𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Saturday, February 25, 2023 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Sun 26 Feb 02:43:49 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/2023/02/25/ ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmbqEc6DR3dJD1Zez6UEB9NiyCWswQvsYE1yFxnM6ghvgG QmaVY3HqyuHpVGyMxeT4Bud2vNW78oYnx8dJCM6ZZK5ziE QmSUai4xNvwMKU2TbSerbPiWGAVberWqCyRsFtpfBmSJUA QmdqfApkUHoNL7LgRhijLyQ917yqySCE8TFPFh8Efixmuk QmYUwzBTiff9y3NpVBbZgEPJYspVVxmzVVYkzar4igJRiY QmWU4whiYNSNx6oxSqvGVEkr1unaGuqfGtoiphqZLBAxVJ QmQUWdJviNhacCKbEie2yYrdrQaNYjUhGH7B8majeYU6Vb Qmckkfq1rqb7mTK7w6RbFZJjskRKcnUk8PdtMmcLwUhXgV QmVY5cAKghhEttE24TaNrAQgciJau5j7EoeaEmfjYdbLMD QmUUEWf3hsUuMVJFPVavJpe7kPpi5bCmXqN9PPz7qbVMEu QmVBn9QkCHpe2cDLPr9H2kyS7vx3eRh5a9NN8CDSJEKw58 QmYGXGQ6SW216dEJ4TMfGyb7yDMBF4n6zCEwza8SfCQjDJ QmbPtsyc7sJxSwGRbURzMBpmJpQAgABouVYWUyXdfGhcFh QmSCXZVE6CQ7coFZMzXzjrALhoFTURwUpGRmU6CktGzSQz QmPbC3tAdXsThGxVyQYA3w5ThD5inZGhqy6fsNKHm55vAM QmfXoJrbKnWSQ2LZPdcn6D62y58ADQrCM6VaEptoYdSLz7 QmVFthGmR5Kh2aG2L3dgjZk4cCYoHhxwUKnwVSzKutqpZ9 Qmb1ifnMR1HKQVZSvpC4pPPzaFprCcVWkqqqznNJrvKGMT QmRmM7KSPSMNkJa65wrPNTYM2RSbSjrTUjyFydLzyeS74W QmcGKU7J3P2cV9jwQZBuJGz5uH9cKMjzpiF2ZKW9ZitXGr QmfG9Hg56mJpukz1EZw428rJ2z6dqsninonxMjQ6Hu8nDX ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ Gemini in 2023: Still Growing, Not as Fast as in Prior Years Though | Techrights ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 24, 2023 | Techrights ⦿ Microsoft Has Just Proven (Again) That GitHub is Unacceptable and People Should Flock Away From It | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/gemini-in-2023-still-growing-not-as-fast-as-in-prior-years-though/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/irc-log-240223/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/video-scale-mojang-and-sjvn/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/background-app-gnome/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/new-gstreamer-and-istio/#comments http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/tuxedo-os-2/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 55 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/gemini-in-2023-still-growing-not-as-fast-as-in-prior-years-though/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/25/gemini-in-2023-still-growing-not-as-fast-as-in-prior-years-though/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.25.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Gemini_in_2023:_Still_Growing,_Not_as_Fast_as_in_Prior_Years_Though⠀✐ Posted in Site_News at 7:51 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum a29fe3af0ddfe6063e8af2b36e5a8e9b Gemini Still Growing, Here is Why Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/lagrange-and-kirstall-2023.webm Summary: Techrights has just crossed the 45,000-page milestone (we now have over 45,000 pages in gemini.techrights.org) and Gemini is still doing well in general, even if the explosive growth is slowing down somewhat THE growth of Gemini space (or Geminispace — basically the namespace that responds to/on Gemini Protocol) has changed pace but has not stalled. Yes, it’s still growing, but not as quickly as before. In terms of its activity, it seems a little less active than last year, but it’s still enormously useful. The video above shows how Geminispace can be explored and new posts/pages be found (updated_every_hour or archived_for_days). We hope more people can and will join us in Geminispace (gemini.techrights.org). Yesterday we passed another milestone: 45,000 pages (see gemini.techrights.org/stats). By the end of this month we’ll have served about a quarter million pages (this month alone, in Gemini only). █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 102 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/irc-log-240223/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/25/irc-log-240223/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.25.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Friday,_February_24,_2023⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:45 am by Needs Sunlight Also available via the Gemini protocol at: * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techrights-240223.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-240223.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-social-240223.gmi * gemini://gemini.techrights.org/irc-gmi/irc-log-techbytes-240223.gmi Over HTTP: 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text Enter_the_IRC_channels_now =============================================================================== § IPFS Mirrors⠀➾ CID Description Object type IRC log for  QmNj8JCqZpn7TTmJ5UoCYdWhei4stjkK6WRmMbgwLvaVtE #boycottnovell 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell  QmZKedUE3w1wQJxAZegSCsycztCnThPSGU2ZumeWnjN883 (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmYjraM3Q2YLPdNJFrWNGsWZLvWKTrLbfxBoK2j9kE7sok social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  Qmd58DaxZwpX1DDza71gU4TN5M5TL5Uk15p6wKQur1RzTk social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmSw7o3YokUAM2Nv4NHrzD2zwxC9yU9SazVGQrb3Rw6gfx #techbytes 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techbytes  QmR3g482i26i4VqiGm4qrWbsG6VxwAJLM3QLZNGcT6nEpY (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmPpgdbxzbFdbMiUJJ5txJQEoDk7FFmA5JVwoDEtuhXob4 #techrights 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techrights  QmYvh46qpvthCkMSTwhnrKsg3YsSgPAUghhAfMni86PEXn (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈ § Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾ Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmfG9Hg56mJpukz1EZw428rJ2z6dqsninonxMjQ6Hu8nDX ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 229 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2023/02/25/video-scale-mojang-and-sjvn/#comments Gemini version at gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2023/02/25/video-scale-mojang-and-sjvn/ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.25.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Microsoft_Has_Just_Proven_(Again)_That_GitHub_is_Unacceptable_and_People Should_Flock_Away_From_It⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Free/Libre_Software, Microsoft at 7:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz Video_download_link | md5sum 2f993008286bf7f378ceee0128ffc33d GitHub is an Attack Vector Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 http://techrights.org/videos/github-is-a-trap-again.webm Summary: Microsoft is once again misusing or abusing its control of GitHub; it censors lots of Free software projects that help replace Microsoft’s proprietary Minecraft THE video above discuses our most_recent (but not so recent) article about Microsoft’s interference. It starts with a discussion of this new_incident (youtube-dl deja vu but a lot worse!) and then a discussion about another_awful piece_from_Steven_J._Vaughan-Nichols_(SJVN), who plays along with this phony narrative wherein only projects that Microsoft controls exist in this world and nothing else counts. Microsoft is viciously attacking the Free software community and at the same time it is bribing a lot of the media, so rarely do we find (in the press) articles that call them out on it. As noted in the video, we’ve been busy improving our Daily Links and I also did some work on my office/desk, so not many articles could be published lately. That will change soon. We have plenty to show and to say. We want to share our findings, not just in the form of IRC logs and informal videos. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 283 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.25.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_25/02/2023:_ScummVM’s_Google_Money_and_GNOME_44’s_Background_App⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 9:53 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Audiocasts/Shows o Graphics_Stack 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 BSD o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Devices/Embedded o Open_Hardware/Modding o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o SaaS/Back_End/Databases o Licensing_/_Legal o Programming/Development # Qt * Leftovers o Science 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 # Wildlife/Nature 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 Digital_Restrictions_(DRM) o Monopolies # Patents # Trademarks # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal o Technical # Programming * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Hackaday_Podcast_207:_Modular_Furniture,_Plastic Prosthetics,_And_Your_Data_On_YouTube⠀⇛ Join Editor-in-Chief Elliot Williams and Managing Editor Tom Nardi as they explore the best and most interesting stories from the last week. The top story if of course the possibility that at least some of the unidentified flying objects the US Air Force valiantly shot down were in fact the work of amateur radio enthusiasts, but a quantitative comparison of NASA’s SLS mega-rocket to that of popular breakfast cereals is certainly worth a mention as well. o § Graphics Stack⠀➾ # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ X-Plane_12_now_uses_the_open_source_Zink driver_to_help_Plugins⠀⇛ Well, this is certainly fun to see. X-Plane 12 now makes use of the open source Zink driver, for doing OpenGL over Vulkan. As Zink developer Mike Blumenkrantz mentioned in their blog post “Zink has been commercialized” and they sound very happy about that. Zink is now a driver that “runs real games in production for real, existing people”. A pretty impressive milestone for the project. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ IT Pro Today ☛ AppImage_vs._Snap:_How_to_Choose_the_Right Linux_Software_Packaging_Tool⠀⇛ There are cases when AppImage is the right choice and other cases when snap is a better choice. This guide will help you decide when to use each Linux software packaging tool. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Anaconda_Python_Distribution on_Debian_11⠀⇛ Python is an open-source and object-oriented interpreted programming language. Anaconda is a Python, R, Data Science, and machine learning platform and used as a package manager. It comes with 1,500+ open source packages. # ⚓ TechRepublic ☛ How_to_enable_MongoDB_for_remote_access⠀⇛ Looking to use your MongoDB server from another machine? If so, you must configure it for remote access. # ⚓ LinuxTechi ☛ How_to_Install_Go_(Golang)_on_Ubuntu_Linux Step-by-Step⠀⇛ # ⚓ Dan Langille ☛ Dan_makes_another_zpool⠀⇛ I spent my lunch, and most of my mortgage payment, on 4 x 4TB Blue 4TB SSD 3D NAND (WDS400T2B0A). # ⚓ [Old] H2S Media ☛ How_to_access_Gmail_in_Vivaldi_email client_in_its_browser⠀⇛ Vivaldi is one of the popular browsers that comes with lots of features and one of them is an inbuilt email client. Just like Opera, the mail client is integrated into the same browser and full of options at the level of any desktop application. The best thing is it is free, thus the users don’t need a separate application to access their mails such as Thunderbird. Although, the features in Vivaldi will not be extensive as Thunderbird, yet enough. # ⚓ [Old] It’s FOSS ☛ How_to_Create_Custom_Linux_Mint_or_Ubuntu ISO⠀⇛ Now imagine this. You download Linux (Mint), make a live USB and install it on all the systems. And then you have to do the same configuration and install the same set of applications on all of them. What if I tell you there was a way to save your time from doing these repetitive tasks? How about creating a modified ISO and put this customized Linux Mint on the live USB? This way it installs the same customized Linux distro on all the systems. There is a handy GUI tool called Cubic that allows you to pre-configure your installs in the easiest way possible. Let me walk you through its features and how you can use it to customize Linux Mint 21 ISO. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_HTTP_Git_Server_with_Nginx_and SSL_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Git is an open-source version control system that keeps track of your software changes at the source level. This tutorial will explain setting up an HTTP Git repository server with Nginx on Ubuntu 22.04. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ Using_Wget_with_FTP_to_Download/Move_Web Sites_Recursively⠀⇛ Sometimes you need to move a web site from one server to another. Instead of downloading the web site from the old server to your PC via FTP and uploading it from your PC to the new server, it would save a lot of time to simply copy the web site from one server to the other. This tutorial explains how to use Wget to download/move a web site from one server to the other via FTP. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Jitsi_Video_Conference Platform_on_Debian_11⠀⇛ Jitsi is a free, open-source solution for building a secure video conference platform. This article will go through the installation and configuration of the Jitsi Video Conference on the latest Debian 11 Bullseye. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Gradle_Build_Automation_Tool on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Gradle is an open-source build automation tool based on Groovy and Kotlin. It is mostly used for building Java projects, but it supports multiple languages, including Java, C/C++, and JavaScript. # ⚓ FOSSLinux ☛ Customizing_the_Linux_Mint_desktop environment⠀⇛ Linux Mint is a popular open-source operating system with a user-friendly interface and a stable and reliable platform. One of the most significant advantages of Linux Mint is its customizability, allowing you to personalize the system to your preferences. Customization makes the design more aesthetically pleasing and enhances its functionality, making it more efficient and helpful. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Plex_Media_Server_on_Debian 11⠀⇛ Plex Media Server is a digital media player that can host multiple online content channels from non- local sources. This tutorial shows you how to install Plex Media server on Debian 11. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Pydio_Cells_File_Sharing Server_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Pydio Cells also known as a Pydio is an open-source file-sharing and synchronization application written in the Golang language. This guide will explain how to install the Pydio file-sharing application on Ubuntu 22.04. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_an_FTP_Server_with_ProFTPD_and TLS/SSL_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ ProFTPD is a free, open-source, and feature-rich FTP server written for Unix and Unix-a-like operating systems. This tutorial will show you how to install the ProFTPD FTP server on Ubuntu 22.04. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_WonderCMS_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ WonderCMS is an open-source and extremely small flat file CMS that provides a simple and easier way to create and manage websites. This tutorial will show you how to install WonderCMS with Nginx and Let’s Encrypt SSL on Ubuntu 22.04. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Memcached_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Memcached is a free, open-source, and general- purpose distributed memory-caching system used to cache database data. It is a high-performance memory caching system used to speed up dynamic web applications by reducing the database load. # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Install_GitHub_Desktop_on_Ubuntu 22.04_or_20.04 [Ed: No, GitHub is proprietary vendor lock-in of Microsoft; use Git instead]⠀⇛ GitHub Desktop is a popular software with a user- friendly interface for managing and interacting with Git repositories. Git is a widely used version control system essential for software development, allowing multiple people to collaborate on the same codebase and keep track of changes over time. # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Install_WordPress_with_Nginx, MariaDB,_PHP_on_Ubuntu_22.04_or_20.04⠀⇛ WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS) that allows users to create and manage websites easily. While there are two versions of WordPress, the self-hosted version is the most popular. In this version, users must download and install WordPress on their hosting provider instead of using the hosted version on WordPress.com. # ⚓ Linux Capable ☛ How_to_Install_LibreWolf_Browser_on_Manjaro Linux⠀⇛ LibreWolf is an open-source web browser that has gained popularity among privacy enthusiasts due to its emphasis on user privacy and security. It is a fork of Mozilla’s Firefox, with additional features and modifications prioritizing user privacy and control over their online experience. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ ScummVM ☛ ScummVM_has_been_accepted_to_the_Google_Summer_of Code_2023⠀⇛ This year our project was accepted to the Google Summer_of_Code program for the eighth year in a row (and 16th time in total). The intention of the program is to bring new contributors to open source projects, and the eligibility rules for participants are the same as last year, with both students and non-students welcome to participate. Check the Google_Summer_of Code website for details of eligibility. Participants can apply for either short tasks (about 175 hours) or long tasks (about 350 hours). The coding period typically runs from the start of June to the end of August, but there is some flexibility and the participants can opt to use a longer coding period if they are not available to work full time on the project during the summer. # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Flycast_emulator_for_Dreamcast,_Naomi, Naomi_2_gets_a_big_upgrade⠀⇛ Oh wow, I loved my old SEGA Dreamcast before it sadly ended up at a tech graveyard. For fans of emulation, the Flycast emulator has a new release out. I must gives this a try, maybe good for Steam Deck in bed… # ⚓ GamingOnLinux ☛ Get_some_awesome_puzzle_games_in_this latest_game_bundle⠀⇛ Busy weekend? No? How about some fresh games! Humble Bundle has put up a pretty darn good collection in the latest bundle. The Unparalleled Puzzlers Bundle is live for 14 days and you don’t want to miss it. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ DebugPoint ☛ Proposal_Announced_for_Better_Flathub Experience_with_GNOME_&_KDE_Foundation⠀⇛ In a GitHub post announcement, the Plaintext group proposed to the GNOME foundation and KDE, e.V. that they will introduce “systemic improvements in the open source software ecosystem – rather than just funding a specified list of OSS projects” and apply it to improve the current Flathub ecosystem for Flatpaks. Here are all the details. # ⚓ Nate Graham ☛ This_week_in_KDE:_even_better_multi- monitor⠀⇛ Something funny happens when you take something that was super broken and you make it work a lot better: people start to use it more! And then they submit bug reports for all their unusual use cases that you failed to anticipate or that hadn’t been getting exercised in a long time. So in the short term it looks like things are worse, but in fact they’re better because the bug reports are becoming about more and more exotic use cases over time. I saw this happen starting 2 years ago with the Plasma Wayland session (which has since become very robust), and now it’s happening again with multi-monitor setups. We finally nailed the basics, so people are trying it out again, abandoning their xrandr hackaround scripts, and submitting bug reports about the issues with their wild and wacky screen arrangements. And this is great! So we spent a ton of time this week working on fixing all those edge case bugs to make our new multi- monitor system even more robust. With a strong foundation, fixing the bugs isn’t that hard! # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ GNOME_44’s_Background_Apps:_A_Step_Forward or_a_Step_Too_Far⠀⇛ GNOME and KDE are the most popular desktop environments in Linux, so the open-source community eagerly anticipates each new release. With just over three weeks until GNOME 44, scheduled to be released on March 22, the race to hype its new features has continued. One of them, however, caught our attention: the new Background Apps functionality. So first, let’s briefly explain what it is all about. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o § BSD⠀➾ # ⚓ Dan Langille ☛ booting_without_mrsas_driver_–_lots_of errors⠀⇛ Today I noticed that all the drives in the R730 host had 150MB/s speeds mentioned in the boot messages. They are all SSDs on an SAS bus. They should be at 600.000MB/s. o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ Red_Hat_Introduces_New_Partner Subscriptions_to_Enable_Ecosystem_Innovation_and_Customer Success⠀⇛ Red Hat, Inc., the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced the launch of Red Hat Partner Subscriptions, a no-cost subscription model that allows partners deeper access to the Red Hat open hybrid cloud portfolio. Red Hat Partner Subscriptions offer a simplified path for partners to acquire Red Hat product subscriptions that can be used to develop software solutions and proof-of- concepts, test product offerings, deepen technical skills and more. # ⚓ The New Stack ☛ 7_Expert_Strategies_for_Managing_RBAC_on OpenShift⠀⇛ Keeping a tight grip on security when using Red Hat’s container orchestration platform means managing access and permissions at a granular level. To ensure that users only have the access they need when they need it, read on. # ⚓ Video ☛ In_the_Clouds_(E34)_|_Let’s_Talk_OpenShift_4.12 Update_–_Invidious⠀⇛ Across industries and business sectors, senior leadership has to execute at an ever-increasing pace, and today’s technology decisions must balance short-term risk with long-term gains. Join host Stu Miniman as he leads insightful and candid discussions with a broad spectrum of experts, executives, and decision-makers on diverse and hot technology topics. In this episode of In the Clouds, Stu Miniman gets chatting with Ju Lim, a Senior Product Manager for OpenShift, about the new OpenShift 4.12 product release. # ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ Improving_business_outcomes_with_smart service_provider_operations⠀⇛ During early phases of 5G deployments, service providers have been tempted to go with vertically integrated stacks to achieve reduced time-to-value. # ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ 5_changes_to_help_grow_your_IT_career⠀⇛ Start making incremental changes now, and soon you’ll build habits that can help your career grow. # ⚓ Red Hat Official ☛ Network_automation_with_Ansible validated_content⠀⇛ Ansible Network Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) validated content collection focuses on platform- agnostic network automation and enhances BGP management. # ⚓ Enterprisers Project ☛ Digital_transformation:_4_ways_to boost_efficiency⠀⇛ # ⚓ Enterprisers Project ☛ 4_steps_to_supercharge_IT_leaders⠀⇛ # ⚓ Enterprisers Project ☛ Security_automation:_4_factors_to consider⠀⇛ # ⚓ Enterprisers Project ☛ IT_leadership:_3_emotionally intelligent_ways_to_handle_layoff_anxiety⠀⇛ o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ Should_You_Erase_the_ESP32_Flash_Memory_in_Arduino_IDE?⠀⇛ Recently, I got into a mess with the Arduino IDE going wonkers with a variable on my NodeMCU32-S. I wanted to make a Wi-Fi access point with it, but it just wouldn’t change the variable for the SSID name. Turns out, it still had data from an old project of mine when I used it for the same purpose a few months back. In a way, this was a discovery for me. # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Raspberry_Pi_Powered_PiBoy_Mini_Brings_the Arcade_to_Your_Pocket⠀⇛ Now taking pre-orders, ExperimentalPi’s latest handheld shrinks the Game Boy form factor but loses none of the fun. # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Best_Stemma_QT,_Grove_Add-Ons_for Raspberry_Pi_and_Arduino⠀⇛ Stemma QT and Grove are solderless connections to connect a plethora of different sensors, displays and components to your Raspberry Pi, Arduino or ESP32. We show you the best that we have personally used in projects. # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ TinyTVs_Offer_a_Bitesize_Raspberry_Pi_Dose of_Television⠀⇛ Two tiny televisions, powered by the Raspberry Pi RP2040 play up to 40 hours of video and can stream your desktop. # ⚓ Arduino ☛ Controlling_a_robot_arm_over_the_[Internet]⠀⇛ Engineer Zero started with a cheap OWI-535 “Robotic Arm Edge” kit, which isn’t much more than a toy. It comes with a cheap little controller that lets the user manually operate the arm, but that’s it. To upgrade it into a “real” robot arm, Engineer Zero connected its five motors to an Arduino Uno board through L9110 motor drivers. That let them control the robot arm from their computer and provided the potential for other kinds of control. # ⚓ Engineer Zero ☛ Controlling_a_Robot_Arm_over_the_Internet⠀⇛ Anyhow, the reason I dwell on the color coding of the jumpers is because I originally tested the system with just one motor controller connected to one motor, and it was a confusing jumble because I just randomly attached jumpers to Get ‘Er Done. Then I looked at the mess and wondered, “How am I going to do this for five motor controllers without becoming totally confused?” But then I used color coding, and I had only a couple wiring issues, one of them being the classic bungle of forgetting to tie the grounds together. # ⚓ Arduino ☛ Digital_barometer_channels_vintage_aesthetics⠀⇛ The components for this project include an Arduino Nano, a BME280 temperature, humidity, and pressure sensor, and a 16×4 character LCD display. Normally, a display like this can only show alphanumeric characters, but Pavleski was clever and used custom character blocks to create the bar graph. The components reside inside of a PVC enclosure with self-adhesive wallpaper to give it a classic look. # ⚓ Raspberry Pi ☛ Engineering_students_design_Raspberry_Pi Pico_CubeSat_platform⠀⇛ While banging on about NASA and the astronauts (yes, plural, there were four) we saw at Space Center Houston a couple of weeks ago, I was reminded of this space-themed project closer to Pi Towers. Engineering students at Harlow College in Essex, UK have designed a CubeSat platform to take their homemade hardware to space. # ⚓ Linux Gizmos ☛ Active_Pro_can_debug_up_to_4x_MCUs simultaneously⠀⇛ The company Active Firmware Tools has just introduced the Active-Pro Firmware Debugger which can simultaneously capture the output from up to four microcontrollers, analog channels, digital logic channels, hardware decoded bus traffic, current measurements and decoded packet information. # ⚓ OpenSource.com ☛ AI_robot_wrestling_with_open_source⠀⇛ The competition is organized by Cyberbotics Ltd., a Swiss-based company developing the open source Webots robot simulator. It aims at promoting the use of open source software tools, including cloud- based simulations, to achieve incremental progress in robotics research. By relying on open source software, running in virtual machines in the cloud, research results in robotics become easily reproducible by anyone. This allows researchers to build their own research on top of the results achieved by their colleagues, paving the way to incremental research in the spirit of open science. o § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ ZDNet ☛ This_‘lapdock’_kit_turns_an_open-source_smartphone into_a_laptop⠀⇛ Purism has unveiled its vision for convergence with the Librem 5 smartphone and an intriguing docking station. o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ India Times ☛ Gmail_for_Android_is_getting_an_update_for foldables_–_Times_of_India⠀⇛ # ⚓ Express ☛ Ignore_the_Galaxy_S23!_Cheap_Android_alternatives launch_this_weekend_|_Express.co.uk⠀⇛ # ⚓ Sportskeeda ☛ Android_14:_All_Samsung_Galaxy_phones confirmed_to_get_Android_14⠀⇛ # ⚓ Picking_the_best_smartwatch_for_android_users⠀⇛ # ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Gmail_getting_2-pane_view_on_Android foldables⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Sun ☛ People_are_just_realizing_Android_phones_have_a secret_‘second_screen’_–_it’s_an_instant_upgrade_when_you find_it_|_The_US_Sun⠀⇛ # ⚓ Forbes ☛ Android_Circuit:_Galaxy_S23_Reviewed,_Huge_Pixel Fold_Leaks,_Angry_Birds_Goes_Missing⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o ⚓ Rick Carlino ☛ Creating_Paper_Templates_and_Stencils_in OpenSCAD⠀⇛ OpenSCAD is usually used for 3D modeling. But it also supports a “2D subsystem” for two dimensional drawings (stuff like circle and square). This article teaches you how to make stencils and templates that will match your target measurements exactly. For example, you could make a stencil for a painted sign or guideline for a wood project that uses a jigsaw. o § SaaS/Back End/Databases⠀➾ # ⚓ PostgreSQL ☛ pgtt_v2.10_released⠀⇛ pgtt is a PostgreSQL extension to create, manage and use Oracle-style Global Temporary Tables. The main interest of this extension is to reproduce Oracle behavior with GTT when you can not or don’t want to rewrite the application code when migrating to PostgreSQL. In all other case best is to rewrite the code to use standard PostgreSQL temporary tables. This is a maintenance release to fix a too much lock issue in multi parallel process environment. o § Licensing / Legal⠀➾ # ⚓ Joinup ☛ FSF_new_procedures_&_GNU_GPL_stewardship⠀⇛ Free Software Foundation (FSF) has updated their by-laws so that approval by 66% of its Directors is required to approve any new versions of the GNU General Public License (GPL). They’ve also announced a call or nominations to select new Directors. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Haskell ☛ Haskell_Playground_is_live_at_play.haskell.org⠀⇛ it is with great pleasure that the Haskell.org Committee is announcing the availability of the Haskell Playground at https://play.haskell.org! The playground is a work of love by @tomsmeding, now with support from Haskell.org. He deserves all your encouragement! # ⚓ Sean Conner ☛ A_breakdown_of_the_triple-star_pointer⠀⇛ I few days ago I read “Lessons learnt while trying to modernize some C code” (via Lobsters) and one of the problems of C stated stood out to me: “Avoid constructs like char ***. I thought it was a joke, but people do pass around char *** and it’s insane—almost impossible to comprehend why do you need a pointer to a pointer to a pointer.” Yes, it happens, but come on! That doesn’t happen often enough to complain about! # ⚓ Eclipse Foundation ☛ [paho-dev]_Project_code_repository move⠀⇛ In keeping with our planned timeline we have begun selecting 15-20 projects per quarter that will have their code repositories moved in the following quarter, and as you may have guessed your project has been selected as part of next quarters moves. # ⚓ Undeadly ☛ Game_of_Trees_0.84_released⠀⇛ Stefan Sperling had some particular changes of note on the FediVerse announcement excerpted (sans special emoji unique to bsd.network) here: [...] # ⚓ ABC ☛ ChatGPT_Thinks_Americans_Are_Excited_About_AI._Most Are_Not.⠀⇛ Apart from committing the cardinal sin of failing to produce polling numbers until the sixth paragraph, ChatGPT’s take on how Americans see it and other chatbots was suspiciously positive. “A 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 71% of Americans believe it is generally a good thing for society if robots and computers become more capable and sophisticated, while only 27% believe this would be a bad thing,” ChatGPT wrote. “This suggests that people are increasingly open to the idea of AI and see it as a potential source of innovation and progress.” # § Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ Qt ☛ VxWorks_for_Qt_5.15.12_Released [Ed: Not only has Qt gone proprietary again; it seems to prioritise support for proprietary platforms; no wonder Lars left]⠀⇛ The Qt Company is expanding the number of supported releases for VxWorks with the latest Qt 5.15.12 Long Term Support (LTS) version for commercial license holders. The release is a source code release made on top of the Qt 5.15.12 LTS Commercial release. Further Qt releases with VxWorks support are also being planned. # ⚓ Qt ☛ Shaping_the_Future_of_Digital_Experience_–_UI Framework_Foundations⠀⇛ # ⚓ Qt ☛ Dark_Mode_on_Windows_11_with_Qt_6.5 [Ed: After going proprietary Qt is also devoting time to Microsoft spyware]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Qt ☛ MIDAX_Leverages_Qt’s_Digital_Advertising Platform_for_Sigma_POS [Ed: Qt also promotes "telemetry" and ads in the GUI; not a positive direction]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Qt ☛ Automated_translation_of_Qt_documentation⠀⇛ Qt is known for its good documentation, and in the recent years the number of users that rely on the documentation has grown considerably. Some of these users also prefer using the documentation in a specific language, so they use the auto-translation tools for the purpose. Most of these tools translate everything on a page to the chosen language, unless they are told not to. For example, the following screenshot shows the Google translate output of the QString API reference in French language: [...] * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ The Nation ☛ Academy_Fight_Song:_The_Politics_Behind_Andrea Riseborough’s_Surprise_Oscar_Nod⠀⇛ When this year’s Oscar nominations dropped on January 24, two perennially problematic issues for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences met in a head-on collision in the Best Actress category: Hollywood’s historic lack of representation, and the vast economic imbalance between indie movie producers and billion-dollar media behemoths competing for the same awards. Andrea Riseborough received a surprise nomination for her little-seen but excellent work in To Leslie, while two actors widely considered favorites in the category, Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till), did not. The latter two were nominated for this Sunday’s SAG awards, but not Riseborough. o ⚓ YLE ☛ Nordic_neighbours_poking_fun_at_Finnish_stereotypes_become social_media_hits⠀⇛ The Nordic nations have a very similar sense of humour, according to one researcher. o ⚓ Variety ☛ Digital_Advertising_Continues_to_Steal_TV’s_Thunder⠀⇛ If there was any doubt about whether we were in an advertising recession, Q4 media earnings solidified those suspicions. Execs from the biggest media giants all cited a challenging macroeconomic environment affecting their ad businesses, and the numbers proved it. o ⚓ WhichUK ☛ What_to_do_if_your_laptop_gets_stolen⠀⇛ Take time to run through these nine security steps soon after getting a new laptop: [...] o ⚓ Terence Eden ☛ People_only_want_their_technology_to_do_three things⠀⇛ Many years ago, I worked as a product manager for pre- smart phones. Remember that old Nokia phone you had? Yeah, them! This was a common complaint we heard back then: “Ugh! Why do phones have all these useless, overcomplicated, random functions? People only want their phones to do three thing – calls, texts, and…” o ⚓ New York Times ☛ That_Mystery_Orb_on_a_Japanese_Beach?_It_Was Just_a_Buoy._(Sorry.)⠀⇛ But after X-raying it, the police confirmed that it was not explosive. It was just a large, spherical piece of scrap metal — a reminder that the oceans, like the skies, are full of mystery and trash. o ⚓ 37signals LLC ☛ Get_out_of_momentum’s_way⠀⇛ This relative lack of full-time managers means the temptation to mess with what ain’t broken just largely isn’t there. So many other pursuits call out for our attention – designing, programming, writing, and judoing the product calls. Idle managerial hands run’s the devil’s workshop. Make sure they all have a hobby to soak up the excess energy, should it present itself. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ The Scientist ☛ Finally,_Scientists_Uncover_the_Genetic Basis_of_Fingerprints⠀⇛ Much like with a zebra’s stripes or a leopard’s spots, Turing patterns explain how the distinctive patterns of human fingerprints form, a study finds. # ⚓ RIPE ☛ Detecting_Waves_with_ShakeAlert⠀⇛ When operating large, globally distributed networks, hardware failures, provider outages, and other changes in behaviour are regular occurrences. Therefore, systems that can raise alarms at the first signs of trouble can alert human operators or automated systems and enable faster corrective action. To this end, we developed ShakeAlert, an alerting system built on publicly available external data to alert to sudden Internet changes. o § Education⠀➾ # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ We_Spoke_to_The_Florida_Teacher_Who_Was Fired_For_a_Viral_Video_Of_Empty_School_Library_Shelves⠀⇛ After a new statewide policy removed books from school libraries, Governor Ron DeSantis called the video Brian Covey posted a “fake narrative.” # ⚓ Teen Vogue ☛ Supreme_Court_Cases_on_Student_Debt, Affirmative_Action:_What_to_Know⠀⇛ In another looming decision, the Supreme Court is set to rule on broad-scale student debt relief — President Biden’s signature executive policy that could zero out the student loan accounts of 20 million Americans, the beneficiaries of which are disproportionately Black. # ⚓ Computer World ☛ Skills-based_hiring_continues_to_rise_as degree_requirements_fade⠀⇛ “So far, they’ve removed degree requirements from certain job postings and have worked with other organizations to help workers progress from lower- to higher-wage jobs,” McKinsey said in a November report. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ AMD_Execs_Cash_Big_Bonus_Checks_While Intel’s_Take_Pay_Cuts⠀⇛ AMD execs will enjoy substantial bonuses, but its business structure is far less affected by semiconductor manufacturing cycles than Intel’s. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Internet_Connected_Pinball_Machine_Shows_Off Scores⠀⇛ Before video games, there were pinball machines. Not that they don’t exist today, but a modern pinball machine will likely have microprocessors and other fancy things that traditional pinball machine designers could never dream of. [Eli] had one of these mechanical machines from 1974 as a kid and, later, encountered a more modern machine with a rudimentary microprocessor and other integrated circuits onboard. One thing this enabled is the ability to remember high scores. But you have to physically look at the machine, and you can only see the top four scores. [Eli] decided to adapt the machine to upload high score data to the Internet, and it is a fun project. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Pushing_Crates_In_8-bit_Color⠀⇛ Moore’s law isn’t strictly holding anymore, but it is still true that most computing systems are at least trending towards lower cost over time, if not also slightly smaller size. This means wider access to less expensive hardware, even if that hardware is still an 8-bit microcontroller. While some move on to more powerful platforms as a result of this trend, there are others still fighting to push these platforms to the edge. [lcamtuf] has been working to this end, stretching a small AVR microcontroller to not only play a classic video game, but to display it on a color display. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Low_Power_Challenge:_E-Paper_Shelf_Label_Becomes Ultra-Frugal_Clock⠀⇛ Over the past two decades, e-paper has evolved from an exotic and expensive display technology to something cheap enough to be used for supermarket price tags. While such electronic shelf labels are now easy to find, actually re-using them is often tricky due to a lack of documentation. Luckily, [Aaron Christophel] has managed to reverse engineer many types of shelf labels, and he’s demonstrated the results by turning one into an ultra-low-power clock called Triink. It’s based on a 128×296 pixel e-ink display paired with an nRF52832 BlueTooth Low-Energy SoC and uses just 65 micro-amperes on average: low enough to keep it running for more than a year on a single battery charge. # ⚓ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Intel’s_CEO_Fires_Back_at_3nm_Delay Rumors⠀⇛ Pat Gelsinger: Both internal and external 3 nm projects are on track. # ⚓ WhichUK ☛ What_to_do_if_your_laptop_gets_stolen⠀⇛ Make security a priority to help avoid a data- breach disaster if your laptop is stolen Take time to run through these nine security steps soon after getting a new laptop: [...] # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Deep_Dive_Into_The_HP_ScantJet_4C⠀⇛ [Shelby] at Tech Tangents recently wrapped a project / obsession to obtain an old HP ScanJet 4C, get it running on a PC and put it through its paces. After after nearly five years, three scanners, and untold SCSI cards and drivers later, he finally succeeded. The first big problem was getting a working scanner. These don’t stand up well to shipping, and one arrived with broken mirrors. And when he finally got one that worked, sorting out SCSI controller and driver issues was surprisingly complicated, though ultimately successful. # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Producing_A_Pair_Of_Parallel_Pliers⠀⇛ A regular pair of pliers is fine most of the time, but for delicate work with squarish objects you can’t go wrong with a pair of parallel pliers. [Neil Paskin] decided to make his own pair from scratch. (YouTube) # ⚓ Hackaday ☛ Toroid_Transformers_Explained⠀⇛ HF radios often use toroidal transformers and winding them is a rite of passage for many RF hackers. [David Casler, KE0OG] received a question about how they work and answered it in a recent video that you can see below. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ US_Agency_Releases_Report_on_Ohio_Train Derailment⠀⇛ The derailed equipment included 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that subsequently ignited, fueling fires that damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Calls_Grow_for_Rail_Safety_Laws_as_Officials Deem_Ohio_Derailment_Preventable⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Age AU ☛ Why_nipping_unnecessary_tasks_in_the_bud_can help_both_you_and_your_boss⠀⇛ Suffering in silence, especially for prolonged periods, is rarely good for your mental health or career. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ From_Formula_to_Medications_and_Child_Care, Parents_Feel_Strain_of_Shortages⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Belgorod_governor_hospitalized,_reportedly_with food_poisoning_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, reported on Telegram Friday that he had been hospitalized. “Nothing critical. I’m under medical supervision. They’ll release me today or tomorrow,” he wrote. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ To_Prevent_More_‘Catastrophic_Derailments,’ Rail_Workers_Outline_Plan_for_Immediate_Reforms⠀⇛ Three weeks after the lives of East Palestine, Ohio residents were upended by a fiery wreck involving a Norfolk Southern-owned train overloaded with hazardous materials, rail union leaders on Friday implored federal regulators and lawmakers to “focus on the primary reasons for the derailment and take immediate action to prevent future disasters.” # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ As_Biden_Takes_On_Airline_Junk_Fees,_It’s Worth_Asking_Why_Buttigieg_Didn’t⠀⇛ The Biden White House ushered in February with a new salvo of regulation targeting junk fees — those really annoying surcharges that don’t accomplish anything other than making the corporations more money. One particularly cruel example being targeted is a practice of airlines charging parents extra to be seated with their children. President Biden doubled down on the issue in his State of the Union address as well, saying that “airlines can’t treat your child like a piece of baggage.” Some airlines would charge customers to sit next to their children who were still in diapers. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘I_Am_Disturbed’:_Locals_Alarmed_Over_Plan to_Inject_Toxic_Ohio_Wastewater_Underground_in_Texas⠀⇛ Residents and officials in Harris County, Texas have expressed alarm since learning that contaminated water used to extinguish a fiery train crash in East Palestine, Ohio has been transported more than 1,300 miles to a Houston suburb for disposal. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Strong_Plurality_of_Voters_Blame_Norfolk Southern_for_Toxic_Train_Crash⠀⇛ Almost half of U.S. voters surveyed by progressive think tank Data for Progress blame rail company Norfolk Southern for the February 3 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio which forced 1,500 residents to evacuate, contaminated soil and water, and has been blamed for causing a number of symptoms even as officials claim air and water monitoring hasn’t shown dangerous levels of pollution. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Bomb_Train:_Calls_Grow_for_New_Laws_on_Rail Safety_After_Toxic_Disaster_in_East_Palestine,_Ohio⠀⇛ Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, continue to demand answers about how a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed February 3, releasing hazardous materials into the air, water and soil. The National Transportation Safety Board has released a preliminary report on the accident, blaming a wheel bearing failure for the crash and saying the derailment was “100% preventable.” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has faced widespread criticism over his response to the disaster, visited the village on Thursday for the first time since the derailment, a day after former President Trump also visited East Palestine. For more, we speak with Emily Wright, development director of River Valley Organizing, who lives a few miles from the derailment site; Gregory Hynes, the national legislative director at SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers; and reporter Topher Sanders, whose latest ProPublica story details how Norfolk Southern officials are allowed to order train crews to ignore safety alerts. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ What_Trump’s_Visit_to_East_Palestine_Told_Us About_2024⠀⇛ I planned to write about Donald Trump’s visit to East Palestine, Ohio, on Wednesday, though I knew I couldn’t actually watch his speech. I just assumed it would dominate the news. It didn’t, and thus I didn’t write about it. And now I am—but not directly. I have come to think Trump’s Ohio flop might matter. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Several_cases_of_food_poisoning_caused_by oysters_confirmed_in_Helsinki⠀⇛ The Environment Services of the City of Helsinki is investigating a number of suspected cases of food poisoning that are believed to be related to dining at several different restaurants and a pop-up event since the beginning of February. Currently, there are about 20 known cases of illness. The individuals who have fallen ill all consumed oysters, and environmental services have taken food samples from the restaurants as well as patient samples from the city’s epidemiological action. Norovirus has been found in the samples. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Kela_has_sent_a_late_payment_reminder about_the_student_healthcare_fee_to_some_56,000_students⠀⇛ Kela sends late payment reminders to higher education students studying for a degree who registered as attending by 31 January 2023 but did not pay the student healthcare fee by the due date. The due date for the student healthcare fee was 31 January 2023 for students studying for a degree who registered as attending for the spring term by 31 January 2023. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Experts:_Finland’s_emissions_falling rapidly,_action_needed_to_strengthen_carbon_sink⠀⇛ FINLAND is developing rapidly into a competitive economy powered by low-emitting hydrogen-based solutions, views the Finnish Climate Change Panel. The green transition, it envisions, will create substantial business opportunities for low-emission solutions and product and service innovations, with many of the solutions linked to hydrogen-based innovations, the circular economy and measures to reduce the consumption footprint. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Toxic_Watters⠀⇛ # ⚓ Nattokinase:_The_latest_COVID-19_spike_protein_“detox” quackery⠀⇛ One of the oldest antivax tropes is that vaccines some how “poison” you with “toxins,” thereby causing a whole host of health problems that antivaxxers blame on vaccines but whose causation is not supported by science. Indeed, when I first made a splash (sort of) debunking antivax misinformation in 2005, I was addressing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s conspiracy theory that the mercury in the thimerosal preservative used in a number of routine childhood vaccines up until around 2001 or so was the cause of an “epidemic” of autism. Around that same time, chelation therapy was a major topic of this blog, because “autism biomed” quacks used it to chelate the mercury from vaccines that they blamed for autism; it was a long-failed hypothesis, but that didn’t stop the quacks. Indeed, “detoxification” of “toxins” (from vaccines) was and remains a key pillar of “autism biomed” quackery, regardless of whether the vaccines contained thimerosal or not. (To these quacks, they’re all equally nasty.) So it was with some interest that I saw bubbling up from antivax social media about a new way of “detoxing” the spike protein from COVID-19 vaccines to which antivaxxers attribute all the horrible things they blame on these vaccines. The method? Using nattokinase to digest the spike protein that supposedly hangs around after vaccination against COVID-19 to do all sorts of nefarious things. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Study_Ties_Long-Term_Air_Pollution_Exposure to_Higher_Heart_Attack,_Disease_Risk⠀⇛ Adding to the body of research that highlights the deadly effects of air pollution, a study published Friday in JAMA Network Open connects long-term exposure to fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, to heightened risk of having a heart attack or dying from heart disease. # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ Unpacking_‘disturbing_media’_culture⠀⇛ To this day, there exist communities surrounding “traumatic” media, the iceberg trend persisting and repackaged in new ways. I came across a TikTok on my For You page just this month, the caption reading, “POV: you watched a disturbing movie and now you can’t stop.” The comments on this were particularly fascinating, too — many claim that the films recommended in the video are boring despite their long lists of trigger warnings. Most illuminating to me was one particular comment: “I want movies to disturb me so much nothing anyone says to me hurts me, ever.” Among these comments and videos, I can’t help but notice the almost addictive nature people attribute to these films. Once they consume one, they are compelled to seek out more, getting more and more gruesome as they descend underneath the iceberg. To comment something akin to “Megan is Missing was boring” is a flex to unseasoned viewers, to say that you have experienced media darker than they can ever imagine. # ⚓ Eric Bailey ☛ Modern_Health,_frameworks,_performance,_and harm⠀⇛ I don’t want the underlying concept behind Modern Health to fail. I want more people to get the help they need in a reliable and safe way. However, I wish we as an industry would stop promoting and rewarding the wrong things. We’ve lost the plot. Performance, accessibility, and usability are more than inconvenient truths you can pretend don’t exist. They have a direct impact on the quality of someone’s life. # ⚓ Omicron Limited ☛ Scientists_unlock_key_to_drought- resistant_wheat_plants_with_longer_roots⠀⇛ “Roots play a very important role in plants,” he said. “The root absorbs the water and the nutrients to support plants’ growth. This finding is a useful tool to engineer root systems to improve yield under drought conditions in wheat.” Much has been done to improve wheat production but losses from water stress can erase other improvements. Plants that can adapt to low water conditions but have increased yield will be key to growing enough food for a growing population in the face of global warming. # ⚓ CBC ☛ What_are_dioxins_and_did_the_Ohio_train_crash_release them_into_the_air?⠀⇛ Last week, the U.S. senators from Ohio, sent a letter to the state’s environmental protection agency expressing concern that dioxins may have been released when some of the chemicals in the damaged railcars were deliberately burned for safety reasons. They joined some of the town’s residents and environmentalists from around the U.S. calling for state and federal environmental agencies to test the soil around the site where the tanker cars tipped over. Here’s a look at dioxins, their potential harms and whether they may have been created by burning the vinyl chloride that was on the Norfolk Southern train. # ⚓ The Economist ☛ The_Ohio_train_derailment_is_turning_into_a political_circus⠀⇛ Later that day a rather better-known presidential candidate would appear in the town, also with plans to distribute food and water, and limited plans to speak to locals. By 1pm at least 100 people were gathered on Market Street awaiting the arrival of Donald Trump. Two stands had been set up to sell T- shirts, hoodies and flags. Dozens of journalists, YouTubers and TikTok influencers wandered up and down conducting interviews and performing pieces to camera. When Mr Trump finally arrived, just visible through the darkened tint of his SUV, the crowd cheered and broke into a chant of “Let’s Go Brandon”, a meme that means, roughly, “Fuck Joe Biden”. o § Proprietary⠀➾ # ⚓ The Conversation ☛ Driverless_cars:_what_we’ve_learned_from experiments_in_San_Francisco_and_Phoenix⠀⇛ US states encouraged experimentation by dropping regulatory barriers, with cities, citizens and transport policymakers having little say. After a period of testing with safety drivers, some cars are now fully driverless. While the companies learn to drive safely in complex environments, San Francisco and Phoenix are learning whether the technology is creating more problems than it promises to solve. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ SANS ☛ URL_files_and_WebDAV_used_for_IcedID_(Bokbot) infection,_(Fri,_Feb_24th)⠀⇛ # ⚓ Bruce Schneier ☛ Putting_Undetectable_Backdoors_in_Machine Learning_Models⠀⇛ This is really interesting research from a few months ago: Abstract: Given the computational cost and technical expertise required to train machine learning models, users may delegate the task of learning to a service provider. Delegation of learning has clear benefits, and at the same time raises serious concerns of trust. This work studies possible abuses of power by untrusted learners.We show how a malicious learner can plant an undetectable backdoor into a classifier. [...] # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Here’s_How_We_Broke_Into_a_Bank_Account Using_an_AI-Voice⠀⇛ In this week’s CYBER, Joseph Cox talks us through how he created a clone of his voice and used it to bypass his bank’s security checks. # ⚓ Krebs On Security ☛ Who’s_Behind_the_Botnet-Based_Service BHProxies?⠀⇛ A security firm has discovered that a six-year-old crafty botnet known as Mylobot appears to be powering a residential proxy service called BHProxies, which offers paying customers the ability to route their web traffic anonymously through compromised computers. Here’s a closer look at Mylobot, and a deep dive into who may be responsible for operating the BHProxies service. # § Integrity/Availability/Authenticity⠀➾ # ⚓ IT Wire ☛ URLs_4X_More_Likely_than_Phishing Attachments_to_Reach_Users:_Cofense_Featured⠀⇛ Cofense issued its report while commenting that the first steps in traditional phishing emails have remained the same for decades, with the email containing either a malicious URL or an attachment. According to Cofense its data from the past year shows that the dominance of URLs over attachments continued in 2022 for several reasons, including abusable trusted domains, free services on the web that provide phishing infrastructure, and the evasive effects of redirects. # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong_Kong_disconnects_phones without_‘real_name’-registered_SIMs_as_deadline arrives⠀⇛ Hongkongers who failed to link their SIM cards with their real names awoke to find their mobile phones disconnected on Friday, as the government’s registration deadline arrived. Around 12 million pre-paid and service plan SIM cards had been registered with users’ full name, date of birth, and identity card, as of Tuesday, RTHK reported. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ India_dispatch:_Supreme_Court_limits_DNA paternity_testing_in_divorce_proceedings,_prioritizing children’s_privacy_rights⠀⇛ Indian law students are reporting for JURIST on law-related developments in and affecting India. This dispatch is from Samar Veer, a third-year law student at National Law University, Delhi.  # ⚓ OpenRightsGroup ☛ Online_Safety_Bill:_Spy_clause could_force_Signal_to_pull_services_from_UK⠀⇛ Messaging app Signal has announced that it will withdraw its services from the UK if it is forced to undermine encryption through proposals in the Online Safety Bill. # ⚓ India Times ☛ Meta_rolls_out_new_language_model_amid Big_Tech’s_AI_push⠀⇛ Large language models have shown promise in generating text and conversations, summarizing written material, and in performing complicated tasks like solving math theorems or predicting protein structures, Zuckerberg said. # ⚓ Russ Cox ☛ Opting_In_to_Transparent_Telemetry⠀⇛ Earlier this month I posted “Transparent Telemetry for Open-Source Projects”, making the case that open-source software projects need to find an open-source-friendly way to collect basic usage and performance information about their software, to help maintainers understand how their software is used and prioritize their work. I invited feedback on a GitHub discussion and over email. In general, the feedback was mostly constructive, and mostly positive. In the GitHub discussion, there were some unconstructive trolls with no connection to Go who showed up for a while, but they were the exception rather than the rule: most people seemed to be engaging in good faith. I also saw some good discussion on Twitter and Mastodon, and I received some good feedback via email. People who read the posts seemed to agree that there’s a real problem here for open- source maintainers and that transparent telemetry or something like it is an appropriately minimal amount of collection. By far the most common suggestion was to make the system opt-in (default off) instead of opt-out (default on). I have revised the design to do that. The rest of this post discusses the reasons for the change to opt-in as well as the effects on the rest of the design. # ⚓ uni Duke ☛ Scholars:_TikTok_Ban_Not_a_Panacea_But Could_Prompt_Important_Data_Privacy_Conversations⠀⇛ Bills in Congress that would ban TikTok, the Chinese social media platform, are raising concerns over the precedent they would set. But they have also prompted hopes for substantive, broader deliberations over data security and privacy. The bills, which enjoy some rare bipartisan support among lawmakers, might prove difficult to enforce and wouldn’t get at privacy concerns related to American social media platforms, two Duke scholars said Thursday. Duke’s Robyn Caplan and Phil Napoli, both of whom teach in the Sanford School of Public Policy, discussed these issues with reporters Thursday in a virtual media briefing. # ⚓ Site36 ☛ German_Federal_Police:_Hits_from_facial recognition_more_than_doubled⠀⇛ Since 2008, German police authorities have been using a facial recognition system to identify unknown persons. The facial database queried in this way has grown dramatically in the past year. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Study:_It’s_Comically_Easy_To_Identify ‘Anonymized’_Users_In_The_‘Metaverse’_With_A_Tiny_Bit Of_Motion_Data⠀⇛ We’ve noted for a very long while how most of the explanations that corporations use to insist that your privacy is protected are effectively worthless. # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Pressure_Mounts_to_Ban_Use_of_911_Call Analysis,_Review_Convictions⠀⇛ Revelations that a new type of junk science known as 911 call analysis has infiltrated the justice system have triggered calls by prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys nationwide to ban the use of the technique, review past convictions in which it was used and exact sanctions against prosecutors who snuck it into court despite knowing it was inadmissible. The actions follow a two-part ProPublica investigation published last year that many judges and other court officers said took them by surprise. “I never anticipated that prosecutors — officers of the court — would engage in systematic organized frauds,” a judge in Ohio wrote in an email to ProPublica. She said she had alerted fellow judges to be on the lookout for 911 call analysis, which ProPublica found to be pervasive throughout the justice system: “I’m sure that some will care and share my outrage that innocent people are going to prison.” o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ Foreign Policy ☛ How_the_Ukraine_War_Has_Changed_Russia’s Cyberstrategy [iophk: Windows TCO]⠀⇛ Ransomware attacks, in which hackers gain control of an organization’s computer systems and demand large sums of money to return access, were among the biggest concerns when Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago. While there were some isolated ransomware attacks on Ukraine and Poland late last year that Microsoft attributed to Russian military-affiliated hackers, attacks on the scale that hit Colonial Pipeline and meat processor JBS in 2021—resulting in millions of dollars of ransom payments—have largely been absent from the conflict. Ransomware payments declined by double-digit percentages across the board in 2022, according to cybersecurity firms and analysis groups. # ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Ukraine_invasion_blew_up_Russian cybercrime_alliances⠀⇛ As the illegal invasion hits the one-year mark, new research suggests the conflict also disrupted Russia and the former Soviet Union’s criminal ecosystem, which has “far-reaching consequences affecting nearly every aspect of cybercrime,” according to Alexander Leslie, associate threat intelligence analyst for Recorded Future’s Insikt Group. # ⚓ The Record ☛ Ukraine’s_largest_charity_wants_to_raise_$1.3 million_for_‘cyber_offensive’⠀⇛ The campaign aims to raise $1.3 million to purchase technology and equipment that will help Ukraine’s cyber forces conduct digital operations that could impede Russia’s advances on the real battlefield. The commander of the cyber forces unit, which is part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, asked the organization for help to build infrastructure and boost cyber warfare capabilities, the organization told The Record. # ⚓ Frontpage Magazine ☛ India:_Muslims_All_Over_the_Country Attack_Hindus_During_Mahashivratri⠀⇛ The Hindus in India celebrated Mahashivratri, a religious festival dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva, on Saturday, February 18. It has become commonplace in the country in the past few years for Muslims to attack, disrupt, and commit violence against Hindus and Hindu venues holding Hindu celebrations. Hence it was not a shock for anyone when news of disturbances started being reported from various states of India days ahead of the festival. # ⚓ Axios ☛ Russia’s_yearlong_cyber_focus_on_Ukraine⠀⇛ Why it matters: The war in Ukraine is the first physical war that’s involved a top-tier cyber adversary, setting a template for what cyber’s role in future wars could look like. # ⚓ Defence Web ☛ ISS:_Africa_shouldn’t_ignore_Russia’s destabilising_influence⠀⇛ It can be argued that Russia stepped up its military engagement with Africa – including the injection of Wagner – even before Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February last year. But let’s not forget that, as any Ukrainian will remind you, Russia’s war against Ukraine didn’t start on 24 February 2022 but on 20 February 2014, when it invaded and annexed Crimea. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘Russia_ends_nowhere,’_they_say_Sociologist Grigory_Yudin_discusses_a_year_of_war_and_what_comes_next_— Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ YLE ☛ Sanna_Marin’s_SDP_in_favour_of_expanding_conscription to_women⠀⇛ The majority of Finland’s parties are opposed to making changes to the current conscription model, according to the results of Yle’s security policy survey. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ “War_is_not_the_solution,_war_is_the problem,”_UN_chief_Guterres_on_one-year_mark_of_Russia- Ukraine_conflict⠀⇛ As February 24 marks one-year of the Russia-Ukraine war, UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday (local time) urged Russia to end the war in Ukraine saying, “War is not the solution, war is the problem.” In a remark to the General Assembly Emergency Special Session on Ukraine, he said, “War is not the solution. War is the problem. People in Ukraine are suffering enormously. # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ Hungary_requested_the_removal_of_nine Russian_businessmen_from_EU_sanctions_list_–_Szijjártó_to_Ria Novosti⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Ninety_Seconds_to_Midnight_and_War’s Escalation_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ We live in “a time of unprecedented danger.” The Doomsday Clock was moved to ninety seconds before midnight by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on January 24, 2023. This is the closest to apocalypse the clock has been set since its founding in 1947, largely because of “the mounting dangers of the war in Ukraine.” Specifically, “Russia’s thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons remind the world that escalation of the conflict—by accident, intention, or miscalculation—is a terrible risk.” The seriousness of the threat of war’s escalation, says the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, requires the US, NATO, and Ukraine to find “a path to serious peace negotiations” with Russia. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ After_One_Year_of_Devastation,_Peace_Talks Are_Badly_Needed_to_End_the_War_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ One hundred and twenty-five years ago, the USA’s imperialist/militarist interventions outside the borders of the continental United States began in earnest with the Spanish American War, in 1898. During this war, the U.S. replaced Spain as the colonizing power over Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Ray_McGovern:_The_Last_Chance_to_Avoid_World War_III?⠀⇛ The CIA expert and Russia specialist who served seven presidents under risks of nuclear war is alarmed that the war in Ukraine has brought us to the most dangerous moment yet. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Ralph_Nader:_The_20th_Anniversary_of_the Sociocide_of_Iraq_by_Bush/Cheney⠀⇛ Will President Biden, Congress and other Americans recognize the massive war crimes committed against the Iraqi people with appropriate declarations and actions on March 19, 2023? # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Achieving_Peace_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ Today marks the beginning of the second year of the war in Ukraine. As a career physician, lifelong peace activist, and nuclear abolitionist, I have been pondering this day and just how to respond. # ⚓ The Dissenter ☛ Friday_Coffee_#5⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Dissenter ☛ March_To_Iraq_War,_20_Years_Later:_February 24,_2003⠀⇛ # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ ‘We_are_among_the_victims,_and_Brussels should_respect_that’_–_Orbán_on_the_war_in_Ukraine⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘Congratulations,_you’re_in_your_right_mind’_How the_Kremlin’s_war_propaganda_moved_over_the_course_of_a_year from_‘tremble,_Ukraine!’_to_praising_Russia’s_‘difficult, dignified_present’_—_Meduza⠀⇛ This article condenses propaganda statements made by the Kremlin’s media machine in a campaign to justify and popularize the Ukraine invasion among Russians. Below, you’ll find some of the slogans, cliches, malicious jokes, and sentimental truisms spread by the state media, by Russia’s self-styled “war correspondents,” pro-Kremlin talking heads, bloggers, and other public personalities. To be more exact, there are two different compilations here: one from the early days of the war (when the expectations of an easy victory galvanized the Kremlin) and another from after Moscow’s initials hopes were dashed. The rhetoric is still manipulative, but the manipulations have changed. Here is Putin’s war propaganda, then and now. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ The_Kadyrov_conundrum_How_Chechnya’s_ruler maintains_power_while_feuding_with_Russia’s_security apparatus_and_flirting_with_a_revolutionary_legacy_—_Meduza⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘There’s_a_risk_of_a_third_world_war’:_Zelensky_on Russia’s_arms_negotiations_with_China_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Speaking at a Kyiv press conference, Volodymyr Zelensky said he hopes that China will not supply Russia with weapons. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ U.S._introduces_new_sanctions_on_Russia_on anniversary_of_the_invasion_of_Ukraine_—_Meduza⠀⇛ On the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States has introduced new restrictions on Russia. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘Rise_Up,_Great_Country’:_Uzbekistan_native_opens fire_on_St._Petersburg_policeman,_to_Soviet_soundtrack_— Meduza⠀⇛ Tigran Khachikyan, an Uzbekistan native living in St. Petersburg, has critically wounded a National Guard policeman on Nevsky Prospect. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ ‘You_can_stick_to_making_meatballs’:_Sverdlovsk governor_tells_Prigozhin_to_stop_meddling_in_regional politics_—_Meduza⠀⇛ After Wagner Group founder Evgeny Prigozhin attacked several of Russia’s regions for what he described as “openly shitting” on Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, Sverdlovsk Governor Evgeny Kuyvashev publicly told Prigozhin to “stick to making meatballs” and stop meddling in regional politics. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Russian_authorities_arrest_anti-war_protesters throughout_the_country_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Throughout Russia, police have begun arresting citizens for protesting and placing flowers at memorials to mark the one-year anniversary of the full-scale war against Ukraine. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Mediazona_and_BBC_News_Russian_confirm_that_more than_15,000_Russian_servicemen_died_in_the_full-scale_war’s first_year_—_Meduza⠀⇛ At least 15,136 Russian military servicemen died in the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a new report from Mediazona. Journalists from Mediazona and BBC News Russia worked with a team of volunteers to calculate the number from open sources. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ One_Year_Ago,_Russia_Invaded_Ukraine⠀⇛ On February 24, one year will have passed since the Russians invaded Ukraine. With the conflict settling into a grinding war of attrition, both sides have marked the anniversary with an escalation of both rhetoric and armaments. Any chance for peace—for even a cease-fire, much less a settlement—will require a dramatic intercession by countries not enmeshed in the conflict. # ⚓ Meduza ☛ Prigozhin_hits_a_nerve:_Journalists_at_Kremlin-run news_outlets_have_reportedly_been_banned_from_quoting_Wagner Group’s_founder_—_Meduza⠀⇛ Evgeny Prigozhin, the ex-convict who founded Russia’s now-infamous Wagner Group back in 2014, spent much of the last week publicly blasting Russia’s Defense Ministry for failing to provide ammunition to his mercenary company. Then, on Thursday, he reported that his outbursts had worked. Despite Prigozhin’s claims that the issue had life-or-death consequences for Russian fighters, Russia’s state-controlled news outlets devoted almost no coverage to the dispute. According to a new report, that was no accident: citing sources from the Kremlin-controlled media and the Russian Defense Ministry, the independent outlet Verstka reported Thursday that state journalists have been ordered not to quote Prigozhin unless absolutely necessary — and that the Putin administration has a smear campaign against the Wagner boss ready to launch if needed. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Watch_live:_Zelensky_says_Ukraine_needs_‘peace plan’⠀⇛ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a press conference addressing the nation on Friday that Ukraine needs a “peace plan” to recover from the ravages of the war, on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Iran_calls_allegation_it_has_enriched_uranium_to 84%_a_‘conspiracy’⠀⇛ Iranian state television on Friday offered an extended defense against an accusation attributed to international inspectors that it enriched uranium to 84% purity, with an official calling it part of a “conspiracy” against Tehran amid tensions over its nuclear program. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China_urges_Russia,_Ukraine_to resume_talks,_warns_against_using_weapons⠀⇛ China called Friday for Russia and Ukraine to hold peace talks as soon as possible while insisting that nuclear weapons must not be used in their conflict. China made the comments in a 12-point paper on the “political settlement” of the crisis, timed to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. # ⚓ HRW ☛ Japan_to_‘Appropriately_Handle’_Project_Benefiting Myanmar’s_Military⠀⇛ # ⚓ JURIST ☛ UN_coordinator:_$2.25B_required_to_combat_mass displacement_in_Congo⠀⇛ UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Bruno Lemarquis Wednesday indicated in a report that the UN will need to raise $2.25 billion to combat widespread the mass displacement of people in the DRC. # ⚓ JURIST ☛ Texas_man_sentenced_for_theatening_to_assassinate US_lawmaker_Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez⠀⇛ A man from Texas was sentenced on Wednesday for charges related to an assassination threat he made against US lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as well as to his participation in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Russian_tank_destroyed_in_Ukraine_goes_on_display_in Vilnius⠀⇛ A Russian T-72B tank, destroyed by the Ukrainian army, goes on display in front of the Cathedral Square in Vilnius. # ⚓ Mint Press News ☛ No2NATO:_Former_UK_MP_Chris_Williamson_on New_Efforts_To_Free_Britain_From_NATO⠀⇛ Lowkey speaks to former MP and Shadow Minister Chris Williamson about the new campaign to pull Britain out of the NATO military alliance. # ⚓ Mint Press News ☛ From_Latin_America_to_Nord_Stream:_Rania Khalek_Challenges_US_Foreign_Policy_and_Mainstream_Media Narratives⠀⇛ Discover the truth about US foreign policy and the impact of propaganda on mainstream media with journalist Rania Khalek, as she challenges simplified narratives and advocates for critical reporting in this thought-provoking interview. # ⚓ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ ‘Never_saw_such_hell’:_Russian soldiers_in_Ukraine_call_home⠀⇛ One Russian soldier told his wife he’s drunk because it makes it easier to kill civilians. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Republicans_Unveil_Bill_to_Make_AR-15-Style Rifle_the_“National_Gun”⠀⇛ # ⚓ RFA ☛ US_to_deploy_more_troops_to_Taiwan_to_train_local army⠀⇛ Taiwan also plans to send hundreds to soldiers to the United States for military exchange. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Chinese_ship_threatens_and_confiscates_catch_of Vietnamese_boat_off_Paracel_Islands⠀⇛ Vietnamese captain was forced to destroy his own fishing net with a knife # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Amid_Ongoing_Crackdown_On_Dissent,_Unknown Belarusian_Activists_Raise_Ukrainian_Flag_In_Minsk⠀⇛ Amid a brutal crackdown on dissent by the authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime, unknown activists in Belarus raised a large Ukrainian flag on a high-rise building in Minsk on February 24, the first anniversary of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ U.S._Frees_Two_Guantanamo_Detainees,_Hands_Them Back_To_Pakistan⠀⇛ Two Pakistani brothers who had spent the past two decades at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been released and returned to Pakistan, the Pentagon said. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ One_Year_Into_Ukraine_War,_China_Says_Sending Weapons_Will_Not_Bring_Peace⠀⇛ Chinese Deputy UN Ambassador Dai Bing told the General Assembly on February 23 that one year into the Ukraine war “brutal facts offer an ample proof that sending weapons will not bring peace.” # ⚓ Spiegel ☛ The_Special_Tribunal_Debate:_“An_Arrest_Warrant Against_Putin_Would_Be_Immense”⠀⇛ In the debate in Berlin over Ukraine, many are concerned that by supplying weapons, Germany has become party to the war. In an interview, international law expert Claus Kress dispels false arguments and discusses how Russian President Vladimir Putin could be brought to justice. # ⚓ Helsinki Times ☛ Finland_to_deliver_three_mine-clearing Leopard_2s_to_Ukraine⠀⇛ FINLAND has decided on its 13th package of defence materiel to Ukraine. The Ministry of Defence on Thursday revealed that the over 160-million-euro package will include heavy weaponry, ammunition and three mine-clearing Leopard 2 tanks, as well as related training and maintenance. Finland has thereby pledged around 750 million euros worth of defence materiel assistance to Ukraine. # ⚓ YLE ☛ Finland_includes_three_Leopard_tanks_in_latest_arms package_to_Ukraine⠀⇛ The most recent defence materiel shipment will mark Finland’s 13th since the war began in February last year. o § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ # ⚓ The Atlantic ☛ Can_a_Million_Chinese_People_Die_and_Nobody Know?⠀⇛ Independent experts, skeptical of Beijing’s official data on COVID deaths, have been forced to calculate their own estimates—which indicate much higher and more disturbing numbers than the government claims. These estimates range from about 1 million to 1.5 million deaths, suggesting that, in absolute terms, China may have suffered more fatalities from COVID in two months than the U.S. did in three years. # ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ New_archive_gives_snapshot_off_Kent’s past⠀⇛ After years of work, more than a thousand pictures of Kent State’s history have been digitized. # ⚓ The Dissenter ☛ Unauthorized_Disclosure:_Kari_Lydersen⠀⇛ o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ RFA ☛ Cambodia_ruling_party_is_buying_young environmentalists_with_senior_government_posts⠀⇛ Political activists are also being offered posts ahead of the July general election. # ⚓ Omicron Limited ☛ Cultural_burns_can_help_protect_koalas⠀⇛ Research into koala numbers before and after cultural burns on the world’s second largest sand island has fueled a push to merge Aboriginal knowledge with cutting-edge science to mitigate the dangers of bushfires across Australia. University of the Sunshine Coast researchers and Quandamooka land custodians have hailed the success of the two-year collaboration on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Welcome_to_the_New_Abnormal⠀⇛ The first breath of spring can make us feel that all is right with the world. But when it comes as eerily warm temperatures in the 80s in February amid weather whiplash doled out by our overheated planet—not so much. It feels wrong because it is wrong. Welcome to the new abnormal. # § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ When_hydrogen_will_help climate_change—and_when_it_won’t.⠀⇛ Have you ever heard of the hydrogen rainbow? While hydrogen gas is colorless, the industry sometimes uses colors as shorthand to describe which of the many possible processes was used to make a particular batch. There’s gray, green, and blue hydrogen, along with more vibrant tones like pink—a whole rainbow (kind of). # ⚓ DeSmog ☛ Europe’s_Gas_Lobby_Exploits_Energy_Security Fears_in_Year_Since_Ukraine_War⠀⇛ This story is part of a DeSmog series on the influence wielded by the gas lobby in Europe and was developed with the support of Journalismfund.eu   Europe’s gas industry has ramped up its messaging since Russia invaded Ukraine, exploiting fears over energy security to justify projects that risk locking the continent into long-term dependence on fossil fuels, DeSmog can reveal.  # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Oil_and_Gas_Industry_Spent_$124.4_Million Lobbying_Amid_Record_Profits_in_2022⠀⇛ # ⚓ YLE ☛ Technical_glitch_briefly_cuts_power_for_50k Helsinki_residents⠀⇛ The power cuts only lasted a short time, but affected a number of neighbourhoods and prompted a Prisma market to shut down. # ⚓ YLE ☛ Finland_sees_fewer_electricity_bill_claims,_tax deductions_than_expected⠀⇛ The mild weather led to electricity prices stopping their near-vertical trajectory after the reimbursement plans were put in place. # ⚓ The Economist ☛ Cobalt,_a_crucial_battery_material, is_suddenly_superabundant⠀⇛ The story is partly one of reduced demand. Most cobalt goes into the battery packs which power smartphones, tablets and laptops. Appetite for these, already strong in the 2010s, exploded during the covid-19 pandemic. It has since waned as people spend less time staring at their screens: as demand for consumer electronics fell, so did that for cobalt. Even a boom in electric vehicles has not been sufficient to counteract this, since manufacturers have done their best to reduce use of the formerly super-expensive metal. At the same time supply is rising, and fast. Susan Zou of Rystad Energy, a consultancy, forecasts that Congolese production will jump by 38% this year, to 180,000 tonnes. Most striking is a surge in Indonesian exports, which are projected to hit 18,000 tonnes this year, up from virtually none a few years ago. The world could find itself swimming in cobalt. # ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Denmark_has_significantly_curtailed its_energy_consumption⠀⇛ For households in particular, electricity savings were considerable – a reduction of over 20 percent on the norm. The results follow on the heels of three months in 2022 where household electricity reduction dipped by around 15 percent. # ⚓ NPR ☛ Hybrid_cars_are_still_incredibly_popular,_but are_they_good_for_the_environment?⠀⇛ But even as hybrids go mainstream, they are losing traction among their original enthusiasts: Environmentalists. Many say it’s time for hybrids to fade into history; that they are at best a detour, and at worst an obstruction, in the fight against climate change. “Right now we are facing a climate crisis, and we absolutely need to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel cars,” says Katherine Garcia, who directs the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign. Here’s what to know about the environmental debate over hybrids. # ⚓ The Age AU ☛ [Cryptocurrency]_mining_operation discovered_in_US_school’s_crawl_space⠀⇛ Nadeam Nahas, 39, was arraigned on Thursday on charges of fraudulent use of electricity and vandalising a school, but he did not show up and a judge issued a default warrant after rejecting a defence motion to reschedule, a spokesperson for the Norfolk district attorney’s office said. # ⚓ Vox ☛ A_new_indictment_shows_how_Sam_Bankman-Fried’s political_influence_worked⠀⇛ That’s what Bankman-Fried didn’t want, say prosecutors. He wanted to play all sides of the political system and spread his influence, but he “did not want to be known as a left-leaning partisan, or to have his name publicly attached to Republican candidates,” they allege. He also wanted to steer more money to candidates to whom he had already given the maximum allowable donations, according to the indictment. So, he got two FTX executives to play those roles — one to be the “left-leaning partisan,” and one to be the Republican donor. The executives aren’t named in the indictment, but the details and public campaign disclosure information strongly suggest that they are Nishad Singh and Ryan Salame, respectively. Each gave tens of millions in campaign donations in the 2022 cycle, but the money really came from Bankman-Fried’s companies, the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research, prosecutors say. # ⚓ CBC ☛ FTX_founder_Sam_Bankman-Fried_gets_a_dozen charges_in_unsealed_indictment⠀⇛ Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with new criminal charges on Thursday, in an expanded indictment accusing the founder of the now- bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange of conspiring to make more than 300 illegal political donations. Bankman-Fried now faces 12 criminal charges, including four for fraud and eight for conspiracy, up from eight charges in an earlier indictment, to which he has pleaded not guilty. # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ U-M_seeking_25_megawatts_of_on-campus solar_power⠀⇛ The University of Michigan is planning to build on-campus solar installations with a capacity of 25 megawatts across the Dearborn, Flint and Ann Arbor campuses, including Michigan Medicine and Athletics. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ California_Puts_the_Fossil_Fuel_Industry in_the_Penalty_Box⠀⇛ None of the specifics have yet been laid down. The acceptable profit margins are still to be determined, as are the penalties, and it’s likely this bill will provoke a furious reaction from both the GOP and the energy industry as it makes its way through the legislature. To date, more than 80 environmental advocacy groups have come out in favor of the legislation. Meanwhile, the GOP has doubled down on opposing windfall penalties, arguing instead for gasoline tax holidays and for allowing cheaper but more polluting blends of gas to be sold year-round in the Golden State. Given the power of the fossil fuel industry, it’s by no means a given that the legislation will ever see the light of day. If it does, however, it will be a huge populist feather in presidential hopeful Newsom’s cap, and could serve as a template to rein in some of the world’s most powerful companies’ worst profiteering instincts. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Cori_Bush’s_Public_Transportation_Win⠀⇛ St. Louis, Mo.—According to a Harvard study, transportation is the single most important factor in an individual’s ability to escape poverty. In July 2022, a one-in-1,000-year flooding event hit St. Louis, dumping 25 percent of the normal yearly rainfall on the city in 12 hours.1 # ⚓ France24 ☛ ‘There’s_not_a_drop_left’:_Petrol_shortage has_ground_Burundi_to_a_halt⠀⇛ People across French-speaking Burundi have been regularly queueing for hours at petrol stations (gas stations) across the country – hoping, but with no guarantee — that there will be some petrol when they finally reach the pump. The country has been experiencing a petrol shortage since February 11 and it’s the fourth such crisis since November 2022. For many, this situation demonstrates the severity of the economic consequences of a political crisis that has gripped this small African nation since 2015, a nation that is often listed as one of the world’s poorest. # ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ Bankman-Fried_accused_of_hiding US_political_donations⠀⇛ Sam Bankman-Fried has been hit with new criminal charges in an expanded indictment accusing the founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange of conspiring to make more than 300 illegal US political donations. # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ Massive_power_outage_in_Ann_Arbor leaves_thousands_in_the_dark⠀⇛ The recent ice storm that swept through southeast Michigan has left more than 500,000 homes without power as of early Friday morning. In Ann Arbor, more than 25,000 households powered by DTE faced power outages following a major ice storm that hit the area Wednesday night. # ⚓ Renewable Energy World ☛ Marine_commission:_Whale deaths_not_linked_to_wind_prep_work⠀⇛ An independent scientific agency that advises the federal government on policies that could impact marine mammals said there is no evidence linking site preparation work for offshore wind farms with a number of whale deaths along the U.S. East Coast. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Sam_Bankman-Fried_Funded_‘Woke Shit_for_Transactional_Purposes,’_Prosecutors_Allege⠀⇛ The former FTX CEO built up a benevolent self-image, but criminal allegations paint a very different picture. # § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ No_more_night_skies:_Ann_Arbor’s_light pollution_ordinance⠀⇛ While looking up at the night sky on the University of Michigan’s campus, the reflection of the city’s lights can be seen on the clouds as a result of light pollution. [...] Ann Arbor is classified as a Bortle 7, or an area in which the entire sky has a vague, grayish white color and strong light sources are evident, on the Bortle scale, which measures the brightness of the night sky in a particular location. Due to this high level of light pollution, the Ann Arbor light pollution ordinance places a curfew on when businesses and private properties can have outdoor lights on and requires partial or full shielding of lights to prevent light trespass. The ordinance has a 90-day exception for the holiday season and requires businesses to turn off all decorative or landscape lighting between midnight and 6 a.m. unless they are open during those hours. o § Finance⠀➾ # ⚓ India Times ☛ Stripe_in_advanced_talks_to_raise_$4_billion from_investors⠀⇛ Digital payments processor Stripe Inc is close to raising $4 billion in fresh capital at a valuation of about $55 billion, people familiar with the matter said. [...] Stripe, which is aiming to turn profitable before it lists shares on stock exchanges, is raising capital because it needs to cover a big tax bill associated with restricted stock units (RSUs) of employees that are set to expire soon, the sources said. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Sanders_Pushes_Biden_to_Embrace_Social Security_Expansion⠀⇛ In a previously unreported discussion, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders urged President Joe Biden to ensure Social Security is fully funded through the end of the century by increasing taxes on wealthier Americans, according to a report published Thursday. # ⚓ Robert Reich ☛ The_Biggest_Economic_Lies_We’re_Told⠀⇛ # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Beware_the_Time_Thieves⠀⇛ French workers have shut the country down with general strikes three times in the last month to defend their time. They’re protesting a proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. It’s enough to make you cry. Here, the Social Security retirement age was ratcheted up to […] # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ How_Unemployment_Benefits_Are_Taxed_in_2023⠀⇛ While unemployment benefits can be a huge help when you’ve lost your job, at tax time, they can leave you with more questions than answers. Here’s what you should know about your unemployment benefits when it comes to filing your taxes. Generally, yes. The federal government will tax your unemployment benefits, and most states will as well. Unemployment benefits count toward your income and are taxed by the federal government at rates according to the IRS’ tax brackets. # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ TitleMax_Fined_$15_Million_by_Consumer Financial_Protection_Bureau⠀⇛ A federal consumer watchdog group has fined one Georgia-based company $15 million for predatory lending practices. TitleMax, which is headquartered in Savannah, offers short-term loans — at exorbitant interest rates — in exchange for a lien on the title of the borrower’s car. In its order, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said TitleMax had intentionally evaded laws meant to protect military families from predatory lenders and, separately, charged illegal insurance fees to more than 17,000 customers. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Ukrainian_Refugees_Struggle_to_Access_Housing and_Resources_in_the_US⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Age AU ☛ ‘Cages_to_house_them’:_Youth_justice_crackdown to_hit_children_already_in_state’s_care⠀⇛ Many of the young offenders being targeted in Labor’s latest crackdown, which will set aside human rights considerations, are under child protection orders. # ⚓ LRT ☛ Inflation_outpaced_Lithuanian_workers’_income_growth –_SoDra⠀⇛ While incomes in Lithuania grew significantly last year, they could not keep pace with inflation, according to data presented by the country’s national social security fund administrator, SoDra. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ India_Appeals_to_Leading_Economies_to_Bring Back Stability⠀⇛ “It is up to the custodians of the leading economies and monetary systems of the world to bring back stability, confidence and growth to the global economy,” PM Modi stated. # ⚓ teleSUR ☛ Europe’s_Energy_Crisis_Likely_To_Stay,_Warn Analysts⠀⇛ A World Economic Forum study published this week noted that household energy prices around the world have nearly doubled since the start of the conflict, pushing inflation to record highs in many countries in Europe and beyond. # ⚓ Danish_government_agrees_inflation_package_for_vulnerable families⠀⇛ The government has agreed with three opposition parties on a package providing financial help to 40,500 young families in Denmark. # ⚓ ‘Weak_numbers’:_Scandinavian_airline_SAS_files_loss_in latest_result⠀⇛ Economic headwinds are continuing for Scandinavian airline SAS, which has posted a loss of 2.7 billion Swedish kronor for the first quarter of this year. # ⚓ Does_Denmark_really_have_the_highest_tax_in_the_world?⠀⇛ Denmark is known for having having high income tax but is it really the highest tax in the world? # ⚓ The Local SE ☛ High_Swedish_prices_put_Norwegians_off cross-border_shopping trips⠀⇛ Norwegians are spending less money cross-border shopping in neighbouring Sweden, the latest figures from Norway’s national data agency show. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Lawyers_Unsure_Whether_Workers_Who Agreed_Not_To_Can_Now_Disparage_Former_Bosses⠀⇛ What does this week’s NLRB decision mean for the people who already signed such non-disparagement clauses but deeply want to disparage their terrible former bosses? The answer is unclear, almost chaotically so. # ⚓ WhichUK ☛ Poorest_hit_hardest_by_inflation_as_budget groceries_soar_in_price⠀⇛ The Which? supermarket food and drink inflation tracker shows the cheapest ranges are rising fastest in price # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘Biden_and_Yellen_Should_Be_Ashamed’:_US Picks_Ex-Wall_Street_Executive_to_Lead_World_Bank⠀⇛ U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday nominated a private equity executive and former Mastercard CEO to lead the World Bank, drawing furious backlash from climate and anti-corruption campaigners who said the pick would ensure the key global financial institution remains a tool of corporate interests and funder of climate chaos. # ⚓ FAIR ☛ The_Washington_Post_Is_Coming_for_Your_Retirement Benefits⠀⇛ When Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million in 2013, he didn’t transform it into a paper that elevated the perspectives of the wealthy elite—it had already been that for decades. What he did do was put it on steroids: Over the next three years, the Post doubled its web traffic and surpassed the New York Times in its volume of online postings. One result: The paper’s traditional hostility to federal retirement programs has become only more amplified. # ⚓ Counter Punch ☛ A_Day_Off_with_Pay_and_Much_More⠀⇛ A Healthcare Worker’s Fight for Martin Luther King Jr. Day Sabrina Chaumette is an Oakland, CA resident and a licensed clinical social worker and a member of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) at Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland Medical Center. The past half dozen years has been the scene of a war between the California HMO behemoth and its clinical health care workers. There have been strikes and threats of strikes, contract fights and contract rejections; last summer’s open-ended strike lasted ten weeks; NUHW won an array of major concessions, above all on staffing and scheduling, including MLK Jr. Day off with pay. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ The_Lesson_We_Need_to_Teach_Our_Nation’s Rich⠀⇛ Our educational house most definitely is burning, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders told a town hall on America’s teacher pay crisis at the U.S. Capitol earlier this week. o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ France24 ☛ ‘World’s_first_TikTok_war’: Ukraine’s_social media_campaign_‘a_question_of_survival’⠀⇛ The invasion of Ukraine is not the first war to be documented on social media, but it is uniquely positioned to be the most viral. One year after the Russian invasion began, keeping the conflict in global consciousness is crucial for Ukraine to ensure financial support. The war for our attention is being fought with memes, viral tweets, and video clips. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Top_EU_bodies_ban_TikTok_on_staff_phones_citing security_concerns⠀⇛ The European Union’s two biggest policy-making institutions have banned TikTok from staff phones for cybersecurity reasons, marking growing concerns about the Chinese short video-sharing app and its users’ data. [...] TikTok, which is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, is under scrutiny from governments and regulators because of concerns that China’s government could use its app to harvest users’ data or advance its interests. EU industry chief Thierry Breton, who announced a ban by the European Commission, declined to say whether the Commission had been subject to any incidents involving TikTok. # ⚓ New Yorker ☛ [Satire]_Fox_News_Announces_Acquisition_of Kevin_McCarthy⠀⇛ Rupert Murdoch said that he was “delighted” by the purchase of McCarthy and noted that Fox had snapped him up at an attractively low price. # ⚓ FAIR ☛ Early_Polling_Tells_You_Little_About_Next_Year’s_GOP Primary⠀⇛ The Hill (2/17/23) announced last week, “DeSantis Approval Drops in GOP Primary: Poll.” The article, by Max Greenwood, went on to say: # ⚓ The Nation ☛ New_York’s_Democratic_Party_Needs_New Leadership,_Not_More_Money⠀⇛ New York State is now, almost counterintuitively, a crucial battleground for control of Congress. There are 18 congressional districts where Joe Biden won the popular vote that are currently represented by Republicans. A third of those are in New York. This even though the state’s 26 districts make up less than 6 percent of seats in Congress. If the Democrats want to win back Congress, the path lies more through New York than any other state. The fact that New York, despite its reputation as a liberal stronghold, has a disproportionate number of swing seats is due to the disarray and infighting of the New York State Democratic Party.1 # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Vivek_Ramaswamy_Enters_the_Fray⠀⇛ Watch out, 2024 GOP primary contenders: There’s a new presidential hopeful in the mix, and he’s pandering to all the trademark grievances of the conservative movement with a bold entrepreneurial elan. Meet Vivek Ramaswamy, cofounder of Strive Asset Management, Fox News scourge of the pompous elite virtuecrats, and author of not one, but two jeremiads against elite social engineering: Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence and Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.1 # ⚓ The Telegraph UK ☛ Wikipedia_is_not_woke,_insists_founder Jimmy_Wales⠀⇛ In Wales’ first pass at this project, Nupedia, all articles were peer-reviewed by a panel of experts before publication. But he later hit on the idea of collaborative articles written by amateur members of the public, and Wikipedia was born. That was 22 years ago now and the world has since become used to the risks posed by online misinformation on everything from global politics to [COVID] # ⚓ India Times ☛ TikTok_accuses_EU_of_keeping_it_in_the_dark over_staff_phone_ban⠀⇛ The EU executive and the EU Council, which brings together representatives of the member states to set policy priorities, said on Thursday that staff will also be required to remove TikTok from personal mobile devices that have access to corporate services. # ⚓ Gannett ☛ Sam_Bankman-Fried,_former_FTX_CEO,_used_straw donors_to_influence_2022_election,_court_filing_says⠀⇛ In all, Bankman-Fried and the two associates “made over 300 political contributions, totaling tens of millions of dollars, that were unlawful because they were made in the name of a straw donor or paid for with corporate funds.” The grand jury indictment, which supersedes a previous indictment from December, charges him with conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and defrauding the Federal Election Commission. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Carrier_equipment_maker_Ericsson_lets_go 8,500_employees⠀⇛ Ericsson detailed the move in an internal memo. “The way headcount reductions will be managed will differ depending on local country practice,” Ericsson Chief Executive Officer Borje Ekholm (pictured) wrote in the memo, which was obtained by Reuters. “In several countries the headcount reductions have already been communicated this week.” # ⚓ India Times ☛ Ericsson_to_lay_off_8,500_employees,_says memo⠀⇛ On Monday, the company, which employs more than 105,000 worldwide, announced plans to cut about 1,400 jobs in Sweden. While Ericsson did not disclose which geography would be most affected, analysts had predicted that North America would likely be most affected and growing markets such as India the least. # ⚓ JNS ☛ CAIR’s_shoot_first,_ask_questions_never_defamation defense⠀⇛ The teacher, Tamar Herman, has been kept out of the classroom for 16 months based on that “hyperbole.” She has filed lawsuits in state and federal court saying she is being punished by “a malicious and antisemitic campaign.” # ⚓ JURIST ☛ European_Commission_bans_TikTok_on_all_staff devices⠀⇛ The Commission implemented the measure over data protection concerns regarding the TikTok app. These concerns are shared globally and have been mounting in recent times. In September 2021, the Irish Data Protection Commission launched an investigation into whether Tiktok was complying with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The investigation pertained to TikTok’s transfer of data to China and the processing of childrens’ personal data. In November 2022, TikTok disclosed that some of its China-based personnel could access European TikTok user data. Furthermore, a Forbes magazine report from December 2022 revealed that TikTok employees had been monitoring journalists’ physical location using their IP addresses. # ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ European_Commission_Bans_TikTok_On_All Corporate_Devices_and_Networks_‘To_Increase_Its Cybersecurity’⠀⇛ As with the initially mentioned state-level bans in the U.S., the European Commission’s TikTok prohibition doesn’t extend to employees’ own cell phones (and different devices) that are attached to non-corporate networks. # ⚓ Red Ventures ☛ These_Colleges_Just_Banned_TikTok⠀⇛ The bans address some politicians’ concerns that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is sending information to the Chinese government. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Welcome_to_the_New_Age_of_McCarthyism⠀⇛ Can there be any question that we’re in a mad—and loud—new age of McCarthyism? Thank you, Kevin! And don’t forget the wildly over-the-top members of the so-called Freedom Caucus and their Republican associates, including that charmer, lyin’ George Santos, Jewish-space-laser-and-white-balloon- carrying Marjorie Taylor Greene, and—once again running for president—the man who never lost, Donald Trump-em-all. # ⚓ FAIR ☛ Ellen_Schrecker_on_the_New_McCarthyism⠀⇛ # ⚓ Michael West Media ☛ Murdoch_and_Nine_fear-mongers_turn_Jim Chalmers_superannuation_review_into_a_super_“raid”⠀⇛ It was the scare campaign of the week. Treasurer Jim Chalmers suggested a few superannuation tweaks might be in order and the backlash in corporate media was savage. What’s the scam? The scam is the media has turned a “review” into a “raid”. Super was intended to provide retirement incomes for all but it has become a super tax shelter which allows wealthy families to pass on their publicly subsidised superannuation balances to future generations. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Progressives_Urge_Senate_Dems_to_Ditch Tradition_That’s_Allowing_GOP_to_Veto_Biden_Judges⠀⇛ With Democrats hoping to confirm dozens more federal judges following President Joe Biden’s milestone of appointing 100 new members of the judiciary, progressives on Friday said the party has no choice but to eliminate a tradition they say has been exploited by Republicans to block the president’s nominees. # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Biden_Should_Reverse_Trump’s_Designation_of Cuba_as_a_“State_Sponsor_of_Terrorism”⠀⇛ Last month, Havana was the seat of the first high- level talks between Cuba and the United States since 2018, fueling speculation that the Biden administration may be contemplating removing Cuba from the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (SST), an easy first step that wouldn’t require congressional approval. # ⚓ Insight Hungary ☛ Viktor_Orban:_“Europe_is_drifting_into the_war_in_these_very_minutes”⠀⇛ On Saturday, Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban gave his annual speech on the state of the nation in which he highlighted the importance of maintaining economic relations with Russia. “We will maintain economic relations with Russia, and we suggest the same to our allies because, without relations, there will not be a ceasefire nor peace talks,” Orban said. The Hungarian PM expressed that he does not consider Russia a threat to Hungary”s society.  He spoke at great length on the war in Ukraine. “A year ago the West decided not to isolate the conflict, but to elevate it to a pan-European level. It could have declared it a local, a regional war, or a military conflict between two Slavic states. This is their war, not ours, ”the nationalist leader said. Orban who is currently serving his fourth consecutive term, stated that Europe is “already indirectly at war with Russia.” One year ago, Russia unleashed a brutal aggression against #Ukraine. Thinking it can invade its peaceful neighbour. But it failed.The EU stands in support of #Ukraine. Our commitment to the European future of Ukraine remains unwavering. Our joint message: pic.twitter.com/jM0dpjw6qe # ⚓ YLE ☛ Hungarian_PM_Orban_calls_on_party_to_back_Finnish, Swedish_Nato_bids⠀⇛ The Hungarian Parliament is due to debate the membership bids by the two Nordic nations next week. # ⚓ Telex (Hungary) ☛ EU_Commissioner:_Hungarian_government’s statements_not_enough,_conditions_must_be_fulfilled_for_money to_flow⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Nation ☛ What’s_Behind_the_Calls_for_“Democracy”_in Israel?⠀⇛ It is almost inconceivable for Palestinians to describe Israel as a “democracy.” That is also the case for many Israeli human rights activists. Seventy-five years of ethnic cleansing, military rule, Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian-owned land, an established system of discrimination that amounts to apartheid have all rendered, in their eyes, the terms “Israel” and “democracy” incompatible. The latest Israeli raid in Nablus, in which 11 Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers is just another flagrant example. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Bush-Era_US_Ambassador_Accuses_Israel_of ‘Creeping_Annexation’_of_West_Bank⠀⇛ A former U.S. ambassador to Israel on Friday sharply criticized the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for seeking to annex Palestinian land in the illegally occupied West Bank. # ⚓ Democracy Now ☛ Outrage_Soars_in_Occupied_West_Bank_After Israel_Kills_11,_Injures_500_Palestinians_in_Nablus_Raid⠀⇛ Palestinians held a general strike in the West Bank Thursday after Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians and injured nearly 500 in a military raid in the city of Nablus. So far this year, Israel has killed at least 65 Palestinians, including 13 children, drawing concern and criticism from supranational actors including the U.N. and Amnesty International. We speak to Amira Hass, a correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Issa Amro, a prominent Palestinian human rights defender from Hebron in the West Bank. Amro was recently beaten by an Israeli soldier while being interviewed by the American author Lawrence Wright. “There is a huge anger among the Palestinians from what is happening these days from the Israeli racist and fascist government, who are inciting to kill more and more Palestinians,” says Amro of the protests. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ ‘America_Is_Not_a_Racist_Country’:_How Nikki_Haley_Became_Israel’s_Candidate_for_the_White_House⠀⇛ Though it has been argued that the so-called American dream is long dead, Nikki Haley is proof that the dream is still alive. Unfortunately, the “dream” is hers alone. # ⚓ France24 ☛ North_Korea_fires_four_cruise_missiles_into_the Sea_of_Japan⠀⇛ North Korea has test-fired four strategic cruise missiles into the sea, state media said Friday, adding that the drill demonstrated the conflict readiness of Pyongyang’s “nuclear combat force.” # ⚓ France24 ☛ Hollywood_producer_Harvey_Weinstein_sentenced_to 16_years_for_rape⠀⇛ Harvey Weinstein, the onetime Hollywood titan who came to epitomize a culture of pervasive sexual misconduct by powerful men that ignited the #MeToo movement, was sentenced on Thursday to 16 years in prison for the 2013 rape of an actress in Los Angeles. # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Jailed_youngsters_‘corrupted’_with ‘anti-gov’t_sentiment’_during_prison_visits,_Hong_Kong security_chief_claims⠀⇛ Some young inmates have been instilled with hatred of the Hong Kong government during prison visits, the city’s security minister has alleged, as he warned of “soft resistance tactics” used to endanger national security. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ GOP_Lawmaker_Uses_Racist_Trope,_Calls_Chinese American_Colleague_Disloyal⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ House_Dems_Rip_Lance_Gooden_for_‘Blatantly Racist’_Attack_on_Rep._Judy_Chu⠀⇛ Democratic U.S. lawmakers and Asian-American and Pacific Islander advocates joined Rep. Judy Chu in condemning Congressman Lance Gooden on Friday after the MAGA Republican—who took part in an effort to overturn the last presidential election—cast aspersions upon the California Democrat’s loyalty to the United States. # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ Why_Can’t_Politwoops_Track_Politicians’ Deleted_Tweets_Anymore?⠀⇛ Politicians haven’t stopped deleting some of their most cringeworthy tweets, but Politwoops, our project that has tracked and archived more than half a million deleted tweets from candidates and elected officials since 2012, is no longer able to track them. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the platform has disabled the function we used to track deletions — and the new method that Twitter says should identify them appears to be broken. We have been unable to find anyone who can help us, and with Twitter surprising developers by announcing a move to a paid model for gathering tweet data, it’s no longer clear that Twitter is a stable platform on which to maintain this work. It seems fitting to give Politwoops a sendoff, a farewell to not exactly a friend but an odd part of our national political discourse for a decade. # § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ # ⚓ JURIST ☛ Meta_announces_removal_of_three_state-linked fake_account_networks⠀⇛ Facebook parent company Meta Thursday announced that it took down three state- linked “domestic influence operations” in the past quarter. Each operation used fake account networks to influence domestic politics and target opposition parties. # ⚓ France24 ☛ Ukrainian_cartoonist_Vladimir_Kazanevsky: ‘Putin_is_the_world’s_greatest_propagandist’⠀⇛ All year long, cartoonists around the world have been putting their pens to paper, interpreting and documenting the events in Ukraine. To mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, international network Cartooning for Peace has released a special edition book featuring 120 drawings from cartoonists around the world. Among them are six illustrations from award-winning Ukrainian cartoonist Vladimir Kazanevsky. He joined us for Perspective to talk about how Russia’s invasion has drastically changed his work, and what it means to him to see cartoonists from around the world expressing their support for Ukraine. # ⚓ CNN ☛ Video_shows_Russian_politician’s_‘bold’_act_of defiance_against_Putin⠀⇛ # ⚓ CoryDoctorow ☛ This_is_your_brain_on_fraud apologetics⠀⇛ As it turned out, the scammers double-billed us for our order. I called Amex, who advised us to call back in a couple days when the charge posted to cancel it – in other words, they were treating it as a regular customer dispute, and not a systemic, widespread fraud (there’s no way this scammer is just doing this for one restaurant). In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor hassle, but boy, it’s haunting to watch the quarter-century old prophecy of Brin and Page coming true. Search Google for carpenters, plumbers, gas-stations, locksmiths, concert tickets, entry visas, jobs at the US Post Office or (not making this up) tech support for Google products, and the top result will be a paid ad for a scam. Sometimes it’s several of the top ads. o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ The Washington Post ☛ Ernie,_what_is_censorship?_China’s chatbots_face_additional_challenges.⠀⇛ Baidu, which makes the country’s most popular search engine, is the closest to winning the race. But despite years of investment and weeks of hype, the company has not yet released Ernie Bot. AI experts suggest that the Chinese government’s tight control over the country’s [Internet] is partly to blame. # ⚓ Frontpage Magazine ☛ Sweden_Bans_Burning_the_Qur’an,_but Burning_the_Scriptures_of_Other_Religions_is_OK⠀⇛ The Swedish-language news outlet SVT reported Thursday that in the last few days, “two applications for Qur’an burnings have been denied.” Police spokesperson Ola Österling was unequivocal: “As a rule in Stockholm, we will not allow burning the Qur’an during public gatherings.” Some say that the police ban on Qur’an burnings violates the protection of the freedom of expression in the Swedish constitution, and Österling says that the police welcome this challenge: “We want to have it tested that our reasoning is legal. We are aware that it is a restriction on freedom of expression. And in order to be able to make decisions about restrictions on freedom of expression, which is a constitutionally protected freedom and right, it is required that it is stated in law.” So the police rule could be struck down, but in light of Sweden’s desire to enter NATO, this is unlikely. # ⚓ uni Case Western Reserve ☛ Editorial:_Free_speech_is_under attack_on_campuses_and_it’s_not_by_the_“woke_left”⠀⇛ The functioning of newspapers like The Observer is only possible with the protection of speech; it would be impossible for media outlets to be critical of our institutions, discuss pressing social issues and hold people in power accountable otherwise. Additionally, freedom of speech is essential in educational institutions, including at Case Western Reserve University, where the exploration of new ideas and fields requires a willingness to approach difficult subjects with an open mind. Academic freedom is the bedrock of our universities, enabling our professors to investigate and teach about the most controversial topics. Yet, while freedom of speech is supposedly protected by the First Amendment, it is under more attack today than it has been in decades, especially at academic institutions—and not for the reasons you might think. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ More_States_Get_Dumb,_Introduce_Laws_Requiring ID_Verification_To_Access_Porn⠀⇛ There’s no reason anyone should look to Louisiana for legislative leadership. The state still has an oft-abused criminal defamation law on the books in 2023 — the sort of law that would have looked out of place a century ago. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Chinese_Government_To_Censor_AI_Chatbots_Out_Of Fear_Of_Their_Speech⠀⇛ At this point it should be common knowledge that if it has to do with any kind of speech, there is nothing that China won’t try to control and/or censor. It’s something of an amazing self- contradiction: in order to be large and powerful, the Beijing government believes it has to behave as though it is weak and cowardly. Wherever there might be real or potential speech or action against the government, there is the Chinese Communist Party trying to proactively make sure such speech can never reach a wider audience. Beijing, it would seem, has long desired for its people to be simple, programmable robots. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ Social_Media_Users_Could_Be_Sued_for_Defamation Under_Florida’s_Anti-Press_Bill⠀⇛ # ⚓ CBC ☛ Why_Google_is_blocking_some_Canadians_from_seeing online_news⠀⇛ The company said Wednesday that it is temporarily limiting access to news content for under four per cent of its Canadian users as it assesses possible responses to the bill. The change applies to its ubiquitous search engine as well as the Discover feature on Android devices, which carries news and sports stories. # ⚓ Firstpost ☛ Amid_massive_spike,_Pakistan_bans_TV_coverage of_terror_attacks⠀⇛ The latest order by Pakistan’s electronic media regulatory body comes in continuation to the earlier ones asking TV channels to adhere to the provisions of the PEMRA Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015, Geo News reported. “It has been observed with grave concern that despite repeated directives satellite TV channels are unable to comply with provisions of Electronic Media Code of Conduct-2015 in letter and spirit,” read a notification by the authority on Monday. # ⚓ Vox ☛ Section_230,_the_internet_law_that’s_under_threat, explained⠀⇛ You may have never heard of it, but Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the legal backbone of the internet. The law was created almost 30 years ago to protect internet platforms from liability for many of the things third parties say or do on them. Decades later, it’s never been more controversial. People from both political parties and all three branches of government have threatened to reform or even repeal it. The debate centers around whether we should reconsider a law from the internet’s infancy that was meant to help struggling websites and internet-based companies grow. After all, these internet-based businesses are now some of the biggest and most powerful in the world, and users’ ability to speak freely on them bears much bigger consequences. # ⚓ The Atlantic ☛ The_Supreme_Court_Actually_Understands_the Internet⠀⇛ The Court briefly discussed whether algorithms may lose Section 230 immunity if they’re intentionally discriminatory—the example they entertained was a dating-app algorithm written to prohibit interracial matches. They seemed to be thinking through the role of intentionality: Would it matter if YouTube had written an algorithm that favored ISIS or other extremists over more benign material, or would any algorithm still be protected by 230? But these questions weren’t resolved; justices hinted that they would like to see Congress be the ones to finesse Section 230 if it needs finessing, and were sometimes self-deprecating about their own ability to understand the issues. “We really don’t know much about these things,” Justice Elena Kagan joked on Tuesday. “You know, these are not, like, the nine greatest experts on the [Internet].” # ⚓ RTL ☛ The_absurdity_of_editing_Roald_Dahl’s_books⠀⇛ Every time I think the world’s insanity has reached its lowest point, I turn around and something even more wacky stares me in the face. This week: the whole business of editing Roald Dahl’s work, what I personally consider to be the best children’s books in the world. It’s a shame. # ⚓ The Telegraph UK ☛ The_decline_of_Western_Christianity makes_us_vulnerable_to_dictators_and_dogmatists⠀⇛ While Putin abuses Christian rhetoric in Ukraine, we have replaced our traditional foundation with a new, censorious religion # ⚓ France24 ☛ UK_fury_as_Roald_Dahl_books_rewritten,_but French_publishers_say_‘non’_to_edits⠀⇛ French publisher Gallimard said it had no intention of making changes to translated versions of children’s books by the late British novelist Roald Dahl, unlike the author’s UK publisher. # ⚓ Investigative_report_on_reputation_management_highlights continued_abuse_of_copyright_and_other_laws_to_manipulate online_media⠀⇛ Earlier this week, on February 17 2023, an investigative news report about Eliminalia, a Spanish reputation management firm made headlines. The leaked documents in the report revealed that Eliminalia “worked for scammers, spyware companies, torturers, convicted criminals and others in the global underworld to hide public-interest information” under the guise of being a service that claimed “to remove unwanted and erroneous information” for clients. # ⚓ RFA ☛ China_rolls_out_searchable_public_databases_of officially_approved_religious_leaders⠀⇛ The move will tighten the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s control over who gets to practice religion, and how. # ⚓ RFERL ☛ Iranian_Woman_Expresses_‘Regret’_In_Video Supporters_Say_Was_Made_Under_Duress⠀⇛ The female engineer whose video protesting the mandatory hijab at the Tehran Engineers Forum went viral on social media last week has expressed her “regret” in a video many of her supporters allege was made under duress. # ⚓ MIT Technology Review ☛ AI_image_generator_Midjourney blocks_porn_by_banning_words_about_the_human_reproductive system⠀⇛ The popular AI image generator Midjourney bans a wide range of words about the human reproductive system from being used as prompts, o § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Sedition_trial_against_Hong_Kong outlet_Stand_News_to_continue_until_end_of_March⠀⇛ The sedition trial against defunct Hong Kong news outlet Stand News, which began last October and was supposed to last 20 days, will continue until the end of March, the court has heard. Stand News’ former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen, former acting chief editor Patrick Lam and the outlet’s parent company have been charged with conspiring… # ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Corrections_chief_rejects ‘brainwashing’_claims_as_average_daily_remands_in_Hong_Kong prisons_reaches_decade-high⠀⇛ Hong Kong prisons saw a decade-high average daily number of people on remand last year, as the head of the city’s corrections department rejected claims that a rehabilitation programme designed to deradicalise convicted protesters involved elements of “brainwashing.” A # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Ukraine_one_year_on:_Reuters photojournalists_capture_moments_of_‘tragedy’_and_‘beauty’⠀⇛ Rickey Rogers, global editor of Reuters Pictures, shares stories from photojournalists’ year in Ukraine. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Vice_Media_Group_CEO_Nancy_Dubuc_steps_down after_five_years⠀⇛ Nancy Dubuc took over from Vice co-founder Shane Smith in 2018. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Steve_Allen_leaves_LBC_after_44_years⠀⇛ Steve Allen was LBC’s longest-serving presenter. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Top_50_news_sites_in_the_US_in_January:_CBS News_fastest-growing_site,_Sun_enters_top_20⠀⇛ Press Gazette’s monthly ranking of the top 50 news websites in the US, using Similarweb data. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Dermot_Murnaghan_to_leave_Sky_News_after_16 years⠀⇛ Dermot Murnaghan has presented for Sky News, BBC News, ITV News and Channel 4 News. # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Ministers_propose National Security Bill changes_to_ease_press_freedom_fears⠀⇛ Some critics of the National Security Bill still want a public interest defence for journalists. # ⚓ BBC ☛ Turkish_journalists_detained_over_earthquake reports⠀⇛ Freelance journalist Mir Ali Koçer was 200 miles from the epicentre when Turkey was struck by a deadly earthquake on 6 February. Grabbing his camera and microphone, he drove down to the affected region to interview survivors. He shared stories of survivors and rescuers on Twitter and is now under investigation on suspicion of spreading “fake news” and could face up to three years in jail. He is one of at least four journalists being investigated for reporting or commenting on the earthquake. # ⚓ Jerusalem Post ☛ Kidnapped_German-Iranian_journalist Jamshid_Sharmahd_to_be_executed⠀⇛ Iranian-German journalist Jamshid Sharmahd, 67, has been convicted of “corruption of earth” and sentenced to death by an Iranian court, BBC Persian reported on Tuesday. Iran maintains that the conviction is related to terrorist activity on behalf of Sharmahd, according to the Iranian Mizan news agency. Mizan is an Iranian news agency that has a large focus on legal and judiciary matters in the country. As with other issues, on the issue of Sharmahd, Mizan adopts the position of the Iranian regime and reports that the Iranian-German journalist is connected with terrorist activity that has resulted in the deaths of innocent Iranians. # ⚓ NPR ☛ One_year_later,_a_photographer_reflects_on_his_time in_Mariupol_as_Russia_invaded⠀⇛ I’d flown to Ukraine as a freelance journalist. I rented an apartment in one of the city’s Soviet- style high-rises and wandered the town every day, talking with those employed in the tech sector at the co-working space, going out for drinks and dinner at local restaurants and pubs, ice-skating and even getting a haircut at a barber shop that had been around for decades. o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ HRW ☛ Tunisia:_Wave_of_Arrests_Targets_Critics_and Opposition_Figures⠀⇛ # ⚓ Project Censored ☛ Community_Control_Over_Policing_and_the Crises_in_Peru_–_The_Project_Censored_Show⠀⇛ # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ The_United_State_of_America_Is_Guantánamo’s Greatest_Captive⠀⇛ It was 21 years ago this month that I was flown in the belly of a U.S. cargo plane, hooded, blindfolded, gagged, and chained in an orange jumpsuit, for over 40 hours. I didn’t know where I was being taken, or why. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Cops_Talk_Council_Member_Into_Changing_Her_Mind On_ShotSpotter_With_Data_That_Doesn’t_Actually_Show_It’s Worth_Paying_For⠀⇛ ShotSpotter claims its gunshot detection tech is something cities battling gun violence just can’t (almost literally) live without. Data generated by cities paying millions for the tech often says otherwise. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ There_Isn’t_a_State_in_Which_a_Majority_Think Abortion_Should_Be_Totally_Illegal⠀⇛ # ⚓ Pro Publica ☛ TN_Lobbyists_Oppose_New_Lifesaving_Exceptions in_Abortion_Ban⠀⇛ In Tennessee, Republican lawmakers are considering whether patients should be forced to continue dangerous pregnancies, even while miscarrying, under the state’s abortion ban — and how close to risking death such patients need to be before a doctor can legally intervene. At a legislative hearing last week, a lobbyist who played a dominant role in crafting the state’s abortion legislation made his preference clear: A pregnant patient should be in the process of an urgent emergency, such as bleeding out, before they can receive abortion care. # ⚓ TruthOut ☛ South_Carolina_Bill_Would_Subject_Those Obtaining_Abortions_to_Death_Penalty⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Nation ☛ Power_to_the_People⠀⇛ # ⚓ HRW ☛ Indonesia:_Free_Anti-Mining_Activist_in_Sulawesi⠀⇛ # ⚓ HRW ☛ Shamima_Begum_Ruling_a_Dark_Stain_on_the_UK_Justice System [Ed: HRW, which took bribes from Saudi terrorists, says UK revoking citizenship of ISIS person is "a Dark Stain on the UK Justice System"]⠀⇛ # ⚓ Mint Press News ☛ Lee_Camp:_Here’s_How_To_Get_Rid_of_Police and_Not_Have_Everything_Fall_Apart._I’m_Not_Kidding⠀⇛ In this episode of The Most Censored News, Lee Camp takes on the police state with facts, figures and, most importantly, proven solutions actually solve the problem. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Malaysia_deports_114_Muslim_Myanmar_nationals, including_children,_their_lawyer_says⠀⇛ Those sent back will be persecuted because Burmese military ostracizes Muslims, says lawyer Lim Wei Jet. # ⚓ RFA ☛ Parents_of_Lao_trafficking_victims_in_Myanmar_plan trip_to_Vientiane_to_urge_rescue⠀⇛ They have been complaining for months, but their children remain trapped. # ⚓ Vice Media Group ☛ Immigration_Advocates_Urge_DHS_to_Drop ICE’s_LexisNexis_Contract⠀⇛ ICE has queried LexisNexis’ data more than a million times, and leadership encouraged officials to use the tool for finding non-citizens. # ⚓ EFF ☛ EFF_Files_Amicus_Brief_to_Protect_the_Speech_Rights of_Immigrants_and_Immigrant_Rights_Advocates⠀⇛ This principle, in First Amendment jurisprudence, applies when a regulation of speech sweeps too broadly and prohibits a substantial amount of protected as well as non-protected speech. According to the Ninth Circuit, the Encouragement Provision is unconstitutionally overbroad because it prohibits, for example, “encouraging an undocumented immigrant to take shelter during a natural disaster, advising an undocumented immigrant about available social services” or “providing certain legal advice to undocumented immigrants.”We argue that the Ninth Circuit was correct, emphasizing the online speech rights of hundreds of immigration advocacy and services organizations which the Encouragement Provision threatens. For example, Informed Immigrant, which also filed a brief supporting Hansen, “maintains a Know Your Rights section in its online resource library with a wide range of information for undocumented immigrants and their families, including information about their rights inside and outside their homes, what to do if someone you know is arrested, how to prepare your family in the event of an immigration raid, and guidance for finding a lawyer.” If the Encouragement Provision is upheld, this type of speech, and any similar speech that emboldens undocumented immigrants online, will be silenced.We further emphasize in the brief that protected online speech directed to undocumented immigrants is especially vulnerable to the Encouragement Provision’s vagaries because online speakers rely on numerous intermediaries that don’t want to risk violating the statute. All online speakers rely on intermediaries like domain name registers, web hosts, and social media platforms. To avoid the risk of the Encouragement Provision’s criminal penalty and the burden of having to defend even meritless charges, intermediaries will likely censor users’ speech if it so much as approaches illegality. In our brief, we argue that when platforms face the threat of criminal penalties, “this inevitably results in the heckler’s veto, whereby any user can effectively censor another user by notifying the intermediary that the other user’s speech is unlawful, regardless of the merits of that notice.” This means that, if the Encouragement Provision is upheld, the speech of countless immigrants and immigrant rights advocates on the internet will be chilled.United States v. Hansen is set for oral arguments on March 23, 2023. Several years ago, in United States v. Sineneng-Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on this very same First Amendment issue, finding that the defendant in that case had not properly raised it. We hope that this time, the U.S. Supreme Court takes the opportunity to recognize the free speech rights of many individuals on an issue so highly contested in political debate.For the brief: https:// www.eff.org/document/us-v-hansen-eff-brief   # ⚓ Euractive ☛ German_Constitutional_Court_strikes_down predictive_algorithms_for_policing⠀⇛ The German Federal Constitutional Court declared the use of Palantir surveillance software by police in Hesse and Hamburg unconstitutional in a landmark ruling on Thursday (16 February). The ruling concludes a case brought by the German Society for Civil Rights (GFF) last year, hearings for which began in December. The plaintiffs argued that the software could be used for predictive policing, raising the risk of mistakes and discrimination by law enforcement. The German state of Hesse has been using the software since 2017, though it is not yet in place in Hamburg. The technology is provided by Palantir, a US data analytics firm which received early backing from intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI and NSA. # ⚓ ACM ☛ German_Constitutional_Court_Strikes_Down_Predictive Algorithms_for_Policing⠀⇛ The German Federal Constitutional Court declared the use of Palantir surveillance software by police in Hesse and Hamburg unconstitutional in a landmark ruling. The ruling concludes a case brought by the German Society for Civil Rights (GFF) last year, hearings for which began in December. The plaintiffs argued that the software could be used for predictive policing, raising the risk of mistakes and discrimination by law enforcement. # ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Family_of_man_shot_by_deputy_after getting_in_wrong_SUV_sues⠀⇛ One of the attorneys for the family of Richard Ward said in the lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court that Ward, 32, was picking up his younger brother from middle school with his mother and her boyfriend when he stepped out of the car to take a “brief walk.” Attorneys said that after his walk, he mistook a similar-looking SUV for his mother’s vehicle, opened the door and got inside. Ward apologized to the driver and then returned to his mother’s vehicle, according to the lawsuit. # ⚓ NPR ☛ The_Taliban_ended_college_for_women._Here’s_how Afghan_women_are_defying_the_ban⠀⇛ Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban have curtailed women’s rights. Women cannot travel without a male guardian and have few work options. Most girls have been forbidden to attend high school since the takeover. Fewer than 12 percent of Afghan women feel treated with respect and dignity, according to a recent Gallup survey. Those women who express dissent against Taliban authorities are met with violent suppression of their protests, as well as imprisonment, intimidation and even torture, forcing many to flee the country. # ⚓ uni Michigan ☛ ‘You_are_on_Anishinaabe_land’:_UMMA_exhibit commemorates_Native_American_fight_for_restitution⠀⇛ The Burt Lake Band is not currently recognized as a tribe by the federal government. On Oct. 15, 1900, the Cheboygan County sheriff and local residents forcibly removed the Band from their legally purchased land in the area before burning the land. Currently, the Band is in litigation to regain their status as a federally-recognized tribe. # ⚓ Barrons ☛ Spain_Police_Arrest_Father_Of_2_Women_Killed_In Pakistan⠀⇛ Police on Wednesday arrested the father of two Pakistani sisters living in Spain who were lured back to their homeland last year and killed by family members in a suspected honour killing. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ John_Kiriakou:_Covid_&_the_Way_of_Death_in_US Prisons⠀⇛ The Times found that it was not just the fact that Covid swept through already overcrowded prisons. It was also that prisoners are routinely subjected to substandard medical care. That’s the norm. That, coupled with crowded facilities and an aging inmate population combined to make the worst public health crisis in American prisons since the 1918-1919 Spanish flu pandemic. # ⚓ Common Dreams ☛ Refugees_‘Will_Pay_the_Real_Price,’_Says Charity_After_Italy_Detains_Rescue_Ship⠀⇛ The international charity Medicins Sans Frontiers said late Thursday it is “assessing what legal actions” the group can take to contest a new anti- refugee law passed in Italy, under which the group was informed its rescue ship is being detained and prevented from rescuing migrants for 20 days. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Biden’s_Border_Crackdown_Explained_–_A_Refugee Law_Expert_Looks_at_the_Legality_and_Impact_of_New Asylum Rule⠀⇛ This rule will deny thousands of migrants fleeing persecution their right to seek asylum at the United States’ southern border. # ⚓ Scheerpost ☛ Forest_Defenders_Vow_Resistance_After_Court Green-Lights_Phase_I_of_“Cop_City”⠀⇛ A judge denied a restraining order against initial construction of the $90 million militarized police training complex. o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ New Yorker ☛ Amy_Coney_Barrett_Searches_Bible_for_God’s Opinion_of_the_Internet⠀⇛ “It doesn’t matter what we think about the Internet,” the Supreme Court Justice said. “What does God think about it?” # ⚓ Internet Society ☛ NDSS_Symposium_2023:_30_Years_of_Cutting Edge_Network_Security_Research⠀⇛ The 30th edition of the Network and Distributed Systems Security (NDSS) Symposium kicks off 27 February in San Diego, USA. # ⚓ Internet Society ☛ In_One_Corner,_Large_Telecom_Operators. In_the_Other,_Everybody_Else.⠀⇛ We encourage everyone interested in defending an open Internet to contribute to the European Commission’s public consultation on the potential developments of the connectivity sector and its infrastructure. # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Rather_Than_Making_The_Internet_Safe_For_Kids, Make_Your_Kids_Safe_For_The_Real_World⠀⇛ We’ve been talking a lot lately about the massive moral panic going on right now, claiming that the internet is somehow inherently dangerous for kids. As we’ve noted, the evidence simply does not support this. Over and over and over again we see the actual data and actual research shows no evidence of any inherent harm to children from the internet and social media. Indeed, much of the evidence suggests that most kids get real value out of the internet from the ability to communicate with friends and family to access information and people they wouldn’t otherwise have access to. o § Digital Restrictions (DRM)⠀➾ # ⚓ Techdirt ☛ Sometimes_Open_Systems_Beat_Those_Who_Try_To Lock_Them_Up:_Spotify’s_Podcast_Colonization_Flops⠀⇛ We wrote a few times about the problems of Spotify’s attempt to colonize the podcast market. While it was, perhaps, an understandable move driven by the economics of our totally broken copyright systems which made it impossible to be truly profitable with just music, Spotify’s decision to go after the podcast market, shelling out massive dollars for podcast-focused companies like Gimlet Media and the Ringer, was all about taking a system based on open protocols — mainly mp3s and RSS — and trying to lock it up behind a proprietary moat. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Mojang_Targets_Repositories_of_Browser- Based_Minecraft_Copy_‘Eaglercraft’ [Ed: Microsoft uses GitHub to censor for its own business interests, attacking Free software.]⠀⇛ Mojang is cracking down on the browser-based Minecraft copy Eaglercraft. The company removed 92 repositories from GitHub, claiming that they infringed the company’s copyrights and trademarks. A repository of DIY decompiling tools and instructions remains online, however. # § Patents⠀➾ # ⚓ JUVE ☛ Hoyng_ROKH_Monegier_launches_patent_attorney practice_in_Düsseldorf [Ed: Juve is posting marketing spam disguised as news. In this cases, it is for Team UPC, which sponsors this publisher.]⠀⇛ From April, life sciences patent attorney Tung-Gia Du (49) is set to join Hoyng ROKH Monegier from Bird & Bird. He joined the firm in August 2012, and became counsel in 2018. Du began his career two years earlier at Maiwald in Munich, where he also completed his training as a patent attorney. # § Trademarks⠀➾ # ⚓ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog_Flotsam_and_Jetsam,_Issue_No._16: COHIBA_Appeal_(Again);_TM_Guide_for_2(c)_Refusals; LeBron_Deposition⠀⇛ Here’s a new edition of “Flotsam and Jetsam,” wherein I provide, on an irregular basis, timely tidbits to the TTABar. The last edition was a mere nine years ago. COHIBA Appeal: General Cigar has filed a complaint [.pdf here] in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, seeking Section 1071 review of the TTAB’s recent decision [TTABloggedhere] ordering cancellation of two registrations for the mark COHIBA for cigars, based on violation of Article 8 of the Pan American Convention. We can surely expect a few more chapters to be written in this 25-year-old brouhaha. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ Press Gazette ☛ Google_News_blocks_1m_users_in warning_shot_for_Canada_legislators⠀⇛ The Canadian government has accused Google of “borrowing from Facebook’s playbook”. # ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ David_Bowie_Archive_Acquired_by V&A_Museum_in_London⠀⇛ The V&A Museum in London has acquired a massive 8,000-piece archive of material from the David Bowie Estate containing handwritten notebooks, letters, costumes, instruments, awards, photos, set designs, and more. The V&A Museum in London has confirmed its acquisition of a treasure trove of archive material from the estate of David Bowie. The archive contains items such as instruments, costumes, handwritten notebooks, letters, and much more, many of which were featured during the “David Bowie Is” traveling museum exhibit viewed by more than 2 million people from 2013 to 2018. # ⚓ Creative Commons ☛ CC’s_open_culture_platform_2022 five_working_groups_share_their_highlights⠀⇛ Led by Bettina Fabos and Mariana Ziku, the Digital Community Heritage Working Group focused on international community-related heritage initiatives in the context of open access and inclusive digital transformation. The collaborative research carried out in the course of a year aimed to map and analyze the openness spectrum and typology of digital community heritage initiatives, which included collecting international cases, performing data analysis and visualization, providing insights into patterns and trends, and identifying good practices and common challenges in the field. The output of this research includes the publication of a data- driven multilingual study discussing digital community heritage and open-access, and a published machine readable dataset of 27 international digital community heritage initiatives with information structured into several categories. Read a summary of the study on CC’s Medium in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, and Swahili. You can find out more about the WG on their PubPub website. Access the dataset and data visualizations folder. # ⚓ Torrent Freak ☛ Japan’s_Systematic_Assault_on_Manga_& Anime_Piracy_Broadens_&_Intensifies⠀⇛ When authorities in Japan shut down the world’s most popular manga piracy site, that should’ve been a deterrent. Instead, Mangamura’s demise led to an explosion of sites and even more piracy. Publishers face significant challenges but with the entertainment industries and government now on board, Japan’s systematic fight against piracy applies to all content, everywhere. * § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ o § Personal⠀➾ # ⚓ Buggy_Prose⠀⇛ So I was looking at the BitTorrent protocol specification (AKA BEP-0003) tonight, and I found this bit of muddy writing that confused me no end. “Interest state must be kept up to date at all times – whenever a downloader doesn’t have something they currently would ask a peer for in unchoked, they must express lack of interest, despite being choked. Implementing this properly is tricky, but makes it possible for downloaders to know which peers will start downloading immediately if unchoked.” There are two bugs in that paragraph. The second bug — the simplest — is in the last sentence: the first “downloaders” should probably be “uploaders”, because why would downloaders care about who is gonna download? # ⚓ 🔤SpellBinding:_AIJMURN_Wordo:_REACT⠀⇛ o § Technical⠀➾ # § Programming⠀➾ # ⚓ A_branchless_segment_of_code_to_generate_a_printable hexadecimal_value⠀⇛ I was an avid fan of assembly language back in my youth and I did a lot of it. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 4806 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.25.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_25/02/2023:_New_GStreamer_and_Istio⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 12:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Server o Audiocasts/Shows o Kernel_Space o Graphics_Stack o Applications o Instructionals/Technical o Games * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o BSD o SUSE/OpenSUSE o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Debian_Family o Canonical/Ubuntu_Family o Devices/Embedded o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o Openness/Sharing/Collaboration # Open_Access/Content o Programming/Development * Leftovers o Science o Hardware 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 Freedom_of_Information_/_Freedom_of_the_Press o Civil_Rights/Policing o Internet_Policy/Net_Neutrality o Digital_Restrictions_(DRM) o Monopolies # Patents # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal o Technical * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Server⠀➾ # ⚓ Container Journal ☛ How_Many_Kubernetes_Clusters_Exist Today?⠀⇛ As we considered our 2023 development plans, we wanted to formalize our gut instincts on the state of Kubernetes deployments into numbers backed by research. # ⚓ Container Journal ☛ Cybersecurity_in_Cloud-Native Environments⠀⇛ The rapid adoption of the cloud has broadened the horizons for businesses embarking on a digital transformation journey, and organizations are swiftly taking the leap to cloud-native applications that are built using microservices and run on platforms like Kubernetes. These applications are designed to run on cloud-based infrastructure, making them o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ mintCast Podcast ☛ mintCast_406_–_It’s_Elementary,_Dear Listener⠀⇛ First up in the news: Looks like the end for Mycroft, Proton offers Drive for everybody, MidnightBSD takes on helloSystem, Fedora 38 now with full Flathub access, new Transmission, Android 14 Preview, Framework has new SSDs, new versions of KaOS and Parrot, Ardour and Clonezilla have new releases, and systemd is the future; In security and privacy, several PyPI packages steal crypto; Then in our Wanderings, Joe’s back hurts, Moss is underworked, and Bill is not. In our Innards section, we have invited Danielle Foré to come and talk about her Elementary OS project, and other changes; o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Bootlin ☛ Linux_6.2_released,_Bootlin_contributions inside⠀⇛ Linux 6.2 was released a few days ago, and as usual we point our readers to the LWN coverage of the merge window (part 1 and part 2), or the traditional KernelNewbies page or alternatively the embedded focused CNX Software coverage. # ⚓ Bootlin ☛ Boot_time:_choose_your_kernel_loading_address carefully⠀⇛ When the compressed and uncompressed kernel images overlap At least on ARM32, there seems to be many working addresses where the compressed kernel can be loaded in RAM. o § Graphics Stack⠀➾ # ⚓ Mike_Blumenkrantz:_Buffered⠀⇛ § Convenience A lot has been made of VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer, also known as “sane descriptor handling”. It’s an extension that revolutionizes how descriptors can be managed not only in brevity of code but in performance. That’s why ZINK_DESCRIPTORS=db is now_the_default wherever it’s supported. § Gains But what does this gain zink (and other users), other than being completely undebuggable if anything were to break*? * It won’t, trust me. One nicety of descriptor buffers is performance. By swapping out descriptor templates for buffers, it removes a layer of indirection from the descriptor update path, which reduces CPU overhead by a small amount. By avoiding the need to bind different descriptor sets, GPU synchronization can also be reduced. In zink terms, you’ll likely notice a small FPS increase in cases that were extremely CPU-bound (e.g., Tomb Raider). # ⚓ Collabora ☛ PanCSF:_A_new_DRM_driver_for_Mali_CSF-based GPUs⠀⇛ A look into the new job-scheduling model with Mali GPUs, their support in the new PanCSF DRM driver, and what it means as the rest of the ecosystem also moves to firmware-assisted scheduling. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ FOSS Post ☛ Best_Method_to_Limit_Social_Media_Time_on_Your Browser⠀⇛ Social media addiction is a huge problem in many parts of the world. # ⚓ GStreamer:_GStreamer_1.20.6_old-stable_bug_fix_release⠀⇛ The GStreamer team is pleased to announce another bug fix release in the now old-stable 1.20 release series of your favourite cross-platform multimedia framework! This release only contains bug fixes. It should be safe to update from 1.20.x. Highlighted bugfixes: # audio: channel-mix: allow up to 64 channels instead of up to 63 channels # AOM AV1 encoder timestamp handling improvements # AV1 video codec caps handling improvements in aom plugin, isomp4 and matroska muxers/ demuxers # avvidenc: fix bitrate control and timestamps off FFmpeg-based video encoders # h264parse: fix missing timestamps on outputs when splitting a frame # rtspsrc: more workarounds for servers with broken control uri handling # playbin3: fix issue with UDP streams, making sure there’s enough buffering # qmlglsrc: Fix deadlock when stopping and some other fixes # qtmux: fix default timescale unit for N/1001 framerates # v4l2h264dec: Fix Raspberry Pi4 will not play video in application # vtdec: Fix non-deterministic frame output after seeks # wasapi2src: Fix loopback capture on Windows 10 Anniversary Update # macOS, iOS: Fix Xcode 14 ABI breakage with older Xcode # cerbero: Fix some regressions for CentOS in the 1.20 branch # cerbero: Fix setuptools site.py breakage in Python 3.11 # Fix gst-libav build against FFmpeg from git # gobject-introspection annotation fixes for bindings # Miscellaneous bug fixes, memory leak fixes, and other stability and reliability improvements # Performance improvements # ⚓ Announcing_Istio_1.17.1⠀⇛ This release contains bug fixes to improve robustness. This release note describes what’s different between Istio 1.17.0 and Istio 1.17.1. This release includes security fixes included in Go 1.20.1 (released 2023-02-14) for the crypto/tls, mime/multipart, net/http, and path/filepath packages. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_GIMP_on_Fedora_37⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install GIMP on Fedora 37. For those of you who didn’t know, GIMP is a powerful, flexible, and customizable image editing software that is available for Linux, Windows, and macOS. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Google_Chrome_on_Ubuntu_22.10_/_Ubuntu 22.04⠀⇛ Installing Google Chrome on Ubuntu 22.10 / Ubuntu 22.04 Linux is a straightforward process. # ⚓ UNIX Cop ☛ [Trick]_How_to_schedule_a_reboot_on_Linux?⠀⇛ Hello, friends. In this post, you will learn how to program a reboot on Linux. This post will also help newbies to learn some Crontab and use it for more complex tasks. Scheduling a reboot can be a fairly simple task to do, but occasionally, it can take us surprised. # ⚓ UNIX Cop ☛ How_to_setup_DRBD_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ In this article I will help you how to set DRBD on Ubuntu Server 22.04. DRBD is a Distributed and Replicated* storage system wich can be used for high availability computer clusters or can be used to create larger storage pools defined by software. # ⚓ OSTechNix ☛ How_To_Move_LVM_Volume_Group_To_Another_Machine In_Linux⠀⇛ This step by step guide explains how to use LVM export and import commands to move a Volume Group from one machine to another in Linux. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Neofetch_on_Linux_Mint_21⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Neofetch on Linux Mint 21. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Cortex_on_Ubuntu_22.04_LTS⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Cortex on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, # ⚓ LinuxConfig ☛ Mastering_Bash_Script_Loops⠀⇛ # ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ How_to_Use_AUR_with_Arch_Linux⠀⇛ Guide on how to install some AUR packages like Google Chrome by cloning the Google Chrome package at the local Arch Linux machine via the Git clone instruction. # ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ How_to_Reset_the_Linux_Mint_Password⠀⇛ Practical guide on how to reset or modify the Linux Mint password by resetting the root password or modifying the user passwords using the “GNU GRUB” boot menu. # ⚓ Linux Hint ☛ Linux_Umount_Command⠀⇛ Comprehensive tutorial on utilizing the umount command to unmount a mounting filesystem using the different aspects of exercising the umount command in Linux. # ⚓ peppe8o ☛ OwnCloud_with_Raspberry_PI:_self_host_your private_cloud⠀⇛ With our devices becoming more and more connected to the world and with the increasing number of files to keep stored and accessible from outside # ⚓ Steve Kemp ☛ Steve_Kemp:_A_quick_hack_for_Emacs⠀⇛ As I’ve mentioned in the past I keep a work-log, or work-diary, recording my activities every day. I have a bunch of standard things that I record, but one thing that often ends up happening is that I make references to external bug trackers, be they Jira, Bugzilla, or something else. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ How_to_Install_And_Configure_Redis_on_Ubuntu_& Debian⠀⇛ Redis is an open-source, in-memory data structure store that is often used as a cache or database. It provides high performance, scalability, and support for a wide range of data structures. Installing and configuring Redis on Debian is a relatively straightforward process. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ JavaScript_Arrays:_A_Beginner’s_Guide⠀⇛ JavaScript arrays are a fundamental data structure used in web development. They allow developers to store and manipulate lists of data in a single variable. In this article, we will explore what arrays are, how to create them, and how to manipulate them in JavaScript. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ How_to_Set_Up_an_SSH_Tunnel_on_Linux⠀⇛ Setting up an SSH tunnel on Linux can be a useful way to protect your online privacy and security. An SSH tunnel encrypts your internet traffic and routes it through a secure tunnel to a remote server, making it virtually impossible for anyone to intercept or read your data # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ How_to_Keep_the_SSH_Tunnels_Alive_with_Autossh⠀⇛ Autossh is a utility that allows you to automatically restart SSH tunnels if they are disconnected or interrupted. This can be particularly useful if you need to maintain a persistent connection to a remote server over an SSH tunnel. In this article, we will explain how to install and use Autossh on Linux. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Python_on_Fedora_37⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Python on Fedora 37. For those of you who didn’t know, # ⚓ It’s Ubuntu ☛ How_To_Restart_Ubuntu_Server⠀⇛ 3 Easy Method To Restart Ubuntu Server There are various ways to restart your Ubuntu server. In this post, we will discuss mainly 3 easy ways to restart the Ubuntu server. # ⚓ It’s Ubuntu ☛ How_To_Check_Your_Ubuntu_Version⠀⇛ How To Check Your Ubuntu Version It is always good to check the version of Ubuntu while working to avoid any conflicts with the other apps or repositories. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Boiling Steam ☛ The_New_Big_Picture_Mode_Does_not_Seem_to Work_Well_with_Nvidia_GPUs_on_Linux_clients⠀⇛ As you may be aware, Valve has released a new Steam client version not too long ago with many changes, including the release of the new Big Picture Mode that is inspired by the Steam Deck’s interface. # ⚓ Godot Engine ☛ Multiplayer_in_Godot_4.0:_Scene Replication⠀⇛ Create multiplayer games in an instance (pun intended) with the new MultiplayerSpawner and MultiplayerSynchronizer nodes. Check out the key concepts, and get started with a quick tutorial on how to make a simple game using Godot multiplayer features! # ⚓ Godot Engine ☛ Release_candidate:_Godot_4.0_RC_4⠀⇛ As the stable release is imminent, release candidates become more frequent to validate the last minutes fixes we had to make. # ⚓ It’s Ubuntu ☛ 40+_Best_Browser_Games_In_2023⠀⇛ List Of Best Internet-Based Browser Games In 2023 There are plenty of amazing games that you can play on Internet browsers. # ⚓ CubicleNate ☛ Project_Killswitch_Travel_Case_Review_| SteamDeck⠀⇛ Seems like I’ve been doing a lot of SteamDeck writing lately. It’s well overdue. I have a backlog of things that I need to clear out that are all partially done. * § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ o § BSD⠀➾ # ⚓ Dan Langille ☛ Maybe_I_need_another_zpool⠀⇛ I might need to create another zpool. Or perhaps move a drives/zpool from one host to another. In this post: FreeBSD 13.1 Background I am combining two hosts (slocum and r720-01) into one new host (r730-01). I have been moving jails from those hosts. o § SUSE/OpenSUSE⠀➾ # ⚓ Dominique Leuenberger ☛ openSUSE_Tumbleweed_–_Review_of_the week_2023/08⠀⇛ The most relevant changes delivered include: # dav1d 1.1.0 # git 2.39.2 # mozjs 102.8.0 (used to power gnome-shell) # PHP 8.1.16 # poppler 23.02.0 # samba 4.17.5 # Ruby 3.2 is now the default # Python 3.11 modules are being shipped (the default python3 interpreter is still version 3.10) # openssl 3.0.8 # binutils 2.40 # mutter 3.43+2: fix regression of 3.43 regarding window focus being ‘weird’ # ⚓ Post-mortem:_Downtime_on_February_23,_2023⠀⇛ Some maintenance operations plus a missing configuration rollback caused a 20 minutes certificate error on our reference server. In the lines below you will find a detailed explanation of what happened. Impact Our reference server was providing an wrong/ outdated certificate for around 20 minutes. # ⚓ Safely_clone_a_job_on_a_production_instance⠀⇛ When developing new openQA tests you will have to run a lot of verification and debug test runs. This is why I typically encourage people to do all openQA testing on their own instances, to prevent spamming of the production instances. o § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ # ⚓ OMG! Linux ☛ Flathub’s_Getting_a_New_Logo_–_and_it’s_a Flawless_Fit⠀⇛ “Wow!” — my reaction when I first saw the brand new logo for Flathub. # ⚓ Red Hat ☛ 6_tutorials_for_modern_app_development⠀⇛ Technologies like application and API connectivity accelerate the development and delivery of business solutions so you can spend more time innovating and driving competitive differentiation. As a modern application developer, you can use these features to develop skills that will set you apart from your competitors and increase the efficiency of your work.  Red_Hat_Application_Foundations offers a comprehensive set of components to help developers develop and modernize application software. It is designed to help build, deploy, and operate applications with security in mind and at scale across the hybrid cloud. You can use the technology with applications that run on-premises or in the cloud. When combined with Red_Hat_OpenShift, Red Hat Application Foundations creates a platform that streamlines execution across the entire application life cycle. This article presents quick tutorials, guides, and solution patterns that can help you gain a deeper understanding of the following technologies: # Application and API connectivity # Data transformation # Service composition and orchestration # Real-time messaging and data streaming # ⚓ Fedora Project ☛ Fedora_Community_Blog:_Friday’s_Fedora Facts:_2023-08⠀⇛ Here’s your weekly Fedora report. Read what happened this week and what’s coming up. Your contributions are welcome (see the end of the post)! The F38 Beta freeze is in place. The current F38 Beta target is the early target date (2023-03-14). I have weekly office hours most Wednesdays in the morning and afternoon (US/Eastern time). Drop by if you have any questions or comments about the schedule, Changes, elections, or anything else. See the upcoming_meetings for more information. o § Debian Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ TrueNAS_SCALE_22.12.1_Improves_Stability_and Reliability⠀⇛ TrueNAS SCALE 22.12.1 open storage, codenamed Bluefin, comes with 250 bug fixes for everyone looking for the best NAS solutions. o § Canonical/Ubuntu Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Kubuntu_22.04.2_LTS_Update_Available⠀⇛ The second point release update to Kubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish) is out now. This contains all the bug-fixes added to 22.04 since its first point release in August 2022. Users of 22.04 can run the normal update procedure to get these bug-fixes. # ⚓ It’s Ubuntu ☛ Ubuntu_22.04.2_LTS_Released⠀⇛ Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS Released The second point release of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is now available for download with a few updates and improvements. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ Arduino_Nano_33_BLE_Sense_Rev2_switches_to BMI270_&_BMM150_IMUs,_HS3003_temperature_&_humidity_sensor⠀⇛ Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Rev2 is a new revision of the Nano 33 BLE Sense machine learning board with basically the same functionality but some sensors have changed along with some other modifications “to improve the experience of the users”. # ⚓ CNX Software ☛ KC12_Alder_Lake-P_mini_PC_supports_up_to 64GB_RAM,_four_displays,_and_dual_2.5GbE⠀⇛ KC12 is a mini PC powered by either an Intel Core i5-1240P or Core i7-1260P Alder Lake-P hybrid processor with up to 64GB DDR4, SATA and NVMe storage options, HDMI and DisplayPort for up to four 4K displays, as well as two 2.5GbE networking interfaces. o § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Dignited ☛ From_Nokia_to_Samsung:_Here_are_The_Unique Operating_Systems_of_Feature_Phones⠀⇛ # ⚓ Giz China ☛ Here’s_why_Android_TV_is_the_best_TV_operating system_in_2023⠀⇛ # ⚓ Lifewire ☛ 13_Ways_to_Make_an_Android_Faster⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Police ☛ Google_wants_feedback_on_how_well_Android 14′s_predictive_back_gestures_are_working⠀⇛ # ⚓ Android Authority ☛ Google_may_give_Gboard_on_Android_an_AI text-to-image_generator_–_Android_Authority⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Sun ☛ People_are_just_noticing_Android_phones_have ‘hidden_game’_next_to_your_apps_–_it’s_totally_free_and_so addictive_|_The_US_Sun⠀⇛ # ⚓ The Sun ☛ People_are_just_realizing_Android_has_6_easy ‘power_loopholes’_to_charge_your_battery_even_faster_|_The_US Sun⠀⇛ # ⚓ 9to5Google ☛ Google_might_add_Imagen_text-to-image generator_to_Gboard⠀⇛ # ⚓ Digital Trends ☛ Samsung_Galaxy_S23_review:_the_Android phone_for_everyone_|_Digital_Trends⠀⇛ # ⚓ HowTo Geek ☛ Qualcomm_Has_Stable_Diffusion_Running_on_an Android_Phone⠀⇛ # ⚓ WCCF Tech ☛ Android_Phones_Could_Soon_Generate_AI_Images_on the_Fly⠀⇛ # ⚓ Phone Arena ☛ MediaTek_announces_a_new_chipset,_which brings_satellite_connectivity_to_Android_phones_– PhoneArena⠀⇛ * § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ o § Openness/Sharing/Collaboration⠀➾ # § Open Access/Content⠀➾ # ⚓ Public Knowledge ☛ Privileged_Conversations_|_Mar. 2023⠀⇛ Public Knowledge has the pleasure of inviting you to a multifaceted program focused on training and developing the next generation of tech policy experts and public interest advocates that reflects the diversity of voices and experiences in our society. o § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Medevel ☛ APITable_Is_An_Open-source_Low-code_Solution_and Airtable_Alternative⠀⇛ APITable is a free open-source and self-hosted API- oriented low-code platform for building collaborative apps and better than all other Airtable open-source alternatives. # ⚓ Spidermonkey_Development_Blog:_JavaScript_Import_maps,_Part 1:_Introduction⠀⇛ We recently shipped import maps in Firefox 108 and this article is the first in a series that describes what they are and the problems they can solve. In this first article, we will go through the background and basics of import maps and follow up with a second article explaining more details of import maps. § Background: JavaScript Modules If you don’t know JavaScript modules, you can read the MDN docs for JavaScript_Modules first, and there are also some related articles on Mozilla Hacks like ES6_In_Depth:_Modules and ES_modules:_A_cartoon_deep-dive. If you are already familiar with them, then you are probably familiar with static_import and dynamic_import. As a quick refresher: [...] * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ Quartz ☛ A_Chinese_coal_mine_collapsed_under_a_600-foot landslide⠀⇛ At least five workers are dead in northern China after a sprawling coal mine collapsed under a landslide on Thursday (Feb. 23). The accident happened in the Inner Mongolia province, the country’s top coal-producing region. Reports_from_Chinese_state_media indicate more than 40 workers remain missing. o ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ Yakety_Yat_Chat⠀⇛ Sylvia Shawcross Now I know I promised last time that I might tell you the tragic tale of the Luna moth during its larval development but it is such a dreadfully sad story and given the woebegotten way the world is, I just couldn’t bring myself to subject readers to such a thing right now. o ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ In_The_Flesh:_The_Oxford_Anti-LTN_March⠀⇛ JJ Starky Some protests are torrid affairs. Others can prove enlightening. The march last Saturday in the heart of Oxford was the latter. Attendees rocked up nearly 2 hours before the scheduled meet, poised with their homemade placards, ready to dissent. o § Science⠀➾ # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ For_The_First_Time,_Astronomers_See_Black Holes_in_Dwarf_Galaxies_About_to_Collide⠀⇛ Where the Universe came from. # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ ‘Ghostly’_Glow_of_Entangled_Light_Now Reveals_Hidden_Objects_Better_Than_Ever⠀⇛ Not your typical kind of photography. # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Bows_Were_Being_Used_in_Europe_40,000_Years Earlier_Than_We_Thought⠀⇛ The edge we needed. # ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ 16%_of_seniors_are_CS_majors._How_did_we_get here?⠀⇛ Stanford’s renowned computer science department has evolved significantly since its creation in 1965, and continues to develop in response to concerns about diversity, ethics and a changing technological landscape. o § Hardware⠀➾ # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ This_Custom_100-Pound_Laptop_Has_a_43-Inch Screen⠀⇛ At least year’s CES, Lenovo revealed a behemoth_of a_laptop sporting an enormous 17.3-inch screen with an ultra-wide 21:10 aspect ratio. Believe it or not, even larger laptops predate it, including a 21-inch_monster that Acer put out back in 2017. # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ United_States–China_semiconductor standoff:_A_supply_chain_under_stress⠀⇛ What are the implications of US semiconductor policy for global semiconductor supply chains and the competition for primacy in an industry critical to the economy and global security? # ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Leonardo_CEO_Alessandro_Profumo_on Italy’s_role_in_unifying_Europe_and_‘selective_decoupling’ from_China⠀⇛ Profumo joins the Atlantic Council to share his perspective on the implications of Russia’s war in Ukraine for Europe, Italy, and the continent’s defense sector, how Leonardo has responded to the ongoing invasion, and its most recent expansion within the space sector. o § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ # ⚓ Quartz ☛ Experts_predicted_a_wheat_shortage_after_Russia invaded_Ukraine._Why_didn’t_it_happen?⠀⇛ When Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, experts at various outlets warned shipments of wheat could be cut off, which could spur shortages of the grain. The shortages would then lead to higher prices for pantry staples, from # ⚓ Quartz ☛ The_FDA_wants_plant-based_milks_to_explicitly state_how_they_differ_from_dairy⠀⇛ Makers of plant-based milk in the US might soon have to rethink their packaging to make it clear how their products differ from dairy milk. # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Soy_Milk_Is_Milk,_FDA_Says⠀⇛ The milk wars may soon come to an end. In draft guidelines released this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that soy and other plant-based milk substitutes can continue to be labeled milk. # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Is_Your_Cookware_Putting_You_at_Risk_of Alzheimer’s?_An_Expert_Explains.⠀⇛ Bon appétit! # ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Air_Pollution_Is_Making_Human_Bones_More Brittle,_Study_Suggests⠀⇛ We’re making ourselves sicker. o § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Fortinet_Shares_Clarifications_on Exploitation_of_FortiNAC_Vulnerability⠀⇛ Fortinet provides clarifications following ‘sensationalized reports’ related to exploitation attempts targeting the FortiNAC vulnerability CVE- 2022-39952 # ⚓ Security Week ☛ Ransomware_Attack_Forces_Produce_Giant_Dole to_Shut_Down_Plants⠀⇛ Dole was forced to shut down systems in North America due to a ransomware attack, which has reportedly led to salad shortages in some grocery stores. # ⚓ Port Swigger ☛ NIST_plots_biggest_ever_reform_of Cybersecurity_Framework⠀⇛ CSF 2.0 blueprint offered up for public review # ⚓ Reason ☛ “Hacker’s_Mind”_Meets_Lawyer’s_Mind⠀⇛ Interviewing Bruce Schneier in episode 444 of the Cyberlaw Podcast # ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Russian_national_accused_of_developing, selling_malware_appears_in_U.S._court⠀⇛ Dariy Pankov faces up to 47 years in prison on charges linked to credential sales and offering access to the NLBrute malware. # ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Salad_shortages_reported_following ransomware_attack_on_agricultural_giant_Dole⠀⇛ A ransomware attack on multinational agricultural giant Dole plc has caused salad shortages after the company was forced to shut down production facilities in the U.S. Dole disclosed the ransomware attack in a brief statement on Wednesday, saying it moved quickly to contain the threat and engaged outside cybersecurity experts… ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Largely_undetected_malware_family_targets_pirated_[sic]_macOS applications⠀⇛ Security researchers at Apple Inc. enterprise management firm Jamf Holding Corp. today detailed a largely undetected family of malware that infects pirated macOS applications to mine cryptocurrency secretly. The malware uses XMRig, an open-source command line cryptomining tool commonly used for legitimate purposes, for nefarious intent. ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ A_year_after_Russia’s_invasion,_the_scope_of_cyberwar_in Ukraine_comes_into_focus⠀⇛ The Ukraine war has inspired a defensive cyber effort that government officials and technology executives describe as unprecedented. ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ White_House_cybersecurity_strategy_to_force_large companies_to_make_systems_secure_by_design [Ed: So that is effectively a ban on Microsoft products, right?]⠀⇛ The highly anticipated strategy document aims to deliver security improvements to the broader digital ecosystem. ⚓ Security Week ☛ Stealthy_Mac_Malware_Delivered_via_Pirated_Apps⠀⇛ Cybercriminals are delivering stealthy cryptojacking malware to Macs using pirated apps and they could use the same method for other malware. ⚓ Security Week ☛ Russian_Accused_of_Developing_NLBrute_Malware_Extradited_to US⠀⇛ A Russian malware developer behind the NLBrute brute-forcing tool has been extradited to the United States from Georgia. ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ The_Energy_Department’s_Puesh_Kumar_on_grid_hacking, Ukraine_and_Pipedream_malware⠀⇛ Puesh Kumar, director of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, discusses how the DOE fends off hackers. ⚓ North_Korean_hackers_move_$3.2M_from_Gate.io_2018_hack⠀⇛ The majority of $234 million stolen in the attack was already laundered. The recent movements involved funds that were dormant for 4.5 years. ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ KS:_Hutchinson_Clinic_issues_alert_concerning_December_data breach⠀⇛ Their notice indicates that neither patients nor HHS has been notified as yet. ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Chinese_security_researchers_claim_to_have_identified ‘Against_The_West’_hackers⠀⇛ There’s little doubt that the individuals involved in ATW are pro- West. And some of what is reported about them is consistent with what a spokesperson had told DataBreaches in an April 2022 interview. AgainstTheWest (“ATW”) had a history on Twitter and Telegram that was replete with drama as members left or split or fought, and as accounts were canceled by platforms. When the Breached forum opened in early 2022, ATW, who had been on Raid Forums prior to its seizure, joined. ⚓ Financial Times ☛ ‘Nevada_Group’_hackers_target_thousands_of_computer networks⠀⇛ A mysterious and unidentified group of hackers has sought to paralyse the computer networks of almost 5,000 victims across the US and Europe, in one of the most widespread ransomware attacks on record. The hacking unit, initially nicknamed the Nevada Group by security researchers, began a series of attacks that started around three weeks ago by exploiting an easily fixed vulnerability in a piece of code that is ubiquitous in cloud servers. The Financial Times contacted several victims identified from the publicly available information. Most declined to comment, saying they had been asked by law enforcement to do so. They include universities in the US and Hungary, shipping and construction groups in Italy and manufacturers in Germany. ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Russian_Malware_Developer_Arrested_And_Extradited_To_The United_States⠀⇛ Pankov, a citizen and resident of Russia, was taken into custody by Georgian authorities in the Republic of Georgia, on October 4, 2022, and extradited to the United States pursuant to a request from the United States. Pankov appeared before United States Magistrate Christopher P. Tuite on February 21, 2023, in Tampa, Florida and was ordered detained pending trial. ⚓ Dutch News ☛ Three_arrested_in_massive_hacking,_data_theft_and_blackmail probe;_One_was_a_whitehat_researcher ⠀⇛ Amsterdam’s cyber crime police team has arrested three young men as part of a major investigation into hacking, data theft, blackmail and money laundering involving the private details of tens of millions of people. ⚓ IT News AU ☛ The_Good_Guys_warns_of_customer_data_leak_–_Security_–_iTnews⠀⇛ The Good Guys is the latest company to reveal that some of its customer leaked in a historical data breach at My Rewards. According to The Good Guys’ notification, the breach occurred at My Rewards, known at the time of the breach as Pegasus Group, a provider of loyalty program software and services. The Good Guys said only limited data leaked in the breach: names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses, and in some cases, an encrypted password and date of birth if the customer had provided it. ⚓ Bleeping Computer ☛ TELUS_investigating_leak_of_stolen_source_code,_employee data⠀⇛ ⚓ Taiwan News ☛ Chinese_national_accused_of_2022_mass_data_leak⠀⇛ An investigation into the leak of 23 million items of personal data, including that of the relatives of Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Secretary-General of the National Security Council Wellington Koo (顧立雄), has concluded the hacker responsible was a Chinese national. In October 2022, an individual using the alias “OKE” listed over 23 million personal data records for sale online that were reportedly Taiwan Household Registration Office records, though the office denied it was the source. The data included people’s ID codes, birthplaces, educational backgrounds, phone numbers, addresses, and names. * § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ o ⚓ Latvia ☛ Mandatory_eID_deadline_pushed_back_eight_years⠀⇛ Persons with a valid passport will not have to get a mandatory electronic identification (eID) card yet, the Saeima confirmed in the final reading on February 23. o ⚓ Reason ☛ FTC_Investigating,_but_Not_Thwarting,_Amazon_Acquisition of_One_Medical⠀⇛ Since the Federal Trade Commission didn’t sue in time, the deal went through. But will FTC Chair Lina Khan keep trying to attack Amazon for its bigness? o ⚓ Stacey on IoT ☛ Podcast_411:_IoT_is_ready_to_tackle_data privacy⠀⇛ The Connectivity Standards Alliance is back in the news this week with the launch of a new working group focused on data privacy, which we’re super pumped about. § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ * ⚓ The Strategist ☛ Will_South_Korea_become_the_next_nuclear-weapon state?⠀⇛ It has long been a concern that North Korea’s nuclear posturing would goad or frighten its neighbours into developing their own nuclear capability. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Thousands_gathered_Friday_in_Rīga_to_support_Ukraine⠀⇛ To express support for Ukraine and condemn Russian war against it, on Friday February 24, a rally took place at the Freedom Monument in Rīga, organized by the Civic Alliance of Latvia. Several thousand people had gathered, Latvian Radio reported. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Baltic_and_Polish_parliamentary_speakers:_Ukraine’s_victory_is the_way_to_peace⠀⇛ Speaker of the Saeima (Parliament of Latvia) Edvard Smiltēns and the Speakers of the Parliaments of Estonia, Lithuania and Poland issued a Joint Declaration February 24 in which they reaffirmed their full solidarity with the people of Ukraine, condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and underlined that the victory of Ukraine is the only way to restore peace in Europe. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvians_donated_over_€100,000_daily_to_Ukraine_all_year⠀⇛ Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Latvia’s citizens and businesses have donated 104 thousand euros to Ukraine on average each day, contributing a total of €38 million, the charity platform Ziedot.lv said on February 24. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ President_Levits:_“Evil_must_be_resisted. Evil_must_be punished.”⠀⇛ Latvian State President Egils Levits on February 24 released a video message marking one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. A translation is reproduced below. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Discussion:_“Standing_by_Ukraine_Against_Russia’s Aggression”⠀⇛ On February 24, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Latvian Transatlantic Organisation (LATO) is holding a discussion titled “Standing by Ukraine Against Russia’s Aggression”. * ⚓ Security Week ☛ A_Year_of_Conflict:_Cybersecurity_Industry_Assesses Impact_of_Russia-Ukraine_War⠀⇛ On the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cybersecurity companies summarize the cyber operations they have seen and their impact. * ⚓ Security Week ☛ 11_Countries_Take_Part_in_Military_Cyberwarfare Exercise⠀⇛ 750 cyber specialists have participated in Defence Cyber Marvel 2 (DCM2), the biggest military cyberwarfare exercise in Western Europe. * ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Jeffrey_Sachs:_Who_really_blew_up_the_Nord_Stream_2 pipeline?⠀⇛ On the 26th of September last year, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was sabotaged. Despite months of investigations from multiple countries involving deep-sea diving expeditions and sonar detection, no culprit has been found. * ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ A_year_after_Russia’s_invasion_of_Ukraine,_a_global fossil_fuels_bonanza_could_spark_conflicts_elsewhere⠀⇛ On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Greenpeace campaigners in the U.S. and offices around the world are warning of the rapid expansion of fossil fuel projects and multiple conflicts that could follow as a result. The past year has seen nations worldwide united in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and attempted illegal annexations. * ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Gap_in_the_New_START:_New_START_does_not_address hypersonic_missiles⠀⇛ Since the dawn of the atomic age, Russia (ex-Soviet Union) and the United States have been locked in an intense geopolitical and military competition, resulting in various new technological and military developments over the last seven decades. The United States was the first to acquire atomic weapons, followed by the Soviet Union. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Destroyed_Russian_tank_now_enhances_view_from_Russian_embassy in_Rīga⠀⇛ Any Russian diplomats (or spies) who have got tired of the view of a death’s head Putin from their embassy windows will no doubt be delighted that they now have a new sight to while away the hours between justifications of genocide and the spreading of gonzo propaganda. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvia_has_no_more_Soviet-era_military_equipment,_says commander⠀⇛ Latvia has completely eliminated the military technology of Soviet times, gradually replacing it with more modern equipment, the National Armed Forces (NBS) Commander Leonīds Kalniņš said in an interview with Latvian Television February 24. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Re:Baltica_investigates_Latvia’s_‘Deniers,_Agitators_and Glorifiers’_of_Russia’s_war⠀⇛ The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re:Baltica, has a new story available in English that outlines who in Latvia are the few public supporters of Russian war crimes, and what action law enforcement has taken with respect to their views. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvian_parliament:_Russia_is_“greatest_threat_to_peace_and international_law_in_the_world”⠀⇛ In an extraordinary session before its scheduled sitting on February 23, the Saeima considered and approved a draft decision prepared by the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Saeima to mark the anniversary of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. * ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Russians_mark_Ukraine_war_anniversary_with flowers,_arrests⠀⇛ Russians in Moscow and other cities brought flowers to Ukrainian poets and held one-person pickets with antiwar slogans to mark the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian media and rights groups reported at least a dozen detentions on Friday. OVD-Info, a legal aid group that tracks political arrests, said at least eight people were detained in Yekaterinburg after they brought flowers to the city’s monument to victims of political repression. The Kremlin’s sweeping crackdown on dissent has spiked to unprecedented levels since the start of the war. Russians all across the country actively protested during the first week of the invasion, but large rallies quickly fizzled after thousands of demonstrators were detained. * ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Japan_to_propose_new_Russia_sanctions_at_online G-7_summit⠀⇛ Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he plans to present to other Group of Seven countries a set of “new ideas” for sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine when he hosts an online G-7 summit later in the day to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion. Kishida, as this year’s G-7 president, told a news conference Friday that he also planned to call on other countries to stop providing military support for Russia. Kishida will host a teleconference with other G-7 leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later Friday. * ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Tears,_defiance_and_new_tanks_in_Ukraine_for_war anniversary⠀⇛ Ukraine’s leader has pledged to push for victory in 2023 as he and other Ukrainians marked the somber first anniversary of the Russian invasion. On a day of commemorations, reflection and tears, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy captured the national mood of resilience Friday in the face of Europe’s biggest and deadliest war since World War II. Zelenskyy said Ukrainians proved themselves to be invincible during “a year of pain, sorrow, faith and unity.” Ukrainians wept at memorials for their tens of thousands of dead. At a funeral in northeastern Ukraine, a friend bid farewell to a soldier buried as people around the country looked back and also at the clouded future. * ⚓ AntiWar ☛ War_and_Indifference⠀⇛ Which is more destructive to personal liberty, a government that engages in secret acts of war or a public and news media that are indifferent to it? * ⚓ AntiWar ☛ Endless_Wars_Are_the_Enemy_of_Freedom⠀⇛ “Autocrats only understand one word: no, no, no. No you will not take my country, no you will not take my freedom, no you will not take my future… A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberty. * ⚓ AntiWar ☛ When_Biden_Says_‘As_Long_As_It_Takes,’_What_Does_Ukraine Hear?⠀⇛ In his State of the Union Address on February 7, President Joe Biden once again told Ukraine that “America…will stand with you as long as it takes.” In case the world didn’t hear, Biden moved to a more dramatic stage and repeated the words. § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ * ⚓ American Oversight ☛ Judge_Rejects_Efforts_by_Texas_Gov._Abbott_and Attorney_General_Paxton_to_Dismiss_Records_Suit⠀⇛ * ⚓ American Oversight ☛ News_Roundup:_Rewriting_History⠀⇛ § Environment⠀➾ * ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Lula_is_back._Are_Brazil’s_climate_credentials?⠀⇛ Lula’s return to office in Brazil heralded a renewed commitment to environmental stewardship. But steps mu * § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ o ⚓ Quartz ☛ How_much_money_did_India_save_in_a_year_by_buying Russian_fuel?⠀⇛ The West’s sanctions on Russia’s oil trade have benefited India hugely. In less than a year, the government has saved an estimated $4 billion by ramping up Russian oil imports. o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ SEC_Takes_on_Binance.US’s_Voyager_Acquisition_in_New Front_to_Crypto_Regulation⠀⇛ The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance is facing intense scrutiny as of late, and the pressure doesn’t seem to be letting up. * § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ o ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Creepy_Study_Shows_How_Fungi_Lure_Tree-Killing Beetles_to_Their_Next_Prey⠀⇛ A toxic relationship. o ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ Owl’s_Rest⠀⇛ Encountering the Wild Where We Are This evening I was relieved to see her take flight. It was after dusk, and she had been very still in her sound sleep all day. Her eyelids were shut tight over her huge yellow eyes as the wind tousled her long, brown shawl of striped feathers. T o ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ Choosing_a_Partnership_Future:_Evolving_a Sustainable,_Life-Affirming_Way_of_Being_on_Earth⠀⇛ “Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something. You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet”. – Carl Sagan, Astrophysicist   o ⚓ IDA ☛ Monthly_Star:_YOU⠀⇛ Each month the International Dark-Sky Association features an IDA Advocate from the worldwide network of volunteers who are working to protect the night in a feature called ‘Monthly Star.’ § Finance⠀➾ * ⚓ Quartz ☛ How_Russia’s_economy_unexpectedly_survived_a_year_of_war_and sanctions⠀⇛ It didn’t take long after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 for_Western_sanctions to come crashing down on Moscow—volley after punitive volley of economic constraints, all designed to hobble Russia and its citizens from transacting on the world market. * ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ The_big_questions_(and_answers)_about_Ajay_Banga’s nomination_to_lead_the_World_Bank⠀⇛ What to know about the former Mastercard chief executive officer’s surprise nomination to lead the World Bank. * ⚓ Quartz ☛ Biden_has_nominated_Mastercard’s_ex-CEO_Ajay_Banga_for_World Bank_president⠀⇛ The White House yesterday (Feb. 23) announced that the US is nominating Ajay Banga to succeed David Malpass as World Bank president. * ⚓ Quartz ☛ The_value_of_US_homes_recorded_its_biggest_six-month_drop since_2008⠀⇛ US homes have recorded the largest fall in value since the global financial crisis. * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Google_Tells_Some_Employees_to_Share_Desks_After_Pushing Return-to-Office_Plan⠀⇛ Google, a company once known for its lavish and borderline absurd_in-office_perks like endless free meals and snacks, massages, yoga classes, and designated recreation areas, has fallen on hard times. Now, the most standard of office equipment will apparently be in short supply for some of the tech giant’s workers. * ⚓ Quartz ☛ Toyota_and_Honda_announce_broad_raises_for_Japanese_workers⠀⇛ Honda and Toyota announced that they had fully met the salary and bonus demands set out by the_national_automobile_workers’ union_on_Wednesday, as the country’s largest automakers attempt to adjust wages in line with last year’s record inflation. * ⚓ Latvia ☛ Latvian_unemployment_rate_at_6.9%_in_2022⠀⇛ According to data published on February 24 by Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia (CSB), 65.2 thousand persons aged 15–74 (incl.) were unemployed in 2022. * ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ EU:_Freeing_ex-senator_can_help_Manila_keep trade_incentives⠀⇛ A group of European parliamentarians says the Philippines’ chances of retaining special trading incentives, including zero tariffs for a wide array of products, will be boosted if it decides to release a long-detained opposition leader and rejoin the International Criminal Court. When asked in a news conference in Manila on Friday if the release of former Sen. Leila de Lima and a decision to rejoin the ICC could help the Philippines retain the incentives under the so-called Generalized Scheme of Preferences, or GSP Plus, they said that would be a strong indication of the Philippines’ willingness to uphold human rights that is required for the trading incentives to continue. * ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Illinois_investigating_drugmaker_Akorn’s_abrupt closure⠀⇛ State labor officials are investigating an Illinois-based pharmaceutical company’s decision to abruptly close all of its operations, including its out-of-state locations in New Jersey, New York and Switzerland, and to lay off hundreds of workers with almost no warning. The Chicago Tribune reports that Gurnee-based Akorn Operating Co. told its 400 workers on Wednesday that it planned to file for bankruptcy and that they would be laid off within 24 hours. CEO Douglas Boothe told employees that the company made the move after failing to find a buyer. An Illinois Department of Labor spokesperson said Thursday that the agency is investigating the situation because Akorn didn’t file the required 60-day notice of mass layoffs or plant closures until Wednesday. * ⚓ NYPost ☛ Cost-cutting_Alphabet_is_even_laying_off_the_robots_that cleaned_cafeteria⠀⇛ Everyday Robots was the brainchild of X, Alphabet’s “moonshot” research and development factory. * ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Dapper_Labs_cuts_20%_more_staff_in_a_second_round_of layoffs⠀⇛ Dapper Labs Inc. announced Thursday that the company is laying off 20% more of its employees as part of a restructuring plan less than four months after the company behind the NBA Top Shot nonfungible token marketplace said it was cutting 22% of staffers. ⚓ The Register UK ☛ Ericsson_pulls_plug_on_8,500_workers⠀⇛ Ericsson is planning to cut 8,500 workers, or about eight percent of its 105,000-strong workforce. The layoffs are said to be coming worldwide mostly in the first half of this year, and some possibly into the next. “The way headcount reductions will be managed will differ depending on local country practice,” CEO Borje Ekholm wrote in a memo to staff Friday, which was first reported by Reuters. “In several countries the headcount reductions have already been communicated this week.” These layoffs include the 1,400 jobs the Stockholm-based biz on Monday said it would ditch in Sweden. We’re told this is all part of a roughly $900 million cost-slashing drive for the year, which was announced at an investor day in December. ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ [Mexican]_Inflation_recedes_in_first_half_of_February⠀⇛ Annual headline inflation of 7.76% is down 0.12% compared to the last half of January, but still well above the central bank’s target of 3%. ⚓ NYPost ☛ Fed’s_key_gauge_of_US_inflation_surges_at_fastest_rate_since_June⠀⇛ The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge rose last month at its fastest pace since June, an alarming sign that price pressures remain entrenched in the US economy and could lead the Fed to keep raising interest rates well into this year. ⚓ NYPost ☛ Dow_drops_400_points_as_hot_inflation_data_fuels_rate-hike_worries⠀⇛ Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of US economic activity, jumped 1.8% last month, the Commerce Department said. § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ TikTok_Complains_It’s_‘Under_a_Cloud’_Following_Its_Most Recent_Ban⠀⇛ TikTok is pushing back against the European Union for not informing the company that they were banning the app on all government devices. The EU also took steps to ban the Chinese- owned app on staff’s personal devices with corporate access, amid concerns that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance_is accessing_user_data. * ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ European_Commission_bans_staff_from_using_TikTok_on corporate_and_personal_devices⠀⇛ The European Commission has banned staff from using TikTok on their corporate and personal devices amid growing concerns about patent company ByteDance Ltd.’s links to the Chinese government. ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Facebook_Whistleblower_Aims_at_a_New_Target:_Meta’s_Would-Be Investors⠀⇛ On Thursday, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen spoke to a national organization that convenes investors, telling them that Meta was an unwise place to put their money —specifically the version of Meta under the direction of Mark_Zuckerberg. § Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda⠀➾ * ⚓ Scoop News Group ☛ Russia’s_information_war_against_Ukraine_went stealth_after_Meta_crackdown⠀⇛ Russia’s covert operations are prioritizing quantity over quality but researchers say the approach isn’t working. * ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ Marilyn_Manson_Accuser_Admits_to_‘Spreading Publicly_False_Accusations_of_Abuse’⠀⇛ A woman who sued Marilyn Manson for sexual assault says in a new legal filing that the allegations were untrue and that she was “manipulated” by Manson’s ex-girlfriend, § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Meta_Is_Making_It_Harder_to_Wind_Up_in_Facebook_Jail⠀⇛ Facebook jail is about to get less crowded. Under a new set of policies revealed this Thursday, parent company Meta says it’s now harder for users to wind up with their Facebook accounts suspended for lesser violations of its rules. * ⚓ Reason ☛ Misdemeanant_/_Senate_Candidate_Don_Blankenship_Loses_Appeal Over_News_Outlets’_Calling_Him_“Felon”⠀⇛ From Blankenship v. NBCUniversal, LLC (4th Cir.), decided Wednesday by Chief Judge Roger Gregory, Judge Paul Niemeyer, and District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles (E.D. Va.): Following an unsuccessful campaign for one of West Virginia’s U.S. Senate seats, § Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press⠀➾ * ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ Letter_from_the_editors:_Arts_journalism_needs independence⠀⇛ The Vol. 262 and 263 Managing Editors of the Arts & Life section speak on the importance of objective art journalism. * ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ ‘Freedom_of_the_press’:_The_history_of_The_Daily’s independence⠀⇛ In 1973, The Stanford Daily became independent from the University — but it wasn’t always that way. Here’s the story of how The Daily gained independence. * ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ From_the_editor:_Celebrating_50_years_of_The_Daily’s independence⠀⇛ Vol. 262 and 263 Editor in Chief of The Stanford Daily Sam Catania ’24 introduces a special anniversary issue of The Daily. * ⚓ uni Stanford ☛ What_does_Daily_independence_mean_in_practice?⠀⇛ Legal Director and Board Chair Andrew Bridges ’76 discusses the meaning of independence in practice along with recalling his experience as a Daily staffer. § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ * ⚓ Quartz ☛ How_an_internal_coaching_program_supports_employee_wellbeing and_performance⠀⇛ How do leaders role model prioritizing emotional and mental well-being for our teams? It’s a question I ask myself often in my role with talent and culture at KPMG US. * ⚓ AccessNow ☛ Technology_for_Democracy_at_the_second_U.S._Summit:_an update_on_our_progress⠀⇛ We are gearing up for the second U.S. Summit for Democracy from March 29-30, and are excited to share our progress to date. * ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Iran’s_‘women,_life,_freedom’_revolution_has_a manifesto._Here_are_the_next_steps.⠀⇛ Signed by twenty organizations and released on February 13, the manifesto gathered the support of many civil society organizations in Iran. * ⚓ The Daily Beast ☛ Inside_the_Employee_Revolt_Rocking_Amazon_Over_Return to_Work⠀⇛ § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ We_Could_Soon_Open_a_Pandora’s_Box_of_Impossible_Speech Laws⠀⇛ This week, the Supreme Court is hearing two cases that could upend_the_way we’ve come to understand freedom of speech on the internet. Both Gonzalez_v._Google and Twitter_v._Taamneh ask the court to reconsider how the law interprets Section 230, a regulation that protects companies from legal liability… § Digital Restrictions (DRM)⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Netflix_Slashes_Subscription_Prices_in_Over_30_Countries⠀⇛ Netflix just can’t seem to decide on the best way to keep users using the platform. The streaming service is reportedly cutting monthly_subscription_costs in over three dozen countries across the world, with some discounts being as much as half of the current monthly subscription. § Monopolies⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ DOJ_Investigation_Threatens_The_Reign_Of_Google_Maps⠀⇛ Google’s dominance in the mapping space is facing a probe by the U.S. Department of Justice. Officials are reportedly looking into whether the tech giant is breaking_antitrust_laws on its Google_Maps app. * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Google_Doesn’t_Want_to_Pay_Websites_for_Content,_so_It’s Blocking_News_in_Canada [Ed: Gulag should not need to pay THEM to send THEM traffic. This is Microsoft lobbying!]⠀⇛ Google is following the_Facebook_playbook and threatening to cut off access to news in Canada unless lawmakers agree to gut legislation aimed at making tech companies pay publishers for their content. * § Patents⠀➾ o ⚓ Unified Patents ☛ Litigation_Investment_Entities_(LIEs)_Tracker is_latest_feature_added_to_Unified’s_Portal⠀⇛ As part of ongoing deterrence activities, Unified’s Portal is introducing the most comprehensive tracker of Litigation Investment Entities (LIEs). * § Copyrights⠀➾ o ⚓ Michael Geist ☛ Canadian_Copyright,_Fair_Dealing_and_Education, Part_Four:_The_Disappearance_of_Course_Packs⠀⇛ Canadian copyright lobby groups effort to persuade the government to restrict fair dealing has often focused on a particular use case: the course pack. For many years, course packs were used by university and college professors to pull together a customized collection of reading materials for their courses. o ⚓ Michael Geist ☛ The_Bill_C-18_Reality:_Everyone_Loses_When_the Government_Mandates_Payments_for_Links⠀⇛ The report that Google is conducting a national test that removes links to Canadian news sites for a small percentage of users sparked a predictable reaction as politicians who were warned that Bill C-18 could lead to this, now want to know how it could happen. None_of_this week’s_developments_should_come_as_a_surprise. Bill C-18 presents Google and Facebook with a choice: pay hundreds of millions of dollars primarily to Canadian broadcasters for links to news articles or stop linking. o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ An_AI-Illustrated_Comic_Has_Lost_a_Key_Copyright_Case⠀⇛ When Kris Kashtanova attempted to copyright their comic book Zarya of the Dawn, the United States Copyright Office originally granted them the rights. o ⚓ Reason ☛ Copyright_Office:_No_Copyright_Protection_for_Certain AI-Generated_Works⠀⇛ Law from the dawn of the dawn of the AI age. o ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ US_Copyright_Office_Refuses_to_Issue Protections_for_AI-Generated_Illustrations⠀⇛ AI-created images lose US copyright protections in a legal test for the new technology. § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ * § Personal⠀➾ o ⚓ Solutionism⠀⇛ Let’s see what xn--gckvb8fzb complains about…wants things to be available via HTTP, thinks gemini makes getting content harder, does admit that the modern web sucks, but never says what the suck is. Hmm. Well. One could demand that books be written in English, in addition to the other languages the author might use, so that the English speaker need not go to the trouble of learning something else. Entitled, much? Realistically, new works will continue to be written in not-English, just as new materials will continue to be made available over not- web. o ⚓ Amateur_Radio_Update:_Morse_Code⠀⇛ I haven’t posted for a while about amateur radio adventures, not because I abandoned it, but because I have been very busy trying to learn Morse code. I feel that CW operation is the big next step I need to take. It has proved much more challenging than I expected to learn morse code, so I’ve already spent many lunch breaks work on it, and I am estimating it will be another few weeks at least before I can operate. It is not really challenging to learn the characters, so much, as it is to learn the sounds well enough that I can copy without pausing frequently or missing a bunch of characters. I switch back and forth between using some Koch training software, and then practicing straight key work in my radio’s practice mode, and then trying to transcribe signals I am hearing on 20m. I’m aiming for 10 wpm, which is slow enough to be practical for a beginner, but fast enough not to be boring. So far I can hear around 12 letters pretty well (no numbers yet) but each time I learn a new letter, it interrupts my flow, and the accuracy drops about 30 or 40 percent. Fortunately, there are plenty of CW signals coming in on 20m to listen to, though about two-thirds of them are too fast for me to try to copy. o ⚓ In_which_I_discuss_depression⠀⇛ I saw someone described as “battling depression”. That’s a poor analogy. There’s no battle. It’s more “sitting down while depression pours shit over you”. It helps me to visualise it as a separate entity that’s deliberately harming me. It’s uncomfortable to acknowledge it as part of me. But I wonder if it’s healthy to divide myself into bits. Occasionally I can be detached enough that there’s a third part of me, watching the depression making everything impossibly difficult. * § Technical⠀➾ o ⚓ 289_bytes_of_css_only_explained⠀⇛ o ⚓ Raspberri_Pi_but_for_real⠀⇛ I bought a 1TB card for the Raspberry Pi. I have an old one, a model 1B. A week ago I used an old 16 GiB card with a version of Debian Buster on it, upgraded it to Bullseye, and deleted all the stuff I felt was unnecessary. It took me a very long time. All I really wanted was to have it run `mpd` (a music server). o ⚓ Generating_Favicons_from_Unicode_Glyphs⠀⇛ TIL I can easily create favicons on the command line. But, alas, the internet giveth and the internet taketh way. I can’t find the page, where I first found out about `convert`, probably some Stack Exchange site. So, I’m sorry, no attribution. For the following examples I’ll be using the “Black Star” Unicode glyph (`U+2605`): ★ =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 6906 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 02.25.23⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ Gemini_version_available_♊︎ ✐ Links_25/02/2023:_TUXEDO_OS_2_and_Ambient_0.1⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 9:41 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Audiocasts/Shows o Kernel_Space o Instructionals/Technical o Games o Desktop_Environments/WMs # GNOME_Desktop/GTK * Distributions_and_Operating_Systems o BSD o Fedora_Family_/_IBM o Mobile_Systems/Mobile_Applications * Free,_Libre,_and_Open_Source_Software o GNU_Projects o Programming/Development # Python # Go # Rust * Leftovers o Science o Hardware 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 Digital_Restrictions_(DRM) o Monopolies # Patents # Copyrights * Gemini*_and_Gopher o Personal o Technical * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ Video ☛ How_to_install_KaOS_2023.02_–_Invidious⠀⇛ In this video, I am going to show how to install KaOS 2023.02. # ⚓ Video ☛ Athena_OS_2023.02.20_overview_|_a_Arch_Linux-based distro_focused_on_Cybersecurity_–_Invidious⠀⇛ In this video, I am going to show an overview of Athena OS 2023.02.20 and some of the applications pre-installed. # ⚓ Video ☛ How_to_install_Viber_on_Linux_Lite_6.2_– Invidious⠀⇛ In this video, we are looking at how to install Viber on Linux Lite 6.2. # ⚓ Video ☛ Openbox_Was_My_First_Window_Manager_(It’s_Still Great!)_–_Invidious⠀⇛ The very first standalone window manager that I ever used was Openbox. That was about 15 years ago, but I have used Openbox off-and-on several times of those years. But not recently. So today, I’m revisiting my old Openbox configs that I haven’t tried out in probably 4 or 5 years. # ⚓ Video ☛ This_Wayland_Change_Will_Improve_Linux_Forever_– Invidious⠀⇛ One of the most devastating things to happen to your Linux desktop is it crashing it making you lose all of your unsaved work but there is a change in progress to Wayland to fix that. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ LWN ☛ Linux_6.2.1⠀⇛ I’m announcing the release of the 6.2.1 kernel. All users of the 6.2 kernel series must upgrade. The updated 6.2.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ stable/linux-stable.git linux-6.2.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/ linux-s… thanks, greg k-h # ⚓ LWN ☛ Linux_6.1.14⠀⇛ # ⚓ LWN ☛ Linux_5.15.96⠀⇛ # ⚓ LWN ☛ Linux_5.10.170⠀⇛ # ⚓ LWN ☛ Linux_5.4.233⠀⇛ # ⚓ LWN ☛ Linux_4.19.274⠀⇛ # ⚓ LWN ☛ Linux_4.14.307⠀⇛ o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ FOSS Post ☛ Enable_Zram_on_Linux_For_Better_System Performance⠀⇛ zRAM is a Linux kernel module that allows the creation of Swap devices on memory. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Pale_Moon_Browser_on_Debian_11⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Pale Moon Browser on Debian 11. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Microsoft_Fonts_on_Ubuntu_22.04 LTS⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Microsoft Fonts on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. # ⚓ H2S Media ☛ Install_GitHub_Desktop_App_on_Ubuntu_22.04_or 20.04_Linux [Ed: GitHub is proprietary and Microsoft's attack on Git, as well as millions of other projects. Don't use it, shun it.]⠀⇛ GitHub Desktop is a free and open-source graphical user interface (GUI) to run on Windows or macOS for Git version control. # ⚓ H2S Media ☛ Get_BlueMail_Client_installed_on_Ubuntu_22.04 LTS_Linux⠀⇛ Have you ever wished you could check your email directly from the Desktop interface of your Linux but without opening the browser? # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ Linux_Basics_–_Set_a_Static_IP_on_Ubuntu⠀⇛ Set a static IP on Ubuntu. All Ubuntu versions, from Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 20.04 down to Ubuntu 12.04, are covered in this tutorial. The guide explains setting a static IP on an Ubuntu system from the command line. It covers the network configuration for all recent Ubuntu versions and includes instructions to configure a static IP address, set the hostname, and configure name resolving. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ Installing_and_using_Git_and_GitHub_on_Ubuntu Linux:_A_beginner’s_guide⠀⇛ This tutorial is a quick setup guide for installing and using GitHub and how to perform its various functions of creating a repository locally, connecting this repo to the remote host that contains your project (where everyone can see), committing the changes and finally pushing all the content in the local system to GitHub. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Ansible_AWX_on_Debian_11⠀⇛ Ansible AWX is a free and open-source web application sponsored by Red Hat that allows you to manage Ansible playbooks and inventories. This tutorial will show you how to install Ansible AWX on Debian 11. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Check_Disk_Space_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Tracking disk usage information is a day-to-day task of any system administrator. Linux has some built-in utilities that help you find the disk space of your system. In this post, we will show you how to check disk space on Linux using multiple ways. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Jira_Agile_Project_Management Tool_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ JIRA is a commercial software application developed by Atlassian for issue tracking and project management. This tutorial will show you how to install the JIRA project management tool on Ubuntu 22.04 server. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Apache_Maven_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Maven is a free, open-source, popular build tool developed by the Apache Group. It is used to build, publish, and deploy several projects simultaneously for better performance. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Nagios_Monitoring_Tool_on Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Nagios is a powerful free, open-source monitoring tool used for monitoring Linux and Windows servers and networks and infrastructure. With Nagios, you can monitor CPU usage, disk usage, and several services including HTTP, SSH, FTP, SMTP, and more. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_to_Install_Passbolt_Password_Manager_on Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Passbolt is a free and open-source password manager based on PHP, MySQL, and OpenPGP. It is a self- hosted application server, you can install it on your server. Passbolt is primarily designed for teams, but you can still use it as a personal password manager. # ⚓ HowTo Forge ☛ How_To_Install_Angular_on_Ubuntu_22.04⠀⇛ Angular.js is a free and open-source JavaScript framework used for building dynamic applications. This tutorial will show you how to install Angular.js with Nginx as a reverse proxy on Ubuntu 22.04. # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_ExifTool_on_Rocky_Linux_9⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install ExifTool on Rocky Linux 9. For those of you who didn’t know, ExifTool is a powerful command-line utility for reading, writing, and manipulating metadata… # ⚓ ID Root ☛ How_To_Install_Foreman_on_Ubuntu_22.04_LTS⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Foreman on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ Getting_started_with_Nano⠀⇛ Nano is a popular open-source command-line text editor that has been in development since 1999. It is designed to be simple and user-friendly, making it an ideal choice for users who are new to the world of Linux or command-line interfaces. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ Customizing_nano_with_nanorc_file⠀⇛ Nano is a lightweight and user-friendly text editor that is widely used by programmers, system administrators, and other Linux users. One of the great features of Nano is its ability to be customized with the ~/.nanorc and /etc/nanorc files. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ How_to_Copy_and_Paste_in_Nano⠀⇛ Nano is a powerful text editor that is widely used on Unix-like operating systems, including Linux. Whether you are a developer, system administrator, or just a regular user, you may need to copy and paste text in Nano. In this article, we will show you how to copy and paste in Nano. # ⚓ TecAdmin ☛ How_to_Kill_Running_Process_by_ID_in_MySQL⠀⇛ MySQL is a popular open-source relational database management system used by millions of developers worldwide. While it is essential to monitor running processes in MySQL, it is also important to terminate any processes that are no longer needed. # ⚓ The New Stack ☛ Deploy_a_Persistent_Kubernetes_Application with_Portainer⠀⇛ I’ve been quite vocal over the past year as to how much I depend on Portainer as my container management… # ⚓ UNIX Cop ☛ Monitor_the_bandwidth_in_the_terminal_with bmon⠀⇛ There are many tools to monitor systems, but occasionally, they can be overwhelming because of the number of options they have and if you are looking for a specific one, then you should find a good and simple one. For example, today, you will learn how to use bmon to Monitor the bandwidth. # ⚓ How_to_move_a_Volume_Group_from_one_system_to_another⠀⇛ There are situations where we would be required to move a whole volume group from one system to another system for some requirement. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Mike_Blumenkrantz:_Monumental⠀⇛ § [AIRPLANE NOISES] It finally happened. Zink has been commercialized. What does this mean, you ask? Well, look no further than this juicy X-Plane_announcement. That’s right, after months and decades of waiting, the testing and debugging is over, and Zink is now a gaming driver that runs real games in production for real, existing people. Who play games. At full speed. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # § GNOME Desktop/GTK⠀➾ # ⚓ GNOME ☛ Alexander_Mikhaylenko:_Introducing_Elastic⠀⇛ Elastic is a new spring animation editor app. Ever since 1.0, libadwaita has had spring_animations. These animations aren’t controlled with a duration and an easing function, but instead with physical properties: damping ratio (or optionally damping), mass, stiffness and initial velocity, as well as epsilon. While this allows for a lot of control over the animation, it can be pretty hard to understand if you’re not familiar with physics involved, and to be truly useful it needs an editor. So, Elastic is that editor. It provides a way to tweak each parameter, explains what they do, allows to preview the animation in various ways, and generates the code to create that animation. ⚓ This Week in GNOME ☛ Felix_Häcker:_#84_Polished_Circle⠀⇛ Update on what happened across the GNOME project in the week from February 17 to February 24. § Distributions and Operating Systems⠀➾ * ⚓ Barry Kauler ☛ Some_little_tweaks_before_releasing_easyOS_5.0⠀⇛ Committed some fixes: https://github.com/bkauler/woofq/commit/ b9ab70b84e342c1a8ea5e3ec28bdec4e859dd442 After discussion with Caramel about exporting keyboard layout to work with the Xephyr server in a container: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?p=82436#p82436 I committed a fix, well, hopefully a fix. See file ‘ec-chroot’. Feodor was experimenting changing the locale via QuickSetup. He changed from German to French, restarted X, all good. Then he changed to English and found some files were still in French. That has also been fixed, see file ‘quicksetup’. * ⚓ Barry Kauler ☛ Global_IP_TV_Panel_updated⠀⇛ ETP has updated TV Panel to version 2023MK1, see forum post: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=689 I have updated the PET in the EasyOS noarch repository. Added some translations to the ‘tvpanel.desktop’ file: * ⚓ Linuxiac ☛ TUXEDO_OS_2_Ships_with_Kernel_6.1_and_the_Latest_Plasma 5.27⠀⇛ Founded in Germany in 2004, Tuxedo Computers is a company that specializes in selling laptops and desktop computers preinstalled with Linux operating systems. Users can choose between Ubuntu and some of its flavors for the operating system or the in-house developed TUXEDO OS, with the latter being the company’s recommended choice. Following the announcement of the first release of its in-house operating system TUXEDO OS in early October 2022, the company has now come out with its sequel, TUXEDO OS 2. So let’s see what has changed. * ⚓ 9to5Linux ☛ TUXEDO_OS_2_Launches_with_KDE_Plasma_5.27_LTS_and_Linux Kernel_6.1_LTS⠀⇛ It’s been almost five months since the launch of TUXEDO OS to the general public and now TUXEDO OS 2 is here built on top of the latest KDE Plasma 5.27 LTS desktop environment series and it’s powered by the long-term supported Linux 6.1 LTS kernel series./p> The KDE Plasma desktop environment included in this release was backported from the KDE neon distribution and it’s accompanied by the latest KDE Frameworks 5.103 and KDE Gear 22.12.2 software suites, all built against Qt 5.15.8 LTS. * § BSD⠀➾ o ⚓ Dan Langille ☛ Moving_ZFS_filesystems/datasets_from_one_ZFS_zpool to_another⠀⇛ Now that I’ve filled up data01, I bought some more SSDs and created another zpool. Today, on this snow-is- anticipated Saturday winter morning, I’m going to move some ZFS filesystems/datasets around. Side note: I like the term dataset better than filesystem. o ⚓ Bryan Lunduke ☛ Lunduke_tries_FreeBSD…_and_it_doesn’t_totally suck!⠀⇛ Listen now (23 min) | The Lunduke Journal of Technology Podcast – Feb 24, 2023 * § Fedora Family / IBM⠀➾ o ⚓ Fabio_Alessandro_Locati:_Podman_ports_and_firewalld⠀⇛ A few weeks ago, I was doing a security check on one of my machines to ensure that everything was secure when I noticed that there were some ports open that I was surprised to find out. The way I discovered those ports was by checking some ports with netcat (nc -zv IP_ADDRESS PORT). I was expecting those ports to be closed, and I got surprised when netcat claimed to be able to connect to them. o ⚓ Talospace ☛ The_Talospace_Project:_Firefox_110_on_POWER⠀⇛ Firefox 110 is out, with graphics performance improvements like GPU-accelerated 2D canvas and faster WebGL, and the usual under the hood updates. * § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ o ⚓ Android Authority ☛ 5_Android_apps_you_shouldn’t_miss_this_week_– Android_Apps_Weekly⠀⇛ o ⚓ Android Police ☛ LumaFusion_now_available_to_all_aspiring_Android and_ChromeOS_video_editors⠀⇛ o ⚓ Business Standard ☛ Google_may_integrate_AI_text-to-image generator_to_Gboard_for_Android_|_Business_Standard_News⠀⇛ o ⚓ The Guardian UK ☛ Nokia_launches_DIY_repairable_budget_Android phone_|_Nokia_|_The_Guardian⠀⇛ o ⚓ Nokia_G22_is_the_Android_phone_built_for_you_to_fix_|_Trusted Reviews⠀⇛ o ⚓ Express ☛ Nokia’s_new_budget_Android_phone_offers_upgrade_its rivals_can’t_match_|_Express.co.uk⠀⇛ o ⚓ India Times ☛ miui_14_launch_date:_Xiaomi_to_launch_MIUI_14_with Android_13_in_India_on_this_date._Read_here_–_The_Economic_Times⠀⇛ § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ * ⚓ Self_hosting_in_2023⠀⇛ The blog that you are currently reading has a perfect PageSpeed score 100 / 100. At least at the moment of writing it 😄. It’s not a brag, quite the opposite. Turns out it’s not that hard to achieve it. Just host a static page with simple styles, and you’re done. Building a static page itself is quite simple. You plop an index.html and send it through a wire. You can get more sophisticated and generate it using a framework, like I’m doing with Astro. But that’s not the point of this post. The point is the hosting part of hosting a static page. And this page is hosted on my Raspberry Pi 4b at my house. Still doing great in terms of speed, costing close to nothing, and having endless possibilities for extending for free. In this blog post I’ll share with you how easy it was to set up. And how great of a dev experience I think it provides. * ⚓ Medium ☛ Mark_Mayo:_Why_I’m_all-in_on_the_fediverse⠀⇛ TL;DR: I’ve gone from skeptic to fan of Mastodon and the fediverse. To that end, I’ve been part of a small team that’s releasing a new iOS app today:Mammoth,_a_beautiful_Mastodon_app for_the_rest_of_us. It’s free, it’s high quality, we’re doing some novel things to make the whole experience more friendly and fun for new users, and it’s also a deeply customizable app we think anyone will love. I hope you like it.  We’ve already had a lot of amazing supporters who believe in the potential of the Fediverse and have been helping us start on our journey. A special mention goes to Mozilla who not only contributed financially but also with expertise and guidance. 🙏🙏 The story so far. It was back in October, on a rainy weekend, and my daughter and I ended up watching Kris_Nova’s_Twitch_stream as she and her band of merry ops peeps were hacking on the backend infrastructure for a Mastodon site called hachyderm.io. Curious name, we thought! More importantly, we were inspired by watching cool people working on something they loved, building something that mattered to them. A node on new kind of decentralized, community-at-the-core, network-of-social- networks. We created accounts and started exploring. * ⚓ How_The_Post_is_replacing_Mapbox_with_open_source_solutions_–_Kevin Schaul⠀⇛ * § GNU Projects⠀➾ o ⚓ GNU_Health:_Fundación_La_Vicuña_joins_GNU_Health⠀⇛ On Thursday, Feb 23rd, 2023, GNU Solidario and the Spanish NGO Fundación La Vicuña ORL have signed a cooperation agreement to promote and implement the Health and Hospital Management component from GNUHealth in those areas and institutions where Fundación La Vicuña has activities, mainly Spain and countries in Africa. Fundación La Vicuña is a non-profit organization founded 15 years ago by a group of physicians, mostly ear, nose and throat specialists in Cadiz, Spain. GNU Solidario and Fundacion La Vicuña share the goal of improving the lives of the underprivileged, through Social Medicine and universal access to healthcare. GNU Health will be a very valuable tool to assess the socioeconomic determinants of health and to minimize the impact in the vulnerable population, both in Spain and in the African continent. GNU Health will improve the management of health institutions and the daily medical practice where Fundación La Vicuña has missions. Patient evaluations, medical records, prescriptions, laboratory, surgeries and inpatient/hospitalization will be some of the areas that will benefit from GNU Health HMIS. Casimiro García, president and founder of Fundación La Vicuña and Luis Falcón, founder and president of GNU Solidario, formalized the cooperation agreement this Thursday. In the coming weeks, GNU Solidario will train the team from Fnd. La Vicuña in the use of GNUHealth, and a development environment will be rolled out. * § Programming/Development⠀➾ o ⚓ The_age_of_cargo_cult_Agile_must_end.⠀⇛ I found the article to be filled with misconceptions but given enough people have somehow found it insightful, I thought it might be worth writing a response. At first, I thought “The age of Agile must end” was an example of the cargo cult reinvention cycle but looking more closely, it seems like it’s both a cargo cult understanding of Agile AND arguing for something that is not aligned with Agile. I don’t necessarily think this was an intentional straw man argument though. o ⚓ Stop_Obsessing_Over_Development_Velocity,_Focus_on_This_Instead_– Itamar_Gilad⠀⇛ An awful lot of effort is going these days into boosting product teams’ productivity: getting them to burn those story points faster, deliver the planned scope in every sprint and cycle, and generally ship more stuff, faster. The term “development velocity” is often thrown around by executives, but what they’re actually aiming for is upping launch throughput—apparently a matter of vital importance for the success of the company. I’m here to argue that development velocity (whatever that means) and launch throughput are entirely the wrong optimizations. Obsessing over these things will distract you from what’s really important and is likely to do more harm than good. o ⚓ Scaling_Extreme_Programming:_Dependencies_–_by_Kent_Beck⠀⇛ (This will be the first in a series of posts about XP. I’m publishing them here because the overlap with Tidy First? readers seems substantial & the subscriber list is long. Please lmk if you’d rather I had channel/topic.) [...] Reversibility unclogs complexity for Whole Teams of 15 or so. It’s hard work, but okay. However, I never developed a story about scaling XP to organizations of hundreds or thousands of people. (Much more about this in followup posts.) Reversibility can go a long way even in large organizations. However, reversibility isn’t the whole story. Inter-connection, which is addressable in a world of direct human relationships among 15 people, becomes a more disruptive factor & difficult to address among a thousand. o ⚓ Brian Hicks ☛ advice_you_might_as_well_take⠀⇛ I’ve read some nice articles recently which I can sum up as “advice you might as well take.” This is stuff that’s good to consider at the beginning of a project, or when you’re about to add a feature to some existing software. These articles run counter to YAGNI (You Ain’t Gonna Need It), the software design principle that says you should only ever add things you’ll be using right away. Many even call this out in their titles! One even addresses this by coining an alternative term, PAGNI (Probably Are Gonna Need It), so let’s start with that one: o ⚓ DevLife_#5:_Microservice_Hell_–_by_Daniel_Dersch⠀⇛ Every single one of these micros likely has to interact with the user and tenant management service. Every request will need to be authenticated and authorized. The caller context has to be verified as it flows through every service. Each service will have to figure out how to ship their data to the Search micro. The various business logic services likely have dependencies on each other to avoid duplicated effort. In general, these pains are worth it. More micros means a smaller blast radius if a single micro is breached, more fault tolerance in case one of the micros becomes unavailable (unless it’s auth or user management), better resource utilization for heavily used services (like auth) and rarely used micros. o ⚓ Insignificant⠀⇛ Ever struggle with publishing that blog post or open source idea you have sitting around? But it feels too small? Too insignificant? It was almost 7 years ago, when the internet broke because a developer deleted their entire open source catalog from npm. The developer was upset because npm, a repository of open source projects, had sided with a lawyer in a trademark dispute. But some foundational projects, like Babel depended on that developer’s work. So when those dependencies vanished, foundational projects couldn’t be built anymore, and new versions of your web site or app all came crashing down. Many of us kept focusing on the question: should I depend on so many open source modules for the thing I’m building? But what I think is more interesting is what this story teaches us about creativity. o ⚓ Jim Nielsen ☛ Faux_Progress⠀⇛ For non-technical folks, the worst part is you don’t even know the spinner is fake! You likely interpret it as a legitimate representation of live feedback. I remember when I first started as a designer, I naively created a progress bar for some UI thinking, “We’ll indicate progress as this thing happens!” I was quickly informed that an accurate representation of progress was incredibly complex and not in the cards for our feature (’twas then I was introduced to the idea of polling). Since then, posts like Eric’s constantly remind me of the faux authenticity of so many of our digital experiences. I have no doubt progress bars and loading indicators are vastly misinterpreted by non-technical folks as feedback mechanisms which communicate the live, accurate progress of known-quantity computing tasks. o ⚓ Testing_packages_with_Lit_in_Gentoo⠀⇛ The file lit.site.cfg has to be inspected for any incorrect calls to executables. For example see src_prepare function form dev-lang/ boogie. o ⚓ React_Is_Holding_Me_Hostage⠀⇛ It feels like this article would have been sacrilege only a few years ago. Under protection of this new found trendiness in React displeasure, I’d like to finally say my piece. o ⚓ InfoWorld ☛ Project_Valhalla:_A_look_inside_Java’s_epic_refactor |_InfoWorld⠀⇛ Valhalla is nothing short of a Java language overhaul, promising to correct longstanding performance issues. Here’s a first look at what’s coming, starting with the new value classes and primitive classes. o ⚓ Dirk Eddelbuettel ☛ Dirk_Eddelbuettel:_ttdo_0.0.9_on_CRAN:_Small Update⠀⇛ A new minor release of our ttdo package arrived on CRAN a few days ago. The ttdo package extends the excellent (and very minimal / zero depends) unit testing package tinytest by Mark_van_der_Loo with the very clever and well-done diffobj package by Brodie_Gaslam to give us test results with visual diffs (as shown in the screenshot below) which seemingly is so compelling an idea that it eventually got copied by another package which shall remain unnamed… o ⚓ Null_safety:_Kotlin_vs._Java_|_by_Nicolas_Fränkel_|_Feb,_2023_| ITNEXT⠀⇛ The basic idea behind null is that one can define an uninitialized variable. If one calls a member of such a variable, the runtime locates the memory address of the variable… and fails to dereference it because there’s nothing behind it. o ⚓ Brian Hicks ☛ what_is_the_randomart_image_for?⠀⇛ When you generate an SSH key (like I did when looking at signing commits with SSH keys), you get a “randomart image” from ssh-keygen. o § Python⠀➾ # ⚓ Patrick_Cloke:_Python_str_Collection Gotchas⠀⇛ We have been slowly adding Python type hints [1] to Synapse and have made great progress (see some_of_our_motivation). Through this process we have learned a lot about Python and type hints. One bit that was unexpected is that many of the abstract_base_classes representing groups of str instances also match an individual str instance. o § Go⠀➾ # ⚓ James_Just_James:_Deadline_context_test_cancellation_in golang⠀⇛ I decided to write a fancy test harness in golang today. The test wraps a big internal engine for mgmt and at the top-level it takes a context for cancellation. If you don’t know about the context package, then you should go understand that and then come back here… Don’t feel bad, I had no idea what it was about at first either! The Problem: I assumed there would be some way to follow a notification from the test runner down into my test to tell it when it was time to cleanup and exit early… I expected that making my own ^C signal handler wouldn’t be correct, and I (incorrectly) assumed that the interface I’d be looking for would offer a golang context that I could pass into my code. o § Rust⠀➾ # ⚓ Introducing_Ambient_0.1⠀⇛ Ambient is a runtime for building high-performance multiplayer games and 3D applications, powered by WebAssembly, Rust and WebGPU. # ⚓ I_love_building_a_startup_in_Rust._I_wouldn’t_pick_it again.⠀⇛ For almost two years now, the vast majority of our backend code was written in Rust (aside from a little bit of Python). I love Rust, it’s by far my favorite language. I find myself missing match in pretty much every other language I go to. However, if I was doing it over, I wouldn’t choose Rust. # ⚓ arXiv ☛ C-rusted:_The_Advantages_of_Rust,_in_C,_without_the Disadvantages⠀⇛ C-rusted is an innovative technology whereby C programs can be (partly) annotated so as to express: ownership, exclusivity and shareability of language, system and user-defined resources; dynamic properties of objects and the way they evolve during program execution; nominal typing and subtyping. The (partially) annotated C programs can be translated with unmodified versions of any compilation toolchain capable of processing ISO C code. The annotated C program parts can be validated by static analysis: if the static analyzer flags no error, then the annotations are provably coherent among themselves and with respect to annotated C code, in which case said annotated parts are provably exempt from a large class of logic, security, and run-time errors. § Leftovers⠀➾ * ⚓ Axios ☛ Marriage_is_on_the_decline_in_the_U.S.⠀⇛ Americans are increasingly forgoing or delaying marriage — a dramatic shift from societal norms a generation ago. By the numbers:Over the last 50 years, the marriage rate in the U.S. has dropped by nearly_60%. * ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Elections_tribunal_rules_that_next_INE_director must_be_a_woman⠀⇛ The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary’s ruling means that the National Electoral Institute (INE) will have its first woman leader. * ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ R._Kelly_Receives_Another_20-Year_Prison_Term_for Criminal_Sexual_Charges⠀⇛ R. Kelly receives another 20-year prison term for criminal sexual charges — but will not serve them consecutively. Following his 30-year sentence in New York for sex trafficking and racketeering charges, R. Kelly was sentenced in Chicago on Thursday to 20 years for child pornography and enticement of minors for sex. * ⚓ Digital Music News ☛ Thomas_H._Lee,_Billionaire_Who_First_Took_Warner Music_Group_Public,_Found_Dead⠀⇛ Thomas H. Lee, billionaire and private equity investor who first took Warner Music Group public, was found dead Thursday morning. Billionaire financier and private equity investor Thomas H. Lee was found dead in his Manhattan office on Thursday morning, police say. * ⚓ Scarlett_Gately_Moore:_Snowstorms,_Kittens_and_Shattered_dreams⠀⇛ Long ago I applied for my dream job at a company I have wanted to wok for since its beginning and I wasn’t ready technically. Fast forward to now, I am ready! A big thank you goes out to Blue Systems for that. So I go out and find the perfect role and start the application process. The process was months long, but was going very well, the interviews and I passed the technical with flying colors. I got to the end where the hiring lead told me he was submitting my offer… I was so excited, so much so, I told my husband and parents “I got the job!” I know, I jinxed myself there. Soon I receive the “There was a problem”.. One obscure assessment called GIA came back not so good. I remember that day, we were in the middle of a long series of winter storms and I when I took the test, my kitten decided right then it was me time. I couldn’t very well throw her out into the snowstorm, so I continued on the best I could. It is my fault, it clearly states to be distraction free. So I speak again to the hiring lead and we both feel with my experience and technical knowledge and abilities we can still move forward. I still had hope. After some time passes, I asked for an update and got the dreaded rejection. I am told it wasn’t just the GIA, but that I am not a good overall fit for the company. In one fell swoop my dreams are dashed and final, for this and all roles within that company. I wasn’t given a reason either. I am devastated, heart broken, and shocked. I get along with everyone, I exceed the technical requirements, and I work well in the community. Dream door closed. I will not let this get me down. I am moving on. I will find my place where I ‘fit in’. * ⚓ CNN ☛ This_Chinese_kissing_device_lets_you_smooch_over_the_internet⠀⇛ Want to send your faraway lover a kiss? A Chinese contraption with warm, moving silicon “lips” appears to have just the answer. * ⚓ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong_Kong’s_Cheung_Chau_bun_snatching_contest_to resume_in_May_after_3-year_Covid-19_hiatus⠀⇛ Hong Kong’s iconic bun scrambling competition will be held for the first time in three years, with applications opening next Monday. “Physically fit people aged 18 or above” are welcome to apply by March 20, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced on Friday. * § Science⠀➾ o ⚓ Science Alert ☛ This_Strange_Ancient_‘Fossil’_May_Not_Have_Been Left_by_Any_Living_Thing⠀⇛ What was it? o ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Miniature_robots_that_mimic_living_organisms are_being_developed_to_explore_and_support_real-life_ecosystems⠀⇛ BY GARETH WILLMER The robotic bee replicants home in on the unsuspecting queen of a hive. But unlike the rebellious replicants in the 1982 sci-fi thriller Blade Runner, these ones are here to work. o ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Google_Reaches_a_Major_‘Milestone’_in_Making Quantum_Computing_Usable⠀⇛ There’s still a long way to go. o ⚓ Science Alert ☛ Where_We_Get_Wind_From_May_Blow_You_Away⠀⇛ An august source. o ⚓ Science Alert ☛ A_Solar_Orbiter_Filmed_Mercury_Crossing_The_Face of_The_Sun,_And_It’s_Glorious⠀⇛ A rare view. o ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexican_scientists_helping_to_rid_Galapagos of_invasive_plants⠀⇛ A research team from the University of Guadalajara is racing to save the famed islands’ Giant Daisy Tree from extinction from — blackberries. * § Hardware⠀➾ o ⚓ Ruben Schade ☛ GamersNexus_on_support_training_and_scripts⠀⇛ Speaking of hardware_repair_and_support, Steve recently uploaded a review of another_disappointing_prebuilt_game machine, which had eye-opening flaws for the price. o ⚓ Ruben Schade ☛ The_economic_and_social_effect_of_sealed_devices⠀⇛ BBC technology editor Zoe Kleinman posted_a_story about a British phone repair business, and their struggle to find qualified technicians. Noting a lack of industry training and standards, the spokesfolks proposed an apprenticeship programme, and raising awareness of the problem to get more people involved. o ⚓ CNX Software ☛ $99_Motorola_Defy_Satellite_Link_enables_2-way satellite_communications_on_smartphones_through_3GPP_NTN technology⠀⇛ Motorola Defy Satellite Link is a Bluetooth device that can affordably bring 2-way satellite communication to any smartphone thanks to the latest 3GPP NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) technology implemented in the MediaTek MT6825 connecting to the Bullitt Satellite Connect platform. * § Health/Nutrition/Agriculture⠀➾ o ⚓ New York Times ☛ Want_That_Coffee_With_Olive_Oil?_Starbucks Thinks_Italians_Will.⠀⇛ The company has amassed an audience in Italy, and now it is betting on two very Italian ingredients. o ⚓ Axios ☛ Axios-Ipsos_poll:_Americans_say_their_well-being_isn’t made_a_priority⠀⇛ The majority of Americans surveyed in the new Axios-Ipsos American_Health_Index say businesses and the government don’t make citizens’ health and well-being a priority. o ⚓ CS Monitor ☛ Chicago_mayoral_race_spotlights_cities’_post- pandemic_struggles⠀⇛ The campaign is a window into how Chicago has – and has not – rebounded from the COVID-19 crisis, with problems like crime now top of mind. o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ After_Ohio_train_wreck,_Biden_orders_door- to-door_checks⠀⇛ President Joe Biden has directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment that has morphed into a political controversy. House Republicans, meanwhile, have opened an investigation into the derailment, blaming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for what they contend was a delayed response to the fiery wreck. House Oversight chairman James Comer became the latest lawmaker Friday to jump into what has become a political proxy war as both parties lay blame on the other after the Feb. 3 derailment and chemical leak that led to evacuation of the small Ohio community. o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ East_Palestine_Train_Derailment_Killed_at_Least_43,000 Animals⠀⇛ People in East Palestine, Ohio are still struggling with uncertainty and fear for their health and community in the aftermath of the disastrous derailment of a train carrying hazardous chemicals on February 6. o ⚓ The Kent Stater ☛ Brockovich_warns_Ohio_town_of_dangers_after train_crash⠀⇛ Worried residents packed a high school auditorium Friday as activist Erin Brockovich and attorneys warned of long- term health and environmental dangers from chemicals released after a fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. o ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Air_quality_alert_in_effect_for_Mexico_City metro_area⠀⇛ Phase 1 of the environmental contingency plan, including traffic restrictions, was activated on Thursday and renewed on Friday. o ⚓ Social_Media_is_a_Major_Cause_of_the_Mental_Illness_Epidemic_in Teen_Girls._Here’s_The_Evidence.⠀⇛ NYU Social Psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes a definitive case that social media is a major cause of mental illness in teen girls. Journalists should stop saying that the evidence is just correlational. * § Security⠀➾ o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Here_Are_Some_of_the_Most_Hacked_States_in_America⠀⇛ Every year, the FBI publishes a report on the state of cybercrime in the U.S., based on statistics collected from the previous year. The organization that does the collecting, the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, compiles information on a state-by-state basis, detailing where hacking incidents… o ⚓ Thomas Rinsma ☛ Vulnerability_write-up_–_“Dangerous assumptions”⠀⇛ Last year, during a tangent for a project, Kevin and I found a series of vulnerabilities in (combinations of) several Node.js packages that led to critical issues for our client, and most likely other users as well. It was a lot of fun learning about all the ways that logic in Javascript code like this can break, mostly by abusing its dynamic typing and oddities like __proto__. o ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ True_Health_New_Mexico_settles_lawsuit_over_2021 ransomware_incident⠀⇛ True Health New Mexico has agreed to a class action settlement to resolve claims that the health insurance provider failed to protect patient data from an October 2021 data breach. o ⚓ Bleeping Computer ☛ Stanford_University_discloses_data_breach affecting_PhD_applicants⠀⇛ Stanford University disclosed a data breach after files containing Economics Ph.D. program admission information were downloaded from its website between December 2022 and January 2023. Last week, the university sent data breach notification letters to 897 individuals who submitted personal and health information as part of the graduate application to its Department of Economics, informing them that their info was accessed without authorization. “On January 24, 2023, Stanford was notified that a folder containing the 2022-23 application files for admission to Stanford’s Department of Economics’ Ph.D. program was available through the department’s website because of a misconfiguration of the folder’s settings,” the university told affected individuals. “We promptly investigated this matter, which revealed that the unrestricted access to o ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Alleged_‘SIM_Swapper’_Charged_with_Hacking_into Instagram_Influencers’_Accounts_to_Get_Money_and_Sexually_Explicit Video_Chats⠀⇛ A Downtown Los Angeles man was charged today in a six- count federal grand jury indictment for allegedly defrauding female social media influencers, including by engaging in “SIM swapping” to hijack their Instagram accounts and obtain money from them and engage in sexually explicit video chats with him. Amir Hossein Golshan, 24, is charged with two counts of wire fraud, one count of unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, one count of accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of threatening to damage a protected computer. o ⚓ Jump_crypto_&_Oasis_successfully_reclaim_over_$225_Million_Stolen in_Wormhole_Hack⠀⇛ Jump Crypto, a provider of Web3 infrastructure and the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Oasis.app has carried out a “counter exploit” on the Wormhole protocol hacker, recovering $225 million worth of digital assets and moving them to a secure wallet. A flaw in the protocol’s token bridge allowed the Wormhole assault, which took place in February 2022, to siphon off roughly $321 million worth of Wrapped ETH (wETH). Since then, the hacker has moved the stolen funds around using several Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dApps). Additionally, via Oasis, they just built up a Wrapped Staked ETH (wstETH) vault on January 23 and a Rocket Pool ETH (rETH) vault on February 11. o ⚓ Bleeping Computer ☛ News_Corp_says_state_hackers_were_on_its network_for_two_years⠀⇛ Mass media and publishing giant News Corporation (News Corp) says that attackers behind a breach disclosed in 2022 first gained access to its systems two years before, in February 2020. This was revealed in data breach notification letters sent to employees affected by the data breach, who had some of their personal and health information accessed, while the threat actors had access to an email and document storage system used by several News Corp businesses. o ⚓ Data Breaches ☛ Minneapolis_Public_Schools_tap_dances_around telling_parents_and_employees_what_really_happened⠀⇛ Of course, a ransomware attack or malware attack is not a laughing matter but neither is an attempt to spin a data security incident. It is time for districts to cut the b.s. and just tell parents and employees the unvarnished truth. o § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Evening Standard UK ☛ The_FBI_now_recommends_using_an_ad blocker_when_searching_the_web_|_Evening_Standard⠀⇛ The law enforcement agency warns that scam ads designed to steal your banking details are appearing atop search results * § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ o ⚓ Copenhagen Post ☛ Denmark_undecided_on_sending_fighter-jets_to Ukraine⠀⇛ The defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, says he is “open to” Denmark sending modern fighter-jets to Ukraine, but only as long as other countries do the same, reports DR. On the anniversary of the invasion, Ukraine’s need for support is o ⚓ CNN ☛ Chinese_fighter_jet_confronts_US_Navy_plane_carrying_CNN crew_over_South_China_Sea⠀⇛ o ⚓ The Strategist ☛ Ukraine’s_ambassador:_‘We’re_fighting_this_war for_all_of_you’⠀⇛ A Russian victory in Ukraine would have a grievous impact far beyond its borders, threatening wider global instability, disrupting food and energy security, weakening international institutions and even reducing the world’s ability to deal with … o ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Experts_react:_How_a_year_of_war_in_Europe remade_NATO,_and_what_comes_next⠀⇛ The war has undeniably re-invigorated NATO. But just how much has changed? Our experts weigh in on the state of the Alliance and where allies should go from here. o ⚓ Atlantic Council ☛ Russia’s_influence_in_Africa,_a_security perspective⠀⇛ In partnership with the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), the Africa Center is proud to present the joint report “Russia’s influence in Africa, a security perspective”, by Sarah Daly and Abdelhak Bassou, on the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine.  o ⚓ France24 ☛ France’s_Macron_to_visit_China,_calls_on_Beijing_to pressure_Putin_on_Ukraine⠀⇛ French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said he would visit China in early April and called on Beijing to “help us pressure Russia” to end the war in Ukraine. o ⚓ CNN ☛ Watch:_Chinese_fighter_jet’s_warning_to_US_Navy_plane⠀⇛ CNN’s Ivan Watson takes a ride on a US Navy jet over the South China Sea and witnesses tensions at play between the US and China during a close encounter with a Chinese fighter jet. o ⚓ CNN ☛ Zelensky_adviser_hits_out_at_Beijing_for_‘unrealistic’ paper,_which_calls_for_a_resumption_of_peace_talks_and_an_end_to unilateral_sanctions_on_Russia⠀⇛ o ⚓ NATO_talks_with_Türkiye_to_resume_in_March,_says_Sweden’s_PM⠀⇛ The talks had stalled after Quran-burning incidents in Sweden. Türkiye’s FM recently said the negotiations would resume as “Sweden gave some positive messages.” o ⚓ Latvia ☛ Rinkēvičs:_This_is_a_war_of_Russia_led_by_Putin⠀⇛ The war in Ukraine is Russian, not only Putin’s. Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs (New Unity) said in an interview with Latvian Television, aired February 24, remembering how it began and proceeded. o ⚓ Latvia ☛ Baltic_and_Polish_parliamentary_speakers:_Ukraine’s victory_is_the_way_to_peace⠀⇛ Speaker of the Saeima (Parliament of Latvia) Edvard Smiltēns and the Speakers of the Parliaments of Estonia, Lithuania and Poland issued a Joint Declaration February 24 in which they reaffirmed their full solidarity with the people of Ukraine, condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and underlined that the victory of Ukraine is the only way to restore peace in Europe. o ⚓ Latvia ☛ VIDEO:_Tribute_to_Ukraine_concert_from_Rīga_Circus⠀⇛ Continuing the events marking one year of brave resistance to Russian barbarism, we are pleased to bring you the concert  Veltījums Ukrainai (Tribute to Ukraine) live from the recently renovated Rīga Circus venue. o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ City,_family_reach_$2M_settlement_in_fatal police_shooting⠀⇛ A South Florida city has reached a $2 million settlement with the family of a Black motorist who was fatally shot by a police officer after his vehicle broke down on an interstate off-ramp more than seven years ago. The city of Palm Beach Gardens released a statement saying it had reached a settlement Thursday through mediation with the family of Corey Jones. o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Beijing_official_in_Hong_Kong_warns_US envoy_after_speech⠀⇛ A Chinese diplomat accused the U.S. consul general in Hong Kong of interfering in its affairs after he said the city’s freedoms were eroding and warned the American not to cross political “red lines.” Consul General Gregory May gave a video address last month in which he expressed concern over diminished freedoms in Hong Kong and said its reputation as a business center depended on the rule of law. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office in Hong Kong on Friday said its commissioner Liu Guangyuan met with May recently to express objections to his “inappropriate” words and deeds. Hong Kong is among a raft of issues that have sent ties between Beijing and Washington to their lowest level in years. o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ Japan,_other_G-7_leaders_step_up_Russia sanctions⠀⇛ Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other Group of Seven leaders have adopted a set of additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine at an online G- 7 summit to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion. The G-7 countries on Friday also affirmed their coordinated action to “further counter Russia’s capacity to wage its illegal aggression” and pledged to prevent Russia from obtaining military equipment and technology. They also called on other countries to stop providing military support to Russia. Kishida also hosted a teleconference with other G-7 leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. o ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ FT:_State_of_the_US_defense_industry⠀⇛ Detailed supply chain mapping of two weapons that changed the war reveals a complex web of companies under significant strain as the industry returns to a wartime footing. The “Financial Times” published an investigation on the state of affairs in the US military-industrial complex. o ⚓ Modern Diplomacy ☛ Ukrainian_issues_need_to_address_seriously, urgently,_and_with_full_responsibility⠀⇛ Ukraine’s situation is deteriorating continuously and already entered a dangerous stage, which is not only alarming for the region but a serious threat to global peace, security, and stability as well. The US is ganging up against Russia and involving its allies in a direct confrontation with Russia. o ⚓ Off Guardian ☛ The_World_is_Ending,_Buckle_Up⠀⇛ Todd Hayen If what is now happening and about to happen is not stopped, the world as we know it, will cease to exist. This is NOT hyperbole, it is rational truth. Exactly what this will look like, nobody knows, but we can certainly guess, and it is only the details we are uncertain of. * § Transparency/Investigative Reporting⠀➾ o ⚓ Profiling_case_against_anti-terror_police_chiefs_for_illegally keeping_private_information⠀⇛ Twelve former police officers and chiefs are being charged with keeping the records of 4,395 communications of 3,248 people illegally in 355 different investigations and keeping 2 thousand separate notes on private lives of these people. * § Environment⠀➾ o ⚓ Google_Greenwashes_a_Dirty_Partnership_with_Saudi_Aramco⠀⇛ o § Energy/Transportation⠀➾ # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Teacher_Charged_After_Crypto_Mining_Operation Discovered_in_School_Crawl_Space⠀⇛ A Massachusetts teacher is facing charges after authorities say he carried out an elaborate cryptocurrency mining operation out of the school where he worked. Nadeam Nahas, 39, was teaching at Cohasset High School when a town facilities inspector visited the school and found an unusual electrical setup in one room. # ⚓ IEEE ☛ AMD_CEO:_The_Next_Challenge_Is_Energy_Efficiency [Ed: This means abandoning AMD and its designs then]⠀⇛ o § Wildlife/Nature⠀➾ # ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ 8_Reasons_Why_Octopuses_Are_the_Smartest, Pettiest_Animals⠀⇛ Consider the octopus. With eight arms, elliptical pupils, color- and texture-changing skin, and a scary beak, it is a creature that seems conjured from the most Boschian of realities. * § Finance⠀➾ o ⚓ Axios ☛ Painless_disinflation_is_looking_less_likely⠀⇛ For a while there, it was looking like a dream scenario for the U.S. economy just might be coming true: inflation falling while the job market remained robust, and the pain caused by Federal Reserve tightening confined_to_a few_industries. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ BASF_to_Cut_2,600_Jobs_After_a_Year_of_High Energy_Costs⠀⇛ The German chemical giant blamed a drop in profits on stubbornly high natural gas prices and shifting global demand. o ⚓ New York Times ☛ War_in_Ukraine_Deepens_Divide_Among_Major Economies_at_G20_Gathering⠀⇛ Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen urged her counterparts at a summit in India to condemn Russia’s actions, and she defended the cost of supplying aid to Kyiv. o ⚓ Federal News Network ☛ N._Carolina_magnate_accused_of_scheme_to skim_company_funds⠀⇛ A North Carolina business magnate has been indicted on federal charges based on allegations he conspired to skim large amounts of money from his insurance companies, then lied about it to hide the scheme with two co- conspirators. A federal grand jury in Charlotte issued a 13-count indictment this week against Greg E. Lindberg of Durham. Lindberg was a previously a large donor to political causes before a 2019 indictment on charges he attempted to bribe North Carolina’s insurance commissioner to secure preferential regulatory treatment for his insurance business. His convictions were later overturned, and a retrial is set for this fall. Lindberg and a spokesperson criticized the latest charges against him. o ⚓ Quartz ☛ High_energy_prices_and_Brexit_are_causing_a_fresh produce_shortage_in_the_UK⠀⇛ Tomatoes and lettuce are out of stock at a number of British supermarkets this week, along with a number of other fresh fruit and vegetables, leading some to pin blame on Brexit. o ⚓ Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexico’s_final_GDP_growth_figure_for_2022_at 3.1%⠀⇛ Export revenues appear to have driven much of Mexico’s better-than-expected GDP showing last year, but predictions for 2023 are much lower. o ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Carrier_equipment_maker_Ericsson_lets_go_8,500 employees⠀⇛ Ericsson, one of the world’s largest makers of telecommunications equipment, today announced plans to lay off 8,500 employees in a bid to reduce costs. Ericsson detailed the move in an internal memo. § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ * ⚓ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Trump’s_“Receptionist_of_the_US”_Deletes_Her_Trip_to Russia⠀⇛ The woman reported to be the Trump aide who had classified documents in her possession deleted a LinkedIn reference to travel to Russia. * ⚓ CNN ☛ Seven_months_since_Boris_Johnson_left_office,_Britain_is_still reeling_from_him⠀⇛ Seven months since he announced his resignation as prime minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson’s shadow still looms large over the ruling Conservative party. * ⚓ New York Times ☛ Northern_Ireland_Brexit_Deal_Is_Gamble_for_UK_Prime Minister_Rishi_Sunak⠀⇛ Ever since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the question of Northern Ireland’s border has bedeviled prime ministers. Rishi Sunak’s effort to broker a deal is already under threat. * ⚓ NYPost ☛ China_is_hurting_our_kids_with_TikTok_but_protecting_its_own youth_with_Douyin⠀⇛ TikTok is burrowing into the devices — and the brains — of teens and tweens around the world. But, as the app’s Beijing- based parent company Bytedance is aggressively exporting the social media equivalent of heroin, it’s serving up a far less- damaging product in China that’s designed to protect their own youth. * ⚓ France24 ☛ Voting_starts_late_across_parts_of_Nigeria_in_key presidential_election⠀⇛ Polling stations opened late across parts of Nigeria on Saturday as Africa’s most populous country held presidential and parliamentary elections amid a nationwide bank note shortage that left many without transport to their voting centres. * ⚓ France24 ☛ ‘Where_is_the_money?’_Inflation_and_cash_crisis_hit_hard_as Nigeria_goes_to_the_polls⠀⇛ On a normal day, Balogun Market in Nigeria’s Lagos is packed with shoppers looking for a bargain on anything from clothes, to freshly cooked street food or cut-price electronics. * ⚓ CNN ☛ ‘Russian_warship,_go_f**k_yourself’:_Latvian_MP_slams_Russian delegation_at_meeting⠀⇛ Latvian delegate Rihards Kols was met with applause when he called Russia’s inclusion a “disgrace” at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) meeting. * ⚓ Marcy Wheeler ☛ “Wink:”_Where_Jeff_Gerth’s_“No_There,_There”_in_the Russian_Investigation_Went⠀⇛ On July 28, 2017, Robert Mueller’s investigators served two warrants on the company (probably Rackspace) that hosted Paul Manafort’s DMP emails to obtain Manafort, Rick Gates, and Konstantin Kilimnik’s company emails. * ⚓ Türkiye_willing_to_hold_elections_in_May_despite_earthquakes,_says Erdoğan_spokesperson⠀⇛ While admitting that the displacement of nearly two million people would bring logistical challenges, Kalın said “there is a tendency to hold the elections on May 14″ as planned. § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ * ⚓ NCAC ☛ NCAC,_CAA_contact_Macalester_College_to_assist_in_response_to TARAVAT_controversy⠀⇛ Image caption: Taravat Talepasand, Demons, Dictators, Blasphemy, and Man, 2016. The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) and the College Art Association (CAA) have contacted Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to express concerns about how its campus gallery handled the controversy surrounding an exhibition entitled TARAVAT.  * ⚓ NCAC ☛ Broward_County_Public_Schools_Improperly_Removes_Sex_Ed_Book During_Review_Process⠀⇛ The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC)  has shared a letter with the School Board of Broward County Public Schools in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, concerning a potential violation of district policy and the improper temporary removal of Erika Moen’s and Matthew Nolan’s book Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships…. * ⚓ Court_blocks_access_to_lawyer’s_tweet_about_man’s_killing_in_detention following_earthquakes⠀⇛ One of the two brothers who were detained on suspicion of theft following the February 6 earthquakes was killed after allegedly being tortured. * ⚓ Türkiye_detains_138_people_over_social_media_posts_about_earthquakes⠀⇛ The charges against the social media users have not been disclosed. * ⚓ Reason ☛ Higher_Education_“Reform”_in_Florida⠀⇛ Some of the proposals pose real threats to free inquiry * ⚓ France24 ☛ Migrants:_Tunisian_FM_rejects_African_Union_‘hate_speech’ allegations⠀⇛ Tunisian President Kais Saied ordered officials on Tuesday to take urgent measures to tackle illegal immigration. A statement from his office, decrying “a criminal plot [...] to change Tunisia’s demographic make-up” without citing any evidence, has sparked an outcry online. § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ * ⚓ New York Times ☛ Doctor_Denounces_C.I.A._Practice_of_‘Rectal_Feeding’ of_Prisoners⠀⇛ In a hearing at Guantánamo Bay, an expert gave a graphic public depiction of torture after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. § Digital Restrictions (DRM)⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ The_Pros_and_Cons_of_Repairing_Your_Own_Gadgets⠀⇛ When something goes wrong with one of your gadgets, you’re faced with a choice: Fix it yourself, or call in some professional help. With your options for these routes constantly changing (both Apple and Samsung have launched self- repair kits in recent years), we wanted to give you an up-to- date look at what you’ve got… § Monopolies⠀➾ * ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ Uh-Oh:_Feds_Say_Google_‘Systematically_Destroyed’_Evidence for_Years_by_Auto-Deleting_Employee_Chats⠀⇛ Google’s reliance on commonly used messaging systems that automatically delete conversations after a day has landed the company in hot water with the Department of Justice. * ⚓ Silicon Angle ☛ Report:_Justice_Department_plans_lawsuit_to_block Adobe’s_$20B_Figma_acquisition⠀⇛ The U.S. Department of Justice plans to challenge Adobe Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Figma Inc. on antitrust grounds, according to a new report. Bloomberg on Thursday cited sources as saying that the Justice Department could sue to block the $20 billion deal as early as March… * § Patents⠀➾ o ⚓ Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Federal_Circuit:_System_is_Not_a Method_(and_therefore_patent_must_be_delisted_from_Orange_Book).⠀⇛ Jazz Pharms, Inc. v. Avadel CNS Pharms, LLC (Fed. Cir. 2023) In the pharmaceutical industry, there is a lot of interplay between the patents and FDA regulation.  A party with an approved drug product will often list related patents in the Orange Book.  Jazz’s approved drug is sodium gamma-hydroxybutyrate (“GHB”).  GHB is an infamous date-rape drug and the FDA conditioned its approval on Jazz developing “Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies” (REMS).  Jazz created a set of strategies, and also obtained a patent covering the strategy. US8731963.  The patent basically overs a computer system that keeps track of prescriptions and inventory using a “single-pharmacy system” as well as a focus on whether the drug was purchased by a cash-payer.  * § Copyrights⠀➾ o ⚓ Michael Geist ☛ Why_Justin_Trudeau_is_Wrong_About_Bill_C-18_and Google’s_Response_to_Mandated_Payments_for_Links⠀⇛ “It really surprises me that Google has decided that they would rather prevent Canadians from accessing news than actually paying journalists for the work they do. I think that’s a terrible mistake and I know that Canadians expect journalists to be well paid for the work they do.” o ⚓ Gizmodo ☛ These_AI-Generated_Images_of_Climate_Change_Make_Me Uncomfortable⠀⇛ It’s getting harder to avoid AI-generated images and text—and harder to spot them in the first place—and that’s true even on Shutterstock, one of the world’s leading providers of stock photography. o ⚓ Buzz Feed ☛ AI_Image_Generators_Keep_Messing_Up_Hands._Here’s Why.⠀⇛ It all comes down to the images AI is learning from. § Gemini* and Gopher⠀➾ * § Personal⠀➾ o ⚓ Media_Rec:_1899⠀⇛ I want to start this by stating that I did know this series had been cancelled before I sat down to watch it. What can I say except that I’m a guy who likes being annoyed. I had always intended to give it a go and honestly the ridiculousness of Netflix cancelling it after only a month put me in such a blind rage, I felt I needed to watch it just to spite them. Truly though, it was so worth the pain and I do not regret my decision one bit. It’s such an intelligent and rewarding piece of television, and it is clear how much love and hard work went into it. I loved the setting and the characters. I also loved its multinational cast and that it allowed them all to speak in their native languages. It’s so rare to see something like that, and it makes me wish that there was more television like this. o ⚓ Hello_everyone⠀⇛ Greetings everyone, just received confirmation from m15o – been reading the Pub’s posts for a long time and hope to contribute meaningfully to discussions and topics. o ⚓ hello_world⠀⇛ Hi i am newbie nice to meet u guys o ⚓ Winter_Languor⠀⇛ It is snowing mightily this year, and I’ve been under it without pause. Literally; I’m snowed in on a mountain until spring. Last winter I ate so many snowcones. Strawberry, raspberry, mint, pear juices on top. I imagined myself the yeti from Monsters, Inc. This year I shudder to look at snow. Such are the ridiculous vacillations of the human heart. o ⚓ CD_Binders,_Old_Music,_and_Silence⠀⇛ I have a couple of CD binders that I keep moving to any new car that I own. They’re actually pretty nice with a faux leather soft exterior and the ability to maybe 30 or so CDs. The binders themselves are only 1×2 CDs, making them perfect for the car. I’ve had these CD binders for many, many years…if I had to guess, maybe 18-20 years. * § Technical⠀➾ o ⚓ punycode⠀⇛ So it turns out that w3m does not support punycode (there’s some Debian bugreports and TODO notes about libidn and rumors of code I could not find) which results in links such as o ⚓ Buggy_Jbose⠀⇛ as there is no tense information, so the statement could be any of past, present, future. (Translation can be difficult.) Regardless, the statement is nonesense. To this a hypothetical lojbanic listener might respond “ki’a”, which is something like “huh?” or “wtf” in English. Likewise, if a protocol specification were butchered, one might respond with “ki’a”, or possibly “na go’i” if one spots a logical contradiction. In that case you have the same problem as in English: how should the protocol be rewritten to not include something that is confusing or causes Spock’s eyebrow to climb. (There is an entire chapter on negation in “The Complete Lojban Language”.) And if you rewrite the protocol, do any of the implementations need fixing? A better idea might be to include a copious amount of example code, and to have a very robust test suite that new implementations can be run against. This may still leave fiddly bits that are difficult to test, especially for complicated protocols. Regardless, all this code could be a lot of work to write, debug, document, secure, and maintain. =============================================================================== * Gemini_(Primer) links can be opened using Gemini_software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 9060 ➮ Generation completed at 02:44, i.e. 33 seconds to (re)generate ⟲