For those of you who haven’t needed to mess around in a computer’s BIOS, it’s a clunky and awkward…and inconsistent process, where manufacturers’ processes can vary widely. On boot, you hit one of the function keys, often F2, but sometimes F10, F6, or F8. And you generally have to spam the key to get it to take. It’s been a long-standing annoyance of mine.
Anyway, happy Monday, everyone! I hope your week meets, no, exceeds your expectations.
There’s an adage about “death by a thousand paper cuts”. Well, that’s akin to what I’ve been dealing with for some time now. The GOP (ostensibly) has been burying me in a barrage of texts. Here’s one from today that’s pretty amusing, actually.
I mean, in order to fix the fact YOU are sending me “too many messages”, I NEED to click on a link from a spammer/scammer? Um, no. There is no way in hell I’m clicking on a link from these folks. Jeez!
What might not be clear is that I never signed up for these. They’re often addressed to “friend”, and sometimes reference a zip code that’s in the greater Seattle area, but is not close to mine. This is the last org I want anything to do with. When they first started coming in, I did what the message says and replied “stop”. That only increased the message count. Currently, I’m averaging between 30 (the exact number from yesterday) and 50. To say 900-1,000 text messages a month is disruptive is quite the understatement. I’m glad that I have unlimited texts.
At first, I assumed that it was a mistake. That “friend” had signed up but mistyped their phone number. But, really, would you blast someone you liked like this? Or maybe someone thought this would be funny, someone who knows me. However, this has started to feel more like harassment. It’s surreal to get so many MAGA messages. Even if I were aligned with them, exploding my phone seems counterproductive. If I were pro-Trump, I would imagine getting a spam message every couple of minutes would cause me to rethink that. As it is, it is growing my dislike for the Republican Party.
What’s weirder is that bulk SMS isn’t free. I mark them as spam and block each one, and my spam filter is doing a modest job blocking them. Yet, since each one comes from a different phone number, lots slip through. Ugh!
I’m unsure what I want to do going forward. I guess, in the end, it’s a first-world problem. Though it’s annoying, it’s not like I’m getting direct, threatening messages. It’s annoying and disruptive. I am missing important messages that get buried in the sea of garbage. I am going to explore options, but am not likely to contact an attorney or law enforcement, as I see there’s a high likelihood that it’s NOT the formal GOP establishment. I mean, it’s a dumb way to spend money. But, man, I really hope these people go out of business soon.
flowing over stars moonlight's gentle grace flows down caressing my eyes
Though I’ve been writing lately, I’ve been having issues with uploading images in WordPress (I do post to Bluesky and Instagram a fair amount, too). Well, using anything other than the browser. I tried both with my iPad and my Pixel: nope. Sigh…these issues do make me want to explore a WordPress alternative. There are so many options nowadays: Wix, Squarespace, Substack…the list is impressive. For me, these options are all proprietary. As one of my core principles is that I don’t want to hand over that kind of control to a company. I can lose access to my content for any of a number of reasons, from financial to company governance. It’s the same methodology for why I won’t just go solely on a social media platform. In a similar vein, I deeply value using open source tools. WordPress is one, and Joomla is another. I could port everything over to a hand-coded static site as well. The ultimate in freedom, really. That would most likely mean that posting remotely would be impossible. So, here we go.
So, that’s where I am. Are you using WordPress? Or some other tool? And what sort of tools are you using to maintain and build your community?
I missed the intro of Claude’s Mythos, and only started hearing about them in the ensuing panic. This article has a good rundown of the issues that have the cybersecurity world nervous. I do recognize that this could simply be hyperbole meant to bring extra attention (marketing) to the product, but I thought it worth looking into deeper.
The Vox article above is (inconsistently) paywalled. I was able to get back and view it one more time before it locked me out again. So, let me give a quick summary of the concerns here.
“Claude Mythos Preview was designed for general use, Anthropic says, but during testing, the company found it extremely effective at identifying vulnerabilities in the security systems of all types of software, creating potentially massive security concerns.” So, Mythos is the ultimate hacker.
With this in mind, Anthropic has limited Mythos to a handful of tech companies and banks (Project Glasswing), with the hope that those orgs will be able to shore up their defenses before Mythos exposes their vulnerabilities.
“How is Anthropic choosing who to share this technology with?
They’re essentially looking for cyber defenders or companies that a lot of people depend on, and that downstream it would be a huge issue if they got hacked in any way, shape, or form.” It looks like the folks at Anthropic are deciding for themselves, which is all well and good. I think it would be good to slowly roll it out to other orgs, for the same reason. Why is Chase allowed to patch their vulnerabilities while my local credit union is not?
Anyway, these tools are more effective than we think, and in ways we have not imagined. I’m glad that, at least in this instance, we had the ability and wherewithal to be cautious.
This song is not new, but I recently found it, and it clicked. I’ve been playing it a LOT. For me, there are songs that resonate at certain times. Generally, I move along with the semi-obessive quality, but those songs eventually are my connection to the emotions of that part of my life.
So, please check this song out, and I recommend that you give Xavier’s music some of your attention. I think it’s worth it.
Whisper in the wind sent me home I’d believe there was somethin’ more Learned so much, fell in love with you Took my chances with what I knew With the places that had stained my hands And the files that I’d stored on my shelf Spent so long in the world givin’ chase
Thought my place was some other place That I belong here, I belong with you And all of our questions belong here, too ‘Cause we been high, darlin’, we been low And all of it’s helped us grow We belong here and we deserve to dream
Every wakin’ hour of every wakin’ day I wake up to the sound of discussions in my brain I don’t know the answer and I don’t know the truth And I don’t really know what I been draggin’ since my youth But I push on, I philosophy Keep my prophecies by my side
And I hope to meet you at the gates See that light shinin’ on your face ‘Cause I belong here, I belong with you And all of our answers reside here, too ‘Cause we been high, darlin’, we been low And all of it’s helped us grow We belong here and we deserve to dream Dream
And every breakin’ hour though a little more would break And the courage could be summoned to bring about some change And the plans would form to build a brand new castle To the sky we’d soar with the wings of an eagle
Stone-cold sober with whiskey on my breath South America runnin’ through my head With you, I was taken It was you, I was not mistaken You belong here, you belong with me And all of your secrets are safe with me ‘Cause we been high, darlin’, we been low And all of it’s helped us grow We belong here and we deserve to dream
And all we want is runnin’ down the mountains And all we need is flowin’ through the trees And all we have is swimmin’ in the ocean And all we can do is be the best that we can be
All we want is runnin’ down the mountains And all we need is flowin’ through the trees And all we have is swimmin’ in the ocean And all we can do is be the best that we can be
All we want is runnin’ down the mountains And all we need is flowin’ through the trees And all we have is swimmin’ in the ocean And all we can do, is be the best that we can be
And I hope to meet you at the gates See that light shinin’ on your face
An image of a crowded asian train, found on Pinterest
I spent several years of my life in the US Navy on submarines. Now, I had NO issues with the cramped spaces, nor with being many, many feet under water. I even crawled into very tight “void spaces”. Things like tanks. Not a problem! However, that’s not the case anymore. I look at this image above, and I feel claustrophobic. Deeply. And this isn’t that crowded. I’ve seen other images/videos where the train staff are literally pushing people together into the car. People are crushed into each other! Yeah, I’d be hyperventilating big time.
For me, this juxtoposition is striking. Nothing traumatic happened in the decades since. I have simply lost any tolerance for confined spaces. On a related note, I also didn’t have any issues with heights back then, but now I struggle.
Weird, methinks. Have you noticed any evolutions like this in your life?
