2018.06.23 13:00 - Of Microsoft and Mosquito Larve

The Guardian for this meeting was Bruce Mowbray. The comments are by Bruce Mowbray.

 

Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Storm.

Storm Nordwind: Good afternoon :)

Bruce Mowbray: :)

Bruce Mowbray: Wanna see a video I made of a mosquito larva?

Storm Nordwind: You know how to start a conversation don't you? ;)

Bruce Mowbray: I'll take that as a "yes."

Bruce Mowbray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnE5Zq-rn04&feature=youtu.be

Storm Nordwind: Go ahead. As long as I can eat salt and malt vinegar chips at the same time. :)

Storm Nordwind: Ah... an educated larva that can play the pianoforte.

Bruce Mowbray: :)

Bruce Mowbray: I've named him John Sebastian

Storm Nordwind: May that not come Bach to bite you. :)

Bruce Mowbray: J

Storm Nordwind: Astonishing. I didn't think I'd like that, but it was wonderful.

Bruce Mowbray: This afternoon I made four still close-up’s of him (still on the microscope slide all night) . . . at 16x

Bruce Mowbray: Thank you!

Bruce Mowbray: If you'd care to check out the four 16x images, they can be found here: http://hermitdog.com/microscope/images.htm

Bruce Mowbray: at the very bottom of the page.

Bruce Mowbray: Hi, Riddle.

Riddle Sideways: How dee

Storm Nordwind: The third one stays a thumbnail, in case you wanted to edit the page

Riddle Sideways: saw the time

Bruce Mowbray: That image of the midsection needs to be fixed, sorry.

 

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: Yes, that one.

 

Storm Nordwind: Riddle! Good afternoon. :)

Riddle Sideways: which one?

Bruce Mowbray: I'll start at the beginning with Riddle....

Bruce Mowbray: I made a video of a mosquito larva last night:

Bruce Mowbray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnE5Zq-rn04&feature=youtu.be

Riddle Sideways: oh more adventures in microscope land

Bruce Mowbray: and then I made a web page of closer up images. . .

Storm Nordwind: Makes me wonder at what point do beings have consciousness, and what is that anyway?

Bruce Mowbray: http://hermitdog.com/microscope/images.htm  The third image (at the very bottom) needs to be fixed, however.

Bruce Mowbray: Well, I ask that question every time I see a microscopic animal reacting to stimuli.

Bruce Mowbray: The vorticelli is especially reactive.

Storm Nordwind: As do our alien masters in orbit when they look at us no doubt. ;)

Bruce Mowbray: Watch how this little guy reacts and tell me he's not conscious... http://hermitdog.com/Vorticella_2.mp4

Riddle Sideways: so Reactive = Conscious

Bruce Mowbray: Hmmm. . . a very meager consciousness, perhaps, but it enables him to stay alive.

Bruce Mowbray makes note to fix that larva midsection thumbnail later....

Bruce Mowbray: So, what's up with you guys today?

Riddle Sideways: tough questions

Bruce Mowbray: ??

Storm Nordwind: Seem to be busy, mostly with writing atm

Bruce Mowbray: ahhh, great!

Storm Nordwind: And it looks like, from the SL group notices, that I have a whole bunch of art stuff to visit his weekend

Riddle Sideways: was doing outside stuff until too hot, so messing around inside now

Bruce Mowbray: Indeed, weather has been oppressive recently.

Riddle Sideways: now seem to have a metal sliver in finger

Bruce Mowbray: In fact, that's what drove me into my air conditioned bedroom where the microscope is.

Bruce Mowbray: OUCH.

Storm Nordwind: A restful 82°F here atm, restful provided you're indoors of course.

Riddle Sideways: 80 here too, so inside it is

Bruce Mowbray: We're a delightful 75 degrees here. . . but earlier in the week it was in the mid-90's.

Bruce Mowbray: I'm going to be making posters later today for a protest march next weekend - at the state capital building in Columbus.

Riddle Sideways: went to some of the SL15B sites a couple days ago

Storm Nordwind: Cool! Please tell us more :)

Bruce Mowbray: SL15B ???

Riddle Sideways: no, about protest

Storm Nordwind: Sounds like Second Life anniversary

Riddle Sideways: it is

Storm Nordwind: But please tell us more Bruce about the protest

Bruce Mowbray: OK yeah . . . 15 years?

Bruce Mowbray: OK.

Bruce Mowbray: We're protesting the kidnapping and abuse of families.

Storm Nordwind nods

Bruce Mowbray: along with several other groups... MoveOn United Auto Workers, etc.

Bruce Mowbray: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/immigration-detainees-victorville-prison_us_5b2d8b44e4b0040e2742f1c9

Storm Nordwind: reading

 

--BELL—

 

Storm Nordwind: one I get past the F*%&^%# privacy notice

Bruce Mowbray: I didn't get a privacy notice . . . but just as well.

Storm Nordwind: At least it was an opt-in. Wow. Anyway on with the article

Riddle Sideways: Keep thinking/comparing to "Walk of Tears" a hundred years ago

Bruce Mowbray: Yes, very similar. . .

Riddle Sideways: take peoples and stick them in the desert

Bruce Mowbray: Cherokee Nation walked from Carolinas to Oklahoma....

Riddle Sideways: well, it was not a walk-about

Bruce Mowbray: For sure.

Storm Nordwind: How will our legacy treat us? In 100 years’ time, what will people be remembering about these days?

Bruce Mowbray: I hope it will remember that we turned the Congress BLUE in November.

Storm Nordwind: Long article - will read rest later

Storm Nordwind chuckles

Riddle Sideways: yes, quit reading also

Riddle Sideways: now thinking about how people think back on the McCarthy era

Storm Nordwind: I'm not yet confident Bruce. Denial is a powerful and long lasting thing.

Bruce Mowbray: Having worked in a prison for eight years through eight hot summers without air conditioning, I wish those people strength.

Storm Nordwind nods

Bruce Mowbray: It's a cult, isn't it....?

Bruce Mowbray: Bears resemblances to a cult, anyway.

Bruce Mowbray: Can you share what topics you're writing about, Storm? NP if it's confidential....

Storm Nordwind: Dunno Bruce. I'd have to check it alongside Isaac Bonewits's "Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame"

Riddle Sideways: ahhhhh remembering that

Riddle Sideways: the ol ABCDEF

Storm Nordwind: Let me see...

Storm Nordwind: yup

Storm Nordwind: http://www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html

Storm Nordwind: Still around, thank goodness

Riddle Sideways: ha, is lost in the bookmarks here

Bruce Mowbray: http://www.neopagan.net/ABCDEF.html

Bruce Mowbray: Ooops.

Storm Nordwind: Two links are better than one ;)

Bruce Mowbray: I looked it up on Google.

Storm Nordwind: DDG for me!

Storm Nordwind: I never use Google now

Bruce Mowbray: Do you use Duck Duck Go?

Storm Nordwind: Yes.

Bruce Mowbray: Ahhh!

Storm Nordwind: Have done for 5-6 years

Riddle Sideways: am trying it now

Bruce Mowbray nods.

Riddle Sideways: mostly good results

Storm Nordwind: Superior for scholars

Bruce Mowbray: Anyone tried BING?

Storm Nordwind: And anyone who values their privacy

Riddle Sideways: Bing seemed bad

Riddle Sideways: almost evil

Storm Nordwind: Give me the 30 sec elevator pitch for Bing

Bruce Mowbray: Yeah, a Microsoft product.

Riddle Sideways: it is by M$

Riddle Sideways: and for M$

Riddle Sideways: 7 seconds

Storm Nordwind: hehe!

Bruce Mowbray: I don't use it, but it's the default search engine for Edge.

Storm Nordwind: I remember Edge, the few seconds before it went in the recycle bin

Bruce Mowbray nods.

Bruce Mowbray: It comes standard with a new PC, though.

Bruce Mowbray: (unless it's an Apple)

Storm Nordwind: Sure. So it was the first thing on the bin on mine :)

Riddle Sideways: almost all of them want to have Amazon sell me "what does error 1234 mean" because it is on sale now

Bruce Mowbray: Hmmmm

Storm Nordwind: Ask Siri to ask Google for a translation ;)

Storm Nordwind: Or that Linux thing you use

Bruce Mowbray: http://www.wiki-errors.com/err.php?wiki=1234

Storm Nordwind foregts the rather elegant name

Riddle Sideways: ha, Alexa (Amazon) does not play Google tunes

Riddle Sideways: PiCroft broke

Storm Nordwind: What's the name of the Linux thing. Is it something like Mycroft?

Riddle Sideways: Pi-Croft

Storm Nordwind: Oh!

Bruce Mowbray: :)

Riddle Sideways: Mycroft on a Raspberry Pi

Storm Nordwind: Gotcha

Riddle Sideways: and soon to have Pi-Hole running also

Riddle Sideways: as an ad-blocker

Storm Nordwind: Mycroft being the ACD character

--BELL--

Bruce Mowbray: https://mycroft.ai/documentation/picroft/

Riddle Sideways: still wondering when consciousness starts

Storm Nordwind: Where does it get its knowledge from?

Riddle Sideways: Alexa and Google Home go to their web

Riddle Sideways: Picroft goes to whichever 'Skill' is called

Riddle Sideways: thanks, just remembered of project that needs finishing

Bruce Mowbray: Google now sends me monthly records of everywhere I go. . . and the times of my arrival and departure from those places. Disconcerting.

Bruce Mowbray: And it has my "home" as the water tower in a nearby village....

Bruce Mowbray: since that's where my internet signal comes from.

Riddle Sideways: the house router's dynamic IP stopped being published to a website

Storm Nordwind: Do you find it useful? Otherwise why would you let it monitor you like that?

Bruce Mowbray: How would I stop it?

Bruce Mowbray: I guess I could tell Google not to?

Riddle Sideways: yes, your location is where the last tower is

Bruce Mowbray: Hmmm. That would be in a town five miles away...

Bruce Mowbray: Excellent signal, though. Even in storms.

Riddle Sideways: has this location at about 4 miles away

Bruce Mowbray nods.

Riddle Sideways: well, they are going to keep tracking you whether they tell you or not

Bruce Mowbray: I guess so.

Storm Nordwind: Google thinks I am in Ukraine right now, apparently.

Riddle Sideways: the traffic logs will still be around

Riddle Sideways: good

Riddle Sideways: unless you want to view certain sites

Riddle Sideways: movies, youtubes

Bruce Mowbray: When I went to southern Kentucky to watch the eclipse last August, Google could tell me months later exactly where my motels were and when I arrived at each restaurant, gas station, etc.

Storm Nordwind: It's usually beneficial. And I can change to a different proxy elsewhere if it's not

Riddle Sideways: yes, they want reviews written of visits to shops, diners, gas stations

Bruce Mowbray: I frequently use VPN's in the Far East... like the Philippines or Malaysia...

Riddle Sideways: ha, have a notice on phone to review a diner (not gone into) that is next to the computer fixit guy's shop

Bruce Mowbray: I figure that bandwidth in the Far East is not being used as much if it's the middle of the night there.

Bruce Mowbray: OH, I hate that review thing.

Bruce Mowbray: Well, time for me to be scraping up supper and fixing my webpage of the larva.

Storm Nordwind: And me to fix the marinade

Bruce Mowbray: Bye for now, good people.

Storm Nordwind waves