So here’s what I see coming for Windows users: Windows 10 will be a buy-once-update-forever kind of thing. You won’t get much choice on updates and feature changes. If you have it, you have to accept anything MS wants to do to it. You won’t own it, only rent it. For awhile, at least, you won’t be forced to upgrade from Win7 or Win8, but look for that to change.
On the other hand, if you really like some of the older versions of Windows and the software that ran on it, this is a good time to learn about virtual machine (VM) technology. Run Linux as the host machine for the Net and Windows in your VM to get the best of both worlds. I do it every day.
I’ve decided to add a second volume to my Debian book and introduce more advanced topics. It will be titled More Debian 8 for Beginners. Isn’t that so very imaginative? It’s where I’ll describe the easiest path to running a VM.
Keeping your sanity and control over your computers may get tough in the near future. Given that corporations have taken over the US government, don’t expect things to get any better.
The wrath of God on the US began some time ago, but many were not aware of it. So this should help get your attention on the matter. Given what we know about people in general, the resistance to migrating out of those areas is likely to include rioting and violence we can hardly imagine now. Unless somebody comes up with a massively cheap means of desalination, Californians won’t need to worry much about earthquakes, but desertification.
Meanwhile, we are still in a heavy rain pattern here in Oklahoma. We haven’t seen a renewed tornado threat since the first couple of days two weeks ago, but this stuff seems like some kind of endless monsoon. All of the reservoirs in the state are overflowing, and it’s much the same quite a ways north and south of here, from South Texas to South Dakota — most of the High Plains. That should reduce pressure on the Ogallala Aquifer somewhat. Still, should things turn dry here, the southern half of the Ogallala could just about disappear.
In colloquial terms, you might say God is engaging in some herd thinning here in the US. Food production will likely fall enough to bring us down to third world status. Oh, and there’s that business of the spreading bird flu in the Heartland requiring vast flocks of food animals to be culled.
I’ve read suggestions that the bird flu epidemic may not be entirely natural. At this point, it makes little difference. Even if you discover incontrovertible proof of culpability, it’s unlikely the real culprits will be held accountable. This is how empires collapse, and it won’t seem to us sudden at all. At some point there won’t be much to lose and folks will start going off like land mines. It won’t be like the preppers imagine, though; they ignore way too much good social science research into human behavior at large.
Every day, I overhear people still obsessing over the US Constitution. Too late, folks; get over it. So long as you maintain a religious doctrinaire commitment to what actually never was, a shining image of a vigorous Western republic, you won’t see clearly enough to recognize what’s coming. Preppers aren’t cynical enough and take themselves too seriously. Given that my first allegiance is to Christ, and I don’t take any human government seriously, you can bet I’ll salute whatever flag they offer.
I’m guessing that Western metropolitan areas will see riots soon enough over water, but just outside of the deep urban areas you should see a few communities organize to resist as a whole, and some will be a fair match for state and big city forces. However, the state governments in the Heartland are already stoutly resisting federal agencies and are less likely to face popular revolt. I suspect the Deep South will look like the Civil War all over again. But instead of fighting Yankees, they’ll be fighting each other. The rest of the country is a mixed bag and unpredictable to me. In the long run, I suspect the federal government will show itself too feeble and rigid to assert its policies. In other words, I expect the US to break up into regional states.
That’s barring, of course, things we peons haven’t seen that might be hiding in the shadows. The previous paragraph reflects simply the current visible trends. By the way, you should realize that recent riots over police misconduct were all staged. If you’ve been paying attention outside of the mainstream press, you realize that big money is behind igniting race wars. Don’t fall for it. I saw it coming back in the 1980s when police training changed radically, and several political coups were completed behind the scenes that forever changed the direction of politics here in the US. Up to that point, there was some hope of change in the system, but it died by 1990. It’s too complex to outline here.
I can tell you that the worst of it is frankly religious in nature. The most outlandish cults in America run the political machinery. They wear mainstream labels, but it’s all shockingly different behind the false front. Even if I wrote about it, the facts are so outlandish that no one would believe me except flakes and weirdos. Some major mainstream figures in evangelical circles, for example, are manifestations of the Antichrist, as it were. Not the mythical nonsense spewed by weirdos, but the real Spirit of Antichrist from Scripture animates a lot of big church activity.
Don’t mind me; I’m just a nutcase.
