Not sure how familiar Lemmy is with the game show Only Connect, but I'll try to simplify the rules and adapt them to the limitations of the medium here.

How to Play

1. You will need to find the connection between the 4 clues. The first clue is in the post image, and the remaining three are in spoilers below.
2. You get one guess, and the goal is to use as few clues as possible.
3. Clues are given out one at a time, and you should only reveal the next clue if you cannot make the connection with the clues given so far.
4. Each additional clue reduces the points earned to the value indicated above it. e.g. if you get the answer after the third clue is revealed, you will receive only two points.
5. The later clues are usually easier to reveal the connection with the last clue sometimes being obvious.
6. You are on the honor system to report your score.

The first clue is in the post image and is worth 5 points if you can discern the connection with just that one.

Hopefully this post doesn't earn me a cease and desist from the BBC lol.

Clues

Clue #2 (3 points)

Clue #3 (2 points)

Clue #4 (1 point)

I realize the universal translator is just a hand-wave to avoid the "Aliens Speaking English" trope, but there are at least some basic rules established for it:

When it translates, it will use the closest approximation in the database, it can learn as it hears more of a new language, it's apparently a neural implant (at least with Ferengi), and probably a few more that I'm missing.

Does it keep the original speaker's voice, tone, inflection, and in this case, melody? Does Kira hear Vic singing in perfect Bajoran or is the universal translator belting out Frank Sinatra in Lwaxana's voice? Do the lyrics still make sense with the computer translation?

I very rarely complain about the UT, and I enjoy the Vic Fontaine component, but I just have a hard time combing the two lol.

Sometimes I wish they would have gone with a "standard" language like Space Esperanto that just sounds to the audience like English rather than the UT.

Update: I completely forgot Federation Standard existed, and that's probably the language Vic is using, and Kira is very likely fluent due to her time spent on DS9. It's kind of a retcon since that wasn't mentioned until DIS, but I can live with it.

Putting together a new Linux HTPC build and looking for a 10ft UI WM/DE to use with it. Essentially, it would be a launcher for a few PWAs (Emby, Netflix, etc) as well as Steam and maybe some emulators. Navigation would likely be a wireless keyboard and, if absolutely necessary, mouse (goal is to get a bluetooth remote working and use that, but that's the next phase).

I haven't used Kodi since it was still Xbox Media Center (running on an actual Xbox lol), but would it be a good choice? I used it forever ago as the dashboard for my modded Xbox, and it was great. However, for this, I'd rather not run Kodi, if possible, since Emby already covers those use-cases.

If there's no "dedicated" one, any recommendations for which regular DE might be best modifiable/extendable to work for that purpose?

I'm finishing up DS9 and about to start Voyager, so hopefully will have a few more of these as I watch through.

Just setup a new de-Googled phone and figured I'd share some of the good FOSS apps I'm using. Please feel free to chime in with any you'd recommend (or better options than what I have listed)

• Weather: Breezy Weather. Note that the version in F-Droid is the "freenet" version and only has one source (Open-Meteo I believe). The "standard" release is available on Github and has additional sources like AccuWeather, OpenWeather, etc. Absolutely gorgeous app as well as widgets.
• Maps: Organic Maps What Google Maps should be. Absolutely gorgeous, functional, and works 100% offline.
• Google Play Store: Aurora Store. Sometimes you need an app that's only available in the official Play store. Aurora store lets you download apps without having Play services installed or requiring a Google account. Even if you do have Play services and Play store available, Aurora is just so much more usable since it's not a flaming dumpster fire of "suggestions", "recommendations", and ads.
• Email: K-9 Mail. Basically Thunderbird Mobile. Enough said.
• Calendar: Etar Fast and efficient, syncs easily with my DAVx5 synced calendars from Nextcloud
• Tasks: OpenTasks. Create, edit, update, and complete tasks. Can sync to a CalDAV server via DAVx5.
• Contact/Calendar/Task Sync: DavX5 WebDAV sync utility that I use to sync my calendar, contacts, and tasks from Nextcloud to my phone.
• Matrix: SchildiChat. So much better than Element for Android. Was having constant issues with encryption keys failing to sync in Element that hasn't (yet?) been a problem with SchildiChat.
• Launcher: FastDraw: This is more of a preference, but I really like this launcher for its simplicity and ease of organization. Don't recommend this if you use a lot of widgets as it only supports one at a time (feature, not bug).
• Authenticator: Aegis
• SIP/VOIP: Linphone I really wish the desktop version of Linphone had this kind of polish.
• MPD Client: M.A.L.P Absolutely gorgeous and intuitive MPD client. I pair it with Snapcast to control my whole-house audio.
• Quick Share: Snapdrop/Pairdrop I don't use the app (rather, I have my self-hosted one pinned as a PWA), but this is great for sending one-off files or text between devices.
• Music: Tie between Apollo and Mucke. The default LineageOS (AOSP?) music player is nice, but the phone I setup wasn't supported with LineageOS and didn't have a good music player included. Additionally, those two scale well on the small screen of the device I'm using where others would crop off the controls at varying points.
• Web Apps: NativeAlpha. Uses the Android System WebView to wrap any website into a standalone "app". While most mobile browsers will let you do that with the "Add to home screen" button, only ones with a manifest.json will work as apps; the rest are just shortcuts. Also includes other niceties such as adding adblock, controlling cookies, defaulting to a desktop version, and modifying the user agent string (among other options).

I may not know much about warp theory, but I do know the Nebula Class looks ridiculous.

Imagine the TNG opening but with the Nebula Class Enterprise D zooming across and also the theme is played on a tuba.

Like the title says: when you see "heat rising" (the wavy/blurry area above a heat source), what are you actually seeing?

Bonus question: How does that cast a shadow? I noticed when I was opening my air fryer, I could see the shadow of the heat rising but, looking at the hot basket itself, couldn't see it.

Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested Saturday night by French authorities on allegations that his social media platform was being used for child pornography, drug trafficking and organized crime. The move sparked debate over free speech worldwide from prominent anti-censorship figures including Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy. Jr. ~~and Edward Snowden~~. However, "the immediate freakout came from Russia," reports Politico. "That's because Telegram is widely used by the Russian military for battlefield communications thanks to problems with rolling out its own secure comms system. It's also the primary vehicle for pro-war military bloggers and media -- as well as millions of ordinary Russians." From the report:

"They practically detained the head of communication of the Russian army," Russian military blogger channel Povernutie na Z Voine said in a Telegram statement. The blog site Dva Mayora said that Russian specialists are working on an alternative to Telegram, but that the Russian army's Main Communications Directorate has "not shown any real interest" in getting such a system to Russian troops. The site said Durov's arrest may actually speed up the development of an independent comms system. Alarmed Russian policymakers are calling for Durov's release.

"[Durov's] arrest may have political grounds and be a tool for gaining access to the personal information of Telegram users," the Deputy Speaker of the Russian Duma Vladislav Davankov said in a Telegram statement. "This cannot be allowed. If the French authorities refuse to release Pavel Durov from custody, I propose making every effort to move him to the UAE or the Russian Federation. With his consent, of course." Their worry is that Durov may hand over encryption keys to the French authorities, allowing access to the platform and any communications that users thought was encrypted.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that the arrest of Durov was "in no way a political decision." The Russian embassy has demanded that it get access to Durov, but the Kremlin has so far not issued a statement on the arrest. "Before saying anything, we should wait for the situation to become clearer," said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. However, officials and law enforcement agencies were instructed to clear all their communication from Telegram, the pro-Kremlin channel Baza reported. "Everyone who is used to using the platform for sensitive conversations/conversations should delete those conversations right now and not do it again," Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan said in a Telegram post. "Durov has been shut down to get the keys. And he's going to give them."

Edit: Not sure where the Slashdot summary got "Edward Snowden", but he's not mentioned in any of the links.

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People in a quiet neighborhood in Carthage, a town in Moore County, North Carolina, heard a series of six loud pops a few minutes before 8:00 p.m. on Dec. 3, 2022. A resident named Michael Campbell said he ducked at the sound. Another witness told police they thought they were hearing fireworks. The noise turned out to be someone shooting a rifle at a power substation next door to Campbell's home. The substation, operated by the utility Duke Energy Corp., consists of equipment that converts electricity into different voltages as it's transported to the area and then steered into individual houses. The shots hit the radiator of an electrical transformer, a sensitive piece of technology whose importance would likely be understood only by utility company employees. It began dumping a "vast amount" of oil, according to police reports. A subsequent investigation has pointed to a local right-wing group, one of a wave of attacks or planned attacks on power infrastructure.

By 8:10 the lights in Carthage went out. Minutes later, a security alarm went off at a Duke Energy substation 10 miles away, this one protected from view by large pine trees. When company personnel responded, they found that someone had shot its transformer radiator, too. Police found shell casings on the ground at the site and noticed someone had slashed the tires on nearby service trucks. The substations were designed to support each other, with one capable of maintaining service if the other went down. Knocking out both facilities prevented the company from rerouting power. Police described the two incidents as a coordinated attack. About 45,000 families and businesses remained dark for four days. This was a burden for area grocery stores and local emergency services. One woman, 87-year-old Karin Zoanelli, died in the hours after the shooting when the blackout caused her oxygen machine to stop operating. The North Carolina Medical Examiner's office classified the death as a homicide.

The attack on Duke's facilities in Moore County remains unsolved, but law enforcement officials and other experts suspect it's part of a rising trend of far-right extremists targeting power infrastructure in an attempt to sow chaos. The most ambitious of these saboteurs hope to usher in societal collapse, paving the way for the violent overthrow of the US government, according to researchers who monitor far-right communities.

Damaging the power grid has long been a fixation of right-wing extremists, who have plotted such attacks for many years. They've been getting a boost recently from online venues such as "Terrorgram," a loose network of channels on the social media platform Telegram where users across the globe advocate violent white supremacism. In part, people use Terrorgram to egg one another on -- a viral meme shows a stick figure throwing a Molotov cocktail at electrical equipment. People on the forum have also seized on recent anti-immigration riots in the UK, inciting people there to clash with police. In June 2022, months before the Moore County shootings, users on the forum began offering more practical support in the form of a 261-page document titled "Hard Reset," which includes specific directions on how to use automatic weapons, explosives and mylar balloons to disrupt electricity. One of the document's suggestions is to shoot high-powered firearms at substation transformers.

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