Also, a cell phone's microphone is awful at being an omnidirectional mic. You need to talk directly at it, even in speaker mode. This is by design, to reject background noise.
Something like an Echo, on the other hand, is designed to listen from all directions, even if you're across the room.
Or just return it for credit and buy something else. Gift receipt.
Bonus points if you can do subtle damage to it before returning, so it still appears to turn on, but will cost the seller (i.e. Amazon or Google and their affiliates) money.
A keyboard CrAPPlet has no need for access to contact data, let alone to upload it to an outside server. There could be only two reasons: to spam, or to sell it.
Either way, hope the company gets sued to Kingdom come and its founder ends up jailed.
How about this: government mandate that people be allowed to control their devices? Because it's in humankind's and the Earth's interest to reduce e-waste.
You can get a giant box of assorted Legos Techic parts online for $35. Let them be creative. I never followed the build instructions, frankly, always went rogue and built what I wanted.
"Race traitor" is just slang for "someone who's dating/got married to a member of a different 'race' that's more attractive than someone whom you'd ever hope to meet."
And I use 'race' in quotes, because biologically-speaking, there's only one race. The human one. All other distinctions are mostly arbitrary.
Computers should last at least 5-10 years. The idea of throwing one out because the OS is outdated is stupid -- I'm typing this on a 6 year old Thinkpad which works beautifully once upgraded with 8GB RAM and SSD.
Our throw-away society is just contributing to pollution from manufacturing devices and from disposal of e-waste (recycling is a nice idea, but somewhat of a myth in reality).
If the people doing these things can be stopped via probation and intervention before they graduate to more serious/violent crime, that's a good thing. Sending them to "crime university" aka "gang induction camp" aka state prison for 5-10 years is a stupid solution. The solutions are availability of educational opportunities to all, availability of mental health intervention, and keeping people out of jail when possible.
1% incarceration rate shows that our system is failing at what it's supposed to do.
So cut the bills. No, I don't mean cut spending on schools. I mean, reduce police forces by 50%. Limit jail population and consolidate jails. Stop spending money on petty drug, consenting-adult prostitution, immigration, and moral crime enforcement (drinking in public, etc). Only go after actions that directly and immediately endanger others in the community.
is a good integrated, CHEAP university system in more cities and states. Take the NYC university system -- it has schools ranging from community colleges to 4 year universities to graduate schools. Pricing is either free or at most 6 to $8000 per year for in-state tuition. And credit tends to transfer easily between schools, so someone who does well at a community college can move into a 4 year school to finish a bachelor's degree.
But no, a lot of states and cities have a public university system that concentrates more on sports than academics.
Who needs a "standard set?" Buy them a few giant bags/boxes of Technic pieces, see what they can build:
https://www.amazon.com/1LBS-LE...
You don't actually need the "mindstorm" computer stuff to be creative. Gears, pulleys, wheels, etc can be a lot of fun on their own.
(3&4) Kick back, slow down, drop back. Public schools and 10-year old cars work just fine -- and screw what the neighbors think. If they judge you, they're not worth your time anyway.
No, it's about shopping till you go dropping, maxing out credit cards, and lowering your bank balance to buy plastic crapola made by sweatshop workers that will be in a landfill inside of the year.
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Kitchen timer? Sheesh, you can buy one for a a buck or two.
There's a difference between a malicious actor listening in to a few devices and a large company doing so BY DESIGN.
Considering the number of Americans that shoot while hunting or at a pistol range, that would generate a lot of false positives.
Also, a cell phone's microphone is awful at being an omnidirectional mic. You need to talk directly at it, even in speaker mode. This is by design, to reject background noise.
Something like an Echo, on the other hand, is designed to listen from all directions, even if you're across the room.
Or just return it for credit and buy something else. Gift receipt.
Bonus points if you can do subtle damage to it before returning, so it still appears to turn on, but will cost the seller (i.e. Amazon or Google and their affiliates) money.
A keyboard CrAPPlet has no need for access to contact data, let alone to upload it to an outside server. There could be only two reasons: to spam, or to sell it.
Either way, hope the company gets sued to Kingdom come and its founder ends up jailed.
How about this: government mandate that people be allowed to control their devices? Because it's in humankind's and the Earth's interest to reduce e-waste.
How about this: expect an unlocked bootloader so you can install your OS of choice on it.
You can get a giant box of assorted Legos Techic parts online for $35. Let them be creative. I never followed the build instructions, frankly, always went rogue and built what I wanted.
"Race traitor" is just slang for "someone who's dating/got married to a member of a different 'race' that's more attractive than someone whom you'd ever hope to meet."
And I use 'race' in quotes, because biologically-speaking, there's only one race. The human one. All other distinctions are mostly arbitrary.
Computers should last at least 5-10 years. The idea of throwing one out because the OS is outdated is stupid -- I'm typing this on a 6 year old Thinkpad which works beautifully once upgraded with 8GB RAM and SSD.
Our throw-away society is just contributing to pollution from manufacturing devices and from disposal of e-waste (recycling is a nice idea, but somewhat of a myth in reality).
If the people doing these things can be stopped via probation and intervention before they graduate to more serious/violent crime, that's a good thing. Sending them to "crime university" aka "gang induction camp" aka state prison for 5-10 years is a stupid solution. The solutions are availability of educational opportunities to all, availability of mental health intervention, and keeping people out of jail when possible.
1% incarceration rate shows that our system is failing at what it's supposed to do.
So cut the bills. No, I don't mean cut spending on schools. I mean, reduce police forces by 50%. Limit jail population and consolidate jails. Stop spending money on petty drug, consenting-adult prostitution, immigration, and moral crime enforcement (drinking in public, etc). Only go after actions that directly and immediately endanger others in the community.
No need for an American behemoth muscling in on the Australian market and destroying local businesses. Keep out.
Yes, I'm American, but I see what Amazon is doing to independent businesses in the US and don't wish it on anyone else.
Matter of opinion, but NYC having a good university system for the price is less of a matter of opinion.
is a good integrated, CHEAP university system in more cities and states. Take the NYC university system -- it has schools ranging from community colleges to 4 year universities to graduate schools. Pricing is either free or at most 6 to $8000 per year for in-state tuition. And credit tends to transfer easily between schools, so someone who does well at a community college can move into a 4 year school to finish a bachelor's degree.
But no, a lot of states and cities have a public university system that concentrates more on sports than academics.
Who needs a "standard set?" Buy them a few giant bags/boxes of Technic pieces, see what they can build: https://www.amazon.com/1LBS-LE... You don't actually need the "mindstorm" computer stuff to be creative. Gears, pulleys, wheels, etc can be a lot of fun on their own.
(3&4) Kick back, slow down, drop back. Public schools and 10-year old cars work just fine -- and screw what the neighbors think. If they judge you, they're not worth your time anyway.
$2.50 is overpriced for store-bought coffee. The local bodega (deli) on the way to work charges a buck a cup, and it's not charred like Starbucks.
Make your own, but also don't overpay for chain coffee shops.
They are very much luxury items. Does anyone really NEED a plastic monkey-doll that fits on the fingers?
Anyone with a bit of imagination and some arts-and-crafts supplies could probably make a more interesting doll for about $5 and 30 minutes' time.
No, it's about shopping till you go dropping, maxing out credit cards, and lowering your bank balance to buy plastic crapola made by sweatshop workers that will be in a landfill inside of the year.
So what? The retailers will implement better protection against bots next year, or perish.
Or just ban multiple orders from an IP range known to be used by bots.
You should have sold it and bought her a whole bunch of presents :) Might as well take advantage of the stupid and weak-minded...
Get them something that they can build or make a mess with (painting set, Legos, Erector set, etc) and they'll quickly forget their sadness.