678: Stop Doing That!

Summary

Grumpy Old Geeks - Episode 678: "Stop Doing That!"

Release Date: December 21, 2024

In the season finale of "Grumpy Old Geeks," hosts Jason DeFilippo and Brian Schulmeister dive deep into a myriad of pressing tech issues, dissecting mishaps, questionable decisions, and the chaotic interplay between technology and society. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of the episode's key discussions, complete with notable quotes and timestamps.

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1. WordPress Leadership's Odd Behavior

The episode kicks off with a heated discussion about Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of WordPress. The hosts highlight a bizarre incident where Mullenweg altered a checkbox message on the platform, humorously changing “I am not affiliated with WP Engine” to a nonsensical statement about pizza toppings.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [02:57]: "Someone is off their meds."

This exchange underscores concerns about the leadership's decision-making and its impact on WordPress's reliability.

2. The President's Embrace of Cryptocurrency

Delving into the political landscape, the hosts express alarm over the U.S. president's overt support for cryptocurrency. Discussing an article by Molly White, they critique the administration's plans for a national Bitcoin stockpile and the infusion of crypto loyalty within key agencies.

Notable Quote:

Jason DeFilippo [03:45]: "The grifter in chief."

The conversation paints a grim picture of crypto's integration into national policy, emphasizing potential risks and the perpetuation of scams.

3. Cryptocurrency as a Driver of Crime and Economic Instability

Jason and Brian further critique cryptocurrency, associating it with criminal activities and warning investors about its volatility and lack of genuine utility beyond illicit uses.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [05:58]: "It's a scam. And is it full stop, all of it."

They caution listeners about the dangers of relying on crypto for financial security, highlighting its precarious position in the global economy.

4. Misinformation Surrounding Drones in New Jersey

The hosts tackle the spread of misinformation regarding drone sightings in New Jersey. Drawing parallels to past phenomena like crop circles, they mock the public's gullibility and the ease with which conspiracy theories proliferate.

Notable Quote:

Jason DeFilippo [08:07]: "Crop circles are people."

This segment underscores the ongoing battle against fake news and the public's susceptibility to baseless claims.

5. Risks of Character AI Mimicking School Shooters

A significant portion of the episode focuses on the dangers posed by Character AI, a platform allowing users to create chatbots modeled after real-life school shooters. The hosts discuss how these AI creations can normalize violent behavior and potentially incite future incidents.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [14:27]: "Google, which has funded the startup to the tune of more than $2 billion, has tried deflecting any responsibility."

They criticize Google's involvement and the ethical implications of enabling such technology without adequate safeguards.

6. Google's Gemini AI and Contractor Oversight

Expanding on AI concerns, Jason and Brian delve into Google's Gemini AI project, highlighting issues where contractors are required to rate AI responses outside their expertise. This raises questions about the reliability of AI outputs in critical sectors like healthcare and legal services.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [19:08]: "Google themselves have decided that you can now use these things for whatever you want."

The discussion reflects apprehension over AI's unchecked integration into sensitive areas without proper oversight.

7. AI-Induced Job Displacements in Silicon Valley

The episode addresses the widespread layoffs in Silicon Valley attributed to the surge in AI adoption. The hosts advocate for Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a necessary measure to counteract the economic fallout from massive job losses.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [20:14]: "You're going to have an awful lot of have nots in the world very soon."

This segment emphasizes the urgent need for societal adjustments in the face of rapid technological advancements.

8. AI-Generated Content and Social Media Deception

Adam Mosseri of Instagram's concerns about AI-generated content flood social platforms. Jason and Brian discuss the challenges of distinguishing authentic content from AI-manipulated images, highlighting the potential for widespread misinformation.

Notable Quote:

Jason DeFilippo [21:20]: "Can influencers with a fucking iPhone."

They critique the superficiality and deception permeating modern social media landscapes.

9. Mental Health Struggles of Social Media Content Moderators

The hosts shed light on the severe psychological toll faced by content moderators, particularly those outsourced to companies like Samasource in Kenya. Exposure to graphic and disturbing content has led to widespread PTSD, anxiety, and depression among these workers.

Notable Quote:

Jason DeFilippo [23:05]: "It's still going on, Brian."

This discussion highlights the human cost behind the scenes of major social media platforms.

10. AI-Driven Curriculum in Arizona Schools

Jason and Brian express deep concerns over Arizona's initiative to implement an AI-driven curriculum, effectively removing human teachers from the equation. They argue that this move could lead to indoctrination and diminish critical thinking skills among students.

Notable Quote:

Jason DeFilippo [24:24]: "They are going to be indoctrinating an entire state worth of children to your will."

The segment serves as a cautionary tale about over-reliance on AI in education.

11. Meta's Struggles with EU's Digital Services Act

Meta faces enhanced supervision by the European Commission for failing to manage terrorist content effectively. The hosts mock the EU's stringent regulations, comparing it to "Don Quixote tilting at windmills," and express skepticism about Meta's compliance efforts.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [27:30]: "EU is Don Quixote. They are tilting at that windmill, baby."

This criticism underscores ongoing tensions between tech giants and regulatory bodies.

12. Microsoft's Transition Away from Passwords

The conversation shifts to Microsoft's bold move to eliminate passwords for over a billion users, replacing them with passkeys. Jason shares his frustration with the transition, noting technical glitches and personal inconveniences.

Notable Quote:

Jason DeFilippo [28:26]: "I hate passkeys."

This segment reflects broader concerns about the security and practicality of emerging authentication methods.

13. Grubhub's Settlement with the FTC

Grubhub settles with the Federal Trade Commission for $25 million over deceptive practices, including hidden fees and fake restaurant listings. The hosts criticize the company's manipulative tactics to enhance profitability at the expense of transparency.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [30:54]: "They have to make changes to notify customers of full delivery costs."

This discussion highlights the ongoing issues of trust and honesty in digital marketplaces.

14. Elon Musk and SpaceX Under Federal Scrutiny

Elon Musk and SpaceX face multiple federal reviews for allegedly failing to comply with reporting protocols related to meetings with foreign leaders. The hosts express disbelief over Musk's entanglements with national security concerns.

Notable Quote:

Jason DeFilippo [32:36]: "How can he have access?"

This segment underscores the complex intersections between business leaders and government regulations.

15. Amazon's Flawed Return to Office Policy

Amazon's mandate for employees to return to the office five days a week is criticized for its lack of planning and inadequate office space. The hosts predict significant employee turnover and highlight the impracticality of the policy.

Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [34:25]: "If they've got the juice and they don't want to go back to the office, they're going to take their juice and go somewhere else."

This conversation emphasizes the challenges large corporations face in balancing remote work preferences with organizational demands.

---

Conclusion

In this episode, "Grumpy Old Geeks" offers a critical lens on the latest technological missteps and societal implications of emerging technologies. From AI's pervasive influence across sectors to the ethical quandaries posed by cryptocurrency and social media, the hosts provide a no-holds-barred analysis of today's tech landscape. Their candid discussions, punctuated with sharp critiques and humorous remarks, offer listeners both insight and a dose of reality in navigating the rapidly evolving digital world.

Final Notable Quote:

Brian Schulmeister [81:13]: "I do like the advocate for better algorithmic amplification of creative content. Good fucking luck."

This encapsulates the show's overarching theme of skepticism towards unchecked technological advancements and corporate practices.

Transcript

[Jason DeFilippo]

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[Brian Schulmeister]

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[Jason DeFilippo]

Grumpy Old Geeks, a weekly talk show hosted by Brian Schulmeister and Jason DeFilippo discussing the finer points of what went wrong on the Internet and who's to blame. Welcome to Grumpy Old geeks. I'm Jason DiFilippo.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And I'm Brian Schulmeister. Last show of the year, Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It is. Oh, Jesus, it is.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes, it is.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I have to make a new spreadsheet. Oh, shit. That's what I always hate about the end of the year. I have to roll everything over for what we do with the show. And I'm like, oh, man, I hate putting in all those dates because I can never remember the key command. In Google Sheets, there's a really simple key command where you can create like three dates and then just do the command and drag it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes.

[Jason DeFilippo]

What? Yeah, just drag it down. It fills in the rest of the year. I can never remember. It's faster to just fill them all in for all 52 shows or 50 shows, however the fuck many we do. It's early, Brian. I'm sorry, I'm rambling. Let's get onto follow up.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay.

[Jason DeFilippo]

We've been following the Matt Mullenweg WordPress story for a while now, and it has turned absurd. Yes, A judge, basically, last week we talked about how the judge said, no, you got to give WP Engine their access back and you've got to turn off that stupid checkbox on your website that when you log in, says, I am not affiliated with WP Engine. So, in typical kindergartner fashion, Matt changed the actual checkbox to say, instead of, I am not affiliated with WP Engine. Two pine is delicious on pizza.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, okay, two things here, Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah, come on, come on. I'm waiting here. Yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

First, yes, I agree, I do like a good Hawaiian pizza every now and then. I wouldn't have it all the time, but every now and then. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Surprisingly delicious, isn't it?

[Brian Schulmeister]

It is surprisingly delicious. So I would check that box. Definitely. Second thing. Okay. All right. WordPress, most popular hosting platform on the Internet. I believe that I would be worried at this point if I were hosting my site with WordPress, because obviously something is going wrong with the people at the top here. It's one thing if a company makes clever jokes all the time, and that's just kind of what they're known for. There are plenty of companies out there that do that and.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Cards against humanity.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. There is no cause for alarm when this sort of behavior is going on, because it's what they do. WordPress is not one of those companies. And now I would say this is a cause for alarm.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Someone is off their meds.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes. This is. This is insane. This is not what somebody should be doing running a company of this stature.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I love this. One of the. One of their people said, you know, this is more suited to our kindergarten and that there are meaningful feature requests that are often ignored. Yet this change was implemented within hours. Well, of course it was implemented within hours. When the CEO of the main company says do it, you do it. You know, so you just do it. Yeah, yeah. This is. This is not a democracy.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, wait, wait. Are we talking about the next story already or.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay, well, nothing is. Nothing is a democracy anymore, Brian. For the first time, the US Will have a president who fully embraces crypto. Promising a national bitcoin stockpile and stacking key agencies with crypto loyalty.

[Brian Schulmeister]

The grifter in chief.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes. That's the thing. I've been seeing so many, so many posts this week about crypto and that the grift is basically just going to happen in plain sight from now on. You're just gonna. You're gonna get screwed to your face instead of behind your back. This comes from an article by Molly White. I highly recommend going to check it out. It's called crypto. Got what it wanted in November's election. Now what? So it'll keep you up at night if you have, you know, a 401k or a pension fund or any mainstream investment or anything, that you're going to rely on your money that's in someone else's hands right now. What do you think, Brian? I actually don't care because I have no money, but you do.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So maybe I'm staying the course with my investments. I invest in individual stocks for the most part. There is an index fund that I invest in, but there's only one. And I know that they have publicly promised that they will not invest in crypto. So my money will stay crypto free, which is the way I want it. I think investments will probably take a hit during this time period, but I don't think that they're going to go anywhere. This is, it's, it's going to be fine. But I, if I, if I were you people out there listening to this, I would be very much checking to make sure that I'm not inadvertently putting my money into any of these funds that are going to go with crypto. Because look, I, we've been saying since day one there, there is one use case for crypto, crypto crime, and it's crime. And this of course tracks with our president because he is a criminal. So of course he would not, you know, you know, he's into this and he's, I mean, hawk to a girl has completely disappeared because of, because of her foray into this stuff. We've how many. All we do on this show is report on people running crypto enterprises going to jail. It's a scam. And is it full stop, all of it. Bitcoin is too big to, to fail right now. That, that's the only thing that, you know, if you're going to invest in anything, I guess that's the one. But there's, there's no real use for this at all, except for crime. So great, we got a criminal for a president, so he's going to back a criminal financial system.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, of course. Hey, man, my ethereum popped back up.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So, Yeah, I mean, it's all going to go up. So I, I, you know, for a while. Until it doesn't.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, for a while. Being last night, it went down almost 7%. So. Bummer. I should have sold when I could. Oh, well, I was trying to get it out to PayPal because I guess you can do your ETH to PayPal now. But that original investment that I put in, I think it was $200ish to buy the NFT for the show and then it went down to like $80. Now it's back up to 250. So I might actually make a profit, but I'm pulling it out as soon as I remember to do so because. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of crypto bros out there doing this, doing the shuffle right now. So it's musical chairs. Yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And you mentioned that this story came from Molly White. I can't recommend enough subscribing to her newsletter. Some days I don't read it just because it's always inevitably going to depress me. But it's extremely good reporting, and if you want to keep an eye on what's going on, she's the one to read. I probably read one out of every five so that she sends. Just because I can't bring myself to do it half the time.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know, it angers me. It angers me so much, but I skim. I skim. Yeah, I skim. I support and I skim.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Exactly.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I feel like if I give her money to write the newsletter, then I really don't have to read it if I don't want to. I don't feel guilty that way.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I replied to her, or I wrote to her once and I said, is there any way for me to donate with crypto? And she never wrote back. I thought that was funny.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Well, we also talked about the drones in New Jersey last week. Brian. Yeah, this has come back to exactly what I thought it was going to be.

[Brian Schulmeister]

People are fucking dumb.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, people are fucking dumb. Crop circles. Crop circles. For years, for decades almost, we were inundated with crop circles and specials. I think they wheeled out Leonard Nimoy about crop circles and they had guys with Geiger counters and little dowsing rods in the middle of crop circles going, oh, my God, look, look, look. The dowsing rods go this way and that way with the. With the grain and all this other shit.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And what did we find out, Jason?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Two dudes with some rope and a stick.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Crop circles are people.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Crop circles are people. That's right. So what are we finding out about drones?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Drones, fucking planes.

[Jason DeFilippo]

And what I was saying last week, too, it's like, now if I'm running a covert drone operation over the United States, would I put giant fucking blinking lights on my drones? No more. And the one guy, it's like, that's Orion. You should have paid attention in grade school, you moron. It's called a constellation. I can't say that. Scratch that.

[Brian Schulmeister]

No, you can't say that one.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I gotta pull that one back. From the brink. From the brink.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. I mean, this is. This is just crazy stuff. And the proliferation of stupidity is. Is just being amplified by social media and the ease of tools. I. My Facebook reels, whatever, which I never really even look at, is just flooded with what you can tell is completely like half AI generated, half. Somebody has a copy of. Of Adobe Premiere and just put a light in and a couple effects and went, oh, look at this. This is the actual footage. I took over New Jersey. No, not. Stop it, stop it.

[Jason DeFilippo]

People One guy. One guy was like, look at this drone. Look, it's dropping nuke or dropping chemical weapons on us. And it was obviously a plane with a contrail. It's not a drone.

[Brian Schulmeister]

But. But those people do think contrail is chemicals.

[Jason DeFilippo]

You know that's true.

[Brian Schulmeister]

You know, it's funny, you were mentioning crop circles and how we haven't heard about them for a long time. Whatever happened to quicksand?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, quicksand.

[Brian Schulmeister]

My childhood was inundated with quicksand. Worries about quicksand. Quicksand was in every sitcom, every cartoon.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

You never see quicksand anymore.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know where we just saw quicksand. Season 2 of the Rings of Power. There was a quicksand scene. There was a quicksand scene.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Maybe that's why it's in the back of my mind.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, and they got swallowed by the rous if you think about it too. So, yeah. Fucking crop circles. Next. This episode is brought to you by Delete Me. You know, privacy is something we've always taken seriously on this show, which is why I've been using delete me for a while now. It's shocking how much personal information like your home address, phone number, or email can end up on data broker websites without your knowledge. These sites gather and sell your data, making it accessible to scammers and bad actors. That's why I decided to do more than protect just myself. This holiday season, I gave Deleteme subscriptions to my family and friends. I wanted to make sure their information stays private too. Knowing that Deleteme is out there, removing their details from hundreds of data broker sites gives me real peace of mind. I don't have to worry about their information being exposed or spending hours trying to deal with it myself. Because let's be real, when we go home for the holidays, we are the ones who have to deal with it. Deleteme takes care of the hard work for you. They track down your data, remove it from hundreds of those obnoxious data broker sites, and keep it off. It's a simple and effective way to protect yourself and your loved ones from unnecessary risks. So this holiday season, give your loved ones the gift of privacy and peace of mind with Delete Me now at a special discount for our listeners today, get 20% off your delete me plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com gog and use promo code GOG at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com GOG and enter code GOG at checkout, that's JoinDeleteMe.com gog code gog make this the year you protect what matters most, your privacy and your loved ones. In the news.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, we had a bit of breaking news yesterday. The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the tick tock ban appeal. So we'll see what happens. The court decided to take the case unusually quickly, only two days after the company filed its appeal, and oral arguments are scheduled for January 10th.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They also agreed the same day that the CEO of TikTok had a trip to Mar A Lago.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Interesting how that happened.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Interesting how that happened. Told you. The Griff's in plain sight this time.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's. It's. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to do this show for the next four years, Jason. I really am not. I, I.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, Brian, we're going to turn into one of those shows. That's all it's going to be.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay. All right? We're going to be the woke Joe Rogan.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, the anti Rogan. I'm not woke. I almost just. Well, I did pull myself back.

[Brian Schulmeister]

You pulled yourself back, Jason. You're. You've disappointed the MAGA hordes that listen to us.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Well, the Gen Xers who were just thinking exactly like I am, but moving on.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay, let's talk about another shit stain of company character AI, which is. We talked a little bit about them the other week because I can't remember why.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, well, the last one was character AI was telling a teenager his parents were garbage people for not letting him use his screens. And the one before that was a kid killed himself. The story, the, the hits keep coming, Brian. What's the newest one?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, this one is. Futurism has published a story detailing how AI characters inspired by real life school shooters have proliferated on the service, allowing users to ask them about the events and even role play. Mass shootings.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I love this technology. Isn't it great that an entire river is being destroyed so this can happen?

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, Brian, they're building nuclear reactors for us.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, I hope they blow themselves up. Some of the chatbots present school shooters like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold as positive influences or helpful resources for people struggling with mental health. All right. Yeah. Of course there are people that are saying that there's no evidence that watching violent video games or movies causes people to become violent themselves. However, I would say that cosplaying as a mass murderer and talking to it all the time is slightly different, but that's just me.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Well, if it's research for a, for a role, maybe, but you're not, you're not an actor that's going to be playing these people on the, you know, the After School special. So no, probably not. Not relevant.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes. Well, Futurism spoke with a psychologist who argued that the chatbots could be dangerous for someone who may already be having violent urges. Any kind of encouragement or even lack of intervention or say, I don't know, cheering them on may seem like some kind of tacit permission to go ahead and do it, said psychologist Peter Langman. Google, which has funded the startup to the tune of more than $2 billion, has tried deflecting any responsibility, saying that Character AI is an independent company that just happens to be in debt to $2 billion to you.

[Jason DeFilippo]

We're going to talk about that in a second.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And it does not use the startup's AI models in its own products. One user on character AI has created more than 20 chatbots, almost entirely modeled after school shooters. The bots have logged more than 200,000 chats. So good times.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes. And to follow on with that, people are now making AI versions of Luigi Mangioni that call for slaying of more CEOs. That's right. So let's talk for a second about this Character AI business, Brian, because it's coming up and I went last night and I created a new account on Character AI So their age verification is a drop down. There's no age verification, just like everywhere else.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So zero age verification on anything. So now is there a checkbox that.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Says you like Hawaiian pizza? Is that what you need to do to get through?

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, there isn't. You do have to wear a Hawaiian shirt though. Character AI was established by Noam Shazir and Daniel de Freitas, who are both ex Googlers. So they both come from Google and they worked in the AI division in machine learning at Google. So in 2021 they went and started character AI. Right, okay, so then they get 43 million in seed funding, period. That's where they started. That's December 2021, March 2023, they raised $150 million in a round led by, wait for it, our favorite people, Andreessen Horowitz. So shocking. Yep. So there's your base, there's your, there's your base code of evil right there. So that give them a billion dollar valuation right there, right now. In August 2024, Google entered into a non exclusive licensing agreement with Character AI, acquiring the rights to its technology as part of the Deal founders Shazir and defreitas. I don't want to say frittatas defratadas. They went back to Google and they took this new guy, Dominic Perella, as the role of the interim CEO. So they basically took back their Googlers. So them saying that, oh, it's, you know, they're their own company, blah, blah, blah, there's some bullshit going on there. There's way too much inbreeding going on. This is like a West Virginia soap opera at this point. So now they're starting to get the lawsuits from all the other. So back in August though, they did lay off 5% of its workforce, which was from the marketing and recruiting departments, as part of a strategic refocus towards developing personalized AI products, which is what we have today in our new dystopian hellscape of AI.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So just to bring you up to date on character AI for those who didn't know, because I didn't know some of the ins and outs with the. Because the Google connection was what really got me, got me kind of curious about it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, there you go.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Google saying that they are, you know, a whole separate company. We have nothing to do with it is just utter bullshit. Stop lying to our face.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That's like Alphabet just basically saying, oh no, we have, we have nothing to do with half the things under our umbrella. That's not us. Yeah, they have completely different office.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah, seriously. They're on the other side of the campus. They're over by the Denny's.

[Brian Schulmeister]

They have different WI fi, completely different, same password. I don't know how that happened. Weird.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Speaking of Google, in recent developments, Google has announced that its artificial intelligence technologies can now be utilized in high risk areas, provided there is human oversight. This policy update allows customers to apply Google's AI solutions in sensitive sectors such as healthcare, finance and legal services, ensuring that human judgment remains integral to decision making processes. Yeah, which is kind of crazy considering. My next story. Exclusive. Google's Gemini is forcing contractors to rate AI responses outside their expertise.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Great.

[Jason DeFilippo]

In a recent report, TechCrunch reveals that Google's AI initiative, Gemini, is compelling contractors to evaluate AI generated responses beyond their areas of expertise. These contractors, often lacking the necessary subject matter knowledge, are tasked with assessing the accuracy and quality of AI outputs in specialized fields like health care, finance and legal services. So say what you want, you know.

[Brian Schulmeister]

You know how we had a. I can't remember the name of the senator offhand right now that was trying to push a bill that said that we had to label Social media. I think we need labels for all companies moving forward, letting us know whether they use AI internally or not. Because I want to work with companies that do not use these AI things. And the real problem with this again is what you think, oh, what's the big deal? Google themselves have decided that you can now use these things for whatever you want. It's up to the individual companies. Surely the companies would not use this AI technology without testing and vetting it first. However, as we have learned from simply labeling something full self drive when it isn't, the label seems to matter and people are dumb and they will just go do it anyway. So the real problem here is of course the CEOs of say the, oh, I don't know, healthcare, finance and legal service companies will go, oh look, Google has obviously tested this deeply to go ahead, go ahead and say we can now use it in these areas so we can fire a bunch of people and start using this without testing it or vetting it or anything else. Because it had the label saying it is good to go.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah. And by the way, the bloodbath in Silicon Valley is just unbelievable right now. Unbelievable. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs because we are going to.

[Brian Schulmeister]

See so many pink slips over the next few years that it is going to be frightening. Somebody needs to start on UBI now because we're going to have an awful lot of have nots in the world very soon.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They're going to have to do something because. Yeah, the class warfare that we talked about in the previous episode.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Heads will roll.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Inching closer, inching closer.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, if the food isn't coming in, heads are going to roll.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah. Three was it? Nine meals away from total breakdown of society. Oh yeah. Now let's get back to a little more fun AI news. Instagram said Adam Mosseri has raised concerns about the increasing prevalence of AI generated content on social media platforms. In a recent series of posts on Threads, which I'm amazed anybody could find because it's threads, Mosseri advised users to exercise caution when viewing images online, noting that AI can create highly realistic yet deceptive content. So can influencers with a fucking iPhone. I'm sure that person was. Yeah, yeah, never mind.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Again, I don't know how many people this is really affecting and I would love to see the statistics on social media usage, but everybody I know, it's way down. Like we're done. Like we were done when the influencers took over because. And the, and the algorithms basically push their content over. Oh, I don't know, friends, that the reason we were on social media to begin with, and now that AI is flooding over everything. I open up a feed on any of these sites now and it's practically useless.

[Jason DeFilippo]

You don't believe anything either. And I'm watching TV and I'm like, it's. It's kind of like a bad acid trip. I'm just like. Or a flashback. It's like, is that real or is that AI? Like, I can't tell sometimes anymore. And I just. I can't. Then it takes me out of whatever show I'm watching and I'm like, this is not good. This is really fucking with our heads. It's really fucking with our heads. So Adam emphasized the importance of considering the source of information and suggested that social media platforms should label AI generated content to help users assess its credibility. Right. Currently, meta platforms, including Instagram, lack the contextual tools Mosseri mentioned, even though he's the head of them. But upcoming changes to content rules are anticipated because we know rules are great and everybody follows rules. This initiative could potentially align meta with user led moderation systems already in place on platforms like X, Bullshit, blue sky, and YouTube. Okay, yeah, sure. Now that dovetails nicely, Brian, into my next story, which we've. I can't believe we're still covering this story because this is just. This is deja vu, like again and again and again. More than 100 former Facebook content moderators in Kenya have been diagnosed with severe ptsd, general anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder. It's still going on, Brian.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yep, of course it is.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. It's basically from a company that Facebook and Meta was outsourcing to called Samasource Kenya. The moderators were exposed to graphic content including murder suicides and CSAM material, leading to symptoms such as fainting, vomiting and severe psychological distress. The lawsuit highlights the human cost of social media moderation, often outsourced to workers in developing countries. Yep. Yep. They get to see all of our garbage.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yep.

[Jason DeFilippo]

This comes from the. Are you fucking kidding me? Files. Arizona's Department of Education has announced plans to implement an AI driven curriculum across its public schools, eliminating the need for human teachers.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, boy.

[Jason DeFilippo]

The initiative aims to enhance educational efficiency and consistency by utilizing advanced artificial intelligence to deliver personalized instruction to students statewide. What could go wrong?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, as I. As somebody posted this on. On our discord and, and as I responded, this is all part of the plan to keep an uneducated population that either won't vote at all or be easily swayed to vote against their own interests because we already have an uneducated population and we've seen how the elections have been going recently and this is a fucking catastrophe. If this happens like it is game over time.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. You guys are worried about TikTok in their moderation algorithm, then this is going to put the TikTok, you know, foot or finger on the scales to shame. All you have to do is just go tweak what the, you know, what the curriculum is on the back end and then you're just basically indoctrinating an entire state worth of children to your will. That's easy. Now this just centralizes it. This takes out the, the pesky problem of the teachers who have free will.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, well, you know, no, no, this is bad enough to begin with, but I don't know if you've looked into the person running the Department of Education under, under Trump or his proposed person is. It is. Boy, oh boy. You. Boy, oh boy. I would not be sending. I'm so glad I'm out of the country. I would not be sending my kid to a school in the States under, under these people. Oh my God.

[Jason DeFilippo]

And this is what I worry about. And this is what I was thinking about last night. AI is not going to be Terminator. It's not going to be Skynet. It's basically, it's just destroying us little bit by little bit by little bit by just taking away any sense of rationality in our thought.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's going to be Wall E. That's what it's going to be.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's the future, really.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's not Terminator, it's Wall E. It's.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Wall E. And we joke about that for a decade now that we're moving towards Wall E. Ha ha ha. Give me the goggles, Give me the shake. Got. We've got Soylent milkshakes and Apple Vision quests or whatever and we're just going to sit in our lounge chairs and just get fat. Unless you follow the AI influencers who will teach you how to get six pack ZAB in about 20 minutes. It boggles the mind that somebody can let this actually go through because it is really just. It's chipping away at the foundation of everything. And people don't see it yet. They don't understand it. We're really good at seeing the long term effects on this show of what's going to happen. And granted, for people who have decent educations and have, you know, more than four brain cells, AI is, it's an enhancer, you know, it's a leveler. Upper if you will. It gives you good starting points, and then you actually use your brain and your knowledge to enhance the things that it's outputting. And it can be a leveler, a level upper. You see, I'm even forgetting my fucking words because I've been using it too much. But it's just chipping away at the fabric of what makes us fucking human. And it's driving me crazy.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, it is. I was starting to delve into it a bit more, as I know you have, and I was kind of taking your lead on that, and I was. You know, I was using it for prompting and things like that, and I'm starting to pull back again. I'm just. You know what? I can think of this myself, and it may take a little bit longer, but it'll be better. And I'm working my brain.

[Jason DeFilippo]

See, that's the thing, you know, you learn. You have to remember that thinking is a muscle. You have to exercise it. You have to exercise it every day.

[Brian Schulmeister]

There will be little thinking in Arizona schools next year.

[Jason DeFilippo]

All right, a little more Meta news. Met has been placed under enhanced supervision by the European Commission for failing to effectively address the spread of terrorist content on its platforms because all of its moderators are in a psych ward right now on lithium.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. All of its moderators, which has never been enough anyways.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And how's that AI moderation going, guys, that we keep hearing about?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah. What happened to that? What happened to that? Oh, the AI is making the terrorist content now? That's right, yeah. This action follows the implementation of the Digital Services act, which mandates that large online platforms swiftly remove illegal content, including material related to terrorism. The commission's decision comes after Meadow was found to have inadequately managed such content, raising concerns about user safety and compliance with EU regulations. As a result, Meta is now required to report regularly to the Commission on its efforts to detect and eliminate terrorist content. It's going to report on its efforts, not its actual efficacy. Non compliance with the DSA can lead to substantial fines, up to 6% of a company's global annual turnover. This move underscores the EU's commitment to enforcing stricter regulations on tech giants to ensure a safer online environment for all users. EU is Don Quixote. They are tilting at that windmill, baby.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes. Their entire report consists of. We're trying.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Sancho, my sword. Microsoft has announced plans to eliminate passwords for over a billion users, declaring the password era is ending.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It is if you don't give us a choice.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Passkeys, baby. Microsoft is moving to pass keys. Oh, God, I hate passkeys. But it looks like that's what we're going to have to do. So I started this week moving a bunch of stuff over to pass keys. Yeah, it works great until my phone can't connect to my laptop via Bluetooth because there's. I don't know. Somebody turned the microwave on.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, you know what we didn't discuss about the AI teachers in Arizona? What happens when the power goes out because all the air conditioners are running? Because Arizona is the hottest place on Earth because of global warming? Because of the AI that is trying to teach the kids that the dinosaurs and Jesus live together at the same time. I don't know what's going to happen then, Brian.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, used to have the east coast can have snow days, they're going to have heat days.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know, I know. They've already burned all the books, so I don't know how they're going to actually read anything when the power's out. Okay, I guess. Back to the mines, kids. Back to the mines. We really are turning into that show.

[Brian Schulmeister]

We're having a fucking cheery Christmas show, aren't we?

[Jason DeFilippo]

I don't know. I'm having fun, though. If this is why Joe Rogan does what he does. Now I get it. Now I get it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I gotta get stoned being sober.

[Jason DeFilippo]

God damn it. Why'd I do this to myself?

[Brian Schulmeister]

You wanted to use. You wanted to have that limited brain capacity for your AI generation, Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know. I have to have a few cells left for prompt engineering, Brian. Moving on. Man of the parent company of Facebook has been fined 251 million euros by the European Union's Data Protection Commission for a 2018 data breach. The compromised 29 million user accounts, including 3 million in Europe. All right, so that money's going to go down to the millions of users whose accounts are breached. No, of course it's not. It's going back into the coffers of the eu. Moving on. Brian, we're running late.

[Brian Schulmeister]

The stench of Cambridge Analytica is still hovering over Meta as they just agreed to pay 311,000 Australian users 50 million Australian dollars over the scandal. All right, moving on. That's all we need to talk about there.

[Jason DeFilippo]

In a move to enhance pricing transparency, the Federal Trade Commission has enacted a new rule requiring hotels, vacation rental platforms and live event ticket sellers to disclose all mandatory fees up front.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay, so we all adjust our pricing and make it higher. Boom. Done. Fixed.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's why free shipping is not Free shipping.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So same thing. Yes. And thank you, Lena Khan, for passing that on to the users.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes, thank you. That's great. It's going to be awesome. So everything just goes up and fine. Okay. Grubhub has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges from the FTC and the Illinois Attorney General. Last month, the food delivery Startup Wonder bought GrubHub for 110 of what it was worth during the pandemic. Under the proposed settlement, grubhub has to make changes to remedy the problems. This the requirements read like a Stop doing that list one per charge. This includes notifying customers of full delivery costs, being honest with drivers about pay, and listing restaurants only with their consent. The FTC says grubhub to appear more robust than it was added as many as 325,000 unaffiliated restaurants to the platform without permission since at least 2019, and there are reports that they made up some of these restaurants as well. The company also allegedly added junk fees after advertising to customers that they'd pay a low cost flat fee for deliveries. The FTC said grubhub labeled them as service fees or small order fees, but they were simply deliver fees under another name, the agency quotes a former grubhub executive is calling it a pricing shell game. The FTC has also accused the company of blocking customers accounts with large gift card balances, leaving them no way to use those gift cards.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, oh.

[Brian Schulmeister]

The agency said diners who complained to the company either weren't told their accounts were blocked or weren't given any meaningful way to contest the band. They have denied all of this, but they're settling it simply to put the matter behind us and move forward.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay. Wow. I had no idea grubhub was that evil.

[Brian Schulmeister]

They all are, Jason. They all are. And speaking of evil, Elon Musk and SpaceX are under 3 federal reviews from 3 different US military departments. Keep in mind this fucker has like high I don't understand the world anymore, Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know.

[Brian Schulmeister]

How can he have access? Okay. Anyways. For allegedly failing to comply with reporting protocols, the New York Times reported that Musk and his private aerospace company have repeatedly disregarded requirements to disclose trips and meetings with foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The three reviews of Musk and SpaceX suspected activity were opened by the Defense Department's Office of Inspector General, the Air Force, and the Pentagon's Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security. But I'm sure it's going to be great that he's running Doge and has the President's ear for now. The Air Force also reportedly finally denied Musk's request for high level security access because of concerns over potential security risks if he are allowed to handle certain pieces of classified information. But he does have top security clearance at SpaceX that allows him to view certain pieces of classified material, such as information on the US's advanced military technology. He's required to disclose certain details about his personal life and travel habits to the Defense Department. But he fucking doesn't. Yeah, there Dick. Oh, and unsurprisingly, employees who were concerned about the lax reactions to those vetting requirements failed to report the behavior out of fear of losing their jobs.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Surprise, surprise, surprise. Surprise, surprise, surprise. Well, in September, Amazon announced a mandatory return to office policy requiring employees to work on site five days a week starting January 2, 2025. We covered this many times going, are you people fucking stupid? Well, it turns out they really are. Recent reports indicate that the company lacks sufficient office space to accommodate its workforce of over 350,000 employees.

[Brian Schulmeister]

They forgot to count desks, they used.

[Jason DeFilippo]

The six finger AI and it came up too many. As a result, return to office dates have been delayed in at least seven cities, including Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Nashville and New York City. In some locations, such as Dallas, adequate office space may not be available until March or April, and in New York City until May. So this situation is pissing off employees, with many questioning the necessity and feasibility of the RTO mandate. I love this Research suggests that strict RTO mandates can lead to increased employee turnover, particularly among senior and skilled workers who have more opportunities elsewhere. Yeah, that's what we've all been saying. Yeah, if they've got the juice and they don't want to go back to the office, they're going to take their juice and go somewhere else. So yeah, good on you Amazon. Good on you. This episode is brought to you by Mint Mobile. You know when you discover a new binge worthy show or a song so good you play it on repeat and can't wait to share it with your friends? That's the same excitement you'll feel when you realize Mint Mobile offers premium wireless service for just $15 a month. When you purchase a three month plan, it's an unbelievable deal and you don't want to keep it to yourself. Let's talk wireless prices. Seriously, 15 bucks a month. Most of us are paying two, three or even four times that. Why are you throwing money at overpriced plans When Mint Mobile gives you everything you need for just $15 a month. Look friends, don't let friends overpay for wireless. It's time to say buh bye to that bloated bill and hello to premium wireless at a price that won't make you cringe. Mint Mobile is here to rescue you and your squad with plans starting at just $15 a month. And those aren't watered down plans. Mint Mobile offers high speed data and unlimited talk and text, all on the nation's largest 5G network. Plus you can bring your own phone, keep your number and transfer all your contacts. Switching couldn't be easier. Stop overpaying and start saving Today. With Mint mobile, you get three months of premium wireless for just $15 a month. Why wait to get this new customer offer and your new 3 month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month? Go to mintmobile.com grumpy that's mintmobile.com grumpy cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com grumpy 45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month new customers on first 3 month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. This episode is brought to you by 1Password Extended Access Management Imagine your company's security like the quad of a college campus. There are nice brick paths between the buildings. Those are the company owned devices, IT approved apps and managed employee identities. And then there are the paths people actually use, the shortcuts worn through the grass that are the actual straightest line from point A to point B. Those are unmanaged devices, shadow IT apps, and non employee identities like contractors. Most security tools only work on those happy brick paths, but a lot of security problems take place on the shortcuts. 1Password Extended Access Management is the first security solution that brings all these unmanaged devices, apps and identities under your control. It ensures that every user credential is strong and protected, every device is known and healthy, and every App is visible. 1Password Extended Access Management solves the problems traditional IAM and MDM can't. It's security for the way we work today, and it's now generally available to companies with Okta and Microsoft Entra and in beta for Google Workspace customers. Check it out at 1Password.com grumpy old geeks that's 1Password.com grumpy old Geeks.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Media Candy well Jason, did you watch the unfortunate Star Trek Lower Decks finale last night?

[Jason DeFilippo]

I didn't think it was. Well, it's unfortunate that it's over. But I watched. Yeah. Yeah, I loved it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I thought, I thought it was great. I, I would love five more seasons of the show. I'm so sad it's ended. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I think, I think episode nine was better than the, the finale. But I thought the finale put a nice bow on everything. I thought, I thought it did. What?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Ice.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna miss that show. I really am.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. When it ended, I actually got so sad. I put on. I didn't put this in the show notes, but I went in and put on your favorite Star. Star Trek show. I started watching Deep Space Nine because Paramount has it all. I don't know if you've watched a stream of Deep Space Nine on Paramount yet, Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Is it really bad?

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's like an old. It's like somebody found an old vhs. Yeah, it's that bad. I'm like, how could it be that bad?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, there's a whole documentary about how it can be that bad.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's ridiculous. It's unwatchable.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's the downside of it. Yeah. Yeah. I think, actually if you maybe go to Sweden and pick up. There are copies that are better than the actual ones that they run on Paramount plus, which is really sad because.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Next Generation looks way better.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They remastered Next Gen. Oh, that's right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

They need to remaster.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They're not going to remaster DS9 because of the. Yeah, they lost all the files for the effects they have to do. They literally have to remake all the effects from scratch, so. God.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And Dune prophecy is rolling along. I, I. We've complained a couple times about how short seasons are, but they're really jacking us with this one.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Six.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Six episodes. That's a six.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I saw the thing. It said. Yeah, it said, season finale on Sunday. I'm like, already? It's just getting started.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I know.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, my God. Yeah, I like it. I'm actually into it, but now I'm pissed. Yeah, now I'm pissed. I'm like, come on, guys.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Six. It's gonna be like two years before we get another six episodes.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Because it's all CG and, like, there's like, it's like 10 story, 90 beauty shots. Come on.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I know. Oh, well, I'll just fire up an old copy of Bryce and make landscapes and call it a day.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I got a Quadra 650 you can borrow.

[Brian Schulmeister]

We talked a little bit about the Super Slash man documentary about Chris Reeves and whether we both wanted to watch it but didn't want to watch it and I watched it and the feeling remains that it was great, but it was so sad.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Did you go read one of Molly White's newsletters after that?

[Brian Schulmeister]

I wouldn't be here, Jason. I would have gone to character AI and blown my head off.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's it. Oh, God.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, yeah. And speaking of Superman, the Superman teaser trailer. The new James Gunn movie has dropped and looks pretty good, but you know, hashtag, what's his face is my Superman Christopher Reeve?

[Jason DeFilippo]

The one you just talked about. See, AI is melting your brain.

[Brian Schulmeister]

No, the other guy. I really liked him. He was great. The. The one who was also my witcher and is no longer my witcher.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, that guy.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Henry Cavill. Henry Cav. He was a fantastic Superman and I think they took it away from him too soon.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Who was before Henry Cavill that only got the one Superman. I forget who that was.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Brandon Routh or something like that.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Brandon Routh, Yeah. I loved his Superman. I really was pissed off when they cut him short. Yeah, that scene at the beginning where he saves the plane, I love that scene so much. But I thought. I thought that was a fantastic Superman. Here's the deal. I don't need any more Superman's. I know the story. I watched it 17 times, so.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, they're changing this one up a little bit. It's got Crypto the dog, which you know, has a different tone to it these days since the crypto, but you know, you know.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I. I read a shitter tweet, whatever on Blue sky or Threads or Mastodon somewhere. You just lose where these things are and they're like, did we really need another Superman? No. I'm like, okay, it was from somebody I trusted. So I'm like, I'm just going to skip it. I'll maybe take a look. When it comes to Sweden and it's late at night and I need something to watch. But let me know how it goes.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I will. Well, you'll still have Silo to watch for two more seasons. They have been. Appala's renewed it for the two third and fourth season, which will bring the story to a close, which is nice. I'm glad we're going to see the whole story out. Out. So.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Did you see the latest episode last night?

[Brian Schulmeister]

It comes out tonight, doesn't it? I thought it was a Friday night.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It comes out last night.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, I was watching the other stuff.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So yeah, I watched it last night. I think I. I really think I want to binge this show. I'm gonna wait for. I don't Know how many episodes we got left? Probably one at this. With. With my luck.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I'm gonna wait and just binge it because it's like I get. I get really into it and then it's his dunk. I'm like, I have a binge brain now. I would rather just be able to watch two or three in a row, you know, but it's still fucking awesome. It's beautiful. And they're really moving the story along very well. This last. You're going to love this next episode. It's fun.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I'm looking forward to it. Going to watch it tonight.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Bad Monkey season two got renewed on Apple tv, so I'm really looking forward to that. Brian, you should watch that if you want. Pick me up. That is such a fun show. Like I said, I'm not a Vince Vaughn guy and Vince Vaughn is awesome in this.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I have a love hate relationship with him and it's generally. I loved him about 20 years ago and I hate him now. That seems to be the divide.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I think you're. I think. I think he'll come back around. It's a really good show. He's really funny in it because I got the same thing, you know. So, yeah, Bad monkey. Bad monkey. Over the holidays would probably be a good. Pick me up. It's a fun show.

[Brian Schulmeister]

All right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

And I watched Jamie Foxx. What happened was his new special on Netflix and it's very fitting. It was kind of hard to watch because Jamie Foxx had a stroke. He had a hemorrhagic stroke, much worse than mine and mine sucked. Yesterday was actually the three year anniversary of my stroke and three years ago today I was in the ER with them trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. Jamie Foxx has a lot of money and he got much better care. So he was dancing on stage within the year. I'm three years in and I still walk in circles and bounce off walls sometimes. That tells you what the healthcare situation is like for Jamie Foxx versus little old me. But it was really good. It was really good. I really enjoyed it. Like I said, a little bit of PTSD in there, but God damn, are his impressions. Amazing. He can do. He can do anybody. I've never been a huge Jamie Foxx fan, but I admit that guy's got some talent. That guy's really got talent. And a shout out to all my other stroke survivors out there. Hang in there. It does get better. Slowly, very fucking slowly, but it does get better. So.

[Brian Schulmeister]

All right. I had mentioned recently that I had switched over from Spotify to Apple Music on all of our devices around the house just because I was starting to get annoyed with just everything about Spotify. Everything down now. I'm so happy I did because this report has come out and it's just, just mind bogglingly like how the. I'm so depressed, Jason. This show was just depressing the hell out of me. Anyways, according to a detailed new report from Liz Perry from Harper's Magazine, Spotify is supplementing playlists with ghost artists as a means of decreasing the amount of royalties to pay and increasing overall profit margins. Known as Perfect Fit Content or pfc. Not as tasty as kfc, this practice allegedly primarily impacts playlists and genres like jazz, classical, ambient and lo fi, hip hop. This was introduced to Spotify editors in 2017 and is reportedly designed as a way to prioritize profitability, basically saying by partnering with a web of production companies who create music, many of which are located outside of the U.S. it appears that Spotify has successfully increased the percentage of total streams towards music that is cheaper for the platform to host. Fewer royalties are paid out to real artists. All payments go to the PFC partners. The PFC partners create music to be shared under hundreds of artists profiles, many of whom are completely empty and generate inconclusive searches upon further inspection because they don't exist. They're making up artists names, they're pumping out production music, they're filling all their playlists with it, and now they don't have to have to pay real artists. Isn't that great?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah, that is because, you know.

[Brian Schulmeister]

A lot of people just throw on a playlist and just let it play throughout the day and that's that.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So, yeah, and you know, another, you know, this is just the evil hat going on. What they could actually do is they know how many artists are under that 1,000, you know, play 1,000 stream payout. They could just shuffle those in and out until they get to like 800, say.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yep, time to pull that one.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah, you're welcome, Spotify. Where's my billions?

[Brian Schulmeister]

This report included insights from former Spotify staff, such as playlist editors who explained that many employees didn't initially know where the music was coming from. The internal attitude became if the metrics went up, then let's just keep replacing them more and more because if the user doesn't notice, then it's fine. But not everybody at Spotify was on board with the program. Many of the playlist editors whom Spotify had touted in the press as music lovers with encyclopedia knowledge are uninterested in participating in the scheme. The report details. So the company started to bring on editors who seemingly were less bothered by that and of course now are being replaced by AI generated playlists.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Exactly.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Which are being seeded with PFC content. They have repeatedly denied allegations of creating music in house. Just like the other companies said that we don't have anything character. AI and Google, they're not part of us. We're not creating music in house. We just basically are the 100% company that's, that's buying music from this one place. Nobody else is just Spotify. So. But they're not the same company money.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I remember when I first became a contractor, my, my accountant drilled into my head that you absolutely have to make sure that no more than 45 of your income comes from one client. But I guarantee you these PFC partners are getting a hundred percent of their income from Spotify.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yep. Because everybody else may have. Well, title maybe doesn't have that many morals, but hey, I'm sure Apple's okay. Oh man.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, Apple doesn't care. It's a loss leader for them.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, but. And the great thing about Apple music is like I'm telling people I know right now, it's like if you're promoting your song, promote your Apple streams first, not Spotify. Apple pays you more. Come on. Yep. I got two podcasts to listen to over the break too, Brian. First one is Hysterical. It actually won podcast of the year from Apple. I think it's put up by Wondery. Fantastic. Seven episodes. Once you listen to this, it might make the whole Drone in New Jersey thing make a hell of a lot more sense because it does talk about mass hysteria and all sorts of other things. It is a fantastically well researched, well produced, funny show. Hysterical is not about being funny, but it is quite hysterical in some parts. So highly recommend that one. Seven parts, easy breezy. Another one I found is a podcast called Our Fake History and I love it. It basically just debunks all of the shit that we think happened in history that actually didn't.

[Brian Schulmeister]

At least landing on the moon, that sort of thing.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I think the one that I listened to first was basically the Guy Fawkes Legend and the 5th of November because they released. It was a two parter that they released like at the. On the 5th of November and the gunpowder Plot. It was really good. It was really good. There's. It's a fun show. It's. It is it's kind of like Dan Carlin, but like the reverse. Dan Carlin tells you about what really happened in real history, and this guy tells you about what really didn't happen in real history.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So nice.

[Jason DeFilippo]

But it's a good show. It's a really good show. I think you'd like it. Apps and doodads Brian, guess what the most downloaded app in the US was last year?

[Brian Schulmeister]

No idea.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Temu.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, okay. The cheap Amazon.

[Jason DeFilippo]

The cheap Amazon. And that's, you know, of course it's the most downloaded app because where do you think Elon bought our next president from? So that's where he got it from.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's perfect. He does look like a TEMU president.

[Jason DeFilippo]

He does, yes. Believe it or not, since its launch in 2022, Temu has experienced rapid growth. No shit. The thing is, I know everybody that's used TEMU once. I've used it once. Everybody I know has used it once. Because it is just garbage. It's basically what they're doing is they're taking all the garbage we send to them, putting it in a box, taking a picture of it and sending it back to us. Yeah, I bought a puzzle bowl for my dog. You know, it was like one of those dog feeders that has a little puzzle thing in it. And when it came, it was kind of like that scene in Spinal Tap where they revealed Stonehenge. It was supposed to be like 10 inches and I think it was 10 centimeters. It was so tiny. I think it came in an envelope instead of a box.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Don't use Temu, people. Don't use.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, don't. Save your money. Save your money.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, a survey by a website called Sell Sell S E L L C E L L See what they did there that has a blog covering gadget trends. They did a survey and they found that artificial intelligence is hardly a deciding factor when people choose choose whether to buy a new phone. Its respondents were over 2,000 smartphone users, over half owning an iPhone with an AI supported model. The most popular AI features that people clamor for are the ones that help get jobs done faster, such as generative writing tools, notification summaries and prioritized messages. The survey also included results from Samsung users who have been using Galaxy AI since it debuted on the Galaxy S2 4 at the beginning of the year. Samsung users love circle to search, which makes sense since it's the best thing that has happened to Android operating system in years, according to this article. They also use photo assist Galaxy AI infused editing offered in the app around 90% of users on both platforms explicitly said hell no to paying for the privilege to use AI. And in general, the smartphone users surveyed remained unsatisfied by existing AI features. A whopping 73% of Apple intelligence users would be okay without it. And a higher percentage of 87% of Galaxy AI users don't find it very valuable. That's rolled out for me recently on my iPhone and I find it basically fucking useless.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It's more than useless.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Not only is it useless, it's poorly designed. The way they shoehorn all the stuff in it's so un Apple little pop up text that doesn't have the same font and it's just ugly. The only thing that I have liked at all about any of it is, and it's not really AI is the way that they've revamped the mail which you don't use so they have categories in List View and the categories, you know, separate between spam and shopping and transactions and news updates and newsletters and all that sort of stuff. Which is actually quite nice because it does a good job of it, of it. And now I only get notified on my Apple watch if it's actually a real email that from a real person rather than subscribed mailing list that I'm on or I bought something or whatever. So that is the one thing. Everything else sucks balls.

[Jason DeFilippo]

See I've had that in Spark for years now. Spark mail does that for me. It categorizes things so I don't have to see newsletters or updates or calendar invitations, things like that. They don't pop up. But the Apple Intelligence part that summarizes the emails that come in does such a poor job between that and summarizing text messages. If you get more than one text message it is, I mean it can cause heart attacks because it's like, like wait, what that person knows about that? Oh Jesus. That's not supposed to go there. Oh my God. Then you have to click through immediately and you're driving and then you almost run over some children. Unless you have fully self driving and you know then you're safe.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So you've already hit someone, you've already.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Hit them so you don't have to worry about it. Plausible deniability there. But no, I find it absolutely useless. The only thing that I like now is that the Siri and the Chat GPT integration actually works fairly well. Yeah, because Siri sucks. So I just like just ask ChatGPT. It's better. Trust me, trust me. I'm not going to like what you have to say. Siri.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, I'm actually just going through and like I'm turning off almost all the AI stuff.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I'd turn them. I'd way turn them all off. After the first couple heart attacks, I turned it all off and I got a Sonos app update.

[Brian Schulmeister]

They fixed your company yet?

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, it actually has gotten worse.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh great.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There was a time when they were on the roller coaster. You know, you're going up the hill, click, click, click, click, click, click. We're at the top. Oh, it sucks again. I'm waiting to hit the next one where we go back up for a little bit. It has gotten so slow again. It was starting to speed up a little, but now it's gotten so slow that you think it's broken that even we've got a couple different devices that can access our Sonos system in the house. All of them are slow. It's faster to actually walk over to the unit and pause it by pressing the button than it actually is to actually open the app to hit pause. It's so bad. I mean, it is so bad. So yeah, fuck you, Sonos. This episode is brought to you by one password Extended Access Management. Imagine your company's security like the quad of a college campus. There are nice brick paths between the buildings. Those are the company owned devices, IT approved apps and managed employee identities. And then there are the paths people actually use. The shortcuts worn through the grass that are the actual straightest line from point A to point B. Those are unmanaged devices, shadow IT apps, and non employee identities like contractors. Most security tools only work on those happy brick paths. But a lot of security problems take place on the shortcuts. 1Password Extended Access Management is the first security solution that brings all these unmanaged devices, apps and identities under your control. It ensures that every user credential is strong and protected, every device is known and healthy, and every App is visible. 1Password Extended Access Management solves the problems traditional IAM and MDM can't. It's security for the way we work today. And it's now generally available to companies with Okta and Microsoft Entrance and in beta for Google Workspace customers. Check it out at 1Password.com grumpy old geeks. That's 1Password.com grumpy old Geeks @ the library. God damn you, Schulmeister.

[Brian Schulmeister]

What'd I do now?

[Jason DeFilippo]

I finally started to read the Peter Caudron books and I got Ezekiel. That was the first one I read that one. It's really fucking good. Yeah, I know, right?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, and the thing is they're all fucking totally different.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And they're good.

[Jason DeFilippo]

But I'm going to stick to my guns by reading other stuff in between because, yeah, this might be my new Discworld. I guess you got me into it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

He's a solid, good writer. At the end of the day, like, he's a good writer. I read a lot of Shitter Sci Fi and I've talked about it a lot on this show, and a lot of it is good idea, kind of crappy writing. This is good idea, good writing consistently.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. That's what hooked me. I'm like, okay, is this going to be just like, you know, just junk, you know, but with stuck on one idea and I'm like, oh, oh, oh. I have been really surprised by how good this is and how hooked I get. Like, half the reason I was kind of late getting into the studio this morning actually, actually caffeinate was I was up late listening to the book and it's really good. I'm like, I can't wait to get to the second half to see what happens.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a reason I've been plowing through them, man. In fact, I just finished another one. Feedback by. By Peter Cowdrin. Because this is just basically the Peter Cowdrin segment at this point. Yeah. So. And it was good, too. This one was not one of my favorites, so I wouldn't recommend starting with it. It's. It's still good. It's just not one of my favorites. It took me a while to get into this one, but again, by the end I was cooking and going, okay, what's going to happen? What's going to happen?

[Jason DeFilippo]

This is great.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And I have to give a shout out to him, the author of the first Contact series. He's up to 29 books now with Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse just released. And he reached out to us with a sneak peek on. Over on, I believe, Twitter. And he responded to us and said, without giving too much away, here's what I'm working on at the moment. This will be the 30th book in the first Contact series, Minotaur. And he sent the album, the album artwork, the book art for it.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, very cool. Very cool.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So really loving the books and I'm glad I got you hooked on them now.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They're fun reading.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I know some people in our Discord are reading through them now, too.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I don't know if that was the right one to start With. But you said this is. They're all standalone. It kind of doesn't really matter.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It really doesn't matter what you start with. Just. You just pick one.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, this was the one that was in my library on Audible, so I just grabbed it and started going. And it's well. It's well read and it's well written and it's fun. It's like, wow. Yeah. Because I had to drive to downtown LA yesterday, which is. Dude, it is so dystopian now. I had to go down to the fashion district and I forgot how bad LA smells because I'm like, out in the suburbs where I can smell trees and the air is relatively clean. I mean, for la, it's still. You know, there's a. There's a cancer warning by every day when you walk out the door, so your mileage may vary, but at least in downtown la, there's a cancer warning. And it smells like pee, like, oh, I forgot how cities smell. And just the homeless problem and. Oh, it was nasty. I couldn't wait to get out of there. But at least he had a good book. But it was perfect for listening to this. Stuck on the 101 for two hours. It was great. The Dark side.

[Brian Schulmeister]

With Dave.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Welcome to the Dark side with Dave. Podcast super host Dave Bittner decodes all things cyber on the cyber wire. Every day exposes deception with Joe Kerrigan and Maria Varmus on hacking.

[Dave Bittner]

Oh, you changed it, Vermises.

[Jason DeFilippo]

You changed this on me. You're not allowed to do that.

[Dave Bittner]

And yet I did.

[Jason DeFilippo]

And Maria Varmazis on hacking humans. Dives deep into private Dives deep into privacy.

[Brian Schulmeister]

With you, Dave.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It did break me. Breaks down industrial cybersecurity on control loop and even brings the laughs on only malware in the building. Dave, what have you done to me?

[Dave Bittner]

Oh, how fragile we are. How fragile we are.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, man. Jason sometimes changes the outro and I. And if I don't notice it, we're. It's just.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It takes me like an hour. Feels like. Oh, God. Oh, turnabout's fair play. Oh, geez. So you guys want to talk about some Star wars shit?

[Dave Bittner]

Of course.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Sure.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Go for it.

[Dave Bittner]

Has there ever been a more. Has there ever been a more rhetorical question? Yeah, I'm still enjoying Skeleton crew. It is. I am suspending my disbelief and just going along for the ride. And it's fun. Just fine.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, I mean, you know, if I wanted to do what the Internet does and be popular, I could start. I could start shit posting the show, but you know what? It's okay. And I'm just enjoying it for what it is and that's fine.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, it makes me laugh out loud throughout in good ways. You know, they're just in delight. There are delightful things that happen throughout the show and that's enough. That's what I need in my life right now. I need happy Star wars delightful things with kids that push all sorts of 80s Steven Spielberg buttons and Star wars buttons.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's a very nostalgic feeling show. Yes, definitely.

[Dave Bittner]

Absolutely.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I think my favorite character is the robot with the mouse living in the eyeball. Yeah, he's great.

[Dave Bittner]

He's really great. Yeah, yeah. And I'm still holding on to my headcanon that this is actually a prequel for Captain eo.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I did a deep dive on that and I read through it and it is compelling.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So there you go.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Nerd. Nerd.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That's right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay, we got a note from Neil here. Just a quick note for Dave regarding the ham radio quote community. I am a ham and have been since 1976. First license in Oz. I am 63 now, so I fit the demographic. But I am not an old fuddy duddy. And I know exactly the issue Dave has seen online.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I think anybody that uses the term fuddy duddy is a fuddy duddy by default.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Self selecting sample. I am a techie, so I am more interested in experimenting than chatting. And there is one place online where the techie cool kids hang out. And of course it isn't run from the usa. Please ask Dave to look at the online amateur radio community. It's for anyone in the world and is a large community on Discord and is carefully split up into interests. It's a real club by the way, with a constitution and all. Keep up the good work.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Unfortunately, Dave lost his Discord password about three years ago and that was that.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, no, seriously, that's that. That's where I am right now. I was excited about this. I thought to myself, this is great. I was very thankful for Neil to sending this in. And then I saw the word discord and I said, I'm crestfallen. And if you will see, I pasted in a little screenshot from my attempt to follow the link that Neil sent. And it says, whoops, unable to accept invite. And then below it there's a button that says accept invite. And if I press that button, I get a screen that says whoops, unable to accept invite. And there's a button underneath that says accept invite. So I'm in an Endless Discord loop. And the question is, will this be the thing that makes me hunker down and figure out how to get into Discord once and for all?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Can't you just make a new username and just start over?

[Dave Bittner]

Well, that's too simple. I mean, do we not remember the.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Light with the solar panels?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes, exactly. I mean, I guess that's the way forward security system.

[Dave Bittner]

That's the way you would do it, but where's the fun in that?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Dave Bittner]

So the same way I gave up on my solar powered dream, I may just bite the bullet and make a.

[Brian Schulmeister]

New abandon the account that you never used in the first place.

[Dave Bittner]

That's right. I never had access to Discord, so it's not like I'm missing anything, but it's literally been years that I've been locked in Discord. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Since if you just track back to when we started our Discord channel, that's pretty much you made two posts and then you were gone. That was it. Bye, Dave. Hi, Dave. Bye, Dave. Yeah, people still talk to you like you're there, but we're like, no, that's not easy.

[Dave Bittner]

Is that right?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Every now and then somebody will like tag you and write something you don't.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Have the heart to tell them that you're just not there.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. All right, well, you know, maybe over the holiday break I'll hunker down and try to see if I can do something with this. So stay tuned and thank you, Neil, for sending this in. I will say I had a revelation in the past couple days because I have been digging deep, embiggoing. I speak words for living. I've been digging deep into the amateur radio thing and I've been learning all about antennas and all this kind of stuff. And I'm studying for the next level of my license and that's going well. And I had the revelation just this week that the feeling I'm having with this hobby is very much the feeling I had when I was playing with old 8 bit computers. And I don't know if you guys remember probably a couple months ago now, I was pining away that for that feeling.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, right.

[Dave Bittner]

And so I've made the connection that this same sort of thing of poking around and trying to learn things and find and how can I make this work? And ooh. If I buy this part and I connect it to here and I ooh. And I've used an alligator clip and connect this to this, maybe this will work. Like all of that playful experimentation is a big option. In the amateur radio community. And I'm digging it. I'm digging it. So I'm having fun, I'm feeling good about it, and we'll see where it takes me. Of course I'm going to get a nasty gram from my homeowners association eventually. It is inevitable, but so be it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So be it.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Following up, we have inept expert on bluesky who says listening to episode 676, the idea of Dave starting a group awoo by howling on ham sent me let Dave know there are plenty of communities to tune into and he sent us a link to Hamfurs. Okay, so.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I just had this vision of Dave sitting in a. In a furry suit with his ham radio while his family is downstairs sipping on some eggnog, enjoying Christmas.

[Dave Bittner]

Right around the tree, there's a handwritten note on the bedroom door that says do not enter.

[Jason DeFilippo]

You know, with a paw print signature.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, yeah. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that this exists. I'm a little surprised that this exists because I wouldn't have thought that the.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Agent diagram would cross over, particularly the.

[Dave Bittner]

Age group of ham radio enthusiasts and furries. I would think there's a very small overlap there, but it seems an overlap. There is.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There is. Yeah.

[Dave Bittner]

I looked at this page and good, good on them. You know, thing is, if you, when you're on the radio, nobody can tell you're a furry. So I guess maybe your voice gets muffled behind the mask.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I was about to say there's probably a few ways.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, yeah. But I'm not saying I'm going to follow up on this, but I'm also not saying I'm not. Not so. All right, there we go. Thank you, inept expert, for opening my eyes to the possibilities. I appreciate it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Excellent. And Greg wrote in saying you were wondering when skeleton crew took place in the Star wars timeline. The Radio Times provides a helpful guide. It says it takes place in 11 ABY, which is after the Battle of Yavin. For context, the Mandalorian is 9 to 11 ABY and Asoka is 11 ABY. So we've got a lot of abys.

[Dave Bittner]

Okay, interesting.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And I saw this article since we spent a lot of time discussing the basics in life like shaving and etc, this seemed like a good fit for us here. Men in the US are peeing incorrectly according to a urologist. And the TLDR on this is sit the down.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, I read this thought ironically.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I read this while sitting down and peeing.

[Dave Bittner]

Oh, okay. Well, it's reinforced. You were doing the right Thing. Yeah, I generally. Oh God, I can't believe I'm sharing this. I generally do not sit to pee unless I'm sitting to do something else. So I would never just have to pee, go in, sit down to pee, because I don't have time for that. And however, I will say that this article points out that it is better for folks who have enlarged prostates, which I do. So peeing takes longer than it used to. In fact, one of the things, I'm very envious of my 18 year old son, like, you know, he'll go in the bathroom and close the door and, you know, hear him peeing and it's like five seconds he's done. I mean, it's like a waterfall and I'm like, oh, those were the days.

[Jason DeFilippo]

You know, but amen, brother, amen.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, you know, I mean, it's in the grand scheme of things, of life's nuisances, it's really not a big deal. But I suppose if this makes it easier or faster or something like that, maybe it's worth looking into.

[Brian Schulmeister]

But there's some statistics here I want to share really quick. In the US just 10% of men said they always sat down to pee when they needed to pee only, while 31% said they never sit down and 17% sense said they rarely do. Younger men were more inclined than older men to say that they sat down to pee and less inclined to say that they never sit down to urinate. And I like this one in Germany where most men said they peed sitting down most or every time. YouGov notes that there is a mocking term the sits Pinkler, literally meaning someone who sits down to pee.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Of course there is the German word for everything.

[Brian Schulmeister]

There really is. Sit. Speaker is a good one.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Sits Pinkler.

[Brian Schulmeister]

May I suggest that for your new discord name? Dave.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, Sitz Pinkler. I'm gonna write that down. Sitz Pinkler. Welcome to the Sitz Pinkler Podcast network. I'm your host.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's us. Change it in the intro so I can get flubbed next time too.

[Dave Bittner]

You know, I went to school with a guy whose last name was Pinkler. So what does that mean? I don't know.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Interesting family going on there.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, Yeah, I don't know. All right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I love the artwork and the description. Don't be sad, businessman. You are peeing correctly. Sitting down on the toilet crying. Except that's what I'll be doing right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

After we finish the show.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It's a bad Photoshop job though, because if you look in the Mirror. You can see his drawers.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That's true. He sits pinklin right into his underwear.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, that's why he's sad. He forgot to take his drawers off.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. Yeah, it puzzles me too. I mean, I guess there is kind of a machismo thing that, you know, I guess because women sit when they pee, that if you are a man and you sit when you. When you pee, therefore you are a woman, you know, that sort of silliness. So. And I guess it also has to do with the, you know, marking your territory component of standing and peeing or writing your name in the snow, that sort of thing.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I've come to start doing it at home.

[Dave Bittner]

Probably writing your name in the snow.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, that too. I can today sitting down to pee. And to some degree it's the only place. It's the only place in the house where I can be away from my family for a few seconds and nobody's asking anything, so I'll take a little longer and just scroll and have a pee. But I wouldn't do. I don't do it outside of the house because I. I don't trust those bathrooms. I'll stand.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I think I am an insta pinkler because that's the only time I get to look at Instagram. I take a few extra seconds to.

[Dave Bittner]

Sit down and that's funny.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Look at my gram.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I guess I am a social media pinkler too. That's really the only time I take a look at it.

[Dave Bittner]

We have an issue in my family where if we are on our way out the door somewhere and my wife is not as much of a stickler as I am for being on time to things that was.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I heard a certain note in the way that was said that perhaps this has caused problems in the past.

[Dave Bittner]

A note of resignation in my voice.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Perhaps.

[Dave Bittner]

But occasionally we'll be on our way out the door already running a little bit late and my lovely bride will say to me, oh, before we go, I'm just going to pop in the bathroom real quick. And I'm like, hand me your phone. What? Hand me your phone. Why? Because we are in a hurry and if you take your phone in there, it's going to be 20 minutes. No, it's not. Yes, it is. So it's real. I don't know how. I mean, I guess we read like. We read the side of like toothpaste tubes and stuff back in before there were phone.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh yeah, totally.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. I put something in here about this is a research paper, a serious Research paper studied in a. Or rather published in a serious research publication. This is published in Neuroscience of Consciousness and it's about the psychological implications of Big Brother's gaze. So we've talked a lot on here over the years about the panopticon and the effect it has on. Folks, folks. And here's some data, actual data. People behave differently when they know they're being watched. It seems as though they're more on alert, they're more on edge. They respond to incoming stimuli faster than the people who are not being surveilled. And so the question is, what's the long term effect on us with our mental health? And since we're basically being surveilled 24 everywhere.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yep.

[Dave Bittner]

Right. Right. So I thought this was an interesting little bit of work and reinforcement for something we've been. They should just.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They should have gone and asked Jenny Cam what the long term effects were because she was the first one on there being watched 24 7. And I'm sure, I'm sure it didn't do.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I'm sure there's a lot of therapy after she quit doing that. Yeah. It's just so interesting that everybody, everything that we, we end up studying from a technological perspective that we've introduced into our. Our lives tends to be bad. Nobody. There's yet to be a survey going, oh my God, if you get on social media, your life is better. No, no, no, no, no.

[Dave Bittner]

It's true. And yet I feel as though in the 80s when we were growing up, there was a tremendous amount of techno optimism.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Dave Bittner]

We really believed that things were going to get better.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Workdays, we had the Walkman, you know.

[Dave Bittner]

Right, right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

The Walkman was it. Which was, I guess at the beginning of turning us away from community.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And also everything has been the term of the year, everything has been inshittified. That's the problem. The Walkman was great. Then we had the cd. That was great. Then the ipod, the original ones, they were great. Great. Now I fucking hate listening to music on my phone. It's difficult unless you do streaming and then you're pissed off because the artists aren't getting paid and just keep going.

[Dave Bittner]

Right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Bring back cassettes in the boombox.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I love a boombox.

[Dave Bittner]

Just inviting friends over to listen to the latest album.

[Brian Schulmeister]

You know, everything's solitary now.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, that's what I was saying. The Walkman is a wonderful bit of technology, but that was kind of the beginning of. Of the end, you know, for socialization.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Merry Christmas.

[Dave Bittner]

So related to all that, there's a huge note. Yeah. End your year on a dark note.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That's how we like to do it.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. There's a nice video that the New York Times put out. It's called the algorithm has been hiding something from you. And it goes along this same sort of trail here and helps tries to explain some of the things. And really, this is about the sameness of everything. And I think they're really on to something here particularly. I noticed even just in the past few months how much worse my Facebook feed has gotten.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Dave Bittner]

Despite any filtering I try to put on it or anything. I mean, it has just gotten relentlessly awful. My notifications are worthless now because they.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Put ads in the notification state.

[Dave Bittner]

Right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I don't know if they put ads in notifications. Yeah. So when you do your little notification bar and you see that somebody liked one of your status, you'll also get a fucking ad.

[Dave Bittner]

Right. Probably one out of ten of my notifications are actually notifications anymore. The rest of them are just engagement bait. Just you might be interested in. Here's. Oh, so and so posted. I don't care. I don't care. So I feel as though they're just not. Well, they don't care anymore. They don't care about. As if the degree to which they used to pretend to care about us, they've thrown all that out the window. Right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Right.

[Dave Bittner]

It's just maximizing for engagement and ad revenue and all that kind of stuff. Sometimes I wonder if they're just buying their time to try to get to whatever they think the next thing is. You know, for a while, Meta thought it was going to be the metaverse, and that didn't go anywhere. And we'll see if it's going to be AI and. But it's. It's just depressing and sad and sort of crushes your spirit.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yep. Again, Merry Christmas.

[Dave Bittner]

Merry Christmas.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I did like this. This. This was a good video, though. I did enjoy it. Yeah.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. It's only a couple minutes long and it's. It's worth a watch to reinforce the fact that, no, you're not crazy. This stuff has been getting worse. It all does look alike, but it also has some ideas for trying to break out of that bubble.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. I like the potential solution section here. Engage with private communities or decentralized platforms like the Fediverse. I'm still liking Blue sky right now, but I kind of went back to Mastodon to kind of check over there, and it's way more interesting than any of the. The. The big brands for sure. Diversify media consumption with newsletters and podcasts.

[Dave Bittner]

Yes, I can endorse that. Yeah, absolutely.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm finding. I mean, most of my stuff comes from newsletters nowadays. Even the. The mainstream news that I have on my news newsreader, I skip most of it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Part of my excuse for Facebook for so long was I was always getting news stories because I followed different things. And I don't anymore because Facebook doesn't serve it to me. It just serves me junk.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So, yeah, I love newsletters. I don't care what anybody says. Newsletters are awesome. You know, There you go. And reduce reliance on social media. Duh.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I do like the advocate for better algorithmic amplification of creative content. Good fucking luck.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Good luck. Yeah.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. And finally, I put in here a clip. This, actually, this was something that came along on my Facebook feed that was useful. So I will contradict myself, but you all probably remember Anna Gasteyer. She was on Saturday Night Live for several years.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I do. And I hadn't seen her for probably two decades, so it was a bit of a shock. But people age.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah, they do.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I only had her in my mind from Saturday Night Live.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. Yeah. So she went on. She's had a good career on the stage. She had a run in the Broadway production of Wicked, and so she posted a helpful little thing. I mostly put this in here for you, Jason. She listed a bunch of products that she and her Broadway companions use to help protect their voices, and I actually purchased a few of them, or a couple of them. I have them here. One of them is a throat spray called Entertainer's Secret.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Ooh, interesting.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. It seems as though with this. And then the other one I bought. Let me pull this over here. This is. Oh, damn it. I just dumped them all over my desk. This is Pine Brothers Sore Throat Drops. They're called Softish Throat Drops. I have some that are honey and some that are cherry. And it seems as though the active ingredient in both of these is glycerin.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes, Glycerin. That's it.

[Dave Bittner]

Yeah. Which makes total sense, like, as a lubricant for your vocal cords. But I can't say that I ever messed around with the glycerin in my voice. So I've been playing with these, and they do seem effective and helpful.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes. There's a couple that I also recommend. Bioten lozenges. They're sugar free. They also have. That is the same ingredient. Just eat a slice of green apple before you start talking. That'll reduce your mouth Noise. Because of the same effect. I use two products. One's called Lubricity, which is a dry mouth spray. And also another one that is a tincture called Voice 37, which I do about an hour before any speaking. Both of those are literally sitting here on my station in my.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I just go in raw. You do?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. I don't give a shit. Kids can get some ASMR from me. Got the. That old smoky voice.

[Dave Bittner]

Just cigarettes and bourbon.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's how I make.

[Dave Bittner]

That's how I make it work.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That's how they did it in the 50s.

[Dave Bittner]

That's right. Yeah. Well, it's a fun little quick video. So it's over on Facebook. I'll have a link to that in the show notes. And I enjoyed it. So there you go.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Cool.

[Brian Schulmeister]

All right, well, have a merry Christmas, Dave.

[Dave Bittner]

You too. And I will see you guys, I guess in a couple of weeks here. I'm going to enjoy what we refer to as our long winter's nap here at Cyberwire. We shut down the week between Christmas and New Year's and I'm gonna try to catch up on some sleep.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Awesome. I'm going to Disneyland.

[Dave Bittner]

Oh, so jealous.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Closing shout out over at Patreon. Welcome to new subscribers George and Klista and Jonathan and Tom, who increased their monthly. So we appreciate it very much. And we got a nice note from Michael H. Strange Brew. Awesome callback. JPD Take off. Eh. And from the Legacy Files, we would like to say thank you to Cliff Kevin Oliver, Michael Wing, Sam Brady, Brett Ross and CPT.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Like, GPT. Thank you all so much. Over at PayPal, we've got Arcadio, Nathaniel, Andrew, Tom Sloan, Dimitri, who gave us 50 bucks, and Rain Philadelphia, which gave us 75 bucks.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Thank you all so much. Over at the Tip Jar, we've got Sean and Imbibble. Imbibel. Imbibble. And over at the store, Chen. Chen bought some merch.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Thank you.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Thank you. Jen bought a couple of those Deport Elon shirts, which I think everybody should go buy right now. I need to go. I started pimping those on Instagram because right now they're relevant. They're relevant. I saw other people like posting about Deport Elon. I'm like, we were there first. Damn it. We were there first.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, we're there first for a lot of things, Jason. And we get buckets for it.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's true. That's true.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And we have a new five star rating. Top level snark. Episode 677 had a sprinkle of special you blast my internal monologue. Thank you. Well, thank you.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Thank you very much. And just a reminder to everybody over at Patreon, if you want to sign up for us, you know, a measly three bucks a month, you get the shows a little bit early ad free and in high definition. And we have our new golden Monkey tier if you want to give us 25 bucks a month. But just as a reminder, you can put in any number in checkout that you want to donate a month. You don't have to stick to the packages if you don't want to. The perks remain the same, but our happiness level changes. So thank you very much to everybody who donated, no matter which way you decide to make our Christmases just a little bit better, because seriously need it. Thank you.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Thank you. Yes. And speaking of happiness levels, this was a hell of a show and I'm very depressed. And you probably are too, if you've made it this far. This far. So go listen to some nice Christmas music and cheer the up. Until next time, I'm Brian Schulmeister and.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I'm a happy Jason DeFilippo. This is cathartic for me. I love it. Thanks for listening to grumpy old geeks. Get all the links and goodies from Today's episode at GOG Show. 678. Want to keep the grumpiness alive? Toss a few bucks our way at GOG Show. Donate Every penny helps keep the show on the air. You love the show? Well, share it. There's a share button in your podcast player. Use it to spread the grumpiness to friends, foes and everyone in between. We'll love you forever. Swing by GOG show to join our discord and chat with us and other show fans. Got thoughts? Feedback? Cool links? Hit us up at GOG show contact and hey, don't forget to leave a five star review at GOG Show Review and we'll read it on the show. Oh, and guess what? We've got Merch. Snag your grumpy gear now at Shop Gog show ThePortelon. Stay grumpy.