Tag: click bait

The Dangers of AI: WHAT Do the TV Show M*A*S*H and Mel’s Hole Have in Common?

YouTube warning: the channel “Rory D” is one I came across while doing a search. The video said the same thing again and again, in broken AI narration. It was supposed to be about why Gary Burghoff was so disliked by his M*A*S*H co-stars. The thumbnail is clickbait. For the current technology, this is not only hideous, but also an immediate and unmitigated insult to anyone who dares watch it.

I seriously doubt that any humans had any part of this production. Wait, did I just say “production?”
That’s not what this is.
A “documentary” about the classic TV show wouldn’t really have scenes from westerns inserted, would it? And those clips are not in any way related to the subject.
In trying to block the channel, I was frustrated. Not only could I not “block” it, I couldn’t even request of YouTube that timeless and handy option of (“Do not recommend this channel”). What the hell?
Topping it all off is a really obvious insult that is the featured video on the channel’s homepage: “This drone entered Mel’s hole ..”
I don’t know what’s next because that’s when I backed the heck outta there.
I don’t need to eat a whole pear to know if it’s rotten.
*Mel’s hole is a rural myth with no proof that any part of the story was true. According to one of the conspiracy theories, the government invaded his land and wiped out the hole itself. (they covered the hole because filling it was not an option, as it was bottomless!) It was covered over so cleverly that soil and grass now hide it.

Another whopper — I mean conspiracy theory — is that a native medicine man has been there, and knows that the military still has a base there because it’s a hot spot for aliens from another planet. No such people exist, not Mel Waters, and certainly not a medicine man who wanders freely on and off restricted military property.

Furthermore, note experts, such a bottomless hole can’t exist. Geology says it would collapse with the pressure at such a, um, depth.

Not only that, but “Mel” claimed that over fifteen miles of fishing line was lowered into the hole. Experts say the heat at even a shallower depth would have melted nylon monofilament fishing line (not even Berkeley XT could survive it!).


The story came from a caller to the Coast to Coast AM radio show with Art Bell. Of course Art Bell was not responsible; his callers were often retired soda jerks with insomnia and vividly colorful imaginations.

It’s bullshit, in other words. Mel’s hole never existed. Put that right out of your mind, BUT if you want a laugh, go ahead and look the story up. But not on your pad or PC. Do it at a library so you don’t end up with pseudo shit in your feeds. The story is so preposterous that I wonder how anyone could even have believed it. Or how people from coast to coast weren’t laughing in the streets in the wee hours after running their cars into trees or semi trucks. Hell, I’d have been too scared to drive at all. I’d never have been able to avoid a Walmart rig running over me at 0400. My name ain’t Bruce, and God wouldn’t save me.

And Mel’s hole was never investigated by drones. There’s a gap of more than a decade between the Mel’s hole phone calls and commercial drones like quadcopters.

A YouTube channel run by AI with little or no supervision sticks out like a camel in a steeplechase match. But that will not last.

You can’t trust AI or the humans behind it, because one is going to get better at lying and the other was always good at it.

We are living in an age of lies. Look around you. To every extent that you can, stay observant, stay vigilant and call out liars when you find them.

Bullshit, Bullshit All Around, Bullshit, Bullshit the Truth Never Found

With Google’s AI search not doing well in beta, but being pushed to go live, it’s worth a look around to see how much of the truth is still found out there.

Corporate entities are responsible for cramming your search results with everything advertised from books to tin wall art to fake cures and more.

One of the biggest scams out there are “secret” ingredients for curing toenail fungus. Lots of people have it, and not one of them fails to loathe it. It grows right in the nail bed and no matter what’s advertised in a long video which, after watching it hopefully, you’ll be offered something for sale, usually at a premium price.

They come and go, and I’m positive that some hawkers of this bullshit have been sued, but sooner or later, the ads will be back with a different “doctor” endorsing and doing the narrative. There may even be a different “secret ingredient” this time.

The reason? People get desperate. They hate the fungus, and not being able to go barefoot on the beach without forcing them under the sand. They hate not being able to wear sandals or sliders or classic flops. It’s embarrassing, even though socks with sandals may get you even more adverse reactions.

Fungi-Nail, additives for soaking, advice from friends, all will fail and leave you progressively more angry and frustrated. Wrapping your toes with banana peels, soaking your feet in apple cider vinegar, Dr. Scholls and you name it. It all amounts to your friends punking you and companies scamming you.

There is a cure. It’s very expensive, usually not covered by insurance, and is a special fungicide in capsule form. But most people can’t take it because of anaphylaxis.

In 1998, I nearly died 3 times. Once was this medicine that caused serious anaphylaxis and a rash so severe that a doctor in the hospital thought it was syphilis.

The second near-death was when the anaphylaxis made me pass out and I was hit by a car that kept on going. The third time was a heart attack not long after.

Years would pass. I tried every quack’s remedies and nothing worked. Finally I found out that it’s a superfungus and it’s in your blood.

I’d asked a podiatrist to remove and cauterize my nails, and she explained that no, she couldn’t do that. Removing the nails is serious business and very painful, cauterization is dangerous and often ineffective, and patients died from infections they got because they dropped something on their foot, splitting the thin skin of the nail bed, and failing to grasp the severity of the wound. Besides, if the nail grew back, it wouldn’t likely do so with good results. It would be wavy, or curved, or something else you didn’t like.

Her suggestion? Use Vicks on it to thin each nail until the fungi-Nail could penetrate.

This, after she just got finished telling me no toenails were dangerous. What’s the real difference then between that and a thin nail?

I tried it anyway.

If you believe Vicks can thin an extra-thick fungal nail, go ahead and try it. I dare you.

Lies, fakery and scams, enough bullshit to drown in.

Like the click bait at the foot of a news article. “The Scene That Ended the Brady Bunch” with a picture of Marcia Brady on a bed? It’s bullshit.

The show had run its course. A guest appearance by Joe Namath didn’t help. I never forgave Joe for that.

People have often blamed brat cousin Oliver for it, but he didn’t arrive until it was too late. I don’t remember why he was there, but I remember how hated he was. He looked like John Denver’s kid, no shit.

No, there was never a single scene which got “The Brady Bunch”, “Gilligan’s Island”, or “I Dream of Jeannie” canceled. The click bait is always accompanied by a mildly suggestive photograph, probably doctored, certainly cropped. Voyeurs can’t help themselves. They click. This is followed by the words, “Start Slide Show”. Good luck with that shit. About 20 minutes of your life later, time you wasted and can’t get back, is followed by thoughts of what you could have been doing: foreplay, coitus, masturbation, sticking things up your ass, nose or in your ears. Or you could have done something constructive and positive and righteous.

Just saying.