09:02 – It was 55.2F (13C) when I took Colin out at 0715 this morning, with heavy fog. Our back fence line and the trees along it were barely visible, but everything beyond it was a uniform gray.
More and more web sites are now on my no-visit list, as they implement anti-ad/script-blocking measures. I run Adblock Plus and NoScript on Firefox. I happened to use Firefox yesterday afternoon to visit one of those sites. The main page looked normal, but clicking on any of the articles displayed an error page that said there was either a problem with my internet connection or I was running an ad or script blocker and that I should disable it. Yeah, right, like that’s gonna happen. Instead, I took the action that most of their former readers will take and removed them from my bookmarks. Anyone who allows ads to display or scripts to run on a website is just asking to be infected with malware or other serious problems.
Attempts to block adblockers and script blockers have become rampant over the last few months. I blame it on Trump, since it seems to have started right around then. Facebook famously tried to implement blocking of ad/script blockers and failed miserably. The same is true of other sites. But the thing is, even if a site somehow succeeds, all it’s doing is driving off most of its readers. The problem is that sites regard ad revenue as the only way to pay their costs, while readers regard ads and scripts as completely unacceptable. There simply are NO acceptable ads. If you want to monetize your site, put up a paywall or a tip jar.
If that drives you out of business, so be it. Die gracefully instead of polluting your readers’ screens. Just be aware that most readers don’t consider your content to be worth paying for at all, let alone by letting obnoxious, dangerous ads be displayed on their systems. And only a tiny fraction will donate via tip jar, let alone by subscribing. You simply don’t have any content that is worth paying for. And by “paying for” I include such minimal things as giving you a valid email address.
There’s apparently a new report out that has panicked commercial websites. In Germany, 40% of internet users use ad/script blockers; in France, it’s 30%; in the US, it’s still under 20%. It’s time for us all to strike back. Those figures need to be 100%. For many years, every time I install or degrunge someone’s computer, the first thing I do is install AdBlock Plus and NoScript. We should all be doing this. Every time you see someone’s computer running without blockers, tell them of the dangers of running barefoot and offer to install blockers for them and show them how they work. If everyone with basic computer smarts does this for all of his friends and acquaintances, we can get the percentage of systems running blockers up much closer to 100%, making it impossible for parasitic web sites like The Atlantic, Facebook, etc. to earn money from ads. Any web site owner who thinks ads are an acceptable way to generate revenue needs to be awakened rudely. Let’s drive them out of business.
And, yes, I’m looking at you, Google.
I got another one of “those” emails overnight. I periodically get emails, sometimes from long-time readers, who think I’m not just expecting a TEOTWAWKI event but actually looking forward to it. They’re wrong on both counts.
On the first, I’ve said over and over that I’m not expecting a TEOTWAWKI event but instead a gradual (or not-so-gradual) slide toward dystopia. Yes, a TEOTWAWKI event is possible. In fact, it’s likely, depending on your time frame. I’ve guesstimated the probability of such an event at 0.03/year, so over the long term it’s more likely than not to occur. But if my guesstimate is correct, that also means that the probability of things continuing pretty much as they are is 0.97/year. So our preparations focus on that 0.97 probability, with just a nod when possible to the 0.03.
As to the second point, not only am I not looking forward to a world-ending catastrophe, I dread it as much as any sane person does. Probably for different reasons than most people. I’m not concerned with the humanity thing. I don’t really care if 100 million Americans die, except to the extent that such an event affects me, my family, and my friends. Yes, if I could wave a magic wand and cause every prog/neocon/politician/bankster to cease to exist, I’d do so, but only if it didn’t inconvenience me and mine. That’s not an option, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed that no such event occurs.
* * * * *
Now for something else, I was visited recently by sales reps of two different solar energy panels on residential roofs companies.
Excluding preppers and rural, beyond power line, properties, these are total, complete frauds with respect saving money.
Going away for the weekend, fill in the rest when I return.
Of course they are. Small-scale solar is extremely expensive per kWh produced, although less expensive than running a gasoline or diesel generator.
We average about 1,800 kWh/month, and there’s no way we’d install enough solar to come anywhere near that. I have 800W worth of solar panels, which’d provide maybe 5% of our regular consumption. That’s plenty to run our well pump and other critical stuff, but that’s all I plan to have.
My very anecdotal experience with a grid tied solar house was my elderly Uncle’s place in the Bay area of SF. He had ~15 roof mounted panels on his 1960 2000 ft ranch. Electric cook top and oven, central A/C, gas water heater, furnace and dryer. 3 largish fridges and an upright deep freezer, edison bulbs. His gas/electric bill during the winter of ’14-’15 averaged $15/month. I have no idea what the panels, controllers etc. cost up front, but had to be well into five figures.
A prepper would want the considerable extra expense of a battery buffer and a genset too. Managing and maintaining one’s own electric company would require additional attention and eventually more expense. But, like MasterCard, electrical independence, if not priceless, would be quantifiable. Essentially, one pays a whopping bill up front and coasts for hopefully decades.
Less intrusive (meaning less time messing with the extensions) are uBlock Origin and Ghostery. I swore off AdBlock when they implemented their whitelist for ‘trusted ad sites’ and I found myself playing the hunt the script game too much with NoScript.
.mg
FWIW, I see today that the HardwareGuys2 domain has expired as of 4/13/17. Too bad, that place had a lot of information and history that is now lost to the ether. 🙁
A recent story in the local rag showed the folly of these solar scams. A fellow having financial troubles discovers he has a $54,000 lien for his solar installation. Clearly obvious you should just borrow the money and install your own. In California you get some big credits for installing which is why the scum is selling it. They take the credits.
I get calls every day. Often more than one. They spoof caller id numbers so you can’t block them. It’s a robo call transferred to a live person. They often ask by name then go into their spiel. I often hang up right away but sometime I just set the phone down. Every 10 seconds or so I make a comment just to see how long it will string out. My favorite is when “Cindy” calls. Usually with an Asian accent. I’ll tell her how much I’ve waited for her to call back. She sounds so hot. Wife tells me I’m cruel, she’s just doing her job. HA!
Regarding ads, they are mostly script-based. So, currently I’m only using NoScript and that’s enough to filter almost all ads. For this reason (and to keep my Firefox slim) I’m not using AdBlock Plus anymore.
I’ve also used uMatrix Origin: very nice; allows for quickly enable and disable scripts (and more). I like it, but I put more trust in NoScript as this one is used by the Tor Browser. So, I’m sticking with NoScript for now.
I’ve used uBlock and uBlock Origin, but never Ghostery. I may give it a try.
Of course, the important thing is not which specific blockers to use, but to get as many people as possible using them to kill these advertising parasites.
Excluding preppers and rural, beyond power line, properties, these are total, complete frauds with respect saving money.
I get phone calls from the “Texas Solar Initiative” all the time. The accents are always Indian.
I’ve tempered my responses lately to just asking, “Are you a fresher?”
That gets the callers more riled up than any other tactic I’ve tried. “Fresher” means ‘clueless newbie’ in India-lish.
The “IRS” started calling again this week, a new group using Magic Jack’s exchanges in Waco. The *only* reason I take the calls is I have a job offer pending from that area code.
I used to use all these blockers but somehow they’ve dropped off. I think I’ll give them a try again. The ads that annoy me most are when I link to a site that lets me glance at a news item and then insists that I fill out a quick “survey” to continue. I don’t.
That’s similar to my preferred technique: “No, I’m not interested in [vinyl siding] [replacing my central air] [solar panel installation], but you’ve got a really sexy voice so I’ll stay on the line. What are you wearing? Don’t worry about it if you hear me grunting while you talk.” I always figured that if I couldn’t get them to hang up in a huff, I was doing it wrong.
Or if I don’t feel like playing that game I’ll demand to talk to a supervisor, and when that’s not possible, which it never is, I’ll crank the valve on the blowtorch: “I hate you. I’ve told you seven times to stop calling me. This is harrassment and I hate you. I hope you die. I hope a dog fucks you to death and then pigs eat you, you disgusting piece of shit.” I have a 100% success rate in getting them to hang up. Probably before I’m halfway through that, but it’s hard to tell with the handset against my ear. And not infrequently a supervisor — you know, the people who weren’t available three minutes before — will call me back, saying they don’t appreciate it, I’m breaking the law, and they’re going to report me. That’s when I get unpleasant.
Thanks for the tip. It’ll come in useful, as 80% or more of the junk calls are from people giving American-sounding names but speaking with a distinct accent.
I hope a dog fucks you to death and then pigs eat you, you disgusting piece of shit.
Dude, you’re channeling Joss Whedon. Sweet!!!
We just block the calls and don’t answer any of the phones unless we know who it is or they’re leaving a message that we are OK with. If the Caller ID thang shows an unknown, we just don’t answer it.
We both us the Hiya app on our iPhones, and it works great so far and is free. Fuck the Do Not Call Registry, utterly worthless.
Really? Him as a person or one of his TV or movie projects? This annoys me because I prefer to be original in my obscenity and scatology.
And by “paying for” I include such minimal things as giving you a valid email address
I generally use the email address of the local manager at the TV station. I sincerely hope his inbox is overflowing with spam.
I’ll tell her how much I’ve waited for her to call back. She sounds so hot.
When they ask how I am doing I start describing in morbid details a festering puss filled wound that won’t heal properly. Call generally does not last long. I could start describing OFD’s face to make the call even shorter but then they would have a hard time telling us apart.
And on a lighter note I bought another flashlight.
https://www.nebotools.com/prod_details.php?id=403
Need to take a few gifts to families in Norway. I figure three of these should be enough for the three families we will be visiting. Good for those long nights in the winter and the flashing red might be good for x-country skiing they do in the winter. Small, not too expensive, will fly in the carryon (so TSA and luggage handlers can’t steal), useful, and probably not available in Norway.
Really? Him as a person or one of his TV or movie projects? This annoys me because I prefer to be original in my obscenity and scatology.
As Whedon went insane from tRump Derangement Syndrome, he tweeted he would enjoy watching a rhino horn-fuck Paul Ryan to death. Plus other nasty stuff. But, you are more like “The Master” from Buffy.
Apple Mail has started to really suck on macOS and iOS. I paid for the Airmail app on both and it is working well (there are free ones out there). I could just use Google, but I have other non-Google addresses. Apple Mail rules just stopped working (you can do this with Google filters, but it is a PITA). I reactivate them and it sends stuff to any folder it wants to. Many, many complaints on the Apple forums.
A relatively new option on the ad blocking front is the Brave browser. It includes ad blocking, script blocking, and even (experimental) blocks fingerprinting. Some websites get upset with it, but I’ve been pretty happen so far…
WRT robo calls:
We are using Nomorobo (https://www.nomorobo.com/). Charter (or Spectrum as they want to be called now) hooked up with them a few months ago. No extra charge and absolutely no robo calls since we connected up. The only disadvantage is that you will get a single ring as Nomorobo intercepts and screens the call.
We also use Hiya on all our Android phones, it works very well and is getting better all the time.
@brad – thanks for the info on Brave. I had read about it some time ago but never gave it a try, I will now.
And the Brazos River is coming up. From 16 ft to 40 ft over the next six days. Still 15 ft below flooding my neighborhood and 20 ft below flooding my office property.
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=HGX&gage=RMOT2
“…I could start describing OFD’s face to make the call even shorter…”
Simply text them the image and they’ll run screaming and shitting themselves.
Meanwhile, in my snail mail today, I discovered that the young curate who toiled for a brief time in the Worcester, MA Episcopal Church where I was a verger so many years ago is now the Episcopal Bishop of Tennessee.
I’m all in favor of people shitting themselves, but only if I’m upwind and someone’s getting it on camera so we can upload it.
Totally apropos nothing, what advertisers might one contact to maximize revenue from a fool-shits-himself video?
what advertisers might one contact to maximize revenue from a fool-shits-himself video
Depends.
And Mr. Ray wins the innernet today!
Also:
Lysol.
The wife is having a minor crisis today. Somebody tried to forward all of her father’s mail and applied for three credit cards in his name. Luckily, the post office refused the forwarding and the new credit cards came here. She canceled two of them but Chase refused to allow her to cancel the third credit card without talking with her father first. Nevertheless, she will not pay those credit card bills.
An attempted fraud every nanosecond nowadays, it seems.
Then a few zillion Winblows users around the world can fret about this:
“A Microsoft spokesperson told The Intercept “We are reviewing the report and will take the necessary actions to protect our customers.” We asked Microsoft if the NSA at any point offered to provide information that would help protect Windows users from these attacks, given that the leak has been threatened since August 2016, to which they replied “our focus at this time is reviewing the current report.” Asked again, the spokesperson replied that Microsoft has “nothing further to share.”
Looks sorta like a huge middle finger to them/us all…
https://theintercept.com/2017/04/14/leaked-nsa-malware-threatens-windows-users-around-the-world/
applied for three credit cards in his name
Contact all three credit reporting agencies and have a freeze put on the accounts and pull a credit report from all three. Since it was a fraud attempt you are legally entitled to all reports. Putting a freeze on the accounts will stop anyone from opening a credit account or loan.
home safe, tired, worn out. Kids are frayed, but were remarkably good. Lots of comments on their vocabulary, which is gratifying.
couple interesting and unrelated things from the trip.
United has a catchphrase they used in the onboard announcement, something about being the friendliest w/passengers. Missed most of it but my ear went “??? WTF???”
Drove a chrysler pacifica, turned off the constant distraction of the “infotainment” screen. Next morning it was back on and showing a “sign up for XM radio” page. They can apparently turn on the ad and the screen whenever they want. FUKC CHRYSLER if that’s accurate.
gotta feed the kids,
perhaps some more later.
nick
And thanks for the well wishes. It does help.
I hardly ever offer sympathies. I can’t empathize with most of what sympathies are normally offered for, so offering them sounds fake to me. And, thanks to parts of my upbringing which I haven’t repressed, I’m absolutely rigid on not telling lies or anything which might be construed as a falsehood.
What I do do is offer to help solve problems. Ex-girlfriend bitter about you breaking up and she’s been calling the police on you? I’ll see what I can do. Brother got in a wreck and you need to go see him but you don’t know what to do with the kids? No problem, bring them over, we have room. Car won’t start and you’ll be fired if you miss work? Here’s my keys.
Someone died and you feel sad about it? I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do or say.
An attempted fraud every nanosecond nowadays, it seems.
Yes.. I’m reading regularly KrebsOnSecurity.com . Digital frauds, attacks, cracking, all that, seems to be out of control, and no solutions to stop them. The hardware, the software and the interractions became so complex that are now virtually impossible to protect against a determined attacker. The attack surface is simply too big, and there is always an average Joe to be easily tricked and compromise an entire system.
I just got a Friend request from one of my Friends on FB. I contacted the real friend, said he’d been hacked. I’ll ignore the new request.
“Someone died and you feel sad about it? I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do or say.”
I get that, and my solution is to offer whatever help I can give; or just show up with a dinner already cooked or babysit kids or whatever. If they’re a thousand miles away, I offer to listen if they wanna talk or email or Skype or whatever; we’re always losing people to the Grim Reaper and I’ve found it helps to indicate somehow that we give a shit, because all too often nobody will talk to them or see them for fear of just that, appearing phony, or being embarrassed that they can’t think of anything to say or any comfort to offer. Believe me, almost always the survivors are grateful for the human contact.
An interesting and informative site for those so interested, like me, ferinstance:
http://www.defensereview.com/
“They can apparently turn on the ad and the screen whenever they want.”
Like all too many gas station pumps these days when our gas card is activated and we start pumping. Loud over shitty speakers, too.
The traditional polite response of “I’m sorry for your loss” is surprisingly comforting, if only because the person cared enough to be polite. I’ve had 3 ebay buyers offer it as condolence when I told them why their purchases would be delayed in shipping (out of town for a funeral). Yes, it can just be polite ‘good form’ but politeness and etiquette exist to smooth out human interaction.
And it does work.
n
I guess. When my first child and her mother were killed, I tracked down and killed the drunk driver who’d killed them. I told the grandfather that the killer had been dealt with, and he said “Good” but offered me no sympathy, and I didn’t tell anyone else and never sought support or sympathy. Some years later, when I found that my father had been dead for years, I felt nothing.
Given that, my refusal to offer customary white lies, and my normal lack of facial expression which makes sympathetic words sound sarcastic, it’s generally best that I be kept away from the grieving. What am I supposed to say, “I understand that you are upset about your son’s death, but he died of stupid and from what I know you were largely responsible for him being stupid.”? When one of my troops died in an accident, it was indeed because he was stupid. I limited myself to telling the mother “I’m sorry your son died” and let our sergeant do the rest of the talking. No, best that I be kept away and be set to taking care of practical matters.
So it looks like some think that being mean to Democratic operatives with bylines is an impeachable offense. Though “think” might be giving them too much credit.
“…I tracked down and killed the drunk driver who’d killed them.”
Assuming no satisfactory judicial finding in a case like that were it my child and the mother, I’m afraid I would have taken the same tack afterward and no one the wiser or able to offer an iota of proof that it was me.
“…Though “think” might be giving them too much credit.”
Oh these are very sharp minds, indeed. Nothing else to occupy their attention, looks like.
“…So it looks like some think that being mean to Democratic operatives with bylines…”
I note the usual surnames for this ilk and move on. I’m guessing they’re death on private firearms ownership, too.
I always laugh at the claims of ‘impeachable offense’. There is no real definition. High crimes and misdemeanors? No in reality it’s whatever the congress decides – period. And yes presidents are pretty close to immune unless impeached and convicted.
(or once out of office)
said he’d been hacked
Not hacked, impersonated. If he had been hacked he could not send friend requests to those that are already friends. Someone copies a person’s picture, creates an account with the same name, goes through your friend’s list and sends friend requests. Seems stupid to me. But I don’t put my life on FB and have no personal information other than where I went to school. Some people chronicle their entire life, arguments with ex’s and friends, basically everything. Even post when they are out of town and on a trip. Nope, nope, nope. Not going to happen.
A few days after he killed two people by driving drunk, I found him in a bar.
I’m not bashful about talking about it, but you’ll notice the paucity of details. If anyone tries to investigate or charge me with anything, well, I was just bullshitting and you’ll have one hell of a time proving otherwise.
“A few days after he killed two people by driving drunk, I found him in a bar.”
Ya know, that is just fucking perfect.
I rather think I’d also be inclined to take out whichever LE “authority” had him out on the street; can’t really fault a defense attorney for doing his or her job. So that leaves the DA or ADA or judge, amirite?
Son of a bitch. That pisses me off just thinking about it, and I’m sure it’s not uncommon.
“…I tracked down and killed the drunk driver who’d killed them.”
“Assuming no satisfactory judicial finding in a case…”
A family member used to be a cop. When he was one, he and some fellow cops made a pact amongst themselves that if any of their loved ones were killed, injured or traumatised by a crim they’d deal with the situation themselves, not let it wind its way through the courts.
While I agree in principle I wish he hadn’t told me, or anyone else.
EDIT. He’s doing something else now. I never asked why, but I suspect having to go to “domestics” had something to do with it.
Yah. More than thirty years later I’m not too keen on it.
Though it occurs to me that I need to spend more time talking to people with low blood pressure. Share some anecdotes and my worldview and get their pressure right up into the normal range. Figure out how to get their medical insurance to pay for it.
Ray wrote:
“Not hacked, impersonated.”
Yeah, I know. Just repeating what he said.
I used to get “Friend” requests from attractive young women, mainly from Sydney, who I didn’t know from a bar of soap. One even went to far as to have posts on her timeline about my favourite team, Hawthorn.
I just ignored them.
I have had “Friend” requests from people I don’t know, but who have mutual friends. I check them out with the mutual friends and if they’re genuine accept them.
You’re doing it wrong. See, the reason a lot of people like Facebook friends as contrasted with meatspace friends, is to keep the creepy stalkers from checkout them out like a piece of meat.
I just got back from Walgreens with 90 days of my favorite drug, propafenone hydrochloride (Rythmol). I cut it to the wire this time as I just had enough for tomorrow. The list price on my 90 days was $1,511.89. I paid $30. I wonder what BCBS paid Walgreens, I doubt it was anywhere near list.
http://www.rxlist.com/rythmol-drug.htm
I am now on the max dosage of Rythmol, 225 mg twice per day. I am getting occasional breakthroughs of atrial fibrillation but no tachycardia (thank goodness !). When it fails consistently, I will have heart ablation surgery with a scope up one side of my groin artery and a cattle prod up the other side. I can hardly wait to wake up with two 30 lb sandbags holding my groin arteries closed.
That all said, today’s medical technology in the USA is simply awesome. It is just bloody expensive and nobody wants to pay the retail price.
@lynn … I have had ‘lone atrial fibrillation’ for over a decade. (The ‘lone’ indicates that nobody figured out why.) Probably caused by my sleep apnea (which is a common cause). Sleep apnea under control with a CPAP machine.
I am on Flecanide now (IIRC, I started out on Rythmol, then some others over the years). It has everything under control. I get an occasional speedup/erratic rhythm , but usually lasts for about 4 hours; I am used to it, just relax and wait for the rhythm to normalize.
I looked into ablation several years back (6+), but my symptoms don’t occur enough to go that route. Had one heart doctor want to do a pacemaker, but I declined, because I wasn’t out of rhythm often enough.
The Flecanide is working well for me, and costs me about $5/month (currently Medicaid + Part B).
Lynn wrote:
“That all said, today’s medical technology in the USA is simply awesome. It is just bloody expensive and nobody wants to pay the retail price.”
I’m glad that the medication I take is cheap. Heart attacks killed my father and three of my grandparents, so that’s what I worry about most. Almost 59, but no sign of trouble.
Yet.
[snip] he and some fellow cops made a pact amongst themselves that if any of their loved ones were killed, injured or traumatised by a crim they’d deal with the situation themselves, not let it wind its way through the courts. [snip]
I know of a situation here, say ~ 35 years ago. A sheriff’s deputy arrested, justifiably, a couple of members of a well known family of white trash scumbags. Said family made a very specific, credible threat against the very young daughter of said cop. A couple of nights later, a group of black clad gentlemen who happened to be on the public payroll rousted all the family about 3 AM. What ensued was a one sided dissertation, delivered at the point of several shotguns, on the intolerability of the behavior of said white trash scumbags. Situation resolved.
I get an occasional speedup/erratic rhythm , but usually lasts for about 4 hours; I am used to it, just relax and wait for the rhythm to normalize.
I waited four hours last time when I was having tachycardia and then I went to the ER. They stopped it after about eight hours (Lopressor is your friend !). Twelve hours of hell with my pulse running 150 to 200. That was around six years ago.
I had a fairly severe heart attack back in 2009 where I lost the back side of my heart muscle due to an undiagnosed heart defect. My right coronary artery is only two inches long (it should be eight inches) and does not supply blood to the back side of my heart.
I looked into ablation several years back (6+), but my symptoms don’t occur enough to go that route.
Yup, you’ve got to be in constant tachycardia or fibrillation for a heart ablation to work. My father in law had an ablation three years ago at age 81 and I’ll bet he is good for another ten years in the nursing home. My electrocardiologist has told me that Rythmol will work for a few years and then I will get breakthroughs, at which point he will do an heart ablation.
I don’t know anything about Flecanide though. Good to hear that you are in control.
My father-in-law has a pacemaker too. After the ablation, his pulse was dropping down to 30 so they put in a pacemaker to keep him running at 60.
Oh my goodness, it’s still dahk outside up here!
Running Mrs. OFD to the airport for her flight to the great Lone Star State!
Ten days in beeyooteeful El Paso!
I will hold the fort, per SOP, here at Firebase Hardy.
And it is Holy Saturday.
Pax vobiscum.
I note the usual surnames for this ilk and move on. I’m guessing they’re death on private firearms ownership, too.
Libturdians and politicians have been on Twitter/MSM lately trying to make “silencers” illegal. “If a crook used a silencer in NYC, people might not hear it and report it.” How can people be so dumb. Not ignorant, just dumb. I never understood why getting a suppressor should be so difficult. At worst, all it should take is the same background check as getting a firearm. They are not even a weapon. Unless you throw it at someone.
Also, libturds are blaming the NRA for the latest San Bernardino shooting. Just dumb.
For those of you with heart conditions on this blog, take good care of yourselves. The World is a better place with you.
By the inescapable rules of logic and of interpretation of legal documents, you have excluded those of us without heart conditions from those making the world a better place.
I shall meet you at dawn, Sir. Bring your sword.
I can see your schwartz is as big as mine.