Blogs

Google has recently changed it's privacy policy to consolidate all the information that it stores about you to help provide better services. This has sparked outrage in the personal privacy community. The basics of this is that Google used to not use information on your searches to display targeted ads to you in youtube or what youtube videos you watch to display targeted ads in gmail. What Google will now do is to use the data that it collects about you across all it's products to create a more personalized experience for you.

Wisconsin State Senator Glenn Grothman introduces a new bill that states that being a single parent is a form of child abuse and neglect. The bill states "the board shall emphasize non-marital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect".

I found a new Microsoft commerical that slams Google Apps, ironically enough it was posted on youtube. It's a clever commercial that tries to make Google Apps sound like some sort of beta product that will drastically change while you're using it and will disappear altogether someday and you'll lose all your documents and spreadsheets.

So a few months ago, I bought and moved into my first house. It wasn't long before I noticed how much wind we get being right next to Lake Michigan. That got me thinking, should I get a windmill and put it in my yard so I can get some clean energy and maybe even save some money? Is this something that is even possible?

The other day, I bought a Sony t.v. equipped with Google t.v. from Amazon. I enjoy watching shows that I've missed on their respective stations web sites and don't really enjoy doing so on my computer. So I thought, hey a Google t.v. has a real Chrome web browser, I'll buy one of those and watch the shows that I've missed. What I should have done was to first do a search on Google's search engine to make sure this was possible. Had I done that, I would have learned before I purchased the t.v. that all the major networks block Google t.v.

This morning I read an article that stated the music and movie industries are losing and estimated $135 billion a year because of piracy. That made me wonder, how are they calculating this? When I was younger, I knew of people that would participate in illegal downloading, but it was because they couldn't afford the music and movies otherwise. Once they got older and started making some real money, they stopped illegally downloading music and movies and started purchasing them legitimately.

Today I learned about a bill that is going through Congress called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). I'm not for piracy, I don't partake in stealing movies, tv shows, music, etc. I am against people being able to shut down websites that unknowingly have this type of copyrighted material. From what I've read so far today, this bill would give content owners the ability to make a claim that a website has their copyrighted material and have their ad revenue cut off and even have their shopping carts turned off.

Tonight 60 Minutes did a segment on Congress trading stocks on insider information (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57323527/congress-trading-stock-on...). I'd first like to thank 60 Minutes for reporting on this topic. This was something that I always thought was going on, but never heard any news organization reporting on it. I also thought that this would have to be illegal and that they were likely hiding their actions.

The DOW lost 634 points today, the biggest drop since 2008. As much as I hate to see my 401k drop so much so fast, I'm going to take advantage of the lower cost per shares and raise my 401k contribution to buy as much as I can at these lower prices. Today was the first trading day since S&P downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA+ with a negative outlook. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could also be on the credit rating chopping block.

Here's a hint, they can drive cars. That's right, Congress officially acts more like a bunch of kids than kids themselves. I'm sick and tired of listening to these clowns in Congress point the finger at each other about who's to blame for all of our problems. Here is the answer, all of you in Congress are to blame. When you clowns can't sit down and figure out any solutions to these issues, you have no right to be in Congress.