Unplugging From the Matrix – #SolutionsWatch

by | Feb 16, 2021 | Solutions Watch | 77 comments

There are many things we can do to improve the way we use our devices: Using open source software, boycotting Google and other Big Tech monopolies, participating in distributed and decentralized networks, etc. But there’s a more fundamental question to answer: Are you in charge of your technology, or is it in charge of you? Could you unplug from your devices altogether? And, if so, for how long? Joining us to discuss this important question is Tim Kilkenny, one of the co-hosts of the Revelations Radio News podcast.

Watch on Archive / BitChute / LBRY / Minds / YouTube or Download the mp4

SHOW NOTES:
Revelations Radio News

RRNews 215: The real world?

#deletetwitter

Episode 332 – The Weaponization of Social Media

Facebook Ran A Huge Psychological Experiment On Users And Manipulated The Emotions Of 600,000 People

National Day of Unplugging

Andrew Sullivan: I Used to Be a Human Being

The New World Order and the Eugenics Wars: A Christian Perspective

77 Comments

  1. Fascinating conversation. I’m assuming Tim Kilkenny does not have an Android phone…

    About 4 years ago I bought a cheap Android phone online. I was astonished when it arrived and it was this big, slab-like device. I do a lot of hillwalking, and carrying a big slab about, trying not to break it is pretty awkward.

    After a while I kept getting pestered by pings from Messenger group chats. But when I muted them, the pings kept coming. Even when I turned notifications off, the pings kept coming. Even when I put the phone on “do not disturb” overnight, the pings kept coming! I mentioned this on Facebook, and people said “that’s just Android”.

    So there was only one solution – Messenger had to go.

    After I’d had that phone for 18 months, the battery started to fail, and that’s when I realised that it was a non-replaceable battery. I’m not exactly ahead of the curve when it comes to buying new tech, but now I actually go backward. I started to use my old iPhone4, which is fine for all my actual needs, but totally outdated for social media.

    Then a few months ago I was clearing out my late mother’s flat, and I found the Doro phone for elderly people that we bought for her. It’s clunky and awkward for youngsters to use, never mind the elderly, but it does have a replaceable battery and the memory can be upgraded with an SD card. I have WhatsApp and Signal on it, and keep the phone out of my bedroom at night.

    I love Twitter, probably because it’s not on my phone (it used to be, years ago). I dip into it a couple of times a day on my desktop computer. A few months ago, when I found myself getting uncontrollably angry in response to some crazy news reports, I went on Twitter and looked for accounts that would cheer me up. I found some relentlessly positive “hippy dippy” type accounts, and now if I’m on Twitter and finding that the chat is giving me negative emotions, I access the hippy dippy accounts for a dose of positivity.

  2. I got off LinkedIn last week after active authorship since 2012. When I say ‘off’, my account is deleted. In 2019, I got rid of my smartphone and bought a Punkt 3G-enabled phone from Switzerland. The post-smartphone, re-adjustment process does take time. I can’t navigate, search, browse, check bus timetable whilst away from laptop. However, it is awesome to say ‘I don’t have a smartphone’ when the restaurant wants me to ‘QR check-in’. This is challenging but is not impossible. I haven’t arrived yet and I don’t know what step is next. Definitely fantasizing what it would be like to have no phone, no PC and just become un-trackable.

    • Couple of other tips. Switch off all Internet and devices off completely before bed. Amazingly there are some days where it is 10am by the time I realise that the phone is still off from the previous night. Also, I started asking myself, ‘do I really need my phone?’ at the park, shopping centre or social gathering. I feel liberated when I leave my phone in the car.

      BTW James, if you had mail order offering I would use it. Back to CD’s and mixed tapes I say!

    • I will look into the Punkt, as I’m still looking for the right “basic” and untrackable phone. I tried using my Mum’s old 2011 Samsung GT E1190 flip phone for a while, but its alerts were quite random and I missed a couple of important calls. It did give me a sense of freedom though.

      • Hi Minnie. Punkt is certainly a ‘design above function’ phone. The price point is also difficult to stomach. However, I am willing to put up with it as I get to live life without looking at the phone minute by minute (it is an amazing feeling and an opportunity to navigate boredom again).

  3. The problem here is as i have written a lot of time ! People.
    We are a consumer driven people, and as long as we accept that way of living, we have no chance. The big state, and corps are going to rule all of us. As a people, we have to take back control, and certify the technology by our self. Linux is a good example, but the big corps, are sneaking into that technology too, same with cryptos, started nice, will end up in the corp’s. Same with political parties, they start from the grass root, and after a while, they are corrupted, and they are the same as the rest. I think the only way out of this situation, is a big crash, so we go back to middle age, in some ways. I dont think we should listen to CS ( claus Schwab ) and his reset, but an organic reset. So in a way this virus hoax, is a way for the universe, to express, that we are in a wrong place at the right time. I think the last reset, for about 13000 years ago, was similar to our time. Something big was about to happen, and there was nothing they could do about it, because it was produced by the people that time too. – just my feeling !

    Roy

    • “The problem here is as i have written a lot of time ! People.”

      “The real enemy then, is humanity itself” (club of Rome)

      You want to say they are right?? 😉

      • Why are you asking this?
        I see no rationale for this question in this context, pls explain.

        • Agree, Club is wrong.

          Well, I didn’t pose the question to find this out. It was a rhetorical question for Roy to reconsider his position that people are the problem.
          People are not the problem, they just behave accordingly to circumstances (Milgram).

    • “So in a way this virus hoax, is a way for the universe, to express, that we are in a wrong place at the right time.”

      You are spot on. This tyranny is the fuel needed for our consciousness fire and freedom fire to get going.

      • Well said Roy, mik and scpat. My hope is that the world (and it’s people) are in a renewal phase. The ancient stories of Sodom and Gomorrah / Pharaoh’s Egypt / Noah’s flood are instructive in my view.

  4. This is my strategy and it has been for the past 15 years:

    1) I own a very basic Nokia phone (calls & sms, no more).
    This is what I use when I go out and about.

    2) I own a very old samsung still with removable battery (buy a new battery, and off you go!) and LineageOS (Android custome firmware) installed: no simcard in it.

    When you are running errands, meeting friends and all the occasional days out, you do not need your shiny smartphone with all addiction-inducing apps. A simple call or a random sms will do. That’s what my Nokia is for: small, compact, the battery lasts for days (actually more than 1 week if not used), no GPS, no google services that track your movements wherever you go etc etc.

    When I think I need some internet connection of some sort, I carry my old Samsung that I can attach to some random wifi hotspots as and when I need it. Don’t have a wifi spot? Nevermind! Emails can wait. Feeds can wait. News can wait. Whatsapp? Gone. I use the more privacy-friendly XMPP instead. Facebook? Twitter? Never used. Maps? I’ve got offline maps, and LineageOS doesn’t give away my GPS data to google every 5 minutes. In the worst case, I can still ask my friends to kindly let me use their smartphone wifi hotspot. No big deal with that.

    All in all, it has served me well and gave me an opportunity to keep my potential digital addictions at bay.

    • That is a solid game plan! Thank you for sharing.

      • I forgot to add that if you have a Nokia for calls and SMS, you save so much money every month, as you do not need any over-bloated Internet+calls packages.

  5. Currently have a smart phone because of work.

    Hope to get rid of the latter just so I can get rid of the former.

    Needing a phone is a good enough reason to want to find better work.

  6. I never had smartphone and never been a part of social media, the thing that should more properly be called anti-social media, because that’s what it is in essence. This shit is really destroying the fabric of society. It’s similar to reality shows, nothing can be less real than putting a bunch of people in front a camera and expect to behave authentically and that goes with assumption there will be no input from production team. Anti-reality shows that’s what they are in essence.

    I would like to put emotional contagiousness of (anti)social media to different context. I have no doubt they can drive emotions, some people are easily driven some not. How much damage might be done depends on time spent in the matrix. Still, just reducing exposure, finding another activity to curb boredom, will not be enough. For damage control living reflected life is necessary. I don’t know if prayer or meditation can help, I prefer being undisturbed alone with myself (and cigarette, damn).

  7. Taking this to the extreme, we can turn ourselves into refugees from government misfeasance.

    • .. Or any phones with GrapheneOS installed in it:

      https://grapheneos.org/

      .. Or any phones with Ubuntu Touch installed in it:

      https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/

      You don’t need to dish out hundreds of $$$ for the luxury of having a shiny Apple-like Android smartphone (as Purism is), when you can make equally secure phones with re-used phones and open-source operating systems.

      Even a PinePhone (https://www.pine64.org/) will do, for a fraction of the price of a Purism.

    • Spider
      Thats nice if your into tech but honestly 95% of people would just like an old phone… sadly actually running those old phones can be hard. I know someone who dropped 150 bucks buying a slide out keyboard phone a week before they became unusable due to coverage of their olde bands being dropped.
      THIS works great and you can even text reasonably well if you get used to it… using the # key to change it texting mode into alphabetical rather then the weird t9 (autospelling…?) mode is weirdly not covered in the manual
      https://www.zdnet.com/article/alcatel-go-flip-v-hands-on-good-call-quality-average-battery-and-basic-build/

      It is a semi-smart phone and thus NOT to be trusted

      • NMT is dead, but is it ?
        If we want it, there should be a marked for it, and then we could get it back. It could be modified, so we could use it as a mesh network too.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Mobile_Telephone

        A really good solution, tor those that want to talk, and maybe send a sms, like the 95 % you write about.

        Roy

  8. One AI to rule them all, one device to find them, one cloud to bring them all and in their darkness bind them.

    • Well said Tony.
      The exchange: I read the phone and the phone reads me.

  9. Have been in tech since the beginning (70’s)… had tech consulting company… was Mr Tech evangelizing for all my fam and friends.

    Then within past few years saw the co-opting of tech and the dark slippery slope it was on. Started to back away from anything cloud and wireless… going all wired, open source, non-cloud.

    Shifted off “smart” phone to 3G flip-phone and when that service dies will be done with mobile phone. Any tech is via my wired desktop linux computer and growing number of wired raspberry pi’s for my PC needs, PBX (VoIP), Media player (all local hardrive content not streamed), my Nextcloud personal cloud for sharing and keeping in touch with fam and friends, etc.

    Trust me… only when you try to shift gears do you see just how slippery the slope is. Friends and fam roll their eyes and give me a hard time when they can’t reach me 24×7 but they are getting used to it.

    We all did this before smart phones just a decade ago… life did go on… and in my experience, was much more fulfilling. I’m getting back to that.

    When we co-opt tech back from the centralized platforms… then we can re-integrate it slowly into our lives (but I will not be in any hurry)

  10. Great conversation and a pressing issue. Several months ago I started creating a list of things that I use a phone app for, which I need to use but could replace with an alternative. Specifically banking, budgeting, email, car navigation, 2FA, music player, camera, calendar, Uber/Lyft replacement, encrypted messaging, PayPal, Notes, contact list (addresses/phone numbers), and document scanning.

    I have so far replaced my phone camera with a DSLR camera, and phone navigation with a mountable GPS for car navigation. Some of the other items could be replaced with old fashioned paper, such as the contact list, Notes, and calendar. I think the remaining items could be switched over to computer spreadsheets, apps or websites.

    The tougher ones are 2FA, Uber/Lyft, and document scanning. Guess I could call a taxi with a “dumb” phone? That would be much less convenient but not long ago that’s what we all used to do.

    • Funny… I was talking to someone about phone cameras and how a smart phone made to do 12 things can never be as good as a device to do one thing… he was was complaining that your average digital camera has not improved much in 10 years because every uses their smart phone…

      If you really need to have a phone for some reason you could just buy one of those ‘mission darkness’ EMF bags (They actually work WELL unlike the blocking bags I made myself) and only take it out when your actually WANTING to use a service.

  11. Well, yet again I feel (in some way) oddly fortunate that I have a physical sensitivity to electromagnetic frequencies & CAN’T use a smart phone.
    On my (corded) computer that’s plugged into a (not smart) TV, with a wired keyboard and mouse serving as remote controls, the ONLY “push” notifications allowed are from Signal(dot org) and ONLY my family is in that group with me.
    I noticed last year that my 12-year-old would start getting panicky if she’d see that I had a notification that I didn’t immediately check. It was a GREAT way to teach her about BF Skinner & Pavlovian conditioning!
    She still gets antzy from time-to-time about it. I always ask the same sequence of questions:
    Who is sending a message? (an immediate family member)
    What will happen if I don’t check it right away and it’s an emergency? (the family member WILL call our landline) &
    Should people be treated like Pavlov’s dogs? (No. and she’ll smile & sigh and be forced to be patient, lol).

  12. I recommend to anyone at least 10 minutes of meditation a day (20 if you can)

    https://youtu.be/lG7aJUjSG5E

    Recommended reading: The Society of the Spectacle – Guy Debord

  13. There are quite a lot of options for tuning out (or at least winding down) out there and while many are getting in deeper and deeper, there is a growing sentiment that is pushing against the always connected human experience reducing way of life. I think James’ guest made a good point about the emotional payload one will face when getting cut from whatever is numbing his human experience. It could be various applications, games or some intense crap going on at work. The importance of this fatigued feeling can not be overstated.

    There’s a good podcast by Jocko Willink (don’t have the URL handy) where he was discussing spheres of reality, making a point about how some of these layer can be very involving and extremely captivating while being completely irrelevant outside of their are of influence. Like getting out of the office after going through an ordeal at work that was draining your energy and mind and seeing people walking by in a sunny weather. The sunny weather is the common reality almost noone is paying attention to, while the very important stuff left back at the office is something you would have a very hard time selling as such to your friends and family.

  14. I can’t really relate to this because i never had a “smart ” phone.
    Never had a twitter account, i’m on facebook but i only use it to post to inform the “normies” and i don’t watch other people posts.

  15. Hope this helps:

    Unless I really have to listen for a call on my phone (which is very rare) I ALWAYS have my phone switched to voicemail. If the call is genuine they will usually leave a message and I can text or ring them back. If it is spam then they will just hang up. I treat my phone like a landline….

    Often my phone is switched off and sometimes I will remove the battery (to save on greenhouse gasses of course 🙂 ). All important and genuine calls are answered..

    Slightly off-topic, but still unplugging from a non-technology part of the matrix: I live from payday to payday and I get paid every fortnight. My mail is sent to a post office box. I NEVER go to my mail box unless I have just been paid. That way I never nurse a bill for days or weeks at a time – which I find very stressful – just like “being on holiday for two weeks” – you always get time to pay a bill. For two weeks I forget about bills then when I get paid I go to the po box, get any bills, take them to the counter and pay them – I never bring a bill home unless it is paid. Therefore I don’t allow myself to be plugged in to that (stressful) part of the matrix. 🙂 cheers…

  16. SMAA (Social Media Addicts Anonymous).
    Has it been formed yet? If not, it seems it could become very popular. 🙂
    I see that MAA (Media Addicts Anonymous) has in fact been created!

    My situation.
    I own a smartphone but rarely take it with me out of the home and if I do, it’s almost always
    in airplane mode. I place outgoing calls maybe once every few months. It’s also in airplane mode inside my home (I use a landline).

    I have Twitter and Facebook accounts but they are totally bogus (fake accounts).
    I created them to have the privilege of reading some recommended ‘important’ stories that I otherwise could not see (forced logging in etc.)

    I have been saddened for decades now to see more and more human beings walk along the street gazing down into their precious digital devices instead of making eye contact with others.

    I guess you could say I am a bit of a social media loner. 🙂

  17. Here are some solutions: If you are looking for things that you personally can do to reduce the influence of the powerful, and at the same time increase your own, go to http://www.Thoughtsonfreedom.xyz for a list of them.

  18. Hello James and everyone, I just wanted to share my experience with unplugging from things. I have never owned a smartphone. That choice has helped. I have a cell phone that calls and texts, but it’s an old Nokia slide that I continue to buy online when one dies. There is no temptation or ability to check out, online, at any given moment. I also have zero social media. I was on FB for seven years and got off in the fall of 2015. (great timing because it was pre 2016 election hysteria) When I deleted FB I found myself going through a period of not being sure what to do, about NOT posting my life online, it was like withdrawal. Definite programming to share/over share/ give it all up. Maybe it was lack of dopamine hits of validation. I am very grateful, I feel it has put me back in real world. At the point of over five years off the platform, it’s easy to see the poison it is. I wish others would take the same journey away from these tech giants control over them.
    Thank you

  19. This was great! I have bern wanting to completely unplug/ go landline ( which costs more than my $40/MO go phone)…
    Personally never liked cell phones or social media, stopped using fb 7 or 8+ years ago because I felt like I was eavesdropping, it was reporting on my friends activity without my inquiry. Annoying. Creepy.
    I will find myself still addicted, compulsive is really the word for it, watching gootube (mostly for James, stand up comedy, philosophy & like minded reassurance)- though to a lesser degree than Tim here as I’ve never used anything beyond fb all those years ago and I dont get email/ message alerts & rarely have my phone on loud enough to hear it ring or hear message tones unless I’m expecting one. The wifey is the only reason I still even have one, but even thats a lame excuse. I have been buying the same type off brand go-phone for years (ebay when one dies) as to not have the latest tracking, learn a new phone, etc. But I will be checking out some mentioned here, thanks guys!
    Def a good idea to part with it, perhaps at your own pace & I like his points about
    a. Being with your own thoughts and b. Assessing what you get out of a phone in the first place
    Peace…

  20. “The internet is creating a dependency which I believe is actually harming our relationships and our brains (when was the last time you tried to remember something without looking it up on your phone?).”

    I agree 100%. In regards to technology in general, for a while now I have been bothered by the new and flashy car technology such as blind spot detectors, backup cameras, auto parallel parking, lane assist, etc. because it is training us to be more reliant on technology. This is dumbing people down. Just like many people, at least in the U.S., probably don’t know how to drive a stick shift because its so much more convenient to not have to learn how to drive one. There must also be some people, or will be people in the future, that will have a hard time driving a normal bare-bones car (if they exist in the future), even an automatic one. Smart technology is making us dumb!

  21. Robert.T
    “..people who say “Thank God for Netflix” when the state takes their livelihood..”

    True….

    Netflix is disgusting… even aside from being founded by a ‘1%-for-the-planet-club’ relative of ‘father of propaganda’ Edward Bernays and Sigmund ‘sex and coke fiend’ Freud
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Randolph

    Any good person ought to feel the same way seeing the Netflix welcome screen as looking at a cockroach a dog turd or a pedophile in their living room.

    The fact that westerners PAY for people WHO ACTUALLY HATE THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN and then justify it on the grounds that their is a show they like to watch on netflix is revolting.

    These people want our kids dead.

  22. Mary Poppins
    “… I see babies playing with phones, toddlers playing with phones and parents gifting their 7 year old’s iphones. …”

    True- I feel sick when I see that…. its KILLING them
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI6rX96oYnY

    Also I just read ‘Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters’…. when you realize that the cockroach humans that make Smartphones and Social Media wont let their own kids use it everything makes sense.

  23. You guys recall how it was when Computers made you more powerful, better educated and smarter?

    1st ‘Compute like its 1989’- ONLY use computers when they are in an actual PLACE so you cant pee your time away. He had pretty good results.
    https://odysee.com/@Lunduke:e/30-day-challenge-use-modern-computers:e

    2nd Turn off wi-fi (button usually on the side of your router) UNLESS you actually want to do a specific thing online… why are you sitting in a sea of wi-fi anyway? Never sleep in a wi-fi area.

    3rd put a power strip with a switch between your router and the wall… then turn your actual router all the way off at night. Only turn it on if you have a specific thing you want to do.

    4th Run cable around your house so you a)have internet thats crazy fast and b) have to actually plug your tablet or laptop into it which stops you wasting time mindlessly
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyVpunl8By8

    5th keep your mobile phone IN A SPECIFIC PLACE rather then in your pocket.

  24. “..: Disable WiFi on your laptop…”

    🙂 BEST idea ever… wifi was soooo cool when I first got it but now I hate how easy it lets me distract myself.

    I took the actual wireless device physically OUT of my laptop (its a clunker…) so I need to unpack and plug an actual USB dongle in if I want to get online without Ethernet

  25. I wrote to friends and family this morning, and then, checked for anything new from here; lo and behold, just as you both point out in the interview, the subject matter seems uncannily synced:

    just before knowing that this “unplugging” interview existed, I wrote:

    “maybe if there were no map makers, the cowardly domninator types, and their hired thug generals would be less inclined to conquer “areas/places/regions”
    maybe if there were no cameras, we would develop better vision for detail, and memory?
    maybe if there were no light bulbs we would be in better sync with the earth/sun rhythms?
    maybe if we were less dualistic we could get onto base 9 thinking rather than just base 2
    maybe if there was less self-centrism we would could feel omnicentricly
    maybe if there were no linear print, this mornings reaching by digital mail to hug and hello friends and family would have been telepathy girdling the globes ether received by all, whether asleep or high wire tightrope walking, faster than light, and that would have been the first few minutes, but otherwise the rest of this morning (spent tapping tapping tapping) I could of actually gotten something done in the workshop.

    kubrick told the whole story, and the final answer (spoiler) is to pull the plug.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR_e9y-bka0

  26. I like to read magazines when i am at the toilet !
    For me it is a interesting way to sit there and wonder.
    So i have 2-3 types of mags, comics, part catalogs, and elector mag.
    I would recommend that more people than me read the “elector mag ” type literature. It gives you a good insight of old and new technologies.
    The elector mag i have is pretty old, but the ideas in them are pretty good still. So for me, i am thinking, why do WE always want better, bigger, faster ? Why not go the other way, like, what more can i get out of the type equipment i already have ? Why not make your phone as smart as you want it, why not try to make your equipment use less power ( PWM comes into mind ). The best of all, you actually learn something, if you do it this way, and maybe it is a skill, you can earn money on, instead of being a slave under a company. BF Skinner, had some ideas, and one i liked, was the small village idea ( think it was him ! BF ).
    Same with programming, it must not need to be hard to program, actually it can be done from the toilet seat too, and this programming idea was maybe created on a toilet seat !! Its called the turing machine, and is a great way, to learn something easy. : http://turingmachine.io/.
    The solutions are plentiful, so go a head from your toilet seat, and conquer the world….
    Elector mag : https://www.elektormagazine.com/

    Roy

  27. Related article to “Unplugging From the Matrix – #SolutionsWatch”

    Zero Hedge – Ash Wednesday February 17th
    Most Give Up Twitter And Booze For Lent
    https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/most-give-twitter-and-booze-lent

    Article contains a GRAPHIC by Statista of comparative year and “give up for Lent” items (which does not include “giving up Lent for Lent”).

    EXCERPTS
    Giving up social media or alcohol for Lent are by far the most common ways to engage in modern fasting before Easter, but, as Statista’s Katharina Buchholz notes, interest in (temporarily) swearing off meat is rising. This is according to tweets on the topic of Lent analyzed by Bible data site OpenBible.info.

    The intention to give up social networking has been continuously high throughout the years, while interest in a sober Lent has also increased. The makers of the Twitter Lent Tracker credit this to the recent rise of dry January. The month has become Lent’s rival fasting occasion for people seeking an alternative to New Year’s resolutions. Just as seen in the Lent trends, giving up meat (and other animal products) for a while has proven popular as Veganuary. As far as social media goes, Twitter was identified as the fast-worthiest – far ahead of Facebook or Instagram -, but this could also be due to the fact that the analysis was carried out on Twitter itself.

    Swearing off fast food, soda and sweets has seemingly fallen out of fashion in recent years. Equally, interest in fasting on potato chips has more halved from around 2 percent of all Lent tweets mentioning it in 2017 to only 0.8 percent in 2020. Interest in swearing less went a similar route. Laying off sex has hovered at around 1-1.5 percent over the years, similar to foregoing coffee….

  28. Great conversation today. It really has resonated with me and made me realize that I too am stuck in the never ending twitter outrage cycle as much as I tried to convince myself that I was there to try and wake others up.

  29. I don’t use Twitter because I enjoy it or am addicted to it.

    Twitter is where the sheep are, so I have no choice but to go there.

    As James knows, and alluded to, if all the awakened people are in one place, and all the sheep are in another place, it’s the perfect recipe for civil war.

    We have to go where they are to wake them up.

    Only a small percentage will come to us.

    With that said, Twitter is blocking my accounts, one-by-one, for wrongthink.
    Eventually I’ll run out of accounts.
    There will still be other sites though, such as Reddit & YouTube.

  30. Street Maps

    One thing which I miss that used to be ubiquitous are the paper street maps.

    I’m keeping my smart phone, but I rarely ever use it. It is always in another room.
    It does come in handy on occasions when I want to connect to the internet while away from home, at work or wherever. It is faster than my old home computer which is held together with duct-tape and good mojo.

    But I don’t like to access “Google” and I have hardly any APPs on my phone. I avoid the Apps.
    On a blue moon I need to access Goggle maps.
    I hate it.

    I keep old paper fold-out maps in the car. Some are 10 to 20 years old. I have a bucket of old maps in a file cabinet drawer.
    If I am taking a trip (long trip or around town to an unknown area), I will print street maps from home and keep them for reference in a file.

    I run across a lot of younger generation people who can not read a map. They tend to rely on some type of GPS phone app. They are lost if they are not told what to do by the “narrator”.

    I’ve heard some silly stories as a result of people not being able to read a street map… like the 21 year old who would drive all the way home from work so he could get his bearings and then proceed to a relative’s house, rather then taking a much more direct and faster route from his workplace.

    Here is a news story.
    A Texas freshman in college was headed home towards Houston late one December night. He took a east-west highway which led into a small town intersecting with another north-south highway. He was supposed to turn south where those highways intersected. Instead, he went through the intersection and wound up 6 miles north on an old gravel road where he wrecked his car. He must have freaked out pretty bad…even to the point of stripping naked when the temperature was near 40 F. The rest of the story is a mystery.
    The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office released new details in their search, including a timeline of 21-year-old Jason Landry’s movements the day he disappeared.
    https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/father-hopes-newly-released-evidence-will-lead-safe-return-missing-n1256424

    • What the hell was this guy doing? If all of that happened due to a bad turn, I have to wonder what’s wrong with doing an 180 when it’s safe to do so and going back the way you came.

      • He’s an 18 year old, school system trained…no telling what he was doing.

        ANECDOTE – Mustang Driving While Stoned
        Back around 1970 or so, when I was 17 or 18, I borrowed my friend Steve’s 66 or 67 Mustang to go to another small town 50 miles away. I had my dog Otis, a floppy eared Basset hound mix in the back seat.

        I’m ripping through the winding Texas back roads at 70 to 80 miles an hour, while smoking a marijuana joint and drinking a Dr. Pepper at the same time, a hand on each. Pop! A seed in the joint burst and the hot ashes spew on my jeans. I looked down in slow, stoned motion for the embers. I glance up and I am headed for the barbed wire fence of a neighboring field at 70 mph (113 kph). I swerve back towards the road and jump a deep culvert with a cement ridged pipe drain under it. The oil pan whomped against the cement border as I flew in the air. Swerving and swerving back-n-forth across the road, I finally came to a rest facing the opposite direction on the shoulder of the road.

        I slowly open the door and get out. Otis jumps out and runs 40 yards down the roadside. He stops and looks at me like I’m nuts. I check the inside of the vehicle and get rid of the joint and wipe up the Dr. Pepper. The car is still running. Then I call Otis. He won’t come. I start walking towards him. He moves further away, turns and looks at me. Finally, I get firm with Otis and he stays put. I go and pick him up. As we approach the car, he tries to squirm loose. I kept driving to my destination, but I burned up the engine. The oil leaked out. I never told Steve what happened. ‘We’ blamed it on a big rock from the many gravel roads.

        Around the year 2000 or so, I wrote Steve a long letter. I described the incident in greater detail. I included a $100 bill, and said that I know this won’t cover that Mustang engine, but maybe his son could use the cash. Steve laughed and laughed, and had his High School aged son read the letter.
        We once double dated. There were two girls I knew from class. We flipped a coin to see who we would pair with. He won. He married that gal, his son’s Mother.
        About 8 years or so ago, Steve left his friends and family gracefully. He had (ALS) Lou Gehrig’s disease.
        Here is Steve, my best friend in High School.
        (one minute CBS VIDEO)
        https://youtu.be/Tl2wIJqoNNY

  31. Don’t have a smart phone, not on Twitter or Facebook and much more relaxed as a result.

    On another subject…I wanted to use this opportunity to ask folks if they might direct me to some links specifically regarding our rights under COVID when police do random vehicle stops which are taking place in Wales at the moment. I can’t find anything on this particular police activity.

    My sister and I are moving down to Wales to look after our elderly parents. My mother got stopped by police and put through the mill while out doing her shop and they managed to thoroughly intimidate her. And since they couldn’t get the old bird on anything, one female officer said her MOT had run out when it hadn’t. “You’ll be in trouble next time if you don’t get that sorted…” This is a frail, 78 year-old woman. Who are these people?

    So, before we go on our next trip down there (I’ve always ignored any and all restrictions) I’d like to have some cast iron rights on paper so when the police try to tackle me I can euphemistically say “fuck off” and be on my way.

    I can’t even find anything on the wales.gov.uk site either, unless I’ve managed to miss it.

    So, if anyone can point me in the right direction to some research in this specific area I’d appreciate it.

    Cracking show as always.

    • Hi tunneller,

      In regards to remedies to tackle police harassment, I wouldn’t bother with the whole “what’s legal and what’s not” route. The police are not abiding by the law as it is, so what makes you think they will when you show them whatever piece of paper you plan to show them, that proves they are breaking the law?

      If you ask me, you just need to know where your line in the sand is and be prepared for whatever consequences may result.

      Remember that you, and every other living being, is a free independent individual that is not owned by anyone. If anyone tries to tell you that you must obey, ask them who they are, and when they acquired ownership over you. Continue to answer their questions with your own questions aimed at forcing them to prove that they have any authority over you.

      Slaves are owned. Free individuals are not. Employees have made an agreement to act as a slave in return for monetary consideration in limited circumstances stated in the agreement. Which one are you?

      Now just because the points mentioned above are completely true, it doesn’t mean they will be respected, so be prepared for the consequences, including death. That’s why you need to know where your line in the sand is. How much is too much?

      I hope this helps.

      • Yes, you’re absolutely right AB, but I’d like to know my rights on paper even if they ignore them completely so if and when it gets to court I can fight my corner.

        Yes, I agree with your summary and have already used this approach on a number of occasions. Reasonable policemen and women usually don’t do this, the unreasonable ones are cowards and bullies and usually (though not always) back down when you politely shower them with questions i.e. Are you charging me with a crime? Am I free to go? etc. they get bored.

        I know very well my line in the sand but I think we also have to be “wise as serpents and gentle as doves.” Not much good if you end up in the slammer or dead because that line in the sand was just a mirror of their own extremism. Then you’re no use to anyone.

        Maybe the trick is to survive and live to fight another day – together.

        But who knows? It’s all uncharted territory now isn’t it?

        And on that note I’ll down a whiskey, smoke a cigarette and bid you good night. (These are about my only sins right now).

        And yes, it did help. Thank you for your input.

        • Too true tunneller. When to push and how hard to push is the difficult part. Unfortunately I have no answer to that. Trial and error and a large serving of luck. I suspect if it wasn’t for my kids and the responsibility that brings with it, I’d already be arrested, jailed and possibly dead as a result.

          Perhaps the most important factor in all of this, is a level head? You seem to have that one covered pretty well.

    • I felt the same way… but TBH we will prob be able to use Linux in our own lifetimes as long as you dont mind running olde 2nd hand tech….the future worries me though.

      I really wonder if there will be a new generation of the kind of people who made Linux usable for normies… the average college grad is getting to be dumber, lazier and less able then the average pre-teen in the 80’s or even 90’s

    • More on OS !

      What Operating System Should I Use? (If not Linux?)

      Take a look at : https://lbry.tv/@Lunduke:e/WhatOSShouldIUse:5

      Have a feeling, that there are solutions here, but it is for the interested ones. It matches the ” unplugging-from-the-matrix” meme.
      And for security ! Who want to hack, something strange, not supported by the big corps ? Some of these OS’s would be interesting to use on a “smart” phone ! Think i have to start hacking some of those phones, to get into the “meat “, i dont like the “robot -android” that almost all come with. Have tried to convert from win phones to linux before, but it was to much work, for no gain.

      Roy

  32. Scroll for your opinion.
    Here we are.

    • Scroll, does not compute, skål does! So hope you was thinking of that .
      Skål = cheers ! In my language.

  33. I’m one of the few people in the world that has never had a mobile phone. I just never saw the attraction. Why do I want people calling me anywhere anytime? I like the fact that people cannot always expect to contact me whenever they want.

    I don’t need twitter, facebook and whatever other platforms are out there that everyone is on. I’ve never signed up to any of them. Same goes for Netflix and all the other streaming services. If I want to watch something, I usually just wait until it comes on TV and watch it then. Otherwise, I download it and watch it on a memory stick physically plugged in to my TV. Even all of the CorbettReport videos are just downloaded to my memory stick. No need to be online to watch them. I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would want to stream videos on their phone.

    As someone mentioned earlier, email is by far the preferred method of communication. The number one benefit is that I can provide a carefully considered response at a time of my choosing and have a record of that response.

    Having said all that, I do actually own a mobile phone. Despite the seeming contradiction in this, it is actually my house phone. There is no landline, so the mobile phone sits in the same spot in the Study and never leaves the house. Read into that what you will.

  34. Humans aren’t telling themselves the hard truths. Am I spending my time the best way possible? Commenting on a board that no one will read, is that good use of time? Read the room, everyone is so far up their ass they like the smell now. Focus time and energy on what’s important to you. You have a choice on how to spend your energy. Are you going to let anything else whether online or irl be a factor on your personal well being? I sure as heck don’t, I used to though. I used to work in a casino with degenerates, I know depravity and hopelessness. It seeps into your bones whether you like it or not. I’m a glass half full, see the best in everyone, second chance type of guy. This place broke me. It wasn’t until after I quit that I realized I had a choice every day to go there and chose to. It is my fault, I tortured myself. Take accountability for your energy, emotions, actions, future. Separate yourself from negativity. Never look back. Everything else will fall in place.

  35. This one was already posted at February thread:
    The legal commission actively acting these days in Germany
    https://corona-ausschuss.de/

    is for sure a must follow movement and for that a strong suggestion for a next #SolutionsWatch.

  36. https://www.bitchute.com/video/4ZCuAbjdfsg/
    Luke Smith talking about how social media funnels behavior. Pretty sure Mr Corbett has covered the same ground on how the surveillance allows people to become very easily controlled by personalized propaganda.

    Funny thing is I saw a video on a Star Trek fan theory, years back, that the reason the society was so different from the Old Series in the Next Generation was that the Universal Translator everyone used subtly shifted peoples thinking thru its choice of words when translating language …after a generation or two society was utterly shaped by the use of word control creating thought control creating behavioral control.

  37. I know this is not exactly the same subject, but I was wondering why I never hear anyone mentioning Ecosia as an alternative search engine? I have been using that for a few years now and I think it’s great. They plant trees financed by everyone’s clicks. This is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRDA1ynrHTU

  38. Here is an other question for James !

    A lot of people think that writing here is NOT sosial media, well for me it is, am i wrong ?

    Roy

  39. Thanks Alchemist.
    Some good points in that video. “it makes people followers”

    I’m gonna go work in the yard a bit later when it warms up.

  40. Hi Robert, I was thinking of leaving my own comment below the video, but you’ve said it all! This is how I live too, although I don’t consider myself an older person haha. Thanks to the internet I can work from home, so I’m very happy that it exists. But as you say, it’s what you take from it.

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