A collage (or collision) of three items that struck my attention this morning.
Thought the First: Just read an article where some folks(1) are hacking the Google and Alexa “home” stuff and can listen to everything going on in the home, and can even talk back, and carry on a conversation, apparently in the same canned voice. No surprise to me; it’s the primary reason I don’t fool around with that stuff(2). Besides, it’s just a toy, really, not a productivity booster. Saves me no time at all, while opening up all sorts of security holes in my tiny personal empire.
But… I just read a posting from a fellow who’s mom thinks it’s the spirit of a dead relative who has possessed “her home” and chats with it for hours every day. Revealing all kinds of personal information, of course.
Turns out that’s a popular scam (hacking Alexa, et al, not necessarily posing as a spirit). No surprise, really. Alexa, Ring and Xfinity, for example, all have systems that are hackable this way. Some of the Google “home” stuff was badly hacked back around 2019, scaring everybody and contributing to the anti-google sentiments(3) out there.
Golly. Hackers can listen in to what’s happening inside your house. Am I surprised? (Go ahead; ask me that.) Well, that’s scary enough. That some one would assume it’s spirit communication and not even think of a hacker… that’s really scary. I do understand the concern with “magical thinking” some folks express these days. Magical Thinking wins out, in the end. Always. Even among the “educated.” The Human Mind is such that, in the absence of data, it will concoct explanations anyway. In the presence of some data, it will concoct explanations and stand by them with great vigor(3a). I believe that’s the root cause of what is snidely called “Magical Thinking” by some of the Intelligentsia. Except that, of course, line of reasoning makes it a failure by the Intelligentsia to support and participate in making the global education system constantly better — not some government’s version of better, but actually better.
In Olden Days, when a TV was a TV (and not a computer terminal), and subject to listening to anything that was approximately on the chosen frequency, one might find very strange and inexplicable “transmissions” coming through. Fascinating and fun. One of the disappointing aspects of the digital age is that this “fuzziness” for electronics to interact with the world has been lost. The “EVP”(4) phenomenon has almost fallen completely off the map as a concept.
But possession by a dead relative? Possession of the house? Certainly I can not rule that out (neither can you), but how about we at least try changing all the passwords first, yes?
Thought the Second. Also, just read an article (in one of those “science” rags I subscribe to, meant for Big Pharma research labs — keeps me informed about that culture, at least, if not the science [not much “science” in that publication — a little bit — but the sociology is fascinating]) about a bird flu epidemic in *America*… 10’s of millions of birds have been culled or killed by flu so far this year — and the year is young. Not going to be a good time for chicken prices. At the very least. Now, the question is: is it real or is it taking advantage of the situation? Like the sugar shortage that happened shortly after the “energy crisis” of the 70’s.(5) Bad, either way.
Thought the Third. From that same Big Pharma lab research publication (which I won’t name — but you can find it and several others online if you look around): an ad.
Order now? Order the upcoming flu strains now? Or the antigens thereof. The *upcoming* strains? Now? Woof.
(Being able to order the antigens for the upcoming flu strains [note the plural there] implies some one has the upcoming flus already. That’s the “Woof” there, in case that’s not clear.)
Ok, possibly it’s not what it seems to be, or I’m misunderstanding. Possibly. I am not a practicing bio-lab tech (I do have some lab experience, though, and I know a bit about virology, bio-tech and bio-physics. Whoopie). There might be something to this that I’m missing because I’m not part of the current lab culture this publication is aimed at. So it might not be what it seems.
Maybe
But… let’s talk about the annual flu shot for a moment. Pretty much America only, who also manages [in spite of the shot or maybe because of it?] to have the highest incidence of flu in the world, year after year. “Regular flu” that is. Think about it: how can you have a shot for a disease that hasn’t hit yet? (Well, it’s a guess, of course, based on the strains running around elsewhere in the world, and sometimes that guess is wrong.) If the flu (or “a” flu — there’s never just one in any given year — not any more) ever starts developing in America, that will change the game, won’t it? Oops! What was “Thought the Second” about? Looks like maybe America *is* now breading its own strains of flu. (Bird flu is contagious to humans — though not highly — and swine, bats, and other things, and crossing between species if one of the ways in which any flu manages to mutate into something new.)
Did you know that in some parts of Connecticut (America) there are deer running in the forests and vegetable & rose gardens and such that test positive for new strains of CoVid? This is how viruses mutate.
I have to wonder what this Pandemic and the not-really-a-vaccine shot that has been distributed world wide, literally to billions of people(6) with almost no testing, might do to the American annual flu shot. Will that now become a global event? “Get your annual flu shot!” signs in Europe? “Send money to impoverished countries so they too can have the annual flu shot” signs everywhere? We might start seeing that. From the lights of the indifferently educated legislators around the world, it might even seem a good idea.
Just some thoughts. (by the way, these three items actually are connected; can you see how? No points for right or wrong answer, either way. 🙂 )
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(1) Some “folks” who hack… you know, some of those folks who should be exiled from ever again using a computer, first offence. Second offense? There are so many ways to make use of “community service” labor. So, 2nd offense: Community service for life, to make up for the damage done. Then let’s see how many “hackers” continue in their careers of stealing the life’s savings from folks who just don’t know any better… and shouldn’t have to know better.
(2) When I realized how these things work, I gave them up instantly. (Computer security has never been taken seriously by the computer industry: only to the level that the lawyers and their law suits drive it, not into real security. That would put the antivirus companies out of business, for one thing.) The voice signal from any and all microphones is piped online to larger computers than can actually do speech-to-text more reliably than can small computers and this data is used, not only to respond as Alexa, et al, are supposed to, but also to “data mine” you and your location for more pointed advertising, to build profiles on you for more pointed advertising in the future, and — probably — by national security, as well. The question on the latter, however, is: how many nations are listening to you, and whose national security will win that one? If it’s on the internet, it can be tapped by any one serious enough to put the effort in.
(You do realize that World War III is being fought right now, right? Russia, China, the US and North Korea are the major players, and there are “minor” ones, also. You don’t know this? Well, that’s because the media doesn’t really talk about it, perhaps because the battle ground is the internet and they don’t wish to scare you off of it. (Empires would collapse if y’all started behaving like it was the 90’s again.) Occasionally you will hear in the news about “cyber warfare” or some minor by-play between America and some other nation’s “hackers” such as North Korea or China, but for some reason mainstream media never follows that scent where it leads. Perhaps because it’s slow, boring and un-sexy: no bombs, no burnt out buildings and no bodies. But I have to tell you, *if* such a thing is going on for real, its potential for destruction is the highest yet for any war in recorded history. BTW: I do not include Putin’s recent insanity against the Ukraine — not to mention the incompetence being demonstrated there — as part of this hypothetical WW3, at least not at this time.)
(3) The anti-google propaganda I believe to be mostly sponsored by those who can’t figure out how to compete with an honest, hard-working company, so they do a smear campaign to impugn the reputation and swing “stock shares” their way. Don’t let yourself be manipulated by mentalities who can think such things are just Good Business. Those mentalities need a serious career change, perhaps into life-long community service, returning to their jail cells each night. Do your own research, don’t read either the “infomercials” from the competition, nor the mumblings of the choir. You already know what each of them thinks. Instead, look around for the real story; you’ll find it, if you keep looking and keep asking questions! For example: why is it the hacking of the Google systems in 2019 still a hot button for some people, but the hacking of Alexa and Xfinity barely was reported at all? Curious, yes?
(3a) Half educated. Specialists are especially dangerous this way, because they are certain they know. They don’t. They know their specialty (to various degrees), but often can not even see an influence from other domain of knowing and, so, are prone to come to wrong conclusions (You can see that in such programs as Through the Worm Hole, for instance — explanations that miss something very important because it wasn’t on the specialist’s radar). Or why why a general philosophy (what used to be called a “liberal education” before “liberal” had its meaning changed by rampaging radicals) needs to be the full 4 year course, not just two; two years is just enough to scare and depress the student. It’s the full 4 years that brings you back to hope and understanding and can set you up for a far richer and rewarding life.
(4) “EVP” stands for electronic voice phenomenon. It’s one of those things there’s never been a satisfactory explanation for. Look it up sometime just for kicks. it really doesn’t happen so much with digital equipment, though, and I can’t help thinking something fun and possibly important has been lost. (Okay, it does happen with digital equipment, just not nearly as often, and in the case of digital equipment, it could easily be hackers, because really there’s very little security to how the internet is currently wired up and how you join this big party each time you sign in. Old Style TVs didn’t have security issues, you know?)
(5) By the way: many of you don’t remember the 70’s, let alone the so-called Energy Crisis thereof. The panic — and it was a serious national and then global panic — was that we were running out of gasoline. That all the petroleum had been mined out and there wasn’t more than a few months, possibly a few years supply tops. That was… let’s see now… 50 years ago? And we’re still burning gasoline, last I checked. (Dang it.) All that happened out of it was that the price of gasoline went from (approximately) 30 cents a gallon (money was worth a lot more back then!) to about a $1.20 a gallon, over a period of some months. That’s all that happened. Except for the short-lived run of cars that were actually getting 50 and even 55 miles to a gallon… using early 80’s technology! Today, with several computers in the car, we’re lucky to get 35 or 40 to a gallon. How’s that work?
(6) It’s not a vaccine. A vaccine is to keep you from getting the disease. This shot is meant to only reduce the virulence of the disease in your body once you get it. You can still get it; you can still give it. The shot is meant to keep you out of the emergency room, is all.