memory's ꒰ ✦ ꒱ librarian

They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.

Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.

You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.

This article specifically notes:

For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.

Other important quotes:

What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.

Two things back that up:

There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.

Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.

Here's the complaint filed to the court, the primary source for the case mentioned in the article. You can find mentions of GDID on page 30 of the document or 34 of the PDF.

I also made a PDF version!!

For comprehensive deets, tomshardware explains

(for people who don’t know kathleen stock is an infamous British terf who triggered a whole “free speech” university row over her views)

this is what people mean when they say that transphobia and ableism are interlinked. because *of course* the same person who refuses to believe people when they assert their gender also refuses to believe them when they assert a disability. because who knows their bodies better than a random british upper-class white woman!

dishes

- wash at least one dish every day. could be a single fork. just do one. at absolute worst this means you're regularly running clean hot soapy water through the heap of backed up dishes in the sink.

- any time you have to wash a plate or utensil because you're out of clean ones, wash two of them. need a knife? wash two knives. need your only baking sheet? wash a cup too.

clutter

- overwhelmed by clutter? take out the bins and do laundry. it's very difficult to organise a space when it's full, and trash and dirty clothes take up a lot of space both physically and mentally. emptying bins makes room for the whole cycle to move.

- those little boxes and containers advertised for ADHD really do work, even if you don't have ADHD. they let you move surface clutter around even if you don't have time to sort and clear it. you can quickly box up the craft project that's been taking up your desk for two weeks, clean the surface, and put everything back.

- on that note @3liza clued me in to the power of a simple wicker basket a decade ago and it changed my life. this isn't a desk tidy, this is a medium to large box or basket without a lid that you can comfortably carry in two hands (doesn't have to be wicker). personally I like a collapsible one so I'm not tempted to fill it with stuff when it's not in use. the point of it is collecting and carrying.

- instead of taking on individual sidequests for every item in an overcluttered room, walk through with your simple wicker basket and collect everything that has to go in the kitchen. take it to the kitchen, put it away. then collect everything for the bedroom. take it to the bedroom, put it away. it's your sifter, your filter, your best friend. this is but one use of the simple wicker basket.

trash

- differentiate in your head between dry trash and wet trash. dry trash is paper, plastic wrappers, packing foam, scrap fabric, dried up pens. 'shelf stable' trash, if you like. nothing likely to leak or rot. this can be collected in small lined wastepaper size bins around the house – one in every room honestly isn't overkill. you only have to empty these when they reach the top of the container.

- wet trash is food waste, soiled or greasy food wrappers, empty bottles, sanitary products, used medication ampoules, anything contaminated by mould or pest damage, etc. the yucky stuff. this goes in a single, large, lined bin with a lid, in a central part of the house (probably the kitchen). Empty this every 3-4 days or as soon as it reaches the top of the container. it won't fill up as fast without dry trash bulking it up, and disposing of it in small amounts regularly keeps the place feeling fresh. importantly it also means the gross stuff is contained in one place, not wearing on your peripheral attention day after day making you feel bad.

generally

- everything I said about clutter and surfaces above also works for floors. you can take stuff off the floor, vacuum, and then dump that shit right back where it was. you don't have to wait for one glorious day when you have the energy to do everything.

- the longer something goes untouched, the worse it gets psychologically. if a particular area of mess is especially upsetting or daunting to you, agitate it. pick up just one thing. dust around it. divide it in two. do anything you can bear that gets you to engage with it and handle it. it's manageable. you'll get there.

Every single person has the power to make a meaningful impact on the planet. I had the most fireflies in my town this summer simply because I have a large area where the grass is never cut.

Bleach ~ 633

yes i did a post on twitter but ill do it here too… and i have one about bazz aswell

Jugram has more depth than just being yhwach’s left-hand, his loyalty doesnt come from his devotion for the man, and his only friendship was never wasted away 

As a kid, he had a bad childhood, id say his only wish back then was to live a normal life, like a normal child

when his uncle died, he didnt have any place to go, so he just followed bazz, he wanted to follow him, bazz’s goal back then never really touched him personally because his uncle’s death wasnt a bad thing, jugram didnt have any grudge against ychach, but wasnt thankful either…

as he follows bazz for 5 yrs, he realizes that he’s not a good quincy, it wasnt much of a big deal, or least he thought, he just did everything he could to help bazz bc he thought it was the right thing to do for his friend, so he can finally have his friend live at ease, until they meet the man himself…

Everything that happens in this scene doesnt necessarily reflect the character’s values/believes,,, that being said, jugram isnt the type to make noise, he tries to stop bazz from causing trouble in fear he looses him somehow…

when jugram meets yhwach hes very reculent about his offer bc it wasnt his place, he never thought about himself in this whole revenge plan, of course he was surprised/shocked, so was bazz… but as ywach speaks, using jugram’s non-existant life goal, he manage to give it a purpose

he offers him a prestigious position and he recognizes his powers, the only thing jugram has ever really struggled is seen as a good thing, plus, bazz’s look as he feel betrayed by the whole situation makes jugram snap, he’s finally needed and seen as a good quincy

as times flies, he always kept an eye on bazz, making sure he’s not getting himself into any trouble like before… it a wasnt question of following the rules, (bc he would have let hubert kill him, and voila, one problem/burden less…but guess what, bazz isnt that to jugram) he cared bazz, he always did 

But why did he kill him then, you ask  Do you really think he wanted to…?

bazz is the one starting the fight and he tries several times to stop him before he actually kills him (he called him by his full name hello ??) ever noticed how we never get to see his eyes when his friend dies? i wonder why…

and what about that dialogue with ishida ? he tells him he should go help his friends and he actually heals him ???? he says he never had a single regret and then we see right after that emblem bazz gave him (he always had it, even at this very moment when he left him, he kept it)

we can either see that as jugram trying to convince himself he never had a single regret when he did or as he really didnt have any bc he lived has someone recognized for his talent, he was something. 

in any case, if he wanted to escape his fate, how do you want him to do that…?

in another dialogue with ishida, you can see how disturbed he was with the idea that no matter what they do, when they die, they’ll die for yhwach, so what’s the point ?

also, thats just me but, maybe when he fought bazz, he knew it was over, that he failed in his role as a friend, the moment when bazz was going to fight him for real, he told himself, if it wasnt the battlefield that was going to kill him, he would do it, so he can finally put him at ease himself letting him know that he was never able to reach his goal of defeating his only friend

also very important, the only moments jugram seems to show strong feelings is only when its about bazz/friendships, if this isn’t some kind of genuine love/care, i dont know what it is (*love in friendship, or whatever what you wanna see it as)

and ill add one last thing, why does jugram get so angry at ishida’s determination to save his friends? he found it insulting how ishida easily took jugram’s place and despite being so high placed, ishida doesnt care about royalty or pride in all that unlike jugram,  Jugram never trusted ishida, he knew he would betray them so it wasnt a suprise to him… he hated ishida bc he was projecting himself in him, ishida was able to do what jugram couldnt: saving his friend and this, this is why he wanted to kill him so badly, it wasnt for yhwach or anything like that, it was very personal, he didnt want him to succeed, but when he realized he was going to die, he told himself, ill help him do what i couldnt do so i can die in peace, jugram has strong convictions and he believes in them, even at the very end

"I thought I'd feel much worse...losing to you..."

BLEACH: THE BLOOD WARFARE (COUR 3) EP. 12: Friend