It doesn’t matter their intentions, such pernicious tracking itself is stalking.

So, why don’t we treat this corporation like the “person” such corporations claim to be in so many other contexts?

And if you’re waiting for the mid-terms, you’re already acquiescing to their plans.

Also, it says something — to me, at least — that I have to think seriously before posting this. All I’m calling for is timely criminal prosecution of what I think and believe are crimes. I.e. for a lawful process. Yet doing so puts me at risk of an overbearing, unaccountable response?

This is some serious sh-t.

One of the first big bullets they put into the Affordable Care Act after it became effective, was to zero out funding of its provisions that were/are mandated by law.

The “government can’t do shit” people should spend some time looking at the reasons why. Government isn’t perfect — it’s made up of the same humans that compose the rest of society — but it often isn’t half bad, and many people going into it have good-hearted and honorable intentions. Some turn bitter or disengaged at the experience — as designed — but many fight such negativity to the bitter end.

Oh, and regarding the ACA, many don’t know or have forgotten that businesses were clamoring for it or some/any solution, facing 25% year over year premium increases for their insured employees. And the ACA has and continues to provide many substantial improvements and benefits to group policy insurance holders that have no ready optics and hype like the healthcare marketplace.

Have insurance through your employer and think the ACA does nothing for you? You’re wrong.

So, thanks, gub’mint!

Plus ça change…

2) I hope the lockdowns don’t strangle tethering. My other consideration is to use whatever phone for calls, texts, and “secure” apps. The rest I’ll do on an unrestricted device that just uses the phone as a data connection. More crap to carry, but crap that does what I want and need and not what “they” insist upon.

P.S. And that may mean spending less on future phones. Especially if I also switch my higher quality camera image needs to a real camera. Sigh, yet more physical crap, but I’m pissed enough to do it, and then each individual device would be less of a feature compromise than what a phone provides — other than size and portability, which are indeed quite significant.

Thanks!

The rest is atmospherics.

(The US has, in general, taken a similar attitude towards public education, while simultaneously making it responsible for "everything" regarding children's upbringing. Compounding the problem.)

Following his cleaning instructions and, subsequently, his usage advice, did the trick.

Regarding the latter, notably adding the recommended prewash dose of detergent in addition to the main dose, and running the kitchen sink's hot tap until the water is fully hot before starting the dishwasher. Here in the US with our lower power capacity, resulting in dishwasher heating elements being restricted to lower power to avoid circuit breaker trips, when the dishwasher is correctly connected to the hot water line (typically, of the kitchen sink), doing this results in a hotter prewash and often also wash.

This all really does make a substantial difference.

Take the time to watch his dishwasher videos. If you struggle at all with the performance of yours, you won't regret doing so.

I'd enjoy suggestions as to suitable unhindered devices.

P.S. I just hope we can continue to access / create unhindered devices -- and programs/apps (cough Manifest v3 cough).

My daily driver is a recent Pixel Pro. If Google takes away the already limited additional flexibility it provides me over an iPhone, I don't see the need to provide them my money nor my attention, going forward.

Actually, I've been thinking about carrying some sort of Linux device and relegating the phone to being a hot spot for it, plus traditional calls and texts (and "necessary" apps, I guess). I don't really want to schlep more around with me, but even less so do I want to be squeezed into the box of BigCo corporate approved activities.

In other words, an instigator, agent, and/or vehicle for right wing propaganda Europe-wide.

I think that says something about it.

--

1. And not just "grumble, grumble... get off my lawn..." Many of its controls are at best obscure. It hides many of them away. It makes them awkward to reach.

Many new users seem as clueless, or even more so, than pre-existing customers who experienced the rug pull. At least pre-ribbon users knew there was certain functionality that they just wanted to find.

(And I still remember how MS concurrently f-cked with Excel shortcut keys. Or seemed to have, when I next picked Excel up after a couple year hiatus from being a power user.)

I've read reporting on civil asset forfeiture abuse for many years -- the inclusion of "abuse" composing a tautology, it increasingly appears.

Nonetheless, it remains active policy appearing in ever more circumstances.

People argue that it's only a few bad cops who make the rest look bad. I'm having increasing difficulty these days believing that argument.

Thank you. I was doubtful about the third-party replacements; I'll give them a try.

I still think it's scandalous that Bose ships them with such a crap failure rate.

(If they're expected to fail like this, then at least ship them with a few replacement pairs included. At least that would be honest, and at the price they charge, probably still profitable. /s )

Same with the pair I gave my father.

German friend visited with some 700's. (I think that's the model number; the sleek but uncomfortable redesign of a couple of years ago.) When he visited again the following year, their ear pads where likewise blown out.

In contrast, I have multiple models of inexpensive Chinese ANC headphones whose ear pads have survived significantly longer.

And, the official Bose ear pad replacements are $40 on Amazon (if they're even real...).

I don't buy Bose, anymore.

Another time, at another job, while we had hiring and expense freezes, my manager walked up to my cube with a 12% raise -- out of the blue. Because my previous management had screwed me (causing me to accept his internal hire offer) and I was "doing the job" he'd hired me for.

Performance reviews, of themselves, are bullsh-t and serve primarily to generate a record that your management and HR can use to accomplish and "legitimize" whatever they want.

Once you know this, and if you're still in a position subject to them, it feels like a hostage situation. Any information you provide to them is subject to use against you or someone you care about (and/or just in violation of your own ethics -- "s/he's not my friend, but this just isn't right" -- if you have them).

Mr. 12% and I learned, through experience, to trust each other. No management process is going to replace that.

P.S. And, in my experience, if you don't "provide them enough ammunition", they will actively "guide" you in rewriting it until you do, refusing to accept otherwise. They are not really soliciting your feedback. They are soliciting your tacit endorsement of what they are hoping to accomplish -- regardless of how and whether that aligns with their and the business's public statements and objectives -- internal and external).

Sorry, my language went a bit into the weeds, there. Stated shortly, I've had managers insist I write what they want, contrary to my own actual opinions and feedback. The process was entirely rigged. Glad I don't work for them, anymore.

Currently, I view the entire paradigm as asking me to trust resources (software, hosting, etc.) that I am not ready to trust. Both from a knowledge standpoint, or lack thereof on my part, and out of experience. Re the latter, third party resources die, go bad -- technically or morally -- and... just observing the nature of "online" resources over years and now decades.

Serious Excel users could work the keyboard like an experienced Vi/m user. For example, when extensive manual data entry, editing, cleanup was necessary.

A curse on those responsible for these interface changes.

Serious Excel users, for one, bitched for good reason.