Random Things

They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.

Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.

You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.

This article specifically notes:

For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.

Other important quotes:

What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.

Two things back that up:

There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.

Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.

Here's the complaint filed to the court, the primary source for the case mentioned in the article. You can find mentions of GDID on page 30 of the document or 34 of the PDF.

I also made a PDF version!!

For comprehensive deets, tomshardware explains

From a reverse image search, I found the website Show Your Stripes, run by the University of Reading in the UK, which is likely where the above graph originated. It provides temperature data for various regions of the world from approximately 1900-2025. For example, here are graphs for Canada, India, and Papua New Guinea:

finally searched for a solution and there IS in fact a giant hand-curated list of sites containing this content. it can be imported to ublock origin on desktop or mobile, and even can be used on iOS via the ublacklist extension in the safari app. it's updated regularly, and importing via the link as described should allow those updates to go into effect automatically.

i've only tested it a little bit, but after importing the list and repeating my duckduckgo search for backpack recommendations, my top results now lead to websites that appear to be linked to actual organizations in some form, with an "about us" page and the name of a founder and everything. the text is still often a bit wordy and SEO-optimized, but it now has actual recommendations that are relevant to the query. BIG IF TRUE???

Like. Imagine one of the scientists studying Astrophage gives Grace a paper detailing their recent findings and Grace being locked in on something else, he just looks up, skims the paper, then pulls out a red pen from somewhere and marks it, “B+, you forgot to account for…” then after a 5 minute lecture on how to improve, he goes back to typing or smth. The scientist just standing there baffled thinking ‘B+? What are we in? A classroom?”, and kind of bum hurt that they only got a B+ (bc ofc they want an A) so they go back to researching with a new ferocity cuz dammit they’re going to get that A. Cue the science team being fueled by Dr.Grace’s grades, them just rubbing it into each others faces if they get A’s or A+’s. Headcanon 2 is that he just keeps gold star stickers in his pockets so for example: All of them are in a meeting, Dr. smth pipes up with a good suggestion and he goes, “Great job! You get a gold star.” And just puts it on their phone case or badge and moves on, everyone is flabbergasted and a bit jealous except for the scientist who is just vibrating with happiness and a bit of fear because the co-dictator of the world just gave them a gold star.

Extra: Grace also hits Stratt with the 1 2 punch of “A+! Here’s a gold star.” On one of her presentations after staying up for 36+ hours and slaps a gold star on her forehead before conking out on the desk. Carl is in the corner desperately trying not to laugh bc Grace just did this in front of the entire Petrova task force while Stratt is just staring at him in confused amusement. Extra-extra: The mess hall on Stratt’s Vat has a ‘Fridge-board” which is a magnetic board acting as a fridge for all of their papers with A’s on it. Grace just being mortified when he learns that he’s been grading and giving gold stars to the top minds of the world and Stratt having to assure him that is boosts morale and that it’s fine.

(Once he gets sent off to space, everyone in the task force keeps their stars to remember him, because he never said goodbye.)

pretty sure this is exactly how lessons at qifrey's atelier go

Basically part 3 of the "grace avatar-ed himself into an eridian body and meets humans again after hundreds of years" HAHAHAHAH

poor dr grace has one (1) oh gee golly i wonder who it is JK HAHHAAHHAHA