gold and LLVM’s lld. With version 1.0, a software project is generally considered stable and can be used without hesitation. Mold currently runs on Linux systems, support for macOS and Windows is planned. Faster thanks to faster algorithms LLVM is a compiler architecture that is used in Linux and FreeBSD, among others. LLVM lld is an alternative to the GNU tools ld and gold. Die Linker-Alternative Mold (English for “Schimmel”, der is recognizable in the logo) does not offer any new linker functions compared to lld or gold, but it should be noticeably faster. # § Perl/Raku⠀➾ # ⚓ Day_23_–_The_Life_of_Raku_Module_Authoring_– Raku_Advent_Calendar⠀⇛ Hello, world! This article is a lot about fez and how you can get started writing your first module and making it available to other users. Presuming you have rakudo and zef installed, install fez! # ⚓ Perl_Weekly_Challenge_144:_Semiprimes_and_Ulam Sequence⠀⇛ # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Wrangling_the_typing_PEPs_[LWN.net]⠀⇛ When last we looked in on the great typing PEP debate for Python, back in August, two PEPs were still being discussed as alternatives for handling annotations in the language. The steering council was considering the issue after deferring on a decision for the Python 3.10 release, but the question has been deferred again for Python 3.11. More study is needed and the council is looking for help from the Python community to guide its decision. In the meantime, though, discussion about the deferral has led to the understanding that annotations are not a general-purpose feature, but are only meant for typing information. In addition, there is a growing realization that typing information is effectively becoming mandatory for Python libraries. # § Java⠀➾ # ⚓ Log4Shell_enumeration,_mitigation_and_attack detection_tool⠀⇛ This Endpoint Assessment Tool can enumerate potentially vulnerable systems, detect intrusion attempts, and inoculate Windows systems against Log4j attacks. On December 10, a serious zero-day vulnerability in the Apache Log4j logging framework was disclosed. The bug, which allows malicious actors to exploit vulnerable systems remotely, has been given the highest severity score, and governments globally have issued alerts. Datto packaged quality contributions from the security community into an MSP-friendly form and released two different versions of an Endpoint Assessment Tool to help MSPs detect and respond to potential exploitations. “From a community defense perspective, we want to make effective response tools broadly available to help every MSP in the channel to become more secure and to withstand cyber attacks. It is a chief priority at this time to encourage all MSPs to take advantage of the tools we’ve made available in Datto RMM and on GitHub to protect themselves and their clients. RMMs offer a key systems inventory and response capability that makes it easy to view, manage, and secure your endpoints during critical events,” said Ryan Weeks, Chief Information Security Officer at Datto. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Contrarian_Argument:_Let_the_Kids_Have_Their_Screen_Time⠀⇛ Over the weekend, I finally watched a movie I was really curious to see, the HBO Max original 8-Bit Christmas. I mean, obviously, just looking at the thing, it was clear what it was going to be before you even watched it—a film that tapped at your latent nostalgia and tried to convince you that A Christmas Story needed to be updated for the Nintendo era. It is by no means going to sweep the Oscars. (Give Steve Zahn his due, Academy!) But at the same time, I appreciated what it was trying to do. I will say that a common thread of the film played out like this: parents were way too freaked out at the idea of kids being overly attached to technology, a common thread even today. And that made me think about something: Where’s the counter-narrative, the person going rah-rah, tech is awesome, you should let your kids embrace technology more? I can be that guy—and I shall. Today’s Tedium, just in time for the holiday season, argues in favor of tech-friendly toys. [...] Whether it’s “You’ll shoot your eye out,” or “you’ve been on your phone for too long,” there is a long tradition of adults jumping on the decision-making of children who are simply trying to engage with the things that interest them. And back in the day, before these wafers of Gorilla Glass and silicon danced through their heads, one of the things that interested kids deeply were the novel capabilities of mechanical toys, which often baked in inventive ways of using machinery to produce a clever result. (Think a jack-in-the-box, sort of the prototypical mechanical toy.) Now, I don’t know about you, but seeing a few gears team up to create a result that literally can play music or move around the house sounds like a deeply inspiring thing as a young child, and there were some folks in this category who felt the same. A 1929 story in Popular Mechanics by Arthur Abelli attempted to make the case that certain toys often played direct inspirations to how popular inventors of the time, such as Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers, eventually came about their inventions. Toy-maker Ferdinand Strauss, quoted in the piece, certainly emphasized that this was his goal. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ As_Geeky_as_it_gets_–_FloppyDrives_make_Music⠀⇛ # ⚓ Laser_Sees_Through_Keyhole_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ Those guys at Stanford must be watching a lot of James Bond movies. Their latest invention is a laser that can image an entire room through a keyhole. We imagine that will show up in a number of spy movies real soon now. You can see the code or watch the video below. The technique is called NLOS or non-line-of-sight imaging. Previous approaches require scanning a large area to find indirect light from hidden objects. This new approach uses a laser to find objects that are moving. The indirect data changes based on the movement and an algorithm can reverse the measurements to determine the characteristics of the object. If you are worried about the neighborhood peeping Tom, you can probably relax. The recovered images are amazing, but not particularly high-quality. Still, considering they were made indirectly, they are great, but you are not going to make out fine details. As you might expect, the work is computationally intensive. The GitHub repository has Python code as well as data you can use if you don’t want to build your own laser setup. You can use CUDA to speed up the computations if you have a GPU with enough memory. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ You_Can_3D_Print_A_Working_Reciprocating_Steam_Engine_| Hackaday⠀⇛ 3D prints aren’t typically known for their heat resistance. However, [Integza] noted that using the right techniques, it was possible to 3D print parts that could handle steam heat without failing. Thus, the natural progression from there was to build a piston-type steam engine. # ⚓ Shake_With_Your_New_Robot_Hand_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ Korean researchers have created a very realistic and capable robot hand that looks very promising. It is strong (34N of grip strength) and reasonably lightweight (1.1 kg), too. There are several videos of the hand in action, of which you can see two of them below including one where the hand uses scissors to cut some paper. You can also read the full paper for details. Like many good projects, this one started with requirements. The team surveyed existing hands noting the positives and negatives of each design. They then listed the attributes they wanted in a new design. The 22 cm hand has 4 fingers, a thumb, and sensors on each fingertip. Overall, there are 20 joints resulting in 15 degrees of freedom so the hand is very dexterous. The construction looks taxing with eccentric motors, ball screws, and linkages. However, the hand is self-contained and ready to mount on any robot arm. # ⚓ Frame_Antenna_Works_The_Low_Bands_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ The lower the frequency of radio transmission, the more antenna that will be needed in general. [OM0ET] wanted to work the 80M to 20M ham bands and decided to turn to a frame antenna. You can see the project in the video below. The antenna looks a lot like a magnetic loop antenna. The one in the video has seven loops forming a 520mm square. The loop is, of course, an inductor and by removing some insulation, the operator can clip a lead at different points to control the inductance. A variable capacitor resonates the antenna, so there is definitely tuning required. # ⚓ Stencil_Vacuum-Assist_Helps_Avoid_The_Heartbreak_Of_Smeared Solder_Paste_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ While using a stencil should make solder paste application onto PCBs a simple affair, there are a number of “gotchas” that make it more art than science. Luckily, there are tools you can build, like this 3D-printed vacuum-assist stencil jig, that take a little of the finesse out of the process. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, solder paste stencils are often used to make the job of applying just the right amount of solder paste onto the pads of a PCB, and only on the pads. The problem is that once the solder paste has been squeegeed through the holes in the stencil, it’s not easy to remove the stencil without smearing. [Marius Heier]’s stencil box is essentially a chamber that attaches to a shop vac, along with a two-piece perforated work surface. The center part of the top platform is fixed, while the outer section moves up and down on 3D-printed springs. In use, the PCB is placed on the center fixed platform, while the stencil sits atop it. Suction pulls the stencil firmly down onto the PCB and holds it there while the solder paste is applied. Releasing the suction causes the outer section of the platform to spring up vertically, resulting in nice, neat solder-covered pads. [Marius] demonstrates the box in the video below, and shows a number of adapters that would make it work with different sized PCBs. o § Materials⠀➾ # ⚓ Turbocharger_Jet_Engine_Relies_On_Wood_Pellet_Ignition_| Hackaday⠀⇛ Turbochargers as used on cars bear some similarities with jet engines. Fundamentally, both contain a turbine that harvests energy from hot gas, using it to spin a compressor which sucks in fresh air for combustion. Thus, turning a turbocharger into a jet engine is entirely possible, and [HRom] decided to have a crack at it. The build starts with a turbo that appears to have been used on a diesel engine from the Volkswagen group. The first step was to cut the integral exhaust manifold off the turbo housing. A combustion chamber is then added which takes in fresh air from the compressor housing, and delivers hot combustion products to the turbine inlet. The homebrewed jet engine burns propane as fuel, introduced into the chamber via a nozzle. The initial test failed as combustion was occurring at the turbine exhaust rather than in the combustion chamber, likely due to the lack of a proper ignition source inside the combustion chamber. A redesign employed a bigger combustion chamber built out of a fire extinguisher, with smouldering wood pellets inserted inside to get the injected propane burning. # ⚓ How_To_Forge_A_Skillet_From_Scratch_|_Hackaday⠀⇛ Cookware isn’t something we typically build ourselves; you’d want a well-equipped metal shop to do the job and do it right. [Torbjörn Åhman] has just that, however, and set about forging a stout- looking skillet from scratch. The build starts with a round disc of steel serving as a blank for the project. The blank is spun up and the outer perimeter ground down thinner with an angle grinder in what looks like a moderately sketchy operation. A forge is then used to heat the blank so that it can be shaped into a pan using a hammer. Slowly, as the metal is beaten one way and then t’other, the skillet begins to form. A belt sander takes off high points on the outside, and a torch is then used to square up the base of the pan so it sits nicely. Finally a handle attached with some stout rivets, and the newly formed piece of cookware gets a seasoning with sunflower oil. # ⚓ Tech_In_Plain_Sight:_Primitive_Engineering_Materials_| Hackaday⠀⇛ It isn’t an uncommon science fiction trope for our hero to be in a situation where there is no technology. Maybe she’s back in the past or on a faraway planet. The Professor from Gilligan’s Island comes to mind, too. I’d bet the average Hacakday reader could do pretty well in that kind of situation, but there’s one thing that’s often overlooked: materials. Sure, you can build a radio. But can you make wire? Or metal plates for a capacitor? Or a speaker? We tend to overlook how many abstractions we use when we build. Even turning trees into lumber isn’t a totally obvious process. People are by their very nature always looking for ways to use the things around them. Even 300,000 years ago, people would find rocks and use them as tools. It wasn’t long before they found that some rocks could shape other rocks to form useful shapes like axes. But the age of engineered materials is much younger. Whether clay, metal, glass, or more obviously plastics, these materials are significantly more useful than rocks tied to sticks, but making them in the first place is an engineering story all on its own. o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # § Proprietary⠀➾ # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Audio_bugging_with_the_Fisher_Price_Chatter Bluetooth_Telephone_|_Pen_Test_Partners⠀⇛ The Fisher Price Chatter Bluetooth Telephone is a reincarnation of a familiar kids toy. It acts as a Bluetooth headset, so the user can connect their smartphone to it and take calls using the kids phone handset. Cute! Unfortunately, little to no consideration has been given to privacy and security, resulting in it becoming an audio bug in some circumstances. [...] Fisher Price released their Bluetooth Chatter Telephone to much fanfare. I’ll be honest – I quite want one too! It brings back memories of my childhood. The phone is currently only available from Best Buy in the USA and promptly sold out. We had a chat with Zack Whittaker of Tech Crunch, a lovely Brit based in NYC, who ordered one on our behalf. About 6 weeks later the phone arrived with him, so we worked through a test plan together. In the meantime, we went hunting for the Bluetooth specs and instruction manuals. The FCC filings are here: https:// fccid.io/PIYHGJ69-21A5T though most of the entries were at the time still confidential. Our work on My Friend Cayla some years ago showed a very similar issue. An attacker within Bluetooth range could simply connect a Bluetooth audio device (e.g. a smartphone) with no further security challenges and listen to the dolls microphone, or speak through its speaker to a child playing with the doll. This led to widespread concern from consumer protection groups such as Forbrukerrådet (the Norwegian Consumer Council) and product bans across multiple countries, led by Germany’s Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). # ⚓ Blocking_straight-line_speculation_—_eventually [LWN.net]⠀⇛ On its face, this code is safe; it will only attempt to index into obj->array if the given offset is within bounds. A CPU running this code, though, may be unable to fetch obj->array_length from cache, meaning that it will have to wait for that value to come from memory. Rather than do nothing, the CPU can make a guess as to how the comparison will turn out and continue execution in a speculative mode; it may guess wrong and index obj->array with an out-of-bounds offset. Again, this shouldn’t be a problem; once the array length shows up and it becomes clear that the branch was not correctly predicted, the speculative work will be thrown away. The problem, of course, is that this speculative execution can leave traces elsewhere in the system (most often the memory caches) that can be used to exfiltrate data that an attacker would otherwise be unable to access. In the worst cases, Spectre vulnerabilities can be used to attack the kernel or to carry out attacks between virtual machines running on the same physical host. They are a real threat, which is why numerous mitigations have been adopted to thwart these attacks despite a high performance cost. Straight-line speculation, which was initially disclosed in this white paper from Arm, differs in that it does not depend on erroneous branch prediction; indeed, no conditional branches are involved at all. Instead, it takes advantage of some strange behavior around unconditional control-flow changes. There are a lot of instructions that will result in a change to the program counter; on Arm, these include instructions that generate exceptions, but also unconditional direct branches and the RET instruction to return from a function call. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ What_Is_Doxxing?⠀⇛ To dox someone means to release their personal or private information that may prove harmful or embarrassing. This can happen in the real world, but the internet has made it easier both to find and release this information to a wide audience. Doxxing may reveal someone’s personal information like their home address or workplace, social security or phone number, private correspondence or pictures, criminal history, IP address, or other details. Some people fail to realize that information they share on social media or other sites may be “scraped” and used against them, potentially opening themselves up to unwelcome public disclosure, identity theft, cyberbullying, stalking, or threats to their personal safety. [...] Sometimes doxxing results from information that’s available to anyone who knows where to look. This can include government records, real estate transactions, news articles, and personal data that people make public themselves on social media. If you operate a website, there may be a public record in the WHOIS database. Doxers can also find a range of personal information about you from “data brokers,” commercial operators who scour online and offline sources to create profiles, sometimes offering reverse mobile phone lookup information. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 6893 ➮ Generation completed at 02:41, i.e. 38 seconds to (re)generate ⟲