● 04.15.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 15/04/2023: This Week in KDE and More

Posted in News Roundup at 12:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Instructionals/Technical

• If you’re already a Linux user and maybe even a system admin for single systems, this article is for you.

Games

• SimCity 2000 on OpenBSD, but should work on most any BSD.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

• This week a lot of bugs and other issues got fixed, including a major overhaul of KWin’s multi-GPU infrastructure for Intel and AMD GPUs in Plasma 6 to make it “not suck” anymore! Big thanks to Xaver Hugl for this impactful work.

• And here’s a sampling of other cool work…

Distributions and Operating Systems

Fedora Family / IBM

• RPMs of PHP version 8.2.5 are available in remi-modular repository for Fedora ≥ 36 and Enterprise Linux ≥ 8 (RHEL, Alma, CentOS, Rocky…) and in remi-php82 repository for EL 7.

• On her blog, Máirín Duffy writes about using open-source software to run a virtual conference. The Fedora design team recently ran the first Creative Freedom Summit as a virtual conference for FOSS creative tools.

Devices/Embedded

• The Challenger RP2040 UWB board features a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller combined with a DWM300 UWB (Ultra-Wide Band) module in the Adafruit Feather form factor and is designed for indoor positioning and ranging applications with an up to 10-centimeter accuracy, and data transfers up to 10 Mbps. The first Challenger RP2040 board was introduced in 2021 with an ESP8285 WiFi chip, iLabs (Invector Labs) shortly followed up with the Challenger RP2040 LoRa with an RFM95W LoRa module, and they also

• The Linux Foundation has just announced the full schedule for the Embedded Open Source Summit, which will take place on June 27-30, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic, as well as virtually starting on June 26.

• Through our Fairmined gold credits pilot with Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) we celebrate multiple wins alongside contributing to the social and environmental progress of the Fairmined certified mining cooperative La Gabriela in Colombia.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• Logseq is an exceptional free and open-source knowledge management and collaboration platform that prioritizes privacy, longevity, and user control. It offers robust tools for managing knowledge, collaborating, annotating PDFs, and task management, with the ability to handle multiple file formats, including Markdown and Org-mode. Logseq also provides

• Lenstube is a video-sharing social media platform that operates on a fully decentralized, open-source infrastructure, which means that it is built with the idea of transparency and user autonomy in mind. The platform is built using the Lens Protocol, which is specifically designed to provide users with

Programming/Development

• Fusion is a game-changing programming language designed to revolutionize the way developers create software. Combining the best features of existing languages, Fusion offers unparalleled performance, flexibility, and ease of use.

Leftovers

• Where is the line between art and advertising? A New Hampshire bakery’s mural has inspired a debate among the residents of Conway about private property and public art.

• On the face of it the shuffle of corporations from one state to another looks like a convenient consolidation. But this is Elmo’s work and surely problematic.

Science

• Astronomers recently used artificial intelligence to fine-tune the first-ever image of a black hole, captured in 2019 by the Event Horizon Telescope.

• The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted galaxies in the early universe that are way more massive than expected. What gives?

Education

• U.S. schools have billions in federal pandemic funding to spend. But how much are they putting toward specific academic needs, such as boosting math skills?

• Billionaire Ken Griffin is also a major funder of Ron DeSantis’ education plan, which has paved the way for school book bans.

• The pioneer of the unionizing effort is Grinnell College, a tiny, boutique four-year liberal arts college hidden in the cornfields of Iowa with just 1,748 students.

Hardware

• Seagate’s IronWolf Pro 22TB hard drive has finally hit the retail market.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

• The state’s governor signed a new bill requiring social media companies to obtain a photo ID of every new user, to prevent teens from lying on the internet more.

• The findings are part of a long-term study that started in 1983.

• The US Justice Department said Thursday that it will go to the Supreme Court to appeal restrictions imposed on a widely-used abortion pill in the latest round of an intensifying battle over reproductive rights.

• The US Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday announced that it is seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court to defend “the FDA’s scientific judgment” and to “protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care.

• Last week, Matthew Kacsmaryk, a district judge in Amarillo, suspended the FDA approval for the drug.

• A federal appellate court in Texas ruled late Wednesday night that the abortion drug mifepristone is to remain available on a limited basis pending an ongoing legal dispute.

• A federal appeals court has upheld part of a Texas judge’s decision. The Justice Department says it will ask the Supreme Court to weigh in. Here is what’s at stake.

• The justices are poised to consider whether the most common method of ending pregnancies can be sharply curtailed in states where abortion remains legal.

• A federal appeals court has limited the accessibility of the abortion drug mifepristone but ruled it can be used. The decision comes after a Texas judge ruled to completely block the drug, and the case is likely to go to the Supreme Court.

• The prohibition is among the most restrictive in the country, and Florida will no longer be a destination for women from across the Deep South seeking the procedure.

• U.S. lawmakers propose bills to tackle the $200 billion medical debt crisis, with measures including debt relief programs, lower interest rates, and greater transparency on costs of care. Medical debt is a leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S.

Security

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (haproxy and openvswitch), Fedora (bzip3, libyang, mingw-glib2, thunderbird, xorg-x11-server, and xorg-x11-server-Xwayland), and Ubuntu (apport, ghostscript, linux-bluefield, node-thenify, and python-flask-cors).

• They write, in part, “On February 1, 2023, Retina & Vitreous became aware of unusual activity within its network and discovered that there had been unauthorized access to the environment…… On February 15, 2023, the investigation determined that some personal and protected health information may have been acquired without authorization in connection with the incident.”

• It has been well documented that most “web” traffic these days uses TLS, either as traditional HTTPS or the more modern QUIC protocol. So it is always interesting to see what traffic remains as HTTP.

• The web applications and APIs of major car manufacturers, telematics (vehicle tracking and logging technology) vendors, and fleet operators were riddled with security holes, security researchers warn.

• In a detailed report, security researcher Sam Curry laid out vulnerabilities that run the gamut from information theft to account takeover, remote code execution (RCE), and even hijacking physical commands such as starting and stopping the engines of cars. The findings are an alarming indication that in its haste to roll out digital and online features, the automotive industry is doing a sloppy job of securing its online ecosystem.

Privacy/Surveillance

• Strava integrates Spotify into its movement-tracking fitness app, enabling users to easily listen to their favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks while tracking activities.

• The Biden administration Wednesday announced a new proposed rule that would increase privacy protections surrounding reproductive health records. If passed, this rule would prevent the disclosure of health information in order to investigate, sue, or prosecute individuals seeking abortions out of state.

• Gig work has been silently taking over new industries, but not in the way many expected.

• Compared with revelations in 2013 of mass surveillance by the National Security Agency, intelligence reports in a trove of recently leaked documents have resulted in limited outrage abroad.

Defence/Aggression

• Ukrainian law students and young lawyers are reporting for JURIST on developments in and affecting Ukraine. This dispatch is from Yulii Kozub, a law student from Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. He files this from Vienna.

• The Department of Defence (DoD) has made significant strides in cutting personnel costs in line with the underfunding of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), saving around R1.5 billion in the last year. This is according to a report presented to Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCDMV) in March.

• Freedom Front Plus (FF+) leader Pieter Groenewald will pose further questions to Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise on the Cuban connection with the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).

• NATO’s upcoming Vilnius summit has to produce more than a rhetorical expression of support for Ukraine. Allied leaders must leverage the opportunity to drive forward a NATO defense and deterrence posture that underscores NATO’s resolve to support Ukraine and begins the process of fully integrating Ukraine within the transatlantic community, including as a NATO member.

• Flights at Vilnius Airport will be temporarily suspended during the NATO summit in mid July, the Ministry of Transport and Communications said on Friday.

• In the two years since it was launched, the National Action Plan on Women in Peace and Security has, among others, progressed as far as “readiness of women to lead the SA National Defence Force (SANDF)” and increase the number of women deployed in operational theatres.

• Leaks from the US Department of Defense included details about Finland’s military support for Ukraine. Finland has kept details of its shipments confidential, in part for security reasons.

• Federal officials are investigating leaks of classified U.S. intelligence revealing government secrets about the Ukraine war. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the airman’s arrest in connection with the unauthorized removal and transmission of classified information.

• The FBI on Thursday arrested a member of the U.S. Air National Guard over the leaks online of classified U.S. documents that embarrassed Washington with allies around the world.

• Based on the observations of untrained teenagers, it’s fairly clear the guy behind the Thug Shaker leaks is a narcissist ginned up by conspiracy theories who leaked the documents in a room focused on Ukraine. The question is whether he leaked the documents solely for the adulation of teenagers, or whether some spooks IDed him as an easy mark.

• The arrest of Jack Teixeira, a junior Massachusetts airman, in the leaking of classified documents opens a debate about security clearances.

• Proud Boy Zachary Rehl testified before jurors for two long days, insisting that the extremist group did not have a plan in place for Jan. 6.

• Stakes for Baerbock’s inaugural China trip have risen, following Macron’s weak stance on Taiwan.

• China began the exercises last Saturday after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen returned from Los Angeles.

• The cancellation of Victory Day parades in multiple Russian regional capitals is a blow to Putin’s personal prestige that exposes the grim reality behind Moscow’s upbeat propaganda portrayals of the faltering Ukraine invasion, writes Peter Dickinson.

• Considering today’s geopolitics and NATO’s values, offering a membership action plan is the most effective and appropriate response to the challenge Russia presents.

• Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) could be close to using delivery drones for attacks in the Lake Chad Basin. Weaponising and adapting unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a new trend in the group’s operational strategy, and could worsen the conflict.

• Schools that invest strongly in caring for students have less violence, a study finds. Can cities do the same for citizens?

• Iran hanged 75 percent more people in 2022 that the previous years, two rights groups said on Thursday, denouncing an “execution machine” aimed at spreading fear as protests shook the country.

• Human rights groups Iran Human Rights (IHR) and Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) Thursday released a report showing a dramatic increase in the total number of executions in Iran for 2022. The report claims that 582 people were executed in Iran- the highest number of executions since 2015.

• The two countries had found common ground in opposing “perceived U.S. efforts to expand influence in Latin America,” according to an intelligence update based on C.I.A. intercepts.

• Thus far, the West has communicated that the best that it can muster when it comes to vertical escalation is to second-guess and self-deter.

• The president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, after visiting Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies in Latin America, made a ‘stopover’ last week in California, where she met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

• Human Rights Watch Thursday released a report documenting the unlawful detention and torture of Kherson residents by Russian forces, which took place during their occupation of the Ukrainian city between March and November 2022. The report details numerous war crimes committed by Russian forces, including the willful mistreatment, torture, and killing of civilians and captured….

• Northern Ireland had tremendous economic, political, and geographic advantages — but ending the Troubles still proved extremely difficult.

• If successfully developed, solid-fuel technology would be a significant advance, making the North’s missiles easier to move and harder to target.

• A look at what is a solid-fuel missile and whether this is a game changer.

• Sources told Mission Local that the suspect knew Bob Lee, and also worked in the tech industry, contrary to assumptions many people in tech made about his killer.

• The police said the consultant, Nima Momeni, knew Bob Lee, who was fatally stabbed.

• Ukraine is not the main focus of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s three-day trip to Beijing, but the Brazilian leader has made its importance clear. Here is what we’re covering.

• Pro-Russian content presenting a distorted version of the war in Ukraine and promoting Russia’s interests in Africa is gaining an audience on the continent.

• President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was isolated for years after brutally crushing his country’s Arab Spring uprising. But in most Arab capitals today, the only question is how — not whether — they should deal with him again.

• China is sending mixed messages over a potential role in Ukraine. Its key goal is to ensure Russia avoids a defeat that would strengthen the West.

*

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided the test.

• Taiwan is on high alert after Beijing staged three days of military drills.

Environment

Energy/Transportation

• The Scottish Government’s new Minister for Energy, Gillian Martin MSP, toured the ACHES (Aberdeen City Hydrogen Energy Storage) refuelling station at Cove this morning as part of a visit to meet with key stakeholders…

• The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), on behalf of the Australian Government, has today (April 13) announced two A$25 ($16.8m) funding rounds for the R&D of renewable hydrogen and low-emissions iron and steel.

• Finnish technology group Wärtsilä and Norway’s Höegh LNG, alongside other partners, have received €5.9m from the Norwegian Government to develop a floating ammonia terminal to support hydrogen imports.

• Part of an aviation law reform bill that would have allowed foreign airlines to run domestic routes has been withdrawn, the president said.

Wildlife/Nature

• Gabriela Castaño says the popular trend can disrupt ecosystems if they have nonnative plants or encourage migratory insects to stick around.

• Progress roundup: There’s balance in growing food among skyscrapers, keeping Europe’s last wild river unbounded, and bringing back an endangered feline.

• No human casualties were reported, although one person was seriously injured.

Overpopulation/Hunger

• India is set to become the world’s most populous country on April 14, a title China has held for decades. Faced with a large – and growing ­– population of more than 1.4 billion, India’s family planning service is under pressure to maintain a decreasing fertility rate.

• When rains fail unexpectedly, higher temperatures can more rapidly parch the ground, to devastating effect.

• The Hichilema​ administration stepped up security measures in border areas to curb the smuggling of maize meal.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• National Public Radio (NPR), an American nonprofit media organization, Wednesday announced its 52 accounts will go silent on Twitter after being labelled “state-affiliated media.” This is the same label Twitter gives to state propaganda platforms in autocratic countries, including Russia and China.

• From dodgy plastic surgery to outright fraud, a new law is promising to combat the scams plaguing platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

• Amid talk of a nationwide ban, a reporter discussed the future for TikTok and its Chinese owner, ByteDance, in the United States.

• Dear Abby advises a woman ‘perturbed’ by her fiance’s online activity, a girl sick of her mom’s disapproving comments about her body, and a man with a question about tipping.

• Reid Hoffman, a billionaire and critic of Donald J. Trump, is backing E. Jean Carroll’s suit against the former president.

• One way that Jack Smith will prove that Trump’s top campaign officials knew they were misleading supporters about the purpose of their fundraising is to show how they responded when reporters like Josh Dawsey asked about it in real time.

• Incident showed the spiritual leader’s innocent and affectionate side, says official.

• [...]

• Mr Tsering said investigations showed “pro-Chinese sources” were involved in making it go viral, adding that “the political angle of this incident cannot be ignored”.

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

• Fox News attorneys allegedly withheld evidence in the company’s defamation case, leading the judge to consider an independent review. Recordings of talks with Donald Trump’s lawyers and information about Fox Cop. chair Rupert Murdoch were recently disclosed.

Censorship/Free Speech

• Aleksei Moskalyov, a single father, escaped house arrest in Russia after he was charged with “discrediting” the Russian Army over the war in Ukraine.

Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

• Hideji Suzuki says Japan failed him during his six years in a Chinese prison. China’s recent arrest of a Japanese citizen is again testing Tokyo’s resolve.

• Prison staff were forced to call an ambulance for Aleksei A. Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader, last week, his spokeswoman said.

• The investigation comes months after tax officials searched the broadcaster’s Mumbai and Delhi offices.

Civil Rights/Policing

• A Hong Kong man who escaped from court custody on Monday by allegedly exchanging identities with another defendant who was granted bail has been arrested. The police announced late on Thursday that they had apprehended a 37-year-old man surnamed Chan in Yau Ma Tei earlier that night.

• Hong Kong’s security minister has hailed the 100 per cent conviction rate in cases concerning national security, while the chief of public prosecutions said upholding justice was “in the DNA” of local prosecutors.

• Lawyers for a Saudi prisoner had the psychologist show some of his practices in an effort to exclude evidence as derived from torture.

• The Tennessee House expulsions, together with bills to address the Jackson, Mississippi, water crisis, point to attitudes that deny Black self-determination.

• The two had “targeted police officers” by “spraying water at them at close range”, said Hong Kong police.

Digital Restrictions (DRM)

• A new law in Colorado that will make it easier for farmers to fix their own equipment is the first in the nation.

Monopolies

Patents

• On April 7, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 9,438,614, owned by CTD Networks, LLC.

Copyrights

• ’90s media darling Winamp relaunches with services aimed at music creators and a goal to grow to 250 million users. The iconic music player Winamp is launching a new player that comes with new functionality aimed at unlocking the relationship between artists and fans.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

• Spring has officially arrived in the American Midwest, with all the budding flowers, thunderstorms, picnic days, and hay fevers that mark the season.

• When I was a child, my favorite season of the year was autumn. Autumn meant the start of the school year, which I greatly enjoyed. The season was packed with celebrations, from Labor Day to Veteran’s Day, including many religious feast days observed by the Catholic school I attended. The excitement of the Christmas season was close at hand, and in the meantime, holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving satiated my appetite for rich roasts and cheap candy.

• Written in a kitchen of a scout hut in Sliema.

• Day 6 was spent mostly exploring again. I headed up to Ghadira Bay. It is a vast sweeping bay with some shallow water and beautiful sand. We ended up walking along the beach, fighting building works and enjoying ice cream in Mellieha. A nice relaxing day to.be honest. Ate.aome dodgy plastic cheese stuff for lunch. I ended up.meeting with my friend for dinner. He picked me up but ended up with a ticket thanks to some mad signage which few woukd get right. We went off to Bharija to eat at a aports bar which served some tasty food. It was a rustic place.and one without women. seems odd.

• I don’t generally listen to music while I’m working. Today, I was feeling a little distracted by external sounds, and decided to take control of my aural inputs. My wired headset is a little short for my taste, with my desktop sitting on the floor under my desk, and it picks up RF from the ham radios in here. My desktop doesn’t have Bluetooth… so, I copied a few (3gigs worth is a few these days!) songs over to my phone to listen to on some wireless earbuds.

• I’m sort of keeping track of places I find ortholinear keyboards mentioned. This post from Alex caught my attention[1].

• Short post. I enjoyed a brief midnight pub posting from mayonoki[1]. They spoke about being sober for about 2 years (congrats!). Then they said, “Note: This isn’t a statement for how other people should live. My sobriety is not a moral decision, purely one of survival.”

• Well, that got my goat a little, so I thought I might express myself here.

Technical

• A few days ago I wished to play with computer networks. Now I almost wish I did not have to (though not exactly getting to, anyway: just having issues with others’ networks).

• I was investigating why there aren’t colors in the pagers as used by Mutt when I stumbled over the Solarized color schemes for stuff. I had seen these in the past, but ignored them because I was trying to stick to mostly built-in Vim features. Now that I’m slurping up all kinds of addons for Vim, I revisited the topic.

• If a system is unknown then it may need to be measured–what does normal look like? Computers can be pretty good at this. Maybe start with ad-hoc data collection, let’s say the latency of ping to the local router.

• 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

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