Weaning myself off Facebook

So many things to say about Facebook, but, I’m saving those for my Circle of Trust: Facebook post.

In the interim, the facts are as follows:

Somehow, Facebook has gotten me mixed up with someone who gives a foch about the ads they spew.

In the not-too-distant past, Facebook insulted me with ad for “Black Online College”, because, I guess, I wasn’t good enough for regular online college.

These days, it is loading up my “advertisers you have interacted with” list with a bunch of companies I don’t know, would never engage with, not give a kaka about.

I never click on any ad.

Never.

For me, Facebook is run out of a dedicated VM in a browser connected to a Facebook-specific VPN on a server at the Orbiting O’Odua.

Not from my desktop!

I have never installed any Facebook app.

Even my Instagramming is done from an iPad with just the Apple News app installed.

That’s it. Period.

Yes, that’s how much I truly have Facebook’s nefarious snooping!

I removed over 300 of those ad firms from my ad list last week, and just now removed 175 or so.

¡No mas!

Going forward, I will attempt to game Facebook in the same way it is robbing it’s advertisers: by feeding it bullcrap.

I will start by doing the following, then amp it up.

1)   I am going to download my Facebook archive.

2)   I will reduce my time on Facebook to 10 minutes a day, at 9.00 PM or later daily.

3)   I won’t post anything of value outside of personal announcements

4)   I will inform my family and close friends of this decision, and give them a way to reach me.

5)   I will cull my Facebook friends list immediately.

a)   It goes without saying that my friends and family are safe.

b)   By friends, I mean you folks who can call me anytime. Select list, but you’re my friends. I’m always open for, and to you.

c)    If we haven’t interacted in the past year or longer: unfriend.

d)   If we are friends from the nascent days of Facebook, and that’s it? Unfriend.

e)   If all we are, are business acquaintances? Unfriend.

f)    Any other criterion that pops into my melon. Unfriend.

6)   Whenever I have the downtime, I will randomly select a month from my Facebooking history, and then delete EVERYTHING there, but one, which will serve as a ‘marker’ for that month

7)   I’m still thinking…

Let me get to it.

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

Follow @johnobeto

Microsoft announced a couple or so new Azure things at MS Ignite 2018

Seems like Microsoft has been hard at work on Azure, if this list is any indication.

In a blog post, the zookeeper for Azure outlined a list of new Azure infrastructure products, classifying them around the following nests: infrastructure for every workload, hybrid offerings, and security & management. In all, it is a lot of stuff to digest.

Thanks for sharing, Mike Baz

The following, in order of importance to Logikworx and our clients, are most pressing to me.

Item verbiage is by Microsoft, since I have not had the time to parse them):

• Windows Server 2019 (GA in the coming weeks) – I am incredibly excited about the newest release of Windows Server 2019! Windows Server 2019 is an OS built truly for the cloud with hybrid management, Linux containers, and many more amazing features. You can find more details on this exciting release on the Windows Server 2019 blog.
• Standard SSDs (GA) – Standard SSDs are a cost-effective disk offering optimized for low IOPS workloads that need consistent latency. Standard SSDs deliver better availability, reliability, and latency compared to HDD Disks, and are well suited for Web servers, low IOPS application servers, lightly used enterprise applications, and Dev/Test workloads. Read the engineering blog to learn more.
• Secure score, improved threat protection, and network map (preview) – Microsoft secure score makes it easier for you to understand your security position and potential risks in your environment. Azure Security Center now shows your secure score with clear recommendations on how to reduce risk and strengthen your security. We are also extending our threat protection capabilities to include Azure Storage, Azure Postgres SQL, and containers running on Linux VMs. Finally, we have added a new network map to help you visualize and get quick insights on network related vulnerabilities. You can find more details about these improvements in this blog.
• Azure Firewall (GA) – Azure Firewall is a managed cloud-based network security service that protects your Azure Virtual Network resources. It is a fully stateful firewall with built-in high availability and cloud scalability. Check these links for documentation and pricing.
• Virtual WAN (GA) – Virtual WAN provides a simple, unified, global connectivity, and security platform to deploy large-scale branch connectivity. You can utilize your favorite SDWAN and security technology vendor. Also, we now offer support for client-side connectivity using OpenVPN.
• Azure Blueprints and Azure Policy in Azure DevOps (preview) – Today, we are announcing the preview of Azure Blueprints. These blueprints make it incredibly easy for you to deploy and update Azure environments in a repeatable manner using composable artifacts such as policies, role-based access controls, and resource templates. This ensures you can configure your different environments to be compliant immediately after they are created. It also allows developers to be completely self-reliant in the creation of new environments. Furthermore, you can now include your Azure Policy definitions in the release management pipeline of Azure DevOps, ensuring that policy compliance is a part of shipping rather than considered after release.
• Azure cost management in the Azure portal (preview) – One year ago, we announced that Azure was the first cloud platform to provide free cost management capabilities to help you reduce your costs in the cloud. Today these capabilities are now integrated natively into the Azure portal for an improved experience. We are also providing an API so you can access cost management from PowerBI or directly from your own custom applications. Azure cost management in the Azure portal preview is available for EA customers today with all other customers on-boarding by the end of year.
• Migration. We recently announced support for Hyper-V assessments in Azure Migrate. We also announced GA of Azure SQL Database Managed Instance, which enables you to migrate SQL Servers to a fully managed Azure service. We also now support many new migration scenarios as part of the Azure Database Migration Service. Azure migration center.
• If you migrate Windows Server or SQL Server 2008/R2 to Azure, you will get three years of free extended security updates on those systems. This could save you some money when Windows Server and SQL Server 2008/ R2 end of support (EOS). If you combine the savings from with Azure Hybrid Benefit and Reserved Instances, running these servers on AWS will be 5 times more expensive than on Azure.

A more expansive list is below, and you can find descriptive information by following the link to the blog post, which, in turn, has links to all sort of relevant information.

Enjoy, and if need be, contact me directly.

MS Ignite 2018 New Azure Products List

• NVv2 VMs (preview)
• NDv2 VMs (preview by end of year)
• HB VMs (preview by end of year
• HC VMs (preview by end of year)
• Azure Firewall (GA)
• Virtual WAN (GA
• ExpressRoute Global Reach (preview)
• ExpressRoute Direct (preview)
• Front Door Service (preview)
• Ultra SSDs (preview
• Standard SSDs (GA)
• Larger managed disk sizes (preview)
• Azure Data Box Edge (preview)
• Windows Server 2019
• Azure Stack
• Confidential Computing DC VM series
• Secure score, improved threat protection, and network map (preview)
• Azure Blueprints and Azure Policy in Azure DevOps
• Azure cost management in the Azure portal
• Azure Migrate
• Azure SQL Database Managed Instance,
• Azure Database Migration Service

Read the entire blog here: A crazy amount of new Azure infrastructure announcements

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

Follow @johnobeto

Of Robots and Men

And women, of course.

I read the following article earlier today :–>  Robots set to create over 100 million jobs by 2022.

I found it rather interesting.

Interesting....because numbers from two industries that lend themselves to high levels of automation, namely automobiles and aerospace, the latter of which I am intimately familiar, show a decimation in employment. In fact, automation and/or robotics has not only changed those industries, but also wrought changes in the communities that rose up around them.

There no longer is an expectation that jobs in those sectors would lead to the attainment of a middle class life.

The certainty of such upwards mobility, leastways in the aerospace industry. evaporated with the realization that Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative wasn't fiscally sustainable.

The auto industry publicly seemed to have staved off this problem, blaming globalization for the loss of jobs.

However, the real truth was hidden: jobs weren’t being “sent to Mexico”. Or China, even. Robots were taking over!

I read somewhere that auto industry employment in the traditionally middle-class city of Toledo, Ohio has been so decimated that there is a 6-1 ratio of robots to workers. Moreover, jobs, once automated, won’t ever be manual again. As long as mass production is concerned.

You had better believe that human worker angst over there is not only palpable, but is quite visible!

Because what was once a multi-generational path to middle "classhood", has vanished completely.

Meanwhile, those displaced workers are largely illiterate, mostly uneducated folks with great skills that have been surpassed within a few years, in their own generation, by robots.

In order to come within one light year of that 100 million jobs figure mentioned in the article referenced above, our workforce would have to be retrained in new, and forward-thinking ways. However, I don’t see the government, or industry doing this. The current administration is hell-bent on demonizing industry, and industry is in full-on profit-taking mode. Spending money to train laid-off workers is not in the offing for them.

For now, re-training to service robots might be a way, but it is unfortunately, a mere stopgap.

For very soon, robots will repair robots.

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

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Horologigrafica WoTD September 18 2018

Armin Strom Pure Resonance

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Interesting......September 18, 2018

On My Mind 

This is just sad, and will go underreported in the wake of Hurricane Florence.

The Gullah are the descendants of enslaved Africans who live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands.

It is doubly sad because they are a generally impoverished people – by our standards, who are living on mostly sustenance farming.

• With the devastation of their farmlands, and their ancestral homes and land, where do they start?  How can they start? :-> The Gullah-Geechee People Called Carolina’s Coast Home for Centuries. Then Florence Came.

Microsoft & All Things Windows

• Excellent points. A very good read. :-> Five lessons from Microsoft's Azure cloud outage

Business

• Facebook is trying to be just slightly worse than Google when it comes to stuff. -> ACLU files discrimination charges against Facebook for serving job posts to only men

Technology

• I am a complete un-Belieber in ARM-based server CPUs. I just don’t think they can handle standard workloads well. As said in that great Sci-Fi series, Fringe, “Show me” :-> Ampere’s Arm-based server chip is ready to challenge Intel in the data center
• With any other auto firm, this is a good thing. However, I am 100% sure that I don’t want my dashcam footage accessible to Elon Musk. :-> Tesla’s long-awaited dash cam functionality will arrive in the next software update
• Not a fan of the smart home, I am. :-> Nest doorbell locks man out of his home after mistaking his Batman shirt for an intruder

General Interest

• Sickening read! :-> Why white Americans have such a hard time picturing a middle-class black neighborhood.
• Has there EVER been any time in your life, where looking for a sapient thought, you slapped your forehead, and of all lifeforms on Terra, you shout" Eureka! Sean Penn!", as the bearer of wise, or even, sane thoughts? Me neither. #MeToo –> The Perennial Village Idiot known as Sean Penn Opines on #MeToo 

World

• These train trips surely do that! -> Three luxurious train journeys that put air travel to shame
• Rule-of-thumb: if you need AR to tell you your luggage is too big to fit, it is. :-> Will your carry-on fit in that overhead bin? Kayak’s new AR tool can tell you

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

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Horologigrafica WoTD September 17, 2018

Meccaniche Veloci Icon Tourbillon

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Horologigrafica WoTD September 16, 2018

De Bethune DB25 Quetzalcoatl

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Horologigrafica WoTd September 15, 2018

L. Leroy Tourbillon Régulateur Squelette

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Horologigrafica WoTD September 14, 2018

Bvlgari LVCEA Tubogas

18 kt rose gold & brilliant-cut diamond case, with a sweet alligator bracelet.

This watch is just beautiful. $27,500

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A post shared by John Loves Watches (@horologigrafica) on Sep 13, 2018 at 8:57pm PDT

Interesting......September 14, 2018

On My Mind 

• People are going to howl and scream, but guess what? I don’t care. His money. In actuality, his $2 billion. So, whatever he wants to do. As long as even one child benefits, I’m good. :-> Jeff Bezos is going to create schools where ‘the child is the customer’
• Yikes! :-> Massive cliff chunk collapses onto beach in Greece.
• She just murdered him. :-> 2 Different Versions of Amber Guyger’s Story Appear on 2 Different Warrants Related to the Shooting of Botham Jean

Microsoft & All Things Windows

• Agreed. Why give your competitor – real, potential, or imagined – the opportunity to whack you? :-> Microsoft exec: Amazon's expansion is our opportunity
• This is a win-win for customers. :-> Salesforce is finally getting some real competition — and it’s from Microsoft
• Hopefully, this is the start. And more than that, I hope Microsoft is listening! Because the privacy controls in Microsoft Edge are non-existent, or worse, a sad joke! :-> Apple, Firefox browsers aim to thwart Facebook, Google tracking

Business

• You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs. :-> FDA move on e-cigarettes means new risks for Fidelity funds
• For wallpaper, you see. :-> Apple is happy to use women and people of color as art, not authority
• Though foreseen, this is still HUGE! :-> The U.S. Has Reclaimed World's Oil Crown
• Smart move here by Jet.com and Walmart. -> Walmart's Jet.com to offer Nike products in bid for urban consumers
• On the surface, it seems like a legit tirade. However, Rev. Justin hasn’t once spoken of the ills his church wrought upon the Dark Continent, IIRC. :-> 'Leeched Off the Taxpayer.' Church of England Hits Amazon Over Taxes and Wages
• Sadly, no. It has not! :-> Transparency Hasn’t Stopped Drug Companies From Corrupting Medical Research

Technology

• “Mama said there’d be days like this; there’be days like this, my Mama said…” -> It’s Not Been a Great Day of News for Tesla’s Autopilot
• Fools, and their money! :-> The crowdfunded Moto Mod keyboard is dead
• This just sucks. Because I like my iPhone. OTOH, Apart from Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel, Translator, ToDo, Pix, iMovie, and Aopple News, I have no apps on my phone. Cool! :-> Dozens of iOS apps surreptitiously share user location data with tracking firms
• Somewhere, someplace, there’s a guy running around laughing “Tee-hee-hee, tee-hee-hee..”. Because this CAN’T be serious! :-> To Solve Flying Cars' Biggest Problem, Tie Them to Power Lines
• Let me guess: it makes know-nothings place undeserved confidence in the products? :-> Artificial intelligence is often overhyped—and here’s why that’s dangerous
• Could this break encryption as we know it? :-> Researchers Discover a Pattern to the Seemingly Random Distribution of Prime Numbers

General Interest

• Let’s strap on our tinfoil hats and don our aluminum suits for a minute….:-> I'm Definitely Not Saying It's Aliens
• Wow! :-> Video shows Weinstein’s hands-on encounter with rape accuser
• I have never hears of elephant birds. Heck, I thought the dodo was it! -> Elephant Birds: Who killed them?
• PSA, Homie: when cops come to your door, and ask you to ID yourself, don’t smart-mouth. Don’t slam the door on them either. Especially when they’re in hot pursuit. Move it along! :-> Kansas Man Goes Live on Facebook While Police Break Into His House
• David Stern is a certifiable ratfcker. Eff him! :-> David Stern Reportedly Tried to Stop LeBron James' 'The Decision' from Happening

World

• The one where we learn from ‘lower animals’. :-> Migrating Birds Avoid Bad Weather — Which Makes Their Paths Predictable
• Interesting design. Looks like a bunch of stacked containers with lots of glass walls. And plants. Not growing on me though. :-> BIG's King Street West Condo Community Approved for Development in Toronto
• Now, Sultan Bey Erdogan has a plane worthy of his ego. :-> Qatari emir gifts Turkey's Erdogan luxurious Boeing 747-8 jet

Politics

• This bastard was aiming to murder someone! Thank God that he did not succeed. :-> ‘You Don’t Belong in the Elevator’: Florida Hotel Manager Who Pulled Gun on Black Students Fired

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

Follow @johnobeto

Google remotely altered some settings on some Android 9 Pie phones

Must have come as a surprise to yobs using Google’s Android-based phones, right?

Well, it shouldn’t be.

It is Google.

And despite Google’s mea culpa today, why on Earth, should you use their devices going forward? Apart from low cost, that is.

Makes you wonder what else they can do, remotely, hmmm?

And yes, it is true that Apple iPhones, which I use, have such functionality as well. However, as Steve Jobs himself stated on this issue back in 2008: “…hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull.”, as theirs is for malicious apps. Actors too, maybe?

I believe Apple.

I don’t trust Google.

Never did trust Google.

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

Follow @johnobeto

Absolutely Interesting....September 14, 2018

On My Mind 

Today is the opening day of Microsoft’s MS Ignite 2018 event. And upon opening, Microsoft announced quite a few new Azure products. A list is here, and I will be sharing my thoughts on them here and in The Interlocutor once I have had some more time to go through them..

Google, is one incredibly deceitful company. How hard could it be to ask for permission? -> Google secretly logs users into Chrome whenever they log into a Google site

Google is NEVER getting into my Circle Of Trust! -> Why experts are freaking out over the new way Google Chrome sign-in works https://mashable.com/article/google-chrome-69-forced-login/

Microsoft & All Things Windows

Very good read! -> How Microsoft Uses a Growth Mindset to Develop Leaders

Business

More entrants, more ‘giggers’, increased profit-taking – out of the hides of gig workers – by the firms, and what have you? Tell me the workers didn’t see this coming…-> Uber drivers and other gig economy workers are earning half what they did five years ago

Technology

Madness! -> The night a Chinese billionaire was accused of rape in Minnesota

Of course, it is aliens! Silurian, I believe.  -> Is it aliens? Scientists detect more mysterious radio signals from distant galaxy

Horologifica WoTD September 13, 2018

Vacheron Constantin Fiftysix Tourbillon.

This latest entry in the Fiftysix line is smartly elegant.

$119,000 in yellow gold.

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Interesting......September 13, 2018

On My Mind 

• This is how you let free agents know that you will treat them fairly. :-> Rob Pelinka Says Meeting With Jeanie Buss Played Big Role In Waiving Luol Deng
• This is the reason why I meet, and try to really know all my kids’ coaches. I can’t imagine the depths of harm I would inflict on such a creep.  :-> Florida High School Football Coach Accused Of Head-Butting And Blowing Snot-Rockets On Players, Telling One To Kill Himself
• How quickly, how loudly, and how often will I say “Hell EFFIN’ NO” to this scheme? A trillion billion times and one seems just about right! :-> US carriers introduce Project Verify to replace individual app passwords

Microsoft & All Things Windows

• Apple has always shown itself to have quite capable photocopiers at #1, Infinite Loop, in Cupertino. Apple has a better product-naming stratagem too! :-> Here's every feature Apple might copy from the PC for the updated MacBook Air 13
• I never pay attention to programming languages these days. However, the kids are gung ho on programming in Python. I will share this with them. :-> Exploring Microsoft’s Adoption of Python in Visual Studio

Business

• I like this. Would be a great solution for an AAU team transport :-> Mercedes Unveils New Sprinter-Based Minibuses
• Nothing redeeming, it seems, about these guys! :-> Mega-rich family behind opioid crisis has second, secret opioid company
• Some yum-yums are imploring Apple to shift production of iPhones to the USA. It shows that they know nothing about the global economy! :-> How much would the iPhone cost if it were made in America?
• I think we are going to see more of these lawsuits: aggrieved private citizens and firms bringing lawsuits against disruptive so-called ‘gig economy’ firms in order to level the playing fields where regulators have abdicated their authority. :- Limo firm to Uber: You misclassify your drivers as contractors, which is unfair
• It’s still Walmart. People aren’t fooled! -> Shopping site Jet tries reintroducing itself to customers

Technology

• Whenever I attempt to mellow out about IBM, it shows me it should not! Because skin color is the most important factor in a search. Eff you, IBM! :-> IBM Made Cops a Tool to Search Surveillance Video by Skin Color
• Les Moonves was a true bastard! -> Designing Women Creator Tells Les Moonves “Go F--k Yourself” for Torching Her Career
• I blame Big Tech here. For they have shown themselves to be extremely willing to install filters and whatnot while kowtowing to extremist regimes in order to gain entry to their markets. Karma! :-> The EU is done warning tech companies about removing extremist content — now they want to act
• Watching this remote control/autonomous BMW bike is like seeing the scary headless horseman in real life!
• Every pushback against Google (and Facebook), is a shot for privacy. And democracy :-> Brave browser dumps Google search in France, Germany. Oh, and Brave filed a legal challenge against Google ad practices, too.

General Interest

• Even total nonentities like this harpie feel empowered to be racist! :-> Pittsburgh woman goes off on Dollar General cashier in a racist rant
• Today’s history lesson -> Bass Reeves.
• My exact same thoughts, on Rose Barr. :-> “F--k Roseanne”: Kenya Barris Opens Up About Leaving ABC and His Move to Netflix
• They do things differently in the southern US. Thank God my kids aren’t there. I believe I would have paddled some teacher half to, well, you know! ☹ :-> A Georgia Charter School Wants to Beat Students and Bully Their Parents

World

• Where does one start? :-> Saudi Arabia Has Arrested a Man After an 'Offensive Video' Showed Him Sharing Breakfast With a Woman
• Unless we do something, the “water wars” will decimate life as we know it.
• I guess this is what Emmanuel Macron meant when he said that France didn’t see racial colors? -> White students made to look black on US site for French college

Politics

• Is there any Black person fooled by the NRA? Any Black at all? If the reverse had been true, and a strapped Botham Jean, in self-defense, had killed the White cop who unlawfully invaded his home, the NRA would be screaming for his blood!  :-> The NRA’s Catch-22 for Black Men Shot by Police

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

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Apple deletes iTunes movie purchases without any warning, also denies refunds

I must confess: I saw this coming!

Though, not by Apple.

Let me explain.

Several years ago, I purchased a book for my Kindle from Amazon.

Several weeks later, the book was updated.

Without my permission! Without any notification, either!

And, due to copyright issues, the book could not be reverted to the original state.

At least, Amazon offered me a refund. To make me happy.

Right there and then though, I decided I wouldn’t purchase any media I could not own outright, and free from the “revisionaries’ at media firms.

I like the book?

I buy the book. The “wood book”, as my Princess likes to call actual books.

Oh, I also purchase the actual movies. Which I can rip later to digital if a digital version isn’t offered. (They almost always are, so I add them to my iTunes library.”

But, I buy the movie.

Heck, there was even a time I wanted to purchase a digital record album from Amazon.

Digital album was $12.95 or thereabouts.

Not bad, you say?

Not bad, actually…..

…..except the physical CD was $6.95, and came with Amazon’s ‘Auto-Rip’, whereby a digital copy is ripped for you, uploaded to your Amazon music library, and available for your instant aural pleasure while your physical CD is sent to you via snail mail!

Don’t ask. I got into pretzels trying to figure out Amazon’s theorem on this!

Bottom line is: I keep it old skool: I gets mines in hard copy.

Try it.

Fast forward to 2018, and Apple does the same, but compounds their mess, and totally FUBAR’s the customer’s experience by offering basically a ‘Coke-and-a-smile’?

Damn!

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

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Horologigrafica WoTD September 12, 2018

Bovet 1822 Edouard Bovet Tourbillon

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Interesting......September 12, 2018

On My Mind 

What the hell makes it OK for municipalities to impound vehicles legally owned by homeless people?

• Even if it is legal, it is rather morally reprehensible! -> Thousands Of Californians Live In Vehicles; Lawsuit Challenges Cities’ Authority To Impound Their Homes
• Of course, it did! :-> Mother wonders if race factored into son’s death in Dallas
• If you still need a primer on why Blacks are taking a knee, read :-> Baltimore police officers carry toy guns to plant on people they shoot

Microsoft & All Things Windows

• This is a cursory list, at best. -> Windows 10 October 2018 Update: The 7 best new features
• Containers and legacy apps. Hmmm……I hadn’t thought of this. :-> 5 reasons for containerizing your legacy Windows Server applications

Business

• Many ways to skin a cat. This is Benzo’s. :-> Mercedes-Benz Vision Urbanetic is a flexible electric van from the future
• These soulless ghouls! :-> Banks Repossessed Cars Even If Delinquent Buyers Made Payments to Catch Up: Feds
• The same retirees it constantly craps on, and tries to reduce benefits earned? :-> Boeing calling back retirees to fix 737 production snags
• Makes me sick to realize that antilock brakes aren’t standard on bikes today! :-> Agency seeks anti-lock brakes on all new US road motorcycles
• These car-subscription schemes seem to have legs…:->  Lexus bets on value as it launches phone-plan-like car subscription service

Technology

• Then, there are these flights-of-fancy :-> Bristol start-up launches UK's first electric 'flying taxi'
• This LG 4K projector just might make me stop being loyal to Canon projectors… :-> LG’s 4K Laser Projector shines at CEDIA
• Too funny! :-> Additional Mac App Store apps caught stealing and uploading browser history
• Very interesting :-> ‘Battery drone’ has 2-hour endurance.
• Really, Veeam? -> Veeam left 200GB sales database wide open

General Interest

• These incredible ladies are speaking their minds. Good! :-> Miss Michigan criticizes Flint water crisis
• Fast Company’s 2018 Innovation by Design Awards is a must-see and must-read.
• I actually pray that Andrew Bynum is able to play again. He’s just 30, for goodness sakes, and has incredible game for a 7-footer.
• Is this even a thing? :-> Valve approves first uncensored porn game on Steam

World

• As it rightfully should. Those bloodthirsty bastards don’t like us! :-> U.S. Military’s Worst-Case Scenario: Large Parts of Africa Seized by ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Boko Haram
• I sure hope so! :-> 100K Africans Die From Fake Meds Each Year. Can She Save Them?
• When their pensions are at risk, the proletariat fall out of love and awe for Tsar Vlad. -> Protests against Putin's pension age proposals sweep Russia

Politics

• These twats! :-> The NRA is So Mad About Thomas the Tank Engine's Black Friends, They Put a KKK Hood on Him

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

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Horologigrafica Watch of The Day September 11, 2018

Ralph Lauren Automotive Skeleton.

In White gold.

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Interesting......September 11, 2018

On My Mind 

• There is absolutely NO WAY a Black couple – or any Black person, for that matter! – would call a) cops who just happen to be conveniently passing by, and b) complain that they suspect a Black man of robbing two White women he is riding with.
  
  Also conveniently for these cops, there isn’t any video of the passers-by. But, they have video of everything else.
  
  Making matters worse, one of the women was his White grandmother, and they were going home from Church!

Microsoft & All Things Windows

• It IS Microsoft. So this depth of transparency is normal. :-> Microsoft releases details on last week’s big Azure outage, during which servers were damaged but no data was lost

Business

• When the [Shari] Redstone vs Les Moonves saga started, I was firmly on Shari’s side. Because I believe in dynastic wealth, and most importantly, believe that no-founder CEOs are, and should remain servants of the company, and, by proxy, the founding families. Turns out, Moonves was not only a creep – allegedly, he is an gobshite of the worst order! What a knob! I can’t, and won’t forgive him for making Janet Jackson the target of his ire
• How is this criminal able to peddle his crap on Amazon in the first place? And why isn’t everything from him blacklisted? He has NO redemption value! :-> Amazon Removes 9 Books By Notorious Rape Apologist ‘Roosh’
• This is quite innovative. Really pushes the envelope. :-> HP’s metal-printing 3D printers

Technology

• I was under the impression that the opposite is true. :-> How Uber is making traffic even worse
• Combined with better processing power? :-> This lidar/camera hybrid could be a powerful addition to driverless cars
• I have always wondered why there is a rush to full autonomy, especially for airborne transportation, which must be controlled over several axis. SkyRyse may have a great solution here.

General Interest

• This harridan is on a mission to burden the next generation of students with crushing loans, and by so doing, enslave that generation to her compadres. :-> Betsy DeVos Just Unleashed Predatory Colleges on America
• …aaaand true to stereotypes, the only Black model featured in all the photos I have seen is wearing “streetwear”. Sucks! :-> Ralph Lauren’s 50th Anniversary Fashion Show Reminds Us Why He's the King of Menswear
• Now, if only Colin Kaepernick uses this as motivation to you know, actually effin’ VOTE, I would be impressed! :-> NFL: Colin Kaepernick thanks Miami Dolphins duo for kneeling during anthem

World

• Facebook. Again! :-> BuzzFeed News: How WhatsApp Destroyed A Village
• What a shame, OZ! :-> That Racist Serena Williams Cartoon Is Sadly Illustrative of Australian Cartoonists

Delectable Horologigrafica Timepiece  of the Day

• Polo Ralph Lauren Automotive Skeleton

Politics

• El Presidente Obama in Anaheim, Sept. 8.

Interesting......September 10, 2018

On My Mind 

Democracy is a gift, and a privilege.

Folks in several countries die each day trying to get what we have.

Let us treasure it.

• El Presidente Obama, on his first biting political speech since leaving office: "You can’t opt out because you don’t feel sufficiently inspired by this or that particular candidate. This is not a rock concert. This is not Coachella."
• A Fortnite Monopoly board game? Of course! :-> Fortnite Monopoly ditches money for weapons and chests

Microsoft & All Things Windows

Microsoft to charge for Windows 7 updates. Good. If you’re still running Windows 7 today, it’s you fault. Update, or bug off! I was bothered enough to write s small blurb here. Crazy!

Business

• I wouldn’t put it past Tsar Vlad The Terrible and his minions! :-> France Accuses Russia of Space Satellite Espionage
• It’s an ideal workload for electric trucks, I would think -> Your UPS deliveries may soon arrive in electric trucks

Technology

• Kinda sucks, doesn’t it? On MacOS/OS X, no less.:-> The most popular "privacy" tool in Apple's Mac App Store was stealing users' browsing history and sending it to China.
• Living in multi-story homes, I have neve been an iRobot Roomba fan, opting instead to have whole-house vacuum systems and their attendant in-wall ports installed instead. The news that Roombas upload a map of your crib to the cloud swore me off them. Just for that, I’m still not a fan of their latest product, the Roomba i7. I won’t be getting it.
• For pet owners to decipher, they mean. :-> Fitness trackers help put fat pets on a diet

General Interest

• Very good read :-> What’s driving me crazy about electric cars
• Bottom line, and in-line with everything I have read: Canon’s new mirrorless line is basically half-steppin’. Engadget had it for three days.
• Just make Pluto a planet again, and let us resume our search for Nemesis (Planet X)!

World

• Heroes to zeros in about a New York second! What prompts grown men to behave so badly? -> Three pilots hailed as heroes for saving lives of 103 people when Aeromexico flight crashed are FIRED as it's revealed a trainee was at the controls during take-off
• If this truly works, why aren’t we trying it here? :-> Vast Wind And Solar Farms Would Bring More Rain to Africa

Delectable Horologigrafica Timepiece of the Day

• Romain Gauthier Insight Micro-Rotor Platinum

Politics

• These bastards have eschewed dog-whistles completely! GOP Lawmaker Is a Leader in Hate Group That Calls Immigration ‘Assault on Our Culture’

© 2002 – 2018, John Obeto for Blackground Media Unlimited

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