And it’s on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.celzero.bravedns/

Awesome, thank you!

I mean, OK… Until every bank, government service, health care provider, etc implements this.

What app are you using to log the requests?

“I got mine.”

Would it be a huge shock to find out some conglomerate like Koch Industries or ExxonMobil were involved in an astroturf campaign

Maybe not, but there’s no evidence of that here, it’s pure speculation.

The influence campaign being perpetrated here looks very similar to Russian operations against former Soviet states, where they encourage or create a “separatist” movement within the target nation and then antagonize both sides until the separatists eventually break off a chunk of territory from the target nation, and then wouldn’t you know it Russian troops show up and “help” establish a new orderly, Russia-aligned government. For example:

• Georgia

“… the South Ossetia war and the Abkhazia war resulted in Georgia’s loss of territory in what had been the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast and the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, respectively, to two internationally unrecognized separatist movements that were supported by the newly independent Russian Federation.”

• Moldova/Transnistria

“… the Transnistria War, in which Russian-backed Transnistria managed to stay separate from Moldova.”

• Crimea

“The referendum was held under Russian occupation and, according to the Russian-installed authorities, the result was overwhelmingly in favor of joining Russia.”

• Ukraine

“Intercepted phone conversations of Sergey Glazyev, a top advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, disclosed the specifics of the project Novorossiya to take over not just Crimea, but also the Donbas, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, which Russia apparently aimed to annex following Crimea. The plan involved fomenting widespread unrest using pro-Russian agents on the ground, and then orchestrating uprisings that would announce rigged referendums about joining Russia, similar to the one that took place in Crimea on 16 March 2014.”

This fits the pattern, with the obvious major difference being that Canada is not a former Soviet nation.

Also speculation, of course. But to me it looks like Russia has this strategy which they play over and over, and with which they’ve been getting more ambitious and seeking larger targets.

He’s not the biological father.

Yeah, you’re right. They’re more like clones, or siblings.

“…and yes, somehow this assembly of three aluminum tubes will cost you $2000.”

Communism breaks your leg, then “Oops, sorry comrade! No crutches produced in factory this week! Maybe new crutches in six months! Have new toaster instead!”
“Also no bread unless you have a roof!”

Stalinism breaks both your legs, then issues you a pair of state-sanctioned non-Western shoes and asks why you’re so lazy you can’t get up and go to work for glorious motherland.

Um… if Odo is the father, how would you describe what happens at the end of the episode?

Um, isn’t the money in this case coming from a Dutch company? Youtube is being used to propagate this misinformation campaign, but they’re not driving it.

It doesn’t matter that Youtube is an American company, what matters is that there is a large audience on Youtube to influence with this campaign. Similar campaigns are done on every major platform, regardless of what country they’re based in.

Blasphemy. We are all wrought by His noodly appendage.

Stargate SG-1 characters reference Star Trek several times throughout the series. Star Wars too, but less often. Also there’s this.

It could be really useful for various social or psychological research

The only application I can see for such research would be to extend and refine the distopian use cases. What else would such research be used for? It will only feed back into the cycle of privacy invasion and the surveillance state.

… or monitoring patient status.

Impersonal patient status monitoring (beyond vital statistics like heartbeat monitoring which we can already accomplish much more easily) will not have any practical benefit. The most likely outcome is that it will be used to justify reduced nurse staffing.

… the double slit experiment [makes] me angry.

I think if the conclusion of the double slit experiment doesn’t make you a little upset, you’re not really paying attention to the implications.

I think Wheeler’s delayed-choice experiment, with all its variations, shows a particular obsession with trying to get a definite answer from the universe.

The fact that it is possible to decide whether a wave or particle feature manifests itself long after—and even space-like separated from—the measurement teaches us that we should not have any naive realistic picture for interpreting quantum phenomena. Any explanation of what goes on in a specific individual observation of one photon has to take into account the whole experimental apparatus of the complete quantum state consisting of both photons, and it can only make sense after all information concerning complementary variables has been recorded. Our results demonstrate that the viewpoint that the system photon behaves either definitely as a wave or definitely as a particle would require faster-than-light communication. Because this would be in strong tension with the special theory of relativity, we believe that such a viewpoint should be given up entirely.

The universe we inhabit is a goofy, nonsensical place that frustrates our attempts to comprehend it.

Also by what it destroys.

And also by what it refuses to create.

Society is defined by society.

Tautology is defined by tautology.

I can’t think of any beneficial uses for such a product.

But as soon as money/gifts/favors are introduced, it’s automatically an uneven playing field.

Even if you discount or prevent direct bribes/corruption, there is still an imbalance when a particular group (e.g. the petroleum industry) can afford to employ people as full-time lobbyists, who spend their time and attention on nothing else. It’s much harder to write effective regulation against that, or enforce it.

The only useful response is to organize advocacy groups that can also afford to support full-time lobbyists (the ACLU, EFF, etc).

Yes.

Alternatively, donate to and/or volunteer for groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontiers Foundation (or equivalent groups in your country) which are already organized and employ lobbyists.

One other note that no one else has addressed:

There is a lung cancer risk due to inhaling smoke, or really any kind of small particulates. Burnt organic material is particularly bad, as you’re basically inhaling very fine carbon particles. The lung cancer risk from smoking marijuana seems to be lower than that from smoking tobacco, because tobacco smoke in particular contains many cancer-causing chemicals, but there is also comparatively little research on health risks related to cannabis smoke.

Regardless, the point is not that smoking weed is a particular cancer risk, but that inhaling any smoke or vapor is a cancer risk, and the risk is increased by volume. Firefighters have an increased risk of developing lung cancer due to repeated and extended exposure.

I’m not saying don’t smoke at all - after all, life should be lived. I am saying that you should understand the risks you’re taking, and that they can be reduced by moderation.

[…] or consult experts in the field before they enact legislation.

This is technically the justification for lobbying.