It’s hilarious that our new President (sigh) complains when unflattering photos of him appear online, so tonight I decided to start a silly little Tumblr with that in mind. More will be added to it now and then. I know it’s super petty and juvenile, but I don’t care… 😀
I’m still processing this election thing. There’s so much depressing stuff happening, and so much of it is unprecedented. The cronyism and nepotism with Trump’s staff picks…the rise of neo-Nazi fucktards who are publicly sieg-heiling him…his refusal to release tax returns…his dodging of the press…his lack of (immediate) post-election outreach to other world leaders…his retention of an unabashed white supremacist shit-stirrer as his closest advisor…the growing list of his conflicts of interest…his very clear intention to use the Presidency to advertise and enrich his private businesses…
It’s overwhelming. Trump and his imminent shitfest of a Presidency are omnipresent in all media. Social media is especially bad, as usual — I can’t even open Facebook without being firehosed in the face with Trump-related memes and rants. Everyone’s saying the same things about the same things and almost none of it offers any hope or optimism. I completely understand and agree with everyone’s fear of what he’s going to do to our country, but there’s only so much of it I can process at once.
So my brain is just kind of frozen in place. 10-15 years ago I would have been blogging daily about every outrageous thing he does! Bush was at least dumber than a box of hair which made him fun to write about. But lately every time I want to write something about all this stuff, some shitty new thing happens in Trumpland and I just slump back into “Why bother?” mode. When I read about Trump trolls spamming Amazon with 1-star reviews for Megyn Kelly’s new book (which none of them have read), or how Europe is freaking out about America’s embracing of neo-Nazis, I just want to go play some videogames or work on my photo projects. Anything to tune it out for a while. Apathy, thy name is…uh, apathy.
However, I have been attempting to understand more about why allegedly sane people would vote for this monster, because it’s not just as simple as “a buncha racists and bigots decided to elect him” (despite what I said in my last post 😀 ). It’s deeper and more complicated than that, and it took me a few days for the shock to wear off before I was willing to try and sort it out. Some good articles about this:
- Bug Hunt
- Democrats, Trump, and the Ongoing, Dangerous Refusal to Learn the Lesson of Brexit
- How Half of America Lost its Fucking Mind
- The Stark Contrast Between GOP’s Self-Criticism in 2012 and Democrats’ Blame-Everyone-Else Posture Now
There are many more out there, it’s pretty interesting. Hillary still won the popular vote by over 2 million, so…I’m not sure what to do with that yet. It’s going to be dissected for the next few years in painful detail, so we’ll just have to see what happens. Preferably in small doses!
As you can imagine, I’m not happy about the elections. I’m glad there wasn’t as much violence as I predicted, though I think if Hillary won things would be much worse out there. Y’all know how angry mobs carrying firearms can be.
Naturally my first impulse was to hammer out a bunch of nasty things about the unsavory people who voted for him, but in the middle of it I thought, “Why resort to insults? Isn’t that what Trump supporters do?” Yes! I should strive to be better than that. Here’s some of what I almost posted:
Not everyone is upset at Trump’s tiny-handed rise to power, of course. After all, he and the GOP went out of their way to include all the lovely colors of the shit-tinged Republican rainbow. White supremacist douchenozzles! Anti-woman fuckfaces! Homophobic shitmonkeys! Extremist Christian troglodytes! Self-hating gay Republican dipshits! Tax-dodging billionaire asswipes! Sscience-denialist fucktards! You name it, they’ve got it. If you’re one of these types or even just leaning in their direction, you’re A-OK in the GOP’s book and you’re bound to be super jazzed with what the new regime comes up with next. Your generous vote will allow him and the GOP live out all their fascist fantasies in the new American theocracy, even though they’ll probably end up fucking you over as well. But at least ya got revenge on them libtards for electing that black guy, right?
Whew, I’m glad nobody will ever read that! I’ve decided not to insult his supporters in such a manner…because that would be distasteful.
Instead, why not look at the effect Trump has had on America in these few days after his election? His supporters are already out there working hard to bring about the change they feel our country needs. So in the spirit of uniting us as Americans, here are some of the deeds Trump has inspired so far.
Trump supporters brutally attack gay man in California
Calgary filmmaker Chris Ball said that he was watching the election results when supporters of the Republican candidate began to lob epithets. ‘We got a new president you fucking faggots,” they said, Ball told Metro Calgary. When Ball left the bar alone later in the night, Trump supporters followed him to an alley way and assaulted him, Ball said. The last thing he remembers before awaking bloody on the pavement was having a beer bottle smashed over his head. Friends took him to the hospital.
But wait, there’s more! These brownshirts Trumpers have so much to give.
- Day 1 In Trump’s America
- Neo-Nazis hold rally at Penn. Capitol, draw hundreds of counter-protestersThe Ku Klux Klan says it will hold a Trump victory parade in North Carolina
- Video catches students shouting ‘white power’ while marching with Trump sign at Pennsylvania school
- ‘Trump is our president now! Get out of our neighborhood now FAGGOTS!!’
- Students at York Vo-Tech “being spit on, attacked, and called names because of their race or perceived Immigrant status”
- ‘F*ck n****rs’: Pro-Trump ‘whites only’ warning greets Minnesota students day after election
- KKK distributes fliers in Birmingham after Donald Trump elected president
- Muslim Women Wearing Hijabs Assaulted Just Hours After Trump Win
- After the election, hackers target think tanks with phishing attacks
- People Share Frightening Images In The Aftermath Of Trump’s Victory
…and on and on and on.
But seriously, folks… This harassment and violence will continue in Trump’s name for years. He’s encouraged it and made it part of his platform, after all. He’s empowered bullies and worse, reframing the worst aspects of human nature as patriotism. 
It took him almost a week to finally come out and half-heartedly tell them to stop, but he wasted almost no time getting on Twitter and pouting about all these anti-Trump protests springing up around the country which are, as we all know, totally legal (minus the idiots who are breaking stuff and hurting others). We needed to elect a leader, but all we got was a whiny little bitch with Putin’s hand up his puppet ass.
So yeah, I’m still bitter.
I’ve been watching the overwhelming torrent of anguish and despair from all over the internet and social media as people begin to realize the horrific things that will be coming from our newly-Republicanized government. People are losing their shit out there. Kinda like how conservatives freaked out when we elected Obama…except this time there are real and rational reasons for being upset. (Eight years later they’re still waiting for him to take away their guns and turn this country into a Muslim police state. I guess he still has a few weeks left to do all that, so stay tuned.) This time the rights of innocent people really are in danger of being snatched away: womens’ rights, healthcare, marriage equality, religious freedom, immigrants’ rights…it’s all on the chopping block. It’s like Christmas morning for these white supremacist Alt-Right twats.
If you’re not a straight white Christian male, your hard-won rights are now hurtling towards a cliff. They’re going to roll civil rights back 40 years in this country. It’s going to be ugly. So prepare yourselves, folks. That whole election circus was just the opening act of something much, much worse. I really, really hope I end up being wrong, but right now things are looking grim as hell.
I’ve also been reading some interesting stuff about why people voted for him in spite of his bigotry, in an effort to better understand it, but this is all I can squeeze out for now…
File this one under #firstworldproblems…
Shopping on Amazon has become increasingly annoying over the past couple of years thanks to a tidal wave of phony reviews that skew product ratings. I call them “phony” because they were written by people who got the item for free or at a steep discount, and all Amazon required was that people state “I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion” somewhere in their review. As a seller, you can sell a completely shitty product and still have great reviews if you provide enough freebies in exchange for “honest” reviews. And these reviews have been proven to be overwhelmingly positive, because (duh!) the reviewers want to continue to get free/discounted stuff. Here, check this out:
By Kermit “Indieviewer” Jones, Jr. on September 25, 2016
WHAT IS THIS, AND WHY MIGHT I WANT IT?: These are stick up lights with motion sensor that are convenient for closets and small spaces where you just need occasional light, but don’t want to go through the process of wiring or having a plug. They have built-in rechargeable batteries, and the LEDs last for for a surprisingly long time.
FIRST IMPRESSION: Nice, clean white appearance. Wasn’t too sure about the plastic “hanger” but it does a good job of letting you pop up anywhere temporarily, with even a thumbtack. Pretty bright, given their small size. Silver trim is a nice touch.
ASSEMBLY: Not much to it. You can hang them on a wall or mount them with the included double-sided 3M mounting tape. To recharge the battery, just twist the light off of the base (sort of like a smoke detector). Goes back on very easily.
FUNCTION: Charging is easy, and the light glows red to let you know. It goes off when charging is done. If you see the video, it shows that even after 5-6 hours of being left on, there is still enough useable light. So if you’re just using these for a few minutes at a time, expect it to last a very long time. The switch is clearly labeled with On, Off, Motion.
I have mine in a closet where we keep over the counter medication in the basket. These lights work well because they automatically come on when I open the door, allowing me to see without having to pull the basket out of the closet. However, while the motion sensor works, it’s not as consistent as I would like, which is why I’m taking off 1 star.
FIT & APPEARANCE: These lights are 3 inches in diameter. White plastic with white light and nice silver trim. There are 5 LEDs that are very bright.
FEATURES: I don’t want to duplicate the description, but a few things to note:- Rechargeable battery! (most of these type lights require AA or AAA)- Convenient to hang or mount- Easy to twist off for recharging- Glow lets you know when it’s charging- Motion sensor is a bonus
BUILD QUALITY: Really good build quality. They don’t feel “cheap” which is nice.
WHAT YOU GET: Two lights with base. Two hangers. Two mounting tape pieces. Two micro-USB charging cords (which is awesome since many manufacturers cheap out on this!). Instructions.
WHAT YOU DON’T GET: No complaints here!
PRICING & VALUE: For the price (and even with the motion sensor issues), this is a good deal. While you may find some that are cheaper, they normally require batteries. The rechargeable batteries, with the 2 included USB cables, make this a really good deal.
NEGATIVES: My only issue is that the motion sensor seems to be a bit random. About 25% of the time it doesn’t work or it is delayed. Not a huge issue for me given the other features, but it is the one thing keeping me from 5 stars.
BOTTOM LINE: Super convenient, perfect size, and rechargeable motion sensor light for those hard to reach dark places.
Don’t forget to check out the video for some other comments that may not be here.
Hey folks! Reviews are a tricky thing… I mean, who do you trust? I also realize that a review of a free product may be considered fundamentally different from that of a product for which one has paid. However, I also believe such reviews can be useful when the review process is respected. I’ve tried to do that here because I want to help others in their decision making process. This product was provided as a sample for my honest and unbiased review, but I hope the detail I have contained herein provides legitimacy in helping you decide whether or not to purchase, regardless of my rating. Please leave any comments below and I’ll get to them as soon as I can.
I can appreciate that he tries to appeal to our skeptical nature with that disclosure at the end, but holy shit…this guy’s hardcore. Still, I had to check FakeSpot.com out of curiosity and what do you know? They graded it an “F” with an estimated 56% of biased reviews. Needless to say, I didn’t end up buying one.
Suddenly, in October Amazon did what we thought was impossible: they banned incentivized reviews!
Amazon is cracking down on biased customer reviews
Amazon updated its community guidelines today to prohibit so-called “incentivized reviews,” which are customer reviews of a product that was received for free or at a discount in exchange for an online write-up. The company says these types of reviews make up a tiny fraction of overall Amazon.com reviews. Yet studies have shown that incentivized reviewers are less likely to give products negative feedback and review hundreds of products on average, potentially affecting the overall sales performance of otherwise mediocre items.
They won’t remove all previous biased reviews, but they’ll apparently do some cleaning-up in that regard. O happy day! Now I can read a review of a $3 keychain flashlight and know that the six-page review was written by a genuine crazy person, not someone who got it for free.
There are now three more days before the election hammer comes down to smite us all. I’m hoping that hammer won’t be wearing the mangy pelt of a roadkilled ocelot on its head, but we’ll just have to wait and see. (Speaking of roadkill, my running list of Trump epithets has just been updated with some great new ones, including a list of names just for his hair. Check it out, it’s therapeutic!)
Anyway, I haven’t written anything since those amazing debates, and now I feel the need to vent a bit before November 8th, a.k.a. Shitmageddon.
Remember back in May I blathered on and on about how stressful and anxiety-inducing this election is, and how I’ve been cutting back on my news and social media exposure just to keep from spiraling into a state of utter despair?
Well, that didn’t last long.
When the debates began, I felt that same sense of dread and the need for avoidance. But I knew that they were going to be different from past debates, and that somehow they’d go down in history for…something. We’ve never seen something quite like this in our elections before, after all. I figured I could either ignore them and read the highlights later, or just dig in and watch them closely to absorb every bit of detail and context I could. So that’s what I did. And it was fascinating. It was like watching a car crash make sweet, tender love to a train wreck whilst hurtling over a cliff.
I’m not going to rehash all the weird shit that happened in the debates because it’s documented in painful detail in a bajillion other places. But it somehow sucked me back into wanting to keep up on everything that’s happening, because this election will be historic in various ways and I don’t want to be one of those people who says, “Yeah, I just tuned it all out. I knew who I was voting for, I don’t need to hear all that other stuff.” That’s fine for those who still feel that way, I’m intensely interested in watching this from all angles because so much is at stake here. I’m not following the news 24/7, but much more than when I was on my news fast.
I’m still anxious and dreading the final outcome, of course, but I want to be fully present for it…because no matter who wins, there’s going to be some ugly fallout. A Trump win will have repercussions for America we can only begin to fathom. We were in Germany in September, and several times we were asked (not only by Germans) about what we think of the election. The world is watching us very closely, and from what I can tell, the majority of them correctly see Trump as the human embodiment of American ignorance and aggression. If he wins, I think there will be major protests and financial damage, and hopefully there will be a challenge by Clinton due to Trump’s connections with Russia and his efforts to mislead and intimidate Clinton voters with obvious scams. Hey, if Trump is allowed to ignore his promise to accept the outcome, why can’t she?
A Clinton win, however, will be better for America in various ways, including our standing in the world, but I predict there will be a lot of violence. Many Trump voters are rabidly unstable — from everything I’ve been seeing and reading, we’re likely to see riots, bombings, and lynchings by Trump’s discouraged, lemming-like minions who think the election was “rigged.” Right-wing militia/terrorist groups have already burned down black churches and mosques thanks to his hate-mongering, and others have been caught plotting to kill Muslim immigrants with bombs.
Right-Wing ‘Crusaders’ Militia Group Plotted Terror Attack On Muslim Immigrants, FBI Charges
WASHINGTON ― Three Kansas men who were allegedly part of a domestic terrorist group called “the Crusaders” were arrested by the FBI on Friday, charged with plotting to carry out an attack on Muslims living in the state.
According to the Department of Justice, the trio allegedly stockpiled firearms, ammunition and explosive materials, and discussed parking four vehicles filled with explosives at the four corners of the apartment complex in order to set off a massive explosion.
Add this to all the armed thugs that Trump has been instructing to show up at polling stations to scare away voters — in the guise of protecting against “voter fraud”, naturally — and you’ve got a recipe for widespread gun violence. Clinton got a lot of hate for her “basket of deplorables” remark, but if the shoe fits… (Side note: of course these guys called themselves The Crusaders. Extremist religious nutjobs like this love pretending they’re valiant destroyers of evil, and Christians especially love military imagery: they’re “soldiers for Christ” using their “swords of God’s light” to fight the “great war against Satan” and all that eyeroll-inducing nonsense.)
Anyway, these are just my predictions and I hope I’m wrong, but I think a lot of people are hyper-polarized enough to cause some real damage out there.
Naturally, much of this polarization is directly related to our reliance on social media for news. After diving back into that cesspool of misinformation and knee-jerk outrage, from what I can see it’s business as usual: Facebook and Twitter continue to be the main vehicles of our intense division, with lying memes and distorted facts blindly accepted as the truth with no critical thinking or basic fact-checking whatsoever.
62% Americans Get News On Social Media
More people in the United States are now turning to social media instead of traditional media for news. According to Pew Research Center, which surveyed over 4,500 people with various backgrounds, an increasingly number of Americans — 62% to be exact — are getting their news from social media platforms such as Facebook, and Instagram. Of the 62% people, 66% of them get their news from Facebook, 23% from Instagram, 21% from YouTube, and 19% from LinkedIn.
62% is bad enough, but…Instagram? LinkedIn? For fuck’s sake…you may as well get your “facts” from MySpace or Walmart.com. (Another side note: what’s with this sudden trend of using commas to separate only two items? You don’t need to write “Facebook, and Instagram”, just “Facebook and Instagram.” I’ve been seeing this a lot these past few months in articles by people who actually write for a living. #stopthatshitrightnow)
Even when meme-ified lies are utterly debunked, how many people actually do any follow-up or otherwise hear about it? Once you state something on Facebook as a fact, it immediately becomes a truth to certain people who believe everything they’re told, and no amount of retraction or correction will matter to them. Their outrage is instantaneous and disproportionately vicious, and these willfully misinformed morons presumably vote.
It’s goddamn disheartening and depressing to think about, and I’ll likely be taking another holiday from Facebook when all this shit is finally over with.
Let’s face it: social media is addictive. If you won’t/can’t cut back on social media, what to do about your pro-Trump friends who are shitting bigotry and crackpot conspiracies all over your newsfeed? Look at it this way: rational and informed people know that a vote for Trump is a vote against basic humanity. It’s not a matter of Republican vs. Democrat anymore — Trump’s vileness runs so much deeper than that. Ask yourself why you’d want to stay in contact with people who support his perverted “values” and destructive vision for America, then ask yourself what it says about their values and view of the world. You don’t have to cut them out of your life entirely (though in some cases it’s recommended), but why allow them to continue projectile-vomiting their pro-Trump diarrhea in your face on Facebook? Mute or unfriend these people. You don’t deserve their verbal and intellectual abuse. Here’s a great piece about why it’s important to clean house:
I Didn’t Unfriend You Over ‘Politics’
…This has absolutely nothing to do with politics (which, quite frankly, is something you should have been able to glean yourself, based on the agreement of a vast number of Republicans). This has to do with a man who is not only unfit for the presidency, but unfit for this country, as he seems to possess an alarming lack of regard for the principles upon which it was founded. And I will not be made to remain friends with people who see his continued attempts at oppression and discrimination as an “inconvenient consequence” of ensuring that their party remain in power.
Because ultimately, if discriminatory practices aren’t a deal-breaker for you, if they don’t inspire in you a pain and an anger so heartbreaking that it leaves you aching for your less-privileged neighbor, then I don’t want to know you. And I shouldn’t have to simply because we shared the same floor freshman year of college.
Luckily I haven’t had to boot anyone from Facebook, which is the one I use the most. The one person I would have had to boot already booted me months ago, and suddenly Facebook seemed like a slightly less awful place to deal with. I do know some people who are likely to vote Trump, including family members, but luckily they don’t discuss it with me. I think they know better. 🙂
Three more days, folks! If I were the religious type I’d be praying like crazy. But since I’m not, I’ll just pour another goblet of wine and hope for the best. Cheers!
Lately 
I’ve been thinking a lot about death. Not so much my own inevitable end, but death in general is on my mind quite a bit these days. I’m starting to reach that point in life (turning 45 today, in fact) where one begins to lose more and more people as time goes on, and it’s brought on some interesting new ponderings. One of the things I’m starting to experience is how social media has changed the way we find out about and deal with someone’s passing. Along with that, we get to see how our online presence tends to outlive us. Like electronic ghosts…
In the past couple of decades the internet has been woven into just about every aspect of our lives, especially social media, and we’re sharing more and more of what used to be set on physical (and more private) media. Remember writing in diaries…on paper? And ordering prints for photos when then go into a scrapbook? Sometimes I miss it….but I also love technology and using the gadgets we now have, and like a lot of other people I tend to just fart everything into the Cloud and forget about it.
So… In November 2014 I got on Facebook and there are all these messages posted to a friend’s profile saying things like: “Steve, why??” “What happened?” “i miss you my best friend.” I thought “WTF?”, with a sinking feeling. Many more messages followed, referring to him in the past tense, and finally it hit me that he had taken his own life. For weeks afterward, people posted messages on there as more and more people found out about it.
Coming to terms with his death and that horrible sense of loss was one thing — but this business of someone’s Facebook profile staying active after their death, and people posting messages to it (and each other), was something new for me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. Is it morbid? Is it helpful to those he left behind? I eventually came to realize that it’s actually kind of comforting to be able to say something “to” him this way, as a form of closure. Or maybe not closure in the traditional sense, because people still occasionally post to it. “Steve, I found this picture of us I never shared with you.” “Happy 40th! Missing you every day!” It’s kinda sweet, and I know his family appreciates it.
A couple of months ago another friend of mine, John, died…and everything happened the same exact way. I checked Facebook before work, began reading all these strange messages to him, and realized he’d died the previous evening. Renal failure from a lifetime of diabetes. It hit me really hard because we were pretty close despite living far apart — so I took the day off because I was completely useless with anything else. I posted a bunch of photos of him/us to his Facebook page and said goodbye in my own way, and all day I read all the other stuff posted by his other grieving friends. It was about all I could do since I wasn’t able to actually visit in person, and being able to do it was surprisingly cathartic.
I know this kind of thing is hardly new, though. For years Facebook has made it possible for family to memorialize their loved one’s account, allowing people to keep visiting and posting to it indefinitely. I’m sure other companies do it too… The first time I’d heard of something like it was many years ago when a story came out about The WELL online community which allowed someone’s account to remain active after his death. At the time that sounded a little morbid, but these days it seems like the obvious thing to do, and now I get it.
This stuff leads me to ask a few questions, the obvious one being: what are people going to read/say when I’m gone? My internet presence, in one form or another, goes all the way back to 1994 (and BBS systems going back to the mid-80s). If anyone cared enough they could dig through it all and probably get a pretty good picture of who I am and what I was like, and how my beliefs and attitudes evolved over the years. I’ve never really thought about what happens to all of that when I’m no longer here, so…am I happy with the story I’ve unwittingly left behind? Or does it really matter since, you know, I’ll be dead?
I’ve thought a lot about this while going back and reading a bunch of my older stuff, and I think I’m OK with it. There are posts I totally forgot about that crack me up when I find them, and there are things that make me cringe a bit. Especially on Facebook when I went through my Asshole Atheist period a few years ago (I’m pretty sure I’ve mellowed since then, anyway). But it was all honestly written at any particular time, so I can at least say I was being authentic…even if I was sometimes being an authentic twat. 😀 Not nearly as bad as some of the unbelievably vile and hateful crap I see on Twitter and YouTube comments, though. Now there’s some stuff I wouldn’t want my name permanently attached to, alive or not!
So considering how much of our lives we tend to put online, it strikes me as a sort of passive immortality. After all, most of these big companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Instagram, etc. aren’t going anywhere any time soon. The big players in the social media game are seemingly here to stay, and all this stuff we’re sharing with the world will be available for anyone to look at for many years to come (assuming you or your family don’t delete it!). It’s something right out of sci-fi stories — people transferring their minds and “souls” onto data cubes or whatever — and I’m starting to feel like it’s becoming a kinda-sorta reality…in a sort of clunky, disorganized way. And speaking of sci-fi stories, if you want to see an extreme take on this subject, check out the Black Mirror episode called “Be Right Back.” It’s suuuuuper creepy, but maybe something that could really happen someday.
There’s a strange wrinkle to this, though. A few days after John was gone, a message from him appeared on Facebook. Apparently his mom had taken control of his account and was letting people know about memorial services, etc. I figured that was probably a good idea, since she wasn’t normally on Facebook and people could give their condolences that way. But soon it began to feel a little weird, because she continued to post and “like” stuff, even sent me a couple of private messages about this or that. I eventually had to mute him (her) because it was just too painful having his name and photo keep popping up as if he were still around. I know she means well, but…I just can’t.
I also think people should be able to easily opt out of being part of this future “existence”, though that’s nearly impossible at this point. The Right to be Forgotten movement attempts to give people some choice in the matter, but apparently the process of making Google remove you from certain search results (the data stays, it’s just not linked to your name) involves an ungodly amount of hoops to jump through. Maybe they’re hoping people will get frustrated and give up…
Anyway, I’ve come to find some amusement in the possibility of someone in the year 2116 somehow running across that massive compilation of blonde jokes I put online ages ago and thinking “What the…?” Or maybe that shitty photo you took with your Motorola Razr phone and uploaded to Friendster in 2004 will someday pop up in an online collection of “primitive social intercommunication technologies.” Who knows, maybe in the future everyone’s past online life will be like a virtual museum exhibit.
Hmmm, I’m actually not sure how I feel about that one. Kinda sounds like another Black Mirror episode…
God, I love The Oatmeal.
As if we don’t have enough people walking around with their faces buried in their phones, oblivious to everything around them, now we’ve got people tossing all common sense out the window and being insensitive dicks about it as they try to “catch” imaginary creatures in an app that collects mountains of data on who and where you are at all times. Yay, technology! I know that “sheeple” is a tired, eyeroll-worthy term favored by conspiracy theorists and other nutjobs, but sometimes it’s actually appropriate. Case in point:
Holocaust Museum would like for ‘Pokémon Go’ trainers to back off
The Museum has found itself transformed into a series of three Poké Stops for each part of the facility, like several other inappropriate locales across the world, with visitors flocking to them, phones held high. Poké Stops are like caches of items for players who happen upon them, spawning items like Poké Balls, Potions and more.
…The museum is looking into seeing if it can be removed as a home for Poké Stops going forward, as it seems “disrespectful” for visitors to be engaged in these displays in areas of the museum meant for reflection and solemnity, such as the museum’s Hall of Remembrance.
Oh, and then there’s this. Lucky guy, but not too smart.
This Is What Can Happen When You Play Pokémon Go While Driving
His mother wrote on Facebook cited by The Smoking Gun that although her son won’t answer a phone call or text behind the wheel, when he saw a “‘special’ Pokémon on his app… He looked down for a minute and woke up in an ambulance.” She adds that he’s thankful no one was in the now crumpled passenger seat.
But wait! It looks like the developers have already come up with a way to ruin the game. Soon you’ll be pummeled with ads for special creatures available only at certain shitty mall stores and fast food chains. Corporate cash grab GO!
‘Pokémon Go’ sponsored locations will let brands in on the fun
While you’re trying to catch ’em all with Pokémon Go, the developers are figuring out how to make (more) money from the white hot augmented reality (AR) game. Along with the existing in-app purchases from “PokéCoins,” developer Niantic says it will use sponsored locations as another way to cash in, according to the Financial Times. “There is a second component to our business model at Niantic, which is this concept of sponsored locations,” Chief Executive John Hanke told the FT.
I honestly haven’t played this game, which is surprising because it’s such a cool use of technology that appeals to my geek streak, and normally I’d jump at the chance. But I began reading about it on the gadget blogs and elsewhere, and after seeing the ridiculous frenzy it’s caused and what kind of personal info it collects, I really want no part of it. (Jesus, I really must be getting old!) I’m content to watch until it peaks and people lose interest, by which time there will be a new and exciting fad to start the frenzy all over again. It’s a Circle of Life thing.
