Face in crowd

 

I don't have anything to write about this headliner, the one with the enormous foundation. He's a scary guy, no doubt, something to do with the eyes.
The odd people in the background trying to look nonchalant are state security, CIA or bodyguards, in my head.
None of this photo, nothing I'm thinking about, is actually real, it's all appearance
and impressions.

But you want an example? 

OK.

No tourist anywhere would be without their guidebook and a place to put snacks, and a shopping bag of souvenirs and curios.

That man on the right pretending to look at something high up, is european-style state security.

The man in the left-rear is a bodyguard.

The *street* is trying real hard to look old fashioned.

But it's not a real street, it's part of some plaza.  

They can't promulgate a state-sponsored propaganda machine if everyone everywhere can say whatever they want (which isn't true, but it fits in the sentence.)

They *can't* say whatever they want without being flagged by zealous moderators on missions from god. (Or GOP, whatever)

But the moderators are protected by 230. 
They can't get sued.
Bring on the babies, the children, think of the children.

It's all fake.

rotd photo follows (nothing to see here)

(link)

A tons more relevant subject is no headline, but I saw it anyway (We're being hacked to death)

(Link)

IOT and infrastructure should not be online.
The inconvenience of course is, you couldn't start your car from a plane, nor let in the dog from your hotel.

But even that pales in comparison to water pipes and electrical transformers being controlled by the maintenance man in Aruba.

Yes, the man should have to drive through blinding snow to flip a switch or turn a valve, because if he doesn't do it, someone else surely will.
Are you getting me? Turn off, unplug, sensitive areas of the internet, but you won't.

(link)

My headlines today are about Taylor Swift and her boyfriend.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5a19a96e-1ada-45d6-ad8a-c7bae798a092?shareToken=ff66a0a9d37d8381c12dfbeef8eb72ba

*I* was hoping for a recent story where some user requests that a football star throw the game to give his old team some glory, but that might have been a different star and a different team.

But the BIGgie headlines say Kelce won't be at the Grammys to support his girlfriend, which is a little odd for a headline. OK nevermind, the conspiracy theories are bickering in my head.

I didn't understand this article but then I didn't understand my uncle's lectures during the 1964 campaign for Goldwater either.
My uncle was way worse than a Humana commercial.

---

The card they gave me to help pay otc drugs didn't work at all, not for a drug, not for an OTC product (baby powder.)

It's less than useless unless I mail away for stuff at their special %$#@ store.

They mean of course, that you can't get diddly except through them.

They have an app you use to scan barcodes. It accepted CVS sugar, but last week rejected Kroger sugar.
It's nice scanning stuff you already have, but stuff you have to brave driving-rain to scan isn't very nice at all.

CVS imodium-generic was accepted.

CVS Body-powder NOT accepted.

My syringes were free, no thanks to the card but the insulin was not eligible.

"Flushable wipes" weren't eligible but maybe it's not a preferred brand I have.
The next two products are marketing in action, how to get guys to use wipes:

water (or something)

 I don't really know why they wrote an article on Mars (this article)
But it seems to me, the way they carefully worded it, 
that an icy meteor or a watery comet could have crashed onto Mars long ago, leaving behind traces.
It's just a random thought, don't have cows.

One day way in the future someone somewhere will find machinery on Mars and wonder where it came from.....I'm only wondering about naturally occurring stuff like liquid (ammonia, etc)

---

OK I'm forced to listen to unintelligible songs in English or French.
The english songs are mostly mumbled...
But the French songs are clearly spoken if impossible to understand.
The demonic whispering that some of the players perform is probably nightly news through a filter...
I wondered about All the songs (what else am I supposed to do?)
and, sometimes I look them up.

I had in mind a mumbly-rant about spelling and why words are never spelled the way they sound.

"Longue" in French is spelled exactly like "Tongue" in english.
It's a PITA.

You could forgive the French for prettifying their language, but what's the English excuse?
(Tongue vs tung)

"Tung" wasn't good enough, there must have been a snob-off to add persnickety letters,
 tung-tunge-ton(!)gue(?)

So hundreds of years ago the english were Francophiles, the way the PBS people are Anglophiles today.

(maybe)

It's much more interesting learning why sandwiches are spelled that way, but not relevant at all to anything in the game.

Join Italics wha...?

 https://www.reddit.com/r/pointless_feud/?f=flair_name%3A%22Italic%20Propaganda%22

I didn't know you could handwrite in Italics, but OK.
Apparently cursive, according to a headline, is being mandated, and the knee-jerk reaction is sure to happen.
But I still don't really have a definition for "join Italics" unless it's a typo.

Pedants had a seminar on the subject

They don't quite explain "Join Italics" it's more, the history of italics alongside cursive.
It's mostly monks.

Round the ecru rock the ragged rascal ran.

Round the ecru rock the ragged rascal ran.

I kind of (ahem) I kind of doubt you see the above sample sentences the way I do, because you'd need the fonts.
If you're seeing lots of percent-signs and the text is like this, My experiment failed.

On the other hand (lol) if you scrawl with the wrong-hand using a mouse, you'll get an idea of the hell I went through in fourth grade trying to learn cursive.
Compared to a girl nearby my cursive was accursed.

On some test (cursive?) I forgot how to write the number "5", specifically the five's butt or lack thereof (when does my pencil stop?)
So, uhm, hmm. I'm absolutely terrible at cursive and my handwritten numbers

(2,8, etc) aren't much better.

You know, it's the traumatic memories that stick with you forever.

I'd LOVE to download a font https://www.fontspace.com/learning-curve-bv-font-f963 but I've been told truetype fonts are like going into bad areas of town and hoping you don't get robbed or shot.
Well, and I don't need cursive 364.5 days out of the year.

Pedanticism (or something, it's very very dense)
https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/more-states-require-schools-to-teach-cursive-writing-why/2023/11

So even though it's a legacy skill no longer necessary because AI can and does translate cursive historical documents, even though a majority of educators asked prefer keyboard skills over cursive writing being taught,
The upshot of the bombastic article seems to be that it discourages Danny Dunn from using a computer to do his homework (because no computer could possibly write in cursive, eg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teIbdi_H64g)

But I never answered my own question,

A requirement to teach CURSIVE or JOINed ITALIC??
I'd seriously like to see a course description for Join(ed) Italic.

It's a freakin' style of cursive, dammit...

Geez! you picky people.

(Link)

I always loved the cowboy hat that the Capital T in Cursive has, and the nice belt that Cursive Capital F has.

Italic Cursive is more austere, borne of monasticism (no hat.)
I think, you decide.

https://printpath.org/2021/10/23/the-advantages-of-teaching-italic-cursive/

the n looks like an m in cursive, and the m has cancer or something...
So I applaud "Italic Cursive," The End

Inscrutable "Windows Image Backup"

 I can't get an answer from the internet about windows image backup, which the program (on my windows 11) has a little label saying "Windows 7".

OK first off, um, wtf does backup have to do with "windows 7"?

Anyway, skipping to the heart of the matter:
I usually erase my portable hard drive and then start a new backup.
This has worked well in the past.
I am gambling *now* that windows is smart enough to erase older files it doesn't need on a disk with cramped space.
So instead of stopping a backup midstream, it would just, do some inscrutable thing (compare old files, erase old backups, whatever)

Today I was hoping for confirmation either way.

Well it started normal enough, telling me it backed up the EFI and then the C: drive.
But when it got to the D: drive, it just said, "Saving the backup." 
What?

I already knew you were doing a backup....

Anyway eventually it said the backup completed successfully.
Yeahbutt...is my "D:" drive current?
Or am I fooling myself into a false sense of security.

I checked the disk I backed up to, and it seemed to have a nice list of inscrutable files, dated today.

If, back in the stone age / dark ages they weren't brain-dead and unenlightened,

they would know to erase old back-up versions to free up room.

If the latest kid-wizzes at Microsoft aren't unschooled, they would know how to update a venerable program.

But that's a LOT of "if's."

And what, may I ask, is the new hotness?
OneDrive?
The headlines all say we've been assimilated into a broken-password database terabytes big.
So I don't trust and could not afford image backups to a cloud.

---

I want virtual supermarket shopping, please.
Like "Google maps street view" except for the aisles of a supermarket.
Instead of forcing you to have a list, you could browse the aisles.
I don't really know if this would catch on...*I* would love it, but how would it work, *How* would evil people corrupt its purpose to steer you towards their products?
Real aisles are crowded with boxes designed to make you slow down.
Virtual ones would doubtless have ads spamming you every few seconds.
Anyway I still think it could work.
You'd know to look for the bug-spray on aisle 3, the tater tots on the northwestern section of the enormous frozen food aisles (The frozen food aisles are growing, I swear)...

Long train of thought redacted (Alabama where a prisoner was executed, and another prisoner was freed for lack of evidence)

Made me eat my greasy tater tots and spend a lot more time online thinking about TV tropes in Alabama.
Meantime, I find that someone might actually be reading my blogs.
Remember "Meaux"?

Meaux-Green, Meaux Rocca, Meaux (the Lawn)??

An ad to go with the tooth implant ad.
I blog it, it becomes an ad.

The defunct Herald Examiner was less snooty than the Times, I'm told, but a permanent labor dispute (They would die before submitting to the union) 

killed the paper, and now a rich Asian guy owns the Times and is having Labor problems.
Whatcha wanna guess he'll dump a LOT of workers in favor of AI?

Whatever happens, I'm real sick of ads begging for money.

My body hates fried tater-tots, it raised holy blood-sugar hell.

Or maybe it's the philosophy that any enjoyable,

any tasty food,

Kills you.

Join the monks. Enjoy your beans (photo forthcoming)

https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1253297-things-filled-with-beans-that-shouldnt-be

-----

I'd love doing an opinionated rant no one would read, about marketing.

Please study this generic picture I never found the source of.

an older model dressed as a housewife, but with heavy eye-makeup.
Odd pose.

It's from a generic advice column about laundry (I think).
She is seriously posed, tho I don't know why.
Does her laundry stink?
What is her left hand supposed to be doing?

 

          The rant (this is no rant) would include real-life women with little eye makeup.
But the eyebrows are thick, like in the forties. IDK

I'd hate a washer that I'd have to kneel down on the dirty laundry-room floor to use......

Anyway you could argue that her hand and probably more has been edited.

As if she was originally resting on something (Her kid or a pet) and the photo looked too busy.
This by the way is not related to "AI marketing" but it should be,
only I can't in a sentence explain why Right now.

White Lady

 White Lady with too many teeth.
I wanna get an exact screenshot of the moment you know she's too toothy, 
And I also wanna explain the title.

But I can't.

Will this picture do?

If only big things in videogames looked as good in real life.
The Krat Soldier, and this lady. ("Laxasia")
Her name sounds like a plane ticket.

Big philosophical type question upcoming, force death on a good lady or force her to live and suffer? (Is this some plug for euthanasia?)
And while I'm on the subject, force Antonia to live longer or let her die naturally? (It's a question I have to answer in-game)

"of course"

Or is this just to make the killing and the puzzles less tedious? 
Too late.

As long as we're making stuff up, this photo from when Antonia was better, 
was retouched forever so I un-retouched what I could, not being an expert.
That whole "vignette" thing is stuck on forever, I'm afraid.
Maybe I can google a better version.

Being a millionaire several times over could have been YOUR dream come true, if you hadn't thrown away that old washer, victrola, 78 records....
Even your First Apple Computer could have been a goldmine...but noooooo
And so the next time you diss your hoarder relative, think about that. 
*I* think about the endless pile of crap I cannot throw away legally (and no, I'm not talking about mattress tags)
I got relatives saving the wrong stuff, or dead ones who let stuff rot or burn in a fire.
Wanna be depressed? watch PBS and any "Antiques roadshow"

*I* replay forever to avoid the dreaded "Stewpid puppet" epithet.
  (And I'm poor and my internet couldn't handle any downloads)
I know it exists, I got "I'm sorry" once, but then I regressed.

 This next set of pics is way harder to explain, so I won't.

People totally make stuff up, like the sequels following my game.

Paracelsus is supposed to be this big reveal, if you'll only read a ton of books and predict what the CEO of (https://gamerant.com/lies-of-p-ending-connected-universe-dark-fairy-tales-paracelsus-dorothy/ will do. 
I'm hoping for a "Control" sequel, and then I remember that reinstalling would break my internet, so nevermind.

While eating my mostly unchewed bits of beef, I wondered about the real estate agent for "The Amityville Horror" house.
Would the agent (for example) say that the house had plumbing problems?

As far as sequels go, the house (not this game) had many movie sequels. 
It follows that the game might have sequels too.

The director's edition
The GOTY edition
The Ultimate-remastered edition.

Whatever the reason (I would not know), Google Newsweek and NBC like Trump, I think maybe it's because he draws money like Flies.

A Biased opinion on Newsweek, on Googles "Top News".
Mark Davis is a syndicated talk show host (red-flag)
On Salem (something) Media 
See next Pic

Now tell me Newsweek / Google aren't biased.
(OK I wouldn't go to court with this flimsy evidence, but "if the shoe fits".)
If it quacks, walks etc like a duck (o nvm)

---

I'm torn between jotting down notes about most of the trains of thought that last more than a few seconds...and using tact, decorum.
Tact for whom? The lady shouting "God Bless Donald Trump" was a coincidence (right?)
As far as I know, only I and a few inquisitive people read all this, and the entries are entertaining on long winters' nights (Or they get deleted.)

Anyway, the pointlessness of solitaire (which already has a very depressing name)

∞ + 1

There are a few user forums saying mostly the same thing, that once you reach a certain level it doesn't matter anymore.

"Level 2418, grandmaster 384" makes me think of hospitals, homes and mostly paralyzed people tired of Jeopardy.
But that might not be true, but it's in my head anyway.

By comparison, I'm around grandmaster-50.

384-50 is several years of levels away, (uh) 334 levels.

And on that note, climbing a cliff and fighting monsters inches away from instant death, netted me one more vinyl record!! (They aren't really vinyl, they must be Bakelite Shellac or something, but no one says "Bakelite shellac record"
And LP's hadn't been invented yet.

Hard to brag about nameless round tortilla-looking things

The ultimate weapon in my arsenal is a really big stick, to go with the whole "Speak softly and carry a big stick" saying of that time.

Unfortunately I have no game on a Wishlist, whatever I buy might be worse than "Lies" or "solitaire."

I consider the commercials for the game, then get a headache and do Eeny meeny miny Mo

RIP 3.1 gen 2

 USB4 has been upgraded to USB4 2.0, meaning essentially that the speed went from 40Gb/s to 80Gb/s, but 

The 2.0 does not appear to exist yet.
IDK (if you've got a bug up your butt about being USB current-trendy, abandon all hope)
and the motherboards (my god, the AMD motherboards!) would have to struggle keeping up. It's a marketing point for the latest Intel.
But I found a 4.0 gen 1

Actually, strike that, "Thunderbolt" and USB 4 are running neck-and-neck in a race.
In theory MSI has a USB 4 card, but it was a demo, I think.

If the text here looks serious, it isn't, I just write badly.
USB C blah Gen yada
Inscrutable names for an ever changing product.
Plus I'm missing the link for usb 4 80gb/s, this will get changed.

uh, hmm https://egpu.io/forums/thunderbolt-enclosures/does-anyone-actually-make-a-usb4-pcie-host-adapter/

(Link)

I'm on a metered connection which is running on fumes even with updates paused.

But (to my mind) the latest betas are useless anyway.

And if you had this tech, and a hacker coming through your ceiling to steal your NOC-list, wouldn't this make it easier?
You (referring to the movie) wouldn't have to burn a CD, you'd just jam your stick into a slot and soak up terabytes of data in less than a minute, unless the company making the stuff makes a key for the port.

I *think* I have something like that (the key) but I never fooled with it much, It's the kind of thing you don't touch for fear of locking out your system to yourself.

My drive does 2Gb, less than 40, much less than 80
I don't think they make a device yet that I could afford, coming close to a decent speed.

note:

Track A, front of train, next to clock, is a doorway that eventually leads outside.

(how I get to "track A front" is unclear)
The weasel-girl is the clue (you're almost there)

Big teeth

 I don't want big teeth, and I took out a loan to get some teeth.

The train of thought comes from Kanye West's $850,000.00 new teeth.

*My* teeth by comparison are the 99c store variety.
I hope I can eat with them.

Ya gotta unnerstand, I don't really care how they look (unless they're too big)
And teens at McDonalds wanna launch investigations into why a person removes their dentures to eat a fucking hamburger. 
Fixed-teeth would be easier to chew with, but (although in theory they're covered) they'd cost more than I could borrow.

Anyway, 

Here's what y'all think is trendy as hell

(Toothy)

If you can see that picture, I wonder if they can be removed, like tooth-whiteners.

Kanye is way more classy, from what I can see. One long sharp tooth.

Ad-tracking or Trendy coincidence?

The Weather channel

 https://weather.com/en-IN/india/coronavirus/news/2024-01-18-chinese-researchers-identified-sars-cov-2-weeks-before-official

It's the weather channel.
They talk mostly about weather.
So wtf?

Put another way, this all happened in 2019, and it's campaign-2024 already.
It's grist for some political agenda.

But I doubt scientists anywhere have much sway over what politicians read and take seriously. They were studying a virus in a lab, so they knew it existed, but the story is very vague about where the virus came from, another country two years before 2019?
I'm thinking what's written is so damn vague it could be anyone's political football.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/chinese-scientists-mapped-coronavirus-two-weeks-before-outbreak-in-2019/news-story/6460e099c466cbc36c99d8fcad0b3b24

What'sa "Pangolin"? OK nvm

a simple "yes" would have been nice

The labs worldwide carrying different pestilences makes you wonder ... about labs

A googled "for example"

Watch a movie / read a novel and the subject comes up.

Not exactly a news bombshell.
(♫"someone wants more money"♫)