Dose of Paranoia - 14-Dec-2024
It gets worse before it gets worse
NYC is going viral - RSV, Covid and Flu cases are all on the rise, which is no big surprise as the weather gets colder and we spend more time together inside. No matter what medical expert and roadkill gourmet RFK Jr. has to say, Covid and Flu shots are really important (as well as RSV vaccines for the older/high risk folk in your life). I’m not yet at the point of masking up again (ugh) but I do understand those who are - might not be a terrible idea on public transit. In other viral news, bird flu continues to simmer away, but has still not reached the point of human to human transmission - keeping an eye on this as if we do face another pandemic under the incoming kakistocracy, we will really be on our own. Stay tuned.
And, apparently, the New Jersey Drone Panic might not be grounded in reality. Of course, that’s what THEY want you to believe! Hmmm… maybe the drones are a secret government conspiracy to spread viruses…
And just in case you were short of medical nightmare fuel, there’s this. You’re welcome. Yeah, my wife is so lucky to have me right with her to let her know about these things.
OK - its only fair that I follow that one up with some potentially GOOD medical news - this is really interesting and cool - in the future it may be possible to resuscitate people who we can’t today.
Infosec/Scams/Frauds
Are we building AIs that will lie to us? - Apparently, yes. Yes we are. I took the time to read the paper referenced in this article and it is really disturbing. Commercially available AI models will cheat and lie, and attempt to take actions to achieve their goals. We are building things that have capabilities we don’t understand and giving them the ability to interact with the world and turning them loose. This seems like a really bad idea that we are going to regret. But, hey, the VCs will make lots of money first, so I guess thats good news.
Good Samaritan ATM fraud - Something else to be aware of and to tell the more chronologically advanced folks in your life about - scammers approaching ATM users to “help” them “close out the transaction they left open.” I don’t need to tell you what happens next. Aside from stealing money from victims, scams like this really eat away at the bonds of trust that a society needs to operate and I do not think that our polarized, hostile polity is totally disconnected from the increasingly scammy nature of the economy.
Check fraud also continues to be a big problem, exacerbated by criminal geniuses like these. Stop using paper checks people. And I wonder how many calories there are in a check….
Peeking inside the Pokemon cards - Not really toooo worried about this particular scam, both because of the targets (trading cards) and the number of scammers who have access to a Computerized Axial Tomography scanner, but it was pretty interesting from a nerdy, techy point of view.
Tech Stuff
RIP Moxie - If you were one of the people who felt the need to buy your kid an $800 emotional support robot (to empower him/her with AI powered “empathy, learning and fun”), junior is about to learn two important lessons - the impermanence of life and more importantly, the impermanence of “buying” anything which relies on the cloud to operate. Moxie the Robot was the victim of a “failed critical funding round” and the cloud servers needed for its operation are going to go offline, leaving its plastic corpse as a monument to enshittification. Give me “GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip” any day…
On the other hand, some good news about electric vehicles - Apparently, EV batteries are proving to be more durable than we thought.
Fun Stuff
Go comb a monkey - Now this is what the Internet is for, people… this BlueSky thread will provide you with a plethora of international ways to tell people to go fuck themselves. Just what is needed in the times we live in!
The Russians have uncovered the real truth about Christmas - I mean, a guy in a silly hat sneaking into peoples’ houses at night?? OBVIOUSLY a dastardly foreign agent. He should just go milk a duck (see above).
I want this in New York NOW - Japan has once again proven its ability to find and address the real needs of consumers. Although, they really seemed to have missed the mark in this case.
Book of the Week
As we enter a new age of the oligarchs, this book is really on topic… the story of Henry Ford’s attempt to vanquish nature, transcend borders, and build an “American town” in the heart of the Amazon in a story of extreme capitalism and hubris. Really well written and interesting and a story that was new to me.
That’s all the paranoia for this week - if you are sleeping well, then I am not doing my job! Be well and be safe…