FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, file photo, a passenger looks
at his smartphone while waiting in the security line at
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta. Though
Facebook gets all the attention, the social media service isn’t the only
company to collect massive amounts of data on you to help marketers
sell their goods and services. Google, for one, also does extensive
tracking to power its advertising engines. There are ways to block or
minimize such tracking, but they come with trade-offs. (AP Photo/David
Goldman, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Though Facebook gets
the attention because of a recent privacy gaffe, the social network is
far from alone in collecting massive amounts of data on you to help
marketers sell you stuff.
Google, for one, also does extensive
tracking to power its advertising engines. And many other websites and
apps run ads sold by Facebook and Google and exchange data with them.
Beyond that, plenty of services including Uber and Amazon keep detailed
histories on you.
Here are some of the ways to block or minimize such tracking — but they come with trade-offs.
———
TRACKING IDs
Websites
have long used unique IDs in "cookies" — data files stored in your
browser — to know it's you when you return a week later. Cookies also
let advertising networks run by the likes of Facebook and Google connect
you as you visit multiple websites. Phones and tablets have a device
advertising ID that apps can use to track you.
— Combatting this:
You can reset the cookie ID by clearing cookies periodically. Most
browsers also have a private mode to limit tracking through cookies,
though it's not foolproof. Companies can still link you if you've signed
in, for instance. As for the device ID, you can reset that or tell
advertisers not to target ads through the phone's settings.
Many
browsers also let you install add-ons that block ad trackers. Notable
add-ons include Ghostery or the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Privacy
Badger.
— The trade-offs: You'll still get ads, just not targeted
ones. And clearing cookies makes your browser forget who you are, so
you'll have to sign back into any site that was saving your login.
Tracker blockers can sometimes prevent websites from displaying or
working properly.
———
LOCATION SERVICES
Many apps need
your location to work. Mapping apps, for instance, can't tell you when
to turn without knowing where you are. Video services typically have
rights only in certain countries and need to verify your location. But
location can be used for much more. Google, for instance, keeps a fairly
detailed account of your whereabouts through a feature called Timeline.
— Combatting this: You can turn off location services in the
phone's settings, though for apps to work property, it's better to turn
them off for specific services that don't really need them. As for
Timeline, you can pause or delete location history in Google settings.
—
The trade-offs: Some apps won't work without your location. Others,
such as weather apps, will require you enter your location manually. And
you might miss out on recommendations such as better commuting routes
via apps like Waze.
———
SIGNING IN
Signing
into an online account gives services a sure-fire way of tracking you.
Facebook won't work at all without an account; Google merely works
better with one. And you'll generally need an account with any service
that charges you, although sometimes you can sign in with your Facebook
or Google ID instead.
— Combatting this: Resist creating an
account or signing whenever you can — such as when you're merely
browsing rather than buying. Avoid using Facebook or Google IDs whenever
possible, as those companies could then track you. You can also use a
different email address for each account to frustrate efforts to connect
you across services, although it can be a major pain.
— The
trade-offs: Some services require signing in, and creating accounts on
each service means more passwords to remember (though you might consider
using a password manager ). Whatever you do, don't reuse the same passwords across service; that makes them easy to hack.
———
IP ADDRESS
The
Internet Protocol address lists where your phone or computer lives on
the internet; it's how you get messages and load websites. But IP
addresses can also help companies remember who you are and link the
various devices you use, since most homes use a single IP address for
the whole network. Databases can also map IP addresses to physical
locations.
— Combatting this: You can mask your IP address by
using a secure intermediary. VPN services, common in corporate settings,
will route your traffic through a separate IP address; a secure web
browser called Tor automatically sends traffic through multiple third
parties. You still need to avoid signing in.
— The trade-offs: Tor can slow down performance, particularly with high-data tasks such as video. And with VPNs, you need to trust the VPN operator, whether that's your boss or a private service.
Copyright
2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In what is only the latest outrageous ruling
by a California judge so far this year, Starbucks and a handful of
other coffee chains lost a yearslong legal battle against a consumer
advocacy group trying to force coffee companies to attach cancer
warnings to their packaging, according to Reuters.
The Council for Education and Research on Toxics (CERT) sued 90
coffee retailers on the grounds they were in violation of a state law
requiring companies to warn consumers about potentially cancerous
chemicals in their products. Several defendants settled before the final decision and agreed to post the signage and pay millions in fines.
A chemical called acrylamide, which is one of the byproducts of roasting coffee beans, is present in brewed coffee and is listed as a potential carcinogen. CERT's lawsuit was filed back in 2010.
Per Reuters,
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle ruled in a decision dated
Wednesday that the defendants in the lawsuit had failed to prove that
coffee isn't a carcinogen. Of course, Starbucks' lawyers aren't the only ones having difficulty proving this.
Research shows that coffee can lower the incidence of diabetes and
liver disease - and even prolong life. The World Health Organization
removed coffee from its "possible carcinogen" list in 2016.
One professional researcher contacted by CBS
said there's not enough evidence, in his opinion, to warrant such a
warning label on coffee. Coffee companies have said removing acrylamide
from brewed coffee would make it implausibly expensive and difficult to
prepare in stores.
Others have said that if the potato chip industry was able to remove
acrylamide from its product (which it did after being sued by CERT), Big
Coffee could also accomplish it.
But regardless of whether a warning is truly warranted, many
California coffee shops already hang warnings advising customers about
the dangers of acrylamide.
But what's worse for companies like Starbucks is that if the industry
loses the inevitable appeal (companies have already said they're
"considering it"), the judge could impose a stiff civil penalty. By law,
it could be as high as $2,500 per person exposed and per incident over
the span of eight years. That could be an astronomical figure in
California, the most populous state in the US, with 40 million
residents. If the ruling does stand, coffee companies might decide it's easier and cheaper to print warnings on all of their packaging - rather than producing separate packaging just for California.
So once again, the impact of a California judge's ruling will be felt across the entire country
The White Liberals and Their Cucksertavitive Republican
Collaborators Who Rule SE WI Have Only Exacerbated the Racial Disparity
and Disparate Imprisonment/Abuse of People of Color !
WI Taxpayers need not worry – Wisconsin just needs
to build a few more more Prisons to be back in the black, as opposed to
all the red ink accrued during Scott Walker’s tenancy as Governor. When
all the borrowing, spending and temporary tax cuts are done – Residents
will be left with a huge debt service to fund, Prisons and Jails
overflowing capacity with Minorities,drunks and drug law offenders,
while Unionized Prison Guards will demand more taxpayer funded pay and
benefits along with more long term costs such as outrageously early
and lucrative taxpayer funded for life pensions/healthcare, with nothing
productive to show for it!
Stephon
Clark, the unarmed African American man whose shooting by police has
caused protests and national outcry, was shot six times in the back, an
independent forensic pathologist said Friday.
Dr.
Bennet Omalu conducted an autopsy days after Clark was killed by
police. He told reporters that his examination showed that Clark was hit
by eight bullets, and all but one entered while his back was facing
police.
The
eighth bullet that hit Clark entered his left thigh from a
forward-facing and likely came while he was on the ground and had
already been shot multiple times, Omalu said.
"That
he was assailing the officers, meaning he was facing the officers, is
inconsistent with the prevailing forensic evidence" as documented in the
autopsy, he said.
The county coroner's official autopsy results are not expected to be completed for several weeks.
Clark,
22, was fatally shot in his grandmother's backyard on March 18 by
Sacramento police, who were looking for a vandal in the neighborhood.
More than 20 shots were fired.
Clark was found with a cellphone. No weapon was recovered.
The
independent autopsy finding raises new questions about Clark's
shooting. Police have released videos showing the incident but have
urged the public not to pass judgment on officers until the
investigation is complete.
"It's
very simple. The narrative that's been put forth is they had to open
fire because he was charging toward them," said civil rights litigator
Ben Crump, who is representing Clark's family. Yet the autopsy shows,
Crump said, "all of the bullets were from behind."
Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
Published 9:30 a.m. ET March 30, 2018 | Updated 2:55 p.m. ET March 30, 2018
USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham explains how you can tell Google, Facebook and Amazon to stop following you around the web.
USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Like many, I downloaded
the data this week that Facebook compiled about me over the years, and
frankly, it was spooky.
I love the
social network for showing off my latest photos, staying in contact with
old friends and catching up on the latest news.
But to get those features, Facebook kept:
—
Location info of all my contacts. This happened when I joined and
Facebook asked if I wanted to connect with other friends by importing my
contacts from my computer, which happened to have their phone numbers
and sometimes addresses. Facebook has lived with this info since I
joined in 2007.
— Any restaurant or airport where I've "checked in."
— The IP address of everywhere I've ever logged into Facebook.
—
My (estimated by Facebook) political and religious views, despite my
posts that focus on three areas: photography, work (the latest articles,
podcasts and videos) and, occasionally, family.
— All my searches on Facebook over the years, the names of my followers and facial recognition of me and my friends.
Whoa!
After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which an app developer was able to sell personal data
to a research firm that said it helped Donald Trump win the election,
Facebook apologized. It says it has tightened its policies on what data
can end up with app developers since that data leak happened.
Additionally, it will be more transparent about the data it collects, the company vows.
My nursery spade. Anything that needs doing in the landscape you can do with this. Jerry Nelson and crew of Town and Country Garden Center taught me how to use the spade. The only drawback is that it's all metal, so if you hit a hot wire in the ground with it, you're toast. I'll have to clean it up properly one of these days. Actually, just using it would clean it up. It's been out in my truck for years. Today, I cleaned out the bed of the truck and found it. I think it cost $45. I made thousands with it.
’m Not Dead Yet!
Constantin Reliu, 63, appealed unsuccessfully to a court in Barlad,
Romania, in March to overturn a death certificate that his wife had
obtained after not hearing from him for more than a decade. According to
The Guardian, Reliu left Romania for Turkey in 1992 to look
for employment, but neglected to keep in touch with his family
thereafter. In 2003, Reliu’s wife, believing he had likely died, argued
in court for a death certificate, which didn’t come to light until Reliu
was deported back to Romania because of expired papers in Turkey. Upon
his arrival, immigration officers explained to Reliu that he had died in
2003. Despite being very much not dead yet, Reliu’s court appeal to
overturn his death failed (the court maintained that he was too late;
the ruling is final). “I am officially dead, although I’m alive,” Reliu
told Romanian media outlets. Punctilious Primate
Louis, an 18-year-old male gorilla at the Philadelphia Zoo, appears
to be something of a germophobe, according to the Associated Press. When
he is carrying food, six-foot-tall Louis walks on his hind legs, like a
human, rather than leaning forward on his front knuckles, as gorillas
usually do. Zoo curator Michael Stern says workers installed a fire hose
over a mud puddle in Louis’ yard, which he crosses like a tightrope to
avoid getting his feet dirty. Stern says in the wild, gorillas may stand
up on their hind feet to reach food or wade in a swamp, but only for a
few seconds. Planters Periodontics
Ravenna, Ohio, resident Nickolette Botsford was startled by what felt
like an extra-hard cashew as she enjoyed some Planters nuts in early
March. As she drove, she handed the object to her mom, who turned on the
interior light in the car and realized it was a human tooth, with dried
blood on it. “I got very upset, I was crying, I threw up two or three
times,” Botsford told WOIO-TV. She went to a hospital, where doctors
confirmed it was a human tooth and treated her for exposure to blood or
bodily fluids. Botsford called Planters, and parent company Kraft Heinz
sent a courier to pick up the tooth for testing. The company said it is
investigating its manufacturing process and suppliers. Who You Gonna Call?
A member of the Listowel Paranormal Society in Windsor, Ontario,
Canada, was surprised when police arrived at his door on March 13,
inquiring about a small black box with a red wire protruding from it
that had been left at Mackenzie Hall in Windsor. The Windsor Police
Explosives Disposal Unit was called to the hall to investigate the box,
but determined it was “safe” and not explosive. Society members had used
the box three days earlier at the historic building to sweep for
spirits. Jen Parker, assistant director for the society, called the box
an EMF (electromagnetic field) sensor and said each team member carries
one when they’re looking for ghosts. Fast and Furious
Siblings Antoine Dorsey, 23, and Antoinette Dorsey, 27, of St. Louis cooked up a clever scheme to steal a car. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch
reported that on March 14, the two went to Joe-K Used Cars and asked to
test drive a 2012 Dodge Charger. The salesman drove them off the lot,
and the Dorseys asked him to drive to their apartment building so they
could retrieve their IDs. In the parking lot of the apartment building,
Antoinette got out of the car, an unidentified person drove up next to
the Charger in a Volvo, got into the Charger, pulled out a gun and
demanded the stunned salesman get out, which he did. The armed Charger
bandit then got back out himself, went back to his Volvo and drove off.
Meanwhile, Antoine jumped back into the Charger and sped away with his
sister, leaving the salesman watching in disbelief. Antoine, however,
soon crashed and flipped the Charger. Both siblings have been charged
with first-degree robbery.
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world,
ain’a? So listen, whilst fiddling with the radio knob in hopes of
finding a station that plays 24-hour continuous Easter music and
simultaneously waiting for that Chinese space lab satellite
the-size-of-a-goddamn-school-bus to come crash to Earth with the top of
my noggin as bulls-eye, I recalled a million-dollar conversation I had a
while back with my pal Little Jimmy Iodine about an idea that would
make Our Town numero uno for filching the tourist buck, what the fock.
So there we were, enjoying a couple, three nice cigarettes under
clouded stars since you couldn’t smoke indoors anymore like normal
people used to. And we decided a great thing for Beerville would be if
we could work out a deal where we trade all our focking squirrels to
some kind of place like the country formerly known as Burma in exchange
for all their monkeys, you betcha.
Think about it. I’m bored with these squirrels everywhere and you may
be, too. I think this town and sister environs would be much more
intriguing plus festive if we had the monkey running to and fro rather
than the focking squirrel. Be it bonobo, rhesus or macaque—I don’t give a
flying fock. They’d be a lot more entertaining to have in the trees
than these rats with tails who horde their nuts like they’re going out
of style, for christ sakes. Not to mention that if you were fortunate
enough to ensnare one of these rampant simians, you may be able to train
it to perform simple household chores to afford you extra leisure time
with which to dream of your own focking million-dollar scheme.
Why not this trade? In Milwaukee, we’ve got monkeys in a zoo and
squirrels all over the rest of creation while somewhere like your
Bangkok they probably got just the opposite. And so I suggest a nice
cultural exchange—squirrels for monkeys—could only improve world
relations. I also think parts of our heated green globe would just die
to have squirrels running free instead of only in a zoo; except they
wouldn’t die ’cause they’d be able to serve those squirrels up on their
dinner table as fast as they got them, and the rest of the world
wouldn’t have to worry about an increasing global hunger problem, what
the fock. And if we were to outfit the monkeys with various traditional
ethnic costumery, surely kids and families would flock to Monkey Town
and let their vacation dough rain down upon us locals.
Anyways, Little Jimmy and I decided to suspend rumination and leave
the practicalities of such a trade to the scientists and planners ’cause
we both needed to take a leak, which we thought best done indoors like
regular people instead of outdoors like a couple of focking monkeys.
Anyways, I’ve got to go. There’s still a couple of days left for me
to figure what I should give up for Lent since Easter comes Sunday—April
Fools’ Day this year, which is what those Roman soldiers who were
guarding the tomb of Jesus must’ve felt like when they discovered that
the lord pulled a Harry Houdini on them and had escaped. Yes sir, some
top flight sentry work there, ain’a?
And for some of you’s there’s the Passover, so here’s a little story you may like to share: Man goes to see the Rabbi. “Rabbi, something terrible is
happening and I have to talk to you about it.” The Rabbi asks, “What is
wrong?” The man replies, “My wife is poisoning me.” The Rabbi, very
surprised by this, asks, “How can that be?” The man then pleads: “I’m
telling you, I’m certain she’s poisoning me, what should I do?” The
Rabbi then offers: “Tell you what. Let me talk to her, I’ll see what I
can find out and I’ll let you know.” A week later the Rabbi calls the man and says, “Well, I spoke to
your wife. I spoke to her on the phone for three hours. You want my
advice?” The man anxiously says, “Yes.” And the Rabbi says, “Take the
poison.” Ba-ding!
And so I’ll leave you with a brief Easter-time message just like I
was a regular pope. The message goes like this: “It is forbidden to
kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large
numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
(If you guessed a French guy by the name of Voltaire said this a
couple, three hundred years ago, you are abso-focking-lutely correct.
And now I’m off to perform the miracle of changing dollar bills into
bourbon, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation collaborates with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute to produce the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps. Scores are broken into two main categories:
Health outcomes, defined as how long people live and how healthy they feel.
Health
factors, defined as focus areas that drive how long and well people
live. Examples include: tobacco use, access to care and community
safety.
The rankings aim to demonstrate
the size and nature of health disparities throughout the state,
according to the foundation’s report, and can show “how state and
community leaders can take action to create environments where all
residents have the opportunity to live their healthiest lives.”
Racine
County’s overall ranking this year was No. 61 of the state’s 72
counties for health outcomes, and No. 62 for health factors. Those
scores have largely been similar since 2011, the oldest available data.
In some measures, however, the county showed bigger fluctuation.
Ozaukee County took the top spot in both overall rankings this year; Menominee County was ranked the lowest.
Hello, my p's and q's! How are you? Does the warmer weather make it more difficult to concentrate on your job? It's the end of March already. Some of my tulips are sending up leaves. They may get nipped if we drop below freezing levels. Heck, I've seen it snow in May. Take nothing for granted with Wisconsin weather.
Foxconn horseshit dominates the local news and probably will for some time to come. Fine. I've stopped reading the stories and just take in the headlines. I don't want to catch Foxconn fever. It has infected most of Racine's officials. Notice that Foxconn is planning on building as far away from the city of Racine as you can and still stay in Racine county. How soon before a shanty town springs up to service the workers' needs? How many prostitutes will move out there? How many new ones will start up?
It may be a blessing that the development is as far away from Racine as it is. If all hell breaks loose, we'll be insulated by distance. I hope. How about we move our problem bars out there? Oh, and the gang-bangers would love it out there with all that open space for shooting each other. And what about the suicide nets? Are we getting them? Can we retrofit them to the municipal buildings in Racine?
Here's an idea: how about a floating casino out on Lake M? People can lose all their money there and then drown themselves. (No suicide nets on the casino. It looks bad.) We can run a shuttle service to the casino every half hour. Or hop into your boat and anchor near the casino. A shuttle craft will pick you up. Man oh man, we could make some real money off of that. I don't gamble, but I would be at the casino to see the performers I like. And have a great meal of filet mignon and steak fries. Oh my, now I've made myself hungry. I have no steak to eat, just a lot of eggs and toast.
I see that Mr. Trump continues with the madness act. How many White House staffers has he fired this year? He must think he's still on the TV show, "The Apprentice." He makes up "facts" and readily admits it. He lies like a rug. He always appeals to personality over principle. He strikes me as not being very smart, but who needs brains to ruin a country? Ruin? I meant "run." Ha! Instead of putting up a wall on our border, how about we just put it around the White House?
That's from Pink Floyd's album, "The Wall," Mr. Trump should listen to it daily. "We don't need no thought control..." What we do need is the truth. Good luck trying to get that out of Mr. Trump.
North Korea and China are both pissed off at us. Mr. Trump gets in there and tells them more lies. He tries to play one off of the other, but they both want our heads. I suspect that North Korea can be more easily handled than China. Either way, they are both nuclear powers and both much more willing to use those nukes than we are. When a goofball like Mr. Trump gets involved, anything could happen. Anything.
Thank you for reading my blog this week. I love company, so tell all your friends to read my blog, too. We are family here. I love family. I love you. madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com
Don't forget to vote next Tuesday, April 3. Thousands have died defending your right to vote. Do it, or watch the nut jobs win the elections. The people we elect next Tuesday will foster in the opening of the Foxconn facility. Or maybe they will just jump off of the roof. __________________________ Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelis If you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order. Thank you.
"Women are at the forefront of the
philanthropic movement in this country. In nearly half of all U.S.
households, women provide the main source of income and make the
majority of spending decisions. Currently, more than half of the
nation’s personal wealth belongs to women. In 10 years, women will
comprise the majority of the country’s wealthiest people, according to
estimates.
"Women wield this
extensive philanthropic ability thoughtfully. Women are more likely to
give—and to give more than twice as much—regardless of marital status.
"Despite
these statistics, women are simultaneously one of our community’s most
vulnerable demographics. Households headed by single mothers are
Racine’s largest demographic of people living in poverty, making up 54
percent of poverty households."
I had no idea that women yield such economic power. Find me a rich one who is half-dead and looking for someone to give her money to. I'll treat her with respect and honor until she croaks. I'll even be her caretaker, but I want to be paid for that.
As the sell-off in the broader stock markets intensifies, it will be
bad news for the world’s largest oil companies. Why? Because cracks
are already beginning to appear in the biggest and most profitable
global oil companies. While rising costs and higher debt levels have
been plaguing the U.S. shale oil industry, these negative factors are
now impacting the major oil companies as well.
When the oil price
fell below $100 in 2014, it spelled doom for the U.S. and global oil
industry. As oil prices continued to decline, energy companies were
forced to increase their debt and reduce their capital expenditures
(CAPEX). Cutting CAPEX spending while adding debt aren’t a good recipe
for positive financial earning in the future.
According to several
energy analysts, they believe 2018 will be a turnaround year for the
major oil companies. Unfortunately, the fate of the price of petroleum
and the oil companies are tied to the broader markets. When the markets
rise, it’s good for the oil price and energy companies, and when the
markets fall, then the opposite is true. However, the next major market selloff will likely cause irreversible damage to the global oil industry.
Investors
need to realize that the global oil industry required $120+ oil in 2013
to replace reserves and bring on more oil production. When that price
level was not obtained that year, oil companies began to cut CAPEX
spending even before the price fell below $100 a barrel in 2014. Today,
with the price of oil trading at $64, it is approximately half of what
the global oil industry requires to fund new production growth.
So,
there lies the rub. Even though oil companies are more profitable
currently, it was achieved by destroying future production. As we can
see in the chart below, CAPEX spending in eight of the largest global oil companies fell 56% from $245 billion in 2013 to $109 billion in 2017:
Yes,
it’s true that a lower oil price forces oil companies to cut CAPEX
spending to remain profitable, but it will also negatively impact their
earnings in the future. While all the major oil companies cut their
CAPEX spending significantly over the past four years, Brazil’s
Petrobras and ConocoPhillips both reduced it the most by 70%.
Now,
to offset the falling oil price, many of the oil companies resorted to
adding more debt to pay shareholder dividends or to fund CAPEX spending
(or both). For example, Shell’s long-term debt increased from $36
billion in 2013 to $74 billion in 2017 while ExxonMobil, one of the most
profitable major oil companies in the world, saw its debt increase
significantly from $7 billion to $24 billion during the same period:
These
eight major oil companies have increased their debt right at the very
time the stock markets are beginning rolling over. As I have mentioned,
when the stock market suffers a big correction-crash, so will the oil
price. A falling oil price will force oil companies to cut their CAPEX
spending, once again, to provide positive cash flow for their
shareholders. Furthermore, rising debt levels and interest rates have
severely cut into these energy companies’ profits. In
2013, these eight oil companies paid $5.7 billion to service the
interest on their debt. However, that nearly tripled to $15.4 billion
in 2017. Thus, $10 billion in profits were vaporized just so these
major oil companies could service their debt. We must
remember, during major market corrections, ASSET VALUES DECLINE, while
DEBTS & LIABILITIES stay the same. Which means, a much lower oil
price will make it increasingly difficult for these oil majors to remain
profitable as a large portion of their profits is now being used to pay
their interest expense:
These
three charts represent the CRACKS that are now beginning to appear in
world’s largest oil companies. Even though the oil majors have been
somewhat immune to much of the negative issues plaguing the U.S. shale
energy industry, it seems like the disease is finally spreading to
them. It’s just a matter of time before the Falling EROI – Energy
Returned On Investment and Thermodynamics starts bankrupting oil
companies that have been around for more than half of a century.
While this may seem like I am overly pessimistic, the data and the facts speak for themselves.
Lastly,
the public has no clue just how critical the oil supply is to our
Just-In-Time-Inventory-Economy. Even though the housing market is still
booming, what would our Suburban Economy look like with 50+% less of
petroleum liquid fuels?? Please don’t belch out that Electric Cars
(EV’s) are the answer… they are not. Also, the current electric battery
technology used to power a semi-tractor trailer would only have enough
energy to also transport a fraction (2,000 lbs) of the freight compared
to a typical diesel engine (48,000-50,000 lbs).
Unfortunately,
technology has not solved our problems…. it has just created even bigger
ones. When you understand this simple principle, then it’s easy to see
how the world unfolds in the future.
It should always be like this. After a few customers who go off in a restaurant sustain a few broken bones, they may at least stay away. When she tased him, did you hear him ask, "Why the fuck are you treating me like this?" He throws a fit, knocking shit off of the counter tops. Yet he can't seem to connect this with being tossed out of the restaurant. Shitheads like this only learn through pain, repeated pain if necessary. I think all customers should band together against such assholes. Enough is enough. If we can't have peace and quiet, then let's at least get rid of the noisemakers.
Facebook
founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks on stage during the annual
Facebook F8 developers conference in San Jose, California on April 18,
2017.Stephen Lam / Reuters file
The FTC is the latest bad news to
slam Facebook, announcing Monday that it was launching a non-public
probe into the social media giant's privacy practices.
"The FTC is
firmly and fully committed to using all of its tools to protect the
privacy of consumers," Tom Pahl, Acting Director of the Federal Trade
Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "The FTC takes very seriously recent press reports raising substantial concerns about the privacy practices of Facebook."
Facebook
has been on the back heel ever since the Cambridge Analytica
revelations became public, with outcry growing and legislators calling
for CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify on Capitol Hill.
Besides its declining stock price, consumer sentiment seems to be turning against Facebook. An Axios-commissioned Survey Monkey poll shows that its favorability has declined since October by 28 points, nearly double that of all the other tech giants.
The
#deletefacebook hashtag has continued to flourish on social media as
customers strike out against the social media company, with tech
billionaire Elon Musk bringing further visibility to the movement last
week when he deleted the Facebook page for two of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX.
It's
not clear, however, how many other users are actually taking the plunge
and disconnecting themselves from the world's largest social media
platform — which for some users constitutes the majority of their online
experience.
There was also indication that automated bot networks were participating in amplifying the hashtag.
On
Sunday Illinois became the first state to file a lawsuit against
Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, alleging a "fraudulent scheme to
harvest the data of millions of American voters."
"This kind of
mass data collection was not only allowed but encouraged by Facebook,
which sought to keep developers building on its platform and provide
companies with all the tools they need to influence and manipulate user
behavior," the lawsuit said. "That’s because Facebook is not a social media company; it is the largest data mining operation in existence."
That
same day, Facebook confirmed that it has been keeping texting and call
logs for millions of people who use Android phones to access Facebook
Messenger, adding to a growing backlash over how the company handles the
user data that drives its record-setting profits.
Ever since news broke that data firm Cambridge Analytica had been abusing the Facebook platform to download unauthorized data on over 50 million users, users have been downloading their own Facebook data to see just how much the social network knows about them.
One
of them was developer Dylan McKay, who posted last week that his file
appeared to show a call log of every single call he'd made for the past
few years. The data included who the call was to or from, the date, time
and duration. The calls were not made using Facebook or one of its
apps, they were just the calls he'd made on his phone.
As the tweet went viral, other users replied that they were seeing their same call history recorded in the data.
On
Sunday the social networking giant confirmed that it had been recording
the call history, and attempted to tamp down some of the criticism by
emphasizing that the affected users had opted in to the process.
"Call and text history logging is part of an opt-in feature for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android," the company wrote.
"This helps you find and stay connected with the people you care about,
and provides you with a better experience across Facebook."
Once enabled, the Messenger app begins "to continuously upload your contacts as well as your call and text history."
I said from the start that Facebook is evil. Everyone accused me of being a spoil sport. Now all your shit is out thereand you can't get it back. I never used my real name on Facebook and never gave them any real information.
As a citizen who sat attentively
listening to the concerns of fellow citizens, I wish to share some
observations of today's event.
The Bryant center has a great location, but its gymnasium is not conducive to good audio quality.
I along with most others in the audience struggled to understand what the speakers were saying.
A good portion of each person's story was lost in unintelligible speech as a result of the sound system used at the center.
The volume was good, but the words by the speakers were not clearly heard.
After the meeting, many shared the same audio issues and a few choose not to speak due to the center's audio quality.
Please take this input constructively and make appropriate changes in your next listening session.
May I suggest in the future you use a venue like a Gateway classroom, school auditorium or the downtown city library.
As
you heard from several speakers today, gun violence is a symptom of
others forces at work in our society. The NRA makes for popular bashing
in many circles, but is not our communities problem.
As a community, we must find comprehensive answers to
complex and complicated issues that affect our well being, our ability
to thrive and our safety.
The most disturbing
comment was from a man who stated he lived in fear, not only for himself
but also his child. Lived in fear from criminals and also of the police
and any contact he may have with the police. I have heard this plenty
of times. This fear appears to be a common thread among many in our
community. As a community, we need to fix that ASAP. Without trust in
our government agencies, we are doomed.
Fear will be one of my many future topics when I again meet with Art Howell.
In the interim, I wish you to think about the following;
We have an
accountability problem - in today's culture - we no longer hold
individuals accountable for their actions, or the lack of their actions.
In
government we allow negligent, derelict, incompetent people to foster
and operate without accountability - worse yet - often with impunity.
In
the recent Florida school shooting, we have four government agencies
who failed to act upon information and knowledge, leaving the children
unprotected.
Here is the ugly truth.
Many
government agencies acting both individually and collectively failed to
act upon knowledge gleaned from their investigations and information
provided to these agencies by concerned citizens.
SEE SOMETHING - SAY SOMETHING fell upon the deaf ears of derelict, incompetent government officials.
The
FBI, Broward County Sheriff Office, Broward County Mental Health and
the School District are complicit in the deaths of those students.
MADISON - One-fourth of Wisconsin
residents binge drink at least once a month, according to a new study
from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The
study aimed to determine how many people binge drink and how much they
drink when they do, study co-author Robert Brewer, a physician who heads
the CDC’s alcohol program, said..
Wisconsin binge
drinkers had an average of almost 490 binge drinks per year, exceeding
the national average of almost 470 drinks, the study found.
“It ends up being just a huge amount of alcohol in Wisconsin and the nation as a whole,” Brewer said.
The
study defined binge drinking as a woman having four or more drinks and a
man having five or more drinks during a short period of time.
About 17 billion binge drinks were consumed nationwide in 2015, with Wisconsin accounting for about 490 million drinks.
The state needs to focus on reducing alcohol consumption, Brewer said.
“This
is not a situation where average is good. Average is bad,” he said. “We
need to really be reducing that number substantially to reduce the risk
of harm to the drinker themselves and others around them.”
About
88,000 deaths are caused by excessive alcohol use annually, the study
estimated. Binge drinking is responsible for half of those deaths,
Brewer said. Binge drinking can also contribute to incidences of vehicle
crashes and interpersonal violence, as well as an increased risk for
cancer and heart disease.
Those ages 35 and older accounted for half of the binge drinks consumed nationwide, the study found.
Contemplation
He went for a long walk, trees bare. Considered his discussions with
historians, experts, strategists, analysts. Articles, analyses,
theories. The largest nation on earth, with 18.5% of humanity’s
population, the 2nd biggest GDP, had lifted term limits for its leader.
No one seemed to care, which itself seemed fascinating, said something.
But what? He wondered. Nearly everyone accepted the rough narrative
that by lifting term limits, Xi Jinping strengthened his control,
allowing him to complete the anti-corruption drive, and the Belt and
Road Initiative.
He didn’t buy it. Xi Jinping surely had time to groom a successor
with similar beliefs and priorities before his 2nd term ends in 2023.
Besides, there’s precedent for former leaders to remain active in the
wings, well beyond their formal rule.
The 2-term limit was introduced in 1982 to save China from the ruin
of uninterrupted leadership - Mao’s late legacy prompted the
constitutional change. Throughout history, great nations and empires
fail when they surrender their institutions to an individual. The Chinese know this. Why’d they do it? Is Beijing preparing for instability? Chinese banks have
$40trln balance sheets (50% of global GDP, 3x Chinese GDP). US banks
hold $17tlrn balance sheets (less than 1x US GDP). https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-25/eric-peters-chinese-know-why-are-they-doing-it
While they prepare for WAR!
Just hours after the latest close military encounter between
the US and China, when the US navy sailed a destroyer to within 12
nautical miles of the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea
as a "freedom of navigation" operation - a move that China condemned as a
"severe provocation" just as the two countries launched an all-out
trade war - the Chinese military launched its spring combat readiness
drills with an air force exercise in the West Pacific and a joint combat
patrol mission in the South China Sea.
The air force drills include H-6K bombers and Su-30 and Su-35 fighters, according to the PLA , and have a simple, if clear, purpose: "Air Force exercises are rehearsals for future wars and are the most direct preparation for war," the Chinese Air Force said on its Weibo account on Sunday, according to Reuters. "The more exercises China practices far from its shores the
better it will be positioned as an important force for managing and
controlling crises, containing war and winning battles", it added. https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-25/china-launches-massive-military-drills-preparation-war
The Politicians in SE Wi claim that you will provide 13,000 jobs paying $53,000 each!
Just hours after the latest close military encounter between
the US and China, when the US navy sailed a destroyer to within 12
nautical miles of the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea
as a "freedom of navigation" operation - a move that China condemned as a
"severe provocation" just as the two countries launched an all-out
trade war - the Chinese military launched its spring combat readiness
drills with an air force exercise in the West Pacific and a joint combat
patrol mission in the South China Sea.
The air force drills include H-6K bombers and Su-30 and Su-35 fighters, according to the PLA , and have a simple, if clear, purpose: "Air Force exercises are rehearsals for future wars and are the most direct preparation for war," the Chinese Air Force said on its Weibo account on Sunday, according to Reuters. "The more exercises China practices far from its shores the
better it will be positioned as an important force for managing and
controlling crises, containing war and winning battles", it added. A Chinese Su-35Additionally, the
PLA Navy is holding drills in the South China Sea to test the navy's
combat readiness, China Central Television reported on Friday. It quoted
the PLA Navy as saying the drills are routine and do not target any
country, although the message had one clear recipient: USA.
"The South China Sea and East China Sea will be primary
battlegrounds. The PLA is committed to be battle-ready through simulated
combat training," Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.
"The 2018 drills will be routine and will be held every month, unlike
in previous years," Song said, adding that drills were usually held in
spring and autumn.
The Global Times reported
that "the drills come as the situation in the South China Sea
stabilizes." However, the Chinese state-owned nationalist paper added
that "some nations are still trying to stir up regional disputes, Wang
Xiaopeng, a maritime border expert at the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday."
Although the drills do not target any specific country, they are
focused on enhancing China's capability to safeguard the country's
sovereignty, Wang said.
News of the drills comes a day after the USS Mustin came within 12
nautical miles of Meiji Reef in the Nansha Islands in the South China
Sea.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, has urged the army at all levels to
enhance military training oriented to combat readiness and to put
military training at a strategic position and as the central work with
effective results, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Xi called on the armed forces to enhance targeted and
adversarial training, improve actual combat ability, and firmly grasp
the capability to win battles.
The Air Force even released a photo of a Su-30 fighter jet on Sino
Weibo during its drills. The caption read, "It's spring time. Let's
spread the wings across the ocean." By releasing the photo, the PLA Air
Force demonstrated its confidence in the open-sea training and the use
of weapons, Song said.
The routine military drills in 2018 will focus more on the use of high-end weapons, especially in an electromagnetic environment, as well as on combined forces training, Song added.
As a strategic force, the air force has extended its activities from
inland to the deep ocean, it said on Weibo. The air force has become a
key force in shaping situations, controlling crises, constraining wars
and winning battles, it said.
And so with the US and China already engaged in escalating trade war, it appears that Beijing is preparing for the next step.
Some
contemplations from the latest "Weekend Notes" by One River Asset
Management CIO, Eric Peters, on recent developments in China... Contemplation
He went for a long walk, trees bare. Considered his discussions with
historians, experts, strategists, analysts. Articles, analyses,
theories. The largest nation on earth, with 18.5% of humanity’s
population, the 2nd biggest GDP, had lifted term limits for its leader.
No one seemed to care, which itself seemed fascinating, said something.
But what? He wondered. Nearly everyone accepted the rough narrative
that by lifting term limits, Xi Jinping strengthened his control,
allowing him to complete the anti-corruption drive, and the Belt and
Road Initiative.
He didn’t buy it. Xi Jinping surely had time to groom a successor
with similar beliefs and priorities before his 2nd term ends in 2023.
Besides, there’s precedent for former leaders to remain active in the
wings, well beyond their formal rule.
The 2-term limit was introduced in 1982 to save China from the ruin
of uninterrupted leadership - Mao’s late legacy prompted the
constitutional change. Throughout history, great nations and empires
fail when they surrender their institutions to an individual. The Chinese know this. Why’d they do it? Is Beijing preparing for instability? Chinese banks have
$40trln balance sheets (50% of global GDP, 3x Chinese GDP). US banks
hold $17tlrn balance sheets (less than 1x US GDP).
Might China be preparing for internal economic instability? Or
perhaps it’s that the West is in deep political disarray, fractured,
fighting itself.
The unipolar American world order is crumbling, the US relinquishing
leadership. Such transitions have historically produced periods of
profound global risks, opportunities - Beijing knows this. What’s the trade? He wondered.
* * * ... and on the history of (de)regulation in the US, and why it is
only a matter of time before the government cracks down on the internet
giants of the day:
Glory Days:
“May Day 1975 marked the start of Wall Street deregulation,” said the
historian. “Banks and brokerages flourished thereafter, expanding their
power and political influence.” 1998 marked peak deregulation with
Clinton’s repeal of Glass-Steagall. “Pump and dump schemes of all sorts
propagated; Wolf of Wall Street excesses. Then came the dot com IPO
madness which led to Sarbanes Oxley.”
The final debauchery was exposed in 2008, and led to sweeping
Dodd-Frank financial regulation. “Wall Street’s been in lock-down ever
since.”
“The 1996 Telecom Act protected America’s nascent internet
companies,” continued the historian. AOL started in 1985. Netscape
launched in 1993, went public in 1995. Amazon launched in 1994. Yahoo
1995. Facebook 2004. YouTube 2005. “The Act protected them from
liability for anything republished on their sites.” They were too weak
to withstand such liability and needed nurturing to foster innovation.
“But Facebook has a $460bln market cap. It’s not responsible for what
it publishes but the NY Times is. That’s now preposterous.”
“When Wall Street lacked regulation, any product, no matter how
absurd, was welcomed through the front door and pumped out to clients
through the back door,” explained the historian.
“The greater the flow, the higher the profits. Those were the glory
days.” Then regulations raised costs, stymied product development,
crushed the profit model. “Today’s internet companies suck in free customer data
through the front door, and sell it out the back door. The greater the
flow, the higher the profits. They’re dominant. They’ll soon be
regulated.”
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