When Willie Nelson covers your song, it becomes his. Sorry, Eddie. Paul Simon already knew.
In Closing: want; poor babies; history lesson; definitions; dumb questions; biometric database; maybe salt isn’t the devil; reasons; files; and just for fun, how many people have your name. There’s another Bridget Magnus in Canada, but I’m apparently unique in the US.
California wants to use more facial recognition to solve crimes. Never mind that this is a not-ready-for-prime-time technology, and even license plate readers make mistakes (and come on, there’s only 36 choices per character!). Heck, today I learned first hand that the system used by the Nevada DMV can be stymied by glasses vs. no glasses.
So, I suspect I’ll be in the habit of wearing sunglasses and hats more often. Probably good for my eyes and face anyway.
In Closing: free tour with purchase of car; Gin and Tacos; an idea with ridiculous potential for abuse.
Vegas is apparently one of the top destinations to ring in the New Year. This year, however, we have a chance at 3 inches of snow!
In Closing: Some NSA and CIA stuff; um yeah, what were you saying about how secure biometrics are?; plastic diamonds; on income and wealth inequality; fallacies; Dave is the only guy out there warning us about the next bad deal; and the perfect site for a world traveler.
It has become clear that the United States government is spying on it’s citizens in the name of preventing “terrorism.” Just exactly what they are doing is under debate. Most experts outside the government itself seem to believe it is mathematically impossible for such surveillance to be effective. Many private citizens are asking what they can do (and here are two places to start).
But I’d like to mention a personal security breach that many people overlook: making private phone calls in public places.
Over the weekend, I did some shopping. Naturally, it was in a crowded public place. Nevertheless I heard several people having extremely sensitive phone calls and being really loud about it. The only way I could have avoided listening was to leave the area. Among the topics of conversation:
Granted, nobody was discussing a hit, bomb, or robbery, but that is beside the point. These same people probably would be outraged that some cop could get a recording of that call, but all the cop has to do is ask random shoppers what they were talking about! No warrant required. I would gladly tell the officer what the obnoxiously loud lady who damn near ran over me with her cart was talking about.
More irony, these people probably use Amazon to buy their “embarrassing” items, the stuff they don’t want some cashier to know about.
Value your privacy? Step one is to STFU.
In Closing: running; facial recognition; jobs; girls on film.
It’s important to read labels: 
Hmmm, a whole section of oatmeal! Unless of course you want plain old fashioned instant oatmeal. In that case, enjoy your grits!
In Closing: Crap like this is one of many reasons Congress should read out loud every bill they vote on; I guess the sequester is working =/; for pity sake, do not jaywalk in Vegas (all those pedestrian overpasses are there for a reason!); if I may use a one word answer, no; this sucks; Rolling Jubilee is back in the news; and inspirational.
Facebook is a social media site that I don’t use. At all. Ever. You see a Bridget Magnus over there? It’s not me. Probably that lady from Vancouver.
Ok, disclosure out of the way.
So, it seems that their stock is at a record low. And it’s expected to dump more altitude in a couple of weeks when employee stock can start to trade.
Is it really relevant to talk about a stock being at an all time record low when it hasn’t even traded for 6 months yet?? Seriously?
If you want a real Facebook story, how about the fact that 80% of ad clicks might be bogus? That’s where Facebook makes it’s money; is it possible that their profits are padded by bot-generated activity? Which of course begs another question: who ever clicked on those ads? I had about 3 hours where I thought it might be a good idea to advertise over there, but then I came to my senses.
As for myself, I’m not buying their ads, not buying their stock, and not taking their free membership either.
In Closing: life lessons; Jill explains why the Post Office is really in trouble; enough with biometric security already (hello!); how far will this scandal reach?; sugar; Orwelling; nope, no such thing as global climate change (BTW it’s raining in Vegas today).