09:11 – Things are really warming up. It was 48.2F (9C) when I took Colin out this morning. Nearly all of the snow has disappeared. The driveway is completely clear, although still wet, and only a few patches of snow remain in the shady areas. When she gets home, I’m going to tell Barbara that I shoveled all the snow off the drive and swept off the entire 1.5-acre yard. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Colin and I are doing fine. He misses Barbara, but he’s behaving pretty well with her gone. We had a frozen beef pot-pie for dinner last night, followed by doughnuts for our evening snack.
Barbara just called. She’s getting ready to head over to get a haircut, followed by lunch with a friend, running a few errands including a stop at Costco, and then head back home. I asked her to add a couple of three-pound #10 cans of Kirkland ground coffee to her list.
I finished Franklin Horton’s book four in his Borrowed World series last night, reading just for flow. I’m also about 60% through the copy-edit pass. Most of what I’ve flagged is trivial–typos, missing or double words, a couple instances of characters changing names, lie/lay/laid issues, and so on. Franklin is also one of very, very few authors for whom I have to keep a dictionary handy. For example, I’d never seen “cabbage” used as a verb, but sure enough it turns out to be a synonym for “steal”.
If I were to make one substantive criticism of Franklin’s work, it would be from personal preference. His dystopian novels are dystopic in spades. They can be painful to read. Kind of like a Russian comedy: at the end, everyone dies horribly. Franklin does not have a very high opinion of humanity in general. Even most of his protagonists are not very nice people. But Franklin is, first and foremost, a story-teller. His writing makes you want to keep turning pages.
“Even most of his protagonists are not very nice people.”
When push comes to shove, most PEOPLE are not very nice people….
Stress and unfamiliarity bring out the worst in most folks. (With 750k air miles, I’ve seen what it can do under relatively normal conditions, and even succumbed to momentary fits of rage myself.) Or look in any hospital emergency room to see normally nice people yelling and bullying staff.
When SHTF, it’s gonna be epic.
Yes, in any disaster, lots of people step up and help even strangers. Once it sets in that this current calamity isn’t getting better soon (whatever the calamity), you will see a lot more understandably selfish behaviour. Add the stress of an un-satiated chemical dependency (alcohol, nicotine, caffeine) and you got some real lack of niceness coming up.
nick
Here’s an interesting article- well thought provoking anyway.
If you have to do the job, ie. filtering content, and humans have to do it, how do you do it safely? It seems the only type of person who could do this without damage would be someone who ENJOYS it, or a sociopath with zero empathy.
I’m not saying that Franklin’s vision is wrong. To the contrary, I think it’s accurate and he may even be optimistic. I’m just saying that it’s very painful to read about people behaving that way.
“Colin and I are doing fine. He misses Barbara, but he’s behaving pretty well with her gone.”
Do you allow him to bring ladyfriends (or boyfriends, if he swings that way) home for the night?
Colin has no interest in girl (or other boy) dogs, other than if they intrude on his territory. All he’s interested in is work, food, and sleep, in that order.
A couple of security articles:
https://securitytoday.com/Articles/2017/01/01/Understanding-Interoperability.aspx?Page=1
Why it’s interesting- overview of integrating video with other data for security use- here’s the mention of the tech that is further along than I thought from page 3 of the article…
In other words, they are tracking cell phone LOCATIONS in real time and 3d space, and can merge that data onto maps and live video. They have the real space coordinates mapped to the video! This is a REALLY neat trick combining radio location and 3d modeling, with GIS data, and probably some version of the first down line tech from tv.
Next,
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/12278946/specialization-leads-to-innovation
This is the article about the Denver transportation corridor that reveals some of the capability of the surveillance state.
Some interesting pull quotes.
They have a TON of cameras, including 9 on each bus, and integrate that video with other sensor data, and display it in real time on a map in their command center. End to end coverage, in HD, and linked to real world events and places. TSA gives them its highest award too. (no elaboration on what the ‘more’ sensors might be, but RFID readers, cell phone trackers, bluetooth readers, gunshot detectors, automatic license plate readers, all spring to mind.
Next- the water treatment plan article, if I can find it again.
ADDED
Here’s one about power industry security instead:
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/12271103/new-standards-create-opportunities-in-power-grid-security
What’s interesting is how little has been done, and how much wrangling happened – 2 years of revisions to the standard.
=====================
As a bonus, here are a couple of other articles:
Big brother is in fact watching you–
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/news/12290242/restraining-big-brother-apd-praised-for-using-facial-recognition-tech-responsibly
Note that the other agencies are NOT being praised for their limits on use.
Awesome, huh? There’s more in the article about scanning live video at sporting events and “protests”. They (APD) say they don’t have the money, but if they did, they would like to scan video…
nick
They have a TON of cameras, including 9 on each bus, and integrate that video with other sensor data, and display it in real time on a map in their command center. End to end coverage, in HD, and linked to real world events and places.
Even if the system worked at launch (doubtful), the maintenance costs would be astronomical. I’m not buying it, especially from a new-ish company based in New Orleans. That city is one big pork barrel project anymore.
The company has been in business for 34 years, and the project is in Denver.
This is the direction that control rooms were headed in when I left the business 5 years ago. Automate as much as possible, converge the data streams, lots of screens.
IP cams don’t need as much maintenance as analog, can be accessed and upgraded remotely, and it’s all just a matter of budget anyway. They don’t mention it, but I’d bet there is some TSA or Homeland grant money involved. Their whole transportation system needs constant upkeep anyway, what’s checking on a router, or replacing a camera, when you are at the grade crossings, or bus stops anyway?
Not saying there isn’t likely some percentage that is down at any time, but that’s true of anything including the humans involved.
n
(as a data point, I’ve bought hundreds of used cameras from state agencies, and almost all of them still work. Unless there is physical damage, they just keep going. Same is true for the more limited number of wireless links, and networking gear I’ve bought. It’s mostly replaced for upgrade reasons.)
ADDED- this isn’t the only company or project that is integrating all this stuff. This is a major topic in the trade press, and is what everyone aspires to. If they don’t get it right in this iteration, they’ll get it right in the next.
If I were to make one substantive criticism of Franklin’s work, it would be from personal preference. His dystopian novels are dystopic in spades. They can be painful to read. Kind of like a Russian comedy: at the end, everyone dies horribly. Franklin does not have a very high opinion of humanity in general. Even most of his protagonists are not very nice people. But Franklin is, first and foremost, a story-teller. His writing makes you want to keep turning pages.
I am reading “Locker Nine” at the moment. If anything, your statement about “everyone dies horribly” is understated. But I love dystopian novels almost as much as I love space opera and psychic elves in space, so this is right down my alley.
https://www.amazon.com/Locker-Nine-Novel-Societal-Collapse/dp/1536905658/
For example, I’d never seen “cabbage” used as a verb, but sure enough it turns out to be a synonym for “steal”.
Yup, common usage down here in the South. We’ve got lots of synonyms for “steal”.
Why is the cheapest WD 8 TB bare drive on Big River $303 ?
https://www.amazon.com/Red-8TB-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B01BYLY4DM/
Do I need to buy an WD 8 TB external drive for $225 and remove the bare drive from it ?
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN/dp/B01LQQHLGC/
Please note that I am not interested in Seagate or any other manufacturer. I am going with WD for the moment.
Thanks !
Hard to believe this would even be a consideration but never under estimate politicians’ stupidity
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3002424/meps-are-voting-on-whether-robots-should-have-human-style-rights
Alexa has a right to order whatever she wants…..
https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31175878-News-anchor-sets-off-Alexa-devices-around-SD-ordering-unwanted-dollhouses
Apparently the latest multilevel marketing fad is food storage. I’ve just been invited to a food party where everything is made with food storage ingredients. It’s put on by someone who is in the business of selling storage foods. I’m actually thinking about going, but it’s a social situation where I barely know the hostess and don’t know anyone else. Also unlike our host, in social situations, I don’t naturally gravitate to the kitchen with the women.
@dave, that sounds like a great chance to actually taste some of the stuff, presumably freezedrieds??? Take notes!
It also sounds like a way to meet LMIs, without talking to people at random in the market.
n
Agreed. I’d go to something like that in a heartbeat. Just don’t buy anything. And if it’s Wise, don’t even bother tasting it. Hawk, spit.
Hah, one of the benefits of getting to know your local cops. Thru that citizens police academy I took, I was just asked to be a training role player for the Special Res ponse G roup for the SuperBowl.
Might be fun to get manhandled a couple of nights, or get dressed up in my victim makeup, or scream at some cops. Learning more about their training and response would def be interesting.
n
Holy crap this is the second time in a couple of months someone saved a cop on the side of the road:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4114462/Arizona-passerby-shot-dead-man-attacking-police-officer.html
n
Holy crap this is the second time in a couple of months someone saved a cop on the side of the road:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4114462/Arizona-passerby-shot-dead-man-attacking-police-officer.html
I saw that. Just hope and pray that the “attacker” that you shot was not a plain clothes cop and that the guy in the cop uniform was for real.
And it happened at 4am.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/southwest-valley-breaking/2017/01/12/police-activity-shuts-interstate-10-westbound-near-tonopah/96481168/
In this case, he asked the cop if he needed help first. In FL, the cop was yelling “shoot him” so conscience clear on those so far.
n
Over the years I’ve stopped by MV traffic stops and if they looked a little hinky, I usually slowed and asked the cop/s if they were all set; so far, so good.
Back in ancient times when I was auditioning for the role of Buford Pusser in another sequel, I was alone a LOT, in the small town where I was for a year, and then in the big city of Woostah, often on a foot beat. I never thought twice about it.
But now, if there’s a report of overdue library books or someone growing organic carrots in their back yard, all hell breaks loose and a fleet of cruisers shows up, sometimes even SWAT.
Hell, I broke up biker fights in shit-hole barrooms by myself, when they had pool cues flying around; with the right stuff you can defeat multiple pool cues with the Monadnock PR-24 “Prosecutor” baton. And hey, if that fails, give ’em a good solid spray of MACE. One of my weightlifting partners also had a nifty little device called “The Claw,” used for come-along holds on an arrest, and brother, if you were resisting arrest and he slapped that on your wrist or elbow, you were COMING ALONG, and right smartly, too.
Fun times.
Anyone who cannot see that we are becoming a banana republic need look no further than this:
Joe’s tearful surprise: Shocked Biden breaks down as Obama awards him the Medal of Freedom at ceremony and he pays tribute to his late son Beau
-President Barack Obama surprised Vice President Joe Biden with a farewell ceremony at the White House
– In emotional speech, Obama described him as a ‘lion of American history’ and a ‘humble public servant’
-Through tears, Biden listened as he was immortalized as ‘the best Vice President America has ever had’
– Obama stunned the 74-year-old by with a surprise presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
– He awarded it with distinction, making Biden the only recipient of the honor throughout his tenure
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4114876/The-best-Vice-President-America-Barack-Obama-Joe-Biden-cry-teary-farewell-tribute-surprises-brother-Presidential-Medal-Freedom.html
Next they’ll be wearing fancy uniforms to hold all their BS honors and calling each other “Generalisimo.”
Fuck.
n
It’s just like the Oscar’s and every other libturdian award show: blowjobs from each other. What a joke. WTF has Biden done? Only Obola would give him that award.
Stress and unfamiliarity bring out the worst in most folks. (With 750k air miles, I’ve seen what it can do under relatively normal conditions, and even succumbed to momentary fits of rage myself.)
Airports and airplanes are just about the worst place to have a fit of rage. My dad, my middle brother, and I went fishing in Belize in 1989. The Nicaraguan war was going on at the time and there were British troops everywhere. We landed at Belize airport with Harrier jets in their concrete bunkers and and a huge British helicopter hovering over the runway with four door gunners hanging out the sides as we landed. Was a wild scene.
Anyway, we did our fishing, came back, and tried to catch our flight back to Miami on Taca Airlines. We get up to the counter and the airline has given our seats away since we did not check in by phone the previous day. Heck, the place where we were at was way offshore across the deep blue hole. No phones. Dad got mad and started yelling at the airline lady. All of a sudden the guide shows up at my elbow and tells me to shut my dad down, the soldiers were coming. I look across the room and three British soldiers are coming our way with their weird sten guns pointed our way. I grabbed Dad and pulled him away from the counter, telling him to be quiet. He got even more mad and I showed him the soldiers and asked him if he wanted to spend the night in jail. He calmed down at that point. We flew out the next day on their ancient 737, probably serial number 101. I got the privilege of sitting next to a guy smoking a Churchill size cigar all the way back.
My parents, both raised in rural Middle America, used ‘cabbage’ in the sense ‘to steal’. I generally don’t use it, but if I were writing dialogue for people of that lineage I would use it.
“Anyone who cannot see that we are becoming a banana republic need look no further than this…”
We passed that point a while back, kemosabe.
First Obola gives himself a medal (but I hear that they all do that upon leaving their National Administrator/Janitor sinecures), and now he’s passing them out like candy. Bipolar Biden is the best VP the country’s ever had??? Jesus wept. No lie too big for these jerkoffs.
What MrAtoz said; it’s just one big circle jerk and today Obola was Pivot Man. Oscars, Golden Globs, etc., same deal.
” My dad, my middle brother, and I went fishing in Belize in 1989. The Nicaraguan war was going on at the time and there were British troops everywhere.”
This may seem like a stupid question but why in Heck were youse guys going fishing anywhere near that chit then?? Isn’t that like me going fishing this month in Bulgaria (near the Ukraine) or South Korea?
“… four door gunners hanging out the sides as we landed. Was a wild scene.”
It woulda got a lot wilder if they’d opened up with those guns. That was your humble northern correspondent’s gig for my last six months on active duty. Age 21. Described that gig a little bit this morning during my hearing down at the VA. Could be my lucky day, as my two questioners were both former AF and one was actually a fellow former Security Police drone. He got a little stop-loss surprise near the end of his enlistment when he was expecting to go home; very next day on a plane to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for five months. Flight line security. No Bibles, no booze, no Playboys. I didn’t get into it there, but we should have told the Saudis to go fuck themselves over that stuff.
” we should have told the Saudis to go fuck themselves over that stuff.”
Gotta respect the wogs beliefs doncha know. ‘Cuz noble savage or white man’s guilt or something….
n
Why do you guys pay so much attention these twits and twitesses? They thrive on it. The only thing they can’t abide is being ignored.
” My dad, my middle brother, and I went fishing in Belize in 1989. The Nicaraguan war was going on at the time and there were British troops everywhere.”
This may seem like a stupid question but why in Heck were youse guys going fishing anywhere near that chit then?? Isn’t that like me going fishing this month in Bulgaria (near the Ukraine) or South Korea?
Bonefish, man. The dudes will rip your reel off.
I used to be blissfully unaware of most of the ‘talent’ out there currently. But constant exposure, even if just glancing past, from reading the Daily Mail has built up a certain amount of awareness. And sometimes it bubbles over.
This one was particularly and spectacularly vile.
n
You know how the links on the right side (for recent comment) will show you the ones you have already clicked on? They are green now. The old blue and purple were too hard to tell apart.
I usually read all the comments, then use the nifty up-arrow to get to the top, then click on the first comment link. Then, the next time I visit, I can tell were to continue with reading comments.
All so I can find more comments with FLASHLIGHTS!
(RBT: I can change it back if you want..)
I’m so tired of hearing about this Lennie Durham, or whatever his/her/its name is. Enough is enough. And what is this shit about calling a guy who dresses like a girl, “she”? It’s a he, and we used to call guys like that “perverts”. Either that, or “Joe Namath”.
Whatever you guys think is better is fine with me. Any opinions?
I probably should create a FLASHLIGHTS category.
I just asked the googles, and there are only 320 results for this search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=flashlight+site%3Attgnet.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
I think we can do better than this. Yes, we can!
https://www.google.com/search?q=flashlight+site%3Attgnet.com&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
I thought that google was not indexing ttgnet.com ? I can search like crazy using Rick’s query.
“‘I’M FOUR MONTHS PREGNANT’ British man, 20, will be the first to give BIRTH thanks to sperm donor he found on Facebook”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2560070/british-man-20-will-be-the-first-to-give-birth-to-a-baby-thanks-to-sperm-donor-he-found-on-facebook/
I don’t know what to say. Congratulations ?
regarding the color change, I actually find it harder to see the difference between the blue and green. I see both colors, but there is a brightness difference with the old colors that isn’t there with green.
I’ll get used to it.
n
Colors are nice.
I like colors.
Do you like colors?
We should all like colors.
And what was that about FLASHLIGHTS?
I like FLASHLIGHTS.
And TOILETS.
I like TOILETS.
I don’t like Lena Dumbo.
No one should like Lena Dumbo.
Hey! Elephant seals in mating season need love, too.
The issue, the only issue SFAIK, was that for a while Google had stopped indexing comments in blogs. (WordPress blogs for sure. Not blogger.com for sure. I don’t know about other blogging sites and engines.) Recently they changed back and it’s become possible to search blog comments again.
Israel chiming in in Syria??
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-12/israeli-jets-bomb-damascus-military-airport-syria-vows-it-will-respond-flagrant-atta
Don’t think the world needed that, but on the other hand, maybe it did.
n
Israel bombs Syria every year to remind them who is boss.
“Isn’t that like me going fishing this month in Bulgaria (near the Ukraine)”
That wouldn’t be that bad. Last year, the number of tourists in Bulgaria exceeded its population. It is a big attraction for its Black Sea resorts. At north it has Romania, at south Greece. All three being EU and NATO members.
The only problems I see are Bulgaria’s level of corruption (as in Ro) and having the South-Eastern border with Turkey, a troubled BIG country which might turn into a full scale dictature, as they are changing the Constitution to give more powers to the already powerful president.
ADDED: The numbers according to Wikipedia: 10.3 million tourists in 2016; population 7.4 million.
“I probably should create a FLASHLIGHTS category.”
You should create a GUNS category…
“…someone saved a cop on the side of the road”
… apparently the someone was a woman, who then made herself scarce post haste. Wise lady. I doubt she will be overly traumatised by having had to ventilate the goblin. It sounds like the officer who was attacked is lucky to be alive.
I agree with Nick on the colors. I can get used to it.
But then a thought came to me – Red & Green are relatively easy for me to tell apart. Why not make them red & green? What could go wrong?
@RickH, on my computer (Windows 10), both in Firefox and Chrome all links are blue. I don’t see any color differences.
I use FeedDemon (http://www.feeddemon.com/) for an RSS Reader. Even though it has been “discontinued” since 2013 it is solid and I have no problems. IMHO its simplicity and common sense methods of viewing is far superior to any other RSS Reader.
Anyway, my point, by using FeedDemon I know what I have read and what is new.
But then a thought came to me – Red & Green are relatively easy for me to tell apart. Why not make them red & green? What could go wrong?
Lucky you. I cannot tell red and green apart. Apparently a significant portion of the male population has this problem. The biggest problem is that you have to memorize the traffic light positions.
I had a cousin tell me about Detroit (I think) that has their lights horizontal. Is red on the left or the right?
Those who experience red/green deal with it all the time. Those of us who are fortunate enough to not have to deal with it simply don’t realize it.
Just after I got my driver’s license, back around 1969, I remember going through a little town not far from where we lived in western PA. Their traffic lights had green on top and red at the bottom.
I had a cousin tell me about Detroit (I think) that has their lights horizontal. Is red on the left or the right?
Most of our traffic lights around here are horizontal. Red on left, green on right. The horizontal alignment makes for more space under the pole arm.
Their traffic lights had green on top and red at the bottom.
Oh my !
I have real trouble distinguishing blue and green unless the light is very good. Red is easy.