opinion

Fear Culture

This happened on Sunday near me…

Multiple people were injured at Spooky Nook Sports on Sunday afternoon after a sudden disorderly flight of players and spectators from the building caused several people to be trampled, according to Diane Garber, a spokesperson with the East Hempfield Township Police Department.

Emergency units, including numerous firefighters and at least a dozen medic units, were called to the sports complex at 75 Champ Blvd. in East Hempfield Township at 2:26 p.m., a supervisor with Lancaster County-Wide Communications said. Garber said officers were initially dispatched to the sports complex for a report of shots fired, but there was no evidence of a handgun being fired, and no gunshot injuries were reported.

No one even knows what happened to make everyone run but police are fairly certain it was not a gun.

Run. Panic. Scream. That is what we do now.

Touch ID under Duress

A feature that I would like to see on Apple’s Touch ID devices is what I call a “duress” mode.

Let’s say someone is mugging you and demanding that you unlock your device. What if you assigned a specific finger to something called duress mode that does things behind the scenes while appearing to unlock the device.

You could even have a flash “store front” of apps that load up if you use this particular finger. None of them really do anything and your data is still protected. It may even add an extra layer of security that is required to unlock it by Apple. Once your device is put in duress mode, only authorized people could unlock it. By unlock it, I mean get it back to a state where your normal fingerprint would unlock the device. Apple couldn’t directly unlock it.

By using this finger, you have also alerted family, friends, and anyone else you designate that you are in some sort of duress. These messages could include your GPS location etc.

I think in the future, this type of functionality will be necessary. It might even save lives.

Picture from here.

Fireworks Laws

I wasn’t sure but I had a feeling that fireworks were illegal in my area.

Law changed in 2017
Until a few years ago, it was illegal for Pennsylvanians to buy most fireworks, with retailers focusing on sales to outof- state residents. When the law was loosened in 2017, it included some restrictions on exactly where and when fireworks can be set off: It’s illegal to ignite them within 150 feet of any structure or on any public or private property without permission from local authorities. In a densely populated city like Lancaster, that leaves very few places where people can safely ignite fireworks.
The law lays out penalties that local authorities, like Lancaster’s police bureau, can impose for violations: “A person using consumer fireworks in violation of the provisions of this article commits a summary offense and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100.”

Religion Origins

Historical fiction is a story that takes place in a certain period of history but the characters are usually fictional.

Religion is the exact same thing.

Especially if your religions doctrine cannot be independently verified by historians of the time.

That is a very basic requirement. You can make all of the bold claims you’d like in your religious text but if they are true, someone else would have seen it and written it down.

Don’t believe something just because someone says it is true. Find out for yourself. Do the research.

Even if it is your spiritual identity.

Don’t blindly follow anyone.

Ok. Life advice over.

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Sad

Local newspaper shenanigans.

There is no way that the little girl shown below…

1. Gives a shit about school funding or even knows what it means.

2. Is only 2 years old.

Newspaper. Fuck off.

Streaming Services

There are too many of them.

My prediction is that this business model in its current form is unsustainable.

People just want one place to pay and watch; they don’t want 100 of them. That is too much shit to keep track of. One place. One login. Done.

People are lazy. Paying for everything in one spot? How much lazier can you get?

Apple News

I absolutely love the Apple News app.

The News app on my iPhone that is.

The News app on my computer is something quite different. For me, it all comes down to one simple thing. It is the inability to save anything to Instapaper.

Even though I have the option checked and enabled, it simply doesn’t show up as an option. The only options are apple’s built in choices. So, even though it appears you have choice here you don’t.

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Even though I obviously have it checked here…

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I think the phone just works better anyway but there are times when I am charging my phone that I’d like to be able to just use the M1 MBP.

Ok. My venting is over.

The Mystery of Dark Matter

Today’s random thought is about Dark Matter.

As I was sitting here at my desk thinking about all of the things that we are so close to achieving as far as space exploration, I had a wandering thought.

Actually, it was more like a question.

Why do we waste so much time trying to understand something that we made up to explain something that really doesn’t need explaining?

There is air. There is space.

Can we move it along, please?

There are infinitely many more things out there that need to be analyzed, probed, and then probed again.

We are wasting so much precious time on something that may or may not exist. Some people will devote their whole lives to this and to me, that is such a waste. A waste of someone’s life.

I personally believe that if it wasn’t for all of these “side projects” we would probably already have a colony on the moon and also on Mars.

Can you imagine what the world would be like if all of the scientists were focused on achieving one goal. The could all have their roles to play but what if they were all driven towards a common goal?

Wouldn’t that be cool?

Biking Season

I am most pleased about being able to bike back and forth to work once again.

This will be the 3rd day so far this week.

I have been tired for the last couple of days but there is a period of acclamation where the body needs to stop and realize we’re doing this again.

The journey back and forth each day has been extremely wonderful even in the bad weather. It is much different than driving back and forth in a car. You are relying on yourself. It is just you, the bike, and the road.

I’m just happy to be able to do it again.