Now there’s some strong wind (not gale force, but strong nonetheless) and more rain. The city needs this. The grass everywhere looks like it’s dying.

Climate change is real. Check the food prices.

How could I have missed this hobby of adorable pets (creatures) all those years?

HAVE been getting back to regular blogging in my personal site, which is turning 25 next year and today surpassed 2,900 blog posts. Soon it’ll be over 3,000.

Prior to Techrights this was where I was most active. I sort of neglected this space after participating in Tux Machines as well.

esterday in Tux Machines and in Techrights I published statements about a recent hearing at the High Court. It’s about Garrett. It’s a hearing that he did not even bother to attend because, in general, his attitude stinks no less than the odour his solicitor and barrister emit from the Court’s toilets (seriously).

After an outburst of lies he has written nothing more in social control media. Maybe his solicitors told him he had said dumb things, given away sensitive information, or was led to embrace an overly optimistic view about the hearing that he did not even bother attending!

Earlier this month: If You Glorify Violence, Then Some People Will Eventually Do It | The Second Antisemitic Attack in Manchester on October 2nd Came From Brett Wilson LLP (Almost at the Exact Same Time as the First) | Brett Wilson LLP Acting in a Way That We Deem Antisemitic, Disrespectful, and Highly Insensitive | Safety Precautions and Hate Crimes | Brett Wilson LLP Not Only Attacks People During Funerals But Also During Fasting on Holiest of Days (and the Latter is Intentional)

estimate, based on documents sent to me from Brett Wilson LLP, that they’re willing to spend about a million pounds (not dollars, pounds) lawyering up against me and against my wife. It’s obscene and we know they’re funded by mystery financiers. Probably rich people desperate to silence our Web sites.

This morning in Tux Machines I published: It’s Not Justice When One Side Denies the Other Side the Ability to Even Speak

And in Techrights I published: How Not to Silence Tux Machines (It’ll Only Backfire, Badly)

So at this point my wife and I have a million-pound (not dollars, pounds) “gun” pointing at us. Judges won’t overlook this. It’s lawfare, i.e. it’s misuse of a licence to bully people and censor sites. It would be a stain on the aura of the Magna Carta.

But there are still some people out there who are debt-free and actually save money.

People of that latter group like to talk about securing assets or “diversifying investments” etc. People with a ‘survivalist’ mindset or survival instincts do not look ahead or foresee danger; instead they wait for something to happen and then respond to that, putting out fires instead of preventing fires (to use a metaphor if not a real scenario).

Some people like to believe that hoarding money will make them very safe, even if the process of making that money harms their physical and mental health, not only shortening the life but also lessening its quality. Some processes of hoarding money increase the risk of getting arrested. How’s that for safety?

Some people make bunkers because of an assumption of looming war/s; some lose money to classic scammers, including the fear-mongering “bunker industry”. Some become drug addicts. Some try to “spread” the assets/money, but that often focuses on: 1) multiple bank accounts. 2) multiple banks. 3) like (2) in several countries. 4) gold/silver 5) fakecoins (‘crypto’). 6) a safe at home. 7) car (loses value fast). 8) home (endless maintenance). 9) jewellery (value lost immediately once purchased).

Yes, a car is a liability and constant cause of unforeseen expenses, including several annual bills, never mind the wear and tear. It is a truly terrible form of investment. There is no “magic” or “perfect” option.

Here’s another: purchasing future supplies – inevitable or unavoidable commodities – years in advance (some not perishable), especially when inflation rates are high and financial rewards for savers are low. This option relies on ample storage space. Does that pay off? Maybe.

Inflation is still high; governments changed what they measure.

HAVE just checked this page, which was updated a few hours ago with weekly data. I then compared apples to apples or oranges to oranges. Before the COVID-19 pandemic we had vastly fewer people dying (than now).

It’s up from 11,860 in 2019 to 14,679 this year. The total population increased 1-2% in that period of time.

It was almost the same last week.

What contributes to this massive increase?

When will numbers come back to “normal”? Is the “new normal” an extra ~60,000 Brits dying per year? That’s a lot, it’s way too much, and it warrants investigation + clear answers.

Also tomorrow:

Obviously it’s some data issue, but their exception handling or input sanitation could use some work.

‘m done. Really, done!

It’s not about unreasonable pricing or quality of facilities or… (they too are issues, but…)

After what happened in April [1, 2] and what has just happened again (today) I see no reason to ever book a train here again. Ever. Unless my life depends on it or something….

It’s over.

At 4AM we get an E-mail from Trainline: “your train journey has been canceled.”

NO explanation, no reason given, 2 hours’ notice!

Second time out of 3.

That’s 66.6% cancel rate.

Imagine having 2 out of 3 journeys that you book canceled at short notice (the first time it happened minutes earlier; there was no notice until we had physically arrived at the station).

Is it possible to get a refund? Yes. It’s not even a full refund (that’s Trainline’s fault). So we lost money, even after the refund. They keep the booking fees, ticket collection fees etc. What’s more, they ruin our plans , they frustrated relatives waiting for us to visit, they’ve wasted a lot of time, e.g. having to do lots of clicking and stuff to only receive a partial refund (outrageous, as they canceled it for no stated reason, breaking their side of the contract and promise).

So we dressed up and prepared in vain. The train got canceled. Why? They don’t even tell us.

British Rail has gone off the rails, at least based on the high failure (to meet schedule) rate.

This industry (yes, it has been privatised) may deserve the same boycott some airlines and airports deserve.

If the service is so bad, why pay them?

Stop paying them, this way they’ll get the message, reform may be imposed (e.g. nationalising the system; it used to be like that before it became all about greed).

I’m done with rail travel. Any further time wasted trying to play roulette (booking in the hope it’ll actually materialise) is risk of disappointed or, as happened last time, hours on phone, E-mail etc. And arguing with about 6 different people before a refund gets issued.

It’s not like I’m some Luddite or Amish or grumpy old man. If it was still reliable like before (never mind affordable, too), then fine. But the trust is lost. We’re breaking up. It’s not me, it’s you. I have no time or desire to deal with this nonsense anymore.

And the same week this year (as per today’s release):

We went up from about 9,000 deaths per week to 10,000+.

Our government says that only about 50 people died that week “with COVID-19 on the death certificate in England,” so what causes those other 900+ deaths per week? Shouldn’t the government learn how it can save tens of thousands of lives?