uwu

Uber is a fucking shell game of a company designed to leech investor capital and output bootleg cabs.

Nvidia posted a profit in 2023 of $4.37 billion. This is like someone stealing less than a penny from me.

And they lock this kid in a prison hospital for LIFE?

He was on bail after attacking Nvidia and BT/EE, having demanded $4m as a ransom, and was under police protection when he hacked Revolut (a banking app), Uber, and Rockstar.

Rockstar didn't claim he'd done $10m in damages - that was across all of his victims. Rockstar claimed that he'd done $5m in damages. Revolut stated that they had suffered $3m in damages (and that he had gained 5,000 people's personal information)

He was institutionalised because (if you read literally the paragraph after OP cuts off their screenshot) "the court heard that Kurtaj had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage."

he breached his bail conditions then violently attacked people while in custody. he was found guilty of 12 offences - 3 counts of blackmail, 2 counts of fraud, and six charges under the computer misuse act.

he was originally exposed, btw, during a gang dispute with his fellow members, where they revealed he had gained $14m in bitcoin through his ransoms. so he was actually convicted for $4m less than he had earnt through his crimes.

notably, he was convicted alongside a 17 year old autistic accomplice, who was sentenced to 18 months' supervision while undergoing rehabilitation. said 17 year old had also been using his skills to stalk two young women. if rockstar was "conspiring" to lock kurtaj up, why didn't they do the same with the 17 year old who was equally described as a key player in the gang and had additional offences to boot?

well, arion kurtaj had previously been attending a special needs school for autistic students. here in the uk, that means that he has very severe needs as an autistic student (speaking from experience as an autistic person with an autistic sibling, both diagnosed young). the doctors were probably right in their decision that he was unfit to stand trial on basis of being autistic. and if he stops wanting to hack people, he can walk at any time.

and to be clear - rockstar are scum for their union-busting practices. don't buy gta 6. but this narrative is wildly inaccurate. why is it rockstar conspiring with the uk govt, and not the five other tech companies that he also attacked during the same spree? like, if we're going full conspiracy theory, then why single out a video game developer that is significantly less wealthy than uber and nvidia? i know that his attack on them was the most well-publicised, but it doesn't exactly come across as being well-informed on his case.

Honorable mention for Romulus, the world’s largest donkey:

When you go to the store to buy more batteries they don't even play the music you like and it's just the worst.

there are FOUR recorded cases in history of OCD symptoms disappearing after head trauma (Hosseini et al., 2012). your odds are not good. you almost certainly cannot cure your OCD by doing this. what is much more likely is that you either die (very likely) or give yourself significant brain damage that will impact you for the rest of your life (American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 2024). even in clinical conditions, clingulotomy (the psychosurgery most often used for OCD as an absolute last-resort option) is limited in its effectiveness (Dougherty et al., 2002).

it's not nearly so simple as destroying the part of your brain that causes OCD because that's not how brains work. we don't know precisely what parts of your brain cause OCD (we have a pretty good idea, but nothing as simple as 'remove that bit'). brains are incredibly complex and interconnected and we don't fully understand how those connections work but there's nothing that can be removed in isolation to get rid of your OCD and only your OCD.

this man was notable because he was incredibly, ridiculously lucky. most people aren't. OCD is a treatable condition through some combination of medication, therapy and lifestyle changes. it takes time and effort and it might not be right the first time, and of course you'll never feel absolutely perfect 100% of the time, but it IS treatable and can get a lot better than wherever you might be at now.

there are much better treatments than suicide. i know it's hard, and services can be so difficult to access, and you're so, so tired, but this is not the thing that fixes you. please reach out, and keep reaching out.

you can find the mental health/suicide lines for your country here. many offer free, confidential short term counselling even if you are not actively suicidal. help is out there.

sources and a few of my favourite online resources under the cut. if you're aus-based DM me and i'll give you more specific services that I've used.

Honey Possum or Noolbenger (Tarsipes rostratus) feeding on nectar, looking for nectar... family Tarsipedidae, order Diprotodontia, found in SW Western Australia

One of the world's smallest marsupials, weighing only 7 - 16g.