War is massive organised murder that drastically expands government power and extinguishes freedom.
Treaties should never commit nations to future wars, and should instead help stop them.
War is massive organised murder that drastically expands government power and extinguishes freedom.
Treaties should never commit nations to future wars, and should instead help stop them.
Chatcontrol is unacceptable. That is why I left EU Home Affairs Commissioner, Ylva Johansson, a strongly-worded message:
Here’s the transcript:
Hello Ms. Johansson, I would like to talk to you about the new chatcontrol legislation and how it is absolutely disastrous for everyone in the EU and generally in the world.
The European Union wants to “temporarily” mandate spying on personal conversations in order to “protect children”. By doing this, it is effectively banning end-to-end messaging encryption, allowing potential thieves and murderers to read our conversations. Criminals will always disobey the law, so this [proposal] won’t help. If you begin scanning messages that go through servers held by companies, crime networks will set up their own private servers. Crime is fought through education, freedom to work in ethical industries, and a tough approach to who can immigrate to a country. There is no such thing as a backdoor which can only be used for good, just as is there is no such thing as a temporary mandate. If a state of emergency gives a government extra powers, the government will never want to let go of them, and will keep extending the emergency forever, just as it has done with the Covid epidemic.
You will be held accountable for your actions. Please, Ms. Johansson, don’t enact this law! Don’t encourage your people to enact this law! This is absolutely horrible, this will destroy the creativity of people: they will [become] afraid. Even if the people trust the government now, what if there’s a government that’s completely the opposite, what will they do with this ability? They will persecute people for different beliefs! You have to be careful about any law enacted now even if it’s for supposed good (this law cannot do any good, but nevertheless), imagine if the complete opposite — if a tyrannical dictator — used this law. This law is absolutely horrific and as a concerned citizen I really do not this law to be passed.
I left Executive Vice President for a Europe of the Digital Age, Margrethe Vestager, a similar message.
I also called EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, who hung up seconds after responding, twice. Not something unusual from a corrupt New World Order tyrant who wishes for a universal digital ID (read: social score) and signs secret deals with pharmaceutical companies.
Over the past two years I’ve grown quite unhappy with Apple. The beauty and iconicity of its products are not enough for me to continue supporting the company.
Apple is often applauded for its humane interface design and attention to detail. It often does deserve this praise: one-touch headphone setup and Live Text really are fantastic features that just work. But Apple designs its products this well only when it is financially beneficial. The MacBook’s power brick is deliberately unrepairable: not only does it have no screws, but it is also tied to its power controller by serial number, forcing people to buy a new one if it breaks. The devices that do have screws require uncommon drivers. The charging cable, meanwhile, is meant to last one year and to then biodegrade, “to protect the environment”. What a clown world: a biodegradable cable that only lasts a year cannot be better for the environment than a non-biodegradable one that lasts a lifetime. I will not believe anything that Apple says about the environment until it makes its devices repair-friendly.
Apple products are also almost completely closed-source, which makes it significantly harder to find vulnerabilities and preïnstalled spyware.
Privacy? That’s not iPhone. Apple respects privacy only marginally more than Facebook and Google do. It collects metadata in the background, creates a social graph, communicates with cell networks even in airplane mode, makes a plot of surrounding Wi-Fi networks, offers no easily removable battery, and requires signing up to download software on iOS. The latter is a problem that goes beyond privacy, as Apple can ban individuals from downloading and updating apps.
As a cherry on top, Apple devices are manufactured by slaves in China. Oh, and it also wants us to believe that men can become pregnant.
I will continue using my iPhone XR and MacBook Pro until they break or stop receiving vital software updates — this way I am not harming the environment nor supporting the company. I will, however, soon delete my Apple ID completely, as I have already done with my accounts at Google and other privacy-invading and humanity-disrespecting companies.
Happiness is internal. I literally just decided one day that I was going to be happy for the rest of my life. Since then, happiness is a constant which disappears only for a few minutes at a time in unpleasant situations.
Overall, I think rationally and let the emotions kick in only when I feel they can help. This took lots of practice to achieve.
Writing is a form of thinking, and leads me to find new ways of looking at things.
This means constant structural improvement and word changes — something that’s much easier to do on a computer than with pen and paper.
Being contrarian is valuable: improvement is possible only through questioning current best-practices and trying different approaches.
And if a contrarian’s approach ends up being the best, he will get quite a lot of demand for the little supply he has to offer.
I know of no better way to declare sheepdom than to show a “health pass” to enter McDonald’s:
Ah, Genoa, the city of my childhood. It’s always nice to visit you.
Views when flying in:
Architectural excess:
Homes have black numeration:
Businesses have red numeration. Mayor Bucci, please end this confusing tradition!
Other plaques:
I visited the biosphere for the first time ever, where I met these salmon-red birds:
I gave a different bird a full-on photoshoot:
There also was a nice tree:
On the way to Sanremo, I heard this drunk-sounding railway announcement:
It’s about to be 2022. Whatever. We should not change our actions just because of an arbitrary new beginning.
The changing of years is, however, a great time to look back and reflect.
I did not expect freedoms to erode so much in 2021.
In January 2021, Big Tech deplatformed the sitting President of the United States. In December 2021, it is deplatforming anyone who questions the mainstream narrative on the coronavirus and injection safety, including an inventor of mRNA technology.
The Italian state of emergency has been extended three times just in 2021, with it now being prolonged until April 2022. This is madness since there is no emergency, while the disease is very much treatable. If a government gains extra powers during a state of emergency, it will extend the state of emergency indefinitely.
To enter Italy, a regular Italian citizen like me needs to take a Covid test, fill a form, call the local health service, spend ten days in quarantine and take another Covid test. To enter a museum, one needs to also wear a mask and have a Soylent Green pass. Wealthy non-citizens like Elon Musk are exempt from this tyrannical palaver.
Within just a year, the democratic Italian Republic became less free than the authoritarian state of Russia.
Analysing this nonsense led me to an awakening, the Great Awakening:
Many people who fell for the mainstream lies are subject to Stockholm syndrome and some even to schadenfreude — pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. It’s a hard to shred a narrative when lots of time, money, thoughts, and emotions have been invested into it. I’ll be honest — I fell for the lies myself and only really woke up in July 2021. It’s normal to make mistakes — don’t let them define you. Acknowledge the reality, think critically, and constantly question yourself.
Two years ago I would have migrated to a country which has solved most of the problems present in my current one, to save time. But changing jurisdictions is no longer viable, as all countries are more or less unfree. Those that are still considered somewhat free today will find it easy to become part of the ever-growing unfree club. Try to remain in your country and do everything to save it.
We must do whatever it takes to regain our freedoms. Not only those lost in the last two years, but those lost in the last hundred. The evil masterminds must be arrested in droves — hate them at least as much as they hate you. Until that happens, do not comply with doltish rules and do not finance the turncoats.
Prepare for the worst possible scenarios, whether it’s a market crash, cryptocurrency ban, the invasion of Taiwan, a nuclear or neutron explosion, autonomous drone insects, a fake alien invasion, or something completely unimaginable. It’s a fun activity.
The charming rays of our happy smiles will lead us to victory. Have a happy and successful new year!
I came to Cherkizovo in Moscow Oblast to see the Afinsky-Kostryukov dacha, one of many Russian architectural treasures under threat of demolition. The place was fenced off and hard to access, but I managed to have a pic-free peek.
I did take pictures of some nearby abandoned buildings though: