Signal Wave

rf-signal-wave-hi.png

Good morning to all!

What I'm listening to right now:

It probably reflects my feelings about our political situation, except that in Emerson Lake & Palmer's case the show is supposed to be FUN.

Something I'm interested in right now: YouTube has gotten completely borked. About two and a half weeks ago, YouTube shut down across the board. That had never happened before. Since then, there has been a 30-40% dip in views on YouTube. Markiplier, who makes massive amounts of money as a Youtuber, discusses it here:

According to him, GooglePlus is the culprit. It is deeply embedded in YouTube and many other things, it's a huge piece of software, and he thinks it's breaking things (like functions of YouTube). This is having a severe effect on small and medium-sized content creators and their channels. He also calls out YouTube/Google on the way they view their content creators. Everyone should be concerned about this, since YouTube is one of the few places people can still push their own ideas and get them in front of thousands of people.

A lot of my favorite content creators are getting hit by this. I may start highlighting them in this OT, just to give them a little love.

Here's a new mystery author my mom turned me on to. Canada seems to be producing more than its share of detective fiction, or perhaps I'm just running into a great deal of fiction from the true North strong and free.

glass coffin.jpg

This is a book by Gail Bowen, and I think it's pretty far along in her Joanne Kilbourn series. I liked it, but not a lot. I will say it kept me guessing, and it was quite a surprise who the killer was, and why.

The premise of it is quite disturbing; one of the characters obsessively films his first wife, his second wife, and his daughter, basing his considerable success as a filmmaker on movies derived from that footage. It's particularly creepy in the case of the daughter, who was thus filmed literally from the moment of her birth, and followed around constantly with a camera ever since.

I'm not gonna give any spoilers, but it was an interesting resolution.

How are y'all today?

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Lookout's picture

...of course youtube=google=Alphabet

In August 2015, Google split up and became multiple subsidiary companies, including one called Google. Alphabet became the holding company that owned them all....

Google is the largest subsidiary of Alphabet. Google now mostly contains the search engine and apps most commonly associated with Google. Those include Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, and AdSense. Google also owns Android and the Android-related services, like Google Play.

https://www.lifewire.com/understanding-google-and-alphabet-4116085

Many folks like Jimmy Dore are being sidelined and demonetized by youtube. They collect vast amounts of info on you as you watch and target ads in that way. None the less I watch many things on their platform.

Anybody use Steemit https://steemit.com/ ? it is blockchain supported independent media. Seems interesting although I'm not involved.

Thanks for the OT and hope you all have a good day.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Lookout @Lookout Hey, Lookout.

For those of us who don't have our livelihoods dependent on YouTube, alternative platforms would be welcome. And yeah, I doubt I'm going to stop using Google anytime soon. I tried DuckDuckGo and found it installed malware on my computer...at least that's where my boyfriend thought the malware came from. I am, alas, not so smart when it comes to digital matters. Wish I could go back in time and tell my ten-year-old self she needed to focus on learning digital technology and making money, rather than on the humanities and social sciences. I'd have had a lot more power to protect the things I love if I'd played the game of the ascendant power-mongers for a while.

EDIT: Which is not to say that everyone who's good at digital tech is a power-monger.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

The Aspie Corner's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal These days, Flawer'Duh companies want a drivers' license, a bachelor's degree and several years experience before anyone will even speak with you for an entry level position, and even then it's nowhere near guaranteed, especially when disabilities are involved.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@The Aspie Corner @The Aspie Corner True, but I was actually thinking about using that knowledge to build digital infrastructure. Anyway, I was a teenager in the 80s, and it was still possible to climb the corporate ladder to one's personal advantage back then. Not that it was in any way fair, or a meritocracy, or that people didn't get screwed back then. It was just possible to get somewhere, climb up to a position of power in some company, invest one's money and get something other than screwed. As a Gen-Xer, I was late to the party--it wasn't like being a teenager in the forties, fifties, sixties, or even seventies--but not so late that it was impossible to "make it."

Being who I was, my views were more along these lines:

These sentiments can make sense within the context of a functioning civilization. They don't make much sense under current circumstances.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

enhydra lutris's picture

more about Google+ all I know,or think I know is that it is/was some facebook clone type thingie and maybe a skype type thingie. I think I joined at some point to try to use it as a VOIP tool before deciding that it was waaay too much hassle and I'd just stick to the phone (I'm not big on video conferencing anyway and still haven't got a web cam, and probably will only get one to watch the wildlife in the back yard). At any rate, one has to wonder how all pervasive it really is and what killing it, if they re actually doing so, will do.

At any rate, have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@enhydra lutris I hope they don't succeed in killing it altogether. Some good stuff, and good people, on YouTube. It's pretty much the only one of the big social media engines I use.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

enhydra lutris's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
in itself, might be more trouble than it is worth to them, but who knows.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@enhydra lutris Well. They obviously wouldn't destroy YouTube on purpose, but they might destroy it for the small fry (and medium-sized fry). Of course, subscriber numbers themselves are not always authentic, in the sense that you can actually buy fake subscribers, apparently, to buff your numbers on YouTube.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

magiamma's picture

Blooding the hounds? Violence is being encouraged imho? How to stop this from becoming the norm?

Authorities on Sunday identified the 11 victims of a shooting rampage at a Pittsburgh synagogue in which a man armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle and three handguns shot into a morning worship service in the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in the United States in decades.

The names of the victims, as released by the office of the Allegheny County medical examiner, including the neighborhoods of Pittsburgh in which they resided:

• Joyce Fienberg, 75, of Oakland

• Richard Gottfried, 65, of Ross Township, Pa.

• Rose Mallinger, 97, of Squirrel Hill

• Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, of Edgewood Borough, Pa.

• Cecil Rosenthal, 59, of Squirrel Hill

• David Rosenthal, 54, of Squirrel Hill

• Bernice Simon, 84, of Wilkinsburg, Pa.

• Sylvan Simon, 86, of Wilkinsburg, Pa.

• Daniel Stein, 71, of Squirrel Hill

• Melvin Wax, 88, of Squirrel Hill

• Irving Younger, 69, of Mt. Washington

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@magiamma @magiamma Poor Josh. Three of those people are from his neighborhood. I'd better call him.

Make that five.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@magiamma By the way, magiamma, I quoted you in my sig without permission; I'm righting that situation now by asking if it's OK. Sorry 2 Sorry 2 Sorry 2

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

magiamma's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
Belly laugh. I saw that and did a double take actually. But what is really odd is that what I said and what I intended to say are different due to a *typo*.

But I like the implication of the typo... What I meant to type was until -they- melt not until -the- melt.

But seriously, I think the typo was prescient. Things are melting very very quickly. Really disturbing. I read this stuff pretty much every day, for hours, hunting and learning more, maybe than I ever wanted to know, about what is unfolding. And it ain't good.

So, yes, please use it, and leave the typo be. Smile

I posted the video below in LO's Sunday news thread today. There are two parts. He posted the second. Beckwith opens by saying things getting are really slushy up there in the Arctic.

[video:https://youtu.be/zKeB9vFozk4]

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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lotlizard's picture

Hesse state election, today, October 28
27.4 % CDU – Christian Democrats; chancellor Angela Merkel’s party
19.6      SPD – Social Democrats
19.5      Greens
13.0      AfD – Alternative for Germany; right-wing populists
  7.8      FDP – Free Democrats, laissez-faire-economics party; “liberals” (European terminology)
  6.0      Left Party
  6.7      other parties (each below 5 percent cutoff, winning no seats)
——
Source ARD TV, 8:00 pm CET (3:00 pm EDT)

50 percent of voters polled agreed with the statement “This state election is a good opportunity to send the federal governing coalition a message.”

To the question, “Which party has the best answers to the issues of the future?” voters polled said:
24 % Greens
14     CDU, Christian Democrats
13     SPD, Social Democrats

If this early result holds, the current ruling coalition of CDU and Greens can continue to govern with a razor-thin majority of one vote.

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Granma's picture

Without a problem. It gives me better search results than Google. Actually, it gives me great results. I can't imagine going back to google.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Granma I'd like to try it again, and I might.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

travelerxxx's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

Yes, you should try again. Up-thread you stated, "I tried DuckDuckGo and found it installed malware on my computer...at least that's where my boyfriend thought the malware came from."

This is something I have never - even once - heard. Installing anything on your machine is the complete antithesis of what DuckDuckGo is about. DuckDuckGo is simply a website. Yes, they will install cookies, but they are benign compared to the intrusive mass-data-gathering cookies installed by Google and Google-owned sites ... such as YouTube.

Further, if you're seriously concerned about malware, you should not be running any version of a Microsoft operating system. It's possible to lock it down to a degree, but why bother? Some of my relatives who are software professionals describe Windows 10 as "... one giant piece of malware."

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@travelerxxx Well, for the same reasons anyone runs a PC rather than a Mac: because I'm a gamer, for one, and because I've been a PC user all my life, and I'm used to it.

Or do you mean I should be running Linux?

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

travelerxxx's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

No, not necessarily Linux. But, I think the reasons you've stated preclude any change. In particular, the gamer part. Were "... I've been a PC user all my life, and I'm used to it," the only reason, then I would urge you to consider a change. However, for those involved in the world of computer games, it would seem that you all are rather welded to Gates' baby and I won't try to coax you from that.

I used to try much harder to get folks away from Microsoft operating systems, but nowadays I don't push so hard. The dangers are much more well known now, so I assume nearly everyone has made a conscious decision that they either live with it and attempt to install barriers, or simply acquiesce to the data mining.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@travelerxxx I wish I didn't live in a veritable Cold War of digital companies: a binary split of two rigid systems, with little or nothing else.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

travelerxxx's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

Well, it's not so much two choices these days. First, as an example, the laptop machine on which I'm presently typing is a Mac. The hard drive is partitioned into two partitions. One partition runs the Mac OS, the other runs the last decent Windows system - Windows 7. While I no longer need it, at one time I needed the Windows system for some work-related proprietary-software tasks. I still keep it up-to-date, but when Windows 7 is put to pasture, it's history. Way too dangerous to run it at that point.

While I'm not doing so at the moment, I have also run various of the UNIX/Linux flavors. As the Mac OS is basically Berkley BSD, modified, the Mac can run all kinds of UNIX software ... with the correct dependencies installed. I used to do this, but at the time it was kind of a PIA. Still, I can if I want. It all runs just fine.

The departure from the "... binary split of two rigid systems" would be a version of UNIX or Linux. We have some Pros from Dover right here at c99 that can answer questions about that ... better than I can. One thing I can say about the newer Linux systems is that the old days of hair-pulling geeky-ness needed to simply install software is mostly history. That was one thing that always kept me away from it. The newer versions I've seen are really nice.

Having said all that, none of it matters much if you are into hard-core gaming. Short of running two separate machines, you're more or less stuck.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@travelerxxx That's really great to hear about Linux, though. About thirteen years ago, somebody was trying to get me into it. I was just too much of a non-geek for that system at that time.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Wink's picture

day, flashing signs saying "Protect Trans Rights."

Screenshot 2018-10-28_16-01-08-464.png

old Wink, well, the old guy.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

snoopydawg's picture

@Wink

Either that or you could be Bernie's twin. But thanks for being out there and protesting against this bigoted act. Voting away people's rights is wrong on so many levels. And the Christians say that it's them that are being discriminated against. SMDH! Literally!

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Wink's picture

such a crappy day,
@snoopydawg
steady drizzle, that I didn't think anyone would come out; but about a dozen of us made the trek, some from 90 min. (one way) a way, from up in college town Potsdam! Me, it was just 5 min. from my driveway, literally, so... no excuses. I was hoping to meet the blond hair guy with the glasses, Corey, from Potsdam, becuz we always get into one discussion or another, on FB, and he's always hosting one protest event or another, up there, so it was nice to finally bump into him. Now I owe him an appearance up in Potsdam. Gawd I hate the drive. Gonna have to wait 'til summer.

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the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.

On October 8, Google announced it:

Motley Fool

It was meant as a Facebook competitor, but nobody signed up for it and it's been bleeding users over the years. When the tech folks heard the news, they joked that the 46 people still on Google+ must be disappointed.

Google is still promoting the Enterpirse version of Google+ though. But, I don't think it poses any danger of overtaking Facebook.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@apenultimate Good, maybe YouTube will stop breaking, then.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

lotlizard's picture

Hesse state election, October 28
27.0 % CDU – Christian Democrats; chancellor Angela Merkel’s party
19.8      Greens
19.8      SPD – Social Democrats
13.1      AfD – Alternative for Germany; right-wing populists
  7.5      FDP – Free Democrats, laissez-faire-economics party; “liberals” (European terminology)
  6.3      Left Party
  6.5      other parties (each below 5 percent cutoff, winning no seats)
——
Source Hessischer Rundfunk, 2:00 am CET (9:00 pm EDT)
https://www.hessenschau.de/politik/wahlen/landtagswahl-2018/ergebnisse/i...

The current ruling coalition of CDU and Greens could continue to govern with a razor-thin majority of one vote.

A more stable majority would include the FDP in a “Jamaica coalition” (so-called because the party colors black, green, and yellow are the colors of the Jamaican flag).

A coalition of CDU and Social Democrats would also have a majority of one vote.

A coalition of Greens, Social Democrats, and Free Democrats would also have a majority of one vote.

Vote totals of parties above the 5 percent cutoff:
776,254   CDU – Christian Democrats
570,260   Greens
570,166   SPD – Social Democrats
378,376   AfD – Alternative for Germany
215,642   FDP – Free Democrats
181,263   Left Party

Note that the Greens edge out the Social Democrats for second place by 94 votes.

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magiamma's picture

@lotlizard
For this report.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@lotlizard @lotlizard Wow, look at the Greens go.

Of course Angela Merkel's party, which I assume is a local branch of the We Love Banks Party, has the dominant hand.

(I know a little about Merkel and her party, but not enough to be truly informed; she seems to be caught between not liking being spied on by Anglo-American intelligence and needing to kiss the ass of the actual power-holders of the English-speaking world. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver