Notices by Bob LeFridge :tinoflag: (boblefridge@mastodon.nz)

For reference, here's the (2 hour) video from Gamers Nexus. Over 5m views in 5 days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA

@dalias @lauren

I take your point that there are much bigger issues to deal with, especially for Americans. But denying the intrusiveness of smart TVs seems pointless when it's all part of the great techbro takeover of our privacy.

@lauren @dalias

You forgot Meta's pervert glasses.

When I said I have no smart devices, that includes smartphones. I refuse to live with an 'always on' microphone.

Maybe I'm deluded, but I feel like I've removed myself from most of the tracking and surveillance which infests modern life. It helps that I live on a bushy lot near a beach with a soundtrack of birdcall and the endless music of the ocean.

For the record, I don't subscribe to any online services or store anything in the cloud. I've run my own mailserver since 1995 and I don't wear a watch.

But what I'd really like is a Faraday cage which fits over my entire house. ;-)

@lauren @dalias

I don't doubt that but as far as I know, "they" aren't looking for me. I'm just officially old and keeping a low digital profile wherever possible. Triangulation isn't a problem because I don't even have a dumb phone. Just a landline. I'm old school.

As a bonus, I never see any ads, anywhere. ;-)

@lauren @dalias

I've always enjoyed Lauren's posts. But proclaiming "The smart TVs are not doing this" when they provably are, seems a bit self-defeating in terms of credibility.

Sure, the rapid collapse of the American empire is a far more important subject which affects the entire world. But castigating those who discuss other subjects such as massive privacy intrusions indicates a very narrow focus on US politics.

Warning: I'm in New Zealand. We may take a slightly different view of the world.

@dalias

It's worth checking out the recent exposé on LG TVs which showed they are doing exactly that. Recording all voices in the living room, flicking the data back to base and using keywords to send you related marketing crap. This happens even when the TV is in standby mode.

@lauren @dalias

Unlike Google and Apple which have both perverted their maps to reflect the US President's dementia-inspired ravings, MapQuest has done the right thing by not changing a thing.

And bingo... they're suddenly the most popular app on the US app store.

To celebrate, Mapquest have put up a page which allows you to generate any name for Lake Ontario. Here's mine.

https://gulfof.mapquest.com/lakeontario

https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/02/mapquest-is-now-the-no-1-u-s-app-after-bucking-trumps-lake-america-renaming/

It's schadenfreude Sunday. Far-right boofhead Milo Yiannopoulos has already been deported back to Blighty.

While that's bad news for Britain, it's great to see this slimy slug of a man being hoisted by his own petard.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/milo-yiannopoulos-deported-ice-laura-loomer-b3041603.html?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

#Schadenfreude #MiloYiannopoulos

In karma news, US far-right fuckwit and massive ICE supporter Milo Yiannopoulos has been arrested by ICE.

The irony!

Even though his detention seems to stem from infighting between MAGA factions, I hope they deport the bastard back to England where he can spend the rest of his days playing a constantly whiny victim on GB News.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-detains-controversial-right-wing-provocateur-milo-yiannopoulos/

#USPol #MiloYiannopoulos

I guess an American would say that. Trump's atrocities are being carried out in your name, my friend.

@feld

I, too, preferred a quieter world.

Unfortunately Trump is acting in America's name using the world's most powerful military. Having lost the war he started in Iran, Trump needs a win before the mid-terms.

While most of the world despises Trump, history will record that 'America' invaded Venezuela, underwrote Netanyahu's foul genocide, laid waste to swathes of Iran and publicly declared its intention to take over both Greenland and Cuba.

When US missiles are raining down on your country, few people would stop and think, "Oh well, thank God there are still some good Americans."

@feld

A US oil company connected to Trump has landed drilling equipment in Greenland. They don't have permission to land the equipment, let alone to drill two test wells within a conservation area.

Climate-aware Greenland stopped issuing drilling licenses in 2021, but the USians intend to piggyback on an existing license. Emboldened by Trump's international aggression, their motto appears to be "Who's gonna stop us?"

This action will produce headaches that Nato members don't need right now.

The Americans really have become the world's most obnoxious arseholes, haven't they.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/08/greenland-iwarning-trump-linked-oil-firm-prepares-drill

#Trump #Greenland #Oil

Four headlines in today's Guardian. Spot the odd one out.

#ClimateChange

From the section on bird flu.

"In stark contrast to New Zealand’s world-leading Covid response, its current government “has no worst-case modelling for the impact a major bird flu outbreak could have on New Zealand’s food supply or economy..."

No modelling.

When it comes to major threats to public health, I prefer my country to be world-leading in its response. Hoggard is asleep at the wheel.

@pezmico @violetblue

In Sam Neill's 2023 memoir, he ripped into his old Christchurch alma mater Christ's College and elite education in general. He said many of the students at the boarding house were the “product of generations of inbreeding”.

“Canterbury farming families, for some reason, like to marry among their own. The gene pool is very small. You would think that a cursory examination of how they bred their Corriedale sheep would’ve been helpful in this regard. Sadly, no.”

Sam lived by his convictions. While he could have afforded any level of private schooling, his daughter was in my son's class at Queenstown Primary.

We've lost a damned fine man.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361005947/school-sam-neill-once-said-was-full-inbreds-pays-tribute-distinguished-old-boy

#SamNeill #NZ #Education

But wait! An Aussie company reckons it can save the day with a massive urea plant in Southland. They intend to turn coal into gas into urea.

"The company says it could deliver 1.5 million tonnes a year of urea fertiliser, making New Zealand's agricultural sector fully self sufficient."

Naturally they'll be seeking a super-cheap power deal like their mates building the crypto farm and Rio Tinto get, and they'll use fast-track because it bypasses all those annoying environmental regulations.

https://www.odt.co.nz/business/3-billion-fertiliser-plant-proposed-southland-rnz

#Urea #Southland

@airshipper @ArrestJK @phil_stevens

The Ministry of Social Development has released a 'Tactical Plan for Rough Sleepers' to brief regional managers.

The document refers to 'dispelling myths', claims it's a "narrative" that hundreds of New Zealanders live without shelter and that there is "no evidence" to validate that.

The report's author is not named, but while MSD is back-pedalling fast, this is an indication of the level of ignorance affecting officials under the Luxon government.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/592368/msd-document-says-there-s-no-evidence-hundreds-of-new-zealanders-are-without-shelter

#MSD #Homelessness #NZ

When National embarked on their deliberate destruction of NZ's health service, they promised that no front-line jobs would be affected. Yeah, right.

National lied.

Take Southland Hospital. After management pushed through a controversial 'night roster' despite knowing there weren't enough staff to fill the roles, several nurses left.

Both senior urologists left, killing prostate and bladder surgery coverage for Southland and Queenstown.

A whistleblower claims operating theatres have been temporarily shut down.

‘‘The few remaining theatre staff with any experience have burnt out and management are rapidly trying to replace them with junior and graduate nurses with no supervision.’’

National has extracted billions from NZ's health system and given it to Luxon and his fellow landlords. This is National's bright new future -- where only the wealthy will be healthy.

It's cruel and it's greedy, but hey... they're National's core values.

https://archive.ph/ux66P

#NZPol #Health #NationalNotFitToGovern

Remember that time Judith supplied Cactus Kate (via Slater) with a civil servant's address and other personal details to enable an alleged hit?

She got away with that.

And remember the noise when she diverted government vehicles in China to do some PR on the side for hubby's business associates?

She got away with that.

And how about the time when her hubby's kauri extraction business severed the jet fuel pipeline feeding Auckland airport costing the country hundreds of millions? How we laughed when John Key put Judith in charge of the enquiry which never identified the digger driver, who was working for Judith's hubby. That was cynicism personified.

But she got away with that, too.

Judith has been up to her ears in slime throughout her political career, devaluing our democracy in the process. One day she will rot in hell. I'm in the camp which says that day can't come soon enough.

@zl2tod

#NZPol #JudithCollins

Following the Bondi terrorism attack and in a misjudged attempt to please Zionists, the Adelaide Writers' Festival "disinvited" Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah. Because she's Palestinian.

In the resulting kerfuffle, three board members and the Festival chairperson have resigned, a major sponsor has withdrawn and more than fifty contributors have pulled out of the festival. The latest to cancel is Dame Jacinda Ardern.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-12/future-of-adelaide-writers-week-hangs-in-balance/106219462

#Adelaide #WritersFestival #Ardern