Official Off Topic Discussion Thread #1

[jjohnwm]

So you are

Hello; To be sure we could only guess about the secret "users" and "tools" until recently. Still secret with regard to many social media sites. What is now known came to be known after Twitter changed ownership. The new owner is 'dumping' groups of e-mails and other before hidden information. The information, some of it anyway, is now out. I do not yet know the language (terms) used to describe the various mechanisms of how individual or group accounts were affected.
We also did not know for sure that agencies ( I call them alphabet agencies) were working with the operators at Twitter to control content. We know about it now because the information is being released. Nearly every day for over a week some new bunch of such information is being released by Twitters new owner.

Twitter is the only one we know for sure about so far. As continues to be the case the other platforms can only be guessed about.

I found out about this stuff because it is now being released nearly every day. Some news outlets are reporting the dumps. Maybe others are not???

I actually thought you were referring specifically to MFK, rather than Twitter and the other giants.

But the difference is only a matter of scale. If the CIA or FBI thought that my own posts were so dangerous that they needed to be censored or deleted, I would firstly be somewhat concerned about what else they fancied about me, and would immediately follow that up with a complete cessation of all activity on social media. Easier for me than most people; stopping completely would barely register as a blip on my normal daily like.

 

[pacu mom]

And on a funnier note - I have long called my phone my "smart alek" phone. It changes words on me. I can look at what I dictated, and as I'm posting, it changes words on me. I found this on FB last week. It perfectly summarizes my experience with auto correct.

 

[jjohnwm]

Hello; Hope you do not have any in the toilets. Not a very good analogy to us using a web site. I do not want the sites i visit to be able to turn on my laptop camera when i visit the site.

A camera in a bathroom would certainly be intruding upon someone in an area where they would reasonably be expected have privacy. A camera at the foot of my driveway, or pointed at my house, is a different thing altogether.

My laptop camera has had a piece of tape covering it since I opened the box.

 

[esoxlucius]

And on a funnier note - I have long called my phone my "smart alek" phone. It changes words on me. I can look at what I dictated, and as I'm posting, it changes words on me. I found this on FB last week. It perfectly summarizes my experience with auto correct.


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Some of those auto correct instances deserve a thread of their own, they're hilarious, lol. Seemingly innocent text messages between parents and children or husband and wife for example, when auto correct is in use, can turn extremely embarrassing!

 

[esoxlucius]

The computer and technology world is moving that fast I imagine that some of us older types, quite understandably, are becoming rather paranoid with it all as to what "secretive" stuff actually goes on.

It can be very unnerving and I understand where S skjl47 is coming from. But like jjohnwm said, we have choices as to what sites we visit, if any at all, if it bothers people that much.

 

[jjohnwm]

On another note, 6.4 earthquake just south of us this morning. We felt nothing here. Husband was awake and got an emergency notification on his phone to shelter in place. Usually when there is an earthquake near Ferndale, we also get shaken. Apparently, this earthquake went from west to east, as Redding CA was shaken. Historical old Fern Bridge was closed, because four cracks were noted. Pic taken from the internet.

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I only remember two earthquakes (all the others were insignificant). The whole house was making loud shuddering noises, and the earthquake seemed to go on forever...enough for me to run around trying to remember what to do....stand in a doorway? No. Lie down in the bathtub? No. Lie down on the floor next to a bed, cover my head, keep away from windows. The other earthquake I remember occurred while I was at church. It seemed like the church had waves underneath it. All the other earthquakes were relatively minor "Oh, earthquake! Did you feel it?"

I grew up in Southern CA where the notorious San Andreas Fault was always a concern. Besides fire drills, we had routine earthquake drills where we had to get under our desks. Now I live in Northern CA in the southern aspect of the deadly Cascadia Subduction Zone which was discovered less than 40 yrs ago. I will be lucky to survive the next time Cascadia goes off. I'm pretty sure my house will not be standing.

It seems as though the more beautiful the area, the more varied and destructive the natural forces lurking just around the corner seem to be. California is a perfect example. The image of a bunch of children huddling under school desks during an earthquake is superimposed in my mind with another image, from an old B-grade sci-fi movie in which the protagonist is scuba-diving, looking for treasure...as he swims through downtown L.A., submerged under 100 feet of water.

I grew up in southern Ontario and recall only once ever feeling a quake; I lived then on the 19th floor of a condominium in a suburb of Toronto, and the quake was so subtle that I got up, went out on the balcony and peered over, thinking that perhaps a truck had hit my building. I probably wouldn't have felt it, were it not for the slight ripple on the surface of one of my fish tanks, combined with a slight odd wave in the water bed on which I was half-asleep at the time...yeah, that's how long ago it was...

I like Manitoba; flat as a pancake, duller than the outskirts of hell...in anyone in the States familiar with an old Canadian TV show called "Corner Gas"? It's set in Saskatchewan, which is the only province even flatter and duller than Manitoba (where I live). Some really smart, well-written comedy, with constant references to the endlessly flat terrain; even the theme song is hilarious "I don't know the same things you don't know...I just...don't know". Much of the humour is likely too Canadian-centric to appeal to many, but worth a look if it's available to you.

 

[skjl47]

So you are


I actually thought you were referring specifically to MFK, rather than Twitter and the other giants.

But the difference is only a matter of scale. If the CIA or FBI thought that my own posts were so dangerous that they needed to be censored or deleted, I would firstly be somewhat concerned about what else they fancied about me, and would immediately follow that up with a complete cessation of all activity on social media. Easier for me than most people; stopping completely would barely register as a blip on my normal daily like.

Hello; The point again is this was done in "secret". Twitter users apparently did not know any of this was going on. There was circumstantial evidence for a long time, but nothing concrete till recently.
There used to be a saying I cannot quite recall. Had to do with making decisions I think. Something like 'trash in = trash out'. The speculation has been that so many of the sources of news and information have picked a side to champion. Some of this has been obvious and clear enough to see by changing channels on the TV or reading the news. Watch one group of stations and get one slant. Watch a different set of stations and get another slant. Hard to get unbiased news or information.

 

[celebrist]

Loved corner gas

 

[skjl47]

The computer and technology world is moving that fast I imagine that some of us older types, quite understandably, are becoming rather paranoid with it all as to what "secretive" stuff actually goes on.

It can be very unnerving and I understand where S skjl47 is coming from. But like jjohnwm said, we have choices as to what sites we visit, if any at all, if it bothers people that much.

Hello; One thing caught my attention among the recent twitter dumps. Seems a qualified medical professional started posting concerns about the effects of lockdowns on kids back in real time. He found out the last few days that his posts had been treated with one of the "tools" I cannot name just yet. The effect was at the time a qualified voice was substantially silenced.
So yeah, it is very unnerving. That we are now seeing these after effect issues among children emphasizes the point. Maybe as a society we would have decided to do the lockdowns anyway. Maybe we would have decided to take a different path. Thing is information was restricted about all sorts of critical knowledge. This doctor may not have made a good enough case to overturn the lockdowns, but he should have had a say.

 

[pacu mom]

It seems as though the more beautiful the area, the more varied and destructive the natural forces lurking just around the corner seem to be. California is a perfect example. The image of a bunch of children huddling under school desks during an earthquake is superimposed in my mind with another image, from an old B-grade sci-fi movie in which the protagonist is scuba-diving, looking for treasure...as he swims through downtown L.A., submerged under 100 feet of water.

Drop cover and hold no longer applies universally. It depends on the building