An interesting idea. Unfortunately I won't be able to try it right away, owing to the constraints of my current hardware. Last time I checked, Linux would not run on a Macbook pro (while Windows does). Oh, and it does not have TPM. Am I saved then?

China will actually do it.

I run win 10 pro, with updates set to notify-then-download-manually. Will I be able to identify and avoid the installation of win 11? Or will the thing eventually be forced as some updates currently are (despite my settings)?

I have disabled KB4577586. Why shove the removal further down my throat? It should be my choice what software to keep installed on my computer.

The developers should address compatibility, not the looks. I still use Firefox but have Chrome as a backup, because some sites no longer work in Firefox. One example is Yandex Taxi (superficially looks fine, but try to detect your location and it fails).

Freedom restrictions always start benign and easily defeatable (for now, VPN works) and, over time, end up like it currently is in China. We need to elect different politicians in Russia.

They may pay extra for a window seat.

Have you ever taken a bullet train in Japan or China? The fast-changing views are a joy to watch.

Vaccines have been generally available for three months (two months for those over 65) in Moscow and its surrounds. Life is back to normal. Whomever has chosen not to get vaccinated, it's their fault.

I use burp on an external server (run by my employer), backing up all my data files. The backup time can of course be scheduled but I have set it for manual activation, to prevent large data transfers at an unsuitable time. My chief complaint about burp is that it's not resilient against a dropped connection. It will attempt to resume an interrupted session at the next start, but will not retry automatically. We've never tried to restore from my backup so I can't comment on that procedure.

For a bit of perspective, let me report from a different world :). The vaccine Sputnik V is has been generally available since early December, and its clinical trials have recently been completed (showing it's basically on par with the other best vaccines). There are vaccination stations in many of the local hospitals, no queues, and they have a surplus of the vaccine sitting in the fridges and nurses waiting. There is no appointment needed, just come and get it. The problem: the population does not want to get vaccinated.

A few days ago, the governor of Moscow Oblast held a meeting with the agenda of, why are we not vaccinating enough people?

One of the steps to encourage the uptake has been to open walk-in vaccination booths in supermarkets.

temporarily being "welded into their homes" is a necessary part of virus control, to squash an outbreak. The rest of your list is false.

They do, and that includes quashing numerous flare-ups from imported cases: the virus leaking from immigration quarantines, from airports, and arriving in frozen food from other countries. My colleagues in China report that life has essentially been back to normal for many months.

They have put covid under effective control while the rest of the world has largely failed to do so. That includes lots of wealthier democratic countries.

Where is a technical paper backing this claim?

Only emergency care (of the kind that your son had) is provided in Russia to everyone regardless of citizenship or the ability to pay. For minor non-life-threatening problems, regular healthcare, preventative care, and chronic issues, you have to have insurance. This is free to obtain for a Russian citizen (so yes we have a universal healthcare) but costs to a foreigner residing or working in Russia. I am not sure it is available for tourists.