Look to the right of this blog post for context. You will notice a lot of new stuff is there now.
I finally got around to removing the Xitter Feeds and Podcast Links for Stephen A. Smith and Mary Trump for different reasons. Mary Trump discontinued her podcast last year and is no longer as active as she was before on Xitter.
I removed Stephen A. Smith's Podcast link mostly because it's no longer being updated outside of YouTube. I also removed it and his Twitter feed after I realized a few months ago he's using his celebrity status to an influencer to the Black Community--that is the largest demographic that follows him on social media--in ways I don't think are helpful. I don't want to say any more than that though.
That aside, I've noticably added more content than I removed. Those of you who follow me on Xitter (@LaVonDavis617) may recognize them but I'll briefly explain a little for those who may not recognize their names.
- Jim Stewartson is a former documentary producer turned political activist who has made exposing those who slither in the dark his life's work almost five years ago. I've gotten to know Jim quite well and first learned about him by chance in late 2022. He is an open book. Anyone who genuinely wants to know why he continues to fight despite the overwhelming forces working against him needs only ask him. Go to his Xitter profile for links to his podcast and website.
- 5GW Hot Takes is a mutual ally me and Jim's but more Jim than me since they've known each other for much longer. She shares a lot of very informative tweets and I'd be remiss if I didn't include her along with Jim's Xitter feed.
- Matthew D Taylor and Benjamin Cremer are two ordained pastors who have taken it upon themselves to speak up and speak out against the rising threat of Christian Nationalism in America. Taylor has appeared on various podcasts and in interviews as well on that note. Cremer recently launched his own podcast called Into The Grey as well. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
- Michael Cohen moved his Mea Culpa podcast to the Meidas Touch Network as of May 20, 2024. All of his podcasts up to that point can still be accessed via the Red banner. The newer episodes can accessed via the Blue banner.
More Xitter feeds may be coming in the very near future BUT I want to get their permission before I add them.
That aside. I want to take a moment to explain why I changed my WordPress author name from Brendan2k5 to Lavon Samuel Davis. The new name is the name I plan to go by on social media and it will be my pen name when I write books as well. I'm known as Aurabolt on various video game websites as well on that note.
On the other hand, I'm growing increasingly cautious of all these social media platforms who harvest and sell their users' information and sell them to advertisers without your knowledge or consent. They're legally allowed to do that because their users are considered products by these platforms. Yes, really. This is to say nothing of these data breaches that seem to be happening with increased frequency.
I tell folks this all the time: DO NOT USE FACEBOOK/INSTAGRAM/ETC. AS YOUR ONLY ONLINE PHOTO STORAGE.
Once your account is hacked--Meta (Facebook and Instagram's parent company) rarely recovers and restores hacked accounts on that note--everything's gone. I've seen what hackers do once they break into someone's account. They delete EVERYTHING in the stolen account--they use bots to speed up the process--and then replace everything with a new fake identity.
ALWAYS keep a local backup of everything you don't want to lose forever. I don't mean on your phone or tablet but on a computer, USB Drive or even better an external hard drive. For most people, a 2TB External Hard Drive will cover all of their photo and image storing needs for life. More so if they are exclusively coming from a mobile phone or tablet. They're worth the investment and the peace of mind to say the least. More so these days.
Take a look at these pictures:
Those are Smartphone-powered bot farms. I pulled those pics off Google on that note. It's big business in China, India, Russia, Vietnam and a few other countries mostly in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa.
Now just try to imagine these kinds of setups being run by A.I. instead of one person. Terrifying, yes? Well it's being worked on as we speak in those parts of the world. Why would anyone want or need a Smartphone-powered bot farm like these?
For one or more of the following reasons:
- Cryptocurrency Mining: This is the main "legit" reason. In the early days of Cryptocurrency, folks would have their computers running 24/7. It got so widespread, colleges quickly banned Mining on campus. Mining uses a lot of power which means a higher than normal electric bill. That's aside from producing a lot of heat as well. The introduction of smartphones changed the game. Now people can set up these arrays for Mining without using as much electricity and generating as much heat.
- Online Romance Scams: It's been in the news lately with good reason. I plan to cover this again in an upcoming blog post but basically, people who do this are part of fraud rings based in China, Russia, Nigeria and a few other countries. They aggressively target people in the U.S., UK, Japan, Australia, Canada and South Korea for these types of scams and typically use bot farms to cast as big a net as possible. They are also extremely patient with many taking months or even years to earn their target's trust before they start bleeding them dry of their money.
- Social Media Boosting: This became so widespread 10 years ago that Facebook actually (tried to) do something about it. Basically, bot farms boost certain Posts or Comments and Likes on certain Posts or Comments to give artificially give them heightened exposure.
- Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: This is the second-most popular malicious reason for the proliferation of Bot Farms. You may have heard of DDoS Attacks before but basically, they overload internet traffic to a website or platform to the point the targeted platform/website experiences severe slowdown or crashes outright. This IS legally considered a cyber crime regardless of the type of website or platform being targeted. Most commonly visited websites and high-traffic platforms are not as vulnerable to this kind of attack as 20 years ago but it is still something to be wary of.
- Distributing Disinformation, Misinformation and Malinformation: This quickly became the most popular reason for the proliferation of Bot Farms over the last 10 years in particular. It's most obvious on Xitter and has gotten even worse ever since Elon Musk bought the platform a few years ago. Don't believe everything you see and read online on that note.
...That's to say nothing of Botters who target people for harrassment online of course.
All I can really say is the tech industry has been allowed to have way too much power too fast over the last 30 years. I feel like at this point, the collapse of Western Civilization is a matter of when not if largely because of that. Now is a good time for folks to consider stocking up on supplies if possible. Stock up now, avoid the rush to come later!
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