● 11.26.21

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 26/11/2021: F35 Elections, Whonix 16.0.3.7, OSMC’s November Refresh With Kodi 19.3

Posted in News Roundup at 4:33 am by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxDistributionsDevices/EmbeddedFree Software/Open SourceLeftovers

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ TUXEDO InfinityBook S 17 Linux Laptop Unveiled with 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPUs, Compact Design

• Dubbed as the smallest 17-inch business TUXEDO notebook in a 15-inch form factor, the TUXEDO InfinityBook S 17 Gen6 is here with an above-average screen-to-body ratio and a large 17.3-inch Full-HD IPS anti-reflective / non-glare display, partial aluminum chassis (display lid and bottom panel), as well as an ergonomic and cooling-optimized Lift-Up hinge that acts as a stand.

Server

=> ↺ Kubernetes Blog: Quality-of-Service for Memory Resources

• Kubernetes v1.22, released in August 2021, introduced a new alpha feature that improves how Linux nodes implement memory resource requests and limits.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ mintCast 374.5 – “Smart” Phones

• 1:46 Linux Innards 42:07 Vibrations from the Ether 51:07 Check This Out 54:28 Announcements & Outro

Applications

=> ↺ Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Apple’s Products – LinuxLinks

• Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent), Amazon and Facebook dominate the tech landscape. Their dominance is so broad they account for more than 20% of the S&P 500.

• There are many things to admire about Apple’s hardware and software. Apple make great looking (albeit expensive) hardware. Over the years key successes include the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and the MacBook Air. The company designs its own hardware and software. This gives them the power to make an operating system and suite of apps that are tailor-made and optimized for their hardware. Apple also operates the Apple Music and Apple TV media distribution platforms.

• Mac OS X is Apple’s proprietary operating system for its line of Macintosh computers. Its interface, known as Aqua, is highly polished and built on top of a BSD derivative (Darwin). There’s a whole raft of proprietary applications that are developed by Apple for their operating software. This software is not available for Linux and there’s no prospect of that position changing.

• In 2020, Apple began the Apple silicon transition, using self-designed, 64-bit ARM-based Apple M1 processors on new Mac computers. Maybe it’s the perfect time to move away from the proprietary world of Apple, and embrace the open source Linux scene.

=> ↺ Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Apple FaceTime – LinuxLinks

• Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent), Amazon and Facebook dominate the tech landscape. Their dominance is so broad they account for more than 20% of the S&P 500.

• There are many things to admire about Apple’s hardware and software. Apple make great looking (albeit expensive) hardware. Over the years key successes include the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and the MacBook Air. The company designs its own hardware and software. This gives them the power to make an operating system and suite of apps that are tailor-made and optimized for their hardware. Apple also operates the Apple Music and Apple TV media distribution platforms.

• Mac OS X is Apple’s proprietary operating system for its line of Macintosh computers. Its interface, known as Aqua, is highly polished and built on top of a BSD derivative (Darwin). There’s a whole raft of proprietary applications that are developed by Apple for their operating software. This software is not available for Linux and there’s no prospect of that position changing.

• In 2020, Apple began the Apple silicon transition, using self-designed, 64-bit ARM-based Apple M1 processors on new Mac computers. Maybe it’s the perfect time to move away from the proprietary world of Apple, and embrace the open source Linux scene.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to Install PostgreSQL 14 in RHEL 8 Linux

• PostgreSQL is a well-known object-relational database system. The open-source nature of this relational database management system has kept it under an active development status for over 30 years. These development milestones have earned PostgreSQL the attributes of being robust, performant, and reliable.

• RHEL 8 on the other hand offers its users a quick Cybersecurity response, flexible subscription options, secure design, open APIs, and thorough product testing.

• Therefore, whether you are working on analytics, geospatial, mobile, or web applications on an RHEL 8 environment, PostgreSQL’s flexibility with both structured and unstructured data makes it a reliable data warehouse/store.

=> ↺ Install a full desktop on a Multipass VM for easier Linux development – TechRepublic

• Install a full desktop on a Multipass VM for easier Linux development

=> ↺ Check External IP From Linux Command Line – Linux Nightly

• There are a few different ways to check a system’s external IP address from the Linux command line. Check out some of the methods below to retrieve your public IP address using Linux commands.

=> ↺ Install Fail2ban on Debian 11 – Unixcop the Unix / Linux the admins deams

• See how to use the dig, curl, and wget Linux commands to view a system’s external/public IP address from command line terminal.

Games

=> ↺ FUTEX2 futex_waitv Wired Up For Other Architectures With Linux 5.16-rc3 – Phoronix

• FUTEX2 as in the new futex_waitv system call landed in Linux 5.16 back during the merge window for improving the efficiency of running Windows games on Linux for those that rely on Windows’ WaitForMultipleObjects functionality with futex_waitv is now the ability to wait on multiple futexes. That new system call is now supported on more architectures with the next Linux 5.16 release candidate.

• Back with the original FUTEX2/futex_waitv patches the system call was wired up for x86/x86_64 and Arm. Patches since then enabled the system call for MIPS, s390, parisc,and s390. Landing today was enabling the system call for the rest of the supported CPU architectures by the Linux kernel, not that it’s too important for those archs from the gaming aspect but for other use-cases in wanting to wait on multiple futexes.

=> ↺ DOSBox Basics on Linux – CubicleNate’s Techpad

• DOSBox is an excellent DOS environment that you can enjoy on modern Linux systems. I was never really into DOS all that much in my early computer years. I used it but I didn’t really enjoy it. I much preferred Commodore 64 because it was far more colorful, later the Amiga, because it was far better in sound and graphics and I got my first x86 based system in the Windows 98 years where I only used DOS to do gaming. That said, I do have many happy memories of playing DOS based games like Space Quest, Police Quest, Simant and many others. Games like Descent and Doom have been ported to Linux so there is no benefit in running the DOS version.

• I got the “hankering” to play some old DOS games, specifically Oregon Trail and Sim Ant for some unknown reason, perhaps it was head injury induced, I can’t say for sure. As I was playing with DOSBox, I couldn’t help but think how much I was enjoying the experience and started thinking, “Can I easily integrate these games in my openSUSE Tumbleweed, Plasma Desktop experience?”

Desktop Environments/WMs

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ 13 Best Dark GTK Themes for Your Linux Desktop

• Yeah, we have covered the best Linux themes in the past but this one is specifically dedicated to the dark themes. There was a time when only programmers and sysadmins preferred dark mode but that’s not the case anymore. Dark mode is loved by normal people as well and hence I compiled this list of dark themes for desktop Linux users like you.

• If you are new to theme-ing your desktop environment, you can take a look at our guide to install themes in GNOME.

Distributions

=> ↺ MX Linux 21 ‘AHS’ Is Now Available: What Is AHS?

• You might’ve heard of MX Linux. It is the most popular Linux distro according to the Distrowatch rankings. Developers of the same recently released MX Linux 21 AHS. So what exactly is AHS? In this article, let’s look at everything that’s new in MX Linux 21 AHS.

• AHS stands for Advanced Hardware Support, which, according to the MX Linux blog, is a repository that allows users to install new graphics firmware such as mesa packages, Xorg drivers, etc. “The target is those users with things like newer amdgpu hardware, or later intel graphics sets, or those requiring newer mesa packages. The primary focus is the graphics stack,” AHS – MX Linux Blog.

New Releases

=> ↺ Clonezilla Live 2.8 Disk Cloning/Imaging Tool Released with Linux Kernel 5.14, More

• Coming three months after the Clonezilla Live 2.7.3 release and more than a year after the Clonezilla Live 2.7 series, Clonezilla Live 2.8 is here as a modest update that bumps the kernel from Linux 5.10 LTS to the newer Linux 5.14 series, which is no longer supported upstream.

• Linux kernel 5.14.6 is included in Clonezilla Live 2.8 mainly to provide users with better hardware support, but there won’t be any further updates released to this kernel branch, at least not upstream.

=> ↺ Stable Clonezilla live 2.8.0-27 Released

• This release of Clonezilla live (2.8.0-27) includes major enhancements and bug fixes. ENHANCEMENTS and CHANGES from 2.7.3-19

=> ↺ Endless OS 4 makes the jump to Debian 11, strengthens Flatpak and improves privacy – LinuxStoney

• Endless OS 4 has been published to continue the mission of the foundation that develops it to reduce the digital divide in the world . This time we find another operating system based on excellent Debian 11 Bullseye , which incorporates more applications in Flatpak format and which maintains the atomic update system OSTree as one of its main pillars.

• As a derivative of Debian 11 Bullseye that it is, Endless OS 4 inherits many of the characteristics of the operating system on which it is based, but the first novelty highlighted by those responsible for the distribution is the possibility of being able to quickly switch between users without logging out.

• The second novelty mentioned by the foundation is the printing support without drivers thanks to IPP-over-USB , which treats any device connected by USB (in this case, printers) as if it were working through a network, thus making it dispensable. , at least initially, the use of drivers. Endless warns that updating to version 4 of your system will delete all the printers that the user has configured.

=> ↺ Endless OS 4.0 Biggest Update Available to Download and Upgrade – itsfoss.net

• Endless OS 4.0 Biggest Update Available to Download and Upgrade, Endless OS is a Linux-based operating system which provides a simplified and streamlined user experience using a customized desktop environment forked from GNOME Shell.

• The project’s latest release is Endless OS 4.0.0 which introduces long-term support. With Endless OS 4, we are introducing a long-term support version of the OS, which will be supported for a number of years even after Endless OS 5 is released. By default, Endless OS 4 systems will automatically update to Endless OS 5 when it is released, as with all past versions of the OS. However, it is now possible to remain on Endless OS 4 and continue to receive critical bug fixes and security updates even after Endless OS 5 is released, keeping the same OS functionality and appearance for several years. Please see the Long-Term Support documentation for more details, including how to configure a system to use the LTS version of Endless OS. We have updated our low-level software platform, for improved hardware support, performance, and stability Linux kernel 5.11 and updated linux-firmware, bringing support for the latest PC hardware and several fixes to existing drivers and core kernel code.” Additional information is provided in the project’s release announcement.

=> ↺ Deepin 20.3 Update Available to Download – itsfoss.net

• Deepin 20.3 Update Available to Download, Deepin 20.3 is a Debian-based distribution which features its own, custom desktop environment – the Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE). The project’s latest release is deepin 20.3 which includes an updated kernel and better support for NTFS partitions.

• In deepin 20.3, the Stable kernel is upgraded to version 5.15 with better compatibility, system security vulnerabilities are fixed, some deepin applications come with new features and optimizations to meet the needs under different scenarios, and DDE issues are fixed and optimized to improve the overall user experience. The Stable kernel is upgraded to version 5.15 with better support for Intel 12th Gen processors and NTFS file systems, and better system compatibility. Both LTS and Stable kernels can be installed and manually upgraded in deepin. Album provides a better batch selection of photos and new buttons for quick actions, supports importing, previewing, and searching videos, displays the number of photos and videos separately in the status bar, and improves the interactions of main functions, making photo and video management more convenient.” Additional information can be found in the distribution’s release announcement (Chinese, English).

=> ↺ Deepin 20.3 improves image management and screenshots – LinuxStoney

• Deepin 20.3 is the new version of the most popular Chinese distro on the scene and as it has been happening with its latest releases, it is presented as little more than a maintenance update, although there are news.

• We reviewed the latest movements of Deepin on the occasion of its previous version, and this year the project has assumed several changes in its development and launch calendar, now more together than ever and, therefore, with less news than never.

• Deepin 20.3 is no exception and like the most recent versions of the distribution, regular updates of the environment and applications account for the bulk of the changes, although it presents a couple of novelties that stand out on their own, in the style of what has already been seen.

=> ↺ OSMC’s November update is here with Kodi 19.3

• At the end of the Summer, we released our largest update ever delivering a new version of Kodi, an improved video stack, support for new Raspberry Pi models and a large number of improvements and fixes.

• Since then, we’ve been working hard to deliver another significant update. This update also features Kodi v19.3 which has a number of bug fixes. One of the more significant changes in Kodi v19.3 includes a fix which improves the playback of videos which have high-bitrate TrueHD tracks. This would previously result in drop-outs when playing back some titles with HD audio passthrough enabled.

=> ↺ Whonix 16.0.3.7 – for VirtualBox – Point Release!

Slackware Family

=> ↺ Slackware 15.0 RC2 Available to Download

• Patrick Volkerding has announced that the development branch of Slackware Linux has reached “release candidate 2” status. As a result, the highly anticipated release of version 15.0 of the world’s oldest surviving Linux distribution is just around the corner: “Clearly we’re going to have to trend more carefully for things to settle down, so consider this RC2 and a much harder freeze.

IBM/Red Hat/Fedora

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: F35 Elections voting now open!

• Voting in the Fedora Linux 35 elections is now open. Go to the Elections app to cast your vote. Voting closes at 23:59 UTC on Thursday 9 December. Don’t forget to claim your “I Voted” badge when you cast your ballot. Links to candidate interviews are below.

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: Mindshare election: Interview with Fernando Fernández Mancera (ffmancera)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: Mindshare election: Interview with Till Maas (till)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: Mindshare election: Interview with Stephen Snow (jakfrost)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: FESCo election: Interview with Fabio Valentini (decathorpe)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: FESCo election: Interview with Kevin Fenzi (kevin)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: FESCo election: Interview with Miro Hrončok (churchyard)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: FESCo election: Interview with Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek (zbyszek)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: FESCo election: Interview with Tom Stellard (tstellar)

=> ↺ Fedora Community Blog: FESCo election: Interview with David Cantrell (dcantrell)

=> ↺ Normalize web services with Camel K and AtlasMap, Part 2 | Red Hat Developer

• Part 1 of this series introduced a simple approach to normalizing and connecting web services using Camel K, a lightweight cloud-integration platform based on Apache Camel that runs natively on Kubernetes. In this article, we’ll walk through the Camel K implementation step-by-step. We’ll also cover how to simplify data mapping with AtlasMap.

• Note: Many organizations today face the challenge of using many different services, often as a result of partnerships or acquisitions. These systems are implemented with a range of technologies, each with its own access protocol. The previous article discussed how Apache Camel makes it easy to normalize the APIs in this scenario.

=> ↺ Change management: How to build resilience into your processes

• IT leaders have experienced and witnessed some incredible flexibility, adaptability, and downright heroism since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – among their team members, across their organizations, within themselves. As the pressure on technology teams has persisted, however, many have turned their attention to identifying and preventing burnout on their teams – learning how to toe the line between building healthy resilience within themselves and their teams and demanding too much change of their organizations.

• One way to ease the impact of uncertainty and volatility on people is to build more resiliency into processes.

• “This past eighteen months has shown us how quickly our normal can change, and we’re still dealing with things that will challenge our processes some time into our future including supply chain and labor shortages,” says Janele Lynn, owner of the Lynn Leadership Group, which helps leaders build trusting relationships through emotional intelligence. “We’ll need to focus our attention on not only what matters most to our organizations but also changes that will allow our organizations the most opportunity to flex if needed.”

• People are only as good (or as flexible or as resilient) as the processes they are a part of, says Noelle Akins, leadership coach and founder of Akins & Associates. “While we build personal and team resilience, let’s also look at how our processes either build or drain resilience,” Akins advises. “As Edward Deming said, ‘A bad system will beat a good performer every time.’ It takes a systemic approach for resilience to be sustainable.”

=> ↺ Red Hat honors APAC partners for supporting customers in their digital transformation with open source innovation

• The Red Hat partner ecosystem is an integral part of how Red Hat develops and delivers business and technical value to customers. As key players in digital transformation, Red Hat partners help organizations and businesses navigate the ever changing IT landscape through open source solutions.

• The Red Hat Asia Pacific Partner Awards 2021 recognize commercial and public sector partners for their continued efforts to develop innovative solutions using Red Hat technologies to meet customers needs and improve business outcomes. This year’s partner award winners have not only acted as catalysts for customer success, but have been important multipliers of enterprise open source by adopting Red Hat solutions, from emerging technologies to hybrid cloud infrastructure. In today’s evolving marketplace, it is more important than ever to work openly and collaboratively to generate meaningful results for organizations throughout their cloud journey.

• Selected based on their commitment to innovation, dedication to driving change with open source, and demonstration of collaborative and transparent working ecosystems, we are pleased to announce this year’s Red Hat Asia Pacific Partner Award winners:

Devices/Embedded

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Bring A Minitel Terminal Back To Life WIth An ESP32 | Hackaday

• Most of us who are old enough are likely to have had our first experience of an online service some time in the 1990s, either through the likes of Compuserve or via an ISP. For our French readers the online experience will have come much earlier, as a forward-thinking telecommunications environment led to every household in the country receiving a viewdata terminal. The Minitel system as it was called was a runaway success, and was only finally turned off as late as 2012. Many of the terminals survive to make a great basis for projects, and it’s one of these that [Louis H] has taken and enhanced with an ESP32.

=> ↺ Fifty Shades Of Brown: 3D Printing With Sugar | Hackaday

• Success was somewhat variable, as the gloopy material is notoriously fickle to work with, but the setup did produce some structures that stayed in one piece, at least for a while. Initially [Norbert] tried it real slow, effectively printing with the liquified sweet stuff, by dragging a molten blob of it around on the end of the extruder nozzle. Whilst this did work, the resulting print resolution did leave something to be desired. The next thing tried was increased print speed. This produced clearer prints, as the sugar did not have time to caramelise, or form a noticeable blob, but as soon as the bed started to cool, it caused it to crack badly.

=> ↺ Espressif introduces ESP32-S3-BOX AI development kit for online and offline voice applications – CNX Software

• Espressif Systems has very recently introduced the ESP32-S3-BOX AI voice devkit designed for the development of applications with offline and online voice assistants, and whose design I find similar to the M5Stack Core2 devkit, but the applications will be different.

• The ESP32-S3-BOX features the latest ESP32-S3 processor with WiFi and BLE connectivity, AI capabilities, as well as a 2.4-inch capacitive touchscreen display, a 2-mic microphone array, a speaker, and I/O connectors with everything housed in a plastic enclosure with a stand.

=> ↺ IoThing Digital IO board handles up to 300V for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and various other boards (Crowdfunding) – CNX Software

• AlterStep’s IoThing Digital is a digital I/O module with two high-power Omron G5Q-14 relays and two isolated AC or DC input channels based on Texas Instruments ISO1211 that can handle up to 300 V.

• The board also integrates a DC-DC converter and mikroBUS slot that allows it to be used with compatible MCU boards, and the company also provides adapters for popular form factors such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Adafruit Feather, Teensy, and others.

=> ↺ Celebrating the community: Cian

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ One UI 4.0 hands-on: Android 12 for Samsung devices – 9to5Google

=> ↺ Glodroid brings Android 12 to the PinePhone (sort of) – Liliputing

=> ↺ Android 11 is finally rolling out to the ASUS ROG Phone 2 – TalkAndroid.com

=> ↺ Free instead of $2.49: Edit photo metadata with this Android app | NextPit

=> ↺ 6 useful, affordable gifts for the Android lover on your list

=> ↺ Best Android smartwatch 2021: Top picks for the holidays – 9to5Google

=> ↺ How to record audio from Android apps

=> ↺ How to Update Your Android Phone

=> ↺ Here’s how to track your screen time on Android phones – Information News

=> ↺ Truecaller Version 12 to add more features for Android users: Find out what’s new on the updated app- Technology News, Firstpost

=> ↺ Android Auto and Spotify Car View mode not working together? You’re not alone | T3

=> ↺ 190 Android apps with trojan malware were installed 9.3 million times – PhoneArena

=> ↺ How to Auto-delete Google Search History on Your Android Device

• With the advancement of technology, anyone can gather any knowledge or information from internet searching nowadays. And, to do so, we all prefer the Google search engine because of its ease & user-friendliness. You can search for whatever you want in any search engine if you own an Android device and access the internet from it. Speaking of search engines, you might not be aware that Android keeps your Google search history. Regardless of what you’ve searched for, Android keeps an ongoing record of that search. You may not consider it a major issue, but to some people, it is. Thankfully, there is a simple trick by which you can get rid of this permanently. That’s awesome! Don’t you think? Auto-delete of Google search history on your Android is quite easy and simple to do.

• And for doing that, you shouldn’t miss a word of the entire post if you are someone who is concerned about keeping their p

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ 10 holiday gift ideas for open source enthusiasts

• Are you looking for cool gifts for people on your holiday shopping list or ideas for your own wishlist? If so, consider one of the ten suggestions below. Each of these gift suggestions connects in some way to the open source ethos. From DIY projects to computers to books, this list provides gift suggestions that foster creativity, learning, and exploring.

• If the person on your shopping list already has everything (or does not want any tangible gifts), consider making a charitable donation to an open source project in their name. Opensource.com’s list of open source organizations has plenty of organizations you can select from. You, the person whose name the donation was made in, and the organization that received your donation can all be content in knowing that your gift has helped make open source better.

Leftovers

=> ↺ Opinion | When a Community Is Smashed

• The first time it happened was bad enough.

=> ↺ Living on a Sci-Fi Planet

• I know that because I recently reread H.G. Wells’s 1898 novel War of the Worlds, while revisiting an early moment in my own life. Admittedly, I wasn’t in London when those Martian machines, hooting away, stalked boldly into that city, hungry in the most literal fashion imaginable for human blood. No surprise there, since that was almost a century and a quarter ago. Still, at 77, thanks to that book, I was at least able to revisit a moment that had been mine long enough ago to seem almost like fiction.

• Yes, all those years back I had been reading that very same novel for the very first time under the covers by flashlight. I still remember being gripped, thrilled, and scared, at a time when my parents thought I was asleep. And believe me, if you do that at perhaps age 12 or 13, you really do feel as if you’ve been plunged into a futuristic world from hell, ululations and all.

=> ↺ The Anti-Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Thomas Morton

• As Mount St. Mary’s University Professor of English, William Heath pointed out in a 2007 article for the Journal of American Studies, Morton remains one of the best sources on New England’s indigenous culture and ecology at the time of English settlement. Not surprisingly, some of his observations were off the mark; he concluded, for example, that the Natives were remnants of “the scattered Trojans,” and that they had no religion to speak of, the same mistake made by Columbus on his first day in America. But other observations are quite acute. For example, Morton noted that the Indians set fire to the country periodically, thereby cleaning away underbrush and creating more grasslands for the deer to feed on. He was also quick to praise them when he found their conduct superior to that of the Puritans and Separatists. In New English Canaan he wrote, “I have found the Massachusetts Indians more full of humanity than the Christians, and have had much better quarter with them.”

• The details of Morton’s early life in England are scanty. Heath speculates that he could have been from the southwestern county of Devon, a region famed for its adherence to old English folk customs, Anglo-Catholic ritual, and “good hospitality,” as well as for its swashbuckling, sea-faring sons, including Sir Francis Drake, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and Sir Walter Raleigh. The just published, The Trials of Thomas Morton by USC Professor of Humanities, History and Anthropology, Peter C Mancall places Morton’s birth at around 1575 or 76 possibly in Somerset, also in the southwest of England. As Heath notes, Morton’s family could afford to send him to the Inns of the Court, England’s peculiar combination of law school and professional association, so it can be presumed that he was an aristocrat of sorts whose education was probably similar, if not superior, to that of Shakespeare.

=> ↺ Tribe That Helped Pilgrims Survive First Thanksgiving Regrets It 400 Years Later

=> ↺ The First Thanksgiving is a Key Chapter in America’s Origin Story, But What Happened in Virginia Four Months Later Mattered Much More

• But what happened four months later, starting in March 1622 about 600 miles south of Plymouth, is, I believe, far more reflective of the country’s origins – a story not of peaceful coexistence but of distrust, displacement and repression.

• As a scholar of colonial New England and Virginia, I have often wondered why Americans tend to pay so much less attention to other English migrants of the same era.

=> ↺ Opinion | On Thanksgiving’s 400th Anniversary, We Must Change the Way We Celebrate

• Today, the United States officially marks Thanksgiving. This holiday with vague roots in centuries-old European harvest festivals has had peculiarly American – and highly problematic – iconography and mythology constructed around it since the mid-19th century. In its modern incarnation, Thanksgiving is also inescapably associated with capitalism.

=> ↺ A THANKSGIVING TOAST

• But I will remind them of this nation’s resilience, and the many ways the future could be bright. And when we raise our glasses for a toast, I will ask that they never give up fighting for a more just society. Happy Thanksgiving, friends.

=> ↺ Opinion | Indigenous Resistance Rising as Thanksgiving Turns 400

• Wampanoag. Massachusett. Nipmuc. Mohegan. Pequot. Narragansett. Passamaquoddy. Miꞌkmaq. These are just some of the indigenous nations of the land now called New England, the home of that original Thanksgiving dinner that occurred 400 years ago, in the fall of 1621. The myth of that shared meal has evolved over the centuries, depicting friendship and cooperation between the English settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts and the Wampanoag people who had been there for at least 10,000 years. While that gathering was peaceful, it was at best a token respite from the European settler colonists’ genocide against native peoples that was already well underway. While families gather across the country for this year’s Thanksgiving celebration, frontline indigenous communities that have survived centuries of violence, displacement and systemic racism remain in resistance, defending land, water and their very existence.

Hardware

=> ↺ Ken Shirriff Breaks Open The Yamaha DX7 | Hackaday

• For better or worse, this synthesizer was king in the 1980s music scene. Sure, there had been synthesizers before, but none acheived the sudden popularity of Yamaha’s DX7. “Take on Me?” “Highway to the Dangerzone”? That harmonica solo in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” All DX7. This synth was everywhere in pop music at the time, and now we can all get some insight from taking a look at this de-capped chip from [Ken Shirriff].

• To be clear, by “look” that’s exactly what we mean in this case, as [Ken] is reverse-engineering the YM21280 — the waveform generator of the DX7 — from photos. He took around 100 photos of the de-capped chip with a microscope, composited them, and then analyzed them painstakingly. The detail in his report is remarkable as he is able to show individual logic gates thanks to his powerful microscope. From there he can show exactly how the chip works down to each individual adder and array of memory.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ Enough Colonial Pageantry. Let’s Rally Behind Criminalized Water Protectors.

=> ↺ Opinion | On This Thanksgiving, Celebrate AgriCULTURE, Not AgriBUSINESS

• In December 1972, I was part of a nationwide campaign that came tantalizingly close to getting the U.S. Senate to reject Earl Butz, Richard Nixon’s choice for secretary of agriculture.

=> ↺ Covid Year 2: About Suffering the Old Masters Were Never Wrong

• How many deaths can you live with?

=> ↺ Not Everyone Is Feasting. Food Insecurity Is Much Higher Than Before COVID.

=> ↺ Schumer Got $66K From Top Health Insurance Lobbyist Amid Build Back Better Talks

Integrity/Availability

Proprietary

Security

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ he Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 has adopted its final report. What now? #SaveOurPrivacy

• The Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 has adopted the final version of its report, and is expected to table it in Parliament during the upcoming Winter Session. Here, we look at the possible ways forward for the Data Protection Bill and highlight some of the issues that may emerge from the final report of the Committee. We guide you through the parliamentary process, next steps and the fundamental issues at play.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ Opinion | True Measures of Justice Goes Beyond Verdicts in the Rittenhouse or Arbery Trials

=> ↺ “They Should Have Shot More Students:” From Kent State to Kenosha

• Joy or glee at the killing and wounding of those who differ with the opinions and actions of some within and outside of the governments and the apparatus of empire of the US goes way back in our history. Readers need only view the horrific photographs of the crowds enjoying the spectacle of lynchings in the US South during the first half of the 20th century and beyond to have that premise validated. Now, with the far right a clear and present danger in the US, both in government and at street level, there is a minority that plans and enjoys murder, to paraphrase the late Israeli scientist Israel Shahak. The minority of those who protest injustices is increasingly in grave danger. Jacob Blake was not the first Black person shot by officials of the government, in his case the police, and he was far from the first person of color in US history whose shooting was cheered by those with hate in their hearts and guns and ropes in their hands.

• The words self-defense appeared from a relative on my Facebook feed within hours of the verdict freeing Kyle Rittenhouse in Wisconsin. Self-defense is the cause célèbre of police who kill unarmed civilians in many cases with impunity. Self-defense was on the lips of some of those in the Ohio National Guard in 1970, when they killed and wounded students. Self-defense was on the lips of Kyle Rittenhouse.  I know something about the military-style semi-automatic rifle Rittenhouse used to kill two protesters in Wisconsin, who were protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake (New York Times, October 26, 2021). The US government taught me how to become a sharpshooter with this kind of weapon and its lethality is so monstrous that the thought of taking a rifle like this to a demonstration and then claiming self-defense is more than obscene! It was the weapon (semi-automatic military assault rifles) of choice at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Columbine High School, at a concert in Nevada, and in countless other public places. Second Amendment/self-defense: Bullshit! A person with this kind of military-style semi-automatic rifle is pretty much invincible. And as if in some bizarre accident of time and place, the military also taught me how to use the M-! rifle, the weapon of choice on the battlefields of World War II and the weapon that the Ohio National Guard used against unarmed protesting students at Kent State.

=> ↺ We’re Spending Money on War When We Could Be Building Roads

• As a Navy spouse of 10 years and counting, my life offers an up-close view of our country’s priorities when it comes to infrastructure and government spending.

=> ↺ Did the CIA kill JFK? Oliver Stone on his explosive new film

=> ↺ Let’s Talk Turkey: Glen Ford Carves Up the American Empire

• Well, that’s how I read the energy and intention of Ford’s “No More American Thanksgivings,” the opening evisceration of the mightiest, whitiest American holiday of them all. His screed is a triumphant tonic,  a P’au Revere trumpet blast to open  Black Agenda (OR Books, 2021). Ford begins his carve-up of the butterball day traditionally associated with the beginning of the Christmas shopping period (Black Friday), with some nastiness. Smallpox blankets that would make Wuhan blush. Stolen corn from gravesites probably filled with victims of that smallpox, leaving a wide open area, reminiscent, later, of a trailer park swathe. Indian heads on totemic poles. Indians sold into slavery and sent to Caribbean. Ford sums it up with words of Governor John Winthrop, “This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots.”

• In 2003, Ford writes, for The Black Commentator (a forerunner to Black Agenda Report),

=> ↺ The Problem of Sanctions Against North Korea

• These sanctions have contributed to isolating North Korea from the rest of the world. The country has not entirely welcomed this isolation. Despite longstanding suspicions of outside influences, Pyongyang has shown considerable interest in engaging with the West and with the global economy more generally. Economic sanctions have severely limited this interaction.

• There is currently little political support in the United States for lifting sanctions against North Korea. Despite claims to the contrary, the Biden administration has settled into the same de facto policy of “strategic patience” adopted by the Obama administration. The new administration has not even reversed the Trump administration’s re-designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism.

=> ↺ Takeover of German manufacturer: Rheinmetall re-enters the drone business

• Equipping the German Army’s reconnaissance force with new LUNA drones seems to be secured, so a sale of the insolvent German manufacturer to Israel is off the table. The Bundeswehr has also commissioned a study for kamikaze drones, such a system is also offered by Rheinmetall.

=> ↺ November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

=> ↺ ‘No More Violence, No More Silence!’: Women Worldwide Demand End to Gender-Based Abuse

• Leaders at the United Nations and civil society groups marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Thursday to highlight the global scourge of gender-based violence that has escalated during the last 20 months of the Covid-19 pandemic and which only focused and urgent action can help bring to an end.

• “In all of our own neighborhoods, there are women and girls living in danger.”

=> ↺ Coalition Against Stalkerware Celebrates Two Years of Work to Keep Technology Safe for All

• Stalkerware makes it possible to intrude into a person’s private life and is a tool for abuse in cases of domestic violence and stalking. By installing these applications on a person’s device, abusers can get access to someone’s messages, photos, social media, geolocation, audio or camera recordings (in some cases, this can be done in real-time). Such programs run hidden in the background, without a victim’s knowledge or consent.

• This year, the Coalition welcomed new supporters like INTERPOL and members, among them CyberPeace Institute; Gendarmerie Nationale; the Gradus Project; Kandoo; Luchadoras; the Florida Institute for Cybersecurity Research; National Center for Victims of Crime (US); North Carolina A&T State University’s Center of Excellence for Cybersecurity Research, Education, and Outreach; Refuge UK; Sexual Violence Law Center (US), and The Tor Project. 

• Fulfilling one of the founding missions, the Coalition’s partners in July launched a new technical training on stalkerware aimed at helping increase capacity-building among nonprofit organizations that work with survivors and victims, as well as law enforcement agencies and other relevant parties. In addition, the Coalition has put together a revised page with advice for survivors who suspect they may have stalkerware on their device.

=> ↺ Coordination by Europol: Special Intervention Units train with drone carrying explosives and robot dog

• Since this year, the ATLAS network has had a Support Office at Europol, with which the police agency coordinates cross-border operations of units from Schengen states. Most of the money from the coming budget will again go to police forces from Germany.

Environment

Energy

=> ↺ Electric Car Delusions

• Things, however, had changed. COP26, pressure from other countries, and potential electoral pressure within traditional Coalition seats, had made the prime minister shift his position.  In a joint press release from the Prime Minister and Energy Minister Angus Taylor, the government promised, as part of the Future Fuels Fund investment, $250 million on vehicle charging and hydrogen fuelling infrastructure; heavy and long-distance vehicle technologies; commercial fleets and household smart charging.

• In terms of numbers, 400 businesses, 50,000 households will be affected, and 1000 public charging stations created.  With an eye towards private investment, the hope is that there will be over $500 million “of combined private and public co-investment directed into the update of future fuels in Australia and the creation of more than 2,600 new jobs.”

=> ↺ Consumers Getting Hosed at the Pump Again

• Despite the longstanding propaganda about “energy independence,” the simple truth is that we have been betrayed by lawmakers who once again kow-tow to the demands of the oil and gas industry.

• You’d have to be a certain age to remember the Arab oil embargo of 1973-74 and the scenes of Americans waiting in long lines to get gas before the stations ran out — which many did. The Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) quadrupled the price of its oil and simply stopped all oil shipments to the United States and other nations that supported and re-supplied Israel during the 1973 Yom-Kippur Arab-Israeli War.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Killer Apes and Global Ecocide

• Crucially, this also means that we are descendants of the chimpanzees and not of the neighbors next door – the bonobos, who were mistakenly also known as pygmy chimpanzees, once. Essentially, our chimpanzee ancestors are very different from the bonobos who have never been just a little version of chimpanzees.

• Our departure from chimpanzees marks not only the fact that we are part of the Warrior Apes, it also marks us out as being closely linked to the wrong crowd – the chimpanzees, and not the bonobos. While both appear similar in look and size, chimpanzees and bonobos are very different when it comes to the way they live.

Finance

=> ↺ ’Tis the Season for DeJoy’s Removal

• The Thanksgiving holiday weekend opens the most demanding season of the year for America’s postal workers. Last year, according to the United States Postal Service, “13 billion letters, cards, and packages were processed and delivered under some of the most difficult circumstances we’ve faced in the past century.” This year, postal workers will again provide outsize service to this country, while continuing to face unprecedented challenges.

=> ↺ What Would Have Worked Better Than Building Back Anything

• But the most serious problem is the tendency of those voters who do vote to nonetheless identify themselves with one of the lousy candidates and parties and its statements and actions year-in-and-year-out so that a larger phenomenon than lesser-evil voting is total lesser-evil existing. The extremely rare individual actually votes with his or her nose appropriately pinched, containing the voting to a single moment while rejecting the hype and keeping a free mind every other day.

• This problem is compounded by, and its prevalence exaggerated by, the tendency of commentators to invent explanations for votes based only on who was voted for and not on who was voted against — and certainly not on what would have been voted for had it been anywhere to be found.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Opinion | Pundits Want You To Think Biden’s Low Approval Rating Means Democrats Should Move Center

• Recent polls show that President Joe Biden’s approval rating has declined significantly since he took office.

=> ↺ Dialogue of the Deaf: Debating Ted Koppel on Communism

• By late afternoon in Los Angeles, Tracy called from New York. I’d be on with Angela Davis and Melor Sturua, a Russian columnist for Izvestia on leave at the Carnegie Endowment.

• I drove east across Los Angeles toward the ABC studio. At the studio they make me up and sit me down. The drill with Koppel is that you look into a camera and listen to your earphone. You can’t see what’s happening on the show. You have to keep looking at the camera because you don’t know when Koppel, the only person who can see all the people on the show, who controls everything, is going to call on you. Swivel your eyes away from the camera and millions will think you’ve got something to hide.

=> ↺ These Biden Nominees are Foxes Guarding Industry Henhouse

• The nomination of Vilsack in 2008 by then-President-elect Obama was lauded by industry players such as the Corn Refiners Association, the National Grain and Feed Association and biotech organizations. In fact, Vilsack, a former governor of Iowa, “was named Governor of the Year by the Biotechnology Industry Organization, an industry lobbying group,” reports Wikipedia.

• Vilsack did not disappoint.

=> ↺ The Chilean Elections, 50 Years After How to Read Donald Duck

• We never anticipated that our essay would become an international best seller, translated into dozens of languages. It had been born, quite modestly, as a way of participating in the unique Chilean experiment of building socialism, for the first time in history, through electoral and nonviolent methods, without eliminating our adversaries. This meant that the government of Salvador Allende, which had captured the presidency in September 1970, would have to win the battle for public opinion in a situation of considerable inequality, since most of the media was in the hands of the enemies of the revolution.

• In this struggle to define Chile’s identity and leave behind the obstacles and prejudices of the past, the Allende government had acquired an important asset: the most important publishing house in the country. Renamed Quimantú (“sun of knowledge” in Mapuche), it gave our peaceful revolution the means to bring out millions of books at inexpensive prices, as well as an assortment of magazines, including children’s and adult comics that would have to compete for readers in a market saturated with foreign products. If we were to devise progressive alternatives, it was urgent to probe how those imported stories worked, and Armand and I therefore set out to analyze the most popular comics in Chile—and in the world: those generated by the immense corporation founded by Walt Disney.

Freedom of Information/Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ Democracy Now! at 25: Celebrating a Quarter-Century of Independent News on the Frontlines

• Democracy Now! first aired on nine community radio stations on February 19, 1996, on the eve of the New Hampshire presidential primary. In the 25 years since that initial broadcast, the program has greatly expanded, airing today on more than 1,500 television and radio stations around the globe and reaching millions of people online. We celebrate 25 years of The War and Peace Report with an hour-long retrospective, including highlights from the show’s early years, some of the most controversial interviews, and groundbreaking reports from East Timor, Standing Rock, Western Sahara and more.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Humanitarians Demand End of ‘Hostile’ UK Policies After 27 Migrants Perish in English Channel

• Over two dozen migrants—including young children—attempting to cross the English Channel from France perished at sea Wednesday, sparking outpourings of grief and renewed demands that both the U.K. government and leaders across Europe end their woeful immigration policies that force desperate individuals and families to risk ever more dangerous and deadly journeys to attain refuge, asylum, or a better life.

• “How many more times must we see people lose their life trying to reach safety in the U.K. because of the woeful lack of safe means to do so?”

=> ↺ How I Fight Racism in the World and Within Me

• Before the murder of George Floyd, I didn’t focus on racism I had experienced. Floyd was just a normal Black man trying to get through another day, like my father, uncle, or older cousins. It had infuriated me enough to see that I couldn’t ignore any more of the microaggressions I often faced, and I had to take a long look in the mirror. This story was produced for Student Nation, a program of the Nation Fund for Independent Journalism, which is dedicated to highlighting the best of student journalism. For more Student Nation, check out our archive or learn more about the program here. StudentNation is made possible through generous funding from The Puffin Foundation. If you’re a student and you have an article idea, please send pitches and questions to [email protected]

Monopolies

=> ↺ Human Rights Defenders Threaten Legal Action Against Countries Fueling Vaccine Inequality

• More than a year after South African and Indian officials first proposed waiving intellectual property barriers for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines, human rights lawyers and advocacy groups on Thursday threatened legal action against the governments of several wealthy countries that are opposing the waiver.

• “The consequences of a failure to adopt the TRIPS waiver could be millions of lives.”

Patents

=> ↺ 130 Social Justice Groups Are Calling on WTO to Adopt Patent Waiver

=> ↺ 130+ Global Groups Demand WTO Postpone Meeting Until Vital Patent Waiver Is Adopted

• A group of over 130 national and international civil society organizations is demanding the World Trade Organization postpone its upcoming ministerial meeting unless it first agrees to adopt a patent waiver for Covid-19 vaccines seen by social justice campaigners as crucial to ending “vaccine apartheid.”

• The groups laid out their demand in an open letter to WTO members just ahead of the in-person 12th ministerial conference set to begin Nov. 30 in Geneva, the latest sign of growing pressure on rich nations—including the U.S.—to move more urgently to end the pandemic.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Filmmakers Want ISP to Share Personal Info of Thousands of Pirates

• As part of an ongoing lawsuit, a group of independent movie companies wants Colorado-based Internet provider WOW! to disclose the personal details of thousands of persistent pirates. The filmmakers also request the option to file separate lawsuits against these alleged pirates, but that clearly goes a step too far for the Internet provider.

=> ↺ Online Piracy Increases Among Young Finns, But Legal Consumption is Up Too

• It is often said that the only workable long-term solution to the piracy problem is making content widely available at a fair price. A new study from Finland finds that an increasing number of people are indeed turning to legitimate options. While overall piracy levels are generally static, tech-savvy young people are again bucking the trend.

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