License plate cameras on the open internet?

Here's a story about a man who discovered that many of the license plate cameras in use are actually not behind any layer of security. 

Anyone can simply access them and track vehicles in real time. Which he proceeded to do in order o make a point. 

Privacy is not something that is generally given a second thought when there's money to be made with little effort. 

https://www.404media.co/researcher-turns-insecure-license-plate-cameras-into-open-source-surveillance-tool/

That's the world we live in. 

Vivek Murthy suggests we rethink how we’re living our lives

This is an uplifting letter from the outgoing surgeon general as he reflects on how we as humans live. One part reminds of us what fulfillment is:

I have come to see there are three essential elements that fuel our fulfillment and well-being: relationships, service, and purpose. 

Relationships keep us grounded and bonded to each other. Service, from formal volunteering to informal small acts of kindness, is about helping each other. And purpose gives our life a sense of direction and meaning. Together, these elements form the triad of fulfillment. 

https://people.com/surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-americans-closing-letter-rethink-how-we-are-living-our-lives-exclusive-8770191

This is worth a read. 

Watch ""Fight Back!" Classics: Sears Trash Can 1500-Foot Drop Test" on YouTube

I love this piece for so many reasons. 

It's educational and informative

It applies a bit of scientific rigor and healthy amount of curiosity. They even poll the audience, who seem interested. 

It's not sponsored, and is independent for the sake of understanding 

It's good journalism. 

It's consumer oriented, and what do you know the product they test was well made.

I know there is some of this still available on the internet, but not enough of it. It's drowned out by vapid themes.

ahhh,  simpler times …

https://youtu.be/f8KIG7P9Vjc?si=_m1lpWzeBRxTyMu_

Elon Musk, Tesla, and Las Vegas

There are very many privacy concerns these days.  Not the least of which is that cars collect data about you - from tracking where and how you drive to recording conversations on the integrated microphones.  And at present, there is no way to opt out.  And they can do with it as they please, from selling it to unknown 3rd parties, to sharing it with insurance companies, to releasing it to law enforcement if they see fit.

We had the incident with the cybertruck that exploded in Las Vegas, which the media was quick to pounce on - with incomplete or erroneous information. But, then Elon Musk proudly told everyone that he would retrieve all the info from this vehicle, in order to help law enforcement piece together what happened.

There are so many concerns with this.  He arbitrarily offered to pull up some personal type data and share it (generally, anyway) with the world.  How is that okay?  And in the position of power he has, how will he abuse that ability?

And as an aside: I take exception to Elon's recent comments that he wants to help the police, and believes in law enforcement.  That sure sounds nice, but isn't he sucking up to the convicted felon who was able to make an additional series of charges that may have led to additional convictions and jail time go away? What about enforcement of the laws that man broke?

So I suppose he supports law enforcement when it suits him?       

Disney settles with the orange menace

This story was a little hard to follow, due to bad reporting, no real fact checking, and some politically motivated story lines. 

But from what I gather, ABC (owned by Disney of course) made a settlement with the orange menace that paid him some money and admitted that they had misreported some information about the man. 

What's confusing is *what* that report was and *how* it was wrong. 

But what I took away from it was that Bob Iger is trying to play nice with T-rump so he won't continue to attack the company for spurious reasons (like he did during his other term in office).  It seems to have been a calculated move to kowtow to him, as seemingly every other company is doing. 

It's all very bizarre. 

But don't sleep on the fact that the person tabbed to run the FCC has already made known that he won't tolerate disparaging dear leader, and has an eye on this settlement as showing how "the media" needs to be further held accountable for actually reporting on anything. 

Freedom of the press and truth can suck it. 

Fort Wilderness Campground cabins for sale

The guy who purchased 100 of the cabins still has some for sale. 

Which is intriguing, ridiculous, and maybe a little dumb 

But hey, you too can own a piece of Disney history. I guess?

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2025/01/03/cabins-disney-fort-wilderness-campground-for-sale-buy-brevard-florida/77379177007/

The tragedy in New Orleans

On New Year's Eve, there was an attack on revelers who were simply out and enjoying the evening on Bourbon Street. A car made its way into the crowd and killed a number of people.

But once again, we saw some terrible reporting.  Every outlet wanted to get the scoop, and report on it from any angle that might generate interest in content on that outlet.  There were few facts, and a lot of speculation.  Maybe it was a terrorist attack? Maybe it was a more coordinated effort?

It is an absolute tragedy - no doubt about that.  

But I wanted to call out two items that I saw in the reporting.  First, I saw a quote from a contemptible Senator from Louisiana talking about this as a wakeup call, as it being one of the worst things ever, and we need to be ready for attacks like this.  The subtext wasn't lost on me.  The person had a "foreign name" so it feeds into the hysteria.  But he was a US Citizen by birth and his motives (at the time of this writing) are unknown.  And anyway, this is the same Senator who thinks that gun related deaths are a fact of life.  The fact that this incident is different in his mind is really something. 

The other thing that caught my attention was that there were barricades in place to prevent cars from going into pedestrian areas.  But these barricades were undergoing some upgrades specifically to prepare for the superbowl in a few months.  That would mean that the goal was to protect a huge moneymaker in the future at the potential expense of the present.  That gave me pause.