Logbook: Random
AI and Fast food, A marriage made in hell.
I have been thinking, I was hungry and went to a Burger King and there was a profound difference. The store was near empty, The front kiosk was devoid of life and replaced with computers. At the wall was 3 computers that had screens with “order here!” , In the first five seconds of looking around I felt unwelcomed with a place that looked closer to a funeral home , most of the old decor was removed. In its place was ugly sterile furniture.
Before this to make an order you walked up to a human and said “Hi i would like to order a original chicken sandwich meal. They would put that in the machine, you’d pay with cash and be on your way.
Now there is a massive change that basically makes you create the meal from scratch. You go to the machine, you tap order . You scroll around through menus until you get to your original chicken sandwich. From there it goes into a conundrum. You get a menu with 45 different options. Mentally you are going “I just want a fucking original chicken sandwich” . They have made the same trap that subway has, Go there and try to order and Italian sandwich, you spend 10 minutes trying to remember the base components of the damn thing. This methodology turns you into an unpaid worker.
With this, the human element is gone. they have replaced 3 workers that could be floaters helping in rushes with stuff, Now its 3 to 5 cold machines that sit there , they don’t say hello, they don’t say Hi nice day isn’t it what would you like to order. You have to dick around with a machine for 10 minutes because you have no idea how to assemble the thing you want. Now with the cost of those machines and the upkeep and the electricity they have replaced 3 to 4 workers with a machine that likely cost more than what those workers would of made in the time those employees would of made in the churn lifetime of those workers. Not only that those machines are likely taken care of devs that are paid to keep the machines updated. This tech is not fire an forgot , there is a near constant maintenance. You likely replaced 4 workers with a computer that cant help in a rush when a school bus drops 70 kids plus 4 teachers. Those computers cant help bag , get fries, and help with other things. so with the leftover staff they are now picking up the fluff work that normally is hidden from them and their process time doubles. these machines are strategically inefficient. They have hidden costs, while workers may fuck up, machines can absolutely fuck up because they are absolutist. These machines do not have intuition , they will not adjust the frialator because they can not see 4 school buses pull up and 5 teachers approaching.
Outside it gets worse , the person who used to be on the radio is gone . replaced with an AI that basically is dumber than dirt because variable is its enemy , If you say I’d like an order of umm A whooper with fries and a coke and um no cheese. the AI will likely fuckup.
“We are witnessing the loss of humanity of America through a drive-thru speaker. We traded the ‘Hi, how are you?’ with machines that can’t handle a stutter or slurring. These machines are a ADA nightmare under the guise of Innovation, They replaced the ‘Floater’ with a ‘lamp that pretends to be a computer. And when the system inevitably crashes with the arrival 4 school buses, they’ll blame the Staff instead of the machines that caused it.
We need to talk about “smart” devices…
In this world of AI and smart devices we are leaning towards a smart Armageddon. There are so many stupid smart devices out there. Smart Water bottles ? Fuck that, they are likely stealing your data and location. Smart Toasters? Fuck that you can turn a knob and almost 500$. Smart thing you piss on for tracking hydration.
The sad sad story about this of all of these smart devices that claim to make your life easier are doing one thing. They are taking data from your life apart one piece of data at a time. You end up losing your own agency and sovereignty. They end up selling every piece of your life away for pennies, then reselling that and making more money… if you need a true smart device, buy a whiteboard, it’s safer. it will not steal your data. A whiteboard doesn’t leave you open to marketing unless you pin a pizza advertisement to it. If the smart device company goes out of business you have a Dumb smart brick. You are stuck with someone else’s mistake and a worthless product.
These smart on-the-go devices like water bottles also leak your position in real time with Bluetooth. They are as secure as a screen door on a sub made of paper. Your data also has no chain of ownership, so once your data gets “analyzed” you lost a bit of yourself. You have NO idea where this data is sold off too. This is the sick future of things you will not be able to take a shit without that data being sold off.
If you think about it , a whiteboard is more secure than all of these devices. A smart toaster could leak information about you to an insurance company, You’d have no idea why your rates shot up because they bought data on your carb habits. the piss tracker for hydration could “leak” data saying you are a health risk because you do not drink enough. These billion dollar companies spend more time buying data about you than talking to you. One of the biggest spies in the world …. Walmart!! Walmart could train the CIA. Walmart is turning into a data company that just happens to sell you socks when you need them while tracking your phone. When you are in their stores buying smart shit they follow you around the stores with facial recognition, they likely buy the information from the smart device makers to “help” you make informed decisions. Walmart has used this ecosystem to generate 6.4 billion dollars! they are planing devices inventory tracking that have Bluetooth, the funny thing about that it’s not about that . every time a mobile phone passes these devices will become aware that your phone has passed it . they will map you out through the store and see your exact habits. at that point just buy a cucumber some Vaseline and condoms, While checking out if there are any employees left just say your going to have some fun tonight. Just to screw with metrics. .
But in all when purchasing a “smart” device, ask yourself, Do i really need this device to be smart. Coffee parts are smart enough with the built in clock. your smart enough to put the grinds in the coffee pot , You are smart enough to add water. If you need something more smart, Upgrade to a Prosumer level or a commercial grade. Don’t get distracted by apps , Features you don’t need or See things on your phone. because in the case of the coffee pot you pass by it 20 times a day in your house.
Because, In the end you need to ask yourself, what did they remove to add the “smart” tech. What happens to the device if you lose internet. There are coffeepots out there that already stop working when the internet is off. How reliable is the small computer that tracks you in the device, will a device like a toaster stop working when toasters have worked nearly 100 years if the “smart” dies. The whiteboard is your best device if you need to track things. if you really need a “smart” coffeepot buy a smart plug and a dumb coffeepot with a switch if you really need a smart coffeepot. the plus is less data leaky about your caffeine habits.
Final thoughts here, if you need a smart device that doesn’t really need it , Buy a smart plug. That’s my opinion. The smart plug will leak data but at worst they will leak Wattage use vs hard data. Need a smart crockpot. skip it . buy a smart plug and you can turn it on in the middle of the day and all the smart plug knows is you turned the plug on. Not stuff they sneaked into device or menus asking what you are cooking to have you volunteer more data.
in the end buy a smartplug with 1800w 15a so you don’t burn your house down anciently and moreover don’t give anyone data on when you are cooking your 239842398 alarm chili in your crockpot.
I’m not saying all smart devices are bad, but you need to think about what you are giving up the first time you sign into an app. If you really want to have that “smart” device – Buy a dumb device and use a smart plug, it is cheaper in more ways you than you can count. You do not lose your personal security. A smart plug might give up the energy your using and perhaps some network mapping. A smart device with an app on its own is a spy that will leech every bit of data it can get.
In all that’s my opinion… Now back to my coffee from my non smart pot.
The problem with the 24 news cycle slop and the disjuncted mind..(part 1)
Things feel bleak in my corner of the world. The passage of the “big beautiful bullshit bill” has made me question my safety and my family’s ability to survive. Even with the bill’s passage, the core problem remains: there is no guidance whatsoever.
Moreover, there is a weekly drumbeat. Complete and utter deafening chaos. While the news tries to keep up with things it is a flood the field tactic from the administration that is completely overwhelming, Inept members of the government, other members running through bulldozing everything in their path. Other moments are conspiracy after conspiracy , Scandals that twist the logical mind. Conflicts of interest, Acting like a certain dictator from WWII .
Now the latest scandal, which really isnt new. It’s just bubbled to the surface as things tend to do and this one is big. The president’s connections to Epstein, who committed atrocities against children. This one you cant ignore. It’s everywhere. This scandal should be thoroughly investigated. Trumps reactions to this are blatantly evasion. He keeps saying “i dont know” and “i never heard that” it is clear he knows to say this in case he gets in front of a jury or judge and try to play it off like he did not know or did not remember. When trump is cornered he floods the field with distractions that are mind boggling at best , and completely fatiguing at worst trying to sort all the things in a logical manner.
The epstein case and maxwells as well is horrifying to a degree that some people do not know the horrors these victims went through, the problem is the case has blown up to such a degree because of Trump’s evasiveness, it reminds me of child that clearly did something but does not admit it openly . As if you asked a child “What did you do?” and the child automatically says “I did not burn that forest down!” .
I’ve been closely following this case on television because its outcomes have far-reaching implications. Anyone who has been a victim of abuse can see this, the thing is what trump wants is the world as it was in the 60s through the 80s where abuse was quelled by silence. A deadly Silence. Whether it be fear, embarrassment, threats or otherwise. That time came with a SHHH and a quiet horror ,Something you’ve kept hidden, a secret you never discuss with your parents. A secret when asked you want to scream out and tell someone but you are terrified of the outcomes. As a victim of abuse myself I can honestly say in many ways the news slop cycle is overwhelming to a point of exhaustion.
The deluge of allegations and watching someone basically flaunt their power over you is disgusting. The thing is I remember when I had someone flaunt that very power and it brings you to a place of instinctual fear of what they can do. The fear of telling, the threat over you for telling. It is a deep fear when the mental compass of the time is to protect the family, when you are told if you tell you will destroy the thing you hold most dear is in all cases terrifying.
Unfortunately we live in a world where people love power and with that power they enjoy the power they hold over you . Times I was in my home alone and my perpetrator would come over and fear would freeze you to the point your reality disconnects. You are stuck in a contradictory world. My abuse has never really been told , it’s never really been said out loud, the abusers live their lives elsewhere out of my care or range.
But to any survivors out there. You can survive and thrive. The hardest victory is the one inside. To the people who did the horrors on them, They can fuck off. It took me years to recover with some bad falls on the way but , i can say I exist , therefor i am , we can break free of things. It took time. It took speaking up. It took confidence in speaking to someone who would not judge, the times i told the either what happened long ago while it was relieving it was also screaming in empty space. TO what i can say to you the reader. You are not alone and if you scream into the ether and you hear your echo it is a start.
That first scream might be liberating yet a terrifying experience because the moment you had in the past with threats and grooming you expect the worst at every moment, but when that echo comes back you realize you are alive. Nothing happened. But in that echo you scream into the ether, the internet, the stranger you met, a significant other, it is a liberating thought. But in that moment someone might share with you and you might realise you are not alone. in itself it is one of the most warming thoughts . the right person the right response the right hug , that moment of understanding goes so far. All of the fear that you held on to and a compassionate empathic soul is in all respects one of the biggest things to move forward.
Moving forward can be hard. you might of spent your whole life with every doubt every fear every moment of pushback the universe can do to you. Sometimes it’s ok to just stop , but don’t mire yourself . Even if you take that moment to go I can’t go on forever. Than don’t. Move in the moments you can stop in the moments you can rest. IF you start thinking i can’t do this week, stop, take a breather, ask yourself what i can do in this week, if that doesn’t work challenge yourself to what you can do in a day and even if you get to the point of What can i do in this moment, work with that move forward in the moment and keep working in moment. Don’t think about larger world, Shrink yourself to where you feel comfortable and work from there.
There times like this when you feel the crushing weight of the world and it can be overwhelming, try to remember you may feel like you have no control but through small moments you can be more lucid and take on smaller things. overall small direct movements and understand the moment. take a moment to yourself. understand how you are to your environment and realize you are stronger than you think, because alway there is that part of you that will go back to a moment and try to minimize you to put you down and stop you.
You can do it . small affirmation of you and your prowess to survive. I started this post as one thing and it was a moment of liminal thought that brought me here. But as i typed i felt empowered. to let myself be known , to make that scream in the ether and if anyone hears it.. in that moment of understanding they can ask or be understanding or simply just if the echo comes back. Be happy you said something.
It’s June ..
I’ve been updating a little more , its been missed but the atomic bullshit of the world pretty much made the last 3 years a blank spot. In a way I am glad I did not post and in another way I know i should of. Sometimes the clarity of the world is a bit brighter in pixels when you can weed out the bullshit. 
Bullshit is everywhere , Everyone trying to forward there own agendas just to do something what they want to do without care for others , and when its brought up its brought up in a way that they bring the person staying out into the bullshit. With all of the bullshit thought I remain happy in way , Happier than I’ve been in ages. I wake up knowing the bullshit is outside when I wake up and in parts of my body but none the less the mornings start bullshit freeish*.
The annoyance of where the bullshit starts is me, my bullshit body more specifically … I was given a bad hand in the genetics department and if I wrote everything down here that was known about my genetics you’d all go that’s bullshit. I live in pain day to day , and its really bullshit, to the point that I do not feel like bullshiting with people because my pain is to the degree of bullshit. The degree of things I do to keep myself going is pretty maddening to say the least, though I always say things could be worse. I spent the last year trying to get down on my medications in order not to feel like another bullshit situation that has darkened the last few years.
I’ve got to the point where therapy actually has done more harm than good and its really one of those moments that makes you reflect on what kind of bullshit I have to deal with. It is sad when the thing that is supposed to help me heal is actually diametrically opposed to what it actually did, The bullshit meter is off the charts on that one. 
Its getting to tough times , I am not sure where the future will lead and I know it will be tough but, I know this. I will wake up in the morning and I will say bullshit to the pain I know that will eventually curtail my days actions. I do what I can and I will continue to do what i can. I wake up in pain I goto sleep in pain. There was an episode of House that actually made an expression of how I feel . Here’s a quote.
For all the times I wake up in the morning thinking today will be good I am proven wrong with my body going bullshit and having the feeling of having a hot piece of glass shoved through my arm while having it frozen than hot water splashed liberally over it. It pisses me off , It punishes those around me since I cant do anything. I feel like I have no worth. Worse is when I try to hide my condition because I don’t compassion , I want to be normal and sometimes people just take advantage of It. I hide my pain for other peoples comfort and sometimes its a bit much and I withdraw. Sometimes keeping the “nice” face on is more of a pain than the pain it self. When I show myself its because I am comfortable and I know that who i show myself to cares. but otherwise If your going to walk over me or say something contrary to the position when you have no knowledge of , please keep your bullshit to yourself you’re contributing to global warming from the bullshit that’s spraying from your lips and all the hot air.
To which end.. the people who I let into my world and I let them see under my shell. I am glad they are there. They understand me and have kept me sane enough to wake up every morning and face the bullshit with a smile* (or whatever face i can muster that’s marginally better than agonized.) . Maybe they will never see this post but know this I love them very much for putting up with my bullshit.
Anyhow… Till next post.
PS: the word of the day is bullshit! (22)
Attack of the Christmas part III
Another year another holiday , What used to be called Christmas creep to me is now attack of the Christmas. When they started Christmas stuff in October I was angry, but now it seems we cant get the fuck through summer without some sort of Christmas. Every Year we are losing the war on Christmas , soon we are going to get Christmas advertisements in April .. I was walking through a store in AUGUST… and what do I see to fill me with enough rage to make me light plastic santa clauses on fire… this…..
Are you fucking kidding me… ?
My answer to this ..
Stores wonder why there Christmas sales are so poor around Christmas. They do not think that forcing christmas down our throat early and earlier is a bad thing. Actually it is . It starts to wears people out faster when they start having christmas music vomited out of every speaker in store just to get in the “spirit” of shopping. This does not get me in the spirit at all, moreover it gets me in the spirit of getting the fuck out of that store faster. In the long run companies lose out on profits by spreading out christmas more because people are like likely to impulse buy with christmas that is months and months away. Instead they will make decisions that will save some money and not do the christmas rush. Not that I support the christmas early thing, but it spreads a lesser profit over a year and actually could result in less profits for the company. These companies should put christmas back where it belongs after thanksgiving and focus on that time rather than bitch and moan that black friday was a huge loss. Well fucking Duh …. People bought all there shit in August when you started putting your shit out.
If you give me the choice of proctology by hand grenade or Christmas music in the middle of the year. I will most definitely take the hand grenade thank you . It is less painful and it gets you out of listening to the Christmas music.
As far as advertisements are concerned K-mart has earned a special place in hell this year. They put on a commercial for christmas by saying it was not a Christmas commercial. They seriously need a lesson in fucking timing.
They use weasel wording to get around the topic that its a christmas related commercial and try to act coy about it . By saying its not christmas and having santa drive by in a handicap cart … wow fuck you K-mart. Whoever the suit at K-mart thought this was a great idea should have a polar ice cap shoved up his ass.
Phone fun part MMMMDCCCLXXIII (Han shot first!)
In the last edition of Phone fun I had picked up the Galaxy Note 3. Now this phone is about the size of a small moon but does not hold a dime of the planet sized Galaxy Mega. Now while in hardware the phone is good but the software side of the phone can be completely rage inducing.
For all the phones functions there are parts of the phone that are completely annoying. Having to reset every wifi password every month or so just annoys the hell out of me. For whatever reason when the phone has a poor wifi connection it decides its a good time to dump every wifi password on the phone.
There should be no reason on this earth to do this. What ever process samsung made in making this phone had to been a result of being high and saying “dude wouldn’t be funny when people had a bad connection to make all the passwords disappear!”
The above image is the results of what happens when my phone decides to dump passwords on a weak connection. some of the passwords for wifi are more complicated than quantum theorem.
The UI of the phone is also bothersome . like they overcomplicated the whole UI to make it simpler Yet somehow made it more complicated. While annoying I simply replaced the UI it was kind of a duct taped maneuver because it did not stop the more annoying elements. While google experience is a really simple nice UI touchwiz still attempts to rear its ugly head when you do other things.
I really do wish that phone manufacturers would allow for a stock UI …. Rather than install all the random bullshit with no options to remove.
For example.. Beep and go.. Fuck beep and go with a hand grenade, when it updates itself it decides that it shall annoy the ever living fuck out of you not matter the hour of night . I hear a notification in the middle of the night getting up thinking somethings wrong its Beep and blow… “Would you like to add cards for your shopping experience.” FUCK THAT . uninstalling bleep and fuck only updates itself again . I don’t give a flying fuck about installing my customer loyalty cards to my phone. I don’t need Creep and GO to know what I am buying. they can go fuck themselves with a fire hydrant. Sadly enough I’d pay 50$ to buy the phone without bloatware just to not have to deal with that kind of shit.
Any app that has a push notification needs to die. I do not need to be reminded that I have not played a game in 20minutes. thats grounds for instant uninstall for me.
Things I allow notifications for.. Weather alerts/ Text messages / Emails / Missed calls. anything else is useless, including facefuckspace.
the first thing an app should ask when it has notifications is ask. if you say no . give the are you sure and never ask again function. because if you annoy me to the tiniest degree its to the shit can with your app.
People should stand up against annoying apps instead they just deal with the annoyances .
And weird news out there. sorority cow house has taco night… Explosion Injuries one.
Flatulence from 90 cows in a German barn sparked a methane gas explosion that damaged the building and left one cow slightly injured with burns, police said Tuesday.
“In the barn for 90 dairy cows, methane built up for unknown reasons and was probably ignited by a static discharge, exploding in a darting flame,” said local police in the central town of Rasdorf in Hesse state.
“Parts of the roof cover were slightly damaged and a cow suffered minor burns,” said police, adding that a fire crew rushed to the scene of Monday’s accident and a gas field crew later measured methane levels.
Aside from the taco joke, That has to be sight to be seen. cow farts gone critical.
Bessy the night before had Indian food, When questioned she was not aware of her emissions till she had lit up a smoke for the night . 
Must be a slow news day….
More coffee….. We all need it some days.
Since I’ve moved into my new place, I have a conundrum for the ages. As a drinker or better said a former drinker of outside coffee because I was too impatient to wait for the coffee pot , have the coffee cool down than make it into an iced coffee. I’ve bought coffees from almost every major company that served iced coffee. But as the years press on and the coffee gets watered and cheapened its getting very hard to make a choice , Now i can’t blame the companies , Its more over the franchisees . There are problems all around, They have crazy employee turnover and skip on machines in order to earn more money.
Formally, You’d have well trained employees that could manipulate the machines , now they just do whatever the hell they please when making coffee. For the milk and cream containers they have straws that need to be cut to a certain length , You just do not see that anymore, also the portioning has gone fucking nuts. Dunkin Donuts for explain if you ask for extra sugar , You summon the Brimley god and have to sign a contract.
I’ve said in other post that i’ve sort of cracked the enigma code of ordering from dunkin donuts, if you look at the receipts they do not list regular sugar/ Medium sugar /Extra sugar/Extra super Diabeetus sugar. If you watch the cash register when you order a coffee you will see the coffee droid press the Sugar button with a fix amount of sugar 1 2 3 4 5 6 sugars normally, I’ve seen these go higher. For the poor souls that do not know this system and ask for extra extra sugar they normally get this in there coffee!
There maybe a dunkin donuts under that pile! After they get a bulldozer to check where it is .
Honey Dew on the other hand 95% of the time they are fairly good repulsing the Brimley god away, Even asking for extra sugar the does not quake with the Eventual resurrection of the Brimley god. On a rare occasion at honey dew though you will get a new worker that makes the mistake of it but they are whipped tortured and appeased to the brimley god so he does not rise. My only problem with honey dew these days is travel time. I walk or ride my bike so its a little bit of a huff to get to my preferred coffee. Though my bike was just stolen not too long ago. So my options are not really that great right now due to limited travel and health issues and being disabled does not help me get a bike .
Starbucks ….. Is …. Special , there is no way about this, they are just damn special. The last time I attempted getting coffee from there was a failure on all levels. Ten monkeys on miralax had a better chance of getting my coffee, I walked in thinking hey no line, A guy working on a particle physics book and 5 workers…. I thought to myself “this just might work” The person in front of me ordered a simple coffee and I thought this will be quick. I have no idea of the mental breakdown between five workers and two customers could reach critical mass this easy. So after standing around watching these coffee baristas in action, THis is where all things started going down hill. Out of the 5 coffee droids 4 had short outs and the register droid was broken as well. The order was made and from Cashout to coffee serve was longer than 10 minutes. I have never seen so many question in my life about an order and I tried to be patient. While Starbucks is a bit higher in price i was ready to pay the premium to avoid Dunkin Gonuts. Wrong move there, I should of just rolled around in coffee grinds while forcing K-cups into my eyes. I ended up leaving ten minutes into this exorcize of watching how coffee is made by professionals.
This was the final straw, I’ve gone to making my own iced coffee. Sure it has a learning curve, but the money savings are excellent. In 3 weeks i’ve only bought myself coffee outside the house 2 times and both were goooooood.
You can make your coffee any damn way you want it . Even if you want nuclear death coffee or coffee that you can mess with genetics with and rewrite the base of the universe. Overall i’ve spent 10 dollars on making my own coffee and its worked out really well. I keep perfecting my coffee to the taste i want. which is pretty much Stronger than all of the coffee shops aaround without tasting like burnt donkey ass (starbucks) Coffee Flavored Water (dunkin) Or A fairly ok Coffee for day to day that i miss (Honey Dew) . But the savings are extreme by making your own coffee…. I’ve likely been saving somewhere around 5$ a day by avoiding coffee shops.
Note: this post was made at 4:30, I’m half brain-dead.
With a new place to live i am testing more ways to make coffee and trying to replicate drinks from coffee places and see what I can come up with. I have pretty much nailed down iced coffee to perfection of what i want.
In two and a half weeks my wallet is also noticing that i am saving money on my attempt to make my own coffee, From my own math so far in 2.5 weeks if i had gone to a store for coffee everyday I would of spent over 70.40 in coffee , Thats fucking insane, Since I’ve started this i’ve spent less than 15$ for coffee and still have half a bag left.
I am curious to see where this goes and see how much of a savings there is by the 21st of this month… Lets see…
Coffee post to follow up shortly!
I need to post something more often…
I’ve always had these times where i achieve a dead spot on my sites and people consider that I’ve been abducted by aliens or something…
is 1080p Really worth it?
Since buying a monitor with a HD tuner in march I’ve been watching some tv but a pattern has emerged that I’ve noticed. The lack of 1080p tv, Even though that all the major providers say they have HD , it seems like the definition is about as tangible at best. There is lack of 1080p on tv itself.
Since the introduction of “HD” there seems to be a downhill slide of quality of the programing what was on tv a year ago seems to be in a better quality than today’s HD. Mostly you notice the highest quality in sporting events. but if you look at a sporting event today you’d notice that there either using compression or a lower quality camera than before.
I have to laugh when it comes to the sale of a TV with the push of “OMG IT DOES 1080p!” In most cases with that the difference between 1080i/p 720p is going to be barely noticeable. Best Buy has there 1080p caroling commercials on lately and it begs this question…
Is 1080p worth it?
personally my opinion is NO unless all you do is watch movies all day as far as a tv is concerned. You can get along just fine with a 720p TV (which will likely do 1080i) . The HD market is a bad place theres alot of market speak that would leave ANYONE confused.
If you buy a TV to watch TV the best thing to do is save yourself perhaps hundreds of dollars by getting a 720p tv , if your the mad movie watcher or have a PC hooked to the TV 1080p is the way to go.