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GNOME Foundation hires "Professional Shaman" as new Executive Director
Seriously. This isn't satire.
October 18, 2023
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Before we begin, I need to stress something: This is not satire.  Not a joke.  What follows, while ridiculously whimsical, is 100% real.

 


 

Just a few short hours ago, the GNOME Foundation announced that they had hired a new Executive Director to lead GNOME into the future.  And her name is "Holly Million".

Oh!  And, before I forget, I should note that the new GNOME Executive Director... is a "Professional Shaman".

Seriously.

There still is a great deal of information yet uncover and digist about the person who will lead largest Linux desktop environment... but here is what we know so far.

According to the GNOME press release, Holly Million is a "multi-talented individual with a diverse background in nonprofit leadership, filmmaking, teaching, public speaking, and writing."

In the announcement, this new GNOME director stated, "I am impressed by the international reach of the GNOME community and the diversity of the individuals involved in creating all of this amazing output."

All of which set off my "This doesn't sound like a person with software experience" alarm.

So I began doing searches to see what the background of Holly Millions truly was.  And it was more amazing and whimsical than I could have possibly dreamed.

Holly The (Disappearing) Shaman Artist

That's when I found www.HollyTheShamanArtist.com.  A website which, unfortunately, was set to "Private" in the last few days. 

hollytheshamanartist.com as of October 17th, 2023
HollyTheShamanArtist.com as of October 17th, 2023

Thankfully both Archive.org and Google have snapshots for us to enjoy.

Here are a few snippets from the website.

"My name is Holly Million, and I am a professional shaman, an artist, an herbal medicine maker, and a micro-homesteader."

 

"Eight years ago, I realized the best word to describe me must be “shaman.” A shaman is a bridge between the material and spiritual worlds, between the seen and unseen worlds. I am now a professional shaman."

 

"I am planning to write a series of books, two of which are now works in progress."

She also appears to sell "Spiritual Herbs" and offers virtual shaman services which people can purchase via Venmo.  Which, interestingly, is a sentence that makes my left eye twitch.

In addition to her now-private website, Holly Millions has also, recently, set her Instagram account to private.

Wonder what shaman-y goodness is in there.  The world may never know.

Thankfully, as of this writing, she has not yet locked down her Facebook business page.  

Holly Million's business on Facebook

So what, exactly, is Holly Million's business that she runs on Facebook?  So glad you asked!

She posts the following each week:

"Join me every Wednesday from 5 PM to 5:30 PM Pacific Time as I guide all participants through a group shamanic energy clearing. Learn about the shamanic spiritual hygiene process that I use on myself and with my clients. This is a great technique to help you keep yourself free of any interference, heavy energies, emotional burdens, and other things you really don’t need.

This clearing is FREE for all participants. Learn more about the work that I do and experience it firsthand.

If you appreciate having this weekly group, please consider making a donation to support it. Tip jar: https://venmo.com/u/Holly-Million

Find out more about my 1:1 energy work with clients, my herbal products, and my shamanic apprentice program at Hollytheshamanartist.com

Just show up on my page on Facebook or Instagram at 5 PM Pacific, and I will be there!"

Shamanic.  Energy.  Cleaning.

Every Wednesday!

As one recent Facebook Post described her:

"The fabulous Ms. HOLLY MILLION. This woman has much to say about a world which we are sometimes challenged to access.  She connects with the spirits and the unseen. Come hear Holly share her magical mystical mysteries."

I'll leave that quote there without further comment.

Not Much That Isn't Shaman-y

Her LinkedIn page is almost completely empty, showing no signs of life for many years.  Likewise it does not appear that she has used Twitter since 2019.  Not that using LinkedIn and Twitter are mandatory, mind you... I simply mention it as most people in the "Executive Director" line of work would tend to have at least one or the other.

In fact... I would say roughly 99% of the information relating to Holly Millions is specifically about her work as a "Professional Shaman"... and much of that appears to be in the process of being deleted or set to "private".

About the only non-Shaman-y thing I could find about Holly Million was that she runs artists-united.org.  Which seems to be not much more than a simple template of a website with 4 pages on it and almost no references to it anywhere on the Internet.

Left With a Lot of Questions

After looking through just about everything I could find on Holly Millions, I have a few takeaways:

  1. She does not seem to have any experience with GNOME or Linux.
  2. In fact... she does not seem to have any experience related to software.  At all.  In any way.
  3. Her primary business appears to be focused on her work as a "shaman".
  4. Leading up to her announcement as the new GNOME Foundation Executive Director, she appears to be trying to erase her online history of shamanism.
  5. The GNOME Foundation seems to have left out her primary (Shaman) work in their press release.

All of which leaves me with some pressing questions:

  1. Why did the GNOME Foundation not mention their Executive Director's primary passion and work experience as a shaman?  Is the GNOME Foundation ashamed of shamanism?
  2. What aspect of shamanism was most needed within the role of the Executive Director?
  3. How will shamanism be incorporated into future GNOME releases?
  4. Will ayahuasca be used at future GNOME conferences or during future UI design?
  5. How, exactly, did GNOME find Holly Million during their search for a new Executive Director?

Seriously.  Those may sound like tongue-in-cheek questions... but, considering this move, I kinda want to know the answers!

A Note of Thanks to GNOME

I would also like to take this opportunity to directly thank the GNOME Foundation.

This is, without question, one of the most whimsical Tech news stories in quite a long time.  And, let's be honest, we could also use a bit of whimsy in our lives.

And to Mrs. Holly Million, the new Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation: Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux!  You have a standing invitation to The Lunduke Journal podcast whenever you like.

Just be prepared for most of my questions to be about the relationship between ayahuasca and GTK4.

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The Unpublished Anti-Lunduke Hit-Piece
A Tech Journalist interviewed me for a hit-piece article. But the questions made them look bad, and they shelved the story. So I'm publishing their hit-piece for them.

Back in September, shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I was contacted by a Tech Journalist writing for FossForce.com (a smaller, Open Source focused publication) who was working on an article around Open Source, Antifa, and the Lunduke Journal’s coverage of those topics.

This particular outlet had, several months prior, run an “anti-Lunduke” hit piece without first reaching out for comment — which resulted in their most popular article (at least on social media) in quite some time.

With that in mind, it seemed reasonable that they’d want to repeat that success with another “anti-Lunduke” story.

This time they were doing the responsible thing. They reached out to the subject of the hit-piece article with questions. I like encouraging Tech Journalists when they do actual journalism, so I answered each and every query with easy-to-quote responses.

But, it would appear that the answers they received were not conducive to creating the hit-piece they were hoping for — my guess is they realized their questions made them look like the villain in the story. The villain they, clearly, hoped to portray me as.

They opted to not publish the piece.

So I’m publishing their hit-piece for them.

Below is every question — and every answer (with no edits) — which I was asked, on September 19th, by a Tech Journalist by the name of Christine Hall, writing for FossForce.

Fair warning: This is very, very politically charged.

Enjoy.


September 19th

Hall:

The last time I mentioned you in an article, you castigated me for not reaching out to you beforehand. Well, I’m reaching out now. We’ll see what comes of this.

You do recognize that the vast majority of organizations using the term antifa as a descriptor are not in the least bit terrorist and pose no threat to society -- and indeed, the only threats they might pose to fascist groups are not physical or life-harming?

Lunduke:

Hello Christine! Nice to hear from you!

Many, if not most, of those proclaiming support for Antifa (within Open Source) have also made statements encouraging or supporting violence and discrimination.

Regardless of that fact -- which I have documented extensively in Lunduke Journal coverage -- when violent acts are committed (such as murder, riots, and lynchings) in the name of “Antifa”, to turn around and immediately declare yourself to be “Antifa” is a clear declaration of support of that violence.

Hall:

And why did you feel it necessary to call out Danielle Foré’s [the founder of the elementary OS Linux Distribution] trans status in such an ugly manner?

Lunduke:

There is a noteworthy overlap between “Trans activism” and support for political violence -- including in the recent murder of Charlie Kirk (the murderer’s boyfriend was “Trans”).

In the case of Daniel Fore, he, a leader of an Open Source project, regularly calls for discrimination (and violence) against people he disagrees with -- often in conjunction with his self-declaration as “Trans”.

Thus, his declaration of being “Trans” becomes a part of the overall story.

It is worth noting here that The Lunduke Journal has never -- and would never -- call for discrimination or violence against someone because of how they identify or who they may (or may not) vote for.

This is in stark contrast those, such as Mr. Fore, who consider themselves “Trans” or “Antifa” -- who actively advocate for both discrimination and violence.

Hall:

Mentioning a person’s trans status in ways that are pertinent to your argument necessates rudeness such as calling her a “dude who likes to wear dresses”?

Lunduke:

Dan Fore is, in fact, a dude who likes to wear dresses.

The only reason to view that as a negative is if you view dudes wearing dresses as a negative.

Hall:

I’ll quote you on that, which I’m pretty sure won’t bother you in the least.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Quote anything I say here. In fact, I suggest quoting absolutely everything I’ve written to you here, today.

Hall:

You also understand, don’t you, that voicing disagreement with an assessment made by POTUS is not only legal but a healthy part of the national dialog.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Did I say somewhere that it was illegal to disagree with a politician? It seems unlikely that I have ever said that.

Hall:

Also, how would you reply to this:

There have been very few murders linked to individuals associated with Antifa, some incidents of rioting attributed to Antifa supporters, and no credible evidence of lynchings conducted in the name of Antifa. Compared to far-right groups, violence attributed to Antifa is much less frequent and lethal, with only one suspected kill—Aaron Danielson in Portland, by an anti-fascist activist—officially confirmed in recent U.S. history.

Lunduke:

Murder is bad. I am opposed to all murder.

In the context of these discussions, bearing in mind the Kirk murder is important (as many statements were made in response to it). The murderer of Kirk appears to have been pro-Trans and pro-Antifa (based on all available information).

Hall:

Is there any evidence that the suspect was part of an antifa group? I haven’t seen any.

Lunduke:

I have seen some reporting to this effect (including statements from family and messages he wrote).

But, far more important to this story, is the response to the murder among Antifa supporters (including those within Open Source). A large portion of Antifa supporters have celebrated the murder as justified because it killed someone they considered to be a “fascist”.

Hall:

Also, no group should be held responsible for what some deranged person who identifies with the group has done.

Lunduke:

I agree that a broader group should not be held responsible for the actions of a small number of individuals.

However, and this is critically important, it is entirely appropriate to hold people responsible for their own statements and actions.

With that in mind: The overall messaging of Antifa (and Antifa supporters) tends heavily towards violence. Punching, killing, molotov cocktails, etc. are all common messaging used by Antifa (including by those I quote within the Open Source world -- many of whom have advocated violence against myself).

Advocating for violence, then celebrating when violence is committed, are not good things.

Yet we see a great deal of that among Open Source supporters of Antifa.

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To everyone who grabbed a Lifetime Subscription over the last few days: All of you are set to full Lifetime access. You should have a confirmation email in your inbox. If not, email me and I’ll make sure you’re setup properly.

That “50% off” sale ends tonight at midnight. So you have a few hours to snag a discounted subscription, if you haven’t already.

A huge thank you to everyone who supports this work. Couldn’t do it without you.

-Lunduke

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Just a quick heads up:

The “50% off every kind of Subscription to The Lunduke Journal” sale has been extended through Monday (October 13th).

So. You know. Grab one at 50% off between now and end of the day on Monday.

To all of you amazing nerds who have picked up a Lifetime Subscription already this weekend: You are awesome. You’ll be receiving a confirmation email, with all of the Lifetime Subscription details, by tomorrow (if you haven’t already).

Oh, and remember how we hit 11 Million views last month? Yeah. We’re well on our way to blowing past those numbers in October.

Wild.

See you all on Monday!

-Lunduke

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