Trying Guix: A Nixer's Impressions
One aspect of Guix I found to be really fascinating: That there is basically no conceptual difference between defining a package as a private build script, and using a package as part of the system.
Let me explain: Say you wrote a little program in Python which uses a C library (or a Rust library with C ABI) which is in the distribution. Then, in Guix you would put that librarie's name and needed version into a manifest.scm
file which lists your dependency, and makes it available if you run guix shell
in that folder. It does not matter whether you run the full Guix System, or just use Guix as s package manager.
Now, if you want to install your little python program as part of your system, you'll write an install script or package definition, which is nothing else than a litle piece of Scheme code which contains the name of your program, your dependency, and the information needed to call python's build tool.
The point I am making is now that the only thing which is different between your local package and a distributed package in Guix is that distributed packages are package definitions hosted in public git repos, called 'channels'. So, if you put your package's source into a github or codeberg repo, and the package definition into another repo, you now have published a package which is a part of Guix (in your own channel). Anybody who wants to install and run your package just needs your channel's URL and the packages name. It is a fully decentral system.
In short, in Guix you have built-in something like Arch's AUR, just in a much more elegant and clean manner - and in a fully decentralized way.
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OpenAI and UK sign deal to use AI in public services
OpenAI and UK sign deal to use AI in public services
The US tech firm behind ChatGPT say it will work with the UK government to "deliver prosperity for all".Mitchell Labiak (BBC News)
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Fedora Must (Carefully) Embrace Flathub
Fedora Must (Carefully) Embrace Flathub
Motivation Opportunity is upon us! For the past few years, the desktop Linux user base has been growing at a historically high rate. StatCounter currently has us at 4.14% desktop OS market share...Michael Catanzaro (Michael Catanzaro's Blog)
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L'enorme braccio reclutato per agevolare la rinascita del nucleare in Gran Bretagna - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
L'enorme braccio reclutato per agevolare la rinascita del nucleare in Gran Bretagna - Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri
Affermò la profezia: “E quando il destino dovrà compiersi, il giorno si trasformerà in notte, e il normale ciclo diurno sembrerà finire prima dell’ora del tramonto.Jacopo (Il blog di Jacopo Ranieri)
Signal stories shows what I want social media to be
Signal stories shows what I want social media to be
I initially didn't understand the point of stories in apps like WhatsApp or Snapchat. I never really used any app with such a feature.SGued
I think we need different terms for the different ways people want to use these services.
Some want to reach the world (old school twitter etc) while others just want to reach friends/family (Facebook etc). I guess others want something more like a messaging service. IDK
Choosing a Linux Distro
Hi there. I m changing away from windows. I already tested some stuff. I started with fedora GNOME. But GNOME wasn't for me I felt. So I did go with Linux mint cinnamon. That felt better but not as snappy and fast as fedora. Then I did go with fedora KDE plasma and man I like KDE plasma. That's a thing for me. Then I tried because of recommendations popos with cosmic. I don't know why but it didn't felt right. So another recommendation later I tried cachy is with KDE. KDE was good but catchy gave me some erros and problems so back to fedora with KDE.
Now my real question.
1. Manjaro Linux is a European distro? Only I often see it with popos and Linux mint and fedora that these are good beginner distros? Is it stable? Customisation in KDE is the same everywhere I guess? Does many people use it? Is it really beginner friendly and snappy? Is it stable?
2. Opensuse also has KDE but it seems that its not a beginner distro. Also online its not often spoken about. Is it harder to use? Or is it beginner friendly? Customisation KDE again. Is it stable or does it break often? Does many people use it.
3. Fedora, manjaro, opensuse? Which off these with KDE is most beginner friendly and stable. Is used much so I can find help when something is going on. Customisable. Stable?
Or any other Good KDE Distros out there.
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OpenSUSE Tumbleweed is excellent and no less beginner friendly than any other major distro, so I wouldn’t worry. It really is one of the most underrated distros out there.
Kubuntu could be a good option for you, but I recommend doing the “Minimal” install to avoid Snaps and bloat.
If you are mostly about gaming and flatpak, then consider Bazzite. You can’t just install packages on Bazzite, so if you need to do things that aren’t already built in then you need to use containers or, as a last resort, create a new layers with rpm-ostree.
For the record, Arch and it’s offshoots don’t especially resonate with me, either. I want my OS to “just work”, but at the same time I want to have the ability to go wild whenever and however I feel like it.
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Bazzite lately and I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to most Linux newbies, especially gamers who want their system to “just work.” It’s also a very interesting system for jaded old Linux users because it works so differently than we’re used to. The “everything needs to be a container” paradigm is very interesting and has a lot of security and stability benefits.
If you want more control and freedom, then OpenSUSE is definitely the best option here. I’d only fallback to Kubuntu if there was some software you need that only ships in .deb and you have no other options. I’m not a fan of Canonical or what they’ve done to the Ubuntu ecosystem.
Golden Age of Iraq
Before war and hardship reshaped its destiny, Iraq flourished in a golden era of art, architecture, and modern life.
Baghdad in the 1950s to '70s was a beacon of culture and intellect where poets, professors, and families shared spaces with sculpted monuments and bustling cafés. Red double-decker buses cruised wide boulevards, fashion echoed European trends, and the spirit of progress filled the air.
This was a nation confidently looking to the future, rich in history and proud of its identity, an Iraq now remembered through photos, memories, and the enduring resilience of its people.
China starts building world’s biggest hydropower dam
Construction of the world’s biggest hydropower megadam has begun, China’s premier has said, calling it the “project of the century”.
The huge structure is being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo river, in Tibetan territory.Li Qiang made the comments on Saturday, at a ceremony in the region to mark the start of the build, leading Chinese markets to rise on the expectation of the long-planned megaproject, first announced in 2020 as part of China’s 14th five-year plan.
The project announced by Li is planned for the lower reaches of the river, according to the official state news outlet, Xinhua. Xinhua reported that the project would consist of five cascade hydropower stations, producing an estimated 300 million megawatt hours of electricity annually at a cost of about 1.2tn yuan (£124bn).
In comparison, the Three Gorges dam cost 254.2bn yuan and generates 88.2m MWh.
The Yarlung Tsangpo megadam will reportedly harness the power created by the river dropping 2km in about 50km as it winds through a canyon on a U-shaped bend.
India and Bangladesh have voiced concerns over the project, fearing the water could be held or diverted away from them.
In response, officials have said China does not seek “water hegemony” and never pursues “benefits for itself at the expense of its neighbours”.
China starts building world’s biggest hydropower dam
1.2tn yuan project has broken ground in Tibet, premier says, despite fears of downstream nations India and BangladeshHelen Davidson (The Guardian)
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5 cascades is cheating, booooooo
Also, DAMn
The lists goes on with South America and China dunking on everyone else.
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I know about some disadvantages of dams but I'm not sure if - in many regions - we have much of an alternative to buffer water over different seasons. We used to have huge glaciers in the mountains which retained snow in winter and released water in summer. But as more and more glaciers disappear, we have to come up with artificial measures to store water for agriculture, drinking water etc.
If we then can harvest electricity on top, that's a nice byproduct from my perspective.
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China blows up 300 dams, shuts hydropower stations to save Yangtze River habitat
Scientists hope the sturgeon known as the Yangtze’s last giant and other rare species may return to their breeding grounds as a result.Dannie Peng (South China Morning Post)
If I can find a link, I'll update this.
I guess lemmygrad is blocked on that instance? There's people talking about that under your comment.
China develops new method to mass-produce high-quality semiconductors
China develops new method to mass-produce high-quality semiconductors
Chinese scientists have developed a novel method for the mass production of high-quality golden semiconductor indium selenide, paving the way for manufacturing a new generation of chips that outperform current silicon-based technology.CGTN
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Why China is surging ahead of Trump’s US in green energy race
Why China is surging ahead of Trump’s America in green energy race
Trump cuts are crippling US clean energy endeavours, while Beijing is building on its title as the world’s largest investor in the sector.Nora Mankel (South China Morning Post)
Technology reshared this.
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What is the exact meaning of the "Banned" label next to a user?
For example, I've come across this:
^[1]^
::: spoiler References
1. Type: User Page. Name: "CanadaRocks" ("@CanadaRocks@piefed.ca"). Publisher: ["Lemmy". "sh.itjust.works"]. Accessed: 2025-07-22T02:07Z. URI: sh.itjust.works/u/CanadaRocks@….
:::
[…] Due to a bug, currently the user can post & comment […]
Do you have a link to the bug?
A hacky, incomplete solution has been running for a while: github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issu…
A full solution has been merged, but I don’t think it’s been released yet: github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull…
Instance banning a remote user should prevent them from participating in remote versions of communities
Requirements Is this a feature request? For questions or discussions use https://lemmy.ml/c/lemmy_support Did you check to see if this issue already exists? Is this only a feature request? Do not p...sunaurus (GitHub)
[…] A full solution has been merged, but I don’t think it’s been released yet: github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull…
It looks like it's coming with Lemmy 1.0 ^[1]^.
::: spoiler References
1. Type: Comment. Author: "Nutomic". Publisher: [Type: Post. Title: "Open issues on popular lemmy apps to prepare for 1.0.0 release". Author: "dessalines". Publisher: ["GitHub". "LemmyNet/Lemmy"]. Published: 2025-03-15T13:17:39.000Z. URI: github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issu….]. Published: 2025-06-02T08:21:42.000Z. Accessed: 2025-07-22T06:26Z. URI: github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issu….
:::
Open issues on popular lemmy apps to prepare for `1.0.0` release
Now that we've fundamentally changed nearly all the data structs, there's no reason to keep an api/v3 in the codebase. Nearly every data structure was changed with #5482 . As one example: GET /comm...dessalines (GitHub)
Yes. It "blocks" the user. Afaik it should prevent the banned user from interacting with communities from the instance they were banned from and also the instance will no longer accept any new interactions from the user (local users cant see new content of that user, like PMs, comments, etc.)
Additionally, their content can also be removed, but that is optional.
Hrm, I have a suspicion that it was a false positive by the automod (maybe it didn't like "kill this idea"?):
^[1]^
Update (2025-07-22T02:37Z): The moderation action was a false positive, and has been reverted ^[2]^.
::: spoiler References
1. Type: Webpage. Title: "Modlog". Publisher: ["Lemmy". "sh.itjust.works"]. Accessed: 2025-07-22T02:31Z. URI: sh.itjust.works/modlog?actionT….
2. Type: Message. Author: "InEnduringGrowStrong" (@inenduringgrowstrong:matrix.org). Publisher: ["Matrix". "sh.itjust.works"]. Published: 2025-07-22T02:36Z. Accessed: 2025-07-22T02:40Z. URI: matrix.to/#%2F%21ftaqqnpOePvPw….
:::
Matrix - Decentralised and secure communication
You're invited to talk on Matrix. If you don't already have a client this link will help you pick one, and join the conversation. If you already have one, this link will help you join the conversationmatrix.to
They also can’t send direct messages to users on that instance.
Can a user on the banning instance message the banned user? If so, can the banned user reply?
Can a user on the banning instance message the banned user?
I’ve never tried it so I’m not sure.
If so, can the banned user reply?
I’ve never tried this either, but I highly doubt it.
U.S. manufacturers are stuck in a rut despite subsidies from Biden and protection from Trump
U.S. manufacturers are stuck in a rut despite subsidies from Biden and protection from Trump
Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much, but they share a conviction that the government should help American manufacturers, one way or another.The Associated Press (CTVNews)
Near-collision between B-52 and SkyWest jet was caught on camera
Near-collision between B-52 and SkyWest jet was caught on camera
A concertgoer at the North Dakota State Fair recorded footage of a B-52 bomber and a SkyWest jet on a collision course, but he didn't realize he was watching a potential disaster unfolding before his very eyes.Janhvi Bhojwani (NBC News)
My young interns had never seen The Website is Down
My 2 interns, 20 and 22 had never seen this internet classic.
I thought I would have to call 911 because they were laughing so hard.
Hi, your post got removed. This community does not allow videos.
Please check the rules in the sidebar.
,Thank you.
MAGA acolyte Marjorie Taylor Greene votes alongside Tlaib and Omar to cut US funding for Israel
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/33488629
By MEE staff
Published date: 18 July 2025 20:59 BST
Hardline America Firster and staunch Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene voted alongside progressive Democrat Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to strip Israel of $500m in US funding, hours after it bombed the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza.The House of Representatives, however, rejected in a 422-6 vote on Thursday, to cut funding for the Israeli Cooperative Program - an agreement through which the US provides Israel with $500m to boost its missile programmes.
It is a separate allocation from the $3.3bn the US sends Israel as "security assistance" every year.
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MAGA acolyte Marjorie Taylor Greene votes alongside Tlaib and Omar to cut US funding for Israel
By MEE staff
Published date: 18 July 2025 20:59 BST
Hardline America Firster and staunch Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene voted alongside progressive Democrat Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to strip Israel of $500m in US funding, hours after it bombed the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza.The House of Representatives, however, rejected in a 422-6 vote on Thursday, to cut funding for the Israeli Cooperative Program - an agreement through which the US provides Israel with $500m to boost its missile programmes.
It is a separate allocation from the $3.3bn the US sends Israel as "security assistance" every year.
Maga acolyte Marjorie Taylor Greene votes alongside Tlaib and Omar to cut US funding for Israel
Hardline America Firster and staunch Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene voted alongside progressive Democrat Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to strip Israel of $500m in US funding, hours after it bombed the Holy Family Catholic Church …MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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Scapegoating the Algorithm: America’s epistemic challenges run deeper than social media.
Many people sense that the United States is undergoing an epistemic crisis, a breakdown in the country’s collective capacity to agree on basic facts, distinguish truth from falsehood, and adhere to norms of rational debate.This crisis encompasses many things: rampant political lies; misinformation; and conspiracy theories; widespread beliefs in demonstrable falsehoods (“misperceptions”); intense polarization in preferred information sources; and collapsing trust in institutions meant to uphold basic standards of truth and evidence (such as science, universities, professional journalism, and public health agencies).
According to survey data, over 60% of Republicans believe Joe Biden’s presidency was illegitimate. 20% of Americans think vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they prevent, and 36% think the specific risks of COVID-19 vaccines outweigh their benefits. Only 31% of Americans have at least a “fair amount” of confidence in mainstream media, while a record-high 36% have no trust at all.
What is driving these problems? One influential narrative blames social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter (now X), and YouTube. In the most extreme form of this narrative, such platforms are depicted as technological wrecking balls responsible for shattering the norms and institutions that kept citizens tethered to a shared reality, creating an informational Wild West dominated by viral falsehoods, bias-confirming echo chambers, and know-nothing punditry.
The timing is certainly suspicious. Facebook launched in 2004, YouTube in 2005, and Twitter in 2006. As they and other platforms acquired hundreds of millions of users over the next decade, the health of American democracy and its public sphere deteriorated. By 2016, when Donald Trump was first elected president, many experts were writing about a new “post-truth” or “misinformation” age.
Moreover, the fundamental architecture of social media platforms seems hostile to rational discourse. Algorithms that recommend content prioritize engagement over accuracy. This can amplify sensational and polarizing material or bias-confirming content, which can drag users into filter bubbles. Meanwhile, the absence of traditional gatekeepers means that influencers with no expertise or ethical scruples can reach vast audiences.
The dangerous consequences of these problems seem obvious to many casual observers of social media. And some scientific research corroborates this widespread impression. For example, a systematic review of nearly five hundred studies finds suggestive evidence for a link between digital media use and declining political trust, increasing populism, and growing polarization. Evidence also consistently shows an association between social media use and beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation.
But there are compelling reasons to be skeptical that social media is a leading cause of America’s epistemic challenges. The “wrecking ball” narrative exaggerates the novelty of these challenges, overstates social media’s responsibility for them, and overlooks deeper political and institutional problems that are reflected on social media, not created by it.
The platforms are not harmless. They may accelerate worrying trends, amplify fringe voices, and facilitate radicalization. However, the current balance of evidence suggests that the most consequential drivers of America’s large-scale epistemic challenges run much deeper than algorithms.
Scapegoating the Algorithm—Asterisk
America’s epistemic challenges run deeper than social media.asteriskmag.com
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defends decision to support military aid for Israel
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/33487836
By MEE staff
Published date: 21 July 2025 21:11 BSTThe New York lawmaker voted against an amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene last week that sought to block $500m in Congress' annual defence spending bill for Israel's Iron Dome programme.
Fellow Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar [as well as Democrats Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky - PL] had supported Taylor Greene's amendment, which eventually lost in a 422-6 vote.
In a post on X on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Greene's amendment did "nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza".
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defends decision to support military aid for Israel
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/33487836
By MEE staff
Published date: 21 July 2025 21:11 BSTThe New York lawmaker voted against an amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene last week that sought to block $500m in Congress' annual defence spending bill for Israel's Iron Dome programme.
Fellow Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar [as well as Democrats Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky - PL] had supported Taylor Greene's amendment, which eventually lost in a 422-6 vote.
In a post on X on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Greene's amendment did "nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza".
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defends decision to support military aid for Israel
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/33487836
By MEE staff
Published date: 21 July 2025 21:11 BSTThe New York lawmaker voted against an amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene last week that sought to block $500m in Congress' annual defence spending bill for Israel's Iron Dome programme.
Fellow Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar [as well as Democrats Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky - PL] had supported Taylor Greene's amendment, which eventually lost in a 422-6 vote.
In a post on X on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Greene's amendment did "nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza".
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Israeli special forces abduct director of hospital in Gaza
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/33488385
By Alex MacDonald
Published date: 21 July 2025 14:50 BST
The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday that Hams, who also oversees field hospitals in the Gaza Strip, was on his way to visit the ICRC facility in northern Rafah when undercover Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian, before capturing him.The person killed was a local journalist who had been conducting an interview with al-Hams at the time of the attack.
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Israeli special forces abduct director of hospital in Gaza
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/33488385
By Alex MacDonald
Published date: 21 July 2025 14:50 BST
The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday that Hams, who also oversees field hospitals in the Gaza Strip, was on his way to visit the ICRC facility in northern Rafah when undercover Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian, before capturing him.The person killed was a local journalist who had been conducting an interview with al-Hams at the time of the attack.
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Israeli special forces abduct director of hospital in Gaza
By Alex MacDonald
Published date: 21 July 2025 14:50 BST
The Palestinian health ministry said on Monday that Hams, who also oversees field hospitals in the Gaza Strip, was on his way to visit the ICRC facility in northern Rafah when undercover Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian, before capturing him.The person killed was a local journalist who had been conducting an interview with al-Hams at the time of the attack.
Israeli special forces abduct director of hospital in Gaza
Israeli special forces have abducted Dr Marwan al-Hams, director of Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital and spokesperson for the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) field hospital in the souther…Alex MacDonald (Middle East Eye)
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Could AI Help Humanity Understand Whales?
This project hopes that decoding sperm whale sounds will boost conservation efforts
AI Comes Up with Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work.
AI Comes Up with Bizarre Physics Experiments. But They Work. | Quanta Magazine
Artificial intelligence software is designing novel experimental protocols that improve upon the work of human physicists, although the humans are still “doing a lot of baby-sitting.”Anil Ananthaswamy (Quanta Magazine)
DeepMind’s Quest for Self-Improving Table Tennis Agents: How robots can learn new skills by challenging each other
DeepMind Table Tennis Robots Train Each Other
Two robots playing table tennis against each other non-stop is helping DeepMind to make more adaptable autonomous agents.Pannag Sanketi (IEEE Spectrum)
Advanced version of Gemini with Deep Think officially achieves gold-medal standard at the International Mathematical Olympiad
Advanced version of Gemini with Deep Think officially achieves gold-medal standard at the International Mathematical Olympiad
Our advanced model officially achieved a gold-medal level performance on problems from the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the world’s most prestigious competition for young...Google DeepMind
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defends decision to support military aid for Israel
By MEE staff
Published date: 21 July 2025 21:11 BST
The New York lawmaker voted against an amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene last week that sought to block $500m in Congress' annual defence spending bill for Israel's Iron Dome programme.
Fellow Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar [as well as Democrats Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky - PL] had supported Taylor Greene's amendment, which eventually lost in a 422-6 vote.
In a post on X on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that Greene's amendment did "nothing to cut off offensive aid to Israel nor end the flow of US munitions being used in Gaza".
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defends decision to support military aid for Israel
US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire for defending her decision to support a bill which will see more military aid go to Israel's Iron Dome air defence system.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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Russian troops pound Ukrainian military-industrial sites in overnight strike
Russian troops pound Ukrainian military-industrial sites in overnight strike
According to the latest figures, Kiev loses 1,260 troops along engagement line over past dayTASS
Bypass blocked VPN restrictions
I have recently been finding myself on a network (cellular) that blocks access to VPN. I have tried Wireguard on multiple ports using IVPN and Windscribe with no luck. Similarly tried OpenVPN and IKEv2.
I also tried using Windscribe’s “stealth” protocol and IVPN’s obfuscation protocol but again with no luck.
I refuse to rawdog the internet like that and was hoping to get advice on how to work around that nonsense.
I am on iOS if that matters.
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You can use Tor: orbot.app/
Cheapest way to not be in this situation is to run an exit node on your home network and route your traffic through when you're travelling (dead simple with Tailscale).
Also try Mullvad's circumvention methods.
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Our Reporter Got Into Gaza. He Witnessed a Famine of Israel’s Making.
Our Reporter Got Into Gaza. He Witnessed a Famine of Israel’s Making.
The people of Gaza face starvation under the joint U.S.-Israeli food distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.Afeef Nessouli (The Intercept)
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Who decides our tomorrow? Challenging Silicon Valley’s power
As Silicon Valley’s influence expands, a new belief system is quietly reshaping society. This piece explores how tech elites are redefining power, the risks to human agency, and what it will take to reclaim our collective future
The National Institutes of Health(NIH) Is Capping Research Proposals Because It's Overwhelmed by AI Submissions.
NOT-OD-25-132: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications NOT-OD-25-132. NIHgrants.nih.gov
The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble: The AI bubble is deeply unstable, built on vibes and blind faith, and when I say "the AI bubble," I mean the entirety of the AI trade.
55 min read
Good journalism is making sure that history is actively captured and appropriately described and assessed, and it's accurate to describe things as they currently are as alarming.And I am alarmed.
Alarm is not a state of weakness, or belligerence, or myopia. My concern does not dull my vision, even though it's convenient to frame it as somehow alarmist, like I have some hidden agenda or bias toward doom. I profoundly dislike the financial waste, the environmental destruction, and, fundamentally, I dislike the attempt to gaslight people into swearing fealty to a sickly and frail psuedo-industry where everybody but NVIDIA and consultancies lose money.
I also dislike the fact that I, and others like me, are held to a remarkably different standard to those who paint themselves as "optimists," which typically means "people that agree with what the market wishes were true." Critics are continually badgered, prodded, poked, mocked, and jeered at for not automatically aligning with the idea that generative AI will be this massive industry, constantly having to prove themselves, as if somehow there's something malevolent or craven about criticism, that critics "do this for clicks" or "to be a contrarian."
I don't do anything for clicks. I don't have any stocks or short positions. My agenda is simple: I like writing, it comes to me naturally, I have a podcast, and it is, on some level, my job to try and understand what the tech industry is doing on a day-to-day basis. It is easy to try and dismiss what I say as going against the grain because "AI is big," but I've been railing against bullshit bubbles since 2021 — the anti-remote work push (and the people behind it), the Clubhouse and audio social networks bubble, the NFT bubble, the made-up quiet quitting panic, and I even, though not as clearly as I wished, called that something was up with FTX several months before it imploded.
This isn't "contrarianism." It's the kind of skepticism of power and capital that's necessary to meet these moments, and if it's necessary to dismiss my work because it makes you feel icky inside, get a therapist or see a priest.
Nevertheless, I am alarmed, and while I have said some of these things separately, based on recent developments, I think it's necessary to say why.
In short, I believe the AI bubble is deeply unstable, built on vibes and blind faith, and when I say "the AI bubble," I mean the entirety of the AI trade.
And it's alarmingly simple, too.
But this isn’t going to be saccharine, or whiny, or simply worrisome. I think at this point it’s become a little ridiculous to not see that we’re in a bubble. We’re in a god damn bubble, it is so obvious we’re in a bubble, it’s been so obvious we’re in a bubble, a bubble that seems strong but is actually very weak, with a central point of failure.
I may not be a contrarian, but I am a hater. I hate the waste, the loss, the destruction, the theft, the damage to our planet and the sheer excitement that some executives and writers have that workers may be replaced by AI — and the bald-faced fucking lie that it’s happening, and that generative AI is capable of doing so.
And so I present to you — the Hater’s Guide to the AI bubble, a comprehensive rundown of arguments I have against the current AI boom’s existence. Send it to your friends, your loved ones, or print it out and eat it.
No, this isn’t gonna be a traditional guide, but something you can look at and say “oh that’s why the AI bubble is so bad.” And at this point, I know I’m tired of being gaslit by guys in gingham shirts who desperately want to curry favour with other guys in gingham shirts but who also have PHDs. I’m tired of reading people talk about how we’re “in the era of agents” that don’t fucking work and will never fucking work. I’m tired of hearing about “powerful AI” that is actually crap, and I’m tired of being told the future is here while having the world’s least-useful most-expensive cloud software shoved down my throat.
Look, the generative AI boom is a mirage, it hasn’t got the revenue or the returns or the product efficacy for it to matter, everything you’re seeing is ridiculous and wasteful, and when it all goes tits up I want you to remember that I wrote this and tried to say something.
The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble
Hey! Before we go any further — if you want to support my work, please sign up for the premium version of Where’s Your Ed At, it’s a $7-a-month (or $70-a-year) paid product where every week you get a premium newsletter, all while supporting my free w…Edward Zitron (Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At)
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HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •.emacs
. Well, the configuration language he or she was using is actually Emacs Lisp. There is no border between configuring Emacs by text file, and writing code in Lisp.msherburn33
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to msherburn33 • • •Lisp SBCL vs Racket - Which programs are fastest? (Benchmarks Game)
benchmarksgame-team.pages.debian.netbalsoft
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •This is true for Nix as well.
The two main advantages of Guix are the language (which is well-known and comes with lots of good tooling and other support) and the package bootstrapping.
Shareni
in reply to balsoft • • •The main disadvantages I've faced when trying it a few years ago:
At the time it was a great concept, but essentially useless for anything not Emacs/Haskell related.
balsoft
in reply to Shareni • • •HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to Shareni • • •Yeah. See, drivers are part of the hardware abstraction layer which in a Linux system is the Kernel. The kernel is GPL, so it is hard to get support for hardware with drivers without GPL, it does not conform Linux' license.
I, too, had also nothing but hassle with an NVidia graphics card in Debian. It was a happy day when I finally ditched it for a supported card and had a fully supported system!
The other thing... let's turn the question around. Would you:
If not - why do some people expect equivalent things from free software projects?
Shareni
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •It's a violation that's not enforced, as almost all distros provide proprietary blobs. They balance ideology with usability, since they realised most people aren't going to use a librebooted ThinkPad from the 90s. If everyone enforced libre purism like GNU, desktop Linux would've been completely dead long ago. If you need proof, check usage statistics for any of the free distros.
And did you need to install a modified iso to have WiFi? Did maybe Debian provide those nvidia drivers?
How is any of that relevant? This is not a question of additional software or services, but basic usability. Guixos as is, is for example essentially useless on a laptop unless you're willing to carry an external WiFi card in your pocket.
The only expectation I have for an OS is to work on my devices, guixos does not. And even when I jumped through all of the hoops to get it working, I still needed to use nix to install most packages I need to work. So why would I use guixos+nix+flatpak instead of just running nixos?
List of Free GNU/Linux Distributions - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
www.gnu.orgHaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to Shareni • • •So maybe Guix System is not a good choice for you?
It has top-priority goals like reproducibility, capability to inspect and verify all source code, and providing a fully free system. These specific goals are not compatible with providing nonfree binary blobs in Guix-core. For example, depending on non-free binary blobs will block exactly reconstructing a system years later if these binaries are not available any more. Guix has scientific applications where reproducibility absolutely matters.
Also, I can unterstand if companies are hating it which just want to have a free ride and monetize efforts of other people. But for users, there are many many other options and distributions available. Why not chose one that matches your need better?
Workshop on Reproducible Software Environments for Research and High-Performance Computing - Sciencesconf.org
repro4research.sciencesconf.orgCaptain Beyond
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •This
I use Guix as my "default" distro because I value software-freedom and reproducibility. It fits my needs very well, and I make sure to buy hardware that works with it instead of expecting it to work with whatever I throw at it. For my Windows gaming machine I use PopOS as the replacement OS instead of trying to beat Guix into serving that purpose, because PopOS is better suited for that role, and I have different expectations for it.
It's okay if something doesn't meet your needs, that doesn't make it bad, just means it's not the right thing for you. There's like hundreds of distros for Windows gamers, let us free software zealots have ours too please.
HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to Captain Beyond • • •This is the way. Trying to get unsupported hardware to work under Linux in general is such a useless expense of time. In my experience, it is almost never worth it.
paequ2
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •1,000 times this.
looks at laptops with hidpi displays 👀
Shareni
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •Why get mad about people comparing nix and guix, in a thread comparing nix and guix? Pointing out legitimate disadvantages is not hating. Maybe get off the internet for a bit and touch grass.
So does nix, nobody is forcing you to opt-in into non-free packages. And guix most certainly is compatible with non-free blobs, as that's how most people are using it. The only difference is that nix is supporting non-free packages instead of banning even talking about them.
HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to Shareni • • •~~I am not sure about that one and somewhat doubt there is hard data showing that.~~ The 2024 user survey also shows that a lot of people are using Guix as a package manager on top of another distribution, like Arch or Ubuntu or even NixOS. . If you have hardware that is not directly supported, this fixes the driver problem.
Guix User and Contributor Survey 2024: The Results (part 1) — 2025 — Blog — GNU Guix
guix.gnu.orgpaequ2
in reply to Shareni • • •It's very easy to add additional channels and non-official channels integrate pretty well into everything. I don't really notice if a package comes from an "official" channel or "non-official" channel.
Shareni
in reply to paequ2 • • •a Kendrick fan
in reply to Shareni • • •toys.where-is.social/
Find different channels and substitute servers or create your own
Shareni
in reply to a Kendrick fan • • •Address not found.
Also, it doesn't change the fact you're depending on some random person's repo that is not moderated in any way.
msherburn33
in reply to balsoft • • •I wouldn't call that an advantage for the average person. Nix is far nicer to work with. Some Lispers might disagree, but I, for one, can't exactly see the beauty in trying to turn Scheme into a configuration language with macros and hacks. Also Guix puts Scheme everywhere, things you can do with plain old Bash in Nix, you'll have to all do in Scheme in Guix, so there is a much steeper learning curve.
balsoft
in reply to msherburn33 • • •HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to balsoft • • •Plus, if one compares the full bash man page with an introduction to Scheme - I love the quick introduction into racket with pictures - one can come to the conclusion that Schemes are both a lot simpler and more powerful.
In the end, it is pretty much a matter of taste, previous experience, and practical needs what one prefers.
Quick: An Introduction to Racket with Pictures
docs.racket-lang.orgHaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to msherburn33 • • •Scheme is a minimalistic Lisp dialect, and macros are central in Lisp. For example, they allow for both conditional evaluation ("if" is a macro, or more precisely, a "special form" that is used in other conditionals), and for delayed evaluation at run time, which matches a bit Nix being lazy.
Also, Scheme is designed as a not strictly but mostly functional language, favouring side-effect free functions, which matches well with the declarative task which is package definitions.
bash, in contrary, is not side-effect-free, it modifies its environment, and this is very much not desired in a functional package manager: it is at the core that package declarations are side-effect-free.
And Emacs shows that Lisp written in a declarative style is a superb configuration language. (There is now even a project to use a Scheme, Steel Scheme, to configure helix, a programmers text editor which has many many features stemming from vim!).
Add Steel as an optional plugin system by mattwparas · Pull Request #8675 · helix-editor/helix
GitHubiopq
in reply to msherburn33 • • •msherburn33
in reply to iopq • • •over:
?
HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to msherburn33 • • •Yes, having programmed bash and its predecessors for 30 years and several lisps (Clojure, Racket, Guile, a little SBCL) in the last 15 years, I very much prefer the Scheme version in this place.
Why?
'echo a; rm -rf /etc/*'
.HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •balsoft
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •I agree with your overall point, that having a single consistent functional language for package descriptions and build scripts is a great thing, and that bash is awful, but your reasoning is somewhat flawed. The main drawbacks of bash are somewhat rectified in Nix because bash is very much contained/sandboxed, which prevents arbitrary damage to the system, and there are some nice defaults in stdenv too.
Nix also supports multiple outputs (in fact this is where the concept of outputs in Guix came from)
You could also do that with Nix in an easier and more declarative fashion, either by adding a comment, or by doing this:
Bash is just two double quotes away from doing this too. See code above for an example
Bash also handles Unicode well
Nixpkgs stdenv sets
set -eu
which has a similar effect. If that code fails, the entire build will fail too.This is also really quite easy to rectify in bash, see code above.
iopq
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to iopq • • •balsoft
in reply to msherburn33 • • •iopq
in reply to msherburn33 • • •Matt
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •Drito
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •HaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to Drito • • •Drito
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •samc
in reply to HaraldvonBlauzahn • • •I had a go at using guix as a package manager on top of an existing distro (first an immutable fedora, which went terribly, then OpenSUSE). Gave up for a few reasons:
guix pull
is sloow.All in all I love the idea of guix, but I think it needs a bigger community behind it. Of course I'm part of the problem by walking away, but 🤷
gypsum
Codeberg.orgHaraldvonBlauzahn
in reply to samc • • •This one has beem discussed on several forums discussing the original blog post, like here or also here on lobste.rs
Part of the reason for slow pulls is that the GNU projects savannah server, which Guix was using so far, is not fast, especially with git repos. Luckily, this is already being improved because Guix is moving to codeberg.org, a FOSS nonprofit org which is hosted in Europe. So if one changes the configured server URL, it is faster. (On top of that interested people might use the opportunity to directly take influence, and donate to codeberg so that they can afford even better hardware 😉).
Trying Guix: A Nixer's Impressions
lobste.rs