#global windows bug

[s0lace-1n-s0l1tude]

Well,we did end up getting our bug of 2000 after all

With 24 years of delay

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[phantomrose96]

At this point, after this has happened a dozen times, why the hell is anyone pushing any update that wide that fast. They didn't try 10 nearby computers first? Didn't do zone by zone? Someone needs to be turbo fired for this and a law needs to get written.

The "this has happened a dozen times" really isn't correct. This one is unprecedented.

But yes the "how the hell could it go THAT bad?" is the thing everyone with even a little software experience is spinning over. Because it is very easy to write code with a bug. But that's why you test aggressively, and you roll out cautiously - with MORE aggressive testing and MORE cautious rollout the more widely-impacting your rollout would be.

And this is from my perspective in product software, where my most catastrophic failure could break a product, not global systems.

Anti-malware products like Crowdstrike are highly-privileged, as in they have elevated trust and access to parts of the system that most programs wouldn't usually have - which is something that makes extremely thorough smoke-testing of the product way MORE important than anything I've ever touched. It has kernel access. This kind of thing needs testing out the wazoo.

I can mostly understand the errors that crop up where like, an extremely old machine on an extremely esoteric operating system gets bricked because the test radius didn't include that kind of configuration. But all of Windows?

All of Windows, with a mass rollout to all production users, including governments?

There had to be layers upon layers of failures here. Especially given how huge Crowdstrike is. And I really want to know what their post-mortem analysis ends up being because for right now I cannot fathom how you end up with an oversight this large.

[wandasaura]

i decided to be nice and not individually send every thought i’ve had in the last hour, you’re welcome babygirl.

reader:

- getting a drunken tattoo during the mommy and daddy don’t know they went out request

- wrecking (minorly) with daddy on the bike

- getting high asf and causing mischief w/ yelena while mommy and daddy are out and them coming home to absolute chaos

- run away reader run away ready run away reader

- car breaks down on the what was it? 40 minute drive? to westview from campus in the middle of the hottest summer ever, thanks global warming

- breaking something in the house or something along those lines and losing her shit because her real mother would kill her for something like that

- slipping while running around the pool after mommy has literally punished her for doing that previously. hurts herself, could break something, cries like a baby while wanda just sighs with her hands on her hips with that “i told you so look” until she can’t stand not holding babygirl

- someone gets sick (hurt/comfort) or baby gets sick and get literally everyone sick, rip squad

- mommy and daddy finally realize how few actual meals reader eats and institutes the sticker chart to earn stickers and eventually a super special treat

- mommy and daddy make reader get life360 or an airtag attached to her after running away so much

- 👹

i was waiting to answer this until i finished what i needed to do. but okay let me ponder all of this:

— r would get a henna with monica and be absolutely distraught when she wakes up the next morning and there’s a mini palm tree on her hip bone. it would take natasha literally holding her down on the bed to get her to see it’s literally only temporary

— never going to happen, absolutely not. if natasha has even the slightest bad feeling she’s calling wanda to come pick you up. she’s a reckless driver, but after her accident she’s reluctant to even get on the bike but she knows that you adore it so she does it for you. she’s not willing to risk your safety even if she knows that logically nothing would’ve happened had she kept you on with her

— after the first time you get high yelena offers to show you an actual good time, more so you stop associating weed to ill practically greening out lol. she makes you wait half an hour between hits, slaps your thigh when you take a hit too hard/deep. she’s a total mother hen which is funny considering she’s the most chaotic person you know. when you’re high enough, you and her try and make wandas cookie recipe bc you’re properly suffering from the munchies and guess who walks in right as you drop flour all over the floor… wanda and natasha who had been out at a business dinner that you’d willingly elected not to attend. you practically fling yourself at natasha and giggle about how wanda’s face is as red as her hair.

— she accidentally knocks a certificate off the wall when she tries to open up the window in natasha’s office. it’s only a small crack in the frame, but her mind sends her back to a place where any minor infraction was punishable. she’s an inconsolable wreck when natasha gets home but it’s reassured that it’s only a frame and it can be fixed.

— no because r would eat absolute shit and wanda doesn’t know whether to rush over and assess the damage or reprimand her for once again running next to the pool, but when he notices the blood that’s slowly tainting the pavement she’s at your side in minutes trying to calm you down

— the little bug gets a bug and she’s down bad. it’s only a day before natasha gets sick too, and wandas the last man standing. she never thought having two girlfriends would become having two whiny and clingy toddlers but alas she’s found herself in a position that’s not at all dissimilar. you’re clinging to her whenever she’s around and natasha’s whining for kisses despite turning her head away everytime wanda tries to give her one. “don’t kiss me, you’ll get sick too” and wanda just rolls her eyes because natasha’s fever is so high there’s no doubt she’ll forget by time she’s better. you and natasha get better and a week later wanda is sick… which nobody wants

— they compromise and let her have coconut shrimp and literally nothing else for dinner because apparently that’s “the only thing that i’m going to eat, my brain has been demanding it all day”

— no because i think it would come into play when natasha has to leave for another business trip! she’s suggests the life360 so you know where she is and that she’s safe if she can’t text back right away… and it does come in handy when you inevitably take off again

it is fucking brutal trying to type in the rain

[horsegamergirl]

Updated January 30th 2025

Known Issues:

The second Star (collection) event at Aideen's Plaza is still active even if the player has already collected it before - affects all players, all platforms

Red squirrel, black squireel and white Mistfall chipmunk are deformed - affects all players, all platforms

Lisa missing during "Aideen's song at first light" for some players - affects some players, all platforms

The app version for the Ardennes can't change the mane style - affects all players, all platforms

Some players are not receiving all lore books during Soul Riding - affects all players, all platforms

Horses without a special trick may get stuck if the space bar is pressed while standing still - affects all players, desktop only

The hotkey to interact with objects in-game ("E") sometimes appears in the sky. If the player presses "E" while this prompt is visible, they are teleported back to their home stable and become stuck - affects all players, desktop only

------------------

Fixed issues January 27th-31st

Players can now interact with Linda in her room to start the quests related to "Catherine's Memories."

Players can now interact with Anne to complete the quest "Riding Out".

Horse consumables and other items can now be used via drag-and-drop as intended.

Smoothed out uneven terrain around Forgotten Fields to prevent players from getting stuck.

Items crafted in Farah's Workshop no longer incorrectly display the "bandages" icon in the final pop up message.

Non-heavy horses now correctly play hoof sounds when landing from a rear.

The 4th Star in Valedale can now be collected.

The "Hide My Hat" (only to me) pop up no longer appears on login when the setting is already checked.

Players are no longer teleported back to the hair salon at the Silverglade Manor after using a different hair salon in another area.

The music during Jorvik Dressage mastery now stops playing once the race is completed.

Collision issues on the horse transports have been resolved, preventing players from getting stuck.

Global chat now remains enabled after travelling from different spaces.

The high-score window now correctly displays the competition list on mobile.

The Friesian and Friesian Sporthorse (Gen 3) now correctly play sound during the rear animation.

Bolt (Gen 3) now correctly plays sound during reverse and rear animation.

Resolved an issue where walking pets would randomly jump back into the saddle bag.

Fixed an issue where one of the hidden glyphs was incorrectly positioned underground in Hollow Woods.

[mindcool25]

Crowdstrike did an oopsie that has effected every windows system their software was installed on, making it BSOD. The current fix for it requires booting to safe mode and deleting a specific file that will remove the updated software, which will then be replaced with the new one on next startup. Many things are going to be down today, and don't expect to be able to fly for a bit, as most airline companies are effected by the bug as well. Sources:

https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-outage-crowdstrike-global-it-probems/

[inside0ut-dotnet]

Ready, Set, Pride! Last Minute Celebration Ideas

With only 24 hours left until Pride Month kicks off, it's time to start planning how you're going to celebrate with your fabulous love bugs! Are you hitting up a major pride celebration in a city near you, hosting a virtual pride event, or just keeping it low key with your partner or friends? Whatever your plans may be, get ready to show your pride and spread the love!

Join the Parade or Party

If you're lucky enough to live near a city hosting a major pride celebration, why not join the parade or party? Put on your brightest rainbow outfit, grab some glitter, and get ready to dance the day away with your LGBTQ+ community. It's a time to be loud, proud, and unapologetically yourself!

Mid South Pride (May 2-June 2) in Memphis, Tennessee: A huge celebration including Memphis Pride Fest Weekend, a Drag N Drive event, a Big Gay Dance Party, and a Pride Parade.

Gay Days at Disney World (May 30-June 3) in Orlando, Florida: Over 150,000 LGBTQ+ Disney fans attend this annual event at the Magic Kingdom, featuring parties, a Gay Days Expo, Bear pool parties, and special guest performers.

Provincetown Pride (May 31-June 2) in Provincetown, Massachusetts: Enjoy a Pride festival, Queer Comedy showcase, Feet Over Front Street Pride 5K, and more. This year, there’s also “Reimagining Queer Africa” with art, technology, and outreach from Lagos, Nigeria.

New York City Pride (June 30) in New York, New York: The largest Pride Parade in North America, drawing thousands of participants and spectators in Greenwich Village.

Washington, D.C. Capital Pride (June 8-9): Events throughout the month, including a Night of Queer Expression and a rooftop pool party.

Twin Cities Pride Festival (June 28) in Minnesota: Minnesota’s second-largest festival, featuring LGBTQIA+ entertainment, vendors, and community resources. These events celebrate our collective queer joy, honor LGBTQ+ activists, and provide safe spaces for everyone to express their queerness and sexuality. 🌈✨

Host a Virtual Pride Event

Can't make it to a physical pride celebration? No problem! Host a virtual pride event with your friends and loved ones. Get creative with rainbow-themed decorations, plan some fun activities or games, and don't forget to blast some empowering LGBTQ+ anthems. It's a great way to show your pride from the comfort of your own home!

Pride Summit 2024 by Lesbians Who Tech and Allies:

Date: June 11th - 13th

Description: A week-long virtual summit with thought-provoking discussions, learning experiences, and professional development opportunities.  Speakers include tech luminaries and cultural leaders like Gabrielle Union and Sam Altman.

WorkPride 2024:

Date: June 17th - 21st

Description: A global virtual Pride conference focused on workplace equality. It’s free for professionals, graduates, and inclusive employers.

Brooklyn Pride Virtual Drag Bingo:

Date: June 4th

Remember to check out these events and celebrate Pride Month! 🌈

Keep it Low Key

Not in the mood for a big celebration? That's totally okay! Pride Month is all about celebrating love and acceptance in whatever way feels right for you. Whether you're spending a quiet evening with your partner, having a small gathering with friends, or simply reflecting on what pride means to you, there's no wrong way to celebrate.

Pride Month is a wonderful time to celebrate the beautiful spectrum of gender and sexuality while advocating for equality and justice in the LGBTQ+ community. Here are thoughtful and meaningful ways to celebrate Pride Month at home:

Decorate with LGBTQ+ Art and Decor:

Refresh your home’s interior design by proudly hanging a rainbow flag in your front yard or windows. You can also support LGBTQ+ interior designers by incorporating their art and decor into your living spaces.

Create an Outdoor Cinema:

Set up an outdoor movie night in your backyard or balcony. Choose LGBTQ+ films or documentaries that resonate with you. Invite friends or family (virtually, if needed) to share the experience.

Design a Reading Nook:

Curate a cozy reading corner with books by LGBTQ+ authors. Dive into their stories and explore diverse perspectives. It’s a great way to celebrate Pride while enjoying some quiet time.

Get Creative in the Kitchen:

Use your culinary skills to make festive creations. Bake rainbow-themed cookies, cupcakes, or a colorful cake. Share your delicious treats with loved ones or enjoy them yourself.

So, tell us, how are you planning to celebrate Pride Month this year? No matter how you choose to show your pride, remember that love is love and you are valid, fabulous, and deserving of all the happiness in the world. Happy Pride Month, love bugs!

[skyboxeye]

Creating a runtime texture mod for Earthworm Jim 3D

In this post I'll share my struggles and successes with Special K and other wrapper tools in my attempts to prevent Jim's shadow from rendering. I'm running the GOG version of the game on Windows 10 with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070.

Running EWJ 3D with Special K

Special K is the self-appointed "Swiss Army Knife" of PC gaming in that it does "a bit of everything". In our case, this means texture modding and windowing fixes for EWJ 3D. Special K also offers upconversion of EWJ's DirectX 7 rendering calls via a DgVoodoo plugin.

Local versus global installation

We'll be using version 25.1.3.1, since (at the time of writing) subsequent releases contain input bugs impacting EWJ 3D.

Although the docs promote purely "local" Special K installations as an alternative to "global" injection performed through the Special K frontend UI, I couldn't get this working for EWJ.

I did however manage it by "converting" (a misnomer since installations created this way are actually partially global, and partially local) a global install to a local one - achieveable by holding Ctrl and Shift while click the Play button inside Special K's frontend.

This approach allows you to maintain per-game DLL and CONF files; you may prefer it if you're running other games with Special K. However I'll use a global installation throughout this guide, for simplicity.

Issues when customizing EWJ 3D's resolution via its menus

The game boots to an options menu which allows you to, among other things, change your display options: 1.) Color depth and 2.) Resolution. These settings will not persist unless we run the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP*, or thereabouts.

Oddly this menu wants to display at 640x480 no matter what resolution is selected. That is, EWJ only transitions to that resolution once it properly starts. This is typically harmless but seems to break Special K's injection of the game's process, resulting in the loss of Special K's on-screen display and possibly other things.

*This has the downside of requiring EWJ to be run as an administrator - which doesn't cooperate well with Special K, unless of course Special K frontend is also run as administrator (I don't recommend this). This is a possible motivation for running a "converted" local install, as that approach (along with purely local installs) does not require the Special K frontend.

Solution: Forcing EWJ 3D's resolution via DgVoodoo

To avoid this confounding resolution change, we can force EWJ to always run at our chosen resolution (example: 1920x1080) via DgVoodoo. First, set up DgVoodoo as a Special K plugin. Then, modify your CONF file in a text editor or via the control panel:

[DirectX] Resolution = h:1920, v:1080

This means we don't need to rely on Windows XP compability mode to both run the game in our desired resolution and reliably inject Special K. That's good news, as I (anecdotally) found EWJ crashes more often when in compability mode.

Other mandatory DgVoodoo configurations

Be sure to set the following options as well:

[GeneralExt] PresentationModel = flip_discard FullscreenAttributes = Fake

Dumping textures

Launch the game via Special K's frontend. Don't forget to insert an EWJ 3D disc before starting the game!

Thanks to our DgVoodoo setup, you should be able to edit the resolution and color depth in the options menu without losing Special K's injection. Once the game starts, open the overlay and click into Render Mod Tools.

You'll notice that for some reason, no assets are listed under Used Textures. This can apparently result from intrusive overlays, but I have a feeling that something else is going on. Highlight Selected Texture doesn't work either - presumably for the same reason.

Anyway, you'll find that you're still able to switch over to All Textures, and click Refresh, to see what the game has loaded. Find the texture you're looking to modify, make note of its format details, and click Dump Texture to Disk.

Editing textures

If you've been following this guide you'll find the DDS files inside a directory like <Special K path>\Profiles\Earthworm Jim 3D\SK_Res\dump\textures\EarthwormJim3D.exe. I tried two editing tools: Intel Texture Works (ITW) and Paint.NET. ITW doesn't Paint.NET offers support for a wide variety of formats but sadly doesn't seem to understand mipmaps.

There is also Nvidia Texture Tools Exporter (NTTE) for saving/compressing, but not editing.

If no single tool offers all of the features you need, you can combine them - for example we can edit a BC2 texture in ITW, export it to BC3, and then re-encode it as a BC2 using NTTE.

Injecting textures

Move your edited textures into <Special K path>\Profiles\Earthworm Jim 3D\SK_Res\inject\textures\EarthwormJim3D.exe and click Reload All Injected Textures. Or, restart the game.

Appendix 1: Other texture injectors?

See if we can use another texture modding tool, such as uMod or TexMod, alongside standalone DgVoodoo* upconversion of DirectX 7 -> DirectX 11 (I couldn't find any that did DirectX 7 -> DirectX 9). Other API wrappers, namely DXWrapper and WineD3D, did not perform well:

DXWrapper boots but there are severe graphical issues. I tried customizing every available option for D7->D9 in dxwrapper.ini. All did nothing or crashed the game.

WineD3D crashed unless I combined with DxWnd. After which it was very slow, and did not work besides.

Appendix 2: Modifying game data?

Instead of injecting altered textures at runtime, we can try to modify the textures.dat archive which EWJ loads from.

Appendix 3: Other Stuff

We might also need DxWnd to improve windowing - we'll see. Might be able to set hotkeys via uMod templates s.t. we don't need to visit its window at all.

There is a successor for uMod build for Guild Wars call gMod. Presumably it would have the same problem of requiring D9.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

#20yrsago Donate to EFF, send a lump of coal to MPAA and RIAA https://web.archive.org/web/20041218015602/http://www.downhillbattle.org/coal/

116 #20yrsago 65MB of vintage random numbers from 1965 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1418.html

#15yrsago Spite Houses, built to piss off the neighbors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spite_house#

#15yrsago Bug powder causes male bedbugs to stab each other to death with their penises https://www.medindia.net/news/bedbugs-may-be-on-way-out-with-new-discovery-62273-1.htm

#15yrsago Installing Windows considered as a literary genre https://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012008.html#012008

#15yrsago Montage of magic “photo enhancement” in cop shows and movies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxq9yj2pVWk

#10yrsago No charges for Japanese man who dumped a quarter-ton of porn in a park https://web.archive.org/web/20141225092617/https://www.afp.com/en/node/2965441/

#10yrsago The strange history of Disney’s cyber-psychedelic “Computers Are People Too” https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-disney-was-hustled-into-making-the-trippiest-movie-about-computers-ever/

#10yrsago HOWTO cut paper snowflakes in the likeness of Nobel physics prizewinners https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/december-2014/deck-the-halls-with-nobel-physicists

#5yrsago Insulin prices doubled between 2012 and 2016 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/12/09/insulin-prices-double-ohio-lawmakers-looking-answers/2629115001/

#5yrsago Sloppy security mistakes in smart conferencing gear allows hackers to spy on board rooms, steal presentations https://www.wired.com/story/dten-video-conferencing-vulnerabilities/

#5yrsago Bernie Sanders is the only leading Democrat who hasn’t taken money from billionaires https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-knocks-rivals-for-taking-donations-from-billionaires/

#5yrsago Privacy activists spent a day on Capitol Hill scanning faces to prove that scanning faces should be banned https://fightfortheftr.medium.com/we-scanned-thousands-of-faces-in-dc-today-to-show-why-facial-recognition-surveillance-should-be-3360958a76f1

#5yrsago Foxconn wants Wisconsin to keep paying it billions, but it won’t disclose what kind of factory it will build https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/13/21020885/foxconn-wisconsin-deal-renegotiate-tax-subsidy-lcd-factory-plant

#5yrsago Citing the Panama Papers, Elizabeth Warren proposes sweeping anti-financial secrecy rules https://medium.com/@teamwarren/my-plan-to-fight-global-financial-corruption-b66492583129

[lemontasiafanfiction]

Bugged Out Chapter Five

Swing And a Miss

The sun was sinking behind the jagged skyline of Queens, smearing the horizon with streaks of amber and purple, as Tony Stark hovered mid-air in the Iron Man suit, staring down at a row of brownstones and chain-link fences. His HUD flickered with information—heat signatures, nearby police scanners, the faint glow of a pizza oven in a corner shop three blocks away. He sighed, resting his chin on his hand as he floated, bored out of his mind.

“So, let me get this straight,” he said aloud, the AI in his suit catching every word. “I’m flying around in a billion-dollar suit, burning jet fuel like it’s going out of style, and all for what? To find some scrappy vigilante who can’t even afford proper spandex?”

The suit’s AI, a polished and professional female voice—Tony had named her FRIDAY—responded in a tone that managed to sound both sympathetic and mildly sarcastic. “Shall I remind you that this mission was handed to you directly by Director Fury? He’s the one who—”

“Yeah, yeah, Fury’s whole ‘global security’ spiel,” Tony interrupted, throwing up his hands as if he were gesturing to an invisible audience. “It’s just—come on, FRIDAY. This Spider-Man guy is supposed to be running around everywhere, swinging from buildings like a wannabe Tarzan, and yet I’ve spent three nights looking for him and what do I have to show for it? A sore back and the privilege of inhaling Queens smog. Fantastic.”

“You’ve also identified three hotspots for mugging activity and assisted in resolving two break-ins,” FRIDAY noted, her tone just shy of reproachful. “Not a complete waste of time.”

Tony smirked. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll add ‘small-time crime consultant’ to my resume.”

He kicked on the thrusters and shot higher into the sky, surveying the city below. The rooftops were empty save for the occasional stray cat or a flicker of light from someone’s TV. The city felt… normal. It buzzed with the usual chaos—traffic jams, people yelling from stoops, someone playing terrible jazz on a saxophone from an open window—but there was no sign of Spider-Man.

Tony had read the reports. Spider-Man had been seen swinging through Queens, stopping muggers, carjackers, and other bottom-feeders, leaving them tied up with some kind of weird webbing that the NYPD was still trying to scrape off lampposts. Fury’s folder said Spider-Man was strong, fast, and agile, the kind of guy who could leap across rooftops and vanish into an alley before anyone got a good look at him.

Read more if you dare... Bugged Out - Chapter 5 - Lemontasia - Spider-Man - All Media Types [Archive of Our Own]

[posttexasstressdisorder]

CrowdStruck

By Edward Zitron • 19 Jul 2024 View in browser

Soundtrack: EL-P - Tasmanian Pain Coaster (feat. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Cedric Bixler-Zavala)

When I first began writing this newsletter, I didn't really have a goal, or a "theme," or anything that could neatly characterize what I was going to write about other than that I was on the computer and that I was typing words.

As it grew, I wrote the Rot Economy, and the Shareholder Supremacy, and many other pieces that speak to a larger problem in the tech industry — a complete misalignment in the incentives of most of the major tech companies, which have become less about building new technologies and selling them to people and more about capturing monopolies and gearing organizations to extract things through them.

Every problem you see is a result of a tech industry — from the people funding the earliest startups to the trillion-dollar juggernauts that dominate our lives — that is no longer focused on the creation of technology with a purpose, and organizations driven toward a purpose. Everything is about expressing growth, about showing how you will dominate an industry rather than serve it, about providing metrics that speak to the paradoxical notion that you'll grow forever without any consideration of how you'll live forever. Legacies are now subordinate to monopolies, current customers are subordinate to new customers, and "products" are considered a means to introduce a customer to a form of parasite designed to punish the user for even considering moving to competitor.

What's happened today with Crowdstrike is completely unprecedented (and I'll get to why shortly), and on the scale of the much-feared Y2K bug that threatened to ground the entirety of the world's computer-based infrastructure once the Year 2000 began.

You'll note that I didn't write "over-hyped" or anything dismissive of Y2K's scale, because Y2K was a huge, society-threatening calamity waiting to happen, and said calamity was averted through a remarkable, $500 billion industrial effort that took a decade to manifest because the seriousness of such a significant single point of failure would have likely crippled governments, banks and airlines. 

People laughed when nothing happened on January 1 2000, assuming that all that money and time had been wasted, rather than being grateful that an infrastructural weakness was taken seriously, that a single point of failure was identified, and that a crisis was averted by investing in stopping bad stuff happening before it does.

As we speak, millions — or even hundreds of millions — of different Windows-based computers are now stuck in a doom-loop, repeatedly showing users the famed "Blue Screen of Death" thanks to a single point of failure in a company called Crowdstrike, the developer of a globally-adopted cyber-security product designed, ironically, to prevent the kinds of disruption that we’ve witnessed today. And for reasons we’ll get to shortly, this nightmare is going to drag on for several days (if not weeks) to come.

The product — called Crowdstrike Falcon Sensor — is an EDR system (which stands for Endpoint Detection and Response). If you aren’t a security professional and your eyes have glazed over, I’ll keep this brief. An EDR system is designed to identify hacking attempts, remediate them, and prevent them. They’re big, sophisticated, and complicated products, and they do a lot of things that’s hard to build with the standard tools available to Windows developers.

And so, to make Falcon Sensor work, Crowdstrike had to build its own kernel driver. Now, kernel drivers operate at the lowest level of the computer. They have the highest possible permissions, but they operate with the fewest amount of guardrails. If you’ve ever built your own computer — or you remember what computers were like in the dark days of Windows 98 — you know that a single faulty kernel driver can wreak havoc on the stability of your system. 

The problem here is that Crowdstrike pushed out an evidently broken kernel driver that locked whatever system that installed it in a permanent boot loop. The system would start loading Windows, encounter a fatal error, and reboot. And reboot. Again and again. It, in essence, rendered those machines useless. 

It's convenient to blame Crowdstrike here, and perhaps that's fair. This should not have happened. On a basic level, whenever you write (or update) a kernel driver, you need to know it’s actually robust and won’t shit the bed immediately. Regrettably, Crowdstrike seemingly borrowed Boeing’s approach to quality control, except instead of building planes where the doors fly off at the most inopportune times (specifically, when you’re cruising at 35,000ft), it released a piece of software that blew up the transportation and banking sectors, to name just a few.  

It created a global IT outage that has grounded flights and broken banking services. It took down the BBC’s flagship kids TV channel, infuriating parents across the British Isles, as well as Sky News, which, when it was able to resume live broadcasts, was forced to do so without graphics. In essence, it was forced back to the 1950s — giving it an aesthetic that matches the politics of its owner, Rupert Murdoch. By no means is this an exhaustive list of those affected, either. 

The scale and disruption caused by this incident is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Previous incidents — particularly rival ransomware outbreaks, like Wannacry — simply can’t compare to this, especially when we’re looking at the disruption and the sheer scale of the problem. 

Still, if your day was ruined by this outage, at least spare a thought for those who’ll have to actually fix it. Because those machines affected are now locked in a perpetual boot loop, it’s not like Crowdstrike can release a software patch and call it a day. Undoing this update requires some users to have to individually go to each computer, loading up safe mode (a limited version of Windows with most non-essential software and drivers disabled), and manually removing the faulty code. And if you’ve encrypted your computer, that process gets a lot harder. Servers running on cloud services like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure — you know, the way most of the internet's infrastructure works — require an entirely separate series of actions.

If you’re on a small IT team and you’re supporting hundreds of workstations across several far-flung locations — which isn’t unusual, especially in sectors like retail and social care — you’re especially fucked. Say goodbye to your weekend. Your evenings. Say goodbye to your spouse and kids. You won’t be seeing them for a while. Your life will be driving from site to site, applying the fix and moving on. Forget about sleeping in your own bed, or eating a meal that wasn’t bought from a fast food restaurant. Good luck, godspeed, and God bless. I do not envy you. 

The significance of this failure — which isn't a breach, by the way, and in many respects is far worse, at least in the disruption caused — is not in its damage to individual users, but to the amount of technical infrastructure that runs on Windows, and that so much of our global infrastructure relies on automated enterprise software that, when it goes wrong, breaks everything. 

It isn't about the number of computers, but the amount of them that underpin things like the security checkpoints or systems that run airlines, or at banks, or hospitals, all running as much automated software as possible so that costs can be kept down.

The problem here is systemic — that there is a company that the majority of people affected by this outage had no idea existed until today that Microsoft trusted to the extent that they were able to push an update that broke the back of a huge chunk of the world's digital infrastructure. 

Microsoft, as a company, instead of building the kind of rigorous security protocols that would, say, rigorously test something that connects to what seems to be a huge proportion of Windows computers. Microsoft, in particular, really screwed up here. As pointed out by Wired, the company vets and cryptographically signs all kernel drivers — which is sensible and good, because kernel drivers have an incredible amount of access, and thus can be used to inflict serious harm — with this testing process usually taking several weeks. 

How then did this slip through its fingers? For this to have happened, two companies needed to screw up epically. And boy, they did. 

What we're seeing today isn't just a major fuckup, but the first of what will be many systematic failures — some small, some potentially larger — that are the natural byproduct of the growth-at-all-costs ecosystem where any attempt to save money by outsourcing major systems is one that simply must be taken to please the shareholder.

The problem with the digitization of society — or, more specifically, the automation of once-manual tasks — is that it introduces a single point of failure. Or, rather, multiple single points of failure. Our world, our lifestyle and our economy, is dependent on automation and computerization, with these systems, in turn, dependent on other systems to work. And if one of those systems breaks, the effects ricochet outwards, like ripples when you cast a rock into a lake. 

Today’s Crowdstrike cock-up is just the latest example of this, but it isn’t the only one. Remember the SolarWinds hack in 2020, when Russian state-linked hackers gained access to an estimated 18,000 companies and public sector organizations — including NATO, the European Parliament, the US Treasury Department, and the UK’s National Health Service — by compromising just one service — SolarWinds Orion? 

Remember when Okta — a company that makes software that handles authentication for a bunch of websites, governments, and businesses — got hacked in 2023, and then lied about the scale of the breach? And then do you remember how those hackers leapfrogged from Okta to a bunch of other companies, most notably Cloudflare, which provides CDN and DDOS protection services for pretty much the entire internet?

That whole John Donne quote — “No man is an island” — is especially true when we’re talking about tech, because when you scratch beneath the surface, every system that looks like it’s independent is actually heavily, heavily dependent on services and software provided by a very small number of companies, many of whom are not particularly good.     

This is as much a cultural failing as it is a technological one, the result of management geared toward value extraction — building systems that build monopolies by attaching themselves to other monopolies. Crowdstrike went public in 2019, and immediately popped on its first day of trading thanks to Wall Street's appreciation of Crowdstrike moving away from a focused approach to serving large enterprise clients, building products for small and medium-sized businesses by selling through channel partners — in effect outsourcing both product sales and the relationship with a client that would tailor a business' solution to a particular need.

Crowdstrike's culture also appears to fucking suck. A recent Glassdoor entry referred to Crowdstrike as "great tech [with] terrible culture" with no work life balance, with "leadership that does not care about employee well being." Another from June claimed that Crowdstrike was "changing culture for the street,” with KPIs (as in metrics related to your “success” at the company) “driving behavior more than building relationships” with a serious lack of experience in the public sector in senior management. Others complain of micromanagement, with one claiming that “management is the biggest issue,” with managers “ask[ing] way too much of you…and it doesn’t matter if you do what they ask since they’re not even around to check on you,” and another saying that “management are arrogant” and need to “stop lying to the market on product capability.”

While I can’t say for sure, I’d imagine an organization with such powerful signs of growth-at-all-costs thinking — a place where you “have to get used to the pressure” that’s a “clique that you’re not in”  — likely isn’t giving its quality assurance teams the time and space to make sure that there aren’t any Kaiju-level security threats baked into an update. And that assumes it actually has a significant QA team in-house, and hasn’t just (as with many companies) outsourced the work to a “bodyshop” like Wipro or Infosys or Tata. 

And don’t think I’m letting Microsoft off the hook, either. Assuming the kernel driver testing roles are still being done in-house, do you think that these testers — who have likely seen their friends laid off at a time when the company was highly profitable, and denied raises when their well-fed CEO took home hundreds of millions of dollars for doing a job he’s eminenly bad at — are motivated to do their best work? 

And this is the culture that’s poisoned almost the entirety of Silicon Valley. What we’re seeing is the societal cost of moving fast and breaking things, of Marc Andreessen considering “risk management the enemy,” of hiring and firing tens of thousands of people to please Wall Street, of seeking as many possible ways to make as much money as possible to show shareholders that you’ll grow, even if doing so means growing at a pace that makes it impossible to sustain organizational and cultural stability. When you aren’t intentional in the people you hire, the people you fire, the things you build and the way that they’re deployed, you’re going to lose the people that understand the problems they’re solving, and thus lack the organizational ability to understand the ways that they might be solved in the future. 

This is dangerous, and also a dark warning for the future. Do you think that Facebook, or Microsoft, or Google — all of whom have laid off over 10,000 people in the last year — have done so in a conscientious way that means that the people left understand how their systems run and their inherent issues? Do you think that the management-types obsessed with the unsustainable AI boom are investing heavily in making sure their organizations are rigorously protected against, say, one bad line of code? Do they even know who wrote the code of their current systems? Is that person still there? If not, is that person at least contracted to make sure that something nuanced about the system in question isn’t mistakenly removed? 

They’re not. They’re not there anymore. Only a few months ago Google laid off 200 employees from the core of its organization, outsourcing their roles to Mexico and India in a cost-cutting measure the quarter after the company made over $23 billion in profit. Silicon Valley — and big tech writ large — is not built to protect against situations like the one we’re seeing today,because their culture is cancerous. It valuesrowth at all costs, with no respect for the human capital that empowers organizations or the value of building rigorous, quality-focused products.

This is just the beginning. Big tech is in the throes of perdition, teetering over the edge of the abyss, finally paying the harsh cost of building systems as fast as possible. This isn’t simply moving fast or breaking things, but doing so without any regard for the speed at which you’re doing so and firing the people that broke them, the people who know what’s broken, and possibly the people that know how to fix them.

And it’s not just tech! Boeing — a company I’ve already shat on in this post, and one I’ll likely return to in future newsletters, largely because it exemplifies the short-sightedness of today’s managerial class — has, over the past 20 years or so, span off huge parts of the company (parts that, at one point, were vitally important) into separate companies, laid off thousands of employees at a time, and outsourced software dev work to $9-an-hour bodyshop engineers. It hollowed itself out until there was nothing left. 

And tell me, knowing what you know about Boeing today, would you rather get into a 737 Max or an Airbus A320neo? Enough said. 

As these organizations push their engineers harder, said engineers will turn to AI-generated code, poisoning codebases with insecure and buggy code as companies shed staff to keep up with Wall Street’s demands in ways that I’m not sure people are capable of understanding. The companies that run the critical parts of our digital lives do not invest in maintenance or infrastructure with the intentionality that’s required to prevent the kinds of massive systemic failures you see today, and I need you all to be ready for this to happen again.

This is the cost of the Rot Economy — systems used by billions of people held up by flimsy cultures and brittle infrastructure maintained with the diligence of an absentee parent. This is the cost of arrogance, of rewarding managerial malpractice, of promoting speed over safety and profit over people. 

Every single major tech organization should see today as a wakeup call — a time to reevaluate the fundamental infrastructure behind every single tech stack. 

What I fear is that they’ll simply see it as someone else’s problem - which is exactly how we got here in the first place. 

[leehopehocarat]

You make my World Freeze 💙✨💫🫂

Chapter 1 | Mr. & Mrs. Tastebuds

When one of your names is said in conversation, a beaming smile is sure to follow on each of your faces...

You and Han Jisung are best friends, soulmates, the literal Ying to each other's Yang.

But could you be more than that.....

Synopsis: Sarice had moved to Korea to continue to pursue an education at one of the best Universities there. Like any other day, she walks into the local cafe to get her regular "unique" order. When it turns out, it's not just unique to you, but to The 4th Gen Ace himself, Han Jisung; who just so happened to be standing next to her taking his order at the same time as you. From there a friendship bloomed, but other feelings trickled in that may put a thorn in her relationship with him.

Sarice and Han Jisung

When one of their names are said by the other, or by someone else in conversation, a smile that beams brighter than actual light itself appears on each of their faces.

~~

I had moved to Korea years ago to start university and begin pursuing an education in Korean History and language. Growing up in a place like NYC, discovering new cultures was a norm. But my love for learning and my naturally inquistive nature led me to being fascinated with details about any culture, and what made it unique.

So I decided after gaining a degree in Anthropology, it was time to go global. And Korea was number 1 on my list.

Now, I have been a fan of K Pop since 2NE1. CL stole my heart and I wouldn't even attempt to try to get it back from her. Then there was Shinee, Big Bang, Girls Generation, 4 Minute...... the list goes on!

As of today, my Ult Groups are Stray Kids, BTS, Ateez, and Seventeen. I found each of these groups in times in my life where I truly felt it was destiny for me to find them when I did. And for that reason, they all hold special places in my heart.

~~

It was almost the end of my first year in uni. I was honestly expecting myself to struggle a lot, but I managed to pass my classes enough to keep my A- average!

I had gotten an earlier than usual start to my day to make sure I had a bit of extra time to just sit and chill at my new found favorite cafe. It's also conveniently a block away from campus, so it's a win win for me.

I walk inside the cafe and get hit with lavender, cinnamon, and ground coffee in my nostrils. I never get tired of feeling like I'm stepping into a quaint cottage with those scents in the air. Brick walls, stained cedar wood tile floors with matching tables and chairs, and an endless rotation of tropical plants. The cafe screams comfort corner, and it's why it's become my favorite.

I make my way to the cashier and am greeted by Lisa, who always somehow manages to be the one to be at the register when I come in the cafe and place my order. But I ain't complaining, cause I swear she put's magic in the Hazelnut Cold Brews when I order them. She's around my height (5'10"), an asymmetrical bob cut with a shego green color dye, and a slim built. She has a sweet and genuine smile, cause she really loves her job and it shows.

As if by a freak accident, as I'm telling my order to Lisa, a deep but soft voice says word for word my exact same order. It legit took me a moment to realize that my voice wasn't doubled but that there was someone next to me placing their order at the same time I was.

I stare bug eyed at Lisa and I was legit frozen. My social cues went out the window as my anxiety started kicking in. Lisa flashed a reassuring smile and gently motioned her head to the side, signaling for me to turn and look at whoever it was next to me. I took a shuddered deep breathe, and slowly turned to the left to get a look at who apparently, has the same taste in food as me. It was a man. Chocolate brown frays of hair were peeking out from under a black beanie. Black/Brown boba eyes that shined like the reflection of light off a creek in spring time. Cheeks that just made me want to pinch them, they were round and looked so soft (I didn't by the way, even though I REALLY wanted to). He wore an oversized, baggy, black distressed shirt, paired with baggy, flared bottom jeans, and chunky platform converse. My eyes made their way back up to his face, and I realized who I was standing in front of.

Han FUCKING Jisung!

1/3 of 3racha, the production, rapline and Ace of Stray Kids.

I was internally screaming!!

I didn't realize how zoned out I was until a small, deep toned chuckle left his lips.

"I-I I'm sorry. I-I just didn't t-think someone would have the same taste in coffee as me." I somehow manage to get those words out my lips, and I'm mentally slapping myself on the forehead for my stupid stuttering. My eyes went straight to the floor that I wish would just swallow me up at this point.

"Well......" He says with a pause. My head shoots up to see him looking at me with the warmest smile. "That just means we have superior taste buds." He had such a reassuring look in his eyes, that it melted away any bit of embarrasment that was settling in my body. With that, a small smile appears on my face.

"Well Mr. Superior Taste Buds......" I reach my hand over to grab my order from off the counter, that was actually sitting there ready for a few minutes already. "I have a bit of time to spare and would love to hear your take on food, care to join me?" My smile widens and I give him a wink. I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE FUCK THE WINK CAME FROM, BUT A BITCH WAS BEING BOLD THAT DAY.

His eyebrows shoot up and his eyes slightly widen at my sudden showing of boldness. He was quite impressed and deep down inside thankful that she made the first move, cause his heart was RACING.

A small smirk comes across his face. Keeping eye contact with me, he reaches his hand out to pick up his order from the counter. "That would be nice, Mrs. Superior Taste Buds." He winks back at me and puts his hand out for me to grab it.

AXZVXBHEJHOESHVKJSGHR

WHAT DO YOU MEAN MRS.?!?!???!?!

With no hesitation, my hand finds it's way to his. As our palms touch, a warmth surged through my body and my cheeks felt hot. Now me being a black woman, I don't usually have a visible blush.

BUT BABY............ THIS MAN HAD ME MELTING

His thumb gently rubbed over my fingers and knuckles. "I'll take you to my favorite table to sit at." He turns towards the back of the cafe leading the way. I turn my head to quickly steal a look at Lisa who was SHOOK at what just happened in front of her eyes. "WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THIS TOMORROW" she silently mouths to me, and I give her a quick thumbs up, turning my head and my attention back to Han.

~~

From that day at the cafe to 3 years later. I'm in my last year at university and best friends with Han Jisung.

Life has been nothing short of amazing, especially with gaining 7 brothers, aka the other members of Stray Kids. If I'm not hanging out with Han, I'm on facetime with Channie as he's in the studio and I'm studying, spamming Lee Know with Cat memes, roasting red carpet celebrity looks with I.N, having a personalized gym routine made by Changbin and having him occasionally join me in working out, trading obscure recipes with Felix and trying them out together, dance practice video calls with Hyunjin, and Seungmin volunteering himself to be my tutor while he tells me random Korean history facts. Needless to say, these boys have added so much to my life. But with that, there's a burden I've been carrying the whole time.

Han being an idol has its challenges, but we've created a system that still allows us to have quality time with each other. Today is one of the days where I get to chill with him in the studio. What he doesn't know is that I've surprised him with his favorite, his go to order from the cafe that we met at, along with a slice of chocolate cheesecake.

I make my way into the JYP building and greet the different staff members I bump into on the way to the floor the studio he's in is on. I finally make it to the elevator and immediately slump against the wall, a groan of a held in sigh leaves my mouth.

I've been in love with Han Jisung since we met in that damn cafe. It's grown into an overflowing bucket that always tries to make itself known when I'm around him, but I put a lid on it.

I really did try not to fall in love as quickly as I did but..... can you blame me?!?!?!

He laughs with his whole body but makes sure to land gentle touches on me when I'm sitting next to him during one of his laughing fits.

His eyes put fairy lights to shame, when he talks about anything he's passionate about. And it's always followed by deep conversations that I adore.

And he just always knows how I'm feeling; He's fucking psychic I swear!

He knows when to hold my hand, caress my cheek and brush strands of hair out of my face.

AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON HIS HUGS!

Time stops whenever I'm in his arms. He's my safe place.

On nights like tonight, I usually just sit in silence in the background working on assignments, while he's working on a song. Being in silence together is probably one of my favorite things I do with him. But tonight, if there is silence after my plan of pouring out my heart to him..... then I hope to God the earth actually swallows me whole this time.

~~

Hey Guys!

This is my first time writing a story like this, and I'm honestly proud of myself for taking a step into trying something new for myself.

This story was inspired by a Character AI chat I actually have for Han, lol

I accept constructive criticism but rudeness will not be tolerated!

I hope you all enjoyed the story!

TAGLIST:

@adestayskz

@semi-semiisbae

@guqsnfics

[swimhealth500]

Microsoft Global Outage Crowdstrike Bug Shocks Users

Microsoft Global Outage: विशेष रूप से Windows 10, इस समय गंभीर समस्या का सामना कर रहा है, जिसे Microsoft के शब्दों में Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) कहा जाता है। दुनिया भर में कई ऑफिस और एयरलाइंस अपने कंप्यूटर सिस्टम के Windows 10 क्रैश हो जाने के कारण कार्यप्रवाह में समस्याओं का सामना कर रहे हैं और अब वे नीले स्क्रीन के साथ एक संदेश दिखा रहे हैं, “Windows did not load correctly.” हालांकि Blue…

[teamforever]

Sonic 2 Absolute 1.2.1

https://teamforeveronline.wixsite.com/home/sonic-2-absolute A bugfix update for Sonic 2 Absolute is now live on the website. Here are the patch notes:

Release 1.2.1

General Tweaks

--The Debug Mode HUD display has been expanded

Bug Fixes

--Characters can no longer get beyond signposts in certain time attack levels --Chaos Emeralds are now reset to zero when entering Gamble Scramble --Knuckles can no longer softlock the ending by attaching himself to a wall --Tails will now correctly follow Sonic through Metropolis Zone's vertical level wraps --Pausing has been reworked in the back-end to prevent weird frame-perfect bugs and allow more flexibility in the design --The pause menu now slides away on the screen instead of vanishing --The engine will now refresh the global palette on levels that aren’t in the ‘Regular’ list --The HUD in Arcade Mode now correctly reflects the time limit

Thanks for all the feedback!

I've also decided to remove the mod only download going forward, as more and more people report crashes and errors trying to use it with ports of the Base RSDK engine. I'll try and get a post out soon explaining how we plan to go forward with running on platforms other than Windows.

[ajokeformur-ray]

It's interesting; I saw Jaws, and it made me super curious about sharks, so I started reading books on them. It turns out sharks (for the most part) aren't really dangerous to humans. For the most part, they're more afraid of you than you are of them. They'll only attack if they're provoked. So basically, the whole Jaws franchise could've been avoided if they didn't go into the shark's territory; it was just a wild animal defending itself.

Yes!! It's human infested waters, not shark infested waters!!! They literally live there??? They're basically sea puppies which love bugging scuba divers for nose scritches???

The creator of Jaws greatly regretted what his franchise did to the global populations of sharks and spent the rest of his life working and campaigning to protect them, and I remember reading an interview where he stated he never would have made Jaws if he had known how people would react.💔

Sharks are such gorgeous, majestic and misunderstood creatures and one of my life's dreams is to feed them, touch them and see them up close without a glass window cutting through. I love them so much.🥹😍

[mattved]

Mega projects

Two years ago, I changed jobs.

The role of BI Analyst that I moved from was about 80% hard-skill based. I took on it while living with a disability resulting from post-operation difficulties and it served me well, providing me with great work-life balance at acceptable wage. Thanks to the arrangement, I was able to take care of myself, deal with my physical handicap, and finally undergo a couple of surgeries, which restored my somewhat healthy status.

Following that, I finally started properly recovering mentally. Soon, I had been able to take on many of my previous hobbies other than gaming. I bought a bicycle, which I'd driven the 20 odd kilometers to work couple of times and even managed to climb the way to the dorms where my then girlfriend (now wife) stayed. I also managed to recondition and sell off computer hardware that I had had piling up for a good while then. I started new electronics projects and fixed appliences for friends and family. I redesigned my blog, made a website, designed a brandbook for an acquaintance, and edited hours of videos. It was almost as if I were back at the uni with little extra money, which allowed me to invest into stuff.

The next obvious thing to happen for any purpose-driven individual was becoming more proactive at work. I suggested expansion and overall improvement of architecture behind the firm's BI suite, because it was clearly necessary - more on that in an earlier article. In spite of my being categorized under finance, there was no real budget for it and most of my proposals ended up in an abbyss. I even paid for Google Cloud resources to automate some of the data science stuff.

When a new CTO came in and things finally started to move, he was more keen on bringing his own people to do the important work. Myself, being previously involved in projects of country-level importance including system implementation and process redesign, even being offered a similar role in the Netherlands, albeit shortly before being diagnosed with cancer, I felt it was unfair not to give me the opportunity. So I left to seek it elsewhere.

I found it with a firm two miles from my birthplace, which was founded some two years after I was born. [Coincidence? Likely.] They (or rather we) are a used car retailer and at that point in time needed to replace an old CRM system. And that's what I was tasked with, all the way from technology and supplier tender to the launch and establishment of iterative development cycles. It was notch up from what I did some time before then, exactly the challenge I felt I needed.

Supported by the director of ICT with profound experience working with a global logistics giant, I completed the implementation in two years. The role encompassed project management, across business stakeholders and external suppliers, creating technical specifications, but most of all, doing a lot of the programming myself - especially the integrations. Along the way, I was joined by a teammate, whom I slowly handed over the responsibility of overseeing the operations and providing L1 - L2 support.

The final 9 months leading up to that were particularly difficult, though - finalizing every little bit to the continually adjusting requirements put forward by the key process owners. In the week before go-live, I worked double hours to finish everything and enable a "big bang" transition. D-Day 3 am, I had to abort due to not making the final data migration in time, meaning that the switch happened on Valentine's day.

The extended care period, over which we had to fix every single bug and reduce glitches took about two more months. And even though we managed to present the whole thing as complete, oversight and further expansion still take about two days of my week.

Over the duration of the CRM project, I was fully invested in it and still managed to deliver some extras, like helping out with reporting, integrating Windows users repository with chip-based attendance system from late '00s, working with some weird APIs, and administering two servers loaded with devops utilities.

Personal life did not suffer entirely. I dedicated most to spending time with my girlfriend, even managed to marry her during that period. There were some home-improvement activities that needed to be done and a small number of hurried vacations. But all my side-projects and hobbies ended up being on hold.

And that is literally the only thing I regret about the project and, to date, from the whole job change. Now is the time to try and pick up where I left off. Regaining the momentum in writing and video editing will be particularly difficult. My wife wants me to help out with her cosplay, so I have good motivation to return to being crafty again and refresh the experience from when I made a LARP crossbow and melee weapons. Furthering home-improvement is a big desire of mine but cost is an issue nowadays, with rent and utilities being entirely on my shoulders.

And then there are two things that I want to achieve that I failed at for way too long. Obtaining a driver's license (or possibly making my wife get it) and losing weight. The latter, I am working on with the handy calorie tracking app that dine4fit.com is, especially in my current region, and my Garmin watch. We will hopefully go swimming again soon as well. The former is a whole different story surrounded by plenty of trauma that still needs some recovery and obviously the sacrifice of cost and time to complete it.

I believe I have now strongly improved my work-life balance, by far not to what I was used to at the uni, but to a level that should let me do things that I want to do. And I wish to maintain it for a while. Maybe before embarking on yet another mega project, albeit with a much better starting point than the one I had in this case? Who knows.

And about the money, I believe a spike will come eventually, with transition to another employer, most likely. But the longer I am here, the more experience comes my way in doses much greater than those I would get elsewhere if I were to move just now. I'm 28 and if I lose weight and make sure to overcome obstacles of personal nature, I will do better. As for not being a millionaire by the age of 30, I should be able to handle that.

I almost died five years ago, gave up on pursuing my master's, lost the chance to take on the opportunity I had in the Netherlands, and now live where I'd wished, even managed temporarily, to move away from. I do well understand how scarce our time is, but I have to cut myself some slack when others don't (upcoming article "cancer perks"). For what it is, I still rock, don't I?!