Octopus Overlords

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:53 pm**

Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am or is it time to hop aboard Roko's basilisk?

i believe doing so is tantamount to giving up on life

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:57 pm**

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:53 pm
Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am or is it time to hop aboard Roko's basilisk?
i believe doing so is tantamount to giving up on life

I'm not going to go full AB/tinfoil hat level and stop using Google, Windows, Amazon, etc. but I kinda draw the line at "smart assistants". I refuse to have anything in the house with a "hot mic" listening to me 24/7. I'm quite capable of flipping my own light switch, thank you very much.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:06 pm**

gilraen wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:57 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:53 pm
Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am or is it time to hop aboard Roko's basilisk?
i believe doing so is tantamount to giving up on life
I'm not going to go full AB/tinfoil hat level and stop using Google, Windows, Amazon, etc. but I kinda draw the line at "smart assistants". I refuse to have anything in the house with a "hot mic" listening to me 24/7. I'm quite capable of flipping my own light switch, thank you very much.

+1,000

Unfortunately cell phones probably already do this.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:15 pm**

Jaymann wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:06 pm Unfortunately cell phones probably already do this.

Define listening. Live mic keyword is probably myth, but applications aggregating where you are with what you are doing on the phone? (From this time last year)

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49585682

Last June, researchers at Northeastern University in the US state of Massachusetts tested 17,000 mobile apps from various Android app stores around the world.
They found no evidence of listening - but they did discover some relatively small applications were sending screenshots and even videos of user phone activities to third parties. Although this was done for development purposes and not for advertising.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 4:45 pm**

gilraen wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:57 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:53 pm
Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am or is it time to hop aboard Roko's basilisk?
i believe doing so is tantamount to giving up on life
I'm not going to go full AB/tinfoil hat level and stop using Google, Windows, Amazon, etc. but I kinda draw the line at "smart assistants". I refuse to have anything in the house with a "hot mic" listening to me 24/7. I'm quite capable of flipping my own light switch, thank you very much.

One needn't resort to going cold turkey or wearing tin foil headwear in today's day and age. Plenty of viable, more privacy-focused alternatives now exist that allow access to such services (or services awfully similar) without necessitating the sacrifice of one's privacy to do so. It's merely a matter of learning about the alternatives and making the choice to use 'em (or not).

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 5:04 pm**

Jaymann wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 3:06 pm
gilraen wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:57 pm
hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 2:53 pm
Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:35 am or is it time to hop aboard Roko's basilisk?
i believe doing so is tantamount to giving up on life
I'm not going to go full AB/tinfoil hat level and stop using Google, Windows, Amazon, etc. but I kinda draw the line at "smart assistants". I refuse to have anything in the house with a "hot mic" listening to me 24/7. I'm quite capable of flipping my own light switch, thank you very much.
+1,000

Unfortunately cell phones probably already do this.

Oh, no doubt. My phone isn't supposed to listen unless I say "Hey Google," but several times it's overheard me talking and chimed in helpfully. And I don't even carry it around habitually. I just assume it's always listening.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:51 pm**

I just saw the most precious little bird. It was the size of my thumb and solid brown. It was getting nectar from the honeysuckles in my shrubs. Ive never seen a hummingbird that small before. Usually around here they are a bit larger and green in color. But this guy was so tiny. At first I thought he was a moth but not a true bird. He flew about a foot from my eyes then zoomed away.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:03 pm**

We used to have hummingbird moths here. They are insects.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:04 pm**

most likely what he saw....

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 8:37 pm**

you know how people are saying this year is so horrible and what not - what if it's actually '2020? wait til you see 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.. ok, 2024 was only 2020-level horrible... 2025... 2027 is kinda ok, actually. oh but wait til you see 2028!!'

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:42 pm**

I remember how glad we all were to bid adieu to 2019. I'm reserving my expectations for '21 and beyond until this November.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:20 pm**

I've complained about this tendancy in years past. "Oh no, Lou Albano died.... Fuck you, 2009! Worst year ever!" It's become the generic tweetspeak scapegoat for sad and frightening events.

I'm pretty sure the world's not going to get any better unless everyone pitches in and does their part to bring it about. Not that I'm doing so, myself... I agree it's far too much work. But I accept this liberates me of my right to complain.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:39 pm**

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:42 pm I remember how glad we all were to bid adieu to 2019. I'm reserving my expectations for '21 and beyond until this November.

I remember when we hated 2016 because all the celebrities started dying in droves and we hoped 2017 would be better.

you know how people are saying this year is so horrible and what not - what if it's actually '2020? wait til you see 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024.. ok, 2024 was only 2020-level horrible... 2025... 2027 is kinda ok, actually. oh but wait til you see 2028!!'

Im not sure. Some of those years were just not what we expected.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:59 pm**

As they say, during the ethnocentrically titled "Dark Ages", amazing advances were being made in other parts of the world. (Or was that whole millenium a hoax? I keep forgetting.) I'd say most of this is pretty subjective. Except for, you know, Covid. Yeah, that kind of universally sucks lol.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:21 pm**

Sudy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 10:20 pm I'm pretty sure the world's not going to get any better unless everyone pitches in and does their part to bring it about. Not that I'm doing so, myself... I agree it's far too much work. But I accept this liberates me of my right to complain.

i'm growing quite doubtful of (speaking generally) people's desire to actually change anything. it seems like 'acclimate to the new normal so it becomes the status quo ASAP' is the prevailing attitude.

Posted: **Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:39 pm**

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 11:21 pm i'm growing quite doubtful of (speaking generally) people's desire to actually change anything. it seems like 'acclimate to the new normal so it becomes the status quo ASAP' is the prevailing attitude.

Spoiler:

Figuratively and literally.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:06 am**

The status is not quo!

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:17 am**

I've said it before: most people in white America have never been truly threatened. Those who survived the Cold War faced a distant, abstract threat, and those who've been at war faced threats, but as a society we haven't faced a real, immediate, existential threat in enough generations that most of the few who remember what it's like are in retirement homes. We don't know how to struggle anymore. We don't know how to fight. We accept the new normal because we've never learned to do otherwise.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:59 am**

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:17 am I've said it before: most people in white America have never been truly threatened. Those who survived the Cold War faced a distant, abstract threat, and those who've been at war faced threats, but as a society we haven't faced a real, immediate, existential threat in enough generations that most of the few who remember what it's like are in retirement homes. We don't know how to struggle anymore. We don't know how to fight. We accept the new normal because we've never learned to do otherwise.

Not to mention facing multiple existential threats simultaneously. Pandemics, climate change, mass extinction, rising totalitarianism, growing inequality/end-stage capitalism, fake news, science denial, murder hornets...choose your own apocalypse. We're living in a historical transition that threatens everything we know, and we can only guess where it's going.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:43 am**

I always presumed Zardoz-style mankinis, but I don't know if I'm allowed to make that joke as I haven't seen the film and I didn't live through the 70s. On the other hand, I did watch lots of art-house film channel stuff circa 1999 so I feel that I'm entitled.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 8:59 am**

I threw away 19 cents yesterday.

Rare for me to pay cash, but I did, and as I held the (virus covered) coins in my hand, and walked out the door and passed a garbage bin; I just tossed it all.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:01 am**

Unagi wrote:I threw away 19 cents yesterday.

Rare for me to pay cash, but I did, and as I held the (virus covered) coins in my hand, and walked out the door and passed a garbage bin; I just tossed it all.

My god man...we're having a coin shortage and you just threw 19 cents in the trash? Unforgivable...

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:23 am**

19 cents?? Do you know what that's worth??

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:44 am**

I can relate. Someone sneezed near me the other day so I calmly walked over and scoop-slammed them into a dumpster.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:44 am**

disarm wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 9:01 am
Unagi wrote:I threw away 19 cents yesterday.

Rare for me to pay cash, but I did, and as I held the (virus covered) coins in my hand, and walked out the door and passed a garbage bin; I just tossed it all.
My god man...we're having a coin shortage and you just threw 19 cents in the trash? Unforgivable...

Honestly, you are right. I should have, if I was even thinking about it right at the moment, I should have just told them to keep the change.

Win win.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:59 am**

Ill have to fool with my mortgage thing next month due to stuff. But Im not paying any illegal fee not even a penny. Id like them to explain to a judge how they can buy insurance for a past time.

Me - "Hi yes Id like to buy some insurance for my car. But I want it for only 3 days coverage and 10 years ago"
Insurance - *click*
me - "hello?"

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:08 am**

I was looking at some pictures of some immigrant protestors today in Greece. I found it odd that most of the signs they had were in English.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:11 am**

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:59 am Ill have to fool with my mortgage thing next month due to stuff. But Im not paying any illegal fee not even a penny. Id like them to explain to a judge how they can buy insurance for a past time.

Me - "Hi yes Id like to buy some insurance for my car. But I want it for only 3 days coverage and 10 years ago"
Insurance - *click*
me - "hello?"

Actually that part I can sort of understand (if you had actually let the insurance lapse). They need continuous coverage. In the unlikely event it was discovered that a loss took place during a prior period, they need coverage. Extremely unlikely but not impossible.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:19 am**

Jaymann wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:11 amActually that part I can sort of understand (if you had actually let the insurance lapse). They need continuous coverage. In the unlikely event it was discovered that a loss took place during a prior period, they need coverage. Extremely unlikely but not impossible.

Exactly. They're making sure you don't try to file a claim (based on filing/claim limits) for an event that happened in the past. As someone that jumps around through time, any number of things can happen while you're gone.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:52 am**

Well I went ahead and got the papers in order. The courthouse didn't charge me anything after all for the copies as they simply emailed them to me. So saved money there but the fax place wants $1 a page. So Ill have to wait until next month. Maybe THEN the idiotic company will talk to me as a legal owner or party and tell me some damn info about my OWN damn loan.

Each time this loan changes hands the company is worse and worse.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:55 am**

I gotta say, this is a good day. For years I've had one thing in the back of my mind that has bothered me. Tormented me simply because I wasn't sure of the answer. I would sometimes wake in the middle of the night, my mind racing with possible scenarios based on that single, searing question.

But today...today all that is behind me.

And for those of you out there with the same question?

No, Hitler did NOT invent the inflatable sex doll.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:03 pm**

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:55 am I gotta say, this is a good day. For years I've had one thing in the back of my mind that has bothered me. Tormented me simply because I wasn't sure of the answer. I would sometimes wake in the middle of the night, my mind racing with possible scenarios based on that single, searing question.

But today...today all that is behind me.

And for those of you out there with the same question?

No, Hitler did NOT invent the inflatable sex doll.

That's ludicrous, of course he didn't invent the inflatable sex doll. But the strap-on dildo, ausgezeichnet!

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:13 pm**

Fake news!

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:34 pm**

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:08 am I was looking at some pictures of some immigrant protestors today in Greece. I found it odd that most of the signs they had were in English.

It's the new lingua franca.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 8:21 pm**

Daehawk wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2019 5:01 am Its 5am again. I always go to bed around 1:30am. Ive had insomnia for a week. Had it come and go all my life. Its wearing on me this week as Ive had some things to do. Things I need sleep for. Come this weekend Im chugging a bunch of Benadryl and getting some dang sleep somehow.

usage of Benadryl now linked to increased dementia risk

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/com ... 1501287667

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:18 pm**

Well dont that just figure.

Posted: **Thu Sep 17, 2020 6:53 am**

Sudy wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 1:43 am I always presumed Zardoz-style mankinis, but I don't know if I'm allowed to make that joke as I haven't seen the film and I didn't live through the 70s. On the other hand, I did watch lots of art-house film channel stuff circa 1999 so I feel that I'm entitled.

Pretty sure Zardoz wore a one piece

Posted: **Thu Sep 17, 2020 5:31 pm**

My wife seems to think Prevegen helps her memory. I think it's a scam. Anyrate she gave me $40 to buy a bottle. I remember last year it was $25. Last month it was $40. This month it's $90.
WTF happened?

Posted: **Thu Sep 17, 2020 6:13 pm**

Sounds like you don't need any help with your memory.

Posted: **Thu Sep 17, 2020 7:16 pm**

Took this just now after a good shower.

Octopus Overlords

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