[mike_s]

Hello all,

I wish I can bring better news, but since COVID season continues, I have some bad news.

Millions of people who are unable to work for covid-based reasons were on government supports and they are set to expire soon. Here in Canada, many supports are set to expire in October or November and I hear in Australia they are set to expire in December. With the ongoing restrictions still in place (such as being required to wear a mask or take vaccines to continue work), it is impossible for millions to work in many sectors.

Sure, some may be lucky to find strictly online employment with no experience if they have a new enough computer with enough features and fast enough internet, but not many fall in that category. Even if that was found, who knows how long it can last or what the pay is.

And to add to the craziness, prices for basic items like food are slowly rising because some businesses are falling short in supplies (like a Walgreens store in New York) and now India is losing power because they're quickly running out of coal with no new coal arriving in the foreseeable future.
More Info here

So why can't I continue the commit driver a this time?

In a word: Stress.

Between dealing with more finances than ever before (including paying other people's bills) and wondering where and when the next pay comes from when there are no in-person jobs available, I'm against a harsh winter. The real question (which millions of others could ask) is, will we survive winter 2021 normally? or will millions be homeless in the cold and eventually die? Plus I have to factor in the fact that I am restricted to the places I go to just because I don't care to show my personal medical records to random people including teenagers (that don't deserve to see them in the first place) just to use a service.

So until further notice, my production on the DOS commit driver for the original Duke Nukem 3D is now suspended along with my participation with these forums.

So I'm sorry if anyone is sad.

[Aristotle Gumball]

I cry tears of blood.

[Danukem]

mike_s, on 11 October 2021 - 09:50 AM, said:

wondering where and when the next pay comes from when there are no in-person jobs available, I'm against a harsh winter.

Where do you live? Even in a covid-obsessed area of California where I live and people are still asked to wear masks, there are help wanted signs everywhere. There is a shortage of willing workers.

[Jimmy]

More like a shortage of wages that are worth the bullshit of the average job + inflation.

[ck3D]

For me Covid government support ended well over a year ago (and the way it was handled in my country was quite intriguing too, but that's another topic); last month actually marked the first month work actually earned me some money since the beginning of the pandemic (as opposed to being benevolent for business visibility purposes), and even then it was just 20% of what I used to make. The past two years have run my life savings into the ground pretty much, to the point where if things don't pick up real quick I'm worried I might not be able to afford my current rent anymore (and I adore my current apartment - would absolutely hate to have to let it go, or have to start selling personal items). Used to think well, I can always just get a manual job that actually pays once I get below a certain threshold in finances - but I'm past that point now and have realized that I just physically don't have any time to invest into something extra and wack, I'm way too rooted in the responsibilities of a 10-plus-year career including co-owning a business and of the extra decade of work to get there with now quite a few people worldwide relying on me on both professional and personal levels that I absolutely refuse to let down. So I've been trying to rebranch and develop a network of small independent clients to work with on a succession of smaller contracts instead of bigger fish that would only occasionally drop big sums - which is technically working, but currently brings in 10% of profit for the same amount of work (until I raise the prices up again over time as everyone develops). Things are so bad, last week I had to apply to a government program for help that's more general and not Covid-related, which is something I used to think was long past me but no, here you go. And I'm still awaiting a reply and uncertain to get it. France can have this reputation of a country where the lazy get fed, but what that stereotype usually doesn't reflect is here the system will actually punish you for working, hence that phenomenon in the first place - meaning that the very second you start actually doing shit, you can forget about any kind of governmental help and instead better be ready to get fucked out of 30% of all your earnings in taxes. So unless you're a low-ambition braindead loser and/or have sucked all the right cocks, life here isn't as easy as the cliché would have it, since for some people at least it's natural to actually try.

I think right now is the time to be pro-active and maybe even rethink a lot of systems, approaches and ways that might have functioned in a past era, but now shouldn't be taken for granted anymore. It's time to rebuild the economy in a different manner and just do fresh stuff, in those terms the current situation is actually quite exciting. Besides the occasional break like I'm taking right now for sanity purposes, the past few months have consisted of three-hour night sleeps here and, otherwise, work 24/7 in as many aspects as possible to even retain a perspective in the future. No instant reward doesn't mean one should have been sitting on their ass passively collecting government checks this whole time that was otherwise designed as transitionary for people to spend preparing themselves (I'm not implying that's what OP did at all; heck, how would I even know and why would that be my business).

Wishing you best of luck, OP.

[jkas789]

Quote

For me Covid government support ended well over a year ago

You guys had government support?!

[Aristotle Gumball]

ck3D, on 11 October 2021 - 07:18 PM, said:

France can have this reputation of a country where the lazy get fed, but what that stereotype usually doesn't reflect is here the system will actually punish you for working, hence that phenomenon in the first place - meaning that the very second you start actually doing shit, you can forget about any kind of governmental help and instead better be ready to get fucked out of 30% of all your earnings in taxes. So unless you're a low-ambition braindead loser and/or have sucked all the right cocks, life here isn't as easy as the cliché would have it, since for some people at least it's natural to actually try.

Lol, in Finland it's 40%. Goes up with the more money you make, so some are paying upwards of 50% in taxes. Here in my country it's about 20%. I would always look at Finnish salaries and be like WTF, how are they making so much. They aren't actually getting that much, though.

And yeah if you're poor/lazy here you'll end up on the streets pretty fast. I don't think either situation is ideal, but I suppose our system does give more weight to those who actually work. Most meritocratic society according to some study I read a while ago.

The thing is, "merit" is all nonsense and you're mostly born with all the traits that make you successful or a failure.

I got into IT about 5 years ago because job security is good, I can work remotely, and the money is only gonna get better. But man, not everyone can do what I do at all. Society shits on everything that isn't the most lucrative thing out there.

[Forge]

the elites are shifting the wealth, wrecking the middle class, and pushing the pleb citizens into being government handouts slaves you say?

sounds kinda tin-foil hatty

[jkas789]

mike_s, on 11 October 2021 - 09:50 AM, said:

...
So until further notice, my production on the DOS commit driver for the original Duke Nukem 3D is now suspended along with my participation with these forums.

So I'm sorry if anyone is sad.

Jokes aside, I'm sorry to see you are this stressed out my fren. It is totally understandable you want to take a break and concentrate on what really matters (keeping a roof over your head, providing food for yourself and your family, etc). At the end of the day real life issues take precedence over a dumb video game and a old crusty internet forum.

Hopefully things will get better to in the future and you will have the time and inclination to come back here and shoot the breeze with us again. ＼(￣▽￣)／

Cheers, and stay strong my dude.

[Jimmy]

They hope you drain your life savings so they can have it.

[ck3D]

Jimmy, on 12 October 2021 - 06:42 PM, said:

They hope you drain your life savings so they can have it.

They don't just hope that you do, they make sure that you do. For the whole first year of Covid, it feels like no one worked (for a benefit anyway) and only consumed, unless in a niche field that actually profited from the situation. And when you were still trying to work (which was my case), you had to deal with everyone's mental distress that affected their own willingness to work; that paired up with public places and transport shutting down made it that getting anything done was either vain or downright impossible. No (or restricted) governmental help, no source of income, gotta dig in or else do what? And that whole time, the bigger corporations used Covid as an excuse to cut tons of budgets and jobs (which I've endured first hand, and witnessed many in my immediate circle endure to the point where it crashed their respective enterprises - lots of them, mostly in the art/press/culture field). It's also been one for a lot of people to suddenly be unprofessional in general. Clients suddenly disappearing as soon as you've sent them the bill, co-workers ghosting their tasks for months on end and all kinds of bat shit crazy folks have been trying to pull off.

[Aristotle Gumball]

ck3D, on 13 October 2021 - 12:56 AM, said:

It's also been one for a lot of people to suddenly be unprofessional in general.

Yeah, I see it a lot here too. Society is a collective delusion anyway.

[Danukem]

ck3D, on 13 October 2021 - 12:56 AM, said:

It's also been one for a lot of people to suddenly be unprofessional in general. Clients suddenly disappearing as soon as you've sent them the bill, co-workers ghosting their tasks for months on end and all kinds of bat shit crazy folks have been trying to pull off.

I've noticed that too and its not talked about as much as the other things.

[Jimmy]

Because the government has enabled this behaviour by abandoning it's own responsibilities and limitations "because it's a pandemic."

[Aristotle Gumball]

THE FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWN