May 2021 – Page 67 – news.buyenne.com

Indigenous forest gardens remain productive and diverse for over a century

Gardens persist for 150 years after those who planted them were removed.

Image of a section of the Pacific Northwest coast.

In the 1930s, an archeologist from the Smithsonian wrote a short paper remarking on the exquisite vegetation around First Nation villages in Alaska. The surroundings were filled with nuts, stone fruit, berries, and herbs—several non-native to the area and many that would never grow together naturally. Apart from this brief mention, however, the significance of these forest gardens went largely overlooked and unrecognized by modern archeology for the next 50-plus years.

In the last decades, archeologists have learned that perennial forest management—the creation and care of long-lived food-bearing shrubs and plants next to forests—was common among the Indigenous societies of North America’s northwestern coast. These forest gardens played a central role in the diet and stability of these cultures in the past, and now a new publication shows that they offer an example of a far more sustainable and biodiverse alternative to conventional agriculture.

In a collaboration with the Tsm’syen and Coast Salish First Nations, this research shows that these gardens have become lasting hotspots of biodiversity, even 150 years after colonists forcibly removed the inhabitants from their villages. In a project combining archeology, botany, and ecology, this work is the first to systematically study the long-term ecological effects of Indigenous peoples’ land use in this region. Beyond the impressive longevity of these gardens, they offer ideas for farming practices that might restore, rather than deplete, local resources to create healthier, more resilient ecosystems.

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Climate change is erasing humanity’s oldest art

Climate change is speeding up the process of erosion, according to a recent study.

color photo of archaeologists examining rock art in a dark cave

The limestone caves and rock shelters of Indonesia's southern Sulawesi island hold the oldest traces of human art and storytelling, dating back more than 40,000 years. Paintings adorn the walls of at least 300 sites in the karst hills of Maros-Pangkep, with more almost certainly waiting to be rediscovered. But archaeologists say humanity's oldest art is crumbling before their very eyes.

"We have recorded rapid loss of hand-sized spall flakes from these ancient art panels over a single season (less than five months)," said archaeologist Rustan Lebe of Makassar's culture heritage department.

Erasing history

The culprit is salt. As water flows through a limestone cave system, it carries minerals from the local bedrock, and the minerals eventually end up in the limestone. At the limestone's surface, those minerals oxidize into a case-hardened rocky crust. Nearly all of the oldest rock art in Maros-Pangkep—like the oldest drawing in the world that depicts an actual object—is painted in red or mulberry-purple pigment on that hard outer layer. The rock is resistant to most weathering, providing a durable canvas for humanity's oldest artwork.

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Project Starline: Google arbeitet an einem 3D-Hologramm-Telefon

Mit hochauflösenden Kameras, 3D-Modellen und einem neuen Display will Google Video-Telefonie so realistisch wie nur irgend möglich machen. (Google I/O, Google)

Today’s best tech deals: Roku media streamers, Apple iPad Air, and more

Dealmaster also has deals on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, SSDs, and LG OLED TVs.

Today's Dealmaster includes a handful of bargains on Roku streaming devices, including the Roku Ultra 4K player and the Roku Streambar 2-in-1 soundbar marked down to $69 and $99, respectively. These are the lowest prices we've tracked for each device. While we continue to recommend Google's Chromecast with Google TV for audiences looking for a less expensive streaming dongle, this should be good value for those who prefer Roku's interface and want either a streaming box with Ethernet and USB connectivity or an all-in-one device that delivers better-than-basic audio alongside 4K and HDR video. Just make sure you don't subscribe to YouTube TV if you're taking the plunge.

Beyond that, our deals roundup also has the lowest price we've seen on the 256GB version of Apple's latest iPad Air, plus deals on a couple of recommended board games, wireless mice, Tile item trackers, and much more. You can check out the full curated list below.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

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Florida water plant compromise came hours after worker visited malicious site

Researchers find watering-hole attack targeting water utilities.

An employee for the city of Oldsmar, Florida, visited a malicious website targeting water utilities just hours before someone broke into the computer system for the city’s water treatment plant and tried to poison drinking water, security firm Dragos said Tuesday.

The website, which belonged to a Florida water utility contractor, had been compromised in late December by hackers who then hosted malicious code that seemed to target water utilities, particularly those in Florida, Dragos researcher Kent Backman wrote in a blog post. More than 1,000 end-user computers visited the site during the 58-day window the site was infected.

One of those visits came on February 5 at 9:49 am Florida time from a computer on a network belonging to the City of Oldsmar. In the evening of the same day, an unknown actor gained unauthorized access to the computer interface used to adjust the chemicals that treat drinking water for the roughly 15,000 residents of the small city about 16 miles northwest of Tampa.

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Google and Samsung merge Wear OS and Tizen into a single platform

Samsung’s first smartwatch ran Google’s Android Wear software. But the following year Samsung switched to using its own software based on the Tizen operating system, which has powered Samsung smartwatches ever since. Now Samsung and Google are combining elements of their wearable operating systems to create what they’re calling a “single, unified platform.” And that’s […]

The post Google and Samsung merge Wear OS and Tizen into a single platform appeared first on Liliputing.

Google and Samsung merge Wear OS and Tizen into a single platform

The post Google and Samsung merge Wear OS and Tizen into a single platform appeared first on Liliputing.

Wear: Google baut Wear OS zusammen mit Samsung um

Google hat sein Smartwatch-Betriebssystem mit Samsungs Tizen kombiniert. Das Ergebnis soll schneller und nutzerfreundlicher sein. (Google I/O 2021, Google)

After Threats to Block Twitter & VPNs, Russia Warns Facebook & YouTube

Following demands that Twitter should remove “prohibited” content or face blocking in Russia, the authorities are warning that if Facebook and YouTube don’t clean up their acts too, they could face similar measures. Those thinking of deploying VPNs to circumvent blocking are also on notice, since the government believes it has the necessary tools to thwart evasive technological action.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

In the United States and much of Europe, the idea that certain content should not appear online is not alien but in Russia, the situation is policed directly by government.

So-called “prohibited content” covers a broad spectrum of material, from pirated movies and TV shows to broadly defined terrorist material, the promotion of illicit drugs, and the abuse of minors. And according to Russian telecoms watchdog Roskomndazor, all of these things and more are made available by users of Twitter.

After Being Punished By Throttling, Twitter Faced Total Blocking

For some time, Roskomndazor has been calling on Twitter to remove “prohibited” content, to ensure that the social media platform complies with Russian law. The telecoms watchdog claimed that it had reported thousands of tweets to Twitter but after the platform failed to remove them, Russia adopted its own punitive measures to bring the company into line.

As a first step back in March, Russia reportedly used Deep Packet Inspection in order to identify and then throttle local Twitter traffic down to just 128kbps. That wasn’t without collateral damage but Russia doubled down by warning that Twitter could find itself blocked completely via court order, if it failed to respond to demands.

Given the mantra that the Internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it, some vowed to turn to VPNs, as they had done in the past when pirate sites and Telegram were blocked. But Russia warned that this wouldn’t help, informing the public that “much had changed” since the country attempted to block Telegram in 2018.

Twitter is Now Cooperating With Russia

In an announcement yesterday, Roskomndazor noted the May 15 deadline it had given Twitter to fall into compliance had come and gone. However, it appears some progress has been made.

On March 10, the day Russia began throttling Twitter, Roskomndazor already had demands on the table for the social platform to remove 4,100 “prohibited” items dating back to 2017. After that date, a further 1,800 new items were posted to the site. By last Saturday, however, Twitter had removed 91% of the contentious content and had signaled willingness to combat the problem moving forward.

“The management of Twitter sent a letter to Roskomnadzor, in which it confirmed that it fully shares the agency’s actions to combat socially dangerous content and will take all necessary measures to remove it,” the regulator says.

“The management of the social network expressed its readiness and interest in building a constructive dialogue with Roskomnadzor. The Twitter administration asked us not to take action to block Twitter, as well as to remove the current restrictions on its work.”

More Work Must Be Done Before Throttling is Completely Removed

After expressing appreciation for Twitter’s cooperation, Roskomnadzor appears to be loosening its grip on Twitter, but that comes with some caveats. In return for Twitter’s efforts, Russia says it will not seek to block Twitter entirely and will remove access restrictions on fixed Internet connections. However, throttling will remain on mobile networks until Twitter complies with all demands.

“[I]n order to completely remove the imposed restrictions on Twitter, it is necessary [for Twitter] to remove all identified prohibited materials, as well as bring the response time to the agency’s requirements into line with Russian standards (no later than 24 hours from the receipt of the request),” Roskomnadzor writes.

But as one problem appears to be nearing its conclusion, others are raising their heads.

Russia Warns YouTube & Facebook Of Similar Action

After apparently bringing Twitter much closer to full compliance, Russia appears keen to expand its reach to other media platforms presenting it with similar problems. According to Roskomndazor, “prohibited” content is also making an appearance on Facebook, YouTube and other “Internet sites” and if they don’t take action, they will face similar measures.

“It should be noted that at present, cases have been identified of posting illegal materials on other Internet sites, including Facebook and YouTube. In the event that these platforms do not take appropriate measures, similar sanctions may be applied to them,” Roskomndazor warns.

While no platform wants to be slowed down, the nature of Twitter means that throttling presents less of a problem than it would to Facebook and YouTube, the latter in particular. Whether Russia would apply the same bandwidth restrictions to these platforms is currently unknown but if that was indeed the case, both could be rendered almost entirely unusable.

At the time of writing there’s no renewed mention of VPN blocking in respect of either of these platforms. However, given that VPN use has the ability to undermine the leverage that Russia holds in ‘negotiations’ with user-generated content sites, it seems likely that the same threats will apply. And according to earlier analysis, it’s at least possible that Russia has the necessary tools to carry them out.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

All fossil fuel exploration needs to end this year, IEA says

Renewable spending needs to double to $4 trillion per year by 2030.

Silhouette Oil Pumps On Field Against Cloudy Sky During Sunset

To limit global warming to 1.5˚C by the end of the century, the world has to deploy clean technologies en masse while slashing investment in new oil, gas, and coal supplies, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.

Getting to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will require a historic deployment of widespread renewable power, electric vehicles, and new technologies, many of which are only now in the prototype stage. To get a jump-start, we’ll need to double our investments in clean technologies to $4 trillion by the end of the decade.

“The pathway to net zero by 2050 is narrow but still achievable if governments act now,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a tweet. Most of the reductions in CO₂ emissions through 2030 will come from technologies already on the market. But in 2050, almost half will come from technologies that are still in development.

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