Think your government isn't watching you? Think your privacy is safe? Remember the article I wrote about the Visa card monitoring program that Poindexter was starting? Well, go and get yourself a copy of Wired magazine for April 2003, and open it up to page 29 of the Special Report insert (Life in 2013). You know, it used to be a net joke to attach 'keyword lists' to your emails as a snafu to the good old NSA. You know, a list like: assassinate kill murder president AK-47 nuclear weapons grenada terrorist, etc.....' just to make sure your email was flagged for monitoring.... I used to think it was a joke by paranoid delusionists...certainly such a list of key words would be thrown away were they not in any context to incite. Well, it looks like many Americans are not as paranoid as we all thought they were (well, ok - maybe those UFO freaks and the guys with the tin-foil hats...). This (fictional, for now, but how far do you think this is from the current truth?) report about how they monitored movements, followed a citizen, did biometric scans, voicescans, RESPIRATORY MEASUREMENTS during surveillance, all based on the Visa card purchases of an individual for (and this, friends, is the KICKER.......) buying BOOKS!

Just yesterday, I was watching television, and a commercial came on: A kid walks into a library/book store and asks for a list of books. The stern old lady behind the counter says: I'm sorry, sir, but these books are no longer available. At this point, two goon-types walk up behind the guy who asked for the books...the commercial then puts up a big set of words: What if this weren't America? (or something to that tone....what if you didn't have rights to read what you wanted...) It was all very ominous...but the majority of the American public may NEVER know how true it is....go get April's WIRED magazine. Read it...especially those pages....and if I don't blog for another 6 months, I'm probably rotting in a jail cell somewhere under the U.S. Patriot Act. Someone call Senator McCarthy and tell him he can come back.

Note: Macromedia has released another security update to their Flash player. If you have this plugin (and 75% or more of you do), please click on Yes when asked if you'd like to accept the flash update when you come to this page. It will help protect your computer against worms, viruses, and other nasties...

My 15" LCD screen is too small. Working on this modeling software with the small screen is starting to get on my nerves. The screen only goes up to 1024x768 and working with graphics applications comfortably, I think I want more screen real estate. Looking around, it seems $336 after rebate is the lowest (according to Price Watch) to be found...still slightly out of my price range. 18" LCDs are coming down in price, though, so I'll keep my eyes/ears open. If you hear of any really good deals let me know..

I started a group on Yahoo Groups. If you read this blog, you might be interested in joining - it's called Rich's Random Hobby, since I have a tendency to jump around amongst so many. Go here to sign up if you're interested in files/photos, chat, shared messages, curiosity, whatever.

Who says nothing good comes out of Open Source? (Ok, no one that I know - but here's more proof). A group of donators got together and bought the rights to a defunct commercial package. They're publishing it as Open Source, and they're freely distributing it at this time. It's 3-d modeling software, with built-in animation and rendering tools. I've been playing with Blender now for about a week, and I must say that it is FUN to be able to create 3-d stuff on the fly, and make AVI's from easily created keyframe animation. Apparently Blender has been around for years, and if you're motivated enough, you could create a whole game from it (use version 2.25 - 2.26 is broke in this area). While my own efforts PALE in comparison, I have found it a cheap and quick way to get into the hobby.

Just got back my midterm results for Pre-calc. Got a 76 on it - ugh. Looks like I might pull a C in the class...Final is whenever I'm ready to take it. I'm more confident about the second part of the class, though, so I should be fine....we'll see....part of the exam will cover logarithms...something I'm not all that good at. In my other class, I finished up early - midterm and final - have an A for the class, but that's not saying much - the class was definitely below my challenge level.

Looks like I haven't written anything in here for a long time. I've taken up all kinds of hobbies lately, 3-d modeling, chess (again...), but mostly I'm trying to concentrate on schoolwork. Taking mathematics over the Internet is not much different than trying to read a book and I may forgo the classroom experience for Calculus. In Term 2, I'm going to take a light load (from a brain perspective) so I may just study Calc and go for a CLEP. Been busy at work, too - lots of changes going on....new people coming on board, etc.....well, back to work.

I got through to their (NATN) customer service department and spoke with Justin Barnett. Mr. Barnett assured me that he would contact all of their offices to make sure that I was placed on their do not call lists (he stated that there may be newer offices that do not have me on their list). He stated he did not know why I was receiving these calls. At the same time, I also warned Justin that I was considering seeking legal counsel to stop the telephone calls and made him aware that the last time this happened, who I spoke with and how many times they had called me (I believe I estimated 10 in 7 days to him) and also that they had in the past called me after hours. I expressed my displeasure (pleasantly) and disgust with having to deal with the issue, and he assured me he would take care of it.

In other news, I finished up my two classes for Term 6 and signed up for two more classes for Term 1 of 2003. It was tough completing the coursework on time, but I did most of it (probably got a C or B in Psychology because I backlogged myself...but if I get a C, I'll be surprised - I know I did well on the non-subjective aspects of the midterm and final exams).

They're Baaaaa-aaaack - Received another call from North American Telephone Networks - offering me their deal of the day - if you recall, these were the people who would not stop calling me back in July (7-15th, I believe...). I called their CEO and spoke with their customer service department at length, and was assured (I PROMISE) that I would never, ever, hear from these people again. Well, they just called me again (or one of their representatives did...) - So, do I sue? I asked for a supervisor, and spoke with one, a Mr. Donald Patterson. He assured me that he would put me on their do-not-call list. Then he spoke with a supervisor about getting the change into their computer, immediately. I told Mr. Patterson that I may be considering legal action in the matter, since it seems that the company will not stop soliciting me. I told him about the previous incident, and he was doing his best to be very helpful. All I want them to do is to STOP calling us, and to go out of their way to do so, if necessary. Is that too much to ask?

Is anyone out there paying attention to our decaying privacy? It seems that recent events are allowing the McCarthyists out from under the rocks that they crawled under years ago. Look at this Wired News article and more to the point, this one: Wired News: Total Info System Totally Touchy. I don't know about the rest of you, but this latter system seems to me a crock of crap. Way back when the Social Security Number was created, the government promised us that it would only be used for social security, and would never, ever (we swear!) become a national ID number.

I'd like to see you get anything done from a governmental perspective without handing over your social security number. You can't - don't even waste your time. Regardless of the fact that it is basically illegal to use the SSN of an individual to personally identify them for anything except their social security benefits, every computerized system that needs to personally identify you uses this little number. Sure, there are people in Congress who will want safeguards for this new 'purchase tracking' system that they want to build. But you know what, the law sure didn't help with the SSN.

Our privacy and our personal rights are stripped away daily by well-meaning folks, and while we try to do something, there is almost nothing we can do about it. It's just going to continue to get worse. I don't have an answer...I just felt the need to rant about it.

Can we please speak out about automated bathrooms? They've just refinished the bathrooms here at work. The whole place is automated....automated flushers, automatic lighting, automated sinks, and even an automated door (big handicap button). You walk into the bathroom, and the door swings itself open all the way, and doesn't close immediately, exposing the hallway to a view of the men's room. Then you walk up to a stall, or what-have-you and relieve yourself. Sometime during this process, the automated flusher decides you're finished, even if you're not, and attempts to suck you down the pipes. As you turn around to leave the stall, one of the automated sinks turns on. Not the one you were going to use, but the far one at the end. You put soap on your hands, and wave your hands under the faucet. A sprinkle of ice cold water ensues, and you desperately try to bubble up and then get all the soap off before the sink decides that you are finished. Now, your hands are cold as ice AND still covered with a layer of soapy film.

What's worse? I think someone paid big bucks to have our bathrooms upgraded...and the stall doors don't even stay shut.....I'll bet if you don't move around enough while sitiing, the automatic lights would turn off on you....and then you think to yourself...how do I know it's just a motion detector circuit and not a camera....you feel like you're being watched...

Too much automation is a bad thing. This is an example.