The Off Topic Topic

[celedhring]

Went to see Roger Waters yesterday. Dude comes across as a very angry somewhat drunk grandpa (slurred speech at all, although despite having a bottle of Mescal over his piano, I think he only drank water throughout the show). 

Most hilarious part was, despite featuring a lot of footage/pics of his times with Pink Floyd throughout to show, I'm damn sure there wasn't a single picture of Gilmour shown at all. But the fact he's an asshole is part of his charm at this point. 

Decent show and all though, if you're comfortable with 1970s-style lefty politics dialed up to 11 (there was a somewhat confused speech about Ukraine at the end, but nothing tremendously egregious). As it happens with most of those aging starts, though, it was more the (excellent) backing band doing the job.

Glad you enjoyed it and it wasn't spoilt by the any bad oldman ranting, like you feared.

Oh he did rant a fucking lot though. But it was more hilarious/entertaining than infuriating. He had this long rambling speech about a Catalan friend he had, playing "Ça Ira" with him at a French bar, segueing into a theme about bars were people from all walks of life can meet and talk, etc... Again, you see so many acts just show up, play, throw in some inane pleasantries about how much they love Spain/Barcelona... that I found Waters' idiosincracy refreshing for a change.

[Valmy]

So, are new mothers in the US regularly tested for drugs without their consent during their hospital stay?

Yes and in fact we were subject to an investigation by child protective services for child abuse when my wife tested positive for pain killers...during an emergency C-section to give birth to my first born. Can you believe it? Somebody getting major surgery had pain killers in her? But the WAR ON DRUGS knows no common sense.

Yeah that was a fun bureaucratic mess we had to deal with. Fortunately due to my former career I had lots of contacts at CPS.

And you were lucky, you say... what's a person without the contacts you had to do in that situation?

Well they probably would have it on their permanent record forever. Fortunately I was able to get it scrubbed for both me and my wife. That took some doing.

The reason this scenario happened was because my wife had very long labor and then David, my eldest, got stuck in her pelvis. The doctor realized how bad the situation was we had to do an emergency C-section. At that point my wife was so drugged up she was shivering cold. So a bit of the drugs got into David I guess. So when they did the government mandated drug test on David they reported he tested positive for pain killers. One would think they would check with the medical staff first but no, we went under a full blown child abuse investigation under suspicion of abuse of barbiturates. So you can imagine the stress of being a first time parent and your first introduction to parenting is being under a CPS investigation.

Obviously once they did the investigation they decided we probably weren't taking barbiturates, which frankly I had never heard of before this incident and still have no idea how or why you might take them recreationally. But it would have followed us around if I hadn't pulled some strings. We were thinking about how this might have gone if we weren't middle class white people.

In retrospect I am just relieved this happened in 2010 instead of 1910. Back in the old days I am not entirely sure my wife and son would have come out of it ok. They probably would have had to yank him out Kaiser Wilhelm II style and who knows what might have happened?

[Sheilbh]

In retrospect I am just relieved this happened in 2010 instead of 1910. Back in the old days I am not entirely sure my wife and son would have come out of it ok. They probably would have had to yank him out Kaiser Wilhelm II style and who knows what might have happened?

He'd end up causing the First World War

[Valmy]

In retrospect I am just relieved this happened in 2010 instead of 1910. Back in the old days I am not entirely sure my wife and son would have come out of it ok. They probably would have had to yank him out Kaiser Wilhelm II style and who knows what might have happened?

He'd end up starting the First World War

He loves and play Paradox games all the time, so he has actually done that repeatedly. 

[Josquius]

In retrospect I am just relieved this happened in 2010 instead of 1910. Back in the old days I am not entirely sure my wife and son would have come out of it ok. They probably would have had to yank him out Kaiser Wilhelm II style and who knows what might have happened?

He'd end up starting the First World War

He loves and play Paradox games all the time, so he has actually done that repeatedly. 

Please don't say he's gone down the path most young paradox players seem to these days.  :hitler:

[Syt]

In retrospect I am just relieved this happened in 2010 instead of 1910. Back in the old days I am not entirely sure my wife and son would have come out of it ok. They probably would have had to yank him out Kaiser Wilhelm II style and who knows what might have happened?

He'd end up starting the First World War

He loves and play Paradox games all the time, so he has actually done that repeatedly. 

What a nerd. 

 

[HVC]

In retrospect I am just relieved this happened in 2010 instead of 1910. Back in the old days I am not entirely sure my wife and son would have come out of it ok. They probably would have had to yank him out Kaiser Wilhelm II style and who knows what might have happened?

He'd end up causing the First World War

Valmy's kid is Serbian?

[Valmy]

Please don't say he's gone down the path most young paradox players seem to these days.  :hitler:

Sadly he does love team pickelhaube.

As somebody a bit biased to team kepi this is quite mortifying.

Paradox gives the Prussians too many super powers for young world conquerers to resist.

[viper37]

Ecuador journalists plugs in unknown USB drive[...]

The USB was mailed to the journalist, he plugs it in and it explodes in his face.

Apparently the 5th incident like this to happen recently in Ecuador.

[The Larch]

Chinese startup invents long-distance kissing machine
The device, which transmits users' kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, makes sounds and warms up slightly when kissed



A Chinese start-up has invented a long-distance kissing machine that transmits users' kiss data collected through motion sensors hidden in silicon lips, which simultaneously move when replaying kisses received.

MUA – named after the sound people commonly make when blowing a kiss – also captures and replays sound and warms up slightly during kissing, making the experience more authentic, said Beijing-based Siweifushe.

Users can even download kissing data submitted via an accompanying app by other users. The invention was inspired by lockdown isolation. At their most severe, China's lockdowns saw authorities forbid residents to leave their apartments for months on end.

"I was in a relationship back then, but I couldn't meet my girlfriend due to lockdowns," said inventor Zhao Jianbo.

Then a student at the Beijing Film Academy, he focused his graduate project on the lack of physical intimacy in video calls. He later set up Siweifushe which released MUA, its first product, on 22 January. The device is priced at 260 yuan ($38).

In the two weeks after its release, the firm sold over 3,000 kissing machines and received about 20,000 orders, he said.

The MUA resembles a mobile stand with colourless pursed lips protruding from the front. To use it, lovers must download an app on to their smartphones and pair their kissing machines. When they kiss the device, it kisses back.

The device is available in several colours with the same unisex lips. It has received mixed reviews, with some users saying it was intriguing whereas others said it made them feel uncomfortable. Among the top complaints was its lack of tongue.

Online reviews were mixed. One person described it as feeling like "a warm pacifier".

"Very uncomfortable, it doesn't feel like a real kiss," they said on Chinese online shopping platform, Taobao.

Others said it had helped their long-distance relationships. "In the past ... I can see her but I can't touch her, but now there is a product that helps us to realise the kiss."

Another reviewer said it was a fun product "even if you are single".

Some commentators on social media site Weibo also expressed concern that the device could be used for online erotic content, which is strictly regulated in China.

Zhao said his company complies with regulations, but that "there's little we can do as for how people use the device."

MUA is not the first remote kissing device. Researchers at Tokyo's University of Electro-Communications invented a "kiss transmission machine" in 2011, and Malaysia's Imagineering Institute made a similar gadget called the "Kissinger" in 2016.

I feel like we're getting one step closer to something, but don't know exactly what that something is.

[Syt]

Let's be honest, they've probably already patented a fleshlight/vibrator version of this.

[The Larch]

Let's be honest, they've probably already patented a fleshlight/vibrator version of this.

And if they haven't they're missing out on the potential comercial applications. 

[Josquius]

Missouri bans microchips in vaccines.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/03/missouri-house-advances-bill-to-limit-nonexistent-vaccine-microchips-just-in-case/

[Valmy]

Hey whatever helps people feel safe to take their damn vaccines I am for.

Certified Bill Gates free vaccine!

[Razgovory]

My cat searched for porn.  You stepped on the keyboard and hit "cxxxxxxxxxx" and then hit enter.  Porn sites came up on the search.  I'm impressed.