20 Thoughts for April 20, 2014

1. Again?  Aaron Brothers / Michaels got hit twice in three years by hackers making off with customer data.  Sound familiar?  Target was hit twice, too.  My theory is, that companies which started out as brick and mortar have little understanding or adequate levels of fear of getting hacked and having their data leaked through the internet.  The exception are electronics purveyors whose own employees are thoroughly steeped in the ease by which connectedness leads to leaking data.
2. German multimedia oligarch complains that Google has too much control; seemingly ignores the vastness of its 230 magazines and newspapers, and 80 online properties it owns and operates.  I chalk this up to old Europe's ego, else Herr Döpfner is going against his own company's corporate ethos of supporting a free social market economy.  Really, here he is complaining about Google's reach, and yet his own company is looking for global expansion to become a "MARKET LEADER".  Hey, nevermind that Axel Springer owns 70% of the publications Germans read, right?
3. Went to testify before a grand jury on Thursday on what I saw last week at ~12:45am, when I had called 911 to report a break-in and three suspicious people.  I even brought a printed set of timeline notes to give to the prosecutor.  It turns out that the only person they ended up taking into custody (because he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest) admitted that he was responsible for the break-in.  That night when they stopped and questioned him, he was caught in a handful of lies and contradicted himself.  Following his admission, a search of his bag turned up two of the stolen headphones.  Busted.  Only problem is, he's a homeless adult and casually joked about his situation; as soon as he's released he's going to commit the same crimes over and over again.
4. Success!  I used my Nexus 5 as a WiFi hotspot for my Nexus 7 at LTE speeds!
5. Speaking of my Nexus 5, the updated camera app's blur function works spectacularly.  It took a moment to get used to the new interface, though.  The camera seems to work better overall, too.
6. Speaking of my Nexus 5, that night of the lunar eclipse, I tried taking photographs of the moon with my phone, through my telescope.  Didn't work well enough to justify fumbling around with it.
7. Portland is one step closer to becoming a Google Fiber community.  The City has signed a franchise agreement with "Google Fiber Oregon, LLC". Excited!
8. Yay, Russia agrees to take things down a notch!  But wait, I thought that Putin told us that they had zero involvement in Ukraine?  How can you agree to do something that involves movement of troops away from the border, if you told us beforehand that you didn't have any troops at the border?  Hmm...
9. But wait a minute.  Both sides are using the same words -- that property must be returned to rightful owners and illegally armed groups must stand down.  However, Russia thinks the US is referring to Ukrainian national forces and its allies, while the US thinks Russia is referring to Russian troops and pro-Russian militants.  Looks like they're agreeing that the other side has to disarm and stop threats.
10. I had to laugh hard when I saw that Putin had said that Russia doesn't spy on its own citizens and that it doesn't have the same global spying capabilities as the US.  My eyes rolled back so much, I think I saw my brain.  Lest we forget, Russia covertly released embarrassing recordings of a US ambassador's conversations.  Or how do you suppose Russia knows where US satellites are?
11. How polluted are Chinese cities?  VERY.  As in 9x as much as the dirtiest US cities.  Cough, cough.
12. Some great news for Oregon.  Year over year, the unemployment rate in March dropped from 8.0% to 6.9% and 46,300 people were newly employed.  The only other states which performed better (as a percentage of employment gains) were Florida, Nevada and Texas.
13. I haven't been watching much live TV lately.  Instead, I've been relying on Hulu to catch up.  One great series on Hulu: Cosmos.  The reboot of Carl Sagan's old show is spectacular!
14. The other week I completed the Breaking Bad marathon, and with time I've been able to gather my thoughts about the show.  I think everyone watching the show expected Heisenberg to become a bad ass.  Every marketing image of Breaking Bad implied it.  But the most accurate image of Walter White would be that of the very first episode, with Walt in his tighty whitey and gas mask, driving the motor home in a panic.  The entirety of the show is about Walt tending to his ego which only gets him into trouble and committing some horrendous act to get out of trouble.  He begins to split into two personas with Heisenberg triggered by his ego then back to Walter White when his son comes into his mind.  If you think about it, we're all Walter White.
15. Best bread-dipping sauce: a dip of TJ's pesto mixed into a couple of tablespoons of good olive oil -- I used TJ's Sicilian.
16. Speaking of olive oil, I bought a small bottle of Napoleon olive oil about a month ago while at Safeway...I now understand what high acid olive oil tastes like.  Yuk.  I'm keeping it for cooking only.
17. In Jackson Hole Wyoming, a creeping landslide is making its way down, having accelerated this past month (although acceleration in this case refers to going from inches to a few feet per day).  Having advanced notice that there's an active landslide, someone -- Tributary Environmental -- has been taking aerial photos for the last few days, showing the movement.  Considering that residents have been ordered evacuated, you should just enjoy the amazing aerial photos of nature having its way.  You're not going to find better photos from anywhere else.
18. Had a scruffy kid on a cheap red bike with a ribbed white tank top and baby-blue bandanna covering half his face ask if he could use my phone to call his girlfriend.  Uh huh...anything else you want to borrow?  My keys?  Maybe my headphones?
19. Oh, and Happy Easter!  (Pssst...it's my spring cleaning week.)
20. Which by the way, happens to be my father's birthday today.  Happy Birthday old guy who doesn't want to learn to use the computer and therefore can't read this!