𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Friday, February 03, 2023 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Sat 4 Feb 02:41:28 GMT 2023 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/2023/02/03/ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmbknBr8z72ETqFBT4rXhL1uPfXcKUcbpKNDsm6M8BcGQp QmYwA15DJvceb5pYgucvtCx6GuFr8yN7evTrenHeXn7zaa QmNULmyq8QcsE4QJxL5yBQTXMrd1mVusn37zbv7JEoPMNr QmThRRMSiG4d7sdvoDHkbadXpGHRSSHkbwtsGvLPbspyur QmaDZvshtCDhP46R6pesPCQho7F8zSFcXbxsuDiaeB2TKS QmfUdRqNSCSboGLECVPE1C1hKCce8KKuEQUVnW4P3yMZTp QmVAMsNB9rDRDMd5dTdT7FWjucNPbV9Sf85GWD1sK6JS1s QmYZB5opwBt7v72uzq6K2EZ6sWM5oV79wVzFdq8kThb4wf QmZvsSxYDJgp5bsLr3MEwXHCgAm1aYMF8K8hPKiYkSAUX4 QmUDQpqfCd54yZUtVTP1MS4ftSbFYX5pxJd6EiK22w7vVD QmRheVwyBoWpNZy7SeG2521qpyibe47XJkYUj8i1DqEaBf QmTbEVdKr9BDpRERsQf4pzrxBWAxqYjWiz4D7tHPWP23Xr QmTzU5jib61mC1u41k5rv8ogSts3JaWyjewoajVPD5g57m QmVtrAasZaunyUmUK2Ux1CtNtbdMWCLBTYQzmeLrKKykBg QmYV3WS2gpVGuPpGL214RmMcjMk45cBmmXgM7VBxCDEv4H QmamtVaJ1jkVqwTRHeheoiVfr7r3ijZpHVWct6WE9FvhVN QmbFDooXZn997QjZY3cCKWM82PnZJjTTiaSSMufBXjiNXP QmXU8EhJFQRtv8o2V6scWUz5kebeKRmyZa6mEimNyZLPtm Qmb399zeJfbfeD2xUcMf2JDeQPEXQZXKB4r2KNpE2YN16j QmVaSG1ALmtpgw3bqUgN2o37FRRRvK92JA5SKGzkigi5Qg QmXe8bt58f7QFPCzPjfHLJEDufxCy9LYEr1x5WRuwvvwxd ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ The Collapse of Sirius in a Nutshell: How to Identify the Symptoms and Decide When to Leave | Techrights ⦿ Sirius Finished | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2023/02/03/collapse-of-sirius/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/02/03/to-quote-final-letter/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2023/02/03/gnu-c-library-2-37/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/02/03/openssh-9-2/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/02/03/scummvm-2-7-testing/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 52 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/03/collapse-of-sirius/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/03/collapse-of-sirius/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.03.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ The_Collapse_of_Sirius_in_a_Nutshell:_How_to_Identify_the_Symptoms_and_Decide When_to_Leave⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Free/Libre_Software at 1:49 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇SiriUS_no_more⦈_ From Rianne’s_departure_message about Sirius_‘Open_Source’ Summary: Sirius is finished, but it’s important to share the lessons learned with other people; there might be other “pretenders” out there and they need to be abandoned THIS is by no means a complete summary; the Sirius_‘Open_Source’_wiki contains a more complete overview. However, this is an abbreviated summary focusing on the issues at hand, rewriting them for an audience that might think about leaving a toxic employer but isn’t sure why or how. Some readers have asked for such a summary as they consider doing the same. We’ve decided to use the existing articles’ index to make this grand summary of the issues, split suitably for quicker digestion (covering unions, staff health etc.) and omitting more employer-specific scandals, e.g. illegal contract- signing (we included a response to my initial refusal/declination and others’), E-mail clippings as evidence and so on. “Do not attempt to rationalise staying.”The short story is: do_not_participate in_lying_and_in_illegal_acts. If you feel like your employer is heading in this direction, prepare to leave. Don’t wait too long. Do not attempt to rationalise staying. Your morality is more important than short-term conveniences like “paying the mortgage” or “staying with colleagues”. I joined Sirius 12 years ago (in February of 2011). The CEO was kind to me at the time. We’ve shared a screenshot from the Internet Archive of the company’s old site (back when it was a sponsor of the Free Software Foundation). The CEO, as I found out much later, was hopping from one woman to the next, saddling them with daughters whom he failed to take care of. He was getting married when I spoke about joining, marrying a manager in the company — a manager whom he had already had a child with. It was maybe too late for me to properly understand the chronology of it, but it seemed benign at the time. It smacked of nepotism already, but at least the spouse had actual experience as a manager. Similarly, my wife had a degree in Computer Science. The CEO, as I recently found out, was also allegedly cheating on his second wife. We’re still investigating the nature of that as it impacts the company directly. The CEO is not a good person. I was warned about him being a chronic liar some time around 2006, but I did not fully heed this warning. “My ‘tenure’ at the company was generally good; nobody complained and I was “Star of the Week” (10-pound voucher award) about a decade ago. I also have some other physical certificates that they sent me in recognition (e.g. laminated finish on paper for my 5-year anniversary).”The company was in disarray in (or by) 2022. Heck, it was standing on one foot for several years already (maybe since 2019). In 2021 they sent me a bogus message about “disciplinary note”, simply because I’d not say “hi, it’s Roy” or something inane like this over the phone. The management failed to prepare staff and then tried to blame the staff, which was assigned to handle clerical work using a truly defective product with impossible demands (answering within 3 rings). My ‘tenure’ at the company was generally good; nobody complained and I was “Star of the Week” (10-pound voucher award) about a decade ago. I also have some other physical certificates that they sent me in recognition (e.g. laminated finish on paper for my 5-year anniversary). So what compelled me to leave? A lot of things. Above all, the ethics associated with the job became far too problematic. I wrote about this in my blog last summer and again when I left this past December. Some clients were truly awful and immoral. I don’t want to name them, and thankfully I’ve avoided working with/for them. By this point Sirius kept announcing clients that later turned out to ‘pre’ announcements (or truly premature as nothing ever came out of it). The managers were desperate to give a false impression (illusion) of getting business and some of the actual “business” they attracted is worse than nothing. Some past clients did not wish to associate with Sirius and at least one past client (telephony sector company) asked to be removed from the fake “clients” page of Sirius. I can’t blame those clients. Being associated with Sirius was becoming a liability to them. Search for ‘The Liar’ in the headlines here; you’ll see what I mean… don’t tolerate any bosses who keep saying they’re too busy to reply to E-mail from staff; so what are they doing all day? If they don’t even respond to staff, then it’s not clear if they’re busy at all; they could just as well pretend to be “busy” by not doing anything at all, then use that as an excuse or “evidence” of the busy-ness. The Liar (nickname) later resorted to using flimsy ‘evidence’. He said, without any evidence, that I had uttered something “defamatory”; it took two weeks to actually show something and what they then showed was some side IRC channel (that nobody reads) stating perfectly factual information about my experiences, without naming people or any company. It was a chat between just two people and didn’t reveal anyone’s identity. It was factual and necessary; it was moral to object to bad ideas. Blind obedience and unquestionable docility should not be seen as a merit. “Blind obedience and unquestionable docility should not be seen as a merit.”The company was, at this point, not even an attractive employer. Set aside the ethical deficit. It had no actual office (Sirius used to host for clients, not outsource for them) and had some technical workers compared to “monkeys” (even treated as such). In recent years it became trivial to show, using documents_in the_public_domain, that the company was operating like a shell. It was simple to show it’s getting worse over time and unbearable debt was growing. The company was going to go under (just a matter of time) and the staff had no prospects of progression (well, no chance at progression except through nepotism (like family) or sex); the company was no longer “open source”, except in name, bragging about ISO certification (see The Inside Story of ISO ‘Certification’ Mill) while gaslighting people who actually value security/ compliance. If you work in a company such as this, don’t expect it to improve. The people with greater skills and integrity likely left already. They won’t be coming back. Not only did the company ignore the warnings from me (about security problems), it didn’t even change passwords, alter providers, or self-host an actual “Open Source” alternative that doesn’t lie about security breaches. Sirius kept paying huge bills for “clown computing” (instances that were idle almost all the time) and my suggestion of self-hosting, like we did before, were dismissed as “hobbyist” by the CEO. So what is to be sold as a service? Outsourcing? For more information about these things, revisit the parts about “How Carbon Accounting Became a Cover for Sirius Open Source Ltd.” and “How Sirius Open Source Ltd. Felt Deep Into Debt” (super dodgy). “For projects to be done (e.g. programming) one needs a proper daytime job without distraction and with decent pay.”By the time we left (in 2022) the company was quite frankly broke and not worth suing for severance. It had likely plundered some older pensions already (still the subject of an ongoing probe; photographs_of_letters_from_the_current_pension_provider suggest they might try this again). This became a cultural, chronic problem. For instance, the management lied about providing recordings of meetings in 2019, so I started making my own recordings of such meetings. I could not trust managers’ words. Such chronic lying and false promises are a sign it’s time to leave (or prepare to leave). I already prepared in 2019, but then COVID-19 happened. The managers like to tell themselves they did us a favour. But people who are idle a lot of the time because they work overnight, devoted to complex tasks of monitoring many things and responding, can never sleep well. This impacts their physical and mental health. They make personal compromises while getting paid laughably little. For projects to be done (e.g. programming) one needs a proper daytime job without distraction and with decent pay. Sirius Open Wash Ltd. (maybe a suggested name for another — likely third — shell entity) would be letting Windows users who adore surveillance get involved in decision-making, grabbing Gates Foundation money to pretend they have a future (Gates never needed a British company to handle something thousands of American firms can easily handle). Seeing that the CEO’s and the company’s Twitter accounts (all of them) have not tweeted anything since last summer, we suppose no other shell will be created. Sirius is finished. Jobs were advertised by the company’s account in Twitter last year, but only on short-term contractual basis. It now says the company is also US-based and says laughable things like Sirius being American leaders in the area (Sirius has almost no clients and staff there), simply because the chief absconded, escaping responsibilities for his family which he ditched (so he can have sex with another woman, apparently some American he met). 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇Sirius_US⦈_ So he’s likely running away to dodge litigation and maybe dodge payments to the two former wives and 4 daughters, especially the young ones (early teens at this time). This series has attempted to be impersonal (no names), but at some point it can get trickier. We still try to work around the secrecy of the NDA and figure out what exactly happened in 2019. █ ⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣄⣠⣴⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣷⣸⢄⠠⠂⣲⣿⣿⣿⣿⣻⣧⣲⢀⠀ ⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⡻⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣄ ⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣮⢙⣯⠀⢙⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣯ ⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣤⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠛⠟⠋⠁⠉⠛⠞⢿⢿⣤⣿⣟⣿⣿⡂⡩⡽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⡇⠀⠀⠀⢂⠀⠀⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⡿⠝⠒⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⣽⣷⣾⣯⡟⠒⡾⢛⠆⠀⠋⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣺⢿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⡇⠀⠰⠀⣧⣤⢠⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⣅⣤⡴⠂⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣺⣿⣯⠉⡡⠁⠡⠀⠀⠁⠀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠆⠸⣯⡷⠿⠋⡭⠬⠋⠉⠠⢊⡹⢿⡟⣿⣿⣿ ⡇⠀⢐⢿⠇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣒⡶⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⢻⣿⠓⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⣻⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣟⣝⣩⣏⣍⣿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠀⠈⡠⢶⣾⣿⣽⣾⣷⠀⠀⠀⠙⡀⠀⠘⣟⣿ ⡇⠀⠢⣿⣪⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⠟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠒⣋⣵⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣰⡷⠽⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣯⡗⣻⡟⣅⠹⡛⠀⠀⠈⢜⣟⢿⣿⠟⠛⠡⣩⠀⠀⠀⠑⠀⠆⢬⢹ ⡇⠈⠐⡧⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡽⢁⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢻⣿⡿⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⣿⣿⣧⡘⠳⢤⣿⠁⣿⠛⠟⢻⠿⣿⣿⣿⣯⣿⣿⣯⣿⣿⣾⢥⠅⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠩⠬⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠀⠴⣿ ⡇⢠⠒⢶⡿⣿⣵⡿⠟⢫⣶⣿⣾⡿⢋⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣤⣤⣤⣥⣼⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣼⣯⣿⣄⣙⢃⣸⡇⢰⡟⢠⣿⡿⠀⣿⠁⣽⡟⠙⣿⠟⠻⢿⢷⣢⠐⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⣹ ⡇⠑⠀⠉⠀⠿⡿⠒⢂⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠋⠀⣠⣴⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠁⠀⠀⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣾⣧⣼⣿⣇⣸⡇⠀⠿⠃⣸⣧⡈⠳⢴⣿⡅⣴⡶⡈⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣀⣉⠶⠒⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣀⣼⣿ ⣧⣤⡄⠀⢀⣄⢁⣴⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣿⠏⢀⠞⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⠶⠶⠿⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣾⣶⣿⣄⣙⣃⣠⣞⣿⣟⠷⠁⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⡀⠀⢀⠀⠀⢠⡉⢿ ⠿⠟⠃⢨⣿⠏⠙⠋⠉⣭⣯⡿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣃⣴⠀⣨⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⡿⣧⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢙⣟⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠢⣀⠀⠐⠪⣻⣦ ⠀⠀⠠⣿⡅⠀⠀⢰⣾⣿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠛⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠉⠙⠛⠿⣿⣿⣿⣾⡵⠄⣀⠀⠀⠀⣄⣿⡿⣿⣿⣙⢿⡄⠀⠈⠧⣅⢰⣬⣿ ⠀⠘⣣⣿⢰⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣯⣭⣿⣿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⣿⣿⣷⣆⠄⢀⠐⠀⠙⠘⣷⣻⣿⣿⣿⠗⠀⠀⠰⣯⣿⣿⣿ ⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣿⣏⣿⣿⣯⡦⠀⠀⠀⣰⣿⡯⣿⣿⣿⠀⠀⣰⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⠛⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣾⡟⠛⠽⠛⠛⢻⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⣿⣿⣾⣽⣿⣶⡤⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣤⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠛⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⣿⢗⣶⣿⣿⠛⠛⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⢷⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣾⣯⢛⣿⣿⣿⣿⢿⣿⣿⡏⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⡷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠁⠈⢘⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⣯⣿⣿⠏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⣷⣤⣀⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣠⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠁⠘⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⡿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣠⣶⣤⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣬⣿⣿⡟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣽⣿⣿⣯⡙⠛⠛⠛⠙⣉⡎⣿⣿⣿⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠁⠀⠀⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣿⣿⣿⣶⣄⠀⠀⢈⣤⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⣿⣿⡿⠷⠆⠀⠀⢐⣝⢮⣿⣻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣄⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡀⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⠿⠟⠋⣡⢴⠢⠂⠀⠀⠠⡊⡸⢿⢗⡽⢿⣿⣯⣿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣽⣿⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣤⠀⠀⠀⠈⠉⠃⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠂⣿⠑⠍⡈⡷⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠌⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⠀⠀⠀⣠⣤⣄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⣼⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢯⢻⣿⣿⣦⠀⠀⠀⠠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠄⠐⠊⠉⠀⠀⠋⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢨⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⠀⠀⣽⣿⠿⢻⣿⣷⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢰⣶⣦⣶⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⣅⡈⣿⣿⡾⣶⣶⠀⣠⣶⢶⣶⣄⠀⠀⢰⣶⣦⢶⣶⡤⢶⣶⡄⢠⣶⡶⣶⣄⠀⣶⣶⣴⡆⣠⣶⢶⣶⡄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⠀⣠⠿⠉⠀⠈⣻⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢸⣿⡟⠃⢸⣿⡟⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⢸⣿⡇⢸⣿⡇⢸⣿⡇⣾⣿⠁⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⠛⠁⣿⣿⣴⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣶⠁⠀⠀⠀⢰⣷⣆⣽⣿⡿⢿⣿⡇⢸⣿⡇⠀⢸⣿⡇⢸⣿⡇⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠛⠉⣿⣿⠇⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⢸⣿⡇⢸⣿⡇⢸⣿⡇⣿⣿⡄⣿⣿⠀⣿⣿⠀⠀⣿⣿⠀⣶⣶⠀⠿⠟⢿⣿⣿ ⣿⣦⣀⠀⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⠸⢿⣿⠺⠿⠇⠀⠸⣿⣇⠈⠻⠿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡿⠁⠀⠀⠿⠿⠅⠿⠿⠀⠙⠿⠾⠿⠃⠀⠀⠸⠿⠇⠸⠿⠇⠸⠿⠇⠘⠿⠷⠿⠋⠀⠿⠿⠀⠀⠙⠿⠶⠿⠃⠀⠿⠿⣾⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣀⣀⣀⣈⡋⠁⠀⠀⠀⣼⣿⣿⣧⣀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⣿⣟⠛⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢋⣟⣯⠠⢸⣏⠃⠉⡝⣿⠪⠡⠑⢩⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⡤⣤⢤⠤⡤⡤⡤⠤⢤⠤⠤⡤⡤⡤⣤⢤⢤⡤⣤⢤⠤⢤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣧⣴⣤⣠⣖⣴⣼⣄⣸⣯⣥⣧⣥⣮⣤⣴⣧⣴⣤⣴⣧⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⡏⡙⠙⠛⠋⡛⠙⡟⠋⠹⠛⢻⢻⠉⡿⠛⠹⠛⡟⠛⡟⢛⠛⡛⠛⠛⠟⣟⠛⠻⠿⠿⠻⠙⠛⠻⠋⠛⡿⠛⢙⢻⠹⠛⠛⠛⢿⠙⣯⠟⢹⢹⠛⠛⡛⠋⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⡟⣭⡝⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣻⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣝⢽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢹⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣟⣻⠛⣿⢻⠿⠿⣿⡛⢛⢟⠛⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢠⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣤⣴⣿⣿⣾⣷⣷⣶⣶⣴⣽⣾⣾⣶⣷⣷⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣏⢀⣵⣆⢆⣜⣈⡱⣢⣃⣘⣘⡰⣋⣭⣻⡆⣮⠉⢙⡍⠈⠉⣏⡬⡉⣭⠅⣝⢭⡇⣰⢰⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⡟⠛⠿⠛⡟⠛⣿⠿⠿⠿⡿⠿⠿⢿⠿⠿⡟⣿⢿⠛⠛⠿⠿⠻⠟⠿⠿⠛⡿⠿⡿⡟⢻⡿⠟⡿⢿⠻⣿⠿⢿⡿⢿⡿⠿⣿⣿⠻⡿⠿⡟⠿⠿⠿⢿⢿⢿⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣷⣶⣾⣶⣶⣶⣿⣶⣶⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣷⣿⣾⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣶⣾⣦⣴⣶⣶⣷⣷⣾⣶⣶⣶⣾⣶⣷⣶⣦⣷⣾⣷⣶⣿⣿⣾⣾⣶⣷⣶⣶⣷⣾⣾⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣇⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣀⣸⡿⣛⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣍⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⣽⣭⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣭⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⣈⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣙⣚⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 303 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/03/to-quote-final-letter/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/03/to-quote-final-letter/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.03.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Sirius_Finished⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Free/Libre_Software at 1:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum b8720fc3b41aaa603c06b9b81ba9921c Sirius Closure and Steps Ahead Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/sirius-resignation-approved.webm Summary: Yesterday I was sent a letter approving my resignation from Sirius ‘Open_Source’, two months after I had already announced that I was resigning with immediate effect; they sent an identical letter to my wife (this time, unlike before, they remembered to also change the names!!) THIS is just an update regarding Sirius, as it sent the following yesterday; it was sent one day after the actual date of the letter (“Acceptance of your Resignation [...] Please see the attached letter.”) and to quote: Re: Your resignation has been accepted Dear Roy, I write further to my letter of 9th Dec 2022 in which I asked you to reconsider your resignation and gave you a cooling off period to 16th Dec 2022. Given that I did not hear from you before the end of the cooling off period, I could only therefore assume that you did not wish to retract your resignation. I am disappointed that you decided not to allow us the opportunity to attempt to resolve any concerns that led to your resignation, however I have to respect your decision and it is therefore with regret that your resignation was accepted, with your final day of employment being Friday 16th December. Any accrued holidays you ha not taken will be paid in your final pay, which should have been processed in the January payment run. Your P45 will be issued as soon as possible after your final pay has been administered. We wish you every success in the future. Yours sincerely, xxxxxx CEO, Sirius UK As I explain in the video above, it seems like a face-saving publicity stunt from them, pretending all was amicable. We’re meanwhile investigating what happened to the pensions of all past staff; the Standard Life management is being super-evasive about it. One might assume it got plundered by Sirius management, but we’re still trying to find verifiable evidence of that. Now that British and French workers are staging massive strikes (the latter over pensions in particular) we urge people all around the world to check that their pensions haven’t been rendered scams. It seems like a trend. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 386 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.03.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_03/02/2023:_GNU_C_Library_2.37⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 9:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Server o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o Desktop_Environments/WMs # K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o New_Releases o BSD o Gentoo_Family o Red_Hat_/_IBM o Devices/Embedded o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o Events o Web_Browsers/Web_Servers # Mozilla o Productivity_Software/LibreOffice/Calligra o GNU_Projects o Programming/Development # Rust * Leftovers o Science o Education o Hardware o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Proprietary o Security # Privacy/Surveillance o Defence/Aggression o Environment # Energy/Transportation # Wildlife/Nature # Overpopulation o Finance o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics o Censorship/Free_Speech o Freedom_of_Information_/_Freedom_of_the_Press o Civil_Rights/Policing o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality o Monopolies # Patents * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal o Politics o Technical # Internet/Gemini * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Cloud_growth_doesn’t_stop_economy_from biting_Amazon_and_Alphabet [Ed: Clown computing is a bubble; people get tired]⠀⇛ The sky is no longer the limit for cloud computing giants, as the slowing economy strikes at one of tech’s biggest growth stories of the past decade. § Applications⠀➾ * ⚓ Linux Links ☛ 8_Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Terminal-Based_Music Players⠀⇛ All music libraries are different, and the right open source music player can make a world of difference – especially if you’ve a large collection. We recommend the best terminal-based music players. * ⚓ 9to5Linux ☛ OBS_Studio_29.0.1_Is_Out_to_Fix_Linux_Crash_on_Wayland,_X11 Capture_Issue⠀⇛ OBS Studio 29.0.1 open-source and free software for live streaming and screen recording is now available for download as a “hotfix” release that addresses several issues discovered in OBS Studio 29.0. There are several Linux-specific fixes in OBS Studio 29.0.1, including a crash when using Wayland and trying to use the automatic scene switcher, an issue where screen capturing wouldn’t work correctly on X11, a bug where overriding the theme could cause OBS Studio to fail to start, as well as a software rendering issue. * ⚓ Linux Links ☛ Best_Free_and_Open_Source_Alternatives_to_Corel_Pinnacle Studio⠀⇛ Corel has dabbled with Linux over the years. For example they produced Corel Linux, a Debian-based distribution which bundled Corel WordPerfect Office for Linux. While Corel effectively abandoned its Linux business in 2001 they are not completely Linux-phobic. For example, AfterShot Pro has an up to date Linux version albeit its proprietary software. This series looks at the best free and open source alternatives to products offered by Corel. § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ * ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ How_to_Enable_‘Dark_Mode’_in_LibreOffice⠀⇛ Tutorial for you on how to enable dark mode in LibreOffice in Ubuntu, Linux and Windows systems. LibreOffice, the free and open-source office productivity software, is used by millions worldwide. This cross-platform software runs on Windows, Linux, and other distributions. Millions of users around the world use LibreOffice. * ⚓ Creating_a_multi-node_cluster_with_KinD⠀⇛ Introduction Kubernetes is an open-source platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. KinD (Kubernetes in Docker) is a tool that can be used to create a local Kubernetes cluster for testing and development purposes. * ⚓ Creating_a_single-node_cluster_with_Minikube⠀⇛ Kubernetes is an open-source platform that provides container orchestration services, making it easier to manage containers, networks, and storage. * ⚓ Kubernetes_Clusters_Overview⠀⇛ Kubernetes is an open-source platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It has become the de facto standard for managing containers and has been widely adopted by organizations around the world. * ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_GRV_on_Ubuntu_22.04_LTS⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install GRV on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. * ⚓ Linux Shell Tips ☛ The_Ultimate_Docker_Commands_Cheat_Sheet_for_Linux⠀⇛ Do you want a containerized application? Get Docker, which is the most preferred platform that helps you design, deploy, and execute programs as lightweight * ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Install_Rust_on_Linux_Mint_21_or_20⠀⇛ Rust is a modern and highly efficient systems programming language that has been gaining popularity among developers for its performance, security, and ability to handle complex programming tasks. It has quickly become one of the most sought-after languages in the development and programming community. * ⚓ TecMint ☛ How_to_List_and_Extract_tar.xz_File_in_Linux⠀⇛ A tar.xz file extension shows that the file is a tar archive file compressed using the XZ compression tool. In this guide, we will cover various examples of how to list contests of a * ⚓ Displaying_routing_information_in_Linux⠀⇛ As a Linux user, you may come across a scenario where you need to access information about your network routing. This information can be very useful for troubleshooting, monitoring, and security purposes. In this article, we will learn how to display routing information in Linux and understand the output. * ⚓ Displaying_interface_IP_information_in_Linux⠀⇛ Linux is a popular open-source operating system that is widely used by developers, system administrators, and home users. One of the many advantages of using Linux is the availability of powerful command-line tools that can be used to perform various tasks, including managing network interfaces. * ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ 10_Things_to_Do_After_Installing_elementary_OS_7_“Horus”⠀⇛ After much rumour and speculation, elementary OS 7 “Horus” is finally released, based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS “Jammy Jellyfish”. This release is moderate in terms of features and updates. In a nutshell, it’s more of a stepping stone for future releases as per as the core features go. That said, if you have already finished installing elementary OS 7, then you might consider the following tips to customize and explore this beautiful Linux distribution. § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ * § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ o ⚓ KDE_Gear_22.12.2_available_on_Fedora_37⠀⇛ After theannouncementupstream, Fedora’s@kde-sigfollows up by making KDE Gear 22.12.2 available on Fedora 37. As per Fedora’s policy, the software will first land onupdates-testingand after receiving feedback and karma it will land on theupdatesrepository. If you want to help, make sure to follow the instructions on theupdate. You only need to run: sudo dnf upgrade --enablerepo=updates-testing --refresh - -advisory=FEDORA-2023-17c31eabf7 Feel free to join us at ourMatrix_room!. o ⚓ Volker Krause ☛ December/January_in_KDE_Itinerary⠀⇛ There has been plenty of activity aroundKDE Itinerarysince thelast_summary_posttwo month ago, including work to leverage train onboard APIs and improved event support. § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ * § New Releases⠀➾ o ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ elementary_OS_7_Takes_Its_Place_Among_the_Best_Linux Desktops⠀⇛ The anticipated elementary OS 7 “Horus” release is here, continuing to compete for the prize of best Linux desktop. Here’s our review! Hundreds of distributions compete to become the preferred choice for Linux users in the desktop segment. Each has a different vision and approach for achieving this, which is wonderful because diversity and choice are two major aspects that make Linux attractive to all of us. Elementary OS is a bright star in this constellation. It is a Ubuntu-based Linux distro designed to provide a visually appealing and user-friendly experience for desktop and laptop computers. It has its desktop environment named Pantheon, its own set of applications, and third-party software compatible with Ubuntu. o ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ elementary_OS_7_Is_Now_Available:_Here’s_What’s New⠀⇛ After over a year since the previous release, elementary OS 7 “Horus” has arrived. Much has changed in that time, and the Linux landscape looks quite a bit different. On the surface, version 7.0 isn’t a substantial release. So let’s dive into what’s new and see what stands out. * § BSD⠀➾ o ⚓ Benny Siegert ☛ pkgsrc_and_a_Call_for_Action⠀⇛ I have been a pkgsrc developer for several years. For what it’s worth, I think pkgsrc is wonderful: a large selection of third-party software, packaged so that it is easy to install with a single command — either building everything from source, or relying on binary packages. pkgsrc supports dozens of OSes — not just NetBSD but also other BSDs, macOS, Linux, Illumos and more. On the other hand, unfortunately, pkgsrc and NetBSD in general are suffering from what I would call a loss of mindshare. * § Gentoo Family⠀➾ o ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ 7_Best_Gentoo-Based_Linux_Distributions⠀⇛ Gentoo Linux is one of the best Linux distributions for advanced users. Want something similar but maybe easier? Gentoo-based distros are your solution. Gentoo Linux is famous for its package manager, Portage, which allows you to customize every package per your requirements and build/configure things from the ground up. This way, you get to optimize your system experience in the best possible way. However, it is understandable that not everyone prefers using Gentoo Linux because of its learning curve or the effort required to set it up… * § Red Hat / IBM⠀➾ o ⚓ Enterprisers Project ☛ 6_sustainability_strategies_that_help reduce_costs⠀⇛ o ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ Customer_success_stories:_How_Red_Hat_products and_services_enable_innovation_in_telecommunications_and_IT organizations⠀⇛ o ⚓ Ericsson,_Red_Hat_support_Spark’s_5G_SA_trial_in_New_Zealand⠀⇛ o ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ Red_Hat_Launches_Ansible_Automation_Platform on_Google_Cloud⠀⇛ o ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ SAP_endorses_Red_Hat_Linux_as_strategic_cloud platform⠀⇛ o ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ Red_Hat_and_Oracle_Expand_Collaboration_to Bring_Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux_to_Oracle_Cloud_Infrastructure⠀⇛ * § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ o ⚓ Linux Gizmos ☛ AtomS3_Lite_ESP32S3_Dev_Kit_introduced_at_$7.50⠀⇛ M5Stack just launched a miniature embedded device based on the ESP32-S4FN3 Microcontroller. o ⚓ Linux Gizmos ☛ Pixhawk_V6X_flight_controller_integrates_3 redundant_IMUs_and_2_redundant_barometer_sensors⠀⇛ The Pixhawk V6X is a flight controller platform designed in collaboration with CUAV and the PX4 team. This device follows the Pixhawk FMUv6X standard, Bus standard and Connector standard. o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ A_Disposable_Dumper_For_ROM_Chips_With_A_Pi_Pico⠀⇛ ROM dumping is vital for preserving old hardware, and we’ve seen many hacks dedicated to letting someone dump a ROM and send its contents to some hacker stuck… o ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Nordic_Semi_nRF7002_DK_low-power_dual-band_WiFi_6 IoT_development_kit_launched_for_$56_and_up⠀⇛ Nordic Semi nRF7002 DK is an IoT development kit based on the nRF5340 dual-core Cortex-M33 multi-protocol wireless SoC and nRF7002 companion chip adding low-power dual-band (2.4GHz and 5.0 GHz) WiFi 6 connectivity. o ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Beken_BK7256_320_MHz_dual-core_RISC-V_IoT_MCU offers_WiFi_6,_Bluetooth_5.2,_JPEG_video_encoder/decoder⠀⇛ Until now, I had only heard about Beken Bluetooth audio chips, but I’ve just been informed the company is also making WiFi chips such as the BK7256 that are notably found in some Tuya Smart Home modules. * § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ o ⚓ Computer World ☛ 5_more_out-of-sight_options_to_supercharge Google_Assistant_on_Android_|_Computerworld⠀⇛ o ⚓ Gizmo China ☛ OnePlus_11_Will_Get_4_Years_of_Android_&_5_Years_of Security_Updates⠀⇛ o ⚓ Phone Arena ☛ Your_Android_phone_may_become_able_to_act_as_USB camera_–_PhoneArena⠀⇛ o ⚓ Dignited ☛ How_to_use_Android_Apps_on_Chromebook_–_Dignited⠀⇛ o ⚓ Finally!_Fairphone_2_comes_to_play_with_Android_12_–_Phandroid⠀⇛ o ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Custom_ROM_brings_Android_13_to_Galaxy_S9_and_Note 9⠀⇛ o ⚓ Gizmo China ☛ Realme_GT_Neo2_Gets_Stable_Android_13_Update_in China⠀⇛ o ⚓ SamMobile ☛ Samsung_Galaxy_XCover_6_Pro_gets_Android_13_update_in the_US_–_SamMobile⠀⇛ o ⚓ India Times ☛ Google_may_introduce_Apple’s_Continuity_Camera rival_with_Android_14_–_Times_of_India⠀⇛ o ⚓ XDA ☛ Noble_ROM_3.0_brings_One_UI_5_with_Android_13_to_the Samsung_Galaxy_S9_and_Galaxy_Note_9⠀⇛ o ⚓ India Today ☛ Android_14_to_let_you_use_your_smartphone_as webcam,_here_is_everything_we_know_–_India_Today⠀⇛ o ⚓ TechTarget ☛ How_long_should_you_support_Android_phones_in_the enterprise?_|_TechTarget⠀⇛ o ⚓ Online Tech Tips ☛ How_to_Lock_Apps_on_Your_Android_Smartphone⠀⇛ o ⚓ CNET ☛ Delete_Your_Android_Web_Browser’s_Cookies,_Cache_to Quickly_Remove_Junk_Files_–_CNET⠀⇛ o ⚓ Android Police ☛ Android’s_working_on_its_own_Continuity_Camera to_turn_your_phone_into_a_webcam⠀⇛ o ⚓ 8_Best_Fixes_for_‘No_SIM_Card’_Error_on_Android_–_Guiding_Tech⠀⇛ § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ * ⚓ OpenSource.com ☛ How_I_apply_open_source_principles_to_filmmaking⠀⇛ On the other hand, film productions often record hours of footage and audio but only use a small percentage of those in the film. Footage that might not have an immediate use for a film’s production house can be useful for others. In my case, many interviewed marginalized communities have a moral ownership over the footage. But researchers and others who interview them do not always provide communities with direct and open access. For these ethical and practical reasons, it is a good idea to share footage and the film under an open license and inform the communities interviewed or featured. There are many reasons filmmakers cannot release films under an open license, but this post is for those who somehow can. I often imagined what the open source equivalent would be for films that adhere to the Openness philosophy. Enter “Open Filmmaking,” a framework that encourages releasing the source code of a film, i.e., footage under open licenses, and actively uses other practices such as open source software and open multimedia resources. In my two recent documentary film projects, “The Volunteer Archivists” and “Nani Ma,” I utilized media with open licenses and various open source software (FLOSS). The films explore the areas of citizen science, archiving public domain text, documentation of oral history, and the use of open licenses and open source, as well as volunteerism. * ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ FOSS_Weekly_#23.05:_LibreOffice_7.5,_New_Fedora_Spin, Fixing_Common_Ubuntu_Issues_and_More⠀⇛ This edition is focused on solving common annoyances in Ubuntu these days. * ⚓ Jon Udell ☛ Mapping_the_wider_Fediverse⠀⇛ I began this journey convinced that Steampipe could help the Fediverse evolve, but not sure exactly how. My first thought was to use Steampipe’s API-wrangling superpower to study patterns of communication (and conflict) across the Fediverse. * ⚓ Venture Beat ☛ Bringing_order_to_data_lakehouses,_Onehouse_is_expanding its_Apache_Hudi_technology_with_$25M_raise⠀⇛ Managed data lakehouse vendor Onehouse has raised $25M in a series A to advance its technology efforts based on Apache Hudi. * § Events⠀➾ o ⚓ Linux Journal ☛ SoCal_Linux_Expo_Back_For_20th_Anniversary⠀⇛ This 4-day annual event brings together the vibrant Open Source user community, tech industry leaders, developers, users and many more.  Session track themes have included security, developer, embedded, medical and legal to name a few.  The expert speakers have never failed to impress and inform.  Your biggest challenge will likely be trying to pick which session to attend.  One certainty: Saturday’s keynote by Arun Gupta will be standing room only. * § Web Browsers/Web Servers⠀➾ o § Mozilla⠀➾ # ⚓ Mozilla ☛ Mozilla:About:Community:_Meet_us_at_FOSDEM_2023⠀⇛ Hello everyone, It is that time of the year, and we are off to Brussels for  FOSDEM 2023! FOSDEM is a central appointment for the Open Source community. # ⚓ Karl_Dubost:_Blade_Runner_2023⠀⇛ Webcompat engineers will never be over their craft. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Large websites broken off the shoulder of developer tools. I watched Compat-beams glitter in the dark near the Interoperability Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.Time_to die. In other news:Pushing_Interop_Forward_in_2023 # ⚓ The_Servo_Blog:_Servo_2023_Roadmap⠀⇛ As we move forward with ourrenewed_project activity, we would like to share more details about our plans for 2023. * § Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra⠀➾ o ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ LibreOffice_7.5:_Top_New_Features_&_Release_Info⠀⇛ Feature highlights of LibreOffice 7.5 across Calc, Writer, Impress and common updates. The LibreOffice 7.5 release is loaded with features and improvements across modules. The changes include feature updates, bug fixes, Microsoft Office compatibility, export features, macro programming improvements and many more. o ⚓ Ubuntu Handbook ☛ LibreOffice_7.5_Released_with_New_App_Icons, Improved_Dark_Mode_Support⠀⇛ LibreOffice, the default office suite in most Linux, announced the new 7.5 feature release today! The new release has greatly improved the dark mode support. It now has fully dark appearance, instead of leaving the document background white in dark mode. o ⚓ Video:_New_Features_in_LibreOffice_7.5⠀⇛ A quick look at some of the new features in LibreOffice 7.5, which we announced yesterday! * § GNU Projects⠀➾ o ⚓ GNU ☛ libc_@_Savannah:_The_GNU_C_Library_version_2.37_is_now available⠀⇛ The GNU C Library ================= The GNU C Library version 2.37 is now available. The GNU C Library is used astheC library in the GNU system and in GNU/Linux systems, as well as many other systems that use Linux as the kernel. The GNU C Library is primarily designed to be a portable and high performance C library.  It follows all relevant standards including ISO C11 and POSIX.1-2017.  It is also internationalized and has one of the most complete internationalization interfaces known. The GNU C Library webpage is athttp://www.gnu.org/ software/libc/ Packages for the 2.37 release may be downloaded from: http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/libc/ http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libc/ The mirror list is athttp://www.gnu.org/order/ftp.html Distributions are encouraged to track the release/ * branches corresponding to the releases they are using.  The release branches will be updated with conservative bug fixes and new features while retaining backwards compatibility. NEWS for version 2.37 ===================== Major new features: # The getent tool now supports the –no-addrconfig option. The output of getent with –no-addrconfig may contain addresses of families not configured on the current host i.e. as-if you had not passed AI_ADDRCONFIG to getaddrinfo calls. Deprecated and removed features, and other changes affecting compatibility: # The dynamic linker no longer loads shared objects from the “tls” subdirectories on the library search path or the subdirectory that corresponds to the AT_PLATFORM system name, or employs the legacy AT_HWCAP search mechanism, which was deprecated in version 2.33. Security related changes: CVE-2022-39046: When the syslog function is passed a crafted input string larger than 1024 bytes, it reads uninitialized memory from the heap and prints it to the target log file, potentially revealing a portion of the contents of the heap. The following bugs are resolved with this release: [12154] network: Cannot resolve hosts which have wildcard aliases [12165] libc: readdir: Do not skip entries with zero d_ino values [19444] build: build failures with -O1 due to -Wmaybe- uninitialized [24774] nptl: pthread_rwlock_timedwrlock stalls on ARM [24816] nss: nss/tst-nss-files-hosts-long fails when no interface has AF_INET6 address (ie docker) [27087] stdio: PowerPC: Redefinition error with Clang from IEEE redirection headers [28846] network: CMSG_NXTHDR may trigger -Wstrict- overflow warning [28937] dynamic-link: New DSO dependency sorter does not put new map first if in a cycle [29249] libc: csu/libc-tls.c:202: undefined reference to `_startup_fatal_not_constant’ [29305] network: Inefficient buffer space usage in nss_dns for gethostbyname and other functions [29375] libc: don’t hide MAP_ANONYMOUS behind _GNU_SOURCE [29402] nscd: nscd: No such file or directory [29415] nscd: getaddrinfo with AI_ADDRCONFIG returns addresses with wrong family [29427] dynamic-link: Inconsistency detected by ld.so: dl-printf.c: 200: _dl_debug_vdprintf: Assertion `! “invalid format specifier”‘ failed! [29463] math: math/test-float128-y1 fails on x86_64 [29485] build: Make hangs when the test misc/tst-pidfile returns FAIL_UNSUPPORTED [29490] dynamic-link: [bisected] new __brk_call causes dynamic loader segfault on alpha [29499] build: Check failed on misc/tst-glibcsyscalls while building for RISCV64 on a unmatched hardware [29501] build: Check failed on stdlib/tst-strfrom while building for RISCV64 on a unmatched hardware [29502] libc: alpha sys/acct.h out of date [29514] build: Need to use -fPIE not -fpie [29528] dynamic-link: __libc_early_init not called after dlmopen that reuses namespace [29536] libc: syslog fail to create large messages (CVE- 2022-39046) [29537] libc: [2.34 regression]: Alignment issue on m68k when using futexes on qemu-user [29539] libc: LD_TRACE_LOADED_OBJECTS changed how vDSO library are printed [29544] libc: Regression in syslog(3) calls breaks RFC due to extra whitespace [29564] build: Incorrect way to change MAKEFLAGS in Makerules [29576] build: librtld.os: in function `_dl_start_profile’: (.text+0×9444): undefined reference to `strcpy’ [29578] libc: Definition of SUN_LEN() is wrong [29583] build: iconv failures on 32bit platform due to missing large file support [29600] dynamic-link: dlmopen hangs after loading certain libraries [29604] localedata: Update locale data to Unicode 15.0.0 [29605] nscd: Regression in NSCD backend of getaddrinfo [29607] nscd: nscd repeatably crashes calling __strlen_avx2 when hosts cache is enabled [29611] string: Optimized AVX2 string functions unconditionally use BMI2 instructions [29624] malloc: errno is not cleared when entering main [29638] libc: stdlib: arc4random fallback is never used [29657] libc: Incorrect struct stat for 64-bit time on linux/generic platforms [29698] build: Configuring for AArch32 on ARMv8+ disables optimizations [29727] locale: __strtol_internal out-of-bounds read when parsing thousands grouping [29730] libc: broken y2038 support in fstatat on MIPS N64 [29746] libc: ppoll() does not switch to __ppoll64 when -D_TIME_BITS=64 and -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 is given on 32bit [29771] libc: Restore IPC_64 support in sysvipc *ctl functions [29780] build: possible parallel make issue in glibc-2.36 (siglist- aux.S: No such file or directory) [29864] libc: __libc_start_main() should obtain program headers address (_dl_phdr) from the auxv, not the ELF header. [29951] time: daylight variable not set correctly if last DST change coincides with offset change [30039] stdio: __vsprintf_internal does not handle unspecified buffer length in fortify mode Release Notes ============= https://sourceware.org/glibc/wiki/Release/2.37 Contributors ============ This release was made possible by the contributions of many people. The maintainers are grateful to everyone who has contributed changes or bug reports.  These include: Adhemerval Zanella Adhemerval Zanella Netto Alan Modra Alistair Francis Andreas K. Hüttel Andreas Schwab Arjun Shankar Aurelien Jarno Carlos Eduardo Seo Carlos O’Donell Chenghua Xu Cristian Rodríguez Damien Zammit Fabian Vogt Fangrui Song Felix Riemann Flavio Cruz Florian Weimer H.J. Lu Jakub Wilk Javier Pello John David Anglin Joseph Myers Jörg Sonnenberger Kito Cheng Letu Ren Lucas A. M. Magalhaes Ludovic Courtès Martin Jansa Martin Joerg Michael Hudson-Doyle Mike FABIAN Noah Goldstein Paul Eggert Paul Pluzhnikov Qingqing Li Rajalakshmi Srinivasaraghavan Raphael Moreira Zinsly Richard Henderson Sajan Karumanchi Samuel Thibault Sergei Trofimovich Sergey Bugaev Shahab Vahedi Siddhesh Poyarekar Stefan Liebler Sunil K Pandey Szabolcs Nagy Tom Honermann Tulio Magno Quites Machado Filho Vladislav Khmelevsky Wilco Dijkstra Xi Ruoyao Xiaolin Tang Xiaoming Ni Xing Li Yu Chien Peter Lin YunQiang Su Zong Li caiyinyu fanquake Łukasz Stelmach наб We would like to call out the following and thank them for their tireless patch review: Adhemerval Zanella Arjun Shankar Aurelien Jarno Carlos O’Donell Cristian Rodríguez DJ Delorie Fangrui Song Florian Weimer H.J. Lu Noah Goldstein Palmer Dabbelt Paul E. Murphy Philippe Mathieu-Daudé Premachandra Mallappa Sam James Siddhesh Poyarekar Sunil K Pandey Szabolcs Nagy Tulio Magno Quites Machado Filho Wilco Dijkstra Yann Droneaud * § Programming/Development⠀➾ o ⚓ Remi Collet ☛ Remi_Collet:_PHP_version_8.1.15_and_8.2.2⠀⇛ RPMs ofPHP version 8.2.2are available inremi- modularrepository forFedora≥ 35 andEnterprise Linux≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky…) and inremi-php82repository for EL 7. o ⚓ Fedora Magazine ☛ Fedora_Magazine:_Announcing_the_Display/HDR hackfest⠀⇛ This is Carlos Soriano, Engineering Manager at the GPU team at Red Hat. I’m here together with Sebastian Wick, primary HDR developer at Red Hat, and Niels de Graef, GPU team Product Owner at Red Hat, to announce that we’re organizing theDisplay/HDR_hackfestin Brno in the Czech Replublic, April 24-26! The focus will be on planning and development of the technical infrastructure needed for various display technologies, specifically those that need GNOME Shell to work in tandem with the GPU stack. One of the main examples of this is HDR support, which we know you have all been waiting for! o § Rust⠀➾ # ⚓ Hubert Figuière ☛ Hubert_Figuière:_Niepce_January_2023 updates⠀⇛ This is the January 2023 update. We start the year by a Rust implementation of the file import. It landed very early as the final stretch of work in 2022. § Leftovers⠀➾ * ⚓ Axios ☛ Fully_autonomous_passenger_planes_are_inching_closer_to takeoff⠀⇛ The world’s biggest commercial aircraft makers seem increasingly convinced that autonomous passenger flight is a question of when, not if. * ⚓ The Strategist ☛ Making_the_most_of_AUKUS’s_second_pillar⠀⇛ From its inception, the AUKUS pact has been wrapped in expectations. Fundamentally, it is a technology and capability agreement—an accelerator. * ⚓ Matt_Brown:_2023_Writing_Plan⠀⇛ To achieve mygoalof publishing one high-quality piece of writing per week this year, I’ve put together a draft writing plan and a few organisational notes. * § Science⠀➾ o ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Bar_Graphs_Induce_a_Hidden_Bias_in Interpretation,_Experiment_Shows⠀⇛ Looks can be deceiving. * § Education⠀➾ o ⚓ The Age AU ☛ How_to_improve_education:_just_ask_the_teachers⠀⇛ Readers discuss the shortage of teachers in schools. o ⚓ The Age AU ☛ I_was_a_school_refuser_for_years_–_now_I_have_five university_degrees⠀⇛ School refusal is complex and each child’s reasons are different. My experience only makes sense to me decades later. Shaming parents is cheap and counter-productive. * § Hardware⠀➾ o ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ China’s_Origin_Quantum_Delivers_a_Commercial_24- Qubit_Quantum_Computer⠀⇛ Origin Quantum develops China’s first quantum computer, ships it with OS, software, and cloud computing platform. * § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ o ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Pacific_nation_of_Micronesia_drops_protest over_release_of_Fukushima_water⠀⇛ Japan is due to release water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea as soon as this spring. o ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Australia_to_legalise_Ecstasy,_magic mushrooms_for_medical_use_from_July⠀⇛ The substances will be lawful from July. o ⚓ US News And World Report ☛ Safe_Injection_Sites_Gain_a_Foothold in_U.S.⠀⇛ The path to supervised drug use in the U.S. has been marked with fits and starts, but momentum may be growing. o ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ Healthcare_system_on_national_cabinet’s_new year_agenda⠀⇛ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet with state and territory leaders to consider a plan to solve challenges within Australia’s healthcare system. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ The_Teenager_Leading_the_Smartphone_Liberation Movement⠀⇛ Logan Lane gave up her smartphone. That changed her life. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ The_Unlikely_New_TikTok_Influencers:_Old-School Watch_Dealers⠀⇛ Their rapid-fire haggling in Manhattan’s diamond district teases the fantasy of making a market, rather than just being subject to it. o ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ Businesses_progress_suit_over_Vic_COVID-19 lockdown⠀⇛ Thousands of Victorian businesses who are continuing to suffer the financial impact of COVID-19 lockdowns are one step closer to having their class action case against the state heard. o ⚓ Engadget ☛ Columbia_researchers_bioprint_seamless_3D_skin_grafts for_burn_patients⠀⇛ The science of grafting skin has come a long way from the days of scraping it off one part of a patient’s body and slapping it back on somewhere else to cover a nasty burn or injury. o ⚓ Engadget ☛ Amazon_told_lawmakers_it_wouldn’t_build_warehouse storm_shelters⠀⇛ Amazon told lawmakers it wouldn’t build storm shelters in its warehouses after a December 2021 tornadokilled_six employeesat an Illinois location. Although the company changed its severe-weather response strategy after the incident, it essentially told the elected officials that since building storm shelters isn’t required by law, it won’t do that. The company responded to lawmakers Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representatives Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO), whosent_a_letteron December 15th, questioning the company’s lack of storm shelters or safe rooms at its warehouses. o ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Covid-19:_Hong_Kong_drops_vaccination requirement_for_all_international_arrivals⠀⇛ Hong Kong has dropped its Covid-19 vaccination requirement for non-residents, meaning that unvaccinated tourists can enter the city again from Monday. o ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Covid_PCR_test_requirement_for_cross- border_travel_between_Hong_Kong_and_mainland_China_scrapped_from Monday⠀⇛ Travellers crossing the border between Hong Kong and mainland China will no longer be required to produce a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) Covid-19 test result from Monday. o ⚓ teleSUR ☛ WHO_Reports_Exponential_Increase_in_Deaths_From_COVID- 19⠀⇛ According to the agency, in the last 28 days of the current year, the number of deaths has increased by 65 percent compared to the previous 28 days. * § Proprietary⠀➾ o ⚓ DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ ChatGPT_can’t_answer_simple_math questions_for_NPR_while_another_“AI”_builds_“rocket_engines”_with unnecessary_parts,_which_would_explode._(With_“ChatGPT_Richard Stallman”_as_a_special_guest)⠀⇛ ChatGPT can’t answer simple math questions for NPR while another “AI” builds “rocket engines” with unnecessary parts, which would explode. OpenAI didn’t respond to NPR, but released a new version with “improved math accuracy” that was only marginally better. o ⚓ DaemonFC (Ryan Farmer) ☛ ChatGPT_apologizes_for_being_wrong_when it_wasn’t_wrong.⠀⇛ ChatGPT apologizes for being wrong when it wasn’t wrong. Me: What is the Mandela Effect? The Mandela Effect refers to a phenomenon where a significant number of people believe an event or fact occurred differently from how it is recorded in history. * § Security⠀➾ o § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ New York Times ☛ GoodRx_Leaked_User_Health_Data_to_Facebook and_Google,_F.T.C._Says⠀⇛ The popular drug discount app deceptively shared details on users’ illnesses and medicines with ad firms, regulators said in a legal complaint. # ⚓ Engadget ☛ Documents_show_Meta_paid_for_data_scraping despite_years_of_denouncing_it⠀⇛ Meta has routinelyfought_data_scrapers, but it also participated in that practice itself — if not necessarily for the same reasons. * § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Biden,_Black_caucus_agree_on_path_forward on_police_reform⠀⇛ Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have left a meeting with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with an agreement on how to address the issue of policing in America after the recent killing of Tyre Nichols. Rep. Steven Horsford, the chairman of the Black Caucus, told reporters “the focus will always be on public safety.” The group of Black lawmakers did not disclose details about the agreement made in the room but said there will be more information about the legislative package in the days ahead. Horsford says, “This is going to require all of us, including Republicans, to get across the finish line.” o ⚓ AntiWar ☛ Fact_Checking_Zelensky_on_Non-Alignment⠀⇛ o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ China_Says_It’s_Checking_Whether_It_Sent_Spy_Balloon_to Montana⠀⇛ It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a…Chinese_spy balloon?According to China, the answer could be “maybe.” o ⚓ New Yorker ☛ The_Ukraine_Crackup_in_the_G.O.P.⠀⇛ Republicans aren’t united with one another, never mind with Joe Biden. o ⚓ US News And World Report ☛ China_Objects_to_More_Nuclear_Sub Talks_Among_UK,_U.S,_Australia⠀⇛ BEIJING (Reuters) – China “firmly objects” to further cooperation between Britain, U.S. and Australia on nuclear submarines, its foreign ministry… o ⚓ New Yorker ☛ How_the_Memphis_Police_Controlled_the_Narrative_of Tyre_Nichols’s_Killing⠀⇛ Doreen St. Félix, a writer and critic, discusses the public’s relationship to police brutality videos, and law enforcement’s illusion of transparency. o ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ In_2022,_the_war_in_Ukraine_awakened_Europe. Here’s_how_it_must_adapt_in_2023.⠀⇛ How will the EU continue to bolster its security? Can Brussels forge a new path toward better relations with its partners? Our experts give their recommendations on how to get there. o ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Implementing_NATO’s_Strategic_Concept_on China⠀⇛ Allies made it clear that they consider Russia their most immediate and direct threat. Yet they also made headlines by addressing challenges emanating from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). o ⚓ RFERL ☛ Netanyahu_Open_To_Providing_Military_Aid_To_Ukraine, Including_‘Iron_Dome’_Missile_Defense_System⠀⇛ Israel does not reject sending military aid to Ukraine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on February 1. o ⚓ RFA ☛ Myanmar_navy_arrests_36_Rohingya_in_Rakhine_state⠀⇛ They were caught at a port as they boarded a boat to try to reach Malaysia, locals say. o ⚓ RFA ☛ China’s_coast_guard_‘monitors’_Philippine_navy_ship_in disputed_territory⠀⇛ A US aircraft carrier is also in the region as the country’s defense secretary visits Manila. o ⚓ LRT ☛ Baltics,_Poland_call_on_IOC_to_bar_Russian_and_Belarusian athletes_from_Olympics⠀⇛ The Baltic and Polish sports ministers on Thursday called on international sports federations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to bar Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competitions. o ⚓ RFA ☛ North_Korean_young_people_ordered_to_serve_3_years_in military’s_manual_service_corps⠀⇛ As so-called ‘stormtroopers’ they will provide labor for mining, construction work, and other government projects. o ⚓ RFA ☛ Former_Vietnamese_Coast_Guard_commander_convicted_of embezzlment⠀⇛ Nguyen Van Son is accused of stealing more than US$2 million o ⚓ RFERL ☛ Ukraine’s_Allies_Push_IMF_To_Approve_$14_Billion-$16 Billion_Loan⠀⇛ Ukraine’s allies are pushing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finalize plans for a multibillion-dollar lending program. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ Russians_Pressing_In_Multiple_Directions_In_Donetsk_Amid Signs_Of_Major_Offensive,_Ukraine_Says⠀⇛ Russian troops are not slowing their push in several areas of the Donetsk region despite suffering heavy losses, the Ukrainian military said on February 3, amid indications that Moscow is preparing for a major push in the east to break months of stalemate. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ Special_Kosovo_Court_Upholds_Most_Convictions_Of_Two Veterans⠀⇛ Appeals judges at a European Union-backed court have upheld most of the convictions of two leaders of a Kosovo war veterans’ association who were found guilty last year of witness intimidation and obstructing justice. o ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Japan_Records_First_Increase_in_Crime_in_Two_Decades⠀⇛ “One of the factors would be street crime,” said Japanese Executive spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno. o ⚓ CNN ☛ Video_shows_scene_in_the_‘eye_of_the_storm’_of_Russia’s invasion⠀⇛ CNN’s Frederick Pleitgen reports from Kramatorsk, Ukraine, where civilians are facing missile strikes from Russia. o ⚓ CNN ☛ China_and_Russia_are_as_close_as_ever,_and_that’s_a_problem for_the_US⠀⇛ When Antony Blinken touches down in Beijing in the coming days for the first visit to China by a US secretary of state since 2018, he will be cutting a stark contrast to the scene in the Chinese capital one year earlier. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ Soaring_Russian_Death_Toll_in_Ukraine_Gives_Grim Insight_Into_the_War⠀⇛ Moscow is sending poorly trained recruits, including convicts, to the front lines in eastern Ukraine to pave the way for more seasoned fighters, U.S. and allied officials say. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ China_and_the_U.S._Are_Wooing_Indonesia, and Beijing_Has_the_Edge⠀⇛ The resource-laden nation of nearly 300 million is a big prize in the strategic battle between the United States and China for influence in Asia. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ Symbolic_Support_Is_Likely_as_Zelensky_Meets With_E.U._Leaders⠀⇛ President Volodymyr Zelensky wants commitments for Ukraine’s membership in the bloc, but diplomats and officials say that concrete announcements are unlikely. * § Environment⠀➾ o ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ NZ_floods_add_to_PM’s_inflation_challenge ahead_of_vote⠀⇛ The worst flooding in New Zealand’s biggest city Auckland has increased inflationary pressure and posed a fresh cost-of-living headache for Prime Minister Chris Hipkins as he tries to win back support for his party ahead of an election. o ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ The_coldest_wind_chills_in_decades_will_thrash New_England_as_8_deaths_are_now_linked_to_an_ice_storm_in_the South⠀⇛ CNN— Dangerous wind chills as cold as 50 degrees Fahrenheit below zero are set to blast the Northeast as the number of deaths linked to an ice storm in the South rose to eight. o § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvia_gets_another_new_electric_train⠀⇛ The seventh new electric train has been delivered to Latvia, the head of ‘Passenger Train’ (Pasažieru vilciens, PV) corporate relations department Sigita Zviedre told LETA on February 3. # ⚓ US News And World Report ☛ U.S._Prosecutors_Probe Silvergate’s_Dealings_With_FTX,_Alameda_-Source⠀⇛ (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors in Washington are probing Silvergate Capital Corp and its dealings with bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and Alameda… # ⚓ US News And World Report ☛ Sam_Bankman-Fried_in_Talks_to Resolve_Bail_Dispute,_Lawyer_Says⠀⇛ Sam Bankman-Fried is in talks with U.S. prosecutors to resolve a dispute over the FTX cryptocurrency exchange… # ⚓ LRT ☛ Lithuanian_court_refuses_to_hear_Rosneft’s_lawsuit due_to_‘EU_principles’⠀⇛ A Lithuanian court has dismissed a case in which the Russian oil group Rosneft sought restitution for real estate transactions of Mogita, a Kaunas- based oil wholesaler undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. # ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Denmark_and_UN_team_up_to_heat_Ukrainian homes⠀⇛ The embattled city of Mykolaiv a recipient of some much-needed relief through a Danish partnership with UNOPS # ⚓ Quartz ☛ International_air_travel_to_Africa_is_rebounding [Ed: A source of pollution for no practical purposes would only be celebrated by unbridled capitalism]⠀⇛ The return of Chinese tourists to Africa and a full resumption of operations on international routes by African airlines are the latest indicators of a rebounding tourism industry, badly hit by the covid-19 pandemic two years ago. o § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ This_Small_Australian_Marsupial_Is_Quite Literally_Dying_For_Sex⠀⇛ An uncontrollable urge. # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Dallas_Zoo_Is_Offering_a_$25,000_Reward_for Information_on_Who_Stole_Its_Monkeys⠀⇛ # ⚓ IDA ☛ City_of_Rocks_National_Reserve_Achieves_International Dark_Sky_Park_Certification⠀⇛ # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Window_Stickers_to_Prevent_Bird_Strikes Only_Work_One_Way⠀⇛ Every year, hundreds of millions of birds die in the United States from flying into glass. New research shows how to prevent some of those deaths. # ⚓ Brazil_to_sink_São_Paulo_aircraft_carrier_in_Atlantic [Ed: Massive human pollution, treating the planet as a garage dump]⠀⇛ A company in Türkiye had got the contract to dismantle the ship containing tons of asbestos. After months of protests from environmental groups, the government revoked permission for the ship to enter Türkiye’s territorial waters. o § Overpopulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Astronomers_Find_What_May_Be_a_Habitable World_31_Light-Years_Away⠀⇛ Could it be? * § Finance⠀➾ o ⚓ NYPost ☛ Landlord_more_than_doubles_tenant’s_rent_to_$2.2K, leading_to_fiery_social_media_backlash⠀⇛ Bolufe informs the woman if she doesn’t want to stay at the property for the new price, he’ll have to put in a “30-day notice,” and she can “leave peacefully, on time.” o ⚓ Axios ☛ Tech_earnings_reveal_a_powerful_industry_taking_some licks⠀⇛ This week’s earnings reports confirmed that Big Tech companies are taking a hit from a slowing economy — but also that they’re still raking in tons of money. o ⚓ US News And World Report ☛ Apple_Suffers_1st_Quarterly_Sales Decline_in_Nearly_4_Years⠀⇛ Apple has posted its first quarterly revenue drop in nearly four years o ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Finland_suspends_visa_issuance_to_Thai_berry pickers,_citing_human_trafficking_concerns⠀⇛ THE MINISTRY for Foreign Affairs on Thursday revealed the issuance of visas for wild berry pickers has been suspended indefinitely at the Finnish Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. The decision was made on grounds of numerous ambiguities related to wild-berry picking, including the extent of unreliable information in visa applications, risk of human trafficking, ongoing criminal investigation and possible revisions to the status of berry pickers. o ⚓ Danish_bank_posts_loss_after_US_money_laundering_fine⠀⇛ Danske Bank reported heavy losses for 2022 on Thursday as Denmark’s biggest lender was hit by huge fines in the United States and at home over money laundering. o ⚓ Copenhagen_Municipality_to_trial_four-day_working_week⠀⇛ Selected municipal staff in Copenhagen will soon be able to choose to distribute their weekly working hours over four days in a new trial scheme. o ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ OP:_Finland_to_tip_into_a_mild_recession_in 2023⠀⇛ THE FINNISH ECONOMYwill slide into a recession this year despite the alleviation of concerns about the energy crisis, predicts OP Financial Group. The Finnish financial group revealed yesterday that it expects the national economy to contract by half a per cent in 2023 and grow by half a per cent in 2024. Although the forecast has only undergone minor tweaks since last summer, it should not be read as an indication that the economic outlook is clear, toldReijo Heiskanen, the chief economist at OP. o ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ Post-pandemic_bounce_temporary_as_rate_rises threaten⠀⇛ The investment outlook has darkened as further rate rises threaten to tip Australia into an unnecessary recession, according to a leading forecaster. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ Ford_Lost_$2_Billion_in_2022_as_Some_Investments Soured⠀⇛ The company’s financial performance was hurt by its stake in Rivian, an electric truck company, and an autonomous car business. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ Apple_Revenue_and_Profit_Down_as_iPhone_Sales Slow⠀⇛ The iPhone maker said sales of its flagship product were down 8 percent as it dealt with a factory shutdown and worries about rising inflation. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ Tech’s_Biggest_Companies_Discover_Austerity,_to the_Relief_of_Investors⠀⇛ After years of expansion and billions in profits, Big Tech is pulling back from its famously lavish spending as a long boom finally ends. o ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ The_Crippled_Economy⠀⇛ Lack of money is the root of all evils. Facts do not seize to exist because they’re ignored. o ⚓ France24 ☛ Alphabet,_Amazon_and_Apple_results:_Tech_earnings_hit by_gloom⠀⇛ Google and Apple on Thursday reported downbeat results for the last quarter of 2022 as Amazon beat expectations, but warned that the coming months would be uncertain in a difficult moment for Big Tech. o ⚓ Quartz ☛ Apple_and_Starbucks_couldn’t_rise_above_China’s_zero- covid_policy⠀⇛ * § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ End_Of_An_Automation_Era_As_Twitter_Closes_Its_Doors To_Free_API_Access⠀⇛ Over the last few months since Elon Musk bought Twitter there has been a lot of comment and reaction, but not much with relevance to Hackaday readers. o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Kiss_Some_of_Your_Favorite_Twitter_Bots_Goodbye⠀⇛ Elon Musk’sTwitter_has_debts_to_pay. And in the billionaire’s quest to monetize everything about his recently acquired social media site, Twitter is set to start charging for access to its Application Program Interface (API). o ⚓ France24 ☛ EU_parliament_lifts_protective_immunity_of_two_MPs linked_to_‘Qatargate’_graft_scandal⠀⇛ The European Union’s parliament on Thursday removed the protective immunity of two lawmakers linked to one of the bloc’s biggest-ever corruption scandals, paving the way for them to be questioned by Belgian investigators. o ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Disgraced_ex-South_Korea_minister_gets_two years_jail_over_graft_scandal⠀⇛ The former justice minister had forged documents to help his children gain admission into prestigious high schools o ⚓ JURIST ☛ European_Parliament_lifts_immunity_of_two_additional lawmakers_linked_to_Qatar_bribery_scandal⠀⇛ The European Parliament Thursday stripped two additional European lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution. Belgian authorities may now question the lawmakers in their investigation into a cash-for-influence bribery scandal linked to Qatar and Morocco. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ A_U.S._Ambassador_Finds_Himself_on_Hostile Ground_in_Hungary⠀⇛ David Pressman, a gay human rights lawyer, has been accused by pro-government media in Hungary of undermining traditional values, violating diplomatic conventions and meddling in the judiciary. o ⚓ RFERL ☛ Bulgarian_President_Dissolves_Parliament,_Sets_Early Elections_For_April_2⠀⇛ Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has signed a decree dissolving the parliament and setting April 2 as the date for early elections — the country’s fifth in two years — after an inconclusive October vote failed to produce a government. o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Ally_claims_Bolsonaro_plotted_coup_to block_Lula_presidency⠀⇛ A Brazilian magazine has released audio of a senator claiming then President Jair Bolsonaro sought help in a plot to annul the October elections and keep himself in power. o ⚓ Quartz ☛ Uruguay_has_the_strongest_democracy_in_the_Americas, while_the_US_lags_far_behind⠀⇛ o § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Misinformation_Backfire_on_the_COVID-19 Vaccine_–_Exposed⠀⇛ The Government of Canada continues a relentless effort to denigrate opposition to COVID-19 vaccines by sourcing The Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) to report on misinformation or supposed ‘bad actors’ contributing to a lack of adherence to public health measures and to vaccine hesitancy. # ⚓ Reason ☛ Getting_Trump_Was_More_Important_to_Some Journalists_Than_Getting_the_Story_Right⠀⇛ The botched pursuit of the Russiagate story illustrates how the media shed credibility. * § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ o ⚓ Reason ☛ Gag_Order_Bans_Political_Tweeter_from_Naming_Man_Who Accused_American_Conservative_Union_President_of_Groping⠀⇛ Plaintiff, a Republican political operative, had sued the ACU president for allegedly groping him: In his time involved with the Republican Party, plaintiff “has served political campaigns and political committees as a field coordinator, field director, grassroots director, and political director, among others.” o ⚓ Ankara_prosecutors_investigate_Quran-burning_incidents_in_Sweden, Netherlands⠀⇛ Diplomatic missions of several countries in Türkiye have warned their citizens against possible retaliatory attacks. o ⚓ CNN ☛ Tom_Jones_hit_‘Delilah’_banned_from_Wales_rugby_matches_due to_‘problematic’_nature_of_song⠀⇛ Choirs have been banned from performing Tom Jones’ hit “Delilah” during Wales’ international rugby matches at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff due to the song’s “problematic” nature, the UK’s PA Media reported. * § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ o ⚓ HRW ☛ Burundi:_Journalist’s_Conviction_Violates_Free_Speech Rights⠀⇛ * § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ o ⚓ Reason ☛ Don’t_Expect_Government_To_Save_You_From_the Terminator⠀⇛ As artificial intelligence advances, how worried should we be about the rise of the machines? o ⚓ France24 ☛ Iran:_‘Sham’_courts_hand_out_severe_sentences_for passive_protest⠀⇛ After months of strikes and protests in Iran, thousands of people have been arrested and now face harsh sentences by the courts, including death. Activists, journalists and lawyers have received long prison terms for supporting the demonstrations or expressing their opposition to the regime, even passively. Activists and NGOs say that the Iranian judiciary is increasing the pressure on those arrested, handing out absurd charges, forcing confessions through extortion and torturing detainees. o ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Human_rights_commission_proposes_structural reform_to_‘reaffirm_autonomy’⠀⇛ The human rights NGO Centro Prodh criticized the initiative, saying focusing on militarization, disappearances and impunity is more important. * § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ o ⚓ Internet Freedom Foundation ☛ Previously_under-utilised_budgets make_us_wary_of_the_increased_allocation_in_the_2023-2024_Budget⠀⇛ This blog post includes the analyse of the 2023-24 Budget as well as its comparison with the 2022-2023 budget and revised estimates. While Increased allocations in the 2023-24 Budget is a positive sign, there are some disappointing lows as well. * § Monopolies⠀➾ o ⚓ Reason ☛ More_Cracks_in_the_FTC’s_Aggressive_Antitrust_Plans,_as Court_Refuses_To_Ban_Meta_From_Buying_V.R._Fitness_App⠀⇛ o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Judge_Rebukes_FTC_and_Greenlights_Meta’s_$400_Million Within_Acquisition⠀⇛ A federal judge in California has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to block Meta from acquiring virtual reality startup Within for an estimated $400 million. o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ An_FTC_Power_Grab_Could_Save_Your_Medical_Secrets⠀⇛ Want to save money on drugs? You could head to GoodRx.com. Type in the name of a medication, and the company will give you a coupon to use at a pharmacy. But there’s a little problem, one that GoodRxforgot_to_tell its_customersabout. o § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ ‘My_main_regret_is_that_the_Unitary Patent_Package_will_not_cover_all_European_countries’ [Ed: Another propaganda headline from Kluwer, with a loaded statement. There is no UPC. UPC is illegal. Brexit alone means that UPC is already dead. This is 'lobbyism' disguised as journalism.]⠀⇛ § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ * § Personal⠀➾ o ⚓ 🔤SpellBinding:_WEFKLUA_Wordo:_FLING⠀⇛ o ⚓ I_have_credit_card_nostalgia._WTF?⠀⇛ I’m aware that cards with no (visible) number exist, but mine still have embossed numbers. The embossing was actually useful to me twice in the last couple of years. Once I went with someone to a pub in a small village for dinner. At first I thought it was closed because the lights were out. Then I saw the candles. There was a power cut, but the pub was still open. So we went inside and ordered some food and drink. The landlady was very cross with the power company, but also determined that she should stay open. And she had a plan. Instead of regular card payments, she had the mechanical card printing device that used to copy the embossed card details onto a paper payment slip. It worked, and I had to sign a credit card slip for the first time in many years. * § Politics⠀➾ o ⚓ The_progression_to_numberless_credit/debit_cards⠀⇛ on them (like Wise’s Eco card) are part of a wider trend in the credit/debit card industry and are more generally called “numberless cards” (with the Apple Card, Curve Investor and Chase [UK] cards being other well known examples). While they clearly do have an account number associated with them it is not visible on the card itself (unlike traditional cards). Cards have gone through three quick phrases in recent years: removal of embossing, numbers moved to the back, no numbers. These are all sort of linked, with each step leading to the next one making more sense. In my own wallet I have cards that are embossed, not embossed with numbers on the front, and not embossed with numbers on the back. How long before I too have a numberless card and will I have all four forms at the same time? * § Technical⠀➾ o § Internet/Gemini⠀➾ # ⚓ Back_or_Front_End?⠀⇛ My current projects, my job search, and a conversation I had today all have got me thinking about this question lately. Which part of a project do I like to work on the most? What kind of team can I best contribute to? I get enjoyment out of both but lean towards back end where all the server and database stuff lives. I guess one part is the correctness of it. You can pretty easily quantify whether something works and how well. Does it pass all the tests? Does it fit the requirements and constraints? Is performance good enough? It’s all generally clear-cut yes or no where a yes means an instant dopamine hit for the programmer. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 2453 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.03.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_03/02/2023:_OpenSSH_9.2_and_OBS_Studio_29.0.1⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 1:02 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o WINE_or_Emulation o Games * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o BSD o Open_Hardware/Modding * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o Openness/Sharing/Collaboration # Open_Access/Content o Programming/Development # Python * Leftovers o Education o Hardware o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Proprietary o Security # Integrity/Availability/Authenticity # Privacy/Surveillance o Defence/Aggression o Transparency/Investigative_Reporting o Environment # Energy/Transportation o Finance o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics o Censorship/Free_Speech o Freedom_of_Information_/_Freedom_of_the_Press o Civil_Rights/Policing o Monopolies # Patents # Copyrights * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ OBS_Studio_29.0.1_rolls_out_with_many_bug fixes⠀⇛ OBS Studio 29.0.1 is out now and a worthwhile upgrade for any of you doing video content on Linux, as it fixes many problems from the previous release. # ⚓ Gajim_1.7.0_–_Gajim⠀⇛ o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Java_OpenJDK_and_Oracle_JDK_on Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Java is one of the most powerful programming languages. This post will show you how to install OpenJDK and Oracle JDK on Ubuntu 22.04. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ How_to_Automate_Journalctl_Log_Cleanup_on Linux⠀⇛ Journalctl is a command-line utility for viewing system logs in Linux distributions that use Systemd. It’s an essential tool for system administrators to diagnose problems, monitor system performance, and track changes to the system. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ Install_and_Use_nmon_Tool_To_Monitor_Linux Systems⠀⇛ Nmon is a simple, lightweight, and handy tool that lets you see what’s going on in your server. Nmon provides a simple ncurses interface to display the Linux system resources usage like CPU, memory, network, disks, file system, NFS, top processes, resources, and more. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_GlusterFS_Scalable_Network Filesystem_on_Debian_11⠀⇛ GlusterFS or Gluster File System is a free and open-source distributed file system developed by RedHat. In this tutorial, you will install GlusterFS – distributed and scalable network filesystem – on Debian 11 servers. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_install_PHP_5.6_and_7.0_–_8.2_with PHP-FPM_and_FastCGI_mode_for_ISPConfig_3.2_with_apt_on_Ubuntu 18.04_–_22.04⠀⇛ When using ISPConfig, by default, you only have the main PHP version for your distribution. This guide will take you through installing additional PHP versions (5.6, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.1, and 8.2) on a Ubuntu server with ISPConfig. # ⚓ Manuel Matuzovic ☛ Day_95:_the_color-mix()_function⠀⇛ The color-mix() function takes two colors and returns the result of mixing them, in a given color space, by a specified amount. # ⚓ Manuel Matuzovic ☛ Day_94:_the_accent-color_property⠀⇛ The accent-color CSS property allows us to specify the accent color for user-interface controls generated by an element. # ⚓ Manuel Matuzovic ☛ Day_93:_the_lch()_color_function⠀⇛ The lch() color function allows you to pick colors from the CIELAB color space, which is device- independant and covers the entire gamut (range) of human color perception. # ⚓ Yoshua Wuyts ☛ Using_HTML_As_A_Compile_Target⠀⇛ o § WINE or Emulation⠀➾ # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Wine_8.1_released_starting_another_year_of Windows_to_Linux_translation_work⠀⇛ The Wine 8.1 development release is now available, starting off another year of new features landing usually bi-weekly for the Windows translation layer used in Proton. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Handshakes_is_a_free_sokoban_puzzler_about two_hands_meeting⠀⇛ Sometimes a good firm handshake is what’s needed and someone decided to turn that idea into a free puzzle game with Handshakes. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Prison_Architect:_Jungle_Pack_releases_soon with_another_free_update⠀⇛ Paradox continue the DLC train here with Prison Architect: Jungle Pack announced for release on February 7th along with a free update for all players. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Inspired_by_the_classic_SimTower,_build_up high_with_Property_Pro⠀⇛ Property Pro is an upcoming game from SimDevs, with an aim to capture the classic feel of SimTower from the 90s. With a hint of the character styling from Prison Architect and RimWorld, the idea sounds good. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Going_to_live_my_dream_of_Fifth_Element flying_cars_in_MiLE_HiGH_TAXi⠀⇛ Remember the classic sci-fi movie Fifth Element? I sure do and I only watched it again recently, where memories came flowing back of how I used to want those flying cars. Well, one game developer clearly loved it too and they’re soon releasing MiLE HiGH TAXi. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Nordic_Ashes:_Survivors_of_Ragnarok_is_a Norse_inspired_horde_survival_rogue-lite⠀⇛ Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok is yet another survivor game in the spirit of Vampire Survivors, except this has a Nordic theme to it and it’s now on Steam with Native Linux support. It’s also Steam Deck Verified. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o ⚓ Martijn Braam ☛ Alpine_Linux_is_pretty_neat⠀⇛ I’ve used various Linux distributions in the past, starting with a Knoppix live CD a long time ago. For a long time I was an Ubuntu user (with compiz-fusion ofcourse), then I used Arch Linux for years thinking it was the perfect distribution. Due to postmarketOS I found out about Alpine Linux and now after using that for some years I think I should write a post about it. o § BSD⠀➾ # ⚓ Undeadly ☛ OpenSSH_9.2/9.2p1_released!⠀⇛ As should be of no surprise to undeadly readers, OpenSSH is a 100% complete SSH protocol 2.0 implementation and includes sftp client and server support. # ⚓ OpenSSH ☛ OpenSSH_9.2_was_released_on_2023-02-02⠀⇛ This release contains fixes for two security problems and a memory safety problem. The memory safety problem is not believed to be exploitable, but we report most network-reachable memory faults as security bugs. o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ Eta ☛ Reversing_UK_mobile_rail_tickets⠀⇛ But what data is inside the barcode of a mobile ticket, and how do they work? Could people who aren’t ticket inspectors get the data out of them? It turns out that the answer is a bit more interesting than I initially expected! # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Building_An_All-in-One_Desktop_Out_Of_Framework Parts⠀⇛ The Framework laptop prides itself on having reusable parts, and hackers all around routinely challenge the claims by building projects reusing them. Yet again, [whatthefilament] puts the Framework hardware to the test, by taking all the laptop internals and building an AiO (All-in-One) desktop computer with it. Hot on the heels of his Framework tablet project we covered a few months ago, this desktop reuses as much as possible – the mainboard, the display and the expansion cards in particular, and even one of the hinges is reused for adjusting the monitor’s angle. * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o ⚓ OpenSource.com ☛ How_upstream_contributions_power_scientific research⠀⇛ Horizon Europe emphasizes open science and open source technology. The program evolved from Horizon 2020, which provided financial support for research projects that promoted industrial competitiveness, advanced scientific excellence, or solved social challenges through the process of “open science.” Open science is an approach to the scientific process based on open cooperative work, tools, and diffusing knowledge found in the Horizon Europe Regulation and Model Grant Agreement. This open science approach aligns with open source principles that provide a structure for such cooperation. o ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Elon’s_New_API_Pricing_Plan_Seems_Perfectly_Designed… To_Help_Send_More_Users_And_Developers_To_Mastodon⠀⇛ Huh. It had actually felt like quite some time since Elon Musk had last done something so stupid as to send a new bunch of users to Mastodon. But, apparently he can’t go that long without helping to do so. Last night, I had actually started working on a story about how developers were increasingly moving from Twitter to Mastodon, following the ridiculously, poorly communicated decision to shutdown API access for companies building Twitter clients (from which many original Twitter innovations arose). o § Openness/Sharing/Collaboration⠀➾ # § Open Access/Content⠀➾ # ⚓ Times Higher Education ☛ Scottish_university_press slashes_open_access_monograph_costs⠀⇛ The new academic press, which is already assessing pitches for books nearing completion that will be ready for publication in 2023-24, will also create opportunities for scholars to publish their work in a longer form, added Ms Walker. “As a not-for-profit, we don’t have the same limitations on what we can publish – we can publish things that might not be as commercially viable [with a traditional publisher] or we think about helping early career researchers to find an audience,” she said. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Diziet ☛ derive-adhoc:_powerful_pattern-based_derive_macros for_Rust⠀⇛ Have you ever wished that you could that could write a new derive macro without having to mess with procedural macros? # ⚓ University of Toronto ☛ C_was_not_created_as_an_abstract machine_(of_course)⠀⇛ This is simultaneously true and false. It’s absolutely true that the semantics of formal standard C are defined in terms of an abstract (virtual) machine, instead of any physical machine. The determined refusal of the specification to tie this abstract machine in concrete CPUs is the source of a significant amount of frustration in people who would like, for example, for there to be some semantics attached to what happens when you dereference an invalid pointer. They note that actual CPUs running C code all have defined semantics, so why can’t C? But, well, as is frequently said, C Is Not a Low-level Language (via) and the semantics of C don’t correspond exactly to CPU semantics. So I agree with nytpu’s overall sentiments, as I understand them. # § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Python Speed ☛ Don’t_bother_trying_to_estimate_Pandas memory_usage⠀⇛ * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ SDS_Redux…No,_the_BOOK⠀⇛ The 50th anniversary edition of SDS, the classic story of the 1960s Students for a Democratic Society, has just been published, with a new introduction by me, and an enlarged index in which many modern-day politicos will find their names.  A handsome paperbound edition, a hefty 769 pages for only $24.95, it was published as an act of love by the New York City-based Autonomedia, which had also earlier published my No More Mushrooms: Thoughts on Life Without Government. In retrospect, we can see that, although the organization collapsed after just ten years of existence, it did make a mark.  As I say in the introduction, it was “a major factor in the creation of a New Left in America,” which was no small thing given that the only left politics up until then was a moldy Marxism, a kind of Maoism, and an anti-Soviet socialism, none of which took hold in this country or was likely to. This was a homegrown politics, taking its impulses not from Europe but from dissatisfactions and distortions in the American experience o ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ William_Anthony_(1934-2022)_RIP⠀⇛ Many years ago, so I remember as if it were yesterday, I went to one of those small Chelsea galleries on an upper floor off of tenth avenue, looked at an image parodying Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box and laughed aloud. And was jokingly rebuked: ’Don’t you know that this is an art gallery?’, the person at the desk asked me. That’s how I came to meet Bill Anthony, who became a friend. And that’s why, to the right above the computer on which I am writing, I have his drawing after Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca, (1819). But where Ingres’ two doomed Italian lovers are impossibly elegant, Anthony shows the most awkward two people imaginable making out. For reasons that I don’t claim to fully understand, humor in visual art is a surprisingly neglected topic. Now and then, I see a painting that is unintentionally funny, but I cannot think of another artist who like Anthony made a career from presenting visual humor. Always mischievous, but never malicious, Anthony got the ideas for his art from teaching beginning drawing students. They drew heads too large, arms and legs too small, and so he appropriated their style for his parodies of old master, modernist and contemporary art. Thus in his Men of Avignon (1997) Picasso’s women are replaced by five skinny naked man. In his Just What is it? (2021), Richard Hamilton’s famous pop image Just What is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, so Appealing? (1956) is redone with a female body builder replacing Hamilton’s male weight lifter, and Anthony’s own art on the walls replacing Hamilton’s examples. The Red Studio (1994) redoes Matisse’s The Red Studio (1911), with the pictures within the picture done, naturally!, in Anthony’s inimitable style. And in Dance (2016), six happily moronic looking pink dancers take the pose of Matisse graceful figures in Dance (1909-1910). The ungainly Giorgione Girl (2008) satirizes Giorgione’s great The Sleeping Venus (1510); Balthus Baby (2000) turns that painter’s pubescent femme fatale into a simpleton; and Laocoon (2011) redoes the very famous ancient Greek sculpture, Laocoön, with the three emaciated men struggling with a skinny blue snake. These examples all come from a recent book, Deviant Draftsmanship. And Anthony also did political history, in his earlier books War is Swell: A kids Idiotic Vision of WWII (2000) and Biblical Stories (1978), a book that impressed Warhol. And he presented politics, as in his politically incorrect Requiem for a Retard (2019), in which a man about to be electrocuted who is eating his last meal asks, ‘What’s for dessert?’ And I love his three drawings (1996), The Effects of Masturbation on Boys (blindness, hairy palms, insanity). Anthony also did caricatures of well known images by Caravaggio, Giorgio de Chirico, Degas, Ensor, Eric Fischl, Gainsborough, David Hockney, Magritte, Sigmar Polke and Tom of Finland. No artist, however famous or dignified, was beyond his reach. Like one of the great old masters, he thus created in his art a whole parallel universe, with everyone ungainly. All of his figures, male or female, look silly; every one of them appears to be a complete idiot. o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Build_A_Circuit_Sculpture-Style_VU_Meter_For_Music⠀⇛ One of the coolest things any sound system can have is some kind of musical visualization. Thumping level meters that pump with the volume are a great example, and were particularly popular in the 1980s. Now, you can build a rainbow set with great response, thanks to this guide from [Invexlab World]. o ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Brass_Hardware_Makes_For_Pretty_Potentiometer_Knobs⠀⇛ Knobs and switches can make or break the aesthetic and tactile appeal of a project. Fine hi-fi hardware goes hard on these details, while cheap knock-off guitar pedals often go the other way. If you’re looking for a unique, cheap, and compelling solution for potentiometer knobs, you might like to consider using converted brass hardware for the job. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ ACM ☛ Combining_Augmented_and_Virtual_Reality_Experiences for_Immersive_Fire_Drills⠀⇛ This paper presented a training application that combines the strengths of AR and VR for realistic fire suppression and evacuation training. Specifically, the fire-training environment was constructed by accurately detecting the 3D information of real objects to improve the immersive experience of the training. By applying the actually used fire training tool to the tangible interface, the training effect was increased and this was verified. Finally, a method for freely switching between AR and VR experiences in one device as presented. The proposed system still has limitations that can only be used on a few devices. In the future, we plan to develop human-like AI agents that can respond to various training scenarios alongside the trainee, further reducing risk and reducing the cost of human participants. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Sanders_Vows_to_Work_on_Raising_“Pathetically Low”_Teacher_Salaries⠀⇛ # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Keeanga-Yamahtta_Taylor,_Khalil_Gibran Muhammad_&_E._Patrick_Johnson_on_the_Fight_over_Black History⠀⇛ We host a roundtable with three leading Black scholars about the College Board’s decision to revise its curriculum for an Advanced Placement course in African American studies after criticism from Republicans like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The revised curriculum removes Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations and queer theory as required topics, while it adds a section on Black conservatism. The College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers Advanced Placement courses across the country, denies that it buckled to political pressure. “Florida is a laboratory of fascism at this point,” says Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. We also speak with two scholars whose writings are among those purged from the revised curriculum: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, professor of African American studies at Northwestern University, and E. Patrick Johnson, dean of Northwestern’s School of Communication and a pioneer in the formation of Black sexuality studies as a field of scholarship. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ New_Advanced_Placement_African_American Studies_Course_is_Watered_Down_Version_of_Itself⠀⇛ On February 1, 2023– the first day of Black History Month – the College Board released the framework for its new Advanced Placement African American Studies course. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has criticized the pilot version of the African American studies course as lacking educational […] # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Teach_Black_History…Don’t_Ban_It⠀⇛ When Republican President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976, he called on Americans to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans.” He also acknowledged that Black Americans had shown “courage and perseverance” when our country had failed to live up to its own ideals. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ The_Struggle_Of_Keeping_A_1950s_Candlepin Bowling_System_Working⠀⇛ When we hear the term ‘bowling’, most of us think of what is known as ten-pin bowling, yet this is only one of the many variations. Candlepin bowling — so called because of the distinctive pin shape — has been around since 1880, yet is mostly played within the US New England and Canadian Maritime provinces. Because of how relatively uncommon it is, candlepin bowling alleys such as the one that [Autumn Mowery]’s family runs is struggling to keep the system working, much of it due to a lack of spare parts. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Forever_Chemicals,_Everywhere⠀⇛ Forever Chemicals are found everywhere from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the mountaintop of Mt. Everest. Following 80 years of manufacturing various PFAS chemicals, the world is swimming in chemical permanence. And yes, it is a toxic price society pays for modern-day conveniences — made easy! But maybe it would be better if “products made easy by PFASs” were made the old-fashioned way, pre-1940 sans dangerous chemicals. After all, several civilizations of the world got along just fine over thousands of years without PFAS chemicals. For example, the BBC documentary: The Story of India by Michael Wood: Archeological discoveries have revealed advanced technological artifacts found at Rakhigarhi, an Indus Valley site 8,000 years old. Indus cities had elaborate planning for drainage systems, housebuilding, and street construction with plentiful evidence of transcendent cultural affairs. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Our_Planet_Versus_Plastic_Bags:_a_Tale_of Two_Cities⠀⇛ With oceans, countries, populations, and governments inundated by a plague of plastic worldwide, it may be useful to focus on the single- use plastic bag choices made by two cities, in the same U.S. state, located at a distance of only 64 miles (104 km) from each other. Both Santa Fe and Albuquerque share many qualities and conditions, foremost among them a distinctive cultural mix of American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American citizens. But the two communities are also dissimilar, and this is reflected in the way they have dealt with the plastic bag dilemma. Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the United States. It is the seat of the New Mexico government and is home to the country’s third-largest art market. It calls itself “the City Different” and has more than 250 art galleries and dealers, a dozenstate and private museums, and a world-class opera, for its more than 88,000residents. # ⚓ VOA News ☛ Australia_to_Legalize_MDMA_And_Magic_Mushrooms for_Medical_Use⠀⇛ Psychedelics have been used by Indigenous peoples for millennia, but Western researchers only started seriously looking into their potential uses in the middle of the last century. The drugs became symbols of the counterculture movement of the 1960s and were banned. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Can_Psychedelics_Solve_the_Youth_Mental_Health Crisis?⠀⇛ As a high school freshman, Aiden McDonnell began exploring dissociative drugs with the help of well- connected friends: first with DMX, a cough suppressant often found in over-the-counter medicine, and later with magic mushrooms and LSD. His initial experiences with these substances—typically labeled “psychedelic” for their visual or illusory effects—were “not fun” and spawned regrets over losing “the innocence of childhood,” said McDonnell. “That’s probably not the best when you haven’t even started figuring stuff out.” # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘People_Are_Dying’:_Nearly_14,000_Nigerians Sue_Shell_Over_Devastating_Oil_Spills⠀⇛ More than 13,650 Nigerians have filed claims against Shell for years of unremedied oil spills that are causing ecological destruction, disease, and death. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ GOP_AGs_Threaten_Pharmacies_If_They Dispense_Abortion_Pills_by_Mail⠀⇛ A month after the two largest pharmacy chains in the United States announced their efforts to become certified to dispense abortion pills by mail, in accordance with a new Food and Drug Administration rule, the Republican attorneys general of 20 states on Wednesday warned the companies that providing the medications by mail in their states could result in legal action against them. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ 20_GOP_Attorneys_General_Threaten_Pharmacies_If They_Mail_Abortion_Pills⠀⇛ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Abortion_Clinic_Sues_West_Virginia_Over_Anti- Abortion_Law⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Revelator ☛ United_States_Includes_Dam_Emissions_in_UN Climate_Reporting_for_the_First_Time⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russian_dairy_producers_start_labeling_milk_in kilograms_to_hide_package_downsizing_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Russian dairy producers have begun labeling containers of milk by their mass rather than by their volume, RBC has reported. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ ‘We’re_Still_Gonna_Say_No’:_Inside UnitedHealthcare’s_Effort_to_Deny_Coverage_to_Chronically_Ill Patient⠀⇛ After a college student finally found a treatment that worked, the insurance giant decided it wouldn’t pay for the costly drugs. His fight to get coverage exposed the insurer’s hidden procedures for rejecting claims. o § Proprietary⠀➾ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ OpenAI_Wants_To_Help_You_Figure_Out_If_Text_Was Written_By_OpenAI;_But_What_Happens_When_It’s_Wrong?⠀⇛ With the rise of ChatGPT over the past few months, the inevitable moral panics have begun. We’ve seen a bunch of people freaking out about how ChatGPT will be used by students to do their homework, how it will replace certain jobs, and other claims. Most of these are totally overblown. While some cooler heads have prevailed, and argued (correctly) that schools need to learn to teach with ChatGPT, rather than against it, the screaming about ChatGPT in schools is likely to continue. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ It_Took_Months_For_Anker_To_Finally_Admit_Its Eufy_Cameras_Weren’t_Really_Secure⠀⇛ Last November, The Verge discovered that Anker, the maker of popular USB chargers and the Eufy line of “smart” cameras, had a bit of a security issue. Despite the fact the company advertised its Eufy cameras as having “end-to-end” military-grade encryption, security researcher Paul Moore and a hacker named Wasabi found it was pretty easy to intercept user video streams. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ This_Week_In_Security:_Github,_Google,_And Realtek⠀⇛ GitHub Desktop may have stopped working for you yesterday, Febuary 2nd. The reason was an unauthorized access to some decidedly non-public repositories. The most serious bit of information that escaped was code signing certificates, notably used for GitHub Desktop and Atom. Those certificates were password protected, so it’s unlikely they’ve been abused yet. Even so, Github is taking the proper steps of revoking those certificates. # ⚓ IT Wire ☛ Red_Hat_Launches_Ansible_Automation_Platform_on Google_Cloud⠀⇛ Red Hat says organisations can deploy Red Hat’s self-managed offering directly from the Google Cloud Marketplace to quickly start automating the management of their Google Cloud resources. # ⚓ Jan Schaumann ☛ AWS_IAM_and_Cost_Explorer_CLI_Setup⠀⇛ While using Amazon EC2 for my class on System Administration, students often leave resources running unchecked, leading to an unexpectedly high bill. In order to help them keep track of their costs, I put together a simple shell function to display the current usage. While the command itself (shown at the end of this post) is trivial by itself, creating the required AWS resources to allow for access via the command- line — our preferred mandated AWS access method — is not completely obvious for novice or even only occasional AWS users, so I figured I’d document this here, both for my students as well as for myself. # ⚓ Tim Bray ☛ Amazon_Q4_2022_Financials⠀⇛ “Profit” is an accounting abstraction, what concerns me more would be the negative free cash flow of $19.8B over the course of 2022. Perhaps someone more finance-literate could offer a good reason why this shouldn’t be a worry? o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Sanctioned_Iranian_hackers_behind Charlie_Hebdo_breach,_Microsoft_says [Ed: Microsoft is to blame for loads of security breaches, not the expert to be approached for blame-shifting explanations (blaming nations rather than the holes)]⠀⇛ U.S. officials sanctioned members of the hacking group after they attempted to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. # § Integrity/Availability/Authenticity⠀➾ # ⚓ Devever ☛ Against_risk-based_authentication_(or,_why I_wouldn’t_trust_Google_Cloud)⠀⇛ Fundamentally, the issue here comes down to the fact that an accounts system for critical infrastructure needs to fulfill two objectives: It must be possible for authorized users to gain access. It must not be possible for unauthorized users to gain access. “Risk-based” authentication essentially tries too hard to fulfil the second objective in a way that compromises on the former. # ⚓ William ☛ How_Hype_Will_Turn_Your_Security_Key_Into Junk⠀⇛ To understand the problem, we need to understand what a discoverable/resident key is. You have probably seen that most keys support an ‘unlimited’ number of accounts. This is achieved by sending a “key wrapped key” to the security key. When the Relying Party (Authentication Server) wants to authenticate your security key, it will provide you a “credential id”. That credential ID is an encrypted blob that only your security key can decrypt. If your security key can decrypt that blob it yields a private key that is specific to that single RP that you can use for signatures. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ NBC ☛ Patrons_of_NYC_gay_bar_incapacitated_and_robbed of_thousands_via_facial_recognition_on_their_phones⠀⇛ Police believe the criminals used facial recognition to access the victims’ phones and funds once they were incapacitated, according to Capt. Robert Gault of the city’s 10th Precinct, who spoke about the incidents at a police community council meeting last week. # ⚓ Idiomdrottning ☛ When_the_EU_wanted_to_own_all computers⠀⇛ Their desire to monitor 100% of all communication is understandable, it’s for a good cause, but the only way to do that technically is if the are the admin user on every single computer (because otherwise people can still chat over Omemo, PGP, Matrix, or SSH+talk). So no more passwords, SSL certs, bank login, no more free operating systems, no more Jitsi or SSH or HTTPS. This law literally breaks all computing and the entire Internet. Which, if that’s what they really intend to do, they should just say so explicitly. The EU anti–all-computers-ever law. I can kind of see the appeal but I doubt business & politicians would, if they really understood that that was the ramifications. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Trump_Shares_Post_Urging_Followers_to_Physically Fight_for_Him_to_Win_Nomination⠀⇛ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Noam_Chomsky:_Right-Wing_Insurrection_in_Brazil Held_Strong_Echoes_of_January_6⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘My_pebble_on_the_scale’:_A_former_Team_Navalny activist_is_back_in_Russia_to_collect_signatures_against_the war_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Death_Sentence_for_Women_and_Families’:_US Court_Blocks_Domestic_Violence_Gun_Ban⠀⇛ The right-wing 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down a federal law barring people with domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms, a ruling that gun control advocates said will cost lives. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ January_6_Report_Obscured_the_Role_of_Racism_in the_“Stop_the_Steal”_Movement⠀⇛ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Atlanta’s_“Cop_City”_Moves_Forward_as_19_People Face_Domestic_Terrorism_Charges⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ To_the_Viktor_goes_the_oil_Hungary’s_government appears_set_on_maintaining_its_cozy_relationship_with_Moscow. But_at_what_cost?_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘A_lunar_landscape_with_residents_who_hate_us’ Russian_military_source_tells_Novaya_Gazeta_that_Moscow_is gearing_up_for_a_new_offensive_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Russia is preparing to launch a new offensive in Ukraine, Novaya Gazeta Europe reported on Friday, citing a source from the Russian military. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Democrats_Introduce_Bill_to_Ban_‘Grotesque’ Marketing_of_Assault_Weapons_to_Kids⠀⇛ U.S. Sen. Ed Markey on Thursday introduced legislation to outlaw the marketing of firearms to children amid growing outrage from federal lawmakers, gun violence prevention advocates, and parents over a weapon for kids inspired by the AR- 15. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Charter’s_$7_Billion_Penalty_For_Murdering_An Elderly_Customer_Reduced_To_$262_Million⠀⇛ Last August, cable giant Charter Communications (Spectrum) was slapped with a $7 billion lawsuit after one of the company’s cable technicians murdered an 83-year-old customer after hours. The lawsuit (pdf) claims that Charter had eliminated a more rigorous screening process when they merged with Time Warner Cable, letting the employee and his history slip through the cracks. # ⚓ Wired ☛ The_Kremlin_Has_Entered_the_Chat⠀⇛ # ⚓ RTL ☛ Pentagon_tracking_Chinese_spy_balloon_over_US⠀⇛ The official added that the balloon had flown over the northwest United States, where there are sensitive airbases and nuclear missiles in underground silos, but that the Pentagon did not believe it constituted a particularly dangerous intelligence threat. # ⚓ VOA News ☛ Suspected_Chinese_Spy_Balloon_Spotted_Over Western_US,_Pentagon_Says⠀⇛ The balloon above Montana was not the first Chinese balloon spotted in the U.S, but this one seems to be hovering over locations longer than before, according to a military official. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ How_the_U.S._Border_Arrived_in_Kenya⠀⇛ When I got in the car in Nairobi to go to the Maasai Mara in the Kenya-Tanzania borderlands, it was hard to imagine that I was going to a place touched by U.S. border operations, but it was true. The United States, as I learned when I was researching my 2019 book Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the U.S. Border Around the World, has a Customs and Border Protection attaché at its Kenya embassy. This is one of 23 such attachés that the U.S. has across the world, in various places, including Bogotá, Mexico City, and New Delhi. The border, in other words, has far more reach than you might think. The U.S. has long been pushing its borders out to places across the globe. Perhaps the most well- known cases are the Mexico-Guatemala and the Dominican Republic-Haiti frontiers (as The Border Chronicle detailed last year), along with others in Latin America and the Caribbean. As former DHS secretary John Kelly put it in 2017, “Border security cannot be attempted as an endless series of ‘goal line stands’ on the one-foot line at the ports of entry or along the thousands of miles of border between this country and Mexico. … I believe the defense of the Southwest border starts 1,500 miles to the south, with Peru.” # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Philanthropic_Violence_in_Nigeria⠀⇛ Murder is something that comes easily to capitalists, and their political system is caked with the blood of ordinary workers whose lives fall apart under the hammer blows of oppression. In the eternal quest for cheap oil and colossal profits, power-hungry elites drain our planet of its living sap, justifying their destruction of our environment and our lives with a brazen cynicism that remains foreign to the ranks of the working- class. Nigeria is one such country whose immense mineral wealth has meant that the lives of its 200 million people are held back by the violence of capitalism. Yet amidst a country of deep hardship, the heroic resistance of ordinary people continues undeterred. The peoples’ struggle continues # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Ukraine_opens_criminal_case_against_Wagner_Group founder_Evgeny_Prigozhin_—_Meduza⠀⇛ The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office has filed criminal charges against Evgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, according to the agency’s press service. Prigozhin stands accused of encroaching on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and waging an aggressive war. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Duma_deputies_submit_draft_legislation_that_would allow_military_personnel_to_be_jailed_without_trial_— Meduza⠀⇛ State Duma deputies Andrey Kartopolov and Andrey Krasov introduced a draft bill that would, if it passes, allow military personnel to be jailed without a court ruling. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Tolstoy,_Pushkin,_and_Marshak_briefly_labeled ‘foreign_agents’_on_major_Russian_bookseller’s_website_— Meduza⠀⇛ Multiple Russian writers, including Leo Tolstoy, Samuil Marshak, and Alexander Pushkin, were reportedly labeled as “foreign agents” on the website of Labyrinth, one of Russia’s largest online bookstores, on Friday. # ⚓ Defence Web ☛ Nigeria_orders_more_vessels_from_France’s Ocea⠀⇛ France’s Ocea has received another order from Nigeria, this time for nine vessels for the Nigerian Navy. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Tyre_Nichols_and_the_Need_for_a_Cultural Revolution⠀⇛ The death of Tyre Nichols will be added to a long list of Black, Brown and White U.S. citizens innocently subjected to overwhelming force by those entrusted to protect them. The video of the young man being beaten by five Black policemen will lead to renewed cries of “Enough, enough.” Calls for local, state, and federal laws will be heard, and maybe some legislation will be passed. But the fundamental issues behind the excessive use of force by police officers in the United States will go unheeded. That would involve a cultural revolution, a fundamental change in the nature of law enforcement. We are familiar with different types of revolutions. Political revolutions, like the French Revolution or a coup d’état, are easy to observe. People are in power one day and gone the next. Scientific revolutions may also be dramatic. The discovery and mapping of DNA would be another example as would the work of Copernicus, Newton, and Einstein. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Goodbye,_Tyre⠀⇛ When Tyre Nichols woke up the morning of the last day of his life, I feel certain that he wasn’t thinking about racism or the chance that it might be his end, though he’d likely had “the talk” from his parents at an early age. He’d pushed it back, seeking peace and joy in a life he shared with friends, family, and his community. To do otherwise would create a constant state of fear, precluding any quality of life, the ability to just get through it all and grow up. I feel this as a Black mother. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ The_Crisis_Killing_Black_Women⠀⇛ For as long as the CDC and other health organizations have collected data on suicide, they’ve reported that suicide rates among Black people are the lowest among any racial category, and Black women and girls, more specifically, are least likely to end their lives of all demographic groups. It’s a statistical finding so counterintuitive that researchers dubbed it the racial/gender “suicide paradox”—that despite enduring more simultaneous marginalizing oppressions than any other group, Black women, instead of taking their lives at rates that surpass, or even equal, more privileged identities, just keep on keepin’ on. This idea—that suicide is correlated with whiteness, negatively correlated with Blackness, and irrelevant to Black femaleness—crept out of the sociology and mental health realms to establish itself within the broader American cultural psyche. Black women’s purported immunity to suicide has been regarded as such an open-and-shut case that studies on Black female suicidality are extremely scant. Corrections to that dangerous oversight have been slow to take hold, even in recent years, as Black teenage girls and young women have begun killing themselves at unprecedented rates. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Deadly_Violence_Against_Protesters_Is_the_New Normal⠀⇛ On the morning of January 18, agents from nine agencies, including the FBI and its local counterpart, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, descended on a section of Atlanta’s South River Forest occupied by activists. For the past two years, hundreds had lived in the section of the Weelaunee forest, in tents and treehouses, in order to block its planned conversion into a police training facility—a “Cop City” complete with a mock village, firing ranges, and a Black Hawk landing pad. That morning, the agents were under orders to “eliminate the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center of criminal activity.” # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Rage_Against_the_War_Machine:_A_Call_for_a National_Strike_to_End_the_War⠀⇛ As many others probably are, I’m very much concerned that the current trajectory of the war in Ukraine is leading us toward thermo nuclear war. Global nuclear holocaust followed by nuclear winter is a terrifying prospect for the future of humanity, threatening its very existence, future generations, and the existence of all life on this planet.  And the thing is, even though I know that this prospect is increasingly becoming the reality, I just don’t want to accept it. Yet, at the same time, I feel so paralyzed, so helpless to do anything about it. Who am I? I’m just one person. What can I do? Well, I’m not just one person, am I? So, what are “we” going to do about it? How can “we” stop this war machine from its destructive path? Once the automated systems are initiated, it’s almost impossible to stop the sequences that will follow. It will all happen very quickly. In around half an hour or so, much of the world will be completely destroyed. It has been estimated, that, if any, only 1% of humanity will survive, but then there’s the follow up of nuclear winter, which will last for a year afterwards. I don’t think I need to go on to describe the horrors of that, but we need to understand the incredibly foolish risk these madmen are taking now with their war machine. It’s not a game! These scoundrels and devils, who are of a similar mentality as that of Nazis, are risking our lives and the lives of our children and their children, our friends and families, future generations, and all life on the planet. And for what? So that the filthy rich war pigs of the MIC can get filthier, more corrupt, and fantastically wealthy?  So, why are “we” the people even in this game? How does this benefit the American people? It doesn’t! None of it does! # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ #BritainDebrief_–_How_grave_is_Britain’s stagnation?_A_debrief_from_Dr._Adam_Tooze⠀⇛ Ben Judah spoke with Professor Adam Tooze, Director of the European Institute and Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History at Columbia University on how Britain’s economic crisis looks from a historical perspective. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ #BritainDebrief_–_How_does_the_Western price_cap_on_oil_work?_|_A_Debrief_from_Eddie_Fishman⠀⇛ Ben Judah spoke with Eddie Fishman, Senior Policy Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, to discuss the price cap. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Live:_Ukraine’s_Zelensky_vows_to_hasten_EU membership_after_Kyiv_summit⠀⇛ Ukraine will not waste “a single day” bringing EU membership closer, President Volodymyr Zelensky told a joint press conference with EU leaders on Friday after a summit in Kyiv. Earlier, EU Council President Charles Michel said the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a decisive moment for the European bloc in an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24. Follow our live blog for all the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+1). # ⚓ France24 ☛ US_pressures_allies_to_expel_Russia’s_Wagner mercenaries_from_Libya,_Sudan⠀⇛ The United States has stepped up pressure on Middle East allies to expel the Wagner Group, a military contractor with close ties to Russia’s president, from chaos-stricken Libya and Sudan where it expanded in recent years, regional officials told The Associated Press. # ⚓ FAIR ☛ You_Don’t_Stop_Police_Killings_by_Calling_them ‘Fatal_Encounters’⠀⇛ It’s hard to find words after yet another brutal police killing of a Black person, this time of 29- year-old Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, captured in horrifying detail on video footage released last week. But the words we use—and in that “we,” the journalists who frame these stories figure critically—if we actually want to not just be sad about, but  end state-sanctioned racist murders, those words must not downplay or soften the hard reality with euphemism and vaguery. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Brazil_Set_to_Sink_‘Toxic’_Aircraft_Carrier at_Sea_Despite_Environmental_Concerns⠀⇛ The former flagship of Brazil’s navy—an ex-French aircraft carrier built in the late 1950s that environmentalists estimate contains hundreds of tons of highly carcinogenic chemicals—will be scuttled at sea after being denied permission to be scrapped in Turkey, Brazilian naval officials said on Wednesday. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Diplomatic_Cables_Prove_Top_U.S._Officials Knew_They_Were_Crossing_Russia’s_Red_Lines_on_NATO Expansion⠀⇛ # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Ukraine’s_Reckless_Nuclear_Response⠀⇛ The ongoing war in Ukraine is not exactly a conducive environment to building new nuclear power plants. (Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/ Wikimedia Commons) Obviously, if your country has been invaded by a foreign power, putting your 15 commercial nuclear reactors at risk of destruction that could lead to a massive radioactive release, rendering your country and others beyond uninhabitable, there is only one clear solution: load up with more new nuclear power plants. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Nuclear_War_Imminent?⠀⇛ Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William J. Astore who served in the nuclear missile command fears the end of human life through nuclear war is more likely than in the Cold War era. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Eric_Draitser’s_Disturbing_Review_of_“War In_Ukraine”⠀⇛ I generally admire Eric Draitser’s knowledgeable, sharp-edged commentaries on international affairs, which are equally critical of U.S. imperialism and other forms of colonial and neocolonial oppression. Nevertheless, something bizarre happens in Eric’s review of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict by Medea Benjamin and Nicholas Davies. Having criticized those authors, with some justification, for oversimplifying a complex conflict, he then produces a radically oversimplified response which amounts, in effect, to joining the U.S./NATO camp and underwriting the Zelensky regime’s drive for “victory.” The review begins by accusing Benjamin and Davies of presenting a one-dimensional view of the war that is too close to the official Russian narrative used to justify the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.  Draitser scores some points here; this history, strongly influenced by the authors’ opposition to the role of the U.S. and NATO in helping create the conditions for the conflict and then escalating it, ignores certain complexifying facts and tends to relieve Putin of all responsibility for the invasion. But he does not advocate a shared responsibility for the conflict and a shared duty to end it.  His conclusion (which he labels a “sound leftist position”) is that Ukraine needs to win the war and the Russians need to lose it. o § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ # ⚓ EFF ☛ EFF,_ACLU_Seek_to_Protect_the_Public’s_Right_to Access_Judicial_Records⠀⇛ The SCA authorizes the government to access, among other things, the content of a subscriber’s electronic communications by obtaining a warrant. SCA warrants and related court records, including dockets, are routinely filed and maintained under seal in federal district courts around the country without any reason as to why such secrecy is necessary. In October 2022, the Minnesota District Court denied RCFP’s request to unseal this information, stating that RCFP “does not allege that it has any intent, much less an imminent intent, to access or inspect any of the materials that it seeks to unseal.” As the ACLU and EFF’s brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit explains, the lower court’s decision wrongfully cuts off court access in cases where, historically, access has proved important. “The Reporters Committee’s unsealing petition is a prime example of how secrecy can frustrate the public’s ability to even learn about the existence of certain judicial records, in this case, law enforcement requests for court authorization to engage in surveillance or to obtain people’s private data,” the brief reads. Keeping this information under seal implicates “people’s free speech and privacy rights, both in the physical world and digitally.” In most places, the press and public have no way of knowing how many SCA warrants the government applies for, what kinds of records it’s seeking, what information the government presented to support its warrant applications, and how many of the applications are granted or denied. # ⚓ The Dissenter ☛ Swedish_Prosecutors_Destroyed_Assange Documents⠀⇛ o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Because_1.5C_Goal_‘Not_Plausible,’_Study Says_Deep_Social_Change_Should_Be_Focus⠀⇛ Scientists at the University of Hamburg in Germany argued Wednesday that meeting the 2015 Paris climate agreement’s goal of limiting planetary heating to 1.5°C is “currently not plausible”—but warned that despairing over climate “tipping points” risks taking attention away from “the best hope for shaping a positive climate future… the ability of society to make fundamental changes.” # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Should_We_Start_Preparing_for_the_Evacuation of_Miami?⠀⇛ The Miami-Dade County government has some clever mapping tools to help people visualize the impending climate risks—rising seas, swelling groundwater, flooded buildings. But too much detail can distract from the bigger picture: Miami is drowning.1 # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ DeSmog ☛ Carbon_Capture_Project_Is_‘Band-Aid’_to Greenwash_$10_Billion_LNG_Plant,_Locals_Say⠀⇛ This story is a collaboration between Floodlight and DeSmog As the Mexican Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, festivities drew to a close, Dina Nuñez called to order a meeting of women grassroots activists in a modest home in the heart of Port Isabel, Texas. Top of her agenda: how to stop a Houston-based oil and gas company from building a $10 billion project to export liquefied natural gas on a nearby stretch of coast. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_‘Soft_Landing_&_No_Recession’_Spin_Is In⠀⇛ The spin by mainstream economists and business pundits is in: ‘soft landing’ & no recession 2023. But consider this: after the 2020 US economy crash and the US $8 trillion fiscal-monetary stimulus ($4T by Fed and $4T in Covid relief programs and Investment subsidies for corporations by Congress), the US economy grew only 5.4% YoY in 2021 (YoY=from Dec. 31, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2021). # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ One_Against_All⠀⇛ A few weeks after Emmanuel Macron became president, one of his supporters, the current chairman of the National Assembly foreign affairs committee, summed up the economic and social orientation to come: ‘Objectively, the problems of this country require solutions favourable to high earners’ (1). Since then, the privileged have shown their gratitude to their benefactor: between the first round of the 2017 presidential election and the first round in 2022, Macron saw his support among the richest go from 34% to 48%. When in power, the left has rarely demonstrated such bravura in satisfying its voters. As Macron has also increased his popularity among the over-65s during his presidency, it’s easy to gauge the extent of the ‘courage’ he boasts about as he attempts to convince the country to accept a pension ‘reform’ whose main victims will be the working classes, who overwhelmingly voted against him. While his challenge to welfare benefits will spare the wealthy, and pensioners (even the best- off), it will force workers, whose healthy life expectancy is ten years less than that of senior executives, to work for an additional two years  (2). The finishing line for those who are so often left worn out, exhausted and broken by work is once again being pushed further away. Compulsory labour will eat up the time for rest, personal projects, or simply deciding what to commit to. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Don’t_Let_Politicians_Cut_Housing_Aid⠀⇛ We all need physical safety before we can do anything else. Without a roof over our heads, that sense of security is impossible. And with two small children in tow, things get scary. And after fleeing a dangerous domestic situation with my baby and 9-year-old son, with no home but the small moving truck I had rented to escape, I still felt unsafe and terrified. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Egalitarian_Paradise_Lost:_David_Graeber and_the_Pirates_of_Madagascar⠀⇛ The search across the globe and in history for egalitarian societies turns up some strange finds. One anthropologist, the well-known, radical, recently deceased, best-selling author and a founder of the Occupy movement at Zuccotti Park, David Graeber, discovered such a world in Madagascar, in the settlements of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century pirates, recording his observations in a posthumous book, Pirate Enlightenment, Or the Real Libertalia. This portrait of a vanished almost-utopia is no idealization; Graeber lays it out in detail, but the conclusion is unavoidable: citizens of these pirate port towns had far more freedom than your average twenty-first century American prole moiling long hours for monopoly corporations. They also appear to have enjoyed a lot more happiness, you know, that thing we Americans are supposedly free to pursue. They had more democracy as well: decisions were debated and the majority ruled, unlike this country, where citizens express their preference through the franchise, but somehow when their representatives arrive in the capital the only people they listen to are their donors, and only the richest ones, at that. The pirates off the coast of Africa had no such problems. Had any such tyrannical oligarch of the sort who rule the world from Washington appeared in Madagascar, the pirates would have cut his throat. When they made a choice democratically, it was carried out. # ⚓ Engadget ☛ The_Morning_After:_Apple’s_record_service revenue_couldn’t_make_up_for_falling_hardware_sales⠀⇛ After the last few years of nonstop growth, Apple reported revenue of $117.2 billion for its first fiscal quarter, which is five percent down year over year, marking the first time Apple’s revenue has dipped since 2019. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ If_It’s_“Not_a_Negotiation,”_Don’t_Treat_It Like_One⠀⇛ On Wednesday afternoon, President Joe Biden met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ 60_Years_of_No_Progress_on_Black-White Unemployment_Equity⠀⇛ Regardless of whether economic conditions are good or bad, Black jobseekers are less likely to find work. From 1963 to 2022, the Black unemployment rate has been roughly twice the White unemployment rate. There have been times when the Black-to-White unemployment-rate ratio was somewhat higher and times when it was somewhat lower, but the average of the ratios over this period is 2.1. This means that, if one looks at the unemployment-rate ratio alone, there has been no progress in providing equal employment opportunity for African Americans over the last 59 years. The last Congress did nothing to directly address this disparity, so there is no reason to expect it to narrow this year. Anti-Black discrimination in hiring plays a major role in this permanent inequality. The strongest evidence for discrimination can be found in field experiments where researchers have Black and White “testers” apply for jobs presenting similar qualifications or where they send out similar resumes with stereotypically “Black” and “White” names. A meta-analysis of 28 of these experiments over a 25-year period found consistent discrimination against Black applicants. There need to be stronger anti-discrimination policies and enforcement if the United States hopes to have equal opportunity in employment for all. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ How_Corporations_Hope_to_Eviscerate Workers’_Right_to_Strike⠀⇛ Joe Oliveira and his coworkers relied greatly on donations of food and gift cards after going on an unfair labor practice strike against multibillion- dollar specialty steelmaker ATI in 2021. They cut household expenses to the bone, burned through their savings despite the public’s generous support of their cause, and held fundraisers to help one another cover mortgages and car payments during three and a half months on the picket line. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Gaetz_Wants_Reading_of_Pledge_of_Allegiance Before_Judiciary_Committee_Meetings⠀⇛ # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Barbara_Lee_Runnng_for_Feinstein’s_Senate Seat⠀⇛ Rep. Barbara Lee, 76, announced Jan. 11 that she’s running for the Democratic Party nomination to succeed 89-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein (whose memory is but a memory). Southern California Congresswoman Katie Porter, 40, had previously announced, and pompous, sanctimonious Rep. Adam Schiff 62, entered the race soon after Lee.  Schiff, a closeted neo-con, will be the best- funded candidate and be seen as a ”centrist.” Lee and Porter are both members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and likely to split the lib-lab vote, enabling Schiff to slide into the nomination. It feels like the fix is already in. Joe Garofoli, who covers electoral politics for the SF Chronicle, expects Lee to be age-baited, albeit discreetly. Porter described herself as the candidate best-suited for “fighting the battles of tomorrow” during a recent speech to the 500-member Democrats of Rossmoor (an upscale retirement community in Walnut Creek). # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ ‘Woke’_is_Not_Awake:_to_Confound_the_Great Ones_We_Need_Our_“Base(ness)”⠀⇛ My friends Pete, Ellen and Mark have been fighting a plan by Stewart’s Shops to build a gas station/ convenience store in the midst of their (desirable, mostly white) South Utica neighborhoods. The matter came to a vote before the city’s Planning Board last week, in front of a fairly big turnout of opposition. Stewart’s won 3-2. Ellen told me the chair of the planning board, a neighbor of theirs who lives a bit further from the Stewart’s proposed location, said to them a couple of weeks ago in honest consternation, “I don’t see the problem.” Apparently, even after 21 people explained the problem last week, he still didn’t. Pete and Ellen have told me more than once how hard it’s been to enlist their neighbors in the opposition effort. The time of day for which important meetings are scheduled is generally prohibitive for working people (except for the Stewart’s rep!) But my conclusion is the middle class, riding the American Dream, has caved in to inevitability (yes, because they could afford to). The resulting spiritlessness has cost them their political clout which will only return if people on the left regain the kind of “underdog,” chip-on- the-shoulder spirit that keeps a skeptical eye on corporate, big-moneyed interests that favor the few over the many, including, prominently, the war- making interests of Empire. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_Colonization_of_Deserts_from_Arabia_to Arizona⠀⇛ The first time I remember seeing a desert and beholding its stillness and vastness was in 1963 through a window at the airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Our family was on its way to Peshawar, Pakistan (then West Pakistan). I was eight years old and was actually more impressed with the scimitars and machine guns the security in the airport were armed with. However, it is the miles and miles of snow-white sand I remember more vividly today. I think the next time I saw the desert was when a friend and I hitchhiked across Arizona to Palm Springs in December 1977. Over the next few years I would cross parts of the desert in the US southwest at least a half dozen more times. Some of those times I would be the only human around for hundreds of miles. The heat of the day was replaced by a relative coolness but the absence of warm-blooded life remained. I’m certain there were birds and perhaps even mammals out and about in the darkness, but I never saw nor heard them despite the quietude I was temporarily existing in. Now, on the rare occasion I watch old Western films and television shows, I find the feeling of aloneness I experienced in the desert tickling my consciousness. The desert is a part of earth that resists colonization. Yet, humans continue to attempt just that. The advance of technology feeds these attempts, adding to a hubris that not only has destroyed human civilizations in the desert, but has also destroyed the ecological systems that support its unique ecology. Sometimes the impetus for these so-called improvements to the desert are part of a desire to benefit humanity, but most often they are intentionally designed to benefit only certain strata of human society. As in most other scenarios with similar intentions, those beneficiaries are the rich and powerful. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Bernie_Sanders_Urges_DNC_to_Stop_Allowing_Super PAC_Spending_in_Primaries⠀⇛ # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ On_Targeting_an_Arab_Woman⠀⇛ On the evening of January 11, 2023, I checked my university email to find The Washington Free Beacon asking me to “comment on” a Title VI complaint that they had knowledge was to be filed against the George Washington University (GW) by pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs the following day. The complaint alleges that GW “discriminated against first-year Jewish and Israeli students in its professional psychology program” (sic). As an Arab woman professor teaching in the United States, I am accustomed to demands to prove that I am not antisemitic as a precondition to engaging relationally. Similarly, as someone who has been involved in abolitionist and anti-oppressive movements in the field of psychology for years, I immediately recognized that I was the next target of choice. In recent years, right-wing advocacy groups have intensified their harassment, red- baiting and attack campaigns, vilifying academics (and clinicians) who critically engage settler- colonialism, white supremacy, anti-blackness, gender (especially trans issues), sexuality, disability, reproductive rights. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ “There’s_Always_Hope”:_On_Biden,_Crump,_and Pie_in_the_Sky⠀⇛ Few things in the insipid dark comedy of US bourgeois politics are more sickening than the recurrent invocation of hope for change within the killing confines of the reigning oppression system. “We Just Might be Able to Get Police Reform” # ⚓ Insight Hungary ☛ Hungary_is_the_most_corrupt_country_in the_EU,_study_finds⠀⇛ Hungary is perceived as the most corrupt country in the European Union, according to Transparency International’s latest report. Hungary dropped four places over the past year to 77th, according to the organization’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) replacing Bulgaria. On a global scale, with an average score of 66, Western Europe and the EU is the top-scoring region in the CPI. According to the report, evidence is “mounting against the Hungarian political elites for their misuse of both state and EU funds”. Following a recent agreement with the EU, conditions for Hungary to access €5.8 billion in recovery funds include institutional reforms to strengthen judicial independence and the fight against corruption. Part of EU funds has been suspended due to corruption concerns. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ America_and_the_Occupying_Police_Army⠀⇛ America, America . . . God kicks thee in the head. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Uh_Oh,_Here_Comes_the_Occupying_Army⠀⇛ The twisted irony here — the irony of the brutal murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee last month — is that his killers were the ones hired and trained to keep the city safe. Instead, they created half an hour of hell for the young man, kicking and beating and tasing him to death a short distance away from his mother’s house, after a random, and perhaps unjustified, traffic stop. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Inconvenient_Truths_2.0⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Ilhan_Omar_Vows_to_Continue_Speaking_Out Against_Israel’s_Abuse_of_Palestinians⠀⇛ Rep. Ilhan Omar vowed Thursday that the House GOP’s vote to remove her from the chamber’s foreign affairs panel would not stop her from criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, a pledge that came after the Israeli government carried out its latest bombing campaign in the occupied Gaza Strip. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ The_GOP’s_Bigoted_Attack_on_Ilhan_Omar_Is Slanderous_and_Despicable⠀⇛ Ilhan Omar is again in the news, a convenient target for reactionary Republicans, i.e., virtually all Republicans, seeking to discredit the left. The current Republican effort links her with two other Congressional liberal Democrats, Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell who, like her, are being removed from their committee assignments by MAGA House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, in retaliation for Nancy Pelosi’s 2021 removals of Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar. McCarthy’s act of retribution comes as no surprise, since he promised this back in November 2021. It is no less dangerous for this. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘I_Didn’t_Come_to_Congress_to_Be_Silent,’ Says_Omar_as_GOP_Removes_Her_From_Foreign_Affairs_Panel⠀⇛ House Republicans on Thursday voted to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the chamber’s foreign affairs committee, a step that prompted fury from Democratic lawmakers who called the GOP’s resolution an act of “unbelievable bigotry.” # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Republicans_Vote_to_Remove_Ilhan_Omar_From Committee⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Kari_Lake_May_Have_Committed_a_Felony⠀⇛ Kari Lake just might be the election-denying gift who keeps on giving. For nearly three months, Lake has spun one wild conspiracy theory after another to explain how and why she lost the Arizona gubernatorial race. Earlier this week, she tweeted out a series of images of voters’ signatures—a “BOMBSHELL DISCOVERY,” the failed candidate announced—claiming that they showed a mismatch between the signatures Arizona has on file and those that ended up on ballots. Lake claimed that 40,000 people had voted illegally, using signatures that didn’t match those on file. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ The_Migrant_“Crisis”_and_10_Misperceptions About_Immigration⠀⇛ For years, there has been much consternation and news coverage over the southern border. The former president—Biden’s predecessor—and his inane and racist “Build the wall” campaign had his supporters in a state of disquiet. He actually and openly admitted that he used it at a rally and the crowd loved it, so he just kept saying it. Even if you take a cursory look at the news, it’s a sure bet that you have seen headlines about an “unprecedented migrant crisis.” On social media, memes about “invasions” from countries south of the border by those who refuse to “wait in line” are also common. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ I_Am_Muslim._I_Am_an_Immigrant._I_Am_From Africa._Is_Anyone_Surprised_I_Am_a_GOP_Target?⠀⇛ The following are the remarks, as prepared for delivery on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in opposition to a Republican resolution barring her appointment to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on February 2, 2023. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Manchin_Joins_With_Cruz_on_‘Absurd’_Bill_to Protect_Toxic_Gas_Stoves⠀⇛ Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on Thursday introduced legislation that would prevent a federal agency from banning gas stoves. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Climate_Movement_‘Ready_to_Kill’_Dirty_Deal Again_as_Manchin_Signals_Revival⠀⇛ The U.S. climate movement this week vowed to keep fighting against Sen. Joe Manchin’s thrice-defeated “dirty deal” after the West Virginia Democrat indicated he intends to work with House Republicans to force through fossil fuel-friendly permitting reforms. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Rights_Groups_Gear_Up_for_Fight_as_Oklahoma GOP_Advances_15_Anti-Trans_Healthcare_Bills⠀⇛ Civil rights advocates on Thursday sharpened their focus on the Republican-controlled Oklahoma Legislature as lawmakers prepare to convene on February 6, beginning a session during which they’re set to consider no fewer than 15 proposals attacking transgender people’s right to obtain healthcare. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Progressives_Warn_Anti-Socialism_Resolution Backed_by_109_House_Dems_Is_Step_Toward_Slashing_Safety_Net⠀⇛ More than 100 U.S. House Democrats—including some of the wealthiest members of Congress—joined with Republican lawmakers on Thursday in passing a resolution “denouncing the horrors of socialism,” a largely symbolic gesture that opponents warned is nonetheless a step toward slashing Social Security, Medicare, and other safety net programs. # ⚓ Lee Yingtong Li ☛ Simulating_plausible_ballot_paper preferences_from_STV_count_sheets⠀⇛ The key assumption in this model, which enables plausible ballot paper preference data to be simulated, is that the probability of a candidate A being followed by a candidate B in a voter’s preferences is approximately equal to the probability of a ballot paper being transferred from candidate A to candidate B. We can then imagine a Markov chain, where the nodes are candidates in the election, and the transition probabilities are the probabilities identified above. We can then simulate ballot paper preference data by repeatedly executing random walks on the Markov chain. # ⚓ Computer World ☛ PayPal_to_lay_off_2,000_employees⠀⇛ In a message shared with PayPal employees and since posted on the company’s online newsroom, President and CEO Dan Schulman said while PayPal had made “significant progress…to address the challenging macro-economic environment” over the past year, “we have more work to do.” # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Ilhan_Omar_Will_Not_Be_Silenced⠀⇛ After Ilhan Omar was elected to Congress in 2018, she explained why one of her first priorities as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives was to serve on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. While the Minnesota Democrat was intent on representing her constituents in Minneapolis, and on addressing all the pressing domestic policy concerns that tend to dominate coverage of Congress, she told me that “you can’t really speak to domestic policy without first having a conversation about our foreign policy.” # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Forced_Migration_Thanks_to_Industrialized Nations⠀⇛ # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ Orbán:_The_development_of_the_armed forces_must_not_slow_down⠀⇛ # § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ Fact-check:_One_million_Ukrainian refugees_are_not_to_blame_for_Hungary’s_record-high inflation⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russia’s_Higher_Education_Ministry_preparing new_‘patriotic’_history_course_for_non-history_majors_— Meduza⠀⇛ Russia’s Science and Higher Education Ministry has approved a plan to introduce a new history course for non-history majors in colleges and universities. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘If_the_wrong_person_finds_out,_they_might_kill me’_Gay_Uzbek_men_describe_life_in_a_country_where_their sexuality_is_a_crime_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Late last year, just one month after Russia banned “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships,” Uzbekistan’s presidential administration put up a bill for public discussion that would do the same. The copycat legislation threatens to further complicate the lives of LGBTQ+ people in a country where “sodomy” is still classified as a criminal offense. To learn how Uzbekistan’s existing anti-gay laws affect people on the ground, the independent outlet Mediazona Central Asia spoke with gay men there about the discrimination they face, the danger that coming out to friends entails, and their expectations for their country’s future. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Moving_Company_That_Threatened_People_With $1,000_A_Day_Fees_For_Negative_Reviews_To_Pay_$125,000 Settlement⠀⇛ If you’re a good company, you try to make customers happy and deal honestly with their complaints. If you’re Liberty Bell Moving and Storage, Inc., you threaten unhappy customers with lawsuits and steadily escalating fees for expressing their displeasure with your service. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Trump_Files_Ridiculous_Copyright_Lawsuit_Over Bob_Woodward’s_Audio_Book⠀⇛ Believe it or not, there are some interesting, if confusing, unsettled copyright law questions regarding interviews. A few times in the past we’ve written about the subjects of interviews claiming copyright over those interviews (or the estate’s of deceased individuals making such claims). There was even a law journal article a few years back exploring this topic. As that piece notes, because courts have been a bit all over the map in looking at the issue, it has allowed interviewees to “chill journalistic speech.” # ⚓ GigaZine ☛ There_is_a_high_possibility_that_open_source_OS such_as_Linux_will_become_illegal_due_to_the_EU’s_“chat regulation_law”⠀⇛ The chat regulation law is a bill submitted to the European Parliament in May 2022, and aims to oblige providers of email and chat services to “constantly monitor communication content” and “implement age verification”. . Since this bill requires the monitoring of communication content regardless of whether communication is encrypted, there are many voices who oppose the bill on the grounds that it “infringes on privacy” and “increases the risk of misjudgment due to false reports.” has been submitted. # ⚓ Mullvad VPN ☛ EU_chat_control_law_will_ban_open_source operating_systems [iophk: Most of the legislators certainly didn't think about it or even know enough to have thoughts on the topic. However, those few that did were mostly in the pocket of Microsoft.]⠀⇛ The proposed Chat control EU law will not only seize totalitarian control of all private communication. It will also ban open source operating systems as an unintended consequence. The EU is currently in the process of enacting the chat control law. It has been criticized for creating an EU-wide centralized mass surveillance and censorship system and enabling government eavesdropping on all private communication. But one little talked about consequence of the proposed law is that it makes practically all existing open source operating systems illegal, including all major Linux distributions. It would also effectively ban the F-Droid open source Android app archive. Article 6 of the law requires all “software application stores” to: [...] # ⚓ Student Free Press Association ☛ MIT_faculty_‘increasingly afraid_to_express_their_views,’_survey_finds⠀⇛ The Massachusetts Institute of Technology continues to support a campus community that stymies academic freedom and free speech, a newly released Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression survey report states. # ⚓ Andre Franca ☛ Using_Cloudflare_for_Dynamic_URL_Redirects⠀⇛ My blog is already hosted on Cloudflare, so it made sense to me to use it for the redirects too. I checked their documentation to see if somenthing similiar could be achieved. And it is, in fact, really simple and free. [sic] o § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Former_Meduza_correspondent_Ilya_Azar_suspected_of ‘discrediting’_Russian_military,_may_face_charges_for_anti- war_statements_—_Meduza⠀⇛ The Russian journalist Ilya Azar has come under scrutiny from the Investigative Committee, in connection with what he wrote on Facebook last June, 100 days into the Ukraine invasion: # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Sedition_trial_against_Hong_Kong outlet_Stand_News_adjourned_again_after_prosecution_submits new_documents⠀⇛ The sedition trial against shuttered Hong Kong media outlet Stand News was adjourned again on Friday after the prosecution submitted four new boxes of materials, a move that was criticised by the defence. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ The Nation ☛ What_We_Can_Do_Right_Now_to_Stop_Anti-Asian Violence⠀⇛ In March 2021, I attended a community vigil in the majority-Asian city of Monterey Park, Calif., for the Asian massage workers who had been murdered in Atlanta. Last month, I returned to the same site for another vigil honoring Asians who had been killed in a mass shooting—but this time, the massacre had taken place just blocks from where I stood. # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ How_to_Report_on_the_Repatriation_of_Native American_Remains⠀⇛ In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which pushed for museums, universities and other organizations that possessed Native American human remains to return them to Indigenous communities. But our reporting shows that many institutions still hold many of those remains in their collections. Last month, ProPublica published a database that allows you to search the repatriation records of these hundreds of institutions. But the full story of repatriation goes beyond the numbers, as illustrated by our story about a state museum in Illinois that was built on Native American burial mounds.​​​​ This guide is for reporters who want to take a deeper dive on repatriation at institutions in their area. # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Native_Hawaiians_Say_They_Can’t_Get_Home Loans_in_This_Area⠀⇛ Can the federal government underwrite mortgages for homes in Hawaii on a spot where there may be buried bombs from World War II? The answer depends on which federal program insures the loans. When it comes to the one for Native Hawaiians, the answer has been an emphatic no. But when it comes to more traditional mortgages for the general public, a different federal program has been saying yes. # ⚓ HRW ☛ Allegations_of_Bangladesh_Police_Torture,_Illegal Detentions⠀⇛ # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ John_Kiriakou:_Silencing_Another_Jailed Whistleblower⠀⇛ The U.S. prison system has put Marty Gottesfeld in one of their modern-day dungeons and cut off his email. But this whistleblower is a fierce fighter for his rights and one day he’ll be doing the same for others. # ⚓ Craig Murray ☛ Propaganda_and_Belief⠀⇛ It is nearly 20 years since I blew the whistle on British Government complicity in torture and the extraordinary rendition programme, under which thousands of people were deliberately tortured as a systematic act of government policy. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ Racial_Justice,_Voting_Rights,_and Authoritarianism⠀⇛ The fundamental right to vote has been a core value of Black politics since the colonial era — and so has the effort to suppress that vote right up to the present moment. In fact, the history of the suppression of Black voters is a first-rate horror story that as yet shows no sign of ending. While Democrats and progressives justifiably celebrated the humbling defeat of some of the most notorious election-denying Republican candidates in the 2022 midterms, the GOP campaign to quell and marginalize Black voters has only continued with an all-too-striking vigor. In 2023, attacks on voting rights are melding with the increasingly authoritarian thrust of a Republican Party ever more aligned with far-right extremists and outright white supremacists. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ US_federal_court:_law_prohibiting_individuals subject_to_domestic_violence_restraining_orders_from_owning_a gun_unconstitutional⠀⇛ A US Circuit Court Thursday declared the law preventing those subject to a domestic violence restraining order from owning a gun, unconstitutional. In the case of United States v. Rahimi, the US Appeals Court for the Fifth Circuit found that the law was an unconstitutional restraint on Americans’ Second Amendment rights to own a firearm. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ “We_Want_to_Be_Treated_Like_Human_Beings”: Evicted_Asylum_Seeker_in_NYC_Requests_Housing,_Job_Permits⠀⇛ This week, New York City police evicted an encampment of asylum seekers outside the Watson Hotel who were protesting plans to house them in a remote, crowded and cold facility. Mayor Eric Adams suggested the protesters were “agitators,” not migrants themselves. We speak to a Venezuelan asylum seeker named Ruben, who was evicted from the hotel, and Desiree Joy Frías, a community organizer with South Bronx Mutual Aid, which has been deeply involved in supporting the asylum seekers arriving in the city. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ JUVE ☛ Patent_judge_David_Kitchin_announces retirement_from_Supreme_Court [Ed: Meanwhile JUVE promotes an illegal and unconstitutional kangaroo courts for patents -- one that is tightly controlled by criminals and industry moles at the EPO]⠀⇛ David Kitchin (67) is set to retire from his role as a UK Supreme Court judge on 29 September 2023, the court has announced on its website. He says, “It has been an enormous privilege and pleasure to serve as a full time Justice of the Court. # ⚓ JUVE ☛ Advanced_Bionics_and_De_Brauw_successful against_MED-EL_over_cochlear_implant [Ed: Another fine example of a totally frivolous patent lawsuit, based on one of hundreds of thousands of fake European Patents (that should never have been granted)]⠀⇛ Advanced Bionics’ important hearing aid product “HiRes™ Ultra 3D Cochlear Implant” does not infringe competitor MED-EL’s European patent EP 31 38 605. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Why_The_Failure_By_Funders_To_Require Academics_To_Retain_Copyright_In_Their_Papers_Is_The Biggest_Obstacle_To_Open_Access_Today⠀⇛ Back in August last year, Techdirt covered a major announcement by the US government that all taxpayer-supported research should be immediately available to the public at no cost. As Mike wrote at the time, this is really big, not least for the following key element mentioned in the press release: # ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ CAA_Is_Now_Repping_Virtual Artists_—_Deal_With_Web3_Label_Hume_Finalized⠀⇛ CAA aims to create opportunities for Hume’s roster of virtual artists with top brands. Are broader audiences ready for this? Virtual artist experiment FN Meka went down in flames, a new cast of unreal musicians is rising. Now, web3 entertainment company Hume has signed with leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ ACE_Delivers_Major_Blow_to_Spanish Private_Torrent_Site_Scene⠀⇛ With the rise of pirate streaming sites, illegal IPTV services, and legal platforms such as Netflix, even torrent sites have been feeling the pinch. In Spain, two private trackers took the decision to merge and reappear as one under fresh branding. Action by the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment means that Spain’s leading private torrent community has permanently closed. # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Omi_in_a_Hellcat_“Said_He’d_Kill_Me” Pirate_IPTV_Co-Defendant_Tells_Court⠀⇛ After the FBI shut down his Gears pirate IPTV empire, YouTuber Bill Omar Carrasquillo, aka Omi in a Hellcat, pleaded guilty along with two co-defendants. One was hired by Carrasquillo to work on the service from home. His sentencing memorandum claims that when he tried to quit, gunmen threatened him on two occasions after Carrasquillo said he would kill him. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 5010 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.03.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_03/02/2023:_Proton_7.0-6_Released,_ScummVM_2.7_Testing⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 9:36 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o Games o Desktop_Environments/WMs # K_Desktop_Environment/KDE_SC/Qt # GNOME_Desktop/GTK * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o New_Releases o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Canonical/Ubuntu_Family o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o Web_Browsers/Web_Servers * Leftovers o Health/Nutrition/Agriculture o Security # Privacy/Surveillance o Defence/Aggression o Transparency/Investigative_Reporting o Environment # Energy/Transportation # Wildlife/Nature o Finance o AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics o Censorship/Free_Speech o Civil_Rights/Policing o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality o Monopolies # Trademarks # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal o Technical # Internet/Gemini * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ CTparental:_Linux_Parental_Control_Software_With_Category- Based_Website_Filtering,_Computer_Usage_Limits_–_Linux Uprising_Blog⠀⇛ CTparental is a free and open-source parental control software for Linux. It helps parents control their children’s online activities, such as the websites they visit, and the amount of time they spend on the computer. The tool uses a web UI to control its various settings, and it features blacklist / whitelist website filtering, computer access time, the ability to force safesearch for websites such as Google, YouTube, DuckDuckGo and Bing, and more. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ How_to_Install_elementary_Tweaks_Tool⠀⇛ This quick tutorial demonstrates the steps to install elementary Tweaks tool/Pantheon Tweaks Tool. The elementary Tweaks tool is a handy utility specially designed for elementary OS. It gives you various options to change certain settings for elementary. # ⚓ Citizix ☛ How_to_install_and_configure_Redpanda_on_Ubuntu 22.04⠀⇛ Redpanda is a Kafka®-compatible streaming data platform that boasts of being 10x faster and 6x more cost efficient. It is also JVM-free, ZooKeeper-free, Jepsen-tested and source available. It is distributed as a single binary with everything thus allowing you to deploy in minutes. It works natively with Kafka tools. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ ScummVM ☛ ScummVM_2.7.0:_Call_for_testing!⠀⇛ A few months have passed since we released ScummVM 2.6.1. It’s time to prepare for a new release! Our lovely developers added support, yet again, for a bunch of new ancient games that require testing: # Soldier Boyz # GLK Scott Adams Interactive Fiction games (C64 and ZX Spectrum) # GLK Scott Adams adventures 1-12 (TI99/4A format) # Obsidian # Pink Panther: Passport to Peril # Pink Panther: Hokus Pokus Pink # Driller/Space Station Oblivion # Halls of the Dead: Faery Tale Adventure II # ⚓ 9to5Linux ☛ Proton_7.0-6_Released_with_Support_for UNCHARTED:_Legacy_of_Thieves_Collection⠀⇛ Proton 7.0-6 is here with support for new games, including the critically acclaimed UNCHARTED: Legacy of Thieves Collection, as well as Gotham Knights, Heroes of the Dark, King under the Mountain, NinNinDays2, Super Arcade Racing, 雀姬 (Mahjong ladies), and Crazy Machines 3. This new Proton release also brings improvements to video games that were already supported, such as Septerra Core, Persona 5 Royal, Vampire Survivors, Super House of Dead Ninjas, Enemy Mind, Out There Somewhere, Zeepkist, Overcooked! All You Can Eat, Quake III: Arena, Quake III: Team Arena, Marvel Snap, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Spyro Reignited Trilogy. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ Scarlett_Gately_Moore:_KDE_Snaps,_snapcraft,_Debian packages.⠀⇛ In the snap world, I have been busy trying to solve the problem of core20 snaps needing security updates and focal is no longer supported in KDE Neon. # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ This Week in GNOME ☛ Felix_Häcker:_#81_FOSDEM Weekend⠀⇛ Update on what happened across the GNOME project in the week from January 27 to February 03. # ⚓ Daniel_García_Moreno:_Hackweek_2023⠀⇛ Hack_Weekis the time SUSE employees experiment, innovate & learn interruption- free for a whole week! Across teams or alone, but always without limits. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o ⚓ It’s FOSS ☛ Escuelas_Linux_8.0:_A_Major_Upgrade_for_the_25th Anniversary⠀⇛ Escuelas Linux is a unique distribution that focuses on the educational side of things, with the likes of Bodhi Linux, Ubuntu, and Debian powering it. It features a comprehensive set of educational software and resources that are of use to schools, colleges, and even universities. In a recent announcement, they introduced the 25th- anniversary edition of Escuelas Linux and also thanked the many people who contribute to the Linux ecosystem. o ⚓ Barry Kauler ☛ Back_from_holiday_got_some_catching_up_to_do⠀⇛ I took one of my laptops, and did some work on EasyOS, but mostly was in holiday-mode. Here are commits for woofQ, I was away from Jan 26 to now: https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commits/ b267f9a1f6daaf2bb8e342440de7e700b28e9884 While away, thought a bit more about non-English translation, and just now have posed a question on the Puppy Forum: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=7943 Have lots of to-do notes scribbled on pieces of paper, will need to organize and prioritize them. o § New Releases⠀➾ # ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ Slax_Linux_15.0.1_and_11.6:_Experience_the_Power of_Simplicity⠀⇛ Using Fluxbox window manager, Slax is a minimalist, modular, and portable Linux distribution. It is designed to run from a USB stick or other removable media, making it easy to carry around and use on any computer. In addition, the distro has a small footprint and is customizable, allowing users to add or remove modules as needed to create a customized operating system. If you run Slax from a read-only media, such as a CD/DVD, it only saves system modifications in memory, which you lose when rebooting. However, if you start Slax from writable media, such as a USB drive, any changes to the operating system are preserved and restored the next time you boot. Yesterday, the distribution’s primary developer, Tomas Matejicek, announced the release of two new Slax versions. So let’s have a look at what’s new. o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora_Community_Blog:_Friday’s_Fedora Facts:_2023-05⠀⇛ o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ OMG Ubuntu ☛ Enable_This_Nautilus_Setting_to_Move_Files Faster_on_Ubuntu⠀⇛ On Fedora I can drag a file over a folder in Nautilus and, if I don’t let go, the folder I’m hovering over opens right there, where I am, not in an extra window or a new tab. macOS also has a similar feature in its file manager Finder called “spring loaded folders” (and gives users options to control the hover duration to trigger it). Written out in words this feature sounds cumbersome, so here’s a GIF to demonstrate it… o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Your_Android_Phone_is_Turning_Into_a_USB_Webcam⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ Fairphone_4_gets_its_long_overdue_Android 12_update⠀⇛ # ⚓ XDA ☛ Your_Android_phone_may_seamlessly_work_as_a_webcam with_upcoming_software_update⠀⇛ # ⚓ Notebook Check ☛ Razer_Edge:_Teardown_video_reveals_new Android_gaming_handheld_internals_following_release_– NotebookCheck.net_News⠀⇛ # ⚓ Notebook Check ☛ OnePlus_Ace_2_teased_as_brand-first “triple-chip”_Android_smartphons_–_NotebookCheck.net_News⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o § Web Browsers/Web Servers⠀➾ # ⚓ Make Use Of ☛ Carbonyl_Lets_You_Use_a_Graphical_Web_Browser in_Your_Linux_Terminal⠀⇛ Browsing the internet in your terminal is cool, but limited. Image support can be sketchy, and JavaScript may as well not exist. If you plan on consuming media, you’re out of luck. Carbonyl is a Chromium fork for your terminal. It’s a full-fat browser that adheres to, and is compatible with modern standards, meaning that pages behave as they should, and you can even watch streaming video, within the Linux terminal! * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ World Economic Forum ☛ Tech_Power_and_Cooperation⠀⇛ o ⚓ Black_Hand:_The_Devil_Himself⠀⇛ How an elite London night club fell under the control of an intelligence-linked sex blackmail agent, self- described satanist and antique dealer named Horace Dibben. o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Lauded_rebel_fashion_designer_Paco_Rabanne dies_at_age_88⠀⇛ Spanish-born fashion designer Paco Rabanne has died at age 88. The company that owns the Rabanne brand on Friday announced the death of the designer known for perfumes and metallic, space-age fashions. Fashion and beauty company Puig described Rabanne as a “visionary designer” and “among the most seminal fashion figures of the 20th century.” Rabanne’s fashion house shows its collections in Paris and is scheduled to unveil the brand’s latest ready-to-wear designs during the upcoming Feb. 27-March 3 fashion week. Coco Chanel reportedly called Rabanne “the metallurgist of fashion.” He used various kinds of metal in his designs, including the chain-like mail associated with Medieval knights. o ⚓ Latvia ☛ Only_400_Russian_citizens_have_registered_for_Latvian language_test⠀⇛ This year, thousands of citizens of the Russian Federation residing in Latvia will have to pass a language test to extend their residency permits in Latvia. The Citizenship and Migration Affairs Office (PMLP) has intended to send out reminders to all these people, which has caused some controversy in society, Latvian Television reported on February 2. o ⚓ Jim Nielsen ☛ CORS,_CORB,_CORP,_COOP,_COEP,_C…⠀⇛ I recently watched“A_Hipster_History_of_CORS”, a talk from Strange Loop 2022 by Devdatta Akhawe, Head of Security at Figma. Devdatta does a great job of taking a complex, even boring, subject like CORS and weaves it into a funny, interesting narrative history. He connected many previously disparate dots in my head, making me go “Ah-ha! That’s why things are the way they are on the web.” For example, when working on myReadlistsproject, I ran into an issue where I couldn’t use JavaScript to read the contents of an image fetched from a third-party website. I couldn’t understand why there was a limitation there. “I fetch images all the time withbut I guess JavaScript’s not gonna let me?” o ⚓ Axios ☛ Office_occupancy_crosses_50%,_a_post-pandemic_high [Ed: People are being herded back into cages in spite of health risks]⠀⇛ Office_occupancyhit a new post-pandemic record this week, at 50.4%, according to swipe data from Kastle Systems. Why it matters:Are the offices half-full or half-empty? Some executives might see crossing the 50% milestone as a sign of a comeback. But the figure has largely plateaued since September, hinting at a new reality where people work from home a lot more. o ⚓ Marcy Wheeler ☛ The_Rise_Of_Cities_In_Eurasia⠀⇛ The earliest large settlements didn’t have monarchs. o ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ Seoul_city_to_crack_down_on_teen_use_of_‘room cafes’⠀⇛ These businesses provide private spaces and simple food, but some teenagers are reportedly using them for sex and booze. o ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ China_hotel,_catering_job_openings_surge_on post-Covid_demand_recovery⠀⇛ There’s also high demand now for drivers, plane and train crews, and tourism and factory workers. o ⚓ The Straits Times ☛ China_to_fully_resume_travel_with_Hong_Kong, Macau_on_Feb_6⠀⇛ Group tours between China and Hong Kong and Macau will resume. o ⚓ The Age AU ☛ The_easy_work_option_might_not_always_be_the_best⠀⇛ Inevitably, any career decision comes with a degree of uncertainty and risk. It is often our appetite for certainty that can derail us. o ⚓ The Age AU ☛ The_workplace_rights_of_arts_workers_can_no_longer be_ignored⠀⇛ The Albanese government’s new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces can strengthen the arts sector by improving the pay, safety and welfare of its workers. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Scientists_Discover_Ants_Can_Sniff_Out Cancer_in_Urine⠀⇛ This is incredible. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ CYBER:_One_Man’s_Obsession_With_Being_18 Forever⠀⇛ Tech CEO Bryan Johnson wants to reverse the aging process. Is it even possible? # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ Brain_health,_concussions,_sports:_A_long- term_connection?⠀⇛ The Michigan Alumni Brain Health Study will examine whether sport participation and concussions are associated with later-life brain health in former U-M athletes and nonathletes. # ⚓ Axios ☛ Most_Americans_support_a_tobacco_ban⠀⇛ The majority of Americans (57%) support a ban on the sale of all tobacco products and even more support blocking sales of menthol cigarettes (62%), aCDC_studypublished inPreventing Chronic Diseasefound. Driving the news:Researchers asked nearly 6,500 people in 2021 about what extent they might support prohibiting tobacco sales. =================================================== What they’re saying:“These findings can inform federal, state, and local efforts to prohibit all tobacco product sales, including menthol cigarettes, reduce tobacco use and tobacco-related disparities, and advance health equity,” the researchers wrote. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Feds_say_cyberattack_caused_suicide helpline’s_outage⠀⇛ A cyberattack caused a nearly daylong outage of the nation’s new 988 mental health helpline late last year, federal officials tell The Associated Press. Lawmakers are now calling for the federal agency that oversees the program to prevent future attacks. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Former_Ubiquiti_Employee_Who_Posed_as Hacker_Pleads_Guilty⠀⇛ Former Ubiquiti employee Nickolas Sharp has admitted in court to abusing company-provided credentials to steal data and then attempting to extort Ubiquiti. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Atlassian_Warns_of_Critical_Jira_Service Management_Vulnerability⠀⇛ A critical authentication vulnerability in Jira Service Management Server and Data Center allows attackers to impersonate users. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ High-Severity_Privilege_Escalation Vulnerability_Patched_in_VMware_Workstation⠀⇛ VMware patches CVE-2023-20854, a vulnerability that can be exploited by a malicious hacker to delete arbitrary files. # ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Nonstop_Health_data_and_source_code_appear to_have_been_leaked_on_hacking_forum⠀⇛ Nonstop Health offers health insurance solutions to employers who have more than 50 employees receiving benefits. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Exploitation_of_Oracle_E-Business_Suite Vulnerability_Starts_After_PoC_Publication⠀⇛ Critical Oracle E-Business Suite vulnerability exploited in attacks shortly after PoC is published. # ⚓ Security Week ☛ GoAnywhere_MFT_Users_Warned_of_Zero-Day Exploit⠀⇛ GoAnywhere MFT users warned about a zero-day remote code injection exploit that can be targeted directly from the internet # ⚓ SANS ☛ VMware_workstation_17.0.1_fixes_arbitrary_file deletion_issue_–_https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/ VMSA-2023-0003.html,_(Fri,_Feb_3rd)⠀⇛ # ⚓ Tallahassee_Memorial_hospital_victim_of_suspected ransomware_attack⠀⇛ Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare is postponing all non-emergency patient procedures as officials manage an Information Technology security issue that occurred late Thursday night, according to a memo from the hospital. As of 1 p.m. Friday, the hospital also had canceled non-emergency procedures for Monday, Feb. 6. The IT security breach is a suspected ransomware attack, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Bruce Schneier ☛ Manipulating_Weights_in_Face- Recognition_AI_Systems⠀⇛ Interesting research: “Facial_Misrecognition Systems:_Simple_Weight_Manipulations_Force DNNs_to_Err_Only_on_Specific_Persons o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ US News And World Report ☛ Latvia_Says_Traders_Use_Turkey, Kazakhstan,_Armenia_to_Dodge_Russia_Sanctions⠀⇛ By Andrius SytasVILNIUS (Reuters) – Traders are using Turkey, K # ⚓ YLE ☛ Bloomberg:_Turkey_could_approve_Finland’s_Nato_bid_by March⠀⇛ Finland has done enough to resolve Turkey’s security concerns, anonymous sources told the news agency. # ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvian_sports_officials_criticize_IOC’s_“pressure and_manipulation”_over_Russian_athletes_issue⠀⇛ Representatives of Latvian sports organizations and athletes who participated in teleconferences organized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) got the impression that IOC President Thomas Bach was aiming to achieve a result already decided upon – namely, to allow athletes from the aggressor states Russia and Belarus to compete at the Olympic Games in Paris next year. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ The_Islamic_Republic_is_on_the_path_to committing_a_mass_atrocity._The_world_should_pay_attention.⠀⇛ The persistent and systematic nature of the Baha’i experience strongly suggests that it would be worthwhile to freshly examination the community’s vulnerability in the current context to determine whether this already beleaguered community is at increased risk of larger-scale abuses. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Russian_War_Report:_Satellite_imagery indicates_a_build-up_of_air_defense_missile_systems_in southern_Russia⠀⇛ Satellite imagery suggests the build-up of air defense missile systems in southern Russia while Ukraine warns of a potential spring Russian offensive. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Chinese_authorities_impose_communications_crackdown on_Tibetans_in_Drago_county⠀⇛ They are subjecting residents to random cell phone checks. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Lithuania_threatens_to_boycott_OSCE_event_if_Russian MPs_are_invited⠀⇛ The Lithuanian delegation will not take part in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly session, if Russian lawmakers are allowed to attend it, Vilija Aleknaitė-Abramikienė, who leads the Lithuanian the delegation, says. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Russian_propagandist_attacks_Lithuania:_‘Why_do_we put_up_with_their_existence?’⠀⇛ Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov on his TV show on the Rossiya-1 channel attacked Western countries supplying Ukraine with weapons and threatened that “they’ll give everything, until we deal with them harshly and clearly”, according to a report by Newsweek. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Bloody_toll:_At_least_363_women_killed_in_Myanmar_by junta_troops_since_coup⠀⇛ The women died mostly from small arms fire, artillery blasts and torture. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Germany_Confirms_Approval_Of_Leopard_1_Tank Deliveries_To_Ukraine⠀⇛ Germany has approved the export of Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine from industry stocks, a government spokesperson said on February 3 at a regular news conference in Berlin. o § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ # ⚓ American Oversight ☛ D.C._Circuit_Court_rules_that_Justice Dept._Improperly_Withheld_Bureau_of_Prisons_Records⠀⇛ o § Environment⠀➾ # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ RFERL ☛ EU_Agrees_On_Price_Caps_On_Russian_Refined Oil_Products⠀⇛ European Union countries agreed to set price caps on Russian refined oil products to limit Moscow’s funds for its invasion of Ukraine, the EU said on February 3. # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Police:_Monkey_thief_charged with_other_crimes_at_Dallas_Zoo⠀⇛ Police say the man charged in the taking of two emperor tamarin monkeys from the Dallas Zoo has also been charged in two other recent incidents there involving holes that were cut in the fences for animal enclosures. Dallas police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said during a news conference Friday that 24-year-old Davion Irvin has been charged with two counts of burglary to a building in connection with the cutting of the enclosure fences for a clouded leopard and langur monkeys. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ CNN ☛ Japan’s_workers_haven’t_had_a_raise_in_30_years. Companies_are_under_pressure_to_pay_up⠀⇛ null # ⚓ Quartz ☛ The_media_got_the_layoff_story_wrong⠀⇛ Today’sastonishing_employment_number—US government statisticians estimate more than half a million jobs were added to the economy, nearly three times what was expected—highlight the problem with coverage of corporate layoffs. # ⚓ Engadget ☛ All_the_big_tech_layoffs_of_2023⠀⇛ The tech industry is reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic, and not to mention some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions have unfortunately ramped up in 2023. It can be tough to keep track of these moves, so we’ve compiled all the major layoffs in one place and will update as the situation evolves. # ⚓ The Washington Post ☛ Silicon_Valley’s_golden_age_is_fading as_Google,_Meta_cut_workers⠀⇛ o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Spiegel ☛ Pressure_and_Fences:_EU_Wants_To_Seal_Itself_Off from_Refugees⠀⇛ More refugees are arriving in Germany than at any time in recent years, and districts and cities are overwhelmed. But the system for redistributing migrants among EU states is unlikely to be improved anytime soon, with leaders instead increasingly betting on deportations and exclusion. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Health,_sex,_money:_Lord_Rothermere_toasts Daily_Mail_founder’s_winning_formula⠀⇛ Despite the free-flowing champagne, on Tuesday night Rothermere appeared to be a beer man. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Twitter’s_Latest_Chaotic_Move_Will_Kill the_Site’s_Best_Bots,_Account_Owners_Say⠀⇛ From Virginia Woolf quotes, to anime, to images of fruit, bot account owners are saying their goodbyes as Twitter plans to charge for its API. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ News_UK_proposes_merger_of_Scottish_Times and_Sunday_Times_into_seven-day_operation⠀⇛ A legal obligation for The Times and Sunday Times to remain separate was removed last year. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ FAIR ☛ Facebook_Protects_Nazis_to_Protect_Ukraine_Proxy War⠀⇛ Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced on January 19 that the company no longer considers Ukraine’s Azov Regiment to be a “dangerous organization.” The far-right paramilitary group grew out of the street gangs that helped topple Ukraine’s president in the US-backed 2014 coup. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ UK_Train_Unions’_New_Strike_Suspends_Service_Of 15_Lines⠀⇛ “Train drivers have not had a pay rise in four years. What option do we have but striking?,” Workers’ leader Whelan said. # ⚓ YLE ☛ Helsinki_saw_‘exceptional’_number_of_protests_in 2022⠀⇛ Protestors hit the streets to demonstrate about issues like Russia’s attack on Ukraine, climate change, as well as rising petrol prices. # ⚓ Women_in_solidarity_action_call_on_Barutçu_Tekstil_boss: Reinstate_laid-off_workers⠀⇛ Women workers were laid off in Barutçu Tekstil in Bursa after they joined a trade union. Feminist Rebellion Against Poverty and the women’s committee of the union visited the women who are on day 111 of their sit-in in front of the factory. # ⚓ YLE ☛ CEO_departs_firm_at_centre_of_Helsinki_City_salary debacle⠀⇛ Some workers reported being underpaid, overpaid and even not being paid at all over the course of several salary cycles. # ⚓ YLE ☛ Study:_Immigration_needs_tripling_to_maintain Finland’s_labour_force⠀⇛ The business-backed think tank Etla Economic Research Institute calculates that yearly net migration of 44,000 people is needed to stabilize the size of Finland’s labour force. # ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Record_waiting_time_in_courts_for_victims seeking_justice⠀⇛ With case processing time having doubled since 2007, justice minister Peter Hummelgaard faced a barrage of criticism in Parliament # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ A_Massachusetts_bill_could_allow prisoners_to_swap_their_organs_for_their_freedom⠀⇛ This article is from The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, sign up here. What is the value of a human organ? It’s a question that’s been on my mind since I heard about a disturbing proposed change to the law in Massachusetts that would allow… # ⚓ Copenhagen_changes_name_of_new_baby_‘mothers’_groups’_to allow_groups_with_dads⠀⇛ Neonatal mothers’ groups known as mødregrupper in Copenhagen will be given a new name, barselsgrupper (‘parental leave groups’) in a move that is hoped will get dads involved during their parental leave. # ⚓ The Local SE ☛ Italian_PM_Meloni_in_Stockholm_to_discuss migration_with_Swedish_PM⠀⇛ Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s Prime Minister, is visiting Stockholm on Friday to meet Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and discuss EU issues, including migration. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ Michael Geist ☛ Senate_Passes_Updated_Bill_C-11_as_Heritage Minister_Rodriguez_Suggests_Government_Will_Reject_Any Amendments_that_Have_an_Impact⠀⇛ Bill C-11 entered what may be its final phase yesterday with a near split screen: at the Prime Time conference held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa was Heritage Minister Pablo Rodrigueztelling_an industry_audiencethat he would reject any Senate amendments that have an impact, stating “there are amendments that have zero impact on the bill and other that may have some and we will not accept them.” # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Finland_applies_for_EUR_61.5_million_in_EU funding_for_communications_projects⠀⇛ Finnish operators applyfor a total of EUR 61.5 million in funding from the European Commission under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for five communications projects. On 2 February 2023, the Ministerial Finance Committee endorsed the applications. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Quartz ☛ The_FTC_is_preparing_a_wide-ranging_antitrust lawsuit_against_Amazon [Ed: Citing Bill Gates-bribed publisher; does this help distract from Microsoft's many crimes?]⠀⇛ The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) isreportedly preparingan antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. # ⚓ Quartz ☛ What_the_YouTube_strike_means_for_Big_Tech’s return_to_office_plans⠀⇛ A group of YouTube contractors went on strike today outside the Google office in Austin, Texas, after the tech giant announced a return to office by Feb. 6. The workers are employed by Cognizant, which is a subcontractor for Google parent company Alphabet. # ⚓ Engadget ☛ YouTube_Music_workers_strike_at_Google’s_Austin offices⠀⇛ YouTube Music workers in the Austin, TX area who voted to unionize are striking. TheAlphabet_Works Union-CWA_(AWU-CWA), which represents the contractors, says this is the first time a group of Google-affiliated workers has gone on strike. Cognizant, an Alphabet subcontractor, staffs the (more than 40) striking workers. They say Alphabet’s current return-to-office date of February 6th threatens their safety and livelihoods since their $19-per-hour pay makes it hard to afford relocation, travel and healthcare costs. The AWU-CWA says most contractors were hired to work remotely, and nearly a quarter of them don’t live in Texas. # ⚓ New York Times ☛ Why_Apple_Watches_Keep_Calling_911⠀⇛ Dispatchers for 911 are being inundated with false, automated distress calls from Apple devices owned by skiers who are very much alive. # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Trademark_Registration: 100%_THAT_BITCH⠀⇛ The phrase comes from Lizzo’s 2017 song Truth Hurts (remade in 2019) that has become a viral sleeper hit.  The original line in the song is “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch.” But Lizzo herself did not create the phrase. Rather, Lizzo apparently saw a social media meme about being 100% that bitch and then added it to her song.  The examining attorney concluded that “evidence that consumers may associate the phrase with the famous singer/song because it was a lyric in the singer’s song does not entitle the applicant as a singer- songwriter to appropriate for itself exclusive use of the phrase.” On appeal, the TTAB reversed the refusal.  Unlike patents and copyrights, trademark law is not designed to reward the creative endeavor of invention or authorship. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ AI_models_spit_out_photos_of real_people_and_copyrighted_images⠀⇛ Popular image generation models can be prompted to produce identifiable photos of real people, potentially threatening their privacy, according to new research. The work also shows that these AI systems can be made to regurgitate exact copies of medical images and copyrighted work by artists. * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal⠀➾ # ⚓ Sitting_in_O’Hare⠀⇛ The first part of my weekwas spent in Adams, Massachussets. I flew into Albany, New York on Sunday. Oddly, this location’s scenery reminded me of Colorado around the Glennwood Springs/Aspen area. Not an exact match, but it reminded me of it strongly. It makes sense since this too is a ski area. I stayed in a high rise hotel. Odd since I was in the small town of Pittsfield. I never expect to see a high-storey building in a small town. This hotel was very hostile to its guests especially with the parking situation. The parking garage was closed “for renovations.” I put that in quotes because there were no construction workers to be found the entire time I was there. The available parking was a block away at a bank. They “offered” valet service for the parking. I put that in quotes because the valet service started at 0730 and I had to be out and about before that every single day I was there. # ⚓ Fountain_Pens⠀⇛ Recently I have gone fountain pen mad. It all started from seeing the Muji fountain pen. It is an aluminium affair which has a knurled pen grip area and feels very industrial chic. At a low low price of 18, it was a bit of a no brainer. Something clicked and I felt a need to find out more. Queue reading reviews and watching videos. Then I fell into the rabbit hole. # ⚓ Album_#165:_Let’s_Stay_Together⠀⇛ Al Green pops up frequently enough on DJ Time Traveller’s weekly radio show that I’m familiar- ish, but this was the first album I’ve listened to. It’s starts strong and keeps going. His voice is versatile. The instrumentation never veers too far in to sappiness, nor does it ever really take centre stage. From start to finish, it’s a pleasure to listen to. # ⚓ minimalism⠀⇛ Perhaps one problem with minimalism isn’t what it removes, but what it leaves: the computer, with all it’s storage, and access to the internet. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not one for rolling back the internet, but I am one for not being sucked into and controlled by the internet. How do we solve this? # ⚓ Learn_better⠀⇛ Better learning is not reading a book in order it’s going backwards in a course when you’re not sure it’s writing to the author when you think he’s wrong It’s summarising o § Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ Finally,_I_switched_over_to_OpenBSD⠀⇛ I have been wanting to move my daily driver over to one of the BSDs for some time now, I have written in the past about my experience’s with FreeBSD [0]. At the time, the limiting factor was the hardware I was running and the issues that caused. However, now that I have the mini-pc new hardware I thought this would a good week to try it out. One evening I took the plunge, backed up $HOME on my current Alpine Linux setup and installed OpenBSD. It was super simple, and I was up and running in a shell within 15 minutes. # § Internet/Gemini⠀➾ # ⚓ Getting_rid_of_google:_The_*really*_easy_stuff_and why_I_may_have_wrote_my_previous_post_a_bit_too_fast⠀⇛ So I haven’t updated in a bit, but I still wanted to start things off by finishing my series of posts on getting rid of google and reduce internet surveillance. Here, I’ll discuss hoping out of Youtube (well, more or less) and Gmail and explain where I really was too hasty last time, before giving some first thoughts on it all. # ⚓ Zaibatsu_downtime_notice⠀⇛ On Saturday the 11th of February, the Mare Tranquillitatis People’s Circumlunar Zaibatsu (zaibatsu.circumlunar.space) will be taken offline for an operating system upgrade. This phlog (and all the others hosted here!) will obviously be unavailable during this time. I will endeavour to keep the Gopher downtime as short as possible! # ⚓ And_into_February⠀⇛ I originally started this entry at 09:40 this morning, because I knew I’d be too tired this evening after work. Here I am finishing the entry at 21:27. It has been this way lately: finish work, have dinner, then tea, entertain two cats, and then it’s time for bed. I must be getting old, because I’m usually awake quite early, therefore I go to bed early. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 6271 ➮ Generation completed at 02:41, i.e. 31 seconds to (re)generate ⟲