It’s NOT just the crazies in Austin…
A vegan woman sued her neighbors for barbecuing in their backyard: ‘It’s deliberate’
Full article, HERE.
Now I’ve been to Perth, and it is the equivalent of the wild west. They are separated from the rest of Australia by the outback, and are a pretty independent bunch. And MOST of them are meat/fish eaters. And yes, they do a LOT of BBQs, especially the military folks.
h/t Gerry
And then there’s this…
Connected things are wonderful until they fail on you.
Apparently there are a lot of Tesla owners that don’t bother to carry keys, etc, but rely on their phones to ‘unlock’ their car… Oopsie…. Full article, HERE.
Yet everyone wants ‘smart houses’? Really? So the blue screen of death will mean NOTHING in your house will work?
Really? Sigh… I don’t want ANY electronic/smart controls in my house.
I really don’t want my house “connected” either. I’ve seen that movie, and it didn’t end well for the humans.
Tech Enthusiasts: My whole house in connected! I can control everything by voice or over the internet!
Tech Workers: The only connected thing in my house is an old dot matrix printer, and I keep a shot gun close by in case it makes a weird noise.
I have a *few* ‘connected’ devices at home. They are all individual add-on sockets, and only lamps are plugged into them. Manual override would be trivial – as it must be.
I don’t even have power windows in my pickup.
Tolewyn – LOL at your last comment about the printer/shotgun!
OldNFO – I also do not want any connected devices. I don’t share my home with Alexa, do not have a ethernet doorbell or door lock, etc. I may get a camera system, but only to observe, not to control anything.
Is the term, “vegan idiot”, redundant?
Vegan idiot is not redundant. I have a friend who developed a problem digesting meat. She is NOT happy about it, but a vegan diet is keeping her going.
I think there are people who can’t eat meat, and there are Vegans. One is a medical condition, the other is a faith-based activity.
The only connected device (other than computers) is the Amazon Firestick through which we get our TV viewing. And Alexa is only “listening” when we press and hold a button on the remote. Or so they tell us. But the remote lives in an enclosed compartment in the couch console when not in use.
X10 lighting controls and I get TV over the computer.
My computers and phone are networked to each other.
But nobody is listening, not even my wife.
Being a Latter Day Luddite, I haven’t a clue how to set up such a system. Need help just to change something on my “smartphone”. Only have a smartphone as I need to receive text messages from an employer.
Once had a neighbor with a pool who liked outdoor living. No problem, with a privacy fence between our yards, but the pool was visible from two son’s bedroom windows. The late night skinny dipping party activities gave them an early education.
> Only have a smartphone as I need to receive text messages from an employer.
—
Any phone will do that. Text is part of the communication protocols.
Your cellular provider *may* turn off texting on their end; Verizon will, if you nag them enough. And then a year or so later they’ll start up again, and my 12-year-old dumbphone will start complaining that THERE’S TEXTS AND YOU’RE NOT READING THEM BEEP BOOP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Hey Old NFO;
I always thought “Vegan” was indian word for “Crappy Hunter”, I am sure that Australia has their own name for that.
I don’t like my house wired for a smart device….I remember the movie 2001 “Open the Pod Bay door please HAL….Sorry Dave I cannot do that…” replies the ethereal voice of the sentient running the ship. Even back then, they were warning us, LOL
All- Thanks for the comments, glad I’m not the only one… Uh WSF, I’m ‘sure’ only your boys were watching, right? 🙂
Posted from my iPhone.
They weren’t that attractive.
This is all sorts of unintentionally hilarious for me. ‘Internet of Things’ is just asking for someone to mess with you.
Why? Why have a coffee maker hooked into your network? Are you too lazy to get up and make it yourself?
Well, strictly speaking, I think bimetallic strip thermostats might count as an electronic control.
I’m not too clear on the difference between an electrical engineer and an electronic engineer. So I may be overlooking an important difference in definitions.
I have a strong intuition that as a subfield of engineering, our programmers and their handlers are a bit too fond of throwing computational complexity everywhere. I think we need to do better at designing for maintenance for the sake of reliability. Dumb thermostats are a reasonable trade off for that application.
> I’m not too clear on the difference between an electrical engineer and an electronic engineer.
—
You can easily determine the difference with the question “explain the role of inductance in your daily work.”
If they say “huh?”, they’re electronic engineers…
Only things connected are ones I have set up myself, i.e. printer, modem, AP, and all on a protected VPN. Won’t allow “Smaht TV” to connect to network and there will never be an Alexa hub in my house. I even kicked SWMBO off Farcebook.
Travelling in an RV I often see un-protected printers on the local shared wifi networks. I have been tempted to connect and print on one of them “I HAVE BECOME SELF-AWARE!”
Oh, man. Printers. Most multifunction printers have lots of internal storage, a web server, and HP’s newer models go into a snit if they can’t connect to HP’s “cloud”. And they really, really want wifi enabled, even if they’re plugged into Ethernet.
One client insists on HP printers, even after I explained why they are sucking security holes. [sigh]
Vegan lady from Perth was also upset that the kids next door were playing basketball.
I can’t feel sorry for her.
Vegans – don’t like them; too tough and stringy 🙂 Too many that I know or know of have no sense of humor, like that female.
Keeping my network only as smart and connected as I need to. I saw too many actual and potential disasters at work and among friends.
WSF- Snerk…
Toast- Agreed!
Bob- You have some good points. And I agree on the bimetal.
Fluge- ROTF, THAT would scare the hell out of some folks… LOL
JMI- Nope, not a bit…
PK- LOL, no they don’t. And agree on the minimal connections.
just read that someone has invited 3000 or so people to the vegan snowflake’s house for a BBQ in the near future – ROTFLMAO!! What a typical Aussie move!
Tom- I’ll have to check with the folks I know down there… They’re ‘probably’ in on it… LOL
I have my data backed up in manila folders. I can read it with a candle.
Smarter Half got a “pad” from her company 1/2 price when they discontinued them.
Keep it in bedroom mainly to look up IMDB while watching TV.
We followed S.O.P. by covering lens with electrical tape.
One night a commercial came on LOUDLY as they often do.
The pad immediately brought up the commercial’s home page.
Turned it off. Put it in the drawer. Next AM it was on the workbench having thick super-glue poured into the mic holes.
Testing proved it is now deaf as well as blind.
RHT- So do I! 🙂
Stretch- That’s a great idea. I have one, it stays OFF most of the time.
> Apparently there are a lot of Tesla owners that don’t bother to carry keys,
That’s a big thing in certain demographics. It shows they’re not “bound by possessions” or some hippy-dippy drivel.
Me, I figure it’s a holdover from the disco era, when more than a single bare house key would mar the drape of sprayed-on pants…
This was a topic of converstaion the other day i had of the powers that someone would have over you if they wanted, like the government, smart meters can turn off the power to your house when remotely commanded, wifi connected houses can be locked or unlocked by the authorities to gain access (surely they wouldnt do that), and all the mic’s in your house should just make you cringe. Im not a fatalist but i do feel that the way we are going the government will control you a lot more than you think, I drive a 55 red truck that i can fix with a hammer and cresent wrench and it’s made of real metal. I dont trust our government any further than i can shoot.