The grind never stops. Python's proving its worth, CCNA1 is slowly sinking in, and my homelab's evolving into something resembling a proper playground for experimentation.
Last week saw a solid technical win: encrypted backup storage for my local network. It's all set up, VPN to private endpoint, encrypted transfers both on-site and remote. SSH configs, keys only, no passwords (ever), obscure port, NSG locked down tight... just that one port open. The experiment was a success, proved a point, and might even find its way into the FTRCRP realm.
Added to my Proxmox VM testing lab, I've now got a decent platform for ethical hacking and local AI. Gemma 2 (9B) is handling office assistant duties while Qwen 2.5 (7B) provides code support.... now phasing out those data-hungry tech giants where possible. Azure's still in the mix, though ... gotta learn it to give good advice and support to customers.
Heads Up: The Cracks are Showing
Political unrest is bubbling, power dynamics are shifting, and our infrastructure feels... fragile. Cloudflare down? Taking a chunk of the internet with it (Cloudflare 2025). We're putting all our eggs in one basket, or maybe just a few, thinking back; the internet used to be gloriously decentralized.
Now the EU is pushing for Chat Control, killing privacy in the name of "the children" (Breyer 2025). I want to protect my kids too, but do I want Uncle Sam and his cousin EU peering into my private life? Is wanting privacy a sign of guilt, judged by the same people who frequented Epstein's circles?
The files are rolling out, implicating more and more (US Department of Justice 2025; US House Oversight Committee 2025). These players, rubbing shoulders with abusers and traffickers, now hold us regular folks to scrutiny.
Who decides what gets flagged? What algorithm or AI sets those standards? The ones serving us lies, theater, and drama on a daily basis? They'll be the ones deciding this? I hope not.
I'm just a measly IT-Sec student, but we need human error correction algorithms; things have gone too far. We need more power to the people, users in control, open information, vigilance, not passivity. No dopamine loops, no brain rot, no mindless decisions.
Let's move away from the mainstream, the big platforms, and this political circus. Build something new from the ground up. I don't know how yet, but we need to stop, think, and get this poison out of our lives.
References
Breyer, P. (2025) Chat Control: The EU's CSAM scanner proposal. Available at: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/chat-control/ (Accessed: 19 November 2025).
Cloudflare (2025) 18 November 2025 Outage. Available at: https://blog.cloudflare.com/18-november-2025-outage/ (Accessed: 19 November 2025).
US Department of Justice (2025) Attorney General Pamela Bondi Releases First Phase of Declassified Epstein Files. Available at: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-pamela-bondi-releases-first-phase-declassified-epstein-files (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
US House Oversight Committee (2025) Oversight Committee Releases Additional Epstein Estate Documents. Available at: https://oversight.house.gov/release/oversight-committee-releases-additional-epstein-estate-documents/ (Accessed: 26 November 2025).