● 05.12.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 12/05/2023: Godot 4.1 Dev 2, Google Promoting Vapourware and Hype

Posted in News Roundup at 1:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ It’s FOSS ☛ 7 Deadly Sins of Distrohopping

• Distro hopping is the habit of regularly trying new Linux distributions to explore for fun or to find the perfect distro for you.

• After all, there are hundreds of Linux distributions and new ones are released regularly. Your FOMO (fear of missing out) kicks in and you go on to try the latest buzz of the Linux town.

• No matter why you do it, whether you hate it or like it, people make a few mistakes, which makes the experience of distro hopping hellish.

• What can those be? Let me take you through it…

=> ↺ System76 ☛ May Flowers Spring COSMIC Showers

• COSMIC Panels are desktop features similar to the top bar and dock in Pop!_OS except with much more versatility. The panels contain “applets”, or small embedded applications. You can think of “applets” as GNOME extensions to customize an experience, except they’re separate individual applications running in their own process. In COSMIC, applets replace GNOME extensions. COSMIC currently includes essential default applets for things like notifications, workspaces, applications, battery, wifi, bluetooth, and media controls. In the future, applets can be added for a clipboard, notes, weather, custom menus or whatever feature you might imagine.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Bryan Lunduke ☛ Serenity OS Week Begins at The Lunduke Journal!

• Listen now (9 min) | The Lunduke Journal of Technology Podcast — May 10, 2023

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ Dan Langille ☛ Monitor your backups

• It’s good to do automated backups. When you do that, add monitoring to make sure the backups are occurring successfully. In my case, I backup using Bacula. Each job creates a new .bsr file. I copy these files to another location each day. Then I monitor the dates on those files and they should all be less then a day or so old.

=> ↺ Chris ☛ Event Sourcing and Microservices – Unix Style

• The title is a bit tongue in cheek. The subtitle would be something like How looking at ideas behind architectural patterns can yield good solutions even when common implementations would be overly complex.

=> ↺ HowTo Geek ☛ How to Use GRUB Rescue to Fix Linux

• If your Linux computer can’t boot into its operating system, you’re likely to find yourself staring at a prompt in the GRUB shell. Follow these steps to repair your broken boot processes.

=> ↺ Linuxiac ☛ How to Install Docker on Raspberry Pi: A Step-by-Step Guide

• Ready to use Docker on your Raspberry Pi? Check out our easy-to-follow guide for a seamless installation and begin containerizing today.

=> ↺ UNIX Cop ☛ How To Install Node.js on Fedora 38

• This real-time runtime environment includes everything you need to run a program written in JavaScript.

=> ↺ HowTo Forge ☛ How to Install Icinga 2 Monitoring Software on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• Icinga2 is a free, open-source network monitoring software that can check the availability of resources from the network and notifies users of outages. In the following tutorial, you will learn to install Icinga2 on a Ubuntu 22.04 server and how to connect it to a client node.

=> ↺ HowTo Forge ☛ How to Install Java OpenJDK/OracleJDK on AlmaLinux 9

• Java is a class-based and object-oriented programming language created by Sun Microsystem in 1995. In this guide, I will show you how to Install Java OpenJDK or/and Java Oracle JDK on the AlmaLinux 9 server.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Install Ionic Framework on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

• The Ionic Framework is an open-source UI toolkit for building performant, high-quality mobile applications using web technologies — HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It primarily focuses on frontend user experience, offering a rich array of pre-designed components, gestures, and tools for developing fast, easy-to-use applications.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ How to Install KeePassXC on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

• KeePassXC, short for KeePass Cross-Platform Community Edition, is an open-source password manager that provides a secure and intuitive environment for managing sensitive information. It is a derivative of the renowned KeePass password safe, designed to accommodate cross-platform usability, including on systems such as Ubuntu.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ The Practical Uses of Docker Containers

• Docker containers have revolutionized the world of software development.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ Docker Container List Command: Practical Examples

• In the evolving software development landscape, Docker has emerged as an invaluable tool, enabling developers to streamline application deployment, scaling, and management. Docker commands, in particular, serve as the critical interface, facilitating direct interaction with Docker’s robust capabilities.

=> ↺ Linux Capable ☛ Docker Run Command: A Comprehensive Guide

• In the world of software development and system administration, Docker has emerged as a groundbreaking technology that simplifies software delivery by packaging applications into standardized units known as containers. This comprehensive guide aims to provide an intricate understanding of the Docker Run command, a crucial command for managing these Docker containers.>

=> ↺ 3 Ways to install Insomnia Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04 LTS Linux

• Learn the commands to install Insomnia in Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy or Ubuntu 20.04 Focal using the command terminal for testing HTTP and REST APIs.

=> ↺ Ubuntu Handbook ☛ Fix External Disk ‘Read-only’ Issue in Ubuntu 22.04 dual-boot with Windows

• I have an external disk mounted in my Ubuntu 22.04 with read and write permission. It however ran into issue recently.

Games

=> ↺ Godot Engine ☛ Dev snapshot: Godot 4.1 dev 2

• We’re well into the development phase for Godot 4.1, with a little less than a month left before we move to beta. So here’s a second dev snapshot to test recent changes!

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ ASUS ROG Ally releases in June priced competitively to the Steam Deck

• ASUS has today formally revealed all about their handheld gaming PC, the ROG Ally and it’s releasing in June with a pretty competitive price. It runs Windows 11, so for the GamingOnLinux followers, it may not exactly be what you’re after. However, with handheld PC gaming rising, especially with the Linux powered Steam Deck, it’s good to keep an eye on the competition right?

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Explosive exploration-mining game BLASTRONAUT gets a watery upgrade

• BLASTRONAUT is a bit of an indie gem, a mining exploration game about blowing up the world beneath you to collect resources. The latest update is a bit wet.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ Get a free copy of Hotshot Racing during the Fanatical May Madness Sale

• Game store Fanatical are offering up a free copy of Hotshot Racing if you join their newsletter, during their big May Madness Sale.

=> ↺ GamingOnLinux ☛ We have to wait a bit longer for Hollow Knight: Silksong

• Hollow Knight is probably one of the most popular 2D metroidvania action-adventures available on PC and the follow-up, Hollow Knight: Silksong, is looking like it’s going to take a while longer to release.

Desktop Environments/WMs

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Catanzaro: GNOME Core Apps Update [LWN.net]

• Michael Catanzaro has posted an update on the state of the GNOME core apps collection and the process used to make changes to it.

Distributions and Operating Systems

Fedora Family / IBM

=> ↺ Weekly status of Packit Team: Packit May 2023

• Week 18 (May 4th – May 9th) # We have experienced issues with automatic Bodhi updates that we are investigating. In case you miss a Bodhi update, you can retrigger the job via /packit create-update comment in a dist-git pull request. Besides that, during this short week (another Czech Republic public holiday) we didn’t manage to implement any significant new features.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Virtualization ☛ Ubuntu 23.04 ‘Lunar Lobster’ Released

• On April 20, 2023, Canonical, the folks behind Ubuntu, released version 23.04 of their widely popular Linux distribution, Ubuntu.

• Going through the release notes and a press release, a few things caught my eye in this release. GNOME, its desktop GUI, has been updated to include the latest features in its GNOME 44, Ubuntu has made improvements to its ability to run games using Steam, and, of course, Ubuntu has updated many other applications, toolchains and subsystems in this release. The two things that really caught my attention were the new desktop installer and its support for Azure Active Directory. In this article I will be focusing on these two features.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ CNX Software ☛ AMD Versal AI Edge SoC FPGA system-on-module targets ADAS, robotics, medical imaging, and other AI applications

• The high-speed transceiver blocks can be used for up to 40Gbps multi-rate Ethernet, PCIe Gen4, native MIPI support for vision sensors, and more. The iW-Rainbow-G57M system-on-module is supported by the usual Petalinux BSP and Vivado Design Suite 2022.2. iWave Systems is supposed to have a Versal AI Edge evaluation kit to get started, but they are hiding it well, and I could not find any details on their website.

• AMD Versal AI Edge combines scalar engines (Arm Cortex-A72 applications processor and Arm Cortex-R5 for real-time processing and control) to compute complex algorithms while enabling high levels of safety and security, and AMD claims over 4 times the AI performance/watt against Jetson AGX Xavier (in MAX N-Mode) for real-time systems in automated driving, predictive factory & healthcare systems, multi-mission payloads in aerospace & defense, and other applications.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Pixel 7A Review: We’re Running Out of Reasons to Splurge on a ‘Pro’ Phone

• Google’s latest entry-level phone, which costs $500, is just as good as devices nearly double its price.

=> ↺ SlashGear ☛ Android Vs. iPhone: Which Is Better For Your Business?

=> ↺ SlashGear ☛ How To Know If Someone Is Tracking Your Android Phone: 7 Signs To Look Out For

=> ↺ HowTo Geek ☛ Your Chromebook Can Stream Apps From Your Android Phone

=> ↺ 9 to 5 Toys ☛ Today’s Android game and app deals: Wreckfest, Achikaps, El Hijo, QR Code Scanner Pro, more

=> ↺ Phone Arena ☛ Android users soon can check-in for a flight via RCS, store their Boarding Pass in Google Wallet – PhoneArena

=> ↺ Android Police ☛ Android 14′s official statue looks like it’s this space-bound bugdroid

=> ↺ 9to5Google ☛ Android 14 Beta now available on OEM devices, how to install

=> ↺ PC Mag ☛ 4 Android 14 Features We’re Excited to Try | PCMag

=> ↺ Nokia Power User ☛ Nokia G11 receiving Android 13 update now – Nokiapoweruser

=> ↺ XDA ☛ The 5 best developer features announced at Google I/O 2023

• From the French railway travel app SNCF Connect to the new Ubuntu Linux installer, Flutter is truly everywhere these days.

=> ↺ TechCrunch ☛ With over 1M published apps, Google’s Flutter expands its support for web apps and WebAssembly

• Flutter, Google’s open-source multi-platform application framework, has been seeing quite a bit of momentum lately, with both Google’s internal teams betting on it for projects like the new Play Console App, the Google Cloud mobile app and Android’s Nearby Share app for Windows using it, as well as developers at Canonical (for the new Ubuntu installer), France’s SNCF and others using it for their projects. At Google I/O today, the team is announcing a number of new features for the project, which hit its 3.0 milestone at last year’s I/O and is now launching version 3.10.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ Silicon Angle ☛ The future of open source in the age of AI: Analysts break down Open Source Summit insights [Ed: LF panels; proprietary software users and pushers commenting on "Open Source"; LF then pays the publisher for these puff pieces]

• Open-source computing is facing an inflection point when it comes to enterprise use cases. The recent surge in artificial intelligence presents a challenge to open source and could potentially topple generations of open-source work. “No one wants to bet against open source,” said industry analyst John Furrier (pictured, left).

=> ↺ Medevel ☛ 12 Open Source free Forum Solutions For Communities and Customer Engagements

• Forums are excellent online discussion platforms where users can share their insights, concepts, and viewpoints on a variety of topics. They are commonly used for community building, customer support, and knowledge sharing.

Leftovers

Science

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Scientists Discovered Microbes Feasting on Plastic in the Arctic. It Could Help Fight Pollution

• The discovery of microbes in the Arctic and the alps that consume plastic at low temperatures could be a recycling breakthrough.

Hardware

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Chinese Chip Industry to Focus on Perfecting Mature Nodes: Report

• It is more important to have competitive mature nodes than rush to sub-10nm technologies, Chinese chip specialists believe.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

=> ↺ uni Michigan ☛ Michigan doctors hesitant to authorize medical cannabis use

• Although cannabis is legal in Michigan, doctors in the state are hesitant to authorize their patients to use the drug, according to a study based on a survey of university-affiliated physicians.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ What an Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill Could Mean for You [Ed: FDA is just industry insiders disguised as regulators, more so after the pandemic started and many resigned]

• F.D.A. advisers voted that the benefits of a nonprescription pill outweigh the risks. If the agency decides to move on the recommendation, the progestin-only contraceptive could be in stores within a few months.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Latvia’s ban on gambling ads only a formality, say authorities

• Although gambling advertising is prohibited in Latvia, it appears on both Internet portals and television channels. Experts surveyed by Latvian Radio on May 10 acknowledged that the gambling advertising ban is not currently enforced.

Proprietary

=> ↺ Tom’s Hardware ☛ Xbox Series S Suffers from VRAM Limitations, Just Like 8GB GPUS

• The Xbox Series S suffers from memory limitations that cause Borderlands 3 to crash, according to Reddit thread.

Pseudo-Open Source

Openwashing

=> ↺ Peta Pixel ☛ [Openwashing] Meta Unveils Open-Source Multimodal Generative AI System

• Meta has announced a new generative AI model called “ImageBind” that links together six different modalities; images, text, audio, depth, thermal, and IMU.

Security

=> ↺ Scoop News Group ☛ Hackers attempt to extort Dragos and its executives in suspected ransomware attempt

• The industrial cyber company revealed details of the incident that began on Monday with an employee’s compromised personal email.

=> ↺ PR Newswire ☛ OpenSSF Welcomes New Members, Veteran Cybersecurity Expert as General Manager, and New Funding

• The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), a cross-industry organization hosted at the Linux Foundation that brings together the world’s most important software supply chain security initiatives, welcomes four new members from leading technology firms. New OpenSSF general members include Hitachi, Lockheed Martin, Salesforce, and SAP. Technical communities continue to prioritize investment in open source security and recognize the role of supporting and sustaining open source communities in maintaining a healthy, vibrant, and secure open source ecosystem.

=> ↺ LWN ☛ Security updates for Thursday [LWN.net]

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (firefox-esr and nvidia-graphics-drivers-legacy-390xx), Fedora (firefox, java-11-openjdk, LibRaw, moodle, python-django3, and vtk), Slackware (mozilla), SUSE (buildah, cloud-init, container-suseconnect, firefox, golang-github-prometheus-prometheus, kernel, and ntp), and Ubuntu (heat, linux-azure-fde-5.15, linux-raspi, linux-oem-5.17, linux-oem-6.0, linux-raspi, linux-raspi-5.4, linux-raspi2, neutron, openvswitch, and sqlparse).

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ A harbinger of bad things to come?

• DataBreaches emailed an inquiry to ResultsCX asking for their response to the claimed attack. No reply was immediately available, so this is unconfirmed at this point. This post will be updated when more information becomes available.

=> ↺ Some Cornwall Community Hospital services still impacted by cyber incident

• It’s been a month since a cyber incident brought down the Cornwall Community Hospital’s computer systems.

• In response to a requested update, CCH posted one Thursday on its website and social-media channels, indicating many of its services are now back to expected activity volumes and it’s resumed its standard approach to victim care. The statement specifically mentions resumption of typical activities in the emergency, inpatient, and surgical departments.

• Delays in patient access to some areas, specifically diagnostic imaging (X-Rays, CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds), continue.

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ #StopRansomware: Malicious Actors Exploit CVE-2023-27350 in PaperCut MF and NG

=> ↺ Bleeping Computer ☛ Brightly warns of SchoolDude data breach exposing credentials

• U.S. tech company and Siemens subsidiary Brightly Software is notifying customers that their personal information and credentials were stolen by attackers who gained access to the database of its SchoolDude online platform.

• SchoolDude is a cloud-based platform for managing work orders used by over 7,000 colleges, universities, and K-12 schools from school districts of up to 600,000 students.

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Methodist Family Health discloses breach potentially involving sensitive info on children

• Whether the same individual really was responsible for either attack or both attacks is unknown to DataBreaches. But at some point, the MFH listing was removed from Avos Locker’s site. Whether it was removed because MFH paid ransom or whether it was removed because Avos Locker regretted what the affiliate had done and removed it is unknown to DataBreaches.

=> ↺ InfoSecurity Magazine ☛ Ransomware Encryption Rates Reach New Heights

=> ↺ Data Breaches ☛ Uintah Basin Healthcare notifies patients of data breach discovered in November

• Uintah Basin Healthcare (“UBH”) in Utah became aware of unusual activity in their network on November 7, 2022. They are first notifying patients who received care at UBH between March 2012 and November 2022 and whose information may have been accessed or acquired.

=> ↺ Gaston College still investigating February cyberattack; personal information stolen still being determined

• Gaston College is a victim of a ransomware attack that prompted the school to take critical systems offline for caution.

• A college spokesperson said the it discovered the security issue Feb. 22.

• The school provided alternative links for students and staff, so campus operations and classes could continue.

=> ↺ The Register UK ☛ Japan’s ubiquitous convenience stores now serving up privacy breaches

• Japan’s minister for digital transformation and digital reform, Taro Kono, has apologized after a government app breached citizens’ privacy.

• The app is called the “Certificate Issuing Server” and, as explained by the municipal government of Kodaira City, allows residents to print documents such as certificates that prove they’ve paid taxes.

=> ↺ CNN ☛ Half of North Korean missile program funded by cyberattacks and crypto theft, White House says

• About half of North Korea’s missile program has been funded by cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft, a White House official said Tuesday.

• A sweeping US federal government effort is ongoing to understand how “a country like [North Korea] is so darn creative in this space,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said at an event hosted by the nonprofit Special Competitive Studies Project.

• US intelligence agencies are working to identify North Korean operatives and the Treasury is tracing stolen cryptocurrency, Neuberger said, adding that the Biden administration is “putting a lot of time and thought” into the problem.

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Reason ☛ ‘Cash Is Independence’: Ron DeSantis Slams the Government’s Plan for Centrally-Controlled Digital Money

• “If you don’t trust central authority, then you should see this immediately as something that is very problematic,” says the Florida governor.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The Companies Trying to Make Live Shopping a Thing in the U.S.

• The market for selling goods in real time online is relatively small, but a number of start-ups and big tech names are betting American consumers will catch on.

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Pyhäselkä and Kylmäkoski prisons to be converted into “smart prisons” in Finland [Ed: Companies shilling their disservices, at taxpayers’ expense, as “smart”]

=> ↺ Helsinki Times ☛ Pyhäselkä and Kylmäkoski prisons to be converted into “smart prisons” in Finland [Ed: Companies shilling their disservices, at taxpayers’ expense, as “smart”]

• Pyhäselkä and Kylmäkoski prisons in Finland are set to become “smart” prisons, following the implementation of Finland’s first smart prison at Hämeenlinna Women’s Prison in 2021. The aim is to make all closed prisons in Finland “smart” prisons. The smart prison project began in 2018, with significant changes made to digital services for criminal justice clients. These included personal cell terminals and the Doris system at Hämeenlinna Women’s Prison.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Alexandria hospital custodian accused of secretly recording female employees in locker room

• Corey Ray Johns, 34, is accused of recording the women as they changed out of their scrubs in the locker room.

=> ↺ EDRI ☛ Do you trust the police? CJEU Advocate General accepts access to phones for any type of crime

• In its opinion on the Bezirkshauptmannschaft Landeck case, the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice is failing to suggest adequate safeguards for police access to our smartphones.

Defence/Aggression

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Egypt starts mediating an end to Israel-Gaza strikes, rockets

• Israel hit Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza for a second day on Wednesday and Palestinian militants launched hundreds of rockets across the border, setting off sirens as far away as Tel Aviv, while Egypt began efforts to mediate an end to the fighting.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Ongoing fighting between Israelis and Palestinians despite Egyptian brokered ceasefire

• Palestinian militants fired hundreds of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel on Wednesday, while Israel pressed ahead with a series of airstrikes that have killed 21 Palestinians, including three senior militants and at least 10 civilians.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Militants in Gaza Fire Hundreds of Rockets Into Israel, Amid Airstrikes

• About 400 rockets were fired toward Israel as the Israeli Air Force struck against what it described as rocket-launching squads and sites belonging to the Islamic Jihad militant group.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ ‘Glorifying violence’: Serbian protesters blame mass shootings on shock reality TV shows

• A massive protest in Belgrade on Monday expressed anger at the role of reality TV programmes in creating a culture of violence seen as a factor in the two mass shootings that plunged Serbia into mourning last week.

=> ↺ The Straits Times ☛ Asean unity needed to achieve significant progress in peace plan for Myanmar, says Jokowi

• The Indonesian leader stressed that the crisis will not hinder efforts in community building in Asean.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ THE RINGLEADER’S LAST(?) CIRCUS: Observations from inside the Proud Boys Seditious Conspiracy Trial

• A reflection on the Proud Boys trial including a few observations on the deluded leader who led a seditious conspiracy.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Rare cooperation: Texas GOPs cast votes for stricter gun laws

• Republican representatives are helping advance a bill in the Texas House that proposes raising the purchase age for AR-style rifles. Rep. Sam Harless says “every kid has a right to go to school and feel safe.”

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Iraq Recovers 6,000 Antiquities From Britain

• “the return of these antiquities from the United Kingdom is the second-largest recovery of antiquities in the history of Iraq”

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Germany: Politically Motivated Crimes Increased by 7pct in 2022

• German police recorded 1,420 crimes against persons seeking protection in 2022. Attacks on asylum shelters rose to 120 cases.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Guardsman Kills 5 People at Tunisia Synagogue

• “The synagogue and its possessions were cordoned off and all those inside and outside were secured,” the Interior Ministry said.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Migrant situation on Latvia-Belarus border still tense

• The overall situation on the border of Latvia-Belarus is tense throughout the year, Deputy Chief of State Border Guard Ivars Ruskulis told the Saeima Defense, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee on Wednesday, May 10.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ Latvian navy runs drills for search and rescue operations

• May 10 sees the start of international exercise “Dynamic Mercy 2023″ organized by the NATO Naval Command in the Baltic Sea – in the Latvian area of ​​responsibility – to improve cooperation in search and rescue operations.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Dutch suspect in Natalee Holloway disappearance will be sent from Peru to US to face fraud charges

• The government of Peru has issued an executive order allowing the extradition to the United States of the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American Natalee Holloway in the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba. The Peruvian Embassy in Washington told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the order allows for the extradition of Dutchman Joran van der Sloot to be prosecuted on extortion and wire fraud charges. Van der Sloot is serving 28 years in prison in Peru for his conviction in the killing of 21-year-old Peruvian student Stephany Flores after meeting her in a Lima casino in 2010.

Environment

Energy/Transportation

=> ↺ H2 View ☛ Scottish Enterprise reports highlight hydrogen demand

• A suite of new reports published today by Scottish Enterprise reveals increasing potential demand for hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuel in Scotland.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Consumer ombudsman brings case against utilities

• Electricity prices have been in the news over the winter, and now consumer watchdogs are taking action.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ VR railways to sell off 25 stations

• The state-owned VR will divest 25 of its passenger stations including those in Hämeenlinna, Riihimäki and Lahti.

Wildlife/Nature

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Meet Peru’s unsung hero of the Pómac Forest

• Reviving a forest is a community affair. But collective efforts often begin with one person. In Peru’s Pómac Forest, that’s Carlos Alberto Llauce Baldera.

Finance

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ The Quad should commit to a biomanufacturing hub in India

• A biological revolution is underway in global manufacturing. Products produced from genetic engineering and biomanufacturing techniques are replacing many chemical, industrial and farm-based products.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ A calm beneath the fear of debt default

• As leaders in Washington debate lifting borrowing limits and spending cuts, the outcome may be a renewal of political consensus.

=> ↺ Latvia ☛ March foreign trade figures dropped after steady growth

• Provisional data of the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) published on May 10 show that in March 2023 the foreign trade turnover of Latvia amounted to EUR 3.96 billion, which at current prices was 4.6 % less than a year ago, of which the exports value of goods was 2.1 % lower, but imports value of goods – 6.6 % lower.

=> ↺ Federal News Network ☛ Amazon to receive $1 billion in tax breaks in eastern Oregon for new data centers

• Officials in a rural county in northeastern Oregon have voted to give tax breaks worth an estimated $1 billion to Amazon for five more data centers there. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Wednesday’s unanimous vote by Port of Morrow’s five commissioners was the last step in securing the enterprise zone incentives. Local officials hope the incentives will bring $12 billion in new Amazon spending in their county, about 160 miles up the Columbia River from Portland. Amazon already has four giant data centers in Morrow County and several hundred local jobs tied to its operations. But its growth has produced contentious debate over how the Seattle company secured its incentives and an ongoing probe over possible self-dealing among those awarding its tax breaks.

=> ↺ teleSUR ☛ Republicans, Democrats in Fight as Debt Default Deadline Looms

• Since 2000, politicians from both parties have “made a habit” of borrowing money to finance wars.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Student loan burden triples in a decade

• The average student loan debt for graduate students is now 22,600 euros.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Finnish Customs suspects €2m cigarette import tax fraud

• Customs says that a large number of cigarettes were secreted in commercial freight consignments from Estonia and Latvia for distribution in Finland.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Phoenix Dismantles a Homeless Encampment, One Block at a Time

• The city on Wednesday began moving hundreds of people out of “the Zone,” spread over several blocks downtown, but some homeless people worry about where they will go.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ How Past Debt Limit Crises Shaped Biden’s No-Negotiation Stance

• Battles in 2011 and 2013 taught President Biden not to lean on a House speaker who has little room to negotiate and to keep debt ceiling talks separate from the budget.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Biden Woos Republican Moderates in Debt Ceiling Standoff

• A day after an unproductive meeting on the debt limit with Speaker McCarthy, the president assailed “extreme” Republicans who he said had “taken control of the House.”

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Most organised crime in Finland undetected, police college says

• The country is home to around 100 known criminal gangs with some 1,000 members, reports Finnish News Agency STT.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Shareholder Arrested After Ranting at Warren Buffet for His Contributions to ‘Woke Culture’ [Ed: They arrest the people who upset the oligarchs; New York Times ☛ the oligarchs can do anything they want]

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Shareholder Arrested After Ranting at Warren Buffet for His Contributions to ‘Woke Culture’ [Ed: They arrest the people who upset the oligarchs; New York Times ☛ the oligarchs can do anything they want]

• A Berkshire Hathaway shareholder was arrested at ‘Woodstock for Capitalists’ after going on a rant about Jeffrey Epstein and Critical Race Theory.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Judge Affirms Jack Dorsey’s Right To Make Objectively ‘Terrible’ Business Decisions

• The mobile payment company Block was within its rights to buy Jay-Z’s music streaming service Tidal, even if the deal sucked, a Delaware judge ruled Tuesday.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

=> ↺ Robert Reich ☛ The First Step to Fixing the Electoral CollegeShould someone…

• Should someone else’s vote count more than yours?

• For 80% of Americans, that’s exactly what’s happening. Their vote for president isn’t nearly as valuable as the vote of someone in a so-called “swing state.” Why?

• Most of us live in states that have become so predictably Democratic or Republican that we’re taken for granted by candidates. Presidential elections now turn on the dwindling number of swing states that could go either way, which gives voters in those states huge leverage.

• The 2020 election came down to just over 40,000 votes spread across just three swing states.

• 2016 came down to fewer than 80,000 votes also across three states.

• In those elections, the national popular vote wasn’t that close. In fact, in the last five elections, the winners of the popular vote beat their opponents by an average of 5 million votes.

• The current state-by-state, electoral college system of electing presidents is creating ever-closer contests in an ever-smaller number of closely divided states for elections that aren’t really that close.

• Not only that, but these razor-thin swing state margins can invite post-election recounts, audits, and lawsuits — even attempted coups. A losing candidate might be able to overturn 40,000  votes with these techniques. Overturning 5 million votes would be nearly impossible.

• The current system presents a growing threat to the peaceful transition of power.

=> ↺ uni Michigan ☛ U-M offers new misconduct resources, education for faculty, staff

• U-M is offering new prevention education, resources and resolution options for faculty and staff as it builds on its existing foundation for addressing campus sexual and gender-based misconduct.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ Experts react: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest and implications for Pakistan

• On March 9, 2023, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan was arrested over corruption charges. We asked experts to react to this decision.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Pakistan calls in army to end deadly protests over detention of ex-PM Imran Khan

• Pakistan’s government called in the army on Wednesday to help end deadly unrest in the wake of the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan, warning protesters against any further attacks on state installations.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Imran Khan Arrest: Protesters Attack Pakistan’s Military

• Regarded historically as a moderating force in the country’s politics, the generals’ reputation has withered under attacks from the ousted prime minister, Imran Khan.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Atlanta Prosecutors Drop Effort to Remove Defense Lawyer in Trump Inquiry

• Prosecutors said on Wednesday that their concerns about a lawyer representing a group of fake electors for Donald J. Trump had been resolved.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ House Republican Report Finds No Evidence of Wrongdoing by President Biden

• After months of investigation and many public accusations of corruption against Mr. Biden and his family, the first report of the premier House G.O.P. inquiry showed no proof of such misconduct.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ When Their Idea of Liberty Is Your Idea of Death

• The 2024 election shows every sign of becoming a partisan battle to claim ownership of the concept of freedom.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ The Panic Over Joe Biden’s Age Is Manufactured

• The breathless headlines about the president’s age are fueled, at least in part, by political manipulation and media complicity.

=> ↺ YLE ☛ Sanna Marin and Markus Räikkönen to divorce

• The Prime Minister said after April’s election she would not seek re-election as SDP leader.

=> ↺ Atlantic Council ☛ After a failed coalition effort, where is the Iranian opposition headed?

• Cracks within the Iranian opposition coalition were visible from the outset, with much of the division revolving around former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi’s persona.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ How Carroll v. Trump revealed #MeToo era’s impact

• The verdict against Donald Trump could go beyond implications for the former president, potentially signaling a greater willingness to believe women’s stories of assault.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Trump jokes about sexual assault findings, repeats 2020 election falsehoods

• An unrepentant Donald Trump held firm to past grievances at the first televised town hall of the 2024 US presidential election on Wednesday, making clear from the moment he took the stage that he has little intention of mounting a more disciplined campaign for his third White House bid.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Fact-Checking Trump on CNN’s Town Hall

• Former President Donald J. Trump misleadingly and wrongly described his own record, the events of Jan. 6, 2021, his handling of classified documents, foreign policy and the economy.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ US Republican George Santos pleads not guilty to fraud, theft charges

• U.S. Rep. George Santos, the New York Republican infamous for fabricating his life story, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he duped donors, stole from his campaign and lied to Congress about being a millionaire, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits he didn’t deserve.

=> ↺ TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ George Santos pleads not guilty to federal indictment and says he won’t resign

• Afterward, he said he wouldn’t drop his reelection bid and defied calls to resign.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Arrested for fraud: George Santos indicted on 13 charges

• U.S. Rep. George Santos has been arrested on federal criminal charges. The indictment says the New York Republican induced supporters to donate to a company under the false pretense the money would be used to support his campaign.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Kevin McCarthy Is Not Calling on George Santos to Resign

• Speaker Kevin McCarthy has signaled that the New York congressman will be allowed to continue to serve even after being indicted on several federal charges.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Feds Charge the Deciding Vote That Made Kevin McCarthy Speaker

• With the report that DOJ has filed still-undisclosed charges, Speaker McCarthy will henceforward be owned not just by Marjorie Taylor Greene, but also by whatever alleged crimes imposter Congressman George Santos has committed.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ George Santos Is Charged With Fraud and Lying in 13-Count Indictment

• The first-term congressman pleaded not guilty to charges that included accusations of fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ George Santos Pushed Campaign Finance Abuse Past the Usual Line

• So many schemes are technically legal or occur in a gray area, but the one he is accused of running was flagrant.

=> ↺ Marcy Wheeler ☛ Some of George Santos’ Alleged Crimes Resemble Trump’s Suspected Crimes

• Five of the charges against George Santos accuse him of telling political donors he was raising money for his campaign when in fact he allegedly pocketed the money. That’s not much different than the theory behind the financial investigation of Trump.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Alex Jones Owes Her Millions of Dollars. She Has to Crowdfund Her Cancer Treatment on GoFundMe.

• After winning an enormous judgment against Jones and Infowars, Sandy Hook plaintiff Erica Lafferty is still fighting for her survival.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Reason ☛ Libel Suit Against Rep. Maxine Waters Can Go Forward

• From Collins v. Waters, decided today by the California Court of Appeal, in an opinion by Justice John Wiley, joined by Justices Grimes and Viramontes: In 2020, challenger Joe E. Collins III and incumbent Maxine Waters competed for a seat in Congress. During the campaign, Waters accused Collins of a dishonorable discharge from the Navy.…

=> ↺ NYPost ☛ Rashida Tlaib hosts anti-Israel event at the Capitol despite Kevin McCarthy’s move to block it

• The event, titled, “Nakba 75 & the Palestinian People,” was a standing-room only affair, and it appeared that Tlaib and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) were the only lawmakers present. Tlaib did not take questions from reporters as she entered the hearing room.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong newspaper suspends satirical comic strip after 40 years, following gov’t complaints

• Hong Kong’s most prominent political cartoonist has had his comic strip suspended after a satirical post was criticised by government bodies, the artist and a source with direct knowledge of the matter said Wednesday.

=> ↺ Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong mulls wider ban on insults to regional flag, making online desecration illegal

• The Hong Kong government has outlined legislative amendments for enhancing the protection of the regional flag and regional emblem by outlawing desecrating behaviour on the internet.

=> ↺ Internet Freedom Foundation ☛ Mayday Alert: 14 mobile apps banned, no blocking order released. #WhatTheBlock

• In May 2023, 14 mobile apps that provided end-to-end encrypted and peer-to-peer messaging services were reportedly banned. Reasoned blocking orders and a pre-decisional hearing were reportedly not provided to these apps. IFF filed a series of RTI applications to seek more information.

Civil Rights/Policing

=> ↺ Reason ☛ The End of Title 42 Expulsions of Migrants—and What Comes Next

• Title 42 expulsions caused great harm for very little benefit. Biden plans to replace them with a combination of policies, some good and some very bad.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Title 42 ends this week. What does that mean for migrants?

• Title 42, a Trump-era policy restricting asylum during the pandemic, is ending this week. The Biden administration is preparing for an expected increase in immigration, while critics are concerned that a quick processing procedure won’t be fair.

=> ↺ The Strategist ☛ Thailand’s choice

• Since Thailand’s military coup in 2014, the country has been plagued by human-rights violations and abuse of power, severely damaging its international reputation and economic prospects.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ French star Adele Haenel quits cinema over ’sexual abuse’ in industry

• French actor Adele Haenel, who has for years spoken out against sexual abuse in the film industry, announced she was giving up movie acting over the industry’s “complacency”.

=> ↺ Vice Media Group ☛ Amazon Accused Anime Figurines of Promoting ‘Child Exploitation’

• The figures—characters from manga and anime—are fully clothed and not sexualized, but Amazon thinks they “depict children or characters resembling children in a sexually suggestive manner”

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Striking Writers Are Worried About A.I. Viewers Should Be, Too.

• A.I. screenwriting, a point of contention in the Writers Guild strike, may not yet be ready for prime time. But streaming algorithms and derivative programming have prepared the way for it.

=> ↺ New York Times ☛ Adams Weakens Right-to-Shelter Rules, Anticipating Migrant Surge

• Saying New York City had “reached our limit,” the Adams administration said it would loosen regulations that have protected homeless families seeking shelter.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ The Existential Crisis at the Heart of the Hollywood Writers’ Strike

• Michael Schulman discusses how screenwriting has changed since the boom of prestige TV, and why writers see the current work stoppage as a necessary attempt to save their profession.

=> ↺ New Yorker ☛ The System That Failed Jordan Neely

• What a subway killing reveals about New York City’s revolving-door approach to mental illness and homelessness.

=> ↺ CS Monitor ☛ Unveiled and unbowed: Iranian women resist hijab law

• More women are choosing not to wear the mandatory hijab publicly in Iran. Such open defiance of the law follows months of protests over Mahsa Amini, a woman who died in the custody of the country’s morality police for wearing her hijab too loosely.

=> ↺ France24 ☛ Germany’s Scholz approves tougher measures to tackle migration

• Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the heads of Germany’s 16 states on Wednesday agreed on new measures to tackle soaring migration after crunch talks.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

=> ↺ Major Hayden ☛ Major Hayden: My beef with mailing lists

• My issues with open source mailing lists aren’t with the technology,

• but with unorganized pattern of the discourse itself. 🖇️

Monopolies

Trademarks

=> ↺ TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Does “MAKE YOUR PASSION YOUR PAYCHECK” Function as a Source Indicator for T-Shirts?

• The USPTO refused to register the proposed mark MAKE YOUR PASSION YOUR PAYCHECK for “Hats; T-shirts; Hoodies; Knit face masks being headwear” on the ground that the phrase is an expression commonly used by multiple sources and therefore is not perceived as a source indicator. Applicant argued that the Office’s evidence – some 14 third-party uses of the phrase and its variants – was insufficient to show how the mark is perceived by the general public. How do you think this came out? In re GFactor Enterprises, LLC d/b/a Gfactor Films, Serial No. 90976324 (May 5, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jonathan Hudis).

Copyrights

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ MTV News Shuttered by Paramount After a 36-Year Run

• Paramount has shuttered MTV News after a 36-year run amid broader cost-cutting as the company announces laying off approximately 25% of its staff. After a 36-year run, MTV News is shutting down as Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and Showtime, announced that it’s cutting around 25 percent of its staff.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ NewJeans Becomes Fastest Kpop Act to Hit 1 Billion Spotify Streams

• NewJeans has broken a Guinness World Record to become the fastest Kpop act to reach one billion streams on Spotify. Guinness World Records confirmed the record on March 8, 2023. The group featuring Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein reached one billion streams on Spotify in 219 days—faster than any other Kpop act.

=> ↺ Digital Music News ☛ 5 Things From the Internet That Will Help You Keep Going as an Indie Musician

• You write the song. You produce and mix (and maybe master) the track. You make the cover art. You distribute the song. You promote the song. And no one listens. If this sounds like you, it can be hard to keep going as an indie musician. It can be very discouraging.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ Duck Pond + Rhubarb Saga Continues 2023-05-11 (Fairbanks, AK, USA)

• I caught this nice scenery while out for my lunch-break walk, near the Tanana River.

=> ↺ The logic of accumulation

• The other day I did a podcast episode on elephants in my games. Or on the ideas I have for elephants even though I don’t use them in my games. I was thinking of war elephants and then I remembered the ivory, and how elephants are being exterminated for their ivory, and I started wondering about my intentions.

=> ↺ In the eyes of modernization theorists…

• In the eyes of modernization theorists, the past tends to harden into the form of an ‘almost automatic reaction,’ a one-off break will not suffice: what is needed is a continual breaking from it. In such acts of break or rupture, cultural goods must be permanently filtered out of the present, discarded, and declared irrelevant. This repeated dropping of ballast takes place through a performative “relegation to the past” of that which, up to that point, had continued to exert a claim on the present and so was still considered relevant. A particularly striking rhetorical strategy used to produce such hiatus-experiences within the continuum of time is the repeated declaration of the “death” of every possible cultural institution or value.

=> ↺ Mountains

• So this was supposed to be a monte carlo Sierpinski triangle generator, but I got distracted somewhere along the way, and the code instead generates somewhat randomly placed mountains. The angle is off from what a Sierpinski triangle needs, and there’s some caveman overlap prevention. Probably tolerable if you need “some mountains” for an role playing game map, or something like that?

Politics

=> ↺ The Art that Broke the Mold

• I ended up really liking both seasons of Anita’s feminist video game show that she did with McIntosh. I was watching the episodes as they were released and they helped me get back into gaming with her encouragement to both enjoy and criticize media, which helped me to enjoy the good parts of these these disturbing games.

• I was surprised that I liked them as much since I had thought (I wasn’t a crowdfunding backer); her first show (about tropes generally, not just games) was basic and overly 101 and “doesn’t everyone know this?” (Gamergate showed how very, very wrong I was about that, and now I think that show was good since those “101” basic points was not was universally agreed-upon and known as I believed.)

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