Dos a Dos

The United States has closed its embassy in Brasília and its consulates across Brazil, suspending all consular services citing security concerns. The announcement, reported by Estadão, leaves visa applicants and US citizens in Brazil without local assistance for now, and no reopening date has been given. Brazilians with scheduled appointments are left unsure about next steps, and many are questioning what prompted the sudden decision.

A Hacker News discussion thread asks who still runs DOS machines that their business genuinely depends on. The prompt invites stories of legacy computing: factories, labs, or offices keeping decades-old MS-DOS or PC DOS systems alive because critical software or hardware was never ported to modern platforms. Commenters typically share examples of industrial controllers, embedded equipment, and the challenges of maintaining obsolete hardware, with debate over why such systems persist and how risky they are.

Authorities in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas have launched a preventive operation ahead of a forecast of heavy rains and thunderstorms expected from Thursday through the weekend. Officials across the Dos Laredos region, including Webb County in Texas, are on flood watch as the storms are expected to bring an end to recent extreme heat. Residents are being urged to stay alert.

A new chapter of the Spanish-language literary serial 'Hijos de la Pólvora' has been published, titled 'Perros Viejos' (Old Dogs). Chapter six describes two old enemies meeting again after six winters apart, with a brass star and a violent past of gunpowder and blood, ending in three gunshots. Readers of Spanish-language online fiction are sharing and discussing the instalment.

The US Defense Department, under the Defense Secretary, has announced a plan to provide military protection for electoral systems ahead of November's elections, aiming to prevent foreign interference threats. Brazilian outlets such as Veja and Gazeta do Povo are covering the Pentagon's move, which frames foreign meddling in the upcoming vote as a national security threat requiring defense involvement.

A new note-taking app called TurboNotes is drawing attention among developers. It stores notes locally in Markdown, features a Turbo Pascal-inspired interface reminiscent of 1980s DOS programming tools, and can save work directly to GitHub. Users are discussing the appeal of local-first software that avoids lock-in and the nostalgia of its retro design.

UnoDOS, a small open-source DOS-style operating system published on GitHub by user hmofet, is drawing attention among retro-computing hobbyists on Hacker News. Discussion is light so far, with the project sitting in the mid-ranks of the front page. It is being shared as a curiosity for fans of minimal, single-purpose operating systems and classic microcomputer software.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission brought samples of asteroid Bennu back to Earth, and analyses show the space rock contains material from both the inner and outer reaches of the Solar System. Researchers describe Bennu as a kind of 'Frankenstein' asteroid, assembled from fragments with very different origins, offering new clues about how the Solar System formed.

A Spanish-language fiction excerpt is circulating in which the narrator explains he does not drive: at 18 he saw Vicki at the wheel and felt useless, and since then he prefers to wait for her at the bus stop with two hot coffees, one decaffeinated. The piece, published on a fiction-sharing platform, is being shared and read by literature fans.

An artwork titled 'Dos a Dos' is circulating among art enthusiasts online, tagged under art and artwork categories alongside hashtags like dosnu and photoxyde. The piece appears to be a photographic or stylized work, and it is drawing attention from art communities discussing new creative pieces.