The New Wave: Symbolic Protest

The Yale Graduate Student Union is holding a symbolic hunger strike. What's a symbolic hunger strike? Students can leave and get food when they're hungry.  This is likely to take off into a worldwide phenomenon. Personally I'm going to hold a symbolic sleepless protest, where I can go to bed when I'm tired.

• Hacking has taken on a whole new meaning. Somebody got hold of ten episodes of 'Orange is the New Black' and demanded a ransom from Netflix. Netflix refused and the hacker leaked the episodes. Before you ask, I do not have the location.

Australia is the land of animals you never want to see, no handguns, and privacy erosions the likes of which you also never want to see. They have a thrilling and incredibly sad legal framework in which they can get at least the metadata of all phone use, including VPN or encrypted information. Same in the US, actually. Metadata does not reveal what's in the message; it reveals FROM, TO, TIME, which comes in handy in investigations. Happy Day to all.

• Let's talk stats: 
• the majority of traffic came from the US and France
• the top browsers used were Chrome and Firefox
• the top operating systems were Windows and linux
• number of visits.... well... let's say that I appreciate you coming by

Speaking of brain cells, here are four hacks to grow your brain cells.  I'm particularly fond of number four, except where it says it improves cognitive functions in dementia. I'm not going to suggest this to my mother.

• Twas a good day to stay out of Texas today
• Dallas: EMT shot, manhunt happening
• Austin: UT-Austin, 4 stabbed, 1 dead, suspect in custody
• Sensitive College Student: I felt very unsafe when Campus Carry passed. Oops, this was a knife.

Our good friends at Faceyspaces used algorithms to collect data on 6.4 million Australian children under the age of 14, based upon their emotional state for targeted advertising. Leaping to accept responsibility, Faceyspaces says the use of the algorithm was an 'oversight'. There is a reason I refer to FB as the Front Page of the NSA. They got caught here... what else do you think is going on? What other data harvested? Who else marketed to? Please don't make me say I told you so.

• The NSA is ending its controversial warrantless surveillance program. This is spying - I mean surveillance on any communication that references a target outside the country. You believe them, right? They wouldn't lie to us, would they? They're completely above board, aren't they?

The Trump crowd is boycotting Starbucks due to the owner's actions. I boycott Starbucks because it sucks (Peet's for me). Last night we wanted to leave the domicile, as we are wont to do once a month. Barnes&Noble was the decision and they have a Starbucks in house. Since we do enjoy a frappucino now and then and since we went from 50 to 80+ degrees in a few days, this seemed like a good idea.

Well, right up til we sat down.

Almost immediately after we sat in the uncomfortable seats, I heard loud, urgent talking, which morphed into loud, urgent, constant whining. A child of tweenish age was complaining to some adult about her parents not letting her do anything. They sat down and it continued in its loud, urgent tone. At one point the adult told her to lower her voice, bless her, but it went right back up to the Kill Level. It seemed like she had some sort of psych issue and wasn't dealing well with limitations imposed by it. 

I'm trying to read a magazine to glean some information but had great difficulty due to the volume of her aural assault. My first thought was to take the Ironic Approach and go to her table to explain that my A.D.D. prevents me from reading when there is loud noise. Once in a while I manage to moderate myself, yearly, and I'm proud to say this was my effort for 2017. 

I didn't have much time until The Loud Couple appeared at a closer table and had a loud discussion about what kind of drinks were available, loudly questioning some of the flavors. Her loudness was the major irritant but it served to make his volume, and irritant level, that much louder.

Fortunately this calmed down, so Loud Child could become the Lone Irritant.

But not for long.

I heard very loud breathing next to me, as an older fellow, possibly missing a lung, and/or a heavy smoker, started rearranging the table. He pulled it out six inches from its original location, and started placing Stuff and napkins about the table. The breathing was very loud, and went breath, awhhhhhhh, breath, awhhhhh.

Meanwhile the child continued, with brief interruptions from the Loud Couple.

And in back of me, two loud students were flummoxed by the tables not being large enough, using their student brains to come up with pushing two tables together. They must have been engineering students. Mind you, there were two of them, plus a laptop, so with tables for four, I was unable to see an issue. Fortunately the debate raged no further.

I remember wondering if these people were raised in barns, by wolves.  I was taught to be considerate by a considerate mom, so when I go to places like this, I don't use my booming voice. Apparently I'm the only one. The only surprise was why a spontaneous basketball game or small heavy metal concert didn't break out while I was finishing my drink.








I had some killer pictures to upload, just to bring a smile or a frown. Unfortunately, something changed and I can no longer upload graphics or sometimes even log in, from about six browsers. Thanks guys!

Not Selling You Anything - Just My Fragile Ego

Apparently there's an NFL draft In Philly. I find this stuff out on the news. The city is expected to be an even bigger mess, although I can't figure out why.  Send it to New Jersey, where they could cover it between shootings. But, there's little to report on these days since cancer was cured.

• Some enterprising bastard of a hacker took control of over 200 ISIS accounts, loading them up with gay porn. This is pretty fun news, although probably misguided. The should have gone with sex with pigs to get the point home. Ok, it's pretty close either way...

Surprise! 'Inbox tidying' service Unroll.me has been caught selling data. Who would have thought that a service that has access to your email sells data? In this particular case (wanna bet there are others?), Uber bought data on Lyft receipts. The data was 'anonymized'.  The CEO has apologized for not being clear enough that it sells anonymized data to clients.  Terribly sorry we didn't make it clear that we get your firstborn.

ThermionicEmissions would like to provide you with a Guide to Data Privacy.

No.

That is your guide.

Does a service want access to your inbox?  No.

Does a service want access to your network?  No.

Does a program want access to anything else on your phone?  No.

Does a program want location access?  No.

If you ever experience a moment of doubt, ask yourself WWTED: What Would ThermionicEmissions Do? HINT: the answer is generally going to be no, unless it involves mamallian protuberances.

• Webroot Antivirus 'mistakenly' flags Windows as malware and Faceyspaces as a phishing site. I'm not sure why they said mistakenly...

Saudi Arabia has just been elected to the UN Women's Rights Commission. In other news, Palestine has been elected to the UN Commission on Antisemitism.

• Serena Williams has confirmed her pregnancy on social media. Seriously, who cares? It's a good thing cancer has been cured.

How's Marshall doing, you ask?
Spectacular! Even better than an NFL draft!
The surgeon said his incision healed completely and he won't require more meds. When the Cone of Shame came off, he went right back to Puppy Mode (he's about 13), jumping on furniture, making himself at home on the bed, getting up and down the steps without difficulty, and generally being a Happy Spaniel. We're absolutely overjoyed and thankful.

• Here's an interesting little android stat: over two million users have fallen victim to malware from the Google Play store, in the form of guides to games.
• partial list: guides for FIFA Mobile, Criminal Case, Super Mario, Subway Surfers, Pokemon Go, Lego Nexo Knights, Lego City My City, Ninjago Tournament, Rolling Sky, Amaz3ing Spider-Man, Drift Zone 2, Dream League Soccer, and many more.
• Google has cleaned the mess up but if you have downloaded any of these, it's time to run an antivirus.

What kind of fresh stupidity is this? In the name of 'gender equality', a Washington teacher doesn't let boys play with Lego ..to allow the girls to 'catch up'. 

• Our long national nightmare is over: Costco has Chocolate Frosted Flakes back in stock. Good thing - we were going through detox.

Today's As-Yet Unheard Phrase: "He loaned the wheel from our mower to the neighbor."

• Today is Alien Day. As a Martian-American, I couldn't be more proud.

As we know, I'm usually behind the 8 ball because I don't keep up with Popular Shit. In an effort to fix that, and because I care about you, I want to bring you a new term: Stealthing. And I want to bring you its definition: a man removing his condom during sex. Yes, this is now a Thing.

• The latest payment card breach is brought to us by Chipotle. This is the firm that also brought e.coli to their burritos, so it would behoove them to get it right. They believe the breach took place between March 24 and April 18 and there is no more information provided. Chipotle has not enabled the chip on payment cards, claiming it will slow down lines.  I just ate there and have damn near full confidence in their ability to keep e.coli out of my food.

Google thinks my Ubuntu linux browser is Safari. To make things more interesting, it will not allow me to upload pictures.  It's all too much first thing in the morning.

• A headline from this morning: Murder victim's Fitbit contradicts husband's version of events.  We won't get into the article but check out the title... Fitbit data. The data collected by the woman's Fitbit. Remember: all of these devices collect your information. Even if you're not planning on murdering anybody, which I hope none of us are, be aware of this with any new program or device.

Hoo boy - Amazon's new Echo Look goes wherever you get dressed and will tell you if that outfit looks good (or makes you look fat). Amazon has confirmed this data will be stored 'indefinitely'.  Yes, you too can have Amazon in your bedroom - but it won't do 'that' for you.

• When we were young, we marveled at the thoughts of what technology would accomplish in our lifetime. It's 2017, we still have cancer, but damn, those Instagram filters are da bomb, no?

You're No Fun Anymore

The US Navy and Marines are cracking down on nude photo sharing. Yes, this can no longer go on without permission of the person photographed nude. Apparently this regulation makes it more illegal to post nudes, as it was already illegal under "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." Kinda like hate speech.

Which brings me to my next thought: do the armed forces only hire gentlemen? What about ladies? Do we want an armed forces that only hires gentlemen - or would it be like Britain, where they apologize for bombing countries? "Oh, terribly sorry... our planes seemed to have dropped bombs on your factories."

No, I don't want gentlemen - I want rude, crude, lewd, and bright fighters.

• When the lovely folks from AntiFa peacefully attacked Trump supporters with violence and bike locks, the Reddit Detective Squad went into action to identify the culprits.  What did they turn up?  Diablo Valley College and SFSU professor Eric Clanton.  From the site: His work in political philosophy also centers on mass incarceration and the prison system. Yes, a college professor assaulted 'the enemy' with heavy metal. I don't remember these classes in college....
• Rioting 101: how to dress. Will this face mask make me look fat? What is the correct shade of black for my skin? Dreads: are they right for me?
• Rioting 201: weapons. Bicycle locks, Hyundais, and small anvils. Demonstration by the Acme Weapons Company.
• Rioting 302: when caught, how to blame Trump for your actions, the weather, and how your free speech has been eroded by being prosecuted for assault. Releasing a statement to the press about how the whole thing has been caused by the White Male Patriarchy.
• Remember, California: all of this would not be possible without your tax dollars!

A 19 year old pair of McDonalds dipping sauces sold for more than 11,500 pounds on Ebay. My calculations put that figure at $47.533 grams but the article specifies $14,700. Believe whichever you choose. Say what you want about the economy, but someone has too much money.

• Berkeley campus on lockdown after loose pages from Wall Street Journal found on park bench.  Ok, this is from The Onion, but it's not far from reality.

In today's Internet of Things news, there is an internet-connected juicer. No, really. It has a brand new feature, in that it doesn't work when the internet is down.

• The local Fox morning show, a favorite target of ThermionicEmissions, features a local kid playing hackeysack. The show is never short of useful information.

In Marshall news, he's headed to the surgeon for his (hopefully) last post-op visit. He gets his Cone of Shame removed, which should make things easier on him and his parents. It didn't take him long to get used to it, by which I mean walking around, smashing into things and knocking other things over, then circling back to do it again.

Now we have this thing I call The Doggie Dance, largely because I can't think of any other names at this moment.  Whenever he wants something, he whines. Unfortunately the same whine can mean "I want to go outside," "I'm hungry", or "I'm thirsty" and you have to try each of them to figure out what he wants.

Dog whines. I walk to door and ask if he wants to go outside. He stares at me and doesn't move. I sit down.

Dog whines. I walk to door and ask if he wants to go outside. Again, he stares at me. Again I sit down.

Dog whines impatiently.  Oh, it must be food. Fill bowl. Dog eats food. I sit down.

Dog whines and walks to door. Apparently he has to do things in a certain order. Doggie OCD? Don't ask me. And I'm not asking the vet, as we've already bought her a Mercedes and sent her entire family on a cruise to the Bahamas.

As I sit back down, Dog Barks and whines like he's being tortured. This means "I'm ready to come back inside."

By the time I'm temporarily sitting again, he's satisfied that he's caused the maximum amount of carnage and grief possible at the hour, he goes upstairs, bashes through the bedroom door, and has a nap on the bed. Who runs this house anyway?

• If you use LinkedIn and updated your iDevice app, you got a little surprise popup that asked you if you wanted to make your data available to nearby Bluetooth users, even when you're not using the app. This was a problem for anyone who watches what pops up, especially as this update was just a fix. LinkedIn, owned by a small firm called Microsoft, apologized immediately and is working on a fix. Because I want my phone to ping random strangers near me so I can talk to their owners of the joys of LinkedIn.

you are welcome to save this but do NOT tell anyone where it came from

Sensenbrenner - Half an Idiot

Wisconsin representative James Sensenbrenner Jr made some remarks at a town hall last week. When being questioned on collection of private data by ISPs, he stated "nobody's got to use the internet".

What kind of a genuine caveman (homonidus idiotus) are people electing to office? And do I really need to ask that question? Nobody's got to use the internet?

The reason he's only half an idiot is that the rest of what he said, which probably won't make much of a splash, is that the internet has worked fine all this time with no regulation, so he was hesitant to start now. Very libertarian of you.

• Two time olympic medalist James Cracknell states that North Korea is one of only two countries in the world that has "a handle on obesity."  You say handle on obesity, I say starving.

It's that time of the year... the time around April 19, when we celebrate Waco and the FBI building bombing, as well as Philly's own MOVE demolition. Always a happy time (and time for reflection on how these happened).

• If you happen to be visiting a certain African village, and who among us hasn't, you'll need to be aware of the gay baboon, who raped five men. Strangely, the African Tourist Board reports increased tourism.

A team has made a solar-powered device that can produce drinking water out of air, even in desert climates. Or they could just come to Philly, where the air is so humid, paper goes limp with moisture some days.

• Two vulnerabilities were discovered and patched in Bosch's auto dongle and smartphone app that allowed researchers to shut off the engine of a vehicle. Via Bluetooth. Why? Because the designers didn't think to allow only diagnostic messages travel around the car.  This kind of forethought will serve us well, provided we don't we don't use it. Oh yeah, and provided it's not installed in our cars. Houses. Refrigerators....

Throughout the years, there have been many complaints leading to jokes on Bose products, especially in the professional sound industries.  Their alleged hifi speakers and direct/reflecting technology had to be pushed through a ton of signal processing to make it work: this is not good for fidelity. Now we have $350 Bose headphones.  One consumer bought a pair and fell for the claim that they'd get the most out of their headphones by downloading an app. You  know, because phone apps make headphones sound better. Oh yes, you needed to provide your name, email address, and headphone serial number.  In exchange for this data, Bose would allegedly take your information, along with the songlist, and give it to a marketing company. As one would expect, there is a lawsuit.

• Venezuela has seized the General Motors plant. That should do wonders for their economy and international relations. Fortunately for Venezuela, it did not seize any US oil-producing concerns (or things could go spectacularly bad for them - see Iraq).

Ted Nugent, Sarah Palin and Kid Rock visited the White House.

I have to admit that the republican wingnuts are slightly more amusing than the democratic wingnuts. Frequently more attractive too.

You rang?

Are You Ready for This? nah

How to keep your passwords safe, from F-Secure. Good tips here.

• The results of a survey on Americans' feelings about ISPs sharing their data without consent are in: they overwhelmingly don't like it.  Every now and then I fall into the majority.  Also, Americans don't like to swim in a moat with piranha.

Heh heh... Burger King, home of the absolutely creepiest mascot ever, is now running a commercial that intentionally sets off voice assistants. It's bad enough that Amazon and Google are listening to your conversations - now the ad people are having some fun with them. Makes me want to run out and buy a few. In my semi-professional opinion, don't. I'll bet that comes as a surprise to you.

• Our condolences to the Murphy family on the death of Charlie Murphy. Charlie was Eddie's brother, in the comedy business for close to thirty years. He died from leukemia. Eddie Murphy had a brother who was in comedy and we had no idea. This will not change, as I will not start watching tv.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of turning the Wendy show off.

• I can't stress this enough: back up your data. I don't even need to tell you why. The article mentions ways to do this, from an external hard drive to online services.  While I don't use online services, they may be the easiest way to protect your data. They can be set up to automatically back up to The Cloud, so there's no effort involved after setup. If you're going to back up to a hard drive, consider another hard drive or take the first hard drive and store it somewhere outside of your house, like a friend or relative's house or safety deposit box. Data is important - treat it as such.

Speaking of watching tv, I haven't abstained totally. Get your downloading shoes on and go get Kodi. Kodi is a perfectly legal media center, meaning it will host and play any sort of media you have (movies, tv, songs, etc). It is available on all platforms, including android and iPhone.  Once installed, you can add download repositories, from which you can watch tv shows, movies, and whatever else. You can watch some live tv, as well as on-demand. This is one of the ways people are cutting their cable tv bill or cutting cable altogether. There are plenty of guides as to how to install and customize the software, although installing is the same as installing any other program.  It is very light, not requiring a lot of storage or horsepower (I can run it on my phone).

Particularly recommended are Lucifer, Lethal Weapon, Chicago Medical, and Britcoms, such as Mrs Brown's Boys, Black Books, and Outnumbered. If you're looking for some ancient movie or tv show, odds are you will find it. I found several from my childhood (no jokes please). Mrs leftystrat found horror movies from waaaaaaay back, as well as some Grade Z recent movies and current runs. Enjoy.

• I think it is safe to say that morning is not my friend.

Marshall update: He's been sleeping downstairs, as climbing the steps is all but impossible with the Cone of Shame.  I decided to keep him occupied by sleeping on the couch (no marriage jokes, please). Two hours into this arrangement, he apparently decided it wasn't working out and went up the steps by himself. Alrighty then.

Heading to the bedroom, where the sleeping is always better, I found him, up on the bed, for the first time in quite a while! This was cause for quiet celebration. He slept the entire night touching me, with no meds. Robin's minstrel's cheered.

Meanwhile, the wife, who decided to keep him company downstairs, saw nothing of him. She was rewarded by not having to sleep next to either of us.

When morning came, he was on the couch, physically attached to me, in the way of anything I chose to do. Sounds like progress!

And his first followup visit with the surgeon went well. They said his recovery was better than they expected.

• It's Good Friday. This is closely followed by Great Saturday and Super Sunday. This is all leading up to a very important day: sales on candy. Or so I'm told.

Every now and then something comes along to make me re-evaluate how I view life; over the weekend I had one. I watched someone take a ride on a rather large two-wheeled conveyance. I am perfectly secure in vehicles, provided they have at least four wheels, so that wasn't an option for me, no matter how much the owner snickered after offering.

The lady returns from the ride and asks her friend if her eyelash is on - it might have blown off. STOP. Eylash? Oh c'mon... fake eyelashes are for pictures and porn. I don't often hear references to eyelashes literally going with the wind.  In the theoretical and mechanical sense, this is something to ponder. Let's add another variable: she has a newborn. I hear they're a handful. Bless her, she's raising a baby and still manages to put fake eyelashes on. I'll be honest, she looks great and no one can tell she had a baby, aside from the obvious.

Which brings me to another eyelash-related happening. My lovely wife sat next to me and subtly indicated I should notice something. When I say subtly, I mean she pointed at her eye and fluttered it like some sort of REM sleep disorder disaster. I knew this was going to be do-or-die, in the marital sense of the word, so I looked closely. Yes, she had applied a false eyelash. And yes, it was visible. And yes, it looked good. And when I say good, I mean it unconditionally. And when I say unconditionally, I mean that the half that adhered to her eyelid produced a most flattering effect. The other half, however, tended to wander between the air and her glasses.

• I got a notice from Google that a suspicious device had tried to access my account over the past few days. I urge you - if you ever get this notice, please check it out and track down the offending device if it's yours. 
• Unfortunately, this process will require me to remember where I was at that time. I do not, by any means, live in a drunken stupor that causes me to suspect I've been places I do not remember... I just have the recall of a pregnant gnat (as well the attention span of an infant, on good days)..

I don't want to say the sex was loud, but afterwards, the neighbors gathered outside...

(X)Ubuntu 17.04 Review

It works.*




























*STANDARD DISCLAIMER
I always hear about this or that Great Visual Improvement and Experience. I really don't care.  My 'experience' is so customized, I don't notice 'improvements'.

Having said that, it took about 20 minutes to upgrade, much like the original install. It was flawless. The only way I knew it was different was that a taskbar had a slightly different font. There's a new wallpaper (YIPPIE!). Of course, I might not be the one to judge - look at this damn blog.

It works. Might even be faster. Seamless.
I love Xubuntu.

Nod if You're Asleep

The Wichita State University student government refused to recognize a libertarian student group because of their First Amendment advocacy. Let me repeat this in a typed squeaky voice: the student government won't recognize a group because it believes in free speech, as specified in the Constitution. Them words is hurtful.

• This just in, from a doctoral candidate: "Science is historically and inextricably linked to European colonialism and white (male) supremacy." Yes, this fellow may get a PhD for saying science is a white male construct. Let's gather our torches and head out to the stoning!

The local Fox morning show is doing a segment on Mommy Guilt, when going on vacation without your infant. "You came this close to not going."

Wow. The guilt and shame. Because our moms actually stayed home after they gave birth.  The lady was nursing. Just to make things more ridiculous, they had a 'professional' on, explaining why this was a good idea. 

• United Airlines had yet another public relations nightmare the other day, when they overbooked and had to ask for a volunteer to give up a seat. No one volunteered and they literally dragged a passenger out of his seat, bloody from hitting his head on an armrest. United also destroyed a guitar in its case and got famous for turning down a woman for wearing leggings. To be fair, the Leggings Lady was flying on what's called a buddy pass, and is subject to a dress code, in which leggings don't exist. 
• United's PR department is either working overtime, of which there is absolutely no evidence, or exists as some sort of bizarre performance art (more likely). I know people at United. They're visiting doctors from injuries sustained in massive, repeated head-shaking incidents.
• Social Media is delivering a scathing response to this, one in the form of New United Slogans. Here are mine:
• Fly United - Get Carried Away
• Fly the Extremely Unfriendly Skies
• Get up, stand up. Don't put up a fight
• You Should Probably Do What You're Told
• New United fare bonus: 10% off to anywhere if you promise not to take video of anything that might happen
• I would personally like to thank United for this endless bounty

I was just advised that Stations of the Cross is NOT HBO and Discovery

• There is some research (abstract available, pay to download) suggesting that atheists/agnostics are more likely to believe in extraterrestrial intelligence. Interestingly enough, the pope is not a religious man.

If you use Adobe Flash and/or Acrobat, be sure to update or allow the update. It fixes 56 critical issues. On Windows, I replace Acrobat with the free ....

I noticed that after a certain age, I started to have trouble with objects of a sentence. I'd think to myself, "Gee, Self, you should talk about that software called Zanzibar. Ok, cool. Readers, you need to use this software... it's called ... ummm..." SHIT. It was just in my head. What the hell happened to it? It begins with a Z and I can see the opening screen in my head. ($&U#@

• Marshall the cocker is home after his ear surgery. We're so happy to have him back, along with Even More Medicine to give him.  This operation must be really painful, as he's crying a lot.... this absolutely kills us. We're keeping him stuffed with pain pills and hoping for the best.
• He came back with the Cone of Shame, which is a large lampshade-looking plastic thing that fits over his head so he doesn't chew or wreck the stitches or surgery area. Sadly, it looks funny. The real problem, aside from him banging into everything, is that feeding him is a geometric nightmare. His natural response is to pull up and away from the food when you present it. Everything needs to be at just the right angle for him to eat it. This is less of a problem with solid things like meatballs. He's very good with meatballs, in which we hide his meds. He has, however, sworn off dog food. Giving him a drink is even more difficult. He cannot simply use his normal bowls.

The need to give Marshall meds also means the wife sitting up with him a lot. Last night must've been something, as I slept alone.  When I got up, due to a lively wife plopping herself onto the bed and explaining things to an inert me that didn't need to be explained while I was sleeping, there appeared a breakfast pastry. I don't remember eating these, as they're absolute junk, but I was assured by a junior member inside that I used to eat them all the time. Ok then.

Thirsty after the iced cinnamon roll, I went to the fridge, which had become stocked with watered-down lemonade and chocolate milk from the convenience store. Opening the freezer, I beheld three Ben and Jerry's bizarrely-flavored ice creams, one without a lid.

Yes, this is what happens when the internal children go shopping at some weird hour of the morning.  It's a good thing heavy machinery rental places are not open overnight, as there would be a Caterpillar on the front lawn. With a Barbie flag attached to it.

UPDATE: some of that ice cream is delicious, especially for breakfast, to wash down that frosted pastry. We all tested them in detail, to make sure none of them was bad or poisonous.

Know what's really, truly sad? When a frosted treat's frosting sticks to the wrapping. It's 2017, people... can't Modern Science<tm> do something about this?

• Just when I think the US has gone completely mad, the UK steps in, having gone madder. The fun starts over a clothing ad, featuring a skinny model. This prompts a complaint. The complaint goes to an advertising watchdog. The advertising watchdog reviews, then clears the ad. Not that we don't have all sorts of groups with agendas, but...

Basil Fawlty - Fawlty Towers

I'm Gagging I'm Gagging I'm Gagging for You

Let's start with Internet of Things right out of the gate!
A guy buys a remote control garage opener. Unfortunately he has a brain aneurysm and gets an IoT garage opener. He isn't satisfied with it and gives it a bad review on the net. The head of the opener company bricks his account, so now the garage door does not open.

PRO TIP: avoid IoT toilets.

• Our good friends at Microsoft have finally released what information Windows 10 collects from you and will allow more specific choices. Not mentioned are the back doors and NSA access.

A Kanye West album has gone platinum.

Why?

• Some enterprising soul has put up a GoFundMe page to help purchase a $15,000 engagement ring for his girlfriend. I suppose I need to recategorize my charitable giving from cancer patients to this poor soul, who can't afford a house-size rock.

Here's an informed view on ISP data privacy from the head of the FCC. Notable is that the Mainstream Media Washington Post did not use this as an excuse to skewer Trump.

• I made it just a few items before returning to the Internet of Things, plus this is a whopper!  The particular device in question is the Siime Eye Sex Toy. For the sake of science, it's a vibrator with a camera, so you can share whatever you like with whomever you like (tactful, no?). You transmit the video over wifi, of course. Here's where the fun starts: if someone happens to be near your home, they can intercept the wifi signal. The credentials are hard-coded (admin, password=blank); this is horrible.  Hijacked feeds are already showing up online (no, I don't have the urls). Once someone hacks in, they have full access and the ability to own the device. The organization that did the penetration testing reached out to the manufacturer three times, starting in December 2016, with no response. Buy one and share your parts with the whole world!

Break out the party hats and squeaky devices - we bombed Syria!  It's been so sad lately for arms manufacturers and now it's Christmastime! We wouldn't want Grumman to go away hungry, would we? Fire up the bombs, ship the bombers, open up the long-range video so everyone can watch the 'targeted' bombs drop - Let's Roll! 

The president who campaigned on America First has bombed another country, in the fine tradition of other recent presidents.  President Trump, we're very disappointed in you, after we specifically stated we didn't vote for you but we were going to wait and see, giving you a chance to walk the walk. Instead you used National Security to bomb a country that allegedly poison gassed its own citizens. Aren't there other countries, perhaps closer and more affected, who could lead this nightmare? Exactly what part of our national security does Syria affect?

• Now that we've gotten the IoT sex toy dealt with, some person is locating insecure IoT devices from the internet and disabling them. The problem here, if there is one, is do we qualify this person as a vigilante, do-gooder, terrorist, or used car salesman? This software is called BrickerBot, because it bricks the device (renders is as functional as a brick). As amusing and ironic as this is, it's not really going to be helpful: while your device will no longer spy on you, it also won't work.

They say everything's bigger in Texas, including the hacks. Someone got access to the emergency alarm sirens in Dallas. Do you have any idea what 156 emergency alarms sound like for 90 minutes? Apparently Dallas does. 

This is just emergency sirens. Let me throw a few words at you and you can think on them: electrical grid, train signals/controls, utility plants...

• PANIC: by the time you read this, extended support for Windows Vista will have ended.

The United Airlines Public Relations Machine is in high gear. Again.

They overbooked a flight. This is legal and industry practice (our first question). They needed volunteers to give up their seats before the plane could take off. Oops, no volunteer. Oops, someone got volunteered. Apparently he didn't want to go, resulting in Security dragging him off the plane, with a nice bruise from his head hitting the arm rest. The man was identified as a doctor, headed home to work. As one would expect, many videos were taken by passengers. "United apologizes for overbooking."

• Marshall's progress: today we took him for surgery. The price was outrageous and they wanted it up front or there would be no surgery. The pet credit cards were virtually worthless. At least we'll eat until I get paid again and at least Marshall will be ok. That's an order.
• The financial considerations were conducted right out in the open.
• This is for one ear. A second surgery may be required.
• Two previous ultrasounds were unviewable by the surgeon, requiring a third.
• The #*@&ing original vet cost us an unbelievable amount and prolonged this issue. The second vet, same practice, sent us directly for surgery. We were played because we're not veterinarians. A few pounds of flesh are in order.
• Marshall will need to stay overnight, due to the seriousness of the surgery. Poor guy.
• Please think good thoughts for him.

It's Thursday and You Know What That Means

it means that it's probably Monday and I just picked a random day to put in the title.


My boobies lie over the ocean
My boobies lie over the sea
My boobies lie over the ocean
Bring back my boobies to me

And thus ends the Culture portion of today's blog.

• Researchers made public an issue with a version of Microsoft Web Server, complete with their small proof of concept (how-to). The flaw has been exploited since July or August 2016 but there's no real issue, because the version of Internet Information Services (6.0) belongs to a version of Windows Server (2003) that has passed its end of support date of July 2015. No problem, right? Problem.
• We all know I can't stand Microsoft and welcome any opportunity to take a shot at them. Guess what.... I stand firmly behind them (I probably should have told you to sit down before reading that.. sorry).
• Microsoft is pretty good about supporting their software, stating exactly when end of life is. Microsoft stated that Windows Server 2003's end of life was July 2015 and stated this a long time before 2015. As a result, there was not and will not be a patch available for this.  A vulnerability search engine estimates over 600,000 instances of Server 2003 still running on the internet, of which approximately ten percent are vulnerable.
• Why did this happen? Because of idiots. Yes, the world is full of them, but these particular idiots are downright dangerous. It could be laziness, it could be fright, it could be resources (linux is free, people, and the internet runs on it), it could be that people don't care. Worse still, it could be a situation where an IT department is screaming for an upgrade and another department won't allow it because their crappy software won't work on the updated version of Windows Server.
• End of life was not a surprise. The date is for making certain you have the upgrade in place; not the date to COMMENCE PANIC! These are the people who are still running Windows XP on their desktop computers.

This is so mind-bogglingly stupid that I can't figure out whether it's a hoax or not. Search engine results come up negative but this person is a designer who does leggings. Have the feminists finally gone over the wall? Is this is definition of the internet phrase "I can't even"?

I mentioned that Congress is headed toward allowing ISPs to collect your personal data and sell it to others. Here's a very interesting article on how Minnesota is trying to counter this on the state level. It applies to any state and gives some history of how the Federal government has overridden it during Obama.

• I think they're messing with the speed limit signs around here (yes, lefty, put on the tinfoil hat again). Hear me out: there's one tiny burg where the speed limit is 25, and I was warned they weren't kidding. Revenue enhancement and strictly enforced. A block later, presumably the next burg, it went to 40. Yay, a reasonable speed! It has been 40 forever. And then last week, it was suddenly 35. Now I can clearly tell the difference between a 40mph sign and a 35mph sign and I haven't slipped into an alternate universe, where it was always 35. More revenue enhancement?  Closer to my neighborhood, we got red light cameras. Within the next week, I expect new traffic lights, moved traffic lights, changed speed limits, and an even larger UFO hovering over work.

Marshall's ear surgery has been scheduled. Depending on how they proceed, it can run between $3k and $5.5k.  And we'll gladly pay because he's our dog, you know?  It turns out there are programs to help you pay, similar to credit cards.

Congress, ISPs, and Your Privacy

I'll be honest.. I haven't really studied the terms of the legislation allowing Internet Service Providers to collect your browsing data and sell it. I suspect the main thrust of the law is not data collection but I have other stuff to do, like type shit for this blog.

IF your ISP is allowed to keep and sell your data, rest assured it will. First suggested step is to call and ask them. Also tell them you don't want it done - perhaps there's an opt-out. At least you've registered your view. Call Congress and tell them no, this is not acceptable.

The fun part comes right after the above. If your response to data collection is "I've got nothing to hide - let them steal my data," you should probably read a different blog. Privacy aside, your provider is making money selling YOUR history. Then there's privacy.. no one really needs to know where you go and what you do, regardless of whether it's private, embarrassing, or not. If you don't do something, data collection will become the norm (almost like it is now, except it's not the providers collecting it).

There are three things we'll discuss to help keep your privacy: HTTPS, Tor, and VPN.

HTTPS is a secure internet connection. It shows up as a lock or something similar in the browser, by the address (URL) up top. Banks and credit card and retail sites use this by default. You should also use this by default. There are many browser add-ons/extensions that will make HTTPS your default. HTTPS Everywhere is very popular and available for most, if not all browsers. Best of all, it's completely free. Some browsers also default to HTTPS.

TOR is a network through which you can travel anonymously. It is also the gateway to The Dark Net, where you can buy stuff that is illegal and/or immoral, which I strongly recommend against. You can go through TOR to get to somewhere else, anonymizing your traffic. The TOR browser runs on all operating systems, including phones. It is based upon Firefox, so it will look familiar. Nothing appears different, although there will be a speed penalty. I would not watch video through it.

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. It can be a free or paid service, generally paid. You install the software or settings, which magically allows you to browse through a machine that isn't yours, keeping your data free from prying eyes.


HOW DOES IT WORK?

Glad you asked.
We're not going to get too technical, as a service to you and to me, so I can type less.

With HTTP, your ISP (or pretty much anyone) can see where you're going and what you're doing. This is because the data is unencrypted.

HTTPS encrypts the connection, so your ISP can see where you're going but not what you're doing.

With TOR, your ISP will see you're going to an IP address called a TOR entrance node. The connection is encrypted so it can't see the data. Once in TOR, it cannot be traced. **When I say it cannot be traced, I mean nothing is perfect and it is fine to use it for general anonymity. The FBI has already developed attacks for TOR and has arrested Dark Web marketeers. There is also a fair probability the government owns some TOR entrance and exit nodes. Stay paranoid - it's your best weapon.

For privacy, the best thing going would be a VPN. All your traffic goes to the VPN site, through which you browse. The only thing the ISP can see is that you're going to the VPN site. They cannot see what you're doing and that's the last thing they can see. All browsing runs on the VPN server, so it's encrypted and cannot be traced (by your ISP).  **When I say cannot be traced, there are a few ways it can be traced, by law enforcement, after the fact. All VPNs will tell you they're 100% anonymous, including allowing you to pay by Bitcoin to protect anonymity. If you pay by credit card, you're already outed. Some VPNs maintain logs of all traffic. These logs can be subpoenaed and you're outed. Some VPNs don't keep logs - look for these. Also use a VPN that has a presence in a different country, especially if you're in the US. US VPNs are subject to US laws and you're outed. To your destination, you'll appear to be coming from a different country.

The decision is up to you.
Avoid HTTP - always use HTTPS.
TOR will let you surf anonymously at no cost.
A VPN is the least leaky solution and the preferred solution. There are articles with comparisons of VPNs, privacy-wise. Look them up. There are also browser extensions or add-ins that will make you appear to be coming from another country. These are fine for casual browsing but do drop hints as to where you are. They're better than nothing.

I hope this clarifies things. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. It is imperative that we maintain our privacy, regardless of content.

Spitting Out Your Pancreas

Just this past weekend, there was a Trump rally. The anti-Trump forces were out in number. One of them decided it would be a good idea to spray pepper spray in the eyes of the Trump supporters. Things backfired when the Trump supporters expressed their displeasure of this act and retaliated. The masked coward got what looked like a few black and blue marks, after which the police apprehended him.

Make no mistake, both sides had a right to be there. Assaulting people with pepper spray, or anything else, is not part of peaceful protest. This new assault tactic seems to fit with the the narrative that free speech is only for people who agree with them. Violence is justified against people who disagree.

• Just in case you missed this, I wanted to bring you a quote I just read: "A terrorist can kill many but blasphemy can hurt feelings of millions." So go out there today and make sure you hurt no feelings.

So you're working out like mad, but don't have the time or energy to keep track of your workouts? Now you can work yourself down to the store and get an Internet of Things Workout Glove! Don't you feel better knowing that your workout information will go up the chain to whoever makes the glove? Or after a while, someone will hack the glove, which will then force you to run down the street, barking like a chicken? 

• Behaving like the tired old caricature of Intrusive Government, the UK's Home Secretary has discovered that, in the recent terrorist attack, the terrorist may have used the encrypted messenger WhatsApp and said it's unacceptable that the government can't read these encrypted communications. Convenient, no? Using any old bad news to demand people give up liberties. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Patriot Act, anybody?  The good news is that it's not likely to happen (in this case). Study this and pay attention.. you'll recognize it next time it happens. The positive here is that experts are hitting back on the charge of 'aiding terrorists'.

The University of Regina brings 'Masculinity Confession Booth' to campus, where men will disclose their 'sins'. What will these women (and men) do when there are no functional penises left in the world?

• The UK's Daily Mail featured a picture of Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon on the cover in skirts, with the headline 'Never Mind Brexit, who won Legs-It?' The entire United States wishes to thank the UK for at least momentarily winning the Stupid News Award and taking heat off us.

Microsoft president Brad Smith is against handing over customer data to any government unless it is "legally compelled to." Not sure how this differs from any other software.  This from the company that built back doors into its software for itself and the NSA.

• Oxford University will be putting up more pictures of women to redress the balance from the university's walls being lined with pictures of "dead white males". Oxford: since our tuition is ten times normal, we need to be ten times more ridiculous.

Just the other day, ISIS extremists threw a man suspected of being gay off a building, then pelted his corpse with rocks. Because the non-extremists wouldn't have thrown rocks post-mortem.

• Krispy Kreme has decided to change its name in the UK to Krispy Creme because people have trouble pronouncing Krispy Kreme. I don't know about you but I believe our brothers and sisters in the UK are more than kapable of pronouncing "kreme." Krispy Kream/Creme states categorically that this is not an April Fool's joke. Nothing you say or do this weekend will have quite the import of this announcement.

A Spanish rapper, Valtonyc, is appealing a three-year jail sentence for his lyrics. As you know, ThermionicEmissions stands firmly on the side of freedom of speech, which apparently Spain does not. Further, ThermionicEmissions would rather Valtonyc be imprisoned for his taste in 'music'.

(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Marshall Update:

after interminable ear infections, surgical appointments, and one failed surgery, Marshall has seen his third doctor. His ear canals are calcified. I didn't even know this was possible and shudder to imagine it. He's in constant pain. The surgeon said leaving this alone will just keep him in pain that the meds will not adequately cover. So the recommendation is that they be removed. This will kill the pain and his hearing (whatever he has left). This is a lot to take in. It will also be a lot to pay. Surgeon says his other senses will take over and he is already starting to adapt to his hearing loss.

So if you have a moment, think some good thoughts for our 13-year-old furry child.  Thanks.

Sometimes you eat the pie and sometimes the pie eats you

All I Want for Christmas is Headache Relief

Mariah Carey is turning her song "All I Want for Christmas is You" into an animated movie with herself narrating. Because the world is crying out for it.  I know this because the local Fox morning show brought in yet another Yak Show Special Guest to tell us all about it.

Speaking of Hard Hitting News, Fox just aired their third segment on Flashy Nails with Sparkly Bits. This segment features a teaser, followed by two experts from a local nail salon applying these scandalous fake nails to the reporter's short and mangled nails. This is a breaking story that no doubt will involve international Special Reports every thirty minutes, with other networks gearing up their own coverage. When the story is beaten to death, which some will argue has already transpired, Mariah Carey will reportedly do a movie about it, with herself narrating.

• are you ready for the latest Big Controversy? A white man has been accused of Cultural Appropriation for painting a picture of a black man. I never studied sociology but this means something (aside from reaching Peak Stupidity).

A great feature of cell phones is the ability to install software and change things. For example, the standard Android keyboard and I do not get along. I installed a different one (after wading through hundreds of them, primarily concerned with emojis), with which I got on a little better. Here is where I start to blaspheme: I have a really good relationship with the keyboard on my work iDevice. While the thunder dies away, I have no idea why this is. It has tiny little keys, while I keep going larger with the Android keyboards.

Just for fun, I searched for an iDevice keyboard for Android. I installed the most popular one, which immediately started phoning home to China (I use No-Root Firewall, which tells me these things). This is what will happen to you if you install crappy software. Clue#1: subtle to hilarious English mistakes in the description. Check the privacy policy and whatever else is listed at the bottom of the software description. Also check reviews, making sure to look for English mistakes or obvious shills. Stick with popular software companies.

• In news guaranteed to amuse, The Turkish Hacking Family group claims to have access to over 300 million iCloud accounts and is threatening to remotely wipe this data unless Apple pays a ransom ($75,000 in crypto currency or $200,000 in iTunes gift cards). The deadline is April 7. Whether or not this threat is real, Apple is advising everyone to change their iCloud password and enable two-step authentication. This may or may not be the same group that is involved in The Fappening 2.0, exposing pictures of celebrities.

A Utah man was killed and his wife injured in the London Islamist terror attack. This won't go over well with the Brits but maybe it's time to arm... the police and other authorities aren't providing much cover here and ultimately it's up to a person to defend himself and his family. Something to think about..

I owe a heartfelt apology to the Swiss, who I accused of the London attack. Turns out it was a Muslim.

• I am a big fan of Android Forums. Lots of information and assistance for any android device. They just got hacked and a very small percentage of accounts lost a few bits of information - one report said it was forty. Guess who's one of the forty? Yup.

On the Stupid News File, after the obnoxious outside host kissed a camel, they ran a promo for a wedding dress show. One look at the lady in the dress said man. Yup, she's a transexual. Marrying another transexual. Hey, do what makes you happy, but the math here is staggering.  He has a full beard, meanwhile I can't grow hair on the top of my head.

• Just the other day, the Senate voted 50(R) to 48(D) to allow ISPs to sell your personal data. This is the headline but it's caught up in a different topic, namely letting regulations apply to all entities equally. Regardless, it's just your privacy. Early word is that the best way to prevent this is to use a VPN. Here's some info on how your information is collected.

If you're traveling from certain Muslim countries to the US/UK, you'll need to stow your laptop. In Serious Anti-Terrorism News, the US/UK have decided that you cannot use or carry your laptop to the US from certain countries. Authorities claim that this measure is not based on any intelligence. Well, it sure seems like a stupid measure to implement otherwise. And let's face it - it's going to be a problem regardless of where it goes boom. Security Theater.

• Two weeks after Failed Snowmageddon 2017, nobody has piled additional snow on my car. For this I am grateful. No local authorities have been involved but we have called in Cthulu to make a small statement to the (allegedly) adult miscreant neighbors.

Someone discovered a dishwasher with a web server. A web server. When it breaks or gets hacked (which it will), you have to get web server updates from a dishwasher company. What could possibly go wrong?  To be fair, this is an industrial machine for hospitals, which are fast becoming a rich target for hackers. This will not end well.

Antivirus company F-Secure released this list of most-used login/password combinations used to hack their honeypot (decoy for the purposes of collecting information) machines. Please don't use these.

• Good article on hack-proofing your smart phone. If you're lazy, you won't like this.

I'm in the middle of intensive training for this event!

Still Not Handling This Morning Thing Well

In case you were fretting that there had been no major hacks in the news lately, I've got you covered. A security expert warned Congress that DC's T-Mobile wireless network was hacked. The Department of Homeland Security was notified and would provide no further information.  This shows the dangers of using T-Mobile, living in DC, and talking to DHS.

• Check out this shelf of store-brand cereals. It was described as an old English army major, trying to find a euphemism for gay men.

The Super Sleuths of Edina, Minnesota's police department, are working a case of a (failed) fraudulent $28,500 wire transfer. So they went to court to get the Google searches of the entire city. The entire city. You're shaking your head - I can tell. It gets better: the judge granted it. It's bad enough that law hasn't caught up with the internet.. neither have the judges. And let's not tell them that Google isn't the only search engine. This is our future.

• President Trump released a requested budget. If you are alive, you've heard about it. One of the interesting parts is the cutoff of the National Endowment for the Arts. This is where the government gives a lot of money to artists to produce art. Already the arts community has weighed in, screaming that art will die without federal funding. This is complete doggie doo. The government has no business in the arts (or healthcare, but that's a different argument). People interested in art can pay for it, like buying music or going to the theater. This move not only saves tax money (for the armed forces, in this case), but it's downright libertarian.
• Another false argument, designed to cut off funding, is that the artists produce total crap. Well, yes, one can argue that Pisschrist is total crap (urine would be a more accurate description), but if art is to be funded, should there be a Taste Requirement? Isn't art subjective? I don't like what passes for art anyway. A Picasso line drawing of a hand holding flowers? Art?
• But then there's that part of the budget that cuts funds to Meals on Wheels...

If you have an internet-connected (Internet of Things!) security camera, CCTV equipment, or network recorders from AVTech, you're in deep doo-doo. It can be hacked, meaning it will be hacked. The manufacturer was alerted in October 2016 and has not responded. The servers used are located in South Korea.  There are no recommendations at the moment, although at least Trend Micro antivirus will detect it. If I had one of these devices, I'd pull it immediately.

• RIP Chuck Berry. Play on.

In other Hacking News, there's a Dark Web vendor selling three sets of five million Yahoo and Gmail accounts, complete with decrypted passwords.  They all seem to be from previous breaches of the systems.

• Next time you're in San Francisco, visit the famous Haight-Ashbury section and see the brand new Ashbury Tech. It's a computer store. No, it's a head shop. No, it's a computer store AND head shop! They were in the tobacco business for twenty three years and are expanding to computers. Hey, the price on that system seems a little high...

If you shop at Saks Fifth Avenue, there's a good chance your personal data was accidentally made public. The data was discovered on the store's website in plain text. You do NOT store ANYTHING in plain text, lest something stupid or malicious happen. So all of my readers who shop at Saks... sorry, I'll stop....

• The Fappening 2.0 is upon us. Remember the hack and leak of many celebrities' iDevices, turning loose all sorts of private, sometimes naked photos? They're at it again. Now that I have performed my important notification duties, I need to offer caution if you happen to be online and happen to accidentally click on a link to view these pictures. Don't. Many of the links are malware. Any link that asks you to install software to view pictures should set off red flags to begin with. At very least, hover over the links to see where they really go. Better yet, just don't.
• In the interest of Science and investigation, so I can offer warnings if there is a security risk, I have viewed some of these pictures. You can thank me later. There are indeed quite a few Emma Watson pictures. Before you hurt yourself, they consist entirely of her trying on bathing suit-like outfits. One Redditor commented that she looks much better in clothes and I'm forced to agree. 

Because cancer has been cured and world peace has broken out, we turn our attention to technical term scrubbing. The terms "blacklist" and "whitelist" are starting to cause a bit of a storm among groups who tend to cause a bit of a storm. So if you come across any Fascist Agent of Oppression, you can instruct them to use the terms "blocklist" and "safelist". My mind goes back [wayback music] to the days when hard drives were master and slave....

• I've discovered that my wife's pocketbook is like Dr. Who's Tardis: larger on the inside than the outside. link for people with too much time on their hands.

Welcome to the second day of spring. We're celebrating by digging the car out of the snow.

• The Internet of Things strikes again.  Got a Google Nest camera? You got a problem. Bluetooth, which is required to set the device up, cannot be turned off.  This means that anyone who can get within Bluetooth range can shut down the camera's recording capabilities for 60-90 seconds. You know, long enough for someone to slip by. They do not have access to video. Google was notified in October 2016 and promptly sprung into inaction. One of the issues is that you cannot turn Bluetooth off. As I mention (frequently), this is not going to be pretty.

An email from Wellesley professors states that controversial speakers "impose on the liberty of students" by "enabling the bullying of disempowered groups". This would explain why the students are the way they are. Safe Spaces for all! The right not to be offended! Real Life is going to be quite a shock for these snowflakes.

• Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams is in trouble. A long trail of 'gifts' has been uncovered, with Williams doing favors and corrupting justice. The criminality dates back to his first month in office. This once again puts Philthy on the national stage, once again in a negative light. The only thing more head-shaking than Philly Corruption is listening to Philly prosecutors pronounce the charges. Jag-wire? And a custom-made couch for four grand. You can buy a regular couch for four grand. Watch the Philly Follies on national news near you.

If you're using LastPass password keeper, there's a serious vulnerability.

• On the local Fox morning show, they brought in a special reporter for a two-part in-depth series on new flashy nails with shiny bits on them. Hard hitting coverage, from people who say q-pon.

Marshall the cocker continues his rounds to specialty veterinary practitioners in the area. For those following along at home, he had to see an Ear/Nose/Throat vet for a procedure to open up his small ear canals, due to constant infections, requiring constant medicines. This failed, due to a problem around anesthesia. Since the surgeon has no specialist for this, it's off to another specialist/hospital, continuing all of the expensive medicines. The second operation is scheduled. Meanwhile, it's difficult to get the oral meds into him because we have to put it into food and he will only eat people food for a few days before spitting it out. Poor Marshall never had a health problem until his cat died. It's like he's competing for highest vet bill with his deceased diabetic cat.