How to stay on Windows 10 instead of installing Linux (by @lproven): Turns out that Microsoft will support Windows 10 until 2032 *if* you can live without their cloud and AI bullshit: just download/install an obscure version aimed at corporate clients who want long-term support:

https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/22/windows_10_ltsc/?td=rt-3a

(I'm a macOS/Linux guy, but if I had an old Win10 box and wanted to avoid Windows 11 and Recall this would be a great way forward)

If you have a public Mastodon account and want to reach the widest possible audience, you should opt into the full text search system:

1. Log into your server’s website
2. Go to your profile
3. Click "Edit Profile"
4. Click on "Privacy & Reach" tab at the top
5. Scroll down to section marked "Search"
6. Tick box marked "Include public posts in search results"
7. Click "Save Changes" button at bottom of the screen

Lots more info and questions answered at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/how-do-i-opt-into-or-out-of-full-text-search-on-mastodon

#FediTips

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

Wow. The US Treasury Dept. today announced it is lifting sanctions on Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixing service that state-sponsored hackers from North Korea have been massively using to launder their stolen billions.

"Based on the Administration’s review of the novel legal and policy issues raised by use of financial sanctions against financial and commercial activity occurring within evolving technology and legal environments, we have exercised our discretion to remove the economic sanctions against Tornado Cash as reflected in Treasury’s Monday filing in Van Loon v. Department of the Treasury."

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0057

h/t to @ncweaver for the heads up. Weaver said: "The US government has just said "money laundering is legal as long as the process is automated."

"Every wei that flows through Tornado Cash, even if 'legitimate,' is helping the North Korean nuclear regime by hiding illegitimate flows," Weaver told me.

Here's Treasury sanctioning Tornado Cash in 2022: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0916