Hacked

 My Facebook account got hacked and then killed off by Facebook because the hacker must have posted something horrible. 

Facebook was just a quick and easy way to keep in touch with my friends but since I never accepted friends there that I hadn't met elsewhere and hadn't some other means of contacting, this is merely an irritation rather than a tragedy. And since I have never posted anything of value to fraudsters, not even locations or interests or any personal information, I doubt whoever it was will derive much joy from it. 

What galls me is that, whatever got it shut down was, it seems, a post to do with human trafficking. Given that I was a refugee as a baby, this is uniquely offensive. Couldn't they just post something obscenely pornographic like normal?

Facebook doesn't do customer service; it's judge and jury of everything and I'm told by various sources that the account is gone and it's utterly unlikely to be reinstated. You'd have thought that 14 years of impeccable use without controversy might count for something but clearly whoever created the system didn't have the wit to treat uncharacteristic behaviour as some kind of hint that maybe the real user has been usurped. 

I tried to create a new account using a different computer, credentials, email and so on and, after thinking about it for 36 hours, Facebook blocked that account, too. 

 

Yes, I could try using a VPN to try to circumvent their border police but I ask myself, since these social media platforms are little more than licensed spying, maybe it's time to get back to more natural ways of interacting and avoid the intrusions into privacy. I have to say, though, that Facebook was a godsend during the pandemic when we were all confined indoors, like Zoom and the like. My newsfeed there was a bit like a personalised version of Mad magazine. But, hey, that's what happens when your friends are a bit weird. ;-) What, me worry?

(c) Mad. June 2011 cover.

Only kidding, I mean my friends are fun, not weird. Not weird at all. 

Anyway, no matter how careful you are, this stuff can happen. I'd noticed quite a lot of attempts in the last couple of years to get details off me and all sorts of bogus accounts in my name, those of my friends or friend requests that look highly suspect. (For some reason, whoever is making these bogus profiles thinks American generals are the sort of friends I'd like to have!)

I have doubts that any fraud or criminality will derive from this. It's just an annoyance.

 

Bombers and canapés

Talking of sabotage - and this is a bit icky, I'm afraid - as I've mentioned, I have access to a lovely outdoor swimming pool over the summer months. But last week the lifeguard opened the facility to find a murdered rat in the water. It wasn't just a dead rat, but a bleeding one. I'd guess it was dropped by accident by a bird of prey, posssibly even one of the huge herring gulls who nest on the cliffs. So our lifeguard rightly roped off the pool itself and we couldn't swim till the pool was disinfected and checked by the bio experts. 

All clear now, and yesterday all the residents decided to have an end-of-season party by the pool, everyone bringing food and drink. It was a great success and a good way to get to know people better. Sadly, the season ends this Sunday and the pool closes. I'm nice and brown and have had lots of exercise this summer. I think swimming is about the best exercise you can get. 

Sue x

Less is more

 It's time to get back to my slimming drive which got suspended at the end of April because of travelling over the spring and because the summer has been too lazy. I did well, losing 32 pounds between November and April. I don't have much more than a stone to lose till I'll be back in my healthy weight range. 

Here's my good-luck whale on my lap to help keep me motivated!

Lose this belly, he says!

Notice how my feet are trying to emulate his tail. We are one, he and I: siblings in blubber. So let's see if I can get well into the healthy weight range by Christmas.

I mentioned various books in my last post and one that I have just finished reading is relevant to weight loss, or rather weight gain, and that is the bestselling tome Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken. 

It's a pretty disturbing look into why the world has developed an obesity crisis in the last forty years, especially in poor countries or among poorer classes. The easy-to-eat processed food that abounds would seem to be the culprit. The stigma attached to being fat makes fat people depressed but, the author argues, their size may not actually be their fault. I recall how thin people used to be in the 1970s - look at any old TV show of the era - before ultra-processed food really got a grip. Modern ultra-processed food is designed to be appetising so you eat more than you should because it tastes good, and it's soft so it goes down faster. And the food industry makes more money as a result of your overeating what is cheap to produce.

Reading this alongside other scientist authors working in the same field, such as Tim Spector of King's College, London, I get a fairly awful picture of how processed food is bad for us; how trying to maintain longer shelf life and improve palatability is harming our bodies. The correlation is not certain, but then neither is that between tobacco and cancer. But just as smokers on average die sooner of nasty diseases more often than non-smokers do, ultra-processed food consumers are fatter and unhealthier than the few who can still find 'real' food. 

I'm fortunate in living in Italy where people are still keen on local, natural foods. OK, so cheese and wine are processed, of course, but not to the extent that, say, US-style burgers and ice-creams are. Food origin, hygiene and overall food policing here are very strict. For example, pork sausages here are around 93% pork from specified farms, the rest being salt, herbs and casing. This compares to the UK where half the sausage may be rusk, to say nothing of preservatives, colourings and other agents. Pasta in this region is made of durum wheat flour and water; nothing else, not even egg. There are local denominations for certain specific products that are jealously guarded, and this guarantees quality. There is also a Slow Food Movement specifically to contrast the idea of fast food. In fact, fast food restaurants, such as McDonald's and Burger King, have somewhat different products from elsewhere in the world as there are requirements for them to use local ingredients here. To be honest, a quarter pounder with cheese wouldn't sell here - never mind the metric system - because US-style meat, cheese and pickles just wouldn't appeal to the local palate.

So I'm in a better position to get healthier simply because the food is better quality and not so full of processed stuff. I am spending more on proper bread, but I eat less of it as it takes more effort and is more filling than a processed loaf. I'm also weaning myself off sweeteners as they are not good at all.

I recommend the book if you're into reality horror and maybe feel it's better to eat well.

Anyway, wish me luck for the rest of my slimming journey.

Sue x