Lunch pic

Pic

You can barely see the building on partly cloudy days. Glad it isn't too tall..

don't let much get between me and the computer.

What is that bottom one?

How do you turn off the mirror on the back camera?

Winter and summer

video test of the LG G4 Phone

Lovely spring day

On the bus

Just because they can

Police Agencies Using Software To Generate "Threat Scores" of Suspec143

Posted by samzenpus on Monday January 11, 2016 @05:28PM from the pre-crime-unit dept.

Koreantoast writes:It's no secret that governments across the globe have been taking advantage of new technologies to create stronger surveillance systems on citizens. While many have focused on the actions of intelligence agencies, local police departments continue to create more sophisticated systems as well. A recent article highlights one new system deployed by the Fresno, California police department, Intrado's Beware. The system scours police data, public records, social media, and public Internet data to provide a "threat level" of a potential suspect or residency. The software is part of a broader trend of military counterinsurgency tools and algorithms being repurposed for civil use. While these tools can help police manage actively dangerous situations, providing valuable intel when responding to calls, the analysis also raises serious civil liberties questions both in privacy (where the data comes from) and accuracy (is the data valid, was the analysis done correctly). Also worrying are the long term ramifications to such technologies: there has already been some speculation about "citizen scores," could a criminal threat score be something similar? At very least, as Matt Cagle of the ACLU noted, "there needs to be a meaningful debate... there needs to be safeguards and oversight."

Free range parenting approval

I really hope this all pans out. I believe that kids should be out of sight of adults at least some of the time while they are growing up. I mean, do we really need them to find freedom at first day of college?

ederal Law Now Says Kids Can Walk To School Alone (fastcoexist.com)498

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday January 12, 2016 @05:30AM from the stranger-danger dept.

An anonymous reader writes:There's some good news for "free-range" parents and fans of children being allowed to walk places on their own. A recently approved federal education law will allow students to take alternative forms of transportation to and from school with parental permission. Fastcoexist reports: "Relax, parents. Now you can allow your kids to walk, ride a bike, or take a bus to school, without you or your children getting arrested. The recently-signed Every Student Succeeds Act contains a section (858) that protects the rights of kids to walk or go out alone. The act was sponsored by Utah senator Mike Lee, who is a supporter of the Free Range Kids movement, and provides some hope for parents who feel that their kids should be allowed some autonomy to get by own their own." One can only hope that children will be allowed to go to the park on their own soon as well.

She has not been taken by the dark side. Yet.

Please bring the Clinton family down

Please bring down the corrupt family. Please bring them to justice. Even if it is not for the people they have gotten killed and only for not sorting paperwork correctly.

The source told Herridge that this expansion took place relatively early in the investigation — in April 2015. Over 100 agents have now been assigned to the probe, 50 of whom have been “TDYed” — temporarily assigned as the probe has expanded. That’s a rather significant commitment to the Clinton probe, and suggests that the FBI sees a need to do more than just read some redacted e-mails surrendered by Hillary after a long battle.

Link to original

Boots, wind, and parking garage philosophy

Quick trim, new clippers

Clinton is will look terrible in orange

But Clinton is far from out of the woods, according to a congressional source who is deeply involved in the multiple investigations of Clinton. This source, who also spoke only on condition of anonymity, pointed to the hundreds of Clinton emails that contained classified information.
“Her problem is the sheer volume of emails that were deemed classified,” said this source. “Her first defense was that she didn’t send any classified information in her emails. But that claim has been clearly rendered false because so many of the emails were later marked classified.”
As the Department of State has released the Clinton emails she provided after leaving office, more than a thousand were marked classified after being reviewed prior to their public release. So what about Clinton’s subsequent distinction that she sent no information in her emails that was “marked classified” when it was sent?
“The volume matters because a reasonable person knows somebody who like the Secretary of State, who is allowed herself to classify materials, who has handled it for 25 years or more, at some point the law says you are responsible for recognizing classified material when you see it. That gets to the negligence issue,” the issue said.

Link to source

Every couple of days I read something else about how this investigation is moving forward. It really makes me angry that Clinton will go down for failing to follow proper email procedure rather than getting so many people killed to further her political career and agenda.

Rain drops on the car window

Silence is evil

Rape mobs not just for Germany any more.

There is a cultural component that, as we see time and time again, the culture-deciders cover-up again and again. Oh, they understand well enough that culture plays a role, as can be seen from their constant chatter about a "Rape Culture" and the need to tell men not to rape.
But then, suddenly, when it becomes politically incorrect to note cultural contributions, they stop talking about rape culture altogether and kind of change the subject.
Anyway, as heavily euphemized as it is, the Politico article is a watershed moment, the time when even the forces of coercive political correctness scramble for more politically-correct reasons to agree that we need to slow down on immigration.Meanwhile, in Germany, they're prosecuting a bunch of people in the wake of the sex-mob attacks.
Not for the sex-mob attacks, but for speaking too crudely about the sex mob attacks.Link

The issue is not only one of sexual assault, but lying to the public about it in order to prevent people from protecting themselves. Because people who feel the need to protect themselves just might ... protect themselves.

Picture day at work

Money and lack there of

The world we live in

I remember a story about the first time an RC drone was handed to some soldiers in the US military. It was designed for reconnaissance and for looking around bends in the road. It worked well. The first thing the trainers were asked "Can we strap a grande to it?"

Airbus Rolls Out Anti-Drone System (networkworld.com) 12
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday January 06, 2016 @05:10PM from the air-superiority dept.
coondoggie writes:
The Airbus anti-drone system employs infrared cameras, radar technology and sensors to spot and track drones over six miles away, the company says. If the incoming drone is considered suspicious, the system can use electronic signals to jam the drone's communications and more: “Based on an extensive threat library and real-time analysis of control signals, a jammer interrupts the link between drone and pilot and/or its navigation. Furthermore, the direction finder tracks the position of the pilot who subsequently can be dealt with by law enforcement. Due to the Smart Responsive Jamming Technology developed by Airbus Defence and Space, the jamming signals are blocking only the relevant frequencies used to operate the drone while other frequencies in the vicinity remain operational. Since the jamming technology contains versatile receiving and transmitting capabilities, more sophisticated measures like remote control classification and GPS spoofing can be utilized as well. This allows effective and specific jamming and, therefore, a takeover of the UAV,” the company stated.

Link

Car launched drones

I cannot believe they didn't mention the Mach 5.

Yur Car: Aerial Drone Launcher? (dice.com)56
Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 06, 2016 @02:12AM from the drop-watermelons-on-annoying-drivers dept.
Nerval's Lobster writes:
Ford and Chinese technology company DJI (which manufactures drones that specialize in aerial photography) used the spotlight of this year's CES to announce a developer challenge: figure out how someone can use the dashboard touch-screen to launch (and land) a drone from the back of a pickup. While the challenge is framed as a "search-and-rescue system for the future," drone control from a moving vehicle has a lot more applications than search-and-rescue. In 2014, Renault designed a concept car that came with a small flying drone controllable via tablet or preset GPS waypoints. In theory, this "flying companion," launched from a retractable hatch in the roof, could prove especially useful at scanning the road ahead for possible traffic jams. (Renault hasn't yet announced a production model of the car.) So are drones-from-cars an odd sideshow? Maybe. But if they catch on, imagine the driver-distraction issues from trying to pilot a UAV while you're on the road.

Link 

All kins of road rage scenarios are going through my head. If they made a high speed version, police could use it to tag vehicles with a GPS unit and not have to chase them so closely.

YouTube is turning in to a little bitch

I watched Hickock45's videos. I was not subscribed I don't think. Google has decided to banish those presenting their opinions on guns and politics surrounding the second amendment.

First YouTube and Google Plus pick winners in political efforts. Now they prevent gun education. Way to be evil guys. Please provide a service to people you disagree with as well as agree with. This would be great. Thanks.

 Hickok45 just made a statement on his Facebook page.
Apparently, Google + is more sensitive about firearms related postings and such. I never use Google+ and did not even realize the videos were being posted over there, I guess. I will keep you posted via Facebook here and the Hickok45andson channel. I have communicated with YouTube via email this morning, and hopefully, we’ll be able to get the channel back up soon. I had just posted a new video.

Found here

Apologies for the double quote. I'm not sure how else to tell the story.

Why soldiers miss war

Frightening stuff. This sounds better than any war movie I've ever watched or book I've ever read. It makes me want to not get close to war, ever.

‘He’s Long Gone’As if on cue, we both looked up and in the direction of the rocket’s flight path. Along that line of sight there was a tall radio antenna inside the Army compound, about 100 yards from the crater.A few hours prior, Martin and I had been standing underneath the towering steel structure, chatting while we sipped on Blue Monster energy drinks.  When the attack came, we survived by diving into a concrete bunker that, as luck would have it, was only a few feet away.Further out in the distance behind the antenna, slightly obscured in the valley’s eternal brown haze and well beyond the base perimeter, was a low bluff covered in typically drab Afghan buildings. Apache gunships still patrolled the skies above this area.

Link

Bus driver asked me where ny horse was

Sunset

China drags down USA

Not catestrophic, but bad. Very Very bad.

Quote
Why did the Dow Jones Industrial Average face such a huge rout? Blame China. This morning, mainland Chinese stocks cratered nearly 7% before trading was suspended. Global markets remained on alert after Chinese factory activity fell for the 10th consecutive month, renewing concerns about the world’s second-largest economy and whether its massive stimulus efforts and currency manipulation are enough to facilitate export and domestic demand.
End Quote Link

Hell of a mess Sounds like a lot of companies have tanked because of this. I wonder how much worse it will get tomorrow and beyond.

First selfie of 2016 fo rm.

Got to love my wife's Barbies in the background.

Griping about YouTube

The clown-science of crappy 100W LEDs.

Collor

That was a keyring.

Happy Sunday

Christmas 2015

Stocking stuffer

db administration

Looking for mouse balls for my collection

Three Hours and Ten Minutes.

I’m sitting at my office. I’m sitting and staring at the clock. Monday was nuts. We had trouble getting things to work over the weekend and it all fell to Monay. Thing is, I was sick all weekend. I was awake maybe 8 hours of the whole thing.

Monday was a full stressful day of hard work. Got things done more or less. Tuesday, I stayed home. Turns out I messed up one of the lesser things. The poor guy I left holding the bag covered for me. It was another day of down and not much getting up.

My illness is upper respiratory. So, I can’t sleep because I cannot breath. This makes getting better more difficult. However, Tuesday was a special day. We gave stuff to Purple Heart. I gave up my old bike because I cannot ride it any more with my crappy balance. I cleaned the microwave. I don’t think Elle had ever seen the inside of a clean microwave in our house.

Then I had a kidney stone. Yes. I had a full on left side kidney stone. It moved to a place of comfort (out of the little tubes in to a bigger one) in about half an hour. That is a very long half an hour. I’ve gone to the emergency room in the past not knowing what was going on. I’ve unfortunately become familiar with my symptoms.

Really glad I was not at work when that sucker hit. It is never good news, but I get a bit animalistic when trying to handle that much pain. I had one on the bus once and it was actually a good thing to be outside. Thank goodness it was cold. Going for a walk helps. Drink a ton of water and let yourself pee every single chance you get.

I paced back and forth in the bedroom so much that I got a strained muscle in my back. When in pain, you lock muscles you don’t even realize in an attempt to make yourself more comfortable. It never works, but you can’t tell your brain anything. By the time I got past the kidney stone, I fell asleep out of exhaustion. I slept for several hours. This made it just that much more difficult to fall asleep last night.

Then comes this morning. I got up, felt not too bad and came in to work. No one and I mean no one is here. Well, not that I work with on a daily basis. There are some management types and some stragglers. Not even the people in the UK I work with are here. I had planned on getting a database maintenance thing done. I figured out that is not going to happen today. I have to contact too many people. Nothing will happen until after the first of the year. Actually, the fourth.

It is just after lunch time. I did not go out. I’m planning on leaving at the earliest moment possible. Possibly even earlier. Not that I have anything to do when I get home except not be at work. That clock I was staring at near the top of this post said I had three hours and ten minutes to go.

Sick day

Notes

Good news on bionic eye front.

Europe is going to do what Europe does best. Sit on their hands and bitch. Unfortunately, this has become what America does best as well. We must all look toward Russia and soon India and China to run the world.

That will teach you to tell your side of the story. I vaguely remember someone mentioning this was a bad idea on his behalf back in the day.

Deliberate pullback. At what point will no one work for this guy? Maybe he just needs to watch more TV.

Here is a cluster fuck for you. Poor Baltimore. I have sort of relatives who left BAltimore not that long ago.

Afternoon sun

Notes

Free breakfast today at work. They had bread and fruit. That was about it. That is a continental breakfast isn’t it? I need eggs. I did get a pretty good coffee. I wonder if there will be leftovers in the break room later.

There is always one more build until they rip the software from developer’s hands. I get “... one more build.” from leadership who have been down this road 5 times. They must know how it goes by now.

So, Turkey was upset at losing their customers? Interesting theory.

More Christmas

Fog, window washing robots and more

Made it to the play.

New diggs at the office

Buildinf

Foggy morning

Best office toy.

Notes

I have Christmas music in my head. QUICK! Black Sabbath! “It’s beginning to look a lot like ..” OHHHHH! OHHHHHHHHHHH

There is no honor in retreat. We have retreated.

Directly targeted first responders. Someone paid them money bfore the attack. Friends were afraid to say anything for fear of being called racists. PC not working for us.

The MSM is predicting the end of Black Friday. I kind of always thought online shopping would run out well over half of brick and mortar or high street shopping in my lifetime. I wonder what the numbers are at the moment.

I need some isopropyl alcohol to clean the whiteboard at work. I hear it works well. I have some at home. I need to try it on my whiteboard there.

The Gun Control Song

Notes

Does anyone else remember what the American people are supposed to do when they fear their own government more than the enemies of the country? I vaguely remember one of the founding fothers covering the topic.

France swings to the right. Yup, France. Yes. Why is it so hard to believe? Oh, because France is supposed to be froo-froo or something. They get mean when you cross them. Just like everyone else in the world. Sit back and watch how mean.

People seem to be far more worried about what name everything is labeled with than how they are trying to kill us because of what we believe.

Why do I insist on typing about 10% faster than I can really perform. That is, when I drop the attempted speed down by as little as 10%, my accuracy increases immensely. I don’t understand why I can’t get myself to stop and think about the typing and stop worrying about speed. It is just how I’m built. The number of mistakes decreases to the point I catch them and the end result of what I type must be faster than when I try for that last 10% of speed.

Lunch conversation

• Work

The thing is, it was from every angle. There was just something about today that everyone was talking about work. Even when the conversation lead away from work, it would slither its way right back to work in short order.

New hat

Church behind our house having fun

https://youtu.be/3stZcHPiwMs

Week of clips

Week of clips

Notes

Most common weapon used in crime. No surprise here.

Right now, I use a year folder with month folders inside for my blog in Google Docs. I will only use years from now on. It is just a pain in the ass to deal with sub folders. I put the full date in the name of every file. Thi might lead to something getting lost, but I’m just not that worried about it.

Welcome to equality ladies.

Do you know how to spot a coward. Ask them to name the enemy.

Well, Trump was not full of shit. Say it ain’t so.

It is still workplace violence, right? Because calling it terrorism might make people want to defend themselves. Wait, workplace violence does too. Crap.

Interesting idea about the attack. How many men think they married a terrorist?

Some days I want to sit down and start writing. The words are supposed to flow freely, pouring from my mind to the page in a firehose rush. They do not. They never have. It is work to get even the blurbs you find here put down.

When I was a child I thought to “rag” on something represented wiping your nose or blowing your nose on it. Bad enough. When I found out it represents a woman having menstrual cycle activity and bitching about something, Hence, “being on the rag” I was disappointed.

It looks like Google Docs added a personal dictionary editor. Finally. It actually works. Under tools menu. I also found several bad add-ons and at least one set of useful templates from Avery.

Notes

It is Elle’s birthday. She is the big 13. We will hit Olive Garden this evening. That is where she wanted to go. There are worse places to have a 13 birthday dinner.

I’m getting tired of groups of friends calling themselves families. When a group of people who are not related to you start to feel like family and they feel the same way about you, it is a tribe.

Saw a wreck up close and personal. Someone ran the red light on our way back from lunch. Fortunately, they were going slow and only caused a fender bender for someone who took off at the green light. It did only happen about 8m away from me. Why, why WHY!! do I not have a camera running every single time I’m near that intersection? Bad vlogger.

Glad I was warring my glasses when I watched this. No wonder my eye doctor doesn’t like people sleeping in their contacts.

Unless you see a kid with a clock that may or may not be a bomb. Then shut the fuck up.

Oh, shit! Hillery has some tough questions to answer.

Clear

Notes

The story is worth far more than any reality. Don’t tell me the facts.

Guess they forgot to update the teleprompter.

You can’t lop the head off a hydra and expect it to die. You have to kill the whole hydra all at once.

The batshit craziness in Central America. Gangs are running the place.

I’m trying really hard not to be a full on Grinch this year. I’m also failing. Between money woes and other people who are Grinching, I’m having trouble.

Our president is losing it? I’m not sure. He will never admit it regardless.

Active shooter video by the FBI. Should I forward this to my HR department?

Another sunset

Sunset

Notes

I love it when rich people go to jail.

I’m going to start using that term Islamized Radicals. It isn’t that Muslims want to destroy the world. It is that people who want to destroy the world are being used by radical Islamists.

This sounds like a great idea. Let’s make a torpedo nuclear.

Gonna be a ruckus. Some people are not going to put up with it.

I’m going to have to call AT&T for internet at the house. Comcast is $200 because we have a combination plan.  i’m going to have to call

Shit causing me stress

• Money
• We don’t have enough of it.
• Canceling cable so no internet at home
• Will have to go back to mowing my own lawn
• This may kill me because I nearly passed out the last couple times I tried it.
• We have medical insurance and still owe tens of thousands of dollars we are not going to pay because the money just isn’t there.
• Work
• Everything changes every five minutes so no stability
• GA (release) soon lots of work and at strange hours
• No internet at home so can’t work from home, so I’ll have to stay at work for very long hours
• People: I’m good with people at the moment.

Well, Natalie complains that when I am home I’m not really there so this can only help right?

Christmas