I Am The Nation...
1955 Written by Otto Whittaker.
http://youtu.be/1UyjQoRnz5w
6/11/11
6/10/11
Your Privacy Is Long Gone
We can minimize our exposure but not prevent it...
When I was one of the first male Bell System switchboard operators in the early seventies I worked on a cordboard before Automatic Number Identification (ANI). This meant when we plugged into a circuit and answered "operator" and when someone asked for a long distance call, we filled out the information on IBM scan cards by filling in the bubbles. We only knew what Central Office they were calling from and not their individual number and had to ask "What is your number please?" Sometimes this was answered with "I have a nonpublished (unlisted) number" or "That's an invasion of my privacy" especially if it was a collect call or being billed to a credit card or another number. In classic Bell Operator fashion I would reply "Your privacy is long gone. What is the number your calling from in order for me to complete this call?" End of discussion, I had a job to do.
Although people were rightfully suspicious of AT&T since it was then the largest corporation in the world, they still had delusions about their privacy. The reality was the company had ways of tracking them and the number they were calling from if you gave an incorrect number to us. There was an entire Fraud division of the company that had a wide variety of ways to figure it out through both sleuthing and technological means that rivaled the FBI.
The difference between now and then is the mechanisms for tracking us have grown more sophisticated. In those days Direct Mail advertisers (junk mail) had more information on people than they realized. That was the analog world and all that has really happened is we have moved from the analog world to the digital world with much more sophisticated and invasive tools monitoring us. If you have ever filled out a credit card application, applied for an auto loan or mortgage, replaced your tires, used a grocery store discount card, joined a social website, googled the web, used a smartphone, the list goes on...you get the idea, you've been tracked as a consumer. On the government front if you have flown on a plane, gotten a driver's, marriage, business or professional license, attended a public school, checked out a book or used a computer at a public library, filled out a form to request information or get a permit from a government agency...you've been recorded somewhere down the line electronically. Multiply that a thousand fold if you've ever filed a tax return or applied for a passport, immigration status or citizenship.
My purpose is not to anger, frustrate or frighten the reader but to motivate them. It is to point out that in many ways that we don't even think about, our privacy is compromised more than the average person can fathom. There are methods to minimize it by choice while also recognizing how much we expose ourselves is limited and we cannot completely prevent it. My personal decision is to be on Google sites, Blogger, YouTube and Buzz and use their tools such as AdSense, Analytics as well as Search. I use Twitter minimally, mainly to tweet my blog posts, with full knowledge that using these sites will compromise my privacy. I completely deleted my Facebook account since I think they are probably the most invasive and are intent on intruding on our personal information as much as the Department of Homeland Security does. [See my blog post "HOW TO DELETE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT, NOT JUST DEACTIVATE IT" for complete instructions.] I've deleted and closed all of my accounts on other sites knowing full well they still retain my information somewhere in the linings of their cloud. I'm beginning to think LinkedIn is heading in the same direction and I'm reconsidering my presence on that website.
My intent is to make people more aware of what they are doing when they sign up for multiple sites, post all kinds of information on them and know this information is being shared outside of these sites. Additionally hiding behind usernames may also help you feel more secure as far as public knowledge may go. Even so, these websites and companies know far more about you due to the email address, fake or otherwise, you used to create these accounts and your IP address is known every time you visit one. Also people with some internet research savvy can find out who is behind those usernames much more easily than people think.
This is a simple case of let the user beware and have full knowledge. My personal belief is that our privacy
is long gone but is mitigated by several factors. In the immediate there is so much voluminous information being stored I'm not sure companies, websites and the government even knows how to wade through it all. Still, if they are able to figure out how to filter through so much it is my belief is there will sooner or later be a data implosion from overload. With recent attempts, hackers may end up undermining the systems sooner rather than later, a disaster to some, a blessing to others. As far as the government and their data gathering, fingerprinting, biometric and other tracking methods is concerned, it is certainly a violation of our rights but since I believe there will be a total system collapse before Big Brother really gains a hold on us. We need to bear that in mind and actively engage in the fight against our liberties.
The best solution for now is to minimize our exposure by limiting our interaction both offline and online as far as the information we do give out, while being fully aware we cannot avoid it. It also behooves us to have as minimal involvement with the government as we possibly can to avoid the Big Brother of them all (run by Big Sister, former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, one of the most dangerous women in the US), the Department of Homeland Security. We can maintain some modicum of privacy but realistically unless we bug out and disappear completely, an option I think is nearly impossible and extremely unlikely to be successful in contemporary America, the best we can do is be cautious and recognize our privacy is long gone. That is until there is technological implosion and/or the system as we know it completely collapses and our country begins anew, as it was meant to be as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, with the true intent of the US Constitution.
When I was one of the first male Bell System switchboard operators in the early seventies I worked on a cordboard before Automatic Number Identification (ANI). This meant when we plugged into a circuit and answered "operator" and when someone asked for a long distance call, we filled out the information on IBM scan cards by filling in the bubbles. We only knew what Central Office they were calling from and not their individual number and had to ask "What is your number please?" Sometimes this was answered with "I have a nonpublished (unlisted) number" or "That's an invasion of my privacy" especially if it was a collect call or being billed to a credit card or another number. In classic Bell Operator fashion I would reply "Your privacy is long gone. What is the number your calling from in order for me to complete this call?" End of discussion, I had a job to do.
The difference between now and then is the mechanisms for tracking us have grown more sophisticated. In those days Direct Mail advertisers (junk mail) had more information on people than they realized. That was the analog world and all that has really happened is we have moved from the analog world to the digital world with much more sophisticated and invasive tools monitoring us. If you have ever filled out a credit card application, applied for an auto loan or mortgage, replaced your tires, used a grocery store discount card, joined a social website, googled the web, used a smartphone, the list goes on...you get the idea, you've been tracked as a consumer. On the government front if you have flown on a plane, gotten a driver's, marriage, business or professional license, attended a public school, checked out a book or used a computer at a public library, filled out a form to request information or get a permit from a government agency...you've been recorded somewhere down the line electronically. Multiply that a thousand fold if you've ever filed a tax return or applied for a passport, immigration status or citizenship.
My purpose is not to anger, frustrate or frighten the reader but to motivate them. It is to point out that in many ways that we don't even think about, our privacy is compromised more than the average person can fathom. There are methods to minimize it by choice while also recognizing how much we expose ourselves is limited and we cannot completely prevent it. My personal decision is to be on Google sites, Blogger, YouTube and Buzz and use their tools such as AdSense, Analytics as well as Search. I use Twitter minimally, mainly to tweet my blog posts, with full knowledge that using these sites will compromise my privacy. I completely deleted my Facebook account since I think they are probably the most invasive and are intent on intruding on our personal information as much as the Department of Homeland Security does. [See my blog post "HOW TO DELETE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT, NOT JUST DEACTIVATE IT" for complete instructions.] I've deleted and closed all of my accounts on other sites knowing full well they still retain my information somewhere in the linings of their cloud. I'm beginning to think LinkedIn is heading in the same direction and I'm reconsidering my presence on that website.My intent is to make people more aware of what they are doing when they sign up for multiple sites, post all kinds of information on them and know this information is being shared outside of these sites. Additionally hiding behind usernames may also help you feel more secure as far as public knowledge may go. Even so, these websites and companies know far more about you due to the email address, fake or otherwise, you used to create these accounts and your IP address is known every time you visit one. Also people with some internet research savvy can find out who is behind those usernames much more easily than people think.
This is a simple case of let the user beware and have full knowledge. My personal belief is that our privacyis long gone but is mitigated by several factors. In the immediate there is so much voluminous information being stored I'm not sure companies, websites and the government even knows how to wade through it all. Still, if they are able to figure out how to filter through so much it is my belief is there will sooner or later be a data implosion from overload. With recent attempts, hackers may end up undermining the systems sooner rather than later, a disaster to some, a blessing to others. As far as the government and their data gathering, fingerprinting, biometric and other tracking methods is concerned, it is certainly a violation of our rights but since I believe there will be a total system collapse before Big Brother really gains a hold on us. We need to bear that in mind and actively engage in the fight against our liberties.
The best solution for now is to minimize our exposure by limiting our interaction both offline and online as far as the information we do give out, while being fully aware we cannot avoid it. It also behooves us to have as minimal involvement with the government as we possibly can to avoid the Big Brother of them all (run by Big Sister, former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, one of the most dangerous women in the US), the Department of Homeland Security. We can maintain some modicum of privacy but realistically unless we bug out and disappear completely, an option I think is nearly impossible and extremely unlikely to be successful in contemporary America, the best we can do is be cautious and recognize our privacy is long gone. That is until there is technological implosion and/or the system as we know it completely collapses and our country begins anew, as it was meant to be as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, with the true intent of the US Constitution.6/9/11
6/8/11
6/7/11
Motivation Comes From Within
Our inner clock keeps us ticking...
At times it can be difficult to keep ourselves energized and remain galvanized to keep going forward. We can seek help from other sources, ranging from a professional such as a counselor, physical trainer or spiritual advisor. It may be someone older and wiser that knows you well. The key is to gain and master tools that work for us individually to apply when we need them the most. To unlatch solutions ultimately we ourselves must perpetuate our own motion by taking what we learn from advisors and internalizing it to mobilize ourselves.
It can be very dark at 2 AM when we wake up with consternation about life and the thought of mobilizing ourselves to solve problems may seem impossible. Fear is the enemy and must be treated as such. The black must be filled with light to overcome that feeling and it can only be done within ourselves at that moment. How we do that depends on what we have learned from others we have sought out and make the effort to implement the tools we've consciously developed for coping on our own. The deepest hour of night is the time to recall what has worked for you. That is the juncture to implement what you have learned about relaxation techniques, hypnosis, Transcendental Meditation, speaking to your inner self and whatever higher power you turn to. Any tool that suits you will suffice but you must have taken the time and effort to learn them beforehand.
It helps to remind ourselves when we feel lackluster that it is natural in life for our moods to change direction. We are not meant to feel good or be flat all the time or we would have no gauge to measure where we are emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. There will be periods we feel uninspired and recalling that they will pass is crucial to recognizing that as surely as the occasion of feeling colorless came upon us, it will just as quickly turn to a colorful flash of inspiration in it's own natural time. We don't need a pill to invoke it but our own inner forces to muster up positive thinking to recollect that it is normal and keep moving forward.
No one who has any sense will say this is always easy. It can take effort but that creates its own rewards. If ahead of time we have put energy into seeking ways to rise above when we are in a natural lull of life, it follows that we stand a much greater chance of preventing it from trapping us into a mode longer than it need be. As we implement and practice the devices we have gathered in our tool box of skills, we become stronger and able to resolve most downturns on our own. The ultimate reward is when others seek us for guidance and we are able to supply them with ideas by sharing what has worked for us.
At times it can be difficult to keep ourselves energized and remain galvanized to keep going forward. We can seek help from other sources, ranging from a professional such as a counselor, physical trainer or spiritual advisor. It may be someone older and wiser that knows you well. The key is to gain and master tools that work for us individually to apply when we need them the most. To unlatch solutions ultimately we ourselves must perpetuate our own motion by taking what we learn from advisors and internalizing it to mobilize ourselves.
It can be very dark at 2 AM when we wake up with consternation about life and the thought of mobilizing ourselves to solve problems may seem impossible. Fear is the enemy and must be treated as such. The black must be filled with light to overcome that feeling and it can only be done within ourselves at that moment. How we do that depends on what we have learned from others we have sought out and make the effort to implement the tools we've consciously developed for coping on our own. The deepest hour of night is the time to recall what has worked for you. That is the juncture to implement what you have learned about relaxation techniques, hypnosis, Transcendental Meditation, speaking to your inner self and whatever higher power you turn to. Any tool that suits you will suffice but you must have taken the time and effort to learn them beforehand.
It helps to remind ourselves when we feel lackluster that it is natural in life for our moods to change direction. We are not meant to feel good or be flat all the time or we would have no gauge to measure where we are emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. There will be periods we feel uninspired and recalling that they will pass is crucial to recognizing that as surely as the occasion of feeling colorless came upon us, it will just as quickly turn to a colorful flash of inspiration in it's own natural time. We don't need a pill to invoke it but our own inner forces to muster up positive thinking to recollect that it is normal and keep moving forward.No one who has any sense will say this is always easy. It can take effort but that creates its own rewards. If ahead of time we have put energy into seeking ways to rise above when we are in a natural lull of life, it follows that we stand a much greater chance of preventing it from trapping us into a mode longer than it need be. As we implement and practice the devices we have gathered in our tool box of skills, we become stronger and able to resolve most downturns on our own. The ultimate reward is when others seek us for guidance and we are able to supply them with ideas by sharing what has worked for us.
6/6/11
Public Unions Vs. The Unorganized Taxpayers
There will be blood...
Public sector employees that are unionized have largely been able to sit out the recession and remain unaffected. They're out of touch with their employers, the unorganized taxpayer, having forgotten they work for the public and taxpayers and not the other way around. They are in the same privileged class as the bankers bailed out by those same taxpayers. As we move into structural unemployment along with high underemployment, with the remaining taxpayers footing the bill for overpaid public sector union employees, the likelihood of civil unrest between these two groups will become greater than we've already seen.
http://youtu.be/5CxP5clZf_g
Public sector employees that are unionized have largely been able to sit out the recession and remain unaffected. They're out of touch with their employers, the unorganized taxpayer, having forgotten they work for the public and taxpayers and not the other way around. They are in the same privileged class as the bankers bailed out by those same taxpayers. As we move into structural unemployment along with high underemployment, with the remaining taxpayers footing the bill for overpaid public sector union employees, the likelihood of civil unrest between these two groups will become greater than we've already seen.
http://youtu.be/5CxP5clZf_g
6/5/11
6/4/11
Music Break: John Fogerty
Have You Ever Seen The Rain?...
Live 2010 Night of the Proms Netherlands
http://youtu.be/JnuB_DjhC0M
Live 2010 Night of the Proms Netherlands
http://youtu.be/JnuB_DjhC0M
6/3/11
Economic Doom and Gloom
Survivalist or Survivor? Your choice...
The chief characteristics to personal stability are self-reliance and being prepared.
It seems to me that what many predicted is coming to pass and whether or not it's a "Double Dip" or a "long term slowdown in recovery" is mere semantics. What I think will really cause a collapse of the system is that the political and bureaucratic classes in DC - the Federal Reserve, the Administration and Congress - are playing with fire by making a game out of the debt ceiling, budget, quantitative easing and more. It is unnecessary roughness that serves only one real unintended purpose on their part and that is their own ultimate demise.
My belief is that is where we are heading. A economic crash and system collapse that is unlike any others in the past since we are in an entirely new era. Prior to the 1930s Recessions and Depressions were called Panics. Only history written down the road will name what we are going through but to my way of thinking the best I've heard is Disruption. We are indeed in a Great Disruption of the world as we knew it the past 100 years, since post-WWI, a turning point in history as big as the Reformation, Age of Enlightenment and American Revolution.
I believe America is going to be divided up regionally and not necessarily by contiguous geography but certainly confined to a certain extent by it, into segments of society who survive (and some will thrive) by taking responsibility for their own physical and mental health and working to maintain it. The amount of money, gold or supplies you have may or may not help you but your preparation, planning and wits will. Many of the survivalist camp think their moving off to the woods or for those who stay in towns and cities, growing your own and stockpiling will get them by. I understand that thinking and I do think that now is the time to preserve what you can, store as much as feasible and think of alternate ways to obtain goods in the future other than paper money. Therein lies material for an entire other blog that I'm still contemplating.
What is clear is that economically, therefore politically and socially, things are not improving and we are not "recovering." That is due to the fact that our recovery does not lie in restoring things the way they were and it's taking awhile to get that message through to the markets, people and institutions. This does not mean pending doom for everyone and there is no reason for gloom unless you are unprepared. I recognize some people are trapped in situations they feel they cannot get out of. My thought is "where there is a will there is a way" and it requires thinking through your situation to come up with the best possible solution.
No one promises that will be easy and it never has been in the history of America. Self reliance, mutual help, reinvention and rebuilding are inherent in the American character even if we seem to have lost that in the past 30-40 years. I have every faith it is still alive and well in this country and also in the inherent values of England and the British people.
Here is my video blog of a few weeks ago when the markets were still relatively stable, economic indicator reports had not come out and the debt situation in Europe and the US had not risen to the forefront again. I stand by what I said then.
http://youtu.be/H8GHuyngLZM
The chief characteristics to personal stability are self-reliance and being prepared.
It seems to me that what many predicted is coming to pass and whether or not it's a "Double Dip" or a "long term slowdown in recovery" is mere semantics. What I think will really cause a collapse of the system is that the political and bureaucratic classes in DC - the Federal Reserve, the Administration and Congress - are playing with fire by making a game out of the debt ceiling, budget, quantitative easing and more. It is unnecessary roughness that serves only one real unintended purpose on their part and that is their own ultimate demise.
My belief is that is where we are heading. A economic crash and system collapse that is unlike any others in the past since we are in an entirely new era. Prior to the 1930s Recessions and Depressions were called Panics. Only history written down the road will name what we are going through but to my way of thinking the best I've heard is Disruption. We are indeed in a Great Disruption of the world as we knew it the past 100 years, since post-WWI, a turning point in history as big as the Reformation, Age of Enlightenment and American Revolution.
I believe America is going to be divided up regionally and not necessarily by contiguous geography but certainly confined to a certain extent by it, into segments of society who survive (and some will thrive) by taking responsibility for their own physical and mental health and working to maintain it. The amount of money, gold or supplies you have may or may not help you but your preparation, planning and wits will. Many of the survivalist camp think their moving off to the woods or for those who stay in towns and cities, growing your own and stockpiling will get them by. I understand that thinking and I do think that now is the time to preserve what you can, store as much as feasible and think of alternate ways to obtain goods in the future other than paper money. Therein lies material for an entire other blog that I'm still contemplating.
What is clear is that economically, therefore politically and socially, things are not improving and we are not "recovering." That is due to the fact that our recovery does not lie in restoring things the way they were and it's taking awhile to get that message through to the markets, people and institutions. This does not mean pending doom for everyone and there is no reason for gloom unless you are unprepared. I recognize some people are trapped in situations they feel they cannot get out of. My thought is "where there is a will there is a way" and it requires thinking through your situation to come up with the best possible solution.
No one promises that will be easy and it never has been in the history of America. Self reliance, mutual help, reinvention and rebuilding are inherent in the American character even if we seem to have lost that in the past 30-40 years. I have every faith it is still alive and well in this country and also in the inherent values of England and the British people.
Here is my video blog of a few weeks ago when the markets were still relatively stable, economic indicator reports had not come out and the debt situation in Europe and the US had not risen to the forefront again. I stand by what I said then.
http://youtu.be/H8GHuyngLZM
6/2/11
Arizona Landscape
Scores of tree rings sawed off...
Underneath is a dying taproot that goes very deep into earth.
Underneath is a dying taproot that goes very deep into earth.
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