Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• GNU Projects

  • GNU Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary

    Wednesday the Free Software Foundation celebrated "the 40th anniversary of the GNU operating system and the launch of the free software movement," with an announcement calling it "a turning point in the history of computing.

Leftovers

• Jakub Steiner ☛ Skull Buster

  I’ve been wanting to make a game for as long as I remember. Granted I don’t remember much, it’s been on my mind since I was about 10. But somehow it never happened. Regardless how low of a bar I’ve set, I’ve never gotten to it. Until today!

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Look Up! The Last Supermoon of 2023 Will Rise Tonight – A Full Harvest Moon

    Here's how to watch.

  • Science Alert ☛ We May Have Just Found Evidence of a Cosmic String: a 'Crease' in The Universe

  • Science Alert ☛ New Mouse Study Challenges Current Theory on The Cause of Alzheimer's

    A new way forward?

  • Science Alert ☛ Latest Look at TRAPPIST-1 Planet Raises Concerns of Star 'Contamination'

    Things may not all be as they seem.

  • Science Alert ☛ Fossil of a Trilobite Discovered With Its Last Meal Still Visible Inside

    A 500 million year old menu.

  • New Yorker ☛ How NASA Brought an Asteroid to Earth

    By sampling some of the oldest rock in the solar system, the OSIRIS-REx mission could revise the story of the origins of life.

• Education

  • Federal News Network ☛ Attorneys for college taken over by DeSantis allies threaten to sue ‘alternate’ school

    Attorneys for New College of Florida, the traditionally progressive public liberal arts college that was taken over by allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his “war on woke,” is threatening to sue a group of former faculty members and students. It's because they have formed an alternative online institute named “Alt New College” after departing the school following the takeover. New College attorneys said in a letter last week that the online institute may violate the school's trademark. New College has become the focal point of a campaign by DeSantis to rid higher education in the state of what he calls left-leaning indoctrination on campuses.

• Hardware

  • Ruben Schade ☛ My computer as a house

    Sinclair Target

    I sometimes think of my computer as a very large house. I visit this house every day and know most of the rooms on the ground floor, but there are bedrooms I’ve never been in, closets I haven’t opened, nooks and crannies that I’ve never explored. I feel compelled to learn more about my computer the same way anyone would feel compelled to see a room they had never visited in their own home.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Australian Seaweed Boosts Collagen Levels in Human-Like Skin Cells in The Lab

    Let's take a closer look.

• Security

  • USDOJ ☛ French cybercriminal pleads guilty to fraud and aggravated identity theft for hacking private information

    Past coverage on DataBreaches about Sebastien Raoult can be found linked from “Raoult.” Since he was first detained in 2022, both he and everyone involved in ShinyHunters have denied that he was ever part of that group, yet DOJ seems to have gotten him to plea to a conspiracy count involving ShinyHunters. From the plea agreement:

  • Norfolk Southern System Outage Not the Result of Cyberattack According to Rail Company

    A technology outage that impacted rail operations for the Norfolk Southern Corporation late Friday evening on September 29, have been ruled not a cyber-attack following an update from the company on Saturday.

    That Friday evening, Norfolk Southern’s data center experienced an outage that impacted rail operations that included their dispatching system, train movements, and functionality of their terminal operating system. Operations were halted until the issue was safely and successfully resolved at 1:30 a.m. ET the following day. According to Norfolk Southern, all systems are now fully functional, and trains are running.

  • Data Breaches ☛ HC3: Sector Alert Progress Software WS_FTP Critical Vulnerabilities

    Progress Software, the maker of the MOVEit file transfer software which was widely exploited by the CL0P ransomware-as-a-service (Raas) group, has released a new advisory regarding multiple vulnerabilities in the WS_FTP Server, a file transfer product. Two of the vulnerabilities were rated as critical and are being tracked as CVE-2023-40044, which can allow an attacker to execute remote commands, and as CVE2023-4265, which is a directory traversal vulnerability. Due the recent and malicious targeting of Progress Software’s products to compromise Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector entities, HC3 strongly encourages patching and upgrading these devices to prevent serious damage to the HPH sector.

  • TASS ☛ Russian married couple appeals court ruling to extradite them from Italy to France

    A young married couple from St. Petersburg, who were detained in Italy under a Europol warrant that was issued at the request of France, are challenging an extradition ruling, Renato Musella, a lawyer for the couple, told TASS.

    He said they were detained in late August when they came for a vacation.

    “In France they are facing charges for information technology crimes (hacking).

  • Bloomberg ☛ Consumers’ Data Breach Suit Against T-Mobile Sent to Arbitrator

    Two customers’ allegations that T-Mobile failed to protect their personal information in a data breach and exposed information allowing their Coinbase cryptocurrency account to be hacked will be heard by an arbitrator.

  • The Washington Post ☛ IRS consultant charged in leak of tax returns for Trump, wealthy Americans

    A Washington-based consultant for the Internal Revenue Service was charged Friday with stealing the tax returns of former president Donald Trump and thousands of wealthy Americans in 2019 and 2020 and providing them to two news organizations that reported how little the super-rich pay in federal income taxes, according to court filings and people familiar with the investigation.

    Charles Edward Littlejohn, 38, faces one federal felony count of unauthorized disclosure of tax information, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison, the Justice Department announced Friday.

  • CBS ☛ Michigan woman accused of identity theft, posing as a nurse faces up to 20 years in prison

    A Western Michigan woman is facing up to 20 years in prison in connection to a “nurse imposter” case where she is accused of using a real nurse’s identity to obtain jobs as a registered nurse, officials said.

    […]

    According to the indictment, Gallarzo allegedly used the Michigan licensing number and the name of a licensed nurse to get jobs as a registered nurse at two different locations. The two places where she gained employment include a nursing home and a hospice facility.

• Defence/Aggression

  • France24 ☛ Turkey's Kurdish PKK claim responsibility for Ankara suicide bombing

    The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terror group by Turkey and its Western allies, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Sunday that injured two people.

  • New York Times ☛ Turkey Thwarts Attack on Police Headquarters in Ankara

    Two assailants with explosives were killed near Parliament, which was set to convene with a speech by the Turkish president.

  • New York Times ☛ Private Security Guards Have Become a Last Resort for Public Safety

    In America’s overwhelmed downtowns, private security guards like Michael Bock have become the solution of last resort.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Federal News Network ☛ Ukraine stresses strong US support after new aid is dropped from stop-gap budget bill

      Ukraine's foreign ministry has stressed that U.S. support for Kyiv remains “unwaveringly strong” despite news that the stop-gap budget Congress passed to halt a federal government shutdown will not include new financial support. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said Sunday that a shutdown could impact ongoing aid programs but that the temporary budget would not affect the billions of dollars of financial assistance already pledged by lawmakers in Washington. The omission of additional Ukrainian aid from the short-term funding bill that aims to keep the federal government running until Nov. 17 has raised concerns in Kyiv. Ukraine relies heavily on Western support in its fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s soccer stars help to keep Russia’s invasion in global spotlight

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed soccer legend Andriy Shevchenko as an advisor on September 26 in recognition of the role played by Ukrainian footballers in keeping Ukraine's struggle against Russian aggression in the global spotlight.

    • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Zelensky honours troops on Ukraine's Territorial Defence Forces Day

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukraine's troops on the country's Territorial Defence Forces Day for their "courage and strength". Meanwhile, Ukraine's air defence systems shot down 16 out of around 30 drones that Russia launched on Ukraine's Cherkasy region overnight, Ukrainian Air Forces said on Sunday.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian sapper fighting in Ukraine: ‘There are more drones than flies’

      Rimas Armaitis has been fighting on Ukrainian frontlines since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Recently, he was in Andriyivka in the Donetsk region, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces. In an interview with LRT TV, he talks about how the war has become a tiring, emotionally exhausting routine.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Preparing Long-Term Security Commitment For Ukraine, Borrell Says In Kyiv

      EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell met in Kyiv on October 1 with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, saying afterward that Ukraine needed more military aid and promising ongoing EU support.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Says Six Ukrainian Drones Downed In South, West

      Russia says its air defenses shot down six Ukrainian drones over two western and southern regions, the latest in a string of drone and missile attacks that have targeted Russian locations.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Congress Averts Government Shutdown, But Removes New Ukraine Support

      U.S. lawmakers have passed a last-minute, temporary spending bill to keep the U.S. government open, averting a disruptive shutdown but also removing any new support for Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Says Its Forces Repelled Attacks, Inflicted Losses Across Front Line

      Ukrainian forces repelled attacks by Russian troops in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions, fighting 24 combat clashes on the front, the General Staff said on September 30.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Unveils Industrial Alliance To Boost Military Manufacturing

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has announced the creation of a Defense Industries Alliance to manufacture weapons in his country and underscore its commitment to developing a modern defense industry as Russia's ongoing 19-month-long full-scale invasion grinds on.

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine Downplays Uncertainty Over U.S. Support After Funding Bill Passes With No Aid

      Kyiv expressed confidence that the U.S. would continue to support its war against Russia, even after Congress passed a stopgap funding bill that did not include money for Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Four Seconds to Impact: On the Front Line With Ukraine’s Snipers

      In a war built around artillery, tanks, drones and cruise missiles, the role of the sniper, unseen and lethal, occupies an often overlooked but essential part of the battlefield.

    • New York Times ☛ Spider Boots, Boxers, Hoverboards: When Ukrainian Troops Ask, We Deliver

      An army of individuals transport needed nonlethal supplies to Ukrainian military personnel in the field.

    • RFERL ☛ Romania Says Youth Soccer Teams Will Boycott Matches Against Russia

      The Romanian Football Federation says its teams will refuse to compete against Russian youth teams in international competitions.

    • New York Times ☛ The Hottest New Accessory in Niger? A Russian Flag.

      Russia has quietly been distributing its own flags throughout West Africa, where they are now considered “so cool.”

• Environment

  • New York Times ☛ The Climate Fight Will Be Won in the Appliance Aisle

    Why I’m worried about the next phase of the Inflation Reduction Act’s rollout.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ Deepest Bacteria-Infesting Virus Ever Found Pulled From The Mariana Trench

      Smallest monster of the deep.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • France24 ☛ Bodybuilding, fast cars and misogyny: Slovakia’s populist Robert Fico returns to power

    A fan of Vladimir Putin and fast cars, Robert Fico should return as prime minister of Slovakia following parliamentary elections on Saturday. FRANCE 24 takes a look back at the career of a politician who was ousted from power five years ago after a journalist was murdered for revealing government corruption, and who used populism and disinformation to rise again.

  • France24 ☛ Populist, pro-Russia Fico’s party wins Slovakia’s legislative elections

    A populist party that wants to stop military aid to Ukraine and is critical of the EU and NATO has won Slovakia's election, results showed on Sunday.

  • RFERL ☛ Slovakia's Populist, Pro-Russian Ex-PM To Receive Mandate To Form Government

    The president of Slovakia says she will give a mandate to form a new government to the winner of the country's parliamentary elections, signaling former Prime Minister Robert Fico and his SMER-SSD can begin putting together a coalition government in the central European country.

  • New York Times ☛ Russia-Leaning Populist Party Ekes Out Win in Slovakia Vote

    In much of Europe, the election in Slovakia was seen as a bellwether of mainstream support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. But voters seemed most concerned with pocketbook issues.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China rejects State Dep’t report claiming Beijing spends billions to spread disinformation globally

      China on Saturday accused the United States of being an “empire of lies”, hitting back after a State Department report claimed Beijing spends billions of dollars to spread disinformation globally.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • The Kent Stater ☛ A contract for 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers expired. Historic US health care strike could start Wednesday

    A coalition of eight unions representing 75,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente said late Saturday that is has not reached an agreement with the company, setting the stage for the largest healthcare strike in US history on Wednesday.

  • YLE ☛ Helsinki Airport security staff to walk off the job on Thursday

    The Trade Union for the Public and Welfare Sectors (JHL), the Trade Union Pro and the Industrial Union will all organise walkouts next Thursday.

  • New Yorker ☛ Biden, Trump, and What’s at Stake in the U.A.W. Strike

    Both men went to Michigan last week, each trying, in his own way, to take advantage of something rare in Presidential politics—a genuinely radical point of view.