Bonum Certa Men Certa

2023 Will be a Pivotal Year for Techrights

Summary: As we quickly approach the last month of the year, here's a look back at a wonderful year for Techrights (but not for the world in general) and a look at the year ahead

WE recently published the 35,000th blog post and celebrated 16 years.

This long weekend (owing to Thanksgiving) has given plenty of time for reflection and planning. It's not a secret that there are many changes afoot, but overall those are positive changes and they will make this site better. Not just a Web site, but so much more...

In-Depth Investigations



Site migrations are already underway, but it takes time as we still focus on publication of material too (we don't want to halt that). The GitHub/Microsoft series will go on next year; there's plenty of material we're eager to publish. There are several other "big stories" (or series) in the making, but they take time to properly prepare and fact-check. Stay tuned.

Tor, GNUnet, and More



If all goes according to plan, Tor/Onion will be supported next year. IPFS and Gemini have good resilience already and are robust to downtime (with spare nodes and hardware). GNUnet is still being considered. It's a promising project. It seems like Mumble too is gaining adoption (it's mentioned a lot online this year) and at the time of writing there are "514 known IRC networks" of significant size with a third of a million people online (counted across those networks).

Personal Life



As a researcher by training (and profession too; I was a postdoc for a few years) I like to examine the facts for myself and properly assess the evidence rather than blindly rely on what corporate press keeps saying. The media gets a lot of things wrong, but it tends to get away with it.

The way things are looking right now, this post-Brexit economy in a state of pandemic (that many are already in denial of) won't recover any time soon. Maybe there will be an upswing -- however small -- rather than ongoing downturn some time in the next 5 years. Maybe. In the meantime, for a lot of people there's a daily fight over necessities; it's about survival. The national health service (NHS) is under perpetual attacks (aside from privatisation), the press is rapidly collapsing (not many people are still willing to pay for news; some cannot afford such a "luxury"), so we're left with tabloids and oligarchs-owned "news" (sometimes the same as those tabloids).

Then there's the health crisis, aside from mental health crisis.

How Deaths Have Soared This Year (Compared to Pre-COVID-19 Levels)



A topic I typically write about in my personal site is worth echoing here, at least in passing. There's a mortality and morbidity crisis, which many are aware of while the media is suppressing or stonewalling or vainly gaslighting.

The relevant data is available from official (government) sources:

ONS data download

Recent weeks' total deaths in England and Wales:

Recent weeks

These numbers are very high, especially so in recent months.

This affects ALL age groups and has come to the point where some weeks have have more than 2,000 additional deaths compared to the 2015-2019 average (in week 20 it was more than 2,500 higher).

Here's 2022 (the unit in the X grid is week number):

Difference in deaths in 2022: 2022 deaths (England & Wales):  Above 2015-2019 average; Below 2015-2019 average

The high numbers (or very tall vertical bars) are number of deaths higher than pre-COVID-19 average number of deaths (for any given week).

Data: All deaths by week 45 versus pre-COVID-19 average (ODF)

That's just based on the data. No need to argue with the data, unlike interpretations of it. Stay cautious regardless.

With more time spent indoors, and with more time available in general, Techrights will grow and thrive.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Deja vu: Hitler's Birthday, Andreas Tille elected Debian Project Leader again
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Microsoft's 'Lawsuit Diplomacy' (SLAPPs Riding UK Libel Law and Piggybacking UK GDPR, Inapplicable!) Will Only Give a Worse Image to Microsofters (and Microsoft), Give Exposure to Even More Suppressed Facts and Scandals
Microsoft came to dominate some sectors because of (or owing to) crimes; Microsoft won't just go away without some more crimes.
Five (or Three) Years Without Social Control Media
Glyn Moody quit X (Twitter)
Why GNU/Linux is Growing
There's growing interest in GNU/Linux right now because people do not fancy buying a new PC just to 'upgrade' (more spying) Windows
 
Links 20/04/2025: Partly Assorted Scientific and Political Leftovers
Links for the day
Links 20/04/2025: Many Data Breaches and Growing Censorship Wave
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Canadian Elections and "Use the Best Tools You Have for the Current Environment"
Links for the day
Links 20/04/2025: Bleeding Constitution and ChatGPT Infuriates Users Some More
Links for the day
Chinese OEMs (and World's Largest) Pave a Path Out of Microsoft Windows
So Microsoft now values (or prices) Vista 11 at just $140?
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Contradictions of Mark Carney and Blog Questions Challenge
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 19, 2025
Electronics in People's Bedrooms
Modern technology not only blurred the gap between "functions" of rooms
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Contingencies, GTD, and Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: Economic Races, Charm Offensives, and USB-C Rants
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
Links for the day
Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
Links for the day
Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
Links for the day
"Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
Links for the day
Google News is Dying
treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
Links for the day