Sleepless in Midland

Dash cams, do we need them yet?

I understand that in some foreign countries staged car accidents for insurance fraud are so common place that dashboard cameras are a necessity. Fortunately, that hasn't caught on in the U.S., at least in this part of the U.S.

The next best reason for a dash cam is to catch a scene for a viral video. Here's one at Liveleak.com that's rather scary. No fraud attempts in this one, just mother nature showing us a little something. No moss on that one. Check it out, it's worth a look.

Via Metfilter.com.

Obama to end re-importation of old WWII rifles

On the surface this looks like a typical feel-good gun control stunt. Looking deeper, that's exactly what it is. Here's what the executive order says :

Keeping Surplus Military Weapons Off Our Streets

When the United States provides military firearms to its allies, either as direct commercial sales or through the foreign military sales or military assistance programs, those firearms may not be imported back into the United States without U.S. government approval.  Since 2005, the U.S. Government has authorized requests to reimport more than 250,000 of these firearms.

Today, the Administration is announcing a new policy of denying requests to bring military-grade firearms back into the United States to private entities, with only a few exceptions such as for museums. This new policy will help keep military-grade firearms off our streets.

Obama probably wants the low-information voters to think he's keeping AR-15s out of the hands of crazy killers, but he is specifically targeting old WWII rifles to keep them out of the hands of collectors and theoretically, competitors in Civilian Marksmanship Program matches.

DailyCaller.com notes the issue with Obama’s new executive order will kill the 110-year-old Civilian Marksmanship Program.

The CMP was established as a result of the 1903 War Department Appropriations Act to help citizens develop or retain their shooting skills should those skills be needed in time of war. Today the CMP is a non-profit organization that, until this executive order, accepted surplus American military rifles and sold them only to buyers who met strict eligibility requirements. But today those guns are rare, and one in private hands is a treasured item.  Obama wants to keep them off our streets?  For crying out loud.

One has to wonder why Obama would want to ban the importation of any of these old rifles still in existence. Of course, the whole gun control movement is based on a false premise anyway. And the effort to disarm law abiding citizens should make us very suspicious when we factor in all the other things the government is doing to us under the guise of making us safe. But this particular ban is just ridiculous.

What is the one thing the homeless need most? A statue dedicated to the homeless.

This couldn't be happening in Texas could it? Oh, it's Austin. Never mind.

The Corner points us to the topic of a life size bronze statue commemorating the homeless somewhere along Lady Bird Lake.

A Statesman article from last March said the homeless advocate whose idea it was intended to raise a couple hundred thousand dollars from donations to get it built. And that's a grand idea for getting it done.

Apparently the folks who would be expected to fund the sculpture had better uses for their money. But the next best thing to voluntary donations is forced donations. So taxpayers may end up footing the bill as keyetv.com says the Austin city council is now considering paying for it. They got an amusing quote from a homeless guy who would be one of those intended to benefit from the sculpture:

You want to get rid of the problem down here? Build someplace they can stay at.

surveillance on citizens -- Obama was against it before he was for it

Two from Propublica.

First. In The Surveillance Reforms Obama Supported Before He Was President, Kara Brandeisky tells how in 2007 Senator Obama co-sponsored a bill that would have ...

... that would have required the government to demonstrate, with “specific and articulable facts,” that it wanted records related to “a suspected agent of a foreign power” or the records of people with one degree of separation from a suspect. The bill died in committee. Following pressure from the Bush administration, lawmakers had abandoned a similar 2005 measure, which Obama also supported.

Fast forward to 2013:

We now know the Obama administration has sought, and obtained, the phone records belonging to all Verizon Business Network Services subscribers (and reportedly, Sprint and AT&T subscribers, as well). Once the NSA has the database, analysts search through the phone records and look at people with two or three degrees of separation from suspected terrorists.

(Emphasis added by me.)

So was he just trying to look good in 2007 or did he really mean it? And now that he's in charge he just wants to keep an eye on his subjects? Funny how George W. Bush, who Democrats told us back then was such a horrible person, set the standard by which Barack Obama is now trying to measure himself.

Second. In Is Your Neighbor a Democrat? Obama Has an App for That, Lois Beckett tells us --

The app, released last week, includes a Google map for canvassers that recognizes your current location and marks nearby Democratic households with small blue flags.

For each targeted address, the app displays the first name, age and gender of the voter or voters who live there: "Lori C., 58 F, Democrat."

Ostensibly the information provided by this app is supposed to help volunteers for Oama out in the field. But one has to wonder what kind of apps might be available to IRS and other federal workers who want to help sway elections.

Scooter Brown offers viable alternative to downtown skyscraper

Energy Related Properties principal Scooter Brown was a guest yesterday on the newwstalkkcrs.com morning drive radio show. And the topic was the skyscraper ERP and the city council want to build in downtown Midland, Texas.

Setting aside the issue of demolishing the old courthouse, a major issue with this is the huge taxpayer subsidy they want. So it was a relief to hear Mr. Brown say that the tax money wasn't a deal killer. If they didn't get the money, he said, they would simply move the project to the outskirts of town and build it on their own. What a simple and perfect solution. Everybody gets what they want. The taxpayers get to decide for themselves what the best use is for their money, and the developers can get all the benefits of owning the energy tower they want to build. That's an offer the city shouldn't refuse.

It's the win/win solution that should make everyone happy.

Well, I guess the only unhappy group would be those in the downtown revitalization movement. But maybe someday they'll set their own interests aside and acknowledge that a free market without influence from government subsidies is better for everyone. It's for the common good.

memo to the NSA spy who loves me

We've been hearing about how you NSA folks are using your access to our phone calls and internet use to spy on your love interests. So this one is for you, the spy who loves me.

Hey babe, how's it going? I'd love to hear all about you when I have time, but since you are taking the time out of your busy workday to check in on me, I thought I would tell you a little about myself. I'm tall, handsome, fit, and get mistaken for Brad Pitt all the time. Don't pay any attention to that photo on my driver's license. I don't know where they get that crazy stuff -- it's government work, am I right?

I like long walks on the beach, picnics, romantic dinners, whispering sweet nothings in my loveint's ear, cuddling under the moonlight, making my loveint feel wanted and all that sh*t.

What are you wearing? Um, wait a second. Are you a dude? Not that there's anything wrong with that. But uh, you know what? This just isn't working. I think you should leave. Right now. It's not you, it's me.

But I still like you. As a friend. We'll talk someday. I'll call.

Great suggestion in letters to newspaper editor -- build a Cosco instead of monster tower!

Local taxpayers are bewildered by the Midland, Texas, city council's movement to demolish the courthouse and give taxpayer money to a builder to construct a skyscraper. Although they give some excuses for it, such as revitalizing downtown. Most of us suspect that the secret motivation is to build a monument to demonstrate how fantastically awesome they are.

So along comes a brilliant letter to the editor in this morning's Midland Reporter Telegram. It's not online, so an image is provided on the side. Click on it to enlarge the print size.

It's from Janice Courtney, and her point is brilliant. Instead of subsidizing someone to build a monster tower, build a Cosco Wholesale Club. Brilliant! There I've said it twice. If it's downtown activity they want, a Cosco will bring them in.

Non-subsidized builders are ready to build outside the downtown area. So maybe the government shouldn't interfere with the free market. Crony capitalism isn't good for anyone except the cronies.

Cowboy mounted shooting at the Midland County Fair

The Midland County Fair is going on currently in Midland, Texas. And one event that is always fun to watch is the Cowboy Mounted Shooting. They ride on horseback as fast as they can around a circuit that has lots of turns. And they shoot at balloons. The guns are loaded with blanks that make a lot of noise and shoot out nothing but red hot powder. Here are a few pics:

The muzzle flash lasts a split second, and it's a challenge to capture it on camera.  You can get an idea of their range from these.

The ladies were quite good.

Whoa, watch where you point that thing.

This guy looks familiar, dude.

So you want to build a skyscraper

This obsession with a skyscraper in downtown Midland, Texas, is looking more ludicrous with each new revelation. Thursday the morning paper told us that the developer may seek as much as $75 million dollars from taxpayers to make it happen. At least the city council hasn't yet rolled over for him. With an election coming up one would hope at at least one of the two council members who are running for mayor would come out of dreamland and apply some logic to this.

The local economy goes through boom and bust cycles, and it's currently in the mature stage of a boom cycle. And maybe that's why the local government wants to tax and spend like there's no tomorrow.

If office space is in temporary short supply it would seem that there would be a better way to alleviate that problem. A spectacular skyscraper is an ego thing. But I think that could backfire. A lot of Midlanders are a little bit self conscious of our region and slightly insecure about how outsiders view us. One outsider referred to Midland as "F Troop," harking back to an old TV sitcom about a fictional remote army outpost stocked with misfits.

Note the obsession the local government has over development along the corridor between the airport and the city. Note the obsession over making the duck pond look like it's full of water. Appearances are everything.

Here's a challenge for those elected officials who think a new skyscraper is what the taxpayers want. Suppose there really is $75 million in taxpayer funds for the taking. How do you best serve the residents of the city? Fix the roads? Put better traffic control at high accident intersections? Coordinate the traffic lights so traffic would flow better? Solve the water shortage? Sock it away for when the state relinquishes control of major roadways?

Naw, raze the courthouse and erect a monstrous skyscraper in its place, yeah, then the F Troop will finally get some respect.

The neighborhood foxes -- baby makes three

Regular visitors to Sleepless in Midland may have seen some photos of the wild foxes that prowl around the neighborhood while the city sleeps. (Links added below.)

Two is the most that have been captured on camera at this location up til today. But early this AM there were three. Presumably they are a mom, pop, and their young'un.

The one in the background is the youngster.

As you can see, junior can't keep still, and a moving target isn't very photogenic. Must drive the parents crazy, but you can bet they are glad the little one is old enough to go out and forage with the adults.

Previously:
Nocturnal neighborhood scavengers
More pics from the critter cam
Fox scat and
Foxes visit the urban back yard.

Maybe Bernanke was on the right track after all

This just goes to show how ignorant I must be about monetary policy. I was on the side of Ben Bernanke's detractors all the while when the Fed was conducting the multiple QEs. Surely it would have to cause inflation sooner or later. Well, it will have to be later.

From Mark J. Perry: Based on the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, Ben Bernanke has the best inflation record of any Fed chair since WWII:

For inflation measured from the price index for Personal Consumption Expenditures — the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation to assess monetary policy — Bernanke’s average inflation rate of 1.8% over his term through Q2 2013 is the lowest average inflation rate of any Fed chair during the postwar period. For the most recent quarter (Q2 2013), Personal Consumption Expenditure inflation was only 1.1%, the lowest rate in the last 15 quarters, and that inflation measure has been below 2% for the last five quarters starting in the second quarter last year.

All righty then.

"Personal Consumption Expenditures" is defined at bea.gov which provides this as its reason for importance:

Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) is the primary measure of consumer spending on goods and services in the U.S. economy. It accounts for about two-thirds of domestic final spending, and thus it is the primary engine that drives future economic growth. PCE shows how much of the income earned by households is being spent on current consumption as opposed to how much is being saved for future consumption.

Hmm. So if it's a ratio of spending to savings then consumers must be doing a lot of saving. That's what they're supposed to be doing, but it does seem to suggest a level of pessimism. For that I blame regime uncertainty.

So that's how law enforcement knows which vehicle is smuggling drugs

We are told that Texas interstate highways are conduits for smuggling drugs from Mexico to points farther North. And from time to time we see headlines about some vehicle having been discovered to be hauling a sizable cache of contraband. Then there's an attempt to explain how that particular vehicle was singled out from the millions of other vehicles on the roadways.

The story goes something like this: A DPS officer noticed that a truck had an outdated inspection sticker and pulled it over. The driver acted nervous, so the vehicle was searched. Officers found a sealed container filled with drugs inside the vehicle's gas tank.

Now we know the real reason why the vehicle was pulled over. Edward Snowden revealed how the NSA was collecting meta data from certain phone calls, possibly all phone calls originating from or received in the U.S. And now Reuters is telling about a secret organization called Special Operations Division (SOD) which is a partnership among two dozen agencies, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security. SOD distributes information, allegedly legally obtained, to various law enforcement agencies. From Reuters:

A former federal agent in the northeastern United States who received such tips from SOD described the process. "You'd be told only, ‘Be at a certain truck stop at a certain time and look for a certain vehicle.' And so we'd alert the state police to find an excuse to stop that vehicle, and then have a drug dog search it," the agent said.

Then, according to the Reuters article, in a process described as "parallel construction," a fake story would be concocted to explain why they had probable cause to stop and search that vehicle. Convictions are sure to be appealed because of the lack of the honesty on the part of the government.

It brings to mind that famous scene from "A Few Good Men" in which Colonel Jessup makes an angry attempt to justify his illegal behavior because his work is so important.

Meanwhile, back to Snowden's NSA leak, criminal defense attorneys are seeking the phone data NSA has been collecting to try to obtain evidence showing their clients were not at the crime scene. See Defense lawyers insist on clients’ right to use NSA records -- via Instapundit. If the NSA does indeed possess a database containing the meta data for all of our phone calls as alleged, then that data could basically recreate a trail establishing the location of anyone with a phone at any given time. If they are going to use it to prosecute someone, then it should be available to exculpate someone, too.

IT guy hacked Zukerberg after Facebook ignored his bug report

We've reached a point where using the internet has made our personal information very vulnerable to snoopers. If it's not hackers trying to get into our bank accounts, it's the government scooping up every tiny bit and byte it can about us. It's incumbent on service companies to make sure our information stays private. So this story is presents a sort of cosmic justice.

Seems that an IT guy found a bug in Facebook's security that let him post remarks on anyone's Facebook wall. (This site says a Facebook wall is a "section in your profile where others can write messages to you or leave you gifts." But presumably one has to have been invited to write messages or leave gifts.) Like the good guy he was trying to be, he dutifully notified Facebook about it. And they blew him off.

So he put up a post on Mark Zuckerberg’s wall. Here's the story on DigitalTrends.com. Facebook responded by disabling the guy's Facebook account, although it was only temporary. And they finally got around to fixing the bug.

Meanwhile, if Facebook makes you depressed, you're not alone. From the scientific community we learn that real social networks enhance a person's well being while Facebook does the opposite:

Rather than enhancing well-being, as frequent interactions with supportive “offline” social networks powerfully do, the current findings demonstrate that interacting with Facebook may predict the opposite result for young adults—it may undermine it.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement from the behavior researchers.

Google down 5 minutes and internet usage drops 40%

Are internet users that dependent on Google?

Google incurred a complete blackout between between 23:52 and 23:57 BST (5:52pm and 5:57pm CDT) on Friday August16, 2013. Daily Mail reported it based on the the web analysis company GoSquared's calculations.

This had a huge effect in the number of pageviews coming into GoSquared’s real-time tracking – around a 40% drop, as this graph of our global pageviews per minute shows.

Chinese? Iranians? Snowden? Anonymous hackers? NSA? Blown fuse? Squirrels chewed through the wire? No explanations were given, so we'll have to supply our own conspiracy theories.  But woudn't it be nice to learn that it wiped out the dossiers Google keeps on all of us?

Whatever the cause, it is rather astonishing that at that particular time 40% of internet users appeared to be trying to use a Google product, and being unsuccesful, they waited it out rather than going to a competitor.

Bear videos - diving dumpsters, driving SUVs

Here's a cute video. Wild animals are notorious for raiding garbage dumpsters. And that's the case in this bear video. Looks like it was from a surveillance camera. Anyway, the bear was unsatisfied with the location of the dumpsters, so he/she simply rolled them away. Hey, why else would they have wheels? Link.

But that's nothing. In this next one a bear raids a campsite while the campers cower in a tree. The bear lumbers over to the tree, gets on his hind legs and looks up at the campers. Then the bear wanders over to the SUV and crawls into the open hatchback. At that point there's a lot of movement of the camera then a mysterious blur. When it focuses again we see the campers' things fly out the back of the SUV, the hatchback closes, the engine starts, and the vehicle drives away. Link.

Yeah, it's probably legit.

Which way will the price of a barrel of oil go?

Here are two charts for an interesting comparison. The first one is the price of oil (WTI) for the past five years.

Chart found at oil-price.net.

The second chart is crude oil production in the state of Texas from January 1981 through May 2013. But focus on the last few years. Now that's a hockey stick!

The chart and supporting data were found at eia.gov.

Now granted, unrest in the middle East often tilts oil prices upward.  Apparently it happens in spite of all this talk about American energy independence. However, unless the laws of supply and demand have been repealed, the supply side of the equation certainly points to lower oil prices.

Google, Gmail and privacy

Anyone with a healthy dose of skepticism has been avoiding Google products for quite some time. And it's not that surprising to see a privacy advocate issue a news release like this: Google Tells Court You Cannot Expect Privacy When Sending Messages to Gmail -- People Who Care About Privacy Should Not Use Service, Consumer Watchdog Says. This admission from Google was supplied in a court filing in a class action suit alleging that Google violated wiretap laws by collecting information from emails sent to or from Gmail users. Via Naked Security.

Google defends their process by contending that their automated system of extracting email content in order to target ads at users is a common business practice which other free email services are doing and that they've disclosed all of this to their users, who, by the way, have consented to it.

The suit may get dragged out for a long time, or it could get dismissed by the judge, or maybe Google will end up settling it by agreeing to a few minor changes to their terms of privacy plus a few million dollars paid to the plaintiffs' attorneys.

But regardless of the outcome, there remains the issue of trust. Google doesn't say how long they store the emails, although we can hope that the duration is at least limited by the life of the equipment on which it is stored. Google's filing says they have 400 million Gmail users, and apparently those users are satisfied with it. But it's good bet that very few have actually read the agreement they accepted when they signed on. They merely accept whatever Google does in exchange for free email.

Privacy has been eroding for a long time, and in the last ten years that erosion has drastically accelerated. And recent disclosures tell us that our emails are legally available to government agencies. So there's another level of trust required if we are to believe that said agencies will not use the data to or detriment.

What should we do? There's a good article describing how to get Google out of your life -- see How I divorced Google. Some of the things he suggests are fairly common place, such as removing and blocking cookies and trackers. Others are more complicated, like redirecting hosts files.

As for search engines, the author suggests DuckDuckGo.com because they don't retain or forward any information about the user. I like the Netherlands based Ixquick.com because they say right up front that they won't comply with Prism.

But the most obvious suggestion is to simply avoid Google products.

Instructor accidentally shoots student in concealed handgun class in Ohio

I was on a crusade a while back to try to promote gun safety by pointing out how easily and often handguns go off unintentionally. Some handguns are prone to that particular happening due to their light trigger pulls and lack of manual safeties. But it was a losing battle. Gun buyers love those type guns.

Furthermore, a friend pointed out that my efforts might be construed as promoting gun control. I scoffed at that, but he was onto something. Look at the comments left at HuffPo about this particular event to see for yourself.

But never mind all of that. It still serves a purpose to ridicule someone who inadvertently allows a bullet to fly away at the wrong time, provided no one is seriously hurt. And this one was a very wrong time -- a concealed handgun class.

Mary Beth Lane appears to be the only newsie who did any real reporting about it. See Gun-safety student shot in class. Here are the first two paragraphs:

LANCASTER, Ohio — A firearms instructor accidentally shot a student while teaching a gun-safety class on Saturday in Fairfield County to people seeking permits to carry concealed weapons.

Terry J. Dunlap, Sr., who runs a shooting range and training center near Lancaster, was demonstrating a handgun when he fired a .38-caliber bullet that ricocheted off a desk and into student Michael Piemonte’s right arm.

According to Ms. Lane's article, Piermonte was treated at a medical center and released, so that's a relief. But missing from the article was the make and model of the gun. Reporters are notorious for that.  Apparently they think all guns are the same. But if it really was a .38 caliber bullet, that suggests it could have been a revolver, and that makes it quite an unusual event. Revolvers don't have manual safeties, but the mechanics of the firing mechanism are so highly visible that the handler really does have to be careless to shoot it accidentally.

In any event, the students in that concealed handgun class learned a valuable lesson, and it's no doubt they came away with a full understanding of the reasons for the rules of gun safety.

It's doubtful that anyone reading this blog needs a review of those rules, but let's take another look at Richard Fairburn's Causes and cures for the negligent discharge anyway:

1. All guns are always loaded. (Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.)

2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. (For those who insist “this particular gun is unloaded,” see Rule 1.)

3. Keep your finger off the trigger till your sights are on the target. (This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60 percent of inadvertent discharges.)

4. Identify your target, and what is behind it. (Never shoot at anything that you have not positively identified.)

Instructors, try not to shoot your students.

Higher minimum wage equals higher prices

Ask any legitimate economist about minimum wage requirements and you'll hear how counter productive they are. A higher minimum wage requirement not only reduces the number of jobs that pay minimum wage, it increases production costs in those businesses that pay minimum wage. And the higher production cost gets passed on to the consumer in the form of a higher price for the product. A twofer -- higher unemployment and inflation -- what a treat.

But it makes minimum wage proponents feel good and maybe gets them votes, so to hell with the consequences. (Now there's a bumper sticker.)

This brings us to a very good article by Ira Stoll in which he tells of a shopping experiment he conducted. See Obama’s High Wage Vision Hides Some High Costs to Consumers.

Mr. Stoll noted Obama's speech last month in which he vowed to focus his attention on asking businesses to raise wages. Obama singled out The Container Store as a business with a relationship with its employees which earned the President's approval. Mr. Stoll noted that The Container Store's website says they pay their sales people 50% to 100% more than the retail average. So he decided to pay one of their stores a visit. Exerpt:

Enticed by the presidential endorsement, I stopped by The Container Store in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Friday and checked prices on a few items. ...

Then I headed to a nearby Walmart, whose wages and benefits are denounced as stingy by Mr. Obama’s political allies, to compare prices. ...

The full shopping list — ten of each kind of hanger, the can opener, the file cabinet, and the milk crate — cost $236.17 at The Container Store, and $48.69 at Walmart. That’s $187.48 more at The Container Store than at Walmart.

But he notes that Obama really isn't asking businesses to set an example, he's laying the groundwork for a federally mandated hike in minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00.

More:

If you think your tax bill or credit card bills are high now, just wait until the receipts of your shopping trips start including the passed-along costs for paying President Obama’s definition of “decent” wages.

This is the social democracy that Obama wants, but as Margaret Thatcher would put it, "They're progressively reducing the choice available to ordinary people."

This is how you die

Remember the wish granting machine in the movie "Big?" Imagine an antique coin machine that will tell you how you'll die. That's the premise of this Vimeo video titled This is how you die. It's packed tight with irony and humor, and it's worth the 5:28 minutes out of your long life that it will take to watch it.

Based on the stories in the book, This Is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death, the video was put together by Michael Mohan with help from a bunch of other people listed in the credits.

Via laughingsquid.com.

Close encounters of the worst kind -- Universal truth of the day, 8/11/13

The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don’t want to be seen with. Via nedhardy.com.

If you're the one they don't want to be seen with you've been empowered. You can go two ways. You can try to alleviate the feeling of the person you're with by making it sound like it was a random encounter by saying something like, "I don't know how I can every thank you enough for finding my dog." Or better yet, you can do something totally insane and enjoy your companion's anguish.

London panorama

Click the link to see a spectacular panorama of London taken after the 2012 Olympic games. According to the about page:

The 320 gigapixel image - taken by expert photography firm 360Cities – comprises 48,640 individual frames which have been collated into a single panorama by a supercomputer.

Well Mr. Supercomputer, if you're so super how come you've got a car fender in the middle of the intersection just below the camera at about North 5º West?

And how come there's a collapsed geographic stratum at about North 33º West?

Sorry. I had to do that, it's my own version of Tourrette's syndrome. But never mind. It's a fabulous picture. Every city should get one.

Via Newmark's Door.

P.S. Now there's a smart car that's too smart for its own good.

Oops.  There I go again.

George W Bush's heart

When George W. Bush was in the White House he jogged and road a bicycle and did who knows what else to stay in shape. At one point we were told that his heart rate was about 52 beats per minute, which is pretty low.

So I wonder how many others besides me were surprised by the news that he was diagnosed with an artery blockage and underwent a stent installation. It's almost enough to make one thing that all that cardio exercise doesn't really make a difference.

Anyway, here's hoping the problem has been taken care of. Meanwhile, Argus Hamilton was able to pull some humor from the situation with a jab at MSNBC:

George W. Bush is fine after having a stent put in his artery to relieve a heart blockage Tuesday. Everyone in the media was nice to him. Fox News sent a get-well bouquet to his hospital room and MSNBC sent him two chili dogs with extra cheese and steak fries.

Mmmm. Extra cheese!

Nowhere to hide -- Use VPN for secure browsing and risk becoming NSA target

Some internet users prefer to use some sort of encrypting feature when in wi-fi hot spots to shield their browsing and communication from snoopers. And after the Edward Snowden disclosures about NSA spying, some writers were suggesting the use of Tor which encrypts and relays internet traffic through numerous points around the world.

The NSA claims that its focus is on individuals outside the U.S. But unfortunately for Tor users, the use of that program flags the user as being outside the U.S. even if they are in the U.S.

Maybe domestic services like Witopia would allow the user to escape being profiled as "outside the U.S." But that raises the second red flag -- encryption. According to the slide show linked by The Guardian, the training for the Xkeyscore program points at the use of encryption as an anomalous event. See jpg on the right.

So basically, individuals trying to stay safe on the internet are fair game for nosy bureaucrats.

But don't worry, it's for the government. Unfortunately, it hasn't helped catch a terrorist, but Team Obama will think of something to do with it, even if it's only for domestic political purposes. After all, government is simply the name we give to the things we choose to do together. [Visualize sarcastic smirk.]

James the burglar describes his M.O.

Last night was the National Night Out annual event here in Midland, Texas. So this might be a good opportunity to listen to a career burglar and try to use that information to protect ourselves from people in his line of work.

This video is available for viewing at the Richardson, Texas, police website. Link. And it contains a brief biography of James, the burglar, as well as Q and A in which he describes how he did his job.

The introductory bio said he became addicted to heroin while serving in Vietnam. He returned to the States with a $400 a day habit, and he resorted to burglary to feed his drug dependency. The video said he was a 40 year old burglar and that he turned 21 in 1971. So that puts the recording date at around 1990. His hair looks a little long for that era, but maybe his long prison sentence locked in the style prevailing at the peak of his career. In any event, the tactics he described could still be in use today.

Now for some of the video highlights. He would follow a UPS delivery truck around and let the driver do the work of determining whether anyone was home. At that time, UPS drivers would leave a yellow card on the door notifying residents that a delivery had been attempted. So there was a notice right there on the front door announcing that no one was home. UPS drivers today are even more accommodating -- they simply leaving the package. James would love that.

At night he would look in residential garages and count cars. If there were two cars at night but none in the morning, that told him no one was home. He used a burglar's tool -- a pry bar especially for doors which would take the whole trim off. A dead bolt lock was useless. Quote:

You can put whatever you want in there, but you're really dealing with just trim and pieces of sheet rock, and the bar I use just collapses all that and without much of a vigorous effort.

People who leave their curtains open and lights on in the belief that it will deter burglars are mistaken, he said. All that did was give him a good view of what was available for stealing.

He didn't want a confrontation after he commenced the burglary, so he would bang on the front door to make sure no people or dogs were inside. If he went around back he would have a story ready in case someone surprised him. Quote:

I've had people walk out in the back yard and say, 'What do you want, what are you doing here?' And I'll say, 'My God, what are you doing still in your home? Don't you know we've got a gas leak reported here? Let me go call it in, what's your address?' And I'm gone. Confusion is what I try to instill.

He worked with a partner, and the two of them took six minutes to burglarize a house. They used sheets and pillow cases to carry the loot and keep it out of sight once it was in his pickup.

He said his victims were consistent in where they kept their valuables. Jewelry would be in a jewelry box on top of the dresser, in a bathroom closet, in the bedroom closet, under the bed, in the top dresser drawer, or sometimes in the bottom dresser drawer. Guns were kept under the mattress or in the closet.

The fence is an important person to a career burglar. James said he would go straight to the fence after stealing something. Quote:

My specialty is having the stuff sold and gone before it's even reported stolen. In that light, you, the thief, you're either good or you're bad. If you're good, you meet people at drug houses, uh, people in the business that, uh, if you're good, you go to prison, you do your time and you got no problems, plus the fact the number of people you meet in prison -- hey what are you doing? -- well, you know what I'm about. You get referrals. I mean, there's no problem about selling the merchandise. You'd be surprised, you'd be literally be surprised. I have a fence that owns five car lots. I have another fence that is a vice president of a very large dealership. Then again I have another one that owns a regular auto body shop. I have another guy who works, he does a lot of the buying for a very big store that's located in the Mexican barrio. And uh, a lot of my stuff goes to Mexico. The VCRs, the TVs, the microwaves, right across the line. ...

I will tell you this. When a number, identification number is scratched on a merchandise, it usually lessens the value of it ... on the fences end, because he has to deal with that.

The video concludes with his tips on how to avoid being burglarized.

Number one, close your blinds, close your curtains, leave the stereo on. The best protection you can have if you don't have an alarm is a dog. A burglar will not mess with you if you've got a dog. Now I say "normally," because I know I don't, and I've only seen a few guys that will mess with them. Like I say, your best protection is an alarm. The next best protection is a dog inside.

Your next best protection is concerned neighbors. People out there, you know, you live next door to each other for three years and you don't even know your neighbor's name. Uh, I can understand privacy, but to a point. I mean if people got together in concern, I bet they could curtail 1/3 of the burglars that are taking place just by involvement. If I'm doing a burglary and I see somebody walk out of a neighbor's house and look at me, I'm gone. Obviously I'm attracting attention, and that's not how it goes. When you get in a concerned neighborhood, you usually don't go back. You know, these people are on their job, you leave these people alone or you'll get busted.

If the embed doesn't work, watch "James, Confession of a Burglar," at this link.

Fake DNA

Not long ago we talked about the proliferation of Craigslist ads for positive pregnancy tests. This is even worse. It's the revelation that fake DNA can be manufactured. (This was revealed in 2009 and comes from deep in my "pending" list.)

An article titled Israeli Scientists Prove DNA Evidence Can Be Faked described how scientists could make some DNA to match a sample. To wit:

In the second experiment, the team used a pooled sample of many people's DNA profiles that were stored in law enforcement databases. The scientists cloned tiny snippets of the DNA, created a library from the data, and simply mixed the elements together to match any profile required. According to Frumkin's team, such a "library" of 425 different DNA snippets could cover any possible profile.

They say the faked DNA lacks certain molecules and that tests could detect it if the tests were conducted.

Meanwhile, a year ago -- July of 2012 -- there were splashy headlines screaming Justice Dept., FBI to review use of forensic evidence in thousands of cases because of flawed forensic evidence which could have resulted in the conviction of innocent people. A year later -- July of 2013 -- we see U.S. reviewing 27 death penalty convictions for FBI forensic testimony errors. It would be nice if they finished up their review before the defendants get executed.

When we hear the phrase, "science doesn't lie," it's worthwhile to remember that science is only as good as the people performing it.

NeverWet -- spray on water proofer

This is a cool product. It's NeverWet, a two step spray that makes a surface water repellent. I ordered mine for around $20 through Home Depot a couple of weeks ago, and it isn't on store shelves yet, but maybe it will be soon.

It's a two step process. Spray on a layer from can #1, let it dry for half an hour, then spray on a layer from can #2. Let that dry for a half hour and it really does repel water. Watch a cool video the inventors made at this Youtube link. One caution. They spray the stuff on things in the video, and it appears as if they may be indoors while they are doing it. Don't do that, take it outside!

The video shows how to waterproof an iPhone, however do that at your own risk as the official directions say "NeverWet should not be used on electronics." At least one skeptic tried it but did it wrong. The inventor explains that to get the desired results one must carefully follow the procedure described in the aforementioned video.

My own experiments to make a waterproof container had mixed results. First was a paper bag. While the spray made the inside water repellent, it didn't seal the seams.

And that plus the weight of the water caused the bags to collapse. The paper itself did indeed repel water, however.

The next experiment was with empty cardboard oatmeal containers. An untreated container filled with water was bone dry after fewer then twelve hours. I put silicone on the seams of the test container before treating it with NeverWet.

But it started leaking slightly after just a few minutes. However, it was still about 25% full of water after one full week, so I would call that a moderate success.

It's supposed to make clothes waterproof, and the video provides a good demonstration of that. But we don't know what exposure to the skin would do long term, so I personally wouldn't want to wear clothes that have been treated with the stuff when there are clothes on the store shelves that are made specifically for rain protection.

But never mind all that. It's still a very cool product. Watch the video again. You'll see.

Typepad requires bloggers to accept trackers in order to log in

Yesterday I was trying to log into my Typepad account to put a blog post online, but the log in failed. I went down the checklist: correct user name, correct password, cookies accepted, but still no luck after multiple tries. After some experimenting, pausing Ghostery worked.

Ghostery is a Firefox add-on that blocks trackers -- the web bugs that track your behavior as you browse the web. To watch/hear a good talk on the subject see the Ted talk Gary Kovacs: Tracking our online trackers where Mr. Kovacs explained how after one typical day his web behavior was being tracked by 150 sites.

Once Ghostery was turned off, the Typepad log in portal worked. In the meantime, these little trackers had attached themselves to my computer:

DoubleClick (advertising)
Facebook Connect (widgets)
Google AdWords Conversion (advertising)
Google Analytics (analytics)
ScoreCard Research Beacons (beacons)

Where will the history of my browsing habits end up? There's the NSA trying to record the online and telephonic lives of every living American. President Obama's Big Data program is compiling information to formulate a strategy to convince us all to love Democrats on election day. Marketers are gathering information to help target and persuade susceptible individuals to buy their products. Maybe it's all three of those. And there are probably other groups, some unfriendly, on the buying side of the information stream.

I've sent a query to Typepad asking how to opt out. I'll add an update when they answer.

Update:  The Typepad help desk answered "No."  Users can't opt out.  My work-around was to create a separate Firefox profile to be used only for connecting to Typepad.  And hopefully the trackers Typepad installs on that profile can't trespass into my main browsing profile.

Lottery Ticket, the movie

There is a delightful movie titled Lottery Ticket that's broadcast from time to time on BET. The main star is Bow Wow, formerly known as Lil Bow Wow, and the movie depicts the ordeal an inner city young man who holds a winning $370 million power ball ticket has to endure until the lottery office opens after a long weekend.

Much of it is predictable. Relatives come out of the woodwork, old acquaintances suddenly want to become best friends, the cutest girl in the 'hood who previously wouldn't give him the time of day suddenly wants to take him to bed. Maybe the same thing happens to ghetto rappers who hit it big, and one has to wonder if some of it came from Mr. Wow's own history.

Spoiler alert --

There's one scene that stood out. A neighborhood thug decided that he should be the owner of the uncashed lottery ticket and set out to take it from Bow Wow. Near the end of the movie Bow Wow is on a street corner and the thug approaches him. There must be 20 to 30 people standing around watching. The thug pulls his gun and threatens to kill Bow Wow then and there unless he relinquished the ticket. The amazing thing to me was that the thug assumed that all the witnesses would keep mum whether he got the ticket peaceably or had to commit murder to get it. The code against snitching against evil doers that seems to prevail in some cultures must have been the glue that would seal the lips in that crime ridden neighborhood.

Applying this to a real world event, perhaps that's one reason why the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case had such a culturally different reaction. Mr. Zimmerman had no problem with snitching on bad guys. So right there he earned a stigma. It went downhill from there.

Adam Carolla fans chip in $1 million to help him make a movie

Popular podcaster Adam Carolla appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live in early July to promote a crowd funded million dollar movie project.

Depending on the amount donated, the donors were promised a little something in return. For example $10 would earn the donor a PDF of the sceenplay, and donations of $25,000 would get a live performance at the donor's home (selected cities only). Two of those have been claimed!

Today, after about a month, he announced that he has exceeded his goal with donations totaling $1,012,673. That's quite an accomplishment. Let's hope a good movie comes out of it.