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● 04.27.23

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● Links 27/04/2023: GCC 13.1 and Intel’s Biggest Ever Losses

Posted in News Roundup at 6:06 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ Introduction to Linux and Real Estate Website Design

• Linux is an operating system (OS) that runs on many different devices, including computers and smartphones. Linux was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991, who wanted to create a free alternative to the Unix OS. He developed it with help from other developers over time until it became stable enough for everyday use and gained popularity among users who wanted something more flexible than Windows or Mac OS X.

• Linux is popular among developers because it’s free, open-source software, meaning anyone can see how it works and make changes if they want to improve upon something in their own way. It also has fewer vulnerabilities than other operating systems due to its community nature; people constantly check each other’s code for errors before releasing new versions of Linux so there are fewer bugs overall.

=> ↺ CachyOS isn’t for beginners but it’s great for those looking to get into Arch Linux

• This fast Arch-based Linux distribution aims to serve users of all types. Minus one small shortcoming, it hits that mark.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ You could have invented futexes

• The futex (fast userspace mutex) is a Linux kernel feature designed for synchronization primitives (mutexes, condition variables, semaphores, etc.). Like many topics in concurrency, they have a reputation for being tricky (for example, see the paper Futexes Are Tricky). Despite that, they really are a well-motivated and simple but powerful API. This post tries to explain that motivation, and even shows how to implement something similar yourself.

Applications

=> ↺ Machine Learning in Linux: GPT4All – local AI chat application

• GPT4All Chat is a locally-running AI chat application powered by the GPT4All-J Apache 2 Licensed chatbot. The software lets you communicate with a large language model (LLM) to get helpful answers, insights, and suggestions.

• The model runs on a local computer’s CPU and doesn’t require a net connection. No chat data is sent to external services.

• This is free and open source cross-platform software.

=> ↺ Audacity 3.3.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 22.04 | 23.04

• The Audacity audio tag editor announced the new 3.3.0 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 23.04. Audacity 3.3.0 is a new major release that features initial version of Beats and Measures.

=> ↺ Ardour 7.4 Open-Source DAW Released with Support for MIDI Subgroup Busses

• Ardour 7.4 is here after more than two months after Ardour 7.3 and introduces support for MIDI subgroup busses, support for the Lua DSP processor to downmix 5.1 audio to stereo, a volume control to the clip picker, a new option that lets you use a neutral color for new tracks and busses, and a new preference item for the PPQN value in exported MIDI files.

• Controller support has been updated for the FaderPort 8 controller to show parameter values as formatted by the plugin and no longer duplicate makeup control, the X-Touch controller to show track colors, and the Ableton Push 2 controller to send modulation when holding Shift while using the touch strip instead of a pitch bend.

=> ↺ Ardour 7.4 released

• Ardour 7.4 is now available. This is mostly a bugfix release — several important ones have accumulated since 7.3 — but there is also a sprinkling of new features, notably MIDI subgroup busses.

• There has also been a lot of work on features that we had hoped to have ready for 7.4, but will now be officially released in 7.5. The curious may find some of them already, but we’re not ready to announce or document them yet.

• One other small change for this release: people interested in just trying Ardour out via our free/demo build will no longer have to wait to get an email containing the link. We’ve decided that after 10 years of asking people for their email address and doing nothing with them, we’ll just stop asking and provide the download link directly.

=> ↺ Audacity 3.3.0 released

• The release notes for Audacity 3.3.0 say it’s “focused on under-the-hood changes”. It’s true, but there are some very useful and long-anticipated new features too.

• Number one feature, in my opinion, is the newly added musical time ruler. Instead of minutes and seconds you get bars and beats (the toggle is in the right-click menu for the time ruler): [...]

=> ↺ Amberol Audio Player Adds ‘Restore Playlist’ Feature

• A new version of effortlessly easy audio player Amberol is rolling out on Flathub.

=> ↺ Wikit – A Command Line Tool to Search Wikipedia on Linux

• Wikit is a free and open-source command-line program for easily viewing Wikipedia summaries of search queries on the Linux command line; it is built using Nodejs.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How To Install Fedora 38 [A Step By Step Guide]

• Fedora Linux 38 has been released! This step by step guide explains how to install Fedora 38 desktop with screenshots.

=> ↺ 7-Segment Display with Arduino Uno

• In this tutorial, we will use an I2C 7-segment display with Arduino.

=> ↺ How to install FOSSBilling on Ubuntu 22.04

• FOSSBilling is a cost-free and open-source system for managing clients and billing. It can be utilized as a free substitute for various other systems like WHMCS, Blesta, and ClientExec. FOSSBilling provides several useful features such as automated invoicing, support for multiple payment gateways, and modules that can automate services like DirectAdmin and cPanel.

=> ↺ How to Install digiKam on Ubuntu 22.04

• digiKam is a powerful open-source photo management application that provides users with a wide range of tools for importing, managing, editing, and sharing their digital photos.

=> ↺ How To Install Buddy on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Buddy is a powerful Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tool that allows you to automate your software delivery process. In this article, we will discuss how to install Buddy on Ubuntu 22.04 using Docker Compose.

=> ↺ I2P SETUP FOR SQUID OUTPROXY

• This post is about I2P SETUP FOR SQUID OUTPROXY. I2P INSTALLATION ON DEBIAN 10 The ‘Invisible Internet Project’ (I2P) is a fully encrypted private network layer that has been developed with privacy and security by design in order to provide protection for your activity, location and your identity.

=> ↺ How To Install Bluefish Editor on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Bluefish is an open-source text editor that is widely used by developers and web designers. It offers a wide range of features, including syntax highlighting, code folding, auto-completion, and many more.

=> ↺ 3 Ways to Solve Pip Install Error on Ubuntu 23.04

• If you make the upgrade to Ubuntu 23.04 and try to run ‘pip install’ you’ll notice it now throws an error – but it’s not a bug. The reason why the pip install command doesn’t work in Ubuntu 23.04 is down to an intentional shift in policy (also taken in Ubuntu’s upstream, Debian) to avoid conflicts between the Python package manager and Ubuntu’s underlying APT. Basically, you can’t run pip install outside a virtual environment in Ubuntu 23.04.

=> ↺ More on the comma as generator, and streaming with select in jq

• In the context of writing a short jq script to turn a JSON representation of an OData entity set into a set of CSV records, I came across something in jq that reminded me of something I’d discovered recently, and made me think a bit more about it.

• In the source data, each entity was represented by an object, but I only wanted to include properties whose value types were either strings, numbers or booleans. I ended up taking the simplest route to check, in an expression supplied to a call to select, using type to check whether the type of a value was one of these.

=> ↺ How to Ensure Robust DNS Services for the Public Sector

• What do public sector organisations need to know to ensure they are protected and that their DNS services are as secure and robust as possible? The team from Netnod poses the questions all such organisations should be asking their DNS providers.

=> ↺ Understanding ZFS ARC hit (and miss) kstat statistics

• The ZFS ARC exposes a number of kstat statistics about its hit and miss performance, which are obviously quite relevant for understanding if your ARC size and possibly its failure to grow are badly affecting you, or if your ARC hit rate is fine even with a smaller than expected ARC size. Complicating the picture are things like ‘MFU hits’ and ‘MFU ghost hits’, where it may not be clear how they relate to plain ‘ARC hits’.

=> ↺ How To Reset Root Password In Fedora 38, 37, 36, 35

• Have you forgotten the root password in Fedora? Or do you want to change the root user password in your Fedora system? No problem! This step by step guide walks you through the steps to change or reset root password in Fedora operating systems.

=> ↺ How to Install Adobe Reader 9.5.5 in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

• This simple tutorial shows how to install Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.5.5 in all current Ubuntu releases and other Linux. Adobe has discontinued Linux support for its Acrobat PDF reader for many years!

=> ↺ How To Install CUDA on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install CUDA on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, CUDA is a parallel computing platform and programming model developed by Nvidia for GPU-accelerated computing.

=> ↺ How To Fix Busybox Initramfs Error On Ubuntu [2023]

• In this tutorial,  we will show you the solution to fix the “|Busybox Intiramfs Error On Ubuntu”. BusyBox creates an executable file from the many common UNIX utilities.

=> ↺ How to Use Docker Exec Command to SSH into Docker Container

• If you are a system administrator and responsible for managing Docker containers then you may often need to connect to a running Docker container.

=> ↺ How to Upload and Download Images To Docker Hub (Push and Pull Command in Docker)

• The Docker pull command is used for downloading Docker images from the Docker Hub or private registry. By default, it will download the images from the Docker Hub.

=> ↺ How To List / Start / Stop Docker Containers

• A Docker container is a lightweight and executable package of software that has everything you need to run an application…

=> ↺ How to Install and Use Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 (Step by Step Guide)

• Docker is a free, open-source and cross-platform containerization tool that helps you to deploy and run the application in an isolated environment.

=> ↺ How to Use Docker Run Command with Examples

• The docker run command is one the most important command you should become familiar with. The docker run command is used to launch Docker containers from a specified image.

=> ↺ How are Volumes Defined in Docker Compose YAML?

• Volumes are defined using the “volumes” key in Docker compose YAML file. Users can define Docker host-mounted volume, Docker internal or external named volume.

=> ↺ How to Get the Version of CUDA Installed on Linux

• Comprehensive tutorial on how to find out the versions of CUDA that are supported by the currently installed NVIDIA GPU drivers of your Linux computer.

=> ↺ How to Install and Enable SSH Multi-Factor Authentication for Linux Systems

• Tutorial on how to install and enable MFA for SSH access on Linux systems by setting up a supported MFA method such as Google Authenticator or Duo Security.

=> ↺ How to Install CUDA on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Tutorial on how to install CUDA on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS from the official package repository of Ubuntu and how to write, compile, and run a simple CUDA program.

=> ↺ Docker Engine Plugins

• Docker Engine plugins can be used in different ways, such as installing, listing, inspecting, enabling, or disabling plugins, and removing plugins.

=> ↺ How to install TUXEDO Control Center on Fedora?

• To Install TCC on Fedora, you need first to install the tuxedo-keyboard package [...]

Games

=> ↺ Core Keeper is getting pets and a creative mode on May 10th

• The upcoming “Paws & Claws” update for Core Keeper sounds wonderful, adding in two major features with pets and a creative mode.

=> ↺ Valheim is getting siege weapons, fortresses and fearsome foes

• The upcoming major update to Valheim with The Ashlands is sounding increasingly exciting, as the developers have another spoiler-filled development blog post up. Naturally, you’ll want to avert your eyes if you don’t want anything spoiled.

=> ↺ Stellaris: Galactic Paragons announced for May 9th and a big free update

• Stellaris: Galactic Paragons is the next expansion for my favourite space strategy game from Paradox Interactive and it’s coming May 9th. This DLC will give deeper character and story progression allowing for more customisation of your leaders.

=> ↺ Steam Deck gets a Preview update with STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor improvements

• STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor is releasing on April 28th, so Valve has released an updated graphics driver in the Preview update branch for Steam Deck. This is the work covered previously where Valve wouldn’t name the game, so we got a bit too excited about it.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Report From The German Parliament’s “Sustainable by Design” Conference

• In March 2023, a conference on Green Digitisation, “Nachhaltig by Design – für eine klimaneutrale Zukunft”, took place at the German Parliament. I was invited as an expert due to KDE’s experience obtaining the Blue Angel ecolabel for Okular. The Green Party organized the conference, and participants from a wide range of organizations attended, contributing their views and expertise.

• The first part of the conference featured keynotes and panels where subject matter experts and political representatives discussed the challenges surrounding sustainable digitisation. Cory Doctorow (Invidious link) spoke about how we lose control of our digital lives as big vendors force changes on users and legal regulations hinder our ability to prevent this. Mojib Latif (Invidious link) presented a scientific perspective on climate change, emphasizing the urgency of taking action to mitigate long-term harmful effects on our global living conditions. Germany’s Vice Chancellor, Robert Habeck (Invidious link), provided insight into current political activities and stressed that energy-efficiency isn’t getting the required attention yet.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ GNOME 44.1 Improves Screencast Support, Quick Settings, Background Apps, and More

• Arriving more than a month after the launch of GNOME 44 “Kuala Lumpur”, the GNOME 44.1 point release is here to add a section title in the Background Apps menu, use consistent naming for the “Power Mode” toggle in Quick Settings, improve the accessible names in Wi-Fi and VPN menus, as well as to fix some minor visual issues with the Bluetooth menu.

• It also improves the light theme variant, fixes window screenshots with a pointer, improves support for transparent colors in symbolic SVG files, fixes recording of screenshots in recent items, fixes reloading of GNOME extensions on version-validation changes, and improves keyboard navigation of menu-less buttons.

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ Voyager Linux 23.04: Snap-free Ubuntu Experience with A Gorgeous Look

• If you are unaware, Voyager Linux is based on Ubuntu Linux with great customizations for the GNOME desktop. Earlier, it used to follow only the Ubuntu LTS cycle, but from last year, it’s also available for short-term Ubuntu releases.

• After the Ubuntu 23.04 “Lunar Lobster” release, the Voyager team announced the release of Voyager 23.04.

• Here’s a quick review.

=> ↺ Clonezilla Live 3.1 Released with Memtest86+ 6.10, Improved RAID Support

• Synced with the Debian Sid repository as of April 26th, 2023, and powered by Linux kernel 6.1.25 LTS, the Clonezilla Live 3.1 release is here to introduce two new tools, namely dvtm (dynamic virtual terminal manager) and dtach, a program that emulates the detach feature of screen.

• Clonezilla Live 3.1 also introduces a new “-K” (–ignoreactivationskip) option to the vgchange command to allow it to handle snapshots, adds support for x86 architectures in the makeboot.sh script, and treats block devs that contain a file system in the image when restoring as a partition.

=> ↺ A new operating system for health care

• What we don’t have is a way to make this data all work together—a “personal health ecosystem,” says Bharat Sutariya, MD, managing director in health care for Deloitte Consulting LLP and an emergency medicine specialist. The endocrinologist treating your diabetes doesn’t have ready access to your eye exam results, which could help them preserve your eyesight. Your phone might contain vital medical information that emergency room (ER) staff needs to properly take care of you, but it has to be able to connect with the hospital’s systems to transmit that data.

=> ↺ The old Thinkpad X201 has become my daily driver

• Also, my X270 runs FreeBSD, so it can run jails, something that OpenBSD does not facilitate.

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ Tech Layoffs Hit Linux: Red Hat Laying Off 760 Employees

• CEO of the largest Linux company: “We must continue to sharpen our focus and do fewer things better.”

=> ↺ Cloud computing: 3 business advantages

=> ↺ Microsoft Gartner

• Most global enterprises have embraced – or at least considered – moving to cloud computing, and the momentum continues to grow. According to data from Gartner, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to reach $591.8 billion in 2023, up from $490.3 billion in 2022.

• But for those who are slow to adopt the cloud, its benefits can seem unclear, especially given the significant effort required to move decades of data from on-prem servers. Regardless of the size of your organization, moving to the cloud is imperative if you want to be an innovator in the next decade.

• The most successful cloud migrations happen when business leaders keep the problem they are trying to solve at the forefront. This ensures that cloud investments translate to business outcomes that will continue to push the business forward.

=> ↺ Red Hat accelerates platform engineering as developer experience takes center stage

• As Kubernetes enters its maturity phase, more emphasis is being placed on developer experience. With platform engineering gaining momentum, Red Hat Inc. is using Kubernetes to boost this discipline, as it allows developers to work seamlessly using self-service capabilities, according to Natale Vinto (pictured, right), developer advocate lead at Red Hat.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Debian Re-Elects Jonathan Carter as Project Leader

• Debian developers have re-elected Jonathan Carter as Project Leader for the fourth time. There were no other candidates for the role.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Canonical Issues New Ubuntu Kernel Updates to Fix Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws

• The first vulnerability patched in this new Ubuntu kernel update is CVE-2023-1829, a flaw discovered in the Traffic-Control Index (TCINDEX) implementation that could allow a local attacker to elevate its privileges to root. Canonical notes the fact that to actually fix this flaw, they had to remove kernel support for the TCINDEX classifier.

• The second local privilege escalation vulnerability affecting the aforementioned Ubuntu releases is CVE-2023-0386, a flaw discovered in the OverlayFS file system implementation that could allow a local attacker to escalate their privileges on the vulnerable system.

=> ↺ No more DHCP(d)

• “He’s dead, Jim.”  Dr. McCoy

• DHCP is dead; long live DHCP.

• Yes, the end-of-life announcement for ISC DHCP means that the ISC will no longer provide official support or updates for the software. Our ever-faithful, omnipresent friend — the familiar dhcpd daemon — is retiring, albeit over a really long walk to that cabin in the mountains.  While the software will continue to function, it will become increasingly vulnerable to breakage, security vulnerabilities, and other issues over time as the software ages.

• “I’m not a magician, just an old country doctor.” Dr. McCoy

• “It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it.”  Dr. McCoy

• “I’m a doctor, not an engineer.” Dr. McCoy

• “The man you knew won’t exist for another 5,000 years.” Dr. McCoy

=> ↺ Ubuntu 23.04 features

• Get ready to embark on a thrilling voyage with Ubuntu 23.04, the latest and greatest release of Ubuntu Desktop. In this article, we’re excited to introduce you to a treasure trove of cutting-edge features and functionalities that are specially designed to  meet the unique needs of developers, gamers, creators, and tinkerers.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Blog: ChatGPT uncertain about the future of cloud computing

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Looking to replace Z-Wave bulbs? Try these Matter or Zigbee options

• On a recent Internet of Things podcast, we took a voicemail from Michael on our podcast hotline. Michael recently had a bunch of Z-Wave bulbs die on him and he’s thinking to replace them. He wants to know what Matter or Zigbee options are the better choices. He also wants an option that has some network repeater or mesh technology. His approach makes sense. Matter devices are starting to become available and they create a mesh network. Additionally, they provide more flexibility in terms of controlling bulbs with your choice of voice assistant.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Picodeck controls your computer with your feet

• Colin had seen Elgato’s own-brand Stream Deck Pedal, which is designed to further streamline your live content output by letting you access a lot of functionality completely hands-free. But he wanted to experiment by making his own using Raspberry Pi Pico.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ Boox Tab Ultra C brings e-ink to life with a 10.3-inch color display and full Android

=> ↺ Android games will get an upscaling boost to 4K, 60FPS later in 2023 | Android Central

=> ↺ People are just realizing certain Android phone calls are ruining their battery life and even Google advises hanging up | The US Sun

=> ↺ Samsung Galaxy S22 review: Former flagship feeling fine

=> ↺ This Android tablet has an e-ink screen that destroys the Kindle | Digital Trends

=> ↺ Wallpaper Wednesday: Android wallpapers 2023-04-26 – Android Authority

=> ↺ ThinkPhone review: The best Motorola phone you won’t buy | Android Central

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ Mastodon Is Doomed

• I asked some of the largest instance admins to share how much it cost to run their instances on a per account and per monthly active user (MAU) basis. On average it cost $.0085 per registered account and $.041 per MAU. That may seem cheap, but if Mastodon ever hopes to grow into the millions of MAU or have any celebrities join their platforms admins are going to be paying thousands or tens of thousands per month. As volunteers. With no income potential. They also will be trusted with user’s private keys and unencrypted DMs.

• The financial and trust models of Mastodon just don’t add up.

=> ↺ Test your Drupal website with Cypress

• If you don’t include tests in your Drupal development, chances are it’s because you think it adds complexity and expense without benefit. Cypress is an open source tool with many benefits:

• This article covers three topics to help you start testing your Drupal project using Cypress:

=> ↺ 5 open ways to help UX designers and developers collaborate better

• Ideally, designers have a good relationship with their product team and users. However, the relationship between designers and developers is more difficult to build and maintain. The lack of a close relationship makes it difficult to solve problems or improve.

• In my experience, the open source Open Decision Framework can overcome many of these obstacles.

• The Open Decision Framework asserts that open decision-making is transparent, inclusive, and customer-centric. It involves clearly sharing problems, requirements, and constraints with affected parties. It enables collaboration with multiple stakeholders to secure diverse opinions and comprehensive feedback. Most importantly, it manages relationships and expectations across competing needs and priorities.

• These principles probably resonate with anyone involved in the many decisions around designing a product, feature, or service. For a designer, developers are key stakeholders in making the best design decisions. If you’re a designer, it’s time to embrace the opportunity to get diverse opinions.

Web Browsers/Web Servers

=> ↺ Putting the ‘User-Agent’ in your web crawler’s User-Agent

• That’s right, these User-Agents have ‘User-Agent’ in them (at the start). This is not exactly a new development in crawler user-agents, since I saw it long ago when Wandering Thoughts was new, and possibly even before then (but if so, I didn’t bother writing it down).

=> ↺ The Best Web Browsers Compatible With Linux in 2023

• If you are just getting started with a Linux-based operating system like Ubuntu, it’s important to familiarise yourself with the best web browsers open to Ubuntu and other popular Linux distributions.

Education

=> ↺ Open Hardware Summit 2023

• Whether you attend in person or virtually, the Open Hardware Summit presents a valuable opportunity to learn, collaborate, and network with like-minded individuals in the open hardware community. The summit features an impressive lineup of activities, including hands-on workshops, an unconference session, and two full days of inspiring talks from speakers around the world. Topics covered at the event include open source hardware, education, creative tech, engineering, and more. For the full event schedule, visit the OHS website.

GNU Projects

=> ↺ GCC 13.1 Released

Programming/Development

=> ↺ LattePanda Sigma – An Intel Core i5-1340P Raptor Lake SBC with ATmega32U4 MCU for Arduino support

• LattePanda Sigma is a 3.5-inch single board computer (SBC) with an Intel Core i5-1340P Raptor Lake-P processor and a Microchip ATmega32U4 microcontroller to control I/Os with Arduino programming.

=> ↺ How to Use Chrono in C++?

• The chrono is a built-in C++ library that allows users to easily manage date and time. For more details about its use in C++, follow this guide.

=> ↺ How to Use PHP serialize() Function

• serialize() function can serialize an array, object, or complex data structure into a string that can be stored in a database and passed to another PHP script.

=> ↺ How to Use array_reverse() Function in PHP

• The array_reverse() can reverse the order of the elements in an array. It takes an array as its input and returns an array with elements ordered and reversed.

=> ↺ 19 Free Open Source Flutter Projects and Samples

• Flutter is a free and open-source UI development kit that enables developers to create iOS/Android mobile and desktop apps for macOS, Linux, and Windows using a single codebase.

=> ↺ How to Use SQLite Viewer Web App

• SQLite Viewer Web App provides excellent features for viewing the SQLite databases online on the browser. Read this guide to learn the steps for using this tool.

=> ↺ Introduction to Golang Programming Language

• Golang is an open-source programming language developed by Google. Follow this article to learn in detail about this programming language.

=> ↺ How to Create an Empty Data Frame R

• Tutorial on the various approaches to create an empty DataFrame using the data.frame() function with specified columns in R along with practical examples.

=> ↺ Vectorized trimming of line comments

• A French graduate student reached out by email yesterday with the following problem. Consider a format such as TOML which has line comments: when a ‘#’ character is encountered, the rest of the line is omitted. Let us look at an example: [...]

=> ↺ Characterizing Tech Debt

• These notes focus on accurately describing what tech debt is, moreso than tactics for handling it.

=> ↺ Compiler output files

• For a GCC or Clang command, there is typically one primary output file, specified by -o or the default (a.out or a.exe). There can also be temporary files and auxiliary files.

=> ↺ simulated annealing and logistic regression to the max

• A Riddler puzzle on the three binary and sequential questions one should ask three players hiding their respective U(0,1) realisation, U, V, and W, to best guess which player holds the largest number, max{U,V,W}. [...]

=> ↺ urllib3 v2.0.0 is now generally available

• It’s my honor to present the next major release of urllib3. This major release has been in progress since 2020 and will be the foundation of future improvements to the package. Everyone on our team of contributors is excited to finally share what we’ve accomplished with you all.

=> ↺ How to Copy a Table from One Database to Another in PostgreSQL

• Tutorial on the step-by-step process on how to copy tables from one database to another in PostgreSQL using the pg_dump command along with practical examples.

=> ↺ Tomeu Vizoso: A long overdue update

• Cannot believe it has been years since my last update here!

• There are two things that I would like to tell people about: [...]

=> ↺ 18 Best NodeJS Frameworks for App Development in 2023

• Node.js is used to build fast, highly scalable network applications based on an event-driven non-blocking input/output model, and single-threaded asynchronous programming.

=> ↺ Bálint Réczey: Improve build time of Rust, Java and Intel Fortran projects with Firebuild’s new release!

• Firebuild’s latest release incorporated more than 100 changes just from the last two months. They unlocked acceleration of Rust builds with Cargo, fixed Firebuild to work with the latest Java update that slightly changed its behavior, started accelerating Intel’s Fortran compiler in addition to accelerating gfortran that was already supported and included many smaller changes improving the acceleration of other compilers and tools. If your favorite toolchain is not mentioned, there is still a good chance that it is already supported. Give Firebuild a try and tell us about your experience!

Python

=> ↺ CircuitPython 8.1.0 Beta 2 Released! @circuitpython

• Firmware downloads are available from the downloads page on circuitpython.org. The site makes it easy to select the correct file and language for your board.

=> ↺ Managing Dependencies Using Poetry in Python

• Python is a versatile language used for various applications. However, managing dependencies, the packages a project relies on can be a complex and time-consuming task. With the growth of the Python ecosystem, developers need to manage a large number of packages and dependencies and ensure that they are compatible with each other.

• Poetry provides a solution to these challenges. Poetry is a package manager for Python that allows developers to manage dependencies, create virtual environments, and package their projects for distribution, all using a single command-line tool.

=> ↺ Seaborn Axis Labels

• The “axes.set()” function, Matplotlib library functions, or the “set_xlabel()” and “set_ylabel()” functions can be used to set the axes of the plot.

=> ↺ Python OS Mkdir

• The “os.mkdir()” method of the “os” module is used to create a single directory, multiple directories, and nested directories in Python.

=> ↺ Python Not All Arguments Converted During String Formatting

• This error can be fixed by correcting the syntax of the % operator, using the format() function instead of the % operator, and converting the str into an int.

=> ↺ Pandas Read_csv Multiprocessing

• To improve the data loading speed, including its benefits and limitations the “pd.read_csv()” function is used with the multiprocessing module.

=> ↺ Python chmod

• The “os.chmod()” function of the os module is used to change the ownership of the Python file by accepting the path and mode as an argument.

=> ↺ Matplotlib 2d histogram

• In Python, the “plt.hist2d()” function of the “pyplot” module in the “matplotlib” library is used to plot a 2D histogram in Python.

=> ↺ Convert a String to JSON Python

• The JSON module functions, the “ast” module function, or the “eval()” function is used to convert a string to JSON in Python.

=> ↺ Seaborn Tsplot

• In Python, the “seaborn.lineplot()” method is used to plot multiple lines in a single plot, customize the lines and markers, add title and axis labels, etc.

Shell/Bash/Zsh/Ksh

=> ↺ How to Extract Substrings Using ${} in Bash Scripts

• Bash (Bourne Again SHell) is a popular shell scripting language, especially in the Linux and Unix world. One of the most common tasks in shell scripting is manipulating strings, including extracting substrings from a given string.

=> ↺ A Comprehensive Guide to Exiting on Errors in Bash Scripts

• Bash scripts are an essential tool for system administrators, programmers, and even regular users who want to automate repetitive tasks.

=> ↺ Mastering Bash Exit Codes: A Comprehensive Guide to Error Handling and Script Success

• When working with Bash scripts, it’s essential to understand exit codes and how they can improve the way you handle errors and script success. Exit codes are integer values returned by a program or script to indicate the outcome of its execution.

Rust

=> ↺ The Rust Programming Language Blog: Announcing Rustup 1.26.0

• The rustup working group is happy to announce the release of rustup version 1.26.0. Rustup is the recommended tool to install Rust, a programming language that is empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software.

Standards/Consortia

=> ↺ QOA Benchmark Results and File Format Specification

• The specification for the Quite OK Audio Format, announced in a previous blog post, is now finalized. QOA is a lossy audio compression format. Typical audio signals (44100hz, stereo) are encoded into 278 kbits/s, or more precisely 3.2 bits per sample – exactly 1/5 of the bits needed for an uncompressed WAV.

=> ↺ Feedback results

• The first question was to find out some primary information on how people primarily consume my blog, to provide a foundation for further questions.

• Results

• It’s clear to see RSS being the clear winner here, which did surprise me a bit, to be honest. I thought it would be a bit more even.

Leftovers

=> ↺ The Gift of Slam Poetry

• the greatest Americans have not been born yet they are waiting patiently for the past to die.—Saul Williams

=> ↺ Remembering Randall Robinson, a Lifelong Fighter for Justice

• When I arrived in Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1978, I didn’t have high hopes for TransAfrica, a newly formed organization created only a year earlier with a young leader, Randall Robinson, at its helm. I was convinced that we did not need another liberal organization that saw compromise as a path to freedom for oppressed people, and which would be unwilling to confront imperialist nations still bent on exploiting Africa and the African world. As history and my own life went on to show, my initial impression of TransAfrica, and of Randall, who died on March 24 at the age of 81, was sorely mistaken.

=> ↺ Smoke Some Weeds: Lasers Could Make Herbicide Obsolete

• We’ve all tangled with unwelcome plant life at one point or another. Whether crabgrass infested your lawn, or you were put on weeding duty in your grandfather’s rose patch, you’ll know they’re a pain to remove, and a pain to prevent. For farmers, just imagine the same problem, but scaled up to cover thousands of acres.

=> ↺ 2023 Hackaday Prize: The Assistive Tech Challenge Starts Now

• We’d all love to change the world and make it a better place, but let’s be honest…that’s a pretty tall order. Even the best of ideas, implemented perfectly, can only do so much globally. But that doesn’t mean the individual can’t make a difference — you just need to think on a different scale. If improving everyone’s life is a bit out of reach, why not settle for a smaller group? Or perhaps even just one person?

=> ↺ Steven Spielberg blasts revising old films for modern audiences, reveals regret about ‘E.T.’

• Steven Spielberg has slammed the revision of old films in a bid to make them more appealing to modern audiences. The legendary director admitted that he regrets editing scenes, specifically one from his hit 1982 film “E.T.” that showed government agents armed with guns.

Science

=> ↺ Tomb of Roman physician buried with his medical equipment found in Hungary

=> ↺ Nuke Your Own Uranium Glass Castings In The Microwave

• Fair warning: if you’re going to try to mold uranium glass in a microwave kiln, you might want to not later use the oven for preparing food. Just a thought.

=> ↺ Why Researchers Turned This Goldfish Into a Cyborg

• Neuroscientists are examining how fish navigate their world using different brain circuits than those relied on by mammals like us.

=> ↺ Q&A with IDA Advocate Federico Pellegrino

• Each month the International Dark-Sky Association features an IDA Advocate from the worldwide network of volunteers who are working to protect the night in a feature called ‘Monthly Star.’

=> ↺ Japanese Moon Lander Most Likely Crashed, Ispace Says

• The Japanese company aimed to be the first to change the paradigm for transporting things to the moon, but that will have to wait for a future mission.

=> ↺ Hard landing: Japan firm fails in historic Moon bid

• Japan’s ispace said it could not establish communication with the unmanned Hakuto-R lunar lander.

=> ↺ What Was Lost in the Hakuto-R Moon Lander Crash

• The Ispace mission had planned to carry a number of customer payloads to the moon’s surface.

Education

=> ↺ NYC Budget Would Close Libraries On Weekends While Police Get Huge Bonuses

• As Mayor Eric Adams inks a deal to increase police officer pay by billions, libraries say they may not have enough cash to stay open on weekends.

=> ↺ Editorial Board | Greek life is not the solution for Stanford’s social problem

• In the first of a three part series on sustainably reviving social life on campus, the Editorial Board argues against idealizing Greek life as the sole solution to restoring fun, and offers suggestions to create a more inclusive campus social life. “Together, we can envision a social life at Stanford where everybody feels welcome,” the Board writes.

=> ↺ Stanford president dodges research misconduct questions

• Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne has declined to answer dozens of questions and made statements about his research that contradict accounts of fellow researchers, Genentech and the scientific record. Meanwhile, professors have publicly questioned his ability to lead as he grapples with mounting allegations.

=> ↺ Slight reduction of illiteracy in El Salvador

• The Survey of Households of Multiple Purposes 2022 found that in the last year 9.7 percent of the population did not know how to read or write, that is, about 522 000 Salvadorans were illiterate last year within a population of 5,385,593 people over 10 years old.

Hardware

=> ↺ Tactile Feedback In VR, No Cumbersome Gloves Or Motors Required

• This clever research from the University of Chicago’s Human Computer Integration Lab demonstrates a fascinating way to let users “feel” objects in VR, without anything getting in the way of using one’s hands and fingers normally. Certainly, the picture here shows hands with a device attached to them, but look closely and you’ll see that it’s on the back of the hand only.

=> ↺ VCF East 2023: Adrian Black On Keeping Retro Alive

• While roaming the halls of Vintage Computer Festival East 2023, we ran into [Adrian Black], who was eager to talk about the importance of classic computing in his own life and how his experience hosting the YouTube channel Adrian’s Digital Basement has impacted him these last few years.

=> ↺ CISC-y RISC-ness

• In the early years of computing, it was common to put a number of basic functions inside a processor, to help keep the sizes of programs relatively minimal. After all, when space is at a luxury, you want to keep the code fairly dense. That line of thinking made sense during the mainframe and minicomputer eras, and came to be known as the complex instruction set computer (CISC) processing set.

• But over time, some came to debate the value of this approach, suggesting that it might be better to increase processing efficiency by cutting down on instruction complexity. In other words, the chip has fewer types of things to execute, but it might do them more often. Some types of processors actually did this before the concept got a name, but eventually, it did get one—the reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processing set.

=> ↺ PCIe Card Adds M.2 SSDs You Can Swap Without Opening Your PC

• The SSD goes into a small aluminum enclosure, or M.2 locker, as Icy Dock calls it. The installation consists of popping the lid off, sliding the drive, and putting the cover back into place. The M.2 locker accepts M.2 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280, and 22110 SSDs. The maximum allowed width is 3.8mm, though. The M.2 locker is a huge heatsink, while the included thermal pad helps heat dissipation.

=> ↺ Leonardo Da Vinci’s Visualization Of Gravity As A Form Of Acceleration

• Although we take a lot of scientific knowledge for granted today, each of the basics – whether it be about light, gravity, mass or the shape of the Earth – had to be theorized and experimentally verified. In the case of gravity, as far back as around 500 BCE the Ionian Greek philosopher Heraclitus theorized on the balance created by what we came to call ‘gravity’. Later, the Greek philosopher Aristotle coined his own postulations and Greek physicist Archimedes did research that led him to discover the center of mass. Centuries later, the Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius argued for the concept of specific gravity rather than mass alone.

=> ↺ Intel expected to post biggest loss on record: Has chip maker finally hit bottom

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ WATCH: National Citizens Inquiry – #SolutionsWatch

• The National Citizens Inquiry is a citizen-led and citizen-funded initiative that is hearing testimony from Canadians and experts examining the nature, the legality and the effects of the Canadian government’s COVID mandates and restrictions. In the most recent episode of #SolutionsWatch, James Corbett talks to the volunteer-run inquiry’s volunteer communications director, Michelle Leduc Catlin…

=> ↺ The Poison Pill in the Mifepristone Lawsuit That Could Trigger a National Abortion Ban

• When the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade last June, they cited Victorian-era state abortion bans—which were nullified by Roe—to justify “return[ing]” the abortion issue to the states.

=> ↺ Oklahoma Woman Told to Wait in Hospital Parking Lot Until ‘Crashing’ for Abortion

• Mounting news reports since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year have detailed the experiences of pregnant people who have been denied lifesaving abortion care, and in the case of one woman in Oklahoma last month, the state’s abortion ban effectively barred her from receiving cancer treatment.

=> ↺ The Group That Searches for Missing Ukrainian Children

• Save Ukraine’s mission includes reuniting families victimized by Russia’s deportations in occupied areas.

=> ↺ COVID panel offers lessons learned, three years on

• Congress never formed a commission to evaluate the U.S. COVID response – including what went wrong and why. So this group of experts took it upon themselves.

=> ↺ Dr. Joseph Ladapo: Busted lying with statistics about COVID-19 vaccines

• I hadn’t planned on posting today, but then there was a news story published Monday by Politico that I felt the obligation to acknowledge at least briefly (for me). It concerns everybody’s favorite COVID-19 minimizing antivax Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo, who, not coincidentally, was a member of the hydroxychloroquine-pushing grifting group of doctors known as America’s Frontline Doctors. Dr. Ladapo, as you might recall, was appointed to lead Florida’s health department by Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an apparent bid to make Florida the most COVID-friendly state in the union, all in the name of “freedom.” Since then, he’s done everything he could to dismantle whatever was left of Florida’s public health infrastructure. Most notoriously, though his health department made antivax disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines official by publishing a study claiming to have found that the risk of myocarditis after mRNA vaccines in men aged 18-39 was so high that young men should forego vaccination against COVID-19, because—or so Dr. Ladapo claimed—vaccination is more dangerous than COVID-19 for younger men. It ultimately turned out that, not only was the study as bad as many of us had suspected when it was released, but that the study had gone through multiple iterations that looked like p-hacking, post hoc alterations in the protocol, and the failure to report certain statistics, all designed to make the vaccine look worse.

=> ↺ Angry Farmers Pierce Europe’s United Front on Ukraine

• A grain deal that got Ukrainian exports moving and eased a global food crisis is now fueling protests in Romania and among other staunch supporters of Kyiv.

=> ↺ Navy finds 11,250 tequila bottles filled with liquid meth in Manzanillo

• Naval customs officers at the Pacific port discovered the bottles of tequila-colored liquid after being alerted by a sniffer dog.

=> ↺ ‘Anti-fentanyl’ law approved in Chamber of Deputies

• The reform is designed to help the government better detect and punish trafficking of precursor chemicals used in the drug’s production.

=> ↺ Health Minister reports that AMLO’s health is ‘good’

• President López Obrador has mild COVID-19 symptoms but is doing fine, Jorge Alcocer told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.

=> ↺ New Study: Most Oklahoma Hospitals Unable to Explain Their Policies on Emergency Abortion Care

• Not a single hospital in Oklahoma appears able to articulate clear, consistent policies for emergency obstetric care to pregnant patients, according to a new study published Tuesday.

=> ↺ “Arcturus Variant”: Russia revives Covid scam, right on cue

• Riley Waggaman Russia is bracing for a wave of highly infectious Arcturus, the newest and trendiest “COVID subvariant”, Rospotrebnadzor chief Anna Popova announced on Thursday. Fellow BRICS member India is currently experiencing an “intense” outbreak of this computer model, and Russia—which has already registered four confirmed cases!—should expect its own Arcturus surge by the end of May…

=> ↺ Skin cancer rates increase in Finland as UV radiation rises

• Some 981 men and 798 women were diagnosed with melanoma in Finland in 2021.

=> ↺ The Quest for Longevity Is Already Over

• Healthspan—years lived in good health—might be the unsexy cousin of longevity research, but figuring out ways for people to live healthier lives could have a much greater impact than extending lifespan by a few years. A big part of extending healthy lives is pinpointing when people start to decline in health, and what the early indicators of that decline might be. One way is by looking at frailty—a measure that usually takes into account factors like social isolation, mobility, and health conditions to produce an overall frailty score. In England, the National Health Service automatically calculates frailty scores for everyone aged 65 and over, with the aim to help people live independently for longer and avoid two major causes of hospital admissions for older people: falls and adverse responses to medication.

• But Jylhävä’s research suggests that frailty indicators might be useful much earlier in life, too. She found that increased frailty scores were associated with higher mortality risks in old age, but that this association was particularly pronounced at age 50, where a jump in frailty score indicated a relatively large increase in mortality risk. Jylhävä says this is a sign that assessing frailty at age 65 is too late. Rather than looking to the ultra-old for the key to healthy aging, we should actually be looking at when and why younger people start the decline into ill health.

=> ↺ One big idea that could prevent thousands of gun deaths

• This is a fact that should alarm us. In 2020, firearms surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for American children, with 4,357 children killed by gunfire that year. While the majority of child deaths from guns are due to homicide, an average of 35 percent between 2018 and 2021 were suicides, while 5 percent were caused by unintentional, accidental shootings.

=> ↺ British Depleted Uranium in Ukraine

• “We have sent thousands of rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition to Ukraine, including depleted uranium armour-piercing rounds,” he said, adding the weapons “are now under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU)” and that the Defence Ministry “does not monitor the locations from where DU rounds are fired by the AFU in Ukraine.”

• When queried whether the government possesses a duty to remediate depleted uranium rounds used in Ukraine after the conflict, the minister declared that it “no obligation” to do so, instead stressing “Ukraine’s immediate needs.”

=> ↺ R Applied to Epidemiology and Infectious Disease in Glasgow

• Antonio Hegar, organizer of the R Glasgow user group (also on Twitter), shared with the R Consortium his efforts to build an R community in Glasgow. He discussed the widespread use of R in Glasgow across a broad range of fields and stressed the need to bring together R users for knowledge sharing. He also shared his work as an epidemiologist with the Ministry of Health in Belize for reporting COVID-19-related data for public policy and planning.

=> ↺ Private equity finally delivered Sarah Palin’s death panels

• But for the millions of Americans with insurance, death panels are an everyday occurrence, or at least a lurking concern. Anyone who pays attention knows that insurers have entire departments designed to mass-reject legitimate claims and stall patients who demand that the insurer lives up to its claim: [...]

Proprietary

=> ↺ Alphabet Shrugs Off Advertising Slump, Thanks to Search Engine

• Google’s parent company returned to sales growth, even as an advertising slowdown continued to crimp YouTube.

=> ↺ Microsoft Edge is leaking the sites you visit to Bing

• Microsoft’s Edge browser appears to be sending URLs you visit to its Bing API website.

Security

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Maine Gets Another (Necessary) Opportunity to Defund Its Local Intelligence Fusion Center

• Fusion centers are yet another unnecessary cog in the surveillance state—and one that serves the intrusive function of coordinating surveillance activities and sharing information between federal law enforcement, the national security surveillance apparatus, and local and state police. Across the United States, there are at least 78 fusion centers that were formed by the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the war on terror and the rise of post-9/11 mass surveillance. Since their creation, fusion centers have been hammered by politicians, academics, and civil society groups for their ineffectiveness, dysfunction, mission creep, and unregulated tendency to veer into political policing. As scholar Brendan McQuade wrote in his book Pacifying the Homeland: Intelligence Fusion and Mass Supervision:

• An explosive 2023 report from Rutgers University’s Center for Security, Race and Rights also gives us more evidence of why these centers are invasive, secretive, and dangerous. In the report, researchers documented how New Jersey’s fusion center leveraged national security powers to spy almost exclusively on Muslim, Arab, and Black communities and push an already racially biased criminal justice system into overdrive through aggressive enforcement of misdemeanor and quality of life offenses. 

• Moreover, in recent years, the dysfunction of fusion centers and the ease with which they sink into policing First Amendment-protected activities have been on full display. After a series of leaks that revealed communications from inside police departments, fusion centers, and law enforcement agencies across the country, MIAC came under particular scrutiny for sharing dubious intelligence generated by far-right wing social media accounts with local law enforcement. Specifically, the Maine fusion center helped perpetuate disinformation that stacks of bricks and stones had been strategically placed throughout a Black Lives Matter protest as part of a larger plan for destruction, and caused police to plan and act accordingly. This was, to put it plainly, a government intelligence agency spreading fake news that could have deliberately injured people exercising their First Amendment rights. This is in addition to a whistleblower lawsuit from a state trooper that alleged the fusion center routinely violated civil rights.  

=> ↺ Missouri Nukes Its ‘Tell Us If You’ve Seen A Trans’ Reporting Form After It’s Swarmed With ‘Bee Movie’ Scripts

• Who doesn’t love the wisdom of the crowds? Hey, it’s a great thing if you’re seeking comment from the oft-disrespected “stakeholders” known as the people who pay your salaries. Comment periods for proposed regulation ensures a healthy mix of intelligent commentary and unhinged partisanship. You know, like pretty much any congressional hearing.

=> ↺ What Were the Twitter Files?

• What exactly were “the Twitter Files” about? By now, it’s settled into a near-consensus everywhere but on the right that the disclosures were of little consequence. This view only hardened after MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan challenged Matt Taibbi, the journalist most associated with the so-called Files, on several major reporting errors two weeks ago.

=> ↺ New York Times Profiles Back-to-Office Culture at Company That Used Surveillance to Harass Coworkers at the Office

• While bemoaning the fact that workers have “less supervision” at home.

=> ↺ CareBand bet on Amazon Sidewalk. How will it turn out?

• I first met Adam Sobol, the CEO of CareBand, at the LoRaWAN World Expo in Paris last year. He was building a wearable device for people with dementia using LoRaWAN connectivity to track them in case they wandered off.

=> ↺ Murdoch’s News Group Paid Settlement to Prince William, Court Filing Shows

• A legal filing by Prince Harry in his own case against News Group claims his brother received “a huge sum of money’’ to settle phone-hacking allegations.

=> ↺ Why Countries Are Trying to Ban TikTok

• Governments have expressed concerns that TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, may endanger sensitive user data.

=> ↺ Russia tracks visiting Finns via smartphone IMEI codes, Yle finds

• A number of Finns who visited Russia told Yle they were interrogated at the Russian border, and asked to reveal their mobile phones’ IMEI numbers.

=> ↺ HUS suspects employee of ‘hundreds’ of patient data breaches

• The Helsinki and Uusimaa hospital district (HUS) has asked police to investigate patient data breaches it suspects had been going on for around three-and-a-half years.

=> ↺ US Palantir Technologies to set up regional hub in Vilnius

• Palantir Technologies, a US-based software and services company, is planning to expand its operations in Lithuania and establish a regional hub of big data competencies in Vilnius, Invest Lithuania said on Tuesday.

• The company has entered into a strategic partnership with the Lithuanian Defence Ministry to develop new digital solutions, the government’s foreign investment promotion agency said in a press release.

=> ↺ How Parenting Tech Opens the Door to State Surveillance

• The need to know whether a child is safe and well is perfectly natural, which makes the nature of such surveillance appear innocent. Behind the wholesome sheen, however, these technologies conceal the possibility of false positives, disrupted emergency services, and collaboration with state forces—wittingly or unwittingly—all in the name of keeping children safe. Seemingly private, domestic technologies can dovetail with state surveillance, turning parent-to-child surveillance into a dragnet, one that catches other parents and children in its wake.

=> ↺ Data retention and undermining encryption: expert group to present proposals for expanding surveillance by mid-2024

• At the request of MEP Dr Patrick Breyer , Europol has published documents showing that a newly established group of experts is to draw up proposals on the topics of data retention, encryption and anonymity by mid-2024. Among other things, the focus is on access to encrypted communication data, to location data and to IP data of citizens.

• The expert group goes back to a proposal of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January 2023 (PDF). The tasks and objectives of the expert group are discussed under the programme name ‘Going Dark’.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ At least 15 killed, dozens hurt as blasts damage Pakistan police station

• A debate is raging over whether terrorists were responsible for the damage.

=> ↺ ‘Fallout’-Style Cartoons Meant to Train Russian Soldiers Are Spreading on Telegram

• The meme-filled videos spread on Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels, though it’s unclear if the Kremlin created them.

=> ↺ Daniel Ellsberg: a Profound Voice Against the Doomsday Machine

• The current Daniel Ellsberg Week celebrates the achievements and inspirational spirit of the most significant whistleblower of the 20th century. Daniel Ellsberg’s recent announcement of a terminal diagnosis broke my heart, but his remarkable response gave me great hope. To quote Ellsberg: “As I just told my son Robert: He’s long known (as my editor) that I work better under a deadline. It turns out that I live better under a deadline!”

=> ↺ Bipartisan US Bill Aims to Prevent AI From Launching Nuclear Weapons

• In the name of “protecting future generations from potentially devastating consequences,” a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced legislation meant to prevent artificial intelligence from launching nuclear weapons without meaningful human control.

=> ↺ 44 Ukrainian and 40 Russian soldiers returned in prisoner exchange — Meduza

• President Zelensky’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak reported that 44 people have returned to Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange, including 36 privates and sergeants, six officers, and two civilians. Yermak said that the servicemen participated in the defense of Mariupol, Azovstal, and Kherson, as well as combat in eastern Ukraine.

=> ↺ Russian fighter jet crashes in Murmansk region — Meduza

• A MiG-31 fighter jet crashed in Russia’s Murmansk region, the Telegram channel Baza and Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

=> ↺ ‘The explosions calm them down’: What Russian soldiers are teaching children after returning from the war in Ukraine — Meduza

=> ↺ Russia expels 10 Norwegian diplomats — Meduza

• Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry declared 10 employees at Norway’s embassy in Moscow persona non grata.

=> ↺ Russian State Duma Defense Committee head proposes enlisting civilian volunteers to defend state borders — Meduza

• Andrey Kartapolov, the head of the Russian State Duma’s Defense Committee, said Wednesday that civilian volunteers should be involved in defending Russia’s state borders.

=> ↺ Russian authorities begin issuing military summonses threatening ‘restrictive measures’ in case of no-show — Meduza

• The Russian authorities have begun sending out military summonses that explicitly threaten their recipients with “restrictive measures,” Grigory Sverdlin, the head of the anti-war initiative Go by the Forest, reported on Wednesday.

=> ↺ After the siege Google updated its satellite images of Mariupol for the first time since 2021. The photos show destruction on a catastrophic scale. — Meduza

• On April 25, Google Earth and Google Maps updated their satellite images of Mariupol. The previous satellite images were from June 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The new photographs were taken at different times following the start of the war, which is why fires are visible in some parts of the city, while in other areas occupying authorities are seen constructing new buildings. What’s more, one newly reconstructed area of Mariupol, which Vladimir Putin visited in March 2023, isn’t visible at all. The following photographs from Google Earth offer a glimpse at the extent of the destruction inflicted upon Mariupol since the start of the Russian invasion.

=> ↺ Russian ambassador says Polish prosecutor’s office seized funds from embassy accounts — Meduza

• The Polish prosecutor’s office seized funds from Russia’s embassy and trade mission accounts, the Russian Ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev told RIA Novosti.

=> ↺ A US-China War Over Taiwan?

• What will happen when China invades Taiwan, as so many in Washington believe is inevitable? To answer that question, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, an entity created at Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s behest in February, conducted a “tabletop exercise” involving a simulated attack of this sort on April 19. No official report on the closed-door exercise has been made public, but participants indicated that the outcome of such an encounter would prove catastrophic for all parties involved. Committee members were confronted “with the potential for death and destruction on scales that haven’t been seen in decades,” reported one game-player. What hasn’t been reported, however, is that any such engagement would almost certainly brush up against the nuclear threshold—and very likely cross it.

=> ↺ Intelligence agents account for one third of Russian embassy staff in Helsinki, Yle probe finds

• A report by Yle’s investigative journalism unit MOT has revealed that one third of staff at Russia’s embassy in Helsinki are actually intelligence agents.

• The findings were confirmed by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service Supo.

=> ↺ How the Sudan crisis could trigger a new migration wave

• The United Nations is preparing for up to 270,000 refugees to flee Sudan, where almost five million people have already been displaced.

• Immigration minister Robert Jenrick predicted “very significant numbers” would flee Africa’s third-largest country, which could lead to a surge in illegal small boats crossing to Britain.

=> ↺ Did Bellingcat get Ukrainian forces killed?

=> ↺ Zelensky and Xi speak in first call since Russia invasion of Ukraine

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that he’d had a “long and meaningful call” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

• Why it matters: It was the first known call between Xi and Zelensky since Russia invaded Ukraine. Xi has offered himself as a mediator in the conflict, but he made a lengthy state visit to Moscow and has offered diplomatic cover for the invasion.

=> ↺ Exclusive: Wagner founder Prigozhin says counter-terrorism is company’s primary African focus

• Founder of Russian private military company Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has defended his company’s activities in Africa, saying that his involvement on the continent is mainly to defeat terrorism and help countries liberate their territories from insurgents. defenceWeb was granted an exclusive interview with Prigozhin in Moscow, where he elaborated on a number of topics.

=> ↺ Violence in Sudan Cuts Through Shaky U.S.-Brokered Cease-Fire

• Gunfire and shelling still trapped many residents in their homes in the capital, but others took advantage of the truce announcement to flee on the 11th day of fighting.

=> ↺ South Africa’s Shifting Stance on Whether It Will Quit the I.C.C.

• As the International Criminal Court seeks to arrest Vladimir Putin, South Africa objects to its “unfair treatment” of some countries, but sends mixed signals about withdrawing.

=> ↺ U.S. moves to reassure South Korea of protection against nuclear attack

• President Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will sign a declaration on nuclear coordination during Yoon’s visit to Washington this week in response to “provocations” from North Korea, senior U.S. officials briefed reporters.

=> ↺ US, Philippines sink mock enemy ship in their largest South China Sea drills

• It is the first time for both sides to simulate a sea attack and rocket-bombardment exercise in the disputed waterway.

=> ↺ Taiwan publisher under investigation for national security crime: China

• Gusa Books has published books on history and politics critical of China’s ruling Communist Party.

=> ↺ Sweden launches research rocket, accidentally hits Norway

• The rocket reached an altitude of 155.34 miles where experiments were carried out in zero gravity, the agency said in a statement.

=> ↺ US to send nuclear submarine to South Korea for first time in 40 years

• The US will send a nuclear submarine to visit South Korea for the first time in decades.

=> ↺ Review identifies real threats, in real time

• The Defence Strategic Review gives the clearest description yet of the perilous strategic circumstances in which we are living.

=> ↺ Putin’s dreams of a new Russian Empire are unraveling in Ukraine

• Putin saw the invasion of Ukraine as a key step toward rebuilding the Russian Empire. Instead, it has forced countries across the former Soviet Union to distance themselves from the Kremlin, writes Mark Temnycky.

=> ↺ The Defence Strategic Review: a revolution in Australian defence planning?

• Public discussion of the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) has focused on the announced changes to major capability programs.

=> ↺ Russia’s invasion highlights the need to invest more in Ukrainian studies

• The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the need for greater international investment into Ukrainian studies but has also created huge challenges for Ukrainian academia, writes Oleksandra Gaidai.

=> ↺ FBI aiding Ukraine in collection of digital and physical war crime evidence

• U.S. law enforcement is helping officials in Kyiv process the huge amounts of data from investigations of alleged war crimes.

=> ↺ More than 450 killed in Sudan fighting

• United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pulled no punches during a Security Council emergency session on Sudan this week calling the fighting in Sudan “an ongoing power struggle between top generals”.

=> ↺ Jammer and target drone amongst advanced DoD technology projects

• Defence technology research and development in the Department of Defence (DoD) has led to tangible progress on several important projects, including a new radar system, low-cost target drone, and electronic warfare systems.

Transparency/Investigative Reporting

=> ↺ Twitter Turns In Its Transparency Homework Late And Incomplete

• Twitter 1.0 had one of the most complete and thorough transparency reporting operations around. It was incredibly useful to anyone studying issues, especially regarding the all important information on government demands on the company, and Twitter’s compliance rate. Indeed, as we reported, while basically all of the other big tech companies folded when the government demanded they obfuscate how many requests they get from government, old Twitter (alone) pushed back and sued the government.

=> ↺ Slain Japanese journalist’s camera surfaces after 15 years

• The handover of the camera comes as Myanmar is in the grip of upheaval far worse than that of 2007. A widespread, determined armed resistance has sprung up in response to the overthrow of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government by the military in 2021. According to tallies kept by journalists in Myanmar, three of their local colleagues have been killed by the authorities since the army takeover and more than 150 detained. A handful of foreign journalists were also detained and later deported.

• The camera when found still had the original tape inside it. Its contents were screened at Wednesday’s event.

=> ↺ Dutch to Make Public the Files on Accused Nazi Collaborators

• More than 65,000 accused collaborators ended up standing trial in a special court system that stripped some of certain civil rights, sent some to prison and condemned others to death.

• Most of the cases were resolved by 1950 and the filings of the special court — including police reports, witness depositions, material evidence and photos — were packed off to an archive with restricted access for a period of 75 years.

• In two years those restrictions will be lifted and a vast trove of about 32 million documents — files on people who stood trial as well as the many others who only came under scrutiny — will be opened to the public. It is a prospect that has some people bracing for possibly discomforting disclosures.

Environment

=> ↺ How deforestation affects us all

• One of the primary drivers of deforestation is the production of pulp and paper products, including toilet paper. Many toilet paper brands rely on virgin pulp sourced from old-growth forests, rather than using recycled content or sourcing from sustainably managed forests. This practice has significant environmental and social impacts, including habitat loss, carbon emissions, and human rights violations.

=> ↺ Inside the Youth Campaign to Bring Climate Change to the World’s Highest Court

• Before the pandemic, before the floods that swept through my hometown and across Appalachia, before the two cyclones that struck Vanuatu earlier this spring, I stood on the United Nations plaza with a group of friends in September 2019. As the after-party for the UN Secretary General’s Youth Climate Summit continued late into the night, talk turned to an innovative theory from a group of law students in the South Pacific. An obscure procedural mechanism—Article 96(1) of the UN Charter—would allow the General Assembly to request an advisory opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice, jump-starting the development of climate law around the world.

=> ↺ Environmental group organizing millions for climate justice

• The Climate Funders Justice Pledge (CFJP) has mobilized $120 million in funding from major climate donors, the group tells Axios.

• Why it matters: The new milestone demonstrates the growing recognition that minorities and low-income residents tend to suffer the most from climate change, including extreme weather events such as heat waves and flash floods.

• [...]

• Why it matters: The new milestone demonstrates the growing recognition that minorities and low-income residents tend to suffer the most from climate change, including extreme weather events such as heat waves and flash floods.

• It also signals growing momentum behind climate justice as a pillar of work in the climate space among major donors.

=> ↺ A Heat Shield for the Most Important Ice on Earth

• Engineers might be able to protect Arctic ice by coating it with tiny glass bubbles. Should they?

=> ↺ Teacher in the Philippines holds class outdoors, as school bakes amid heatwave

• Temperatures in the country have hit 37 deg C, as a heatwave sears much of Asia.

=> ↺ California’s big melt is set to accelerate amid the first spring heat wave

• California’s “Big Melt” from its historic snowpack is set to accelerate when temperatures reach as much as 20 degrees above average this week, forecasters warn.

• By the numbers: The statewide snowpack contained a snow water equivalent (SWE) on Monday that was 256% of average for the date, and temperatures are forecast to break 80°F in parts of the Sierra Nevada for the first time this year by Thursday.

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ As EU Parliament Weighs Methane Rules, Green Groups Warn of US ‘Certified Gas’ Scheme

• On the heels of a “damning exposé” of U.S. companies’ so-called “certified gas” programs, a pair of green groups this week told members of the European Parliament that “it is crucial to strengthen the measures to regulate methane emissions from fossil fuel imports.”

=> ↺ How a Puerto Rican community battles blackouts with solar power

• In Puerto Rico, extreme weather fuels fears of power blackouts. Yet microgrids of solar panels could provide backup energy and boost self-sufficiency. Nearly 700 rooftop solar panels were recently installed as part of a growing microgrid initiative.

=> ↺ India’s Quest to Build the World’s Largest Solar Farms

• Pavagada Ultra Mega Solar Park, a clean-power plant the size of Manhattan, could be a model for the world—or a cautionary tale.

=> ↺ As It Promises Environmental Justice, Biden Admin. Disrespects Those in MVP’s Path

• I am saddened by the depths that proponents of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) will go to advance a false narrative and spread inaccuracies. This time it is Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm who on Friday, April 21, 2023 wrote a cheerleader’s letter rooting for the MVP, Joe Manchin’s pet project. It is very ironic and even a bit disturbing that she wrote this letter one day after she appeared before the Senate Energy Committee and the very next day after she told me personally that she (or her staff) would meet with me in the next week or two.

=> ↺ ‘Landmark’ Carbon Capture Credit Purchase by NextGen Denounced as Total ‘Scam’

• A leading U.S. green group on Wednesday dismissed a major carbon offset deal as a “scam,” while underscoring such schemes’ inefficacy at reducing emissions.

=> ↺ Binance Faces Mounting Pressure as U.S. Crypto Crackdown Intensifies

• The scrutiny on Binance, the giant cryptocurrency exchange, has sent new tremors through a market that is still bruised by the implosion of FTX.

=> ↺ U-M’s renewable energy zoning initiative expands to six states

• An expanded renewable energy zoning database from U-M helps simplify matchmaking between renewable energy developers and interested host communities in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

=> ↺ The myth of “transit streets, bike streets and car streets”

• Every one of these so-called bike streets and transit streets lets cars park on both sides for most of its length. They all allow cars to through-travel for a mile or more in at least one direction, if not the entire length of the street.2 With the possible exception of Page, none meet NACTO low-stress criteria of fewer than 1,000 vehicles per day at speeds under 15 mph.3

• And none of this was even up for debate on Valencia, “the bike street, the people street.” Instead, staff, acting under dictates from Mayor London Breed, forced board members and advocates to reluctantly back the questionably safe, unpopular center bike lane design as the only available option.

=> ↺ How Bankruptcy Helps the Coal Industry Avoid Environmental Liability

• Whenever a hard rain fell on Harlan County, Kentucky, the mud, rocks and debris from the Foresters No. 25 mine pounded down the hillside into the community of Wallins Creek.

• Local residents repeatedly complained about washed-out culverts and mud in their yards. Time after time, county work crews came out after a heavy rain to repair Camp Creek Road, a water line that runs alongside it and a local bridge. The strip mine’s owner, Blackjewel, fixed some problems, but when the rains came again, so did the muddy flooding.

=> ↺ Printed Gas Can Accessories Make Refueling A Little Neater

• No matter what your position is on internal combustion engines, it’s pretty safe to assume everyone is on the same page regarding wasting fossil fuels: it’s a bad thing. And nothing is as frustrating as spilling even a drop of the precious stuff before you even get a chance to burn it.

=> ↺ How We Measured the Environmental Cost of Bankrupt Mines

• State environmental regulators have a trove of data on coal mines, including their histories, ownership and environmental violations. ProPublica and Mountain State Spotlight obtained this information for West Virginia and Kentucky, which together are home to about half of the nation’s coal mines. We then combined the states’ data with court records of coal industry bankruptcies. The result was a new look at the association between bankruptcy and environmental problems.

=> ↺ Blocked Crossings Force Kids to Crawl Under Trains to Get to School

• Jeremiah Johnson couldn’t convince his mother to let him wear a suit, so he insisted on wearing his striped tie and matching pocket square. It was picture day and the third grader wanted to get to school on time. But as he and his mom walked from their Hammond, Indiana, home on a cold, rainy fall morning, they confronted an obstacle they’d come to dread:

• A sprawling train, parked in their path.

=> ↺ The Rise of the ‘Climate Friendly’ Cow

• In early March, global food giant Tyson unveiled a new beef product line at the 2023 annual industry meat conference. Named “BrazenTM Beef”, it was the first ever product of its kind to receive the “Climate-Friendly” stamp from the US Department of Agriculture.

• The brand, which grew out of Tyson’s “Climate-Smart Beef Program”, reportedly earned this badge through securing a 10 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared to regular North American beef.

=> ↺ Hospitals Are Investing Billions of Dollars in Fossil Fuels, Report Reveals

• Major hospital systems and medical institutions in the United States are betraying their oath to “first do no harm” through their investments in the fossil fuel sector, warns a new report from a campaign advocating for fossil fuel divestment in healthcare.

• According to the report, The Biggest Malpractice: How Hospitals Betray the Public Trust with Billions in Fossil Fuel Pension Investments, it is likely that privately owned U.S. hospitals have investments amounting to well over $10 billion in the fossil fuel economy. The report, released today by the First Do No Harm campaign and the Climate Safe Pensions Network, examines fossil fuel pension investments made by some of the largest U.S. private hospital systems. It calls for the health sector to divest from the industry most responsible for driving the climate crisis, which the medical community has recognized as a public health emergency.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ Coral Reefs Are in Crisis. Could a Controversial Idea Help?

Overpopulation

=> ↺ Joy and fear as India’s population becomes world’s biggest

• Many of its cities struggle with water shortages, air and water pollution as well as packed slums.

Finance

=> ↺ Sri Lanka Trying to Reduce Overall Debt by $17 Billion, President Says

=> ↺ The Cost of Exporting Capitalist Culture?

=> ↺ As GOP Targets Food Aid, House Dems Remind McCarthy of $1.9 Trillion in Trump Tax Cuts

• Before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened debate Wednesday on a bill that would raise the nation’s debt ceiling while gutting social programs and imposing more barriers to access them, nearly 200 House Democrats from across the ideological spectrum signed a letter imploring Republican deficit hawks to drop their demands and pass a clean hike.

=> ↺ McCarthy’s GOP Cruelly Targets Most-Vulnerable With Sabotage of US Economy as Ransom

• This week, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy plans to hold a vote on a bill that would raise the nation’s debt limit, but only in conjunction with extraordinarily steep spending cuts and new barriers to accessing income support programs. This is the next milestone in House Republicans’ attempt to play a game of dangerous political brinkmanship with the U.S. economy, trying to force through harmful and deeply unpopular federal spending cuts in exchange for increasing the debt limit. This approach recklessly flirts with bringing on the economic catastrophe of a government default in the short term.

=> ↺ ‘MAGA Economic Sabotage’: 217 House Republicans Pass Debt Ceiling Bill With Harmful Cuts

• A wide range of advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday fiercely denounced Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives for narrowly passing their “debt ceiling scam” containing “extreme, harmful cuts against average Americans to protect billionaire tax breaks.”

=> ↺ Chamber of Commerce Is Big Business Masquerading as ‘Mom and Pop Shops’

• A Wednesday report on who funds the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reveals that the vast majority of donors to the powerful business lobbying group remain anonymous on government forms—but the number of large donations received by the Chamber annually raises serious questions about whether the group truly represents the interests of small businesses, considering that nearly half the money donated in 2021 came from just 46 contributors who gave $1 million or more.

=> ↺ Protest Song Of The Week: ‘We Are All Prostitutes’ By The Pop Group

• “We Are All Prostitutes” declared that “capitalism is the most barbaric of all religions” and that “we are all prostitutes, everyone has their price.” The lyrics remain relevant decades later given politics, where wealthy lobby groups hold considerable influence over policy and greed fuels the climate crisis and other societal ills.

=> ↺ Robodebt Cover-Up: documents on repairing Australian Public Service buried

• Most people have watched in disgust at the failures of elements of the senior public service in relation to Robodebt; where top level bureaucrats morphed into political toadies as a result of their own considerable ambition, turning a blind eye to illegal and, ultimately, fatal conduct.

• On March 8, the Public Service Commissioner, Peter Woolcott AO, met with the secretaries of the Federal Secretaries Board, the Top Level Committee of Heads of Departments, to discuss public service issues that had been canvassed in the Royal Commission into the Robodebt scandal. This is something most people would consider quite appropriate.

=> ↺ S&P 500 “Earnings Season” Off to Weak Start as Bonds Reverse Losses

• In my last post I pointed out the bloated valuation of Microsoft and “tech”.

• Today we have to turn our attention over to companies like UPS and First Republic Bank.

=> ↺ One-off upgrade fees are more honest

• When a developer feels like they need to have a continuous stream of money coming in, for them to work on and improve an app, it’s because they want security to allow them to continue. They want reassurance that they won’t be wasting time.

• A more honest solution would be that if you work on a major update to an app, that you could make it available alongside an upgrade price.

=> ↺ After going on a shopping spree, Americans are spending less

• Consumer spending fell substantially in March from the previous month, according to a survey out Wednesday from Morning Consult.

=> ↺ G.M.’s Profits Fell 18.5% in the First Quarter

• The company also announced a new U.S. battery factory and said it would stop production of its top-selling electric car, the Chevrolet Bolt.

=> ↺ Stellantis Layoffs 2023: What to Know About the Latest STLA Job Cuts

• According to recent reports, Stellantis is looking to reduce its headcount by 3,5000 workers. The report claims that the company is planning for these job cuts to affect hourly workers in the U.S.

=> ↺ Rad Power Bikes lays off employees for the 4th time in the past year

• Rad Power Bikes is laying off employees for the fourth time since April of last year.

• The Seattle-based e-bike company confirmed the latest round of cuts on Wednesday. It did not provide an updated headcount, or information on which positions are being affected.

• Rad Power Bikes slashed 100 positions in April 2021, then made another 63 cuts in July, and had its third round of layoffs in December.

• The company now has around 400 employees, according to LinkedIn.

=> ↺ Tyson Foods says it will chop 10% of corporate workforce

• Tyson Foods announced Wednesday the company will cut 15% of its senior leadership — mostly senior vice president and vice president roles — and 10% of its corporate jobs.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Pick ’Em: Making Sense of the Free-for-All Primary for Mayor of Philadelphia

• Philadelphia, Pa.—“The City of Brotherly Love” has at various times in its history taken on another, less salutary identity: “The City That Doesn’t Work.” As far as most of its 1.6 million residents are concerned, this is one of those times. Infrastructure (such as it is) is a mess. The city is a welter of dubious projects—including cookie-cutter apartment complexes in my West Philadelphia neighborhood that I somehow doubt will help meet the city’s urgent need for affordable housing. The streets are obstacle courses of potholes, orange traffic cones, and errant piles of uncollected trash. Even the sidewalks, never pristine, betray Philadelphia’s longtime reputation as a ”walkable” city.

=> ↺ ‘I Will Say What Needs to Be Said’: Sen. Ed Markey Calls on Clarence Thomas to Resign

• Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts on Monday echoed other members of Congress who have urged U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to step down over mounting evidence of unethical behavior, and he also reiterated progressives’ long-standing demand to expand the court.

=> ↺ Jeffrey Sachs on China’s ‘Historic’ Push for Multipolar World to End US Domination

• China is taking an increasingly assertive role in world affairs, helping to broker a restoration of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, offering a 12-point peace plan for Ukraine, and strengthening its relationships with European and Latin American powers.

=> ↺ The US and War Crimes in the War on Terror

• “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” – Thucydides, 5th Century BC. For the past two decades, the International Criminal Court has concentrated on the war crimes and criminals who have operated in Africa.

=> ↺ BBC Musk

• There is a whiff of desperation in the air and it is emanating from the BBC. In a car crash of an interview, reminiscent of Kathy Newman’s self-immolating attempt to shoot down Jordan Peterson for Channel 4, the BBC’s North America Technology reporter, James Clayton, similarly imploded in the face of perfectly reasonable questions from Elon Musk.

=> ↺ US Ambassador: ‘Hungary’s policy of standing alone to block high level meetings of NATO-Ukraine Committee untenable’

=> ↺ After Fox Fires Tucker Carlson, Vegas Plays ‘Who’s Next’

• Since Monday, the oddsmakers in Las Vegas have been taking bets on all sorts of things related to the “parting of ways” between Fox News and Tucker Carlson. The Vegas angle isn’t surprising since Vegas will take bets on just about anything. The surprise was that Fox handed its most popular liar news reporter and political pundit his walking papers.

• Like many, I was totally caught off-guard by the news of Carlson’s firing. Sure, Carlson’s on-air lying ways were recently proven by Dominion in its legal action against Faux News, but he’s been being called out for disregarding the truth almost daily since 2016 when he joined the network. I figured (like practically everyone else) that Fox didn’t really care about factual reporting.

=> ↺ The World According to Tucker Carlson

• Donald Trump had the raw power on the right. But it was Carlson who set the ideological agenda.

=> ↺ It Doesn’t Matter Who Replaces Tucker Carlson

• Perhaps more than those of any other network on television, the stars of Fox News are more or less interchangeable.

=> ↺ What I’ll Remember Most About Tucker Carlson? His Ability to Unleash the Haters.

• Nothing in my professional life has frustrated my ability to work as much as having my words attacked by Tucker Carlson. I’ve been called out by Sean Hannity and quoted out of context in the pages of Brietbart; I’ve been mocked by the Federalist Society and watched Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz disparage my book during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. But in terms of pure disruption to my life, nothing compared to having my image shown on Carlson’s nightly white supremacist hoedown.

=> ↺ Employer Rupert Murdoch Turned Out to Be a More Important Tucker Carlson “Spy” Than the NSA

• While it’s not yet clear what specific things Tucker said in the privacy of a Fox News server got him fired, it seems clear that Fox’s review of those statements as part of multiple legal discovery efforts had a more immediate impact on him than the NSA review of his communications with a back channel to Putin.

=> ↺ Harry Belafonte was one of the last surviving Civil Rights-era performers

• Harry Belafonte broke racial barriers in the 1950s as a musician and actor. He also was one of the last surviving performers of the Civil Rights Movement who put careers in jeopardy to march and protest.

=> ↺ The Gifts Harry Belafonte Gave Me

• The last time I saw Harry Belafonte was at his 93rd birthday party at Harlem’s Apollo Theater on March 1, 2020. I gave him a quick hug and spent the next week worried that I’d given him the newly terrifying disease Covid-19. Belafonte’s birthday was my last social event for literally years, so with hindsight—knowing he lived three more happy and relatively healthy years, with his wonderful wife, Pamela, despite the isolation of Covid—I’m very glad I went. When he died Tuesday at 96, I felt sad for his family and friends of course, but strangely blessed too. Late in his life, when time was short, he gave me a great deal of his time.

=> ↺ “Sing Your Song”: Remembering Harry Belafonte, Who Used His Stardom to Help MLK & Civil Rights Movement

• We remember the remarkable life of Harry Belafonte, the pioneering actor, singer and civil rights activist, who died at his home on Tuesday in New York at the age of 96. The son of Jamaican immigrants, Belafonte rose to stardom in the 1950s and became the first artist to sell a million records with his album Calypso. He was also the first African American actor to win an Emmy. Along with his growing fame, Belafonte became deeply involved in the civil rights movement. One of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest confidants, he helped to organize the March on Washington in 1963 and frequently raised money to bail activists out of jail and fund their activities throughout the South. Belafonte was also a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, calling for an end to the embargo against Cuba, supporting the anti-apartheid movement and opposing policies of war and global oppression. He spoke out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq and once called George W. Bush the “greatest terrorist in the world.” Harry Belafonte appeared on Democracy Now! numerous times over the years. In 2011, we spoke to him upon the premiere of Sing Your Song, a documentary about his life, and we begin our special by featuring an extended excerpt from our interview. “Going into the South of the United States, listening to the voices of rural Black America, listening to the voices of those who sang out against the Ku Klux Klan and out against segregation, and women, who were the most oppressed of all, rising to the occasion to protest against their conditions, became the arena where my first songs were to emerge,” Belafonte recalled.

=> ↺ Harry Belafonte in His Own Words on Opposing Iraq War & Calling George W. Bush a “Terrorist”

• As we remember the life and legacy of Harry Belafonte, we look back at his antiwar activism, including his outspoken opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. On February 15 of that year, amid global protests against the war, Belafonte addressed hundreds of thousands who rallied in New York City and called for peace. “We have let the world know that we are in solidarity with those who seek to have other ways than war to settle our grievances,” he told Democracy Now! Belafonte later made worldwide headlines in 2006 when, on a trip to Venezuela, he called President George W. Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world.”

=> ↺ “Get Down to Business”: Harry Belafonte in 2016 on Trump, Socialism & Fighting for Justice

• Harry Belafonte last appeared on Democracy Now! in 2016 at a special event at the historic Riverside Church in New York to celebrate our 20th anniversary. He co-headlined the event with Noam Chomsky in their first public appearance together. Belafonte spoke about Donald Trump, who had just been elected president, and ongoing struggles for freedom and justice in the United States. “We just have to get out our old coats, dust them off, stop screwing around and just chasing the good times, and get down to business,” he said. “There’s some ass-kicking out here to be done. And we should do it.”

=> ↺ Patrick Breyer on Chat Control: To ensure the safety of children online, we need a new approach!

• Today, Conservative rapporteur Javier Zarzalejos presented his draft report on the proposal to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAR), also known as “chat control”, in the European Parliament’s lead Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). Zarzalejos criticised the “chat control” label Breyer gives the proposal.

• Patrick Breyer, Pirate Party MEP, Greens/EFA lead negotiator and long-time opponent of indiscriminate chat control, proposed a consensual, new approach to the file today in his speech: [...]

=> ↺ Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, 15 others subject to EU content rules

• Alibaba’s AliExpress, Amazon’s Marketplace, Apple’s App Store and 16 other tech companies will be subject to new EU online content rules as of August, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Tuesday.

• The other 16 companies are booking.com, Facebook, Alphabet’s Google Maps, Google Play, Google Search, Google Shopping, Instagram, Linkedin, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube, Microsoft’s Bing and Zalando.

• Under the landmark rules known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), the companies, all with more than 45 million monthly active users, are required to do risk management, conduct external and independent auditing, share data with authorities and researchers and adopt a code of conduct.

=> ↺ Getting America’s mojo back

• America is in a funk right now, there’s no doubt about it. Some of that funk is rooted in real, novel, and difficult dilemmas and regressions. But plenty of it also just stems from the general vibe that things are terrible because they feel terrible. And that’s the part that seems self-inflicted, unnecessary, and correctable.

=> ↺ Misaligned Incentives in Dev Tool Businesses

• It’s possible to overcome incentives like this. Product managers now understand this trade-off and consider carefully when to say no. But it’s a complex trade-off. First, you are fighting against your hardcore users, who are all you hear from. Second, the more features you add, the better deal buyers think they are getting. Because, at least back then, enterprise software was sold based on who had the most features. The incentives are all wrong.

• But I never really thought about the incentives at the time. I just observed the software getting stranger and more complex the more the company succeeded. I just thought this was some software end-state where like dying stars, the checkboxes and buttons expand to fill all possible visual space. But then, years later, I joined Earthly, and the topic of incentives started coming up more and more.

=> ↺ Samsung Electronics logs worst quarterly earnings in 14 years

• The company’s first-quarter net income fell 86.1 percent to 1.57 trillion won, and sales dropped 18 percent to 63.75 trillion won.

=> ↺ Meta’s metaverse business continues to lose billions of dollars

• As per the numbers revealed by Meta, the company lost relatively less amount of money compared to the corresponding quarter last year. In Q1 2022, Meta had recorded a loss of $4.28 billion but now the number is $3.99 billion. The revenue from Meta Reality Labs was close to $339 million. One of the biggest source of revenue — at present — is the Quest series of headsets. Meta slashed the prices of the headset last month. However, as per a report by CNBC, sales of VR headsets declined by 2% in 2022.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ After Tucker Carlson: Expect a new face, not a new formula, at Fox

• Why would you fire your top-rated host? Fox News has a history of doing just that – with its brand being more important than any individual personality.

=> ↺ An Insider’s Guide to “Anti-Disinformation”

• Andrew Lowenthal spent more than two decades defending digital rights, and watched as peers and partner organizations switched to an opposite mission called “anti-disinformation.” An inside account:

=> ↺ Matt Taibbi: Report on the Censorship-Industrial Complex

• Introduction to a series of features about the new global speech-policing bureaucracy, uncovered in the Twitter Files and beyond

=> ↺ Eleven Minutes of Media Falsehoods, Just On One Subject, Just On One Station

• This special report hoped to make a list of all the editors’ notes and retractions that would be needed because of the #TwitterFiles. The problem turned out to be too big to count

=> ↺ Like The Social Dilemma Did, The AI Dilemma Seeks To Mislead You With Misinformation

• You may recall the Social Dilemma, which used incredible levels of misinformation and manipulation in an attempt to warn about others using misinformation to manipulate.

=> ↺ Just After Fox News Settled With Dominion, Lachlan Murdoch Dropped His Censorial SLAPP Suit Against Crikey

• Last fall, we wrote about Rupert Murdoch’s son, Lachlan (who seems to have won out over brother James in the Succession-style fight to lead his father’s nonsense peddling media outfit) lost his shit over an opinion piece in the Australian independent media organization Crikey and sued them for defamation in Australia.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Greenpeace Stands Up Against SLAPPs And Wins

• At EFF, as more speech of all types has moved online, we’ve seen SLAPPs proliferate over digital speech. SLAPPs get filed against protesters who oppose oil pipelines, and regular people doing everyday things like sending emails to local officials, or even posting an online review. 

• Five years ago, together with Greenpeace and other environmental nonprofits, EFF helped create the Protect the Protest coalition, or PTP. It’s a group of nonprofits that supports its members and others in their fights against SLAPP lawsuits. 

=> ↺ Lawyers: If no voice is raised against the crackdown, it will spread all over Turkey

• Zincir insisted that bar associations, non-governmental organizations and political parties in Turkey should react to the detentions. “If this political genocide operation is not stopped, election security cannot be provided anywhere in Turkey. The government is about to fall down after 21 years in power. For this very reason, the opposition should raise a voice against this crackdown. Therefore, standing by the resisting Kurdish people and those who are fighting for truth, democracy and freedom in these lands is a sine qua non for democracy in Turkey today. Bar Associations and the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB) should raise their voices. If no voice is raised against this crackdown, it will spread all over Turkey.”

=> ↺ The Supreme Court Is Struggling to Distinguish Fantasy From Reality

• A few years ago, Billy Raymond Counterman was convicted of stalking. Now his case is before the Supreme Court—where, bafflingly, the justices spent oral arguments last week exploring how to define a “true threat,” something Counterman was never convicted of making. Threats and stalking are entirely different crimes, with entirely different elements and constitutional implications. If the Court goes ahead and issues a ruling about threats, as it seems poised to do, it could inadvertently weaken stalking laws around the country. A set of imaginary facts could lead to serious real-world harm.

=> ↺ Former Yekaterinburg Mayor Evgeny Roizman pleads not guilty to charges of ‘discrediting’ Russian army in first day of trial — Meduza

• Wednesday marked the first day of the trial against former Yekaterinburg Mayor Evgeny Roizman, who stands accused of “discrediting” the Russian military.

=> ↺ The Comic-Strip Writer Who Became a Legend

• In Oesterheld’s early stories, his political views are disguised, at least in part out of necessity. He addresses his country’s problems elliptically, and in narrative forms that would have been familiar to young people browsing newsstands stocked with exciting stories, but his outrage at the status quo is unmistakable. His boldness in the face of Argentina’s parade of violent and censorious dictators earned him a devoted following, but when, late in life, he became the kind of guerrilla fighter he admired, the government with which he had sparred so effectively in his stories crushed him with no more difficulty than it had thousands of others. In his memory, other writers continued to produce comics about his characters, including fictional versions of himself, granting him a posthumous career not as a pulp comic-book hero come to life but as a real-life guerrilla who became a comic-book hero.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

=> ↺ The Lifeblood of Democracy

• Journalists are on the front lines of battles to defend the right to freedom of expression.

=> ↺ James Gordon Meek and Merrick Garland’s “Suspect Exception”

• The case against James Gordon Meek, in which an investigative reporter gets arrested for a crime entirely unrelated to his reporting, raises important questions about the application of Merrick Garland’s media policy.

=> ↺ Uzbek Journalist Abdullaev Detained In Turkey

• Noted Uzbek journalist Bobomurod Abdullaev has been detained in Turkey on unspecified charges and his family says they fear he will be tortured if returned to the Central Asian country.

• Abdullaev’s daughter, Kamola Qodiri, who is a university student in Turkey, told RFE/RL on April 26 that police in Turkey’s northwestern city of Eskisehir detained her father two days earlier.

=> ↺ Facebook Censors Journalist Seymour Hersh’s Report on Nord Stream Pipeline Attack

• Facebook censored a report by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh on the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany, forcing users to instead read a website funded and partially owned by NATO member Norway.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Daylight Come, and He Got to Go Home

• The jam session in heaven is going to be epic tonight, because daylight came and Harry Belafonte has gone home.

=> ↺ Senate Urged to Confirm Julie Su After Key Panel Advances Labor Secretary Nominee

• Labor rights advocates on Wednesday renewed calls for the U.S. Senate to swiftly confirm Julie Su, President Joe Biden’s next pick for labor secretary and “a champion for working families,” after an 11-10 panel vote.

=> ↺ Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny says he could spend life in prison under new terrorism charges — Meduza

• Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny said Wednesday that the Russian authorities have opened a new “terrorism case” against him that will be heard by a military court.

=> ↺ Prosecutors request 12-year prison sentence for Navalny activist Lilia Chanysheva — Meduza

• Russian prosecutors have requested a 12-year prison sentence for Lilia Chanysheva, a former regional coordinator for Alexey Navalny’s organization, another top associate of the jailed opposition politician said on Wednesday.

=> ↺ Call on the IRS to provide libre tax-filing software

• This is an invitation to tell the IRS about the importance of free (as in freedom) software. The Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund launched a petition calling for a gratis, “simple tax filing system that saves taxpayers time and money.” This is not enough! We need a tax filing system in which every taxpayer can file their taxes entirely with free software. There are already some providers who allow eligible people to file their taxes free of charge, but none of the software offered is free as in freedom.

=> ↺ The Anti-Immigrant Policies Abbott and DeSantis Are Pushing Will Backfire

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott are competing to push the most irrational and hateful anti-immigrant policies and political stunts. To the detriment of all Floridians and Texans, DeSantis and Abbott seem not to have learned anything from Donald Trump’s failed experiments in xenophobia or those of Arizona state officials in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

=> ↺ Émigrés in Times of War

• “Right now, I have never felt this much of an ideological divide with my father,” says Viktor (a pseudonym), aged 25 who, along with tens of thousands of other Russian émigrés, is now living in Tbilisi, Georgia. “We stopped talking at the end of October.”

=> ↺ YouTube Music Workers Just Unanimously Won A Union Vote

• YouTube Music contract workers have voted overwhelmingly in favor of unionizing on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The workers will join the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA, which represents all Alphabet- and Google-affiliated workers who choose to organize.

=> ↺ Despite exorbitant cost of flying, crews say their pay is unlivable

• It’s not just WestJet pilots who are fed up with their working conditions. Workers across the aviation industry are fighting unpaid work and low wages

=> ↺ Soviet Pop Art Duo Reunites for First U.S. Retrospective Since Their Breakup

• The rebellious artists Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid founded their own artistic movement. They agreed to their first interview together in 20 years.

=> ↺ Russian Lawyers Ask Court to Ease Crackdown on Dissent

• With thousands arrested for criticizing the invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has “criminalized dissent,” said a lawyer who asked the court to step in.

=> ↺ Chief Justice Roberts Declines to Testify Before Congress Over Ethics Concerns

• In an accompanying statement on ethics practices, the Supreme Court’s justices insisted their current ethical guidelines on gifts, travel and financial deals are sufficient.

=> ↺ Ad Flap Leaves Bitter Aftertaste for Bud Light and Warning for Big Business

• Bud Light’s marketing effort with a transgender influencer has put it “in the center of the culture wars in a way that no company could possibly want to be,” one observer said.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ An AI Scraping Tool Is Overwhelming Websites With Traffic

• “It is sad that several of you are not understanding the potential of AI and open AI and as a consequence have decided to fight it.”

=> ↺ The era of ad supported services is coming to an end (and that’s a good thing).

• Services like Substack, Locals, and Twitter (seriously) are leading the way.

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

=> ↺ Microsoft & Google: “You’ll have no real computers, and you’ll be happy”

• This is a trend we need to put the kibosh on.

Monopolies

=> ↺ Wizards Of The Coast Sends Pinkerton Agency To Person That Bought Unreleased ‘Magic’ Cards In Error

• Wizards of the Coast (WotC), the company behind both Dungeons & Dragons and Magic The Gathering has been on our pages recently and not for good reasons. Most recently, the company kicked up a completely unnecessary shitstorm for itself by changing the OGL license under which it released D&D Fifth Edition in such a way that it essentially kneecapped the wider community’s ability to create off of the base content, as the community had for years and years. The public response to that change was almost universally negative.

=> ↺ One More Time With Feeling: The GOP Never Seriously Supported ‘Antitrust Reform’ Or Monopoly Busting

• For the last few years, press and policy circles were absolutely dominated by talk about how there was an amazing “new, bipartisan coalition” of folks interested in “reining in ‘Big Tech’,” meaningfully checking corporate power, and finally embracing competent “antitrust reform.”

=> ↺ Apple Triumphs in Antitrust Battle with Fortnite Maker Epic Games

• Apple wins its antitrust battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games over its App Store policies but must revise its anti-steering behavior. According to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Apple has won its antitrust appeals court battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games over its App Store policies.

=> ↺ U.K. regulators to block Microsoft’s $69 billion deal for Activision

• British antitrust regulators on Wednesday said they’ll seek to block Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of video game giant Activision Blizzard, citing how the merger could hinder competition in the emerging cloud gaming market.

=> ↺ UK CMA blocks the Microsoft takeover of Activision

• Here’s some industry news for you: the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has announced today they’ve blocked Microsoft’s takeover of Activision.

=> ↺ U.K. Watchdog Blocks Microsoft’s Bid to Buy Activision

• The British antitrust watchdog blocked the takeover attempt, in a decision that will be closely watched in Washington and Brussels.

=> ↺ U.K. Blocks Microsoft’s Activision Bid, a Blow to the Tech Giant

• The decision barring the takeover of a big video game publisher is a major loss for Microsoft, which also faces pushback from U.S. regulators.

=> ↺ The U.K. blocks Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy game giant Activision Blizzard

• The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report that “the only effective remedy” to the substantial loss of competition “is to prohibit the Merger.” The companies have vowed to appeal.

• The all-cash [sic] deal faced stiff opposition from rival Sony and was also being scrutinized by regulators in the U.S. and Europe over fears that it would give Microsoft control of popular game franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush.

=> ↺ UK regulator blocks Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision

• In a news release, posted on Wednesday, the CMA said the investigation revealed that Microsoft already accounts for an estimated 60-70% of global cloud gaming services. The agency said allowing the company to procure Activision’s gaming content — including the popular games Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft — could allow Microsoft to monopolize the market.

=> ↺ Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Deal Blocked by U.K. Regulator

• The acquisition, the largest in Microsoft’s history, would have made the tech powerhouse the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The transaction, which has faced opposition from such rivals as Sony and U.S. regulators, would bring together Microsoft, which owns the Xbox game platform and Xbox Game Studios (owner of Bethesda Softworks and 343 Industries, among other game publishers) and Activision, maker of the Call of Duty, Warcraft, Tony Hawk and Candy Crush franchises, reshaping the gaming landscape.

=> ↺ Italian Regulatory Agency Rules Against Meta in SIAE Music Rights Case

• The Italian regulatory agency ruled against Meta in the SIAE music rights case, ordering the company to resume talks with SIAE and put SIAE-protected music content back on Facebook and Instagram. Italy’s antitrust agency said Friday that it had ruled against Meta Platforms over allegations the company abused its position in the country, part of an

Patents

=> ↺ Ex-Harvard prof sentenced, fined for lying about China ties

• Lieber also concealed his income from the Chinese program on his U.S. tax returns, including $50,000 a month from the Wuhan University of Technology, some of which was paid to him in $100 bills in brown paper packaging, according to prosecutors.

• In exchange, they say, Lieber agreed to publish articles, organize international conferences and apply for patents on behalf of the Chinese university.

=> ↺ UPC’s presiding judges announced

=> ↺ UPC designates presiding judges of central, local and regional divisions

• The Unified Patent Court has designated the presiding judges of the central, local and regional divisions, as well as presiding judges of the relevant panels of the Court.

=> ↺ What Does it Mean to be an Inventor? The Inventor Diary Project and Kicking off the Diversity Pilots Initiative Blog Series

• A down payment on a house, a sense of being seen, the pride of one’s parents and children, validation of one’s creativity, a permanent mark, and confidence – these are just some of the answers received to the question, “what does being an inventor mean to you?” Though the patent system exists to promote innovation, it also serves to promote inventors and innovators. Today, on World IP Day, this post shares the often-overlooked personal journeys of invention that patent professionals play a crucial role in, by encouraging idea submission, collaborating with engineers and innovators, managing outside counsel, and in patent drafting, prosecuting claims,  patent examining, and studying and teaching patenting.

=> ↺ ‘The Rulers Are Exploiting Us’: Rana Plaza Survivors Still Struggle 10 Years After Collapse

• April 24, 2023, marks the tenth anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh. On that fateful day in 2013, the eight-story building collapsed, killing over 1,100 people and injuring more than 2,500, mostly garment workers who were producing clothes for global brands.

Software Patents

=> ↺ Nokia says draft EU patent rules one-sided, will undermine Europe

• The comments from the Finnish telecoms equipment maker, which makes 40% of its revenues from its portfolio of standard essential patents (SEPs), come two days before the European Commission is scheduled to present the draft rules.

• Under the proposal, patent holders are required to register their patents with the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) if they want to charge patent fees or take legal action.

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTAB Finds “VETEMENTS” Generic for …. Guess What?

• The Board affirmed the USPTO’s refusals to register VETEMENTS, in standard character and slightly stylized form, for various clothing items, including shirts, skirts, and sweaters, and for related retail store services, finding the proposed marks to be generic and, in the alternative, merely descriptive of the goods and services and lacking in acquired distinctiveness.

Copyrights

=> ↺ Movie & TV Giants Want Australia to Introduce DNS Blocking to Prevent Piracy

• The consultation stage of Australia’s Copyright Enforcement Review has revealed the movie and TV industries’ latest anti-piracy demands. The submissions are a rollercoaster ride; site-blocking measures collapsed visits to pirate sites, legal consumption increased significantly, yet 51% of pirates “are not impacted by site blocking at all” so DNS blocking is required.

=> ↺ Anti-Piracy Group Recruits Teens to Keep Up with Social Media Piracy Trends

• Danish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance is offering teenagers jobs as panelists in its efforts to better understand the latest piracy trends. Successful candidates will have to commit to several two-hour planned panel sessions, fully paid. Rights Alliance stresses that teens will not be expected to expose their friends or family.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ Names II

• Kettle is an odd name, though might be serviceable as “thunderhelm”, even if the Helm of Thunder does see duty as a pot. Pass the beans? Here we take the liberty of quoting Lord Dunsany in detail.

=> ↺ A Book’s ROI

• My current read is Brandon Sanderson’s “The Well of Ascension”. The book is rather long, almost 800 pages: much longer than the other books I’ve been reading since I picked up fiction again last year. Though I have admittedly been very busy in the last several weeks, after over a month I am only a third of the way through.

=> ↺ Excellent Webcomics: Erfworld

• Erfworld is to most webcomics as The Lord of The Rings is to most books; as the ocean is to a lake. Which is to say: it has unrivalled depth and breadth.

• The setup is simple: a board games geek, Parson Gotti, has nothing in his life worth living for besides the gaming. In a sudden twist, he is transported to an another world.

=> ↺ Engaging in consumerism

• In honor of my finishing graduate school, I have purchased one of those leather traveller’s notebooks. A real and expensive one! From Japan! Not one of the knockoffs! Was the release of an olive color option the catalyst for this decision? No comment!

• I’m convinced I’m going to be a real bonafide notebook boy with this. I’m already thinking about learning to bind my own notebook inserts with all the paper I have lying around.

Technical

Internet/Gemini

=> ↺ Home Server Setup

• After a disk failing I’ve decided to rebuild my server from scratch and document it here

• 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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