OCTOBER 20, 2023: Michigan teen's suicide highlights growing dangers of online sextortion plots.
I cannot fathom what it must be like being a teen today. I'm saying that life was a total picnic back when I was in high school, but there's just so much... more... to growing up now. The internet has changed absolutely everything.
It's increasingly easy to target people with scams and traps that could end up in tragedy, but teens have it especially hard given what they're already going through in life. This story happened back in 2023, but a recent sextortion case involving a teen has the story being shared around again.
Having to talk to your kids about uncomfortable topics like "sextortion" cannot be easy. But since the consequences of not doing so can be so dire, parents really have no choice. The cautionary tale of what can happen when you talk with strangers on the internet... or send nude photos... or, heaven forbid, reveal your address... is almost as essential as reading in today's world.
It's a definite shame, but it's where we're at.
And I hope everybody takes the time to check on the kids in their life so they can be better protected.
I'm a vegetarian. I choose to not eat meat. So imagine for a minute that I am a cook at a vegetarian restaurant. One day, the owner decides that we're going to start serving meat. I refuse to cook it because it goes against my vegetarian beliefs. The owner says "Well, that's the job. You either do the job or you can't work here." I not only refuse to cook meat, I also refuse to quit. Then I refuse to leave the restaurant. So the owner calls the police to have me removed. I go to jail for trespassing for five days. The owner says that this entire ordeal has made them decide to fire me, and they tell me to never come back.
And you should know that the entire time I was working for the vegetarian restaurant I was moonlighting as a cook for Burger King, McDonald's, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. And I was eating at McDonald's while I was cooking at Burger King.
Seven years later I petition the Supreme Court to ban meat completely.
Because if I don't want to eat it, nobody should have the freedom to eat it!
I'm not saying that I rushed home from work to catch Taylor Swift on the New Heights podcast. But I totally rushed home from work to catch Taylor Swift on the New Heights podcast.
I have never understood the hatred that some people have for this woman. If you hate her music, then fine. I can wrap my head around that. But to hate her for being... talented... popular... successful? When she's done absolutely nothing to them except exist? It boggles the mind.
I guess it comes with the territory of being famous.
But should it? To this extent? There are people who have absolutely relished the fact that her attempts to find love have failed. They take joy every time she goes through a breakup. They lay in wait every time she starts seeing somebody new just for the opportunity to laugh at her when she gets her heart broken.
Which is why I was happy to see her and Travis looking so happy together. And I can't help but hope their relationship lasts.
Regardless of how you feel about either of them, the interview is worth a watch. They're hilarious. And charming. And interesting.
"This podcast has done a lot for me. I owe a lot to this podcast. This podcast got me a boyfriend, ever since Travis decided to use it as his personal dating app two years ago."
"This kind of felt more like I was in an 80s John Hughes movie and he was standing outside my window with a boombox like 'I WANNA DATE YOU! DO YOU WANNA GO ON A DATE WITH ME? I MADE YOU A FRIENDSHIP BRACELET!' And I was like, if this guy's not crazy, this is sort of what I've been writing songs about wanting to happen to me since I was a teenager."
They're also... weirdly normal. A huge chunk of the interview is Taylor Swift being obsessed with baking sourdough bread.
But anyway...
Watch the interview. If, for no other reason, than to have fun watching one of the most famous people on earth in an interview where she seems more herself than you've seen before...
I sure hope that The Life of a Showgirl is more "1989" and "Reputation" and "Lover" than "Folklore" and "Evermore" and "The Tortured Poets Department." It would be fun to love her music again.
Cannot get my hands to stop smelling like the onions I just cut, but I'll try my best not to throw up on my keyboard... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Plague Doctor! I was researching the bubonic plague (don't ask). Eventually I got to Alexandre Émile John Yersin, the Swiss-French doctor who co-discoverer of the cause of the plague and figured out it was being spread by rats. He's a pretty amazing guy with some amazing accomplishments. But here's the thing... he's also a total snack. JUST LOOK AT THIS PHOTO!
He was apparently celibate, dedicating his entire life to making other people's lives better. Which he probably did by melting ovaries as he walked down the street. — And here's where it gets interesting... I remember the "American Market" in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), which is also called "Yersin Market" because it's on Yersin Street, named after our boy here because he ended up moving to Vietnam for the remainder of his life of research (where he founded the Medical School of Hanoi, and was a pioneer in cultivating rubber trees!). When it comes to heroes of history, this guy is definitely on that list.
• Neverending! Nothing quite finding a cover of a song that you prefer over the original. This is pretty cool...
Not that the original Limahl track was bad by any means...
I just like the new synth arrangement of the material better.
• Addams! The first half of the second season of Wednesday is fun. And there's a couple cameos that are so flawlessly cast that I almost didn't believe it. Yeah, yeah, I know there are people who are big mad that it isn't faithful to the source material, but it can be its own thing and still be entertaining...
Though, to be honest, I still prefer the two films starring Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, and Christina Ricci over any adaptation of the original The Addams Family comic.
• It's Doug! All the Jeopardy and Black Jeopardy sketches on SNL are hilarious, but I find myself watching this one at least every-other month...
The fact that Tom Hanks was willing to make fun of himself this badly makes it even more funny than it already was. And, of course, Mr. Hanks is no stranger to Jeopardy sketches... he has a hilarious role on Black Jeopardy...
Though Eddie Murphy's impersonation of Tracy Morgan in front of Tracy Morgan remains one of the funniest things I've ever seen...
You know it's funny when you can break Tracy Morgan while playing Tracy Morgan.
• Unhappy! Watched Happy Gilmore 2 last night. Good Lord. Was looking forward to something charming, nostalgic, and funny to distract me from the day... instead Netflix approved a two hour mess that's more depressing than funny. Adam Sandler is an alcoholic ass-hat who accidentally killed his wife at the very beginning of the movie? Hilarious...
You know you're in deep, deep trouble when you're looking forward to seeing Shooter McGavin more than the main character. Hell, you're happy to see anybody except Happy on the screen (Bad Bunny continues to surprise me with just how good he is... just like in Bullet Train, his character is a highlight). Fortunately, there's some genuinely funny moments and a lot of great cameos which allowed me to get through the film on nostalgia alone. But... come on... in a day and age when life is depressing enough, can we not do this? Killed his wife in the first two minutes? Really? This is where we're at?
• Just Fuck Off Already! Precious few people are a bigger piece of shit than Bill Maher. I have never understood his popularity. He has bad take after bad take based on misleading statements and outright lies, and has shown himself to be a dick of the highest order every chance he gets. I ignored him forever... until he was taken to school by Ben Affleck, of all people, over his shitty fucking Islamophobia. From then on I actively loathed him. Which is why Big Joel's latest video really hit for me. Well worth a watch...
Lord. If you want to be dishonest with your audience so you can be a self-righteous douche, nobody's stopping you. But if you actually think that's makes you a better person, who the fuck are you?
• Slop! I reported a Facebook page that is nothing more than fake AI-generated bullshit about Dolly Parton dying...
Anybody willing to lay odds on Facebook hitting back with "We didn't delete this page"... because Facebook is ALSO run by fake AI-generated bullshit? In all seriousness, fuck these AI scammer pieces of shit. Dolly Parton deserves far better than this stupid crap.
• NEWSFLASH: Tim Cook appeals to Trump’s love of gold with a 24-karat base for Apple plaque. So what's next? Tim Cook just flies the Apple jet to DC and blows Trump on the White House front lawn at a press event? I don't know what's more embarrassing... the fact we have a president who requires you suck up to him personally so you can keep your company in business, or the fact that CEOs are lining up to do it.
And now I'm back to smelling like onions.
I'm way too tired to blog, but here I am again... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Memories Do Pass. It seems so strange that two more musicians from my youth have passed... namely Ozzy Osbourne and Chuck Mangione...
As if that weren't enough, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, most known for playing Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show also died in a tragic drowning accident. I prepared for getting to the point where all the people from my memories were going to start dying, but I wasn't prepared for how quickly they're passing. Every month a couple more seem to leave us, and I can't help but wonder how many more will go before I do.
• McMissing McPies! I don't give a shit how "unhealthy" McDonald's fried pies were... I want them back. Who eats at McDonald's to be healthy?
Of course McDonald's is so fucking expensive now that I can't really afford to eat there any more, so it's not like it matters. Though I might be willing to take out a second mortgage if it meant I could have a fried McPie again.
• Perfect 'Maters! When I had to transfer my tomato plants outside, I was certain that they would be pecked at by birds and spoiled by bugs. But no....
Am I just phenomenally lucky? Because the biggest problem I have is to wash off the water spots. They tomatoes themselves are beautiful.
• Ares! The original Tron is one of my favorite films of all time. The sequel was okay but hardly in the same league. About all I could say was that the special effects were darn good. And now another sequel has landed and... well... the special effects look darn good...
It looks far removed from the initial concept, though the idea of computer constructs from the digital world being able to make their way into our world was where the sequel ended up, so here we are. If nothing else, I hope it's at least entertaining.
• Mickey Kicked the Bucket? ZOMFG! WHEN DID MICKEY MOUSE DIE?!??
When I was at the Walt Disney World Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party last year, I saw that there are people lining up to buy dozens of the special event popcorn buckets and sipper cups. That's some big business on eBay, apparently.
• Leaving Las Vegas! Pre-pandemic, I had several work trips to Las Vegas for the charity I volunteered with. But over the years there were fewer, because we were finding the number of conventions wanting to hold events in Vegas were fewer. This video offers some interesting insight into the many problems which make Sin City a less-desirable vacation destination...
#1 on my list? Fucking "resort fees." I personally avoid Vegas for this one reason. I hate being lied to about the rate I'm paying. Hotels country-wide should be forced to list the TOTAL PRICE YOU WILL BE CHARGED at the time you book your lodging. And those absurd fucking "Restaurant Fees" and "CNF Fees" are #2 on my list.
• Republican Speaker of the House Just Loooooooves Pedophiles! Well this should shock absolutely nobody... "Speaker Mike Johnson said he would send lawmakers home early for their summer recess in order to head off Democratic demands for votes on calling for the release of files from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein." Gotta protect pedophiles at all costs, I guess. There must be some huge donors and very important politicians on that list. Why else would you protect pedophiles?
And now we just wait for Ghislaine Maxwell to give an interview with the FBI where she says that no Republicans were on the list, names a few token Democrats, then gets mysteriously pardoned by the President of the United States for finally "telling the truth to the American people." Because keep in mind that only the President can pardon her crimes of supplying underage girls to Epstein Island.
And on that depressing note, off I go to try and get some sleep before facing the horrors on a new news day.
I'm entirely too tired to blog because I'm working on four hours sleep, but that's no excuse for missing new bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Emmy! It is un-fucking-believable to me that Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, and Genevieve O'Reilly didn't get nominated for their roles in Andor. It's likewise unbelievable that Denise Gough and Kyle Soller didn't get nominated. The only actor getting a nod is Forest Whitaker (who absolutely deserved it)? I don't even know what the fuck to say here. At least Andor managed to get some writing love, directing love, and a drama series nom, which ain't nothing. But it's also not enough. — In other news, I really hope that Uzo Aduba wins for The Residence. No shade to the other talented actors, but she was next level. And it would be a nice cherry on top of the Netflix cancelation sundae.
• The Puppy List! I find it incredibly difficult to argue with this list...
@weratedogs Top 10 Cartoon Dogs! #weratedogs ♬ original sound - weratedogs
Except to say... my order would be different and I'd probably drop Scooby Doo and Courage in favor of Pluto, Zero (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Sam (Sam & Max: Freelance Police), Ren (Ren & Stimpy), Jake (Adventure Time), Seymour (Futurama), and Brain (Inspector Gadget)...
• Spite House! To explain how crazy the Seattle housing market is... this tiny house (in two stories!) just sold for $745,000. The first part of the video repeats, but it's worth watching to the end, because this is a truly remarkable house!
Perfectly livable. And very cool.
• imperson-AI-tion! People getting impersonated by shitty AI slop is not surprising. What's surprising is that people are falling for it. Now. But all too soon AI will likely be impossible to spot... even for a discerning eye...
@adamtots El Tortuga you will answer for your crimes
♬ original sound - Adam Ellis
One can only hope that AI detection tools get better at a faster rate.
• That Took a Turn! When it comes to up-and-coming comedy talent, there's quite a lot making the rounds in social media. One of my favorites at the moment is the crowd-work by Will Burkart...
How he was quick enough to roll with those punches is a mystery!
• Maladapted! Lord how I loathe Apple TV's Foundation... as an adaptation. As a TV show it's fine. I just wish they would have left Asimov's book out of it and done their own thing, since they're doing that anyway.
In the books, The Mule is an amazing plot device because Hari Seldon is dead. All that's left of him are recordings. So when The Mule comes along to throw a wrench in absolutely everything, both the First and Second Foundations were in a total panic. The Universe is falling and there seems that there's nothing they can do. They have to come up with a plan that will get the universe back on track.
But in the show Hari Seldon is kept alive. He's actively working on a way to stop The Mule. This completely defeats the entire premise of the book because the Foundations have lost their agency. But the book is ruined anyway, because they keep dragging the same fucking characters back again and again over hundreds of years... either through suspended animation or cloning. This sabotages the entire concept of a story which must pass through the generations to be told. What makes the story in the books unique is that they don't focus on a single set of characters. Humanity lives and dies and history marches on so that new characters can find their own way to deal with the crises at hand.
It drives me crazy what a missed opportunity this show was. They could have followed the book and had a series of guest stars come each season to play a character... then die. That would have been so cool. But, alas...
• Cancelation! This video is over an hour long. It's frickin' amazing. The more it went on, the more you see exactly how these disingenuous assholes manipulate a narrative to force their awful values on society... and kids. They're "Christians" and yet they outright lie because of a faux persecution complex to get people on their side....
Keep in mind that this is the same asshole who used the modern banana as definitive proof of God because it had angles to conform to the human hand, had an easy-open tab, and was curved towards the mouth. Except bananas have been cultivated by man and wild "bananas" have zero resemblance to his "proof." Not to mention the fact that the human hand conforms to four sides, not the five on a banana... bananas are actually easier to open from the bottom... and the magical curve disappears after two or three bites. It takes all of two minutes of rational thought to debunk this nonsense, but they don't give a shit because they have a series of videotapes to sell. This time it's children's books, but the idea is the exact same.
And now it's time for me to say an early good night.
As I've already said... I have zero problem with Disney (the company) deciding to make an animatronic of Disney (the man) because Walt Himself had zero problems with dredging up people like Abraham Lincoln to be turned into a robot. So why not? In the end, I actually thought that it was a good thing.
At least I did until I saw what they came up with.
Does Walt Disney Company not have photos of Walt Disney? They did a terrible job of making something that even remotely resembles the guy...
I know it can't be perfect... but getting the hairline, eyebrows, and nose right would have gone a long ways towards a better resemblance.
I can't even figure out what era this is supposed to be from. It's not near his last appearance (bottom), that's for sure. Why wouldn't they take his look from the middle of the extremes that people recognize him from (top)? That would have made a lot more sense.
Yikes.
I guess those people saying that he should have never been ressurected as an animatronic have nothing to worry about.
Because that ain't him.
It's 911. The world may be ending, but I'm not sending this blog with it just yet... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• IN THE NEWS: Historic lodge on Grand Canyon North Rim destroyed by wildfire. This is awful. I've never stayed at the Grand Canyon Lodge because it was way out of my price range, but I've eaten dinner there with my mom and it's a wonderful place. Or was...
Image from a news story taken from somewhere on Twitter
The world being both figuratively and literally on fire is really starting to wear on people. Starting with me.
• IN THE NEWS: 1 person dies of the plague in northern Arizona. And guess what? The current administration is GUTTING our research and defense against shit like this. All so he can give billionaires more tax cuts while the country goes trillions more into debt. The rest of us just get to die of the plague, I guess.
• IN THE NEWS: Mexican volunteers rushed in to help after floods in Texas. Some want to continue recovery efforts. "Oscar Morales is part of the volunteer-led recovery team International Tlatelolco Azteca Rescue Brigade, which was created after the 1985 earthquake that left thousands dead in Mexico City. The group is better known as 'Los Topos,' which translates to 'the moles,' because members search for victims after natural disasters. But the part of the above story which is adding a new level of horrible to an already horrific situation? On social media, Gov. Greg Abbott has thanked almost a dozen states for sending help after the catastrophic floods, but he hasn't publicly mentioned the help of Mexican volunteers. Because of course not. And yet Mexico showed up anyway, even though they knew this would happen. And despite the fact that there could have been seriously harmful consequences for showing up to help a neighbor... like getting deported to a prison in El Salvador. I was holding my breath when I heard they came, just waiting for some stupid racist shit to go down, because that seems to be what this country is all about now.
• IN THE NEWS: From Mackintosh Braun on Instagram. "Our independent album The Sound was removed from all streaming and stores by TuneCore because Warner Sync UK Warner Music has claimed they own a song on the album. We made this record broke, sharing a studio apartment back in 2006. This is why the music industry is broken. They’ve effectively removed our music from existence for no reason… if you can write someone do it, no idea how to fix this." This is horrible, but so typical of the abuse which huge companies can unleash whenever they want, and rarely face consequences... even nearly 20 years later. This is an incredible debut album from MB (Macintosh Braun), one of my all-time favorite bands. I've been hoping for a new album for a decade now, but have taken consolation that their old albums are still out there to be enjoyed. Except when they're not.
• End of an Era! The Rivers of America has been removed from Walt Disney World's maps. That's where the new Cars attractions are going to go...
The Rivers of America in Disneyland is still there, so that's nice.
• PC Mini! If you're looking to kill some time and are mesmerized by electronics videos like I am, here's your next watch...
It's remarkable how much of the work is done by hand. I would have sworn that these would be 90% automated by machine. Also remarkable? How everything is being made to look like a Mac mini now, right down to the packaging.
• Hello Depression! Am I the only one who can no longer watch movies about the total fantasy of what this country could be without being filled with abject despair over how it is?
I just wanted a feel-good movie to play while I had a sandwich, so I put on Dave, which I normally love. Now it just makes me depressed.
And now we can continue with the ongoing nightmare of our existence.
Professor Dave has created an in-depth video addressing RFK's horrific, life-destroying misinformation campaign. Of particular note is how the head of the Department of Health & Human Services profits from his bullshit.
No matter what side of the fence you're on, I'd urge you to watch this entire video... if, for no other reason, to listen to the debunked lies that are easily verifiable by looking up the misrepresented citations RFK presents as "facts in evidence" to know the truth. So even if you don't take action for your own self, at the very least you're not propagating misinformation which convinces others to risk their health and lives (or, more tragically, the health and lives of their children)...
You know what refutes science? Better science. Not whatever the fuck RFK's stupid shit and lies are supposed to be.
So the year is officially half over.
Which is to say that Americans just got fucked in record time.
This country is adding trillions of dollars to the national debt while slashing benefits for average Americans all so 60% of the resulting tax cuts are going to the top 20% of the wealthiest Americans.
Typical.
I get how the math isn't understandable by most people. Math is hard. Fooling people about the math is easy.
But how is it that people don't understand that preventative health care for all Americans is in everybody's best interest? If people can't afford to go to doctors when problems are small and can be resolved relatively cheaply, then they wait until health problems are very large and incredibly expensive. Then they can't afford to pay. So they don't. But that money has to come from somewhere. Which is to say that we all end up paying far more for their care than we would have if they had gotten early treatment... whether it's via our taxes, higher insurance premiums, higher doctor costs, or whatever, WE pay for it! This is a simple concept that people are apparently too fucking stupid to understand.
The politicians supporting this shit understand it all very well... they just don't give a fuck if people get sick and die. And they also don't give a fuck if American taxpayers end up paying more money... just so long as their wealthy owners don't end up paying for it. Which they won't, because the vast majority of the tax cuts are going to them.
It's a horrific situation we're all being put in.
For example...
I really hope that nobody out there has a parent with dementia.
When I did, there was insurance and options for veterans available and it still wasn't enough. I took out a loan for my mom's care... but, even so, without Medicaid to help cover some of the costs, I have no fucking clue what I would have done after she got to the point she had to be put in a facility. Medicaid is a safety net that we all pay into so that if tragedy strikes, we can get care. And without that safety net, what happens?
This Big Pile of Shit Bill is going to fuck over so many people. And most of them don't even know it yet.
All because the millionaires and billionaires who own our fucking politicians want even more of our money and don't want to pay their fair share.
I kept my mom with me even after her doctor said she needed to have professional help. Because I thought it would be better for her than sending her to go live with strangers. I was wrong. There's a point where a dementia patient requires specialized round-the-clock care which I wasn't equipped to provide. But now people will likely be forced into this situation anyway because assholes somehow get elected who don't give a fuck about the people they represent. So everybody loses. Except millionaires and billionaires, who always win even when they lose because the system is set up to always, always, always benefit them.
I cannot fathom what this disgusting, cruel, and utterly vile bill is going to do to the future of this country. The things we will lose are not something you can bring back by snapping your fingers. The sad truth is that even if everybody wakes the fuck up and puts a stop to this senseless destruction, it could take decades to undo the damage. If it can be undone at all. We're going to be paying more for less for a very long time.
But, hey, those toilets on billionaire's jets aren't going to gold-plate themselves! People losing Medicaid and dying is apparently a small price to pay so they can live the excessive lifestyle we provide to them.
Or so we're being told.
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