Off Topic Thread 4.0

b.gud · 13-02-2020 2:13pm

mfceiling wrote: »

Bought a few pieces from Prada

How I'm currently picturing mfceiling

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molloyjh · 13-02-2020 2:18pm

mfceiling wrote: »

TM Lewin keep popping up my Instagram feed with sales. I've always found their stuff to be good quality.

Would you take a spin down to the kildare outlets? Hugo Boss shirts are good value and last well. Bought a few pieces from Prada there and they were a bit more expensive but the quality is fantastic.

Yeah TM Lewin are pretty good for work shirts I've found. And they pretty much always have sales on.

mfceiling · 13-02-2020 4:07pm

b.gud wrote: »

How I'm currently picturing mfceiling

Not too far away tbh.

b.gud · 14-02-2020 3:23pm

Is there a good place on boards to ask for advice between 2 different TV models? Had a look at the forums but couldn't find any that seemed to be what I was looking for

mfceiling · 14-02-2020 7:49pm

b.gud wrote: »

Is there a good place on boards to ask for advice between 2 different TV models? Had a look at the forums but couldn't find any that seemed to be what I was looking for

Richersounds.

Will not be beaten. They'll give you either a 6 or 7 year warranty at little or no cost. Great to deal with.

awec · 14-02-2020 8:07pm

Another endorsement for Richersounds here. They have a Talk To forum on here.

I've bought 2 TVs and a my surround sound system from them and they're spot on.

Squidgy Black · 14-02-2020 8:37pm

Manchester City banned from the Champions League for two seasons and fined €30 million for breaching financial fair play by overstating their sponsorship revenue and refusing to comply with the investigations.

Holy shít.

awec · 14-02-2020 8:40pm

Good stuff.

There is absolutely no way whatsoever Manchester City could ever hope to break even with their spending.

sydthebeat · 14-02-2020 8:41pm

Let's hope there is no dilution on appeal

awec · 14-02-2020 8:44pm

Yea hopefully it's upheld. 2 years out of European competition will cost them hundreds of millions, significant for most clubs but probably not that significant when you're pretty much owned by a country.

bilston · 14-02-2020 9:49pm

No sympathy for Man City, but I doubt they are alone.

swiwi_ · 15-02-2020 7:34pm

Anyone with budding kid astronomers...or else letting the inner man child out...Venus is really visible in the sky at the moment (at least it is here in CH, but I imagine Ireland too)

Dave_The_Sheep · 15-02-2020 8:19pm

Unfortunately, cloud coverage is pretty much obscuring everything in the southern half of the country.

20-02-2020 10:23am

Should the internet continue to be an anonymous playground?

I generally watch or listen to the joe podcast with Barry and Andrew and sometimes tune into the English one with Haskell.

The recent episode of the English podcast had Haskell, Payne and Sean O'Brien talking about internet abuse and I found myself agreeing with some but not all of what they were saying around how people act online versus how they would act in person.

I've been an internet user since the early 90s so pretty much since it's infancy in Ireland. I remember the days of bulletin boards, when email gradually became a medium and then when the world went from dial up to ISDN to broadband.

In that time the internet has gone from somewhere for tech people to hang out and share ideas to a world wide forum. It was the mecca of online / PC gaming for much of the decade from 95 - 2005 but ultimately in the last 25 years it has gone completely mainstream.

As an early internet user I always valued my anonymity online. As someone now approaching my midlife I'm starting to feel differently. This is more or less the only place I post comments, I've made no attempt to hide my identity on here and don't feel the need to on this forum (I don't post on boards.ie outside of rugby).

I do however read other social media sites, reddit for example and occasionally I read posted content on facebook. I don't get into debates online outside of rugby because I've seen over the last 10 years that it's become completely disingenuous and a total waste of time.

I do however see immense levels of misinformation, abuse and bullying. It's so common now and the recent election build up was a new low in terms of the standard of discourse. In gaming communities similarly I can't get over the way people speak to each other. I generally play amongst a group of similarly aged people and it's a mature enough environment, but my god almost any game and any server and the abuse is free flowing.

So I've gotten to the point now where I think I'd rather peoples identities were attached to their remarks. Be it on forums, comments sections or social media. I think the longer things go on as they are the more that negativity is going to spill into every day discourse.

What do others think?

Squidgy Black · 20-02-2020 10:33am

I can see where they're coming from, and there's definitely a section of society that sees the internet as a place they can hide their true identity and do whatever they want with no consequences to their actual life, be it sending death threats, bullying people etc.

However, there's the issue of personal data management. It's fine to say verify them, make them stick their passport in etc so they're held accountable, but the governance around companies and how they use/store your user data, and the security around that data just isn't there. We don't want the internet to become a totalitarian entity where everything about you is available online, with the ability to fall into the wrong hands, be it corporate or government.

I do think legislation around hate crime and 'cyber abusr' etc needs to be changed, but it's a tricky one to say where's the line on what can be collected

20-02-2020 10:39am

Squidgy Black wrote: »

I can see where they're coming from, and there's definitely a section of society that sees the internet as a place they can hide their true identity and do whatever they want with no consequences to their actual life, be it sending death threats, bullying people etc.

However, there's the issue of personal data management. It's fine to say verify them, make them stick their passport in etc so they're held accountable, but the governance around companies and how they use/store your user data, and the security around that data just isn't there. We don't want the internet to become a totalitarian entity where everything about you is available online, with the ability to fall into the wrong hands, be it corporate or government.

I do think legislation around hate crime and 'cyber abusr' etc needs to be changed, but it's a tricky one to say where's the line on what can be collected

How it would be done functionally may indeed end the conversation as to whether it *could* be done.

But its not just abuse, people are spreading so much misinformation either intentionally or because they never have to stand over their remarks and the audience growth online means a lot of foolishness is gathering mainstream appeal.

I think a point is coming where the Internet will have to change.

molloyjh · 20-02-2020 10:43am

Squidgy Black wrote: »

I can see where they're coming from, and there's definitely a section of society that sees the internet as a place they can hide their true identity and do whatever they want with no consequences to their actual life, be it sending death threats, bullying people etc.

However, there's the issue of personal data management. It's fine to say verify them, make them stick their passport in etc so they're held accountable, but the governance around companies and how they use/store your user data, and the security around that data just isn't there. We don't want the internet to become a totalitarian entity where everything about you is available online, with the ability to fall into the wrong hands, be it corporate or government.

I do think legislation around hate crime and 'cyber abusr' etc needs to be changed, but it's a tricky one to say where's the line on what can be collected

Verifying your identity doesnt mean everything about you will be available though. You still have control over what you submit to the internet. What needs to happen then is that anything linked to you containing certain types of data needs your approval to be posted. There are already functions like that on Faceboomlk for example, so it's not a massive leap.

I would be fully in favour of something like that tbh. It would require strict controls on data processing, but that's the norm in most industries these days anyway. Social media and the internet at large needs to be able to adhere to that.

Former Former · 20-02-2020 11:15am

The internet is simultaneously the greatest thing ever and the worst.

What we've seen in the last five years is very worrying in terms of the future of democracy. If facts no longer matter, then the people with the easiest solutions or loudest voices win out and history would tell us that isn't a good thing.

thomond2006 · 20-02-2020 11:41am

Can the tech companies be trusted with personal data?

Also while requiring a passport or national ID to join social media may help to curtail the anonymous trolls, it does nothing against the likes of H*pkins and that ilk and the fact that people gobble up their rage bait.

errlloyd · 20-02-2020 11:47am

thomond2006 wrote: »

Can the tech companies be trusted with personal data?

Also while requiring a passport or national ID to join social media may help to curtail the anonymous trolls, it does nothing against the likes of H*pkins and that ilk and the fact that people gobble up their rage bait.

I think it will though. Hopkins benefits from being a platform for anonymous trolls. Her profile is boosted by thousands of inflamatory posts on her posts that would otherwise not exist.

20-02-2020 11:57am

I'm not sure it's possible given the nature of the Internet. Laws will always be behind technology. As soon as twitter is regulated, a new anonymous twitter will pop up overnight. The dark Web is full of nefarious stuff and the police are largely helpless.

Dave_The_Sheep · 20-02-2020 12:12pm

thomond2006 wrote: »

Can the tech companies be trusted with personal data?

No. We've seen time and time again that they cannot.

Even if they're not intentionally selling/marketing it, government access to said data via technology companies is almost becoming universal.

Yeah_Right · 20-02-2020 3:04pm

I've been using the internet for the best part of 30 years. My old man was in IT so I started using it before I started high school. The only place online that I comment or debate anything is here on Boards. FB and comments sections on "news" websites are just cesspools that I'm not willing to get involved in. So much anger and stupidity out there.

I don't say anything on here that I'm not willing to state in real life. At least I think that's true. I do think that there needs to be some sort of regulation, accountability, responsibility and protection around internet usage but I have no idea how that would work. As someone else said, the laws are behind the technology. And unfortunately they always will be.

I have to say that I struggle to understand online bullying. Both those that do it. Why?? Get a life. And those that get upset by it. Why care? Just ignore it, block it move on. Of course I've never been involved in it or subject to it so my opinion is skewed.

Dave_The_Sheep · 20-02-2020 4:48pm

Yeah_Right wrote: »

I have to say that I struggle to understand online bullying. Both those that do it. Why?? Get a life. And those that get upset by it. Why care? Just ignore it, block it move on. Of course I've never been involved in it or subject to it so my opinion is skewed.

Probably closer to 25 years for me, but I'm of a similar opinion. Part of this, and I could be talking ****e here, but for people who grew up before the internet or who used it a lot back when it was new, they don't see it in the same way.

But I didn't grow up with social media as a default. For me, it's a novelty, a bit of entertainment, not actually important. But many of those who are younger, particularly lately, have grown up where they have to have a large part of their life on instagram, or facebook or snapchat or whatever is used now. It's all about the likes and they interact with people far more online than in person (though there are exceptions). I can't see it getting any better either.

dregin · 20-02-2020 10:04pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Any recommendations for getting shirts online?

Last few years pretty much only buy clothes online but haven't found anywhere reliable for shirts that is any cheaper than in stores.

Buy pretty much all my shirts from TM Lewin online. They're the only place I've seen that do 38" sleeves on shirts that aren't poorly disguised tents.

Rigor Mortis · 21-02-2020 8:37am

What I find strangest about all the internet privacy issue was the extent to which we all cede privacy and the outrage at the concept of a national identity card. Admittedly the proposal to bring it in was badly managed, but we give away a lot more information, willingly each and every day to unknown entitites.

prawnsambo · 21-02-2020 8:51am

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

What I find strangest about all the internet privacy issue was the extent to which we all cede privacy and the outrage at the concept of a national identity card. Admittedly the proposal to bring it in was badly managed, but we give away a lot more information, willingly each and every day to unknown entitites.

I think a lot of people don't understand what privacy is being ceded. Or if they do, don't consider it in the round and just look at each portion in its own right. And then don't follow that through to see if it's really necessary for them to give up the info requested. Just tick the box and forget about it. I suspect that if they were handed all the info that an application had on them, they'd be horrified. As an aside, Google have said that they're going to move the data of all UK residents from their Irish servers to the US so that they don't have to apply GDPR rules to them. That should be fun.

Rigor Mortis · 21-02-2020 8:54am

I think it is the latter not the former. I think we know exactly what we are doing but we suffer from such incredible FOMO that we are willing to cede just a little more in order to know what our photo would look like as a baby

DGRulz · 21-02-2020 10:24am

I've had the data privacy conversation with family members several times and I'm always hit with "I've nothing to hide". My response is generally "I'm sure you've nothing to hide when you go to the toilet either, but you still close and lock the door". The time around when GDPR came in was also a very fun conversation ...

Yeah_Right · 21-02-2020 11:17am

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Probably closer to 25 years for me, but I'm of a similar opinion. Part of this, and I could be talking ****e here, but for people who grew up before the internet or who used it a lot back when it was new, they don't see it in the same way.

But I didn't grow up with social media as a default. For me, it's a novelty, a bit of entertainment, not actually important. But many of those who are younger, particularly lately, have grown up where they have to have a large part of their life on instagram, or facebook or snapchat or whatever is used now. It's all about the likes and they interact with people far more online than in person (though there are exceptions). I can't see it getting any better either.

I definitely think this is a big part of it. The only social media I have apart from Boards, is Facebook. I find it great for keeping in touch with people overseas and it was very useful planning my wedding but it's not vital to my life. Its something to browse when bored.

My wife was telling me about some of the younger people she works with who live their lives online. If a photo doesn't get so many likes they take it down, everything they do is uploaded etc. I know a few people like that and I just don't get it.

Does LinkedIn count as social media? I only ever use it if I'm job hunting. What about WhatsApp?

Synode · 21-02-2020 11:35am

I deleted my Facebook about a year ago. I'd been thinking about if for a while as it had basically become nothing but an advertising platform. When the Cambridge Analytica thing came out it tipped me over the edge and I deleted it. Don't miss it at all. I mainly use Boards and Reddit, and I dip into Twitter very very occasionally.

I see family members with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat etc. and the amount of time they spend on them is nuts. I've had to delete myself from some WhatsApp groups because the amount of messages are insane. Being connected is great, but only to a certain degree for me personally.

I do covet my anonymity online though. It would feel too like someone was following me if they were reading everything I posted online.

Dave_The_Sheep · 21-02-2020 11:54am

Synode wrote: »

I do covet my anonymity online though. It would feel too like someone was following me if they were reading everything I posted online.

Facebook, for example (and plenty of others) already do though. Even without an active profile, the majority of pages have a facebook tracker in them. They build a 'shadow profile' of you even if you've never had a facebook account.

Synode · 21-02-2020 11:56am

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Facebook, for example (and plenty of others) already do though. Even without an active profile, the majority of pages have a facebook tracker in them. They build a 'shadow profile' of you even if you've never had a facebook account.

Did they not deny they do this? I also use Disconnect in my browsers. Not sure if it still stops trackers but think it did when I first started using it

Dave_The_Sheep · 21-02-2020 12:06pm

Synode wrote: »

Did they not deny they do this? I also use Disconnect in my browsers. Not sure if it still stops trackers but think it did when I first started using it

I didn't read anything about a denial, but to be honest I wouldn't believe it even if they did...

I was using a set of seperate containers in my browser, but I'll have to look up disconnect, it sounds great from my initial look at it.

Paul Smeenus · 21-02-2020 1:08pm

I'm on Twitter, but don't tweet. It is a fantastic way to stay informed and when there's something you're passionate about that's niche (oo-er etc), a great way to talk to other people about it. There are some great communities for whatever you love.

I follow a couple of smart people that I disagree with politically etc, and they then sometimes give me pause for thought in my wee echo chamber.

I am thoroughly self-aware about my own sense of humour and glib nature, so I simply don't Tweet anything myself. It's easier just to have a policy of not letting that genie out of the bottle, than apologise for off-colour jokes or thoughts with nuance that are lost on Twitter. Or losing my bap with other people's nonsense.

sydthebeat · 21-02-2020 1:28pm

im not on twitter, snapchat, instagram or any other kind of narcissistic social media.

i have a FB account but apart from one "thanks for the happy birthday wishes" in Dec, and some event shares,, the last actual post i made there was in June 2019.

I like FB from the point of view of every so often touching base with old friends, and theres one closed group in FB that i post in a lot (self build)

I NEVER get involved in any kind of online debate about anything, outside of boards.
The internet only exists in the black and white of extremes, and the majority moderate voice is ignored.... so why bother.

Buer · 21-02-2020 1:38pm

sydthebeat wrote: »

im not on twitter, snapchat, instagram or any other kind of narcissistic social media.

This is why I have to stalk you the old fashioned way.

Nice shirt, by the way.

sydthebeat · 21-02-2020 2:04pm

Buer wrote: »

This is why I have to stalk you the old fashioned way.

Nice shirt, by the way.

hair shirt :P

stephen_n · 22-02-2020 3:18pm

Paul Smeenus wrote: »

I'm on Twitter, but don't tweet. It is a fantastic way to stay informed and when there's something you're passionate about that's niche (oo-er etc), a great way to talk to other people about it. There are some great communities for whatever you love.

I follow a couple of smart people that I disagree with politically etc, and they then sometimes give me pause for thought in my wee echo chamber.

I am thoroughly self-aware about my own sense of humour and glib nature, so I simply don't Tweet anything myself. It's easier just to have a policy of not letting that genie out of the bottle, than apologise for off-colour jokes or thoughts with nuance that are lost on Twitter. Or losing my bap with other people's nonsense.

Have to admire your reserve, if I’m reading it I’ll end up responding. So I’m on a self imposed twitter break at the moment and a much happier person for it.

Privacy on the internet doesn’t exist, anyone who thinks it does is kidding themselves. Big brother is watching you, analyzing you and selling you **** at the same time.

25-02-2020 6:00pm

All our clients are now requesting pre screening to ensure anyone attending meetings hasn't visited any areas affected by the coronavirus over the last two weeks.

Spoke with someone I know from a consulting firm earlier and they said projections for even a small outbreak in Ireland could really impact things here. We'll be fine from a public health perspective, but business slow down will cost a fortune.

Buer · 25-02-2020 6:10pm

Given that Indeed already sent all staff home for a week due to employees having been in Singapore, I wouldn't be surrpised to see some fairly significant decisions made by some multinationals. Google have a large office in Milan which is the capital of Lombardy where the outbreak is in Italy. I'd imagine all travel between offices has been cancelled indefinitely.

25-02-2020 6:38pm

Did nobody consider I've already booked a holiday in Italy this summer??????

mfceiling · 25-02-2020 7:30pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Did nobody consider I've already booked a holiday in Italy this summer??????

I almost booked my flights to Milan last week but held off as herself was looking at France (again).
Brother in law lives in Rome and called last night. He works for the UN's world food programme and they've been told to work from home and nobody to come to the office.
He's a realist and told herself to hold off booking anything yet as he says the prices will drop and we'll get a bargain holiday.
I'm not sure I share his optimism.

25-02-2020 7:40pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Did nobody consider I've already booked a holiday in Italy this summer??????

I can't help but feel that as the virus was evolving into it's current form, somewhere in it's loose sense of consciousness it said to itself "fcuk partyjungle in particular"

Yeah_Right · 25-02-2020 7:42pm

mfceiling wrote: »

He's a realist and told herself to hold off booking anything yet as he says the prices will drop and we'll get a bargain holiday.

That's good thinking. Get a cheap holiday and it will be a lot less crowded. We used to do something similar with holidays to Fiji. When they had a military coup or some sort of political unrest, flights and hotels dropped by about 50%.

Stheno · 25-02-2020 7:43pm

The only thing worse than being quarantined at home for 14 days imo is having to work from home for the duration

Damn technology

Zzippy · 25-02-2020 11:36pm

Stheno wrote: »

The only thing worse than being quarantined at home for 14 days imo is having to work from home for the duration

Damn technology

If I was quarantined it would mean having to keep the kids home from creche too. There's not a prayer I would even get to read an email, never mind get any work done...

errlloyd · 26-02-2020 11:25am

There is a good article in the Atlantic that does a pretty decent job of explaining why this virus is already beyond containment, and we should just make peace with the fact we live in a post coronavirus world. The basic gist of it is that it doesn't kill people quickly. It doesn't present symptoms in everybody. It lasts ages. It spreads easily.

The argument is that it'll become another influenza to add to A, B, and C.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-vaccine/607000/?utm_term=2020-02-24T15%3A39%3A14&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic

OldRio · 26-02-2020 11:39am

Well I suppose with an increasing global population a good cull was needed.
Unfortunately my age bracket has increased my chances of winning this particular 'lottery'

(Whereabouts did I put that bucket list.)

26-02-2020 11:43am

errlloyd wrote: »

There is a good article in the Atlantic that does a pretty decent job of explaining why this virus is already beyond containment, and we should just make peace with the fact we live in a post coronavirus world. The basic gist of it is that it doesn't kill people quickly. It doesn't present symptoms in everybody. It lasts ages. It spreads easily.

The argument is that it'll become another influenza to add to A, B, and C.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/02/covid-vaccine/607000/?utm_term=2020-02-24T15%3A39%3A14&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic

Great read and thanks for sharing.

Off Topic Thread 4.0

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