Tag: YouTube

Green Pill Secret: Romance Scams

TimeHorse December 7, 2024 No Comments

The thing about life is, sometimes it gives you lemons and you’re allergic to lemonade. For instance, although the date on this post is the right date, I am only able to write it 48 hours later, which allows me to tell you not just about the frightful topic but also why my telling you about it has been so hard.

First and foremost as viewers of the podcast will know, my dear friend and co-host Cat will be going under the knife to hopefully resolve their neck issues this Thursday and I for one am concerned for my friend and their overall recovery. However, I am confident that they will at some point be returning to the show but most of all I am hopeful for my friend’s swift recovery.

That said, I wasn’t able to secure an alternate co-host for my Romance Scams discussion. I had a wonderful discussion with one of my neighbors who talked a lot about fake male profiles, typically in their twenties, and in uniform, running the typical romance scam. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to schedule a time when she could appear so I did this one, and likely the next one and the last December episode solo. But, I do have something special planned for the Winter Solstice!

Meanwhile, on the job front, my next employment seems to be further delayed and I might not be working until after Christmas. As usual, I refuse to look at as a setback but rather I see it as a wonderful Christmas gift as I head into 2025.

I’ve also been flying recently but my instruction has been forestalled because my fundamentals are still quite rusty. So, while I’m still unemployed, I’m focusing my day-to-day work in studying the PHAK and AFH. I found a great channel on YouTube by Philip J Murphy. The recitations are a little dry, but I find the contents quite educational. I personally think my instructor is a little annoyed with me being so rusty, so I hope the next time I’m able to schedule a flight, I’m able to show great progress. Hopefully, I’ll finish before my FAA license expires on 31 December. I have submitted an extension to the FAA, but I don’t expect the new license to be issued before mid February.

But, the big thing I am most thankful for is that I’ve reconnected with my brother. For the last year, my brother has eschewed my contact, and ghosted me because he went off his meds. His Breton, now ex-wife reached out when he was at his darkest and fortunately we were all able to convince him to get the help he needed, since he filed a medical directive to prevent anyone from helping him save himself.

Now, he has the right meds, is stable with his work, and able to live in his now empty house. He reached out just after Thanksgiving and we made hummus together thanks to his home-made recipe. It was delicious. After we ate and caught up, he made me a custom batch with extra garlic. Yum!

Suffice it to say, I’ve been busy. But, I was able to record an episode in time, right before my semi-annual toastmasters training. I missed the last day of the Reston Farmers’ Market Market and my weekly workout but I had the episode recorded and submitted to YouTube with an hour to spare, at 07:30 on Wednesday. Finally, I clicked to schedule it, and set the schedule for 08:30, which is the time we normally would have released this episode. Only, I got the day wrong as it was supposed to be 7 December, not 8 December! D’oh!

So, I submitted the episode, went to the Toastmasters training, met a beautiful friend from the last Toastmasters social event I was at, hurt my arm, and then rushed home.

Unfortunately, there was no time to check on the episode because my poorly-fitting Airpods fell in my iced tea while I was smiling and eating during my Maryland Science Book Club meeting last Wednesday.

When I went to the apple store to complain, they said just buy a new set of headphones. I tried on a different set but let me just say apple earphones are the worst designed earphones ever built! Sure, the ATMOS sound is cool, but what good is an earphone if it can’t even stay in your ear when you have the temerity to even smile! I mean, isn’t apple just making their 1984 Commercial a reality? Apple is making you constantly frown while you listen to their airpods while a real, professional earphone maker, like Shure, is in skimpy shorts and tossing something and Tim Cook droning on and on and preventing you from even smiling. Touché, apple. I see you!

The point being, my new earphones were scheduled for arrival on Saturday and I spend the time after the training working with the concierge for the missing package to no avail. Since my Denon AV Receiver broke after a power cut just before Thanksgiving and I knew I could replace it with a Black Friday discount. The unit arrived and I lugged it all the way up the 16 flights of stairs because I need to be fitter if I want to attract women. However, I wanted to test the audio out of the old receiver to confirm it was the receiver and not the speakers. Since the Shure earphones are optionally wired, I was able to confirm the receiver was dead and I bought a label maker to perform the rewiring.

I will say the climbing of 16 flight, or 40 flight if I move to the apartment across the street, even if they made the most awesome flat a three-bedroom well outside of my budget. I still need to figure out if I want West-only or South-East exposure and my dilly-dallying is my way of saying I’m willing to forsake either while I consider my job situation.

Okay, I seem to have lost my train of thought again. Maybe I’ll talk more about how I have two red flags against me because I’m bald and not six-foot tall. Meaning, women already have a lot of good reasons to reject me and why I’m mainly attracting scammers and lower quality women. I’ll leave it at that, as I want to talk about Hypergamy in a different episode.

Anyway, I was unable to get the earphones after the training, and then I had a Tesla Light Show event with the Maryland Tesla owners. We got 190 cars for our part of the display in the Christmas lightshow. I have video from both up close and on a hill, though on the hill the audio is somewhat messed up because people were talking near the camera.

After that, I had a special neighbor party organized by an absolutely gorgeous women who is a good friend but is very much not in any way, shape, or from attracted to me and is utterly disgusted by the prospect. Did I mention Hypergamy?

Thus, I wasn’t able to confirm the video uploaded all day Saturday, and had some things to take care of on Sunday so I wasn’t able to see until last night that it was posted and it wasn’t until now that I could write this long updating post to you. If you read this far, I thank you. Now, go enjoy the episode where I talk all about how I, personally, was scammed.

The Green Pill Podcast: Seeing the Doctor, Part 2

TimeHorse November 30, 2024 No Comments

Last week we brought you stories of bad Doctor visits, like to Devil’s End, Auderly House, Seaspite base, or U.N.I.T. HQ… oops, I mean stores of doctors behaving badly.

In any case, this week, we return to our conversation and discuss Cat‘s work as a Medical Performer known as a Standardized Patient. Cat and I are very proud of their work, especially if only to prevent nonetheless brilliant diagnostic physicians like Dr. Gregory House [not Holmes], living at 221 Baker Street, in apartment B, and with best friend oncologist Dr. James Wilson [not Watson].

In fact, having seen many clips on YouTube, and being a huge fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s work, and having a subscription to Peacock, I decided to watch the entire House series. Also, as a huge fan of Blackadder, a show which Dr. House keeps on his DVR—that Dr. House is a dead ringer for Hugh Laurie from that series! Overall, I very much enjoyed the series and the rotating cast of characters, though when House goes nuts and ruins his boss’s first post-breakup date, the shark has been jumped. I mean, the takedown of the narcissistic cop in series 3 was just funny, but what happens in series 8 was just creepy. But, I won’t spoil it any more than that. It’s a fun ride and I much encourage it!

But before you start binging House, and then “A Bit” of Fry and Laurie, please check out this week’s episode!

The Green Pill Podcast: Mind Reading

TimeHorse August 17, 2024 No Comments

No, this episode won’t be teaching you how to do prestidigitation or cold reading. Well, at least, not exactly. I mean, yes, you can look at someone’s eyes, where they’re looking, or how they touch their face as tells for potential fabrication if not outright lying, but this isn’t about that. This is about the poor assumption whereby one person says nothing and expect you to know what they’re thinking, or maybe says one thing because they’re afraid to say the real truth.

The thing is, if something’s bothering you, the best way to correct that situation is not to bottle it up and hope the problem will fix itself. If you consider someone a friend, or, especially, a romantic partner, why wouldn’t you assume he or she could take the criticism. If that person cares about you, the sooner you try to correct behaviour you don’t approve of, the sooner it will either stop, or you just know someone who isn’t a true friend.

I see this a lot with couples. The old cliché goes, one partner says everything is alright, and the other takes that at face value. Think about how much quicker you could get a shoulder to cry on, or an ear for venting if you just spoke up and stated your real concerns? I can’t state it more clearly, if you’re worried how someone will react, maybe it’s indicative of something more fundamental. After all, we can have friends who we don’t consider close. If you don’t trust someone to have your back, maybe it’s time for a reevaluation.

I remember I had this amazing Author friend who write and published recently a really amazing book. We were both in the throws of divorce considerations and we bonded over that. But then I started acting in ways which bothered her, and I wasn’t even aware until it was too late. Had I known I was being too rude, I would have instantly changed my behavior. But, because she didn’t tell me what I was doing was bothering her, we just stopped being friends altogether. I’m sorry to lose such a great friend but I wish her well and am so proud of her success as a published author.

Now, will Cat and I someday be as successful as YouTube broadcasters… or will you have to start reading our minds because this could be our very last episode…

A tail of Toastmasters in Three thrilling fails

TimeHorse May 8, 2024 No Comments

I have slowly been churning through my Persuasive Influencer program with Loudoun Toastmasters. As a toastmaster, I feel I have improved my organization and ability to speak while crafting an engaging yarn. That said, we can all learn from our foibles and in this case my last three speeches did indeed have their kinks and chances to grow from.

Electric Car Advocacy — 2023-10-05

I gave this speech as a companion to my livestream with Fairfax County, on Car Tax Payment Day, which you can watch here. I gave this speech only minutes after the presentation and as an advocacy speech to towards my Level 3 proficiency. The problem was, even though I was home and at my own computer, I didn’t have time to set up the presentation correctly and had to rush through some slides because I ran out of my 5–7 allotted time. What’s more, I didn’t set the zoom share properly so my Presentation was showing presenter view to the audience, not the presentation itself.

What I learned was that I needed to take more time to prepare my materials and make sure they were ready and that I wasn’t so hasty to set up my display. Needless to say, this was a pretty poorly performing speech that day.

Film the Eclipse with an iPhone — 2024-03-24

I first gave this at the Westminster Astronomical Society March meeting, on Wednesday, 13 March. That speech went great because I brought my own computer and it played the videos over zoom perfectly. I had it on a table in front of the audience and it was projected on the screen as well. It was a smashing success right after the main presentation. I was looking forward to giving the same speech in Toastmasters to finish out my Level 3.

Eleven days later, I addressed my toastmasters with the same speech. However, the embedded videos didn’t play when the zoom host brought up those slides. I was mortified. This time, the slide deck was shared correctly but the video content just wouldn’t play. As such, I failed again, learning that embedded content is hard to manage so keep my presentations simpler. But, what was worst of all was that the timer flashed a card at me, making me thing I was running out of time, so I rushed through to the end only to find out that I was just one second shy of 5 minutes as he flashed the green card at me. I learned then and there to not trust the timer and make sure I kept my own time.

Of course, this was just before my eclipse trip to Austin, so I was also worried about packing and getting ready for that.

The Green Pill Podcast — 2024-05-02

This speech was near and dear to me. When I saw the Create a Podcast project for the Level 4 elective speeches, I knew it was a perfect fit. I had been working on my episodes, with the last of the Spring series and first of the Summer in the can and waiting for release on YouTube, I already had 60 minutes of footage from the first 6 episodes publicly released on the platform, enough to qualify to give the corresponding speech.

Part of the speech requirements is to share a clip of your podcast. I decided rather than taking one of the existing episodes, I’d give a preview of the first Summer episode I’d just finished editing. In summer, I’m hoping to go to a more 2-camera like approach with editing for the episodes. You’ll see what I mean on 20 June, at the Solstice. In any case, I selected a clip from that episode where I reiterate some issues from our upcoming Enthusiastic Consent episode. I sent the video clip to the zoom host and reduced my speech by a minute to allow time for the clip. I also made sure to put my phone on the podium to time myself and make sure I transitioned to the clip with enough time to spare.

Unfortunately, the zoom host didn’t prepare for my clip. He thought he was supposed to play something from the existing YouTube content, but I edited a short, low-sized clip specifically for this episode. I wanted him to play that. It took nearly 2 minutes for him to load up the clip and in the end he never even shared it with Zoom properly. Another failure and poor performance on my part as I shouldn’t trust others to do what needs to be done. I should have brought my own computer and had it play the clip to Zoom.

Conclusion

When it comes to crafting a great speech, you can leave nothing to chance, friends. Watch for your contingencies and leave nothing to chance. Then maybe you can get that best speech ribbon.

Video

Hello from Texas

TimeHorse April 8, 2024 1 Comment

If all goes well, I’ll be in Texas when you see this post, and this video from August 2017.

The reason it’s taken me so long to share the video is because when I filmed it, I underestimated how far across the screen the sun would track, so when it was about to go off the edge, I had to reposition the iPhone 5S which created a discontinuity in the video. Now that I have a 2023 Space Grey Macbook Pro with the M3 processor, using Final Cut Pro. I was able to split the video into 3 sections, and then eyeball the adjacent frames to make the movement flow smoothly. I then shifted the whole thing so the entire arc would fit in the frame.

The other problem with the video is when the full eclipse occurs, no light gets through and so the sun disappears! This is what I’m hoping to do correctly right now, somewhere near Austin.

I don’t know where I will be, as I wanted to go to the Lake Buchanan reservoir but if it’s too crowded, my friend Scott Wilson does have an alternate location I may end up visiting.

Don’t forget to light and subscribe!

Video

The Green Pill Podcast: Gender Fluidity

TimeHorse March 19, 2024 No Comments

Folks, over the years as a man who in his 20s was lonely and could not get a date to save his life, I feel for the 15–29 year-olds of today. And, while I didn’t have The Matrix or the concept of the Red Pill back then, with much alarm I’ve seen these concepts and the shinier Black Pill concepts rise up to mislead the hearts and minds of my younger brothers-from-another.

What distresses me most is the misogynistic vitriol of the INCEL movement and I weep. For years I was in a situation which deprived me of marital bliss, where I wasn’t getting to do the things we all assumed married couples did. But, I never saw this as anything but a mismatched needs hierarchy. I was not doing what I wanted, but I was never an INCEL as currently defined. Indeed, now that I’m divorced, I really don’t have any more physical, enthusiastically consensual intimacy than I want, and only accept such intimacy with that enthusiastic consent, so I’m certainly not suffering anymore in that respect. That said, I remember what it was like, and I sympathy—but I don’t contonde the conclusions of those claiming access to the metaphorical Red Pill.

Red Pill addicts don’t see women as anything more than servile, less-than-human people, to put it as politely as I can. They break the world into Chads and Betas, and complain that Chads magically get all the women, leaving nothing for the Betas, which they all claim to be. They often suggest sexual assault as fair play, which isn’t just disgusting, it’s evil! Enthusiastic Consent isn’t impossible and if you wait for it, you’ll enjoy the experience so much more, and even better, she will no doubt have enjoyed it enthusiastically too—she will most certainly consider inviting you back. But, feeling entitled isn’t going to get you anywhere, and there is another way. Ditch the Red Pill, my friends!

Then, there’s the Black Pill. The black pill folks aren’t as bad as the Red Pill ones, but they still commodify women, and see them as less-than-human. People like Andrew Tate try to promote this “better path”, where men are men, and women are there to be conquered. But, this is just red pill dynamics like lipstick on a pig. Sure, no-one is suggesting sexual assault in those circles, but they are seeing women as non-sovereign and unworthy of making their own decisions. That is just too bitter a pill to swallow, and they can’t support enthusiastic consent because it doesn’t see women as being able to give consent, it sees them as obliged—or exited, moving on to the next, like it’s all a game. It’s again dehumanizing.

Instead, my dear friend Cat Smith and I propose a different way—a Green Pill way. A way which allows you to be on the masculine side, but still recognize that women are people with feelings and emotions and their desires, at a fundamental level, are no different than yours. And after all, Gender is just stupid!

I hope you will enjoy our first episode of the Green Pill Podcast, and please, like, subscribe, and share! And, Happy Solstice!

The Esher Demos

TimeHorse January 7, 2022 1 Comment

Legend among the diehard Beatles fans, such as myself, is the folklore of the Esher Demos recorded at George Harrison’s house on his Ampex 4-Track Reel-To-Reel. Fans got a taste of some of those tracks on Beatles Anthology 3, but not until the 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe version of the eponymous Beatles’ White Album.

Ampex 4-Track, available at SonicCircus.com, only $3,500!

The problem with this release of the 27 demos from May, 1968, is that they’re not put in the proper order as intended by the Beatles. However, thanks to YouTube Music, this can be remedied!

Behold, the Esher Demos, in their proper order!

The Esher Demo Playlist
Bessie with #CO2Fre

Twice the Electric Car Fun

TimeHorse May 2, 2020 1 Comment

Today, I attended two, virtual Electric Car events. First, my friend Mark Czajka hosted the first MDVolt virtual meetup. We met Tom Moloughney from InsideEVs. Unfortunately, I was multitasking though this meeting as I also host the Loudoun County Writers Group (LCWG) on Saturday mornings. Normally, I would skip my writing group on Saturdays for one of Mark’s MDVolt events, but this time, I could cheat and attend both, because they were both virtual.

I haven’t spoken much about the Mini-E — so far only in my EVSE installation post — but this car has been on my mind a long, long time.  When the leases were announced for 2009, I jumped on the chance to get one of the 500 East Coast orders.  But alas, my region wasn’t one of the privileged ones, so there was no Mini-E for me.  On the bright side, at least I saved over $800 per month for the last 2 years!

Two Years and 119 Cars! (Today)

I’m so jealous Tom got one of those Mini-Es. I was very desperate to get one back in 2011, when I wrote about it on the Affordable Electric Car Now site, as you can see from the quote above. Tom and I have both been writing about electric cars since 2009 so it’s nice to hear from a kindred spirit. One of these days, I hope he invites me to one of his barbeques.

It was also wonderful seeing my friend dear friend Vanessa Thomas at Mark’s event. She was nice enough to come to my virtual demonstration of #CO2Fre and it was wonderful seeing her here, even if it was hard to see anyone on my tiny phone—LCWG got the computer. Fortunately, Mark uploaded to YouTube, so I could finally the event and focus fully on the content. Check me out in the Pinball video.

Pity I couldn’t show off Bessie with #CO2Fre.

Bessie with #CO2Fre
Picture is #CO2Fre with the Doctor’s car, Bessie © 2020, Jeffrey C. Jacobs

Mark and I agreed we’d not embed the video here, but if you’d like to watch it, you can find it here.

Electric Car Event Number 2

Then, in the afternoon, my friend Charles Gerena from Drive Electric RVA hosted an event with Phil Englander at Hart Nissan in Mechanicsville. Phil gave a great walk-through of the latest Nissan LEAF. Great presentation, Phil and great seeing you again Vanessa. She and I were the only people to join both events!

Phil Englander at Hart Nissan in Mechanicsville walks us through the newest iteration of the Nissan LEAF, which has been sold globally since 2010.

Posted by Drive Electric RVA on Saturday, May 2, 2020

So nice to talk about electric cars since it’s been far too long for me since I was able to cruise on the cloud.

Keto Diet for Vegetarians?

TimeHorse March 22, 2020 No Comments

To understand what is involved in achieving Ketosis, we first need to consider what the Keto Diet is, and what it isn’t. It isn’t Atkins. Traditionally, Atkins starts out just like the Keto diet. They both limit carbohydrates to 20–25 g per day. The difference is Atkins has you target a weight goal and taper up your carbohydrate allowance to 80–100 g per of Carbohydrates per day, where as Keto keeps you at 20–25 g constantly.

Sounds great! I was reminded of this watching an episode of Braniac, a rather crude YouTube channel. A recent episode on a diet of 90 days of bacon got me thinking. It’s not like as a vegetarian I want to go out and only eat Bacon and Lard for a season. But is there a vegetarian alternative to that while still being Keto?

Well, how about an Avocado? Hold the toast!

Avocados
Avocados are a power food perfect for those aspiring to a Keto Diet. Just make sure your Mexican Avocado isn’t funded by drug cartels.

Let Kurzgesagt explain how to Flatten the Curve

TimeHorse March 20, 2020 No Comments

I love Kurzgesagt on YouTube, and as I was thinking of a way to explain what it means to flatten the curve, I noticed that the channel had just posted an excellent video on both SARS-CoV-2 and on the best way to keep the death toll down. Simply, shelter in place, and follow the instructions in my the post I just linked to.

Overall, I don’t think every Kurzgesagt video is up to the same scientific rigor that I try to maintain for my science posts, but that’s because, like this site as a whole, it’s not entirely a science channel so I can forgive it its minor excursions into Fiction. But this time, they did an excellent job explaining how the virus works, how to keep it at bay, and how to not overwhelm the healthcare system of your nation.
Simply put, it’s another in a long list of great videos.

Enjoy.

Kurzgesagt on the Corona Virus