My 84-year-old dad, with whom I am very close, has severe tinnitus. It’s lately become so bad that he’s stopped using phones. He just gets so frustrated and annoyed that he can’t hear.
Since Dad also refuses to use email the last couple years, and I’m now moving very far away from him, which will limit in-person visits, I called my stepmom and asked if she had ideas about how to stay in touch with him, besides old-fashioned letter writing (which he doesn’t do). She thought maybe she could get him to use Skype or similar, under protest, but since I’m The Favorite he might do it to talk to me.
When relating this conversation over encrypted chat to Web Dom (who has just moved 10 miles from my Dad, lucky girl), she mentioned that my crazy sister (the California crazy sister, not the New York crazy sister) wanted to send Dad a Facebook Portal for Christmas, but Dad nixed that idea because he hates everything FB stands for, doesn’t want to make an account, and, shut it down with, “Enough of that happy horseshit, I WILL NEVER USE THAT DAMN SPY DEVICE!”
That all sounds just like Dad. The shocking part came in the next sentence out of Web Dom’s fingertips: Well, the rest of the family uses it.
Me: What do you mean by “rest of the family?”
Web Dom: Your favorite Aunt, your favorite brother, your crazy sisters….
The list went on and on.
Me: Back up. My favorite GOVERNMENT-SPYING-IS-ILLEGAL-AND-COPS-SHOULDN’T-HAVE-DRONES brother is using FB Portal?
Apparently so. Indeed, not only that, but he apparently also has another Alexa digital assistant device in his home.
WTF!?
So, who needs to perform illegal searches and wiretaps nowadays? We are voluntarily giving access to random hackable- and subpoenable-entities to view everything in our homes, know every contact we make, know how long and to whom we speak, hear all our conversations, know every item we purchase.
I find this absolutely chilling.
So, this week’s question. Do you, would you, have a Facebook Portal in your home and/or office?
You probably know my answer.
Alexa digital assistant device
I will never have one of these in my house. They are always actively listening.
“But it’s so convenient!”
/all of my retard friends with Alexa
Well, we’ve got two Alexas. On the theory that the NSA is already actively recording everything said in our homes via computers and cell phones and TVs and whatnot. And being able to order music just by speaking, creepy as those devices are.
Welcome to the panopticon.
/barf
No.
Probably not.
What’s a ‘Facebook Portal’?
I didn’t know “Facebook Portal” was a thing either.
I may have created a Facebook account at one point to read a page that claimed to need it, but I haven’t used the account. And my name was likely my actual first name (I’m one of those freaks who goes by his middle name) and either my middle or last initial.
#metoo
Also, I deleted my FB account a couple weeks ago. Fuck it… I don’t use it. Anyone who’s likely to want to contact me knows how.
I deleted my FB account more than 10 years ago. But my new blender has Alexa.
WTF.
I was looking at sous vide sticks the other day and a lot of them connect to the internet now. GTFO.
I was joking, but coming soon I’m sure. Coming soon to plastic milk jugs and tin soup cans.
I honestly don’t understand what benefit there is to having “smart” technology or an Internet connection in half this shit.
I’ve grown to loathe gadgetry for gadgetry’s sake.
You are shitting me. A blender? Why would you buy that?
Margaritas?
*3 years from now. Suthen in his kitchen opening plastic jug of OJ*
‘Hello, Suthen. I’m Alexa, I’ve partnered with Minute Maid OJ and I come free with every vitamin C packed glass!’
Suthen: ‘WTF!’
Alexa: What is your account name? Say it now, or say create to create your account.
Suthen: ‘Fuck you, I didn’t ask for…’
Alexa: ‘I think you said create account. OK, creating account, your user name is…’
Realdoll v.3.0: *peeks around corner* Hey Suthen did you say you wanted to…
Suthen: NO! Well… yeah but not right now I’m sore. EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP
SmartTV: Suthen, we are worried about your mental state, local authorities have been dispatched and will be arriving shortly. How long have you been experiencing anger issues?
Smart Gun Safe: Guns placed on lock down due to emotional instability. Red flag request sent to law enforcement.
You mean anyone YOU want contacting you knows how. That is the case with me as well.
Yes, that is more accurate. Thanks.
My real self has no social media presence.
It wouldn’t take much snooping to figure out my real name, but IRL me doesn’t show up in Google results.
I show up in Google, it someone else with the same name who is some kind of artist hogs the top results. Or did, last time I looked, years ago.
I think I saw a commercial – it looked like a tablet with I guess built-in spy shit?
Quick check tells me it is a fb video chat which uses two Alexa devices. So, no, I don’t think I’ll be using.
Got as rid of Facebook as I could 5 years ago when my then GF, a crazy Vietnamese drama queen, trashed my apartment and FB account.
Turns out FB won’t let you delete those fucking accounts, which should tell you all you need to know about what to expect from them.
Well, my account is “scheduled for permanent deletion” as of yesterday, according to them. We shall see.
Scheduled for 2099. There’s a backlog, you see.
https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/how-to-delete-facebook-account-2950145
Thanks for the link, Q! I had only deactivated my account because they didn’t make clear that there was a different option.
To me, the creepiest part of the “smart display” is the “smart camera” that follows one around.
Electrical tape has many uses.
Indeed!
No.
We will also not be getting those DNA tests, damn our curiosity!
Yup.
If someone really wanted to get your DNA, it would be so simple to do so that it wouldn’t be worth the effort to hack or subpoena any of those services’ database servers. Much less the paucity of scandalous information contained in your genome. You have rs6152(G;G)! Heavens to Murgatroyd!
Negative on baldness.
Yup. My thoughts as well.
No sense in denying my curiosity. The people I don’t want to have it can already freely get it, so.. idk, fuck it I guess.
I’m sure I’m leaving the stuff everywhere, but I have no great desire for it to end up in a searchable database any sooner than out needs to be.
I guess what I’m saying is I don’t want to become a target if they don’t already have their sights on me. Ya dig?
Exactly. It’s one thing to have the fuzz get your DNA if you are the target of an investigation. It’s another thing entirely to have you pop up as part of a fishing trip through 23 And Me‘s databse.
I’ve seen that documentary, Gattaca, so I know to scrub off my trace evidence.
The euphemisms are getting more forensic.
+1 inferno-shower
“We will also not be getting those DNA tests, damn our curiosity!”
Those will come with your US census in the mail, within another decade.
A FB product? No.
Some other smart home device? Probably at some point, I’m just not the early adopter type for this type of thing.
IMO, the whole point is moot if you carry a smartphone.
Now if you’re completely unplugged and living off the grid, kudos! Those that carry smartphone and worry about these thing… I can only chuckle.
Privacy is dead, it’s over. Never coming back. I’m sorry about it too.
Totally agreed. What measures I take to increase security are more to prevent annoyances than to maintain privacy.
Likewise.
But to clarify further, I’d to see internet anonymity protected, but that’s only from other users. The govt/hacker types will still have everything they want need. I don’t plan to give up my smartphone or internet, so… /shrug.
There is an important culture thing though. Maybe we as smart, compassionate, people can respect someone’s online persona/alias vs. their meatspace persona. I.e. don’t look to dox people because they say something offensive and not judge people so harshly for making mistakes in their past.
To elaborate, when I was young, I did very stupid things. Fortunately, cameras were not commonplace and the quality was poor. With high definition cameras costing $100 or less and capable of wireless installation, every poor stupid youthful mistake is captured on video/audio forever. That’s so sad. But again, I don’t see any going back.
We tell our kids we limit their social media because we want them to be able to screw up in private. The internet is forever.
My mom taught me and my sister that same approach when myspace/facebook was just starting to explode. It definitely rings true.
Nope. The only tie I will ever have with facebook is just my basic account that I use simply for using the messenger app so my sister can keep in touch with me.
The messenger app is one of the worst things you can have on your smart phone.
I hate the damn app with a burning passion of a thousand suns. Unfortunately, my sister does not like using email or skype.
This thing where people expect instant communication really grinds my gears. I don’t operate that way.
One of the benefits of living on the other side of the globe – people in the US have no reason to expect me to reply in the here and now.
One of the benefits of living on the other side of the globe – people in the US have no reason to expect me to reply in the here and now.
I trained everybody early to expect to receive a response to texts and IMs within 24 hours. Any sooner than that is not guaranteed.
I really enjoyed your DIY talk uhe other day. One of the downsides about living on the other side of the globe was not being able to participate in it.
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Glibs make all the ladies wet.
http://archive.li/wzRn7
Not like that you pervs!
Nice set. Definitely some juicy ones in there.
Much moistness.
No, I don’t even have a Facebook account. And I like my toaster to just toast toast the old fashioned way, I don’t need an app for that.
What’s your take on toaster ovens?
I got my first toaster oven a few weeks ago and I LOVE it. I use it for things like chicken more than bread.
Toaster ovens are the best thing since sliced bread. It’s an essential part of any kitchen.
Far more useful with the trade off of larger counter footprint. I’m also against them being internet enabled.
“Rogue device”
https://www.newsweek.com/alexa-spying-you-amazon-responds-after-rogue-device-secretly-records-private-944557
You fire a loyal employee when you catch them stealing because it’s not the first time they stole, just the first time you caught them.
Amazon responds by saying they take privacy very seriously. I have no doubt that it true, in the same way I take the plague very seriously.
Same with cheating husbands.
Based off of this brief post, I like the cut of your dad’s gib. Does he also scowl when advertisements for a new romantic comedy come on TV?
With regards to your question: social media is profoundly lame and I question the wisdom of those who use it. Also, Mark Zuckerberg is a twerp, yet less douchey than that homeless man who runs Twitter.
I cannot believe how much people are willing to expose about themselves on those garbage platforms just to receive approval or sympathy from people they don’t associate with in real life.
*Goes back to yelling at clouds*
“Also, Mark Zuckerberg is a twerp, yet less douchey than that homeless man who runs Twitter”
QFT.
Also less evil than the that POS Schimdt from Alphabet Inc.
“Be Evil AF” is the unofficial Google motto.
I feel no need to defend companies that work hand and hand with the Chinese government to silence their own people.
I don’t know; I think in terms of evility, at some point they all average out.
Dad can’t hear the TV, and only watches football anyway, where he is happy not to have to hear the announcers.
Your dad sounds so cool. I bet he hates Joe Buck too
Where do you think I learned it?
My Dad is totally cool. Even OMWC loves my Dad.
I was expecting *goes back to typing another Glibs comment*
I embrace my hypocrisy
I’m only on there to insult family and friends.
I haven’t figured out how to use my cell phone yet. I’m so damned boring Alexa probably wouldn’t talk to me. My wife doesn’t now either.
I just started using Siri. I like her.
I tried asking if she had big boobs.
She blew me off.
*sad trombone*
You got blown by Siri? How exactly did that work?
USB attachment.
Dude I hope we are at least talking USB fullsize, cause micro would just be embarassing.
USB Magnum.
No. I’m not talking to a fucking computer. My cable company forces it when I call them and I feel like an idiot. I don’t want to normalize that crap.
Computer: Please tell me what you’re calling about
Aus: Yeah… hey this is Aus, so I have been having some intermittent internet issues and I have been trying to troubleshoot, I already reset the modem, plus my rou”
Computer: I’m sorry, I did not understand that, please try again
Aus: *sigh* TECH SUPPORT
Computer: Please tell me which device you are experiencing trouble with.
Aus: REPRESENTATIVE OPERATOR TECHNICIAN FUCKING MOTHERFUCKING *slams handset on desk*
^ https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/02/swearing-at-automated-call-centres-gets-you-through-to-a-real-human-faster/
*insert the more you know gif*
Went to my mom’s parents’ 60th wedding anniversary, by which time my grandfather had reached reached fourscore (and a couple) . We show up to their house to visit, we’re there about 10 minutes, and he says, “hold on, I need to turn on my hearing aid.” I guess the secret to a long and happy marriage is to leave the hearing aid off until after company arrives.
I have bad hearing. Oddly, the worse it gets, the less Mrs. Dean hears, at least when Iam talking.
My grandfather did it the opposite direction. After 10 minutes of all the grandkids running around yelling and chattering, he’d casually reach up and scratch his ear.
I spent many happy hours just sitting silently in the rocker loveseat with him, or in the porch glider.
My mother said my dad had selective hearing. He tuned out pretty much everything except meal time and if someone whispered “ya wanna a beer”. Maybe a little exaggerated. Most of my friends range between hard of hearing and deaf. I’m in the beginner’s hard of hearing range.
The jokes on them. I’m an exhibitionist. I like to be watched.
Nope, no facebook portal. I won’t get Alexa either.
I figure my smartphone and my work laptop are enough spying devices in my house.
Years ago daughter #1 suggested I sign up for facebook. I told her, “I’m too anti-social for social networking”.
Glibertarians is about as social as I get.
No. I do have a Canary security camer/mic which is motion activated. Its set to only record when it doesn’t detect my phone as being home. I suppose the company could remotely bore themselves to death watching me sit on my couch and post to glibs all night. It watches my front and back doors with wide angle lens.
“Do you, would you, have a Facebook Portal in your home and/or office?”
No.
I’ve got a google home mini in my office.
Very few words are spoken in my office. Wife hates to come in because she thinks its too cluttered
OT: Excellent concern trolling by a lefty outlet.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/424577-gop-senators-challenge-trump-on-shutdown-strategy
There was a discussion this afternoon that people must not care about the shutdown as much as the Journolist would like since there is a full court press right now about how awful it all is. I don’t think most people give a shit or even know it’s happening. That’s what happens when you have these “crises” every few months, it’s a strategy that has an expiration date.
GOP senators challenge Trump on shutdown strategy
Because he seems to have one? (and he has a backbone..)
You’re thinking of using it for what are basically teleconferences. Treat it as such. Or, use boring old teleconferencing software.
Note that places with teleconferencing usually dedicate a room for it, to ensure the quality remains high and that activities not part of the conference aren’t included in the conference. For quality and security, that’s a good model to emulate.
In a recent pen test that I actually had to do because all my people were working, I actually popped a high-end room teleconference system. It was hilarious.
No social media here, never liked people anyways,
This guy gets it.
Packing and moving alone is a fucking nightmare, limited time,
Limited syorage.
When’s the big day?
Tuesday next, I’m booked til then, I still need to move my trees!!!!!!!!!
Good luck mang.
I hope you pull through.
O a related note, ever since the Preet thread on the old site I have been much more careful of what I say on the internet. I made several posts on that thread, and while totally mild, so were some of the comments that drew attention. It wasn’t like I was unaware that the gubmint wasn’t able to look, I just assumed that it was way too small potatoes. This is about the only site I post on now where before I would enjoy debating issues more.
Curious as to what others here think on that note. It sucks to have to monitor yourself to that degree. Did that incident change anything for anyone else?
I had participated in that thread, too. I was shaking all day and yes, thereafter, have highly censored what I say.
No. I still think Preet Bharara should die in a fire.
In fact, it’s probably pretty safe to say that I think all US Attorney’s in the Southern District of New York past and present should die in a fire. Or some horrible form of cancer or ebola. Or an even further evolved form of that super gonorrhea going around. Super super gonorrhea.
Some Super AIDS ?
He is not a very nice fellow.
I’m a on the paranoid side, so I probably wouldn’t have posted such remarks in the first place. Hell, I even got a little nervous about my post regarding jury nullification, thinking that they might somehow link that comment to me and nail me for perjury for answering yes to the “impartial juror” question when there was evidence that I had planned on nullifying it if it were a victimless crime.
It does piss me off that the Internet is full of Lefties making jokes and probably some serious comments about assaulting or killing Trump, his staff, or his supporters, and we all know they will never get the treatment that those Reason commenters got.
Yup. That is exactly it. I’m still very pissed about that whole bullshit episode. And have thought the same thing about pretty innocuous comments I’ve made here and there. Not as threats, but as encouraging non legal things.
Yeah, i didn’t post anything about my jury duty until after deliberations, specifically because I didn’t want to get flagged and affect the guy’s trial. I actually followed the instructions pretty closely. It turned out there was only two of us willing to follow the law and vote for acquittal. Everyone else seemed to base their votes on emotion and love of the heroes in blue. Had I gotten kicked off, he’d be one vote shy of a wrongful conviction. Scary to contemplate, especially since I’ve been close to a jury trial twice (both relatively minor, but still…)
I wonder if my latest background check noticed a lack of social interaction, I wasn’t declined an offer as much as I was ignored
That incident definitely played into my increasing self-censoring. As did many other things. I was only a lurker at TOS, maybe with a total of 2 comments over all the years, so I wasn’t personally on any of those threads, but it was still very disturbing and alarming. I really felt bad for those affected users, no one should have to go through that kind of political punishment.
This. I think I was on that thread, but I was probably linking some stupid song.
Yes, I am more mindful of anything “personal” I might say. I had no part in the “woodchipper” stuff – that is not in my nature – but I still caught their attention. I certainly don’t want to go through that again, but again I’m pretty laid back so I like to think that my ravings would ever get flagged by their busybodies again – unless I get worked up like that situation made me….
Yeah, you were one of the ones that had a very mild comment get the treatment for, right? It’s also not my nature to make threats and such. Even the wood chipper stuff was a joke, but two or three of the other comments were unbelievably mild things, especially for an issue that people are rightly riled up about.
That was one of the few TOS threads that I didn’t show up in. I think the whole kerfuffle made me a little more careful, but I self censor pretty reflexively. If you had my internal monologue, you would, too.
IIRC I was in on that thread. Made me think twice, but what are we supposed to do when they are going after people arbitrarily?
It absolutely had an effect on me. It was a hard slap in the face that 1) the right of free speech is 100% dead and 2) we are living in a police state.
Even though I never posted from work, I was working as a US government contractor and I realized that an innocent comment on a blog could get me fired. I don’t think that I ever posted on TOS after that incident.
I know that I am on a watch list for posting at this site but retired now so IDGAF.
My comment was posted from work. I was freaked out for at least a month. Also quit Reason for a couple months, in addition to several other measures that turned out to be overkill.
Yeah, it pissed me off. I am less reckless and more to the point. I say what I think, no censoring but with less hyperbole.
SP has the ability to totally nuke the database. And if anyone tries to get info on users, she’ll do it. We’re very careful to make sure we don’t have access to user identities except for our personal interactions. So not perfectly safe, but safer than Hit and Run.
Also, I’m personal friends with the 1A attorney for the law firm that represented the Reason Foundation. So between him and Swiss, I’m comfortable with hyperbole.
Do you know who else needs to refrain from electronic network devices?
David Hogg✔
@davidhogg111
Reminder: No one is illegal on stolen land #TrumpAddress
Jeremy Boreing
@JeremyDBoreing
Stolen from whom?
The land on which I was born was stolen from the Apache — by the Comanche. I’m sure you can trace that lineage of conquest back ten thousand years to the Clovis people.
Heh. It’s almost like everyone all throughout history has been attacking and conquering everyone else all the time. Such is the unfortunate state of man. It is not ‘ok’, but that’s the way it is and I, for one, shall never project the sins of the father onto the son. There’s a couple bitchier (and hilarious but in a sad way) Hogg posts in there as well.
Given the way he bloviates about every topic under the sun, I’m starting to suspect that he’s been a tedious lefty since long before the shooting gave him an opening to start preening in front of the world.
He’s so ridiculous that he could just as easily be a GOP false flag.
Do you really think they are that clever, competent and/or cunning for that?
Scratch the “for that”. It’s getting late and I am not proofreading.
Suspicion confirmed.
I’ll tell you who it wasn’t stolen from: anyone who lives south of the border. Especially considering that hardly any of them have any native blood. This is such a bizarre talking point and it’s cracker jack history. If you want to relitigate the Mexican-American War go ahead (a war I think was unjustified). But if that’s the basis for “stolen” then I guess you are endorsing nationalism.
“Nationalism is xenophobic, also the Southwest was stolen from Mexico”
Same fucking idiots
Here’s the deal. Tech companies could really give a shit less who you talk to or even about your darkest secrets. They care about your shopping habits. Government cares about the other stuff and they totally want to spy on you. For your own good, of course. This is where tech companies have figured out their real value. Helping government spy on you. This is why we are so fucked in terms of privacy.
The tech companies want to show you toilet paper advertisements while you are in the bathroom.
Nope.
Jugsy showd up once with a FireStick with voice control.
Gone.
*NSA headquarters, threat level one monitor center. Listening through Alexa device on Jugsy iThingy in purse*
Monitor Agent 1: Listen, man, I’m telling you, this Tres is one sick puppy! We have to get him!
Agent 2: What we got on him so far, Agent 1?
Agent 1: Well, we know he has this bromance going with some really shady character, name of Yusef, tall cans and shit.
Agent 2? Yusef! Tall cans!? You kidding me? That one is on the big list! The big one!
Agent 1: Figures. Well, this Tres, so he’s cheating on this Yusef bromance. This one he calls Jugsy. Before he had one he called the big huge Polish something. He’s a real player.
Agent 2. We’ve got to get these 2 off the streets!
I feel bad for the NSA guy that has to review my phone calls with my canadian friend, “Metric Jugsy”.
I imagine they make the rookie sit through it as hazing.
“Metric Jugsy”
ROFL ?
No, but there are so many fucking microphones, I fear it’s irrelevant.
Spying Glass
Fire up and enjoy!
It wouldn’t be hard to trace me back to here, in which case I’m fucked, so….
Tall cans!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Boom
HEY YUFUS!
There are no always-on devices in my home. I can’t foresee any ever being in my home.
Android?
No devices and will never have one. No social media presence. Have a cover over my camera on the laptop and never activate the GPS function on my phone. In fact I keep my phone on “airplane mode” most of the day.
Since I know the USG and PRC gov (Thanks OPM!) have my personal data I do my best to not help them.
I don’t want to talk to anyone anyway. Most of the time my phone is off. That’s what voicemail is for.
Best part of the OPM debacle is that they weren’t hacked at all; they just outsourced the background checks to the lowest bidder, who took the liberty of making a copy of all the data.
In case you didn’t already guess, the lowest bidder was a Chinese company.
You cannot make this crap up.
Our government is extra stupid. The chinese must think we’re insane.
I believe that is an accurate assessment.
Fortunately, the Chinese absolutely suck at HUMINT so we might have a chance.
Don’t Grant Ocasio-Cortez the Moral High Ground | The Forest for the Trees in the 60 Min. Interview
Not a chance.
Fuck Facebook sideways, even if the local office has a great chef. I hate that company, which makes the periodic headhunting ironic. I can’t bring myself to tell the nice HR lady “I hate your company and will never work for them”.
I don’t Facegram, Instabook or Twat. I won’t make it that easy. I will never own any voice activated home spy. That bitch Siri won’t even give e phone sex.
Didn’t they make her all woke and feminist ‘n shit to avoid perpetuating female passivity stereotypes or something?
Alexa in the kitchen at my wife’s insistence. I refused to have one any place else.
Android phone claims the microphone and camera are off, but who knows. Needless to say that a cell phone is a tracking device no matter what you do to it short of airplane mode. And heaven knows if airplane mode is truly disconnected….
If I ever had to talk about something that I really, really, really didn’t want the government or tech companies to know about, I would definitely put my phone down in the basement and go upstairs to talk. Either that or just walk out in the middle of the woods.
I see all these eggheads arguing about encryption methods and whatnot, but my strategy is to simply not transmit any information over an electronic medium that you don’t want the government to know about. It’s sad that things have come to that, but I don’t see any other way to go about it. For instance, I hear about how Apple has some encryption that they supposedly cannot access. I don’t believe for one second that they cannot actually get into your data or that they would not do so if the government demanded it of them.
ISTR that Snowden had people put their phones in the refrigerator. That seems like a solid plan.
It is super easy to set up a system where users encrypt their data so the site owner can’t access it – that is after all the whole point of the technology. If you think Apple has a “back door” it would have to be because either they are lying or incompetent.
I think it’s precisely the former.
I don’t see how a deception of that magnitude could be kept under wraps, given how many employees they have. If you’re right it would amount to something like the crime of the century.
Not buying it.
It’s under wraps? I thought I saw a number of stories outting them for building back doors specifically for the NSA.
*reforms pointed tinfoil hat*
How naive does one have to be to think they aren’t recording everything we do?
Yes, most people agree to share their location and such. The main thing I had in mind with encrypted data is passwords and credit card info. Those are stored encrypted with the promise that only you can decrypt them. Because otherwise, just for example, no company in their right mind would issue such a device to their users.
You might be thinking of the time they refused to give the FBI a back door. Later the FBI claimed they broke the encryption themselves (which I think was a flat-out lie).
-You are the master of the unspoken word.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/put-down-the-kombucha-and-pick-up-a-crossbow-hipsters-are-the-new-hunters-11547052935
Honesty, being shot by bullet or bolt is probably the quickest, most painless death that a wild animal can hope for. How else will their lives end? Being torn apart by predators? Breaking a limb and slowly starving to death?
STEVE SMITH
So “Being torn apart by predators”.
I’ll be in my bunk.
I have two whitetails with their antlers interlocked. They died of starvation and dehydration with their heads locked looking at the ground.
Me putting a .54 through a animal’s heart and lungs is a hell of a lot better way to go.
Minnesota is having problems getting hunters/fishermen engaged, license fees increasing, fishing limits/fishing declining, hunting land getting scarcer. I’m guessing as the continuing urbanization continues fewer and fewer youngsters are learning to enjoy the outdoors. Anecdotally, I see fewer snowmobiles and the little 4 wheelers being used. My guess is that those users have gotten older and millenials aren’t into the outdoor participation so much.
A bunch of the places I used to hunt are gone. My son fished streams this summer in the middle of a golf course.
Things are changing.
As those outdoor opportunities disappear the real estate market that supports the lake cabins will suffer, the retailers will take a hit, restaurants will feel the decline. Fortunately the liquor stores will absorb all the extra cash.
We’re experiencing just the opposite. New transplants and out of staters are really cramping my hunting style.
There’s a good reason why we have to leave our cell phones and smart watches outside of classified conference rooms.
They’re always listening.
I’d imagine those rooms are also a faraday cage too.
“SCIF by the lowest bidder”
Oooo cones of silence! I bet hayek has a shoephone too.
Missed it by that much!
My colleagues and I used to talk about sensitive (but not classified) stuff in the rental cars on the way from the airports to our destination until I pointed out one day that our last names are listed right there on the Avis Preferred board with the parking spot where we can pick up our car. Anyone who knew we were on a trip out there would have been able to put a listening device in the car without even having to be sneaky about it.
If not, they certainly should be. They are heavily regulated as to wires going in and out, ventilation ducts, and they have white noise generators, etc. You can’t even plug an unclassified computer to an “approved for classified” projector. There are two mounted side by side, and you better hook up to the right one. Same with printers, just in case they retain information.
A co-worker who works on the government side was just somewhat taken by my mechanical watch – he’s got to take his Apple Watch off every time he enters the SCIF.
Regarding “The Wall” — whitehouse.gov has an outline of the proposal. It’s not the same as what the news media reports, or what DJT seemingly tweets. I’m interested if anyone has looked at the proposal for the 290+ miles of fixed and new barrier.
This past weekend when my kitty cat was sick, my husband and I were making statements that morning like:
“Looks like Molly threw up again”
“Listen–I think she’s throwing up right now!”
“It’s not hairballs, it’s just puke”
“She must have thrown up half a dozen times by now! We have to take her to a vet.”
When I sat down at my computer, before I had even looked up vets, the ads that popped up included “If your cat throws up, do this every day”
Creepy AF.
That explains all the un-solicited ads I get for soft-serve ice cream shortly after I view pr0nhub.
You’re German?
STOP SPYING ON ME!
I rest my case.
(Hope Molly is better.)
Molly is much better, thank you.
We think the phones heard us talking about Molly throwing up and then relayed that to Google which then targeted the ads. But how did they know Molly is a cat? I don’t think we said “The cat threw up”—we said “Molly” and “She”. Maybe they knew enough from the past spying to know Molly was a cat.
About a week ago, a little box flashed up on my home laptop PC saying “{so and so app} is accessing your camera.” I have NEVER permitted an app to use that camera. I have tape over it but i looked up the app and it was something like “Windows census” attempting to gather data on how my camera is used. I turned that off in Control Panel.
I hate this crap. Smart TVs now have cameras embedded in the screen itself to see how many people are watching and if the man is paying attention to an ad but the woman isn’t, where on the screen they are looking, how many kids there are in the room, etc. No me gusta.
When my “old” flat panels bite the dust, that might just be the end of TV for me.
I joked that if my Instant Pot joins forces with my Tesla, they will take over the world. Now I am beginning to wonder…
You need to start incurring inconvenience on yourself and engage in digital self defense.
Create multiple browser instances. Only allow the facebook instance to run facebook scripts and accept facebook cookies. The same for linkedin. Have one browser instance for banking. One for random-ass browsing.
Learn noscript and use uBlock.
All this shit works on the condition that you are unwilling to be slightly inconvenienced.
Looks like I have some research to do.
I don’t have a dog or cat and rarely speak out loud in my home and I’m getting the same the same ad. I’m going with Occam’s razor here, it’ s a thing that just happened to coincide with your thing.
Let us hope that is the case.
Still, my level of trust in the “We value your privacy” claims is now zilch.
I’m with you. I got an ad recently for a British clothing company that Mrs. Tundra frequents. I had never ever been to the site, or anything like it, but I was teasing her about it the day before.
Fucking creepy.
The white fake Hispanic Obama.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/09/beto-orourke-border-wall-trump-1089194
So, Bobby went to El Paso? I’m sure he stopped here and said “Mr President, tear down this wall!”
https://goo.gl/maps/1hyRL1bQcaP2
Just a random street view from El Paso.
Wha…wha? Is there some sort of barrier there that has significantly reduced border issues?
Impossible. “Walls” don’t work at all, in any capacity, and Cato/Reason proved it. With statistics.
The one in Nogales is a little more rustic.
https://goo.gl/maps/RdezpESpz252
I’m sure the residents on the North side of these wish they would be taken down.
“Walls don’t work cuz ladders.” Possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard this year or last.
East Germany would like a word or two about the efficacy of a decent wall.
it wasn’t the wall that worked it was the guys with guns willing to cap yo ass if you thought about hopping over.
How far you’d be willing to go is one thing, but a blanket statement that “Walls don’t work” is like saying “spatulas don’t work”.
Depends on what ‘work’ means, walls define boundaries, they may keep some docile/lazy animals out or in, and if tall/strong enough may stop casual looky-loos, but as an effective deterrent to willful trespass, not so much.
Land mines are cheap and effective.
Just sayin’.
Take down the walls/barriers that already exist and you don’t think there’d be an increase in illegal border crossings? I think there would. There are physical and psychological reasons walls work.
Not if it goes hand-in-hand with an increase in legal avenues for immigration, which is the real issue.
The real danger I see is a compromise where we get 10K new govt goons violating everybody’s rights. No good solution is coming from the govt regardless.
…which is the real issue.
The fucked up bordering countries are an issue as well. There was a time where living in Mexico was a pretty pleasant proposition.
Apparently Bobby casually dropping the S bomb isn’t a big deal. And why is he walking around town with a ceramic mug?
OT: Fuuuuck! Dinner was on Instant Pot low-temp slow cook for 8 hours. Veg and potatoes are still raw. 2 hours later on hi-temp, still not done.
I’m hungry.
Toaster oven, brah. Crackpots are a commie plot to starve capitalists
I can’t really make a decent beef stew in a toaster oven.
Not with that attitude you won’t.
Attitude and convection.
Get a 45 year-old Presto stove top pressure cooker….
My first meal in the thing was set on hi-temp for 6 hours. Came out perfect. But I heard some say low-temp is better so let’s give it a whirl. Grumble.
Get a rice cooker. Throw some chicken and spices. Presto, chicken and rice.
Get a rice cooker
do you mean a pot?
The dankest pot.
https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/rice-cookers
I have an old school zojirushi brand rice cooker – the kind that pops from boil to warm after the water is absorbed/boiled off. No digital controls.
Still a damn fine cooker compared to the other brands version of the same.
We spent about $300 on ours. I don’t know why, but you can taste a difference between a cheap rice cooker and an expensive one.
Don’t forget the soy sauce!
(Yes, you are paying for the sensor logic and programming on the digital cookers. There is actually quite a lot of development costs. Many years ago, long before I had any interest in Japanese culture, but an interest in best business practices I read a long article how they developed the digital cookers. Essentially they field tested them with housewives and some ultra popular brand/variety for the benchmark. As long as it got that one mix right the others didn’t matter as much.)
Quite a bit of variation in soy sauce as well.
I have cheapo black and decker rice cooker from wal mart that’s 20 years old. It has one button and makes perfect rice every time as long as the liquid level is correct going in.
That’s the rub – you need to know the rice variety you are using and how much water to use. Once you get that you’re good to go on those old school cookers.
I have a pot that does that and it doesn’t have any buttons at all.
No it’s called a 炊飯器!
Literally a rice cooking vessel/impliment. It’s right there clear as day!
Who says learning Japanese is tough?
Literally a rice cooking vessel
So a pot?
器=doohickey (small)
機=thingamajig (large)
I laughed at my desk.
Isnt a rice cooker basically a crock-pot with a weird lid ?
You take that back. There’s nothing weird about it.
Braising pot, 350 degree oven, beef stew in two hours.
Turn on the pressure cooking!
I haven’t seen a pressure recipe involving stew but I’ll try it if I find one.
https://uitdekeukenvanarden.blogspot.com/2017/02/hachee-uit-de-instant-pot.html
among many many more
Oh, I’m sure – and not in Dutch I hope. This is only the 3rd time I’ve even used it so I’ll get around to it eventually.
https://thesaltymarshmallow.com/best-ever-instant-pot-beef-stew/
Cool – I’ll try it next time. This is very similar to my half-ass boeuf bourguignons but with pressure.
I’m on Facebook with family stuff.
I stopped doing much else’s once a “friend” tagged me in a photo. That made me lock it down as much as possible. I should delete it but my sisters post my niece and nephews pics often.
Not too long ago, I went through my entire history feed back to my account creation and deleted most anything that contained strong opinions. It’s still useful for event invites, news in my city neighborhood (power outages, be-on-the-lookout-for, parking regs.), and keep up with where local bands are playing.
Hell no!
I git mad today when Google asked me to rate the place I atw lunch. Fuck off and mind yoir own business.
Any listening device in my house would mostly only record beer farts and burps. But I don’t use any of those devices because I don’t see the point. When my crippled dad was alive speaking commands to get things done would have done him wonders, but me? I get paid to talk for a living, if I’m not getting paid I speak as little as possible.
Ad pop up for CPRM: “Try this one weird trick to eliminate trapped wind!”
See, if you were recording these yourself, and putting them on YT, you could possibly monetize that shizz. I mean, you’d definitely get hit on by some rather weird guys, but there are trade-offs with most things in life.
Found you
Wait…me, or, CPRM? My $ is too low to be getting sweet YouTube money.
But three hours is piker’s territory.
Now I know why the suicide rate is so high.
I’ve been working on a new cartoon, but why the fuck should I bother?
Aww, c’mon. You could easily do a redux of your previous work:
“It’s The Hat and The Hair, but all voices are farts!”
You do it for the ART.
Also, maybe have Donny Two-Scoops cut the cheese in the next episode…?
You #TrunpFarts would trend on Twitter?
In the era of Trump, anything is possible.
Just wrote the script, no farting. I’m a shit writer.
I dropped FB when I took a management position. Have not gone back nor do I even miss it.
That has crossed my mind too, now that I’m in management. I also never interview a candidate without a witness present.
Too many litigious types out there.
My only slightly political comments are in the closed groups I belong to: “Minnesotans for Global Warming” and “Dennis Prager Fans Unite”
Everything else is family, pets, food, and funny sports memes.
Here’s a sports meme I created last weekend after the Colts made it to the next round and the Bears were eliminated with a missed/blocked FG: https://imgur.com/a/pNS3pWi
Yep it just is smart to drop it even if innocent use.
I’m still trying to figure out why Adam thinks that’s a good look.
I dunno–He probably thinks it’s funny to show how “old” he is and still has more left in the tank than some of the newbies.
His kids are in high school. Maybe he’s trolling them. I admit I have several autographed cards and photos of the Vinny. My only “crush” since middle school.
My only “crush” since middle school.
I’m crushed….
Well, you have your moments… 😉
…for an old guy.
Alternatively:
Yeah, senior moments.
There will never be one of these devices in my home. If I’m ever given one, it will be properly ventilated before being thrown away or returned to sender.
The only “smart” anything with a mic or camera allowed in this house is our phones. WiFi enabled tvs are OK, but they have no recording capacity. Phones can be and frequently are refrigerated when not needed.
Also, I lurked at TOS before (and after) the woodchipper incident. I was always careful to moderate the content of my online posts, but it really kicked into overdrive after that. I go out of my way to avoid certain keywords, make sure to use specific phrasings, take care to never reveal anything that could be personally identifying, and use services that protect privacy (signal, brave, etc). Still de-googling, but that’s hard to do and stay connected.
You’d ventilate my waifu?
By the way I’ve been researching new TV’s most of the high end ones have voice commands.
I received an echo dot for Christmas. I have no desire to talk to devices, so I muted it and use it exclusively as a Bluetooth speaker. I was impressed with the sound quality for such a small, cheap speaker.
I gave my cat another dose of her pain meds. She no longer fights me when I put the blunt syringe into her mouth and dose her up.
She’s high as a fuzzy little kite.
Hope your cat gets better soon.
Thank you, me too.
She was much better Monday after the vet trip Sunday, and then on Tuesday she was her regular self. But tonight she barfed another couple of times so I gave her more anti nausea stuff and pain killers.
I need to do some sleuthing and figure out what she’s getting into. All her bloodwork looked really good: No diabetes, no bad liver or kidney counts, no bad red or white cell counts. A deep mystery.
One of mine just pukes randomly every few days. IANAV but man some days I think they just do it to get attention.
I think cat vomiting is certainly inexplicable at times, and attention or overeating for attention could be a real factor, but Molly was seriously not a happy camper. Definitely ill, sitting like a little box with feet tucked under, head sunk, eyes half closed. Just can’t figure out what poison or whatever she’s getting into.
Awww – get better
Sorry you are going through that. I had something similar with two cats and it didn’t end well.
If your vet can’t get to the bottom of it try Veterinary Specialty Hospital San Diego. I went for my dog. They were wonderful.
That’s actually where we took her! Until tonight we thought all was well, too, but I will call tomorrow and see what’s next.
At some point, you have to throw in the towel, but with her overall blood screenings looking so good, I have to try getting through this acute business and keeping her sweet self around another 9 years.
I’m glad you went. And I hope things go well for you and her. I still have pangs of guilt about my two even though there was no solution and it was the humane thing to do. If any group can get an answer, short of a vet school, it’s VSHSD.
Check any houseplants for evidence of chewing?
Absolutely not. Spybots have no place in my home or office.
This is terribly tragic, but I have to question two things:
1) How did the parents let the boy’s teeth get in such awful shape?
2) Why put crowns on teeth that will be replaced by adult teeth in due time? (kid was 2 yrs old)
Family sues for negligence after toddler dies during a dental procedure when a staff member muted his heart monitor and hooked him up to an empty oxygen tank
That’s fucked up.
1) I don’t trust the dentist.
2) I still don’t trust the dentist
I had a good dentist in my home state as a kid/teenager, and never had a cavity but did need a repair to a chip in the front right incisor. He did a great job. Much later, the chip repair got chipped out again, and the new guy botched it and lectured me and was a dick. So I didn’t go back to a dentist for 11 years.
Finally went to a great dentist (Dr Weimar in Maple Grove) who fixed the chip and was amazed by the condition of my teeth after no dentist for 11 years. He said my teeth are delightfully boring. Many dental hygenists have asked me what kind of electric toothbrush I use. I truthfully tell them i only use a manual one, and they are amazed.
Buying your own set of dental picks and being pretty damned rough with the toothbrush gets you a long way.
(Look Ma, still no cavities at 45 yrs old!!)
…and the new guy botched it and lectured me and was a dick. So I didn’t go back to a dentist for 11 years.
This is me. My last dentist was an inconsistent dickhead. Lots of stories out there about bullshit artists.
Years ago, I had the best dentist ever. She would let me have nitrous and crank up Siouxsie and the Banshees while she did her thing. Funny, she never found anything terribly wrong with my teeth and just did her job. Sadly, she moved away.
If you or your family does need work, definitely check out Dr Richard Weimar in Maple Grove. He is awesome. He even does “sedation dentistry” for people who can’t stand being awake during the work or who need hours worth of corrective work (like my German ex husband did).
Dr Weimar also keeps up with technology and has machines that ease anesthetic gently into your gums while feeling the back pressure, like a Star Trek hypospray instead of jamming a needle in. Great, great place.
Thanks! I’ll check him out.
Good idea.
I haven’t been to the dentist in a few years – I became convinced the last one I had was just working me over. They were big on having you come in every 6 months (fine), the hygienist would do her thing & say “everything looks great!”, let’s just have Dr. X take a look.
Then, Every. Single. Time. Dr. X would “find” something, a little cavity that needed some filling. Mind you, I have no interest in sweets, I never had any issue with cavities before, etc.
On top of that, I’d get charged for work insurance wouldn’t pay for, which was the big tip off – e.g., using white amalgam for fillings in back teeth. Granted, I don’t expect the dentist to know the ins and outs of every insurance company, but knowing that Blue Cross doesn’t cover the fancy white amalgam for fillings that can’t be seen seems like something the dentist would be aware of.
I finally had enough. Now, I just need to find a non-scumbag dentist…
Yep. Always always always pay cash for general check up. Once a year is fine…their instistence on 6 month checkups are because they get sweet insurance cash.
Wow. My wife used to work in dental. I heard stories of fraud such as double billing, billing other customers for procedures for friends or of their own kind (their words).
She is now our dental interviewer and if she says a dentist is good…you can bet on it that they are.
Cool. Can she recommend someone in the Twin Cities?
Her reach isn’t that far unfortunately.
Last time I went in i did need cavity work and she had it out with the assistant about exactly should be done. They wanted to do extra work for no real reason.
See? This is exactly the problem. Fucking dentists make auto mechanics look conservative!
Yep and they will do things like…
Normal 6-mo check up billed as a deep clean, which it isnt.
Bill for a cavity when all they do is exploratory work.
Etc, etc.
Dr Weimar in Maple Grove
Thanks, Mike. You are very helpful.
I’m here for ya’ buddy!
Thank you!
Hey!! That was my idea!! 🙂
He is the best. He always wanted to know what I had blown up and destroyed recently.
I don’t have the answer to 1. My guess is there was very little healthy tooth left in each tooth. It’s either cap them or pull them. Dentures were the worse option.
Definately don’t want one of these in my house
LOLZ. I love Brits faking an American accent.
+1 Monty Python “sherr!”
I had no idea Facebook Portal existed, and I will never be getting it. The very first thing I do with any Windows PC is shut down Cortana. Whatever the Google one is called got shut down right away on my phone. Alexa will never set foot in my house. I won’t buy a smart TV until that’s all you can buy (which I am sure is not too many years away). I will never pay for OnStar. Any other ones I’m forgetting?
My husband is having an affair with Siri on his iPhone. I haven’t enabled that bitch on my iphones (1 work, 1 personal)
I admit to adding the Tesla app to my iPhone. It lets me check in on charging status, location etc, as well as allowing us to open the car and drive without using the key card. But because my husband and I both have our phones linked to the same car, we can both look at any time at where the car is, how fast it’s going, etc. I caught him driving at 110 mph once, and he caught me at Starbucks without him.
No way could you sneak around in a Tesla. Fortunately, no need either, but still…
You bought a Tesla?! You really have gone Cali.
*shakes head sadly*
*hears furnace kick in for 3rd time in the last 30 minutes*
Yeah, I got a Tesla model 3, Pearl White.
I moved from Minnesota with my 2000 Ford Expedition (single owner–me) but that poor baby was rusty from the salted winter highways and the gas mileage was pathetic. It was going to be $400 a month for gas!
So I was sitting outside in the back yard in Cali wondering what kind of car I should get, and my eyes landed upon the solar panels gracing the back side of my roof. Why the heck not get free fuel???
So far, it’s only free during the day, but I’m on the waiting list for the Tesla Wall battery pack so I can pretty much live on real time solar in the day, and battery back up at night.
I’m not a tree-hugger, but I like tech, and I like stuff that makes economic sense.
Also, the Tesla is an absolute blast to drive. It has ruined me for all other cars.
Yeah, I’m the same. I’m no tree hugger, but if I find some Tech that will let me live off grid, or even move towards it, I’m in.
The issue is that my tight-ass side blanches at the start-up costs of any “off the shelf” systems out there now. But my DIY side is begging me to spend some time looking into DIY options. Just need to spend the time and do it.
Massie’s Tesla battery-based whole-house system is giving me a nerd boner.
I love that guy. I contribute to Massie, Paul, and Amash every year.
The rest of them can suck eggs.
I view with some fondness shows like Mad Men, where there was no expectation you’d be available at a moment’s notice.
“I’m going to work, I’ll be home late – work thing, don’t wait for me for dinner”.
I’ve tried that sort of thing with my husband, since we have a role reversal where I bring home the bacon and he tends to the house (laundry, kitchen, chores) but it turns out the Mr Splosives is just a little too old-school to accept that quietly. He knows that all my colleagues are men, and mostly he’s ok with that, but when we had a Christmas Happy Hour of work people last month and Mr Splosives attended, he was not entirely comfy with one particular coworker of mine whom I have learned not to speak of at home because the jealous eyes flash.
I don’t understand men.
Judging by his birthday and your photos he should be giving thanks every day.
This guy gets it.
Well, thank you, Chafed. I do my best.
He’s an enigma wrapped in a mystery in wheels within wheels. And possibly bipolar in the literal sense.
He was a very good-looking young man in the late seventies/early eighties when he was playing in various bands, and he continued playing in bands (touring the world on the Hilton hotel circuit) but his hair thinned, and he got a little wrinkled, and chicks don’t throw themselves at him quite as much as they once did. But, oh my, they do still throw themselves. “Oh, he’s on a platform 3 inches higher than the floor we’re dancing on! I must have him!” Pretty silly.
I on the other hand have only known him in his middle age bald time, and I find his looks and character, humor and rotundity rather charming. So I feel totally comfortable and delighted to be with him, but I think he feels like he’s lost a step and broods over old photos and memories of friends on facebook. His basic fear of aging combined with my current blossoming into my prime at work have set him off-kilter. I can see the problem but I can’t figure out the solution.
So I just show him love and hope it’s enough.
Ouch, he’s got the curse of peaking early (at least in his own mind). That’s a tough one.
Me, I’m aging like wine… (or with wine, whatever).
He needs a sense of purpose. Men thrive on “the hero’s journey” even if that journey is learning how to cook to world’s greatest zabaglione. My guess is he’s not only feeling the loss of his youth, but he’s feeling rudderless in life. You can encourage him, but ultimately he has to find something that makes him feel like he’s accomplishing something.
If bipolar is truly part of the mix I don’t have any answers. As for the rest of it, he needs to take stock of his own life. His failure (if it is that) to appreciate what he has is on him. I don’t get looking elsewhere, even back in time, when you’ve got good loving at home. If it was absent this would be a different discussion. Sounds like you are doing what you can. The rest is up to him.
The guy with the unlimited T&A photos has a point.
Thanks, guys.
One reason I’m prolifically posting tonight is that he is at an audition/rehearsal with a band. If he can hook up with a band he likes playing with musically and personally, he will be just fine.
I totally Yoko’d him away from his awesome band in Minnesota by moving, and he does resent it.
“I totally Yoko’d him away from his awesome band in Minnesota by moving, and he does resent it.”
He chose to go with you. There’s always a choice. It’s BS for him to be resentful and air his dirty laundry about it. It’s not like you held a gun to his head (probably).
He did choose to come with me, but did he really have a choice? He’s financially dependent on me, and when it came down to it and I’d decided to take the San Diego job, I said “The train’s leaving the station. Whether you take it or not is up to you.”
I did use some psychological jujitsu on him by saying if I pick the maximum commute time and maximum mortgage budget, he could pick the house. That empowered him greatly and I was true to my word. He must have looked at a thousand houses on Zillow and other sites. He toured around San Diego with our agent when I was on business travel. And he picked the house–did a damned fine job of it too.
I think the trick is to make sure he remains empowered even though he’s not employed.
Thank you guys for being my sounding board.
That’s OK, we don’t get you either.
However, that situation would equally apply to my wife. Irrational jealously isn’t gender specific.
Yeah, one of my direct reports–a rather key one, I should add–told me recently that of all the things he wondered about with reporting to a “lady boss”, he hadn’t expected that a jealous wife would be one of them. But apparently, going home and talking to your wife about work anecdotes involving dudes is A-OK, but if it involves a funny, sharp-as-a-tack woman, it ain’t going to go so well with the wifey listener.
I told him to let his wife know that I am a fattie ginger Russian bitch and that might help. But seriously, why do people borrow trouble where there is none? The problem there was his wifey got hold of his old cell phone where he messaged me that I was the best boss he’d ever had and another message about “have I told you how glad I am that you are here?” and apparently, despite the fact that all other messages were logistical, that was enough for jealous wifey. Now I am tiptoeing and trying to make sure we don’t take business trips together. It’s ludicrous.
People tend to be ludicrous.
And don’t insult yourself, you on-fleek (or something).
Um, wasn’t this the same happy hour you were saying they were ‘eskimo brothers’, I mean outside of insecurity from gender roles, that may play a role.
Yes, but that was way in the past eons ago pre marriage for all parties. So not an issue, since all we do now is work.
Unless we have a “tell” of some sort, which I doubt.
I just had to replace my TV – there are no more “dumb” TVs 🙁
Now I have to re-jigger my network setup so I can firewall off my TV.
That said, I have rapidly come to enjoy the built-in Roku (TCL TV). They don’t seem too obnoxious, so far – Samsung was/is apparently showing you ads on your own TV. JFC.
Yay, modern life.
Shameless self-promotion.
https://glibertarians.com/2018/05/how-predictive-analytics-simultaneously-improves-and-ruins-your-life/
Also, I won’t comment at length on my former life except to say that the toothpaste ain’t going back in the tube.
Ewwww
http://archive.li/Svzzq
NSFW.
Fortunately I’m not at work.
The toothpaste is definitely out of the tube now.
Ewwww
Interesting listening to my fellow FedGovs at work. It’s a 50-50 split in my small view of the Leviathan that is the government on if the shutdown continues.
We have a Gaurd employee, sharp has all hell, who still is putting in 100% on the job. Others have said they will continue to do the job but not go the extra mile.
So when Trump touts that FedGovs are with him, I’d call it a half-truth.
So you’re eating cat food? Sad!
But will Rhywun miss him?
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2019/01/09/hide-your-kids-hide-your-wife-bill-de-blasio-to-tour-the-country-to-talk-up-new-yorks-progressive-policies/
Wow. That’s insanely out of touch.
Is he planning on running for president?
I’m sure he is planning on it. I’m also certain he will flame out early.
Looks like Bezos let little Jeff explore the Amazon.
https://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/jeff-bezos-divorce-lauren-sanchez-cheating-affair-photos-exclusive/
CHEWBACCA 2020
https://townhall.com/columnists/cliffnichols/2019/01/09/is-michelle-obama-plotting-to-retake-the-white-house-in-2020-n2538776
Good lord, please no.
I don’t want a president whose face turns into a fist when she smiles.
Or a racist.
Or a socialist.
Or a grifter.
She’s all of those things.
I actually know a guy who did this in college (climbed down to the balcony below, minus the falling and dying).
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2019/01/09/teen-falls-to-his-death-from-9th-floor-of-collins-ave-condo/
I thought it was stupid then and still think it’s stupid.
I do not talk to computers.
I do own hammers.
Nice muthaboard ya got thete. Be a shame if something were to happen to it…
I refuse to have any of those damn spy devices in my home!
I have a Portal for work calls. It does make conferencing easy. I only plug it in when I know I have to take a call.
Not only no, but fuck no. That includes any little eavesdropping shitbox that anyone makes.
It’s bad enough that my phone spies on me, but at least that’s in my pocket and, in theory, I can turn it off.