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Links 07/07/2022: SparkyLinux 2022.07 and KDE Gear 22.04.3



  • GNU/Linux

    • AMD is finally coming to Starlabs, as StarBook is now available to order with Ryzen 7 (Review)

      AMD is finally coming to Starlabs, as StarBook is now available to order with Ryzen 7 (Review) The past few years have seen several releases of PC for Linux users and the emergence of many startup companies specializing in building and selling Linux laptops. As a Linux user, I've experienced a lot of happy moments and news over the past decade, and today Starlab surprises us with something we've been waiting for: The StarBook laptop is "Now available to order with Ryzenâ„¢ 7".

      You must be as excited as I am, but before you do anything crazy, I suggest you read my in-depth review of StarBook and the rest of this humble article. Anyway, if you're super excited, I'll leave a link to the official website at the bottom of this paragraph.

    • WCCF TechAMD continues to hire open-source developers to stay ahead of the competition

      AMD has continued hiring Linux and other open-source developers for additional roles in the company. Recently, the company has posted a new position for the open-source GPU driver stack, focusing on efforts on multimedia, reports Phoronix.

    • Hacker NoonWhat Are the Advantages of Utilizing Cloud-Based Linux Systems? | HackerNoon

      These days, a lot of businesses are concentrating on integrating a cloud-based system into their IT infrastructure because they are more dependable, strong, and easy to set up. The labor for monitoring and managing the structure may increase with a cloud-based system, but businesses are always improving these procedures. One of the main factors in the adoption of Linux-based systems by many businesses is its affordability, security, scalability, open-source nature, and community-focused design. Linux's adaptability allows IT companies to best utilize other free and open-source solutions for cloud infrastructure. With its extensive adoption across industries and the emergence of new technologies, Linux is regarded as one of the best-operating systems for cloud-based systems.

    • Desktop/Laptop

      • Alternatives for Windows - 5 Best and Free

        Linux is one of my favorite OS and the best alternative to Windows OS. Most of my techie friends use Linux OS as their primary operating system to accomplish complex tasks.

        Linux is utilized in the accompanying ways, especially as a Server OS for web servers, data set servers, document servers, email servers, and some other sort of shared server. Intended to help high-volume and multithreading applications, Linux is appropriate for a wide range of server applications.

        Linux is better than Windows in many cases, for example, In windows, a lot of projects run behind the scenes and they gobble up the RAM. Besides, in Linux, the record framework is especially coordinated. Linux, right off the bat, is extremely lightweight while Windows is greasy. Linux is by and large commonly quicker than windows.

        To move up to Windows 11, you can use Linux all things considered. This is the way to do the change to an open-source OS and introduce applications.

        And the good part is, that Linux is a free, open-source OS delivered under the General Public License (GPL). Anybody can run, study, alter, and rearrange the source code, or even sell duplicates of their changed code.

    • Audiocasts/Shows

      • The BSD Now PodcastBSD Now 462: OpenBSD Sales Pitch

        The Design and Implementation of the NetBSD rc.d system, selling OpenBSD as a salesperson, Speeding up autoconf with caching, Allowing non-root execution of a jailed application, Configure login(1) and sshd(8) for YubiKey on OpenBSD, and more.

    • Kernel Space

      • uni TorontoA surprise: you can only have one Linux kernel serial console

        However, recently I discovered a limitation of Linux's serial console support, which is that you can only have one serial console, or to put it another way you can only have kernel messages going to one serial port, not two or more (this is one of the several 'consoles' that Linux has). This is relevant (at least to us) because many servers today have two serial ports you might want kernel messages to go to; one physical one, which you can connect to your console server, and one virtual one supplied by the BMC, which you can connect to over IPMI or sometimes see (perhaps including some scrollback) on the BMC's web interface.

    • Instructionals/Technical

      • RIPEDealing with the Undercurrent of Unwanted Traffic

        Over three years ago, the Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) established a worldwide honeyfarm, with hundreds of sensors, to collect IoT attack traffic for analysis. GCA now has terabytes of data, with over a million hits a day on the honeyfarm sensors. If nothing else, it clearly communicates that the Internet is full of a lot of unwanted traffic, hammering unrelentingly on unsuspecting devices.

        In order to have a clearer picture of the global impact on any exposed IPv4 device, we analysed (approximately) five months of data from our honeyfarm sensor network. In that timeframe, our ~200 sensors, deployed across the globe, saw attacks from over 10% of the estimated active autonomous systems making up the Internet. While some were small-scaled offenders, approximately 20% of these networks fielded more than 1,000 attacks on our sensors. (Our sensors are passive collectors, not expecting any form of connection from elsewhere. We filter out “scan” traffic, and any other login or access attempts are considered “attacks”).

      • KlaraCreate and Maintain a Virtual Infrasturcture with bhyve in FreeBSD

        Although bhyve got a later start than Linux KVM, in most ways it has caught up with its primary rival—and in some ways surpassed it. When configured properly, bhyve guests perform similarly to KVM guests, and in some cases outperform them.

        The major remaining hurdle bhyve needs to overcome to reach parity with KVM revolves around the tooling and documentation needed for a system administrator to create and manage their virtual machines. Today, we’re going to take a crack at the latter by providing a full, newbie-friendly guide to setting up a bhyve-based virtual machine host on FreeBSD 13.1.

      • IdiomdrottningSignal

        Signal leaks your phone number to everyone you talk to, and if you want to quit using it, everyone who had you on there can no longer text you, and if, when you get a new phone number, you get the used phone number of someone who used to have signal, you’re SOL. It literally destroys the texting capability of phones.

      • Trend OceansHow to Install Tor Browser in Linux with Security Guide - TREND OCEANS [Ed: "Tor Network, having as its default search engine DuckDuckGo." Tor took bribes from Microsoft, via its proxy DDG, and now helps Microsoft spy on Tor users. Tor Browser if not Tor Project as a whole is compromised.]

        At the time of the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, people were amazed by the amount of their data on hand by these big giant companies. Even Edward Snowden had disclosed sensitive data the US government held on its citizens in the name of the project PRISM.

        All of this data is gathered by the public (it’s you), posting all your private information on the social media feeds and sharing every event on your timeline. It might seem unharmful, but can create a good profile to target you for advertising, exploiting, and tracking.

        To be apart from this ecosystem of privacy exploitation, you can have a VPN, which costs you some bucks. But what if I tell you there is a free and open-source privacy-centric browser that tunnels your data on nodes run by the volunteers?

      • Linux Shell TipsHow To Install and Use Homebrew on Linux Systems

        macOS takes credit for the original development of the Homebrew package manager. With this package manager, Linux users are able to effortlessly install free and open-source software packages from their command-line environment.

        You might think that the various popular Linux OS distributions are already equipped with their own package managers such as APT, DNF, YUM, PACMAN, and ZYPPER.

      • TecAdminDockerizing React Application: A Step-by-Step Tutorial – TecAdmin

        If you work in a tech company as a software engineer, there’s a good chance that you will be asked to create and deploy applications frequently. These applications are usually web apps that are built on top of frameworks such as React, Redux, or Vue.js. An application is the ultimate output of software development and not just another file with multiple layers of folders and files.

        A Docker container can be used to package your app so it can run in any environment without requiring any pre-installed dependencies or libraries. In this tutorial, we will cover all you need to know about Dockerizing React-based Web App as well as an example project which takes you through the entire process from start to finish.

      • Red HatAdd an Infinispan cache to your ASP.NET application | Red Hat Developer [Ed: How IBM Red Hat will drive away more employees (while hiring people from Microsoft as managers]]

        The open source Infinispan data store is popular for in-memory operations. A .NET Core application can now easily integrate Infinispan as a caching service or session provider. This article provides basic information on how to do that in C# on Linux.

      • OpenSource.comCheck disk usage in Linux | Opensource.com

        Knowing how much of your disk is being used by your files is an important consideration, no matter how much storage you have. My laptop has a relatively small 250GB NVME drive. That's okay most of the time, but I began to explore gaming on Linux a couple of years ago. Installing Steam and a few games can make storage management more critical.

      • OpenSource.comUse secret keyboard keys on Linux | Opensource.com

        A typical computer keyboard has only about 100 keys on it.

        Most keys double up on characters, also called glyphs, thanks to the Shift key. Glyphs are frequently used to type letters with accents and umlauts, to produce characters used in mathematic or monetary expressions, or just to add fun emojis. In some regions there are even three glyphs available on select keys.

        Regardless of your region, however, some glyphs don't make it onto your keyboard. Fortunately, Linux provides access to these through a compose key.

        There's no compose key on your keyboard, at least not by default, but you can designate a key you're not otherwise using as your compose key. I use the Alt key to the right of the spacebar on my desktop keyboard and the Menu key on my laptop.

    • Games

      • GamingOnLinuxdoesn't exist - a modern text adventure is one you need to try

        doesn't exist - a modern text adventure, is an in-development game from LUAL Games KIG that's a love letter to the origins of adventures and gaming. Inspired by the likes of The Beginner's Guide, Stories Untold, Buddy Simulator and Zork it's one for those who love a classic adventure with some nice modern touches.

      • GamingOnLinuxNomad Survival is another great cheap Vampire Survivors styled game

        Nomad Survival is an auto-attacking rogue-lite action game where you try to survive as long as you can, while you continue to buff up your character as you go. Works great on Linux and Steam Deck with Proton.

      • GamingOnLinuxOpenRCT2 the re-implementation of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 upgraded

        More goodies have arrived for OpenRCT2 the open source re-implementation of RollerCoaster Tycoon 2. Although it's fully playable already, the developers of this FOSS project continue to improve it a lot. This is another project that helps to keep a real classic game alive on modern systems, while also continually improving various features to make it feel just that little bit more modern.

      • TechdirtProject To Digitize Every SNES Game Manual Now Complete

        Nearly two years ago, we discussed a fascinating project spearheaded by one dedicated person, going by the moniker Peebs, to digitize every video game manual’s English version for the Super Nintendo system. For those of you not of a certain age, video games used to come in the form of cartridges that you would load into the console. Those cartridges came packaged with game manuals that did everything from tell you how to play the game, up to and including game lore and backstory. Again, if you were born at the right time like yours truly, reading the manual upon buying the game, sometimes in the back of your Mom’s Plymouth Voyager minivan on the way back from Toys ‘R Us, was part of the excitement.

      • GamingOnLinuxOrgan swapping FPS 'Wrought Flesh' gets a huge free update

        Wrought Flesh is a game where you run around and pinch the organs of downed enemies to upgrade your body. It's pretty weird and a big content update is out now.

      • GamingOnLinuxwinesapOS is another way to get something like SteamOS on desktop

        While Valve has still yet to produce an official installable image of SteamOS 3 for desktops, as always the community provides and another worth looking into is winesapOS. Another I covered is HoloISO, which tries to stick quite closely to SteamOS 3 but winesapOS aims to be a bit more than that.

      • GamingOnLinuxColourful 3D platformer Frogun releases August 2nd

        Molegato and Top Hat Studios have announced today their the 3D platformer Frogun will be releasing with Native Linux support on August 2nd.

      • GamingOnLinuxMark your calendars, Steam Next Fest returns in October 2022

        Valve has sent word that Steam Next Fest is coming back again and it will be live on October 3rd - 10th.

      • GamingOnLinuxThe Forgotten World free update out for Monster Sanctuary

        The creature battling metroidvania Monster Sanctuary has an expansive new free update out with The Forgotten World which is the largest update to the game yet. Adding in a new area, skills, items, new game modes and much more.

      • Linux Links10 Fun Free and Open Source Sandbox Games

         A game that is significantly nonlinear is sometimes described as being open-ended or a sandbox, and is characterized by there being no “right way” of playing the game.

        This genre provides the player a great degree of creativity to interact with, usually without any predetermined goal, or alternatively with a goal that the player sets for themselves.

        There is an eligibility criteria that needs to be met to be included in this round up (see below).

        Let’s explore the 10 games. For each game we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, a screen shot of the game in action, together with links to relevant resources.

    • Desktop Environments/WMs

      • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

        • 9to5LinuxKDE Gear 22.04.3 Brings More Bug Fixes to Kdenlive, Konsole, and Other Apps

           Coming a little less than a month after KDE Gear 22.04.2, the KDE Gear 22.04.3 point release is here to further improve the powerful Kdenlive video editor by fixing the double incrementation of the effect parameter spin box on mouse wheel, a bug when calculating the available mix duration when there was no frame present, as well as seeking of the keyframe view with effect zones and incorrect enablement of timeline playing auto-scroll.

  • Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

    • SaaS/Back End/Databases

      • [Old] Paolo MelchiorreUpgrade PostgreSQL from 13 to 14 on Ubuntu 22.04

        This article is aimed at those like me who use Ubuntu and PostgreSQL to develop locally on their computer and after the last update to Ubuntu 22.04 they have two versions of PostgreSQL installed.

    • Programming/Development

  • Leftovers

    • Science

      • International Mathematical UnionFields Medals 2022

        The Fields Medal is awarded to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement.

        The medals and cash prizes are funded by a trust established by J.C.Fields at the University of Toronto, which has been replenished periodically, but is still significantly underfunded. In 2022, the prize funds from the University of Toronto were supplemented by generous support from the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation/Klaus Tschira Stiftung.

      • Quanta MagazineA Solver of the Hardest Easy Problems About Prime Numbers

        Lately, that work has taken the form of a three–paper series about how prime numbers are distributed on the number line. Apart from the numbers 2 and 5, all primes end in 1, 3, 7 or 9, so you could imagine labeling four buckets with those digits and then dropping each prime into its associated bucket as you walk down the number line. Mathematicians have long known that the buckets will all eventually end up with roughly the same number of primes, and this is true not just in base 10 but in any base. What mathematicians don’t know, however, is how quickly the buckets start evening out, a question with implications for many other core questions about prime spacing.

    • Education

      • Neil SelwynDigital sufficiency (notes on Santarius et al. 2022)

        In contrast, the idea of ‘sufficiency’ implies the absolute reduction of resource and energy demands in ways that maintain (or even improve) general living conditions and perhaps widen opportunities for everyone to lead flourishing lives. In this way, sufficiency does not promote the continuation of digital technology as we currently know it (albeit in an altered form). Neither does it infer a digital abstinence or complete renouncement of all things tech. Instead, this implies a quantitative and qualitative rethinking of digital technology along appropriately refined lines of ‘voluntary simplicity’, ‘frugality’, ‘slow consumption’, ‘downshifting’ and ‘minimalism’. As Santarius et al. (2022) put it: [...]

    • Hardware

      • HackadayHeadphone Cable Trouble Inspires Bluetooth Conversion

        [adblu] encountered the ever-present headphone problem with their Sennheiser Urbanite headphones – the cable broke. These headphones are decent, and despite the cable troubles, worth giving a new life to. Cable replacement is always an option, but [adblu] decided to see – what would it take to make these headphones wireless? And while they’re at it, just how much battery life could they get?

      • HackadayPocket Radio Powered By Tiny Microcontroller

        Before the days of MP3 players and smartphones, and even before portable CD players, those of us of a certain age remember that our cassette players were about the only way to take music on-the-go. If we were lucky, they also had a built-in radio for when the single tape exhausted both of its sides. Compared to then, it’s much easier to build a portable radio even though cassettes are largely forgotten, as [wagiminator] shows us with this radio design based on an ATtiny.

      • CNX SoftwareFlashchip FCM32 is yet another alternative to STM32 microcontroller - CNX Software

        Once upon a time, people tried to avoid STM32 fakes and clones, but in a world where companies are allegedly purchasing washing machines to extract a few unavailable components, people have started to look for alternatives, and last week I wrote about the Geehy APM32 family of STM32 clones.

    • Security

      • Privacy/Surveillance

        • The Greens / EFAFacial recognition in European cities – What you should know about biometric mass surveillance

          As an effort to promote privacy and human rights in the EU, we at Greens/EFA got together with a team of international experts to understand where biometric mass surveillance, like facial recognition, is put to use this very moment in different European cities and states.

          Keep reading to find out what we learned, and why must take action to ban the use of these technologies now – before it is too late.

        • NBCSens. Rubio, Warner seek FTC investigation into TikTok over U.S. data access

          The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee chair and top Republican have called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate social media app TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance due to “repeated misrepresentations” over its handling of U.S. data.

          The request on Tuesday from Sens. Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Republican, followed a Buzzfeed report saying the short video app permitted TikTok engineers and executives in China to repeatedly access private data of U.S. users. The senators said such access raised questions over TikTok’s claims to lawmakers and users that the data was protected.

        • The Independent UKApple responds after woman describes ‘nightmare’ of being ‘tracked’ by AirTag

          The writer issued some advice for others who may find themselves in a similar situation: “If you ever get a ‘Find My’ notification make sure you open the app immediately as the safety alert doesn’t appear on the screen you have to open the app. Non iPhone users, Apple created an app for androids for this very reason called Tracker Detect.”

        • 9to5Mac‘Altered Carbon’ actor Hannah Rose May shares recent AirTag tracking experience

          Once May discovered the alert, she “was able to disable it” before leaving Disneyland. However, the Twitter thread never mentioned whether or not she found a physical AirTag among her belongings. This has happened before at Walt Disney World in Florida with a teenager and her family. However, the family never found the AirTag from the tracking alert; possibly indicating a ‘phantom’ AirTag.

        • Business TodayHow to know if you are being tracked by an AirTag

          For Android devices, there is an app called Tracker Detect that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. This app looks for Find My compatible trackers that are within the bluetooth range that are not with their owners. If the app detects an unknown AirTag near you for at least 10 mins, you can play a sound to find it.

        • Business StandardApple responds after Hannah Rose May's claim of being tracked by AirTag

          May added that after sharing her story on Instagram, she received several direct messages from people who have found they were being tracked by AirTags.

        • JapanAirTag Tracker Attached to Aichi Police Vehicle

          U.S. technology giant Apple Inc.'s AirTag location tracker has been found attached to an investigation vehicle of the Aichi prefectural police, sources said Wednesday.

          The vehicle of the Toyota police station in the central Japan prefecture is used by investigators dealing with cases involving crime syndicates.

          The Aichi police suspect that the device was put on the vehicle with the aim of figuring out police movements.

    • Defence/Aggression

      • Modern DiplomacyEthiopia still in grip of spreading violence, hate speech and aid crisis

        “The ongoing spread of violence, fuelled by hate speech and incitement to ethnic-based and gender-based violence, are early-warning indicators of further atrocity crimes against innocent civilians, especially women and children who are more vulnerable. The expanding conflict makes worse the existing humanitarian crisis that is being experienced in Ethiopia and the region.”

      • HRWEthiopia's Other Conflict

        In western Oromia, an abusive government counter-insurgency campaign against an armed group, the Oromo Liberation Army, was already underway, with civilians caught in between suffering numerous abuses. By early 2019, the government had established a federal command post, which coordinates federal and regional security forces in western Oromia. In addition, the authorities have sporadically cut communications in western Oromia, including imposing a three-month shutdown in early 2020. Aid agencies, the media, and rights groups have also had limited access to the region.

        Despite these restrictions, human rights groups and the media have been able to report on serious abuses by government forces, including summary executions and arbitrary detentions. Armed groups have also abducted or killed minority community members and government officials.

      • Counter PunchCassidy Hutchinson, a True Patriot
      • Counter PunchThe Lost Conversation

        Turns out others did the same. There would be an occasional dig at Biden’s senility, or a whisper about Trump’s criminality, but soon a taboo began to govern the otherwise warm and caring sociability of our group. Even though we were a diverse assembly of 30 people, gay and straight, black and white, aged 9 to 81, a freewheeling dialogue about politics or religion in the group at large was strictly off the conversational table. In spite of us all being citizens of one country floating down wild rapids together in our country’s most magnificent national park, on a deeper level we remained as alienated as groundhogs and gardeners.

        And that was fair enough as far as it went: people had paid for a challenging outdoor adventure, not a seminar on current events or conflicting epistemologies. Both of which continued to unfold at top speed without us. While we were without internet in the Canyon, Roe was overturned, and the poised young assistant to Mark Meadows tied the ex-President ever closer to the planning of the January 6th insurrection.

      • Meduza‘They didn’t even let our family say goodbye’ The FSB sent a terminally ill scientist from a hospital in Siberia to a prison in Moscow. Days later, he died in custody.

        On June 30, a Novosibirsk court arrested scientist Dmitry Kolker on suspicion of treason. Kolker, who had stage IV pancreatic cancer, was receiving treatment at a hospital in Novosibirsk; the authorities took him straight from the hospital to Moscow’s Lefortovo remand prison, where he died on July 2. Kolker’s lawyer, Alexander Fedulov, blames his client’s death on the FSB officers who arrested him, the medical staff who signed off on his remove from the hospital, and the judges who ordered his incarceration, knowing he was near death. Fedulov spoke to Meduza about his client’s case.

      • MeduzaRussia’s war bogs down As Ukraine retakes Snake Island and Lysychansk falls, the battle of attrition grinds on

        Russia capturing the city Lysychansk and Ukraine recovering Snake Island were both hailed as victories by the respective sides this past week. The Kremlin celebrated the capture of the last Ukrainian holdout in the Luhansk region by doling out state awards to the forces involved. However, the Russian authorities appear to be exaggerating the military significance of this victory, as it came after Ukrainian troops carried out a relatively orderly withdrawal from the area. Earlier, Ukrainian forces pushed Russian troops to evacuate Snake Island. But Ukrainian soldiers have yet to physically return to the recovered outpost in the Black Sea. And now that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has settled into a war of attrition, its outcome depends less on the capture and loss of small territories like these, and more on the accumulation and expenditure of military resources.

      • Counter PunchComing Full Circle With a Renewed Cold War Racket

        Yet, when did the American people, through their elected representatives in Congress, agree to those pledges? Sure, I know that Congress is busy with those January 6 hearings, but is that any reason to refrain from making this monumental decision on behalf of the American people?

        The fact is that when it comes to the expansion of NATO membership, the views of Congress are irrelevant. The only views that matter are those of the Pentagon. It is the Pentagon that owns and controls NATO. It is the Pentagon that has decided to invite Sweden and Finland into the military alliance that wields the authority to pledge the lives of the American people.

    • Transparency/Investigative Reporting

      • New York TimesEx-Officer Is First From C.I.A. to Face Prison for a Leak

        Finally, the older agent leaned in close and said, by Mr. Kiriakou’s recollection, “In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that right now we’re executing a search warrant at your house and seizing your electronic devices.”

        [...]

        Mr. Kiriakou first stumbled into the public limelight by speaking out about waterboarding on television in 2007, quickly becoming a source for national security journalists, including this reporter, who turned up in Mr. Kiriakou’s indictment last year as Journalist B. When he gave the covert officer’s name to the freelancer, he said, he was simply trying to help a writer find a potential source and had no intention or expectation that the name would ever become public. In fact, it did not surface publicly until long after Mr. Kiriakou was charged.

        [...]

        “To me, the irony of this whole thing is, very simply, that he’s going to be the only C.I.A. officer to go to jail over torture,” even though he publicly denounced torture, Mr. Riedel said. “It’s deeply ironic under the Democratic president who ended torture.”

    • Environment

      • Energy

        • Taiwan NewsPassengers with bikes allowed access to 6 more train stations in central Taiwan

          Now, six more train stations in the city have joined the ranks of stations catering to the needs of passengers traveling with bikes, making a total of 16 bike-friendly train stations in the city.

        • WiredSmaller Reactors May Still Have a Big Nuclear Waste Problem

          LINDSAY KRALL DECIDED to study nuclear waste out of a love for the arcane. Figuring how to bury radioactive atoms isn’t exactly simple—it takes a blend of particle physics, careful geology and engineering, and a high tolerance for reams of regulations. But the trickiest ingredient of all is time. Nuclear waste from today’s reactors will take thousands of years to become something safer to handle. So any solution can’t require too much stewardship. It’s gotta just work, and keep working for generations. By then, the utility that split those atoms won’t exist, nor will the company that designed the reactor. Who knows? Maybe the United States won’t exist either.

          Right now, the US doesn’t have such a plan. That’s been the case since 2011, when regulators facing stiff local opposition pulled the plug on a decades-long effort to store waste underneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada, stranding $44 billion in federal funds meant for the job. Since then, the nuclear industry has done a good job of storing its waste on a temporary basis, which is part of the reason Congress has shown little interest in working out a solution for future generations. Long-term thinking isn’t their strong suit. “It’s been a complete institutional failure in the US,” Krall says.

        • Michael West MediaGas Lies: as super profits ramp up so too does the fossil fuel propaganda war

          As fossil fuel corporations reap fabulous profits at the expense of Australian gas and electricity customers, the gas lobby is running a propaganda campaign calling for Australia to power the world, help Ukraine, let "the market" do its thing.

        • Common Dreams'Betrayal!' Uproar After EU Backs Industry Push to Label Gas and Nuclear 'Green'

          Climate advocates responded with outrage to the European Parliament's vote Wednesday to classify fossil gas and nuclear projects as "green," an official designation that will allow them to access additional taxpayer subsidies and private capital despite their destructive environmental impacts.

          Members of the European Parliament voted 328 to 278 to kill a motion that would have blocked the European Commission's so-called "taxonomy" plan, clearing the way for the proposal to become law as demonstrators inside the parliament building in Strasbourg, France voiced their objections.

      • Wildlife/Nature

        • Robert OCallahanEyes Above The Waves: Tūrangi Road Trip

          Last weekend (Friday) was the first ever Matariki public holiday and the kids had Monday off so we went on a family road trip to Tūrangi for three nights. It wasn't a tramping trip — we stayed at the "Tūrangi Leisure Lodge" motel — but the trip was mostly short walks and board games.

          We drove down on Friday and stopped near Lake Karapiro to walk up Maungatautari from the northern side. It's a mountain in the Waikato countryside with a predator-proof fence to create a bird sanctuary. The walk to the summit was worth doing, about three hours round trip, although there isn't much of a view at the top.

          Saturday was overcast and drizzly and we did short walks around Tūrangi — up and down the Tongariro River, with lots of people fly-fishing. We drove the short distance to Tokaanu and enjoyed views of the lake from the wharf. Near Tokaanu is the bush-clad hill Maunganamu, probably a very small volcanic cone. Our topographic map showed a track to the top so we hunted it down — there are no signs in the area and the trailhead is overgrown, but the track is still there and passable although obviously unmaintained and becoming gradually overgrown. At the top there's bit of a lookout over the surrounding area. For a very short walk it was pretty good.

        • ‘Fortress conservation’ violently displaces Indigenous people | Grist

          On Friday, video footage emerged of Indigenous Maasai people running and scrambling for cover from gunfire in the United Republic of Tanzania. The videos reveal chaos as the Maasai try to escape state security forces, and photos released in the aftermath of the incident show bloody injuries and bullet wounds. In Loliondo, in northern Tanzania, the Maasai are being violently evicted from their land as part of an effort to create a game reserve. Maasai leaders have been arrested, dozens of community members have been shot or wounded, and hundreds have fled to Kenya for safety and medical attention. Others are determined to remain in their homeland. “I won’t go until the last point of our life,” said a Maasai leader who asked for anonymity because they fear retaliation. “I can’t run out of home my grandparents’ lands [sic].”

        • [Old] Raspberry PiRaspberry Pi keeps an eye on freshwater fishes in Canada

          Jessica’s setup comprises a Raspberry Pi Zero W with our High Quality Camera, as well as sensors for dissolved oxygen and temperature. It records fish presence and environmental variables in different habitats. Jessica has tested the equipment in locations across a small channel near Lake Huron, which is nestled between Toronto in Canada and Detroit in the US. The ultimate goal of her research is to create habitat occupancy models in the area. These would tell us the population limit for threatened species of fish.

      • Overpopulation

        • France24Italy declares state of emergency in drought-stricken north

          According to the country’s largest agricultural union, Coldiretti, the drought threatens more than 30 percent of national agricultural production, and half of the farms in the Po Valley, where Parma ham is produced.

          Lakes Maggiore and Garda were also hit by lower than normal water levels for this time of year, while further south the Tiber River, which runs through Rome, also dropped.

          The Po represents the peninsula’s largest water reservoir, much of which is used by farmers.

        • France24Mega drought in US spells trouble for Hoover Dam reservoir

          As a consequence, there is not as much in a river that supplies water to tens of millions of people and countless acres of farmland.

        • [Old] CS MonitorHow the fall of Qaddafi gave rise to Europe's migrant crisis

          Libya's coast has a long history of sending people – willing and unwilling – to Europe and the Americas. Ports like Tripoli and Benghazi were the final stops for medieval slave-trading caravans from the African interior until the 19th century. In recent decades, migrants have shoved off for Italy and Spain in rickety fishing boats, with Libyan officials looking the other way.

        • [Old] BBCGaddafi wants EU cash to stop African migrants

          "We don't know if Europe will remain an advanced and united continent or if it will be destroyed, as happened with the barbarian invasions."

    • Finance

      • Common Dreams'Shameful': GOP Colluding With Autocratic Orban Government to Tank Global Tax Deal

        News that GOP members of Congress are coordinating with the far-right Hungarian government in an attempt to block a proposed global minimum tax on multinational companies is drawing outrage from watchdog groups and Democratic lawmakers, with one U.S. senator accusing Republicans of doing "anything it takes to help their dark money corporate backers dodge taxes."

        Just ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend, the Washington Post reported that "senior Hungarian officials say they are working with Republican lawmakers in the United States to defeat a global minimum tax backed by the Biden administration, as European and American leaders struggle to enact a groundbreaking international accord targeting multinational corporations."

      • TruthOutWarren Slams McConnell for Saying Labor Shortage Is Due to the Stimulus Checks
    • AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

      • New York TimesTwitter, Challenging Orders to Remove Content, Sues India’s Government

        The suit is the first legal challenge that the company has issued to push back against laws passed in 2021 that extended the Indian government’s censorship powers. The rules gave the government oversight of Twitter and other social media companies, allowing the authorities to demand that posts or accounts critical of them be hidden from Indian users. Executives at the companies can face criminal penalties if they do not comply with the demands.

      • Silicon AngleTwitter is suing the Indian government over far-reaching content removal orders

        The lawsuit was filed at the Karnataka High Court in Bangalore, a consequence of a recent spat Twitter had with the Indian government over its aggressive speech laws. The government had asked Twitter to take down some posts and block dozens of accounts. Twitter did so but then went straight to the courts.

        The difficult relationship between Twitter and the government goes back to 2021 when India’s new information technology laws went into effect. The government then asked Twitter on many occasions to take down content it perceived as being critical of it, while Twitter accused the government of “intimidation tactics.” At one point, the Indian police turned up at Twitter’s offices and threatened to jail Twitter staff if the company didn’t adhere to the country’s new laws.

      • TechEconomy.ngCBN Sends a 41-Paged Cybersecurity Guidelines to OFIs

        The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released a new framework to check cyber security in Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) to create a safer and more secure cyber environment that will support information system security.

        This is contained in a statement issued by Nkiru Asiegbu, Director, OFIs, CBN.

        The 41-paged document comprises six parts: cybersecurity governance and oversight, cybersecurity risk management system, cyber resilience assessment, cybersecurity operational resilience, cyber-threat intelligence and metrics, monitoring, and reporting.

      • GannettTwitter banned the Proud Boys, but they're still there. Under Elon Musk, there could be more

        The presence of dozens of Proud Boys accounts – at the same time the group's leaders face federal charges of seditious conspiracy in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 – is the latest illustration of how extremist groups can spread their message, despite social media companies' promises to the contrary.

        Many of the accounts could be found by a simple word search, because they used "Proud Boys” in their Twitter bio or username, raising questions about how effectively the company enforces its rules on hate speech and extremism.

      • Misinformation/Disinformation

        • New York TimesDisinformation Has Become Another Untouchable Problem in Washington

          There is wide agreement across the federal government that coordinated disinformation campaigns threaten to exacerbate public health emergencies, stoke ethnic and racial divisions and even undermine democracy itself. The board’s fate, however, has underscored how deeply partisan the issue has become in Washington, making it nearly impossible to consider addressing the threat.

        • YLEDisinformation campaigns target Finland's foreign language speakers, [NATO] fears

          "It's crazy right now. Russia is incredibly active on Arabic TikTok" explained Suldaan Said Ahmed, a Helsinki MP for the Left Alliance, and the only Somali-born member of Parliament.

          Said Ahmed told Yle News that he has been "working overtime" to meet with constituents who do not speak or understand Finnish, as many of them report seeing videos online which claim that war is about to break out in Finland, or that the US is forcing Finland to join [NATO].

          "MPs representing minorities are being bombarded with messages from constituents who are panicking and seem to have a totally different idea of what is happening with Russia," Said Ahmed said.

    • Censorship/Free Speech

      • NasdaqIndian police arrest 'masterminds' behind execution of Hindu tailor -officials

        Kumar said [Internet] services was being gradually restored and security forces continued to be on alert following the murder, carried out by two Muslim men now under arrest who filmed the act and posted it online.

        The perpetrators said the act was in response to victim's support for a politician's derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad. The victim, Kanhaiya Lal Teli, had allegedly put up a social media post supporting a former spokesperson for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party who made anti-Islam comments in May.

      • The DiplomatHindu Man Killed as Religious Tensions Boil in India

        Tensions were high Wednesday in the western Indian city of Udaipur, a day after police arrested two Muslim men accused of slitting a Hindu tailor’s throat and posting a video of it on social media. The brutal attack represents a dramatic escalation of communal violence in a country riven by deep religious polarization.

      • ISPreviewOfcom Sets Out UK Internet Censorship Plans Under Safety Bill

        The UK communications and media regulator, Ofcom, has today set out their plans for putting the mess of complex and confusing legislation – that is the Online Safety Bill (OSB) – into practice, which aims to tackle “harmful” internet content through website bans by broadband ISPs, fines and other sanctions.

    • Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

      • The EconomistI was a war reporter in Ethiopia. Then I became the enemy

        Suddenly I was covering a war. To some partisans in Abiy’s government, I was fulfilling a secret purpose: on social media, members of the Ethiopian diaspora labelled me an agent of the CIA (later I would also be called an agent of MI6). Along with other journalists, I was accused of siding with the TPLF. At first, I laughed off such conspiratorial accusations. At the time there was little sign that the government would take such talk seriously. Independent Ethiopian journalists, however, were already under pressure. Always constrained in their reporting, after the war began some were detained for daring to contradict the official government line. A number were physically assaulted.

      • TechEconomy.ngAfrica Data Hub Selects 8 Journalists for First Cohort of its Community Journalism Fellowship

        The objective of the fellowship is to improve the coverage of under-reported issues in local communities across Nigeria, focusing on potential solutions with lasting impact on effective public service delivery, grassroot development and improving the quality of life.

      • RFERLRussian Journalist Accused Of Discrediting Army Sent To Psychiatric Hospital

        Ponomarenko faces up to 10 years in prison for a Telegram post about the Russian bombing of a theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in which hundreds of civilians were killed. A Russian law passed in March criminalizes the dissemination of "fake" reports that "discredit the armed forces."

      • The Barents ObserverSiberian journalist jailed for military ‘Fakes’ moved to psychiatric care

        She is currently not allowed to see or receive letters from her relatives and is only able to maintain contact with her lawyer, Podolskiy said.

        Observers have said Ponomarenko’s placement in psychiatric treatment bears a resemblance to the Soviet-era practice of punitive psychiatry against dissenters.

    • Civil Rights/Policing

    • Monopolies

      • VarietyMicrosoft’s $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Deal Faces U.K. Antitrust Probe

        On Wednesday, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority said it investigating whether Microsoft-Activision Blizzard merger “may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services.”

        The CMA’s deadline for public comment on the matter is July 20. The regulator has set a Sept. 1 deadline on whether to refer the proposed merger for a “phase 2” investigation, which would let the parties discuss and potentially agree on remedies to any identified competitive harms.

      • GamesUK regulator investigating Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition

        If the CMA decides the deal is anti-competitive, then it would conduct a more in-depth assessment and allow the companies to propose actions that would address the concerns with the deal.

        The regulator acknowledged that some of its counterparts around the world are also looking into the deal, and it will communicate with them "as appropriate."

      • CNBCMicrosoft's $69 billion Activision takeover faces competition probe in the UK

        If approved, the acquisition would have huge implications for the $190 billion video game industry, handing control of incredibly lucrative franchises including Call of Duty, Candy Crush and Warcraft to one of the world's biggest tech companies.

      • The Washington PostMicrosoft's Activision Blizzard bid faces UK antitrust probe

        Microsoft makes the Xbox gaming system while Activision has created or acquired popular video games including Guitar Hero and the World of Warcraft franchise.

      • ABCMicrosoft's Activision Blizzard bid faces UK antitrust probe

        The U.K. watchdog will seek feedback on the acquisition from interested parties until July 20 and decide by Sept. 1 whether to escalate its investigation.

  • Gemini* and Gopher

    • Technical

      • What Fedi is

        If I have time I’ll mention that there’s a lot of toxicity on there and I’ll get into how moderation works.

        The technical detail I gloss over is that Mastodon is a hosted server-side application and that there are many Mastodon servers.

      • Internet/Gemini

        • Took me a minute; summer camp



          Hey Gemini!

          Sud0nim, I got your email and I’m glad my post was good to you :). Please forgive the lack of email response, I seem to be unable to send emails from that address. I’ll have to do some digging as to see why.

          Once again, I’m a camp counselor. I’ve been having a lot of fun this past week. The camp is a church camp, and is really different from the church camp I went to as a kid. Some of my campers are interested in learning more about Byzantine chant and other church music, which makes me glad. They’re just beginning, so they’re mostly looking for the ison.

        • Hosting Gemini capsules

          Hi there! Hope you're doing well. I'll show you how to compile and use Gemserv, the Gemini server I use for serving pages on Altesq, my pubnix. It is written in Rust, and allows for a secure, yet simple program that can serve Gemini capsules from the ~/public_gemini of every member. As you can imagine, it's good for anyone who wants to start their own public access Unix server, or host for their friends or themselves. I might make a whole series on running your own pubnix in the close future.

        • Any retro devices for browsing the smolweb?

          I was wondering if anyone has seen any interesting retro devices running the gemini or gopher protocol. I write regularly on my Psion 5MX and love the idea of being able to browse the smolweb on such a form factor.

      • Announcements

        • Announcing tsvutils

          I think I have mentioned how much I like Tab Separated Value (TSV) files before. They are simple to write and read which makes them easy to manipulate using standard Unix tools like awk.


* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.



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