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Basic Rights in the Digital Age

I saw this on Kim Komando's daily newsletter. It's too good not to share.

Judge's Laptop Ruling Challenges the Constitution - and Your Privacy 

1/26/2014

It's pretty obvious that we as a society are now made up of two groups. There are those who, for better or worse, have moved their lives into the digital realm, and those who haven't.

I would like to introduce you to someone in the latter category. His name is Edward Korman and he is a federal judge in New York state. He had a case before him involving a U.S. citizen – a Ph.D. student at McGill University in Montreal – who had his computer confiscated while returning to the States. The judge ruled, sweepingly, that, yes, the federal government had a right to confiscate laptops at the border without probable cause.

In other words: You are traveling overseas, with your laptop, tablet or smartphone. As you re-enter the United States, a federal official, for any reason or none, can take it away from you and look through it, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Here's what I have on my laptop. Years of email. Private conversations from close friends about personal matters, some of them tragic, heart-wrenching, and life-changing, and similar messages from my husband. There are thousands of family photos, 99.9 percent of which I would prefer to be private. There is medical information about me and my family. I have business plans that are the culmination of years of work and affect my family's current and future livelihood.

Something else is there as well – something more intimate. What's on my laptop is a reflection of my mind – the unadorned evidence, good and bad, flattering and embarrassing, of my victories and pratfalls, my joys and losses, my most elated moments and deepest thoughts. It's me.

Either you live in a world in which this extension of your very consciousness – and your constant access to it – is an inextricable part of your life, or you don't. You either appreciate that a laptop is a costly and delicate instrument you'd just as soon not be cavalierly tossed around by a TSA employee, or you do not. And you recoil at the thought of strangers pawing through that information on a whim, with trivial legal oversight, or you do not.

The taking of a laptop today is a striking act of confiscation almost without an equivalent 25 years ago. Back then, it would have taken a team of FBI agents days if not weeks to so comprehensively vacuum up a single American's health, business, financial and personal information, not to mention that of so many of his or her friends, family members, and business associates.

Today, Nosy McPatterson, your local TSA staffer, or Roscoe the border agent who got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, can accomplish the same feat, and in an instant. They can paw through your photos and email during their lunch hour. And anyone present with a 13-year-old's understanding of computing can easily and unnoticeably make a quick copy of it onto a device that slips easily into a pants pocket.

Judge Korman says it doesn't happen very often, though there's evidence he's wrong. I don't think it should happen at all.

 It was odd – there's surprisingly little talk about the ruling online. (It came down on New Year's Eve afternoon.) The more you read, the weirder the rules are. The so-called "border exemption" extends 100 miles inland from the border. That includes the population of the Eastern Seaboard, Miami, Houston, the west coast, and Chicago.

 I wanted to find a smart legal mind who'd considered the issue. I finally found someone who had. He came up with a simple encapsulation to prevent this sort of intrusion into our private lives for no reason. It went like this:

 The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized

 That's the Fourth Amendment, of course. The writer was a guy named James Madison, with help from a few friends. Judge Korman, I am quite sure, isn't the sort to carry his life around in his laptop. It's OK that he doesn't. The ironic thing about his ruling is that while initially I thought it encapsulated a division between people who live in the past (the judge) and the future (me and I assume you), but it's obvious this issue was well-debated – and from our point of view, resolved – by some smart people a very long time ago.

 In the end, Judge Korman is the one with a different vision for the future. As a professional, mother, friend and citizen, I really don't like the looks of it.

 Copyright 2014, WestStar Multimedia Entertainment. All rights reserved.
 - See more at: komando columns

Cancun Trip - October 2013

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This Chart Implies Something Very Troubling About the Price of Gas

TheBlaze.com 

Posted on December 4, 2012 at 12:50pm by Becket Adams

“Under my plan, ENERGY PRICES would NECESSARILY SKYROCKET”
- Barack H. Obama

Crude oil prices account for about 66 percent of the price of gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Granted, other factors play a role in deciding the price we pay at the pump, including taxes and the cost of distribution, but it’s clear that the price of crude directly affects the price of gas. As crude oil increases in price, the price of gasoline tends to increase. Likewise, when markets are calm and the price of crude oil decreases, the price of gasoline decreases.

With that in mind, take a look at the following chart and try to make sense of what’s going on:

The price of gas is represented by the light grey line and the price of oil 

by the dark black line (courtesy Zero Hedge, UBS, WSJ)

See that? Although the price of crude has fallen in recent months, as the above chart clearly indicates, the price of gasoline remains at a record high.

“Anecdotally, it feels like when oil prices rise, gas prices at the pump rise; but when turmoil pauses in global geo-politics – or some entity decides that high oil prices just will not do for the world’s economy – gas prices at the pump seem not to drop so quickly,” writers at Zero Hedge note.

“Yes there are pipeline, inventory (and even tax) issues but the following chart suggests ‘gouging’ on a national level,” they add.

It’s also worth noting that what we’re seeing today with the price of gasoline and crude is eerily similar to what we saw right before the economic collapse of 2008.

The Best Gag Ever!!!!!

Philip Roth Pens Open Letter to Wikipedia to Fix Error

... and it works, after he is first rejected as a 'credible source'

Read this article from Newser. This is why academia is a "primary source" for misinformation. The media is also guilty of this. The comments for this story are also fun to peruse.  

Philip Roth Pens Open Letter to Wikipedia to Fix Error

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 8, 2012 11:30 AM CDT

Philip Roth glanced at the Wikipedia entry for his novel The Human Stain and learned that his book was inspired by the life of the late writer and literary critic Anatole Broyard. The problem, writes Roth in an open letter to Wikipedia published in the New Yorker, is that the assertion isn't true. It's just "the babble of literary gossip." The novel, he explains, is based on the life his late friend Melvin Tumin, who taught sociology at Princeton. (A main plot point revolves around the protagonist getting into hot water for innocently referring to two missing students as "spooks," something that actually happened to Tumin.)

The best part of Roth's open letter is that when he approached Wikipedia with the correction through an intermediary, an administrator shot him down: “I understand your point that the author is the greatest authority on their own work, but we require secondary sources," he quotes the administrator as writing. Hence, the open letter, which appears to have worked: The entry on Roth now reflects the new version.

Never Before Released IT Guru Secret!

'Obesity paradox:' High BMI linked to better heart outcomes

by Allison Floyd
Published in FierceHealthcare

Contrary to the widely accepted view that a lower BMI yields better health, research shows obesity and a larger waist size are linked to better outcomes in heart failure patients, according to a new UCLA study published online Sunday in the American Journal of Cardiology. While 50 percent to 66 percent of patients with heart failure are obese, the new study shows those patients suffering from advanced heart failure with high BMI were slightly less likely to suffer from adverse effects.

This phenomenon, known as "the obesity paradox" demonstrates that although obesity increases heart failure, it may also provide some preventative benefits to patients after it has manifested. These benefits include increased muscle mass and levels of serum lipoproteins that act as an anti-inflammatory.

Read more: 'Obesity paradox:' High BMI linked to better heart outcomes - FierceHealthcare http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/obesity-paradox-high-bmi-linked-better-heart-outcomes/2012-07-05#ixzz1zr4jx5Ct

How Common Is Your Birthday?

Hey! Where's My Seat?

Happy "Happy Day!" Know what I mean?

So my kindergartner is approaching the end of his first year of school.  They have to know some basic information to make it out alive: the ABC's, count from 1-100, their address and phone number, etc.  One of their tested items is to recite, in order, the days of the week.

So, the wife, being the competitive scholarly type is diligently working with him in the dining room.  I, of course, am under no stress because I realize that this common knowledge is innate to the culture and Michael will pick it up eventually anyway.  I am positive that my son will not be calendarally-challenged for life.  World's ending this year on 12/21 anyway.

In the dining room, Jessica joined in to help with the tutoring.  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, (I wish this thing worked like excel - then I could just drag a handle across the page and autofill all the days of the week) Thursday, Friday, Saturday (is that right?).  Over and over again.  Which probably meant Michelle had them all memorized.  My 3-year old is as smart as they come; and a world class manipulator.  

Back to the study session.  Michael was getting pretty good at reciting the days.  Soon he was going all by himself.  Then, ever the quizzical introspective child that he is, looked at his tutors and exclaimed, "Saturday?  Saturday?  Why do they call it Saturday?  There is no school on that day.  They should call it Happy Day!"

Followed, of course, by Fun Day.  Except, you still have to go to church on that day.

Star Wars Day!

May the Fourth be with you, always!

Beware: Tomorrow is "Revenge of the Fifth." 

I Hate Mondays

Why is Monday so far from Friday, but Friday so close to Monday?!

Words of Wisdom To My Kids

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.    --Will Rogers

Have a sense of humor? Become an IT worker.

Federal Computer Week Daily

April 13, 2012

What’s the most bizarre question you’ve been asked in your role as an IT professional?

Whatever your answer is, I hope it equals – or even tops – the hilarious examples given by IT workers who were polled in a survey about strange requests.

Developed by Robert Half Technology, the survey is based on phone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. Responses also came from help-desk managers.

The question: “What is the strangest or most unusual request you or a member of your help desk or technical support team has ever received?"

Some response from CIOs:

"Can I turn on the coffee pot with my computer?"

"How do I clean cat hair out of my computer fan?"

"How do I remove a sesame seed from the keyboard?"
"I dropped my phone in the toilet. What should I do?"
"How do I pirate software?"

And among help desk professionals:
"Can you help me fix my toilet?"
"We need you to fix the microwave in the lunchroom."
"Can you help me repair a washing machine?"

"How do I start the Internet?"

"Will you show me how to use the mouse?"

The "Great Attractor": What is the Milky Way Speeding Towards at 14 Million MPH?

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/03/mystery-of-the.html

Astronomers have known for years that something seems to be pulling our Milky Way and tens of thousands of other galaxies toward itself at a breakneck 22 million kilometers (14 million miles) per hour. But they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what or where it is.

A huge volume of space that includes the Milky Way and super-clusters of galaxies is flowing towards a mysterious, gigantic unseen mass named mass astronomers have dubbed "The Great Attractor," some 250 million light years from our Solar System.

The Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are the dominant structures in a galaxy cluster called the Local Group which is, in turn, an outlying member of the Virgo supercluster. Andromeda--about 2.2 million light-years from the Milky Way--is speeding toward our galaxy at 200,000 miles per hour.

This motion can only be accounted for by gravitational attraction, even though the mass that we can observe is not nearly great enough to exert that kind of pull. The only thing that could explain the movement of Andromeda is the gravitational pull of a lot of unseen mass--perhaps the equivalent of 10 Milky Way-size galaxies--lying between the two galaxies.

Meanwhile, our entire Local Group is hurtling toward the center of the Virgo cluster at one million miles per hour.

Why?

There aren't any satisfying answers. Life is fragile and it can be short; too short. Randy was a character. I've known him for 15 years. He and I and our buddy, Chuck, were business partners for that time. Randy could drive you absolutely crazy but the next minute he was the sweetest guy on earth. I think Chuck broke a few cell phones in frustration dealing with Randy, but they were as close as brothers. Chuck always took care of Randy. I remember Randy ticking me off so bad that I didn't talk to him for a month. But then he would come around and it was like nothing had ever happened. He would sweet talk Gailyn. He could be a charmer like that. When he and I would have a dust-up and he wanted to make things good between us again, he would call to discuss a computer question. No mention made of the original disagreement. That was his way. It always worked - even when we would disagree on the computer solution.

Don't get the impression that Randy was a bad guy or anything. He loved to help out, but you had to let him help you out in his way. And his way was usually in a way you didn't want it done. Not that his way was wrong. Sometimes he did such a good job that from then on customers wanted it done the way Randy did it. So that is more of tribute to him. But he was so focused on his way that "screw you, I'm stinkin' Frank Sinatra." Or at least that's what I used to call him when he got like that. We weren't union, but the dock workers and the print guys were. Randy once got a warning letter from the union, because he was so happy to pitch in that they accused him of doing their work. They tried to make him stay behind a yellow line on the dock from then on. Two weeks later, Randy was back with the union workers loading carts. He just did things his way.    

One time, Randy asked Gailyn and me if we wanted his old waterbed. He didn't want it anymore because it hurt his back. If we wanted it, it was ours, it was too much bother to try and sell it. So instead of just bringing it up to Erie with a load, he packed it all in the back of his pickup and drove the 200 mile round trip on a Saturday afternoon - even though I was going to see him on Sunday night at the plant anyway. He did it just because that's how he wanted to do it. That was Randy. He did things the way he wanted to do them.  

Not to go on and on here. This is more therapy for me than any type of a tribute. I'm just asking "why?" He's now gone. There is no comprehending the meaning of it. Randy always wanted to do the whole job. He didn't like doing half a job. He couldn't do it all his way if somebody else was doing part of it. But as the song says, "Who am I to try to judge or explain? But I do have one burning question. Who told you life wasn't worth the fight? They were wrong. They lied. Now you're gone and we cried. It's not like you to walk away in the middle of a song." Take a nap in your truck, maybe, but not to walk away.

See ya' later, Randy. 

Happy Pi Day!

Pi, as I hope you know, is the mathematical concept that helps mathematicians and grade schoolers find the area of a circle. Just off the top of my head, Pi is approximately  3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651…and it goes on and on.  

In actual numbers, Pi is usually shorthanded to 3.14. So it should come as no surprise that nerds everywhere have designated March 14th, or 3/14, as Pi Day.

Even if you don't like math, it's a great excuse to eat delicious pie. I’m going to try and talk that special, wonderful significant somebody into making a banana cream.  

This site gives Pi to the one millionth digit. http://www.piday.org/million.php

Mmmm…pie….I'm quite irrational about this.

Santorium Wins, Santorum Wins (Second Place)

So tonight - Rick Santorum won Alabama and Mississippi. Hurray! Nice, Rick. But wait! Since the GOP has given proportional representation, you gotta do more than squeak out a win, you have to dominate to make a dent in the delegate counts.

Lets see how it went Tuesday night. Delegates won per candidate:

                                   Romney    Santorum     Gingrich      Paul 
Alabama                         11              19              12     
Mississippi                      14              13              12
Hawaii                              9                4                               1
America Samoa                9                                                       
                                      43              36               24             1

So Romney actually gained the most delegates, not Santorum.

Newt, shut up. You've achieved broken record status. Most people I know think you are now just in there for spite.