AS IT STANDS

Friday, February 3, 2012

Website helps raise financial support for ailing loved ones

You never know. This website may make a difference for you or a loved one some day.

Good Day Humboldt County!

One of biggest financial challenges facing most Americans today is health care costs. They can ruin a family and put them on the streets in nothing flat.

The road to health care recovery in America is riddled with financial landmines and politics that threaten to make things even worse.

I was noodling around on the net and found this website – giveforward.com - and thought it was worth sharing with you. I’m not endorsing the website. I’m merely suggesting it might be worth looking into. According to the website:

“GiveForward pages empower friends and family to send love and financial support to patients as they navigate a medical crisis. Start a GiveForward page today and ease the burden of your loved one's out-of-pocket medical expenses.”

If, by chance, you do use the services provided, would you let me know how it turns out? Thanks

Time to walk on down the road…

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Fact: In over half of the USA you can be fired for being gay

In 29 states including Virginia, it is still legal to fire someone for being gay, and in 34 states it is legal to fire someone solely for being transgender.

Back Talk: Teen Lives in a world of words in reverse

Try doing what Alyssa does in her head. I bet you can’t unless you write the word down. If you can, then you’d better get on You Tube. People like this stuff.

I just love unique people. Here’s one who stands out from the crowd with her word flip-flopping skills.

Alyssa Kramer can say any word backward.

The 14-year-old from Poteau, Okla., can flip words around and spit them back out almost instantly.

Over 1 million You Tube viewers liked this video. I enjoyed it, despite being baffled how she does it. If you’d like to read more about her go here.

Fear of Robots: We’ve been down this path before…

Good Day Humboldt County!

Since the term “robot” was first coined in 1921, Americans have been suspicious of their intentions.

In an uncanny parallel to the 1920s, Americans today are concerned about losing jobs, and worse, to robots.

Last year I addressed these concerns in this column:

Workplace reality: more robots, less humans

I recently ran across this article from Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, the New America Foundation, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, visit the Future Tense blog and the Future Tense home page.

A Robot Has Shot Its Master-The 1930s hysteria about machines taking jobs and killing people.

By Matt Novak

(Excerpt) “What about the 1930s lent itself to a fear of technology that was made tangible through a humanoid robot? Predictions for the future are always a direct reflection of the times in which they’re created. During times of economic insecurity it’s hard not to be filled with anxiety about the future of your country, your family, or your employer—should you be so lucky as to be employed. Just as all politics is local, all futurism is now. Over the last few years we’ve seen Americans of all political persuasions flood the streets; concerned about the future, and more often than not, concerned about their jobs. At the same time, we’ve seen a renewed fear of robots invading the workplace. Earlier this fall, Slate’s Farhad Manjoo warned that even the highly educated—doctors, lawyers, scientists—could find their jobs outsourced to robots in the future; farm workers and warehouse employees are in more immediate danger of being replaced.” Read the rest here.

Check out a slideshow about the great robot panic of the 1930s in the pages of print media.

Time to walk on down the road…

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

'Veterans For Weed' agrees to name change after complaints

I’m not sure if this is even a real case of veterans posting this logo. Because they call themselves “Veterans For Weed” doesn’t mean they really are veterans.

The Wisconsin-based group does not show names of its leadership or members on its website which seems suspicious to me.

I like the idea of veterans calling for legalization of pot (they have as much at stake as anyone), but question the approach this group has taken.

“A group of veterans calling for the legalization of marijuana plans to change its acronym after the Veterans of Foreign Wars sent a cease-and-desist order to the pot group’s organizers. But a controversial logo will remain, the pot advocates say.

The “Veterans For Weed,” a Milwaukee-based group that says “the real reefer madness” is when veterans get arrested for pot possession, has been using the acronym VFW on its website and promotional materials.

The Veterans of Foreign War called the pot group use of the acronym “misleading and illegal,” Stars and Stripes reported.

But the self-described group of stoners refused to take down their "POT POW" logo, which has drawn fire from veterans and military families. The logo is a variation of the iconic Vietnam-era POW/MIA poster showing the silhouetted profile of a prisoner behind barbed wire. The original logo was created for the National League of POW/MIA Families, according to Stars and Stripes, and is not copyrighted.

Still, it is cherished symbol, and the National League of POW/MIA Families has asked that it be taken down from the website.”

‘Mr. President, why isn’t legalizing pot a legitimate topic to discuss?

For the ninth time, the White House has solicited the American people for direct input on the issues they cared about, and then, when the resulting answers called overwhelmingly for marijuana law reform, President Obama ignored the will of the American people.

Once upon a time Obama claimed that marijuana legalization was a “legitimate topic for debate.” Apparently that’s changed. Tom Angell, Media Relations Director for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) sent me this email yesterday:

“Hi Dave,

Well, the YouTube/White House "Your Interview with the President" livestream just wrapped up, and unfortunately the web giant did not find the time to present President Obama with the marijuana legalization video question from a retired police officer that received, by far, more votes than any other video in the contest.

They did find time, however, to pick the president's brain on pressing national issues like.... late night snacks, singing and dancing, celebrating wedding anniversaries and playing tennis.

Seriously...”

Why is Obama So Chicken, Unwilling to Even Address the Question of Pot and the Failed Drug War?

New pathways to communication: researchers read brain waves

Good Day Humboldt County!

Today’s new road leads us down a path that may sound ominous at first (shades of Big Brother), but it’s actually a move in the right direction when it comes to treating epilepsy patients. That doesn’t mean this new technology will only be used for good. I foresee another path, a darker one, for this technology. Our military will use it to read prisoner’s minds. For all I know, they’re already doing that. What’s next? Americans arrested for anything having their brains picked?

There’s always two paths to choose from. The road to enlightenment, and the road to destruction, when it comes to technological advances in our society. Now the story:

“Scientists have found a way to decipher actual words from a person’s brain waves, a feat that sounds very much like mind-reading, a new study shows.

The research may sound like scary science fiction -- once a person’s brain waves can be read, will any thought be private? -- but the positive implications are enormous for patients who have lost the ability to speak through damage, such as stroke, or disease.

In the study, scientists worked with a group of epilepsy patients who were undergoing treatment for intractable seizures. Sensors were implanted deep in their brains in an effort to locate the source of seizures, so doctors could remove the malfunctioning tissue, according to the new report published in PLoS Biology.

Researchers ran brain waves through a program they hoped would translate the brain's electronic signals into actual sounds. It worked. Based only on the recordings, the computer was able to pluck out the words spoken to the patients. Previous research has been able to reconstruct what a person is looking at from brain scans.” (Read the rest here)

Time to walk on down the road…

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

So you think it was tough getting up this morning eh? Wait till you hear how one man’s morning started

Michael Sweat woke up with a Beamer on him this morning. Needless to say, it was “sweat and go” for awhile until help came:

“A Connecticut man woke up to a real-life nightmare early Tuesday morning when a car police were pursuing slammed into his apartment while he was sleeping and landed on top of him.

Just after 12:30 a.m., Hamden Police spotted a BMW wanted for motor vehicle violations and attempted to stop the driver. Police pursued the car from Hamden to New Haven, through the Southern Connecticut State University campus and into the Newhallville section of New Haven. Hamden Police made several attempts to stop the fleeing BMW, police said, but the driver lost control, crashed through a first-floor apartment at 91 Winchester Ave. and fled.

Michael Sweat, 34, a tenant, was trapped beneath the car for more than an hour as rescuers attempted to free him. Sweat was taken to the Hospital of St. Raphael with second- and third-degree burns to his lower body and is expected to recover.”

Talk about having a bad day. You’d be hard pressed to beat Mr. Sweat’s day…and to think it’s not over yet!

British tourists become terrorists when they go tweet…tweet…

Good Day Humboldt County!

Sometimes, our path is an airborne one that starts out as a flight of fancy but ends up like a nightmare.

Tweet at your own risk...

According to the Sun and the Daily Mail — daily tabloids published in the United Kingdom — a handful of ominous-sounding Twitter jokes got 26-year-old Leigh Van Bryan and 24-year-old Emily Bunting kicked out of the United States before they could even begin their long-awaited vacation.

According to the Daily Mail, it was because of those tweets that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flagged Bryan and Bunting as "a potential threat." Upon arriving at LAX, the two pals were "detained by armed guards," explains the publication:

Despite telling officials the term 'destroy' was British slang for 'party', they were held on suspicion of planning to 'commit crimes' and had their passports confiscated. ... Federal agents even searched [Bryan's] suitcase looking for spades and shovels, claiming [Bunting] was planning to act as [Bryan's] 'look out' while he raided Marilyn's tomb.

The two were quizzed for five hours before being "put in a van with illegal immigrants and locked up overnight," writes the Sun. They were then kept in separate holding cells for 12 hours before being put on a flight home!

Time to walk on down the road…

Monday, January 30, 2012

Drone On: of Death, Destruction, and Spying …

Once upon a time, not so long ago, when you heard the word “drone” this is what came to mind:

1) a male honeybee

2) to making a continuous humming sound

3) an idle parasite or loafer, and

4) to utter in a monotonous tone

In our world today, drone has taken on additional meanings: an unmanned aircraft that can bring down death and destruction and that can spy on any country in the world. Here’s two examples of drones in the news:

“Members of Iraq's government were infuriated by the United States continuing to fly unmanned surveillance drones to protect State Department assets such as the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and American personnel in the country, The New York Times reported Monday.”

(Top Photo) Sr. Airman Nicholas Hart helps guides an RQ-4 Global Hawk Block-20 into its hangar at Beale Air Force Base in Yuba County, Calif., June 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Appeal-Democrat)

Then we have our own drone controversy here at home.

“The Los Angeles Police Department is warning real estate agents not to use images of properties taken from unmanned aircraft, saying the flying drones pose a potential safety hazard and could violate federal aviation policy.

Drones can range from as small as model airplanes built by hobbyists to as large as a commercial jet. Nationally, there has been an intense and growing debate about the safety of allowing drones to operate in airspace used by passenger aircraft.”

What to know more? Go to link below:

FULL COVERAGE: Drones

Photo: The Qube, a type of drone that might be seeing civilian use, can fit in the trunk of a car and can be controlled remotely with a tablet computer. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Muppets Take On Corporate Puppets (Fox News) in interview

Here’s another Fox segment that will leave you shaking your head and wondering why they even claim to be a news channel.

In another baffling, mind-numbing, segment of Faux News, we see and hear how they think the Muppets are evil and the Liberal media is waging class warfare.

It’s really touching how Faux defends oil executives and corporations. For a moment, when the host, Eric Boldin, said he remembered the days when people pointed at wealthy oil executives and said, “That’s what I want to be someday,” I thought I would vomit!

I sure the hell don’t remember “those days” at all. Where the hell did Eric live when he was growing up? Oh yeah…I should have guessed. In the home of a very wealthy oil executive, or at least in a wealthy Republican home where 1%er values were instilled from the earliest age. When you grow up using real money in a monopoly game it’s kinda hard to understand why the masses don’t relate well with you.