D-Day Doodle

Google has done some nice things technology-wise. However, IMO they are less than stellar when it comes to social issues.

Here's why Bing has become my default search engine, rather than Google.

Google Doodle Honors Leftist Who Praised Bin Laden, But Not D-Day Veterans…

So what Google is passively aggressively saying is they will not honor the people who saved the world from Hitler, but they will honor a woman who converted to Islam and praised Bin Laden as a freedom fighter, and who supported Mao and other revolutionary murderers.

These are screen shots of the Google search page taken, respectively, on 6 June 2016 and 19 May 2016. Note the lack of anything related to D-Day on June 6th, in contrast to the doodle honoring Yuri Kochiyama on May 19th.

So who is Yuri Kochiyama, you ask?

In a 2003 interview, she expressed admiration and support for Osama bin Laden, saying "...I consider Osama bin Laden as one of the people that I admire. To me, he is in the category of Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Fidel Castro.... I thank Islam for bin Laden..."

Today, Bing has put up a beautiful picture of Pointe du Hoc, site of the Normandy landings.

This is a poor reproduction of the high quality image Bing posted. I don't know how long it will stay up, but if you go to Bing you might be able to see it. Plus Bing has a cool Info link that takes you to sources which provide more insight.

Honoring the brave men who fought against a murderous despot in 1944, or honoring someone who praises the architect of an unconscionable act of terrorism? That's a pretty easy choice for me.

If you're so inclined, you can go here to leave a comment on Google's Facebook page regarding their misplaced priorities.

Wind And Sun

I've never been a big fan (pun alert - wait for it...) of wind farms (hah!). There are several reasons: they're noisy, they're ugly, they (and their associated high capacity power lines) spoil lovely views in remote areas, and to top it off, they adversely affect the health of those forced to live near them.

Oh yeah - and they kill birds.

It’s been five years since BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and released 5 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmentalists are highlighting the disaster by pointing to the 800,000 birds that have died because of the spill in the five years since the disaster, but activists have been eerily silent about the fact that way more birds have been killed by wind turbines — a supposedly “eco-friendly” energy source.

A 2013 study found that 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats are killed every year by wind turbines — a figure 30 percent higher than the federal government estimated in 2009. These deaths have likely increased as wind power capacity increases across the country.

In the time since the 2010 BP oil spill, some 2.9 million birds have been killed by wind turbines, using (the study's) figures, compared to only 800,000 that have been killed by the oil spill... It should also be noted that wind turbines routinely kill federally protected birds and eagles.

So what is the federal government's response?

Finally acknowledging that the economically inefficient, noisy, and unsightly wind turbines that they have been strewing across the formerly beautiful countryside have been killing large numbers of eagles and other birds, the bureaucrats have proposed a solution: stop the turbines whenever there is a bird nearby:

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), one of the Department of Energy’s 17 National Laboratories, partnered with industry to gather data about bird flight patterns, which will help the companies develop technology to reduce bird collisions with turbines. …

The ultimate goal is to detect birds flying near a turbine with enough time to for the turbine blades to stop spinning and prevent a collision.

Oh yeah, that'll work great. Have you ever seen a wind turbine up close? They're HUGE. Starting and stopping those things every time a bird flies near would wear those things out within a few months.

A better use for the money would be to send out crews to tear down the hideous wind turbines for scrap metal, so as to spare the lives of raptors and restore the beauty of the scenery. There are far wiser ways to meet our energy needs.

One of my pet peeves is this country's penchant for massive approaches to problem-solving. I get the whole economy-of-scale thing, but IMO a smaller-scale approach would be more effective. For example, I live in a part of the country where there are still plenty of old-fashioned windmills that pump water from wells for livestock.

More modern versions of those could be used in rural and even suburban settings to generate electricity on a local basis, reducing the need for large wind farms and transmission lines.

Along those same lines, massive solar power installations are proving to be economically unfeasible, inefficient, and environmentally unfriendly, while at the same time killing thousands of birds, along with unknown numbers of insects and reptiles.

Inefficient:

A federally backed, $2.2 billion solar project in the California desert isn’t producing the electricity it is contractually required to deliver to PG&E Corp. , which says the solar plant may be forced to shut down if it doesn’t receive a break Thursday from state regulators.

Environmentally Unfriendly:

A solar power plant at the center of the Obama administration’s push to reduce America’s carbon footprint by using millions of taxpayer dollars to promote green energy has its own carbon pollution problem.

The Ivanpah plant in the Mojave Desert uses natural gas as a supplementary fuel. Data from the California Energy Commission show that the plant burned enough natural gas in 2014 – its first year of operation – to emit more than 46,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

That’s nearly twice the pollution threshold for power plants or factories in California to be required to participate in the state’s cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions.

A Death Ray...

The Ivanpah solar generating plant is located in California about 50 miles from Las Vegas near the California-Nevada border.  173,000 mirrors are used to concentrate the sun on 3 boiler-towers where water is turned into steam to drive turbines and generate electricity. The mirrors track the sun and concentrate sunlight so that the intensity of light falling on the boiler-towers is about 500 times stronger than sunlight -- a death ray. If a person were to be illuminated by this death ray, 3rd degree burns would follow within a few seconds. Insects that wander into the kill zone are quickly vaporized. Birds are severely burned or killed depending on how long they are in the kill zone.

...That Kills Thousands of Birds

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service previously called Ivanpah — the world’s largest concentrated solar project — a “mega-trap” for birds and insects, although the exact number of deaths has been a subject of fiery debate.

Home-based solar panels, on the other hand, are becoming more and more common, because (1) they work, and (2) they are affordable. (More info here and here.)

The biggest obstacle to more widespread adoption of residential windmills and solar panels is that it reduces the opportunity for large projects and contracts, with the accompanying graft and kickbacks. Until we resolve that issue our elected 'leaders' will continue to pour money down the wind/solar ratholes.

Barbarians At The Gate

Okay, so they're not really barbarians. Instead, they're repairmen here to fix our gate. But I really like the phrase "Barbarians at the gate," so I used that for the title. Hey, it's my blog - I can do what I want.

Anyway...

Our driveway is a few hundred yards long. We cross-fenced where the house is, mainly so we can keep our dogs from running amok. Since I am by nature lazy a strong proponent of conserving energy, about 15 years ago we installed a solar powered electric gate where the driveway crosses the fence line. That way I can open and close the gate without getting out of my truck, simply by clicking a button on a small remote control unit, very similar to an automatic garage door opener. (Yes, I have one of those as well. Like I said, it's all about conserving energy.)

The gate opener has performed admirably. We've had to replace the battery a couple of times, but other than that maintenance and repairs have been minimal. Until Friday.

Friday I clicked my remote and the gate began to open. It got about halfway and then stopped. Frozen in place, it would neither open nor close, regardless of how frequently or how hard I pressed that button, or how eloquently I cussed. (Side note: my wife insists that the fierceness with which one presses a button has no effect on how well it functions. I disagree. It's one of the few issues on which we differ.) (/sarc)

So I got out my trusty tool box and disconnected the arm that moves the gate to and fro. Opening the control box revealing nothing obviously amiss. There were no loose wires, no scorched circuit boards, the battery terminals were nice and shiny, and the battery charge read "full." That's the limit of my fix-it-yourself knowledge, so I called the gate repair shop. They sent someone out later that afternoon. In short order he informed me that (1) the electric motor that opens and closes the gate was burned out; (2) a replacement motor was not readily available (because the unit was so old); and (3) they could get a replacement motor, but it would cost almost as much as installing a whole new unit.

Besides, with a new unit we could download an app onto our smart phones that will enable us to open, close, and monitor the status of our gate from anywhere in the world. I can't tell you how many times I've been in BFE and wondered whether the gate was open or closed. Now, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, I can not only find out, I can change its status. Oh happy day!

There was, however, one little detail that we didn't know about until today, when installation of the new unit began. In the 15+ years since we installed the original gate, the federal government has determined that a powered gate like ours is actually a death trap. I could potentially crush a slow-moving, feeble, and unobservant person in its mighty jaws of death between the gate and the gate post. Never mind that it has a "bump" override feature that causes it to reverse its motion if it hits something before it fully closes (like an elevator door that opens if it hits something before it shuts). No, the feds have now mandated that there be a positive connection between the gate and the gate post.

Think of an automatic garage door opener. Not only does it have that "bump" override, it also has an electric eye. When the beam of light is broken between the sensor and the control unit, the door reverses course, even if it hasn't hit anything. Now an automatic gate must have the same 'double safety.'

However, unlike a garage door opener, where you can simply staple a wire up, across, and down the garage wall, a gate sensor requires cutting across the driveway with a concrete saw, laying conduit in the resulting trench, and then covering it up with a bead of asphalt. Oh, I guess I could have strung a wire high up across the driveway, but that would necessitate setting a couple of posts into the ground. Even then, I'd be left with a wire dangling up in the air, and inevitably someone with a tall truck would come along and knock it down, or an ice storm (rare, but we do occasionally get them here) would deposit enough ice on the wire to bring it down.

Alternatively, we could have just laid the conduit on top of the ground, but that leads to a whole different set of risks, from rodents (or dogs) chewing through it, to snagging it with a tractor, or some other mishap. So burying it seems to be the best long-term solution.

It is also, of course, the most expensive.

Our new driveway asphalt patch.

The complete new unit, including (1) the safety sensor (boy, I feel safer already); (2) the new motor and drive arm; (3) the new control box; and (not numbered) the new solar panel.

And of course, no new motorized gate would be complete without an official government warning label. BTW, that sign was in the trash before the repairman's truck hit the end of the driveway.

On the bright side, as you can see from the pictures, today's weather was gorgeous - sunny with a high in the low 70s. Great day to sit outside with a cold beer and watch someone else work...

Busy Again

Lots of stuff happening - cuts into my blogging/commenting time. So in lieu of a real post here's some visual commentary on how modern technology has changed the lives of 'mature' people like me...

Tinder Hearted

If you're like me, you are totally clueless when it comes to online dating applications. There's a bunch of them out there, but one of the most popular is something called Tinder.

If you're single, you're probably on Tinder. If you're happily coupled up, you've probably helped your single girlfriends swipe through the reams of desirable, and not so desirable, potential dates. You cannot escape it.

New research shows that there are 50 million active users on Tinder, who check their accounts 11 times per day and spend an average of 90 minutes per day on the app...

How does this Tinder app work?

It's really very simple and easy. It finds your location using GPS, then uses your Facebook information to create your profile (don't worry, nothing about Tinder will ever be posted to Facebook). A Tinder profile is made up only of your first name, age, photos (of your choice) and any pages you've 'liked' on Facebook.

Tinder then finds you potential matches near you (you can narrow it down by searching by age and distance) and if they take your fancy, you swipe right to 'like' them. If not, go left to 'pass'. If they’ve also 'liked' you – bingo. It’s a match and you can start messaging.

There's more at the link, but basically it's like going to a bar full of people who have already been screened by your friends.

- You 'like' people in the same way you would in a bar – on whether you find them attractive at first glance. A little shallow, yes, but let’s face it, it’s what we all do on a night out anyway.

- The mutual friends function means people almost come with references – if you’ve got 10 Facebook friends in common with a match, chances are you could be on to a winner.

- It’s easy to use on the run. The app’s designed for mobile users, and it shows. The layout’s clear and it’s simple to use.

So why should we (that is, us more mature adults who are already in established relationships) care about an online dating app for youngsters? Because:

Tinder Is Charging People Over 30 More

Tinder is taking an extra-large swipe at the wallets of users 30 and over who sign up for Tinder Plus, a premium service the dating app rolled out today in the United States.

For the unindoctrinated, Tinder allows users to swipe right on their smartphone if they're interested in a person and left if they are not. Many users swipe so fast that it's common to occasionally nix a person they would have otherwise been interested in meeting.

For the privilege of undoing the damage of an itchy Tinder finger, a.k.a. a left swipe, users can sign up for Tinder Plus for the price of $9.99 a month -- that is, if they're under 30 years old.

The 30-and-over crowd will have to pony up $19.99 per month for the service, which also allows subscribers to use a passport feature and swipe with potential matches around the world...

"Younger users are just as excited about Tinder Plus, but are more budget constrained, and need a lower price to pull the trigger," Rosette Pambakian, vice president of corporate communications at Tinder, told ABC News in an email.

First of all, that's blatant age discrimination. Imagine If we mature folks had to pay a premium for other goods and services. The howls of outrage would echo through the halls of congress.

Second, doesn't this two-tiered pricing approach fly in the face of net neutrality. If charging more for a higher level of service is so evil when it comes to ISPs, how can app providers get away with it? Someone should report this to the FCC...

The Naked Truth

Things have been a little hectic, so please bear with me while I post with minimal comment this article on Google's latest embarrassment.

Google left blushing after issuing U-turn on Blogger nudity ban

After just three days, Google has rescinded its decision to block almost all public nudity on its Blogger platform after they were inundated with complaints from its users.

On Tuesday Google took to notifying its users and the general public that as of 23 March 2015, no images which contained graphic nudity or sexually explicit material could be published on its Blogger platform, unless it was marked as private or as part of an artistic work.

And now, in a massive turnaround, Google took to its forums to say that alas, public nudity will remain on Blogger, but called on people to mark pages with nudity as private.

That seems reasonable. Let people publish what they want, along with a notice so that no one unexpectedly stumbles across something that mighht upset or offend them.

This comedown will be considered a victory for those who called on the move as a limiting of freedom of expression, with one vocal critic of the move being sex blogger and author Zoe Margolis who said that making blogs private effectively “kills them off”.

...“Forcing millions of blogs to become private is not just a free-speech issue, or one about making adult content harder to find (Google’s own search tool makes that argument redundant), but boils down to Google sabotaging the integrity of the web – and how it functions – and it is for this reason that we need to oppose this narrow-minded and short-sighted policy.”

Now if only the FCC would take the same approach to the Internet.

Sitemeter Bites The Dust

A few days back Peter commented that he was having problems with Sitemeter (Sitemeter is a widget that keeps track of blog statistics, such as number of visitors, where they're from, etc.). I had Sitemeter installed on this blog, but it had never given me any trouble, so I shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

Then last night and today I discovered that anyone trying to access this blog was redirected to an advertising site. I did some google-fu and found out I wasn't the only one.

... Increasingly often over the past year or so, the sitemeter tracking code has been non-deterministically routing visitors to unwanted advertising sites, playing strange background music, etc. At about the same time, the company stopped responding to any support queries or complaints. Because its tracking statistics are useful, and because the unwanted redirections were rare and intermittent (and arguably due to mistakes rather than malice), I've stuck with them.

But as of yesterday evening, for a significant period of time, every single attempt to access (this blog) resulted in a glimpse of the desired page followed quickly by redirection to x.vindicosuite.com, which is apparently some sort of passive DNS replicator or something. As far as I can tell, no virus or worm attack was involved, but the redirection alone is unacceptable...

The cause?

... Sitemeter has been bought by the same ad-ware intensive company that bought MySpace.  And, now the script that you embed on your web site for the Sitemeter is also going out and establishing connections and setting cookies for all of these other sites.

I not only found it is setting this cookies and establishing these connections, but it is also REDIRECTING my site to an "ad" page...

Many others have reported the same problem. Thankfully, much like the federal government, Sitemeter appears to be mindlessly incompetent as opposed to deliberately evil. Nevertheless, it can still cause great harm.

I get that much of the 'free' content on the Interweb is supported by advertising. But the pop-ups are getting more and more intrusive - especially those damn auto-start videos. When they cross the line from annoying to manipulative, it's time to get rid of them. Life is too short (and this blog doesn't pay enough) to put with crap like that.

So adios, Sitemeter.

If you encountered any problems here in the last day or so, I apologize.

BTW, I've also noticed that when I reply to comments I have to do that Captcha thing where you enter numbers to prove you're human. I don't know where that came from. I've double-checked the blog settings and Word Verification is turned off, Anonymous Commenting is enabled, and I can't find anything else that would require that. I'll keep looking, but in the meantime I hope it isn't too much of a deterrence to comments.

Battle For The Net

Today is "Internet Slowdown" day. The Internet won't actually slow down, but many Web-based companies and advocacy grouops will protest the FCC's proposed rules to allow firms to charge consumers more for special (that is, faster) access.

On Wednesday, some of the Web's biggest properties are staging a day of Internet protest to draw attention to net neutrality — the idea that broadband providers shouldn't speed up, slow down, block or otherwise manipulate the traffic that you request online. The demonstration will involve the likes of Netflix, Mozilla, Kickstarter, Etsy and WordPress, just to name a few. These sites will all show their visitors a "loading" icon representing how looser restrictions on Internet service providers (ISPs) could result in slower Web services for some. (Protest organizers are making clear that the icon won't actually slow down the Web, but simply act as a symbol.)

Net neutrality advocates argue that the proposed rules could lead to a two-tiered system with 'fast lanes' for companies that pay broadband providers for quicker delivery of content, as opposed to 'slow lanes' for firms that don't pony up the extra cash. This two-tiered system would favor large firms that have the means to pay, to the detriment of small or start-up firms with limited budgets.

"Consumers, not broadband , should pick the winners and losers on the Internet," a Netflix spokesman said. "Strong net neutrality rules are needed to stop Internet service providers from demanding extra fees or slowing delivery of content to consumers who already have paid for Internet access."

All you need to know about the proposed rules is that cable companies like TimeWarner support them.

The FCC proposed rules will allow cable giants like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon to create a two-tiered internet, with “slow lanes” for most internet companies, and “fast lanes” for corporations that are willing to pay extra for a faster service.

... and leading web companies oppose them.

Some of the world’s largest internet companies, including Etsy, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Reddit, imgur, Foursquare, Vimeo, and Wordpress announced on Thursday they will join more than 35 advocacy organizations and hundreds of thousands of activists on September 10 to show how the internet might look if the FCC’s proposed rules go into effect.

In fact, even some of the most popular sites on the Internet oppose the new rules.

... a Pornhub representative announced that Pornhub, Redtube, and Youporn will all be taking part in the Internet Slowdown on Sept. 10. The sites won’t be intentionally slowing down your favorite porn videos, but they will be posting a “big in-your-face message that users will need to close” before they can watch their desired videos. Combined, the three popular porn sites hope to reach upward of 50 million people to educate them about the need for net neutrality.

I don't know what it says about our society when three porn sites reach more than 50 million people, but I suspect it's not good...

You can join the fight at Battle for the Net.

Be Vewy Vewy Qwiet

My wife and kids give me a hard time about my use - or more accurately, lack of use - of my cellphone. I leave it sitting on my dresser when I'm home. If anyone needs to reach me they can call my landline. I take it with me when I go out, but primarily as an emergency contact tool in case the truck breaks down, or something happens to a family member (God forbid). In short, I don't have a pathological need to be in constant touch with someone - anyone! - so we can exchange constant updates on the minutia in our lives ("I'm standing in line at the grocery store." ... "The line just moved." ... "I left the store and now am waiting at a red light." ... "The light just changed to green. Yay!")

The rest of the family mocks me for my Luddite ways, but now it looks like I was right all along to be wary.

Mysterious Fake Cellphone Towers Are Intercepting Calls All Over The US

Seventeen fake cellphone towers were discovered across the U.S. last week, according to a report in Popular Science.

Rather than offering you cellphone service, the towers appear to be connecting to nearby phones, bypassing their encryption, and either tapping calls or reading texts.

 Although it is unclear who owns the towers ... several of them were located near U.S. military bases.

"Whose interceptor is it? Who are they, that's listening to calls around military bases? Is it just the U.S. military, or are they foreign governments doing it? The point is: we don't really know whose they are..."

It's also worth noting that several are located at various ports of entry along our borders.

(Detailed story here.)

As if that's not bad enough, here's something else to worry about.

In an amazing coincidence, police departments in a handful of U.S. cities have been operating "Stingray" or "Hailstorm" towers, which — you guessed it — conduct surveillance on mobile phone activity.

And they're keeping very, very quiet about it.

Local law enforcement and federal agencies have taken extraordinary steps to conceal their use and have been reticent to disclose detailed information about their use.

I get the need to keep tabs on the bad guys. I just wish there was a way to do so without trampling the rights of everyone else.

UPDATE: It turns out that the 'towers' may not be actual physical structures.

There have been many comments to this story from people who are assuming that these 'towers' are physical installations. There's no reason to assume this is the case: it's far likelier that they are mobile installations of the kind used not only by law enforcement and government agencies, but also by scammers and other criminals.

(These mobile installations are) portable devices known as IMSI catchers, also known by the generic term "stingray." It acts like a fake cell tower and tricks your mobile device into connecting to it even if you are not on a call. It is used for real time location tracking; some can pinpoint you within two meters as well as eavesdrop and capture the contents of your communications.

Regardless of the physical form the technology takes, the main point remains:

While the FCC seems to have known about cellular network vulnerabilities that stingrays exploit, last month it established a “task force” to investigate the “illicit and unauthorized use” use of stingrays. Instead of investigating law enforcement’s use of such interceptors, the FCC “plans to study the extent to which criminal gangs and foreign intelligence services are using the devices against Americans.” The FCC also refused the ACLU’s FOIA request for stingray documents.

Meanwhile innocent Americans may be subjected to the “invasive surveillance technology” without ever knowing it is happening. ACLU technologist Christopher Soghoian said of stingray surveillance, “They are essentially searching the homes of innocent Americans to find one phone used by one person. It’s like they’re kicking down the doors of 50 homes and searching 50 homes because they don’t know where the bad guy is.”

If the framers of the Constitution could see how technology is being used against us, they would roll over in their graves.

(Thanks to commenter B for calling my attention to the need for this update.)

More Bang For The Buck

Technology has changed many things in our lives. Here's an interesting example of how technology has impacted the world's oldest profession.

Prostitution and the internet

For those seeking commercial sex in Berlin, Peppr, a new app, makes life easy. Type in a location and up pops a list of the nearest prostitutes, along with pictures, prices and physical particulars. Results can be filtered, and users can arrange a session for a €5-10 ($6.50-13) booking fee.

Other apps allow prostitutes to create online profiles so customers can browse the listings, or post reviews of their experiences. Just like other sites that provide information on more traditional services (e.g., TripAdvsior), these sites collect and aggregate data for further analysis.

The wealth of data available online means it is now possible to analyse this larger and less examined part of the commercial-sex market: prostitution that happens indoors. It turns out to be surprisingly similar to other service industries. Prostitutes’ personal characteristics and the services they offer influence the prices they charge; niche services attract a premium; and the internet is making it easier to work flexible hours and to forgo a middleman.

The Economist has analyzed 190,000 online reviews of sex workers. The article goes into great detail regarding the data and its implications. If the subject matter doesn't offend you it's quite interesting. For example, prices have dropped since 2006. Some of that is attributed to the 2007-2008 economic downturn, but other factors that I never would have thought of affect prices. For example, population migration, especially in the EU (the movement of immigrants from poorer Eastern European countries to more prosperous nations such as England and Germany) has a downward influence. Not only are the immigrants generally willing to work for less (this is true in many industries, not just prostitution) but the newcomers are often inexperienced and tend to underprice themselves.

Technology itself has contributed to falling prices by facilitating the entry of a new cohort of sex workers, and enabling greater competition from amateurs.

The shift online has probably boosted supply by drawing more locals into the sex trade, too. More attractive and better-educated women, whose marital and job prospects are therefore better, are more likely to consider sex work if it is arranged online. Indoor sex work is safer than streetwalking, and the risk of arrest is lower. Rented flats or hotel rooms are more discreet than brothels, so family and friends are less likely to identify the new source of income. Anonymity becomes a possibility, which lessens the fear of stigma ... Free, no-strings-attached sex is far easier to find than in the past. Apps such as Tinder facilitate speedy hookups; websites such as Ashley Madison and Illicit Encounters, adulterous ones.

(Click to embiggen.)

A surprising finding was that in the sex industry, just like in the corporate world, a college degree pays off.

A degree appears to raise earnings in the sex industry just as it does in the wider labour market. A study by Scott Cunningham of Baylor University and Todd Kendall of Compass Lexecon, a consultancy, shows that among prostitutes who worked during a given week, graduates earned on average 31% more than non-graduates.

Drilling down deeper into the data, we find that gentlemen really do prefer blondes - particularly well-endowed ones with long hair.

(Click to embiggen.)

Given all the unrest currently taking place in Ferguson MO, I hesitate to post this next chart. You can draw your own conclusions from it.

(Click to embiggen.)

Technology also helps improve safety and 'working conditions' for sex workers.

Sex work exposes those who do it to serious risks: of rape and other violence, and of sexually transmitted infections. But in this industry, like many others, the internet is making life easier.

Online forums allow prostitutes to share tips about how to stay safe and avoid tangling with the law. Some sites let them vouch for clients they have seen, improving other women’s risk assessments. Others use services such as Roomservice 2000, another American site, where customers can pay for a background check to present to sex workers.

In Britain, Ugly Mugs runs an online database that prostitutes can use to check punters’ names and telephone numbers. In America the National Blacklist, a “deadbeat registry”, allows them to report men who are abusive or fail to pay. Other women can check potential clients by names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and online aliases. Though not specifically aimed at sex workers, apps such as Healthvana make it easy for buyer and seller to share verified results in sexual-health tests.

The article is lengthy, but intriguing. It offers an insightful examination into the ripple effect of innovation, and the interplay between economics and technology. Set aside a few minutes and give it a read. I think you'll find in interesting.

I'm sure this is what Al Gore had in mind when he invented the Internet...

Our Tax Dollars At Work

In a previous life I made a pretty good living managing the design and implementation of large-scale information systems. Several of my projects were multi-year multi-million dollar systems for a large international financial corporation. That's why I was so interested in this story.

Social Security Spent $300M on 'IT Boondoggle'

Six years ago the Social Security Administration embarked on an aggressive plan to replace outdated computer systems overwhelmed by a growing flood of disability claims. Nearly $300 million later, the new system is nowhere near ready and agency officials are struggling to salvage a project racked by delays and mismanagement, according to an internal report commissioned by the agency.

I'm also interested in the story because I'm getting close to the age where I can start drawing Social Security (assuming, of course, that it doesn't run out of money before then).

In 2008, Social Security said the project was about two to three years from completion. Five years later, it was still two to three years from being done, according to the report by McKinsey and Co., a management consulting firm.

We had several projects go over-schedule and over-budget. But none of them missed their mark by over 200 per cent (and counting).

Today, with the project still in the testing phase, the agency can't say when it will be completed or how much it will cost.

In the meantime, people filing for disability claims face long delays at nearly every step of the process — delays that were supposed to be reduced by the new processing system.

"The program has invested $288 million over six years, delivered limited functionality, and faced schedule delays as well as increasing stakeholder concerns," the report said.

As a result, agency leaders have decided to "reset" the program in an effort to save it, the report said.

I hope that works out better than Hillary's "reset" of our relations with Russia.

As part of that effort, Social Security brought in the outside consultants from McKinsey to figure out what went wrong

They found a massive technology initiative with no one in charge — no single person responsible for completing the project...

In our projects, there was always one individual responsible for every single task or action. That individual accountability was a key to our success. It's also something that is sorely lacking in practically all phases of government, not just the Social Security project.

The House Oversight Committee is also looking into the program, and whether Social Security officials tried to bury the McKinsey report...

Gee, that sounds familiar.

The troubled computer project is known at the Disability Case Processing System, or DCPS. It was supposed to replace 54 separate, antiquated computer systems used by state Social Security offices to process disability claims. As envisioned, workers across the country would be able to use the system to process claims and track them as benefits are awarded or denied, and claims are appealed.

In their defense, integrating 54 discrete legacy systems is a mammoth undertaking. We had a few projects like that. Our philosophy was to approach them in a manner similar to eating an elephant: one bite at a time. In other words, decompose the project into smaller and smaller chunks until they can't be broken down any further. Then reassemble the pieces from the bottom up. It's a tedious and complex process, but it works.

But as of April, the system couldn't even process all new claims, let alone accurately track them as they wound their way through the system, the report said. In all, more than 380 problems were still outstanding, and users hadn't even started testing the ability of the system to handle applications from children.

Maybe the system will be ready by the time those kids reach 65. But somehow I doubt it...

Here We Go Again 2014.06.26

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Issa Threatens EPA With Contempt as Team Obama Celebrates Its Climate Anniversary

While most of President Obama's Cabinet was touting the anniversary of President Obama's landmark speech in which he laid out plans to address climate change, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was left facing a contempt threat from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa.

Issa issued a subpoena in November for documents and communications between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Executive Office of the President over a five-year period as part of an inquiry into whether the White House interfered with how the agency responded to congressional inquiries.

That request has gone unfulfilled, said Issa, who says he's planning to convene a committee business meeting after next week's recess and hold the agency in contempt if the documents are not turned over...

The hearing also included a bit of deja vu for the committee when members grilled McCarthy on lost emails from a hard-drive crash (the same issue that wiped out emails from IRS employee Lois Lerner). In this case, the emails in question were from retired EPA employee Philip North, who was involved in the agency's decision to begin the process of preemptively vetoing the Pebble Mine project in Alaska.

Side note: the Pebble Mine project is a controversial proposal to tap into "A particularly significant deposit of gold, molybdenum, and copper—the largest known untapped copper deposit in the world" on the shores of Alaska's Bristol Bay. The risk is that toxic waste produced as a byproduct of the mining process would find its way into the bay, which is home to the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery. The controversy, similar to that surrounding the Keystone XL pipeline, revolves around the tradeoff between jobs and energy (or in this case, rare mineral) independence versus potential ecological impact on invaluable natural resources (Bristol Bay in Alaska, the Ogallala Aguifer in the Midwest).

The reason Congress is investigating the EPA over the Pebble Beach project is because the EPA took the rare and aggressive, although not entirely unprecedented, step of invoking what's termed a "404(c)" action that essentially halts the decision-making process. The EPA's action has outraged Alaskans and politicians who believe Alaskans should have the final say over whether or not to allow the mine.

In a statement, Governor Sean Parnell, a Republican, called the EPA’s action “egregious,” “unprecedented,” and “beyond federal overreach. The EPA has not only cut off public input and process, but has also unilaterally decided that they, not Alaskans, know what’s best for our future.” Republican Don Young, Alaska’s House representative, characterized it as the “jurisdictional power grab” of “an agency corrupted by politics, one with no regard for the state or federal permitting processes found in statute”—adding, “The EPA seeks to broaden its reach until their tentacles encumber every aspect of American life.”

So that's the backstory. Now let's return to the lost emails.

North, who declined an interview request by the committee, is retired, and committee staff say they have been unable to track him down. According to a committee aide, North's hard drive crashed in 2010—which was around the same time that the committee is investigating the agency's discussions of a potential veto—and the emails were not backed up.

What is it with federal agencies and crashed hard drives? I've used multiple computers over many decades and have yet to experience a single hard drive crash. In my corporate life I also oversaw IT functions for an international financial organization with hundreds of thousands of PCs. Granted, there were a few hardware failures, but we had appropriate backup procedures in place.

Oh, and by the way, the missing retired EPA employee (Phillip North) whose emails are in question has been found alive and well in New Zealand. That is literally about as far away from Alaska as he could get.

I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for the multiple hard drives crashes of key federal employees, the lack of backups, the difficulty in locating Mr. North, and his choice of a distant and isolated residence.

Surrre there is...

Wired For Sound

Back in the olden days, when I was a youngster and dinosaurs roamed the earth, we had a phone that kids today wouldn't recognize. It was big. It only came in one color (black). It had a rotary dial. And worst of all, it was tethered in place by a wire.

Not only that, we were on something called a party line: multiple users sharing a single phone line. Such arrangements were common in rural areas...

...where wires had to be run miles to remote homes and shared service meant that more homes could be served with fewer wires.

...if you picked up your phone while somebody else on your party line was talking, you'd overhear their conversation (and could join in). The shared line meant not only that you could not make a call if somebody else was using the line, but that nobody else could call you. If one person on the party line was using it, anybody trying to call any of the other people on that same line would get a busy signal.

Certain people did gain a reputation for being nosey and always trying to listen in on other people's calls to hear the latest gossip, or for always tying up the line with excessively long calls...

Just like today's kids, I never gave much thought to what existed before the technology I was familiar with. But I recently learned about the forerunner to those relatively modern party lines.

On March 10, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell debuted the talking telegraph: the telephone. Bell earned two patents for his invention, and in 1877, he and two financial backers formed the Bell Telephone Company. But when Bell’s second patent expired in 1894, the technological landscape underwent a seismic shift. Suddenly, Bell wasn’t the only company that could legally operate telephone systems in the U.S.

Over the next decade, more than 6,000 independent telephone companies went into business, and the number of telephones in the country swelled from less than half a million to 3.3 million. Telephone systems, though, mostly served urban populations. Entrepreneurs steered clear of rural regions, where the installation of poles and phone wires carried exorbitant costs.

But near the turn of the 20th century, Great Plains settlers, including pioneers across Texas, weren’t wireless. They had a ready-made telephone transmission system in place: miles and miles of barbed-wire fences that kept ranchers’ cattle herds separate; prevented northern cattle herds from drifting on to grass-rich Panhandle spreads; and delineated ranch pasture from farm field, cow horse from plow horse.

Fences symbolized division—and connection. The process started on the pages of Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck & Co. catalogs, from which people could order telephones by mail. From there, the spark of ingenuity provided the missing link.

Using a jawed, metal alligator clip, you could clamp the telephone wire from your house to the top wire on your barbed-wire pasture fence, making sure it connected to a property-line fence. Or, if the yard fence was connected to the pasture fence, you could clamp on there.

Not surprisingly, the system had its flaws. Roaming cows and lovesick bulls broke many a telephone wire. And rain-soaked fence posts shorted out phones and lines. But discarded saloon bottles, as (Seguin-based historian and author Charley) Eckhardt explains, were good glass insulators. Wooden pegs with drilled holes were whittled to fit inside broken bottlenecks, and the bottles were nailed to fence posts, with wire strung between the insulators.

There were other challenges. Without a central operator, each household had its own crank-phone ring, such as two longs and three shorts, to indicate incoming calls. A single long ring denoted an emergency, and everybody along the line would pick up the phone to hear the news. All telephones rang when calls were made. Eavesdropping prevailed, and the discussion of anything intimate was ill-advised, Eckhardt says.

But glitches and all, the system worked, surviving into the 1930s in some areas. After enabling farming and ranching to coexist, “barbed wire unwittingly became part of the nation’s budding telephone network,” Maryland-based author and historian David B. Sicilia wrote in a 1997 Inc. magazine article. “What kept crops and animals apart helped bring people together.”

With a little help from whiskey bottles...

Social Media Explained

I'm not really sure anymore why I keep this blog going. I guess it's become a habit. I do, however, draw the line at Twitter, Instagram, and those other Johnny-Come-Latelys. In fact, I'm not even sure what many of the new social media variants are. Which is why I was grateful for this explanation.

There's An App For Everything

For some time now I've been of the opinion that people have become overly dependent on their smart phones. For example, I carry paper maps in my truck, but just about everyone else I know uses some sort of GPS app to find their way around. That works great unless you're somewhere with problematic reception ... or your phone's battery is dead ... or you run off the road while peering at that tiny screen.

Now the app developers have taken advantage of our phones' built-in technology - the accelerometer and the microphone - to create Spreadsheets, a sex activity app that promises to "track your performance between the sheets."

The hardware (Hah!) keeps track of such things as "how many thrusts per minute you’re averaging, how long you go for, and exactly how loud it gets." The software lets you keep a record of encounters - dates, times and performance levels. It also allows you to forward that data as desired.

How does it work?
Spreadsheets monitors data from user’s movement and audio levels through the accelerometer and microphone to provide statistical and visual analysis of their performance in bed.

Spreadsheets does not record or playback audio or video. That would be creepy.

Where does my “data” go?

Spreadsheets activity specific data is stored securely on your mobile device. Your information is never relayed, backed up, or synced to the internet.

Can anyone see my data?

Only the people you share it with. Share it with your doctor if you’re trying to get pregnant. Share it with your nutritionist since you’re burning calories. Share it with your friends and let the facts speak for themselves.

You can also, if desired, share your data with the firm (Hah! again) for data aggregation purposes. In fact, a recent study based on Spreadsheets data ranked all 50 states to determine the longest and shortest durations of sexual activity by state.

Topping the list, by a large margin is New Mexico, where an act of love lasts just over 7 minutes...

Alaska limps in at number 51, with an apologetic 1 minute 21 seconds... (The District of Columbia was, for the purposes of this research, included as a state.)

Go here and scroll down for the entire list.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I prefer the old-fashioned methods of performance evaluation - the length and severity of scratches on my back, the frequency and volume of the phrase "Oh God Oh God Oh God, " and most importantly, whether my partner screams out my name or someone else's...

What A Bunch Of Crap

I'm sure you're all aware of the recent security breach at Target (I know Harper is). I recently found out that my wife managed to get us ensnared in that imbroglio. Despite the fact that before I retired I spent a good portion of my professional life dealing with data security issues, she thought she could deal with the situation better than I.

Either that or she didn't want to hear me say "I told you so..."

Anyway, here's the rest of the story.

If you were one of 120 million or more people who shopped at Target, Neiman Marcus or as many as a dozen other popular retail stores last month, there's a pretty good chance that your credit card or banking information was compromised by a highly organized band of Russian cyberthieves.

The frequency and sophistication of these retail data breaches have escalated to such a degree that last week the FBI sent leading US retailers a confidential report warning that point-of-sale malware similar to the type used to snare data from Target and Neiman Marcus registers is starting to pop up all over the place.

I'm a little skeptical of the numbers - 120 million or more? the population of the US is around 320 million, so according to the media over 1/3 of the people in the US were affected. But be that is it may, the basic premise remains valid.

In this digital age, we are all increasingly vulnerable to having our personal data - sensitive, private, personal data - stolen and shared.

Disturbingly, it's not just our financial data that's at risk. Information concerning the most intimate details of our private lives is widely susceptible to hijacking and disclosure.

Toto’s newest smart john, the Intelligence Toilet II, is proving that it is more than an ordinary porcelain throne by recording and analyzing important data like weight, BMI, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.

There’s a “sample catcher” in the bowl that can obtain urine samples. Even by Japanese standards that’s impressive. Yes it has the bidet, the air dryer, and heated seat, but it’s also recording pertinent information. This information is beamed to your computer via WiFi and can help you, with the guidance of a trained physician, monitor health and provide early detection for some medical conditions. Graphs on your desktop PC will show how your glucose levels have been fluctuating, along with urine temperatures. These trends can help diabetics time insulin shots as well as give insight into hormone levels for women concerned with their menstrual cycles. Trying to have a baby? Not sure when your most likely to conceive? Ask your toilet for help.

Granted, the technology is impressive. But think about the implications. What federal agency is now in charge of monitoring and enforcing healthcare regulations?

That's right. That well-respected protector of individual rights, liberty, and compassion - the IRS.

I'm sure we have nothing to fear about turning over our most personal date to the tax gestapo.

Frighteningly, most people seem to be okay with that.

70% of people would be willing to have a smart toilet share their personal data

The results of a new survey from Intel and Penn Schoen Berland say that 70% of people in 8 countries would be willing to share data from their smart toilet if it would mean lower healthcare costs. An even higher proportion, 84%, would be willing to share their vital statistics, like blood pressure or basic lab tests, and 75% would be comfortable giving up information gathered by a health monitor they could swallow, even though that’s far more intrusive than a toilet that tweets that you’ve had enchiladas three nights running.

The same survey found that only 30% of respondents would share banking information...

If that's not enough to make you worry, think about the state of Internet security.

Hackers have long wreaked havoc on PCs via the Internet, leading to data breaches and computer crashes. Now that the rush is on to add connectivity to everything from crockpots to light bulbs, the stakes get even higher—and more personal... Antivirus software helped PCs, but you can’t simply install a software suite developed for your desktop on a smart toaster...

A number of tech companies and industry groups say that “smart” devices are hitting store shelves with little in the way of security protection. Security experts blame a number of factors for the problem: startups may put security in the backseat in their haste to get products out the door, and established companies that have traditionally operated offline—like stereo or TV manufacturers—could simply fail to realize that they need to protect against threats when it comes to Internet-connected gadgets.

Examples:

A flaw they found in an Insteon home automation product allowed me to flicker the lights in a complete stranger’s house ... The Internet was a bit more excited about another of their findings: that a “My Satis” $4,000+ ‘smart toilet’ by LIXIL was vulnerable to hacking. A hacked toilet could theoretically scream and spray you with the bidet while opening and closing its ‘mouth,’ “causing discomfort or distress to user,” according to a Trustwave security advisory.

And I thought low-flow toilets were an egregious invasion of my privacy.

I stand (...sit?) corrected...

New Technology Delivers

One of the arguments for spending money on military R&D is that the new technology developed there eventually makes its way to the civilian world, where it is further refined and improved. The most obvious example is the Internet, which began as a military command and control system research project called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency).

Another example is the M-16 rifle, which resulted from research conducted after the Korean War by the Operations Research Office. Today, civilian versions have become quite popular and widespread.

Which brings us to the latest military-to-civilian technology transfer: drones. While most civilian applications of drone technology involve surveillance of some sort, a South African festival promoter is using drones to deliver beer to thirsty concert-goers.

Revellers at a South African outdoor rock festival no longer need to queue to slake their thirst -- a flying robot will drop them beer by parachute.

After clients place an order using a smartphone app, a drone zooms 15 metres above the heads of the festival-goers to make the delivery.

Carel Hoffmann, director of the Oppikoppi festival held on a dusty farm in the country's northern Limpopo province, said the app registers the position of users using the GPS satellite chips on their phones.

"The delivery guys have a calibrated delivery drone. They send it to the GPS position and drops it with a parachute," he explained.

The drone was built in South Africa and nicknamed "Manna" after the Old Testament-story of bread that fell from the sky to feed the Israelites travelling through the desert following their exodus from Egypt.

"It's an almost Biblical thing that beer is dropping from the sky," said Hoffmann.

Amen!

Romance Pants Set The Mood

Back in the day, when I used to entice young ladies to come visit my bachelor pad, I depended on black lights and speakers the size of shipping crates to set the mood.

Now, thanks to modern technology, a young Lothario can achieve a similar romantic effect with just his pants and a very special zipper.

Sexy time officially begins when these pants are unzipped. You can probably say the same for most pants involved, but the pair we’re talking about is pretty special and it’s aptly called the Romance Pants. That’s because these pants are fitted with sensors that set certain things into motion once attempts are being made to take them off the wearer.

It all begins when the Romance Pants are unzipped. The lights are dimmed and the stereo’s volume will go up a notch to set the mood. Just make sure you’ve got sexy music playing because rap will probably kill the mood. When the pants are unbuttoned, candles flicker to life like magic thanks to nichrome wires and shaved match tips. Once they’re off, well, it’s all up to you now.

Check out the video below for more info. Don't worry, it's PG-13.

Spam Of The Day

Like most bloggers, I wage a never-ending war against spam. So far I've avoided using the Captcha challenge-response test, but that day may be coming. In the interim, I periodically review and manually delete comments in the spam folder. It's not really that much trouble, and occasionally I get a chuckle out of it.

Take today, for instance. I found the following in the spam folder.

A men's sex toys will not call you a sexist pig if you say "Gene Hackman" instead of "Gene Hackperson".

Who writes this stuff?

Quick Hits 2013.01.28

While cruising around rural Texas this weekend, I spied a bumper sticker proclaiming the following:

God Bless Our Troops
Especially The Snipers

Amen.

And in other news, good ol' wacky Uncle Joe Biden has offered his advice on the weapon of choice for self-defense:

"It's harder to use an assault weapon to hit something than it is a shotgun. So, if you want to keep people away in an earthquake, buy some shotgun shells."

Earthquake?!? WTF?!? Anyway, far be it for me to question the recommendation of a world-renowned self-defense expert like Joe Biden. In fact, after watching the video below,  I really, really want to get my hands on one of those shotguns.


Seriously, after 200+ years of no change in the configuration of double-barreled shotguns, I find myself strangely attracted to this new version.

Two's company ... three's a crowd.