I’m gonna keep repeating this as often as I have the energy — maybe every day — because it needs to be said.

If you think this moment is gonna pass quickly, that things will “go back to normal,” you're fooling yourself. We're already deep in a slow-burning emergency, and it’s speeding up. Most people I talk to get that something’s wrong, but they’re not acting like time is short — and it is.

So here's what I’m asking:

Stay where you live, unless it's too dangerous.

Get to know your neighbors.

Figure out where your food will come from when the supply chains start wobbling.

Protect your people.

Practice good security culture.

This isn’t panic. It’s preparation. It’s love. We look out for each other, or we don’t make it. I’ll drop some resources in the thread. Hang in there, and stay human

Pink blossom

#BloomScrolling #Nature #Photography

I teach undergrads at a prestigious programme in a research university. Most of my students don't know how to copy a file from a folder to another on their computer. I teach computer-based skills and it's often a source of grief and self doubt to these able, confident, well off young people. On a few occasions, of tears.

My mother, disabled and with a mental health condition, has dropped out from her #cancer treatment because she wasn't able to get through the ticketing system at the reception of the hospital. She lived in the capital, had a caring daughter available on the phone, and a network of support.

I just got a glimpse of the #autism treatment in the #Netherlands, a progressive country with high digital literacy. Autism diagnosis requires a referral from a GP, but the GP does not necessarily know much about autism and autism treatment centers are extremely specific about what needs to be mentioned in the referral. I am told that many autistic people have difficulty making phone calls. The autism diagnosis and treatment facility can only be contacted by phone. The waiting time for appointment is 30 weeks and, when the appointment takes place and your case turns out to differ in any way from what your uninformed GP has written in the referral, your case gets rejected and you have to get a new referral and start again. The GP could get instructions from the treatment center via a dedicated system called zorgmail, but neither side knows how to use it. If you manage to log into the online appointment system that is, which does not work and has no contact information to any support. I, a numerate computer nerd who enjoys puzzles, needed three days to crack it.

What is this micro-blog about?

☠️ #uxdesign saves lives ⛑️

🏥 #uxdesign should be obligatory in the process of #patient intake and journey 💉

👧 Digital medical services should be accessible to teenagers with confidence issues and elderly people terrified by a terminal diagnosis. 👴 🤰 👨‍🦯

List of AI bots to add to robots.txt (although they may not obey -- may need to throw them in the bitbucket and 404 or 444 them). In addition to these, you may have to block specific random browser versions for the most aggressive bots who ignore robots.txt.

https://github.com/ai-robots-txt/ai.robots.txt/blob/main/robots.txt

#AI #scrapers #LLMs

There is no space for racism in the EU. Or anywhere.

No one should be denied a job, home, or opportunity because of their race or ethnic background.

The EU stands united against racism, for a fairer Union where inclusion and equality are at the centre.

Today, on International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and every day.

#UnionOfEquality #EU

Hey, if you, like me, are a US citizen who's had your books/stories/articles stolen by Meta to train AI, you can submit your name to the class action suit using this easy contact form for one of the law firms involved:

https://www.saverilawfirm.com/meta-language-model-litigation

#ai #meta #writing

This is dark. It’s not an easy read. I do not recommend it for those who suffer from crippling climate anxiety, or who are prone to being depressed by learning about the abject state of today’s politics and economics.

That said, if you’re ready for a clear-eyed look at how bad things really are now — and how bad the people who run things truly are — then I suggest reading the full linked essay.

Here are a few excerpts...
___________________________

The rich keep getting richer. That much is clear. But what’s often left unsaid is how they’re doing it — not just through the usual exploitation, but by actively steering the world toward catastrophe while shielding themselves from the fallout.

Let’s cut through the noise: the ultra-wealthy are not just accumulating wealth; they are hoarding it, stockpiling fortunes at a rate so obscene it makes the concept of money itself feel ridiculous. While the rest of us get lectured on cutting back — drive less, eat less meat, recycle, make do with less — they are securing their bunkers, buying up remote islands, and building escape plans for the very collapse they are accelerating.

And make no mistake, collapse is not just some distant dystopian fantasy. We are already deep into a polycrisis — climate change, biodiversity loss, resource overshoot, economic instability, and authoritarian creep all feeding into one another like an unstoppable chain reaction. Meanwhile, banks and corporations, who could be funding solutions, are instead dragging their feet or outright obstructing progress, ensuring the system remains tilted in favor of those who already have everything.

If the world’s biggest banks truly cared about avoiding collapse, they’d be moving mountains right now to fund large-scale climate infrastructure. But they’re not.

And that’s not a mistake — it’s a choice.

They have run the numbers. They know full well that unchecked climate change will devastate the poorest and most vulnerable long before it affects the ultra-wealthy. So, from their perspective, dragging their feet isn’t just about short-term profits — it’s about preserving a system that ensures their continued dominance, even as the world burns.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are left watching as climate disasters pile up — floods swallowing cities, heatwaves killing thousands, wildfires turning landscapes to ash — while the financial elite sit back and continue cashing in.

At this point, it’s not just negligence. It’s premeditated collapse.
. . .

If you’ve made it this far, you already know the truth: this isn’t capitalism failing. It’s capitalism succeeding exactly as intended.

The rich are not scrambling to prevent collapse. They welcome it — because they know they’ll be the only ones left standing. While the rest of us are told to “sacrifice” and “tighten our belts,” billionaires are building bunkers, buying private islands, and hoarding resources for the dystopia they see coming.

And why shouldn’t they? They built this system to ensure that, when it all falls apart, they’d be untouchable.

Because their goal is not to fix the system. Their goal is to extract as much as possible, as fast as possible, before everything comes crashing down.
___________________________

FULL ESSAY -- https://archive.ph/Z9XYn
ALTERNATE LINK -- https://medium.com/edge-of-collapse/the-rich-are-hoarding-wealth-because-they-know-whats-coming-c84afcb2e6c1

#Politics #Economics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism