All posts tagged: strangers

Brits admit they avoid talking to strangers to ‘skip small talk’ | UK | News

Brits admit they avoid talking to strangers to ‘skip small talk’ | UK | News

Published by skeptic

Almost half of British adults say they avoid engaging with strangers in order to prevent small talk. A poll commissioned by the Samaritans said 94% of respondents said they did not have a go-to question when it comes to small talk. The research was carried out as part of the Small Talk Saves Lives campaign. It aims to remind people that starting a conversation with someone who appears to need help near a railway can reduce the number of suicides. The initiative, which is run in partnership with the rail industry and British Transport Police, suggests a question such as ‘Do you know where I can grab a cuppa?’ could be enough to interrupt someone’s suicidal thoughts. Samaritans chief executive Julie Bentley said: “Every day, there are people across Great Britain who are in distress and need support. “Our Small Talk Saves Lives campaign empowers people to trust their instincts and have the confidence to act in a way that could save a life.” Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: “The Small Talk Saves …

Wyze camera breach let 13,000 strangers look into other people’s homes

Wyze camera breach let 13,000 strangers look into other people’s homes

Published by skeptic

Wyze If you have a Wyze security camera, you should be aware of a recent security breach – because it may have let a stranger see in your home. In a message to customers, company co-founder David Crosby explained that the issue began shortly after an outage on Friday morning, February 16. If customers tried to view their cameras during that time, he wrote, images were unavailable. Also: The best home security cameras for peace of mind at home But as cameras were being brought back online, users started seeing images and videos in their Events that were not from their cameras. When every device tried to come back online at once, the company explained, the system became overloaded. The increased usage caused device IDs to be mapped incorrectly, connecting some accounts to the wrong cameras. Wyze blamed “a third-party caching client library that was recently integrated into our system” for the trouble. At first, Wyze estimated that only 14 people were able to peek into someone else’s home. Now that estimate has ballooned to …

Andrew Scott embraces ‘the lie that tells the truth’ in ‘All Of Us Strangers’

Andrew Scott embraces ‘the lie that tells the truth’ in ‘All Of Us Strangers’

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Adam (Andrew Scott), in “All Of Us Stranger”, by Andrew Haigh. WALT DISNEY In 2010, Sherlock Holmes encountered a new adversary in the evil genius of Professor Moriarty. In the Sherlock series, Conan Doyle’s paranoid military figure was transformed into a seductive, perverse young man, played by then-36-year-old actor Andrew Scott, a regular on London theater stages and in supporting film roles. Director Andrew Haigh remembered the moment: “I remember thinking this is a very, very interesting actor. There’s a way that he talks and a way that the thoughts seem to emerge on his face.” That face, with its fine features that can become as vulnerable as they are menacing, has grown familiar. We saw Scott as a hot priest in the second season of Fleabag, as an honest officer in Sam Mendes’ 1917, and will soon see him again as Tom Ripley in a series based on the misdeeds of Patricia Highsmith’s character, already played by Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper, Matt Damon and John Malkovich. At the beginning of December 2023, the two …

Young Woman Raises Three Younger Brothers Alone Without A Car Until Strangers Step In

Young Woman Raises Three Younger Brothers Alone Without A Car Until Strangers Step In

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At just 24, Rachel Chavez volunteered to care for her three younger siblings. She knew that it wouldn’t be easy, but she stepped up to the plate to give them the life and home they deserved.  After others noticed her efforts, they decided to gift her with a surprise that would improve life drastically for both her and her siblings.  Chavez was raising her three younger siblings without a car until strangers stepped in to help. Rachel Chavez from Arizona knew that taking in her three younger brothers to raise on her own was the right thing to do after their parents were struggling with their health and finances. While they loved their children, it eventually became impossible to care for them, so in Septemeber 2022, Chavez gained legal custody of her younger brothers, ages 17, 15, and 9. While working full-time as a pharmacy technician, Chavez managed to provide a stable home for the three boys with food on the table and a roof over their heads. “I’m caring for them to give them a better future, to provide them …

Wyze security camera owners once again report seeing strangers’ feeds

Wyze security camera owners once again report seeing strangers’ feeds

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Nope, it’s not privacy worry-induced déjà vu. Wyze camera users have once again reported seeing into another user’s home via their home-monitoring devices, in a second display of what could be a potentially serious security flaw. “We have now identified a security issue where some users were able to see thumbnails of cameras that were not their own in the Events tab,” explained Wyze cofounder David Crosby in a statement to the Verge. The security snafu followed an extended outage of Wyze service and AWS issues on Feb. 16, which downed user cameras for nearly nine hours. As devices went live, users reported seeing thumbnail images of another home in the camera app’s Events tab. A reported 14 users were able to see the thumbnails. “One of my cameras notified me of an event from inside someone else home with them in it walking around. Absolutely no security with wyze whatsoever,” wrote Reddit user @gengarghos. SEE ALSO: https://mashable.com/article/openai-sora-ai-video-generator-training-data Crosby posted an explanation to Wyze’s public forum, noting that none of the users were able to …

How to disagree better – The Atlantic

How to disagree better – The Atlantic

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Our writers’ perspectives on arguing and communicating in healthier ways Damir Sagolj / Reuters February 17, 2024, 8 AM ET This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning. In the 1887 essay “Silent People as Misjudged by the Noisy,” an Atlantic contributor proposed an economical approach to talking: “As we get on in life past the period of obstreperous youth, we incline to talk less and write less, especially on the topics which we have most at heart,” the writer noted. “We are beginning to realize the uselessness of perpetually talking … If there is a thing to be said, we prefer to wait and say it only when and where it will hit something or somebody.” Many of us wish we were better at waiting to speak until we knew our words would “hit something or somebody” exactly how we want them to. But more …

Big Cats Can Tell Familiar Voices From Strangers

Big Cats Can Tell Familiar Voices From Strangers

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By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter HealthDay FRIDAY, Feb. 16, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Big cats may be more attuned to humans than you think: New research shows that lions, tigers and cheetahs can recognize familiar human voices and tell them apart from strangers. Investigators found consistent evidence of voice recognition among 25 big cats of various species. The cats responded more quickly, intensely and for longer durations to familiar voices than unfamiliar ones, regardless of whether their names were used. Until now, researchers thought domestication was the reason why household cats discriminate between family members and strangers. These findings indicate that close human contact of any kind provides cats the opportunity to distinguish between people, researchers said. “This study adds to the growing body of work challenging stereotypes about cats as aloof creatures,” said lead researcher Jennifer Vonk, a professor of psychology with Oakland University in Michigan. “It underscores the importance of recognizing the cognitive abilities of all species, even those traditionally considered less social.” Lions are suspected to be the only truly social species …

The 15 Best Two-Player Mobile Games to Play With Friends or Strangers

The 15 Best Two-Player Mobile Games to Play With Friends or Strangers

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Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, two-player mobile games can be a great way to pass the time. We’ve selected some of the best two-player mobile games that you can try out today. 1. Marvel Snap Marvel Snap launched in 2023 and became an instant hit. Later updates also introduced the ability for players to invite their friends to games. This two-player card game can be played on mobile as well as Steam. While the main mode is a two-player ranked mode, you also get the unranked Conquest mode and the Friendly mode (which lets you invite specific friends). The short matches are a great way to kill some time and the large variety of cards can appeal to different play styles. Download: Marvel Snap for Android | iOS (Free) 2. Rocket League Sideswipe Rocket League Sideswipe is a mobile take on the popular Rocket League game. In the mobile title, you can play with friends or strangers online. If you want to play with friends, you will have to invite them to a …

Last rites for Delhi’s forgotten: the woman who cremates strangers | Global development

Last rites for Delhi’s forgotten: the woman who cremates strangers | Global development

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On an overcast, blustery day, with cars honking in the distance, a young woman covers a dead body with a shroud. With a helper, they place it on a bamboo stretcher and carry it up the steps of Delhi’s Sarai Kale Khan crematorium. Once at the furnace, she gives it a gentle push to move it inside and bows her head in prayer. Pooja Sharma repeats the process for three other bodies. The people are unknown to her – unclaimed bodies for whom she performs the last rites. For almost two years, Sharma has spent most days collecting bodies from mortuaries when the police paperwork has been completed and taking them to a crematorium, where she gives them a final farewell with dignity. Out of a profound conviction that these people’s remains should not be alone in their final moments, the 26-year-old Sharma has performed the last rites for almost 4,000 unclaimed bodies, averaging about two to 10 a day. The day I cremated my brother I was so overcome by grief I smeared his …