One of those things that the more alert will spot happening in our society, whether within the traditional aspects of life of the more modern on-line media, is the sudden appearance of something that is going to be banned, or in some cases is banned with immediate effect.
Today's example comes from Blogger, which is the platform upon which this 'blog is hosted, and which is now popping up the message that, as from a date about four weeks from now, 'explicit sexual content will not be allowed'. Wow! This is really going to hit me hard – or not...
Why now? If this was an issue (and, for all I know, as a non-expert in this whole field, perhaps it was) why has it taken until now to do anything about it? What has so suddenly changed?
This is the question we must always ask ourselves when any such restrictive imposition appears apparently out of nowhere. There are plenty of ready excuses (the most popular being that we are now in a 'more enlightened' era) but these always turn out to be nonsense, as anyone who has delved a little will already have discovered.
The reality is that this sort of thing has been going on for years, and is continuing today. The Blogger business is almost certainly of no real significance in and of itself. Its sole value is to remind us, via a concrete example, of the generic issue of 'sudden imposition', to coin a phrase.
Ever since the Antichrist came into the world, something like fifteen years or so ago (at my best estimate), this and many other dictatorial impositions and restrictions have appeared.
I have no interest in 'explicit sexual content' – indeed, as one who has had a strong case of HSDD all my life I am revolted by the whole subject, I am a rare independent voice in this arena – but I am alert to these moves and what probably ultimately lies behind them, regardless of whatever is pushed as the 'reason' in the public realm.
The bottom line remains: if today's upcoming ban is an issue now, why wasn't it before? Years before, in fact...
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 February 2015
Saturday, 2 March 2013
Fol de Rol – early 2013
I now have a somewhat dedicated Twitter troll, most of whose tweets in recent weeks reference me, and I am even featured in a somewhat pretentious weekly (on Fridays) quiz he runs as virtually his only blog-style on-line contribution. There really has to be something wrong with a quiz in which each clue requires a full paragraph. It really is self-indulgent, pseudo-intellectual stuff, so best avoided, I think. The rest of us have real lives to live, with actual value to them...
The question is: what to do about the troll? If it were just me being impacted, I'd do my usual thing of simply ignoring him (it is a 'him'). I do this after I have paid out sufficient 'rope' that they give away their true colours and motivations, to the extent that I can be a hundred percent confident I am not misjudging them. I have already done this with the current troll, quite comprehensively. I know...
It is only when others are being troubled by the Lefty nonsense being spouted by the troll (who really needs to get a life, as the saying puts it) which is a latch-onto effect by following me on Twitter and then seeing others' tweets that I re-tweet. I'm not going to be cowed into ceasing that practice, so what if anything ought I to do to avoid being the bringer of a disease (or at least an obviously diseased mind)?
Well, it has to be said that those unwittingly ending up on the receiving end of my troll's interventions are all what would be termed sound; and as far as their reactions are concerned they fall into two categories: whose who challenge and those who ignore. The former have the upper hand, as by being factual and definitive they can easily defeat the intentions of the pseudo-intellectual who thinks he knows it all (and never fails to try to demonstrate this).
So, well done to the likes of Mark Wallace who have thus managed to defeat and indeed terminate the efforts of my troll in individual attempts on specific matters. Of course, we have seen exactly the same practice here in Medway, as I have described previously with Medway Labour and how they try it on until they realise they have been completely defeated, then run away and hide for a while, until they think no-one is still watching for their re-appearance.
It is all so predictable; and it all points up the character deficiencies in all such individuals. They are always cold of heart and calculating, nasty and live for the chance to manufacture criticism and negativity, especially toward decent people of a different political persuasion (no Lefty can be decent in terms we'd understand and accept). By contrast, the slogan in the banner above, played out in what I have always posted here over these (nearly) five years, shows just what can be done with a better attitude to life.
All these trolls' postings, in whichever format and at whatever forum, are cached for (in effect) eternity and are available for public scrutiny if one knows where to look. As the likes of Eoin Clarke have discovered, deleting tweets and 'blog posts has no effect on those archived records. A professional profiler could easily build up a quite accurate and very telling picture of any of these individuals, including my latest (and, currently, only) troll.
Again, this is simply a matter of paying out the rope at this stage. It'll be much too late by the time they realise what they've done to their own reputation and, by extension, to their malign cause. I know how to play this game, letting them do the running, so I shan't block this Twitter follower, as I have been contemplating, in the full knowledge that others who get caught up in his activities are well able to handle it in the most appropriate manner from where they stand.
I shall, at least for the time being, merely lean back and enjoy the show. My move will come later...
The question is: what to do about the troll? If it were just me being impacted, I'd do my usual thing of simply ignoring him (it is a 'him'). I do this after I have paid out sufficient 'rope' that they give away their true colours and motivations, to the extent that I can be a hundred percent confident I am not misjudging them. I have already done this with the current troll, quite comprehensively. I know...
It is only when others are being troubled by the Lefty nonsense being spouted by the troll (who really needs to get a life, as the saying puts it) which is a latch-onto effect by following me on Twitter and then seeing others' tweets that I re-tweet. I'm not going to be cowed into ceasing that practice, so what if anything ought I to do to avoid being the bringer of a disease (or at least an obviously diseased mind)?
Well, it has to be said that those unwittingly ending up on the receiving end of my troll's interventions are all what would be termed sound; and as far as their reactions are concerned they fall into two categories: whose who challenge and those who ignore. The former have the upper hand, as by being factual and definitive they can easily defeat the intentions of the pseudo-intellectual who thinks he knows it all (and never fails to try to demonstrate this).
So, well done to the likes of Mark Wallace who have thus managed to defeat and indeed terminate the efforts of my troll in individual attempts on specific matters. Of course, we have seen exactly the same practice here in Medway, as I have described previously with Medway Labour and how they try it on until they realise they have been completely defeated, then run away and hide for a while, until they think no-one is still watching for their re-appearance.
It is all so predictable; and it all points up the character deficiencies in all such individuals. They are always cold of heart and calculating, nasty and live for the chance to manufacture criticism and negativity, especially toward decent people of a different political persuasion (no Lefty can be decent in terms we'd understand and accept). By contrast, the slogan in the banner above, played out in what I have always posted here over these (nearly) five years, shows just what can be done with a better attitude to life.
All these trolls' postings, in whichever format and at whatever forum, are cached for (in effect) eternity and are available for public scrutiny if one knows where to look. As the likes of Eoin Clarke have discovered, deleting tweets and 'blog posts has no effect on those archived records. A professional profiler could easily build up a quite accurate and very telling picture of any of these individuals, including my latest (and, currently, only) troll.
Again, this is simply a matter of paying out the rope at this stage. It'll be much too late by the time they realise what they've done to their own reputation and, by extension, to their malign cause. I know how to play this game, letting them do the running, so I shan't block this Twitter follower, as I have been contemplating, in the full knowledge that others who get caught up in his activities are well able to handle it in the most appropriate manner from where they stand.
I shall, at least for the time being, merely lean back and enjoy the show. My move will come later...
Monday, 25 February 2013
Get Your Bitcoins Here!
Not here in Britain yet, but an American-currency 'hole in the wall' machine for taking various Dollar notes (a.k.a. bills) and instantly crediting someone's Bitcoins account is coming.
Bitcoins, I explain for those who haven't heard of this concept, are an Internet-only currency that has been gaining popularity since its introduction nearly four years ago.
It was inevitable that an alternative to physical, national currency would develop one day, because of the sheer volume of on-line purchasing and similar transactions and the high proportion of this that crosses national boundaries. The complexities, uncertainties (e.g. varying exchange rates) and delays with conventional currency when applied to the on-line transactional world show how poorly they fit this completely different way of working.
Thus the Bitcoin mini-revolution that will surely become the core of a major part of the world's monetary activity one day.
Politically, it takes control away from national governments (and institutions such as the EU) who are notorious for devaluing the currency they control so as to invisibly steal from their citizens – something we here in Britain really learned about with the large-scale devaluation of Sterling by then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, getting on for half a century ago. More subtly, it is done all the time, via inflation and other devices.
That won't stop it, as Bitcoins cannot suddenly be (internationally, too) outlawed after having been allowed to become so significant that even some major businesses already accept payment this way.
Therefore the idea will expand; and having this reverse-cash-dispenser idea will help the transition from new idea to mainstream in the world, during the next several years. By the end of this decade, I'd expect the more forward-looking big economy countries to have made the cultural and operational shift, and the rest of us/them around the world will end up catching up because they'll have to do so in order to survive and thrive.
There is one British element to the story of the Dollars-to-Bitcoins machines, though: they have a Raspberry-Pi computer at their heart.
Bitcoins, I explain for those who haven't heard of this concept, are an Internet-only currency that has been gaining popularity since its introduction nearly four years ago.
It was inevitable that an alternative to physical, national currency would develop one day, because of the sheer volume of on-line purchasing and similar transactions and the high proportion of this that crosses national boundaries. The complexities, uncertainties (e.g. varying exchange rates) and delays with conventional currency when applied to the on-line transactional world show how poorly they fit this completely different way of working.
Thus the Bitcoin mini-revolution that will surely become the core of a major part of the world's monetary activity one day.
Politically, it takes control away from national governments (and institutions such as the EU) who are notorious for devaluing the currency they control so as to invisibly steal from their citizens – something we here in Britain really learned about with the large-scale devaluation of Sterling by then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, getting on for half a century ago. More subtly, it is done all the time, via inflation and other devices.
That won't stop it, as Bitcoins cannot suddenly be (internationally, too) outlawed after having been allowed to become so significant that even some major businesses already accept payment this way.
Therefore the idea will expand; and having this reverse-cash-dispenser idea will help the transition from new idea to mainstream in the world, during the next several years. By the end of this decade, I'd expect the more forward-looking big economy countries to have made the cultural and operational shift, and the rest of us/them around the world will end up catching up because they'll have to do so in order to survive and thrive.
There is one British element to the story of the Dollars-to-Bitcoins machines, though: they have a Raspberry-Pi computer at their heart.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)