Grrr.

With the World Cup being on, I'm watching as much footy as I can. Sometimes I'll be doing stuff at the same time, like now for example. Germany vs Curacao is on ITV, and when I do, I watch online. This match is on ITV, so I'm viewing through the ITVX app/website.

It's horrible. I've seen worse user experiences, but not many and not recently.

Back to fitness.

I know that a lot of people look unfavourably at AI (or what's currently being described as AI: large language models, or LLMs). I admit that there are issues that I have with it, too. My job is increasingly at risk due to AI and I think it's entirely likely that I will be made redundant within the next five years as a direct result.

And don't get me started on AI-produced "art".

But it can have its uses if you know how to utilise it. That's half the battle. Creating a good prompt can yield incredible results, but writing a good prompt is a skill in itself.

For example, I could ask Google about chronic back pain.  Which would give me thousands of results.

Or I could write a comprehensive prompt, which is what I did. I described my pain, how long I've had it, the fact that I've not yet had a GP diagnosis, my own suspicions about my sedentary lifestyle being a factor and it give me a result.

To be fair, it did advise going to see a GP as one of its first comments, but it also suggested that my theory about my inactivity could be a factor. I then asked if there were exercises that I could do to help ease or remove the pain and it updated its response with a 6 - 8 week plan. I then added that I had some basic exercise equipment and listed it to see if that would change things, and the LLM made slight adjustments to add the equipment after a few weeks.

And finally, I asked it to create a collated collection of its responses with detail descriptions of the exercises in a printable format for offline reference. And it did that, too.

I still have to contact my GP, and it's still hugely advisable to double-check what an LLM tells you (as should be the case for any internet search, especially medical) but a lot of the basic exercises are the same as those in my Yoga programme. A cursory search looks like there's nothing massively incorrect in what the LLM has given me, so that's something to get on with, I think.

Refresh.

The internet dick crossed my mind briefly when I went to bed last night, but only briefly. I think my assumption yesterday that he'd already blocked me and so didn't see my last message where I'd called out his hypocrisy. (I am am little disappointed that the other moderator didn't reach out - I think we had decent rapport and worked well together.)

That, I think, translated into a very good night's sleep. I feel great this morning. 

Palate cleanser.

To cheer me up from yesterday's "drama" (which I think had a bigger effect than you might expect because the guy's attitude and behaviour reminds me of an old boss I had about 10 years ago), here are some attractive women.

From the top: Anna Kendrick, Alison Brie, Frankie Bridge, Victoria Justice, Anne Hathaway and finally Gemma Atkinson.

You're still outta here.

I didn't sleep at all last night. That's the second time this week it's happened. However, while I've no idea why Tuesday night was sleepless, last night's was all about the internet dick.

My smart watch tells me I got 5.5 hours of sleep, but it really didn't feel like that. I got half of that if I was lucky. It also reported high heart rate (the anxiety) and high temperature.

Surprisingly, the internet dick never replied to my last message despite his history and personality needing to have the last word. Will he reply today (he's based in the USA so there are time differences to consider)? I don't know, but my plan is delete the message unread if I can. I've said my piece. Though I am now wondering if I was already blocked after he had the last word and my most recent message hasn't been delivered.

You're outta here!

I was given a demotion earlier today. It's nothing serious, and nothing professional. I was a moderator on a large social media site for a specific topic and the so-called "lead moderator" removed for me lack of respect.

I'm not going to lie, I don't respect him. Ever known a person who gets a little inkling of power and lets it get to their head? Yeah, that was this guy. I thought I was hiding my contempt quite well, but looking back, clearly not. Anyhoo... he was lead moderator by the sake of a random algorithm or luck of the draw, not through any actual knowledge, merit or tenure.

But he used that title and the few additional powers that granted him, to decide debates etc. Disagree with him about the way forward? He'd do it anyway under the guise of being "lead moderator". Make a decision he didn't like? He'd reverse it because he was the "lead moderator".

One of those people who always needs to have the final word? Yeah. 

He also hates feeling like he's been outdone. Which is why I think he's eventually cracked and removed me. You know the kind of person who replies to a message, ponders on it for ages, then replies again later in a longer, more ranty way? Yeah, he's one of those. So when he started questioning my actions in a very snidey, disingenuous way, he got his energy right back at him.

"You've done this thing that I've done loads, but I don't like your attitude, so I'm removing you" 

But he didn't say that first. He removed me without ever addressing any concerns that he had that apparently go back months. Yup, it's been simmering for months.

The thing that I did was on Monday (I turned off a small feature in our community that barely anyone uses), but he's been stewing on this all week. You could sense it.

But for some reason, despite the fact I don't like the guy, despite the fact I was probably going to quit anyway and despite the fact it's only online rubbish, it's actually made me quite anxious. I don't do confrontation well, even something as inconsequential and impersonal as an internet argument.

I have replied to him, not to ask to be a moderator again but to point out his hypocrisy. I expect a reply, probably with some further accusations (his original one was that I am not a team player) and then be blocked... because he always has to have the last word.

The reality is, I think, he views me as a challenger to his position even though there's literally nothing I can do about it. I don't even want that position. It's like he took every disagreement personally as a direct challenge. You can't deal with people like that.

Eye in the sky.

Random stuff I just found out... I am on Google Maps satellite view. Kinda cool, eh? I'm cutting the grass in my back garden. You can't see me clearly, and unless you understood the context of what's in the picture, you'd likely never even know, but still...

Well, the nerd in me thinks it's kinda cool. 

Grrrr.

For the first time ever, I've done something I thought I would never do. I've actually emailed my MP.

I've asked him to address the UK Online Safety Act. This was brought on by the fact that I've recently been asked for a third time to verify my age/identity with a third verification platform in order to play games.

The thing is, I play games on like 6 different platforms. I listen to music on two platforms. I am an active member of a number of social media sites. I regularly watch videos on YouTube. I am infrequently active on three different online dating applications.

And, yes, I've watched porn. My Jenni Lee and Mindy Main appreciation didn't appear out of thin air. But I do agree that it should be tightened up. However, that's what the age restriction on my ISP should do, right? 

This shit mounts up. Do I want my face or official documents to be potentially hacked? Errr... no.

So, yeah, I emailed my MP. I've distilled it into the below bullet points in case any passers by are interested in emailing their own MPs or want to add to the list about why this implementation is bad for the individual.

• Excessive Data Sharing: The Act pushes ordinary people to hand over sensitive documents or biometric data just to access everyday online services. 
• Conflicts with UK GDPR: Data protection law requires data minimisation, yet this Act forces citizens to share far more personal information than necessary. 
• Multiple Verifications: With no single trusted provider, people would need to repeat the process across platforms like Spotify, Netflix, Steam, and Reddit. 
• Increased Breach Risks: Each extra disclosure raises the chances of leaks, identity theft, or surveillance. 
• History Repeats: Equifax (147m people affected), TalkTalk (150k UK customers), and even the NHS have all suffered major breaches — why expect smaller platforms to fare better? 
• Fraud Opportunities: Scammers will exploit the situation by creating fake verification sites, tricking users into uploading passports and IDs. 
• Vulnerable Groups Targeted: The elderly and less tech-savvy will be the easiest victims of such impersonation scams. 
• Disproportionate Measures: Millions of adults’ privacy will be undermined, while safer and simpler ISP-level parental controls already exist, or should. 
• Chilling Effect: Mandatory ID checks risk discouraging free speech and lawful online activity, conflicting with rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. 
• Unbalanced Approach: The stated aim of child protection is important, but it should not come at the expense of the privacy, security, and freedoms of the entire population.

 And I might be wrong on some of these, but I am just a nerd, I am not a lawyer, so there's a lot of my own interpretation in there. But it's a GREAT email.

And why not have a picture of the aforementioned Jenni Lee while I'm at it, yeah?

Oh dear.

Is there anything more depressing than reading your feed on the front page of LinkedIn?

Well, of course there is, but the sight of thousands of people trying to pretend that the corporate clog actually means something is soul destroying. 

What type of Introvert are you?

What type of Introvert are you?

I know I've posted before about my being an introvert, but this popped up earlier and I had to take a look. Huff Post claims there are four types, but if I am being honest, I preferred the first "article" I posted, years back  because instead of focusing on types, it mentions characteristics and you take from those what you will.

I think I was able to associate with like 9 out of the 13 traits mentioned.

Whereas in the Huff Post  article, I see myself in three of the four types.  An interesting, if flawed bit of logic, in my opinion.

Just stuff

M was quick to reply to my message. Apparently, he's reached out to his contact today but hasn't heard back. Not that it's an issue, I've already bought the tickets and they weren't expensive - the price of a couple of pints each. It was more that I'd not heard from him and that he'd not gotten back to me as he'd promised.

And in other news, I've just finished watching a YouTube video about Twitch streamer Ironmouse. Ironmouse is a streamer I've discovered recently who's incredibly entertaining, if games and sweary Latina women is your bag. But this YouTube video had me in tears. It was effectively a potted history of Ironmouse in her own words. It's not the normal thing that has me in tears, but I think I've bottled up an awful lot over the past few months - family stuff, stress, loneliness and it wasn't going to take a lot to set me off.

Wanderlust.

I've been watching a Twitch streamer do a bike trip through Albania and it's not done anything to get rid of the feeling of wanting to travel, to go somewhere hot and sunny that I had a few days ago and listed in this post.

So, yeah, that. CC is a potential travel companion, but we have different ideas about what travel mean. For me, it's exploring. For her, it's lying on a beach, soaking up the sun.

Hah!

Years ago, when I was doing the online hobby, I had a reputation of being... a dick. Obviously, that's not my take on it. I'd be analytical, probably to a fault. Some people appreciated it, a lot of people didn't. Egos were bruised when given the slightest criticism.

I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the indignation when I got private messages from them, demanding to know how to increase my rating of their work. I did not, however, do it deliberately. The work was rated according to my own rules within the guidelines of the sites I visited.

And so to today. I'm semi-active on Reddit. A few months ago, someone posted a short story that I described as being off-topic. I rated appropriately and moved on. The author commented a little while later, disagreeing with me.

And today, they posted another link. this time, it wasn't a short story. It was a blog post. And the blog post was 1000 words trying to justify their original posting. The author didn't try to engage with me directly, nor did they try to engage with the community. Nope, they wrote a blog post on their own website that was littered with links to their other work and dressed it up as a muse on creative writing.

And that immediately took me back 20 years to the online hobby days.

If you don't have skin thick enough to take the criticism, don't post your work online. And that'#s an issue I see regularly with content creators these days just spamming Reddit with links to their websites or YouTube.

Swing thing.

For some reason, a young lady demonstrating electro swing dancing has started appearing on my YouTube feed, despite having zero previous interest in dancing or the music genre. She is, however, very attractive and reminds me of a woman I had a crush on back in my early 20s. I can't remember if I've blogged about her before, but there's not really much more to it than that.

Anyhoo, electro swing, eh? Have a look/listen for yourself: em.delacrem - YouTube.

But, you know, the music is kinda growing on me.

Memory Lane.

Against my better judgement (I need a distraction), I've started trying to replace the images that are missing on the blog. It's going to be a long process, and looking at pictures of attractive, sexy women is not doing me any favours given my last post, but it's also been strangely enjoyable and reading back on some of the older posts on the blog has been a trip down memory lane.

Let's go again

OK, so I'm trying something new with photo storage. So here are some pictures of blog favourites Jessica Alba, Emma Willis, Alison Brie, Lucy Verasamy and, I think, Daniela Melchior.

I still don't know what I'm gonna do with the missing images in dozens of historical posts, some of which will be extremely difficult to find again.

Ah FFS.

I think my Imgur album being deleted is my fault. It looks like I violated their TOS by using it to host images for display on this blog, which I don't recall ever reading.

Sigh.

I may go back and try and recreate/re-source the images, but I don't know if I can be bothered. Though it is an excuse to hunt out images of attractive celebrities.

FFS.

For some reason, the album I have on Imgur that was used for all my blog posts has been deleted. All the images on this blog have gone. And I'm struggling to find contact details for Imgur to query this. FFS.

Who nose?

So I came across a thing on Reddit earlier... nose kink. In a previous job, I can genuinely say that I've seen enough (print) porn and erotica that I can safely say that nothing surprises me any more.

A list of images and gifs of attractive women such as Ruuude favourites Morena Baccarin and Abigail Spencer.

Interesting.

THT

On Reddit, they have a thing called 'THT', or 'Thigh High Thursday' where people post pictures of themselves, celebrities, models etc. all wearing stockings or thigh-high socks. It's a good look.

What does that have to do with me? Well, it provokes a memory... several actually. FP and I used to hit a couple of bars on a Friday night. Over the space of several months, we'd see the same faces time and again. One of those faces belonged to an attractive woman roughly our own age. She had this habit of wearing short skirts and stockings.

On more than one occasion she caught us appreciating her attire, and though FP and I can't say for sure, we both believe that she gave us both a show. She would move her legs apart slightly or adjust her skirt to show a little more leg. Her boyfriend appeared to be oblivious.

One night, FP invited one of his work friends out. We never mentioned the woman, her attire or her behaviour, even though she was in the bar that evening. However, it didn't take long for him to nudge FP in the ribs.

"Have you seen that girl in the skirt and the stockings?"

We laughed and explained what had been happening over the past few weeks.

And then, one Friday, she wasn't there, and we never saw her again.

So, for my own THT, have some Cobie Smulders and Monica Belluci.