First Snowden. Then tracking you on wheels. Now spies on a plane. Yes, surveillance is everywhere | The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/15/spies-plane-surveillance-us-marshals

I first saw this latest revelation of our own government’s continued disregard for our privacy late last week.  I agree with this article’s closing question:

Why are my Senators and Congressmen silent on this issue?

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Internet traffic jams are widespread in the US, and are probably about to get a lot worse | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/31/7138449/m-lab-netflix-comcast-verizon-isp-business-dispute-congestion-traffic-interconnection

ISP interconnection has a substantial impact on consumer internet performance –sometimes a severely negative impact — and that business relationships between ISPs, and not major technical problems, are at the root of the problems we observed.

An interesting study with an intriguing conclusion.

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Article: Windows 10 Technical Preview Gives Microsoft New Shocking Spying Privileges

Windows 10 Technical Preview Gives Microsoft New Shocking Spying Privileges

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2014/10/06/windows-10-spying/

Wow!  Yet another reason I prefer open source operating systems.

Be very wary of M$ OS 10 and read your EULAs and Privacy Agreements very carefully.

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NPR: Forgotten Female Programmers Who Created Modern Tech

 But every time you write on a computer, play a music file or add up a number with your phone’s calculator, you are using tools that might not exist without the work of these women.

— Laura Sydell, The Forgotten Female Programmers Who Created Modern Tech, NPR, October 6, 2014

Article: Why women leave tech: It’s the culture, not because ‘math is hard’

Why women leave tech: It’s the culture, not because ‘math is hard’

http://fortune.com/2014/10/02/women-leave-tech-culture/

Another article that my experience in tech proves out.  Apparently, I am too stubborn to quit though.

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18.263k days or .5c yrs

MyBabyPhoto64
Me (late 1964)

Good morning!

And Happy Birthday to myself.  I’ve crossed over.  I’ve reached another dreaded milestone.  Today is the first day of my fifth decade.

To make myself feel better about this dubious event, I’ve reverted to two of my favorite past times:  math and astronomy.

I decided to calculate how many days I’ve been breathing air on Earth.  For that I had to find a date calculator.  Plugging in the relevant date (today in 1964 and 2014), the following results popped up:

From and including: Friday, October 2, 1964
To and including: Thursday, October 2, 2014
Result: 18,263 days

It is 18,263 days from the start date to the end date, end date included

Or 50 years, 1 day including the end date

Alternative time units 18,263 days can be converted to one of these units:

1,577,923,200 seconds
26,298,720 minutes
438,312 hours
18,263 days
2609 weeks

In addition, the Earth is travelling through space, via the Milky Way, at the incredible speed of 3,728.23 mps.  Roughly, the Earth has moved 5.88286061194e+12 miles since I was born, give or take a few.  That equates to approximately 63,256.57 astronomical units.  A rolling stone gathers no moss . . .

And the .5c I included in the title of this post?  No, I’m not travelling at half the speed of  light (except in my dreams).  I’m merely reflecting upon reaching my half century mark.

I decided to make a four day weekend out of this auspicious occasion so I’m relaxing at home, reading and doing other none stressful activities.  No parties (that I know of) and no surprises.  Just Terry, me and the dogs hanging out.

Just another day in the neighborhood.  Eighteen thousand two hundred sixty-three and counting.

This Date in Science: Earth and Moon as Worlds in Space | EarthSky

http://earthsky.org/space/this-date-in-science-sept-18-1977-voyager-1-earth-moon-photo

Here is the first-ever photo of the Earth and moon in a single frame. Voyager 1 took the photo on September 18, 1977, when it was 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometers) from Earth. Image Number: P-19891 via NASA/JPL

37 years ago today.

Voyager to Earth: “Hello World!” or more likely “Goodbye World!”

Voyager is still sending us postcards from the edge though.

How The Temperature In Each State Has Changed In The Last 118 Years

http://io9.com/how-the-temperature-in-each-state-has-changed-in-the-la-1634899212

I need to delve into this site deeper, but not on my smartphone.  Those graphs need a larger format to be appreciated fully.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon