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Blogging vacation

After 140 posts I've decided to take a little blog vacation. Check back in about a month for further updates.

Is It Fireworks or Something Else

As I'm writing this there are fireworks going on over the nearby ballpark. Sometimes I think how lucky I am that I live where I can make the assumption that big loud bangs are fireworks rather than some of the alternatives and that jets screaming through the air above are doing an airshow. My dogs on the other hand have no preconceived notions and immediately go crazy every time there are fireworks. Fireworks are so old fashioned... but nothing has come along to take the place of fireworks. What would be interesting enough to take their place? Does it have to have a hint of danger?

Laws That Were Made to Be Broken

Doesn't it seem like some laws were just made to be broken? Most new cars will easily exceed any speed limit in the United States. Does anyone really drive the speed limit as they weave through their neighborhood. If car makes and municipalities really wanted to keep drivers from breaking the speed limit laws, the technology required probably wouldn't be that difficult. First start with the car design. The car itself tied to a GPS system could evaluate the speed limit and warn the driver that he or she is operating outside the legal limit. I bet that nifty little GM OnStar that assists drivers could easily be modified to 'assist' the driver stay within the law. But drivers don't want to stay within the law... and if drivers don't want to stay within the law, why do we have the laws.

So will there be changes over the next 50 years in automotive safety technology and will it change transportation in general?

Everyone's A Reporter

It's big news that a reporter caught Barack Obama making some comments that I'm sure he'd rather not have been recorder. There's a lot of discussion about how the reporter was let into the fundraiser at all, but in today's world, isn't everyone a reporter? With today's cell phones, people can easily take videos, record conversations and take pictures. We're in a time when bloggers are the first to report events. What new pressures does that put on politicians? What will the people running for president in 2050 be like growing up in an environment like this?

But Was The Information Flying to China?

Yesterday's post was about how information was flying around during the events of the San Francisco Olympic Torch run, but one has to wonder.... how much information is flying around China? Is it possible to keep up with technology when technology and politics are completely linked together? Before the internet countries like Russia and East Germany could control information because it was mainly in print and on TV. It wasn't hard to limit the type of information that people had access too. Scientists could have access to the best information in their field and the government could keep those same scientists relatively in the dark in terms of politics. The Olympic athletes could be proud of the good and ignorant of the bad. But today, to strive to have your country compete with other countries, the people have to have free access to information, and with that access comes change.

What's going to happen twenty years from now to those countries that try and control access to information?

The Torch Was Never So High Tech

I live in San Francisco and I happen to work right near where the Olympic Torch was supposed to start it's very short journey in San Francisco. There were Chinese supporters bused in for the event, protesters of all sorts as well, as a few people who just wanted to see the Olympic Torch, lined up ready to do their thing as the torch went past, but due to some 'altercations' that occurred in the morning, the Torch route was changed at the last minute and for the most part, the sidelines of spectators along the new route were pretty empty.

It's amazing how the Internet and cell phones have changed things for events like this. A huge police force was down with the groups of protesters and supporters, but many probably had to be rerouted quickly to the new location. There were at least five helicopters hovering over the event. The news was being updated with pictures as events occurred. People could use their cell phones to call people at home and find out what was going on rather than hanging around wondering. Information was flying everywhere.

Snap, Your Identity has Been Captured

I was at a store over the weekend and the person behind the counter mentioned that she always asks to see ID because of all the problems with identity theft. She then went on to tell the tale of how she's heard that the latest form of stealing credit card numbers is for the person behind you to snap a picture of your credit card as you are handing it to the salesperson with his or her cell phone. I didn't bother to point out that asking for a photo ID means that the person standing behind you could also get a picture of that making the possibility of successfully stealing your identity even that much more certain.

I'm always wondering what the next form of identification will be. Will finger print readers become much more commonplace? Will there be a push for some kind of DNA reader? Just sluff off off a few skin cells to make a purchase? Retinal scans? And by giving more secure forms of identifications, will we be giving up a piece of ourselves?

Were They All Hiding Their Ipods?

I think it was the classic movie "The Time Machine" where the main character travels through time and the people of the future have shelves of books that are falling apart and they don't know what to do with them. The character is horrified that people no longer read.

What would someone from the past feel today walking into an office where people everywhere are tuning out the world with their ipods? Would it fill someone with horror or would it intrigue him or her? Would today's fascination with computers be considered a scary evolution where people are distancing themselves from each other or would people be jealous of the quick not to mention global communication that is now easily accessible?