Life or something like it.
I am moving to a new server. If you would like to know where it will be located please e-mail me and I will let you know where I have moved it to. I have had some viewers I don't want to continue to view my blog anymore, but I want it to be out there for all my friends.
E-mail scottywalkin@gmail.com
Before long all the content in the location will be gone...
Getting into work I started to rebuild my box. It turns out that all I was doing today is trying to rebuild by box. I met Jon and Jim the Three Pigs for lunch. Then I went back to building my box.
A group of us went to get some ice cream a little after noon because the weather was so nice. While waiting for my box to be rebuilt I chatted online with some people I have not talked with for a while.
When I got home I called Kyle on the phone. He text messaged me. He said he would call back -- I caught him at a bad time.
I worked on Joe's website some more. He wanted to go live with what products we had in the database. I had a few more things I needed to polish up. We wanted an online form that would E-mail Joe if someone wanted to buy a product that he could advertise but not sale via the Internet. I also had a problem with some of the items not going into the shopping cart. After doing some testing and debugging I found that the fix I did for the LG products caused the product below it to not go into the shopping cart. I made some code changes and it worked.
I finally got something that I am okay with putting on the net for people to use. I also made a more secure password for the website because the old one was way to easy to crack.
I watched Deadwood tonight. The new season started. Jon and Jim were talking about something that happened in it and I did not see what they were talking about so I will have to ask them about it.
I am still working on getting my box rebuilt. I did finally manage to get it working today so I started on my bug again. I was trying to step through it, but it would not go through all the pages like it had in the past. I am not sure why yet. Then I built the solution and the page stopped working correctly. I think there is a problem with building it. So I needed to rebuild my box yet again. That was what I did as I walked out the door to go home.
When I got home I started to work on Joe's website. There are several things that I need to get accomplished on it. The prices needed to be updated and there were a few other things that have changed or that I needed to update such as the colors of some text, and the buy button for a certain product that cannot be sold via the Internet. So I had to create a different way to sell that. As I was getting started I had to make a run to the store for some milk for dinner.
When I got back I got under way with the fixes. I worked on them until around ten pm when CSI:Miami came on. I watched that and then went back to working on the website. I was pretty darn tired so I finally went to be around one am.
My softball team was holding a practice at eleven o’clock am in Pullman. I got my uniform on and headed that direction. I got there shortly before practice time. I got my cleats on and headed out toe the field. Ryan was there and Ben was pulling in when I got there.
We started by warming up our arms. My arm was dead -- it hurt so much to throw. After the others arrived we did some infield practice. I had people in their positions running plays with different scenarios. We were looking rusty and many of the plays were not being made efficiently. I am sure we can use some more time out there. But we only have one more practice before it is game time.
We they started BP. I had the other guys pitch. I was playing outfield. I was able to run around pretty well. I had an ankle brace on and it made a difference. I even ran down and caught a few balls out there. It was fun.
Ryan and I went to Cougar Country after practice for lunch. We spent time talking about stuff before I headed off to Colfax. I got my stuff gathered and got ready to head to Seattle. I turned on the TV for a few minutes and there was some redneck show on about racing with travel trailers hooked up. It was funny to watch.
I got on the road and made my way to Seattle. A cop was in front of me for most of Whitman County so I kept the speed to the speed limit. A car came up behind me and decided not to pass when he saw what was in front of me. That car ended up following me all the way to Issaquah. Once we got into the pass the speeds of everyone increased. We were doing about twenty over at some points along the way. But the whole group was moving along quickly.
When I got just past highway eighteen I saw a bunch of emergency vehicles at the scene where a motorcyclists ran off the road. Then around the corner there was another car accident with more emergency vehicles.
I got home just in time to watch King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle, and the Simpsons. After those shows I went down and heated up some dinner. I spent the rest of the evening resting and watching some TV. No web work, nothing.
I got started by going to the fire station. I was told people were already at the CTEC downtown in Colfax so I headed there. I talked with Carl and Jamie. I was told what I was going to be doing. I was going to be a patient who would go unconscious and then they group would have to start CPR. But we were short people so I ended up being a timer. I had to keep track of what the groups did and at what time they did those things.
We got through all the groups pretty quickly. Then we had some lunch that was there and did some make-ups for the groups that failed a scenario. I was the timer still. The groups were all done around two pm. I was given a check for the work that I did. It was nice to get paid. I was not expecting that, but I was paid for today and the extrication class from a few weeks ago.
I went to the fire station and hung out with Carl for a few hours. We watched TV and then a call came out for Albion fire. If it had been a real field fire and not a drive-by call we might have gone as well, but it turned out to be a control burn.
Around five pm Ryan called and we met up for dinner and a movie. We started by watching Third Watch and Ryan cooked some dinner for us. He did a good job cooking. He made some good food. We watched Third Watch until it was time for us to go to the movie.
We went to see the Jacket. It was an interesting movie. I would not call it a great movie but the ideas they had in the movie were pretty unique. The way he was able to fix things by going into the future and then telling people in the past what to do to make it so the future would be better.
We went back to Ryan’s place and finished watching Third Watch which did a cross over with Medical Investigations. When it was over with I headed home. I had softball practice in the morning and I was planning on going to Seattle so I wanted to be rested.
I was up early today to go to my first Algora meeting in Seattle. I finally found where I needed to go. It was pretty easy to find. I saw Lucas and Amelia from the computer forensics class I took a few months ago. I worked with Lucas’ team on the Google Hacking exercise. We were trying to find as many security issues with peoples’ name and social security numbers or account numbers or other stuff as we could. We got one to two points depending on the find. We got about eighteen-thousand points. We thought we did well until some other groups have millions to tens-of-millions of points.
Then a big discussion ensued about the security of peoples’ data and who is responsible for it. Also who should be held legally accountable if there is a leak of it where people can get it. The meeting was over a little after noon and I was on my way to Colfax.
I got home and saw the work for the mudding of the walls in the bathroom was complete. It looked good. Now I will have to paint the bathroom and the kitchen walls white. Then I will be done with what I need to do with making the house presentable inside. I also got new vinyl in the kitchen and the railings on the deck completed. I still need to make a dump run and get rid of some of the trash and branches from the tree I cut apart months ago.
I headed up to Pullman for Mirenda’s birthday party. I stopped at the fire station and talked to Wakeman for a few minutes then I headed downtown. We started at Rancho Viejo. We had dinner and talked a lot about the fire department. A lot of the people there were on the fire department. Then we went to Zeppoz and did some bowling, but we had to wait nearly two hours for a lane. I saw Dan and Michele so I talked with them for a while about my ShortBus trip and other current events.
Then I joined the group of Mirenda’s birthday party people. We went to our lane and did some bowling. I bowled a one-fourteen average over two games. I started with a strike and a couple good shots, and then I went down hill not able to hit my mark after that.
I left around midnight to go home because I was going to help with the EMT class in the morning and I did not want to be too tired.
It was clear that I was not going to get enough done on Joe’s website to have it ready to go by Friday but I did get all the TV products added into the database.
At work I was able to get a build to work and I was hoping to get my problem solved, but it seemed when I did a rebuild of the components using Visual Studio it would blow up and my stuff would not work correctly. So I ended the day trying once again to rebuild my box.
I battled the install issues of my box again today at work. That seems to be a common thread right now. I also did some reading on the shack now that it is up. I found a long piece I wrote about the security and liberty. I posted that in my blog today as well.
When I got off work I went home and plugged away at Joe’s website. I want to get it ready for use by Friday.
I have been listening to my old recordings of the Peter Eichman Show. There was a show on the national ID card. In the wake of the September Eleventh attacks many people were calling for a national ID card. The theory being that we would all be safer with one. It would store personal, possibly biometric information, about the card holder. It could be swiped by readers that would confirm the identity of the person with the card.
I am against this idea. I believe that you should fear a government that fears your identity. I am looking at the US government and I wonder why they care so much about knowing as much as they do about me. As it is, there are hundreds of databases around the world with some piece of information about me. That in of itself is not necessarily scary, but with a concerted effort those databases can come together and it would tell people my life story. You can see what I buy at Safeway. You can see my spending habits with my debit card. You can see purchases I have made on E-bay, you can see my drivers record. You can see tons of pieces of information that when put together can put my anonymity in jeopardy.
There was an article I was reading about the new concept car from Toyota. It has been making news because it can tell the government that I was the driver of a car when a photo-speeding-ticket was issued, not only that it is possible for the fine then to be deducted directly from my credit card before I get home. I am against the photo-speeding-tickets and other forms of photo-law-enforcement. If you are not caught in the act by a law enforcement officer then you should not be prosecuted. Truly the government has no proof who was driving the car when the violation took place. They can just say it was a particular car. Then the registered owner gets the ticket. That is wrong. People who do not see that as wrong need to think hard about the future implications of it.
Think about the GPS systems that are put into cars. They can tell where you drive, when you drove there, and how fast you drove. There was a car rental company that would charge the renters of their vehicles extra fees if they sped too much. There is also an idea to track your driving habits and charge you for the mileage you put on certain roads. It would be like a toll bridge, but it could be tracked on the other roads.
Toyota said that the smart card that you would use in their cars, the same one that would rat you out as a speeder, are coming whether we like it or not. The idea being that when you put the card into the car, it will allow you to start it. Then the car would adjust the seats, mirror, telephone numbers, and radio station to your favorite settings. This are neat features, however, these feature can be used to track more of your life.
Card readers that let you swipe an ID card to open a door to get into a room track when you went into the room. WSU wants these card readers on all the residence halls. Someone could then go in and see your patterns. They can see when you come and go. Parents can possible get this information to see when their kids are coming home at night. The university can review those records and compare those to your grades. They can then call you in for meetings to say your personal life habits are interfering with schooling. Think that is a stretch? WSU already tracks what students do off-campus and those thing done off-campus can get them in trouble with the school.
What you do is not all that private anymore. Someone knows what you are doing, not only that, proof of what you are doing is stored in some database somewhere. The only way around that is using cash and good-old-fashioned keys. It is hard to track cash purchases. Video surveillance cameras in store's can still show you doing cash transactions.
Each new piece of technology meant to make you safer or make your life easier also makes your life traceable. Why should the government care? What is the role and the purpose of government in a "free" society? Shouldn't the government be there to enforce the constitution and make sure that there is a economic system? Shouldn't it make sure we are safe from outside forces? Shouldn't a good government do its role and be not seen in nearly every aspect of a free man’s life?
Today I read about Senator Lamar Alexander and a group of former state governors in the Senate proposing an Internet use tax. Not a tax when you buy stuff, but simply a tax to use the Internet. Why does the government feel the need to tax everything? Didn't the Founding Fathers have a problem of England taxing everything? Why does the government tax things? That is the government’s way of getting money to spend on its programs.
The government only should tax what is necessary to provide those services. Adding an Internet tax is the same as adding a percentage point to your income tax. It is raising your taxes. The government needs to look at its role in a free society. It needs to look at what services are necessary to maintain a free and anonymous society. It needs to tax at a level to provide those services and no more. The government does not need to tax the Internet. The government does not need to have that extra money.
About thirty percent of your income is spent before you even see it. Why does the government need more than one third of the money I make? The government needs to build roads, maintain a free-market place, protect our borders, and uphold the constitution. It should not take one third of all the money that people earn plus more to do those things.
The government is bad at managing money and it spends way more on programs that are not things the government should even be doing.
With smart cards and national ID cards the government has one more method to tax the things we do. They have one more method to track the things I do. Think about the movie Minority Report. The government had those little robots that went through out the building checking everyone's biometric information (retinal scans) to see if one of the people in the building was a "bad guy" that they were looking for. Speed camera's and other law enforcement cameras take away from your freedom.
The argument most often heard is why should someone be afraid if he has nothing to hide. But they mean that in a criminal sense. If you are not breaking the law, what do you have to hide? What about the skeleton’s in your closet? What about those things that you do not tell other people due to embarrassment? What about your past? You are not always proud of the things you did at one time. Without anonymity those things that you do will no longer be something you can hide. It is no one else’s businesses where you go, who you hang out with, what you read, what you watch on TV, and what you do with your free time. Bring together databases and video surveillance of private American citizens will be the last stitches of your anonymity.
That is not far into the future --- that is now. England has video cameras all over the streets with government workers watching your every move. You cannot pick your nose in public without some camera seeing you and recording the event.
Technology is here to stay. How we choose to use it is up to us. How the government uses it needs to be something we are vigilant over. We need to make sure the government does not control our lives even more than it is already controlled.
Don't think your life is overly controlled by the government? Open a business. If it is "your" business then you should be able to make policies that you choose. You can't. The government controls that. Open your own airline. Guess what? The government has people in place to screen your passengers. Think about that. The government chooses what your passengers can and cannot do, not you as the business owner. Try using your constitutional rights. If you chose to use them in a way the government does not like, you will be arrested. Granted most of the time you will get away with doing your own thing, even if it is against the law, but once you add in the video monitoring, the databases, the smart cards, and the biometrics you will be caught even if no one is around when you do the things that you do.
We are turning into puppets whose strings are controlled by the government.
With my new task I hoped to get it finished today. But first I had to go to Seattle to pick up my TV from K-Rock. I drove down there and filled out the paperwork. Then Evil Chadd met me and I got the TV. He asked how things have been. He is working on a CD for us with pics and audio from the Short Bus trip.
I got to work and brought the TV inside to keep it safe. As a group we decided to hit Three-Pigs for lunch. We got there and got tables for us. There were several NetUpdate people, plus Jim and Jon. We ate lunch and I told Jim about my Short Bus trip.
I spent the rest of the day at work trying to get my box rebuilt and working correctly so I could fix this problem. I also was working on getting my laptop built up as well.
After work I drove to Renton to the Eagles for dinner. I put the TV in Bill's truck to keep it safe once again. Then we went in and ate. It was steak night. It was pretty good. Brandon called while I was down there. He said he is getting an interview at the fire station. I gave him some pointers. He also asked if I would write a letter or reference for him. I told him I would. I asked him to send me a resume and information about his fire fighting and schooling so I could remember dates.
I came home and unloaded the TV and put it into the living room. Then I talked to Joe on the phone about what categories to use on the website. After those were hammered out. I watched House on TV then started to do some coding. I need to modify the database and the ASP files to fit what we are doing a little better.
I got several things done. It seems like I am getting a lot of work done but it is slow going. I still have a way to go before I am done with my stuff. I was hoping we could go live on Friday. It does not look like we will get to do that now. Even if I spend the rest of tomorrow working on it, I think we are looking to next week.
I am a jack of all trades and the master of none. I work many jobs and I live in Renton but own a house in Colfax.
