‘Anonymous’ GPS data reveals speed habits

Based on this data, I tend to drive 9 or so percent faster than the average American. Except when I’m testing engineering limits of the various vehicles I drive, of course.

Based on anonymous driving habit data from customers in 45 states, GPS navigation firmTomTom reckons that Americans tend to drive at about 70 MPH on the freeway, regardless of the posted speed limit. More specifically, most Americans tend to stay within a few miles per hour of the speed limit on interstate freeways. The WSJ [sub] reports that these findings are consistent with efforts to raise freeway speed limits around the country, as Virginia recently became the latest state to raise its freeway speed limit to 70 MPH or above. Naturally, there are still safety advocates still sticking to their “speed kills” talking points, but despite these state-by-state speed limit increases, America’s road fatalities per vehicle mile traveled has been dropping consistently. That Americans rarely drive over 70 MPH, even when limits are as high as 75 MPH, shows that motorists tend to find their natural comfort limit at that speed anyway. And the fact that states with higher freeway speeds tend to be large, sparsely-populated Western states indicates that motorists tend to vary their speed only slightly from the 70 MPH “state of nature” even when faced with longer distances and less traffic. [Hat Tip: ClutchCarGo]

There are a few points worth noting. The only reason the data is currently “anonymous”is because the GPS maker wants it that way. Market forces combined with social mores dictate that anonymity is dead or dying in America. If lawmakers and manufacturers decide we aren’t going to fuss about it, your car and/or GPS will soon track you. Rental companies track your every move. OnStar does as well (read the privacy policy very carefully; there is no expectation of privacy). Eventually, vehicles being driven contrary to acceptable societal norms will auto alert authorities who will come punish you in various nefarious ways to include clumsy attempts at re-education.

I wonder if my 9% deviance from norms will be tolerated when that day arrives.

Finally, a master’s degree

It may be worth mentioning briefly that I have completed my final course in a master’s program at Bellevue University.

The Master of Science in Management Information Systems is a customized degree tailored specifically to prepare students for management positions in the Information Technology profession. It consists of multiple components: the core and concentrations. The core explores the characteristics of information systems with emphasis on critical management issues. After completing the core, students may select one or more of six concentrations to obtain additional depth in business administration, computer information systems, healthcare, information security, project management, or solutions architecture. To satisfy the requirements for degree, students must take 27 semester hours of core courses and at least nine semester hours from one of six concentrations.

For a guy who got started pretty late on college, I feel pretty good about my achievement. I ended the program with a 3.9 GPA while working full time in a civilian job and part time for the National Guard and with a 3-hour a day commute. I’m not quite sure how I kept it together.

I can highly recommend the Bellevue online program. It felt a bit more personal than the similar online program from the University of Phoenix and I would note for the record that the quality of student effort was much higher. In the irony department my final course at Bellevue was Information Technology Ethics and a student in the course was kicked out for plagiarizing.

Information Warfare had to be my favorite course of the bunch. I really enjoyed planning attacks on information infrastructure for some reason. Everything is more fun in theory than in reality. Bellevue was much more reasonably priced than the University of Phoenix. I am planning on starting on doctorate work in a few months in the same field.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be subject to FOIA

I complain a lot about government. That’s because government has a monopoly on force. The federal government of the U.S. also has a monopoly on printing money. If you control the guns and the butter, then you should be watched closely and criticized often and loudly, particularly if you are dishonest.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are dishonest entities. They have added $5.4 trillion in debt to the national bill.

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act suit last August after FHFA refused the watchdog group’s request for such documents. Officials at FHFA acknowledged having control of such documents but said they weren’t obligated under the FOIA to release them. Fannie and Freddie were established as semi-independent government-supported entities. But they went under FHFA control after taxpayers had to bail them out. It is estimated that taxpayers are on the hook for at least $5.4 trillion in liabilities that resulted from bad mortgage investments by Fannie and Freddie.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Time-for-sunshine_-Fannie-and-Freddie-87252627.html#ixzz0hsxqQeVN

The members of Congress who have received campaign contributions from these quasi-government, government controlled entities should be subject to criminal trials for accepting bribes. These are the same entities that helped create the current landscape of massive foreclosures and bankruptcies by facilitating irresponsible loans to unqualified, irresponsible borrowers.

Open information models should be legally required for all government and quasi-government entities by Constitutional amendment. First, though, and more important, we need to restore federal respect for the limitations placed on government by the Constitution. At this point, I’m not sure how that will happen without a complete do-over of some kind.

Porn, tech and mores

From an article I recently read claiming that pornography might be good for us:

According to the conservative media watchdog group Family Safe Media, the porn industry makes more money than the top technology companies combined, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Amazon.

Without debating the relative merits of porn, if there are any besides temporary satiation of carnal desires, I find it fascinating that moving and still pictures of naked people copulating generate more revenue than the top technology companies combined. I suppose it makes perfect sense. After all, every human being on the planet is pretty much hard wired to enjoy looking at naked people of one or both sexes. All the counter programming that human societies attempt to instantiate (mostly via religion) cannot overpower basic biological programming.

Whether we admit it or not, our genitals and our brains work together to influence our thoughts and actions.

The illegality of prostitution in most U.S. jurisdictions continues to bother me on about the same level as the federal government’s continuing need to pretend that the War on Drugs is somehow making the United States a better place to live. As a society, we are doing a woefully poor job of channeling natural behaviors into more constructive venues. If violent video games are outlawed too, we’ll have an unholy triumvirate of repression and suppression of natural human urges. While I don’t think that will happen, it really makes me wonder how long we’ll continue the juvenile societal attitudes and puritan set of mores we have towards human sexuality in America.

Tech is definitely changing sexual mores in this country. I get the distinct impression from generations younger than mine that ideas like polyamory, open relationships and casual sex with many partners are getting a new look. And when it comes to acceptance of homosexuality, I know attitudes are changing drastically. My feeling is that porn must have played a role in the changing attitudes. Even more important, technology was the delivery vehicle for most of the porn.

Technology and porn aren’t just changing sexual mores in the U.S. Sites like 4chan have worldwide reach, and they affect the way their audiences think. They change the memeset. In two generations, human sexual mores of the technorati will be completely alien to a typical 20th century American.

Observations on the Barnes and Noble Nook

I have more than a dozen books and several dozen technical PDF books on my Nook at this time. I’ve been using the product for about a month.

If you are considering buying a Nook here are some things to think about:

• Barnes and Noble isn’t doing a good job making store employees into Nook evangelists. At my local store in Chattanooga they could care less about Nooks or Nook accessories.
• Barnes and Noble keeps promising different dates for Nook and Nook items to be carried in stores. I’ve been waiting to look at and touch covers for my Nook for 60 days. This is frustrating.
• Nook software continues to improve. The last update took me to version 1.20. Pages turn more “naturally” now and the Nook itself powers up and down a bit quicker.
• Sometimes while holding the Nook, pages change by themselves or the color navigation screen lights up and kicks me out of my book. This is due to oversensitivity of the controls.

Buying books is a fairly simple process but there are not enough technical books available yet for the Nook. Additionally, I’m used to Amazon’s web site telling me about the kind of books I want to buy. Barnes and Noble’s site keeps pushing garbage I don’t want to read. It is insulting to be directed towards Twilight novels when I am absolutely not and never will be a part of the demographic that wants to read about glittery morally upright vampires who enjoy dating humans and attending high school prom even though they are hundreds of years old.