Posted by Matthew on July 3, 2008 at
8:19 pm
There’s been endless and increasing debate over the last several years about just how safe Google’s proverbial vaults are. The world’s largest Internet company has been stockpiling mountains of data for years — on our search habits, email usage, ad-viewing statistics, etc — and countless Google Labs projects aim to expand its scope even further. There’s even one that is intended to archive your complete personal medical history.
Naturally, this has many people concerned about the security of their data. Privacy advocates in particular are very wary of the sheer volume of information that Google collects and stores on each user. That being said, the general consensus (and please note I said “general” — there are of course dissenting opinions) is that in today’s world your life is online (in some form) whether you want it to be or not, and Google is a pretty friendly company that tends to do its damndest to protect its users. In other words, it’s widely believed that in general Google adheres to their “do no evil” policy, and consequently enjoys a rare level of likability for a company of its size.
But however careful and diligent Google is about protecting all that data from theft, abuse, exposure, and misuse, they can’t avoid overreaching judges and politicians who engage in practices of questionable constitutional merit in the interest of “protecting” someone from something — though they never seem to be protecting you and me, but more typically large corporations and/or “national security” (which has, in my opinion, become one of the most disgusting phrases of the decade for how often it is used to toss the Constitution and Bill of Rights out the window).
Today, a federal judge ordered Google to turn over trillions of Youtube access logs to media giant Viacom (which owns Comedy Central, CBS, Nickelodeon, and dozens of other properties). The logs show which videos are viewed most on Youtube by which users, which Viacom is particularly interested in as part of their $1 billion lawsuit against Google alleging that the search giant built a business by willfully infringing on copyrighted works. Although it appears that Google is asking to be allowed anonymize the logs before handing them over, I think the real danger here has become clear. The problem isn’t that Google might do something misguided with all this data; the danger is simply that they have the data, which gives other companies the opportunity to acquire it through (shadily) legal action. Even if you trust Google, you can’t trust the government very much these days.
The lawsuit is crap, of course, and the reality is that the execs of these huge media corporations are too outpaced by today’s technology trends to adapt to the market, and they think they can still control every last frame of video they produce. What they simply don’t get is that once they put it out there for consumption, the game’s over. They need to stop trying to control people’s lives and refocus on the quality of content and how they deliver it. Their current strategy, rather than improve their own offerings, is just to continually sue everyone they see, but that doesn’t solve the problem. If these companies put half of the energy into building new business models that they do into litigating, they would solve their own problem overnight. But I could go on about that for hours…that’s another post entirely. It’s amazing how people who get paid millions of dollars a year can be so short-sighted.
CNN: Youtube ordered to reveal its viewers
Posted by Matthew on July 3, 2008 at
3:11 pm
I realize this is the Internet, but this is a whole new kind of stupid.
Someone over on the CobaltSS.net forums, a web site for car tuning enthusiasts, posted the following:
So we all know that the supercharged engines need the intake bypass valve so they work in reverse. Otherwise the supercharger would just suck all the air out of the cylinder. So knowing that, how does the turbocharged version work in reverse? The engine is trying to suck air backwards, yet the turbo wants to spin forward so I don’t see how it works. Is there some sort of exhausting intake bypass valve on the turbo version? Also, if it does have the valve, does that also mean that it can make boost in reverse? Like how much boost? Like 5 psi or does it go over 20?
Can anyone help me sort this out?
For real entertainment, feel free to read some of the replies on the subsequent 20 pages of comments.
Posted by Matthew on June 18, 2008 at
11:25 pm
Many of you have probably read (or at least seen the movie of) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Even if you haven’t, you might be familiar with a certain part of the story that is frequently referenced among fans — that when asked for the answer to the ultimate question of Life, The Universe, and Everything, the supercomputer called “Deep Thought” finally responded with “42″.
I was watching an episode of the History Channel miniseries The Universe this evening, and this particular episode was concerning gravity and its role in the universe at large. Most of the concepts covered in the show were nothing new to me, but I found one particular scenario very intriguing: what would happen if you bored a hole through the Earth straight to the other side, vacuum-sealed it (to remove friction), and dropped something through? How long would it take to reach the other side, considering that it should free-fall until it reaches the core, at which point gravity will start pulling it back and it will slow down?
As it turns out, the most interesting part of this scenario is that by picking any two points on the Earth — New York and LA, Boston and London, Cairo and Anchorage, whatever you want — and boring a hole straight from one to the other, the amount of time required by such a “gravity train” will always be exactly the same, due to the angle of the hole and thus the varying degree to which Earth’s gravity will be able to affect the object. How much time, you ask?
42 minutes.
No matter what two points on the planet you choose, no matter if they’re on opposite sides of the globe or are very near each other, the time to get from one to the other driven purely by gravity will always be 42 minutes. As soon as I heard that, I had to wonder if it was Douglas Adams’ inspiration for the answer to the Ultimate Question asked of Deep Thought. If not, it’s quite a coincidence — and still a really cool physics fact.
More on the 42 minute “gravity train” concept on Damn Interesting, Wikipedia (which references a mathematical proof from my own Purdue University), and a 1966 TIME Magazine article.
Posted by Matthew on June 6, 2008 at
8:42 am
So I’m driving into work this morning on I-65 south, entering Indianapolis, and there’s a spot where I-465 joins I-65 that is perfect for cops to hide. You know the situation…there’s a low cement divider wall off on the shoulder, and it’s positioned just after a slight crest in the road so you couldn’t possibly see the cops camped out in their favorite hiding until you’re practically on top of them.
This morning, there were three motorcycle cops positioned behind this wall, with their handheld radar units perched atop it. My speed-trap Spidey-sense was tingling, so fortunately I wasn’t speeding when I came over the rise, but several people in the other lane were. As I passed, I watched in my rearview mirror as a cop simply pointed at a driver, and then jerked his thumb over to the side of the road. Obediently, the vehicle pulled over, about 50 yards past the cops’ little bunker area. Between the three cops, they had five vehicles pulled over at once!
Is this laziness or efficiency? My first thought was to wonder that so many pulled over because of a hand signal. I have to believe that at 65 or 70 miles an hour, a number of people this morning “didn’t see” the hand signal…or perhaps really didn’t see it. Considering that none of the cops looked inclined to get on his bike anytime soon, I imagine any such drivers just got away scott-free. Is this a situation where you get punished for doing the right thing? What would you do?
Posted by Matthew on June 3, 2008 at
9:13 pm
If you were looking for concrete evidence that sky-high gas prices are affecting consumer buying habits en masse, look no further.
The Ford F-150, which has been the best selling vehicle in America for 17 straight years, has, in May 2008, fallen to 5th place behind the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, and the new best selling vehicle the Honda Civic.
All four of those well-built vehicles offer a lot for the money and get about 30 mpg or better on the highway, while most full-size trucks are about half that. With $4 gas, a lot more people appear to be asking themselves the question, “Do I really need that truck?” As I’ve personally pointed out for years, most people who drive them don’t actually need them.
Source: Autoblog
Posted by Matthew on May 23, 2008 at
8:03 am
From the Captain Obvious news desk, a new report by GMAC Insurance concludes that over 16% of American drivers don’t know the rules of the road and would flunk a written driving test were they forced to take one. Frankly, given how much stupid crap I see during my commute every day, I’m surprised it’s only 1 in 6 who fail. A couple of the biggest problem areas were what to do when approaching a yellow light (it’s not “speed up so you can run the red before the other way turns green”, morons) and the safe distance to maintain behind another vehicle (I’ll give you a hint: it’s a lot more than 3 feet).
Interestingly, drivers out east (New England and DC) had the worst scores, while drivers in the midwest, where I live, had the highest scores and the lowest failure rate. Also, “…the study found that drivers over the age of 35 were more likely to pass, and women were more likely to fail than men.”
Apparently, one of the “bright spots” of the results was that almost all test-takers knew “how to interpret a solid yellow line.” I’m guessing those drivers could also interpret a solid concrete barrier.
Source: CNN Money
Posted by Matthew on May 16, 2008 at
9:48 am
This certainly qualifies as one of the most bizarre (and creepy) stories I’ve seen in a long time. Houston, Texas, is being attacked by millions of tiny ants known as “crazy raspberry ants” that are attracted to electronics. They were accidentally brought over on a cargo ship, and have since gone forth and multiplied, screwing up sewage pumps, computers, gas meters, fire alarms, and other electronic equipment in the process. Worse, since they’re resistant to most ant killers and each colony has several queens, they’re practically impossible to kill. They even use the bodies of those that do die to build bridges over pesticide-treated areas. Yeah — like I said, creepy.
Full story on WRAL news
Posted by Matthew on May 14, 2008 at
4:39 pm
I’ve seen a lot of crazy (and crazy expensive) stuff being built in Dubai over the last few years…everything from manmade islands totaling thousands of miles of beachfront to the world’s tallest building (by far) to the world’s largest mall. The latest thing I’ve learned about is no less crazy: an indoor ski complex!
Given that the area’s oil reserves will supposedly run out within the next two decades, the prince of Dubai has made it his mission to turn the desert city into a lush oasis of tourism and entertainment. So far, they seem to be exceeding everyone’s expectations, helped in no small part by the “spare no expense” mentality that is clearly pervading the developers. I have to admire the grand scale of the vision. However, I have to wonder if this is why we’re paying nearly $4 for a gallon of gas!
More images:
Posted by Matthew on May 6, 2008 at
2:42 pm
Just sixteen Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradales (a special version of the standard 360) were imported to Australia and New Zealand, and now there’s at least one fewer gracing those roads. A (very nice — or perhaps very naive) father allowed his son to borrow his extremely rare Challenge Stradale, who promptly got a little too excited with the right pedal and wrapped the beautiful and expensive sports car around a pole.
As sad as that is, it’s not the best part of the story. No, it actually gets funny. Naturally, anyone who wrecks a Ferrari is going to attract some attention. News crews were apparently there within minutes, and mercilessly filmed the son as he called home to tell his father what had happened. Unfortunately, there’s no video record of what the father did to his son later.
I think I would have just never gone home.
Posted by Matthew on April 26, 2008 at
10:38 am
Yesterday candidate Barack Obama visited the building where I work in downtown Indianapolis, at The Indianapolis Star. He was there to meet with our editorial board. I didn’t get to see him unfortunately, since he came in through a back entrance and was quickly whisked away to the board room, and an internal memo asked us all not to crowd the hallways so he could quickly get in an out. But it was cool that he was there, and there was a live video stream of the meeting. I left work while he was still inside, and got to see his entourage and security force. They were everywhere…and yes, some of those secret service agents look absolutely scary. When the elevator doors opened on the ground floor, I looked up and saw a giant in a dark gray suit and an earpiece staring down at me through dark slitted eyes. I almost didn’t get out of the elevator.
Obama was visiting because for the first time in my memory, Indiana matters in this election. The primary is so close that both Democratic candidates need our electoral votes to seal a victory. Polls show Obama up slightly here, although Clinton is practically within the margin of error. Every poll ever conducted on the subject, though, shows that Obama provides much more competition for John McCain than Clinton would, so from a purely numbers standpoint I have to wonder why Democrats wouldn’t just choose the candidate that has the best chance against the other party. I guess we’ll find out soon enough — there’s not many primaries left.
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