I would like to help find the Kim family, but being about 800 miles away makes that almost impossible. Why not allow me to help on my lunch hour and during breaks at work and when I get home? Why not provide a way to help, for the thousands of others like me who want to volunteer their time? But how can I help?
I can zoom into the suspected areas using Google Maps and help with the search, can’t I? Well, I could, if Google Maps was updated with current satellite imagery for the suspected locations!
Google Maps Search and Rescue
Without much effort, a network of thousands of people could be created to scour different maps looking for key targets. With regards to the Kim family, those targets would include their car on suspected routes and James himself walking towards the main road, etc. This would be possible if Google was given current satellite imagery from the government (or NAVTEQ or whoever) for the suspected locations and made them available on their site.
Better yet, Google could create a special web-site specifically for Search and Rescue operations. The web-site would provide access to the date-time-specific satellite imagery. Volunteer searchers could be automatically linked in to help search different date-time-specific imagery (if available) for specific targets and provided links for instructions and images showing what the targets look like from the air and other tips.
Google could even be allowed temporary access to the government’s high-resolution imagery satellites, for even more thorough coverage. The high-resolution images can get close enough to pinpoint and clearly read license plates!
In my own community, it seems like there are at least a few kids who get lost each year camping somewhere along the Wasatch Mountains. We have a fantastic turnout of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people to help search for them. But, imagine getting additional thousands and maybe even tens of thousands of volunteers combing the same areas over and over! What a major benefit to finding missing people. This would significantly help during Amber alerts as well – something else worth volunteering for.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the Kim family. What can I do to help?
I was reading cnet news when I saw this.
http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-6140298.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-5&subj=news
It is an article about the IRS and taxing online games such as Ultima Online, EverQuest, and undoubtedly World of Warcraft (although not specifically mentioned in the article).
"The question is when, not if, Congress and IRS start paying attention [...]" -- Dan Miller, senior economist
That is completely asinine! Although people may purchase items in online worlds with real money, it isn't anything more than extensions or add-ons to their game. Let's face it, if the power goes off there is absolutely ZERO value associated with the items purchased. That's why they're called "virtual assets."
Legally, citizens of the United States are already required to pay taxes on any and all income, including from the sale of virtual assets. I think they're seeing it in a similar way as they see taxation on real property (real estate). But, at least originally, property taxes are to pay for services such as emergency services, schools, etc. We don't need to be taxed on virtual assets when they don't provide ANYTHING whatsoever for it, nor are they even claiming a reason except a so called "estimated value."
Let's role-play for a moment. Say, I have a castle and a massive army and weapons, etc. Now, let's say you, the ultimate barbaric druid witch king, comes in and slaughters everyone there and take possession of all of my assets. Cool, good job! Now, you owe real money in estate taxes.
They, the retards who are actually considering virtual asset taxation, haven't even considered what to do if you (the real person behind the ultimate barbaric druid witch king) aren't a US citizen?
What's next? Siege taxation? Employee taxes for your army? Worker's compensation and disability insurance? Where's OSHA to make sure you are providing a "safe" working environment on the battlefield? Where's the EPA ensuring you aren't polluting your virtual environment? It's ridiculous.
This is just another attempt by the greedy bastards in Congress at (especially at) the IRS to collect tax for no reason and further justify the overall expense of the government and (especially the) IRS itself. In my mind, it's equivalent to when the US Postal Service was lobbying to charge a fee for everyone to send emails, EVEN THOUGH they had absolutely nothing to do with any part of it (i.e.: no stamps, not their software, servers, nor pipeline).
I have subscriptions to several technology magazines, mostly digital of course. I’ve always considered eWeek and InfoWorld a little different than the rest of the technology magazines and therefore those two were the ones I’d almost always read. I still only read other magazines/articles once I’ve already read everything that interests me from the other two. But, more and more, I’m reading eWeek less and less.
I was disappointed when I read this article at eWeek. http://securitywatch.eweek.com/exploits_and_attacks/cracking_the_blackberry_with_a_100_key.html
I still enjoy reading articles from my favorite eWeek authors, like Peter Coffee. But, the rest of it reminds me of tabloid newspapers. This is one of those cases. They made such a big deal about the $100 security crack for the BlackBerry. But, they completely failed to mention that it isn’t really a software security hole at all.
They are claiming that by purchasing a $100 BlackBerry developer license you can create all kinds of security holes and in the real world, the only security hole on the BlackBerry (regarding this issue) is the user.. JUST like on a desktop PC or Pocket PC or PALM or any other device and/or operating system.
They are trying to create a story about a security hole caused by the $100 license, when it is absolutely no different that any Joe downloading and running a Trojan application or game for any other operating system. This kind of journalism is too much like local TV news stations with their twelve second sound bytes. It’s downright irritating.
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