Stuff…

Posted on by February 23, 2026
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Ring’s AI-powered “Search Party” feature, which links neighborhood cameras into a networked surveillance system to find lost dogs, was never intended to stop at pets, according to an internal email from founder Jamie Siminoff obtained by 404 Media.

Siminoff told employees in early October, shortly after the feature launched, that Search Party was introduced “first for finding dogs” and that the technology would eventually help “zero out crime in neighborhoods.” The on-by-default feature faced intense backlash after Ring promoted it during a Super Bowl ad. Ring has since also rolled out “Familiar Faces,” a facial recognition tool that identifies friends and family on a user’s camera, and “Fire Watch,” an AI-based fire alert system.

A Ring spokesperson told the publication Search Party does not process human biometrics or track people.

Article, HERE at 404 Media, but it’s behind a paywall… h/t Steve S

I guess I’m really ‘not’ surprised by this, as I have a Ring doorbell (which I’ve modified to NOT report and only does close alerts on my porch and front door). I’m betting that most folks just slap them up with no modifications and let them run/report without ever looking at the settings.

I do know that even when I get a ‘report’ of something, it is not to a specific address, but a general location. Interesting that…

This is just one more addition to the surveillance world we are becoming, when you figure in the cameras in cities, and now in the neighborhood. Sigh…

In other news, both the women and men’s hockey teams won gold medals at this year’s Olympics! That they beat the favorite Canadian teams both times is just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned!!!

For the men, this is the first gold medal since 1980! So this ends a 46 year ‘drought’. Sadly the game was on at one in the morning, US time, so few other than the ‘dedicated’ hockey fans saw it.

Of course the left is melting down, since the players interviewed said they were “Proud to be Americans!” Can’t have that, yada, yada…

And of course there is the Liu vs. Gu comparisons of the two ethnic Chinese girls from the US who chose to participate for different countries, HERE.

One wonders what pressure was applied to Gu, or was it simply a money issue with her? After all, she’s apparently been paid millions by the CCP…

Not my circus, not my monkeys…

FenCon AAR…

Posted on by February 22, 2026
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Woof… I’m whooped…

The con actually started Friday, and we hit the ground running. Six panels over three days (yes, one more was added), plus seeing friends, spending time catching up, and grabbing a meal here and there, pretty much filled all the days and nights.

The panels were well attended, informative, and we had actual experts/professionals on the panels who were freely giving information! And no, we didn’t always ‘agree’ on things, but that is the beauty of panels, where people get to see ‘different’ approaches to the same problems!

As the moderator on most of the panels, I just got to be the duty dummy, and ask questions…LOL

The other nice thing was we didn’t have anybody try to ‘take over’ a panel and push ‘their’ agendas, which was really nice to see, but again, actual experts/professionals who write science fiction on the side!!!

The hotel was decent, the staff was responsive, but the beds…sigh… They were @#$%#* marshmallows! I haven’t tried to sleep on something that soft in years! And of course the conference chairs suck, but that is EVERY con hotel. They stack nicely, but are not comfortable to us old farts…

The Raconteur Press/North Texas Troublemakers were well represented with 16 of us more or less present and semi-accounted for…LOL  And our own Cedar Sanderson was the master of ceremonies!!!

John Van Stry and Jesse Barrett had tables in the dealer’s room and I think they both did fairly well too!!!

FenCon did a good job, and hats off to them!

Out of pocket…

Posted on by February 19, 2026
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I’ll be down in Dallas for FenCon, link HERE, through Sunday, so little to no posting or commenting. Here’s my schedule if you happen to attend…

Southern Fandom, A history
Friday  3:00 PM  Manchester 1  
Reading
Friday  5:30 PM  Churchill  
Moon Bases and Mars Bases: What Will People Need to Survive and Thrive?
Saturday  10:00 AM  Newbury  
No Shit There I was
Saturday  8:00 PM  Newbury  
You Got Your Science In My Fiction!
Sunday  11:00 AM  Windsor 1  
How to Destroy a Writer’s Group in Six Easy Steps
Sunday  1:00 PM  Windsor 1

I’ll be moderating the Moon Bases and Writer’s Group panels, so those should be interesting, and I might get dragged onto the Black markets on Generation ships Friday at 2:00 PM.

If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello!

It’s time…

Posted on by February 17, 2026
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To get China’s attention…

The United States plans to deploy more high-tech missile systems to the Philippines to help deter aggression in the South China Sea, where the treaty allies on Tuesday condemned what they called China’s “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and deceptive activities.”

Beijing has repeatedly expressed alarm over the installation in the northern Philippines of a U.S. mid-range missile system called the Typhon in 2024 and of an anti-ship missile launcher last year. It said the U.S. weapons were aimed at containing China’s rise and warned that these were a threat to regional stability.

Full article, HERE from Military Times.

China likes playing the ‘big dog’ with the little countries inside the second island chain, as it’s known. They DON’T like it when those little countries get teeth!

Much less like a country like the Philippines having a deterrence capability, which these and other missiles provide, especially when the Chinese Coast Guard and ‘blue ships’ constantly harass Philippine fishermen.

Or the ability to reach the Spratly Islands, which are among the ‘contested’ shoals/islands west of the Philippines that are in the Philippine EEZ, but China routinely claims and fishes.

When you add the ‘new’ discussions between the US and Philippines on basing issues, and ramping up of joint training, things are getting more like the pre-Pinatubo blow up, when the US had multiple bases there, including ships, aircraft, and ‘other’ activities.

In other news, closer to home, it’s fire season already…

Multiple fires are burning in the Panhandle, Oklahoma, and Kansas, HERE. Major highways were blocked, and some folks in the northern exurb of Amarillo has been evacuated.

We didn’t get winds much over 30mph yesterday, but Amarillo got gusts of up to 70mph, and a few semi’s apparently got blown over.

So stay safe folks, and do your fire preps NOW, don’t wait until the last minute. Things are replaceable, YOU are not!

A little humor…

Posted on by February 15, 2026
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To start the week!!!

Dear Mom,

Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and got worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Adam when it happened.
Oh yes, please call Adam’s mother and tell her he is okay. He can’t write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search and rescue Jeeps. It was great. We never would have found Adam in the dark if it hadn’t been for the lightning.
Scoutmaster Ted got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn’t hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas will blow up?

The wet wood didn’t burn, but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes.

Matthew is going to look weird until his hair grows back.

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Ted gets the bus fixed. It wasn’t his fault about the crash. The brakes worked okay when we left. Scoutmaster Ted said that with a bus that old, you have to expect something to break down; that’s probably why he can’t get insurance.

We think it’s a super bus. He doesn’t care if we get it dirty, and if it’s hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the bumpers. It gets pretty hot with 45 people in a bus made for 24. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the policeman stopped and talked to us.

Scoutmaster Ted is a neat guy. Don’t worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Horace how to drive on the mountain roads where there aren’t any cops. All we ever see up there are huge logging trucks.

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out to the rapids. Scoutmaster Ted wouldn’t let me because I can’t swim, and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast (it’s concrete because we didn’t have any plaster), so he let us take the canoe out. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood.

Scoutmaster Ted isn’t crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn’t even get mad about the life jackets. He has to spend a lot of time working on the bus so we are trying not to cause him any trouble.

Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Andrew dived into the lake and cut his arm, we all got to see how a tourniquet works.

Steve and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Ted said it was probably just food poisoning from the left-over chicken. He said they got sick that way with food they ate in prison. I’m so glad he got out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he was doing his time. By the way, what is a pedal-file?

I have to go now. We are going to town to post our letters and  buy some more beer and ammo. Don’t worry about anything. We are fine and tonight it’s my turn to sleep in the Scoutmaster’s tent while he goes to town.

Love,

Junior

Snerk…

Posted on by February 14, 2026
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Karen’s gotta Karen…

“What are you doing? You should probably go do your job where your job lives.” 

These are only some of the actual words a boorish, self-entitled woke woman told a deputy sheriff while interrogating him about why he was sitting in his car outside of a school in Thurston County, Wash. It was an exchange she recorded and consciously put on social media to show the world her “bravery” in speaking truth to power. And it completely backfired on her. 

We have every right to ask questions of law enforcement, but this woman’s moment of “bravery” instead outside of Seven Oaks Elementary School looked studied and mean. What she actually accomplished was to drop a dime on all the kids and parents illegally in the country going to the school and demonstrate her complete lack of situational awareness about why a cop would be parked on school property writing, it turned out, a report about a nearby collision. The cop kept his cool as she completely wasted his time, hoping her passive aggression and up-talking fake empathy would chase him away. 

It didn’t work. 

Full article, HERE from PJ Media.

First, kudos to the LEO for not losing his cool with this one…

Stuff like this makes me wonder if these people even ‘think’ before they start with their rants. It is becoming obvious they don’t bother to actually ‘read’ or listen beyond the 15 second sound bites, or the headlines…

She is almost as bad as the pol that said, “Just because they came here illegally, that doesn’t make them criminals. WTF??? What do they NOT understand about the law? Or do they just choose to ignore it?

Or they don’t mind showing their ignorance through their ‘feelz’. That seems to be more important than any law, from what I’m seeing.

Your thoughts?

Dammit…

Posted on by February 13, 2026
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Shades of the East German judges back in the day, anyone???

MILAN — On Wednesday, France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron won the Olympic gold medal in ice dance, narrowly edging out heavy favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States — and the turmoil over the outcome remains.

Both teams recorded their season-best score in the free dance, but ultimately Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron edged out Chock and Bates by a margin of 1.43 points after both nights of competition. Chock and Bates, the three-time reigning world champions, were clearly disappointed after the scores were announced and were emotional throughout the podium ceremony and during their media obligations later in the evening. Bates called their program their “gold medal performance” and both said they were proud of what they had done on the ice.

While Chock and Bates have remained gracious when asked about the judging of the competition, the results have sparked backlash — and conversations about inconsistencies and potential unfairness.

Full article, HERE from ESPN.

A couple of things first… I don’t know jack about judging any Olympic sports. I ‘thought’ they had leveled the judging issues years ago by throwing out the high and low scores. Watching the two performances, the US couple had less errors during their skate.

Now, having said that, it’s obviously ‘politics’ reared its head in this one. The French judge gave the French skaters something like 8 points more than the US skaters…

The International Skating Union weighed in saying, “It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations,” the ISU said, adding it has “full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”

Sure they do… protecting what seems to be a long running issue with judges going back to the last Olympics, much less the international competitions…

Anyhoo, I think the US pair did better, and know they ‘should’ have won the gold, and apparently most of the other teams agreed!!!

Now back to your regular stuff…

Sigh…

PSA…Why???

Posted on by February 12, 2026
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Is this still an issue? It’s not like the Takata airbag issue hasn’t been beaten to death over the last few years…

Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler and Dodge, has issued a “do not drive” notice for 225,000 late-model vehicles due to an airbag issue that could allow metal fragments to enter the vehicle, causing injuries.

The stop-drive directive was issued for 2003 to 2016 Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles that contain Takata airbag inflators, Frank Matyok, a spokesperson for Stellantis, confirmed for USA TODAY on Wednesday, Feb. 11.

“Over time, the chemical propellant inside certain Takata inflators can degrade, particularly in hot and humid conditions, increasing the risk of rupture during airbag deployment and the potential for metal fragments to enter the vehicle cabin,” Matyok wrote in an email.

Full article, HERE from USA Today.

Here are the vehicles on the list-

  • 2003 to 2016 Dodge Ram pickup trucks and Dodge Sprinter vans
  • 2004 to 2009 Dodge Durango SUVs
  • 2005 to 2012 Dodge Dakota pickup trucks
  • 2005 to 2008 Dodge Magnum station wagons
  • 2006 to 2015 Dodge Charger sedans
  • 2008 to 2014 Dodge Challenger coupes
  • 2007 to 2009 Chrysler Aspen SUVs
  • 2007 to 2008 Chrysler Crossfire coupes
  • 2005 to 2015 Chrysler 300 sedans
  • 2007 to 2016 Jeep Wrangler SUVs

From what I could find, Takata ‘knew’ in the early 2000s there was an issue, and the first recalls began in 2008 and continued through 2013.  So WHY was Stellantis still putting defective airbags in vehicles after 2008???

Somebody wanna ‘splain that to me???

I don’t know enough about dealerships, but I wonder if they bear any responsibility for selling a vehicle with a known issue?

Any experts out there please chime in!

And if you own a vehicle on this list, PLEASE get it checked!!!

It was just a matter of time…

Posted on by February 11, 2026
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Microsoft has always been a money grubbing bunch of @#$$)!!

From David Linthicum’s column in InfoWorld…

The era of true ownership is ending as cloud services and AI are transforming the PC. What does this mean for user control?

Last month, I met with a mid-sized law firm facing a common dilemma. Their Windows 10 laptops were nearing the end of support and needed to be replaced. Typically, this meant buying new hardware and software—predictable and straightforward. But this time, Microsoft suggested a different approach: move to Windows 365 Cloud PCs, a PC that operates with a monthly subscription and is accessible from any device, scalable, secure, and AI-enhanced. The catch? The shift from ownership to a subscription model and reduced local control led their IT team to question how “personal” these computers truly were.

Full article, HERE from InfoWorld.

Microsoft no longer ‘sells’ software of any type, they ‘lease’ it on subscription. Dell computers cut a ‘deal’ with Microsoft years ago, just paying them for the licenses for Windows for their computers, even if the customers didn’t want it…

Now, they want you to lease EVERYTHING and put it in the cloud.

Soooo, what happens when the Intarwebz goes down?  How do you work then?

What about your secure ‘stuff’… it’s now in the cloud for whomever wants to take a chop at it…

There are options, Linux being the best, if you are somewhat computer literate. That is a good open OS and it is supported world wide by volunteers. If you don’t want to run MS Office ver whatever, the options are include LibreOffice Writer (which I run), OnlyOffice, or a lightweight version called AbiWord.

As for me, I went to Macs when MS Windoze ver 7 died. I have not regretted it, and I started running what was then OpenOffice and was happy with it.

As always, it is up to the individual to do what is right for you in your particular circumstances…