Month: August 2024

About That ’65 Mustang…

Drive Time, Surveillance Society

I haven’t actually purchased a Ford product since 2003 (F-150 FX4 so that I could move most of our stuff to a new house and not pay movers to do so).

I sure as hell wouldn’t buy one now, because they’re a bunch of fucking cop snitches:

Ford is trying to patent a way for its cars to report speeding drivers to the police.

A patent application from the automaker titled “Systems and Methods for Detecting Speeding Violations” was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Jul. 18 2024, and was originally filed by Ford Jan. 12, 2023.

In the application, Ford discusses using cars to monitor each other’s speeds. If one car detects that a nearby vehicle is being driven above the posted limit, it could use onboard cameras to photograph that vehicle. A report containing both speed data and images of the targeted vehicle could then be sent directly to a police car or roadside monitoring units via an Internet connection, according to Ford.

And if that doesn’t set your ass on fire, try this:

Using vehicles for speed surveillance would make cops’ jobs easier, as they wouldn’t have to quickly identify speeding violations and take off in pursuit, Ford notes in the application. It also means some of that work could be delegated to self-driving cars, which could be equipped to detect speeding violations, the automaker adds.

So it’s all-so-conveeenient for everybody, you see.

But wait!  There’s more!

Ford is now selling your driving data to a company called LexisNexis. This company is a New York-based global data broker with a “Risk Solutions” division that caters to the auto insurance industry and has traditionally kept tabs on car accidents and tickets.
However, it turns out that LexisNexis is using your driving habits (acceleration, hard braking, speed and how fast you take corners) and forwarding this information on to insurance companies that then increase your insurance rates.

And if there’s one thing that insurance companies are known for, it’s their reluctance to generate more income  increase rates wherever they can.

If I were of an inclination to buy a car from Ford (and that’s a HUGE “if”), I’d go more for this kind of thing:

…or even better:

And for those of the truck persuasion:

Yeah, they’re old and (maybe) less reliable than the newest Fords… but at least they’re not continually spying on you while you drive them.

Bastards.

Three U.S. Speed Bumps

3 Inexplicable Things

As any fule kno, I yield to no man for the love of my adopted country.  I am an American by choice, and doubleplusproud I am to be that.

However:  there are three things peculiar to the U.S. that got up my nose soon after I arrived here, and they have continued to bug the hell out of me ever since.

1) Date format:  I know that we can do pretty much anything we want because Murka, but FFS why do we insist on mm/dd/yy (or /yyyy ever since Y2K) when the rest of the world uses dd/mm/yyyy?  It makes no sense, forces one to insert an unnecessary comma when writing out the date — e.g. November 19 COMMA 2024, to prevent numbers running into each other — when going with the universal format would just make things easier.  For everybody.

2) Gallons:  I have no problem with using Imperial weights and measures, because they make things easier for everyday life over the artificial metric system.  But why the hell do we have a liquid gallon that is smaller than the Imperial gallon?  I was looking at a lovely old car’s specs the other day, and saw that it had a “tiny” 15-gallon fuel tank — and then realized that it was a Jaguar, and they were quoting Imperial gallons (in this case 18 U.S. gallons).  I mean, we don’t have a mile that’s shorter than an Imperial mile — we could just go metric for that, don’t get me started — so why a use a smaller gallon measure?

3) Floor numbers:   When you step into an elevator / lift in any developed country outside the U.S., you see the selector thus:

…but in the U.S., it’s:    

Why no ground floor?  Once again, it’s something we do that nobody else does, and it often leads to confusion when talking to a non-Murkin.  FFS, every building has a floor that’s at ground-level, so why not use the “G” and say “ground floor”?

No doubt there are all sorts of sound reasons why we Murkins have gone our own way — and don’t get me wrong, I have absolutely no problem with that mindset, e.g.:

…but I do need to wave my hands when such non-conformity makes absolutely no sense at all.

In all three of the above cases.

No Chance Totty

Elections

I see that some Republican tart ran for office earlier in the year:

Of course, she ran as a conservative “independent” (“Republican” is the kiss of death  up there in Minneapolis).  That didn’t fool anyone, so she duly lost 46-54% to some liberal “independent”.  Yeah, her background is kinda shady too, so that may have had something to do with it.

Too bad, because:

Rather toothsome, wot?  We need to see more of that kind of representation, methinks.

Seeing Double

Gratuitous Chick Pics

Two newsreaders on Brit TV, both onetime contestants on some dance show, both with a pouty lower lip and both rather MILF-y — and I can only tell them apart when they’re side by side:

L–R:  Kate Silverton and Natasha Kaplinsky.

Of course, confusion is my normal state these days…

“Dear Dr. Kim:

Advice

“Dear Dr. Kim:

“I am uncomfortable about my girlfriend’s recent suggestions to spice up our sex life. Something has made her racier all of a sudden. She keeps asking to try S&M.

“She has always been adventurous when it comes to intimacy. She loves role play and dressing up. She says ordinary sex is too vanilla and boring.  Recently her tastes have become more extreme. She says she can’t get sexually excited if there isn’t an element of risk.

“Previously, I was happy to indulge her. I’ve never said no to sex in public places and I find blindfolding her a turn on. But now I’m concerned because she’s even started to mention choking.

“This for me is another thing entirely. It scares me. I don’t want to give it or receive it. Why would I want to hurt the woman I love? And I know it could go wrong. I am not prepared to take a risk. I would be devastated if she came to harm.

“I really don’t want to do any of this, but I don’t know how to refuse without making her think I am a bit of a bore in bed.

“I am 31 and she is 42. She’s a fair bit older than me and much more experienced too. We have been together for a year and I’ve really fallen for her. She’s gorgeous, clever and keeps me on my toes.  But I am scared that if I refuse her new tastes she may get bored of me. Or that she will go out looking for someone who will be more edgy – someone who doesn’t care about her like I do – and potentially put herself in danger.

“Should I say yes and hope that if we try it once she won’t want to do it again?

— Apprehensive

Dear Appy,

You have only one choice.

Ditch the bitch. 

I’m afraid that this “gorgeous and clever” woman has some serious psychological issues — issues so profound that you need to put distance — lots of distance — between her insane ass and your dick.

And by the way?  This escalation of her kink is going to get worse, if you can imagine that.  (If you can’t, then that’s all the more reason to GTFO.)

I guarantee you that if you don’t leave, this infatuation that you feel for her will disappear very shortly and you’ll be left with… probably a dead body and whole lot of ‘splaining to the rozzers.

Get out now while you can.