Black Cyber Buzzkill Penance 🙏

[peepeep]

Two links because life is about links.

@peepeep

Are you a methodologist? Professionally and/or by nature?

and

@peepeep

Or… get a long thick screwdriver and go hand-weed the lawn for a few hours. When you sense a person passing, look up and speak. Piece-o-cake.

…and no, I’m not insinuating anything.

[peepeep]

BTW kids, now that Black Cyber is over and no new sales have yet replaced it…

Check out Wyze Direct on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/str/wyzedirect

It’s a “Wyze Official” outlet and worth a gander for discounted refurb gear with generous warranty for the top condition stuff…

[ssummerlin]

Wow. The old our first finger is zero post. Remember it well.

I have a lawn crew I hire. I do clean my own pool.

[peepeep]

@carverofchoice tells me he has benefited greatly by a form of fitbitting (probably a different brand) and I believe him. He is dependent on tech but happily so.

These Gen X dudes talk at length and fast about a lot of stuff but the benefits of physicality is one of them and the detriments of virtuality is another. They say somewhere near the middle that Gen X is finally coming into its own. It’s about time!

Michael Shellenberger: How Our Leaders Lost All Credibility

The guy on the left ran for Governor. If we geezers ever die this crowd is taking over!

[carverofchoice]

@peepeep

He is dependent on tech but happily so.

Hmm…In some ways I would argue that everyone you know is dependent on tech. 99.999% directly, and the rest indirectly.

Still, I like to try different things and I bet I have gone longer without any electronics than you. When I lived in Haiti I went YEARS without using phone, TV, Radio, sometimes I went months without any electricity, etc. I learned to live with and be happy with close to no worldly possessions (I mean, I still wore clothes, and lived indoors and bought food to live, etc…I definitely had my basic needs met unlike some of the street kids there). I have done similar things in smaller stretches. So I absolutely can, and have proven quite capable of going without most technology and not being “dependent on it” as you say.

Actually, I believe my multiple experiences without technology help me to love and appreciate it even more than most people. I get along fine without electronics and technology, but I am much more productive with it. I love technology for countless reasons, but I have pretty good credibility to argue I am not dependent on it since I have proven this time and time again.

Still, I don’t mind being encircled by it everywhere and have it integrated throughout most of my current active life. I make a lot of money with technology, but I do fine when I have basically zero access to it, and still totally love life when it is not available for long periods of time.

So, dependent? No. And I am not saying that as the typical addict that says they “can stop at any time” but never do. I absolutely do/have done it…for as long as consecutive YEARS in a row, but also in smaller chunks of months and weeks. I just choose to embrace it because it betters my life in almost every way I care about.

[Crease]

@peepeep

It’s interesting that they’re still selling the v3.

I don’t have any of those. I kinda wish I’d picked up one of the blue Cam v3s earlier in the year when they were clearing those out. My oldest Wyze camera is a Cam Pan v3, so I don’t have anything that uses the “old” UI.

@peepeep

Have you developed a surveillance dependency, do you think? Would it make you anxious to unplug all ‘eyes’ for a week?

No, and no. For me, the cameras are a convenience and often an afterthought, like when I discovered a week after the fact that the crew who came to bury the Internet cable had cut right through a PVC pipe for the sprinkler system (as well as a couple of other buried cables). Then I thought, “Oh, yeah, there’s a camera covering that area of the yard. I wonder what that shows….”

If I was more diligent about the surveillance, then I would’ve been aware sooner of the microSD card recording issue that I still haven’t taken the time to troubleshoot on a Cam Pan v3. I guess that shows where my non-paranoiac priorities are.

For whatever it’s worth, I did end up ordering another black Cam v4 and black Cam OG.

@peepeep

You can keep your fitbit (the health monitoring gizmo is what I mean if that ain’t it) plugged in so we can see if your ‘vitals’ back up your reporting.

I do step on my Scale S every time I get out of the shower, and my Watch 47 is usually on my wrist unless it’s charging. Sometimes the notifications can be a bit much, though, and I still appreciate a good analog wristwatch.

[ssummerlin]

@carverofchoice

So, dependent? No.

I just hope I don’t see an EMP blast in my lifetime. I wouldn’t want to live in the 18th century. AC and refrigeration I would miss most. I don’t see Wyze anywhere on my list of cares.

[peepeep]

A sign that one’s imminent is the lights Blinken on and off.

[peepeep]

@Crease

No, and no. For me, the cameras are a convenience and often an afterthought, like when I discovered a week after the fact that the crew who came to bury the Internet cable had cut right through a PVC pipe for the sprinkler system (as well as a couple of other buried cables). Then I thought, “Oh, yeah, there’s a camera covering that area of the yard. I wonder what that shows….”

If I was more diligent about the surveillance, then I would’ve been aware sooner of the microSD card recording issue that I still haven’t taken the time to troubleshoot on a Cam Pan v3. I guess that shows where my non-paranoiac priorities are.

I resemble these remarks.

How big and what resolution is your household’s most modestly spec’d TV? You’re not required to answer, of course.

[peepeep]

@carverofchoice

When I lived in Haiti I went YEARS without using phone, TV, Radio, sometimes I went months without any electricity, etc. I learned to live with and be happy with close to no worldly possessions (I mean, I still wore clothes, and lived indoors and bought food to live, etc…I definitely had my basic needs met unlike some of the street kids there).

Is it likely your kids will choose a similar trial?

[peepeep]

@peepeep

Check out Wyze Direct on eBay:

I bought 3 A-grade v3 spotlight kits for $7+ each incl priority mail shipping and two year wtee. I understand the splitter cabling is their weak spot.

https://pages.ebay.com/promo/2020/0612/warranty.html

Priority Mail shipping wasn’t specified in the listing that I recall but that’s what USPS sez I’m getting.

[carverofchoice]

@ssummerlin

I just hope I don’t see an EMP blast in my lifetime. I wouldn’t want to live in the 18th century. AC and refrigeration I would miss most. I don’t see Wyze anywhere on my list of cares.

Yep, I’ve been without all of those. People don’t realize how much they use technology until they ACTUALLY go without it. Which means hardly anyone. Some things we just take for granted. I think I have the advantage of not taking these things for granted and being so appreciative of them because I have tried living without them. And I know I can absolutely thrive without them as I have before. I just prefer not to when they are available.

@peepeep

Is it likely your kids will choose a similar trial?

Absolutely no chance unless they come with me while I do it again some time in the future. Honestly, I wouldn’t really want them to either. I only have daughters and having lived in severely impoverished developing nations…I would worry to death about my kids being in such situations. I have had close friends kidnapped and held for ransom in such environments, and the risk is just not worth it for me to encourage them to do this. However, if they decided such on their own, I would not forbid them and I would help them, and try to find ways to make sure they are careful and safe. I can’t be too much of a hypocrite since I once took my former girlfriend and some other college friends, including 19yo to lower-20yo young women with me to experience such things and work in hospitals and orphanages in the developing countries, and while that’s a valuable experience, the dad in me would be terrified for my own children’s safety and people trying hurt them or ransom them. But I wouldn’t shatter their dreams if their heart was set on it of their own volition.

[Crease]

@peepeep

How big and what resolution is your household’s most modestly spec’d TV?

I don’t mind answering the question. I’m just not sure how to interpret “most modestly spec’d”.

@carverofchoice

Some things we just take for granted.

This is an understatement. I’m no great adherent to asceticism, but I think personal value can be gained by experiencing deprivation, to a degree, if one is intellectually open to the lessons it can teach. I feel like some of the things I’ve had the opportunity to experience, while somewhat uncomfortable at the time, have improved my character (at least I hope so). I think some people who were with me on that journey—with perhaps a narrower perspective at the outset—may not have derived the same benefit.

[ssummerlin]

@Crease

I’m just not sure how to interpret “most modestly spec’d”.

4K? Size? In color? Smart TV?

[Antonius]

Lets see if @carverofchoice can do without (s) for a day, that would be a test. Now/Not previously.

[carverofchoice]

Totally relate to basically everything you just said there. I have certainly had people go through certain experiences with me and have basically the exact opposite experience as me. It’s quite fascinating to me really, but then my college education was in the social sciences.

[carverofchoice]

Meh, I do that all the time when I go on vacation, business trips, etc. I’ll do this again in April when I go on a week long business trip, if not earlier for some vacation. I love my furry little buddies, but I don’t have a codependent relationship with them. I thankfully overcame codependency-related addiction issues in my life over 15 years ago…and thank heavens for that.

[Crease]

Yeah, humans are weird and weirdly diverse in their responses to situations. I’m reminded again of Louis CK:

Word of the Day

It reminds me of this perspective: [Louis CK Everything is amazing & Nobody is happy]

[peepeep]

Didn’t we cancel that dude?

I think ‘we’ have to show ‘them’ we are willing to do without ‘things’ otherwise we risk being manipulated by ‘those’ of ‘them’ who are mean and controlling.

Ergo, un and in solidarity with your bully ‘confreres’ !

You’ll be glad you did!

[peepeep]

@Crease

I don’t mind answering the question. I’m just not sure how to interpret “most modestly spec’d”.

Ok, that question didn’t work, porrly worded (though Steve got it.)

Here’s another.

Would you buy a refurb device from Wyze Direct (official Wyze ebay seller?)

• Yes
• No

Like, say, if it’s graded A, it’s ‘probably’ just an unused thing someone looked at and sent back for refund but they have to resell it used.

And if they’re willing to guarantee it for two years, they wouldn’t do that unless their projections are that the great majority of devices they’re selling would last longer than that or if not the great majority of people wouldn’t bother pursuing a warranty claim for that small amount anyway?

I like the idea of buying a second of something refurb (both at half price) as my ‘warranty’ on the first. A bull has two horns, right? You’ve got to buy two to take one by them… am I right?

Buy things Wyze!

New or used! All incredibly dealy!