Category Archives: Humor and Observations

July 5, 2012 · 10:42 am

We Will All Be Androids Soon

I now have 14 inches of titanium, plastic and ceramic instead of a left hip, joint and femur.  Millions have artificial limbs, some mechanical hearts or metallic stints in their veins.  Increasingly we add mechanical devices internally and externally to our bodies in order to modify or heal them for the better.  This melding of human and machine is likely to accelerate over the next twenty to forty years.  You might not recognize your grandchildren as humans.

Here is the latest – LED contact lenses that enhance your sight, can allow you to see in darkness, and can even show you movies and photos onto your eye instead of a screen.  This is not the future, this is NOW.

LED Lights Make Augmented Vision a Reality

 | January 14th, 2011
Category: Innovative Technology, Recent Blog Posts

Okay, this is just freaky. We know LED lights are versatile enough to be used for practically anything, but LED contact lenses? Really?! Yes, as it turns out, really. University of Washington researchers have figured out how to implant semitransparent red and blue LED lights in contact lenses, for the purpose of receiving and displaying data in sharp visual images and video. This means wearers will literally be able to watch TV or view photos that are projected directly onto their eyeballs.

Once miniature green LEDs are developed (and they’re in the works, as of now), full color displays will be possible. Once that happens, the possibilities are endless. Think about everything your smart phone can do right now, and imagine the same being possible for your eyeball. This news is a little scary and a lot fascinating, if you ask me—at the very least, with LED contact lenses, your hands would be free to pet your robot or tinker with your hover board.

Lead researcher Babak Parvis comments “You won’t necessarily have to shift your focus to see the image generated by the contact lens,” it would just appear in front of you and your view of the real world will be completely unobstructed when the display is turned off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, the real world. With augmented reality becoming a reality, it feels like the real world is fast becoming a relic of the past.

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July 3, 2012 · 2:50 pm

The Dark Side of Social Media, Yelp, etc.

Unfortunately, no matter what tools we have to communicate with each other, someone will turn them to evil.  Increasingly, people are using apps to determine where they eat, stay, recreate and purchase items.  Some companies pay people to do “social media” for them to make them look good.  I have no problem with this, it is simply a new form of advertising.  Then there are the neutral folks, who legitimately post their impartial views of a particular company.  Finally, there are those who extort businesses for free items to prevent them from trashing and ruining the reputation of the company.

Laws have not caught up with any of this.  Regulators are usually at least ten years behind and even more with science and technology – example the late fiasco with their attempt to outlaw reblogging.  As a result, there are no clear anti-extortion laws for social media, even though businesses are being threatened, in my opinion, unlawfully, with damage to their revenues if they don’t pay off.  I would not have a problem telling a company, hey, if you give me a free meal I will blog FOR you, but saying give it to me or else I will TRASH you seems wrong to me.  What do you think?

Here is an article that discussed the problem as well:

Scammers want restaurants to fork over payouts, or digest negative reviews

By

Published July 03, 2012

FoxNews.com

Scammers are making some restaurants an offer they can’t refuse: A payoff or discount, or they’ll post a nasty rating on online review sites like Yelp! or Angie’s List.

There’s no real data showing how often it’s happening, but anecdotal evidence suggests cyber-extortion is on the rise: scammers know online reviews carry a lot of weight, and can affect a company’s bottom line.

Some are willing to pay to keep bad reviews from popping up, but not Sonny Mayugba, owner of the popular Red Rabbit Kitchen and Bar in Sacramento. He described how a patron recently tried to shake him down after alleging they got food poisoning.

“He said, ‘I’m going to do a scathing review of you on Yelp!, I’m going to make sure my girlfriend does a scathing review on Yelp!, and then I’m going to report you to the health department. However, if you buy me a $100.00 gift card to Ella, which is a nice restaurant here in town, you’ll save me from doing all those things.’ To me, that was extortion.”

Mayugba didn’t pay a dime, and that customer’s post — while negative — didn’t mention anything about food poisoning, confirming the owner’s suspicion the allegation was made up.

Legal experts say he was wise not to pay, or — to file a lawsuit. They say if a business is seen as litigious, that can cause just as much damage as a negative review. Free speech advocate Matt Zimmerman, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says the better course is to use social media to explain their side of the story, and work even harder to earn more positive reviews.

“We can’t control all speech about us, and we should stop trying,” says Zimmerman. “Instead, we should try to encourage the positive feedback, try to encourage a more accurate picture of our business. Even if an ad or post is unfair, a business’ more effective response is going to be to create a counter-narrative online.”

Victim’s of cyber-extortion can’t blame the websites. Yelp!, Angie’s List, and other review sites are not legally responsible for what their users do. However, if someone crosses the line, and posts something totally false intended to cause harm, that defamatory speech is not protected under the Constitution, and that person could be successfully sued. Attorneys suggest business owners track threats, collect evidence and report them to the police.

While the sites themselves may not be liable, most, including Yelp!, work hard to weed out sham posts, both positive and negative. From a business standpoint, it’s in their best interest to try to screen out fake or malicious reviews if they want to maintain their popularity and integrity.

As Mayugba put it, a review site “is a wonderful sign post for those of us who use it correctly. When people use it to leverage value out of people for wrong, it devalues that media. That’s not only extortion, but it’s tainting the media platform.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/07/03/scammers-threatening-restaurants-with-negative-reviews/#ixzz1zb9mPTzM

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June 28, 2012 · 11:09 pm

Facebook Timeline – Why???

I hate the timeline format.  It bunches together your posts out of order, randomly pops up crap to the right, changes pictures around.  Does anyone else hate it?  I think the following says it all for me:

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June 26, 2012 · 10:03 pm

My Personal View On Immigration

Immigration is one of the most controversial topics I can discuss, next to maybe religion, abortion, and gender preferences.  Still, as an Arizonan who spent 14 years of my life working for the Legislature and various Governors in differing capacities and several years as a lobbyist, it is hard not to comment on the recent decision on HB 1070 by the Supreme Court.

I am not going to rehash any of the legal issues.  I think people are overwhelmed with tenth amendment states’ rights, state sovereignty, federal pre-emption and federal inaction on enforcement.  Instead, I hope to provide just my own personal view on what we should do with immigration.

First – Some Facts As I Was Able to Research Them:

675,000 legal permanent residents (LPRs) are allowed into the United States each year, with a backlog of about 5 million.  However, in addition to that number admitted, you can have 480,000 family sponsored preference immigrants; 140,000 employment-based immigrants, and 55,000 refugees or political asylum people that do NOT count against the 675,000.  This means about 1.3 million can come here legally per year as residents.  That also does not include any work programs or student visas.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)  established per-country levels at 7% of the worldwide level.  For a dependent foreign state, the per-country ceiling is 2%. The per-country level is not a “quota” set aside for individual countries, as each country in the world, of course, could not receive 7% of the overall limit. As the State Department describes, the per-country level “is not an entitlement but a barrier against monopolization.

Currently in the United States there are an estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens (people not here under any recognized US program).  Many are from Mexico, but border apprehensions include up to 10% non-Mexican nationals, predominantly from Central and South America, but also from all over the world.  Port authorities more frequently apprehend  illegal entrants from Pacific Rim countries.

My classifications of Immigrants – Both Legal and Illegal

I think there are three types of immigrants:

1)  Those who want to become Americans;

2) Those who don’t want to become Americans, but who want to live and work here for the opportunities;

3)  People coming here to commit crimes or terrorism.

If I had to guess percentages, I would say 70% number 1, 28% number 2, and 1 to 2% number 3.

My solution

A)  Control all entry points to the United States completely, so we know every single person who is here.

B) Hunt down all those expired student visa folks.  All the 9-1-1 perpetrators were expired student visas to my remembrance.

C)  Let EVERYONE in that fits categories 1 and 2.

D)  EVERYONE in category 1 and 2 that is here, has to come forward and sign up and let us know who they are.

E)  If you do not want to be a citizen, you have to have papers and cannot stay if out of work for more than six months.

F)  Know everyone who is here and who enters, so we can weed out the Number 3 folks.

G)  New immigrants need to learn English and become part of the melting pot, adding their flavor and culture to all the others, not living apart.

I am a conservative and wrestle with the fact that people came here illegally while others waited in line.  At the same time I am a human and know if I lived in a crappy place I would be very tempted to move my family to America for freedom.  I have never had a problem with honest hard working immigrants.  My family is Irish, we were hated.  My family moved to California during the Great Depression/Dust Bowl and were viewed as vagrants and scum.

As a teenager, I waited on illegal farm workers in California’s San Jauquin Valley who had to carry their whole life savings with them because they could not open a bank account.  They were very nice and polite, but locals would try to rob them.  As a kid, I worked next to them picking fruit and vegetables because I was poor.

It is sounds easy to say, let’s find and deport up to 20 million people, but I  no longer believe that is feasible.  My hero Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to over 2 million illegals.  I have questioned that decision to this very day, but now I understand.

Remember, all of this is contingent on strictly keeping out that 1 to 2% of criminals.  We have to have a process like the old Ellis Island system, to screen folks, then let them in.

 

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June 24, 2012 · 4:57 pm

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer – Book Versus Movie

I will try not to have any spoilers here.  For a complete review of my thoughts on the book, you can find them under my comments on Goodreads.com.  The movie and the book are almost completely different stories, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln killing vampires.

Strengths of the Book – Tons of back story on Lincoln as a child, growing up, his struggles to make money, friends, girlfriend, business, law and politics.  In the movie, almost all of this historical background with Lincoln is gone.  The book also has written journal entries from Lincoln that leave you wondering if he really wrote them and they were incorporated ,or if they are made up.  The fight scenes are realistic.  Abraham Lincoln is a strong woodsmen, but not superhuman.

Weaknesses of the Book – The first part is never revisited.  Henry is not explained, either where he comes from, why he works through human surrogates, or anything.  It jumps around, skipping huge chunks of time.  In the book, the vampires are about four times stronger than a man, but otherwise pretty easy to kill.  The ending leaves the vampires running around, so Abraham Lincoln was really only partially successful.

Strengths of the Movie – Great production values, you get to see scenery from 1818 to 1865 which is very well done.  The movie has a great steampunk feel to it, where the book is simply historical vampire fiction.  The vampires are stronger and the fight scenes are much better as a result.  They can go invisible, etc.  I personally also think that the movie strikes a good balance between campy humor and taking it seriously.  People who read the book might like less drama over ten hours.  People seeing a movie want to see President Lincoln kicking vampire butt, which they accomplish well.  The top strength of all – they drop the weak beginning, and actually explain a plausible back story for Henry.

Weaknesses of the Movie – It takes out one of Lincoln’s two friends and replaces him with a slave.  It makes the other friend seem unreliable.  It adds a super villain vampire named Adam that is not existent in the book.  There are a few scenes where Lincoln is wounded, that show wounds from earlier in the movie.  The make up folks or editors got some in the wrong order.  It is mostly special effects and almost no character development.  In truth, you learn very little about Lincoln and the actor portraying him was better at looking like Lincoln than acting like him.  He feels like Captain America before the transformation.  They also make Abraham Lincoln and his new slave sidekick look supernatural in their abilities.  Including, chopping down a tree over a foot thick with one blow.  Training is one thing, super powers another.

Movie Comment – The character Henry, played by Dominic Cooper steals the whole show, relegating Lincoln’s wooden acted character to second fiddle.  Henry is so well played the other performances suffer from, in my opinion, poor casting or acting.

There, you have my own personal views.  I recommend you both read the book and see the movie.  After all, it’s Abraham Lincoln killing vampires, you got to see that right?

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June 23, 2012 · 10:00 pm

Recent Films, A new look

This post is about some random thoughts about pictures and movies.

Aren’t you glad they waited until we have computer graphics to make this film?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A star is born.  There is no evolution, there are only those animals that Chuck Norris allowed to live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great ideas.  Amazing to be able to think such deep thoughts while cleaning the vampire blood off your axe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hitchcock predicted this would happen.  Anyone remember The Birds?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scene from the recent blockbuster movie Battleship.  They edited out the profanity, but the rest is still in the movie.

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June 19, 2012 · 12:36 am

Bitcoins Becoming Popular During European Financial Crisis

What are bitcoins you might ask?  They are basically fake monopoly money taken as real tender.  They are growing in popularity, but first, some basic economics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Economics 101 Primer – It works like this, currency is backed by the government that issues it.  It used to be backed by gold and silver.  In fact, early currency was simply gold, silver or bronze stamped with the King’s face.  Then it turned to paper.  When it was backed by gold and silver, you could take the paper version to the bank and get actual metal.  This stabilized its value.  However, there is more economic activity than there is gold and silver in the world, so people switched to paper that is no longer backed by anything, other than faith that when you use it, you can buy stuff.

If there are 100 things to buy and 100 dollars, each costs around $1.  If you print more money, say $200, but the economy does not grow, things cost $2 a piece and your dollar is worth only half as much.  This is called inflation, which is bad for everyone.

If things keep growing in production (GDP growth) and money does not grow, you get deflation and it is difficult to do business.  In that case, the now 200 items chasing $100 would only be able to get 50 cents each.  The producers lose half their value.

So, a government is supposed to try to stabilize currency by having its supply go up and down as economic growth goes up and down, so their currency remains stable and so do prices.  When governments run high deficits, borrow money, and print money for their own purpose rather than matching growth, bad things happen, like runs on banks and lack of faith that the currency ‘means” anything.  That is one of the reason real gold prices have skyrocketed in the US.

Back to Bitcoins – People in Europe are losing faith in the British Pound Stirling and the Euro.  So, someone created the Bitcoin, a currency on the Internet which is NOT issued by any government.  It is simply issued in exchange for real money like euros, dollars and pounds, and then used as currency.  The fact that it is NOT backed by a government also means it is not increased to pay for government purchases.  People are so desperate that they are taking their Euros out of ATMs so fast that several governments are limiting withdrawals now.  Italy closed its banks for a week.  So, as they can, people in Italy, Greece and other places are turning in their euros for bitcoins.  So far, the bitcoins have more faith and value than regular money, gaining in value by 1700% against regular currency since 2009.  They cannot be used everywhere, but increasingly producers like restaurants and stores are taking them.

Can a privately held company through the internet successfully launch and maintain its own currency for the world better than governments?  I would have told you no ten years ago, but lots has changed.  In video games, there is an exchange rate now for fake game gold or credits to real cash.  There are millionaires who have sold imaginary retail space to people in Second Life.  Now, not in a video game, but in real life, we have fake money worth more than real money.  Amazing.

Here is a piece of a story from AOL Daily Finance, posted by Ross Kenneth Urken:

Is Bitcoin a Panacea For the Euro’s Woes?

Quite simply, Bitcoins are an encrypted digital currency that can be freely exchanged between people or between consumers and merchants. Businesses like Bitcoin because it allows them to avoid paying credit card fees of up to 3% on transactions. Consumers get to dodge the costs normally associated with currency exchanges. It’s only available for use in a handful of physical locations in cities around the world (it’s mostly used via Internet), but a major use for it has been for conversions — you can buy Bitcoins and then exchange them for another currency at no charge.

Bitcoin is in some senses a financial island removed from the vicissitudes and consequences of a traditional banking system. It’s neither controlled by central banks nor governments, and thus not vulnerable to larger-scale shifts like changing interest rates or the rampant inflation of countries in decline.

But Bitcoin’s isolation from geopolitical turmoil has been its true selling point for those in Europe.

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June 15, 2012 · 8:30 pm

Still More Funny Headlines for the Weekend

For some reason this was immensely popular the first time I did it, so here goes again:

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June 12, 2012 · 3:23 pm

Ultra Modern Floating Hotel Room – Sweet Suite!

There is a new super green super cool concept for floating hotel suites that hold up to six people for what has to be a great time.  It includes an underwater observation room and motors to move about your location.  It is also totally solar powered.  I would definitely pay for a stay at this place if it I could afford it.

Convinced that solar energy is the solution to global warming and environment issues, Michele Puzzolante, Italian Industrial Designer, decided to get involved in the green energy new era by inventing a unique building integrated photovoltaic concept totally self-sufficient energy generator, non-polluting and in unison with its natural surroundings. Michele Puzzolante’s invention is based on a new structural element that is composed of a fifteen millimeter outside skin and a fifteen millimeter inside skin in balsa reinforced fiberglass. Thin films photovoltaic are integrated into the two skins to absorb sunlight energy from the outside and artificial lighting energy from the inside. Between the two skins there is a thirty centimeter vacuum insulation to protect the habitation from outside heat as well as reducing the consummation of air conditioning to the minimum.  Source:  Huffington Post.

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June 9, 2012 · 5:33 pm

The “Perfect Story”

Here it is:

”               ”

I know this because EVERY guide to fiction writing, every agent, every publisher, every list of writing tips says to CUT, CUT and CUT some more.  They never mention that some authors might not be overly wordy.  The possibility has crossed my mind on occasion that even if the vast preponderance of authors write too much, there have to be at least a minute few who write just enough, or even not enough.

If truly you should cut and cut and gut every unnecessary word out of your story, then the best story, the perfect story in fact would be one with no words at all.  I have not once told instead of shown, I have not used to many adverbs.  I did not change tense.  I did not change perspective.  The brilliance of the story with no words at all, is that you are guaranteed perfection, there are no mistakes, no one can even critique your character arcs.

My story of no words is as deep or as shallow as the imagination of the reader themselves.  If they look at a blank page with no cover and laugh, then they simply don’t understand great writing – do they?  If however, they stare, intrigued, let their mind capture the essence, then awards and recognition are sure to come my way.

My only concern now with my perfect book with no words is whether I should submit it to an agent with a blank query letter with no words, or if I should self-publish it on Kindle with no descriptor or title…

I wonder how you would critique the Bible verse – Jesus wept.  Two words, but you have to CUT!

Obviously, I have been facetious to make a point.  In my personal experience, most writers I know don’t write.  They want to write.  Some are even very good at writing from things they read that they wrote long ago.  However, life, jobs, loved ones, ill health, or even the television sap the life out of their creative spirits.  They simply don’t sit down and write.  Then they are all told – CUT, you have written too much.  Wow.

Michael Stackpole told me that you are not a novelist until you have actually written a novel.  I took that to heart and finished my first novel.  He was right.  Actually finishing a novel changes you as much as losing your virginity.  You feel different.  Having sex the first time makes you feel like a real man, or real woman.  Finishing a novel makes you feel like a real novelist.  It still might not make you a good one, but at least you passed the first hurdle.

So, in my continuing effort to debunk common writing advice that is crap – just write.  Write MORE not less.  You don’t even know what to cut until you finish the story and look back.  Imagine editing a movie where you are only given the first ten minutes.  What do you leave in and what do you take out?

Finish.  Ignore everything else.  Write and actually complete something.  Then worry about editing.

 

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