Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Porn, Next Gen Homes, lies and some scary stuff

So which of them did you come for? The Pimpernel does not post naughty things.

The first article is from the Mail Online - Porn set to be banned from public wi-fi this year to protect children. This is at the same time that certain English public officials are calling for dropping the legal age of consent to 14. This is about establishing the governments right to control what you can and cannot see on the net.

Lennar - NextGen - The Home Within a Home. They are going to build homes for two families. They refer to it as inter-generational; but, we used to call them duplexes. The houses built at the end of the housing bubble were also for more than one family. Communal living.

Wired - Google Is Alive, It Has Eyes, and This Is What It Sees. Just thought you might enjoy seeing what you look like to the computer when seen via Google Glasses.

Yahoo - Associated Press - New efforts to curb cellphone theft
. The upswing is that the government wants to require cell phone companies to track their phones in case they are ever stolen and have a kill switch so that they cannot be used again. All to protect you from getting your phone stolen? They don't do that much for cars.

The Tennessean - FBI investigating Pilot Flying J, company owned by governor's family
. This story is only developing; but, it is going to get interesting. I spoke to a trucker a few days ago about this and it is already effecting the industry.

Yahoo - CNBC - Buffett: 'Shot Heard Around the World' Coming. Here is a paragraph from the article that I found interesting:

"In response to a question on the Federal Reserve's massive quantitative easing program, Buffett said it will be "the shot heard around the world" when the central bank first indicates it will stop buying financial assets or start selling from their now enormous $3.4 trillion balance sheet. "we're in uncharted territory ... that's a lot of securities."

An interesting comment, he goes on to say that it will not be the end of the world. There is not a doubt in Mr. Buffets mind that things are going to change big time and there isn't a doubt in mine either.

Yahoo - Christian Science Monitor - Teenagers, social media, and terrorism: a threat level hard to assess. Basically, kids cannot joke online anymore. These types of arrests and "anti-bullying" campaigns are about restricting the speech of the next generation. They recently expelled a 7 or 8 year old for pointing a pencil at another kid and saying "bang, bang". The two were just playing.

The Telegraph - German euro founder calls for 'catastrophic' currency to be broken up. UKIP also posted major election victories in England recently. What this chatter is about in the European papers, it is about prepping them to accept the new international currency that is coming and was proposed by the International Monetary Fund, without actually telling them that.

This Is Collosal - Stranger Visions: DNA Collected from Found Objects Used to Create 3D Portraits. If this is accurate and the pictures are accurate then they can basically recreate your looks into face masks with just a sample of your DNA that could be found on a cigarette butt. Biometrics alone will not protect your identity, what will you need to prove that your biometric image is really you. Now go back up to the story about how your Google glasses see you. I bet an invisible (to the eye) tattoo that monitored your health would work.

Yahoo - Reuters - Calpers: bankrupt San Bernardino has more cash than first admitted. San Bernardino declared bankruptcy to avoid paying pensions costs and now it turns out that the pension is not in trouble. I have said many times and the Governmental Finance Officers Association agrees, there is no problem with the public pensions system. Politicians are up to something else and it is only to benefit themselves. A quote from the article:

"California's public pension fund said on Tuesday that the bankrupt city of San Bernardino has a lot more cash than it had previously disclosed and more than enough money to pay off its debts to the retirement system."

Why would a city claim they couldn't pay their pensions when they can? Why would they hide their funds from their own citizens and the state? Are they siphoning off money from the pensions to pay for something else or perhaps to someone else. Maybe their investments and their use of "placement agents" needs to be looked at? Personally, I would investigate any write offs from pension investments and then follow the money.

Stansberry's Investment Advisory - Their warning. Personally, I would not buy their stuff of use their advice. I don't sell gold, silver or anything else. I don't promote products and only speak for myself. The video takes some time to watch and I do not agree with everything he says; but, he is one of the few, like me, that accurately predicted when the bubbles would burst. He thinks there are things that you can do to benefit when things go bad and I disagree with him. Doesn't matter what you do. He also says that sales of gold are not reported to the government and that is incorrect.

Yahoo - Reuters - Fed's credibility tested as inflation drifts below target. The article says that inflation is lower than wanted and lower than the Fed predicted; but, it doesn't really matter. In the future there will be practically no inflation because the value of your currency will be set by your nation's Gross Domestic Product.

Yahoo - AP - China's struggling automakers jump on SUV boom. This same company, BYD, has just announced they are moving to Lancaster, California to build electric buses and batteries. Lancaster is a little town in the desert, it is near Edwards Air Force Base and Skunk Works. It is home to many people who work on Top Secret projects, I know, I dated one of them. It would seem like a great place to buy technology cheap from fired or laid off workers.

Yahoo - New York Times - Google Glass Picks Up Early Signal: Keep Out. Google glasses look like what they are; but, the next generation will be contact lenses and regular glasses and you won't even know if someone has them on.

Fox News - The mass exodus of Christians from the Muslim world. Persecution of Christians hasn't even gotten close to reaching it's zenith.

Fast Company - EmotionSense App Measures Smartphone Users' Happiness. Now my smartphone will know how I feel, if I am feeling unhappy and then it will know how to make me happier. Sometimes it is okay to be unhappy and after awhile, you need to get over it, you will know when that time is better than your phone. We need to really consider when we are going to let technology decide what is best for us. I am going to talk about this after posting all the articles.

Mail Online - Probation shake-up, GPS tags and compulsory drug-tests 'will turn the tide of crime' promises Justice Secretary. Okay, in England they want to GPS chip certain convicted criminals. They also want to be able to GPS control where these people can go even after being released from prison. One mistake and they get to track you for the rest of your life.

That is all of the news articles for today. This blog continues to evolve. I used to just post one link and then talk about it at great length, now I post a link and have little to say. That is because the issues have not changed. I don't post the articles of the day, don't care about who slept with who, who is going to jail for a DUI or most of the non-sense that really does not effect our lives. I do post the odd article on Stephen Hawking who somehow manages to remain a douche bag or the sadly missed Pastor Daniels; but, this blog continues to be about things that will impact your life and are not widely circulated. By the way, as I was typing, I was also eating some really good home barbecued teriyaki chicken.