So… I left my desk for about 5 minutes without locking my desktop. When I returned someone had been viewing an interesting animated GIF of a small black dog having its way with a pink panther doll. This was a nice reminder of why you should always lock your PC while at work when you are away from your desk… even though this is hilarious. :)
I ran across a couple disturbing surveillance articles (Wired News)…
England
British Surveillance Monitors Everyone, Everything
Amid growing concerns about the U.S. government spying on its citizens, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that, when it comes to invading its people’s privacy, nobody beats Britain. In a move apparently designed to prove this point brilliantly, the U.K. has developed a plan to monitor every car trip taken in the country by way of camera surveillance. Since there are already about ten video cameras mounted on every intersection in the greater London area, all they’ve got to do is start tracking license plate numbers as they pass by each camera, letting Her Majesty’s Secret Service know exactly where each of her royal subjects is headed at any given time. The surveillance database is expected to maintain records of every citizen’s motoring habits over a five-year period.
United States
Where You At? (Big Brother May Be Following Your Every Move)
In a decision made all the more poignant by the Bush administration’s recent domestic spying debacle, a U.S. district court in New York ruled last week that law enforcement may now use your cellular network to track your movements without a court order. If it wasn’t already an established fact, the notion of privacy is now officially meaningless. The EFF is up in arms, as expected, but should you be, too? Read more HERE.
I thought that this article was hilarious. I posted the whole thing, but here is the original.
BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. (AP) — A woman who police thought deliberately tried to swallow her cell phone during an argument with her boyfriend was apparently the victim of an assault instead, authorities said.
Police have a suspect in the bizarre incident that sent the 24-year-old woman to the hospital last week, Sgt. Allen Kintz said. Police would not say whether the boyfriend was the suspect and would not explain exactly what they believe happened.
“It appears she didn’t voluntarily swallow this phone,” Kintz said. “It’s not quite the way it was first portrayed.”
Early Friday, police responded to a call from a Blue Springs man who said his girlfriend was having trouble breathing. Police arrived to find a woman with a cell phone lodged in her throat.
Police were initially told the boyfriend wanted the phone and the woman tried to swallow it so that he could not get it.
Thursday December 22, 2005
We started out the day by going to the Valley of the Temples where there is a cool Buddist temple. It costs 2 dollars per person to get in, but is is worth it.
This is an excellent article if you are at all interested in AI or robotics. It is a fairly lengthy read but entirely worth the time.
Sebastian Thrun is sitting in the passenger seat of a 2004 Volkswagen Touareg that’s trying to kill him.
The car hurtles down a rutted dirt road at 35 miles per hour somewhere in the Mojave Desert, bucking and swerving, kicking up a cloud of dust. Thrun, the youngest person ever to head Stanford’s famed artificial intelligence laboratory, clings to an armrest. Mike Montemerlo, a speed-coding computer programmer and postdoc, is wedged in the backseat amid a tangle of wires and cables.
No one is driving. Or more precisely, the Touareg is trying to drive itself. But despite 635 pounds of gear - roof-mounted radar, laser range finders, video cameras, a seven-processor shock-mounted computer - the car is doing a lousy job. Thrun tightens his grip on the armrest. He’s built plenty of robots, but he’s never entrusted his life to one of his creations. He’s scared, confused, and above all furious that his algorithms are failing.
Tuesday December 20, 2005 continued…
Later on we decided to end the night with a bottle of wine…
… and several games of Mah Jongg.
Monday December 19, 2005
Not much happened today. I went shopping and screwed around with the birds in the house we are staying at. They have three cockatiels. Two are normal, and one is clinically insane. His name is Shipwreck… very fitting. He plucks about half his feathers out because of a nervous brain disorder. Quite entertaining. Here is a photo…
Here is a video clip of Pretty Bird… a normal cockatiel.
Here is a video clip of Shipwreck… ummm, a normal chicken?
Until now I haven’t been able to get to a computer, so I was unable to do a daily blog entry from here in Pearl City, Oahu, HI. So, here is the recap…
Friday December 16, 2005
We left my apartment at about 10 AM to leave Fresno at a little after 11 AM. The flight to LAX wasn’t bad… only about an hour flight. Due to a slight oversight when purchasing our tickets, we had a lay over in LA for 3 and a half hours. While waiting I had a delicious meal at Chili’s (it was either Chili’s or Burger King… no other options).
We boarded our plane and took flight at about 4:15 PM PST. The flight was absurdly long. They didn’t provide food, I wasn’t in first class, and they played Elf and A Beautiful Mind. I think the flight lasted about 13 and a half weeks, or maybe 6 hours… I couldn’t tell. We arrived in Honolulu at 8:45 PM Hawaii time, so that’s 10:45 PM PST. We left the airport at 9:30 PM and who knows what happened, I was rediculously tired… we went to sleep at 3:00 AM Hawaii time, 5:00 AM PST… gross.
This is a cool NEC page that has several semi-conceptual products listed. Some, if not all, already have protos made.
Penguin Poo
What can I say… this is just awesome.
