I’ve already decided that I’m not going to download the Australian Government’s Draconian attempt at monitoring its own citizens’ movements. Why? Because I think liberty is more important than any benefit the app could bring. The upcoming Coronavirus Contact Tracing App will be based off the Singapore Government’s TraceTogether app. It essentially uses Bluetooth on your phone to monitor who you come in contact with, as long as they also have the app installed on their phone. The two apps will exchange anonymous IDs, which are then stored encrypted on the phones and apparently deleted after 21 days. For this to be effective, the Australian Government have stated that at least 40% of Australians will need to download the app. The apparently anonymous data can then be used by the authorities to assist with contact tracing. If someone is found to be infected with coronavirus, the authorities can use the data from that person’s phone to work out who they have been in contact with. My question, if the data is completely anonymous, then how could they possibly work out who you’ve been in contact with? At first, the government announced that this app will be completely voluntary, so I wasn’t too concerned. But then Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly refused to rule out the app being made compulsory for all Australians at some point in the future. Prime Minister Scott Morrison seems to be leaving the door open as well. If it is made compulsory, how will it be enforced? Laws are only as good as their level of enforcement. Will police be allowed to approach people randomly and ask to see their phones? Yes, this has got Draconian written all over it. CORONAVIRUS BOOKS Montessori Parent Coronavirus Survival Guide: Thriving in an era of extended school closures ▶ https://amzn.to/2wNLB4x Coronavirus: A Book for Children ▶ https://amzn.to/3alXegG Coronavirus and Christ ▶ https://amzn.to/34MVQCt SOCIAL https://www.facebook.com/DailyRantAustralia/ https://twitter.com/RantAustralia ALTERNATIVE TO YOUTUBE ▶ https://lbry.tv/$/invite/@DailyRantAustralia:d MY GEAR Rode NT-USB Microphone ▶ https://amzn.to/3ampQWZ Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Laptop IMAGE RIGHTS Scott Morrison by Kristy Robinson / Commonwealth of Australia / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) OUTRO MUSIC Fortress Europe by Dan Bodan (https://www.youtube.com/user/danbodan) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arwdtCUu2jU

During the recent lockdown, I’ve been finding it incredibly hard to stick to my one-meal-a-day regime. At first, I thought it would be fairly easy, but clearly I was wrong. Now that I’m stuck at home all day, I find myself snacking, eating too much, and ultimately putting on weight. So I came up with a technique that really helps. If you really can’t wait to hear the technique, jump straight ahead to 2:53 AWESOME EXERCISE AND WEIGHT LOSS BOOKS The Obesity Code: the bestselling guide to unlocking the secrets of weight loss ▶ https://amzn.to/35juvs5 Delay, Don't Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle ▶ https://amzn.to/2YmVd1m Fast Exercise: The simple secret of high intensity training: get fitter, stronger and better toned in just a few minutes a day ▶ https://amzn.to/2y41jsZ SOCIAL https://www.facebook.com/DailyRantAustralia/ https://twitter.com/RantAustralia ALTERNATIVE TO YOUTUBE ▶ https://lbry.tv/$/invite/@DailyRantAustralia:d MY GEAR Rode NT-USB Microphone ▶ https://amzn.to/3ampQWZ Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Laptop OUTRO MUSIC Fortress Europe by Dan Bodan (https://www.youtube.com/user/danbodan) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KHT91rIgoQ

I’m not taking the vaccine for one reason… lack of long-term testing. That’s nothing to do with me being an “anti-vaxxer”. Actually, I’m the opposite of an anti-vaxxer. I’m up-to-date with all of my scheduled vaccines, as are my children. However, all those vaccines have been thoroughly tested. Whenever I’ve had to go overseas and the country says that I need a particular vaccine, I look into its potential side effects, make sure that it’s been proven to be safe and effective, then I get the vaccine. It’s a pretty simple process. However, the most mature of these covid vaccines is less than 12 months old. I think we can all agree that there hasn’t been time for adequate long-term testing. Although not a vaccine, one example that comes to mind is the thalidomide tragedy where years later, the drug was found to cause terrible birth defects in children whose mothers took the medication during pregnancy. Long-term testing is vital. If you choose to get one of these new covid vaccines, you are doing so with either incredible faith in what the politicians and medical community are telling you, or you are taking an incredibly gamble. Top Plus Item Picks on eBay (All with free express metro delivery) ▶ http://ebay.us/xyl8ud OUTRO MUSIC Fortress Europe by Dan Bodan #vaccine #VaccineHesitancy #VaccineSafety ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEQPnfa0Whc

The fall of social media. The title of this video doesn’t necessarily mean that I think that social media is going to go extinct or become obsolete, but it certainly is going through somewhat of a reckoning of late. Later in this video, I’ll discuss three major flaws of modern social media, with one being the main reason, I think, that social media is on the decline. Recently, Elon Musk bought Twitter for $US44 billion and we now know it’s losing millions of dollars per day. But to be fair, the company was having problems well before Elon Musk bought it. If you look at the company data over the last 10 years, it’s been losing millions of dollars every year apart from 2018 and 2019. But in 2020, it lost $1.1 billion! 2021 was a little bit better, but it still lost $221 million. So, it’s not like it was a thriving company when Musk bought it. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) has been having some issues of late as well. Its stock price has dropped almost 75% over the last year. Consequently, Zuckerberg had to lay off 11,000 employees via email, which is about 13% of their workforce. But to be fair to him, he did say “Sorry”. In a blog post on Meta’s website, not only was he sorry, he was “especially sorry”. So as I said earlier, in this video I’d like to discuss three major flaws of modern social media that could potentially explain its downfall. But just before that, let’s answer one important question, “Why do people use social media?”. Well, I think in its simplest form, the answer is pretty obvious: Humans are inherently social. I don’t think that’s particularly surprising or unique to humans. Most animals I can think of exhibit some form of social behaviour. But throughout human history, it was cooperative behaviour and social interaction that allowed the human species to survive and thrive. Those that strayed too far from the tribe often didn’t make it home. So of course it makes sense that we naturally flock towards so-called social media. But as I said, there are a number of flaws with this relatively new online form of interaction. Number 1. Lack of Physical Contact. Obviously, no matter which social media network you use, there is a complete lack of face-to-face interaction. People are not physically present with one another when they use these networks. Of course, despite this, modern social media has still thrived, but for completeness, it’s certainly worth mentioning. With regards to how humans naturally interact with one another, it certainly is a flaw. The second flaw – Anonymity. Now I’m all for remaining anonymous on the Internet. There’s lots of problems associated with sharing your real-life details online. For example, there could be a real danger for minors, or victims of crime, or victims of domestic violence being forced to reveal their identities online. Not to mention that sensitive information can be, and has been, stolen or leaked. However, there are also some real problems with people remaining anonymous. Although most of us probably try to remain fairly respectful online, some use their anonymity to become absolute horrible people. They abuse people. They troll people. They do everything that they wouldn’t do in real life. In my opinion, the online social world has become a very toxic environment. Anonymity, at least somewhat, has contributed to people leaving the big social media platforms. And the biggest flaw of modern social media, at least in my reckoning – Censorship. I think this is a major reason why many people are leaving the big social media platforms, especially over the last couple of years. Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand the need for these companies to censor illegal material. I get that. If they allowed their users to freely distribute illegal content, they would surely be shut down. However, over the last couple of years, a lot of the stuff that they are censoring is not illegal. The big social media networks have simply taken it upon themselves to decide what people can and can’t talk about. They ban people for talking about what they deem “inappropriate”. They’re silencing one side of the debate for no other reason than they said so. In my opinion, this is completely immoral. It’s amazing that we’ve allowed it to go on for so long. So yes, it doesn’t surprise me that social media is falling. When you stop a social animal, such as a human, from communicating honestly and openly, then you’re stopping natural, social behaviour. And if you do it long enough, people will just end up leaving. Perhaps we need a couple of these social media giants to have a great fall. MUSIC Melancholia by Godmode ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpVRqNjF2sw