In 2013, former government contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA. Americans learned their desktops, laptops, smartphones, and social media pages were being spied on by this government entity without their approval or knowledge.
Now, that story is all but completely forgotten about. Many Americans seem to forget who Snowden is. But late night talk show host and comedian John Oliver hasn’t forgotten, and he’s determined not to let us forget. It bothered Oliver that nearly half of Americans don’t seemed that concerned about government surveillance. ?Do you know what happens June 1? John Oliver reminds us that’s the expiration date of certain parts of the controversial Patriot Act. By that day, government officials will either renew or kill those certain parts. One of those provisions is Section 215. It’s common name is the Library Records Provision. Don’t let that name fool you. Section 215/Library Records Provision requires employers to hand over any ‘tangible things’, including books, hard drives, records, even social media pages and music on your iPod. According to this provision, this would only be used investigate terrorist activities. That’s not all. John Oliver went to Russia and interviewed Edward Snowden. Part of his interview aired on Oliver’s HBO program called Last Week Tonight.
I’d like to thank John Oliver for re-starting the conversation. I’m thankful he educated us about the June 1 deadline, Section 215, and what’s really on the line. And he interviewed Snowden himself. Some may say Oliver is doing this for ratings. If that’s the case, then why aren’t there more host speaking out against this? I think the closer we get to June 1, the more Section 215 is going to be debated. At least that’s my hope. I live in a ?politically charged and progressive city. So when the government surveillance story broke, there were protest and rallies everywhere to stop government surveillance. A few months later, they stopped. I don’t trust Section 215. They say it’s only to investigate potential terrorism. But the cynic in me says it will be used and abused for more sinister reasons. Is John Oliver the man we need to re-start the call against government surveillance?
How did you get your prom date, or did you even have one? These ?high school students are using social media to come up with creative, outlandish, and very expensive ways to get that dream date.
This is where prom proposals, or ‘promposals’ come in. These are extravagant prom proposals, usually done on social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and You Tube. This year, the average American family will spend around $1,000 on prom. ?But a big chunk of that won’t go to just limos, dresses, tuxedos, and after parties. Over a third of it will be spent on simply asking the date to prom. Some are basic, like a big teddy bear holding a sign saying “Will you go to prom with me”. Some go over the top. One young man rode a horse on school property asking a girl to the dance. Another guy asked a girl to prom by twerking on You Tube. In Palmdale, California, a student named Davyeon was arrested in his school lunchroom. Davyeon didn’t commit any crime. His girlfriend Stephanie got an officer to stage his play arrest. She came out with a sign asking him to prom. Some teens are even using celebrities to do the proposal for them. Sarah Kardonsky had the New York Jets ask Mike to prom. Even Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston offered his promposal services.
I admire these kids’ creativity. It seems like they try to outdo each other in creative and entertaining ways to celebrate this teen ritual. Most people from my era ?never would have imagined going through such links. Many of these are fun to watch. The only disturbing part is people who make under $25,000 a year spending more on prom than those making $50,000 a year. But the way these kids are going all out for their prom tells me our future in entertainment and creative arts is going to be all right. Do you think they can put the same effort in math and science?
The safest thing you could possibly do on New Year?s Eve is not drink, not go out, not do anything.?You?re probably going to go out, anyway.?You?re probably going to go to some party and you?re probably going to drink. A lot. You?ll dance terribly. You?ll tell someone that you love them. This person is someone you do not love.
New Year?s Day is also the worst day for drunk driving accidents. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Over half of all fatal accidents on New Year?s Day happen in the early morning hours and with drivers?with a blood alcohol level over .08 percent.
We hope you don?t make an ass of yourself and we hope you don?t try to drive while drunk. But just in case you do have a bit too much to drink, here are some?tech tools to help you save yourself from your drunk self this New Year?s Eve:
Uber surge pricing might make you feel like you?re forking over what?s left of your rent money on New Year?s but it?s worth taking that or a cab home if you are too drunk to drive. Breathometer helps you know definitively if you are too?inebriated to drive by blowing into either the wireless or original breathalyzer device and then testing your BAC level. For $50-$100 plus a free app, it?s cheaper than most breathalyzers out there.
Hint: if you are having trouble navigating through the testing process, you are too drunk. Seriously, test yourself before you even think of getting behind the wheel.
Drunk texting is one of the more incriminating things you can do while intoxicated. Someone else has the evidence of your embarrassing moment.?You might find yourself drinking more than you planned and then whipping out your smartphone in the corner of the room at a New Year?s Eve party and?texting someone?incoherently.
There are several apps that attempt to prevent you from texting while drunk. Drunk Mode hides certain people from your contacts list for up to 12 hours when you tell it you?re about to go drinking. It also helps you locate your drunk friends with the ?Find My Drunk? feature. And just in case you can?t remember a thing, the ?Breadcrumbs? feature helps you retrace your steps, your delirious, embarrassing steps from last night.
Remember when we told you not to drive drunk? Well, this device will make sure you don?t. It?s?a?member of?ignition interlock technology and it is normally geared toward those who have a problem with drunk driving. A?third of all drivers arrested or convicted of driving while intoxicated?are?those with a previous record, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. California State Senator Jerry Hill has a proposal in the works to require all convicted felons residing in the state to have one of these devices in their car.
The device allows the driver to turn on the ignition in their car only if they blow a BAC below the legally required limit to drive. It?s also pretty pricey.?These devices run anywhere from $500-$1600 and are usually installed by a car dealership.
You drank too much, you know you shouldn?t be driving?but you?don?t want to leave your car where it?s parked for whatever reason. Do not drive! For about $40 + $2.65/mile,?StearClear will hire someone?to drive your car for you. It?s possibly more expensive than a cab (on any night besides New Year?s) but cheaper than getting your car towed. It promises not to ?hyper inflate or invoke surge pricing on weekends or peak travel times so this may be a good alternative to Uber.
This is a similar service to StearClear but costs about $35/hour + $2.40/mile. It?s made for corporate executives but can be used as an alternative to get?you or your drunk friend?s car?home safely, too.
If you do happen to get behind the wheel after drinking and you happen to live in L.A. there?s an app that will alert you to DUI checkpoints. Mr. Checkpoint says it helps prevent drunk driving and wrongful arrests. The founder tells us , ?I personally have been wrongfully arrested for DUI and sued the city.??To?be clear, this app?alerts you to the checkpoint. Drunks can use it to avoid getting arrested,?spending the night in jail (or longer) and handing over thousands in fines. How it prevents drunk driving is a mystery.
One day we will have self-driving cars and possibly built-in?alcohol detection systems in all our technology. For now we have apps and devices that require you to take responsibility for your actions on your own, before things get out of hand. But people keep on being people and not heeding the warning signs or taking measures to prevent themselves from acting like idiots. Consider this post a PSA and stay safe out there.
So I wanted to do something funny for you guys on Xmas and give you the 12 Days of Geek Christmas. This is an assortment of “gifts” our customers give to us throughout the year. I’m going to fill it with lovely pictures, and memes, and just overall fun things that should put a smile on your faces for the Holidays!
On the 12th Day of Geek Christmas my customer gave to me, 12 Trojan Viruses!
Please don’t trust him. Never open something when you don’t know what it is, or else they’ll getcha.
Here at Computer Geeks we are the nation’s leader in Dental IT Support, and there are days where everything goes haywire, and Dentists panic, till they call us!
Another thing we have all done, whether we dropped it, kicked it, stepped on it or just closed it real hard when there was something on the keyboard, we all need laptop screen repair.
http://youtu.be/1gyzSdGjJU8
On the 4th Day of Geek Christmas my customer gave to me, 4 water damaged laptops
On the 3rd Day of Geek Christmas my customer gave to me, 3 Paper Jams
Apparently I am an old fuddy duddy, and I had no idea that this comments phenomenon even existed. Now I have watched and used YouTube videos to help me get through a difficult part of a game, or to find hidden items, but this is ridiculous. Watching someone else play a video game, and listening to his absurd comments and ramblings may be the end of a functional society as we know it. Last night while watching my favorite show “South Park” they were actually making fun of this phenomenon, specifically a famous YouTube personality Pew Die Pie. I mean, just typing out this guy’s name makes me want to puke in my soup. To go on YouTube and see MILLIONS of views and comments on his video’s is just mind boggling.
When I was growing up, parents couldn’t fathom why we all loved video games so much. They told us we were wasting our lives away by not going outside and enjoying real life. I didn’t see it back then, but maybe what my generation started, this new one is taking it to a whole new level. To be so lazy, that you can’t even play the mind numbing video game, and you have to watch someone else play, so you can listen to them comment on playing the game, is the end of a functional society as we know it.
If this is where the internet and the world as a whole is headed, then it is a dark day my friends. Here at Computer Geeks, we love technology, and we love the internet. But this is not some marvel of technology, this is the opposite. I almost don’t even want to post this blog to draw more attention to this, but deep down I am hoping that people will read this and inform others of how stupid this is, and stop it.
So go and look up this Pew Die Pie on YouTube, see what he is doing to the youth of America, and give this kid a piece of your mind. If we let this continue, in 10 years the internet will just be a vast wasteland of people commenting on people’s comments on comments that they saw of some guy throwing a baseball against a wall, because he has nobody to play catch with since they are all watching the comment video. That and pictures of an oiled up Kim Kardashian…
The Netflix invasion of Hollywood has no end in sight. They’ve produced critically acclaimed and popular shows. These shows have won awards. A veteran movie star has taken notice and wants in on this ever increasing medium.
Netflix just announced it will produce four movies with Saturday Night Live alum, stand up comedian and A-List movie star Adam Sandler. All these movies will be exclusive to Netflix and their subscribers. It’s their latest quest to push the medium into Hollywood movies. We don’t know the financial details, but Netflix executive Ted Sarandos came to Sandler because Sandler’s movies are so popular on this medium. Sandler immediately jumped at the chance. This is just a part of the Netflix movie plan. It’s part of an exclusive distribution of a coming sequel to 2000’s mega-hit ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’. They’re venturing into the increasing popular talk show circuit too. They’re in talks with comedian, author and talk show host Chelsea Handler to give her her own show that will be exclusively on Netflix. Not bad for a company that started as a simple mailing video rental company.
But if Netflix is going to expand in the movie business like this, I wonder if Adam Sandler is a wise choice. I respect everything this man has done.? He’s been entertaining us and humoring us over 20 years, from Saturday Night Live to the Wedding Singer, form Anger Management to Grown Ups. Grown Ups was the last hit Sandler ever had. This was back in 2010. Now I know Sandler’s movies have been highly requested, but this is a new realm. They’re asking him to make new movies. They’re asking this from a man that hasn’t had a box office hit in over five years. I respect Netflix for taking it to the next level. But is Sandler the way you want to go? Shouldn’t they go with someone whose making hit after hit after hit right now?
