anonymouscatt
Rambling through Time and Space
Hi! I'm Anonymouscatt. Here are some things that interest me. This started out as a Doctor Who-centric blog but now I pretty much reblog any fandom I'm currently interested in, random funny stuff, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
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raise a glass to the posts you love that end up deleted. to the fanart and fanfics you lose track of and can't locate. to the blogs you used to look through that ended up unexpectedly disappearing. to the things you didn't archive because you always assumed they'd be there.
#in high school I followed a fanfic series for several years#the author and I became friends and she ended up using some of my suggestions for the ongoing plot#we even met in person one time which is the only time I’ve met someone from the internet#we gradually lost touch but a few years ago I went to reread those old fics and they were deleted#it was honestly devastating#I save any fic I’m especially fond of to my hard drive now
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speechless. the pose. the expression. this should be a painting.
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Unauthorized water
It’s not clear when General Electric started boobytraping appliances with DRM. I first encountered it in January when Shane Morris tweeted about his fridge refusing to accept the $19 generic filter he replaced the GE $55 filter with.
https://twitter.com/IamShaneMorris/status/1220367934947758080
The fridges use an RFID detector to distinguish original GE filters from generic replacements, and engage in lots of anti-owner trickery, like memorizing the IDs of previously used filters and refusing to accept them.
https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/unauthorized-charcoal-ge-fridges-wont-dispense-ice-or-water-unless-your-filter-authenticates-as-an-official-55-component/159552/41
Morris isn’t the only one ourtaged that his fridge is plotting against him. One (anonymous) owner was so offended that they created a site dedicated to warning off potential buyers and explaining to other suckers how to bypass GE’s lockouts.
https://gefiltergate.com/
There’s a good reason for the anonymity. Under Sec 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, showing how to bypass an “access control” to a copyrighted work (eg RFID-detecting code in the fridge) is a potential felony, carrying a 5-year prison sentence and a $500k fine.
This is quite the moral hazard. Manufacturers have learned that if they design their products so that any use that hurts their shareholders (like buying third party parts) requires bypassing DRM, it becomes a felony to use your own property to your own advantage.
Which is why we’ve seen DRM creep into all manner of devices, from insulin pumps to tractors to car engines to Iphone screens. “Felony contempt of business model” is the statute that every monopolist has dreamt of, and with DMCA 1201, they have it in their grasp.
Back in 2011, I wrote a short story about this for MIT Tech Review’s first sf anthology, called “The Brave Little Toaster” (in tribute to Tom Disch).
https://craphound.com/news/2011/09/28/the-brave-little-toaster-from-trsf/
The issue only got worse, and so last year I published “Unauthorized Bread” as part of my collection “Radicalized” (it’s being turned into a TV show by Topic):
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/
The metastasis of DRM into every product category shows that when business apologists talk about the sanctity of property, they mean the sanctity of CORPORATE property.
If the manufacturer gets to override your decisions about the things you buy - and felonize any attempt to wrest control back - they property ceases to exist. We become tenants of our devices, not owners.
It’s digital feudalism, in which an elite owns all the property and we get to use it in ways they proscribe. The difference is that today, our aristocracy isn’t even human.
It’s the immortal, remorseless colony organism called the Limited Liability Corporation, to which we are mere inconvenient gut flora.
#literally as soon as I read the first couple of sentences of this post I thought ‘oh this reminds me of that Cory doctorow story’#and lo and behold he is the OP lmao#ughhh this sucks tho#worst possible timeline
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astarion - i'm so smart they're never gonna find out i'm a vampire - ancunin
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"let people be wrong about you" is such good advice that i am unfortunately physically incapable of following. if i am incorrectly perceived by anyone i will simply start ripping things with my teeth
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Reblog if you’re 30 or older
This is an experiment to see if there really are as few of us as people think.You can also use this to freak out your followers who think you’re 25 or something. Yay!
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Why wouldn't you do it? The thumbs-up.
Oh, that's, uh... Grown-up stuff.
FALLOUT: Season 1 Episode 1 "The End"
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you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me
#dragon age#listen I went through this whole ordeal twice#then I downloaded a mod that skips to the character bits and never looked back#absolutely not
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lucy + her loser core boyfriend mean very much to me
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You need these or you turn into one of those, that how this works?
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"Midnight" is one of my favourite episodes!!
A speedpaint video of this will be available at my Patreon on may 1st
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A monster has its teeth in your companions.
It builds nightmares out of their worst memories and drinks their pain.
One of your companions has a particularly bad worst memory.
Play Here
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Art by @cymk8
Character Specific Achievements:
Aldiirn - Dusksong
Be a bard. Use music to make first contact.
belongs to @mistercrowbar
Andar - Poor Man's Dancing Lights
Be an arcane caster. Try to cast magic.
belongs to Tatsunara
Ember - Ghosts Need Sleep
Explain why you're sometimes absent.
belongs to @catsharky
Finch - Get Safe And Cared For Idiot
Successfully hug Astarion.
belongs to @everchased
Francys - Priorities
Ignore everyone else in the campsite.
belongs to @ineadhyn
Greygold - Psspsspsspss
Be a ranger. Help Astarion calm down after being frightened.
belongs to @jeeaark
Nawen - You're Unbreakable
Be a rogue. Give your vampire a pep-talk after a particularly difficult day.
belongs to @ineed-to-sleep
Ria - Music Box
Be a bard. Play the theme.
belongs to @ladyofrosefire
Staeve - Don't Forget Me
Say something memorable.
belongs to @velnna
Temiter - This Is All A Bit Much
Abandon the dream using the silver cord.
belongs to @not-poignant
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Another link to the game.
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