One year ago today: July 2, 2019, the rest are hacks.
Five years ago today: July 2, 2015, rarely above goof level.
Nine years ago today: July 2, 2011, no sign of people.
Random years ago today: July 2, 2010, . . . and you’re a hero.
Ha, did you catch that article of the San Francisco newspaper deciding to stop printing pictures of non-violent people who were arrested? But not for the same reason I’m against publishing pictures of people unless they are convicted—it is slander. They canceled the feature because too many readers were confusing it with the FBI most wanted poster. BWAAAA-ha-ha-ha. (The paper claimed it was because it “contributed to racial profiling”, but declined to specify how so.)
It has four radial cracks, the usual repair limit is three, but I’m hoping, since the crack is not due to internal stress and the structure still intact. All this and the garbage truck didn’t arrive today. Most of Florida was the last to catch on to the concept of “back alley” and I don’t like leaving aromatic cans in the front yard. The service has been sporadic since March.
We won’t be joining Parler, the “free speech” alternative to Twitter. Speech can never be truly free unless it is anonymous. Parler demands a membership that includes your phone number, the most evil tracking device ever invented. No need to ask how many people can be that stupid. Nonetheless, Parler is going to be big news for a bit, concerning censorship. TMOR, the American Constitution prohibits only the government from censoring, not private companies or individuals. There is no proper definition of “hate speech” except that it hinges on judgments of what is “likely to cause harm”, and we all know that to a liberal that means any opposing viewpoint.
Question, am I the only one who thinks Zuckerberg is a wimp? I get it, he got lucky, but beyond that the guy is a weak-minded nerd. I base this mainly on videos of his announcements and releases. The guy has a squeaky voice, is prone to arm-waving, and lacks any air of authority. Simply put, he is not an inspiring leader and it is embarrassing to even watch him try. Nor is he very educated and his manner and vocabulary are stalled at around a high-school level.
Other than a trip to Winter Haven, it was a nothing day. I was hoping for an order of breakfast fries only to find my favorite spot is take-out only. This virus boondoggle has gone far enough, but the USA isn’t the only country who thinks they can stem the spread by closing small businesses. The pundits say things have gone too far to ever go back, I tend to agree. I wonder who will figure out how to take advantage of it. There is always a new round of businesses that arise whenever something like this shakes up the American system. I know on-line shopping is booming but is that a good thing, letting the whole world know your purchasing habits?
The only thing worth mentioning was shopping at Aldi, where as I passed the shredded wheat, there she was. A vision of perfection. Normally I don’t care for fashion but she was wearing one of those summer outfits with a matching top and shorts. A flower pattern, loose-fitting but not enough to hide perfection. A mini-version of the actress who plays Joy in the “My Name is Earl” series, hard to believe. Nope, the millennials can keep their politically correct “shuttle crew” crew women, give me perfection any time. That was something to make your eyes water.
Southern Italy, for now.
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Simply getting the lumber home was my quota for today. It’s stacked in the back yard, just enough for four feet of shade and cover. Lumber is quickly doubling in price so get your projects finished up. As mentioned, little things are going wrong on the car after the collision, which was not that bad really. Now, the hinge on the rear window is cracked, the one that is drilled through the glass. And you have to remove the defroster cover and roof liner to get at it. I have not put in a claim for the accident yet, but I think it may mean replacing the car. These days, that means $4,600 or we go to court until they wish they had paid it in the first place.
How about that big EuroChat raid? This is the company that sold encrypted phones and immediately got itself both a criminal and a police following among its 62,000 users. Seizing tons of drugs, oodles of cash, and a stack of firearms, this above anything should tell people that phones are not your friends. Hundreds of arrests include kingpins and insiders, as the Dutch police put it, just like in the movies. Great, everybody is expected to say—except those who realize the technology will now be turned on the innocent population at large. As this blog said so long ago to those who have nothing to hide—keep your mouth shut because you do not know what the future will bring.
Or there is always the other extreme. Publish a blog with so much information that it creates a version of history that may or may not have any basis in reality. Do I really play bass? Do I really only date gorgeous women? And if so, how accurate is the portrayal? Guess we’ll never know. As for the scale of the raids, I question how much damage has really been done to organized crime. With only 100 arrests, 25 impounded cars, and a box of Rolexes, the bad guys may not even notice. I’ll tell you how I think the cops did it.
Criminals, unlike portrayed by Hollywood, are not that cerebral. The drug trade at some level has long been centered on telephone, to the extent a drug dealer without a phone becomes a suspicious character. Most of these secure phones have two modes, regular and secure. The secure calls use a private server. That’s a vulnerability, along with the necessity that only one brand of phone works with each network. The cops need only get their hands on one phone and disable the panic delete feature, and install a single chip before releasing the phone back into usage. The chip sends the unencrypted conversation to a different server. The bad guy, thinking his phone is intact, starts contacting all his pals about how dumb the police are.
New, improved crypto-phone companies are on the rise and there has been a huge upsurge in encrypted e-mails. I hope they don’t use that as an excuse to curb Protonmail, as I have a significant investment in that service. Even so, all messages are also coded and deleted within 12 days. Just last week, Trent’s addy was accidentally blotted and it required a whole new communication to re-establish contact. But, this is the way it should be. You need the info again, you ask for it again.
