Only in the past 2 years did I quasi-surrender to some of it. Like FB - mainly because of Marketplace - Craigslist being only good for crisis actor jobs and the extremely lonely and mentally ill. I was basically well insulated...I had no idea the world was an absolute leftist shithole in social media circles...I still don't to a certain degree...

I can't tell you the number of Rube Goldberg-esque work arounds I have for any number of things - because I just DON'T WANNA! I don't have any 8-track or cassette players anymore...but DO have a couple systems still running XP flawlessly I might add - mostly because of proprietary hardware that still runs. Why upgrade?

It seems you can't really buy any American vehicle (not counting Dodge because...if you know you know) - without having some OnStar et al bullshit on it...whether you want it or not. I don't want it - I'll NEVER need it and will REFUSE to use it - EVEN IF I'm on the side of the road literally DYING. Like every single other sold convenience - there's a damned SNAFU just lurking to make your life hell - mostly because you didn't read the fine print. I didn't have ANYTHING like that for decades while driving. I ALWAYS read the fine print...in fact when these pharma commercials are on - that's ALL I look at/for. May cause sudden anal leakage, heart attack and death - or all 3 at once Oh boy...sign me right up! Can I get two?

I'm fortunate to be a GenX'er - essentially walking between worlds and carrying that knowledge forward. I remember when a rotary phone would just ring and ring away in an empty room..."Whelp, guess he's not around. Oh well..." Now it's the END OF THE WORLD if you can't get someone via text in a few minutes. What an absolute DOWNGRADE in life quality. Seriously...we literally DEVOLVED in a number of ways.

I'm just thinking back as I write this when old timers had to make the leap from a carburetor to electronic fuel injection. There was HUGE resistance. "They got it locked down - you can't diagnose it!" I don't think that's ANYTHING like what we've been dealing with here with all the online stuff...but it's probably the gateway to all this...BUT I ain't giving up EFI for a manual choke and 2 pumps of the pedal anytime soon. You can have your classic carburetor (AKA "metered leak") and non-catalyzed exhaust. I can still TASTE the exhaust from that one time back in 1985 when Texaco still sold Fire Chief 100 octane...

The KEY to all of this INVASION of privacy, compelled performance and ASSumption on the part of both vendors and govt is to PUSH BACK. Tell them NO! - Tell them you need a hard copy, I don't have a phone ("they took it away" - make them THINK whatever gets you thru the situation) - It's the bullshit cavalier, obnoxious and aloof attitude of, "I've got nothing to hide", or ..."I just wanted to get it over with so I gave them everything" - sound familiar? (C19), or "Oh it's just XYZ, give it to them...or Hey buddy you're holding up the line with your damned liberty or whatever!" - All things spouted off by the low IQ, ignorant masses that were born into slavery (essentially) with absolutely NO ties or role models for sovereignty anywhere to be found....So part of it is downright ignorance and another part is downright "ignance" - The brothers will know exactly what I mean by that. It's important that we teach people about sovereignty and who gives us our rights. It's been conveniently omitted from everything.

So much has covered so much ground so quickly that they've effectively got everyone in a self-induced digital prison in no time flat. I knew there'd be SOME trade offs with the internet (early on via Altavista & Dogpile) - but have NO IDEA things would get to the point of the walking dead via cell phones like we have going on today. "I can multitask/handle it!" - No you can't...You couldn't handle regular life before this...You're still sitting there now ,the light's been green for 15 seconds and you've got your face in the matrix while a semi (illegal driver also texting) bears down on you doing 70 from behind...

2 Words ---> PUSH BACK

It's already too long of a rant, but I'll tell you the cigarette story sometime...