Instead of the regular shows (audio podcasts & videos), The Lunduke Journal will be publishing only articles for the next week.
I’m traveling this week, and recording shows is a little tricky. But there are some great stories that deserve to be told — so articles it is!
Be sure you’re following The Lunduke Journal on any of the four platforms where articles are published (all are free to follow be alerted to new articles).
GNOME Foundation Executive Director Out After 4 Months
His 4 month reign highlighted by GNOME attacks on Jews and visually impaired users, an expanded "Pride Month", pledging fealty to the UN, and defense of a registered sex offender.
This last week, a group of anti-Jewish Microsoft employees got rowdy. Microsoft fired some of them and sent The Lunduke Journal a statement. Then held a media briefing. Let's watch it together.
Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.
It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.
Theo is one of my favorite developer youtubers. Like Primegan - with different opinions. In this video he does a terrific job of answering: What's the point of vibe coding if I still have to pay a dev to fix it.
He makes one of MY points late in the video - you can't vibe code what you don't have the talent to code. While he says it stronger than I do - we are in large agreement. If you use any AI tool in any manner outside your personal expertise, that's a danger zone. And the further away, combined with the more critical - the more dangerous.
Have an itch and aren't a doctor? Sure, you can use an AI chatbot to seek remedy strategies. Have a sharp pain in your chest? Call your f'in doctor!
You can indeed vibe code in areas you don't have personal skill or knowledge. And you can get results. You just can't TRUST those results. Just be aware. Many things doin't matter because they aren't critical. Publishing software on the app ...
Fired Microsoft Employee Encouraged Corporate Sabotage
Leaked screenshots from a Microsoft whistleblower reveals efforts, by a "Worker Intifada" organizer, to disrupt Microsoft business and send spam propaganda email to thousands.
This last week, members of the Microsoft “Worker Intifada” claimed that some of their members were fired by Microsoft in an attempt to silence the speech of pro-Palestinian employees.
Thanks to an internal Microsoft whistleblower, we have gained additional insight into the real reasons at least one of the “Intifada” organizers was fired.
Including mass emailing thousands of Microsoft employees with anti-Microsoft messages, and building internal, corporate websites dedicated to disrupting company business. Over the course of months.
And, of course, we’ve got screenshots.
The Microsoft “Intifada”
The Microsoft’s “Worker Intifada” held a press conference, on August 28th, at the office of CAIR — a response to a Microsoft’s Media briefing held 2 days earlier.
A key topic being the firing of 4 Microsoft employees related to the “Intifada”.
One of those fired employees is Nisreen Jaradat, seen here speaking at the press conference at CAIR on August 28th:
Thanks to leaked Microsoft material, we can get a glimpse into the anti-Microsoft activity of Nisreen Jaradat… going back several months.
Anti-Microsoft Microsoft Employee
Nisreen created an internal website — on the Microsoft corporate Intranet — entitled “PledgeForPalestine”.
On that website, Nisreen encourages employees to take a pledge declaring that employees will “not support genocide”, specifically demanding that Microsoft no longer interact with Israel in any way.
It should be noted that, as of just a few days ago, this website was up within Microsoft.
Nisreen’s website also includes a list of ways where employees could sabotage internal corporate work.
Nisreen encouraged employees to:
Refuse to work on support tickets that involve Israel (and sabotage any tickets worked on by others).
Refuse to work with other employees on tasks which may involve Israel — or any Israeli Microsoft employees or customers.
In July, Nisreen sent internal Microsoft Teams messages to thousands of employees encouraging them to sign that anti-Israel and anti-Microsoft pledge.
But this wasn’t the first time Nisreen spammed Microsoft employees with pro-Palestinian propaganda.
Back in May of this year, Nisreen sent an email to over 8,000 Microsoft employees entitled “You can’t get rid of us.”
Within that email, she declared that her employers have “shown their true face, brutalizing, detaining, firing, pepper spraying, threatening and insulting workers and former workers protesting.”
Surprise, She Got Fired
Protesting your bosses and accusing them of “genocide” while encouraging thousands of other employees, in spam emails, to sabotage corporate work?
Now, think what you will about Microsoft… but I can’t imagine any company not firing someone who takes those actions internally.
In fact, I would suggest that it is wild that Microsoft put up with the actions of this “Intifada” organizer for so many months.
If you would like to be a Tech whistleblower — or would like to support the work of The Lunduke Journal — head to Lunduke.com. All of the information is there.
GNOME Loses Another Executive, Microsoft's Intifada, & 4Chan + KiwiFarms Sue the UK
Yet another absolutely insane week of Tech News has wrapped up.
From more Microsoft troubles with their “Intifada”… to the 4Chan & KiwiFarms lawsuit against the UK, it’s been one seriously nutty week.
Oh! And the GNOME Foundation lost yet another Executive Director! This one only lasted 4 months on the job! Crazy! All of the stories are linked below (and free for all to enjoy).
And, once again, it is amazing how many of these stories were almost completely ignored by Brand X Tech News outlets.
One story we did not see this week was the final ruling on the remedy for USA v. Google. The case that could determine wether Mozilla Corporation can continue to receive 80% of their income from Google.
That ruling was expected by yesterday… but, so far, all is quiet. I checked in with sources at both Google and Mozilla… and neither has heard a peep about it. Will we see the ruling from Judge Mehta this coming week? Who knows!
Note: All articles, videos, & podcasts are free for all (subscribers and non-subscribers alike).
Note 2: Links for the stories are all to Substack. You can also find links to all other platforms — X, Rumble, Locals, YouTube, etc. — which The Lunduke Journal publishes to, at Lunduke.com.
As always, thank you to all of the subscribers to The Lunduke Journal. Thanks to you, we can remain 100% ad-free and Big Tech free. Couldn’t do it without your support.
GNOME Foundation Executive Director Out After 4 Months
His 4 month reign highlighted by GNOME attacks on Jews and visually impaired users, an expanded "Pride Month", pledging fealty to the UN, and defense of a registered sex offender.
As of today, the GNOME Foundation has lost yet another Executive Director — Steven Deobald, who lasted a short 4 months.
The last 4 months, since the new Executive Director took the position, hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. Here’s a quick timeline of just some of the strange activity since then.
June 24: GNOME Foundation published an FAQ attacking visually impaired users as "concern trolls", declaring "Free Palestine", and informing users that “Wayland is Gay”.
June 24: GNOME Foundation goes on unhinged rant, declaring Lunduke a "fascist maggot" and "apartheid, ethnosupremacist, babykiller apologist clown", XLibre Dev an "actual Nazi, transphobe, 911 truther nut job".
And now today, August 29th, their new Executive Director is out. After only 4 months on the job. Did any of those events contribute to the departure? GNOME isn’t saying.
In fact, the statement from Allan Day, the new Acting GNOME Executive Director, is incredibly vague regarding the reason for the change.
“Steven Deobald has been in the post of GNOME Foundation Executive Director for the past four months, during which time he has made major contributions to both the Foundation and the wider GNOME project. Sadly, Steven will be leaving the Foundation this week. The Foundation Board is extremely grateful to Steven and wish him the very best for his future endeavors.”
“As the board announced earlier today, I will be stepping down from the Executive Director role this week. It’s been an interesting four months.”
That reads to me like a firing (or a forced layoff due to lack of funds). But, unless someone speaks up, it’s unlikely we’ll know for sure.
The following was posted by Deobald (outgoing Executive) and Allan Day (new acting Executive) on the GNOME Foundation’s Matrix chat channel.
The statement, “I feel like I’ve been glued to an Emacs buffer for 3 straight days” suggests 3 days of discussions (or waiting) leading up to this change.
What will happen next for the GNOME Foundation?
With multiple years of absolute chaos — including financial troubles and an inability to have leadership last more than a few months (not to mention an obsession with attacking The Lunduke Journal) — it’s hard to imagine the next few months being anything other than a continuation of the insanity at GNOME.
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