Would You Like To Notice A Simple Pattern? Decline

Why Your iPhone Doesn’t Always Show You the ‘Decline Call’ Button
I’m not sure how I never figured this out, considering how simple it sounds when you hear it. I’ve always just quietly wondered to myself about it as I hit the power button to stop the ringing. Speaking of which, I only ever have to hit it once. Is them saying twice an error or is it something that happens on phones newer than mine? I’m still using the iPhone 8 that Rogers tried to screw me on five years ago. It’s still working pretty well and I’m not in any big hurry to replace it.

And I need to take a better look at Carin’s phone, it seems. Hers is newer than mine, and I can’t remember if her power button is on the top or the side. I was, until I saw here where they’ve written top in one spot and side in another, pretty sure that hers is on the side. But now I have no idea. At least one question has been answered, though.

If you get a call while your phone is locked, you’ll see the “slide to answer” button. In order to decline the call, you have to double-tap the power button on the top of the phone.

If your phone is unlocked, however, the screen that appears during an incoming call is different. You’ll see the two buttons, “accept” or “decline.”

Either way, you get the options to set a reminder to call that person back or to immediately send them a text message. (“Dad, stop calling me at work, it’s 9 a.m.!”)

Update: I’ve had two people give me the same reason for why you would hit the power button twice to decline a call. If you hit it once, the ringing stops, but the answering screen is still visible. When I think about it, yes, I have noticed that. But apparently the second press is the actual declining one that will send the person to voicemail. Yet another thing I probably would have known if I paid any attention to anything at all. But when I hit the power button, my only goal is to get the ringing to stop. Once it does, I go on with whatever non-phone thing I was doing. Even if I am doing something different with my phone, it has never occurred to me to hit that button again instead of waiting a few seconds for that screen to disappear.

Oh, and Carin’s power button is on the side. So at least I was right about something.

Police Are Hoping To Speak With Karma About The Second Murder

For a lot of reasons, I’m pretty sure I would make a terrible murderer. I don’t think I’ve got it in me to kill anybody, for a start. And even if I did, the relentless regret and anxiety would almost certainly do me in soon thereafter. Or perhaps it wouldn’t even have time, because I can absolutely imagine my own end coming similar to that of Joseph McKinnon. I say similar to, because I’m positive I would die while digging the damn pit and fall into it myself.

Deputies with the Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office told WJBF they believe Joseph McKinnon strangled Patricia Dent inside her home, and then was burying her in the backyard when he had a heart attack and died.

Deputies were first called to the Trenton home on Saturday when a man was reported lying unresponsive in the yard, The News & Observer reported. When officers arrived, they found Joseph McKinnon, 60, who lived in the home.

In a statement to WJBF, deputies said, “While investigating the death and making notifications to next of kin, a second body, was located in a freshly dug pit.” Officers identified the second person as Patricia Dent, who also lived in the home.

Carin Is Presenting AT CSUN 2023

If you’re at the CSUN conference this week, you may not be reading this because looking at that schedule of events tells me that holy crap, there’s a lot going on down there. But if you have managed to find a couple minutes of free time to play around on the internet, allow me to fill some of it by telling you that Carin is presenting tomorrow. If you’re involved in creating or teaching courses online or even if you’re an educator in need of some pointers that can help you offline as well, you may want to go check that out. Here be the details.

Enabling Effective Learning Online for Screen Reader Users
Date & Time
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 – 3:20 PM PST  
Location
Grand AB  
Description
Enabling effective learning online involves the inclusive use of educational technology, learning experiences and teaching practices, together with a connected community. This is especially important when you have learners using assistive technologies, especially screen readers. As a native screen reader user, I will share points in this session that are critical to designing online learning for screen reader users. I will also highlight how such design provides a “curb-cut” advantage to all learners. To begin with, learning technologies must work with screen readers. For that to happen those technologies must align with accessibility standards. This could also make these learning technologies more usable with other assistive technologies. Next, the learning materials must be created keeping non-visual access in mind. This requires that content creators are aware of the needs of screen reader users. If not, they would be introducing barriers to learning. Further, the teaching practices must be inclusive. This involves making the curriculum, instruction, and assessment usable by learners with diverse needs. Finally, it will be easier for everyone if they work together as a community and learn from one another. In summary, inclusive design of technology, content, pedagogy, and community is critical to making online learning accessible. Even if one of these components is not accessible, the learning experience will not be accessible.

She’ll be using a lot of her own experiences as a student at various stages of her education to try to make things relatable. I think there’s even one in there about me and the day I nearly committed a homicide when it was brought to my attention that the community component had failed me spectacularly. What more could you ask for?

She’ll also be in town until Friday evening, so say hello if you see her around. She says she hasn’t bumped into anyone she knows yet, but I’m sure that will change once things get started.

They Didn’t Relish Paying So Much, But They’ll Like It Even Less When The Cops Ketchup With Them

Not condoning this whatsoever. These guys probably shouldn’t be seeing sunlight for a decade or two. But $6 for a hot dog? What the hell, man?

Jeremy Delgado, 21, and Bobby Wynn, 19, were arrested after APD officers spoke with witnesses at the scene and reviewed HALO cameras in the area of the incident. Through a witness account, the affidavit said the Delgado pushed the vendor to the ground following an argument over the price of the hot dog — $6 — and then he and Wynn “punched and kicked the vendor several times.”
Another witness said Delgado started yelling at the vendor about the price, and then it “got out of hand,” the affidavit said.

Out of hand, it appears, may be in the running for understatement of the month. Things got out of hand enough that the hot dog gouger was left with life-threatening injuries including a lacerated liver and a massive head wound that took several staples to close.

The two suspects ran off to hide following the incident, but their freedom was short-lived. Officers quickly caught up with them, and noticed that although they appeared to be uninjured, they were somehow covered in fairly fresh looking blood stains. There was also the small matter of one of them being spotted trying to hide his bloody shoes in a nearby car, you know, like innocent people do.

Both were charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault. Wynn, the one stashing the shoes, was also hit with a count of tampering with or fabricating evidence, a third-degree felony. Their bail was set at $25,000, which is a lot of hot dogs even at $6 a pop.

Reach Out And Touch Yourself

I’m not sure whether I haven’t been paying the sort of attention that I should be paying or if Adam Smith is opening up new frontiers in the obscene phone call space, but this is new to me.

A Florida Man admitted that he was naked and masturbating when he dialed “numerous random phone numbers” and exposed himself to unsuspecting strangers who answered his video call, according to police.
Investigators have charged Adam Smith, 35, with indecent exposure and obscene communication in connection with three illicit video calls made earlier this year.
One victim told cops that they answered a call and “observed a white male, completely nude, squatting in front of the camera while stroking his penis.” A probable cause affidavit notes that while the victim was “shocked,” they “managed to take a screenshot of the defendant.”

That screenshot showed tattoos that police recognized from prior arrests, perhaps including the one for a more conventional indecent exposure in 2019.

Adam, Adam, Adam! How do you not cover those up? Use your head, man! Well…ok…you’re right. You were. Can’t argue with that. But maybe next time try using the other one, too.

May I Take Your Order For Less Than I’m Worth If You Can Find Me?

Meet Freshii’s new ‘virtual cashier’ — who works from Nicaragua for $3.75 an hour
A couple of things here.

  1. I’ve never been to a Freshii. To tell you the truth, I’m not entirely sure what they sell or even how to pronounce the name of the place. Is it freshy? Fresh-eeeee? Fresh-eye? Fresh-2? But whatever. I may not even have to bother worrying about it, since it’s not like I’m going to be able to eat there anyway what with them going the unusable by design route.

    Many Freshii customers have already encountered “Percy.”
    The video-calling device is attached to cash registers at a select few Freshii locations across Ontario, and it lights up when customers approach the counter.

    Yet another place bereft of humans capable of pointing me in the right direction (like, say, towards the counter,) should I need it. Good times. Thanks for thinking of me, whatever your name is.

  2. On the other end of the screen is a cashier wearing a headset, ready to take orders. Unlike the Freshii workers that wrap burritos and mop floors, these “virtual” workers are nowhere near the store. Instead, at least some of them process orders from a Nicaraguan call centre nearly 6,000 km away, where they earn much less than Ontario’s minimum wage.
    The program is only in the early stages of testing, but Freshii’s virtual cashiers are part of a wave of outsourcing and automated technology that is slowly changing Canada’s retail industry.

    So how are we doing on that universal basic income? Might want to start thinking about it again, guys. If this is the future, we’re going to have to find a way to pay for everyone priced out of the job market to exist, and that’s likely going to be the best way forward.

    If I might make a suggestion, how about an automation and outsourcing tax? We haven’t traditionally been in the business of forcing corporations to solve the problems they create in any meaningful way, but it’s never too late to start. I’m not against innovation, but if you’re going to be ruining lives and perhaps entire industries with it purely in the name of cost savings that are going to end up lining your own pockets, the absolute least you can do is put a good chunk of those cost savings into making sure that the streets you’re throwing people out into are nice ones.

Yes You Can Do It! You Know You Can Do It! Baby All You Gotta Do Is Try!

Of all the things I may have expected to get firmly lodged in my head this morning, I can safely say that Guy Lafleur teaching me how to score a goal to a soundtrack of disco music complete with cheerful, encouraging background vocals was not among them. And yet, here we are.

In 1979, an entire album of disco hockey lessons was dropped by Lafleur in both English and French. I can’t seem to find out how many copies it sold, but this report on its release from the CBC says that the people behind the project expected to move at least 100000 of them. Yes, Lafleur was popular, but that seems a little optimistic.

If you’ve got a big game to prepare for and could use a little coaching, you can check out the whole thing below.

Here it is in French:

And English:

And here’s a tracklist so you can follow along. There are more photos of the album and its accompanying booklet at that link as well.

  1. Face Off
  2. Skating
  3. Checking
  4. Power Play
  5. Shooting
  6. Scoring

Produced by Peter Alves and Jack Lenz — the latter of whom co-wrote the Toronto Blue Jays’ seventh-inning anthem “OK Blue Jays” — Lafleur! also taught aspiring stars about “Skating,” “Checking,” the “Face Off” and “Power-Play.” The record also came packaged with a booklet with photos of Lafleur in action, corresponding to each of his recorded lessons, and a colour poster of him looking ready to give in to his Saturday Night Fever.

Somebody’s Putting The Long In Long Beach


Yes, there’s the obvious meaning of the joke in the title. No, nobody in the video bothers mentioning whether or not the man cannon being utilized in full view of the hair salon was, in fact, long. But what was long, and also the reason why I really titled this the way I did, was the police response. It took them 40 minutes to bother showing up, by which point our hero had…well…cum and gone. That’s some fine police work there, lube.

A man in Long Beach, California, sat in a chair in front of a hair salon during business hours and masturbated as he looked through the window.
It took police 40 minutes to arrive, by which time the man had vacated the premises.
When the hair salon owner posted the video to social media, a nail salon responded and said the same man was spotted masturbating and looking through the nail salon window, too.

Now They’ve Got Two

It’s not every day that the same person is involved in multiple hit-and-runs, especially when that person is the victim.

The details are pretty gruesome and I feel awful for this woman and her loved ones. But holy hell, how drunk do you have to be in order to be the second perpetrator? Is it possible for breathalyzers to go off the scale? Good lord.

Authorities were investigating the death of a 49-year-old woman who was walking along a grassy shoulder of a Dade City roadway before being struck by a hit-and-run driver at 3:30 a.m. Authorities found her torso on the shoulder and her legs in the roadway.
Thomas Krummen, 23, approached the scene at a high speed, driving directly at investigators. He ignored commands to stop, ran over the victim’s legs and fled. Troopers chased him and used a maneuver with a patrol car to force him to stop, the highway patrol said.

Krummen is said to have had two passengers in the vehicle with him who tried to flag police down and get out, which leads me to wonder what kind of shape they were in if it was decided that old Thomas here should be the one driving.

He was charged with a slew of offenses. Aggravated assault with a motor vehicle upon a law enforcement officer, reckless driving, DUI, fleeing and eluding, destruction of evidence, driving while license revoked and false imprisonment.