Friday, November 13, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Google Earth
Google Earth scares me...kind of a lot. I realize that the images that are provided are fuzzy and they are still pictures taken sometimes several years ago. But if that is the technology that is available to me for free online...what does the government have? What do people with a lot of money have access to?
I just downloaded Google Earth and was immediately blown away. I am very old fashioned and things like this I just never imagined would be possible. I opened it up and saw a street-level view of the house I grew up in that I haven't been to in 12 years. I found all the other places that I lived in, went to school, went on dates to and eventually found the current places that I live, work, go to school and frequent recreationally. This is pretty cool stuff.
Then my old suspicious and cynical self started to come out and I got freaked out by this power. The house that I grew up in, with the tree fort that my dad and I built in the back yard, that I just spent 20 minutes staring at online, now belongs to someone else. Someone I don't know. A stranger. And I sat here staring at his house...maybe with his children inside. Am I being dramatic? Maybe, but its how I feel.
I spent a few minutes looking at the houses where my old girlfriends have lived, feeling very nostalgic. But what if I wasn't nostalgic? What if I was an angry, bitter and jealous man? Looking at these old houses could make me hurt someone maybe? Am I being dramatic? Maybe, but its how I feel.
I once had a job doing loss-prevention security at a Stop & Shop. The cameras that we used in the store were positioned way up in the ceiling but could read the tag on a customer's shirt. They could read the receipt in their hand. Some of the more immature and crude people I worked with would look down girls' blouses with these cameras. Yikes!
So if I had that power, and my crude co-workers had those powers, at a supermarket...what kind of power does the government have? Kind of makes you want to close your blinds all the time! But is my phone tapped? Can their cameras in space see THROUGH my blinds? I'm sure they will someday. Will the human being that has access to these images look down my wife's blouse or peek in my windows when we are intimate? I'm definetely being dramatic now, but its how I feel.
For now, the images on Google Earth are sometimes primitive and hard to distinguish, but some are very clear, and more and more will be clear in the near future. That alone is not scary, what's scary is...what else can they do that WE don't have access to?
I just downloaded Google Earth and was immediately blown away. I am very old fashioned and things like this I just never imagined would be possible. I opened it up and saw a street-level view of the house I grew up in that I haven't been to in 12 years. I found all the other places that I lived in, went to school, went on dates to and eventually found the current places that I live, work, go to school and frequent recreationally. This is pretty cool stuff.
Then my old suspicious and cynical self started to come out and I got freaked out by this power. The house that I grew up in, with the tree fort that my dad and I built in the back yard, that I just spent 20 minutes staring at online, now belongs to someone else. Someone I don't know. A stranger. And I sat here staring at his house...maybe with his children inside. Am I being dramatic? Maybe, but its how I feel.
I spent a few minutes looking at the houses where my old girlfriends have lived, feeling very nostalgic. But what if I wasn't nostalgic? What if I was an angry, bitter and jealous man? Looking at these old houses could make me hurt someone maybe? Am I being dramatic? Maybe, but its how I feel.
I once had a job doing loss-prevention security at a Stop & Shop. The cameras that we used in the store were positioned way up in the ceiling but could read the tag on a customer's shirt. They could read the receipt in their hand. Some of the more immature and crude people I worked with would look down girls' blouses with these cameras. Yikes!
So if I had that power, and my crude co-workers had those powers, at a supermarket...what kind of power does the government have? Kind of makes you want to close your blinds all the time! But is my phone tapped? Can their cameras in space see THROUGH my blinds? I'm sure they will someday. Will the human being that has access to these images look down my wife's blouse or peek in my windows when we are intimate? I'm definetely being dramatic now, but its how I feel.
For now, the images on Google Earth are sometimes primitive and hard to distinguish, but some are very clear, and more and more will be clear in the near future. That alone is not scary, what's scary is...what else can they do that WE don't have access to?
Sunday, October 18, 2009
My Dog Chase
This is my dog Chase. Chase is a Chocolate Labrador Retriever....and man does he retrieve. He will bring you ANYTHING. He is 2 1/2 years old and he is the best dog that ever lived. He is extremely goofy, clumsy, loving and smart. He enjoys eating....everything, swimming, running, rolling in the snow, pulling the sox off of my feet, licking my face, cuddling and eating....everything.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Week 3 Post
For a long time now, I have been very cynical whenever someone asks me for any of my information. You go into a store and at the checkout counter they ask you for your phone number or something....what is THAT?! Any time you sign up for something you run the risk of having your information sold.
This problem of the commercialization of information is only going to get much worse as the internet develops in front of our eyes. Powerhouses like Google and Yahoo will someday control the world. Obviously I'm kidding, but if you were to be a little open-minded about it...why COULDN'T they control the world?
You always hear on the news that Google is being asked to turn over search records for some legal proceeding. As far as I know, they don't turn the records over.....but the fact that they are even keeping records of what I search for in the first place is very unsettling.
This problem of the commercialization of information is only going to get much worse as the internet develops in front of our eyes. Powerhouses like Google and Yahoo will someday control the world. Obviously I'm kidding, but if you were to be a little open-minded about it...why COULDN'T they control the world?
You always hear on the news that Google is being asked to turn over search records for some legal proceeding. As far as I know, they don't turn the records over.....but the fact that they are even keeping records of what I search for in the first place is very unsettling.
That being said....if you had told me 10 years ago or 15 years ago that I would soon be able to type anything that I am interested in into a box and press search...and then the WORLD would be INSTANTLY searched for content related to my interest....I would have definetely thought you were crazy. Google and the like are far more than search engines now...they are portals to everything you can think of. Google Earth is several years old now and it is SILL very amazing.
I actually like the whole Google Books idea. It will become something like Napster with publishing rights, but with the right amount of regulation, I think it's a great idea.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)