Absolutely Anything Else

Oops too!

Vicces1 wrote:

oops

Went here....https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 40#4879099

Was it a nod to the British why SpaceX suits look like the astronauts are wearing Wellingtons?

klsallee wrote:

Was it a nod to the British why SpaceX suits look like the astronauts are wearing Wellingtons?

Nice idea.  I believe they are part of the suit but they do look like they could be doing farm work.  Maybe this is the idea of Elon Musk- get to Mars and start farming and terraforming.   They could have made them interesting colours - like stripey but might they look like tubes of toothpaste.  The suits look very streamlined though compared to the previous ones.

I'm literally watching them opening the hatch.  I'm disappointed. Jeez, I think I wouldn't have the patience - been 2.5h already.  They've been changing clothes, messing about with the radio and tidying up the trash/rubbish.  Star Trek it is not.  I know now, watch it dock, then take the dog for a walk, and come back 2h later.

From....https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 12#4883818

Hail.... Alan Hale.....

A little bit of military Hungarian History

Kiraly 43M: Hungary's Overpowered Submachine Gun

klsallee wrote:

A little bit of military Hungarian History

Kiraly 43M: Hungary's Overpowered Submachine Gun

Interesting! 

I have two shooting ranges near here.  I can regularly hear the hail of gunfire.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I have two shooting ranges near here.  I can regularly hear the hail of gunfire.

When living in Switzerland, there was an outdoor military shooting range across the narrow valley where we lived. Below where the bullets flew was a football field.

Culture is a funny thing. Being an American, I remember being very concerned one day, looking out the window of our apartment, watching a football game going on at the same time bullets were flying overhead them as there was also a military rifle practice going on. The Swiss found it perfectly normal....

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

I have two shooting ranges near here.  I can regularly hear the hail of gunfire.

When living in Switzerland, there was an outdoor military shooting range across the narrow valley where we lived. Below where the bullets flew was a football field.

Culture is a funny thing. Being an American, I remember being very concerned one day, looking out the window of our apartment, watching a football game going on at the same time bullets were flying overhead them as there was also a military rifle practice going on. The Swiss found it perfectly normal....

That's insane. 

Having been in the military, weapons drills are banged into your head 24x7.   There are severe penalties for doing stupid things.  You have to clear your weapons before entering buildings, you have to check no rounds in the breech and your mate has to check your weapon too.   Your happiness will get really curtailed if you negligently fire your weapon.  Even using blanks is dangerous as hell. Plenty of people die from being on the wrong end of a blank round.

I was always surprised about these revolutionary types firing their weapons in the air in celebration.   What comes up must come down and probably pointy end first and at terminal velocity.  That's gonna hurt.

Switzerland perhaps gravity is different - there's perhaps no drop there.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Switzerland perhaps gravity is different - there's perhaps no drop there.

The distance from the firing range to the targets were very short (so one can also wonder how effective the training was except for close combat). So drop was not an issue. And there was a metal bullet proof guard at the firing range so any bullets up or down within a specified range would be stopped. And I am sure there were officers during the training making sure no one fired into the air randomly.

But, still.... At that moment in time, I also thought it was a bit insane. But that was just me from my cultural experiences.

Side note: When in Switzerland, soon after arrival, I also panicked when on a bus a person got on with an automatic assault rifle. I was thinking .. oh God... a mass shooting about to happen (American thinking). But he was just a guy going for his weeks of military service and taking his gun with him but he had no bullets --- I later learned about the bullet regulations in Switzerland. After all a gun without bullets, and bayonet, as a weapon it no better than a stick .

So I am American, dual citizen, OK, but one of them is that, and let me tell you, if not for economics, I would gladly rescind...
I see the protests, but when the stakes were not so clear but all the more evident, where were the protests?
Where were the people getting off their asses to vote 3.5 years ago?
I mean you could hardly complain that the apocalypse arrived when you were warned of it years ago but couldn't be bothered to put aside your Doritos and vote against it...

I have such torn emotions... After all I jumped from one conflicted country to another here in Hungary. I can see the same tactics used and see the same excuses. As long as it is not me, then I will duck.... And the same excuses about how all politics are the same, from Boris Johnson's stupidity and transparent manipulations to Trump's outright hypocrisy and lies, to the outright blatant corruption and hypocrisy of Orban... I just really do not know what to do. Yes, I have my one vote, but one vote in one political system against the hordes of amoebas circulating their hatred and stupidity... I really do not know what to do anymore. Am I just defeatist? When I see that Trump has a core of 40+% that still vote for him? Despite all the evidence and facts confronting this population? Or a similar horde of information delineating the corruption and hypocrisy of the Orban regime? Or the incompetence of BJ?

I honestly impore for saner, younger voices to take up the cause because I find my energy waning and my patience thin....

I cry for my home country, and rational sanity in general, when Turkey calls for respect for press freedom.

Seriously... WTF?????

Moved comment from

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … =3#4892264

fluffy2560 wrote:

Google is really sneaky.  Even using Private Browsing doesn't work - they're looking in there too.

Sneaky? Explain..... Google Chrome clearly says:

"Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity."

And then lists who can see your activity, which includes the web site and your ISP (so basically this mode only really limits those "other people who use this device"... and that is clearly stated, but not the rest of the world, which is also pretty clearly stated).

That is, "Incognito mode", only keeps your spouse (who may also use that computer) from seeing if you visited a porn site, but does not prevent the rest of the network from knowing it.

While I am no fan of Google (and never use Chrome for that reason), the real fundamental problem is not so much Google as maybe people being ignorant about how these networks and businesses work, especially in marketing, and instead of learning and understanding how it works, get lazy and fall into believing in such as silly names as "Incognito mode" as if they mean anything beyond a marketing tactic. That is, the average modern consumer, I would argue, is too complacent and ignorant (which blows some "accepted" economic theory, that assumes consumers have perfect information, out of the water). And so they get taken advantage of. Badly.

Your best - semi-effective anti tracking device option is to restrict java scripts (and block any analytic scripts from Google to start), especially those that are collecting data. There are plenty of these script blocker add ons for the Firefox browser, but fewer efficient ones on Chrome (for obvious reasons -- and for that I find Google being either sneaky and dishonest in limiting effective choice). If you want to protect a little more of your privacy, use a broswer like Firefox and install Ghostery, NoScript, Adblock Plus, etc. And if you use Youtube, install Enhancer for Youtube.

May have to return to "snail mail" in the future for privacy.
Then again, who knows...
Every letter my MIL sent us or we sent her was read before delivery.
Might have to seriously look into telepathy.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

May have to return to "snail mail" in the future for privacy.
Then again, who knows...
Every letter my MIL sent us or we sent her was read before delivery.
Might have to seriously look into telepathy.

I have nothing to hide in my emails, but anything in an official matter with lawyers/solicitors its always done by post.

SimCityAT wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

May have to return to "snail mail" in the future for privacy.
Then again, who knows...
Every letter my MIL sent us or we sent her was read before delivery.
Might have to seriously look into telepathy.

I have nothing to hide in my emails, but anything in an official matter with lawyers/solicitors its always done by post.

I had to deal with this professionally a few times.  Way back in the early 90s, the only official, legal way to send messages was mail or electronically, by telex.   We then had the problem of faxes.  These weren't legal at all and the format they were in wasn't acceptable either.  Never resolved that as time moved on.  Then we also had issues of information held in computers being legally valid as there was no mechanism in that jurisdiction for information to be held in dematerialised form.  Moreover, paper had to be notarised for legal validity.  Wasn't enough to be signed on the spot by someone.   In the end the only way around it was to have bilateral agreements to accept signed documents.  Total PIA as records need to be maintained.  We're in better shape now with digital signatures being acceptable anywhere in the EU but it still doesn't work completely.  Plenty of countries will not accept that. 

The problem with e-mail is that it's not always guaranteed it'll arrive or be acknowledged or even understood. 

So yes, indeed anything official has to be on paper, signed and preferably with a nice stamp.  I believe in Germany, only a particular type of blue pen can be used.

All this rain is nice but also putting a "damper" on my lake plans... for now.
We hope to not deal with anything official again for a long, long time.
Our upstairs idiot ( idiot because it took them over 6 months to do up their flat and from the photos on the real estate site, show an ugly mixed up looking mess of a flat) well, they had or the house had some sort of leak while we were in the US.
No one bothered to inform us by e-mail or letter.
We never noticed the spot on our kitchn ceiling until a couple months ago. The whole lockdown thing was going on so we just kept it to ourselves.
A few weeks ago we asked the dude upstairs to come down and take a look at it.
He said he had or the house had a leak and the house insurance fixed it for him.
No one fixed a darn thing for us!
This odd dude put the toilet over our kitchen area and put his kitchen in what was the living room.
The leak is in a corner of our ceiling  and if need be my husband will repair it himself.
We already cleaned up the loose plaster that was falling down.
We called the manager up to tell him and he is also a piece of work. Told us it was too late to mkae a claim and the case was closed with the insurance co. for the house.
The manager did send over a plumber and he said the same thing, there was a leak, it is fixed now and the insurance paid for the damages.
He told us to talk again to the guy upstairs and have him fix it.
Not likely, can tell he is an cheapo and odd, some big shot in the HU military.
His "boyfriend" was living with him when he first bought the flat but the younger man is now long gone.
Flat is up for sale at a price that is way too high for what you get.
Photos of the flat online, what a odd apt. Walls are painted red and the tile is so busy it makes your head spin.
What bad taste this guy has!
Guess when you open the front door you walk right into the toilet area and shower! A real great selling feature!
Guess we will be going over to Prataker and buying our own plaster soon. My husband just doesn't want to get into it with these morons.
I am pushing him though to at least inform the house manager that he sucks and didn't do his job by not informing us of something like a leak over our ceiling.
Just because we were out of the country doesn't mean we are going to totally let this slide.
I am a bit sick of the way they do things here in Hungary at times, just so over the top me first and F everyone else.
Not even legal.
Husband found out info on how to sue them all but we really do not want to go here. Don't need the stress for a small job we can do ourselves, just the principle makes us angry.
I will be sure to attend the next house meeting, just to let everyone know and have it on record that we need a new manager for the house!

Things seem so insane in the US.
My SIL in S. Ca. wrote about how her ex husband (Mentioned him before, the black gay man who she was married to for 10 years without knowing he was gay? OK like I can believe that?!) How he and her son they had together were sitting in a car outside of her son's "Million dollar home near the Hollywood Bowl and talking. A police car pulled out, got them out of the car and frisked them both, searched the car too.
Of course that was messed up but right now with all these riots and threats in the uS of going into the burbs and burning stuff down, why would anyone just sit in a car outside homes in a pricey area? No matter what color you are it looks odd just sitting there looking towards houses.
I don't really understand what is going on in the US right now and I have no wish to find out in person either.
Read today that the statue of Churchill was painted red and BLM and other words painted on it here in Hungary.
Crazy times, just when I was going to give up my wine drinking too...

klsallee wrote:

Moved comment from

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … =3#4892264

fluffy2560 wrote:

Google is really sneaky.  Even using Private Browsing doesn't work - they're looking in there too.

Sneaky? Explain..... Google Chrome clearly says:

"Now you can browse privately, and other people who use this device won't see your activity."

And then lists who can see your activity, which includes the web site and your ISP (so basically this mode only really limits those "other people who use this device"... and that is clearly stated, but not the rest of the world, which is also pretty clearly stated).

That is, "Incognito mode", only keeps your spouse (who may also use that computer) from seeing if you visited a porn site, but does not prevent the rest of the network from knowing it.

...... get lazy and fall into believing in such as silly names as "Incognito mode" as if they mean anything beyond a marketing tactic. That is, the average modern consumer, I would argue, is too complacent and ignorant (which blows some "accepted" economic theory, that assumes consumers have perfect information, out of the water). And so they get taken advantage of. Badly.

... I find Google being either sneaky and dishonest in limiting effective choice). If you want to protect a little more of your privacy, use a broswer like Firefox and install Ghostery, NoScript, Adblock Plus, etc. And if you use Youtube, install Enhancer for Youtube.

Google is still collecting session information even  during Incognito mode so the average punter isn't going to appreciate that.  Collecting info in incognito mode led to the legal case progressing through the courts currently.  I am looking for my $4000 settlement.   But their counter argument currently is that this is normal in their terms of use.   How they detect use of Incognito mode is well documented - just Google for it

Chrome is a problem but so is Firefox and more recently Opera.  I'm variously using Opera  and another called Vivaldi these days but I believe  they are all based on a Chrome core and all have deals with the evil triad of Google, Facebook and Amazon (or anyone else).   The one I use on Android is the Ad-Block browser.  It blocks adverts but  what else it's doing, no idea.   Opera used to be very configurable but it's no longer possible to interfere with the search engine relationships.  Insidious.

If you install NoScript and so on,  many web sites stop working or behave strangely.  Oddly I've noticed if you dismiss the GDPR windows, it doesn't make any difference to the web site browsing.  Presumably the default is to accept all. 

Probably the best thing to use is the ToR browser.    This hides your location, confuses the hell out of Facebook and allows selective turning off of Javascript or specific web site cross-scripting. It also allows access to the dark web addresses but works fine normally otherwise.         

As a matter of interest I've been looking into subsea cables for some work I was doing.  Facebook and Google own huge amounts of capacity all over the world.  Strangely something I thought might happen has come to pass much faster than I expected - USA is blocking connecting of a massive pipe (Pacific Light Cable) connecting to China on strategic grounds.  That cable has branches to Taiwan and the Philippines which are not blocked. I mention it because not only do they scan everything, they own all the interconnectivity as well.  Even if you think you aren't using them, you could well be doing so without knowing.   I don't know if they have the capability to scan the massive volumes going down cables these days.

I can see FB, Google and Amazon being broken up as companies.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

All this rain is nice but also putting a "damper" on my lake plans... for now.
We hope to not deal with anything official again for a long, long time.
Our upstairs idiot ( idiot because it took them over 6 months to do up their flat and from the photos on the real estate site, show an ugly mixed up looking mess of a flat) well, they had or the house had some sort of leak while we were in the US......

Things seem so insane in the US.
My SIL in S. Ca. wrote about how her ex husband (Mentioned him before, the black gay man who she was married to for 10 years without knowing he was gay? OK like I can believe that?!) How he and her son they had together were sitting in a car outside of her son's "Million dollar home near the Hollywood Bowl and talking. A police car pulled out, got them out of the car and frisked them both, searched the car too.
Of course that was messed up but right now with all these riots and threats in the uS of going into the burbs and burning stuff down, why would anyone just sit in a car outside homes in a pricey area? No matter what color you are it looks odd just sitting there looking towards houses.
I don't really understand what is going on in the US right now and I have no wish to find out in person either.
Read today that the statue of Churchill was painted red and BLM and other words painted on it here in Hungary.
Crazy times, just when I was going to give up my wine drinking too...

Not surprised the weather has put a damper on lake plans.   I'm looking at the radar these days on www.met.hu  and I'm finding that far better for knowing if it's going to rain than any forecast site.

I've heard that in the USA, these HOA (Home Owners' Association) places are a real nightmare to deal with.  Sounds like you've got something similar going on in your apartment building.   I'd get in touch with insurance company to investigate your claim.

I'm in favour of BLM in principle but we cannot wipe out history.  It'll take more than removing some statues to fix that level of social problem and I don't think politics has the stomach to take on constitutional amendments.  Cops get their guns out and fire in the USA without thinking as everyone is frightened about each other.  It's MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) - cops bring Glocks, villains have AK47s. Cops escalate to whatever, opposition to more firepower.

While I'm doing my usual thing of having a pop at US politics, I'm having a Schadenfreude party over Bolton and his memoirs of times with Trump.  I've never liked Bolton and his moustache either but in this case, it's looking quite entertaining and very damning.  Unfortunately I don't think it'll make a difference to the hardline Trumpettes. 

Strangely the planets aligned for me last night as I was watching a movie called "The Post" with Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.   It's a very slow film despite being directed by Spielberg.   It's not Raiders of the Lost Ark.  More Lost Arc.

Anyway, the bit which encompassed it all was a short part where Ellsberg (the whistleblower)  describes Nixon's behaviour at the time over trying to muzzle the press - i.e. this is clearly a parallel against Trump.  That was the premise of the film and very nicely put (no link sorry could find it), but the gist of it is that Nixon  was trying to "be the State" rather than serve it.    Nixon lost 6-3 in SCOTUS.  DT hasn't a chance of stopping Bolton's book hitting the shelves - bestseller I can see it now. 

I am wondering what the guy will do next when he doesn't get his way!  Maybe they'll tie him down to prevent him pressing any red buttons as they take him away to a mental institution.

BTW, I can also revel in more Schadenfreude of OV today - he lost his anti-Soros/NGO case at the ECJ this morning.  Haha!

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

All this rain is nice but also putting a "damper" on my lake plans... for now.
We hope to not deal with anything official again for a long, long time.
Our upstairs idiot ( idiot because it took them over 6 months to do up their flat and from the photos on the real estate site, show an ugly mixed up looking mess of a flat) well, they had or the house had some sort of leak while we were in the US.
No one bothered to inform us by e-mail or letter.
We never noticed the spot on our kitchn ceiling until a couple months ago. The whole lockdown thing was going on so we just kept it to ourselves.
A few weeks ago we asked the dude upstairs to come down and take a look at it.
He said he had or the house had a leak and the house insurance fixed it for him.
No one fixed a darn thing for us!
This odd dude put the toilet over our kitchen area and put his kitchen in what was the living room.
The leak is in a corner of our ceiling  and if need be my husband will repair it himself.
We already cleaned up the loose plaster that was falling down.
We called the manager up to tell him and he is also a piece of work. Told us it was too late to mkae a claim and the case was closed with the insurance co. for the house.
The manager did send over a plumber and he said the same thing, there was a leak, it is fixed now and the insurance paid for the damages.
He told us to talk again to the guy upstairs and have him fix it.
Not likely, can tell he is an cheapo and odd, some big shot in the HU military.
His "boyfriend" was living with him when he first bought the flat but the younger man is now long gone.
Flat is up for sale at a price that is way too high for what you get.
Photos of the flat online, what a odd apt. Walls are painted red and the tile is so busy it makes your head spin.
What bad taste this guy has!
Guess when you open the front door you walk right into the toilet area and shower! A real great selling feature!
Guess we will be going over to Prataker and buying our own plaster soon. My husband just doesn't want to get into it with these morons.
I am pushing him though to at least inform the house manager that he sucks and didn't do his job by not informing us of something like a leak over our ceiling.
Just because we were out of the country doesn't mean we are going to totally let this slide.
I am a bit sick of the way they do things here in Hungary at times, just so over the top me first and F everyone else.
Not even legal.
Husband found out info on how to sue them all but we really do not want to go here. Don't need the stress for a small job we can do ourselves, just the principle makes us angry.
I will be sure to attend the next house meeting, just to let everyone know and have it on record that we need a new manager for the house!

Things seem so insane in the US.
My SIL in S. Ca. wrote about how her ex husband (Mentioned him before, the black gay man who she was married to for 10 years without knowing he was gay? OK like I can believe that?!) How he and her son they had together were sitting in a car outside of her son's "Million dollar home near the Hollywood Bowl and talking. A police car pulled out, got them out of the car and frisked them both, searched the car too.
Of course that was messed up but right now with all these riots and threats in the uS of going into the burbs and burning stuff down, why would anyone just sit in a car outside homes in a pricey area? No matter what color you are it looks odd just sitting there looking towards houses.
I don't really understand what is going on in the US right now and I have no wish to find out in person either.
Read today that the statue of Churchill was painted red and BLM and other words painted on it here in Hungary.
Crazy times, just when I was going to give up my wine drinking too...

The internet has been messing up all morning here in  our area. Was having a hard time speaking this morning to Japan.

I am not against anyone,just mentioned the upstairs neighbor was gay because his BF used to call up our friend all the time to ask abut desert recipes and other topics. She told us they were a couple.
I find it funny though that the older man is a high ranking officer in the HU military...
I forgot to mention too that on the real estate add for his apt. it seems he put up a "beard" for himself.
Near the shower area a huge life sized custom made work of tile is up. The back side of a women! Wow, that is really going to throw off the scent, so obvviously over kill. No one with an ounce of good taste will leave that up for long.
A couple weeks ago I wrote my bro, the older one. I told hm I was worried about him in SC. He said not to worry because he was more ready then Seal Team 6 on a mission. Sort of scary to know how many people are armed to the teeth in the US. My bro is more on the liberal side and with BLM , he is a person of "color" or so he is treated in SC. So hard to understand how he feels being treated differently because he is dark skined. He said people in SC have made his life hell at times because of it.
Very sad really.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I am not against anyone,just mentioned the upstairs neighbor was gay because his BF used to call up our friend all the time to ask abut dessert recipes and other topics. She told us they were a couple.
I find it funny though that the older man is a high ranking officer in the HU military...
I forgot to mention too that on the real estate add for his apt. it seems he put up a "beard" for himself.
Near the shower area a huge life sized custom made work of tile is up. The back side of a women! Wow, that is really going to throw off the scent, so obviously over kill. No one with an ounce of good taste will leave that up for long.

Sounds like it  was their boudoir for passionate nights hence the unusual gaudy decor.   But it's the usual way here - people add all sorts of weirdness thinking it adds value. I've seen houses that look like Roman temples inside and not in a nice way.  Plaster columns and arches and fancy plasterwork glued everywhere.   Houses often have useless saunas and even worse, useless swimming pools.    The cost of heating that would put anyone off immediately!  To me, the fancy stuff lowers value.  People expect blank sheets these days. Neutral colours everywhere.

Sharing dessert recipes sound OK though.  My fave is sticky toffee pudding or banoffee pie.  But all a distant memory since if I ate it, I'd die but.... I might die happy. .... and toothless/filling-less.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Google is still collecting session information even  during Incognito mode so the average punter isn't going to appreciate that.

And Google never said they would not. Again, the "average punter" needs to educate themselves, and actually read what is written and try to understand it..... and not just go brain dead and assume a huge corporation is going to do what is best for them. Seriously, again, incognito mode means nothing more than what it says: only for the local computer, nothing else. I deal with retail clients, and there has been a definite drift in recent years towards more and more not bothering to read or think or bother to do any basic research. One recent example, a person wrote tech support at my company saying our products had errors (leaping to that conclusion), and we had to send him to the FAQ section of the web site (too lazy to find on his own) that answered that issue (it was not an error, it was simply that person needed to set correct settings for their use patterns). The idea of self research to understand an issue is getting lost. People just "want" a company to always provide them what they want, how they want it, in every special flavor they want, and get angry when a company does not 100% conform to their very special wants and assumptions (after not reading easily accessible and available information).

In fact, the old PICNIC ("Problem in chair, not in computer") issue. And today, people start lawsuits based on their own BIE (Biological Interface Error). I greatly suspect the suits will be dismissed or end up loosing for those reasons as the text was pretty clear, even to a layman who was actually trying to pay attention, what incognito mode would do and not do -- assuming no anti-Google bias in the court.

There are many, many more important and damaging things Google in doing that should be investigated and corrected. But this is not one of them. This is not only not a tempest in a tea pot, it is not even a tempest. IMHO, it is just some ignorant people BMC (b****ing, moaning and complaining). While they probably gladly give Google their data in many other ways (watching youtube, having a gmail account, click on ads from Google, using Google news... Using Chrome.... etc. etc. etc).

fluffy2560 wrote:

Opera used to be very configurable but it's no longer possible to interfere with the search engine relationships.  Insidious.

Opera abandoned their own browser engine years ago, and switched to WebKit. I stopped using opera when that happened. Firefox also recently dropped their own XUL system in favor of the Chrome like environment.

fluffy2560 wrote:

If you install NoScript and so on,

Noscript allows you to selectively allow scripts or not on each site (just like ToR) and prevents cross scripting. And most sites work just fine if you simply enable their default scripts (for sites you visit often you can white list that site), but continue to block Google tracking scripts. It really is a trivial amount of work, which I do all the time, so complaining about it I find as silly. And sites that are completely broken are probably not worth visiting, as they are just sucking up your private data anyway.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Probably the best thing to use is the ToR browser.

Too often used for criminal activity. I can not recommend it. Especially since even it is not fool proof, and using it may thus get you on a "gray list" of suspicion. No to mention.... one must "trust" this network of "volunteers" also not to be mining your data and info in various ways (they are suppose to be random, but what if enough nodes are actually being controlled by, say the CIA using what is know as poisoned nodes (after all the technology was developed by the US military... and still a lot of funding comes from the US government ... maybe they have back doors),.... and randomness is a myth?). And even Tor says not all traffic is secure, just like Google says. Be careful. After all, anyone can sue Google, but try to sue thousands of anonymous Tor servers.... Good luck with that.

In short, one should just treat any network as a public space, like a street. No matter what you do, someone else on the street can see where you walk and what stores you enter. You can limit somewhat what is know about what you do (such as putting what you buy in a store in a bag so other people on the street can not see it). But being over paranoid is like walking down the street with a bag over your head. Even with a bag over your head you can still be tracked in various ways (it takes more work, but can still be done).

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Google is still collecting session information even  during Incognito mode so the average punter isn't going to appreciate that.

And Google never said they would not. Again, the "average punter" needs to educate themselves, and actually read what is written and try to understand it..... and not just go brain dead and assume a huge corporation is going to do what is best for them. Seriously, again, incognito mode means nothing more than what it says: only for the local computer, nothing else. I deal with retail clients, and there has been a definite drift in recent years towards more and more not bothering to read or think or bother to do any basic research. One recent example, a person wrote tech support at my company saying our products had errors (leaping to that conclusion), and we had to send him to the FAQ section of the web site (too lazy to find on his own) that answered that issue (it was not an error, it was simply that person needed to set correct settings for their use patterns). The idea of self research to understand an issue is getting lost. People just "want" a company to always provide them what they want, how they want it, in every special flavor they want, and get angry when a company does not 100% conform to their very special wants and assumptions (after not reading easily accessible and available information).

Sure, Google does what it wants. People don't have to use it.   But there are more nuances in the court cases as it links Android to Google illegal data interception.

However, the basis of the lawsuit seems to be privacy violations against California law and more interestingly, federal wiretapping laws.  The actual docket can be read here: Click For Docket.  I've read most of it.  Some of it has fiddly detail but I skipped over some parts I couldn't be bothered reading.   I found Page 21 interesting, monetary value of your data. It made me think of the comparison of the value of chemicals that make up the human body.    Looks to me like the wiretap angle is because of illegal interception in Incognito mode and marketing of personal information without permission.

If they win the Class action then I suspect it'll lead to the break up of Google and others.  There will be a regulated part and an unregulated part.  It's not  like it hasn't been done before especially with utilities.

As for users not being switched on to what they are looking at, I can see that's easy to fall into.  It's just Internet fatigue.  No-one can know everything about each and every web site and the regulatory barriers just mean "click-click-click" without thinking about anything as people want their info now and not have to fight for it.   Previously we'd be talking to a person who would interact and there was social norms to adhere to but now it can be  a faceless machine or bot.   It makes a big difference to have channel for interaction with a human.

klsallee wrote:

...

fluffy2560 wrote:

Probably the best thing to use is the ToR browser.

Too often used for criminal activity. I can not recommend it. Especially since even it is not fool proof, and using it may thus get you on a "gray list" of suspicion. No to mention.... one must "trust" this network of "volunteers" also not to be mining your data and info in various ways (they are suppose to be random, but what if enough nodes are actually being controlled by, say the CIA using what is know as poisoned nodes (after all the technology was developed by the US military... and still a lot of funding comes from the US government ... maybe they have back doors),.... and randomness is a myth?). And even Tor says not all traffic is secure, just like Google says. Be careful. After all, anyone can sue Google, but try to sue thousands of anonymous Tor servers.... Good luck with that.

Yes, of course ToR can be used for criminal activity but that's no reason not to use it for whatever you can get for self-protection. Better than nothing and you don't have to use the dark web.   It works fine for searching normally.  Criminal types can also the phone, radio, semaphore, smoke signals and tin cans connected by string.  Terrorists can use gmail.com if they want.  They just don't email, they just leave messages there for reading and use codewords and messages left as drafts.  No traffic in or out.   

I guess we all need some digital street smarts.  Be aware of your  virtual surroundings.

fluffy2560 wrote:

[

However, the basis of the lawsuit seems to be privacy violations against California law and more interestingly, federal wiretapping laws.  The actual docket can be read here: Click For Docket.

In the USA, any one can file any lawsuit, any time. I say they will loose. As the case has no merits.

Wanna make a gentleman's bet? Say 1 HUF/USD/EUR/GBP who is right?

And of course winning brings extra bragging rights....

fluffy2560 wrote:

Yes, of course ToR can be used for criminal activity but that's no reason not to use it for whatever you can get for self-protection.

My point was... since it is used so much for criminal activity, due to it anonymity feature, and since using a Tor browser is recorded by networks, one runs the risk of being on "grey lists" for further investigation by governments if they can (and they can often do so, in many ways) track you to your source. Simply because you used the Tor browser. So, IMHO --- might be a bad idea if all you want to do is keep your normal traffic semi-private. That is, using such a tool may be a bad idea as it is like shouting out "Hey! I may be doing something illegal!!!!". Real stealth mode may be rather to be like most everyone else, and look like a stick, not call attention to yourself, and look like a snake.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Better than nothing and you don't have to use the dark web.

Correct. But the options I suggested are also better than nothing, very commonly used, so give no special heads up to governments who are spying on network use all the time, etc if you use them. So may be a better choice. IMHO.

Side note: Tor allows all Javascript over secure networks, but Javascript over a secure network does little as it can send a boatload of data back to the original secure server (such as Google.com) about you and your browser and browser use. So that Tor feature is rather useless. IMHO, better to just block scripts from Google, period.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Yes, of course ToR can be used for criminal activity but that's no reason not to use it for whatever you can get for self-protection.

My point was... since it is used so much for criminal activity, due to it anonymity feature, and since using a Tor browser is recorded by networks, one runs the risk of being on "grey lists" for further investigation by governments if they can (and they can often do so, in many ways) track you to your source. Simply because you used the Tor browser. So, IMHO --- might be a bad idea if all you want to do is keep your normal traffic semi-private. That is, using such a tool may be a bad idea as it is like shouting out "Hey! I may be doing something illegal!!!!". Real stealth mode may be rather to be like most everyone else, and look like a stick, not call attention to yourself, and look like a snake.

I see the point but then again, cars are used for criminal activities.  Not using one is suspicious as well in that model.   You need to be in the Goldilocks surveillance zone - just enough to look OK.  Maybe the only way to be sure you're not being watched is to have a Bin Laden type existence and cut yourself off completely.  We know it didn't help him in the long run I know.  They found him partly because he was isolated but more importantly they also followed one of his guys.  Plus the fake vaccination scheme to get his DNA.   To keep of the grid, OBL  could have moved to Balaton and opened a vineyard where there's no decent internet.  Or here for a village based Snoozathon experience of living on a persistent building site

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Better than nothing and you don't have to use the dark web.

Correct. But the options I suggested are also better than nothing, very commonly used, so give no special heads up to governments who are spying on network use all the time, etc if you use them. So may be a better choice. IMHO.

Side note: Tor allows all Javascript over secure networks, but Javascript over a secure network does little as it can send a boatload of data back to the original secure server (such as Google.com) about you and your browser and browser use. So that Tor feature is rather useless. IMHO, better to just block scripts from Google, period.

Not only block Google but all of those tracking web sites and there are hundreds if not thousands of them.   Look at the lists in the GDPR pop-ups. They are really hard to avoid as the functionality fails if you block too many by Javascript etc.   There are good things about the ToR browser is that you can turn of bits of Javascript by web site - when you do that, you can see what a page is referencing. And in ToR nothing is persistent and left behind on the device - it's a clean slate (they say) each time.   

I like the Exit node idea myself so they don't know where you are so easily.  Sure, they can track you but it's much harder to do that across multiple jurisdictions all of which need cooperation. 

I personally think it's a waste of time conducting surveillance of the population.  Big brother is useless.  99% of them are doing nothing very interesting at all.   The other 1% might be of interest but really that's a bit random.  Far better to go for targets where identification is intelligence led.   But that only works if you can find someone intelligent in government.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

[

However, the basis of the lawsuit seems to be privacy violations against California law and more interestingly, federal wiretapping laws.  The actual docket can be read here: Click For Docket.

In the USA, any one can file any lawsuit, any time. I say they will loose. As the case has no merits.

Wanna make a gentleman's bet? Say 1 HUF/USD/EUR/GBP who is right?

And of course winning brings extra bragging rights....

Oh sure but if they get a $1 Billion settlement to make them go away....well, who's the loser now?! 

I suggest we monitor the situation.

As we're dealing in virtuality here, maybe I'll bet you a number of up vote on a topic of choice no matter how ridiculous the posting?

So if you say, British tea with milk is terrible,  I would have to up vote it even though that's plainly silly.   

And vice versa such as Hershey Bars are dire and a complete misrepresentation of what a chocolate bar should be all about.  And Oreos, WTF is that supposed to be?   Hmm.... I'd be right about that so that's not even silly. 

Well, we can think about it.

I think the plantiffs have got a 1 in 3 chance of winning their case and a 1 in 2 for an out of court settlement in the plantiffs' favour hamstrung by an NDA (Non-DIsclosure Agreement).

Been looking on U Tube , not all that hard to fix the plaster on the ceiling.Not like I have to do the job myself, just help out.
My husband on reflection and speaking to our friend in the house thinks making a big deal about them not informing us about the upstairs leak may just lead to stress , which we do not want.
Might just take a half day or less to do, depends on how fast it dries.
Might be the fire to get my husband motavated to do more work .
What he thinks went down sounds so Hungarian that is must be right.
He said the dude upstairs hired a bad crew when he did his flat ( yes I saw them with my own eyes, oddballs) who probably didn't even have a permit to do the work.
So his new bath or toilet upstairs leaked, it is close to a main line that belongs to the house.
He might of struck up one of those under the table deals with the manager to overcharge , get the house insurance to pay for the work and then split the profit, the guy upstairs get a free repair while the manager and plumber split any extra cash. Everyone else in the house covers the repair through their common costs....
How "silly" of us to try and stir the pot and ask real questions and ask for legal documents!
Sounds about right to me, may they get their "just deserts" at some point in time.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Been looking on U Tube , not all that hard to fix the plaster on the ceiling.Not like I have to do the job myself, just help out....

My husband on reflection and speaking to our friend in the house thinks making a big deal about them not informing us about the upstairs leak may just lead to stress , which we do not want.....
Sounds about right to me, may they get their "just deserts" at some point in time.

It's very difficult to make plaster flat.  Plastering a ceiling is a young persons game as older folk will end up with strained necks and backs unless you can lie down.  I'm getting better at plastering but it really takes loads of practice - weeks or months of it. 

I am not too bad at outside walls now  where you can fudge it more using thick paint.   I'm not very good inside walls where it's more obvious.  Mrs Fluffy had a go and it's terrible.  She put some weird paint on it which is horribly sticky. I think she didn't mix it up properly.   Now I have to try and fix it which means scrapping it all off again.  Bit like car body work.  Almost impossible for an amateur to fix it and look good.

Re: Kontars....so you really think they will get their just desserts?  I think not.  Punishment doesn't fit the crime here.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Been looking on U Tube , not all that hard to fix the plaster on the ceiling.Not like I have to do the job myself, just help out....

My husband on reflection and speaking to our friend in the house thinks making a big deal about them not informing us about the upstairs leak may just lead to stress , which we do not want.....
Sounds about right to me, may they get their "just deserts" at some point in time.

It's very difficult to make plaster flat.  Plastering a ceiling is a young persons game as older folk will end up with strained necks and backs unless you can lie down.  I'm getting better at plastering but it really takes loads of practice - weeks or months of it. 

I am not too bad at outside walls now  where you can fudge it more using thick paint.   I'm not very good inside walls where it's more obvious.  Mrs Fluffy had a go and it's terrible.  She put some weird paint on it which is horribly sticky. I think she didn't mix it up properly.   Now I have to try and fix it which means scrapping it all off again.  Bit like car body work.  Almost impossible for an amateur to fix it and look good.

Re: Kontars....so you really think they will get their just desserts?  I think not.  Punishment doesn't fit the crime here.

It isn't a too large of an area, about 18 inches by 18 inches., Less then a square meter and in the dark corner of the room, not going to be a Homes and Gardens showplace anyways...
My husband worked in Paris France with a group of Hungarians , they older guys had been in WW11 in the French Foreign Legion... They worked all over the city painting old flats and buildings patching up here and there first.
My husband is one of those jack of all trades sorts and as a retired perfectionist in machining he does his homework before he starts anything.
Just a bit lazy, if he was 20 years younger, he probably would of redone this whole flat himself. Just doesn't really care these days, we plan to sell out and let the next owner have a thrill of fixing this up.
Just waiting to see what happens soon here, round 2 of C-19 or market crash or other nightmare?
maybe a good little war will fix the world?
Not negative just have learned over the years to not care so much about little things like my ceiling falling down. Having the world crash around our heads doesn't bother me much either.
Wow, did I get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
Was set to enjoy the lake this week but again, have to hold off a bit longer.
Not much fun to be out there in the wind.
We have found several  nice places, well nice at least on the internet to move to.
I am a bit bored with the city lifestyle.
We aren't into eating out or partying  so some nature living sounds good right about now.
Yes, I think my husband can fix the ceiling probably better then hiring someone who wants to do it fast as possible and make a few bucks without much effort.
He can and has done many jobs over the years when we owned our house in Ca. Plumbing, painting wood work, getting up on the roof and cleaning with a snake into the water lines, we even drained our in ground swimming pool and acid washed and fixed the filter on it, added a diving board too.
It's fun if you have the right equipment and engery to do the work, feels great when it's all done and you know the job was done right. He and his friend's helped his step-father on weekends to build his parent's home in Erd from the ground up.
Just have to get him off his bottom and get him going, once he starts there is no stopping him.
He removed the front axle from one of our son's cars in Vegas, got a used one from the junk yard and put it all back together, after months of failing the smog test and needing major work doen on a old car my husband figured out how to fix it, must of saved out son well over a few thousand dollars on repairs, morte then the car was worth, Made sure he got back every penny when he sold it and we knew we sold the man a good running car and felt good that it would last for many years.
Will probably start the ceiling job after summer since as soon as the weather turns nice we are out of here, plenty of time to do inside work later. That's the nice thing about getting older, my younger self would be freaking out about some plaster missing but now, I can barely notice it.

As far as the manager and everyone in on the scam( can't prove anything but it is so obvious once you think it over) I may just post a letter on the billboard after we move away for good.
They will get what they deserve sooner of later, these sorts always do, in the form of bad health, a nervous tick or some other issue with time. I decided not to give too much energy to these people after all. We figure the repair job will cost less then 10,000 forints and maybe we will fix a few other small things around h=this old "dump" once we mix up the plaster.
Before we sold my MIL home in Erd, my husband painted her kitchen.
I took the left over paint and started to paint the bathroom white, over some ugly baby blue color. I am not good at being in high places and I only went up the ladder 2 or 3 rungs. Couldn't reach the top walls or ceiling. I thought my husband would finish the job for me.
No, he told me not to start it since I didn't know how to finish it.
We sold the house with the crazy bathroom paint job.
The entire house was going to be redone by the new owners anyways but I learned not to start any jobs I can't finish.
Who ever buys our flat is going to remodel it. We had planned on doing it but no, we got lazy and used to it the way it is.
We will fix and paint it before we sell but not a big redo.
Our house in Ca. was nice and we made it even nicer, sent over my BIL who was a mason in Hungary.
He did 2 months of work around our home, painted the house outside, redid all the concrete craks around the pool, retiled the bathrooms, kitchen and my outside covered patio, put in new lights in the ceiling in the bathrooms and did some mason work around the house. We sold the house less then 2 years later, hardly had time to enjoy the work. Don't want to make that mistake again.

fluffy2560 wrote:

As we're dealing in virtuality here, maybe I'll bet you a number of up vote on a topic of choice no matter how ridiculous the posting?

I don't bet on public popularity contests. Those are silly. In much of human history (and today at many Reddit discussions) I would have lost about the world being round.....  Even though it is.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I think the plantiffs have got a 1 in 3 chance of winning their case and a 1 in 2 for an out of court settlement in the plantiffs' favour hamstrung by an NDA (Non-DIsclosure Agreement).

Deal. Done. I will take those odds with 1HUF. If you win, you get 2 or 3 HUF  (and 2x to 3x more bragging rights). If I win, I get only one.

fluffy2560 wrote:

It's very difficult to make plaster flat.

Actually, it isn't that difficult.

It is all a matter of technique and the right tools.

I was also terrible at it. Then I hired some experts, and watched how they did it. And I had the "ah... that is how it is done" moment. Was able to copy their quality within a few days of practice. Leveling is rather easy. Floating takes a little practice and knowing when the plaster is dry enough to float is the real "trick". Also for me, knowing the correct floating technique is critical (I was always floating wrong). I learned correct floating techniques by watching experts how to float correctly, then I found it was actually not that difficult and I started getting good results very soon after trying my improved technique.

The importance of floating is to get a reasonable flat surface to apply the finish (skimming) plaster, which is also not that difficult, but requires different tools. I do admit I need a bit of sanding after the finish plaster (a real pro would need little to no sanding).

Regarding plastering: FWIIW (For What It Is Worth), how I have done DIY plastering (and the tools (some of them, but not all) and techniques needed), at my blog years ago:

https://stcoemgen.com/2016/10/18/renova … -a-window/

klsallee wrote:

Regarding plastering: FWIIW (For What It Is Worth), how I have done DIY plastering (and the tools (some of them, but not all) and techniques needed), at my blog years ago:

https://stcoemgen.com/2016/10/18/renova … -a-window/

That's good plastering. 

I've got all the tools as well but the metal shop bought ones.   What I discovered in an "Ahh...." moment watching some professionals was this idea of "polishing" the surface with a wet sponge or wet float just dipped in water.  The polystyrene re-purposing looks pretty good  as does the home made float.   

You're right on knowing when it's dry enough to finish it - that's perhaps one of the things inexperienced people don't know about or appreciate.    Judging it stickly enough is quite difficult.  I did put PVA in it at one point and that was a help.   I also saw this guy flicking plaster on to the wall, then start to finish it with the float.  At the time I thought it unusual.

klsallee wrote:

....

fluffy2560 wrote:

I think the plantiffs have got a 1 in 3 chance of winning their case and a 1 in 2 for an out of court settlement in the plantiffs' favour hamstrung by an NDA (Non-DIsclosure Agreement).

Deal. Done. I will take those odds with 1HUF. If you win, you get 2 or 3 HUF  (and 2x to 3x more bragging rights). If I win, I get only one.

Hang on, don't you want to change the odds? 

You were pretty adamant it was case without merit or frivolous.

I'm not one for calculating betting odds. 

I think maybe 1:4 on a win for the plantiffs in some way or perhaps even 1:2 (which isn't better than flipping a coin)

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
It isn't a too large of an area, about 18 inches by 18 inches., Less then a square meter and in the dark corner of the room, not going to be a Homes and Gardens showplace anyways...
...

Put some thick paint on it.   For that size of area, it's not worth getting someone in really.

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

....

fluffy2560 wrote:

I think the plantiffs have got a 1 in 3 chance of winning their case and a 1 in 2 for an out of court settlement in the plantiffs' favour hamstrung by an NDA (Non-DIsclosure Agreement).

Deal. Done. I will take those odds with 1HUF. If you win, you get 2 or 3 HUF  (and 2x to 3x more bragging rights). If I win, I get only one.

Hang on, don't you want to change the odds?

Why would I want to change the odds suggested by another with a gentleman's bet? Doing so would be ungentlemanly.

fluffy2560 wrote:

You were pretty adamant it was case without merit or frivolous.

When I have full confidence in my opinion that I will win, I don't want to take advantage of others unfairly by exploiting the conditions to my advantage. Doing so would be ungentlemanly if not down right cruel.... Your comment seems to imply I am not a gentleman, but a huckster after a quick, narcissistic and profitable "win" in a zero sum game....      Please do not confuse me with people like the POTUS....

Besides, it is not  like we are talking about real money here anyway. Simply, and mostly, web points. Kind of for fun. So no reason to "up the stakes"... because.... that would be silly.

Or just ignore odds and just bet thus: I say the case will be dismissed and never reach trial or a settlement phase. So if the case reaches trial (even if they loose in trial -- I am giving you a good benefit there, as I suspect even if it went to trial, they would loose, but being allowed to go to trial would mean some judges thought the case had merit, which means you had a point so you could call victory on that point), or if the parties settle, you win. No odds needed. Simple results oriented bet. So.... Still wanna bet and track this case?

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
It isn't a too large of an area, about 18 inches by 18 inches., Less then a square meter and in the dark corner of the room, not going to be a Homes and Gardens showplace anyways...
...

Put some thick paint on it.

A lesson I learned from my father:

"When buying something used, never trust the paint job. Paint often hides a multitude of sins."

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
It isn't a too large of an area, about 18 inches by 18 inches., Less then a square meter and in the dark corner of the room, not going to be a Homes and Gardens showplace anyways...
...

Put some thick paint on it.

A lesson I learned from my father:

"When buying something used, never trust the paint job. Paint often hides a multitude of sins."

Did Daddio also mention caveat emptor?