Blog Post #344 Have you lost your car?

From: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/30/skydios-self-flying-drone-can-now-track-down-cars/

Skydio is a maker of drones.  Now it is looking at self-flying drones that can follow a car.  

The article states:

“Skydio‘s first major update to their crazy cool self-flying drone fixes its 13 eyes on a new object to follow at high speeds: cars.

“The Bay Area startup has expanded following capabilities of its R1 drone beyond just humans, with cars now firmly within their sights. Now, you’ll still be limited by the devices 25mph so this won’t be shooting any Nascar races, but the self-flying drone will be able to track and follow vehicles as they move through challenging terrain that would be impossible to film previously without a skilled drone pilot.

“Just don’t send this thing following after a self-driving car — unless you want the two to probably run away together and come back with a vengeance at a later date.”

So, they are limited to 25 miles per hour.  My first thought might be to follow bikes in the Tour de France (one of my favorite summer sports).  Although the bikes and riders do go faster than 25 MPH, a drone might be able to follow and catch up on an uphill leg.  (In my research I found that the maximum speed on a time trial in the Tour was 34 MPH).

Maybe such a drone could watch marathons and other races (by humans) as even the fastest humans are maybe 11 to 12 miles per hour.  Or fly over parades.

Not sure if it could follow a fugitive on the run, or a elk in the mountains.  Maybe with a heat-seeking device it could follow a live person.

The article indicated the technology was still on the expensive side, but as time goes on, the price should drop.  

What do you think?  Could all our moves be tracked by a self-piloting drone?  Can OJ Simpson be followed not by helicopter, but by drone these days?

Bruce

Blog Post #343 Memorial Day

From: https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/23/us/memorial-day-fast-facts/index.html

Although yesterday was Memorial Day, here are some interesting facts about Memorial Day from CNN:

“Memorial Day originally honored military personnel who died in the Civil War (1861-1865). The holiday now honors those who died in any war while serving with the United States.

Timeline:

May 5, 1866 – Residents of Waterloo, New York, observe a Memorial Day in honor of all who died during the Civil War. Businesses are closed and soldiers’ graves are decorated.

1868 – General John Alexander Logan officially proclaims May 30, 1868, as Memorial Day in honor of the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. Until after World War I, southern states celebrated a separate Memorial Day in honor of the Confederate dead.

1971 – Congress declares Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May.  (I remember a WWII veteran who insisted that May 30th was the correct day, not the last Monday in May.  He said a long weekend meant more barbeques and less remembrances – he probably was right!!)

US War Casualties:

Civil War – Approximately 620,000 Americans died. The Union lost almost 365,000 troops and the Confederacy about 260,000. More than half of these deaths were caused by disease.

World War I – 116,516 Americans died, more than half from disease.

World War II – 405,399 Americans died.

Korean War – 36,574 Americans died.

Vietnam Conflict – 58,220 Americans died.”

Christians have a concept of a “Just War”:

The just war theory is a largely Christian philosophy that attempts to reconcile three things:

• taking human life is seriously wrong
• states have a duty to defend their citizens, and defend justice
• protecting innocent human life and defending important moral values sometimes requires willingness to use force and violence

So for Memorial day, I too remember those who fought to end slavery, who fought to end tyranny, and fought to keep the world safe.  THANK YOU VETERANS and all who gave their life for our freedom!

Bruce

Defining Happiness

From: https://www.success.com/article/what-you-can-learn-from-the-happiest-people-in-the-world/

As I read this article (part of a series on living a Simple, Happy Life, I liked the three components of happiness:  Pleasure, Purpose, and Pride

Pleasure:  The article talks of pleasure – like getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night; of good eating – including vegetables; of volunteering (daily); of attending church; and of having food, shelter, schools, basic health.  I might use the word “contentment’/

Purpose: This time the article mentions ‘deeply fulfilling lives’.  The example is a lady from Denmark – who has government health care, government retirement, a ‘village’ helping to raise her children.  She loves her job, and although she and her husband pay high taxes, it affords them a happy lifestyle

Pride: The example in the article is about a man from Singapore, who with dedication has risen to upper income levels, and a demanding yet rewarding job.  It mentions that Singapore people has among the lowest stress, anger and worry as compared to others.

As I read the article, I asked myself – “Am I happy?”.  Maybe not as happy as the three people in the article, but pretty close I decided in my analysis.  As a retired person, I have low stress, anger and worry; I do volunteer and make a difference in my family and in my neighborhood; I do get reasonable exercise and eat reasonable (most of the time anyway) – some of the food I even grow myself in my garden.  I am a little lower on the ‘purpose’ side of the equation. With retirement, some of my purpose that used to be in my job (as a professor) has gone again. I am trying to find a good balance between a parttime job and volunteering and helping my wife at home.  I like mowing the lawn, make the bed, do the laundry, and have chores in and around the house. The idea of contentment is important to me – yes, I could have more money, a bigger house, a newer car – but what I/we have is very good. We have watched our money and are retiring with a nice nest egg.  Not all can do that.

So, are you happy?  How can you be happy?

Bruce

Blog Post #341 “We bought the election” (or … maybe not)

From:  https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-and-twitter-have-new-rules-for-political-ads-heres-how-they-work/

Today’s article is about Facebook and Twitter changing how political ads work.  

Seemingly in the last Presidential election there was a lot of interference – especially from Russia (I used ‘seemingly’ as ‘innocent until proven guilty’ is still the law of the land – or so I think).

“The article says:  “How do you solve a problem like Russian propagandists? How do you keep them from meddling in elections?  Well, at Facebook and Twitter, the answer is more transparency about political ads.
“Starting Thursday [May 24, 2018], both companies said, they’re following through on  promises from late last year to add verification, disclosures and additional information to all political ads.

“The way it’ll work is that when you come across a political ad on Twitter, you’ll see “Promoted (political)” on the bottom and whether the ad was authorized by a candidate.

“On Facebook, there’ll be a “Paid for by” disclosure at its top. Additionally, if you click on the label, you’ll be taken to a page where you can learn how much money was spent and how many people saw the ad, as well as a breakdown of their age, gender and location.

“While Twitter will include a “learn more” button so people can identify and contact the ad buyer, Facebook is going a step further by making its data publicly accessible at facebook.com/politicalcontentads for seven years from the day an ad runs.

“But, as Facebook is quick to point out, these moves are just the latest in a series of efforts to strengthen its service against  further abuse. It’s not a guarantee this all won’t happen again.

“As long as there are people sitting in Russia whose job it is to interfere with elections around the world, this is going to be an ongoing conflict,” Mark Zuckerberg said when speaking to Congress. “This is an ongoing arms race.”

So … do you think this will work?  Can friends like my friend Bob who copied political statements verbatim still do so?  (I think so, unless Bob is getting paid!!)

At least the effort is being made.  Let’s see what happens!!!

Bruce

Blog Post #340 Chasing Tesla!!

From: https://techcrunch.com/…/upstarts-emerge-to-chase-teslas-l…/

You know (if you have read this with some frequency), that I love the concept of self-driving / autonomous cars. As people get older (and I am 70) I see the need to help our senior friends keep their vehicles and be able to “out-and-about”. When all cars are electric / self-driving vehicles, the number of accidents will decrease, traffic will flow better, insurance rates will go down (about all you would need insurance for is if a tree falls on your car in the driveway).

I picture my parents living longer with a self-driving car “Take us to the grocery store; take us to Church”. Likewise our daughter-in-law’s grandmother is losing some of her eyesight and that might impact her ability to drive.

Yes, we aren’t there now, but this article suggests that lots of upstarts are chasing Tesla.

The article states:

“A slew of well-funded new entrants backed by massive amounts of capital are chasing Tesla’s lead in an effort to power the next generation of the electric vehicle industry.

“Electric vehicle startups have raised more than $2 billion in the U.S. over the first months of 2018 alone, a huge increase over the $650 million raised in 2017, according to data from Pitchbook. And the investment trends point to more competition for Tesla from established car companies and upstart manufacturers alike in the next few years.

“All of this activity is thanks to the size of the industry that’s in play. The market for electric passenger vehicles is expected to reach $356.5 billion by 2023 led by $205.9 billion in sales coming from the Asia-Pacific region, according to predictions from the market intelligence firm, Absolute Reports.

“Given those numbers, it’s no wonder that investments into electric vehicle companies and the enabling technologies for them keep climbing — and most of the cash commitments are being made in newly formed companies. PitchBook data indicates that early-stage deals are on the rise, with 15 investments into startup electric vehicle companies in 2017. (It’s important to note that PitchBook data, and the work of other market intelligence firms, is somewhat fuzzy and imprecise.)

I view that information as GREAT!!!! Investments are up over 300%, the estimated market is growing as more people sense what could be the value of electric vehicles. And … competition is generally a great motivator. I would assume that Tesla is looking back over its shoulder and seeing what innovations are happening, what features and enhancements that others are doing might be good for their company.

But, Tesla is having its own problems. The article goes on:

“By any measure, Tesla has had a very bad year. Consumer Reports just issued a report saying it could not recommend the company’s latest offering, the Model 3. And production for that new car, the company’s first effort to manufacture a low-cost electric vehicle, has caused innumerable problems for Musk and his staff.”

So, what do you think?

Is competition good for Tesla? Will they get production back on schedule? Will the startups succeed? We shall see!!!

Bruce

SMILE – you are on a 3D camera!!

From:  https://www.cnet.com/news/red-8k-3d-camera-uses-hydrogen-one-phone-as-viewfinder/

We have had 3D movies for some time.  Even I remember some of the early 3D movies with the special tinted glasses with dinosaurs and monsters.  

The idea of 3D (three dimensions) is to make ‘close things close; and distance things in the distance’.  Like the old ViewFinder images one eye sees one image and the other eye sees a similar image from a slightly different vantage and the brain decodes the images and says “hey – this is closer and that is farther”.  (As I’m writing this, my eyes can out the window and I see the neighbor’s fence, then their house, then the trees in their backyard and I know which are closer and which are farther away).

But when using a 3D camera, those shooting the image were pretty much blind.  In fact, the article says: “Currently, when you record 3D content, you can’t see what it actually looks like in 3D unless you wear a VR headset. You’re basically shooting blind. The Red Hydrogen One phone’s modular design lets it work as a 3D viewfinder for the camera — no headset needed.”

So for filmmakers, shooting a 3D picture became much easier with much less guesswork.

Plus the images are with more pixels and thus be sharper.

What do you think?  Do you remember the old 3D movies?  Do you think this can be useful?

Bruce

I see you!!!

From:  

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/police-use-of-amazons-face-recognition-service-draws-privacy-warnings/

Facial recognition is growing.  Recently Jet Blue airlines experimented with facial recognition for boarding passes.  Others have used facial recognition at sporting events to identify potential terrorists.

The concept is that faces – like fingerprints – are unique.  Even if we gain 200 pounds, our face ‘points’ stay the same, while the non-relevant areas (double chin, bulging ears, etc.) Change.  You can put in contact lens with different colors but Facial Recognition will still pick you out. About the only way out is to have plastic surgery to rearrange your facial points.

This article talks of Amazon selling its Facial Recognition package (“Rekognition”) to police and other law enforcement groups.  In particular the ACLU (American Civil Liberty Union) has indicated this is an invasion of privacy. As we drive down a street, walk on a sidewalk, visit a park, the cameras are there taking pictures.  Now they can be tied to databases.

So, let’s say I owe $1,000 in parking tickets in New York City and the city was cracking down on parking violators and issued a warrant to arrest me.  But that was years ago, but now I’m living in Oregon and went to the Portland Rose Festival – and facial recognition identified me. The software beeps indicating that I own that money in New York.  The police come up to me and ask if I’m “John Doe”, when I answer ‘yes’. They arrest me, take me to the police station and either send me to New York to pay my fine or collect it from me and send it on themselves.  

But what is the parking tickets came after I sold the car just before moving to Oregon?  

Amazon in a statement in the article says:
“As a technology, Amazon Rekognition has many useful applications in the real world (e.g., various agencies have used Rekognition to find abducted people, amusement parks use Rekognition to find lost children, the royal wedding that just occurred this past weekend used Rekognition to identify wedding attendees, etc.). And the utility of AI services like this will only increase as more companies start using advanced technologies like Amazon Rekognition. Our quality of life would be much worse today if we outlawed new technology because some people could choose to abuse the technology. Imagine if customers couldn’t buy a computer because it was possible to use that computer for illegal purposes? Like any of our AWS services, we require our customers to comply with the law and be responsible when using Amazon Rekognition.”

So – new technologies do put boundaries.  Is this going too far? Or is this going to help public safety?

What do you think?

Bruce

Blog Post #337 100% Renewable Energy!!

From:  https://www.cnet.com/news/if-renewable-energy-can-power-entire-countries-why-isnt-everyone-doing-it/

This article says that 100 % of Iceland’s energy comes from renewable resources (wind, solar, hydro).

“Iceland isn’t blessed with much wind or sunlight. Not only does that make vitamin D a commodity, it also means solar and wind power is hard to come by.

And yet 100 percent of Iceland’s electricity comes from renewables. Not 30 percent by 2025, like the US, or Australia’s 23.5 percent by 2020 target. It’s 100 percent renewable right now. Today.”

And … not only Iceland, (as the article says): “Costa Rica. Albania. Ethiopia. Paraguay. Zambia. Norway. The electricity produced by all of these countries is either 100 percent green, or a few percent short.”

So, the question becomes ‘why’ aren’t developed countries like the United States, Great Britain and Australia changing to renewable resources?

In the United States the state with the largest oil reserves is also the state with the more wind generators.  (My wife and I can attest to that. As we have driven in western Texas (Abilene and area), mile after mile of wind turbines dot the landscape.  

And, how about hydroelectricity?  In the early years of electricity, we build power plants on rivers.  As the water tumbled its way down stream, it ran through turbines, spinning them and creating electricity.  There is even a ‘pumped hydro’ variety – so that when electric demand are low (like at night), water is pumped uphill (or upstream) under the demand for electricity is needed (like during peak times) and then that pumped water flows downhill through the turbines.

Australia is a land rich in sunlight – and with that the experts predict with more solar plants Australia can export power to parts of Asia.  

And … hydro, solar, and wind are renewable – and basically free – except to harness the elements.  That WILL cut down on various emissions and ‘greenhouse’ gases!

Instead we (Americans) use coal fired power plants or even nuclear power plants – using up resources that have to be dug out of the ground and transported to power plants (using diesel trains).

What do you think?

Bruce

Plagiarism has its price

From:  https://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-owes-apple-1-billion-or-maybe-just-28-million-ok-jury-what-will-it-be/?ftag=CAD-03-10aaj8j   From a May 19th 2018 news article.

The title of this article is: Samsung owes Apple $1B — or maybe just $28M.  Now (a) that is a lot of money; and (b) there is a huge discrepancy between the two end points.

Seemingly the focus is this:  Samsung infringed upon three of Apple’s patented designs and two utility patents when it sold millions of obsolete phones several years ago.  Samsung ‘borrowed’ some designs. The question becomes while they ‘borrowed’ some component designs, they did not ‘borrow’ the entire concept.  

The trial might be related to other component issues.  I ‘complained’ a while back in a blog post that cars should have more standards – for example on my Nissan, the turn signal level is on the left and in my Chevy, the turn signal is on the right.  Likewise, the cruise controls on the Nissan are on the right and on the left for the Chevy. When I get in the car I sometimes run the wiper instead of getting the turn signal correct!!!. Now if (say) Chevy copied ALL of the Nissan turn signal / cruise control levels that would be worthy of a design infringement.  At the minutes level, if Nissan has a cruise control (no matter where it is) and they were the first company to have a cruise control, if any other car company has a cruise control (no matter where and how designed) would that be a infraction. Can a company (Samsung) take the ideas from another company (Apple) and ‘adapt’ them to their use?  Can a company (Samsung) take the ideas -AND – the design down to the size and shape – from another company (even if it makes perfect sense).

In education, I’ve had student papers that quoted other academic papers.  Generally the concept was one of “reasonableness”, and appropriate citations.  I remember a student who had paper after page; word for word; from another paper without a citation that (to me) justifie a failing grade for plagiarism).  But, if that student was using the concepts AND citing them or paraphrasing the concepts AND citing them, it would have been acceptable. (Plus the student’s paper was primarily ONLY the copied material).  If the student wrote a twenty page paper and used (say) two pages from one source (with appropriate citations or paraphrasing) would that be acceptable. He was building from another person’s concepts, but adding in many thoughts and his own ideas.

So, this trial (which might be done by total) has significant financial impacts (28 million verses 1 billion) but maybe even more legal impacts (like ‘my patented pencil has a long shape and lead (graphite) to write with; and any other pencil that is long and has graphite is an infringement’).

Patents are to protect ideas, products and inventions – but this is a gray area that needs clarification.  How much is too much in terms of copying a design specification?

We will find out more soon.

What do you think?

Bruce

Blog Post #335 Time to plant more soybeans

From: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/china-iowa-trade-xi-jinping-trump-hogs-soybeans/557105/

We really are a global community.  I’ve talked before about flowers for Valentine’s Day coming from various places that grow flowers at that time of year.  Here is another article about that global community. The article focuses on my native state – Iowa. The article states that: “Fully one in four rows of Iowa soybeans end up in China, meaning that Iowa’s farmers are, essentially, being kept afloat by China’s middle class.  That’s 25% of Iowa soybeans – being loaded on ships and sent to China.

Now Iowa’s economy has other things, but if you have driven through Iowa, agriculture is still king.  There are fields after fields of corn, soybeans and other crops, followed by feed lots of cattle and pigs.

But, America is in a trade deficit with China.  According to this article, the trade deficit with China in 2017 was $375 BILLION.   But … we have trade surpluses with China in agricultural products – and in the case of Iowa, that is in soybeans and pigs.  

The current American administration wants to decrease the trade deficit.  That could happen with tariffs on incoming goods – like steel made in China.  While it would be good to raise the price of Chinese steel so that American steel companies could flourish, China talks of putting tariffs on American agricultural products – like soybeans and pigs.  The article suggests that an economic model of tariffs on some American products like soybeans could cause some counties to suffer job losses up to 40%. I can imagine driving through Iowa a few years after China put a high tariff on soybeans – and see field after field empty, town after town losing population, school districts cutting teachers pay and cutting sports and activities since the population can’t support the financial needs of the district.  

I’m not enough of an economist to know or recommend a solution.  Yes, get the deficit down; but keep our ‘hot’ products selling to China.  

The article also suggests that a 25% tariff on hogs would lower the price received by Iowa farmers for their hogs by about seven dollars – or almost at the minimum price it takes to raise a hog.  

In a global marketplace, it might be possible for China to encourage agriculture in Ethiopia  where they recently have been investing in that country. What if Ethiopia could become a soybean and hog exporter to China – without the tariff?  

On the other side, could Americans do without Chinese products?  In particular some of the various chips and computer equipment we use.  

In conclusion today, there are many questions and issues with a global economy and there are not many good answers.

What do you think?

Bruce