“These devices don’t recognize your specific voice and so then we have the situations where you have a guest staying or you have a child who is talking and accidentally order something because the device isn’t aware that it’s a child versus a parent,” said Stephen Cobb, senior security researcher for ESET North America.

Which is exactly what happened today during CW6 in the morning when Jim Patton and Lynda Martin were talking about a child who accidentally bought a dollhouse and four pounds of cookies

“I love the little girl, saying ‘Alexa ordered me a dollhouse,’” said Patton.

As soon as Patton said that, viewers all over San Diego started complaining their echo devices had tried to order doll houses.

The freezing, accumulating end-times are rapidly descending on us. I'm gonna skip out of work soon and get a jump on the snowy rush-hour(s) madness. Get home, open the win and wait for the end.

I tried to buy a generator last night, so we could run a space heater and maybe not freeze to death when the power inevitably goes out until next week. But, none of the models left at the local hardware store would fit in my car. And they couldn't deliver anything until Tuesday. And I don't know anyone with a truck. According to their web sites, none of the other hardware stores or sporting goods stores within 60 miles of here have any that will fit in my car, either. So, if the power goes out, the four of us will probably freeze to death in our lovely new house.

It's been nice knowing you all. Enjoy your shitty 2017.

bots are chatting.

Want to cut your chances for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias? A new study suggests that picking a home far from major roadways might help.

The Canadian study found that people who lived relatively close to busy traffic had a slightly higher risk for dementia.

More specifically, this type of mental decline was more common among those who lived within about 160 feet of a major street, the study found. And the closer people lived to heavy traffic, the stronger the association.

CBS News

A Pennsylvania woman furious because she never won money playing the lottery allegedly threatened to kill state lottery officials.
...
Shields made the "very graphic and vulgar" threats by phone and by leaving voice mails between April and December 2016, the report said.

Shields gave specific dates in which lottery workers would be killed and told the employees she found their addresses online.

NJ.com

YouTube thinks I need some deuterium in my life.

Desmond Child is a songwriter and producer. His dozens of songwriting credits and co-credits include:

Kiss' "I Was Made for Lovin' You"

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts' "I Hate Myself for Loving You"

Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer", "You Give Love a Bad Name", and "Bad Medicine"

Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady", "Angel", and "Crazy"

Cher's "We All Sleep Alone" and "Just Like Jesse James"

Alice Cooper's "Poison"

Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" and "Livin' la Vida Loca"

Wiki.

While Leia Organa’s letters, doctrines and later, command directives formed the ideological-strategic core of the Alliance, she avoided the leadership roles assumed by her father and Mon Mothma. Indeed, she used the courtesy title Princess (afforded by her adopted parents, as elected officials in Alderaan’s post-monarchic democracy) sparingly, and purely for political effect. She became a field operative instead, managing diverse intelligence assets under the cover of diplomatic and sapient-relief travel. Before the Battle of Scarif, her missions shared intelligence with numerous Alliance cells. Her uncanny ability to predict the actions of enemies and allies alike made her essential, but the Alliance treated her warily, concerned she might manipulate its forces for her own ends.

These worries may have been justified when Organa prevented Yavin IV Flight Command from properly securing arms and spacecraft related to the extraction of Jyn Erso. She correctly predicted Erso and the Andor faction would act on their own, and made a shuttle, droid and weapons conveniently available. Operation Rogue One remains controversial; critics note that Organa sacrificed the entire volunteer cadre, hundreds of troops and much of the Alliance fleet to acquire Designation Stardust intelligence, and that its ultimate success owed itself to her activation of a Jedi asset, Obi-Wan Kenobi, as she was captured by Imperial forces. Indeed, the coincidences behind her subsequent escape and organization of the defense of Yavin IV have been ascribed to the Force, singular tactical genius or pure luck – all ideologically fraught options.

There's an exhibit of 'art deco cars' at the NC Museum Of Art right now!

Here are three of my favorites!

Behold the 1941 Chrysler Thunderbolt!

And the 1938 Hispano-Suiza H68 Xenia!

Edsel Ford's 1934 Model 40 Speedster!

V-8 making 75 HP! No roof! No doors! No seat belts! One of a kind! Last sold for $1.7M!

They encourage people to share pictures on-line, and suggested a hashtag to use (which I don't remember)! So, here ya go!

According to TMZ, Carrie Fisher suffered a “massive heart attack” while on an airplane. She was reportedly flying from London to Los Angeles, possibly as part of her book tour, and the emergency occurred 15 minutes before landing. An EMT who happened to be on the plane administered CPR, and Fisher was rushed to a hospital as soon as the plane landed.

This fucking year.