Thoughts Concerning the Preceding Decade

I intend to start publicly reflecting on the preceding year, at the beginning of the current.  I did
notice the opportunity to reflect on the entire preceding decade, with this first, and so I'll.  The
first half of this preceding decade led to some great changes in my life, along with containing some
of the fondest memories and also the worst experiences of my life yet.  I shouldn't be so optimistic
to believe that the worst is passed, of course.  I'll be keeping my life before recently vague here.

In some time in 2013 or so, I ceased drinking soda, not because of the beverage itself, but to avoid
the corn syrup, preservatives, and other common poison within.  I've in the following years cut many
fast food restaraunts out of my life entirely, for petty reasons, and have continued further cutting
certain foods, ingredients, or poisons out of my life; as of writing, I currently subsist on coffee,
water, and tea for drink, in that order; I try and fail to eat mostly unprocessed produce, but it'll
improve as time passes.  I expect to mostly cut restaraunts out of my life from now on.  I regularly
try to fast and eat less in general, yet this easily leads to unpleasant feelings of weakness.  I do
keep mechanical records of my life, since late 2013, with the original intent to improve my usage of
time, but I've found it has also made me structure my life in a way easier to record, but it's still
generally in my favor, I believe.

In 2014, I started a Lisp group, which I've maintained since.  It's been fun and I've enjoyed having
a community which is, from my perspective, entirely separate from those others, which I also ignored
entirely for years; in 2015 I joined the staff of a forum I'd used before, on its first anniversary.

In 2017, I founded my website and wrote seven articles, including those concerning my favorite ideas
I'm still pursuing.  In 2018, I wrote eleven articles, including successfully breathing life into my
idea of an ideal machine code development tool and also concerning issues with machine text noticed.

In 2019, this last year, I wrote four dozen articles, with a goal of two dozen.  Writing a review on
a monthly cadence greatly helped this be my most productive writing year, yet.  I installed a Gopher
hole, allowing it to later shape the flow of my writing as a nice constraint; a Finger service, with
the same constraint; and a comment system.  I learned the Ada programming language starting in 2018,
and wrote two fine libraries in it.  Enough is never enough to distract me and so I want to do more,
next year.  The remainder of this article will be more general thoughts with a US viewpoint.

I know deeply, this society isn't a safe environment to form many relationships or have children in.

I've seen and read that others find it difficult to focus, with their attention so constantly phone-
wise.  I decided I wouldn't become a victim of this and so don't own a mobile phone nor carry one on
my person, which is useful for avoiding constant surveillance.  I occasionally fear my attention and
ability to think critically and concentrate and whatnot have deteriorated in a similar way, but this
seems unlikely.  The major difference is I pull what I want, when I want, rather than have it pushed
on me, whenever, with the latter being the prevailling model.

I vividly recall, some time in the last half of this preceding decade, the moment I noticed I use my
computer a great deal on average and yet still seem to use one less than a normal person would, when
I observed a man looking at his phone while pumping gas, whereas my laptop was closed in my vehicle.
Not only do I use my machines for creation, but I also take breaks, to put it simply.

I've noticed a regression in English, mostly over 2019.  The most apparent to me are the examples of
needlessly using abbreviations in spoken conversation, such as ``af'', and the several variations on
``is a thing'', rather than ``exists'', the word dedicated to the concept.  Over the decade, the use
of ``like'' has also been harmed, to the point I prefer ``such as'' and other phrases to avoid this,
exemplifying how idiots abusing language robs those capable of using it correctly.  Journalism is in
a poor state, it seems, as I occasionally partake, finding disconcertingly often articles containing
basic spelling and grammar errors, along with unnecessary tangents and other ``cute'' additions; the
authors clearly don't take their jobs seriously, and yet there's so many of them; this lack of being
serious about oneself when in any position of power is a common theme; another disgusting occurrence
is the pronoun insanity, in which fools seek to destroy a fundamental aspect of English, by claiming
it doesn't encompass them properly; this denial of reality is sickening to watch unfold.

The 2010s were a bad decade for entertainment and, primarily, escapism, in my eyes.  I'm not in-tune
with ``popular culture'', but the Internet has brought a good change in that there have been several
news articles written about the breakdown of this silly mechanism; perhaps the idea that millions of
people, even in a single country, can have a singular culture is misguided and untenable, as I think
it's.  I won't mourn the loss of entertainment with country-wide or world-wide appeal.  I'm quite an
insulated observer, primarily partaking of ``indie'' art, and so I've rather not felt the shocks I'm
seeing others bemoan: with how music is supposedly become ever more programmatic; with popular films
and their degenerate messages weaseled in; and with an increasing amount of television series locked
into a particular disservice, in an attempt to force one to pay a company to participate in culture.
The films and other programs generally aren't worth watching, anyway, either being boring or sequels
to previous work, if not merely a remake.

The interference with escapism has mostly been related to the ``culture war''.  I can't quite recall
offhand a single significant cartoon, say, which hasn't had homosexuality or other such filth placed
into it, commonly at the very last episode.  This is part of the subversive effect of this ``culture
war'', as rampant homosexuals don't care whether characters are canonically like them or not, but if
it's inserted even in the last episode, by a completely different team at that point, and even by an
employee who wasn't told to do it, they will cheer this and mock others with it.  They perhaps never
cared about the show, and would do it anyway, but now they do it with a whiff of authority, cheering
another show infiltrated with faggotry before continuing on to the next; this situation is untenable
and another issue which can be related to copyright, as a story can be told for years, team changing
over time, and yet others are prevented from telling their own stories in the same way; the solution
is clearly to avoid any attachment with something not already finished, the traditional method, lest
it be tainted before you in this manner, but for those already with attachment to such, the solution
is to simply ignore what you dislike, as simple as that is.

Tying into entertainment in general, these people tend to disregard their responsibilities as story-
tellers or entertainers, leading to even greater disgust; it's one thing to watch a beloved story be
bastardized and it's another to be mocked by the very cretins responsible for caring so.  Lacking of
noblesse oblige is an increasing issue and this is but one example; the story-tellers have forgotten
their task isn't necessary and they can be replaced, yet they mock their society.

The ``culture war'' has extended beyond cartoons: it has affected comics; videogames; public events;
and, most recently, Free Software, in spite of the insistence that if one merely ignores it, it will
go away.  This preceding decade had Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and many others attacked, with
the intent to remove them from their own work.  I find it obvious the usual subversive agents are at
work here, but I'd rather not mention them and then have the weaponization of the DNS turned against
me and my domain, as it's been turned towards others.  The spooks this time are those trannies vying
for control over the work of others', with a disconcerting amount of success; I suppose it's similar
to colonialism in that a strong group must be beaten by itself, but instead of Great Britain and the
United States, it's hackers and trannies.  For the curious reader wanting to learn more of trannies,
begin by learning about a man with the first name Magnus and the last name Hirschfeld, or first name
John and last name Money.

I've also seen accounts of tranny cabals targeting young and depressed men for conversion, adding to
the subversion these individuals foster; it would be wrong to decry trannies without also mentioning
feminism, that other subversive element also decades old.  Clearly, women also seek more control and
there's a disconcerting trend there with retroactive rulings and clear lies ruling the day, but this
is all obvious and written of in-depth elsewhere.

There are rather obvious attacks on Free Software which have persisted through the preceding decade.
I'm glad to largely be an island in this; corporations have a clear benefit in reducing copyleft and
it's believed by many that trannies and feminism are partially supported by them for the destruction
of social movements they bring.  Most Free Software seems to be hosted on a single website nowadays,
and this is another issue I'm gladly free from.

A marker which seems unique to this decade is the metastasis of the cancer which is all advertising.
There are ever more cameras in public locations and ever more advanced mobile phones on persons, and
this has lead to a panopticon with a disconcerting focus on advertising.  The government purpose for
this is clear, with capitalism leading to greater surveillance than communism ever could.  A foolish
advocate for capitalism could claim this is proof of its superiority, in how it destroys life better
than even communism, but this is all actually due to advances in computing.  The private application
of mobile phone surveillance is mostly concerned with tracking others to sell things they don't need
or want, through placement of beacons in stores, sending inaudible signals so phones can establish a
profile outside of phone usage, and also to tailor public advertisements to the surrounding persons,
along with other disgusting and wasteful practices.  There are gas stations with television screens,
used solely to bombard the user until pumping is completed.  Entire corporations exist to steal time
from people through advertising, even when they take active measures against this.  Anyone believing
capitalism leads to the greatest efficiencies need merely look around to notice this isn't true.  It
should be noted this constant surveillance requires one's possessions to betray, and so is naturally
participatory, showing the harms of proprietary software.  The expansion of surveillance which needs
no participation will catch those remaining, however.  There even exist businesses which require the
use of a mobile phone and are otherwise rather invisible and this is perhaps a taste of requirements
to come for participating in society.

Another application of constant surveillance is going against the ostensible purpose of insurance by
making some people pay more before anything even happens, due to their noticed habits.  Buying candy
or alcohol often may have you paying more; newer automobiles collect and transmit driving habit data
which will probably also be purposed for this; there are also businesses based around collecting DNA
and this will eventually be used to harm the people who paid to have this information collected, but
also those merely related to them, unfortunately.  The United States value automony when profitable;
people have the freedom to give a corporation their DNA and so those of relatives, but teenagers are
ofttimes jailed for taking photographs of themselves, if they're young enough.

Several murderers have been caught because of this growing DNA collection; perhaps odd, I'm inclined
to believe if one gets away with murder for decades, one should be allowed to.  I doubt this will be
the case, however, and instead it will be another layer of the panopticon infrastructure.

A particularly insidious form of advertising is what I deem ``plausibly-deniable advertising''; this
is when a corporation wants to create an association between a product and something the corporation
doesn't have the rights to; rather than legally obtain the rights, a ``meme'' is created which makes
the connection.  The corporation then has an advertisement it need not pay for, and it can't be sued
for copyright infringement, because it can't be proved it was responsible; this form of astroturfing
is another way that copyright primarily benefits those in power.

Changes in common employment include putting up unreasonable job requirements so that foreigners who
are essentially indentured servants can be considered necessary, not responding to an application at
all if it's rejected, and circumventing minimum wage laws by claiming employees aren't.  With ``AI''
being the current craze, there are armies of not-employees ready to step in when automation fails in
a way which can be detected.

The word ``startup'' has become common in the preceding decade, to describe a particularly parasitic
form of business which generally focus on evading laws, responsibility, and even profitability in an
attempt to gain a monopoly.  I agree with the thinking that part of the craze surrounding these such
businesses are really surrounding their successful evasion of employment laws rather than profoundly
stupid business ideas.  These businesses have been responsible for eroding trust, law, and have even
caused human deaths, but there's no shortage of fools to cheer for them and even proclaim the deaths
aren't in vain, as they otherwise would be, because the automated systems improve from it; how truly
disgusting.

Common with these ``startup'' and ``AI'' trends are companies which offer little customer support if
any is offered at all.  The common method for when the corporation locks one out, a common aspect of
monopoly being the ease of discarding bothersome customers, is to publicly cry for help until notice
is given and the issue is resolved easily.  I've read of comparisons with this to the politburo, and
so this is another way capitalism and communism are alike.

I can no longer look upon illusory good times broadcast on television when I deign to watch, without
recognizing it as fake spectacle, ofttimes with a juxtaposition of degeneracy and happiness.

An amusing new occurrence is the attacking of local governments over the Internet leading to loss of
data and interruption of operations; it's rather obvious that modern Western society is based around
a certain level of trust which these local governments require.  I similarly find it amusing when an
infrastructure designed to harm the population and yet which remains unguarded is destroyed, such as
parking meters or camera systems, which reveal that power isn't entirely lost.

I've been called a psychopath recently, for arguing the only purpose of employment is to gain money.
There's seemingly been an increase in vapid people with no purpose to live.  Perhaps souls do exist,
and such people lack them.  Interacting becomes easier when one decides many of these people aren't.
We're constantly told about the horrors of dehumanization, but it works rather well.

I won't mourn the WWW when it dies.  It's been advantageous for there to be few implementations, for
those who control those left, but a protocol can be judged by the number and quality of such.  Maybe
it will die soon, and ports eighty and four hundred and forty-three can return to the minority.  The
WWW also makes ``A/B testing'' simple, which is when users are gaslit with minor changes; encryption
has been forced heavily not for security reasons, which the security certificate model doesn't give,
but to protect the integrity of online advertisements.  It's common for websites to be inaccessible,
because some manner of encryption has failed or a previous algorithm is no longer permitted, leaving
many systems unable to use them.

Russia has been vilified lately, as if it were a Cold War, but I don't believe many truly do believe
Russia has been an issue.  China, however, has actively sought to control foreign corporations along
with other questionable acts and even I wouldn't have an argument against my country seeking to harm
the nation; perhaps Russia has been a red herring, in that people won't believe it has caused issue,
and once that ends will find themselves exhausted towards China, once it's made a proper target; the
canonical populations of the United States and Russia are reasonably similar, but not so with China,
making this more palatable to many.

Surveillance isn't limited to government or large corporations, as there are organized groups making
fun through targeting individuals and mocking them over years; it's easy to see how some deserve it,
yet there's the implicit threat that oneself can become the target, and if not of them then of those
in more common society and for different reasons.  This is another aspect of life which is secure in
a certain level of trust which no longer reasonably exists.

An article on the preceding decade would perhaps be incomplete without mentioning the profound waste
of money in the F-35.  The Ada language, designed for the US Department of Defense, was rather left,
in favor of C++, apparently, in part because those programmers are cheaper.  I've read great things,
concerning the many employed for the supply chain for this waste, though.

This article is clearly not representative and many ideas presented receive entire articles in other
venues.  I've tried and failed to make this brief; many complex thoughts have been reduced to single
sentences and warrant their own articles, which I may later provide.
.