Please, PLEASE, let me login - I am not a robot! Cross my heart!

Most of us are aware  and know that humor is an integral part of our intelligence. In human communities, it serves as a ubiquitous social lubricant. - Actually, there are no humorless functioning societies.

As we are going, not too far in the future robots will be all around us. Gradually taking over functions performed by flesh and blood humans.  We like to think that's all for the good and the human/robot world will unfold as it should.

Surprisingly, in the areas of computer security robotic advances must be outstanding. Case in point: Trying to login to some accounts, web sites, we are shamelessly asked to  prove that we are not robots, that we are actually functioning human beings, sweating in front of a keyboard.

I didn't have trouble answering questions in the past, but now I fail the human verification check more often than I should.

Yes,  CAPTCHA, the aggravating test that’s supposed to determine if we’re robots or scripts used by spammers or other online misdeed-doers, or if we are instead real, live, warm-blooded primates.

Coffee-slurping geniuses create these sometimes impossible tests, supposedly difficult for robots but easy for humans.

The "Tests" typically consist of typing letters and/or digits from a distorted image.--And this is where the problem begins. Some of these disturbed images unhinged so badly that is impossible to figure them out. --Some are easier.

Providing security for our online activities, signing in to email, web sites is a must. But let's use some commonsense. Don't make it too difficult or the customer goes somewhere else.

A friend told me that signing in to his Blog account he must use his ever present Google account, now used for signing in to many other places. -- He gave up his Blog after, he made an error while signing in to his Blog. Then, the Google sign in procedure started to demand a number of things all in the noble cause of security.

Most of all, they were after his phone number. Finally, he has had enough and gave up the Blog.

The question is, how do shenanigans like hunting for phone numbers for commercial purpose, or, shoving disturbed images under the nose of the customer in the form of a test will boost business, if the revered customer gets fed up and goes somewhere else?

100 YEAR OLD PICTURES - A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

These photos are amazing. Think about it; The people in the pictures going about their business, just as we do today. But they are all gone. And so are the talented photographers.

They lived their lives without the trappings of high tech. No Cell Phone, TV, Facebook, Twitter, etc. - Yet,  probably many of them felt as important as many of us do today, thinking they are part of a technically highly developed society. -- And they were right, for their days. -- Would be interesting to view some of today's photographs 100 year from now.

However, I am convinced there are people among us who will be around 100 year from now to see how we lived in the year 2017.

As for yours truly? A lost cause. Even if I eat all my veggies and faithfully pay my carbon taxes, I will not be around to comment on  pictures taken in 2017. 
But then, you never know!👿

 Here are the pictures, enjoy!

Woodward Avenue, Detroit , Michigan, in 1917. 2. Atlantic City, 1910 3. The main street of Memphis , north of Avenue Gayoso, 1910.  4. Station"Louisville-Nashville," Florida , in 1910. 5. Forsyth Street, Jacksonville , Florida, in 1910.Love those cars. 6. The beach in Atlantic City , 1915.Note the men in coats and ties. 7. Grant Avenue after an earthquake in San Francisco in 1906. 8. Carts for transporting dairy Thompson, Washington , 1927.How in the world did the dairy get those horses so evenly lined up.  (Washington County, Wisconsin?) 9. Washington, DC, 1914.Not so thoughty having those horses run on a railroad tracks. (thoughty? Must have been a popular word back in the day) (note the people in the windows) 10. Cadillac Square, Detroit , Michigan, 1916. 11. Ninth Street, Washington DC, 1915. 13. Corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street , New York , 1910. 14. Broad Street north of Spruce Street , Philadelphia , 1905. 15. View of Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn in 1909. 16. Fire at 55th Street , New York , 1915. 17. Fifth Avenue, New York, 1913. 18. Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 1907. 19. The New York Publi c Library, New York , 1915.Didn't realize they had 4-laners in those days. 20. Wall Street, New York , 1911.The 2 sidewalks together are as wide as the street in this pic. 21. Fifth Avenue, New York, 1913.Look at those top hats!

 

 

Epidemic of blindness' on the horizon, If we are addicted to screens

As if we wouldn't have enough real and imagined things to worry about, now experts warn that endless hours spent staring at screens, like TV, Cell Phone  Tablet, etc., could lead to blindness.

They claim, that the high energy light emitted from digital screens is causing irreversible damage to our eyes by deteriorating the retinas.

Yes, sight loss is in our future if we fail to take corrective measures.

This is especially important when it comes to children, particularly for the millions of kids who are exposed to digital screens earlier than ever.

You see children as young as 3 years old playing with tablets and being mesmerized on front of a large screen TV.

Fortunately all is not lost, there is a way you can may avoid retina damage.

Using special screen filters can not only protect the retina, but protect you from the expression of genes that promote cell death.

Apparently a scientist developed a filter device,  'Reticare', which goes over your screen, converts harmful blue light to a gentler frequency more akin to sunshine.

This is only a beginning and no doubt due to the importance of the subject we will hear of further developments, concerning efforts to protect our eye-sight.

The Cowboy And The High Tech Yuppie

 "A cowboy named Bud was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture when suddenly a brand-new 2016 BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust.
 
The driver, a young man in a Brioni® suit, Gucci® shoes, RayBan® sunglasses and YSL® tie, leaned out the window and asked the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

Bud looks at the man, who obviously is a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure,  why not?"

 The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell® notebook computer, connects it to his Apple i phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop® and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany...

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Apple ipad® that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL® database through an ODBC connected Excel® spreadsheet with email on his Galaxy S5® and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on high-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet® printer, turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take  one of my calves," says Bud.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the trunk  of his car.

Then Bud says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a politician with the federal government", says Bud.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, “but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though  nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a  question I never asked. You used millions of dollar’s worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know shit about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep.”

“Now give me back my dog.”

An Unhappy Outcome Involving HP As Told By A Friend

"About eight years ago I bought an HP Mini 311-1OOO from Costco. The little computer worked well and was used very little as I prefer larger screens for my work. 

About 9 months ago Windows installed Win 10 on the mini replacing the Win 7 system the computer came with.

Not long ago, following a periodic Win 10 update, the computer did not boot and stayed at the Please Wait screen. I tried recommended procedures to get it going but to no avail.

I called Costco Concierge Service and they really tried everything to resolve the issue. Unfortunately, they could not help and switched me over to HP to buy a Boot Disk that would boot the machine.

Now this is where the HP's "Help" becomes interesting. The HP Service Technician's first and utmost concern seemed to be the possession of my email address and telephone number. Trusting the email address was necessary to be able to assist me , I provided the email address.

After this, I told him I wanted to buy I boot disk for the HP mini 311-1000.- After a few minutes he told me that they do not have a boot disk for sale for the model because if was old.

At this point I told him, forget about my email address as I don't want to receive spam offering sales from HP. He said, that's fine.

Three days later, poorly disguised spam started arriving from HP.
I only hope they did not  sell my email address because suddenly other spam started to hit the in box.

The problem is I am on a metered service and I am paying for everything I happen to download.

What I find incredible is this: Does HP really believe, I would buy anything sold by them? Do  their young geniuses think that I will not share my experiences with others?

As I feel right now, I would be more inclined to buy a ski-hill in Florida or a Condo on the moon when they build one, than having anything to do with HP and their products."

No Romance, But There May Be Signs Of Life On Venus

According to researchers the surface of the planet Venus could not sustain life because of the tremendous heat and other environmental factors.

However, things are not hopeless in the quest for finding signs of life on this hot-hot planet.

The encouraging news is that life, that is living organisms may occur and survive in the clouds of this planet of the romantics and dreamers.

In recent times planetary scientists focused on the moons of  Mars, or Jupiter, or even on the moons of Saturn. The search was rewarded because Saturn's moons Titan and Europe now considered as locations where the search for life may be rewarded.

But for the moment, US and Russian researchers planning a mission to Venus to explore the clouds of the planet and search the thick clouds saturated with sulphuric acid.

Even if they succeed in finding signs of life, that still is a long way from detecting little green men or women to exchange experiences and the benefits of advertised wonders that exist only to make our life easier and no doubt more expensive.Si
Good luck and success for the researchers.

Don't blame advertisers for stupid pop-up browser ads

Ever been bushwhacked by a browser pop-up ad? These pests may appear out of nowhere like bad drivers out of safe looking driveways or beloved but not desired relatives at the front door.

Actually, most people don't hate advertising, be that on your computer or on television. They hate bad, intrusive and annoying ads urging us to sign up for this or that, or buy an indispensable item for $19.95 that will light up our existence.

No matter how you look at it, advertisements pushed unrelentingly create a total interruption, and almost everyone clicks past the pop-up. Why would merchants be so stupid, you ask?

They aren’t stupid. Because, my friends, those pop-ups work.

Out of millions of pop-ups there are plenty that people actually react to and buy into the genuine offer or sign up for a transparent scam that fools the victim. Therefore, it is us, the idiots, that keep this very disruptive, seemingly getting out of control process in operation.

Yes, income is required to keep a web site in operation and advertisements serve as a tool to generate the income. But there are ways - and ways to do this.

When I click on a web site and after reading a line or two a disruptive or misdirective message appears, my interest in whatever the web site has offer is gone-for good.

You see, there is competition. Often there are  smarter operators managing web sites that manage to display their offers without rudely interrupting the reading of an interesting article.

Then, as we acquire experience in life, we start to suspect that often any item or service that  is pushed too hard is something we should avoid.

However, we can offer all the caution in the world. In the foreseeable future pop-ups, on-line scams and intrusive, repetitive TV commercials will win out.

Why? One explanation in the words attributed to a famous entertainer, "There is a sucker born, every minute".
 
And today the targeted people are equipped with computers, cell-phones, tablets and a plethora of other devices including Television to become the object of repetitive, often annoying and unwanted pop-ups and other type of advertisements.

Good Old Galileo Knew It

Galileo in 15th century, discovered that all objects falling to earth, fall at the same rate of time. He mentioned that a cannonball and a feather, if dropped from the same height will touch the ground at the same time provided there is no air resistance. He had difficulty explaining it for quite a long time .

They say, "Worthwhile things take time". It took  4 centuries but in the end, with the aid of current technology it has been experimentally demonstrated that Galileo's Hypothesis was correct.

Coming to think of it, we sincerely hope that the results of the current experiments in the area of Social Engineering will bear the expected results within the foreseeable future without endless delays.

 

 

 

This bridge is just for forest creatures, Canada.

A Great Idea and It Works!

Don't be a miser when it comes to THAT STONE !

An apparently worthy lady, an unpolished gem herself, in Florida obviously felt she had been unappreciated by her loving wannabe fiance over the matter of the engagement ring he gave or was going to give her.

Something went very wrong and the magic of the moment or something like it faded, indeed went blank.

The captivating lady must have been displeased with the sparkler because unlike a happy future bride, she started pummeling the wannabe fiance with a plank with protruding nails.
 
After he told her that the had enough, for an encore, the enchanting and now ex-bride to be bit him and punched him in the face.

 I suspect this is not a good sign concerning a union between these two people. Of course now that won't happen because her wannabe fiance, the loving soul he was, dumped her.

But you can't be certain. People are funny. Perhaps if he shows up with a stone the size comparable to the egg of the now extinct Dodo bird, he may have another chance, provided he does not screw up .-- Like handing the now blushing lady the bill for the stone, with the schedule of arranged monthly payments.

Give a drop of blood in exchange for that relaxed good feeling?

 Ever busy scientists just discovered a revolutionary blood test that tells how long you will live.

That's it! Although up to now I did not know, this was the missing ingredient in my  life. 

Apparently the test is simple. All  the curious and no doubt brave person has to do is to give a drop of blood and the new technique will help predict how long you will live.

We are assured that the scientists base their claims on a study of genetic traits or “bio-markers” in a blood sample.

Not surprisingly, detractors and others concerned are quick to point out this is similar to reading Tea leaves, Palm reading and Psychic predictions.. Well you can't keep everybody happy.

Then, you have people like a friend who on hearing about this new wonder of med. science said, "I've done blood tests done for years and also been able to produce radically different results in the follow-ups simply through variations in diet and exercise, in order to keep the docs' nattering and never-ending new prescriptions off my back."

Where the concern should be is the area of insurance and employer utilization of this new technique for the purpose of denying or terminating employment based on the results of this blood test.