Bonum Certa Men Certa

Pretending Charlatans and Corporate Imposters

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 20, 2023

Enjoy your croissant and "stock market"

Breakfast With Market Data: Cup of tea and a croissant on a plate on newspaper with market data

THERE is no "simple" or "polite" way to put it. Yesterday we wrote about the GNOME Foundation bringing in as a leader a person who, according to herself, is an "energy healer" ("One-on-one sessions for personal energy clearing and healing"). "One of the largest Linux organisations is now being ran [sic] by someone who believes in magic," someone explained. I cannot disagree*, but I try not to get baited into allegations of "sexism" (it can be spun or framed that way).

How did we, the programmers or coders of the world, let ourselves be oppressed by ruthless businesspeople via marketing charlatans like Jim Zemlin, who cannot even code but try to overcompensate with buzzword name-dropping?

That really needs to 1) be debated openly and 2) change. Remember that the former Red Hat CEO is now shilling Microsoft .NET. He's not a geek, he only pretends to be one, and the late 'Roblimo' (who knew him in person) told me the same many years ago. He's just a sleek businessman.

_______
* The GNOME Foundation's chief is a person whose homepage is an animal's skull (typically satanic rituals), offering to "create rituals and ceremonies to bring the sacred into people’s lives." (Like Marina Abramović)

Holly Million

Probably the work of nepotism or despotism:

My name is Holly Million, and I am a professional shaman, an artist, an herbal medicine maker, and a micro-homesteader. My greatest joy comes from helping people to free themselves and bring their gifts forward for the healing of people and the planet. I have made tremendous progress in my own healing, and more healing is possible. It’s all possible — and without being boxed up and pathologized. Mind, body, and spiritual wellness is a spectrum of function versus dysfunction. We are all healing. And we all can heal. The tools are there. Our brains are neuroplastic. They can heal. We can grow new neural networks. We can change our biochemistry. Life becomes wonderful after being hell. Everything changes. For me, my own high achievement and public persona wallpapered over the tremendous emptiness and suffering inside. I suffered from an undiagnosed auditory processing disorder, PTSD, and a borderline personality — so much shame, self-loathing, and suicidal impulses. So much pain. And I healed myself. Yes, I claim the credit. Many came who helped me along the way. But it was that strong, indomitable, inner spark of motivation to heal that made this possible. I am here as a model of what is possible. And I am here to provide a blueprint, roadmap, and motivation to others ready to start or now within their healing journey. I can say, it’s hard now, but there is a way to heal, repair, and reprogram yourself. You have all the power. Eight years ago, I realized the best word to describe me must be “shaman.” A shaman is a bridge between the material and spiritual worlds, between the seen and unseen worlds. I am now a professional shaman. I am a translator of the esoteric to the personal. I am a bridge between what is mystical and what is practical. I make the shamanic arts relatable and useful for the average person. I serve as a guide and sacred mirror and creator of sacred space to help people transform and transcend the fear and trauma in their lives, releasing what no longer serves, to make space for Beauty, Order, and Love to enter. I am now the Shaman Artist. I want to help others experience their own joy and freedom and to unite with their higher purpose and what brings them happiness and fulfillment. We need all of these gifts to be expressed in this world. You are needed! Here are just some of the things I do: I do energy healing work on behalf of individuals, land, houses, and businesses. I can do this work remotely because everything is connected. We live in a quantum universe. My clients for personal and land clearing are located all over the country. I help people overcome trauma and fear. I have worked successfully with individuals who suffered from recurring nightmares and chronic pain that were resolved through our work together. I create rituals and ceremonies to bring the sacred into people’s lives. I work with children who are sensitives, helping them to learn how to deal with their abilities so they feel empowered and not frightened. I enjoy working with teenagers who are ready to grow and connect with their own power. I train emerging shamans and those who want to bring shamanic techniques into their daily lives for pleasure and empowerment. I am also a practicing herbal medicine maker and love to integrate healing herbs with my shamanic work. I am converting my property in Oakland, CA into a working micro-homestead and herbal farm — Holly Wholly Farm and Sanctuary. The property grows sacred and healing herbs used for shamanic tools and herbal medicine. My products are estate-grown, organic, healing, and spiritual herbs. I sell hand-crafted, homegrown herbal products of my own design. This place is my joy! I am the founder of the Shamanic Arts Institute (SAI), which provides information, training, conferences, and workshops on shamanic topics. SAI offers three levels of a shamanic apprentice program each leading to a certificate. See the Shamanic Arts Institute page on this site for more details. I am planning to write a series of books, two of which are now works in progress. You can find more details on the Books page of this website. Thank you so much for visiting my website! I hope to work with you soon.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust is Eating Linux
That's a recipe for problems
Cindy Cohn (Executive Director of EFF) is a Millionaire, Earned Almost $30,000 Per Month Before Departing While the EFF Lost Money
EFF is "Big Business"
Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
 
Links 06/10/2025: Scientific Awards and Typhoon Matmo
Links for the day
IP Kat Gone Bonkers, Pushing Slop in Patents (Likely Illegal, With Severe Consequences)
AstraZenecaKat: "Last time, this Kat covered some practical steps on how to ensure client confidentiality when using AI tools (IPKat)."
Links 06/10/2025: Grokipedia as Malicious Slop, US 'Martial Law' a "New Normal"
Links for the day
Fake Economics and Clown Computing Circuses
who's gonna pay for these scams?
Nobel Prize in Economics Does Not Exist, It's Propaganda From Sveriges Riksbank
"It is that time of the year when it is important to remind people that there are no Nobel Prizes for professional wrestling, astrology, or economics"
Non-Denying Denial From Microsoft (Again) Regarding the End of XBox Consoles
It's kind of hilarious that even the site chosen by Microsoft to relay its BS, based on past loyalty, isn't quite buying it
Bringing Back Lost Articles From the 1990s: Microsoft Products Leave Door Open to NSA
Nothing has changed since then
When the Slop Bubble Pops People Will Say Richard Stallman Was Right (Again)
What was once known as Computer Science turned into "IT"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 05, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 05, 2025
Links 06/10/2025: Science, Hardware, and Andrej Babis Making a Comeback
Links for the day
Links 05/10/2025: Slow News Day and Wondering About the Canada Post Walkout
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/10/2025: Telnet Debugging and The Programmer’s Brain
Links for the day
More Than "Just a Rumour": XBox Seems to Have Just Died
At this point, why would any studio out there target or partner with XBox?
How to Tell Your Community, Project or Company is Being Infiltrated by Saboteurs
How to identify nefarious social engineering
The Fortieth Birthday of the FSF Made Us Extremely Happy
It feels like the 'hacker community' is regrouping to discuss things and prepare for the next Big Challenge
Chat Control 2 Them, Not 2 U
Follow the advice of Dr. Patrick Breyer
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day