Links 26/11/2023: Fresh Concerns Over North Korea Satellite Ambitions and South China Sea Patrols
Contents
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Leftovers
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Hackaday ☛ Mystery Signal! Are You Ready For Your Mystery Signal?
Like many people [Dan Greenall] spent a lot of time in the 1970s listening to shortwave radio. While you often think of that as a hobby involving listening to broadcast stations, some people like to listen to other communications such as airliners, ships, military, and even spy stations. These days, if you hear a strange signal you are probably only one internet search away from identifying what it is. But back then, you had to depend on word-of-mouth or magazines to figure things like that out. [Dan] found a recording of a mysterious military-like signal he made in 1971 on 14.85 MHz. He decided that maybe now, all these years later, he could finally identify it.
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Reason ☛ Brickbat: Achieve Inner Peace on Your Own Time
The Chicago Board of Education and the David Lynch Foundation have agreed to pay $75,000 each to settle a lawsuit brought by Mariyah Green, a student at Bogan Computer Technical High School, who claims she was forced to participate in religious rituals that violated her Christian beliefs.
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James G ☛ Time Travel
I would contest that we have already invented time travel. In fact, I think we have invented it twice. The first is through air travel, which enables you to wake up in one country and go to sleep in a country across the globe on the same day. The second is through the combination of photography and memory, which takes us back to a moment and allows us to see something resembling the memory in our head; a place. A time.
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NYPost ☛ Dogs destroy cars at Texas dealership, cause up to $350K in damages: video
They’ve gone doggone mad! Two canines have been ripping up vehicles at a Texas auto dealership, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, according to employees.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Plant Fungus Has Been Caught in an Evolutionary Leap
It's developed a taste for the living.
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Science Alert ☛ Common Migraine Preventive Drug May Not Be The Best Choice, Surprising Study Reveals
The price of pain relief.
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Science Alert ☛ There's a Tiny Icon on Your Screen, But Almost Nobody Knows Why
It's time you found out.
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Science Alert ☛ Recurring Supereruption Discovered Near Italy Could Blow Again
A volcanic comeback.
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Hackaday ☛ The Other Kind Of Static Hazard To Your Logic Circuits
We’ve all heard of the dangers of static electricity when dealing with electronics, and we all take the proper precautions when working with static-sensitive components — don’t we? But as much as we fear punching an expensive hole in a chip with an errant spark, electrostatic discharge damage isn’t the only kind of static hazard your digital designs can face.
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Science Alert ☛ Momentous Discovery Shows Neanderthals Could Produce Human-Like Speech
And hear it, too.
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Education
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University of Michigan ☛ Michigan’s struggles on the defensive glass continue in loss to Texas Tech
With just over 14 minutes left in the first half and up five points, Texas Tech forward Warren Washington posted up against graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua.
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Hardware
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Hackaday ☛ A Yamaha DX7 On A USB Dongle
The Yamaha DX7 was released in 1983, with its FM synthesis engine completely revolutionizing the electronic music world at the time. It didn’t come cheap, and still doesn’t today, but we are blessed with emulators that can give us the same sound on a budget. In that vein, [Kevin] decided to whip up a Yamaha DX7 you can carry around in a little USB dongle.
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Hackaday ☛ Turbocharge Your Transient Sensors With Math
If you’ve made a robot or played around with electronics before, you might have used a time-of-flight laser distance sensor before. More modern ones detect not just the first reflection, but analyze subsequent reflections, or reflections that come in from different angles, to infer even more about what they’re looking at. These transient sensors usually aren’t the most accurate thing in the world, but four people from the University of Wisconsin managed to get far more out of one using some clever math. (Video, embedded below.)
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Hackaday ☛ Build Your Own Nanoleaf-Like Hex Lights
Nanoleaf makes a variety of beautiful LED lighting products, with their hexagon tiles particularly popular with gamers and streamers alike. However, they do come at a significant cost, particularly if you want to put together a larger display. [Giovanni Aggiustatutto] decided to build his own version from scratch, with a nice wooden finish to boot.
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Hackaday ☛ Quest 3 VR Headset Can Capture 3D Video (Some Tampering Required)
The Quest 3 VR headset is an impressive piece of hardware. It is also not open; not in the way most of us understand the word. One consequence of this is the inability in general for developers or users to directly access the feed of the two color cameras on the front of the headset. However, [Hugh Hou] shares a method of doing exactly this to capture 3D video on the Quest 3 headset for later playback on different devices.
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Doug Brown ☛ How Apple’s developers reflashed Mac ROMs in the ’90s
After I wrote about the possibility of programmable Mac ROM SIMMs in Quadras a couple of months ago, I suspected that there had been a way for developers at Fashion Company Apple in the 68k Mac era to reflash the ROM in their Macs during development, just like BIOS updates on PCs.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Science Alert ☛ Exercising at The Same Time Each Day May Unlock Hidden Health Benefits
"It's telling your skeletal system it's time to wake up."
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Latvia ☛ Why won't Latvian men go to the doctor?
On November 24, LSM.lv continued its exploration of men's overall poor state of health and premature mortality in Latvia by looking at data on men's doctor-visiting habits and the reasons for reluctance to do so.
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The Straits Times ☛ What we know so far about surging cases of respiratory illnesses in China
Experts say there is little to suggest the cases were caused by a new virus.
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ Top diplomats of US, Japan and South Korea discuss North Korea satellite launch
The diplomats strongly condemned North Korea's satellite launch.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea’s Kim inspects new spy satellite photos of ‘target regions’, US bases
The targets include Seoul and cities that host US military bases.
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NYPost ☛ North Korea’s Kim Jong Un inspects spy satellite photos of ‘major target regions’, US military bases and Pearl Harbor
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected photos taken by the country’s new spy satellite of “major target regions”, including the South Korean capital of Seoul and cities that host US military bases, state media said on Saturday. Nuclear-armed North Korea launched the satellite on Tuesday, but South Korean defense officials and analysts said its...
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The Straits Times ☛ ‘I’m not dead,’ Thai hostage says after ‘miracle’ release in Gaza
He recounted being taken by Hamas, held in tunnels, but not harmed or tortured.
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Defence Web ☛ DoD fraud cases topping a billion Rand under investigation
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) heard from outgoing SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Provost Marshal General, Rear Admiral (JG) Mokgadi Maphoto, there are currently nine corruption and fraud cases, with a total monetary value in excess of R1 billion, at various stages of investigation in the Department of Defence (DoD).
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The Straits Times ☛ Japan and China seeking security talks in near future, says Japan foreign minister
Japan and China are hoping to hold security talks in the near future, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said on Saturday after meeting China's top diplomat Wang Yi in South Korea.
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The Straits Times ☛ Murder ‘out of curiosity’: Woman in South Korea jailed for life for killing, dismembering stranger
She admitted that her curiosity to kill rose from reading and watching shows about murders.
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NYPost ☛ Woman on meth tries to open emergency door to plane 10 hours into Korean Air flight
She had begun showing signs of anxiety about 10 hours into the flight and tried to rip the door open several times before she was finally restrained.
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The Straits Times ☛ Indonesian police and fishers start patrols to stop Rohingya boats
Thousands of Rohingya refugees make sea journeys each year to try to reach Malaysia or Indonesia.
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The Straits Times ☛ Philippines and Australia start sea and air patrols in South China Sea
The Philippines is ramping up efforts to counter what it calls China's "aggressive activities" in the South China Sea.
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RFA ☛ In show of force, US and Japan hold naval drills in Philippine Sea
Three carriers ply waters near where China has been engaged in a rising number of provocations.
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RFA ☛ Activists call for probe into China's 'consular volunteers' network
China recently formalized the use of unofficial personnel by its embassies and consulates, a rights group says.
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YLE ☛ HS: Majority wants to close border if flow of eastern arrivals continues
Some 75 percent of respondents also said they believed Finland could disregard some of its international obligations.
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Environment
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New York Times ☛ Cockroaches and Mountains of Trash Plague Acapulco After Hurricane
Residents complain of rashes and stomach ailments as 666,000 tons of garbage overwhelm the city. Uncollected waste after natural disasters can lead to illnesses, experts said.
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France24 ☛ Climate activists fear surveillance, detention at COP28 talks in UAE
Rights groups are preparing for the COP28 climate talks in the United Arab Emirates with trepidation, fearing surveillance and detention under the oil-rich monarchy's strict criminal justice system.
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Energy/Transportation
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The Straits Times ☛ Manual drilling likely in last stretch to rescue 41 trapped workers in Indian tunnel
Doctors, including psychiatrists, have been at the site to talk to the men and to monitor their health.
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RFERL ☛ Montenegrin Court Approves Extradition Of 'Cryptocurrency King' Do Kwon
A court in Montenegro's capital, Podgorica, has approved the extradition of Do Kwon, a South Korean entrepreneur known as the "Cryptocurrency King" who is wanted in both the United States and South Korea for his alleged role in the loss of investments worth more than $40 billion.
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H2 View ☛ Samsung Engineering to start FEED on 150,000-tonne Malaysian green hydrogen project
South Korea’s Samsung Engineering is set to carry out front-end engineering design (FEED) work for a 150,000 tonne-per-year green hydrogen project in Sarawak, Malaysia.
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YLE ☛ Bidding error sends Friday's spot price down to -50 cents per kWh
The electricity spot price in Finland will plummet to -50 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) at 3pm.
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Finance
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The Straits Times ☛ More young Indonesians learning Mandarin for job opportunities amid closer ties with China
Children taking up Chinese language classes are mostly ethnic Chinese Indonesians.
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RFA ☛ China media talk up economic environment to shore up FDI
But experts doubt foreign investment in China until economic structure adjustments are made.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Defence Web ☛ UPDF delegation on benchmarking visit to Algerian Military Museum
Those tasked with making a national military museum a reality in Uganda appear to be committed with last year’s visit to South Africa followed up with another, this time to Algeria. A UPDF (Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces) statement has it the November week-long visit to the Algerian Military Museum (Musem de l’Armee) in the capital,
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China to trial visa-free travel for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Malaysian, Dutch travellers
China is to trial visa-free entry for French, German, Italian, Spanish, Malaysian, and Dutch travellers from December, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning announced on Friday. Ordinary passport holders from the six European countries may travel or do business in China without a visa for 15 days. The trial will continue until November 30, 2024.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2 University of Hong Kong students jailed over mourning death of man who stabbed police seek to appeal sentence
Two former university student leaders who were convicted over mourning a man who stabbed a police officer before taking his own life in July 2021 have filed to appeal against their two-year sentences.
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Meduza ☛ St. Petersburg’s Judicial Qualification Board finds no ethical violations in judge’s behavior in Sasha Skochilenko case — Meduza
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Breach Media ☛ In stunning pre-dawn raids, Toronto police ‘terrorize’ Palestine activists
After operation that policing expert say may have cost 'seven figures', Toronto police pursuing hate-crime charges against activists who postered Indigo [...]
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Press Gazette ☛ Dyson ‘offered to settle’ Mirror libel claim but was ‘forced’ to trial
Dyson told the court he had offered to settle the case with an apology and correction.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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JURIST ☛ Amnesty International: abortion rights defenders face stigmatization and unjust prosecutions
Amnesty International released a report on Friday urging authorities to protect abortion rights defenders, including healthcare workers, more effectively. The group interviewed 48 abortion rights defenders globally and found that these defenders have experienced increasing difficulty in their work as they have been subject to stigmatization and unjust prosecutions.
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JURIST ☛ South Korea appellate court orders Japan to compensate former victims of Japanese occupation sexual slavery
The Seoul High Court rendered a decision on Thursday that ordered the Japanese government to compensate each of the former “comfort women” who initially brought a lawsuit in the Seoul Central District Court in 2016, according to South Korean news source KBS.
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Digital Music News ☛ Sean Diddy Combs Faces Two New Lawsuits Alleging Sexual Assault; Musician Aaron Hall Also Accused (Updated)
Only a week after settling a sexual assault lawsuit with ex-partner Casandra Ventura, aka Cassie, Sean Diddy Combs is facing two new lawsuits for sexual assault and revenge porn. Combs’ representatives say, “Combs is an easy target for anonymous accusers who lie without conscience or consequence for financial benefit.”
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BIA Net ☛ Release of 28 prisoners from 13 prisons delayed
"The concept of 'good conduct,' directly affecting the right to personal freedom and security, is left to the arbitrary approaches of prison boards," said lawyer Binbir while announcing a new report on prisoners whose releases were postponed due to disciplinary penalties in 13 prisons.
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The Straits Times ☛ Egypt gets list from Hamas of 14 hostages to be released on Saturday: Security sources
Egypt has received a list from Palestinian militant group Hamas of 14 hostages to be released on Saturday, security sources said.
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Bruce Schneier ☛ Chocolate Swiss Army Knife
It’s realistic looking. If I drop it in a bin with my keys and wallet, will the TSA confiscate it?
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Monopolies
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Patents
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JUVE ☛ German start-up triumphs over Chinese competitor with Rospatt Osten Pross [Ed: Is this ad, spam, or what?]
Founded by students in 2014, the Munich-based company Workaround is better known under the brand name ProGlove. The company sells wearable barcode scanners. Manufacturers worldwide use these as part of the Internet of Things in logistics and industrial manufacturing – for example in the automotive industry.
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Why Is Daryl Hall Suing John Oates? Here’s What We Know About the Surprising Lawsuit
“Say It Isn’t So” – over 50 years after the formation of Hall & Oates, Daryl Hall is officially suing John Oates. Here’s what we know about the legal battle.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Boo! (see also: "Re: What Dystopia?")
But that's prelude to my opinion of the answer to your question, which is: flogging itself is part of the monster's strategy to re-assert/re-confirm its alleged existence.
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sunny and cold
It's below freezing here, again, has been for the last week, probably will be for the next four or five months. And something about today's breakfast - Saturday, so, bacon and eggs, toast, hash browns - is reminding me of the summer of 2016, when we did a trip around Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England. One morning in Dalkey we wandered into town, had a full breakfast, including beans, white and black pudding. My partner doesn't like any of these, so we finangled a trade. I gave her my bacon and sausages, took her pudding and beans.
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What's in a name?
G'day ~bartender, just a cactus juice from the film *Rango* for me. Oh, you've actually got one of those? Brilliant. I was only half joking, but I've always been curious what they taste like.
Figured I'd explain the name, *eatallyourdarlings*. Maybe some of you can relate to the sentiment behind it.
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Technology and Free Software
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Internet/Gemini
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Saturday link roundup: November 25, 2023
These are a little scattered because I just tossed some links here over the last couple weeks and then forgot about them. lol.
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What Would I Wish On Them, Anyway?
Just saw the above skeet in my Bluesky feed and it got me thinking to a conversation I had with my therapist late last year. About what I hoped for the person who hurt me the worst, years ago. And I need to be clear, I'm not generally a grudge-holding person. If you've hurt me, it's almost certainly fine; it's in the past, I've moved on. But looking back over my life, there are two exceptions. A couple of people have really hurt me in a lasting and meaningful way. And I got thinking about the above quote in that context. Would I wish anything on them?
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Software Releases/Announcements
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Announcing Offpunk 2.0
I’m happy to announce the release, last week, of Offpunk 2.0.
Offpunk is an offline-first command-line browser/RSS reader. You control it by typing command and it maintains a cache of all the networked resources to allow you to access them offline indefinitely.
If a non-cached resource is tentatively accessed, the URL is marked as to be fetched later. Running periodically "offpunk --sync" will fetch those resources and add them to your "tour" to remind you that you wanted to access it.
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Programming and Games
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1x1: an e-zine of solo games
1x1 (pronounced "one by one") is a one-off e-zine dedicated to solo gaming, playable without computers. I am particularly interested in games not commercially manufactured but I do enjoy some solo rules variants of commercial board games. And I have a love of games playable with standard items like a regular card deck, pen and paper, dice, and dominos. While I do also enjoy the occasional solo rules variants of commercial games, particularly fan-made ones, there are many other places to find that kind of thing online.
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Gimme a language I can hang my post on!
It hit me I really ought to finally be done with "set autoindent" in the .vimrc. I think it's there because I used to write a lot more code, and thought I might return to that in a bigger way any day now. But that's clearly never going to happen.
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.