BC SOCIETY
Saved by @SteveeRogerr

gonna get in line for the vaccine because I've heard all these urban legends about tracking microchips

and I think I might be able to root it and install Doom

 supposedly bill gates is involved, right?
so it's probably like a miniaturized 386 running ROM-DOS.
the doctor walks in, looks down at my charts, and sighs.
"well, the bad news is that you've got the virus. I'm sorry..."
"and the good news?"
"well..."
*at doom's gate starts faintly playing from my lungs*
https://t.co/6QFwNCdTpD
it took them four tries to figure out that I had the virus, because every time they did a nasal sample, the diagnosis machine kept glitching and playing a youtube video

https://t.co/R8Z6lDUKMy
I laugh in the hospital bed while they're like "ma'am sir ma'am sir, please, this is serious: we can't treat you. Our ventilator keeps trying to reboot in to Windows 3.1 and play skifree. we're quarantining you here so you don't spread this DIGITAL VIRUS to other patients"
https://t.co/fAzkHdgSk8
my last message is an annoyed rant on discord where I complain I can't access the full power of the tracking chip and get it to 3d accelerate my software enough to play crysis
all I can do is unlock the mode that turns everyone into femboy catgirl maids. USELESS, I SAY!
the police access my PC and discord has 900 friend requests, all from people named like awoo_lizard with anime-animal avatars
it's like fermat's last theorem: but for furries.

furry's last theorem ?
in case this seems exceptionally random, even for me: there was a conspiracy meme about masks which was "they want you to keep doing this [picture of mask wearer] because eventually they're going to make you do this [picture of a woman in a burka]"
which naturally got meme'd on really hard and fast with a lot of silly second images, like ravers in gas masks, furries in fursuits, and people wearing maid outfits
and it's long since past the point where you are gonna see more versions of the parody than the real one (especially if you don't hang out on weird-conspiracy-facebook) so yeah. that's what I was referencing.
I just realized it wasn't very clear what the heck I was talking about, and I can't even locate that specific joke image right now to clarify, so it may be WAY more obscure than I thought
here's the gas mask version, at least:
https://t.co/o8WEx2hPpK
also every time I try to type "gas mask" my fingers type "gask mask"
I suspect the one I'm referencing is actually this meme (the parodies of anti-mask memes) crossbreeding with an unrelated meme, which is basically just "I don't care what gender you are: put on the maid outfit".
the first line is often removed. and it's just become "PUT ON THE MAID OUTFIT" with threats of violence.
anyway it's weird that two of the conspiracy theories about the virus are "the government is making us wear masks! (for reasons other than public safety)" and "the government and/or bill gates is gonna track us with the vaccine!"
because you know how we actually DO track people, quite a lot, right now? and this is a known, proven thing, not a conspiracy?

FACIAL RECOGNITION
you know what causes a huge problem for facial recognition systems?

MASKS
but I guess conspiracies don't really have to make sense, especially when combined with other conspiracies.

Try to build a grand unified set up moon landing and/or JFK conspiracies sometime, for example.
my favorite versions of both are, by the way, the SCP "we landed on the moon, successfully, and then ended up faking it later" and the Red Dwarf "JFK was killed by the gunman on the grassy knoll... who was also JFK" answers.
although I'm looking forward to the theory that unifies the two and explains that JFK was either killed by the moon, or he's not dead: he's on the moon.
ANYWAY before you mock the "tracking microchips in the vaccines!" people too hard, that's basically how the CIA figured out where Osama Bin Laden was.
https://t.co/jruIWAQQ0P
it's sometimes disturbing how often "crazy conspiracy theories" are basically just "what if the US had slightly better technology and/or was slightly more competent"
my favorite amusing one of those is the urban legend that the spy satellites can read your license plate from space.
and the reply isn't "we're not observing the US" or "the government doesn't want to track cars" or even "that's impossible", it's always "don't be silly: you'd need telescopes with at least twice the resolving power (of declassified systems) to be able to read license plates"
it's a wild conspiracy theory and the counter argument is basically "not yet, they'd need bigger telescopes and algorithms and optics, but all are within reach within the next decade or so"
anyway, bill gates? if you have computers small enough to fit in the bloodstream, hit me up. I want some of those. you can even skip out on the vaccine part, I just want to be full of computers.

my DMs are open
BTW, one thing I've been thinking about with the masks, especially with the whole right-wing-memes about how it's all a conspiracy to later force us to wear SOMETHING ELSE:
Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters.
It's a 1951 novel about mind-controlling parasite aliens who invade and start taking over, but they don't go inside people, they're just like a small animal that has to extend a tentacle to your brain and drive your body like a marionette
and they're relatively flat creatures like a manta-ray so they can hide under clothes, so the government decides the only way to stop them is to BAN WEARING CLOTHES IN PUBLIC
so the whole nation switches over to mandatory public nudity for a while, except for some extra-conservative areas in the south, which are revealed to be mainly caused by alien infiltration anyway.
and it's just amusing at the idea that you could force that radical of a shift in what people wear in public, and only have minor outcry.

meanwhile, in the real world, it's just "wear a mask" and BOY HAS THERE BEEN SOME PUSHBACK AGAINST THAT
but I guess maybe you could justify it in the case of The Puppet Masters, since the novel is set in the far future, maybe a lot of social mores have changed by then?

the far off future of 2007
flying cars and everything. one of the protagonists is an FBI agent who grew up on the Venus colony.

we were SO SURE the future was gonna be amazing.
BTW, the novel is often compared to Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
It came out 5 years before the movie, and 3 years before the book, and takes a very different tone.
It's very much less "what if secret infiltration of modern day society with EVIL MIND CONTROLLING PARASITES?" and "what if in the future some aliens show up and start mind controlling people, and it goes public and we have to wage a complex global war against them?"
it's a decent book. I recommend it.
It got made into a movie, too, which I don't recommend.
the movie basically removed all the weirder elements and future setting and open warfare, which basically turned it into a bad adaptation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
which seems kinda pointless since we already had two adaptations of Invasion of the Body Snatchers already, the 1956 version and the 1978 version.
The movie was in 1994, which puts it between the 1978 adaptation and the 2007 adaptation, "The Invasion".
and @DoomishFox found an example of the meme I was talking about, more or less. I could swear there was a maid version too.
https://t.co/TGsdUhG0dh
ok @minirop found two examples of the maid versions, so I definitely didn't make this up:
https://t.co/tuLTPayc7u

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foone
foone
@Foone
I like how mediawiki exports pages because there's nothing I enjoy more than parsing a 1 gigabyte XML file

and I'm doing simple-english-wiki! it's way smaller than english wikipedia
I can only imagine how impossibly unparsable that nightmare is

fun fact: when programmers need to write code to extract data from an XML file, the process usually goes like this:
1. find XML file
2. open it in a text editor, see what the structure is
3. write some code that parses that

do you really want to open a 1 gigabyte XML file in your text editor?

do you want to fucking die?

I used to run into this problem back when I worked for the government, because sometimes I'd click a database query log (don't ask why our logs were in XML, it's... complicated) and it would turn out to be 100mb
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foone
foone
@Foone
Do I look like I know what an MPEG is?


di i look like i know what an mpeg is


do i liook like i pw what am ,[eg os
FUN
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foone
foone
@Foone
Lockpicking Floppies!

I don't know why twitter is refusing to insert a card for this one. In any case, It's the @LockPickingLwyr, and it's a floppy-drive-lock.


so I've been meaning to do a video or thread on these sorts of locks myself. I have several, of different designs.

generally they're all designed vaguely like this one: it's a plastic insert that goes into the floppy drive, then it has some bit that rotates with the key to hold itself inside.

and they pretty much universally use super-cheap low-security tubular locks like this. You can probably pick most of them with a ballpoint pen
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foone
foone
@Foone
argh chrome updated and it seems they've intentionally broken custom search engines. I have had a keyword search for "foone" which searches my own twitter, so I just type "foone BLAH" and it gives me a twitter search for when I said BLAH, right?


but now I get that option in the titlebar of "search twitter self-search" which is the name of the search"
if I just type "foone blah" now...

it ignores the search I have had defined for years and just googles it.


and this is definitely on purpose because they didn't just break it, they changed it. it's now "fooneblah"


there doesn't seem to be an option to make this stop and get the old behavior back :(
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foone
foone
@Foone
A fun fact on the wikipedia page for the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor:
it is the most frequently manufactured device in history, and the total number manufactured from 1960-2018 is 13 sextillion.

That's 13,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.


Though this picture is a bit misleading.

Even with devices this small, we couldn't make 13 sextillion of them in 60 years.

So imagine a chip like this. It's the 555 timer, which is one of the most popular integrated circuits ever made.

In 2017, it was estimated a billion are made every year.


And at the heart of it is the die, which looks like this:
(from Ken Shirriff's blog)
https://t.co/mz5PQDjYqF


And that's fundamentally a bunch of CMOS transistors (along with some diodes and resistors), which are a type of MOSFET. How many of them are on a 555?

about 25. Not many, but it's a very simple chip.
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In 2015 Parliament held an inquiry looking into the state of Transgender equality. Trans people of all stripes outlined many different problems across many, many different areas.

As a result Parliament created a list of recommendations including legal recognition for non binary people, gender recognition act reform, allowing 16 year olds to change their legal gender and reform of NHS gender identity services.

The government under Theresa May ignored everything that was recommended except for Gender recognition act reform. This act came into law in 2003 and gave trans men and women (but not non-binary people) the ability to legally change their gender on their birth certificates.

The process at that time to change your birth certificate under the GRA was to make an application to a panel of cisgender people who would decide if you were sufficiently trans based on your payslips, photo ID and bank statements. You would not get the option to speak to them.

(Also this process cost £140 which is just a tax on being trans)
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We are all products of our own environments. Our environments shape our character, our personality, our habits, our identity.

The environment that Ousmane Dembélé grew up in and the environment that FC Barcelona seeks to engulf its youngsters with could not be more different.

The Great Gatsby starts with a life lesson.

"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

Ousmane hasn’t had the advantages that La Masia youngsters have had. That’s why he’s Ousmane.

Like every La Masia youngster, Ousmane grew up with a dream: playing for Barça.

Like every youngster, he fought to stand out amid a talented group of players, the majority of which would fail to go pro.

However, his football education was the polar opposite to that of La Masia.

Ousmane did not reside in one of the most expensive academies in Europe: he lived in a low-cost public housing unit in Normandy. He did not play in the well-trimmed pitches of La Masia, he played in the concrete jungles of Évreux. These disadvantages made him the man he is today.

While street soccer encourages individuality & creative freedom, academy-based training like La Masia encourages unselfishness & teamwork.

That’s why Barça produce certain types of 20-year-olds like a factory line. It’s also why Barça spent €145m on a 20-year-old Ousmane.
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1/ The “I Have a Dream" speech is one of the most extraordinary speeches in American history. You should read it again. First, a few thoughts about the common American heritage Dr. King relied upon in calling Americans to rededicate themselves to the unfinished work of freedom.


2/ Dr. King delivered his speech in what he called the “hallowed spot” of the Lincoln memorial. More than a picturesque backdrop, King relied on America’s reverence for Lincoln and the common celebration of Lincoln’s words and acts, especially the Emancipation Proclamation.


3/ “Five score years ago…” King echoes the words of the Gettysburg Address. Like Lincoln, King invokes the Declaration of Independence and the fundamental principles of American freedom, “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Every person in that crowd knew these words.


4/ The Declaration, Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation declared and established the fundamental American principles of freedom that all Americans knew and believed in. But these principles and promises remained unfulfilled for black Americans.


5/ Lincoln’s audience knew the history of slavery and many had suffered personal loss in the ongoing war. Dr. King’s audience knew the history of violent racism, segregation, and unequal economic opportunity. The Proclamation freed the slaves, “but the Negro still is not free.”
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It is simply not correct to point fingers at wind & solar energy as we try to understand the situation in TX. The system (almost) had a plan for weather (almost) like this. 1/x


It relied on very little wind energy - that was the plan. It relied on a lot of natural gas - that was the plan. It relied on all of its nuclear energy - that was the plan. 2/x

There was enough natural gas, coal and nuclear capacity installed to survive this event - it was NOT "forced out" by the wind energy expansion. It was there. 3/x

Wind, natural gas, coal and nuclear plants all failed to deliver on their expectations for long periods of time. The biggest gap was in natural gas! The generators were there, but they were not able to deliver. 4/x

It may be fair to ask why there is so much wind energy in ERCOT if we do NOT expect it to deliver during weather events like this, but that is an entirely different question - and one with a lot of great answers!! 5/x
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If you often procrastinate, open this

Stop being a perfectionist.

The root of procrastination for most people ain't laziness, it's anxiety.

I know your anxiety will tell you the worst case scenario. It’s a damn liar.

If you're a procrastinator, you will find every excuse not to do what u need to do. But here's an advice: DO IT FIRST, I call it reverse procrastination.
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I hate when I learn something new (to me) & stunning about the Jeff Epstein network (h/t MoodyKnowsNada.)

Where to begin?

So our new Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's stepfather, Samuel Pisar, was "longtime lawyer and confidant of...Robert Maxwell," Ghislaine Maxwell's Dad.


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Oh that's right.

The dad of the U.S. Attorney General under both George W. Bush & Donald Trump, William Barr, was headmaster of the Dalton School.

Donald Barr was also quite a


I'm not going to even mention that Blinken's stepdad Sam Pisar's name was in Epstein's "black book."

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Thanks for joining me @pluralsight to talk about javascript frameworks. We had 150+ awesome questions, so I'll try to answer the ones I couldn't get to online right here in a tweet stream

Watch the video -->
https://t.co/G7zeiKhXme


Q. Do arrow functions really make dealing with JavaScript's "this" keywords easier?

A. Yes! When using arrow functions, the scope of "this" is effectively passed in from the outer scope. See here in this REPL

1/n


Q. Where does Polymer fit in? Is it considered a framework like the others?

A. @Polymer is an excellent way to create web components, which are ideal for creating sets of interactivity that can be shared in web apps.

2/n

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A. At one time, quite possibly. A few years back we literally had framework overload. I feel it really has solidified into a few very strong choices.

3/n

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V\u0936\u0941\u0926\u094d\u0927\u093f
Vशुद्धि...
@V_Shuddhi
क्या आप जानते हैं कि क्या है, पितृ पक्ष में कौवे को खाना देने के पीछे का वैज्ञानिक कारण!

श्राद्ध पक्ष में कौओं का बड़ा ही महत्व है। कहते है कौआ यम का प्रतीक है, यदि आपके हाथों दिया गया भोजन ग्रहण कर ले, तो ऐसा माना जाता है कि पितरों की कृपा आपके ऊपर है और वे आपसे ख़ुश है।


कुछ लोग कहते हैं की व्यक्ति मरकर सबसे पहले कौवे के रूप में जन्म लेता है और उसे खाना खिलाने से वह भोजन पितरों को मिलता है

शायद हम सबने अपने घर के किसी बड़े बुज़ुर्ग, किसी पंडित या ज्योतिषाचार्य से ये सुना होगा। वे अनगिनत किस्से सुनाएंगे, कहेंगे बड़े बुज़ुर्ग कह गए इसीलिए ऐसा करना

शायद ही हमें कोई इसके पीछे का वैज्ञानिक कारण बता सके।

हमारे ऋषि मुनि और पौराणिक काल में रहने वाले लोग मुर्ख नहीं थे! कभी सोचियेगा कौवों को पितृ पक्ष में खिलाई खीर हमारे पूर्वजों तक कैसे पहुंचेगी?

हमारे ऋषि मुनि विद्वान थे, वे जो बात करते या कहते थे उसके पीछे कोई न कोई वैज्ञानिक कारण छुपा होता था।

एक बहुत रोचक तथ्य है पितृ पक्ष, भादो( भाद्रपद) प्रकृति और काक के बीच।

एक बात जो कह सकते कि हम सब ने स्वतः उग आये पीपल या बरगद का पेड़/ पौधा किसी न किसी दीवार, पुरानी

इमारत, पर्वत या अट्टालिकाओं पर ज़रूर देखा होगा। देखा है न?

ज़रा सोचिये पीपल या बरगद की बीज कैसे पहुंचे होंगे वहाँ तक? इनके बीज इतने हल्के भी नहीं होते के हवा उन्हें उड़ाके ले जा सके।
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