Bonum Certa Men Certa

Life Will Never Be the Same Again

City stock photo



Summary: It seems probable that month after month things will deteriorate further (hunger, conflicts, partisanship) and even though Free software remains the most accessible technology for impoverished and frugal people we may have to face greater perils than 'software wars'

THE PANDEMIC was "long time coming" and probably inevitable; history shows that it happens in cycles -- like economic collapses -- and high-density populations are harmed the most (or proportionally). It might be nature's way of 'balancing' itself; it has not been "long in the making" (nobody made it; no need to), it's just "long time coming..."



Please kindly ignore people who claim Bill Gates started it; Gates does not control China and assuming it started somewhere in China, it's no different than many old plagues (some started in the US, some in Europe, several in China too). It's not a "Fake alarm" or "False flag" or whatever, either; Russia and nations that are EU/US-hostile take this very seriously too, based on their own experts. They don't even need WHO to lecture them about the severity and evidence to which they're direct eyewitnesses (like high death rates among patients in overcrowded hospitals) is enough to alarm them.

"Please kindly ignore people who claim Bill Gates started it..."I won't comment on COVID-19 as it's way outside my area of expertise (and unlike Bill Gates I'm not pretending to be an expert, either). I wrote about why it's unlikely to be a biological weapon (no nation benefits from it, not even China which relies on endless consumption, upon which manufacturing is dependent).

I am rather pissed off (to be brutally honest) seeing some people who link to Techrights claiming that it 'proves' Bill Gates is a paedophile (we never made such a claim and anyone who somehow infers/concludes that has a severe case of dishonesty or lacks reading comprehension skills). There's extensive evidence, however, including admission from Gates himself, that he closely associated -- for years -- with people whom he knew were large-scale, serial, practicing paedophiles. These details do matter as otherwise our adversaries can seek to discredit factual reporting, based on deliberate distortions of what we wrote and very carefully published.

People are stuck home, watching stupid YouTube channels (to pass time), losing their sanity without even realising it...

For me, personally, almost nothing has changed because my wife and I have worked from home for well over a decade and I still do my nighttime job from the same old workstations. The main difference, to us at least, is that we no longer travel to places and we cannot go to the gym. Instead we work out from home.

"Financially speaking, for a lot of people these are unbelievably scary times."That said, everybody I speak to has experienced very profound changes. Some lost their job, some work at very limited capacity or temporarily lost their job, not even knowing if that job will ever resume at all.

Financially speaking, for a lot of people these are unbelievably scary times. They never saw that coming. Some already worry they'd get kicked out of the place they call "home" (mortgage or rent payments) if they formally lost their job; finding a new job is almost impossible at this moment as face-to-face interviews are rare and difficult, not to mention public and private transport restrictions (still in place in London for instance).

I recently heard some gossip about GNU/Linux news sites and various Free software companies; it seems like they're mostly OK and judging by some recent reports, Free software is actually surging in popularity right now.

Life Will Never Be the Same Again... if you work for a proprietary software vendor. Uber has just announced (privately) thousands of layoffs, talking to its newly-canned employees about it over the Internet (and not even in person). All that 'digital-only' vision isn't meant to last after the outbreak. People still need to do manual tasks; this is particularly true for warehouse workers of Amazon and couriers that actually ship the stuff. High-profile Amazon staff quits in protest, Amazon employees blow the whistle en masses, and Jeff Bezos is coming under greater fire each day (there's a new scandal today).

"Expect some crazy times ahead, maybe even a war (we hope not)."In some particular aspects, this may be the demise of internationalism (especially as far as shipping and travel are concerned). As we said earlier this week, there's no "back to normal"; society will never go back to the same old normal. Now is the time to introspect, to adapt, to learn new things. Tell that to the Saudis and Gulf states whose economy was almost solely dependent on fossil fuels (and whose gamble on the airline 'industry' was a misguided one -- a deeply-linked contingency tied to oil). Few people have paid attention to news about the US Army withdrawing from some Saudis territories along with Patriot [sic] missiles and the latest big scandal is an FBI 'leak' of a Saudi official connection to the 9/11 attacks -- details long suppressed by both the Obama and Trump administrations.

Expect some crazy times ahead, maybe even a war (we hope not). The real unemployment rates are now officially worse than during the Great Depression, but the corporate media intentionally distracts from that (more on that in our latest Daily Links). There's growing debate about the next pandemic phases and the likely food crises which those phases entail. And no, Mr. Gates, Monsanto (now Bayer) won't save us with their 'foods' (patented seeds and cancer-causing pesticides) any more than Bayer's predecessors 'saved' people during the last major war (using chemicals and lethal gases).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
 
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025