Signs Signs Electrical Signs

Don't try this at home, kids; it's illegal (and very funny)

• The latest Internet of Things (IoT) problem: poorly designed and unsecured devices can turn your android phone into a tracker. A large problem was fixed on Belkin devices, which could hack your phone via their app that runs on the phone. Food for thought.

When I first saw the browser plugin Web of Trust, I installed it. It checks the trust level of a website and alerts you to how safe it is. There was something I didn't like in the terms and I uninstalled it. It was discovered to be harvesting browsing histories and selling them to advertising agencies. WOT claims the data is anonymised but investigators were able to identify fifty people from the data. If you're using WOT, I suggest uninstalling it.

• The election is over. People are mad. People are happy. Some snark seeping in. We should go counter to my my normal inclination and look on the bright side: no election commercials!

It has taken me years upon years to finally figure this out: do not put things up against other things, unless you want the dog to rearrange the things. I don't know if he fancies himself an inferior decorator or just likes moving stuff, or thinks he's a cat. Nothing is safe. This has been a public service announcement.

• One thing I've discovered around the election: people in other countries are heavily involved, and opinionated. The sad part is that some of them are much better-educated on the facts than Americans. Two of the biggest commentators I've come across are from the UK - they discuss like it's their election.

In case you haven't gotten your fill of buzzwords today, about ten percent of The Cloud is already infected and waiting for you. This includes Amazon and Google.

• I hope you're enjoying all the protesting and people shouting "He's not our president." Meh - let them protest - it's their right (right up until they damage stuff). One will remember that when Obama was elected (twice), there were no protest or riots or "not my presidents".
• Speaking of Obama, how about that Hope and Change? Twice.

Another very significant event in this election was the complete and utter failure of the media and their predictions. A while back someone told me to ignore the media and they were beyond correct. Mainstream media is controlled by six corporate entities. This is not a conspiracy theory - look it up. I strongly urge you to either ignore the MSM or at least balance it with some reliable internet news sources.

• California wants to secede from the United States. I say let them. Let's build a wall to keep them out.

In Poland, the army will teach women hand-to-hand combat for free. Just as soon as the navy rectifies the problems with the screen doors in their submarines. Wow, that was incredibly sophomoric, which is why you come here.

• Welcome to ThermionicEmissions, where my own family does not dare come. Ok, except my wife, but it's her duty to humor me.

Please enjoy THE voice, Ronnie James Dio (RIP)

Pining for the Fjords

Social Justice Worker alert: Hillary Clinton: "Women have always been the primary victims of war. Women lose their husbands, their fathers, their sons in combat." Yeah, Hill, the men only lose their lives, but no matter....

From the same media cesspool: did you know women suffer from prostate cancer too? They suffer when their partners get it. This idiocy is not going to stop for a long time.

• A 38 year old Polish nightclub owner was practicing his tank driving, as we all do, when he drove it into his own nightclub during a live Facebook stream.  This story highlights the difference between European and American culture: you cannot drive a tank in the US. We will never be truly equal until we can.

The New Oakland, California police chief ordered a shutdown of everyone's cell phone service on SFBART because he thought there was going to be a protest. Digest this... the police can order your cell service shut down on public transportation. Because of an alleged protest.

• The 'Hack the Pentagon' program has gone very well. This is where people are encouraged to find flaws in the Pentagon's computer systems (non-core or critical systems only).  The program turned up over 100 bugs. Just in 'non-ciritical' systems. Dare we guess what's going on with critical systems? Dare we guess why we're hacked?

The Anonymous hacking collective has been going after the Islamic State by replacing content with porn, to shame them. Hopefully they haven't been using goat or child porn, which would only excite them.

• Three women were charged for assaulting McDonald's employee for working too slowly. I'm wondering if the threat of this can be used to get employees to work faster and, more importantly, more accurately. Maybe they can be hired or visit different stores. The mind boggles.

Russian government hackers have been in the DNC network for up to a year. The State Department doesn't have to release emails - the Russians have already threatened to.

• Microsoft has purchased LinkedIn. As if either of them mattered.

With all the crap going on in the world, New York proves there's still a shred of humanity, after three men jumped down from a subway platform to save a man on the tracks. I'm sure there's a lot of this going on but it goes unreported.

• We here at Thermionic are against all forms of gun control. However, some guy adjusted his pants at Zabar's, an upscale Manhattan market, and shot himself. This is the kind of gun control we need. Some might call it Darwinism.

German Justice Minister Haiko Mass says Germany will not recognize polygamous or underage marriages, as practiced by immigrants. Apparently assaulting Germans and throwing gays off buildings are still on the table.

PRO TIP FOR MINORITY GROUPS IN THE PUBLIC EYE: As we know, I'm a libertarian. I haven't seen a ton of others but I have seen some local libertarians and their web pages. With the exception of Gary Johnson and the other guys running for president in our party, we're not a good-looking bunch of folks. I don't mean attractive - I mean the way we dress and act. If you're looking for some attention or to get someone's vote, a very important part of this is making your audience think you're like them. Guys (and girls, if there are any), put on a suit jacket. Sound mainstream normal. Yeah, this is style over substance but you stand a much better chance of being elected if you don't look like a mountain man in a black button-down shirt, who hasn't shaved in a month or three. This is precisely why I'm not out doing libertarian work - I look like a reject from the Aging Rock Star pageant. I'm the idea man, the inside guy. The guy you don't want out scaring potential voters.

Now let me extend this to our brothers and sisters in the LGBT community: Orlando was a national nightmare. The only positive thing that came about thus far is that you have been given a voice on the national stage. While I hope this event can produce something of long term substance, you need to make the most of your current opportunity. You probably don't want your spokesman to be a limp-wristed flamer with a flag painted on his face or a woman who shaved off half her hair and dyed the other half purple, with nose and eyebrow piercings and a suspicious chain going down into the front of her pants. There are gay people everywhere, who dress for business. Put a few of them up front. Again, you want your audience to feel that you're just like them. You're likely to gain a lot more traction this way.

Ymmv, of course.

RIP Ren, 2016