I've been asking myself that very question, every morning, for the last couple of weeks. The job hunt continues as well as before, which is to say not well at all. The only really noteworthy things that have happened were a couple of recruiters thinking that they were being cute by saying things that are highly inadvisable under any circumstances 1, and one "interview offer" (not even a job offer) for a security position which it would seem was a bait-and-switch to get me to sign up for yet another job hunting service that is a black hole for job …
While tinkering with a new project last week that involved my old BBS tagline database I rediscovered the tagline that I used as the title of this post. I've been trying to keep up with my pattern of posting at least once every month but it's been hard, what with everything going on. Out of an abundance of caution I ran a post I'd been working on past my lawyer for advice and was informed that I should refrain from publishing it, even with multiple disclaimers because we live in a time that would have given Cardinal Richelieu an erection …
It's been a long few weeks for everyone, and I don't think I have to recap all of the fucked up stuff that's happened in the world. It's a lot. It's everything. There's little point in recapping everything because by the time I have a list Satsuma Harkonnen and his cronies will have done even more fucked up stuff.
Keep an eye on disppeared.us, yeah? Sooner or later you'll start seeing names you recognize. And if that site stops being updated, worry.
I don't think I need to recapitulate everything that's happened in the last week. There's little point because you've heard about it, and either you're okay with it (in which case, please fuck off into the nearest black hole ASAP) or you're not. It is a truism that Those Fucking People on board with SatsumaHarkonnen always accuse everybody else of what they're doing (or about to do), just like your classic school bully. Specifically, That Kid that everybody knew had something way the hell wrong with him that nobody ever did anything about.
It's only a matter of time when it starts happening to folks who were born in the US.
For starters, some hearts-felt advice: Don't come to the United States. It's too dangerous. It doesn't matter if it's for vacation, for a conference, to see family, or what, the risk is too great that you …
It is highly unlikely that you've missed the events of the last month or so. If you were sufficiently fortunate to have been in a medically induced coma, you missed Donald Trump not only alienating every possible ally the United States still had on this planet but starting a trade war by enacting a tariff policy which appears to have been generated by an LLM which, predictably, fucked up badly.
Not the answer you're looking for, I know, but it's the truth.
I could go over all the fucked up stuff that's happened since my last post, but there's little point. Plenty of people have already done that and continue to do so. If you're looking for a short list of sources that did go all-in on the jagoffs-in-chief, here are the ones that parts of me are monitoring (with RSS feed links):
As I write this, I'm sitting in a coffee shop about halfway through January of 2025 trying desperately not to to wonder about what in the actual fuck is going on in the world right now for the sake of my mental health. It feels uncomfortably like when your glasses are just a little out of kilter and your vision is messed up in subtle, deeply annoying ways that you can't quite put your finger on. Warren Ellis recently put it thus: "I am once again Not Fully Awake, though possibly that is down to being repeatedly bludgeoned by the …
Note the first: I started working on this article last week, but didn't post it until now because I wanted to let all of the (usually astoundingly bad) hot takes die down. While I realize that the Internet has given everyone an attention span rivalled only by the lifespan of the adult mayfly, I think it might be useful to have something laying around that can be pointed to later if need be.
Note the second: A reminder that I do not speak from an official position. I do not speak for or represent my employers, past, present, or future …
DC AC - noun phrase (humorous) - The primary mechanism of air conditioning inside the DC Beltway. Notionally, the movement of air due to revolving doors caused by the never-ending cycle of contractors becoming civil servants, civil servants becoming lobbyists, and lobbyists forming startups and becoming government contractors once more.
