Facelessesper - Purple Spook Zone

Streaming Must Be Dumb

Why else would I have started doing it everyday but sunday.

So Google, not just Chrome, but Google itself, hates ad blockers.

I get it, ads make money for way less effort and customer involvement than subscriptions and paywalls.

The problem is, as cybersecurity professionals have said, ads are a security risk for every system they interact with. Even if you don't click any ads ever, they're still a security risk.

How are they a security risk? Because ads are allowed to run code to perform their tasks. This code is supplied by the ad provider, and if all it ever did was provide a link, a hovertext/description for the visually impaired, and maybe a non-gif animation, this would be a non-issue on all but the weakest internet connections.

They are not all like that, though.

Endless cases of ad providers, site providers, even your actual ISP (Internet Service Provider) have been proven to inject arbitrary code, capable of doing a great number of things, into ads, links, images, video, etc.

This code has had scripts to use your computer's processing power to help mine Bitcoin so long as it's on the page the code started on, it's been used to install malware (even by your ISP in one particularly bad case), it's been used to just install viruses or keyloggers or so many more things.

Hell, even the not-malicious code can just bog down your computer by being terribly written messes of badly functioning code, so something that should run with barely any impact instead takes up ridiculous amounts of processing power and capacity.

This is a problem, and it's largely solvable by simply blocking ads. There's no native way to prevent ads from running scripts or code without disabling all JavaScript on every page, which effectively kills most pages you go to since every drop-down menu, every page-altering section (like the Google images thing), most search bars, video playback, and so much more, all depend entirely on JavaScript.

Google wants to take away that necessary security of blocking problematic ads, rather than just make a way to disable the problematic aspects of ads.

I dislike ads, especially when they take up more than about 25% of the screen. I'd ideally like to see little to no ads ever, but I understand how ads support the sites they're on, support creators on streaming services, etc.

I'd be okay with classic banner ads, basic image/link ads, even the before/during/after video ads, if they weren't almost guaranteed to be literally hostile. If Google hates ad blockers so much, they should make them less of a safety requirement by letting us choose to disable ad scripts, or even just block that entire concept, because no ads for any worthwhile service or product have ever needed to run scripts. If an image or GIF of your product/service, maybe with a quick description, isn't selling your product/service, then making it hover over the page content, make noise, and mine Bitcoin will only piss your target audience off, while proudly claiming that you are the one doing it.

Would you buy a product that tricks you into interacting with it through just being annoying and pulling the sibling trick of "I'm not touching you, see? I'm touching your computer, not you?"

Hell, pop-up ads were basically scriptless and still managed to piss off most of the people who encountered them. The guy who invented them made a public apology for having developed that 'extremely intrusive' marketing method. Now ISPs have been caught injecting malware into links that you click on while using their service, with the express intent of installing them to your computer to monitor what you do and block access to sites they don't want you on.

You want the Internet to be safe? Don't fight porn or violence, that has never done anything but drive up interest. Fight the people actively making the Internet literally unsafe to use regardless of age or system.

I'll accept ads if ad providers stop making automatic malware.

Sorry for the rant, I'm tired and annoyed.

Call me whatever, as long as you aren't being intentionally rude it'll be fine.

Please reblog if you think that “they/them/theirs” is a valid set of pronouns.

this post must be reblogged by everyone

My lock screen is a creepier ai version of my profile pic. I'm probably fine, but very confused.

You are trapped in an elevator with the person on your lockscreen. Who is it?

Reblog with who you get stuck with~

Do it enough and statistically you'll have to be right eventually.

I've decided it would be funny to start lying bout historical figures and say they were actually trans

Encyclopedia Bullshitica is now for sale through Barnes and Noble!

The first facts-i-just-made-up book can now be purchased through Barnes and Noble here. It's still available directly from Lulu.com, where I get about $7 per copy, but but Barnes and Noble can order it to any of their stores if that's helpful or more convenient.

If you like the blog, please check it out!

In case anyone finds it helpful because mobility aids are horrifically expensive and inaccessible…

And for those people who have access to mobility devices but might benefit from a second chair they can abuse without risking expensive damage…

Erik Kondo has made a website, Open Source Innovations, that details plans for DIY wheelchairs. These wheelchairs can be made from common materials like wood, plastic, and pvc. They are lightweight and can be custom fit to the user allowing from the same degree of movement you would get from a custom chair. And they are durable and easily repairable. (he has been stress testing his latest design by dropping it down stairs, dropping it out of a car, launching it across a driveway, and throwing it off a deck). Its 12lbs and I think he said its was in the $200 ish range for parts.

He also is working on cheap, open source, accessible designs for beach chairs, off road chairs, motorized attachments (think smart drive), and so on. Plus he skateboards in his wheelchair. Cool dude, helpful info, pass it on.

Don't you just love knowing something might hurt you, would be dumb to do the way you're planning to do it, and could be done differently with no danger, but doing it anyway because 'faster' is all you can focus on?

I've spent a week unable to sit upright, only stand or lie down, because I apparently pinched a nerve along my spine that gets aggravated by having my legs up.

Because I lifted some heavy bags while sore using my back, rather than my legs.

I've failed you, OSHA guidelines.