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● 02.26.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 26/02/2023: A Look at GNOME 44 Features and FreeBSD 13.2 Reaches Third Beta

Posted in News Roundup at 9:38 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

=> ↺ 8 things you can do with Linux that you can’t do with MacOS or Windows | ZDNET

• Back when I first started using Linux in 1997, the open-source operating system was primarily used by computer science students, hackers, and programmers who wanted an alternative to the Windows operating system. It was serious and geared toward serious work. Fast forward to now and Linux is used for everything. Why? Simply put, it’s more flexible than Windows.

• Linux can be bent and twisted into just about anything. But Linux is not only more flexible, reliable, and secure than the competition, but it’s also a lot more fun. I’ve spent many a day (and weekend) tweaking the Linux desktop simply because I could.

• Some of the desktops I’ve configured have been so amazing that friends wanted to know how they could achieve the same look, only to be disappointed that their operating system of choice wasn’t capable of pulling off such a feat.

=> ↺ 9to5Linux Weekly Roundup: February 26th, 2023

• This week was really exciting with all the fuss around Canonical’s decision to force all official Ubuntu flavors to ditch Flatpak support by default, also staying that future Ubuntu releases won’t include support for Flatpak apps by default. Of course, this means that users will have to manually add Flatpak support after the installation.

• Next week will be really exciting with lots of cool news. Until then, you can read the hottest news of this week and also access all the distro and package downloads in 9to5Linux’s Linux weekly roundup for February 26th, 2023.

Server

=> ↺ StarlingX 8: The cloud for edge computing gets a major upgrade | Open Source Watch

• StarlingX uses best-of-breed open-source programs to deliver a complete edge computing stack. This starts with Ceph. This Red Hat-sponsored do-it-all, open-source software-defined storage platform can work with object-level, block-level, and file-level storage. For cloud management, it uses the tried and true OpenStack. And, for container orchestration, StarlingX uses, of course, Kubernetes.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Apple Loop: Massive iPhone 15 Pro Leak, Mac Pro Hints, Linux Cracks Open MacBook – Forbes

• The latest update to the Linux Kernel, taking it to version 6.2, offers something of interest to those who love tinkering with their Mac hardware. The Apple Silicon chipsets are now supported, which means Linux installs will be along in the near future:

• “Linux has been happily running on Intel based harder, including the older Mac platform, for many a year. ARM-based hardware has been in rather short supply (outside of smartphones, tablets, and some experimental platforms). The introduction of Apple Silicon offered a hardware base, but Apple’s restrictions around another OS using the GPU meant the masses had to wait until a solution was found. Obviously, a solution has been found.”

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ Monado’s “Mercury” hand tracking now ready for use!

• Now, after a little over a year of development, it’s finally ready for the public to use!

• Mercury currently works on Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality headsets (Reverb G2 v2 shown below), Oculus Rift S (early support), and Luxonis cameras (video shows a OAK-D Pro W Dev mounted on a North Star). It estimates hand pose accurately, supports limited hand-over-hand interactions, tracks fast hand movements, and is useable for drawing, typing and UI interaction.

Applications

=> ↺ 15 Best Fractal Software for Linux

• Are you seriously seeking to know about some fantastic fractal software for Linux? It may seem to be a common and normal thing to find, but only a few resources will show you the right solution. Yes, you came to one of the proper places to check! I will show you the best 15 Linux fractal tools that are excellent in drawing, shading, and creating perfect and appealing artistic work.

• Before going to the main part, let’s look at what the tool actually means. From the dictionary, fractal means a geometrical figure with the same statistical character as the whole. It may define as a complex pattern showing self-similarity in different scales. That means whatever you do with any part (like zooming or the opposite) shows the same amount of detail as before.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to Install and Secure MongoDB on Ubuntu 22.04

• MongoDB is a popular open-source, document-oriented NoSQL database that provides high performance, scalability, and flexibility. It is widely used in modern web applications due to its ability to store and manage large volumes of unstructured data. MongoDB can be installed on various operating systems, including Ubuntu 22.04.

=> ↺ How to List Installed Packages With apt

• The apt command is an essential tool, created by Debian, used to manage packages in Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and other derivative distributions. In this tutorial, we will learn how to use the apt command to list the installed packages in Ubuntu.

=> ↺ How to Install Apache with PHP-FPM on Ubuntu 22.04

• Apache and PHP-FPM are both widely used in web development to serve dynamic content. While Apache is the most popular web server used today, PHP-FPM is a FastCGI process manager that provides a faster and more efficient way to process PHP requests. Combining the two can significantly improve the performance of a website.

=> ↺ How to Change Your DNS Server on Ubuntu

• Changing the DNS server on Ubuntu can improve your network speed and is a common troubleshooting step to fix internet issues on Linux.

=> ↺ How to Install Ruby on Linux

• Here’s how you can set up a development environment on your Linux machine by installing Ruby.

=> ↺ How to Quickly Change Default Apps on Ubuntu

• On Ubuntu, files like MP4 or PDF are set to open with the preinstalled media player or PDF viewer. Here’s how to change these default apps on Ubuntu.

=> ↺ How to Enable the SteamOS Beta on Your Chromebook

• You can finally game on Steam direct on your Chromebook. Here’s how it works.

=> ↺ How To Install LibreWolf Browser on Fedora 37

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install LibreWolf Browser on Fedora 37.

=> ↺ What You Need to Know About the Linux Kernel: A Comprehensive Overview

• The Linux kernel is the core component of the Linux operating system that manages hardware and software resources. I

=> ↺ How To Install Neovim on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Neovim on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Terminal: Beginner’s Guide to Command Line Interface

• This article provides a beginner’s guide to the Ubuntu terminal and command line interface, covering basic concepts and essential commands.

=> ↺ How to Install GitHub Desktop on latest Fedora Linux

• Are you tired of typing git commands in your terminal? Do you want a GUI for Git on Linux so it’s easier to manage your repositories?

=> ↺ How to Install GitHub Desktop on Fedora Linux

• GitHub Desktop is a powerful tool designed to simplify managing your code on GitHub.

=> ↺ How to Install Pale Moon Browser on Debian 11 or 10

• Pale Moon is a fast, efficient, and customizable web browser that offers a unique alternative to major browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi. Designed to provide a clean and straightforward browsing experience, Pale Moon offers a range of features and benefits that set it apart from the competition.

=> ↺ How to Install LibreOffice on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

• LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity suite that offers users powerful tools for word processing, spreadsheet management, presentation creation, and more. It is designed to be easy to use and offers a variety of features that make it a compelling alternative to other office suites like OpenOffice, FreeOffice, and WPS Office.

=> ↺ How to Upgrade Mesa Drivers on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

• Mesa is an open-source 3D graphics driver used on Linux systems to render high-quality 3D graphics. It enables advanced hardware acceleration, shading, and other graphics-related tasks. Mesa is a powerful tool that enhances the user experience on Linux systems, making it a popular choice for gamers and professionals.

=> ↺ How to Install PHP ImageMagick on Debian 11 or 10

• Regarding web development and design, having high-quality images on your website is essential to enhance user engagement and experience. ImageMagick is a powerful software suite that allows you to process, manipulate, and convert images from the command line. Fortunately, installing ImageMagick on Debian 11 Bullseye and Debian 10 Buster is a simple process.

=> ↺ How to Install Open VM Tools (VMWare Tools) on Debian 11 or 10

• Open VM Tools is a set of open-source tools used to enhance virtual machines’ performance and functionality. These tools are widely used in virtual environments because they offer better integration and compatibility with various operating systems.

=> ↺ Complete Guide to Install VirtualBox on Debian Linux (with Guest Additions)

• VirtualBox is a very popular virtualisation application with several advanced features and controls for your virtual machines. You can dynamically allocate virtual machine storage, USB, networking and other critical parameters. Other free and open-source virtual machine apps are available such as virt-manager, and GNOME Boxes, which are equally good for average use cases. However, VirtualBox is easy to use and comes with advanced options. Remember, it is free to use but is a closed-source application from Oracle.

• In prior articles, I explained how to install it in other distributions, such as Fedora and RHEL. This article outlines the steps to install it in Debian Linux.

Games

=> ↺ What’s new in C# for Godot 4.0

• All about changes and improvements that Godot 4.0 offers to C# developers.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Valent Is A KDE Connect Client For GTK-Based Desktops (Cinnamon, Xfce, MATE, Pantheon) – Linux Uprising Blog

• Compared to GSConnect, which is implemented as a GNOME Shell extension, Valent doesn’t need GNOME Shell to run (it’s a standalone app), so it can be u

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ GNOME 44: The Best New Features – OMG! Linux

• The upcoming GNOME 44 release is shaping up nicely, with devs adding a raft of new features, enhanced capabilities, and visual changes.

• In this article I run through the most noticeable new GNOME 44 features, and touch on a few smaller, more subtle touches you might not otherwise notice.

• Keep in mind that GNOME 44 is due to be released on March 22, 2023. Accordingly, the features mentioned in this article are subject to change and/or refinement until release.

• Let’s dive in!

=> ↺ 7 Cool GNOME 44 Features To Watch Out For

• GNOME 43 packed in some useful UX upgrades, and now GNOME 44 release is around the corner.

• What are the exciting changes this time? Is it a significant upgrade that you should try?

• Let us look at the features of GNOME 44′s release scheduled for March 22, 2023.

Distributions and Operating Systems

BSD

=> ↺ FreeBSD 13.2-BETA3 Now Available

Gentoo Family

=> ↺ Gentoo-Based Redcore Linux 2301 Brings KDE Plasma 5.27.1

• Redcore is a Gentoo-based Linux distribution first released in 2017, designed to provide a user-friendly and easy-to-use desktop environment while retaining Gentoo’s flexibility and customization options. It targets casual desktop users and, to some extent, power users.

• The distro follows a rolling release model, but unlike Gentoo, Redcore Linux provides more current software than Gentoo by using the Gentoo testing repositories as its package base.

• Recently, more than four months after the previous 2201 (Rastaban) release, Redcore 2301 (Sirius) is here, so let’s see what’s changed.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ SUSE Manager: The Journey Continues

• A little more than 6 months ago, SUSE launched SUSE Manager 4.3.  It was an exciting launch because for the first time, we rearchitected the solution so that you could implement the SUSE Manager Proxy as a set of containers.  Hub architecture and reporting capabilities were also improved for better scalability. 

Debian Family

=> ↺ Gregor Herrmann: demo video: dpt(1) in pkg-perl-tools

• in the Debian Perl Group we are maintaining a lot of packages (around 4000 at the time of writing). this also means that we are spending some time on improving our tools which allow us to handle this amount of packages in a reasonable time.

• many of the tools are shipped in the pkg-perl-tools package since 2013, & lots of them are scripts which are called as subcommands of the dpt(1) wrapper script.

=> ↺ Jelmer Vernooij: Silver Platter Batch Mode

• Silver-Platter makes it easier to publish automated changes to repositories. However, in its default mode, the only option for reviewing changes before publishing them is to run in dry-run mode. This can be quite cumbersome if you have a lot of repositories.

• A new “batch” mode now makes it possible to generate a large number of changes against different repositories using a script, review and optionally alter the diffs, and then all publish them (and potentially refresh them later if conflicts appear).

=> ↺ Petter Reinholdtsen: OpenSnitch available in Debian Sid and Bookworm

• Thanks to the efforts of the OpenSnitch lead developer Gustavo Iñiguez Goya allowing me to sponsor the upload,the interactive application firewall OpenSnitch is now available in Debian Testing, soon to become the next stable release of Debian.

• This is a package which set up a network firewall on one or more machines, which is controlled by a graphical user interface that will ask the user if a program should be allowed to connect to the local network or the Internet. If some background daemon is trying to dial home, it can be blocked from doing so with a simple mouse click, or by default simply by not doing anything when the GUI question dialog pop up. A list of all programs discovered using the network is provided in the GUI, giving the user an overview of how the machine(s) programs use the network.

• OpenSnitch was uploaded for NEW processing about a month ago, and I had little hope of it getting accepted and shaping up in time for the package freeze, but the Debian ftpmasters proved to be amazingly quick at checking out the package and it was accepted into the archive about week after the first upload. It is now team maintained under the Go language team umbrella. A few fixes to the default setup is only in Sid, and should migrate to Testing/Bookworm in a week.

=> ↺ Holger Levsen: 20230225-Debian-Reunion-Hamburg-2023

• As in the last years there will be a Debian Reunion Hamburg 2023 event taking place at the same location as previous years, from May 23rd until the 30th (with the 29th being a public holiday in Germany and elsewhere).

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ ePulse Feather ESP32 development board is optimized for low power consumption (in deep sleep)

• The board is based on the ESP32-WROVER with 8MB Flash and 8MB SPRAM and comes with a USB-C connector for charging the battery and programming through a CH9102F UART chip, as well as the I/Os headers provided by the Feather form factor. The board can be especially useful in battery-operated WiFi remote controls for home automation or other purposes that sleep most of the time until the user presses one of the buttons.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Xiaomi 13 Pro hands-on: Xiaomi is growing up

=> ↺ TCL unveils affordable 406 Android 13 phone, TWS buds – GSMArena.com news

=> ↺ The Xiaomi 13 Pro has what it takes to crush the Galaxy S23 | Digital Trends

=> ↺ Android Phone Not Receiving Text Messages? Here Are 9 Fixes to Try

=> ↺ 10 Best Android Emulators for Linux

=> ↺ Gmail now supports 2-pane view on Android foldables

=> ↺ People are just realizing an Android setting can let you know who is calling without even checking your phone | The US Sun

=> ↺ Nokia’s new budget Android phone offers upgrade its rivals can’t match | Express.co.uk

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ FOSSDA: Preserving the history of open-source and free software | Open Source Watch

• Today, we take for granted that open source is The way to create software. It wasn’t always that way. It wasn’t just that people like then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, considered “Linux is a cancer,” many didn’t take open source seriously at all. That was then. This is now. But, we shouldn’t forget that free software and open-source software were revolutionary in their day. The newly formed Free and Open Source Stories Digital Archive Foundation (FOSSDA) knows this, so it’s seeking to record and archive the stories of the open-source software pioneers.

• FOSSDA is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to engage with the pioneers of open-source software and share their legacies with the world. The FOSSDA Project will create digital recordings and archives of the history of the open-source software movement, documenting the stories of the developers, visionaries, and strategists who challenged the establishment and changed how we interact with the world.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

=> ↺ Wagtail: The Open Source CMS That used By NASA, MIT, Mozilla and NHS

• Wagtail: An Outstanding Flexible Python-based Open Source CMS

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Why WebAssembly? Top 11 Wasm benefits

• Latency and lag time plague web applications that run JavaScript in the browser. Here are 11 reasons why WebAssembly has the potential to completely change that.

=> ↺ How to set and manage environment variables in Kubernetes

• In this tutorial, learn when to use — or not use — environment variables in Kubernetes, and compare methods for setting and updating their values with example code.

=> ↺ Funny Programming Pictures Part XXV

• Who knew there were this many Roman Numerals!?

=> ↺ Git Commit: A Master Class

=> ↺ Git Fetch: A Master Class

Leftovers

=> ↺ Difficult Questions From Children

=> ↺ Artist Vaevae Chan spent years building a cave in a Hong Kong high rise. Now she is ready to share it with others

• A little known fact about San Po Kong, an area whose industrial soul is slowly being chipped away as nearby Kai Tak is redeveloped, is that it is home to a cave.

=> ↺ Your issue isn’t real, because I don’t have it!

• Jeff Johnson tried valiantly to explain in 2020:

Science

=> ↺ Scientists Have Recorded Brain Waves From Octopuses Just Living Their Lives

• We still don’t know how they think.

=> ↺ This Planet Is Way Too Big to Be Orbiting This Teeny Tiny Star

• How did this happen?

=> ↺ How legal actions against Russian aggression in Ukraine can serve as a model for other conflicts

• There is an unprecedented number of investigations and accountability efforts under way in response to Russia’s invasion. It’s a sign of success—but it also shows how victims of international crimes have unequal access to justice.

=> ↺ Most G20 nations condemn Russia over Ukraine invasion, China stays silent

• Finance chiefs of the world’s largest economies strongly condemned Moscow for its war on Ukraine on Saturday, with only China and Russia itself declining to sign a joint statement. Read FRANCE 24′s liveblog below to see how the day’s events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1).

=> ↺ US federal prosecutors announce charges against 13 members of MS-13 gang

• US federal prosecutors Thursday announced charges against 13 members, including three leaders, of MS-13. The members were accused of terrorism, racketeering and murder charges, spanning over 20 years, in the US, El Salvador and Mexico. 

=> ↺ Lukashenko’s crusade against the Roman Catholic Church

• Ever since the anti-government protests of 2020, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has attempted to control all parts of society. This is even true regarding the local branch of the Catholic Church, whose members continue to criticise the regime. Camilla Gironi writes for New Eastern Europe, partners of LRT English.

=> ↺ Staying safe in Mexico means more than avoiding the ‘bad guys’

• When “Mexico,” and “safety” come up, many think of crime, but let’s talk about the more everyday precautions to take to stay safe here.

=> ↺ More than 70 soldiers killed in Burkina Faso, extremists say

• The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for killing more than 70 soldiers, wounding dozens and taking five hostage in an ambush on a military convoy in northern Burkina Faso. The statement, posted Friday by Amaq, the group’s news agency, said it attacked a convoy trying to advance to areas under its control near Deou, in the Sahel’s Oudalan province, seized weapons and chased retreating soldiers for miles into the desert. Images released by the group show 54 slain bodies in military uniform lying in the bloodstained dirt, as well as more than 50 seized assault rifles and images of the five soldiers it said were taken prisoner.

=> ↺ Chelsea manager Potter says he has received death threats

• Chelsea manager Graham Potter says he and his family have received death threats in the wake of the team’s poor form. Potter says he has been targeted by an anonymous email account. Potter says “I’ve had some not particularly nice emails come through, that want me to die and want my kids to die. That’s obviously not pleasant to receive.” Potter bullishly rejects accusations that a calm demeanor in the face of adversity means he does not care about the club.

=> ↺ Philippines marks 1986 revolt with dictator’s son as leader

• Pro-democracy protesters have marked the anniversary of the 1986 “people power” revolt in the Philippines with the son of the dictator, who was ousted in that uprising, now leading the country. About 1,400 demonstrators, some waving Philippine flags and holding placards that read “Never forget,” gathered at a democracy shrine along the main EDSA highway in metropolitan Manila. Faced with the awkward situation of issuing a statement to mark the revolt that toppled his namesake father, Marcos Jr. called for reconciliation without citing the event as a democratic milestone, as his predecessors had done. He told a TV interview last year that labeling his father a dictator was wrong.

=> ↺ You Might Survive a Nuclear Blast if You’re in This Kind of Shelter, Finds New Study

• Material and location matter.

=> ↺ Norway’s atonement for Nord Stream sabotage

• Norway was attracted to Biden’s sabotage project like a fly to the honeypot, since it stood to gain fabulously in financial terms if it helped the US military to destroy Nord Stream pipelines near Danish waters, and replace Russia as Germany’s principal source of piped natural gas, writes Indian Ambassador and prominent international observer M.K. Bhadrakumar.

=> ↺ AUDIO: Kit Knightly talks Nordstream 2 Sabotage

• On his latest appearance on Perspective, OffG editor Kit Knightly and host Jesse Zurawell discuss our recent article on Sy Hersh’s Nordstream 2 “revelations”. The talk ranges across the history of the conflict in Ukraine, how it furthers the same agenda as Covid, how the war might end, the nuclear “near miss” scenario and the …

=> ↺ …A LIE SO BIG…

• RK Winfield Yes, all the world a stage[1], Turned to a theatre of deceit When “Money” directs the plays. Then, it’s lies, lies, endless…the lies! All ‘agents provocateurs’ and ‘false flags’ these days. Inconvenient truths just don’t make the grade, Won’t find their way onto newspaper pages, Bought newspaper pages, Bought lies. And all of …

=> ↺ Australian professor, hostages released by Papua New Guinea kidnappers

• An Australian-based archaeologist and two Papua New Guinea nationals have been released from captivity after being taken hostage by an armed group in a remote part of Papua New Guinea several days ago.

=> ↺ Kazakhstan Says China’s Peace Plan For Ukraine ‘Worthy Of Support’

• Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry has expressed its approval of China’s 12-point peace plan for Russia’s war with Ukraine, saying it is “worthy of support” based on UN principles.

=> ↺ Reports: At Least 30 Dead In Southern Italy After Migrant Shipwreck

• At least 30 people have died after a migrant shipwreck off the eastern coast of Italy’s Calabria region, according to reports.

=> ↺ Putin Says Russia Must Take NATO’s Nuclear Capability Into Account

• President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia had no choice but to take into account the nuclear capabilities of NATO as the U.S.-led military alliance was seeking the defeat of Russia.

=> ↺ Bombings Kill At Least Six People As Violence Flares In Pakistan

• At least six people, including two policemen, were killed in two separate bomb attacks in southwestern Pakistan amid a surge in violent attacks in the country.

=> ↺ As Its Forces ‘Repel’ Russian Attacks, Ukraine Aims To ‘Drive Wedge’ Between Crimea And Russia

• The Ukrainian military said on February 26 that it had repelled more than 70 attacks by Russian forces a day earlier, while a senior military intelligence officer said Ukraine is girded for a Russian offensive but is also “trying to drive a wedge” between occupied Crimea and Russia.

=> ↺ Russia Says A Foreign Ministers Meeting With Turkey, Syria, And Iran Is In The Works

• The foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria, and Iran are arranging a meeting, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said, according to state media on February 26.

=> ↺ Rallies In Berlin, Paris Call For Peace In Ukraine

• Protesters in Germany and France on February 25 demanded peace for Ukraine, a day after activists in both countries marked one year since the Russian invasion.

=> ↺ EU Announces Additional Sanctions Against Wagner Group For Activities In Africa

• The EU has announced additional sanctions against Russia’s Wagner mercenary group for “human rights abuses” in the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Mali.

Environment

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Scientists Aren’t Sure if This Orca Adopted or Abducted a Baby Pilot Whale

• It’s a first.

=> ↺ We Now Know Why Zebra’s Stripes Are So Effective

• It’s not an optical illusion.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Nigeria tallies votes after tight presidential election hit by long delays

• Nigeria was counting ballots on Sunday, a day after a historically tight election among three frontrunners competing for the presidency of Africa’s most populous nation.

=> ↺ Tunisians take to the streets following President Saied’s anti-migrant remarks

• Hundreds gathered in Tunis on Saturday to protest against President Kais Saied’s comments about migrants from sub-Saharan African countries. FRANCE 24 reporters Lilia Blaise and Hamdi Tlili spoke to several migrants, who shared their stories about being arbitrarily arrested and being the victims of racially motivated attacks.

=> ↺ Jordan hosts Israeli-Palestinian talks aimed at averting escalation in violence

• Jordan will host a meeting on Sunday between top Israeli and Palestinian security and political officials with US participation to halt a recent surge in violence that has stoked fears of a wider escalation ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, officials said.

=> ↺ Mass protests in Israel as controversial judicial overhauls advanced

• Tens of thousands of Israelis on Saturday protested their far-right government’s plans to overhaul the legal system, three days after parliament advanced a bill that would enable lawmakers to overturn a Supreme Court decision with a simple majority.

=> ↺ Rising India Falling States: The new Indian Challenges

• The Indian history is replete with the tides of rise and fall and since independence it has witnessed a gradual rise from a poor economy and weak state to a status of mammoth power.

=> ↺ IMF and Pakistan’s trade conflict

• The modern state of affairs among the government and the IMF continues to be uncertain.

=> ↺ An amicable reset of India-China ties hangs in the balance

• After four years, a high-ranking diplomatic delegation from India travelled to China for the WMCC border talks. India is the host of two key summits in 2023 – G-20 and SCO – in which China is a crucial part of.

=> ↺ Saudi sports strategy challenges global sports governors and activists alike

• Even before it officially launched, Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup is on thin ice. The bid suggests that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is determined to do whatever it takes to become a dominant force in international sports.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Calling Abortion Groups “Criminal Organizations” = Constitutionally Protected Opinion, Even When Abortion Was Legal

• From Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity v. Dickson, decided yesterday by the Texas Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Jane Bland: In these companion cases, advocacy groups supporting legalized abortion have sued an opponent of it, claiming that he legally defamed them by making statements that equate abortion to murder…

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Kenya Supreme Court declares discrimination of persons based on sexual orientation unconstitutional

• The Supreme Court of Kenya Friday declared discrimination against the LGBTQ community unconstitutional and affirmed their right to association after a 10-year legal battle.

=> ↺ Evicted Yangon residents pushing to return face threats

• Soldiers wielding guns and thugs with swords have warned desperate locals not to protest

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ Organizing My Life

• I have always been bad at organizing my life. It can be hard for me to know what to do and when to do it. This is a particularly big problem for me because of executive disfunction. There are many ways in which I could go about keeping track of what needs to be done, but they all boil down to some sort of calendar system. That being said, each system has you think about things in a different way.

• I have tried using my calendar app, various todo apps, and physical journaling. Each one has their pros and cons, but they all ultimately failed me in the sense that I have gotten out of the habbit of using them. Life has been getting overwelming recently and so I thought that it would be a good idea to get back into the habbit of using one of these.

=> ↺ eggcream

• It says that this drink contains neither egg nor cream. But why is it called this way? Why use a name if the name isn’t descriptive? what other lies are out there? so many questions

=> ↺ Hello World

• Anyway, hello. My name’s Matt. I’m based in the UK, near the south coast.

• I enjoy playing with computers and technology (currently learning how to use Flask) but very much at an amateur level. I do love it though!

• Aside from that I like listening to music, drinking coffee, and doing crosswords (the cryptic kind), and also tending my houseplants.

Technical

=> ↺ The Two Steves, Revisited

• The story of Jobs and Wozniak soldering away in a garage is such an iconic tale… It inspired me greatly, actually shaping my entire life. I scraped, borrowed and stole money to save up for my Apple ][+, and in the 80′s I actually tried (not realizing it at the time) to re-live this story, dropping out of high school and taking on the role of Jobs, suiting up for meetings by day (East coast) and wielding soldering iron by night…

• I didn’t get to stop and think about it much back then, or even try to verify the legend until the 90s (and I was on the East coast, away from the action). It was a big shock. I was an Apple fanboy until then — putting up with the closed architecture and the insanely high prices (as a developer I was forced to buy a couple of multi-thousand-dollar Macs every year).

=> ↺ Annoyed with Foss Desktops

• I’ve pretty much finished rebasing HitchHiker Linux to use Musl libc now, verifying that builds work for all of the platforms I’m trying to support (x86_64,aarch64 and riscv64). I’ve been working slowly through building packages for it using NetBSD’s Pkgsrc. As expected, there have been a lot of annoyances along the way. I’ll be explicit in warning (in case you haven’t already figured it out) this post is going to be a rant.

Internet/Gemini

=> ↺ Additional features decentralized services needs – practical web3 ep.2

• First I tried to imagin an email like service on GNUnet and have it actually be better then clearnet. I mean that by, getting SMTP to “work” over GNUnet is easy. Just use CADET as a TCP replacement. However, this does not buy us much in terms of usability or privacy. Users still are relying on a single service provider; if they go down everything the user has disappears. And the service provider still knows the user’s peer ID (IP address of the GNUnet world). The only benefit this have is CADET can route traffic under a very restrictive environment.

• Clearly proxying clearnet protocols over GNUnet won’t work. We need designs native to decentralization.

• Something like libgnunetchat works better. It is a fully decentralized chat system native to GNUnet. However, unlike SMTP-over-GNUnet, libgnunetchat does not replicate chat history and uses your Egos (virtual identities) as user accounts. Thus you can’t ‘login’ to the same account on multiple devices, nor retrieve old messages, at least not without some extremely complicated setup.

=> ↺ Marginalia Search: 2 years, big news [ 2023-02-26 ]

• No time like the project’s two year anniversary to drop this particular bomb…

• Marginalia’s gotten an NLNet grant.

=> ↺ Gemini song words 🎶

• Gritty made an aside that there could/should be a Gemini song words thing. Keeping such a thing up to date is a big task. But there’s a Musixmatch API that looks do-able, and skimming their ts&cs didn’t scare me. I would do it myself, but my capsule has no CGI or similar.

=> ↺ Hello, people

• I had to stop using only three social medias a day and surf the web again. A link directory showing the way to websites with no or less CSS brought me here. That’s how I found the pub.

=> ↺ new here/first post

• Having spent most of the last two decades in the deeply unfulfilling social-media focused online spaces, taking the defaults offered to me, I’m working on spreading myself thin: posting on social media I don’t hate (right now: mastodon, cohost), writing on my website and in geminispace, making physical things and mailing them to strangers, and otherwise generally trying to improve the online experience by participating in the kinds of experiences I wish I’d had during the years of FB and Twitter and Reddit.

Programming

=> ↺ I Created Two Ultra-Minimalistic Jekyll Themes

• I created “Nixer”, after I was finished with “Nix”, to see, how far you can go to remove most functionality from a website, until it wouldn’t make sense anymore.

• Both themes are optimized for fast build speeds, therefore doesn’t have either SCSS, includes, or any dependencies.

• Their purpose is to be minimalistic (“Nix”) or hard-core minimalistic (“Nixer”), single-author themes. Because there is no menu, pages can be manually linked in the body of index.md. But “Nixer” users won’t be doing that, because the whole point of this theme is to not display anything more than just the content of posts and a list of posts.

• They implement as little changes as possible from the default browser settings. They only do it to improve legibility.

=> ↺ Dot

• . to end input is a rather old tradition in computing, which in turn is as yet young.

• Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Permalink  Send this to a friend

=> Techrights

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