4/28/2021 The Rat Man Cometh
If you haven't read Adam's Featured Musings, I suggest you do. If you are reading this and they are no longer featured, just select the Assassination category. They detail the assassination attempts recently made against him. There is one post, and I'm not sure whether or not it is among the featured posts or not, where he talks about how if you've ever been to his website, whether to download some of his models, check out his scripts, or just out of curiosity, that you are probably now being watched. You're entered in the pool of those targeted for harassment. He goes on to ask if anything strange has occurred lately, something out of the ordinary. Something out of place.
Needless to say, these things have been happening to me on a near constant basis for about 10 years, and I largely ignored them or wrote them off one way or another. Doing so has cost not only me a great deal, but also those closest to me. We always want to explain away the odd occurrences in such a way that the government is not trying to inhibit us. We blindly follow and trust and cast our ballots, like the good little sheep that we are. Anything else is insane. The government doesn't go after nobodies! I've got two words for you: Edward Snowden. For the record, however, I have not cast a vote since the 2004 Presidential election, so don't look at me for all the shit your local, state, and federal governments have been passing. I just wanted to share yet another of the strange occurrences that a couple of corporations have freshly bestowed upon me. To give you some background, I have been using an iPhone 5 for about 8 years, maybe 7. They stopped offering security updates maybe 5 years ago, and to be totally forthcoming, I assumed that "no longer supporting" meant that the phone would no longer work on the network. I didn't realize that it meant that I would no longer be receiving security updates. Had I known that and also accepted the fact that the Western governments of the world were trying to silence Adam, then I would have been keen to get a new phone with updated security at that time. At first, I didn't really notice anything unusual with the phone's behavior, but maybe that's because I wasn't paying attention. About 3 years ago, it started its gradual descent into non-functionality. The battery life was poor, often dropping 10-30% or more at a time. One moment, 68%. The next, 32%. Just from loading a web page. A couple weeks ago, I turned it on to type a text message. It wasn't a long message, but by the time I had finished it, the phone had 15% less charge than it started out with. The touchscreen functionality had stopped as well. In the right conditions: not too hot--not too cold, and indoors or in the shade, it would work without issue...usually. But get it out in the sun, no matter the temperature...whoa nelly! I would be able to get one keystroke in before the touch sensors stopping responding, causing the need for me to lock the screen, unlock it, and make another keystroke or three before having to lock and unlock again. In addition to that: color banding, non-responsive to touch, referred touches, ghost touches, scrolling on its own. Like the thing was possessed! Linda Blair in the exorcist! I can't tell you how many links were clicked without my having clicked them. Apps stopped working because the companies didn't want to pay their developers and programmers to continue to support the old model phones which Adam has said isn't that hard. Thanks, corporations. Websites stopped functioning. Pages wouldn't load properly if they loaded at all. A popup on the phone was constantly asking me to provide my AppleID password, even though I was already logged in. My guess is this was malware. By the end of it, I couldn't even charge the phone without holding the plug very firmly to the right in the port. Even then, it was inconsistent. Yesterday, when charging it up for the last time, I spent probably 20 minutes just trying to get it to acknowledge that it was plugged in. Because I live outside, where there are no outlets, I charge over USB from a battery bank. If whatever is plugged in to the battery bank isn't pulling a certain amount of electricity, the battery bank will turn off after about half a minute. So my method: plug the cord into the battery bank, turn the battery bank on, plug the cord into the phone. Remember that every time I plug the cord into the phone, I'm simultaneously pushing the plug firmly to the right. It becomes a strain on the fingers. If I don't get that little lightning bolt symbol, indicating that it is charging, I unplug it and plug it back in. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Lightning bolt. Lightning bolt goes away. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. The battery bank has turned off. Turn the battery bank back on. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Unplug, plug. Lightning bolt. Lightning bolt goes away. Unplug, plug. (Repeat 8-12 more times). Lightning bolt. Hold. Hold it there. Hold it. Try to maneuver my fingers so that I can hold the phone between my thumb and index finger while maintaining the pressure on the plug with my pinky. Lightning bolt goes away. Repeat all of the above several times until I can make the maneuver. I'm thinking that as the phone charges, the port and plug heat up due to friction from the flow of electricity, thereby expanding the metals, creating a less sensitive contact. Interestingly enough, if the phone is powered off and I plug it into the battery bank, it does not require the shenanigans. Just a simple, normal insertion of the cord into the phone, and the Apple logo appears and the phone boots up. This suggests malware to me. The malware only runs when the phone is powered on. As a result of having the firm sideways pressure on the cord at all times during charging, the charging port is loose. The wear and tear on the muscles and ligaments in my fingers was the last straw, plus the phone's functionality was getting so bad, and I knew it would only continue to worsen, so I texted my mom to see if they had any old phones around that no one was using. At first she offered me her old Galaxy S7 that my nieces play on. I accepted the offer but suggested she wait until we get to the next place where we were going because at the time, we were about to leave the campsite we had been at and migration is not conducive to receiving packages. Well, by the time we made it to our next campsite, the plan had morphed. They had offered to buy me a brand new phone. Fine by me. A fresh battery sounds great! After I explained the shipping methods compatible with General Delivery (USPS, UPS SurePost, or FedEx SmartPost), she asked her "guy" at their service provider what their shipping method is. He tells her UPS SurePost. This was the first red flag. It has been my experience that corporations use FedEx Express or Ground. Even if they use UPS, they do not use SurePost. So I gave her the appropriate address to use which is: My Name / General Delivery / City / State / Zip Code. You see, with General Delivery, the customer is not allowed to use the street address of the post office. I was once told that this causes "a big mess" at the post office and that the only mail that can use the street address of the post office is for the Postmaster. One post office, when I went in to tell them we'd be receiving a package General Delivery, encouraged me to use the street address, "Just to make sure" it got there. Those were his words. He was very friendly. He might've been the Postmaster. At another post office where we've received a few packages General Delivery, the form online at checkout wouldn't accept General Delivery as the street address, so what we did was put in: Name General Delivery / Street Address / City / State / Zip. The package was delivered, and the postal official made no comment about using the street address, but you will note that when we received the package, the label had the address exactly as we entered it at checkout. When my mother went to order the phone and case, she asked me if the post office had a street address, saying "they might need it." Having already told her exactly how to address the mail, this was a little frustrating. I've shopped online, though. Sometimes, as I mentioned, they just don't accept General Delivery as the street address. When it was all said and done though, she told me that she addressed it My Name / Attn: General Delivery. She neglected to mention that she had entered the street address of the post office. Remember, though: every time that we've put in the street address and also specified General Delivery, it gets delivered. Second red flag: it shipped FedEx 2Day even though she specified UPS. I want to point out here how strange this is. When you order something online, and you have the option to specify what shipping method you'd like to use, they don't just go with another shipping method. They use the one you selected. My mom might have grounds for some restitution here. On the day the package was scheduled to be delivered, that's when I noticed that the street address was entered. I send a few texts explaining that it likely won't get delivered this way and that we need to call the shipper and ask them to contact the carrier and tell them to change the delivery address. Prior to ordering, I had a backup plan in place in case the shipping method was not one of those compatible with General Delivery. At this point, she hands off the duties of making the calls to my step-dad, so now I'm in contact with him. He tells me that he was on a three-way call with the shipper (their service provider from whom the phone was ordered) and FedEx. FedEx would not change the address citing that the address was valid and that they would deliver to that address. Third red flag: I've had to do this multiple times in the four years we've been receiving our mail General Delivery. Not once has the carrier refused to change the address. As predicted, the package is refused. Another three-way call is made, and the address is, apparently, successfully changed. Fourth red flag: another delivery attempt is made the next day. Why, if the package was refused, would another delivery attempt be made to the same address? If the person wasn't home, sure. But if the package is refused, it's refused. It goes back to where it came from and that's that. The new expected delivery date, I'm told in a text from my step-dad, is the 26th, but the online tracking does not reflect this. It just reads Scheduled Delivery Date: Pending. There is also discrepancy in where the package was coming from. Whenever I looked at the tracking, it always said it was in transit from Fresno, CA to my city. When my step-dad informed me that he checked the tracking, he said that it was in transit from Oakland, CA to my city. Why would the same tracking number be showing different information on different devices? On the 26th, I get the call from the store that agreed to receive my package that my package has arrived. I ride into town to pick it up. The package feels really lightweight for a phone. I open it at the store. It turns out they have only shipped me the case. Red flag number five: the printed label only has My Name / Street Address of Post Office / City / State / Zip Code (without the "Attn: General Delivery"). Not once has the address not matched what was entered at checkout. There is, however, a sticker about 2x4" with the correct shipping address hand-written on it. So they got the change of address. The tracking number on this package is different than the one the shipper provided to us. I ride back to camp and inform my step-dad that I have received the case but not the phone and that the tracking number was different than the one we have both been checking. The next day, he sends a message saying that the package is scheduled to be delivered that day by 4:30 pm. I get the call from the store around 2:30pm that my package has arrived. It's the phone. Continuation of the fifth red flag: the address printed on the label has My Name / Attn: My Name / Street Address of Post Office / City / State / Zip. Still not a match to either the other package or what was entered at checkout. And the final red flag: there is no mention of the changed address anywhere on the package. Not a sticker, not a new label, nothing. Have you ever seen The Departed? Toward the end of the movie, the police captain Queenan is meeting with his rat in the mob, William, at an address specified by William. Meanwhile, the mob's rat in the police force, Colin, has been assigned by the police force to find the mob's rat in the police force: himself. At the same time, he is also trying to help the mob identify William. So he assigns his team to follow captain Queenan in hopes that it will lead him to William. It does. Colin's police team informs him that they saw Queenan enter a building with the address "344 Wash." Colin calls the mob to let them know that he thinks Queenan is meeting with the rat right now and gives them the address. The mob then calls William (while he is talking to the captain at their meeting place), to let him know they've found the police's rat, and they're going to go take him out. Only they accidentally tell him the wrong address: 314 Wash. The mob shows up and storms the building. William escapes the situation via the fire escape while Queenan stays behind and is killed by the mobsters. They throw him off the roof, bloodied and dead, and his body falls to the ground right in front of William, who is coming around the corner as if he is just arriving. The mobsters come out of the building and find William hovering over Queenan's lifeless body. Some yelling ensues "Where the fuck were you?" William feigns ignorance, and they yell at him to get in the van as they flee the scene. In the hubbub, the police team opens fire upon the mobsters and hits one of them in the stomach. Later, back at their hangout, the mobster who got shot is dyihg on a sofa and calls William over for a chat. He informs him that when he called earlier and left the message, he made a mistake. "I gave you the wrong address," he says. "But...you showed up at the right one, didn't you?" William reaches for his gun, but his dying friend, with his last breath says, "Tell me why I didn't tell no one. Tell me why!" Turns out he was also a rat for the police. The package containing my phone was addressed with my name and the post office's address. It arrived separately at the correct address. Tell me why. Comments are closed.
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