There is decent commercial skip technology nowadays that brings the 15 minutes down to near zero with my DVR and OTA tuner. With Plex media server for example. Or Jriver MC with comskip. I mainly watch OTA and torrents as I'm not willing to put up with ads.

Knowing which sites you are connecting to is valuable to TLAs, even if they can't spy on the content of the communications.

The truth is sometimes inconvenient. I wouldn't be alive without those meds. Neither would my husband.

Think about what you are saying. For many deadly diseases, placebo RCTs are highly unethical. It means that you are condemning the people in the placebo arm to death. The only time it's ethical is if no effective treatment already exists for the condition. For example, with HIV/AIDS in the 1980s to mid 1990s. Once there is something life saving available, though, you don't want to keep doing placebo trials. You would compare the safety and efficacy of different drugs against each other. Not against placebo.

You're in good company. Many OF accounts are also managed by fat old guys, in cheap labor countries.

They are in a cult. You cannot expect them to do some serious thinking.

These programs are no longer fully funded. That's the point. Even if funding was restored, operations would be in shambles for a long time with all the fired employees, contacts, and institutional knowledge gone.

One really important thing about HIV/AIDS is that you must never interrupt the treatment. Doing so causes the virus to come back and mutate, and patients can become resistant to their former medications, requiring new more expensive ones in the future.

One doctor estimates that nearly 300,000 have already died as a result of these cuts, 2/3 of them children.

If PEPFAR and USAID funding is not restored, UNAIDS models predict an extra 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths and 8.7 million new adult infections globally by 2029. A FinancialTimes–Lancet study forecasts up to 2.9 million additional deaths by 2030, mainly in subSaharan Africa.

[1]: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Famericas%2Fus-politics%2Ftrump-musk-usaid-cuts-deaths-aids-hiv-b2708883.html%3Futm_source%3Dchatgpt.com "Nearly 15,000 will have died already because of Trump and Musk’s cuts to USAID, advocacy program claims | The Independent"
[2]: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcontent%2F240a4a30-5ea7-4a48-b009-f3c2fd8a6b4a%3Futm_source%3Dchatgpt.com "Funding cuts threaten 'success story' of efforts to combat HIV/Aids"
[3]: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aidsmap.com%2Fnews%2Fmar-2025%2Fradical-changes-us-policy-threaten-two-decades-progress-hiv%3Futm_source%3Dchatgpt.com "Radical changes in US policy threaten two decades’ progress in HIV | aidsmap"
[4]: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPresident%2527s_Emergency_Plan_for_AIDS_Relief%3Futm_source%3Dchatgpt.com "President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief"
[5]: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.unaids.org%2Fen%2Ftopic%2FPEPFAR_impact%3Futm_source%3Dchatgpt.com "Update on the status of UNAIDS agreement with the U.S. Government / USAID | UNAIDS"

No, what matters is if the programs continue to operate and save lives, not just if they are funded.

What makes you think these fired employees are easy to replace ?

The whole point of firing these USAID employees is to wreak havoc with humanitarian work.

Hate to quote ChatGPT, but it's on point on this one.

Replacing fired USAID employees working on HIV/AIDS programs is **not easy** due to several factors:

### 1. **Specialized Expertise**

USAID HIV/AIDS personnel often have deep experience in:

* Epidemiology and public health.
* Program design and evaluation.
* Grant and contractor management.
* International law, procurement, and U.S. government compliance rules (e.g. PEPFAR, FAR).
* Local cultural and political knowledge in regions most affected (e.g. Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia).

This kind of domain-specific and region-specific expertise is **not quickly or easily replaced**.

### 2. **Security Clearance and Vetting**

USAID employees, especially those in senior or sensitive roles, must pass background checks and hold security clearances. Hiring replacements is often slowed by this process.

### 3. **Loss of Institutional Memory**

Experienced staff have long-standing relationships with:

* Foreign governments.
* NGOs and implementing partners.
* Local communities.

These relationships are **crucial for program continuity** and are not easily transferred to new hires.

### 4. **Recruitment Pipeline**

USAID is bound by:

* Federal hiring rules.
* Contracting limits.
* Bureaucratic processes that **slow down hiring**.

Additionally, top talent may hesitate to join amid political instability or perceptions of mission politicization.

### 5. **Impact on Ongoing Projects**

Program disruption can lead to:

* Delays in delivering ARVs and testing kits.
* Gaps in outreach and prevention.
* Deterioration of local partnerships and trust.

This can **reverse progress** in HIV/AIDS control.

### Conclusion

In short: **no, they are not easy to replace**. The cost of losing experienced HIV/AIDS program staff at USAID is high, not just operationally but in human terms—potentially affecting millions of people relying on PEPFAR and other critical initiatives.

Gemini :

Replacing fired USAID employees working on HIV/AIDS programs is **highly challenging and has severe negative consequences for global health**. It's not an "easy" process for several key reasons:

* **Specialized Expertise and Experience:** USAID staff involved in HIV/AIDS programs, particularly those linked to PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), possess deep technical knowledge and extensive experience in areas like HIV prevention, treatment, care, health systems strengthening, and specific country contexts. This includes expertise in behavioral science, program management, data analysis, and coordinating with host governments and local partners. Such specialized skills are not readily available in the general workforce.

* **Loss of Institutional Knowledge and Relationships:** Experienced staff have accumulated invaluable institutional knowledge about the specific challenges and nuances of HIV/AIDS efforts in various countries. They also have established relationships with local governments, community organizations, and other stakeholders, which are crucial for effective program implementation. Losing these individuals means losing this critical knowledge and disrupting vital networks.

* **Disruption of Services and Programs:** The immediate impact of staff layoffs and funding freezes has been significant disruptions in HIV services. Reports indicate that many implementing partners have had to lay off staff, close down centers, and halt services like HIV testing, antiretroviral therapy (ART) distribution, and PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) programs. This directly jeopardizes the lives of millions who depend on these services.

* **Complex Hiring Process:** Even if new positions are created, the USAID hiring process, especially for specialized roles, can be lengthy and competitive. It involves multiple stages, including application review, interviews, background checks, and potentially security clearances and medical examinations. Finding individuals with the right blend of technical expertise, international development experience, and commitment to USAID's mission takes time.

* **Uncertainty and Lack of Clarity:** Recent reports indicate significant cuts and reorganization within USAID, with many positions eliminated and a lack of clarity regarding future funding and organizational structure. This uncertainty makes it difficult to recruit and retain talent, as potential employees may be hesitant to join an agency undergoing such drastic changes.

* **Brain Drain:** The mass layoffs and restructuring can lead to a "brain drain" of experienced professionals from the global health and development sector, as these individuals seek more stable employment opportunities. This further exacerbates the challenge of finding qualified replacements.

In summary, the highly specialized nature of the work, the loss of critical institutional knowledge and relationships, the immediate disruption to life-saving services, and the complexities of the hiring process make it exceptionally difficult to replace fired USAID employees working on HIV/AIDS. The consequences of these changes are far-reaching and pose a serious threat to the progress made in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

No, pancreatic cancer is not a "Cali" thing. Too little is known about causes it. I can tell you that 3 nuclear physicists in a lab of 20 in France died of the same cancer, including my dad. Those are way higher stats than normal. It very likely has to do with radioactivity exposure. That shouldn't have been an issue in Apple buildings, though. But could be something else environmental still.

No, I personally don't agree at all about Linux being sufficient for desktop use. I think it's too fragile.
There are still too many tasks that require command line. I shouldn't have to install packages and edit fstab manually to share a disk with another system.
My smb.conf shouldn't break at every single OS upgrade. Nor should the power management keep breaking (ability to sleep/resume).
A lot of programs are still only available in source form, for the user to build. On Windows you have prebuilt binaries typically.
There are numerous accessibility issues with font sizes in various GUI programs that makes them impossible for me to use with vision problems.
I also have a bunch of unusual audio hardware (ECHO Firewire, Roland/Edirol MIDI) that doesn't work well under Linux.
I think Linux is great as a server, and OK as a development platform. I have a NAS running Ubuntu 22. While it's connected to a KVM switch, I almost only use it over VNC with xfce. I just wouldn't willingly run Ubuntu or any other flavor of Linux on my desktop.

No. These USAID employees working on HIV/AIDS are not getting transferred. They got fired. The information about what happened is readily available. No need for you to speculate about what happened.

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Fsections%2Fgoats-and-soda%2F2025%2F03%2F28%2Fg-s1-56968%2Fusaid-terminates-nearly-all-its-remaining-employees
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FInternational%2Faid-workers-usaid-cuts-putting-lives-children-hiv%2Fstory%3Fid%3D122489405
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhealthpolicy-watch.news%2Fus-terminates-thousands-of-life-saving-health-grants-including-for-hiv%2F

Meanwhile, the stuff that's actually been cancelled, help for people with HIV/AIDS, is actually killing tens of thousands, and may kill up to 20 millions worldwide.

Total security in a very complex system cannot exist, obviously. You have to keep on top of it to patch vulnerabilities as they are found.

Linux is just not designed for the average end user. There are still far too many system settings that can only be accessed through some command-line interface. I don't think it will fill the gap as a desktop OS. There are also so many distros doing things differently. And even within one distro, things change/break significantly from one release to another. MS changes things too to be sure, but doesn't break as much in terms of compatibility. Win11 is the exception, in terms of breaking hardware compatibility so drastically.

Even if everything you said was correct, that doesn't negate the fact that an older unsupported OS will have known, unpatched vulnerabilities. The average end user is not going to be able to evaluate the risk for each one depending on their threat model, if they even know what that means. For the majority, it won't be advisable to continue using Win10 if supported is indeed dropped. But MS will in fact continue to patch it for LTSC releases for some enterprises. They might change their mind about making the patches more widely available, depending on how much pushback they get once the deadline approaches. I think a lot of machines running Win10 can't run Win11 and will end up as e-waste otherwise.

Win7 may be ok if the box is airgapped, never connected to any network, and you can control who has physical access.

As far as hookers without condoms, there are things like PreP, DoxyPEP, and contraceptive pills, that make it fairly risk free.

There are no equivalents of these for software/IT security if the vendor drops support.