Common Folk Collective » FUD

Coca-Cola vs Vinegar

DCDan — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 19:13:09 +0000

While I’m not advocating Coca-Cola is a tonic that improves your health. When I read posts like 20 Domestic Uses for Coca-Cola Proof that Coke Does Not Belong in the Human Body. I’d like to ask if that also means that vinegar doesn’t belong in the human body.

They both have practical home uses beyond ingestion.

Webcam Hack

DCDan — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 14:04:23 +0000

The webcam hack that allows for 2008 era MacBooks cameras to be turned on without the indicator light showing has gotten a lot of press. There are suggestions that people cover their webcams when not in use, which isn’t a bad idea. Though I have yet to see anyone mention a few equally as scary items. First your laptop also likely has a microphone which never seems to have an indictor light associated with it. The second is that your phone also has a camera (sometimes two!) and microphone and they rarely have indicator light and you usually carry them with you everywhere.

My webcam has a shutter so I know when it is recording.

Monopoly Money – You Own the Utilities

DCDan — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:52:33 +0000

This video put out by the phone monopolies is pretty great. They cover a mix of fear, uncertainty and doubt with the realities of why they were granted a legal monopoly. While I certainly don’t think The Market is the solution to every problem it does often have it’s advantages.

The parts I like the most:

The mention of how not using their phone equipment will ruin the system, this case would actually be better made today with people connecting to the internet with infected computers that degrade quality for everyone.
Kids would be shocked that you didn’t buy your own phone but instead had to lease it from the phone company.
They do mention one of the reasons they were granted a monopoly is because they also had to make sure to cover users who might be a bit cost prohibitive. For example if you lived in a rural area they had to bring you service.