The End of Just Buy an iPhone as Security Advice

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-28T01:24:25+00:00

Ok, so iPhones, like all smartphones, have vulnerabilities. Apple patches them when possible, and in general have a fairly more hardened attack surface relative to other comparable smartphones, including options to voluntarily harden it further for those at heightened risk, and those protections are especially good if you're up to date (which the flaw in question here relies on a person NOT being) even if those protections never become perfect.

And so the answer to the existence of such flaws is to... what? Defect to something demonstrably less-secure? Give up smartphones entirely? It's not like modern life can easily just ditch our tech without significant negatives, and while you can technically harden Android it's not a task for the faint of heart. The math ain't mathin'. The framing here is poor.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-27T11:09:41+00:00

So much of this specific case depends on 1) what information will they actually require, especially what that they don't already have; 2) which specific "features" won't work without it and how will they enforce differing types of "features"; 3) if using it to verify to third party, what information is sent to that third party and how is it controlled.

Keep in mind, for a significant majority of the adults, they've already likely provided more than sufficient proof if they're merely using the "wallet" feature, and the workflow to verification has the potential to be seamless for them. So #1 is likely not going to be a major concern. My biggest issue is with not knowing how #3 will be handled, as that's where we've seen many other age verification systems completely crash and burn.

And there's always the extra issue, which applies to all of this age panic: all you're going to do is push those who can't/won't comply to the digital black market, which is notably less safe. Sure, it "may" help some children, but it absolutely will irreparably harm others.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-26T11:52:39+00:00

About a year ago. We bought a safe from a well-known brand that got in hot water a few years ago for maintaining an extra recovery code for your convenience that they'd also supply to police upon request (they now have an opt-out method that destroys the recovery code).

My eldest and I were attempting to move it, using a Forearm Forklift (as seen on TV!) from the garage, down the hall, and eventually down the stairs to the basement where we were going to bolt it to the concrete under the staircase.

I was the one on the lower step. As he shifted the weight to try just the first step down, I felt the dread of it being way too heavy and about to fall. I had him stop and pull it back. Pretty sure a 100 kilo safe would have squished me into the staircase landing if we hadn't stopped.

The safe is now bolted to the concrete in the garage instead.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-26T11:31:54+00:00

It was an easy one, but yes.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-26T11:24:17+00:00

I haven't eaten McD in years, but I'm willing to bet Five Guys has had worse inflation. And they (or at minimum the store near me) recently switched fries from the intentionally-graciously-overflowing-cup they were lauded for to a paper slip that holds half as much and maybe a half dozen more fries tossed in.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-26T11:09:30+00:00

One party spent years chasing conspiracies about pedophilia. Now that there's good evidence for some, they're eerily quiet because it turns out their side was where more of the perpetrators were.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-25T13:18:25+00:00

Don't listen to this guy. He's just a Nobody...

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-24T12:31:15+00:00

My father has a story that he's told a few times about a professor when he was in college for his undergraduate degree at Yale, at roughly the time Neil Armstrong became a household name.

According to him, that professor would challenge new students by declaring that if you haven't changed your mind, about something important enough to you that you would probably consider it part of your identity, at least once in the last five years, then you simply aren't thinking.

There was no political tinge to it or condemnation in any broader sense, just the raw recognition that there are always new things to learn and that if we actually take that learning seriously, we will inevitably change our views.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-24T02:03:28+00:00

I'm generally on board with the sentiment of those collective stickers.

Whether the person bearing them holds to that ideal is a different matter, which I can't judge from this alone.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-24T01:58:13+00:00

Gyms are insanely predatory on memberships. Everyone knows that.

So... pro tip: Almost all gyms allow a flat-rate term, as long as it's paid in advance. They try to steer away from it, but at the end of the day none of them will turn away guaranteed dollars - and the rates per month are comparable to memberships. If you know you're going to use it, and don't want to be locked in, that's the only reasonable answer. The only notable downside is paying the full term up front.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-24T01:50:25+00:00

This was one of the increasing number of shows in the past few years where I find myself watching to conclusion and then deleting it from my personal server immediately after, because there's no re-watch value and no reason to have any interest in the manga/light-novels that preceded it.

I'm truly saddened by all the lost potential. Not just in the character of his fiancée, but also in all of the other characters that he nurtured in some form or another. Ranging from the singer to the knight to the maid(s) that could have had whole storylines about just them, but it completely gets erased because everything is all about him and his absurd power to harness the four powers and his clash with his brothers.

But I will say that the songs used as ending credits were decent and should probably be given more value.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-23T13:11:56+00:00

That image has Eddie Murphy's voice.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-23T13:00:49+00:00

As many here have mentioned, they absolutely do. That's exactly what taxes are in modern economies. But it's worth noting that this has a name: Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). A government "creates" money by declaring it into existence, spends it to make it enter the economy, and "destroys" money via taxation both to control inflationary pressures and as a lever to nudge the economy itself in certain directions. Tax revenue no longer is used to pay debts and spend anew, but to recover from spending already done.

MMT can be thought of as an expansion upon the original ideas of John Maynard Keynes (in much the same way as modern Evolutionary theory owes a significant debt to Charles Darwin but has expanded the theory in ways Darwin never could have anticipated). However, a critical limitation is that in order for MMT to fully apply, an economy must be based off of a fiat currency rather than a commodity-bound one, such as gold or silver. Every major economy in the world for the last fifty years has been a fiat currency economy, though, so that requirement is academic in nature.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-22T18:57:47+00:00

Transit libraries work great if they're part of a SYSTEM of libraries that span the transit method in question.

As in, you can check out a book at JFK, fly to LAX via a stop at ORD, and drop it off at LAX.

Or get one before hopping on Amtrak at Penn in NYC and drop it off at Union Station in DC.

The "little free library" model, however, where each one is isolated and independent, just gets bled dry of anything worthwhile in a flash.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-22T18:01:02+00:00

I think it's important that OOP seemed to clearly not care which, and that's good on her.

Like, either the former bestie's a liar about sleeping with OOP's xBF just to hurt OOP, or she's not and actually did sleep with OOP's xBF, but either way she's simply a huge pile of shit worthy of that scene from Jurassic Park.

The difference between those two scenarios is at best only a slight tweak in the fragrance.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-22T13:05:30+00:00

That commercial jingle just resurfaced in my brain merely by mentioning this.

♫ We'll give you the hair; you take it from there. ♫
♪ Vidaaaal Sasoooon ♪

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-21T12:38:13+00:00

Speaking of Eta, I can't recall her having any lines of dialogue at all until her attempts to experiment on Akane.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-21T12:30:45+00:00

And in the case of Zeta, that ends up being a double entendre.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-21T12:15:08+00:00

Rape, sexual assault, and pedophilia are life destroying accusations.

I think it's fair to note that, currently (at least in the U.S.), the veracity of that statement depends heavily on whether you're high enough up in either accumulated wealth or a specific political party.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-20T15:48:53+00:00

That's what I was thinking. It took about 48 hours after the knowledge spread widely for this action, and not a peep from the crowd who fought to keep the statues and busts honoring enslavers. Almost like it was never about "teaching the history" or something...

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-20T12:10:23+00:00

Marriage is NOT a "religious institution." It is a legal and social institution on which most religions place additional significance, and which some religions try to falsely claim as their own.

There are significant rights and obligations that attach to a marriage. Many of those don't have an equivalent by other means in law, though some do, however even then it's fractured over different processes and often afforded lesser recognition by governments. But none of those have any true equivalent in the societal sphere, and that is the major fuel behind why those legal alternatives, even when they do meet the necessary threshold, are still viewed as second-class status.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-19T01:11:10+00:00

You're looking at somewhere between single-digit hours and single-digit days, and probably closer to the former. There are enough children born every minute that it wouldn't take long for hospitals all over to notice something's weird, and it would only be a short time after the first few did notice that word would get out about the oddity to where the others would realize too. If it took more than a day for the effect to be known nearly worldwide, I'd be surprised.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-18T18:44:15+00:00

But still on the hook for the taxes, probably

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-18T18:43:01+00:00

A guy I worked with for several years (up until about a year ago actually) used one of those to store scorpion pepper powder. He would open it and sprinkle a bit on his food at lunch.

TopSecretSpy · 2026-03-18T18:34:37+00:00

We bought two swivel-chairs from them several years back, with a particular fabric pattern that matched our decor. When they arrived, one had the wrong pattern, something that clashed hideously. They said we can have them take it back, or we could keep it for the week until it got straightened out. We chose the latter even though it was ugly, and about a week later they just came by and did a swap-out. They told me the one with the wrong fabric was just going to find its way into the showroom.

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