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Just testing out some stuff. Most of you can disregard.

OTP 98730 90U77

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There is a tale being circulated through various blogs and news channels about a man who was locked out of his home for six days for supposedly making a racist comment. When I read this story, I thought that it must be bullshit. The reason that I didn’t believe the story is that Alexa can’t be used to unlock doors. This is a simple security precaution to keep someone from yelling, “Alexa, open the door!” and gaining access to your home. Alexa devices can be used to LOCK doors or even check their status, but not to unlock them.

The second reason that this can’t be true is that most smart locks have PIN access, so even if Alexa won’t lock the doors, you can unlock them with the PIN pad. Now I am willing to admit that there are door locks out there without pin pads, so I decided to investigate. The original story appeared at Medium.com. It turns out that yes, the story was blown far out of proportion. The author of the story even states it in the story:

 I only lost the ability to use Alexa. My home was fine as I just used Siri or locally hosted dashboard if I wanted to change a light’s color or something of that nature…I was not truly in the dark for a week. My smart home runs mostly locally and Alexa really is just a polymorphic interface. I was just able to use Siri. Though out of habit I’d sometimes say “alexa” only for her to remind me how stupid I was.

No, this is simply a case of luddites who don’t trust that new fangled technology and are gleefully willing to believe any negative story about anything new without bothering to question it. This article should have focused on the poor customer service that Amazon delivered in this case, but instead the story became one about distrusting technology and convenience features.

I have a smart house, and many features in the house can be controlled by voice. It’s fucking cool to be able to say, “Alexa, turn on the ceiling fan,” or “Alexa, turn the thermostat down to 65 degrees,” when it gets hot in the living room. It feels like living in the future. Instead of being afraid of technology, learn to understand that you can get up and do it yourself if there is a failure there.

No, this is purely about providing confirmation for people who are opposed to any sort of technology.

The rich are upset that people aren’t buying the bullshit when a rich guy tells you to stop riding in your car right before he takes off for the Riviera in his private jet. So now they are claiming that owning three dogs is just as bad for the environment as owning and flitting around the world in your Gulfstream IV.

The city of Dallas is mandating that all employees use a person’s chosen name and pronouns. I would love this. My new name is “Big Daddy Longcock” and my pronouns are “my nigga” and “sup bitch.” Per the published HR policy, all of my coworkers are now required to use them.

Let HR sort that shit out.

I was just sitting here remembering the time when I was asked to leave a publicly owned gun range because my rifle fire was too rapid. They said that no one was permitted to fire more than one shot every ten seconds. Oh, and my AR was throwing brass too far, and this was a safety hazard. I was firing a shot every second at 100 yards. I pointed out that every one of my shots was on the paper and within the 8 ring, so it wasn’t like I was unsafe. The response was that my rapid fire disturbed hunters who were trying to get sighted in for deer season.

The place is run by volunteer range masters. They all have different rules. Some say 2 seconds between shots, some say 10. It shouldn’t matter how fast I am shooting if I am doing it in a safe manner. They require all shots with rifles to be seated bench- no standing, sitting on the ground, or prone.

One shot every two seconds is much slower than needed to qualify for handgun. That doesn’t matter, because Fudds only care about hunting. They aren’t gun people.

Don’t think that deer hunting Fudds will hesitate for a minute to report you to the ATF, if they believe that this will allow them to keep hunting.

In case you were wondering, the gun range was Tenoroc in Lakeland, which is a government owned range that is run by volunteer Fudds and owned by FWC (Fish & Wildlife Commision) .

Francis Porretto:

Kings used to lead their own armies. They used to lead the cavalry’s charge. For a king to send an army to war and remain behind to warm his throne was simply not done. Those that tried it lost their thrones, and some lost their heads — to their own people. It was a useful check on political and military rashness. It hasn’t been that way for a long time. Today armies go into the field exclusively at the orders of politicians who remain at home. And politicians are bred to believe that reality is entirely plastic to their wills.

On the strength of this one quote, I bought the book.

A pair of spooks (too funny to resist) are accused of breaking into a Florida home because he was fleeing from a ghost.

Police said they were called to a shooting at 426 S. Beach Street, though it was later revealed to have instead been a burglary.

Breaking into my home could easily be called in as a shooting, and is a good way to become a ghost.

A father in Baltimore was beaten to death while protecting his children from a group of teenagers and adults who wanted to finish a fight that started at school. Christopher Wright was outside his home Friday when he was attacked by three teens and two adults who were looking for his fiancée’s 14-year-old son, who had gotten in a fight with another teen at school earlier in the day.

When Wright told the group that the boy was not going to come outside to fight, they told him, “’If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight,” then they administered a gang beating. Wright had a seizure and began posturing, then later died of a traumatic brain injury. No charges have been filed against any of the individuals involved.

There are a few lessons to be taken from this incident:

• Stay out of cities, especially ones that are Zone 3 or higher.
• Carry a weapon
• If it’s 5 on 1, it isn’t a “fair fight” anyhow.
• Don’t “take your beating like a man” because that may mean your death or permanent disability
• oh, and get your kids out of public schools. They have become little more than prisons containing violent criminals
• If someone comes to your home looking for a fight, retreat inside, arm yourself, and call the cops.
• Have good cameras recording the outside of your home
• Did I mention avoid liberal enclave shitholes?

I also would point out that there was no description of the attackers other than “teens and adults” meaning that they are likely black.

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The school in question is Brooklyn Park Middle school. It is below even Maryland’s abysmal average for schools, with 37% of students being at grade level for English, and 14% in Math.