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Ninth Circuit Denies Malwarebytes' Petition for Rehearing - Court Rules Enigma Software can Proceed with its Lawsuit Against Malwarebytes for Anticompetitive Practices

Ninth Circuit rules against Malwarebytes in Enigma Software's lawsuit for claims of unfair trade practices. Ninth Circuit denies Malwarebytes petition for rehearing and orders that no further petitions will be entertained. Enigma Software is permitted to proceed with its lawsuit against Malwarebytes.




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DriveLock Delivers Zero Trust to the Endpoint

DriveLock, a leading global provider of IT and data security solutions, specializes in a Zero Trust security approach based on the "never trust, always verify" principle. It is designed to combat harmful actions and access attempts from inside the corporate network as well as from external sources. DriveLock's Zero Trust platform is comprised of several pillars, providing a holistic approach to effective security.




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World Class AI Management Tool Updated by Corner Bowl Software

World Class AI Management Tool Updated by Corner Bowl Software - Corner Bowl Server Management tool is the Industry Standard for AI driven KPI reporting, monitoring, and compliance management.




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EnigmaSoft Releases SpyHunter for Mac to Combat Mac Malware's Unprecedented Rise

EnigmaSoft has released SpyHunter for Mac, an anti-malware detection and removal program built with advanced technologies. SpyHunter for Mac delivers comprehensive security in an easy-to-use interface and helps Mac users to combat increasingly prevalent and evolving malware threats.




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DriveLock Named as Leader for Data Leakage / Loss Prevention Solutions

DriveLock SE, a leading global provider of IT and data security solutions, announced that the "ISG Provider Lens™ Cyber Security – Solutions & Services Report Germany 2020" named it as the leader in the Data Leakage/Loss Prevention (DLP) segment in the German-speaking market.




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EnigmaSoft Releases NEW SpyHunter Pro to Fight Malware, Enhance Privacy Protection, & Optimize PCs

SpyHunter Pro combines highly effective anti-malware detection and blocking along with new functionality to enhance privacy protection and optimize computer systems. SpyHunter Pro extends standard anti-malware scanning by adding specialized scans designed to detect potentially unneeded data that can be deleted by users to reduce the risk of privacy invasion and free up disk space.




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Serious Vulnerability in the Internet Infrastructure / Fundamental design flaw in DNSSEC discovered

The National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE has uncovered a critical flaw in the design of DNSSEC, the Security Extensions of DNS (Domain Name System). DNS is one of the fundamental building blocks of the Internet.




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eM Client email app launches groundbreaking version 10 with AI support

Prague - 17.7.2024 - The Czech company [url=https://www.emclient.com/?lang=en]eM Client[/url] releases a new version of the eponymous application for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS. eM Client is a popular tool for managing (not only) emails, which has become the main challenger to Microsoft Outlook for both end users and businesses. Version 10 brings the largest number of new features and improvements in the history of the product.




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What different types of travel insurance are available?

Choosing travel insurance is not for the faint-hearted. There are hundreds of providers, and increasingly numerous types of packages. A lot will depend upon your budget, and the type of things you want to cover against. Be careful when choosing any particular policy, and don’t presume anything (for example, check out these common reasons where […]

The post What different types of travel insurance are available? appeared first on Three Monkeys Online Magazine.




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green




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About Your Habitat - Identity Card Application Part 6


The latest part of its Identity Cards Initiative, About Your Habitat will collect details about where you live in order to plan the best route to follow you home.

The forms add a twist to the previous techniques of claimant oppression and data-gathering: that of...





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Frequently Asked FAQs

Can you tell me a little bit about the DoSS website?

This website incorporates 150 cubic yards of JavaScript sprayed onto a lightweight superstructure of broken promises and Cryptically-Encoded-Hyperbole (CEH) - the new super-smooth non-stick material that lines the Space Shuttle lavatory and the press briefing room at Downing Street.


...




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EuroBSDCon 2024 presentations

EuroBSDCon 2024 [in Dublin, Ireland] has now ended, and slides for many of the OpenBSD developer presentations are now available in the usual place.

Video of the individual presentations can be expected somewhat later. In the meantime, OpenBSD-related presentations [including those from non-developers] can be found in the recordings of the "Foyer B" streams.

In addition, there was a full day PF tutorial with some updates to the publicly available slides.




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OpenBSD now enforcing no invalid NUL characters in shell scripts

Our favorite operating system is now changing the default shell (ksh) to enforce not allowing invalid NUL characters in input that will be parsed as parts of the script.

The commit message reads,

List:       openbsd-cvs
Subject:    CVS: cvs.openbsd.org: src
From:       Theo de Raadt <deraadt () cvs ! openbsd ! org>
Date:       2024-09-23 21:18:33

CVSROOT:	/cvs
Module name:	src
Changes by:	deraadt@cvs.openbsd.org	2024/09/23 15:18:33

Modified files:
	bin/ksh        : shf.c 

Log message:
If during parsing lines in the script, ksh finds a NUL byte on the
line, it should abort ("syntax error: NUL byte unexpected").  There
appears to be one piece of software which is misinterpreting guidance
of this, and trying to depend upon embedded NUL.  During research,
every shell we tested has one or more cases where a NUL byte in the
input or inside variable contents will create divergent behaviour from
other shells.  (ie. gets converted to a space, is silently skipped, or
aborts script parsing or later execution).  All the shells are written
in C, and majority of them use C strings for everything, which means
they cannot embed a NUL, so this is not surprising.  It is quite
unbelievable there are people trying to rewrite history on a lark, and
expecting the world to follow alone.

Read more…




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OpenBSD -current is now "7.6-current"

Theo de Raadt (deraadt@) updated the version of OpenBSD -current to "7.6-current".

Those running the latest-and-greatest [via a sufficiently new snapshot or built from source] no longer need to use "-D snap" with pkg_add(1) (and pkg_info(1)).




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OpenBSD 7.6 Released

The OpenBSD project has announced OpenBSD 7.6, its 57th release.

The new release contains a number of significant improvements, including but not limited to:

  • There is initial support for Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite [arm64] laptops.
  • Initial support for Suspend-to-Idle has been added on amd64 and i386, enabling suspend on machines which do not support S3.
  • UDP parallel input has been enabled. [See earlier report]
  • Libva's VA-API (Video Acceleration API) was imported into xenocara. [See earlier report]
  • The default write format for tar(1) has changed to "pax". [See earlier report]
  • pfctl(8) and systat(1) now display fragment reassembly statistics. [See earlier report]
  • A configurable passphrase timeout for disk decryption at boot (a potential battery lifesaver) has been added. [See earlier report]
  • Local-to-anchor tables are now available in pf(4) rules. [See earlier report]
  • rport(4), a driver providing point-to-point interfaces for layer 3 connectivity between rdomain(4) instances, has been added.
  • dhcp6leased(8), a DHCPv6 client daemon for IPv6 PD has been added. [See earlier report]
  • dhclient(8) has been removed (now that dhcpleased(8) is well established). [See earlier report]
  • OpenSSH 9.9, featuring:

and of course there is the full changelog which details the changes made over this latest six month development cycle.

Installation Guide details how to get the system up and running with a fresh install, while those who already run earlier releases should follow the Upgrade Guide, in most cases using sysupgrade(8) to upgrade their systems.

Now please dive in and enjoy the new release, and while the installer runs, please do donate to the project to support further development and more future goodies for us all!




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OpenSMTPD 7.6.0p0 Released

Omar Polo (op@) has announced the release of version 7.6.0p0 of OpenSMTPD.

The changes (including the table protocol change on which we reported earlier) are:

 - Introduced a new K_AUTH service to allow offloading the credentials
   to a proc table for non-crypt(3) authentication.  Helps with use
   cases like LDAP or custom auth.

 - Implement report responses for proc-filters too.

 - Changed the table protocol to a simpler text-based one.  Existing
   proc tables needs to be updated since old ones won't work.  The new
   protocol is documented in smtpd-tables(7).

 - Fixed the parsing of IPv6 addresses in file-backed table(5)

 - Document expected MDA behavior and the environment set by OpenSMTPD.

 - Set ORIGINAL_RECIPIENT in the environment of MDA scripts for
   compatibility with postfix.

 - Updated the bundled libtls.

See the release announcement for full details.





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MSXdev24 #14 Kitten2 - The Return

Embark on a rescue mission to free your friend of the clutches of your arch-enemy

read more




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The Government Wants Your Retirement Savings


Why did Willie Sutton rob banks? "Because that's where the money is."

Why does the government want to tax your IRA and ROTH retirement savings? Because that's where the money is.

When the income tax first went into effect in 1915, the top rate was a mere 7% and fell only on those making $500,000 a year or more -- that's $13.5 million in today's dollars. The vast majority of Americans paid the lowest 1% rate.

Today, the federal income tax ranges from 10%-37% and that's on top of all the FICA withholding. Today's top rate -- more than five times higher than it was in 1915 -- falls on those making about $500,000.

Which means top rate-payers are paying 5.5 more income tax on about one-thirtieth of the income.

The lowest rate-payers are paying 10 times more on about the same fraction -- and that still doesn't count FICA deductions, which hit the poorest the hardest.

The income tax was sold by early 20th Century progressives as a way to sock it to the rich, but progressives made sure it become a way to sock it to everybody.

You can bet your bottom dollar -- if Congress doesn't confiscate that, too -- that today's "Billionaire Income Tax" is tomorrow's "Tax Your Middle Class Retirement Accounts Before You Even Retire."

Our government is too big, too unaccountable, too incompetent, and entirely dedicated to growing its own power. Anything that can't go on forever, won't.




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Regenerative Gel Restores Spinal Cord in Mice

This is fantastic news that will hopefully turn into a treatment for people with spinal cord injuries and other nerve injuries.

A self-assembling gel injected at the site of spinal cord injuries in paralysed mice has enabled them to walk again after four weeks.

The gel mimics the matrix that is normally found around cells, providing a scaffold that helps cells to grow. It also provides signals that stimulate nerve regeneration.

Samuel Stupp at Northwestern University in Chicago and his colleagues created a material made of protein units, called monomers, that self-assemble into long chains, called supramolecular fibrils, in water.

When they were injected into the spinal cords of mice that were paralysed in the hind legs, these fibrils formed a gel at the injury site.

The researchers injected 76 paralysed mice with either the fibrils or a sham treatment made of salt solution, a day after the initial injury. They found that the gel enabled paralysed mice to walk by four weeks after the injection, whereas mice given the placebo didn't regain the ability to walk.

The team found that the gel helped regenerate the severed ends of neurons and reduced the amount of scar tissue at the injury site, which usually forms a barrier to regeneration. The gel also enhanced blood vessel growth, which provided more nutrients to the spinal cord cells.




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Eisenhower Warned: "public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite"

President Eisenhower famously warned America about the risk of the military-industrial complex, but he also foresaw the risk that public policy would be captured by a scientific-technological elite.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.

(HT: American Experiment and Victory Girls.)




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Why Would Anyone Bribe Hunter Biden?


It's a complete mystery why anyone would bribe Hunter Biden. Maybe it's because of his artistic talent.

But how about the question of how this investigation, and Hunter's underlying conduct, relate to President Biden himself? To read the Times and the WaPo, you would think that that whole question is somehow out of line. The Times's piece doesn't even discuss Joe's role or involvement, although it does include this bizarre line:
It is not clear whether the criminal probe is focused solely on Hunter Biden, or if he is among a group of individuals and companies being scrutinized.

As if anyone, let alone China or Burisma, would pay Hunter Biden millions of dollars without an expectation that it would influence his father. Over in the WaPo, in the context of paragraphs relating to Hunter's dealings with Chinese government-controlled energy company CEFC, we have this:

The Post did not find evidence that Joe Biden personally benefited from or knew details about the transactions with CEFC. . . .

The funny thing is that outside the sole exception of the Biden family, large payments to the children of powerful government officials by those with interests potentially affected by those officials' actions are universally understood to be corrupt efforts to influence the officials. In cases involving people other than the Bidens, whether the official/parent "personally benefited" from the payments or "knew details" of the transactions are considered completely irrelevant.

I guess we'll never know.



  • Law & Justice
  • Politics
  • Government & Public Policy

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Friendly Reminder: "Prices don't drop when inflation eases"

Many people I talk to are eager for "prices to get back to normal", but that's not how inflation works. Medora Lee does a good job reminding us of that.

When talking about inflation, it's important to remember that inflation is a rate that measures how fast prices are rising. If the consumer inflation rate drops from its 40-year high of 8.6% in May, prices are still rising - just not as fast.

Consumers won't feel immediate relief even as the inflation rate slows because many of those elevated prices are likely here to stay, said Michael Ashton, managing principal at Enduring Investments in Morristown, NJ.

"The price level has permanently changed," said Ashton. "Until your wages catch up (to inflation), it will continue to hurt."

Even when inflation returns to target 2% levels, prices won't return to "normal" 2019 levels. Prices will continue to grow, but at a slower and more predictable rate.

"Once core prices go up, generally they don't come down," Roussanov said. "In the last 40 to 50 years, we've never seen deflation in core goods. Most durable goods and services don't really come down in price."

And deflation is more dangerous than inflation because it can lead to a total economic collapse. When people believe that their money will buy more in a year than it will now, they stop consuming and just wait.

Additionally, modest, predictable inflation is seen as a sign of a growing economy. It incentivizes people to spend money now rather than waiting, allows wages to increase either in line or above inflation to boost the standard of living and makes it easier for businesses to plan, according to the Federal Reserve and IMF.



  • Business & Economics

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"There are already thousands of people alive, right now, in Texas who would have been aborted."

Ross Douthat says that this fact is the heart of the abortion issue, and I agree. Our tolerance, acceptance, and promotion of at-will abortion is a shame and humiliation for our generation and civilization. Our descendants will look back on this era with horror and disgust, much like we view slavery and the Holocaust. They will ask, how could any people kill a million of their own children every year? How did they talk themselves into accepting the slaughter of the weakest and most vulnerable among them? How did they dehumanize the unborn, to be exterminated like insect infestations?

As is often the case, the solution to abortion -- and the general mistreatment of children and other vulnerable people -- won't be found in laws or courts. The solution is for each of us to honor the divine spark in each other. To recognize that we are each made in God's image, and each uniquely valuable because of that likeness.

Deuteronomy 27:19 -- 'Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

Exodus 22:22 -- You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.

Psalm 68:5 -- Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.




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"Sex must be taken seriously. Men and women are different."


Louise Perry writes that she was betrayed by the lies of the sexual revolution. As a father of daughters this is heartbreaking to read.

It's precisely because I'm a feminist that I've changed my mind on sexual liberalism. It's an ideology premised on the false belief that the physical and psychological differences between men and women are trivial, and that any restrictions placed on sexual behavior must therefore have been motivated by malice, stupidity or ignorance.

The problem is the differences aren't trivial. Sexual asymmetry is profoundly important: One half of the population is smaller and weaker than the other half, making it much more vulnerable to violence. This half of the population also carries all of the risks associated with pregnancy. It is also much less interested in enjoying all of the delights now on offer in the post-sexual revolution era. ...

The new sexual culture isn't so much about the liberation of women, as so many feminists would have us believe, but the adaptation of women to the expectations of a familiar character: Don Juan, Casanova, or, more recently, Hugh Hefner.

It's almost as if our ancestors were wiser than we realized.



  • Society & Culture

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Boston University scientists create 80%-lethal COVID variant

This seems insane. Why create a more transmissable and lethal version of COVID?

DailyMail.com revealed the team had made a hybrid virus -- combining Omicron and the original Wuhan strain -- that killed 80 per cent of mice in a study.

The revelation exposes how dangerous virus manipulation research continues to go on even in the US, despite fears similar practices may have started the pandemic.

Professor Shmuel Shapira, a leading scientist in the Israeli Government, said: 'This should be totally forbidden, it's playing with fire.'

Gain of function research - when viruses are purposefully manipulated to be more infectious or deadly - is thought to be at the center of Covid's origin.

We may never know the origin of COVID-19 with certainty, but gain-of-function research needs to stop.




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Why Are Men Checking Out?


Alice Evans writes that working-age men in America aren't working.

7 million men aged 25-54 in the USA are not working

What are they doing?

Volunteering? Worship? Care-work?

"Playing Call of Duty stoned"

They report 2000 hours a year of screen time (w/ pain meds)

This phenomenon is far less severe in Western Europe

She has many charts and graphs that dig into the details.

My opinion is that we're beginning to see human workers displaced by automation in a way that doesn't create new jobs for the displaced humans. Men are more affected than women because women dominate "caring professions" that are harder to automate.



  • Business & Economics

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Biden Goes to Ukraine, Trump Goes to Ohio


On Wednesday Trump visited East Palestine, Ohio, to support the people affected by the train derailment while Biden visited Kyiv to support Ukraine's fight against Russia.

Trump:

Trump visited East Palestine to show support for a community afflicted by the toxic train derailment as President Joe Biden, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and other administration officials have come under scrutiny for the federal response to the disaster.

"Get over here," was Trump's terse, three-word response to a reporter's question about what he would tell Biden.

The Buckeye State blitz wasn't perfect, with a strange self-promotional reference to Trump water.

But it was otherwise a vintage Trump performance the 2024 candidate should like to bottle.

Biden:

President Biden paid an unannounced visit Monday to Ukraine's capital, offering a huge show of support for the country the U.S. and its allies have helped to hold out during Russia's nearly-year-long, unprovoked invasion. Mr. Biden spent about six hours in Kyiv, much of it with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whom he promised unwavering backing and another tranche of American weapons.

"You know, one year later, Kyiv stands. Ukraine stands," Mr. Biden said while there. "Democracy stands. America stands with you and the world stands with you. Kyiv has captured a part of my heart."

At the most basic political level, which trip wins more votes? In my opinion, Trump's visit to Ohio is better politics. But on the other hand, only the sitting President can demonstrate American commitment with a foreign visit like Biden's, which highlights his stature.




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Changes to our lives are certain if PM meets bold climate target - but a key ingredient is missing for success

Keir Starmer's arrival at COP29, with a promise to drastically cut the UK's carbon emissions by 81%, will be a small ray of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy start to the climate talks.




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Serving police officer arrested on suspicion of terrorism offence

A serving Gloucestershire police officer has been arrested on suspicion of a terrorism offence.




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Pentagon leaker sentenced to 15 years in jail

A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who leaked classified Pentagon information has been jailed for 15 years.




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Trump picks Musk to cut costs - and Fox News host as his defence chief

Donald Trump has confirmed Elon Musk will co-lead the new department of government efficiency as he named Fox News host and National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth as defence secretary.




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Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes's houses 'broken into' a day apart

The homes of Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were both broken into last month, according to police and media reports.




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Trump's cabinet picks suggest China is front and centre of his mind - it could be a bumpy ride

The announcements should not be a surprise. Donald Trump said he'd do things differently this time. And yet they still prompt a double take.




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Watch: Drone footage captures Kentucky explosion damage

An "unknown" explosion at factory in Louisville, Kentucky injured 11 people on Tuesday.




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Nearly &#163;50m spent on P&O firing and replacing 800 British workers

P&O Ferries spent more than £47m summarily sacking hundreds of seafarers in 2022, helping it cut losses by more than £125m and putting it on a path to profitability, according to accounts due to be published in the coming days.




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Selena Gomez 'shines' in new Oscar-tipped musical

The singer and actress stars in Emilia Pérez, a new Netflix musical which has been tipped for awards.




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'It's not all doom' - Heston Blumenthal on bipolar diagnosis

The celebrity chef announced he was diagnosed with the mental health condition earlier this year.




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Cars 'covered in plastic wrap' in Spain as residents brace for another storm

Some people in Spain appear to have covered their cars in plastic wrap ahead of another approaching storm.




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India's top court bans 'bulldozer justice' as punishment

The court said authorities cannot demolish property of people just because they are accused of crimes.




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Church of England 'not a safe institution' and others may need to resign, bishop says

The Church of England's deputy lead bishop for safeguarding has said it is "not a safe institution" in some ways - and that others may need to step down following the Archbishop of Canterbury's resignation.




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Mystery of US warship's final resting place solved... by accident

An American warship that was sunk by Japanese dive bombers during the Second World War has finally been found, more than 80 years later.




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Picnic cottage enjoyed by Queen Victoria restored to former glory

A picnic cottage enjoyed by Queen Victoria during her visits to Balmoral has been restored to its former glory by the National Trust for Scotland.




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French headteacher describes spiral of events that led to teacher's beheading

Audrey F tells a court how a 13-year-old student's lie to her parents led to Samuel Paty's murder.




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Several injured after crash involving bus carrying school children

Several people have been injured after a bus carrying school children collided with a lorry in Leicestershire.




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Mozilla Foundation lays off 30% of its employees, ends advocacy for open web, privacy, and more

More bad news from Mozilla. The Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Firefox browser maker Mozilla, has laid off 30% of its employees as the organization says it faces a “relentless onslaught of change.” Announcing the layoffs in an email to all employees on October 30, the Mozilla Foundation’s executive director Nabiha Syed confirmed that two of the foundation’s major divisions — advocacy and global programs — are “no longer a part of our structure.” ↫ Zack Whittaker at TechCrunch This means Mozilla will no longer be advocating for an open web, privacy, and related ideals, which fits right in with the organisation’s steady decline into an ad-driven effort that also happens to be making a web browser used by, I’m sorry to say, effectively nobody. I just don’t know how many more signs people need to see before realising that the future of Firefox is very much at stake, and that we’re probably only a few years away from losing the only non-big tech browser out there. This should be a much bigger concern than it seems to be to especially the Linux and BSD world, who rely heavily on Firefox, without a valid alternative to shift to once the browser’s no longer compatible with the various open source requirements enforced by Linux distributions and the BSDs. What this could also signal is that the sword of Damocles dangling above Mozilla’s head is about to come down, and that the people involved know more than we do. Google is effectively bankrolling Mozilla – for about 80% of its revenue – but that deal has come under increasing scrutiny from regulars, and Google itself, too, must be wondering why they’re wasting money supporting a browser nobody’s using. We’re very close to a web ruled by Google and Apple. If that prospect doesn’t utterly terrify you, I honestly wonder what you’re doing here, reading this.




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Valve ends Steam’s support for Windows 7 and 8

Steam has finally stopped working on several older Windows operating systems, following a warning from Valve that it planned to drop support earlier this year. With little fanfare, Windows 7 and Windows 8 gaming on Steam is no longer possible following the most recent Steam client update on November 5. ↫ Ben Stockton at PCGamesN It’s honestly wild that Valve supported Windows 7 and 8 for this long for Steam in the first place. They’ve been out of support for a long time, and at this point in time, less than 0.3% of Steam users were using Windows 7 or 8. Investing any resources in continuing to support them would be financially irresponsible, while also aiding a tiny bit in allowing people to use such unsupported, insecure systems to this day. I’m sure at least one of you is still rocking Windows 7 or 8 as your daily driver operating system, so I’m sorry if you don’t want to hear this, but it’s really, really time to move on. Buying a Windows 10 or 11 license on eBay or whatever costs a few euros at most – if you’re not eligible for one the free upgrade programs Microsoft ran – and especially Windows 10 should run just fine on pretty much anything Windows 7 or 8 runs on. Do note that with Windows 10, though, you’ll be back in the same boat next year.




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Improving Steam Client stability on Linux: setenv and multithreaded environments

Speaking of Steam, the Linux version of Valve’s gaming platform has just received a pretty substantial set of fixes for crashes, and Timothee “TTimo” Besset, who works for Valve on Linux support, has published a blog post with more details about what kind of crashes they’ve been fixing. The Steam client update on November 5th mentions “Fixed some miscellaneous common crashes.” in the Linux notes, which I wanted to give a bit of background on. There’s more than one fix that made it in under the somewhat generic header, but the one change that made the most significant impact to Steam client stability on Linux has been a revamping of how we are approaching the setenv and getenv functions. One of my colleagues rightly dubbed setenv “the worst Linux API”. It’s such a simple, common API, available on all platforms that it was a little difficult to convince ourselves just how bad it is. I highly encourage anyone who writes software that will run on Linux at some point to read through “RachelByTheBay”‘s very engaging post on the subject. ↫ Timothee “TTimo” Besset This indeed seems to be a specific Linux problem, and due to the variability in Linux systems – different distributions, extensive user customisation, and so on – debugging information was more difficult to parse than on Windows and macOS. After a lot of work grouping the debug information to try and make sense of it all, it turned out that the two functions in question were causing issues in threads other than those that used them. They had to resort to several solutions, from reducing the reliance setenv and refactoring it with exevpe, to reducing the reliance on getenv through caching, to introducing “an ‘environment manager’ that pre-allocates large enough value buffers at startup for fixed environment variable names, before any threading has started”. It was especially this last one that had a major impact on reducing the number of crashes with Steam on Linux. Besset does note that these functions are still used far too often, but that at this point it’s out of their control because that usage comes from the libraries of the operating system, like x11, xcb, dbus, and so on. Besset also mentions that it would be much better if this issue can be addressed in glibc, and in the comments, a user by the name of Adhemerval reports that this is indeed something the glibc team is working on.